Ryan Hall Ordained at Holy Spirit

What a joy it was for us to join our Bishop, Joe Burnett, to ordain our fourth intern, Ryan Hall, to the transitional diaconate on Monday, june 11th. He was presented to the bishop by the rectors of Holy Spirit in Bellevue and St Mark's on Campus in Lincoln as well as by members of Holy Trinity in Lincoln. His summer internship supervisor from the Rosebud Lakota Reservation in South Dakota, friends from seminary, and friends from all over Nebraska attended and greeted The Rev. Ryan Hall. He was presented with a beautiful signed Bible by the bishop.A reception in the undercroft included a green and white cake congratulating Ryan. The congregation later presented him with a generous check to start his discretionary fund.
I preached a sermon emphasizing what a joy it is to present and ordain such a bright committed young adult who desires to serve Christ in his church. Such moments make us realize that the body of Christ is very much alive and growing.
Alleluia!

Father's Day for God the Father

Is God the Father for you or against you?

I pray this blog post finds you embraced in the love of the Lord. He is for you! At our Wednesday Evening bible study group we unpacked the meaning of God's grace. God's grace is the free unmerited gift of his unconditional love. How often we Christians forget that God is for us! He is the source of our being loved and whole in the life. He is not distant judging and condemning us! As Paul says so eloquently, "If God is for us who can be against us!" Our advocate and best friend, Jesus Christ, has won for us a new and powerful relationship with God the Father. We,this Father's Day, get the privilege of calling God Almighty, ABBA, DADDY. God through Jesus Christ is as close as our hearts! Enjoy this free unmerited giving of being loved by God. God is for you, not against you!

We are so proud of our fourth intern, Ryan Hall. Here he is graduating on June 1st with his Master of Divinity Degree. Wow! Time flies. It is such a joy to have a part in the formation of these outstanding young adults who are seeking out ministries in our church. As Bishop Joe, Tenth Bishop of Nebraska, said at confirmations at our church May 30th, with these outstanding adults standing forward and attesting to their calls to serve our Lord, who can say the Body of Christ is dead or dying? Alleluia