Carrie Leonard is a leader here at Ascension and has a passion for putting together people in small groups. She sees how the Spirit transforms people when they get together in Jesus' name for the sake of care and personal growth. She has written many of the small group curriculums that we have done here at Ascension, including the "Give Thanks" one that we are encouraging you to be a part of. Here's Carrie...
Remember when we were kids and our parents had to remind us (sometimes) to say “thank you”? They would say that familiar phrase, “What do you say?” And do you remember being frustrated when you were just about to say “thanks” and they were quicker with “What do you say”? It seems like sometimes we just didn’t have a chance to say thanks fast enough!
How quick are you to say “thanks” to God? I know sometimes I can get lazy and start taking things for granted and I forget to thank God for all He has blessed me with. The two things that get me back on track are the Word and my friends.
So that is why I am excited about the small group study for next month, “Give Thanks”. It provides a terrific opportunity to get back on track with our giving and thanking by getting into the Word and studying it with friends. All you need is a friend or two, the Study Guide (found on http://www.alcto.org/ or in the Narthex) and a Bible.
What do you say?
Carrie Leonard
Monday, October 25, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
I write this a as a balding male…
As we focus on responding to God’s grace during this Thanksgiving season, one of the projects we will be taking about is malaria.
Malaria is something that I have been thinking and reading about for a while, so I wonder where to begin…
I could, for instance, talk about how malaria is one of the “diseases of poverty” identified by the U.N. in its Millennium Development Goals. It is a disease that is preventable and treatable except for the fact that most who suffer from it can’t afford its treatment. I could talk about how, in Africa, 1 in 5 children will die from malaria at the rate of one child every 45 seconds. Or I could note how in 2008, nearly one million children died due to malaria.
Yet one statistic really struck me this week. It was the one that Bill Gates pointed out in a speech that he was making on behalf of the Gates Foundation which is committing over a billion dollars to the care, treatment and prevention of malaria. He said that ten times more money is spent developing a cure for male baldness than developing a cure for malaria, despite the fact that malaria kills 1 million children per year. The reason he said is incentive. There is a profitable market for male baldness, but no such market for malaria drugs.
So I believe if we can raise awareness about malaria, we can actually help create that market, that incentive. I also think that doing this on behalf of the people who suffer from malaria is a great way to respond to God’s grace.
I also want to say on behalf of my own balding and to my bald brothers everywhere: Bald is beautiful. God made a few perfect heads… the rest He put hair on.
By the way if you want more info about the ELCA Malaria campaign you can go to www.elca.org/malaria
Malaria is something that I have been thinking and reading about for a while, so I wonder where to begin…
I could, for instance, talk about how malaria is one of the “diseases of poverty” identified by the U.N. in its Millennium Development Goals. It is a disease that is preventable and treatable except for the fact that most who suffer from it can’t afford its treatment. I could talk about how, in Africa, 1 in 5 children will die from malaria at the rate of one child every 45 seconds. Or I could note how in 2008, nearly one million children died due to malaria.
Yet one statistic really struck me this week. It was the one that Bill Gates pointed out in a speech that he was making on behalf of the Gates Foundation which is committing over a billion dollars to the care, treatment and prevention of malaria. He said that ten times more money is spent developing a cure for male baldness than developing a cure for malaria, despite the fact that malaria kills 1 million children per year. The reason he said is incentive. There is a profitable market for male baldness, but no such market for malaria drugs.
So I believe if we can raise awareness about malaria, we can actually help create that market, that incentive. I also think that doing this on behalf of the people who suffer from malaria is a great way to respond to God’s grace.
I also want to say on behalf of my own balding and to my bald brothers everywhere: Bald is beautiful. God made a few perfect heads… the rest He put hair on.
By the way if you want more info about the ELCA Malaria campaign you can go to www.elca.org/malaria
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
How We Live Our Lives Is How We Live Our Days
Part of being human is marking time. We wear watches. We live by clocks. We consult our calendars before committing to yet another obligation. We mark birthdays and anniversaries and national holidays. As much as we try to control time, we are often swept away by it.
As a people of God, we are called to live in rhythm to God’s Story. That means that in the midst of calendars and clocks and holidays, we are called to order our time intentionally in God’s Story. This means neither that we try to be rigid with our time nor carried away by it, but that we place our time intentionally into God’s Time. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 90, “Oh, Lord, teach us to order our days.”
On the yearly calendar, November marks a season of thanks-giving. On the Christian calendar, everyday is to be a day marked with gratitude. As Paul says in Thessalonians, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” On the yearly calendar, December marks the season of gift-giving. On the Christian calendar, everyday is to be a day marked by giving to those who need our love and care.
We mark Gifts of Hope once again on the November calendar. But the prayer is that this yearly practice will remind us to live each day with gratitude for the gifts that we have as well as to live each day with compassion for others. As author Annie Dillard wrote, “How we live our lives is how we live our days.”
Pastor Chamie Delkeskamp
As a people of God, we are called to live in rhythm to God’s Story. That means that in the midst of calendars and clocks and holidays, we are called to order our time intentionally in God’s Story. This means neither that we try to be rigid with our time nor carried away by it, but that we place our time intentionally into God’s Time. As the Psalmist says in Psalm 90, “Oh, Lord, teach us to order our days.”
On the yearly calendar, November marks a season of thanks-giving. On the Christian calendar, everyday is to be a day marked with gratitude. As Paul says in Thessalonians, “Give thanks in all circumstances.” On the yearly calendar, December marks the season of gift-giving. On the Christian calendar, everyday is to be a day marked by giving to those who need our love and care.
We mark Gifts of Hope once again on the November calendar. But the prayer is that this yearly practice will remind us to live each day with gratitude for the gifts that we have as well as to live each day with compassion for others. As author Annie Dillard wrote, “How we live our lives is how we live our days.”
Pastor Chamie Delkeskamp
Monday, October 18, 2010
Blessed to be a Blessing
Question: How does a blog, a mosquito net, a small group Bible study, a malariologist, a gift card for a local family that is struggling to make ends meet, and a Christmas gift all fit together?
Answer: Only God can bring all these things together for a significant purpose. And that is the point. God wants to do something with all of this. Here at Ascension, He wants to get a movement going. Mainly, I suppose, He wants as many people as possible to step back and reflect on the blessings that He gives to us so that we can, in gratitude, be a blessing to others who are in need. And, in the midst of doing this together, we become a part of a movement that will go beyond what any of us could do on our own. So, would you join us this Thanksgiving season? Would you:
- become a part of this blog that will be updated 2-3 times a week through the end of November? Will you read the blog and respond occasionally with your questions or thoughts?
- get involved in a small group study called “Giving Thanks”? Find some friends and go through it together. You can download it by clicking this: Giving Thanks or going to Ascension’s website (http://www.alcto.org/)?
- consider participating, as we reflect on our own gratitude and determine our response, in Ascension's alternative gifts fair called Gifts of Hope on November 13-14 and 20-21 in Founder's Hall?
The goal of all of this is growth. We want to grow in faith, grow together as a community, and grow in our ability to bless others out of our own blessings.
Still don’t understand completely? I don’t expect so… but there is more to come.
Answer: Only God can bring all these things together for a significant purpose. And that is the point. God wants to do something with all of this. Here at Ascension, He wants to get a movement going. Mainly, I suppose, He wants as many people as possible to step back and reflect on the blessings that He gives to us so that we can, in gratitude, be a blessing to others who are in need. And, in the midst of doing this together, we become a part of a movement that will go beyond what any of us could do on our own. So, would you join us this Thanksgiving season? Would you:
- become a part of this blog that will be updated 2-3 times a week through the end of November? Will you read the blog and respond occasionally with your questions or thoughts?
- get involved in a small group study called “Giving Thanks”? Find some friends and go through it together. You can download it by clicking this: Giving Thanks or going to Ascension’s website (http://www.alcto.org/)?
- consider participating, as we reflect on our own gratitude and determine our response, in Ascension's alternative gifts fair called Gifts of Hope on November 13-14 and 20-21 in Founder's Hall?
The goal of all of this is growth. We want to grow in faith, grow together as a community, and grow in our ability to bless others out of our own blessings.
Still don’t understand completely? I don’t expect so… but there is more to come.
Friday, September 10, 2010
The power of a story...
I am really excited about church this weekend. I will be preaching at all the services but I am not excited about what I am going to say so much as I am excited about what somebody else is going to say in my sermon.
By this I mean that I have invited a very wonderful, gentle, wise older man name Roy to come and share a story that he shared with me a few weeks ago. It is a story about well... hmmm... jail.
But it is not really about jail so much as it is about God's presence in a jail that he visited while volunteering at for a prison ministry gig. It is a great story.
Its not a great story because doing jail ministry is a great thing (which of course it is). It is a great story because as Roy humbly discovered, what Jesus says about the Gospel and how it can make a difference in peoples lives, about how it can set people (even people in jail) free, and how that is pretty much what Jesus is currently in the business of doing, is all true.
It is also a great story because the person who God transformed in this story is not just Oscar... the guy who Roy was ministering to, it was not just Roy the person who was doing the ministering... it was me... the one who heard the story. Isn't it amazing how it works? That's why you should hear the story too.
I invite you to come to Ascension this weekend and hear the story. If you can't... we will post it online next week at our www.alcto.org website.
Peace be with you.
By this I mean that I have invited a very wonderful, gentle, wise older man name Roy to come and share a story that he shared with me a few weeks ago. It is a story about well... hmmm... jail.
But it is not really about jail so much as it is about God's presence in a jail that he visited while volunteering at for a prison ministry gig. It is a great story.
Its not a great story because doing jail ministry is a great thing (which of course it is). It is a great story because as Roy humbly discovered, what Jesus says about the Gospel and how it can make a difference in peoples lives, about how it can set people (even people in jail) free, and how that is pretty much what Jesus is currently in the business of doing, is all true.
It is also a great story because the person who God transformed in this story is not just Oscar... the guy who Roy was ministering to, it was not just Roy the person who was doing the ministering... it was me... the one who heard the story. Isn't it amazing how it works? That's why you should hear the story too.
I invite you to come to Ascension this weekend and hear the story. If you can't... we will post it online next week at our www.alcto.org website.
Peace be with you.
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