Valley Bridge, March 2, 2020

The Valley Bridge

The weekly newsletter from the

Presbytery of Minnesota Valleys

March 2, 2020

We are congregations who seek to be a collective expression of the Body of Christ, joyfully participating in Christ's ongoing life and work. "Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing."

(I Thessalonians 5:11)

Karen Lange will be on vacation from March 3-9

Congregation of the Week of March 8-14

United Methodist-Presbyterian Church of Browns Valley

Leadership:

Council members: Ginger Kuschel, Kelli Rinehart, Autumn Roark, Dale Dobbs, Ken Warren, Peg Kuschel

Church secretary: Maria Roark

Pastor Abigail Ozanne

Prayer requests:

Pastor Abigail's grandfather passed away

Ann Harter's son had a growth in his lung.

Laurie Appel broke her wrist

Sidney Myrum had a car accident with residual headaches

Upcoming events:

Easter egg hunt

Movie night - held about 4 times a year.

We hold a contemporary "blue jeans service" every Wednesday night.

All events are open to the community.

Lenten Prayers

We praise you, O creator God, for forming us from the earth and giving us your breath that we may live and praise your holy name.

We thank you, O holy God, for sending your Word, that we may obey You and do Your will. Forgive us, we ask, when we turn away from You.

Remind us, in this Lenten season, that we are from earth and when we die, we return to the earth. Make us mindful of Your creation and make us see the splendor of Your works.

Turn our attention to the icy rivers, the snowy fields, the bluffs and valleys, the frozen lakes. Awaken our hearts to the urgency of our duty to care for this world, Your creation and our home.

In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

Submitted by Rev. Andy Davis

Union Presbyterian Church of Saint Peter

Report from Our

Visitors to Guatemala:

New Relationships

New Perspectives

by Mark Ford, Teaching Elder

Lakes Area Presbyterian Church of Baxter

At left: Volcanoes of Lake Attitlan

The advantage of going to a foreign country as a guest of the local people living there is that you get to experience more of their life and culture. It gives a peek into their experiences, and challenges both them and us to give up preconceived ideas about the other’s culture. When you travel as a guest of a foreign national, you get an opportunity to experience something beyond what you would experience as a tourist. While there are beautiful places to visit in Guatemala, like Lake Atitlan with its surrounding volcanoes; or Tikal with its massive Mayan pyramids in the jungles of the north; or the beaches on the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as North American tourists, we tend to stay in places that cater to our wants and needs for comfort. When you travel with a local, you get to experience a bit more of what their lives are like and how they live on a day-to-day basis.

That is why going to Guatemala with a group from the Minnesota Valleys Presbytery to partner with our sister presbytery, Occidente, is such a good opportunity to learn about and come into relationship with our Christian brothers and sisters. It gives a time and place to become friends and to learn about their issues and concerns first hand. It is learning about how their churches impact their lives. It is learning about how they seek to serve God as they go through each day. It is also about learning how people live and thrive in conditions that are very different from our own. It is learning to use baños (bathrooms) that may not have lights or sinks or even toilet seats. It is learning about pride in accomplishment like having a new tile floor in the church because on our last visit it only had a dirt floor. It is learning about what it means to cook over an open fire or to make tortillas. It is about learning what it means to make friends when there is a language barrier. It means learning that the perception of the United States is different than we perceive ourselves.

Visiting our partners in Guatemala gives us new experiences; opens us up to new relationships; gives us new perspectives; and hopefully show us that God is present in ways that we may not even comprehend. God is at work in the world and invites us to join in. Hopefully, when we visit, we can feel God’s presence as we make new friends with our Christian brothers and sisters around the world.

Logan Ford, Fernando Cifuentes, Mark Ford

Common-sense tips for congregations and individuals during the coronavirus outbreak

By Mari Graham Evans| Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — In light of the global outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, more commonly known as the coronavirus, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) has released a “ Preparedness for Pandemics ” guide for congregations. Download guide

The guide contains valuable, common-sense tips on what congregations and individuals can do to keep themselves safe in the midst of a “severe infectious disease outbreak.”

According to the guide, congregations can take simple precautions like creating a task force that is in charge of coordinating a response within the congregation and the surrounding community. Congregations are also urged to ask members who are sick to stay home, have alcohol-based hand sanitizers (containing at least 60% alcohol) in or around bathrooms and pay increased attention to cleaning overall.

“It is important for faith leaders to proactively model protective health practices in congregational life, resist and renounce the racism and xenophobia at this virus’ geographic point of emergence, and make sensible plans to support vulnerable and isolated members of their community,” said the Rev. Dr. Laurie Kraus, PDA’s director.

Kraus added that congregations should also consider alternative ways for the congregation to come together in case regular services need to be suspended.

For congregations interested in holding virtual Sunday services, the guide provides suggestions. For example, congregations may consider using video conferencing services like Zoom, livestream through YouTube or Facebook, or post sermons online to their church’s website or social media channels. (Additional questions about the use of social media or other digital platforms can be directed to [email protected] .)

During what can be a frightening time for many, PDA encourages congregations to remain as calm as possible and to follow common-sense measures to keep their communities safe.

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance serves as the emergency and refugee program of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Their responses to emergencies are made possible thanks to your gifts to One Great Hour of Sharing . Learn more at pcusa.org/pda .

Link to article

Pastors and Clerks of Session: Survey Participation Requested from PCUSA Research Services

Last week congregations for whom we have emails began receiving invitations to participate in a short new “Church on the Corner” survey about their mission involvement and mission interests. Summaries of responses will go to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) World Mission and other PC(USA) ministries and will help these ministries tailor their programs for these congregations.

The email invitations went to a mix of church email addresses, clerk of session email addresses, and pastor email addresses. According to our web survey software, the survey takes about six minutes to complete.

I wanted to let you know about our outreach to your congregations and ask you if you might help us remind congregational staff and other congregational leaders about this opportunity. With that in mind, I am going to attach a Church on the Corner logo and embed a link to the survey here:

https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/5452189/Church-on-the-Corner-World-Mission

The participation of every congregation in the survey is critical for enhancing mission partnership among congregations, presbyteries, and PC(USA) national ministries.

I appreciate support from you and your congregations during what I know is a busy time, with Lent, public health concerns, and so on.

Perry

Prayer List

For Rev. Mark Chamberlain, retired pastor, Willmar
For Rev. Bob Bartlett, First Presbyterian Churches of Brewster & Round Lake
For Rev. Michael Roys, retired pastor, Winnebago
For Rev. Elaine and Kent Boyd at First Presbyterian Church of Amboy
Rev. Araceli Itzep from the Occidente Presbytery
For Bety Cifuentes, the treasurer of the Partnership Committee, who is beginning chemotherapy
For the "Men in the Mirror" program. Men from Occidente that MVP supported financially to attend the classes a couple of years ago are going to share the information they gained with different churches in the eastern and central parts of Guatemala. They, along with the chaplains of the national Presbyterian church, will also be training Christian policemen in what they learned from "Men in the Mirror."

Transformation Going Beyond Change Survey

We have created a survey to help us understand benefits and insights gained from our Transformation Going Beyond Change events over the past year. Will you please take a moment and answer the question in the survey we have linked? https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8GKLCM2

Race and Christianity in the United States Video Series Available

by Dr. Sarah Ruble, a Ruling Elder at Union Presbyterian Church of Saint Peter and professor of religion at Gustavus Adolphus College

Her website: http://sarahruble.com/

Race and Christianity in the United States is an eight-part video series on the history of race and Christianity. It focuses on black/white relations and covers important episodes from before the beginning of the American colonies (we have to go back to Europe and Africa to talk about the development of race) to the 2016 election.

I designed this curriculum with church groups in mind. I know how hard it can be to find good, accessible material for Sunday School classes and small groups–particularly if your adult education budget is limited! I also know that many Christians want to explore history, but don’t know what sources to trust or where to begin amid the reams of books and articles on their topic. This series brings together some of the most current, respected research on race and religion in a format that is easy to understand.

I have also created a curriculum to accompany the video series. The curriculum includes a pre-session, reflection questions for each episode, and episode outlines. The curriculum does not demand any prep (unless you count printing and copying the pages), although having a leader willing to facilitate the sessions might be helpful.

WHO IS SARAH?

If you are going to trust me as your historical guide, you should probably know something about me. My name is Sarah Ruble and I am an associate professor of religion at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN. I earned a Master’s of Theological Studies from Duke Divinity School and a Ph.D. in U.S. Religious History from Duke University. (I also, for several years, pretended to care about A.C.C. basketball.)

I am both an active scholar and teacher. I am the author of one book, The Gospel of Freedom and Power: Protestant Missionaries in American Culture After World War II. I’ve written articles for publications like Christianity Today and Christian History as well as book chapters for academic books. In addition to teaching undergraduates, I also present for lay audiences–which is how I came to this project. Although my primary area of specialization is not the history of race and Christianity, I found that many people wanted to learn more about it. As I presented on the topic, I saw a need for easily accessible sources, particularly for church groups. Hence this video series.

I also created the series because I’m a Christian*. I care deeply about the church and the witness of the faith in the world. As a Christian, I believe that we are called to be people who tell the truth about ourselves and the world. That means, sometimes, that we will have to say difficult things about the past and its implications for the present. It sometimes means saying that people who we love or who were a lot like us got some things very wrong (thankfully, it also means acknowledging that some times people got things very, even miraculously, right).

I know, as a historian, that learning about the past can be challenging. I also know, as a Christian, that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Of all people, we should be the first to confront hard truths, because we know that we are safe in God, and that, no matter what we must confront or the way the past challenges us, we cannot shake the love that God has for us, our neighbors, our enemies, and the world.

(*I’m an historian of U.S. religion so I know that some folks will want to know a little bit more about what I mean by “Christian.” I mean that if you are looking for me between 9 a.m. and noon on a Sunday morning, your best bet is to check for me at my church and that I can–to steal a line for Justin Welby–affirm the Nicene Creed without crossing my fingers.)

Public Theology for the Common Good

Led by Phil Tom

Tuesday, March 24

9:00—4:00

Hope Presbyterian Church

7730 N Shore Dr, Spicer

$15 for Presbyterians

$25 for others

"Public theology is the Christian engagement and dialogue within the church and especially with the larger society. It seeks the welfare of the state and a fair society for all by engaging issues of common interest to build the common good. This is Christian theology that talks with society, not just to society." (Wikipedia)

The reality is that many congregations are disconnected from their communities. In our workshop, we will explore how the tool of faith-based community organizing can help your congregation to learn how to connect with and to serve your community.

Phil currently serves as Executive Director for the International Council of Community Churches, and as a consultant to The Riverside Church in New York City. He has served in the following capacities: the PCUSA General Assembly for 10 years as Associate for Urban Ministry Office, and three years as Associate for the Small Church Ministry Office (urban, rural, suburban); Co-Director of McCormick Theological Seminary Church and Community Ministry Project; pastored for 27 years with congregations in Chicago, St. Paul, MN, Indianapolis, IN and New York City; and as Director of the White House Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnership Office in the U.S. Department of Labor in the Obama Administration.

To register, email Karen Lange

An Invitation to Spiritual Leaders

This is your invitation to submit a short video of yourself offering a meditation of your favorite passage from the Bible for the Presbytery YouTube channel. If you are interested, please contact Steve Tyykila ( [email protected] ) or Andy Davis ( [email protected] ). We'll give you more parameters and information, but we are looking for informal (not from the pulpit), personal, short (less than five minutes) videos on your favorite passage that you can record from your phone or computer. Thanks!

Transformation Testimonies Sought

We are preparing the reporting for the Transformation Going Beyond Change Initiative grants. Please think about how you have been using the information gleaned from these events and email Karen or SanDawna a short testimony about how you have benefited.

Pastor Cohort Groups

We are creating pastor cohort groups for interested pastors. Each group will meet monthly via Zoom. The format will include prayer, a book study, case studies, special speakers, cross-pollination of resources and active listening. Interested? Email SanDawna