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.