Online Worship
Advent Connections
Advent Children’s Corner
S.A.L.T.Y. Sundays 6th-12th Grade 1st and 3rd Sunday’s 4:00pm via Zoom
SALTY Sunday 2020 (click here)
Robinsdale May Celebration a Sweet Success!
Tiger’s Blood snow cones, Nutty Buddies, Pop Ups, Jolly Rancher Bomb Pops, and more from Buck’s Ice Cream Truck! Plus giant Zenga, sidewalk chalk, crafts and treat bags. What could be better on a warm May afternoon with our friends at Robinsdale!
Thank you, Advent! Our May Celebration was a “sweet” success. We saw beautiful chalk drawings on the basketball court, Zenga competition with the loud laughing “no” when the pieces fell and learned of college and academic successes from some of “our kids.”
Everyone had their selection of an ice cream treat (and sometimes two) and your donations almost to the dollar paid for the treats. A big thanks to the volunteers who showed up to chat, to help with ice cream choices and Mothers’ Day jewelry boxes, and to fill treat bags with blow-ups, snacks, and fun. And Sharon Thrower, thank you for pulling it all together!
Advent and the Social Ministry Board have an ongoing relationship with the Robinsdale community and enjoy seeing our friends during these fun events.
2021 DEVO LUNCH 2.0
Join us the 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month at 12 noon for a 30 minute devotion time. A Zoom link is posted on the member dashboard.
Food for thought will be updated on the website but drop ins are welcome! Drop in for one week or become one of the regulars – whatever works for your schedule.
Meditation Time!
We hear some themes repeated in scripture, like God calling to us from the text. As two of our groups have studied Isaiah, we have heard God speaking the following to us”
The meditation link below is a compilation of verses from Isaiah as well as other places in scripture that highlight these themes. Find a comfortable spot and five minutes to listen to these words from God – we hope it will bless your day and your heart.
21-Day Race Equity Challenge – Begins May 9th, 2021
Isaiah 1:17: Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
This verse from Isaiah is just one of many verses that instruct us, as God’s people, to be a voice for justice. While it is much easier to be silent in the face of the inequalities and violence that stem from continuing racial discrimination and oppression, God’s people are called to do what is hard. Many members of the Advent community have been studying, talking, and acting in this arena for the past year, some well before that time. It would be a great testament to the Isaiah verse if our entire community would take time to become acquainted with the many resources available so that we could better equip ourselves to do this work together. At our last seminar about the call for predominantly white churches to be a stronger lead in this area, the question was posed “What is one thing that the whole Advent community could get behind and support in the arena of Racial Justice?” An answer to that question needs the participation of the whole congregation.
Beginning May 9th, we invite everyone in the Advent community to engage in the 21-Day Race Equity Challenge….continue reading
Our Neighbors’ Plate
A group of folks from all walks of Advent life and Niners United Campus Ministry have come together to try to address the food insecurity that is in our community. As you know, we started a Little Free Pantry last year when Covid 19 began wreaking havoc on the economy. This pantry continues to serve our area today but we cannot keep up with the demand. Members refill the pantry multiple times each week. Inspired to use our kitchen to bring another layer of assistance, we have formed Our Neighbors’ Plate. We will begin by providing healthy take-out meals each Thursday from 6:00-7:30 beginning May 6th. Those meals will also be delicious with Leonard DeGrace in the head chef position! After six weeks, we will evaluate the program and decide how to best continue serving our neighbors.
This group is dreaming big – we agreed that we want to better understand the needs of the community, including the root causes of why folks are food insecure. We are looking for information to help us do a needs assessment and will use that information to guide us. Long term, we can imagine Our Neighbors’ Plate being a place where food is the entryway for building community, understanding the needs around us, and finding new ways to be part of solutions for our neighbors experiencing gaps in what they need and what they have access to. We also hope that it is a place where many congregations can come together to do the work God has called us to – loving each other.
Would you like to help? There is a Sign-Up Genius click below where we are looking for folks to help prep on Wednesdays and pack meals, deliver them to cars and clean up on Thursdays. We are also counting on some good desserts to be dropped off at the church individually wrapped and ready to include with the meals.
As we plan for where this ministry may lead us, if you know someone in a corporation that might want to sponsor this kind of work or someone who might be able to point us to a grant, please contact Carol Schierlmann at spiritualdev@adventlu.org
From the Pastor’s Desk
April 7, 2021
Dear Advent Family,
How wonderful it was to be together during Holy Week as we participated in the outdoor worship services! We want to continue to gather for outdoor worship services until we can safely move inside.
For each of the Sundays in April and May, outdoor worship will be held at 10am, weather permitting and will be livestreamed from our website. If weather necessitates the cancellation of the outdoor service, only an online worship service will be available. Additionally, if weather forces cancellation of the outdoor service, a notice will be placed on the Advent website by 8am on Sunday.
There are some things that we can continue to do to ensure our own safety, as well as the safety of our church community.
- First, I encourage you to continue following the CDC guidelines for wearing masks and social distancing.
- Second, I encourage you to receive the vaccine as soon as possible. This not only protects you but it also helps our country reach herd immunity and stops the spread of the virus. I am so thankful that I, along with the entire pastoral staff, have been able to receive the vaccine as have many of our members. We hope to soon be able to say that the entire Advent community is 100% vaccinated!
Here are some important tips for our outdoor services. Please review the items below to ensure that our services are safe.
MONDAY NIGHT PARLOR CLASS
What does the Bible say about pursuing justice and opposing racism? The Parlor Class is participating in a video and discussion series on Mondays through May 3 at 7 p.m. Series is called “Justice or Just Us.” All are welcome to join us to view the series and discuss our Christian responsibility to oppose racism individually and as a congregation. The speakers are all pastors at St. Luke’s Methodist in Indianapolis. Contact Abby Bostian at abostian@carolina.rr.com with questions or to get on the Parlor Class email list.
The Zoom connection information for this class is available on the Member Dashboard page, found under the About Us menu, or by clicking here.
LITTLE FREE PANTRY
Our Little Free Pantry has become immensely popular for both our neighbors in the College Downs neighborhood and for our members. Sharon Thrower has agreed to be the Social Ministry Board lead person for our pantry. If you have questions or ideas about the pantry, including donations and how to become more involved, feel free to contact her at PreschoolDirector@adventlu.org. Our Little Free Pantry is located on Bonnie Lane in the side yard of the Wubben-Smith House.
An Amazon Wish List has also been set up for those who would like to purchase items for the Little Free Pantry and our Advent Food Pantry. Because of delivery issues at the church, it has been set up for the items to be shipped to Sharon Thrower’s address; however you MUST select the shipping option that says “Sharon Thrower’s Gift Registry Address”. Many items have been set up in the wish list and will be used to stock Advent’s Pantry. You may click here to go directly to the Amazon page to order.
LOVE IS THE WAY
by
Bishop Michael Curry
Mondays at Noon
Feb 15th – Mar 1st, 15th, 29th – Apr 19th – May 3rd
NEW book study! Join us for a discussion of “Love is the Way” from Bishop Michael Curry. We will Zoom every first and third Monday at 12:00 and tackle 2 chapters a week until we complete the book. If you would like to study this book, but this time does not work for your, please email Carol at spiritualdev@adventlu.org and let her know what days/times would work better. If enough folks express interest for a second class, we will advertise the day and time.
Advent’s Call For Social Justice
RACIAL JUSTICE TEAMS
Our Racial Justice Teams have been busy! Classes & book studies are underway. Civic Action has changed its name to Racial Equity Action Partners (REAP) and Pastor Ward is reaching out to churches in our area to form partnerships. See our Racial Justice Page for more details. If you would like to join a team, contact Carol Schierlmann at spiritualdev@adventlu.org. There will be links on the member dashboard for upcoming meetings which are open to all.
Being in Community – Together While Apart
Welcome to the Advent Lutheran Church online community. In response to the temporary reality of social distancing, we will continue to reach out with our hearts instead of our hands for a little while longer. We are embodied people and miss the ability to gather together. While we look forward to a wonderful reunion sometime in the future, we also recognize that each new day is a gift from God. Using creativity and care, we are finding new ways to grow in God’s love where we are planted. We encourage you to take advantage of all the ways you can to be connected with on another right now.
You will note a newly invigorated focus on racial and social justice work inspired by our shared desire to do a better job using our voices and our resources in this area. Check out our page under the Outreach & Support tab to learn all the ways you can get informed and pug in to make a difference.
Links to Sunday worship will be posted here to our new YouTube channel each week at 9:40. Adult Education continues via Zoom, Sundays at 11 am, and Wednesdays at 11:45 am. We have a Devotion Zoom at noon on the first and third Mondays of each month. Links to all the Zoom sessions are posted on the Member Dashboard website page.
If you have not listened to our podcast, The Radical Love Endeavor, you will find episodes on the stress of separation and loss, how to help children and youth during the quarantine as well as a guided meditation series.
Keep checking back for new content and let us know if there is something you would like to see or hear from us by sending suggestions to info@adventlu.org with the email subject “Suggestion for Content”.
Meet Our Pastor
WARD MISENHEIMER
I never imagined being ordained (I’m sure it was a shock to many others, too!), much less serving as a pastor at Advent for almost 13 years! But, now I can’t imagine being anywhere. This congregation has watched me grow as a pastor and extended much grace to me when I’ve completely dropped the ball. We have celebrated together when goals have been attained. They have loved me in the midst of the ups and downs of life. And I hope that I’ve shared as much grace and love with them as I have experienced.
Advent is blessed to have the liturgical art of Ernst Schwidder in our sanctuary. These three pieces, the reredos, altar and pulpit, are beautiful pieces that add to our worship each week. His mahogany wood sculpting is easily recognizable for its long, lean, flowing lines, as well as for its idiosyncratic uppercase lettering of Scripture passages. In the craft of an artist, Schwidder did not intend to produce lifelike images, but to design through wood carving and other media visual theological truth apropos to the church setting and ministry in which his work had been commissioned.
The body of Jesus on this cross is not dying – it is the risen Christ. His hands indicate a servant posture as he returns to serve the world, which is reflected in the circle behind the cross. The clouds at the top of the circle show Jesus “coming on the clouds” – this proclaims Jesus as the bridge between heaven and earth. There are 8 stars. The center star is the “morning star” from Revelation 2:28 heralding the dawn and representing resurrection. The other seven stars represent the Christian churches in Asian Minor from Revelation. As John was instructed to write to these churches, we ponder what John would have to write about Advent today as we strive to live into the light and love of the resurrected Christ.