dancin' shoes

One of the images that really resonates with me these days is the notion of our relationship with God being like a dance. Perhaps like the first dance of a newly married couple or the dance of bride with her father, or the joyful dance of a people in worship, or a tribal dance handed down, preserved, and stylized from generation to generation.

Dancing with God to the rhythms of life. Not alone, but together. Click the photos below to see God dancing!

A few months ago, ROJ joined a family dancing with God and on their way to India. The Borde’s (Jon, Swati, and Neil) quickly became friends, co-missionaries, and dance partners. Jon and Jodie Skyberg hosted a concert in their home to lift them up and we sent them on their way with our blessing and prayers and some money to purchase shoes for kids in our global neighborhood. The shoes worn by children in India pictured above are the fruit of a concert on a backyard patio in Lakeville! Dancin' shoes indeed!

I posted about our story with the Bordes a couple of times and one of the posts was reworked into an article for a congregational newsletter and a synod publication (July).

Our transglobal dance with Jon, Swati, and Neil continues as we support them in prayer and presence from halfway around the world. Our God is an amazing dance partner who meets us and invites us to dance: in a park in Prior Lake, around a swimming pool, at picnics in north Mpls, in the creating of art and community, with children’s hands in a garden, and in the lives of children living in orphanages in India.

Big arms. A gentle lead. Graceful steps.

Feel the rhythm.

Follow the lead.

Dance-

Your

Way

Home.

one concert- 40,000 children fed

Click me.

all are welcome- Agape

Some of the ROJ community headed to north Mpls last night and enjoyed a community picnic hosted by Redeemer Lutheran Church. It was amazing to see this faith coummunity open its backyard and welcome the larger community into a time of music, play, food, and laughter.

This video is of Agape, a Christian hip hop artist who helped develop JUMP worship, a hip hop service hosted by Redeemer. Enjoy, and remember...ALL ARE WELCOME.

hunger concert on august 15th

"Music has long been a vessel of change and hope. Music speaks a language of its own and has brought cultures together for thousands of years...."

“We are not going to bring local and global hunger to a screeching halt by gathering together, inviting our friends and neighbors and hosting a concert,” said Steve Bonesho, a pastor at River of Joy Lutheran Church. “But perhaps, just maybe, as we come together we can have a lasting impact on one person’s life by providing food for a global or local neighbor. We can have an impact by being a friend, by sharing some hope and by welcoming a stranger...”

"Hunger isn’t about just easing the comfort of a grumbling tummy, Heatherlyn said. It’s giving a student the strength to study and a parent the confidence to have a good job interview. It’s giving parents a peace of mind when things aren’t going well to know others around them care, she said."

Click here to read the article from the Prior Lake American about the upcoming hunger concert.