Barefoot Pastor

Maybe the apple store workers could do a training for our church?

2012-02-02T11:04:00.004-05:00

Hi - I'm at the apple store in the Montgomery Mall waiting for a new phone. My phone speaker hasn't been working right since the day I got it and I finally realized I should get a new one. The friendly people are in the process of replacing it.

This place is hopping. Who knew this many people are in the Apple Store om a Thursday morning? Judging by the sea of blue shirts, it looks like over half the people here work here. I was helped by a nice woman but my problem wasn't resolved as quickly as she'd hoped. She passed me off to someone else because she had to go to a training session. That's right, a training session. She was professional and friendly. Communicated exactly what I needed. When she handed me off, the new person also greeted me with warmth and invited me to come over and work near him so he could keep an eye on me.

Back at church, we're in the process of envisioning our new space and we're always trying to figure out how to be more genuinely welcoming, how to connect with people appropriately and lovingly. We have a lot to learn from these Apple folks, including that they have training sessions to make sure they know their stuff. Yes, I know, I know that selling computers is different from welcoming people to church. I know that there's a message that the Apple folks need to convey without any deviations and there's probably disgruntlement among the ranks. Sill, I admire the energy in here. I am impressed by the friendly professionalism.

And there are so many people in here. If my phone worked, I'd take a picture. Everyone is in this store because they know what they want and they know where to find it. Some are just looking; some have appointments; some have very specific hopes for what they'll find.

I have a feeling it would be easier for most people in the world to explain why someone would get up on a Thursday morning and get to the Apple Store than it would to explain why someone would get up on a Sunday morning and go to church. hmmmm......

oh - My time is up - I'm going to get the help I came for. Peace and joy -

note: I added the photo afterward - I didn't take it.

Book Review: Nature as Spiritual Practice - by Steven Chase

2012-01-14T08:31:00.005-05:00

Hi all - I wrote a book review of Nature as Spiritual Practice by Steven Chase for the Presbyterian Outlook. Copying the review here too.

Monday, 09 January 2012 04:09

Nature as Spiritual Practice

by Steven Chase

Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmanns. 286 pages

reviewed by SARAH SCHERSCHLIGT

On a morning walk, I caught sight of a bird circling over a pond. I was awestruck to witness it plummet into the pond and emerge with a catch.

My awe quickly turned to horror as I realized that the catch of the day was a red plastic cup, stuck on its feet. The bird was clearly in distress as it flew away low to the ground, crying. I said a prayer of lament for the polluted pond and asked God to help the bird shake free.

I am a nature lover. In this instance, however, the spiritual connection I felt to that bird was stronger than normal. It’s no coincidence that I was reading Steven Chase’s “Nature as Spiritual Practice.” He is convinced (and he convinces) that relationship with nature nurtured through spiritual practice can interrupt the downward cycle of ecological destruction. Chase connects the recent reemphasis on Christian practices with the ecological crisis unique to our time. By describing specific practices, Chase invites the reader through cycles of contemplation and action: “Nature as practice shapes attention and wonder; it also shapes activism.”

Culling sources ranging from the Desert Fathers to Julian of Norwich to Paul in Romans to Paul Tillich, he teases out creation-oriented themes, creating an overall fabric for appreciating nature as an integral part of our spiritual heritage. The wealth of quotes and references is worth the price of the book. Chase knows Scripture and is clearly rooted in Christian sources, but he downplays the specificity of the Christian tradition, often using terms like “divine” instead of God. This creates a possibility for dialogue between contemplative aspects of many religions, especially between Buddhism and Christianity. It also creates the opportunity to connect with people who find God in nature but not in church. The title itself underscores the approach; nature is spiritual practice. Thus a heron not only teaches us about prayer, it prays; a tree not only teaches us to listen, it listens. Moreover, nature is more than a metaphor or a model for human spirituality; it has a spiritual life of its own. I wrestled with this approach because of the inherent anthropomorphism (how does a tree listen without ears?). Ultimately, however, Chase’s approach leads to a deeper respect for nature’s spirituality and the inherent good of the natural world.

A field guide with 64 practices accompanies the main book. When attempting these practices, I found that I needed to interrupt the practice in order to keep referencing the field guide. It would take some, uh, practice, to use the field guide smoothly, but that’s part of the point. Chase intends readers to become acquainted with the field guide over regular use and to grow in their spiritual practice. Chase has included well-designed sample retreats for leaders. These are a bonus and a gift to those interested in spiritual retreats. Rarely is a set of books so theologically rich also so practical. For anyone concerned with how people can connect with nature to change the way we relate to this precious world, “Nature as Spiritual Practice” is a uniquely valuable resource.

Follow-up from last Sunday - Stop and hear the music

2011-12-21T15:06:00.004-05:00

Hi all - last Sunday I used a few video/visual elements in church. I'm thankful for people like Gordon who take time to make things work! We had no tech problems - a wonderful feat given the fact that this was our first attempt. Aaron did an amazing job with the visual offertory. When we have it linked to the music I'll post it.

The bulk of my sermon centered on this clip from a concert that violinist Joshua Bell gave in a DC metro station a few years ago during rush hour. This article gave background information

I drew a metaphor between Bell showing up in an unexpected place/time to give a free, beautiful concert and God, showing up in unexpected places/times to give us peace, joy, inspiration and love.

I noted that in contrast to the obviousness of the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary, most of us, most of the time, encounter God in less direct ways. God comes to us more like a busker in the metro than an angel who tells us our future.

Key points:
5) God's presence sometimes captures people's attention by surprise (one man who had never appreciated classical music found himself transformed by just 3 minutes of listening).
4) God's presence is often ignored (most people (over 1000) passed by without pausing. Understandably, they all had to get to work and they didn't know they were in the presence of greatness).
3) When people start to notice God's presence, they inspire others. (One woman stopped because she recognized Bell. As she stood and watched, others naturally joined).

I first heard of this Bell concert at a conference. The speaker used it to point out that people no longer know how to recognize beauty. While that might be true, it strikes me as an unfair judgment. I think most people are just busy and stressed and too tired to notice the grace all around. We're a people in need of sabbath. So here are two final points:

2) Even in the craze of the days before Christmas, you do have time to stop and rest in God's presence.
1) Even if you don't take time to stop or notice, God is still there, playing on.

Wishing you peace and joy and a moment of obvious grace in these last days of Advent
- Pr Sarah

What's Advent smell like? (When are you most aware of God's presence?)

2011-12-13T15:02:00.008-05:00

I'm excited and nervous for our worship service at 8:30 on Sunday.

The service will focus on the annunciation: the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. The sermon and offertory will incorporate the congregation's responses to the question

"When are you most aware of God's presence?"

I've been collecting answers for a couple of weeks. Feel free to respond if you haven't already!

The answers have been varied and surprising. Each time I read a new one I feel as if I've just been given a precious gift.

We're going to use video clips during the sermon (including a clip from Angels in America, pictured here).

The offertory will include visual elements along with the music. We're using projection, but not as a replacement for the bulletin or just to project a power point slideshow.

We're doing it to give people a different way to engage in worship. A few artists in the congregation from the Savannah College of Art and Design are helping.

Our musician will play some music under some of the prayers in order to tie together the overall service. I'm not sure how these changes will be received but I am excited. I love this stuff.

I've been trying to figure out when I first got excited about innovation in worship. I trace it back to the influence of Siobhan Garrigan, the Dean of our Chapel in Divinity School. Daily worship was something of worship laboratory. We got to experiment with forms and language; song and silence. I learned about the multi-sensory tradition of worship. I also saw how tradition and innovation could go hand in hand.

So, what's with the orange slices?

One worship service that has never left me was an advent service that was creative and traditional. I recall nearly everything about it: rich purple and orange colors draped throughout the sanctuary; intimate lighting; music in minor keys; a sermon by John Hare about making the place you are a home.

I also remember the smell: orange. Orange oil and orange slices filled the air with a citrus scent. Is that why I can recall the rest of service so well?

When a variety of senses are engaged, you remember things better. If nothing else, I hope this Sunday's 8:30 service will help people remember that God appears in all sorts of ways - often right under our noses. I'm not sure we can pull off a scent this weekend. Maybe for epiphany? What scent would go with epiphany?

The orange slice painting is from artist Patti Mollica, found online using a search for "orange slices." I was really drawn to the painting and hope she doesn't mind the promo.

Creativity, courage and a confession

2011-10-15T09:45:00.014-04:00

Here's a theme I keep noticing: the link between creativity and courage. Steve Jobs had it, yes. But he's not the most remarkable person who's been in the news lately.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman - the trinity of women who just won the Nobel Peace Prize - are much more interesting to me.

If you don't know their backgrounds, read them here. Gbowee encountered harsh opposition to the peace movement she began in Liberia. Sirleaf, and Karman each spent time in prison for following the courage of their convictions. Wangari Maathi, who until this year was the only African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, was also imprisoned. Sadly, she died weeks before this round of prize winners was announced. They all have remarkable courage. You don't get the Nobel Peace Prize without it.

They are also all creative people, and I don't mean creative in the limited meaning of being good at painting or singing, though they may be that as well.

They are creative in that they can imagine something different than what exists now. They imagined a different Liberia, a different Yemen, a different world. They are creative in the way that each of us, when we sense that things could be different, daydreams about a better world.

They are creative, but also courageous enough to make their visions a reality. The link between courage and creativity is apparent in the headscarf that Karman wears. She abandoned the full niqab for a variety of pink scarves so her face could show. Yes, I get tired of people commenting on powerful women's clothing, but so many people comment on her headscarves because they symbolize the change brought about by her courage and creativity.

A few years ago, Wangari Maathai was interviewed on Krista Tippet's Speaking of Faith. At the end of the interview, she sang a song. Listen to it here. The song was simple and powerful. The reason the song was powerful wasn't that her voice was trained, it was that she had courage to sing. She wasn't performing. She was creating with courage.

So here's a confession. When I graduated from Divinity School Wangari Maathai got an honorary doctorate from the same University. I hadn't heard of her and I am embarrassed about that. I didn't take a class with her. She'd been a visiting professor that year and I could have, but I had no idea. That's something I'll always regret. But those aren't my confession.

I happened to have a front row seat which meant that thousands of people were sitting behind me. As I read her biography in the program, I realized she was amazing and she dedicated her life to working on things that I care about deeply - justice for women and global environmentalism.

As she was introduced I felt somewhere inside me a call to stand up to applaud. We'd stood for Willie Mays as he got his honorary doctorate; surely this remarkable woman deserved the honor too.

I nearly stood, and because I was in the front row I think others would have followed. But I was chicken. I stayed seated. The moment passed. And we didn't give Wangari Maathai the standing ovation that she deserved. I didn't create a brief moment of honor because I didn't have the courage. Only a short while later, she received the Nobel Peace Prize and you can bet we would have all stood for her then.

Something about courage and creativity requires that we stick our necks out and take on the work of God in the world before it is recognized as popular. It's another reason why I am grateful to follow Jesus who models the combination of courage and creativity, showing us that it temporarily lands us in the worst places in the world - Yemeni prisons, exile, crosses - but also leads to peace.

Ramadan, Iftar and meeting our neighbors.

2011-08-25T14:32:00.011-04:00

In early August, nine members of Prince of Peace took the Islamic Center of Maryland up on their offer to take part in an Iftar - the evening meal to break the daily Ramadan fast. We experienced generous hospitality. From the samoosas we were handed as we walked in, to guidance after the prayers, to the conversation during the meals, we were graciously made to feel at home. We wondered aloud if visitors feel this welcome when they come to Prince of Peace. We hope they do.

When we arrived, I had thrilling the sense of being somewhere foreign. The women spoke a variety of languages and were draped in richly woven silks and scarves. Though we were only ten miles from church, I felt like I was in a different country. We were surrounded by women from all over the world, brought together because of a common religious tradition. Some spoke no English; others spoke English as I do - the only language they really know. I couldn't assess the background of the individual women I met until we talked. That meant each encounter was new and surprising.

At mealtime, a couple of us from Prince of Peace sat down with two young adult women. Not sure of what kind of conversation would follow, I was delighted to find that these sisters were neighbors to our church and had gone to the high school down the block. One was a law student; the other a PhD student. We discovered a common interest in the meaning of fasting across religious traditions. I felt at ease asking questions about Muslim women and religious leadership. Our conversation was natural. The experience quickly morphed from feeling foreign to feeling familiar.

The very next day I was out walking with a college student catching up before she headed back to school. We passed one of the sisters on her jog. I hardly recognized her in the transformation from worship clothes to running clothes. We all stopped for a moment and chatted like neighbors. She is so...normal.

I sometimes get taken by surprise when I realize that I am among the religious. I mean, of course I know I am religious. But people unfamiliar with my tradition - and even those who are familiar - probably see me as different from them in a way I never think of myself.

I dress up in a fancy white robe and special clothes and lead rituals that must feel as foreign to some as the Iftar is to me. Yet I think of myself as normal, not as the odd one or the outsider. But of course in this neighborhood it is I - not those sisters - who is the foreigner. They've lived here for much longer.

Since we visited, so much has happened to change the world. Libyan rebels have gained power; the US economy has gone on free fall; The earth shifted under my feet in a historic east coast quake. And still, faithful Muslims around the world and in our neighborhoods are fasting and praying. I admire the faithfulness of that tradition. I have learned from it. And I am grateful to have been welcomed by my neighbors.

Food

2011-08-03T17:18:00.015-04:00

Has it really been almost 2 months since I last posted? I have 4 half-written blogs: more about salvation; heaven and hell; canoeing& backpacking; and of course, Addie (my dog).

But today I'm going to write about food. I forgot to pick up a CSA (community supported agriculture) share for some parishioners on vacation. I felt sorry to have dropped my responsibility and more sorry to miss the veggies and fruits. But, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Reason? I've got a full fridge. I'm in no danger of going hungry.

I love summer food and I've been cooking up a storm. Pork, corn and peaches on the grill; blueberry buttermilk pancakes; grilled squash, eggplant and red pepper; spinach-shrimp-basil pasta; BLTs with slices of tomato so thick you hardly need the bacon (except, of course, you need the bacon!).

So here's a disquieting experience: savoring a veggie breakfast omelet with melon and berries on the side while looking at online news pictures of starvation in Somalia.

My heartstrings are pulled by visions of people dying - 2000 a day is the current estimate. Moments later I am distracted: orange juice or lemonade to drink on a hot summer day? I have both at the ready. It is hard to square my abundance with the desperation of others.

The tomato picture is from our church's garden. I took it today. The garden is thriving.

Compare that to the picture of the meager food in the hands below. It comes from the ELCA website about the drought and fami ne. Here's the caption:

“This is the last of my food, a few beans. I used to grow food myself but there has been no rainfall in eight years, so now I have to buy all my food from the market. The prices keep going up. We only have enough food for one meal a day now, and that goes for all people in this area,” says Lucia Muvili Ngotho (pictured left) from the Kalimbui village in Mwingi, Kenya.Comparing the realities in the two pictures is disquieting. Something is not right.

Part of why I haven't written is that I've been in a general slump of life. Slumps happen. I generally don't think it's helpful to compare your problems to other people with "real problems" in an effort to feel better. Problems aren't proportional and you can get yourself into a dither of guilt by comparing.

But a little perspective can be sobering. As the old saying goes: I complained about not having shoes until I met a man with no feet.

This sign is part of the Gaithersburg HELP educational materials. Last Saturday some people play I frisbee with threw their support behind Gaithersburg HE LP by having a Fannie Mae mini-"walk." As I was hammering the sign into the ground, I was struck by its message. Humbled.

Having the kind of problems I have is only possible because of the kind of problems I don't have. There are people in the world who would weep with joy to have 1/10 of the food I have in my fridge and would consider their problems solved if they could turn on water from their kitchen.

That disquieting feeling? I've come to recognize it as the seeds of a calling. Though the disaster in East Africa is beyond proportions we ever face, hunger exists in my own zip code. I know I wasn't alone last Saturday in feeling good that at least I was able to do something active to respond to the disquieting reality that so many people are hungry.

If you want to find out more about Gaithersburg HELP or Fannie Mae's walks for the homeless, including how to sponsor a mini-walk/run/game/etc, let me know. And if you want to donate to the Lutheran efforts to help the famine, click here.

Also, the Gazette covered our frisbee game. Check out the article here.

Salvation, part 2

2011-06-07T10:54:00.003-04:00

Hi - what a good conversation we started here. Thank you to all who responded to my last post either in person, email, or publicly on the blog.

At the extremes, there are two different approaches to the "who is saved" question. These approaches intersect in various forms throughout Christian doctrines and the Biblical witnesses (plural - as with most of our big questions, the Bible gives us critical guidance but doesn't give an easy, consistent answer). Different traditions have worked this out in doctrines and practices as varied as double predestination, universalism, forced baptisms or complex tracing of ancestry to save your relatives in past generations. It is a sticky, difficult question.

Here are the two poles, as I see them.

1) Something you do clinches your spot in heaven. At the extreme, this means that you must act in a way consistent with Jesus calling in order to go to heaven. This shows up all over: Be a good person, follow the way of Jesus, get yourself baptized, join a church, take communion, seek out forgiveness and absolution, have faith, serve people, give your money away. Gandhi is often lifted up as a non-Christian who it's hard to imagine in hell because he was such an exemplar of human goodness. There are a variety of actions that fall under this category and there is wide debate about what it is that you have to do to be saved. Residue of this exists in most people's faith consciousness and it can inspire fear for people who ask the question: Am I good enough to be saved?

2) God alone has power over your salvation. The extreme of this approach says it doesn't matter what you do, God will (or won't) save you. Based on this approach, people might argue that Gandhi is in heaven because God's grace would expand to include someone who grew up without the same opportunity to grow in faith as those of us marinated in Christianity. This also covers the vast numbers of people who grew up in the faith but for some reason or another couldn't, with integrity, come to believe. There are an awful lot of people out there who wish they had faith, but just don't and can't force it. The "God's grace is huge" approach doesn't hold those people responsible for not being given the gift of faith.

This is, I think, where people like Rob Bell end up. God is too loving, too gracious, too expansive in mercy to let anyone live eternally separated from God's love. God's power ultimately wins out.

The classic Lutheran (pauline) formulation is saved by grace through faith. This thread is found most clearly in Romans. Grace is the free gift from God, but faith matters because through faith you claim the grace that has already been offered.

Importantly, in Romans, Paul contrasts "faith" with Jewish heritage, not with lack of religiosity altogether. He's arguing that non-Jewish people with faith in Jesus are part of salvation history. As far as I can tell, he isn't exactly addressing the question we are. Someone who is a Biblical scholar, please correct me if I'm wrong on this.

There is always the risk of turning faith into a human work instead of a gift from God and Lutherans work hard to make sure they don't turn faith into a litmus test for salvation. But there is, as one blog comment noted, a wide gray area on this.

Luther is more nuanced on salvation many people give him credit for. Martin Marty interprets Luther in the chapter "Will non-Christians be saved" from book"Lutheran Questions, Lutheran Answers":

God is hidden. Then God is also revealed. Luther says that even when revealed, God remains hidden: who would look for God in the bread and wine of Communion, the water of baptism, smudged ink in a Bible...The startling thing confronts his readers when Luther goes on to say that God is hidden not only in revelation but behind revelation. This is a way of saying that God is God and we are not; the mind of God is other than the human mind; the treasures of wisdom of God are vast, boundless and ours are small and spare and sparse...Our decisions have to be based on the knowledge we have: to share the word of grace, to take the commands of God seriously, to relish and be joyful about the word of salvation that we have received. The rest we leave up to God.

The key concept here is humility in the face of God's grace and the mysterious mechanisms of salvation. Opening up the possibility of salvation to non-Christians doesn't need to threaten the faith of Christians who are convinced, because of our encounters with the living God, that Jesus is the saviour of the world. Could it be that God is hidden not only in bread and wine, but also the non-Christian neighbors we've come to love?

More thoughts??

God is not a Christian - by Desmond Tutu

2011-06-03T10:41:00.006-04:00

Desmond Tutu, an architect of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation process, has long been a hero of mine. I've narrowly missed meeting him twice. Once was my choice: he was worshipping at the episcopal morning prayer at my Divinity School. My roommate, a faithful attendee, woke me up when she heard he would be there but I didn't feel right about attending a service in order to be in the same space as someone I admired. I regret that decision. Apparently, he wore a jogging suit and headed out running right afterward. He was in his 70s.

The second time I was in Cape Town at his cathedral. He normally presided over the Friday prayers, but had been called away to facilitate a peace process in the Middle East. I supposed that was a good excuse. That cathedral became, over the course of a couple of visits there, a place of meaning for me. But I never met Archbishop Tutu.

I admire him and his writing. I almost always find what he has to say resonates with the reality of my faith and the experience of the church in a world of diverse religious expressions. So am excited to read what he has to say in his new book of compiled writings and speeches: "God is not a Christian: and other provocations" .

Clearly, he too has wrestled deeply with the exclusion that is often seen at the heart of Christianity. I've written a tiny bit about this (see 2 blog posts down) and have had many recent conversations on the topic.

Here's a recent example of how that exclusive tendency plays out in real life:

My parents' pastor delivered a sermon on hell - who is in and who is out. This is fairly standard stuff. According to one basic Christian view, Non-Christians don't go to heaven.

A few days later, my dad went to the funeral of his deeply faithful, Jewish, colleague. This was a man he befriended and worked with. He was a good, kind, just, loving man. The two experiences (being told that only Christians go to heaven and then seeing a religious community send a non-Christian God-fearing man into his eternal rest) placed side by side exemplify the cognitive dissonance many Christians feel. They love non-Christians with a genuine love and hear in church (or assume they will hear in church) the doctrine that non-Christians are not heaven-bound. This is the tension that I have been hearing and seeing so many discuss lately.

Tutu's observations can help the conversation. An excerpt of Tutu's writing on this can be found here.

I've begun to articulate my current (and ever changing) thoughts on this like this: soulful, peace-loving people who are not Christian can be followers of the way of Christ (explicitly or implicitly) without being followers of the person of Jesus. But Tutu might not think this approach takes the differences between religions seriously enough. My approach may do violence. I think of how I would feel if someone told me I were a follower of the way of Muhammad, just not of Muhammad. How would I feel? I don't know.

Here's a brief Tutu quote that challenges:

We must hold to our particular and peculiar beliefs tenaciously, not pretending that all religions are the same, for they are patently not the same. We must be ready to learn from one another, not claiming that we alone possess all truth and that somehow we have a corner on God.

Thoughts? Anyone read this book yet?

pilgrimage

2011-05-26T12:25:00.004-04:00

This weekend, I will join 20+ friends and acquaintances all connected to one couple, Steve and Rachael, for the 10th annual Maryland Challenge. They enthusiastically convince their friends to ruin their bodies and elevate their spirits by walking the 40 miles of the Appalachian Trail that cuts through Maryland in one day. That's right: in one day. We'll be ready to go at 5 am and will stumble back to the glorious meal awaiting us at Rachael's parents house sometime after midnight. That's a eucharistic feast, especially after endless Cliff bars and water that tastes like iodine, despite the attempt to mask it with crystal light.

Some will have to duck out after 10 miles. Some will join late. Couples with small children will split the hike up so they can each do part. One year I did the first 10 and the last 10 (drove home to do the Saturday church service in between). Only once have I done the whole thing and I couldn't walk correctly for days afterward.

Friends are coming in from Kentucky to do it. A caravan is driving down from New Haven. One man and his daughter - now old enough for the hike - are flying in from California. I made commemorative mugs. Another hiker has been brewing 10th anniversary beer. There's a special play list. Rumors of some mile 20 bourbon.

The obvious question is: Why? Why do this? Year after year, why has this become an event that some people look forward to for the other 364 days?

This is no mere hike. It's become a pilgrimage.

Wikipedia's definition: A pilgrimage is a journey or search of great moral or spiritual significance.

There's something important about the combination of people. Steve and Rachael have a natural knack at making their friends into family. Easy familiarity with people you've never met happens with the aid of their gracious hospitality.

The hike itself is the real centerpiece. It's challenging enough that when you finish, you feel like you've really accomplished something. It's not a given that even the most experienced hikers will make it. There's the stupid bliss that sets in when you realize, at mile 35, that you will make the end. There's the combination of solitude and small community that forms as you hike. There's a sense of youthful freedom in the rediscovery that all of life isn't work/home/desk/obligation. Internal horizons broaden.

I recall conversations I've had on that trail with specificity, even 7 years later. Surprises happen in these conversations because you become truly present, undistracted. The rhythm of walking, the cadence of breath. The story of the person on the trail with you. The noise of the woods. All else melts away.

Standing at the gate.

2011-05-17T09:23:00.007-04:00

This past Sunday I preached about Jesus as the gate. We so often think of him as the Good Shepherd that we gloss right over the dominant metaphor in John 10: 1-10 where twice he says: I am the gate.

I tried (and am not sure I succeeded) to emphasis a generosity at the heart of Jesus' life. He puts himself in healing relationship with people before before he demands belief. Jesus as the gate means that it is through relationship with him - and not through correct doctrine or particular actions - that we find our security and our life.

Thus as his followers, we do the works of love he calls for (feeding the poor; caring for the widow and orphan; forgiving and being forgiven) without an ulterior motive of "saving people," trusting that if we have brought people to relationship with God's grace through our loving actions, we have in some way brought them to Jesus.

My hunch is that one reason we liberal Christians ignore the gate metaphor in favor of the shepherd stuff because Jesus as a gate sounds exclusive. A gate closes some people out. I preached that when we think of Jesus as a gate, we should make sure we're not thinking of him as the bouncer - looking to check for the ink stamp on the hand and says we paid or the baptismal credential in the wallet.

I'm not positive I like how I worked that out. I feel like I just got launched on a longer journey to think and learn more about a radical inclusiveness that can lie at the heart of a deep belief in Jesus as the one savior of the world. It's part of the heaven/hell discussion we had in confirmation a few months ago.

The basic question that goes something like this: Do you have to believe in Jesus to be saved? When I hear that, I want to know two things: What do you mean by believe and what do you mean by saved.

Lately questions of inclusiveness and exclusivity - in and out - have been getting renewed attention in evangelical circles because of Rob Bell's newest book: "Love Wins."

I haven't read the book, but after I preached on Sunday, I came home and read a review of it in The Christian Century by Peter Marty. It captured very perfectly what I was trying to say in my sermon (even used the bouncer metaphor - and here I was thinking I was original!) . It made me glad to think that Bell, Marty, and so many other great Jesus-lovers have reached a point of inclusiveness re: salvation that they find consistent with Scripture and tradition. It allows for generosity, humility and mystery to pervade the heart of our faith.

I will read Bell's book - maybe some in our congregation will join me? And I will hope for now that What Peter Marty says about Bell in the article could also apply to me:

Charging Bell with being a universalist doesn't work. Not only does the idea never appear in the book, nothing could be less applicable to somebody with Bell's own passionate faith in Jesus Christ. He simply refuses to limit how far Christ's redemptive love can reach.

Learning to Lament

2011-05-03T01:25:00.006-04:00

Where were you when you heard the news? Somehow the death of bin Laden has just become one of those life-changers like the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger or the attack on the Twin Towers. You are supposed to know where you were.

I was absorbed in a pottery project with the tv on in the background and Addie snuggling beside me. Brothers and Sisters was interrupted: Osama bin Ladin was murdered. Yippeee!? I guess I was supposed to be happy.

But I was not happy. No, my reaction was to feel horrified at the chipper tone of the announcers and quickly bored with the repetition of the non-details and even more non-critical analysis.

Mostly, I felt lonely and out of place.

When Rosa Parks died, people gathered on the mall to honor her death as an American hero; when Obama was inaugurated, we gathered to celebrate. This event resulted in some strange bastardization of the two: people elevated bin Laden to iconic status and went nuts with patriotic fever celebrating his death like some new era had just begun. It almost looked like joy.

But joy seems completely out of place because it doesn't fit well with hate.

Relief I can understand - especially given the continued fear of terrorism since 9/11. The peace of a conclusion - yes, that makes sense. It even seems reasonable to have a bit of pride that at last, we were able to outsmart this particular enemy. But joy? I can't put my finger on it, but it has made me sad and fearful about what has happened to this country.

I was grateful for the many friends who pointed to wise blogs that dampened the enthusiasm.
Here are a couple that I found particularly thoughtful.

Jim Wallis - sojourners
Kristen Breitweiser - Huffington Post - a 9/11 widow who challenges the celebratory atmosphere.

As I've spent the day troubled about our national reaction, I have been reminded of a lesson I learned from an ethics professor.

It is important to lament actions that are lamentable, even if you end up doing them.

He taught this by citing a study which showed that giving education about abortion to pregnant couples didn't change their minds about the abortion, but it did cause them to lament that decision. He hailed that as part of the process of being an ethical person.

At the time, I thought that was ridiculous. Who cares what their attitude would be - the important thing was the action alone, so I thought. I realize I was wrong. The events of these past few days make me realize that the attitude - especially toward something truly lamentable - matters.

Having been schooled in the plot to kill Hitler (Lutheran theologian Bonhoeffer was central to that plot), I understand the decision to kill bin Laden. I even think it was a good one, though there is something deep within me that resists murder as ever being a good decision. But the plot to kill Hitler was marked by sobriety and regret. I'm not seeing that here, at least not on the public face. And I am stuck in lament and regret that we have come to this.

What happened on Sept 11th was horrific, evil, and destructive. But in the past 10 years, our reaction has helped tighten the knot of terrorism, animosity and misguided violent solutions to a social problem. The result has been countless deaths, billions of misspent dollars, and the continued devastation of an entire region of the world. Yes, the tide may be shifting; yes, bin Laden's death may be part of that shift. But it doesn't make what happened on Sept 11 any less sad; nor does it make what has happened in Iraq and Afghanistan since then any more justified. Vengeance rings hollow.

The thing that I've been holding onto the most from all I've read was this simple distinction that a friend Tweeted: this is not celebration, it is catharsis.

I've tried to believe that, because catharsis is appropriate in a way that celebration is not. But it sure looks like celebration to me. I am glad that bin Laden is no longer on the loose. But I am not smiling.

Resurrection in Relationships - article in Cafe

2011-04-09T15:30:00.005-04:00

Hi - occasionally I write for Cafe, the online magazine for young women of the ELCA. This month, the article is about resurrection in relationships. I wrote a Biblical Reflection on Joseph and his brothers. In the main article I outlined the resurrection of one of my dearest friendships, with the friend's permission of course. This picture is of the two of us just a month or so ago before she gave birth to her beautiful daughter. Link to the articles here.
Peace and joy - Sarah

Descended into where? Hell, evil, and all sorts of things I never learned about.

2011-04-01T09:51:00.004-04:00

10 adults from our church are preparing to be confirmed/affirm their baptisms on the Easter Vigil (the night before Easter). They have been in a class for the past year that I have, admittedly, packed a wee bit too much into. Last night, as we prepared to cover the 2nd article of the Apostle's Creed "I believe in Jesus" in 10 mins, we got off track and the conversation went to hell - literally.

We started talking about hell. Where did Jesus go when he died? Did he die and just lie there dead or did his life after death begin immediately. Is hell a real place that you can go to? Did he go into the hells on earth in some spiritual way and conquer them? What happened? I was feeling a wee bit over my head (can't we just talk about grace some more???).

And then, we started talking about evil. I mentioned a couple of times that I've known I was in the presence of evil (at a battered women's shelter working with someone in the addictive grip of abuse; at a church in Rwanda that was the site of a genocidal murder). Others had their own experiences (at a German concentration camp; the events of September 11).

I said, but we Lutherans don't talk much about evil in a spiritual form - we talk much more about its manifestations. Evil as it appears in war, poverty, addiction, death. We talk a lot about sin and believe it is critical to address sin head on. But we do less with evil. Which made one of the natural theologians in the class say: why not? Scripture is full of it, isn't it?

So, we have research to do:
1) Why did we replace "hell" with "dead" in the apostles creed. And just what is normative for Lutherans re: hell?
2) What role does spiritual warfare have in Lutheran theology? What is evil?

help???!!! I love learning! - Sarah

Energy Efficieny: what a great way to begin Lent.

2011-03-10T13:33:00.007-05:00

Our Ash Wednesday confession last night included this petition:

For our waste and pollution of your creation,
and our lack of concern for those who come after us,
Accept our repentance oh Lord.

Repentance means to turn away. Today, our congregation is repenting for our waste and pollution in a practical way. We're turning away from our inefficient energy use by undergoing a major professional re-insulation of our building. We expect we'll reduce our energy use by at least 20% during peak heating and cooling months. It's an investment in our values and our future. I am so proud of our congregation for taking this step. Here are a few sample photos.

The work began with a blower test where all the internal doors are opened and all the exterior doors closed. This machine then sucks the air through the building, enabling us to tell how leaky we are.

We needed both insulation and air sealing. Here's a before shot in the attic : each of our light fixtures basically acted as a hole in the ceiling with no insulation or air sealing.

After: there is a sealed cover over the light. But it's not done yet. The last step in the process is blowing insulation over the whole thing.

At the end of the day we'll redo the blower test as instant gratification to show what we've accomplished. Can't wait to see what we save in the long term.

But that's not all! We're also preparing to host an event on energy efficiency on April 2nd from 10-12. Guests include a Pepco ( power company) representative to present about new incentives for congregations; a county representative of the environmental rebate program; and a representative of the EPA's energy star program for congregations. If you are in the area and interested in learning how your faith community can assess and reduce energy use, please come. Details below.

Also, consider participating in the Carbon Fast where you do one small thing to reduce your carbon footprint each day.
Today: turn down your thermostat by one degree. Aim for 68 during the day and 60 at night.

Peace and joy - Sarah

Workshop: Receiving Cash Incentives for Energy-Efficiency Improvements at your Faith-Based Organization

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is hosting a workshop focused on energy-efficiency incentives for faith-based organizations and other businesses and organizations. Brooke Smallwood from The Pepco Commercial and Industrial (C&I) Energy Savings Program will provide a program overview on the cash incentives available, application process and eligibility. Eric Coffman from Montgomery County Dept. of Environmental Protection will discuss the newly launched Commercial & Multi-Family Building Energy Efficiency Rebate program. Steve Bell, Program Director for the Energy Star® for Congregations program will be available to discuss energy efficiency opportunities and measuring and tracking energy use and savings. Persons interested in Creation Care, property managers, boards of trustee members, maintenance staff and others should attend this event to learn more about how these support their energy efficiency goals and hear success stories of organizations that have upgraded their properties. Event sponsored by Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in partnership with Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL).

The workshop will be held on April 2nd from 10:00 to noon at the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, 11900 Darnestown Road, Gaithersburg MD 20878.

Please RSVP: 301-349-5052

Blessed are the peacemakers

2011-02-08T12:45:00.005-05:00

In my sermon this past weekend, I encouraged the congregation to look for signs of the kingdom of God. As I came into the church building this morning, I noticed a little sign taped on my door and a few of the walls that said "CK". Someone in the congregation was inspired to post these as reminders that we are Citizens of the Kingdom.

With the Beatitudes echoing in my ears: blessed are the peacemakers, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, I saw this image out of Egypt and nearly immediately thought: God's kingdom.

It was taken Feb 3 and is attributed to Navine Zaki. Christians encircle Muslims to make space for them to pray.

Admittedly, I am curious to know if anyone takes issue with the idea of Christians protecting Muslims as a sign of the Kingdom. I hope not, but with the heightened political-religious climate of the Middle East and the strong opinions that Muslim/Christian dialogue generates, I am sure people disagree with me.

This kind of peacemaking - where you actually have to create a space of peace where one shouldn't exist - takes courage and faith. It is easy to be a peacemaker when everyone agrees. It is much more challenging to put yourself in the line of fire and protect someone that you could rightfully be afraid of.

If I read the situation right (and I may be wrong), Christians and Muslims might be pitted against each other in whatever emerges as the new Egypt. Indeed, plenty of reports about the role radical Islam might play in a new Egyptian government seem written to inspire fear - a poison to peace-making.

On the other hand, Christians and Muslims have an extraordinary chance in this revolution to create peace in a new way. I take it as a sign of the kingdom that at least some are doing it.

I was moved to read a story about how an interfaith group worshiped together on Sunday. Click here for the report. I am a bit hesitant to post it because I can't find a whole lot of press on it. With all the reports coming out of Egypt, it's hard to know exactly what incidents will stand the test of time. I hope this is more than just an isolated incident of peace-making.

Right now in Egypt, there is a common enemy to rally around. What will happen when a new government is in place? Will the bonds that are created in this revolutionary effort help create lasting peace?

Meet Addie

2010-12-26T20:17:00.007-05:00

I have a new housemate. She's a year old 40 lb pit bull mix (probably some boxer and from the way she springs, some kangaroo too). I got her at the Washington Animal Rescue League one week ago.

I'd toyed with the idea of getting a dog for a while, but never thought I could hack it. I dog-sat for a few dogs over the last three years, including a 3 month stint with a pit bull who I loved. I learned that not only could I handle a dog, I was much happier with a little furry friend to pal around with. I also learned that pit bulls get a bad rap and they can be the most loving, loyal, affectionate dogs alive if you treat them well and discipline them right.

So, I went with a friend who used to work at WARL to look at dogs a month or so ago. Turns out little Addie (full name Advent) was there at the time with a different name of course. I was only looking though and didn't even notice her. I wasn't ready to commit then, but I pledged to myself I'd get a dog during the liturgical season of Advent.

Fast forward to Friday a week ago. I realized that was the last day before Christmas that I'd be able to get to the shelter. I went there in the late afternoon and told them I was looking for a playful, energetic, affectionate dog who would be good with kids. I played with a few, including a cool guy named Oz who had a face that was half white, half tan. I liked him even though he was a barker.

I was drawn to him more than any others so I went back to his pen. I interacted with him for a few more minutes and there was just something about him. I said to the helper - well, I think I just fell in love with Oz, to which she replied...uh, that's not Oz. I was one pen over playing with a different tan and white dog.

It was Addie! We went outside to play and it was immediate. In a rare moment of decisiveness I said - well, I guess this is my dog.

It confirmed my decision when everyone at the shelter said how much they loved her. One guy said that there wasn't even a choice - she was the best dog there. Maybe they just say that? But so far it's proving to be true. She is perfect for me. Likes to go on runs but is fairly easy to handle. She's a total cuddler, and doesn't like more than an inch or two between her and her person, though as she gets more comfortable she's striking out on her own. Now she's sitting 2 whole feet away - a record!

I couldn't be happier with a pet and if anyone's looking for a little friend of their own, check out WARL as a place to adopt.

Hot chocolate and doughnuts / frankenscence and myrrh

2010-12-21T19:07:00.009-05:00

Our church does a living nativity every year. For 4 nights, we dress up and stand in a makeshift stable and wave at the cars going by on the busy road. I dressed up tonight as one of the magi and did my time in the cold with others from the church. A mom and son team were a great Mary and Joseph, pictured above.

As we were putting away our costumes and warming up, a dad and his two kids came in with a box of hot chocolate and 12 doughnuts. They'd seen us standing in the cold and wanted to do something nice.

We exchanged only brief conversation. They said they knew of our church because of the Yard Sale and we said that we were there for them if they ever needed anything. The dad said maybe what they needed was to get back to church. Then they left.

We were stunned and surprised that some strangers would do us such a favor. We also noted what great modeling it was for a dad to show his kids such spontaneous generosity.

I was reminded of the other Christmas strangers in the night - angels, shepherds, wise men - who brought their gifts and their friendship to Jesus.

If you are out there reading this - thank you! Your hot chocolate warmed our hearts.

Advent - catching my breath.

2010-12-17T12:39:00.008-05:00

When I was a kid, someone in the family would always lobby to open a present on Christmas Eve. It was usually my dad. My mom was the stickler - no presents till Christmas, but we'd always get to open at least one.

My mom was probably trying to insulate us from Christmas creep. Even if Target starts Christmas in October, she would remind us all that Christmas starts on the 25th. Before then, you're in Advent.

I've had my tree for a week and I'm listening to Christmas music on Pandora right now. That's partly because there isn't that much good Advent music. I heard the National Symphony Orchestra's Messiah last night, and the beginning of that is some fine Advent music. My favorite Advent hymn right now is "Each Winter as The Year Grows Older" by William and Annabeth Gay. (can't find a good link).

I'm clearly not an Advent purist but I am avoiding too much Christmas creep right now because I'm not ready for Christmas.

Oh, gifts are more or less purchased and sent, my house is cozy and Christmas-y, and though I won't send cards at least I've made peace with that instead of wasting energy on guilt for days and then not sending them anyway.

My to-do-list is done. That's not the problem. The problem is that I've been loving Advent. It has felt like a time apart - like a good hiking trip or a week of vacation. I want this time to last.

The 3rd verse of "Each Winter..." sings:

"Yet I believe beyond believing that life can spring from death. That growth can flower from our grieving , that we can catch our breath and turn transfixed by faith."

I love that. I really needed to catch my breath. This Advent, maybe for the first time in my life, I found that I am doing it. Pausing. I've become good at waiting. The patience, the not-yet, and the calm that Advent calls for has become integrated into my soul and it feels great.

I have no desire to tear into the gifts. Potentiality seems blessed. Sitting peacefully feels just right. I want to stay waiting.

And at the same time, I anticipate new realities will make themselves known soon enough and so I trust that when the waiting time is over, Christmas will come with its own surprises.

If Mark Twain were on facebook what would his status be?

2010-12-01T14:38:00.006-05:00

This morning as I was listening to NPR, I was struck by the similarities between two apparently unrelated stories.

In the first story, a class on Social Media at Stanford gave students pause as they discovered just how much of their lives they've hung out there via Facebook. From unfortunate wall posts to mom seeing the party the night before to grad schools looking up years of status updates, students connected their nearly limitless public exposure via Facebook to a level of vulnerability they didn't want.

The prediction is that the new wave in social media will make it easier to dramatically limit who has access to your info. You will give more detail to fewer people.

In the second story, the editors of Mark Twain's autobiography talked about why he required publishers to wait a full 100 years after his death before making his autobiography public. Apparently, he didn't want to damage his reputation, influence readers of his books, or make his family open to attack.

Just imagine what he would think of Facebook, (much less reality TV). I'm guessing he would use it, but very judiciously. He would keep a clear line between his writing for the public and his personal life. After all, the man loved his privacy so much he had a pen name.

Twain's 100 year wait is an extreme, but so is the approximately five seconds it takes to make the running autobiography that is a Facebook status. Bottom line, none of us actually wants all our laundry - dirty or clean - aired all the time to everyone.

There is a river

2010-11-03T10:41:00.003-04:00

For our Thursday Bible study we follow a process called lectio divina, or divine reading (5-5:45 pm, you are welcome to come). We pick a passage to read multiple times. The first time you hear the passage, you just listen. The second time, you notice one word or phrase that speaks to you. You keep listening to the passage, going deeper each time, until the last time when you share how Christ is calling you.

Last week, we read the Psalm 46 together.

It begins, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...and it ends with the famous sentence: be still then and know that I am God. You can read the whole thing here.

The line that has stuck with me is verse 4:

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

It's been a stressful couple of weeks. Someone just asked me how I normally cope with stress and I remembered the healing powers of water. I crave a river. Need to get next to some cool water. Watch it gurgle and pool and just be. I have missed my retreat center, Rolling Ridge, with its little waterfalls and rivers running toward the Shenandoah.

In the lectio divina, I felt called to get back outside more and particularly, to that retreat center. I didn't get there last Monday as I'd hoped. But soon I'll get there to restore.

I realize it is a great privilege to be able to take the bulk of a day and go on a retreat. Few people can afford the time or money it takes to get away for real. I feel blessed to have the option. Now I just need to make the time.

Question to think about: how do you recharge and refill your tank?

Article on judging

2010-10-21T11:54:00.005-04:00

Hi world - I am passing on the most recent issue of Cafe, including a reflection written by my friend Rachel. The topic is judgment. In the lead article, Emily Williams Guffey talks about why we are so quick to judge others. I especially like her line "you don't know the whole story." In Rachel's reflection, she connects self-judgment and judgment of others and also draws the corollary: compassion toward self leads also to compassion for others. Amen!

With the high school group, we've been talking a lot about self-confidence related to bullying lately. We've agreed that bullies have surprisingly low self-confidence. They judge because they feel judged. To be truly kind and compassionate requires great self-confidence.

Last night we used an exercise called agree/disagree to talk about confidence. It goes like this: one wall of the room is agree, the other side is disagree. I ask a question and we line up on the continuum of the room depending on how much we agree or disagree. Then each person shares why they are standing in that particular spot.

One question last night was: when you remember how much God loves you, does your confidence increase? Many of the kids joined me on the strongly agree side, but quite a few of them were in the middle: not too sure. This is partly because some of them are at a point of really questioning their faith. I also think its because the overwhelming message they get is that they can craft an identity apart from relationships - especially apart from relationship to God.

I just saw the movie About a Boy and really loved it because, well, it's adorable, clever and uplifting. But also because it shows in a real world way just how important community is for creating an abiding sense of non-judging identity. My faith in God compels me to take that a step further: God is the source of community and relationship. Self-confidence is really God-confidence.

Enjoy the cafe articles.

It Gets Better

2010-10-15T11:00:00.002-04:00

Two weeks ago I mentioned the 'It Gets Better' project in a sermon. Many people have asked either for the sermon or the link to the project, so here are both. The project keeps growing and some amazing testimonies of hope for gay teenagers have been posted. One of the most recent is Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. Thanks -

--
Pastor Sarah Scherschligt, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Gaithersburg MD
Oct 3, 2010 /Proper22/19th Sunday after Pentecost
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4, Psalm 37, 2 Timothy 1:1–14, Luke 17:5-10

In the past month, at least 4 teenagers have committed suicide nationwide, in part, it’s believed, because of bullying. All 4 teenagers were teased and harassed for being (or acting), “gay.” The response to this rash of suicides has been widespread and varied.

One response that has gone viral thanks to YouTube is the “It Gets Better” project. This project invites gay and lesbian adults to tell their stories to teens who are struggling with their sexuality, and with the teasing, loss of self-esteem, with the depression that often accompanies that struggle. The project’s message is simple: It gets better.

The gay men who started the project share the difficulties they went through with their families, their church and their peers at school as they grew up. And they paint the vision of their life now - fulfilled, happy, in community, and beloved by their families - in order to give hope to those who can’t imagine the future. Their point is basic: it gets better.

I know that in this congregation we hold a variety of opinions about homosexuality, it is an issue many of us think isn’t appropriate for talking about in church. I get that, I really do. But all week I just kept thinking, what if that were one of our kids…wouldn’t we be heartbroken that they didn’t know – that we didn’t tell them, we love you, and it gets better.

Of course, gay teenagers aren’t the only one who are bullied. According to our high schoolers, fat students, Asian students, women students, nerdy students, students who lack self-confidence in any way, all are potential targets for bullying. High school can be a terribly difficult time of self-discovery, no matter what your particular difference is, and sadly, for many of our kids, differences aren’t tolerated. For too many struggling high schoolers, the future looks bleak. When the future looks bleak, we all need people to remind us that there is a different vision – a bright vision of a different kind of future.

“It gets better.” It’s is a phrase that, at its heart, is about vision. That message inspires a person to look forward a few steps from the difficulty she is currently in to the blessedness that can be hers in the future.

If you are on the financial brink, it gets better. If you are a social outcast, it gets better. If your relationship is a struggle, it gets better. If you are hurting with the pain of a grief you don’t think you can bear, it gets better…

It’s a message not only for our children who suffer, but for everyone stuck in a tough rut. It gets better.

It’s the message we read in our Psalm: “Take delight in the lord who shall give you your heart’s desire.” It’s the message to the church that was in turmoil that we just read in 2 Timonthy: “But I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that day what I have entrusted to him.”

It’s the risen Christ’s message to a hurting world. Because Jesus lives we know, it gets better.

At the Gaithersburg Days a few weeks ago, Gaithersburg HELP, our local food pantry, had a booth. One woman came to the booth and reported that she had been a client of Gaithersburg HELP in the past. The food she received from the pantry helped her get her kids through high school and she was grateful. She now longer needed the help because over time, it had gotten better.

Her message, her story is a blessing to all those who feel ashamed for being so poor they can’t buy food. Hers is an important one to lift up to those in poverty: it gets better.

But as people who follow Jesus, we aren’t called simply to tell a suffering world that it gets better.

God wasn’t content to tell us the vision, God also came into our lives in the most intimate of ways, through the person of Jesus Christ, and made the vision reality. And because we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and because we have tasted that grace, we do the same.

We don’t see the plight of those who are hungry, tell them it gets better, and walk on by. No – because we believe that hope and a new day are on their way, we participate in its dawning.

Increase our faith! Begged the disciples.

Do what I’ve promised you will increase your faith! Says Jesus back to them.

As some wise person once said,

The way to become a hopeful person is to do hopeful things.

If you want to show hungry people in our community that it gets better, then sign up for the walk for the homeless and do that hopeful thing; if you want to show a teenager for whom school might feel like a battleground that life gets better, sign up to help with a youth ministry event and get to know them; if you want to show a fellow mom that they aren’t alone, come to the new group forming next Sunday. If you want to turn your heart toward those who are suffering, take home our prayer list and pray to God.

And if you are someone for whom there is no vision left, for whom life has gotten too hard, please please know that you are not alone and that God’s promises of healing and salvation are for you. For we exist here to hold out the vision that God has given to us through Jesus Christ, that the moments that feel like the end are not the end, that Jesus takes on our suffering, that the end is a future of glory with God; and that you have a God who will work miracles in your life to show you that it does get better.

It gets better. Do you believe it? …… Do you trust it? ……And can you show it?

It gets better – thanks be to Jesus Christ – Amen!

Luke 17:5-10

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" ⁶The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
⁷Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? ⁸Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? ⁹Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"

40 yrs of Women's Ordination

2010-09-30T12:45:00.008-04:00

40 yrs ago, Beth Platz, serving as the chaplain at the University of Maryland, was ordained, making her the first woman ordained in a Lutheran denomination in North America. She has served generations of Lutheran students humbly and faithfully. Read more about her here.

As part of the recognition of her extraordinary ministry, the ordained women of our synod gave her a communion set that I made.

It was a great honor to make this for Pastor Platz. Pottery is such an obvious metaphor for the journey of faith that it hardly seems worth elaborating. The first thing you do as a potter is "center" the clay. Ya. The lump of raw clay is molded and tended in an artful process that takes time and is somewhat unpredictable. Even after being beautifully shaped, it's worthless and dull until it has felt the heat.

As I made this chalice, I reflected on the heat that the first women pastors had to take 40 yrs ago. Many of them are still taking it, though I'm happy to report that I've experienced very little discrimination as a woman in the ELCA. I more often feel uplifted as a woman pastor.

But still, I recall that ordained women are not the norm everywhere. Last week a teen-aged visitor came to Bible study and said something about how "cool" it was to see a woman pastor. Cool only because it wasn't, for her, normal.

I love being a pastor and I am grateful to Pastor Platz and all the women and men who helped blaze this trail.

About the chalice. I went around and around with ideas for glazing and decorating, but ultimately decided to do very little. In an interview, Pr Platz said "The pastor's 'I-ness' is to be put aside … for the total focus is on the altar and the cross." I kept the chalice simple to keep that focus.

The cross-shaped hole in the stem is a reminder of the scars that discipleship demands us to recognize. It also makes the whole thing more beautiful. Healing is not yet complete, but the celebration of Pr Platz's ordination is a sign that we're on our way.

Clay Pots - adult confirmation

2010-09-24T10:17:00.003-04:00

Image by Kirsten Malcom Berry - the Greek quotes 2 Corinthians.

A dream of mine, to lead an adult confirmation class, is coming true here at Prince of Peace.

Add the doom and gloom about our ELCA denominational numbers to the growth of evangelical churches and momma church basically knows something is wrong in how we form people in faith.

We can't count on the traditional Lutheran pipeline (baptism, Sunday School, confirmation at age 13, become a full member of the church for the rest of your life) for forming our people anymore. We probably never could. In our congregation, people come from a variety of religious backgrounds hungry to develop a relationship with God and other people of faith. One of our responses is to offer an adult confirmation program: Clay Pots.

Last night we had the 2nd session of "Clay Pots." We took the name from 2 Corinthians "for we have this treasure (knowledge of God) in clay pots." (some translations use the word "jars") It's no coincidence that I also liked the name because of its reference to pottery.

14 people are in the class. We're a mix of originally Lutheran, Baptist, Catholic, and new to faith altogether. 2 people aren't members of the church. I love that.

I rooted around to find curriculum and help, but only found a couple of churches/highly talented people to help. (Rev. Jessicah Krey Duckworth at Wesley Seminary put us on to the trail of some good churches. She's amazing. Phinney Ridge Lutheran in Seattle and Village Church in Milwaukee WI also shared what they've done).

Basically, I've taken their information and crafted something I thought would work for us.

We'll have a total of 15 1.5 hr sessions plus a weekend retreat between now and the Easter Vigil, when the confirmation will take place.

Now through Advent our focus is Covenant. Christmas and Epiphany we'll focus on Christ. And during Lent we'll focus on Church. Our main texts are the Bible, the Lutheran Handbook (which, I must say is a frustrating resource. Such a good idea, but so cheesy and Minnesotan that it is culturally irrelevant to new Lutherans - but it's the best thing out there and has the Small Catechism in it) and two great little books by a man named Dan Erlander: Manna and Mercy and Water Washed and Spirit Born.

We've had two sessions and have focused mainly on the covenants God made with Abraham and Sarah and with Moses and the Israelites. Covenant sets the stage for understanding baptism, our relationship with God, Jesus as the new covenant. Seemed like a good place to start.

We're in the process of getting our session outlines on the church website so if other churches are interested in doing something similar, they can use as they'd like.

I'm convinced that this kind of opportunity is essential to growing faith - which in turn is essential in growing our churches. We're not doing this in order to grow the church, but to grow in faith. That's important. But I admit I'm excited that we already have 2 people, new to the church, interested in next year's class.

peace all -

2nd bedroom

2010-09-06T20:46:00.004-04:00

For the last year and a half, I've had two different friends live with me. Now I am back to living alone and realizing more and more that it isn't how I like to live. Yes, there are obvious advantages - clutter control, scheduling social events, common space being all mine - but these advantages are also disadvantages. Without the inevitable conflict of living with others, I don't grow or learn nearly as much. Living with other people helped make me more human.

But the real reason I like living with people is that it's just so much more fun than living alone. My most enjoyable living arrangements have been times I lived with large groups of people. Our college household was a blast; our community house in Div School had a ton of fun.

Maybe it's because I'm the middle kid of a litter of 5 - a family that played a lot of games and really enjoyed one another - but I'm most comfortable in a heap of humanity. It's just that as an unmarried person with a career that's taken me far from family, finding a living situation that feeds that need for community is hard.

Something like 21% of households in our county are single occupancy. That's a lot of people living alone and I genuinely wonder if those people prefer it or if there are just too few other options.

I've lately been learning about and exploring other housing models, including co-housing. The housemate thing has worked out really well for a while, but this last year was so good that I'm nervous about another.

As I mull this one over, I'm on the lookout for options. In the meanwhile, I'll make up the bed in my guest bedroom because Rachel and Rob are coming - yay! and I'll take Barkely (the dog I've got on loan to keep me company) for a walk.

Hello, my name is...Sarah

2010-08-19T14:36:00.010-04:00

Thanks to everyone who commented to me in various forms about my friend Todd's death. The memorial service and the whole weekend in Madison were a blessed time of reconnection with old friends, family (my little brother's family lives there) and most importantly, of honoring Todd.

For the last 10 weeks, I've been writing the Monday reflection in our church's "Summer of scripture" blog. This past Monday, I reflected on one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, Romans 8, and realized all the changes that have happened in the past few weeks. I wrote...In the past week and a half, I've been to the funeral of one friend and the baptism of my godson Adam. My little sister had a baby. My great uncle died. Another friend had cancer surgery. Another friend saw her lima bean-sized child on the ultrasound for the first time. It's been a week packed with endings and beginnings.

Absorbing all this - even the good stuff - takes its toll. Oh, and I forgot to mention that my housemate moved out too. Wah. :(

It makes me think about relationships, identity and role. I am called pastor, sister, friend, housemate, godmother, aunt, daughter. But when it comes right down to it, I'm just Sarah.

Two weekends in a row I was in a church service for an important ritual: memorial service one week, baptism the next. Both of these are events where I am used to fulfilling the role of Pastor. I was nervous going to the Memorial Service because I was just going to have to sit with my own grief - not worry about others. I was not Pastor. I was just Sarah.

The baptism took place at a Church where I used to serve as a vicar. I probably said 10 times, in response to people calling me pastor Sarah, you can just call me Sarah - or if you have to call me something, call me godmother! I was thrilled to take on that role. (The photo is from the baptism).

In response to Todd's death, a former professor got in touch. He signed off "Paul" but I responded: "Dear Prof C..." The Bishop is coming to preach at Prince of Peace this weekend. He has told me to call him by his first name, Dick. But I have such a hard time with it. I always want to call him Bishop. My godfather was, for all practical purposes, known as the Judge. He also had a first name, but his role became his name. I have to think hard to remember his real first name.

I like to be called pastor when I am serving as a pastor. But these past days it's been good to remember what it's also like to be called plain old Sarah.

A photo of Todd Varness and the Homer Court crew

2010-08-05T14:10:00.004-04:00

I spent the morning going through old boxes and most of my pictures of Todd involve blurry flailing arms (Todd dancing) and strange faces (Jill). I couldn't get them scanned. The one I'm posting here came from David this morning - thanks so much! It is a version of a much better picture that I can't find. This was taken in the front yard of 1006 Homer Court at party for graduation from Valparaiso in 1996. Shortly after, we scattered around the globe. Kelly was in Ireland, Jill in China, David in France, Todd in Guatemala, and Angela, uh, Chicago. I was in Malawi. I kept that photo in a frame decorated with stamps from their letters from around the world. There remains a precious bond of friendship over distance and time. In the midst of all this sadness, it is wonderful to remember the love that we all shared.

Death of a friend

2010-08-04T11:42:00.008-04:00

On Monday an old friend died. Todd Varness was a brilliant physician, teacher and friend. He was a pediatrician in Madison, 36 years old, and his wife Deirdre is expecting their first child (a boy) in just a few months. On Good Friday he was diagnosed with lung cancer - the apparent return of a cancer he'd beaten years earlier. He died 4 months later.

Todd and I were no longer close friends. In college, however, he and a handful of others formed my community. He and I were lab partners (until he quickly passed me by and became my TA); dance partners, housemates, and good friends. So many memories of that time have come flooding back in the last few days. Acrobatic dance moves on the sticky floor of the Phi Psi house; debates over the true meaning of life after death as told by Dostoevsky; Ad hoc Chemistry lessons in the library; nights sitting on the roof of Homer Court. Not all of the memories are positive. He was also probably my first attempt at love, though it was never so clear, and my heart broke many times throughout our friendship. But the memories are all - every single one of them - incredibly full of life. Those were such vibrant times and the growth that occurred then has been a blessing for my lifetime.

Todd ultimately built a life rooted in community, faith, medicine, service, sports, and the love of his family.

I didn't know him well in this new life. But as I've been reading the testimonies of the vast swath of people who count themselves blessed to have known him, it's clear he was the same old Todd. Always up for adventure, fun, kind, spirited, driven, faithful, dedicated to his work and to the people he loved.

To grieve, I did what I do. Some people start baking or playing an instrument or exercising when they need to work out emotions. I preached. If you passed a jogger talking out loud and gesturing animatedly on Wooton parkway yesterday, that was me preaching a sermon to myself.

I centered my imaginary sermon on the text from last week, Luke 12. God reprimands a rich man foolishly storing up all these things for the future saying "this very night your life will be demanded of you." I thought about how Todd had lived his life as if other people had demanded it. People needed something from him - healing, friendship, wisdom - and he gave it. He might not have the future anyone had expected, but the life he gave while he had it was truly extraordinary. Todd packed more into his too-short 36 years than many of us do in the scores of years we've come to expect as our due. The tragedy of his death has touched many lives because Todd touched many lives.

It helped me remember that death is not the end. God's love is bigger than any grief, no matter how bottomless it might feel and a life that was vibrant on earth is even more vibrant now.

The overwhelming feeling I've had in the last 2 days is gratitude. I'm grateful that I got to be so influenced by someone as dynamic as Todd. I'm grateful that the people I met at good ol' Valpo created a community with me that still exists, despite years and miles of separation. Jill, Kelly, Dave, Tim, Rachel, Tiffany, Hope, Leanne and Jeff, Angela - I'm hardly in regular touch with any of these people, but I feel the influence of their friendship as a buoy, especially right now. I'm grateful for our professors - Dean Schwehn, Professor Contino; Margaret Franson, Olmstead, Piehl - are just a few. They took such care with us that they came to our parties and treated as if we might change the world.

I am grateful for this life. And plain old sad for his family and this world that Todd's ended so soon.

Justifry my love (title of a Madonna song as spelled on the CD I got in China 18 yrs ago)

2010-07-29T11:01:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know it has been awhile. I wonder how many blog entries begin that way? Been away, busy, and blogging and writing for other things (see the summerofscripture) and just haven't had the mental space to write here too. But want to share what happened last night. I went with two of our sr high youth leaders to an event for young adults sponsored by Luther Place Memorial Church's young adults group. As we left the high school youth group in the capable hands of two other adults, we felt giddy - like parents who just left their kids with a babysitter.

We met with about 20+ young adults and I led a discussion on justification and sanctification. The notes from it are below. During the discussion I learned much about trusting God and remembered in a powerful way that God doesn't demand that I justify myself. Justification is toxic to a relationship of trust and love. God doesn't demand it - God gives it. We are made right.

It was a great time and for me, it was especially affirming to see old friends and people who had welcomed me into their faith community years ago.

Afterward, the 3 of us from Prince of Peace stayed downtown for dinner at Busboys and Poets and we chatted about church, the youth, our own struggles. We laughed and shared good food. The whole evening felt like one big IV drip of God's love. Which brings me to the presentation. Based on one of my favorite Luther quotes - brought to me originally by my friend Rachel. Not health, but healing...

This life therefore is not righteousness but growth in righteousness; not health but healing, not being but becoming, not rest but exercise. We are not what we shall be but we are growing toward it; the process is not yet finished but it is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory but all is being purified.

M. Luther. "Defense and Explanation of all the Articles,” Second Article (1521)

Guiding Question: How do we grow in righteousness?

Two theological terms for how we become right with God and others:

#1) Justification – being found blameless. (As in a court of law)

…Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith…. Romans 3:21-26

#2) Sanctification – being made holy.

“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Jesus is the only one who can justify us before God. This is a centerpiece of Lutheran theology. We cannot justify ourselves. It’s grace that we are justified.

Lutherans aren’t so clear about sanctification. We tend to de-emphasize sanctification because we are convinced that despite all the ways we appear to become more saintly, there always lives in us a powerful sinner. We need God’s grace just as much at the last moment of our lives as we did at the beginning.

But what about this quote from Luther and all the ways Scripture and our faith tradition say that we can grow in righteousness? How do we grow in righteousness?

1) How do you define righteousness? What is self-righteousness?

2) How do you try to justify yourself? How does justification work in your human relationships? How are justification and trust related?

3) How do you think you are “growing in righteousness?” What are the roadblocks? What are your resources? What’s God’s role in your improvement?

4) What does morality – being good – mean to you? What kind of morality litmus tests do you see in contemporary American Christianity - both the Christian right and Christian left.

5) Think about religions/ denominations you know. How do you think that justification and sanctification work out in those religions? If every major religion teaches similar things about morality, what is distinctive about Lutheran Christianity?

Back from Pine Root

2010-06-22T16:28:00.004-04:00

I was away last week at a pottery workshop in North Carolina. So many thoughts about it are still sifting through my mind, that I'm not going to write much about it now. It was transformational and a whole lotta fun. It brought out the artist within and I find myself looking at the whole world slightly differently as a result. I tapped into a new place of creativity and trust in my own sensibilities. More reflection on that week to come.

While I was away, our congregation began its Summer of Scripture. We're reading 50 important Bible stories and different people are blogging about them. I wrote the first posting. I wrote it waaay ahead of time because I knew I'd be gone. I didn't realize then how fitting it would be to write about creativity at the dawning of a new artistic endeavor. I've copied the entry below.

For your daily dose of scripture and more blog entries from different members of our church, visit www.summerofscripture.blogspot.com.

The reflections written by different members of the church reveal faithfulness, wrestling, and God's grace. Good stuff.

Summer of Scripture Blog entry #1 - Genesis 1, reflection by Pastor Sarah

We're starting our Summer of Scripture at the beginning. In the beginning – these words invite imagination. What will happen next? The beginning is a creative time.

I love this passage about creation. It makes me look again at the world God made and marvel at God’s creativity. I picture God as an artist, delighting in the stars and making these wonderful human creatures straight out of what certainly must be a vast imagination (and a hearty sense of humor).

Apparently I’ve always liked this passage. When I was just a little girl I painted a picture for my dad based on this creation passage from Genesis. I look at that picture now and my first thought is wow, it’s apparent even from that age that I’m not ending up as a visual artist.

But the great thing is that as a kid, I didn’t have the adult’s discerning eye. So I had no shame at producing a less-than-perfect piece of art. I was proud to give it to my dad as a present. My dad had the good sense to honor it rather than critique its artistic merits and hang it up in his office where it stayed for 20+ yrs. Even as an adult, whenever I went to visit him at work, I was secretly glad he still had my little work of art on display.

Pinned above my desk I have a picture that my 9 yr old niece Eliza drew for me. It inspires me. I hope she never loses her particular sense of expressiveness about the way God made her. I bet God feels the same way about all of us – each unique, quirky, delightful one of us. Dust off your paintbrushes! Belt out a song! Follow God’s lead and get creative. You are, after all, made good.

The Jesus mix

2010-05-18T10:49:00.006-04:00

On Friday I took the day off and made pottery all day. I need to bring a bunch of pieces to a workshop in a few weeks and I was behind.

I got to spend the whole day in the studio at Glen Echo, one of my favorite places, and sat at a wheel while various people came in, did their thing, and left.

One thing I love best about doing pottery at the studio is the combination of solitude and community. I am alone with the clay and able to lose myself completely. But there's a shared experience with the other potters, many of whom I learn from and share creative juices (wine!) with without even knowing their names.

On Friday afternoon one of the best potters in DC came in and, as I'd heard he was in the habit of doing, brought an ipod mix to play while we worked. My heart warmed to hear "The Dutchman", a song that brought back memories of singing with Pastor Bob on the mandolin.

The good songs kept rolling - and as it does, music started a bond. People hummed, our moods melded.

The potter announced he was nearly finished with another mix called the Jesus mix. I smiled secretly - he had no idea what I do for a day job.

He asked if anyone would be offended if he played it sometime. I replied no, I'd be curious.

When, after a bit of enthusiasm for our shared musical tastes, I confessed that I had a professional interest in the Jesus mix, he ran out to his car, barely missing a hailstorm, to bring in the computer with the Jesus mix.

It ran the gamut from Uncle Tupelo singing Satan don't let your kingdom come down ("If you have a Jesus mix you gotta have Satan too" said the potter), to the the Rolling Stones' The Girl with the Faraway Eyes.

We chatted briefly but mostly just shared the music and a little bond formed briefly over a couple of songs. As he got ready to leave I finally introduced myself by name, but that was hardly essential to the exchange. We remain essentially strangers, but as one of my favorite songs from the Jesus mix says, "Never know just what on earth I'll find In the faces of a stranger"

That sons is Jesus in New Orleans by Over the Rhine, full lyrics below.

The last time I saw Jesus
I was drinking bloody mary's in the South
In a barroom in New Orleans
Rinsin' out the bad taste in my mouth

She wore a dark and faded blazer
With a little of the lining hanging out
When the jukebox played Miss Dorothy Moore
I knew that it was him without a doubt

I said the road is my redeemer
I never know just what on earth I'll find
In the faces of a stranger
In the dark and weary corners of a mind

She said, The last highway is only
As far away as you are from yourself
And no matter just how bad it gets
It does no good to blame somebody else

Ain't it crazy
What's revealed when you're not looking all that close
Ain't it crazy
How we put to death the ones we need the most

I know I'm not a martyr
I've never died for anyone but me
The last frontier is only
The stranger in the mirror that I see

But when I least expect it
Here and there I see my savior's face
He's still my favorite loser
Falling for the entire human race

Happy 100!

2010-05-12T13:05:00.001-04:00

This is my one hundredth post - which gets me thinking about a not-so-favorite topic of mine right now: age.

According to Allure magazine (I read it as I got my haircut) the ideal age for women is 36. One reason? That's how old Marilyn Monroe was when she sang to President Kennedy. Apparently that's the high point we should be aiming for...

Still it had me breathing a sigh of relief (I'm 35 - the best is yet to come.). But what happens at 37 - over the hill then?

Oh, I realize this age anxiety stuff is as old as the hills (and some of them are really old!) but it's hitting me somewhere in the gut right now. As a colleague in her early 40s pointed out - somewhere in our mid-thirties women pastors go from being young, hip and interesting to being outdated and irrelevant. I refuse to let that happen! There's got to be something in the middle.

I wish I could get out of the age obsession I seem to be in now, but I find myself single minded. And its not only related to the old biological clock - thought that carries a bit of power.

Elena Kagan got nominated for Supreme Court and I skipped the parts of the article about her background, beliefs, influence. What I wanted to know first is her age (50). I heard a speaker last week and while she was a font of knowledge and spiritual wisdom, the thing I'll remember most is her age (45).

I even asked my congregation in church last Sunday to raise their hands if they were over 38. Granted, there was a good preaching rationale for this, but really, how much has this age thing gotten into my brain?!

This is actually nothing new for me, thought it's particularly powerful right now. As a small kid I was acutely aware that I was younger than everyone else in my class. Age has always been a big part of my identity.

Maybe that's why I fell in love with the Dylan song Forever Young. I remember where I was when I first heard it - in a muddy field outside of Duluth Minnesota. But eternal youth isn't the appeal. More, I like the message that we can live in a way that age has no ultimate say in our identity. Dreams can take root no matter your age. Maybe that's why the movie UP was such a success - it debunked the fear that as we age, we slowly fade into boring irrelevance.

So what's the opposite of age-obsessed? Something about eternal life.

Jesus preaches about how it can happen now. Maybe a sliver of that promise is that in an age obsessed world, God's grace cuts through the apparent limits of age and death. This is an offer to embrace eternal life in the here and now and give age a bit less power. To get there today, I'll just hunker down and listen to the gospel according to Bob Dylan:

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young

Missional Church

2010-04-30T14:32:00.000-04:00

Pastor Chris talked to us a lot about the mission of the church. I was surfing a friend's blog and found this great video. Take a look - it's about 2 mins and well worth it.

to be lutheran.

2010-04-30T13:42:00.001-04:00

Pastor Chris Nelson, who was my pastor in my 20s, talked to a group of pastors in the Metro DC this past week. He mentioned an exciting new church that didn't have the word Lutheran in its name. Did the people going there know they were Lutheran? Not necessarily. Would they articulate an understanding of Christianity that was recognizable to someone in the know as Lutheran? Definitely.

I'm leading an informal class on Sunday mornings on what it means to be Lutheran. We've offered this in various formats about once a year because we know that many people join our congregation without a Lutheran background. They want to know and I want them to know about this great church tradition. The 2nd of the 4 classes will be this Sunday at 9:45. Everyone is welcome.

A woman in the class last week made me completely re-think how to lead it. She mentioned that she intuitively loves our church and now she wants to know what it is about Lutheranism that has made such a community.

This is the same kind of thing that Pastor Chris was talking about. Increasingly, people don't join a church out of loyalty to the denomination of their youth. They look for authenticity, genuine community, and opportunity to serve.

Yet it matters to me that once people are here, they can articulate what it is in the Lutheran tradition that works for them. It also seems to matter to those who join our church that they know what it is to be Lutheran. This is not the case with everyone or everywhere, but here, people want to know.

In the class last week I gave a bit of historical reference and basic theological background. I also brought up 4 Lutheran catch phrases that are good to know about: saint and sinner; law and gospel; priesthood of all believers; saved by grace through faith. I tried to show how they play out in the life of our community.

This week I think I'm going to do something different. I'm going to ask people what they've experienced, heard, seen in our congregation and show how that is (or isn't) in line with Lutheran traditions.

Valparaiso Chaplain

2010-04-13T17:44:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, one of the college chaplains at my alma mater, Valparaiso University, committed suicide. According to the news reports and the notice from the church, she celebrated communion on Easter Sunday at the Valparaiso Chapel of the Resurrection - a first for a non-Missouri Synod Pastor and a first for a woman - and a few days later, hanged herself.

When I was a student (92-96), the campus was apparently embroiled in a debate about whether or not women could preach there. I knew in the background that the debate was going on, but it's surprising looking back on it how little I cared. As a student, I was only remotely involved in the life of the college chapel and even more remotely involved in church politics of any kind.

I can trace back part of my call story to the Chapel of the Resurrection. It was the site of my first homily - given during a daytime chapel service when a fellow student asked me out of the blue to do it. I wish I would have found out why he asked me to give a homily. I wasn't particularly religious or faithful at the time. I had little idea then that I would eventually be called to be a pastor.

Now, of course, I am a pastor and I see this suicide on a variety of levels. Besides being generally sick for the Valpo community and for the family and friends of Rev. Grega, I am fascinated with this tragedy. I want to know more about what convergence of experiences, illness, pressure, despondency and pain led to her suicide.

Intellectually, I understand this is very little of my business. She left a note, but it is, of course, private. The pain of her family doesn't need to be dragged out for the public to see.

But still, I want to know why this happened. My curiosity feels different from interest in celebrity news or rubber-necking at the scene of an accident. I want to know what her unique role as the first woman to serve in a culture of male hierarchy played in her decision. I want to know if and how she had dealt with depression in the past. I want to know about her isolation as a pastor, especially as a college chaplain.

My close friend Rachel called to tell me the news. She's also an ELCA pastor and as I talked with her, I thanked God for her friendship, for other colleagues and supporters and the love of family and friends. Also, I thanked God for my new, fantastic counselor and for providing me enough money to pay her. In mourning with Valpo and hoping for healing on many levels.

Easter trees in Rwanda and Tanzania

2010-03-31T16:08:00.000-04:00

Hi - I keep thinking I "should" be getting ready for the 6 worship services to come. But except for a sermon and some little details, they're ready. This creation care work is my priority right now. In the midst of finalizing the resolution on energy stewardship for our Metro DC congregations and planning for our church's creation care carnival on April 18th, I got two wonderfully related emails.

The first was from a friend and Lutheran pastor in Rwanda who reported that a bridge that once took refugees escaping from genocide to safety in refugee camps in Tanzania, is going to be rebuilt in order to enable business between countries. Years ago, Pastor John planted trees on the border of this river - once flowing with human wreckage of war - as a sign of hope, sanctuary, and rebuilding. From Pastor John:

Some of the buildings were asked to move to other place and owners will be covered! At the hill, our tree farm forest survived!...I was given forms to fill up for title deed! It was done successfully, went to the forest, found the fish eagle... was there for 3 minutes looking at me!!!!!! Thought that God sent this bird to tell me that He had a purpose for me to plant trees on this hill, may be a sanctuary for birds, animals and people who want to take away stress.

What a great reminder that the hope that caused John to plant the trees was not in vain.

Then also got an email about the Lutheran Church in Tanzania's efforts to reforest Mt Kilimanjaro - from their website:

Organization: Kilimanjaro Environmental Conservation Program: Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCT) in Tanzania- Northern Diocese
Mount Kilimanjaro in Northeastern Tanzania has three distinct volcanic cones. The highest — called Kibo – is 5,895 meters high and covered by snow. However, the snowcap is rapidly disappearing. In March 2005, the peak was almost bare for the first time in 11,000 years. According to NASA, the most recent ice cap volume has dropped by 80%. This will have grave consequences for the local population who depend on water from the ice fields during the dry seasons and monsoon failures.

Additionally, deforestation and poor land management have accelerated soil erosion on farming lands. Streams are muddy with tons of vital topsoil that is being washed away. Increased flooding is destroying crops and causing food shortages.

The local church is working to encourage intensive tree planting and education on farming methods to conserve the environment and ensure sufficient food production. For example, young people attending confirmation classes have to plant 10 trees before they are confirmed. Women in parishes are leading the campaign for tree planting around churches and schools.

For more information and to support this effort, click here.

So yes, I keep feeling like I "should" be preparing for Easter - but what better preparation is there than to hear real acts of hope and re-creation? These efforts make me want to shout halle...

Earth Hour, Creation Care progress

2010-03-30T16:53:00.000-04:00

Sunday afternoon before I left work for my sabbath day (Monday) I sent out a draft resolution on energy stewardship to a handful of people in different congregations in our area, Metro DC, to get feedback and support. It was wonderful to open my email this morning and not only see great response and comments from those I'd emailed, but also emails from folks I've never met saying "I heard about this and want to be a part."

In short, we are working to create a new Creation Care Team within the synod (for non-church people, that's the 80 or so congregations in the DC area who work together) and to put forth a resolution at our synod assembly (again for non-church people, think stakeholders meeting) encouraging congregations to act for energy stewardship. We'd join synods like Metro New York, Chicago, Milwaukee and NE Iowa in getting such a resolution.

This is exciting work and feels good - as in "and it was good" kind of good. Speaking of good - at Prince of Peace we celebrated Earth Hour on Sat night. That's where around the world, people turned off the lights. 60 is the Earth Hour logo (for 60 mins). That's me behind the "6."

We weren't quite as dramatic as the Eiffel Tower or Big Ben, but from 8:30-9:30, we turned off our lights and a small group of us looked through a telescope, had fun with glow sticks, and shared stories. I told about the stars and night sky in the Peace Corps in Malawi, where I always knew where we were in the moon cycle because the sky was lit up bright when the moon was full, and dark when it was a sliver.

Saturday I got to see the moon up close through a telescope. The surface just looks like pitted concrete. It blew my mind to watch as it drifted out of sight in the eyepiece because we were moving so fast on Earth. Wow. We ended with a prayer of thanksgiving for this marvelous world. Thanks Joyce, David and Alex for a fun night.

Very exciting developments in creation care

2010-03-25T12:36:00.001-04:00

Today's been a great creation care day.

Just got back from lunch with Joyce, one of the Prince of Peace Creation Care Team originals. She shared with me exciting news that Poolesville is participating in Earth Hour this Saturday at 8:30 - turn off your lights for that hour.

A group of us in the synod is working on drafting some sort of formal commitment to creation care at the next assembly in May. A couple days ago I spoke with a lovely woman in the New Jersey Synod who passed along their resolution discouraging use of plastic water bottles.

Next I called the ELCA Washington office and talked briefly with Mary Minette, the director of environmental policy and education. She put me onto the trail of Kim Winchell, a diaconal minister in Michigan working on faith and environment and the author of Awakening to God's Call to Earthkeeping, a great educational resource that our congregation used last year.

Called Kim. She sent me drafts of a resolution on energy efficiency that other synods are considering in their spring assemblies. Will send out to our group soon to see if this is the route we want to go. We had a wonderful talk about the growing network of Lutheran people, congregations and synods committing to creation care.

She put me onto a new group, Lutherans Restoring Creation. Various Lutheran environmental organizations have developed over the years, but this looks like the best one yet.

And to top it off, a friend from seminary is starting a garden at her church in Oregon and we're going to chat about it soon.

I love when things come together - the Holy Spirit is moving in this one.

I can see clearly now...

2010-03-24T14:41:00.001-04:00

I can see clearly now because I just washed a bunch of windows in my house.

They're not all done (I have about 80 % left to go actually) but it was amazing to me what a difference getting the grime washed off did to let the sunshine in. There's a metaphor in there somewhere, but I'll spare you.

I love cleaning. Not all the time - oh no. Either the clothes are scattered across the room or I'm ironing each piece of clothing before hanging it up. It's all or nothing, which makes keeping an adequately clean house a challenge.

Cleaning the entryway this morning took me 3 hours (it's quite small) because I was actually scrubbing the walls. It was all I could do to resist taking a toothbrush to the floorboards.

Not necessary. But fun - amazingly fun actually. I lost myself in the cleaning (unfortunately, I also lost track of time and missed an important meeting). I was barefoot all morning long, going in and out of the house, filling buckets with water from the hose and vinegar (who needs chemical cleaners?) wearing old clothes and getting good and messy. Drank down the coffee, organized my sports equipment, geared up for gardening, cleaned my pottery tools.

The windows were the best. What a difference that makes. Here's hoping I have the time and energy to do the rest of them before I start to lose enthusiasm. Let the sunshine in!

PS - That's not a picture of me, but a squeegee is definitely my next purchase (and a great scrabble word).

First Crocus

2010-03-18T14:11:00.000-04:00

Hi all - my last blog post was a month ago and I'd been lax in the posts since before then. Not that there's been nothing going on in my head and heart, but when I finally got around to sitting down to write, the old inspiration was gone gone.

Well, many little events in the past week have started to build my inspiration back up. At Prince of Peace our crocuses bloomed. At my house, this morning the buds were out and I think that with this sunny day, the blooms will await me when I get home. Seems like long ago that Elizabeth (housemate) and I planted our 200 bulbs with the hopes for spring. And now they're coming.

Other moments of inspiration: the youth service project for the 30 hr famine last weekend. We sorted clothing and served food at Community Family Life Services in downtown DC. We had just studied and prayed with the text "I was hungry and you gave me food; I was naked and you gave me clothing" and there we were, meeting Jesus face to face.

The combo of that experience, fasting, and hearing the story of the prodigal son in church last weekend kind of ripped me out of my self-absorbed fog (yes, pastors get in those fogs too) and turned my head and heart back outward.

Gaithersburg Help took in over $60,000 of donations last week - the bulk was the payoff for the many pairs of feet that walked in mini-walks all over town last October, but there were many other checks too: 17 dollars here, 150 there. One of our students won a prize for her Girl Scout video on the food pantry and donated it right back.

One of our gardeners is out back tilling the soil for a 2nd community garden - hoping to raise even more food to give away. We'll need a lot more hands to help - not sure where they're going to come from. But taking a kind of "if you build it they will come" attitude.

Snowed in...

2010-02-19T10:59:00.000-05:00

Hi all - feels like a long time since I've blogged. 2 weeks ago we were all scrambling to get ready for the big snow. There was nearly a week of forced hibernation.

The weather had an unexpectedly emotional impact on me. It both relaxed me and made me restless for a different time and place. It reminded me of my childhood, ski retreats in Vermont in grad school, sledding parties in Minnesota. The silence of cross-countryskiing reminded me of other times alone in a snowy woods and the conversations with God I've had there. The weather called out of me bits and pieces of my personality and my loves that go underground when the weather's above freezing.

It was powerful and gave me joy to reconnect with these parts of myself. My housemate (also a Minnesotan) and I had a blast tromping around and loving the snow. But the overall effect on my mood, 2 weeks out, has been rather unpleasant. I'm starting to return to normal - back in a routine. But there's a big part of me that doesn't want the snow to melt.

Mid westerners get stereotyped as talking too much about the weather. But doesn't the weather affect just about everything else? From an earthquake in Haiti to record snows in DC, the weather is the news, and not only because of its physical effects (destruction, loss of life, property, power).

The weather affects emotions. I wonder how immigrants do it. Removed permanently from the lay of familiar land, the smells of their air, their slant of sunshine. Is part of them always missing?

Corporate influence - should we be afraid (and I don't mean in campaign finance.)

2010-02-02T13:24:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, I was irrationally sad at the Vikings' loss last week. Thank you for your sympathy. My oldest brother wrote a hilarious blog post about it. Might give you some insight as to why I took the loss so hard. Read his post, "Purple, Like a Bruise".

But moving onto the Superbowl...

It's old hat to try to draw comparisons between the two competitors for an American church-goer's Sunday attention: Football and Church. But there's a new twist. A mega church in LA, Mosaic, is trying to go where the people are next Sunday by competing in a Superbowl ad contest sponsored by Doritos.

As you can imagine, this has sparked a variety of comments, from "Praise be to the God of Israel, I know this commercial will be shown on Superbowl Sunday, All Glory and Honor to God our Father" to "I hope there aren't any Christians voting for this tasteless kind of humor. It's very sad that a priest was actually behind the making of this." (These and over a thousand other comments are on the Doritos Crash the Superbowl website).

The negative comments generally focused on the tastefulness of making a commercial starring a man faking his own death. For me, the interesting question isn't whether the content of the commercial is immoral, but what's it mean for a church to advertise something that's not overtly their own product?

This commercial advertises Doritos. The church doesn't pretend otherwise. There are no hints of God, grace, community nor any of the things our typical outreach/witness/evangelism (church advertising) campaigns do. This is a totally different thing than the Catholic posters in the DC metro telling you to get to church and find forgiveness.

So why'd they do it?

According to their website, Mosaic (the church) "welcomes people from all walks of life, regardless of where they are in their spiritual journey." No mention of Doritos as part of the church's mission. But wait..

Yes, the explicit message in the ad is that you should eat Doritos.

But implicit in the ad is that church-goers are just like you, they watch football, have a sense of humor, and even think it would be a cool idea to dream up an advertisement to play during the Superbowl. Re: the Mosaic mission this ad says that if your spiritual journey includes a nearly idolatrous love of football (guilty) or an appreciation for witty commercial entertainment (I love the Superbowl commercials), this is the church for you. As the Sr. Pastor, Edwin McManus said in a Yahoo article,

We're not trying to use Doritos to propagate a message, but I think we want
people to know that we have a sense of humor, that it's OK to laugh. So much of
what comes out of the faith community seems so dour and somber and we want to say, 'Hey, we're real people. You can be a person of faith and really enjoy life
and laugh."

Ok. Here's the sticky part: if they win, they could get up to $1 million from Doritos. And now we've got corporate sponsorship of a church. Should we be afraid?

Our congregation recently decided not to take the kick-backs offered by a clean energy company (they'd give 10$ for every household who switched energy providers to wind) even though this company's product was clearly in line with our mission. Something about taking money from a for-profit corporation bothered us, though I'm not sure we ever clarified exactly what it was. We still promoted the wind energy program, just didn't take the money.

So what do you think? About the Doritos ad or about taking a finders fee for wind energy customers. Is it OK for churches to take money (which can help mission) from corporations who are clearly looking to promote their own products?

Curious to hear some responses. You can bet I'll be watching the Superbowl commercials, and it breaks my heart to say, rooting for the Saints in between.

-Peace and joy - Sarah

"He spent his last day singing."

2010-01-19T16:10:00.001-05:00

The tragedy in Haiti grew more real every time I heard a personal story about a person who had died or lost friends and relatives. It's unfortunately true that sometimes the tragedy of others doesn't sink in until you hear the story of a person in whom you recognize yourself. It removes the distance.

Benjamin Larson's story brought it home for me this afternoon. He was a seminary student who died in Haiti while there with a group of future pastors teaching and helping support the Lutheran presence in Haiti. Read about his faith in life and death here.

Prayer for Haiti

2010-01-16T10:24:00.001-05:00

I was so disgusted by the reaction of Pat Robertson and other self-proclaimed Christians to call the devastation in Haiti God's judgment on a sinful people that if that's what it means to be Christian, then I'm not one. I don't see Jesus inviting us to distance ourselves from those who suffer by blaming a tragedy that destroys lives indiscriminately on the victims.

To me it seems that true Christianity is to follow Jesus' example of suffering with the innocent so that we are moved by compassion to help as best we can. Of course none of us do this perfectly, but hopefully most of us are humble enough to recognize that judging an entire people as their worst hour unfolds is counter to the basic gospel.

Here's a prayer for Haiti published by the ELCA:

Praying for those suffering
Loving God,
in the communion of Christ, we are joined with the trials and sufferings of all.
Be with those who endure the effects of the earthquake in Haiti.
Protect those in the path of danger.
Open the pathway of evacuations.
Help loved ones find one another in the chaos.
Provide assistance to those who need help.
Ease the fears of all and make your presence known in the stillness of your peace;
through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Lutheran Disaster Relief - a way to help people in Haiti

2010-01-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

This morning my facebook updates divided into two camps, normal reports on the everyday dramas, and reports on the disaster in Haiti.

- Give me caffeine!

- Don't want to go to work today.

- My heart goes out to Haiti

- Going to fail a test.

- Click here to give money to help Haiti

- Eating cheerios with my dog

- Pray for the people of Haiti.

I didn't know anything had happened in Haiti. This was an eerie way to get news of this disaster. My day is basically unaffected by this earthquake. My status this morning could have been:

"Does anyone know if ingesting beeswax is dangerous? The honey I put in my tea has flecks of wax in it." Or

"Wow, 6 am yoga with Gina's a great way to start the day." Or

"I love writing!"

But knowing that people's lives have just been turned upside down, somehow the little events of my day seem less newsworthy. It seems impossible to just enjoy this day without also remembering those whose lives have just changed forever.

Yet those original candidates for my facebook status are still true. Plus, Right now I'm a little hungry, overwhelmed with the pile of work ahead of me, looking forward to seeing Crazy Heart this weekend, excited about the Vikes game on Sunday. All this while also being sad for the people of Haiti, obsessed with the graphic pictures, sorrowing at the losses, and wanting to help.

It feels terribly selfish and trite that the most honest status for me right now is "Praying for the people of Haiti AND bummed that a glitch in our cable means no Jon Stewart tonight."

In times of such acute tragedy, I'm always grateful to be part of a global church that helps connect the layered realities of my life with the lives of others. It gives a much-needed sense of perspective.

If you find yourself wanting to do something to help, please donate to Lutheran Disaster Relief.

In peace -

Out of the pressure cooker and feeling fine.

2010-01-07T11:48:00.001-05:00

Last night some of our church's college students who are still home for Christmas break gathered. In addition to a rousing game of Apples to Apples, we talked about college life and faith.

As a few of them were talking about the workload and the pressure, I could feel my own pressure rise. I recalled the years in college and graduate school where I felt enormous pressure to do it all: get good grades, learn all I could, build a resume. I miss those days sometimes, with the friendships forged over late night projects, the passion borne of challenge, the thrill of learning in that concentrated way. But I would never return to the stress of feeling like everything I did was up for evaluation and would be distilled to a letter on a grade report or a line on a resume.

Take writing. In school nearly all my writing was, literally, an academic exercise. Now I write for real audiences. The words (hopefully) are read by more than just one professor. You'd think I'd stress waaay more now than then. But I don't. There's a bit of stress, yes, but nothing like before.

In grad school I once nearly made myself ill plotting out an environmental audit that would never be implemented for a class assignment. In comparison, I hardly stressed at all about my church's real environmental audit and how to implement the changes.

Hearing these students talk, I was reminded that in the world of academics and the grind of American ladder-climbing, there's little space for grace.

In the world as I live it now, grace is everywhere. As one parishioner kindly said to me after I preached a sub-par sermon recently: doesn't Sarah Scherschligt get an off day sometimes?

We do - we all get off-days! In real life, there are do-overs. There is no permanent record. The voices that tell us otherwise are very loud, but they don't belong to our forgiving, loving God.

I sense that for some of the youth of our congregation, that sense of grace is missing from their daily lives.

The pressure cooker takes them young. A pre-school teacher just told me he has parent teacher conferences coming up. He has to evaluate his students progress in 163 categories. These are 4-yr olds.

I see the benefit of all this for helping kids reach their full potential and serve in the best capacity. But what's the cost of constant scrutiny and evaluation?

I'm grateful to be out of that grind. And I wish I'd been a strong enough person to realize the role my ego and perfectionism had in putting me in the grind to begin with. I envied those who could enjoy life despire constant evaluation.

Now, probably because I've heard it so strongly in my life, I find myself just wanting to say to these students: God makes a future out of failure. You are loved no matter the grade. Grace is real.

The Dream Isaiah Saw

2009-12-23T09:36:00.000-05:00

I heard this song live yesterday: The Dream Isaiah Saw by Glenn Rudolph, text by Thomas Troeger. I can't find a great version online, but this one is decent.

In the 6 or so minutes the song lasted, it brought me out of Advent longing and straight into Christmas. The low, steady, military beat of the snare drums marched through the song gaining speed as the chorus, singing of Isaiah's dream of peace, gained momentum too. There was such motion and then in the end, a glorious breakthrough of pure singing. Peace descends.

As I sit here writing my sermon for tomorrow, I'm nearly undone by this song and the way it captures the miracle. In the midst of the powerful forces of this world: armies and marching orders and all the violence that's woven into our lives, God came to us as a baby to bring us peace.

Lions and oxen will sleep in the hay,
Leopards will join with the lambs as they play,
Wolves will be pastured with cows in the glade,
Blood will darken the Earth that God made.

Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Life redeemed from fang and claw.

Peace will pervade more than forest and field:
God will transfigure the Violence concealed
Deep in the heart of systems gain,
Ripe for the judgment the Lord will ordain.

Little Child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Justice purifying law.

Nature reordered to match God’s intent,
Nations obeying the call to repent,
All of creation completely restored,
Filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord.

Little child whose bed is straw,
Take new lodgings in my heart.
Bring the dream Isaiah saw:
Knowledge, wisdom, worship awe.

—Thomas Troeger

Holiday Rage got you down? Check out these tips.

2009-12-15T15:35:00.001-05:00

Hi - A friend with whom I've been exploring the underbelly of anger dropped off a book the other day: "Healing Rage" by Ruth King. I haven't started it yet but Alice Walker likes it and that's enough for me.

Anger might seem like an odd pre-Christmas theme, but it's certainly in scripture. I preached on God's anger last week. The prophets preparing the way for the Messiah were full of anger. The big difference between them and most of us is that theirs was righteous anger, not misguided, frightened, bullying anger.

Their anger also didn't descend into rage. Ruth King makes a distinction between anger and rage. Rage has deep roots. It's blind, historical, irrational and overblown. I suspect that as I read more I'll learn that one reason Christmas is such a time for this overblown anger is that families are thrown out of their routines and triggers into past hurts are pulled. Hard to be worshipful when you're steaming at the sibling two seats down. Part of having a peaceful Christmas is learning how to manage the complexity of families and history at a time when emotions are in high gear.

If holiday rage keeps you from settling into the peace of Christmas, check out Ruth King's list of the top 10 ways to heal holiday rage. Helpful hints we can probably all use.
Peace and joy - Sarah

Trust, anger, courage, hope.

2009-12-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

Last month I wrote an article on Trust in Relationships for Cafe - the online magazine of the women of the ELCA. Read it here.

Someone thought I'd stolen the idea for the article from Max Lucado. I didn't. I've never read Max Lucado. But yesterday I chanced past a Christian Bookstore and saw a book of his with a cover picture of a boy jumping into water. I wrote about jumping into the water. I can see why someone would think I'd stolen his idea.

I don't plagiarize, but I am influenced by what people write. My sermons these next two weeks will probably draw on the Augustine quote used at the beginning of this month's article in Cafe, a piece called "Hope's Daughters" by Erik Christensen. His article calls us to consider anew just what it is we're angry about in this time of hope.

“Hope has two beautiful daughters,” writes Augustine of Hippo. “Their names are Anger and Courage; anger at the way things are, and courage to see that they do not remain the way they are.”

The quote speaks to me at a time in life where I sense the world is boiling over with anger but lacking in courage. I was together with 3 friends the other day and we all confessed to feelings of deep anger that sometimes took us by surprise.

I'd never thought of anger and courage as related to one another, and certainly not to hope. Something to think about...

Peace - Pr Sarah

Advent bulbs

2009-12-01T15:42:00.000-05:00

A month ago, my housemate Elizabeth and I planted over 200 bulbs in our front yard. If you've been to our house, you are probably asking yourself, "where?"

With only about 10 square feet of planting space in the yard, it's pretty dense down there.

I was planning to put in just 50 or so. But the kind people at Glen Echo Hardware gave me extra bags of tulips, crocuses, daffodils and hyacinths. It was so late in the season they figured no one was still planting.

After a month of unseasonably warm weather and constant rain, the bulbs think it's April. They're coming up. I was tickled to see green sprouts in the mulch.

But I'm worried. What happens to bulbs that come up prematurely? Will winter, if it ever comes, ruin these plants? Will they flower in the springtime? We'll see in a few months. At least we know we didn't plant them upside down.

Bulbs are an obvious metaphor for faith. You put a dead looking thing into the ground with hope and trust that the weather and seasons will work their miracles.

Hope is gestated in times when it seems like nothing good is happening. In the bleak midwinter, the Christmas hymn goes. As the weather is getting darker and darker, God's getting ready to be born into this world.

So what's it mean when the bulbs come up early? For me, it's a reminder to always be on the look-out for surprise. God, life and love appear in unlikely places at at unlikely times.

Happy Advent.

I'm thinking about Space

2009-11-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking about space. No, no. Not outer space. Inner space. Sanctuary space. Church space. Home space. Sacred space.

A few months ago I went out to Kansas City to visit some innovative churches. I was struck by how much their space spoke to their mission. In one church, St. Andrews, the mission included creating a place for people to be at home and reaching to God. Their space was home-y, complete with living room furniture in the narthex, and transcendent. The high ceiling peaked at skylights that drew your eyes to the sky.

By contrast The Church of the Resurrection, was set-up on a large scale. The sanctuary felt like an auditorium. Their mission was focused on unchurched and nominally churched people. A traditional church setting wouldn't do.

I'm thinking about our space at Prince of Peace because we've got a great sanctuary, flexible seating, and a world of possibilities. I want to do something different for the Thanksgiving Service we're holding tomorrow night in order to mirror the theme of gratitude and community, but can't figure out what. I'm hoping it will come to me tonight in a dream.

In Divinity School my friend Ian cajoled a little crew of people to spend hours moving pews into the round. It was backbreaking work. We did it multiple times partly because we liked Ian. But more we did it because when we worshipped facing one another, a different sense of God's presence came through.

I just heard about St Paul's chapel next to the site of the World Trade Towers. They moved out the pews, which were charred and scarred by the relief workers who slept on them after 9/11. These pews were a beloved and sacred part of the church's history, but the future of the chapel as a "welcoming, dynamic space" required flexible seating. Watch this 10 min video for more.

Friday Afternoon and still writing

2009-11-13T17:16:00.000-05:00

Someone recently mentioned to me that it would be interesting to get an inside look at the sermon writing process. So here you go.

I'm sitting at a coffee shop working through my sermon notes for this weekend trying to see what's emerging as the sermon. I've been reading and studying the texts and now have a full plate of ideas.

I've got many thoughts, most of which won't make it in there. I'm pulled in two directions.

One half of me wants to pick up on the theme of faith from the passage from Hebrews: "Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful." As this is confirmation Sunday and our confirmation students have prepared their faith statements, it seems a good time to talk about faith - especially maturing in faith and being faithful in the midst of a community.

The other half of me is drawn to the image of the temple's destruction foretold in the gospel, Mark 13. In this gospel lesson, Jesus sits with some of his disciples and tells them about some events that will accompany the destruction of the temple. Jesus indicates that not only will the temple be destroyed but the whole world will start to end...The beginning of the birth pangs. The disciples are instructed to stay faithful.

In the background for me are images of the fall of the Berlin Wall and a story of Lutheran peace vigilantes who for years gathered weekly to make their desire for a united Berlin known.

Also in the background is the shooting at Ft Hood. How I wished that the shooter wasn't Muslim. I wished his name was something like Erik Johnson. Would have made it no less tragic, but a bit less complicated. Now, again, Islam is the easy excuse for all that is wrong with the United States. It seems like a good time to remind ourselves that Christianity too, throughout human history, bears its share of war crimes and senseless violence.

I have sympathy for those many Muslims for whom this even puts them in an even worse national light than before. This has to be a hard time to be Muslim in America.

What does this event say about the way this war has stressed so many veterans and soldiers. Is there some responsibility we have as Christians and as Americans to be good stewards of our own people? Clearly this shooting indicates a major breach. A military stretched too thin.

How do I speak to this set of sympathies with a strong faith and honor those who died and those who serve in the military. How are we as Christians called to be compassionate to all who have suffered (including our Muslim brothers and sisters) as a result of this shooting?

These are some of my thoughts as I face the writing process. PoP members reading this, expect some of this to show up tomorrow and Sun morn at 8:30; but if I were you, I'd hold out for the 11:00 service where 5 confirmation students will deliver their faith statements.

Peace - Pr Sarah

In peace - Pr Sarah

It's not exactly writer's block..it's reception block

2009-11-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

People have been pointing out to me that it's been a month since I last wrote on my blog. Why is that? It's not for lack of material. If all it took was something to write about, I could blog every day.

I've been professionally, personally, and physically exhausted. When I'm exhausted, I can do no more. I guess that's the meaning of the word exhausted. You are spent and have nothing else to give.

Rest wasn't my problem. I was sleeping the usual amount. But I was sapped, tapped and drained. No one thing is to blame, but lots of little things added up. I was working just enough too much that I let exercise go. I was overcommitted to friends and social events. There are too many calls I didn't return; too many birthdays I missed. Too many days I didn't pray. My balance tipped, and I was in survival mode.

Clarity came in a near disaster, as it often does. I crashed my bike a week ago. I think I lost control of my bike because I was so spent. I'm totally fine now, but it was that proverbial wake-up call.

As I sat there lying on Rock Creek parkway trying to get my bearings, I could do nothing. My biking partner had been through this kind of thing herself and was the perfect person to have on the scene.

I was in the position of being able to do nothing but receive. And receive I did. Water, an orange starburst for energy, a ride, a housemate to see me to the doctor.

The crash wounds have healed, but I am still in reception mode.

Yesterday was my birthday. From yoga at 6:00 am, a reminder that I've received a body that still works (praise god!), to coming home from a great Bob Dylan concert at 11 pm to a full and happy household, I did nothing but receive love all day long.

And all day long, as the joy in my heart grew, I realized: I am back! I woke up this am wanting to say thank you to the world and to God. I'm ready to give again.

Discovering Richard Rohr

2009-10-13T14:13:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago a colleague emailed me the name Richard Rohr and asked "Have you heard of him? I think you'd like him."

Monday I was in my retreat center's library. Couldn't find the book I was looking for, but stumbled upon Richard Rohr instead. Remembering my colleague's email, I picked up The Art of Simplicity. I passed a delightful hour reading him and feeling something deep in me resonate.

At the common meal, the director of the retreat center mentioned that he's going to a men's spirituality retreat. That's right, run by Richard Rohr.

Then today, I got an agenda for an upcoming leadership seminar. One of the speakers is a pastor named Tim Keel. Checked out his blog http://www.timkeel.com/Guess who he's been reading? Yep, Richard Rohr.

Who is this man? He's a Franciscan priest who believes deeply that the communal life requires letting other people's pain into your own life. He runs "The center for action and reflection" and he's also well known for his work with the Enneagram and men's spirituality.

In my brief introduction to him, I'm drawn to the message that vulnerability is required for transformation. It feels like a call to get out of my head and into my heart. A call away from contemplation for it's own good (I spend an awful lot of time just thinking) and into an active life engaged with others toward a common purpose.

A few quotes from Simplicity, by Richard Rohr

"By community I mean first of all living in such a way that others can get through to me and influence my life and I can get out of myself and serve their life." pg 65

"The act of our faith consists in donating and giving away what we don't yet have - that's why it's faith. That's so hard for us to understand: How can I give away something that I don't yet even have? Nevertheless I go out and heal others, even though I myself am not yet healed. I heal them through my brokenness, not through my power. Every church community that doesn't include an outwardly directed service for others, a service extending beyond itself, is simply not a Church, it's not Christ." pg 67

My blog post on the DC Young Adults website

2009-10-08T14:46:00.000-04:00

A rotation of writers posts on a website designed for DC young adults who are interested in spirituality and religion but find traditional church doesn't work for them.

I posted yesterday about baseball. That's right, baseball. Seems I've come down with a surprising case of playoff fever. Check it out: dcyoungadults

Recycling in Montgomery County

2009-10-07T15:45:00.000-04:00

Just got this from a parishioner: "Got a post card in the mail yesterday. Some new stuff is recyclable! Pizza boxes included. All wax coated containers and boxes including milk containers and drink boxes! Hardback books! Nonhazardous aerosol cans and Tupperware! Foil products!"

Reduce and reuse are the best, but if you have something to toss, our county is great for recycling. They've just added more to the list of recyclables. Click here to find out what's recyclable in Montgomery County. I know lots of readers don't live here - hopefully you have good recycling programs too.

If you need inspiration, think about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Do you know about this? Read more here. It's a patch of ocean the size of Texas full of floating garbage. The image, not to mentions seagulls with stomachs full of bits of plastic is haunting and ugly.

Creation Care at the Synod Assembly

2009-10-07T13:18:00.000-04:00

Our Metro DC Synod recently had an assembly where we put emphasis on Creation Care. Click here for a slide show of the great things our congregations are doing. Also I've written alternative lyrics for "Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee" based on local congregations' eco-stewardship (please be ready to smile and remember that my rhyming skills are not exactly a spiritual gift...).

The biggest thing the assembly did to go green was hold the meetings locally. Using rough estimates, we probably cut down our travel costs (including environmental costs) by 70%. Plugging the numbers into a fairly standard carbon calculator we found that it took 10 trees a year to cover the carbon used per person for last year's assembly down in Roanoke, VA.(That assumes carpooling of 2 pple per car and a start from downtown DC) . For the local assemblies it was more like 3 trees (also assuming 2 pple per car and averaging starting mileage across the synod).

These calculations shouldn't be quoted in any way but real approximations, but they do indicate that holding the assembly locally was a big environmental savings.

U2 - take me to another place

2009-09-30T15:39:00.000-04:00

I went to the U2 concert Tuesday night. My Jr year of high school, our choir was on tour in Decorah, Iowa so I couldn't go to their concert in Minneapolis. Been waiting to see them ever since. Wish I hadn't waited so long.

If I could, I'd cancel my meetings for tonight night and trek down to Charlottesville to see them again. I've now pledged to never miss another tour. Two days later, the concert is still playing in my head. The music, the visuals, the lights - it was all amazing.

But the best part was being there with other people. It was thrilling to be part of the echo for Bono's "oh-oh-ohs" and hear the sound rise up from the tens of thousands of people all singing together. There was a point when Bono led the crowd in a fast clap and even the most rhythmically challenged had no problem clapping along.

A high point was during one of my favorites, "Beautiful Day." Bono had us shouting "soul" over and over again. When he sang out "Touch me, take me to that other place. Teach me, I know I'm not a hopeless case," most people stretched our arms up to the open skies. I realized afterward that I was praying.

During the U2 hymn "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" the audience took over the singing. It morphed into "Stand by Me." Delightful. See it on Youtube.

I sang through the whole concert at the top of my lungs, grooving away - totally lost in the music. I contrasted that with my timidity at singing the hymns in worship last week (I helped pick them out - not blaming anyone here). We all sang those with luke-warm enthusiasm.

Music can pull people together like little else. But it's sometimes very hard in our worship services to generate that sense of oneness in music where you transcend your own little voice. U2 are masters at involving the audience. One woman in our church who went said she felt connected to the whole world during the concert.

Would love to be able to foster that sense more and more in church. Maybe we should start by all sitting next to each other, rather than all spread out?

Insights from the prodigal son for the ELCA.

2009-09-24T18:41:00.000-04:00

I was recently talking with a group of clergy about the ELCA's recent votes on sexuality and how it's affected our churches . Pastor Dave Sonnenberg of our neighboring church, shared a sermon I found moved me to a different perspective.

He based his sermon on the parable of the prodigal son found in Luke 15. It's about a son who squanders his father's inheritance and still the father welcomes him with open arms. It's a goldmine for understanding God's abundant love and can be interpreted for a variety of situations.

Pastor Sonnenberg interpreted it n light of his thoughts on the ELCA sexuality vote and the way many have felt no longer at home in the church.

He talks about what it is like to be that begrudging older son. That son did everything right and is angry when the father accepts this child into the household who he doesn't think belongs. For more, read Pastor Sonnenberg's sermon, especially if you or someone you know is hurting about this decision. Thanks Dave for sharing.

For more on the prodigal son, check out Henri Nowen's book The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming and if you too are drawn to this parable, you might like the book "and Grace shall lead me home" a collection of art about the Prodigal Son.

Evangelicals know how to communicate. That might mean everything.

2009-09-22T14:52:00.000-04:00

Last week I had breakfast at the Tastee Diner with an old friend from Grad School. He's Evangelical in the common sense (that is, not like I am Evangelical). Ordained Baptist, he walks in Evangelical circles. ("the evangelical cabal, is I think how he put it.)

He was in DC to speak at an evangelical conference called reform. (Made me wonder if anyone who doesn't know 16th century history would accuse Lutherans of being reformers anymore.)

Evangelicals are reforming, especially in light of poverty. Jim Wallis and others of Sojourners are one of the drivers of this growing, good trend in evangelicalism. There's been a shift away from focus on personal moral issues (gender, sex) and toward public moral issues (poverty, peace-making etc.)

As my friend described his recent work on peace-making and how the Church can become a leader in not only tending the wounds of war, but also intelligently engaging the powers that be to work for creative peace, I had one response. It's the same response I not so respectfully have when I hear Jim Wallis (who I do respect) talk about putting ending poverty at the center of religious moral life:

Duh.

My breakfast partner is a good enough friend that I could say that: Duh, followed up with something like:

"This is all great stuff, but there's nothing new about it. The mainline protestants, heck, the Catholics, have been working on this for centuries. The Lutherans have people around the world engaged in creative peace-making. What about the Quakers? They know this stuff cold. What makes you late-comer evangelicals think you are so on the edge of some new discovery about the gospel???"

He agreed that the theological work, the biblical work, and the community work to put poverty and peace-making at the heart of our active christian lives has already been done well, for centuries, by a number of traditions. Lutherans are among them.

But then he came back at me with a good, no a great point. I'm paraphrasing:

"You have all this great stuff, but how do you communicate it? Have you read the Pope's encyclical on the economy? It's basically unreadable. You might have tradition and a canon of literature behind you, but without communication, it's pointless. We evangelicals, we know how to communicate. People listen to us because we know how to talk"

Point well-taken.

She Leads me Beside Still Waters

2009-09-15T16:38:00.000-04:00

Monday is my sabbath day and again, I was reminded yesterday of what a gift this particular commandment is. I woke up full of work-related thoughts and tried as hard as I could to set them aside. Got moving and went to my retreat at Rolling Ridge. I go there once a month for a pastors day away.

I was the only retreatant, but no matter. The host still lead a session on prayer of the heart and it awakened something heart-felt in me. I sat in the sun for an hour trying to pray right - not with my head or with a list, but to sense God's presence. Then took my walk, which always includes a visit to a little waterfall. This water restores my soul. Ate a simple meal. Talked about dreams. Came home full of energy for cleaning and being creative (Monday is also my pottery day, and that's restorative as well). And I woke up this morning with the same to-do-list in my head, but it felt much much more manageable.

The song in my head re: sabbath is the 23rd psalm by Bobby McFerrin. (This is a YouTube link - couldn't find a good listen anywhere else.) The Vintage Sacramental Winers sang it at my ordination. This song puts me in a sabbath place.

I harp on the Sabbath; I mention it all the time. I know so many in my congregation who don't have the time for re-creation. Work, family, pressures all around keep them hopping. But the wisdom of taking a whole day to re-create is undeniable. And it's commanded. And it works.

Who is my neighbor?

2009-09-08T14:44:00.001-04:00

I've got Fred Rogers little ditty: "won't you be my neighbor?" in my head.

I celebrated labor day with a new housemate and new neighbors. Elizabeth, (a minister in training) now occupies the manse at Casey Lane. We had our neighbors over for dinner last night. I'm embarrassed to say that in 22 months of living in my townhouse, this is the first time I've had my neighbors over.

Matt and Megan, on one side of us, moved here a year ago and immediately had me over for dinner and a memorable night of Wii bowling. They extended the hand, and what difference it made. Besides them being kind and caring people, it's just nice to know someone I can call to water the plants.

Yong and Jean are new on the other side. They'll become parents in a few weeks and want to settle in before the baby comes. They needed to know where the mailbox is and when the trash is picked up. All it took was them to bring over a chocolate cake for me to feel committed to them forever.

Some Christians (me among them) have spent enormous mental energy analysing that great question in Luke "who is my neighbor." That's the question that sparks Jesus to tell the tale of the Good Samaritan.

On labor day, the answer was pretty straightforward. Who are my neighbors? Well, if we share a wall, you count. Of course Jesus wanted us to extend that sense of neighborliness to all people, but if I don't even have it with the people I live next to, how can I be expected to share it widely?

I grew up embedded in a neighborhood, but I can't believe how bad I've been at neighborliness. I've heard that if you have children or a dog it's easier to know your neighbors. But without those automatic entrees, it can be hard to reach out.

Glad I finally got my act together to do it. Thanks for a great labor day, neighbor!

Blog worth checking out below

2009-08-27T16:27:00.000-04:00

Hi all - below is a link to a blog by a non-denominational pastor, Greg Boyd, about the tornado that hit Minneapolis during the ELCA's deliberations about human sexuality.

People interpreted that tornado in every way possible, from 'God was angry' to... 'the Holy Spirit descended in a powerful way.'

I appreciated Pastor Boyd's perspective and thought I'd pass it along. Let me know what you think.

http://www.gregboyd.org/blog/did-god-send-a-tornado-to-warn-the-elca/

Peace, Pr Sarah

From Bishop Hanson re: the assembly

2009-08-23T11:56:00.000-04:00

Hi - as promised in church, I'm posting the link to Bishop Hanson's address to the church at the end of the conversations and decisions about how our church understands human sexuality, esp as it influences fitness for leadership in the church.

I found Bishop Hanson's presence throughout the assembly remarkably pastoral and caring. (I watched much of the gathering online at www.elca.org)

I encourage you to watch his message.

Also, a member of our congregation was a delegate at the assembly and she blogged about it. Her blog, as her vote, represents her views and opinions and is not meant to represent of our congregation which is varied on this issue. I found her blog to be wise and faithful reading that helped me understand what went on for our church last week. I encourage you to read that as well by clicking here.

Peace and joy

thankfully, we don't have ballots with chads

2009-08-19T21:55:00.000-04:00

Just a quick report: the Sexuality Statement passed by the narrowest of margins. Literally. One vote. This statement required a 2/3 majority. The numbers were 338 against, 676 for.

I heard from Katie, the member of Prince of Peace who is at the assembly. She said that it was emotional all the way around.

This was not a policy vote, those come tomorrow as a series of resolutions based on the statement. There will be updates and more extensive commentary online by tomorrow, as well as portions of the plenary session that led up to the vote there too: www.elca.org.

elca lgbt...lmi?

2009-08-18T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hi - I just tuned into the ELCA livestream of the Churchwide gathering and my ears are glad to hear us not talking about sexuality or who we will and won't ordain and who we will or will not have full communion with...but about the Lutheran Malaria Initiative.

Not that those other issues aren't important, they are. They even got us mention on the front web page of the Post (We Lutherans don't make it there too often.)

But boy, is it nice to see that we're putting some focus on helping people outside of our church. How I WISH that the thing that got us front page notice was what we've done to stop Malaria or other forms of poverty.

While we have these careful conversations about justice and community within our congregations and denominations, we are still at work to herald peace, healing and wholeness to this world. Hopefully some of the resolutions that come out of this assembly will help us refocus on those in need and help us move past what has been a necessary issue of justice, but is most certainly not our focus.

Follow the assembly at http://www2.elca.org/cwa09/mediaplayer/popup_live.html

First Fruits

2009-08-14T14:37:00.001-04:00

Our Fruitful Field is living up to its name!

Peg just picked up our recent harvest to take to Gaithersburg Help. It's great to imagine that along with the boxes and cans of pre-packaged food, a G-burg Help client might be able to enjoy a nice salad or make salsa with fresh tomatos tonight. Thanks Peg.

We gave 3 different kinds of tomatoes, peppers, beans and carrots. More tomatoes and beans await harvest in the next few weeks, maybe a final round of lettuce and spinach, and the potatoes being grown off-site.

Just do something

2009-08-12T17:06:00.000-04:00

I've recently been in a "get things done" mode. My collection of open loops had become a tangled knot; with the Sr Pastor of our church on sabbatical, I just have to be more efficient; and in a recent conference on leadership, I was struck by how efficient good pastors need to be.

To reorganize my whole life (hah!) I've gotten the classic "Getting Things Done" (David Allen) and I love the ideas. Even if I can't quite get the book done - I'm on pg 67, it's already changed the way I work and I have high hopes.

I was in this get things done mode, when, browsing around Barnes and Noble's religion section, I was drawn to a book called "Just Do Something." It's a little book by reformed pastor Kevin DeYoung about "how to make a decision without dreams, visions, fleeces, impressions, open doors, random bible verses, casting lots, liver shivers, writing in the sky, etc."

A lifetime waffler, I was hooked by the title. I've spent my share of energy asking that God's will be revealed in a way I can read clearly like a burning bush. I believe I might finally be figuring out that if I do chance to see a burning bush I should probably just call the fire department.

I read the book in one day.

Please note; I don't exactly recommend this book. It made me roll my eyes and pull out my theological filter. God's a "he"; people are "men"; and the Christian discipleship is a bit homogeneous and cleancut in a way that isn't true to my form.

He nearly lost me altogether when, in a section on marriage, he assumes that women pursue careers because they haven't gotten married. As a woman who broke off an engagement at the same time she chose to pursue a call to ministry, lines like "young women are going along with their career path because marriage doesn't seem imminent" are just a bit, uh, behind the times.

But the book's premise - that we in the "tinker generation" (thank you Robert Wuthnow) spend too much time looking for THE path to our happiness, tinkering around with decisions, careers, relationships, locations, looking for God's will, strikes a chord. Instead, DeYoung says, we should commit. Make it your life goal to love God and then "just do something." This, he says, is the faithful life.

DeYoung criticises those of us who "overspiritualize" decisions - even life-changing decisions like work and marriage. I do think these are spiritual decisions and I have high regard for the practices of Christian discernment, patience, prayer, and waiting.

But I agree that some of us who search for the spirit to work before we get our feet dirty should remember Jesus isn't looking for clean feet to wash.

From DeYoung:

"Passivity is a plague among Christians. It's not just that we don't do anything; it's that we feel spiritual for not doing anything. We imagine that our inactivity is patience and sensitivity to God's leading. At times it may be; but it's also quite possible we are just lazy...No doubt, selfish ambition is a danger for Christians, but so is complacency, listless wandering, and passivity that pawns itself off as spirituality. Perhaps our passivity is not so much waiting on God as it is an expression of the fear of man (sic); the love of the praise of man (sic), and disbelief in God's providence.

So, I've been making decisions. Starting small. When I get stuck in the inevitable rut of what to do next, I hear a little voice say "just do something." Make the bed, take the dog for a walk, write a letter, wash the dishes, send that email, buy that book, throw it out. Just do Something. And I've been amazed at the energy that flows from these decisions. And now, I've decided to just publish this with no more tinkering. Check "update blog" off my list.

Come home.

2009-08-04T15:10:00.000-04:00

Hi - In the last 6 weeks I've been gone more than here. Workcamp took me to NY with the youth, then to South Carolina for a family reunion (read more below). A week at church and I was off to Minnesota and Wisconsin for a friend's wedding and to soak in the lake country at my parents' cabin. Wrapped it up with a conference on young clergy leadership. I'm back now, and back to blogging.

At the leadership conference, an ice-breaker was "what would be the title of your autobiography." Mine would be something about home. Coming home, being at home, feels like home. I love the prodigal son, coming home.

When I was in the Peace Corps, my father sent me a tape of his barbershop quartet singing "Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling...ye who are weary come home." I wanted to come home often, but home came to me.

I wrestle with the theme of home because I've had lots of them, and in having lots of them, I've risked having none.

It used to be that when I was home in MN, I felt restless and torn between wanting to be there and wanting to flee. I think it's because I didn't have a home of my own. But God gave me a home, or at least a sense of place in the world. That helps me be at home everywhere, even at home:

4425 in Robbinsdale, where my folks have lived since I was 9 mos old; their cabin in the lake country of MN; skipping rocks with my nephew; meeting up with the sibs for happy hour; joy at celebrating a best friend's wedding; fireworks on an old neighbor's lawn; welcoming an old friend's new daughter into the world; church at Peace Lutheran, Mo synod. This life is rich. And I know home.

As I biked around on my last day before getting back to the office, reacquainting myself with my home in Maryland, I was overcome with gratitude for all of these homes.

The first day back at church, someone in need of help paying the rent came to my office. In that week 3 different people contacted our church in need of housing help. People in our midst are in the swing of such difficult transitions that home feels far away.

There's a bumper sticker that advocates for the homeless often sport that reads "Jesus was homeless." There's a contrasting sentiment that Jesus had homes everywhere. Probably what he had was a sense of home, of place, of family, of belonging, that followed him everywhere and allowed him to make a home wherever he was.

People need homes. Physical, spiritual, emotional. Homes.

Softly and Tenderly Jesus is calling. Calling oh sinner, come home.

The Shack - is it ok that I like it?

2009-07-09T14:19:00.000-04:00

I'm preparing for a discussion on William Young's book, The Shack. I first read it a year ago and, much to my dismay, I liked it.

I didn't want to like it. I opened it up ready to critique it. In fact its exactly the kind of book I take some odd pride in not liking.

As far as I can tell, Christian fantasy novels fall into two categories: Great (the Chronicles of Narnia) and Awful (just about everything else).

The Shack is no Chronicles of Narnia. It's a bit too obvious, too overstated, too cheesy, and too theologically laborious for that (there are paragraphs that could be straight out of theological textbooks).

But it's not awful. Not at all. The story is gripping and it teaches smartly about complex topics like the Trinity, the nature of evil, free will, and the love at the heart of God.

I've just finished rereading it to prepared for Saturday's discussion and I remember clearly what I liked about it the first time: It makes me feel loved.

Come to our discussion on Saturday after the 5:00 service. We'll eat a good meal prepared by the women's book group and talk about The Shack till about 8.

If you want to explore its themes further, I recommend a new book called Finding God in The Shack. It's a defense of The Shack from evangelical theologian Randal Rauser. I've only read a third of it so far (the whole thing is available online), but I look forward to reading the rest. I've been looking for a Lutheran take on it, but can't find one. Pass one along if you have one.

And please, let me know what you thought of The Shack.

Out of rocks - Pastor John Rutsindintwarane and hope in Rwanda

2009-07-08T12:45:00.000-04:00

Hi - Last night I got together with a group of people I'd traveled to Rwanda with 3 yrs ago. We were there to hear Rwanda Pastor John Rutsindintwarane give updates on the Lutheran Church in Rwanda and their community organizing efforts.

This is a photo we took 3 yrs ago of the rocks that the community was just starting to crush to make a foundation for a health clinic. Now it is built.

It's impressive in any community with zero financial resources to have built a health clinic. But more impressive is that it took place in a village with no road, no prior access to governmental power, very little education, in a time when their nation was still reeling from a brutal genocide.

It would have been easy to look at that community and write them off as having nothing. Instead, Pastor John identified what they did have. Hope, courage, relationships, common good, and abiding faith in God. They also had an amazing organizer and pastor.

John Rutsindintwarane said he came to give them his mind and his heart. It's his generousity of spirit, faith in God, and belief that people are good more than bad that pulled this clinic together.

Hearing John speak last night, I felt some glimmer that this might have been what it felt like to hear the first disciples talk. They were ordinary people, much like the citizens of Mumeya, pulled into something greater than themselves. They were given hope and love and faith and a person to make them belive it. John shines with God's light and love. You can't help but feel hopeful and faithful in his presence.

The evening ended with us all holding hands. One by one, we praying our blessings on Pastor John, his wife Robin, and their amazing ministry in Rwanda.

I felt my own faith stir. This morning, I feel it rising up as I am deeply aware of a kind of love in the world that is unending.

Vacation...from God?

2009-07-07T10:40:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago I was NY with the high school youth group. It was all about Jesus, faith in action, and Christian love. Faith was explicit and intentional. It was great, but I was exhausted by the end.

Last week, I took off on a much needed vacation. I spent it on the beach in South Carolina for a big family reunion.

If the week in NY was all about explicit faith, the week with my family was the opposite. My extended family runs the spectrum of church-i-ness. We occasionally prayed before we ate, but most talk of God or faith was cousin-ly checking-in about my profession and daily life.

On vacation with 40 of my family members, I took a bit of a vacation from God.

I brought my daily devotional book, my Bible, and a heavy stack of articles and books to read. But I read pure beach pulp. Didn't crack open my Bible, and missed a whole week of daily devotionals. I'm not sure I ever prayed, except in the way that playing in the water or appreciating the beauty of moonlight on the ocean is prayer.

I came back Sat afternoon, but I was still on vacation from work. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to check out another church - maybe the McLean Bible Church or to pop in on worship at a former congregation. But when Sunday morning rolled around, I did something I haven't done for a long time: I skipped church.

Went to brunch with one of my best friends instead. And I have to say, it was pleasant - I understand why people do that. In fact it was so pleasant, that I began to wonder if I could slip into a life where faith and my church community were in the background or, perhaps, not present at all.

The question on my mind that morning wasn't "why don't people go to church." Rather, it was "why do they go at all?"

By Sunday afternoon, hanging out with other friends, the conversation had turned to community, living for something larger than yourself, a meaningful life, music and the elevation of the soul. For me, God is present in that mix.

It was pleasant to skip church, and pleasant to take a bit of a vacation from the daily routine which includes the daily routine of prayer and scripture.

But the time away is still time spent with God in laughter and appreciation and love. God is present, just less explicit. I know that I will always be drawn back into Christian community. Without it, my life would feel hollow. I would start to hunger and thirst for it. For God.

I woke up this morning eager to pray and to put my life explicitly back in the context of God, church, and faith. I'm grateful for a great vacation, but even more grateful for the life I return to.

Gone gone gone...to workcamp

2009-06-20T06:10:00.001-04:00

Been racing around lately - I've been missing blogging, but am afraid I won't get to it anytime soon - will be on a mission trip to rural New York State with our high school youth. Follow our trip. Peace and joy - Pr Sarah

There's a big difference between dying for a cause and killing for a cause

2009-06-10T16:10:00.000-04:00

Last week, an abortion doctor was killed while passing out bulletins in his Lutheran church when an anti-abortion activist shot him.

Today, a security guard at the Holocaust museum was killed on duty when a white supremacist shot him.

I find both murders appalling. They are different events, of course, but they seem related. According to Washington Post press coverage, a reporter also linked these two events, asking the White House if they are concerned about "political violence or domestic terrorism."

I was curious to see if anyone would pick up on the word terrorism to describe these murders. It's a loaded term, for sure, but I'm glad it isn't only reserved for Muslim foreigners or people of Middle-Eastern descent. Here's terrorism, as defined by that reliable source, wikipedia,

Terrorism is a policy or ideology of violence intended to intimidate or cause terror for the purpose of "exerting pressure on decision making by state bodies." The term "terror" is largely used to indicate clandestine, low-intensity violence that targets civilians and generates public fear.

Here's a different definition of a terrorist: a person willing to kill for a social or political ideal. This is decidedly anti-christian, because we are, by definition, people who claim a willingness to DIE for our beliefs, not kill for them. (If you're wondering when we do this, we do this when we pledge to follow Jesus, knowing that means we follow him to the cross.)

Of course, the waters muddy. One of our Lutheran heroes, Detrich Bonhoeffer, made a tortured decision to try to kill Hitler in order to stop him. He failed and he was killed in a concentration camp.

Ethics classes around the world analyze Bonhoeffer's decision and most (at least the ones I've been in) find him to be a saint and justify his actions as the best possible choice to stop the murders. Those communities also acknowledge that the holocaust was a real, evil, and horrendous chapter in history. I'm betting those folks in the world who deny the holocaust aren't making Bonhoeffer a hero.

I can't imagine the white supremacist can come up with any good way to convince any but the most hateful people that his murder was justified. But I can see the abortionist murderer using Bonhoeffer-esque logic to justify his actions. and if we all agreed that abortion was as horrendous as the Holocaust (and some people feel this way), would his action be justified? I don't think we can put abortion on par with the Holocaust, I'm just trying to point out that anytime you are called to kill for a cause, it gets thorny fast.

When my head starts to hurt about things like this, I look for simple answers. Do you think it would work to just get rid of all the guns????

West Bank Story - the anti-crusade - at Wootton tonight

2009-06-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

Last night I went to see West Bank Story at Wootton High school. It's the first stage adaptation of the movie based on West Side Story, based on Romeo and Juliet. You can guess the plot...a Jewish boy falls in love with a Palestinian girl but their families, owners of competing falafel stands, would never approve.

The actual musical was maybe 20 mins long. The students just gave a flavor, but it was enough. Left you wanting more.

The students augmented the production with an Israeli storyteller and a moving slide show with live music.

The best thing about the evening, besides the fact that these kids are ridiculously talented, was that it was completely student run. If you need a little bit of hope about the future, these kids will give it. Many of them are seniors, which means they graduated on Wed and then put on this production the next day. It also means they didn't do it to build a resume for college or to better their chances of getting into the next musical. They did it just because they care about peace in the Middle East.

It's just one more night, tonight, Friday June 5th, at Wootton High School at 7:30. 5$. You won't be disappointed.

Go Crusa.....I just can't get behind the cheer

2009-06-04T13:57:00.000-04:00

My college mascot was the Crusaders. When a few of us complained once that we were ashamed to be associated with such a violent and shamefully un-Christian slice of history, the administration answered - oh, but we're not the Crusaders...we're the Crusaders for Christ.

Somehow that was supposed to make a difference.

I never felt good yelling that cheer. If being a Christian meant taking on some kind of violent mantle for the good of the cause, I want nothing to do with it.

Though we don't call them crusades, many people argue that we're in the middle of a crusader-like culture, where a certain brand of Christianity and the world-view that accompanies it blesses violence in order to get the point across. The violence is as large as a war with anti-Islamic overtones; as complex and lamentable as an abortion doctor being shot in his Lutheran church; and as subtle as someone assuming the Jewish students in her class are rich.

Crusades bless violence. Jesus did not.

Last night I met with some of the college students from our church. We're going to meet every Wed night at 9:00 pm throughout the summer.

Among other things we'll explore what it means to be Christian in a world where people you live with, your best friends and in some cases, some of your family members, aren't.

This question comes up all the time around here. Adults and kids are asking it in various forms It came up in President Obama's speech about US relations with the Muslim world yesterday. It will come up tonight when high school students from our church, working with an inter-faith group of kids,will put on a production about Peace in the Mid East called West Bank Story. It just came up in a casual pastoral conversation with one of our church leaders. And it came up yesterday in an inter-faith conversation about the environment.

I can't imagine we'll get to the bottom of anything in the Wed night discussions, but I hope we will be able to grow in our own faiths while also growing in our ability to love and respect others.

Confessions of an online introvert.

2009-06-02T16:15:00.000-04:00

I haven't blogged for over a week. Not that there haven't been topics - from the church's yard sale, to the musings of my head and heart, to the events of the world. But I haven't felt an ounce of inspiration to write on this blog and I think I know why.

Last week, whenever I was in my office, there were other people around working on the Yard Sale. If I were going to connect with people, I wanted to be with the live church and not the online church.

I'm a fairly strong introvert - I like lots of alone time (just ask the best friend who just moved in with me, or any of the people who work with me).

But I also love people. Given the choice between sitting in front of my computer connecting with people versus talking with living people outside my door, and I'll generally (though not always) choose the live ones.

This blog, I love writing it, but I'm beginning to realize that I might not ever be someone who finds online community totally fulfilling. For instance, I appreciate facebook and know it is an amazing way for people to connect, but I find it mostly exhausting.

I think I like online community only when it enables or connects with a live community. I used facebook the most the few weeks after my family got back from vacation. We all relived our time together on facebook. And then as the memories faded, so did our facebooking.

It's made me wonder how personalities in live communities translate to personalities in on-line communities. Do people who twitter the most also connect face-to-face people the most? Do people with the most facebook friends also have the most friends in real life? Are bloggers extroverts in a way traditional writers usually aren't? Or don't these categories translate online?

Just a few thoughts...Will write more in the next few days, I hope...and hey, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Anna Quindlan's Last Word

2009-05-22T09:59:00.000-04:00

As I prepare for an Ascension Day sermon, when Jesus stepped out of this world leaving a massive space for his disciples to fill, I'm reminded of the last column by Anna Quindlen in Newsweek.

She is stepping aside in order to make room for younger writers with more diversity, technological savvy, and energy. I loved her article in part because she acknowledges openly one downside of the way that her generation hangs onto youth. It doesn't allow the next generation freedom to claim their adulthood. Our institutions and our world suffer when 15-30 yr olds don't have real responsibility.

From our use of technology to rethinking the whole way we do church, young people's voices are vital to the future of the church, yet they are largely absent from power or decision-making. (By the way, in the category "Young Adult" I don't include me. I technically fit the bill, but I no longer consider myself a young adult - certainly not of the generation raised on the web or cell phones)

I think Quindlen is making a great move in stepping aside. But it also gives me pause. I hope she will keep writing in some form, because even as America and the world need the fresh insights of youth, we also need the wisdom of age and experience. We especially need power brokers who understand that youth is a precious and fleeting commodity to be valued.

There is real wisdom in the gathering of the generations. I'd never want a church where, once you hit 30, you became an irrelevant relic. As we think about how young people have real power in shaping the church, there is a challenge before us to be a church that is truly inter generational.

Testifying at the EPA (not your typical Bond girl)

2009-05-20T10:29:00.000-04:00

Monday, I along with other people of faith testified at the EPA's public hearings on their findings that Greenhouse gas pollutants are human health hazards. The EPA is empowered to make stricter rules and regulations on greenhouse gasses as part of the Clean Air Act whether or not congress passes another bill on the matter. We were there to talk about why our faith communities are called to creation care. In addition to many many laypeople, an Imam, Rabbi, Catholic Priest, and Unitarian Universalist Minister also spoke. (As my brother said, I've already heard that joke).

I made sure to wear my best clergy clothes for credibility as a leader. I had on my collar and my clergy black. The rabbi, rabbi Fred of Adat Shalom, was dressed far more casually. Of course he was, because he biked there. As I watched him walk up to testify - with a neon green band to keep his pant leg from catching in his bike still strapped around his ankle - I thought: that's a far better collar to be wearing on a day like this.

At the end of the day, Pierce Brosnan and his wife Keely Shay-Smith showed up to give their celebrity support. I'm as shameless as anyone around celebrity - above is a photo of me with them and Allison Fisher, the talented and dedicated organizer for the Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light. My testimony will be posted on their site soon, along with the other testimonies (check out Imam Johari's - not up yet, but it will be - it's amazing!) and photos.

Overdue report on the Creation Care Carnival

2009-05-13T12:40:00.000-04:00

Just realized I never updated about the Creation Care Carnival. It was great! Thanks Mark for all your work setting it up.

We kicked off with a garden blessing and first planting with gardener Tim. Larry set up a "Take a Worm for a Walk" station and the squeals of kids trying not to drop their squirmy worms made us all laugh. (As a prize for taking a worm to the garden, they got gummy worms). Gordon had a station on what's recyclable where I discovered that even in green Montgomery County, there's a long way to go. Sherri had some alarming stats on plastic bags; Joyce taught us about rain barrels. Laura helped us identify plant odds and ends; April had a bean bag toss and Aaron made signs with creation-y Bible passages.

During the worship services we had a blessing of seeds, soil (a baggie full of compost!), tools, plants, and people. It was right before the offering song. I've always loved its words. Now, every time we sing it, I think of our garden. Our little plants are popping up and growing. Let the vineyards be fruitful!

Let the vineyards be fruitful Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing. Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life. Gather the hopes and dreams of all, unite them with the prayers we offer now. Grace our table with your presence and give us a foretaste of the feast to come. (1978 Lutheran Book of Worship)

from the Synod Assembly

2009-05-09T10:06:00.000-04:00

Hi - I'm sitting with Steve S., Lauren G. and Pastor Steve at the Synod Assembly. That's our church's annual business meeting. We're listening to Rev. Phil Hirsch our new director of evangelical mission tell us in frank terms about the decline of Christianity in America. He just said:

"Evangelism and mission are the same thing. The good news that you say has to match the good news that you do."

The great thing, as he's talking, I feel like he's not in despair about the church. He is talking about the importance of listening, hearing, and trusting God. It makes me excited. God works in such odd and amazing ways in people's lives. The church might be in transition, but God's still the same. Doesn't mean we don't need to get our act in gear and be the church we want to see, but hope, not despair, needs to drive us.

Last night, two of our members, Megan and Laura danced in the worship service. They were breathtaking. They even got an amen. I hope they'll do a repeat at our church sometime very soon. Better stop writing and start paying a bit closer attention. Peace.

Worried about the mainline? Try the a la carte line...

2009-05-05T13:13:00.000-04:00

Hi - I've been away from this blog for a couple of weeks - feels like so much longer. I was out of the office all of last week. Part of the time I was at a conference put on by Yale Divinity School on "The Future of the Congregation."

The conference was organized "at a time when membership in mainline Protestant churches [are] in steep decline in the United States."

The mainline are traditionally Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians and yes, Lutherans.

These denominations hold much in common. They're rooted in different national immigrant cultures. They all, in their own unique ways, helped new Americans find a foothold in the unknown territory of the developing American culture.

They tend to be pitted against various Evangelical denominations (or non-denominations) as the other main Protestant group.

Every one of these mainline denominations is shrinking in the US, and it's the subject of much hand wringing. An article a few months ago in USA Today about the American Religious Identification Survey put some new stats to the scare (mainline down by nearly 6% in the past 18 yrs).

The Lutherans are scared too. We are shrinking. Many of our congregations are struggling. Some of our leaders are in a bit of a panic.

I care about the Lutheran church. I love it. But the fear about our future death has got to be examined a bit more closely.

We talk generically about "the Future of the Congregation" as if one of the options is that there is no future. That's not exactly putting a whole lotta faith in God. It makes me wonder: What exactly are we worried about?

Are we worried that bad theology (fundamentalists!) will win the day? Are we worried that Bach won't get played in church? Is it that people won't know God? Will miss out on real Christian community?

We have to name the fears. Otherwise it sounds like we're just worried about the institution. That's not going to fly.

Many people in my generation, and definitely those younger than me, don't have the kind of institutional loyalty that feeds the decline-of-the-mainline fear.

A label like "Lutheran" isn't enough for us. We require that churches prove their authenticity. And we also don't limit our church involvement to just one congregation or community.

Many of us go a la carte - finding pastoral care from a blog; uplifting worship in a CD of praise songs; spiritual community in an AA group.

I sometimes worship at an Episcopal church on Sunday nights when I'm free; I dig some aspects of mega-church evangelical worship and don't mind an altar call now and again; I'd love to be the pastor of a church where the word "Lutheran" didn't find it's way into the title.

And, true confession here, I'd look around at non-Lutheran churches as well as Lutheran were I in the position of church-shopping. The one year I had free from church commitments, I went Presbyterian as often as Lutheran. And I'm a Lutheran Pastor.

I can already hear the critiques of such an approach (too selfish, too demanding, too non-committal, too lazy, spiritually shallow). Behind the critiques is grief and lament. The church that many people love is changing, and that is sad.

But it's not only sad, or even mostly sad. It reflects that we are in a different time in America.
A hunch I have? Many of us no longer need our denominations to help us forge community as our foreparents did. That means church can be something different than a cultural religious island in the scary storm of a new country. That's a good thing.

Perhaps one reason the Lutherans are shrinking because Germans are not only cool with worshipping with Swedes and Norwegians, but also with Italians, even Mexicans, maybe even Iranians (!) and the culture of the mainlines just hasn't gotten the word.

If this is the case, I'd call off the hand wringing and start thinking about a) how to grieve and b) how to change (aka reform).

ps - For those who don't recognize the picture, it's a lego Luther reforming the church.

Cassette Tapes, Part 2

2009-04-22T19:31:00.000-04:00

So I just wrote the blog below about cassette tapes and was thinking there's a lesson in there for churches. What's nostalgic to some is completely arcane to others, and new-fangled to still others. For some, a blog is a new technology to even consider and for some, it may not ever be a comfortable way to get information. A pastor can have the best blog in the world, there's still nothing like the column in the monthly church newsletter.

To others, a blog is already outdated communication - especially mine, which is fairly tech simple.

I blog, but I don't tweet. And frankly, even though I know it's the wave of communication future, I don't want to.

Same goes for the website, the liturgy, the music - for some the classic hymns hold a place in their heart that no new hymn can ever match. The new stuff sounds awful. Irreverent. Badly written. For others the old hymns just sound, well, old. Boring. Outdated. There are these huge cultural and generational gaps that we have to learn how to bridge. I realize this is an old old problem (the song from Fiddler on the Roof just popped into my head. "Tradition! Tradition....tradition!). It's certainly alive in our church.

Do I sound like Andy Rooney?

2009-04-22T15:10:00.000-04:00

I'm working with a couple of dancers from our church on a liturgical dance at our big Synod-wide worship on May 8th. So we could choreograph, the organist gave us tapes of the music. That's right. Tapes.

I wanted to give the dancers their own copies so they get the music in their heads. I went to Best Buy to buy cassette tapes only to discover that they no longer carry them. The guy in yellow at the door actually laughed at me. "Do you mean CDs?"

I was advised to find tapes for sale online (ahh the irony!)

I'm not that far behind new technology that this comes as a surprise. But it made me feel, well, a bit old. I work with the Senior High Youth and the phrase "When I was your age" slips out of my mouth every once in a while. I try to shove it back in.

I realize it's a slippery slope to becoming Andy Rooney-esque, complaining about every new thing. Certainly mp3 dowloads are handier than bulky tapes. But I can't let them go completely. I have a stack of particularly sentimental ones squirreled away. I could become that person who forces her bored children to listen as she recounts tales of her youth. Oh, that time we skipped school to go see Trip Shakespeare (I've still got that tape, signed by the band) and oh, how much I loved driving listening to Purple Rain (I think I still have that one too, not signed by Prince). The thing is, I also have these in CD form and can download them in a second. But there's something about those tapes.

Don't even get me started on the mixes. A friend's "Sweet and Sour Bob," introduced me to the best of Bob Dylan. "I'll Always Look Up to You" got me through many long nights in the Peace Corps (thanks Freya). I can't get rid of these things. I can replicate the music, but it's more than the music. It's the homemade covers. The cracked cases. I love these tapes.

I guess I'd better hang onto my tape player. Bet you can't find one of those at Best Buy either.

A garden: "gift and accomplishment"

2009-04-17T11:28:00.000-04:00

"Gardening is not only making the world around us beautiful once more but letting beauty transform us. Gardening grows from our deep longing for salvation, so that beauty fills our lives." - Guroian

Sunday I was almost late for church (not good for a pastor on Easter) because I was so captivated by Armenian Orthodox priest Vigen Guroian talking about Easter and gardening on the radio program Speaking of Faith. I could relate to his statement,

"The garden has taught me that beauty is both gift and accomplishment."

Our garden is an accomplishment. It took hard work and long hours to get to this point. The tilled soil is rich and dark; the beds are built; the compost bin is up; and the kids' seedlings are watered and growing. That all took effort.

So much about this garden, however, has been gift.

For instance, we were troubling over wood for the raised beds. Didn't want it to be chemically treated but also didn't have the budget for nice new cedar boards. Tim found a mill that gave us beautiful pieces of wood for free. Because they're the first cuts of trees they're not straight, useful boards. But they're useful to us! When those start to decay in a few years (adding nutrients to our soil), they'll give us more. Free.

We were concerned about soil conditions. I happened to call someone who happened to tell me about leaf mold, free from Takoma Park. They suck up leaves from the streets in the fall and mulch them to give away in the spring. We got a truckful and the soil is beautifully rich and dark. Ready for planting. Gift.

Easter morning, I'd only been in church for a few minutes when I was handed a bagful of seed potatoes to give to Another member who'd offered to take them home to plant because our garden isn't big enough. Thanks to both of them, we'll have rows of potatoes to give away. Gift, gift.

This weekend we'll do more than celebrate our garden. We'll have a whole Creation Care Carnival with activities, special music and a blessing of the garden.

I'm looking forward to that, but not as much as I'm looking forward to the beauty of that first tomato off the vine. There's still lots of work to be done to get to that point, but that means there will also be plenty of gifts along the way.

A few photos from the Easter Vigil

2009-04-15T15:52:00.001-04:00

The Easter Vigil went off without a hitch (unless you call someone's paper candle wax protector lighting on fire during a reading a hitch). There were some unexpected moments and I don't think anyone could accuse us of being slick, but it was worshipful and fun.

Highlights: a whole room lit by tea lights in the shape of a cross, gathering at dusk in the Memorial Garden; the variety of readers, and the moment the lights came on to represent the resurrection. Also, I liked the wine and cheese party afterward.

The whole weekend was wonderful, but there's no time to be lost in nostalgia. This weekend is another big worship service. It's our creation care celebration this Sunday. More on that tomorrow...

Ndatelela at Easter - I am still expecting

2009-04-15T14:15:00.000-04:00

As I wrote before, I was a bit nervous about leaving Lent. Wasn't sure I was ready for rejoicing and celebration. But I was surprised. Easter was great, from the sweep of church services (photos to come) to an afternoon feast with friends and family.

Easter is becoming a time to assess the progress in my life. Two years ago, I was in rural Namibia at my friend Liberty's grandma's house. She named me "Ndatelela" which means "I am expecting." I was full of expectation back then - about to leave Namibia and in doing so, laying to rest a dream of living overseas and working in international development. I was embracing a different dream, but I had no idea what awaited me. My biggest expectations didn't come to pass in any way I would have predicted.

Last year, I put this picture on my front door as I hosted an Easter feast in my townhouse for relatives, old and new friends. It represented such a change from the year before.

Last year during Easter I posed big questions to God and focused on them specifically at the beginning of this Lent. Now it's a new Easter and they don't exactly feel resolved. But I'm not frustrated, and that's new. I'm starting to learn that I am someone who is full of expectation - big hopes and dreams. The problem is that my hopes and dreams rarely come to pass in any way (or in the timing) I can predict. I get disappointed.

But disappointment is never the final word. I always get to peace. God always brings me there. And that's happening in this season too. Though some big questions remain open from Lent, I am surprised at how renewed I feel. Blessed. Beloved. There is more good in this life than I can possibly appreciate. I am still expecting, but my heart is open and it's a wonderful way to be. Happy Easter. Ndatelela.

Keeping worship real

2009-04-10T10:32:00.000-04:00

It's Good Friday. Yesterday, Larry - one of our gardeners - and I were out in the garden when we decided to make a cross from some fallen trees in our woods. It was a perfect weather day and we enjoyed it. We wondered if we should be a bit more somber, given the task at hand, but we chatted and bonded as we worked. When Larry hammered the first nail, we talked about who may have made Jesus' cross. What was that person thinking? The cross is draped in black in the sanctuary now.

I'm busy working on the last minute details for our Easter Vigil - the Sat night before Easter. This is the first time we've done such a service at this church and I'm excited. It's the same thrill I got before acting in plays in high school. We even have a stage director, spot lights, special effects and a lighting artist. There's a definite performance aspect to worship, especially this week.

Last night some people at worship washed each other's feet. It's an awkward thing. No one quite knows how to do it and everyone feels a bit uncomfortable. Do my feet smell? Am I washing yours correctly? It's the awkwardness for both the washer and the washee that creates a great moment. This is real vulnerability on both sides.

I'm fighting the urge to make sure everything is slickly planned for tomorrow night. Yes, I want it to go well, but some awkwardness is inevitable and the awkwardness is actually good. Worship can be a lot like theatre, but if the only performers are the pastors, the congregation has no part but to watch.

That's not worship, it's entertainment. These awkward (beautiful? fun?) moments happen in worship because we're all taking part in something we don't usually do. We form ourselves into a community as we go.

Lenten discipline and Living Biblically

2009-04-08T14:01:00.001-04:00

Lent is almost over and Easter is coming. That means that next Monday, I can drink a whole pot of coffee, wash my clothes in very hot water, and dry 'em in the dryer all day long just for fun.

The Lenten disciplines will be done and I should be getting ready to shout Ha****jah. (Another part of Lent, we don't say that word until Easter).

But I'm a bit sad to see Lent go. I am terrible at New Year's resolutions, but I'm surprisingly good at Lenten disciplines. There's wisdom in the 40 day timeframe - long enough to make you realize it is possible to function without a gallon of coffee every morning, but not so long you're afraid to try.

But it's deeper for me. I have a pious, desert father-esque spiritual side that enjoys fasting and a bit of spiritual extremism. I was that way even as a kid. One year I went from Good Friday to Easter Sunday without speaking, by choice.

I just read a hilarious and smart book called "The Year of Living Biblically." The author, AJ Jacobs, (pictured above) is a culturally Jewish New Yorker who decides to try to follow all the Biblical laws for a year. It was a great book to be reading during Lent.

I figured he would do it in order to poke fun of religious people who take things to an extreme. (It didn't occur to me - even as I was reading it on the bus because I'd declared a car fast - that I might just be an extremist he'd poke fun at.)

I was mistaken. Not about me being an extremist, but about him being irreverent. He was remarkably reverent, even as he pointed out the ridiculousness of a stance that says you can follow the Bible literally 100% of the time. This video is a bit long, but worth it to introduce him.

His biggest lesson was that practices influence disposition. That makes sense to me. I am disposed to prayer, but I also pray daily because once I took it on as a Lenten discipline and it stuck. I'm disposed to going to church, but now that my work puts me in worship 3 times a week, I find I love it more.

Religion has a very different role for AJ Jacobs than it does for me, but I agreed with him throughout his book and especially on that major point: Practices are important for cultivating faith.

Question to think about: what practice (religious or otherwise) has changed your life?

The end of the carfast.

2009-04-02T12:35:00.000-04:00

Hi - I'm sorry I didn't write about the end of the car fast till now. Might have been the ride in the rain last week, but I got sacked with a sinus thing and haven't felt up to writing again till now.

I think I last wrote on Thursday. That evening I again had an offer of a ride home. I refused that time because I was on my bike and it was a pleasant night. But as requested, I called the people when I arrived just so they wouldn't worry. It's nice to think that people worry.

Friday, I bussed to church no problem. I planned to bus back home but the bus just didn't seem to come. I waited for what felt like hours (probably more like 35 mins) and was giving up hope when a beige mini-van pulled over. It was one of the church members taking her kid home from soccer practice. They gave me a ride. Thank you!

The fast ended on uneventfully on Saturday. I bussed to church, rode with a friend out to dinner and to a student musical afterward, and then walked the 20 mins home along a well-lit road lined with yellow forsythia on a cool night. It was a great walk to end the fast.

What lessons did I take from the car fast?

1) I can do better in my everyday life to drive less. Using a bike, bus or metro takes more planning and it doesn't work all the time, but it isn't hard to do.

2) People are generous. I got many offers for rides and apologies from people who didn't offer rides because they didn't know I was carless. Taking rides was, if you remember, originally against the rules of the car fast. But I changed it and am glad I did. It's nice to be able to take people up on offers of generosity. And I surely appreciated the rides. It's environmentally best not to drive at all and only use public transportation, but carpooling is still better than individual riders.

3) I didn't talk on the phone as much . I didn't realize until I did this car fast just how much I talk on the phone when I drive. When I'm at church or at home I'm usually busy with something and don't take the time just to talk. Think what you want about the safety of cell phone use while driving (I know, I know. I swear I'm safe - but everyone does, right?), but that time in my car is valuable for keeping up my friendships.

4) It's not cheap to go carless. The metro and bus systems cost me more than gas would have that week. Granted, the wear, tear and cost of upkeep on a car still makes the car more expensive, but public transportation isn't cheap. I spent almost exactly 20$ during the week and I would have spent more but for all those rides.

The car fast is over now, but I'm hoping I'll keep some of the habits. Biked on my trusty Red Raleigh this morning. Thanks to all who followed and who helped me by giving rides. I'll do it again next year - who wants to join me in Lent, 2010???

Update on Death and Dying, Session 4: hospice, wills, planned giving.

2009-03-27T10:10:00.000-04:00

Our session on Wed was sort of a whirlwind tour of practical ways to prepare for death.

Monica from Montgomery Hospice started us out with a presentation on hospice care. I was, again, impressed with hospice workers' caring attitude. Listening is a key part of their work, as are pain management and comfort care. The medical profession often gets a bad rep but hospice is a shining star. Monica cited new research about the amount of money hospice saves the health care system. By attending to the critically ill in their homes with consistency and care, hospice helps patients avoid expensive trips to the emergency room and long hospital stays. Medicare and insurance often cover hospice. Regardless of ability to pay, they never turn down a patient. I found myself wishing that more elements of our health care system functioned with the hospice's patient-centered attitude. It seems humane, dignified, and healing in more aspects than just the physical.

One of Monica's mantras is "meet people where they are." She described her work like being on an elevator: the patient and family push the buttons, the hospice worker is a caring presence on the ride.

We then shifted to hearing from Kurt, an estate lawyer. Now I admit, I kind of tune out when legal terms get thrown around. It's surprising how stupid I am about legal matters considering my father is a Law Professor. Maybe I just knew I don't have to worry about it because I think that he, or my lawyer brother, or my lawyer sister-in-law will always be there to advise me.

But, Kurt did a remarkble job breaking down the basics of legal planning for death. Most people think first of a will (which I don't have...) but there are some aspects to planning that aren't so obvious. A big element is getting a team of people in place. Kurt highlighted the need for:
- A Durable Power of Attorney - to take care of legal matters if you can't.
- A Health Care Agent - to make health care decisions if you can't.
- A Personal Representative - named in your will.

If you have children under the age of 18, you'll likely want to set up a trust. To do so you'll need:
- A Trustee and
- A Guardian

Kurt highlighted that you also want alternates for all these roles and above all else, the people you choose should be people you trust completely.

If all this makes your head swim (as it does me), contacting a lawyer is a good place to start.

Last, we heard too briefly from Alice Benson of Lutheran Planned Giving. She stressed that wise financial planning can ensure the charities and church that you care about now receive your support after your death. She especially encouraged considering Lutheran ministries in your will (if Lutherans don't support Lutheran ministries, who will?)

Some of her suggestions:
- Consider tithing your estate;
- Rather than leaving a big one time gift, leave an endowment that can be drawn out over time;
- If you have 2 children, consider a 3rd "ministry child" and split your legacy between all three;
- In your will, include a statement of your faith so that your children inherit that as well.

Alice has wise, creative ideas and loves to talk about them. She can be contacted through the Lutheran Planned Giving Website.

That's a thumbnail of the session. Our last session is Wed, April 1 from 8:00-9:15. We will review what happens at a funeral and give people a chance to plan their own funerals. That might sound daunting, but it's a wonderful way to reflect on the meaning of your life and death.

Car Fast Day 3 (oops, I did it again) and Day 4 (You Go Girl)

2009-03-26T17:03:00.001-04:00

Well, as predicted, I broke a car fast rule again last night. I got a ride home. Not as carbon neutral as I'd like, but I'm no hero and it's just nice to take people up on offers like that. Plus it felt kind of snooty to turn them down.

The closest comparison is that awkward moment when a host who has cooked up a great pot roast discovers that one of the guests is a vegetarian. I respect the vegetarian, but it can affect the overall dinner party mood. Most vegetarians are artful in navigating such scenarios gracefully. I'm not so skilled. I prefer avoiding the scene altogether.

When I do a fast from food, I'm relatively quiet about it and it avoids the awkwardness. I arrange my schedule to avoid dinner parties and other moments where my fasting will affect the community at large. With the car fast, I've been much more vocal and public. (You didn't see me blogging about my food fast, now did you?). Maybe that was dooming the fast from the start. Jesus commands our fasts to be in secret and I can see why. It makes people feel weird to find out you are fasting. Also, it makes them feel secretly judged. The holier than thou feeling creeps in.

I was vocal about my car fast because part of its purpose is to draw attention to our carbon footprints. It would be counterproductive to be silent about it. But once I've spoken about it, I need to accept the consequences.

One of the consequences is that people care. I don't think this congregation has it in them to be comfortable with me standing out in the dark cold night to wait for a bus. And frankly, I think that speaks volumes about their kindness. And it's not just for me - they'd do it for anyone in the church. So, rule #2 has been canned. I'm accepting rides.

But I was glad that last night the people who gave me a ride home humored me. They stopped 50 feet from my front door so that I could walk home. I loved that they did that. And even after I'd called the woman a temptress.

Well, today was day 4.

It's the kind of drizzly day that you don't really need an umbrella, but if you're out, say, biking for an hour, you will get wet. My socks and gloves are drying on my heating unit. Despite the cold and rain, I enjoyed the ride. I noticed people I don't normally notice, saw the way the neighborhoods change fairly dramatically, and discovered that the roads in Rockville are in much better condition than the roads in Wheaton.

I wasn't biking fast, but I basically kept pace with the bus. Tried to ride on the side roads when possible and I rode on quite a few sidewalks. I usually frown on sidewalk riding (the bike's proper place is the road) but I like my life and want to stay alive for a while. There were too many cars out there today who didn't have the same set of priorities.

I had flashes of road rage when people got waay too close for comfort. I designed an invention in my head much like those fancy spokes that stick out from car hubcaps to let them know if they've hit the curb. These would stick out from a bike and brush against cars that got too close, making some horrendous noise and getting the cars to move over. If that comes out in the next few years, you read it here first.

By and large though, drivers noticed me and kept their distance (the blinking light on back and the bright headlight on the front, not to mention the neon vest, all certainly help). I was flagging on the ride back to church when someone called out from the sidewalk in downtown Rockville "You go girl." Ya. I'm going to pull on those toasty socks and ride to the next destination. You go.

Preparing to Die Well - Death and Dying, March 25

2009-03-25T17:56:00.000-04:00

Hi - quick overview of what we'll cover tonight in the 4th of our 5 death and dying sessions, Preparing to Die Well.

A representative of Montgomery Hospice will come and do Hospice 101. They are real experts at helping people die with dignity and peace.

A lawyer from our congregation, Kurt, will tell us about the legal aspects of death, from wills and DNRs to the legal issues after a death has occurred.

And the director of the Lutheran Planned Giving Consortium in DC, Alice Benson, will tell us about preparing financially for your death, making sure that you are leaving money where you want it to go.

Will give an update and resources tomorrow.

Car fast, day 2 - broken again!

2009-03-25T12:04:00.001-04:00

Despite Monday night's experiment in being left behind (pun intended), I'm becoming a fan of the bus. True, the timetable is only 25% accurate. (According to my data set: 3 out of 4 of the buses I've taken have had no correlation to the schedule. When I asked this morning if the bus that came at 10:35 was the 10:23 or the 10:50, the driver didn't seem to know what I was talking about.) But I haven't given the bus a fighting chance.

Up till now I've had bus prejudice. I've favored the metro. But the metro isn't everywhere and it doesn't run on a schedule either. It takes a lot more infrastructure to move people on a metro than a bus. I'm still glad they're putting in a metro line to Dulles, but let's not underestimate the bus.

The bus is fairly straightforward. It's clean, easy, and flexible. Plus, it reminds me that for three years in high school, I formed some of my best friendships on a bus. (The exception was our Jr year when my friend Chriss gave me a ride to school in his legendary Monte Carlo. Our senior year it was back on the bus. Something about his car needing oil to run properly...)

The bus was my preferred mode yesterday. I bussed to church, and planned to bus home. Foiled again!

Last night the evening church meetings were over with plenty of time for me to catch a bus, no problem. No problem except that the people in my congregation are so kind that before I even started to leave, 3 of them cornered me (kindly!) and made the case for why they each could give me a ride. I had a feeling I wouldn't wiggle out of their concerned, generous grips without a fight, and frankly, the thought of a ride seemed delightful. So I accepted. I chose the person I thought lived closest to me. We chatted away and I was home in a jiffy. Yes, I broke a rule, but I also experienced one of the benefits of any kind of fast - awareness of my dependence on others.

Today though, I'm determined not to break it. I bussed in (it got too late to bike) and will bus home. I'll have to fight off the kindness of the congregation offering rides (people here are seriously nice.) But I think I can do it. And if not - I'll beg forgiveness.

A check in on how the car fast is going? So far, it's been surprisingly inconvenient. I thought I'd hardly notice, but I do. It's a pain. I didn't know how much I depended on the freedom of being able to run out to a store, restaurant or gym whenever I wanted.

Working out has been the biggest challenge. I'm used to hitting the pool or yoga studio at least 4 times a week, but it is hard to get there without a car. I could bike to the gym, but doesn't that defeat the purpose? ...ding ding ding...that's my answer. I won't get to the pool this week, but I will bike a lot. Also, you don't need a gym to go jogging, and that's what I did this morning.

Tomorrow I have about 30 miles of riding in order to make a couple of meetings. No sweat! And I mean that - it's supposed to be chilly. Here's hoping it doesn't rain.

Car fast, day 1

2009-03-24T12:24:00.000-04:00

My car fast technically began yesterday, but my preparations began Saturday when I test drove new cars. My truck isn't long for this world (yes, let the weeping begin) and I am on the verge of falling in love with a bright red VW Golf diesel, circa 2005. But now I'm fantasizing about owning a new car instead of thinking about having no car...

(I also fantasize about big Italian dinners when I'm doing a fast from food, and I couldn't resist bacon when I was a vegetarian. Not helpful.)

Back to the Car Fast. To prepare I juiced up my SmartTrip card, downloaded bus schedules, plotted out my week and developed a short set of rules:

1) I can't drive a car (nor a purple truck, for all you legalists).
2) I can't ride in someone else's car unless it in no way makes them alter their route. (No rides all the way home, but I can get closer.)
3) I will break the rules in case of a pastoral emergency.

Yesterday, was my first day. Monday is my rest day and I didn't even leave the house until 3. I normally would have run errands, but no truck, no Target run. I was a bit anxious until I realized I didn't need anything, I just sometimes like to go to Target and buy new lipgloss or a picture frame. I decided to relax (didn't someone recently preach about the Sabbath?) and enjoy the day in my home.

In the evening, I had to venture out because I had a class in Glen Echo, Maryland. Car fast challenge #1.

I caught the bus to downtown Rockville easily, except that it was 6 minutes early which seems like a problem. When the bus is running early, shouldn't it wait? The bus was early but I was earlier. No problem.

In downtown Rockville I returned a library book, window shopped, and meandered to the metro station. I took the metro to Bethesda and walked up the long stairs out of the metro station, right past the bus loading area. I looked around downtown Bethesda, forelorn for a minute until I heard the screeching of breaks below me and found my way down to the underground bus station. I joined the line-up of commuters, hopped on my bus and was to my destination with time to spare.

It was liberating and fun. I felt independent and city-wise. I don't need a Golf. I don't even need a truck! All was going well until the return trip.

I had figured out exactly what time I needed to leave in order to catch the last bus to Rockville (Isn't there a REM song about that? Or is it Elvis?). I thought about giving myself wiggle room and leaving on an earlier bus, but I was already leaving class earlier than I'd wanted. I decided to trust the system.

I stood out under the RideOn sign for about 10 minutes and was starting to fret when, at exactly 8:59 pm, the bus came around the corner. I was relieved and had a little thrill that my experiment in public transportation was going to work. I waved down the bus and stepped out to the curb. The bus slowed down and...as I walked right up to it...sped up again. It didn't see me. I was even wearing a reflective white jacket and it passed right on by.

I banged my fist on the door, the side, the back as it drove away. I ran across the street to catch it...yelling like a madwoman, of course. Damn bus! There I was, alone in the dark with a bruising knuckle and no way to get home on public transportation.

I weighed my options.
#1 - Take a taxi. (I thought I'd get RideOn to pay for it. When I called RideOn this morning to register my complaint, I discovered they don't reimburse for such things.)
#2 - Go back into my class and ask someone there for a ride. A fine option, but no one lives anywhere near me, the class wouldn't be over for an hour, and I don't know anyone that well.
#3 - Phone a friend.

I phoned a faithful friend who picked me up and delivered me home, all the while trying to lift my defeated spirits. I was bummed. My carbon footprint ended up far bigger than if I had just driven myself. I broke my rules on day one.

This morning I considered bagging the whole thing in light of last night's defeat, but I rallied. I thought of biking, but it's cold and it will be late when I leave. So back to the bus.

I was walking to the bus stop when the driver who'd already passed the stop (again, early!) saw me coming, pulled over and waited for me. I got to church in good time. A bit of redemption.

One question to God about death.

2009-03-19T12:31:00.000-04:00

In the class on death and dying last night, we each wrote one question to God about death. Here's the list we came up with. We didn't really answer them, (many of them have no real answer), but we did talk about how faith helps us respond to the mystery of death and the afterlife. It was interesting to me that many of the questions centered on the nature of heaven but only one of them asked what we need to do to get there. We assumed (rightly!) that our future with God is secure, but it is still a frightening prospect.

Here are the questions. Feel free to add your own in the comments.

Do you promise absolutely to hold my hand while I die? I am afraid it’s going to be way too intense and painful.
Will my death be quick or slow as I am – NOW anxious for our meeting.
Dear God, will you be there with me or close to me?
Do you know ahead when/how I will die? How far ahead?
Could you describe in simple terms, that man, could understand, what does eternity look/feel like??
Will I be able to be with my loved ones (human and animals); explain :)
What is the afterlife like?
What is heaven like and will we be reunited with loved ones from this life?
Is it like going to sleep?
What does it feel like to get to heaven and what can I do to get there?
What should I be trying to improve?
Will I know people, communicate with them, feel as if we’re all alive as we “talk?”
In the afterlife, can I look over my family?
How do you decide whether a person’s death will be quick or long (sudden or lingering)?
Why can’t people who die talk/communicate etc. with us afterwards?
Will I be able to talk to people I love?
What can I expect after death? Will I meet my Mom and Dad again and will we know each other?
Will all ill feelings be gone/erased without memory?
Does it make any difference concerning the kind of life someone has led – to the suffering or lack of suffering of their death?
When dead, can we comfort those we leave behind?
Why is the idea of death so scary? Why is it so hard to overcome the pain of losing someone?
Will I feel your presence and be reunited with those I’ve loved and lost to death?
How is my denial of death keeping me from you?
Are there hierarchical levels on the other side? If so, what does one have to do to go from one level to the next?
Why did he have to die so soon?
Why do you allow us to die?
Do I get to meet all of my family and friends who have gone before me? And will I be educated on all the Secrets of the Universe?

God and Death

2009-03-18T16:10:00.000-04:00

Last week at the Death and Dying class we covered grief and grieving. It was a wonderful session, but we only scratched the surface.

Tonight we're going to be similiarly heroic (or ridiculous) in trying to cover a huge topic in 1 hr and fifteen minutes. Tonight's topic?

God and death. We'll look at our faith tradition and Scripture to draw out what we believe about death as a church. Pastor Steve will present on how what we know about God in our lives can influence how we view God in our deaths.

The class will begin with us each writing a question re:

If you could talk with God face to face and ask 1 question about death, what would it be?

More resources etc to come.
Peace - Pastor Sarah

In the Post!

2009-03-14T15:03:00.000-04:00

Not much time to write because I'm finishing a sermon for this afternoon's service, but I want to let you all know that Prince of Peace's creation care team got in the Post today. The article highlights churches who are carbon fasting for lent. Very cool. Our carbon fast calendar (thanks Joyce) has great, easy suggestions for being more conscious of your impact on the environment. Most are quite simple ways to start paying attention. Yesterdays suggestion:

When boiling or heating water on the stove, use a pan with a lid. Only use as much water as you need.

That's pretty simple, right?

Before I came in the church to finish up writing, I went to check on our garden - a faithful gardener was out there hard at work. "The pressure's on!" he said, noting the Post article says we're rolling out the garden on April 19th. Kids have seeds that they are watering, the fence is being constructed right now. We're right on time. Back to the 10 commandments - the subject of today's sermon.
Peace all -

Grief, ps..

2009-03-11T21:59:00.000-04:00

Just finished the session on grief and grieving. I'd worked up a powerpoint presentation complete with audio clips etc but didn't get to it at all because people's stories carried the evening, as I should have trusted they would. I learned so much. People told their stories of grief with such wisdom, honesty and care. It felt to me like the kind of space that opens up healing. Thank you all who were here. It was preceded by evening prayer, soup and another one of our members giving a faith testimony which was a beautifully wrought reminder that each faith journey is unique. I feel blessed by the evening and tired at the anticipation of the day ahead. Peace and good night.