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?