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A "Three-Mile-an-Hour God" Church WELCOME
Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska
Three-Mile-an-Hour God
Shepherd of the Hill is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA) (click here to learn more) in Chaska, Minnesota where we celebrate God's unconditional love for everyone, a church where the soul is fed and the collective mind gets challenged. And we mean it.
In a world where a person has to be all shiny with no dents, Shepherd of the Hill in Chaska is a bit different. We proclaim God's unconditional love for everyone. In the words of theologian Kosuke Koyama, we worship a three-mile-an-hour God. The God we know in Jesus is patient! More like the tortoise than the hare. So we're not in the fast lane. God is walking with us. No one gets left behind. And we know how to laugh at ourselves. We laugh with people, not at them.
At Shepherd of the Hill we think of the ideal church the way the little 12-stool Ideal Diner in Minneapolis does. Above the lunch counter hangs a sign: "Where regular people feel special and special people feel regular" (see About Us page).
As you'll see on the Mission page ("Ourselves in Transformation"), we don't pretend to have all the answers. But we know where to start in the revelation of the three-mile-an-hour God in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and we're not afraid of tough questions. We expect you to bring your mind with you to church!
When you call on the phone or email us with a need, request, or question; when you enter the front door for food supplies or for a morning of worship or for a Tuesday evening Dialogues event, we hope you'll find a warm, friendly welcome that respects your need to go at your own pace.
That is to say, we like to think Shepherd of the Hill makes a natural home for seekers and for those whose questions have broken open the old belief structures. To change the image, we see the church as a kind of milkweed seed pod in which people let go of outworn faith and ways of thinking in order for the heart and mind to be raised up in a new form.
If you're looking for a church like that little Ideal Diner; if you're looking for new ways to live after the fashion of the three-mile-an-hour God who meets us in Jesus Christ; if you're longing for worship that gets you out of yourself and into the presence of the Living God, consider joining us for worship or for a Dialogues event. There's always room for one more person with dents and wants to live away from the fast lane for the sake of a saner and more responsible way of living.
A Place for You
Milkweed Seed Pod - Scroll down to read
"At the Feet of God's Mercy"
Worship This Sunday
Kenneth Byerly preaching June 22
Gordon Stewart preaching June 29
(click here)
Finding Us
It's simple. But the online maps make it difficult! So be warned. Click the Location button for map.)
Shepherd of the Hill is at the SOUTHEAST CORNER of State Highway 41 and Engler Blvd. in Chaska, less than a mile south of new Highway 312 Chaska exit.
OFFICE HOURS
8:30 - 2:30 Monday through Wednesday
8:30 - 12:00 Thursday
Phone (952) 448-3882
Dialogues: Public Issues
Shepherd of the Hill is the Home of Dialogues: examining critical public issues locally and globally. Click the Dialogues button for detailed information.
A program for Chaska and the Chaska area, Dialogues brings speakers to Shepherd of the Hill to address public issues that affect us all. It?s our attempt to generate public discussion about things like terrorism, religious pluralism, poverty, justice, war and caring for the planet. As a program for the Chaska area, every Dialogues program is free and open to the public.
The 2008 Spring Series, The Good Green Earth: Sustainability, addressed the ways we look at Earth and how to answer the call to environmental stewardship. Click here to read Mollee Francisco's March 26 Chaska Herald article ("Dialogues Go Green") or go to the Dialogues page for more information.
The only Presbyterian Church in Chaska and Carver County, MN, Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church adds a different color to the landscape. Rooted in the "Reformed Tradition" we view faith and reason as essential companions. The life of faith is also the life of the mind, constantly changing, reforming for the sake of the common good and the healing of creation. In that spirit, we started Dialogues in 2005 as a community program whereby the culture's prevailing mind would be examined and where people of all persuasions would re-create the old public square for the 21st century. Dialogues about critical public issues express an essential part of Shepherd of the Hill's identity and mission. Click the About Us and Mission buttons for more about our self-understanding.
Each Dialogues presentation is followed by direct audience dialogue with the speaker(s) and light refreshments. Shepherd of the Hill Pastor Gordon Stewart, former Moderator of the Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis, serves as Moderator, introducing the speakers and facilitating the dialogue among participants and the speaker.
Click here to watch previously recorded Dialogues programs courtesy of Chaska TV. The replay of the October Dialogue with Clyde Bellecourt is also available to Chaska TV subscribers on Channel 15 Mondays and Wednesdays at 7:00 A.M.; Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:00 A.M.; and Saturdays at 5:00 P.M.
To receive updates on Dialogues events by mail or email submit your request using the form on the Contact Us page.
Worship & Education
Shepherd of the Hill celebrates God's unconditional love for everyone with worship and education that feed the soul and challenge the mind. And we mean it.
In our worship we celebrate the redeeming presence of the three-mile-an-hour God with robust congregational singing, preaching that feeds the soul, moves the heart and challenges the mind, and joyful choral and instrumental music led by Liberian-born pianist and choir director Momoh Freeman, who combines classical, jazz and gospel in ways that often take our breath away. As a Presbyterian Church we value the Reformed tradition that expects a powerful word from the pulpit. The preaching at Shepherd of the Hill (see the Leadership page) has been recognized by Harper & Row's publication of our pastor's sermons "Jesus and the Woman at the Well" in Best Sermons 2 and "An Idea Whose Time Has Come" (a call to planetary stewardship) in Best Sermons 3. Click here to read Rev. Stewart's recent sermon "Kicking the Rock" on the relationship between "virtual reality" and "reality" in the light of Matthew's narrative of Jesus's temptation in the wilderness.
Worship (click Worship button) is the center of everything we do at Shepherd of the Hill. It' the heartbeat without which we do not exist. For that reason, children of all ages attend worship and experience a time with Pastor Gordon before they go to church school classes to learn about the same biblical stories and texts that ground the sermon for the day. Families have common ground for discussing what they've learned over lunch!
Shepherd of the Hill's music is flavored by Momoh Freeman's unique renditions that blend contemporary, traditional, gospel and jazz, as well as hymns from around the world. We often end the service by singing the African American Spiritual "I've Got Peace Like a River" which ends, "I've got joy like a fountain; I've got joy like fountain. I've got joy like a fountain in my soul. I?ve got love like an ocean; I've got love like an ocean; I've got love like an ocean in my soul."
The Education page tells you about learning opportunities for children and adults. Adults gather each Sunday for Sermon Table Talk, an open discussion of the day's sermon with the pastor and other worshipers. Between worship and Sermon Table Talk is a coffee hour where all ages engage in lively fellowship and conversation.
Heart & Mind
God is calling us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We do that first and foremost in thoughtful worship and preaching, and in education for all ages.
Distinctive to Shepherd of the Hill is Community Dialogues: examining critical public issues locally and globally, a mini Town Hall Forum for the Chaska area.
Dialogues' Spring Series on Sustainability ended with a bang May 13 with Sustainability Associates President Terry Gips, Mayor Gary VanEyll, Outland Renewable Energy's Jay Allsop, Chaska resident Gary Severson, and President of MN Qwest John Stanoch.Gordon Stewart, Terry Gips, Mayor Gary VanEyll
Dialogues will continue next autumn.
For information on how to advance the cause of sustainable living, click on The Alliance for Sustainability and on Congregations Concerned for Creation.
At the Feet of God's Mercy
Have you ever looked at a milkweed seed pod in October? Is it dead, or is it alive? Or is it both at the same time?
As disciples of Jesus, we are like seeds - constantly dying and being raised up in new forms. And we see the world that way as well. We see the world as the theater of God?s glory. Therefore we engage the worlds inside us and the world itself in the name of the crucified and risen Christ. Like the milkweed, everything is in process toward the New Being revealed in Christ!
Mission at Shepherd of the Hill, then, means participating in God's transforming work of reconciling the world to God's own Self. It means that the first thing you see when you enter the front door is a food shelf from which people in need may take what they need, no questions asked. No forms to fill out. No embarrassing questions. It means sending survival packages to those in need in New Orleans and across the globe through Presbyterian Disaster Relief Services (Click here for PDRS link).
But it's not just about ameliorating suffering. Sometimes it means advocating for those in our society who have no voice. It means addressing the causes of injustice. Finding practical ways to address the roots of racism, bigotry, greed, and other forms of discrimination. It means working for peace in a violent world.
But always it means placing ourselves at the feet of God's mercy, asking for what the Apostle Paul called transformation by the renewing of your mind. Inside the seed pod of Shepherd of the Hill the seeds are always falling and rising through the Dialogues, discussions of Dialogues presentations, Sermon Table Talk, Advent and Lenten Series, the Friday Book Club, and other informal gatherings that feed the soul and challenge the mind.
But mission and ministry flow out of joyful and thoughtful worship where we slow down to catch up with the three-mile-an-hour God. At the feet of God's mercy, we slow down the pace to really see, smell, feel, hear and taste life . In worship we re-orient ourselves to walk with the Risen Christ, the Stranger, who joined two desparing disciples on the Road to Emmaus after the horror of crucifixion, a three-mile-an-hour God who's patient and off the fast track.
Now one-eighth of a mile south of new Highway 212 (temporarily called 312) on State Highway 41 at the Chaska exit.
Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, home of "Dialogues: examining critical public issues locally and globally", celebrates God's unconditional love for everyone and seeks to feed the soul and challenge the mind with worship, education, outreach, and community gatherings that promote the common good in the name of Christ. Gordon C. Stewart, frequent guest commentator on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) "All Things Considered", is our Pastor.