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NEWS & EVENTS
October 14, 2026
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Pentecost 19 - October 18
Hymn of the Day: "O God of Every Nation" - ELW 713
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 | | In today’s gospel of Matthew 22:15-22, the Pharisees (lawyers of Jewish law) are acting as a devious party trying to entrap Jesus into breaking the law. They “butter-him-up” first by telling him how sincere they know he is, and how he teaches the way of God, and does not regard people with partiality.” They ask him, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” It sounds like Jesus is perhaps a bit irritated with them by immediately calling them out on their trickery. He accuses them of merely testing him and calling them “hypocrites”. Of course, as Jesus usually does, he answers their question with a question. He asks them whose head is engraved on the coin used for tax?, to which they answer, the emperor’s. Instead of answering the taxation question with a yes or no, Jesus tells them to give to the emperor what is his and to God what is God’s. They are trying to set up a political trap to force Jesus into a lose-lose choice regarding Roman taxes. The Pharisees must have been so frustrated. Jesus is too sharp to allow their entrapment scheme to work. They are being politically divisive. They are trying to use religion, flattery, and rules as weapons to control or destroy others rather than to seek truth. (wow, does this sound familiar?)
Stanza two of today’s hymn is our prayer petition. “From search for wealth and power and scorn of truth and right, from trust in bombs that shower destruction through the night, from pride of race and station and blindness to your way, deliver ev’ry nation, eternal God, we pray.”
The Department of International Affairs of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA invited the Hymn Society of America to seek new hymns for the “Fifth World Order Study Conference” in November of 1958. William Reid Jr. (1923-2007) gave the winning submission amongst over 200 entries. “This hymn holds back nothing about the curved-inward horrors we, (as humanity) inflict on one another with the arsenals of our economic engines and technology.” [1]
1. O God of ev’ry nation, of ev’ry race and land,
redeem your whole creation with your almighty hand;
Where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled,
in love and mercy guide us and heal our strifetorn world.
4. Keep bright in us the vision of days when war shall cease,
When hatred and division give way to loave and peace,
Till dawns the morning glorious when truth and love shall reign,
And Christ shall rule victorious o’er all the world’s domain.
Peace!
Deacon Gary Butler
[1] Westermeyer, Paul, “Hymnal Companion-Evangelical Lutheran Worship” (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress Pub. 2010) p. 570)
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Congregational Meeting - Sunday, October 25
The purpose of the October Congregational Meeting is to elect Council members and officers for the new year.
The slate of candidates is:
President – Elsa Larsen
Vice President – Luther Stave
Secretary – Holly Lahd Larson
Treasurer – Chris Westermeyer
Parish Life – Dick Hendrickson & Elizabeth Hendrickson-Nalli
Outreach – Angela Smithson & Adam Bueling
Youth & Learning – Terra Swisher
Worship, Music & Arts – Arlin Becker & Caren Cushing
Nominating Committee – Linda Hildebrant, Jackie Anderson, Nancy Nelson, Wayne Griesel
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Adult Education Forums
Faith and Civic Life will be the topic for the first three weeks of October. We will dive into a study guide that explores the ELCA's social statement for congregations and communities. You do not need to attend all three sessions. We will focus on the following topics:
10/18 - Contemporary Concerns in Civic Life and Implementing Resolutions
Upcoming forums/events:
10/25 - Congregational Meeting
11/1 - Timely Thoughts on End of Life Planning
Join us Sunday, November 1 at 10:30am to learn more about options and plans for the future - Karen Peterson from Better Place Forests will share information about planning for the end of your, or a loved one's, life. We'll talk about health care directives, legal considerations, payment options, and final resting places. This informal presentation will have plenty of time for questions!
Our adult education hour will be held in the Fireside Room. The planning team, including Sarah Borgeson, Linda Hildebrant, Rebecca Sauer and Pastor Sarah, is excited to offer engaging conversation throughout the year. As always, if you have ideas for speakers, topics or are interested in presenting, please contact one of us in person or email Rebecca at rjwestermeyer@gmail.com.
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Connecting with Community
A few years back Resurrection applied for and received a grant from the Saint Paul Area Synod to foster ways to connect with our neighbors. We have focused on getting to know more about Emmet D. Williams School across the street from us. We have sponsored events for teachers and staff, most notably our now annual Pancake Breakfast. Through these events we learn more about the needs of students and families in our community and their teachers. Several members have been tutoring, some volunteer in classrooms to help the teacher, and we’ve done a few ”one time projects”.
On Thursday October 22 conferences are held after the school day. We would like to offer dinner to teachers and staff who will be having a long day!
Help is needed for:
Tacos have been suggested - all expenses will be reimbursed from the grant. Set Up from 4:00-4:30 at the school. Clean Up at 7:00. Please contact Nancy Nelson (651-247-7716), text is easiest) if you can help out
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Connecting Across the Generations with Church Buddies!
For the grown-ups: You are invited to sign up as a church buddy to be connected with a child or youth of the congregation. You are encouraged to talk with your buddy when you see them at church, pray for your buddy, send a birthday or baptism anniversary greeting. Gifts and time spent together outside of church activities are not encouraged. This is a simple way for us to make more and deeper connections across the generations and help our children grow in knowing that church is a place where they are cared about. Sign up here to be a church buddy: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E4AACAF29ABFBCE9-66082222-church
For the kids and families: Each child and youth of the congregation, under the age of 18, will have a church buddy. This is a grown-up member of the congregation and outside of the child's family who will check in with them when at church activities. They might also send a birthday or baptism anniversary greeting. Church buddies would also pray for each other. This is a simple way for us to make more and deeper connections across the generations and help our children grow in knowing that church is a place where they are cared about.
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Meals on Wheels Need Substitutes
Wayne Griesel, after many years delivering Meals On Wheels, has retired! Deb and Luther Stave moved from the substitutes list to take his route full-time. That means we need another name or two as substitutes. Resurrection delivers every third Thursday; it takes about an hour.
One person can do both drive and deliver the meals but it goes more smoothly if two are available. If you are interested contact Sue Strohschein, MOW coordinator, at 320-282-8963.
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Looking for Toys
Our playroom needs some updating! The Youth and Learning Committee bought a couple of new things but are looking for a few more items. If you have any toys that your family has outgrown that you would like to donate, we’d be glad to add them to our room. The following are a few ideas of things we could use.
- Wooden building blocks
- Brio train track, train cars, and engines
- Lincoln logs
- Matchbox cars and track
If you have any of those things or anything else that you think we could use and would like to donate them, you can put them on the table or counter in the toy room. If you leave something, and we can’t use it for some reason, we will donate it so some other child can enjoy it. Questions? Check with Sue Hendrickson.
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LCR Book Club News
Our book for this month is Horse by Geraldine Brooks. We will discuss it on Wednesday, November 4 at 1:00 in the Fireside Room. Horse takes place in three different timelines, 1850’s Kentucky, 1954 New York City, and 2019 Washington DC. It is fiction but based on a true story of a racehorse called Lexington. We learn of the horse’s beginnings and racing career and in later times the people who become interested in the story of the horse, his trainers, and his owners. A painting and the horse’s skeleton trigger the action.
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Future books:
December - Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
January – Whistler by Ann Patchett
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October Mission of the Month 2026
Northeast Youth and Family Services
Northeast Youth & Family Services (NYFS) is a nonprofit community-based, trauma-informed mental health organization and community service organization founded in 1976 and based at 3490 Lexington Avenue N, Shoreview, MN 55126. We serve children, teens and adults across the northeast Saint Paul suburbs and the wider Twin Cities in person, in partner schools and by telehealth across Minnesota. We provide compassionate culturally responsive care for the concerns people reach out for most including anxiety, depression, ADHD, and stress.
Our mission is to transform lives by ensuring access to care that nurtures healing, cultivates community and inspires hope.
We envision a world where thriving individuals and families are the building blocks of safe unified communities established through a network of empowered and collaborative partnerships.
Seven values guide our work:
- equity, inclusion and belonging
We are dedicated to creating an inclusive, accessible and accepting environment that embraces diverse perspectives and backgrounds. It is our responsibility to work toward systemic justice and provide care individualized to client needs.
We strive to be genuine, grounded and true to our values in order to be both trusting and trustworthy. We are invested in learning, and we approach each encounter with humility and sincerity.
Our services are driven by the strengths and needs of our community. Through collaboration with clients and community members we ensure our services are financially, logistically, linguistically, and culturally accessible.
We are accountable, ethical, fiscally responsible, transparent, and dedicated to aligning our decisions with our organizational values.
- transformative relationships
We believe that healing and growth happens in the context of empathetic, client-centered, intentional relationships. We bear witness to our clients’ journeys with curiosity and kindness to promote transformational change.
We look beyond what is and imagine what could be. We stay on the leading edge of care by encouraging our clients and staff to explore their passions and strengths with a creative and playful spirit.
We believe that staff wellness and work sustainability are key to providing excellent mental health care. We understand the importance of organizational supports for secondary traumatic stress and are committed to a family-first work philosophy for staff.
Northeast Youth and Family Services seeks to be a place of safety where everyone can be their authentic selves and clients are seen, understood and empowered to do the important and vulnerable work of growth and healing.
We are committed to deconstructing practices that perpetuate systemic inequalities while expanding perspectives and exploring new ways to serve our clients’ highest good.
We partner with others to increase the accessibility to and acceptance of mental health services and community support programs so that we are all empowered to reach our full potential in a more just and equitable community.
You might know NYFS as your community mental health clinic, but we’re so much more. We’re a nonprofit staffed by top-notch mental health providers and team members who are transforming minds, families and local schools, towns and cities for the better. When you donate to or use our services, you’re helping us grow and provide services to others.
For more information, go to nyfs.org.
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Every Meal Schedule
It's a new school year, and volunteers are needed to help with the Every Meal Program. LCR is sharing the duty with members of Roseville Covenant Church, so we will be scheduled every-other week instead of each week. The new schedule is now online at the Constant Contact site. Scan the QR code or click the link below to sign up. Thank you for helping with this project! Contact Nancy Nelson for more information.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/8050A4FA9AB22ABFC1-filling1#/
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Sing for the Healing
A festival of song in thanksgiving for twenty years of Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Sunday, October 18, 2026 – 4:00pm
Christ Church Lutheran
3244 34th Ave S, Minneapolis
A new year of music series is underway at Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, and we are beginning with a celebration of the book that guides our worship each week. Sing and hear music from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, first released in October 2006. For two decades the treasures old and new in this groundbreaking worship book and its family of resources have helped thousands of Christian communities sing the church’s song. Join your voices with musical leaders Jennifer Baker-Trinity, Robert Buckley Farlee, Zebulon Highben, Sally Messner, Nathan Proctor, Jonathan Rundman, Mark Sedio, David Sims, and a festival choir. A pre-concert conversation with Martin Seltz, Jennifer Baker-Trinity, and Zebulon Highben about assembling hymnals begins in the sanctuary at 3:00pm.
Our community partner at this event is Hats & Mittens—hatsandmittens.org—that serves schools, shelters, and other organizations in the Twin Cities. Bring hats (any kind, including handmade) and mittens (insulated preferred) to the event. 100% of the freewill offering colleted during the event will go to Hats & Mittens.
Generously sponsored by Parable Wealth
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National Lutheran Choir Concert
The National Lutheran Choir, based in the Twin Cities, is one of the nation's premiere choruses devoted to sacred choral music. Aligned with the liturgical year, our concerts open the door to a deeply meaningful experience of faith and music. All are welcome!
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To Remember is to Begin - A Concert of Remembrance.
Join the National Lutheran Choir under Artistic Director Jennaya Robison for To Remember is to Begin: A Concert of Remembrance at St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church in Plymouth, MN and St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, MN.
Featuring Leonard Bernstein’s beloved Chichester Psalms, the concert also includes works by composers Hyo-Won Woo, Kim Andre Arnesen, Paul Christiansen, Edgar Bainton, Undine Smith Moore, and Kyle Pederson.
Audience members are invited to remember and celebrate the saints in their own lives by submitting the names of loved ones, both newly born and recently passed, to be incorporated into the concert.
Dates & Location:
7:30pm - Friday, October 30 @St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, Plymouth, MN
4:00pm - Sunday, November 1 @ St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, Mahtomedi*
*Livestream of this performance is available at NLCA.com
Tickets at NLCA.com.
Groups of 10 or more receive discounted tickets. Call 612-722-2301 for info on group rates.
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