July 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter

Posted by on Aug 18, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on July 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter One of the great stories in the Bible is the story of Joseph and his family.  That story ends at the end of the book of Genesis when Joseph’s whole family moves down to live in Egypt.  Joseph had become a very important person in Egypt and his family were set up well for a good life in a good area of the country.  After many many years this family was blessed and multiplied into a large...
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August 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter

Posted by on Jul 10, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on August 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter Dear friends, Over the past year at Circle of Faith we thought about who we are.  We reflected on images like a royal priesthood, a holy nation and God’s own people.  This year we are going to take the next step and consider the question, what do we do?  This question really has two parts.  First, what does God intend for us to do?  After all, God called us out of the darkness into his...
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June 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter

Posted by on Jun 18, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on June 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter Dear friends, I write this from a continuing education event that I am at this week.  It is called the “Festival of Homiletics”, which means a celebration of preaching.  Our theme is about using the imagination in sermons.  I listened to 3 good sermons and 2 good lectures and one so/so discussion today. One of the sermons was about clay jars.  If you have a few minutes look at...
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April 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter

Posted by on Apr 2, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on April 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Newsletter “Beneath the cross of Jesus I long to take my stand, the shadow of a mighty rock within a weary land, a home within the wilderness…” Dear friends, Usually my life is not like a journey. It is more like small excursions in which I go out, have an adventure and then come back home again. I love having a home base. It is not a great house or anything, but I have a little office...
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March 2014 – Pr. Eric Midthun’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 27, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on March 2014 – Pr. Eric Midthun’s Letter Lent is that time of year that the Church has set aside for us to prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection. What would be a helpful way to prepare for this pivotal event? How do we prepare for anything (a trip or a game or a project or Spring or Winter or Summer)? One thing we have to do is think about it. Our theme this year is, “Beneath the Cross of...
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February 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 4, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on February 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Letter   Dear fellow proclaimers, What do you get when you cross a Mormon with a Lutheran? I don’t know if it is true, but I heard that you get someone that knocks on the door but does not say anything. It is amazing to me that God has made us God’s own people and a holy nation and a royal priesthood and a chosen race. This is not a small thing for us or for God. Why would God do this? It...
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January 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 4, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on January 2014 – Pr. Eric’s Letter Dear people of God, What does it mean to be described as God’s own people? We have had the opportunity to reflect on the other three descriptions in I Peter chapter 2; a “chosen race”, a “royal priesthood”, and a “holy nation”. This is the last of the four. A few years ago someone told me they were going out with their “peeps”. I said,...
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December 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 3, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on December 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter Dear fellow citizens, We have been thinking about our identity as Christians and as the church in terms of the descriptions in I Peter chapter 2 verse 9. The last two months we looked at “a chosen race” and “a royal priesthood” This month we look at “a holy na-tion”. A nation is made up of people called citizens who belong to a particular place and who have certain privileges and...
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November 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 3, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on November 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter Dear fellow chosen ones, Last month we focused on the adjective/noun combination of royal priesthood that is one way to express our identity as Christians. This month we look at another, chosen race. Sometimes you fill out a form that asks for your race and you can check the box that says Caucasian or His-panic or Oriental or whatever. The word race refers to a group of people that have certain...
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October 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 3, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on October 2013 – Pr. Eric’s Letter Dear fellow Priests, We are continuing our project of thinking about who we are as individuals, as three distinct congregations (St. Peter, Trinity and Waverly) and the Circle of Faith Parish. We have been looking at this verse, I Peter 2:9, that gives four images, each one with an adjective and a noun. 1…Chosen Race 2…Royal Priesthood 3…Holy Nation 4…God’s Own People Today we look at one of...
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2013 – September – Pr. Eric’s Letter

Posted by on Feb 3, 2014 in Pastor Eric Midthun's Monthly Letters | Comments Off on 2013 – September – Pr. Eric’s Letter Dear Friends, I have enjoyed the WELCA bible study this last month. It is the story of the feeding of the 5000 and in that story, towards the end of the day the disciples want to send the people away to nearby towns so they can find themselves something to eat. But Jesus tells the disciples, “You feed them.” Naturally they were astonished, they did not have that much food or even a way to get...
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