The Listening Ear

Cross For Kudugala

I met the other evening with our Companion Congregation Team. At that meeting we got our first look at a cross that Ed Calkins, a member of St. Paul Lutheran made for us to give as a gift to our Companion Congregation, Kidugala Lutheran Church in Tanzania. 

We hope to be able to take the cross with us on a trip to Kidugala next year. Plans are to dedicate the cross on our Companion Congregation Sunday on June 14. 

During the next year, the cross will make its own pilgrimage, visiting the homes of our congregation. Each person or family will be able to add a blessing to the cross. Then those who travel to Kidugala will take the cross with them, using it as a central symbol for their daily prayers on the trip and eventually giving it to the congregation in Kidugala. 

We are also planning to begin a Walk To Kidugala on Companion Congregation Sunday. Together members of the congregation will walk 8698 miles, the estimated distance from Treynor to Kidugala. The Walk will help raise funds for trip to Kidugala. I’ll have more details after I meet this week with the team that’s planning the Walk. Here are a couple of pictures of the Kidugala cross.

Surprise At The Pond

A couple of years ago, my son Seth gave me a plant for my pond. I brought some roots back from Tucson in a plastic bag. 

Last year I planted it in a pot and put in in the upper pond, but it didn’t do very well. I t got overwhelmed by other plants. 

During the winter, I brought it into my office since it can’t stand winter weather. The plant flourished and it already had buds when I set i back in the pond the other day. Here’s what I found when I looked at the pond this morning.

Some Thoughts For The Day

I found this in my devotions for yesterday:

Christianity is the only cooperative society that exists for the benefit of nonmembers—William Temple.

That sounds reasonable, but do we really believe that? Lee Strobel wants to divide congregations into three groups. In the first group are those congregations that try to reach unchurched persons. They fashion their approach so that they reach non-Christians and help them become devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

Another type of church focuses its message on those who have a connection with a church and who may even attend worship at least occasionally, but whose lives haven’t really been touched by the Gospel.

A third kind of congregation would be one that’s primarily (maybe almost exclusively) concerned with churched Christians—that’s their main audience.

What kind of church are we? What kind of church does God call us to be? Two good question for us to consider are: what will be our primary focus? And how can we achieve some kind of balance so that we have an effective message for all three groups? Isn’t that what Christ calls us to do?