Tag: Messiah Lutheran Church

• Remember Me?

  Eight months ago I stopped publishing my blog every week. Now I post an entry sporadically, averaging about one a month. The one thing I’ve been consistent about is always publishing on Tuesday morning. Today that tradition ends, too. It’s Friday. Specifically, it’s Good Friday, and there’s something on my mind that I want to…

  Marian

  April 14, 2017

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Jail Ministry, Lent, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

  criminal request, Dane County Jail, Good Friday, Good Friday devotion, Holy Week, important in God’s eyes, important to God, jail ministry, Jesus remember me, Lenten Devotion, Lenten Devotional booklet, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church

• Feeling Safe in our Homes Away from Home

  “Paris” is the closest experience to “Pulse” (the gay bar in Orlando) I can relate to. Twenty-five years ago, when Mim and I still lived in Chicago, occasionally we would go with a couple friends to “Paris,” a lesbian nightclub on the mid-north side of Chicago. The four of us would sit at the bar,…

  Marian

  June 14, 2016

  God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections

  assault weapon, Cambridge, Chicago, David Haas, English mansion, feeling safe, gun control, gun control laws, lesbian nightclub, Madison, Magnificent Mile, Messiah Lutheran Church, Moody’s Pub, never darkening the door of a bar, Orlando, Paris, Paris Dance, Paris lesbian bar, personal library, Psalm 27, Pulse, Pulse gay bar, Pulse Nighclub, respect people who are different, Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock’s Home

• I Planned and God Laughed

  

  Thursday was just one of those days. I usually try to go to church to practice the organ for a couple hours about 9:00 every Thursday morning. Last Thursday I was running behind schedule because of being away at Christmas Mountain for a 3-day getaway earlier in the week, and I didn’t have any music…

  Marian

  April 19, 2016

  Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

  Angelo’s, blueberries, Christmas Mountain, Costco, God’s plans, iPhone, Italian restaurant, lost phone, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, Metro Market, my plans, organ practice, practice the organ, Prius, US Cellular, whittlers, whittling, wood carving

• Amen, Papa, Amen.

  

  My mom used to tell the story about one of her best childhood friends, Ruth Eckblad. Ruth’s father was pastor of the Willerup Methodist Church in Cambridge, Wisconsin for a few years in the early 1900s. One day when Ruth was a little girl, she got tired of sitting in church and being quiet for…

  Marian

  December 29, 2015

  Blogs, Book Recommendations, God’s Love, Music, Reflections

  Amen, Amen Papa, benediction, blessing, family expression, Jeff VandenHeuvel, May God go before you, Meditations on 366 best loved hymns, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, Near to the Heart of God, New Year’s blessing, Papa, Pastor Jeff, Robert J Morgan, Ruth Eckblad, special words for 2016, The Lord bless you and keep you, Willerup Methodist Church

• An Odd Gift

  

  Some forty years ago, I received a really odd gift from my parents. I had recently graduated from college and was living in a small town in Connecticut. I had become a high school English teacher. My parents gave me, as a gift, their used manure spreader. It wasn’t a particularly practical gift for me.…

  Marian

  October 6, 2015

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Life’s Challenges, Reflections, Reunions

  class reunion, concentrated manure, ELCA, Ford tractor, gift giving, Good Gifts, gratitude, H tractor, harvesting corn, Heifer, Heifer International, James 1:17, joy, Kenyon High School, liquefied manure, manure spreader, Messiah Lutheran Church, odd gift, practical gifts, soybeans, tractor

• Living inside a Broadway Musical

  Last weekend was like living inside a Broadway musical – like “The Sound of Music.” Life wasn’t an opera – our conversations were spoken, not sung – but the whole weekend seemed to flow from one musical moment to the next. It’s almost like we were taking the message of the Psalms – to sing…

  Marian

  December 9, 2014

  Celebrations, Christmas, God’s Love, Music, Reflections

  Advent candles, Away in a manger, Beverly Taylor, Broadway musical, Christmas Carol Sing, Christmas Carol Sing-along, Christmas Carols, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, God’s love, Hallelujah Chorus, Hutchison, hymn sing, I thank you Lord for each new day, Joy to the World, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah, Madison Symphony Choir, Madison Symphony Chorus, Madison Symphony Christmas concert, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Madison Youth Choirs, Messiah Lutheran Church, Monona Senior Choir, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, music, O Come All Ye Faithful, Overture Center organ, Overture Hall, reflections, Sam Hutchison, Silent Night, sing praises, Sing to the Lord, sing with the angels, sing-along, spirituality, The First Nowell, The Sound of Music, Winter Underwear, Winter Wonderland

• “Family”

  About 40 years ago, I went “home” with Mim for the first time. We drove from Chicago to Kenyon, Minnesota, at least a seven-hour drive, the first weekend in December. In Kenyon, we picked up Mim’s mom, Selma, and drove another 15 miles to go to the St. Olaf College Christmas concert. Mim’s mom, who…

  Marian

  July 29, 2014

  Celebrations, God’s Love, Reflections, Reunions

  125th anniversary, 150th anniversary, Bill Gaither, branch of God’s family, childhood church, church family, church of my childhood, country church, family, family church, family of God, family reunion, friends, God’s family, God’s love, Gol, Gol Lutheran Church, home church, immigrated from Norway, Kenyon Minnesota, kindness, life changes, listening for God, love your neighbor, Messiah Lutheran Church, Otto Jacobson, Philip Yancey, reflections, Resurrection Lutheran Church, retreats, Selma Jacobson, sesquicentennial, spirituality, St. Olaf College, Willerup United Methodist Church

• Imagine you have just been arrested! Now what?

  Imagine you have just been arrested – for a crime that you may or may not have committed. Your life has suddenly been put on hold – for who knows how long. You may have small children at home. Who will care for them? You may have a job. What will happen to that? Think…

  Marian

  June 3, 2014

  Jail Ministry, Life’s Challenges, Music, Reflections

  arrested, Backyard Mosaic, Backyard Mosaic Women’s Project, Chance Allies, change in my life, chapel, chaplain, concert, Dane County, Dane County Jail, David Allen, fundraiser, fundraising concerts, God’s love, humility, inmate stories, inmates, jail, jail chapel, jail ministry, Jazz for Jail, Jazz for the Jail, John Mix, Julia Weaver, life challenges, life changes, listening for God, Lucas Koehler, Lutheran Churches, Madison Area Lutheran Council, MALC, Maria’s story, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, mistakes, pencil, silent auction, Tisha Brown, white collar crime

• My Grade on Giving up Hurry for Lent

  On Easter Abbey spent about an hour out on our deck, watching two geese float back and forth on the pond. She said to me, “Mom, did you notice that two of our geese have finally come back home? Two years ago they were here at the beginning of Lent. This year they didn’t come…

  Marian

  April 22, 2014

  Book Recommendations, Celebrations, God’s Love, Lent, Music, Reflections, Spring

  Abbey, Alan Fadling, An Unhurried Life, bonfire, Easter, Easter hymn, Easter Vigil, Edward Hays, Exultet, geese, giving up hurry for Lent, God’s love, hidden joys, hurry, hurrying, Jesus Christ is Risen Today, Jesus’ rhythms of work and rest, Lent, life challenges, listening for God, love your neighbor, Messiah Church, Messiah Lutheran Church, nature, pillars of fire, Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim, reflections, spirituality, talking with God, The Good Samaritan

• My Mom’s Wedding Ring

  I wore my mom’s wedding ring to church on Sunday. I sometimes wear the ring when I want to feel that Mom is especially close to me. Often that’s when I’m planning to play some extra special music on the piano or organ at church, and I know Mom would really enjoy listening to it.…

  Marian

  September 3, 2013

  God’s Love, Music, Reflections

  Be Still My Soul, Bill Gaither, church family, church music, coffee hour, East Koshkonong Lutheran Church, extended family, family of God, Finlandia, friends, God’s love, God-given gifts, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, In the Garden, life calling, Messiah Lutheran Church, mom, organist, pianist, reflections, Sibelius, the Family of God, wedding ring