Greetings from Your President
Dear Sisters in Christ,
We have been a busy group of women and I thank God for all that He gives me to do. We are the ones chosen by God to do God’s work. I continually use the ELCA tagline, “God’s work Our hands”.
Have you seen the commercial for the ELCA? It is very subtle and moving. It was for me the first time I saw it. I was watching HGTV and there it was. I knew right away it was about us as Lutherans and it was so quiet and yet I just wanted to say, Wahoo that was great!
That’s what we are like us Lutherans, very shy about telling people who we are. Most all of the women I know are the same way. We are a powerful organization with powerful women in it. We are always doing for others, like the meal you just took to a sick friend or the visit you just made to someone who hasn’t been able to get out or the time you thought you might just baby sit to give a young mother a moment to herself or just sitting with a friend who is having Chemo for her breast cancer.
I am so grateful to God that I can get up in the morning and say “Thank You, God” because I was able to open my eyes. It really doesn’t matter about pain it just matters that I wake up. I heard recently the praise some people use, “Good Lord its Morning”, and the one I much prefer using,” Good Morning Lord.” Women don’t complain much, at least not if they are in the Lord. The women I know who don’t complain are in distress physically but mentally they know just where they are.
I have had the distinct honor to learn how funny people think things are. I listened to a Lutheran Pastor recently. They must have fun at his church as well as his home. He talked for 45 minutes and no one seemed to notice the time until they had to stop him because he talked longer than he was supposed to. He explained that life as well as church should be fun. God didn’t intend for us to just sit around, he taught us how to laugh and how to laugh with meaning. If someone is happy, or sad, in a good mood or bad, life isn’t so bad if you can laugh.
I was in Chicago in February for the President’s Conference and Churchwide was kind enough to take us to their office building. I bought a book at the Augsburg store because of the quote on the front cover, Martin Luther said, “If there isn’t laughter in heaven I don’t want to go there”. I found that very interesting. I use that quote a lot now. God has been teaching me for about 7 months that I should continue to use laughter in what I do. And as so many of you know, I do enjoy a good story. You know the ones, they make you laugh, they make you cry and sometimes they make me say, “Oh my!”
Shirley Gronemeyer and I have been traveling together to the Cluster Events. We have been to Granby, Fort Morgan, Boulder, and Colorado Springs and we are going to try for an event in Durango, CO. I went to Albuquerque for their event. Everywhere I go the women are uplifted with the Spirit of the Lord.
I hope you have noticed 3 new bible study resources from Churchwide. Order one today and do a bible study with your women.
We are very excited and looking forward to our Gathering at St. Paul in Cheyenne, WY on September 19, 2009.
Remember in 2010 we will be holding our convention in Denver. There will be a lot of new Board members to elect, like a new President and of course Board positions. We will also need to elect our Delegates to the Triennial convention in Spokane. Remember, these will be paid for by Churchwide so if you can get excited about going to Spokane, Washington in 2011 please come to Denver in 2010.
Your sister in Christ,
Ina Anders
July 2009 |
Rocky Mountain Synodical