Living out her faith > Faces of > Stories > Lakewood

RECENT STORIES

Min Pin rescued by Misha May at Petco Saturday ( Barbara Millman )
Lutheran Entrepreneurs announces July speaker ( Gail Kirkegaard )
Photo Essay: Denver's Haunted Oxford Hotel ( Stan Dyer )
God Bless America! ( Stan Dyer )
What I've learned about being nice ( Gail Kirkegaard )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Lakewood \\ Stories \\ Faces of

Living out her faith

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

NEXT › ‹ PREVIOUS

Contributed by: Charmaine Robledo/YourHub.com on 1/2/2008

Editor's note: Visit our Faces of Lakewood and Edgewater page, where YourHub.com staff and readers can introduce you to more people -- and a dog -- who make this part of the metro area what it is.

Longtime Lakewood United Methodist Church member Lorene Mueller is battling brain cancer. She is recovering from surgery Dec. 17 when Rev. Melanie Rosa stops by to visit her at Hospice of Saint John.

She is elated to see Rosa at her bedside. As they hold hands, Mueller tells Rosa that she loves her.

"I love you, too," Rosa replies.

Mueller laments she sometimes has a hard time remembering who visits her and asks Rosa to write her name on a piece of paper so she knows she came by.

Female pastors bring incredible gifts to the ministry, Rosa, 50, believes. She says women demonstrate compassion and sensitivity and are well suited to being in a pastoral position.

This sentiment may be attributed to Rosa's late mother, Maryann Downs, who was an ordained Methodist minister. However, though Rosa was the daughter of clergy, she didn't seek out a job in the ministry when she was younger.

"I couldn't see myself spending my life in the church," she says. "I thought it was boring."

Nonetheless, "the spiritual question kept biting," she adds. Eventually, Rosa gave in, "and never looked back."

Twenty-three years after being ordained, Rosa says she continually tries to make a difference in the lives of her members and the people of Lakewood.

Looking around Rosa's office, one of the most noticeable things is a framed page of Life magazine with a May 1999 special feature that Rosa and her mother were included in, a testament of their legacy.

The job of a minister may seem like only a weekly sermon from a pulpit, but for Rosa, it is about engaging and being with the community every day.

"We need to meet people where they are," she says. "We need to be culturally relevant without watering down the gospel."

In her 12th year leading the 600-strong congregation, Rosa strives to keep faith relevant in Colorado's fourth-largest city.

"People are so hungry for the word of hope and grace," she says. "Too often, religion excludes or condemns. We need to love people into faith."

It is this sense of love Rosa carries with her as she and Jim Marshall, a church member and minister of mission and youth, deliver Christmas presents to Eiber Elementary School the morning of Dec. 17.

Church members donated toys, games and clothes for students, whom Rosa says are mainly low-income. Though students will have received these gifts without knowledge they were from the church, Rosa is happy in knowing she and many church members had made their Christmas brighter.

Rosa says the church is the best organization in helping and blessing people, and transforming human lives.

Doing mission work and connecting with members are in line with Rosa's goal of "being intentional" when reaching out to the community.

"We need people not trying to convert everyone, but living out their faith," she says. "Ministry is not a job, it's a lifestyle."

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 5 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

Showing 1-3 of 3 comments

Submitted By: Ramona Smith

posted on 1/27/2008 @ 7:57:39 PM

(Not Rated)

I am a long-time member of LUMC, so have known Melanie for 12 years! She is a wonderful, caring person, and we are SO fortunate to have her as our Minister!! I hope she never leaves! Ramona Smith

[Report as objectionable]

Submitted By: Katherine Jerome

posted on 1/3/2008 @ 12:21:53 PM

Rated Story

This is a wonderful example of the special people who make our city better and better. Wouldn't it be something if all stories that made it into the news were upbeat and positive like this one? I think the world could be changed! There's certainly enough love to go around. Her statement of "loving people into faith" is profound. What a great start Charmaine. Thank you!

[Report as objectionable]

Submitted By: Erin Feese

posted on 1/2/2008 @ 3:18:31 PM

Rated Story

Great story Charmaine ... it's great to see women breaking down the gender barriers. That is so cool she was featured in Life!

[Report as objectionable]

Showing 1-3 of 3 comments

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Lakewood

All stories by Charmaine Robledo

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad