Your Generosity is a Celebration

It’s that time of year again. Let’s talk about the budget, shall we?

The good news is that giving has gone up the last couple years, and this year offerings have been higher than the council anticipated. We are not in a state of decline, and St. Mark continues to grow in our ministries of service and faith formation. The generosity of St. Mark’s members is unmistakable. This summer, we challenged you all to match a gift given from Ulla Kercher’s estate, and you went above and beyond. Those funds are being used to support our outreach, youth, and children’s ministries. 

Every time we ask you to support a local charity with food, gifts, or donations, you do so with enthusiasm and kindness. You gave 133 pounds of cereal to the Rock River Valley Pantry in September. Right now the hallway is overflowing with coats for Rockford’s refugee community. Soon, you will no doubt buy Christmas presents for 60 foster children in LSSI’s annual Adopt-an-Angel program. It is a joy to behold your goodness.

Of course, you know what is always paired with good news. I hesitate to use the word, “bad,” so I’ll say that the less good news is that, like your generosity, expenses are also on the rise. Anyone who has bills to pay and groceries to buy knows that rising prices are the unfortunate reality everyone is living under. Households, businesses, healthcare providers, non-profits, and local governments all feel the pinch when everything costs more than it used to. Expenses have grown so much that, even with your increased giving, we will most likely end this year with a deficit.

Your offerings are used with care to support everything from music ministry, worship, faith formation, outreach, and staff salaries. Over the last few years, our staff and council have worked incredibly hard to trim our expenses to be as lean as possible, while still providing these ministries. As one ministry leader put it, there isn’t any fat in our budget.  To get it balanced again, we need everyone’s help. 

In November, St. Mark members will be asked to make a pledge for giving in 2026. Our goal this year is $800,000. As we approach Stewardship Sunday, I ask you to pray about your commitment to our ministry and to carefully consider increasing your pledge for the coming year. If giving increased by a dollar a day per household, we would exceed that goal! At the same time, a pledge of any amount will get us closer to the finish line.

I was hesitant to call rising expenses bad news earlier because every dollar that we spend goes toward sharing God’s love with the community and meeting the spiritual needs of this congregation. Our entire budget is a celebration of our values as followers of Jesus Christ. I am confident that you will once again rise to the occasion and support this wonderful congregation of ours to the best of your ability. Thank you for all you do for St. Mark, and all that you will continue to do in the coming year! 

Peace,

Pastor Chad McKenna

Connections Provide a Strong Ground

I was sitting at a local coffee shop on a Thursday morning, while I wrote this month’s blog.  After I arrived and got settled, I scanned the room to see what the other people at the coffee shop were doing. The man sitting a few tables away was on a video call, there were several others working on their laptops, a few folks were talking with friends or family, and a dad was playing games with his kids at the table across from me.  I don’t often work from a coffee shop, but on Thursday it worked best for my schedule. 

Despite all the people around me, I felt peaceful and I felt grounded.  I don’t often find that in a busy, public place. Why does this coffee shop bring me a sense of peace that I needed on Thursday morning? Why do I feel grounded in this place? Is it because I was sitting alone against the outer wall?  Is it because there was no TV playing the news or any other program, just some nice quiet music in the background?  Perhaps it was a combination of both. 

Brené Brown in her book, Strong Ground, talks about the importance of being grounded.  I have noticed that when I am grounded, I feel more at peace.  While I pride myself on my ability to work well when things are busy and chaotic, it is good to remind myself that I need to slow down.  Early in her book, Brené Brown writes, “Right now, the thought of slowing down to do anything can be paralyzing.  But at the very least, we should be building new capabilities while at the same time doubling down on core stability and functional strength. Developing core stability and functional strength in organizations means investing in people, because for an organization, people, and our connection to each other are the strong ground.”

As I thought about what Brené Brown wrote and how I was feeling at the coffee shop, I think it was the people in that space that helped me feel grounded and peaceful. I could relate to the dad playing games with his children.  I saw the value in conversations between friends or family. It was a great space to work or study. I connected with the people in the coffee shop without even knowing their names.  We had something in common.

The connections we make with other people are important and a valued part of our shared humanity.  We need people in our lives; those who come in just for a moment and those who have been there for many years. It is in these connections that we find purpose and strength, and love. 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber

How to Prepare for the Rapture in Two Easy Steps

If you are reading this, I am sorry to say that you have not been raptured. In fact, it looks like no one got to enjoy the elevating experience of meeting Jesus as he descended to Earth this week.

Over the weekend, the internet was abuzz about the second coming of Jesus, thanks to the ravings of a pastor who posted his claims on America’s most trusted news source, TikTok. He convinced countless people that the Rapture would occur during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on September 24th. As I am sure you know, the day came and went without so much as a hint of global apocalypse, and our world made it through yet another predicted end of days.

 

This will not be the last time someone attempts to prophecy when Jesus is coming back. For 200 years people have told one another to get ready for the Rapture, when Jesus comes to take away all the good Christians and leave the heathens behind. To prepare for the next prediction, here are two brief pieces of advice:

 

1) Ignore the predictions. Even Jesus said in Matthew 24 that he doesn’t know when he will return. It’s probably best to not trust anyone who thinks they know more than the Son of God.

 

2) Remind yourself that the Rapture isn’t real. There is no scriptural basis for the idea that Jesus might return halfway, zap up a few billion Christians to meet him in the sky, and leave again for another 1,000 years. Much like the Left Behind book series about the Rapture, it is all a work of fiction. An Irish minister named John Nelson Darby came up with the idea in the 1830s by plucking a few misunderstood verses out of context and cobbling them together. Darby’s methods have been rejected by most critical scholars, and I struggle to understand how a person who reads the bible literally could accept his cherry-picked conclusions.

 

The second coming of Jesus will be a wondrous moment for all of creation, but remember that Christ is already in our midst. You don’t have to look far to see signs of the one who suffered, died, and rose again so that we might live. Christ is present in the people you love, and with those who you cannot stand to be around. Christ is with the hungry, and with those who have nowhere to call home. Christ is in that hospital room, and in that empty house full of memories and grief. Christ is with children doing lockdown drills in their schools, and those who have lived through the real thing. Christ is among the rubble of Gaza, and with hostages, prisoners, and those who will never know peace again in this life. Christ is present in every person you encounter, and Christ is present in you.

 

In Matthew 6, Jesus reminds us that today’s troubles are enough for today. But if the Rapture still has you worried, here is one last piece of advice, sometimes attributed to Martin Luther: If you think the world will fall to pieces tomorrow, plant a tree today.

Peace,

Pastor Chad McKenna

Beyond Grateful!

In June of 2025 we launched a matching campaign to help offset a budget reduction of $24,692.  After receiving a generous bequest of $10,000 from the estate of Ulla Kercher and an additional generous gift of $2,000 from an anonymous donor, the church council and the pastors challenged all of you to match the $12,000.  To be honest, I didn’t really know what to expect.  But you all went above and beyond and exceeded our goal of raising an additional $12,000.  You all raised $15,150.  With the original $12,000 and with the $15,150 you all donated we have a total of $27,150.

I cannot thank you enough for your generosity and continued support for the youth, children, and outreach of St. Mark Lutheran Church.  With these generous gifts we will be able to continue to support the children and youth ministries and support our community. 

Over the summer we used some of the money to cover the cost of a youth bowling outing and to buy snacks for the youth.  While this may seem like a relatively small amount, it made a difference.  Pastor Chad and I never want a child or youth to miss out on an event because of the cost.  Thanks to your generosity we can assure this won’t happen. 

Wow!  You all never cease to amaze me.  Your generosity and support mean more than words can express and will help to continue the vital ministries of St. Mark.  Together we can do great things. 

With much gratitude,

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber

For the Life of the World to Come

To say it was an honor to be at our most recent Churchwide Assembly in Phoenix is an understatement. This legislative event, which currently happens every three years, is the highest legislative body of our denomination. That body is comprised of a small handful of voting members elected by each of the 65 synods. Because so many pastors hope to be able to go at some point, I have always thought that I may only have one opportunity in my career to be part of this important, church-altering work. 

Fourteen people from the Northern Illinois Synod were among the 803 voting members at the 2025 Churchwide Assembly. Together, we elected a new presiding bishop, a new secretary, and over 100 folks to serve on the various councils, committees, and boards of the Churchwide organization. We also adopted constitutional amendments, resolutions, and a new social statement.

This is all just the basics, though. So much more happened— more than can fit in an essay like this. If you yearn for all the details, voting members from our synod wrote daily reflections, throughout the week, and more of us are posting overall thoughts on the experience now that we have had time to process the whole event. All those can be found at on the Northern Illinois Synod website, under the News tab (https://nisynod.org/news).

I will share briefly one aspect of the assembly that still sticks with me. Whether by design of the Holy Spirit or the planning committee, everything seemed laser-focused on the future of the Church and our world, and how everything is changing. Perhaps that had something to do with the fact that we were in the process of electing our new presiding bishop, Yehiel Curry. That focus on the future showed up in profound worship, moving sermons, and energizing speeches. Bp. Vashti Murphy McKenzie called us to action when she preached that “prayer is not what we whisper when we lay down at night, but what we risk when we rise in the morning.” Bishop Elizabeth Eaton told us us that if you account for every Lutheran in the world, the average Lutheran looks like a woman in Tanzania. Reflecting on the theme of this year’s assembly, “For the Life of the World,” Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer reminded us that the whole of that phrase in the Nicene Creed is, “We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.” 

When Bishop Eaton gave her final report as Presiding Bishop, she echoed something else that Dr. Rimmer said by quoting Martin Luther: “This life, therefore, is not righteousness but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming…we are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished, but it is going on; this is not the end, but it is the road; all does not yet gleam with glory, but all is being purified.”

The whole of our lives is constant movement away from what has been and toward what will be. We didn’t finish our work in Phoenix, but I pray that our decisions helped our church look a little more like what we look forward to in the life of the world to come. 

Pastor Chad McKenna

Kayaking at Rock Cut

On July 2^nd the youth went to Rock Cut for the fifth summer to kayak, canoe, and paddle boarding.  Grant and Pastor Chad bravely tried the water trike, and I don’t think either would recommend it. For the past 5 summers; interns and youth have gotten a taste of one of my passions and spiritual practice.  I absolutely love canoeing and kayaking.  Rock Cut is so beautiful and peaceful. 

I grew up canoeing on the Kishwaukee River.  I remember many trips down the Kishwaukee.  I went to Boundary Waters one summer when I was the youth intern at Zion Lutheran Church.  My husband and I have canoed down the Namekagon River and enjoyed canoeing and kayaking on Beaver Dam Lake in Cumberland, Wisconsin. And of course, we have spent several hours as a family on the lake at Rock Cut.  I hope to explore more lakes and rivers later this summer.

I love being on the water.  The sounds of nature all around me, and the gentle rocking of the boat on the water brings me peace that I don’t find many places.  Being in nature and especially on or near a body of water reminds me of how wonderful God’s creation truly is. 

Being in nature is a spiritual practice of mine. It connects me to God’s creation.  I find it difficult to put to words exactly how I feel when I am in a kayak or canoe soaking up all that nature brings. I love it! It centers me and calms my spirit.  It is good for my soul.  So, I wonder, what is good for your soul?  What brings you peace? 

There are many spiritual practices out there.  Some spiritual practices may include music (another passion of mine), reading, quilting, knitting 

, meditating, journaling, coloring, etc.  If you don’t have a spiritual practice and what to explore one, let me know if I can be of any help.  I hope you all have something that brings you peace and a greater connection to God. 

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Katrina Steingraeber

The Worshippers

It was Monday.

The big church was empty, silent, dim. Light filtered through the high windows but could not penetrate into the recesses. There was no sound. No movement. But the presence of God was there. And on the cross high on the wall at the back of the church the figure of Jesus hung. Alone.

 It was Tuesday.

The church was empty and still. And then women from the church came to clean. As they worked they talked about the recent luncheon. They were somewhat disappointed with the table settings, and they all agreed the fruit punch that was served was a disaster. They were still talking about that as they left. And the church became still and empty. But the presence of God was there. And on the cross the figure of Jesus hung. Alone, with parched lips.

It was Wednesday.

Nothing moved and it was silent in the church. And then a workman came carrying a ladder and tools to repair a light fixture. He plugged a radio into his ear to have something to listen to in the silence and went to work. The pastor came in as he finished and inspected the job and the workman handed him a bill. The two began arguing loudly about the bill as they left the church. And a peaceful silence returned. The presence of God was there. On the cross hung the figure of Jesus, betrayed for a handful of coins.

It was Thursday.

All through the morning and into the afternoon the silence stretched on. Then a car stopped in front of the church and a woman got out. She hurried up the steps and pulled on the doors. The sound rattled hollowly in the church. But the doors were locked and she went away slowly. The people in the church kept the doors locked to keep out thieves. But the presence of God was there. And on the cross hung the figure of Jesus, alone; not like on Calvary, where he hung with thieves on either side.

 It was Friday.

No one came this day and it was still and peaceful in the church. At mid-afternoon a storm swept through the area with a brilliant flash of lightning penetrating every nook of the church, and a crash of thunder echoing and re-echoing throughout the church. But the presence of God was there, and in the instant of the flash of lightning the figure of Jesus could be seen on the cross. His eyes appeared to have closed.

It was the weekend.

And silence filled the church. But then bells began ringing in the church tower. The sound filled the church and told the people it was time to come visit with God. And the people came. Some overslept and were late, and others had to leave before the visiting hours were over because they had more important things to do. But they came and greeted one another, and talked about the things that had happened to them during the week and they joined in prayer reading the words that had been written for them. Then they hurried away to enjoy the pleasures of the weekend. And the church was silent once more. The presence of God was there, and from the cross the figure of Jesus looked down. Forsaken. Abandoned.

It was Monday.

A deep, dim, breathless quiet filled the church. Nothing moved. No one came. The presence of God was there, and on the cross Jesus waited. Alone, in infinite patience.

By William Snyder