2013 eNEWSLETTER ARTICLES

January 25  |  Letter to the Confirmands & their Mentors

This Sunday, ten Bethel youth will gather around our altar as part of the 10:30am worship service to affirm their faith.  The majority of them was baptized as infants, either here at Bethel or elsewhere.  At their baptism, their parents and godparents promised to raise them in the Christian faith, introduce them to prayer and the Scriptures, bring them to church, and teach them about God’s love.  This Sunday, the ten teenagers will publicly declare their faith in a God who created them, redeemed them, and sustains them in their lives.  They have been on a journey toward this moment ever since they were born, but mo0re specifically since the Fall of 2010 when they began their confirmation program. 

None of them would be where they are at this point without the unceasing love and dedication of all those involved in Bethel’s Confirmation and Jr. High Youth program.  There are many individuals involved her e and my deep gratitude goes out to all of them.  I wish to thank two individuals specifically, however: Robyn Winegardner and Susan Leavitt. 

Dear Susan and Robyn, both of you embody God’s unconditional love in a special way.  You take our 7th-graders just as they are, you love them, share your own love for Christ with them, and then you let them go.  After over two years of meeting with these youth on an (almost) weekly basis, you now watch them go and become full members of the Bethel community.  On behalf of our congregation, I thank you for all this that you do for the youth, and their families!

Now to the confirmands…  My hope for the 10 of you is that that people will see Christ in you.  You are not only members of Christ’s complex and diverse body, but each individually you are called to be “little Christs” (an expression I am borrowing from none other but Martin Luther himself).  My hope and my prayer is that people will experience God’s love and God’s grace when they encounter you.

On Sunday, we will ask you to affirm your faith in the words of the Apostles’ Creed, the same words said at your baptism by your parents and the gathered community on your behalf.  At this point, however, I wish to share with you another creed, an Affirmation of Faith” written by a man named Bruce D. Prewer.  The words of this creed express well something that is at the heart of our Lutheran faith – our trust in God’s grace.

At the heart of our Lutheran faith is our firm belief that God loves us unconditionally, even though we mess up and often don’t love or care about God or our neighbors.  In God’s infinite grace and mercy, He forgives us and has come to us in the form of Jesus to teach us how to love and forgive. 

I look forward to seeing all of you this coming Sunday as we worship and celebrate together.

“Giver of Grace”

I believe in the Giver of grace:

      in the clean doubts that bless us,

      in the questions that unsettle us,

      in the mysteries which baffle us,

and in those wonder-moments

which leave us agape with awe.

I believe in the Giver of grace:

      in the ideals that draw us,

      in the hungers that drive us,

      in the dreams that inspire us,

and in those wonder-moments

which leave us riven with awe.

I believe in the Giver of grace:

      in the truth that arrests us,

      in the light that strip-searches us,

      in the self-awareness that humbles us,

and in those wonder-moments

which leave us aching with awe.

I believe in the Giver of grace:

      in the faith that holds on to us,

      in the hope that uplifts us,

      in the love that enthralls us,

and in those wonder-moments

which leave us praising with awe.

I believe in the Giver of grace:

      in the arms that enfold us,

      in the shoulders that carry us,

      in the voice that laughs with us,

and in those wonder-moments

which leave us adoring with awe.

February 1  |  Why Will We Meet?

¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  ²⁰Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen. . (Ephesians 3:14-21)

Why will we meet? Now that question could be asked in a couple of different ways, but my question is: why will we be meeting this Sunday for the Winter Congregational Meeting of Bethel Lutheran Church? And what will we be doing then?

Will we be just having a business meeting where we will talk about our congregation’s finances, worship attendance, elect officers, and vote to change a few lines in our constitution? Maybe have a few questions or comments about the reports that have been published or the reports to which we will be listening at the meeting?

Well, sure, we will meet for that — we need to do this twice a year to conduct the business side of church life — but what is at the core of what will really be going on at the congregational meeting?  Why really will we meet?  Let’s look at the Scripture passage from which we at Bethel take so much guidance  — Ephesians 3:14-21 — and remember why we will meet and, moreover, why YOU should plan on attending the upcoming congregational meeting.  

In the beginning of that passage, the apostle Paul praises God and prays for the congregation in Ephesus that they may understand – together with all of Christ’s saints – the immensity of God’s love for them, a love that surpasses all human knowledge.  Hence, we will meet, first and foremost, because of that love which God has for us.  We will meet, because of the mystery of the Gospel and because we are part of something bigger – we are part of all the saints of God – Christ’s church. So we are not just a bunch of individuals who will meet who have our own agenda.  Rather, we are part of the church of Jesus Christ.  We will be gathering this Sunday – equipped with reports, charts, and PowerPoint slides – because we are a part of Christ’s church.  Because of Christ, we are no longer just individual believers — we are a people rooted together and bound together in Christ.

But there’s more.  Paul continues with the following verses: ²⁰“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever.” That is why we will meet — we will meet, because the God does far more than we are able to do, ask, or think.

We will meet, because over 55 years ago the Home Mission Board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church decided to sponsor a mission church in this area, purchased a parsonage, and send Pr. Silas Torvend to build a new Lutheran congregation in Cupertino. We be gathering on Sunday for our Winter congregational meeting, because the Home Mission Board trusted that God was able to do far abundantly than we could ask or think.

We will meet, because in 1957, worshippers began meeting in the old Cupertino post office, and in 1958 formally organized as Bethel Lutheran Church.  We will meet, because those first worshippers trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because in 1958, the original three acre Bethel site was purchased.   We will meet, because those approved that purchase and advanced the funds trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because with a sponsorship loan from Zoar Lutheran Church of Canby, Oregon, we were able to build additional classrooms, an office, and a parking lot.  We will meet, because the people of Zoar Lutheran Church trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because in 1964 the Bethel Nursery School was begun.  We will meet, because those who began that preschool trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because in 1964 groundbreaking for a new sanctuary building began, the same building which still serves us as our worship space today.  We will meet, because those who undertook this construction project trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because– after Pr. Torvend accepted another call, God continued to provide us with gifted and visionary pastors, parish workers, youth leaders, office staff, and ministry leads.  We will meet, because those who served on church councils and call committee trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because in 1978 the congregation voted to add a new elementary school (grades K-3) to our ministry.  We will meet, because those who began that elementary school trusted that God was able to do far more abundantly than all they asked or thought.

We will meet, because our Silicon Valley area is changing and we seek to keep up with this change.  We will meet, because we see the face of Christ in all those whom God sends our way.  We will meet, because we trust that God will do far more abundantly than all we ask or think.

This Sunday, after our 10:30 worship service, we will meet for normal church business. But we will meet, because we have a vision for what God can do in this city, in the Silicon Valley, in our nation, and throughout the world. 

We will meet and listen to God as He challenges us to think big thoughts, and to have big visions, and dream big dreams, and to expect great expectations from Him- because He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.

That is why we will meet on Sunday.   I hope that YOU will be a part of that meeting. Amen

February 8  |  The Transfiguration of Christ

Among the blogs that I am occasionally reading is Dan Clendenin’s Journey with Jesus.  This week, preparing myself for the upcoming “Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ”, I turned to Clendenin in search for inspiration on a festival that is both awe-inspiring and mysterious to me.  On the one hand, I do like the light-filled mysterious side of this feast day.  On the other hand, the story of how Jesus, in the company of Moses, Elijah, and three of his closest disciples is transfigured into an otherworldly form, emanating radiant white, blinding light, while God’s voice proclaims from the clouds that this is his son, this story continues to puzzle me.

What am I to make of this story?  Is it historically true; true in the same way that it is true that I enjoyed coffee for breakfast?  Is this story a mere tale?  Or does it not matter (as some say) whether the event ever happened, because Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell this story to metaphorically communicate a timeless truth? Most of all, though, how is Jesus transfiguration helpful to us, to our lives, and to our faith?

There is a great temptation that I see for regular church-goers like us who are so very familiar with the Gospel texts and traditions that we domesticate them—taming the ineffable, trivializing the indescribable, cutting and trimming to neuter God so as to manage him….which we, of course, never can  If we strip the New Testament of all its mysteriousness, in the end the God with whom we are left may be nothing more than a distant power who – with Jesus’ help – teaches us to be nice, not to do bad, for he wants us to be happy and feel good about ourselves.  Is that, though, the message that Jesus preached?  A distant power that teaches us to be nice?

The transfiguration of Jesus belies such ways of diluting the Gospel. The blinding light and voices from the clouds in this story challenge a faith that has turned superficial, perfunctory, and lukewarm.

This notion has been expressed eloquently by American writer Annie Dillard who asks her readers:

“Does anyone have the foggiest idea of what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets! Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews! For the sleeping God may awake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.” (Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, p.40-41)

There are so many ways in which we trivialize and domesticate God, so many ways in which we turn Jesus into a spokesperson for our own favorite agenda or a moral frame of reference.

May God save us from a self-serving, trivialized, domesticated, lukewarm faith, a faith with little consequence, a faith with little or no appeal at all to others, a faith that has lost its teeth, a faith that no longer moves mountains.  May God speak to us through this story, transform us, and fill us with awe and wonder.  May God give us a faith that can move mountains, a faith that truly believes in the coming kingdom, yet sees God at work in the here and now, as well.

February 21  

History Channel Prepares ‘The Bible’ Miniseries From ‘Survivor’ Producer
by Michael Crider

“Lord have mercy – History Channel is bringing the Bible back. The cable network has ordered The Bible from Survivor producer Mark Burnett.

Burnett has had a string of reality TV victories since Survivor, including The Apprentice and The Contender. He’s also well known as a producer for live award events, like The People’s Choice Awards and the MTV Movie Awards. He’s had his fair share of busts, too – Sarah Palin’s Alaska quickly bombed on TLC, and other reality originals and spinoffs have failed to find an audience.

Lately, Burnett has produced NBC’s surprise hit The Voice and ABC’s Shark Tank, recently reviewed for its third season. He continues to produce Survivor, now in its 22nd season. Yes, really.

History Channel isn’t the first to try the formidable task of cramming thousands of pages of religious text and hundreds of years of Jewish and Christian history into a single epic. Way back in 1966, 20th Century Fox distributed The Bible: In the Beginning. Part of a larger trend in religious-themed epics (including The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston), the film was intended to be the first in a series. It chronicled the Genesis stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and Abraham. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the building of the Tower of Babel were also included.

Unlike other religious and generally historical epic movies, The Bible: In the Beginning was not well-received, and none of the planned sequels were made. In the 50s, 60s and 70s, many biblical movie adaptations were made by American and Italian studios, with varying degrees of success and accuracy. Biblical epics largely fell out of favor until 2004, when The Passion of the Christ (starring Person of Interest‘s James Caviezel) made over six hundred million dollars.

Compressing the Bible into the allotted ten-hour miniseries won’t be an easy task. Like In the Beginning, the producers and writers will likely split up the narrative into major stories. Just as an educated guess at the ten part split: 1) Adam and Eve and Noah, 2) Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 3) Moses and The Exodus, 4) the foundation of Israel, 5) Kings Saul, David and Solomon, 6) the destruction of Israel and Judah, 7) a few short stories on the major and minor prophets, 8 ) Jesus’ birth, 9) his death and resurrection, 10) an episode dedicated to the book of Revelations.

The bigger question is whether Burnett can handle a big-budget scripted series. With an almost exclusively reality TV resume, he seems like an odd choice to revive the type of storytelling that is relatively ancient for modern filmmakers. Considering his history with low-budget, spontaneous television, Burnett would seem to be the least likely candidate for the project.

History would do well to watch out for the inevitable controversy, too: their high-profile miniseries The Kennedys met with disapproval from liberal Americans, and was denied on every major cable TV network. Reelz Channel finally aired the series in the US.

The Bible is scheduled for a 2013 debut.”

March 10  |  "The Bible" Mini-Series, Part 1

I finally was able to watch my recorded first episode of the History Channel's "The Bible" mini-series late last night -- which made it easier to zap through the many annoying commercials that interrupted the story.  Now I can begin to make good on my promise to comment on this docu-drama and invite you to share our own thoughts.

This mini-series was not conceived as a literary or historical documentary, but as a docu-drama. It attempts to do what the Bible in itself does not do, namely, it attempts to tell one single, interconnected grand story that includes transitions, dialog, emotions, and chronology. 

Unlike this mini-series, the stories of the Bible actually have a lot of holes.   Sometimes the Biblical stories omit details such as the ages or names of major characters. Rarely ever do we learn about the motives or the thoughts and feelings of many of he Bible's most beloved individuals.  At best, we get a few episodes from their lives, often not even that much. At other times, two or even three different versions of one-and-the-same story are told (for example, Abraham's pretending to be his wife's brother to protect himself from pharaoh).  

Hence, writers and directors who want to adapt the stories of the Bible to the medium of film have to invent dialogue, whole scenes, and compress other scenes to keep the storyline going.   The classical example of such a process was, of course, the granddaddy of all Bible movies, Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.”  Half the movie is either entirely imaginative or taken from later creative sources like Philo, Josephus, and later Jewish literature (look at the opening credits next time you watch it). That’s how DeMille dragged out Moses’ early years in Egypt for about two hours when the Bible’s interest in this period lasts a few verses.

Taking on the challenge to tell the story of the Bible in ten hours is, indeed, not an easy one.  The first two hours of the mini-series that were broadcasted this Sunday covered - in broad strokes - the Old Testament narrative from the beginning of the Book of Genesis to the first chapter of Joshua (up to the eve of the battle of Jericho).  

The producers of  "The Bible" did what many film producers, in fact, what just about every Christmas pageant does had done before them -- smoothing out contradictions  (e.g., between the two different creation stories); inventing conversations (as, for example, between Abraham and Sarah);  and even inventing parts of the story (Moses' youth at Pharaoh's palace).  

The film opened in the ark with Noah reciting the story of Genesis 1-4. Now, on the one hand, this is clearly a means of collapsing the story for time. On the other hand, connecting the stories of creation and the flood reflects precisely how these stories do in fact work together in the biblical narrative. Properly understood, the flood story was meant to be seen an echo of the creation story in Genesis 1. The threatening waters kept at bay above the dome-like heavens allowing dry land to appear (Genesis 1) are brought crashing down upon the earth to cover up all land (flood story). The flood is not just a bad turn in the weather but God’s returning of his creation to its pre-creation state of chaos.  God “starts over” with Noah and his family as the new “first humans.”

"The Bible" film gets problematic, though, in the way it portrays men vs. women.  On the one hand, we are being introduced to brave, faith-filled men like Noah, Abraham, Lot, Moses, Aaron, and Joshua.  On the other hand, we see their fearful, doubting, jealous, plotting, or submissive wives, sisters, and maids -- Noah's wife and daughters, Sarah, Hagar, Lot's wife, and Moses' sister Miriam (whom Scripture calls a "prophetess" and leader of her people, but whose role the film downplays).  In the film, the women provide the negative backdrop to the faith and heroism of the men, something Scripture does not do.   Is this the story that I want my daughters to learn? Is this how I want them to view themselves?  I don't think so!

However, my biggest problems with this mini-series are not gender stereotypes.  My biggest problem is that this mini-series makes the Biblical people look, talk, behave, feel, and relate to one another too much like us.  Abraham, for example, was not married in today's fashion monogamously to one single wife whom he loved and treated like 21st-century North American husbands treat their files.  Like most Old Testament heroes, Abraham actually had many wives, concubines, and female slaves.  Monogamous marriage is a concept that did not exist for most of Old Testament times.  So, why then do Abraham and Sarah look, talk, and behave more like modern British folks than ancient nomads in this film?

Likewise, while Abraham's trust in one single creator of the universe surely is touching, true monotheism is a much later development and  did not exist yet at his time.  At the times of Abraham an Moses, the people of Israel believed in the existence of many gods, but they opted to worship just one of them, the One who revealed his name to Moses in the burning bush.  So why then does Abraham sound more like a 21st-century evangelical Christian than a Middle Eastern patriarch who slaughtered animals and sacrificed their blood on the altar of "his" god?

One evangelical commentator,  Old Testament scholar Peter Enns, points out a number of other absurdities in this first part of the "Bible" mini-series, absurdities that make the Biblical narratives look more like 21st century Hollywood entertainment, rather than the Middle East some 3,000+ years ago.  Among others, Enns mentions the "Kung Fu style fight in Sodom, or Sarah running up Mt. Moriah to save Isaac, or Moses looking like a cross between Charles Manson and Mickey Rourke, or the so-called “angel of death” looking like the dementors from Harry Potter."  

Absurdities such as these make us forget that over 3,000 years separate us from the times of Abraham and Moses.  It would be good for us to never loose track of this fact ... so that we not read our own 21st-century faith, values, world view, morals, and relationships back into the Bible.  Precisely the fact that the Bible was written so long ago and precisely that its heroes are so different from us moderns and post-moderns are part of what makes our sacred Scripture so powerful.  In and through the words of this ancient witness, God radically breaks into our modern lives and seeks to transform these lives.  The moment we blur the tremendous gap between the world of ancient Israel and our own world, the moment we seek to fashion the Bible into a modern book, we strip it of some of its power over us. 

I look forward to hearing what thoughts came to your mind when watching "The Bible".  If you have not watched it yet, it is being shown at 9pm on the History Channel on Sunday nights.

March 17  |  The Bible is Brought to You by Walmart. Save Money. Live Better.

The second episode of the miniseries “The Bible” aired on Sunday, March 10, riding a wave of success after the show garnered over 13 million viewers the first week. This second episode covered the conquest of Jericho through the early childhood of the later King Solomon. In my opinion, the second installment strayed a little too far from actual biblical accounts. While a certain amount of creative license is expected, in some cases it changed the story.

For example, there are numerous details that were changed in telling us how Jericho was conquered, what kind of person Samson was, or how Saul and David were chosen as Israel’s kings. In other instances, important parts of the Biblical story were left out, for example, were hear nothing about Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel and her faith, nor about David’s brothers, nor about how David spent the seven years between Saul’s death and Jerusalem’s accepting him as their king. 

Some biases continue from the first installment of the miniseries, for example the flawless portrayal of the men and the fearful, doubting, or deceitful portrayal of the women. Secondly, the main characters all seemed to be living in modern nuclear families with one husband and one wife, whereas the heroes of the Bible has sometimes as many as hundreds of wives, concubines, and children. Thirdly, there are questionable attempts to spice up the action, such as the splitting of rock in Jericho. And finally, there’s the fact that every major Biblical character in the show is white and has a British/Scottish accent. Even God himself, apparently, was a white Brit. Instead, the only true ethnic diversity was a couple of black-Jews and God’s Angels who were of African and Asian descent. Who made that casting choice?

Possibly the most annoying part of this miniseries continue to be the commercials. Talk about overkill. From Christian Mingle, to The Bible App, to Catholics Come Home, the commercials were so blatantly catered to evangelical Christians that I wonder whether the History Channel even expects any non-Christians at all to watch the miniseries. Do not get me wrong: I like everyday low prices as much as the next guy, but it is disconcerting to hear that “The Bible is brought to you in part by Walmart.”

Yet, apart from all these things, there is a bigger issue that comes to my mind. As I imagine people watching this show–maybe people unfamiliar with the Bible–I wonder if they are asking themselves, “What kind of God is this, and do I really want anything to do with him?” As a tool for evangelism this miniseries is a complete failure; it mostly caters to insiders who know the overall storyline of the Bible and are able to fill in the many gaps in the story on TV. 

The kind of chopping of the Biblical stories is hard to understand. Why leave out some very important stories (e.g., Jacob, Joseph, and Hannah) and include others, less important stories at great length, freely elaborating on the witness of the Bible?

Take, for example, the story of Samson, the strong hero whose strength resided in his long hair and who got captured once the Philippines found a way to cut off his hair. The film spent way too much time on this relatively insignificant Biblical hero, but it became clear why: the producers are making him into a Christ figure. Samson gave himself up for his people in accordance with God’s will; he is chained to cross of wood; Delilah betrays Samson to the authorities for money and then feels guilty about it; his mother grieves for him at his death. None of this in the Old Testament.I think the choice of focusing on Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jacob, and now portraying Samson as a Christ figure–and leaving out Jacob and Joseph–suggests that the producers are emphasizing OT figures commonly thought to prefigure Christ.

On the other hand, the parts of the Biblical story that the show gets right are those parts that show the Israelites as tribal zealots whose God kills their enemies. Take, for example, the scene showing the Philistine general praying to his god that he would deliver the Israelites into his hand so he could wipe them out? The Philistines and the Israelites are both characterized as warring tribes who want to rule by violent means with the approval and support of their god. Why this? Are we supposed to believe that if only we pray fervently enough, success will come to us? Is our God a tribal God who seeks to pitch us against non-Christians and their gods? I sincerely hope that this is not the intention of the makers of the miniseries.

I do plan on watching the rest to see how they handle Jesus, but my bar is set rather low after watching the first two episodes.

As with my comments last week, I have posted them on my blog where you have the opportunity to comment. So – what do you think? Did you enjoy the show? Do you agree with my critique? Why or why not? Let me know!

March 24  |  Faith Is from God!

I continue to spend parts of Monday watching the latest episode of “The Bible” miniseries on the History Channel, recorded the night before.  As I wrote last week, after watching the first two episodes my expectations by now are rather low, due, in part, to the dramatic dwelling on less import characters (e.g., Samson and Daniel) and the skipping of very important Biblical stories and character (e.g., Jacob, Joseph, Hannah, and King Solomon). 

Given that the producers begin each episode with a disclaimer that this is a dramatic “adaptation” of the Biblical narrative, it seems futile to me to criticize the liberties they took in reshaping and inventing parts of  the story.  After all, each and every movie about the Bible, is an adaptation.  One could even argue that the Bible in itself adapts Old Testament stories to make them fit the points that New Testament writers try to make.

Another widespread objection to the miniseries has been that it unclear who is the intended audience of the films.  For newcomers to the faith, it would be difficult, indeed, to follow the script.  Too many events are packed into the five episodes for anyone not very familiar with the Bible to understand the connections.  Episode 3, for example, covered the following events:

·      King Zedekiah

·      King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the conquest of Jerusalem, and the killing of King Hezekiah

·      Daniel in Babylon (3 men in the fiery furnace)

·      The Jews in exile in Babylon

·      King Cyrus defeats the Babylonians and sets the captives free (Daniel in the lion’s den)

·      The Jews return to Jerusalem

·      The Roman occupation of Palestine (some five centuries after the return from exile)

·      The Jewish uprising in Galilee and crucifixion of the rebel fighters

·      The angel Gabriel announcing the birth of Jesus to Mary

·      The birth of Jesus

·      King Herod, the wise men, and the slaughter of the infants in Bethlehem

·      The flight of the Holy Family to Egypt

·      John the Baptist and his murder by King Herod

·      Jesus' Baptism by John

·      Jesus tempted by Satan

·      Jesus calls Peter as a disciple

All this in 2 hours, interrupted by a great number of commercials!  How can anyone not already familiar with the Bible follow the storyline?

Again, many of the scenes were ripe with violence, so much in fact, that did not let my own daughter watch the films.  Is it really necessary to show how King Nebuchadnezzar gouges out the eyes of King Zedekiah before dragging him off into captivity?  What does this scene contribute to the storyline?

Given that I already addressed some of those issues previously, I want to move on.  Today, I wish to talk about are some of the theological underpinnings of this project that I find questionable from a Lutheran theological perspective. 

Each retelling of the Biblical story, whether in preaching, in writing, or in film, begins with a plot.  Each retelling begins not with stringing together as many stories as one can, but with a conscious or unconscious principle by which the narrator of the story organizes his or her material. 

For the makers of the “Bible” miniseries this organizing principle is “faith.”   Hero after hero, the miniseries tells of peoples’ faith in God in the face of adversity.  Abraham is willing to sacrifice his son, just because he has faith in God.  Moses is willing to challenge Pharaoh and lead his people to freedom, because he has faith in God.  Samson, Joshua, and Daniel are successful, because they have faith in God.  All these heroes succeed in their mission, in result of their publicly professed faith (even Samson who sacrifices himself for the sake of his people succeeds in his mission).  On the other hand, all those individuals who do not have faith (Lot’s wife, King Zedekiah, King Nebuchadnezzar) end up either dead, prisoners of war, or insane.  In short – faith in God, if it is professed publicly, leads to success in life. There it is! Period.

One really good scene that illustrates this emphasis on faith was part of episode 1, right before Moses and the Israelites crossed the sea. In that scene Moses kept on yelling, “Keep the faith, be faithful, keep the faith, etc…” However, in the book of Exodus we read,

“And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:13-14)

This seems subtle, but it really is not. The kind of faith that is praised in the miniseries tends to be faith that is self-generated and a faith that at times does even not have a direct object.  The Bible, on the contrary, shows us how God gives signs and promises which “grant” faith.  According to the Bible, faith is from God; it is not generated by us.

One of the special features of the Lutheran faith is that we don’t believe that our story with God begins with us.  We don’t believe that the most important aspect of our relationship with God is that we reach out to God, have faith in God, and then profess that faith publicly before others.

On the contrary – Lutheran theology begins with God.  Lutherans confess that God is the One who loves His creatures so much that He himself reached out and initiated relationships – whether the relationship with Noah, with Abraham, or Moses, or with you and me today.  God is the One who reveals Himself to humans. God is the One who initiates a covenant.  God is the One who fights for us.  God is the One who becomes incarnate in the person of Jesus.  God is the One who lets Jesus die and raises him from death. Whatever we do as God’s creatures follows what God first has done for us, not the other way around. 

I wish to thank the producers of this miniseries that – in watching three episodes – I was able to clarify for myself a little bit more where I stand.   I now believe a bit more consciously in a God who, among many other gifts, also gave me the gift of faith, the ability to trust in Him and His guidance.  Whatever the “Bible “miniseries might suggest to us viewers – I do not believe that publicly professed faith guarantees success.  I better leave such ideas to the proponents of the “prosperity gospel” (i.e., the doctrine that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth).

Thus far, I did not receive a single comment online, which I find a bit discouraging.  I hope that, finally, someone will read this and pick up a keyboard and respond.  The best way to do so is at my blog.

I hope to see many of you in church this Sunday for our Palm/Passion Sunday celebration, which will begin, good weather provided, outside.

March 31  |  "The Bible" Mini-Series, Part 4

I am supposed to write the fourth of five reviews on the History Channel’s “The Bible” docudrama, but it is getting harder and harder to write these reviews.  I am beginning to wonder what I have gotten myself into with this project. 

Part 4 of the miniseries covered highlights from the public life of the adult Jesus after he recruited the first of his disciples. It included the following:

The feeding of the multitude, walking on water, cleansing of the leper, healing or the lame, sermon on the mount, Jesus and the woman caught in adultery, raising of Lazarus, clashes with Pharisees, Jesus’ riding on a donkey into Jerusalem, cleansing of the temple, the Last Supper, Jesus’ betrayal by Judas, Jesus’ arrest, the healing of the ear of Malchus, and Peter’s denial of Jesus.  Again, a lot of stories are jam packed into less than two hours, and it is unlikely that anybody who’s not already familiar with the biblical storyline would be able to make sense of the life and ministry of Jesus based on watching this docudrama alone.  This hardly can be avoided, given the ambitious scope of the project.

Others have aptly pointed out that there are many places where this episode deviates from the account of the gospels:  words are placed into the mouth of the wrong people, Jesus enters the tomb of Lazarus instead of calling him to come out from the outside, Mary Magdalene pops up in many scenes that she was not part of in the New Testament, and so forth.  For my part, I don’t understand the motives of the producers in making these changes, either.  I don’t understand what may be gained from having the high priest Caiaphas ask “What good can come out of Galilee?” instead of Jesus’ disciple Nathanael. What’s wrong with sticking to the Biblical script?

In watching this episode, I found all the Jewish opposition to Jesus conflated into one.  Somehow, the differences between the Pharisees and the temple authorities (Sadducees, High priest, scribes, etc) got blurred.  To truly understand how Jesus fit into the landscape of first-century Judaism, however, it would have been very helpful to distinguish between the varied reasons that led different Jewish factions to oppose him. 

Instead of further critiquing this episode, though, I’d like to draw your attention to an important scene that the producers added:  While Jesus is praying in the Garden of Gethsemane (“My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me.”), the camera cuts away and first shows the High Priest Caiaphas and eventually Pontius Pilate and his wife.  The High Priest gives thanks to God for creating him as a Jew, whereas the Roman couple sacrifices to their ancestor, giving thanks for their lives and good fortune.  Eventually, the camera cuts back to Jesus, who now surrenders to God’s will (“Yet not as I will, but as you will”).

The difference between these prayers is important. In a way, Jesus models to us how we ought to approach God … in life and in prayer.  True faith – Jesus teaches us – implies that we surrender to God’s will, even when God’s will might conflict with our own desires and aspirations.  This attitude of surrender is what distinguishes Jesus from the priest and the Roman couple.  My hope for all who seek to follow in Christ’s footsteps is that we learn to surrender to God’s will as he did.

May Christ’s message of eternal life fill you with hope and peace!

April 11  |  Prayer of Adoration and Confession

(inspired by Acts 9: 1-6)

You break in, O God,

on the road

you break in, O God,

exactly the way we do not believe

you break in, O God,

and change everything

Why are your stories never mundane

Why can you not just leave us alone

and go and transform somewhere else

that is not as certain and sure of you

You just disrupt us and cause anxiety

We are not people of change

You break in, O God

with a call

you break in, O God

with an invitation

you break in, O God

with the truth

Why do you wait for us to respond

and never give up?

Why do you speak into our souls

the truth of how we live?

Why do you keep goading us, provoking us

disturbing us with the truth?

You break in, O God

with a new realm

You break in, O God

with a new world

You break in, O God

with your intent for the future

You always are a challenge to us

and we dream of that realm of yours we speak of so often

but what disturbs us most is how you want to get there

through us, your partners and companions,

with space enough for everyone

even those who persecute you

by do nothing

God, break in again

and call us to be your workers

God, break in again

and use the gifts we are to build your realm

God, break in again

and change our world once more.

So be it

Amen

~ written by Rev. Roddy Hamilton, Minister of New Kilpatrick Church.  Posted on the Church of Scotland’s Starters for Sunday website.http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/worship/starters_for_sunday/

April 18  |  The Boston Marathon Tragedy

Terror has struck again – at the finish line of the Boston Marathon and at the mail sorting facilities for the US Capitol and White House (where several ricin-laced letters have been intercepted).  Another explosion which eerily reminds me of the San Bruno gas explosion to and a half years ago, has occurred at a fertilizer plant near Waco Texas.   Especially at times like these not only regular church-, temple-, and mosque-goers want to pray, but virtually every official or news anchor reporting during the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon tragedy has asked us to pray, reflecting the sentiment of a majority of our nation.

The Bible asks, "When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?" and then answers this questions with this incredibly reassuring reality: "The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord is on His heavenly throne" (Psalm 11:3-4). Prayer allows us to go to that throne from which the universe is governed and talk to the One from whom our hope comes.

I trust that you have already been praying for the victims of these catastrophes, their families, and the emergency workers and medical personnel.  To help you in your personal prayer, I want to pass on to you a post that I found online and which I just modified a bit to suit our own Bethel community.  The following prayer suggestions come to us from Ron Hutchcraft and his “10 Ways to Pray for Boston Marathon Bombing Tragedy”.

•   God of all comfort and all peace, pour out that comfort and peace on the wounded, the grieving and all our anxious hearts. 
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).

•   God who heals us, bring healing to every victim.
“I am the Lord who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).

•   God who gives wisdom, give supernatural insight and direction to every doctor, nurse, surgeon or caregiver who is treating the injured.
“God...gives wisdom generously” (James 1:5).

•   God who “gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak” - energize and renew the exhausted medical and law enforcement personnel in this crisis (Isaiah 40:29).

•   God “who loves justice” (Psalm 11:7), guide those who are seeking justice as they investigate and analyze. Help them get it right and get it soon.

•   God who heals the brokenhearted, move in very close to those whose lives and families have been shattered.
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted...He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” (Psalm 34:18; 147:3).

•   God of all grace, pour out your all-sufficient grace daily on those who have seen or experienced awful things, on those whose bodies have been broken, on all those who have suffered loss. 
“The God of all grace...after you have suffered a little while, will Himself restore you and make you strong...My grace is sufficient for you” (1 Peter 4:10; 2 Corinthians 12:9).

•   God of hope, may your people - who know your hope – “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” ... may they be your light in this darkness...may they be Jesus' personal messengers in this vulnerable and painful time (Romans 15:13; 2 Corinthians 5:20).

•   God who “so loved the world” that you “sent Your one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9), help many turn their hearts to Your Son in this vulnerable and turbulent time.

•   And finally – dear God, comfort the victims and convict the rest of us to be the change we want to see in the world. Amen

May God’s peace which surpasses all human understanding be with you and remain with you.

April 25  |  A Prayer For Times of Physical Pain

Most Precious Lord Jesus… 
Gentle And Wonderful God… 
Truly Awesome And Ever-present Holy Spirit… 
Precious Lord Jesus, Wonderful Holy Spirit, Awesome God, 
I love you, Lord Jesus. 

This physical pain is tearing away at my heart, mind, and soul. 
I can't think straight. 
I can't feel any emotion except depression. 

I know you are real but whatever presence you had in my heart isn't there at the moment. 

Although I cannot sense your presence right now, in what little faith I have,
I proclaim you as God of the universe and as my Lord and Savior. 

In all the power you have,
help me put a wall between the pain
and what the pain tries to do to my heart, mind, and soul. 

In your power of grace and love,
help me put a wall between this pain and my depression. 

In your power of grace and love,
help me put a wall between this pain
and my lack of motivation and inspiration. 

In your power of grace and love,
help me put a wall between this pain
and my soul aching for your healing hand. 

May I be able to laugh, live, and be free, even in the dark moments when this pain may try to take me down. 

By your power I refuse to lose and let this pain do anything to me. 
By your power I refuse to lose to this pain. 
By your power I refuse to lose contact with you because of this pain. 
By your power I refuse to lose and knuckle under to this pain. 
By your power, love, grace, and will, help me see you, Precious Lord Jesus,

All these things I humbly pray in the name of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.   Amen 

May 3  |  Bethel Art Fair "Tree of Life"

As necessary during times of transition, we at Bethel hear a lot these days about visioning, about our mission, and about our dreams for the future direction of our congregation.  Part of this process are also frank conversations about what works and what doesn’t work, about high times and low times in our shared ministry, about times when our attendance was strong and times when it is dwindling a bit.  Comparing what once was and what Bethel is not easy.  Remembering the past might make us long for that past, rather than embrace the present and future.

It does not have to be that way!   In all our conversations we must not forget to lift up what is great at Bethel right now.  We must not forget to celebrate the amazing ministry God is doing at Bethel right now.  And we must not loose the certain hope that God is at work here and now, among us and through us. 

There are three things that we ought to let go of in order to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). Those three things are: (1) an unresolved past, (2) an unsettling present, and (3) an uncertain future.   Individually and as a church community, our past, present, and future are in God’s hands.  So, why worry?  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11)

The list of ministries happening in and through our family of faith is always impressive, but it is particularly impressive this Sunday.  People of Bethel, take note of the many wonderful things that are happening all around church, events and groups that you can be a part of. 

This Sunday, the very first thing that you might notice when coming to worship will be branches, LOTS of branches (one or more of them will hopefully be your own).  Our third annual Bethel Art Fair is themed “Tree of Life.”  We hope that our front lawn will be decorated with lots of branches, as well as trees. Collectively those branches and trees will reflect the life and faith of our community.

Then, once you proceed into the Bethel sanctuary, the next thing you might notice will be our high school youth in leadership roles.   On this Youth Mission to Mexico Sunday, youth will be welcoming you, reading Scripture lessons, collecting the offering, and distributing communion.  How blessed we are to have such an active youth group!

After worship, there will be many different things you can do.  For example, you can take a stroll through the art gallery in the Bethel Fireside Room, you can work on hands-on art projects for children and adults, participate in creating a mural wall, watch how-to videos about creating nature art, plant seedlings, listen to tree stories, or even sit for a professional caricature portrait.  If you need nourishment, there will be food available for purchase (supporting the ministry of Bethel’s Common Ground youth choir).  Common Ground will also sing after the 10:30 worship service.  Do I need to say more in order to wet your appetite?  Are you grateful to be part of this congregation?

What is your personal excuse this Sunday for not joining us in worship and celebration? 

PS: Here are links to online publications that cover our 2013 Art Fair, plus one link to an article about the closing of Roberts College Bookstore.

Cupertino Courier (scroll down to page 15): http://mytown.mercurynews.com/pdfs/cupertino.pdf

Same article, but with one more photo: http://www.mercurynews.com/cupertino/ci_23110521/bethel-lutherans-art-fair-selects-tree-theme-may

Brief Chamber of Commerce Announcement: http://www.topix.com/city/cupertino-ca/2013/04/bethel-lutherans-art-fair-selects-tree-theme-for-may-5-event

College bookstore that was a San Jose institution closing after a half-century: http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_23057560/college-bookstore-that-was-san-jose-institution-closing

May 10  |  Just a Mom?

Hannah is one of the most amazing mothers whom we encounter in the pages of Scripture.  Childless and beyond normal childbearing age, she travels to a local temple and prays: “Lord Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the lord for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.” (1 Samuel 1:11)

Hannah wanted to conceive a child so badly, that she vowed to give him away, so that he may be raised at the temple.  Soon after, her request was granted: she gave birth to a son, nursed him, and – as she had promised – brought him to the temple once he was weaned, so that he would live there with Eli, the priest. 

Holding your own little one for the first time is an experience like no other. Your hopes and dreams for that child are coupled with you passionate love for him or her. You never thought it possible to love so deeply.  At that point, bringing ones child to the baptismal font do dedicate him or her to God, is not a difficult decision for most Christian parents; we happily do so.  But how do we do later in life when we get to that place where we actually have to part with them, as Hannah did, as they go off into the world? Some of us have experienced separating from our children as they have gone off to college or married and moved away. Others in our midst have that milestone still ahead of them.

No matter where you are on your journey of motherhood, whether you serving as mother to children to whom you have given birth, whether you are a stepmom, aunt, or grandmother to children, or whether you help mother other women’s children as a trusted older adult – never forget that you are not "just a mom" – but a lifeline between these children and God.

It is through you and through other women like you that they will know God.  They will know God not only through your words and stories, but – more importantly – they will get to know and trust God by watching to see how you love and serve God.  Often, they  will pattern their lives after what you model to them. The first prayers they hear may be yours. Being a mom is a ministry, and may some of the first souls you win to the Lord be your own children.

In closing, I’d like to share with you the following Mother’s Day prayer (author unknown) and invite you to thank you for the mother(s) in your life.  This Sunday, we will gather in worship, listen to God’s Word, and give thanks for the mothers whom God has placed into our lives.  May our lives always reflect their love, their faith, and their patience.

A Mother’s Day Prayer

Lord, on this day set aside to honor and remember mothers,
we give you thanks for our mothers.
We are grateful that you chose to give us life through them,
and that they received the gift of life from you, and gave it to us.
Thank you for the sacrifices they made
in carrying us and giving us birth.
We thank you for the women who raised us,
who were our mothers in childhood.
Whether birth mom, adopted mom, older sister, aunt,
grandmother, stepmother or someone else,
we thank you for those women who held us and fed us,
who cared for us and kissed away our pain.
We pray that our lives may reflect the love they showed us,
and that they would be pleased to be called our moms.  Amen.

May 17  |  Pentecost

50 days after we celebrated the "Feast of the Resurrection of Our Lord," aka. Easter, Pentecost is here!

The Christian Church began with a small group of timid people who locked themselves into houses, lest they end up like their Master who died a torturous death on a Roman cross.  Had those few remained afraid, we would not be here.  We might worship all sorts of gods, but not the living God of Israel, the One whom Jesus called Abba.

How did those few who stayed in Jerusalem after Jesus’ death and resurrection lose their fear?  Not through anything that they themselves did.  They lost their fear, because God came to their aid.  God’s Holy Spirit came and swept through them.  Because of God’s Spirit, they were able to do the unimaginable: they went out from behind their locked doors and praised God, they went out and proclaimed God’s greatness. 

Now that we are about to celebrate this remarkable event , the birthday of the Christian Church, I pray that we not be afraid anymore to name the source of our strength.  May God give us a spirit of confidence and courage, a spirit of hope, so that we see God’s handiwork around us and within us, so that we see to what ministry God is calling each one of us.

I wish to present you with the following prayer, written by Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, speaker, and author of over 50 books.

Happy Pentecost to all of you!

A Prayer for Pentecost

May the Gifts of the Holy Spirit
bring fire to the earth
so that the presence of God
may be seen
in a new light,
in new places,
in new ways.

May our own hearts
burst into flame
so that no obstacle,
no matter how great,
ever obstructs the message
of the God within each of us.

May we come to trust
the Word of God in our heart,
to speak it with courage,
to follow it faithfully
and to fan it to flame in others.

May the Jesus
who filled women
with his Holy Spirit
fill the world and the church
with new respect
for women's power and presence.

Give me, Great God,
a sense of the Breath of Spirit
within me as I...
(State the intention
in your own life at this time
for which you are praying.)

Amen.

~ written by Sister Joan Chittister, OSB, and posted on the Huffington Postwebsite. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sister-joan-chittister-osb/pentecost-prayer_b_872130.html

May 24  |  Trinity

Why’s the Doctrine of the Trinity Important for our Living the Christian Life?

Recently my girls grew rather fond of a certain commercial for Erik’s Deli Café.  Anna, in particular, loves reenacting the part of the commercial where the leader of a group of protesting Erik’s dill pickles explains how difficult it is to be an Erik’s pickle: “Too big, you get rejected.  Too small, you get rejected.”  Sitting down to write on the doctrine of the Trinity, I start feeling a little bit like that pickle – no matter what I might write, will I be able to explain the Trinity without committing heresy? 

On the one hand, if I describe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit too much as “three modes” or “three different ways of experiencing the One God,” I commit the heresy of “modalism.”  On the other hand, if I describe Father, Son, and Holy Spirit too much in hierarchical terms, I commit the heresy of “subordinationism.”  And this is only two of many Trinitarian heresies that I might commit.  Each one of these heresies has caused the Church to excommunicate those who held them, even wage war against them.  So, pastor beware!

Should I, rather, stay away, and leave the Trinity to others who know the doctrine better?    But isn’t it part of the responsibilities of a pastor to help her congregation grasp the meaning not only of Biblical stories, but of Christian doctrines as well? Sunday after Sunday, we confess our faith in the Trinitarian formula of the Apostles’ Creed as part of our worship.  That’s reason enough to talk about that doctrine, especially since Trinity Sunday (the Sunday after Pentecost) is coming up this Sunday.

Theological textbooks often show the following diagram (often referred to as “Shield of the Trinity”) when discussion the Trinity, based on the so-called Athanasian Creed.

Does this diagram make sense to you?  Despite years of theological study, I am puzzled, too.  Puzzled not so much by explaining what those connectors between Father-Son-Holy Spirit are meant to stand for, but rather by what all of this has to do with my faith in Christ and my following in the footsteps of Jesus.

So, let me ask you – what significance does the Trinity have in your every-day life as a Christian?  How often do you ask yourself: “What does the Trinity mean?” 

The doctrine of the Trinity is, indeed, one of the most important fundamental beliefs of the Christian Church. Many Christians are aware of its importance as a doctrine, but few would actually consider it as immediately necessary to the way in which their life of faith is lived out. 

The doctrine or concept of the Trinity is central to most Christian denominations, although not all. Among churches that reject the doctrine of the Trinity are the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Scientists, Unitarians, the Unification Church, the Christadelphians, and Oneness Pentecostals.

Although the term "Trinity" is not found in the Bible, most Bible scholars agree that its meaning is clearly expressed. These are some of the verses expressing the concept of the Trinity - Matthew 3:16-17, Matthew 28:19, John 14:16-17, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Acts 2:32-33, John 10:30, John 17:11,21.

Essentially, the doctrine of the Trinity says this: God the Son is fully, completely God. God the Father is fully, completely God. God the Holy Spirit is fully, completely God. Yet there is only one God.  Not one of the three Persons is more important than the others and not one of them has existed before the others have existed.  None of the three Persons of the Trinity came out of the others.  All three “persons” of the Trinity are “co-equal” and “co-eternal.”  

I am drawn to a few important points here – namely, that there is unity within our Godhead, community, and equality.  These three (unity, community, and equality) correlate closely to three qualities that I consider fundamental to any community of Christian believers.  Unity is not something that is an add-on to our faith.  Rather, unity is so important that it exists within our God himself.  Likewise, community and equality are not traits that are an add-ons to our faith.  Rather, community and equality are so important that they exist within our God himself.  God is Unity.  God lives in Community.  God practices Equality.

Ultimately, the Trinity is not something that can be explained, nor even should be explained.  The Trinity is a mystery and must be believed, celebrated, and worshipped.

I hope that these theological reflections did not scare you away, but make you curious and happy to attend worship at Bethel this Sunday.

Those among you who have made other plans, and will be away for the Memorial Weekend, I wish you a safe and relaxing holiday!  Those who have served in the armed forces, thank you for your service!

May 31  |  Some Words of Advise to Graduates

Dear Graduates:

Graduation season now is in full swing.  It is a season of joy, celebration, parental pride, gratitude … and lots of people offering their advise to you. 

Giving advise is always a bit difficult.  Those who want to offer it have to beware between two pitfalls:  either they are tempted to offer witty aphorisms that sound good, but get equally quickly forgotten … or they try to offer advice to you that is based upon their own past, but have little to do with your future, your hopes, and your dreams. 

So, what could I possibly offer to you as advice?   After all, you already have the best book of instruction on all important matters of life, a book you know and have come to trust. What more could I add to that?

However, since I have benefited from the advice of others who have trot the road of life before me and their past mistakes, I hope I can teach you from mine as well. As always, consider what I say and examine the Scriptures to see for yourself whether what I say rings true.  (Acts 17:11)

·       Beware the gradual loss of joy and wonder.  Attacks on our faith rarely come as a frontal assault—more often do they grow as ivy, slowly covering our defenses. Day by day, the joy we have known when we were younger slips away a little bit at a time, and resentment and sarcasm creep in.  I wish you that you will make it a habit to praise God for something new each day.

·       Lead by following. Servant leadership has become a cliché, because it’s true. Jesus came as Savior into our world and served the sick, the neglected, the outcasts, the dying, and the hungry.  He didn’t have to. He didn’t need to.  He wanted to.  I wish that you will serve joyfully, lead by example, and show others what Jesus meant when he called us to love one another. I wish that you will remember to “commit random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty” – Christ’s sake and in His name.

·       Don’t be surprised by sin.  Sin isn’t a popular term. A lot of people don’t like the word, partly because of the way certain Christian groups like to talk about sin. Many a times, people equate sin with breaking rules. When we do so, God becomes the big policeman in the sky who's ready to write tickets whenever we step over the line.  Rather, sin is a disease. Being sinful goes far beyond breaking the rules.  Sin is missing what God created us to be. Sin is missing what God created the world to be. Sin is the way that our lives have gone off kilter. Sin is choosing my way over God's way. Sin is about going in the wrong direction.  When that happens, when you become aware that you are headed in the wrong direction, you may be tempted to be discouraged. Don’t be. God knows our sinful nature and loves us until we’re clean. That’s what really matters. Repentance is about give up control and changing directions. I wish you that you will be able to listen to God’s “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) and be able to give up control and change direction, if needed.

·       Remember your calling.  You may already firmly know or maybe hesitantly suspect God’s call for you. Keep that calling in mind! After all, there’s a reason the apostle Paul reminded Timothy of his calling—it’s easy to question when times are difficult (1 Timothy 1:18-19). Go where God calls. Go scared, if you have to, but go!

·       God’s not finished.  Sometimes the news may make you think that God’s finished with us.  The news, TV shows, and movies may make you wonder how things could get so bad. But God’s not finished with us. He’s never surprised by anything. He’s not finished, and you are an important part of His plan for the world.

·       Love.  Above all else—and this may sound elementary—love like you have no time left to love. Love by giving your life away. Love by sowing into others. Love by sharing what you have. Love by putting God first.

Wherever God takes you, I know He will bless you and provide for the dreams He’s given you (and will yet give you). You’ve only just begun to see how hard and rewarding it is to take up your cross daily.  And it’s definitely worth it.

June 7  |  Bethel’s 5^th-Grade Graduation

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction."
(Proverbs 1:7)

“The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives.“
~ Dwight L. Moody

This coming Tuesday, my younger daughter, Anna, will be graduating - along with five other 5th-graders - from Bethel Lutheran School.  One of those 5th-graders has been at Bethel for eight years, whereas Anna and others attended Bethel for a mere two years.  

We came to Bethel after Anna had attended a public school in San Bruno for four years, four really good years.  The teachers at Portola Elementary School all were very experienced, well-trained, and genuinely caring about their students. The parent community was actively engaged in raising funds in support of art, music, and PE programs.  The students' diverse cultures all enriched life at Portola.  The students came from a multitude of ethnic backgrounds: there were Native American, African American, and Asian American children, as well as  children of Caucasian, Philippino, Pacific Islander, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian, Indian, Lebanese, and other immigrant families; plus all sort of blended families: Jordanian-Russian, French-Iranian, German-Indian (who could that possibly be?), and several others.

In comparison, Bethel felt small.  When Anna began in 4th grade, there were only three 4th-graders.  For the first time, Bethel had to combine classes - six 3rd-graders plus the three 4th-graders.  During the next school year, their combined number swelled to twelve - which proved better for class room interactions and - of course - Bethel's finances.  

Thanks to their primary classroom teachers and the dedicated enrichment teachers, all six children have grown tremendously.   The graduating class, indeed, is a living testimony to the BLS mission statement:  

"Bethel Lutheran School is a Christian school whose mission is to actively engage students in a strong academic and enrichment curriculum with the goal of developing the fundamental skills and unique talents of each student.  Our experienced staff, along with dynamic programs, encourage faith development, increased self-confidence, creative expression, and compassion for others."

Each one of these six children - Chase, Danielle, Nooa, Whitney, Alexander, and Anna - is a unique creature of God.  Some of the six love sports, others excel at math. Some have a passion for art, others for building things.  Some love to pose for cameras, others hate to smile when asked to do so.  Some are noisy, others quiet.  Some love pink, others blue.  Some are budding pianists, others have trouble carrying a tune.  In short, these six Bethel graduates are as different as the rest of us among the Bethel community.  

Despite their different gifts, skills, temperaments, and interests - all six have in common that they love learning, have confidence in their own abilities, and have genuine compassion for others.   During their years of attending Bethel, they have not only participated in chapel, but lead it many a times.  Their days at Bethel began with prayer and ended with it.  These prayer times were the bookends, so to speak, to school days filled to the brim with exploration, learning, and play.  

And just like all of us here at Bethel, their parents want just the best for them.  During this time of transition, mothers may think back to the day their "baby" was born.  Fathers may recall the first time that their child outran them.  Whatever their parents' memories, whatever their dreams for their child, wherever these six may end up living, what paths they end up choosing in life ... we at Bethel will have made a lasting difference in their lives.  We have impacted their lives and changed their lives for the better.  YOU have changed lives through your prayerful support of Bethel Lutheran School.  

I am truly grateful for the ministry of Bethel Lutheran School, for the teachers, staff, parent volunteers (especially the members of the OPO Board), and the BLS School Board.  May you be blessed with the knowledge that you make a tremendous difference in the life of our students!

In deep gratitude for the education Anna and all Bethel students receive,

June 21  |  How Do We Hear God Speak to Us?

Where do we find God’s voice?  How do we hear God speak to us?  These will be some of the questions that we will be pondering in worship this Sunday, while also praising God and thanking Him for the new life we have found in Jesus Christ.  

In both worship services – before we begin our worship proper  – we will listen to updates from our Call Committee, receive announcements about the Small Group Events, hear about the Labor Day preview worship services (June 30), the Service Worship on that same Sunday, and be given information about this year’s VBS service project (“My New Red Shoes”).  Later on in worship, we will be watching a video about this year’s Bread for the World letter writing campaign (only at 9am).

Is God speaking to you in any of these announcements and updates? Do you come to worship expecting to God in hymns, sermon messages, and prayers; during Special Music or Holy Communion – but certainly not during the announcement time or during a video clip?  If that’s the case, you are facing the same problem as the prophet Elijah did in 1 Kings 19.  Elijah – as many of his contemporaries – expected to meet God in earthquakes, storms, or fires.  Those were the expected means of God’s self-revelation to human beings.  God Himself told Elijah to be prepared for God’s coming and for his speaking to Elijah.  So Elijah waited … he waited and was disappointed.  He did not hear God in the storm; he did not meet God in the earthquake; and he did not meet God in the fire.  Finally, though, Elijah noticed “a sound of sheer silence” … and that’s when he heard God’s voice.

I encourage all of you to gather this Sunday around God’s word, God’s Holy Meal, and around the sacrament of Holy Baptism (at 9am).   Come to worship and listen!  Come and listen to God’s voice.  Maybe you’ll hear God speak to you in the places where you expect Him.  Maybe, though, He comes to you in other places instead: in the smile of hug of the person next to you in the pew, in the silence between other parts of the liturgy, or maybe even in one of the announcements. 

I’d like to share with you a beautiful reflection I came across online; a reflection on finding God in unexpected places (http://www.thoughts-about-god.com/meditating/mw-tarnished.html) which seems very fitting, given our readings for this Sunday:

“I like thrift stores. I normally go to look for books but once in a while something else will catch my eye. One day an old looking, tarnished, blackened silver teapot fell into my sights. It was close to our 25th wedding anniversary, and it was a good deal. After a little mental gymnastics I decided to lay out the cash, trusting it would polish up.

As I drove home, I glanced at my purchase. It looked bad. I had second thoughts. Had I made a mistake? I wondered where it had originally come from and then what homes it had traveled through on its way to ending up in a second hand store…

At home, I pulled out the silver polish and started the task of getting rid of the black exterior. Anticipation grew with each rub and stroke of work. To my wonder, my hopes of revealing its true beauty were realized. From a tarnished, blackened mess emerged a beautiful treasure. I could see my reflection in it now, and the sun made it gleam as the light bounced off its shiny, clean face.

This old silver teapot made me reflect on how God views our lives. He sees the mess, the tarnish and blackness, as well as each step in the journey. Every mark, each coat of disuse or neglect – He knows it all. He paid a great price for us, even when it was obvious that our outward beauty was marred. His son died on a cross to pay the purchase price for each one of us. He knows our value, with no second thoughts on whether he should have paid so much.

Unlike my silver teapot, we have to be willing to have our tarnish rubbed off. The price has been paid but the transaction is not complete until we are willing to submit to the gentle hands of the master to begin his work.

Sadly some think they have to remove the blackened tarnish on their own before they would somehow qualify to be God’s possession. As impossible as it would be for my silver teapot to clean itself, so it is with our lives. The true beauty of God’s creation can never be realized without His deliberate cleansing and gentle work in our lives.  

When we become his possession he begins the process to bring out the beauty of His character in our lives. His work produces the unmistakable beauty of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

Please join me in the following prayer by the author of the same reflection:

“Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be. Amen.”

Wishing you a relaxing and joyful weekend!

June 28  |  What is “Lutheran” Worship?

At Bethel, we typically worship in two different styles – one service is accompanied by organ, the other accompanied by a band.  Both service, tend to follow he same structure: Gathering, Word, Meal, Sending (or in non-communion services: Gathering, Word, Response to God’s Word, Sending). 

As substantial as the differences between those two services may look to us at times, let us remember that other Lutheran congregations may practice worship styles that are far more different from the styles that we are accustomed to.  Some may have no music.  Others may have actions (such as baking bread, creating art, or anointing) into their services.  Then there are “charismatic” Lutheran worship services in which some people may speak in tongues (yes, there are Lutheran churches that do such things!).  And finally, there are Taizé services, meditative services in which short phrases are chanted repetitively, services that resemble monastic gatherings more than a typical Sunday morning worship. 

So – what makes all these different ways of worshipping God LUTHERAN?  There is a basic direction to any Lutheran understanding of worship, no matter what individual services may look like.  Lutherans do not think about worship so much in terms of what WE do.  Rather, worship is fundamentally about what GOD is doing and our response to GOD’s action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Lutheran worship services have two central poles: the Word proclaimed and the sacraments (Holy Baptism and Holy Communion).  Therefore Lutheran congregations ordain and call their pastors to a ministry of Word and Sacraments.  We call those two (Word and Sacraments) the “means of grace”, because we believe that Jesus Christ is present in these means through the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we describe worship as a “gathering around the means of grace.” This is a way of saying that we trust that God is genuinely present with us in baptism, in preaching, and in the sharing of bread and wine.  

In that sense, Lutherans believe that God’s presence permeates ALL of Christian worship, no matter what those worship services may look like – whether the music comes from an organ or other instruments; whether sermons are short or long; whether the worship is more formal or less; whether it is lead by one person or a team; whether it is celebrated indoors or outdoors, whether the worshippers stay in one place or move around during worship; whether the dominant theme is praise or lament; or even whether a particular worship service appeals more to our mind or more to emotions.

What matters most about LUTHERAN worship is that the cross is the central symbol that marks our worship spaces. When our voices join in song and when we participate in the worship, we witness to our conviction that in worship we are being drawn by God’s Holy Spirit into God’s own saving story.

This Sunday, June 30, the Labor Day Retreat Planning team and the Mission Outreach Committee both invite you to participate in two very different ways of worshipping God. 

First we will gather to experience a taste of Labor Day Retreat Worship (at both the 9am and 10:30 services).  Then, we will engage in hands-on worship by serving our neighbors – either by participating in on-site projects that serve others or in off-site projects (some of which begin already at 10pm in the Fireside Room, so that you won’t have to leave and return!).  Please make sure to check below for the specific projects being offered to you.

The goal of both kinds of worship is to draw us into God’s saving story, so that God’s Holy Spirit may mold us into the image of God that we are meant to be.

July 4  

Codependence, Independence, and Interdependence

I am writing this article just before the annual 4th of July holiday.  As each year, Independence Day is a day for celebration, fun, and recreation.  This year, I wish to reflect a bit on the three patterns of behavior of codependence, independence, and interdependence.

Codependence

Codependence is essentially an unhealthy pattern of control, care-taking, enabling, people-pleasing, suppressing our own wants and desires for the sake of keeping the peace.  Codependent individuals tend to

·      give but never allow themselves to receive,

·      be out of touch with what they really want or need,

·      be martyrs, peace-makers, victims, care-takers,

·      act out of fear instead of freedom, and

·      live an “if I do or say this or that then God will be happy with me” kind of faith.

Independence

Independence often gets equated with “the American Way.”  While the idea of independence has inspired the founding of our nation and laid the foundation for many important social and political movements since, the spirit of independence can lead to an “I-don’t-really-need-anyone-else” mentality.   I don’t really need close people in my life; I can handle things on my own; I’ve got it covered.  Independence isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it is good to be free and strong apart from other people.  I am also grateful for the sacrifices that the founding generation has made in their struggle for freedom from oppression.  But independence can also lead a person to not be very engaged in the real stuff of other people’s lives.  Highly independent individuals tend to

·      not really connect on an emotional level with other people,

·      reject input,

·      believe that things are “just fine the way they are”,

·      think their way is right, and

·      not really need God much, as they prefer to have their own bases covered.

Based upon what I have observed in years of ministry, many churches and faithful, loving Christians tend to prefer codependent or independent patterns of behavior – either being addicted to caretaking, people pleasing, holding-back-the-truth with God and others OR standing apart, being strong and prideful, and not really allowing themselves to be engaged in real relationship with God or others.

Interdependence

Jesus left us two great commandments: the double commandment that we love God and our neighbor. There’s one letter in the New Testament, in particular, that elaborates upon Jesus’ teaching: 1 John.  In that letter, the apostle John writes:

·      "Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness" (1 John 2:9).

·      "If someone who has worldly means sees a brother in need and refuses him compassion, how can the love of God remain in him? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth" (1 John 3:17-18).

·      "If anyone says, 'I love God,' but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from Him whoever loves God must also love his brother" (1 John 4:20-21).

Most of us would agree that the notion of love is at the heart of Christian faith and practice – not just theoretically (as a matter of belief), but also, and more fundamentally, of action.  The word of “interdependence” does not appear in the pages of our Bible. I firmly believe, however, that Jesus’ call to love implies a call to genuine interdependence.  Genuine interdependence means that we rely on one another in a way that is not unhealthy nor creates an imbalance of power.  Interdependent individuals tend to:

·      be willing to share how they are doing and feeling and also let others’ love, mercy, wisdom, and help into their lives;

·      let go of self-protection in order to pursue connection;

·      be willing to be themselves – with all of their uniqueness, strengths and weaknesses – and love others in all of their uniqueness, too, without feeling the urge to change, reject, or avoid them.

·      be aware of their own need for grace and able to pass it on to others;

·      be open to feel others pain without losing themselves in their pain;

·      risk money, time, and status to stand for justice on others behalf instead of standing by and watch others get taken advantage of;

·      be willing to need other people and be needed at the same time.

·      show up in their relationship with God in an honest and real way.

Interdependence and Love as the Ways of God

I believe that it is fairly easy to be codependent and independent people in our relationship with God and others. It is also fairly easy to be codependent and independent communities, either being overly concerned with approval and making everybody happy or thinking we’ve got it mastered and don’t need anyone else.  It is much harder to be interdependent people and communities (and churches) – the kind of churches that Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 12 where the Paul compares the church to a body whose parts are all intertwined, doing what they are meant to do, forming a wholeness that they could never form alone.

Codependence and independence are two distinct ways to control our world and to avoid pain and failure, instead of living the real, uninhibited, often messy ways of God’s Kingdom in interdependent relationship with God and God’s people.

Genuinely interdependent communities won’t emerge until we are willing to risk our hearts, our pride, and so much of what we have received without questioning while growing up.  Genuinely interdependent communities won’t emerge until we are willing to engage in real, scary, unpredictable, beautiful, healing interdependent relationships with other men and women on the journey.  I am hoping that I myself and our Bethel community will learn how to be more interdependent and practice what we believe.  There’s no question, I/we have a yet lot to learn.

The Canadian Roman Catholic philosopher and theologian Jean Vanier has written the following beautiful words that describe the struggle within our heart: “There is always a warfare in our hearts; there is always the struggle between pride and humility, hatred and love, forgiveness and the refusal to forgive, truth and the concealment of truth, openness and closedness. Each of us is walking in that passage toward liberation, growing on the journey toward wholeness and healing.” (J. Vanier, Community and Growth, 1989)

My prayer on this Independence Day is that we may we become more whole, interdependent people and may we cultivate more whole, interdependent communities – communities where God’s love, grace, and mercy is preached and practiced.  May God help us to break free of codependence and independence and learn His ways of interdependence and love.

August 2  |  “Go, Do Not Be Afraid, and Serve”

Who do you think, may have said these words?  Any suggestions?  It was Pope Francis I who spoke these words on July 28, as part of his homily at the closing mass at the (Catholic) International World Youth Day to a live audience of 3 million listeners who had gathered on Copacabana Beach.

I am not usually in the habit of quoting of quoting Catholic popes, especially not 21st century Catholic popes, in an appreciative manner.  This pope, however, speaks to my heart in his words and actions.  Let me first quote a bit more from his homily and then reflect on it, relating it to our own Bethel context. 

“1. Go. […] Faith is a flame that grows stronger the more it is shared and passed on, so that everyone may know, love and confess Jesus Christ, the Lord of life and history (cf. Rom 10:9).  Careful, though! Jesus did not say: ‘if you would like to, if you have the time’, but: ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’  Sharing the experience of faith, bearing witness to the faith, proclaiming the Gospel: this is a command that the Lord entrusts to the whole Church, and that includes you; but it is a command that is born not from a desire for domination or power but from the force of love, from the fact that Jesus first came into our midst and gave us, not a part of himself, but the whole of himself, he gave his life in order to save us and to show us the love and mercy of God. Jesus does not treat us as slaves, but as free men, as friends, as brothers and sisters; and he not only sends us, he accompanies us, he is always beside us in our mission of love.

Where does Jesus send us? There are no borders, no limits: he sends us to everyone. The Gospel is for everyone, not just for some. It is not only for those who seem closer to us, more receptive, more welcoming. It is for everyone. Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent. The Lord seeks all, he wants everyone to feel the warmth of his mercy and his love. […]

2. Do not be afraid. Some people might think: ‘I have no particular preparation, how can I go and proclaim the Gospel?’ My dear friend, your fear is not so very different from that of Jeremiah, a young man like you, when he was called by God to be a prophet. We have just heard his words: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth”. God says the same thing to you as he said to Jeremiah: ‘Be not afraid ... for I am with you to deliver you’ (Jeremiah 1:7,8). He is with us!

‘Do not be afraid!’ When we go to proclaim Christ, it is he himself who goes before us and guides us. When he sent his disciples on mission, he promised: ‘I am with you always’ (Mt 28:20). And this is also true for us! Jesus does not leave us alone, he never leaves you alone! He always accompanies you.

And then, Jesus did not say: ‘One of you go’, but ‘All of you go’: we are sent together. […]  When we face challenges together, then we are strong, we discover resources we did not know we had. Jesus did not call the Apostles to live in isolation, he called them to form a group, a community. […]

3. The final word: serve. The opening words of the psalm that we proclaimed are: ‘Sing to the Lord a new song’ (Psalm 95:1). What is this new song? It does not consist of words, it is not a melody, it is the song of your life, it is allowing our life to be identified with that of Jesus, it is sharing his sentiments, his thoughts, his actions. And the life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service. […]

Three words: Go, do not be afraid, and serve. Follow these three words: Go, do not be afraid, and serve. If you follow these three ideas, you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized, the one who transmits the joy of faith receives joy. […] Amen.”

“Go. Do not be Afraid. Serve.”  These are words that resonate what the leaders of the Bethel community have been hearing lately a lot during the small group process.  Among the things that have been said, the following stand out, in my mind:

-       We are a community called into mission, a common mission to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.

-       We want to proclaim the good news, but we don’t know how.  We are, actually, a bit afraid to be evangelists.  “Evangelists” describes maybe 10 percent of us, but not the rest of us.

-       We want to share the good news, but we need to be fed first.  We need to have opportunities to study the Scriptures together.  We need to have faith resources that we can teach to our children.  We need Bible study opportunities on Sunday mornings and we need more children’s ministry.

-       We want to share the good news, not just in word, but in deed – with our own hands. 

You will hear more about the things shared in the small groups over the weeks and months to come – from both the church council and call committee.  Together, we will discern how we can translate what has been expressed into concrete programs and actions. 

With this desire to grow in faith and to share that faith we are certainly not alone.  We are united with the Body of Christ, the church universal, the church of Christ throughout the ages and on every continent. 

May we all go, not be afraid, and serve - in Christ’s name!

August 30  |   Epicenter - Where Theology Meets Geology

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

This weekend, many from our community will be up at Mount Cross Lutheran Camp in Felton for Bethel’s annual Labor Day Retreat.  The theme for this year is “Epicenter” - Where Theology Meets Geology”.  “Epicenter? Earthquake?  Terror and destruction?  What can be good about any of these … and why would this be the motto for our retreat?”, some may ask.  Earthquakes are powerful and earthquakes are scary.  It may not surprise, therefore, that when we look in the Bible for instances of earthquakes we will find that the writers of the Bible had absolutely nothing positive to say about earthquakes. 

Nevertheless, to us who live in an earthquake-prone region, we may be able to relate to the image in a symbolic manner.  Rather than focus on the literal, destructive nature of earthquakes, it helps to look at earthquakes as symbols  -- symbols of  a powerful outward bound force that emanates from the center of a quake, a force that impacts and reshapes landscapes and lives near and far. 

Isn’t this what we yearn to be as followers of Jesus Christ?  We believe that our identity is that of Christ’s body on earth, a body that touches lives in Christ’s name, by proclaiming the Good News of salvation and forgiveness?  We believe that the Good News of the cross are so powerful that the world has been changed forever since.

If the cross and the resurrection are the epicenter of the quake with which God shook the earth, the members of Christ’s church and their faith are the ripples which continue to shake things up.  At its heart, the cross is a symbol of non-conformity.  The voluntary death on the cross of an innocent man in order to accomplish the salvation of others certainly does not conform to the laws of this world.  The world tells us to watch out for ourselves.  The world promotes the survival of the fittest.  God, however, continues to demonstrate to us that his grace is sufficient for us, and that his power is made perfect in weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9).

As followers of Jesus Christ we are on a journey with God.  The goal of that journey is to grow in love and humility, conforming to God’s will, rather than to this world.  The early Christian martyrs had one another to support one another in accomplishing this goal.  Later on, many Christians lived in monastic communities in order to grow in faith, hope, love, humility, and obedience to the will of God.  Today (as most of us are neither martyrs nor nuns or monks), we have one another in this community called Bethel. 

I give thanks to God for the love and energy that I have experienced among the Bethel community, the commitment and the sacrifices of time and resources you make, and the good that you sow among others (Colossians 1:3-4).  May the upcoming retreat be a blessing to all who are able to attend and – through them – to the rest of our community and beyond.

For more information on the Labor Day Retreat, go to the Bethel website.

Wishing you a happy and safe Labor Day weekend, wherever you are, and don’t forget …. the Bay Bridge is closed now through September 3, 5am.

September 6  |  Arson at  Bethel Preschool

This is going to be a very different article from the one I was planning on writing.  An unfortunate turn of events late last night make me change my original article, which I planned to be about last night’s wonderful, well-attended Back-to-School night at Bethel Lutheran School.Sometime before midnight on Thursday, someone started several small fires in the Bethel neighborhood – the first one at the nearby creek, the second at our preschool, the third on the grounds of Cupertino High School (on the athletic field close to the bleachers).  The good news is that the Fire Department was already at the creek when the preschool fire was discovered and was able to respond very quickly.  The bad news is that one of the preschool classrooms (the one where Lynne Stasi teaches) has suffered significant damage. 

The fire department was able to contain the fire to the one preschool room with mainly the outer wall, roof line, and window affected, but some of the ceiling etc. was opened up by the fire department to make sure there was not fire above the room.   Currently, there is no power in Torvend Hall and plenty of debris strewn across the preschool yard.  All the pantry items will need to be discarded due to smoke damage. 

A very special thank you is due to Tom Hoegel who rushed to Bethel and stayed on site until the early morning hours until the preschool room was boarded up.   

Here is where we are at this Friday morning:

   All preschool classes have been cancelled.  –Parents were informed via email and greeted by staff in the morning, in case they did not receive the news.

   The damaged area is secured and off limits to all but staff working on issues relating to the fire.  Please respect these restrictions on Sunday and do not try to access the damaged area on Sunday.  Please also keep any children out of the area.

   Fara Brock, Bethel’s business manager, is working with our insurance company and has been arranging for an electrician and plumber to check the power breaker and gas line both of which were affected by the fire and heat.

   Lynne Stasi, BLS preschool supervisor, is working with principal Marion Abney and preschool staff on combining preschool classes during next week.

All in all, it could have been a lot worse.  It was fortunate that the fire department was already at the creek for the first fire and able to respond quickly.

The scheduled 2nd Sunday Picnic will be held as scheduled for this Sunday, 4:00-6:30pm.  The only change will be that no one will be allowed into the preschool area and Torvend Hall.  All are welcome to attend!

I will inform you about any significant developments and opportunities to help out with clean-up, etc.

May the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus!  (Philippians 4:7)

September 13  |  Making Room for Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study

My message this week comes in two parts: First, as a brief update on what plans are underway to create Sunday morning adult Bible study opportunities and, secondly, a blog entry that has me touched so much earlier this week that I want to share it with you, trusting that it may resonate with your own experiences, too.

Sunday Morning Adult Bible Study

Over that last month or so, several of Bethel’s ministry leads and church council members have given updates to our community re. the call process, our finances, the need to realign our staffing with our ministry priorities as well as our financial resources.  In those updates, five “ministry priorities”, areas of ministry on which we want to focus in the immediate future, have been presented.  Those among you who attended the Labor Day Retreat at Mt. Cross will be more closely familiar with these five areas.  They are: (1) equipping children & families, (2) reshaping our Sunday Morning, (3) expanding our iServe ministry, (4) equipping one another for relationship building, and (5) devising more engaging instruments of communication.

Over the next few months, you will hear much more about all five areas.  For now, I want to update you about the important developments that are underway to restructure our Sunday mornings at Bethel to allow for adult Bible study classes.

In the past, Sunday morning Bible study classes have been taught mostly by lay members of the congregation, at least as far as I know.  Several of those Bible study teachers have moved away and left behind a void which we have not been able to fill.  To allow for ongoing, regular Bible study classes, proposals are being discussed to change the worship times and create a block of time in-between worship services during which all generation can learn – adults, children, and youth.  No final decision has been made and no final decision will be made without giving our congregation as a whole the opportunity to chime in.

At this point, I hope to convey to you that all the leaders of our congregation are listening very carefully to what has been expressed at the small group gatherings over the summer.  They listen and they seek to respond.  What you have expressed won’t go to waste. 

The council, call committee, and stewardship task forces (for lack of a better term, it’s not really a standing committee) all are very grateful that you have taken the time to participate in these small groups.  We wish to honor your commitment by carefully responding to your concerns, worries, ideas, wishes, and suggestions. 

I hope this update will give more transparency to what is still being discussed among ministry leads, church council members, staff, and pastors.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me or drop me a note at pastorgabi@bethelcupertino.org.  I look forward to hearing from you.

I also look forward to seeing you.  This Sunday, we will lift up and celebrate in worship, in between our worship services, and after those worship services the many ministries of Bethel Lutheran Church.  Inside the sanctuary, we will have a last opportunity to admire the beautiful quilts before they will be taken down to be shipped off to the Lutheran World Relief.  We will also commission Sunday School leaders (at 9am), Bethel Lutheran School teachers and staff (at 10:30am) and this year’s crop of 3 youth assistants (at 10:30am).  On the outside, the 2013 Ministry Fair will go on – to showcase all those ministries which together make Bethel Lutheran Church the wonderfully vibrant community that we love.

THE THING I’D LOVE TO FORGET ABOUT THE PEOPLE I DISAGREE WITH

This comes from the blog of a young evangelical Christian writer by the name of Rachel Held Evans, who is probably best known for her 2012 book “A Year of Biblical Womanhood.”  In a recent entry, Ms. Evans wrote the following:

“I was talking the other day with a person with whom I disagree on just about everything—theology, politics, women in ministry, faith and science, biblical interpretation, doubt, hell, homosexuality, you name it. We were in the awkward process of making peace after some lines had been crossed and feelings hurt, and as we got to know one another a little better in that conversation, we had the chance to share more about our personal journeys and how we came to see the world in the ways that we do. 

As we talked, I realized how much I had wanted to assume this guy was just taking the easy way out, simply toeing the conservative party line and falling in step with what everyone around him believed. But as his story emerged, I learned that he too had wrestled with his beliefs, that they had a profound personal impact on his life and his relationships, and that these beliefs indeed came with a cost. I had assumed he had taken the easiest path when he hadn't. 

It bothers me when people make the same careless assumptions about me. 

Just yesterday I was warned by someone that my support for women in ministry and my inclusion of LGBT voices on the blog represented an effort “to be liked by other people and win the approval of the world.” I shook my head and released a sad laugh. This person had no idea how much hell I’ve taken from people in my evangelical community for writing about my doubts, my questions related to heaven and hell, my views on biblical interpretation and theology, and my support for women in ministry and other marginalized people in the Church.  For believing that the earth is more than 6,000 years old, I’ve been called an idolatrous shrew who hates the Bible and has no business calling herself a Christian. I’ve been denied speaking and writing opportunities and banned from bookstores. I’ve wept as close friends slowly distanced themselves from me and well-meaning church people treated me like a project—someone to pray about, gossip about, and fix.  Institutions that once welcomed me as a daughter have essentially disowned me. It’s nothing compared to what many other people experience in the Church, but it’s painful. And there are indeed many professors who have lost their jobs, pastors who have lost their congregations, and others who have lost their families and friends as a result of their evolving perspectives on faith. It's not a road you take because it's easy. 

I don’t ask these questions and explore these issues because I want to be liked; I ask these questions and explore these issues because I want to believe what’s true. I want to do what’s right. I want my faith to make sense in both my heart and my head and I want to honor Jesus with my life, my words, my actions. You can dismiss my views as unfounded or wrongheaded or unbiblical, but dismissing my journey in arriving at them as simply “taking the easy way out” or “capitulating to culture” makes a lot of unfair assumptions about me and my story. It also underestimates the degree to which various religious communities can themselves function as subcultures, complete with expectations, economies, peer pressure, blacklists, marginalization, and spoken and unspoken rules. 

And yet…

I do the same thing to those with whom I disagree. I assumed this hard-core  complementarian Calvinist was just going along with the majority, just making the easiest decisions,  just bumbling along without considering the views or experiences of other people so that his safe little religious world would remain intact. 

And I was wrong. 

It simplifies things when we can write-off the thoughts and opinions of other people by assuming they’ve taken the easy way out, that they're just trying to be popular and liked. It’s oddly affirming to tell ourselves that we’re the ones living counter-culturally, we’re the ones taking all the risks for the truth, we’re the ones getting persecuted for our right and true beliefs. 

And it’s a bit disconcerting to confront the reality that it’s possible to wrestle with the same God and walk with the same limp and yet reach different conclusions. 

Perhaps it is in the wrestling itself that we can find some common ground. 

*** 

Have you ever made assumptions about how someone arrived at their beliefs only to be proven wrong? Ever get tired of other people assuming you believe what you believe because it’s easy….when it’s not?  How do we move past our own persecution complexes while also acknowledging the very real pain in one another's faith journeys?”

September 20  |  “A Theology from Quilting”

Dropping in on our quilters this week inspired me to reflect a bit on the connection between quilting and faith.  Not sure whether to call myself a quilter (having made only a grand total of three simple quilts in my life), I did what I do so often – I turned to the internet.  After some searching, I came across a “theology of quilting” written by Sarah Henrich, Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.  In this piece she shares the ways she has have come to a deeper love of God and a richer sense of truth in her own quilting.

Below, I am sharing with you an abridged version of Prof. Henrich’s “Top Ten Things I Have [Re]Learned About God From Quilting,” illustrated with photos I took at Bethel this week. 

#10: You have to cut fabric to make a quilt.
I once heard a joke in which two men are talking about their wives quilting. "I don't get it," one says. "She takes a perfectly good piece of fabric and cuts it up into little pieces so she can sew it together again!" My husband thought it was funny. Maybe it is. But it is also true about all creativity.   […] So, yes, we take a whole and re-shape it, just as God saw a whole void as it was and began to add pieces and re-shape it, and fill it with life.

#9: Quilting may hurt (hands, eyes, backs) and needs to be balanced by other activities, breathing, at least.
God has made us full-bodied, real flesh and given us whole selves that we can dedicate to all kinds of work. But God has created our bodies to demand rest, balance, food, water, sleep, movement. Quilting hurts when we forget how God has created us.

#8: Your quilt will demand your attention, even when you are unaware of it.
This is about creativity. This happens at levels we work at and at levels of our being we have no access to. […] As creation receives God's attention on every level, so we attend to our work both in careful, logical ways and in the ways that wake us up at night with the perfect solution to a difficult problem.  […]  We are, the whole cosmos is, in God's mind and heart all the time, forever. This is what it means that God does not sleep, that the cries of God's people arise to God's ears. Because we all are God's creation we live in God all the time. 

#7: Your quilt will tell you what it needs.
As your quilt in its own individual development, its own set of colors and combinations can surprise you, call you in different ways than you expected, try your patience.  […]  I am so bad at this, but quilting reminds me this quilt is real and will not just go according to some plan I have. It has a voice, an existence of its own. So we are to one another—our neighbors. So we are to God, and God and our neighbors to us. This is about an existence that does not abide by our plans. 

#6: You may have a "reason" (birthday, graduation, wedding), but joy is really why you work.
This is about calling. This is about the Holy Spirit given to you so that you are skilled, at whatever level. You could always be doing something else. Many people never quilt! But it is to this that you are called as an expression of joy in creativity, akin to that of God's joy. 

#5: Patience is rewarded (you will find the right pattern color or whatever else you need).
You cannot rush this. Again, it is about our not seeing what we need or having what we thing we need in the moment, but trusting that it is there for us, that we will find what is required for well-being. Really, this is a word about faith, a kind of confidence that finally, whatever disappointments and trials may intervene, some creative harmony is there. This is the very heart of our faith.

#4: Nothing is beautiful or ugly on its own; it is all about community and fit.
It was a great surprise to me in quilting that the fabrics I had thought were just perfect could not be used in a certain quilt just because they were beautiful on their own. Even a gorgeous fabric can deaden a quilt, still its voice. And fabrics that I had thought I just could not stand (dark mustard yellows for instance), brought a quilt to life and came to life themselves!  […] This was, and still is, a huge learning for me. Each of us can shine and bring a group to life somewhere. Each of us is an essential piece in creation. Not one of us is ugly or beautiful independently.

#3: Attention to details is everything.
We claim somehow that God counts the hairs on our heads! What can this mean? It means paying attention to ¼ inch seams, counting squares, pressing seams to one side or another. It means paying attention to details all the way to choosing, creating, and carefully stitching the binding because every piece matters. It means deciding how to turn your kaleidoscope and deciding that a particular shade of purple turns out to be just too bluish. It means that what we do and how we do it matters to us and to God. It matters not only who God is, but how God is. It is not only the big promises of God, but the way God keeps promises matter.

#2: The Big picture is everything.
This is the place for humility of course, because in the life of the cosmos of God in Christ, you and I simply cannot see the whole picture. We are too shaped by how we grew up to be able to get past our own convictions of beauty and ugliness. Yet, we know from our own work of making a quilt, that even attention to all the details may not help us create a wonderful quilt. […] The danger for quilters, and for Christians, is two-fold. We can give up on details and because we cannot see the whole picture right now, just stand back and wait for God to do whatever it is we think God will do. Or we can attend so passionately to details that we forget we do not have the big picture. Our details become our idea of God's big picture and we no longer hear creation speak, we no longer see new places for what we thought did not fit. So both attention to details and confidence in the big picture are everything. 

#1: Nothing is wasted.

Thank you to our quilters for your faithful ministry on behalf of people near and far and thank you, as well, for inspiring me to put this little article together!  By the way, if you are curious about quilting, please drop in on Monday mornings in the Fireside Room at Bethel (9:15am-noon).  No previous quilting experience is needed for you to join the group.

September 27  

Bethel Member Dave Denny Publishes New Book

“Fool in the Attic”

The City of Cupertino recently elected Jennifer Swanton Brown as it’s second poet laureate. Ms. Brown – who is an educator, writer, and longtime teacher of California Poets in the Schools – takes over for Bethel member Dave Denny, who served a two-year term that began in the Fall of 2011.

The Cupertino poet laureate is an honorary volunteer position sponsored by the city and library. Candidates must be practicing poets with professional recognition and a talent for performance. The poet laureate is expected to create and host public events that promote literary arts in the community and inspire creativity in all residents.

During his two-year stint, Dave Denny organized coffeehouse readings, a citywide poetry contest, and writing workshops.

Jennifer Swanton Brown’s term will last from October 1 through September 30, 2015. She was among four final applicants from Cupertino interviewed by a selection committee.

For more information about the Cupertino poet laureate, email poetlaureate@cupertino.org or visit www.cupertino.org/index.aspx?page=1050.

Timing seems ideal: just as Dave’s term as poet laureate is about to be over, his latest book of poems became available on www.amazon.com. You may take a peek at the new book, purchase a copy, and, write a review by clicking here. If you rather talk to Dave in person at Bethel, he welcomes to hear your feedback.

Some of you may know that Dave published a chapbook last year with Finishing Line Press. But chapbooks, as Dave says, “are such skinny little things.” Fool in the Attic is his first full-length collection (100+ pages!), with a beautiful glossy cover design, perfect binding, and professional lay-out—so Dave admits that “this is a pretty big deal.”

Dave would really appreciate it if you would spread the word among friends, family, reading groups, and work colleagues.  These days, when we all spend more time watching than reading, word of mouth is crucial to a book’s success. So if you are active on Facebook or Twitter, Dave would very much appreciate a post or a tweet about his new book.

Dave, by the way, will preach at Bethel on Sunday, October 6, at both worship services.  Be sure to come and listen as he proclaims the Good News to us.

November 1  |  All Saints Day

Typically, around this time of the year – when we think about ghouls, witches, and monsters – we also tend to remember our saints.  After all, “All Hallows Evening” is celebrated the day before All Saints Day.  So, what are saints to us non-Catholics?  Do we have them, what’s the biblical basis for having them, and what can remembering them teach us?

Let’s begin with the Bible.  The plural word “saints” (hagioi) first appears in the New Testament, for example in 1 Corinthians 1:2, where the apostle Paul addresses the Christians in Corinth as follows: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours.” The Greek word for saints is – in singular form – used to describe God.   God is holy and calls us to become holy as He is (1 Peter 1:15-16).

The Greek word for “holy”, in turn, is a translation of the earlier Hebrew word – “kabod” – which we find, for example in Isaiah 6:3 (“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.”)  In the Old Testament, God, the Sabbath, and the people of Israel all have in common that they are called holy.  Does that mean that they are better than other gods, peoples, or days?  No – it simply means they are set apart, of an entirely different category than all the other gods, nations, days.  The word “holy” in the Old Testament simply means “set apart,” which gives us a clue to the way the word holy was used by the Jewish Christians who wrote the books of the New Testament.

So, Paul simply says in 1 Corinthians 1:2 that the “saints” in Corinth are “set apart” from the rest of the world, because they are in Jesus Christ.  By biblical definition, if you are a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, you are a saint.

In our own modern parlance, though, saints are people to whom we ascribe an exceptional degree of holiness, piety, or virtue.  So how did its meaning change from the way it was used in the Bible to our modern meaning?

The Biblical use of the word continued for a couple centuries, roughly until the year 200AD (the days of the theologians Irenaeus and Tertullian).  After that, it changed into an honorific title for a particular person.  For several centuries, saint cults were local and spontaneous. In the year 993AD, though, Pope John XV canonized the first person, declaring the German Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg a saint.  It was not until the late 12th century AD that Roman Catholic popes claimed an exclusive monopoly on the canonization of saints, at least as far as the Western (i.e., non-Eastern Orthodox) world was concerned.  Over time, a specific process was worked out whereby a person was first “beatified”, then “canonized”, i.e., declared a full saint, a person worthy of veneration and prayer.  Often these individuals became “patron saints” of specific professions, places, or groups of people. 

In Eastern Orthodox Christian belief, a saint is defined as anyone who is in heaven, i.e., any dead Christian believer.  While this seems a bit better, it still does not reflect the Biblical understanding of sainthood – for in the New Testament ‘saints” included both living and dead followers of Jesus Christ.

How does the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox understanding of “saints” compare with the biblical teaching? Not very well. In Catholic and Orthodox theology, the saints are in heaven. In the Bible, the saints are on earth. In Roman Catholic teaching, a person does not become a saint unless he/she is “beatified” or “canonized” by the Pope or prominent bishop. In the Bible, everyone who has received Jesus Christ by faith is a saint. In Roman Catholic practice, the saints are revered, prayed to, and in some instances, worshipped. In the Bible, saints are called to revere, worship, and pray to God alone.

Scripturally speaking, the “saints” are the body of Christ, Christians, the church.  All Christian are saints—and at the same time are called to be saints.  Christians are saints by virtue of their connection with Jesus Christ. Christians are called to be saints, to increasingly allow their daily life to more closely match the life of Jesus Christ. This is the biblical description and calling of the saints.

Once Christians ceased to be different from the world around them, once the world around them became Christian (at least in name), Christians developed a new understanding of the world saint, an understanding that no longer included the living followers of Jesus Christ, an understanding that de-emphasized the “set apartness” of Christians. 

If we want to return to the way the Bible understood the word “saints”, we must also recover God’s call to be set apart from the ways, norms, and behaviors of the world.  If we want to become worthy of calling ourselves “saints”, we must look to this Sunday’s Gospel Lesson, Luke’s version of the beatitudes (Luke 6:20-31). 

I invite you to join me this Sunday in celebrating both those saints who have preceded us in death and our own calling to be saints.

November 15  |   Typhoon Hayan & the Apocalypse

The following is an adaptation of a reflection on this Sunday’s gospel lesson by Episcopal priest and New Testament scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer that I found especially appropriate, given the devastation that typhoon Hayan has inflicted upon the Philippines.

The Gospel appointed by the lectionary for this Sunday is Luke 21:5-19 – Jesus’ prediction of the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem.  If you want to see what put Jesus in the mood to talk about destruction, check out Luke 20:45-21:6, which sets the stage for this Sunday's gospel.  In chapter 19, we hear Jesus condemning the temple establishment as turning what should be a house of prayer for all people into a "den of thieves.”  At the end of chapter 20 and the beginning of chapter 21 we see a specific example of what Jesus was condemning, when he warns his disciples to beware of those who "devour widows' houses," and then sees it happening before his eyes as a poor widow puts her last two cents -- all she had to live on -- in the Temple treasury.  This Sunday's gospel continues the whole scene.

With Jesus' prophetic proclamation of the coming crisis, Luke is saying that, at least in a sense, the eschaton (the end of humanity’s unjust history) is here.  Would Luke's readers buy that? You bet. Everything in this Sunday's gospel that Jesus says is GOING to happen, for them HAS already happened by the time Luke wrote his gospel and the Book of Acts. The book of Acts describes how some of them happened -- the famine, for example, and Christians being hauled before governors. Other things, like the destruction of the Temple in the year A.D., remain "off-camera," but they are well-known to Luke's readers, because the earliest plausible dating for the gospel is around 80 A.D.  So Luke's readers don't doubt Jesus' word here; they've experienced how "this writing has been fulfilled in your hearing."

How would this knowledge affect them? Would it stir up a kind of Left Behind hysteria? No. Jesus' words include the message, "DON'T PANIC."

Don't panic in the face of human destruction. Don't panic about wars and rumors of wars. Don't panic when the sky itself shows troublesome portents. Don't panic when our friends and even our parents and siblings reject and wound us.

It may be tempting to panic, as we ask ourselves how, in light of the violence and pain we see, and especially when following Jesus brings conflict to our families. But we are not to be ruled by fears. Jesus is still with us, giving us words that bear witness to his healing and reconciling of the world to himself. We believe that Jesus’ work WILL be fulfilled, and God's will WILL be accomplished on earth as it is in heaven. Endure the troubles, which will pass; hold on to Jesus' vision for us and for the world, and we’ll hold on to our souls, our integrity and our destiny.  The rulers of this world put on a convincing show of power, but we who know Jesus know what real power is and what it's doing among us.

Breuer concludes her reflections with this quote from a meditation she wrote for a collection of sermons titled  Get Up Off Your Knees: Preaching the U2 Catalog:

“The world of darkness and violence, of injustice and hatred, has ended, is ending, will end. The world [the prophets] proclaim can't be stopped with the sword, the might of institutions, or the betrayal of a brother. The universe arcs toward the justice for which it aches,  and the whole world -- martyrs and traitors, soldiers and healers, lovers and  lawyers -- will one day echo the song of the angels: Holy, holy, holy is the God who is Love, who is now, who is then,  who is ever. Amen.” (Get Up Off Your Knees, p28-29)

Guest Preacher
We are happy to welcome as our guest preacher this Sunday Pastor Teresita “Tita” Valeriano. Pr. Tita grew up in the Philippines as a third-generation Lutheran . After earning degrees in accounting and church music in the Philippines and a divinity degree at the Lutheran seminary in Berkeley, she served a congregation in California, the Secretary for Youth in Church and Society for the Lutheran World Federation in Geneva, Lutheran campus pastor at USC in 2004, and Regional Officer for the LWF in  Chicago.  Currently, Pr. Tita lives in the Bay Area, while awaiting a new call.

December 13  

In Memory of Daniel, Enrique, Andrew, and Daniel

What did you do for Thanksgiving?  I, for my part, remember what I ate, when, how much and with whom I ate.  I even remember what I wore and how my girls played with their fancy silken tea bags – chamomile and jasmine, to be precise.  I remember their smiles and I even remember bits and pieces of the conversation at the table.  Those are some of the more essential parts of the Thanksgiving celebration I remember.  Thanks to the photos I took that afternoon I also remember the weather.  In Monterey, where we spent the holiday, it was sunny, sunny enough to eat outside on the restaurant’s patio.  While it was even warm enough to keep walking on the beach after sunset, I felt too chilly for a dip in the hotel swimming pool that Thursday night, although I checked out the Jacuzzi the next night. That’s what I remember of the weather around Thanksgiving. 

What, though, had I stayed not at a lovely beachside hotel in Monterey, but in a makeshift encampment under a freeway overpass in San Jose?  There, it would have been bitterly cold, so cold that I might not have woken up in the morning.  As I found out this week, temperatures in SJ dropped to 30° F that night in SJ, breaking the previous record of 32 degrees in 1931.

You may have read or heard that the cold spell of the recent weeks claimed the lives of four homeless men in Santa Clara County.  The first to die was Daniel Brillhart, 52, whose body was found Nov. 28 south of downtown San Jose under a bridge for state Route 87 at Delmas and Auzerias avenues.  Next, the body of Enrique Rubio, 56, was found on the 600 block of Lincoln Avenue.  Eventually, the body of Andrew Greenleaf, 48, was found in a garage in Saratoga and the body of Daniel Moore, 53, was recovered near state Route 87 at Curtner Avenue. (see the article at sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com)

Because of the deaths of these four men, I learnt that “San Jose/Santa Clara County has the fifth-largest homeless population in the country behind only New York City, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego, according to a recent U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report.  Of the 7,631 homeless people in the area, who were counted in January as part of a nationwide census, 74 percent were listed as "unsheltered" -- meaning they have no place suitable for human habitation to stay. It has been estimated that on any given night, there are 5,000 people who don't have shelter in the county.” (see the article in the Mercury News)

These four deaths remind us just how dangerous it is to be homeless. "It's just sad and it's unfortunate because these really are preventable deaths," SJ Mayor Chuck Reed said. "We really need to be getting people into shelter. But the lack of affordable housing has created a longtime problem that now is a short-term crisis." 

The deaths of these four men could have been prevented, if we had more emergency shelter beds in our area.  Organizations such as EHC LifeBuilders and InnVision Shelter Network work on the frontlines of this problem.  To do their work they rely on donations from individuals like us. 

As you come to Bethel this Sunday to worship God and to enjoy the beautiful music performed for us by the Mountain View Madrigals (both at 9am and 10:30am), as you listen to the Bethel School children sing for us (at 9am), and as you watch the Sunday School Christmas Program (at 10:30am), I urge you to hold in your prayers to families of the four homeless men who died of hypothermia, those now sleeping in our county’s emergency shelters, and the organizations who serve them.  It is in the faces of all these individuals that we see the face of our coming Lord!