Southwood Lutheran Church

Prince Caspian

The next Chronicles of Narnia movie comes out this weekend - Prince Caspian.  Anybody planning to go and see it? 

I've been re-reading the book and I'm almost done!  Yes, it is a children's book, and yes, its taken me two weeks to complete.  Nevertheless - it is a great book and I can wait to see it play out on the big screen.  I can't wait to see the themes of faith, perseverance, and patience come to life in a whole new way.

In Prince Capsian, Aslan’s magic draws Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy out of their own world and back into Narnia.  The children find that the wicked King Miraz has usurped the Narnian throne from his nephew Prince Caspian and has banished all who are known to believe in Aslan.  Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy assist Prince Caspian in the battle to restore Narnia to its former glory.

As in all of the Narnia tales, there are great spiritual lessons we can learn Here are four of them:

1. We must know, love, trust, and obey God, no matter the difficulties.
2. We must follow Christ, even if we follow him alone.
3. We must wait for the Lord.
4. We have joy in God’s presence, for we know he has won the victory, and we are more than conquerors in him.  Click here to read more!

Let me know if you go and see the movie!  I'll be back with a review after I've seen it!  Enjoy the movie!

Pastor Sara

VIDEO of the Week: Parenting Influences

One parent asks: I don't like my twelve-year-old daughter's friends. I find them stuck up and gossipy. I told her what I thought, but she got very angry and stuck up for them. How do I keep her from becoming like them?

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

Confirmation: A Rite of Passage But Not a Graduation

For me, Confirmation Sunday is a mix of great joy and sadness. I celebrate our work as a church to connect students to Christ and to model life as a follower of Christ. And I mourn because I will never see more than half of the students again. They’ll think they’ve “graduated” from church and will disappear from Southwood altogether.

Studies show that 88% of students will leave the church by the age of 18. If that holds true, 42 of our 48 confirmands this year will leave the church by age 18. But there’s hope! The same studies show that if all of our 48 confirmands have parents who model their faith and share their faith with others, only 2 of them (5%) will leave the church. The difference is staggering and highlights the importance of parental involvement in the discipleship process of their children.

I frequently tell parents that what happens at home will have a far greater impact on the hearts, minds, and choices of their children than what happens at church will. An average middle or high school student probably spends 3-4 hours at church per month. They spend 200+ hours at home with their parents. If parents aren’t teaching their children how to become followers of Christ, then sending them to church and expecting the church to “educate” them won’t have the impact that they desire, and it won’t fulfill the vision of Southwood for our youth.

My prayer is that parents will actively model the life of faith for their students and encourage them to stay involved with Southwood throughout their lives. I hope that every year fewer and fewer students will leave the church after they are confirmed.

Make no mistake, growing Christ followers is a difficult task. But it is the most important gift we can give our children. What are you doing at home to actively disciple your children? How do you model your faith at home? Do your children see Jesus living through you? These are difficult questions, but they have eternal significance.

Chip

VIDEO of the Week: Non-Negotiables in Parenting

When a married couple is on different spectrums in their parenting ideas, how do you compromise or establish values that are agreed upon? Watch this video and think about your values when it comes to parenting.

We're real people - a simple solution doesn't often work for our deepest struggles and questions.  Tune in each week on Tuesday to watch a series of videos by Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  Here you will find advice from seasoned leaders about everything from parenting and marriage, to spirituality, goals, and leadership.

For over 1800 other free videos check out the Solutions for Life website.

Going the Extra Mile

On Sunday, April 20th, you may have noticed several middle and high school students walking or running on a treadmill in our Café area. They were raising both money and awareness for the Extra Mile walk for the Food Bank of Lincoln. The walk specifically benefits the Backpack Program and will be held this Saturday, April 26th at 10:00am.

About 15 high school students and adult leaders from Southwood will be walking on Saturday as a team to support this cause. Many more Southwood students will be walking as a part of teams from their schools. All told, the students and adult leaders raised $520 for the Extra Mile, which will provide 7 students a backpack full of food for an entire school semester!

If you want to Get involved with Southwood's efforts at Saratoga Elementary school click here.

Check out what Jacob and Jay had to say about participating in this great cause!

Jay is Going the Extra Mile

Learn more about the Back Pack program here and here. Due to technical difficulties (dead batteries) Jay's video gets cut off - what he had to say was passionate and eloquent to say the least! Thanks to all the youth who continue to reach out to those in need.

Jacob is Going the Extra Mile

Learn more about the Back Pack program here and here.

Sleeping on the Lord’s Prayer

Lord’s Prayer class for 1st graders

Last Sunday in the Faith Stepping Stones class for 1st graders and their parents, Pastor Michael and Luther helped the 1st graders look at the Lord’s Prayer petition by petition, drawing pictures for each petition and then translating them into a word and picture representation of the Lord’s Prayer on a pillow case.

Sleeping on the Lord’s Prayer probably won’t embed it in their memory, but reading it every night before they go to sleep might! Click on PRAYER to see kids and parents making the pillow cases.

Faye Koehn
Children & Family Ministry

Uphill Somersaults

At a soccer game this weekend, I was distracted by a little girl trying to do a somersault - uphill. You can imagine this wasn't going so well! In fact, at one point, she was standing on her head for about 5 seconds, completely stuck. She was very determined, though, and finally she made it over (and up the hill).

It made me think about how many times in my life I've insisted on doing an uphill somersault. There have been many times in my life when God was leading me in a certain direction (like gravity was leading that little girl downhill), but I insisted on my own way. Watching her, I realized that God never gave up on me (just like gravity never gave up on the little girl), but he did let me go my own way. And I'm learning on my own that downhill somersaults are a lot easier...and a lot more fun.

As a parent, I have a tendency to want to be an irresistible force in my children's lives....gravity that can't be overcome....no uphill somersaults for the wee Turnage people if I can help it. But that's not the kind of parent God is. I still have a lot to learn. What things is God teaching you about parenting?

Kim

Saratoga Kids Say Thanks

Around Valentine's Day Southwood's Sunday School students made snack sacks for kids at Saratoga. The sacks had cheese and crackers, raisins, and other snacks...and they were beautifully hand-decorated by the Sunday School kids. See more pictures of Southwood's kids making the bags here. Recently, we got some very special thank-you's from Saratoga students. My words can't do them justice, so here they are.