November 19, 2023

Kris Peterson, Good Shepherd Congregation VP

Good morning! My name is Kris Peterson.  I currently serve as your Good Shepherd Vice President,  

I bring you Greetings and Peace this morning from your Good Shepherd Church Council..

In this season of transition, I want to assure you of the Council’s prayers for you, for one another, for our staff, for Pastor Amy, and as we commit to God our future. We pray for Pastor Amy and her family, with hearts of thanksgiving for her ministry among us, and for her own transition, even as she works with dedication born of love to smooth this transition for us. Thank you for your prayers for Good Shepherd, that we transition well, love and support one another, and continue to serve one another and others with ~  and flowing from ~  the gifts God has so richly given us.  

I speak to you this morning with a heart of gratitude for the abundance of gifts of this congregation.  You are living your faith as you serve in countless, quiet ways.  Thank you. 

Today I update you that the Nominations Committee is close to completing its work on congregational leadership nominations for 2024.  Thank you to all who have prayerfully considered accepting servant leadership roles at Good Shepherd.  We vote for this slate of nominations at our Annual Meeting on February 4, 2024.  

From all of us, I express gratitude to the Stewardship Committee for their meaningful leadership work in this fall’s Good Shepherd “Living Stones” campaign.  Thank you to all who have so generously responded, and to those of you who are finalizing your responses.

Our strong and talented staff serve us, organize us, and invite us.  Thank you, Brooke, Kelli, Erica, and Tristan ~ and to the people of Good Shepherd for prayers, support, responsiveness, and encouragement of our staff.  Led and strengthened by the Spirit, Good Shepherd carries forward the mission of the Church .

As the Council proceeds in faithful, and orderly work, we will keep our church family informed in this process of transition

To that end:

Our current CALL PROCESS UPDATE: 

Last Tuesday night, 11/14/23, the Congregation Council, Pr. Amy, and all the staff met with Pr. Liz Bell of the NE IA Synod.   Pr. Liz will be working with us throughout the call process. Pr. Bell knows and respects the core beliefs and commitments of Good Shepherd, and I assure you she listened well to us. She heard us.

We are proceeding in focus and orderly manner the steps of transition.

1. The staff, executive committee, and council are in discussion of the role of a transition team
2. The synod has shared with the Good Shepherd Executive Committee the name of a potential intentional interim candidate who may possibly start serving us soon. A meeting date with that candidate has been set in a week and a half.  We will keep you informed.  I can assure you the bishop of the candidate for intentional interim and our bishop and Pr. Bell feel that this is a good match.  While this does not work like a “dating” app … we are optimistic.
3. The Executive Committee and Council will be at work on establishing a Call Committee as per our Constitution. A Call Committee will be formed by the Annual Meeting on Feb. 4.  Pastor Liz Bell will be at work with them through the process of call.
4. Pastor Amy’s closing Sunday of ministry with us will be January 7th.  We will have a celebration of her ministry and our time together on January 7th.  

Dear people, Allow yourselves to feel all that you feel.  Share with one another.  Lift one another and Good Shepherd in your prayers and with your presence.   

And for today… May you enjoy the beauty of this day.  Go in peace in the Spirit of today’s worship, encouraged by the Word, strengthened by our Communion, and in the sure knowledge that God is Faithful. 

“A Spiritual House Built on Christ”

Reverend Amy Zalk Larson

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church  

 Decorah, Iowa

Click here to read scripture for the day.

Beloved people of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

This passage has some weighty and powerful images. Christ is described as a living stone, a cornerstone of faith, but also as a stone that can make people stumble, a rock that can make people fall.

What comes to mind when you think about stones? They can bring such beauty to our world. We see this in the bluffs around Decorah and in the work of local stonemasons. Stone memorials often help us honor our blessed dead, those we remember this Veteran’s Day weekend and so many others. Stones can provide shelter and comfort and cause us to stumble and fall. As people, we throw stones at others, literally and metaphorically.

1Peter calls us living stones. This speaks of the capacity we all have:

to harm others and to shelter,

to tear down and to honor,

to obstruct and to build up.

What will we, as living stones, do with such weighty power and responsibility? We’re called to come to Christ to be built into a spiritual house. That is what a congregation can be – a spiritual house made up of living stones, built on the cornerstone of Christ.

That is what you are, Good Shepherd. There is room here for you, for others, to be welcomed, embraced, healed, transformed. Within this spiritual house there is rest; there is nourishment; there is conviction and challenge. There are mirrors that reflect back each person’s intrinsic goodness and reveal sins. Those mirrors are encountered in worship and in relationship with others. Here you are assured that your sins cannot hold you down. You belong to Christ who releases you from the press and weight of them. You are sent out to be faithful living stones – to use your power in community in ways that will shelter, comfort and honor others in the world.

I’m so grateful for the spiritual house that is Good Shepherd. Christ is your cornerstone. The Spirit will continue to form and shape and build this spiritual house.

You’ve done a lot of important work recently on the physical house for the mission of this congregation. Back in 2017, you engaged in a process of listening, asking, “How do the buildings and spaces help us serve God and others? How could they help us serve God and others in new ways?” As a result of that listening, you’ve done important physical projects to help you live out your mission. And you’ve become carbon neutral!

This has been essential and important work. Yet I’m grateful that there have also been many opportunities for you to be built up as a spiritual house, to tend to life together in Christ. The racial justice work is one example of this. That Statement is a mirror that reflects the intrinsic dignity of all God’s people and the way all Americans are harmed by the lie of white supremacy. The good news of Jesus works to liberate us all from this crushing lie and to rebuild the church into a home for all.

Within Good Shepherd, you’ve also addressed how you live out your mission together. Changes to the Council and committee structure are strengthening the foundation of this house. And thanks to the work of the Stewardship Committee, you’re living into new ways of being a spiritual house through the Flock Ministry. Being part of a Flock and part of a larger spiritual house, asks you to let go of focusing on your own piles of rocks, whatever those may be, and to instead offer yourselves for something larger.

You are living stones, part of a beautiful spiritual house. Together as God’s people, you are a temple of God’s presence and a way God is known in the world. God has given you a strong foundation for hope with Christ Jesus.

Today you are invited to give generously to the mission of the spiritual house that is Good Shepherd and to our larger ELCA. As God’s people, we’re invited to give because generosity is good for us. The practice of giving forms us into grateful and generous people. Jesus says where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. We shape our hearts and our lives by how we choose to use our money and our time. Giving also helps us to trust that God will provide and to experience abundance.

We are also invited to give generously as congregations because we can do more together to shelter, honor, and comfort others. This is certainly true for us as part of the ELCA. Together as the ELCA we’re accompanying God’s people in the Holy Land, Ukraine, the Middle East, South Sudan, on the Southern Border, and in so many other places through our Lutheran Disaster Response. Through our Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service we’re helping to welcome others into shelter and safety. Our Lutheran Social Services ministry helps families to stay together in their homes; and our ELCA World Hunger ministry works to help all people have enough to eat.

Good Shepherd gives 26% of the operating expenses to ministry beyond the congregation. This supports our vital ELCA work as well as local work like the Decorah Community Food Pantry, legal clinics for immigrants, and local AMMPARO work accompanying migrant families. I’ve loved giving to Good Shepherd knowing that as I do, I’m giving to so many vital ministries that I value. When you give to Good Shepherd, you can know that you are helping to build up a worldwide house of refuge and shelter.

You are a living stone, part of a spiritual house, with Christ as your strong foundation.

God is with you and God is at work through you.

Let’s join in a time of reflection and silent prayer.

“Present to the Pain”

Reverend Amy Zalk Larson

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church  

 Decorah, Iowa

Click here to read scripture for the day.

Beloved People of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

These words, often called the beatitudes from the Latin word for blessing, are incredibly counter-cultural. Australian pastor and poet Nathan Nettleton says, “If we were to write the beatitudes that we seem to be living by, they would sound something more like this:

Blessed are the comforters, those who distract us or medicate us or entertain us into a state of blissful numbness so we can avoid mourning and pain, for they will turn a huge profit.

Blessed are those who compulsively and excessively satisfy their every hunger and thirst, for they will keep the economy ticking along very nicely, thank you.

Blessed are those who take mercy for themselves, but who in the face of anyone else’s wrong- doing, argue that we must be tough and make an example of transgressors — for they will always be ahead in the opinion polls.”

One thing that distinguishes those beatitudes from those of Jesus is how we’re invited to engage the painful realities of life. Our culture encourages us to do all we can to avoid pain: eat, drink, spend, escape. Steer clear of people who make you feel uncomfortable. Avoid conflict. Turn that frown upside down. It could be said, “Blessed are those who don’t have to deal with pain for they will live the good life.”

Yet, Jesus calls blessed those who are hurting, long suffering, passionate for righteousness, striving for peace, and persecuted for doing the right thing. These types of people all have one thing in common. They are identified by pain – by their own pain or by their engagement with the world’s pain. They’re not the well-off, the wealthy, the lucky, but rather those marked by pain. And Jesus says they are blessed. Jesus directs our attention to the places of deep need and struggle, to those wrestling with it all. He says look, notice. God blesses, honors, esteems, and sees those who are in pain.

God has chosen to be identified with the pain of the world. This is radical. Often, we think pain means we’ve been abandoned by God. People and places scarred by pain are often described as godforsaken. When things are going well, we think God has blessed us; when things fall apart, we often don’t know what to think about God. In the beatitudes, Jesus teaches that God has chosen to bless and to be with those who face suffering, that God has chosen to be in pain. Jesus teaches this and then demonstrates this by his death on the cross.

In the cross we see that God has entered the pain of the world. God has chosen not to avoid or minimize suffering, but to fully engage it for the healing of all creation. God is so very present amidst suffering – in the hospital room, funeral home, war zone, refugee camp, detention center. Many of us have found that to be true in our own lives. We’ve known God’s presence most fully in times of grief or when we’re walking with people who are in need. We’ve cried out, “Where are you God”, and find, in time, that God is right there with us. God is in the pain working healing and new life. We can’t always feel it, but God is there. God’s presence is the blessing we all need; it is the blessing we are given in Christ Jesus.

When we see that God is in pain, this gives us an important way to view and engage the world.

Rather than seeing the needs of our neighbors as a nuisance or something to be pitied, we can recognize that need is a place to meet God and join God. Rather than feeling overwhelmed by all the hurt in our world, we can trust that God is at work in the suffering, and that God gives us what we need to join that work. Rather than offering charity because we’re so blessed and should give to those less fortunate, we can be present with people in need, yearning together for the blessing of God’s healing presence.

This is how we become pure in heart, merciful peacemakers who hunger and thirst for righteousness. This is how we do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. This is how we live as God’s people together – by entering into the pain of the world. Being present is the most important thing we can do for those who are suffering. It’s how we offer a blessing to them, how we help make God’s blessing to them known. We can’t be physically present with the people of Gaza and Israel right now. Yet through our ELCA, we participate in a ministry of accompaniment, being present in this place of generational trauma.

Our Peace Not Walls campaign connects ELCA members to our companions in the Holy Land and promotes dignity, full respect for human rights, healing and reconciliation. With our Palestinian Lutheran partners, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, we accompany Palestinians and Israelis, Jews, Christians and Muslims working together for peace with justice. The Peace Not Walls campaign is providing regular updates and steps we can take to accompany God’s people in this time. We can keep our hearts open, we can pray, we can advocate as you have the opportunity to do today during the Fellowship Hour.

It is brutally hard to be in pain, to witness pain, yet God is in pain.

God is present with us in all the suffering of the world. God is present with us today.

God’s presence empowers us to stay present to the painful realities of this world, to move through pain, to heal, to be a healing presence for others.

God’s presence brings joy and hope for you, for us, in all things.

Let’s join in silent prayer and reflection.

November 6, 2023

Beloved People of God,

Being your pastor is one of the greatest joys of my life. So, it  surprises me to be writing to you to say that I have been called to serve another congregation. I feel deep grief about leaving you soon, even as I feel peace that this call is the next right thing for me and my family. 

My husband Matt and I are both called to serve Christ’s church as pastors. For the past four years, as Assistant to the Bishop in the Southeastern MN Synod of the ELCA, Matt has been commuting to the synod office in Rochester and driving for hours to get to congregations in the synod. The synod office is now moving further into Minnesota. This is necessitating a move for our family. 

Matt and I also take our calls to be parents seriously. For a number of reasons, it is a good time for Abby to make a move. This surprised us, as she is a sophomore in high school. However, discernment and conversation with and for Abby have been a key part of this decision as well. She loves to ride horses and a move to horse country is most welcome for her. We’ll be further from Nate but still under three hours away.

The people of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Red Wing, MN voted to call me as their pastor on Sunday, Nov. 5. I have accepted the call and will begin serving them on January 22, 2024. I have informed the Congregation Council of this in a special meeting. My last Sunday with Good Shepherd will be Sunday, January 7, 2024. I will then take my remaining 2023 vacation days so my official last date of call to Good Shepherd will be January 15, 2024. 

Our NE IA Synod has asked me to help the council set up a transition team for you. The Synod will help you in the interim time between called pastors and in the call process. Pr. Liz Bell from the NE IA Synod will begin this process with the council on Tuesday, Nov. 14. Erica and Kelli will work with the leaders of the Decorah Area Youth Gathering Trip to make sure Good Shepherd youth will be ready for the ELCA Youth Gathering.

It has been troubling to have to keep this process confidential in order to honor the discernment of the call committee and congregation at St. Paul’s Red Wing. That’s been especially hard as we’ve been looking to next year at Good Shepherd and preparing for Stewardship Sunday. Yet the mission of the congregation is strong and clear and your generosity is crucial in a time of transition.

Throughout this discernment, I’ve felt deep peace knowing that the Spirit is alive and at work in this congregation. You are a strong, vibrant congregation not because of your pastor but because of your commitment to love, welcome, and accompany others in Jesus’ name. I have never known a more generous congregation, never heard a congregation sing so powerfully, never experienced deeper joy in worship than I have with Good Shepherd. The Spirit of the risen Christ has brought you to new life for the sake of God’s world. 

I am so grateful for the call to be your pastor for the past eight years. I have grown so much as a person and pastor by sharing in ministry with you. Any gift that you see in me is one that has been strengthened by my time with you. Your patience, faithfulness, trust, and willingness to experiment have been instrumental in everything we’ve done together. The chief gift you’ve given me is your love. I cannot thank you enough for all your care for me and my family. I love you all and you will always have a special place in my heart. Even as I prepare to end my time as your pastor, I am grateful that I will always be your sibling in Christ.

Peace to you,

Pastor Amy

Confirmation Sunday and Reformation Sunday

“The Practice of Love”

Reverend Amy Zalk Larson

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church  

 Decorah, Iowa

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved People of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

A lawyer asks Jesus a question to test him. We don’t have tests in Confirmation classes here at Good Shepherd, but if we did, all of the students and the whole congregation could pass the test Jesus is given. What is the greatest commandment? What does God care about most? Love. Love God. Love others. We could all get an A+ on that test if it was just about giving an answer.

Living that answer is a whole other thing. Love takes work. It takes practice and commitment in much the same way that trumpet, basketball, and the musical do. That’s not how we usually understand love in our culture. We say we fall in love, that love is blind, it happens at first sight, it breaks our hearts. We describe love as a feeling that just spontaneously arises, or not, as if wehave no power or agency about love.

But Jesus doesn’t say, “I hope love happens to you. I hope that you can conjure up some warm, fuzzy feelings about God, that you’re uplifted every time you see that person who repulses you, that you feel glad in the presence of your enemy.” Jesus doesn’t say you must feel a certain way. Instead, he commands us to live out love towards God and others, to make a conscious choice to act in loving ways regardless of how we feel, regardless of how others act.

The first three of the ten commandments tell us how to love God: Trust God rather than things; honor God’s name; worship God. The rest of the commandments tell us how to love others: Honor elders; protect life; respect your own and other’s relational commitments; guard what belongs to others; speak the truth; let go of wanting what others have. These commandments are given so that all may know the life God wants us to have.

When we choose to act with love, we thrive and others thrive. Our Psalm today describes it beautifully. We are like trees planted by streams of living water – we’re grounded, we grow, we offer beautiful things that help to heal and feed the world. Still, so often we don’t make the choice to love. We don’t protect the lives of others, pain grows, our souls are injured, and the seeds of conflict are watered. We covet what others have, robbing them and ourselves of well- being and peace. We speak in deceitful, mean-spirited ways that diminish ourselves and our common life.

We need help. So, thankfully Jesus doesn’t just command us to love and say good luck with that. Jesus goes all in on love – loving with his whole being, his whole life to the very end. Nothing, not even death, can stop Jesus from loving you, forgiving you, raising you up to new life each day to love again. Jesus helps you to experience God’s love so that you can love. Our Confirmands bear witness to this in their faith statements.

One writes, “God loves all of us and I believe God will forgive me for my mistakes. In the Bible, there are all these stories about people that have done great things with God’s love and bad things and God still loves them.”

Another says, “God is a safe place for me to find peace within myself … God tells me I am strong when I feel weak. When I feel like I don’t belong, God tells me I’m his.”

The Confirmands also describe how worship and this congregation help them to experience God’s love. One says, “Church has become important to me for a variety of reasons: from community, to music, to the strong connection to God that I feel when present.”

Another writes, “Good Shepherd makes me feel loved and helps me find my identity.”

These young people also describe how they use their whole selves, heart, mind, and soul, to love God and others. One wrote and is quoted here  – “Sharing my gifts of music that God gave me with the people of the church” and “doing God’s work with helping people less fortunate.”

Another says, “When I volunteered for House of Hope with my church youth group, I felt connected with God, because I could already see how God had created opportunities for the people at House of Hope.”

All three confirmands bear witness to the importance of using our minds to learn more about the Bible, having conversations about faith, and asking hard questions of God. One wrote: “I had a lot of questions as a child about things like “Where’s heaven?” and “What does God look like?” Now, as I learn more about faith, I see that it’s not exactly a clear-cut response for any of these. However, I do know that regardless of the answer, I don’t need to worry about it.”

Another wrote, “My relationship with God is already very steady; however, I do like to wonder about these things because I feel like it makes my relationship with God become even stronger.”

Colin, Victor, and Lulu, you help us to see what it looks like to choose love. The day you were bap- tized, the people of God celebrated God’s love for you and the new life you are given in Christ Jesus. Now today we get to celebrate your love for God and others as you commit to living out this new life, living out your baptism.

Today you promise to act in ways that will help you to experience God’s love and help you act with love in the world. You promise:

   to live among God’s faithful people,

   to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,

   to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,

   to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and

   to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

These are things we do as God’s people.

This is how we keep practicing and keep showing up for Team Love.

Thank you for committing to this team today. Your witness helps us all to keep practicing love in a world of conflict and pain.

People of God, our Gracious God, through our savior Christ Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, loves and forgives you always so that you can love.