Summer Worship Schedule- June - August

Sunday June 19 (Holy Trinity Sunday and Fathers Day) - 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday June 26- 5 pm, Evening Prayer with Holy Eucharist

Sunday July 3- no worship service.

Sunday July 10- 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday July 17- 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday July 24- 5 pm, Evening Prayer with Holy Eucharist

Sunday July 31- 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday August 7- 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday August 14- 5 pm, Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday August 21-  5 pm. Evening Prayer with Holy Eucharist 

Sunday August 28- 5 pm. Holy Eucharist (using adapted Lima Liturgy)

Sunday September 4 (Labor Day Weekend) - 5 pm, Evening Prayer with Holy Eucharist

Reconciliation, Ecumenism, Missional, and Martyrdom

This has been edited 3/19 - 3/20/2013, mostly the edit was in terms of readability and grammar  an update was added at the end. LEK
In this season of Christmas I have been thinking a bit about the name of this worshiping community. As we started Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler we chose the name for two reasons: First we wanted to be clear that in starting this ecumenical congregation we weren't reconciling our denominations, but we were lead to this because we ourselves had, through various ways, including the work of the World Council of Churches, found that Jesus Christ was already accomplishing this reconciliation. Second, we felt lead to be a place of reconciliation not only between denominations, but also a place where people who were alienated from the church and God due to the divisions and actions of fellow Christians could hear again the message of reconciliation and be so reconciled.

As those of you who have been part of Reconciler know, the institutional and denominational aspects of our original vision never materialized: We were unable to recruit from congregations of our respective denominations, and our idea of affiliating as a congregation with the three denominations of the three original pastors hasn't come to fruition and for the past year we have been functioning with the understanding that this will probably never happen.

What did happen was that we became a place for a few who had been alienated from God and the church to find their way to us and find a place where they could find God and Christ and participate in the life of the church. This has meant that some people have been apart of our worshiping community for a time and moved on to other things.

I have come to see Reconciler as an outpost in our urban post-Christian, post-Christendom culture and society. A place of interchange and sending: sometimes sending people deeper into our emergent cultural reality and sometimes sending people back into the institutional realities of the Christian landscape. Those of us who remain seem to be moving back and forth between an ever shifting cultural landscape and the massive and firm institutions and identities of our denominations, that in fact make possible this little outpost on the edge, or in the midst of emergence.

What we didn't see six and seven years ago, was that most congregations of whatever denomination already bear the fruit of a century of ecumenical work, cooperation, and dialog. Whatever one may feel about the weakening of denominational loyalty and identity among laity, and however lamentable the lack of awareness of the work of the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical endeavors may be, the dissolution of impermeable membranes of denominations for the laity is largely due to ecumenism. Perhaps not what we heady ecumenists thought would be the fruit, but it is the fruit nonetheless. When our institutions stopped (for the most part) claiming to be the Truth, when we began to admit that those other believers in Jesus just might also know God and Christ (however imperfectly from our perspective) it perhaps was inevitable (in conjunction with other cultural factors such as our high degree of mobility), that many would find denominational distinction and loyalty unnecessary.  Anecdotal evidence from talking to pastors from across denominational lines and  pastors in my own denomination this seems to be the new reality: a growing number parishes and congregations in Protestantism are ecumenical congregations. Institutionally and in name they may be from a particular denomination and call pastors only from that denomination but the backgrounds and even the theology and spirituality that the laity bring with them is often not that of the denomination of the congregation's official affiliation. I think this is something to celebrate and not lament, though it is lamentable if we don't seize this opportunity and simply allow the situation to be a of watering down of our theology so as to never reveal possible differences in these de facto ecumenical congregations.

That though is another post: What the above means is that we probably had our original idea of bringing members together from differing denominations because it was actually already happening: getting laity from differing protestant denominations to worship together really was a fairly tame idea, as Protestant laity were already choosing to do so, choosing a congregation based on other things than theology and denominational identity and loyalty.

However, does this mean we are all reconciled now! Hardly, there are other divisions some emerging others that have always been there, modernist/liberal vs. fundamentalist/conservative, racial and ethnic, class etc. I think to some degree the ignoring of denominational loyalty is in part due to various realignments in american religion.

What all this means for Reconciler's vision is that we are left with being open to God's reconciling work in Jesus Christ. A place where some are willing to retain institutional connections while also fully engaging a culture society and Christian landscape in transition and emergence.

The common institutional form of the congregation as articulated in most denominational structures isn't well suited for this sort of space of in-between,  border, and outpost (the experience of Reconciler seems to indicate). The American denomination and congregation is a worshiping community plus, as often as not with emphasis on the plus. Much good has come from this understanding and in certain contexts still is an important expression of the church. But what if Christian faith and the faith of the church and the work of the church is always already simply worship, and being sent from those gathered together as a doxological community. This too isn't new, the trendy term missional is attached to such an idea. but mission and missional are perhaps too freighted with colonial baggage, too activist oriented, too certain that we who are sent aren't the ones in need of reconciliation. Even missional is too tied to Christendom and has difficulty grasping that our sending, our suffering, our work is our reconciliation and our salvation. As protestants we forget that as important as God's declaration and accomplishment of our justification, salvation and reconciliation in the blood of Christ Cross is, it is in our own living out the work of Christ in the world that we bring to completion the work of Christ. This is martyrdom. We the gathered and sent people of God are the space the locus of God working out what God accomplished in Jesus Christ. Our very lives are to be the place of reconciling work of Christ. The Martyrs in their deaths and witness were completing and filling out the suffering of Christ, which is the means of our reconciliation with each other and to God.

Not all Christians even in the early church were called to martyrdom, not all are called to these boundary spaces in our current cultural landscape, but some of us are, some of us need these spaces to be able to encounter Christ again for the first time. Some of us need them for our own reconciliation, so that we may fulfill and fill out Christ's passion, that we may find our selves reconciled to God and our fellow human beings. This I believe is the charism that has emerged around this idea and Name Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. More on where this charism may lead us in the next month.  (The more did come but not in blog from, it came eventually as A Little Rule for the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler, and 4 and then 7 people working to found the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler, LEK 3/20/2013)

Reconciler and Parable of the Unjust Steward: Possibly a preview of Sunday's Sermon

I am challenged by what Reconciler has become. Over the years we have had to shed a number of things we thought important and necessary for an ecumenical congregation to function. What I am challenged by is the realization that those things we have shed are those things that would have allowed a firm identity for Reconciler, but also created an ecumenism that was relatively self contained if also possibly reproducible. But such self containment would have also not been really ecumenical. What has been formed is something less easily defined and summarized, but also more open and porous. Caring for and being pastor at Reconciler may largely entail finding ways to nurture and establish relationships in all possible situations with those both who one might expect, like our host church and the other two churches who share space here from Immanuel, but also in less likely or even completely unlikely places.

This is a challenge because I am not sure what this all looks like or will look like. I am beginning conversations with some other pastors in the neighborhood and with whom I know from the inter-religious group of the Edgewater Community Religious Association. Though this also makes sense that it would be there and with pastors and other churches in the neighborhood that we'd begin to nurture relationships. But what that looks like is also a little uncertain for it blurs lines of identity and community. I have for sometime been experiencing this with some members of Immanuel Lutheran Church: by simply leading worship in joint worship services over these past few years I am in a sense a pastor to people who never attend Reconciler, but attend Immanuel. Yet this is also happening with those who don't go to church, or don't have a church home and also don't attend Reconciler. In the past year I have had a handful of people introduce me to family or friends as their pastor, they may have attend for awhile, or only once or twice but they have made a connection feel a relationship, that they describe as pastoral. It has puzzled me.

I find the position Reconciler is in and I am in as the pastor, to be simultaneously almost unremarkable and incredibly difficult to wrap my mind around. What is a congregation with porous boundaries in which its pastor, and maybe even, "congregants" have and are called to nurture relationships that aren't for the purpose of growth in the numbers of people who attend worship? What is the meaning of the gathered who come and worship together, what is the character of this ecclesia? Is this making friends through dishonest wealth? Is this a shrewed means to allow the Kingdom of God and the Gospel to be welcomed in places where by other means and some purity of being church could never accomplish? (Luke 16:1-13) I don't know. But to be ecumenical does require the nurture of relationships across what have been and still seem to be firm boundaries of identity, politics, and association. Boundaries that simply are being crossed even if in the crossing of them we act as though they are still firm and impenetrable. Perhaps it really is odd that in the midst of crisis about the future of Christianity and denominations and churches in the US, the nurture of relationships that have no means of increasing our own "wealth" that bring us no material benefit, no growth in numbers of people who flock to our cause is precisely what is continuing to be neglected, but what we have always already been called to do. I understand this neglect because to seek to make connections and to nurture relationships for the sake of making them without a firm sense of what this relationship will bring except a connection feels treacherous and useless.

It seems that I am a pastor to more than the 15 or so people who come around for Reconciler's weekly worship. It seems Reconciler has had an effect on its host church that can't quite be measured. It seems that counting and measuring may not tell us the whole story, and may even distort the story we are to be telling ourselves. Perhaps Reconciler invites people to an openness of relationship that rests on who God is and not on that there is a firm bounded singular identity for someone to join, other than to come into the people of God?

What I do know is that we tried to live into the bounded character of what our denominational institutions expect of congregations and parishes and Reconciler has been lead away from those rubrics of firm identity and bounded community, to something else...

Parish and Community Organizing workshops

Immanuel and four other ELCA churches in the Edgewater neighborhood the past three Wednesday had a workshop on the parish and community organizing lead by the Rev. Stephen Bouman who is Executive Director of the ELCA's Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission unit. Reconciler was invited by Immanuel to take part in these workshops, I, the pastor was the only one to attend. In the end I found the three sessions inspiring. Reconciler as an ecumenical congregation was started as a way to engage our context in the way these churches are seeking to do through adopting tools from community organizing. Based on these three sessions I see that Reconciler could be enriched by what these four congregations seem to be seeking to do together in utilizing the techniques and tools of community organizing. I think our experience as a congregation that sees its worship as that which forms us and the place from which we are empowered to live as Christ’s disciples in the world and with our neighbors. If we allow ourselves to engage these congregations in this process I feel we may find the ability to build upon our strengths and share our experience of church as primarily a worshiping community that through worship is empowered to live with each other and engage what God is doing in the world. The spirit has moved and is moving I believe we are called to be apart of it, in fact we already are through relationship with Immanuel that can grow if we let it.

The first session was more or less “Community Organizing 101”. In that session Bouman sought to connect the principles of community organizing to Scripture and the reality of church as place of proclamation of the Gospel. He began by reading 2 Kings 4:1-7 and having us discuss the passage. What he helped us draw out of this passage was that God uses what we already have and may think to be useless (i.e. empty vessels) and that God works God's great and amazing works through community and our own being agents in the world. The power for change and provision in the story is from God but is accomplished through community and personal action. Bouman then talked about 16 traits of community organizing while telling stories of his first parish that was part of a community organizing group in Queens New York. The 16 characteristics are: 1) Sees diversity as strength 2) People oriented not project oriented 3) The goal is the release of power-every person is inherently powerful 4) Owned by the people 5)Listens to people 6) Expects accountability 7)Basic tool is the relational meeting 8) can focus on any issue 9) Institutionally based- institutions organize people, money, and values 10) Trusts the people 11) Never do something for somebody they can do for themselves 12) 11 is the iron rule that is always practiced 13) Leadership is a collective cadre of leaders 14) Action and reflection are the crucible 15) Knows the difference between problems and issues 16) Readily applied to parish ministry. As we concluded he stated that community organizing is a tool that a parish can use, not the only thing a parish may do or be.

In the second session we looked at the story of the Road to Emmaus and paid attention to Jesus' interaction with the two disciples in light of some of the principles of community organizing. The emphasis here was the tactic of one on one's in community organizing. What Bouman drew out and had us practice in this session was cultivation of curiosity of what was around us in our neighborhoods and culture (and cultures) . Jesus' ministry was relational; we too need to conduct ourselves in a relational way and seeking encounter. It is through this encounter, this all requires listening and thus asking certain questions and listening with certain questions in mind. Listen for someone’s passion and for issues that are forefront in the others mind. Bouman was leading us to first do this with ourselves, the group gathered, but then also in the churches and then with the larger community. This process within the churches and with the community then can lead to bring people together around what has been heard and expressed. We practiced one on one's or really three on three or four on fours, talking about how our church had been there for us, and what our dreams (no limits) were for our churches. I found that just this sort of conversation brought me closer to the two people I listened to and shared with one of whom I already knew somewhat and one who I met for the first time that night.

At the Third and final session, that was held this past Wednesday, things fell into place. Stephen Bouman brought in another pastor a colleague who works with new church starts and church revitalization. The scripture to set the tone for the evening was Ephesians 2:11 ff. Then Bouman asked some of us to share where we saw God this week. The point is to get us to think of how God might be at work in our neighborhoods and communities. Then we were to in groups of three or four ask ourselves first our dreams for the churches we were members of, and then our dreams for all four Lutheran churches taking part in this workshop. I through a bit of a monkey wrench into the conversation as I wasn't from one of the Lutheran churches. One of the people in my group suggested we begin by talking about where our churches were and what we thought we already had. In my group two of the four Lutheran churches were represented. Those members went pretty much directly to them talking about possible connections between the two churches around the issue of justice for the Palestinian people, and other justice issues. In that first conversation we never got to our dreams for our churches. Both conversations were more about how the churches including Reconciler could work together and be a witness together. Our group then talked about outreach to Middle Eastern and Arab refugees and immigrants, and about ways to meet and listen to young adults between 18 and 30, a demographic more represented at Reconciler and more or less absent in the Lutheran churches. I shared some of the experience of Reconciler. Also, one shared about how in the gay community people of that age range tend not to even consider Christianity or religion at all. As we were then brought back together to share our conversations, it turned none of the groups had talked about what they wanted for their individual churches but had talked almost exclusively about how the churches were already doing similar things and how to build on that. Then as I share about Reconciler and our relationship with Immanuel and St. Elias, it came out that the three congregations with buildings share their building with other congregations and except for Immanuel there is no relationship between the host and guest congregations. There was an expressed desire to change that. Also, this lead to the acknowledgement that the four Lutheran congregations don't really know much about the other Lutheran congregations and expression of a desire to change that and to work and dream together rather than separately. This to me was really incredible, and I think showed the power of this type of spending time asking and listening to one another. People who I think were probably caught up in somewhat insular cultures in this meeting were expressing not only a desire to cooperate but were truly turning towards the other. In so doing we discovered that God had indeed given us some great resources in possible connections between fellow Christians.

How might Reconciler fit in to this? One way is that we and Immanuel have experience of ways that a guest and host church can interact more than merely as landlord and renter. In sharing that experience we may also be pushed to broaden the existing relationship with Immanuel through listening to each other about how we’d like that relationship to grow if it were to grow beyond on occasion worshiping together. However, Reconciler’s experience should also communicate that our worshiping together is not a small or incidental thing but the very foundation of any continuing and growing relationship. Reconciler can remind all involved in these processes of revitalization and engagement in our communities that worship is a key and central reality in being church.

Another way is in sharing our experiences of listening and allowing that listening to change how we interact and even the way we organize ourselves. Our experience of stepping back from the constitution that did not serve our reality or provide a framework to support of faith life together, can show how the sort of listening that Bouman taught us and had us experience could very well have structural ramifications. Our experience can relate that this is not always easy and that at times one has to be willing to continue to speak until what is being expressed is understood. Sometimes those who are expression dissatisfaction don’t themselves know what they desire except in expression of dissatisfaction multiple times.

I also believe that our intentionally being ecumenical, which in practice means seeking a Christian identity that is broader and deeper than any one Protestant denominational tradition, is itself something we could offer to these congregations in this process. I believe this is so because in so being ecumenical we are attentive to more than what is immediately before us and taking into our identity things we may not completely understand. Thus what Reconciler offers isn’t a strong and distinct identity itself but a seeking to be conformed to an identity that is larger than itself, that is the identity Christ and the Church. I believe it is the experience of Reconciler that this stance allows for encounter that does not fall into a giving up of an identity but is an experience of being formed into something, larger greater and deeper than the present moment, or issues. This then lead us back to our worship that is the foundational act of all of our actions and interactions in the world. Sharing this sort of experience of being church I think could be very fruitful for the four Lutheran churches in what they are seeking to do and be and in encounter and participation in our neighborhood and culture.

Preparing for Lent: Update Reflection

I hope this season of Ordinary Time after the Epiphany is one in which the light of Christ is shining into your life, providing you with light to see the way, and even exposing things in your life that have been hidden.
Lent is rapidly approaching. Ash Wednesday is February 17th. Lent is the time that church prepares to recieve again the mystery of salvation. the preparation for the church's greatest feast Easter, where we remember that Christ for our sake passed over from death to life.- That Christ "..beat down death by death." As the Orthodox liturgy of Easter proclaims.

In preparation to receive again this mystery the church fasts, and engages in other disciplines, that are contemplative and encourage self-reflection. In Lent the church also identifies with the suffering of Christ, his temptation and overcoming of temptation and sin in the dessert. So Lent is a time to allow God to come and meet us at the point of our sin. God comes not to condemn us but to further liberate us from those things in our lives that continue to bind us, that we still hold on to even though they are destructive and bring death into our lives, our work, our relationships. In the day to day bustle of life these things can at times seem to be small things, and yet they are contradictions within ourselves as followers of Christ. Lent then is a time of grace where we can return to God, in those very places where we have run or hid ourselves from God. It is a time of grace to discover through the illumination of the Spirit areas of our life still bound to Sin and Death, which we have possibly never noticed before.

Allow God this Lent through Lenten disciplines of fasting and contemplation, through pastoral conversation and confession, to prepare you for receiving again the great mystery of our Faith. In this season after the Epiphany we have celebrated Christ as the light that shines in darkness. Lent encourages us to let that light shine into those areas of our life where we still cling to darkness. May the Life, Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ sustain us and embolden us as we face again our deep and persistent need for God's liberating love.

In Christ,
Larry Kamphausen
Pastor
Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler
For announcements follow this link:
'Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler: Update'

Reconciler Update

We are coming to the end of the Season of Easter, summer is nearly upon us, and a week from this Sunday we will celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit. Pentecost, the birthday of the church, the feast that reminds us that the Spirit of God came and filled the church and continues to fill us and empowers us as members of Christ's body. As such Pentecost seems to be a fitting place to begin to see how things have gone and see where the Spirit may be leading us, and is doing in our midst. When Tripp Hudgins and David Gortner gathered people including myself to see if God was in the idea of an ecumenical church start one of the questions was is the Spirit of God in this and how is the Spirit moving. We set out to start Reconciler because the consensus of all those gathered was that the vision was of the Spirit. One of the areas of learning for us early on was being attentive to the ways in which the Spirit moved with and in and around circumstances. We are at another stage where discernment of this is necessary.

Here is some of my reflections on direction the Spirit may be moving us in light of our circumstances. I still feel that some form of team ministry with pastors of other denominations is still part of what God is about at Reconciler. Especially since it seems that denominational structures and identities are currently not flexible enough, perhaps for good reason, to accommodate full affiliation in all three denominations at once. So, any connection to structures outside ourselves may continue to need to happen through the clergy. However, it may also mean re-conceiving how such a team works and may not mean having all three pastors equally involved in the day to day pastoring of the church. Also, we have kind of kept the Community of the Holy Trinity as a somewhat silent partner in the work of Reconciler. However, Holy Trinity is what has allowed Kate and I to continue to be part of Reconciler, and the community has provided space for meetings and potlucks and worship space. Currently, Holy Trinity and Reconciler pray in the same space. as we move forward it seems that it is time to in the least describe to ourselves and others what the relationship between community and congregation exist. In part it seems that the community provides the support and continuity that at least right now the congregation on its own could not provide. I am considering presenting to my denomination that it seek to acknowledge my work as Prior of the Community of the Holy Trinity that includes being pastor of Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. A closer and more explicit relationship has advantages for Reconciler as the community may take more ownership of what is happening at Reconciler and we at Reconciler can also take some ownership of what is happening with the community. These are some of my current thoughts on how God may be leading, but like when we began and and each juncture in our short life as a congregation discerning the movement of the Spirit is prayerfully considering and planning together and seeing how these things play out as we seek to faithfully follow Christ.

Visit this Sunday by Associate Superintendent of the Central Confernece of the ECC‏

A Reminder that this Sunday May 17th Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference (for you Episcopal types kind of like an associate bishop, but not) will be with us and presiding at Table. A reception will be held following the service for us to meet Jolene. Since being sent to take part in starting Reconciler by then Conference Superintendent Rev. Herb Freedholm, Jolene has been our regular connection to the Covenant and Conference support to me as we have tried to figure out how to keep connections with the three denominations and as we have watched what God has done at Reconciler often very different from what we had planned or thought. Jolene also when we started Reconciler came and installed me as the Covenant Pastor of Reconciler.
So come and worship with us this Sunday and meet Jolenne.

Reconciler Update

We continue to be in a time of transition and change that we began last year when we began to question the necessity of the committee structure as a means to be church together. This has lead to a streamlining of our council and the creation of more fluid forms of being together and working together as a church community. As we have made these changes and have found other challenges to our original vision conversation with the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and the Central Conference of the Evangelical Covenant Church has picked up again. We find ourselves in a good place to continue the conversation of continued relationship with the three denominations even as we are without an Episcopal Priest and have put on hold our search for an American Baptist pastor.
A week ago today I met with the Rev. Cannon Scott Hayashi, Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago (A Canon is a person who may be lay or ordained who serves on a Bishop’s staff or a cathedral. The Canon to the Ordinary is a person whose ministry is directly answerable to the bishop and who can function as a sort of chief of staff). We had a lively and helpful discussion about Reconciler and the possibilities of a continuing relationship with the Diocese. In the coming months as we reflect together on who we are as a congregation and how we wish to continue to be an ecumenical congregation Rev. Canon Hayashi's thoughts and reflections will be helpful. Though in our conversation it was made very clear that the way I and the founding pastors had conceived of affiliation with the three denominations a little over four years ago is not a possibility. So, as we live into some of the changes of the past year and decide how we want to move forward these changes I think our in line with what the three denominations we have been in conversation with about affiliation will be able to accept and may lead us to a more creative way of connection with Christians of various traditions outside our small congregation.
Also, Rev. Jolene Bergstorm Calrson is planning to visit us and Preside at Table on May 17th. Jolene has attempted to visit us several times in the past year and a half and has ended up have various scheduling conflicts that prevented the visit. The Central Conference remains supportive of Reconciler and we will have an opportunity to meet Jolene and let her get to know us a little better in a couple of weeks.
So in this season of Easter there is life but like when the disciples encountered the living Risen Jesus of Nazareth it is also life that at least I was not expecting. But then Resurrection life is like that, I suppose.
Announcements:
Rev. Jolene Bergstrom Carlson, Associate Superintendent of the Central Conference of the ECC will be visiting us and presiding at Table Sunday May 17th.

This Wednesday May 6th members of Reconciler are providing the meal for the Community meal with Immanuel Lutheran Church. Come and join us at 6 pm.
Following the meal The Community of the Holy Trinity* is leading a Vespers service using Taize music at 7 PM. Holy Trinity will lead the 7 pm Evening prayer service at Immanuel service the months of May and June.

You are invited by The Community of the Holy Trinity*to an Ascension Vespers with Holy Communion on Thursday, May 21st at 7 pm in the side Chapel of Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Our Next Council meeting will be a week from this Thursday, May 14th. 7:30 pm, all are encouraged to attend. Remember if you show up you are a member of council.

* The Community of the Holy Trinity is an intentional community that was founded by Rev. Larry Kamphausen and Kate Setzer Kamphausen in 2003 and another couple. Larry is both the Prior of the community as well as Pastor of Reconciler. While currently only Kate and Larry are both members of Reconciler and of Holy Trinity, over the past 4 years Reconciler and Holy Trinity have shared members from time to time. Holy Trinity has been a partner in ministry with Reconciler in various ways including providing space for our meetings and early on, before Reconciler and Holy Trinity moved to the Immanuel church campus, Reconciler used the community's chapel for its worship space. Currently both Holy Trinity and Reconciler use Immanuel's chapel for their worship space.

Sermon, Second Sunday after Epiphany, Year B

Tuning Our Souls
Jorge Sanchez
18 January 2008

In September of 2008, I went to Saint Gregory's Abbey for the first time. I was picked up at the train station in Kalamazoo in the midst of a bunch of errands. Father William, one of the monks, had to go to a bunch of different places before returning to the monastery. The recycling center, a grocery store, an office supply store, even a wholesale food store. Suffice it to say I became very familiar with many and various Kalamazoo institutions that day. It was no-one's fault, but the errands just took longer than anticipated, and we didn't get to the Abbey until after four.

I was hungry for quiet and a respite from busy-ness, but at first I didn't get it. The whole time I kept thinking, “You're the guest, Jorge; be gracious, don't get impatient. This guy's a monk, he probably feels bad already that we're still driving around out here.” The first psalm appointed for Vesper that night was Psalm 139. The knitting metaphor hit me hard, and something about it pulled me deep into the quiet I needed. It was as if I was in a state of hyper-readiness and this psalm struck just the right chord to thrust me into what that retreat was all about.

And so it as the psalm that hit me first when I looked over these lessons. And the knitting metaphor, as always, stuck out to me. Whether I preach or not, I am always tempted to try to understand the weave, the knit, that the various threads of the lectionary present to us.

Tonight, we have the psalm, the calling of Samuel, the call of Nathanael, and Paul's exhortations to the Corinthians.

The readings from First Samuel and John both seem to set vocation within a quiet or at least non-sensational context.

I don't hear voices in the middle of the night nor did Philip ever tell me to come and see, but what strikes me here is the seeming ordinariness of vocation. When Samuel is called, it is by a voice unremarkable enough to make him this it was Eli's. Nathanael balks at the hometown of the Messiah. It couldn't be God; it's all too ordinary.

Vocation here is simultaneously extraordinary and ordinary. To us, meeting Jesus in the flesh, face-to-face, would be unbelievable, but to the disciples, he was just some dude, amongst many, preaching and teaching at the time.

Important too, is that both of these callings are not to one specific thing, at least not in the context of these passages.

Too often, we think of calln as an either/or, as a series of discernments that have in hone in on a particular mission that excludes all others. The calling Samuel seems to be a call that helps others see who he is. The call of Nathanael seems to be a calling that helps Nathanael recognize a truth about himself.

God is bigger and more complicated, God's will is bigger and more complicated, than a single particular mission. We are called, like Samuel, to listen. Like Nathanael, we are called to be open to God coming from dinky ol' Nazareth.

It is safe to say that none of us here is called to be a prophet and judge like Samuel, and almost as safe that none of us is called to be a capital-A Apostle like Nathanael, but we are called through our Christian profession to lives of discipleship.

Last week, we celebrated the Baptism of our Lord, which prefigured every Christian baptism that followed. Now we are called to living out that baptism —our baptisms, our professions of faith— in lives of faithful discipleship.

Discipleship can mean many different things, but le me suggest that Paul's letter to the Corinthians established a very particular way of understanding discipleship.

Many of us struggle with sexual discipline and chastity. Whether it is a lack of control over how we look at others or a difficulty with other aspects of our sexuality, most of us struggle with this kind of intergrity at some point.

The passage, however, is taken out of context somewhat, and let me read the three verses which precede it:
Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.


Suddenly, I seems that Paul is really picking a particular sin and using it to stand in for this whole list. Honor God in your whole person, by living with the kind of integrity you are called to.

Christian holiness is about respect for the proper uses of all creation. We are called to this very kind of holy discipleship, a vocation of holiness.

And yet, that's really scary. Really unattractive. This is fear rooted in a misconception that holiness will destroy who we are.

“I don't want to be a saint,” a friend said to me recently, which I understood to mean, “I don't want to lose my personality, who I am.” And yet we —my friend, you, me— we are called to holiness.

Xunzi, a Confucian philosopher of the Third Century, makes the unsettling assertion that human nature is uh or evil. And when he describes how to fix human nature he resorts to a great number of carpentry metaphors to describe what must be done to the soul. “A warped soul must await the press frame,” “a soul may be carved as craftsman carves a vessel,” and so on, but he never uses one familiar image from carpentry: the saw. Xunzi describes many ways to shape, bend, carve, and craft the human character, but never advocates we saw any of it off.

Lately, I've been using the metaphor of tuning to describe the effects of my spiritual disciplines. When I achieve a healthy, productive rhythm in my spiritual practice, I feel as if I am better tuned tobe who I am.

As we leave Christmas behind, move further into Epiphanytide, and gradually approach Lent, we need to ask ourselves what form shall our discipleship take.

What tunes you? What tunes us, as a church, as a neighborhood, as a nation, as a world to better play the melody which is the Will of God.

Paul's exhortations, which make us justifiably uncomfortable as we identify those disfiguring, distorting, disordered accretions that we deal with, are essentially a call to be properly tuned, properly knit, properly ready to answer the call to holiness.

Hear the Psalmist's words: “God formed my inward parts; God knit me together in my mother's womb.” How is God knitting us still? What is God casting onto the weave that is our life, the work that is our soul?

Holiness —discipleship— is not an end state, but a state of readiness, a state of internal and external harmony, or proper relationship that allows us to answer God's call.

We are not all called to be tuned in the same way. Some tunings, some spiritual practices will leave us useless, strings snapped, unable to sound a single note. But we are all called to this kind of spiritual self-examination and work.

What tunes us? How do we need to be tuned? What figure or metaphor helps you understand how God is continuing to sanctify you with grace? How can you help prepare yourself for the great work God has in mind for you?

Today the begins the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity. I think it is safe to say that many Christians are out of tune with each other. In a few minutes we will pray a special litany for Christian unity together. Please keep the intentions of Christian unity in your prayers this week, either by incorporating this litany, or some other resource, or by simply holding the Universal Church in prayer.

We are each members of the Mystical Body of Christ, instruments in a huge orchestra; may the Communion we share tonight prepare us —tune us— to play the powerful majestic melody which is the Will of God and create the profound harmony which is the Kingdom of God. Amen.

Last night we had a good time at the Swanson's for a BBQ potluck supper. We watched the video put out Churches Supporting Churches the organization North Shore Baptist Church is working with as it joins in a partnership with a church, New Home Baptist Church in the 9th Ward of New Orleans. Following the video we had a good discussion, and those of us present concluded it was a good thing to continue to explore.

Some points were raised in the discussion that I think were separate from Churches Supporting Churches and the possibility of partnering with North Shore. What follows is what I was hearing about our identity and what we want to be involved with, the order of this list is has no meaning in terms of importance or logical sequence. What do we have the energy and resources to do as a small congregation? Do we know what we want to do? What are we about? As an ecumenical congregation are there points of theology or stances of other congregations or churches that would prevent us from partnering or working with them? Does our character as an Ecumenical congregation effect what we do and how we do it. How many people from our small congregation need to be involved in something for us to claim we are committed to it as a congregation? What are our current involvement and commitments and how does that limit or determine what we should do. Should we take on at this point in time new commitments/projects?

I think these are good questions to ask and to together find some answers. I encourage us all to be thinking about these things and talking about these things with each other. To facilitate this I'd like to take a moment describe what we have done we are doing and point us to our vision documents that tell us who we are and would like to be. While our vision documents were written before most of you came they in the least have lead us to where we are at now and should help us get clear on who we are and what we are about. Our vision statements (http://christreconciler.blogspot.com/2006/02/church-of-jesus-christ-reconciler.html, http://christreconciler.blogspot.com/2006/02/our-vision.html , if you'd like hard copies of these let the pastoral team know.) put our Ecumenical character and our worship as the central and main characteristic of Reconciler. In this we are seeking to witness to the broad historic faith of the whole Church as well as living in three particular traditions of the Faith. This does not exclude being involved in various types of advocacy, or relief and charity, or actively seeking to redress injustices, but it does place these things in context of worship that reflects and proclaims the faith once delivered tot he saints in our time. This I think is reflected in what we do. Our most consistent activity is our worship on Sundays, and our joint worship services with Immanuel and St. Elias. From the stand point of our vision statements the work of the social Action committee or the church council (and all else we do) should come out of our worship together around word and table.

Over time We have been involved in various things. The social action committee has attempted various things: encouraged members to volunteer with the Centro Romero here in Edgewatter which some of us did for a time, and few may still do on occasion. We had a drive for kitchen utensils for Sarah's circle in which we partnered with North Shore Baptist Church and Community Church of Wilmette, we took part in the Jubilee USA grassroots conference and took part in some of their writing campaigns to congressional representatives seeking to expand debt relief. We had a Christian formation series with Immanuel on Interfaith relations with Islam and Judaism. We have had bible studies on various topics. We have had a panel discussion on Fair Trade. We have had booths at two Chicago Summer neighborhood festivals. Through are pastoral team we are members of Edgewater Religious Community Association, which supports and advises a food pantry, Care for Real, and Eppworth Homeless shelter for men. Also through the pastoral team we were present with Immanuel at the Organization of the Northeast conference and a prayer vigil to urge Alderwoman Mary Ann Smith to take seriously the community proposal for Senn High school. We have a yearly congregational retreat. We have occasional gatherings either planed by individual or by the church council for fellowship together; potlucks, breakfasts, going for supper after church.

I think the above list if not exhaustive give us a good idea of where our energies have gone and do go. In writing all that down there is a sense that this is a large variety of things without an obvious specific central idea guiding it. Unless the multiplicity genuinely reflects our desire to have our life together focused on our worship seeking to come from our worship to proclaim the faith as an ecumenical and diverse congregation this diversity may be misplaced. There are advantages and disadvantages to this variety of activity: As an ecumenical congregation we can engage a variety of organizations and causes across various distinctions and divisions, seek live out our life ecumenically working with an ecumenical organization like ECRA and its related organizations. Our members can be involved in a variety of things and we can say that these are things that Reconciler is about. The disadvantage is that it can have a lack of focus and it may be difficult to see how these various things fit into our ecumenical character and the centrality of our worship. Also, in the above there may be to much reliance on our Sunday evening gathering for worship and we may want to ask ourselves if we need more than just a yearly retreat as a congregation to help us deepen our faith and help us make the connection between our worship and how we are going out and living out and proclaiming our faith in deed and word. We may need to give some attention of our spiritual lives together that can help us grow together and deepen our engagement with our worship.

My hope is that this can stimulate some discussion amongst ourselves and help us get clear about who we are and what we want to be about (given our vision as it stand it could be multiple things that only a few of us are involved in supported by all of us, or we could choose to focus ourselves for a time). I hope as we come together on Sundays, or at festivals or social gatherings over the next couple of months that we would attempt to think together about these things and be able to come to the church council with questions or suggestions and gain clarity about who we are as a congregation and how we want to continue to grow in Christ and our faith and life together.

Announcements:
Our Council meets next Thursday July 17th 7:30 PM at the 'Nidge. All are welcome to attend and bring things to discuss.

This Sunday July 13th we are at the Clark Street Festival, see the sign up sheet that has been sent around or talk with Daniel or Kate about signing up to staff the booth. We will have our regular service at 5 PM and be leaving the Festival in time for church that evening.

Jorge Sanchez is preaching this Sunday July 13th.

August 23rd and 24th we will have a booth at the Glenwood Arts Festival in Rogers Park. We are looking for artists of all media to contribute. Talk with Larry about showing your art. Talk with Daniel and Kate about staffing the booth when we get closer to the festival.

Pastors vacations: Larry will be taking a week vacation between July 21 and 27. Laura will on a weekend trip the weekend of July 20 th and then be away on vacation from August 24th through August 30th.

We are planning a panel discussion on homelessness on September 11th. Talk with Jeremy or attend the next meeting of the Social Action Committee if you are interested in helping planning the panel.

In Christ,
Larry

The Pastoral Team

Sermon: Teach Us to Pray

Proper 12 June 29, 2007
Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler
The Rev. Laura Gottardi-Littell, preacher

Gospel: Luke 11:1-13
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In our gospel passage from Luke, a disciple asks Jesus: “Teach us to pray.” Such simple, small words. Such a huge request. The disciple must have seen clearly that prayer was essential to Jesus, that he lived a life soaked in prayer. Luke records many instances of Jesus praying. The disciple likely hungered for some of that prayer action. In Jesus’ time, there were some set prayers that devout Jews could say several times daily. And apparently John the Baptist taught his followers a set prayer. Jesus’s disciple seems to want something like this, but something that comes straight from Jesus.

Teach us to pray. These words reveal a longing. A hunger to communicate with God, and an eagerness to know the right way to talk to God. Perhaps they speak of the disciple’s longing to have the kind of intimacy Jesus had with God.

Teach us to pray. These words jumped out at me when I was reading over this gospel, to prepare for today’s sermon. Because I too long for a deeper and richer prayer life. And I know many Christians, both ordained and lay people, also long for this. It can be tough to develop a steady, rich prayer life in which to ground our action. Many of us live like Martha, a life of doing. It’s hard to make time to just be with God. To sit at the feet of Jesus and listen, like Mary. Because much of praying is hanging out with God, and listening.

Once we do make time to pray, it’s hard to know exactly how to pray. Questions come up. Questions like, if the universe is completely in God’s hands, how can our prayer affect the outcome? That’s one question. Another question is what should we be praying for? For example, is it OK to pray for our own financial health? Yet another question: What words, what methods should I use when I talk to God? There are so ways to pray – which is right? Perhaps some of these questions lie behind the disciple’s request to Jesus:

Teach us to pray. So, how does Jesus answer? In Luke’s gospel, Jesus responds: “When you pray, say this: Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to the time of trial.”

These simple words Jesus offered his disciple are now the most widely-used prayer in Chistianity. Last Easter, an estimated 2 billion Christians read, recited, or sang the Lord’s prayer in hundreds of languages in churches of all sizes around the world.

Luke’s version of the Lord’s prayer is a bit different from what we usually say in church. It’s shorter. It lacks the doxology added later: “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.” In Luke’s version we ask God to “forgive us our sins” where in Mathew’s gospel we ask God to “forgive our debts.” There are some other differences between the prayer as it appears in Luke and Matthew.

For now, let’s just look at the text given us in Luke’s gospel, and unpack, it OK? Let’s take it line by line, and see what it tells us about how to pray.

Father

Jesus starts by addressing God as father. When we pray, we are to talk to God as to a loving parent, with all the intimacy and trust of a healthy relationship between parent and child. That doesn’t mean “father” is the only way we can think or speak of God. But it’s how Jesus speaks to God in this prayer. Out of a childlike (but not childish) trust in God, we are emboldened to ask God for what we seek.

Hallowed be your name.

Hallowed means holy, sacred. “Hallowed be your name” means “May your identity be set apart as holy.” In ancient Israel, name and identity were closely linked. “Hallowed be your name” is a double-sided request 1) we’re asking that God establish god’s own sovereignty on earth and 2) we’re asking that all people will come to revere God.

Your kingdom come completes the thought “Hallowed be your name.” This is an example of Semitic parallelism, where a verse restates, or completes, the verse before it. We see this type of parallelism all the time in the psalms. If God is making God’s name holy on earth, then by extension, God’s kingdom is coming on earth.

“Hallowed be your name” and “Your kingdom come” both mean that we want God’s will to be done, and want to align ourselves with God’s will. When we’re serious about prayer, we increasingly seek to know and conform ourselves to the mind of God. With this goal in mind, we can pray with confidence that a loving God will respond.

Give us each day our daily bread

The first two lines of the Lord’s prayer were about God; the next three are about us. We ask God for sustenance, forgiveness, then deliverance.

First, sustenance. Our daily bread. Luke’s gospel shows us a Jesus who is concerned for the poor, who gives people bread, and partakes in shared meals. Given all this, Jesus is most likely talking about earthly bread here, not the bread of the heavenly banquet, or communion bread. Why should we pray for bread? Well, obviously because we need food to live. Also, it clarifies who we are and who God is. To pray for something as basic as bread reminds us of how tentative a hold we have on life, how dependent we are on God for what we need. It’s humbling, in the sense of humus, Greek for ground. It’s grounding to remind ourselves of our basic needs and who provides them. It’s the opposite of hubris, acting as if we are God. Asking for our daily bread puts us in the position of children, or beggars, with all the dependence that connotes, but not a negative dependency. The God we depend on loves us, and wants to meet our needs.

What does “Give us our daily bread” tell us about prayer? It tells us to ask God for essentials, for the most basic things we need, and not take them for granted. Thanks be to God that you and I have our basic needs covered. At the same time, I think the Lord’s prayer compels us to work for a world where others also get what they need. Paul says in 1st Corinthians 3 that we are co-laborers with God. We work with God to determine the outcome. If that’s the case, then making sure all people have daily bread is a joint project between us and God. Let’s both pray and work for a world with bread for all.

And forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who are indebted to us.

Luke’s gospel says “Forgive us our sins” where Matthew’s says: “Forgive us our debts”
In Aramaic, sin and debt are the same word. At Reconciler, we’ve been talking about which translation we want to use –sins , debts, or trespasses? Whatever language we use, the Lord’s prayer says we’re meant to keep a clean slate in life, not forever tally up what people owe us or dwell on how much they’ve trampled on our turf, spiritually or materially. And we likewise need to accept the forgiveness God and neighbors offer us.

Just as we need daily bread, we need of continual grace. Each day, we’re capable of making mistakes, missing the mark. Grace is a clear flowing stream always available for us to bathe in. And we need that as badly as we need food.

How do you feel when someone holds a grudge against you, or you hold a grudge? Either way, it feels bad, right? How many relationships have ruptured, how many acts of violence committed, how many wars have been fought out of the inability to forgive?

For our own peace of mind, and spiritual wholeness, we need forgiveness. Some things are hard for us to forgive. Sometimes we need to claim and work through our anger first. But if we stay there too long, we can become consumed with bitterness, which destroys us. We have to try to move on, and let others move on. It’s the only healthy way to live.

The grace God gives us and the grace we extend to others flow from the same channel. It’s a simultaneous, interconnected thing, somewhat mysterious. Not quid pro quo, but maybe cause and effect. That is, if we accept God’s grace for ourselves, we find it easier to forgive others. And if we forgive, we find it easier to accept that we too are forgiven.

And do not bring us to the time of trial.
There’s some question about what kind of trials Jesus is talking about. Is it best translated as trials or temptations? And is God the one who tests us? Or Satan? Would God intentionally lead us into trials or temptation? The book of James says no, but the Scriptures are full of examples of God testing his chosen ones (Abraham, Job, Jesus, to name a few). Perhaps “save us from the time of trial” is best understood as “save us from anything that would threaten our allegiance to God or threaten our physical and spiritual survival.”

Trials may mean different things to each of us, but I think most of us can resonate with “Save us from the time of trial” on a gut level. There are trials we would not want to endure. And it’s OK to ask God to deliver us from that which is too great to bear. Jesus asked to be spared, as he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Yet he also said: “Lord, not my will but thine be done.”

So that, my friends, is a walk through the Lord’s prayer, as found in Luke’s gospel. A model prayer Jesus gave his disciples, handed down through nearly two millennia to us.

Although it’s a giant in Christian prayer, is it the only way we are to pray?

No. There are many kinds of prayer: prayers for healing, guidance, for the welfare of others. There’s contemplative prayer, in its many forms. These prayers are just as vital.

Jesus wasn’t suggesting this is the only way we should pray. In fact, we don’t know whether Jesus was suggesting his disciple say the Lord’s prayer verbatim, or use it instead as a guideline for how to pray. There are no other instances in the New Testament where Jesus or the disciples pray the Lord’s prayer. But whether Jesus meant us to say those exact words, or was simply offering a model for the kinds of things we ought to pray about, The Lords’ Prayer without question teaches us several vital things about prayer.

These are: 1) Speak to God as to a loving parent who knows you. 2) Try to align yourself with God’s will and help bring about God’s will on earth. 3) Remember your dependence on God for the simplest, most basic things in life: bread, forgiveness, deliverance.

The parables that come after the Lord’s prayer are little sketches that further illustrate how we should pray. In the first parable, Jesus compares God to a dutiful neighbor who will give us bread, even if we wake him in the middle of the night. We may have to be bold and persistent in knocking. God may not answer right away, and may be grumpy, but if we keep knocking, God will answer because God is faithful. The second parable shows us a God who, like a loving father, who knows how to give his children good things. If we ask for a fish, he’s not going to give us a snake. I like that. God loves us and wants to give us what we need.

The danger comes when we act like prayer is a blank check on which we can write whatever our hearts desire (New Interpreter's Bible, Vol.IX). I think of an old Janis Joplin song: “O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz…” Don’t go there. But as an equally old Rolling Stones song says, “If you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.”

Today’s gospel says: “Seek and ye shall find. Ask and it shall be given. Knock and the door shall be opened. Seek God’s kingdom before seeking your our own selfish desires.. Pray for God’s will to be done first, and let your anxieties about how you’ll get your daily bread met be secondary. Speak to God as to a loving parent, with humility and honesty. Knock on God’s door and be persistent, like a secure child who expects a loving response. Be tireless in prayer. Don’t give up. Live a life soaked in prayer, as Jesus did.

Teach us how to pray. Prayer is not about saying exactly the “right” words. It’s about being willing to do the will of God, having our priorities straight, and being in right relationship to God, neighbor, and self. Prayer is not about being perfect. Learning to pray is the task of a lifetime, and we are free to experiment and to make mistakes.

Bishop, theologian, and author William Willimon says:

“The Lord’s Prayer is one of the few things that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them, and he graciously responded. A Christian is someone who is engaged in lifelong training in how to pray like Jesus. Thank God, Jesus does not leave us to our own devices when it comes to prayer. If I were praying on my own, would I pray for something as mundane as daily bread, or I would have the guts to acknowledge that I had actually trespassed against someone? No. There would be no way for me to pray faithfully in Jesus name if he weren’t there every Sunday coaching me, prodding me, saying, “When you pray, say this….”

Teach us to pray, the disciple asked Jesus. And Jesus did. Thanks be to God.

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Update

Last year at this time we were in the midst of the call process for our Episcopal priest. Laura has now been with us as our Episcopal priest for six months. I find it beneficial to regularly stop in the midst of activity and see where we have been. It is easy to get caught up in the moment or in our projections into the future. In so doing it is easy to forget. Easy to forget God's provision for us both as individuals and as a congregation. It is easy to forget why we are called together as a people as members of Christ body, and as its particular manifestation in our small congregation. As we are present at some summer neighborhood festivals and as we continue to invite people to our worship and other events, let us remember that all we do as a congregation is intended to invite people into a place to receive the love of God, made known to us in Jesus Christ. We have been gathered together by that love and it is our life. Out of that deep reservoir of the love of God we offer to others this gift of God's love, which we have received through others who have offered us that love.

Announcements:
Denominational News– The American Baptist Churches have had their Biennial this weekend, and Tripp was in attendance. If you have any questions about the Biennial talk with Tripp. June 21-23the Evangelical Covenant Church had its Annual Meeting. At the Annual Meeting a paper on Human Sexuality was presented by the Board of Ordered ministry affirming and giving the theological grounding for the 1996 Annual Meeting Resolution on Human Sexuality. If you have questions about the Annual meeting or the 1996 resolution on Human Sexuality or the Boards report talk with Larry. Copies of the report can be made available to those who are interested.

Celebrate Clark Street Festival July 14 & 15: We need people to sign up to staff the booth.

Also we will be at the Glenwood Arts Festival August 25 and 26th. The focus will be on art from our artists in the congregation . Talk with Chrissy and Larry about displaying your art at the festival.
Potluck Supper and Reading of the book of James at Charity and Jeremy’s house July 27th at 7:30 PM. RSVP to Jeremy. Also Invite your friends who might not come to our worship.

'Nidge North (AKA Tripp and Trish's house) Potlucks and Movie nights TBA

Shared Worship with Immanuel Lutheran Church -- Sunday morning 10:30 August 5. No worship service at Reconciler that evening. Come worship with us Sunday morning, as we seek to deepen our connection to the Immanuel and St. Elias congregations, on our common "Campus of Discipleship."

The church council is considering a change in our worship time to 5PM starting September 9th. The hope is that this change of time with providing childcare will make our congregation more welcoming for families with young children. The council would like feedback from the congregation on this proposed change.

In Christ,
Larry

Update

As was mentioned in the last update we have now entered into the period of the church year known as ordinary time. I wish to briefly reiterate Laura's sense that this is a time for reflection and action. This is the time when the Scriptures we encounter on Sundays direct us to the life of faith. I encourage us to take this season of the church year to reflect and act on what we have encountered in our journey from Advent to Pentecost. For some it may be something new you have learned about God, or for others a new understanding of the faith, or for others maybe something about God and our faith that had been backdrop has been pulled to the foreground. What we have celebrated from Advent to Pentecost is the core of our faith, and the reason for any action we take in the world as Christians. These seasons feasts and fasts tell us who we are and how we are held in God. Take some time to rest and reflect in God, and from that find the ways God is calling you individually and us corporately to act in the world.

Announcements:
Jubilee USA's Annual 2007 Grassroots Conference... is this weekend June 15-17. Find out more about Sabbath Economics, the international debt crisis, economic justice, and globalization. Some of us from Reconciler are attending.

The Social Action Committee meeting is set for every second Tuesday of month at the 'Nidge, at 7:30 PM. But has been rescheduled for the following Tuesday June 19. Contact Jeremy John for more information.

Council meetings are every third Thursday of the Month our next Council meeting will be June 21st, at the 'Nidge, 7:30 PM.

Summer events:
Summer Neighborhood Festivals:
Reconciler has decided to have a booth at two summer festivals this year. We will need members of Reconciler to commit to help staff these booths at intervals over the weekends of the festivals. Sign up sheets for the festival held on July 14 and 15th will be coming soon.
The festivals and their dates are:
Celebrate Clark Street July 14 & 15

Glenwood Arts Festival August 25 and 26th
Our focus at the Glenwood Arts Festival will be Larry’s iconography and any of our artists in the congregation who might want to display their work.

Potluck Supper and Reading of the book of James at Charity and Jeremy’s house TBA. This is sponsored by the Social Action Committee.

'Nidge North (AKA Tripp and Trish's house) Potlucks and Movie nights TBA

Shared Worship with Immanuel Lutheran Church -- Sunday morning 10:30 August 5. No worship service at Reconciler that evening. Come worship with us Sunday morning, as we seek to deepen our connection to the Immanuel and St. Elias congregations, on our common "Campus of Discipleship."

In Christ,
Larry Kamphausen

Reconciler Almost Weekly Update

Last Sunday's sermon focused on the "Prophet in the Hometown" passage from Luke's gospel (Luke 4:21-32). Although that phrase has long been familiar in the old adage: "No one is a prophet in his or her hometown," I found new meaning in the passage upon further study and reflection. The heart of the passage, for many Christians, is the radical inclusivity and universality of God's kingdom.

Here's the story: Jesus is participating in worship at the synagogue in Nazareth, and reads the Scripture passage from Isaiah (Isaiah 61.1-2, 58.6):

"The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me;

he has sent me to announce good news to the poor,

to proclaim release for prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind;

to let the broken victims go free;

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

Jesus then tells the hometown crowd: "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." They are fine with this; they will have a hometown prophet and all the honor and healing that go along with that. They marvel at how well he speaks. But then Jesus infuriates them by saying they are going to have to share him; he will not be confining his ministry to Nazareth.

Jesus recounts to them times when prophets before him, namely Elijah and Elisha, went to people outside their own country and healed and helped them. Well, Jesus's townpeople are fit to be tied when they hear that Jesus hasn't come just for them. They get ready to run him off a cliff. But Jesus escapes their clutches and goes on to the next town, next task, wherever he is going on to. Luke says " He was going on." This passage foreshadows both crucifixion and resurrection. Jesus will end his life a prophet without honor in either his hometown or country. But God's love for all of us could not be killed, and is going on.

God refuses to turn his back on the poor, oppressed, and disenfranchised -- no matter their nationality race, gender, or other identifier. The gospel calls us to see the inclusivity of God's grace - always a stretch for our imagination. We want to pigeonhole and mete out God's grace, to have a corner on God. But Jesus came for all. In a stratified, hierarchical, divisive world this message of radical inclusivity is stunning, or ought to stun us. The truths of inclusivity and equality, for which many have fought and died, are truths our world is often loathe to hear. Some of its messengers have lost their lives in the struggle to express the enormity of God's universal love for all. Yet that love is going on.

At Reconciler we're called to embrace the universality of God's reconciling grace and express it across denominational boundaries. We're called to reach out to others in that spirit, building up the Kingdom.

Our conversation after the sermon focused mostly on inclusive language, a topic of some interest at Reconciler. Some of the questions around this topic are: if God loves, and extends grace to all, why must the language of the church be so androcentric (male-centered?) Why use exclusively male pronouns for God and Holy Spirit? Doesn't God have some female qualities within God? Or, isn't God beyond gender? Must we always say "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" to refer to the Trinity or can we say "Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer" or other formulas? What does it mean to use entirely masculine language in church, when in most churches a significant majority of the active members are female? What are the pastoral, theological, epistemological, and linguistic implications?

It was a rich discussion. Larry Kamphausen has posted some thoughts on his blog: http://priestlygoth.blogspot.com and I plan to post there are well. What are your thoughts? Let us know.

In Bible Study we have been talking about how to speak TO God, as opposed to how to speak ABOUT God. Eugene Peterson's book on praying the psalms has sparked some lively disussion. Please join us on Wednesday nights for Bible Study, or Sunday nights for worship. You are welcome!

An Epiphany blessing:

"May Christ, the Son of God, be manifest in you, that your lives may be a light to the world; and the blessing of God be among you and remain with you always." (Episcopal Book of Occasional Services)

Announcements

Bible Study: On January 9th we began our new Bible study on Praying the Psalms. This Bible Study will run through the season of Epiphany and conclude during Lent. We are reading Eugene Peterson's book Answering God: The Psalms as Tools for Prayer. Bible Study meets Wednesdays at 7:30 in the chapel at Immanuel. For this coming Wednesday, February 5, we are reading Chapter 5. These are short chapters and it's a little book, so it's not hard to catch up. Feel free to join in even if you have missed previous sessions. At 7:00, there is a half-hour evening prayer service in the Immanuel sanctuary that is a good complement to our Bible Study. Treat yourself to some quiet time and good conversation.

Council Meeting:

Church Council Meetings are the 2nd Monday of each month. We meet at the "Nidge" (the parsonage) at 7:30 p.m. This month's meeting will be held Monday, February 12.

Retreat:

Please let us know by SUNDAY if you are interested in a retreat: either a weekend retreat at Three Rivers, Michigan (a Benedictine monastery) or a day-long retreat to a Benedictine community in Chicago. Also let us know which dates are best for you. We have been discussing the weekends of February 22-23 and March 3-4, but may need to go back to the proverbial drawing board if those dates don't work for people.

MYSPACE Site: We have a new Myspace site which is accessible at www.myspace.com/christreconciler

I hope you are experiencing the light of Christ in the darkness of February! Despite the Bears game and falling temperatures, we do plan to meet for worship at our usual time, 6:00 Sunday. (Go Bears!)

May the peace of the Lord be always with you,

Laura+

The Reverend Laura Gottardi-Littell

for the Pastoral Team

The Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler