Back in June, I gathered for a mini-retreat with the worship and music team at St. John’s to look ahead over the coming year (Aug-Jul) and dream up creative and innovative ways to deepen and diversify our worship life together. Especially after the practically apocalyptic challenges of the last few years, people are just exhausted — weary of historic world changes, worn out by constant worrying, carrying burdens of grief and disappointment and frustration and stress in their hearts with nowhere to set them down.

I wanted to find a way to offer people an opportunity to name and begin to process some of these burdens, some of the trauma of the last few years, and to open up their wounded hearts to God for healing. In previous years, this congregation had a history of doing some kind of special service — usually a service of healing — on the fifth Sunday in months with five Sundays; so we decided to resurrect that tradition to start periodically doing a ritual we have called “A Service of Letting Go and Letting God.”

Below, you can find the link to the live stream of worship, as well as the embedded video (if it decides to work 😜); I also copied the bulletin so you can follow along if you so desire. If you’re looking for a way to unburden your heart and open up your pain to God in prayer, I hope this service may be useful to you — that it may help you to name your burdens, let them go, and let God take care of the rest.

Watch the service here or embedded below.

The Easter proclamation is an ancient song of the church, traditionally sung on the great Vigil of Easter. We decided to forego a formal Easter Vigil service at my congregation this year, but the singing of the proclamation is one of my favorite moments in the entire church year, so I decided to sing it and share it with you all from my back yard. As I sang, I was accompanied by lots of chattering birds, accelerating vehicles, and the strains of a neighbor’s lively ranchera music — a lovely reminder that all creation together celebrates the great good news that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed.

Watch the video and read the text of the proclamation below. (Or click here to watch the video on Facebook.)

Sunday worship, January 3, 2021
Second Sunday after Christmas / Epiphany Sunday
Service of Lessons and Carols

Watch this service below. You can also follow along in the digital bulletin.

The Longest Night service — along with the similar “Blue Christmas” service — is a tradition in the church that seems especially relevant this year. It’s a service traditionally held on the winter solstice — the shortest day and longest night of the year — to recognize that the holidays are not a joyful time for everyone, to make space for the feelings of grief and loneliness and longing we may be carrying, and to proclaim that Christ is every bit as present in the darkness as in the light and celebration.

There are probably many more slickly produced versions of this service available online, especially this year. But here’s my humble offering — a simple little service of song, scripture, and poetry at sunset in my backyard with some candles and a smoky little fire. May it be a moment of peace and blessing for those who could use it.

Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Thanksgiving Eve

Watch this service below.

A joint Pentecost celebration broadcast live from St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Fremont, NE, on May 31, 2020!

Worship leaders:

• Pastor Shari Schwedhelm, Salem Lutheran Church and St. Timothy Lutheran Church, Fremont, NE
• Deacon Timothy Siburg, Nebraska Synod staff and Salem Lutheran Church, Fontanelle, NE
• Pastor Heidi Wallace, Bethany Lutheran Church and First Presbyterian Church, Lyons, NE
• Pastor Day Hefner, St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
• Pastor Allison Siburg, Salem Lutheran Church, Fontanelle, NE
• Pastor Scott Johnson, Campus Ministry at Midland University, Fremont, NE
• Pastor Al Duminy, Sinai Lutheran Church, Fremont, NE
• Pastor Inba Inbarasu, outgoing pastor of Faith Ambassadors and Redeemer Lutheran Church, Hooper, NE

Watch the Facebook Live video of this service below, and/or follow along in the digital bulletin.