Faith, Grace, and Hope

I am a pastor of a small church- a church full of people whom I love and whom I greatly trust that God loves. On Sunday mornings, there may be any number of chi ldren and older people, this includes my own children and some of their best friends.  I have spent a lot of time thinking about what I would do if someone came in and began shooting. I've analyzed what I could throw, how quickly I could get to any part of the sanctuary, and how much time I could buy for others by engaging with a shooter- hoping that my death through that engagement would buy others time to attack unseen, hide children, or escape.  I move my cell phone around in the sanctuary- to be within my arm's reach- so that my last act prior to engagement would be to call 911. I worry about if I don't have time to do this and I may not, but it's part of my mental plan.  I am a gun owner. I'm an okay shot, better than okay at close range. My husband has asked me, on more than one occasion, t...

In Matthew’s Easter account opens with two women approaching the tomb and an earthquake. (The two events are only related because of Jesus, not the former causing the latter.) The women are there to witness if Jesus walks out of the tomb, but he doesn’t. The stone is moved and he is simply gone. There is an angel sitting there, matter-of-factly, to tell them that he has been raised and gone to Galilee, just like he said he would. We do not get a reaction of the women to the earthquake or to the rolling away of the stone. Unlike in the other gospel accounts, we don’t even know why the women are going to the tomb this morning. They simply are. Of course, it is possible women were no longer able to be surprised, given the events of the past three days and the fact that Matthew inserts several earthquakes into his version of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Both seio (the Greek word for shaking and quivering) and seismos (the Greek word for earthquake or commotion) are used liberally...

In 2015, after several years of meaning to do this, I copied my friend Marci Glass and did Star words with the congregation I serve, Lutheran Church of Hope. Marci has written about this practice on her blog in several posts . I recommend scrolling down and reading this first posts and then you can pick and choose (or read them all).  I used the PDF of words she had created and shared generously with other RevGalBlogPals via our (closed) Facebook page. LCOH's diligent administrative assistant and I cut out 300+ stars last year. We also made a separate set of stars for kids from the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). While I'm not saying that adults shouldn't also choose from that list, it was easier to have a more condensed and more easily interpreted set of words for our younger members. An adult can wrestle with approachability. A six-year-old, not so much.  This year, on 1/8/17, we w...

As soon as the # decolonizeLutheranism hashtag began to be used on Facebook and Twitter, I was in and involved. It was like jumping into a river and realizing that I could swim better than I thought I Candle station for prayer at conference could. The impetus behind the movement is to separate North American Lutheranism from being considered interchangeable with Mid-Western, primarily imported Scandinavian, culture and cuisine. By "decolonizing" or separating Lutheranism from that context, the people in and behind (and ahead of) the movement hope to release and refine our theological and biblical commitments toward inclusion, welcome, understanding, and embracing the height and depth and breadth of the love of God in the world. The initial conference of this movement was on 10/23/16 at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. It's a long way to for an Alaskan, but I couldn't stay away. Once some of my friends knew I was coming, they signed up too. Thus, I h...

This was written for a prayer service in Anchorage, Alaska in response to a significant rise in reported homicides and other personal crimes. It has a partner in the Litany for Loosing . Holy God of all creation, we know that violent death and mindless destruction do not come from you. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we bind and reject these things. They have no place here. God of love and light, revenge and aggressive retribution are not tasks you have given to us at any time. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we bind and reject these things. They have no place here. God of peace and hope, glorifying violence and denigrating other humans violate every commandment you have given. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we bind and reject these things. They have no place here. God of consolation and mercy, desecration of creation and division between people are not possible in the true way of Christ Jesus. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we bind and reject these...

" Martin Luther King Jr NYWTS 4 " by New York World-Telegram and the Sun staff photographer: Albertin, Walter, photographer. - Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. New York World-Telegram and the Sun Newspaper Photograph Collection.  http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c22985 . Licensed under Public Domain via  Wikimedia Commons . I'm familiar with a certain type of conversation around Martin Luther King, Jr.  When he's being noted or praised, one or more people in the conversation will decide to mention that MLK, Jr cheated on his wife or plagiarized parts of this thesis or committed this kind of crime or that. Keep in mind the conversation was never about whether we should add him to the Trinity or the Pantheon or what-have-you. Yet, in the conversation, there seems to be the need to shine a spotlight on MLK, Jr.'s flaws.  It is also characteristic of this conversation to note "If he hadn't been martyred, he wouldn't be ...

God, our father in heaven, Your name is special. The whole world wants your good works. Let them happen here, just like they do in heaven. Give us today exactly what we need- not too much and not too little. Forgive us where we've messed up and Help us forgive the people who've hurt us- our bodies or our feelings. Remind us that you are always with us especially when we are afraid. The entire universe, all the power, and the most glory go to you, because you are the only God. Amen

About a month ago I went on a silent retreat to Christ in the Wilderness in western Illinois. I had a little hermitage to myself and I spent five days walking, praying, reading, thinking, and listening. One evening I hiked up hill (both ways) to the big, free-standing porch swing on a hill. This swing faced due west. I positioned myself in the swing to watch the blazing orange sunset over the span of corn fields and hickory trees. I heard coyotes yip and yowl. I watched flocks birds swoop and then come to rest, facing the disappearing sun like me. I saw the bats come out and dive for their food. As everything settled into evening humming, I decided to go back toward my hermitage. I climbed out of the swing and walked the path, back around to the east side of the hill. By the time I was ready to descend the hill toward the little chapel, I was facing due east. I could no longer see the sunset because the peak of the hill was between me and the view. My new view was the rising deep...

Mark 1:1-8                         Where’s Mark’s joke? Or poem? Or news story? The author of this gospel doesn’t ease the reader into the text. BOOM, it starts. “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ…” We don’t get an angel, shepherds, a dream, or even a longer description of the prophet, John the Baptizer. Instead, we are plucked right into the story.             We know that Mark is the earliest written gospel that we have. We are talking about a story that existed in a similar written form to what we have in our hands, in our homes, in every hotel room, in our own language- a story marked just under two thousand years ago. Why doesn’t this gospel have the birth narrative or any of the larger details from Matthew or Luke? Why isn’t there a longer, more poetic entry like in John?    ...

Earlier this week, there was a blog prompt that involved writing to someone in 1864 and trying to explain modern life to them. I thought of that today. I received text messages this morning from a friend on the East Coast. (cell phones, Seward's Folly Alaska!) This friend had met up with my sister, who had baked her a pie- in an electric oven. (electricity) The friend drove my sister to work, so the latter skipped her morning Metro ride. (cars, subways) I drove to work and checked emails. (cars, computer, internet) I listened in via teleconference to a meeting in Seattle. (telephones) I chose not to fly down for a 6 hour meeting. (planes) I received a message concerned about a person who is not known to me, but- it turns out- knows some of my friends. (Internet, Facebook) I made connections for a support network for this person via her/my friends. (Internet, Facebook messaging, text messages, telephone, voicemails) I talked to a friend on the East Coast. (cell ...

According to reports, the 2014 midterm election cycle is shaping up to be one of the most expensive campaign seasons in history. That expense is not  determined by what things cost , but by what people choose to spend.  This  article from the Huffington Post cites estimates over $3 billion spent nationally . Three. Billion. Dollars. Plus. I do noon duty at my son's school two days a week. On those days I'm there alongside a Russian immigrant who works the night shift in a box store in order to be home in the morning to take her daughter to school. She then sleep in her car until it's time to help at lunch and recess. She wants to volunteer for the work, but she also really need the $10/hour. The other day she asked me if I knew of any inexpensive places to rent. Our city is notorious for a very low vacancy rate for rentals and for a very high rental cost. (The market, you know.) Her current situation use all she earns, save $300, to cover her rent. I discussed...

John 5:1-18             In the Monty Python movie Life of Brian , there is a scene in which a man solicits Brian (the main character) for money. He runs alongside Brian and says, “Alms for an old ex-leper?”             When Brian finally understands what the man is saying, he replies, “Ex-leper?” The man explains that he had made his living, with his leprosy, by begging. Then Jesus came by and healed him, “without so much as a by-your-leave.” Now the man is begging as an ex-leper and he’s mad that Jesus robbed him of his trade.             Brian says, “There’s just no pleasing some people.” The ex-leper replies, “That’s just what Jesus said, sir.”             This is a very funny skit in the movie and we are able to laugh at it even out of context. The...