Southwood Lutheran Church

Reception for Kim Turnage

 Kim Turnage has served as our Director of Ministry for the past 4 years. She and her family are leaving Southwood as her husband Rick takes a new job in the Denver, CO area. We will have a special reception to honor Kim’s ministry with us on Sunday, January 11 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. A formal presentation of thanks and blessings will be held in the Fellowship Hall at 3:00 p.m.

Please plan to attend as we honor Kim’s ministry at Southwood.

If you are unable to attend and would like to leave a note of thanks and farewell you can do so by leaving a comment on this post.

Thanks from City Impact

Before Christmas, Southwood collected gifts for City Impact's Gifts of Love Christmas Store. We received this note from City Impact after Christmas:

Southwood Friends --

Wow! That's all we can say in addition to Thank You! Thank you for the wonderful outpouring of generosity from Southwood. I don't know how many car loads Jo was able to bring from Southwood, but it was a lot! Thank you also to the many hands who assisted during the Gifts of Love store...from set up to gift wrapping...it was all appreciated! Thank you also to the youth group who shopped and bought gifts so our Bible Club and Impact Leadership Academy youth could shop for their loved ones. Again, Thank you! Your partnership is such a blessing to us!

Love,

The Staff of City Impact

Making Ripples

Harold Hamilton's generosity is creating quite the ripple effect...you can see it on the comments to our original blog post and when you read the comments to Colleen Kenney's Journal Star story about him. I just took a call from the next wave in the ripple.

Karen from Byron, NE called Southwood this morning. She was inspired by Harold's story. There's a family in her community with a preemie, and Karen wants to learn about how she can help. Southwood doesn't have a connection with Newborns in Need....that's one of Harold's ministries....but we found information about the Lincoln chapter of that organization here....and now maybe Karen will start making her own ripples in Byron.

Do you know someone else who's making ripples through the ways they serve others? Tell us about it here....you can use your name or be anonymous when you comment...but share the story!

What would the world be like.....

What would the world be like if everyone made decisions like Joe Miller? Joe owns a farm just outside Denver. As he was combining his fields, he looked out at a field full of potatoes that wouldn't be harvested this year and thought, "There's gotta be a way to get these to people who need them."

Joe's idea was to open up the farm to all-comers and let them harvest their own potatoes, beets, onions, and carrots ..... for free. They expected 5,000 to come.....they got WAY more than that in a gleaning of the fields that brought to mind the Hebrew law of the harvest.

 'When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.' (Leviticus 23:22)

Hear Joe tell the whole story...how many people came, how much food they took away....here.

So....what would the world be like if everyone made decisions like Joe Miller?

What time is it?

I've been thinking about time a lot lately, and the wisdom of Solomon echoes in my mind.

For everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven...(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

In the verses that follow, Solomon paints a picture of opposites....a time to tear down and a time to build up....a time to grieve and a time to dance....a time to keep and a time to throw away....

A friend sent me this video that tells the story beautifully in words and images:

I always looked at those times as being either/or....you're either tearing down or building up. But as I prepare to leave my home, my friends, my church, I find that I'm living in a "both/and" kind of time.

As I disassemble parts of my life here....selling my house, arranging for going away parties for my kids, wrapping up loose ends of things I've started and can't finish...... I'm also beginning to build up parts of my life in a new place....finding a new home, registering my kids for new schools, looking at possibilities for a new church.

At the same time as I grieve the goodbyes, a part of me dances in anticipation of the adventure.

And don't even get me started on the keeping and the throwing away......

But in the middle of it all....all the extremes of emotion that get muddled together when the "either/ors" become "both/ands" ... I cling to the beautiful promise in verse 11.

Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.

As Pastor Sara reminded us on Sunday (hear her sermon about Psalm 95 here), God holds the whole world in his hands and he will make everything beautiful in this time....even if I can't see it from here....and no matter how mixed up things feel right now.

Kim

Psalm 121 - Study. Pray. Live.

This devotion is the outcome of a collaborative effort by people in Adult Sunday School last week.

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
       where does my help come from?

 2 My help comes from the LORD,
       the Maker of heaven and earth.

 3 He will not let your foot slip—
       he who watches over you will not slumber;

 4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
       will neither slumber nor sleep.

 5 The LORD watches over you—
       the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

 6 the sun will not harm you by day,
       nor the moon by night.

 7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
       he will watch over your life;

 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
       both now and forevermore.

3 Thoughts:

• This is a psalm about hope. People with no hope have no reason to lift their eyes to the hills to look for help. People without hope know that help isn't coming. But God's people live with an ever-present hope and a sense of assurance that God will be there for  them throughout their lives.
• This is a psalm about comfort. Sitting at my grandfather's funeral, I remember saying verse one to myself....I lift my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from?.... and answering myself with verse 2 ... My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.... It's comforting to know that God is with me in the lowest of lows.
• This psalm is about more than just what God does. It's about who God is. He is the Maker of all things; his power is unmatched. And he uses his power to care for us -- God never sleeps, he will keep you from all harm, he watches over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

3 Questions:

• Are there people in your life who have been "a constant help in times of trouble"? Who are they? How is their presence and help different from what the psalmist expresses about God in Psalm 121?
• Do you have a sense of hope and assurance that God is always there for you? What can you do when God seems distant?
• What are you anxious about today? How does this psalm speak into your feelings of anxiety? Does it change anything?

A Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, Help us to remain steadfast in faith as we await your help and protection. We know you are surely awake always and watching over us.Help us always trust in your promises. In your holy name, Amen.

Psalm 119 - Study, Pray, Live.

Read Psalm 119

3 Thoughts:

• Psalm 119 is the longest Psalm and the longest chapter in the Bible. It is built in an acrostic pattern. There are 22 eight-verse units, corresponding to the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. All the verses in the first 8-line unit begin with alef, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet; the second 8-verse unit begins with bet, the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and so on. This seems like an odd way to write until you remember that at the time it was written most people couldn’t read, and written texts were very rare. So the pattern was actually a teaching tool that helped people memorize the wisdom imparted through the psalm. It’s an ode to the power and wisdom of God’s word.
• When I first read this psalm, I didn’t know about the alphabet acrostic pattern. I imagined each 8-verse unit as a different person’s short story of how God’s teaching works in his or her life. The entire psalm is about God’s teaching. Often the Hebrew translates to “law.” But try substituting “teaching” whenever you see “law” and see how that changes your interpretation of the psalm.
• I love how personal this psalm is. Most of the verses are in the first person. Seven of the 8 verses in the second unit (vv. 9-16) start with the word, “I.” And one of the verses that has stuck with me since childhood is contained in this psalm: 105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.

3 Questions:

• Read each of the 8-verse units in this psalm. Which one comes closest to how you’re feeling about God today?
• If you used one of the 8-verse units as a model for writing about your own experience of God’s teaching in your life, what would you write? Try writing your own 8-verse unit.
• Notice the contrast between the first and last verses of this psalm: 

1 Joyful are people of integrity who follow the instructions of the Lord

176 I have wandered away like a lost sheep; come and find me, for I have not forgotten your commands.

Today are you living closer to verse 1 or verse 176? Have you ever experienced that verse 176 feeling? Do you believe that God will come and find you when you call?

A Prayer:
O Lord, you created me; now give me the sense to follow your teaching (v. 73). Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope. (v. 49). Let me live so I can praise you (v. 175), and may your Word be a lamp to guide my feet and a light to my path (v. 105). Amen.

Quiet

This post comes from 97secondswithgod by Prodigal Jon. Check out his blog for more great devotions.

Life is loud right now. The average person sees up to 5,000 marketing messages a day. That means that every week, someone is telling you something 35,000 times. Every month, you get offered 150,000 different messages, most of which are trying to sell you something that will improve your life. Every year, more than 1.8 million messages tell you how to be a better you with what they offer. And when we add our own internal soundtracks to that noise, things get really cluttered.

We tell ourselves we're not good enough. Or that we're fantastic. We inflate and deflate our own egos all day long with ideas and words and thoughts that bounce around our hearts and heads. Friends and family, coworkers and television, the internet and radio add to the conversation.

And life feels loud.

That's why I love Zephaniah 3:17:

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.

The whole verse is great, but my favorite part might be the promise that God will "quiet you with his love."

I am in awe that the verse is not written:

God will quiet you by speaking louder than everything else.
God will quiet you with his knowledge
God will quiet you with his disappointment in you for allowing life to get so loud
God will quiet you with his anger.

It's love. God is going to quiet us with his love. And when he does, we'll be able to hear him singing over us.

Life is loud right now, and there are ways I can be deliberate and intentional about making it quieter. But the truth is, what I pray for the most, when things feel loud and out of control, is that God will quiet me with his love.

Psalm 2: Study, Pray, Live.

Psalm 2

6 For the Lord declares, "I have placed my chosen king on the throne in Jerusalem, on my holy mountain."

10 Now the, you kings, act wisely! Be warned, you rulers of the earth!

11 Serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling.

3 Thoughts

• This psalm was written to celebrate the coronation of an Israelite king, but it's a great reminder to all leaders...everywhere...across all time...that God is the ruler of all and that all serve him.
  
• In verse 3, we hear the rulers of the earth crying out, "Let us break their chains, and free ourselves from slavery to God." Freedom seems so enticing. But we have freedom in God not apart from him. Just as a fish has freedom in water or a plant has freedom to grow when it's planted in the soil, we are free to be who God made us to be when we live in Him.
• "Submit" (v. 12) is a word that doesn't get a lot of use in our culture. It means "to yield or surrender oneself to the will or authority of another." We like to be in charge, not to submit...."but the one who rules in heaven laughs." (v. 4).  When I read that verse I imagine God laughing at our insistence on our own way just as I laugh quietly at my own children's attempts to be in charge.
  

3 Questions

• As I write this devotion, our nation is electing a new president. Will we have the kind of leader who will "serve the Lord with reverent fear, and rejoice with trembling" at the opportunity to serve? Do you know any leaders personally ... maybe in your workplace, in our local government, or in the church ... who approach leadership with this attitude? How do you feel about leaders who take a servant-oriented approach to leadership?

• Everyone serves somebody or something. If we "free ourselves from slavery to God," who or what would we serve instead?

• What would happen in your relationships with your spouse, parents, friends, children, coworkers, if you made a conscious effort to submit yourself to their will? Experiment with submitting and note how it changes your relationships.

A Prayer:

Lord, we pray that the leaders of our nation and our world would act wisely, that they would serve you in reverence, and rejoice with trembling at the opportunity to lead. Strengthen our leaders and strengthen us as we seek to serve you. Teach me to submit my will to you so that I might freely and fully live out the life you made me for. Amen

First Impressions

Rick and I took our first trip last weekend to Denver to look for a new house, new schools....and a new church (read this if you're wondering what's going on).

At the church we attended on Sunday morning, I experienced what will be the first of many first impressions as we search for a church where our family can serve and grow in our faith together. We visited Mountainview Community Christian Church in the Highlands Ranch area of the Denver metro. Here's what we experienced:

• The church has a single entrance/exit so traffic flow is very important. They have signs indicating where it is and isn't ok to drop off (so you don't block traffic flow), and a very friendly parking lot greeter gave us the inside scoop on where to park for easy exit after the service.
• As we walked in, a grownup greeter with a great little helper held the door open for us.
• The pastor, Jim, said hello as we walked in and had a quick conversation with Rick as I made a beeline with the kids to the Kids Connection area where Megan introduced herself, asked a little about us, and got the two younger kids nametags for Sunday School.
• Megan walked with us to the kids' Sunday School rooms and introduced us and the kids to the teachers (Miss Debbie & Mr. Calvin) who were ready and waiting. Our kids were the first ones there, and the teachers did a great job of making them feel welcome and helping them get started on something to do.
• Megan walked us back out into the lobby area, asked a little about what brought us to Mountainview, and invited us to their Trunk or Treat Halloween party later than afternoon before she went back to the Kids Connection area.
• We headed upstairs where our oldest son had disappeared on his own to the youth area, found him and saw the youth director's Husker-themed office (a big welcome sign to us, if to no one else!)
• We found the clearly marked restrooms and had a quick drink of coffee
• As we entered the worship space, the usher handed us a bulletin and said, "Hey, I'm really glad to see you here today."

DING! There went our first 10 (or maybe 15) minutes. And all I could say was, "Wow!!"  We hadn't heard a song or a sermon, but we had already decided that this was a place we want to learn more about.

Since Southwood has moved into our new building, I've talked with hundreds of Sunday morning volunteers about how important it is to create that WOW experience, to make people feel comfortable as they prepare to worship with us. I've been on the "first impression creation" end of the first impression for a long time. And now I will have many opportunities to be on the "first impression formation" end of things.

I will visit every church with hopeful expectancy for the WOW. Mountainview wildly exceeded my expectations as a place that is genuinely welcoming. It wasn't perfect. There were a couple of things that could have worked better for us. But I'm not looking for perfection. I'm looking for authenticity and I definitely found it!

If you're new to Southwood, can you remember what your first impressions were? If you're a regular at Southwood, what kinds of experiences have you had lately that put you in the role of a newcomer? What are we doing really well at Southwood to create WOW first impressions? What can we do better? I'd like to hear from you....

Kim