christianity

February 2023

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Paul writes, “4 Now there are varieties of gifts but the same Spirit, 5 and there are varieties of services but the same Lord, 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:4-7)

Giftedness in the church on earth is not a problem. God abundantly blesses the church with a variety of gifts. The Holy Spirit continues to be vibrant in the church and in the world. There is no indication that the Holy Spirit is any less active than 2000 years ago. Yet how many of us consistently behave as though God’s presence and activity saturates our daily lives? Once we start to recognize how prevalent the Holy Spirit is among us and how abundant those gifts are, we face the challenge of discerning how God is calling us to use those gifts.

It can be easy to go down the rabbit hole of comparisons, but Church is not a competitive sport. The Holy Spirit guides individuals, congregations, and church bodies to proclaim the Gospel in their own time and place – using the gifts they are given. No congregation is identical to another, just as no two believers are identical. Each have their own identity and gifts. Each has a responsibility to identify their own giftedness and mission.

We live in an impatient world. It takes time and effort to identify the gifts God has given us and even more time to discern how to coordinate with one another for the sake of the Gospel. Paul describes the church as a body of many parts that function in unity for the sake of the whole body. A common complaint expressed by individuals dealing with chronic illness is the ‘betrayal’ of one’s body. The disconnect between the body and the mind is especially frustrating. Illness within the church can be described similarly. The Body of Christ is not a haphazard head of gifts and people – it is the saints called together for the sake of the Gospel.

The reformers defined church as the “congregation of saints” among whom “the Gospel is purely taught” and the “Sacraments are administered rightly.” Heavily influenced by Paul, the criteria (or non-negotiables) for unity were the centrality of the Gospel, Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. (Augsburg Confession, Article VII) Therein lies beauty in the work of the Holy Spirit. God takes a bunch of ragtag believers and creates the church. God guides us to discern how and to whom we are called to be the church in this time and place – and gives us the gifts and courage to do so.

The grace and peace of God keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

March-April 2022

1I call upon you, O Lord; come quickly to me;

give ear to my voice when I call to you.
2Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,

and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. (Psalm 141:1-2)

Dear brothers & sisters in Christ,                     

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

We all know that prayer is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship. Prayer is communication with God. We know that it needs to be part of our daily lives. Sometimes ‘knowing’ and ‘practicing’ are two very different things. We are not the first ones to live in the disparity of what we ‘know’ and what we ‘practice.’

We have the paradigm of Christ’s life, faith and obedience. Despite our own failings, we do have His example of perfection before us to offer us aspiration. Jesus taught His disciples to pray. Jesus spoke often with the Heavenly Father. His is the only utterly perfect union with God. Yet what he teaches and demonstrates to us, does give us the tools to aid us in our own practice.

Jesus has given us not only His own example, but also the examples of faithful witnesses through time and most importantly, the gift of the Holy Spirit. As Paul reminds the Romans, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” God Himself helps us to pray as we ought.

The Old Testament is full of the prayers of people who sought to follow and obey God. There are prayers of thanksgiving and prayers of lament. The struggles and prayers of God’s people is illustrated in the books of Moses, history, wisdom, and the prophets.

God blesses us with the example of Paul & the other apostles in the New Testament. The Acts of the Apostles and the letters give us glimpses into the challenges that the earliest Christians faced and the activity of God that led them to overcome those challenges.

God has also blessed us the example of other witnesses who have gone before us. During the past 2000+ years of Christian history gives us stories of people who have sought to serve Christ through the turmoil and drudgery of their own lives. We have the witness of both those whom we have known personally and the stories of saints who have followed Christ long before us.

Our Lenten Midweek worship services will focus on prayer. Our time of worship will feature Holden Evening Prayer and the witness of five brothers and sisters in Christ better known for their lives of prayer. Each has at least one prayer that has been passed down through the generations. We will explore their witness and prayer as we lend our own practices of prayer to their words, melding their endeavors to ‘pray unceasingly’ with our own attempts to do the same.

During this solemn time of Lent, let us all join our prayers together in the Holy Spirit and raise our collective voices to God. The grace and peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ. Amen.

6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

May-June 2022

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:5-7)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

Recently, I had part of a song stuck in my head. This is not uncommon, but the fact that this one was beneficial was. The chorus of Diana Ross’s goes, “Do you know where you’re goin’ to? Do you like the things that life is showin’ you? Where are you goin’ to? Do you know?” Albeit I doubt she was reflecting on church mission, it does apply. The answer to the reimagined question is, in a very Lutheran fashion, both ‘yes’ and ‘no.’

Ultimately, we do know where we are going. We are going with Christ. His death and resurrection demonstrate to us that we are, and always will be, secure in His loving embrace.

Like Thomas, we would like a few more details. It would be nice to have a roadmap rather than just the final destination. Or for those who haven’t used an actual map in a while, we want the ‘steps’ on GPS, not just that red location pin icon.

In Hebrews, Noah, Abraham, and Moses are all extolled for their obedience to God despite the odds. Noah built the ark and leaded up the animals. Abraham left his home to go to a land yet unseen. Moses returned to Egypt to lead the Israelites into the wilderness. None of them (or their wives or families) knew how their journeys would include or how they would conclude. Yet they left what was familiar and ventured into God’s plan.

The church does not have a detailed roadmap, as much as we would like one. The Holy Spirit is our guide, and the Spirit can seem like an ambiguous and complicated scamp. Jesus compared the Holy Spirit to the wind during his interaction with Nicodemus. “The windblows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8) The Holy Spirit’s disregard for human paradigms can be disconcerting and even frustrating. God has this tendency to do things His way instead of ours.

The Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian Church on earth.” (Luther, Small Catechism, Apostles’ Creed: article 3) The function of the Holy Spirit is to be our GPS system, our roadmap. However, the Spirit is not bound to guide us in the direction or by means of our desires. Using the GPS metaphor (or maybe beating the metaphor to death), God enters all the options, destination, route, and mode of transportation. Occasionally (but very rarely) do we get a glimpse of the route along the way.

The Spirit is also tasked with giving us hope along the route. As we travel by faith, not only do we trust God is leading us, but we trust that we will be strengthened for the journey. As we discern and travel on our journeys as congregations, we can pray with confidence that God guides us. With the Psalmist we declare, “He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:3b) God is our shepherd. The Holy Spirit does guide and strengthen us. Even if we are not sure where we are “goin’ to,” we are sure that God’s Will is (and always will be) done.

The peace which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

July-August 2022

4 There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. 5 There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. 6 There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. 7 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.

12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:4-7, 12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we enter into the depths of the season after Pentecost (having earned the nickname ‘long green season’ by clergy and altar guilds) we have a chance to focus our attention on what it means to be the church on earth. The church began dramatically on that first Day of Pentecost. It has continued through persecutions, scandals, schisms, divisions, and trials as well as joyous conversions, world-wide expansion and welfare advancements.

Luther describes the Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy” me and all believers. The Holy Spirit gathers us into the one body. The Holy Spirit transforms individual believers into the community of believers. Community is far from easy. The book of Acts chronicles both the triumphs and tribulations of the earliest Christians. Sometimes, they just did not want to be in community with one another. Being in community with one another was – and is – challenging.

The disciples throughout Acts dealt with disagreements and disparities over the direction of the church. The earliest congregations experienced dissension amongst themselves. The Holy Spirit blessed the church with the gift of variety. Each believer was unique and blessed with unique abilities, roles, and vocations within the community. Variety within the context of a still sinful world eventually leads to conflict. Reports of conflict often resulted in a Pauline letter. (Paul himself was not immune to conflict. He and Barnabas had a falling out over who to include on a mission trip.) Life in Christian community is demanding work.

In modern American (or Western) culture, faith is usually regarded by people as individual and private aspects of life. Unfortunately, that attitude is not support by Scripture. The Christian faith has a strong communal and public aspect. The Holy Spirit landed on all the apostles gathered in Jerusalem. They then proclaimed Christ to all the people gathered in Jerusalem. “Those who accepted his (Peter’s) message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.” All of this was out in public and brought people into fellowship with one another. The second chapter of Acts continues to describe how the apostles and the daily added new believers lived in community with one another.

The loss of our awareness and experience of Christian community is a hardly new. Throughout the centuries, Christians have experienced the dichotomy of personal and communal expressions of faith. Historical emphasis tends to resemble a pendulum between the two expressions. As Christianity became more socially acceptable, the emphasis swung toward the individual. During times of duress, it swung toward the communal. The monastic movement combined the two elements by forming small, reclusive communities.

In the 20th century, Bonhoeffer conducted an experiment while teaching on behalf of the Confessing Church’s concept underground seminary at Finkenwalde. While living in community and studying under the threat of arrest, Bonhoeffer attempted to initiate a modern style of monasticism. Influenced by both contextual and theological motives, this project sought to nurture intentional Christian community. (A Gestapo raid on the seminary concluded the project.) Bonhoeffer chronicled this project, along with his theological stance espousing the necessity of intentional Christian community, in his book, Life Together. A highlight of his proposal is that Christians need to be intentional about community precisely because it is challenging.

Community has always been challenging, is still challenging, and for as long as we are on this earth, it will always be challenging. Human beings tend to want more than just one commonality and where diversity of ideas, gifts, or talents arise, there is a push for conformity. Yet, to (very loosely) paraphrase Paul, a body consisting of only eyes, or only ears, or only arms, or (insert body part ad infinitum) is useless.

The Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies” you. The Spirit places you in community. Jesus is the one ‘common’ element we share. We do not need anything else. Christ is enough. The Holy Spirit has blessed us with diverse gifts and diverse people. The very things that make community difficult for us as human beings are precisely what makes us strong as the church.

September-October 2022

12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior. Amen.

A couple earworms were kind enough to embed themselves in my brain during my recent driving adventures. At first, they seemed very unrelated. One was a song from the 70s musical Godspell, while the other was an 80s pop hit by Mr. Mister. When they both got stuck on autorepeat in my brain, the similarities emerged.

The first verse of the Godspell tune are as follows, “Where are you going? Where are you going? Can you take me with you? For my hand is cold And needs warmth. Where are you going?” The song continues with the vocalist’s request and commitment to follow Jesus following being forgiven.

The chorus of the Mr. Mister song actually utilizes a phrase that should sound at least vaguely familiar, “kyrie eleison.” It is the same words we sing during the creatively titled, ‘Kyrie’ toward the beginning of worship. Translated from the Greek, it means, “Lord, have mercy.” The chorus goes, “Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel; Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night; Kyrie eleison, where I’m going, will you follow? Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light” The vocalist asks for reassurance of God’s companionship in life.

Although coming from very different vantage points, both songs are making the same basic request most of us have deep down – God’s guidance, protection, forgiveness, and love as we journey through life. We experience God’s love and forgiveness. We experience the uncertainty of life on earth. We long for God’s presence in our lives. We pray for God’s presence in our lives.

Lives of following Jesus can be unpredictable and even daunting. Life is unpredictable and discipleship is risky. Most of the early disciples were martyred. Disciples are still martyred. Following Christ means taking risks for the sake of the other, loving as Christ loved, and asking for forgiveness when we fall short (and we will all fall short at times). We trust in God’s strength and guidance as we travel through life on this earth. We cling to the love and mercy shown us in Christ to carry us and propel us to live as His disciples.

This is just as true for congregations as any of us as individuals. Congregations face change and unpredictability. Congregations grieve and face anxiety. Congregations even make mistakes and sometimes sin. Constitutions or buildings do not insulate congregations from the realities of life. Jesus promised to be there if two or three were gathered, not transport us into a fantasy world. The promise is to be with us, forgive us, and strengthen and guide us as communities.

Let us pray: Lord, you have put us on a journey to which we cannot always see what lies ahead. Strengthen our faith to trust you undying presence that sustains us and guides us. Have mercy on us when we falter and uphold us when we feel like we are falling. Send your Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and minds that we may always walk with you in the light. Amen

The grace and peace of God keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.