By: Lizz Massey

In the midst of this strange year, God has provided many blessings in ways that we never expected. A few that I personally witnessed this year were being able to attend college, visiting with my family at Christmas, having a job that put food on the table, and being able to attend church in person. In addition, God has led me here to Holy Cross to serve in ministry with you.

I arrived in Colorado Springs and hit the ground running. It was Vacation Bible School week.

What fun! I met so many new people, heard great Bible stories, sang fun songs, and of course ate delicious snacks. As I observed the flow of the week, I thought to myself what a blessing it is to be able to enjoy VBS in person. So many churches have needed to scale down their programs, tried to have VBS online, or even chose to cancel it altogether. While this year may not have been what Holy Cross has been accustomed to in the past, there were still over 90 children able to receive the love of Christ through their crew and station leaders, singing songs, and interacting with each other. I am also sure the parents appreciated a much-needed time of solace that some may not have enjoyed since the beginning of the pandemic.

While I was sitting at the registration table chatting with my new friends Gail and Peggy, the conversation centered around what we have learned over the past 18 months.

We discussed that all of us evaluated what is really important in this life. This extended to our VBS.

• There were not many decorations.
• We had to have everything outside.
• We used items that we already had stored in the church.

None of those things really mattered. The really important thing that we shared was the love of Christ as their personal Savior to over 90 children. They were eager to come back each day and spoke of VBS being “the best” and wanting to come back for another week! What a blessing to share the love of Christ deeply with a child.

Through this crazy year we have had, God has shown us that it is okay if things are not “perfect.” It is okay if things look a little bit different. What has not changed is the love that God pours out on us every day and the relationships that we create with others.

By: Marcy Serby and Christine Berglund

As you well know, lots of things were cancelled in 2020: graduations, concerts, in-person school and church, eating in restaurants, and so much more. But the most important things were not cancelled: love, kindness, generosity, faith, hope, and God working in and through his people.

We love to talk about “God Sightings” here at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, and the staff has watched God work through his people, even during the pandemic. Generosity is a long-standing virtue of the people of Holy Cross and 2020 has been no different.

You may not be aware, but the youth at Holy Cross have been active in serving our members and our community since classes began again in the fall. With more time available for class on Wednesday nights, DCE Dan’s youth programming provided time for students to engage in service one week a month. Some groups have connected with our homebound members through letter writing and sending cards. One of our homebound members recently called to say how thankful she was for everything the students and other members are doing to reach out to people who are homebound like her. Some of our homebound have even written back to our students, beginning an encouraging relationship. One Affirmation class made fleece blankets to donate to the Springs Rescue Mission and fleece hats and scarves that were given out through our food pantry. Other small groups have served in the food pantry. How beautiful to see God’s love demonstrated through acts of service by our youth!

“Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.” 1Timothy 4:12

In the fall, we received a request from Grant Elementary to help provide masks for their students. Holy Cross rose to the occasion in an amazing way. Patty Dennard, a member of Holy Cross and counselor at Grant Elementary, had this to say about the project:

“During one staff meeting, it was mentioned that students were coming to school without masks or if they had one, it was way too big or it was the only one they had and it was getting really dirty. Within seconds, I was trying to find some way to find child sized masks so our students could comfortably learn and stay safe. I took a chance and reached out to Holy Cross. I had no idea that my request of Holy Cross for mask donations would turn into such a blessing for so many! None of the searching and procuring of amazing resources that I have done, for any school, during any year, for students and families, have come close to what Holy Cross has done for our school and community.

When Holy Cross heard of the request from Grant Elementary to provide “some” masks to our students, there was an overwhelming charge of people who came to the rescue.  Holy Cross members orchestrated one of the most amazing acts of service I could have ever imagined. There were groups of people who served as material-cutters, mask sewing masters and packagers. This assembly process was nothing short of a miracle in the making! You made it possible for students to not only have masks that fit their tiny sweet little faces, but they had fun patterns to wear making coming to school and wearing masks all day so much more pleasant. Kids are extremely resilient! They loved choosing masks and have worn them with pride and confidence! Thank you for taking the time, dedicating the energy, taking the risk and following through with the amazing mask gifts! You have made such a difference in so many ways.

The love and sacrifice you collectively provided for Grant Elementary truly is remarkable and amazing. Making masks for our in-person learners has been an answer to prayers from teachers, administrators, students and parents alike!”

What a blessing to see the church come together to do the good work we have been called to do!

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.” Hebrews 6:10

We also saw God at work over the holidays. Every November, Holy Cross provides a Thanksgiving dinner basket giveaway for the community. Because of the generosity of our people in 2019, we already had enough funds to provide 200 Thanksgiving food baskets and turkeys to our neighbors and schools in need, as well as Crossfire Ministries. Instead of cash for baskets, we asked the congregation for winter apparel, and your response was overwhelming! In addition to a Thanksgiving meal, the people in our community received hundreds of winter coats, hats and gloves. Then one week after our give-away, two neighboring schools asked for a few coats for small children. Again, your response was overwhelming – with several people purchasing brand new coats. You supplied more coats for over 50 additional children!

“And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:40

As December approached, we didn’t know how our Giving Tree would work this year since District 11 students were distance learning. We didn’t put any gift ideas on a tree and instead simply asked for donations so we could provide gift cards to students and families in need. Our hope was to provide 227 gift cards based on the needs reported by the schools. One family donated 10 actual cards, and we purchased the rest with donations that were given by members. When all the funds were added up and cards were purchased, we found that we had EXACTLY 227 cards total! Praise God for his amazing provision!

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

Love is not cancelled. Kindness is not cancelled.

God is still calling Holy Cross members and friends to serve one another in 2021, through our phone ministry, our Helping Hands ministry, and through each and every member who loves his neighbor through acts of kindness that are small and large.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing Holy Cross with your grace and mercy and for giving our members a heart to serve. May our neighbors be blessed by “God sightings” and feel your love and presence through our words and deeds. Amen.  

By: David Wickert

A few months ago I was encouraged to write a blog post about the live streaming process at Holy Cross (something I’ve been heavily involved with since the start of the pandemic). Specifically, I was encouraged to write how I had seen the Holy Spirit at work through our live stream during this pandemic. I’m telling you this both to give some context about this post and also to say I had a difficult time figuring out what to write. Plus, everybody knows a good blog post is at least 1,000 words long and now I’m almost halfway there.

“Initially, I thought I could connect live streaming to the invention of the printing press.”

It was going to be great! The printing press tore down gatekeepers in the church and revolutionized the spread of the gospel by expanding its reach to everyday people. I’m not a historian, but I think it could be argued that the printing press helped spur the Enlightenment. In a likewise manner, the live streaming of our services would help revolutionize the world towards a re-Enlightenment. That’s not what this blog is about (admittedly, that would have been pretty pompous and pretentious).

So without further ado, “The Scorpion and the Frog.” I know what you’re thinking, “What the heck does this have to do with live streaming?” And to that I say, “It’s my blog and I can do what I want!” In all seriousness though, this is going somewhere (I think).

I’m sure many of you are familiar with the fable of “The Scorpion and the Frog,” but if not, this next part is for you. There once was a scorpion and a frog. The scorpion wanted to cross the river, but not being able to swim, it could not cross it on its own. So, the scorpion, when encountering the frog along the riverbank, asks for a ride across. The frog is hesitant because it does not want to be stung. The scorpion assures the frog it won’t sting, as a sting (when crossing the river) would cause them both to drown. So, the frog agrees to carry the scorpion across the river. Midway through their journey across the river, the scorpion stings the frog and they both drown. However, just before they drown the frog is able to ask the scorpion why it stung. The scorpion replies, “I couldn’t help it, it’s in my nature.”

I think when children are told this fable they often empathize with the frog. Maybe that’s who we want them to empathize with. After all, isn’t the scorpion the bad guy in this story? Perhaps the lesson for a child hearing this fable for the first time could be summarized like this, “When someone shows you who they are (through their actions) believe them.”

“Now that I’m older, I find myself empathizing more with the scorpion.”

The scorpion didn’t have bad intentions; all it wanted to do was to cross the river. However, it underestimated aspects of its own nature. Those which it could not transcend.

After the Last Supper (Matthew 26), Jesus heads to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. He asks James and John (the two sons of Zebedee) and Peter to keep watch while he goes to pray. The late hour, bellies full, and probably slightly inebriated, the disciples have a tough time staying awake. Jesus, returning from praying and finding his disciples asleep, tells Peter (40b, 41),

“So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Jesus then goes to pray and returns from praying two more times. Each time he returns, he finds his disciples asleep. Shortly after returning the third time, Judas arrives on the scene with the Roman soldiers to arrest Jesus.

How guilty must the disciples have felt? Had they stayed awake maybe they could have seen Judas coming and escaped? The disciples didn’t have bad intentions; they didn’t want to fall asleep. However, in their humanness, they couldn’t transcend aspects of their (of our) nature (the flesh) and fell asleep.

If you’re one of the handful of people still reading this, I hope you’re not a fact checker because I’m about to make a bold statement that I can’t necessarily factually back up. Since the advent of the Internet, it has never been easier to fall into temptation. Avenues for our sinful natures have never been broader. The Internet itself, of course, is inanimate. In our idealized machinations I think we see it as a tool for connecting people. However, in reality, I think the Internet has profoundly disconnected us.

Reality has played out something more like a scorpion’s inability to sting a frog or the disciples’ inability to fall asleep. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Whether it be…

• pornography
• social media profiles becoming shrines to our own glory
• unchecked hurtful language directed towards our neighbors

The internet is a gateway for our sinful natures. I don’t say this to cast stones because yours truly has found himself in all its entrapments. However, I do say it to question what role we (the church) have in live streaming on a medium (the Internet) I’m not entirely sure our sinful natures can handle. Not that live streaming our services is somehow condoning sinful behavior on the web, but maybe more realistically, is live streaming our services passively adding to the disconnection? It would be unintentional, but are we incentivizing people to never come back to church? I’m not sure you nor I have answers to these questions, at least not yet. And what about pride? I think it would be very easy for our production to become just that, a production. A production to measure ourselves against our peers.

In the Parable of the Sower (Luke 8), the sower sows his seed with reckless abandon. He sows along a path, the rock, thorns, and finally the good soil. Why would the sower sow seed where he knew it wouldn’t grow? The disciples don’t ask Jesus this question, but I think if Jesus were to answer he would say because there is fertile soil to be found even along the path, rocks, and thorns.

“The internet may be a rocky, thorny place, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t fertile soil out there somewhere.”

So, I’m still not quite sure how the Holy Spirit’s been at work through our live stream. Perhaps you the viewer would be better at answering that question. However, on the nature of live streaming, I do know this: the live stream must remain God’s work through the Spirit and not our own. Man, was that not a lot of words just to come to a simple conclusion? We must remember, though, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. For the moment this becomes something anything other than God’s work is the moment we’ll start to drown. It’s also my prayer for any online worshiper out there that you not only be strengthened and preserved by the live stream during these days of isolation, but that you also be spurred to join us in person again as soon as you can.

By: DCE Dan Hampton

I have always loved roller coasters–the excitement, the adrenaline, and the healthy fear that comes from riding. If I were to describe 2020 in an image, it would be a roller coaster. January started off with such excitement because it was 2020!

A year to focus on what is important.

I can’t begin to tell you the number of churches and organizations that had some tagline relating to 2020. But then the Coronavirus happened. For many of us, the excitement merged into terror and fear of the unknown and since then it has been up and down as things have opened and then closed before opening up again. Changes happen so rapidly that no one is able to plan long into the future.

Much of the church’s growth ministry since March has been virtual.

• Our Vacation Bible School was canceled.
• Confirmation Sunday was postponed.
• 1^st Communion was postponed. 
• A majority of our adult Bible studies and student groups had to find new ways to connect together.

However, even in this new reality, I have heard some amazing stories such as…

• Our past members who have been deployed or moved around the country being able to reconnect with God’s Word through our Connection Groups being hosted on Zoom.
• I’ve heard some great stories of families getting together with their neighbors for bonfires, outdoor movies, and just being in relationships with the people whom they live near.
• Lastly, I’ve heard a few stories from families who have started having real and authentic faith discussions in their homes.

While these examples have always been a part of our lives, I believe that COVID-19 allowed us to focus on them a little more. Before COVID most of us were distracted and busy going from one place to the next every day, and we were suddenly forced to be still.

It has been a year to focus on what is important, but perhaps not in the way we expected.

In all the changes we have experienced in the last many months, one thing has not changed. God. He is the same today as he was pre-COVID, and the same as he will be in 2100.

The real question is how will we change? God has certainly been blessing us even in the midst of this crisis. I challenge you to take a look at the things you have been able to do because of COVID.

• What do you want to keep doing and experiencing?
• To make that happen, what do you need to continue giving up?

God’s Word gives us some great wisdom on what the meaning of life is. Many people believe that ‘to be happy’ is the meaning. But if COVID has taught us anything, it is that we can still have a meaningful life without being happy all the time. The book of Ecclesiastes concludes with this phrase “Fear God, and keep his commands, because this applies to everyone[1].” We are on the roller coaster; God has got us tucked in nice and tight. Even though it might feel like we are going to fall out sometimes, He’s got this. God doesn’t change. Instead, let all of us look for God in the new normal and seek to follow and obey Him above everything else.

[1] GOD’S WORD Translation. (1995). (Ec 12:13). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.

By Pastor Jeffrey E. Meinz

“I never would have dreamed as I was preparing to become a pastor that there would be a day when I would be leading an online worship service to an empty sanctuary.”

COVID 19 has certainly stretched the Church far beyond our imagination and worship as we know it might never be the same.

It’s possible that the “sharing of the peace” during worship is a thing of the past. Hugs and handshakes may slowly begin to fade. Introverts around the world rejoice while those who love warm hugs abhor the thought.

“What about the passing of the offering plate?
Does weekly giving transition to only on-line or will we drop our offering into locked boxes as we enter or leave the sanctuary?
Isn’t that what the widow did with her mite?”

• Will we be required to wear masks during worship?
• What does that mean for hymn singing?
• Will the adult choir need purple masks to match their robes?
• How muffled might the liturgy sound?
• Will the pastors always wear rubber gloves during the distribution of communion?
• In an effort to adhere to 6 feet of social distancing will we only be able to sit in every other pew?
• Can we ever use paper bulletins again or will everything be projected onto the screens?
• Don’t even get me started on proper hymnal usage! Did the people at 8 o’clock use antibacterial gel prior to handling the hymnal because now the people at 9:30 need to use the same one?

What about coffee and cookies? Can you casually walk up to a table full of home-made coffee cake and safely make your selection? You might begin to wonder who touched the coffee pot prior to you. Is anybody disinfecting the jug of creamer between uses? Maybe we should each arrive to church with our own travel mugs of coffee and individually wrapped chocolate covered coconut macaroons.

“To some of you, this might all sound a little silly. To others, this sounds like a necessity. Honestly, a significant majority of us don’t know what to think.”

Worship has been shifting from the beginning of time. Originally, worship had a grand attendance of only two. Adam and Eve sat on a rock, probably near the back of the garden, and worshiped God. Abraham and Sarah probably worshiped God from underneath a tent. The Israelites worshiped God in Egypt, then in the desert, then in the Tabernacle. Solomon built an elaborate temple. Jesus taught the people from the side of a mountain. The very first Easter was hosted at an empty tomb. King David experienced worship with a lute and a lyre. Martin Luther loved the organ. Many Christians today enjoy the sound of a praise team. Yes, worship has always been shifting.

But one thing has remained the same: Jesus. That will never change!

I sincerely don’t know what worship looks like in the future at Holy Cross Lutheran Church. Surely it will change in some form or fashion. I don’t anticipate anything drastic, but I do know this: We will gather, we will worship God, we will faithfully distribute the Sacraments, and we will overwhelmingly receive God’s abundant mercy and grace. Worship has always been shifting, but God does not change.

“Therefore we will gather together and somehow worship an unchanging God. Minor shifts may occur here and there but God’s perfect gifts delivered to his people will never change.”