Euchre!

A while back LutheranChik put out a challenge to see if anyone could teach her to play euchre. I sent her an email trying to explain but I don't know if she understood or not.

Well yesterday my boys went to my parents' place for a few days so it's me, my wife, and our 2 girls in the house. I've been trying for ages to convince the girls to let us teach them euchre. Finally we semi-forced them to sit around the table with us and we taught them to play. We played a game in the afternoon and then another in the evening. It'll take a little while for them to completely catch on, to learn some of the nuances, to know what to lead and when, but they actually had fun.

I love euchre but I play it very rarely these days. When I was in university I played a whole lot. When I was a civil engineer working on a bridge and road construction job I played a lot when the weather was bad and we were stuck in the trailer. I remember playing as a teenager in youth group. When my wife's younger sisters were teenagers and we lived in the same city they often came over to our house and we'd play euchre and hearts for hours, listening to records and CDs.

I hope the girls don't poop out on us and give up on the game. It would go some way to turning the TV off more and spending time facing each other rather than always facing the same way focused on the tube.

Oh, and LutheranChik, they're 13 and 11 years old.

Summertime

I take turns with other clergy in town writing a column for the local paper. This was to appear yesterday. I didn't get around to buying a paper to see it in print. Sometimes if they don't have space it has to wait a week so I don't know if it was in there or not.

I usually approach my turn in the rotation to write this column with the intention of sharing something deeply spiritual or a word that might stir someone’s faith or at least get them thinking about God. As I sit to write this column, I’ve just come home a couple of days ago from two weeks vacation. It’s the middle of summer, generally a slow time in the life of most churches. There just aren’t many deep thoughts rattling around in my head at this time. Some people who know me better might think there’s never much going on up there and maybe they’re right. But this column is called "I’ve been thinking" and someone once told me just to write about what I have been thinking.

As I said, I’ve just come home from a couple of weeks vacation with my family. We drove about three hours into the finger lakes region of New York to a campground we found a few years ago, set up on our campsite and just relaxed. When the two weeks were up none of us were eager to come home. Don’t get me wrong, I love my home, I love Port Colborne, I love First Evangelical Lutheran Church and the people there, but man oh man I really liked the life we were living at that campground.

On our trip there was no schedule we had to keep, no office hours, no lawn to mow, no phone to answer. For two whole weeks I didn’t check emails, I didn’t even look at a computer. We made a few day trips in the area but most of our days were spent sitting by the pool, taking a dip when it got a little hot, reading books or working on crossword puzzles. Evenings were spent sitting around a fire singing songs, playing 20 questions, making s’mores, roasting hot dogs. On our first night home our 8 year old son said he misses sleeping in the trailer with everyone in the family so close to each other.

Life was really simple for those two weeks. We were practically cut off from news sources by our own choosing. I bought one newspaper in two weeks, didn’t listen to the radio or watch a TV. I hadn’t heard of the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Lebanon although I’d been praying for the violence to end. I hadn’t heard about the foiled attempt to smuggle liquid explosives onto airplanes.

Now I’m not saying that news coverage is a bad thing, especially since you’re reading this in a newspaper. But I didn’t suffer a whole lot (at all?) by not watching the news at 10 or 11 o’clock every evening. It didn’t matter that I missed the latest episode of whatever reality shows are on TV. It didn’t bother me that I wasn’t keeping up with some of my favourite websites or blogs. In fact, in a lot of ways I preferred that kind of lifestyle.

Now don’t get the mistaken impression that we were roughing it. We had many modern conveniences. We were plugged in to electricity and hooked up to clean water. We were a short stroll away from the flush toilets and hot showers when we needed them. Nevertheless we were living a simpler life. I wonder how much of that simplicity I’m willing to carry over into the other 50 weeks of the year. I know of people who don’t have a TV. I’m not willing to go without that. I know people who do without a car, opting for bicycles and public transportation instead. We’ve got two cars and I don’t see us giving them up anytime soon.

I’ve got a lot of stuff, and I like my stuff. I know I’ve got it better than most people in this world. I realize that and I’m thankful, grateful, and sometimes I even feel guilty about it. So am I going to stop watching TV and give up my computer and internet connection? No. Am I going to watch less TV, spend more time reading, talk to my wife more, play with my kids more? Maybe. My intentions are good. We’ll see if I can follow through.

Because She's a Woman

Women who claim to love God should do helpful things for others, and they should learn by being quiet and paying attention. They should be silent and not be allowed to teach or to tell men what to do. After all, Adam was created before Eve, and the man Adam wasn't the one who was fooled. It was the woman Eve who was completely fooled and sinned (1 Tim 2.10-14).

This was the basis for firing Mary Lambert, a Sunday School teacher in Watertown, New York. I can hardly believe it but then I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Why do so many Christians give the rest of us a bad name? I just have to shake my head but it makes me angry too.

You can read more about it here.

Mary, mother of our Lord

Sing of Mary, pure and lowly,
virgin mother, wise and mild.
Sing of God’s own Son most holy,
who became her little child.
Fairest child of fairest mother,
God the Lord who came to earth,
Word made flesh, our very brother,
takes our nature by his birth.
Roland F. Palmer

Today is the feast of Mary, mother of our Lord. The church honours Mary with the Greek title theotokos, meaning God-bearer. Origen first used this title in the early church, and the councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon upheld it. Luther upheld this same title in his writings. The honour paid to Mary as theotokos and mother of our Lord goes back to biblical times when Mary herself sang, "from now on all generations will call me blessed" (Lk 1.48). Mary’s life revealed the presence of God incarnate, and it revealed God’s presence among the humble and poor. Mary’s song, the Magnificat, speaks of reversals in the reign of God: the mighty are cast down, the lowly are lifted up, the hungry are fed, and the rich are sent away empty-handed.

My soul cries out with a joyful shout
that the God of my heart is great,
and my spirit sings of the wondrous things
that you bring to the ones who wait.
You fixed your sight on your servant’s plight,
and my weakness you did not spurn,
so from east to west shall my name be blest.
Could the world be about to turn?

Though I am small, my God, my all,
you work great things in me,
and your mercy will last from the depths of the past
to the end of the age to be.
Your very name puts the proud to shame,
and to those who would for you yearn,
you will show your might, put the strong to flight,
for the world is about to turn.

From the halls of power to the fortress tower,
not a stone will be left on stone.
Let the king beware for your justice tears
ev’ry tyrant from his throne.
The hungry poor shall weep no more,
for the food they can never earn;
there are tables spread, ev’ry mouth be fed,
for the world is about to turn.

Though the nations rage from age to age,
we remember who holds us fast:
God’s mercy must deliver us
from the conqueror’s crushing grasp.
This saving word that our forebears heard
is the promise which holds us bound,
till the spear and rod can be crushed by God,
who is turning the world around.

My heart shall sing of the day you bring.
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near,
and the world is about to turn.
Rory Cooney, based on the Magnificat

Home Again

Well, we got home the day before yesterday. None of us were too happy to come home. Don't get me wrong, I love my home, the town where I live, the church I serve, the people in the church, but... Well after two weeks of no schedule, no real chores, no work, just sitting by the pool or around the campfire, not having to be up at any certain time, not having to be anywhere except where I was... I'm telling you that's the life.

Now we're home, I'm back at the office, we're doing laundry and cleaning the trailer (well my wife's doing most of that), it's back to a daily grind that can't compare to the freedom of holidays.

I did some reading on my vacation. I read a novel by Pete Hautman called Mrs. Million. Then I read some books that some might consider taking my work with me. First was a little book by Kelly Fryer called No Experience Necessary: Everybody's Welcome. Then I read a book on homiletics by Paul Scott Wilson called The Four Pages of the Sermon: A Guide to Biblical Preaching, not as dry as you might think. Then I started but still have to finish Philip Yancey's The Jesus I Never Knew.

I went to church while I was on vacation too. I worshiped at Centenary United Methodist Church. There aren't any Lutheran churches in Bath, NY or anywhere very close. A few years ago I worshiped at the Episcopal church there so I thought I'd give the Methodist church a try. They have 3 services each Sunday at 8, 9:30, and 11. The first was too early for me on vacation and the last cut too much into my day so I went at 9:30. It turns out this was their "contemporary" service. It wasn't too bad although I'd do things somewhat differently. There was no kind of liturgy. The music was contemporary praise songs to piano and drum accompaniment with words projected on a screen behind the altar. Not all bad but I would have liked a contemporary hymn or two rather than all praise songs. There were no prayers of the people. There was only one scripture reading, the epistle reading which was the focus text of the sermon. There was Holy Communion but there was no Eucharistic Prayer, only the words of institution. One interesting thing was near the beginning, after starting with some singing, the pastor invited anyone who wanted to come up to the altar if they wanted to pray or have him pray for them personally. A few people went forward and he went to each one or each group and talked and prayed with them. It didn't take too long and there was quiet piano music playing during that time. I so rarely get to just sit in the pew as a worshiper rather than being up front leading worship and it was a different kind of service than I'm ever involved in so it was a good experience.

I found out later that the early and late services are more traditional, probably more to my liking and more what I'm used to but different isn't all bad. And if I go back two generations I'm 3/4 Methodist (my paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother were Methodist) so I was getting back to my roots in a way.

Let's see, what else did we do? We went to Watkins Glen for a day, hiked through the glen, strolled down the main street, had pizza for lunch. We went to Corning for a day, visited the Corning Museum of Glass and walked through the old shopping district. We went to the The Windmill Farm & Craft Market, a really big place where thousands of people come every Saturday. We went to a mall one day when it was so hot we thought we'd get into some air conditioning and while we were there we watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. I know we saw it before but that was such poor quality at a drive-in, it was a lot better in the theatre.

At the campground we played Bingo, we attended a Pig Roast/pot luck (they provided the pork, rolls and drinks and people brought "a dish to pass"), we played mini golf, we went on some wagon rides around the campground, we went to the Saturday morning pancake breakfasts, to the weekly ice cream socials, the kids did crafts most mornings when we weren't making day trips, and we sat by the pool a lot.

I've said before, and I'll freely admit it, I was never a boy scout and I'm terrible at making campfires. So I cheated. We bought a couple of boxes of those fire logs, the ones wrapped in paper that burn for up to 3 hours, and I laid one in the bottom of the fire pit each night, lit that and then laid the firewood over top. It worked like a charm and we were never disappointed. I didn't even feel guilty about taking a sucky cheaters way out. The important part was our family time around the fire playing 20 questions, singing songs, telling jokes (no ghost stories, they give daughter #2 nightmares) making s'mores and hotdogs over the glowing embers and staying up late every night. I don't think the method of starting the fire was all that important.

Anyway, now I'm back and I have to get back to work. We already booked our 2 weeks at Hickory Hill for next year and I'm looking forward to going back.

I'm going camping

Woo Hoo! Sunday after church we're going on vacation for 2 weeks. It's off to Hickory Hill Campground for 2 weeks. Oh man I can't wait. I've been looking forward to this vacation since the winter. I get criticized for not blogging too often but criticize away. For the next couple of weeks I won't be checking my emails or looking at the internet. I'll be packing up some reading material but I don't know if I'll get around to reading it. It'll be fun in the sun, playing with the kids, lounging by and swimming in the pool.

And I'm finished my sermon for Sunday. I've prepared stuff for the worship leaders for when I'm away. It'll be Service of Word and Prayer with a couple of laymen preaching. It's all printed. Once I publish this post and turn off this computer it won't be switched on again until August 14. See you then.

I'm Superman

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 85% Spider-Man 65% The Flash 60% Iron Man 55% Supergirl 50% Hulk 40% Robin 37% Wonder Woman 35% Green Lantern 35% Catwoman 25% Batman 20%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Quiz

Controversy leading to schism?

I knew it was a controversial resolution passed at our synod assembly but now I’m reading other blogs where people are talking about schism in the church over it.

As I reported below, the convention adopted a motion to authorize congregations to have the option of blessing same-gender couples who want to make a life-long commitment to one another. The motion passed with 197 votes (72%) for and 75 votes (28%) against. Following the convention Bishop Pryse sent out a pastoral letter (click here to read it) to be shared with the synod.

He mentioned how proud he was of the way delegates engaged one another around this issue. I agree with him. Last year, virtually the same motion was defeated at the National Convention and what I remember from that convention was the tension and stress that surrounded that gathering. This year, while there was, I think, some expectation that this issue would appear again, the mood of the entire convention was different.

I once heard someone say, and I don’t remember who it was, that if the devil is in this somewhere, it’s in the fact that this issue has overshadowed and distracted the church from so many other things that we should be engaged in and doing in our communities and in the world. That’s not necessarily to say that the issue should have been ignored but that it’s one issue among many in which the church ought to be engaged.

I also don’t think that this issues has gone away because of the result of one vote. The vote wasn’t unanimous at the convention and I don’t think opinions and feelings on this matter are unanimous in any congregation, but we continued to work and worship together in Waterloo and I believe that by the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance we’ll continue to do so in the congregation I serve as well. I pray that the world will know we are Christians by our love for one another and that even if we disagree on some small and some large issues, we can still be united by our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, Bishop Schultz sent a letter to the church regarding the Eastern Synod’s resolution (I can’t find a link, I received it by email) where he says that the National Church Council will make a decision at its September 15-16 meeting on the legality of the Eastern Synod resolution based on the Constitution, Bylaws, and National/Synodical responsibilities policy of the ELCIC. I hope that the NCC will prayerfully and respectfully engage one another around this challenging issue but that it will not dominate their meeting to the detriment of the other important work they ought to be doing.

I hope that this one issue will not drive those who are opposed to the Eastern Synod’s resolution out of the church. We need one another and don’t need to be fragmenting ourselves more and more.

No More War

I sent the following letter to The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister; The Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Mr. John Maloney, Member of Parliament.


Dear Messrs. Harper, MacKay, and Maloney,

I am writing to denounce the current escalation in conflict and violence in Israel, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. I am saddened by the loss of life and the suffering this violence has caused and continues to cause for so many people and communities. I am also disappointed and grieved by the harm that has come to any hope for peace in the region.

The history of the troubles in the Holy Land has taught us, only too clearly, that violence does not bring peace. In the face of what would seem obvious it seems that the parties involved deliberately fail to learn this lesson. In this situation talk of "appropriate means" and criticism of "disproportionate responses" are simply inadequate. In order to keep the situation from spiraling out of control, there needs to be a clear rejection of all violence as a means of securing peace, together with a genuine commitment to justice for all people of the Holy Land.

I pray that those who so easily turn to violence as a response to violence will be led to the path of peace. I pray that no more Israelis or Arabs will have to die in the name of violent and exclusivist ideologies. I pray that "the things that make for peace" will be learned, that the Holy Land will become a land of peace and an inspiration to the rest of the world. I pray for those in that region who witness for peace and who provide relief and support to communities affected by the current situation to find their work enabled and supported and their witness amplified against the louder noise of war.

I urge our government and our nation to join others in the international community, perhaps to show leadership in the international community, and move beyond platitudes and do what is necessary to calm the violence, to restore hope, and to push forward towards peace and justice. There is no hope to be found in violence, only a deadly cycle that spirals into more violence. The violence must cease. Fundamental justices must be redressed, if peace is to be more than just a word. It is past time for the international community to be clear, resolute, and unconditional in this message. Previous efforts to promote peace in the Middle East--the Oslo Accords and the "Road Map" alike-- have been mortally wounded by the continued resort to violence and by the failure to redress obvious injustice. A different approach to peace in the Holy Land is required, in which justice is at the heart. If we as Canadians and members of the international community do not insist on justice as a basis for peace, we will be complicit in the inevitable perpetuation of conflict.

Please, let us not stand idly by half a world away as sisters and brothers in our one humanity continue to suffer and die.

Yours in Christ,
Rev. Thomas P. Arth

Pirates (after the fact)

Okay, so we went to the drive-in last Thursday and watched Pirates 2. We weren't disappointed. Well, just a little disappointed but not in the movie. It's fun to go to the drive-in but the picture quality isn't the same as in a theatre or on TV especially the dark parts, we always end up sitting pretty far back, even with my glasses my eyesight isn't great, so combine all these things and I didn't see as much as I would have liked.

But the movie was cool. Some friends of ours went along and parked next to us and we sat on our lawnchairs together. We went in our new (new for us) van. The kids have been reenacting scenes and repeating funny lines from the movie ever since ("An undead monkey!"). The boys actually climbed into the back of the van and went to sleep, missing most of the movie. The ending freaked us all out, not in a scary way but in an "I don't get it, he's supposed to be dead" way. I won't tell you who "he" is in case you haven't seen it yet but want to. The second feature was "Cars." We'd seen it already but we were watching but then I started falling asleep and I was getting cold so we went home.

I was dangling the idea to my wife of going again this Thursday. One of the other screens (there's 4 screens at this drive-in) is showing the new Superman and Click as the double feature.

Pirates

Okay! So tonight we're going to the drive-in. It's carload night and my girls offered to pay the admission (but not for the snacks) so that we can go see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. So my daughters will get to sigh whenever Orlando Bloom comes on the screen, my wife will get to swoon over Johnny Depp, and I'll get to admire Kiera Knightley. The boys will get to enjoy some swordfight I'm sure.

The first time we went to that drive-in we pulled into our spot and then tried to watch the movie looking around the head of the person or the headrest of the seat in front of you. But we noticed what everyone else was doing, at least those with vans. They pulled in backwards, opened the tailgate, pulled out the lawnchairs, and watched that way. That's been the way we do it since then. We even bring along a couple of little plastic tables for our drinks and snacks. I suppose you could even light a couple of mosquito coils to keep the bugs away.

Tonight's supposed to be a beautiful night. We're expecting a heat wave in southern Ontario for the next few days so we probably won't be needing blankets to keep us warm. My girls were anticipating July 7 and the release of the new Pirates movie for months. It was marked boldly on the calendar. So tonight we go to see it at the drive-in.

What a couple of weeks!

What a couple of weeks!

I guess I’ll go back two weeks. It was a busier week than usual. I had my normal preparation for Sunday worship but on top of that I was scheduled to preach at the first of our ecumenical worship services down at the park by the lake. When the pastor organizing the services told me they figured on a 25 to 30 minute sermon I thought to myself, "I’ve never preached that long in my life!" Well, I did come up with a longer than usual sermon about Abraham and Sarah and their relationship with God. The focus was more on God’s mercy and grace in the face of all of their constant screwing up which translates better to our situations than trying to use Abe and Sarah as examples for living. I think the point of those old stories is what God does not what the people do, or else what God does in response to what people do.

But, the day before that busy Sunday, July 1, Canada Day (our equivalent to your July 4 holiday for any American readers), I was to preside at a memorial service. Another sermon to begin with, and an interesting dynamic with the family and those who came to the funeral. The gentleman who died had been a member of our church years ago. I don’t know what church, if any, he’d been attending lately. I certainly didn’t know him from my 4 years here. His only son and his daughter-in-law are members of the LC-C church around the corner (that’s like Missouri Synod for any American readers). I was surprised when the funeral home called and asked if I could do the service. I thought they’d ask their pastor. But I was willing to do this for them. I know the daughter-in-law a bit because she’s the organist there and we’ve had her play for some funerals at our church when our organist wasn’t able to be there.

There’s some stuff going on at that church and I don’t know all the details. We’ve had 7 people from there come over to our church and tell me that they definitely, or some possibly, want to become members here. What I’m hearing is that they’re tired of Close(d) Communion practices in that denomination and the fact that women aren’t allowed to take (m)any leadership roles in the church, not even to read the scripture lessons from the lectern on a Sunday morning. I’m also hearing rumours that there may be more to it but these two issues are what I’ve been hearing first hand.

Back to my last couple of weeks.

The evening of the worship service in the park, I drove down with my family and got there realizing I didn’t have my sermon with me. So I dropped them off, we were plenty early, and I drove back home to get my sermon. Got into the van to drive back to the park and the van breaks down right in front of the house. It sounded like tin cans were being crushed in the transmission. So I drive down in the second car, the one not big enough to carry our family of 6, and do my thing at the service and now we’re destined for car shopping.

Next day is Monday, I take it off in lieu of the Saturday holiday, brother comes for a visit and to give my youngest his birthday present a day early. Next day is Tuesday, July 4, our baby’s 4th birthday. My parents come for a visit. I don’t kill myself with work in the office since I haven’t had all of my days off lately plus I want to visit with my parents and celebrate my son’s birthday.

Then comes Wednesday, July 5, the beginning of our Synod Assembly. I’m leaving my wife and the kids stranded without a vehicle. Our lay delegate is being dropped off and we’re driving 2 hours together to Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario for our 5 day convention. For the most part I like these conventions. I get to catch up with old friends with whom I’m terrible at staying in touch. We get to worship as a synod and the pomp and ceremony and musicianship (usually) is so uplifting. It’s generally a great experience.

On Thursday morning I get to the assembly hall and am handed a message. "Call home. There has been a death." So I get on the phone with the secretary, with my wife, with the funeral home, hoping that they can hold off with the funeral until Monday so that I can be there and do it, otherwise I have to find someone else to do it and all the Lutherans are at the convention, maybe the new Anglican priest (here less than 2 weeks) can do it for me. I’m hearing that the husband (now widower) wants to wait but there is some disagreement with a brother and an executor/power of attorney who wants it on Saturday. They agree on Monday. Not much time to prepare but I can swing it.

Thursday afternoon in the first report of the Committee on Reference and Council we’re presented with a motion to allow congregations a local option to perform the blessing of same-gender couples who want to make a life-long commitment to one another in the presence of God and their community of faith. Actually there are 7 motions made asking for this in one way or another. Last year our National Church Convention defeated such a motion 55% to 45%. This year our Synod passed virtually the same motion 72.4% to 27.6%. I wasn’t surprised the motion appeared. I wasn’t surprised it passed. I was surprised by the size of the majority. I expected it to be somewhat closer. I was impressed, and the bishop also commented, on how respectfully the convention engaged in the discussion of this challenging issue. There wasn’t nearly the same amount of tension and stress as last year at the national convention, or even in 2004 when our synod passed a statement of welcome to people regardless of gender, race, ancestry, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, age, record of offences, marital status, sexual orientation, economic status, family status, or disability.

The rest of the assembly was pretty tame. We had a great keynote presentation from Kathy Magnus, Lutheran World Federation Regional Officer for North America. There was discouraging news about finances, especially regarding Waterloo Lutheran Seminary. But I think we’re people of hope and I think we can become a more generous church. It might just take some creativity and prophetic utterances to make it happen.

Back on the home front my wife is researching vans, and what do we buy to replace our old crippled one. The old van, a 1996 Ford Windstar, is 10 years old (I guess you could do the math and know that, eh?) so it’s not really worth fixing in our opinion because at that age it won’t be long before something else goes wrong. A nearby used car dealer actually lets my wife test drive a Nissan Quest for a number of days. So she wasn’t stranded after all. But from her research it seems the Quest has pretty low customer satisfaction and reliability ratings. It seems the top of the heap are Toyota Siennas and Honda Odysseys. So, after Monday’s funeral, we go car shopping. A sister-in-law has been looking around for us too and said there were some in Burlington, an hour away but where our families live. We went to look at them, found a 2003 Honda we liked at the Toyota dealer in Oakville (yes a Honda from the Toyota dealer), stayed over night with our families, and brought the new van home yesterday.

It’s a nifty van (I know, nobody says nifty anymore) and looks like it’s never been driven, certainly not by anyone with children. Now we’ve got to get rid of our old transmissionless Windstar. We’ve actually had two people show interest in it.

The funeral on Monday went pretty well. I went to visit the husband/widower on Sunday evening. He cried a lot. I asked him if he had any requests as far as hymns or scripture readings for the service. He left it up to me (I chose LBW 272 "Abide with Me"; LBW 346 "When Peace, like a River"; and LBW 501 "He Leadeth Me: Oh, Blessed Thought!" for the hymns and Ps 23; Rom 8.31-35, 37-39; Jn 11.21-27 for the readings). We talked, we prayed, I went to the office and worked late Sunday night to get a sermon written, and the next day we had a funeral.

Now I’ve got the rest of today and tomorrow to get a sermon written for Sunday. I take Fridays and Saturdays off so I like to be done by Thursday evening.

I spent some time with a good friend at the assembly. She found her way to this blog and keeps telling me I’m not thinking often enough. Here it is Dini. I’ve got some fun plans for tomorrow evening but I’ll post them tomorrow (that’s my plan but not a promise).

That Sinking Feeling?

Here's yesterday's sermon with help from David Lose and Barry Harte.

3rd Sunday after Pentecost
June 25, 2006
Mark 4.35-41
Thomas Arth

Why did the chicken cross the playground?
To get to the other slide.
Why did Jesus tell the disciples to cross the lake?
Answer 1: To get to the other side.
Answer 2: According to our reading, because Jesus told them to.
Well, I think we can combine those answers.
The disciples were crossing the lake to get to the other side
because Jesus told them to.
Following Jesus,
going where he sends us, doing what he tells us to do,
isn’t always smooth sailing as the disciples found out.

As they set out, Jesus takes his place in the stern of the boat
and the disciples do their work.
As they sail, all of a sudden a storm rages.
The boat is tossed about like a child’s toy.
The winds push the waves into the boat
and it is swamped with water.
Surely they’ll all drown.

"Where is Jesus?" the disciples ask frantically.
Their efforts to bail out the boat are failing miserably.
Somehow Jesus, in the stern of the boat,
sleeps through the storm and the cries of the disciples.
This must have been some storm.
I can see Matthew or Thomas or Judas being scared,
but Peter, Andrew, James and John, they’re fishermen,
they must be used to the lake and sailing.
If they’re frightened this must be severe.
On finding and rousing Jesus,
the question moves from where to what.
Now it’s not "Where is he?"
now they ask "What will you do?"
Do something. Do anything!
The wind is rebuked with a few words,
"Peace! Be still!"
Now it’s Jesus who gets to ask the questions:
"Why are you afraid?"
"Have you no faith?"
The disciples answer with still another question:
"Who is this?" they wonder aloud.

Do we have much more faith than those disciples?
Storms can easily disrupt our plans,
perhaps even threaten our lives.
An unexpected diagnosis turns our world upside down.
A slump in the economy leaves us jobless.
What seemed like a stable relationship
breaks apart and rocks our world.
In each case, and so many others,
we wonder what has happened and question God’s presence.
Jesus does more than question.
He trusts God, stills the storm, and calms the sea.

"Who is this?" the disciples ask.
This is the only child of God
who will do much more than calm wind and sea.
This is the only child of God
who will heal the sick, feed the hungry,
welcome the sinner and outcast.
This is the only child of God
who will suffer death, defeat the devil,
and rise again to bring everlasting life.
Yes, storms rage about us,
but you, O God, rescue us even from ourselves,
drowning us in the waters of baptism,
that we might live, truly live, in all faithfulness.

This isn’t the first miracle the disciples have seen from Jesus.
According to Mark’s gospel
they have seen Jesus cast out unclean spirits.
They have seen him heal many people.
They’ve seen a man
lowered through a hole in the roof by his four friends,
and Jesus tell the man to
‘Stand up and take your mat and walk.’
Mark has also told us about Jesus’ preaching and teaching.
He has promised the coming of the kingdom of God.
And now Mark begins to show us
what that kingdom will look like.
Here Jesus displays his complete power over nature,
suggesting that while many things in this life may shake us,
none will defeat us,
for we are children of the awesome God
who has set the boundaries of creation
and still commands its powers.
An alternate first reading for today is one from Job,
from the end of Job.
Job continually maintains his innocence
when his so called friends accused him of deserving his fate.
Confronted with great suffering,
Job attempts to prove his innocence to God.
Finally God speaks to Job out of a whirlwind.
God shows Job that, as a finite human being,
he is incapable of judging the Creator.
God says:
"Who took charge of the seas
when they gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped them in soft clouds,
and tucked them in safely at night.
I prescribed bounds for them
so they couldn’t run loose,
And said, ‘Stay here, this is your place.
Here shall your proud waves be stopped.’"
Only God has the power
to control the seas, the winds, and the waves.
When Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea,
tells the wind to pipe down and says to the sea
"Quiet! Settle down!"
the disciples ask "Who is this, anyway?
Wind and sea are at his beck and call!"
"Who then is this?"
Why it’s none other than God
who has the power to tame the chaotic waters.
Looking back from our point of view, we know this,
but the disciples couldn’t see this significance.

Sometimes the storms in our life seem to be out of control.
The chaos threatens to overwhelm us, to swamp our boat.
It might be caused by people or situations
or evil powers that we can do nothing about.
Sometimes it’s not even our fault.
A common lament is why do bad things happen to good people?
Even the world of faithful Christians
can come crashing down.
It can cause us to ask God, "Where are you?"
"Is it nothing to you that we’re going to drown?"
Even when the storms in our lives are spinning out of control,
even when we doubt that God is there,
even when we curse God
for allowing us to suffer the way we sometimes do,
even when we turn our backs and give up on God,
even then God is here.
God is with you, no matter what.
Something that has become a favourite theme for me
is an image that Kelly Fryer describes in her book
"Reclaiming the ‘L’ Word:
Renewing the Church from Its Lutheran Core."
She says that God always comes down.
There is never anything that we can ever do
to make our way UP to God.
God came down in Jesus.
And God still comes down,
in the bread and in the wine,
in the water and in the fellowship of believers.
God ALWAYS comes down.
So even when our faith is shattered,
when our boat is being swamped and in danger of sinking,
even when we turn our backs on God,
God comes down,
God is here, for me and for you.

Jesus asked the disciples
"Why are you such cowards?
Don’t you have any faith at all?"
"Where is your faith?" Jesus might still question us today.
Do we have more faith than the disciples? No.
Will we ever move beyond our lack of faith? Probably not.
This news may seem rather sobering,
but in the end it is not so much the quality of our faith that matters
as its object,
for we believe in the one who lived, died, and was raised again
so that nothing in the heavens or earth
can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
That’s Paul writing again in Romans.
He says "I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—
nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic,
today or tomorrow, high or low,
thinkable or unthinkable—
absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love
because of the way that Jesus our Lord has embraced us."
As long as this God is on our side,
none of life’s storms—
whether physical or spiritual—
can keep us down for long.

This business of faith can seem to be filled
with more questions than answers.
Where, what, why and who;
the question left for us is "When?"
When is the time to respond with faith?
Now is the time.
Earlier, in the reading from Second Corinthians we heard
"‘At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.’
See, now is the acceptable time;
see, now is the day of salvation!"
God hears our cries.
God does not sleep.
The disciples were never really in danger
as long as their Lord was with them.
They just didn’t know it.
And when we feel like the weight of the world is pressing down,
maybe we’re not so confident that our Lord is there.
In the Small Catechism Martin Luther teaches us
about prayer when we rise in the morning
and when we lie down at night.
In each case he tells us to begin by making the sign of the holy cross
and saying:
"Under the care of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen."
That’s to serve as a reminder to us when we might have our doubts,
that as baptized children of God
we can be confident that God loves us, cares for us,
and is with us always.

Paul says that "NOW is the acceptable time;
see, NOW is the day of salvation!"
Not later, not tomorrow, but now is the time.
Open wide your hearts to receive the one who always comes down,
the one who said, when you were baptized, "you are mine,"
the one whom even the wind and sea obey.
Amen

Why Church?

I once heard someone say something along the line that "anyone with a brain doesn’t need a church to tell them how to live, they can figure it out for themselves." I will concede that there is some truth to a statement like that. There are plenty of people in our community and our world who live a decent life, even a good life, helping others, doing good, loving their families, and they never go to a church.

So why church? What’s a church for? Why should anyone go to church if you can be a good person without it? Well, different churches might give different answers to these questions. Even within a particular church you’ll get different answers from the people there. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about these questions.

I’m a Lutheran pastor and in the Lutheran church we talk a lot about grace. In fact one of the Lutheran church’s famous slogans is "Grace Alone!" What grace or "Grace Alone!" boils down to is that God loves us. Not just "us" Lutherans, not just "us" Christians. God loves the whole world and demonstrated that love through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. And God calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and sends the church out so that the Word of God’s unconditional love and promise can be heard clearly in the world.

That Word of God’s unconditional love and promise is a word of forgiveness and life. God knows, and so do we, that we’re less than perfect, that we mess up, that we don’t live the kind of life that God intended for us. So what does God do when we mess up? God forgives! And the Word of God’s unconditional love and promise is life giving. God’s love makes a difference for people. Not the law. Not a list of rules you better follow or else. Not whacking people upside the head with a Bible. The thing that changes people, the thing that makes a difference for your life, the thing that gives life is God’s love.

So why do people think the church is about telling them how to live? Well, I think it’s because so often the church forgets about its reason for being, forgets that it’s really about spreading the news of God’s unconditional grace. We’re not here to list conditions that people need to fulfill before they can receive God’s grace. We’re not here to reform people’s morals. We’re not here to tell people how to live.

It’s tempting to tell people that if they’d just shape up and turn their lives around, if they’d just do this and this and if they’d stop doing that and that, then God will surely reward them. But that’s not now and never can be the good news. Every time we tell people, "If you would just change, then God will love you," then the church is betraying the message it’s been sent to share.

That’s not what God created the church to be and do. The church has been put into this world to spread the radical news of the unconditional grace of God. The church is not a "check your brain at the door" kind of operation. We believe that when we hear the good news of God’s grace and experience the good news in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper then God awakens faith in us and then strengthens that faith as we live in a Christian community.
So why church? I don’t think the church is here to tell us how to live. But I do think the church is here to help us to live a life of faith. And as we live a life of faith with other Christians in the church God changes us so that we can live for others and share the faith and the good news of God’s love for the whole world.

Tom hasn't been thinking

I spent 43 minutes this morning talking on the phone with a friend with whom I'm really bad at keeping in touch. I don't think I've seen her or talked to her since last summer and I don't know if I've emailed her either. I even forgot to wish her a Happy Birthday 11 days ago. It was nice to do a bit of catching up.

She told me I haven't been thinking since Easter. First I didn't know what she was talking about then the lightbulb clicked on and I realized she reads my blog.

There are 5 or 6 blogs that I check out almost daily (when I'm in the office) and I don't know where they find the time to do all that blogging. I find that this takes time and effort that I can't often muster. Don't get me wrong, I like blogging but... Well, it just takes time to compose something and then I feel guilty for doing this rather than other work that has to be done.

I've considered blogging something about the whole DaVinci Code movie thing. Maybe I will, but not today.

To blog or not to blog...

Easter Sermon

This is what I preached in church on Sunday. Again I had help, from Paul Jaster in Sundays & Seasons, from Kelly Fryer in The Lutheran Course.

Resurrection of Our Lord—Easter Day
April 16, 2006
Mark 16:1-8
Thomas Arth

I was reading something on the internet.
A Lutheran pastor was musing
that the women we just heard about in the gospel reading
were the first Lutherans.
They get blown away
by the best news ever revealed in the history of the world,
before and since—
and don’t tell anyone!
We Lutherans have remained faithful to this scripture!
It’s been said that the only commandment we’ve ever obeyed
is Jesus’ command to secrecy, "Don’t tell anyone!"
Give us another 500 years—
and we might start telling the secret!
Now, of course, he was joking.
But plenty of people in many other Christian denominations
could probably make the same joke.
Christians are supposed to be
all about spreading and sharing the good news.
We’re not here to reform people’s morals,
or to police their behaviour.
The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us
so that the Word of unconditional promise made to the world
in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth
might be the focus of our life, our mission,
and that through us
the world would know what we know.

Yes, the news of Easter Day is good.
But do you think maybe it’s just a little too good?
Too good to be true?
Doesn’t it sound less like the gospel truth
and more like wishful thinking or a fairy tale?
I just read the Easter story from Mark.
Now, you may know that Mark is the shortest of the Gospels
and most scholars think it’s the earliest of the Gospels,
the first one written.
If you were to look into your own Bibles
you might find that there’s more to the story after verse 8
but the rest might have brackets around it or footnotes
explaining that the most ancient authorities
bring the book to a close at the end of verse 8,
just as our reading did today.
It’s kind of abrupt, kind of harsh, and strange
that the messenger at the tomb tells the women
to go and tell what they’ve seen and heard,
but they don’t do it.
Instead they flee in terror and amazement
and say nothing to anyone out of fear.
That’s why that joker on the internet said
they must have been the first Lutherans.
They receive this good news but won’t tell anyone about it.

The first witnesses of the resurrection
had their problems with the message.
No one thought Jesus would rise from the dead,
least of all the first disciples.
The Bible usually portrays the disciples as being quite clueless.
Jesus tells them a number of times that he has to die
and that he’ll rise again, but they don’t clue in.
When it came down to the crunch they took off.
All of them had fled.
Even the women who came to the tomb
sought the dead among the dead.
They were coming with spices they bought
so that they could anoint the body.
They were doing it out of love and respect,
a final act of kindness for the Jesus they knew and loved.
When they heard that their Lord was raised,
they were so poorly prepared for this news
that they turned their tails and fled.
Their mouths were zippered shut.

Isn’t that just like us?
We claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ.
We pay him our respects
and anoint him with our fragrant thoughts of adoration.
Then, when we are called upon to "go and tell"
and proclaim his death and resurrection,
we are filled with fear and trembling.
But you know, we’ve got an advantage
over the women who came to the tomb that morning.
We’ve been met by Jesus.
Meeting Jesus changes your life
and makes you want to share that with everybody.
But, maybe if we’re not sharing that with everybody,
we haven’t met Jesus.
Have you?
Do you know what happens when the word is proclaimed,
in the reading of the scriptures,
in the preaching of the gospel?
What happens?
Jesus comes.
What happens when the sacrament of baptism is shared?
When we speak God’s promises over a person as water is poured?
Jesus comes.
What happens when we hold out our hands
to receive the bread and wine of Holy Communion?
We receive Jesus.
Have you met Jesus?
Well, did you hear the word today?
Did you receive the bread, the wine?
Is the body and blood of Jesus Christ given for you?
You were met by Jesus.
It’s not like we have to go racing around the world looking for Jesus.
Jesus comes to us!
A couple of years ago I stood up a chalkboard in the middle of the chancel
and I drew a big arrow pointing down.
It was something I taught to the confirmation kids,
something I know they got because I drilled it into them week after week.
It's a simple message.
The arrow means that God always comes down.
God comes down in the bread and the wine.
God comes down in the water of baptism.
God comes down in the word that’s spoken.
God comes down in the community we share as Christians.
God came down in Jesus.
God comes down in Jesus.
God always comes down.
There’s never anything that we could do to flip that arrow around
and make our way up to God.
It’s a gift.
So, have you met Jesus?
Have you been met by Jesus?
Yes.

But just because we are so often failures as disciples, however,
doesn’t mean that God allows it to remain that way.
Jesus Christ is risen from the dead.
But, more than that, he raises us from the dead
and gives us the strength, the power,
the courage for service.
The risen Christ could have written off his disciples
and summoned others in their place,
especially Peter who denied him.
They all deserted him, denied him, betrayed him.
He could have said,
"This bunch of losers will never amount to anything.
Before I ascend to my Father in heaven
I better gather together a crew
that’s going to make something of themselves
and get this message out there."
He could have written them off.
He could write us off, too,
especially when we deny him again and again.
But he didn’t, and he doesn’t.
Instead, Jesus gathers his fearful, faithless disciples,
forgives them, and empowers them for service.

Listen to the stories of some who have been empowered,
who have gone out and shared the good news.
One woman, a Lutheran, worked in a salon
and she was one of the shyest people you’d ever meet.
If you met her in a crowd
she’d be the one standing at the back against the wall.
But she was responsible for bringing more people into her church
than anyone else.
They were people she worked with at the salon,
or her neighbours,
or the parents of kids
who played on teams with her kids.
She would always say, when asked,
that the reason she invited so many people to come to church
is because she loved her church.
She probably did love her church.
But here’s the real truth—
she loved people.
And she saw them.
When she was talking to them she could see them.
She could see the emptiness.
She could see the difficulty.
She could see how much they needed what she had found
and it was the most natural thing in the world
for her to invite those people to come.

Another woman had been disconnected from the church
through her whole adult life.
She’d been married in the church,
but had no connection after that.
Her children hadn’t been baptized,
her grandchildren hadn’t been baptized.
Well, she found her way back to the church
and started telling people about what she was experiencing there.
All of a sudden her neighbours and co-workers
started talking about their church activities.
She didn’t want to hurt any of their feelings
but she said to her pastor,
"I went through such terrible times in my life
working right alongside all these people,
and never did any of them invite me to come to church with them,
or talk to me about their faith,
or offer to pray with me,
or even offer to pray for me.
None of them dared to talk about those things,
until I started talking about how I was going to church.
I just keep asking myself,
now why didn’t they share that with me?
It could have made such a difference."

We have been met by our risen Lord, Jesus.
We know the truth of the resurrection.
We haven’t looked into the empty tomb.
We haven’t heard angel voices.
But we have, in one way or another,
come to know the truth of this day.
Wherever we see people being healed, reconciled, set free,
we catch a glimpse of that morning at the tomb.
We know the truth of this day by sick beds,
at a meeting of AA,
in the presence of a person whose loss
is too fresh or raw even to mention,
but who keeps going.
We hear Easter in the laughter on the day of a funeral,
in the giggles of a child,
in every asking and giving of forgiveness.

Once again Jesus takes his position at the head of his forgiven flock
and leads them in a ministry of teaching, healing, preaching,
loving, and serving.
The women’s encounter with the angel at the empty tomb
is as much about the resurrection of deadbeat disciples
as it is about the resurrection of Jesus.
What does Jesus do with our fear, our reluctance,
even refusal to share what we have been given?
He forgives us,
and then empowers us to go forth
to tell the world the good news.
We have life,
something the world needs, our families need,
our neighbours need,
and we have the freedom to give it.
Now that’s a resurrection—
a rising from the dead!
Amen

Easter Sunrise Sermon

For the 4th year now, we gather at 7 a.m. on Easter Sunday at our church's cemetery out in the country for a service of Holy Communion. This year we had 48 people gathered (our average Sunday attendance last year was 48). After the sunrise service we came back to church for breakfast and then at 10:30 a.m. we worshiped in the church (74 people).

Here's the sermon from the sunrise service.

The Resurrection of our Lord — Easter Dawn
April 16, 2006
John 20.1-18
Thomas Arth

He’s Gone.
That’s what they’ve been thinking the last few days.
He’s Gone.
Their teacher, their friend, their Lord, is gone.
Some of them say, "we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel."
But he was condemned to death, crucified, dead and buried.
Gone forever.

Their hopes are dashed.
Their faith is destroyed.
He talked, he preached, about the kingdom of God.
He could have been their new king.
The things he told them.
Things about peace,
about love,
about forgiveness.
Was it a lie?
Was it wishful thinking?
Is it all over?
He’s gone.
It’s over.

Sometimes when things are just so bad
you wonder how it could possibly get worse.
Sometimes, unfortunately, you find out.

Mary loved Jesus.
He had healed her of severe afflictions
and she became a disciple, traveling with him
hearing him teach,
loving him to the end.
He was hounded all his life.
Herod wanted him dead.
The people in his own home town
would have thrown him from a cliff.
Others felt so threatened by his preaching
that they constantly tried to trick him
to get him into trouble.
They didn’t quit.
They never let up.
Finally it seemed the whole city,
the whole country,
the whole world,
was crying "Crucify him! Kill him!"
And all that Mary could do was watch.
She witnessed his horrible death.

There are many paintings depicting the crucifixion.
One in particular shows the scene,
the sky is dark,
the world is in darkness.
In the dark shadows at the foot of the cross is a figure.
It is Mary.
She holds on to Jesus’ bleeding feet.
She kisses those tortured feet.

She was there.
She wept with Jesus’ mother.
She watched them place him in his tomb.
She saw them roll the stone over the opening.

On Sunday she came back.
How could it possibly get worse?
He’s gone.
The one who saved her,
who set her free,
who loved her,
he’s gone, it can’t get any worse.

Oh, but she comes to the tomb.
It’s not the way she left it.
The stone is rolled away.
What have they done?

They’ve taken him away.
Not a moment of peace in his life.
And now in death
they wouldn’t even let his body rest in peace.

Her heart is broken.
Can she cry any more tears?
She can.

But she’s not alone.
A voice says:
"Woman, why are you weeping?
It’s an uncommon question to be asked in a cemetery.
"Why are you weeping?"
"They took my Master, and I don’t know where they put him."
"Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him."

Mister?
Oh, no!
Mary!
Open your eyes!
He’s not gone!
He’s here, and he’s alive!
Nobody’s taken him anywhere.
Look Mary. See who it is.

In her grief. In her deepest sadness. Mary didn’t see.
How could she have expected to see Jesus?
She saw him die, with her own eyes.
Saw him wrapped in linen,
laid in the tomb,
She saw the stone laid over the opening,
a sure sign of the finality of death.
Hope destroyed, faith dashed.
Is it so unheard of?
Who has the kind of faith that comes to a cemetery
expecting to find life?

But listen.
The man, the gardener(?), he says something.
"Mary!"
Did you hear him?
Did you hear what he said?
"Mary!"
He said, "Merv!"
He said, "Gerry!" "Jordyn!" "Heather!"
Did you hear what he said?

The question, "Why are you weeping?" is not so uncommon now.
Because the one asking the question has a surprise in store.

He didn’t leave her hanging for long.
When she had bottomed out with despair,
when she had lost all hope,
when her faith was gone,
when life was meaningless,
He called her name.
When life is gone,
when death seems to reign,
when there is no reason for hope
when you can’t find meaning,
He calls your name.

He’s full of surprises.
He surprised an adulterous woman
when she heard the rocks meant for her body
fall onto the ground
because no one would cast the first stone.
He surprised a Samaritan woman
who was expecting the day when the Messiah would come
and heard Jesus say, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
He surprised the widow from Nain
whose only son was dead
but Jesus said, "Young man, I say to you, rise!"
He surprised a criminal on death row
who hung on a cross next to his
and who entered Paradise with him that day.
He surprised a woman in a cemetery
who watched him die
who watched him be buried
but who heard him call her name.
He’s not gone!

When she realized who this man was,
when she realized that her master,
her Lord was alive,
she went and announced it to the disciples.
It was news she couldn’t keep to herself.
He’s not gone!
He’s alive!

Death is not the end.
The grave is not the end.
The stone can’t shut him in.
"Death has been swallowed up in victory.
…victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

He’s not gone.
He’s alive.
And he calls your name.

Good Friday Sermon

With help from Paul Jaster in Sundays & Seasons, and from Elizabeth Achtemeier in Preaching and Reading the Old Testament Lessons: With an Eye to the New, and from Ben Witherington III from John's Wisdom: A Commentary on the Fourth Gospel.

Good Friday
April 14, 2006
John 18.1—19.42
Thomas Arth

Leave it to a child to pose the key question for this day:
"Why do we call it Good Friday if this is the day that Jesus died?"
I started writing this sermon on Monday morning,
pondering that question,
and that afternoon one of my kids came home
saying that a friend at school asked just that question.
It’s a question I’ve heard many times on the lips of children.
It might also be a question in the minds of adults
but we’re too embarrassed or too shy to voice it.
The mood of today’s worship service is definitely somber.
We sing hymns in minor keys.
We gather and then we leave in silence.
Our worship space was stripped bare last night
so that today the church seems absolutely barren.
No flowers, no greens, no colour,
no paraments, no candles, no cross.
Everything points to the sadness, the sombreness of this day.
So why do we call it "Good" Friday?
Good Friday is a good time to answer this good question
with good news—the best news of all.
It may have been "bad" for Jesus,
but what he did upon the cross was "good" for us.
That’s why we call it "Good Friday."

The death of Jesus was "bad" for him.
He bore in his own body all the hatred
and the violence of the world.
He took the lumps, the lashes, and the bruises.
The spit and mockery.
The baiting and temptations.
The awful raw nakedness.
The hunger and thirst.
The bone-shattering, heart-wrenching,
flesh-piercing sense of God-forsakenness.
In the reading from Isaiah we heard,
"He was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed."
That reading from Isaiah is known as the fourth Servant Song.
The song describes a suffering servant,
one who suffers for the sake of others.
Hauled into court, the servant makes no defense of himself.
Instead he is condemned to death,
and a shameful death at that.
He is buried along with all the other criminals
and forgotten as of no importance,
even though he actually was innocent of our transgressions
with which he was charged.
But it says that all of that was God’s will!
God used the servant’s death as the payment for our own sin.
The innocent servant’s death atoned
for what all of us have done wrong!
And as a result,
all of us are now counted righteous in the eyes of our God.

Yet, Jesus’ death was "good" for us.
In total faithfulness to God, he proclaimed God’s forgiveness.
He created a new family—
not one based on tribe, marriage, or blood ties,
but on faith in him.
He promised "paradise today" to any who would dare to believe it.
He "handed over" his spirit
to those who had the guts to follow him.
Martin Luther spoke of this "joyful exchange,"
which faith recognizes and grabs hold of.
Through our response of faith in him the circuit is complete,
the electricity is let loose,
and the new life and power of the Spirit is unleashed.
Jesus’ death was "good" for us
because it was necessary for our life
in communion with one another and with God.
The cross can be too pretty these days.
We didn’t veil our cross this year during Lent.
But why do we normally do that?
The reason for that custom
of veiling the cross and crucifix during Lent
comes out of the Middle Ages.
Crosses and crucifixes were often splendid, jewel-encrusted works of art
and veiling them during Lent provided a "fast for the eyes."
The point wasn’t to hide the cross
but to cover up how fancy many crosses had become.
In our culture the cross has become trivialized,
often turned into a mere article of jewelry.
The modern equivalent of wearing a cross
would be wearing a little golden electric chair around one’s neck.
Many wear a cross as nothing more than costume jewelry
without making any statement of faith whatsoever.
To this day, religious Muslims who consider Jesus a great prophet,
don’t believe that he died on a cross.
They don’t see it as necessary nor appropriate,
only as scandalous, for how could a loving or just God
allow such a thing to happen
to so good and just a son as Jesus?
And looking at it that way it would be true.
Unless Jesus’ death was absolutely necessary for our salvation,
for the forgiveness of sins, and for life everlasting,
then God wouldn’t be a loving God.
But we believe that Jesus’ self-sacrifice was a grace-filled act
to redeem us from the death we deserve,
to give us new life.
It was not the nails, that held Jesus to the cross.
Nor was it our sin.
Our sin couldn’t force God to do anything at all,
much less nail God to a cross,
if God didn’t choose for it to happen.
It was Jesus’ love for us that held him there—his love for us.
That’s the joyful exchange of Good Friday.
Jesus "was wounded for our transgressions"
and "crushed for our iniquities"
and "by his bruises we are healed"—
healed in the eyes of our God,
counted righteous once more in God’s sight,
despite all of the sins and terribly human mistakes and weaknesses
to which we all fall prey.
Through faith in Jesus Christ
we are restored to the household of our Father
and know his loving and sustaining presence.
That is life, abundant life,
and joy, and eternity with our God!
This love is what makes the Friday that he died so "good."
Amen

The Three Days

We are approaching the high point, the climax, the centre of the year. I'm talking about the days and nights, the celebration and worship, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. At the centre of our church year is the celebration of the mystery of a Christian Passover.

In their faith and worship life, Jews observe the Passover remembering their liberation from bondage in Egypt. Passover is a family meal with a liturgy that proclaims:

"We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt, and the Lord our God brought us forth from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And if the Holy One, blessed be he, had not brought our forefathers forth from Egypt, then we, our children, and our children's children would still be Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt."

But in their celebration the Jews are not only remembering, celebrating, or commemorating an historic event. In their eating and their liturgy they become part of this deliverance themselves. They say:

"In every generation let each man look on himself as if he came forth out of Egypt. As it is said: "And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt". . . .

It was not only our fathers that the Holy One, blessed be he, redeemed, but us as well did he redeem along with them. . . .

He has brought us forth from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to holiday, from darkness to great light, and from bondage to redemption."

The focus of the Passover meal for Jews is the grace of God who nourishes and delivers God's people, a grace which was particularly evident in the Exodus.

The Three Days is our Christian Passover. We are not simply remembering, celebrating, commemorating, or recreating the events of Jesus' death and resurrection. Our worship is not about going back in time but letting the spiritual power of death and resurrection be real for us today. We often proclaim the mystery of our faith without even thinking about it. They're just words on a page. Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. In Christ we have become part of eternity and in these liturgies we participate in the mystery at the centre of our lives and faith.

In Holy Baptism our gracious heavenly Father liberates us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's real and it's now and in Holy Week we experience it in the here and now. Craig Mueller, a Lutheran pastor in Chicago, writes: "In these holy days we find both our identity and our mission—remembered in the past, made present through word and sacrament, and propelling us with invincible hope into the future."

Please go to church and worship with your church family this Holy Week and Easter season. Let us be glad and rejoice.

Rest eternal grant her, O Lord

A cyber-friend's mother died yesterday. Lutheranchik writes an awesome blog. I almost feel like I know her from reading her daily thoughts. I feel sad for her. I've done a few funerals in my not-quite four years as a pastor (33 to be exact) and some of the phrases and scripture references in the LBW funeral liturgy are just so perfect.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of all mercy and the God of all consolation. He comforts us in all our sorrows so that we can comfort others in their sorrows with the consolation we ourselves have received from God (2 Cor 1.3-4).

When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by Baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his (Rom 6.3-5).

Give courage and faith to those who are bereaved, that they may have strength to meet the days ahead in the comfort of a holy and certain hope, and in the joyful expectation of eternal life with those they love.

Help us, we pray, in the midst of things we cannot understand, to believe and trust in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the resurrection to life everlasting.

Rest eternal grant her, O Lord;
and let light perpetual shine upon her.

God's peace be with you LC.