TO BE OF USE

A little over two weeks from now, our Mission Outreach ministry will sponsor Bethel's latest iServe Sunday.  The format of this ministry has evolved over the past four years, and so have the projects that are being offered. 

The one thing that has not changed since we began offering iServe Sundays in early 2011 is the firm belief that our worship is incomplete, if we offer it with our lips only.

Mark my words – our hymns, sacraments, prayers, and proclamation are and will always remain at the heart of what we do together. The time that we spend lifting up our voices together in praise and thanksgiving is important, for that time uplifts and equips us for the rest of our week. 

But would you not agree with me that, if we were to confess with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord, but were to do the opposite with our hearts and hands, that very worship would remain lip service only?

A major purpose of what Christians do when they get together as a community is that they build one another up and equip one another to live Christ-centered lives.  Praying together, singing together, gathering around Christ’s altar together, studying Scripture and together, reading relevant spiritual books together, listening to sermons together – these all are supposed to equip us as we go back into our regular lives and practice our love for God and God’s people. 

Our 3-4 annual iServe Sundays are important reminders that – first and foremost – we are called to be servants to others in Christ’s name.  We are to be more than listeners of God’s word.  We are to be doers of God’s word!

A few weeks ago I mention author Bob Goff’s book Love Does.  In the spirit of that book, let us imagine which other gifts that we receive from God can be used to “do."

Grace does.  Forgiveness does.  Mercy does.  Hope does.  Healing does.  Wisdom does.  Knowledge does.  Peace does.  And finally: worship does. 

I recently came across a wonderful poem by NY Times bestselling author and poet Marge Piercy.  In this poem, Piercy describes the kind of people whom she likes best: people who jump into work head first, people who work as hard as water buffalos and move things forward, people who submerge themselves in tasks working in harmony with others. 

I pray that God’s Holy Spirit would mold us into such people who give themselves away for the sake of the life of the world, for the sake of their neighbors near and far.  May we offer ourselves willingly as tools to God, tools through which God may accomplish his works in he world!

TO BE OF USE

The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry 

and a person for work that is real.

Source: Marge Piercy, "To be of use.”  Circles on the Water: Selected Poems of Marge Piercy (Alfred A. Knopf, 1982)

MOTHER'S DAY RESOURCES

Prayer for Mothers on Mother’s Day

This day, our God, as we gather,
we pray for mothers.

We give thanks for mothers
who love and care for their children
and are loved and cared for right back.

But we also pray for women
who have longed for children
and don't and can't have them.

And we pray for women
who had children who shouldn't have—
for children who grew up
without the love and care they deserved and needed.

We pray for grandmothers—
for those for whom that turned out to be what they dreamed it would be
and for those for whom it didn't.

We pray for mothers with sick children
and children with sick mothers.

We pray for mothers with lost children and dead children—
children with lost mothers and dead mothers—
for those who grieve what they had
and those who grieve what they never had.

We pray for women who are afraid.

We pray for all the dilemmas and doubts
and fears, frustrations and heartaches
and richness and wonder
and sleeplessness
of parenting.

We pray for mothers who parent by themselves.
We pray for women who carefully negotiate life with step children,
and for women trying to adopt,
and women hoping fertility treatments will renew disappointed hope.

We pray for mothers whose children have grown up and moved out
and those whose children have grown up and not moved out.

We pray for women who mother the children of others,
and we pray for women who give birth
in every conceivable way—
to ideas and art and possibility
and wonder and joy—
to new life in job contexts and in relational ones.

This complicated day, our God,
we're reminded again
of just how much will not fit on a Hallmark card.
but does fit into Your full awareness of all that is—
that does fit into Your investment in love and grace
in and through all circumstances.

We pray for mothers
in all the fullness of what all it can mean—
informed by what we know
of all those we know—
gratefully trusting You to know so much more than we do or can—
gratefully trusting You with the hearts of those we love—
gratefully trusting You with all the deep pain and joy of this day,

in Jesus' name,

amen.

~ written by John Ballenger, pastor of Woodbrook Baptist Church (www.woodbrook.org ) in Baltimore, MD.  Posted on a preacher musing.http://preachermusings.wordpress.com/

Another Prayer

To those who gave birth this year to their first child—we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is.

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren -yet that dream is not to be, we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

To those who placed children up for adoption — we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you.

An Open Letter to Pastors on Mother's Day

http://timewarpwife.com/open-letter-pastors-non-mom-speaks-mothers-day/

HOW DOES ONE WALK WITH GOD?

This Sunday, Bethel will be celebrating its 5th annual Fine Arts Fair. Note the subtle change from “Art” to “Fine Arts” which reflects the new addition of a musical program.  This year's theme is "God Walk." Again the fair will include two art galleries (school in Torvend Hall, Church in the Fireside Room), a public display of art projects on our front lawn, and opportunities for prayer and reflection along a path around the campus.  Visitors of the Art Fair have the opportunity to purchase baked goods in support of our youth program, enjoy a taco bar lunch, and listen to live music.

As Christians, we trust that we walk with God when we follow in Jesus’ footsteps in a manner that he has laid out for us.  That walk includes awareness

• that we are God’s beloved creatures,
• that God loves all His/Her children,
• that we have been created for a purpose,
• that we don’t live in the manner that is pleasing in God’s eyes,
• that we are called to act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God, and
• that we are Christ’s body on earth.

In light of this mouthful, what is “God Walk”? Worship? Prayer? Scripture study? Teaching?Service? Healing? Prophecy? Protest?  

It is all of the above and more.  The title of a book that my younger daughter’s class reads each day as part of their homeroom class says it all Love Does.  Love, indeed, is more than a sentiment, love is action.  Jesus has demonstrated that sort of active love in his life and death.  Now it’s our turn to live lives of love in his name.

In addition to the art fair, we will also be lifting up in worship the 5 youth and their adult sponsors who recently went South to Tijuana to help build houses with Esperanza International.  Their work is a helpful reminder to all of us that walking with God involves active stops along the way and it involves " Camina con Dios," walking with our neighbors, both near and far, so that they may have healthy, wholesome, and safe lives and homes. 

Amen.

DAVID BROOKS, "THE ROAD TO CHARACTER"

On Tuesday morning, I listened to an NPR interview with conservative columnist David Brooks that I found interesting enough to purchase his most recent book on Kindle, titled The Road to Character. 

The book is about what Brooks coins “eulogy virtues, “ as opposed to “résumé virtues.”  Résumé virtues are those qualities that we list on our résumés: skills that we bring to the job market that contribute to our external success. Eulogy virtues, on the other hand, are deeper. They’re the virtues that get talked about at a person’s funeral, those qualities that exist at the core of our being—whether we are kind, brave, honest or faithful; what kind of relationships we formed, and so forth. Brooks continues, saying that “most of us would say that the eulogy virtues are more important than the résumé virtues,” then suggests that our education system focuses more on  cultivating résumé virtues than the eulogy virtues.

According to Brooks, we live in a society that encourages us to think about how to have a great career but leaves many of us inarticulate about how to cultivate the inner life. The competition to succeed and win admiration is so fierce that it becomes all-consuming. The consumer marketplace encourages us to live by a utilitarian calculus, to satisfy our desires and lose sight of the moral stakes involved in everyday decisions. The noise of fast and shallow communications makes it harder to hear the quieter sounds that emanate from the depths. 

We live in a culture that teaches us to promote and advertise ourselves and to master the skills required for success, but that gives little encouragement to humility, sympathy, and honest self-confrontation, which are necessary for building character. 

To give you a flavor of Brooks own writing, l close with a longer quote from the introduction to the book in which the author eloquently describes the kind of person he has in mind when he speaks of “character.”

“Occasionally, even today, you come across certain people   who seem to possess an impressive inner cohesion. They are not leading fragmented, scattershot lives. They have achieved inner integration. They are calm, settled, and rooted. They are not blown off course by storms. They don’t crumble in adversity. Their minds are consistent and their hearts are dependable. Their virtues are not the blooming virtues you see in smart college students; they are the ripening virtues you see in people who have lived a little and have learned from joy and pain.

Sometimes you don’t even notice these people, because while they seem kind and cheerful, they are also reserved. They possess the self-effacing virtues of people who are inclined to be useful but don’t need to prove anything to the world: humility, restraint, reticence, temperance, respect, and soft self-discipline.

They radiate a sort of moral joy. They answer softly when challenged harshly. They are silent when unfairly abused. They are dignified when others try to humiliate them, restrained when others try to provoke them. But they get things done. They perform acts of sacrificial service with the same modest  everyday spirit they would display if they were just getting the groceries. They are not thinking about what impressive work they are doing. They are not thinking about themselves at all. They just seem delighted by the flawed people around them. They just recognize what needs doing and they do it.

They make you feel funnier and smarter when you speak with them. They move through different social classes not even aware, it seems, that they are doing so. After you’ve known them for a while it occurs to you that you’ve never heard them boast, you’ve never seen them self-righteous or doggedly certain. They aren’t dropping little hints of their own distinctiveness and accomplishments.

They have not led lives of conflict-free tranquility, but have struggled toward maturity. They have gone some way toward solving life’s essential problem, which is that, as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn put it, ‘the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either— but right through every human heart.’

These are the people who have built a strong inner   character, who have achieved a certain depth. In these people, at the end of this struggle, the climb to success has surrendered to the struggle to deepen the soul. […] These are the people we are looking for. “

HOLY WEEK & EASTER IN REVIEW

In lieu of a written article, I decided to put together a visual review of our Holy Week and Easter celebrations and activities, at least those for which I had photos.  If you will, add to these images our Palm Sunday worship with all 8 readers, the Worship Team's truly amazing music on Palm Sunday, the lapel palm crosses, our Community Easter Egg Hunt, the preparations for the Easter Breakfast, and the full sanctuary during both on-site Easter worship services.  

You can watch the little video HERE.

I pray that our worship during this past week has helped to renew and strengthen your faith in God's mercy and goodness! 

Easter Sunday

PRACTICE RESURRECTION

Dear Members and Friends of Bethel Lutheran Church:

As we are about to gather in celebration of Christ’s resurrection, I invite you to listen to the words of Clarence Jordan (1912-1969), a 20th-century American Baptist saint.  After earning a Ph.D. in New Testament studies, Jordan founded Koinonia Farm (a small interracial Christian farming community in Georgia) and chose the life of a farmer and preacher, influencing many others through his writings and way of life, most notable Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity.

Clarence Jordan once wrote that the

“proof that God raised Jesus from the dead is not the empty tomb, but the full hearts of his transformed disciples. The crowning evidence that he lives is not a vacant grave, but a spirit-filled fellowship. Not a rolled-away stone, but a carried-away church.”

What I hear Clarence Jordan say in this quote is that we should worry less what people say they believe happened 2,000 years ago and worry more whether we are living as if resurrection still happens. If we truly believe that resurrection still happens today, then we must partner with God in transforming despair into hope, apathy into compassion, hate into love, and death into new life.

Another 20th-century American faith hero, the author and environmental activist Wendell Berry  ends his poem Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front with a passionate call to “practice resurrection.” What would it mean, I wonder, not only to “believe in the Resurrection,” but to “practice resurrection"?

Last Summer, at a preaching conference that I attended in Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to listen to an astonishing young philosopher and theologian from Northern Ireland by the name of Peter Rollins. 

I recently came across a video from 2009 in which Rollins, in his typical fast-paced delivery, speaks to what it might looks like to practice — or fail to practice — resurrection. Rollins begins with the intentionally shocking assertion that,

“I fully and completely admit that I deny the resurrection of Christ. This is something that anyone who knows me could tell you, and I am not afraid to say it publicly, no matter what some people may think.”

After a dramatic pause, Rollins continues,

“I deny the resurrection of Christ every time I do not serve at the feet of the oppressed, each day that I turn my back on the poor; I deny the resurrection of Christ when I close my ears to the cries of the downtrodden and lend my support to an unjust and corrupt system. However there are moments when I affirm that resurrection, few and far between as they are. I affirm it when I stand up for those who are forced to live on their knees, when I speak for those who have had their tongues torn out, when I cry for those who have no more tears left to shed.”

Jordan, Berry, and Rollins are all pointing out that it is less important what we say we believe happened on a Sunday morning 2,000 years ago and much more important whether we are partnering with God to practice resurrection today. This Easter, these three modern prophets are challenging us to ask, “How are — and how are we not – following Jesus’ example of caring for the poor and of building the loving and grace-filled community?”

This Easter, may you open your whole self — heart, soul, mind, and strength — to God’s call to new life and renewed love. May you experience God urging and encouraging you — each day and in each new present moment — to practice resurrection.

Wishing you a Happy Easter,

Pastor Gabi