The Meaning of Life

Luke 12: 13-21 and Animal Sunday  

What is life really for? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Even if we weren’t gathering on a Sunday morning as people trying to discover who God is, what Jesus invites us to do with our lives, even if we don’t really grasp the Holy Spirit in our midst… even then, we might still have these deeper questions about what life is about from time to time.

And as we’re divided as a nation, as a globe, and as families about the answers to those persistent questions.  Is life about sharing? Well, sharing is good… but when someone in the crowd says to Jesus, “Hey Jesus, tell my older brother to divide the family inheritance with me!” Jesus doesn’t say anything except he’s not going to judge on that. That feels a little surprising, doesn’t it? Especially if we think that’s mostly what God and church is about… to help us be better people, more loving, more sharing… it seems weird that Jesus won’t weigh in on what seems like a pretty simple justice issue like that. Share with your brothers and sisters—a no-brainer, right?

But instead of giving a common sense kind of answer, Jesus tells a story that digs deeper. The parable is about a rich farmer who has such an enormous harvest that he can’t even fit all the crops in the barns he already has… in that way, he is rich. Finally, finally, he feels like he has enough to “relax, eat, drink, be merry.” He’s been waiting his whole life for this moment, putting off enjoyment until finally, finally, he has more than enough.

But in another way, this parable is about the poorest man we meet in scripture… until his encounter with God that night, there is not one other person in this parable, he is completely isolated. We don’t know if his pursuit of wealth got him to this place of being utterly alone, but we’ve certainly heard stories like that before.  He talks to himself in the third person. There is no apparent thought about who he might share this abundant harvest with… there’s just him. And when God shows up, the conversation is about how this poor guy’s priorities were just utterly messed up.

Hoarding stuff or dividing stuff in order to make up for the relationships that are broken will just never work. That’s the hard truth that rings out in this story. Life is short, too short to give power and meaning to things that are not lasting, but we are surrounded (and evidently, have always been surrounded) by so many voices that tell us something else.

One pastor at text study cited a study from some years back that whatever people’s income level, when polled, they consistently answered that if they just had 30% more than they have right now, they would be alright. Don’t you think that for everyone… from the poorest, the middle (or the new middle) class, to the wealthiest to be convinced that we need just this much more means that we must be drinking that message in constantly, almost like it’s pollution in the water we drink, the air we breathe.

So, how do we live a different story, given that very powerful dominant story of not quite enough, not ever quite enough?

Well, maybe one unexpected answer is in our practices each Sunday…

            We relax, eat, drink, and find reasons to be merry—wait, what?

We breathe in peace, we share a meal, we find reasons for joy… all along the way of life, struggling against isolation by coming together in imperfect community, before we’ve got life all figured out, before we have more than enough…

We share—not only a portion of our resources to do good in the word, but we share our highs and lows, our milestones with one another.

We read a Bible verse or story.

We talk about how the story we’ve read might relate to your highs and lows.

We pray for one another’s highs and lows.

And we bless one another—with a meal, with words and good touch, and words of peace.

Share, read, talk, pray, bless.[1]

It’s what we do on Sundays, but given that powerful counter-stories are in the air and water all around us, maybe Sunday isn’t enough… and so here’s the suggestion I hear this week. We need to do these 5 things—some call them the “Faith 5” every night, in every home. Maybe that means around the supper table or five minutes before bedtime… whenever you have 5 to 15 minutes to give to the others in your home. If you live alone, maybe that means calling up another person from church as a partner in ministry so that everyone that gathers here on Sunday would have the opportunity to listen and be listened to every day of the week. How might that change our lives?

Well, the Faith 5 website says this, “When done over time, the FAITH5™ carries the power to enrich communication, deepen understanding, aid sleep, and promote mental, physical and spiritual health.” Rich Melheim, who developed this resource, pointed out how important the last five minutes of our day is for our brain health. Whatever we are reflecting on during those last minutes, move through neuro-connections all through the night. Those last thoughts each day circle through our dreams; they are with us in wakeful moments throughout the night. So, what if the words and stories of the Bible, the highs and lows of our loved ones, the prayers and blessings we’ve shared were the bedrock of our brain’s work all night? Just that thought alone makes me want to try it…

Add to that, that praying for and blessing one another, holding one another’s hands is vitally important for physical health—and if that sounds weird to do, which it might, if we’re out of practice (or if we’ve never tried it), but physiologically, good words and good touch send positive endorphins throughout our bodies and help cortisol go out our bodies. I’m not sure exactly why or how… but turns out, there’s evidence for that as well. Why would we not want to do that for ourselves, and for those we love? Why wouldn’t we want to practice that, not just on Sundays but every day?

And then, one other detail… think of the time we give each day to other kinds of pursuits, to social media, to TV or news… yes, we’re busy, but are we really too busy for 5 to 15 minutes daily for these activities with the people we love the most? With the God who loves us more deeply than we can even comprehend?

Here’s what I know… my family has tried something like this practice during Advent, and it is powerful and good each year. Why not a daily practice? We’re not too busy to try… and if we try and some days we can’t do it, wouldn’t it be worth it to keep trying for any day we could?

This parable of Jesus about a man who had everything but was about to lose it all, a person who had no one else to share life’s questions with reminds us that there is an urgency to the good news of Jesus Christ… of God’s steadfast love…

We don’t want to be stuck thinking that the meaning of life is about gathering and heaping up a lot of stuff or experiences or whatever else is less important than the body of Christ and the work of Christ… and we need practices that can help us know God and practice faith and community in our lives every day.  Relax, eat, drink, and be merry… that might be one surprising way to think about what we do each week together. The Faith 5 – another possibility for practicing our faith together, with intentionality in a culture that often teaches us to prioritize the wrong things…

In Jesus Christ, we have been set free—to be in relationships where we share, read, talk, pray, bless—and through the power of the Holy Spirit, God invites us discover the meaning in this kind of life.

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[1] The Faith 5 – www.faith5.org and www.faithink.com

God holds the future

Ordination of Wayne Van Kauwenbergh 

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God… Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God… and use the faith and gifts that God has given, gifts that differ from person to person to build up the whole body.

As Paul wrote to the early followers of Christ gathered in Rome, he was not necessarily thinking about this day of your ordination, Wayne, but it certainly seems like a wonderful word for today. As you journeyed to seminary, you brought your whole self. You made dramatic changes to your life, moving across country. You diligently studied in a theology program that is certainly about testing and stretching, renewing and expanding minds, and you have brought your heart, faith, and gifts to the practical side of ministry as well. Although I’m sure that your internship congregation experienced this much more deeply, we’ve had a taste of you sharing your gifts here at Christ as you’ve preached and taught; as you’ve used your truck to bring people to and from worship, carted canned foods to the food pantry, and brought ample baked goods to the CLC Women’s bake sales. You’ve cleaned the nursery; you’ve given generously; you’ve sung in the choir. At least once or twice, you’ve given of yourself and your time with such abundance that along with my gratitude, I’ve wondered how things will be for you as you move into congregations as their pastor. Will you work yourself too hard? Will you be disappointed if people don’t pitch in with the same gusto? Will people drop their tasks into Pastor Wayne’s capable hands and leave you bearing a responsibility too big for any mere mortal to carry? These are the concerns of an overly protective colleague in ministry…

This week with Bishop Narum and 400 church leaders, I have been attending a conference at Luther Seminary called Rethinking Sunday Morning. Church is no longer the church of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s. The role of pastor is ever-evolving. Here’s what I’ve been re-thinking over these days in this gathered learning community: in view of very quickly changing contexts of ministry, how do we learn and re-learn what our job is as pastors and as the whole people of God… not working harder and harder to try to save those things which are no longer serving Christ’s mission as they once did, but listening in this Spirit-filled moment for how God is calling us to use our diverse, God-given gifts in ancient and new ways.

It seems like no mistake, then, that in the gospel reading you chose for this day, Jesus is sending laborers to every place where he himself intends to go. Jesus invites followers to travel light, an act of dependence on God. Jesus invites us to share peace and accept hospitality of the new communities we enter. Jesus invites us to be healers in their midst. Jesus even says there are consequences for those who don’t welcome God’s disciples, and gives disciples authority to do powerful things, but with this caution…

“Don’t rejoice when you have power over the enemy, over principalities and powers… rejoice that you are claimed by and beloved of God, that your future with God is secure.”

This is for both pastors and all of us, called by God from the moment of baptism. No matter whether we are feeling victorious or dejected, whether we think we are succeeding or failing, no matter whether our work seems fruitful or in vain, we are still claimed by and beloved of God, our future is secure.

Wayne, just as you have entered this community in Saint Paul, and specifically Christ on Capitol Hill, as a student and servant, generously sharing yourself, your time and your skills with this community of faith, now… Christ sends you. You don’t go alone. You don’t go just to fill a gap where a pastor is needed, but you go to re-imagine with the people of the Grenora-Zahl parish of the Western North Dakota Synod how to share peace and hospitality, how to be healers in the midst of a community that is growing and changing. As a newcomer and stranger, for a short window of time, you will have an eye for how newcomers experience the congregations… during this time, you’ll be able to wonder together how long-timers and newcomers can come together and be transformed through Christ who lives in us.

Then, as you get settled in and cultivate trust through sharing in Christ’s ministry of love and service in the world, as you are entrusted with the office of word and sacrament… over time, you will see transformation and you will be transformed. In many small ways, and sometimes in ways that seem very significant, you’ll see God operating in just the ways that Paul describes for the Romans. You’ll see prophecy—the person who had a great vision but had to wait until it was the kairos moment for it to happen (but then it does)! Or you’ll see great teaching—in formal and informal ways. Or you’ll overhear an exhortation—“Pastor, you take that well-deserved vacation!” Or you’ll become aware of an exceptionally generous gift of time or money, a gift that makes you cry. Or, the Council will work through an important decision with incredible respect for the differing views at the table; or the people will surround a family with a newly adopted child or the loss of a spouse with love-in-a-dish, every night of the week. Who knows what wonders lie ahead? And I don’t mean to sugar-coat what can sometimes be a hard and lonely calling… after all, Jesus does also say, “I’m sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” There will be times like that, too. There are ways in which pastors, who are by definition temporary (however devoted, however loved)…they are always strangers, travelers, reminders to the gathered community that God shows up in many, not just one.

But… as I have gotten to know you, and resiliency and humbleness that you already show, I imagine that gratitude will be one of the best gifts you share with your congregations over the years you serve with them. Gratitude for these moments of the body of Christ being the body of Christ, gratitude for God’s leading and guiding you to places where Jesus intends to show up (and is already), gratitude that your name (and the names of the people you will serve—including those who are not there yet) are written in heaven.

That is good news as we move into a future that is unknown—that God holds the future—and that just as God has been faithful through each twist and turn of the past, just as God is faithful today, God will be faithful into the future. Do not fear.

As we gather around you today to pray for the Holy Spirit to rest on you, Wayne; and then as we share a meal around the table where you will share with us the body and blood of Christ; we rejoice that God has called you to offer your whole self, your life, your faith and gifts and has called you to do that with the people of Grenora-Zahl. God with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is holding you and God’s love supporting you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Teach us to pray

Wilderness Sunday

Here’s the story—in a certain place, Jesus was praying. Midway through Jesus’ ministry, midway through the disciples’ journey with this amazing teacher, they notice… Jesus prays, and amazing things happen. And suddenly, they’re filled with curiosity. Huh! I wonder… I wonder if we could do that?

You know, John taught his disciples to pray… why not us?

It reminds me of a story that I heard this summer about the great musician and teacher Shinichi Suzuki. He had an adult student whose 3-year-old son came to listen to his violin lesson and soon, this tiny child was begging to play the violin, so much so that his father asked Dr. Suzuki if he could teach him. At first, Dr. Suzuki was skeptical. How could a 3-year-old play the violin? It’s a very complicated instrument. But as he thought about it, he realized that 3-year-olds could speak Japanese, a very complicated language. How did they do it? They watched, they imitated, they learned bit by bit. And so he began to break down the tasks of playing violin into parts so small that with practice, even a 3-year-old could begin. This week, set your feet. Got that? Now this next week, we'll move the bow up like a rocket, down like the rain… later we’ll hold a box under the chin. My mother-in-law, a violinist an violin teacher herself, describes how she was skeptical about tiny children playing until in 1985 she met Dr. Suzuki, and heard him teach, and suddenly, she saw the Suzuki method in a whole new light, realizing how it used the gifts that children already bring to help them do amazing things.

I imagine this is what it must have felt like when Jesus taught the disciples to pray. It’s not that these ideas didn’t exist before this moment. The prayer that Jesus taught is actually a beautiful compilation and distillation of ideas that are all throughout the Jewish scriptures and would have been present in Jewish life… but Jesus gathers them together, and teaches them in a way that opens up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way.

From the waters of Baptism, from the moment we receive the bread, from the first moment of prayer (whether musical, spoken, or danced) God invites us into a new, fresh relationship, with God… and then with all of humanity and all creation. Lutherans are fond of saying, this is God’s call to people from birth, from baptism, this is God’s lifelong call to each of us. Whether we feel qualified and capable or not, God calls people and makes us capable. Each one of us, as we go out from worship, might be the only gospel that a neighbor or stranger hears… so the call to us all is vitally important.

God’s call, God’s love, God’s abundance can be difficult to believe when we’re in the wilderness.  Some of us have felt deeply in the wilderness this week… through the extreme heat of summer, through the words being thrown around in our political life, through personal struggles, deep grief that goes on and on, through painful recovery from injury or accident…. Through poverty and hard work for little money… through worries about lay-offs and trying to find new work… through anticipation of life-changing events that are ahead… our lists go on and on… it is easy to get in touch with the metaphorical, mental and emotional wildernesses of our days.

And… some of us can also bring to mind easily the beautiful wilderness that we also celebrate today… being outside, way outside, where all those difficulties that I just mentioned fade to the back burner because frankly, when you’re way out in the wilderness, in a canoe or hiking a mountain pass… some things are simpler, more basic. Do we have food, shelter, safety through the night? And it can be a gift, when those things are in place, and things are just… simplified.

Whether you’re moving through a difficult wilderness time or a stunningly stark and beautiful wilderness time, there will almost certainly be days and weeks and months when you will breathe deep and wonder about God in all this?

As Jesus teaches followers about prayer, Jesus promises that God is fully and actively present with you right where you are, even when it’s deep in the wilderness. Jesus says this about prayer.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Ask, and it will be given to you.

And there will most certainly be times when you’ll think in sadness and doubt, “I just wish I could believe that!”

Jesus is making an amazing claim about God—that God is right here waiting to open, to reveal, to give not only we really need but even the desires of our hearts.

Even though we keep forgetting about God, worrying about God, imagining God shaking a finger at us, or laughing at our mistakes… Even if we say the false mantra “be careful what you pray for!” (as if God is ready to fool or punish or give us a poisonous snake or a stinging scorpion)… Jesus claims that God is not like that at all.

In sharp contrast to our experiences of betrayal in life, God gives good gifts. A fish, not a snake. An egg, not a scorpion. Bread enough for today, forgiveness of our debts, and opportunities to practice forgiveness. God persistently gives good gifts, when we’re right at home, and when we’re going off to adventures unknown.

So, what can we pray for you today? What wilderness are you in or are you facing—a hard wilderness journey? An exciting wilderness trip ahead? We practice praying Jesus’ prayer nearly every Sunday (and we will today, too) but we also need opportunities to pray for specific things together. What are your unmet needs? What door are you knocking on? What are you seeking? What are you asking today? Turn to a neighbor and tell them one short response to any of those questions where a response came to your mind…

What did you learn? Take a minute to commit to your mind the one prayer that you’ll pray for the neighbor you spoke with each day this week.

It’s a gift to have the opportunity to get together here with a beautiful variety of people and hear a different story here than the ones that dominate the rest of our week… here, we learn a counter-story and that good news centers around a giving and thoroughly loving God, a God who bows to us and teaches us to honor one another.

We give thanks to Christ who has taught us to pray so simply and so completely… so that we can grow to embody and preach and teach that good news. We give thanks to God who will provide open spaces, questions, answers, and gifts in new and fresh ways. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit who calls us to go out each day with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is leading and God’s love is supporting us through Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God.

Teach us to pray (A)

 

Ordination of Carol Seilhymer

Good afternoon, let me begin with a few words of thanks. I am so grateful to Carol and Steve for this invitation to preach on this milestone day in your life, and I’m so grateful to Pastor Mark (Ziemann) for welcoming me to have this role today. It was a joy to serve LCP as your interim pastor a few years back, and to work with Carol here at that time; and now, it’s a joy to be your neighbor… a close enough neighbor to run into you from time to time and get to celebrate days of celebration with you. So, thank you.

Here’s the story of Jesus that Carol has chosen for this day—in a certain place, Jesus was praying. Midway through Jesus’ ministry, midway through the disciples’ journey with this amazing teacher, they notice… Jesus prays, and amazing things happen. And suddenly, they’re filled with curiosity. Huh! I wonder… I wonder if we could do that?
You know, John taught his disciples to pray… why not us?

It reminds me of a story that I heard this summer about the great musician and teacher Shinichi Suzuki. He had an adult student whose 3-year-old son came to listen to his violin lesson and soon, this tiny child was begging to play the violin, so much so that his father asked Dr. Suzuki if he could teach him. At first, Dr. Suzuki was skeptical. How could a 3-year-old play the violin? It’s a very complicated instrument. But as he thought about it, he realized that 3-year-olds could speak Japanese, a very complicated language. How did they do it? They watched, they imitated, they learned bit by bit. And so he began to break down the tasks of playing violin into parts so small that with practice, even a 3-year-old could begin. This week, set your feet. Got that? Now this next week, we'll move the bow up like a rocket, down like the rain… later we’ll hold a box under the chin. My mother-in-law, a violinist an violin teacher herself, describes how she was skeptical about tiny children playing until in 1985 she met Dr. Suzuki, and heard him teach, and suddenly, she saw the Suzuki method in a whole new light, realizing how it used the gifts that children already bring to help them do amazing things.

I imagine this is what it must have felt like when Jesus taught the disciples to pray. It’s not that these ideas didn’t exist before this moment. The prayer that Jesus taught is actually a beautiful compilation and distillation of ideas that are all throughout the Jewish scriptures and would have been present in Jewish life… but Jesus gathers them together, and teaches them in a way that opens up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way.

This is what you, Carol, will be asked to do… to teach and preach, to administer the sacraments, to help open up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way, and you are and will be wonderful at it.

But this is not only Carol’s task as she becomes pastor. You know this because you’ve walked with Carol on the days up to this day… she’s been practicing this for quite awhile, and she’s been doing it in communities where many are called to do this… not just those ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament.

From the waters of Baptism, from the moment we receive the bread, from the first moment of prayer (whether musical, spoken, or danced) God invites us into a new, fresh relationship, with God… and then with all of humanity and all creation. Lutherans are fond of saying, this is God’s call from birth, from baptism, this is God’s lifelong call to each of us. Whether we feel qualified and capable or not, God calls people and makes us capable. And that’s not to minimize at all the reason we’re gathered here today, to celebrate this intentional Word and Sacrament ordained ministry that Carol has prepared to do and will do in Montana, but it’s just to say that God calls pastors and God calls us all. Carol is called to preach the gospel, using words when necessary,[1] and each one of us, as we go out from worship, might be the only gospel that a neighbor or stranger hears… so the call to us all is vitally important.

God’s call, God’s love, God’s abundance can be difficult to believe when we’re in the wilderness. As someone embarking on a great adventure to the west…Montana’s northwestern parts with mountain ranges in view… leaving to serve congregations that are most certainly different than here, where you have been loved and nurtured… As someone going as a stranger into the wilderness of ministry…. There will almost certainly be days and weeks and months when you will breathe deep and wonder where is God in all this?

In those moments, you may think back to times at Lutheran Church of Peace, Prairie Star ministries, and Redeemer Lutheran Church in White Bear Lake, and you’ll remember them as havens of goodness and abundance… sometimes, if we aren’t sucked into nostalgia or escapism, the memory of God’s faithfulness in the past can ground us as new challenges emerge.

But what will really sustain you is not only the memory of God’s faithfulness in these beloved places of your past, but the promise that God is fully and actively present with you right where you are, even when it’s deep in the wilderness. Jesus says this about prayer.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Ask, and it will be given to you.

And there will most certainly be times when you’ll think in sadness and doubt, ”I just wish I could believe that!”

Jesus is making an amazing claim about God—that God is there waiting to open, to reveal, to give not only we really need but even the desires of our hearts.

Even though we keep worrying about God, imagining God shaking a finger at us, or laughing at our mistakes… Even if we say the false mantra “be careful what you pray for!” (as if God is ready to fool or punish or give us a poisonous snake or a stinging scorpion)… God is not like that at all. In sharp contrast to our experiences of betrayal in life, God gives good gifts. A fish, not a snake. An egg, not a scorpion. Bread for today, forgiveness of our debts, and opportunities to practice forgiveness. God persistently gives good gifts, when we’re right at home, but maybe especially when we’re going off to adventures unknown. Carol, as you are ordained today and become officially a pastor in our midst… as you head to Montana to offer your gifts with the people of First Lutheran in Plains and Our Saviour’s In Thompson Falls, we give thanks to Christ who has taught you to pray so that you can embody and preach and teach that good news. We give thanks to God who will provide open spaces, questions, answers, and gifts in new and fresh ways. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit who calls you to go out with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is leading and God’s love is supporting you. Thanks be to God.

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[1] Words from St. Francis

Prayers for the Earth

Catching Fish

Earth Sunday – Christ on Capitol Hill                                 April 19, 2015

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Here’s what I’ve learned about the earth through gardening experiences in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota… by the third year, plants are beginning to be established. By the fifth year… wow!

The first year, some plants don’t really take to the spot I’ve put them, or I’ve tried to plant things from greenhouses rather than transplants from neighbors nearby... and the transplants always do better. But as time goes along, the garden grows, more and more beautifully with each year of tending. So this year, we have rhubarb coming up, and lamb’s ears… and finally, the bleeding hearts, first planted in Wisconsin and transplanted in Illinois, and then planted at my parents’ home in Iowa while we moved from place to place… and divided and replanted in our backyard now… finally, the leaves have come up!

Somehow this is a metaphor for me about how much we have to learn from the Earth—from gardening, from caring for the creation. From trying, failing, and trying again with unfailing patience, endurance, persistence, learning again how to be stewards, caretakers of God’s gifts. In a culture that does not support us being in touch with the rhythms of the Creation, this Sunday, the Sunday closest to Earth Day, in the season of Easter—new life, resurrection—and with Spring unfolding all around us (I even saw wasps on the hot days this week!), we’re invited to be grateful for each opportunity to tend and care for the Earth, and see what we can learn. It’s one of the ways we’re called to be witnesses.

One day last spring, I visited the home of a couple to bring communion, and I saw a massive patch of violas in their rock bed alongside their house. “Volunteers!” the woman said. “All I did was just shake the flowers over the rocks when they had gone to seed last fall.” And here they were, a truly glorious patch of deep purple. Such beauty reminded me to be grateful, for the flowers… and for volunteers of all kinds, people and animals and plants who give themselves for the benefit of all.

Earth Day is certainly also a day when many voices, many organizations, very legitimately call us to be accountable for the ways that particularly wealthy countries, industries, economies, corporations, and citizens are over-using and abusing the Earth and all its creatures. There are both massive things that need to be done to repent and turn around our short-sighted ways in the world, and there are many small things that each one of us can do to be more conscious of what we use, what we throw away, and how to conserve, protect, reuse, recycle… how we can live more gently and sustainably with one another on this Earth.

But perhaps even more powerful than critique is the power of gratitude.

And I think that is the primary focus of the biblical witness that we hear in Genesis today.

In the days of Creation, described in Genesis, we hear how inter-related everything is. We hear about the distinctiveness and goodness of all the different parts of creation—light and dark, water and sky and sea, all kinds of plants and animals, birds and fish. On the sixth day, God creates adam – an earth person – and Elie Wiesel, a prolific Jewish writer, comments on this timing something like this:

Why did the Creator wait until the sixth day to give life to adam—why didn’t [God] do it at the very start? Answer: … well first God prepared a place for the human and only then created the person. Another answer: To keep the person from taking himself too seriously… for example, if a person is too proud, he could be asked: What are you boasting about—even mosquitos preceded you in the order of creation![1]

So, according to this perspective, humans are created not so much as the crowning moment of creation– as we have so often been taught – but humans are created in inter-dependence and in relationship to everything else.

And what is the “best for last” thing in the whole story of Creation?… It’s Sabbath. On the seventh day, God rested… giving permission to all of us to rest.
 Giving us permission not to have to be busy or earn or steward on that seventh day of rest… but simply to be in the love of our Creating, Saving, Renewing God so that all the other days of the week, we’ll know what that is like.

Don’t you think that being busy or too overworked to care or to be able do things differently, is at the heart of our brokenness in caring for the Earth? So many of the “improvements” to make life easier, cheaper, quicker, simpler are not good for us… but it’s incredibly hard to change our ways when these patterns are all we’ve ever known or what we’ve fallen into over time.

This week, part of the church staff: Angie, Joy and I had the opportunity to go and hear a wonderful presentation at the office of the Saint Paul Area Council of Churches about nutrition and how we can encourage our congregation members in practices of “eating clean,” avoiding four major things that we put into our bodies that end up being toxic to us because of their impact at the cellular level … and how making changes can make a big difference in the health of our bodies. One of the things the doctor who was presenting told us was that it makes him so angry when he sees someone filling their car with premium gasoline but filling their body with unhealthy garbage.

And this brings me, finally, to Jesus who as a resurrected body asked for something to eat… a food basic-to-life for his culture, on the shores of a lake… some broiled fish… and how that was a marker to followers of Jesus, then and now, that he was really among them. He was really a body, alive and needing basic nourishment, food re-creating the risen Christ as it re-creates us.

Abraham Heschel writes in The Sabbath, “Creation, we are taught, is not an act that happened once upon a time, once and for ever. The act of bringing the world into existence is a continuous process. God called the world into being, and that call goes on. There is this present moment because God is present. Every instant is an act of creation.”[2]

So… we continue to witness the creating work of God; we continue to be invited to the model of work and rest; we continue to need basic nourishment.

We gather to tend and honor the Earth, to share a meal and receive basic nourishment, to encounter the Creator and the risen Christ… and in all this, the Spirit calls us to be witnesses, not only seeing for ourselves but sharing the good news of what God has done for us… and not only for us, but for the whole Creation.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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[1] Paraphrased from the work Messengers of God by Elie Wiesel, p. 10, Excerpt accessed through Google Play on 4/17/2015.

[2] Heschel, as cited on http://inwardoutward.org/quote-author/abraham-heschel/, accessed 4/17/2015.

I doubt it. Show me.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Five years ago, this Sunday, the second Sunday of Easter, my children were baptized at St. Paul and the Redeemer church in Chicago… As a family, we’re remembering that day today and remembering back even a little further to our journey to and from Ethiopia.

In the few days before we met our children, Ben and I stayed at the Hilton hotel in Addis Ababa, the capitol city of Ethiopia. Ethiopia is a very faith-filled country and this is expressed in a whole variety of ways, from ancient historical sites to the tiniest architectural details in a hotel room—so for example, the detailing around the doorknob was in the shape of a cross. More dramatic was the swimming pool outside—a huge, cross-shaped pool, like a gigantic, ancient baptismal font with steps down into it and back up. The pool was empty when we first arrived. We figured at first that it was because it was late December… but as it turned out, it was just being cleaned. So on New Year’s Eve morning, the last day before we began the adventure of parenting, Ben noticed from our bird’s eye balcony view that the pool was almost full with fog surrounding it.

I almost missed the experience since the outside temperatures were not exactly warm, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to go out there to swim… but Ben coaxed me to come so we both experienced this incredible cross-shaped pool, fed by hot springs. We were immersed in these waters as we waited to celebrate a new thing—as we said goodbye to one part of life (experiencing a little death) in order to welcome a new life (and resurrection). Did I mention that I almost missed it… because of my doubt?

Maybe that is why I have always felt compassion for Thomas—the doubter. Never mind that Thomas is remembered in the gospels for far more than just the story we heard today… other things Thomas said include:

When Jesus suggested going to Jerusalem and Thomas said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” [John 11:16]

Also, he asked Jesus, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? [John 13:5]

But in today’s gospel, we hear what Thomas is best known for—

“Thomas, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’ But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.’ [John 20:24-25] or in short… I doubt it. Show me.

Somehow, “doubting Thomas” was the name that stuck—an unfair nickname, maybe… so I appreciate Jesus’ response to Thomas. Since Thomas missed the first appearance to the eleven, Jesus comes again. Since Thomas needs to actually touch the wounds to believe, Jesus invites Thomas to touch him. Yes, Jesus says—blessed are all of you who believe without seeing—but Jesus also meets Thomas at his point of need.

And in a way, this is also the reason we baptize. God meets us at our place of need. It’s not so much that God needs us to be washed in these cleansing and refreshing waters—it’s that we need that physical reminder of God’s presence. In this sacrament, God makes ordinary water mixed with God’s word… extraordinary.

In this sacrament, we are marked with the cross of Christ forever because there will be days, weeks, even years when we are not so sure that we can believe in the resurrected Christ. There will be times when we are so filled with grief, fear, disbelief, even despair that we’ll say with Thomas, “Not until I see for myself… not until I can put my hands in the wounds…”

There are times when we cannot individually believe… that is when a community surrounding us, believing on our behalf will be so important.

Even before we believe, Jesus meets us… in water, at the table, and Jesus breathes on us, “Peace be with you.”

Here’s what we promise at baptism. We promise to continue a life of faith and to resist evil and to proclaim in word and deed the good news of God in Christ. We promise to love our neighbors and to strive for justice and peace. We promise to welcome newcomers into the house of God—and trust that all those welcomed here are our real family, not by blood, not merely because of legal documents, but by something far stronger—by the waters of baptism, by love. And we can renew these promises over and over throughout life, even daily. They are the promises that we remember all the way to death.

Even more significant than the promises we make around the baptismal font is the promise that God makes to us in baptism—that not even death, which can so sharply separate us from those we love, will ever separate us from the deep love of God. That whatever life brings, Jesus walks with us. That through all the changes and chances of life, the Holy Spirit is as present as our life-sustaining breath.

These are promises that we deeply need—because like Thomas, we are human—we struggle with grief and loss, loneliness and heartache, questions about identity and where we belong. We are both saints and sinners—sometimes there’s evidence of that in quicker succession than we can believe—and we live in a world that is broken and through which we can glimpse the greatness of God.

At the end of our week in Ethiopia, we had another opportunity to try out the cross-shaped pool, this time with Dinkenesh and Abenet. We had been together just six short days so our communication was still very limited but when we saw the pool, our children’s eyes got big. Do you want to try it? we asked. A quick shake of the head led us to the swings and playground equipment first. However, after about an hour, we asked again, showing them their new swimsuits. For me??? Mine??? Dinkenesh and Abenet asked with excitement. They grabbed onto us as we entered into the pool and then reacted with glee. We’re pretty sure this was a first swimming experience ever, but they took to the pool like fish coming home to water.

Baptism is like coming home to our first parent, our Creator, the One who has called each of us since we swam in our birth mother’s womb. In baptism, God reminds us that God adopts us… that Jesus walks with us as a loving sibling, One who knows our story, died and was raised so that we might know that there is hope in our daily struggles and that there is life beyond the grave. In baptism, we are filled with the Holy Spirit as our lungs are filled with breath, our cells with oxygen and our spirits with life.

So now, in Easter hope, let’s celebrate this day—with those who doubt, and yet have come to believe, with the great cloud of witnesses that includes Thomas, Clayton, and all who have died…that includes Christians throughout the world, and especially our loved ones in Cambodian, China, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Liberia, Nigeria, Papau New Guinea (to name just a few…) as well as those who are gathered in body and in spirit here today—celebrating God’s promise of resurrection and new life.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

In celebration: Clayton Knutson

Clayton Knutson

Ecclesiastes 3              2 Corinthians              John 14:1-7, 25-27                   April 11, 2015

There is a time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die… this is something that Clayton, who loved the land and the outdoors knew deeply; and yet, this is a day that we did not anticipate just a few months ago. Although he suffered from Alzheimer’s for the last few years, and perhaps longer, Clayton’s journey from relatively good health to death felt fast…

Just last January, he was able to go out for breakfast and enjoy a very big cinnamon roll when John visited... Even when things became too difficult to remain at home, and Clayton moved to Lyngblomsten weeks ago, he was at least somewhat aware of where he was going and it was a special gift that he recognized his loved ones to the end. Even when he had stopped eating and speaking… he squeezed my hand powerfully as we sang and prayed with him, showing that he knew that Carolyn, Charlie, and I were gathered around him. And on Palm Sunday, with Carolyn and Thessaly nearby, he peacefully died. Moving from this life into the next, we commended him to God’s care.

Today we acknowledge the ways we are grateful and celebrate Clayton’s life, and we are grateful that his suffering is over; but also, it is difficult to say goodbye.

In John, Jesus speaks to disciples who, put simply, can’t imagine their life without him. Jesus is talking about his upcoming death and they don’t want to hear it. They don’t want to face losing him, and Jesus reassures them… Don’t be afraid. I am going to die, but death does not have the final word. I’m going ahead of you so you can be reassured that when you come this way, entering the mystery of life after death, you’ll know I’m there, with a place for you.

And what’s more, as Jesus faces his own death, he promises a gift for those who cannot imagine life without him—the presence of the Holy Spirit—who blows where it will, who teaches, who reminds them of what they know, and fills them with peace. Not the temporary, unsatisfying peace that doesn’t last, but deep peace and love that takes our fear and despair away.

Doesn’t that sound like Clayton?

In the binder of photos and stories that you may have seen on your way in, a creative gathering of stories and pictures from children and grandchildren, you can glimpse story after story of how his family remember the ways that Clayton extended grace to them… sometimes through a well-placed word or story or joke… sometimes through his incredible gift for small talk… but also simply through his presence, his hand on a shoulder, his hand of blessing on their heads.

He was not only loving and gentle… he also had a truly adventurous, completely courageous, maybe even a little dangerous side… picking up his young kids in the loader bucket with the snow and dumping them on the snow pile, encouraging them to take risks and have adventures, supporting them in all their independent and creative endeavors.  Sometimes, Clayton also forgot the kids, leaving them behind not just once but frankly, so often that they learned strategies for what to do. Wait right where you are. He’ll be coming back, even if it’s a few hours.
And through both his deep attentiveness as father, as grandfather … and his forgiving, and forgetting… he has given incredible gifts to each of you, Charlie, Kathy, John…Andrew, Claire, Alex, Thessaly, Linnae, and Elise, gifts that he would want you to carry on through your whole lives.

Here is some of the wisdom that Clayton embodied and lived out for you, Carolyn and kids and grandkids, family, loved ones, friends…

Be good to one another. Forgive what you need to forgive. Although toys can be fun, experiences are more important than things. Hold your families close. I love you.

We grieve the loss of this incredibly likeable, fun, and even-tempered man, but we also have received so much from him that can never be taken away.  Clayton taught and gave and told stories and modeled a way of living and loving. What he showed you—the love and the time he gave you—and the way that he would have given you whatever you needed. That is the kind of love that lasts and can live on in and through you.

Also, Clayton was pretty private. He would continually deflect conversation away from himself. In fact, he was not generally keen on being the center of attention, unless it was to occasionally be the life of the party… and that is how he would want us to move forward… with a spirit of celebrating all that has been good, all that has been gift, that our tears might turn into tears of joy, that our mourning might become singing—or maybe whistling—that we would tell stories, and embody love.

Jesus promises, “‘I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. ²⁷Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”

There is a time for everything… a time to be born, a time to die; a time to plant, a time for harvest; a time to weep, a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance. In this time, in these days, in this season of resurrection and new life, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, and may the Holy Spirit bring you peace.

The secret's out!

Easter Sunday, Mark 15, Christ on Capitol Hill                                           

Alleluia. Christ is risen!          Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

“Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him.
But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.”

“Do not be alarmed. Do not be afraid.”

This is the typical thing that every messenger from heaven always says…

“True. You are looking for Jesus, the one who was killed. He’s been raised; he’s not here.” Yes, you’re in the right place… although the circumstances are highly unusual.

“But go tell his disciples, especially Peter” – who denied knowing him after promising never to leave him… so might not think he qualifies as “disciple” anymore… so especially go tell Peter – “…to go to Galilee. Jesus, the risen One, will meet you there.”

Just like many of us, disciples in Mark’s story never completely get it … so at the end of the story, even the women—who have been faithful through every single part of the journey, even at the foot of the cross—even they are afraid and don’t tell anyone.
Or did they? They’ve got a totally incredible story to tell, so does fear really have the last word? Or does the secret get out?

Later writers tried to help out the gospel of Mark’s awkward ending by adding some parts to fill out the story. So, in some ancient accounts, they wrote just one more verse… Really, they added, the women went and told the disciples around Peter (hmmmm… )… and the word went out about Jesus in every direction. A quick fix.

OR here was another slightly longer version… Jesus appeared to Mary Magdalene and she told the disciples in the middle of their mourning and weeping, but they didn’t believe her.

AND Jesus appeared to two walking on the road, and they told, but they didn’t believe them. AND so finally, Jesus appeared to the 11 at the table, and said, “Come on, you stubborn people! If seeing is the only way you’ll believe… and if you won’t even go to see me where I told you to meet me… well, here I am, right at your table. Go out and spread the story!” And so, finally, seeing was believing… and they did.
Alleluia. Christ is risen!          Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

We know that this is true because the story of Jesus has traveled many, many places from its tiny start at the tomb. It’s no easier to believe now than then, and still, witnesses share their own stories of faith and doubt and miracles… but others may or may not believe them. And every Easter, not to mention every Sunday, we gather to wonder together in dialog with these stories… will fear really have the last word? Or will the secret get out?

The secret. For many who gather together in churches, and many who don’t… if we’re thinking about Jesus at all, Jesus is a real mystery. Most people don’t know what they believe about him, and if someone knows it all, we’re mostly suspicious… and in some cases, rightly so. You can find all kinds of information from a whole variety of sources that may or may not be helpful in getting to know Jesus…

Plus, who can we really trust? Can we really trust tradition, institutions, leaders, even other people to serve and guide us? There are plenty of reasons to fear. We can find reasons to fear everywhere.

So, how remarkable that in Mark’s original, unedited story, the risen Jesus doesn’t even appear… simply a messenger, saying, “Go forward into your daily life. That’s where you’ll find Jesus. You can expect to see this One who loves you, who forgives whatever you’re worried about and stuck on—whatever you think would keep God from really accepting you… oh say, like for example, denial, betrayal, fear—whatever it might be keeping you apart. God can bridge that gap. Jesus is inviting you, you & Peter, anyway.

This kind of witness is the exact opposite of the ways that people have used judgment in the past and in the present to keep people out. Jesus especially names the ones who might think they’re not welcome, so they can know for sure… yes, and you are part of this, too.

So if you see something in social media or hear something on the TV or radio that expresses bigotry, hatred, fear, condemnation coming from the mouth of Jesus? Well, you can know for sure that doesn’t come from God. Messengers from God always begin this way, “Do not fear.” And then, they talk about how God has chosen people—ordinary people—and made them acceptable in God’s sight, not because of who they are but because of who God is.

God certainly judges, but it’s never what we expect. Jesus continually surprised those closest to him… And from all that we can see in the good news according to Mark, the way that Jesus came to save was to bring good news, to heal, to change the world order, to bring to life … and yes, he was put to death for it… but the miracle was that somehow, God transformed even that horrible tragedy into something different. God transformed it so totally that when we look at the cross today, it is not just a source of pain and death…
it’s a source of hope and new life, a tree of life.

Maybe that’s metaphor, poetry… but maybe it’s also exactly what that messenger at the tomb promised. A place where we learn not to fear because just beyond it, we see Jesus.

The end of Mark’s story is just the beginning. Over 2,000+ years, there have certainly a whole range of experiences of meeting Jesus again and for the first time… but the empty tomb, the story of resurrection keeps inviting us back into the story. “Don’t be afraid. But DO expect to see Jesus in your daily life, because Jesus is living”—the One who helps us to know God better, the One who breathes on us and fills us with peace, the One who never gives up on us but just keeps calling us out of our fearful judgments into new life, again and again.

So, do not fear… but be ready. As you go ahead into this day, this week, this spring, you’ll see Jesus in daily life, just as he said. Fear doesn’t get the last word, because God’s good news is already out … in forgiveness, inclusion, peace, love. The last word, the secret we’re invited to share is Jesus.

Think a minute… who could you share it with? A word of forgiveness? A healing prayer? A loving gesture? We who have heard anything at all, we who have tasted a morsel, we who have said even one Alleluia… we are witnesses to something that so many people are longing to hear—good news. So, don’t be afraid. The secret’s out… and you are part of God’s vision for spreading good news far and wide.

Alleluia. Christ is risen!          Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Maundy Thursday

This is a night that has four big actions, or if we think of worship like participatory theatre, four main acts.

The first big action is Confession and Forgiveness. All of Lent is a season of confession, admitting the truth about our struggles and failures, our addictions, our self-absorption or self-hatred, our wounded and messy and broken parts... We cry out for healing and renewal. And on this night, we bring to an end, for now, that season’s work and are reminded of God's forgiveness and command to walk in love, as we shift our focus, all eyes on Jesus as he goes to the cross.

Secondly, we hear Jesus’ words and are invited to experience Jesus washing feet, to hear the command of Jesus to wash each other's feet. Whether we actually participate in that action tonight or not, at least part of why we gather as church is exactly for that reason-- to serve and be served. For some of us, it's easier to do just one of those. For some of us, it's easier to do the other. But, Jesus' action on this night shows us the necessity of both, and challenges us to humbly serve, and to let others minister to us in ways that help us know how deeply we need each other.

The third big action is sharing a meal. It's a meal that has roots in the meal that God's people shared since the exodus, a Passover meal, a meal that makes us ready, a meal in preparation for a journey through a wilderness to a new place. We're on that journey, too—sometimes literally, sometimes metaphorically. We eat together this evening because just as Jesus showed disciples who he really was at the last supper, God continues to show up at dinner tables, in our daily lives, and we don't want to lose the sense that the meal we share in Holy Communion is not just symbolic but is really a place where Jesus keeps showing up, over and over, offering himself as the host of the meal; mysteriously as the meal--in/with/and under the bread and wine; and as the transforming one that changes us through this bread and cup into his body, living and active, so that we go out from the meal filled, with something to offer to all who need to see God in us.

The fourth big action is remembering. We remember together as this holy space is stripped of all it's adornments, until it's bare, how this is the night when Jesus was betrayed by a friend who was disappointed in him, how Jesus prayed to God and struggled alone while others slept. On this night, Jesus experienced violence, trials, threats, physical pain, and suffering; this night, he was handed over to people who wanted to kill him; he was stripped of his clothes; he was vulnerable, alone.

Tonight, Jesus forgives, we forgive. Jesus serves, we serve. Jesus shares a meal, we share a meal. Jesus goes toward his passion, and we go, too.
At the end of this night, we'll “press pause” and leave in quiet to continue the story tomorrow...
Knowing that there is more to the story and that God has called us to be a part of this great work of love where God is making all things new.

Change of Heart

Bleeding heart by Margrit

O God, search me and know my heart;

test me and know my thoughts.

See if there is any wicked way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting.                Psalm 139

Mahalia Jackson… “Search me Lord”

While I’m down here livin’ Lord search my heart.
While I’m down here livin’ Lord search my heart.

While I’m down here livin’ Lord search my heart.

You know Lord, whether I’m right. You know Lord, whether I’m wrong. You know, Lord, whether I’m right or wrong.

When I’m down here prayin,’ Lord search my heart.

When I’m down here prayin,’ Lord search my heart.
When I’m down here prayin,’ Lord search my heart.

You know Lord, whether I’m right. You know Lord, whether I’m wrong. You know, Lord, whether I’m right or wrong.

While I’m testifying…

While I’m sayin’ I’m holy…

While I’m singin’ your praises…

You know Lord, whether I’m right. You know Lord, whether I’m wrong. You know, Lord, whether I’m right or wrong.

Throughout Mark’s gospel, there are fourteen mentions of the heart.

Questioning hearts, hardness of hearts…

Hearts far from God …
Take heart! (collectively and personally)

Don’t doubt in your heart, but believe…

Love God with all your heart.

Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid. Then he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. (Mark 6: 50-52)

Jesus' words to the Pharisees give us pause: “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me… ignoring the commands of God to hold to human traditions.” (Mark 7) Jesus invites congruency… hearts matching words matching deeds.

It’s this kind of transformation of the heart that Jesus is longing for us to understand, to embrace, to be open to… a change of heart that will in fact change every part of our lives.

In Mark’s gospel, the disciples never really get it… understanding only comes later, much later…

After witnessing Jesus’ ministry with people far beyond the circles that they had traveled before. After being in the boat in stormy seas together. After eating an abundance of food not one, not two, but many times… After Jesus’ teaching, after praying together, after sharing meals together, after watching their group split apart in betrayal and denial and fear… after death on a cross.

It was only after they heard that Jesus had risen from the dead… but when they still couldn’t quite believe it… much after all that they noticed, their hearts were changed.

They were different.

Suddenly, they could face the whole story with less fear and more joy, hope, and faith.

Not because they had changed their own hearts but because somehow, by a miracle, God had done it.

And that is probably how it will work for us, too.

It may not be today that we will see an end to our questions, our hardness of heart, our hearts wandering all over the place… far from God.

But take heart!

Because God isn’t finished with us…

God says, “A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; ... I will put my spirit within you…. And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Ezekiel 36:26…

With my whole heart I seek you.       Psalm 119:10a

Wholeheartedness… Brené Brown, Daring Greatly

In a list of 10 guideposts for wholehearted living, she includes practices to cultivate and behaviors to let go of… as every change of heart requires… letting go, a little death of an old way of being we’re clinging to… here’s her list.

1.     Cultivating Authenticity: Letting Go of What People Think

2.     Cultivating Self-Compassion: Letting Go of Perfectionism

3.     Cultivating a Resilient Spirit: Letting Go of Numbing and Powerlessness

4.     Cultivating Gratitude and Joy: Letting Go of Scarcity and Fear of the Dark

5.     Cultivating Intuition and Trusting Faith: Letting Go of the Need for Certainty

6.     Cultivating Creativity: Letting Go of Comparison

7.     Cultivating Play and Rest: Letting Go of Exhaustion as a Status Symbol and Productivity as Self-Worth

8.     Cultivating Calm and Still: Letting Go of Anxiety as a Lifestyle

9.     Cultivating Meaningful Work: Letting Go of Self-Doubt and “Supposed To”

10.  Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance: Letting Go of Being Cool and “Always in Control”

TED talks;      The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are; Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, and Parent

Her list doesn’t sound too different from the Ten Commandments, or the list of sins in Mark 7… which might make us doubt our ability to change, if we are still working on these same things thousands of years later, over and over through our lives… but the good news is that we are not in this alone. God is still in the boat with us. God is still providing. God is still inviting, gifting, transforming us.

Hold on, change is comin’… the change we’ve been waiting for, longing for… the change of heart that God is bringing about… or in the words of a traditional Spiritual,
Hold on, just a little while longer (x3), everything will be alright.

Let us pray: O God of our longing, strengthen us and change our hearts. Root and ground us in your love. Help us to experience the breadth and length and height and depth of your mercy shown to us on the way and to the end. Fill our hearts with your grace, that we lead lives that radiate your love to all. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.