Camp Amnicon is a high adventure camp affiliated with the ELCA and located on the south shore of Lake Superior.  During the summer small groups go out on various canoe and hiking trips with highly trained guides.  Amnicon has work weekends during the year to get the camp ready for the different seasons.  The summer camping season is over and the fall-winter-spring retreat season will soon start.  In exchange for your volunteer labor, you have a bed to sleep in (bunk rooms) and delicious meals.  No special talents are necessary and all ages are welcome.  There is also time to explore the 700 acres of wilderness.  Camp Amnicon depends on volunteer labor to make it possible for at-risk youth to attend camp, as well as to serve church groups from all over the country.  If you are interested or want to learn more, talk to or call Cheri Moe or Margaret Coleman.  Call Camp Amnicon to reserve beds.

Confirmation education for 7th and 8th graders will begin again on Wednesday evenings in the fall. The majority of the churches in the Twin Cities hold their youth programs on Wednesday evenings and try to avoid school programming conflicts. This year’s Confirmation worship service for our 9th graders will be held on Sunday, October 26th at 9:30. Please contact the church about registering for confirmation this fall. The first lass will be held on Wednesday, September 10th from 7:00- 8:00 pm in the Christy Room.

“Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Deuteronomy 11:19

On August 20th, I was standing in front of a class of new missionary teachers in Bratislava, Slovakia when I received the news. It came as a two part text message on my cell phone. I looked down for a second and saw on the screen that my wife Janna was writing to me in the dark hours of the night in Minnesota. As the class turned briefly to their other instructor, I opened the first message. In short it announced: “Your grandson was just born and is being transferred to St. Paul Children’s Hospital. His vital signs are good.”  I knew that my son and daughter-in-law were expecting, I also understood that their new born son was now three months premature. I didn’t make it to the second text message before I was asked by an anxious missionary another question about living in Central Europe.

Life changes in a heartbeat. Certainly there are pleasant, serendipitous moments that surprise and delight us. But it seems that life can also offer its fair share of unexpected, troubling moments. Of course, we learn to accept and address them, but in that moment it seems as if they take our breath away. The earth itself has shaken, and we wonder how it would have affected us if we only could have only been a bit more prepared.

The author of the book of Deuteronomy understood the reality of life’s unexpected joys and sorrows. In the words to the ancient Jewish people, he encouraged them to teach the values of the faith to their children where ever there was a possibility- “talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” For the ancient writer, every setting was the right place and time for discussing the faith.

3,000 years later, however, that is not the case. Today, we discover parents who are afraid to discuss their faith with their children. They forget that life can change in a heartbeat and that their children can’t wait for an answer during the next Sunday School class.

Rally Sunday is a wonderful way of reminding people that the programs and activities of the congregation are organized to help them through the week to find a way to discuss their faith when life changes. Congregational celebrations, Bible studies, choir rehearsals and service activities, all have a way of bringing people together to share their thoughts and experiences. Joining is important, not simply for you, but for what you can offer to others on their spiritual journey.

So join us on Rally Sunday, September 7th as we begin our renewed journey at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church. Come and celebrate Dixieland music with the Madson Family. Enjoy fresh pie, ice cream and cake. Register for Sunday School. Join the choir or prayer group. There are many ways to explore your faith and to experience the excitement of lives together in faith. And in all these ways, you will prepare yourself to for the times when life changes.

When I arrived home from Europe the first stop was at the St. Paul Children’s Hospital to see the 5-day old Ivan Robert Haug. He is small, but his vital signs are still positive. And, yes, he is growing. Standing over his lightened incubator, Janna, his mother and I prayed for little Ivan’s safe delivery, his continued growth, and the daily care he was receiving from the hospital staff. It was a poignant reminder of the importance of the preparation and encouragement that the church provides.   “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

Peace, Pastor and Grandpa Arden Haug

Sunday School begins on Sunday, September 7th.  We are excited to get started and have the classrooms filled with children!  If you haven’t already done so, please register your children using the online form by clicking here.   Sunday School is offered for children who are age 3 (by Sept. 1) through those entering 6th grade.

Here are a few things to note for the month of September:

Thursday, Sept. 4:  Teacher training 7-8pm in the Christy Room.

Sept. 7:  Sunday School begins

Sept. 14: Bibles are presented to 3 yr olds, 3rd graders and new families

The complete schedule for the program year can be found on the website (www.loti.org)

Volunteers Welcome!  If you love working with children and would like to get involved in our Sunday School program, please sign up to volunteer as a teacher or substitute.  Adult volunteers click here to sign up. High school youth click here to sign up.  Adult volunteers will be required to complete a background check.  Training is provided for all volunteers on Thursday, September 4 from 7:00-8:00 p.m. in the Christy Room.

  Please contact Diane LaMere, Children’s Ministry Director with any questions at dlamere.loti@yahoo.com.

 May 26, 1917 – May 23, 2014

Dr. Frederic J. “Fritz” Kottke, long-time member at Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church, passed away on May 23, 2014 at Walker Methodist Home.  He was preceded in death by his wife, Astrid Kottke and a son, James.  He is survived by a sister, Harriet Sells, his daughters, Jane (Lau) de Vries, Mary Vincent and a son, Thomas (Leslie) Kottke, 6 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren.  A memorial service will be held at Walker Methodist Home, 3737 Bryant Ave. South, Minneapolis, on Saturday, July 12 at 1:00 p.m.  Memorials to Habitat for Humanity.

Cards to the family can be sent to the address below:

Thomas E. Kottke, MD

571 Otis Avenue

St. Paul, MN 55104

LOTI celebrated the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution on Sunday, May 18th with Norwegian music by Edvard Grieg and folk hymns,  as well as costumes and desserts during the coffee hour.  Congregation members brought traditional Norwegian foods like rosettes, sandbakkel cookies, rice pudding, fruit soup and lefse.  Pastor Haug and Janna Haug prepared a delicious wreath cake or  “kransekake” which is usually made to celebrate special occasions like weddings, baptisms or Christmas.

O Holy Spirit, root of life, creator, cleanser of all things;

 Anoint our wounds, awaken us with lustrous movement of your wings.

O holy Wisdom, soaring power, encompass us with wings unfurled, And carry us, encircling all above, below, and through the world.

                                                                 Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179

The colorful work of Chinese artist He Qi attests to the mysterious and unpredictable movement of the Holy Spirit.  As a child growing up in China, it was forbidden to study the Bible. Oddly, it was not illegal to study Christian art.  Qi became curious about the Christian faith through art.  Even though, he didn’t know the scriptures behind the images, he recognized that there was an unspoken power and presence inherent in the art.  In time he began to understand color and symbolism, and after emigrating from China to the US, he learned the biblical stories as well.

Qi’s portrayal of the Day of Pentecost, the birth of the church, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, poignantly draws these themes together.  The gift of the Holy Spirit, which appears upon the disciples’ head as flames of fire, is represented by doves.  This captures both the movement and intensity of the Spirit.  The Chinese lanterns as well as the candle portray the festive and celebratory nature of Pentecost.   Perhaps the most intriguing details are buildings. The closed doors of the Upper Room, Jerusalem’s temple columns and peasant homes are to be seen, as well as a stone bridge.

For Qi, the meaning of the story of Pentecost rests on this bridge.  It seems to state that the entire movement of the Holy Spirit crosses back and forth atop this bridge.  Our prayers rise to God by the Spirit across the bridge, and God’s story of grace and salvation comes to us by the power of the Spirit across this bridge.  It is a helpful metaphor in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit.  The story of Jesus Christ and his love is carried across the bridge to us by the Spirit.

On Pentecost Sunday, June 8th, we celebrate again the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit across that bridge into to our lives.  Martin Luther understood the meaning of the Spirit’s movement across the bridge in his Explanation to the Apostles’ Creed.  “I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or strength believe in Jesus Christ or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called through the gospel.”

Come, Holy Spirit, Come!

Peace, Pastor Arden Haug