Reflection for Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

As the leaves begin to turn and fall has officially started, I find myself thinking about all the things that change, and how good change is.

In nature, plants cycle: flowers bud, then bloom, then fall. Leaves, too, bud, shine, change colors, and fall to the ground, making way for new growth.

In our personal lives, there is always change. We grow and change s individuals, in our relationships, in how we relate to the world.

In the Church, which is made of changing people, things are always changing. New hymns are constantly being written, new pastors are ordained even as older ones retire. In our synod, we have a new bishop, who is beginning to find his way in this new office, while we as the synod are finding our way with him.

Change is not something to be afraid of, to be angry about, or to try to ward off. Change is a good and natural part of being alive. Sometimes it is sudden and sometimes it comes about slowly, barely noticed. Sometimes it is welcome and encouraged, and sometimes we struggle to understand what is happening and how we can adapt to it. Everything in creation changes.

And yet, one thing remains the same, and one thing only: “It is God who is at work in us, enabling us both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.”

God’s love remains. Though the world changes around us, God’s love is present. The way we experience that love may change, and there are plenty of examples in scripture of God having to change God’s own plans to work with human change and sinfulness, but God’s mercy, God’s love, God’s grace: these constants do not wane.

Psalm 136 traces this steadfastness of God throughout the history of the Israelite people. For each of the twenty-six verses, a moment in history is named or referred to, and then the refrain: “for God’s steadfast love endures forever.” Good kings, bad kings, escaping from Egypt, toiling under Pharaoh, in possession of their land, loss of the land… in all things, “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”

What would it look like for this to be the refrain in our lives? New job, old job, new friends, old friends, good health and bad, change that is welcome and change that is frightening: throughout it all, God’s steadfast love endures forever. It is God who we serve, God who is at work in us, enabling us to serve God and love God and work for God’s good pleasure.

God’s steadfast love endures forever.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Among all the books of the Bible, I think that the Psalms are my favorite. Biblically, it’s a bit of an odd book. Containing 150 psalms of differing lengths, this book is awash in images and refrains, praises and lamentations, stories of the past and hopes for the future. Discovering the depth of the psalms was a part of theme of this year’s Synod Ministerium. Every September, pastors from across the synod gather together. Fellowship, worship, workshops, and lectures are all part of this three-day retreat. Gathering together is an important part of being church, and especially in a synod as spread out as ours is, opportunities like Ministerium are incredibly valuable.

How flexible the psalms are! Individuals, groups, congregations, and, well, pretty much any one can make use of them. Joy and sorrow, laughter and lament: there is something for everyone in them.

Knowing that the psalms are there, that they cover so many different topics, is such good news. Looking through the psalms, even without a goal in mind, can be an incredible experience. Martin Luther says that the psalms are “a ‘little Bible’ since it contains, set out in the briefest and most beautiful form, all that’s to be found in the whole Bible, a book of good examples from among the whole of Christendom and from among the saints, in order that those who could not read the whole Bible through would have almost the whole of it in summary form.” Now, we do still need the rest of the Bible, but Luther has a point in the variety of stories and emotions in the psalms.

Of course, there are a lot of ways to read the psalms. Prayerful reading or singing of the psalms is good. Quiet space can leave a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to speak. Reflecting on a whole psalm, or just one or two verses, can be a powerful way to start or end your day. See how the psalms might fit into your life. There is a psalm for everything. Understanding isn’t important for devotional reading. Very often we can be derailed by trying to know what exactly the psalmist is “trying” to say. We don’t need that. Xeroxing the psalmist’s emotions isn’t the point. Your faith, your story, your path, are what matter to your experience of the psalms. Zig-zag all over the place with them: it doesn’t matter.

This week, we hear from Psalm 145. A psalm of praise, it is an acrostic, meaning that in the original Hebrew, each verse started with the next letter in the alphabet. Since the Hebrew alphabet only has 21 letters, the 21 verses of the psalm spell out the alphabet, much like the first 26 sentences of this reflection go through the English alphabet.

I encourage you to try out the psalms this week. Look at Psalm 145, and how it sings God’s praises and tells the story of God’s work in the world. Look at other psalms, and look into your own life, and the psalms your heart is singing.

“My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.”

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for Holy Cross Sunday

Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim

Lift high. I think of when we lift things up, when things are held aloft and displayed for all to see. For the most part, we lift things up in victory: trophies, the winning ball, the successful paper. A high-five is lifted up, again often in situation of success or victory, when we are celebrating big events or even small moments.

The cross. Here’s where our hymn of the day (Lift High the Cross) gets a little odd. We’ve established that we usually lift things up in victory, but the cross is a difficult thing to see as “victorious.” Well, perhaps not for us today. As Christians in a very Christian-friendly society, talking about the cross as victory is common. It appears in so many hymns and in so many places. But think of those early Christians. Think of Jesus’ followers for whom the cross was the method by which their leader, their teacher, their rabbi, their friend, their Lord, was crucified: tortured until he died. Death isn’t supposed to be the victory.

The Love of Christ. And yet, as Paul tells us in our reading from 1 Corinthians today, “the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” It is foolishness. It is completely foolish to look for God in one who was put to death by the state. It is completely foolish to look for God on the cross, to look for God in one being punished in the way of criminals. And yet, not only is this where we look, this is where we find God. God in Christ died on the cross. And yet, through God’s love and power we know that God didn’t stay on the cross, but rose again. It’s why in Lutheran churches it is rare to find a crucifix (a cross with the body of Christ on it), but instead we have empty crosses: reminders that Christ rose from dead, and that, indeed, death is not where the victory lies. It is God’s love, Christ’s love, that takes the foolishness of the cross and turns it into a sign of love and power and victory.

Proclaim.  And so what do we do with this knowledge? What do we do now that we know that Christ’s love is more powerful than even death? What do we do when we know that we do not have to do anything in order to get God’s love but that it has already been given to us by the one who died on the cross and did not stay there? We respond. We respond with love God and all that God loves. We respond with love for the world. We respond by telling the world about God’s love, proclaiming the joy and grace that has been given to us. We lift high the cross, the beautifully empty cross, proclaiming Christ’s victory for all the world to hear. With a message such as this, how can we keep silent?

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Reflection for Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Link to: Matthew 18:15-20
 

“For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

This Sunday we are celebrating “God’s Work, Our Hands” Day. It is not just one day. Our celebration of joint worship, fellowship, and service is a particular event on a particular day, but that doesn’t mean that we stop thinking about the world and the church in this way come Monday. “God’s Work, Our Hands” is a great little motto, a great way to remember, to remind ourselves and others, that what we do when we are gathered is not just for us. We are doing God’s work.

Of course, any motto has its limits. “God’s Work, Our Hands” is a catchy little phrase, but four words can’t sum up the entirety of what it means to be people of God. But it doesn’t have to be as complicated as we like to make it. Theologies and books, reasoning and logic: these are all good and useful tools for understanding what it means to be people of faith, and seeking to understand the God who loves us. But we can sometimes get caught up in our reasoning and logic and forget the simple truth that it is God who loves us.

It is simple, really: God loves us, no matter what. No matter what we do or don’t do, what we say or don’t say, what we believe or what we struggle to believe. God loves us.

And so, in response, we love the world. We love the world because God first loved us. We care for those God has created. We care for those who cannot care for themselves. And we do this not because by our actions we can hope to earn God’s love, but because by our actions we are loving God.

We may wonder how we can hope to do anything. We may wonder, in the face of all the pain in the world, if there are enough of us who respond to God’s love to help. But Jesus gives us the answer in our gospel text today. “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Through Christ we can do all things. Whenever and where ever two or three are gathered in Christ’s name, doing God’s work with their hands, Christ is there among them, among us, helping and guiding and loving us.

God’s work. Our Hands.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.

God's Work, Our Hands (Sept. 2014 Newsletter)

Many organizations have slogans, mottos, or mission statements. I can still remember my (all girls) high school’s motto: “Sending forth women of honor.” And my ELCA college’s mission statement: “Wartburg College is dedicated to challenging and nurturing students to live lives of leadership and service as a spirited expression of their faith and learning.” Perhaps you can think of the mottos and missions of organizations you have been a part of over the years. (Or think of corporations and their slogans: “Nike. Just do it.” “Pringles. Once you pop, you just can’t stop.”)

The Upstate New York Synod, the synod which we are part of, has a mission statement as well: We are resurrection people who pray first, walk together, and change lives.” The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which we are part of, has had several statements and slogans over the years. Currently, one of the buzz-phrases is “God’s Work, Our Hands.” This phrase has caught on to the point where the church has started celebrating “God’s Work, Our Hands” Day. Starting last year, and continuing to this year, “God’s Work, Our Hands” Day is an opportunity for congregations across the ELCA to celebrate what it means to be church together. Matching T-shirts is part of it (and we have extras if you did not get a chance to order one and would like one), but there’s more to it. Congregations and organizations across the ELCA are taking time on this day to do service in the world: to be active, positive forces in our communities.

We are going to be taking this day to celebrate together, both Trinity and St Stephen’s. We will have joint worship together on September 7^th at 10am at the Town Park. We will then have lunch together and serve our community by making care packages for our military personnel.

It’s important to remember that this is not just one activity that two congregations in southern Rensselaer County are doing, but a celebration happening across the Church. We are not as isolated as we may sometimes think that we are. The slogan is not “God’s Work, Your Hands” or “God’s Work, My Hands.” Nor is it “Our Work, Our Hands.”

“God’s Work, Our Hands.”

This is a deep reminder that we are not alone in what we do. Though we are in different buildings, we are all Church together. And it is not our church, but God’s Church. It is not our call, but God’s call into the world. It’s not our work, it’s God’s work. And God uses not only our hands, but our hearts, our feet, our voices, our elbows and eyes and tongues and ears and knees. All that we have to offer is valuable to God’s work.

It’s also important to remember that this is not a one-time event. There is a reason that the ELCA chose to have this event the first Sunday in September. This is when many congregations are kicking off their Sunday School programs for the year and getting ready for the coming months of ministry. As we prepare for our Sunday Schools (which you can read more about in the following pages of this newsletter) and for other fall activities, we take this day to celebrate that we do not act alone, that all we do is God’s work, done with our hands.

Thanks be to God.