August 13—Week 9: Water-Filled

Week 9: Water-Filled

As I reflect on my full summer and scroll through pictures, I notice the steady presence of water. From the weekly swim lessons to the waterfalls cascading into fjords, water was everywhere. On our recent road trip to New Jersey, we dipped into water almost every day. Whether it was Lake Michigan in Chicago, the Atlantic Ocean, or a hotel pool, we were wet!

When I asked my 5-year-old what her favorite part of summer was, she says, “Splash Valley!” a water park near our home. Every time we went to Splash Valley, she wanted to go down the blue body slide, again, and again, and again. The blue slide is a gentle twisting water slide. Personally, I prefer the orange slide with the thrill of a tunnel and steep slope. To make the blue slide more interesting, I closed my eyes. Suddenly, not knowing when the next turn was coming, I was knocked off balance. I put my hands by my side to steady myself. The water flowed over my hands. I could feel the current carrying me. I relaxed and trusted the water. It was exhilarating.

This summer memory at the water park flooded my mind as I worked on a funeral sermon. I imagined the person as an infant, water pouring on his head as his parents held him over the baptismal font. At that moment, he didn’t know the turns life would bring, but he could feel the water on his head. He could feel the water dripping down his face, just like God’s love dripping, pouring, cascading down.

Now looking back on the summer, I can also see the steady presence of God’s love.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall live in the house of the Lord forever. –Psalm 23:6

This is my last reflection for the summer. I hope these notes have helped you notice God in new ways. I hope you can see how God’s generous love has been a steady presence through your summer. As fall activities pick up and we return to routines, may you continue to find ways to explore faith and curiously follow God’s Spirit.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jenny

Read this: Psalm 23 and Revelation 22:1-5

Try this: Get wet! Walk in the rain, splash your face, dip your toes in a lake. Water is a physical sign of God’s love, that’s why it is used in baptism. When you feel water on your skin, dip your finger in the water and make the sign of the cross on your forehead, remembering your baptism. Say, “I am a child of God. He loves me and cares for me.”

Be Curious: What types of water restores your soul bringing peace (or joyful exhilaration!)? Is it is the still water of a lake? Is in the ever-changing flowing river? Is it the steady rhythm of waves? Find a way to be near that source of life this week, even if it’s simply listening to the sound on YouTube or meditating on a picture.

Pray: Pray for earth and water courses. Relief from wildfires, rain for crops, and clean drinking water. Give thanks for organizations like Friends of the Mississippi who teach and inspire people to care for our natural water sources.

August 8—Week 8: It Starts with an Invitation

Week 8: It Starts with an Invitation

As we packed up the buns and rolled up the chips, a woman turned to me and said, “Thanks for inviting us! We had a great time.” She knew the Night to Unite event at St. James was coming up, but forgot it was this week. “Thanks for thinking of us.”

An invitation goes a long way.

Consider Bishop Yehiel Curry, presiding bishop-elect of the ELCA. He didn’t grow up in the Lutheran church. When he was a public-school teacher on the south-side of Chicago, he was invited to a mentoring program at Shekinah Chapel and stayed for worship. After worship he told his wife, LaShonda, about his great experience and they went together the next week. “We came back and joined,” Curry said. “And we didn’t understand the organizations of the Lutheran church. We just saw a home, we saw a community.”

I saw community last night at St. James.

People from three generations roasted hotdogs over the fire. Neighbors from Williams Dr., Judicial Rd., and Rose Bluff Blvd. empathized about the construction. Kids from the church, preschool, and Spanish speaking congregations played together in the bounce house. All while sharing food and enjoying live music from “the Sunny Sundy Summer Singers.”

When two Burnsville police officers arrived with footballs and freebies to pass out, they saw the crowd of over 60 people and said, “Wow! You do this right!”

We do community at St. James. We welcome friends and visitors. We invite others into community that is shaped by the love of Jesus. Who will you invite to experience community and the love of God? Who knows how the Holy Spirit will move them? It starts with an invitation.

Read this: John 1:35-51

Try this: Invite someone to come to St. James with you to worship, volunteer with you, or simply enjoy music. Here are some great opportunities coming up:

• August 23: The Great Give-Away (free garage sale)

• September 7: God’s Work Our Hands (morning of service projects)

• September 14: Rally Day and Ministry Fair

• December 21: Christmas Concert

Be Curious: Read more about Bishop Curry’s story here. Ask a friend if they have a faith home and ask them more about it. If they don’t have a faith home, invite them to come with you.

Pray: Pray for those who are lonely or looking for meaning in their lives. Ask God to show you natural opportunities to invite others to experience life in God with you.

July 30—Week 7: Faith of Our Fathers

Week 7: Faith of Our Fathers

When I was in Norway this summer, I visited Heddal Stavkyrkje, the largest stave church in Norway. The church gets its name from the pillars (staves) that support the roof. With it’s three tall turrets and exquisite wooden carvings framing the towering doors, it is a destination for many Christians. In fact, when I saw it on our itinerary, I planned to take a picture and collect brochures so I could write a blog entry about the value of tradition and the pillars of faith. But that was before I knew we would visit the church of my great-great-grandfather, Ole Kingland.

Nestled in a valley in the Telemark region, Amotsdal Church was home to Ole’s family—my family. Now it is home to Bjørg Oseid Kleivi a gifted rosemaler and local historian. When I told her I’m a Lutheran Pastor, she invited me to climb into the pulpit. My cousins goaded me into giving an impromptu sermon. The scripture that came to mind was Ephesians 2:19-22:

So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone; in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

When I remember this visit, the moment that moved me most was not viewing the fascinating construction of Heddal Stave Church, it wasn’t even standing in the pulpit. It was sitting in the pew imagining my ancestors being baptized in that font, hearing the word of God from that pulpit, and kneeling at that railing to receive holy communion. It was being in a holy space where time overlapped through faith: my faith, the faith of my forefathers, the faith of Bjorg’s worshiping community, the enduring faith of Jesus.

Amotsdal Church is much smaller today that when my great-great grandfather attended as a child. Many Norwegians don’t attend church anymore, except for baptisms, weddings, and funerals. The church has changed over the years, both in Norway and here in the US. There is a lot to grieve AND there is a lot to rejoice in.

Today I rejoice in the gift of faith my great-grandfather passed on to his son, who passed it on to his son, who passed it on to my mom, who passed it on to me, as I pass it on to my daughter. I rejoice in the community of living and deceased saints who keep the faith and support one another in difficult times such as when Norwegians rallied in resistance against the Nazi regime, standing firm in the morals of our Christian faith. I rejoice in the faith we receive from God every time we worship together. Let us rejoice in faith today!  

Read this: Ephesians 2:11-22.

Try this: Invite your children or grandchildren to come to your church to worship and share our living faith. Tell them why church is important to you. Share memories about going to church with your parents or grandparents.

Be Curious: Notice the details of your church. The colors, shapes, textures, smells…what does your worship space tell you about God?

Pray: Thank God for the inheritance of faith. Ask God to show you how to pass on the faith to the next generation. Ask God to forgive the ways our ancestors and church leaders have caused physical and spiritual pain and separation.

July 9—Week 6: You’re Family Here

Week 6: You’re Family Here

I recently returned from a heritage trip to Norway. I don’t have any living relatives in Norway, but while I was there, I met family.

I first met family when I boarded a charter bus with my mom and two sisters. Everyone on board (except for our tour guide and bus driver) were related through my great-great grandfather, Ole Selstad. Driving through the mountains, sitting in saunas, and sharing Aquivit at night, I got to know family I never knew I had. We laughed about mishaps and made new memories. We shared our mental health struggles, the challenges of divorce, and woes of parenting. We learned about our roots and the tangle of relationships from Nancy, our family genealogist. Then we stood on ancestral lands when we visited the farms where Ole Selstad, Liv Kjinland (his first wife), and Asna Tvetan (my great-great-grandmother) were born.

On the Kjinland farm, Knut Erik greeted the charter bus with his girlfriend, his sister, brother-in-law, nieces, nephew, and mother. None of us are blood relatives with Knut since his father bought the farm when Ole and Liv immigrated to America, and yet he treated us like family. After leading us up a steep hill to the old homestead and giving us a history of the farm, Knut Erik and his family invited us into their home for a “light” lunch. All twenty-four of us filled our plates with cured meats, moose burgers (hunted by Knut), goat cheese (made by his niece), potato salad, rømmegrøt, lefse, and more, then we sat with his family and ate together.

“Taak” (thank you), didn’t feel like it was enough. The Knut family showed us generous hospitality, most often reserved only for family, yet here they shared abundantly with strangers. After the meal, before we left, Knut’s mother gave each of us a big hug, pressed her cheek to ours, and looked at us with a mother’s love. She didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Norwegian, but she showed us we are now family.

We often talk about the church as the “family of God.” Family is…well, family. It’s complicated; and yet, God adopts us into a holy heritage through Jesus. Sometimes it’s easier to welcome a stranger than our own family members. On those days when it’s difficult to love a member of your family, remember—they are a beloved child of God, and so are you. We’re all family here.

Read this: Mark 3:31-35 and Hebrews 13:1-2

Try this: Cook or bake a family recipe and share it with a neighbor. As you eat, ask them about their family recipes.

Be Curious: How does your family practice hospitality and welcome? Ask your relatives questions. How was hospitality practiced? What are the most important things? How can you lean into loving and generous hospitality today?

Pray: Pray for families in need of healing from abuse, trauma, and broken trust. Give thanks for the support of adopted and chosen family.

July 2—Week 5: Praying for In(ter)dependence Days

Week 5: Praying for In(ter)dependence Days

Parades and picnics in the park. Fireworks and festivities with friends. Lake lounging and late nights. No matter how you observe the Fourth of July, it is a day of celebration commemorating the birth of our nation, the day of independence.

As Americans, we assert our independence not only on the Fourth of July, but on every day of the year. We love our freedom and independence. It guides our laws, our actions, and our beliefs. And yet, we are also people of faith. We depend on God’s grace, and we mutually rely on one another.

We are both free and bound.

As an American and as a some-what free spirit myself, I have struggled with interdependence. I want the freedom to be spontaneous. I want the freedom to make my own choices. But as it turns out, the freedom I want is not what I need. I need to be connected. God did not create us to be independent. We are created to be interdependent with God, with creation, and with one another.

The practice of Centering Prayer has helped deepen my dependence on God. By surrendering to God’s presence and action within me, I am becoming freed from my ego, connected to God, and opened to others.

We have a unique opportunity as dual citizens of both heaven and earth. While we live in a country that is quick to assert personal independence, we can choose to submit to God, mutually care for our neighbors and live out our interdependence in love on July 4th and every day.

Read this: Ephesians 2:13-22 and Philippians 2:3-11

Try this: Practice Centering Prayer to increase your capacity to listen to God’s will and depend on him. Download the Centering Prayer App from Contemplative Outreach for a step-by-step guide or click here.

Be Curious: Do you know someone who depends deeply on God? Ask them how they have experienced deeper faith. Ask them how they sustain their faith.

Pray: Pray for members of the armed forces of the United States of America. Give thanks for the gift of freedom. Ask God to increase dependence in him and interdependence with one another.

June 25—Week 4: Holy Rest in a Hurried World

Week 4: Holy Rest in a Hurried World

When I am asked how I am doing, I often respond, “good—busy, but good.” Is this the same good that God declares when he made heaven and earth? God did not create us to be busy. God created us to worship him, to care for the earth, to love one another, and to rest.

From the very beginning, rest is holy. After creating the world, God rested (Genesis 2:2–3). Not from exhaustion, but to set a rhythm: labor and love, work and wonder, action and pause.

Jesus, too, honored rest. He withdrew to pray, took naps in storms, and moved at a pace attentive to God. His invitation still stands: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

In a world that demands busyness and rewards exhaustion, rest can feel like a guilty pleasure. But in the Christian life, rest is not only necessary—it is sacred. It is a command, a gift, and for many, an act of resistance.

Black theologians remind us that rest is not just personal—it’s political and spiritual. Theologian Howard Thurman once said, “There must be a place in the spirit where the energies of life can be re-ordered and redirected.”

That place is found in Sabbath rest, in Juneteenth joy, in moments where we dare to believe that we are beloved by God—not for what we do, but for who we are.

Last week, we marked Juneteenth, a day we remember the delayed freedom of enslaved Black Americans in Galveston, Texas—finally informed of their emancipation two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is not just a historical commemoration—it is a call to rest in the knowledge that true liberation includes the right to rest, to heal, to rejoice.

So this week, rest. Rest in your body. Rest in your God. As we celebrate freedom hard-won and still unfolding, let us claim rest as a practice of faith and a promise of God’s kingdom.

Read this: Genesis 1-2:4

Try this: Take a nap. Create something for no reason, no purpose other than creating (water color, draw, play an instrument). Check out this video by Julian Reid, theologian and musician who created Notes of Rest.

Be Curious: What keeps you from resting from work? What would resting in God look like for you? Ask how others find rest.

Pray: Pray for God to show you how to practice rest in your life. Pray for those who are overworked and those who don’t have enough work.

June 18—Week 3: Called to Community in a Time of Violence

Week 3: Called to Community in a Time of Violence

Family, friends, and neighbors gathered at the McLellan’s home

In the wake of the tragic shooting of Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and Senator John Hoffman, our hearts are heavy. Violence has struck close to home, and it’s natural to feel fear, anger, or despair. It is tempting in times like these to retreat—to withdraw into safe spaces, shut our doors, and guard our hearts. But as followers of Christ and members of the ELCA, we are called to something deeper than fear. We are called to community.

In Acts 2:42, we are given a picture of the early church in uncertain and dangerous times:

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers."

The early Christians didn’t retreat when the world shook around them. They leaned in. They listened. They prayed. They broke bread together. They practiced a radical kind of hope that lives in shared life.

This is our calling, too.

Christian community is not just about being together in easy times—it’s about standing with one another when the world grows dark. In the face of violence, we respond not with vengeance or bitterness, but with love, courage, and unity. Christian unity doesn’t erase grief, but it transforms it. When we gather at the table, stories are shared, burdens are carried, and Christ is known among us.

Family, friends, and neighbors gathered at the McLellan’s home

Let us be that kind of church—faithful, present, and grounded in hope.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jenny McLellan

Read this: Acts 2:43-47 and 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Try this: Write letters of encouragement to your representatives. Start a small group—it can be anything: dog walking, book club, gaming, breakfast club, invite a friend to volunteer with you—anything that creates community shaped by the love of Christ.

Be Curious: Look around your home. Who are your neighbors, literally? Who lives next door? Across the street? Behind you? Do you know their name (first and last)? Do you know what their interests are? How about their hopes and fears? 

Pray: Pray for our leaders and for all who are hurting.

June 11—Week 2: Vacation from Work, not from Worship

Week 2: Vacation from Work, not from Worship

All Saints Episcopal Church, Kapaʻa, HI

When I was 16, my family went on vacation in Kauai. Every time we drove into town, we passed a small church with a red door and welcoming sidewalk lined with palm trees. I asked my parents if we could go to the cute church on Sunday. They said we could go to church, but it would be a Lutheran church (not the cute Episcopal church). Even though I didn’t get to walk through the cute red door, I got to worship in my Lutheran tradition with the same liturgy, but it was also different. People wore Hawaiian shirts and flip flops instead of ties and dress shoes. They dipped their bread in the common cup instead of receiving communion in little plastic cups. Then on the way out, I saw pictures on the bulletin board from the ELCA Youth Gathering in Atlanta earlier that summer. I was there too! To think, I may have been sitting in the same row in the arena or served in the same neighborhood as these Lutherans in Hawaii and we lived two time zones apart. By worshiping on vacation, I came to see the people in Kauai as my peers and siblings in Christ, not just a place to serve me as I “get away.” 

We all need to take a break. We are not created to work non-stop. We are created to worship God and be in relationship with our Creator, our neighbors, and the world. When you take a break and head on vacation this summer, see the break as an opportunity to explore worship in a new place with a different community of believers.

Read this: Exodus 3:7-10 and Exodus 8:1

Try this: Worship some place new. Try informal worship outside or formal worship on a festival day. Explore other Christian denominations or another ELCA Lutheran church. Find a ELCA church here. Even if you aren’t going on vacation, you can try a different worship experience right in your city. Ask a friend if you can go to church with them (then invite them to come with you!) Don’t forget an offering to share.

Be Curious: What similarities and differences do you notice? What does this worship say about who God is?

Pray: Pray for the people, leaders, and ministries of the church you visited.

June 4—Week 1: Looking for God’s Fingerprints

Week 1: Looking for God’s Fingerprints

Nature sightings at St. James

God’s beauty, design, creativity, and diversity is all around us. When was the last time you stopped to notice God’s beauty in nature? You don’t have to travel far to experience God. I stepped out of the office today and started looking around and listening.

I noticed the curling frond of an Ostrich Fern. I noticed a tall flower that looked like afirework (after googling, I learned it is a “Star of Persia”). I noticed bird calls from Red-winged Blackbirds, American Goldfinches, House Sparrows, and Black-capped Chickadees. I noticed the fragrant lilacs inviting pollinators to drink. I also noticed the lilacs are planted near the entrance of our sanctuary and I began to imagine lilacs as greeters of the church, inviting thirsty people to receive the nectar of God’s word.

What a beautiful world God has made! I can see his fingerprints everywhere: the exquisite attention to detail, the growing and dying and living together in interdependence. God is good! This is what I noticed in my 7-minute walk around our church parking lot.

Where have you noticed God’s fingerprints lately? Go out and explore today.

Read this: Psalm 8 and Proverbs 8:22-31.

Try this: Go outside. Look for 5 things you haven’t noticed before. It could be something you see, hear, feel, or smell. Take a picture or try to describe what you notice. Look it up with Google lens or use a nature app like Merlin (bird identification app.)

Be Curious: What can you compare it to? How do you notice God in this piece of God’s creation? What does it tell you about who God is?

Pray: Tell God what you noticed. Invite God to continue to reveal himself through nature and cultivate curiosity in you.

May 28, 2025

Introducing Summer Series: Exploring Faith

No matter where you are this summer, God is there.

God is there playing in lake waters and blowing over fields. God is there giving rest to tired bodies. God is there working to redeem our hurting world.

This summer, my hope for you is that you may grow closer to God and more open toward others by exploring faith practices. Each week I will offer a brief introduction to a Christian faith topic and a challenge for you to try out and explore further.

Whether you have a spiritual routine or are just starting, I invite you to become curious this summer. Try out the challenges I recommend. Share it with your family and friends. Tell me what you discover about yourself and God and others.

No matter where you are this summer, God is there calling you to join him through play, rest, and the work of God’s kingdom.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Jenny