“…waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminished a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. …But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along….He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.”

Romans 8:23-29 (The Message), from our Day of Pentecost 2nd Lesson.

True confessions: I was tired---tired of the limitations Covid placed on our ability to be community and to do ministry. Sometimes I wondered whether God’s Spirit was right alongside us or not. But now I can see the Spirit was moving with us and in us and beside us as we waited and waited to be what we can be, as we grew into what we can be. The Spirit is blowing and there is lots going on at Nativity. I’d like to share just a few of the things that I am excited about

Be sure to read Elaine Isakson’s article for the Creation Care Team elsewhere in this View. The team is working on a series of events called Stewarding Our Watershed: A Precious Gift. The four talks that will be presented will continue to educate us about God’s good creation and how we can be good stewards of our watershed. I hope each of you will try to attend as many of the four presentations as you can. There are so many references in Scripture to God’s intent that we care for all of creation. It’s part of our calling as God’s people.

A few days ago, I was blessed to present a $1250 check to the Knox County Homeless Coalition, the receipts of our Lenten offering. The Spirit encourages us to share what we have and our gifts help KCHC do the vital work they do to provide shelter and housing for so many in our county.

I got to check in on our volunteers as they served a meal at Loaves and Fishes. Some of the guests took to-go containers, some ate in the dining room. This vibrant ministry is coming to life again and blesses both those who are served and those who do the serving.

Our Sustainability Team has been meeting regularly and you’ll hear more about that at our Annual Meeting on June 25. In addition to the discussions, research, and work they’ve been doing, the team recently applied for participation as a team in the BTS Center Small Church Leadership Community.

Congregations from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts were invited to form a team and to apply for participation in this program. Only six congregations were accepted as part of this 2023-2024 Small Church Leadership Community and Nativity was one of them! I feel the Spirit blowing!

The Small Church Leadership Community for 2023-2024 is called Cultivating Refugia: Building the Resilient Church. In biology, the term “refugia” refers to “little pockets… where plants and creatures hide from destruction, hidden shelters where life persists and out of which new life emerges.” In her book, Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth, Debra Reinstra asks, “How can people of faith become people of refugia? How can we find and create refugia, not only in the biomes of the earth, but simultaneously in our human cultural systems and in our spirits?” The year-long cohort of small churches of which we are now a part will explore the concept of refugia and consider how it might shape their mission and identity. The goals and intent of the program are that we will work to name and deepen the unique gifts of our small congregation in ways that strengthen our resilience and help us engage in meaningful ministry in this time of cultural and planetary upheaval; that we’ll discern new possibilities: ones that are not about growing bigger, but about growing deeper into new ways of thinking, being, and acting that will help us better serve our community and our planet in this time of rapid change.

The BTS Center shares that the Small Church Leadership Community will offer participating congregations access to resources and practices that can strengthen us for the journey while connecting with a community of like-hearted people on similar paths. Together, we will engage in “Small Experiments with Radical Intent” — focusing on practical steps to take toward deepening our communities.

Our team is Marty Taylor, Ann Walker, Ted Long, Elaine Isakson, Paul Hanna, and Pastor Anderson. We’ll attend 16 two-hour zoom meetings and two all day in-person retreats. And there will be homework and projects in between meetings, so you will be hearing lots more about this. I think this is a great opportunity for us to grow in ways that will position us to move forward in the coming years boldly and confidently.

There’s more going on too and all of it is good stuff! My heart is full as the Spirit works the details of our life together into something good. Thank you for the ministry we share!

Faithfully yours and feeling blessed,

Pastor Anderson

Click on the Nativity Lutheran Church Calendar Link below if you would like an "easy-to-read" full size view of the month.

It will open a new window featuring the calendar.

Thursday, June 1

8:00 AM - Morning Prayer, via Zoom

Saturday, June 3

10:00 AM Al-Anon Family Group Meeting

10:00 AM Doughnut Festival Parade in downtown Rockport

Sunday, June 4

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Betty Long

Flowers: Annie Appleton

Altar Care/Acolyte: Jennie Dynesius

Usher: Mimi Moore

Monday, June 5

7:00 PM Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

Tuesday, June 6

9:30 - 11:00 AM Out of Office Hours

Atlantic Baking Company, Main Street , Rockland

Thursday, June 8

8:00 AM - Morning Prayer, via Zoom

Saturday, June 10

10:00 AM Al-Anon Family Group Meeting

Sunday, June 11

8:30 AM - Choir practice

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Marty Taylor

Flowers: Annie Appleton

Altar Care/Acolyte: Jennie Dynesius

Usher: Mimi Moore

Special Congregational Meeting immediately following Worship service

Monday, June 12

10:00 AM - Choir practice

11:00 AM Celebration of Life Service for Ron Kresge

7:00 PM Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

Tuesday, June 13

9:30 - 11:00 AM Out of Office Hours

Bagel Café, 25 Mechanic Street, Camden

Thursday, June 15

8:00 AM - Morning Prayer, via Zoom

Saturday, June 17

10:00 AM Al-Anon Family Group Meeting

Sunday, June 18

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Ted Long

Flowers: Julie Moser

Altar Care/Acolyte: Jennie Dynesius

Usher: Sue Dawson

Monday, June 19

7:00 PM Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

Tuesday, June 20

9:30 - 11:00 AM Out of Office Hours

Dot’s, Route 1, Lincolnville

Thursday, June 22

8:00 AM - Morning Prayer, via Zoom

3:30 PM - "Watersheds 101" (Lindsey Brook, Thorndike Loop Road, downtown Rockland)

Saturday, June 24

10:00 AM Al-Anon Family Group Meeting

Sunday, June 25

9:30 AM - Worship in-person and online

Assistant: Fred Walker

Flowers: Julie Moser

Altar Care/Acolyte: Jennie Dynesius

Usher: Kim Murphy

Annual Congregational Meeting immediately following Worship Service

Monday, June 26

7:00 PM Men’s Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting

Tuesday, June 27

9:30 - 11:00 AM Out of Office Hours

Schoolhouse Bakery in Tenant's Harbor*

* Note change of place

Thursday, June 29

8:00 AM - Morning Prayer, via Zoom

Note

For midweek prayer via zoom - there is a separate Zoom link. Email Pastor at office@nativityrockport.org if you would like the zoom link.

Please also email Pastor if you do not have the Sunday link.

June is the month we begin our summer Worship schedule. Sunday service begins at 9:30 AM

The Nativity Congregation will hold two meetings in June, both immediately following worship

services, in person and on Zoom:

• June 11 -- Special meeting for first vote on a constitutional amendment regarding the budget. Material for this meeting has been distributed to voting members already via email.
• June 25 – Annual meeting of the congregation, which will include a required second vote on the budget amendment, along with the adoption of a budget and a first discussion of the work of the Sustainability Work Group. Agenda and Annual Reports will be distributed the week of June 4.

We look forward to your participation in both of these important meetings.

Ted Long, President

For the Congregation Council

Come cheer on Nativity’s float at the first doughnut festival parade, in Rockport. The parade is June 3rd at 10:00 am. Our float will be celebrating the inventor of the doughnut hole, Captain Hanson Crockett Gregory. As everyone knows Capt Gregory’s farm is now the location of Nativity Lutheran Church. Bring your coffee and doughnut holes to the parade and enjoy a Saturday morning in downtown Rockport. See you there!

Who doesn’t love a pretty water view? Mainers are blessed to have many such views. Living here, we are treated to constantly changing scenes of light, air and water interacting with each other, never the same two days in a row or even two moments in a row! Such beauty is humbling, and I often marvel at the gift of God’s never-ending creativity. It reminds me of the importance of water in our Christian faith and in our Biblical stories, symbolizing Life with a capital “L”, and the fullness of God’s love for us.

There’s the endless beauty of water, and there’s the necessary support it provides for our basic survival. In that too, we are blessed, for unlike many parts of the world, most of us have sufficient clean water for our daily needs. That awareness prompts more soul-searching for me. I wonder….. how connected am I to the water, earth and air, which sustain my human life, day in and day out? Do I take them for granted? They are gifts from God, and I know it is my job to help care for them. Do I know how the waters around me stay healthy, and how would I know if they were at risk?

During this second year of Nativity’s Creation Care initiative, we have focused on the importance of water as well as the role of citizen advocacy in caring for Creation.

This Spring, the Creation Care Team became aware of some current threats to our local waters. That and a new Congregational Watershed Discipleship Manual from our New England Synod made us want to delve deeper. We realized that caring for our local watersheds can be challenging if we don’t know much about them. Caring starts with knowing, which in turn fosters a deeper appreciation, which motivates us to safeguard that which is precious to us.

To that end, we got to work and planned a series of four summer presentations that we are calling: "Stewarding our Watershed: A Precious Gift," designed to help our congregation and our community better know and understand our watersheds.

As we venture outdoors for monthly gatherings, we will venture outside of our own faith community by inviting other congregations and our wider community to attend. So our aim is twofold: to explore our watersheds together and to be good hosts to those we meet from the community. It will be informative, it will be fun, and it will help us connect with our neighbors, with whom we share a common watershed home. Your Creation Care Team hopes you’ll mark your calendars and plan to attend! Each gathering will last about an hour and a half and include refreshments. More details will follow, but here’s the basic schedule, locations and topics to be covered:

June 22, Thursday, 3:30 pm at Lindsey Brook, Thorndike Loop Road, downtown Rockland: Rebecca Jacobs, Program Manager at Knox-Lincoln Soil and Water Conservation District will present “Watersheds 101”, Using a watershed model, she will discuss the what, where and why of knowing our watersheds.

July 15, Saturday, 10:00 am at Payson Park on the St. George River, Route 90, Warren:

Linda Littlefield Grenfell, Environmental Educator and Maine Master Naturalist, will present “Exploring an Ecosystem." Linda will share her knowledge of watershed ecosystems and estuaries, plus lead us on a short walk.

August 22, Tuesday, 3:30 pm at the Weskeag Marsh Preserve, Buttermilk Lane, South Thomaston: In a program on the “Wonders of the Weskeag Marsh”, Theo Pratt, Coordinator of the Weskeag River Monitoring Project, will share her knowledge of Weskeag Marsh, discuss the water monitoring program and collect samples, followed by an optional walk to a wildlife viewing platform.

September 16, Saturday,10:00 am at Nativity Lutheran Church: This session entitled “Let a River Run Free” features the film, “A Culvert Story”, and local artist and conservation activist, Dan Daley, time for questions and a reflection on the importance of preserving rivers and streams that support fish, wildlife and the ecosystem.

If you have questions or would like to help, don’t hesitate to contact a member of the Creation Care Team. Mother Theresa said, “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” I look forward to a summer of watershed moments, and to being with you as we learn to care for our watershed home with great love.

Elaine Isakson for the Creation Care Team

Many thanks to all who contacted their Maine legislators and asked them to vote in favor of LD 134, the bottle bill that will keep Maine’s redemption centers open. Governor Mills signed it into law on May 5. Hooray!

LD 134 is just the first step -- a temporary solution to keep redemption centers open while the legislature structures, passes, and implements LD 1909, An Act to Modernize Maine's Beverage Container Redemption Law. This bill is designed to provide long-term support to redemption centers. Here is a link to a Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) summary of LD 1909: https://www.nrcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/2023-hepler-bottle-bill-facts-comparison.pdf

Full implementation is scheduled for 2025.

You can read the text of LD 1909 here: https://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/getPDF.asp?paper=HP1225&item=1&snum=131

A summary is on pages 18 and 19.

The bill has been tabled by the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee while they work on the best solution for everyone. You can read testimony from interested parties here: https://legislature.maine.gov/bills/display_ps.asp?PID=1456&snum=131&paper=HP1225#

Please contact your state legislators to let them know what is important to you. Their contact information is available here: https://nrcm.salsalabs.org/mainelegislatorlookup/index.html

On the national and global scene, our ELCA Advocacy website continues to add Action Alerts. You can view them here: https://support.elca.org/site/SPageNavigator/elca_action_center.html?NONCE_TOKEN=AC906DADBE935941049F4B0D40C82247

The Alerts include a form letter that you can personalize if you wish. The website can send the letter directly to your legislators.

Yours in action to Care for Creation,

Lynne Taylor

A year from now in June of 2024, at the Synod Assembly, the New England Synod (that’s us and you if you are a member of Nativity) will be electing a new Bishop. Nativity will send delegates to participate in that vote. As part of the process (which has already begun) the Synod Council and Bishop’s Election Committee is creating a Synod Profile and Bishop Job Description. You can help do that.

We often think of “The Synod” as the office in Worcester; the Bishop and his/her staff, the Synod Council or committees and teams not closely connected to us unless we need a new pastor, have a conflict, or “they” need money. But in reality “The Synod” is us and people and congregations like us. As members of Nativity Lutheran Church each of us is a member of the New England Synod, ELCA.

A Synod profile will help voting delegates understand what qualities, characteristics, and experience a new Bishop should have. It will allow possible candidates to discern if their gifts are a good fit. The Synod Council is using an assessment tool/survey called the Landscape Survey and is inviting participation from all Synod members. The survey is online and anonymous.

Please take some time (20 minutes or less) to complete the survey which can be found here https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/NewEnglandSynod

We checked the fruit trees for more brown tail moth caterpillars (BTM) yesterday (5/22). We didn’t take pictures because there was really nothing to see! We found only one BTM crawling up an apple tree but it was stopped by the goop that Ann put around each of the trunks. Hopefully, we can prevent infestations in the fruit tree by this technique. We do see BTM in some of the bigger trees, too high for us to clip so mowers and others should be carefully when they are in or around the trees. We will keep looking around the trunks of the trees and dispose of any BTM we find. By the way, if you haven’t noticed, there are lots of blossoms on the fruit trees, boding well for picking this fall.

Ann and Fred Walker

2 - Eric Waters

6 - Karin Pratt

10 - Katrina Christy, Denise Stadler

14 - Susan Laatz

25 - Jessica Isakson, Pat Miller, Jane Monhart

Knox County Homeless Coalition/Hospitality House writes:

Thank you to Reverend Wendy Anderson of Nativity Lutheran Church in Rockport for presenting a donation of $1250 to Becca Gildred, KCHC Development Director to support our continued efforts around addressing homelessness and housing insecurity in the Midcoast! The donation was collected from parishioners during Lent.

We are so grateful for this generous donation from our friends and neighbors at Nativity Lutheran Church. Private donations make up almost 65% of our total operating budget. This money will go straight towards the urgent needs facing our community

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=269104725683215&set=a.179150798011942

Kim Murphy, Marty Taylor and Elaine Isakson invite you......

to come to the MidCoast Community Chorus Concert on Sunday, June 18th at 4:30 PM at the Strom Auditorium (Camden Hills Regional HS).

Tickets can be purchased at https://mccsings.org/

For more information about this exciting return to singing - read our promo article!

https://www.penbaypilot.com/article/midcoast-community-chorus-returns-stage-awake-and-sing/173905

(pictured: Elaine and Kim on Mt. Battie after we recorded "Afternoon On a Hill" - on a hill!

Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote the poem - while sitting on Mount Battie! Here is a link to the finished video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-YuNxSM6TM)

The following reflection was written by Annie Appleton, following a visit to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's home in 2016.

"We will have to move through a very deep valley, I believe deeper than we can sense now, before we will be able to ascend to the other side again"

"Where a people pray, there is the church, and where the church is, there is never loneliness."

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

"He was one of the few men I have met to whom his God was real and ever close to him. His soul shone in the dark desperation of our prison."

-Payne Best, fellow prisoner, Flossenburg

43 Marienburger Allee, Charlottenburg. Berlin

October 1, 2016

On a quiet leafy neighborhood, the houses are dark and the street deserted. My husband and I have an invitation to tour Dietrich Bonhoeffer's family home. We ring the bell on the front gate and wait, and after 15 minutes begin to wonder if we have the wrong time. Or the wrong day. I am thinking, "At the very least, I am standing before the Bonhoeffer's house." About to turn away, a young man waves to us from the front door. "The gate was open," he says.

In the Bonhoeffer's reception room, we are joined by a newly married couple from Finland, two Japanese students, and our guide Martin Dubberke. Martin offers us a half hour summary of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's life. Family photos cover the four walls. Through the window behind me there was a forest of Black Spruce. Now, rows of brick apartment buildings stand. No original pieces of furniture remain in the room, and yet, the room we sit in feels sacred.

At 4pm on April 5, 1943, Karl Bonhoeffer informed his son that two men wished to speak to him. They were waiting in Dietrich's attic bedroom. On our way to the third floor, Martin points through a window at the gate through which the Gestapo entered.

Now, in the attic bedroom, the seven of us stand silent and will remain so. A small bed, a wardrobe, three walls lined with his books, and a desk - burn mark left on its surface from his cigarette. From the desk, a window looks out to his sister Ursula Schleicher's house. Just weeks before liberation by the Allies, Dietrich, his brother Klaus, and his sisters Ursula and Christine's husbands would be executed by the Gestapo. The piano Dietrich played on his 39th birthday - the last one we would celebrate with his family - stands to this day in the Schleicher house next door.

Our guide, Martin and his family have lived in the Bonhoeffer house for eight years. Before we say goodbye, I ask Martin what it felt like the first night he slept in the house. "Did you feel the souls of the Bonhoeffer family?" He answered, "The house is haunted by them."

"Did you hear music too?" I ask.

"There is no music," he replies.

• The Pastor’s Discretionary Fund: Please remember that an extra $5 or $10 each month may make a huge difference to a family in need! Please indicate any additional donations as "Pastor's Discretionary" when you mail in your monthly offering.
• Don't forget: One simple way to help care for creation is to download the weekly bulletin onto your smart phone or tablet and then bring that device to worship or use it when you zoom at home saving paper and resources. Need help figuring that out? Call Pastor for Android help or Denise Stadler for Apple help.
  
• Your aluminum pop tabs can help keep families with sick children close to each other and the care and resources they need. Look for the paper bag on the Social Ministry bulletin board in the Narthex. Place your tabs in the bag and take your container home and fill it again! The tabs are donated to the Ronald McDonald House.
  

Connect with ELCA greater church

Read Bishop Eaton’s monthly article:

https://www.livinglutheran.org/

https://www.elca.org/Resources/Presiding-Bishop-Messages

A Note from your editor, Kim Murphy

Reminder - send articles and photos by the 15th of each month.

Email kmusicorama@gmail.com

Photos this month: Elaine Isakson, Annie Appleton (personal drawing), Knox Cty Homeless Coalition FB page, Internet resources.

Rev. Wendy J. Anderson

Sunday Worship (Sept -May) 10:30 AM

Summer Sunday Worship (June - August) 9:30 AM

Email: office@nativityrockport.org
Website: www.nativityrockport.org
Location: 179 Old County Rd, Rockport, ME, United States
Phone: 207-594-4665
Facebook: facebook.com/nativitylutheranchurch.rockport.maine