The Minnesota Conference has appointed Rev. Cindy Mueller to the role of Steward for Search and Call and Congregational Legacy Planning, a new position in an experimental staff model.
On Monday, I was contacted by a member of the media. “What can we do to heal our communities in the middle of all this pain and unrest?” she wondered. I declined to be interviewed. It felt like she was asking the wrong question. Or that it was at least premature.
Learn more about our plans for workshops, special clergy seminars and all-conference worship with guest preacher Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia Thompson, plus register now for the week of June 7-13.
“I’m not sure I have ever longed for spring quite so desperately. And never have I needed Easter’s Resurrection quite so much.” Read more from Conference Minister Rev. Shari Prestemon.
Few things brings us as much joy as welcoming new clergy to the Minnesota Conference, United Church of Christ. Meet our newest clergy.
I don’t know about you, but years from now when we are finally all vaccinated and the Covid-19 pandemic is a memory within our collective conscience, there are some aspects that I will gladly forget because of the pain they caused. And there are other aspects that I will give thanks to God for sustaining us through those painful moments.
Columbine. Newtown. Virginia Tech. Aurora. Charleston. Las Vegas. Orlando. Pittsburgh. El Paso. San
Bernadino. These are the names of just some of the cities where mass gun violence has occurred in our nation. The
city of Buffalo here in our own state of Minnesota is another, where a shooter shot five people at a
clinic, killing one, just last month.
In just a few weeks, Maryjane Westra will head back to Honduras as a mission co-worker with the United Church of Christ’s Global Ministries. It’s a long way from Fergus Falls, where she currently lives, but it’s a country she knows well, having served there with her husband, Don, from 2013-2017.
This Ash Wednesday, some churches are hosting “bring-your-own-ashes” services on Zoom. Others will administer ashes with disposable swabs, applied by masked ministers to worshippers in a drive-thru ritual. Still others are creating containers of ashes for pick up and Lent kits for at-home practices.
Shortly after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, a pastor in Alexandria, Minnesota, posted a Facebook video telling citizens to be ready to “arm up.” Other clergy united in response — to share a message of unity and peace.
