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.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
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!
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Books I've Read
So, Kevin listed all the books he read last year. I don’t read that much but I thought I’d share about the books I’ve read so far this year.
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
This book must have received a lot of media hype last year because I ended up with 3 copies of it. I was at a local discount shop, a place that gets a lot of one-off stuff, remaindered stuff, stuff with a torn box but the contents are perfectly good. I’ve noticed a lot of Costco stuff in that store. And they sell it at a great price. It’s our favourite store in town. But I digress.
Just before Christmas we were in there and I saw this book, read the jacket, and it looked interesting to me so I bought it. Well, it’s true that you shouldn’t buy yourself anything just before Christmas because I got it as a present from a sister-in-law, explained that I already had it, and passed it on to my brother-in-law. Then, just after Christmas, at a 12th Night Party a parishioner gave it to me as well. I explained that it was now my third copy and passed it on to someone else at the party and said she could just pass it on when she finished with it.
It’s a really neat book. It’s interesting. It’s funny. It makes you think. Jacobs admits that he’s an agnostic but it started to sound like he was discovering something profound as the year went on. The Holy Spirit? I noticed it the most when he wrote about prayer. He prayed because it was commanded but his praying seemed to change the way he thought about people and things. It’s like if you pray for someone you can’t help but start to feel godly toward them.
Living Lutheran: Renewing your Congregation by Dave Daubert
I find this to be a very practical book. Daubert is now part of the A.R.E. (A Renewal Enterprise) team of Kelly Fryer and Tana Kjos. If you read Fryer’s Reclaiming the "L" Word: Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core then you might remember the "Five Guiding Principles" that she and her congregation came up with during their renewal.
Daubert writes about developing and using a Purpose Statement as well as developing Guiding Principles to help with congregational renewal. He even gives a sample day-long retreat agenda for developing the statement and principles. I’m hoping/planning to do this in my congregation.
An example that I found enlightening and (hopefully) encouraging refers to an ELCA study that found that after a decade-long churchwide evangelism strategy, membership and attendance overall had declined. The study found that declining and growing congregations had tried some of the same evangelism techniques and tactics but the growing congregations were almost always clear about two things. "First, they were clear about their purpose or their vision for ministry. They had an understanding of what God was doing and how they could be a part of that. It was known and shared by the membership. It was as important to many in the pews as it was to the pastors in the pulpit. Second, these vibrant congregations showed an openness to change in order to be faithful. ‘We’ve never done it that way before,’ was replaced with, ‘What do we need to do to be effective for God?’" (p. 15).
When I mentioned this to our council earlier this month I was greeted mostly by silence but at least no opposition.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
I received this book from another sister-in-law who got it used herself and then passed it on after reading it. I really liked it. It’s rather sad at times, but there is redemption as well.
This is a screwed up family because of one decision that turned into a secret that snowballed into an unhappy marriage, an unhappy family. The truth does finally come out in a way but it doesn’t make everything better all of a sudden. It’s realistic. Even though it doesn’t end "happily ever after" I found it to be a happy ending.
Reclaiming the "C" Word: Daring to be Church Again by Kelly Fryer
This was a re-read. I love the stuff Kelly Fryer writes. I’m a regular visitor to her blog. Her next "reclaiming" book is supposed to come out this week, Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity. I look forward to getting it and reading it. Fryer is challenging to me. I get excited by the possibilities that I see for our churches. But I like some of what the church is and does and sometimes she says, or implies, that what we’re doing is holding us back from being all that we can in God’s mission.
I’m kind of a fan of the vestments, the ceremony, the liturgy, the organ, the old hymns. Can’t we keep that as we renew the church, as we dare to be church again? It might take a while for me to let go of some things and take others up.
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs
This book must have received a lot of media hype last year because I ended up with 3 copies of it. I was at a local discount shop, a place that gets a lot of one-off stuff, remaindered stuff, stuff with a torn box but the contents are perfectly good. I’ve noticed a lot of Costco stuff in that store. And they sell it at a great price. It’s our favourite store in town. But I digress.
Just before Christmas we were in there and I saw this book, read the jacket, and it looked interesting to me so I bought it. Well, it’s true that you shouldn’t buy yourself anything just before Christmas because I got it as a present from a sister-in-law, explained that I already had it, and passed it on to my brother-in-law. Then, just after Christmas, at a 12th Night Party a parishioner gave it to me as well. I explained that it was now my third copy and passed it on to someone else at the party and said she could just pass it on when she finished with it.
It’s a really neat book. It’s interesting. It’s funny. It makes you think. Jacobs admits that he’s an agnostic but it started to sound like he was discovering something profound as the year went on. The Holy Spirit? I noticed it the most when he wrote about prayer. He prayed because it was commanded but his praying seemed to change the way he thought about people and things. It’s like if you pray for someone you can’t help but start to feel godly toward them.
Living Lutheran: Renewing your Congregation by Dave Daubert
I find this to be a very practical book. Daubert is now part of the A.R.E. (A Renewal Enterprise) team of Kelly Fryer and Tana Kjos. If you read Fryer’s Reclaiming the "L" Word: Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core then you might remember the "Five Guiding Principles" that she and her congregation came up with during their renewal.
Daubert writes about developing and using a Purpose Statement as well as developing Guiding Principles to help with congregational renewal. He even gives a sample day-long retreat agenda for developing the statement and principles. I’m hoping/planning to do this in my congregation.
An example that I found enlightening and (hopefully) encouraging refers to an ELCA study that found that after a decade-long churchwide evangelism strategy, membership and attendance overall had declined. The study found that declining and growing congregations had tried some of the same evangelism techniques and tactics but the growing congregations were almost always clear about two things. "First, they were clear about their purpose or their vision for ministry. They had an understanding of what God was doing and how they could be a part of that. It was known and shared by the membership. It was as important to many in the pews as it was to the pastors in the pulpit. Second, these vibrant congregations showed an openness to change in order to be faithful. ‘We’ve never done it that way before,’ was replaced with, ‘What do we need to do to be effective for God?’" (p. 15).
When I mentioned this to our council earlier this month I was greeted mostly by silence but at least no opposition.
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards
I received this book from another sister-in-law who got it used herself and then passed it on after reading it. I really liked it. It’s rather sad at times, but there is redemption as well.
This is a screwed up family because of one decision that turned into a secret that snowballed into an unhappy marriage, an unhappy family. The truth does finally come out in a way but it doesn’t make everything better all of a sudden. It’s realistic. Even though it doesn’t end "happily ever after" I found it to be a happy ending.
Reclaiming the "C" Word: Daring to be Church Again by Kelly Fryer
This was a re-read. I love the stuff Kelly Fryer writes. I’m a regular visitor to her blog. Her next "reclaiming" book is supposed to come out this week, Reclaiming the "E" Word: Waking Up to Our Evangelical Identity. I look forward to getting it and reading it. Fryer is challenging to me. I get excited by the possibilities that I see for our churches. But I like some of what the church is and does and sometimes she says, or implies, that what we’re doing is holding us back from being all that we can in God’s mission.
I’m kind of a fan of the vestments, the ceremony, the liturgy, the organ, the old hymns. Can’t we keep that as we renew the church, as we dare to be church again? It might take a while for me to let go of some things and take others up.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Crappy TV
We've become more and more disappointed with what's on TV. I admit that I'm something of a TV junky. But there used to be much better stuff on the tube. What ever happened to sitcoms? There used to be stuff on there that you could watch with your kids. There are still sitcoms on TV but very little that I'd consider suitable for watching as a family. Most of them seem to be about sex. I find some of them funny but only watch them once the kids are in bed.
The problem is all of the "reality" shows. You don't have to pay actors. You don't need very talented writers. You just need some idiots who want to make fools of themselves by singing badly, by locking themselves into a house with a bunch of strangers, by doing stupid stunts
A few years ago we started buying some of our old favourite programs on DVD. We've got the entire series of M*A*S*H, we've got some seasons of Home Improvement, some seasons of I Love Lucy, some Happy Days, some Cosby, some of the britcoms like Vicar of Dibley, Bless Me Father, As Time Goes By, Ballykissangel, All Creatures Great and Small.
What's annoying is that we bought the first three seasons of Boy Meets World and the first season of Murphy Brown and now we've found that they're not releasing any more of either of those series because sales were less than they hoped for the ones they did release. AAARRRGGGHHH!
The problem is all of the "reality" shows. You don't have to pay actors. You don't need very talented writers. You just need some idiots who want to make fools of themselves by singing badly, by locking themselves into a house with a bunch of strangers, by doing stupid stunts
A few years ago we started buying some of our old favourite programs on DVD. We've got the entire series of M*A*S*H, we've got some seasons of Home Improvement, some seasons of I Love Lucy, some Happy Days, some Cosby, some of the britcoms like Vicar of Dibley, Bless Me Father, As Time Goes By, Ballykissangel, All Creatures Great and Small.
What's annoying is that we bought the first three seasons of Boy Meets World and the first season of Murphy Brown and now we've found that they're not releasing any more of either of those series because sales were less than they hoped for the ones they did release. AAARRRGGGHHH!
Monday, February 11, 2008
If I Were American
I took a quiz here and it told me how closely I agree with the different presidential candidates in the U.S. It turns out I’m a Hillary fan. Here’s how the numbers came out for me.
Clinton — 90.31%
Obama — 88.02%
Huckabee — 70.69%
Romney — 68.10%
McCain — 67.19%
Paul — 64.57%
I know I’m on the left side of the political spectrum. I haven’t followed the races in the U.S. very closely so I didn’t really know who I favoured based on issues or personalities. This quiz puts only 2.29% between Clinton and Obama when it comes to my agreement with them.
I find it very strange how different candidates seem to get support from different segments of society. For instance one gets more hispanic/latino support, another black support, another women’s support, another union support, then the various religious factions and their support. Then it often hinges on personalities and endorsements by various politicians and celebrities.
I wish elections were held, and people's votes were cast, based on a real platform and real issues rather than soundbites and fragmenting the population into various interest groups. Tell me what you're going to do for me, for my country, for my planet. But more importantly tell me what you're going to do for those who can't speak up for themselves, for the ones who need a lot more help than I need, for future generations.
Clinton — 90.31%
Obama — 88.02%
Huckabee — 70.69%
Romney — 68.10%
McCain — 67.19%
Paul — 64.57%
I know I’m on the left side of the political spectrum. I haven’t followed the races in the U.S. very closely so I didn’t really know who I favoured based on issues or personalities. This quiz puts only 2.29% between Clinton and Obama when it comes to my agreement with them.
I find it very strange how different candidates seem to get support from different segments of society. For instance one gets more hispanic/latino support, another black support, another women’s support, another union support, then the various religious factions and their support. Then it often hinges on personalities and endorsements by various politicians and celebrities.
I wish elections were held, and people's votes were cast, based on a real platform and real issues rather than soundbites and fragmenting the population into various interest groups. Tell me what you're going to do for me, for my country, for my planet. But more importantly tell me what you're going to do for those who can't speak up for themselves, for the ones who need a lot more help than I need, for future generations.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Lent?
The season after Epiphany was too short. Now it's Lent already. Lent is supposed to mean spring. But Lent will end just as spring starts.
So, what do I give up for Lent? In years past I've tried giving up pop and chips. I managed to do it but was miserable about it. Is that the point of fasting from something?
This year I decided that instead of giving anything up I'll take up a few things. I'll be more intentional about reading the Bible (other than what I have to read to prepare a sermon), setting aside time for prayer (besides the anytime, anywhere prayers), and I'll add some physical activity into my routine. So:
I'm preaching tonight about alms-giving, fasting, and prayer (Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21). Really I'm quoting a lot from Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Whole Prayer: Speaking and Listening to God where he talks a bit about those disciplines. Maybe I'll slip some fasting into my lenten discipline. I don't know how, yet, or when. But I'll have to find some way to do it without it making me miserable.
Have a blessed Lent everyone.
So, what do I give up for Lent? In years past I've tried giving up pop and chips. I managed to do it but was miserable about it. Is that the point of fasting from something?
This year I decided that instead of giving anything up I'll take up a few things. I'll be more intentional about reading the Bible (other than what I have to read to prepare a sermon), setting aside time for prayer (besides the anytime, anywhere prayers), and I'll add some physical activity into my routine. So:
- I'll read the daily scripture readings suggested in my desk calendar.
- I'll pray the Great Litany (LBW p. 168 or ELW 238).
- I'll get out the skipping rope and get my heart rate up and try to gradually increase the time I spend at it.
I'm preaching tonight about alms-giving, fasting, and prayer (Matthew 6.1-6, 16-21). Really I'm quoting a lot from Walter Wangerin Jr.'s Whole Prayer: Speaking and Listening to God where he talks a bit about those disciplines. Maybe I'll slip some fasting into my lenten discipline. I don't know how, yet, or when. But I'll have to find some way to do it without it making me miserable.
Have a blessed Lent everyone.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sick Sucks
I have been sick for a week and a half. It started after church on the Second Sunday after Epiphany (Jan. 20). I just couldn't keep warm so I wore my coat through the soup lunch that our Evangelical Lutheran Women served and through the annual congregational meeting that followed. After the meeting I went home and fell asleep on the couch under a blanket. I woke a couple of hours later and went up to bed. That evening I had a fever of 103 ("hot blooded, check it and see").
That week our local ministerial was having services for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and I was scheduled to preach on the Tuesday (Jan. 22). I dragged myself out of bed to preach there and then got back in bed for the rest of the week. I started feeling better by the weekend but didn't have time to write a sermon so I downloaded one from textweek.com that I thought was pretty good. I wasn't as impressed on Sunday when I read it from the pulpit. Sunday morning I was having sweats again so I didn't shake hands with anyone and asked someone else to distribute Holy Communion in my place.
This week I'm a bit better but somehow not 100%. I don't know what I had or have. It's not really a cold, not really flu either. It was a fever that came and went, I'd alternate between chills and sweats, I'd have a headachy, light-headed feeling at times that I'd take Tylenol for. This week I wake up feeling fine but as the day progresses I feel more and more crappy.
Now I'm trying to catch up on things I didn't do last week. I started a 7 week Bible Study series on Monday night. I have a council meeting tonight. I have a funeral tomorrow. I'm driving 3 kids to the Seminary Youth Day two hours away on Saturday. And next week Lent starts which isn't really a reduced workload. I hope I get some of my energy back by then.
That week our local ministerial was having services for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and I was scheduled to preach on the Tuesday (Jan. 22). I dragged myself out of bed to preach there and then got back in bed for the rest of the week. I started feeling better by the weekend but didn't have time to write a sermon so I downloaded one from textweek.com that I thought was pretty good. I wasn't as impressed on Sunday when I read it from the pulpit. Sunday morning I was having sweats again so I didn't shake hands with anyone and asked someone else to distribute Holy Communion in my place.
This week I'm a bit better but somehow not 100%. I don't know what I had or have. It's not really a cold, not really flu either. It was a fever that came and went, I'd alternate between chills and sweats, I'd have a headachy, light-headed feeling at times that I'd take Tylenol for. This week I wake up feeling fine but as the day progresses I feel more and more crappy.
Now I'm trying to catch up on things I didn't do last week. I started a 7 week Bible Study series on Monday night. I have a council meeting tonight. I have a funeral tomorrow. I'm driving 3 kids to the Seminary Youth Day two hours away on Saturday. And next week Lent starts which isn't really a reduced workload. I hope I get some of my energy back by then.
Monday, January 14, 2008
John Calvin?
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Which theologian are you? created with QuizFarm.com | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You scored as John Calvin Much of what is now called Calvinism had more to do with his followers than Calvin himself, and so you may or may not be committed to TULIP, though God's sovereignty is all important.
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