Upcoming Events for February 2023

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Empty Bowls-Sunday, February 12

Judson Church is hosting Empty Bowls! Team up with us as we Tackle Hunger at our annual Empty Bowls event! Join us for SOUPer Bowl Sunday pregame event on Sunday, February 12th from 10:30 am – 2 pm at Judson Church. A suggested $25 donation gets you a handmade bowl, as well as delicious soup, bread, and desserts from local restaurants. Proceeds benefit Nicollet Square, a project of Beacon Interfaith Housing and the Kingfield Neighborhood Association. For more information: https://kingfield.org/kingfield-empty-bowls/. volunteer sign up: Questions or want to support this event as a sponsor? Contact Sarah Linnes-Robinson, KFNA Executive Director at sarah@kingfield.org. 

Pancake Breakfast & Jazz Sunday – February 19th at 8:30 am! 

We will feast before the fast of Lent with a pancake breakfast starting at 8:30 am in Fellowship Hall. Then at 9:30 am in the Sanctuary, we will welcome the Judson Jazz All-Stars (Jim ten Bensel, Ollie Lyle, Dale Alexander, Scott Simpson, Scott Johnson, and Josh Johnson). All are welcome to this free event!

Climate Justice Discussion February 19 – 11 to noon

Identifying Environmental Justice Components of the new IRA legislation: Please join us on Sunday, February 19th during the second hour (11 to Noon) in the Judson sanctuary for a discussion led by Jo Olson, Senior Director for Communications and Engagement at Fresh Energy.  She will “unpack” for us, the potential environmental impacts of the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Act includes practical provisions that offer tax credits for new and used electric cars, more efficient home appliances, and building energy-saving upgrades while also addressing Environmental Justice concerns for BIPOC and other disadvantaged communities.  Many of the Act’s grants and incentives require matching funds from state and local units of government so one of Fresh Energy’s largest priorities is to ensure that Minnesota does not miss out on the unprecedented long-term funding opportunities in the Inflation Reduction Act.  We need to let our elected leaders know that these programs are important for the viability of our communities and for the environment/climate.   

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

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Join us for a quiet and beautiful service of candlelight, poetry, choral and instrumental music,  and warm fellowship at 8:45 pm in the sanctuary.

Christmas Day and New Year’s Day

There will be No in-person worship services on Dec. 25th and Jan. 1. We will offer online worship services only on these two Sundays. We will be back in person on January 8th at 9:30 am.

Mid-Week Pause Service 2-23-22

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Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.

Pause Worship Video is posted below.

Order

Welcome – Travis Norvell

Stone Catchers – Bryan Stevenson

Prayer – Travis Norvell

Those Who Dream – The Many

Service

The Northern Vicar (pastoral notes from the intersection of Northern Exposure and The Vicar of Dibley)

On a glorious Sunday at the first church I pastored in Athens, WV, we would have, maybe, 22 people. One week I decided to change things up for the next Sunday:
I printed only 15 bulletins, instead of the usual 20. The next Sunday the ushers were fit to be tied. They threw their arms up in despair announcing we ran out of bulletins.
I loved that Sunday. Now we haven’t run out of bulletins at Judson Church in over two years…until last Sunday! Eileen printed 50 and we had at least 53 people in attendance.
It was a great surprise.

Maybe it was the promise of church coffee and donuts…

Interesting, we also had of our best engagements with those live-streaming the worship service too!

All to say, I felt the energy of Judson Church changing, momentum was in the air. Our goal is to build toward a grand Easter celebration on April 17th. We are well on our way!

Last week I sent out a Pastoral Letter to the congregation, a “How Is Judson Doing?” letter. Some of you received it, some of yours have yet to be delivered,
and for some, we do not have your mailing address. Here is the letter.

Please note, I will be away at a conference this Sunday and next week. Rev. Dr. Cameron Howard from Luther Seminary will be our guest preacher.

Peace,

Travis

Poem/Prayer for the Day A Prayer for Peace Between Ukraine & Russia adapted from a prayer written by the Dominican Sister of Peace

Ever and All-Loving God, As we follow news of the mad progression towards war, we pray and we plead for a logic different from the one based on geopolitical competition.
We pray for a change of hearts and minds, for de-escalation, and for dialogue instead of threats

All peoples are Your children. And Your children find themselves on both sides of the current confrontation. Should this situation descend into war, it will be both Ukrainian
and Russian families that will suffer the loss of siblings, parents, spouses, partners, husbands, children, friends, loved ones, homes, neighborhoods, and ways of life.
But You are a God of peace and love, not war and bloodshed. Though the things that make for peace may be hidden from the eyes of those driving the march to war,
we pray that those eyes may be opened and that peace may yet prevail.

Let us pray together that everyone recognize that we have a common home and that more, much more, unites us than divides us.

Let us pray also that the world never look away. Pray that we always remember the situation in Ukraine is real. It kills, maims, and destroys even now and
that an escalation will generate more deaths and more injured, more tears and pain, more fears and hatred. Pray that we continue to seek and to share the truth which gives authentic freedom and wisdom.

We make this desperate prayer secure in Your love, through Jesus, our Lord,

AMEN.

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch

In-person worship this Sunday, Feb 27th, at 9:30 am with a Livestream on Facebook.

The February Messenger, Tree of Life, and Calendar can be found by clicking here

Midweek Pause Service 2/9/22

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Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.

Pause Worship Video is posted below. Order Welcome-Travis Meditation O Lord Hear Our Prayer  

Service

The Northern Vicar (pastoral notes from the intersection of Northern Exposure and The Vicar of Dibley)  

This Sunday will be our “second” restart of in-person worship services during the pandemic. This time feels different, not as daunting.
The worship gathering will include the Judson Choir, centering prayer and prayers of the people, singing, a sermon, communion, and a new element: the three-minute bible study.
The service will be live-streamed via Facebook (link will be in the Friday email; you do not need to join Facebook to watch the Livestream).  

Now for some different news: did you know that Judson Church was mentioned on Forbes.com last week? This is about a hotdog eating champion being featured in Vegetarian Times.
Nevertheless, it is the truth. Last week the MinnPost story on my bike reports was combined with a podcast interview about my book and featured in Forbes.com.  

Lastly, for the sermon this Sunday I am centering on blessing and curses (text is Luke 6:17-26 where Jesus delivers both blessings and woes). Blessings we have somewhat a hold of, but curses…
Have you ever felt cursed? Or have you ever cursed someone? Or have you ever prayed like these Franciscan monks did when someone stole their Bible that went back to St. Francis?
The space between blessings and curses is a difficult land, yet it is the space where we learn to be human beings in relation to one another, Creation and God.    
Peace,  
Travis  

Poem for the Day “Welcome Home” by Parker J. Palmer  
Here is the context Parker Palmer gave for his poem on the program On Being.  

“Welcome” is one of the best words we can say to each other. If a person is
feeling lost — as so many are — what could be better than to hear someone
or something say, “Welcome home!”
I spent much of last fall and the first part of this winter feeling a bit lost — lost
in the whirlwind of my work, lost on the terrain called aging, lost in the sadness
and madness of the world.
I came nowhere near the pits of despair, but I know that feeling lost tamps me
down. When I can’t find my way, I can’t say “Welcome home!” to others.    

Alone in the alien, snow-blown woods,
moving hard to stay warm in zero weather,
I stop on a rise to catch my breath as the
setting sun—streaming through bare-boned
trees—falls upon my face, fierce and full of life.  

Breathing easier now, in and out with the earth,
I suddenly feel accepted—feel myself stand
easy, strong, deep-rooted as the trees,
while time and all these troubles disappear.  

And when (who knows how long?) I trudge
on down the trail and find my ancient burdens
returning, I stop once more to say No to them—
not here, not now, not ever again—reclaiming
the welcome home the woods have given me.       

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch  

We resume in-person worship this Sunday, Feb 13th, at 9:30 am with a Livestream on Facebook.

Mid-Week Pause Service

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Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul

Pause Worship Video is posted below.

Order

Welcome-Travis

Meditation

O Lord Hear Our Prayer

Service

The Northern Vicar (pastoral notes from the intersection of Northern Exposure and The Vicar of Dibley)

This Sunday will be our “second” restart of in-person worship services during the pandemic. This time feels different, not as daunting. The worship gathering will include the Judson Choir, centering prayer and prayers of the people, singing, a sermon, communion, and a new element: the three-minute bible study. The service will be live-streamed via Facebook (link will be in the Friday email; you do not need to join Facebook to watch the Livestream).

Now for some different news: did you know that Judson Church was mentioned on Forbes.com last week? This is about a hotdog eating champion being featured in Vegetarian Times. Nevertheless, it is the truth. Last week the MinnPost story on my bike reports was combined with a podcast interview about my book and featured in Forbes.com.

Lastly, for the sermon this Sunday I am centering on blessing and curses (text is Luke 6:17-26 where Jesus delivers both blessings and woes). Blessings we have somewhat a hold of, but curses… Have you ever felt cursed? Or have you ever cursed someone? Or have you ever prayed like these Franciscan monks did when someone stole their Bible that went back to St. Francis? The space between blessings and curses is a difficult land, yet it is the space where we learn to be human beings in relation to one another, Creation and God.

Peace,

Travis

Poem for the Day “Welcome Home” by Parker J. Palmer

Here is the context Parker Palmer gave for his poem on the program On Being.

“Welcome” is one of the best words we can say to each other. If a person is

feeling lost — as so many are — what could be better than to hear someone or something say, “Welcome home!”

I spent much of last fall and the first part of this winter feeling a bit lost — lost in the whirlwind of my work, lost on the terrain called aging, lost in the sadness and madness of the world.

I came nowhere near the pits of despair, but I know that feeling lost tamps me down. When I can’t find my way, I can’t say “Welcome home!” to others.

Alone in the alien, snow-blown woods,

moving hard to stay warm in zero weather,

I stop on a rise to catch my breath as the

setting sun—streaming through bare-boned

trees—falls upon my face, fierce and full of life.

Breathing easier now, in and out with the earth,

I suddenly feel accepted—feel myself stand

easy, strong, deep-rooted as the trees,

while time and all these troubles disappear.

And when (who knows how long?) I trudge

on down the trail and find my ancient burdens

returning, I stop once more to say No to them—

not here, not now, not ever again—reclaiming

the welcome home the woods have given me.

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch

The February Messenger, Tree of Life, and Calendar can be found by clicking here

Mid-Week Pause Service 2/2/2022

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This week’s Pause Worship Video is posted below.

Order Welcome-Travis Organ and Violin – Jim Wentink and Karen Thomas Prayer-Travis Meditation – Rachel Held Evans Closing Song – The Lord Bless You and Keep You  

As a reminder, this coming Sunday, February 6th, worship will be online only. Virtual zoom coffee hour 10:00 am.

Service 2/2/2022

Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.
This morning at 8 am I had my first podcast interview concerning my book, Church on the Move. The interviewer is the person who covers the business of bicycling for Forbes magazine, he lives in Newcastle, UK. We talked for about 30 minutes. He wanted to know about Judson Church. He said, “Tell me more about this church that you say is a combination of Northern Exposure & The Vicar of Dibley.” So I did.  

After our conversation, I thought I would name my Wednesday letter to you all The Northern Vicar (I don’t think The Exposure of Dibley is a good option). What do you think?  

On Saturday at 4:30 pm, 15 of us finished our three-day, 20 hours, Anti-Racism training. It was exhilarating and exhausting (more info from participants coming soon). This Sunday I received several emails, texts, and calls with words of appreciation for the Holocaust Remembrance Sunday service. Please note, all I did was offer a welcome and prayer, the rest was all Polly Schrom! On Monday I saw Jerry Larsen and Mac Chatfield, both wanted me to pass on their love and that appreciate your cards and calls. Tuesday was St. Brigid’s Day (also the first day of Irish Spring). It is supposed to be the day when the weather starts getting warmer, but my bike ride to Theodore Wirth park said otherwise (the water in my water bottle froze solid). I was there to watch a JV Nordic ski race; the oddest start-up song was playing as the boys took off, “Killing Me Softly” (The Fugees version). The day was full of discussions and plans, it ended with a wonderful Church Council meeting. Today, back-to-back-to-back zoom meetings and a trip to Northfield to say hello to the kids.  

This Sunday will be my new tradition? my sermon on the lake. Last year when I did this I received all kinds of feedback. When I asked people what part of the sermon they liked about, they all said “To be honest, I just liked it because you looked like a character from Grumpy Old Men.”    

Peace,  

Travis  

Poem for the Day  

Once or twice and maybe again, who knows,
the timid nuthatch will come to me
if I stand still, with something good to eat in my hand.
The first time he did it
he landed smack on his belly, as though
the legs wouldn’t cooperate. The next time
he was bolder. Then he became absolutely
wild about those walnuts.  

But there was a morning I came late and, guess what,
the nuthatch was flying into a stranger’s hand.
To speak plainly, I felt betrayed.
I wanted to say: Mister,
that nuthatch and I have a relationship.
It took hours of standing in the snow
before he would drop from the tree and trust my fingers.
But I didn’t say anything.  

Nobody owns the sky or the trees.
Nobody owns the hearts of birds.
Still, being human and partial therefore to my own successes—
though not resentful of others fashioning theirs—  

I’ll come tomorrow, I believe, quite early.   

“Winter and the Nuthatch” by Mary Oliver, from Red Bird: Poems. © Beacon Press, 2008.      

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch   The February Messenger, Tree of Life, and Calendar can be found by clicking here  

Mid-Week Pause Service 1/26/22

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This week’s Pause Worship Video is posted below.

Order Welcome-Travis Centering Prayer – Carolyn Prayer-Travis Closing Song – The Lord Bless You and Keep You  

As a reminder, this coming Sunday, January 30th, worship will be online only. Virtual zoom coffee hour 10:00 am.

Service 1/26/22

Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.
First things first: Big News (drum roll) The Judson Council approved the COVID Response Task Force’s plan to resume in-person worship on February 13th (with masks and social distancing required). The vote was passed by e-mail vote of Council members on January 26, 2022.

In other news, I had a wonderful phone conversation today with Carl Appelquist! He sounded great. He wanted me to tell you hello, give you his love, to tell you he is becoming a believer more each day (which we both agreed is saying something), and that he is praying for Judson Church. He feels that Judson is not just going to make it, but that Judson is going to thrive!  

It has been a full week of meetings and such at the Church: Outreach and Engagement, Racial Justice Team, Environmental/Climate Justice Team, Spiritual Voyageurs, and the delivery of household goods to the Afghanistan refugee family; it’s only Wednesday!  

Maybe you have heard about the free placement of Judson Church in the past couple of weeks on MPR. I started tweeting every morning to Cathy Wurzer bike commuting updates…and she reads them! She pronounces my last name wrong, but I don’t care because she pronounces Judson Church’s name right! How much longer will this last? I don’t know, but until it stops…  

Lastly, over the weekend Lori and I saw Come From Away the Broadway musical about the 38 planes that were grounded on 9/11 in the small town of Gander Newfoundland, Canada. I pretty much cried through the entire performance. It was a classic story of hospitality: open yourself up to strangers and your world will change exponentially. The play left me more hopeful about the future, and I’ll take all the hope I can get right now! (The musical is also streaming on Apple TV).  

Lastly,    

Peace,   Travis  

Prayer-Poem for the Day “Holy Saturday,” by Caryll Houselander.  

All around the church,
there are ruins. Ruins of the home,
ruins of the heart,
ruins of the dreams of men.
And everywhere
there are those
who propose to build
a new world
on the foundation
of ruins.    

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch  

Mid-Week Pause Service 1/19/22

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This week’s Pause Worship Video is posted below. Order  March on Washington Video Welcome-Travis Medley – Church Anew Prayer-Travis Precious Lord – Church Anew Mini-lecture on the Letter from a Birmingham Jail – Travis  Closing Words Closing Song if you haven’t watched our reading of Letter from a Birmingham Jail, please do.   As a reminder, this coming Sunday, January 23rd, worship will be online only.

Service

Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.
Over the past few months, I have started and stopped and started again Kim Stanley Robinson’s book The Ministry for the Future. It is a cli-fi book (climate fiction) set in the near future as the world reacts to a heatwave that kills hundreds of thousands in India. I stopped the book because it was so depressing, then I started again because I read an interview with Robinson where he stated how optimistic he was about a climate future.  

The more I read the more hopeful the book does get, but it’s is difficult to absorb. But every now and then a thought or a vision emerges from the book and I think, “we can change, we can do this.” In a similar way, this is how the past few weeks have been for me.  

This latest experience with the omicron variant has been difficult to take. Probably not the best time for this variant to peak in Minnesota when it’s bitterly cold, grey, and isolating. But as I rode my bike around Lake Harriet the other day and looked at the art shanties I thought, “We should build a ‘chapel’ for next year.” This morning while scrolling through Twitter I saw a thread about Madonna del Ghisallo, the saint of bicyclists, and thought, “We should have a small portrait of her on the 41st side” the closest one is in a church in Portland, OR. Out of nowhere, in a gloomy moment a seed sprouts. I’m holding onto these seeds, they are getting me through this month.  

-How are you doing?
-Where are you finding hope?
-What seeds are you clutching in your hands?  

Peace,  
Travis  

Prayer for the Day “Disturb us, O Lord” by Archbishop Desmond Tutu  

Disturb us, O Lord
when we are too well-pleased with ourselves
when our dreams have come true
because we dreamed too little because we sailed too close to the shore.  

Disturb us, O Lord
when with the abundance of things we possess, 
we have lost our thirst for the water of life
when having fallen in love with time, 
we have ceased to dream of eternity
and in our efforts to build a new earth, 
we have allowed our vision of Heaven to grow dim.  

Stir us, O Lord
to dare more boldly, to venture into wider seas
where storms show Thy mastery, 
where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars.
In the name of Him who pushed back the horizons of our hopes and invited the brave to follow.

Amen,

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch  

Mid-week Pause Service 1-12-2022

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Service

Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.
Today was the first day I had been back in the church since Christmas Eve. To my eyes, it appears like the church looks were frozen in time on Christmas Eve. The sanctuary still has greenery, candles, flowers, and even a hint of expectation. My desk has extra Christmas cards, a copy of Letters from Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien, and my hymnal is still opened to O Come, All Ye Faithful.  

I think it is fitting that the church is still “frozen” at Christmas. The message of the night and of this season is Immanuel: God is with us.   We all pray this moment will pass sooner rather than later. We all pray we can be back together. We all pray our kids and seniors will make it through this time whole and undamaged.  

God is with us during this time.
God will continue to be present and active in our lives.
God will continue to need people like you and me and practice compassion, extend hospitality, and to check in on one another.
Peace be with you,   Travis

p.s. if you hear Cathy Wurzer on MPR in the mornings between 7:45-8:00 give bike and sidewalk conditions from someone named Travis who goes by the Twitter handle: pedalingpastor…that’s me.  

Prayer for the Day (posted by the parsoncarson)  

“The Reverse Prayer of St. Francis”  

Lord, make me a channel of disturbance.
Where there is apathy, let me provoke;
Where there is compliance, let me bring questioning;
Where there is silence, may I be a voice.
Where there is too much comfort and too little action, grant disruption;
Where there are doors closed and hearts locked, Grant the willingness to listen.
When laws dictate and pain is overlooked…
When tradition speaks louder than need…
Grant that I may seek rather to do justice than to talk about it;
Disturb us, O Lord.
To be with, as well as for, the alienated;
To love the unlovable as well as the lovely;
Lord, make me a channel of disturbance.    

Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch  

As a reminder, this coming Sunday, January 16th, worship will be online only. Virtual zoom coffee hour 10:00 am.

Mid-Week Pause service 1-5-22

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Service for 1-5-22

Bring your Hopes, Bring your Doubts, Feed your Soul.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you who called, texted, emailed, and prayed for Lori and I during this past week. Tomorrow is our last day of isolation, following COVID protocols. We are feeling better, we get tired easily and we still have no sense of smell.  

Last night the Judson Church Council met and approved the Judson COVID-19 Taskforce’s recommendation to suspend in-person worship and gatherings for the month of January.  
There will be more information in the Friday email.  
Peace be with you,   Travis  

Prayer for the Day (today is the 12th Day of Christmas, to celebrate it here is John Shea’s poem).  
“Sharon’s Christmas Prayer”  
She was five,
sure of the facts,
and recited them
with slow solemnity
convinced every word was revelation. She said:
“They were so poor
they had only peanut butter and jelly sandwiches
to eat
and they went a long way from home
without getting lost.
The lady rode a donkey,
the man walked,
and the baby was inside the lady.
They had to stay in a stable
with an ox and an ass (hee-hee)
but the Three Rich Men found them
because a star lighted the roof.
Shepherds came and you could
pet the sheep but not feed them.
Then the baby was borned.
And do you know who he was?”
Her quarter eyes inflated to silver dollars,
“The baby was God.”
And she jumped in the air,
whirled round, dove into the sofa,
and buried her head under the cushion
which is the only proper response
to the Good News of the Incarnation.  

(John is a Chicago native theologian, storyteller, author, and poet. He has written
over 20 books of theology and spirituality, 3 works of fiction, and 3 books of
poetry. He lectures nationally and internationally on storytelling, contemporary
spirituality, and faith-based health care. I highly recommend his most recent
poetry collection, “Seeing Haloes” and his gem of a book “Starlight.”
www.johnshea.com.)      

  Find Judson on the internet through our link tree, linktr.ee/JudsonChurch   As a reminder, this coming Sunday, January 9nd, will also be online on our YouTube channel.