Tue
Apr 20
2010
Lisa Kramme
Director of Faith Formation
Nebraska Synod, ELCA
This past week I heard a historian talk about various stages of economic development our world has gone through.
In the beginning we were hunters and gatherers. Then we became largely agrarian, working with our hands and other small tools. After that came larger tools and the age of manufacturing. Now, we are in an era where the economy is based largely on information or knowledge.
The speaker asserted that a large shift has happened in “work” as our country defines that term. That is, we no longer work with our hands so much as we work with our minds. Although this seems to be true enough economically, I believe that some of the most important work we can engage in is still with our hands.
What are you and I doing with our hands and with the riches that God has placed within our reach? How are we teaching our children to care for what God has given us to share and enjoy?
Please consider putting your hands to work with those of your friends, reaching out to brothers and sisters in the following ways:
- Take part in Project Embrace. This vacation Bible school experience is an outreach into the neighborhoods surrounding our Mission Field Nebraska site at Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey in Omaha. Children from 5-12 years of age, many from homes with very low incomes, learn about Jesus through this experience that takes place each week in June. Groups of people are still needed to help at Project Embrace during two sessions—June 1-3 and June 8-10. If your group would like to stay the night in Omaha, you are welcome to stay at Cristo Rey. This is an ideal mission opportunity for young people in confirmation classes and their adult sponsors.
- Help Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey launch a new Sunday School program. Beginning in September 2010, Cristo Rey plans to start holding Christian education classes for their children from toddlers through high school age youth. Pastor Liz Conner of Cristo Rey invites people from across the Nebraska Synod to volunteer to plan and lead one or more Sunday School sessions between September through November 2010 and January through May 2011. The time will be 10-11:50 a.m. on Sundays during those months.
To take part in either of these ministry opportunities, please contact Pastor Liz Conner at 402-734-6957 (church office) or 402-598-2483 (cell).
We pray following the offering in worship, “Blessed are you, O God, maker of all things. Through your goodness you have blessed us with these gifts: our selves, our time, and our possessions. Use us, and what we have gathered, in feeding the world with your love, through the one who gave himself for us, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”
Amen.
