CMK KRIER - Central Minnesota Koinonia

CMK KRIER
Spring/Summer
2014
Lenten Reflection
By Deacon Jeff Fromm
Lent! Hmmm…How’s it been going? At this point
we’re about half-way
way through so it’s a good time to
reflect.
The 40 days we call Lent started very early in the
church, when Christian “wannabees”, under the
threat of Roman persecution, took it very seriously.
Lent was a time of “purification and
enlightenment” before their baptism at Easter.
Very soon the whole Church began observing the
season of Lentt in solidarity with these newest
Christians.
Today we certainly do not live under the threat of
Roman persecution. Most of us are actually quite
excited about the encouragement and support that
comes out of Rome lately in the person of our Holy
Father, Pope
pe Francis. But a quick glance around
reminds us that we are living in a culture that
challenges Catholic Christian values and lifestyle.
Our culture today does not affirm the value of life
from that very first heartbeat to the last, the entire
continuum off life. It is a consumer culture that
promotes
“having”
more
than
“giving”.
Commercialism repeatedly tells us that we are not
good enough without the latest cosmetic or car. It
is a culture that makes it very difficult to take
seriously the call to lose ourselves
rselves and be all about
giving life to others.
How do we survive and even thrive as a Christian
today? We must immerse ourselves more deeply in
the gospel call to conversion. “Converted” is when
our words and our lives proclaim that Jesus is Lord
and we believe in our hearts that God has raised
Him from the dead. (from Rom. 10.9) Our lives of
loving others to death is the witness of our
conversion. Seeing the fruit of God’s Spirit active in
our lives is a sign of our conversion.
Well of course we’re only human. God’s knows our
human weakness and does not scorn our sincere
attempts to follow him. What a wonderful gift we
have in the season of Lent. We try to practice the 3
pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, but
even these can be just squeezed
squeeze in or performed
routinely. The key to our deeper conversion or
“purification and enlightenment” is to simply pause
and create the space for reflection. In this quiet,
our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving will bear
amazing fruit.
nt. Make that “appointment”
It’s not too late this Lent.
with God. Just show up for work – and it will be
GOD’S opportunity to work in you. Your lives will
become more and more fruitful as you experience
again His voice saying, “I really, really do love you!”
☺
☺
☺
☺
Area Coordinator or
Board Member
God is faithful and will not let you be
tried beyond your strength. 1 Cor 10:73
What does it mean to be tried beyond your
strength? Some could say that it basically means,
“God won’t give you anything you can’t handle.”
A perfect example of taking this verse to heart and
living the Gospel, is LeRoy and Mary Lou Raden as
they serve in the capacity of Area Coordinators for
Central MN Koinonia. They were invited to be area
coordinators by George Ruhland who was a Board
Memberr at that time. Their “yes” to be area
coordinators did not come easily at first. They say
they were asked many times. You see they already
had very busy lives. They both worked full time,
their children were in college and Mary Lou was
very active with
h United Way, volunteering many
hours for the Relay for Life. Ray and Cele were
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very good teachers and with many prayers and
solid guidance, they helped Mary Lou and LeRoy
that first couple years to make it a smooth
transition.
Over the next 10 years, LeRoy and Mary Lou have
had many changes in their lives. Their children got
married and now they have 4 beautiful grandsons
whom they spend lots of time with. They have lead
Koinonia while struggling with health issues of their
own including battling cancer a couple of times.
They have lead the Board meetings with changing
Board members and new technologies, always
praising God for the gifts and blessings that he has
sent them. They’ve lost count of the miracles that
they have witnessed and have said that just being
part of this program far exceeds any rough spots
they’ve had along the way.
The Area Coordinator position still needs to be
filled. Mary Lou and LeRoy continue to work
tirelessly for this program. We also have 2 Board
positions that need to be filled: a married couple
and a single male. The Lord will not give us
anything that we cannot handle.
So, the big question is, “Is God calling you to serve
Koinonia, either as Area Coordinators, or on the
Board as a married couple or single male?” God
indeed has a plan and we are all a part of this
wonderful community. Please pray about whether
this is a good ministry for you to serve in at this
time. Let us keep Koinonia going. Contact Mary
Lou or LeRoy or any of the Board members if you
have any questions about being a Board member
or area coordinators.
What the World Needs Now
Virgil C. Funk
Hal David, who wrote the well-known song
“What the World Needs Now Is Love,” died in
September of 2012. He and composer Burt
Bacharach created a number of hits in the world of
popular music of the 1960s. But the question
remains: Is love what the world needs now?
When the early followers of Jesus began to sort
through the task of forming a community, they
spoke of four tasks: “They devoted themselves to
the apostles’ teaching and koinonia, to the
breaking of the bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
I’ve kept one word in Greek, koinonia, on purpose,
because there is no single word in English that
translates all of the ideas of the original Greek:
fellowship, communion, sharing, participation,
contribution, and even working together are words
used in attempting to convey its rich meaning by
English translators, but none of them alone provide
the full meaning. It appears that koinonia became a
“specific Christian word” in the early church. It is
used nineteen times in the New Testament.
“The grace of Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of
God, and the koinonia of the Holy Spirit be with
you,” is the ritual greeting first used by Paul (2 Cor
13:14) “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not
a koinonia in the blood of Christ? The bread that
we break, is it not a koinonia in the body of
Christ?” (1 Cor 10:16). We often sing these familiar
antiphons unaware of the rich meaning of the
Greek word koinonia.
When we formed the National Association of
Pastoral Musician (NPM) chapters twenty-five
years ago, we knew that musicians needed a place
for continuing education. Furthermore, I believed
that all education is self-education—that is to say
that we learn by doing. (Thank you, Gene Walsh.) I
thought musicians and clergy needed a place
where self-education and experiential learning
could take place. So I put together a four-part
program: a demonstration of a musical experience,
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followed by a reflection or a critique, followed by a
business meeting, . . . But I needed something to
make it Christian rather than just musical, so I
added koinonia. The NPM diocesan chapters—the
place where parish musicians can gather with one
another—were born.
I knew that if a critique of others’ musical
performances were ever going to be successful, it
must take place in the context of Christianity—and
koinonia is at the heart of my understanding of
Christianity. During my last summer in the
seminary, I spent four months living at Madonna
House with Catherine Doherty and her secular
institute in Canada. There I experienced concrete
Love. There were about ninety people and all of
them, at every moment, were anticipating my
needs before I asked; they were thinking about me
before they thought about themselves. My initial
reaction was to retreat. I couldn’t stand being
loved that much. But soon, and gradually, I
discovered a strategy for coping with their
relentless love: love them before they asked. And
thus, I discovered the koinonia in the church, the
fellowship of the church, the communion of
Christianity. Koinonia is the result of what happens
when people behave like Christians.
I found out that how you learn to love makes a
difference and where you learn to love makes a
difference. Where did you learn to love—and how
did you learn to love—at the NPM chapter? Love
means to give yourself to another through signs.
You are as good a lover as you are a sign-maker.
People in love make signs of love. Koinonia is one
of the four signposts of Christianity.
And it was this experience that I wanted to
share with church musicians through NPM. I
wanted I could imagine was and is for musicians to
gather in small groups and anticipate one another’s
needs: to be for one another and to experience
koinonia.
Koinonia describes the mystical communion
with one another as well as our communion with
the Father and the Son:
What we have seen and heard we proclaim
also to you, so that you may have
koinonia/fellowship with us; and truly our
koinonia/fellowship is with the Father and
with his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 1:3).
Koinonia is a vision: a participation, a
communion, a fellowship, a sharing—even of one’s
possessions. In Luke (5:10), James, John, and Simon
are called koinonia, partners. They work together—
in this case, the fishing business. We work together
in music making for our assemblies in worship. We
have something vital to share and to learn from
one another. And it’s unique to our work as
musicians.
Returning to 1 John: “If we say we have
koinonia/fellowship with him while we walk in
darkness, we lie and do not live according to the
truth; but if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have koinonia/fellowship with one
another” (1 Jn 1:6–7a).
You can’t bypass an imperfect church to get to a
perfect God.
To quote Paul in Philippians:
I thank my God in all my remembrances of
you, always in every prayer of mine for you
all making my prayer with joy, thankful for
the koinonia/ partnership in the gospel
from the first day until now. (1:3–5)
So, if there is any encouragement in Christ,
any incentive of love, any koinonia
/participation in the Spirit, any affection
and sympathy, complete my joy by being of
the same mind, having the same love, being
in full accord and of one mind. (2:1–2)
Indeed, what the world needs now is koinonia.
Rev. Virgil Funk is president emeritus of the National
Association of Pastoral Musicians.
"What the World Needs Now" by Virgil C. Funk. GIA Quarterly 24, no. 3
(2013): 48-49. Copyright © 2013, GIA Publications, Inc. •7404 S. Mason Ave.,
Chicago, IL 60638 www.giamusic.com 800.442.1358
All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.
CMK KRIER
Spring/Summer 2014
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Blessings and Forth Day Notes
by Anita Goth
I had the opportunity to fill in for Mary Lou a few
weeks ago when she and LeRoy took a vacation.
The Board had just sent out the annual fundraising
letter and they were expecting a lot of mail.
We received many donations (blessings), over
$2000.00, from the letter and the Board expresses
their thanks to all of you who have generously
contributed to the support of this program. May
God continue to bless you and your families.
They also received quite a few pieces of returned
mail so we updated our database. However, as I
was updating the database going through the
names, I wondered if anyone knows what
happened to these people and how did they get
out of touch with Koinoinia. I wondered if they
were ever sent a Forth Day letter and did someone
from their table not keep in contact with them. I
have to admit that I am not the best at writing
notes and cards to keep in contact with the people
who have been on tables with me. I do always
send back the name tag that I get and send a little
note with it. In these days of social media, are we
losing touch with the written word and sending
notes.
Here are a few tips for writing notes and cards:
☺ Remember that Jesus is the Word, and He will
help us write the notes that we send, so Pray
before putting pen (pencil, crayon, marker, etc.) to
the paper and ask God to help you write the words
that the person needs to hear.
☺ Use a computer to write your note, I type
better than I print and it goes faster for me.
☺ It doesn’t have to be a long note. I remember
receiving one note card where the only words
written on the inside were “Happy Forth Days”. It
brought a smile to my face, and it is the one that I
remember most when I think of all the cards I have
received.
☺ It’s never too late to send a card. Get out your
old rosters and send a card for Easter, Memorial
Day, Independence Day or on their birthday.
☺ Put an application in the note, invite them back
and then be a Wheatie for them.
Hope your Forth Days are going well!! We’ve
missed you. Hugs all Around!!!
Life is but a
journey,
death is returning
home. Chinese Proverb
Nancy Macht - #152, preceded in death by her
husband Dick also a Koinonian (many of you
have a rosary that Dick & Nancy lovingly made
and donated to CMK for many years)
Gladys Bonte #65, mother of Jackie Aune
Ray Messer, son of Elaine Messer
Bernetta Heinen, mother of Andy Heinen
Bro. Roman Fleischacker, #3
Gail Martell, daughter of Bob & Lois Martell
Dave Popp, brother of Fr. Ken Popp
Rod Carson, father of Muriel Roessler
Marlene June Thern, mother of Shari Streit
Don Zierden, #162, survived by 4 children
Rose Schreiber, mother of Ken Schreiber
Carol Brytn, sister of Mary Simon & Becky
Sheggeby
Kenneth Kirsch, brother of Mary Simon & Becky
Sheggeby
Ray Loxterkamp- #96, husband of Ermenia, also
father to several children who also were Koinonians
Arnold Zachman, #51, father of Greg Zachman
Eternal rest grant unto them,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
O
Lord,
May the souls of the faithful departed, through the
mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
Donations/Memorials $200 donation in memory of Jerry Discher
$50 donation in memory of Ray Messer
Contact Mary Lou if you want to make a donation
to CMK in memory or in honor of a loved one.
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CMK #197
Prayer of St. Francis
March 1-3, 2013
Candidates: Amanda Hellman, Delchamps Kabore,
Steve & Deb Dufresne, Joann Doroff, Jesse & Sherry
Heinen, Dee Lehner, Peter Rausch, Donna Halbert,
Doris Studinski, Nancy Krump, Carroll Dick, Pam
Newell, Alecia Gross, Donna Cushman.
The Peace Prayer of St. Francis was our meaningful
theme song for the Lenten weekend. Two weeks
later at our mini reunion we were all excited about
our new Pope Francis! We all became instruments
of God's peace & love on the weekend & on our
forth days. Thank you Fr. David Maciej for serving
as our spiritual director. Thank you to our beautiful
team & wheaties also for making a difference in
the candidates lives
LD: Doris Mitchell & Shari Streit
CMK #198
September 1-3, 2013
Candidates: Paul Uphus, Kevin Hejna, Cheryl
Waseka, John Dufresne, Mary Strohmayer, Kathy
Oleschlager, Nicole Rowland, Kathy Flynn, Andrena
Cangi, Pamela Haukeness, Micahel Sidime.
LD: Dean & Becky Gould
CMSK #16
“ME HAS SEDUCIDO SENOR”
OCTUBRE 11-13, 2013
Candiatos: Yoanna Ayala-Zaldana, Roselia Maria
Perez, Eduardo Ramires Alvarado, Jorge Garcia,
Lorena Chavez, Zenaida Razo, Yoana Botello
Sanchez, Alejandra Ambriz, Fidel Mamirez, Lucia
Zavala, Jose Guadalupe Becerra, Felipe Sedeno
Cruz, Allan Amaya, Olga Vargas Sanchez, Pedro
Sandoval, Evangelina Bibriezca, Gabriela Rodriguez,
Horacio Aguilar, Carlos Rangel Saldana, Mayra
Flores, Guillermina Urbano, Rocio Rivera, Ruben
Urbano, Maria Villagomez, Teresa Franco, Berunice
Cervantes, Luis Garcia, Daniela Acosta, Ana
Cervantes, Gabriel Walz, Jorge Acevedo, Jose
Trinidad Paramo, Baltazar Martinez, Victoria
Sandoval, Herssan Sotelo, Cristian Ledesma,
Ernestina Martinez, Marisol Martinez, Maribel
Barrera, Veronica Botello, Bernardo Chavez, David
Cerona, Narda Romero, Rosie Gonzalez, Danilo
Martinez, Alfredo Arce and one Trigo: Alondra
Hernandez
CMK #199
Sing a New Song
November 1-3, 2013
Candidates: Michael Hoffman, Kelly Benner, James
Fussy, Debbie Williams, Jim Tembrock, Mary Ellen
Klein, Gloria Haider, OSF, Missy Hilgers, Ann
Backowski, Dorothy Zumwalde, Sarah Buhr, Ulrich
Tofack, Chris Schlack
When we chose the theme song, "Lead Me, Lord,"
we wanted to see our faith as active, as going out
into the world. Before we returned to the world,
we experienced forgiveness, the love of God
through each other, and the developing of a loving
community. We were blessed this weekend with
wonderful candidates, who experienced God's love
in a number of ways. The talks, the music, and the
sharing were amazing! Fr. Ernie Martello' s talks,
gentleness, and presence was a blessing. It was a
wonderful weekend! We look forward to serving
again! ☺
LD: Jeff & Rebecca Maciej
CMK #200
All That Is Hidden
January 24-26, 2014
Candidates: Joel Havercamp, Karla Wolter, Patrick
Vogt, Stan Beck, Joel Donnell, Gina LeMon, Kristen
Gorian, Kathy Zeise, Chris Schlack, Deacon Mark
Stenger, John Strohmayer, Jr., John Strohmayer,
Sr., Carl Nord, Delchamps Kabore.
CMK KRIER
Spring/Summer 2014
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We had 14 beautiful candidates on this snowstorm
weekend. We all came with our bits of darkness
and Christ transformed us on our journey
encountering him on this walk with him sharing his
sacraments and his deep love for us. The beautiful
music moved us seamlessly throughout the
weekend. We were blest with an awesome team.
Deacon Jeff Fromm fed our spiritual needs in a way
we could all grasp. Our weekend ended a bit more
abruptly than was planned because of the weather
conditions on Sunday, but we felt it was necessary
to give everyone the opportunity to go home
before it was not possible to safely do so. We ask
you candidates to come back and be a wheatie so
you can see a Koinonia weekend to its normal
completion.
“ALL
THAT
IS
HIDDEN”
Refrain: All that is hidden will be made clear. All
that is dark now will be revealed. What you have
heard in the dark proclaim in the light; what you
hear in whispers proclaim from the house tops.
Your lay directors; Mary Lou and Anita
ANNOUNCING...........
KOINONIA FAMILY
SUMMER PICNIC
Join your fellow Koinonians for food,
fellowship, music? & FUN.
SATURDAY,
JULY 26th, 2014
1 pm to 6 pm or so
CMSK #17
“QUE QUIERES QUE HAGA POR TI?”
MARZO 14-16, 2014
Candidatos:
Mariana Acosta, Blanca Chavez,
Guadalupe Montanez, Miguel Angel Valencia, Noe
Ulices Montanez, Maria Valencia, Adelita Ortiz,
Erika Carrillo, Alejandro Chavez, Karina Cervantes
Ramirez, Adriana Cardona, Susana Molina, Ricardo
Vasques, Salvador Acevedo, Edith Bautista, Ester
Saavedra, Artemia Ambriz, Reina Escobar, Blanca
Flor Becerra, Julio Cesar Razo, Carolina V. Diaz,
Miguel Garcia, Juan Raya, Israel Diaz, Maria Ambriz,
Kevin Franco, Ana Maria Nava, Rene Gonzalez,
Olivia Gonzalez, Fernando Chavez, Ada Ramirez,
Salvador Gutierrez, Imelda Ubaldo, Felipa Soriano,
Armando Pliego, Aureliano Sanchez, Maria Rubio
Quirez, Daniela Ruiz, Isaias Cuevas, Patricia Cuevas,
Reyes Colin, Hector Esquisel, Mary Susana
Anderson, and one Trigo: Alison Swobada
The home of Ron & Karen Leither
21076 Edgewater Rd, Richmond, MN
(watch for balloons)
Gather at 1:00pm or whenever
Potluck Supper at 4:30pm
Campfire sometime after Supper.
Kids Games and Lawn Games
Bring a dish to share, your own beverages and
lawn chairs. If you have a lawn game or other
game, you can
can bring that as well.
Water, plates, & utensils will be furnished.
Call (320) 293293-2080 if you need help finding
their house.
CMK KRIER
Spring/Summer 2014
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We are on FACEBOOK; join us to keep up to date
with your fellow Koinonians.
http://www.facebook.com – Central Minnesota
Koinonia
We love to get prayer requests and informational and
inspirational posts that may help us grow in our faith. We
thank you for keeping our Facebook page a safe, confidential
and inspirational place for people to grow in love and
community.
Prayers start now for the formation of these teams.
Please add these dates to your calendar and keep
the teams and candidates who need to be on these
weekends in your daily prayers.
Reunionites are always needed for Saturday. If you
haven’t attended a Spanish CMSK Reunion, please
consider attending. They are a truly AWESOME
experience. The Holy Spirit is present in amazing
ways in all our lives. Let us all share HIS LOVE with
our new Koinonia family members.
DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Applications are being
accepted for team, wheat
and candidates for the
following retreats:
2014
PUT THIS ON YOUR FRIDGE
CMK 2014 SATURDAY REUNION DATES:
CMSK # 18 – May 3
CMK # 202 – September 13
CMSK # 19 – October 11
CMSK # 18 – May 2-4
CMK # 203 – November 15
CMK # 202 – September 12-14
CMSK # 19 – October 10-12
CMK # 203 – November 14-16
CMK 2015 SATURDAY REUNION DATES:
CMK #204 – January 24, 2015
CMSK#20 – February 28, 2015
2015 Retreat Weekends
English Weekends
#204 – January 23-25, 2015
CMK#205 – March 14, 2015
CMSK#21 – May 2, 2015
#205 – March 13-15, 2015
CMK#206 – September 19, 2015
#206 – September 18-20, 2015
CMSK#22 – October 10, 2015
#207 – November 13-15, 2015
Spanish Weekends
#20 – February 27-March 1, 2015
#21 – May 1-3, 2015
#22 – October 9-11, 2015
CMK#207 – November 14, 2015
REMINDER: A fabulous meal prepared by the Wheat Team is
served at 6:00 pm. This provides plenty of opportunity to
catch up with your fellow Koinonians who you haven’t seen in
a while. Suggested offering is $2.00. Come early and get
premium parking and seating.
Gather in the Opat Hall (white building) at the North end or
behind the TEC Center in Belle Prairie
NON-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION
US POSTAGE
PAID
Permit NO 452
St. Cloud, MN 55303
Central MN Koinonia
Division of St. Cloud Diocese
Box 1248
St Cloud MN 56302
Central Minnesota Koinonia- CMK
Area Coordinators – LeRoy & Mary Lou Raden
PHONE:
320-293-2080
E-mail: [email protected]
Link to web-page: http://www.centralmnkoinonia.org

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