Bing tracking

The Final Step: Reflections by Lara Moll

Lara Moll sitting on a rock in Duluth
Lara Moll, CCV Staff 2021

Where has the year 2021 gone? It should not be looked back as simply done in the blink of the eye, especially since so much has been built. In this space of walking along congregations, our work has been able to see emotion, evolution and growth. I would say the same to my time as the Communications Coordinator for the Riverside Innovation Hub. For the past 12 months, I have strived to share the stories that have been written and told in the first track of this work of building a public church with Minneapolis congregations.

When I started with this work, I was given resources to help me understand this work. It was and is a privilege to learn and envelop the mission of an organization. I knew from the time I applied for this position that the work done here is not work I have heard nor seen before. Had you? The work here of bridging congregations with a facilitator to the bridge church and community should not be a new concept. A public church is indeed what churches ought to strive for. Without community building and relationships, where can the church grow and take hold? That is what I ask of you to consider after this year of transition. 

For those who might have finished their time walking with the Hub to those who are just beginning to learn the steps in which we encourage to build connections in your neighborhoods. I encourage you to take the resources given to your or those that you seek out and actually take a step. One step is all it takes to walk a mile, to meet someone halfway or making that change you have longed for. Everyone strives for resolutions at this time of the year, when one chapter seems to be ending and the next is just beginning. I have this hope as well, that I might be able to leave behind parts of 2021 that I don’t want to take with me, but truly without my experiences how would I know what I may need coming forth?  Continue reading “The Final Step: Reflections by Lara Moll”

Advent Vespers: Amanda Vetsch

Reflection on Psalm 148: 1-2,13

Photo by City Church CA on Unsplash

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens;

praise him in the heights!

Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his host!

Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted;

his glory is above earth and heaven.”

Psalm 128:1-2,13

As we read this Psalm, I’m imagining our voices joining with generations before us, all creation, and the cloud of witnesses, who have and continue to sing songs of praise. I can hear a large chorus with different parts coming in and out of focus. Maybe it sounds like a round, maybe there’s beautiful harmony, maybe some of the parts are really loud and full of energy, maybe others are singing quietly, reverently.

I imagine it sounds like something between a cacophony of noises and a harmonious symphony. When I imagine the songs of praises this way, I’m encouraged. I think it would be difficult, if not impossible, to keep the song of praise going just by myself, especially when I don’t always feel like praising God. Sometimes, I’d rather sing a song than a lament. Or not sing at all, and hold space for silence. I’m continuing to learn that praising God is not mutually exclusive, meaning it doesn’t have to be the only song I’m singing. We can: Praise and grieve. Praise and lament. Praise and ponder. And in this season of advent, may we continue to praise and wait.

Amanda Vetsch

Advent Vespers: Adrienne Kuchler Eldridge,’02

Hark! the herald angels sing – stanza 1

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

 

Hark! the herald angels sing,

“Glory to the newborn King:

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!”

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with th’angelic hosts proclaim,

“Christ is born in Bethlehem!”

 

I experience many emotions throughout the Advent season: anticipation, inspiration, content, curiosity, joy, and awe. Growing up one of my fondest memories of this season was the variety of music. The proclamation that rings out when “Hark! The herald angels sing” is sung in a chorus of harmonious voices, with the piano, strings, and trumpets all playing along, bringing me back to a joyful memory that I can only feel in my body. I can feel it out to my fingertips and up through my center, the feeling of inspiration that something wonderful has happened. The music fills me down to my toes as I reach deep down into my diaphragm for a full breath to proclaim through song, “peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!”

Continue reading “Advent Vespers: Adrienne Kuchler Eldridge,’02”

Advent Vespers: Kristina Frugé

The Angel gabriel from heaven came

The angel Gabriel from heaven came, with wings as drifted snow, with eyes as flame: “All hail to thee, O lowly maiden Mary, most highly favored lady.” Gloria!

“For know a blessed mother thou shalt be, all generations laud and honor thee; thy son shall be Emmanuel, by seers foretold, most highly favored lady.” Gloria!

Text: Basque carol; para. Sabine Baring-Gould, 1834-1924

Photo by eleonora on Unsplash

A rabbi friend told me that the Hebrew word for blessing and the Hebrew word for knee, share the same root-word. The rabbis, therefore, teach that God’s blessing is anything that brings you to your knees. Whether you drop to your knees in thanksgiving or find yourself crumbling to the ground in despair, God’s blessing is that God is with you.

Continue reading “Advent Vespers: Kristina Frugé”

RIH Cohort Gatherings

In between the large group learning events, the Riverside Innovation Hub learning community gathers in smaller cohorts. Both the large group events and the smaller cohort meetings are focused on the art forms of the Public Church Framework. Each the three cohorts are made up of four congregational teams, a mentor, and an RIH staff Facilitator.

zoom meeting and coffee
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash

All of the cohorts are meeting during the month of December to check-in and reflect on their experiences practicing Accompaniment. The RIH team gathers in advance of the meetings to brainstorm their meeting outline, align their plan with the larger learning outcomes, and share facilitation ideas. Each cohort meeting is uniquely designed by the facilitator to fit their facilitating style and the experiences and preferences of the cohort members.

The purposes of the December cohort meeting are to continue to build relational trust within the cohort and grow in confidence and clarity about next steps for accompaniment. Accompaniment is the first artform of the Public Church Framework, it’s the movement into the neighborhood to hear the neighbors’ story. Prior to the cohort meeting, everyone was invited to practice the artform of accompaniment, specifically through a a relational one-to-one meeting with someone in their church’s neighborhood.

Continue reading “RIH Cohort Gatherings”

Advent Vespers: Jeremy Myers

Psalm 91:9-16 

9 Because you have made the Lord your refuge,
   the Most High your dwelling-place,
10 no evil shall befall you,
   no scourge come near your tent.


11 For he will command his angels concerning you
   to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
   so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder,
   the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.


14 Those who love me, I will deliver;
   I will protect those who know my name.
15 When they call to me, I will answer them;
   I will be with them in trouble,
   I will rescue them and honour them.
16 With long life I will satisfy them,
   and show them my salvation.

If you camp a lot, then you know tent placement is incredibly important. A slope can cause the blood to rush to your head. A hill will send pools of water into your tent during a rainstorm. Dead branches above might come crashing down on you in a windstorm. Boulders uphill might let loose during the night. Your body is only as safe as your dwelling-place. 

 

Many sleep in tents across our country tonight who are not in safe dwelling-places. They are temporarily homeless or have chosen this tent as their home. They are not safe. There is a scourge that comes near. This scourge is wealth inequity, the opportunity gap, racism, unjust housing policies, and our inability to address the mental health crisis. Yet, even to these, God promises to “be with them in trouble”, “to rescue and honor them”, and to “satisfy them”. 

 

Oh, Lord. Send your angels to those with danger just outside their tents. Bear them up, and may we together tread on the lion and the adder of injustice that threatens them.

RIH Celebration Banquet

Recently, a small group of participants from the first Riverside Innovation Hub learning community gathered for a celebratory banquet to officially mark the end of the three year learning experience. After the last year and half of meeting virtually, it was so delightful to gather in-person with those that were able to attend. Our time together was shaped by text of Ezekiel 47: 1 – 12, especially verse twelve, “Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” We shared stories of celebration, transformation, and gratitude.

Social Time & Celebrations

Upon arrival, people were invited to write things they wanted to celebrate for themselves, their faith community, their team, their neighborhood, and young adults on printouts of leaves and fruit. We celebrated persistence, relationships, our neighbors, ice cream, community, stories, strong connection during the pandemic, new connections and nurtured relationships, new friendships, curiosity, leadership, vaccines, and much more.
 
Continue reading “RIH Celebration Banquet”

Humility & Confession in the Public Square

Kristina Fruge, Managing Director of CCV, writes about the importance of confession and humility when doing the work of being a public church. 

A neighbor-oriented call

The work of the Riverside Innovation Hub has been guided by an orientation towards the neighbor. This is both an invitation to pay attention in the neighborhood and a plea to be open to disruption we might encounter outside the comforts of our familiar surroundings. 

This neighbor-oriented way of living, when embodied by a Christian congregation, becomes a public church. As churches and as individuals, this call to be public, to encounter our neighbor, leads us into the public square. This is not a neutral place to be. It is filled with other humans, each with their own story, their own struggle, their own world view. It is shaped by systems and structures, which more often than not, have shaped conditions in the world that stray far from God’s intentions for creation. There is beauty and destruction. There are signs of life and threats to life. The public square holds potential and heartache. 

Image of George Floyd square with a memorial of flowers and people gatheredOur neighborhoods have been shaped by violent and dishonest histories – ones that have regularly privileged some groups of people at the expense of others. Entering the public square challenges us to make a choice.

Will we show up and participate in the dominant and dominating histories still at play in our neighborhoods? Or will we show up to participate in an alternative way, a way that seeds peace, truth and healing? A way that requires confession and humility? 

These questions take on a greater responsibility if you are someone who lives with any kind of privileged identity around race, gender, able-bodiedness, sexual orientation, or socio-economic status. These hierarchies, shaping our communities since long ago, continue to cause harm today. If we enter the public square ignorant of these harmful realities, we risk showing up in ways that perpetuate the lies and violence of our country’s past and present. 

Continue reading “Humility & Confession in the Public Square”

RIH Fall Learning Event: Accompaniment

On Saturday, October 16, 2021, the new Riverside Innovation Hub learning community gathered on campus  and virtually for a morning of exploration on the artform of accompaniment. Accompaniment is the movement into the neighborhood in order to hear the neighbor’s story. In this artform, we learn to engage and listen to the neighbor’s story for the neighbor’s sake. It is the first movement within the Public Church Framework. It sets our focus outward, towards our neighbors and God’s presence in the neighborhood. 

people checking in for an event       People sitting outside at tables eating

At this event we had two main purposes together.

Continue reading “RIH Fall Learning Event: Accompaniment”

The Significance of Presence

Written by Dr. Jeremy Myers, Executive Director of Augsburg’s Christensen Center for Vocation

headshot of Brian Bantum

On Tuesday Oct 5, 2021, Dr. Brian Bantum gave a lecture entitled “All Things are New: The Language of Our Life in the Face of Empire” at our 2021 Bernhard M. Christensen Symposium. Dr. Bantum is the Neil F. And Ila A. Fisher Professor of Theology at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. He writes, speaks, and teaches on identity, racial imagination, creating spaces of justice, and the intersection of theology and embodiment for audiences around the United States.

He is a contributing editor of The Christian Century and is the author of “Redeeming Mulatto: A Theology of Race and Christian Hybridity,” “The Death of Race: Building a New Christianity in a Racial  World,”  and  “Choosing Us: Marriage and Mutual Flourishing in a World of Difference,” which he co-authored with his spouse, Gail Song Bantum. You can view a recording of his talk here.

Continue reading “The Significance of Presence”