Coins and Crown Tickets

 10-18-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Nine years ago this fall, I visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for the first time. After trekking all the way to Battery Park in New York City, waiting in line to get tickets, waiting in line to get on the ferry, waiting in line to get off the ferry, waiting in line to get through security…. It was only much later that it became clear – coming from the New Jersey side would have been much faster – there were almost no lines on that side!

In the famous great hall on Ellis Island is a stairway called the Stairs of Separation, which is divided into three sections – going to New Jersey, going to New York, and going to be detailed, maybe quarantined after failing the infamous health check.  I was surprised to learn that only steerage passengers arriving in the United States were subjected to the health check. Those with the money to upgrade to second class could skip over Ellis Island entirely!

Surely, over a hundred years later, things of this nature no longer happen… right? Imagine my surprise to learn that, at the Statue of Liberty, the purchase of the pricey Crown Tickets (to go all the way up to the top) allowed you to skip the rest of the line waiting to go through security at the statue and go right to the front.  Apparently no matter what era you live in – money talks.

Israel was a nation under the thumb of the oppressive and expansive Roman Empire… So, it was a matter of course that the Romans used their currency to remind the Jewish people who was boss. Currency that had the faces of Roman emperors on them, emperors who the Romans considered to also be gods. If you recall, this is in direct opposition to two dearly held beliefs of the Jewish faith – you shall have no other gods, and you shall make no grave images… (Remember that one from a few weeks ago?). But in order to function in society as a Roman occupied area, using these blasphemous Roman coins were compulsory.

In response, Jewish leaders found themselves in one of a few different factions with varying degrees of complicity or resistance to the Roman Empire. Of the two that are named in our text today, one is familiar to us - the Pharisees – the religious leaders with no love for Rome but tended to keep their heads down to retain their positions. We don’t know a lot about the other group – the Herodians -  except that they supported Herod, the ruler appointed by far-away Rome. Different groups with different perspectives, brought together by their mutual dislike of Jesus. As the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

This encounter happens almost immediately after Jesus told that really difficult parable last week …. The Pharisees were quickly catching on that Jesus was talking about them, and saying things that would upset the delicate balance of survival. They had to figure out how to get rid of Jesus, and they decided to try to trick him into making a fatal mistake.

Together, these two groups devised a question with NO RIGHT ANSWER. “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” If Jesus says yes, then he would be validating the Roman oppression, which would probably anger his supporters and go against his message. But if he says NOT to paying, he could be in deep trouble with the Romans.

But Jesus was on to them. He had them bring in a coin, which they did- one with the emperor’s face imprinted on it… which is hilarious because they are currently having this little chat IN THE TEMPLE…. And Roman currency of any kind was banned from being used IN THE TEMPLE, for the reasons that I mentioned before. The Roman money needed to be changed… or exchanged… for the acceptable temple-approved coins… which could ONLY happen in one place: the temple. And we all know what tends to happen then there is a monopoly, or when a commodity is in high demand. Exchange rates are high, hurting the poor and most vulnerable worshipers… which sets the stage for Jesus flipping tables and running these money changer out of the temple in just a few chapters. 

Jesus sees straight through their load of baloney. We are filled with glee when Jesus retorts: “You hypocrites, Give to the empire what belongs to the empire….” But are a bit dismayed when he follows it up with - “And give to God what is God’s.” Just what does belong to the empire? And what does belong to God?

A better question to ask might be, what DOES NOT belong to God? Nothing. Because everything we have and everything we are belongs to God.

But we live in a world where we cannot seem to escape the Empire and all that comes with it. By empire here I am not referring to the Roman empire, but from the forces in the world that govern our lives and our time, the machinations that trap us in systems of oppression and oppressing one another. Wherever we go, we can’t escape being part of the system, or being on some level complicit in the empire and all that it represents.

Every time I hand over a bill with George Washington or Andrew Jackson on it, I am participating in this system. The coffee I love some much at Starbucks was probably harvested by people not being paid a living wage. The inexpensive dress I want to buy was almost certainly made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh or Honduras.

Like a coin bears the image and title of the Empire, WE bear the IMAGE of GOD, and bear the title of “beloved child of God,” when we were marked on our foreheads with the cross of Christ when we were baptized. I bear the image of God, and you bear the image of God, and both you and I are worthy of love and respect, and deserve being treated as such.

When we forget that we bear the image of God, we forget our humanity. We forget that all of us belong to God, and we must treat one another – AND OURSELVES – accordingly. When one of us who bears the image of God is not free, none of us, are. THAT is our work, as the image bearers of God - to free the oppressed, to believe the stories of the harassed, and to work for justice for ALL of God’s family.

What I do with my money matters, and it sends a signal to the rest of the world what my values are. It is my hope that at least most of the time I am using this money – God’s money – for things that align with God’s Kingdom rather than the Empire of the world.

As Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson writes in a poem about playing bills in her book “Ordinary Blessings:” “Each… payment [is] …. A testament to comfort and control, values and grit, need and greed, and inherent responsibility to ourselves, the vulnerable, future generations, and all of creation. May we consume with care, pay what is right, challenge power with justice until everyone can pay with dignity.”

There sure are a lot of little things we can do so that God’s money can do some good through our hands. We can buy fair trade coffee and chocolate, especially with the big holiday Reforma-ahem-Halloween coming up. We can purchase clothes second hand from local thrift stores where the profits benefit others. We can hold back on unnecessary purchases and instead donate to good causes we are passionate about. We can even learn to balance our budgets and so that we are able to be generous tithers to this congregation and all its missions. We can give the Empire back all the bad stuff it has given us, and instead give back to God what belongs to God: Everything. Our money, our possessions, our time, ourselves.

Nothing is too much or too little. We are enough. We belong to God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

Bodies and Bread Sandwiches

Sermon 8-5-18

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

I think I may have inherited my Dad’s love of bread. Growing up, my dad had a very special recipe for his all-time favorite sandwich. Take one slice of white bread, and another slice of white bread, and put a slice – or even two! – of white bread in the middle… and Ta-Da! You have a “bread sandwich”! Every day like clockwork, around mid afternoon, was bread sandwich snack time. As a kid I thought it was a great idea… now… it sounds just a little bit monotonous.

Perhaps you might have noticed a theme today… bread, bread, bread, and lots of it. Bread last week, bread this week, and - spoiler alert - more bread for three more weeks after this one. This series in the lectionary cycle is called the “Summer of Bread” by some, and a complete annoyance by others. Every three years around August, we ditch Mark and dig deep into John 6, in what I hope will be a few weeks of, not boring bread sandwiches, but instead a rich buffet of tasty loaves. True, it’ only my second time around in this part of the lectionary, so while I may feel this way now, you might want to ask me again in … 12 years or so if I am still this excited to spend weeks and weeks talking about bread.

While I was home – and conveniently gone for the first Sunday in the Summer of Bread – I met my cousin’s newborn son James and got to witness his baptism. James is about five weeks old by now and his talents currently include: looking cute, filling his diaper, eating, and apparently is an excellent burper.

Flat Jesus even showed up in St. Louis!

But he wasn’t the only baby I got to see or hold in the last two weeks. While I was in St. Louis for a conference hosted by Young Clergy Women International, I saw babies strapped on their mamas, babies being fed and changed, babies crying, babies laughing, fetuses still in utero … I even held a baby named Mabel and she though that me giving her hi-fives was the most hysterical things EVER!

Though these babies and their moms were not the star attraction of the conference, the theme of that week – Embodied Ministry – could not be complete without them. That week, Dr. Karoline Lewis lead us in a deep dive into the Gospel of John and what bodies and faith have to do with one another, especially as women. As a John scholar, Dr. Lewis pointed out the beginning of John, a passage we read every Christmas but don’t chew on its full meaning enough. John writes: “the word (meaning Jesus) became flesh” and lived among us (v. 14). The Word became SARX, in the original Greek. SARX means body. The Word was a body. And therefore, ALL BODIES, ALL Flesh matters to God.

On the way from the St. Louis airport to the hotel, the side of a brick Baptist church read – “Jesus Completely Saves.” And they are absolutely right… but perhaps not the way they may have intended. Jesus completely saves, and that includes our bodies – female bodies, male bodies, white, black, and brown bodies, trans bodies, differently abled bodies, new bodies, aging bodies, suffering bodies, healthy bodies. ALL bodies.

God care about what happens to our bodies, not just our “souls,” and that work began way before Jesus arrived on the scene. God saved the suffering bodies of his people in Egypt while they were slaves. Through God’s servant Moses, these exploited bodies were led to freedom. Then… these bodies came down with an acute case of the Nostalgia. Sure… they were SLAVES in Egypt… suffering night and day…  but gosh, didn’t they eat well while they were slaves?

I imagine that if we could hear my cousin’s son James’s thoughts, they might be just a little bit similar. Now, about 5 weeks out, I imagine James could be thinking… Yeah, so what if I had no leg room, and it was dark and cramped up there in the womb… but it sure beats a wet diaper, crying for my dinner, and being passed around to all these strange people!

And when he gets older, he’ll grow in the phase where it’s nothing but “Mom… mom…mom… mom….!” Nothing will ever go right, and mom will always need to fix everything.

Do we ever grow out of this phase, though? Do we ever stop complaining about SOMETHING? We are lead out of slavery into bondage into freedom, but things are not as easy as we expected them to be. Or we cry out when we are in dire need, not sure if God has heard us, wondering and waiting for God to respond.

What we do not know and cannot see is that, in the darkness and the waiting, God has already begun to respond to our needs before we even know it. Just like a baby doesn’t know that their mother is on the way until milk hits mouth… even though mom is already at work getting the bottle warm or the new diaper ready. Professor Hannah Shanks put it this way in her new book about bodies and Holy Communion, she writes: “The moment we turn ourselves to God, God – like a mother, begins to turn towards us, even if we may not see or feel God’s presence for some time.”

God tells Moses to tell his complaining people: “Draw near to the Lord, for he had heard your complaining.” And then, God provides – raining bread (and birds) from heaven. They shall eat meat and have their fill of bread, enough for that day. “Give us this day our daily manna.” Give us this day our daily bread sandwiches.

Fast forward a few hundred years, and the People of God still do not seem to get it. Yet again, they miss what has been under their noses the entire time. Jesus had to spell it out for them – Just as God gave the people manna in the wilderness, Jesus has been given to them in the flesh – a body to be broken, a body to be shared, a body to make all bodies one and whole.

Fast forward a few hundred years YET AGAIN… and we the people of God STILL don’t get this.

For us now, it’s so easy to look at this crowd and scoff at how dense everyone around Jesus seems. But we have no cause to feel superior, just because we have the advantage of hindsight. We too work for the food that doesn’t last, for success or admiration or material things, to chase after the image of the perfect mom or student or Christian. We miss where God is at work in our lives and instead are blown about, bouncing to and fro, from one new fad to the next, as Paul wrote…. We too we miss what’s right in front of us.

We miss that again and again, God provides. For any and all of our needs. And God is in the habit of providing A LOT, often out of a very little. God provided more manna than the freed slaves could eat in a single day. God provided a LOT of wine at the wedding at Canna. God provided A LOT of bread and fish to a LOT of people out of just one kid’s lunch. All to teach us that “grace is multiplied through sharing.”(Hannah Shanks again) Just as Jesus shared his body with us – “This is my body, given for YOU.”

At my cousin’s son’s baptism, communion was not part of the service. And the baptism took place in a denomination that does not ordain women. I honestly couldn’t tell you much of what the pastor said during the sermon, because all I could hear by his very presence as he tried to talk about bread, was “you’re not enough, you and your call don’t belong here.”

To all the little girls I saw up there with the male pastor during the children’s sermon, I wanted to whisper in their ear – “Don’t listen to this guy. You can be a pastor if you want. You are enough and your bodies matter to God.” So, I will just have to say it to all of you instead. God loves us so much that Jesus came as a body so that we an be COMPLETELY saved. You are enough, and you are enough, and you are always enough.

Every week we say the same words in the Lord’s Prayer… “give us this day our daily bread.” No matter how much the bread has been broken and shared, there is always enough for all. And YOU are ENOUGH, and worthy to receive it.

But this also means that other bodies are also worthy of care and provisions. This also might mean that OUR BODIES become the daily bread for others. We might have to put OUR bodies on the line to stand up for the bodies of others. Hannah Shanks again writes: “… our bodies will make that gospel proclamation to anyone who witnesses us.” As the body of Christ, we might be the bread sandwiches that get someone through the day.

Karoline Lewis ended our conference with this bold charge: “The Word became flesh… are you willing to risk the same?” I like to think that we can respond with the words from our baptismal liturgy: We will, and we ask God to help us. Amen.

English as a First Language

Or: An Uncomfortable Portrait of White American Privilege.

I knew going on the plane  in Philadelphia to attend the Lutheran Word Federation assembly in Namibia that I had what would be a really tight connection in the States, so I wondered if I would make it. I told myself that the airport is not O'Hare by any means, so it might be fine, right? My luggage probably won't make it, but there is a chance that I might. Right?

Not so much.

As we took off from Philly, we were already 30 minutes late, and we never made up the time as we few over the stark deserts of the Middle East, which I was seeing for the first time. As we landed, I still believed that I would not actually step on the Middle Eastern continent before heading to Africa. Until, that is, we were told to exit the plane to board waiting buses... and we were parked on the tarmac, and not directly at the airport. And, of course, being at the back of the plane, I waited with about 20 other people for more buses to arrive (in the 90 degree heat at 7 AM local). After the 10 minute bus ride and speed walking across the airport, my rush to make it by the last boarding was in vain.

I was by myself in another continent, watching the very nice Air Qatar people working on finding new flights for me, and I wondered how this was going to work out, especially when they offered to put me up in a complimentary hotel for part of the 18 hours it would be until my next flight, directly to Windhoek Namibia.

I found myself kind of bumbling from one person to another with my reservation clutched in my hand, looking for this hotel (which I thought was within the airport). I was told to follow the signs (there were none) then found myself being told to go through customs (which took a solid hour), then wandered into the hotel shuttle shepherding person, onto a bus, driving into the city of Doha, and praying all the while that someone knew what they were doing and that I would end up in the right spot. Everyone spoke English to me and I asked them English questions, and they all somehow took care of this one lost American.

A lady from India waited in line behind me through customs, and she asked me in broken English if this was the right thing to do to get out of the airport. I told her I thought so. And I began to realize that every person I talked to and would talk to for the next 12 hours spoke my language, and that I had no clue how to even say "thank you" in Arabic. I consider myself to be a pretty competent traveler, but I would have been totally lost if it had not be for these kind, bi- or tri- lingual airport staff.

This was only the beginning of directly experiencing something that I had knew intellectually - I am privileged that the world speaks my native language.

On Air Qatar, all the announcements were in Arabic and in English.

Though the Lutheran World Federation operates in 4 languages (also French, German, and Spanish), most of the speakers presented in English, and most of the discussion occurred in English (though instant translation was offered, I rarely had to use it).

On the last night a group of German graciously invited me to join them for dinner, and spoke to me in perfect English, and I was very aware that my one semester of German in college was woefully inadequate to converse with them in their native tongue. I imagine that it would have been much more comfortable for them to speak in German with one another, after speaking English all week.

Pastors from Ethiopia and other parts of Africa and Asia discussed complex theological concepts in a language not their first, or maybe even their second. I certainly can't do that. These African pastors are so much smarter than I am.

When the world speaks your language, you are not motivated by necessity to learn another. So it is so easy to feel entitled to your own language.

I was told, thought, that American English is a fairly easy version of English to understand. I hope that during my sermon on Tuesday night, I spoke slowly and clearly enough to be understood by those who spoke English, even though copies of my sermon were distributed in all four languages. That's why I thought it was important that for the moment I went "off script" I said "one moment please" in all the languages (and I asked native speakers how I would go about saying it, so I hope I got it right!).

For my fellow English as a First Language Speakers, we do not get that many chances to experience lingual diversity. It feels uncomfortable to us when someone speaks a language we are not fluent it. But it's a good discomfort. It means that we are not the rulers of the world. It reminds us that we don't know everything, and don't deserve everything. It reminds us that we have a place in this world, and that the world is not required to make a place for us. Being a global citizen begins at home with our attitudes with those who are different than us. Embrace the discomfort - for it means we still have much to learn and discover about one another. And then go download a language-learning app and at least become fluent in "Thank You."

Thank you to all those who showed kindness to this mono-lingual, wide-eyed white American thrown  into the (Lutheran) world spotlight. I so grateful to have received such grace. I certainly didn't deserve it.

View of Doha from the shuttle bus. It was 100 degrees outside!

This sorry-looking American is TIRED!!

View from the hotel. I didn't get to explore the city - someday!

Under the Foreshadow of God's Wings

Women from South Africa in WI on '05!

Every synod in the ELCA has a companion synod somewhere in the world. I grew up in the the East Central Synod of Wisconsin, and their companion synod is South Africa. One summer (2005), while I worked at a Lutheran Bible camp (Pine Lake, Waupaca) a delegation of women from South Africa arrived, stayed at the camp, and visited churches from around the synod. We had such a wonderful time with them! The synod that I am now a part of, South East Penn (SEPA) has a partnership with the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. My previous synod was the NJ Synod, and they have a partnership with all 3 of the Lutheran denominations in Namibia!

A few years ago, during one of the NJ synod assemblies, I went to one of the break-out session on their partnership with Namibia, and about the last trip they took, which was quite a few years ago, I think. I remember sitting in on the session, and thinking about how amazing it would be to someday go to Namibia!!

And now look what happened! I had no idea that I would actually be going on a trip like this!

God has a hilarious sense of humor. Back in college 7 of us drove all the way from Wartburg College in Waverly IA to Audubon NJ to visit the home of one of my friends for spring break. It took us about 17 or so hours to drive, but hey, we were "crazy college kids." Little did I know that I would eventually be called to NJ, less than an hour from where I had been 6 years or so before.

A few years ago, when visiting Peddlers Village (near my current church in Buckingham PA), I wondered what it would be like to live in this area, and then decided that the roads were too windy and I would probably spend every day getting carsick. I have since learned which roads to avoid.

My former colleague in NJ has connections to the nearby Doylestown area, and joked in his sermon at my installation that my coming to PA was "a 'trade' that was dozens of years in the making"!

Coincidence? I don't think so.

"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord." Psalm 31:24

As I prepare and slowly fill  up my bags, my cats suspect that something is up. Shhhh, don't tell them. I have some good people to check in on them, they'll be fine. 

Upcoming Globe Skimming

I feel as though with my travel itinerary, I will be globe-skimming (or surfing) rather than globe-trotting. I will probably take five whole steps in Qatar before taking off again. Here is what my travel to and from Namibia will look like.

Depart for Philly on May 8- probably around 6 - 6:30 AM to get there by the 3ish hours before international flights. (1 hour drive)
Leave Philly - 10:40 AM  (6:40 PM Qatar time and 3:40 PM Namibian time)
Arrive in Qatar - 6:30 AM local
Depart Qatar - 7:15 AM local (that's 45 minutes!)
Arrive in Johannesburg South Africa - 2:40 PM
Depart J'burg - 5:40 PM local
Arrive in Namibia - 7:00 PM local
1 hour drive to Windhoek, means I'll probably get to the hotel by 9 PM local on May 9th.

My trip back is even easier, with a flight from Windhoek to Qatar to Philly, but once more with 45 minute layover, leaving May 17 and arriving at 8:40 AM Eastern time on May 18th! Who wants to have brunch with a half-crazy-tired, jet lagged me to help me stay awake and reset to to this time zone? :) Namibia is 5 hours ahead of us, for the record.

This is kind of what I feel like I'm going to be doing. Whee!

Preparations Galore

Imagine that you are told that you will be going on an amazing trip to experience a once-in-a-lifetime event to a country on another continent, in a whole different hemisphere. And you have 4 weeks to prepare! So much to do! Fortunately most of the major stuff is already arranged, like my shots, travel plans, hotel stays, and my sermon. I'm staying at the Safari Court Hotel next to the conference center in Windhoek (pronounced Wind-Took or Vind-Took like in German).

To make things even more wild, one of my layovers will be on a entirely other continent. I get to spend a whole  45 minutes on Qatar, in the Middle East! (North America), Europe, Asia, and now the Middle East and Africa are the continents I will have under my belt after this trip! Now I just have to figure out how to pack my alb in my checked baggage with minimum wrinkles. I'm only allowed 1 checked bag on Qatar Airlines! On the way there (but not the way back) I also have another layover in Johannesburg South Africa. I leave on the 8th and return on the 19th.

I've also reading a lot - like catching up on a class I didn't know I was signed up for! I am reading a few of the essays written specifically for the main theme of the Assembly - Liberated by God's Grace, and for the three sub themes: Salvation: Not for Sale, Creation: Not for Sale, and Human Beings: Not for Sale. You can find it all online on the LWF website, or in book form on Amazon. Great stuff!

I've been reading up on Namibia too - in May the weather is cooler, the highs running in the 70s F, as they head toward the dry season. Around half of the country is Lutheran (90% of the population is Christian). Namibia has 3 Lutheran denominations, and is the companion of my previous synod (NJ). How cool is that?

Grace is free, but shots are not.

I got all my shots today! I got so many because it has been 7 years since my tetanus, and they recommend getting it early to be on the safe side, and also Heb A since it is standard for most kids now and good for most international travel. Typhoid and yellow fever complete the mix. They even gave me cool bandaids. And the barista at Panera gave me a free coffee, even though she had no idea I was about to get jabbed in the arm 4 times. At least they gave me some rad bandaids!

The price tag was a much bigger ouch, though!


Today I also picked up a good deal of  supplies for the trip. It certainly is piling up! Snacks, luggage lock, luggage tags, Dramamine, earplugs... and I ordered a converter and adapter for my electronic devices...also an SD card for my digital camera, since I seem to have lost mine in the move.  I found my neck pillow, and I'm borrowing a travel bag for my alb and stole.

This is not my first rodeo traveling internationally. In January 2011 I traveled to Hong Kong and the Sichuan province in China with Dr, Theresa Latini, newly elected President of the United Lutheran Seminary. It was for a cross-cultural class where we spent a week in Hong Kong and a week in China, visiting churches and seminaries, talking to local pastors, and seeing local sights, like beautiful temples and pandas! THAT trip boasted a 16 hours long airplane trip!

However, this will be my first international trip going solo!

Out of the tomb, and off to Namibia...

Not that long ago, I spent a lot of time in the darkness of tombs. Much of my life was in a whole lot of limbo, like a seed waiting to find some new, fertile ground to thrive, but for a while not much happened. By the grace of God, and on the shoulders of many wonderful friends, family members, colleagues, and therapists, I made it to 2017.... where Resurrection has pretty much been smacking me in the face every. single. day.

After saying goodbye to a well-loved but part-time call with a great colleague, I had just moved to a new town, a new state, a  new apartment, and a new call. Things were busy, but going great! Lent was about to start, to add to the craziness of starting a new call.

Ash Wednesday morning, my world moved again.

I woke up.

I checked my email.

I nearly fell out of bed.

I JUMPED out of bed.

I may have yelled really loudly and scared my cats.

I was one of the top ten finalists in a preaching contest I had completely forgotten that I had entered. At the time, back in October, I was part time and figured there was no good excuse for me NOT to enter. Plus, I really wanted to see a woman preach at this event, and so I had better contribute my part.

Fast forward to the Monday of Holy Week. Much the same as Ash Wednesday:

I woke up, checked my email, and promptly went into shock. More crazy yelling.

Everyone is so thrilled, I'm thrilled, my congregation is thrilled, my family and friends are thrilled....

But....

I'm leaving on an international trip to an African country that I had not planned for...

..in less than 2 weeks now.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

To keep my sanity, and to chronicle the before, during, and after adventures and reflections, I'm going to share here, on my blog, which has sort of turned into mainly a sermon blog, which it should not be limited to anyway. So stay tuned for further hi-jinks in "Pastor Lydia Goes to Namibia"!

Homily at my home church, Grace Lutheran in Winchester, WI

1 Peter 2:2-10
Like newborn infants, long for the pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: ‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’  To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner’,  and ‘A stone that makes them stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Wednesday 5-14-14

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Christ our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

My husband and I were at Target the day after Mother's Day, and already the card section had been stripped clean of all vestiges that there had ever been a mother's day at all. Instead, all was being made ready for the next big “card holiday” - Father's Day! So you'd better get your cards now, before they're gone! And of course there are as many graduation cards still available as there are schools and programs to graduate from - high school, college, graduate school, pre school, med school. Cards for holding money, cards that are funny or slightly inappropriate, cards that are mushy and gushy, cards that make us cry with their wisdom.

Target and the Hallmark companies of the world seem to have all the festive and celebratory holidays and occasions covered. But if there were cards for “real life;” - cards that expressed what was really on our minds? What might THOSE cards say?

Alongside the "congrats on that new baby" cards might be the cards that say "Sorry for your loss... of sleep for the next 18 years." A graduation card from such an honesty line, like one I might get for my sister, graduating from college in just a few days, might say: “Congrats on entering the real world! Welcome to crippling debt for the next 15-20 years." or "I’m sorry that you are entering a crummy job market, my condolences."

But also, if such cards existed, next to the cards saying "congrats on your new job" should be cards for the condolences for the loss of job, or a pay cut or reduction in hours. Alongside the festive birthday cards should be cards in large bifocal friendly print that say something like "I hope that today at least is a good day for you, because getting older can be really, really difficult. Your body will betray you, and every year there will be more funerals and fewer faces of the ones you love.”

I suppose in such a world, we would have cards would tell our real life stories, not just the sugar-coated version of the lives that we wish we were leading. With such a honest line of Hallmark cards, it might be easier to share with one another how difficult life can really be.

Reading 1st Peter today is sort of like reading someone else’s real-life, honest Hallmark card. Well, really it’s more like reading a post on someone’s blog - this letter was written to a specific group of people, but read out loud in public, and passed down through the ages so that people like us, two thousand years later, can “eavesdrop.” Peter, writing to the dispersed and exiled communities around what is now Turkey, is not sugar-coating anything. Life did not suddenly become easy once the people in these communities began to follow Jesus. Believing and trusting in the resurrection of their Lord often actually made their lives more difficult. The early Christian church was growing like a weed, and was also being treated like one by the the Roman empire at the time.  To them, the growing Christian church was like a weed that must be pulled out and destroyed at all costs.

Fortunately for us, we no longer have to deal with the likes of the Roman Empire. But unfortunately for us, following Jesus does not seem to have gotten any easier. We may not have the Roman Empire to deal with any more, we do have other empires who oppress and seduce us. The empire of wealth will welcome us with open arms as it citizens, if only we have enough money to support the lifestyle of the successful. The empire of success will call us as one of its own if only we put in long hours and excel at everything we do, including the perfect job, the perfect house, the perfect family. The empire of popularity beckons to us with its lure of instant friends and the acceptance we crave. The empire of stuff tells us that we will only truly find happiness with the next new thing, if only we fork over our credit cards for the next hot item at the mall or on Amazon.

And before long we are utterly used up, buried under this Empire of Death, our hearts slowing becoming deadened to love and kindness, slowly turning into stone. We become like walking dead people, trapped in a tomb of darkness.

Well, we know what Jesus does to tombs, don’t we? Tombs just don’t seem to stay shut around him. When Jesus shows up, people have a tendency not to stay dead.

Where the empires of our lives show us no mercy, Jesus has shown us mercy. When we were once a collection of individuals with hearts of stone, now Jesus has called us together to be a people, as Peter writes - to be living stones. As pastor, writer, and speaker Nadia Bolz-Weber has said, when looking out upon her congregation, “I am UNCLEAR about what all these people have in common.” Except, of course, we have our Lord Jesus in common, who gathers us together, and makes us into a new kind of people.

Jesus has called us out of the darkness of death into his marvelous light to be living stones that make up his church. You know that kids rhyme, “here is the church, here is the steeple, open the door and see all the people.” Well, I’m sorry to have to tell you that this rhyme is WRONG - dead WRONG. The church is NOT the building. It’s not the steeple. It’s not the pews or what color they are. The church is not the budget, or the pastors, (or who is preaching), or the banners, or the screen, or the altar rail. The church is not a building made of bricks and stone. “HERE is the church,” made of of living stones, made of flesh and blood, made of people who tried their darndest to follow Jesus every day. The church is wherever God is, and wherever God’s people happen to be, there is the church.

And if that is really true, that church can happen wherever God is (which is everywhere) and wherever God’s people find themselves, that means that church is not just what happens inside this building. It’s what happens OUT THERE, outside the safety of Jesus’ sheep pen we heard about last week.

I don’t have to tell you that the world can be a scary place. But we have built our lives on a movable cornerstone - our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ. This cornerstone knows what it’s like to be rejected, to suffer pain in the extreme, both physical and emotional, and has gone into the tomb of the darkness of death. But as we know, tombs don’t stay shut for Jesus. The resurrected Lord is popping up all over the place, and sometimes NOT. EVEN. IN. CHURCH.

Jesus is on the move, a living stone that is rock-steady for us to build our lives on, and yet always ahead of us, leading us into a new kind of future. Now how is THAT for an awesome, real-life, greeting card? Amen.

Grandpa's Last Gift

As an ordained minister, I have the blessed and humbling privilege to witness important and personal moments in the lives of families, some of whom I barely know (some of whom I get to know well). Some of these moments are so raw and so personal that no other person would ever be invited to see such a moment, not in a million years. And yet, here I am, invited to pray with families as their loved ones are dying, as people struggle with illness and recovery, and other times to join in celebrating the union of two people in matrimony (which I did for the first time last weekend!).

But is one thing to be the (mostly) calm, gentle minister in their midst and then go home to my own whole and unsuffering life, and it is quite another when trauma hits on a personal level. Last month my Grandpa had a massive stroke that left him paralyzed and unable to speak or swallow. It should have taken him the moment it struck, but by some blessed design, my grandpa was able to spend twelve days saying goodbye to his very extensive family. I was able to fly back to Wisconsin and spend five precious days with him and with my family.

The greatest gifts that my grandpa gave to me were those days I was able to be at his bedside, holding his hand, reading to him from his devotional, laughing about favorite memories, reading to him some of my past sermons about the farm. Being with someone who is dying is both holy and disconcerting, and a gift I was able to share with my family is what I had learned over the course of my seminary education and eighteen months of ministry. But it was Grandpa who did the teaching this time, teaching us how to hold his hand and not let go, teaching us how to understand what he wanted to say to us with his eyes, teaching us what a life well lived looks like, teaching us how to die well.

Every grief is different and the same. Having experienced this grief of mine has made me a more compassionate and aware human being, though it is still painful. But that is also where we tend to find that God is most visible, leaning on our family and friends for support through the tough times. And that's what transforms them into something beautiful.

God is our refuge and strength...

My top 10 favorite moments of the ROAR 2013 senior high servant trip, where youth from all over NJ helped people still affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. In no particular order:

1. Even campfire at Cross Roads Camp. Brought back a lot of fun memories.

2. When we were cleaning a street in Ortley Beach, within 20 minutes we had three offers of cold water from the neighbors, plus the lady who's yard we were weeding cut up some watermelon for us - best watermelon I ever tasted! This woman was 85 years old and had been living with one of her nieces for the last 6 months after Sandy. She said that after Sandy, she couldn't function, couldn't write her own name. Her sister, with whom she had lived in that house, completely shut down and stopped talking to anyone to this day, and now lives in a nursing home. But she was so glad to see us, and so glad for the help.

3. One night at the church we were staying at there was a meeting that wanted to meet in the church where it was cool (that week the temps were in the upper 90s!), so we had evening worship in the lounge where we ate. While singing "Trouble won't go," some of the kids really got into it, and kept the beat (gently-ish) on the tables... it sounded awesome! Gave me goosebumps.

4. Seeing the giant bucket-brigade-like line the kids created to unload loads of food at the PERC shelter in Union City. We boxed up enough food to feed 340 people. And our youth got to hear the "homeless homeless" story from one of the staff who was there the night it happened

(The "homeless homeless" story, in case you haven't heard it from me before, is about the night after Sandy hit Union City area, and one homeless shelter in one part of the city, in order to make room for the displaced people with damaged homes, put 90+ homeless people on a bus and dropped them off in front of PERC, which was already full. No warning or anything. They found room by clearing their dining area. We also learned that this happens on a smaller scale all the time - people just released from prison or the hospital are often given a free taxi ride directly to PERC.)

5. Debbie leading yoga for us in the evening at the YMCA - relaxing and rejuvenating!

6. Communion at our closing worship - seeing everyone gathered around the alter in one big circle!

7. Being at the beach in Point Pleasant and seeing a rainbow. And then driving just a little way down the road, toward Mantoloking, where you can still see piles that once were houses. Mind-blowing.

8. Helping St. Barbara's Orthodox Church in Tom's River prepare for Camp Noah... getting two entire rooms painted and gift kits sorted. The kids worked so hard, even on the last day. And getting to see their awesome sanctuary. It's huge and completely covered in beautiful icons. Just gorgeous.

9. Helping out Covenant Church in West Long Branch get ready to host volunteers - we made them look beautiful by weeding, and set up some cots (which are super comfortable, being the good helpers we are we tested them out a bit...) and learning about the congregation. The picture from my last post was taken there. One of my youth had the idea, and I took the pic with her phone. Neat, huh?

10. Getting to meet the pastors of St. Thomas in Brick where we stayed... a clergy couple! They were wonderful. And the church was great - most rooms had AC!!!

Many other things happened, but those were definitely the highlights. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers this week, it was big success!!

#ROARNJ 3013

God's Work, Our Hands

July 14 - 19

Cross Roads Camp, PERC Union City, Brick, Tom's River, and more...

An M.A. in marriage. :)

Six years. That's like getting your B.A. then going on for  your M.A, right? :) Believe me, we are no masters, but I think that we've done pretty well for ourselves making it to 6. Maybe we should think of it more like our marriage can now go to kindergarten!

We celebrated early by spending the 4th holiday in Philly, which was pretty cool beyond cool for these two mid-westerners. We sat outside of Independence Hall and watched the the festivities and dignitaries, which was surprisingly sparsely attended.  My theory is that all the locals stayed home, and the audience was full of non-jaded people like us, tourists or people not from the East Coast. It was fun to be there and see the commemorations, speeches by Mayor Nutter and his wife, and a performance by a marching band from Wisconsin and also Ben Taylor. Then came a parade that was fun - full of performances by cultural and ethnic groups around the city - but it never seemed to end! We had lunch nearby, and when we went back outside, it was still going on!

Later that night we were going to be at the big concert in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art - with the Roots!! and other bands. But it was so hot, and so crowded, and kind of smelled, and it was loud but we couldn't hear anything, so we went back to our cool, quiet hotel room, and watched it on TV. Great sound. Best decision ever.

The next day we went to Love Park - of course.

Last night we watched our wedding video, I think for the third time ever. Though we figured out that the service itself was actually only 50 minutes or so, we still apologize to everyone who was there for not shortening the communion liturgy and prayers! What were we thinking, including ALL the parts of "Now the Feast" in an un-air conditioned church service in July! But we promise, that was the only time we'll ever get married, and we'll never do it again. ;)

We still agree that our reception was the most fun reception we've ever been at, before or since (yes, we are probably biased). My maid of honor's toast was still the best: "...and to top it all off, she's LUTHERAN"! (she was quoting Beau). And yes, he is still my Mr. Darcy.

Pastor Blessings/Perks

One of the perks of living on the East Coast is the easy access to the ocean (unless you are in the middle of a hurricane. Then it is pretty horrible). Even better are generous members of our congregations who own rental homes minutes from the beach. A family from Beau's congregation owns a home they rent in the summer in Brigantine, NJ, and offered to let us stay in it when we want to, off-season of course. We took them up on their generous offer two weeks ago. The previous weekend we spent apart, me at the synod HS Winter Youth Assembly and he at camp Konionia in Upstate NY for a youth weekend. So we decided it would be a good time to get away! It was also very good to get away from the business of our lives (it IS Lent). We had both been crazy busy for the last few weeks that it was so nice to get away together! Brigantine is a actually an island directly north of Atlantic City. It's very peaceful, especially off-season, and we found a great pub with awesome food and live music, and a nice bagel shop. It sustained some damage from the storm, mostly homes, but it seems most business are still running. It was rather rainy and overcast, but it was still lovely.

May God Bless You With Discomfort

WHAT A WEEKEND! I can't remember the last time since I did so much and saw so many people and states in just four days! And, after visiting both my Alma Maters too, I now understand the term. It really felt, in so many ways, that in this trip we were (at least briefly) going back in time, back into the womb, to different formative places from our past.

First: Luther, both first to be visited and most recent Alma. After getting over our shock and jealousy of seeing the new coffee shop, we could not get over the feeling that this place (actually the entire Twin Cities) felt like home. They say that you can't go back, and you really can't, but this is the closest we'll ever come. We only caught a few profs, but it was enough (one even said "ok, give me your elevator speech!" like she knew that we were seeing tons of people for a short time and saying the same thing, basically! Gotta love Mary Sue!) And the bookstore was like a mini-Christmas. We even sat in on a Pentateuch class that one of our friends was taking, and it was like the exact lecture I needed to hear, about the "J" source of all things. Sometimes I miss being a student (but not the homework!)

Being back in the Twin Cities was such a bizarre and somewhat heart-wrenching experience. You never really know how much a place feels like home until you leave it for a while... and then come back. But the very reason that we may want to go back is the very reason that we can't, at least not for a while. More about that later (it was sort of a theme of the trip). The overall feeling I got from being back in Minneapolis was... calm. People there aren't in as big of a rush there. Frankly, I was surprised at how much I missed it.

We stayed with some friends who had gotten back from the peace corps literally WEEKS after we moved to NJ, so it had been at least 3 years since we had seen them. We stayed at their house, helped them with a last harvest of their lovely garden and put it do bed. Did I mention it was freaking freezing in the Midwest? 80 to 49 as the high in the space of a day. Anyway, then we road down to Waverly IA for the wedding with them, the whole time talking nonstop about their years in Burkina Faso, our year in NJ, the weirdness of life and seminary, and why the church frustrates us sometimes.

Waverly.... had grown up. And there is no one left we know as a student on campus, so Beau and I only spend about half an hour wandering around campus (we did find Dr. Mrs. Black!!!). We realized that the specialness of Wartburg, like that of Luther Sem, is that of its people and relationships we build there. Really it is nothing more than some nice buildings - but the memories are the important thing.

The wedding was lovely and the reception fantastic as we literally danced the night away. Again, it was seeing the people we had not seen in 3-4 years that made all the difference.

We had breakfast one morning and later lunch with some past beloved Wartburg profs, which were right there with us as we shared with them the frustration and joys of ministry, but most especially we felt their support as we struggled with the location that God has placed us - that the East Coast is such a different animal than anything we've ever experienced. Even after a year, it's still hard some days. But as we attended St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Waverly on Sunday morning and heard the sermon, you can't go right from wheat to bread. The kernel must be broken open, ground up a bit, stretched with discomfort, and more before it can truly become bread, bread that God can used to feed people.

It is because of this desire to go back to what feels safe and comfortable is the very reason we can't leave yet. And that is a very hard thing.

And there's even more from the weekend. (I never promised that this would be a short post). I was able to reconnect to a camp friend I hadn't seen in 4+ years, and we had one of those deep conversations about life and God and peace, justice, and urban ministry, dissatisfaction with the sometimes rigidity of established religion. I hadn't realized how age-lonely it can be in the church, but it is friends like these who give me hope for the future.

It has been a lot to process, and I'm still processing. But I will end with a benediction from that Sunday, St. Francis Sunday, which is attributed to him:

May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain in to joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

AMEN. 

Midwest Weekend Madness!

I had to laugh - going through the Madison WI airport the TSA didn't say a word about my two things of venison sausage in my carry on. The reason I was pulled aside? Hairspray. Wisconsin for the win!


Remind me not to get up at 4:30 AM twice in one week again - though it was totally worth it. I blame it on Delta, not my dear friends Brett and Julie, who got married, nor my family. Thankfully all flights involved were uneventful, though for a little bit it looked like I might have gotten into Chicago a bit late. But I arrived on time and was greeted by the blushing bride herself and her lovely mom. Then it was off to the bachelorette party - lunch and mani-pedis in the afternoon, which is a brilliant idea. I had no idea that they give you a foot massage too! It was so relaxing I could have fallen asleep. Then we just hung out at the hotel before the rehearsal at Julie's home church. Seriously, this bride was as cool as a cucumber, and rightly so, since she had sent each of us a four-page itinerary of the weekend in advance! Doesn't she just look so lovely? I can't get over it. 

I got to see a whole bunch of my college friends, a few of whom were in the wedding too. It was such a beautiful service (no surprises there) and such a lovely day. Brett was on his (mostly) best behavior and Julie looked so radiant. The reception hall was gorgeous and the party processed in to the processional song from the end of Star Wars, and the groomsman I was partnered with and I had a mock "lightsaber" battle! The food was fantastic and the speeches epic - over all, a night to remember. This I think is one of the last weddings for my group of friends, so it may be a long time before I see many of them again. We also realized we must be getting "old" - we can't dance as much or stay up as late as we used to!!


The next day, my aunt who lives in the Chicago area had lunch with me and my mom and sister, who came all the way down to pick me up. Since I was in the area, I was able to spend the rest of the weekend with my family! Going back to Grace Lutheran was a treat - as much as I love St. Paul, I have to admit it IS nice to sit back and enjoy the service! I was a communion assistant, which was great to see all the familiar faces. I saw my Grandpa Posselt, and my Grandma and Grandpa Wittmann. I even took my dad and brother and sister out for supper one night at A&W (mmmm cheese curds!), and the whole family went for ice cream the next night! Whew! It was quite a whirlwind!


Now I am trying to get myself organized and figure out what to do with the rest of the summer - planning exciting things for the fall, mostly. I had been looking forward to these two events for such a long time, now I don't know what to do with myself! I'll find some way to keep busy, I'm sure. :)

Christmas 2011

Baptism by fire, baby! That's what Christmas is all about. Just kidding - actually Christmas services went great. And was made even more memorable that the acolyte ALMOST lit my co-pastor's hair on fire, but didn't. Have I mentioned that the pastor's wife puts on a mean holiday spread for the staff and music people between services? This church is totally worth it. :)

I preached Christmas Day, then we hopped in our car and drove down to Sutherland VA to be with Beau's sister and fam. Her husband is from VA, and they moved there about two weeks before we moved - they are now our closest family, "close" being 6 hours away. We survived the drive around Baltimore and DC and arrived to 60 degree weather. They live about 5 miles from a super-important Civil War battle that we've never heard of - Five Forks in Petersburg VA . Their kids loved it. Way cool. We were sad to leave.



Last night, New Years Eve, we did NOTHING but watch a movie and drink a little wine - pretty normal Saturday night stuff. Then services this morning to a pretty low crowd - attendance-wise, not morals-wise. :) This week is when I will finally get to bring in my office things, even though right now I just have a desk in the work room that the interns used to use. The office will be forthcoming, but I am just so excited to have some SPACE of my own and to put my pastor-y stuff!!!

One of the best things I received this Christmas was an awesome hot pad that I warm in the microwave and then put over my shoulders and neck - thanks Mom! And Beau sneakily traded in my old Nook for a deal on a new Nook Simple Touch! I love it! It's so light, and the battery lasts for ever! I even got a good deal on a pretty cover. I've named it Parnassus II, in case you want to know. I was totally not expecting it. I am currently reading the new Bonhoeffer book, which is fascinating.

My ordination is three weeks from today - January 22nd at St. Paul Lutheran Church, where I have been installed. It will be a two-for-one, ordination AND installation service. I'm so excited!