Lent 5 B 2009

Tim Gallagher of the Sioux City Journal wrote the Wednesday before last:

The custom of planting potatoes on Good Friday should bear fruit -- or vegetables this year, weather permitting.

That's because Good Friday occurs April 10. By that time, we hope, the soil temperature should be past 50 degrees.

Using Good Friday as the marker, however, doesn't always yield a bountiful crop. For example, Good Friday a year ago was March 21. If you were to plant potatoes Saturday (March 21, 2009), one expert believes it might be an exercise in futility. Or, you could set your own family up for a potato famine.

The practice of planting potatoes on Good Friday may have its origin in Ireland in the 1600s or 1700s, various sources indicate. One legend is that Irish Catholics believed their potato seeds "baptized" if planted on Good Friday. The practice followed as Irish immigrants made their way to the United States following the potato famine.

And while Good Friday might be fine for areas in the southern U.S., it isn't always warm enough in places like Sioux City. It wasn't a year ago this week. Good Friday dates can range from March 20 to April 23.

"Common sense tells me when the soil temperature is cold and the soil is wet, the potatoes will spoil," said Mimi Shanahan, a horticulturist and master gardener with ISU Extension in Woodbury County. "You plant potatoes as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring."

A rule of thumb for this green thumb involves taking a handful of soil. If the soil sticks together, it's too wet and probably too cool for potatoes to grow. If the soil crumbles easily, it's time to dig and deposit the spuds.

Jesus says, “Verily I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

These are stark and bleak words, for a rather stark and bleak time of the year. Looking around the ground is still frozen in places. The banks of snirt and slush line the roads. The ground is not yet hospitable to seeds. It is not the right time for planting any thing especially in these northern climbs.

I grew up in an environment different from here where the custom was to plant potatoes on Good Friday and where the corn was always knee high by the forth of July. I always thought it was universal that people plant their potatoes on Good Friday, but I guess that up here it probably rarely makes sense because the ground is too cold and wet. But when Good Friday Comes later like it does this year, you better believe that the gardeners in Southern Minnesota will be waiting for Good Friday to plant their taters.

Jesus has been holding back until now. Jesus has not revealed the full and grand scope of what is about to occur, and even when he does it is still impossible to believe. How can this be that the Son of the living God would be lifted up first on a cross, then from the grave and then into heaven? This would certainly not be my plan for the salvation of the world if I was standing in Jesus’ shoes. That the Son of God would freely give his life for the sake of the world is, frankly, unbelievable.

In my early years I grew up surrounded by corn and beans. When seed time came we would see the farmers out with their implements preparing the soil for the seeds they were about to plant. I remember trucks loaded with seed meeting the seed drills out in the middle of the field and watching them pour the fifty pound sacks into the hoppers. It was always a risk when these farmers put that precious seed into their planters and scrapped the surface of the earth back and forth. They were putting this expensive seed into the soil where it would be exposed to the water, wind, and pests. The possibilities of runoff, rot, and rust were real.

Jesus knows the time has come to make his journey toward Jerusalem. In John there is no sweating blood or tears of anguish—there is acceptance, deliberateness, and courage. This is no Jesus meek and mild, but this Jesus is fully aware of the pain he will bear. He knows the price he must pay to take our sins away. Like the farmers who risk their livelihoods to plant seed every year to give us our daily bread, Jesus risks his very life and his very body so that like a seed it must be lifted up, poured out, and buried in the ground.

Just like the farmer has faith, we too believe in the promise of God’s providence. God not only provides for us our daily bread, he has given to us a Savior. And we his children have been buried with him by baptism into his very death, so that on the last day we will be raised with him and live with him eternally. We have been baptized not only into his death, but we have been baptized into his resurrection. And as sure as the grass will start greening and the winter wheat will pierce the surface of the soil we shall be raised up with him. Because the Holy Spirit has marked and sealed us with the cross we shall not die.

Jesus risks everything for us. He gives his life so that we can live in him. And though, as a community we see more burials than baptisms, we should not be discouraged. For the saints that we plant in the ground will rise again because of their baptism into Christ. And when we do celebrate the baptism of a child, or the affirmation of baptism by new members and confirmands, we ought to really celebrate because the baptism they receive and affirm is the very promise of the resurrection and eternal life.

When the waters of baptism were poured over us, we went down into death. We were buried with Christ. When we were baptized into Christ we died the big death. We died to sin; we died to all evil; and we died to death itself. As a result, we will be lifted up with Jesus, not onto a cross, but out of the grave, and into heaven. Jesus has drawn you to himself in baptism into his death and resurrection so that you may not die, but have eternal life. Amen.

Jonathan Rundman is Coming this Saturday!
Check out this video that he posted on You Tube.

If you made cookies or bars get there a little early to listen to the sound check and to visit with friends and neighbors. The concert starts at 7:30, but doors open at 6:30.

Lent 4 B 2009

Psalm 107

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
for his steadfast love endures for ever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
those he redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.^*

How did you find your way to the foot of the Cross? In modern American Christianity we sometimes give the impression that there is only one way to the cross. The basic story goes like this: I was a horrible sinner, I realized the error of my ways, I sought Jesus, He found me and saved me. This is a real and authentic story, and many people have come to the foot of the cross in this way, but as you know this is not the only story.

Some people come to the cross because of their loneliness and isolation as though they are wandering in a desert alone and lost. Some come to the cross because they sit in dark cells of captivity literally and some figuratively. Some come to the cross because of sickness and a need for healing. Some come to the cross because the raging torrents on the sea of life have become too much to bear. Each story is authentic, each story is real.

Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to an inhabited town;
⁵hungry and thirsty,
their soul fainted within them.
⁶Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress;
⁷he led them by a straight way,
until they reached an inhabited town.
⁸Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
⁹For he satisfies the thirsty,
and the hungry he fills with good things.

I went partridge hunting out on Jarvey Rd. in the township this fall. It was an overcast day and a little too windy for hunting, but I enjoyed the opportunity to get out into the wilderness. I found a nice stand of young poplars got out of the truck and went on foot for a while. I went into the woods on what I thought was an easterly direction away from the road, but there was no telling because it was cloudy and just weeks before I gave my compass away to a couple as a wedding sermon illustration to look to God for direction.

I got turned around and was completely lost. I started to panic realizing that there was no cell phone service and no way of telling what direction I was heading. All the moss seemed to grow evenly on the base of the trees. I had completely lost my bearings and started to panic.

There are many ways to lose your bearings in life. If you have ever moved away from family or friends you know this feeling. If you have ever lost the person closest to you, you know what it is like to wander aimlessly and the panic and fear that can arise in your heart as you realize that the person who died, or left, or went away isn’t the one who is lost, but it is you, the one who was left behind who is missing and alone.

What a relief and comfort it is to find that we are not alone. It is like stumbling back upon a little logging road after wandering lost in the woods for a couple of hours, but much more of a relief than that. What a relief and comfort it is to stumble upon the foot of the cross to find that God will not abandon you, even in your time of quiet desperation.

Some sat in darkness and in gloom,
prisoners in misery and in irons,
¹¹for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
¹²Their hearts were bowed down with hard labour;
they fell down, with no one to help.
¹³Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
¹⁴he brought them out of darkness and gloom,
and broke their bonds asunder.
¹⁵Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
¹⁶For he shatters the doors of bronze,
and cuts in two the bars of iron.

Off the cost of South Africa there is a little Island at the tip of the continent called Robin Island. It once served the country as a leper colony, but during apartheid was converted into a prison for political prisoners. This is where Nelson Mandella was held captive for decades. I toured the island now serves as a museum with members of a class from Luther Seminary. The fact of the reality was brought home by the fact that the tour guides of the museum are former inmates.

Before 1994 the walls, bars, and chains of the prison were actual instruments of violent captivity, but now the island signifies the broken walls, bars, and chains of a whole system of injustice that kept people in bondage to a racist society. The razor wire and metal bars weren’t only experienced by the prisoners, but by a whole society. All people, black and white, in South Africa, were in a prison called Apartheid that divided and held a whole society captive. The whole country was a kind prison and even the guards were locked in.

How many lives in our community are held captive in prisons of physical, emotional, sexual and substance abuse? Just about every family I know is touched in some way by this kind of captivity. Remember, it is not just the abuser who is held captive, it is the abused. Whole families are held captive to cycles of violence, misuse, and abuse and it seems the cycle cannot be broken because the pattern has been established and the shame of it keeps people locked away from getting the help they need.

What a relief to find that God’s light shines through that darkness and gloom! What freedom God grants when He breaks the evil bonds that hold you captive to patterns of abuse. What love He shows when he shatters the doors of bronze and breaks the bars of iron that have kept you locked away in that dark place. What a comfort it is to break free of the life that has kept you in darkness and find yourself liberated at the foot of the cross.

Some were sick^* through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities endured affliction;
¹⁸they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
¹⁹Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress;
²⁰he sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from destruction.
²¹Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
²²And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

Pastor Fran and I find ourselves at the hospital a couple of times a week to visit the sick. We also find ourselves sitting at the bedsides of residents at nursing homes. And we too encounter sickness, as do you, among our own families and friends. We have prayed countless times for healing and we have seen miraculous things. We have seen cancer go into remission, we have seen people on the brink of death go home from the hospital, we have seen life saving treatments administered and take effect and bring people back from the edge of the grave.

We have also seen where the doctors and nurses work to the best of their knowledge and abilities, and not be able to save someone. We have seen it when a family or individual mercifully and faithfully decide to decline resuscitation or intubation and to remove all the wires and tubes and in sure and certain hope of the resurrection courageously face inevitable death. In both cases there are healing and deliverance. In both cases God delivers a person from suffering and restores their life. What a comfort in the face of sickness and death to find yourself at the foot of the cross—the gate to eternal life.

Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the mighty waters;
²⁴they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
²⁵For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
²⁶They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their calamity;
²⁷they reeled and staggered like drunkards,
and were at their wits’ end.
²⁸Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he brought them out from their distress;
²⁹he made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
³⁰Then they were glad because they had quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.
³¹Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wonderful works to humankind.
³²Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Sometimes life looks like Lake Superior when the gales of November come early, then it feels like we are being tossed about and we loose courage. When the pink slip finds it’s way across our desk. When we are fired from our jobs, or know that the company won’t be able to hold out much longer and the temporary layoff becomes permanent. But it is not just employment that suffers when the economy goes bad. The schools suffer, the state and county government suffers the municipalities suffer when their tax base is gone. The church suffers and servants of the church must make difficult decisions.

But the economy is not the only stormy sea. Those who suffer from depression also know the ups and downs of the tumultuous sea of life. Things seem to be going along just fine and then the bottom falls out and leaves you staggering for a foothold. People with social anxiety disorders, attention deficit disorders, and other emotional and behavioral disorders find themselves walking around on what seems like the deck of a ship being tossed about in stormy seas while others around them seem to be experiencing calm sailing.

But what a comfort it is when you finally make landfall and find yourself at the foot of the cross. When he stills the storm and calms the raging sea, when the dark clouds are behind you, it is possible to see a sign of promise and hope. By grace you have been saved through faith, not because of what you do. It is the will of God. Something brought you to the foot of that cross so that you could be lifted up by him, be seated with in heavenly places. You might have had to come through lonely desert wasteland, prisons of darkness and gloom, sickness and death, and stormy seas to get there, but we each have a different path to the foot of the cross.

When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
⁴⁰he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
⁴¹but he raises up the needy out of distress,
and makes their families like flocks.
⁴²The upright see it and are glad;
and all wickedness stops its mouth.
⁴³Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

On Saturday evening, following the Second Saturday Contemporary Service at Zion, CHAPPY and members of the Parish Youth met to put some events on the calendar. Many of the items are still in the panning stages. If you can contribute to any of these events please let me know.

March 28: Jonathan Rundman Live in Concert. Doors open at 6:30 concert begins at 7:30. We need greeters, cookies, bars, people to put on coffee, collect a free will offering, and be generally hospitable.

April (day to be announced): Garbage Pickup/Community Cleanup with an Earth Day theme. April 19th-25th is National Volunteer Week and contains Earth Day on the 22nd and Arbor Day on the 24th.

May 2: Target shooting at Range Sportsman Club on Black River Road. This will be a fun afternoon of learning gun safety, and trying out shooting sports.

June: Two events may go on in June. The first is the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. We have decided to help in a subsidiary role. We will sell luminaries and volunteer, but will probably not have a team of our own. The other event is a bonfire and hike on Jim and Jane Waitanek's property that adjoins the Wolverine Trail System.

July: We are still planning this one, but it will probably be something that involves canoes, kayaks, inner-tubes, water, and a picnic.

August: The Parish Picnic is in August and will be the CHAPPY event for that month. There are lots of planning and preparations to be done before the picnic this year.

Thanks to the 60 or so people who turned out to the Second Saturday Contemporary Service. Let your friends, neighbors, and relatives know about it. You are the best promoters we've got!

In Christ,
Pastor Christian

If you are Lutheran you should watch this video from the band "Lost and Found."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=102kvQ1dWoY

Tonight, following the Contemporary Service at Zion at 5:00, CHAPPY will be meeting to talk about upcoming events--Among them the Jonathan Rundman Concert on the 28th. We will be doing some brainstorming and hopefully come up with events for the next 6 months or so. This is an open invitation for anyone who likes to do fun and meaningful church activities. So come on down!

Lent 3 B 2009

Slavery isn’t Just a thing of the past. A story emerged this week from Florida: In December, members of a family went to federal prison for enslaving 12 migrant workers. The bosses took their captive crews to work on farms owned by some of the state's major tomato producers. Federal prosecutors have successfully tried and convicted people responsible for 11 slavery rings among the state of Florida’s tomato growers since 1998. This is real slavery with actual chains, forced labor, beatings, deprivation, and captivity. This is real slavery in our lifetime.

Other stories are emerging about human trafficking rings throughout the United States. Here’s a story a story that hits a little closer to home from the Student Newspaper of Northern Michigan University:

Theresa Flores, a survivor of human trafficking and sexual exploitation, spoke at Northern Michigan University on March 11 in the Whitman Commons. Flores, a licensed social worker and author, was 15 years old and living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit when she unwillingly became involved in a large, criminal trafficking ring.

One of the organizers of Flores’s speaking engagement gives his motivation for inviting her to come and speak. He says, “Most important is the idea of how unknown human trafficking is all over the world. The awareness is so narrow right now, recently the media has begun touching on it more, with movies like 'Slumdog Millionaire,' and 'Trade,'… we're all aware of it in the Third World slums, but Theresa was in a suburb."

During the speech, Flores shared her story with the crowd. She said that it all began when her family moved to Birmingham, Mich., and after accepting a ride home from a boy she went to school with, he invited her to his home where he drugged and raped her.

"I was a virgin, and I was Catholic … My parents had had many discussions with me and wanted me to stay a virgin until I was married … it was something I really wanted too … it was tragic to have that ripped away from me," Flores said.

She later found that while the boy raped her, male family members had taken pictures. If she didn't do what they said, they would show the pictures to her friends and family.

Not wanting to experience shame, she was bound to the life of a sex slave and trafficked to other men to gain the pictures back.

This continued for two years until she was 17 years old when her family moved again, and she was free.

She said in her speech, "One of the biggest misconceptions about human trafficking is that prostitution is not (an example of human trafficking, but) … we see prostitutes on the street and we don't think of them as victims because we think they choose to do it,"[1]

I am not sure if there is any kind of slavery more horrendous than this, to be bound by shame and guilt: to be held in captivity as the victim of sexual, emotional, and physical violence, and to be the victim of something that seems too atrocious to be true.

Flores concluded her remarks with this statement, "You have to get angry … we think we are exempt from this, that it doesn't happen here. Slavery did not die … I know, [she says] because I was [a slave]."

Slavery did not die. Those are just two examples that show slavery is very much alive right here in our country, right here in our state, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there have been instances of it in our own community. Slavery is not some extinct phenomenon of the past. Slavery is not some sinful artifact to be gazed upon in a museum. It is real with actual chains, forced labor, forced sex, beatings, manipulation, deprivation, captivity, and bondage.

The abolitionists of the 18^th and 19^th centuries did not start the fight against slavery, and they did not end it either. It continues for as long as someone is willing to see someone as less than human they will be willing to enslave them. It continues as long as we as a larger society choose to turn a blind eye to the reality of it in our own lives. It continues as long as we don’t get angry about it.

You might ask, what does this have to do with our church? Does this kind of speech belong in the pulpit? Let me answer with another question? What do you think the Ten Commandments were all about? After fleeing from Pharaoh and his armies and their enslavement in Egypt, the Israelites come to Sinai, where God teaches them how to live as a newly freed people, as the liberated people of God.

God spoke these words, the only words that were directly spoken to the Israelites with out a prophet or other kind of mediator like Moses. “God said, I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other God’s before me.” The very purpose of the Ten Commandments is to order a free, just, and equitable society. The very purpose of the Ten Commandments is to be a gift to a people who have been held in bondage, so that they will no longer hold each other in bondage, but will have a society that honors God, rests on the Sabbath, takes care of its elders, prohibits violence, the misuse of sex, theft, lies, and jealousy. The Ten Commandments are the framework of a free and peaceful society that will not tolerate slavery of any kind.

The Law of Moses was given from God as a gift to the Israelites so their days would be long in the land that the Lord was giving them. It was given so that the people would not exploit their neighbors for the sake of personal gain. The law protects you from me and me from you. The law at its best is for the sake of our neighbor, so that we do not sell them into slavery or turn away when the reality of slavery and sexual exploitation is too much to bear.

When the Passover was near and Jesus went up to the temple in Jerusalem. There he found people selling cattle, sheep, doves, and changing money. Jesus got mad, made a whip of cords and drove them out of the temple; he dumped all their coins on the floor, and yelled—this is not Jesus meek and mild—He yelled, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my father’s house a market place! Stop trying to sell salvation!” You see, when you sell salvation for the price of a sacrificed calf, sheep, or dove, you are selling people into a system of bondage whereby people become indentured to the church or temple. When you sell salvation you are manipulating and exploiting people’s worst fears.

But Jesus was not only upsetting one day’s trade of exploitative temple merchants and money changers. Jesus upset a whole system—a whole temple cult that kept people in bondage to their fears. Jesus set them all free and taught them how to live, just as he sets us all free and teaches us how to live. The temple was destroyed and still lies in ruins. Jesus’ body was destroyed, but he raised it up in three days. Jesus did this so that we could be free from sin, death, and every evil.

And I am convinced that Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, still gets angry when He sees slavery, captivity, bondage, and violence. His love for us is what makes him angry. Jesus gets angry when he sees us falling captive to slavery of the body, mind, and spirit. He gets angry when we economically exploit others for sex or labor. And we learn of such exploitation in our country, our state, or our community, we should be angry too.

---

[1] http://media.www.thenorthwindonline.com/media/storage/paper1202/news/2009/03/1/News/Human.Trafficking.Survivor.Speaks.On.Raising.Awareness-3670188-page2.shtml

Tune into WUPM tomorrow morning between 8:30 and 9:00am for the Tate's Coffee Clutch show where I'll be promoting Jonathan Rundman's upcoming concert at Zion Lutheran Church on March 28. I've never been on the radio before except for Salem's radio broadcast. I'm a bit intimidated, so please pray that I don't say anything silly.

Yours in Christ,
Chrisitian

Lent 2 B 2009

In his sermon on Ash Wednesday Pastor Fran mentioned a new church that was built and in the process the leaders of this church determined that there would be no crosses in the church. They made an intentional decision not to put any crosses or any representations of the cross in their new church building because the cross is such a negative symbol. They didn’t want their church to be a downer. They wanted to present Jesus as victorious and conquering. Would images of Jesus would be without wounds in his hands feet and side. Would there be no bloody representations of Jesus on the cross? It makes me wonder would there also be no mention of the crown of thorns he wore, or the lashes he bore?

It is no wonder they wanted to forego all this messy talk of Jesus passion and death. It makes us uncomfortable to talk about the suffering of the cross as it makes us uncomfortable to talk about suffering in our world. How do we hear and listen to our neighbors, friends and relatives when they tell us about a cancer diagnosis, a serious injury, an instance of abuse, or a confession of brokenness or hurt? How do we listen when someone comes to us, not with the expectation that we will fix the problem, but only that we will be there to offer comfort, support, and reassurance?

At our best we are open to the pain and suffering. At our best we listen and hear, acknowledging the pain of another. At our best we make known our compassion and care for the suffering one simply by being there for them and by becoming good listeners who listen more than speak, who gaze directly into the eyes of the one who is hurting and open our hearts to their hurts. But this makes us uncomfortable because it means making ourselves vulnerable to taking on some of that pain.

At our worst we avoid the person who suffers entirely. At worst, we change the subject when we start to get to the painful conversation. At worst we send off signals that we are not willing to hear and not willing to feel the pain of another. At worst we deny the cross that the hurting person is bearing by moving too quickly to the promise and hope of the resurrection without spending time with them at the cross.

I have done this and I am sure you have to. I have moved too quickly to finding a silver lining. I have moved to quickly to finding a solution for the problem. I have made the mistake of trying to make meaning out of someone else’s suffering when the meaning to be found belongs to them alone. I have changed the subject for fear of going to deep. I have done all these things, and it does not mean I am a bad pastor, neighbor, friend, or family member. It means that I am human. It means I am a sinner. It means that you and I are finite people, unable to bear the entire world’s suffering, but this is not an excuse to cut ourselves off from it.

In today’s Gospel Jesus corrects Peter for Peter rebukes his master and teacher for openly acknowledging the suffering that Jesus must undergo. “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed….” Peter reprimands Jesus for saying this. Peter is not corrected for being rude or obtuse or speaking out of turn, although he his guilty of all three, what Jesus’ corrects is Peter’s denial of the cross. The fact is that Peter is setting his mind on human things and not divine things. According to human plans being handed over to death on the cross is a defeat. According to human plans the cross is a real downer and if we want to be seeker friendly we should remove it from our churches because it means death, suffering, and loss and defeat. It means we have been trounced by the powers of this world.

(As and aside ask me about white Flags at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church)

No, the cross does not mean defeat; it is the very means by which Jesus accomplishes the victory. When Peter rebukes Jesus for talking about what he must undergo he is denying the reality of the necessity of the cross. For if the victory could be accomplished any other way don’t you think God would have seen to it? If salvation could be gained through any other means, don’t you think God would have spared His only Son? And if there were any other way of becoming a follower of Christ don’t you think Christ would have made it easier for us? But Jesus never says the way is going to be easy. He says the very opposite: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

Faithfulness is what is required of us to become followers of Jesus. Faithfulness as modeled by Peter who first denies the cross, and then denies Christ three times, but who in the end proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ and who himself dies on a cross. And in the second lesson for today Paul holds up Abraham as a model of faithfulness. This is the same Abraham who when God promises him offspring takes a concubine because he and his wife are not certain what to make of God’s promise even though God’s promise is explicit: “I will bless [Sarah],” God Says, “ and moreover I will give [Abraham] a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.". This is the same Abraham who tries to pawn his wife off on the Pharaoh when he is traveling through Egypt. Abraham says that Sarah is his sister and not his wife for fear that the Pharaoh will kill him and take her for a wife. Abraham just lets Sarah be taken as the Pharaoh’s wife. But this same Abraham is the one who in the end would not spare his and Sarah’s only Son.

Like Peter and Abraham, our faithfulness will never be perfect, and it will never be flawless, but that should not excuse us from trying to be faithful. Just as our compassion and sympathy for our neighbor will never be flawless or perfect, that does not give us an excuse to ignore them in their time of need. Despite our gravest sins, errors, flaws and imperfections God will still use us. Despite our discomfort with the cross and our uneasiness in talking about someone’s pain God still uses us to show forth his care, comfort, and concern. Despite our reluctance to go to the foot of the cross where Christ was crucified, God still uses us to proclaim the mystery of our faith. Even when our faith waivers: God uses us.

God can do this because even though our concern, care, sympathy, and compassion will never be perfectly expressed, Gods concern, care, sympathy, and compassion through Jesus Christ are perfected. Even though our faithfulness waivers and at times fails—God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ will never fail but is perfect in every way. Though we are sinners, he is sinless. Though we fall away in retreat, he goes the total distance. Though we will sometimes fail, he will not. And though we suffer and die, he will raise us up. That is the promise of the cross and that is why, though we have sorrow for his suffering, we have hope in his wounds.

You can’t have restoration without the wounds; and you can’t have resurrection without the cross. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Big Brothers Big Sisters' Bowl for Kids was a tremendous success! The Parish Youth raised over $900 and we had two teams with five on each team. Even more important is the fact that we had a fun time doing a good thing for our community. Thanks to everybody who supported this effort!

Lent 1 B 2008

These days with modern transportation such as jet liners and interstate highways, it is rare that we make journeys that last for more than a few days. It is hard for us even to imagine what it would be like to journey for weeks at a time as our ancestors may have had to do in order to get from one place to another. For all of us living today there was not a time when Trans-Atlantic voyages on ocean liners and trips on trains using steam engines only took days to get you to your destination. The world has become so small as the result of our technologies that it really is impossible to imagine a trip that takes years to prepare for and months to complete. But there is one modern journey that as a boy captured my imagination.

On March 7, 1986, the Steger International Polar Expedition, made up of seven men and one woman, set out by dogsled to reach the North Pole. In a deliberate throwback to the early explorers, they sought to complete the journey without re-supply. They would be entirely reliant on the three tons of supplies they brought with them; there would be no airlifts with rested dogs, no new equipment, and no extra food or fuel. I remember, as a ten year old, hearing of the completion of their expedition. It was in the news for weeks as several members of the expedition were from my home state of Minnesota.

One of the members of the expedition even came to our town to tell the story. All the students from the different elementary schools were bussed to the High School Auditorium to hear first hand the unbelievable account of adventure, survival, and determination. The name of the explorer was Ann Bancroft (not the actress who played Mrs. Robinson in the film the Graduate). She gave up her teaching post in 1986 in order to participate in the “Will Steger International North Pole Expedition". She arrived at the North Pole together with five other team members after 56 days using dogsleds. This made Bancroft the first woman to reach the North Pole on foot and by sled.

56 days of arctic cold and limited rations…56 days of barren landscape and treacherous crevasses…56 days without the comforts of home and family…but despite the danger and deprivation the adventure of it all still captures my imagination. And to those explorers who were successful in reaching the North Pole, for them the effort is still worthwhile. The sacrifice is still worth it, not just for the glory, but for the experience itself. During those days the members of the expedition grew in many ways. Though they had the goal in mind, reaching that patch of snow and ice at the top of the world was not all that was to be gained from the journey. They were changed by the experience itself.

On Wednesday we entered onto a forty day journey. On Wednesday we stepped out into the barren landscape of Lent. We enter into these forty days of discipline and self denial to arrive at that patch of dirt, tears, and blood where Jesus was crucified. And though we have this goal in mind there is more to be gained from this journey than a remembrance of his sacrifice. As we travel from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday we enter into an experience that strengthens and deepens our faith. This is a time that captures our imaginations. That recalls forty days and forty nights of flood and destruction and God’s deliverance of an ark full of animals and people from which life on earth would start over.

On Wednesday we entered into a forty day journey that recalls the forty years that the Israelites wandered in the desert of deprivation where the breakdown of discipline and self-denial nearly threatened to break the bonds of love between God and his people. On Wednesday we entered into a journey that recalls Jesus’ time in the wilderness when he was tempted by Satan. This forty day journey to the cross is a time to set aside what is unnecessary, frivolous, petty, and distracting. This forty day journey is a time to focus on what is really important, necessary, and life-sustaining. It is a time to live into God’s life-giving promises.

Those promises of God are always marked by a sign. There is always a visible reminder of God’s promises. In the case of the Great Flood the sign was a seven color promise. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet are the colors of the Roy G. Biv Covenant. God’s bow in the sky shows forth God’s promise never to destroy the earth again. But now God uses a different kind of flood to signify his promise to us. And like the Rainbow Covenant, this promise is once and for all. This promise was not based on the death of the disobedient many, the rebellious hordes or evil men and women, but on the death of the one obedient person. This promise is not signified by a rainbow in the sky, but by the sky being torn apart, the descending of a dove and a voice from heaven saying, “You are my beloved Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

This new promise, or new covenant, is signified by something plain and simple that we use in every day life. This new covenant flows out for us freely and abundantly because of one who let his life blood flow freely and abundantly for us. This new covenant is marked by our daily journey into the death resurrection of Jesus. This covenant is revealed by our baptism into the cross and into the empty tomb. This covenant is shown forth by our daily dying to sin and rising to new life with Christ. This New Covenant is the promise of our salvation.

“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God has come near, repent, and believe in the good news.” These are the first words of the ministry of Jesus according to Mark. With the arrival of the Messiah, the anointed One of God, a new age is ushered in. The end time has begun. The time is fulfilled and continues to be fulfilled; the Kingdom of God has come near and gets closer every day. During Lent we journey even closer to this reality. During Lent we show how this promise has changed our lives. We do this by renewing our commitment to repent: that is to turn away from our sin and turn closer to God. We do this through exercises and disciplines that God may use to help deepen and strengthen our faith in the good news of Jesus Christ.

On Wednesday you stepped aboard. Marked once again by the cross of Christ your ticket was punched, your fare was paid. You have begun the forty day journey, a journey of transformation. It is a journey that will take you to new places—some of which may seem a bit strange and uncomfortable at first. It will not be always be easy, but because God is faithful, we know it will be worth it.

Bon Voyage.

A Pastors’ Page on the Darker Side of Baptism

When I instruct parents of children who are going to be baptized or candidates for baptism it is easy to talk about the positive aspects. I usually talk about how baptism does spiritually, what water does physically. It renews and cleanses. We are carried in water and the word in the same way we were carried in water before we were born. We are reborn out of this water into eternal life as children of God (See Titus 3:5-8). All of this, though it some if it sounds weird, is relatively positive and easy to understand.

The water and word of baptism refreshes and renews like the water we drink. The water and the word cleanse and purify like the water in which we bathe. The water and the word carry us into life like the amniotic fluid that carries us into the world and by it we are reborn children of God. That’s the lighter side of baptism. But there is a darker side, and being that this is Lent, it is appropriate that we should explore this darker side.

When asked what baptism signifies Martin Luther Answers: “It signifies that the old person in us with all sins and evil desires is to be drown through daily sorrow for sin and repentance.” Spooky right? Baptism involves a sort of death of our sinful selves. Through daily sorrow for sin and repentance our old person with all its sins and evil desires is put to death. Baptism is a kind of death. It gets even spookier.

Paul writes in Romans: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death….” Like water here on earth, baptismal water, that is water with the word of God, can be dangerous. It drowns sinners. It suffocates the old Adam and Eve who is in the heart of each of us. This is powerful stuff. This is shocking language. You who have been baptized have been submerged in death, the death Jesus died on the cross. But there is a reason for this.

Remember how Martin Luther said that baptism signifies the drowning of the old sinful person? He goes on to say “that daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.” In other words baptism is something we live out daily. Lutherans like to say that because of baptism into Jesus we daily die and rise with Him; each and every day we die and rise with Christ.

After Paul says that we have been baptized into Jesus’ death he goes on to say, “...so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” We die with Him so we can be raised with Him. That is what baptism and faith in God’s word accomplishes.

As Lent begins we remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return. This is an affirmation of our mortality. God created us out of the dust of the earth, but with Christ things do not stop there. By baptism into Christ we are reformed, remade, and reborn children of God. The darker side of baptism acknowledges death, but the lighter side, the resurrection side, promises abundant life. The painful death we die to sin gives way to the resurrection promise of new life.

God bless you as you begin your Lenten walk to the cross. May this be a time of new disciplines and deepening of faith so that when we come to the end of it we can cling even closer to the baptismal promise and hope of the resurrection of our Lord.

In Christ,

Pastor Christian

Born and raised in the isolated Finnish-American communities of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Jonathan Rundman has been writing songs and performing across the country since he was 18 years old. He emerged on the national music scene in the late-90s as a Chicago-based touring artist, generating rave reviews in Billboard, The New York Times, Performing Songwriter, Paste, and countless regional publications. Now living in Minneapolis, he continues to tour and record. Jonathan's songs can be heard on radio stations across America, in Scandinavia and England, and have been featured on the Ellen Degeneres Show.

Jonathan will be live in Concert at Zion Lutheran Church
Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 7:30 CT
Doors Open at 6:30

The Christ Lutheran Parish Youth are bowling in the 9th Annual Gogebic-Range Bowl For Kids on Saturday February 28, 2009 at the American Legion Bowling Lanes in Hurley, WI. If you wish to sponsor any of our bowlers please contact Pastor Christian at the Parish House 932-2538.

Many people are familiar with Big Brothers Big Sisters' traditional mentoring programs, but not many know that in our community BBBS also supports and facilitates the High-Five Mentoring Program that provides grade school kids with positive mentors from high school. This is their primary fundraising effort.

Bowling for Kids gives our youth a chance to do something good for their own community while having fun at the same time. Thanks for your contributions to this effort!

Transfiguration Sunday B 2009

Charles S. Houston chronicles a failed attempt to climb K2 of and writes about the “call to climb” in the book K2, The Savage Mountain: The Classic True Story of Disaster and Survival on the World's Second Highest Mountain. He writes:

During the terrible days of storm at camp VIII we thought seldom of the reasons which had brought us to the mountain; all our energy was focused on survival. We were trapped in three small mountain tents near the summit of the highest unclimbed summit on earth trapped by an endless storm of wind and snow which made impossible advance or retreat. All eight of us had been working for two months to establish this high camp and another one still higher from which two men might reach the top. All eight of us and many others had been planning for a year to make the expedition possible. During the ten days of hardship and disappointment, of pain and tragedy which climaxed our venture, we spoke of the summit and of home we remembered other storms and other critical times. No one tried then to answer the question, “Why? Why climb mountains?”

In that year that passed since our ordeal we have been asked that questions many times and have answered it in many ways. No answer is complete or satisfactory. Perhaps there is no single answer; perhaps each climber must have his own reasons for such an effort. The answer cannot be simple; it is compounded of such elements as the great beauty of clear cold air; of colors beyond the ordinary, of the lure of unknown regions beyond the rim of experience. The pleasure of physical fitness; the pride of conquering a steep difficult rock pitch, the thrill of danger—are also there. How can I phrase the most important reason of all? It is the chance to be briefly free of the small concerns of our common lives, to strip off non essentials, to come down to the core of life itself. Food, shelter, friends—these are the essentials, these plus faith and purpose and a deep and unrelenting determination. On a great mountain all purpose is concentrated on the single job at hand, yet the summit is but a token of success and the attempt is worthy in itself. It is for these reasons that we climb and in climbing find something greater than accomplishment.

The Gospel of Mark moves at a fever pitch. One event, sometimes several events, occur with immediacy—one after the other. From the Baptism of Jesus, to the gathering of disciples, to proclamation of the good news of the kingdom, to healing the sick, cleansing the unclean, preaching, teaching, and the working of miracles all occur one after the other until at last we reach the great climax, or what appears to be a great climax. We have climbed the mountain which marks the midpoint between Christmas and Easter. We stand on the hinge between the Epiphany, the manifestation of Christ begin at Christmas, and Lent that marks Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem to suffer and die and rise again on the third day. We have traveled with the disciples, Peter, James, and John, who have been with Jesus since the beginning of his ministry, to the top of the mount of the Transfiguration where we behold but a glimpse of Jesus’ glory.

Today we reach the summit of this mountain to experience a great theophany, where the glory of God is revealed in Jesus Christ. Jesus is met on the mountain by Moses and Elijah, two figures whose appearance represents the beginning of the end. Peter’s instinct is to build tabernacles so that all three may dwell upon the earth, but Moses and Elijah do not remain. And in the same way Jesus will not remain either. But at the top of the mountain Peter, James, and John are witnesses to a terrifying demonstration of the Glory of God. Jesus gleams with radiance, prophets whose presence mark the end of days, a cloud shrouding the mountain and a voice that speaks from the cloud, the very voice of God, that says “This is my son, the beloved, listen to him.” All these phenomena reveal just a glimpse of the glory that will one day be fulfilled through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

But Peter, James, and John cannot remain on the mountain forever. They have to descend back into the drudgery of the small concerns of their common lives. Worse than that, their next destination is where their master, friend, and teacher will be tortured and killed. But for this brief moment, the transfiguration of Jesus, they have insight into the very mind and purpose of God. For this brief moment they feel a closeness to God that will carry them through times of loss and grief and abandonment. From the transfiguration the disciples will go down the mountain with a glimpse of the glory that God is about to reveal in Jesus Christ.

Think of the mountain tops that you have been to in your own lives; those moments when you could feel the hand of God in your life. Think of those mountain tops when you fearfully and wonderfully held a baby in your hands for the first time, when you started out on a new career path that you knew came about at the right time, when you glimpsed the glory of God in the kindness of a stranger, when your faith blossomed and you were worshiping God with your whole being, when you hit your stride and the things that before you had to do with hard work and determination became like second nature, when the small concerns of your life were stripped away and all you were left with were the essentials. Do you remember that moment? Do you wonder sometimes why those moments don’t seem to last. Do you wonder why we can’t remain on that mountain? I sometimes do.

But the reality is that mountain top experiences do not last, but they are there long enough to get us through the valleys and dips and depressions of our lives. Because of them we can approach the foot of the cross where we lay our burdens down. All we get is but a glimpse of that light, a hint at the glory that is to come—a foretaste of the feast. But one day we will see even greater things than these.

Last weekend I had a mountain top experience. Two great worship opportunities happened in our Parish. The Second Saturday Contemporary Service felt natural as though we were really getting the hang of it. The joint Parish Worship on Sunday was splendid, the music, the dance, the liturgy all sang of God’s glory. Those experiences grant a feeling of the power and potential of our churches to become even more relevant, an even more important part of the lives of worshipers. In those times I see a glimpse of God’s glory being revealed in a new way in our churches.

I won’t be here to see the full glory. I won’t be here to see the full story of how God is at work in the four ELCA churches here in Ironwood, but I have seen a glimpse of His glory. And God will send you other ministers, and God will raise up new leadership among you, and God will equip you to meet the months ahead.

Just look again at the first reading for today. The story is not about that sweet chariot comin’ for to carry Elijah home. It is a story about God providing a successor to Elijah who can do even greater things. It is a story about the passing on of a mantle, the handing down of a tradition, the giving up of the reigns to another for the greater glory of God.

Let us pray,
We pray, Oh Lord, that you allow us to glimpse the fullness of your glory through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ. We ask that you begin in us again the work of testifying to the truth of His salvation through our words and deeds. We ask for the grace and peace to acknowledge where your Holy Spirit is leading us to work for the good of your Kingdom. We ask this in the name of Jesus whose brilliance we have glimpsed in part, but who one day we will see face to face.

Amen.

This weekend we had a lot going on in our parish. We had two very unique opportunities for worship. The Second Saturday Contemporary Service happened to fall on Valentine's Day. Attendance was in the high fifties which is good for a prime date night. Also, the parish held its quarterly Joint Parish Service at Zion on Sunday morning. The energy and enthusiasm at both services was contagious! On Sunday Pastor Fran led the Chicago Folk Service liturgy, there was a special band featuring many wonderful local musicians, a bell choir played a beautiful prelude, there were liturgical dancers, a special choral anthem, and the preaching wasn't bad either.

These joint services reveal the potential of our churches and show us what kinds of things we can do together. I believe God is at work in the midst of the decision making and planning now underway in our parish. He is showing us that though there may be loss in the short term, there is also much to gain through such expressions of unity as the ones we witnessed on Saturday and Sunday.

Our united efforts as a parish remind us that "⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4:2 I eagerly await the next joint worship service, not because it is less work, because in fact I think it is more, but because it is there that we see where God is leading us. It is in worship, not around a council table, where we see what Christ Parish really is and what it can do.

It's purpose is not to share resources, pastors and support staff, or even to save money. The purpose of the Parish is to share the joy we have in Christ. Resources, buildings, money, and pastors all come and go, but the Word of God remains forever. May we keep this in mind as the Long Range Planning Task Force gathers this Thursday evening for discussion of the future of this Parish.

In Christ,

Christian

Jim, Grace, Ellen, Jane, and I took a long snowshoe around Wolverine at the Chappy winter fun event. Here are some pictures taken along the way. The pictures don't do justice to the majesty of the day, but they do give some idea of what a good time we had.

Gathering as people of Christ Lutheran Parish for winter fun at Wolverine proved to be a great time. There was an impressive turnout of folks who don't mind a little snow underfoot. The conditions were perfect for skiing or snowshoeing and the food was delicious. I was especially impressed by the wonderful desserts including brownies, cakes, and cookies. Thanks to everybody who turned out that day and to Wolverine for having such a beautifully maintained trail system and warming house. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance.

Second Saturday Contemporary Worship

Tonight, following the shopping and wrapping for the Angel Tree Project, we had the second contemporary worship service this parish has ever known. It was great to be a part of it. I never considered that I would enjoy a non-traditional worship service, but it was superb. The worship team was rockin', Pastor Fran's worship leadership was top notch, and we worshiped in an active and vital way that I have not seen since the last joint parish worship service. But what I am most enthusiastic about the Saturday night format is that we are seeing a whole group of people that we do not see Sunday mornings. This means that this service is a form of outreach and mission for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I hope to see the monthly Saturday night worship services continue to grow. Despite snow and the busy days that precede the Christmas Holiday, the service draws more than 70 worshipers. Thanks to the leadership of Sandra and Bob Genisot and the musical gifts of some of our youth and adults, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, this service is a success!

Please join us at 5:00pm the second Saturday of each month at Zion Lutheran Chruch and be a part of this new experiment in worship as it unfolds. See you there.

-Pastor Christian