1. Coverage During DE Sabbath Renewal
2. 2020 District Directory
3. Young Adult Email Group
4. Jr. Youth Lock-in
Banner Photo: District Board Meeting at Camp Pine Lake, November 2nd, 2019
Calendar of Events | District Staff & Leadership Contacts | Documents & Resources
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1. Correction: Celebrating New Life: Justus Paul Mauslein
2. 2020 Prayer Calendars
3. District Executive Sabbath Renewal Plan 2020
4. Camp Pine Lake Fundraising for Camp Scholarships
5. Employment Opportunities at Camp Pine Lake
6. Continuing Education Courses
7. Message from the Moderator
8. Holiness in our Midst – On Being Loved
9. Leadership Development Musings
10. New Northern Plains Cluster Ministers
11. Church of the Brethren signs ‘Faith Statement on Escalating Violence with Iran’
12. Congregational Newsletters
Banner photo: Picture from the 1908 Church of the Brethren annual conference that was held in Des Moines on the 200th anniversary of the church. Photo by I.U. Ikenherry from Adel. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.
SESSION LXXXVII: ON ‘FILLING YOUR CUP’
Story Circle Prompt: How do you “fill your cup?” That is, how do you replenish your spirit?
My long-time friend Dawn from suburban Chicago visited family and friends over Labor Day weekend. The verbal snapshots of her adventures were in vivid detail, like photographs in an album: combing beaches along the Pacific Coast, staying in a home overlooking Mt. Ranier in Washington and strolling along a stream in the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado. Along the way, she even met some cousins for the first time. She pronounced her vacation “a precious time.” In summary of the trip, she said her “cup was filled,” a phrase I hadn’t heard before. As she spoke, I immediately thought of the line, “My cup runneth over…,” from the Twenty-third Psalm.
When we hung up, some questions lingered in my mind: How do I fill my cup? How do I find renewal these days? The current answer that bubbled up was retreats. During May and October of this year, I got away from my demanding routine by attending Northern Plains district women’s retreats at the rural Ivester Church of the Brethren. The 50-mile drive itself was a centering time, as I rolled through open countryside during planting and harvest seasons. At both events, we “retreatants” took our time creating colorful quilts for hospice patients (each doing our designated task), eating tasty home-cooked meals, taking walks, pondering the insights of guest speakers and sharing spiritual stories. I came home refreshed from the fellowship and fresh air.
In September, I also came back revived from attending a three-day Disciples of Christ Upper Midwest Region Women’s Retreat in Paynesville, MN. This was in spite of (or maybe because of) being a passenger for eight hours each way in a four-car caravan. Memories return when I’m feeling stressed: seeing a bald eagle up close; riding for an hour in a pontoon boat; playing the spatulas in a kitchen band; learning about friendship, while experiencing it with friends old and new; coloring late into the night; eating s’mores around a campfire in the rain; and worshipping in a woodsy chapel setting. Recollections from my retreats are right there to refill “my cup” when it gets empty.
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Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.
“District News and Announcements” is a monthly e-newsletter for members and friends of the Church of the Brethren in the Northern Plains District. District Leaders, Commissions, Committees, and those doing special ministries share information on programs and activities. Local churches share news and invitations. Send submissions by November 24th for inclusion in next month’s newsletter to Hannah Button-Harrison, Director of Communications, communications@nplains.org.
Get a printable version of the newsletter here.
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Calendar of Events | District Staff & Leadership Contacts | Documents & Resources
Banner photo: Fall decorations at Dallas Center Church of the Brethren, arranged by Ella Moss. Photo by Laura Leighton-Harris. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.
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Banner photo: Special guest Michaela Alphonse leads an insight session at The Church on Northland during District Conference in August. Photo by Hannah Button-Harrison. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.
SESSION LXXXV: ON (HOLY) GOOSE BUMPS
Story Circle Prompt: When was the last time you got goose bumps from being awe-inspired?
At the Iowa State Fair in August 2019, I got multiple cases of the kind of goose bumps that don’t originate from the cold. (My friend Heather, like many others, calls them “God Bumps”!) I was with my friend Alice. As we viewed exhibits—fabric arts, oil paintings, water colors, preserves and canned goods, and photographs —she asked which entries I liked best in each category. I used the “goose bumps” test to gauge my answers. (My choices didn’t always align with the entries sporting blue ribbons.) When we participated in the hymn sing at the church on the fairgrounds, I got goosebumps when a woman sang descant on “Amazing Grace!”
To me, getting all prickly, is a signal that God is near and guiding me to the idiosyncratic experiences, people and things meant for me. I take notice!
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Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.
Get a printable version of the newsletter here.
Banner photo: Pastor David Kerkove stands in the water during an outdoor baptism for the South Waterloo congregation on August 11th. Photo by Barb Miller. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.
Get a printable version of the newsletter here.
Banner photo: Common Spirit Fellowship gathered to welcome and dedicate Carolyn Fern Kirschenheiter on July 14, 2019. Photo by Nicole Blissenbach. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.
SESSION LXXXIII: ON TURNING LEMONS INTO LEMONADE
Story Circle Prompt: Share an example of turning lemons into lemonade.
One afternoon in May of 2003, as I was riding through mountains near the southwestern coast of the Dominican Republic, I heard how a whole community turned lemons into lemonade. I was immersing myself in the work of Jeff and Peggy Boshart, community development staff for the Church of the Brethren; my purpose as coordinator for mission connections for the denomination was to interpret the microloan enterprises they supervised.
We had just left the town of Villa Nizao, where we had visited coffee-growing projects. Peggy pointed out a river that flows down to the Caribbean Sea about 30 miles from a city called Paraíso, Spanish for Paradise). She told us that every year during Holy Week, the villagers dammed this river, using sticks and branches, and created a lake. They were too poor to travel to “Paradise,” so they created their own. They drank coconut milk from the shells; enjoyed plantains and fried fish; and danced and sang into the night. At the end of Easter vacation, they “undammed” the river and went back to their daily lives. “They made their own beach when they couldn’t afford to travel to one,” Peggy marveled. This community’s choice to create their own joy still comes back to me when I am tempted to complain about circumstances.
(Jeff is currently manager of the Global Food Initiative for the Church of the Brethren.)
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Note: Holiness in Our Midst: Sharing Our Stories to Encourage and Heal is a monthly on-line feature created by Janis Pyle to facilitate sharing of our personal experiences, thoughts, beliefs, and spiritual practices with one another, especially through stories. Barriers are broken down when we begin to see all persons, even those with whom we disagree ideologically, as sacred and constantly attended to by a loving Creator. Each column is accompanied by a “story circle” prompt and study guides for personal and group reflection. To share your stories, contact Hannah Button-Harrison at communications@nplains.org. Janis Pyle can be reached at janispyle@yahoo.com.
Get a printable version of the newsletter here.
Banner photo: Campers canoe on a peaceful Pine Lake during Primary Overnight Camp. Photo by Barbara Wise Lewczak. Send in your photos for future newsletters! Email communications@nplains.org.