Lenten Journey

As I'm preparing for Lent this year, I thought I should share some of the resources I created last year. Our theme was "Journeying with Jesus to the Cross". To better visualize the journey, I created this illustration so each family could keep track of their journey through the 40 days of Lent at home, along with some short readings for each day of the journey.

On Sundays, when all the kids came forward for the children's message, we would talk about where we were on the journey, and then a few of them would color in the squares from the past week. I think the kids especially enjoyed having something hands-on to do, and the visual of drawing closer to the cross and the resurrection was helpful.

If you click the image below, you should be able to download a legal-size version of the journey printout PDF for your own use at home or at church. Happy journeying!

Prayer Ribbons

At the beginning of each new year, our church always sets aside a week (including two Sundays) especially focused on prayer. Last year and this year, the first Sunday of Prayer Week I preached on some aspect of prayer, and then the second Sunday, our service included a very truncated sermon with an extended time for prayer. This year I wanted to do something a little more hands-on and creative, and this was what I came up with that worked in our sanctuary.

I found some sheer ribbon in the floral section of Hobby Lobby ($6 for 60 feet) and purchased a roll each of silver, gold, and white. We used duct tape to adhere the ribbon to the little ledge at the bottom of our sanctuary windows, and hung the ribbon in varying lengths. 

Then I clipped a bunch of clothespins to the ribbons (I got lucky and found a big box of them among our church's craft supplies!).

We made little prayer cards in varying colors, and stuck one in everyone's bulletin. Around the edge of the card, it said "Prayers for...family - friends - neighbors..." etc. (Click here to download the PDF.)

Then, when we normally share prayer requests and I pray on behalf of our congregation, instead I invited everyone to write or draw their prayers on the prayer cards, and when they were ready, to bring them forward and clip them to one of the ribbons. If they wanted to add more than one card, there were more available next to the ribbons as well.

New Adventures in the Last Few Months

It's been quite a while since I posted anything here! It's been an interesting few months - here's the quick version:

While unemployed for a few months, I decided to act on a dream of mine and opened an Etsy shop. I worked and worked to create a variety of table linens with life-inspired, hand-designed prints. It has been so much fun creating beautiful things, sharing them with others, and receiving compensation for my hard work!

Then, at the end of November, by the grace of God, I was able to act on another dream of mine! I was installed as the Interim Pastor at the Evangelical Covenant Church in a charming little town in northeast Nebraska. Greg and I have now been settled in Wakefield for almost two months and are enjoying life here.

It has been challenging and fun to plan worship, preach on a regular basis, teach Confirmation to four wonderful junior high students, hear the stories of the people who call this church home, work with leaders in our congregation and in the community, and prayerfully discern where God is leading this body of believers.

Slowly but surely, I am finding a rhythm for how life works as a full-time pastor. I know that I need to not just use my head but use my hands and stay in touch with my creative side. I had to take a break from creating new inventory for my shop, but hope to get back at it soon!

Thank You Notes

I have a love/slightly-despise relationship with thank you notes. On the one hand, I sincerely enjoy expressing my gratitude in my own hand writing. On the other hand, I have a lot of guilt about the thank you notes that don't get sent. Five years after my wedding, I can still remember a few of the thank you notes that were returned to me because of a wrong address; I was unable to re-send a few of those, and I still feel bad that those people weren't thanked! Plus, there are certain very generous people in my life (primarily my parents and my inlaws) to whom I owe approximately 1,492 thank you notes each. That's a lot of catching up to do.

One of the things that makes a thank you note extra special is when it's made by hand. I made most of the thank you notes for wedding gifts using paper leftover from our invitations. This photo is of the most recent set that I made, using hand-carved rubber stamps I designed. I was really blessed by several folks when I graduated from seminary, and I just had to send them something special, so I made these.

Creations around my house: Dining Room Curtains

I wanted to create unique curtains for the four big windows in our dining room, so I made my own stencils out of polypropylene paper and painted some linen that I then sewed into curtains! (I will admit I was inspired by this Martha Stewart project.) Sometimes when I'm working on a paper while sitting in the dining room, feeling frustrated that I haven't accomplished anything, I look at my curtains and am reminded that I'm more than a brain!

Creations around my house: Bedroom

Over the past few years I've enjoyed creating things to adorn our humble little house with. One weekend when Greg was out of town I created the three panels that hang over our bed to add some color to our white walls - they are red burlap stretched over a frame; the design is jute twine glued onto the burlap. I also sewed the curtains in the time between moving in a starting classes back in the summer of 2008!

Susan & Christopher's Wedding Invitations & Programs

I designed and created wedding invitations and programs for my sister-in-law's wedding in September. Before they were engaged, Susan & Christopher traveled to Burundi with a group of friends to do some missions work, so the acacia tree was a significant image for them. Last Christmas, I asked for a linoleum cutting kit, and I finally put it to use to make two different acacia prints for the invitations. I also used purple thread and my sewing machine to hold them together. I lined the envelopes with pretty purple paper. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun!