I pray…that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith, as we are being rooted and grounded in love. (from Ephesians 3:17)
2011 – Immersed in Hospitality
A year ago, the session gathered at ARC retreat center for our annual retreat. Surrounded by the majesty of tall creaking trees and the stillness of the snow, we sat by a fire with mugs of hot coffee 
and pondered what it means to live in God’s welcome. We talked about what it is to really welcome one another each time and every time, mutually, authentically. Not to take each other for granted. Not to act as though we had anything to lose. To be generous, open, honest, trusting. We imagined consistently seeing each other, hearing each other, recognizing and appreciating each person for who they are and not just the role they play. What would we be, we wondered, if we really deeply embodied God’s hospitality? What power is there in that for this little community? For the world?
That conversation led us into 2011 with an emphasis on hospitality that drew us into the welcome of God, and challenged us to live out that radical welcome more deliberately, and in such a variety of ways we never could have anticipated. Throughout the year, session reflected on the life of the congregation through the lens of hospitality, celebrating those moments when we felt we were living hospitality well, and acknowledging and learning from those places we felt we had missed participating in what God might have been doing. It’s vulnerable business, this opening up to God and one another, and struggling together to do so has brought us closer and made us braver.
Hospitality means all of who you are is welcome, and you do not leave parts of yourself at the door. Doubts and struggles, joys and contentment, letting go or starting over – all of it is welcome as we seek to live honestly with God and one another.
In joy this year we were blessed to share worship and life with many who have found a home at LNPC, including welcoming new members Andy, Carolyn, Maggie, Andrew and Grace Cochrane, Ani Goodenberger and Viv Whitfield. We are shaped and changed by each person who comes through the doors and adds their voice and gifts to the ministry God is doing in and through us.
We also welcomed the grief and mourning of friends and family saying goodbye to our beloved Doug Johnson, and to Dorothy Field, Burt Anderson, and Dot Tucker. We opened our hearts to the Dallum family, standing with them in sorrow and prayer as they let baby Benjamin go, and providing a sacred space and event for their family and friends to remember and celebrate him and to wrap that family in love.
Hospitality pulls us into deliberately choosing to see and hear others, and in 2011 it prompted us to create intentional spaces for people to be seen and heard, especially in the places of conflict and tension. We did this with our workshop event for the presbytery in the days just before the vote on Amendment 10A in May, called, “Disagreeing Well: How to Hear and Respond with Generosity and Hospitality.”
We also imagined helping people stay grounded in the midst of difficult conversations about the future of our denomination, and sponsored and held a two day event called “Eats & Empahthy”
while the Fellowship Gathering was in the Twin Cities in August, (which was supplemented by
money from the General Assembly). We provided dinner and empathy training rooted in non-violent communication for people with a wide variety of perspectives and passions. These gatherings made hospitality powerful outreach, helping others to see and be seen for who they are, and giving a forum and resources to connect deeply with one another, even across perceived boundaries.
Because hospitality doesn’t allow us to dismiss others without hearing them, and invites us to also to make every effort to be heard, we had a quirky and wonderful encounter in May with session and a former member about flying the baptismal font across the country for a granddaughter’s christening. This opened up a rich and fruitful conversation about baptism, community, family and faith and the Church universal, and grounded us even deeper in our commitment to be open to the Holy Spirit, open to each other, and speak openly from our honesty and conviction as well.
Hospitality is a gift and mission that reaches out to lift up the life of others. In August we created for a neighborhood family a baby blessing ceremony, a spiritual service to welcome their child into the world. Hospitality honors who each person is, and their journey, and we were able to meet them right where they were, in their own faith, doubt, hope and love, and speak honestly about our own faith, doubt, hope, and love as we embraced them in their joy.
In 2011 we began actively pursuing a dream of establishing a house where people who are giving a year to service in Americorps, Vista and other organizations can live and find community with one another. This “House of Hospitality” would offer low rent and the resources of our community – so we could be for them a support and nurture, as they invest their lives in making a difference in the ways they feel called.
Hospitality extends us beyond ourselves to share our very selves with others, and we were invited to inspire and encourage others in their ministry in a number of ways in 2011. In March the worship team led a service at Aldrich Ave Presbyterian Church, and spoke in a forum afterwards, as part of their project to experience different forms of worship and learn from them. I was invited to participate in a conversation about the future of the Church in Princeton in May, where I gathered with other representatives of creative and vibrant ministries to share about what was happening in our little congregation.
I was asked in the summer to write two articles for Clayfire Curators, a website for pastors and church leaders about worship practices, exploring the idea of Sabbath, and sharing how our congregation has taken up its rhythms in our worship and life together. This fall two of our jointly
created art pieces (the puzzle piece body we made together in worship in 2009, and the Lenten cross assembled throughout the season of Lent and Easter in 2011) were borrowed for an exhibit at First Presbyterian Church in Hudson, and our conversations with Edgcumbe Presbyterian have supported them in the opening of their own gallery space.
In September we were selected by Luther Seminary to participate in year-long Lily-funded research project exploring how Biblical worship and preaching can effectively help people claim and live out their faith. And in the coming year a piece about our congregation’s Sabbath practice will be appearing in a book called Renew 50/50 containing 50 ideas for renewing the church.
The most exciting thing for me being part of all of these conversations, is not to tell people all the great things we are doing so they can be like us, it is to encourage them to ask, like we did, who is God calling US to be NOW? To inspire in them the courage to step fully into their unique identity and calling. Practicing hospitality together so intentionally has allowed me to tell our story in a way that helps others to access and own their own stories. There are almost not words for how delighted this makes me.
Hospitality sees what we have as being for God’s purposes, however God might choose to use them. In 2011 we again were able to offer our space as a respite and sanctuary to others, and as ground on which people meet one another. In addition to the the many groups that use the space, we welcomed Rev. Terry Roos, whose spiritual direction ministry, “Storytellers Lodge”, has found a long-term home in a renovated upstairs classroom. The front yard received further transformations this summer with the addition of two raised bed vegetable gardens, which were watered daily
throughout the summer by a thoughtful neighbor, Alice, and at the “Abundant Table” congregation members shared and exchanged garden goodness with the community.
This summer again, thanks to a gift from Westminster Presbyterian Church, we hosted Movie Camp with Dean and Kristen Seal and kids and staff from St. Joseph’s Home for Children, who spent a week creating and filming a version of “The Prodigal Son” on set throughout our building and eating lunch each day with LNPC folks.
An intergenerational vacation bible school in August filled our space inside and out with singing, laughter and running feet, as we shared cooking, stories, art, music and gardening with young and old and in between (though mostly young!).
In November welcomed into our space and worship a group of visiting pastors from South Africa, who were on a ministry tour of the United States. In addition to interviewing both Andy and me about ministry in our contexts, they took numerous photos of our space, shared worship and prayer with us, and joined us for a lovely dinner. They left us that evening with a benediction and expressions of gratitude and connection.
Our annual Ham and Cherry Pie Dinner in February brought together friends and neighbors for
great food and fellowship in Nokomis Hall, and the Christmas Razzle in December was a beautiful evening of music and great food, and collected many diapers and gifts for Tapestry Center for Families.
We gathered downstairs one Sunday in the summer for worship and sandwich-making, singing hymns, reading scripture and filling bags with homemade cookies to be delivered after the tornado went through North Minneapolis. Our Saturday meals make the kitchen a place of laughter and conversation on a regular basis. We are blessed to have space that feels warm and “lived in” in so much joy, (and which is so well cared for by our custodian Kathy, and the administration team, and all those people that sneak in to clean, organize and tend to the needs of the building!).
God’s hospitality draws us by the Holy Spirit into the worship already happening in the life of God. In 2011 we continued to open the sanctuary for prayer and meditation through Lent and Advent, and to worship in ways that welcome us into God’s presence interactively in the Gathering Room or in the front yard, at Minnehaha Falls, Clearwater Forest, St. Joe’s, or around our indoor campfire in the sanctuary throughout the Fall.
We gathered in God’s presence through our Lenten worship collage project and Easter cross, the Good Friday communion in the hallway as we go from light to darkness, our Pentecost play, the storytelling through the book of Genesis in the shadow of the tree in the garden, our “visits” from Old and New Testament guests, our service of prayer for the healing of the world with a dancer and a floor map with candles, and being summoned to the stable on Christmas Eve.
As I reflect on our year in worship, I am struck by the great honesty in joy and sorrow that we found, the deep exploration of the biblical stories and their significance in our lives and world today, and I am reminded what a blessing it is to worship in ways that bring our whole selves.
We’ve met each other this year in authentic ways, connecting over shared experiences, learning and conversations. In April we held an all-church Sabbath Retreat at Clearwater Forest,
with lots of laughter and silence, worship, conversation and games. Our children’s Sunday school class continued to grow, and in September took a new shape under the leadership of Carolyn Cochrane, who is helping bring the stories of our faith to life with the kids, and connecting them with our worship each week. Andy Root leads the confirmation class, which read Douglas John Hall’s book, Why Christian? (so the adults read it concurrently!) and then moved into reading the book of Mark together.
The Presbyterian Women met monthly for bible study and fellowship, and raised money for local charities with their annual bazaar, rounding out the year with their always fun Christmas party. We began “Connections,” a gathering of women from LNPC, meeting for conversation at a local coffee shop every month now. We continue to be expanded and blessed by our connection to St. Joe’s and the worship and prayer we share with the children there on 5th Sundays.
2011 – Grounded in love
As I look back on 2011, I would conclude that hospitality has made us roomier. It turns out that seeking to rest and live and move and have our being in the welcome of God makes us more open to others, and all the ways God is moving in their lives. And it turns out that opening ourselves to others makes us a little more grace-filled towards ourselves, and a little more aware of God in all the nooks and crannies God likes to lurk in.
At the end of 2011, LNPC feels stronger. Feet planted and eyes raised. Agile. Joyful. Brave. Willing to learn. Willing to risk. Willing to love. May we continue to be stretched out and opened up, surprised by the places God’s welcome draws us, and grateful for the ways it changes us. Truly, we are being rooted and grounded in love.
Thanks be to God!
Kara