We are about the enter Holy Week. This week we deliberately and liturgicaly walk the way of the cross into the celebration of Easter. On Palm Sunday we Enter Jerusalem with those who shout Hosanna as Jesus Christ rides into the city on a donkey. Then we hear the passion narrative which prepares us for the three days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday which leads from Jesus last supper with his disciples and Jesus arrest, to crucifixion and then on to the joy of Easter, and the Resurrection.
As we celebrate these holy days my hope is that your faith will be renewed that we will find in this celebration and proclamation the center of our faith and action in the world. It is these events we celebrate in Holy Week and Easter that provide the logic and the ground of our action and compassion in the world. Here we find the Gospel in all its radical world shattering power.
Announcements:
Holy Week and Easter
We are having joint worship services Holy Week and Easter Day with the Immanuel and St Elias Lutheran congregations. On Easter Sunday, we will not have our regular evening service at 6:00 p.m., but will have a joint service with Immanuel at 10:30 a.m.
For Holy week, there will be a Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m., a Good Friday service at 7:30 p.m., and an Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a festive reception following the Vigil. These are gorgeous services, each with their own unique character and flavor. We hope you will join us for as many of them as you can.
If you are interested in taking part in leadership roles in any of the above services please talk with Laura, Larry or Tripp. Monte Johnson is asking for volunteers from all three congregations to read Scripture, help with artistic displays in the sanctuary and Founder's Hall and help set up Founder's Hall for the Vigil and Easter Sunday breakfast. If you're interested in singing in the Immanuel Choir -- and are willing to attend at least two rehearsals, Wednesdays at 7:30 at Immanuel -- let one of the pastors know. Thanks.
Bible Study
We'll begin a new Bible Study April 18. This will be a four-week series focusing on the travel diaries of Egeria, a fourth-century Spanish nun and pilgrim. Through Egeria's diaries we have compelling information about how early Christians worshipped. Come and see how early Christian worship relates to what we do on Sundays at Reconciler, and bring your questions and thoughts about worship.
Worship Committee
Would like to invite all interested Reconcilers to come to a worship committee meeting -- likely at Kaffein in Evanston on a Wednesday night -- to discuss such hot-button liturgical items as:
Which version of the Lord's prayer we want to use? What kind of processional cross do we want to purchase? And....what about inclusive language?
Suggested dates are Wednesday evening, May 16 or 23. Stay tuned and let us know which date would work better for you.
In Christ,
Larry Kamphausen
Friday, March 30
Friday, March 23
Reconciler Almost Weekly Update
I discovered later, and I am still discovering right up to this moment, that it is only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith.
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
-Dietrich Bonhoeffer
This past Sunday I preached about the Christian discipline of celebration. To some this may seem to be an unlikely discipline. Aren't we supposed to live lives of moderation and austerity? Well, not always. The story of the Prodigal Son sheds some light on this. The father responds to his prodigal's final act of obedience with his own act of obedience - a grand party. He celebrates! And, it seems, he was ready to do so. There was a fatted calf waiting for just such a purpose. I wonder if this stated preparation was the sign of a discipline of celebration. We feast when we encounter God's work in one another, God's liberating love in action.
The father embodies one aspect of what Bonhoeffer proclaims in the quotation above. The father did not distance himself. He did not moderate his response to his son's return. He had a grand party with dancing and feasting. He witnessed God at work in the world and he embraced it. His son's sin was in the world. So too was his salvation. The celebration in response could be no less so.
This kind of worldliness that Bonhoeffer understands and that the father embodies is what it looks like to be in the world but not of it. Our "worldliness" does not evaporate. We are still present within it. We cannot escape it. In fact, we are called to be God's presence within it. We are not called to turn our back upon it, to forget about it, to turn a blind eye to it. Not at all. We are to proclaim God's presence within it. We are to stand and call for the fatted calf when we see God at work.
This is the Paschal Feast, Easter, that is just around the corner.
Peace and all Good Things to you,
Tripp Hudgins
Pastoral Team
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements
Congratulations to the Swansons!
We welcome Luella Ferrantelli Swanson into the world. She showed up with a full head of hair and the requisite beatific smile. Her parents are getting along fine. Don't forget. Some of us signed up to help provide food to the Swanson family. Contact Will to make arrangements. If you have not signed up but would like to pitch in, there is a sign-up sheet at the back table of the chapel.
Lenten Supper, Bonhoeffer film, and Discussion
Come to the Community Church of Wilmette -- Tripp's other church -- at 6:30 Wednesday March 28th, to see an excellent film on Bonhoeffer, and discuss how Christian discipleship leads to social justice. (This one's for you, Jeremy.) RSVP to Tripp. Supper will be provided.
Palm Sunday -- Art Opening & Reception
On Palm Sunday, April 1, from 3:00 - 5:00 there will be an art opening and reception at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Artist and Lutheran pastor Linda Hemke will offer a guided tour of her "Passion Pilgrimage," 18 colorful textile panels based on the stations of the cross. The whole world is welcome. This is striking and thoughtful artwork -- don't miss it. The exhibit will be on display April 1 - 8 at Immanuel.
Holy Week and Easter
We are having joint worship services Holy Week and Easter Day with the Immanuel and St Elias Lutheran congregations. On Easter Sunday, we will not have our regular evening service at 6:00 p.m., but will have a joint service with Immanuel at 10:30 a.m.
For Holy week, there will be a Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m., a Good Friday service at 7:30 p.m., and an Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a festive reception following the Vigil. These are gorgeous services, each with their own unique character and flavor. We hope you will join us for as many of them as you can.
If you are interested in taking part in leadership roles in any of the above services please talk with Laura, Larry or Tripp. Monte Johnson is asking for volunteers from all three congregations to read Scripture, help with artistic displays in the sanctuary and Founder's Hall and help set up Founder's Hall for the Vigil and Easter Sunday breakfast. If you're interested in singing in the Immanuel Choir -- and are willing to attend at least two rehearsals, Wednesdays at 7:30 at Immanuel -- let one of the pastors know. Thanks.
Bible Study
We'll begin a new Bible Study April 18. This will be a four-week series focusing on the travel diaries of Egeria, a third-century Spanish nun. Through Egeria's diaries we have compelling information about how early Christians worshipped. Come and see how early Christian worship relates to what we do on Sundays at Reconciler, and bring your questions and thoughts about worship.
Worship Committee
Would like to invite all interested Reconcilers to come to a worship committee meeting -- likely at Kaffein in Evanston on a Wednesday night -- to discuss such hot-button liturgical items as:
Which version of the Lord's prayer we want to use? What kind of processional cross do we want to purchase? And....what about inclusive language?
Suggested dates are Wednesday evening, May 16 or 23. Stay tuned and let us know which date would work better for you.
Retreat
Tripp has been unsuccessful in reaching the Guestmaster at the Benedictine monastery in Bridgeport. We may have some other options in place for those who might be interested. More information is forthcoming.
Nicholas Senn/Community Outreach
Monte asks that we consider attending a special community-based long-range planning meeting for Nicholas Senn High School on March 26th. According to the press release:
"A Senn Strategic Plan Committee intends for Senn High School to become a first-class competitive high school, a #1 choice for parents and students.
To achieve this goal, a school and community based committee, drawn together under the leadership of the Senn Local School Council, is developing a five-year strategic plan to be implemented this September. 'The Senn community has begun an important planning process which will help the school become one of the finest high schools in Chicago, and the school of choice for area students,' State Rep. Harry Osterman said. 'We appeal to parents, students, teachers, neighbors, and community groups to work with us to develop Senn's vision for the future.'
A key component of this planning process is community input. A community meeting to Voice your Vision for Senn’s Future will be held in the school gymnasium on Monday, March 26th, 2007, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The meeting is open to everyone.
Senn High School is an integral part of the Edgewater community. Every resident and neighbor shares a vested interest in its success. Senn has many strengths. Senn’s successful mediation and peer jury program has become a model for schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system and the country. Senn’s Service Learning program has received national awards, and serves as a model for many schools. Senn’s International Baccalaureate program is one of the best in the city. Walking through Senn’s hallways is like a trip to the United Nations with over 54 different languages spoken."
So consider coming out as a member of the community and voice your vision for Senn.
Summer Community Outreach
We'd like to have a booth and be a presence at the neighborhood festivals this summer. It's not too soon to start thinking about it.
Saturday, March 17
Reconciler Almost Weekly Update
“In the midst of life we are in death…” Burial Office, Book of Common Prayer
So here we are, halfway through Lent. This can feel like an in-between time, sandwiched between the “dead of winter” and new life promised by spring. It’s not far off, the warmth and brightness we seek, and yet...we’re not quite there yet.
Our Lenten journey continues. In these 40 days, we recall the temptations of Jesus in the desert, and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. In so doing, we may feel a bit tempted and wandering ourselves. Between the cold weather and the penitential season, our spirits can slip. We're called to keep our eyes on the prize, looking forward to the new life of spring and the Resurrection.
It’s a time of transition for many in our Reconciler congregation. New jobs, changes at work, death of a grandparent, moving to a new home, becoming parents. Transitions, like Lent, can be both challenging and full of promise. They involve a mini-death and rebirth. We’re not what we used to be, but neither are we yet the new creation. It’s an in-between time, a passage.
Spiritual disciplines can help us experience in-between times more fully and creatively. One such discipline is the labyrinth, an ancient tradition that involves going on a metaphorical journey.
In Holy Week, April 1-8, Immanuel Lutheran Church will set up a labyrinth in Founder’s Hall. Anyone in the Immanuel, St. Elias, or Reconciler communities is invited to walk the labyrinth.
Immanuel Church offers this perspective: “The labyrinth has been used for centuries by Christians as a way to allow God to speak. It is used for reflection, prayer and comfort. Bringing your full attention to walking (or tracing with a finger) the labyrinth may shed insight on a question or problem, or give new focus and direction at a challenging time. Since ancient days, the labyrinth has been used as a prayerful way to a journey with Christ to our own center and back again, leading out into the world. Each person’s walk is different.”
In the middle ages, Christians walked the labyrinth to symbolize a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when they were unable to make the actual pilgrimage. This Holy Week, by walking the labyrinth, we can symbolically accompany Jesus on his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. We may also gain clarity about our own journeys.
For more information about labyrinths, visit the website of Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco: www.gracecathedral.com/labyrinth/
Vaya con Dios,
Laura+
The Reverend Laura Gottardi-Littell
For the Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements
Lenten Supper, Bonhoeffer film, and Discussion
Come to the Community Church of Wilmette -- Tripp's other church -- at 6:30 Wednesday March 28th, to see an excellent film on Bonhoeffer, and discuss how Christian discipleship leads to social justice. (This one's for you, Jeremy.) RSVP to Tripp. Supper will be provided.
Pastoral Relations Commitee To Meet
When: This Sunday, March 18 After church
On the agenda: signing Laura's contract
Palm Sunday -- Art Opening & Reception
On Palm Sunday, April 1, from 3:00 - 5:00 there will be an art opening and reception at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Artist and Lutheran pastor Linda Hemke will offer a guided tour of her "Passion Pilgrimage," 18 colorful textile panels based on the stations of the cross. The whole world is welcome. This is striking and thoughtful artwork -- don't miss it. The exhibit will be on display April 1 - 8 at Immanuel.
Holy Week and Easter
We are having joint worship services Holy Week and Easter Day with the Immanuel and St Elias Lutheran congregations. On Easter Sunday, we will not have our regular evening service at 6:00 p.m., but will have a joint service with Immanuel at 10:30 a.m.
For Holy week, there will be a Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m., a Good Friday service at 7:30 p.m., and an Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a festive reception following the Vigil. These are gorgeous services, each with their own unique character and flavor. We hope you will join us for as many of them as you can.
If you are interested in taking part in leadership roles in any of the above services please talk with Laura, Larry or Tripp. Monte Johnson is asking for volunteers from all three congregations to read Scripture, help with artistic displays in the sanctuary and Founder's Hall and help set up Founder's Hall for the Vigil and Easter Sunday breakfast. If you're interested in singing in the Immanuel Choir -- and are willing to attend at least two rehearsals, Wednesdays at 7:30 at Immanuel -- let one of the pastors know. Thanks.
Bible Study
We'll begin a new Bible Study April 18. This will be a four-week series focusing on the travel diaries of Egeria, a third-century Spanish nun. Through Egeria's diaries we have compelling information about how early Christians worshipped. Come and see how early Christian worship relates to what we do on Sundays at Reconciler, and bring your questions and thoughts about worship.
Worship Committee
Would like to invite all interested Reconcilers to come to a worship committee meeting -- likely at Kaffein in Evanston on a Wednesday night -- to discuss such hot-button liturgical items as:
Which version of the Lord's prayer we want to use? What kind of processional cross do we want to purchase? And....what about inclusive language?
Suggested dates are Wednesday evening, May 16 or 23. Stay tuned and let us know which date would work better for you.
Retreat
Tripp has been unsuccessful in reaching the Guestmaster at the Benedictine monastery in Bridgeport. We may have some other options in place for those who might be interested. More information is forthcoming.
Nicholas Senn/Community Outreach
Monte asks that we consider attending a special community-based long-range planning meeting for Nicholas Senn High School on March 26th. According to the press release:
"A Senn Strategic Plan Committee intends for Senn High School to become a first-class competitive high school, a #1 choice for parents and students.
To achieve this goal, a school and community based committee, drawn together under the leadership of the Senn Local School Council, is developing a five-year strategic plan to be implemented this September. 'The Senn community has begun an important planning process which will help the school become one of the finest high schools in Chicago, and the school of choice for area students,' State Rep. Harry Osterman said. 'We appeal to parents, students, teachers, neighbors, and community groups to work with us to develop Senn's vision for the future.'
A key component of this planning process is community input. A community meeting to Voice your Vision for Senn’s Future will be held in the school gymnasium on Monday, March 26th, 2007, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The meeting is open to everyone.
Senn High School is an integral part of the Edgewater community. Every resident and neighbor shares a vested interest in its success. Senn has many strengths. Senn’s successful mediation and peer jury program has become a model for schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system and the country. Senn’s Service Learning program has received national awards, and serves as a model for many schools. Senn’s International Baccalaureate program is one of the best in the city. Walking through Senn’s hallways is like a trip to the United Nations with over 54 different languages spoken."
So consider coming out as a member of the community and voice your vision for Senn.
Summer Community Outreach
We'd like to have a booth and be a presence at the neighborhood festivals this summer. It's not too soon to start thinking about it.
So here we are, halfway through Lent. This can feel like an in-between time, sandwiched between the “dead of winter” and new life promised by spring. It’s not far off, the warmth and brightness we seek, and yet...we’re not quite there yet.
Our Lenten journey continues. In these 40 days, we recall the temptations of Jesus in the desert, and the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. In so doing, we may feel a bit tempted and wandering ourselves. Between the cold weather and the penitential season, our spirits can slip. We're called to keep our eyes on the prize, looking forward to the new life of spring and the Resurrection.
It’s a time of transition for many in our Reconciler congregation. New jobs, changes at work, death of a grandparent, moving to a new home, becoming parents. Transitions, like Lent, can be both challenging and full of promise. They involve a mini-death and rebirth. We’re not what we used to be, but neither are we yet the new creation. It’s an in-between time, a passage.
Spiritual disciplines can help us experience in-between times more fully and creatively. One such discipline is the labyrinth, an ancient tradition that involves going on a metaphorical journey.
In Holy Week, April 1-8, Immanuel Lutheran Church will set up a labyrinth in Founder’s Hall. Anyone in the Immanuel, St. Elias, or Reconciler communities is invited to walk the labyrinth.
Immanuel Church offers this perspective: “The labyrinth has been used for centuries by Christians as a way to allow God to speak. It is used for reflection, prayer and comfort. Bringing your full attention to walking (or tracing with a finger) the labyrinth may shed insight on a question or problem, or give new focus and direction at a challenging time. Since ancient days, the labyrinth has been used as a prayerful way to a journey with Christ to our own center and back again, leading out into the world. Each person’s walk is different.”
In the middle ages, Christians walked the labyrinth to symbolize a pilgrimage to Jerusalem when they were unable to make the actual pilgrimage. This Holy Week, by walking the labyrinth, we can symbolically accompany Jesus on his journey from Galilee to Jerusalem. We may also gain clarity about our own journeys.
For more information about labyrinths, visit the website of Grace Episcopal Cathedral, San Francisco: www.gracecathedral.com/labyrinth/
Vaya con Dios,
Laura+
The Reverend Laura Gottardi-Littell
For the Pastoral Team
The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Announcements
Lenten Supper, Bonhoeffer film, and Discussion
Come to the Community Church of Wilmette -- Tripp's other church -- at 6:30 Wednesday March 28th, to see an excellent film on Bonhoeffer, and discuss how Christian discipleship leads to social justice. (This one's for you, Jeremy.) RSVP to Tripp. Supper will be provided.
Pastoral Relations Commitee To Meet
When: This Sunday, March 18 After church
On the agenda: signing Laura's contract
Palm Sunday -- Art Opening & Reception
On Palm Sunday, April 1, from 3:00 - 5:00 there will be an art opening and reception at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Artist and Lutheran pastor Linda Hemke will offer a guided tour of her "Passion Pilgrimage," 18 colorful textile panels based on the stations of the cross. The whole world is welcome. This is striking and thoughtful artwork -- don't miss it. The exhibit will be on display April 1 - 8 at Immanuel.
Holy Week and Easter
We are having joint worship services Holy Week and Easter Day with the Immanuel and St Elias Lutheran congregations. On Easter Sunday, we will not have our regular evening service at 6:00 p.m., but will have a joint service with Immanuel at 10:30 a.m.
For Holy week, there will be a Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m., a Good Friday service at 7:30 p.m., and an Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a festive reception following the Vigil. These are gorgeous services, each with their own unique character and flavor. We hope you will join us for as many of them as you can.
If you are interested in taking part in leadership roles in any of the above services please talk with Laura, Larry or Tripp. Monte Johnson is asking for volunteers from all three congregations to read Scripture, help with artistic displays in the sanctuary and Founder's Hall and help set up Founder's Hall for the Vigil and Easter Sunday breakfast. If you're interested in singing in the Immanuel Choir -- and are willing to attend at least two rehearsals, Wednesdays at 7:30 at Immanuel -- let one of the pastors know. Thanks.
Bible Study
We'll begin a new Bible Study April 18. This will be a four-week series focusing on the travel diaries of Egeria, a third-century Spanish nun. Through Egeria's diaries we have compelling information about how early Christians worshipped. Come and see how early Christian worship relates to what we do on Sundays at Reconciler, and bring your questions and thoughts about worship.
Worship Committee
Would like to invite all interested Reconcilers to come to a worship committee meeting -- likely at Kaffein in Evanston on a Wednesday night -- to discuss such hot-button liturgical items as:
Which version of the Lord's prayer we want to use? What kind of processional cross do we want to purchase? And....what about inclusive language?
Suggested dates are Wednesday evening, May 16 or 23. Stay tuned and let us know which date would work better for you.
Retreat
Tripp has been unsuccessful in reaching the Guestmaster at the Benedictine monastery in Bridgeport. We may have some other options in place for those who might be interested. More information is forthcoming.
Nicholas Senn/Community Outreach
Monte asks that we consider attending a special community-based long-range planning meeting for Nicholas Senn High School on March 26th. According to the press release:
"A Senn Strategic Plan Committee intends for Senn High School to become a first-class competitive high school, a #1 choice for parents and students.
To achieve this goal, a school and community based committee, drawn together under the leadership of the Senn Local School Council, is developing a five-year strategic plan to be implemented this September. 'The Senn community has begun an important planning process which will help the school become one of the finest high schools in Chicago, and the school of choice for area students,' State Rep. Harry Osterman said. 'We appeal to parents, students, teachers, neighbors, and community groups to work with us to develop Senn's vision for the future.'
A key component of this planning process is community input. A community meeting to Voice your Vision for Senn’s Future will be held in the school gymnasium on Monday, March 26th, 2007, from 6:00 to 8:00 pm. The meeting is open to everyone.
Senn High School is an integral part of the Edgewater community. Every resident and neighbor shares a vested interest in its success. Senn has many strengths. Senn’s successful mediation and peer jury program has become a model for schools throughout the Chicago Public Schools system and the country. Senn’s Service Learning program has received national awards, and serves as a model for many schools. Senn’s International Baccalaureate program is one of the best in the city. Walking through Senn’s hallways is like a trip to the United Nations with over 54 different languages spoken."
So consider coming out as a member of the community and voice your vision for Senn.
Summer Community Outreach
We'd like to have a booth and be a presence at the neighborhood festivals this summer. It's not too soon to start thinking about it.
Sunday, March 11
Sermon: Third Sunday of Lent
3 Lent, Year C
March 11, 2006
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
Readings: Isaiah 55:1-9, Ps. 63:1-8, 1 Cor.10:1-13
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell
How often do we read in the news about a kid caught in the crossfire of a drug deal on the south side, a really nice kid, an A-student, who shouldn’t have died, but did? Our news accounts flood us with examples of decent people, both old and young, caught up in tragedy. Ordinary people killed on their way to work, school, worship. The bus accident last week that took the lives of baseball players at a small college…who among them deserved to die? So many other examples in the headlines, or in our own lives.
In today’s gospel, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, and he’s teaching. Some people in the crowd tell him about several Galileans who were brutally killed by Pontius Pilate’s solders while they were presenting their sacrifices. Jesus responds by asking the crowd if they think these Galileans were worse than any others, any more deserving of such a fate? Jesus goes on to tell them about 18 people who died when the Tower of Siloam in the Jerusalem wall fell on them. Jesus then says that neither the Galileans killed by Pilate nor those struck by the Tower were any more sinful than anyone else.
.
So much of life seems unfair, or at best random…and that’s hard.
If we’re doing our best to be faithful and good, if we’re minding our own business….shouldn’t there be some guarantees?
Where’s the good news here?
Today’s gospel contains good news for us, as the gospel always does, though sometimes we have to dig a bit to find it. A former pastor of mine used to say: “The good news is the bad news is the good news.” The good news sometimes masquerades as, or is found in the midst of, the bad news. This pastor should know: he lost two sons to cystic fibrosis. He was no stranger to life’s difficulties.
The good news here is… a loving God is present to us, even though there’s much of life we can’t control. It’s a subtle, complex message. And it may not sound like good news, for those of us who like to be in control, or when we desperately need to feel some control…but control is actually a very mixed bag. Once we start feeling we have to be in control, it’s hard to stop. We end up controlling things – and people -- we’ve got no business messing with. Sometimes we even try to control God. And we can’t.
God asks us to do our best with life, in all its unpredictability. God asks us to turn to and trust God, who will love and be present to us in all things. Today’s gospel and epistle ask us to get right with God – and stay right -- even though much of life is out of our control.
Can God control everything that happens? That’s debatable. Theologians differ on that point. But we know for sure we can’t control everything. That’s beyond cavil. We’re noticeably out of control on this island planet, as we spin through a vast desert of space.
Sometimes we invent a sense of control when we have none. It helps us cope. We seek to put God, and life, into neat little packages.
If something bad happens to someone, they must have sinned. God is punishing them.
If someone lives a charmed life, they must be good. God loves them.
That was the prevailing worldview in Jesus’ time.
But life is not that neat and clean.
Bad things happen to good people.
Good things happen to bad people.
Would any of us say to a person dying of cancer: “What did you do to deserve this?” Who among us would say to a rape survivor: “I bet it really was your fault.” No. All of us in this room are too sensitive and aware for that.
Still our human minds often struggle to understand the “Why’s” of life. And we can spin on that hamster wheel a long time. A mentor once told me: “We don’t have good answers to the why questions.”
We do, however, have some very good answers to the how questions. How can I live well knowing the reality of suffering. How can I help others with the empathy and experience I’ve acquired through my own struggle. How can I try to be right with God in a world where so many things go wrong? How can I take responsibility for my actions, and work on the parts of life I can control?
Our gospel today calls us to do our level best with the non-level playing field that is life. To accept that we’re not always in control, yet we still need to take responsibility for our actions.1To know that rain falls on the just and the unjust, and try to be the just, anyway. Because…God expects it of us. Because….ultimately there’s more joy in it. And because…as Jesus says, there’s a both/and here: the love of God and the wrath of God. God the gardener, lovingly tends us fig trees, and gives us many chances to be fruitful. Yet God is also capable of cutting us down if we continue to be unproductive and unhealthy. Or perhaps it’s we who, by our own actions, wither away if we keep wasting the nutrients we need, keep turning away from what truly nurtures us. As one author says “Seen in theological terms, judgment is God’s grace. This grace says that life is too precious to be squandered by living apart from Christ. The parable says that there are limits to this wastefulness, and it is for our sake that there is a deadline, since rarely do any of us change without the impinging of consequence.”2
Jesus is saying that the Galileans murdered by Pilate and those crushed by the Tower of Siloam were no worse than anyone else in Galilee or Jerusalem. But he also says that unless his listeners shape up, they might meet the same fate. He’s trying to instill holy fear in them. Episcopal priest and author Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “[For Jesus] it is not a bad thing for them to count their breaths in the dark – not if it makes them turn toward the light…it is that turning he wants for them, which is why he tweaks their fear. Don’t worry about Pilate and the other things that can come crashing down on your heads, he tells them. Terrible things happen, and you are not always to blame. But don’t let that stop you from doing what you are doing. That torn place your fear has opened up inside of you is a holy place. Look around while you are there. Pay attention to what you feel…
“Depending on what you want from God, this may not sound like good news. But for those of us who have discovered that we cannot make life safe nor God tame, it is gospel enough. What we can do is turn our faces to the light. That way, whatever befalls us, we will fall the right way.”3
Being a good person of faith is not a talisman against misfortune. It’s no guarantee. Life is life. God is God. There’s much we can’t control. But there is a promise we can lean on: God is with us in everything. In all the vagaries, unfairness, and beauty of life, a loving gardener attends us, cajoling, nurturing, and stretching us into bearing the fruits of the spirit. We’re asked to trust God, turn our faces to the light, and “grow and flourish like a fig tree in bloom, doing [God’s] will.”4 That’s what our gospel gives us. That’s the good news. That’s what we have. Amen.
+++
11 For assistance in recognizing the both/and – there’s much we can’t control yet we’re still responsible for our actions -- as those ideas relate to this gospel – I’m grateful to my colleague M.E. Eccles.
2 Synthesis, Sedgwick Publishing Company, March 11 2007 issue.
3 Barbara Brown Taylor, as quoted in Synthesis, March 11, 2007 issue.
4 Synthesis, March 11, 2007 issue.
Friday, March 9
Reconciler Almost Weekly Update
O God, make speed to save us;
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Peace and all Good Things,
Tripp Hudgins
Pastoral Team
Announcements:
Chronos or Kairos:
Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. Be certain to change your clocks when you go to bed on Saturday evening ahead one hour. Spring forward!
Church Council:
We will have a Council Meeting this Thursday, March 15, 7:30pm at the 'Nidge. So, come one! Come all! The meetings at Reconciler are always fun!
O Lord, make haste to help us.
Blessed are you, God of compassion and mercy:
you accepted the sacrifice of your Son,
who have himself up for the sake of all.
You train us by his teaching
and school us in his obedience,
that as we walk his way of sacrifice,
we may come to share in your glory.
For these and all your mercies, we praise you:
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Blessed be God for ever!
Peace and all Good Things,
Tripp Hudgins
Pastoral Team
Announcements:
Chronos or Kairos:
Daylight Savings Time begins this weekend. Be certain to change your clocks when you go to bed on Saturday evening ahead one hour. Spring forward!
Church Council:
We will have a Council Meeting this Thursday, March 15, 7:30pm at the 'Nidge. So, come one! Come all! The meetings at Reconciler are always fun!
Holy Week and Easter:
We are having joint worship services Holy Week and Easter Day with the Immanuel and St Elias Lutheran congregations. On Easter Sunday, we will not be having our regular evening service at 6:00 p.m., but will have a joint service with Immanuel at 10:30 a.m.
For Holy week, there will be a Maundy Thursday service at 7:30 p.m., a Good Friday service at 7:30 p.m., and an Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday at 7:30 p.m. There will also be a festive reception following the Vigil. These are wonderful services, each with their own unique character and flavor. We hope you will join us for as many of them as you can.
If you are interested in taking part in lay leadership roles in any of the above services please talk with Laura, Larry or Tripp. Monte Johnson is asking for volunteers from all three congregations to read Scripture, help with artistic displays in the sanctuary and Founder's Hall (where part of the Vigil will take place and the post-Vigil reception will be held), and to help set up Founder's Hall for the Vigil and after the Vigil (for Easter Sunday). Also, if you would be interested in singing in the Immanuel Choir -- and are willing to attend at least two rehearsals, Wednedays at 7:30 at Immanuel -- let one of the pastors know. Thanks.
Bible Study:
Our Bible Study will conclude this Wednesday. Please read the last two chapters of Peterson's work. We will begin a new Bible study after Easter on April 18. More information is forthcoming.
Retreat:
Tripp has been unsuccessful in reaching the Guestmaster at the Benedictine monastery in Bridgeport. We may have some other options in place for those who might be interested. Again, more information is forthcoming.
Monday, March 5
Sermon: Second Sunday of Lent
Ps. 27
Luke 13:31-35
This is a curious psalm
If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.
• This verse provides a clue. Here trouble does not pass us by. Here is some of the worst kind of trouble. And here is the promise of God expressed by the Psalmist. Have no doubt that trouble will come. Know, however, that God is in the midst of that trouble to hold you up. It is a tenuous place, a place of longing.
• With waiting comes longing.
“Come,” my heart says ”seek his face!”
Your face, O LORD, do I seek.
The longing is this deep…to long for the thing that is just out of reach, but is as intimate as the desires of our own hearts. This is where God resides. The heart knows this when the mind cannot. The mind will puzzle and ponder and get us nowhere sometimes. But the heart…The Psalms are poetry. Only an art form like poetry could hold such contradictory ideas together. Only art can give voice to the longings of the heart in such a way.
Let’s look to Jesus now.
Jesus has seen all of this before in the history of the Hebrew people.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to it…
Here we encounter another strange dualism. The City of Peace, God’s own promised city, the city where the Temple resides, becomes the instrument of God’s own destruction.
Dualism reigns…
• Peace/Destruction
• Embrace/Denial
• Shelter/Abandonment
• Promises/Lament
• Fox/Mother Hen
But here in the Gospel we have more than a statement of Dualism, the artist’s skill at holding the contradictory together…We have a response:
God’s own desire.
How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Here God’s own longing is expressed. Her we find a God who waits for us, who desires to nurture us, to shelter us…God’s waiting is the shape of our own waiting…transforms our longing.
The turn to the archetypical feminine here is Luke’s account is powerful. We no longer hear “fortress” or “stronghold.” No. Now we have an image of nurture and embrace.
And now the nature of waiting becomes a position of strength and hope – a declaration of God’s enduring presence…Jesus’ waiting is not one of passivity or weakness. It is a position of wisdom.
Proverbs 8:1-4
1Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
2On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
4‘To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
The feminine enshrouded desire of God can remind us of Sofia, of Wisdom.
22The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
23Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
26when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
27When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
This passage should remind us of John’s prologue…In the beginning was the Word. The classic portrayal of wisdom is that of the feminine. And she was with God in the beginning of all things. Perhaps, Luke remembers this for us, or Jesus remembers this for us…by mothering us.
The act of waiting is a stance of wisdom…
The expression of longing…
the heart’s desire to seek God’s face
Jesus’ desire to gather us in and mother us
this is what it means to wait.
Jesus will continue to Jerusalem.
The City of Peace
And there he will meet his end.
But Jesus; desire will not be thwarted
For there is the Resurrection.
The Resurrection is God’s response to the destructive powers of Herod and of the religious leadership who would see Christ dead.
All of these threats, in the end, are in vain.
If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.
This is the basis of our courage as we wait for God.
The discipline of waiting is the proclamation of God’s own desire.
Luke knows this to be true…the intention is real. And with the Psalmist we can say “The LORD will take me up.”
Waiting proclaims what is...
not what will be.
This waiting is ultimately practical.
In the face of the tragic events of this week…
- a bus spilling out onto the highway
- a school destroyed in a storm
- war and chaos
We have to tune our hearts to God’s desire and allow ourselves to be gathered in…
To be held and mothered by God.
Grace, says U2’s Bono, carries the world on her hips. Waiting for God is not a desert. Waiting is nurturing, incubation, gestation, it is being carried when we cannot continue on our own.
Waiting is a way of standing on the promises of God’s own Wisdom as She stands on the city walls and please for Her people to hearken to Her.
We wait in Wisdom.
We wait in Grace.
And She carries us along on Her hips
bearing the burdens of the world.
May God grant you Peace.
May God’s grace uphold you.
May Wisdom find you.
May She Who Stands on the Walls find you waiting.
Amen.
Luke 13:31-35
This is a curious psalm
- Two opposing sentiments?
- Praise
- Lamentation
- Some scholars even suggest that this single psalm is really two works of poetry linked together. Well, what would be the point to that?
- It is not that I disagree with the scholars. My Hebrew is not strong enough to form an opinion one way or another. But what I know is that we have been handed one work. Someone, it seems, intended for us to hold these two contradictory notions together.Qualities of God:
- God will protect
- God will keep danger at bay
- Perhaps…perhaps not…
If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.
• This verse provides a clue. Here trouble does not pass us by. Here is some of the worst kind of trouble. And here is the promise of God expressed by the Psalmist. Have no doubt that trouble will come. Know, however, that God is in the midst of that trouble to hold you up. It is a tenuous place, a place of longing.
• With waiting comes longing.
“Come,” my heart says ”seek his face!”
Your face, O LORD, do I seek.
The longing is this deep…to long for the thing that is just out of reach, but is as intimate as the desires of our own hearts. This is where God resides. The heart knows this when the mind cannot. The mind will puzzle and ponder and get us nowhere sometimes. But the heart…The Psalms are poetry. Only an art form like poetry could hold such contradictory ideas together. Only art can give voice to the longings of the heart in such a way.
Let’s look to Jesus now.
- Jesus and the Pharisees are having a little conversation.
- The Pharisees are not likely offering help.
- They are likely taunting Jesus.
- Jesus will go on healing anyway.
- Luke reminds us yet again of the
- very political nature of Jesus’ ministry.
- Religious politics
- State politics
Jesus has seen all of this before in the history of the Hebrew people.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those that are sent to it…
Here we encounter another strange dualism. The City of Peace, God’s own promised city, the city where the Temple resides, becomes the instrument of God’s own destruction.
Dualism reigns…
• Peace/Destruction
• Embrace/Denial
• Shelter/Abandonment
• Promises/Lament
• Fox/Mother Hen
But here in the Gospel we have more than a statement of Dualism, the artist’s skill at holding the contradictory together…We have a response:
God’s own desire.
How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Here God’s own longing is expressed. Her we find a God who waits for us, who desires to nurture us, to shelter us…God’s waiting is the shape of our own waiting…transforms our longing.
The turn to the archetypical feminine here is Luke’s account is powerful. We no longer hear “fortress” or “stronghold.” No. Now we have an image of nurture and embrace.
And now the nature of waiting becomes a position of strength and hope – a declaration of God’s enduring presence…Jesus’ waiting is not one of passivity or weakness. It is a position of wisdom.
Proverbs 8:1-4
1Does not wisdom call,
and does not understanding raise her voice?
2On the heights, beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries out:
4‘To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
The feminine enshrouded desire of God can remind us of Sofia, of Wisdom.
22The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
23Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth—
26when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
27When he established the heavens, I was there,
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race.
This passage should remind us of John’s prologue…In the beginning was the Word. The classic portrayal of wisdom is that of the feminine. And she was with God in the beginning of all things. Perhaps, Luke remembers this for us, or Jesus remembers this for us…by mothering us.
The act of waiting is a stance of wisdom…
The expression of longing…
the heart’s desire to seek God’s face
Jesus’ desire to gather us in and mother us
this is what it means to wait.
Jesus will continue to Jerusalem.
The City of Peace
And there he will meet his end.
But Jesus; desire will not be thwarted
For there is the Resurrection.
The Resurrection is God’s response to the destructive powers of Herod and of the religious leadership who would see Christ dead.
All of these threats, in the end, are in vain.
If my father and mother forsake me,
the LORD will take me up.
This is the basis of our courage as we wait for God.
The discipline of waiting is the proclamation of God’s own desire.
Luke knows this to be true…the intention is real. And with the Psalmist we can say “The LORD will take me up.”
Waiting proclaims what is...
not what will be.
This waiting is ultimately practical.
In the face of the tragic events of this week…
- a bus spilling out onto the highway
- a school destroyed in a storm
- war and chaos
We have to tune our hearts to God’s desire and allow ourselves to be gathered in…
To be held and mothered by God.
Grace, says U2’s Bono, carries the world on her hips. Waiting for God is not a desert. Waiting is nurturing, incubation, gestation, it is being carried when we cannot continue on our own.
Waiting is a way of standing on the promises of God’s own Wisdom as She stands on the city walls and please for Her people to hearken to Her.
We wait in Wisdom.
We wait in Grace.
And She carries us along on Her hips
bearing the burdens of the world.
May God grant you Peace.
May God’s grace uphold you.
May Wisdom find you.
May She Who Stands on the Walls find you waiting.
Amen.
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