Christmas Garbage

Happy Fourth Day of Christmas! If anybody receives four calling birds as a gift today, please let me know!
Friday is garbage day on our block, and Grant hauled the wheelie bin out to the curb last night. When I left the house this morning, the garbage truck had not yet arrived, so all the garbage cans were standing there like sentries guarding the houses, with their "mouths" open at varying degrees, black and white garbage bags peeking out at passersby. I couldn't decide if it looked like they were begging for me, or feeling overstuffed.
The American celebration of Christmas sure does make a lot of garbage! It's not that I'm ungrateful for my Christmas presents (Santa was plenty good to me) - but it feels a little funny, just a few days later, to see all the waste accumulated in our house, and down the street.
I'm very grateful that I set spending limits on gifts with my husband and sister this year - after all, there isn't a whole lot of new stuff that any of us actually NEEDS.
And we do have an ABUNDANCE of stuff. I know we're not alone in this - after all, congregations around the country manage to have well-stocked rummage sales year after year, gathering items from the same group of households.
(The SOV Rummage Sale in 2008 will be March 15th, in case you're wondering).
So - what's up with all our STUFF? Here's a great video that may help you understand the role each of us plays in the American love affair with stuff. It's about 20 minutes long, but well worth it. Please share it with those you know and love.

Belated St. Stephen's Day Greetings

The 26th of December is the feast of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. You can read about Stephen beginning in Acts 6, where he is described as "a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit." He was one of the seven men the apostles laid hands upon after they had been chosen to serve widows and others in need.

Stephen was also a teacher, and eventually his preaching angered the temple authorities, so they ordered him to be put to death by stoning. You can read about his preaching and death in Acts 7-8. Stephen was killed in front of an approving Saul (who later became the Apostle Paul) and said the most amazing thing while he was being stoned to death: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Lord, do not hold this sin against them." And Stephen became the first martyr of the church. How's that for "final words."

I am glad we remember Stephen (anad the Holy Innocents - their feast day is Friday) right at the beginning of the 12 days of Christmas - it keeps the nativity scene from getting too sentimental. After all, the baby Jesus didn't stay in that manger forever - he grew up to die, and to live again - to change the world.

Of course, the world doesn't always like the challenge very much. Perhaps those of us who strive to follow Jesus shouldn't be so surprised when, because of our Lord, we are not so popular. May we have the heart of Stephen to forgive even the worst done to us.

Christmas Eve

Well, it's Christmas Eve day, and things seem pretty quiet here at the SOV offices. I know that's not true everywhere else ( I saw the parking lot at Costco), and it won't be true here for long - we've got 4 services this evening, at 5, 7, 9 and 11pm.

I wish I had something profound to say, but I don't. So - Merry Christmas. May you find time to share with family and friends.

And may you have time to pause from the busy-ness, to wonder at the amazing gift of the incarnation: Emmanuel - God with us - born as a vulnerable baby, to grow up and die for us.

And then get up, and go tell it on the mountain!

In God's Name

This Sunday, December 23rd, at 9pm eastern and 8pm central, CBS is airing a 2-hour documentary titled "In God's Name."

The show will explore the complex questions and issues of our time (including the rise of terrorism, fanaticism, intolerance and war) through the intimate thoughts and beliefs of 12 of the world's most influential spiritual leaders, including Bishop Mark Hanson, the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA. I'm planning to watch it.

The 12 leaders featured in this special, in alphabetical order, are:

• Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and head of the Russian Orthodox Church


• Amma (Mata Amritanandamayi), a Hindu spiritual leader


• Pope Benedict XVI, head of the Roman Catholic Church


• The Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso), spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists


• Ayatollah Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah, a prominent Shi'ite Muslim leader


• Bishop Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and President of the Lutheran World Federation


• Michihisa Kitashirakawa, Jingu Daiguji (High Priest) of the Shinto Grand Shrine of Ise


• Yona Metzger, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel


• Dr. Frank Page, President of the Southern Baptist Convention


• Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar and a prominent Sunni Muslim leader


• Joginder Singh Vedanti, Jathedar of the Akal Takht, the Sikhs' highest authority


• Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England

Great Christmas Concert

This Saturday, December 22nd, the Concordia College Christmas Concert will be aired on our local NPR station, KJZZ 91.5 fm at 8:00 p.m. The blurb in the KJZZ magazine describes the concert this way:
For 80 years the small Lutheran school out on the prairie - Concordia College - has had anything but a small vision when it comes to celebrating music. They perform with a choir and orchestra of more than 400. This Christmas, nationally renowned conductor Rene Clausen leads the pure, youthful voices in a concert called "On Our Way Rejoicing," a potpourri of familiar and traditional works.
My sister is a Cobber, and sang with one of the Concordia choirs her freshman year. This concert should be a good one!
(And yes, it means jumping ahead to Christmas a few days early, but what are you going to do? Sometimes I feel like the Christmas-frenzy in our culture is like the Borg: "You will be assimilated, resistance is futile.")

A week away

Well, it's a week from Christmas. And I think I'm mostly done Christmas shopping - Grant and I both have Mondays off, so we hit the mall. Wowza. There were plenty of people, especially for a late Monday morning.
Grant and I set a limit on what we would spend on each other for Christmas this year. Budgets are a helpful thing, and after all, we have way more stuff than we actually need or use already. Giving is fun, though, and I was hard-pressed to stay under the limit. (okay, I didn't, but almost...)
If you're not done with your shopping yet, and are stuck trying to figure out what to get for someone like me, who really doesn't need any more STUFF - consider making a gift to Lutheran World Relief, or any other organization that does good work in our world.

John Nunes, the president of LWR, has a blog about all of his travels. His thoughts are interesting, and it's amazing how far the work of LWR reaches in the world, and how many individuals and communities are touched by our contributions and prayers.

The Brave Man at Starbucks

I had a wonderful encounter yesterday:
My grande nonfat caramel macchiato was gone but my sermon wasn't done yet, so there I sat in the corner of the local Starbucks. (For some reason I find that coffee shops have just the right amount of "white noise" for me, so I can drown out everything else and actually get some work done, most of the time. Of course coffee shops are also good for people watching...)
I was busily rearranging paragraphs in my outline when I looked up at the figure who had been waiting for his coffee with considerably more animation than the average customer. I'd seen him out of the corner of my eye, struggling to get a zip-up hooded sweatshirt on over his head. The zipper was zipped up only an inch or two, but he was having a really hard time wrestling with the sleeves, and the hood. I smiled at him. He kept struggling.
Then he came over to me and asked if I could help him. He had some obvious physical challenges - joints that seemed to bend at awkward angles - and I said "Sure, what can I do for you?"
He said, "Usually I put this on over my head, but I'm having a hard time. When I get this on, would you zip it up for me?"
"I think I can do that." So he undid the zipper on the sweatshirt, got his arms in it the conventional way, then took a step towards me so I could get the zip started, the way a little kid would.
"There you go," I said, after zipping him about half-way up.
"Thanks," he replied. "So, you're married?" (He must have noticed my wedding band).
"Yep, I am."
"Too bad for me" he said with a smile.
I couldn't help but smile back. "Thanks. We've been married ten months and so far it's wonderful."
"Good," he said, still smiling. Then he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Too bad I got this on, now, or I'd show you my tattoo: 'Tough times don't last, tough people do.' It's hard to remember sometimes when you're challenged. That's why I had it done in ink."
And ever-so-eloquently I said, "Huh."
Then his drink was ready and he thanked me again and headed for the door. Watching him head out, with his toes pointed together and his skinny legs seeming incredibly uncooperative, I had one thought in my head: And the crooked shall be made straight.

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come.
Come and bless this man brave enough to ask a total stranger for help.
Come and bless all of us - we all need help, even those of us whose needs aren't quite so close to the surface. Make us brave in our vulnerability.
Stir up your power, O Lord, and come.

An end, for a beginning

Some great things have been happening here at Shepherd of the Valley this fall. One "great thing" is the training of five ChristCare Group Leaders: Bill, Dottie, Juanita, Mark and Steve. These five individuals have gathered every Thursday night from 6:30-9pm for some fairly intense training in group leadership and the four activities of ChristCare groups: Community Building and Care, Biblical Equipping, Prayer and Worship, and Missional Service.

Our final training session was last night, and now we are looking forward to the official "launch" of five new small groups in January and February. I am so proud of this group - their commitment to undertake 40 hours of training, their curiosity, their willingness to be vulnerable and genuine with each other, and now their commitment to lead small groups in our congregation.

I believe ChristCare groups can transform lives. So, if you live in the greater Phoenix area and are looking ... for a sense of Christian community … to connect at a deeper level … to walk with others on their spiritual journeys … to live your faith in daily life … to discover and use your God-given talents to serve others... I encourage you to consider the possibilities for this ministry in your life. And please don't hesitate to ask questions of SOV's "Equippers" - me (Pastor Lindean) and Dick & Sharon Peterson.

Our new ChristCare Group Leaders will be commissioned on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 and 4 of the 5 groups will launch that week.

On this Friday after our last Thursday training session I am sad that our time together as a training group is over, and at the same time I'm totally excited for the beginning of this new ministry and all the growth and life it will bring.

Santa Lucia Day

Have you ever gone to bed at night knowing that you'd be a bit of a disappointment the next day? Not that the next day would be disappointing, but that you would be disappointing? That's what happened to me last night.

My husband Grant is the youngest of three brothers. And he is of Swedish descent. These might seem like really random things, but today they are of significance. The 13th of December is Santa Lucia Day - the day when the oldest daughter in the family brings coffee and saffron St. Lucia buns to her parents in bed, all while wearing a white gown and a wreath with lit candles on her head.

Grant has known about this tradition for a long time, but with only boys in his nuclear family, there were never early-morning-saffron buns carried by very careful young women in their house when he was growing up.

He dropped hints last week, reminding me that St. Lucia day was drawing near. While St. Lucia day is remembered throughout Scandinavia, it is really big in Sweden, and not so much in my family's Norwegian heritage. And so I forgot. Until last night. (Not that I'd have gotten up to make saffron buns this morning, or worn candles on my head, anyway - the whole downstairs of our house is packed up so we can get new flooring put in. And I hate the smell of burning hair in the morning).

So - maybe next year.

And in the meantime - a blessed St. Lucy day.

The light DOES shine in the darkness, and the darkness has not (and never will) understood or overcome it.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I have a feeling a lot of us Anglo Protestants only know her from the candles on the bottom shelf in the grocery store. There is, however, a rich tradition surrounding the Virgin's appearance to Juan Diego near Mexico City some 476 years ago. I had NO IDEA this feast day was celebrated so grandly, or by so many.

There is so much to learn about our brothers and sisters in Christ!

Many thanks to Luther Seminary Professor Mary Hess for her personal blog, Tensegrities, which has links to additional blogs about the celebrations of the day.

Second Tuesday in Advent

What follows is an article from the December edition of "Faith ALIVE!" - the newsletter of Faith Lutheran Church here in Phoenix. Pastor Renee Geiger captures a lot of how I think and feel about this season of Advent. I know lots of folks looked at me sort of cross-eyed on Sunday when I reminded people that the first day of Christmas is Christmas, which means all the days until then are preparation.
Maybe I'm feeling a little less prepared for the celebrations than usual this year, because I am wanting to savor every moment of Advent time. The journey of Advent resonates with me a lot this year. So slow down, and breathe, and enjoy the rain (or snow, if you live some place colder than Phoenix).

Pastor Renee writes:
Advent. I am amazed at how many people would join me in saying that this is their favorite season. For some reason, I want to become a little more poetic, more introspective, even more quiet at Advent, which is rather ironic since it's when things speed up all the more with shopping, cooking, cards and glitter.
Maybe, those of us who are Advent people think about the simplicity of the story of Jesus' birth, the visitation of the angels, the silent and holy night, and we somehow want to get ready - ready in a deep and real way for that which God, wrapped in human flesh, offers.
In worship planning we strive for more "space" and simplicity that might hold moments of silence - just to listen to God's Word, absorb the music and anticipate what God is saying to us in the Christ child.
Will we be able to take time to stop and consider another vision of life? How important this is for a world that is longing for salvation at this time, with all the realities around us. In Advent we will hear words of God's intention for a new creation, and we will hear words that send a proclamation that we are to wake up, stay alert, and repent as we are warned of the coming thief in the night. Ineed, this is a time when the entire world needs to be alert to what is happening to God's creation, and in human need and poverty.
Each Sunday we will light our Advent candles in awaiting the redemption of ALL of God's creation and ALL of God's people.
In these Advent waves of momentum and preparation, perhaps we will be able to hear the clear cry of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes entering into the cry of the world. And that cry reminds us that we are not alone. Immanuel, God with us, also cries a deafening shout of slavation, yes, even in the silence, even in war, even in melting glaciers, even in injustice, even with the very poor and the very thirsty.
Oh God, keep us courageously alert and at peace as we move into your vision. Help us to create space where we are not afraid or too preoccupied to hear what you are saying to us as we wait and prepare.

Second Sunday of Advent

Today was a hard day for me in worship - only because of the magnitude of the tension between Advent and Christmas.

I try to keep Advent, personally. And I see at as part of my job as a pastor and worship leader to help others keep Advent, too.

The surrounding culture's mad rush to get to Christmas as soon as possible (do-not-pass-John-the-Baptist-or-even-think-about-spending-less-than-$200) makes me nuts. And so we did a weird hybrid thing at Shepherd of the Valley this morning: we lit two candles on the Advent wreath, which was pushed off to the side of the worship space, because the risers for the children took up most of the chancel, and of course the fully decorated Christmas tree is up and lit (and gorgeous, true) and huge, in the chancel as well. As a congregation we sang Advent hymns. But then we also got the very well done Sunday School children's Christmas program, called "The Christmas Present," all about how Jesus is the best Christmas present (which he IS, but it's not Christmas yet!) The children's singing of "Joy to the world" was followed by a reading from Isaiah 11, another from Matthew 3, and a short (!) sermon about those Advent 2 texts - "REPENT!" I cried along with John the Baptizer. "Wait!" "Slow down!" "The wolf and the lamb will live together..." "The point isn't that Christmas is coming - the point is that CHRIST IS COMING!"

Advent is hard in church - after all, there are only so many Sundays between December 1st and Christmas, and there are so many groups who want to perform: the Sunday School kids' program, the Festival Choir Cantata, the Contemporary Worship Team Cantata.

I know I'm in the minority here, but I think this is one place where the church being countercultural is pretty helpful. After all, the first day of Christmas is (surprise!) Christmas! What if we had a cantata on the first Sunday of the Christmas season this year, December 30th? What if the kids' program was on Epiphany (January 6th)?

Is there a way to hold on to the preparation and anticipation of Advent and then really live into 12 whole days of celebration of Christmas? I remain optimistic that such things are possible, not just for individual households, but for whole communities, too.

I welcome your thoughts...

Volume 5 Issue 3 - Cafe - Stirring the Spirit Within

The newest edition of Cafe is out - all about friendship: changes, break-ups, unexpected relationships.

The first article is about how friendships change after having children. I haven't crossed that bridge yet. However, I have noticed that many of my friendships have changed since I got married (it will be 10 months ago, tomorrow). It's not that I don't love my friends, but living in a faraway city, working hard, commuting long hours, and working on my relationship with my husband just doesn't leave as much time for friends as I used to have. I wouldn't trade Grant in for anything, but I do mourn the changes in my friendships. I'm guessing I'm not the only one for whom this is true.

Thoughts?

The Young Clergy Women's Project

Thanks to a link on a blog I read from time to time, I have discovered a wonderful online community called The Young Clergy Women's Project.
Not all of you readers will be able to join the community, since membership requirements include being female, ordained, and under 40. That said, there's also a great zine written by the community, called Fidelia's Sisters, which is available for everyone. The current issue cracked me up - I totally relate with the author's use of words (appropriate and otherwise) in the article titled "What did she just say?"
When I was studying preaching during seminary, we were warned of "pulpit voice" - that strange phenomenon when someone's voice undergoes obvious changes every time s/he preaches or prays or is leading worship. It's amazing how some people don't sound like themselves at all when they preach.
And to me it's funny how people sometimes EXPECT pastors not to sound like themselves when preaching - maybe not in vocal characteristics, but in the words they use (and more importantly DON'T use).
I will never forget hearing the story of Pastor Bob, a wonderful retired pastor in Northwest Montana, who was filling-in for a local pastor one Sunday morning. He used the least polite word for "poop" during his sermon about world hunger issues. And then Pastor Bob went on to point out, and lament, the fact that most of his hearers would be more outraged by him saying "sh*t" during worship than they would be that millions of children would go to bed hungry that night.

How easy it can be to separate outward righteousness and real holy living. We are good at getting our priorities screwed up, aren't we? Maybe it's a good thing we'll be getting a dose of John the Baptist on Sunday...

Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, c. 342

Today is the feast day of St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra. He's one of the church's most beloved saints, though relatively little is known about his life. In the fourth century he was a bishop in what is now Turkey.

There are lots of legends that tell of his love for God and neighbor. And there are lots of web sites that can help us understand how the "Saint Nicholas" remembered by Christians for centuries, became the "Santa Claus" that gets plastered all over everything this time of year.

I suggest a visit to The St. Nicholas Center and some anonymous gift-giving to remember his life of faith and service.

Festival of Lights

We Christians aren't the only ones lighting candles this time of year. Hanukkah began yesterday evening at sundown (per the Jewish way of keeping time - the new day starts at sunset...). So today is the first day of Hanukkah.

And if you want to learn more about it, I commend you. I think it's always a good idea to understand the holy days, traditions and celebrations of people who profess faiths other than our own. My friend Rabbi Sarah Mack, who serves a congregation in Providence, RI, recommended this site to me as a beginning place to learn about Hanukkah. Enjoy!

Blessed are you, O Lord our God, ruler of the universe. Help us to understand each other, to reach out our hands in welcome and peace. Amen

'Tis the Season

It's Tuesday of the first week of Advent, and yes, this is the article I wrote for the December "Shepherd's Psalm" - SOV's monthly newsletter. I wrote it mid-November, and I agree with myself even more now (no, that's not always true...).
So - I hope you enjoy my thoughts, and I encourage you to ADD YOUR OWN! Let's share our ways of keeping the season of Advent and remembering what Christmas is all about without going crazy. Just add a comment to the end of this entry, and come back to see what others have to say, too.

I often hear the phrase “hurry up and wait,” usually when someone is frustrated with the process of getting something done. I think the season of Advent is also a time of “hurry up and wait,” though without the exclusively negative connotations that most often go with the idea. During this season of Advent, the four weeks before Christmas, we are called on to wait, to prepare, to be ready – not just for the celebration of our Lord’s coming the first time around, but for his coming again.
Prepare. Prepare ye. Prepare ye the way. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. As anticipation builds and each day another door opens on our Advent calendars, the waiting seems to get harder and harder. The older I get, the more I yearn to really keep and observe this season of waiting. After all, things are not as they will be, and sometimes I have very little patience for the maintenance of the status quo. I’d like to see some of the rough places made plain, the crooked straight, the hungry filled, those who weep rolling on the floor in joyful laughter.
Then I remember that God’s kingdom is both now and not yet. It’s not here in all its fullness, but we get glimpses, moments when the light really does outshine the darkness and grace is there to reach out and touch. And there are things I can do to sharpen my vision, or at least remember to be on the look-out. At this time of year I can sum up that strategy in just a few words: simplify, remember, give.
Christmas doesn’t have to make us crazy. Here are a few of my favorite things to remember and try:

• Check out www.SimpleLiving.org - they’ve got a great magazine, called “Whose Birthday Is It, Anyway?” with lots of great ideas for a Christ-centered holiday.


• Set a spending limit for Christmas gifts and then stick to it. This year my sister and I have capped spending on each other at $25 – it makes us get more creative in our gift-giving and helps us be stewards of our resources and the planet.


• Try alternative giving, especially for those who “already have everything.” All kinds of organizations can put even modest donations to good use. Ask me for a copy of The Giving Catalog of the ELCA if you’d like more information.


• Call “Time Out!” on the shopping and frenzy, and give someone (maybe even yourself) the gift of your time.


• Use recycled or re-used wrapping paper (or none at all!) and be kinder to the earth this season.


• Find a good devotion to do each day, on your own or with friends or family. Light the candles on an Advent wreath and remember why this season is so important in the first place. I enjoy the daily God Pause email devotional from Luther Seminary. You can sign up to receive it, too.


• Remember that “no” is a perfectly acceptable answer to a yes-or-no question. (You really DON'T have to do it all).

May God bless you, and your waiting, during this season of lights, time, and great love.

P.S. - How are you waiting and preparing during this season of Advent?

Thoughts on Stewardship

It's November, which here at Shepherd of the Valley is "Stewardship Season." This is not an overly helpful way to think about stewardship, of course, like we only think about living faithfully as God's children for a few weeks a year, and leave the rest of the year up to our own devices. In preparation for "Consecration Sunday" (the Sunday when everyone is supposed to turn in their Estimate of Giving cards for the next year) I have been doing some extra reading about stewardship. I'll offer some book reviews and suggestions in coming days.
One of the most helpful reminders I've read lately though, amidst all our talk of "proportional giving," is that stewardship is not just about money and not just about a percentage. EVERYTHING is God's, EVERYTHING: our lives, every minute of every day, our money, our earning-capacity, all of our stuff. All is on loan from God, and all is to be used in God-pleasing ways. It's not like we can decide, "Right, I'll give 10% to my church, that's God's share, now I can do whatever the heck I want with what's left, because it's MINE." WRONG. It's God's.

With that in mind, here are some frustrating statistics about how wealth is being redistributed from the poor to the rich in the United States; yes, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. (I read these stats and the link on a favorite seminary professor's blog):

“In 1982, when the Forbes 400 had just 13 billionaires, the highest paid CEO made $108 million and the average full-time worker made $34,199, adjusted for inflation in $2006. Last year, the highest paid hedge fund manager hauled in $1.7 billion, the highest paid CEO made $647 million, and the average worker made $34,861, with vanishing health and pension coverage.”

As people of faith, what do we say and do about this? If God judges a society based on how it treats the "least of these" - the poor, the sojourner (alien), the widow, the orphan - what can we say about our society? And what should we do?

An All Saints Day Letter from our Presiding Bishop

November 1, 2007
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ:
On this All Saints Day we remember the saints who have gone before us and give thanks for their lives of faith and commitment. I particularly ask you to join me in giving thanks for all whose faith has led them to take a stand on civil rights,including Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the thousands of others, including many clergy and lay leaders in this church,who risked and sacrificed because of their belief that all people are made in God's image.
As presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America(ELCA), I am deeply troubled by the number of incidents in thelast three years that involve symbols and acts of racial hatred. I write to you today with grave concern about the "spiritual crisis concerning race relations" that we continue to experiencein this country. This spiritual crisis affects both church and society and calls us to respond with the urgency and strength as those who have gone before us. As the ELCA social statement,"Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture," says, "We aretorn between becoming the people God calls us to be and remaining the people we are, barricaded behind old walls of hostility."
Today, public displays of nooses as well as acts of kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault are replacing burning crosses assymbols of racial hatred. Nooses are intentional symbols ofracial hatred tied to slavery and lynching during the "Jim Crow"(i.e., racial segregation) era of this country's history. Use ofthese racial symbols has increased in recent months, intended tocreate fear and intimidation in communities of African Descent.In addition, racial profiling by law enforcement continues. Aparticular concern is "DWB" (driving while Black or Brown) and"DWM" (driving while Muslim), shorthand phrases for police stopsof people of color.
Through that social statement, this church calls upon its leaders to "name the sin of racism and lead us in our repentance of it"and to "persevere in their challenge to [this church] to be in mission and ministry in a multicultural society." It also calls this church to a time of public deliberation, asking all of us to:
+ Model an honest engagement with issues of race, ethnicity, and culture, by being a community of mutual conversation, mutual correction, and mutual consolation;
+ Encourage and participate in the education of young people,[so] they might be better equipped to live in a multicultural society; and
+ Bring together parties in conflict, creating space for deliberation. This social statement also calls this church to public witness and says, "Participation in public life is essential to doing justice and undoing injustice. Only when people affected by racial and ethnic division speak publicly of painful realities, does there emerge the possibility of justice for everyone."
On this All Saints Day, I call on members of this church of all races to remember and give thanks for those who have gone before us, especially those who have suffered from racism and injustice,and to stand in opposition to this evil spreading across our country.
Let us together:
+ Pray for racial reconciliation and peace;
+ Encourage all ELCA congregations to be in conversation with each other about issues of racial justice and reconciliation;
+ Engage, listen to, learn from, and build relationships with people of color--those most affected--in our communities;
+ Speak out against hate crimes and other racial injustices in our communities and work to strengthen legislation that supports and protects civil rights; and
+ Amplify our voices by signing up for ELCA E-Advocacy to receive information about opportunities to speak.
On this All Saints Day, "Therefore, we confess our sinfulness.Because we are sinners as well as saints, we rebuild walls broken down by Christ. We fall back into enslaving patterns of injustice. We betray the truth that sets us free. Because we are saints as well as sinners, we reach for the freedom that is ours in Christ."
Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop

HAPPY REFORMATION DAY!

It was on this day in 1517 that Martin Luther posted a copy of the 95 theses on the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany. (It makes sense he would have done that, the church doors were the community bulletin boards of the day, and there would have been a crowd coming for All Saints Day on November 1st). So, today is celebrated as Reformation Day.

Celebrations of the Protestant Reformation don't exactly shine, compared to all of today's Halloween festivities, but the message of the Reformation is still important. One of the slogans of the Reformation still rings very true today: Semper Reformanda - always reforming. The church is always in need of reform, always in need of dying again in Christ and being rasied from the dead, so we might be truly free. After all, the church is US - the people, individuals called into community, to love and serve God and neighbor.

So before you go to bed tonight, give God thanks for the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit through faithful reformers, teachers and all of us regular, ordinary Christians.

(For extra fun, read "On the Freedom of a Christian," which Luther wrote in 1520.)

Churching Around

Here's the latest edition of "Cafe: Stirring the Spirit Within." Café is a web-based monthly magazine that explores contemporary issues of interest to young women. It is a resource for women who want to build and deepen their sense of Community, Advocacy, Faith, and Enlightenment. For women who identify as Christian, it incorporates a Lutheran faith perspective. It's always thought provoking, and of course men may find it interesting, too...

Still stuck on Lazarus and the Rich Man

I missed our weekly text study this week. My husband and I got a precious 45 hours in Seattle to visit our new nephew and see my family; the decision to skip text study wasn't a difficult one to make.

However, since I'm not preaching this weekend, I haven't read the Lectionary texts assigned for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost yet, and am still thinking about last Sunday's Gospel reading. The parable about the rich man and Lazarus.

Here's a thought provoking article about the parable. I commend it to you. (I subscribe to Christian Century -a great magazine).

Amos on a Monday Morning

I subscribe to "God Pause," a daily devotion from Luther Seminary. This week's devotions are being written by one of my seminary roommates, who now serves a congregation in Maryland. Paige is on the money with this one.


Monday, 9/24/2007
Amos 6:1a, 4-7 (NRSV)
1 Alas for those who are at ease in Zion, and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria; 4 Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the stall; 5 who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and like David improvise on instruments of music;6 who drink wine from bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph! 7 Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

Amos offers a bracing prophecy for a Monday. As we begin the work week and get caught up in earning a living, Amos forces us to examine how we use the riches God has placed in our hands.
Alas for those who lie comfortably on custom-made beds, lounge in front of HDTVs and eat takeout several times a week.
Alas for those who drink the priciest wine and anoint themselves with the best the mall has to offer.
Like the Israelites in Amos's time, we anesthetize ourselves with pleasures so we don't have to be grieved over the world's troubles or moved to help the poor. The prophet reminds us that our material comforts will not last. Our revelry will pass away.
As we jump into another week, Amos calls us to orient our hearts to God, who provides all that we need and frees us to share it.

Gracious God, subdue my desire for those things that do not last. In the death and resurrection of Jesus, you have given me the only gift that will not pass away. Open my eyes and free my heart to use whatever you will place in my hands this week to serve others in Jesus' name. Amen.

Paige G. Evers
Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Edgewood, Md.
Master of Divinity , 2001

Automatic Pronouns

Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of my ordination to Word and Sacrament ministry. In other words, I've been a pastor for five years now. In those five years, some things I hoped would change have changed, and some haven't.

It was about 10 years ago that I told my parents I was serious about going to seminary to pursue ordained ministry. Of course they wanted the best for me, and for me to be the best I can be. So, in typical fashion, my dad had some "words of wisdom" for me, always delivered at times I was least able or willing to hear them. The usual line was, "Lindean, if you're going to be a pastor, you're going to have to ______" and then he would fill in the blank with whatever he saw as suitable correction to my current situation. It most often sounded something like this: "Lindean, if you're gonna be a pastor, you're gonna hafta be nicer to your sister." "Lindean, if you're gonna be a pastor, you're gonna hafta get organized and stay organized." "... you're gonna hafta... " "...you're gonna hafta..."

To be honest, I finally got sick of it, and replied with equal venom, "Dad, I AM gonna be a pastor, and you're gonna hafta get used to it."

And the amazing thing is, he has. I'm the first pastor in my family, and they're used to it now. After all, I'm not THEIR pastor: I'm their daughter, or sister, or sister-in-law, or niece, or whatever. And they've learned that capable pastors can indeed be "she."

Unfortunately, I continue to wait for that last bit of learning to be true of the rest of the church - even (especially) the ELCA.

This last week I was visiting another congregation about 30 miles from here. I'd never been there before, but was a bit early for my meeting, so I greeted the receptionist and had a seat. An older gentleman, a member of that congregation, was having a conversation with the receptionist about clergy and congregation size. He expressed admiration for a congregation of 420 members who have two full time pastors, and asked me about my congregation. I said I'm from SOV, and that for about 1500 members we have two full-time pastors and a diaconal minister. He replied, "Oh, two pastors and a woman." And he turned back around to address the receptionist.

I corrected him, and said, "Actually, I'm one of the pastors." He looked a little surprised, but didn't apologize for his error.

I understand that women have "only" been ordained in the ELCA for 37 years now, but I still get frustrated every time the generic reference to pastor is "he." Pronouns seem to be automatic for so many vocations, and that implicit communication gets under my skin every time. Doctor? He. Scientist? He. Nurse? She. Aargh!

I wonder what it will take for all of us to let go of our assumptions about who God calls to do what.

I pray the Holy Spirit will help us use our language to communicate well and faithfully. And that she won't delay in doing so.

PS - If hearing any member of the Trinity referred to as "she" disturbs you, please note that the word for "spirit" in both Hebrew and Greek is a feminine noun.

Another SOV Blog

Audrey Keller, our new Director of Youth and Family Ministry, has begun a blog of her own. I am proud to link to it here, and will add it to our regular "link" list over on the left -->.
Her blog offers updated info on our youth & family ministries and programs, as well as her thoughts on life and the world. I commend it to you...

New Issue of "Cafe" - Addiction Transfer

There's a new issue of "Cafe: Stirring the Spirit Within" - the e-zine of Women of the ELCA. This issue is about addiction and fear - and how both can take over a person's life - especially when there's more than one addiction going on at one time. I encourage you to read it and pass it on. You can also subscribe to "Cafe," and then you'll get an email each time a new issue is available.

Thank You John and Rose

In my June 30 blog, entitled “Sacred Place: Our Cabin” I began with the following quote from Lawrence Kushner, found in Belden Lane’s book on p. 37:

"The memories of a place become a part of it. Places and things
never forget what they have been witnesses to and vehicles of
and entrances for. What has happened there happened
nowhere else. Like ghosts who can neither forget what they
have seen nor leave where they saw it, such are the memories
tied to places of ascent."

If you ever watch the television show, “Without a Trace,” you will often see images of people in the past as they are envisioned from the present--what they did or said in a certain place. I believe literary people call this “magic realism.” Whatever you term it, I have certainly experienced it. Let me tell you about some of the people I can see in this cabin.

The first is John Marjamaa, a Finnish homesteader who came to the Americas soon after the turn of the 20th century. In 1905 he began to cut the white and Norway pine he found on this property, and out of those logs built the log cabin that serves as our living and dining room.

Then he sent for Rose, who arrived from Finland and became his wife. On the front wall of the living room, beside the tall, stone fireplace, I can see the marking in the wood where the stairway ran upstairs in this once one-room house. Up there John and Rose and some 10 or so children slept. Several of those children have stopped by over the years to see the property and fill us in on the fascinating history.

John raised dairy cattle, and kept chickens. Rose was a midwife and had gifts in nursing. They raised a bountiful garden and kept the grounds immaculate and beautiful. They dug out a cavity in the earth that served as their refrigerator. They were generous people, always welcoming anyone who needed a meal.

Of course, the log sauna that still sits down the hill behind our cabin was a favorite place. Family and friends would take a steaming sauna and then run down the hill and jump into the Blueberry River. In the winter they would just roll in the snow.

I often picture John and Rose and their children in this place. John died in 1953, and was buried in Green Valley Cemetery a quarter mile down the road. I picture Rose and the children returning to this cabin after the funeral. Friends gather to console them, but their hearts are broken.

A year later one of their sons would die, at the age of 44. He is buried next to John. Again Rose would return to this cabin in grief, wondering how her life could change so quickly. And then, just two years later, she would die. I picture the children coming home to gather what they wanted to keep, and then selling this cabin and saying goodbye to it.

I have now lived here long enough that I can practice my magic realism in reference to my own life, aided by the many pictures I have taken over the years.

I can see little Brian sitting on the floor, playing with his toys. I see him in the kitchen in his high chair, with oatmeal all over his face (and on the floor.) I see Jessica as a baby, brought to this holy place for the first time. I see the children holding fish we had caught in Blueberry Lake and Brian and I hitting golf balls on the makeshift driving range we made in the back meadow. I see Brian pitching a softball-sized whiffle ball to Jessica who is trying to hit it with a large red bat. He fakes a fast ball, and then lobs in a slow pitch, to which she states emphatically: “Brian. Don’t joke with me!”

I see Brian, about age 8, arriving at the cabin after we had talked about my first wife on the way out, saying to me, “Dad, I’m not glad your first wife died. But if she hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

I remember one Thanksgiving (it was our tradition to come here after dinner with Mary’s parents and then cut a pine to take home to Fargo for Christmas) when Jessica was extremely tired. We teased her about her difficulty walking through the snow in the meadow out back. A few days later, back in Fargo, we found out why. She was diagnosed early that December with diabetes.

And then there are the nearly endless memories of people who have passed through this place: my staff at Peace Lutheran in Fargo, members of the Synod Hunger and Justice Committee, many friends, and most of our family. Many of them are gone now, having transcended this world as they moved on to their own sacred place.

When my father died when I was 15, every night I would go outside in our back yard right before going to bed, and look up at the stars. A prayer arose from my sighing chest, expressing the loneliness and melancholy I felt, yet also the blessing and joy in knowing how much my father loved me.

When I am alone in this cabin, and light gives way to evening, I often feel the same way. I remember all who have passed through here. I give thanks for John and Rose and the spirit they gave to this holy place. I feel overwhelmed by the blessings I have received from Mary, Brian, Jessica and so many family members and friends.

This final picture captures my feelings as I end my sabbatical and leave this place. This road passes by Green Valley Cemetery. The morning fog blocks a clear view of what the future holds. But I am able to trust the goodness of that future because of all the people, some I have met, and some I have not, who have blessed my life, and because of our Lord who beckons us to go forth into the unknown future, trusting that he will always be there along the way.

The Marks of Discipleship

One of the resources I plan to use in the Discipleship University is a book by Michael W. Foss, who until recently was Senior Pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Burnsville, Minn. Entitled Real Faith for Real Life: Living the Six Marks of Discipleship, Foss details the aspects of following Jesus in daily life utilized at Prince of Peace. I have developed my own titles, but they basically coincide with the marks he lists.

Passionate Prayer: There are many kinds and a ways of praying, but the goal is to make prayer a daily part of our lives. My goal is to tie this into a wider consideration of Spirituality, utilizing our Spiritual Direction Pastor, Scott Haasarud, as a resource in this area.

Faithful Worship: The goal is weekly worship, as we receive the Means of Grace through Word, Sacrament, and the Body of Christ Gathered, and open ourselves to the ongoing gift of revelation and strengthening from God.

Searching Scripture: The goal is daily Bible reading. This includes the devotional reading of the Bible by individuals, as well as encouragement to be in some kind of group Bible study.

Gift-Based Serving: Our lives are given deep meaning as we follow Christ in a life of loving service to others, both inside and outside our congregations. The goal is regular involvement in some kind of serving mission that is based not so much on the needs of the church or others, but on the gifts God has given us.

Reconciling Relationships: This area of discipleship focuses on all of our relationships: marriage, parenting, family, friendship, the body of Christ, and those outside the church (evangelism). A goal here is to participate in some kind of a Small Group that strengthens our faith as we bear one another’s burdens and share our faith.

Generous Giving: The goal is Growth Giving leading to Tithing, as well as discovering the great joy that comes with generously sharing not only the resources with which we have been blessed, but our love and care for others.

In addition to these six basic marks of discipleship, there are other dimensions I intend to include in the Discipleship University that would take one even deeper into faith and discipleship. If the above is Discipleship 101, the following would be Discipleship 202.

In addition to reading the Bible on a daily basis, and participating in a Bible study, brief courses would be offered on Biblical Interpretation (how we go about relating what the Bible says to the world today), Biblical Ethics, Theological Themes of the Old and New Testament, Principles of Lutheran Theology, Witness and Evangelism, and the relation of Church to World (politics, economics, development, etc.). This would also include a study of our church’s Social Statements.

This level would also include an experiential dimension, such as participating in a workshop on diversity and multiculturalism, going on a mission trip, or participating in a weekend retreat on such topics as spirituality, evangelism, or peacemaking.

The overall goal is a deepening of faith, a life of greater meaning and purpose, and the sending forth of compassionate disciples into a world longing for love, hope, healing, and significance.

ELCA Churchwide Assembly

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has three expressions: congregations, synods, and churchwide, and this week in Chicago there is a churchwide assembly - the highest legislative body in our denomination. I plan to keep tabs on what's going on, both in terms of worship, education, and assembly action, through the assembly website. You can learn more about the Churchwide Assembly, too, and watch live webcasts, by clicking on this link to the action.

Please keep the voting members of the assembly and all the participants in your prayers this week - for safe travel to and from Chicago, for Spirit-filled worship and learning, and Spirit-guided discernment and action.

Discipleship and Mission

As I transition out of sabbatical and back to the parish, I am focusing on where we are going as a congregation, and the way we are planning to get there. This spring we completed a long range plan, which is built primarily around two concepts: Discipleship and Mission. This contrasts with what has tended to shape congregations the past few decades: Membership and Maintenance. (For example, see Michael Foss, Power Surge). The latter begins inside the church and stays there. Membership means I get certain benefits, and the task of the congregation is to maintain and improve those benefits. The former looks inward toward a deepening spirituality, but then goes outwards as one follows Christ in a life of discipleship geared to mission in the world.

Perhaps no one has written more profoundly about the call to discipleship than Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran theologian and pastor who, because he believed following Jesus meant opposing Hitler, lost his life in 1945 in a German concentration camp at the age of 39.

In his book, The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoeffer distinguishes between what he calls “cheap grace” and “costly grace.” Cheap grace is “the justification of sin without the justification of the repentant sinner who departs from sin. . . . . Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” [p. 36]

In contrast, of “costly grace” he writes: “Happy are they who, knowing that grace, can live in the world without being of it, who, by following Jesus Christ, are so assured of their heavenly citizenship that they are truly free to live their lives in this world. Happy are they who know that discipleship simply means the life which springs from grace, and that grace simply means discipleship.” [p. 47]

Bonhoeffer then goes on to talk of the relationship of faith and belief to following and discipleship. He writes, in reference to Jesus calling Matthew in Mark 2:14:

“The call goes forth, and is at once followed by the response of obedience. The response of the disciples is an act of obedience, not a confession of faith in Jesus.” [p. 48] Faith and obedience must always be kept together. “Only the obedient believe. Without this preliminary step of obedience, our faith will only be pious humbug, and lead us to the grace which is not costly. Everything depends on the first step. . . . . . Only this new existence, created through obedience, can make faith possible.” [P. 55]

Years ago I read a fascinating article by Earnest T. Campbell, former Senior Minister at Riverside Church in New York City, entitled “Do You Believe in Christ or Are You Following Jesus?” He points out that over the decades of his life in the church he had often been asked if be believed in Christ, but never if he was following Jesus. At the end of the article he states that the two do need to be kept together, but that it is possible to believe without following, but not possible to follow without believing.

This is the theological goal of the Discipleship University that I am in the process of creating for Shepherd of the Valley. This university will include both study and action as we attempt to hold faith and following together, but move the stress toward what it means to be a disciple in the world today as that dimension has often been neglected. Stressing discipleship will not only greatly enrich our lives and strengthen our faith, but it will lead to a life-giving mission to the world and our communities sorely needed. Once again ethics will become paramount as we precede action by first asking what God is calling us to do.

An Inner Desert (Being Open to God’s Will)

Desert of the Navajo Nation in Arizona


One of the things I learned from Juan Luis Segundo, in his book The Liberation of Theology, is that one of the great difficulties of living an authentic and meaningful life is that we are never able to bring pure questions about our lives to God, to Scripture, to others.
From the time we are born we are constantly being fed “ideology,” which is defined by Mirriam-Webster as “a systematic body of concepts especially about human life or culture.” Thus we never are able to raise our questions in a “pure” form, because we already come with our various ideologies, which, as Segundo points out, have a way of “hiding reality.”

The summer after my freshman year in college I spent a month hitch-hiking around Europe. Like nearly all Americans I had been raised to believe we were the greatest nation made up of the most knowledgeable and intelligent people. I soon found that many Europeans knew a lot more about the world than I did, and they didn’t think our nation was doing the right thing by fighting the war in Vietnam.

By the time we are able to vote we have already been exposed to countless political ideologies from our parents, community, and the media. By the time we are able to read the Bible we have already been told hundreds of things we are supposed to believe about God, life, and the world. By the time we are old enough to try to decide what we should do with our lives vocationally, we have already been told thousands of times what we are good at and what we aren’t, what jobs make money and which ones don’t, what kinds of work are prestigious and which aren’t, and, more than likely, exactly what others close to us think we should do.

The same applies to the two most meaningful questions a human being can ask. First, who is God, what is God like, and what is my relationship to God to be? Secondly, how should I live my life in terms of what I do, what I support, what I work for, what I give myself to?

This is why apophatic spirituality is so important. The first step of it is emptying, of entering the desert by relinquishing as much as we humanly can all our images and concepts of God, all of the ideology we carry within us about the meaning of life. In the words of Lane, we try to become an “inner desert.” “To become an inner desert is to abandon the rampant race of thoughts, feelings, and worries that continually distract the soul from attentiveness to God.” [p. 12] The Scriptures talk about “kenosis,” which comes from the Greek and means “self-emptying” or “purging,” as Jesus emptied himself of the attributes of God in becoming human. [Philippians 2:5-11]

What is it about our human nature that leads us to think everything is set? Most people, if asked, would say, this is what God is like, this is what my relationship to God is like, and this is what I am doing with my life. But that is not what relationships are like. It is not what life is like.

My wife is different now than she was 10 years ago, let alone the nearly 25 years ago when we were married. My children are changing all the time. I could not have a meaningful relationship with my kids or wife if I assumed they were never going to change. For that matter, I am changing all the time myself, which only complicates matters even more.

To have a meaningful and dynamic relationship with God means to be constantly emptying ourselves so that God can speak to us anew. The same goes for our vocations and what we choose to do with our lives. If we are able to empty ourselves and open ourselves to God, we may just find that God has all kinds of exciting things for us to do in the world, and we may even find that God can open us to see the world in news ways. More than likely there are real faults with the ideologies with which we were raised, and the ideologies we have clung to since.

Lane talks about the difference between our jobs and our vocation. [pp. 80-81] Our jobs are what we are paid to do. Our vocation is what God is calling us to do. If we are fortunate, the two may overlap, but they will never be identical, and, for many people, they are far apart. The spiritual question tries to go deeper, and constantly wants to know what God might be calling us to do in the present. This will have to do with not only how we spend our time and exert our energy and love, but also with what causes we support in the social, political, and economic world. If we remain open to God, even out politics may change, hard as that may be to believe. The quest for truth should never be abandoned, and will not be by the one able to become an inner desert as one opens oneself up to the mountaintop revelations God seeks to give us.

God and Golf

My son, Brian, at Blueberry Pines Golf Course


People like to make fun of golf. You know, chasing a little white ball around a pasture. Or, as Mark Twain once said, “a good walk spoiled.” Or, like my stepmother used to say (and, by the way, this is more or less true), golfers spend an hour talking about the round they plan to play, four and half hours playing it, and then two hours talking about it afterwards and planning for the next round.
One of my favorite comments came from a friend, an avid fisherman, who, when asked why he doesn’t golf anymore, said, “It takes too much time.”

So the idea that golf and one’s spiritual journey would have anything to do with each other, well . . . . I am sure that would seem a bit far-fetched to many. And yet, on my sabbatical, I brought along three books on the topic: M. Scott Peck’s (the psychiatrist who wrote the best-selling psychological book of all time, The Road Less Traveled) Golf and the Spirit, Michael Murphy’s Golf in the Kingdom, and Roland Merullo’s Golfing with God.

Peck, who took up golf as an adult, and came to love it more than any other sport, writes:

"Sooner or later golfers who stick with the game long enough
will almost always come to see it as a metaphor for life. . . .
I would go even further and say that, in its own way, golf is
life, and not only that, but “life condensed.” If we choose to
use it as such, I believe that golf, next to marriage and parent-
hood, can routinely be the greatest of life’s learning oppor-
tunities." [p. 61]

Peck designs an imaginary 18 hole golf course, each of which is a chapter in the book. His purpose, as he states on p. 311, is not to worship golf, but to use it as a way to talk about both our psychological growth and our spiritual journey. In the “course” of the book he deals with anger, fear, hazards in life, luck, humiliation, mentoring, character flaws, honesty, self-confidence, perfection, human nature, paradox, civility, competition, power, freedom, beauty, gratitude, grace and many other themes.

Murphy, in his novel set in Scotland, the home of golf, takes on many of the same themes. For example, one of his characters states,

"Gowf is a way o’ makin’ a man naked. . . . . Ye talk about yer
body language, yer style o’ projectin’, yer rationalizashin’, yer
excuses, lies, cheatin’ roonds, incredible stories, failures of
character---why, there’s no place to match it." [p. 45]

Having played golf since I was a child, along with just about every other sport, all of which can teach us about life, I have come to see the unique ways in which golf is a teacher, for better or worse. Every course is different, which brings both beauty and challenges.
In the course of a round you will likely deal with so many of the emotions of life. You will fail, and feel anger and frustration. You will hit a nearly perfect shot, and feel on top of the world. You will be challenged to find joy no matter what the result.

I learned golf from my father, and I taught it to my son when he was five. My wedding gift to my wife was a set of golf clubs, and that seems to have done the trick. She took a hiatus when our children were young, but she is now back at it full steam. I have tried over the years to interest my daughter, but have not been successful, probably because she is so sick of hearing the rest of us talk about golf.

Two years after we bought our cabin a beautiful and challenging golf course was built five miles from our place, called Blueberry Pines. When we lived in Fargo we joined each summer and played most of our golf there. It has truly been a joy to be able to play there again this summer with my son and wife, although she has now returned to her work teaching.

We all continue to learn about life, and each other, as we play.
Most painful of all is learning about yourself. There is no more humiliating teacher, and no more ecstatic athletic experience than those perfect shots we each sometimes hit.

But, best of all, is walking down the 18th fairway with my son, along the Blueberry Creek, among the beautiful Norway pines, with the sun setting orange and red behind us, making the green of the fairways and greens even deeper in hue. I love the game, but I love even more playing it with those I love.

Sacred Place: Steele, N.D.

On the last day of my sabbatical journey north, as I drove across my home state of North Dakota, I drove by Driscoll and Steele, which are located about 35 miles west of Bismarck. These were the home towns of my father and mother, respectively, at the time they were dating each other. About all I can remember about Driscoll is a couple of family gatherings when I was very young, and going to the funerals of my Grandfather and Grandmother in the early 50’s when I was a small boy.

I stopped for gas on the interstate just outside of Steele. After having filled up, I was drawn to drive into this little town of some 700 people. Last year Steele celebrated its 125th Anniversary. The community had been begun by Wilbur F. Steele who had purchased land from the Northern Pacific Railroad for the community. He had hoped his namesake town would become the North Dakota state capitol, and to that end he built a building to house the legislature. When the capitol ended up being located in Bismarck, Steele sold the building to Kidder County in 1885 to serve as its courthouse, which it still is to this day.

As I drove into Steele everything became black and white. It was the late 1930’s, and there was lots of dust in the air. My mother, Ruth, was the daughter of the local Methodist pastor, Herbert Brown, who died before I was born. I found the church he served. My father, Edrei, used to drive over from Driscoll, just 10 miles west, to court my mother. I remember him telling stories about driving around and around the block of the parsonage, hoping to get up enough courage to knock on the door.

I found the post office where Mom used to go to send letters to Dad when he was away at college, and where she would pick up his love letters to her. And yes, I found the Kidder County Courthouse, where they secured their marriage license.

The past is sacred. It carries the stories and events that are a large part of who we are. Towns like Steele are sacred to those who have roots there, stopping by for a few moments to view the places and spaces where events occurred that were seminal to who they are today.

Back on the interstate, I felt a little bit closer to Mom and Dad, and gratitude for the places and people who made them who they were.

Becoming an Auntie

11 days ago my nephew Erik was born - my younger sister's first child and the first grandchild on our side of the family. I can hardly believe that my "little sis" is a parent. I am alternately overjoyed and slightly horrified.
Of course this means a change in my status as well - I am officially an aunt, and not just by marriage. There's no getting around that I am one of the people this adorable new person will count on in life - for hugs and encouragement, birthday presents and at least a little dirt on his mother.
Our Gospel passage for this Sunday is the story of the Good Samaritan - I think most folks know the story, or at least the part about the "good" Samaritan who stopped to help someone in need. Two lines always stick with me after reading this passage from Luke (chapter 10:25-37). The first is the lawyer's right answer about the law: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." - It is so all-encompassing this law of love. The other line that always gets me is the last in the passage. The lawyer has correctly identified the Samaritan who showed mercy as the one who was a neighbor to the beaten man in the road. And Jesus' response is: "Go and do likewise." Go and show mercy whenever and wherever it is needed.
I haven't even seen Erik in person yet, and already I love him. My sister and her husband are loving him like they've never loved anybody - the lack of sleep that goes with early parenting proves it.
I wonder if we can let our love for Erik teach us how to "go and do likewise" for any of God's children in need.

To the Dogs

Three years ago, on vacation here at our cabin in Minnesota, Jessi and I stopped by to visit Ike, the local man who watches our cabin when we are gone. It just so happened that his dog, Molly, a pure bred yellow Labrador Retriever, had given birth to several pups.
Do I really need to tell you the rest of the story? Even I wanted one of those pups. Especially one that could be trained to hunt quail in Arizona and pheasants in North Dakota.

Now, I still find it hard to believe that I was the one who decided not only that Kira should be trained, but that I would be the one to do it. I got a few books from a friend, enrolled her in a several- week class, and took her there with treats in my pocket on Monday nights, sacrificing my Monday Night Football.

I guess I am truly the Alpha, because Kira knows better than to mess around with me. But you should see her with the kids. And anyone else who wants to play with her. Jump and roll and tumble they go.

But what I appreciate most about Kira is that she is an example of pure grace. By that I mean she is totally accepting, and filled with love and fun at all times. Never once, when I have told her to “come,” does she not come. In fact, she comes running full speed and jumps into your arms if you want her to. Never have I suggested we play, or go for a walk, and she has refused. Even if no one else in the house wants to play, I know Kira will.

She is always ready to sit at my feet, lick my face, snuggle on the couch. In October of 2005, when I stepped into a hole while quail hunting and broke my leg, guess who was there licking my face as I lay on a bed of cactus needles. Not that it was a pleasant experience, given it was 107 degrees out, my left knee tendon was nearly torn through, and—then those cactus needles. But there she was, “man’s best friend,” licking me and encouraging me to get up, which, of course, I couldn’t.

We have so much fun at the cabin. All I have to say is, “Kira, let’s go,” and off she and I go on our long walks, down the gravel roads, or in the back meadow.

I have come to understand over the years why humans love dogs. It may be a pejorative expression to say everything is going “to the dogs,” but if all dogs were like Kira, it could only be a good thing.

Sacred Place: Our Cabin

Belden Lane quotes Lawrence Kushner (p. 37):

"The memories of a place become a part of it. Places and things
never forget what they have been witnesses to and vehicles of
and entrances for. What has happened there happened nowhere else. Like ghosts who can neither forget what they have seen nor leave where they saw it, such are the memories tied to places of ascent."

When Mary and I were first married, I read an article by a pastor that fascinated me. He and his family had bought a cabin in Minnesota, and that became their focal point, their holy ground, as they moved many places over the years, living mostly in parsonages.

That made sense to Mary and me. Unlike most cabin people, we were not interested in living on a lake. We wanted a cabin in the country, on a fair amount of land that would give us privacy, places to hike, and a place that could serve as a refuge for all kinds of wildlife.

The first day of searching we found the place of our dreams, a once Finnish farmstread on forty acres near Menahga, Mn. On October 2, 1986, while we were in St. Luke’s Hospital in Fargo, preparing to give birth to our first child, we received a call notifying us that our offer had been accepted. We named our place Blueberry River Farm, because “a river runs through it.”

Like that other pastor family, this cabin truly has become a holy place for us, on sacred ground. It is has been the place to which we have always returned, whether living in Mexico, Dunseith, N.D., Grand Forks, Fargo, or, now, Phoenix. It has been the place where our children have grown up, loving and growing to know nature. They have had about every kind of pet imaginable: turtles, frogs, toads, birds, wild cats. Thanks to a neighbor in the early years who had his own more-or-less zoo across the road from us, they also had pet geese and rabbits.

What is it that is sacred about certain places, certain spaces? Kushner says it is the memories of events that occurred in those places, and the sense in which we know that those places have witnessed and remember those events. Anthropomorphic as that is literally, it expresses the spirit of what we feel.

I have nearly countless memories of our children growing up here, of long discussions Mary and I have had in front of the fireplace as we contemplated decisions about the future, of the many friends and family who have passed through.

I feel different here. I am so much more aware of the past, of the unbelievable grace and love that have been a part of my life. I am more sensitive to the present, realizing intensely what a blessing it to be here together as a family for such an extended period of time. I feel more existentially aware of the uncertainly of life, knowing that when I leave here and return in a year many things could be much different in my life or for my family. Yet I feel also a sense of peace and submission to the future, trusting that as God has blessed and protected us in the past, God will do so in the future.

I hope to return to this holy and sacred place many times in the future, and yet I know, someday, it will be somebody else who comes here to remember, and to give thanks. I hope it will be my children, but it is not for me to decide that.

When Kushner speaks of “memories tied to places of ascent,” I see this cabin. This has been a mountaintop place for me. A place of insight and revelation. God has been in this place. God has blessed this place. God has blessed my life through this place.

What and where have been the sacred places and spaces in your life?