I Love Nordeast Luteran

by Dean J. Seal

Why oh why do I love Nordeast? It's not an easy situation that it finds itself in. After deciding to take up residence in the big old German location on 13th St. we find some cracks in the beams that cast doubt on the viability of the space. We have to run for cover at the smaller, less equipped Swedish place on Lowry.

Galling for me; I'm a youth minister without a place to teach. Adult Bible Study gets pretty raucous, doncha know- lots of laughs and messing around. Me and the Young Adults are pretty serious- or at least we want to hear each other. So we huddle in the office of the Ministers, and I try not to spill coffee so we get invited back.

And being in two locations is not the optimal environment for bringing in new people. It's like when the Lakers were a Minneapolis team, and they played in three different auditoriums; once their star player came to the wrong building and missed the game. How are newbies supposed to know where to go, when we get confused sometimes ourselves?

Still. What follows is a partial list of why I find this congregation to be interesting, attractive and, let's face it, sometimes even adorable.

First, because it is a merging congregation, they make an effort to be new. New things are hard to spring on a congregation, and this is three congregations trying to merge, and old habits die hard. But everyone is very much committed to making a new thing, or as Isaiah puts it, "I sing a new song." In other words, by living in the present, we understand we are building a future. Knowing that the three traditions created three shrinking congregations, there is a move afoot to create something new that will grow.

Second, that experimentation is alive in how the services are put together. Our new Music Director, Kristi, is amazing. She brings a mix of traditional and modern stuff, and she does them both right. She can sing, she can bring in musicians who add to the mix, and it seems fresh and vital every week. I have to tell you, I have always thought of the flute as a boring, wimpy instrument, unless it was played by Ian Anderson in Jethro Tull. But Kristi plays it so well I actually forgot i hate flutes.

It isn't just music by Kristi, though. When John Koski gets inspired to knock off a New Song, Isaiah-like, they let him go up and do it. And each minister gets to experiment with delivery, and they each get to follow their own muse.

I really like how cookies after church has become Actual Food with Actual Substance. I remember when fruit was served, the kids went straight for it; they don't have to feed on sugar all the time. And as the food improves, I think the temptation to linger and chat increases. My wife is fond of saying: Food Is Love. As we show this generous hospitality to whoever walks in the door, as we gather at table for a snack of soup or fresh bread, it's like hanging out in each other's rec rooms.

So this is where I end up, at table during the coffee hour, where I feel a community emerging from the dust of three former congregations. We are gathering, laughing, sharing, consoling each other on Sundays. We become Community, because we want community. We reach out to the community of people who have not enough to eat; we welcome the stranger to our table; we work with new ideas and make them our own.

It's a lively, living church.