Our vision:
Bound together on a journey of faith, we
are a Christ-centered
community, prayerfully
discovering and sharing God’s
love.
Our
through worship, growing in
faith, community building
and service.
The New Covenant
I recently came across this poem by a young woman
from
clearly that we live as new
covenant people.
The New Covenant, by Tammy
Nelson
In an upper room
With closest friends
Of the Passover He partook,
But as He broke the bread
And took the cup
All of history was changed
As He spoke these words:
This is my body, broken for you,
And my blood, which covers all sin.
A new covenant I make with
you this night,
A covenant between Myself and all men.
A cruel cross,
A crown of thorns,
Isolation from His Father
He endures.
Blood freely flows
From His head, hands, and
feet.
Each breath is racked with
pain.
The sky grows dark; the earth
quakes;
HE DIES,
But His words still remain.
This is my body, broken for you,
And my blood, which covers all sin.
A new covenant I make with
you this day,
A covenant between Myself and all men.
Sunday morning,
An empty tomb,
The promise has been
fulfilled!
He lay down His life
For the sins of man,
To pay the penalty of death
eternal.
And as He left the grave,
To us He gave
Victory over death and hell.
This is my body, broken for you,
And my blood, which covers all sin.
A new covenant I make with
you this day
A promise of life without end.
Tammy shared that she wrote this poem as a
young
teenager, as she was
beginning her journey of faith.
I found it amazing that, even
at such a young age, she
understood so poetically and
powerfully both the
seriousness of Jesus’
sacrifice and the joy that comes
with the new covenant we
share with God.
May we all be mindful each day of the new covenant we
have through Jesus, our Lord
and Savior. May we live
out that covenant with
everyone we meet.
--Sister Cara
April
Scripture
4/3 I Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31
4/10 I Peter 1:17-23; Acts 2:14a, 36-41
4/17 Acts
4/24 Youth
Faith Ramblin’s
Joy In God’s Presence
I recently rediscovered a study guide that I had
purchased on “Praying the
Psalms,” written by Juanita
Ryan. As I opened the
book it fell open to Psalm 65.
I started reading Psalm 65
and it was full of praise
and rejoicing for our God and
Father. An excerpt of
that Psalm reads: “You
faithfully answer our prayers
with awesome deeds, O God our
savior. You are the
hope of everyone on earth,
even those who sail on
distant seas. You formed the
mountains by your power
and armed yourself with
mighty strength. You quieted
the raging oceans with their
pounding waves and
silenced the shouting of the
nations....You take care
of the earth and water it,
making it rich and fertile.
The rivers of God will
not run dry; they provide a
bountiful harvest of grain,
for you have ordered it
so.”
God is more than able to respond to our need for
deliverance because he is the
one God who made the
majestic mountains of this
world. If he can take care
of the earth and water it,
bringing forth bountiful
harvests, we can be sure he
can take care of us.
Because I have difficulty
receiving gifts or
compliments from others, I
have had to remind myself
to look people in the eyes
when they offer me a gift
or a compliment and say thank
you.
When we are unable to receive the good things that
others offer us, we cheat
ourselves, and we cheat
them. When we are able
to say thank you for gifts
given, we are able to take
the gift in, enjoy it and
engage in a personal,
intimate way with the giver of
the gift. In the same
way, when we express gratitude
to God for the gifts he gives
us, we enter into a
cycle of joyful relating with
him. We take in his
love, feel a deeper
connection with him and experience
joy.
There is no greater time for receiving than the
Easter season when God gives
us the greatest gift of
all, the death of His Son,
Jesus Christ, on a cross to
redeem us from our sins..
In the Life Recovery Bible, Psalm 65 is used to
illustrate the eleventh step
of the twelve steps of
recovery. There are
many things to recover from. We
must all recover from things
like hurts, habits and
hang-ups. We all must
constantly be recovering from
our sin.
Step eleven reads: “We sought through prayer and
meditation to improve our
conscious contacts with God,
praying only
for knowledge of his will for
us and the power to
carry that out.”
Most of us need to desire something before we will
wholeheartedly seek after
it. Until we realize how
much God loves us and cares
about the details of our
life, we probably won’t have
the desire to pray to
him. Until we sincerely
believe that he has
completely forgiven us, we
will be ashamed to face
him. If we hold on to
our misconceptions about God,
we will have a hard time
practicing this step.
An example was the life of King David who had
committed a terrible
sin. After he had come face to
face with his own sinfulness,
he was still able to
sing to God about God’s love
and forgiveness. “Though
our hearts are filled with
sins, you forgive them all.
What joy for those you
choose to bring near, those
who live in your holy
courts. What joys await us
inside your holy
God wants us to be like those who lived and served in
his
wants us to know that we are
welcome and valued before
him.
God is always present with us and can be a source of
joy and happiness for us
now. We can look forward to
spending time with him and
living in his presence
every day. Be ready to
receive the gift of love that
God is giving each and every
one of us this Easter.
He Is Risen!
--Linda Risser
I wrote in last fall’s Lifestyles about one of the
books I had read called
Natural Church Development: A
Guide to Eight Essential
Qualities of Healthy
Churches. The idea of
this book is that church growth
must begin first with a
growth in quality and not in
numbers. Healthy
churches are growing churches,
making more and better
disciples in loving obedience
to Christ. Coming up on
May 15th, we will meet as a
congregation with Duane
Grady, our Congregational Life
Team Leader. He will
present the ideas of Natural
Church Development in more
detail and lead us in a
survey of our current gifts
and skills. Please plan
to attend this important
meeting that will follow our
scheduled Fellowship
meal.
–Sister Cara
Deacon Corner
New Life, new hope
Here we are in the early Spring season of our year,
and with it comes new life in
all forms of growing
things—buds on the trees and
shrubs, green grass that
makes us think of tuning-up
our lawnmowers, flower
bulbs sending up new shoots,
asparagus doing the same,
and baby animals toddling
about while the birds are
busy in the treetops.
With the warmer temperatures and sunshine comes hope.
For farmers it is the
hope of favorable weather for
the new planting season and
good crop yields. For
some it may be hope of a
family vacation, the chance
of catching some “rays,”
enjoying time with our
families in back yard
barbecues, of a garden that will
yield bountiful vegetables to
nourish our health, hope
of finding time to enjoy an
outing on the Mississippi
River or to spend time with vacationing college
students as they return home
for the summer.
The
forward in hope also.
Many on our membership list
have recently received a
letter filled with love and
hope. To many it is an
open door, an invitation to
return to the fold. You
have been missed, and like
the prodigal son, will
eagerly be welcomed back. For
some who may have found another
church home they
enjoy, it may be an
opportunity to transfer
membership. For others,
hopefully, it will open a door
also—even if it is just to
talk.
May we grow together in the love of Christ with the
hope of Glory, for our God is
a good God who has
promised He will never leave us. Ephesians 3,
beginning at verse 16 is the
prayer I share with you,
“I pray that out of His
glorious riches He may
strengthen you with power
through His Spirit in your
inner being, so that Christ
may dwell in your hearts
through faith. And I
pray that you being rooted and
established in love, may have
power, together with all
the Saints, to grasp how wide
and long and high and
deep is the love of Christ,
and to know this love that
surpasses knowledge—that you
may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness
of God. Now to Him who is
able to do immeasurably more
than all we ask or
imagine, according to His
power that is at work within
us, to Him be glory in the
church and in Christ Jesus
throughout all generations,
for ever and ever! Amen.”
(NIV).
Let us together, go forward
in new life and new hope.
Fran Bockenhauer
Children’s Vision International
April Mission Outreach
You may remember Jeanene Thicke sharing with us
on several occasions about
her work in Bogata,
March. Our April
mission outreach will support
Children’s Vision
International.
Their first goal is to rescue and provide
immediate medical care.
They take abandoned, abused
infants and small children
from the streets and
provide 24 hours a day/7 days
a week care. This
includes a home, food,
clothing, education,
recreation, and full medical
attention.
The
second goal is to provide a loving home
atmosphere. The aim is
to provide a place where
children are safe, warm and
happy. Giving a child a
bed, good food, a warm
shower, practical clothes, a
big stuffed animal and lots
of love is a privilege to
Jeanene and her staff and a miracle to the
children.
It does not take the children
long to respond and
begin physical, spiritual and
mental healing.
The
third goal is to provide an education for the
children. They
believe that if you give a child a
home, you give him hope, but
if you give him
education, you give him a
future. To many in
For homeless, poor and
displaced children it is only a
dream. The staff knows
that if they give the children
an education that includes
bi-lingual studies and
cross-cultural experiences
they will have skills to
take with them to change the
nation. CVI wants to
give each child a home, a
hope and a future.
Their
highest goal is to raise and train children
to change a nation. You
cannot stop a war with guns.
from the environment they
live in. CVI has seen
children full of anger, who
steal, do drugs and fight
in order to survive. We
can stop that curse by
stopping the cause.
With CVI the children learn
integrity, honesty,
commitment and love.
Children’s Vision International follows these
values: to love and
honor God above all things, to
love others as ourselves,
kindness, forgiveness,
mercy, respect and submission
to authority, order and
discipline, responsibility
and citizenship,
faithfulness and gratitude,
honesty and truthfulness.
Our
offering to support Children’s Vision
International will be
received on April17 during our
worship service.
Hold in prayer.......
…Kenneth Buchen,
Sue Bollinger’s dad, as he recovers
from surgery
...Dee Prudoehl
as she recovers from surgery
….All the victims and
families of the disaster in
South Asia and those bringing
relief.
….National
and world leaders that they seek God’s
wisdom in their leadership
and work for peace and
justice for all people.
Because we have different ways of expressing our
prayer requests and different
needs for expression, we
ask that you submit any
prayer requests you wish to
have listed in the bulletin
and in the Lifestyle
newsletter to the office in
writing or via phone. Also
notify the office when you
wish to have that request
removed or moved to “Thanks be to God” as we celebrate
answered prayer. Let us
continue to make prayer a
priority in our
congregational life!
Thank you….
…to Dee Prudoehl
for serving as our accompanist. We
have been blessed by
resigned her position, so she
can attend church with
her husband. We will
miss her and her music, but wish
her and Donn
God’s rich and continuing blessings.
….the choir for leading us in
worship through
meaningful music during Lent,
Love Feast and Easter.
Thanks, too, to Sue Bollinger
for choosing music and
leading the choir, and to
Joyce Peckover for
accompanying them.
....to the
deacons and Pastor Cara for planning and
providing a special Love
Feast service.
….to Root River Church of the
Brethren and Hands of
Christ Project for joining us
in Love Feast and
participating in various
parts of leading the service
.…to Cliff Bollinger
for building the cross used in
the “Service of the Nails”,
our Love Feast examination
service.
…to the
Wirt Family for blowing the drifts of snow out
of the church and parsonage
parking lots.
And thank
you to Ray Radatz for completing the snow plowing
work.
Local Service Project!
Roll
up your sleeves and come on out to the
All-church work day on
Saturday, April 23. There are
projects for all ages and
capabilities!
How we care for our property reflects our
respect and reverence for
God, and is our first line
of greeting to those around
us. Let’s spruce things
up and improve appearances of
our property as we work
together.
“Hand of Service for the Lord” update
In November, our mission outreach supported the
ministry in Mexico, “Hands of
Service for the Lord.”
Cash, comforters and
blankets, tools, housewares,
clothing, school supplies and
health supplies were
donated by our
congregation. Cliff Bollinger and Dale
Mill spent a week in
pouring concrete foundations,
distributing food and
supplies, etc. Arnold
and Jeanie Lein express
gratitude to each of you who
helped with the ministry
in any way.
They report that more was accomplished this year than
in any of the previous 16
years they have been working
in
remodeled, and a small church
was built.
Many lives were touched this year; both those who
were volunteering and those
who needed assistance.
There were joys and
disappointments, tears and
laughter, giving and
receiving, sweat and chills,
agony and joy—and in it all,
God was at work.
Dates for 2006’s project are January 8-13 and January
22-27.
Youth Sunday April 24th!
Please join us for a special youth worship
service on Sunday, April
24th. The service will follow
the themes of 1st Corinthians
that have been covered
in the youths' Sunday School class. Included in the
worship will be songs, skits,
and a multimedia
presentation of 1st
Corinthians. Be sure to mark your
calendars for this great
event. The youth always
appreciate your
support. Thank
you.
--Jess Hoffert
Young Adult Conference
“And
let us consider how to provoke one another
to love and good deeds.”
(Hebrews 10:24)
The writer of Hebrews uses a strong word ..
“provoke”.
Some versions translate the word as
“encourage” or “spur
on”. Through small groups,
workshops and worship the
young adult conference will
be considering how to provoke
one another to love and
good deeds.
Who? All young adults
ages 18-35
Where?
When?
Cost? $80 per person
For more information go to
www.brethren.org/Youth/Young
Adults/YoungAdultConference.
WF stays active
Women’s Fellowship has been and will remain a busy
group for some time.
They once again served the Winona County Fire
Warden’s dinner to 30 people
which was held March
10th. They were
grateful for the Cleyson Plank’s
assistance.
They have had two work days in which many lap robes
and comforters have been
completed.
They have accepted a catering service offer by Land
Stewardship on April 29-30 as
they host a group of
fruit and berry growers here
at our fellowship hall.
Also being planned is our annual Mother/Daughter
Brunch, which this year will
be a week after Mother’s
Day on Saturday, May
14th. We anticipate learning
more about Children’s Vision
International in Bogata,
volunteers who completed a recent
mission trip to the
children’s home.
Our next meeting day is Saturday, April 16th at the
home of Judy Mill.
You’re invited to join us.
Serving us in April
Ushers: T/B Cage
Greeters:
C/C Radatz
Jr.
Ushers: 3 Parker Cage
10 Bethany Dahl
17 Elizabeth Lee
24 Daniel Dahl
Worship Leader:
Sara Laqua
Worship Team:
3 Cliff, Sue,
Karen
10
Cliff, Jess, Karen
17
Judy, Uli, Jess
24 Youth
Special Music: 3
Choir
10 Bethany Dahl
17 Linda Risser
24 Youth
Children’s
Story: 3
Judy Mill
17 Millie
Bollinger
Children’s Church:
3, 17 & 24 No Children’s
Church
10
Gordon
Hoffert
Nursery:
3 Linda Dahl
10 Linda Risser
17 Marilyn Sanders
24 Penny Wilson
Fellowship
Meal:
D/J Mill & P. Wilson
It is time to start thinking about sending
children, grandchildren,
yourselves to
Camp registration will
be coming in the mail soon.
Counselors are needed as well! Please consider
giving of your time to
serving as a counselor this
summer at
Camp
schedule:
Primary Overnight
Completed K-2 (must be accompanied
by adult)
Friday July 15,
6:30pm-Saturday, July 16, 3pm $30 per
person
Middler
Completed Grades 3-5
Monday,July 11, 10am- Friday, July15, 10am
$160 per person
Junior Youth
Completed Grades 6-8
Monday, June 13 10am –
Saturday, June 18, 10am
$190 per person
Senior Youth
Completed grades 9-12
Monday, July 18,
10am-Saturday, July 23, 10am
$190 per person
For more information, see
Joyce Peckover.
Save time,
simplify your life, support the church!
Building the
commitment, and
resources. That is why your
consistent support is so
important!
Our
new Electronic Contribution Program is an
automatic funds transfer
program that will allow you
to make contributions without
ever having to lift a
pen to write a check or reach
into your wallet for
cash.
Here’s how it works. You authorize a specified
amount to be electronically
transferred directly from
your checking account or
savings account to the church
account. You also
specify the frequency of the
transfer to allow you to keep
your check register up
to date.
It
is fast, safe and easy! The electronic
transfer will cost you
nothing. You save the cost of
the check. The church
will issue you a donation
statement for your tax
records, and your bank
statements will provide you
with a record of transfer
as additional proof of your
contribution.
Of course
you can cancel your authorization of
transfer at any time by notifying
us in writing. But
we believe that once you have
enjoyed the convenience
and savings of this program,
you won’t want to go back
to the “old-fashioned” way of
contributing to our
church.
See Todd Cage for the easy one-step enrollment
forms. It’s good
stewardship!
Conscientious Objection-NYCCS
It
really is a matter of conscience.
Conscientious objection to war has been a long
and faithful tradition of the
Church of the Brethren
since its beginning.
At the
National Youth Christian Citizenship
Seminar, April 23-28, youth
will explore ways to shape
choices that are grounded in
a rich biblical and faith
tradition, and that can have
both immediate and
lasting impacts on
themselves, the community and the
world around them.
All
high school youth and adult advisors are
eligible to attend the
seminar held in
and
www.brethrnen.org.
April Birthdays
& Anniversaries
1
Timothy Radatz, Mike and Pat Bollinger
6
Amy Pospichal-Heublein, Marilyn Glover
11 Thomas Lee
16
Jack and Verna Carlin
17 John LaBrec
23
Ray Radatz
27
Charles Radatz
28
Verna Carlin, Charles and Coralyn Radatz
Springtime
Each budding bush and flower
Is waiting “in the wings”.
Like actors in a drama
For their cue to ring.
God has the script.
The signals are in order.
Each in its appointed time
To bloom in royal splendor.
So too, we mortals in His care,
Each has a role to play.
May we in child-like faith
respond
With blossoms bright and gay!
The blossoms are the acts of love
Done for our fellowman.
Endow us Lord with grace
That we will do the best we can.
--Minnie Wright
MARCH ATTENDANCE AND OFFERING
Date S.School SS offering
Worship Worship
Attendance Offering Attendance
Offering
6th………26………......$63.60…………..
43……......$1,477.00
13th
…..22………….....23.75……....……47……..…......882.00
20th ……23……..…....23.50…..……..…41...........991.00
Ave……...24……….....$36.95….………...44……......$1,117.00
*$1,560.00—projected
need for our ministries each
week.
God is able to do exceedingly
abundantly—above what we
can imagine.
Disaster Response
The
small
obliterated by a powerful
tornado in May last year.
All but 7 of the town’s 170
homes were completely
destroyed. Many of the
affected families were
underinsured.
After
being closed for the winter, this project
has now re-opened.
Our
district, Northern Plains, is scheduled to
work March 28-April 2, and
again June 5-11. Contact
Cliff Bollinger, our Disaster
Relief Coordinator for
further information if you
are available to help.
Founded in 1887 by the Church of the Brethren,
liberal arts college.
The college welcomes students
of all cultural, economic and
religious backgrounds.
The
23-acre campus is located in
community where values are as
meaningful as grades.
It is a place of challenge,
fun and opportunities. It
boasts a beautiful campus, a
great location and a
solid reputation.
Remember
professors in your prayers, that they may continue
emphasizing scholarship, participation and service –
for the glory of God and our neighbor’s good.
Bible Study
Our
Bible reading sessions will continue, but
with a change in
format. Instead of a chapter a day,
we'll take more time and read
a chapter a week, with
discussions taking place once
a month.
Take this opportunity to spend more time reading
God's word and applying it to
daily living. Allow
God's Spirit to speak to you
through the scriptures
and through our discussions, as we learn and grow
together.
Our
study will be on 2 Corinthians, with the
following schedule:
week 1 - March 28 - 2
Corinthians 1
week 2 - April 4 - 2
Corinthians 2
week 3 -April 11 - 2
Corinthians 3
week 4 - April 18 - 2
Corinthians 4
week 5 - April 28 - 2
Corinthians 5
We'll meet at Peckovers home on Saturday, April 30 at
5:30 pm for discussion of
chapters 1-5.
This has been a very painful time for
Minnesotans in the aftermath
of the tragedy at
Pastor Cara attends as
Northern Plains District
representative, has responded
in several ways.
MCC
staff issued a press release on 3/22
expressing condolences to the
Red Lake Nation and
community and urging people
to pray, offer support,
and cherish
children MCC staff attended the Pipe
Ceremony at the Capitol on
3/22 on behalf of MCC and
member communions
MCC staff contacted MCC's Minnesota Indian
Ecumenical Ministry Advisory
Committee to make what
connections we could
MCC staff contacted Rev. Marlene Whiterabbit
Helgemo with All Nations Church in Minneapolis to
extend out thoughts and
prayers and to offer any
assistance
MCC
staff contacted staff at the Jewish Community
Relations Council to state
our concern about the Nazi
website component of the
story coming out of Red Lake
and to lend support
Due to many
requests to offer assistance, The
Episcopal Diocese, through
their relationship with the
special fund for
contributions:
Red Lake Nation Memorial Fund
Red Lake Band of Chippewa
P. O. Box 574
Red Lake, MN Â 56671