“A healthy [church] is one that actively and responsibly addresses  or heals its disturbances, not one with an absence of trouble.”
- Peter Steinke

It’s a reality of life that the Body of Christ, the church, wrestles continually with difficult issues and challenging times.  Whether it’s economic hardship, mission and outreach, interpretation of scripture, denominational decisions, or any of many other challenges, “being church” has always been fraught with disagreements, anxiety, and differing points of view.  Our Lutheran heritage is one of ongoing  reformation.  We are a church known for asking hard questions and struggling with real issues of life and faith. The following resources are a sampling of print and media materials meant to help provide some leadership tools for dealing with anxious times.

Julie K. Aageson
Director, The Resource Center
Coordinator, ELCA Resource Centers

• Peter Steinke’s work for church leaders is invaluable.  His book and accompanying video reflections, Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times: Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What will be especially helpful.  Steinke’s video, The Balancing Act, also provides good background. (B3302, DVDs146, 147)
• Additional articles, books, and media resources related to anxiety and family systems are described in the resource sheet: Family Systems and Healthy Congregations
• The video Reinventing Leadership with Rabbi Edwin Friedman describes how congregations become dysfunctional when gripped by anxiety.  (VT1689)
• Transitions and change are themes in Craig Satterlee’s When God Speaks Through Change, a “must read” for preachers and others who want to help congregations experience God’s presence, grace, power, and direction in challenging times. (B3078)
• Two Nooma films may help address some of the anxiety of difficult issues. These ten minute DVDs include You and Whirlwind. You deals with heated debates and disagreements. Whirlwind addresses how much we want certainty and answers in a world that often is uncertain.  (DVD 174 & 278)
• For worship, Stilling the Storm: Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times by Kathleen Smith shows how difficult times affect the worship life of a congregation and how worship can be a key part of healing.  (B3310)
• A short read, Difficult Conversations by Katie Day provides concrete direction for initiating, cultivating, and sustaining discussion of troubling issues.  (B3564)
• “Called to Deal With Difficult Issues” is a four-session method for congregational theological reflection and decision making.  It could be adapted to fit a number of topics.  (PR871)
• Differences is the title of a 4-minute DVD to help people explore and discuss their own differences through the ‘voices’ of dogs. It begins by exploring differences and ends by discovering how much we have in common.  It also helps point to common ground on which to build unity.  Supplementary materials at www.differencesfilm.com (external link) (DVD269)
• Promise and Peril: Understanding and Managing Change and Conflict in Congregations by David Brubaker helps leaders manage conflict in the face of change.  (B3608)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Leading in Anxious Times

» Download: A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance (download pdf file)

None of us is exempt from difficult times. Experiences of loss and grief, deep disappointments, fear and worry are the stuff of life. The death of someone whose life was once full of promise, the loss of one’s job, an unwelcome or unexpected transition, dreaded health diagnoses, broken relationships, and unfulfilled promises are the great common denominators. Very often, we don’t see another’s suffering, we don’t know another’s disappointment or the circumstances that bring sorrow and grief. Knowing that the incarnate God who came to us in a suffering Christ walks with us in our suffering is our anchor and our hope. The following resources are representative of what the Resource Center provides in our collection on loss and grief.

Julie K. Aageson,
Director of the Resource Center
Coordinator, ELCA Resource Centers

Both The Lutheran Magazine (external link) and The Little Lutheran (external link) include ongoing stories and resources for dealing with difficult economic times. The March, 2009 issue includes a cover story about how ELCA congregations and members are coping with stress and loss. Helpful tips are included. A free January, 2009 e-newsletter from The Little Lutheran “Faith and the Economy: Managing stress around young children” (external link) offers ways families’ faith can help them.

Lent provides an important time this year for congregations to enjoy a meal together, worship, and reflect about some of the challenges many people are facing. As individuals and families worry about the possibility of job losses and other economic uncertainties, Lenten suppers and other occasions for gathering together can be a time and a “safe place” for connecting with one another.

Some congregations are inviting opportunities for their members and others in the community to hear from social workers, business leaders, and other community people to talk about career connections, social services, business opportunities, and any other topics that address current concerns. These can be simple adult education forums on a Sunday morning, a weekend retreat, or a workshop where information and connections are shared. A workshop at the synod assembly also will focus on stress and dealing with difficult times.

To Comfort and To Honor is a comprehensive guide for helping families deal with the death and suffering. It provides a framework for preparing for a loved one’s death, expectations and decision making at the time of a death, and rituals and detailed information for planning a funeral. (B1907)

Language of the Heart shares rituals, stories, and information about death. (B2185)

Joyce Rupp’s many books on loss and suffering are written with poetic grace and theological integrity. Among the best are Praying Our Goodbyes, about the end of a friendship, a financial struggle, illness, a job change-losses that have given life meaning and value; May I Have This Dance, focusing on relationships that help guide us through joy and sorrow; Little Pieces of Light-Darkness and Personal Growth encourages readers to approach painful, inner darkness as a help rather than a hindrance to growth; and The Cup of Our Life uses a cup as a metaphor for difficult times. (B2115) (B1183) (B1568) (B1804)

Herb Brokering’s I’m Thinking of You-Spiritual Letters of Hope and Healing looks at ways to offer hope to those recovering from illness. (B1653)

Printed Resources

Written by area authors Jan Nelson and Pastor David Aaker, The Bereavement Ministry Program- A Comprehensive Guide for Churches offers a wealth of resources for responding to the needs of people in grief. It provides ideas for adults, children, and teenagers and addresses topics like the death of a spouse, a parent, young child, adult child, long-term illness, suicide, murder, infertility, AIDS, and other traumatic losses. It includes resources for insomnia, worry reduction, relaxation, managing stress, meditation, and a ritual for saying goodbye. An update of this resource will be available soon. (PR515)

Wheat Ridge Ministries publishes a number of helpful booklets including Odyssey of a Pain-Filled Life by Carol Ebeling and An Odyssey Through Cancer by W. J. Fields. (PR713) (PR711)

Children Are Not Paper Dolls is written from the perspective of children and illustrates how children deal with loss and grief. (PR379)

“Mother Teresa and Father Damien refused to look the other way… they chose to walk head-on into the most extreme situations of suffering and death that continue to be part of life.” A resource for a seven-day retreat, Retreat with Mother Teresa and Damien of Molokai-Caring for Those Who Suffer shows participants how to find God “in [God's] most distressing disguise.” (PR624)

To help children cope with loss, Guiding Children Through Life’s Losses offers sixteen prayers and lessons for assisting and acknowledging loss, for expressing feelings and attempting to recognize the experience as an opportunity for healing and growth. (PR603)

Books

Marty Haugen and Susan Briehl’s Turn My Heart gathers together prayers and psalms, songs and scripture, poems and pictures, all truly remarkable vehicles of comfort and grace. It includes prayer services that can be used for small groups or congregational use and community prayer. It’s the first resource I go to when there is a tragedy, illness, loss of hope, and so many other reasons for grief and loss. Music CD and book. (B2850) (CD6)

Augsburg Fortress publishes a series called Difficult Times (external link) dealing with depression, chronic illness, divorce, mental issues, the loss of a job and more. (B2759=)

Stilling the Storm: Worship and Congregational Leadership in Difficult Times (The Alban Institute) by Kathleen S. Smith combines liturgical and theological insight for pastors and congregations as they walk through difficulty and hard times. (B3310)

Gerhard Frost’s The Color of the Night takes the experience of Job to write about the “dark night of the soul” and the soul-searching that comes from thinking God has abandoned us. (B189)

Author Marva Dawn writes about the message of hope, grace and comfort to early Christians as they faced suffering in her book, Joy in Our Weakness. (B1750)

Can You Drink The Cup? is Henri Nouwen’s beautiful little essay on the spiritual life, living the life given to us even in its brokenness and disappointments. (B1791)

Daniel Simundson’s Where is God in My Suffering is a classic on God’s presence in the midst of loss and grief. (B797)

Grace All Around Us: Embracing God’s Promise in Tragedy and Loss by Stephen Paul Bouman was written in the aftermath of 9/11. (B3347)

From AFP’s Lutheran Voices, Will I Sing Again? Listening for the Melody of Grace in the Silence of Illness and Loss by John McCullough Bade deals with chronic and debilitating illness. (B2832)

For daily prayer, Healing After Loss: Daily Meditations for Working Through Grief by Martha Whitmore Hickman is for those who have suffered the loss of a loved one. (B3538)

Douglas John Hall has written a major work on the reality of suffering in God and Human Suffering. This classic goes beyond simply addressing the topic of suffering to the affirmation that God creates, sustains, and redeems and that suffering—loneliness, experience of limits, temptation, anxiety—are necessary parts of God’s good creation. (B832)

Life is Goodbye, Life is Hello addresses the importance of grieving through all kinds of loss. (B1178)

Avoiding the cliches of grief is the theme in I Know Just How You Feel. (B1034)

Video / DVD

Walter Wangerin draws from his own experience of cancer in Confronting Death: A Christian Approach to the End of Life (Paraclete Press). This five-part conversation goes way beyond acknowledging the difficulties of illness and eventual death and explores stages of grief and loss, caring for those who are ill, handling pain, and much more. (DVD250)

The short film, Nooma: Matthew speaks to the suffering that comes with the loss of someone we love. (DVD163)

Joyce Rupp explores transitions in life like the ending of a relationship, a death, a career change, a move, or a change in one’s life in Spiritual Growth in Tough Times: Find a Reason to Hope. She compares the great cycles of life and nature to our own inner cycles. (VT1942)

Tear Soup: A Recipe for Healing After Loss provides authentic experiences of loss and grief that don’t assume “right” or prescribed ways of dealing with difficult times. (DVD234) (B2320) (VT2453)

Joan Chittister addresses themes of suffering and loss in two video resources, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope and Transfiguration Ministry to a Wounded World. Both deal with times of pain and sorrow, depression and stress. (VT2276, VT2277, VT2429)

Walter Brueggemann asks questions like “have you ever wondered if God cares about our suffering” and “does my suffering matter at all to God?” in Is It Alright with God If We Suffer? from the series, Faith and Reason II. This discussion addresses classical notions about God’s ability to deal with evil. (VT1878)

In the series, Great Figures of the Bible, Elie Wiesel tells the Story of Job weaving together images of suffering and sacrifice that characterize that classic Old Testament story. (VT1251)

Spiritual Homepage’s “Suffering” invites viewers to consider our common experience of suffering. The topic is introduced by a well-known thinker, a profile of someone whose life experience reflects a deep encounter with suffering is shared, a film or event from history illustrates the same theme helping viewers better understand their own experience of suffering. (VT1747)

Lessons on Living with Morrie Schwartz, an ABC Special featuring Ted Koppel’s interview with a sociology professor from Brandeis University whose experience of death and dying is recorded in the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, is a helpful resource about “things seen and unseen,” the joys and sorrows of life that all of us experience. (VT2111)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: A Time to Mourn, A Time to Dance – 2009

The following resources represent a small sample of the wealth of material related to prayer and spirituality. They are described here because they represent some of the most helpful resources we know. In reading, in listening, in prayer, may there be something among them that nourishes you with the promise of the Psalmist, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

Featured Resources:

• Grounded in Prayer by Brent Dahlseng (B2816)
• The Prayer Path (K111)
• Labyrinths from the Outside In: Walking to Spiritual Insight by Donna Schaper and
• Carole Ann Camp (B2724)
• Psalm Journal II by Joan Chittister (B1528)
• Wisdom Distilled by the Daily by Joan Chittister (B1093)
• The Monastic Way by Joan Chittister
• Turn My Heart: A Sacred Journey from Brokeness to Healing by Marty Haugen and Susan Briehl (B2850, CD6)
• Prayer, from The Living Pulpit (PR files)
• Praying in the Midst of Life (VT1193=)
• When You Pray.. The Lord’s Prayer by James Nestingen (VT2235)
• A Place to Pray: Conversations on the Lord’s Prayer (VT1963=)
• Face to Face with God: A Guide for Prayer Ministry (K43)
• Speaking and Listening to God from Walt Wangerin’s Lutheran Vesper’s (C276)
• The Spirit of Prayer – Edward Hays (C175)
• Prayer: the Way to a Transparent Life – Henri Nouwen (C210)
• A New Set of Eyes: Encountering the Hidden God by Paula D’Arcy (B2855)
• Finding God: Praying the Psalms in Times of Depression (B2884) by Thomas Lewis
• The Way Back Home: An Introduction to Centering Prayer by Basil Pennington (B1584)
• Meditations with Meister Eckhart collected by Matthew Fox (B2484)
• Working the Angles by Eugene Peterson (B1575)
• Primary Speech: A Psychology of Prayer by Ann and Barry Ulanov (B1560)
• The Breath of Life: A Simple Way to Pray by Ron Del Bene (B1558)
• Who We Are Is How We Pray: Matching Personality and Spirituality by Charles Keating (B1559)
• What Can We Really Expect from Prayer? – Joan Chittister (VT1879)
• Prayer-the Ultimate Conversation – Joseph Sittler (VT73)
• What Good is Prayer? from Questions of Faith (VT430)
• Living the Praying Life-the Practice and Meaning of Prayer (VT606)
• Praying the Psalms – Joan Chittister (VT1262)
• Miracles-Jesus Teaching the Lord’s Prayer (VT21)
• Psalms as Models of Prayer (VT93)
• Prayer in Your Home (VT672)
• Praying in the Midst of Life (VT1193-1198)
• Questions of Faith for Youth-Why Pray? (VT1201)
• Seven Circles of Prayer (VT412)
• Reflections on the Lord’s Prayer (VT899)
• Seedlings: For Meditation, Retreat, Inspiration (VT493)
• Spirituality Explored-Joseph Sittler (VT140)
• Struggling with Paul at Prayer (VT92)
• Wellspring of Prayer-Ruth Youngdahl Nelson (VT171)
• Devotional Classics: Selected Readings for Individuas and Groups (B1567)
• All Through the Day, All Through the Year (PR640)
• Learning Centers on Prayer (PR300)
• A Quest for Silence: How to Enter God’s Presence in Silence (PR370)
• Wrestling with Angels (VT1151)
• Discovering Everyday Spirituality (VT1358-1360)

Featured Links:

• Presentation Prayer Center – Fargo, ND (external link)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Prayer

The Resource Center has numerous printed and audiovisual resources that deal with difficult times.

Featured Resources:

• “Living Pulpit” (periodical)
• The Bereavement Ministry Program: A Comprehensive Guide for Churches by Jan Nelson and David Aaker
• Liturgies of Lament
• “A Light to Lighten Our Darkness: A Service of Prayer, Hope, and Remembrance” (liturgy)
• “O God, Our Words Cannot Express” (hymn)
• “I Trust You, Lord” by Bob Schaefer (liturgy)
• To Walk and Not Faint by Marva Dawn
• Tear Soup-A Recipe for Healing After Loss
• Tested by Fire: Living as a Christian in a Post-Christian Era by Pastor Mark Vitalis Hoffman

Featured Links:

• Youth Bible study “Activities, Studies, Discussion for Terrorist Attack” (external link) from www.synodresourcecenter.org
• North Dakota State University Extension Service (external link)
• www.crossmarks.com (external link)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Resources for Difficult Times

In this rural synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and in rural communities across the country, the deepening agricultural crisis is affecting all of us. As a church, we are called to listen, learn, and pray for the concerns and well-being of the entire agricommunity.

Below you will find a collection of resources, ideas, and services that may be of help as the rural crisis worsens.

Featured Resources:

• Family Farming – A New Economic Vision by Marty Strange (B789)
• Broken Heartland by Osha Gray Davidson (B1366)
• Prayers for the Heartland by Judy Hoff (B1278)
• Of the Land, For the Land: A Bible Study on Church, Land, and Community (PR)
• Praying Our Goodbyes by Joyce Rupp (B2115)
• A Good Land: Five Sessions on the Land and the People Who Care for It by James Limburg (PR)
• Rural Ministry: The Shape of the Renewal to Come (B1810)
• Caretakers of Creation: Farmers Reflect on Their Faith and Work by Patrick Slattery (B733)
• Planting the Seeds of Community: A Bible Study for Revitalization in Rural America by Paul Peterson (PR)
• Worship from the Ground Up: A Worship for Town and Country Congregations” (PR)
• Vanishing Heartland: A Nightline Report (VT1962)
• The Farmer’s Wife (video)
• Another Cup of Coffee (VT261)
• Another Family Farm (VT86)
• From the Fields to Family (VT499)
• From This Valley: On Defending the Family Farm (VT321)
• In the Midst of Pain (VT173)Jesus the Comforter (VT29)
• Roots of Hope – The Changing Face of Agriculture (VT225)
• 4×1 Rural Crisis (VT181)
• The Rural Crisis Comes to School (VT180)
• Rural Family Stress Management (VT61-64)
• Summer of Home, Summer of Despair (VT609)

Featured Links:

• Center for Theology and Land (external link)
• Job Services of North Dakota (external link)
• Lutheran Disaster Response (external link)
• Lutheran Social Services (external link)
• NDSU Extension Service (external link)
• North Dakota Agriculture Mediation (external link)
• North Dakota Council on Abused Women (external link)
• University of Minnesota Extension Service (external link)

The preceding resources are highlighted and recommended for your consideration. If you have questions or would like to reserve a resource, contact Julie Aageson at 701-232-3381 or julie.aageson@ecunet.org

Visit the EaND Resource Center | Search the Catalog

Eastern North Dakota Synod - ELCA: Resources for Rural Ministry