Shepherding in Various Ways

The best, most rewarding and sometimes the hardest part of being a pastor is the sacred spaces that people allow you into. Since Palm Sunday, I have spent more time walking, praying and just accompanying my parishioners at the hospital, the funeral home and in circumstances of life. It's a sacred and sometimes sad privilege to be let into people's lives like that.

Saturday the church council and I  went to Camp Penuel in Eldred, PA for a church council retreat. We are blessed to have such committed leaders. It was a really good retreat and I thank God for his work among us as we studied, prayed and tackled the subject of change and what that might look like at Bethel.  We also set some BHAGs--big, hairy, audacious goals.

Then yesterday was Good Shepherd Sunday and it felt strange to be away from church. I was traveling to S. C. for the Evangelical Lutheran Coalition for Mission in Appalachia Assembly as  one of my synod's delegates to the assembly.

It was a very long day. I flew out of Buffalo and then my connecting flight in Charlotte, NC was delayed several hours. About 12 hours after I left the house, I arrived at the hotel. My husband is home holding down the fort.

So, I am looking forward to these  days of the assembly. And I am looking forward to what God has in mind for God's sheep at Portville, NY. What a privilege to journey together as a community of faith.

The above picture is a Palestinian woman looking after the sheep, which reminded me of my years in Palestine and seems like such an appropriate image.


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Ash Wednesday Community Building

For the first time in anyone's memory, we held a community Ash Wednesday service. This was a cooperative effort of the Methodist, Presbyterian and Lutheran churchs. The response was overwhelming. This will now be an annual event.

We three pastors each preached a short homily following each of the scripture texts that were read. I preached on the Isaiah text. Here is the message I shared:

At first glance, it’s easy to see why this portion of Isaiah is read on Ash Wed.

     It’s about fasting, which is a discipline some folks practice during Lent

     This reading is about right and wrong fasting and worship

          But the heart of the message goes far deeper

“God was disturbed by Israel’s lack of social justice. Their fasting had become [a public show. It was] a means to boast of their righteousness rather than live out a faith where one cares for one’s neighbor” (Dr. Keith Wagner)

The people of Israel were trying to build a new community

This generation was back in their homeland after living in exile in Babylon

People were jockeying for position as factions were grabbing for power

All the while the people prayed loudly and fasted with false humility

They had some real worship issues

            At first glance it seems like they understood worship

                        God said, “they seek me and delight to know my ways”

                                    “they delight to draw near to [me]”

                        But God also said that the people of Israel sinned

                                    By serving their own interests

                                         And ignoring the hungry, naked and homeless                                            members of their own people.

            There was a disconnect between the people’s worship and their everyday lives.

                   God wanted his people to live lives of mercy and justice.

God wants worship that flows from a dynamic relationship between himself and his people--that will change lives.

We too, here in Portville, are building a community as we gather here tonight

We are building the community of the body of Christ, the church.

As our lives are affected by our encounters with God and each other our communities of Portville and the surrounding areas are changed.

Christ is doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves

During this time of Lent, we embark on a journey that leads to the cross on Good Friday.

The death of Christ on the cross was the greatest act of love that our Creator could do on  our behalf.

            Our response to that love should be to reach out to others with:

            food, clothing, shelter and love.

            We are called to be Christ’s hands and feet to those we meet.

In the song, “If We are the Body,” The Christian group, Casting Crowns expresses it this way:

But if we are the body

Why aren’t his arms reaching?

Why aren’t his hands healing?

Why aren’t his words teaching?

And if we are the body

Why aren’t his feet going?

Why is his love not showing them

There is a way?

Amen!

What else will this group of Portville mainline pastors (all women) get into? You never know. Stay tuned. We are the newly reformed Portville Ministerium. 

God Sightings and Hearings

Our congregation is beginning God Sightings, which is more than a Bible study, more than a devotional. It's a means to look for ways in which God is at work in our everyday lives. The program consists of scripture reading from a one year Bible and a companion guide for journalling.  We will officially begin this study in Lent and it will continue beyond that time. Our hope is that God's people at Bethel Lutheran Church, Portville, NY, where I serve as pastor, will embrace this opportunity to engage scripture, our faith and God in a way that we have never done before. It is my conviction that if each of us does this, God will turn our lives and our church upside down.

Speaking of God sightings, this Sunday's gospel on the transfiguration is a case of God sightings and hearings. Some questions came out as we talked about the text at Bible study Tuesday night. We attempted to discern what God was doing in that text, what God is saying to us personally and what God is saying to our congregation. Our questions were:
1. What do we miss when we don't go into God's presence?
2. Do we expect to hear from God when we pray?
3. Do we expect God to show up?
4. Do we settle?
We also felt that God is challenging us as a community to expect great things from God, to go out from the glory of God into the needy world, to stay awake and listen to God and to let God's greatness astound us!

It is with these questions and statements in mind that I have approached this gospel passage for this Transfiguration Sunday. A couple of additional thoughts have occured to me, the first a question of my own, "What voice do each of us hear?" and a thought that the transfiguration is an example of a God sighting (and hearing) par excellence. We'll see where the Spirit leads as I further engage God's word.

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...and you!

It has been an amazing day of ministry. Today we celebrate the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. This morning we had a great service, then I spent time with the confirmation class training them to be acolytes, communion assistants and lectors.

But I think the highlight of my day came this afternoon when a group of us went to a nearby nursing home for a service of holy communion. Most of the residents were very engaged in the singing, prayer and communion. One of them didn't want to let go of my hand when we were singing. What really topped it all off for me though was when I communed another woman. When I said, "The body and blood of Christ given and shed for you" (I intincted the commununion host for the residents), she said "...and you!" We both said "Amen!" It was just an amazing connection that we had.

The homily I shared with them was a shortened version of the sermon I preached at Bethel. The gospel text was Luke 3:15-17, 21-22. Here is my sermon:

            How many of you ladies enjoy wearing jewelry? Some of us like to wear lots of jewelry-bracelets, rings on many fingers, earrings and all sorts of stuff. Others just wear a watch and a ring on their ring finger and maybe simple earrings. I have to admit that my weakness is earrings, especially when they’re on sale. How many of you like getting jewelry as a present? Jewelry can be one of the most precious gifts we can be given, especially if the jewelry contains precious stones like rubies, emeralds, or diamonds. Have you ever considered baptism as a gift?

            Baptism is one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. Baptism strengthens and comforts us. Baptism reminds us who we are and whose we are. Martin Luther wrote concerning baptism:

To appreciate and use Baptism aright, we must draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and we must retort, “But I am baptized! And if I am baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body...” No greater jewel, therefore, can adorn our body and soul than Baptism, for through it we obtain perfect holiness and salvation, which no other kind of life and no work on earth can acquire. 1

 

We find our identity as God’s children in baptism.

            Today, we are celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. Have you ever wondered why Jesus needed to be baptized? After all, he was sinless. Jesus' baptism was not about repentance. It was about his identity being publically, ritually, connected to God. It was also an opportunity for Jesus to identify with sinners. In Jesus’ baptism, we have a revelatory three-part drama. The heavens are opened, the Holy Spirit comes down upon Jesus and there is a voice from heaven.

            In Luke’s gospel, an interesting phrase precedes the opening of the heavens. Luke says that Jesus “was praying.” It is after Jesus was baptized and while he was praying that the Holy Spirit descended. This present tense praying means that Jesus was still praying when the Spirit descended. Throughout his gospel, Luke emphasizes Jesus praying. Prayer surrounds major events in Jesus’ life such as his baptism, before selecting the twelve, before the transfiguration and before his arrest and death. Jesus’ praying motivated the disciples to ask him how to pray. Jesus’ response was the Lord’s Prayer.

            As Jesus was in prayer, the Holy Spirit came down and anointed Him for service. The church in the book of Acts was praying and waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Today’s church too should be constant in prayer and also waiting for the Holy Spirit. What would happen if we prayed as Jesus and the early church did? What blessing is God waiting to pour down upon us? What might the power of the Holy Spirit look like if unleashed in today’s world?

            Another important factor in today’s gospel is the voice of God the Father talking to Jesus, his Son. After the descent of the Holy Spirit, God’s voice was heard from heaven. Here, God the Father affirmed the identity of Jesus. “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” This was a pivotal experience for Jesus. It set in motion the series of events that were to follow. Jesus must live out his identity as God’s Son and meet the Father’s expectations.

This account about Jesus’ baptism is much less about the actual baptism than it is about who Jesus really is. Not only does this passage introduce and begin to answer the question of Jesus’ identity and mission, but also it highlights the work of the Holy Spirit in anointing people for ministry. Luke is sometimes referred to as the “up and out” gospel because it emphasizes the role and power of the Holy Spirit more than the other gospels. People are filled up with the Holy Spirit and then sent out into mission in the world.  This applies not just to people in the first century… but also to us in the 21^st century.

            Baptism teaches us who we are—God’s beloved children—and confers upon us God’s unconditional love. As David Lose points out:

In an era when so many of the traditional elements of identity [have vanished]… we change jobs and careers with frequency, most of us have multiple residences rather [than] grow[ing] up and liv[ing] in a single community, fewer families remain intact – there is a craving to figure out just who we are. In response to this craving and need, baptism reminds us that we discover who we are in relation to whose we are, God’s beloved children. We belong to God’s family, and baptism is a tangible sign of that.

Because baptism is completely God’s work, we can be confident that no matter how much we mess up, nothing we do or fail to do can change our identity as God’s beloved children.

            Baptism is our initiation into God’s family, the church. It is the starting point for new life and new identity. Fire is the purifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God preserves what is valuable and destroys what is worthless. Through our baptism, events are also set in motion for our identity as children of God. Just as Jesus needed to live out his identity as God’s Son and meet the Father’s expectations, so must we. God’s expectation for us is to work together with Him to reconcile the world to himself. How do we do this? We must first develop our relationship with God through prayer, reading scripture and receiving Holy Communion. We then have to develop our relationship with each other through worship and fellowship, and as this church knows, eating together! Finally, as a church we develop our relationship in the community through various outreach opportunities such as the food pantry, Genesis House, visiting the elderly and shut ins, visiting people in the hospital and doing volunteer work with many of the different organizations in our area. May 2013 be a year where we here at Bethel are guided by the Spirit to venture out into the community. Amen.  

           

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^[1]Theodore G. Tappert, The Book of Concord : The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2000, c1959), 442.

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What's Our Song?

Tomorrow is the fourth and last Sunday of Advent. People are chomping at the bit to sing Christmas carols in church, but they will have to wait until Christmas eve. The gospel text is from Luke and this is what I'll be sharing with the people of God at Bethel Lutheran Church in Portville, NY.

            Last Sunday afternoon a group from Bethel went caroling. We sang at several senior citizen housing sites in Olean and Portville, as well as the home of one of our members. Everyplace we went, people responded with smiles and thanks. However, there was one place that was new for this group of carolers—a group home for developmentally disabled adults. I was struck by seeing and hearing the responses of these so called disabled people. One man had a sleigh bell and rang it as we sang. Others entered into the spirit of the season as they heard familiar Christmas songs by singing along with us. I saw the power of music to move people, especially in this place. In scripture, we have songs of lament, which help us express our grief and fear during difficult times when emotions run so deep. Songs of praise and thanksgiving unite us with God. Then we have canticles of courage and promise, which name and bring to pass our hopes.

            The gospel writer, Luke employs many songs throughout his writings. We have songs sung by Zechariah, Elizabeth, Simeon, Mary and of course, the angels as they announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. In today’s gospel reading, we have two songs, one sung by Elizabeth and one by Mary, which is often referred to as the Magnificat.

            The two women, Elizabeth and Mary were cousins and both were pregnant. They were like bookends, neither of them expecting what was happening to them. Elizabeth was so old and Mary so young and unmarried. God had turned their worlds upside down. The futures of their babies were inextricably linked.  As we have heard the past two weeks of Advent, Elizabeth’s baby, John, prepared the way for his cousin Jesus, the Messiah.

            Even in Elizabeth’s womb, John recognized how special his yet unborn cousin was. Luke reports that John leapt inside Elizabeth when Mary arrived. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth bursts into song, pronouncing blessings upon Mary. Elizabeth sings of two reasons for blessing Mary. God chose her to be the mother of the Lord and Mary believed and accepted the word spoken to her by God (vv. 26-38).  Elizabeth sings of the child in Mary’s womb as “my Lord”

            We are probably more familiar with Mary’s song than Elizabeth’s song. Mary’s song has been set to music more than any other passage of scripture. It also parallels much of the song of Hannah, the mother of Samuel in the Old Testament. Mary praises God for his favor on her. First, she praises him for looking with favor on her lowliness. After all, Mary was a young peasant girl who was unmarried and pregnant. That would give her very low status in her society. God changed her status from lowly to favored as a result of his grace. Second, Mary praises God because he has done great things for her. Even though Mary had many personal reasons to praise God, she did not sing God’s praises solely because of her own blessings.

            Mary’s song continues with the triumph of God’s purposes for God’s people everywhere. God is the subject of many powerful verbs in Mary’s song. We hear of the triumph of God’s favor, “the dramatic reversal that is the signature of God’s mighty acts” as one commentator writes (The New Interpreter’s Bible: Luke). The proud have been scattered, the powerful deposed, the lowly exalted, the hungry fed and the rich sent away empty. This is not a call to revolutionary action, but a celebration of God’s action.

But if God has already done this in the past, why is our world in such a mess? Mary is expressing her hope in God in the past tense. It does not mean that this is how we experience our world now. She was so sure of what God would do. Mary knew God’s faithfulness.  In God’s view of time, all these things have already been done. God lives in the eternal now, which is so radically different from our understanding of time, especially when we are the ones in the middle of difficulties and grief.

Mary doesn’t just name God’s promises, but she enters into them. She is now included in God’s history of redemption, as is her cousin Elizabeth. Mary’s song began by focusing on what God had done for her, then on what God had done for Israel and his promises for the whole world. Her focus went from the personal to the corporate. God works in our lives and through us works in our communities and the entire world. “God remembers…and acts” (Joel. B. Green). God does the work, but he calls humans to be involved with him in the story of salvation and deliverance. God has called many to be his hands and feet in this world: Zechariah, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph…us.

            Elizabeth and Mary’s songs were their response to God. What will our song be? Will we be a part of God’s history of redemption in our own world? God is a God who keeps promises. He made a promise to Zechariah that he would be the father of John the Baptist. Zechariah was slow to believe, but God still kept his promise. God made a promise to Mary and she believed immediately and trusted God’s promise. In Jesus Christ, God makes a promise to all of us—that God will come and live with us, that he will save us, that God in Jesus Christ has lived through the hard things that we experience in life. There is plenty of darkness and pain in our world today, but those who put their trust in the promises of God can find hope and will have a song of praise to sing. As Professor of Theology at Emory University, Fred Craddock wrote, “To celebrate the future as a memory, to praise God for having already done what lies before us to do: this is the way of the people of God.” Amen.

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