I know it's old news, but I wrote this for the local paper just after we, and our neighbour to the south, had their big elections. As I had temporarily forgotten about this blog and didn't post it I figured I'd put it up now in case anybody cares.
I don't know if you could help but get caught up in the happenings of the election campaigns of the past few months, both here in Canada and in the United States. Last week Barak Obama made history by being the first black man elected president. There were also many younger voters who seem to have been influenced by Obama's message of hope and change. Hope-fully the changes he talked about and promised will come about and the people who were engaged by his message won't be disappointed.
Only a month ago we were in the midst of our own election campaign. I voted at one of the early polls because I was on vacation with my family on election day. We were in Florida and on the day after our election I surfed the channels through all the news programs trying to hear something about the results of Canada's election. I didn't hear a single thing. I had to phone my parents to find out what happened up here. What I heard was that nothing really changed.
Sure, we have a new member of parliament from a different party representing our riding. A few more women MPs have been elected and are now serving in cabinet. The number of seats held by each party shifted a little here and there. But the overall picture didn't change much. The parties are in the same places in parliament. The governing party is still a minority government. We went through those weeks of campaigning, the parties and Elections Canada spent millions of dollars on this election, and nothing really changed.
It's frustrating for me, to see the vast sums of money that are spent on certain things, in this case on election campaigns, when there is so much need in our world and in our own communities. Shortly before the American election Barak Obama spent millions of dollars on a half hour television spot in prime time that was almost like an info-mercial. I couldn't help but wonder how many poor, hungry people could be fed with that money. How much medication could be sent to help the sick and suffering in the developing world.
I realize there are always trade-offs. These days you have to spend large sums of money to get elected, at least in the American presidential campaigns. For a politician to have influence and get elected and have the opportunity to do good for the poor he or she needs to spend a lot of money just to get into that position, money that could do a lot of good if spent in other ways.
In the Bible the prophets were often very critical of those in power who didn't care for the poor. A king was often described as a shepherd who was to care for his flock, the people he was ruling. There were very few "good" shepherds of the people. Eventually Jesus came, God's chosen one, to show the world what God's good rule looked like. He was the Good Shepherd who went so far as to give his life for the sheep, for every one of us.
In our church we pray, almost every Sunday, for the world's leaders and those in power. An example of such a prayer says, "God of every nation, you enfold all peoples, tribes, and languages in your care. Give your grace to all who govern, that peace would prevail among all of earth's inhabitants." Another says, "Righteous God, you call us to reflect your righteousness in all our living. Give to the leaders of the nations that right judgment in all things, that they may govern fairly and justly all people of the earth." Our prayers aren't just wishful thinking. We pray that God's will be done and we trust that it will happen. We continue to pray but we don't just sit back and wait. We participate in God's work in the world. We work for peace. We strive for justice. We advocate for fairness. And many people of faith participate in government and work to make the world a better place.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, bless the public servants in the government, that they may do their work win a spirit of wisdom, charity, and justice. Help them use their authority to serve faithfully and to promote our common life; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Monday, December 15, 2008
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
This is what I hurriedly put together yesterday for our newsletter. It's not like I don't know we put out a newsletter but I always seem to leave it to the last minute.
God comes down. Christ arrives. He enters creation as every human ever has. It's a common thing. It happens all the time. But anyone who has ever given birth, or been present at the birth of a child, knows that there's nothing common about it. But this birth is even more uncommon because here is God.
But this baby is still a baby. He's born in a stable. He's laid in a manger. And who on this earth knows that there's anything special about this child? Mary knows, and Joseph, those who heard and believed the promises. And I know, and you. By faith we are present at the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
Tradition tells us that Mary was a very young mother. Finding no room in the village inn they are forced to bed down in a stable. Joseph scoops up some clean straw and makes a bed for Mary, as comfortable a bed as he can, stretching out a blanket for her to lay on. The time comes for her to deliver her child. The sounds and the pain of giving birth are the same as for any child. Joseph with his rough, thick carpenters hands becomes the midwife.
The pain of giving life ebbs and flows for Mary and suddenly there is release. Joseph's breathing checks in his throat as tears come to his eyes. He wipes baby Jesus clean and gives him to his mother. She wraps the swaddling cloths around his body as she kisses his face. She is tired. Jesus is tired. She lays him on clean straw using a rough feeding trough for a cradle. She strokes his cheek with the back of one finger. Then she lays back down, closes her eyes, and sleeps.
It's easy to romanticize the scene. The nativity scenes that we set up in our homes and churches are usually very beautiful but probably not very realistic. What would the situation be like in our day?
A young couple arrives in town. They don't have much money. The motel they could afford has the NO VACANCY sign lit. They ask if there's any place they might stay. The only option is a corner of the parking garage. The husband finds some cardboard boxes and old sheets of plywood in the alley that he props up to give them some privacy. The wife is pregnant and goes into labour. They don't know where the hospital is, and it's too late anyway. The baby is born in the parking garage. The father takes his best white shirt out of his suitcase to wrap up the newborn baby. They lay him in a cardboard box, pillowed by some towels. Mother and child fall asleep while father stays up through the night protecting them.
It's not quite the sanitized picture of our manger scenes and children's storybooks. But it might not be far from the mark. The cantata that the choir will sing on Christmas Eve includes a piece titled "No Candle Was There." No candle was there and no fire, in the stable where Jesus was born, in the stall where our Savour was laid ‘til the rosy red breaking of morn; for the Christchild and Saviour no light, and never a candle to burn.
This is how our God came down. He didn't tear open the sky and reveal his splendour and might. That would have likely been terrifying. Instead he appeared as a baby, a poor baby at that, and was laid in a manger. It was hardly an auspicious beginning. But this baby boy came to save the world, to liberate us and establish everlasting justice and mercy. Angels sang. All of creation rejoiced. Lowly shepherds were the first to hear the news. In this baby the creator of the universe was present. And Mary and Joseph named him Jesus meaning "the one who saves."
And now we gather each Christmas to celebrate. We pull out all the stops, ring the chimes, sing at the top of our voices. Because the one who came down all those years ago still comes down. We remember, and we give thanks. We join the song of the angels. And we witness again the miracle of grace that slept on a bed of straw in a lowly manger, and we pray for that same heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
God comes down. Christ arrives. He enters creation as every human ever has. It's a common thing. It happens all the time. But anyone who has ever given birth, or been present at the birth of a child, knows that there's nothing common about it. But this birth is even more uncommon because here is God.
But this baby is still a baby. He's born in a stable. He's laid in a manger. And who on this earth knows that there's anything special about this child? Mary knows, and Joseph, those who heard and believed the promises. And I know, and you. By faith we are present at the birth of our Lord and Saviour.
Tradition tells us that Mary was a very young mother. Finding no room in the village inn they are forced to bed down in a stable. Joseph scoops up some clean straw and makes a bed for Mary, as comfortable a bed as he can, stretching out a blanket for her to lay on. The time comes for her to deliver her child. The sounds and the pain of giving birth are the same as for any child. Joseph with his rough, thick carpenters hands becomes the midwife.
The pain of giving life ebbs and flows for Mary and suddenly there is release. Joseph's breathing checks in his throat as tears come to his eyes. He wipes baby Jesus clean and gives him to his mother. She wraps the swaddling cloths around his body as she kisses his face. She is tired. Jesus is tired. She lays him on clean straw using a rough feeding trough for a cradle. She strokes his cheek with the back of one finger. Then she lays back down, closes her eyes, and sleeps.
It's easy to romanticize the scene. The nativity scenes that we set up in our homes and churches are usually very beautiful but probably not very realistic. What would the situation be like in our day?
A young couple arrives in town. They don't have much money. The motel they could afford has the NO VACANCY sign lit. They ask if there's any place they might stay. The only option is a corner of the parking garage. The husband finds some cardboard boxes and old sheets of plywood in the alley that he props up to give them some privacy. The wife is pregnant and goes into labour. They don't know where the hospital is, and it's too late anyway. The baby is born in the parking garage. The father takes his best white shirt out of his suitcase to wrap up the newborn baby. They lay him in a cardboard box, pillowed by some towels. Mother and child fall asleep while father stays up through the night protecting them.
It's not quite the sanitized picture of our manger scenes and children's storybooks. But it might not be far from the mark. The cantata that the choir will sing on Christmas Eve includes a piece titled "No Candle Was There." No candle was there and no fire, in the stable where Jesus was born, in the stall where our Savour was laid ‘til the rosy red breaking of morn; for the Christchild and Saviour no light, and never a candle to burn.
This is how our God came down. He didn't tear open the sky and reveal his splendour and might. That would have likely been terrifying. Instead he appeared as a baby, a poor baby at that, and was laid in a manger. It was hardly an auspicious beginning. But this baby boy came to save the world, to liberate us and establish everlasting justice and mercy. Angels sang. All of creation rejoiced. Lowly shepherds were the first to hear the news. In this baby the creator of the universe was present. And Mary and Joseph named him Jesus meaning "the one who saves."
And now we gather each Christmas to celebrate. We pull out all the stops, ring the chimes, sing at the top of our voices. Because the one who came down all those years ago still comes down. We remember, and we give thanks. We join the song of the angels. And we witness again the miracle of grace that slept on a bed of straw in a lowly manger, and we pray for that same heavenly peace.
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
round yon virgin mother and child.
Holy Infant, so tender and mild,
sleep in heavenly peace,
sleep in heavenly peace.
sleep in heavenly peace.
I'm Back
Okay. So at least one person is reading this blog. Here's a MEME I found at LutherPunk's blog.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. We always go and cut one at a tree farm on the Saturday of Advent 3. That's this Saturday!
3. When do you put up the tree? See #2. We decorate the house (well mostly my wife decorates the house) for the beginning of Advent of December 1, whichever comes first.
4. When do you take the tree down? After Epiphany.
5. Do you like eggnog? I can take it or leave it. It's not something I crave or have to buy when I see it in the store.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't even recall specific gifts that I received as a child, but I was always happy.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My wife.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of my kids.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. A few actually.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Don't really do the card thing.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't mind clothes and my tastes in clothing aren't too picky, but sometimes you've got to wonder, "What was s/he thinking?"
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? That's a tough one. We've got so many Christmas movies that it's hard to fit them all in during Advent and the 12 days of Christmas. We've got 4 favourites that we reserve for the 4 Sundays in Advent: Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, It's a Wonderful Life, and White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually late November. My wife does most of the Christmas shopping and sometimes she'll start in January.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The Christmas cookies that my wife and mother bake that you just don't get at any other time of year.
16. Lights on the tree? I really don't understand the question. What's the alternative?
17. Favorite Christmas song? My grade school music teacher taught us a distinction between Christmas carols (religious theme) and Christmas songs (non-religious). So my favourite Christmas song would probably be "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts roasting...) and it would have to be Nat "King" Cole's version.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Family is all within about an hour's drive. I don't call that travel.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (or Donder), Blitzen, and of course Rudy.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We put a Spitze on (one of those pointy things with a couple of balls at the base)
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve. Santa brings the presents while we're at church. We come home, open all our presents, relax a bit before we have to go back to church for the late service.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? It's too busy. With parties, family obligations, extra church functions, children's concerts and pageants at school, etc., there's hardly a quiet moment at home with family.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We look for a new "I Love Lucy" ornament every year for my wife. They're kind of fun.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I never get tired of the big turkey. And the gravy my wife makes from the pan drippings and white wine is yummy.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? No special wishes. I still like getting toys, so a good video game or two would be fun.
If you're actually reading this and feel like doing this, consider yourself tagged.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? Real. We always go and cut one at a tree farm on the Saturday of Advent 3. That's this Saturday!
3. When do you put up the tree? See #2. We decorate the house (well mostly my wife decorates the house) for the beginning of Advent of December 1, whichever comes first.
4. When do you take the tree down? After Epiphany.
5. Do you like eggnog? I can take it or leave it. It's not something I crave or have to buy when I see it in the store.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I don't even recall specific gifts that I received as a child, but I was always happy.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My wife.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Any of my kids.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. A few actually.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Don't really do the card thing.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I don't mind clothes and my tastes in clothing aren't too picky, but sometimes you've got to wonder, "What was s/he thinking?"
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? That's a tough one. We've got so many Christmas movies that it's hard to fit them all in during Advent and the 12 days of Christmas. We've got 4 favourites that we reserve for the 4 Sundays in Advent: Going My Way, The Bells of St. Mary's, It's a Wonderful Life, and White Christmas.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Usually late November. My wife does most of the Christmas shopping and sometimes she'll start in January.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? The Christmas cookies that my wife and mother bake that you just don't get at any other time of year.
16. Lights on the tree? I really don't understand the question. What's the alternative?
17. Favorite Christmas song? My grade school music teacher taught us a distinction between Christmas carols (religious theme) and Christmas songs (non-religious). So my favourite Christmas song would probably be "The Christmas Song" (Chestnuts roasting...) and it would have to be Nat "King" Cole's version.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Family is all within about an hour's drive. I don't call that travel.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner (or Donder), Blitzen, and of course Rudy.
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. We put a Spitze on (one of those pointy things with a couple of balls at the base)
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas Eve. Santa brings the presents while we're at church. We come home, open all our presents, relax a bit before we have to go back to church for the late service.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? It's too busy. With parties, family obligations, extra church functions, children's concerts and pageants at school, etc., there's hardly a quiet moment at home with family.
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? We look for a new "I Love Lucy" ornament every year for my wife. They're kind of fun.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? I never get tired of the big turkey. And the gravy my wife makes from the pan drippings and white wine is yummy.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? No special wishes. I still like getting toys, so a good video game or two would be fun.
If you're actually reading this and feel like doing this, consider yourself tagged.
Monday, December 08, 2008
WOW!
It's been a long time since I blogged here. It's not a surprise. I know I haven't been posting. I've been wondering if I should give up entirely. I don't want to take the time to blog frequently. I don't know if I should continue my infrequent posting or not. I'm not even sure if anyone reads this thing. If they did they probably quit since I haven't posted in over 3 months.
Oh well.
Oh well.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
...about the Lord's Day
I didn't get yesterday's paper but this was supposed to be in it.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God's word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.
Those are words that I had to memorize in confirmation classes in my early teens. They come from Martin Luther's Small Catechism, a booklet he wrote in 1529 for families to use in their daily devotions to teach their children and remind themselves of some of the teachings in the Bible. The quotation above comes from his explanations of the Ten Commandments.
Now, I'm not a proponent of erecting a monument to the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn, nor of posting them on a public school classroom wall. I think the teaching of the Ten Commandments, and other biblical teachings, belongs in the church, the synagogue, and the homes of believers. At the same time, a just and orderly society probably shouldn't have any quarrel with most of the commandments.
The commandments are a gift from God that describe the blessed way we can live because God loves us, sets us free, and promises to be with us. A few of the commandments deal with our relationship with God. The majority deal with our relationships with one another. So, does the commandment about setting apart a day of rest deal with our relationship with God, or with one another? Maybe both.
Daniel Erlander writes about the gift of Sabbath. He calls it "God's gift of time—time for resting, playing, singing, frolicking, feasting, praying, storytelling, and time for savouring friendships with God and others and nature." God let's us know that "the world will not fall apart if we don't work all the time (Exodus 20:8-11, 23:12). It doesn't even fall apart when God takes a day off (Genesis 2:1-3)."
God intends for us to rest some of the time. It's a gift! But it's a gift that so few of us use.
I was rather disappointed when I heard that we'd be having a second market day on Sundays. I get it. Some people have to work Friday mornings and can't go to the market. Well, from Port Colborne City Hall to Welland's Saturday market is a 14 km drive that should take about 17 minutes.
I also read that our Sunday market allows for an extra day of sales for a certain restaurant that had been otherwise closed on Sundays. So who has to give up their Sunday off to work the market now?
Another point I read was that with the Sunday market Port Colborne can expect the community to be more closely-knit. Why can't people knit themselves closer to one another at church on Sunday morning? If church isn't somebody's thing then why can't they brew some extra coffee and visit with their neighbour on the front porch?
We've been told that it'll only cost us about $1,100 for the remainder of 2008. I think it's costing us a lot more. Sunday is becoming no different from any other day of the week. How many establishments went under in the old days because they weren't open on Sunday, because people set that day apart as a day of rest? Now we're convinced that wide open shopping 7 days a week is a necessity. How long will it be until we're convinced that our city can't function without a Sunday market?
I love our Friday market. My wife and I go as often as we can and we enjoy meeting friends and getting to know the vendors and supporting our local farmers. I won't be going to the Sunday market. I'll be in church in the morning and spending the afternoon with my family. I will strive to keep Sunday as a day of rest, setting it apart, keeping it holy. I'll try to leave the spending of my money for the other 6 days of the week.
Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy.
What does this mean?
We are to fear and love God, so that we do not despise preaching or God's word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it.
Those are words that I had to memorize in confirmation classes in my early teens. They come from Martin Luther's Small Catechism, a booklet he wrote in 1529 for families to use in their daily devotions to teach their children and remind themselves of some of the teachings in the Bible. The quotation above comes from his explanations of the Ten Commandments.
Now, I'm not a proponent of erecting a monument to the Ten Commandments on a courthouse lawn, nor of posting them on a public school classroom wall. I think the teaching of the Ten Commandments, and other biblical teachings, belongs in the church, the synagogue, and the homes of believers. At the same time, a just and orderly society probably shouldn't have any quarrel with most of the commandments.
The commandments are a gift from God that describe the blessed way we can live because God loves us, sets us free, and promises to be with us. A few of the commandments deal with our relationship with God. The majority deal with our relationships with one another. So, does the commandment about setting apart a day of rest deal with our relationship with God, or with one another? Maybe both.
Daniel Erlander writes about the gift of Sabbath. He calls it "God's gift of time—time for resting, playing, singing, frolicking, feasting, praying, storytelling, and time for savouring friendships with God and others and nature." God let's us know that "the world will not fall apart if we don't work all the time (Exodus 20:8-11, 23:12). It doesn't even fall apart when God takes a day off (Genesis 2:1-3)."
God intends for us to rest some of the time. It's a gift! But it's a gift that so few of us use.
I was rather disappointed when I heard that we'd be having a second market day on Sundays. I get it. Some people have to work Friday mornings and can't go to the market. Well, from Port Colborne City Hall to Welland's Saturday market is a 14 km drive that should take about 17 minutes.
I also read that our Sunday market allows for an extra day of sales for a certain restaurant that had been otherwise closed on Sundays. So who has to give up their Sunday off to work the market now?
Another point I read was that with the Sunday market Port Colborne can expect the community to be more closely-knit. Why can't people knit themselves closer to one another at church on Sunday morning? If church isn't somebody's thing then why can't they brew some extra coffee and visit with their neighbour on the front porch?
We've been told that it'll only cost us about $1,100 for the remainder of 2008. I think it's costing us a lot more. Sunday is becoming no different from any other day of the week. How many establishments went under in the old days because they weren't open on Sunday, because people set that day apart as a day of rest? Now we're convinced that wide open shopping 7 days a week is a necessity. How long will it be until we're convinced that our city can't function without a Sunday market?
I love our Friday market. My wife and I go as often as we can and we enjoy meeting friends and getting to know the vendors and supporting our local farmers. I won't be going to the Sunday market. I'll be in church in the morning and spending the afternoon with my family. I will strive to keep Sunday as a day of rest, setting it apart, keeping it holy. I'll try to leave the spending of my money for the other 6 days of the week.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Two books I didn't mention
When I wrote about the books I've read recently I forgot a couple. I've read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom a couple of times and have seen the movie 3 times over the years. Well, on our camping holiday I read his 2003 book The Five People You Meet in Heaven and his 2006 book For One More Day.
I like what he writes. It's not overtly Christian, probably not Christian at all. But it's spiritual, it makes you think, and while death is behind the subject of all three of those books I find them uplifting. There's good news there.
We read and watched Tuesdays with Morrie in seminary in our Grief Crises and Pastoral Care course (commonly referred to as "Death and Dying"). We also watched the movie as part of the didactic sessions of the CPE unit I was in.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is an interesting take on what happens after you die. He proposes, in this book, that you meet five people in heaven who help you make sense out of what happened to you during your life. It's kind of neat to think that you might get some answers to questions like "Why did this or that happen to me?" "Did anything I did in life make a difference to someone else?"
For One More Day is about a guy who's given up on life but first spends a day with his mother who has already been dead for 8 years. He realizes how he took her for granted during her life and just what she did for him in his life. That "one more day" is a gift to him that changes the way he lives the rest of his life.
I like what he writes. It's not overtly Christian, probably not Christian at all. But it's spiritual, it makes you think, and while death is behind the subject of all three of those books I find them uplifting. There's good news there.
We read and watched Tuesdays with Morrie in seminary in our Grief Crises and Pastoral Care course (commonly referred to as "Death and Dying"). We also watched the movie as part of the didactic sessions of the CPE unit I was in.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is an interesting take on what happens after you die. He proposes, in this book, that you meet five people in heaven who help you make sense out of what happened to you during your life. It's kind of neat to think that you might get some answers to questions like "Why did this or that happen to me?" "Did anything I did in life make a difference to someone else?"
For One More Day is about a guy who's given up on life but first spends a day with his mother who has already been dead for 8 years. He realizes how he took her for granted during her life and just what she did for him in his life. That "one more day" is a gift to him that changes the way he lives the rest of his life.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
More Books I've Read
It's been a while since I shared about some of what I've been reading. I might be forgetting some but way back during Lent I was reading:
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I think this is simply called "Discipleship" in its newest translation. That's what its original German title was, simply Nachfolge which I guess literally means "following."
Anyway, I read the version copyrighted in 1959. I wonder if the newer translation is an easier read. I've heard from a few people how reading this book changed their lives. I just found it so dense, so hard to read. I could only read a few pages a day because I was getting lost. I've read quotes now and then from this book and I think they were picking out some highlights because I just couldn't wrap my head around it very well. Maybe I'm the one who's dense.
Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity by Kelly A. Fryer
I'm a pretty big fan of Kelly Fryer. When I read her stuff I get excited about the possibilities for the church. Sometimes the trick is translating that excitement into action or spreading that excitement to the rest of the church.
Kelly can be pretty critical about the church, which can be a good thing, but I'm starting to think she's going overboard. Kelly's writing is starting to sound like the church can do nothing right and that we ought to scrap the whole deal and start from scratch. I believe, as she does, that the church needs to be focused outward, but when I read her now I'm not sure what, if anything, the church should be doing "in here."
I get frustrated by what goes on in the local church (I guess more by what doesn't go on) and by what does and doesn't go on in the wider church. I'm wondering if Kelly has become too frustrated. Is it because the church body she belongs to has said that someone like her can't be a pastor in that denomination?
There's still a lot of good stuff in this book. The term "Evangelical" has been hijacked and we need to wake up and reclaim it in its older and fuller meaning. Maybe she was more challenging than I was ready for when I first read it. It's a short book so I'll have to read it again and see if I see it differently.
Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms edited by Rolf A. Jacobson
This was a book written by professional theologians for ordinary folk. I guess I can be considered one of the former but I see myself more as one of the latter. And it doesn't shy away from taking a few digs. For instance:
Rapture \RAP-chuhr\ n.
Now you see it, now you don't—because the teaching is not biblical.
In this not-going-to-happen event, all truly faithful Christians would be beamed from the earth directly to heaven so that they could avoid Satan's seven-year reign before Christ's return at the end of the world. In reality the biblical support for such an event simply does not exist. Kind of like Frankenstein, this monstrous false doctrine was pieced together from bits of 1 Thessalonians, Matthew, Daniel, and Revelation—and popularized by a series of pseudo-interpretational novels. (p. 139)
Some definitions just made me think of things in a new way or understand them more clearly. For example:
Means of Grace \MEENZ-uhv-GRAS\ n.
The simplest stuff of every day through which the most profound event of eternity happens to you.
Have you ever smelled cold or hot? Have you ever felt a scream? How can a person see that which is invisible or hold that which has not substance in one's hands? That is what the means of grace are all about. God's grace—God's Redeeming Actions Concerning Everyone—is an event that frees us, forgives us, empowers us. But how does it come to us? In the simplest of everyday things: words, water, bread, wine, community. In the Word of God, in the sacraments of baptism and Communion, in the community of the church, God's grace can be smelled, felt, seen, heard, held, and tasted. (p. 113)
I really liked this book.
Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith by Martin E. Marty
Apparently Martin Marty has written more than fifty books and I think this is the first one I've ever read. I've certainly heard of him and read quotations from his writings and maybe read articles by him, but this was my first book. It was very good. It answers a lot of theological questions from a Lutheran perspective. That's very helpful because I think a lot of people have conflated so much from the fundamentalist end of the spectrum and so much decision theology into Lutheranism.
Now it may seem that I read only theological books, but I make time for fiction. I read:
The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke by Steven Hayward
This book was about three families living side by side in row houses, sharing a connected front porch, in Toronto in 1933. Two families are Jewish and one is Italian. Part of the book is a love story, part about friendships, part about baseball, and part about anti-Semitism. It culminates in a riot that takes place after an amateur baseball playoff game between the anti-Semitic Swastika Club and a predominantly Jewish baseball team and their fans (the Italians were their allies). The riot really did take place 75 years ago this month. Good book.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
A third-string NFL quarterback gets into the conference final game and really blows it. He's got some skill but nobody wants him on their team anymore. His agent finds him a job as starting quarterback for the Parma Panthers in the Italian NFL. It's funny. There's some romance. And the description of the football games is even exciting. It's not Moby Dick or To Kill a Mockingbird, but for sitting on the beach or by the pool or at your campsite it's enjoyable, at least it was for me.
The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
I think this is simply called "Discipleship" in its newest translation. That's what its original German title was, simply Nachfolge which I guess literally means "following."
Anyway, I read the version copyrighted in 1959. I wonder if the newer translation is an easier read. I've heard from a few people how reading this book changed their lives. I just found it so dense, so hard to read. I could only read a few pages a day because I was getting lost. I've read quotes now and then from this book and I think they were picking out some highlights because I just couldn't wrap my head around it very well. Maybe I'm the one who's dense.
Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity by Kelly A. Fryer
I'm a pretty big fan of Kelly Fryer. When I read her stuff I get excited about the possibilities for the church. Sometimes the trick is translating that excitement into action or spreading that excitement to the rest of the church.
Kelly can be pretty critical about the church, which can be a good thing, but I'm starting to think she's going overboard. Kelly's writing is starting to sound like the church can do nothing right and that we ought to scrap the whole deal and start from scratch. I believe, as she does, that the church needs to be focused outward, but when I read her now I'm not sure what, if anything, the church should be doing "in here."
I get frustrated by what goes on in the local church (I guess more by what doesn't go on) and by what does and doesn't go on in the wider church. I'm wondering if Kelly has become too frustrated. Is it because the church body she belongs to has said that someone like her can't be a pastor in that denomination?
There's still a lot of good stuff in this book. The term "Evangelical" has been hijacked and we need to wake up and reclaim it in its older and fuller meaning. Maybe she was more challenging than I was ready for when I first read it. It's a short book so I'll have to read it again and see if I see it differently.
Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms edited by Rolf A. Jacobson
This was a book written by professional theologians for ordinary folk. I guess I can be considered one of the former but I see myself more as one of the latter. And it doesn't shy away from taking a few digs. For instance:
Rapture \RAP-chuhr\ n.
Now you see it, now you don't—because the teaching is not biblical.
In this not-going-to-happen event, all truly faithful Christians would be beamed from the earth directly to heaven so that they could avoid Satan's seven-year reign before Christ's return at the end of the world. In reality the biblical support for such an event simply does not exist. Kind of like Frankenstein, this monstrous false doctrine was pieced together from bits of 1 Thessalonians, Matthew, Daniel, and Revelation—and popularized by a series of pseudo-interpretational novels. (p. 139)
Some definitions just made me think of things in a new way or understand them more clearly. For example:
Means of Grace \MEENZ-uhv-GRAS\ n.
The simplest stuff of every day through which the most profound event of eternity happens to you.
Have you ever smelled cold or hot? Have you ever felt a scream? How can a person see that which is invisible or hold that which has not substance in one's hands? That is what the means of grace are all about. God's grace—God's Redeeming Actions Concerning Everyone—is an event that frees us, forgives us, empowers us. But how does it come to us? In the simplest of everyday things: words, water, bread, wine, community. In the Word of God, in the sacraments of baptism and Communion, in the community of the church, God's grace can be smelled, felt, seen, heard, held, and tasted. (p. 113)
I really liked this book.
Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers: Exploring Christian Faith by Martin E. Marty
Apparently Martin Marty has written more than fifty books and I think this is the first one I've ever read. I've certainly heard of him and read quotations from his writings and maybe read articles by him, but this was my first book. It was very good. It answers a lot of theological questions from a Lutheran perspective. That's very helpful because I think a lot of people have conflated so much from the fundamentalist end of the spectrum and so much decision theology into Lutheranism.
Now it may seem that I read only theological books, but I make time for fiction. I read:
The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke by Steven Hayward
This book was about three families living side by side in row houses, sharing a connected front porch, in Toronto in 1933. Two families are Jewish and one is Italian. Part of the book is a love story, part about friendships, part about baseball, and part about anti-Semitism. It culminates in a riot that takes place after an amateur baseball playoff game between the anti-Semitic Swastika Club and a predominantly Jewish baseball team and their fans (the Italians were their allies). The riot really did take place 75 years ago this month. Good book.
Playing for Pizza by John Grisham
A third-string NFL quarterback gets into the conference final game and really blows it. He's got some skill but nobody wants him on their team anymore. His agent finds him a job as starting quarterback for the Parma Panthers in the Italian NFL. It's funny. There's some romance. And the description of the football games is even exciting. It's not Moby Dick or To Kill a Mockingbird, but for sitting on the beach or by the pool or at your campsite it's enjoyable, at least it was for me.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Long Winded?
I always thought I kept my funeral services pretty short. Not that shorter is necessarily better but I figure that people aren't necessarily in a frame of mind to listen to a long sermon. So, I use the funeral liturgy in Evangelical Lutheran Worship and preach a sermon that is probably about half the length of one of my Sunday sermons.
This morning I had a funeral and after I was done preaching and prayed the prayers I asked the people to be seated for the Commendation and I hear the widow tell one of her sons "he could wrap it up by now." I smiled to myself and prayed the commendation and then we made our way to the cemetery.
I decided on the way that I'd make it short out at the cemetery. As we gathered under the tent I again heard the widow remark "I hope this doesn't take too long." So I skipped the scripture that I usually read at the Committal and just said the prayers.
I wasn't offended by her comments. I think it was probably the funniest funeral I've ever done.
This morning I had a funeral and after I was done preaching and prayed the prayers I asked the people to be seated for the Commendation and I hear the widow tell one of her sons "he could wrap it up by now." I smiled to myself and prayed the commendation and then we made our way to the cemetery.
I decided on the way that I'd make it short out at the cemetery. As we gathered under the tent I again heard the widow remark "I hope this doesn't take too long." So I skipped the scripture that I usually read at the Committal and just said the prayers.
I wasn't offended by her comments. I think it was probably the funniest funeral I've ever done.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Assembly 2008
Well, last week at this time I was into the full swing of this year's Synod Assembly. On the whole it was pretty painless. It was also neat because my oldest daughter attended as our conference youth delegate. Each of our synod's eight conferences is entitled to send a youth delegate with full voice and vote. T is quite shy and I wondered how she'd fare. She was ready to go home on the second day but stuck it out, making friends with the other youth delegates and staying up until 2 a.m. a couple of nights and 4:30 a.m. the last night.
We actually got through the business of the assembly early. If you cut out some of the add-ons we could have probably been finished by Friday evening, Saturday morning at the latest, instead of running from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. The agenda went something like this:
Wednesday afternoon: business session 1
Wednesday evening: opening service of Holy Communion
Thursday morning: business session 2 (including guest speaker)
Thursday afternoon: business session 3
Thursday evening: business session 4 (including guest speaker part 2)
Friday morning: business session 5 (including guest speaker part 3)
Friday afternoon: educational/informational forums
Friday evening: ordination service
Saturday morning: business session 6
Saturday afternoon: business session 7 (including guest speaker part 4)
Saturday evening: banquet
Sunday morning: closing service of Holy Communion
I figure if we left out the guest speaker, left out the Friday afternoon forums, left out the banquet, and maybe even left out the ordination service (made it separate from the assembly) then we could have been done way sooner, saved a lot of cost, and been away from home for much less time.
It's always good to catch up with old friends at these things. I didn't see much of some but was able to spend a bit of time with others. Next year will be the first break I get from these assemblies. Our Synod Assembly is every other year (even numbered years) and our national church convention happens in the odd numbered years. I attended the ‘05 and ‘07 national conventions so I'm not eligible to attend the ‘09 convention. It figures too. The last two were in Winnipeg (maybe a nice place but not one I'd automatically choose to visit). Next year's convention will be in Vancouver, a much more desirable place to visit in most opinions I'd think.
Every convention/assembly I've attended since the one at which I was ordained in 2002 has dealt with some controversy, always to do with how the church includes the participation of and ministry to homosexuals. This one had a bit of that but it wasn't the big issue that it has been at previous assemblies. This time it had to do with a congregation that chose to call and ordain a gay married man. At this point in time the ELCIC's constitutions, bylaws, and enactments to not allow such an ordination. The congregation chose to go ahead without the bishop's approval. Several pastors of our synod vested and/or participated in the rite of laying on of hands. The bishop stated that neither the ELCIC nor any of our Full Communion partners will recognize the validity of this irregular rite and the pastor is not recognized as being on the roster of ministers of this church.
The bishop also stated that he is obliged to carry out disciplinary action. One possible disciplinary consequence available is public censure and admonition and he chose to do so in the case of the clerics who participated in this unauthorized act as well as the congregation. He will also appoint an investigative committee to examine the situation and report and bring recommendations to the Synod Council regarding further disciplinary action toward the congregation.
The bishop also noted his commitment "to working toward ending practices that preclude full participation of all God's people in the life of the church, regardless of sexual orientation." He said that civil disobedience can play a significant role in the process of political change but that such actions are only warranted when legislative mechanisms to achieve change are either unavailable or so corrupted as to be ineffective. That's not the case within the ELCIC.
Later in the convention a motion came in the Report of the Committee on Reference and Counsel encouraging the bishop and Synod Council to exercise restraint in disciplining congregations, pastors, and members who call pastors who are "self-declared and practicing homosexuals" as well as pastors who bless or marry same-gendered couples in compliance with provincial law. That motion received a good amount of discussion and then was passed by the assembly.
I think, though, that this assembly won't be seen as a "one issue" assembly like many of the past few have. Here are the gists of some of the other motions:
- encouraging Canada and the Provinces to adopt the "U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
- encouraging the synod and her congregations to stand in solidarity with the Anglican Church of Canada and our Aboriginal brothers and sisters as they implement and live out From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools.
- calling on Federal and Provincial governments to implement concrete Poverty Reduction Strategies.
- calling upon governments to prohibit uranium exploration and mining on Indigenous lands without the approval of local communities and a full comprehensive independent environmental assessment; a comprehensive review of the Ontario Mining Act in consultation with Aboriginal peoples and affected stakeholders; develop effective regulatory measures to safeguard Ontario's water resources and exercise responsible stewardship in developing a socially and ecologically sustainable future for future generations.
- encouraging deeper theological study and ethical reflection by the church concerning the urgent crisis posed by climate change.
- asking synod council to explore the possibility of forgiving, in whole or in part, a $500,000 loan that was made to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.
- giving the option of receiving electronic rather than paper copies of assembly documents for future assemblies.
- reporting the mandate and guidelines for the investigating committee involving the extraordinary ordination that took place.
- encouraging churches to participate in and respond to the ELCIC Sexuality Study that is underway.
- asking the synod to review and study the Kirby Report on a Canadian Mental Health strategy with a view to encouraging Federal and Provincial governments to develop a national mental health strategy.
- providing an optional service/servant event during, or a day prior to, future synod assemblies.
I suggested that cutting the guest speaker would have shortened the duration of the assembly. I have to admit, I thought she was very good. It was Tana Kjos of A.R.E.: A Renewal Enterprise who spoke about the six mission priorities of our synod's vision for mission. Those priorities are:
1. We want to be a synod that is passionate about our relationship with God, in Christ.
2. We want to be a synod that nurtures leaders who encourage and equip other leaders.
3. We want to be a synod that works in partnership with others.
4. We want to be a synod that reflects the diversity of our society.
5. We want to be a synod that is generous.
6. We want to be a synod that is engaged by challenging questions.
Tana is very good at holding up an outward looking missional focus, and at pointing out that business as usual doesn't really cut it anymore.
We actually got through the business of the assembly early. If you cut out some of the add-ons we could have probably been finished by Friday evening, Saturday morning at the latest, instead of running from Wednesday afternoon until Sunday morning. The agenda went something like this:
Wednesday afternoon: business session 1
Wednesday evening: opening service of Holy Communion
Thursday morning: business session 2 (including guest speaker)
Thursday afternoon: business session 3
Thursday evening: business session 4 (including guest speaker part 2)
Friday morning: business session 5 (including guest speaker part 3)
Friday afternoon: educational/informational forums
Friday evening: ordination service
Saturday morning: business session 6
Saturday afternoon: business session 7 (including guest speaker part 4)
Saturday evening: banquet
Sunday morning: closing service of Holy Communion
I figure if we left out the guest speaker, left out the Friday afternoon forums, left out the banquet, and maybe even left out the ordination service (made it separate from the assembly) then we could have been done way sooner, saved a lot of cost, and been away from home for much less time.
It's always good to catch up with old friends at these things. I didn't see much of some but was able to spend a bit of time with others. Next year will be the first break I get from these assemblies. Our Synod Assembly is every other year (even numbered years) and our national church convention happens in the odd numbered years. I attended the ‘05 and ‘07 national conventions so I'm not eligible to attend the ‘09 convention. It figures too. The last two were in Winnipeg (maybe a nice place but not one I'd automatically choose to visit). Next year's convention will be in Vancouver, a much more desirable place to visit in most opinions I'd think.
Every convention/assembly I've attended since the one at which I was ordained in 2002 has dealt with some controversy, always to do with how the church includes the participation of and ministry to homosexuals. This one had a bit of that but it wasn't the big issue that it has been at previous assemblies. This time it had to do with a congregation that chose to call and ordain a gay married man. At this point in time the ELCIC's constitutions, bylaws, and enactments to not allow such an ordination. The congregation chose to go ahead without the bishop's approval. Several pastors of our synod vested and/or participated in the rite of laying on of hands. The bishop stated that neither the ELCIC nor any of our Full Communion partners will recognize the validity of this irregular rite and the pastor is not recognized as being on the roster of ministers of this church.
The bishop also stated that he is obliged to carry out disciplinary action. One possible disciplinary consequence available is public censure and admonition and he chose to do so in the case of the clerics who participated in this unauthorized act as well as the congregation. He will also appoint an investigative committee to examine the situation and report and bring recommendations to the Synod Council regarding further disciplinary action toward the congregation.
The bishop also noted his commitment "to working toward ending practices that preclude full participation of all God's people in the life of the church, regardless of sexual orientation." He said that civil disobedience can play a significant role in the process of political change but that such actions are only warranted when legislative mechanisms to achieve change are either unavailable or so corrupted as to be ineffective. That's not the case within the ELCIC.
Later in the convention a motion came in the Report of the Committee on Reference and Counsel encouraging the bishop and Synod Council to exercise restraint in disciplining congregations, pastors, and members who call pastors who are "self-declared and practicing homosexuals" as well as pastors who bless or marry same-gendered couples in compliance with provincial law. That motion received a good amount of discussion and then was passed by the assembly.
I think, though, that this assembly won't be seen as a "one issue" assembly like many of the past few have. Here are the gists of some of the other motions:
- encouraging Canada and the Provinces to adopt the "U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples."
- encouraging the synod and her congregations to stand in solidarity with the Anglican Church of Canada and our Aboriginal brothers and sisters as they implement and live out From Truth to Reconciliation: Transforming the Legacy of Residential Schools.
- calling on Federal and Provincial governments to implement concrete Poverty Reduction Strategies.
- calling upon governments to prohibit uranium exploration and mining on Indigenous lands without the approval of local communities and a full comprehensive independent environmental assessment; a comprehensive review of the Ontario Mining Act in consultation with Aboriginal peoples and affected stakeholders; develop effective regulatory measures to safeguard Ontario's water resources and exercise responsible stewardship in developing a socially and ecologically sustainable future for future generations.
- encouraging deeper theological study and ethical reflection by the church concerning the urgent crisis posed by climate change.
- asking synod council to explore the possibility of forgiving, in whole or in part, a $500,000 loan that was made to Waterloo Lutheran Seminary.
- giving the option of receiving electronic rather than paper copies of assembly documents for future assemblies.
- reporting the mandate and guidelines for the investigating committee involving the extraordinary ordination that took place.
- encouraging churches to participate in and respond to the ELCIC Sexuality Study that is underway.
- asking the synod to review and study the Kirby Report on a Canadian Mental Health strategy with a view to encouraging Federal and Provincial governments to develop a national mental health strategy.
- providing an optional service/servant event during, or a day prior to, future synod assemblies.
I suggested that cutting the guest speaker would have shortened the duration of the assembly. I have to admit, I thought she was very good. It was Tana Kjos of A.R.E.: A Renewal Enterprise who spoke about the six mission priorities of our synod's vision for mission. Those priorities are:
1. We want to be a synod that is passionate about our relationship with God, in Christ.
2. We want to be a synod that nurtures leaders who encourage and equip other leaders.
3. We want to be a synod that works in partnership with others.
4. We want to be a synod that reflects the diversity of our society.
5. We want to be a synod that is generous.
6. We want to be a synod that is engaged by challenging questions.
Tana is very good at holding up an outward looking missional focus, and at pointing out that business as usual doesn't really cut it anymore.
Monday, July 14, 2008
...about kids growing up.
The column below appeared last week in our local paper. It was a week late so the reference to my son's birthday was a week late. But here it is:
My wife and I find that there's not a whole lot on TV these days that's appropriate for family viewing. Reality programming has all but pushed sitcoms off the air. The sitcoms that are still being made might be funny to me but often the subject matter isn't exactly family friendly. So, over the years we've been buying DVD collections of the sitcoms we used to like watching.
Recently we watched an episode of The Cosby Show where the oldest daughter Sondra is having twins and her husband Elvin is terrified about not knowing how to handle and raise newborn babies.
It took me back to when we had our first child. I wasn't totally prepared but I was a fast learner. I discovered that you figure things out, you do the best you can, you pray a lot, and things turn out okay. By the time we had our fourth child we were so laid back, he's pretty much raising himself.
But a cute part of the Cosby episode had Cliff using a doll to teach Elvin how to properly pick up a baby. And I recalled picking up my own babies and holding them. They were so small that I could cradle them in the crook of one arm.
Then I looked around the room a my four children. The oldest has just finished her first year of high school. I bet I could still pick her up but she's a woman now, taller than my wife. The second became a teenager this spring and is nearly as tall as her older sister. So far neither of these girls has shown me any cause to dread the teenage years.
The third hit double digits this spring, 10 years old already and he impressed me recently on a long bike ride where he had to pedal twice as much as I did because his bike's a lot smaller than mine, but he pushed on and did it. And our youngest will be 6 this week. Last week he jumped over the line at his Kindergarten classroom door and will be going to school full days in the fall in grade 1.
Sometimes it seems like forever since I was changing diapers on these kids, pushing them around in strollers, lifting them in and out of their cribs. Other times it seems like just yesterday.
You can read in different places in the Bible about raising children. I wouldn't exactly call the Bible a guide book to child rearing. It was written centuries ago in a different time and a different culture. Everything might not be applicable to raising a child in the internet age. But some lessons might be learned there.
Early on in the Bible Moses tells God's people, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). I think Moses is telling the people that spiritual matters aren't just a Sunday morning thing, and don't leave the teaching of the "God stuff" to the pastor and Sunday School teachers. Make room for God in your family's every day life.
In the book of Proverbs there's a familiar saying (familiar to me anyway) that goes, "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray" (Proverbs 22:6). Now I don't know that you can take that as a guarantee. Children have their own minds and you can't say that if you do this and this and this then they'll turn out exactly the way they should or the way you want them to. But parents can try to present a good example, they can try to impart the teachings of the love of God to them, they can pray for them, bring them to church, nurture them in faith. Then, with the help of God, children may learn to trust God and live a life of faith.
I think the most important thing we can do for our growing children is love them and pray for them. When I think of the way I used to cradle the tiny babies that my children once were, I'm reminded of a hymn by Michael Joncas that paraphrases Psalm 91. The refrain says:
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Whatever else we do as parents, whatever we might do right in raising our children or the mistakes we so often make, we can trust that God holds them, and us, in the palm of his hand.
That's my prayer and my trust for my own children. May it be for yours as well.
My wife and I find that there's not a whole lot on TV these days that's appropriate for family viewing. Reality programming has all but pushed sitcoms off the air. The sitcoms that are still being made might be funny to me but often the subject matter isn't exactly family friendly. So, over the years we've been buying DVD collections of the sitcoms we used to like watching.
Recently we watched an episode of The Cosby Show where the oldest daughter Sondra is having twins and her husband Elvin is terrified about not knowing how to handle and raise newborn babies.
It took me back to when we had our first child. I wasn't totally prepared but I was a fast learner. I discovered that you figure things out, you do the best you can, you pray a lot, and things turn out okay. By the time we had our fourth child we were so laid back, he's pretty much raising himself.
But a cute part of the Cosby episode had Cliff using a doll to teach Elvin how to properly pick up a baby. And I recalled picking up my own babies and holding them. They were so small that I could cradle them in the crook of one arm.
Then I looked around the room a my four children. The oldest has just finished her first year of high school. I bet I could still pick her up but she's a woman now, taller than my wife. The second became a teenager this spring and is nearly as tall as her older sister. So far neither of these girls has shown me any cause to dread the teenage years.
The third hit double digits this spring, 10 years old already and he impressed me recently on a long bike ride where he had to pedal twice as much as I did because his bike's a lot smaller than mine, but he pushed on and did it. And our youngest will be 6 this week. Last week he jumped over the line at his Kindergarten classroom door and will be going to school full days in the fall in grade 1.
Sometimes it seems like forever since I was changing diapers on these kids, pushing them around in strollers, lifting them in and out of their cribs. Other times it seems like just yesterday.
You can read in different places in the Bible about raising children. I wouldn't exactly call the Bible a guide book to child rearing. It was written centuries ago in a different time and a different culture. Everything might not be applicable to raising a child in the internet age. But some lessons might be learned there.
Early on in the Bible Moses tells God's people, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise" (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). I think Moses is telling the people that spiritual matters aren't just a Sunday morning thing, and don't leave the teaching of the "God stuff" to the pastor and Sunday School teachers. Make room for God in your family's every day life.
In the book of Proverbs there's a familiar saying (familiar to me anyway) that goes, "Train children in the right way, and when old, they will not stray" (Proverbs 22:6). Now I don't know that you can take that as a guarantee. Children have their own minds and you can't say that if you do this and this and this then they'll turn out exactly the way they should or the way you want them to. But parents can try to present a good example, they can try to impart the teachings of the love of God to them, they can pray for them, bring them to church, nurture them in faith. Then, with the help of God, children may learn to trust God and live a life of faith.
I think the most important thing we can do for our growing children is love them and pray for them. When I think of the way I used to cradle the tiny babies that my children once were, I'm reminded of a hymn by Michael Joncas that paraphrases Psalm 91. The refrain says:
And he will raise you up on eagle's wings,
bear you on the breath of dawn,
make you to shine like the sun,
and hold you in the palm of his hand.
Whatever else we do as parents, whatever we might do right in raising our children or the mistakes we so often make, we can trust that God holds them, and us, in the palm of his hand.
That's my prayer and my trust for my own children. May it be for yours as well.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Peter and Paul
Here's my sermon for this Sunday with some ideas borrowed from Wiley Stephens.
Peter and Paul, Apostles
June 29, 2008
John 21.15-19
Thomas Arth
This week I’m taking my two daughters, and a friend of theirs,
and joining the youth from St. James & St. Brendan Anglican Church
on a three day retreat up north of Minden.
We’re looking forward to our retreat
and just the thought of it takes me back to my teenage years
and my camping trips and retreats with our youth group.
We had two annual retreats that we’d go on.
In mid-February we’d rent a winterized cabin at Camp Edgewood,
our synod’s camp and retreat centre outside of Guelph.
From Friday night until Sunday afternoon we’d spend time,
perhaps in Bible Study or discussion of faith topics,
we’d hike in the snow, we’d have a talent show,
we’d sing and play, we’d hardly sleep a wink,
but we’d have such a wonderful time
in the company of some of our best friends,
and we usually didn’t want to come home.
Our other retreat time was a camping trip
when we’d go to some Provincial Park,
usually on the first weekend in July.
I remember going on trips to The Pinery,
on the shore of Lake Huron, west of London;
or we went to Killbear
on the Georgian Bay shore near Parry Sound;
or we went to Cypress Lake
on the other side of Georgian Bay, up near Tobermory;
once we went to Algonquin Park;
and I remember Sandbanks,
on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Belleville.
Some time in June we’d haul out these ancient canvas tents
that the boy scouts in our church had long since stopped using,
we’d set them up on a sunny afternoon and make sure
that all the poles and stakes and strings were still there.
We’d try to dry some of the damp and mildew out
from the previous year’s trip,
we’d spray some waterproofing on
because it was bound to rain
on one of the days or nights we were camping.
Once we got to our destination and set up camp we’d hike and swim,
we’d sing around the campfire,
we’d worship and have devotional time,
we wouldn’t sleep much.
Some budding teenage romances would start up
while others might end.
It was such a wonderful time.
And again we wouldn’t want to go home
because that experience would end,
we’d be back to our daily routine.
The camping trip also meant
that we wouldn’t be getting together as a youth group again
until school started in September.
Just thinking about those times brings back such great memories.
If I could ever describe anything as a mountaintop experience
those retreats would be it.
I never wanted them to end.
The experience of love, of friendship, of God.
Those were God moments, when we could sing Christian songs,
worship together, talk about what God meant in our lives.
And it didn’t sound or feel strange or weird or un-cool.
It felt right, and perfect.
We were shut off from the rest of the world,
from the cares of life that might assail us.
We felt safe, we felt loved,
we felt close to each other and to God.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had that kind of feeling or experience,
if what I’m talking about makes any sense to you.
They were some of the greatest times of my life.
It might not have been a youth group, or even a church group.
I still get that kind of feeling when I take my family camping,
as I will in a few weeks.
I wish it could last forever, that it would never end,
that the real world and all it’s problems would just fade away
and I could keep on feeling what, to me,
is as close to perfect as it can be.
But life isn’t all mountaintop experiences.
You can’t live your life closed off from all of the cares of life.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection,
the disciples’ lives must have been in some kind of turmoil.
They had followed Jesus, they learned from him,
they saw the kinds of things he could do.
Peter declared, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God."
Then Jesus was arrested, taken away, tried, crucified.
Surely he could have saved himself. Why didn’t he?
After his death they were lost, but then came Easter.
He was alive again. He even appeared to them.
Thomas was given the opportunity to touch his wounds
to prove to himself that this was truly his Lord and his God. But what now?
This is just too much.
It’ll make your head spin.
Your emotions keep flipping,
you’re up, you’re down, you’re up again,
you’re not sure whether you’re up or down.
The disciples, in the midst of their confusion and turmoil,
went on a retreat.
A retreat for the sake of refreshment and renewal is a good thing.
But they were going to escape, to hide.
They were headed for a safe harbour.
The Sea of Galilee represented that for them.
They went fishing.
It was what they knew.
It was their livelihood for years
before Jesus came and called them to follow him.
But Jesus had showed them more.
He called them to drop their nets and follow him and fish for people.
As they followed they became witnesses to miracles
as the lame picked up their beds and walked,
the blind could see,
the deaf could hear,
the hungry were filled.
He opened the scriptures to them,
gave them a proper understanding of God’s word.
And they witnessed the chains of death broken.
Simon became Peter,
the rock on which Jesus would build the church.
But Simon Peter was anything but a rock
when he denied Jesus three times.
But in today’s gospel reading,
Peter is given the gift of another day, another chance,
the gift of forgiveness and new life yet again,
the gift of becoming that rock all over again.
The grace of a new day, of a fresh start,
is not just about saying what we’ll do.
It’s about starting to live a life molded by our faith.
It wasn’t enough for Peter to say, "I love you."
Jesus wanted more than a declaration of love,
he wants more from us than our weekly worship.
Jesus says, if you love me
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."
But so often we’re more comfortable in our safe harbours.
We like to go on retreat, not for refreshment and renewal,
but for escape.
Imagine Peter saying, "Let someone else feed your lambs,
let it be enough that I say ‘I love you.’"
But the grace of another day,
the grace of forgiveness and a new start
brings with it a challenge to change.
Peter couldn’t remain in the comfort of his old fishing business.
The journey he set out on when Jesus called him to follow
wasn’t over, there was a long way to go.
Imagine Jesus standing on the shore of that lake,
looking out and seeing Peter and the others back at their fishing.
What must he have felt?
I wonder if he was heartbroken.
There on that boat were the heart of the team
he had spent the last three years or so assembling and training.
There on that boat was the community he formed
to be his body on earth.
There on that boat was his plan to spread the word
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
And what happened to his team, his community, his plan?
They spent the night on a boat fishing.
But had they caught anything?
No.
There was no success and no faithfulness in their escape.
Once they listened to Jesus,
and cast their nets on the other side of the boat
they pulled up 153 large fish.
And they came up on shore and Jesus had breakfast waiting for them.
The boat was their safe harbour,
their retreat to escape
from the turmoil and confusion of the world.
It was their life before they met Jesus.
Now they were being confronted by Jesus.
"Do you love me?"
"Of course," Peter replied.
And all three times Jesus said, "Then show it."
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."
The last words of today’s gospel reading
were the same words that got Peter and all the others
started on this journey of discipleship and faith.
"Follow me."
Jesus was giving Peter the gracious gift of another day to be faithful,
another chance to follow.
Peter would become the fiery preacher of Pentecost,
he would confront the high priest, the elders and the scribes
as they assembled,
he would reach out to the Gentile Cornelius,
he would be arrested and delivered from prison,
and according to tradition, he would be martyred at Rome.
We’re challenged to believe and change,
to change ourselves and the world
with the message of God’s love,
God’s forgiveness,
God’s grace.
We’re called to follow Jesus,
to continue in the covenant God made with us in holy baptism.
We ask these things of our young confirmands,
offering them a new day, a new start,
God’s gracious call.
But it’s a call that we can all respond to. Will you:
live among God’s faithful people,
hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
Will you?
The youth group I belonged to as a teenager
consisted of anywhere from 20 to 40 people.
As memorable and as wonderful as those retreats and camping trips were,
if we had stayed there, hidden from the world,
escaped from the every day,
then 30 or so young Christian men and women
would not have gone into the world
and lived out their faith.
You would not have had Peter Fischer or myself as your pastors.
Those retreats did serve to create wonderful memories
but also to nourish us in our faith
and give us a new day to follow Jesus.
God gives each one of you the same opportunity to follow,
again and again.
Will you?
Peter and Paul, Apostles
June 29, 2008
John 21.15-19
Thomas Arth
This week I’m taking my two daughters, and a friend of theirs,
and joining the youth from St. James & St. Brendan Anglican Church
on a three day retreat up north of Minden.
We’re looking forward to our retreat
and just the thought of it takes me back to my teenage years
and my camping trips and retreats with our youth group.
We had two annual retreats that we’d go on.
In mid-February we’d rent a winterized cabin at Camp Edgewood,
our synod’s camp and retreat centre outside of Guelph.
From Friday night until Sunday afternoon we’d spend time,
perhaps in Bible Study or discussion of faith topics,
we’d hike in the snow, we’d have a talent show,
we’d sing and play, we’d hardly sleep a wink,
but we’d have such a wonderful time
in the company of some of our best friends,
and we usually didn’t want to come home.
Our other retreat time was a camping trip
when we’d go to some Provincial Park,
usually on the first weekend in July.
I remember going on trips to The Pinery,
on the shore of Lake Huron, west of London;
or we went to Killbear
on the Georgian Bay shore near Parry Sound;
or we went to Cypress Lake
on the other side of Georgian Bay, up near Tobermory;
once we went to Algonquin Park;
and I remember Sandbanks,
on the north shore of Lake Ontario near Belleville.
Some time in June we’d haul out these ancient canvas tents
that the boy scouts in our church had long since stopped using,
we’d set them up on a sunny afternoon and make sure
that all the poles and stakes and strings were still there.
We’d try to dry some of the damp and mildew out
from the previous year’s trip,
we’d spray some waterproofing on
because it was bound to rain
on one of the days or nights we were camping.
Once we got to our destination and set up camp we’d hike and swim,
we’d sing around the campfire,
we’d worship and have devotional time,
we wouldn’t sleep much.
Some budding teenage romances would start up
while others might end.
It was such a wonderful time.
And again we wouldn’t want to go home
because that experience would end,
we’d be back to our daily routine.
The camping trip also meant
that we wouldn’t be getting together as a youth group again
until school started in September.
Just thinking about those times brings back such great memories.
If I could ever describe anything as a mountaintop experience
those retreats would be it.
I never wanted them to end.
The experience of love, of friendship, of God.
Those were God moments, when we could sing Christian songs,
worship together, talk about what God meant in our lives.
And it didn’t sound or feel strange or weird or un-cool.
It felt right, and perfect.
We were shut off from the rest of the world,
from the cares of life that might assail us.
We felt safe, we felt loved,
we felt close to each other and to God.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had that kind of feeling or experience,
if what I’m talking about makes any sense to you.
They were some of the greatest times of my life.
It might not have been a youth group, or even a church group.
I still get that kind of feeling when I take my family camping,
as I will in a few weeks.
I wish it could last forever, that it would never end,
that the real world and all it’s problems would just fade away
and I could keep on feeling what, to me,
is as close to perfect as it can be.
But life isn’t all mountaintop experiences.
You can’t live your life closed off from all of the cares of life.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection,
the disciples’ lives must have been in some kind of turmoil.
They had followed Jesus, they learned from him,
they saw the kinds of things he could do.
Peter declared, "You are the Messiah, the Son of God."
Then Jesus was arrested, taken away, tried, crucified.
Surely he could have saved himself. Why didn’t he?
After his death they were lost, but then came Easter.
He was alive again. He even appeared to them.
Thomas was given the opportunity to touch his wounds
to prove to himself that this was truly his Lord and his God. But what now?
This is just too much.
It’ll make your head spin.
Your emotions keep flipping,
you’re up, you’re down, you’re up again,
you’re not sure whether you’re up or down.
The disciples, in the midst of their confusion and turmoil,
went on a retreat.
A retreat for the sake of refreshment and renewal is a good thing.
But they were going to escape, to hide.
They were headed for a safe harbour.
The Sea of Galilee represented that for them.
They went fishing.
It was what they knew.
It was their livelihood for years
before Jesus came and called them to follow him.
But Jesus had showed them more.
He called them to drop their nets and follow him and fish for people.
As they followed they became witnesses to miracles
as the lame picked up their beds and walked,
the blind could see,
the deaf could hear,
the hungry were filled.
He opened the scriptures to them,
gave them a proper understanding of God’s word.
And they witnessed the chains of death broken.
Simon became Peter,
the rock on which Jesus would build the church.
But Simon Peter was anything but a rock
when he denied Jesus three times.
But in today’s gospel reading,
Peter is given the gift of another day, another chance,
the gift of forgiveness and new life yet again,
the gift of becoming that rock all over again.
The grace of a new day, of a fresh start,
is not just about saying what we’ll do.
It’s about starting to live a life molded by our faith.
It wasn’t enough for Peter to say, "I love you."
Jesus wanted more than a declaration of love,
he wants more from us than our weekly worship.
Jesus says, if you love me
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."
But so often we’re more comfortable in our safe harbours.
We like to go on retreat, not for refreshment and renewal,
but for escape.
Imagine Peter saying, "Let someone else feed your lambs,
let it be enough that I say ‘I love you.’"
But the grace of another day,
the grace of forgiveness and a new start
brings with it a challenge to change.
Peter couldn’t remain in the comfort of his old fishing business.
The journey he set out on when Jesus called him to follow
wasn’t over, there was a long way to go.
Imagine Jesus standing on the shore of that lake,
looking out and seeing Peter and the others back at their fishing.
What must he have felt?
I wonder if he was heartbroken.
There on that boat were the heart of the team
he had spent the last three years or so assembling and training.
There on that boat was the community he formed
to be his body on earth.
There on that boat was his plan to spread the word
in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.
And what happened to his team, his community, his plan?
They spent the night on a boat fishing.
But had they caught anything?
No.
There was no success and no faithfulness in their escape.
Once they listened to Jesus,
and cast their nets on the other side of the boat
they pulled up 153 large fish.
And they came up on shore and Jesus had breakfast waiting for them.
The boat was their safe harbour,
their retreat to escape
from the turmoil and confusion of the world.
It was their life before they met Jesus.
Now they were being confronted by Jesus.
"Do you love me?"
"Of course," Peter replied.
And all three times Jesus said, "Then show it."
"Feed my lambs. Tend my sheep. Feed my sheep."
The last words of today’s gospel reading
were the same words that got Peter and all the others
started on this journey of discipleship and faith.
"Follow me."
Jesus was giving Peter the gracious gift of another day to be faithful,
another chance to follow.
Peter would become the fiery preacher of Pentecost,
he would confront the high priest, the elders and the scribes
as they assembled,
he would reach out to the Gentile Cornelius,
he would be arrested and delivered from prison,
and according to tradition, he would be martyred at Rome.
We’re challenged to believe and change,
to change ourselves and the world
with the message of God’s love,
God’s forgiveness,
God’s grace.
We’re called to follow Jesus,
to continue in the covenant God made with us in holy baptism.
We ask these things of our young confirmands,
offering them a new day, a new start,
God’s gracious call.
But it’s a call that we can all respond to. Will you:
live among God’s faithful people,
hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
Will you?
The youth group I belonged to as a teenager
consisted of anywhere from 20 to 40 people.
As memorable and as wonderful as those retreats and camping trips were,
if we had stayed there, hidden from the world,
escaped from the every day,
then 30 or so young Christian men and women
would not have gone into the world
and lived out their faith.
You would not have had Peter Fischer or myself as your pastors.
Those retreats did serve to create wonderful memories
but also to nourish us in our faith
and give us a new day to follow Jesus.
God gives each one of you the same opportunity to follow,
again and again.
Will you?
Thursday, June 12, 2008
I'm Sorry Too
Yesterday our Prime Minister issued an historic apology to our First Nations people. A black mark in our nation's history was the forcible removal of aboriginal children from their homes and communities and placement in residential school run by churches in the 19th and 20th centuries. The idea was to educate them, assimilate them, and pretty much drive their cultural heritage out of them. The Gradual Enfranchisement Act of 1869 assumed the inherent superiority of British ways, and the need for Indians to become English-speakers, Christians and farmers. Many were subjected to emotional, physical, and often sexual abuse in these residential schools.
Overcrowding of the schools led to increased incidence of disease and a high mortality rate among students. The schools were severely underfunded and the schools relied on the forced labour of their students.
Prime Minister Harper's apology yesterday was made in front of an audience of First Nations delegates and broadcast nationally. He apologized not only for the known excesses of the residential school system, but for the creation of the system itself meant to "kill the Indian in the child."
I thank God that our government, on behalf of all Canadians, has issued a formal apology to our First Nations sisters and brothers. We have also begun paying financial restitution for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on them by this government policy. I pray that this might help to bring about healing, forgiveness and reconciliation and that we can live in a spirit of renewed harmony.
Many of our First Peoples still live in poverty, a disproportionate number of them compared to our nation as a whole. A private members bill is stalled in our Senate. It's an agreement that has been negotiated between several levels of government — federal, provincial and First Nations — that would be a great step toward closing the gap in living standards between First Nations people and the rest of Canada. If you're a Canadian reader of this blog (I don't know if anybody reads this thing) then you can write a letter to the Prime Minister and your local Member of Parliament with help here (http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/sorry/take-action). It's a way for yesterday's apology to mean even more.
Overcrowding of the schools led to increased incidence of disease and a high mortality rate among students. The schools were severely underfunded and the schools relied on the forced labour of their students.
Prime Minister Harper's apology yesterday was made in front of an audience of First Nations delegates and broadcast nationally. He apologized not only for the known excesses of the residential school system, but for the creation of the system itself meant to "kill the Indian in the child."
I thank God that our government, on behalf of all Canadians, has issued a formal apology to our First Nations sisters and brothers. We have also begun paying financial restitution for the pain and suffering that was inflicted on them by this government policy. I pray that this might help to bring about healing, forgiveness and reconciliation and that we can live in a spirit of renewed harmony.
Many of our First Peoples still live in poverty, a disproportionate number of them compared to our nation as a whole. A private members bill is stalled in our Senate. It's an agreement that has been negotiated between several levels of government — federal, provincial and First Nations — that would be a great step toward closing the gap in living standards between First Nations people and the rest of Canada. If you're a Canadian reader of this blog (I don't know if anybody reads this thing) then you can write a letter to the Prime Minister and your local Member of Parliament with help here (http://www.makepovertyhistory.ca/en/sorry/take-action). It's a way for yesterday's apology to mean even more.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
First Trip Away from Us
Our second daughter, the 13 year old, left this morning for a school trip to Quebec City. We had to get her to school at 5:30 a.m. for a 6:00 a.m. departure. It’s J’s first time away from us on her own. She’s gone for 4 days. She’s been kind of excited but underneath you could kind of sense her nervousness. The excitement was heightened last night when she talked to my parents on the phone and they said they’re giving her $50 spending money.
"Really?!? REALLY?!? Thank you sooo much!"
We saw her off this morning, came back home to where our oldest daughter was just getting up. She went off to school, we walked the two boys to school, got home and found J’s retainer. She’s supposed to wear it 12 hours a day. She’s so tired of that thing. We’re constantly reminding her to wear it. I don’t think she forgot it on purpose. But there it was.
So, I called the tour company to get the name and address of the hotel in Quebec City. Then we went to the UPS Store and are having it couriered to the hotel. We stuck a chocolate bar in the envelope with the retainer as a treat when she gets it. It’ll be there by noon tomorrow.
"Really?!? REALLY?!? Thank you sooo much!"
We saw her off this morning, came back home to where our oldest daughter was just getting up. She went off to school, we walked the two boys to school, got home and found J’s retainer. She’s supposed to wear it 12 hours a day. She’s so tired of that thing. We’re constantly reminding her to wear it. I don’t think she forgot it on purpose. But there it was.
So, I called the tour company to get the name and address of the hotel in Quebec City. Then we went to the UPS Store and are having it couriered to the hotel. We stuck a chocolate bar in the envelope with the retainer as a treat when she gets it. It’ll be there by noon tomorrow.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Our Bunny Story
We grow a vegetable garden on the church property out behind the parsonage yard and we take our harvest to the local food bank. This will be our 4th or 5th year doing this. Mr. B and Mr. T were coming last Thursday night to roto-till the garden so my wife went out Thursday afternoon to pull up some of the bigger weeds so that they wouldn’t get tilled back into the ground and come up even more weeds.
As she was out there she saw a mound of furry type stuff and hoped that she wasn’t going to find something dead. She gingerly started to push the shovel into the ground and suddenly there was a squealing and a rabbit went running away, my wife running the other way. That evening when Mr. B and Mr. T showed up they found a little burrow with 6 baby bunnies in it. They already had their fur and were moving around. They gathered them up and put them in a shoe box and put the box in the tall grass at the back of the property hoping that the mom might come back for them.
Thursday night was getting pretty chilly and there was some concern that the bunnies would get cold. We found out the next morning that Mr. B had come and picked them up and took them home. He tried feeding them some milk from a dropper with no success. He got up early the next morning to try to feed them again before work, again with no success.
Friday morning on his way to work Mr. B brought the bunnies back and put them in the tall grass again, tipping the shoe box on its side so that they could get out if they needed to, again hoping their mother would come back.
Friday evening we got a call from Mr. T’s oldest son saying they have 6 new furry friends staying at their place. They came and gathered them up, they bought some bunny formula and are getting some into them. They’re big enough to be eating greens. The kids pick the leaves from some wild strawberry’s they have growing around the property and the bunnies chow down on them.
Yesterday afternoon we went by to take our kids to see the bunnies. They are sooooo adorable. If you put a red ribbon around their neck they could be the Lindt chocolate bunnies in the gold foil that you get at Easter time.
The T family lives out in the country, they back onto some bush area so they plan to raise the bunnies until their bigger and then let them go. They’ve done some research on orphaned rabbits and apparently when they get to be about 6" long they’re ready to take off on their own.
Coincidentally, yesterday’s gospel reading mentioned God caring for the birds of the air and the grass of the field and one of the petitions in the prayers that we use from Sundays & Seasons (Augsburg Fortress, 2007) said:
As she was out there she saw a mound of furry type stuff and hoped that she wasn’t going to find something dead. She gingerly started to push the shovel into the ground and suddenly there was a squealing and a rabbit went running away, my wife running the other way. That evening when Mr. B and Mr. T showed up they found a little burrow with 6 baby bunnies in it. They already had their fur and were moving around. They gathered them up and put them in a shoe box and put the box in the tall grass at the back of the property hoping that the mom might come back for them.
Thursday night was getting pretty chilly and there was some concern that the bunnies would get cold. We found out the next morning that Mr. B had come and picked them up and took them home. He tried feeding them some milk from a dropper with no success. He got up early the next morning to try to feed them again before work, again with no success.
Friday morning on his way to work Mr. B brought the bunnies back and put them in the tall grass again, tipping the shoe box on its side so that they could get out if they needed to, again hoping their mother would come back.
Friday evening we got a call from Mr. T’s oldest son saying they have 6 new furry friends staying at their place. They came and gathered them up, they bought some bunny formula and are getting some into them. They’re big enough to be eating greens. The kids pick the leaves from some wild strawberry’s they have growing around the property and the bunnies chow down on them.
Yesterday afternoon we went by to take our kids to see the bunnies. They are sooooo adorable. If you put a red ribbon around their neck they could be the Lindt chocolate bunnies in the gold foil that you get at Easter time.
The T family lives out in the country, they back onto some bush area so they plan to raise the bunnies until their bigger and then let them go. They’ve done some research on orphaned rabbits and apparently when they get to be about 6" long they’re ready to take off on their own.
Coincidentally, yesterday’s gospel reading mentioned God caring for the birds of the air and the grass of the field and one of the petitions in the prayers that we use from Sundays & Seasons (Augsburg Fortress, 2007) said:
Preserve the health of all newborn creatures in hospitals, homes, fields, and trees. Ease their entry into this world by your loving care. Hear us, O God;
your mercy is great.
your mercy is great.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Finally
My brother got married this past Friday. We are so incredibly happy for him and his bride. It was a beautiful day. He's found a wonderful woman to share the rest of his life with. My whole family got to participate in the wedding service. My wife read the first lesson. My oldest daughter played piano, accompanying my younger daughter as she sang a solo. My oldest son was a greeter, passing out bulletins as people arrived. My youngest son was the ring bearer (and looking sooooo adorable in his tux). And I was honoured to preside at their wedding which took place in his church, the church where we grew up. Here's my sermon from that day.
Finally! At last!
We’ve come to the day and the moment of your wedding.
You have come here
and invited this congregation of people here as witnesses
as you make promises to each other about your future together.
You have found each other, fallen in love,
and you will be stating in front of these gathered witnesses
and in front of God,
that you will be faithful to each other
for the rest of your lives.
In the old green worship book that we used to use
there were three sentences
that were read during the marriage service
that are pretty much a summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage.
The first sentence reads:
"The Lord God in his goodness created us male and female,
and by the gift of marriage founded human community
in a joy that begins now
and is brought to perfection in the life to come."
Marriage is God’s gift to you.
God created people to live in community,
various kinds of community.
In the gospel reading Jesus quotes from the Bible’s creation story.
He says "in the beginning the Creator made a man and a woman.
That’s why a man leaves his father and mother
and gets married.
He becomes like one person with his wife."
It’s not good for us to be alone.
We have various kinds of friendships, family relationships,
working relationships, and other relationship
so that we’re not alone.
God has given the two of you
the gift of the most intimate kind of relationship,
a relationship in marriage.
God’s intention for your marriage
is that it be filled with joy in good times and in bad times,
a joy that comes in committing yourselves to each other.
We pray that God would bless your marriage
with good gifts, with love, and with joy.
But we’re all human and that’s where the second sentence
of the church’s teaching about marriage comes in.
"Because of sin, our age-old rebellion,
the gladness of marriage can be overcast
and the gift of family can become a burden."
I’ve given a guarantee with every wedding at which I’ve presided
and I’ll give you the same guarantee.
I guarantee you that your marriage will not always be perfect.
You’ll each do things and say things that can get on the other’s nerves.
It may get to the point
that you become really angry with your spouse.
"In the close contact of married life
this mutual antagonism may flare into a serious disagreement."
The root of the difficulties that arise in any marriage
is that old word that we often use in church, sin.
I can guarantee that your marriage won’t be perfect
because each of you, every human being, is so far from perfect.
The shadow of sin can darken the gladness
which God intends for us.
The community that God wishes for us can,
and often does, end up broken.
But there’s good news.
That brokenness does not have to be the end.
God’s intention for joy remains.
The final sentence of that summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage says:
"Because God, who established marriage,
continues still to bless it
with his abundant and ever-present support,
we can be sustained in our weariness
and have our joy restored."
God is always present with help for every one of us.
Even when we turn from the good that God intends for us,
when our self-centred sinfulness shatters that joy
that God intends for our marriage,
God is there to restore our joy.
The Lord God established marriage in joy;
our self-centred sinfulness shatters it;
God restores our joy.
The reading we heard from First Corinthians is a familiar one
especially for weddings.
I think it’s entirely appropriate for a wedding ceremony
but St. Paul didn’t write it with weddings in mind.
In fact the reading says nothing about marriage at all.
He was writing a letter to a divided church community,
a community in deep conflict.
The community that God gave to those people
was being shattered by their sinfulness
and Paul was trying to help get them back on track.
He said, "I want you to desire the best gifts."
He told them that even if you’re
the most spiritual person in the world,
the most gifted person in the world,
the most self-sacrificing person in the world,
you’d be nothing, you’d gain nothing,
unless you loved others.
He went on listing many things that love is:
kind, patient, supportive, loyal, hopeful, trusting.
And he listed many things that love isn’t:
jealous, boastful, proud, rude, selfish, quick tempered.
And he concluded by saying "Love never fails!
For now there are faith, hope, and love.
But of these three, the greatest is love."
I hope you can see how his advice
to a church community so many centuries ago
can also apply to a couple in their life together in this century.
That love that restores our joy,
that enables us to forgive one another,
that sustains us through good times and bad,
is a gift from God.
It’s pure grace.
It’s God’s gift to every one of us,
and it’s God’s gift to your marriage.
May you live in the love and joy that comes only from God
through your whole life together.
Amen
Marriage of JPA and SLT
May 16, 2008
1 Corinthians 13.1-13; Matthew 19.4-6
Thomas Arth
May 16, 2008
1 Corinthians 13.1-13; Matthew 19.4-6
Thomas Arth
Finally! At last!
We’ve come to the day and the moment of your wedding.
You have come here
and invited this congregation of people here as witnesses
as you make promises to each other about your future together.
You have found each other, fallen in love,
and you will be stating in front of these gathered witnesses
and in front of God,
that you will be faithful to each other
for the rest of your lives.
In the old green worship book that we used to use
there were three sentences
that were read during the marriage service
that are pretty much a summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage.
The first sentence reads:
"The Lord God in his goodness created us male and female,
and by the gift of marriage founded human community
in a joy that begins now
and is brought to perfection in the life to come."
Marriage is God’s gift to you.
God created people to live in community,
various kinds of community.
In the gospel reading Jesus quotes from the Bible’s creation story.
He says "in the beginning the Creator made a man and a woman.
That’s why a man leaves his father and mother
and gets married.
He becomes like one person with his wife."
It’s not good for us to be alone.
We have various kinds of friendships, family relationships,
working relationships, and other relationship
so that we’re not alone.
God has given the two of you
the gift of the most intimate kind of relationship,
a relationship in marriage.
God’s intention for your marriage
is that it be filled with joy in good times and in bad times,
a joy that comes in committing yourselves to each other.
We pray that God would bless your marriage
with good gifts, with love, and with joy.
But we’re all human and that’s where the second sentence
of the church’s teaching about marriage comes in.
"Because of sin, our age-old rebellion,
the gladness of marriage can be overcast
and the gift of family can become a burden."
I’ve given a guarantee with every wedding at which I’ve presided
and I’ll give you the same guarantee.
I guarantee you that your marriage will not always be perfect.
You’ll each do things and say things that can get on the other’s nerves.
It may get to the point
that you become really angry with your spouse.
"In the close contact of married life
this mutual antagonism may flare into a serious disagreement."
The root of the difficulties that arise in any marriage
is that old word that we often use in church, sin.
I can guarantee that your marriage won’t be perfect
because each of you, every human being, is so far from perfect.
The shadow of sin can darken the gladness
which God intends for us.
The community that God wishes for us can,
and often does, end up broken.
But there’s good news.
That brokenness does not have to be the end.
God’s intention for joy remains.
The final sentence of that summary
of the church’s teaching about marriage says:
"Because God, who established marriage,
continues still to bless it
with his abundant and ever-present support,
we can be sustained in our weariness
and have our joy restored."
God is always present with help for every one of us.
Even when we turn from the good that God intends for us,
when our self-centred sinfulness shatters that joy
that God intends for our marriage,
God is there to restore our joy.
The Lord God established marriage in joy;
our self-centred sinfulness shatters it;
God restores our joy.
The reading we heard from First Corinthians is a familiar one
especially for weddings.
I think it’s entirely appropriate for a wedding ceremony
but St. Paul didn’t write it with weddings in mind.
In fact the reading says nothing about marriage at all.
He was writing a letter to a divided church community,
a community in deep conflict.
The community that God gave to those people
was being shattered by their sinfulness
and Paul was trying to help get them back on track.
He said, "I want you to desire the best gifts."
He told them that even if you’re
the most spiritual person in the world,
the most gifted person in the world,
the most self-sacrificing person in the world,
you’d be nothing, you’d gain nothing,
unless you loved others.
He went on listing many things that love is:
kind, patient, supportive, loyal, hopeful, trusting.
And he listed many things that love isn’t:
jealous, boastful, proud, rude, selfish, quick tempered.
And he concluded by saying "Love never fails!
For now there are faith, hope, and love.
But of these three, the greatest is love."
I hope you can see how his advice
to a church community so many centuries ago
can also apply to a couple in their life together in this century.
That love that restores our joy,
that enables us to forgive one another,
that sustains us through good times and bad,
is a gift from God.
It’s pure grace.
It’s God’s gift to every one of us,
and it’s God’s gift to your marriage.
May you live in the love and joy that comes only from God
through your whole life together.
Amen
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
...about Fruit
Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted. This is scheduled to appear in the local paper tomorrow.
Now, the very religious might think I’m going to write about the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not. But for those who are now curious or don’t remember the list, the Bible says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).
I’m not writing about that fruit. I’ve been thinking about peaches and pears.
As a pastor I’m asked to pray from time to time. A few years ago at a funeral reception I was asked to say grace before we ate. I thanked God for the food we were about to eat and for those who prepared it for us. Afterward a farmer came to me and asked, "Why do you pastors always thank those who prepared the food but never those who grew it?" It was a good question and now I try to remember those farmers in my prayers as well.
No doubt you’ve read, heard, and seen the news the last few weeks about the impending and now apparently inevitable closure of a cannery in St. David’s. A number of area fruit growers depended on this cannery to buy their fruit.
I haven’t heard what these growers are going to do now. I’m guessing there’s only so much they can sell as fresh fruit to grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. I’m guessing at least some of them might go out of business.
But do we care? I don’t usually give much thought to where my food comes from. When I go to the store I don’t look at the label to see where the food was grown, if the label even tells me. When I go to my favourite fast-food outlet, or occasionally to a better restaurant, I don’t know and don’t much care about who raised the cattle, what they were fed, or how they were treated, before they became the burgers that I so enjoy.
But when I heard the news about the local cannery that is, and the local farmers that may go out of business I started to care. There are always a lot of factors behind this kind of thing. I’m no economist and can’t pretend to know about it all. But part of the reason is that farm workers here get paid something like $10 an hour to pick fruit. Not as much as I make as a pastor but a lot more than the farm workers in Central and South America who work for $3 a day.
Eating locally grown and raised food supports farmers struggling to maintain their livelihood. If local farmers go out of business it won’t be long until we’re paving over their land and planting acres of subdivision housing. One study found that a regional diet consumes 17 times less gasoline than its equivalent shipped from across the country or around the world.
Maybe it’s time to start caring more about what we’re eating. Where does it come from? Who and what is affected in the web of production and supply that brings food to our tables?
When we make decisions about what we eat and how we spend our grocery money we are making decisions about how we love our neighbours and how we love our planet, God’s creation. The news from St. David’s has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. I think it will cause me to think more and to care more. And I’ll pray for those farmers, farm workers, and cannery workers.
Now, the very religious might think I’m going to write about the fruit of the Spirit. I’m not. But for those who are now curious or don’t remember the list, the Bible says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22).
I’m not writing about that fruit. I’ve been thinking about peaches and pears.
As a pastor I’m asked to pray from time to time. A few years ago at a funeral reception I was asked to say grace before we ate. I thanked God for the food we were about to eat and for those who prepared it for us. Afterward a farmer came to me and asked, "Why do you pastors always thank those who prepared the food but never those who grew it?" It was a good question and now I try to remember those farmers in my prayers as well.
No doubt you’ve read, heard, and seen the news the last few weeks about the impending and now apparently inevitable closure of a cannery in St. David’s. A number of area fruit growers depended on this cannery to buy their fruit.
I haven’t heard what these growers are going to do now. I’m guessing there’s only so much they can sell as fresh fruit to grocery stores and at farmers’ markets. I’m guessing at least some of them might go out of business.
But do we care? I don’t usually give much thought to where my food comes from. When I go to the store I don’t look at the label to see where the food was grown, if the label even tells me. When I go to my favourite fast-food outlet, or occasionally to a better restaurant, I don’t know and don’t much care about who raised the cattle, what they were fed, or how they were treated, before they became the burgers that I so enjoy.
But when I heard the news about the local cannery that is, and the local farmers that may go out of business I started to care. There are always a lot of factors behind this kind of thing. I’m no economist and can’t pretend to know about it all. But part of the reason is that farm workers here get paid something like $10 an hour to pick fruit. Not as much as I make as a pastor but a lot more than the farm workers in Central and South America who work for $3 a day.
Eating locally grown and raised food supports farmers struggling to maintain their livelihood. If local farmers go out of business it won’t be long until we’re paving over their land and planting acres of subdivision housing. One study found that a regional diet consumes 17 times less gasoline than its equivalent shipped from across the country or around the world.
Maybe it’s time to start caring more about what we’re eating. Where does it come from? Who and what is affected in the web of production and supply that brings food to our tables?
When we make decisions about what we eat and how we spend our grocery money we are making decisions about how we love our neighbours and how we love our planet, God’s creation. The news from St. David’s has been a bit of a wake-up call for me. I think it will cause me to think more and to care more. And I’ll pray for those farmers, farm workers, and cannery workers.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
My Easter Posting
So, it's Tuesday and I'm back at work. Funerals behind me (they went pretty well) and Holy Week services over (they were awesome). During Holy Communion on Sunday I chose one of the modern praise choruses that made it into Evangelical Lutheran Worship to be sung. My teenage girls liked singing it. Here it is.
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
Lord, I lift your name on high;
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life,
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earth to show the way,
from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay,
from the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift your name on high.
Lord, I Lift Your Name on High
Lord, I lift your name on high;
Lord, I love to sing your praises.
I'm so glad you're in my life,
I'm so glad you came to save us.
You came from heaven to earth to show the way,
from the earth to the cross, my debt to pay,
from the cross to the grave,
from the grave to the sky;
Lord, I lift your name on high.
by Rick Founds
Alleluia. Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us keep the feast. Alleluia. (1 Cor 5:7, 8)
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Good Friday
I won't be blogging this weekend so I thought I'd post the words to one of my all time favourite hymns in advance.
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call thee mine.
How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
how does thy face now languish, which once was bright as morn!
Thy grief and bitter passion were all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain.
What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.
Lord, be my consolation; shield me when I must die;
remind me of thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
These eyes, new faith receiving, from thee shall never move;
for all who die believing die safely in thy love.
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
O sacred head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
now scornfully surrounded with thorns, thine only crown;
O sacred head, what glory, what bliss till now was thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call thee mine.
How pale thou art with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn;
how does thy face now languish, which once was bright as morn!
Thy grief and bitter passion were all for sinners' gain;
mine, mine was the transgression, but thine the deadly pain.
What language shall I borrow to thank thee, dearest friend,
for this thy dying sorrow, thy pity without end?
Oh, make me thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to thee.
Lord, be my consolation; shield me when I must die;
remind me of thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
These eyes, new faith receiving, from thee shall never move;
for all who die believing die safely in thy love.
Text: Paul Gerhardt, 1607-1676,
based on Arnulf of Louvain, d. 1250;
tr. composite
Look to Jesus, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12.2).
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Holy Week
I love this week. I love the services of this week. But this year it's a bit of a drag. Not only do I have extra sermons to write. Not only am I down on myself because I haven't visited many of our shut in members for a while and won't get to it this week either. Now I've got a funeral on Thursday afternoon. I don't know how I'm going to get everything done.
Revision:
I got a call from the funeral home after I posted this. I thought there might be some changes for the Thursday funeral. Nope. Now I've got another funeral on Saturday. I hope nobody attends both funerals or else they'll be hearing a couple of very similar sermons.
Revision:
I got a call from the funeral home after I posted this. I thought there might be some changes for the Thursday funeral. Nope. Now I've got another funeral on Saturday. I hope nobody attends both funerals or else they'll be hearing a couple of very similar sermons.
Monday, March 17, 2008
I Bind unto Myself Today
I've never been big into St. Patrick's Day. I'm of German descent so that might have something to do with it. I've got nothing against the Irish showing some pride in their heritage today but there's often a whole lot of foolishness that goes along with that and way to much drinking.
At sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He himself admitted that up to this point he cared little for God. He escaped after six years, returned to his family in southwest Britain, and began to prepare for ordained ministry. He later returned to Ireland, this time to serve as a bishop and missionary. He made his base in the north of Ireland and from there made many missionary journeys with much success. In his autobiography he denounced the slave trade, perhaps from his own experience as a slave. Patrick's famous baptismal hymn to the Trinity, "I Bind unto Myself Today," can be used as a meditation on Lent's call to return to our baptism.
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever, by pow'r of faith, Christ's incarnation,
his baptism in the Jordan River, his cross of death for my salvation,
his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heav'nly way,
his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's lifegiving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three,
of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation; salvation is of Christ the Lord!
At sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He himself admitted that up to this point he cared little for God. He escaped after six years, returned to his family in southwest Britain, and began to prepare for ordained ministry. He later returned to Ireland, this time to serve as a bishop and missionary. He made his base in the north of Ireland and from there made many missionary journeys with much success. In his autobiography he denounced the slave trade, perhaps from his own experience as a slave. Patrick's famous baptismal hymn to the Trinity, "I Bind unto Myself Today," can be used as a meditation on Lent's call to return to our baptism.
from Sundays & Seasons, Augsburg Fortress, 2007.
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever, by pow'r of faith, Christ's incarnation,
his baptism in the Jordan River, his cross of death for my salvation,
his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heav'nly way,
his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,
the glorious sun's lifegiving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.
Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity
by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three,
of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation; salvation is of Christ the Lord!
attr. Patrick, 372-466
para. Cecil Frances Alexander, 1823-1895
Friday, March 14, 2008
Spicy Me
You Are Oregano |
 You have are charming, funny, witty, and smart. You love to party - and people love to party with you. You are always friendly and warm. You are able to help people get along. |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Snow, Snow Everywhere
I wrote this last week to appear in tomorrow's paper and wouldn't you know it, we were hit with a 36 hour snow storm on Friday and Saturday which makes my pining for snow sound ridiculous this week. Oh well.
...about Snow Days
I remember the snow days we used to get when I was a kid. Maybe I’ve just got a selective memory but it seemed we used to get a lot more snow back in my grade school days in the ‘70s. I grew up in Burlington, only an hour away from here, but it seemed to me that there would be snow on the ground all winter long. And you could probably count on three or four big storms that would shut down the schools.
We’ve had snow this winter but not the up-to-your-knees kinds of snowfalls that I remember from my childhood. (Granted, my knees were closer to the ground back then.) When it snowed here this winter it might have stayed on the ground for a week before we saw the brown grass again. And those snow days when the school would be shut down didn’t happen at all. I think the school was closed once this winter and not because of a heavy snowfall but because of the threat of freezing rain.
I like winter to be winter. It should be cold and there should be snow. This is Canada after all. If I were in charge of the weather we’d have a blanket of snow a week or two before Christmas (because Irving Berlin has taught us all to dream of a White Christmas), it would last through the March Break so that kids could play in the snow on their week off, and we’d have 3 or 4 storms evenly spaced in between that would give kids the much-loved snow days off of school.
Having said all that, I’m ready for spring. I wrote this a week ago as snow was falling. It’s March Break now and I don’t know if there’s any snow on the ground as you read this. But now I’m looking forward to spring. Spring brings with it new life as the snow melts, the ground thaws, and nature begins to green up. The days have been getting longer and with the clocks springing forward this past weekend we get even more daylight in the evening.
In the church we’re approaching the end of the season of Lent. Lent is a springtime for the soul. It’s a time of renewal. In our church, before we hear the reading of the Gospel, we sing "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (Joel 2:13). It’s a time for our spirit’s to be refreshed as we anticipate Holy Week and Easter.
During Lent we journey with Christ toward the cross. The cross looms before us and its shadow falls on our path as we journey. But for Christians the cross does not loom ominously. We see hope in the cross. We see glory and triumph as Jesus willingly gives himself for us. And on Easter that hope is realized in the new life that Jesus promises to all.
Life after death. Springtime following winter. May the grace of Christ warm you and give you new life as we move into the warmth of a new season.
...about Snow Days
I remember the snow days we used to get when I was a kid. Maybe I’ve just got a selective memory but it seemed we used to get a lot more snow back in my grade school days in the ‘70s. I grew up in Burlington, only an hour away from here, but it seemed to me that there would be snow on the ground all winter long. And you could probably count on three or four big storms that would shut down the schools.
We’ve had snow this winter but not the up-to-your-knees kinds of snowfalls that I remember from my childhood. (Granted, my knees were closer to the ground back then.) When it snowed here this winter it might have stayed on the ground for a week before we saw the brown grass again. And those snow days when the school would be shut down didn’t happen at all. I think the school was closed once this winter and not because of a heavy snowfall but because of the threat of freezing rain.
I like winter to be winter. It should be cold and there should be snow. This is Canada after all. If I were in charge of the weather we’d have a blanket of snow a week or two before Christmas (because Irving Berlin has taught us all to dream of a White Christmas), it would last through the March Break so that kids could play in the snow on their week off, and we’d have 3 or 4 storms evenly spaced in between that would give kids the much-loved snow days off of school.
Having said all that, I’m ready for spring. I wrote this a week ago as snow was falling. It’s March Break now and I don’t know if there’s any snow on the ground as you read this. But now I’m looking forward to spring. Spring brings with it new life as the snow melts, the ground thaws, and nature begins to green up. The days have been getting longer and with the clocks springing forward this past weekend we get even more daylight in the evening.
In the church we’re approaching the end of the season of Lent. Lent is a springtime for the soul. It’s a time of renewal. In our church, before we hear the reading of the Gospel, we sing "Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love" (Joel 2:13). It’s a time for our spirit’s to be refreshed as we anticipate Holy Week and Easter.
During Lent we journey with Christ toward the cross. The cross looms before us and its shadow falls on our path as we journey. But for Christians the cross does not loom ominously. We see hope in the cross. We see glory and triumph as Jesus willingly gives himself for us. And on Easter that hope is realized in the new life that Jesus promises to all.
Life after death. Springtime following winter. May the grace of Christ warm you and give you new life as we move into the warmth of a new season.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Spring Newsletter Items
The following are a couple of articles I compiled for our Spring Newsletter.
The Way of the Cross
In November I was in Jerusalem. It was the end of two-and-a-half weeks of touring through Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. I was getting tired of traveling on buses, living out of a suitcase in a series of hotels, eating hotel food, and mostly I was missing my wife and kids and home. So the sites and experiences of Jerusalem didn't have the same kind of impact they might have had if it had been the first stop on our tour or if the tour hadn't been quite as long.
One of the things we saw and did in Jerusalem, something that every Christian pilgrim to that holy city probably does, is walk the Via Dolorosa, the ancient "Way of Sorrows" walked by Jesus on his way to his Crucifixion. The streets through which we walked are lined with small shops and stalls like any other market street. The streets through which Jesus walked were likely very similar.
Now the route is marked out by 14 "Stations of the Cross," linked with events that occurred on Christ's last, fateful walk. Some of the Stations are commemorated only by wall plaques which can be difficult to spot among the market and souvenir stalls. Others are located inside buildings or commemorated by small chapels. The last five stations are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built around what is believed to be the site of Christ's Crucifixion, burial and Resurrection.
The 14 Stations of the Cross are not all biblical. Some have been added by Christian tradition over the centuries. But one Lutheran resource I have provides a liturgy with prayers and readings and suggested hymns for the 8 stations that are mentioned in the Bible. It's traditional to meditate on these events in the last day of Jesus' life on the Fridays in Lent and especially on Good Friday. I obviously won't put the entire liturgy in this newsletter but I will list the 8 stations and the biblical references to them and perhaps on Good Friday you might read them and ponder just what our Lord went through on that holy day.
First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
As we approach the joy of Easter let us not ignore or skip over the sorrow of Good Friday. Good Friday reminds us that God's love for us came at a great price. But there is Good News on Good Friday. Jesus is our triumphant king who reigns from the cross. It is not a day of mourning but a day to celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus that give us life. His death transformed the cross from an instrument of death and torture into the tree of life.
God bless you this Holy Week and Easter Season.
Pastor Tom
Easter Dogma (not a scary word)
To begin with, a joke.
A Lutheran gentleman died and approached the pearly gates to heaven. St. Peter met him there and refused him entry to paradise, pointing instead to a long staircase going down. The man descended the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs his worst fears were realized as he arrived in hell.
As he entered hell he saw many other Lutherans, people he knew from his congregation. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and found a gathering of Lutheran pastors and bishops, some of which he also knew. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and saw another group of men. He recognized one of them as Martin Luther. The others were Luther’s fellow reformers. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and met St. Paul. He asked the apostle "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" St. Paul shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Maybe it was works."
Now, most people who aren’t Christians wouldn’t understand this joke. Even many Christians might not get it unless they were Lutheran. But I’m guessing that there might be some Lutherans who don’t even get the punchline. What it comes down to is dogma. Dogma is not a scary word. Dogma is, simply defined, a set of principles that we believe to be true.
For Lutherans the single great proposed dogma is "justification by grace alone through faith alone, without the works of law." The Lutheran reformers proclaimed this as the doctrine by which the church "stands or falls." We are made right with God
- by grace alone, a pure gift that we did nothing to deserve, that we can do nothing to deserve.
- through faith alone, the utter and unmixed dependence on God.
- without the works of the law, not by keeping the commandments, not even by choosing to believe or by accepting God’s gracious gift.
This is the gospel in a nutshell. The gospel, rightly spoken, involves no ifs, ands, buts, or maybes of any sort. It does not say, "If you do your best to live a good life, God will fulfill that life," or, "If you fight on the right side of the great issues of your time...," or, "If you repent...," or, "If you believe...." It does not even say, "If you want to do good/repent/believe...," or, "If you are sorry for not wanting to do good/repent/believe...." The gospel says, "Because the Crucified lives as Lord, your destiny is good."
How is this Easter dogma? Jesus’ life and ministry embodied self-giving love. To those who were seen as nothing, the last, the least, the lost, he demonstrated love and caring even though they did nothing to deserve it. Pure grace. But this association and identification with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, cripples, and all the other dregs of society incurred the wrath of the religious and political powers. Jesus’ death demonstrated that this kind of life could never be excused or justified.
But then came Easter. By all social and religious standards Jesus got what he deserved. By the rules of society Jesus ought to have been eternally damned, but instead God raised him from the dead. If Jesus had not been raised then the obvious would be proven: Fools who give themselves to the poor get what they deserve. But he didn’t. Because of the resurrection we can no longer see him as just a good person, just a prophet, just a radical advocate of the poor. We can’t even think of him as just a sacrifice for our evil.
Jesus Christ, the crucified one, is alive! He is present today and his presence is for us. Faith is the real presence of Christ. Christ is really present in his body the church, in the feast of Holy Communion, and in his disciples. Christ continues to be crucified whenever opposition to his gospel and his witness tries to snuff out love and liberation. But Christ continues to be resurrected. Crucifixion is the beginning of new growth and new energy in the Spirit. In the end, death will have done its worst and be defeated utterly. The hymn of all creation will ring out: Death is swallowed up! Where, O Death, your victory? Where, O Death, your sting? Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, Lord of all creation!
The Way of the Cross
In November I was in Jerusalem. It was the end of two-and-a-half weeks of touring through Egypt, Jordan, and Israel. I was getting tired of traveling on buses, living out of a suitcase in a series of hotels, eating hotel food, and mostly I was missing my wife and kids and home. So the sites and experiences of Jerusalem didn't have the same kind of impact they might have had if it had been the first stop on our tour or if the tour hadn't been quite as long.
One of the things we saw and did in Jerusalem, something that every Christian pilgrim to that holy city probably does, is walk the Via Dolorosa, the ancient "Way of Sorrows" walked by Jesus on his way to his Crucifixion. The streets through which we walked are lined with small shops and stalls like any other market street. The streets through which Jesus walked were likely very similar.
Now the route is marked out by 14 "Stations of the Cross," linked with events that occurred on Christ's last, fateful walk. Some of the Stations are commemorated only by wall plaques which can be difficult to spot among the market and souvenir stalls. Others are located inside buildings or commemorated by small chapels. The last five stations are all within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built around what is believed to be the site of Christ's Crucifixion, burial and Resurrection.
The 14 Stations of the Cross are not all biblical. Some have been added by Christian tradition over the centuries. But one Lutheran resource I have provides a liturgy with prayers and readings and suggested hymns for the 8 stations that are mentioned in the Bible. It's traditional to meditate on these events in the last day of Jesus' life on the Fridays in Lent and especially on Good Friday. I obviously won't put the entire liturgy in this newsletter but I will list the 8 stations and the biblical references to them and perhaps on Good Friday you might read them and ponder just what our Lord went through on that holy day.
First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
Mark 15:1, 12-15
Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His CrossJohn 19:17; Hebrews 5:8; Isaiah 53:7b; Revelation 5:12
Third Station: The Cross is Laid on Simon of CyreneLuke 23:26; Matthew 16:24; 11:29a, 30
Fourth Station: Jesus Meets the Women of JerusalemLuke 23:27-28
Fifth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His GarmentsMatthew 27:33-35; John 19:24b
Sixth Station: Jesus is Nailed to the CrossLuke 23:33; Isaiah 53:12b
Seventh Station: Jesus Dies on the CrossJohn 19:26-27a, 30
Eighth Station: Jesus is Laid in the TombMatthew 27:57-60
As we approach the joy of Easter let us not ignore or skip over the sorrow of Good Friday. Good Friday reminds us that God's love for us came at a great price. But there is Good News on Good Friday. Jesus is our triumphant king who reigns from the cross. It is not a day of mourning but a day to celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus that give us life. His death transformed the cross from an instrument of death and torture into the tree of life.
God bless you this Holy Week and Easter Season.
Pastor Tom
Easter Dogma (not a scary word)
To begin with, a joke.
A Lutheran gentleman died and approached the pearly gates to heaven. St. Peter met him there and refused him entry to paradise, pointing instead to a long staircase going down. The man descended the stairs and at the bottom of the stairs his worst fears were realized as he arrived in hell.
As he entered hell he saw many other Lutherans, people he knew from his congregation. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and found a gathering of Lutheran pastors and bishops, some of which he also knew. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and saw another group of men. He recognized one of them as Martin Luther. The others were Luther’s fellow reformers. He asked them "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" All they did was point to another set of stairs.
He climbed down another flight of stairs and met St. Paul. He asked the apostle "What’s going on? Why are we all here?" St. Paul shrugged his shoulders and replied, "Maybe it was works."
Now, most people who aren’t Christians wouldn’t understand this joke. Even many Christians might not get it unless they were Lutheran. But I’m guessing that there might be some Lutherans who don’t even get the punchline. What it comes down to is dogma. Dogma is not a scary word. Dogma is, simply defined, a set of principles that we believe to be true.
For Lutherans the single great proposed dogma is "justification by grace alone through faith alone, without the works of law." The Lutheran reformers proclaimed this as the doctrine by which the church "stands or falls." We are made right with God
- by grace alone, a pure gift that we did nothing to deserve, that we can do nothing to deserve.
- through faith alone, the utter and unmixed dependence on God.
- without the works of the law, not by keeping the commandments, not even by choosing to believe or by accepting God’s gracious gift.
This is the gospel in a nutshell. The gospel, rightly spoken, involves no ifs, ands, buts, or maybes of any sort. It does not say, "If you do your best to live a good life, God will fulfill that life," or, "If you fight on the right side of the great issues of your time...," or, "If you repent...," or, "If you believe...." It does not even say, "If you want to do good/repent/believe...," or, "If you are sorry for not wanting to do good/repent/believe...." The gospel says, "Because the Crucified lives as Lord, your destiny is good."
How is this Easter dogma? Jesus’ life and ministry embodied self-giving love. To those who were seen as nothing, the last, the least, the lost, he demonstrated love and caring even though they did nothing to deserve it. Pure grace. But this association and identification with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, cripples, and all the other dregs of society incurred the wrath of the religious and political powers. Jesus’ death demonstrated that this kind of life could never be excused or justified.
But then came Easter. By all social and religious standards Jesus got what he deserved. By the rules of society Jesus ought to have been eternally damned, but instead God raised him from the dead. If Jesus had not been raised then the obvious would be proven: Fools who give themselves to the poor get what they deserve. But he didn’t. Because of the resurrection we can no longer see him as just a good person, just a prophet, just a radical advocate of the poor. We can’t even think of him as just a sacrifice for our evil.
Jesus Christ, the crucified one, is alive! He is present today and his presence is for us. Faith is the real presence of Christ. Christ is really present in his body the church, in the feast of Holy Communion, and in his disciples. Christ continues to be crucified whenever opposition to his gospel and his witness tries to snuff out love and liberation. But Christ continues to be resurrected. Crucifixion is the beginning of new growth and new energy in the Spirit. In the end, death will have done its worst and be defeated utterly. The hymn of all creation will ring out: Death is swallowed up! Where, O Death, your victory? Where, O Death, your sting? Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain, Lord of all creation!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Jeff Healey Dead
Jeff Healey died on Sunday. He was such an awesome guitar player. I serenaded my wife with an a capella version of his song Angel Eyes before I proposed to her and then it was our first dance at our wedding reception. Only 41 years old. My age. Too young. Now he can See the Light.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Third Sunday in Lent
3rd Sunday in Lent
February 24, 2008
John 4:5-42
Thomas Arth
February 24, 2008
John 4:5-42
Thomas Arth
Neil Alexander, the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta,
tells a story about something that happened to him one day
as he was walking down the street in New York City.
"It was early on a weekday morning
and even though spring was just around the corner,
the night had been cold and the morning air still had a bite to it.
As I was walking to the church
to get there in time for an early morning celebration of the Eucharist,
I encountered a homeless man who had slept the night
on an old piece of cardboard.
He made his bed over a sidewalk grate
near the steam exhaust of an apartment building.
"It was the best he could do.
He was still shivering from the cold;
his clothes were thin.
He had no gloves, no hat, no topcoat.
I suspect he had not eaten in several days.
As I passed him on the sidewalk, our eyes met,
and when they did, I knew I would have to stop for a moment
to speak to him and ask if there was anything I could do.
He didn't ask for much.
He didn't want a coat or a better place to stay.
He didn't even ask if I had any food vouchers
from one of the neighborhood delis.
I reached in my pocket,
thinking I would give him a couple of quarters for a hot cup of coffee.
But he seemed not to want anything
that might make his life more comfortable
on this cold morning on the streets of the city.
"‘No, Father,' he said,
‘all I need for you to do is to give me a blessing.'
‘Give you a blessing?' I asked,
somewhat surprised by his request.
‘Yes, that's all,' he said, ‘a blessing.'
So I knelt down beside him on the sidewalk,
said a prayer with him and laid my hands upon his head
and gave him a blessing.
With a peaceful look upon his face,
like he had received a gift that he had been waiting for
for a very long time, he picked up his cardboard bed
and a little bag of belongings
and walked haltingly down the street in the opposite direction."
It wasn't a chilly early New York morning,
instead it was noontime under a hot sun.
Jesus sat near a well just outside a Samaritan town.
Noon on a hot day is no time to be out and about in that part of the world.
If you're going for water,
which meant lugging some heavy jars back and forth,
then you go in the cool hours of the morning.
That's what everybody does.
You meet all your neighbours around the well,
catch up on the latest news.
But at noon, you don't want to be doing that kind of hard work
not at that time of day.
That's the time for a siesta somewhere out of the sun.
At noontime on this day there are only two people at the well.
Jesus has been walking and he sits to rest while the disciples go
to replenish their provisions for the journey.
And there's a woman.
Why is she coming at noon?
Maybe she's tired of the way people talk to her
and talk about her when she approaches.
She'd rather suffer through the noonday heat
than suffer through their insults anymore.
Maybe she's not welcome in the circles of conversation
around the well in the morning.
We hear in the gospel reading that she's had five husbands already
and the guy she's hanging with now isn't her husband at all.
Ashamed. Shunned. It's just her and Jesus this day.
She wouldn't be too surprised if he avoided her like all the rest.
You see, because of certain Jewish purity laws most men and women
didn't have much contact with each other,
and certainly not if they were strangers.
Women of a certain age were considered unclean
for about 7 days out of a month
and if a man came into contact with her during that time
he'd become unclean.
The woman who came to the well was a Samaritan
and Jewish men considered Samaritan women unclean
the whole month long, their whole lives long.
Also, this man was a rabbi
and women weren't considered worthy of any sort of discussion
with a learned man like him.
But Jesus doesn't shun her, doesn't avoid her,
he asks her for a drink of water.
"You're a Jew," she replied, "and I'm a Samaritan.
How can you ask me for a drink of water
when Jews and Samaritans
won't have anything to do with each other."
Then this Jewish rabbi starts a theological discussion
with this Samaritan woman.
"You don't know what God wants to give you,
and you don't know who's asking you for a drink.
If you did,
you'd ask me for the water that gives life."
The disciples come back from their shopping
and find Jesus talking with this woman
and are surprised.
They don't say anything but surely they're thinking,
"This isn't right."
"What's he doing?"
But Jesus is always surprising them.
Does he surprise us anymore,
or do we have Jesus all figured out?
Pastor Kevin Powell who's a friend of mine
wrote this on his weblog this week:
I've met the woman at the well, several times.
Once, it was a woman in a dirty, smoke-filled apartment.
She had called the church for help and I went to go see her
armed with a bag of groceries.
As I was leaving she said,
"I want to go to church, can I come to your church?"
Those were her words but that wasn't what she was asking.
What she was really asking was
"Will someone like me be welcome in your church?"
I pictured her in our pews,
her gray greasy hair, her yellowed fingers, soiled skirt,
and her booze and nicotine stained breath,
mingling with men in ties and suit jackets,
women in dresses and children in jeans.
Nice, middle-class folks.
Nothing wrong with that.
It's who we are.
And I thought that like the woman at the well was to the disciples,
she'd be a challenge to our congregation.
But a challenge our congregation would definitely step up to.
"Yes," I told her,
"we'd love to have you worship with us."
That's what that pastor wrote about his congregation.
Could we say the same for ours?
When I came here, nearly 6 years ago, I couldn't have asked
for a warmer welcome from the people of this church
and so far nobody is showing me the door.
But the reception a new pastor and his family receives
isn't always the same one
that another person coming into the church might receive.
In the meantime we've welcomed a few new people into our church family
and I've heard from some of them
that they felt just as warmly welcomed
by the people of this congregation
as I felt when I came here.
But when you look at our congregation
they're not all that distinguishable from the rest of us.
"Nice middle-class folks,"
as Pastor Kevin described his congregation.
But what if the woman at the well came among us?
Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the guy with the wild hair
who passes you on the street talking to himself?
You think to yourself, "What does he want here anyway?"
And since you've grown up in the same town
and know the kind of things he's been involved in
during his life you also know
that he's not the kind of person
that we normally get in this place.
Would he really fit in?
Maybe this is the only time he'll come here.
He'll soon see that this isn't the place for him.
Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the teenager who's never been in a church,
who doesn't understand the order of service
the way it's printed in our bulletin,
and who fidgets through the entire service
disturbing the people sitting behind her?
She probably didn't know that we have a traditional style of worship.
Maybe she was thinking this is one of those churches
with drums and a praise band.
Surely that's what she's looking for in a church.
She won't be back.
Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the gay couple who try to be inconspicuous,
but everyone can tell?
They've been shut out or have been made to feel totally unwelcome
in some of the other churches they've tried.
They're hoping that this church might accept them.
What do they want with our church anyway?
They're just going to stir things up and anyway,
their kind make a lot of people uncomfortable,
and the Bible is very clear that their lifestyle is sinful.
If we give them the cold shoulder
they'll move on soon enough.
Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the woman of questionable morals?
The last one out of the bar on many a night.
The one who's not too choosy about who shares her bed.
The one whose skirt is too short, whose blouse is too tight,
whose make-up is too bright, whose jewelry is too flashy.
This is no place for her.
She'll soon be back to sleeping in on Sunday morning.
Who might the woman at the well be for us?
Might it be the kid who's been suspended from school a few times
for bullying?
He's got no manners, doesn't respect his elders,
always talking back to teachers.
Do we want a kid like that in Sunday School with our sweet kids?
What kind of influence will he be
when we're trying so hard to raise good and polite children?
Who is the woman at the well for you?
How do you look at her?
Jesus could have seen a woman, an unclean woman,
a woman unworthy of conversation with a rabbi,
and left it at that.
But he didn't.
He saw a daughter of God.
He saw a troubled soul.
And he couldn't help but share living water with her.
"No one who drinks the water I give will ever be thirsty again.
The water I give is like a flowing fountain that gives eternal life."
After her conversation with Jesus
the Samaritan woman forgot what she even came for.
She left her jar by the well and ran back to her village
and told everyone about this Jesus.
This Jesus who didn't just follow rules.
This Jesus who showed love, showed compassion.
This Jesus who had the gift of eternal life to give,
to give even to a sinful Samaritan woman.
Bishop Alexander was on his way,
on that cold spring morning,
to serve as a priest, to preach the gospel,
to give Holy Communion to the people.
On his way a homeless man asked him for a blessing.
That's what priests do. It seemed so normal.
But the priest discovered that he was the one who received the blessing.
Instead of a well in Samaria, it was a steam grate in New York City,
but there the priest met Jesus who quenched his thirst
and gave him a taste of eternity.
Who is your woman at the well?
Could it be you?
Maybe you're the sinner
and maybe Jesus is the man with the wild hair,
the teenager who's never been to church,
the gay couple,
the woman in the short skirt,
the schoolyard bully.
When you think you've got Jesus figured out, think again.
He might just surprise you.
Jesus comes to us, Jesus meets us, and our lives are changed.
Then we might say,
along with the people from that Samaritan village,
"We have faith in Jesus because we have heard him ourselves,
and we are certain that he is the Saviour of the world!"
Amen
Tagged
Kevin tagged me for this meme:
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five other people.
The nearest book is one I bought simply because the title intrigued me and it was in the bargain bin. I haven't read it yet. It's called The Christian and the Pharisee: Two Outspoken Religious Leaders Debate the Road to Heaven by Dr. R.T. Kendall and Rabbi David Rosen. Here it goes.
"Most of them became either universalists, annihilationists, existentialists, or all the above. Some of them left the ministry they had come to train for since they came to regard the Bible as a faulty and unreliable document and saw no reason to uphold the faith they once thought they believed. I was exposed to the same evidence they had examined, I read the same books they read and explored the same higher criticism of the biblical documents that so many of my friends took on board."
Now, who to tag...
LutheranChik, Andy, Kelly, Beth, and Melissa, you're it!
1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five other people.
The nearest book is one I bought simply because the title intrigued me and it was in the bargain bin. I haven't read it yet. It's called The Christian and the Pharisee: Two Outspoken Religious Leaders Debate the Road to Heaven by Dr. R.T. Kendall and Rabbi David Rosen. Here it goes.
"Most of them became either universalists, annihilationists, existentialists, or all the above. Some of them left the ministry they had come to train for since they came to regard the Bible as a faulty and unreliable document and saw no reason to uphold the faith they once thought they believed. I was exposed to the same evidence they had examined, I read the same books they read and explored the same higher criticism of the biblical documents that so many of my friends took on board."
Now, who to tag...
LutheranChik, Andy, Kelly, Beth, and Melissa, you're it!
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