Sunday, July 29, 2007

Hilghlights from Holden Village

* Click here to see pix from Holden Village http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/2007HoldenVillage
* Taking a 2 hour boat ride north on Lake Chelan, followed by a half hour bus ride up the mountain to get to the Village. It's so remote, that's the only way!
* Realizing this camp is a wonderful illustration of God's grace. A copper and gold mine was established in the early part of the 1900s, in a very remote part of the North Cascade Mountain Range. A small village was built to house the miners and their families, complete with a little bowling alley, pool hall, and ice cream shop. In 1960, when it was no longer profitable to transport thee copper for sale, the mining company gave the camp--and all its contents--to the Lutheran Church for $1. A wonderful, unexpected gift--just like God's daily grace to us. Then the Lutherans had to figure out how they would respond (just as each of us does, in light of all God entrusts to us). Since 1960, Holden Village has been a retreat experience for Christians (all are welcome) to gather for a combination of worship, learning, ice cream, and some wilderness hiking that is difficult to match.
* Coming here with my family. My first (and only time) at Holden was when I came with my family in 4th grade. To bring a 6th and 2nd grader of my own, and experience camp through their eyes was a hoot. The most vivid memory I have of my own experience at Holden from 1976 was my passion for setting up pins manually in back of the bowling alleys. Guess what? You could be sure to find Luke and Morgan in the bowling alley every chance they got, setting up pins.
* Worshipping in the pew right behind Herb Brokering, author of the hymn classic, "Earth and All Stars." Herb was one of the terrific speakers/teachers for the week, and LuAnne and I enjoyed several talks with him and his family. John Marty (son of Martin Marty) talked about his position as Minnesota state senator and his work on health care reform, along with the academic dean from Luther Seminary, David Lose, teaching on the interpretation of Scripture. Wonderful, stimulating bible studies and lectures.
* Taking a hike with Luke to Heart Lake, where the flies were so bad, we didn't even sit down for lunch. Hopefully "time will heal all wounds" with Luke's memories of this hike of gorgeous scenery--much of which we couldn't see much, bc we were so busy swatting biting flies. :)
*Watching "The Sound of Music" on the first night, on a huge makeshift movie screen, out in the open, surrounded by real 9,000 foot mountains of the Cascades, and canopied by brilliant stars, as we watched Julie Andrews running through the mountains on screen.
* Experiencing, once again, old friends in the communion of saints. One of the campers that week was Jana Schofield, who many Epiphanyites remembers as ELC's youth director from appx. 1994-1996. Jana was departing for seminary just as I was arriving. It was a delight to catch up with Jana, meet her husband and extended family. Jana's doing great ministry in California, part time with a church, and part time with campus ministry.
* Countless other wonderful moments of God's grace and renewal in this gorgeous, stimulating mountain retreat village God gave to our church.
* Now it's on to Seattle, to learn from Mars Hill Church.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Prayer and Play in the Parks

Our recent week on the road featured God’s beauty as revealed in our national parks. First, we spent several nights in a little cabin on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a great launching pad for some beautiful hikes and animal watching. What a thrill to see big horn sheep, elk, marmots and deer. Fritz was able to climb Long’s Peak—and actually saw Epiphany member John Riedl at the top! On another hike, we met friends of Jan and Don Panning. The communion of saints truly is a world-wide body. The Rockies was a fertile location for prayer, reading, and enjoying a special edge of God’s creativity. Plus, the kids found a few fun things to do in town like huge trampolines and slides. Morgan even worked hard, completing the activities to become a Junior Park Ranger! http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/RockyMountains
On our way westward, we were able to spend just one full day exploring the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. But we were treated to quick encounters with bison, elk, a momma moose, a coyote, the eruption of Old Faithful, and the sulphuric painted pots.http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/TetonsAndYellowstone

This is the first time we’ve had internet access for quite awhile, so sorry for the brief update. Now, it’s a long day of driving from Bozeman, Montana to Chelan, Washington. Tomorrow, we take the boat to the Lutheran Camp of Holden Village, a place remote from internet, phones, etc, high in the Cascade mountain range. We look forward to what God has in store for us in that faith community. More to come . . .

Saturday, July 14, 2007

Finding Inisghts at Abiging Hope Lutheran

I love where God has been leading me this summer: inspiring congregations proclaiming god's kingdom through Christ with creativity and growth, beautiful parts of the world I haven't seen before, connections with new people and fresh conversations, and super time with my family after periods of research on my own. The latest installment:

It's been a productive time of interviewing, reading, and exploring with the staff and ministry of Abiding Hope Lutheran here in Littleton, Colorado, a southwest suburb of Denver. Here are a few neat things about this ministry that's spurred my dreaming about creative ministry:
* Over the last 20 years, they've grown from a tiny mission congregation to a worshipping community of 950. Just like Epiphany, they're considering how to grow at their current campus, but start a new worshipping community about 20 minutes away
* All new members are automatically put into a "home group," to enable ongoing connection, relationship building, and learning. Each home group is challenged to engage in ongoing service projects.
* This last year, they've decided their life together revolves around 3 "beats": worship, relationships, and first fruits giving. Through worship and study, they've driven deeper understandings of these 3 beats and organize their whole life together around them.
* With a beautiful sanctuary, they worship 950 at a Saturday night service and two on Sunday. When they decided to try a third service at the 9.30 hour, they realized the attendance at Sunday School classes plummeted. So the leadership stopped the service! They announced (lovingly) that the congregation "wasn't mature enough" to make a 2 hour commitment on Sunday morning, and therefore, they weren't going to continue to allow their children to miss worship. Why? Because they know the research from Youth and Family Research Institute in MN that says the #1 faith formation factor for our kids (our future) is worshipping with their family--not just showing up to church to go to Sunday School, but worship WITH their family.
* A super book by lead pastor, Rick Barger, entitled A New and Right Spirit, published by the Alban Institute. The book offers a great critique of how a consumer culture can try to hijack a congregation's calling as a mission post in the kingdom of God, and offers a clarion call for a different direction.
* Terrific mission efforts in Haiti, Mexico, inner city Denver, and India (where they have already started a satellite campus)
* A wonderful list of bold vision goals, including giving over $100,000 a year to the Haiti mission, satrating a camp/reatreat center, and continuing to expand the Leadership Academy they sponsor--bringing in nationally renowned theologians and church leaders to inspire area seminarians, pastors, and lay and community leaders. For a copy of this vision, click here: http://www.abidinghopelutheran.org/site/cpage.asp?cpage_id=140006049&sec_id=140002293
PS: On a free day here in Denver, I had a chance to climb my first "14er," as they call them. A beautiful 14,100 hike known as Mt. Bierstadt. Here are a few photos. It was fun talking w people on they way up, and learning about the climbing culture of Colorado, where many people have a goal to hike each of the 50+ 14,000 + foot summets in CO. Again, as a guy from Ohio, it's a delight to see God's beauty manifest in this different landscape. http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/MtBierstadtClimbInColorado
+ Now it's on to the airport to pick up my family. After worship tomorrow morning at Abiding Hope, we'll travel to Rocky Mountain National Park for a few days. Then on to a Lutheran camp in the Cascade Mountain Range in Washington, known as Holden Village. No email at these places, so I'll post again in August. Until then, God stir the Spirit in each of you, working all that which is pleasing in His sight. In Christ, Fritz

Sunday, July 8, 2007

Holy Mountains

"3 Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell. 4 Then will I go to the altar of God, to God, my joy and my delight."

Psalm 43.3-4 summarizes well our feelings after 5 days hiking in the Swiss Alps. Our base camp was a little apartment in Grindelwald Switzerland, under the imposing view of the Eiger Mountain, partner to the Jungfrau. Via gondolas, trains, and our good old hiking boots, we explored some really neat mountain villages (Murren), flowers, lakes, and a few cows and pigs to boot. God's glory certainly shines and speaks here. Each evening, the kids enjoyed swimming at a pretty spectacular neighborhood pool. "She'll be coming around the mountain" song found a few new verses along the way. To check out some mountain pictures, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/ClimbingInGrindenwaldSwitzerland

“Mountains” by Morgan Wiese

I saw mountains. I saw mountains in Switzerland and Austria. At our third hotel in my room, out of my window, I could see a very pretty view of a mountain, called the Eiger. (Editor's note: Eiger or "Ogre" is next to the Jungfrau, or "young maiden," separated by the Munk, or "monk." A little playful naming way back when.) We took a gondola up to the mountain; when we got there, it was very snowy and cloudy. So we decided to go back down and see if it would clear up later. We didn’t want to get drenched. Later, when we were going up in the gondola, we saw cows eating on the side of the mountain. One of them had a big udder! While we were riding a train, we saw cows far away, but then they were right beside us. We were excited. So another day, we took the train back, and got out to pet the mountain cows and pigs. Later in Austria, we went to eat dinner at a farm. Before dinner, we took a carriage ride. But since there was only room for 4 people, they had to tie a pony on the back. I got to ride him! Well, all for now, I have to go play. Love, Morgan

For some pictures of some sites in Austria and the Innsbruck area, click here: http://picasaweb.google.com/fritzwiese/InnsbruckArea2007