Category: Uncategorized

In Psalm 107:37, we read, “They sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield.”

October is a month of harvest. If you haven’t finished picking and pulling your garden plants, this month is the time to finish that task. Any crops left in fields get harvested during the month of October. Here in Wisconsin, if you don’t finish your harvesting before Halloween, it’s likely not to get harvested.

As I write this article, I am just about to pull my tomato plants and harvest the rest of my tomatoes. Oddly, this year my tomato plants produced fruit much later than normal. Usually I pull my tomato plants early in September, but not this year. Once I harvest the remaining tomatoes then I will have everything out of my garden except a few carrots.

For me, harvest is an exciting time. I get to take stock of what my little garden has produced. I don’t can anything, but I freeze a lot each year. This year I planted extra tomato plants because we ran out of frozen tomato juice which I use for making various soups throughout the year. As I finish harvesting all those tomatoes, I will turn them into juice, measuring it out in the amount I need for soup before I freeze it. I have already also chopped and frozen peppers for those same soup recipes. And I cooked the one squash I grew this year and froze that for future use.

I don’t have a very big garden. My garden is literally 2 feet by 18 feet right next to our garage, plus a raised planter next to the back porch. Still every year, I raise plenty to eat, plenty to freeze, and plenty to share. That makes me happy.

I think of the story of the mustard seed found in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. If it’s in all three of those gospels, it must be important. The story reminds us that a tiny mustard seed when planted grows almost into the size of a small tree, and birds can lodge in its branches. Jesus then reminds his followers that lots of small items and actions and words can grow into something big. My little garden is much like that mustard seed.

There are many, many ways that the small things in our lives can become larger things. When we are kind and generous and loving and gracious, our actions touch many other people’s lives. So, share what you have, and your harvest will multiply.

Pastor Beth

It’s that time of the year again. September is the beginning of a new school year, a new Sunday school year, and harvest time. The leaves will quickly begin to turn color for the Fall, and our gardens and crops will bring in a bounty. Even though Art and I don’t have children, there is still a buzz in the air, and we definitely know what month it is!

At Our Redeemer’s this September, we will be particularly busy. We have lots of special events going on:

              Monday, September 1, at 10 a.m., we will have a float in the Suring Labor Day parade. If you would like to ride on the float, talk to me!

              Sunday, September 7, we will have our second annual pet blessing and then our Sunday School rally. We will worship outdoors that day, unless it rains. If it rains, we will meet in fellowship hall. All animals and people are welcome. After the worship service, we will have finger foods and games for people to play.

              Sunday, September 14, will be the first Sunday of Sunday School classes. There will be two classes this year: preschool through grade 2 and grades 3 through 6. We will also present Bibles to our elementary-age children during the worship service.

              Sunday, September 21, we will have a baptism!! Come and celebrate with baby Myles and his family.

              Sunday, September 28, we will bless the quilts that the quilters of Our Redeemer’s have made this past year as we prepare to box them up and ship them off to help other people around the world. Quilting is truly a ministry of love!

As you can see, September is action-packed in our congregation. Please come, join us, and be a part of all the festivities.

Pastor Beth

First of all, thank you to everyone who sent well wishes via mail, email, texts, or phone calls when I had surgery.  It was delightful and greatly appreciated.  Since my ankle surgery, I have been getting around with a knee scooter and crutches.  Immediately, I started to make notes about lessons learned while using them. Here are some of my learnings:

Crutches are more difficult to use than I remember. I last used them in 2018 so not that long ago, but this time around has been much harder.

I don’t know how anyone can use either the crutches or the knee scooter if they didn’t already workout because it is a workout!  I jazzercise regularly and I was intentionally doing an upper-body workout to prepare, and I’m still exhausted all the time when I use them.

Some people don’t watch out for me, even when they look right at me on crutches or a scooter.  Most people have been very kind and gracious and helpful by holding doors and offering to carry things.

I can’t carry much while on crutches or the scooter. I’m using a backpack, but it throws off my balance when I’m on crutches.  I have a bag on one scooter and a basket on the other, but they don’t carry a lot.

Art and I have discovered that we can work together. (Early in our marriage we discovered that we don’t always work well together.)  However, one day early in my recovery I wanted to bake a cake which I couldn’t make on my own. I needed help to get ingredients down and to put it into the oven and get it back out. We managed!

When we moved into our house, it seemed so large. However, it seems small as I try to get around on a knee scooter in it.  I have to make a lot of Y-turns.

While the floors in our house are level, the transitions between floors can be a challenge. Also, dog toys inhibit getting around.  Both the floor transitions and the dog toys cause the scooter to come to a complete halt.

Handicap parking is excellent. However, parking lot and sidewalk surfaces are not always level.  They have grooves, bumps, and holes in them.

Going backwards on a scooter can be painful, especially when I run into something.

There are lots of lessons that I have learned. I hope you enjoy this list!

Pastor Beth

I think many of us get to be those “Get off my yard, you young whippersnapper” kind of people as we age. Not every day, but some days. I know that for myself, as I approach 60, I have those days when I wonder about younger generations. However, then I have other days when young people give me great hope for the future.

Recently, Art and I went to a high school graduation party for our friends’ son. Because the son was in music and drama in high school, many of his drama and music friends were there. When we arrived they had a game of poker going in the garage, but really it was a few who knew how to play teaching others who didn’t know how to play. We sat nearby for a while and listened to them, and it was wonderful. They were laughing. They were helping each other. They were sharing memories, and they were talking about the future. Listening to this group of friends, I could see that they have a bright future.

Over the last few months at church, we have gotten to celebrate with our young people at church. Three people celebrate their Confirmation, and three people celebrated their high school graduation. Then we had a week of Vacation Bible School.

Our young people are all very impressive and have a bright future. They are all hard workers. Almost all of them have jobs, in addition to going to school. At least one of the high school graduates took college courses while in high school and working a job, so that they are already ahead of the game for advanced learning. Some of them have been traveling this summer (2 to Washington D.C. and one to London and Paris) to see more of the world. Some of our young people came and taught or helped with VBS, giving their own time and even taking off work in order to help teach the younger children.

I like to think that Our Redeemer’s has helped to lay a good foundation in the lives of these young people, in addition to their families. The more we set a good example for the young people in our presence, the more they can see that anything is possible. Let continue to celebrate them!

Pastor Beth

I’m nesting. Now, don’t get any funny ideas. I’m too old to be having a baby. Sadly, I’m not even getting a new puppy or kitten. No, I’m preparing for surgery. On June 16 I will have ankle surgery.

In the meantime, I’m painting my kitchen. I started this project a year ago, and I got one wall painted. But then I got to the walls that had wallpaper on them, and things stalled. I removed some of it. Some of the wallpaper had already begun to come off on its own. We had a dog who had also taken some off. However, the rest of it clung to the wall like there was no tomorrow. I scraped. I scored it. I sprayed the stuff on it that “guaranteed” it would come off. I soaked it. I steamed it. Still there were large sections of the wallpaper that just would not budge. I gave up.

Early this spring a wise woman asked me about the progress in my kitchen. She suggested that I hire someone to remove the wallpaper. That was a novel thought to me. I had already asked our handyman, and he laughed at me. I told every person who had checked in on the progress of the kitchen that they could come over and help remove wallpaper, and they laughed at me. I didn’t think there was anyone who would remove it.

I searched online and found a painting company that would do it. When the man came to give an estimate, he said it was a small job that would probably only take an hour. When the day came to remove it, it took 2 workers over 3 hours to get it off. And I felt vindicated that I hadn’t made much progress.

Since that day, I have been happily painting away whenever I get a chance. My goal is to complete the project before surgery. One day when I was painting, I thought about the last time I did a major painting project. The month before I had my knee replaced, I painted our bedroom. So, this apparently has become one of the ways I nest before surgery.

It will be nice to have the kitchen completed and to have the ankle fixed. Blessings on all your projects!

Pastor Beth

I often think of the next several weeks as good times for family. During those weeks, we have several opportunities to gather with family, to celebrate with family, and to remember family.

In May we celebrate Mother’s Day. I always encourage people to remember all the important women in their lives for Mother’s Day. There are so many women who help to raise us: mothers, grandmothers, aunts, godmothers, and others. Therefore, it is important to remember those women in some way and to thank them for all that they have done for us.

In June we celebrate Father’s Day. Again, I always encourage people to remember all the important men in their lives on Father’s Day. We have many men who help to raise us also: fathers, grandfathers, uncles, godfathers, and others. It is important to remember those men in some way and to thank them in some way for all that they have done for us.

In between those two holidays is Memorial Day. While Memorial Day is not specifically for family events, it is a day meant to remember and to honor the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Some of us do have family members who died in service. Even if we don’t, Memorial Day is also a time to go the cemeteries to place flowers at the graves of our family members who have died, to honor and remember them.

Family is important. Whoever they are and whatever family looks like for us, family is crucial in our lives. They provide a foundation of love, support, and belonging. They instill values, offer guidance, and help us navigate life’s challenges. Strong family bonds foster a sense of purpose and identity, contributing to our overall happiness and self-esteem. Even when family members tease us and drive us crazy, we appreciate them and need them.

Beyond the specific holidays I have already mentioned, I think the summer months in general bring us more opportunities to get together with family. The warmer weather allows us to gather outside or to go camping together or to simply go for a walk together. We can cook out, picnic, and tailgate together. These are opportunities to make memories and to support one another.

As the weather (hopefully) turns warmer, we have a lot to look forward to. Enjoy those chances!

Pastor Beth

I love butterflies. I’m pretty sure that I have always loved butterflies. I have memories of being a little kid gleefully chasing monarch butterflies down the cow path when we lived on the farm. It’s just such a magical experience to have one of those tiny creatures land on your clothing or your hand!

Butterflies are so beautiful. There is such a variety of colors and patterns: black and brown stripes, all green, blue and white with brown spots, green and teal and black, yellow and black, the list goes on and on. It seems to me that God maybe spent extra time on this insect order known as Lepidoptera.

Butterflies are also so very delicate. Their wings are thin and fragile. Their bodies are soft and not as protective as those of other insects. This fragility makes me want to protect them. It also makes me want to plant milkweed to feed the local monarchs.

Recently, there was a picture of a butterfly for the children to color in one of the children’s bulletins. I was honored that one of the children colored his butterfly purple and then handed it to me at the end of the worship service. That same children’s bulletin also said that butterflies are symbols of Spring. That’s very true. I remember teachers in my elementary school who would bring in cocoons in the Spring so that we could watch them transform into butterflies. Then we would get to release the butterflies when they were ready.

Butterflies also symbolize transformation and new life. The butterfly’s transformation from cocoon into winged creature is a powerful symbol of change and rebirth. It’s quite a difficult process to become a butterfly. For us, as Christians, the butterfly is one of the symbols of Easter because of this transformation. After Jesus’ death on the cross, his body was placed in the tomb and transformed before he rose again.

Over the next month, we will remember Jesus’ final journey on earth. We will remember the ride into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, the last supper on Maundy Thursday, the death on Good Friday, and the glorious rise from death on Easter Sunday. It’s a journey we follow every year because it is such a vital story of our faith. I hope you will join us for this journey!

Pastor Beth

The time for Lent has come. Ash Wednesday is on March 5. It’s this late in the year about a third of the time. It all depends on the cycles of the moon. And, of course, Ash Wednesday ushers in the season of Lent which ends on Easter Sunday.

The season of Lent is a time for us to be intentional about examining our relationship with God during the 40 days which lead up to the highest holy day of Easter. It is a time for repentance, prayer, fasting, and almsgiving traditionally. People generally give something up for Lent or take on a new project or ministry during Lent. This is a season to recognize our brokenness and to grow deeper in our relationship with God.

Each year as a congregation, we have a theme to follow during Lent. This year the theme is: “God’s Love is Shown.” This series for the six weeks of Lent and for Holy Week will delve into the rich and diverse aspects of God’s love shown to us most clearly in the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Each worship service will focus on a specific descriptor of God’s love in our lives:

                                                          Wednesday, March 5 = Redemptive Love

                                                          Sunday, March 9 = Compassionate Love

                                                          Sunday, March 16 = Steadfast Love

                                                          Sunday, March 23 = Enriching Love

                                                          Sunday, March 30 = Living Love

                                                          Sunday, April 6 = Holy Love

                                                          Sunday, April 13 = Saving Love

                                                          Thursday, April 17 = Selfless Love

                                                          Friday, April 18 = Sacrificial Love

                                                          Sunday, April 20 = Joyous Love

Extra worship services that we will have are Ash Wednesday, March 5, at 6:00 pm; Maundy Thursday, April 17, at 6:00 pm; and Good Friday, April 18, at 6:00 pm. Otherwise, all the other worship services will take place at the regular time on Sunday mornings.

There will also be a Lenten Bible study on Wednesday evenings at 5:00 pm during Lent. This Bible study will follow the same themes as the worship services do.

May you find blessings during this season of Lent!

Pastor Beth

            As the calendar turns over to February, our thoughts turn to love. Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Tradition has it that the chubby cherub Cupid hangs around on Valentine’s Day launching arrows of love at unsuspecting lovers. I think when we are children, we are excited by the possibility that Cupid might send a crush our way. Of course, children also like the candy that comes with the holiday and exchanging Valentine cards with their friends and classmates.

            When we become young adults, our vision of Valentine’s Day changes. At this age, we are not as innocent in our understanding of love. We look for or maybe long for that special someone to come into our lives, and we hope for candy and flowers or that something special from that special someone. I remember watching florists deliver bouquet upon bouquet of flowers to various apartments and dorm rooms when I was a college student, always dreaming that someday one of those bouquets would be for me.

            Once we marry, our love matures over the years. We maybe don’t dream as much about flowers and candy as we hope for a simple meal and time spent together with loved ones. We commemorate the holiday with gifts for our children and grandchildren when they arrive. We love matures into something more than fanciful romance.

            Valentine’s Day has its roots in faith. The holiday is named after Saint Valentine who was a third-century priest whose ministry was rooted in acts of love and sacrifice. Saint Valentine defied the Roman laws of the time by secretly marrying Christian couples and assisting believers who were being persecuted. It was his love for Jesus Christ that led him to show such love and to take such risks. He sought to do good for others, even at great personal cost.

            Today, the day is focused more on romantic love, but the history behind it leads me to wonder. Imagine what our world would be like if each of us embraced the desire which Saint Valentine had. Imagine if we really tried to mirror Jesus by showing as much compassion, mercy, and love as we can to all the people we meet. Imagine how that compassion, mercy, and love could spread to even more people.

            The Bible tells us that love originates from God. “We love because God first loved us.” (1 John 4:19) The season of Lent this year doesn’t begin until March, but our theme for this year will be how God’s love is shown to us in our lives. Perhaps this month during which we think about love will lead us naturally into our studies about God’s love during the season of Lent.

Blessings on you as you share your love!

Pastor Beth

Every day when I log onto my Facebook account, I look through my memories that I have posted on that date over the last several years. Sometimes those memories make me laugh, sometimes they make me smile, sometimes they bring a tear to my eye, and sometimes they just cause me to pause and to think.

Recently, I saw a post in my memories where I was bemoaning the fact that I had to replace a kitchen clock and a bathroom laundry basket. The clock had stopped working and could no longer be fixed. The plastic weaving of the laundry basket had given way so the laundry just fell out through the side of it. Neither one of them was anything special, but I was bemoaning their loss because these were things I had purchased when I was in seminary ….. about 30 years prior! Because I had them so long, they had simply become part of my “stuff.” I liked them, and I wanted to keep them forever.

It sounds silly, even to me, but I get attached to my “stuff.” Some items have special meaning because I inherited them from my grandmother or they were a gift from someone important to me. However, most of the time the stuff I’m attached to are things like that kitchen clock or that laundry basket. It is illogical to become attached to such things, but I do.

I think we all have some of that attachment in us. We attach meaning to things that maybe aren’t that valuable or important. A big part of it is because we human beings don’t like change. Sometimes we go out of our way to try to ensure that something won’t change. I have often shared the story that when I was an intentional interim pastor I often taught congregations about accepting change, but then Art would move the garbage bags to a new place and I would go ballistic. Even when it would be logical to change, we resist and resist.

Happy New Year! We have entered into 2025. Many people make resolutions about changes they wish to make in the new year. Unfortunately, most of those resolutions get broken within days or weeks. Why? Because we resist change, and it’s easier to go back to our old ways than to continue on a journey of change. My prayer every new year is that we make the changes that we need to make and then we maintain those changes in our lives. The new year gives us a chance to pause and reflect on exactly what those changes need to be for us.

Blessings on your journeys of change this year!

Pastor Beth