Faith, Grace, and Hope

Yesterday I was in a meeting and we talking about Synod Assembly (the BIG annual joint congregations church meeting). When we were trying to figure out how to include more young people in the meeting, someone mentioned "the boring parts". I retorted, "You mean the part where we're doing the work of the church?" Someone later said, "What did you call it 'the work of the Lord'?" I said, "No, the work of the Lord and the work of the church sometimes overlap, but are not interchangeable." Work of the church: stewardship (care of) financial, spiritual, physical and emotional resources. Work of the Lord: care of neighbor and fulfilling the Great Commission (not necessarily simultaneously). Yes, church meetings can have slow parts. Not everyone is interested in or understands budget discussions. Not everyone comprehends the, sometimes, technical wording of resolutions or the use of shibboleths to show who's in and who...

In the summer of 2002, I worked in New York City through Lutheran Disaster Response (then Lutheran Disaster Relief) leading day camps in congregations that had experienced serious loss on 9/11/01. Not just the loss of the understanding of the world as they knew it, but loss of life. I worked with children who had parents who came home and parents who didn't. I talked to spouses who waited and were reunited. And some who weren't. All week I tried to put some order into my feelings. I never tell these stories. They are too raw, too hard, too stark. Two weeks after the camps ended, I moved to Nome, Alaska. I didn't process when I could have and trying to do so now is like trying to rework plaster that has set. So as I turned over the hard shape of this experience this week, I wrote this in my journal: Anyway, I want to write a blog post about my memories, but I am not sure what to say or how to talk about the end of my memories. That I had to shut some of them away s...

Over at RevGalBlogPals , Revkjarla writes: I   don't know about you, but I am a notoriously   messy   creative worker.  My workspace at home, and at my office is always littered with books and papers and mail and pens and keys and mugs....and tchotchkes (momentos, weird things, etc.)   I am looking right now at a pair of dice that someone gave me that have "God" on each side, so that anyway you roll 'em, you end up with God.  Different, right?     So, this Friday Five is all about YOUR tchotchkes in your workplace.  Describe five things in/on your workspace (however you define workspace--I tend to   spill over onto bedside tables, end tables, coffee tables ...create wherever I land) that are special to you!   Bonus points for pictures!   Oh, honey, the disaster of my desk means my workspace usually looks like this. I'm a member of the Flat Surface Society, meaning if there's a flat surface, I'll stack st...

I'm a big fan of the Trinity: One God, Three Expressions- Father, Son and Holy Spirit - Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier - Our Source, Our Brother, Our Sustenance . (The links go to previous Trinitarian love blog posts.) I believe the Trinity is how God has chosen to make Godself and power know in the world. However, there are other things I believe to be true and worthwhile. In particular, I believe in the holiness of bodies, in backing up your computer and in counseling (talking to someone). This has the potential to be a series, but I'm going to try to be brief this time. 1 . The Holiness of Bodies - I believe that our bodies are a gift from God and that we are unable to accomplish the work God intends us to do without them. This is why taking care of our physical being is spiritually important. If God's work within us for Christ's sake could be accomplished through the power of thinking alone, then we wouldn't need a physical presence. However, God created ...