TLC Transcripts ▪ Nov/Dec 2019 TLC Transcripts ▪ Nov/Dec 2019
Transcripts Nov/Dec 2019 Transfiguration Lutheran Church
TRANSFIGURATION LUTHERAN CHURCH
A Reconciling In Christ Congregation
11000 France Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431
952.884.2364
www.tlcmn.com
Early Learning Center
www.tlcelc.com
952.884.7955
ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED
NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
TWIN CITIES, MN
Permit Number 90037
As disciples of Jesus
we gather in grace,
grow in faith,
and go forth to serve
101619bdn
Co-Pastor Rev. Dr. Ed Treat, ext 18 ................................................... [email protected]
Co-Pastor Rev. Arthur Murray, ext 13 ................................................ [email protected]
Grace Pardun Alworth, ext 21 ........................................................... [email protected]
Deacon Renee Jefferson, Dir. of Education, ext 14 ................................ [email protected]
Dr. Rob Reid, Director of Music, ext 19 .............................................. [email protected]
Ben Cherland, Youth and Family Minister, ext 12 ................................... [email protected]
Marilyn Erickson, Care Minister, ext. 10 ............................................ [email protected]
Erin Pommeranz, Community Health Minister, ext 21 ......................... [email protected]
Michelle Reber, Church Administrator, ext 15 .................................... [email protected]
Barb Wigstadt, ELC Director .............................................................. [email protected]
Stephen Ministry ............................................................................. [email protected]
Brad Nolte, TLC Media ...................................................................... [email protected]
Pat McMullen, Volunteer Parish Nurse
Karen Daniels, Organist
Carmen Englert, Organist
Phetsamone Ekholm, Pianist
Mary George, Vocalist, Choir Assistant
Meghan Krieger, Nursery Coordinator
Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on
earth peace among those whom he favors!” Luke 2:14
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Transfiguration Lutheran Church A Reconciling In Christ Congregation
A Culture of Diversity and Inclusion
11000 France Avenue South ▪ Bloomington, MN 55431
Ph. 952.884.2364 ▪ Fax. 952.884.2151
Website: www.TLCMN.com ▪ Email: [email protected]
Office Hours Effective September 1
Monday-Thursday 8:30am—4:30pm
Friday 9:00am—3:00pm
Worship Services
Holy Communion served at all services
Sunday 8:30 & 10:00am
Wednesday Oasis 6:30pm
Children’s Pray-Ground
Family friendly area at the south end of the sanctuary
Nursery
Available at all Sunday worship services
Early Learning Center—Daycare
Infants through school age
Ph. 952.884.7955
Website: www.TLCELC.com
Director: Barb Wigstadt
Mission Statement
As disciples of Jesus we gather in grace, grow in faith,
and go forth to serve.
INSIDE
TLC and the Holy Spirit ....................................... 4 Rev. Dr. Ed Treat, Co-Pastor It’s All About Relationship .................................. 5 Rev. Arthur Murray, Co-Pastor John Rutter’s “Requiem” .................................... 6 Rob Reid, Music Director Growing in Faith ................................................. 7 Renee Jefferson, Director of Education The Legacy of the Pie .......................................... 8 Intern Pastor Grace Pardun Alworth Letting Go ........................................................... 9 Erin Pommeranz, Community Health Minister Music and the Early Learning Center .......... 10, 11 Barb Wigstadt, ELC Director What’s Your Story ............................................. 12 Ben Cherland, Youth & Family Minister Hearing a Call and Answering ........................... 13 Evan Collins, Church Council President National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness ......... 14 Pat McMullen, Volunteer Parish Nurse Announcements– Baptisms & Sympathy ......... 16 Marilyn Erickson, Care Ministry
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O Holy Night! The Stars are Brightly Shining
Sunday, November 3 – All Saints’ Remembrance
Hear the Chancel Choir and Orchestra present John Rutter’s “Requiem” and light a candle in memory of a loved one.
Wednesday, November 27
7:00pm – Thanksgiving Eve Worship 8:00pm – Pie and Caroling with John Rosenow
Wednesdays, Dec. 4, 11, and 18 – Advent Worship
6:30pm – Holden Evening Prayer and Carols Sunday, December 8
8:30 and 10:00am – Advent Hymn Festival, with Carols led by The Chancel Choir, TLC Handbells, and TLC Woodwinds
Sunday, December 15 – Third Sunday in Advent
11:10am – Sunday School Christmas Program Thursday, December 19
7:00pm – Service of Remembrance
Sunday, December 22
8:30 – Chancel Choir 10:00 – Pre-Christmas Eve Worship led by the Praise and Worship Team
Tuesday, December 24
Christmas Eve Candlelight Services
2:00pm – TLC Woodwinds, Youth Bell Choir & Family Choir 3:30pm – TLC Brass Choir and Vocal Soloists 5:00pm – TLC Brass Choir, TLC Handbells and Chancel Choir 11:00pm – Chancel Choir and Soloists
Sunday, December 29 10:00am – Worship with Communion
HOLY SPIRIT—from page 4
Rev. Alexander Sharp was at the
conference and he is the Executive
Director of “Clergy for a New Drug
Policy” and advocacy group that works
“To mobilize clergy nationally on behalf
of an agenda that ends the War on
Drugs by allocating resources to
education, treatment, and public
safety.” They advocate for a society in
which values of compassion, mercy,
and healing, especially concerning drug
use, replace our nation’s culture of
punishment.
Rev. Sharp was so impressed with the
I looked across the table and
my eyes stop at the glorious
decoy pie.
PIE LEGACY—from page 8
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As I think about what to write for this
November/December issue of
Transcripts I feel I should be reflecting
on Thanksgiving and Christmas, but all I
can think about is how great the
Addiction & Faith Conference was this
year. So, in a way, this is about
Thanksgiving and Christmas, because
I’m feeling very thankful for some of
the new life this conference is birthing
in our world.
For example, one speaker was the Rev.
Dr. Yolanda. She was invited to give the
blessing at one of the meals and to
share a little about the impact the first
conference had on her life. She blew us
away with her powerful message.
She told us she came last year with her
clinical pastoral class to learn about
addiction. Her teacher advised her to
attend one of the 12-Step meetings to
learn what they were all about. That’s
when her life changed. She learned she
had an addiction to food. She began
attending Overeaters Anonymous
meetings. She then showed us the
before and after picture of her life from
losing 85 pounds. She now speaks
wherever she can telling everyone
about her new joy and freedom. Her
testimony filled the room with tears of
joy. It was powerful. TLC helped make
that happen!
Father Jim was an exhibitor from a
health network in Chicago. His job is
clergy outreach. He heard about the
conference and was asked to attend.
He really didn’t want to go to yet
another conference, but was he glad
he came to this one. He could not stop
telling me about how thrilled he was to
be there and now wants to do a
conference just like it in Chicago. He
has been contacting me regularly to
learn how. TLC is spreading its
influence to Chicago!
When asked after the conference
what she thought of it, she broke
into tears. She said words could not
express her gratitude. A week after
the conference she is back in Canada
and just posted an invitation to her
church in Manitoba for their first
ever 12-Step worship service. She is
reaching out to the broken people in
her community. TLC and the Holy
Spirit helped make this happen!
By Rev. Dr. Ed Treat, Co-Pastor
VEAP has a need for short term and ongoing
volunteer opportunities that make an impact and
work for your own schedule.
SORT FOOD DONATIONS ● STOCK SHELVES WITH
HEALTHY FOODS ● PROVIDE RIDES HOME FROM
THE FOOD PANTRY ● GREET VOLUNTEERS AND
GUESTS ● HELP CLIENTS ACCESS THE FOOD PANTRY
● ASSIST WITH MOBILE FOOD DISTRIBUTION
And there’s more.....
VOLUNTEER
YOU=HOPE
Volunteer and give the gift of Hope!
Contact: Courtney Flug, 952.955.8323
As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach, please
remember the need for food donations to VEAP (our
neighbors) is very pressing.
FILL the BINS!!
VEAP HAS A PLACE FOR YOU
Rev. Yolanda before and after 85 lb. loss
Mission and Programs
OUR VISION
A thriving community where all are free to pursue their dreams!
OUR MISSION
Together, we create pathways to stronger, more hopeful, communities through access to healthy food, housing stability and supportive services.
OUR VALUES
• Compassionate
• Collaborative
• Inclusive
• Innovative
• Responsive
• Integrity
PROGRAM AREAS
VEAP is a basic needs and social services organization whose programs promote access to healthy foods, stable housing and other supportive services. VEAP’s programs are designed to address a particular need and when used together provide hope and can help avoid a financial crisis such as loss of housing, transportation or employment. Whether the hardship is from a disability, job transition, or the financial and physical stresses of aging, VEAP has been helping our neighbors in need for 45 years.
–HOLY SPIRIT continued on page 18–
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IT’S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIP By Rev. Arthur Murray, Co-Pastor
ANNOUNCEMENTS Compiled by Marilyn Erickson, Care Ministry
BAPTISMS Oliver Noel Mussell, August 25, 2019 Ingrid Eline Verplank, September 8, 2019 Evelyn Mitchell Benson, October 20, 2019
SYMPATHY Nancy Norrbom and family on the death of her Uncle Donald Dittrich.
Family and friends on the death of Jerome Jeske.
Jan Weber and family on the death of husband, Bud Weber.
Becky Hokenson on the death of her twin sister, Beth Terpstra.
Marlene Blair on the death of her brother-in-law, George Custer.
Steve and Chynne on the death of Steve’s uncle, Merton Strommen.
Dollie & Art Anderson on the death of Dollie’s sister, Dolores Schaffer.
Carol and Emma Olson on the death of Carol’s mother and Emma’s grandmother, Pat.
Becky Woll on the death of her brother-in-law, James Lynn.
Dennis & Jan Rodning on the death of Dennis’ sister-in-law, Marilyn Rodning.
Family and friends on the death of Warren Brekke.
Scott & Michelle Stevens and family on the death of Scott’s father.
DECEMBER TOYS FOR LIBERIA We’ve collected surgical gloves and other needed items for our mission team to present to The Center for Changing Lives-Liberia in December. Now, since the children, many orphaned, are what this is all about, let’s send donations of toys to help them celebrate and then just imagine their happy, smiling faces. Bring toys during November and EARLY December. Use the VEAP boxes (in 3 locations), and we’ll make sure the food goes to VEAP and the toys to Liberia.
Service of Remembrance and Healing
Thursday, December 19, 7:00pm
We turn to God for comfort in the midst of our losses. We ask God for a sense of peace in dark and uncertain times. We pray that God will give us the courage to go on and entrust to God our future. All who are experiencing loss and uncertainty this holiday season are invited to attend this meaningful worship experience.
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On Sunday, November 3, the Chancel
Choir and a small guest orchestra will
present John Rutter’s “Requiem” at the
8:30 and 10:00am worship services. It
is a powerful and moving work filled
with beautiful melo-
dies and dramatic
moments. As a part of
the services we will
name and honor
those who passed away in the past
year, and we will all be able to light a
candle in memory of our loved ones
during communion. We are so grateful
to the family of John Hilleren, who
shared gifts given in his memory, to
help bring this work to life for this
occasion.
What is a Requiem? Originally, it was a
Mass for the Dead in the Roman
Catholic Tradition. Along with
messages of hope and prayers for
those who have departed (“Grant
them eternal rest, O Lord”), the
Catholic Requiem also focused on the
“Day of Wrath” (Dies Irae), with loud,
almost violent music, notably heard in
opera composer Giuseppe Verdi’s
setting of the Requiem. Johannes
Brahms was the first to compose a
Lutheran Mass for the Dead, which is
known as his “German Requiem.” His
work focused more on comforting
those who have lost loved ones
(“Blessed are they who die in the
Lord”). John Rutter’s “Requiem,” that
we will sing for All Saints’ Sunday, is
more like Brahms’ warm, comforting
work: we hear gentle, heavenly
harmonies played on the harp, oboe,
flute and cello, along with TLC organist
Carmen Englert, which help to convey
the peace and reassurance we all seek
in times of loss, with promises of being
reunited with our loved ones in
heaven, where the eternal light (“Lux
aeterna”) will shine on us all.
Part of the work is sung using the
original Latin texts, to help convey the
eternal nature of the many scriptural
promises, and we will project the
English translations to enhance the
meaning of what we sing. The work
also includes movements in English,
including the beloved 23rd Psalm (“The
Lord is My Shepherd”), Psalm 130
(“Out of the Depths have I called
unto Thee, O Lord”), and Jesus’
words from the Gospel of John, “I am
the resurrection and the life.”
Our hope, and no doubt John
Hilleren's as well, is that
through sharing Rutter’s
“Requiem” with all of
you, it will help bring
some comfort to you as
you remember, honor, or grieve a
loved one’s passing.
Peace,
JOHN RUTTER’S “REQUIEM”
FOR ALL SAINTS’ SUNDAY: Comforting those who mourn
By Dr. Rob Reid, Director of Music
Along with the Chancel Choir, you will hear gentle,
heavenly harmonies played on the harp, oboe, flute
and cello, along with TLC organist, Carmen Englert
John Hilleren July 12, 1931 ~ January 2, 2019
We are so grateful to the family of John Hilleren who shared gifts given in his memory to help bring this work to life for this occasion.
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GROWING IN FAITH By Deacon Renee Jefferson, Director of Education
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Deeply Rooted Psalm 1
How happy I am, from the inside
out!
Knowing I belong to you,
I stand strong in this world,
like a sky-high tree,
rooted deep near sparkling waters,
green and alive,
bursting with the fruit of your spirit.
I am not fooled by the empty
chattering
of people who close their ears to
you.
I listen instead for the sound of your
voice
ringing out across the universe,
calling my name.
As we enter the time of formalized
thanksgiving and preparation and
Christmas, I invite you to think of
those that brought God’s voice to
you and helped you stand strong in
the world. I also invite you to see
how you are that God-voice to the
world. In this season, I hope you are
able to hear that voice of God ringing
all around you.
-Renee Jefferson
TLC HEALTH & WELLNESS By Pat McMullen, Volunteer Parish Nurse
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Month.
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia in older people. Dementia is a medical condition that disrupts the way the brain works. It affects the parts of the brain that control thought, memory and language. The disease usually begins after age 65 and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease goes up with age. Some people are diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, which may begin in their 50’s.
The disease usually begins slowly with the first symptom being mild forgetfulness. People with Alzheimer’s may have trouble remembering recent events, activities, or names of familiar
people or things. Simple math problems may become hard for these people to solve. As the disease progresses, people with Alzheimer’s may forget how to do simple
tasks like brushing their teeth or combing their hair. They can no longer think clearly, and begin to have problems speaking, understanding, reading or writing. Later on, people with this disease may become anxious, aggressive or wander away from home. Eventually, patients may need total care.
The course of the disease varies from person to person; some people may have the disease only 5 years, while others may have it for as many as 20 years. No treatment can stop the disease, but there is medication that can slow down the progression. For more in depth information visit www.alz.org.
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By Intern Pastor Grace Pardun Alworth
–PIE LEGACY continued on page 18–
HEARING A CALL AND
ANSWERING
By Evan Collins, Church Council President
Looking back over the last several years of my life, I have had
the unique opportunity to do some pretty cool stuff. I was a
live, improvised accompanist for dance classes. I had the
opportunity to play in and direct pit orchestras as a
professional musician. I worked at a church camp as a
counselor for three summers. I lived in South Africa for a
year. I got a job working for Amazon, and most recently on
the list, I am serving as Church Council President at
Transfiguration Lutheran Church. Of these cool things,
nothing has challenged or encouraged my growth as being
Council President has.
All of these opportunities have one thing in common, where
there was a call, I answered and showed up. Often this
method seems oversimplified and too easy, but sometimes
the greatest adventures in life happen simply because we
show up. Transfiguration has undergone a massive transition
over the past year, and will continue change, but because we
have extremely dedicated and resilient members in our
congregation, people continue to answer the call to show up.
New and exciting ministries have sprung up around the
congregation because people simply showed up. Someone
heard a call, and they answered it. Stephen Ministries started
by people answering the call to serve those in need of a
listening ear. Small Group Ministries have continued to thrive
because people answered the call to create spaces where
everyone belongs. New staff members (Erin Pommeranz and
Pastor Grace) came on because they heard the call to serve
God at TLC and simply showed up.
In all of these exciting opportunities, the common thread is
the Holy Spirit continues to show up and create new life
within the church through this congregation. God asks that
we show up as who we are, broken and beautiful. We are
exactly what God needs to carry out God’s mission for the
church. Our job is to simply show up and love those around
us to the best of our abilities. God knows what incredible
things will come from TLC in the future if we simply show up.
SUBSCRIPTION TO TLC’S
WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER
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LETTING GO By Erin Pommeranz,
Community Health Minister
"The trees are about to show us how lovely it is to let things go." -Anonymous
My eyes filled up with tears as I put my oldest son on the
school bus to his first day of kindergarten. My thoughts, in
no particular order, were as follows: "Will he miss me?",
"Will he listen to his teacher?", and "How in the world will he
know which bus to get on to come back home?!". He wore
his new light-up shoes and proudly carried his new
Spiderman backpack with his lunch that he would only half-
eat. I was letting go of control; of the friends that surrounded
him, the food he eats, the stories he heard. It was really hard
to not be in control anymore. I just like it too
much. However, I knew it was time for my son to learn how
to stumble, fall, build relationships, and make potty jokes at
the lunch table without his mom present.
One of my favorite verses is from Psalm 46:10. It says, "Be
still and know that I am God." This has become my mantra as
of late. For me, it is a reminder to take deep breaths and to
trust in God's presence. I know that just as God created my
beautiful children, God also created the teachers, bus drivers,
cafeteria workers and all the friends giggling at my son's
awful knock-knock jokes. When my son does fall, or miss the
bus, or a friend hurts him, I know that God is also there. God
is the one holding him, listening to him, and crying with him
in those moments. And I am so grateful for Her presence.
By Ben Cherland,
Youth & Family
Minister
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MUSIC AND THE EARLY LEARNING CENTER By Barb Wigstadt, ELC Director
Rob Meany, on the piano, brought his musical talents to the ELC youngsters,
thrilling many in their discovery of music styles and instruments.