PRAYER OR TRAVELLERS

O God, our heavenly Father, whose glory fills the whole creation, and whose presence we find wherever we go: preserve those who travel; surround them with your loving care; protect them from every danger; and bring them in safety to their journey’s end; through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen

WHAT'S IN A CROSS

Do you remember the cross in the church entrance with glass pebbles in different shades of blue waiting to be glues onto the cross’ glass surface?  One pebble at a time.  Children and adults adding their touch to the communal project.  Church and school community working on the same project each on their own schedule. 

Over the passing weeks, the supply of pebbles gradually decreased until, in the end, all pebbles were gone and glued onto the glass.

Right now the same handyman who originally had built the cross– Bill Weberg – is adding hardware, so that it can be hung up in the church entrance.  Once the cross returns to Bethel, the plan is to hang it up in one of the windows for all to ponder.

That cross will be a spiritual tool to us, reminding us of the centrality of Jesus’ cross to our faith.  The cross of Jesus is more than an item of jewelry or an item of home décor. Jesus’ cross tells us who God is, who we are, and what the world is.  The cross of Jesus deeply shapes the Christian perception of life and reality. 

Because of Jesus’ death on the cross and his resurrection, we know that God’s power is the greatest power there is.  But – God’s power is not a triumphalist kind of power.  God’s power is a power that manifests itself in weakness. God’s power manifests itself in acts of selfless love and in solidarity with the poor and the powerless.  Jesus’ cross is a strong reminder that Gods love and mercy can and will overcome all that is evil in the world.  God’s love is stronger than death itself.

Our new blue glass cross has symbolic meaning on so many different levels:

• Blue is the color that traditionally symbolizes hope.  The new cross reminds us that our hope is in God.
• Water has a bluish hue, because of the way the sky is reflected in it. Our new cross reminds us of the centrality of the waters of baptism to our faith.
• The plexiglass of our new cross has been cut from a piece that once covered our altar linen, but had become warped and needed to be replaced.  Thus, our new cross also reminds us that God  invites each and every one of us to feast with him at the altar.
• The work of attaching the blue pebbles to the cross was a genuinely collaborative process.   Our new cross, therefore, reminds us of all which binds us together, rather than of those things that divide us.
• The location in the church entry itself is symbolic.  The narthex is the space that links the sacred and the ordinary parts of our lives. It is the last portion of building that we pass through after worship before we return to the routine of our lives. While still in side the church building, we already see the world on the outside.  I invite you to look at the world THROUGH the transparency of the new cross.  What do you see?  Lawn? Private homes? A high school? Roads? Passers-by? Traffic?  Our challenge as Christians is to view these things and many more THROUGH the “lens” of the cross of Jesus.  Jesus and the cross give us a NEW way of seeing the same old world.  Where we see destruction and violence, Jesus sees hope and possibility.  Where we see hatred and greed, Jesus sees love and generosity. 

May this cross (and all individuals who helped make it happen) be a blessing to our community.

LUTHERAN RESPONSES TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

I don’t have enough finger on my hands to count the supposedly “Christian responses to last week’s Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage.  From Catholic bishops, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the president of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, to name just a few, have (predictably) publicly registered their strong opposition to the Supreme Court decision to affirm the right of all Americans to enjoy the rights and benefits of civil marriage.

Our own denomination has joined the public debate as well.  In lieu of a longer article, I am simply putting into your hands three very different responses:

1.       ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton’s Statement (June 30, 2015) 
2.       A Response from ReconcilingWorks (formerly Lutherans Concerned)
         to Bishop Eaton’s Statement (July 1, 2015)
3.      A Statement by the Missouri Synod President Matthew Harrison.

I invite you to judge for yourself whether the SCOTUS decision constitutes a threat to the free exercise of religion or not.  Knowing that we at Bethel are somewhat divided over the matter at hand, I wish to remind you that our unity does not come from agreeing with one another, but from standing together by the foot of the cross of Jesus, united by our need for forgiveness and grace.

Yours in Christ,
Pr. Gabi