T.S. Elliot began a poem with the line, “April is the cruelest month…” Here, the last day of March when the wind is mild but the air still holding cold I hope it does not prove true.For us, April brings to solemn climax the sorrow of our sin which hung Jesus on the cross that cruel day outside Jerusalem. The next day was not better. There was no Gospel, no good news. Jesus was not here. But the next day…. oh the next day wiped all cruelty away. He who was not, Truly Is. Our Lord lives. And so, the dull remains of snow seem less permanent, they’ll go and we’ll see the tender green fill bare trees again.April is not the cruelest month. No month is. Cruelty lives when we deny our sin in eagerness to pin the blame on something else or someone else. It’s not April’s fault at all. April simply holds thirty days for us to pray and watch, repent and weep and finally to rejoice and praise and praise again as Alleluias raise.Come and See.

Please note the opportunities for worship: Wednesdays April 6 and 13, we will eat together at 6:00 p.m. Confirmation and Kings Kids classes meet during that hour. Then at 7 p.m., it’s upstairs for worship and singing “The Holden Evening Prayer” service.Palm Sunday, April 17, celebrates Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem. And so begins the most solemn expression of our faith. There is no worship on Wednesday of Holy Week, but on Thursday, April 21, at 7:00 p.m. we remember Christ gave us a new commandment that we love one another as he loved us. The next day is the worst day of all, yet we call it “Good”. Because it was for our good … because Jesus’ death was for our good. We have an extraordinary God who, rather than punishing us, allows our own actions to be punishment enough. This God remains faithful in love of us.  Easter Sunday, April 24, is proof of God’s love.Come and See.

God’s Love,

Pastor JoAnn … Interim Pastor

Encouraging and attitude of gratitudeNow may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.     2 Thessalonians 2:16Mary and Martha both did good things. Martha was busy in the kitchen, while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and poured valuable oil on them. “Why, Lord,” asked Martha, “don’t you tell Mary to help me? Don’t’ you care that my sister has left me to do all the work?”We all like to be encouraged, The person who encourages others will always have a welcome audience and an open ear. Mary was encouraged, not Martha. Why? What Martha did was helpful and good, but her attitude revealed a critical spirit. Martha’s life was cluttered. Her stewardship was lacking in self-care. She needed a break. Jesus does not sympathize with her workload. He says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things. Only one thing,” continues Jesus, “is important. Mary has chosen it.”What had Mary chosen? She had chosen to sit at Jesus’ feet. She too was a servant, a servant with an awareness of a God-pleasing attitude. Attitude matters. Max Lucado writes, “God is more pleased with the quiet attention of a joyful servant leader with good money leadership priorities that the noisy industry of a sour servant. A bad attitude spoils the gift we leave on the altar for God” (from the book He Still Moves Stones). Guard your attitude about giving.Khalil Gibran says, “Bread baked with bitterness feeds but half man’s hunger” (from the book The Prophet). Bread baked with bitterness is sin. Remember how God rejected Cain’s offering? Do you recall how the offerings of both Ananias and his wife were fatal? Jesus acknowledges the offering of the widow who gave two small coins, “This poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43-44). Her attitude of gratitude was greater than the grandest financial gift.

Recall the hymn “We Give Thee But Thine Own.” What is it that God has given you that you want to return? Where have you found joy in God’s blessings?

Prayer: Lord God, thank you for your example of love in giving your all, your Son, for the sake of all your children. You have given us many things. Give us one thing more—a grateful and joyful heart. Amen.

Money Leadership devotions are developed by the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission Unit of the ELCA.

Spring is coming and so is Lent, because lent is the Latin word for spring. You probably knew that, but I just thought I’d let you know I knew it too. I happen to like Lent. It is another one of those contradictions we experience so often in life.  Spring is coming, what was dead will come alive, but we’ll have to wait a bit. March is seldom a pleasant month. It is usually cold and muddy with rain and ice and snow. But Spring is coming! Lent is on the way!Lately I have heard the question in one form or another … “Who are we? What do we need to be as a church here in this place?” Those are not easy questions to answer when you have been a member here for a few years. It’s like a stranger asking me who I am. I can tell them what I do and what I love, but they won’t know what kind of person I really am without asking someone else who they trust to give an honest, unbiased answer.With those questions in mind, Pastor Bud and I thought it might be a good time to talk about what Lutherans believe. What is it that makes us a special place here on the hill between the interstate highway and the rest of DeForest?It is always good to take a look at who we are. Has the church changed since they decided that lent should be a six week culmination of the three year preparation for Baptism? That was back in the 1st Century c.e. when Christianity was a very new religion.So we celebrate Lent. The confirmation students, with a little assist from Pastor Bud, myself, Tom, Troy and the rest of you, will talk about what we believe about the Bible and the Word of God. And we will talk about the Trinity (a human construct but hard to deny since we don’t think these big things without a lot of help) And we’ll talk about creation and how is it we are said to look like God? (In God’s image!)  And we are going to discuss just what happened on Good Friday and what it means for us.I’m excited about what we have planned.  If we want to know a little more about who we are and who we are meant to be … well, let’s talk about it.

God’s Love - Pastor JoAnn … Interim Pastor

We had a good Annual Meeting. Ideas and suggestions were voiced that were helpful all around. We have good leaders who are willing to serve and I know more will come forward in the days and weeks ahead. They will be Servant-Leaders.And I have been thinking about the term “Servant-Leader”. It seems to be an oxymoron - two words used together which are opposites. The world would tell us that one can be a leader or a servant but not both. (Just watch Masterpiece Theater on a Sunday night!) However … Jesus tells us that we are supposed to be servant-leaders; we lead by serving and serve by leading. And it is sometimes a sticky wicket, a balancing act which we cannot do alone. Left to ourselves, we slide into a place of personal comfort.Being just a servant after awhile becomes not only tiresome, but can become self demeaning. Burn-out and resentment are bitter rewards. This is not what Jesus wants or ever intends. For others, the opposite danger lurks. The servant-leader becomes the Leader with deaf ears. Their vision may be good, but if it is not a shared process, a shared vision with all voices heard and other ideas Entertained, it is only the Leader’s vision … not the vision which serves Christ’s church. The end result for all those good intentions is burn-out and resentment … a bitter reward. This is not what Jesus wants or ever intends.The Good News is always Christ is with us. God does not desert us. We are never left to our own devices, locked in fear or failure. Believe me, God is quite willing to help and guide, renew, remake and rebuild. It has already begun. Scheesh! it makes me giddy with joy. And this is only February. As I write this, there are only 53 days ’till spring! And February is a short month. Ah, but every day is a gift and we, all of us, have work to do together.Thanks be to God!

Pastor Fabie

A blessed New Year to you all.

As I sat down to write this a few days before Christmas, my mind was carrying a tune I thought was a Christmas or Epiphany hymn.  The ELW has it under the Easter hymns, ELW #379.  I think it fits us for now because of who we are at this time, in this place. Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,Wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain;Love lives again, that with the dead has been;Love is come again like wheat arising green.When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,Your touch can call us back to life again,Fields of our hearts, that dead and bare have been;

Love is come again like wheat arising green.

We have just celebrated Love’s entrance coming in the darkest of days, a day set precisely to emphasize the birth of Christ as the Light of God’s presence with us: The light no darkness can overcome.  So now, how do we reflect that Light among us?  It is so easy to think of Christmas as done and over with, but Christ doesn’t disappear with the ornaments and wrinkled wrapping paper.  Christ stays with us to grow within our being and doing and living and dying.  We need to be together in worship and so be reminded again and again that this is “most certainly true”.  We have work to do together … we have adventures to experience together … we have the love of God in Christ Jesus to learn and grow into … together.  So we begin again to be new again.Grace and Peace … Joy and Love.  Pastor JoAnn 

* Now the Green Blade Rises. ELW #379

Hello. I’m JoAnn Fabie, the Interim pastor. An interim is a pastor who serves in the interim, that is, the time between one pastor leaving and another being called. I was here before, in 1994 between Pastor Kathy Grunewald (nee and now Franzenburg) and Pastor Paul Markquart. But I’m older and not quite as new at this as I was then and you have added new members and lost some dear ones as well so - we begin again in between time.
My husband, John, and I live in Waunakee. We will have been married 49 years at the end of this year. He didn’t marry a pastor and I had hopes he would become one. Funny how God works. Really strange. We have three grown children, along with two son-in-law’s and a daughter-in-law and six of the most wonderful, brightest, most beautiful grandchildren in the whole world. Just ask me, I’ll tell you all about them.

I have served interims at Norway Grove, then Trinity, Lake Mills; Grace, Cambridge; Immanuel, Mt Horeb; Redeemer, Rio; as well as calls to Rockdale Lutheran, in Cambridge and Peace Lutheran, in Waunakee.

I was ordained at Trinity Lutheran, Madison on Epiphany, January 6, 1995. The weather was wicked and I didn’t expect anyone but the necessary participants. I thought “If I didn’t have to be there I wouldn’t go.”  It was a glorious night. Honestly - Angels were there, people from Norway Grove and Trinity and all around.I’ve had the humbling privilege of being a pastor in the Lutheran Church, ELCA for soon to be 16 years. It never gets old but we do. I am so very grateful for the presence of Dr. and Mrs. Durwood Buchheim (aka Bud and Dona) But they are also dear friends, seminary professor and listening ear at the Wartburg BookStore while I was the student there. Their talents are deeply valued.

I’m not a pure Norwegian and I’m not a Wisconsin native. I’m not even a born and bred Lutheran but like you, I am, by the Grace of God through the love of Christ sustained by the Holy Spirit and set out to be here, your pastor in the between time.

In, with, under and through the Peace of Christ,
Pastor JoAnn

Dear Companions in Christ,Church language is really weird. We don’t use ordinary “church” words in our ordinary life. ”Justification” might be used in a court room or in legal matters but the meaning is a lot more involved when we use it to describe what Jesus Christ has done. And who ever says “Sanctification”? Nobody I know of, outside of a seminary classroom or catechism class. We don’t even say “Sin” except if we are praying the contemporary version of the Lord’s Prayer but that’s in church or meeting together doing church stuff, common usage is, “mistakes were made.”  Ho hum.But, quite enough of this. My point is that November 28^th is the first Sunday in Advent. (There’s another one of those weird church words. Who uses “Advent” in normal conversation? Well, Advent isn’t “normal.”) Advent is the time for anticipation, breath-holding, non-blinking, get-readiness. The word comes from the Latin word Adventus which means “coming.” Someone -Something- Some Wonder is coming and we don’t want to miss out. We want to be ready. Ready to “Walk in Jerusalem, just like John,” ready to “Fly Away”, ready for the wolf to lie down with the lamb, ready to find our enemies, our dearest friends. Ready for the Peace of the presence of Christ, God With Us, … Ready for Christ’s Mass.
And so we live in this “all ready-not yet” world, fully aware that what we do in “church” may not be understood or even desired by the world in which we work and live. But this is the most important work we can do. We are learning to run a three legged race in partnership with God who keeps us and the world and all that is.So we watch and wait and wonder again when visited by grace and peace. We watch and wait and ponder our path. As Paul writes in Romans chapter, 6; “Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! [AWK! How could you even think such a thing!]  How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?  Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”

Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ comes…. You don’t want to miss Him!

Love,
Pastor JoAnn

LESSONS OF THE REFORMATION:Worship and Education in the Church and the HomeOne of the reasons that Luther is my favorite theologian is that he grew up poor and he never lost sight of his humble upbringing. In a clergy-dominated church he uncovered, or re-discovered the doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers. “Each and all of us are priests.” With those seven words, Luther asserted the idea of equality, so wrote the popular columnist, George Will. Luther called the laity, “a new breed of clergy”. Baptism, not ordination, is the important event in our lives, because it makes us all ministers, all servants of God.Christians are Life Long LearnersHowever, Luther also insisted that these ministers, you and I, be trained - that is that we be equipped for ministry. Which brings me to my second reason for being high on Luther and that is his twin emphasis on learning and worship. Learning without worship leads to the creation of “clever devils” and worship without learning is vulnerable to fanaticism and all kinds of superstitions. Recall the Apostle Paul’s stirring words to the Christians in Corinth, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, but when I became an adult, I gave up childish ways.” (1 Cor. 13)  In the early centuries of the church we have St. Augustine saying, “Not all who believe think, but they who think, believe.”  One of the reasons the Reformation movement captured the hearts of the people was Luther’s emphasis on the importance of learning. He put the Bible in the hands of common people. Luther made the language appropriate for God talking not just to scholars but to ordinary people. In 1529, Luther wrote The Large and Small Catechisms. The catechisms provide a brief summary of the Christian faith which keeps believers alert and sensitive to the Gospel. Worship empowers us by keeping open the lifeline to God through Word and Sacrament.Home and ChurchLuther not only made partners out of leaning and worship, but he also brought together the Church and the Home. Initially the catechisms were tools of learning for the parents. In a survey taken some years ago, the question was asked, “Will your children have faith?” When both parents attend regularly, 72% of the children remain faithful. If only the father attends regularly, 55% remain faithful. If only the mother, only 15% remain faithful. If neither parent attend, only 6% remain faithful.All through my ministry I have fought the unspoken but very visible macho attitude that says the church is primarily for women and children. Once one is confirmed, the church becomes optional, with a low priority. Just about anything in our lives becomes more important than our discipleship - be it a family picnic, a soccer game, a program on TV, a movie, a fishing trip, deer hunting, the Sunday paper, etc. Here is cheap grace operating at full throttle, while our commitment to our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ, becomes very casual and spasmodic.The Church needs the Home (Family)The steady, but consistent “commitment slippage” that I have observed over my many years of ministry, shout the message that Sunday School and Confirmation are not enough to “keep the faith.” The Church needs the Home and the Home needs the Church. “Faith is formed by the power of the Holy Spirit through personal, trusted relationships - often in our own homes.” (From the Great Omission to a Vibrant Faith, p. 17)  I fear that we have forgotten how important our homes are in the development of a life of faith. “Home” is also Church. “The basic building block for healthy congregational life is the home.” (A quote from Frogs without Legs Can’t Hear, pp 9-10)May the Reformation continue …In a modest attempt to correct that neglect we are: 1) Beginning with the season of Advent, enclosing with each church bulletin, a half sheet that offers a wide variety of suggestions to encourage the family to engage in “faith” discussions. 2) We are attempting to encourage some sort of organization among the young parents of our congregation. We have a vision of small groups, meeting in homes where ideas, dreams, hopes are shared that could help our homes be a church. As indicated, these are modest beginnings for a most important congregational undertaking. I am hoping to hear more ideas from you on how to strengthen the “church” in our homes and a willingness to implement them.

Pastor Bud

God’s Grace - - the Bridge to GratitudeOne of the many legacies left to this congregation by Rod Nilsestuen, was his emphasis on building bridges: between people, between old people and young people, between people and problems,  between people and issues. In large part, motivated by the memory of his bridge-building life, this congregation has made some significant progress in our bridge-building efforts - namely the volunteers who this past month made a serious effort to connect with every member of this congregation. For various reasons, contact was not made with every member, but the attempt was made and the message conveyed that all members are important in this body of Christ, called Norway Grove Memorial Lutheran Church.Bridges are being built or rebuilt in our Sunday School and in our High School youth. Nor can we  forget the work of the Anniversary Committee and the important bridge they built to our past, reconnecting us with our history. It is good to see all the bridge-building that is going on, but as we all know, many bridges remain yet to be built or repaired. This time of the year, we are reminded about the “bridge to gratitude.”Experience tells me that ingratitude is probably the most common of all human failings. Blow, blow thou winter wind, thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.” (- Shakespeare). For me, conversation about a “grateful life” bring to the surface any number of personal “why” question. Why have I lived so long? Why have I deserved my good health? Why was I born into a family that loved and cared for me? Why do I remain part of a family that loves, respects and continues to cheer me on? Why was I born in this country and not Pakistan? Why was I so fortunate to be engaged in meaningful and satisfying work so that not one day of my adult life have I been unemployed? Why, even in old age, am I invited to occupy Norway Grove’s pulpit? Why do I need two television sets? Why do I need two rooms in which to place them? Not one of the above noted gifts and many more, have I in any way deserved. It is not how good I am, but how great God is.Where self-love imprisons the soul, it is set free by the love of God. This unbelievable love of God has the power to draw us out of our selfishness. God’s love changing us to people God wants us to be - - grateful people leading grateful lives.Why this emphasis on gratitude at this time? Because there is a bridge that we haven’t heard much about these past few months and that is the bridge to financial stability for this congregation. As indicated in Jim Simpson’s article - - construction on this important bridge is about to begin. Gratitude is the foundation.

Pastor Bud

The Place of Questions in the Practice of our Faith(The following story is by Wendell Berry, a writer, teacher and farmer who lives with his family and farms in Kentucky)Jaber Crow was born in Goforth, Kentucky. His parents died within a month of each other when he was only three months old. For the next ten years, he stayed with his aunt and uncle, a fine loving couple. They died and he was placed in an orphanage, which was not a happy experience, but he survived. Things got better for him when he thought he had a “call” from God. He loved books and was a good student. However the bible faced him with important and unanswered questions. Finally, he got up the nerve to confront a professor who was known behind his back as “Old Grit.” He was a professor to be feared. What follows is the dialogue between them:Student, “I have a lot of questions.”  Professor, “Perhaps you would like to say what they are.”    Student, “Well, for instance Jesus said for us to love our enemies, how can it ever be right to kill our enemies? And if he said not to pray in public, how come we’re all the time praying in public? And if Jesus’ own prayer in the Garden wasn’t granted, what is there for us to pray for, except ‘thy will be done’ which there’s no use in praying, because it will be done anyhow.”  Professor, “You have any more?”  Student, “Well, for instance, suppose you prayed for something and you got it, how do you know how you got it? How do you know you didn’t get it because you were going to get it whether you prayed or not? So how do you know if it does any good to pray? You would need proof, wouldn’t you?”  The professor nodded.  Student, “But there is no way to get proof.”  The professor agreed and then asked, “Do you have an answer?”  Student, “No—so I reckon what it all comes down to is how can I preach if I don’t have any answers?”  Professor, “No, I don’t believe you can.”  Student, “For a while, I had this feeling that maybe I had been called.”  Professor, “You may have been right. But not to what you thought. Not to what you think. You have been given questions to which you cannot be given answers. You will have to live them out, perhaps a little at a time.”  Student, “And how long will that take?”  Professor, “I don’t know. As long as you live perhaps.”  Student, “That could be a long time.”  Professor, “I will tell you a further mystery. It may take longer.”During the course of my long life, I have grown suspicious of what has been called an “answering theology.” Some years ago a slogan was flying around the country, bumper stickers, etc., “Jesus is the answer.” Answer to what? So many of the cock-sure answers I have received on television and elsewhere seem to be given by people who haven’t been living where I am living. It has also been my experience that many of the questions I struggle with today, I will probably be struggling with   tomorrow and the next day. I have come to believe that an active faith has a bunch of questions   following in its shadows.  Henri Nowen, “The voice of God speaks only through wounded selves.”

Peace, Pastor Bud