Earthwork Breakfast gallery

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Our third-annual Earthwork Breakfast, April 22, offered attendees of all ages delicious omelets and great speakers on earth stewardship. If you missed all the fun, check out our photos. 

EMC member Robert Schumacher discusses his hobby, beekeeping, and shows a honey frame.

Neil and Greta Kulevsky cook up omelets to order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A young attendee shows off her creation, an environmentally friendly wind chime.

Laurie Chidester offers insights on cycling and taking care of your bike at home — and on the trail.

Student leaders discuss Roots & Shoots, the award-winning St. Louis Park High School group that works to promote environmental awareness

 

Easter, shared and celebrated

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Easter Sunday brought kids and grownups, babies and older folks to EMC to hear the message of Easter—told through drama, music, prose and poetry.

Need a little Easter today? Click the link below to listen to Pastor Oby’s uplifting Easter message again—or for the first time.

Here’s a highlight: “Even when crucifixion hangs over the world, a daunting and ominous threat that everything will fall apart, Easter points to God at work right there in the face of death itself. Because Christ is alive, suffering and grief are not inevitable, nor is death the ultimate reality.” Full audio.  

Bees, bikes and more at our Earth Day event

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Mark your calendar for our third-annual Earthwork Breakfast: Saturday, April 22, 8:30–11 a.m. This Earth Day, an intergenerational celebration of earth stewardship meets Morningside U!
  • We’ll meet at 8:30 a.m. for omelets—flipped to order by Neil and Greta Kulevksy.
  • At 9 a.m., member Robert Schumacher will discuss bee farming; and he is bringing his bee suit plus honey for tasting. Plus, environmentally friendly crafts for kids will be provided throughout the morning.
  • Jayne Stevenson—Leah Lamon’s daughter, an SLPHS student and member of Roots & Shoots in St. Louis Park—and Larry Kraft, national executive director of iMatter, will share information on environmental sustainability at 9:30 a.m. (Read about their work here: http://sailor.mnsun.com/2016/04/19/roots-and-shoots-sprouts-resolution-idea-in-st-louis-park/)
  • Laurie Chidester will present the basics of bicycle maintenance at 10 a.m., so that we can all get where we’re going in a less-polluting way.
Finally, weather willing, we’ll have a bike parade at 10:30 a.m. Invite a friend and don’t forget to RSVP! We need to know how many eggs we’ll be cracking.

Parading on Palm Sunday

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Singing Godspell’s “Prepare Ye,” our Palm Sunday parade proceeded into the church for a theatrical and inventive worship service. Wishing all a blessed week as we prepare for Easter! Hope to see you at one of our Easter services: Sunday, April 16, 7:30 a.m. in Browndale Park and 10 a.m. at church.

EMC holds first teen health event

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After jokingly getting Pastor Oby Ballinger’s permission to discuss sex in the sanctuary, best-selling author Peggy Orenstein shared insights about “intimate justice” with an audience of roughly 100 parents, teens, staff members and volunteers at Edina Morningside Community Church. Her speech—highlighting findings from her latest book, Girls and Sex—was the keynote address of Equipping Teens for Life, EMC’s first teen health event.

Other highlights from the day included a-ha moments, insightful discussions over boxed lunches, laughter and wide-ranging breakout sessions—including Creating Healthy Relationships, Managing Your Parents, and Saying No to Academic Stress—led by local expert presenters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Member leads tonight’s Lenten Speaker Series

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Rev. Frank Bennett, an EMC member, will be our Lenten Speaker Series guest tonight, March 27. Frank is the founder and program leader of Living Well/Dying Well, and is a senior teaching fellow at the Center For Spirituality & Healing after years of working with individuals and their families who were living with serious and life-threatening illness. Frank’s passion is to empower individuals, their providers and care partners to live well until they die well. Join us tonight for this free program where you’ll learn about the hidden gifts in end-of-life care. Plus, begin the night with a delicious homemade supper. Join us 6–7:30 p.m.

Lenten Speaker Series offers food for thought, dinners

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We invite you to attend our 2017 Lenten Speaker Series. Each Monday night throughout the month of March, we will feature a nonprofit leader who will share how his or her organization is bettering our community. Plus, each evening will begin with a delicious homemade supper. What better way could there be to kick off each week? Join us, 6–7:30 p.m.

  • March 6, Josh Simenstad, Perspectives, will discuss how this award-winning, innovative program moves women and children out of addiction, mental illness, and poverty into hope and new lives.
  • March 13, A Minnesota Humane Society representative will share why it’s vital to show care for our animal community.
  • March 20, Laura Johnson, ISAIAH, will address community organizing—an important tool in these days of national turmoil.
  • March 27, Rev. Frank Bennett, Center for Spirituality and Healing, will discuss the hidden gifts in end-of-life care.

Finally, on Monday, April 3, please join us as we tour VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People), a social service program in Bloomington, at 6:30 p.m. For more information on this event, please call the church office.

 

Register today for teen health event

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Are the teen years the best years of our lives? At EMC, we’re not so sure about that. That’s why we’re hosting Equipping Teens for Life: A Health & Wellness Conference for Young People and Parents—a day full of compassion, connections and enlightenment on Saturday, April 8, 2017.

Headlining the event is Peggy Orenstein, New York Times best-selling author and Twin Cities native, who will share insights from her most recent book, Girls and Sex.

In addition, expert-led breakout sessions will include:

  • Saying no to academic stress (teens & adults)
  • Creating healthy relationships (teens)
  • Talking to your teen about sex (adults)
  • Dealing with depression (teens & adults)
  • Managing your parents (teens)
  • Understanding gender identity and LGBTQ issues (adults)
  • Coping with grief (teens & adults)
  • And more

Tickets are $10 per student and $40 per adult; boxed lunches will be provided. Register here; seating is limited, so register today. The event will take place at Edina Morningside Community Church, 4201 Morningside Road, Edina.

Morningside After Dark: Performers explore space

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Morningside After Dark kicked off a space-themed program—and its fifth season with EMC—with a packed house in the church basement on Jan. 30. Fittingly, the first featured storyteller was Dr. Duchess Harris, author of Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA — a book that helps tell the story shared in the Oscar-nominated film Hidden Figures.

Other performers exploring the theme included Humans of Minneapolis founder Stephanie Glaros, actor Remy Auberjonois, singer Sheila Raye Charles, poet Lester Batiste, Star Tribune writer Aimee Blanchette, singer Mayyadda, and many others.

In between performers, attendees indulged in treats from a pop-up s’mores bar, courtesy of North Mallow, plus Caribou coffee. Additionally, YogaFit Linden Hills,  2017 sponsor of the popular live-music-and-storytelling event, gave away free yoga passes.   Photos courtesy of Dave Biljan

  

EMC congregation approves capital campaign

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This representation by member Tadd Kreun shows an initial concept for the new entryway.

After several years of discussion, planning and research by a core group of members, EMC’s congregation approved the initiation of an $800,000 capital campaign, 40 to 8, on Jan. 29. The funds will be used to create a more welcoming new entryway and narthex, to repair the organ, and to pay down debt on building repairs. Special thanks to Oby Ballinger, Frank Bennett, Charlie Green, Sonja Martens, Thom Miller and Jeff Stickler for their efforts.