Pastor Kae Evensen 651-497-8084 pastorkaee@gmail.com

Pastor Kae Evensen

Join us in welcoming our new pastor, Kae Evensen. Here is a little information about her. I am so grateful you have called me to be your pastor. It is a deep honor to be invited into the Siloa and Salem communities. I look forward to worshipping with you, praying with you, visiting with you, laughing with you, bearing one another’s burdens, andsharing our joys. I look forward to our lives together. I was born in Tucson, Arizona, just west of the Santa Catalina mountains. I lived here and there in Arizona and Texas until I was four years old when I moved to Thousand Oaks, California, just north of Los Angeles. It was here that my dad was asked to start the geology department at California Lutheran and it was here I spent my school years. During the summers my family livednear my grandparents in Mayer, Arizona where my father furthered his research and I hung out with my brother, cattle, horned lizards, Nancy Drew, and apricots. I graduated from California Lutheran University in 1982 with a degree in Liberal Arts/Botany. Some of my best friends are still the small plants growing in the clefts and crevices in the southwest. At 29 years old, my family moved St Paul where I attended Luther Seminary and graduated in 1995 with my Master of Divinity degree. My first call was on the Eastside of St. Paul at a three-point parish at Bethany, Messiah, and Memorial Lutheran churches. After leaving St Paul, I worked as a development editor in adult education at Augsburg Fortress, publishers. My next call was at Lutheran Church of Peace in south Maplewood, and my lastcall was at Mercy Seat Lutheran Church in NE Mpls.\ I am married to Martin Marty (who goes by Marty). We have two adult children, Jimmy and Emily. Our son Jimmy and his wife Katie live in Vadnais Heights with our two grandchildren, Zoe and Logan. Our daughter Emily and her partner Sam live in St Paul. I adore these folks of mine. Currently, we own two goofy dogs, Bertie and Brian, and a cat named Pat. Finally, I am thankful for the people who taught me about Jesus. I am grateful to my mom Helen and my father Jim (who died on Christmas Eve in 1988), for dragging me to church even when I didn’t want to go. I learned from them that God has made a decision about us: We are chosen. We are heirs of Christ’s promises. And God will never leave or fail us. Beloveds in Christ, I’m excited to celebrate with you God’s decision for us! Pastor Kae651.497.8084PastorKaeE@gmail.com

A message from Pastor Kae

The month of March has just flown by but what a wonderful month it has been. It’s beenbusy for sure, but with things that bring me joy: worshipping with you, home visits, FirstCommunion, and just hanging out and getting to know you. Thank you for the gift ofbeing you and inviting me into your lives. As to worship, we’re deep in the heart of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, the churchseasons that are most central to our faith and shape who we are as Christians. It is atthis time of year we enter into worship with Christ in his cross and resurrection. Theseevents are what form us as Christians, not just at this time of year, but every moment ofevery day. This is not an abstraction. We know this because it’s our experience. Everyday we experience cross and resurrection; it’s simply a part of our lives: a spat with ourspouse, someone cuts us off in traffic, a thoughtless coworker, the loss of a pet, a baddiagnosis, an unflattering haircut, a lost phone, worries about a child, the list is endless. In all these daily, ordinary things, we feel loss or grief or anger. But we also know theother side of these things. We also know we experience daily resurrection.Like the dailiness of the cross, we also experience the dailiness of the resurrection. Anencouraging call from a friend, someone telling us they are praying for us, a kindemployee helping us out, the sun’s light shining through a window that brings us joy, apiece of music we hear in church, a kind look from a loved from across the room, acasserole delivered at just the right time, a child or grandchild sharing a success. Smallthings maybe, but glorious and lovely and hopeful too. Jesus’ death and resurrection was an incredibly ordinary event for the leaders whodecided to crucify him. But because we claim this is God in the flesh, we also claim thatthis is an extraordinary event for us and our lives. The cross and resurrection not onlytakes on the big things like sin, death and the devil but also takes on our ordinary livesand our ordinary days. Every moment and every breath we are given are part of God’sredeeming activity. God, through Christ, has claimed us in the cross and resurrection.We are His. And He will never let us go. So, let yourself breathe deeply this Easter season. Enter your whole very human selfinto resting in God and God’s promises. Because yes, life is full of trouble and grief bothlarge and small, but God has promised you life. It’s abundant and daily and hopeful. It isalready here. It is all for you.