Creation Waits with Eager Longing (external link) is a set of resources from Living Earth: A Lenten Journey. It includes a worship series and weekly themes of reflection, remembrance, rediscovery, repentance, reconciliation, and recommitment about becoming more faithful stewards of God’s creation.

For helpful information about the season of Lent, Palm/Passion Sunday, the Three Days and services of daily prayer, take a look at the third volume in the Using Evangelical Lutheran Worship series, Keeping Time: The Church’s Years.

A Lenten devotional series called Holy Lent Holy Land Holy People: A Journey Through the Sermon on the Mount includes true stories from the Holy Land, journeys through the Sermon on the Mount with copy-ready biblical commentary and preaching reflections, and original art from Bethlehem. The adaptable Word document (download .doc file) also contains music, prayers, litanies, questions for reflection and discussion, and can be used for Lenten mid-week worship or Bible study. It was developed in 2008 by the Peace Not Walls task force of the Southwestern Texas Synod (external link) and is offered as a free resource to the church at-large. Visit the ELCA Peace Not Walls (external link) for more information and resources.

For a Lenten DVD series on grace, check out Down and Out: Where Grace Takes You. This six part series reintroduces viewers to the life-changing reality of God’s promises and points the way to a completely different view of life in light of grace. Sessions are 19-25 minutes each. Available for loan.

In the six part series, What’s God Up To? Bible Stories Through New Eyes, provocative and thoughtful biblical teacher, Amy-Jill Levine asks edgy questions about familiar bible stories. Sessions are 25 minutes each. DVD available for loan.

Many additional series are available for small groups, individual study, and reflection. See the online catalog and the e-resource for December 2009, Open for Exploration for additional recommendations.

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: Open for Exploration: More Resources for Lent

» 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

Among our most frequent requests are questions about small group study and conversation. Sometimes this means bible study or a study on biblical themes; others ask for resources that will help them with specific topics. They all reflect our common need for meaning and purpose, our search for God and God’s presence in the chaos of life, and a desire for thoughtful study and meaningful community.

We’ve chosen a sampling here of “our best recommendations.” Clearly, these reflect a wide range of topics, interests, approaches, and styles. And clearly, they are a sampling. We invite your recommendations as well. Always we are looking for resources that bear Christ to the world and challenge us as followers of Christ to see ourselves and the world through the lens of God’s overwhelming grace.

Featured Resources:

• Grounded in Prayer by Brent Dahlseng
• That You May Have Life: A Study of the Gospel of John by Susan Briehl
• Lutheran Voices Series
• Sing the Faith Series
• Practicing Our Faith: A Way of Life for a Searching People by Dorothy Bass
• The Cup of Our Life by Joyce Rupp
• A Spiritual Formation Workbook: Small Group Resources for Nurturing Christian Growth by James Bryan Smith
• Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time by Dorothy Bass
• Food and Faith: Justice, Joy and Daily Bread edited and compiled by Michael Schut
• The Story of Ruth:Twelve Moments in Every Woman’s Life by Joan Chittister
• Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope by Joan Chittister
• Sunday Dinner by William Willimon
• To Dance with God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration by Gertrud Mueller Nelson
• Where Your Treasure Is: Psalms That Summon You from Self to Community by Eugene Peterson
• God Has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time by Desmond Tutu
• Praying Our Goodbyes by Joyce Rupp
• Listening for God: Contemporary Literature and the Life of Faith
• Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
• Talking about God (video series)
• What’s So Amazing about Grace? (video series) – Philip Yancey
• What’s God Up To?
• The Jesus I Never Knew
• Revelation: God’s Dream, Our Challenge
• Exploring the Sacred in Death and Dying
• Wrestling with Angels
• The System Belongs to God
• When It’s Hard to Choose
• Searching for Spirituality
• Faith and Reason

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: Studies for Small Groups