GOD SIGHTING: Here and Now

I visited a member recently at her home, and it was so clear that God has been with her in her life.  She handed me a piece of paper with a reflection on Henri Nouwen's theme, "Here and Now":

Henri Nouwen writes on the theme Here and Now, "To live in the present, we must believe deeply that what is most important is the here and now."  He reminds us that we are so easily distracted by our concerns about tomorrow and our remembrances of the past.  How true his insight is.

Too often we worry about what has happened in the past, knowing we can never return to correct or change the outcome.  But still, we make it a concern, going over and over in our minds how we could have made it different, saying, "if only I had."

Or, we worry about the future, even when we know that anything can change at a moment's notice, that nothing is ever certain in life.  Still, we are anxious if this will happen or if that will occur, planning that may never come to fruition.  Our only guarantee is change.

In the days ahead, take time each day to be present in the here and now.  Listen to the person before you.  Breathe deeply the air of the day into which God has placed you.  See the colors and signs of the season.  Feel the coolness of the days of autumn.  Be grateful for the present.

Here and now, there is much for us to savor and embrace.

Amen.

Pentecost is Here

On Pentecost, we hear of a time in the lives of the earliest disciples when the Holy Spirit came to them suddenly, disrupting their lives and sending them into difficult situations.  Yet as uncomfortable and even dangerous as it was to follow the call of the Spirit, that same Spirit worked through them in new ways to build a witnessing community.  It seems as if we are in a Pentecost time at Christ Lutheran.  The Spirit is disrupting the usual pattern of things here and forcing us to take a hard look at ourselves.  The presence of the Spirit, however, is part of God's unconditional grace for us.  And the Spirit is doing its work of transformation among us, opening us to be a community that catches the attention of our neighborhood.

In the world, but not of the world

Recent news in our neighborhood reminds us something we already know - it's a hard world that we live in.  And maybe what's even harder to hear is that Jesus says he doesn't want to take us out of this world.  Jesus wants us to stay here, just like he did, even unto his death.  But in his prayer to the Father, Jesus makes clear that we belong to him.  As we celebrated the baptism of a new child of God, we remembered that it is through baptism that Christ claims us as his own and promises to be with us in this difficult world.  And even more, we have a Savior who prays for us during our earthly sojourn.

Friends of Jesus

We might have plenty of facebook friends, but the truth is that most of us only have a few close friends with whom we can truly be ourselves.  In the world that Jesus lived in, friends were also rare.  They were the only people in your life who were at the same social level as you.  When Jesus calls his disciples friends, when he calls us his friends, he brings us much closer to him than we could have imagined on our own.  He makes us a part of himself - of his Body in the world.  And so we go to extend his gospel friendship, and to build a house where all are welcome.

Flyleaf: All Around Me

This is a modern song from a rock band called Flyleaf, called "All Around Me."  This band does identify as Christian.  I remember when I first heard this song on the radio it caught my attention that something so worshipful was being played on a major rock station.  Pretty cool witness if you ask me!  Check it out.  Lyrics are below (click the link):

In the hands of the Vinegrower, abiding in the Vine

Among the last things Jesus says to his disciples is to tell them, "I am the vine, you are the branches."  Life flows to us from Christ as life-giving nutrients and water flow to branches from the vine.  However, for the vine to be healthy and bear fruit, it must be pruned from time to time.  What might the Father, the vinegrower, be pruning away in our lives?  How is God pruning us as a community of faith?  What dead wood must be cut away for us to bear fruit?  But no matter what is pruned away, we will remain always connected to Christ the Vine, for he has made us to be his branches now and always. 

Your shepherd knows who you are

In this world, so often we are unknown to each other.  We live our lives with few people knowing who we really are.  Hardly anyone takes the time to listen and understand us.  But Christ, our shepherd, knows exactly who we are.  He came so close to us so that we could know him as he knows us.  And he's calling us to let go of our fears and anxieties so that we might get to know those around us as well.

GOD SIGHTING!

Attention people of Christ Lutheran, our God has been sighted at work!!  Sue Maser has a story to share about some Easter grace in the world and in her life...(this was written during Lent, FYI)

You are all witnesses of these things

Today in worship we witnessed the baptism of three of God's children, as they were named and claimed by God forever.  We are witnesses to this inbreaking of God's grace into the world, just as the disciples were witnesses to the risen Christ who came to have a meal with them!  See...taste...touch...hear...and speak the God who comes to have a meal with us, who sends us to share his meal with others...

Prophets of a Future Not Our Own...

March 24 was the commemoration of a twentieth-century saint, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, who was the archbishop of San Salvador (capital of El Salvador), when he was killed while celebrating mass in a hospital chapel.  He had taken the side of the people in a time of great political upheaval and even civil war in his country.  He also was a faithful and insightful spiritual leader, and the following meditation is one attributed to him.  It has often spoken to me, but I think it speaks to all of us.  In our efforts at CELC, we cannot do it all, but what we can do, we can do well through the God who strengthens us.  Sometimes, we can only plant the seeds.  Often, we must take the long view.

We declare to you...what we have seen!

Most of us who have heard this story from John's gospel today know that it is about "believing," that is, about our faith.  Thomas, like the rest of the disciples, and like us, needs an encounter with the risen Christ in order to believe.  And so we ask - where have we felt the marks of Christ's hands and side?  How are we BEING those marks for others?  How are we embodying the resurrection so that others might come to believe and have life in the name of Christ?

They didn't tell anyone?

When we hear Mark's account of the resurrection, we almost cannot believe that the faithful women who come to visit Jesus run off in fear, sharing the good news with....no one at all!  Mark's story leaves us unsatisfied, waiting for someone to come and pick up the gospel to take to the world!  Sometimes we also run off in "terror and amazement," but it is us, you and me, who get to bear this gospel message.  We get to go to Galilee with our risen Lord Jesus to be about the good news in our actions and also our words.

Surprised by grace...

At Maundy Thursday, we hear the story of Jesus stooping down low to wash the feet of his disciples.  We see our Lord humbling himself, as he prepares to empty himself on the cross.  We ought to expect judgment from our God, but instead we find him at our feet, washing us in his grace.  Just another time we're surprised and astounded by the unending love of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Epistle of James

Luther may have called the epistle of James "the epistle of straw" because it seems to contradict some of Paul's teachings, but it is filled with insights for our lives of faith.  In fact, James speaks of good works as the fruits of a firmly rooted faith.  We will be studying James in the Tuesday afternoon Bible study beginning today, and we would love to have you join us!  Click below to see what we'll be discussing:

Where Are We?

After worship on Sunday, March 25, a large group of our members gathered to discuss their feelings and perceptions about our congregation at the moment. The questions considered are listed below, along with individual responses to each question, which have been copied verbatim here. There were more thoughts during the meeting than just those represented here, but from these you will get a sense of our conversation. See the “From the Vicar” article in the April newsletter for more of my reflections, but as you can see below, the Holy Spirit was at work in these honest and faithful thoughts!

- Vicar Evan

Unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies...

Yesterday we heard Jesus confront us with something we try most of the time to avoid - death.  These days we do a pretty good job of keeping death at arm's reach.  However, as baptized Christians joined to the death of Christ, we find that death is not something to fear.  We need not run away from our humanity.  In the end, death is the seed of new life.

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Yesterday in worship I asked some questions.  Why do we come to worship?  Why are we Christians?  Why should we be Christians?  Who is God?  This passage from John 3 gives one of the clearest insights into the heart of God in all of scripture: God so loved the world....that he gave his only Son....God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him....

Journeys to the Cross: Enough Already!

As I mentioned in worship, Christ Lutheran is part of the northwest ecumenical cluster in Lancaster City, and this year we took a perhaps more active role in what has been an annual tradition for the cluster - the Friday Lenten luncheon and worship series.  I was so blessed to have the privilege of preaching on Friday, March 9, at St. John's Episcopal Church at Chestnut and Mulberry Streets.  The theme for this year's series is "Journeys to the Cross," and I chose to focus on the wilderness journey of Israel after God led them out of Egypt, and specifically on the manna story.  Check it out below!

Disappointed by the Cross

Today's reading from Mark 8 is the turning point in the gospel and an extremely important text for us who seek to follow the crucified and risen God.  Peter is deeply disappointed with Jesus' prediction of his suffering and death, just as we often are disappointed with what God brings our way or allows to happen in our lives.  But we will find that just as Christ is risen to new life, so God may resurrect our faith by creating a new future out of what seems hopeless to us.

Never Again

In today's reading from Genesis, God promised that "never again" would the creation be destroyed to eliminate the sin which infects it.  In today's gospel reading from Mark, we see how far God was willing to go to keep his promise and "remember the covenant" made to us.  In Christ, God was willing even to suffer temptation, and eventually death, in order to destroy death and the only power sin had over us.  Now, in our baptisms, we are free to live in community with our fellow sinners who stand redeemed by the same grace and love of God.

Ash Wednesday: Dusty like David

On Ash Wednesday, we hear the truth about ourselves - that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.  We remember that we're a lot like David - captive to sin, dusty indeed, but also chosen by God and filled with God's Spirit.  We're not able to repent quite enough, but during Lent especially, God gives us the privilege of deepening our faith and listening closer for God's voice.

What would the Jesus campaign for president be like?

Let's be clear - Jesus is no politician (thank the Lord).  But if he was, I think his campaign, at least from Mark's perspective, would have been pretty interesting.  Peter might have thought things were going pretty well through the first half of Mark's gospel, but then Jesus takes the message in a different direction - straight to the cross.

Who Are Our Neighbors?

Click to read the responses from the third session of our small group discussions:

"I do choose," Jesus says, to you (and those people, too)

Jesus stops along the way in this Sunday's reading from Mark to heal a leper who had confidence that Jesus was there even for him.  Jesus crossed the boundary separating this person with leprosy from the rest of society.  It is a hard truth that we create boundaries between us and other children of God all the time.  Yet Christ is in the business of breaking down those barriers, and drawing us all closer.  Christ reaches out to you, wherever you are, crossing whatever barriers separate you, to say, "I do choose" you!

Raised Up to Serve

Today's reading brings us to the bedside of Simon Peter's mother-in-law, who has been confined to bed by a serious fever.  Jesus lifts her up just as he will be raised up on the third day, so that she may serve just as he serves.  This is the model of our lives as Christians too - we are raised up by Christ from whatever confines us so that we may serve others.

Possessed...by the Holy Spirit

Today's reading from Mark talks about a man possessed with an unclean spirit, and how Jesus cast it out of him.  We're not quite sure what to do with stories about "unclean spirits" inhabiting people, but I believe they are more real than we might admit.  Christ casts out the unclean spirits in our lives, and in our baptisms we are given the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

You have to check this out!

Have you ever had a meal so good you just had to have some more?  So good that you had to tell all your friends about it?  It's hard to imagine why these Galilean fishermen we read about today leave their entire lives behind to follow Jesus.  One way to look at it is that they had tasted the goodness of the kingdom of God, and they could not go without experiencing some more.

Come and see

 In our society today, many people have come not to expect the church to fit in to their lives.  In today's gospel text from John, Nathanael didn't expect much from the guy from Nazareth.  But Nathanael's friend simply repeats the invitation Jesus had given to his friends just before, "come and see."  Come and see that the Messiah came from a nowhere town, but came bringing unexpected new life to the world.  Come and see that God forms the church out of ordinary people, and that we can expect the Holy Spirit to keep surprising us.

The heavens torn open!

Today my supervisor, Pr. Kurt Strause, and I switched places.  Pr. Strause led worship at Christ and I was over at Emmanuel Lutheran on Walnut Street.  I brought our greetings to them as we continued to highlight our cooperation in ministry.  I have posted the sermon I preached there below.  I focused on the fact that when Jesus emerged from the river Jordan after he was baptized, Mark tells us that Jesus saw "the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him."  This remarkable detail underscores the significance of Jesus' baptism.  Afterwards, nothing would be the same for us or for God's creation.

Why Are We Here?

Discussions continued on Sunday, December 11, around the question "why are we here?"  We considered our purpose as a congregation and whether or not we are living into God's purpose for us. 

Again, what follows is verbatim from the responses recorded on the group sheets.  Duplicate responses from the groups have been preserved.  I thank God for each of you and for the gifts you are and you bring to our congregation.  These are the discussions we MUST have to live into God's future for us and for our community.

Our next session will be on Sunday, January 29, when we will discuss, "Who Are Our Neighbors?"

The word became flesh

I have to admit, the prologue to John which we heard today in worship is my favorite passage of scripture.  John elegantly weaves together the complex relationship of God and the Word.  Although we could spend a lot of time exploring their relationship, and it is important, God's love for us shines clear in that the Word became flesh.  God entered into our humanity in the infant Jesus.  Babies aren't perfect, and neither are we.  But our human limitations are good enough for God.