Yesterday’s readings all speak to the need for us to be “servants” to those less fortunate than ourselves.  In Hebrews we are told that to live the holy life “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Ch. 13, vs. 16).  In the Gospel lesson from Luke, Jesus tells us once again to address the needs of the “poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind” by inviting them to a banquet. (Chapter14, vs.13).

What does a quote from Star Trek have to do with any of this?  Captain Kirk says the mission is to go forth boldly in its mission.  I believe we, as the Christian Community of Christ Lutheran Church in Georgetown, has a mission to go forth boldly and to serve those who are less fortunate than ourselves.  We already do this in many ministries but that does not mean we should not continue to seek out new opportunities to serve, even if that “boldness” means, like Captain Kirk and his crew often did, we need to step out of our comfort zone from time to time.

By

Joe Vogel

                Yesterday was Rally Day for the Christ Lutheran Education Program.  Although education opportunities have been available throughout the summer months, Rally Day heralded a new beginning for fall programming. 

                Life is filled with new beginnings—a new school year, a new fiscal year, a new church year, a new marriage, a new baby, a new job.  The list could continue into infinity as each day brings a new experience, a new opportunity. 

                At the beginning of each year resolutions are made stating goals one wants to achieve through the coming year.   They describe new opportunities of things that we want to change or add to our life routine.  Some might say they have built their “bucket list.”  Have you ever considered building a “bucket list” or resolutions for your faith enrichment?  Some of you may reply, “I don’t create resolution lists because they become impossible to keep.”  In Philippians 4:13 we read, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” 

                Several years ago I wrote a Sunday School devotional using Peli the Pelican, a puppet character introduced by the ELCA education department.  Peli was making his new year’s resolutions, but instead of listing things like going on a diet and exercising more, he was building a list that would nurture his faith life and his expression of that faith.  He was ambitious; his goal was to create a resolution for each letter of the alphabet.  Impossible you say.  Remember Peli was a pelican.  His theme song was “Yes, I can; Yes, I can.”

                Using Pastor Cheryl’s interactive style I invite you to create your own list.  Do it as a family or as an individual.  Peli will start you out.

A – Abilities, I will use my God given abilities for His service.

B – Bible, I will faithfully ready my bible.

C – Commitment, I will attend at least one Christ Lutheran program that enriches my faith.

Do you have the idea?  Enjoy, reflect, and achieve.  “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Barbara Gilbertson

By Paul Blom

When the Reign of God breaks in, it upsets the staus quo.  Much of what comes with the reign of God is “backwards” in relation to how we normally do business in the world.

When the reign of God introduces “justice” it comes in the form of mercy and steadfast love.  When our world deals with justice it often deals with “punishment” or retribution of some sort.  When the reign of God breaks in and deals with broken and distorted lives, it addresses them with compassion and love and forgiveness and provides hope.  When the world deals with broken and distorted lives, it most often ignores or makes fun of or persecutes in subtle and no-so-subtle ways.

Jesus is the epitome of God’s reign.  He said, “The kingdom of God has come near!”  He also depicted how much is all broken and warned against self-righteousness. 

When we tell the story of “Jesus and his love” remember what comes with it.  A God of mercy, compassion, love, forgiveness and hope.   That’s well worth telling about.

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) guide us to where we want to go, often with a voice telling us precisely where to turn, when to change lanes, and what roads to avoid and finally the words, “you have reached your destination”. GPS systems work as long as you follow the directions, and accept the commands given as accurate and true.

In the piece by Luke, we are given the Kingdom of God and to fear not. In finding the Kingdom of God for ourselves, we are given precise directions to guide us to our destination. Luke lays them out thusly,

1.do not be afraid

2.sell what you have, give alms to the poor

3. make purses for yourself that do not wear out

4. Be dressed for action, lamps lit

5. Be as eager servants ,waiting for the Master

6. Be alert, and be blessed

7. be ready, for the Son of Man comes at an unexpected hour.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”

As long as we follow God’s Positioning System, we will always, in God’s good time, and in his service reach our destination- the Kingdom of God which belongs to all who have seen their greatest treasure as being a disciple of Jesus Christ, who claims us as his own.

PRAYER:

 God, help me to accept your way as my way, your love for me as I love others,  and guide me to your  promise of living waters. Amen    

Submitted by

                     Vaughn R. Neshiem

                      “On The Road in Wisconsin”

Taken from “The Parable of the Rich Fool,” this verse admonishes us to avoid being greedy, an issue we face in our daily lives.  It was read to most of us yesterday and then we heard more about it during the sermon.

Greed seems to be such a simple concept but we often have difficulty recognizing it until it is too late.  I was amused by the story entitled “The Marble King” in Gospel Grams 2, one of the children’s bulletins yesterday.  Charlie received a bag of marbles that contained what his father described as “an eye.”  He used it to challenge his playmates and won every marble match.  He soon won so many marbles he couldn’t count them all.  Ultimately he won the marbles of all the other children but was unable to find anyone to play with, including his best friends.  Thus, his marbles lost their entire value and became useless so he poured them on the playground for everyone to take.  With that, he felt free, and reestablished his friendships.

This simple story illustrates our problem with greed and reminds me of two books I’ve read entitled How Much is Enough?  One of the books, by Alan Durning, tackles the issue from the perspective of the consumer society in which we live.  He argues that the linked fates of humanity and the natural realm depend on us as consumers.  We can curtail ecologically destructive activities and cultivate deeper, nonmaterial sources of fulfillment that bring happiness–family and social relationships, meaningful work, and leisure.

The other by Arthur Simon, founder of Bread for the World, is subtitled Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture.  It addresses many of the dilemmas of greed that confront us as we make choices in our lives.  A particularly provocative chapter entitled, “Living simply so that others may live” captures the issue succinctly.

Prayer:

Our Father, we thank you for our abundant blessings.  Keep us mindful of our responsibility to share them with all people.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Many people like myself are intrigued by rocks. They are our most enduring natural substances and come in such a variety of forms, colors and compositions. I had quite a collection as a child and as an adult, with a passion for amateur geology, I’ve had to make some tough decisions about how much of my rock collection I could haul with me on frequent moves. Rocks have often served as metaphors for many aspects of the spiritual journey, lending themselves to a huge variety of interpretations and circumstances.

Once when my mother and I were visiting one of her friends, I was fascinated by a small bowl full of colored marble chips sitting on her friend’s coffee table. The beautiful jewel-tone rocks were more than a small child could resist and when no one was looking, I slipped one of the chips into my pocket. If only I had asked for a chip, I’m sure that the lady would gladly have given me several, but as it was, I agonized for weeks over the immorality of my theft and even years later, the incidence haunted my conscience.

There is a story about the Israelites having escaped from slavery under the Egyptian Pharaoh only to find themselves lost in a desert without water. (Exodus 17:1-7) Naturally, they complained to God about their plight which suddenly was more important than the hundreds of years of slavery they had just escaped from. After all, what good is freedom if you die of thirst? The story was told as an example of the lack of faith. I could have had the rock if only I had had the faith to ask for it. They could have had their water. The story also is an example of God’s compassion on people who are weak and needy. God told their leader, Moses, to strike a rock with his rod and get the water they needed. The hardships we endure often are self-inflicted because we lack the faith to ask for what we need, become overly focused on what we lack, or lack the courage to admit our need. Rocks can either be building blocks, or stumbling stones.

In his book, The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, the Vietnamese Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, discusses a method for obtaining insight into dealing with problems by stopping, calming, resting and healing. When we feel we want something, or need something very badly, it can be such an overwhelming experience that we can allow ourselves to be carried away by our emotions. We may find ourselves grabbing or grasping inappropriately or even blaming God or others because we don’t get what we want. Pretending to ourselves that we don’t have a problem is just as big a mistake.

Stopping in our tracks, so to speak, gives us a chance to say ourselves, “I am being carried away by this need or emotion which is so strong I am being tempted to act in a way I may regret later.” Or I may be so excited over the prospect of having something I want very badly, I’m tempted to rush full speed ahead and take it and ignore the consequences. It is helpful to know that our emotions are the result of a very strong chemical activity in our brain that is not the product of rational thinking. When we are feeling very strongly about anything, good or bad, this is a traffic sign telling us we may need to either pause or put on the brakes. When we express our need to God, this is called confession.

The spiritual journey actually begins with confession. I am not whole in myself. I am full of needs, emotions, anxieties, wants that I don’t seem to be able to fix or satisfy. The prayer of a child may begin in thanksgiving; the prayer of an adult so often begins with confession. We are totally safe in confession because we can be assured that the One hearing understands totally, whatever it is we are confessing. There is no thing good or bad as far as God is concerned. We are finite creatures: God is infinite; all merciful, all compassionate.

“I am impartial to all creatures.
and no one is hateful or dear to me;
but those devoted to me are in me,
and I am within them.”
(Bhadavad-Gita 9:29)

As long as we are charging headlong after what we want, we aren’t paying attention to anything else around us, and especially to whatever wise counsel may be at hand. Prayer is first and foremost relinquishing our needs into God’s lap, so to speak. This is the function of meditation; to give our bodies time to clear the toxic effects of our emotionally charged chemistry so we can return to equilibrium in God or in the Tao (the Way of God). Equilibrium is when we give up being in charge of ourselves; where we recognize, accept, embrace who we truly are. It is where we understand how completely we are recognized, accepted and embraced by God as we truly are. No pretenses needed.

Once we can stop pretending to ourselves, and to others or God for that matter, then we can step back and refocus; look deeply into ourselves and discover things we may have missed. What made us so hungry, angry, fearful, needy, thirsty? We aren’t looking for solutions. We leave that to God/Tao. Gaining insight into how and why we feel the way we do is major progress on the pathway to enlightenment.

One of my favorite hymns as a child was an old southern favorite, “Leaning On the Everlasting Arms”. The fourth step, resting or leaning, recalls to me a time when as a child I had suffered a huge loss. I broke down in tears and my grandmother, “Mamacita”, took me into her arms and held me and rocked me while she said over and over again, “Pobrecita, pobrecita.,” (poor little thing, poor little thing). That’s how I have pictured God; holding me, rocking me, like my grandmother. Thich Nhat Hanh says to imagine yourself like a little pebble that has fallen into a pond and sinks down, slowly, slowly to the bottom and just lies there quietly, resting, allowing the world to pass by.

We begin to discover a glimpse into the Great Mystery.

“Suffering produces endurance,
and endurance produces character,
and character produces hope,
and hope does not disappoint us,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts . . .”
(Romans 5:3-5)

Marilyn Austin
Rocking Chair Meditations
Tao of Christ

Yesterday the Gospel reading was from the final chapter of John and was the third and final appearance of the resurrected Jesus to the disciples.  In this encounter, Jesus gave specific instructions to Simon Peter – Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep, and the last words a repeat for emphasis Feed my sheep. Of course there was more to the exchange, Jesus first asked Peter Do you love me? There is a simple correlation here – if we say we love Jesus, there is an expectation that we will do something about it that involves others, all those Jesus says are my sheep. When I reread the whole chapter, I was reminded of what Jesus did first for the disciples.  They were on a fishing trip and not having much luck.  When Jesus instructed them to put their nets on the other side of the boat, it was filled with fish.  God has blessed us richly with so much – count your blessings one by one and then what?  Feed, Tend, and Feed in the many ways that Jesus did.   Food for thought and food for action.

Lord, this day and this week show us ways we can tend and feed your sheep with words and actions.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen

Composed by Betty Wilkens

Yesterday in his sermon Pastor Kersten made a statement about seeing Jesus as Thomas did in his wounds (John 20: 19 – 31).  For us that means where people are hurting today is where we also will see Jesus.  When we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in something much bigger than the historical Jesus.  The three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) are largely about the historical Jesus who worked miracles, who taught, who promised us a new way of seeing, a new way of life in this world.  Paul almost always talked about “Christ.”  Paul hardly ever quotes the historical Jesus and never knew him in the flesh but uses “the Christ” to affirm his belief in Jesus.    That is what is different about Easter – no longer is knowing Jesus based on just our personal experience but also the many other ways Jesus is present in our world.

Christ fills everything everywhere with his presence.

Lord, in the mystery of Christ’s resurrection may we see you in the wounded and the broken as we minister to their needs.  In Jesus who is our Christ.  Amen

Composed by Betty Wilkens adapted from the Comic Christ by Richard Rohr

Faith can make itself known to us even in times of great loss. For instance, on each occasion that I stood at the open grave of one of my parents, I became freshly aware of my faith. I realized that I trusted that this was not the end, that they each had a future with God. And then I wept. I did not grieve for them and their loss of life: their futures were in good and capable hands. I grieved instead for me and my loss of relationship.

However, no grief on this first day after Easter; only joy. No condemnation; only joy. No emptiness; only joy. Joy to the world: the Lord is risen! Such joy cannot be willed into our lives; we cannot decide to be joyful. Joy, like faith, can only be discovered and then welcomed, savored, expressed, and shared. I recall, for example, the irrepressible joy expressed and shared with me by a congregation in El Salvador at a worship gathering on the morning after their church building had been bombed. I had neither witnessed nor experienced joy like that before: joy in the midst of destruction and intimidating threats by a roving death squad. It has encouraged me to anticipate that there will be joy to welcome and savor in all of life’s circumstances – even in the face of death. And that love, joy’s deep taproot, comes again . . . and again and again and again.

Let us pray:

Lord,
When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain,
your touch can call us back to life again;
fields of our hearts that bare and dead have been;
love is come again like wheat arising green.
Amen.

[Hymn #379, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, verse 4]

Composed by Tom Wilkens

Learn from Jesus Christ to pray
Learn from him to bear the cross
Learn from Jesus Christ to die.

Jesus’ response to the death sentence that came to him was to surrender, to empty himself to die so that we might live. Dying to self is the way to an Easter that promises life with joy, love, and a hope for eternal life.

Everlasting God, in your endless love for the human race you sent our Lord Jesus Christ to take on our nature and to suffer death on the cross. In your mercy enable us to share in his obedience to your will and in the glorious victory of his resurrection, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen Taken from the Prayer of the Day.

Composed by Betty Wilkens