Resources

My sermon this morning focused on the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut that shook our country just two days ago. As I said in my sermon, this tragedy affected me deeply, perhaps because I became aware of it while holding my own son in my arms. I have collected the following links I've found helpful in dealing with this awfulness. They may speak to you as well. If you have found other resources helpful, please leave them in the comments. Thanks.


A powerful reflection on mental illness: I Am Adam Lanza's Mother

A reflection on the Advent 3C lectionary texts in light of the tragedy: How can we rejoice? Thanks to Sarah Friesen-Carper for this link.

Sermon Audio 12/16/2012

Luke 3:7-18

Third Sunday of Advent, Lectionary Year C

Two days ago, our nation experienced the tragedy of the school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. How can our Advent lessons, from John the Baptist to all the rejoicing in Zephaniah and Philippians, speak to the emptiness we feel after this?

Monday Links

I haven't been writing as much as I'd like lately, especially since I became a dad. At least this blog has been useful of late in linking to my new sermon podcast, but I'd like to get back to actual writing at some point. Today I just want to link to a few articles / stories / resources about which I'd like to say more, but don't have the time to dive in as much as I'd like.

Sermon Audio 12/9/2012

Luke 3.1-6

Second Sunday of Advent, Lectionary Year C

John the Baptist and the politics of forgiveness

December 2012 Newsletter Article

Furrows, be glad.

Though earth is bare,

one more seed is planted there.

Give up your strength the seed to nourish,

that in course the flow’r may flourish.

People, look east, and sing today

Love, the Rose, is on the way

-          Eleanor Farjeon , “People, Look East,” ELW 248

Advent is my favorite season of the church year. It has the best hymns, lectionary readings full of challenge and hope, opportunities for prayer and reflection, and leads up to Christmas. Of course, not everything about Advent is fun or easy. Advent is a season of waiting, and waiting can be tricky business.

Sermon Audio 12/2/12

Luke 21:25-36

First Sunday of Advent, Lectionary Year C

Lots of scary-sounding apocalyptic imagery in today's Gospel lesson. Something, indeed, is coming.

Sermon Audio 11/25/12

Revelation 1:4b-8

Christ the King, Lectionary Year B

How is the new Sufjan Stevens Christmas album, Silver and Gold, like the book of Revelation?

http://music.sufjan.com/album/silver-gold

Sermon Audio 11/21/12

Matthew 6:25-33
Thanksgiving Eve, Lectionary Year B

Worry, thankfulness and the Kingdom of God

Sermon Audio 11/18/2012

Mark 13:1-8
25th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

The Temple in Jerusalem will be destroyed, which seems like the end of the world to Jesus' disciples.

Sermon Audio 11/11/12

Ah, Stewardship Commitment Sunday. How I love thee. I was told afterward by a longtime parishioner that this is the first sermon she'd ever heard at LCS that focused solely on stewardship. I guess time will tell whether that ends up a good thing or not. Anyway, this congregation has an amazing history of generous giving. Last year about 60% of givers increased their pledge from the previous year. We've increased our giving to mission and social outreach each year I've been here, to the wider church and to specific organizations locally and around the world. I'm extremely proud to be the pastor of such a living-out-the-Gospel, trusting-what-God-will-do bunch of folks.

Sermon Audio 11/4/12

All Saints Sunday. The sermon was about weeping, and there was a lot of weeping. Success?

Sermon Audio, 10/28/12

Sermon Audio, 9/30/12

Still trying. Let me know if any of this works.

This sermons talks about Libya, and Doctor Who, and Brother Ali, and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, among other things.

Sermon Audio, 9/23/2012

I'm trying again to publish audio recordings of sermons. We'll have to see how it goes!

This sermon was about questions.

Mark  9.30-37
17th Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary Year B

November 2012 Newsletter Article

The following is reprinted from Lutheran Church of the Savior's monthly newsletter.

Treasure, too, you have entrusted,

gain through pow’rs your grace conferred;

ours to use for home and kindred,

and to spread the gospel word.

Open wide our hands in sharing,

as we heed Christ’s ageless call

healing, teaching, and reclaiming

serving you by loving all.

-          Robert L. Edwards, , “God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending,” ELW 678

In the past year, I have received so many blessings that I barely know where to begin. Sarah and I had just finished our amazing wedding and moved to our rented house in Battle Creek to start the often-hilarious process of transforming from two independent adults into one family. We had a baby, already three months old, who loves to smile and laugh (taking after his mother) and stare at brightly-colored moving objects (after his father, of course). I am thankful to have received six weeks of paid parental leave, time to learn now to be a dad, to change diapers and teach my kid to smile and tell him about how much fun it will be for him to mow the lawn in a few years.

God has also richly blessed Lutheran Church of the Savior. We have supported the Free Store from dream to reality. We have greatly increased our number of volunteers there and at our nearby Loaves and Fishes pantry, and have given record support to local ministry partners like Kairos House and Ministry With Community. We have welcomed new visitors, baptized babies, and commended into God’s eternal care some of our most beloved older members. We hosted our first-ever Family Fest in September, gathering some 70 people of all ages for fun, games, and elephant ears. We paid off our mortgage just last month, and began completing long-awaited building upgrades while planning how to better use our resources for mission and outreach. We deepened our relationship with our neighbors at Sunnyside United Methodist Church, from service to the community to the most vibrant, wonderful Easter Vigil worship Kalamazoo has ever seen.

Sermon Audio Test 1

 UPDATE 11/14/12

With my new podcast software, I've got a much more user-friendly version of this one. The sound is still weird because I haven't edited it, but this player should at least make it easier to listen to.



In honor of National Coming Out Day 2012, and because my son has slept most of the day after his two-month-checkup vaccines, I'm trying to learn to post sermon audio online. Specifically, I recorded this sermon two years ago, on October 10th, 2010 - National Coming Out Sunday - , using an ancient digital recorder, suspecting that the resultant recording might someday have further public value. 



Lutheran Church of the Savior Sermon 10.10.10



Because I'm still trying to figure this out, it looks like at this moment the best I can do is link to a Dropbox mp3 file, which you can then download (click Download in upper-right-hand corner, then Direct Download) and play on your own software.

Test Blog

I am writing this post from my new phone. Does it work? Can I still manage to include links?
Pictures?

2012 Lent 19: Good Friday Sermon, in Which I Performed a Hymn Verse I Wrote

No, I don't have video, or audio. Sorry, Mom. I preached something like this at Lutheran Church of the Savior on Good Friday 2012. I sang each of the three verses a capella: the first two in the joyous, dancing, incongruous way I know from recent years, and the third slow and sad, my voice breaking on the final few lines as I choked up and nearly wept on my manuscript. Not that I stuck to the manuscript, but still.

1.    As I have prepared for Good Friday, prayed about it, reflected on the death of our Lord, read theological treatises and counter-arguments (seriously, you should see my Facebook feed today), one song has constantly come back to me. No, it’s not our next hymn tonight [O Sacred Head, Now Wounded], though that's where the smart money would be, on my all-time-favorite Good Friday song, though we’ll sing it, and it’ll be absolutely amazing, like it always is, and I’ll probably cry, like I usually do. 

2012 Lent 18: Good Friday Links, ctd

James MacMillan's Seven Last Words are gorgeous like ice is cold.

 This is just the third part. Of seven. It melts every part of me.

I first heard this live in Battell Chapel at Yale, performed by my colleagues and friends, and wow. What a privilege it is to experience such beauty in such a world.

2012 Lent 17: Good Friday Links

Yes, I know Good Friday is technically not a part of Lent. Or I think that's the case, anyway. Still, I'm behind in my Lenten blogging goals, so it counts and I don't want to hear anymore grumbling (from me, because seriously, no one else cares. I know this) about it.

"Jesus Will Not Be Pimped" is a great post by my school colleague Julia - who sadly doesn't get to watch the Killamazoo Derby Darlins skate tonight, even though they're in her town - about the Good Friday resonances of a political campaign in Alaska.

"Is God Angry at You?" comes from David Lose, who influences more Lutheran (and other) preachers each Sunday than anybody else I can think of kicking around right now.

2012 Lent 16: On Poetry and Faith, ctd

April is National Poetry Month, and some of my old friends (including this blog's Official Poet) have started a website for all the poems they write this month. It's pretty great, and the poem posted for today, aptly titled "Triduum," is not to be missed.

As I said in the comments on that blog, the following excerpt - words, sounds, images - is as Good Friday as it gets -

Now? The two are carrying
his corpse, ruddy flesh
spotted maroon, brown
primordial clay mottled
with drying blood still wet.
The grinding mash
of leathered feet against gravel
mimics memories of the crunch
of kernels between his teeth.

2012 Lent 15: April Newsletter Article

April 2012 Newsletter article

O Christ, create new hearts in us

that beat in time with yours,

that, joined by faith with your great heart,

become love’s open doors.

We are your body, risen Christ;

our hearts, our hands we yield

that through our life and ministry

your love may be revealed.

- Herman G. Stuempfle Jr., “O Christ, Your Heart, Compassionate,” ELW 722

Last week I found myself reading an online review of a book about how religion can be useful to atheists. Rather than digging into the core argument of either the review or the book, I want to talk about one particularly valuable insight.

“If you ask people in modern western societies whether they are religious, they tend to answer by telling you what they believe (or don't believe). When you examine religion as a universal human phenomenon, however, its connections with belief are far more tenuous.” (John Gray, http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2012/02/religion-atheism-atheists)

2012 Lent 14: Holy Week

Holy Week is Coming Soon!

This year Holy Week is the first week of April, and Lutheran Church of the Savior will be celebrating Palm Sunday / Sunday of the Passion and the Three Days, or the Triduum, of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Vigil of Easter on Saturday evening. Each of these worship experiences is unique and features ancient ritual in current expression. 

·         Palm Sunday / Sunday of the Passion (4/1/12) will begin with a procession of the congregation featuring new Eco-Palms, fair-trade plants that benefit Lutheran World Relief, handed out by our Sunday School kids. We'll stay with the Palm longer than usual, allowing that celebration to shape our entire gathering until after Holy Communion, when we will turn to an interactive reading of the Passion of Our Lord. As if all that is not enough, this is also the Sunday we will welcome BenJammin and Analisa Gauthier to help lead music. Our plan is that they will join us one Sunday morning per month, enhancing our worship experience with instruments and interactivity.

·         Maundy Thursday (4/5/12) will again include the ancient ritual of foot-washing, emphasizing our humility before we partake in Holy Communion as Jesus and his disciples did on the night in which he was betrayed. This year we will partner with Sunnyside UMC on this day. Sunnyside will host a noon Maundy Thursday gathering, while LCS hosts one at 7:00pm

2012 Lent 12: Love and Justice Are Our Future Because They Are God's Present

Below is the manuscript of the sermon I preached on 3/25/12 at Lutheran Church of the Savior. Normally I don't publish sermon scripts because I preach from notes or scribbles, but this week I have a nearly-passable script. I even stuck to it, though certainly not word-for-word. The text is Jeremiah 31:31-34, which is quoted in its entirety (NRSV) in the body of the sermon.


1.    This past Monday, my wife Sarah and I were at a continuing education event in Chicago, listening to Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber, pastor of House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver. Nadia founded House maybe three or five years ago, and it’s the hippest (hipster-est?) church in the whole ELCA. Anyway, at one point on Monday, the bishop of Metro Chicago Synod got up and asked her a question about where her congregation is going. Her response really stuck with me: “I’m good at the present. I’m not very good at the future,” she said, which is quite a way to tell a bishop to buzz off. I laughed & thought, Who IS ‘good at the future’? What would that even mean?

2012 Lent 13: On Poetry and Faith

I know, I know, I've shared a paucity of blog posts this Lent, at least compared to my goal. Please trust me that I'm working on a lot of great stuff, both blog-specific and blog-worthy (like the Free Store Grand Opening today!).

For now, check out this lovely reflection on poetry and faith written by my dear friend and Official Poet of Unexpected and Mysterious* Dianne Bilyak. One of Dianne's ongoing projects in recent years has been a series of interviews with poets, and she makes fine use of that material here. Dianne has a beautiful way of talking about the messy confusion of our lives in this flawed world.

2012 Lent 11: Religious Perspectives - Unexpected and Mysterious

Last night I made it to Western Michigan University for the second installation of Religious Perspectives: Islam sponsored in part by Lutheran-Episcopal Campus Ministries at WMU. Expecting to hear revered Imam Sayid Hassan Al-Qazwini, instead I was treated to a very different experience. Imam Qazwini was unable to attend at the last minute. Don't worry; he expects to be here in April, and this gives you a chance not to miss him! Plan B consisted of moving up our scheduled April program of a panel of converts to Islam, one a current student at Western and one a graduate who now teaches Humanities at nearby Olivet College.

So two white guys from West Michigan telling a predominantly white Christian audience about their experience of conversion to Islam: yeah, it definitely lived up to the title of this blog. They told heartfelt, often-hilarious stories about experimenting with various culturally-Islamic styles of clothing, about discovering the Qur'an as teenagers, about searching for balance between their white west Michigan Christian upbringings and their newfound communities of Muslims from around the world. It was a truly wonderful evening, with great stories, honest questions, and deepened understanding of faith and culture.

2012 Lent 10: Faith and Criminal Justice

As you may have heard last fall, Lutheran Church of the Savior participated in the ELCA's study "Hearing the Cries: Faith and Criminal Justice." A group of congregation members met over a few weeks, culminating in a workshop with the ELCA's Director for Racial Justice Ministries, Judith Roberts, when our Bishop and other folks from our Synod joined us to learn about and discuss the study. We offered feedback on our experience of the study and of the wider state of criminal justice as it relates to our life together in Jesus Christ.

2012 Lent 9: Table Tennis as Spiritual Practice

Some weeks ago, a great blessing came to Lutheran Church of the Savior: Table Tennis Tuesdays! Every Tuesday evening from 6pm to 8pm, the Fellowship Hall lives up to that name, as intrepid athletes gather to test themselves against one another in the ancient and noble game of table tennis.* Thus far our most pressing concern has simply been lack of players; two to four has been our number, and honestly I can get tired from that much table tennis. This may be because my style includes diving all over the room, based on my similar style of play in actual tennis, badminton, volleyball, and other sports I should avoid if I value my knees and general health.

2012 Lent 8: Repentance

Okay, okay. I'll start blogging again for Lent. No more avoidance of my responsibilities. No more self-shaming. I would be surprised if even a handful of folks had noticed the failure of my Lenten discipline, but even so I apologize.

See, in terms of Lent, this is how it is with me. I get excited, I make an effort, and I fail miserably. And O! that Lent was an isolated case. No, the fact is that I have difficulty maintaining self-discipline in many practices, often to my detriment. As ever, I require a community of accountability to have any hope of changing an established pattern. I thought I was doing so well, but now it's been nearly two weeks since my last blog post.

2012 Lent 7: Gathering for Worship

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to worship God and celebrate Holy Communion in three very different settings.

The first, of course, was the regular Sunday gathering of Lutheran Church of the Savior. We instituted some changes to our worship on Sunday in an effort to increase the visibility and experience of some central parts of our gathering. Our Assisting Minister carried our lectionary book - the book from which we read Scripture together - in our opening processional, following the Cross, to demonstrate the centrality of the Word of God to our gathering.

Later, our ushers also carried the elements for communion - bread, wine, grape juice - in our offering procession, along with monetary gifts. The idea here was to recognize that not only our money, but our whole lives and all of creation are part of our offering to God. Grains from the earth and fruit of the vine, fashioned by human labor into bread and wine, all come from God. We offer the first fruits of the earth and of our labors, our time and our money, to God the giver of all good things.

2012 Lent 6: March Newsletter Article

Divine eternal lover,

you meet us on the road.

We wait for lands of promise

where milk and honey flow,

but waiting not for places,

you meet us all around.

Our covenant is written

on roads, as faith is found.

- Sylvia G. Dunstan, “Bless Now, O God, the Journey,” ELW 326

The season of Lent includes the entire month of March this year. Sure, we had a few days in February, and we’ll have the tail end of the season in April, but this year March is an entire calendar month to reflect on our relationship with God in Jesus Christ and to participate in disciplines drawing us closer to God and God’s will for us. 

My own Lenten discipline this year is that I will attempt to blog (at my official LCS Pastor’s Blog, unexpectedandmysterious.blogspot.com) for all forty days of Lent. I made a similar effort last year, but, um, well… let’s just say that I am again deeply grateful that the grace and love of God has the power to overwhelm and redeem my frailties and failings. 

Catching Up: February 2012 Newsletter Article

I know, I know, this is an entire month late. Oops. I will not count it toward my Lenten blogging goals, so at least I can cling to that shred of dignity. 

We all are called for service,

to witness in God’s name.

Our ministries are diff’rent;

our purpose is the same:

to touch the lives of others

with God’s surprising grace,

So ev’ry folk and nation

may feel God’s warm embrace.

- Rusty Edwards, “We All Are One in Mission,” ELW 576

What would it look like if Lutheran Church of the Savior were to meet our full potential for living out God’s mission? This is not a rhetorical question. We are a community with tremendous gifts for sharing the gospel message of God’s love for the world, for providing support to those in need, for loving and serving God and our neighbor. In 2012 we will endeavor to catalog and organize those gifts around God’s mission for our congregation. 

Last fall, our Council formed a subcommittee from our Stewardship Committee and asked them to look at the effects of paying off our mortgage, scheduled to happen in the fall of 2012. Conversation in this group quickly moved beyond money to the mission of the congregation: how can Lutheran Church of the Savior use our newfound freedom from debt to invest in living out God’s mission for us? They recommended to Council that we use 2012 to engage in a process of discerning God’s mission for this congregation for the future. How can we best use our resources to do God’s work in our community and in the world? How can we live out our mission and vision statements, and should we look at those decade-old statements and ask whether they need to be updated for the future? How will we partner with local congregations, Lutheran and ecumenical? How will we use our building for ministry? How can we recognize, nurture, and share the unique gifts God has given members of this congregation? Our process for exploring these questions together will begin soon. 

2012 Lent 5: Irresistible

What, in all the vast reaches of the internet, could be more likely to draw my attention than this? An Andrew Sullivan post about the It Gets Better book written by a YDS grad? Yes, please!

When I first got the book, incidentally, I turned to the Gabrielle Rivera story almost immediately. I had seen her video, and it is obviously one of the best of all the videos I had seen. (I'm also partial to the video of ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, not just because he's sort of my super-boss). This week I heard a breathtakingly beautiful story of God's answer to a Christian's honest questions about the place of gays in God's heart. I can't tell the entire story here, but let's just say it ends with said Christian baking an extra-fabulous wedding cake.

2012 Lent 4: Get Out!

Get out of the building, I mean.

Today marked the soft (as opposed to grand) opening of the Free Store of Kalamazoo, a new ministry on the east side of Kalamazoo Lutheran Church of the Savior shares with some of our local United Methodist partners - Sunnyside UMC, Stockbridge UMC, and Chapel Hill UMC. I had the chance to volunteer today, meeting folks, building and tearing down clothes racks, breaking down boxes, and whatever other behind-the-scenes and skirting-around-the-edges-of-the-scenes work folks could find for me. As much as I love being a pastor, leading and doing that important work, I also love the opportunity to just be a part of the team, helping out where necessary and supporting the leaders of this wonderful ministry.

2012 Lent 3: Ash Wednesday links

I have not actually read all of these articles yet, but as I save my Ash Wednesday list for Lenten reflections, I think it appropriate to share them with you as well. If anyone has other Ash Wednesday reflections to add, please do so in the comments.

• My admiree Andrew Sullivan links to my firiend Benjamin Dueholm. 
•  I have linked to Chris' priceless reflections before, and am happy to do so again.
• An account of St. Lydia's annual subway station Ash Wednesday ritual.
• A student reflection on Lent from Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Minnesota.
• A Kalamazoo College grad / pastor's thoughts on Ash Wednesday.

Bonus: Online Lent from Sullivan and The Huffington Post's live blog of Lent. It's going to be a great Lent for online reflection and community-building, and I hope to see you there.

2012 Lent 2: Ash Wednesday, cont'd.

Though I had thumbed Ash Wednesday ashes and been thumb-ashed before, it felt wholly different this week. Somehow, the power and vulnerability, the intimate connection of touching another's forehead and speaking those words - "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return." - grabbed onto me in a new and unexpected way. This seemed like that rare ritual in which no one was just going through the motions. This mattered in a way my mouth could not explain, but my hand and my eyes could attest.

My Ash Wednesday ended unconventionally; I joined some friends at a local karaoke establishment for some much-needed unwinding. We immediately talked about Ash Wednesday, and how could we not, given my maximum pastor garb - best black suit, round Anglican collar, sweet clergy vest* - and of course, the ashes prominently marking my forehead. As I stated on Facebook, I was reliably informed that the words "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" are "totally metal." As in, those words would fit into the culture of the metal wing of rock music, stereotyped to be loud and dark and sometimes anti-Christian. I barely know the first thing about that music, so I won't burden you with my ignorance on the subject. 

2012 Lent 1: Ash Wednesday

Again this year I will endeavor to blog during Lent. Again this year I expect to fail to live up to my own goals for consistency, but I will at least make the effort to reflect on my journey this Lent.

No, not that journey. It's Lent, for heaven's sake. Although I suppose you could do much worse...

Anyway. I did not preach from a script today, but I will start with just a couple of reflections from my Ash Wednesday sermon. We used the alternate first reading, from Isaiah 58 (look it up; I don't have time to figure out how to link directly to the text), which I find to be a breathtakingly beautiful passage.

After God tells the prophet not to pull any punches, God reflects on these curious people who beg for God's presence while constantly ignoring God's ways and commands. Then the people whine about how God ignores their fasting, and God smacks them down proper: fasting and humility are not about self-pity, and are certainly not about showing off your piety to others.