We value connection.
We cherish this gift from God in Jesus.
We welcome all people.
From St. Joe to Alpena.
After a week of true Northern Michigan winter, where communities saw several inches of snow accumulation, fierce winds, and drifts reaching multiple feet high, one story coming out of our synod was nothing short of inspiring!
North/West Lower Michigan Synod at a Glance
Baptized members
Congregations and Ministry Sites
Rostered leaders
Conferences
The friendship began with the kids bringing me dead cicadas. I’m not sure why they thought I would be interested and I hoped they weren’t killing the bugs for my benefit. My mind quickly went to work figuring out how I was going to re-direct my two new-found Honduran friends. Our synod team was at a national park in Honduras holding a first aid training for the local health workers in our companion synod. I had stepped outside because I was not on the agenda for some time, and I had work to do to get ready for synod assembly.
At home, we have a “change bucket” that we have thrown change into for many years. In fact, when we started our change bucket, people were still using change quite commonly! We were also much younger and fresh out of school; so, it was not uncommon to dig into the change bucket to pay for a fast-food meal or an overdue library book. Sorting through our bucket felt a bit like time travel, as I discovered several Chuck E. Cheese tokens from when our daughter was young. There were a few German marks from a trip we took in 1999, just before the Euro was introduced. There were some Canadian coins and even a “coin” from a Mardi Gras parade. I’m wondering what others found in their change jars.
The picture never does it justice. When I am with you on Sunday mornings and I try to get a picture of the gathering, the foreground looms large and you all seem so small in the background. The picture does not capture that moment accurately. Additionally, we can talk about how the picture does not give testimony to power of the singing, the depth of God’s Word spoken to us, and the deliciousness of the meal that reminds us that right in the middle of this, Jesus is with us.
