Minnesota Prairie Roots

Writing and photography by Audrey Kletscher Helbling

Focus on compassion & thankfulness this Thanksgiving week November 26, 2025

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jesus multiplied two fish into enough to feed 5,000 people. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted file photo)

“THE SMALL LITTLE LUNCH became more than enough.” That statement, made during the Rev. Bruce Stam’s sermon at Trinity Lutheran Church in Faribault on Sunday morning, really resonates with me in this week of thanksgiving.

Stam was referencing the feeding of the five thousand as recorded in all four gospels and specifically in John 6:1-13. In that story, Jesus and his disciples are faced with a hungry crowd and nothing to feed them. That is until Andrew notices a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish or, as Stam termed it, “a happy meal.” I laughed. I appreciate humor in sermons.

I expect the disciples were not laughing, but rather were highly-skeptical when Jesus suggested that the boy’s meager meal could feed thousands. I would feel that way, too. But Jesus took the loaves and the fish, gave thanks and there was enough to feed everyone. With leftovers.

A Thanksgiving week message outside Faribault Church of Christ. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)

There are several takeaways from this miracle of feeding 5,000 people. First, God provides. That’s clear and Stam emphasized that point. In my own life, I’ve seen God provide again and again to meet my needs whether physical, mental, emotional or spiritual. I live in a house that is paid for. I have enough to eat. I have loving and supportive family and friends. I’ve had excellent healthcare. The list goes on and on. It’s not that I have the biggest, best or most. But I have enough.

And on that referenced day during biblical times, there was enough bread and fish in a small boy’s lunch to miraculously feed thousands. Jesus, the Rev. Stam said, opened his heart to compassion and fed the hungry.

As I jotted sermon notes, I began to better understand how Jesus taught compassion on that day. He could have ignored the hungry crowd, although that may have been a bit difficult to do given the sheer numbers. Rather, Jesus fed them. His disciples handed out the bread and fish and gathered the leftovers. They were learning an important lesson in compassion as active participants in a compassionate and caring act.

A kindness rock photographed among plants in the Waterville Community Patio. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo October 2025)

Just like the disciples, we are each capable of compassion, of giving to others. Perhaps we only have a happy meal to share. Or maybe we have an entire Thanksgiving feast to offer. I’m speaking figuratively here. The point is that, as the Rev. Stam said, this world needs compassionate love. And we can give that through monetary and food donations, volunteerism, kindness, anything really that shows care and love for our fellow human beings.

Finally, in the biblical feeding of the five thousand, two other words resonate with me. And those are “gave thanks.” Jesus gave thanks when he took the loaves and fish and then multiplied them. This week “thanks” is the focus, or should be the focus, of our thoughts.

Thank you to the readers who sent these cards to me. Your kindness touched me. (Minnesota Prairie Roots copyrighted photo November 2025)

I am thankful for you, dear readers. I am thankful for everyone who tells me how much they appreciate my writing and photography. I am thankful for my family, especially the birth of my second grandson in January. I am thankful for time spent at a family lake cabin. I am thankful for freedom of speech. I am thankful for a locally strong arts scene. I am thankful for friends, those who are long-time and those I’ve only just met. I am thankful for too many reasons to count…

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May you always be blessed with “enough” and with a heart of compassion.

TELL ME: What are you especially thankful for this Thanksgiving?

© Copyright 2025 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Succinct Sunday sermon June 1, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 6:00 AM
Tags: , , , , ,

Edited photo shot while driving by Trinity Lutheran Church sign, Arkdale, Wisconsin.

Edited photo shot while driving by Trinity Lutheran Church sign, Arkdale, Wisconsin.

Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Consider the lilies February 2, 2014

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 1:54 PM
Tags: , , , , , , ,

“NO WONDER IT FEELS SO COLD,” my husband said when he returned to the warmth of the house and checked the outdoor air temp this morning. “It’s 16 below.”

An overview of flower art from members of Trinity Lutheran Church, Faribault, Minnesota, displayed in the chancel during weekend worship services.

An overview of flower art from members of Trinity Lutheran Church, Faribault, Minnesota, displayed in the chancel during weekend worship services.

Bundled in our coats, caps and gloves, we trundled outside to the warming Chrysler for the short drive to Trinity Lutheran Church. There we would find a breath of spring—an assortment of flower art—to lift our spirits.

A floral batik by Arlene Rolf graces a wall in the narthex. Inside the sanctuary, my flower photos are showcased on the screens.

A floral batik by professional artist and Trinity member Arlene Rolf graces a wall in the narthex. Inside the sanctuary (left through glass wall), my flower photos are showcased on three screens.

This is precisely what we needed on a morning when Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, indicating six more weeks of winter. Not that we Minnesotans need Phil to show us that. We know our winter will run into mid-March and most certainly longer.

The beautiful and stunning floral quilt art by Kevin Kreger is displayed below a wood carving by noted Faribault artist Ivan Whillock. Kreger coordinated the "Consider the Lilies" floral display at Trinity.

This beautiful and stunning hand-pieced floral quilt art by Kevin Kreger is displayed below a wood carving by noted Faribault artist Ivan Whillock in the sanctuary. This photo is taken looking up from the bottom of the wall hanging.  Kreger, a gifted quilter and musician, coordinated the “Consider the Lilies” floral display.

But for this one hour, we focused on the beauty of flowers, of God’s creation, and the very real promise that God cares for us, just as He does the lilies of the field. “God is in control of our lives,” said the Rev. Warren Schmidt.

Church secretary Jennie Kingland created this lush detailed floral in counted cross stitch.

Church secretary Jennie Kingland created this lush, detailed floral in counted cross stitch.

As Rev. Schmidt’s sermon, “Consider the Lilies,” unfolded, he placed us in the lush setting where Jesus preached his “Sermon on the Mount.”

Flower art buffeted both sides of the chancel, here near the baptismal font and pulpit.

Flower art buffeted both sides of the chancel, here near the baptismal font and pulpit.

Earlier, we’d listened to the gospel lesson, Jesus’ words written in Matthew 6:24-34, including these verses:

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

This same hand-embroidered art, displayed in church, hangs above my bed.

This same hand-embroidered art design, displayed in church, hangs above my bed.

To listen to those reassuring words, to view the beautiful floral art and the bouquets of flowers uplifted me.

"Is there beauty in the cross?" asked the Rev. Warren Schmidt. He emphasized the height, depth, breadth and width of God's love for us, shown in His son's death on the cross so that we might have eternal life.

“Is there beauty in the cross?” asked the Rev. Warren Schmidt. He emphasized the height, depth, breadth and width of God’s love for us, shown in His son’s death on the cross so that we might have eternal life.

I am assured of God’s love and care for me. And, because of Christ’s death on the cross, as the pastor said, we are “the perfection of beauty before God the Father.”

Glorious floral art by Marilyn Borchert.

A snippet of bold floral art by Marilyn Borchert.

How wonderful is that?

birds

From Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

If God cares for the flowers and the birds and the rest of His creation, so surely He values and cares for us.

© Copyright 2014 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Sermon on a stick September 1, 2013

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 4:51 PM
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Sermon on a pencil

IN THE UNLIKLIEST OF PLACES, inside a box of vintage bullet pencils at the Rice County Steam and Gas Engines Flea Market, between the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D., and Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills, I spotted a mini sermon:

Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”—John 14:6

© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling

 

Worshipping at a country church October 16, 2011

Filed under: Uncategorized — Audrey Kletscher Helbling @ 10:00 AM
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Before worship services on a Sunday morning at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown.

“THERE’S ONE MORE THING to do,” said the Rev. Merle Lebahn, vacancy pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church, North Morristown, before dismissing his congregation. “Give ‘em heaven!”

And so concluded one of the most dynamic worship services I’ve attended in a long time. Pastor Lebahn didn’t deliver a fire-and-brimstone sermon in this country church. But he shared a message memorable both in content and method of presentation.

Pastor Lebahn gets front and center when he gives the children's lesson, just as he does during the sermon.

He’s not a preach-from-the-pulpit style of preacher, but rather an up-close, center-of-the aisle, close-to-his-flock kind of clergyman. His voice rises to a near shout when he wants to emphasize a point and then drops to a quiet, gentle cadence to drive home the message.

And that message last Sunday reflected on the gospel lesson from Luke 10 and the story of the Good Samaritan. Remember that bible story about the beaten man lying at the side of the road, passed by many until, finally, a Samaritan stopped to help?

Rev. Lebahn told us we were the beaten ones lying in the ditch until we received Christ.

He talked, too, about crossroads in our lives and about the people God brings into those crossroads.

I could go on and on about that sermon. But I think you get the main point delivered by this 78-year-old clergyman who looks, and acts, considerably younger than a near octogenarian. Consider his foot stomping and arm flailing and constant motion. I got tired just watching from my end-pew position in this sanctuary that holds 26 six-person pews on the lower level and a few more in the balcony.

A view of the balcony in this 1938 rural church.

It’s the type of snug church where you won’t get away with napping during the sermon, like you could anyway under Pastor Lebahn’s watch.

There’s something about worshipping in a small country church like this that you can’t replicate in a modern, large-scale church, even if you incorporate stained glass windows or other elements from an historic building.

I felt a sense of connection, of closeness, on Sunday as the congregation joined in prayer—for those celebrating anniversaries and birthdays and for those in need—and sang old favorite hymns like “Oh, That the Lord Would Guide My Ways.”

Looking from the entry into the sanctuary during worship services.

In the back of the church are pews for families with little ones.

Farm boy, 6-year-old Jonathan, after services in the basement.

You can’t help but feel close when you’re tucked into tightly-jammed pews in a place where a comfortable pair of jeans is as common as a suit and tie and where farm kids like 6-year-old Jonathan bring a mini toy John Deere haybinder to church to keep his little hands busy.

Because just outside the church doors lie fields of corn and alfalfa and soybeans…

To the right of the cornerstone, in the distance, you can see corn fields.

Looking heavenward...

The Last Supper art on the lower part of the altar.

In my next post about this church, I'll take you into the basement where this sign is located.

CHECK BACK FOR A POST about the harvest dinner at this country church following the worship service.

© Copyright 2011 Audrey Kletscher Helbling