Grace Lutheran Church

Give Thanks!

Dear People of Grace,

“I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way…”
1 Corinthians 1:4-5

How I give thanks for you! I thank God for your strong witness in this neighborhood. You are utterly and totally committed to shouting from the rooftops that God loves EVERYBODY! I thank God for the gifts you have been giving in telling this story -your welcoming hearts, your strong words, your practice in caring for and disagreeing with each other, your commitment to living out this welcome in food and time as well as in words.

I thank God for a solid, beautiful building to worship in, for money to pay the electric bills, for people to manage the finances and the property. I thank God for voices to sing, and members to serve on council giving leadership, and gadflies to ask us hard questions and organizers of service events and people to throw parties!

I thank God for Montrose Grace Place, (soon to celebrate its second birthday!) and for the way we have been able to eat with and listen to the homeless youth of Montrose, and the way that has helped us witness to the neighborhood and formed an amazing community of volunteers.
We aren’t perfect- I know it, you know it. Sometimes I mess up and you all push me to do better, and sometimes I challenge you and hope you’ll grow even more. Sometimes we see each other doing things that we wish would be done a little differently. But none of that stops us from giving thanks for what we have and do.

Giving thanks helps us appreciate and love what we have. So I’m going to invite you to make a list of the things that you’re thankful for, in your life, but especially about this church. What do you love? And then a bigger challenge- I invite you to thank someone out loud for that thing you love. I’m especially going to invite you to do this at least once for every time you complain about something that you’d like to see done better. Glad there’s coffee here on Sunday when you come in? Find out who made it and thank them! Grateful to be able to sit and worship without interruption? Thank an usher or a reader or someone else who helped make the service happen so that you could enjoy it. Glad our congregation collects food every Sunday? Find out who brings it to Christian Community Service Center and thank them!

Every single thing that happens here at this church happens because somebody makes it happen. Volunteers-you- power this place. Without committed people, this church would be nothing. Even the things that we pay staff to do, are done because everyone adds their money together in the offering to be able to make it happen. I am profoundly grateful for the work that makes this church what it is. THANK YOU. And thank each other.

But above all, give thanks to God who has given us good gifts, who has given us more than we will ever need to carry out our mission, who has given us each other. We are full. We have more than enough. We have so much beauty and love and talent and possibility and dedication- more than we need! Thank God! Thank you God! Thank you God for the good gift of Grace Lutheran.
-Pastor Lura

Grace In the News: Grace Welcomes Reverend Megan Rohrer!

Our church is honored to have Reverend Megan Rohrer as our guest pastor this Sunday!

"The Reverend Megan Rohrer is the first openly trans pastor to serve in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Rohrer has been serving in San Francisco for a decade, first as a social worker and then as a pastor and executive director for The Welcome Ministry, a service to the homeless. Along the way Rohrer has developed programs, especially for homeless LGBTQ youth, and has also been the recipient of many honors, including an honorary doctorate from Palo Alto University."

Check out Rev. Rohrer and Grace on OutSmart!

Reconciling Works 2012 "All this is from God, who reconciled us through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation." —2 Corinthians 5:18 Reconciling Works 2012 is more than a conference. It is an opportunity to explore and live out the work of reconciliation that we are called to do. Justice requires reconciliation, and reconciliation takes effort. Throughout our time together, we will work on justice issues from the intersection of oppressions (racism, sexism, ablism, etc.) and through the lens of full participation of people of all sexual orientations and gender identities in the life of the Lutheran Church

Grace is so excited to welcome new RIC congregation Celebration Church in Cypress, TX!

Celebration Church in Cypress, Texas approved of their welcoming statement and are now Reconciling in Christ:

Celebration is a community of welcome for all people, regardless of age, race, ability, nationality, background, economic status, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Short and sweet! Celebration is a postmodern, emergent church community in the suburbs of Houston. To Celebration, emergent means "We embrace the rhythms, rituals and practices that we've inherited over the centuries, while at the same time being open to new and modern ways of experiencing God." To learn more about Celebration Church and to find out what a "noisy offering" is, visit their website, their Facebook page, or better yet, stop by on a Sunday morning!

Daily Lenten Reading for April 7

These readings are for your daily prayer and Scripture reading for this season of Lent. They are chosen to compliment the readings for each Sunday. I believe that any time you read Scripture, the Holy Spirit can speak to you, but I think you will get the most out of these Scripture readings if you read them thinking about Sunday’s Scripture readings, and if you read as many as possible.

These are the readings that we will use for our daily telephone prayers at noon (you can find the text of the daily prayer here To participate call 218-632-0550 and enter Access Code 302445#). If you are praying on your own, you will know that you are still reading in unity with others.

-Pastor Lura

Matthew 27:57-66

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. ⁵⁸He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. ⁵⁹So Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth ⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock. He then rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb and went away. ⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
⁶²The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate ⁶³and said, "Sir, we remember what that impostor said while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise again.' ⁶⁴Therefore command the tomb to be made secure until the third day; otherwise his disciples may go and steal him away, and tell the people, 'He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception would be worse than the first." ⁶⁵Pilate said to them, "You have a guard of soldiers; go, make it as secure as you can." ⁶⁶So they went with the guard and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone.

Good Friday Service Tonight!

You're invited to meditate on the Passion of Christ, through paintings, photographs, and praying the stations of the cross. 7pm, Grace Lutheran.

Sneak preview:
"Pilate said, “I find no fault with this man,” but when the crowd grew loud, he grew silent. “I wash my hands. You deal with him.” Pilate had the knowledge and the power to stand and say no to the world as it sought to crush the Lord of Life. He didn’t use either.
How many times do I have the knowledge and the power to say no, and stay silent? How many times do I participate, by my silence, in the Passion of Jesus? Who will die because I do not say no?"

Daily Lenten Reading for April 6

-Pastor Lura

John 18:1-19:42

After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. ²Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. ⁴Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" ⁵They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus replied, "I am he." Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them. ⁶When Jesus said to them, "I am he," they stepped back and fell to the ground. ⁷Again he asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" And they said, "Jesus of Nazareth." ⁸Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go." ⁹This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, "I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me." ¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave's name was Malchus. ¹¹Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?"
¹²So the soldiers, their officer, and the Jewish police arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³First they took him to Annas, who was the father-in- law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. ¹⁴Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one person die for the people.
¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, ¹⁶but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. ¹⁷The woman said to Peter, "You are not also one of this man's disciples, are you?" He said, "I am not." ¹⁸Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself.
¹⁹Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching.