ULC gone... CLC also gone...

I have spent weeks in Mankato while a child of mine was attending a Lutheran college in that neck of the woods and grew to like the community.  Another Pastor who vicared there said that at the time of his internship there were Lutheran congregations of seven differen jurisdictions.  What a diverse Lutheran presence!  Apparently, that diversity only continues to grow -- if not in jurisdictional form at least in ministry and worship "style" (as some like to put it).  Someone from that area who still gets the paper there forwarded this to me.

You can read the Mankato press report here.  I quote a few paragraphs here....

Campus Lutheran Chapel lost its building though with less conflict than University Lutheran Chapel.  In this case the building was not torn down but redone -- for a new life on the edge, so to speak.

When the building at the corner of Birchwood and Ellis Avenue went up for sale recently, Hosanna Lutheran Church became interested in offering a church there to not only reach out to the campus, but the outlying community.
“We’ve always thought it would be a good thing to be invested in young-adult life,” said Darren Scruggs, 44, who was a youth director for 10 years at Hosanna. “We want to be a resource for the neighborhood and to reach out to the Highland Park neighborhood, which is really a diverse part of Mankato.”

Scruggs said the church plans to continue the 7 p.m. Wednesday services, officiated by Meyer, and add Sunday services when school is in session. Services at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Sundays begin Sept. 9, and will be officiated by Scruggs.

“It’s so much fun to be able to get to meet all the new people,” Scruggs said. “Without getting too churchy, it’s just fun to see what God is up to.”

Scruggs is doing online training to be a pastor and will be ordained next fall.

Take particular note of the line in bold:   “Without getting too churchy, it’s just fun to see what God is up to.”  Gadfry, we sure would not want to get too churchy.  What a turn off that is.  And what a turn on it is to see what God is up to.  If only God posted His facebook status we would not need church at all to find out what He is up do.  We could sit at home and see what is happening in His divine life just like we sit at home (or at Starbucks on the smart phone or tablet) finding out what everyone else is up to.  I think I can safely say that He is probably busy.  Wonder what His satus is?  Single, Relationship, Married?  Oh, well, God, keep me posted.

I thought the whole nature of the Church was that we did know by His self-disclosure in Christ what He was up to and that this living Word was the center of our life together... My bad...