Making Christ Known

As Christians, we celebrate the good news of Easter.  We sometimes proclaim the resurrection as though Jesus being raised from the dead is a simple observational fact, when it's not.  The early disciples were confronted with an empty tomb.  Only faith would lead them to see something more.  And faith would only happen with an encounter with the risen Lord. It wasn't only Thomas who had doubts.  It was true for Mary.  It was true for Peter.  Each had to encounter Jesus.  Thomas had to put his fingers in the marks of the nails for him to believe.  He is not alone.  His story is our story.  The question becomes how do we encounter the risen Lord?  How do we place our fingers in the marks of the nails?  This is where the gospel becomes even more amazing.  The risen Lord is made known through us, the people of God.  As we bear the marks of the nails, as we are disciples, we make Christ known.  God uses our witness to make faith happen in the lives of others.  I am grateful for every opportunity we have to serve others in the world,  Each opportunity is an occasion for grace.  Each opportunity is an occasion for faith to happen.

Lenten Invitation

“Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful,

 slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

Joel 2:13

Do you recognize these words from the prophet Joel?  We hear them every year at our Ash Wednesday service as we begin our Lenten journey.  We also sing them every Sunday throughout Lent, prior to hearing the reading of the Gospel.  Return to the Lord your God.  The emphasis of Lent is to turn, or re-turn, to God.  Day in and day out, the world has our attention.  Lent calls us to turn our attention to God.  The demands of our lives are constantly turning our focus outward.  Lent invites us to turn our focus inward, that we might focus on Jesus and our relationship with him.

Throughout the forty days of Lent, we invite you to pause for reflection.  Use the gifts of the church to help you re-turn to God.  There are opportunities for prayer, worship, and bible study.  This Lent, return to the Lord your God, and discover the One who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

Peace, 

Pastor Summer

Pray for Paris

I'm still reeling from the events of yesterday.  Darkness has struck again.  Bombs exploding.  Guns firing.  127 people left dead in the city of Paris.  I am at once shocked, heartbroken, and appalled.  As I write this morning, I am seized by two impulses.  One is the desire to make sense of what has happened and the other is to take some action.  The first impulse is an illusive goal.  There is no way you can make sense of a senseless act.  In the coming days, my feeling is that all the explanations will fall short.  As a person of faith, I believe the scriptures offer the best guidance.  The scriptures simply acknowledge that we live in a dark, broken, and sinful world where, tragically, terrible things can happen to innocent people.  My faith also allows me to face that truth and not be undone which brings me to my second impulse.

My second impulse is to take some meaningful action is response to what has happened.  Again, as a person of faith, I will pray, but I know that my prayers can feel as though they are just so many words spoken in the darkness.  What do my prayers do?  Certainly, they do not inform God of what is happening.  God is already grieving the loss and sorrow that has taken place and is standing by the families and friends who have lost loved ones.  My prayer is not to alert God.  My prayer gives voice to my own sorrow, hurt, and outrage.  But more than a cry to the Holy One who listens and understands, my prayer is a declaration that the darkness will not win for I am a child of the light.  My prayer is an invitation to God to work through me in this broken world that the light might shine.  My prayer is an affirmation of my faith that "the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it."  On this day of sorrow, may the light shine!

Peace,
Pastor Summer

Sabbath Time

In our crazy lives, time is one of our most precious commodities.  We complain that we do not have enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.  We find that the demands of our schedule dictate our lives.  We spend our time juggling all of our commitments.  Time is the one thing everyone wants and time is the one thing we feel we can't afford to give. We find ourselves saying we would do many things if only we had the time.

As with everything else in our lives, God understands our dilemma.  The struggle with time is universal and has been with us from the beginning.  One of God's most gracious gift is the gift of Sabbath, a holy time set apart from the craziness of life.  A time for God.  A time for family.  A time to be still.  Back in the day, Sunday used to be that time.  Sunday is not sacred as it once was, but Sabbath should be.  God invites us to create Sabbath in our lives.  It doesn't have to be Sunday, but it needs to be for our emotional, mental, and physical health.  Sabbath is also needed for our spiritual health.  Mother Theresa was once asked how often she prayed.  She said she prayed for an hour every morning.  She was then asked how often she prayed when she was busy.  She answered that when live got crazy, she prayed two hours.  Her surprising answer comes with some much needed truth.  God calls us to set aside a time for Sabbath.  Sabbath was created for us.  May we restore that holy time to our lives.

Peace,
Pastor Summer

Youth Gathering - Review

There's nothing like having your ipad die while you are away.  My hope was to continue blogging during the gathering, but technology ended that dream.  I'm back in pocket and still living in the afterglow of Detroit.  The Youth Gatherings tend to be mountain top experiences, and this one was no exception.  Detroit is an amazing city.  Unlike our experience in New Orleans, the challenge has not been a natural disaster, but an economic one.  The city felt almost deserted.  The architectural beauty was still there, but faded.  There were fewer people than you might imagine in a major metropolitan area.  As with all gathering, the evening community events were filled with wonderful speakers, great music, and lots of energy.  I would recommend going the ELCA Youth Gathering website and catching some of the videos.

The greatest take away for me was the encounter with the people of Detroit.  We had the opportunity to go out into the community to do some much needed work.  In particular, we were sent to spruce up 100 blocks north of the city.  Many of the homes are abandoned and look that way.  With shovels, saws, clippers, and plastic bags, we cleared and cleaned yard after yard.  We removed trash, weeds, overgrown vines, and unsafe porches and structures.  The people in the neighborhoods were amazed.  An older woman on a porch  told me she never saw so many white people and, since we were wearing orange, were we carrying out some sentence.  When I told her we were not convicts but Lutherans and that we were doing it for free as a witness to Christ, she was overwhlemed and clearly grateful.  No one had done anything like this for them.  One woman stopped her car in the middle of the road, got out while the car was running, and blessed all of us.  She then had everyone gather around the car while she prayed.  A little boy, with his mother's permission, shared his Pringles with us.  These are just a few of the stories.  There are many more.  While we were in Detroit, we had the possibility of bringing hope to a community that has known very little.  We got the chance to live out and experience the gospel.  Those are memories that will stay with you for a lifetime.

If you get the chace, talk with someone who went to Detroit.  They will have stories to tell.  It will be a week that I will always remember.

Peace,

Pastor Summer

Youth Gathering - Day 2

Today was the first official day of the Gathering.  We explored the city on the People Mover and ate lunch in Thomas Edison Park.  We discovered a great restaraunt called Bucherest Grille.  The rest of the day was spent getting autographs for our T-shirts.  Detroit is an interesting city.  It seems almost deserted.  The people are so glad to have us.  The weather was perfect and the Riverwalk was beautiful.  We went to Ford Field was the opening program.  We were fortunate enough to be on the floor.  With 30,000 young people, the energy was amazing.  The music was I spiring.  It was a great way to start the Gathering.  The trip back to the hotel took some time and we didn't return to almost 11:30.  The bus heads back to the city tomorrow morning at 7:15.  It will be a full day.  I keep you informed tomorrow.

Peace
Pastor

Youth Gathering 2015

The adventure has begun.  We are safely in Detroit.  The Gathering officially begins tomorrow.  The theme is "Rise Up".  We have been traveling two days on bus with 190 other people from the New Jersey Synod.  You can feel the excitement building.  Tomorrow we will "rise up" early and take in the city.  We'll also go to the Cobo Center and get our first taste of the Gathering.  We will be wearing our autograph shirts and New Jersey ties.  You will be able to catch pictures of us on Facebook and Twitter.  Kathryn Schaefer is handling the social media outlets.  We won't be returning to the hotel until late tomorrow night.  I'm not sure when I will be able to blog, but I'm going to make the effort.  Keep the Gathering and our young people in your prayers.  We off to a great start.

Peace,
Pastor