​It was a joy to welcome Pastor Ben back! Thank you to everyone who joined the Sabbatical Team for a light luncheon and Q&A session immediately following the service to hear about his travels.

24 January 2026

​Dear friends,

I write this on Saturday as the ice descends on Dallas. was planning to return on Sunday, but the inclement weather in both Dallas and New York made it wiser to return a little early. This brings the final journey of my sabbatical to an end, with a week left to recuperate, organize my notes, and get ready to return.

What follows will only scratch the surface of this experience and the stories I have to tell about it, but it’s a start.

First, in late December, I had the chance to spend a few days in and around the ancestral family homeland in Polk County, Wisconsin. My sons and I went out on a frozen lake for the first time in their lives, and for me, in many years. The evening light and the small clutches of ice-fishing shacks in the distance made me think of my painter:

We spent Christmas Eve and Day in Madison, Wisconsin, where we worshiped at Luther Memorial Lutheran Church. I heard a great sermon there on Christmas Day and the music was powerful.

​On January 3, I left for Berlin. Arriving the next day, a Sunday, I went to worship at the Berlin Cathedral, which was very impressive: 

I was very busy in Berlin. I went to the New National Gallery, which is all modern. I had to leave for church, or I’d have explored it for longer. 

​On Monday, January 5, most of the art museums were closed, so I decided to focus on history. I went to the Jewish Museum of Berlin, which has staggering memorials to the victims of the Holocaust as well as fascinating material about the history of the Jewish people in Germany before and since. A quick walk north from there took me to the Berlinische Galerie, housing art made in Berlin or by Berliners since 1870. Many of the artists had had to flee Germany or cease working during the Nazi period because their art was considered “degenerate” by the regime. From there, I walked still further north to the old Checkpoint Charlie and the Wall Museum, an absolutely bonkers collection of photographs, historical items, and huge blocks of text concerning the history of divided Berlin and of the Cold War more generally. This museum, in turn, was a short walk from the Topography of Terror museum, dedicated to the legal and institutional tools the Nazi regime used to control German society and carry out its crimes against humanity. This was both fascinating and, as the name suggests, terrifying in its portrayal of basically normal, conventional people carrying out heinous crimes. I ended the day’s walk with a pass through the heavy, ominous memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe near the Brandenburg Gate. ​

On Tuesday, I got an early start and reached the Gemäldgalerie, where the paintings I was seeking are on display. It’s a big museum, and I turned left at the entrance when I should have turned right, but I got there eventually: Netherlandish Proverbs and Two Monkeys. The first is big and busy (some 115 proverbial sayings are depicted in it), the second is small and relatively simple, but devastating in its own way. The museum is packed with great stuff (this is where I started my side quest for the paintings of Vermeer, even scarcer than those of Pieter Bruegel the Elder), and I was there for quite a long time. 

I happened to be quite near the memorial to the Resistance to Nazism, so I stopped there as well. It’s a very thorough and sometimes deeply moving witness to people who sacrificed and risked everything to stand up to evil. 

I ended my day with a too-brief visit to the new Museum of East Germany, a fascinating documentation of a largely ignored period in German history. I left in time to go to the Epiphany service across the canal at the Cathedral, but they wouldn’t let me take my backpack into the sanctuary, and I didn’t have a Euro coin for the locker, so I had to skip worship. 

The next day, I was off by train to Frankfurt and then Darmstadt. Nici Bremer’s sister Verena and her husband Walter met me at the train, fed me sumptuously (perhaps “snack” means something different in Germany than it does here), and then Verena accompanied me to the Hessian Provincial Museum, where Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s The Magpie on the Gallows is on display. The museum itself was a trip—collections of fossils, taxidermy animals, armor, a special exhibit on clouds, and a painting gallery—and we made a brief tour of its diverse rooms before finding my target. Verena proved to be a wonderful company for this quest, as we talked about all kinds of paintings. After we left the painting for the third time (I like to see each painting three times before leaving), we drifted toward the door slowly enough that Verena asked, “Do you want to see the painting one more time?” Of course I did, and as we talked about it, I noticed something I’d never seen before: tiny ships, perhaps suggesting the Spanish invasion of the Low Countries in 1568, burning villages as they worked their way up the river. Walter cooked a marvelous dinner, and they gave me a warm, comfortable bed before my departure for Amsterdam the next day.

The weather, which was unpleasant in Berlin, became a genuine challenge in Amsterdam. I had the chance to meet up for Indonesian food with my friend and divinity school classmate Kyle Rader, now an Episcopal priest in the Netherlands. And I explored the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum, and the small, remarkable Museum of Our Lord in the Attic, a restored Catholic house church from the period when only Protestant worship could be held in public. Amsterdam is obviously a wonderful city, but it probably looks better and is easier to navigate when it’s not covered in ice. ​

After two short nights in Amsterdam, I was off to Antwerp, Belgium, on January 10, with a break in Rotterdam to see one painting. I had confirmed in advance that the painting I was looking for--The Tower of Babel, in a second, smaller version than the one that hangs in Vienna and which I’ve used in the bulletin—would be on display at The Depot, a conservation and storage facility open to the public, while its home museum was under reconstruction. But either my information was out of date, or the museum was being very technical because all I could see during our ten-minute tour of the painting storage room was a tiny slice of it (though the museum itself was pretty interesting, and it was fun to go “behind the scenes”):

​Antwerp, when I arrived, turned out to be a somewhat unexpected highlight. Much of the 16th-century city is preserved. I visited the Snijders and Rockoxhuis Museum and the magnificent Cathedral, which has an English-language Mass on Saturday nights, which meant I got to worship in my native language. On Sunday, January 11, my dear friend Professor Theodor Dunkelgrün arrived from England to explore the city with me. We met at the Magdenhuis, a museum of the city’s former orphanage, where a small portion of the Museum Mayer van den Bergh is on display while the museum is being expanded. In this little six-room space, the museum displayed “Beloved” objects from their collection, chosen not just by museum staff and experts but by local musicians, students, civil servants, businesspeople, and even a pastor. I was there to see Dulle Griet (known in English as Mad Meg), and ended up talking to a Dutch family who informed me that the painting’s subject had been the heroine of a comic book in their youths. We explored the rest of Old Antwerp, including an incredibly well-preserved 16th-century printing house, before catching an evening train to The Hague, where Theo is from and where his parents still live.

This meant that after a comfortable night in a family home, I got a unique tour of a storied city, from its Nazi-era seaside bunkers and its Jewish cemetery to the landmarks of Dutch history, politics, the Holocaust, and the touchstones of my friend’s early life. The largest part of the day was spent at the Mauritshuis, the small but mighty art museum in town which holds a powerful Rembrandt self-portrait, Carel Fabritius’s The Goldfinch, and Vermeer’s View of Delft and Girl with a Pearl Earring. I also learned the embarrassing but effective technique for eating cold pickled herring (no photos). ​

After a travel disruption that led to sharing a cab to Rotterdam with two strangers, we ended the night in Brussels, where Pieter Bruegel lived for the last years of his life, where he is buried, and the home of the second-largest collection of his works in the world. The next morning, January 13, we met a friend of Theo’s, a local professor of classics, who joined us for a tour of the Brussels Cathedral and the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. I’ll have a lot more to say about both, but it was perfect to have such knowledgeable companions as we explored the history and the art.

Before leaving the city the next day, I said my morning prayers at Bruegel's monument in the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel, where the enthusiastic Polish guard gave me a rosary and a magnet depicting the Blessed Virgin of Pompeii. And I stopped at the City Museum of Brussels to see a painting by his son, Pieter Brueghel the Younger. That afternoon, I met up with my brother, Dan Dueholm, in Paris. We went to the Louvre, which holds one painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Unfortunately the galleries holding it and the rest of their northern European masterpieces were closed each day we were there. I was bitterly disappointed by this. But we got to see Notre Dame (remind me to tell you my story about it), the churches of St. Germain-des-Pres and St. Etienne-du-Mont, and the Louis Vuitton Foundation, which was stunning. Before catching our train to London, we stopped at a Roman-era arena that is still used by the citizens for frisbee games and martial arts. ​

In London, we accidentally ended up helping to clean up a nativity display (I’ll tell you the story) in the striking 19th-century church of St. Augustine before visiting the National Gallery and the Courtauld Gallery, home to three paintings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder between them. My high school friend Xunhua Wong, who kindly hosted us in her North London home, joined us for the latter. We ended the night at a performance of the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Center. The music wasn’t all my favorite, but the quality of the performance was superb.

The next day, my friend took the morning off work, and the three of us went to Windsor Castle, home of the Pieter Bruegel the Elder painting The Massacre of the Innocents. While Windsor holds the original, it’s been much overpainted (turning the children of Bethlehem into animals or packages to make the scene less horrible), and the several copies in other museums give you a better idea of what it first looked like. The castle doesn’t allow photography, so Xunhua took one for the team by breaking the rule (she didn’t get caught). ​

Dan and I tried to go to choral evensong, a Church of England tradition, at Southwark Cathedral, but the sanctuary was closed for an event relating to the film Hamnet. So they held spoken Evening Prayer in the Harvard Chapel, which we participated in. The next day, I was off by myself to Upton House outside of Banbury. This town is much closer to Birmingham than to London, making it the most remote location for a Bruegel painting anywhere, as well as the furthest north, and also the last new place I’d explore on this whole journey. My time with The Death of the Virgin was limited because the house was only open to tours, but it was a wonderful place.

Back in the city, I explored the Tate Modern with Dan. The next day, we made it back for one last visit to the National Gallery before his week was up, and I went with Xunhua to hear the London Philharmonic Orchestra play, again with astonishing perfection. 

On Thursday, January 22, I finally returned to the U.S., landing in New York shortly after 2 PM. I saw some old friends at the apartment where I was being lodged. On Friday morning, I realized that my return flight on Sunday would likely be disrupted, if not on the Dallas end, then on the New York end. So I moved my flight to the last available that day and set off to see the last two stops on my itinerary.

​At the Frick Collection, I showed up without a timed ticket and stood at the “standby” line before a total stranger gave me an extra timed ticket for a 10:30 AM entry. Throughout this journey, I have been greatly blessed by the friendliness and generosity of such strangers. The Frick doesn’t allow photos, and unlike my friend, I’m reluctant to break the rule, but I did get to see Bruegel’s Three Soldiers along with three Vermeers and a first-rate Rembrandt self-portrait. I felt a twinge of sadness as I left. I didn’t especially care for Rembrandt when this journey began, but in Vienna, his face caught my attention, and I’d seen quite a few of his works everywhere I went. I realized I would miss that face. 

A brisk walk up Fifth Avenue brought me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, one of my favorite museums and the place where this whole obsession began. With my brother and my seminary classmate (and Soren’s godfather), the Rev. John Flack, I went back to The Harvesters, a painting that made me think of home and of a world of insight and beauty I’d never known. Now, thanks to you, I know a lot more of it. Not just Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s work, and that of his sons, but the whole artistic enterprise connecting them with Vermeer, Rembrandt, El Greco, and Veronese. It’s a world of depictions of faith, daily life, and the workings of the human mind. And around it are so many witnesses to good, evil, beauty, ugliness, and the ambivalent combinations of all of them that make up human existence. I have a whole lot of notes and some great stories to share. This experience has changed my perspectives and given me gifts that will last the rest of my life. Thank you again, and more than I can say, for supporting this time in my life and ministry.

I look forward to seeing everyone soon!

Grace and peace,

​Pastor Ben

​Thank you to everyone who supported. Through your generosity and in partnership with the CLC Preschool, we provided Christmas gifts to 50 children. Your kindness is a beautiful reflection of Christ’s love and a true blessing to Emmanuel Lutheran and the families they serve. Thank you for making a difference in our community!

​CLC has surpassed the $2,000 goal. The Community Outreach Ministry Team extends heartfelt thanks to everyone for their generous support.

Save the Date: John Tollefson Memorial/Lent Peanut butter drive for Now Forward:
Sunday, February 15.

Help keep our neighbors warm by donating new or gently used winter essentials: Beanies and warm hats, Gloves and mittens, Scarves, Blankets, Coats and jackets. Your donation helps protect someone from the cold. Questions? [email protected].

The spring blood drive at CLC is set for Palm Sunday, March 29. Please plan accordingly, with details/updates to follow in future weeks.

Dorothy (Dot) Kruse Splawn died at 100 years old earlier this month. Funeral Services will be held on Monday, December 22, 2025 at 2:00 pm with Reverend Veronika Czutor presiding. A light reception will follow the funeral service.  Burial will be at 3:30pm at Restland Funeral Home. Memorials may be made to Christ Lutheran Church Building Fund or charity of choice.

The daughter of Dick and Lena (Wessels) Kruse, Dorothy was born in the family home near Winters (Runnels County), Texas and was the oldest daughter of six children. Dorothy and her family lived on their farm through the depression and WWI. 

She graduated from Winters High School, went to Business School, and moved to Dallas. where she met the love of her life, Isaac (Ike) J. Splawn. Dot and Ike celebrated 57 years of marriage until Ike died in December of 2006. Dot and Ike adopted their son Greg in 1956 and Valerie in 1960, and their family was complete. Dorothy was a dedicated wife and mother, and was involved in school activities and PTA. Dorothy was active in the community, and was involved in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League, the Dallas Theater Center Guild, The Women’s Council of the Dallas Arboretum, the Merriman Park Garden Club, delivered Meals on Wheels, and was a member of several bridge groups (one for 50+ years), which she enjoyed for the deep friendships that formed. 

Dorothy and Ike shared a deep love for God, and their family’s lives were centered around their faith in their savior, Jesus Christ. They made their church home at Christ Lutheran Church for over 60 years. Dorothy was on the church counsel, a member of Deborah Circle. Dorothy enjoyed sharing the good news of Christ’s through evangelism, as she reached out to church visitors and the elderly. She especially enjoyed greeting visitors to church services on Sundays and was the reason many of those visitors joined the Church. 

Dorothy is survived by her son, Greg Splawn of Wills Point, daughter Valerie and husband Cliff Siverling of Richardson, and their daughters, Kathryn Siverling-Rojo and husband Luis Rojo of Dallas, and Alison Siverling of Denver, CO. In addition, Dorothy is survived by two step-grandchildren, Aaron Siverling, wife Danielle, and great-granddaughter, River, of Seagoville, and Nona Siverling and great-grandchildren, Jacob Whitfield and Kaitlyn Siverling, all of Dallas. Dorothy is also survived by her brother, Delbert Kruse of Winters, Texas. 

She is preceded in death by her brother, Richard Kruse of Odessa, and sisters, Virgie Cromer of Dallas, Florence Secrest of Dallas and Ruby Lucas of Amarillo. Dorothy treasured her time with her family, nieces and nephews, attending over 50 years of the annual Dick Kruse family reunion. Dorothy often spoke of her many blessings over her 100 years, and she, in turn, was a blessing to all who knew her. 

Funeral Bulletin
Funeral LiveStream

​Dear people of God at Christ Lutheran Church,
 
Now that I’m a little over a third of the way through my sabbatical, I’m at a good time to update the community on what I’ve been doing and what you can expect to hear more about when I’m back in February.
 
As planned, I spent the first two and a half weeks of my sabbatical reading up on my topic and trying to re-learn how to relax. I made a few visits to the Dallas Museum of Art, which I am always fond of but had not been to in some time (the "infinity room" exhibit there, which runs through sometime in January, is worth a visit). I also made it to the Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth for the first time in five years. Their permanent collection is excellent, and I wanted to be sure to see the special exhibit "Myth and Marble,” a rarely exhibited sculpture and statuary from the Roman imperial period. 

I must admit that I am feeling a bit off as I write this. As you are reading this article, it is the week before Thanksgiving. A time when most of us will gather for the first time with family and friends around tables filled with an abundant feast, marking the start of the holiday season. While I am one who, over time, has come to love the holidays, creating new memories and keeping with family traditions, such as grating each potato by hand for Hanukkah Latkes and trying not to get too many oil burns, the reality is that this year, there are millions of families and individuals who recently had their SNAP benefits cut off.  Having grown up in a family with a single mom who was on food stamps, this possibly hits a little closer to home. What this means is that this year, more families than ever will not have access to food or will have extremely limited access to food, not just this holiday season, but will continue until SNAP gets reinstated.
 
I remember when we were in Chicago on our youth trip, and Pastor Ben told us about while living and working in the Downtown Chicago area. He rode the train each day. During that time, he learned not only to see Jesus in the individual, but that each person was Jesus themselves. You might think to yourself, Eliana, what does that even mean?
 
It’s not just about seeing our neighbors through the eyes of Christ, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40-45 that whenever we care for the poor, the sick, and the needy, we are doing these things for Jesus Himself.  Luther, in his articles and writings, asserts that feeding the poor is not only a responsibility of the individual Christian, based on their own capacity to give, but also a community responsibility.
 
This congregation is known for its generosity, and it’s something that I have been on the receiving end of, and I continuously carry gratitude in my heart for.  As we have the Mount Olive Thanksgiving Basket drive, the Now Forward Advent Soup drive, along with other projects that M&Ms does, I would encourage you, if you’re able, to be extra generous this year, whatever that might look like for you.
 
We are gearing up for all our Advent and Christmas Activities, which you will start to see in the bulletin. In addition to weekly Advent worship on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm, here are a few things coming up:

• Nov 25 CLP Advent Family Chapel. All are invited.
• Nov 30 after worship intergenerational Sunday School
• Dec 5 Blue Christmas 7 PM in the sanctuary
• Dec 13 German Advent Service 4 PM in the sanctuary
• Dec 14 Youth Christmas program and Christmas dinner following worship
• Dec 24 Christmas Eve Worship at 4 PM and 8 PM
  
• Dec 25 Christmas Day Worship 11 AM

Eliana Katchkey

As we approach the season of giving, Christ Lutheran is once again partnering with Mount Olive in providing Thanksgiving Baskets for 40 families. There are various ways to donate to this cause-see below:

• Amazon is http://bit.ly/472Lmkm


• Cash donations through Zelle:  [email protected]​

Purchasing the items yourself and leaving them in the red wagon at CLC

These items will be included in the baskets:

• Stovetop stuffing mix
• Cornbread Mix
• Gravy - Jars
• Cranberry Sauce
• Corn
• Green Beans
• 2lb Bag of sugar
• 2lb bag of flour
• Canned Yams
• Cake Mix
• Cake Icing
• Jello/ Pudding
• Chicken Broth
• Mac & Cheese
• Instant Potatoes – Box
• Cans of Cream of Chicken
• Cans of Cream of Mushrooms
• 40 dozen eggs
• 40 - $30 gift cards ( to purchase their meat choice)

We are asking that all donations be received by Sunday, November 16

Thank you,

​Community Outreach Ministry Team

The Rev. Jon Lee (November 2, December 7, January 11)
Jon Lee served two congregations as a called pastor: St. John’s in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he served for six years, and King of Glory in Dallas, where he served for thirty-five years. Pastor Lee served on the ELCA Board of Pensions and the Texas Lutheran University’s Board of Regents. He currently teaches lay leaders in the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod’s Parish Lay Ministry Academy and works on community organizing with Dallas Area Interfaith. We are blessed to have him with us! 

Happy mid-September! Now is a perfect time for learning more about what we do in the music ministry and how to be a part of it. New choir members, soloists, cantors, ringers, vocalists, and instrumentalists are all welcome, no professional music-reading skills required. Contact Hando to learn more: [email protected].

Here are a few words of encouragement by Fred Green: “When in our music God is glorified, and adoration leaves no room for pride, it is as though the whole creation cried: Alleluia! How often, in making music, we have found a new dimension in the world of sound, as worship moved us to a more profound Alleluia! So has the Church, in liturgy and song, in faith and love, through centuries of wrong, borne witness to the truth in every tongue: Alleluia! And did not Jesus sing a Psalm that night when utmost evil strove against the light? Then let us sing, for whom he won the fight: Alleluia! Let every instrument be tuned for praise! Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise! And may God give us faith to sing always: Alleluia!”

Mark your calendars for an evening of piano music at CLC on October 3rd at 7:00 pm. Our new Howard Cincinnati piano is ready for an inauguration concert. This recently renovated piano was donated to CLC several months ago by Mr. Mailandt, one of the residents of University Park. We are very grateful! It's a blessing that CLC now has a baby grand piano on the main floor. This piano is a real treasure! I'll be performing piano works by Bach/Busoni, Pärt, Liszt, Schumann, Sibelius, and Brahms.

Mark your calendars for the next Lutheran Hymn Festival, 'The Holy Trinity: Yesterday, Today, Forever,' which promises to provide a look at the Trinity in an inviting and comforting way through the singing of beloved hymns of the Church, old and new, prepared choral music, and narrative reflections. Join your church at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center for a celebration of choral and organ music in the Lutheran tradition on Sunday, October 19, at 4:30 p.m. We’ve purchased 20 seats and will add more if there is sufficient interest. Let us know if you are interested!
​
If your home or family needs a piano, our Henry F. Miller Spinet Piano is waiting for you! CLC has enough pianos, and we have decided to donate one of them. This piano is great for anyone who is taking piano lessons, wants an instrument for practicing, or just wants to own a real piano for music-making. Earning a widespread reputation for high quality, Henry F. Miller pianos were a leading brand preferred by many professional musicians in the late 1800s and early 20th century. The tedious design work done by both Miller and Gibson prior to beginning production led to incredibly well-made piano frames.

Many thanks to Brad Spellicy, Murray Smith, Carillon Ringers, Nancy Alton, Soren Dueholm, Harper Spellicy, Bjorn Blomquist, Betsy Lintel, and Maddy Blomquist for their beautiful musical offerings in August! And Sergio Peña for monitoring our livestream services, and Gary Haschke for sound engineering! God gets the Glory!

“The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.” (Johann Sebastian Bach)
 
Blessings,
Hando Nahkur, D.M.A.
Director of Music

As the calendar rolled over into September this week, it hit me that I was now less than two months away from the start of my sabbatical. I’ll share more details about our preparations in the next month, but what particularly caught my attention was a number: eight. That’s how many Sundays are left before I take off for three months. When it was five months, four months, “more than two months” away, it felt like a lot of time—particularly, it felt like a lot of time to get preparatory work done. Now it feels like not much time at all.

If you are anything like me, you are always mindful of multiple deadlines. And if you are anything like me, you feel ambivalent about all those deadlines. On one hand, it’s stressful to think of everything that is needed and is not yet done (right now, I am thinking of three sermons, a weekly email, an adult education plan, and a business license application that will be “due” within the next four days). On the other hand, I know that I need deadlines to complete certain tasks. I attended a divinity school that was famous for its lax deadlines and, not coincidentally, for having a large number of students who took a long time to complete their degree programs, if they ever did. Like many things in life, I need deadlines, and yet I resent them. If I waited to start my sabbatical until everything was perfectly planned, I’d never start at all.

The truth is that we often have some of our best, most memorable experiences when we’re under a deadline. I have seen more than one tense, confused end-of-life scenario relax into peace and even joy after everyone understands that the situation is terminal. There are only so many hours left, so let’s use them with love and care. Christians were once taught to regularly remember their mortality (a reminder is still observed on Ash Wednesday), and I think that’s part of the reason. Treating time as if it’s unlimited just means wasting it. We’re all on a deadline, whether we remember it or not.

And while that may sound like a morbid way to put it—the word “dead” is right there in the word itself after all—I find the effect on myself to be the opposite. It makes each smaller deadline feel more important. My children will graduate high school and probably move out and very likely away from me. Sunday is coming with its own opportunities that will never come again in exactly the same way. Fall, the most beautiful season (for my money) in North Texas, is almost upon us, and it demands to be enjoyed. And I’m about to take the first sabbatical of my career, and the first three-month period of totally self-structured time since I was…fourteen? There’s a lot to make the most of.

Sometimes it seems to me that this is what our faith is most about. Not necessarily the “hereafter” as folks used to call it, or eternity or heaven. Lots of religions have things to say about that, and what our Scriptures say isn’t very distinctive. However, we often overlook the importance of what is right in front of us: our neighbor, our moment in time, our day to rest and worship, and our vocation. When Jesus uses homespun metaphors and parables, I wonder if part of his message to us is that if we can’t grasp the moment we live in, the neighbor in front of us, or the decisions we make every day, we’ll never be able to grasp eternity. What good would it do us?

If you are working toward a deadline, I have your sympathy and encouragement. And if you aren’t, maybe you can find one. Time is precious, and we’re all here to make the most of it.

See you in church—for eight more weeks!

​Pastor Ben

​From Golfing Buddies to Meals on Wheels Volunteers

Peter Kowalczik and Russ Sharp have been golfing buddies for 10 years or so, and once they retired, they found a way to enhance their friendship by choosing VNA Meals on Wheels as a volunteer project they could share. Since 2020, the two CLC members have been delivering meals to clients monthly on CLC's Route 1306A, the "Fitzhugh" route.  

Peter and Russ especially enjoy the fellowship and getting to know the people on the route as well as their idiosyncrasies. "It's a very fulfilling experience, and the clients are so appreciative," Russ says, "not to mention, greeting one client's pet chicken 'Henrietta' during delivery!"   "It's an added bonus to see my friend regularly," comments Peter, "and we take the opportunity to enjoy lunch together after completing the route."  Peter and Russ deepened their relationship through their volunteer work, allowing them the opportunity to discuss various repair projects, both at home and church, and their days in the oil and gas industry.  

Not only is the Meals on Wheels experience rewarding, but they also experience the changes in the lives of their customers, often wondering what happens when one does not show up on the delivery list anymore. Additionally, they see changes in the neighborhood as gentrification takes root and wonder what will potentially happen to their clients. However, one thing that hasn't changed is the ongoing need for daily meals for seniors and people with mobility issues. CLC has had a Meals on Wheels team for over fifty years!

If you want to live out CLC's mission statement of "Reaching Out to Change Lives," join our Meals on Wheels Team! We work in pairs for safety and efficiency (plus it's more fun!). We pick up the prepackaged meals From Northway Christian Church (NW Highway and Airline Road) between 10:00 and 10:30 AM and deliver to a list of 6-8 clients, efficiently finishing by noon. We deliver to the client's front door and do not go inside the home.   There is an online app where you can sign up for delivery dates that are convenient for you. You can do as many or as few days as you like. We have a great route (the "Fitzhugh" route) in East Dallas, East of 75 around Fitzhugh. It's a safe area and easy to drive and park. We see mostly the same clients each time and have gotten to know most of them over the years.  

Not sure? We would love to have you ride along on one of our routes to see the experience. You can contact Ginger Hagens at [email protected] or one of our team members for more information or assistance with the volunteer signup on the App. You can also view the Meals on Wheels website at www.vnatexas.org. We would love to have you on our team!

Community Outreach Ministry

Offering song at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, Calaba Town

Are you interested in exploring the heart of our faith in the Scriptures, worship, and the creeds of the church? Are you considering baptism for yourself or a child? Or are you interested in becoming a member of the congregation? This introduction to the faith and ministries of the church will be an opportunity to do all of these things in a casual, conversational setting where your experiences and questions will be welcomed! 

​Sundays, September 8 – October 6, 11 AM
Leader: Pastor Ben Dueholm 

When Jesus wants us to think about the Kingdom of God, he often turns our attention to growth in the world around us: farm fields, mustard seeds, trees bearing fruit. Together, we’ll learn about these stories and practice some gardening techniques. Get your hands dirty in the Word of God and in the soil of God’s creation! 

​Sundays, September 8 – October 6, 11 AM
Leader: Cheryl Kowalczik 
Maximum enrollment: Ten 

The first book of Christian worship and an endless source of comfort, challenge, inspiration, and reflection, the Psalms offer a powerful way to deepen our lives of prayer. Vicar Kristen Maddox will be back (virtually) to lead this online group for those who want to become better acquainted with these ancient works of prayer and praise and to grow together through encountering them. 

Wednesdays, September 11 – October 9, 6:30 PM (online) 
Leader: Kristen Maddox 
Maximum enrollment: Ten 

While grief is an inevitable part of life, it still challenges us on many levels. Living with grief, its impact and feelings, is easier with mutual care and support. Please join us if your loss is new, if you are dealing with losses in the past, or supporting loved ones going through grief.. Topics will include types of grief and mourning, the meaning of loss, signs of complicated grief, and how to handle that. Plan to attend every session to give and get maximum support.

Sundays, September 8 – October 6, 5 PM
Leader: The Rev. Kerry Dueholm, LPC 
Maximum enrollment: Eight 

North Dallas Shared Ministries
About school: We’re well into preparing for NDSM’s 2024 school supplies and uniforms distribution program. One culmination of our planning—two all-hands-on-deck Saturdays when client cars line up like lunch hour at Chick-fil-A. One by one, they creep forward, and our volunteers brave the broiling heat to load one parcel of school supplies for every child into the vehicle, saving each family $34.05 per pupil (and helping them avoid back-to-school crowds!) 
 
The second result of our planning is two solid weeks of uniform pickup. Up to 200 parents each day come to our Clothes Closet to pick out and pick up two complete sets of DISD-appropriate clothing. The clients walk between rows of box-covered tables accompanied by a volunteer, usually a high school student. The volunteer holds up different sizes to help the parents select what sizes they believe will fit their children best. Behind the scenes, months of preparation go into this effort. While I rarely single out one or two volunteers for accomplishing something that involves many people, Sandy Dehn and Carolyn Cosgriff dove deep into the details to make our application and reporting process work flawlessly. A lot of effort went into designing and debugging our program to achieve this result. Thanks to them and all who make this program a resounding success again this year.
 
As a result, we provided 4,401 students with all DISD-required grade-level school supplies and 3,732 students with two uniform sets: 2 shirts, one pair of pants, and one pair of shorts (saving parents $ 56 per child. 
 
A change of season: Our tax preparation assistance program continues through the extension deadline in mid-October.
 
But most of our work happens before April 15th – and we did a lot of work again this year!
We retained our “crown,” filing the most returns of any of the nine Dallas Community Tax Centers. We filed 2,638 returns – (24%) of the 10,814 filed by all nine centers. We also obtained the most refunds for clients - $4M (27%) out of $14.5M. In addition, clients saved $ 923,300 in preparation fees because our volunteers put in 1,321 hours serving them. This is almost twice what we saved clients two years ago.
 
Since we began our partnership with Foundation Communities 15 years ago, we’ve delivered $49,632,044 in refunds and saved clients $7,384,107 in fees. In this case, the more things change, the more they remain the same.
 
A changed approach to food donations:
We recently launched a new initiative, Gleaning for Groceries, among our Covenant Congregations to meet the increasing demand for food assistance. We hope the gleaning initiative will regularly keep our Food Pantry stocked, allow individuals to feel they are helping those who need it, and strengthen our relationship with our Covenant Congregations.
 
We can all help make this initiative succeed. Whether you are a member of a Covenant Congregation or just care and love NDSM, you can advocate for Gleaning for Groceries - and it’s as easy as 1-2-3.
 
1-While grocery shopping, pick up an extra can or two of soup, tuna, or a box of pasta.
2-Bring the groceries to a designated drop-off box at your place of worship or bring them to NDSM.
3-A volunteer will deliver the food to the NDSM Food Pantry, which will help feed families who need food.
 
It’s simple and inexpensive for an individual, but it creates a bountiful harvest when followed by members of the 40+ congregations supporting NDSM. It will also go a long way toward easing our mounting food budget. Recommended items include soup, canned vegetables, canned fruits, peanut butter, pasta, and rice.
 
How wonderful if you would consider adding gleaning to your shopping experience and suggesting it to others.

Everything we have is a gift God gives us during our lifetimes. We each have the privilege, responsibility, and joy of being stewards, caring for loved ones and God's creation and creating gifts for Christian ministry. 

As you plan your legacy that reflects your faith and values, the Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest is here to assist you. We can help you care for your family and benefit Lutheran ministries, your favorite community, and other non-profit organizations.

Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest provides comprehensive gift planning and management personalized to your goals, unique family, and financial situation. The foundation receives and stewards gifts on behalf of other ministries.

Christ Lutheran Church will host a Legacy Giving for Family and Ministry Seminar following the worship service on Sunday, April 28. Morgan Schmidlin, our synod gift planner with the foundation, will discuss options and possibilities for our congregation's future.

During the seminar, we’ll discuss:

• How can we care for and provide for family and other loved ones and provide legacy gifts for ministry and other non-profit organizations?
• Review options for legacy gift sharing that will bless future generations forever.
• The foundation's services to the members of our congregation are provided at no cost and no obligation.

Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest works to recognize, inspire, facilitate, and teach legacy stewardship. 

Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest is a non-profit organization that provides services to ELCA congregations. It offers ministry sustainability and vitality through building generosity. Together with our synods, the foundation provides gift planners to congregational members. 

Our gift planner, Morgan Schmidlin, provides confidential consultation to help individuals explore options for legacy generosity for families, ministries, and other non-profit organizations. A bequest, trust, or other estate plan provides a way forward to remember family, loved ones, and God’s work in the world. Morgan Schmidlin can help put final wishes in writing to the best advantage of the donor and the ministries they wish to support. 

Gift planning provides peace of mind. A wide range of options allows a plan to be tailored to each member’s individual situation and goals. 
Morgan Schmidlin, CGPA 

​440.785.3363 
[email protected] 
www.lfsw.org ​

Partners and Volunteers
I hope this Update unveils a deeper understanding of NDSM and the importance of partnerships that bring hands-on services to our clients and patients.
 
NDSM works best in partnership. It was conceived as a partnership of interfaith congregations who could establish a secular agency together that could better meet the needs of the low-income, vulnerable community than each could do separately.
 
On a recent Thursday, eight Highland Park UMC members spent the evening filling grocery sacks in the pantry warehouse and unpacking men’s work pants in the Clothes Closet. On a Saturday, 20 Peace Mennonite members spent the morning volunteering in the Pantry and Clothes Closet. In both instances, we also sat together and talked about NDSM; church members were “blown away” to discover the breadth and depth of NDSM’s work.
 
Most recently, a group of NDSM volunteers and community stakeholders met on a Friday afternoon to discuss NDSM. A leader from Temple Emanu El noted that most people in her congregation think NDSM only provides food for those in need. Another person said NDSM is Dallas’s best-kept secret.
 
Health and Wellness
Providing eyeglasses has been a part of our mission for over twenty-five years. A volunteer once remarked that it is our happiest program because the result is so immediate when individuals wear their glasses. A few days ago, a woman picked up her glasses, tried them on, and said with glee, “I can see!” Once each month, the Lions Sight and Tissue Foundation mobile unit, club members, and an optometrist, who closes her practice for the morning, are at NDSM checking the vision, fitting frames, and treating with care and dignity the 20-30 people who we have prescreened. At a cost to NDSM of $15 per pair of glasses, the Lions Club and NDSM are transforming lives.
 
The change in our relationship with UTSW meant the loss of no-cost adult flu vaccines. When asked, the Dallas County Department of Health and Human Services stepped forward to fill the void. County staff were on site nine days between October and February, providing COVID, flu, and M/pox immunizations and STi testing. In total, 1,112 adults and children received vaccinations and tests valued at $75,000. 
 
The Mobile Health Program of Texas Health Resources brings its mobile mammogram unit to NDSM monthly to provide screening mammograms. If follow-up care, including a diagnostic mammogram, ultrasound, and/or biopsy, is needed, THR gives it free. Moncrief Cancer Institute provides the same no-cost services. In addition, on the first Friday of the month, Moncrief staff is on-site to perform colposcopy screenings for cervical cancer.
 
Dental hygiene (teeth cleaning) is now available every Thursday afternoon when Texas A&M College of Dentistry students and their professors are on site. Providing dentures for seniors over 60 remains a life-changing service. Don’s few teeth are mostly broken, But he has volunteered in the pantry. We just learned of his service as a tunnel rat in Vietnam – experiences he does not discuss. He is touchingly grateful.
 
To complement our nutrition education services, our Registered Dietician has enrolled NDSM in the Walk-with-a-Doc program, and monthly walks at Bachman Lake are happening and open to all. Periodic evening dance and exercise classes are also part of this program.
 
Our mental health counselor has scheduled five Saturday grief therapy sessions beginning in March.
 
Food and Finance
Tuesday and Thursday evenings are particularly animated as 8-12 volunteers and Foundation Communities staff are working with households to complete their federal tax returns - to date, over 2,000 with expected refunds of $2M have been filed. At the same time, five English-as-a-second-language classes are held in the conference, pantry, break, interview, and administration rooms. And the parking lot does not have an available slot. It’s a thrilling experience to leave the building and realize that day and night, NDSM is doing so much for so many. 
 
I could not end without mentioning the increasing number of households needing food. In February, the daily average was 164. On January 17th, 203 households received food, the highest number in our history. With limited availability of items from the North Texas Food Bank, we are grateful for the bread ministries of St. Rita’s, St. Monica’s, University UMC, and the American Legion, as well as for the gleaning programs of Holy Cross, St Luke’s, Peace Mennonite and Christ Lutheran congregations.   
…
Lastly, with great gratitude, it is an honor to report that the Strategic Financial Campaign is off to a strong start. The Governing Board and Campaign Committee hope for your support now and as you consider your estate plan.

Thank you to everyone who completed the congregational survey for the Strategic Plan Team. We set a goal of 85, which felt ambitious given our recent experience with surveys, and 96 of you completed the survey. Great job!

The team will have more to report about this soon, but I want to focus on a few things that caught my attention. You may remember the first question about your overall satisfaction with the church. According to our consultant, the average for Lutheran churches is that about 30% of respondents answer with a 9 or a 10, making them “promoters.” About 15% of respondents answer with a 1-6, making them “detractors.” The other 55% mark 7 or 8 and are classified as “neutral.” In our survey, 66% of respondents came out as “promoters,” and only 3% were “detractors.” I don’t say this to diminish anyone’s dissatisfaction, but that is an impressive degree of energy and positivity for our congregation, and it says to me that the kinds of very negative behaviors that make church life difficult for some people are comparatively rare here. 

A third of respondents were between 18 and 55, a healthy number for a Lutheran church. Over a third of our respondents have been members of CLC for five years or less, which is also unusually high for a Lutheran church and suggests real resiliency during and after COVID. 

There is much more in the survey, some suggesting real challenges we will face together. You’ll be hearing more about all of it soon. But for now, I want to acknowledge that good and uplifting news about churches is rare today, and I am thankful that our community is, in the words of our consultant, “bucking the trends.” Thank you for your commitment, faithfulness, and continuing support for our life and mission.

See you in church!

​Pastor Ben 

As I write, it is January 4—a little late for saying "Happy New Year," let alone for reviewing the year that was, but still early enough that the current segment on our calendars is beautifully undefined. The church year begins in late November or early December with the first Sunday in Advent, and the Lunar New Year begins later this winter. There's nothing spiritually meaningful about January 1 (unless you're celebrating the Holy Name of Jesus, the festival that falls on that date). But it's a fact of life. This is how we mark time as a culture; if nothing else, it's a chance to think about things afresh.
 
I want to highlight a few things about the year ending. I tracked our worship participation all year long in 2022 and 2023. On Sundays, our average participation was about the same as the year before (88 in 2023, 87 in 2022), and our median Sunday was slightly higher (84 in 2023 and 82 in 2022). This is notable because, for the first five months of 2022, we worshiped in two services, which meant that several people (Dr. Nahkur, any music leaders, Vicar Veronika, and me) were being counted twice each Sunday. It's also notable because some of our very faithful every-week worshipers became homebound, died, or moved away, and those who joined our worshiping community tend to be here less frequently. In 2022, we also had several visits from Mount Olive's congregation, which didn't happen in 2023. Holding our own in Sunday participation despite those changes is a sign of real health and resilience in our congregation after a season of major dislocations. By the broadest measure—including holy days and festivals like Christmas Eve, mid-week worship, and preschool family chapel services—our total weekly participation stayed at 116.
 
Our pledging campaign in 2023 was also solid. Our number of pledges (80) and the total amount pledged ($506,000) were up by ten percent or more from last year. Thirteen of those pledges were new. This has allowed us to confidently move our youth and family ministry director position to full-time, showing that new people are committing to the church's ministry.
 
We've continued to welcome new worshipers, some of whom have joined the congregation (one through baptism as an adult!), others who plan to participate in 2024, and others who are just becoming acquainted. This is a tremendous blessing and not something I ever take for granted. I've been blessed by my conversations and interactions with these newcomers, and I know they enrich our community in numerous ways.
 
This year, we have the chance to set new goals. How can we move from welcoming guests in worship and assuring them that they are safe and cherished here to involving them in the wider life of the congregation? How can we continue to build our youth program while also reaching out more deliberately to young adults, the campus community, and the parents of young children? And perhaps most importantly, how will we use our gifts—the immense time, faith, skill, wisdom, and, yes, financial resources of our community—to engage with our broader community in all its joy and need?
 
This year, we're starting a strategic planning process to help us think through some of these questions deliberately. I'm excited for that. But I'm also just excited about the vigor and enthusiasm of our people. I don't know what the year ahead holds for us; apart from what we all rely on, the Word will be preached, and the Sacraments will be celebrated.
 
It's an honor and a joy to serve this community. I give thanks to God for all of you. I look forward to how you will inspire and challenge each other and me in 2024.
 
See you in church!
 
Pastor Ben

​A reminder about the upcoming dates for amendments and voting on the updated Constitution. 
The important dates to remember are: 
December 6, 2023 -  

• Deadline to file any proposed amendments to Constitution Chapters 10-14 only 
• December 6 - Deadline to file any proposed amendment to the Bylaws 

 
Please submit any Constitutional amendments in writing and support from 10 voting members to Pastor Ben (add his email) and Lisa Nelson ([email protected]).  Submit any Bylaws amendments in writing and support from one (1) voting member to Pastor Ben and Lisa Nelson ([email protected]).
 

• January 5, 2024 – The Council will provide an updated Constitution (if needed) to the congregation 
• January 7, 2024 - Called Congregational Meeting to conduct 1st vote on the Constitution ONLY 
• February 4, 2024 - Annual meeting, second vote on Constitution, and vote on Bylaws 

 
Thank you for your support and attention to this effort.

​This serves as a cordial invitation for You, Your family, and Your friends to attend the traditional Annual German Church Service (in the German language) at Christ Lutheran Church on Saturday, December 9, at 4 PM. This church service is being arranged by the Johanniterorden, the Dallas Goethe Center, and the Deutsche Kirche in Dallas and is being hosted by Christ Lutheran Church; it offers English and German speakers a chance to experience a traditional church service in the German language with traditional Advent songs. The service will also include a special children’s sermon, and it will be followed by a reception afterward with German cookies, cake, and Stollen!
 
The service will be accompanied by singing performances of children of the German International School of Dallas and the Dallas Frohsinn Singer!
 
The service will be presided over by Rev. Ben Dueholm and Rev Kurt Maerschel, Master of Divinity, MA, who will also welcome participating children! 
 
We look forward to welcoming you and your friends to this German North Texas tradition! Please feel free to send this out to anybody interested, to friends and family members.
 
In HIS name! Kind regards,

Andreas K. Bremer, CCIM