March Letter to the Congregation
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
This month we enter the season of Lent - a time for reflection, repentance and renewal. The word “Lent” comes from an old English word meaning “lengthen” and refers to the lengthening of days that happens throughout the season of spring. Looking out the window at the fortress of snow surrounding the church parking lot, it’s hard to imagine that spring is almost upon us! And yet, in another way it feels very much like spring inside St. Paul Lutheran. It has been a hard winter in more ways than one. Due to budget realities, we had to make some tough decisions and say goodbye to long beloved staff. We’ve had to re-imagine and re-configure how we do ministry. We’ve had to step-up and more abundantly commit our time and talent to Sharing Christ’s Love with Joy. It has been a hard winter, but step-up we have. And though there is much work ahead, and many challenges before us, I can see the signs of a new spring for St. Paul Lutheran popping-up all over!
I’m looking forward to seeing you, however you feel called to be a part!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
This month we enter the season of Lent - a time for reflection, repentance and renewal. The word “Lent” comes from an old English word meaning “lengthen” and refers to the lengthening of days that happens throughout the season of spring. Looking out the window at the fortress of snow surrounding the church parking lot, it’s hard to imagine that spring is almost upon us! And yet, in another way it feels very much like spring inside St. Paul Lutheran. It has been a hard winter in more ways than one. Due to budget realities, we had to make some tough decisions and say goodbye to long beloved staff. We’ve had to re-imagine and re-configure how we do ministry. We’ve had to step-up and more abundantly commit our time and talent to Sharing Christ’s Love with Joy. It has been a hard winter, but step-up we have. And though there is much work ahead, and many challenges before us, I can see the signs of a new spring for St. Paul Lutheran popping-up all over!
- I’ve seen it in our Children of Christ Sunday, where our wonderful kids led us through readings and prayers and blessing, while we used balloons to make confession and forgiveness tangible, and waved streamers to the lyrics “as [Christ] died to make men holy, let us live to make them free! His truth is marching on!”
- I’ve seen it in the new praise band that sprouted quickly when called, and is now developing its roots and leaves – learning more songs and feeling more confident with each opportunity to lead worship.
- I’ve seen it in the folks stepping up to teach Sunday School, SPLASH and guide confirmation students, to organize the summer mission trip, to tend our communication and office tasks, to clean the building weekly, and to shovel tons of snow off the roof when the need arises.
- I’ve seen it in our growing preschool, which now hosts morning and afternoon classes to nourish the mental, physical and spiritual growth of three to five-year olds.
- I’ve seen it in full-to-capacity “Creation Vacation” the Global Mission team is hosting to fund scholarships for our brothers and sisters in Tanzania.
- I’ve seen it in the re-emerging choir, and in the new-to-us idea of a church Snow Fun Day planned for March 17th.
- I’ve seen it in the refreshing and renewing of the narthex, nursery and sacristy.
- I’ve seen it in the ongoing food truck and visitation ministries, which continue to roll on, strong.
- I’ve seen it in the SPLASH kids who saw the hardship of the homeless among us and are leading the congregation in gathering supplies to be bagged and delivered here and in the city. The prophet Isaiah spoke of God’s holy mountain where peace and fullness of life would reign, and a little child shall lead them. I am grateful for the children in our midst who are ready, willing and excited to lead us into our world to share Christ’s love with joy!
I’m looking forward to seeing you, however you feel called to be a part!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
"When the day of Pentecost came they were all together in one place…”
~Acts 2:1
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
When I first arrived in Namibia I lived in an old mission house with a “braii platz” or grilling place built in the back yard. Excited to fire it up, I gathered some wood and went to arrange it in the place beneath the cooking grate. However, when I took a closer look I realized there was only about 6” of depth for me to work with in the concrete structure. Undaunted, I simply laid my wood in a single layer on a bed of paper and shavings. As you probably guessed, the fire didn’t get going well, so I fanned it, added more small pieces of wood, and fanned it some more. 1½ hours later I gave up trying to build the fire under the grate, and went with plan “B” building the fire on the ground alongside the braii platz and simply shoveling in the coals after they were burning well. The 6” depth was simply too shallow for the wood to stack and thereby work together in holding heat and getting the fire going. With the wood spread out, the fire sputtered along, with the wood gathered together, the fire sprang to life.
As time has gone on, I have come to appreciate the kinship between faith and fire. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit appeared as fire and wind. Like fire, faith can warm and care for us, it can help and strengthen us, it can enlighten and sustain us even as it has the ability to burn us. Faith, like fire may seem primitive, yet it is with us everyday as we put our trust in someone or something, or put something on the stove. Fire and faith are contagious as each individual works together with others to hold the heat and encourage faith/fire to spring into life, drawing us into new and abundant life that we wouldn’t have expected.
Christian faith has always lived in relationship. Whether it is the disciples Jesus sent out in pairs, or the witness of the biblical writers in conversation with each other and with us, or the witnesses of the saints that have gone before us and still commune with us at the Lord’s Supper, one thing is certain: it is in relationship that the Holy Spirit’s fire burns most brightly. And so we gather in worship on Sundays, to share our faith with one another and to receive the witness of those who have gone before. We gather for band practice, bible study, and spaghetti dinners. We gather for prayer, For meetings, for service to our neighbors, for visitation with those who can’t make it to worship, and to support one another even when we can. We gather as small groups and large, trusting that where two or three are gathered in Jesus’s name, there He will also be among them.
So, come! Come join us in the work and play of the Christian life. Come share who you are and the amazing person God made you to be. Come have the flame of the Spirit fanned within you, even as your presence supports and encourages the faith of others. Come and join in the ongoing celebration flowing from Christ’s love: a celebration that opens space for faith to spring into new life, drawing us into new and abundant life together with it! It may just change all of our lives!
Blessings!
Pastor Grant
When I first arrived in Namibia I lived in an old mission house with a “braii platz” or grilling place built in the back yard. Excited to fire it up, I gathered some wood and went to arrange it in the place beneath the cooking grate. However, when I took a closer look I realized there was only about 6” of depth for me to work with in the concrete structure. Undaunted, I simply laid my wood in a single layer on a bed of paper and shavings. As you probably guessed, the fire didn’t get going well, so I fanned it, added more small pieces of wood, and fanned it some more. 1½ hours later I gave up trying to build the fire under the grate, and went with plan “B” building the fire on the ground alongside the braii platz and simply shoveling in the coals after they were burning well. The 6” depth was simply too shallow for the wood to stack and thereby work together in holding heat and getting the fire going. With the wood spread out, the fire sputtered along, with the wood gathered together, the fire sprang to life.
As time has gone on, I have come to appreciate the kinship between faith and fire. At Pentecost the Holy Spirit appeared as fire and wind. Like fire, faith can warm and care for us, it can help and strengthen us, it can enlighten and sustain us even as it has the ability to burn us. Faith, like fire may seem primitive, yet it is with us everyday as we put our trust in someone or something, or put something on the stove. Fire and faith are contagious as each individual works together with others to hold the heat and encourage faith/fire to spring into life, drawing us into new and abundant life that we wouldn’t have expected.
Christian faith has always lived in relationship. Whether it is the disciples Jesus sent out in pairs, or the witness of the biblical writers in conversation with each other and with us, or the witnesses of the saints that have gone before us and still commune with us at the Lord’s Supper, one thing is certain: it is in relationship that the Holy Spirit’s fire burns most brightly. And so we gather in worship on Sundays, to share our faith with one another and to receive the witness of those who have gone before. We gather for band practice, bible study, and spaghetti dinners. We gather for prayer, For meetings, for service to our neighbors, for visitation with those who can’t make it to worship, and to support one another even when we can. We gather as small groups and large, trusting that where two or three are gathered in Jesus’s name, there He will also be among them.
So, come! Come join us in the work and play of the Christian life. Come share who you are and the amazing person God made you to be. Come have the flame of the Spirit fanned within you, even as your presence supports and encourages the faith of others. Come and join in the ongoing celebration flowing from Christ’s love: a celebration that opens space for faith to spring into new life, drawing us into new and abundant life together with it! It may just change all of our lives!
Blessings!
Pastor Grant
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit.” John 15:1-2
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Happy New Year! I have always loved this time of year. There’s a beauty to the Christmas season, when every nook and cranny is filled with mementos and tokens of cheer. But there’s also a beauty to the time after Christmas, when all the bits and pieces of the Christmas season get packed away and there is a sense of openness and possibility as we make room for the new year to come into our lives.
As we do in our houses, so too we do in our lives. January is often a month when diets and exercise regimens begin and folks live into the discipline of trying to make their new year’s resolutions a reality. It’s a time to pare back and let go of what was, while trying to build something stronger and healthier for the future.
This pruning is a part of the world that God has made. Pruning can be a painful process, but it also allows the plant to focus its energy on its core so it can produce well in the new season. Pruning is an act of faith. It’s a spiritual exercise of letting go in trust that a new season is coming.
This January we are also pruning at the church. Longstanding budgetary challenges have come due, and we will be cutting back in order to focus on our core, that we may be strong and healthy for new growth in the years ahead. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, good pruning takes out unhealthy parts, but it also takes out part of the healthy growth as well. It does this in faith and expectation of the fruitful new growth that God is bringing. It allows us to focus on the core – on Christ and abundant, eternal life that flows through him to us.
Christ is our vine, our core, the living force that has called us together as His body in the world. Christ is our vine, our core, who will continue to share His life and His love with and through us. It’s the sturdiness of this vine in which we put our trust. The sturdiness of one that has weathered many ups and downs, who has confronted the worst that death, hell, and sin had to offer and came out all the stronger. It is this sturdy vine, rather than any human fruit or flower, that will carry us through into the next season and beyond.
Jesus in the vine, and we are His branches, and rooted in that relationship we will bear much fruit for us, for our families and for this world that God so loves. May God bless you as you prune in your home and in your life. And may God bless our congregation as we prune in faith and hope for the new season God is preparing.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Silent Night
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life! This year Silent Night turns 200 years old which also coincides with the 100th anniversary of the armistice ending WWI. As part of the celebration, I offer you this sermon I preached the first Christmas I was here (slightly modified). Silent Night has a lot to preach, if we have ears to hear. May God Bless you with His peace this day, this Christmas season, and always! Merry Christmas! Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant Dateline: December 24, 1818 - Christmas Eve, at the church of St. Nicolas, in a little town in the Alps…and the organ was broken. Wanting music for that evening's service the Assistant Priest, Josef Mohr, rummaged through his desk and pulled out a short poem he had been working on, a kind of lullaby to the Christ child. Josef brought the poem to the church organist and school teacher, who looked it over and quickly set it to be accompanied by guitar for that night's service. The song that they composed that Christmas Eve, "stille nacht" would remain a local favorite in that little town in the Alps. Years later, a repairman called in to fix yet another breakdown in the organ heard the song and liked it so much that he asked for a copy and brought it with him in his travels across the country. Soon, traveling singers from all kinds of countries had picked-up the song and the world was given one of its most beloved hymns. An organ’s brokenness was met with a quiet, little, peace filled song, and the world would never be the same… Dateline: December 24, 1914 - Christmas Eve in the trenches of Europe. Chemical weapons, heavy artillery and the emerging machines of war had been killing people by the hundreds of thousands, adding new force to the horrors of war. Countries all over the world were sending their treasures and the precious blood of their people to be ground-up on those fields. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Since the enlightenment in the 1700’s people increasingly believed that human reason would lead them on a steady road of progress, break them free from the futility of war, and usher in an age of unending peace. They were smarter than this, they were better than this. And yet, here they were - using the strength they had developed – their intellect, technology, and deeper understanding of the natural world to more effectively tear down, kill, and maim. It was "the war to end all wars" and yet in its conclusion lay the seeds of the next "great war". |
But on that cold Christmas Eve, something wholly unexpected was taking place. Christmas carols floated from one trench to the other, followed by applause and more singing. Christmas greetings were shouted across the desolate "no man's land" until, in a moment of trust, the Germans set-up a Christmas tree in "no-man's-land" and began to decorate it. Slowly, both sides emerged from the trenches, exchanged small gifts, sang, and arranged soccer matches, as the field officers negotiated a "Christmas truce" – ceasing hostilities for Christmas in order to celebrate the birth of the prince of peace, and to bury the dead. As Stanley Weintraub explains in his book " Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce" Silent night played an important role in this spontaneous outburst of peace, as it was one of the few songs known in German, French and English that could be sung by everyone, together. In a world horribly disfigured by the brokenness of war, "silent night" reflected the light of Christ's reconciling love. For a moment, the raging of the nations gave way to a power entirely weaker, and yet so much stronger than the destruction and hate of War.
The brokenness of an "enlightened" humanity engulfed in the madness of war was met with a quiet, little, peace filled song, and the world would never be the same… Dateline: Christmas Eve, the night of Jesus' birth: In a world broken and estranged from God. In an empire ruled by a man, a Caesar, so certain of his power, he called himself a god. Whose gift of "peace" was won at the tip of a sword, and perpetuated day by day through the hundreds of people crucified on the highways of his empire. In a small district of occupied Palestine, governed by a man who had killed thousands, even his own family, in order to hold on to power. In a stable, which was all this world had to offer, a child is born. Born in flesh and blood, he is Emmanuel, which means "God with us". He is God's love come to dwell with us, to rejoice with us, and to suffer with us, in order that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Here, on this holy night, God confronted our estrangement and brokenness. Not through condemnation, threats, and demands of worthiness, but by leaping the canyon of estrangement between us, and making his home with us. Here, on this holy night, the author of life himself came to heal his broken people. Not clothed in blinding glory, but in the smallness and helplessness of a baby. Here, on this holy night, the King of Kings overwhelmed our rebelliousness. Not in the dominating strength of the rulers of this world, but in this little child, tender and mild, who bore the transforming love of God into our fragile state. The brokenness and estrangement of a world created good was met with a quiet, little, peace filled child, and the world would never be the same… |
So what difference does this peace of Christ make? In one sense, this peace has made very little difference. Soon after the night of Jesus' birth, Hared would order the slaughter of infants in an attempt to kill the prince of peace. Soon after the truce of 1914, the commanding generals re-assigned and punished those who participated in the Christmas truce and ordered heavier bombardment the following Christmas to ensure that such peace would not break out again. The powers of this world, and even the brokenness within us, know a transforming love when we see it. And out of fear and sinfulness we seek to snuff it out, to crucify it, before it gets out of control. The Peace of Christ does not make everything alright, but it does transform everything it touches. The Peace of Christ is not an escape from the brokenness of life, but the power to meet that brokenness and discover life where only death seemed possible. The peace of Christ enters in, time and again to free us from fear, draws us to fullness of life, reconciles us to God and frees us for the sake of our neighbor. As Jesus says in the gospel of John " John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
Dateline: December 2018, Here in St. Paul Lutheran and beyond these walls: In a country with very real problems – constantly in war, with an economy recovering but still precarious after the very pillars of our self-assured strength buckled and crumbled before our eyes, with many deep in the chaos of food, employment, and housing insecurity. With very real problems stalking at home and in the community - the power of seasonal and chronic depression and substance abuse, the specter of physical abuse, broken relationships, loneliness, loss or simply the stress of juggling work and family, and adapting to a seemingly ever accelerating pace of change. Into this very real brokenness, the Christ child is still coming to dwell among us, to take our suffering as his own, and to transform it with the free gift of God's undying love. The heavenly peace which he brought so long ago, and which has continued to break-out in the least expected places, he gladly shares tonight. Entering our brokenness, our chaos, and speaking his word of forgiveness and peace. Can you hear him? The song "silent night" is composed as a kind of lullaby for the Christ child, but in many ways it can also be seen as a lullaby which Christ sings to us. "Sleep in heavenly peace, my child, sleep in my peace. I was born to walk with you – to share your lot, to heal your wounds. To redeem you through my love which will not go away and which the world cannot kill. Sleep in heavenly peace, my child.” John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid." Our brokenness and chaos are met with a quiet, little, peace filled child, and the world will never be the same… Thanks be to God! |
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
The holidays are rapidly approaching, and with them time with family and friends around the dinner table. This time can be joy and a challenge as we share time with those who we love, who we are deeply connected to, and who also may not see things the way we do. In case of disagreement, the easy roads are either avoiding the conversation or firing off verbal cannon balls at each other, but there is a more excellent way. Honest, transformative dialogue can be one of the greatest gifts we give to one another! But it doesn’t just happen. It needs all involved to be truly interested in something different than the same old fights, and it takes setting-up ground rules that can serve as guard rails and provide a safe enough environment to get real with one another. So if you and yours are tired of going through the same old rounds, consider agreeing to something different using the ground rules below.
In this life we, and those we disagree with, are loved by God. Blessings in engaging loved ones with honest, loving and transformative conversation. It may well be one of the best gifts you give and receive this holiday season.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
The holidays are rapidly approaching, and with them time with family and friends around the dinner table. This time can be joy and a challenge as we share time with those who we love, who we are deeply connected to, and who also may not see things the way we do. In case of disagreement, the easy roads are either avoiding the conversation or firing off verbal cannon balls at each other, but there is a more excellent way. Honest, transformative dialogue can be one of the greatest gifts we give to one another! But it doesn’t just happen. It needs all involved to be truly interested in something different than the same old fights, and it takes setting-up ground rules that can serve as guard rails and provide a safe enough environment to get real with one another. So if you and yours are tired of going through the same old rounds, consider agreeing to something different using the ground rules below.
In this life we, and those we disagree with, are loved by God. Blessings in engaging loved ones with honest, loving and transformative conversation. It may well be one of the best gifts you give and receive this holiday season.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Ground Rules for a Challenging Conversation
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- Let “the thing” be “the thing.” It is easy for disagreements to feel personal, but you are better served to stay focused on the topic at hand. We are not here to judge one another as people, that is God’s work, and it is done in love through Jesus Christ. Rather, our opportunity as forgiven sinners is to simply talk about the issue at hand, and see what we can understand and do.
- Stay close to the ground. We all know the old saw that to assume is to make an “ass” out of “u” and “me”, but it is easy in the discomfort of a disagreement to make all kinds of assumptions that may or may not be accurate. Transformative dialogue is often transformative because it challenges assumptions that have long held us captive. Do your best to explain what you mean, even if it feels awkward. Honest and awkward attempts at truth are always better than a quick or slick quip. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification.
- Slow down and listen. It’s easy to get excited or anxious and get so focused on what we want to say that we stop listening. Take the time to listen and reflect on what others are saying. Give space for each voice.
- Do your best to be honest. Honesty requires vulnerability. What if someone disagrees? What if I disagree after I said it? Honesty is scary stuff, but it is the only way to truly grow as an individual or as a people. Honesty also means stepping away from sweeping terms like “always” and “never.” Life in God’s creation is more complex than that. Give room for God’s nuance in your speaking and hearing.
- Let each person speak for themselves. Speak honestly to your own understanding and experience. Give space for others to do the same.
- Acknowledge that we all come in with opinions formed by our experience. Take time to share those experiences that have shaped your perspective, and be open to seeing those experiences in a different light.
- Be open to being changed, and convinced by the other. Be open to the work of the Spirit through others and through prayer.
- Always bear in mind the 8th commandment and Luther’s explanation. You are not to bear false witness against your neighbor. What is this? We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.
- Always bear in mind 1st Corinthians 8:1 “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” and 1st Corinthians 13:12 “for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now we know only in part, but then we will know fully, even as we have been fully known.
- Winning looks different. The conversation isn’t as much about winners and losers as it is about new understanding and growth. Consider it a win if you both leave with a deeper understanding of the others’ point of view and caring for one another. These are the real prizes, rather than making the other person agree with your point of view.
Do Not Be Afraid
“Do not be afraid; for I am with you” Isaiah 41:10
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of Life!
Fear. It’s a basic and powerful emotion. Within fractions of a second of exposure to a fear stimulus, your pupils are dilating, your heart is revving-up, and your hypothalamus is shutting down higher brain function to give more resources to the expected fight or flight to come. Fear is a powerful emotion, and it is all around us, especially at this time of year. Scary movies and costumes live on in our thrill-seeking Halloween traditions. Politicians exploit the way fear – of people different than us, of economic insecurity, of worst case scenarios, of looming doom – that can bypass our more complex thinking and drive us to fill in the oval for them. Fear even shows up in church as we remember the life of Martin Luther and the reformation he led.
Fear played a significant role in young Luther’s life. Afraid of God’s righteous wrath and punishment, Martin joined the harshest order of monks he could find in the hopes that he could discipline himself into a life that would be pleasing to God. But the harder he sought to drive sin out of himself and his life, the more aware he was of how durably it remained. Fear drove Martin to work harder and harder, but he was never enough.
Can you relate? I can. I can think of many times in my life when the regular drumbeat of fear has pushed me to shut down higher brain function and simply work “harder, harder.” Though I knew that was probably not the best response, it somehow feels better to do something rather than to step back and look the fear squarely in the face. After all, who am I in the face of my inadequacies and failings?
Martin worked hard, but peace came for him not from his accomplishments, but rather by a realization – a realization that Martin’s inadequacies were not the last word on him. Rather the last word, God’s Word, on Martin and on each one of us, is a word of love that knows our failings and meets us with even more love and care. It’s not that God doesn’t care about how we are doing with our responsibilities, but rather that he cares more about us than about the work that we do, or the missions we accomplish, or the responsibilities we have seen through.
This opened up a new world for Martin. Not of idleness or a sense that nothing matters, but a new life that meant he was free from justifying himself to work toward what really mattered. God loved him, and God loves you and me. And that means that we can stand up to the fear that drives in from every side, and say “I am a beloved child of God, and though I have faltered and failed, though there is much that ought to get done, what is truly needed has already been done for me, and you and that will not be taken away.” It was this confidence that stood up to the powers that be and said “Here (on this truth) I stand, and can do no other. God help me.” And it is this confidence that frees us to step back from proving our own righteousness from being a servant of fear to simply working toward what is good for us, for our neighbor and for God’s world as a servant of the LORD. His is a love that Casts out fear. Do not be afraid, He is with you. Amen.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of Life!
Fear. It’s a basic and powerful emotion. Within fractions of a second of exposure to a fear stimulus, your pupils are dilating, your heart is revving-up, and your hypothalamus is shutting down higher brain function to give more resources to the expected fight or flight to come. Fear is a powerful emotion, and it is all around us, especially at this time of year. Scary movies and costumes live on in our thrill-seeking Halloween traditions. Politicians exploit the way fear – of people different than us, of economic insecurity, of worst case scenarios, of looming doom – that can bypass our more complex thinking and drive us to fill in the oval for them. Fear even shows up in church as we remember the life of Martin Luther and the reformation he led.
Fear played a significant role in young Luther’s life. Afraid of God’s righteous wrath and punishment, Martin joined the harshest order of monks he could find in the hopes that he could discipline himself into a life that would be pleasing to God. But the harder he sought to drive sin out of himself and his life, the more aware he was of how durably it remained. Fear drove Martin to work harder and harder, but he was never enough.
Can you relate? I can. I can think of many times in my life when the regular drumbeat of fear has pushed me to shut down higher brain function and simply work “harder, harder.” Though I knew that was probably not the best response, it somehow feels better to do something rather than to step back and look the fear squarely in the face. After all, who am I in the face of my inadequacies and failings?
Martin worked hard, but peace came for him not from his accomplishments, but rather by a realization – a realization that Martin’s inadequacies were not the last word on him. Rather the last word, God’s Word, on Martin and on each one of us, is a word of love that knows our failings and meets us with even more love and care. It’s not that God doesn’t care about how we are doing with our responsibilities, but rather that he cares more about us than about the work that we do, or the missions we accomplish, or the responsibilities we have seen through.
This opened up a new world for Martin. Not of idleness or a sense that nothing matters, but a new life that meant he was free from justifying himself to work toward what really mattered. God loved him, and God loves you and me. And that means that we can stand up to the fear that drives in from every side, and say “I am a beloved child of God, and though I have faltered and failed, though there is much that ought to get done, what is truly needed has already been done for me, and you and that will not be taken away.” It was this confidence that stood up to the powers that be and said “Here (on this truth) I stand, and can do no other. God help me.” And it is this confidence that frees us to step back from proving our own righteousness from being a servant of fear to simply working toward what is good for us, for our neighbor and for God’s world as a servant of the LORD. His is a love that Casts out fear. Do not be afraid, He is with you. Amen.
SEPTEMBER GREETINGS FROM PASTOR GRANT
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, The Lord of Life!
I started off full of hope, full of anxiety, and stuffed with stuff. I had never been overseas before, and here I was at the airport Eurorail ticket in hand, bag backpack stuffed to over flowing, passport hung around my neck and small amounts of emergency cash stashed in socks and pockets and so many other random nooks and compartments that I would be rediscovering it for the next few years. I was headed off on an adventure, to meet a friend in Spain and spend the summer backpacking across Europe, and I was prepared for every contingency that I could imagine…
…But I couldn’t really imagine all that was to come.
The trip was wonderful! We saw cathedrals, castles and aqueducts. We met interesting people and gained some new perspectives. We ate new foods, noted cultural differences and imagined how life would be different if we lived here or there. We saw things we had hoped to see for a long time, and stumbled across even more amazing things we hadn’t even known existed. We walked everywhere, got tan and strong, and happened into more than one unexpected scene that would give us stories for the rest of our lives! My friend was deeply into art, and though I wasn’t excited about spending so much time in museums, I came to better understand, appreciate and engage art’s power, ideas and practices as the summer wore on. I also found that my pack got lighter as the weeks rolled on. Spending time in the real adventure, rather than just imagining it, I was learning which things were truly essential and which were just heavy. I learned which cloths made the journey easier and which were too constricting. I learned how to find what I needed even at odd hours, and, in short grew in confidence and readiness for whatever the world may throw at me.
“That’s great, Pastor Grant, but what does it have to do with church?”
Well, I’ll tell you! This fall we will be focusing on the Adventure of Discipleship. Many of us have been disciples for many years, some of us are just starting out, but all of us can benefit from taking some time to (re)consider and intentionally practice following our Lord as he leads us on the adventure of a lifetime! We will see new things and gain new perspectives. In preaching will wade into the uncertainties of real questions and challenges that we are seeing and feeling in day to day life. We will wrestle with hard words from Jesus and the Good News that comes, not in spite of Jesus’ words, but through them. We will be offering several opportunities for Bible study so that, like art for me back in the day, you may come to better understand, appreciate and engage the Bible’s power, ideas and practices. Through the Amazing (G)race we will practice what we believe in service to one another and the world. Through Bread Breakers and so many other small groups we will get to know interesting people and new perspectives. And through it all we will be learning what is essential and what is just heavy. We will be strengthening ourselves and our faith for whatever comes next along the road of life. And While we may not come out with a tan, we will come out the other side with greater confidence in ourselves, our God and our ability to connect with God on a regular basis. So come be a part of the grand adventure this fall.
It may just change your life!
Blessings!
Pastor Grant
“That’s great, Pastor Grant, but what does it have to do with church?”
Well, I’ll tell you! This fall we will be focusing on the Adventure of Discipleship. Many of us have been disciples for many years, some of us are just starting out, but all of us can benefit from taking some time to (re)consider and intentionally practice following our Lord as he leads us on the adventure of a lifetime! We will see new things and gain new perspectives. In preaching will wade into the uncertainties of real questions and challenges that we are seeing and feeling in day to day life. We will wrestle with hard words from Jesus and the Good News that comes, not in spite of Jesus’ words, but through them. We will be offering several opportunities for Bible study so that, like art for me back in the day, you may come to better understand, appreciate and engage the Bible’s power, ideas and practices. Through the Amazing (G)race we will practice what we believe in service to one another and the world. Through Bread Breakers and so many other small groups we will get to know interesting people and new perspectives. And through it all we will be learning what is essential and what is just heavy. We will be strengthening ourselves and our faith for whatever comes next along the road of life. And While we may not come out with a tan, we will come out the other side with greater confidence in ourselves, our God and our ability to connect with God on a regular basis. So come be a part of the grand adventure this fall.
It may just change your life!
Blessings!
Pastor Grant
Finding the On RampsAugust Greetings from Pastor Grant
“Finding the On-Ramps” Brothers and Sisters in Christ, It’s summertime. The flowers are blooming. Warm breezes gently blow puffy clouds across the sky…and road construction is everywhere! Not long ago I found myself in south Minneapolis coming north on I-35. My plan was to get on I-94 west, but as I approached the usual exchange I discovered that the on-ramp was unavailable and followed the detour into downtown Minneapolis. Once downtown, the detour signs melted away, and I was largely left to my own devices to find a path to a different on-ramp. It reminded me of that old joke, where a local tells a traveler that “You can’t get there from here. Go down this road three miles, hang a left, travel another two miles…and ask them!” On-ramps have been on my mind a lot this summer as I’ve thought about the coming year. As welcoming as our congregation is, I have been struck over the last couple of years by how many folks I have talked to who would like to get more involved, but are uncertain how to get there. “Who does this?” “Can I get on a list to help out some times?” and “Are they really interested in new personalities and different ideas?” Perhaps you have asked these questions |
yourself. The good news is that there are many great opportunities to participate and even lead in our ministry together, but we need to mark the on-ramps better. To that end, I am working as part of our Narthex refresh to develop a welcome team and desk that will gather and organize information on what teams are doing in the congregation, sign-ups for current needs and contact info for how you (and others) can get connected – a one-stop-shop, if you will, for deeper connection and action with and through the congregation.
In order to make this welcome desk a success, I’m looking for a few good folks who would enjoy helping others connect with themselves and the ministry we do here. I’m looking for a few good folks with thoughts on how we can best build on-ramps and share them with others. I’m looking for a few good folks who would enjoy being the face of our congregation to new-comers, and serve as a friendly in-person on-ramp to help others enter into God’s abundant life and mission in this place and let their light shine among us! If that sounds like you, perhaps this is your calling. Prayerfully consider and let me know. You are God’s beloved child! May God bless you on this tail end of summer, and in all of the bustle ahead! Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant |
Pastor Grant's July Message“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity,”
Psalm 133:1 Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life. As many of you know, Amanda and I have been on vacation the last two weeks, taking a trip across the pond to visit my brother and his family, who are currently stationed in London, England. Sam was amazing on the flight out, and pretty darn good on the flight back. In between he had a tremendous time getting to know his four cousins and spending time with them at their house, in the backyard, and on playgrounds of all kinds. It was so wonderful to see him first interested, and then fully engaged in relationship, and to watch them as they carried him and walked with him, reminiscing about what it was like when each of them were his age and sharing treasures new and old. Each one found their own way to connect – my oldest nephew was the swing master, my goddaughter had the patience and gentleness to teach him new skills, my brother’s youngest girl was happy to accompany him through hill and dale, sharing her smile along the way, and the baby of the family was happy to play and share things that he had only recently outgrown.
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It was an interruption from the normal flow for all of us, but it was well worth it to be with family and to invest in the relationships that give life to all involved. This got me thinking about our church family at St. Paul Lutheran. The summer is full of a million opportunities and distractions that pull us each in different directions. But there is something good, something joyful, in setting aside a time to come together as family, to enjoy one another’s company, reconnecting and connecting for the first time, sharing what we have, learning, teaching, and growing together. Each of us finds our own way to connect, perhaps you feel led to the Bread Breakers dinner groups, or weekly worship, helping out at the food truck, or VBS. Perhaps you could connect through the ice cream social or balloon twisting class, or taking on a project to help refresh our space and prepare for the celebration of our 150th anniversary. Perhaps you are feeling led to reconnect through one of these, or to find new connections through something different, but however you feel led, I can tell you it’s worth it to take time out of our normal patterns and make the connection. It’s a gift we give each other. A gift that connects us with the gifts that God has given us and our neighbor as he draws us into life together and abundant life for each.
Blessings in your summer – I look forward to seeing you around! Your brother in Christ, Pastor Grant |
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Pastor's June Message
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from Jesus the Lord of Life: |
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As many of you know, I spent last week with our brothers and sisters in the Western Iowa Synod of the ELCA, sharing music from around the world, and sharing stories and reflections that echoed the music taught. One particular song keeps coming back to me in random thoughts and as I read the newspaper.
Click here to hear it
Beautiful, isn’t it? And haunting…
Longing – we all know a little bit about it. We have all longed to be somewhere, to be with someone we love, to live into the fullness of what God has made us to be. Longing is a pretty ancient feeling. The psalmist in Psalm 42 uses longing as a central image in his poem. “As the deer longs for flowing water, so I thirst for you, O God”
This psalm reminds me of so many outdoorsmen who cherish this vision of nature in scripture and often want it read at their funerals. It also reminds me of my time in Namibia, a desert country where a little-known passage from Matthew 10 was often on people’s lips. “And if anyone gives even a cold cup of water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person certainly will not lose their reward,” Matthew 10:42.
Listening to this rendition of the psalm, composed in English and Spanish here in the U.S., I can’t help but also think of those on our border who are longing for a cold cup of water as they pick their way through the Southwest desert. Those who are longing for somewhere, for someone they love, for the chance to live into the fullness of what God has made them to be.
Longing, it’s something we all know a little something about. And as I read stories of parents and children separated as a cruel effort to frighten off legal and illegal immigration I can’t help but wince at the longing they must feel, and long myself for a more civil and worthy response. Longing for a response to a complex problem that does better than ignoring the culpability of the large and powerful while self-righteously resting its full weight on the smallest and most vulnerable in the system. We all know something about longing…
And God knows something about longing too - Longing for connection with a world that turns its back on Him. Longing for each one of His creatures to live the abundant life that He has given them. Longing for us each to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to live with compassion, to offer that cold glass of water rather than more angry rhetoric. God longs for us with a longing that’s as painful and plaintive as any of us have experienced, and yet in God, longing isn’t the last word. He sent his son to come and be with us. He pours out His radical grace even on His enemies in order that all may be reconciled to God and to one another. God is not passive in his longing, but has gone to hell and back that nothing can separate us from his love. He has called out to you and me to draw us into His abundant life of love, and to draw us out of ourselves to speak out and live a life that reflects his gracious care. Jesus loves you – period. He loves you no matter where you are, no matter what you do or don’t do, no matter what you say or don’t say. The question is, how are you going to share that wonderful, world changing love with your neighbors near and far?
Blessings in your answering!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Click here to hear it
Beautiful, isn’t it? And haunting…
Longing – we all know a little bit about it. We have all longed to be somewhere, to be with someone we love, to live into the fullness of what God has made us to be. Longing is a pretty ancient feeling. The psalmist in Psalm 42 uses longing as a central image in his poem. “As the deer longs for flowing water, so I thirst for you, O God”
This psalm reminds me of so many outdoorsmen who cherish this vision of nature in scripture and often want it read at their funerals. It also reminds me of my time in Namibia, a desert country where a little-known passage from Matthew 10 was often on people’s lips. “And if anyone gives even a cold cup of water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person certainly will not lose their reward,” Matthew 10:42.
Listening to this rendition of the psalm, composed in English and Spanish here in the U.S., I can’t help but also think of those on our border who are longing for a cold cup of water as they pick their way through the Southwest desert. Those who are longing for somewhere, for someone they love, for the chance to live into the fullness of what God has made them to be.
Longing, it’s something we all know a little something about. And as I read stories of parents and children separated as a cruel effort to frighten off legal and illegal immigration I can’t help but wince at the longing they must feel, and long myself for a more civil and worthy response. Longing for a response to a complex problem that does better than ignoring the culpability of the large and powerful while self-righteously resting its full weight on the smallest and most vulnerable in the system. We all know something about longing…
And God knows something about longing too - Longing for connection with a world that turns its back on Him. Longing for each one of His creatures to live the abundant life that He has given them. Longing for us each to love our neighbors as we love ourselves, to live with compassion, to offer that cold glass of water rather than more angry rhetoric. God longs for us with a longing that’s as painful and plaintive as any of us have experienced, and yet in God, longing isn’t the last word. He sent his son to come and be with us. He pours out His radical grace even on His enemies in order that all may be reconciled to God and to one another. God is not passive in his longing, but has gone to hell and back that nothing can separate us from his love. He has called out to you and me to draw us into His abundant life of love, and to draw us out of ourselves to speak out and live a life that reflects his gracious care. Jesus loves you – period. He loves you no matter where you are, no matter what you do or don’t do, no matter what you say or don’t say. The question is, how are you going to share that wonderful, world changing love with your neighbors near and far?
Blessings in your answering!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
May Pastor's Letter
I AM THE VINE; YOU ARE THE BRANCHES ...
Sam is turning one. He has grown so much over this year, learned so much, and yet so much is still in store. I have also learned and grown a lot this year. It’s hard to imagine life without him, or remember how things looked before he was always on my mind. As we prepare for his birthday party, Amanda and I have been joking about, how at this tender age, his birthday party is more a celebration for us than for him – we have kept all three of us alive for a year, and that’s something we want to celebrate! Sam is turning one. He is now allowed to sleep with a blanket, eat honey, and do a whole host of other things because he has developed to a stage where he can better take care of himself through muscle control and simple development. He is more established now as a human being, and that establishment makes a difference.
This reminds me of standing outside in the snow, spraying brown twigs outside the parsonage in Montana. The previous pastor had the ambition to grow grapes and make communion wine for the congregation. A beautiful grape arbor was built, and plants were purchased and planted, but years after there was still no fruit. Every spring the plants shot out green tendrils that were more than happy to climb whatever you put next to them. They would spread out leaves and bask in the sun but then the winter came and killed back everything but those shoots closest to the ground. This was a problem because fruit only grows on established vines – the first year is all investment, you don’t get any return until the second, when the vines that have weathered the winter are developed enough to bear fruit. Which is why I was out there in the middle of winter, spraying essentially a wax coating on these tender shoots in the hopes that they would survive and bear fruit in the next year and the years to come.
This then reminds me of Jesus. In the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Abide in me and you will bear much fruit.” In Jesus we have a vine that survived - a vine that weathered the storms of this life, and even death, and yet still lives. In Jesus we have one that is truly strong enough, stable enough, to feed us as we weather the storms we must face in this life. A vine that is mature enough to nourish us into bearing the fruit that is so needed in this world. He is the vine, and that is good news for us because as we stay connected with him we know we have what’s needed to truly bear fruit. Fruit like patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, love, peace, and self-control. Fruits that will endure and benefit both us and our neighbors.
Sam is turning one. And as he looks towards another year of explosive growth, I look forward to helping him connect with the vine – the vine that has given me life. And the vine that will make him fruitful as well. May God bless you in your connection with Christ, whether you are turning 1 or 101 this year.
This reminds me of standing outside in the snow, spraying brown twigs outside the parsonage in Montana. The previous pastor had the ambition to grow grapes and make communion wine for the congregation. A beautiful grape arbor was built, and plants were purchased and planted, but years after there was still no fruit. Every spring the plants shot out green tendrils that were more than happy to climb whatever you put next to them. They would spread out leaves and bask in the sun but then the winter came and killed back everything but those shoots closest to the ground. This was a problem because fruit only grows on established vines – the first year is all investment, you don’t get any return until the second, when the vines that have weathered the winter are developed enough to bear fruit. Which is why I was out there in the middle of winter, spraying essentially a wax coating on these tender shoots in the hopes that they would survive and bear fruit in the next year and the years to come.
This then reminds me of Jesus. In the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Abide in me and you will bear much fruit.” In Jesus we have a vine that survived - a vine that weathered the storms of this life, and even death, and yet still lives. In Jesus we have one that is truly strong enough, stable enough, to feed us as we weather the storms we must face in this life. A vine that is mature enough to nourish us into bearing the fruit that is so needed in this world. He is the vine, and that is good news for us because as we stay connected with him we know we have what’s needed to truly bear fruit. Fruit like patience, kindness, generosity, gentleness, love, peace, and self-control. Fruits that will endure and benefit both us and our neighbors.
Sam is turning one. And as he looks towards another year of explosive growth, I look forward to helping him connect with the vine – the vine that has given me life. And the vine that will make him fruitful as well. May God bless you in your connection with Christ, whether you are turning 1 or 101 this year.
HE IS COMING AGAIN!
Pastor Grant Applehan's April Message
“The one who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon!’…”
~Revelation 22:20
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as I sit writing this the snow is retreating into great puddles in my backyard, and yet if the weather-guessers are to be believed, the snow will be replenished before the day is out tomorrow. The calendar says it should be April, but it feels like the 101st day of January. The literal translation of lent is “spring,” and so by Easter the sun has already passed the equator and we are supposed to be well on our way to the joys of summer. We should at least have some flowers blooming, instead of piles of snow and slightly panicked birds in the yard. Summer is coming – we can have confidence in that even though you wouldn’t guess it by looking out the window.
It’s times like these when a pastor’s musings turn to thoughts of the second coming of Jesus. It’s easy after millennia of waiting to start wondering if he’s ever going to come back. You look out your window and the world seems to show no sign that God’s eternal goodness is coming to reign. But it is on its way, and we as God’s people are called to stay alert and live lives that reflect our confidence in his arrival.
Each one of us is called in this time of waiting while the snow is still on the ground, to live lives that express our citizenship in the Kingdom. Lives that turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and take risks trusting that love and forgiveness are truly stronger and wiser than hate and mocking. We are called to live lives that are profoundly generous here and now in anticipation of the bounty that is on its way.
For Jesus is coming, just like the summer is coming, and both will arrive and be glorious whether we are prepared for them or not. These things are true, they are coming regardless of what we believe, and they will be received by the well-prepared and the unprepared. For the coming of God will be like a thief in the night – stealing away our snow and leaving in its place beautiful flowers. And we do the hard work of staying vigilant, the hard work of doing what we know is loving and wise even in the face of hate and mocking not because we fear the Master’s rod, but because we can already taste how wonderful it will be when His Kingdom fully comes among us, and we want to live, and breathe, and reflect that now.
So as you look out at the endless white and barren landscape I invite you to see the reality that is just over the horizon, and share that warmth and joy you see with your family, and your friends and even those you consider your enemies. For summer is coming soon! And Christ is coming very soon! And it will be glorious!
“…Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant
~Revelation 22:20
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, as I sit writing this the snow is retreating into great puddles in my backyard, and yet if the weather-guessers are to be believed, the snow will be replenished before the day is out tomorrow. The calendar says it should be April, but it feels like the 101st day of January. The literal translation of lent is “spring,” and so by Easter the sun has already passed the equator and we are supposed to be well on our way to the joys of summer. We should at least have some flowers blooming, instead of piles of snow and slightly panicked birds in the yard. Summer is coming – we can have confidence in that even though you wouldn’t guess it by looking out the window.
It’s times like these when a pastor’s musings turn to thoughts of the second coming of Jesus. It’s easy after millennia of waiting to start wondering if he’s ever going to come back. You look out your window and the world seems to show no sign that God’s eternal goodness is coming to reign. But it is on its way, and we as God’s people are called to stay alert and live lives that reflect our confidence in his arrival.
Each one of us is called in this time of waiting while the snow is still on the ground, to live lives that express our citizenship in the Kingdom. Lives that turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and take risks trusting that love and forgiveness are truly stronger and wiser than hate and mocking. We are called to live lives that are profoundly generous here and now in anticipation of the bounty that is on its way.
For Jesus is coming, just like the summer is coming, and both will arrive and be glorious whether we are prepared for them or not. These things are true, they are coming regardless of what we believe, and they will be received by the well-prepared and the unprepared. For the coming of God will be like a thief in the night – stealing away our snow and leaving in its place beautiful flowers. And we do the hard work of staying vigilant, the hard work of doing what we know is loving and wise even in the face of hate and mocking not because we fear the Master’s rod, but because we can already taste how wonderful it will be when His Kingdom fully comes among us, and we want to live, and breathe, and reflect that now.
So as you look out at the endless white and barren landscape I invite you to see the reality that is just over the horizon, and share that warmth and joy you see with your family, and your friends and even those you consider your enemies. For summer is coming soon! And Christ is coming very soon! And it will be glorious!
“…Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant
HOLY WEEK
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father, and Jesus the Lord of Life.
Holy Week is rapidly approaching, a time set apart on our calendars to slow down into real time as we celebrate/mourn/ponder and celebrate again the last week of Jesus’s life, and the amazing good news of his resurrection. It is a week of activity, a week of drama, a week that draws us into the story as we hail our King only to denounce him and see him rise with forgiveness and healing in his wings.
One song that has always been central to my experience of Easter is “Thine Is the Glory.” A rousing song, whose tune was written by George Handel, sung to the conquering hero whose victory over death is eternal. I love the clear proclamation of the text, the well-composed melody and harmonies, but more than anything I love the tone it sets: an energetic buoyancy that perfectly matches the occasion of Easter. It is a tune that in its very essence proclaims the spirit and mood of Easter.
Which is why my first winter in Namibia, I was surprised to hear this tune floating through the air in German at Christmas. As it turns out, not everyone agrees as to where this tune should be placed in the church year. Using the text of Zechariah 2:10, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the LORD,” with overtones of Zechariah 9:9, this Advent hymn from Germany tells the story of the incarnation and how God the King comes to us in the little baby, Jesus.
The buoyant mood of Handel’s tune seemed out of place to me among the more gentle, quiet, contemplative tunes of Christmas. So I asked my German colleague how this tune fit the Christmas season for her. She pointed out how Handel had written the tune “See the Conquering Hero Comes” as a triumphant part of his oratorio, “Judas Maccabaeus” which celebrates the Jewish hero who cleansed the temple, inaugurating the celebration of Hanukkah. Since Hanukkah usually fell at about the same time of the year as Christmas, she felt it was most appropriate for our Advent and Christmas season.
I, for my part, pointed out how the very name, “See the Conquering Hero Comes” fits better with the final victory of Christ in the resurrection. He comes, and comes eternally as the Conquering Hero to and for each of us. Though we talked for awhile, we never came to consensus where the tune best belonged. The best we could do was agree that it seemed quite jarring apart from the season in which we were used to hearing it.
But as I’ve thought about it, I’ve come to appreciate more how that very jarring experience preaches the unsettling continuity of Christ. That this baby, meek and mild, was born to conquer death, and that this risen conquering hero had been on his way to the cross since before his birth. Christmas and Easter are less separate events than snapshots of the ongoing advent of Emmanuel, God with us, who came, who conquered, and, now resurrected, journeys with us still.
And so we sing with Paul, and all the early church, the ancient hymn that is found in Philippians 2, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Have a blessed Easter!
Pastor Grant Applehans
Holy Week is rapidly approaching, a time set apart on our calendars to slow down into real time as we celebrate/mourn/ponder and celebrate again the last week of Jesus’s life, and the amazing good news of his resurrection. It is a week of activity, a week of drama, a week that draws us into the story as we hail our King only to denounce him and see him rise with forgiveness and healing in his wings.
One song that has always been central to my experience of Easter is “Thine Is the Glory.” A rousing song, whose tune was written by George Handel, sung to the conquering hero whose victory over death is eternal. I love the clear proclamation of the text, the well-composed melody and harmonies, but more than anything I love the tone it sets: an energetic buoyancy that perfectly matches the occasion of Easter. It is a tune that in its very essence proclaims the spirit and mood of Easter.
Which is why my first winter in Namibia, I was surprised to hear this tune floating through the air in German at Christmas. As it turns out, not everyone agrees as to where this tune should be placed in the church year. Using the text of Zechariah 2:10, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the LORD,” with overtones of Zechariah 9:9, this Advent hymn from Germany tells the story of the incarnation and how God the King comes to us in the little baby, Jesus.
The buoyant mood of Handel’s tune seemed out of place to me among the more gentle, quiet, contemplative tunes of Christmas. So I asked my German colleague how this tune fit the Christmas season for her. She pointed out how Handel had written the tune “See the Conquering Hero Comes” as a triumphant part of his oratorio, “Judas Maccabaeus” which celebrates the Jewish hero who cleansed the temple, inaugurating the celebration of Hanukkah. Since Hanukkah usually fell at about the same time of the year as Christmas, she felt it was most appropriate for our Advent and Christmas season.
I, for my part, pointed out how the very name, “See the Conquering Hero Comes” fits better with the final victory of Christ in the resurrection. He comes, and comes eternally as the Conquering Hero to and for each of us. Though we talked for awhile, we never came to consensus where the tune best belonged. The best we could do was agree that it seemed quite jarring apart from the season in which we were used to hearing it.
But as I’ve thought about it, I’ve come to appreciate more how that very jarring experience preaches the unsettling continuity of Christ. That this baby, meek and mild, was born to conquer death, and that this risen conquering hero had been on his way to the cross since before his birth. Christmas and Easter are less separate events than snapshots of the ongoing advent of Emmanuel, God with us, who came, who conquered, and, now resurrected, journeys with us still.
And so we sing with Paul, and all the early church, the ancient hymn that is found in Philippians 2, “If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who,
though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death –
even death on a cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him
and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.”
Have a blessed Easter!
Pastor Grant Applehans
Pastor's February Message
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Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! James 3:4-5
One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Montana was the ubiquity of the Smokey the Bear signs. Living in Wisconsin and Iowa for most of my life, I hadn’t seen a lot of Smokey signs – we have even fewer there than you do here. But in Montana, Smokey sits at the entrance to each little town you pass through, sharing the fire danger that particular day in that particular town. Low, Moderate, High, or Very High, Smokey lets you know how careful you need to be with fire, and what different fire restrictions might be in place at any particular time.
Missoula, Montana is a base for the Forest Service Smoke-jumper program. Smoke-jumpers are fire fighters who parachute out of airplanes into fire regions too remote or too dangerous to access over the ground. We toured their base in Missoula, where we saw their suits, parachutes, and other equipment for fighting fire. The most interesting thing I learned at the museum is that smoke-jumpers don’t attempt to put out forest fires – they seek to contain them. Using a tool called a Pulaski (a pick-ax with a flat blade on one side) they clear a line around the perimeter of the fire that is free from fuel. The idea being that if you remove fuel from the path of the fire it will stop spreading, and if it cannot spread, it will burn itself out eventually. They do use helicopters with enormous buckets to drop water on fires, seeking to help put them out that way as well, but containment is the main goal for fighting wild fires.
Anyone who has ever dealt with a rumor knows that the spread of information can be just as rapid as the spread of fire. Information, especially anything that is prefaced by “don’t tell anyone, but…” leaps across a community like a tongue of flame. And finding the pockets of fuel, these little comments can create hot spots, causing deep damage in a community.
We all know how to combat this dangerous speech. Those little tricks, like changing the subject or saying something positive about the subject of criticism, that can help to contain the gossip, cutting off its fuel thereby stopping its spread. We know how to shut down this speech, but sometimes we don’t realize how important it is to do that. This sort of talk can be very damaging to our human communities just as fire is to the forest. Even contained, a fire can deeply damage the area that it blows through, killing trees and other wildlife in its path. The fire also destroys the habitat for years to come for those animals who escape the blaze. In the same way our communities are damaged when we allow hurtful speech to continue.
As Luther puts it in the Small Catechism, "We are to fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light."
We are now entering into the time of Lent, a time to reflect on the sin within and around us and take practical actions to remedy that sin. In our good yet broken world there are few sins more ubiquitous or more corrosive than gossip. And so, as we journey through these 40 days of spring cleaning for the soul, I invite each of us to consider how we participate, how we initiate and how we can be part of the solution for ourselves and our neighbors.
And along with that invitation, I want to encourage you that, however it goes, the fire is never the end. Amanda and I drove through Glacier Park just weeks after a fire had ripped through part of it, and were surprised to see the intensely green beginnings of mosses already growing on the charred remains of the trees. God is about the business of new life, and even the total destruction that can be brought by a forest fire is no match for the power of God’s drive toward new life. In the same way our human relationships, though they may be damaged by the flames of hurtful speech, can have new life breathed into them by the God who loves us all so much he was willing to go to hell and back to walk with us. God holds us all in God’s protective arms, and there is nothing in all creation that can separate us from this amazing love, and the new life this love creates.
Blessings on your journey of Lent,
Pastor Grant
PASTOR GRANT APPLEHANS JANUARY 2018 MESSAGE
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” ~ Hebrews 13:8
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life.
Happy New Year! This year St. Paul Lutheran is celebrating 150 years of ministry in the Wyoming area. We will be kicking things off at the annual meeting, and celebrating throughout the year with special worship services, temple talks, and social events. It’s a time for celebration, a time for looking back at what has been, and imagining what God has in store for us in the future. It’s a time for taking stock of time and what’s most important among the many urgent calls in ministry.
It’s amazing to think of all the change that took place over the last 150 years. We have gone from covered wagons to horses and buggies to airplanes, self-driving cars, and super computers that fit in our pockets – and take pictures too! We have fought wars and negotiated world order, reimagining what’s possible and falling into the same old traps. We have seen social change as we have steadily broadened our definition of family, our definition of gender roles, and our ideas of whose voices matter. Our population has migrated from the rural areas to the city, and back out again. And all the changes that happened in our society have brought changes in the church as well. Good, bad, or indifferent, we don’t do things as we used to. And it can feel with the passing years that all is shifting sand and there is no rock – nothing stable in the midst of the constant change.
But for 150 years, St. Paul Lutheran has proclaimed the same Christ. The Christ who was from the beginning, but chose to come into a particular moment in time to share his eternal love and give us eternal life. and life amidst the swirling sands of time. He is the one who has come to save us, and who will not fail, come height or depth, or anything else in all creation.
And so we can afford to take the long view. To celebrate these 150 years as the passing moment that they have been, and look forward to 150, 1500, and an eternity of praising God and sharing his love with joy beyond.
Blessings in this new year – let’s make it a great one!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” ~ Hebrews 13:8
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life.
Happy New Year! This year St. Paul Lutheran is celebrating 150 years of ministry in the Wyoming area. We will be kicking things off at the annual meeting, and celebrating throughout the year with special worship services, temple talks, and social events. It’s a time for celebration, a time for looking back at what has been, and imagining what God has in store for us in the future. It’s a time for taking stock of time and what’s most important among the many urgent calls in ministry.
It’s amazing to think of all the change that took place over the last 150 years. We have gone from covered wagons to horses and buggies to airplanes, self-driving cars, and super computers that fit in our pockets – and take pictures too! We have fought wars and negotiated world order, reimagining what’s possible and falling into the same old traps. We have seen social change as we have steadily broadened our definition of family, our definition of gender roles, and our ideas of whose voices matter. Our population has migrated from the rural areas to the city, and back out again. And all the changes that happened in our society have brought changes in the church as well. Good, bad, or indifferent, we don’t do things as we used to. And it can feel with the passing years that all is shifting sand and there is no rock – nothing stable in the midst of the constant change.
But for 150 years, St. Paul Lutheran has proclaimed the same Christ. The Christ who was from the beginning, but chose to come into a particular moment in time to share his eternal love and give us eternal life. and life amidst the swirling sands of time. He is the one who has come to save us, and who will not fail, come height or depth, or anything else in all creation.
And so we can afford to take the long view. To celebrate these 150 years as the passing moment that they have been, and look forward to 150, 1500, and an eternity of praising God and sharing his love with joy beyond.
Blessings in this new year – let’s make it a great one!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Greetings from Pastor Grant Applehans
Dec. 2017
Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life.
Merry Christmas! As I write this letter we are already half way through Advent and well on our way to the celebration of the Christ child. Magic and joy are in the air as people string up lights, trim the tree, go to parties, and plan for the festivities to come.
But there are other things in the air these days as well. Smoke for one, as California is engulfed in flames again – the flames fed by Santa Anna winds, which are natural but significantly intensified by our own contributions to global warming. Also hanging in the air these days is the smoke of careers gone down in flames as men from Hollywood to New York, to Washington DC, to our very own Minnesota are taken down by a new and sudden willingness to take sexual harassment seriously in our culture. Social media is on fire with statements of #metoo as women are speaking out about individuals and pushing our cultural indifference to sexual harassment into the spotlight.
I for one am glad that we have come to this moment. When God created, he created them male and female as partners. The word that God uses for Eve is sometimes translated as Adam’s “helper,” but far from a “little helper” that word “helper” is most frequently used in scripture for God himself. God gave us one another as companions and partners, but then sin entered in. And since any of us can remember we have lived in societies where power was unevenly distributed between many categories of people, and abuses flow from there. The disciples didn’t believe the women who said the resurrection had happened either, but that didn’t make it not true. I’m glad that we are moving forward on this issue, and I am glad that people are speaking their truth and being heard. At the same time, I like many of us have concerns on how we usher in this change. There are pitfalls a plenty, and if we aren’t careful we can burn this movement out without much real change. There’s not room in this letter to detail my thoughts here, but I will write another post over the next few days that you can read on the pastor’s page of the website, or call the office to have a physical copy sent to you.
The image of smoking hanging in the air from a world on fire doesn’t really make a great Christmas card. But it’s not as inappropriate as it might first appear. In the incarnation, God came not to be with us in a pretty, glittery, post card of sweetness and joy, he came to be with us in our mess. To do something about the very real sin that engulfs us as individuals and as societies. Christ came not to join us in our perfection, but to heal the wounds we give to ourselves and to one another. To show us a better way, and to give us something so much better than we would have come up with on our own, drawing us to abundant and eternal life. May God bless each one of you in this season of incarnation, and throughout the year.
A Blessed Christmas Everyone!
Pastor Grant
Merry Christmas! As I write this letter we are already half way through Advent and well on our way to the celebration of the Christ child. Magic and joy are in the air as people string up lights, trim the tree, go to parties, and plan for the festivities to come.
But there are other things in the air these days as well. Smoke for one, as California is engulfed in flames again – the flames fed by Santa Anna winds, which are natural but significantly intensified by our own contributions to global warming. Also hanging in the air these days is the smoke of careers gone down in flames as men from Hollywood to New York, to Washington DC, to our very own Minnesota are taken down by a new and sudden willingness to take sexual harassment seriously in our culture. Social media is on fire with statements of #metoo as women are speaking out about individuals and pushing our cultural indifference to sexual harassment into the spotlight.
I for one am glad that we have come to this moment. When God created, he created them male and female as partners. The word that God uses for Eve is sometimes translated as Adam’s “helper,” but far from a “little helper” that word “helper” is most frequently used in scripture for God himself. God gave us one another as companions and partners, but then sin entered in. And since any of us can remember we have lived in societies where power was unevenly distributed between many categories of people, and abuses flow from there. The disciples didn’t believe the women who said the resurrection had happened either, but that didn’t make it not true. I’m glad that we are moving forward on this issue, and I am glad that people are speaking their truth and being heard. At the same time, I like many of us have concerns on how we usher in this change. There are pitfalls a plenty, and if we aren’t careful we can burn this movement out without much real change. There’s not room in this letter to detail my thoughts here, but I will write another post over the next few days that you can read on the pastor’s page of the website, or call the office to have a physical copy sent to you.
The image of smoking hanging in the air from a world on fire doesn’t really make a great Christmas card. But it’s not as inappropriate as it might first appear. In the incarnation, God came not to be with us in a pretty, glittery, post card of sweetness and joy, he came to be with us in our mess. To do something about the very real sin that engulfs us as individuals and as societies. Christ came not to join us in our perfection, but to heal the wounds we give to ourselves and to one another. To show us a better way, and to give us something so much better than we would have come up with on our own, drawing us to abundant and eternal life. May God bless each one of you in this season of incarnation, and throughout the year.
A Blessed Christmas Everyone!
Pastor Grant
PASTOR GRANT APPLEHANS
NOVEMBER MESSAGE
Greetings the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Thankfulness is good for you!
Studies have shown that practicing thankfulness has a good chance of making you a happier and healthier person. In the “Count Your Blessings” study, Robert A. Emmons, a Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, had participants simply jot down the blessings in their life each night, and discovered a substantial increase in both their mental and physical well being, as compared to the control group. Counting your blessings is a spiritual exercise, but as in so many things, what is good for the soul is good for the body and mind as well.
Thankfulness is good for you!
Thankfulness is good for you, because it pulls you out of yourself and your problems to focus on the many gifts that come to you daily. I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to get stuck in a negative loop, to get so focused on what is lacking that it’s hard to see anything but what’s wrong. We can only hold so much in our heads as it turns out, and what you spend your time looking at can make a big difference in what you see. Growing-up my mom used to play a game with me to draw me into something different. She would tell me that I could tell her as many of the negative things that happened that day, as long as I told her about three good things that happened first. Certainly there were the days when I quickly rammed right through the three good things so I could spend some serious time on what went wrong, but increasingly I found myself caught-up in what was good and positive and my experience of what went wrong simply seemed small and insignificant in comparison.
Thankfulness is good for you!
I think Paul has picked-up on this idea as well in his letter to the Philippians - Focus on the good and it will bless you and make you a blessing. Consider the little things, tiny blessing that are easy to miss – a smile, a kind gesture, a pat on the shoulder from someone who cares…consider the big gifts – blessings that are always near, so near it’s easy to miss them - things like food and water, breath and cloths, family and friends and the craftsmanship of the world around us.
Thankfulness is good for you!
But what about when it seems everything is falling apart and there is no room for thanks? What about when we are reminded with each newspaper headline of what is broken and horribly wrong in the world around us? This is where the peace of Christ that passes all human understanding comes in. Because the good news is that even in the darkest of places, even when you’ve got no light to give, Christ does. He is the light that came into the world, which the darkness could not overcome. He is the resurrected one who holds you in his love, and who will never let you go. The good news is that no matter how you feel, no matter what else is going on, you have a God who loves you now and to the end of time. And in that love he gives you the seed of his resurrection. A seed which grows in even the harshest of environments. A seed that will not go away, and which the world cannot kill. And in that seed we have reason for hope, we have reason for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that’s a response to the God who is, the God who was, and the God who will be for us. Thanksgiving that comes back again and again to draw you out of yourself and into the good gifts that God is giving. Thanksgiving that returns again and again and shines in our words and our deeds with the undying joy and love of Christ.
Blessed Thanksgiving everyone!
Pastor Grant
NOVEMBER MESSAGE
Greetings the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Thankfulness is good for you!
Studies have shown that practicing thankfulness has a good chance of making you a happier and healthier person. In the “Count Your Blessings” study, Robert A. Emmons, a Professor of Psychology at UC Davis, had participants simply jot down the blessings in their life each night, and discovered a substantial increase in both their mental and physical well being, as compared to the control group. Counting your blessings is a spiritual exercise, but as in so many things, what is good for the soul is good for the body and mind as well.
Thankfulness is good for you!
Thankfulness is good for you, because it pulls you out of yourself and your problems to focus on the many gifts that come to you daily. I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to get stuck in a negative loop, to get so focused on what is lacking that it’s hard to see anything but what’s wrong. We can only hold so much in our heads as it turns out, and what you spend your time looking at can make a big difference in what you see. Growing-up my mom used to play a game with me to draw me into something different. She would tell me that I could tell her as many of the negative things that happened that day, as long as I told her about three good things that happened first. Certainly there were the days when I quickly rammed right through the three good things so I could spend some serious time on what went wrong, but increasingly I found myself caught-up in what was good and positive and my experience of what went wrong simply seemed small and insignificant in comparison.
Thankfulness is good for you!
I think Paul has picked-up on this idea as well in his letter to the Philippians - Focus on the good and it will bless you and make you a blessing. Consider the little things, tiny blessing that are easy to miss – a smile, a kind gesture, a pat on the shoulder from someone who cares…consider the big gifts – blessings that are always near, so near it’s easy to miss them - things like food and water, breath and cloths, family and friends and the craftsmanship of the world around us.
Thankfulness is good for you!
But what about when it seems everything is falling apart and there is no room for thanks? What about when we are reminded with each newspaper headline of what is broken and horribly wrong in the world around us? This is where the peace of Christ that passes all human understanding comes in. Because the good news is that even in the darkest of places, even when you’ve got no light to give, Christ does. He is the light that came into the world, which the darkness could not overcome. He is the resurrected one who holds you in his love, and who will never let you go. The good news is that no matter how you feel, no matter what else is going on, you have a God who loves you now and to the end of time. And in that love he gives you the seed of his resurrection. A seed which grows in even the harshest of environments. A seed that will not go away, and which the world cannot kill. And in that seed we have reason for hope, we have reason for thanksgiving. Thanksgiving that’s a response to the God who is, the God who was, and the God who will be for us. Thanksgiving that comes back again and again to draw you out of yourself and into the good gifts that God is giving. Thanksgiving that returns again and again and shines in our words and our deeds with the undying joy and love of Christ.
Blessed Thanksgiving everyone!
Pastor Grant
Greetings from Pastor Grant Applehans - October
A Reforming Word
“…Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philips and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. Had I desired to foment trouble, I could have brought great bloodshed upon Germany; indeed, I could have started such a game that even the emperor would not have been safe. But what would it have been? Mere fool’s play. I did nothing; I let the Word do its work…”
– Martin Luther
Grace to you and peace, from God our father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
Cruising on YouTube the other day, I ran across a video of a man with a plan. He was explaining to the camera that if you ever want to get something done what you have to do is “make a plan, believe in yourself, and follow through.” Sound advice for the most part, but then he attempted to demonstrate. He brought out a sheet of flexible wood paneling and made the plan of breaking it with his head, believed in himself, and proceeded to attempt follow through, smashing it on his head multiple times, finally ending by smashing it on his face while the paneling flexed but didn’t break. Obviously distressed at the end of the video he said, “I guess I didn’t believe in myself enough,” and you hear his mother in the background saying, “Did you hurt yourself?” It was painful to watch, and I would assume also painful to go through. There is one extra step needed in his plan – research.
Sometimes the path to accomplishment is less than straightforward. Sometimes a bull-rush may feel good, but will accomplish very little. This is especially true in the life of faith. This October 31 we celebrate the 500thanniversary of the Reformation. 500 years since Luther nailed some questions to a door with the hopes of having a discussion. The Reformation brought out unlikely heroes, and much more than changing a political map, changed hearts and minds and set in motion everything from public schools to welfare, to renewed appreciation of God’s work though our hands and the priesthood of all believers.
To be certain, there were wonderful and tragic events that came out of our experience of reform, we are after all saints and sinners and always tempted towards the quick and self-righteous path. But at its core (and at its best) the Reformation is not a show of force, not a bull-rush towards an end, but rather a listening. Listening to the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and trusting that word even in the face of seeming impossibility. Getting out of the way and letting the Word do his work in transforming us and our world. As Luther said when threatened with excommunication and death, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” As we cling to that Word amazing things happen. As we let God’s words of love and grace define us, we are re-formed. And so this Reformation I encourage you to trust that same Word. To let it call you beyond what you think you know, and the battle lines that we all grow so accustomed to. Trust the Word and see how he may open up a way with unlikely heroes and true possibilities.
Blessings in your listening and in your trusting.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant
A Reforming Word
“…Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philips and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything. Had I desired to foment trouble, I could have brought great bloodshed upon Germany; indeed, I could have started such a game that even the emperor would not have been safe. But what would it have been? Mere fool’s play. I did nothing; I let the Word do its work…”
– Martin Luther
Grace to you and peace, from God our father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
Cruising on YouTube the other day, I ran across a video of a man with a plan. He was explaining to the camera that if you ever want to get something done what you have to do is “make a plan, believe in yourself, and follow through.” Sound advice for the most part, but then he attempted to demonstrate. He brought out a sheet of flexible wood paneling and made the plan of breaking it with his head, believed in himself, and proceeded to attempt follow through, smashing it on his head multiple times, finally ending by smashing it on his face while the paneling flexed but didn’t break. Obviously distressed at the end of the video he said, “I guess I didn’t believe in myself enough,” and you hear his mother in the background saying, “Did you hurt yourself?” It was painful to watch, and I would assume also painful to go through. There is one extra step needed in his plan – research.
Sometimes the path to accomplishment is less than straightforward. Sometimes a bull-rush may feel good, but will accomplish very little. This is especially true in the life of faith. This October 31 we celebrate the 500thanniversary of the Reformation. 500 years since Luther nailed some questions to a door with the hopes of having a discussion. The Reformation brought out unlikely heroes, and much more than changing a political map, changed hearts and minds and set in motion everything from public schools to welfare, to renewed appreciation of God’s work though our hands and the priesthood of all believers.
To be certain, there were wonderful and tragic events that came out of our experience of reform, we are after all saints and sinners and always tempted towards the quick and self-righteous path. But at its core (and at its best) the Reformation is not a show of force, not a bull-rush towards an end, but rather a listening. Listening to the living Word of God, Jesus Christ, and trusting that word even in the face of seeming impossibility. Getting out of the way and letting the Word do his work in transforming us and our world. As Luther said when threatened with excommunication and death, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.” As we cling to that Word amazing things happen. As we let God’s words of love and grace define us, we are re-formed. And so this Reformation I encourage you to trust that same Word. To let it call you beyond what you think you know, and the battle lines that we all grow so accustomed to. Trust the Word and see how he may open up a way with unlikely heroes and true possibilities.
Blessings in your listening and in your trusting.
Yours in Christ, Pastor Grant
A STORY OF COURAGE
from one of our own
A Message of Love, Parris Recovers From Traumatic Brain injury ...
Pastor’s Letter ~ September 2017
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
Well, it happened. I knew it was coming some day soon, but I didn’t imagine it would be this early. Today I have lost something, and gained something, and my life will never be quite the same…
So, I was walking from my office to the kitchen to get a pitcher of water. On the way I passed our new class of preschoolers while they were waiting for the bathroom. Chapel time doesn’t start until next week, so the only place these kids have met me was at the preschool open house, where I greeted people while holding my son Samuel. As I walked by the teachers greeted me with “Hi Pastor Grant!” which then caused the kids to look at me, trying to figure out if they knew me, too. Suddenly the light bulb lit up on one, and then two, and then many faces as they said “Hi, Baby-guy!”
The handle that they had for me had little to do with me, and everything to do with my son. I wasn’t “pastor” or “Grant” just the guy who was holding that baby. As Sam grows, this will happen more and more. My identity as “Sam’s dad” will often define me, with his friends and teachers as Samuel moves through this life. As my life goes on, I will be shaped by my new identity in ways I can anticipate, and ways I can’t. In the short time that I have already been living into it, I’ve discovered gifts, and compassion that I didn’t know I had, along with the knowledge that I am growing even as I hold him and watch him grow. As “Sam’s dad” I’ve gained a new identity that mixes with and transforms everything else that I am.
In its own little way, my experience of new identity reflects the identity we all receive as Christians. In baptism we are given the identity of “Child of God” – an identity that has little to do with us, and everything to do with the God who continues to love and claim us. Sure, there is more to us than this designation, but of all the things people call us, this one is the one that will last. And as we live into it, it will continue to shape and transform us in ways we can anticipate, and ways we can’t. We will find gifts and compassion we didn’t know we had. We will find comfort, confidence and love that meet us where we are and draw out the beautiful, caring person that we were made to be. We will find ourselves transformed again and again as this identity mixes with and transforms everything else we are.
This summer we celebrated the baptisms of Mason, Sandra, Aubrey and Tinley. This month we celebrate the baptisms of Samuel, Bennett and Alexa. And I encourage you, gentle reader, in the midst of it all to celebrate your baptism as well. Celebrate the God who comes to us in love. Celebrate the eternal promise that God has made to you. Celebrate your identity as “Child of the living God”, and let that identity transform how you live out everything else that you are.
Blessings in the ongoing adventure of Faith!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Grace to you, and peace from God our Father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
Well, it happened. I knew it was coming some day soon, but I didn’t imagine it would be this early. Today I have lost something, and gained something, and my life will never be quite the same…
So, I was walking from my office to the kitchen to get a pitcher of water. On the way I passed our new class of preschoolers while they were waiting for the bathroom. Chapel time doesn’t start until next week, so the only place these kids have met me was at the preschool open house, where I greeted people while holding my son Samuel. As I walked by the teachers greeted me with “Hi Pastor Grant!” which then caused the kids to look at me, trying to figure out if they knew me, too. Suddenly the light bulb lit up on one, and then two, and then many faces as they said “Hi, Baby-guy!”
The handle that they had for me had little to do with me, and everything to do with my son. I wasn’t “pastor” or “Grant” just the guy who was holding that baby. As Sam grows, this will happen more and more. My identity as “Sam’s dad” will often define me, with his friends and teachers as Samuel moves through this life. As my life goes on, I will be shaped by my new identity in ways I can anticipate, and ways I can’t. In the short time that I have already been living into it, I’ve discovered gifts, and compassion that I didn’t know I had, along with the knowledge that I am growing even as I hold him and watch him grow. As “Sam’s dad” I’ve gained a new identity that mixes with and transforms everything else that I am.
In its own little way, my experience of new identity reflects the identity we all receive as Christians. In baptism we are given the identity of “Child of God” – an identity that has little to do with us, and everything to do with the God who continues to love and claim us. Sure, there is more to us than this designation, but of all the things people call us, this one is the one that will last. And as we live into it, it will continue to shape and transform us in ways we can anticipate, and ways we can’t. We will find gifts and compassion we didn’t know we had. We will find comfort, confidence and love that meet us where we are and draw out the beautiful, caring person that we were made to be. We will find ourselves transformed again and again as this identity mixes with and transforms everything else we are.
This summer we celebrated the baptisms of Mason, Sandra, Aubrey and Tinley. This month we celebrate the baptisms of Samuel, Bennett and Alexa. And I encourage you, gentle reader, in the midst of it all to celebrate your baptism as well. Celebrate the God who comes to us in love. Celebrate the eternal promise that God has made to you. Celebrate your identity as “Child of the living God”, and let that identity transform how you live out everything else that you are.
Blessings in the ongoing adventure of Faith!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
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The Baptism of our Son,
Samuel Ephraim Applehans
Samuel Ephraim Applehans
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SAMUEL EPHRAIM APPLEHANS Baptized Sat., Sept. 2nd Chapel of the Cross Luther Seminary |
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"Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave"
Episode 6: Sam Sees the Light!
Episode 6: Sam Sees the Light!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
After a working July, I am back in the saddle with Samuel full time, this time riding solo for large sections as my wife returns to her pastoring at Fish Lake Lutheran. It has been a challenging, rewarding and exhausting couple weeks. There is a profound difference in solo care, and I am so grateful to be getting to know Sam on this level – we talk more, I understand him so much better already, and can now temper his cries, and meet him and his needs with a deftness I wouldn’t have imagined two weeks ago. We’ve spent time bathing, cutting fingernails, spending front and back time in his gym, eating, going out shopping and simply walking around the house, the yard and the neighborhood to check this world out. As his vision develops he has a growing interest in his environment, and happily splits his time between looking up at me and out into our world.
One thing he is especially excited to look at is light. From an early age, he was drawn to light, consistently turning his face to the brightest light source in a room. As his vision has improved, his fascination has only increased. He loves staring at the chandelier in our dining room, and will contentedly study it for 10 to 20 minutes if not pulled away by Amanda or me. He will stare at unlit lamps in a room, and smile when they turn on. He often fusses as the sun goes down, and has a special relationship with an ever-color-changing nightlight we have in his napping space. We can put him down for a nap in front of it and he will contentedly watch it until he falls asleep, often giggling and smiling when it turns to red (which we assume is his favorite color). I’ve even heard him babbling and seemingly talking to it as I pull the door shut for his nap.
Now, perhaps all babies are that focused at that age, but his focus got me to thinking about Jesus. We talk about Jesus as the light of the world, that light that is not overcome by darkness, but rather shines in the midst of it. He is light that has bridged the wide gap between us and God, and is profoundly present with us here and now, opening our eyes to the beauty of His good creation while helping us to see and avoid the pitfalls around us. But Jesus is also so much more. More than an impersonal force of the cosmos, Jesus cares about what happens to us and is passionate abut us our neighbors. More than simply showing us what is good and right, Jesus came to be good and right, and gave Himself to attain new life and forgiveness for us who have marred the good creation God has made, and fallen for the lures and traps of sin and the devil. More than force of nature with predictable limits, God’s love in Christ goes beyond our hopes and expectations to find us behind our locked doors and even when we find ourselves in hell. This is our light who shines in all kinds of darkness, who not only illuminates, but transforms everything and everyone he touches. This is our light, and may we look to Him with the focus and joy of a baby entranced by a bulb!
Have fun engaging the Light!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
After a working July, I am back in the saddle with Samuel full time, this time riding solo for large sections as my wife returns to her pastoring at Fish Lake Lutheran. It has been a challenging, rewarding and exhausting couple weeks. There is a profound difference in solo care, and I am so grateful to be getting to know Sam on this level – we talk more, I understand him so much better already, and can now temper his cries, and meet him and his needs with a deftness I wouldn’t have imagined two weeks ago. We’ve spent time bathing, cutting fingernails, spending front and back time in his gym, eating, going out shopping and simply walking around the house, the yard and the neighborhood to check this world out. As his vision develops he has a growing interest in his environment, and happily splits his time between looking up at me and out into our world.
One thing he is especially excited to look at is light. From an early age, he was drawn to light, consistently turning his face to the brightest light source in a room. As his vision has improved, his fascination has only increased. He loves staring at the chandelier in our dining room, and will contentedly study it for 10 to 20 minutes if not pulled away by Amanda or me. He will stare at unlit lamps in a room, and smile when they turn on. He often fusses as the sun goes down, and has a special relationship with an ever-color-changing nightlight we have in his napping space. We can put him down for a nap in front of it and he will contentedly watch it until he falls asleep, often giggling and smiling when it turns to red (which we assume is his favorite color). I’ve even heard him babbling and seemingly talking to it as I pull the door shut for his nap.
Now, perhaps all babies are that focused at that age, but his focus got me to thinking about Jesus. We talk about Jesus as the light of the world, that light that is not overcome by darkness, but rather shines in the midst of it. He is light that has bridged the wide gap between us and God, and is profoundly present with us here and now, opening our eyes to the beauty of His good creation while helping us to see and avoid the pitfalls around us. But Jesus is also so much more. More than an impersonal force of the cosmos, Jesus cares about what happens to us and is passionate abut us our neighbors. More than simply showing us what is good and right, Jesus came to be good and right, and gave Himself to attain new life and forgiveness for us who have marred the good creation God has made, and fallen for the lures and traps of sin and the devil. More than force of nature with predictable limits, God’s love in Christ goes beyond our hopes and expectations to find us behind our locked doors and even when we find ourselves in hell. This is our light who shines in all kinds of darkness, who not only illuminates, but transforms everything and everyone he touches. This is our light, and may we look to Him with the focus and joy of a baby entranced by a bulb!
Have fun engaging the Light!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
|
Sharing Christ’s Love with Joy! |
Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!
Ah, the joys of summer! Warm days and long evenings…reconnecting with nature and the abundant life that surrounds us…campfires, fireworks and parades!
This Fourth of July, St. Paul Lutheran got to be a part of Forest Lake’s 4th of July parade. Puppeteers preformed from within a mobile stage float, while others managed materials, played the music, waved from truck windows and walked beside the float passing out pencils and mini Frisbees to kids and families along the way. The Puppeteers did a fantastic job with “Happy”, “God Bless the USA”, and “The B-I-B-L-E” while walkers moved to “Let’s Get a Little Crazy” and clapped along. People on the parade route also clapped and sang along, and even gave us high fives! (part of the “Let’s Get a Little Crazy” song) Thank you to Carrie Reed and Janet Nutter for coordinating and to all who participated in making this first venture into parade walking a success. Truly, a good time was had by all!
So what did we gain by going out on parade? Certainly more people know our name – ebblazoned on the pencils and mini-frisbees. Some likely even know more about our programing, as we handed out information along with the materials. Some may even stop by and check us out, which would be a wonderful opportunity to connect and welcome new folks into our church family. These are all good things, and I rejoice over them, but I believe the best thing we gained was simply an opportunity to authentically share Christ’s love with joy in the wider world. Whatever the “ends” that may come out of it, the “means” were faithful, joyful, and loving, and that is a gift that works far beyond our ability to measure.
While most of the people along that parade route will not set foot in our doors, every one of them encountered a vision of Church where there is joy in sharing the love and care that we ourselves have received from God. While most of the people along the parade route may have already forgotten that they saw us, I believe God is at work in our small, authentic witness.
On July 4th we got to go on parade and scatter seed with God the sower. We don’t know fully what will come of the seed we scattered. Much of it will likely end up by the way-side. Other seeds will sprout and bloom far beyond our sight. We don’t know fully what will come of the seed we scattered. But we scatter it in faith that the God who walks this path with us will be faithful to see His Word take root, and spring forth with new life!
Blessings in your scattering of God’s seeds of love, this week and every week!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Ah, the joys of summer! Warm days and long evenings…reconnecting with nature and the abundant life that surrounds us…campfires, fireworks and parades!
This Fourth of July, St. Paul Lutheran got to be a part of Forest Lake’s 4th of July parade. Puppeteers preformed from within a mobile stage float, while others managed materials, played the music, waved from truck windows and walked beside the float passing out pencils and mini Frisbees to kids and families along the way. The Puppeteers did a fantastic job with “Happy”, “God Bless the USA”, and “The B-I-B-L-E” while walkers moved to “Let’s Get a Little Crazy” and clapped along. People on the parade route also clapped and sang along, and even gave us high fives! (part of the “Let’s Get a Little Crazy” song) Thank you to Carrie Reed and Janet Nutter for coordinating and to all who participated in making this first venture into parade walking a success. Truly, a good time was had by all!
So what did we gain by going out on parade? Certainly more people know our name – ebblazoned on the pencils and mini-frisbees. Some likely even know more about our programing, as we handed out information along with the materials. Some may even stop by and check us out, which would be a wonderful opportunity to connect and welcome new folks into our church family. These are all good things, and I rejoice over them, but I believe the best thing we gained was simply an opportunity to authentically share Christ’s love with joy in the wider world. Whatever the “ends” that may come out of it, the “means” were faithful, joyful, and loving, and that is a gift that works far beyond our ability to measure.
While most of the people along that parade route will not set foot in our doors, every one of them encountered a vision of Church where there is joy in sharing the love and care that we ourselves have received from God. While most of the people along the parade route may have already forgotten that they saw us, I believe God is at work in our small, authentic witness.
On July 4th we got to go on parade and scatter seed with God the sower. We don’t know fully what will come of the seed we scattered. Much of it will likely end up by the way-side. Other seeds will sprout and bloom far beyond our sight. We don’t know fully what will come of the seed we scattered. But we scatter it in faith that the God who walks this path with us will be faithful to see His Word take root, and spring forth with new life!
Blessings in your scattering of God’s seeds of love, this week and every week!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
"Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave"
Episode 5: Hungry
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
This is the fifth week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
Milestone changes were afoot at the Applehans household these past couple weeks. Samuel has made a smooth transition to taking a bottle from me while still nursing with his mom. The first time I gave the bottle to Sam, he spit it out (as he has with all his pacifiers) but once he realized he could get milk from this miracle of feeding technology, he gave a smile and dug right in. Amanda, recovering from the surgery, has now been cleared by the doctor to lift something heavier than the baby – which will be very helpful as I transition back to work. Samuel continues to grow and develop in his motor skills. He is enjoying gym time more and more, and has enjoyed reaching for an engaging things - especially a musical apple that was given to him by his cousin (he likes to work it into the crook of his arm by his head). We were also able to begin playing simple games, like covering his face with a cloth and celebrating when he figures out how to get it off. Tummy time is also becoming more of a pleasure than a pain for him as his muscles continue to strengthen. Ruby seems to be adjusting well to being a big sister, though she’s still confused whenever one of Samuel’s toys squeaks!
Being able to feed Samuel from a bottle has been such a gift! He eats much and often, and so having that tool at my disposal means I can give Amanda a break of more than a few minutes. If there is one thing I have learned through this time of not being able to feed Sam, it is that a hungry baby is a focused baby. Sure, I can distract him for a moment, but as soon as the bouncing or swinging stops (and often even before) he lets out a great hew and cry to remind me that his hunger remains. Which got me thinking – How long has it been since I have been that hungry, that focused in my own faith and life? How long has it been since I have been that desperate for what I need? In the early 21st century, we have many, many things to distract us and draw us away from what we really need. We have empty calories served up in fast-food restaurants and grocery store check-out lanes. We have devices in our pockets that serve up distractions with every ding and whistle. The opportunities for entertainment and recreation can be exhausting just to consider. And all of these are surrounded by the low hum of expectation that we should buy more and have more to be more. We are encouraged to be more concerned with the kind of car we drive than whether there is peace and justice in the world around us. It’s easy in the mix of things to get side-tracked and miss out on what would be most valuable while we are chasing lesser things.
This is the fifth week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
Milestone changes were afoot at the Applehans household these past couple weeks. Samuel has made a smooth transition to taking a bottle from me while still nursing with his mom. The first time I gave the bottle to Sam, he spit it out (as he has with all his pacifiers) but once he realized he could get milk from this miracle of feeding technology, he gave a smile and dug right in. Amanda, recovering from the surgery, has now been cleared by the doctor to lift something heavier than the baby – which will be very helpful as I transition back to work. Samuel continues to grow and develop in his motor skills. He is enjoying gym time more and more, and has enjoyed reaching for an engaging things - especially a musical apple that was given to him by his cousin (he likes to work it into the crook of his arm by his head). We were also able to begin playing simple games, like covering his face with a cloth and celebrating when he figures out how to get it off. Tummy time is also becoming more of a pleasure than a pain for him as his muscles continue to strengthen. Ruby seems to be adjusting well to being a big sister, though she’s still confused whenever one of Samuel’s toys squeaks!
Being able to feed Samuel from a bottle has been such a gift! He eats much and often, and so having that tool at my disposal means I can give Amanda a break of more than a few minutes. If there is one thing I have learned through this time of not being able to feed Sam, it is that a hungry baby is a focused baby. Sure, I can distract him for a moment, but as soon as the bouncing or swinging stops (and often even before) he lets out a great hew and cry to remind me that his hunger remains. Which got me thinking – How long has it been since I have been that hungry, that focused in my own faith and life? How long has it been since I have been that desperate for what I need? In the early 21st century, we have many, many things to distract us and draw us away from what we really need. We have empty calories served up in fast-food restaurants and grocery store check-out lanes. We have devices in our pockets that serve up distractions with every ding and whistle. The opportunities for entertainment and recreation can be exhausting just to consider. And all of these are surrounded by the low hum of expectation that we should buy more and have more to be more. We are encouraged to be more concerned with the kind of car we drive than whether there is peace and justice in the world around us. It’s easy in the mix of things to get side-tracked and miss out on what would be most valuable while we are chasing lesser things.
These last weeks Samuel has given me an image of what it is to be hungry, and so in my prayers I have been asking for hunger from God as well. A hunger to care for my body and eat more food that is real food. A hunger to put down the phone and focus on where I am and who I’m with. A hunger for relationship with God that goes deeper than any entertainment could, and recreates me in ways nothing else could. And a hunger for justice and righteousness in a world that desperately needs these. I ask God for these things not because I have them fully buttoned down, but because I know that they are good, and that our Heavenly Father gives us good things. What might you ask him to be hungry for?
Think about it, and let me know! Over the next weeks I will be planning worship, education, retreats and other ways that we can dive deeper into our hungers for what is good. In Christ, God has freed us to be His powerful, growing and transformative people in the world! How is God giving you a hunger to live out that freedom? How can we help? Let me know!
Blessings on your week!
Pastor Grant
P.S. – On the matter of hungering for justice and righteousness, I, along with many of you have been thinking a lot about Philando Castile in the last few days. It’s absolutely true that all lives matter to God and to us as His ambassadors, which also means that black lives matter – a statement that should go without saying, but which is regularly questioned in how the color of one’s skin strongly influences how they are perceived and treated in our society. When one of our brothers and sisters is hurting, we hurt with them, and so we pray for Jeronimo Yanez and his family as they move forward from this tragic moment of terror, we pray for the family and friends of Philando Castile and Diamond Reynolds as they move forward from this moment of terror, and we pray for our society – broken and loved as it is – and how we may be agents in making it a truly better and more life giving place for us all. And while we are praying, I offer a few of resources that have been helpful to me the past few days: a letter from our bishop giving her thoughts and call to us, and a sermon that I preached after the shooting last summer (both of which I will be adding to the blog and the podcast), as well as a study from Lutheran Social Services and an episode of This American Life that engage some of the issues of institutional racism that are all of our responsibility. –GRA
Think about it, and let me know! Over the next weeks I will be planning worship, education, retreats and other ways that we can dive deeper into our hungers for what is good. In Christ, God has freed us to be His powerful, growing and transformative people in the world! How is God giving you a hunger to live out that freedom? How can we help? Let me know!
Blessings on your week!
Pastor Grant
P.S. – On the matter of hungering for justice and righteousness, I, along with many of you have been thinking a lot about Philando Castile in the last few days. It’s absolutely true that all lives matter to God and to us as His ambassadors, which also means that black lives matter – a statement that should go without saying, but which is regularly questioned in how the color of one’s skin strongly influences how they are perceived and treated in our society. When one of our brothers and sisters is hurting, we hurt with them, and so we pray for Jeronimo Yanez and his family as they move forward from this tragic moment of terror, we pray for the family and friends of Philando Castile and Diamond Reynolds as they move forward from this moment of terror, and we pray for our society – broken and loved as it is – and how we may be agents in making it a truly better and more life giving place for us all. And while we are praying, I offer a few of resources that have been helpful to me the past few days: a letter from our bishop giving her thoughts and call to us, and a sermon that I preached after the shooting last summer (both of which I will be adding to the blog and the podcast), as well as a study from Lutheran Social Services and an episode of This American Life that engage some of the issues of institutional racism that are all of our responsibility. –GRA
A Pastoral Message from Bishop Lull
Date posted: Saturday 17 June 2017
I am writing from Tanzania with sadness and deep resolve, following the verdict in the Jeronimo Yanez trial of the death of Philando Castile. The jury deliberated for many days before reaching their decision. They deserve thanks for serving as citizens in this very public case.
Yet, so much remains unsettled for those who yearn for true justice, for safe and thriving communities, and for ours to be a country where our hidden biases and age old prejudices about racial differences do not play such a consequential role in daily life.
One jury has spoken. Another jury is still out. That second jury weighs our own response as people of faith.
We have much soul work to do. Can we learn to listen to the frustration of the African American community and hear in it an authentic cry for justice at the most profound level? Can we take the hard, consistent steps that all of us need to take to regard each other across the lines of race and ethnicity and class by checking our unnamed assumptions and fears? Can we in the church hold ourselves to working step by step to dismantle the racism that structures too much of our communal life?
I am asking our sisters and brothers here in Tanzania to join us in praying for the family and friends of Philando Castile and their ongoing witness and soulful cries for a deeper form of justice. To pray for congregations in which members need the grace to listen to each other and learn how life is experienced in communities of color. To pray for all of us to move beyond our fears of one another. To watch over those in law enforcement and political leadership, for those who protest and seek words to name their deepest desire for a new day, and for all of us who decide day by day how God calls us to live together.
I thank those of you who have given thought, time and integrity to addressing racism and racial bias this past year, and those who have been on this journey for a long time. The power of a Living God is strong enough to lead us where we need to go as people of faith. We are not there yet. We are on the way together.
Bishop Patricia Lull
Yet, so much remains unsettled for those who yearn for true justice, for safe and thriving communities, and for ours to be a country where our hidden biases and age old prejudices about racial differences do not play such a consequential role in daily life.
One jury has spoken. Another jury is still out. That second jury weighs our own response as people of faith.
We have much soul work to do. Can we learn to listen to the frustration of the African American community and hear in it an authentic cry for justice at the most profound level? Can we take the hard, consistent steps that all of us need to take to regard each other across the lines of race and ethnicity and class by checking our unnamed assumptions and fears? Can we in the church hold ourselves to working step by step to dismantle the racism that structures too much of our communal life?
I am asking our sisters and brothers here in Tanzania to join us in praying for the family and friends of Philando Castile and their ongoing witness and soulful cries for a deeper form of justice. To pray for congregations in which members need the grace to listen to each other and learn how life is experienced in communities of color. To pray for all of us to move beyond our fears of one another. To watch over those in law enforcement and political leadership, for those who protest and seek words to name their deepest desire for a new day, and for all of us who decide day by day how God calls us to live together.
I thank those of you who have given thought, time and integrity to addressing racism and racial bias this past year, and those who have been on this journey for a long time. The power of a Living God is strong enough to lead us where we need to go as people of faith. We are not there yet. We are on the way together.
Bishop Patricia Lull
Scripture Passage – Luke 10:25-37
Sermon from after the death of Philandro Castile
A man is dying by the side of the road
Who is he?
If you listen to, watch, or read the news,
You know his name.
If you got your news on Wednesday, his name was Alton Sterling.
If you got your news on Thursday, his name was Philando Castille.
If you got your news on Friday, you might not know his name,
But you know he was a police officer in Dallas.
If you got your news three years ago this week,
The last time this particular lectionary story came up
His name was Trayvon Martin, and the man who shot him
Was just acquitted.
If you got your news from an international news source,
His name would likely be difficult to say
Because he would be one of 125 Shia Muslims
Killed by a car bombing in Baghdad
During the most holy month of the Muslim year.
A man is dying by the side of the road
Who is he?
Could he be a young black man about to start college?
Could he be a gay man out for the evening with his partner?
Could he be a child in a school?
Even a young girl, only wanting an education?
A man is dying by the side of the road,
And it’s a story we hear every day.
In our text for today Jesus told a story about a man dying by the side of the road.
The story is told in the context of a discussion between Jesus and a lawyer.
This man seems in all ways respectful of Jesus
Certainly he is wanting to justify himself
But it’s quite possible he really want to know
When he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
In response Jesus tells us the story of the man on the road.
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho
When he fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him, beat him,
And went away, leaving him half dead.”
Who was this man?
Was he a good man?
Was he a criminal himself?
Scripture gives us no clues to the identity of this man
He is just a man, dying on the side of the road.
Jesus’s story next introduces us to a priest and a Levite,
Both part of the religious class of the day,
Both who were too worried about their own ritual purity
To check on the man – fearing that if he were dead
They would not be able to do their jobs in the temple.
So, they walked on, not even daring to get close to the man
To look upon his situation.
Next comes a Samaritan man,
One who already lives outside the law
Samaritans didn’t follow Jewish ritual purity laws
And this man, not having the same hang-ups about staying clean
Can actually look at the man with compassion.
The Good Samaritan checks on the man, and finds him alive
He dresses the man’s wounds,
He carries the man to safety,
And he provides for the man’s ongoing needs.
So, Jesus asks, which one was the neighbor?
Obviously, the one who cared.
The one who came to his aid and helped him.
The neighbor is the one who provided care for the man in need.
A question I like to ask when looking at a parable of Jesus’s is
“Where am I in this story?”
People often have different answers to this question,
And it can help us see things we haven’t seen before in a parable.
This particular parable, being in response to a question from a well-meaning man,
Invites us to see ourselves in the place of the lawyer.
The lawyer sees himself as one who is in control.
Trying to figure out who to care for,
The one walking by on the road, deciding whether or not to care.
But, what if Jesus is inviting this man to see himself a little differently.
This man is asking how he can figure out who his neighbor is,
And the one who learns who his neighbors are is the man who was beaten.
Jesus is suggesting that we figure out who our neighbor is
By waiting until we are lost and alone
Until we are in pain, suffering the random act of a stranger,
Or a random instance of disease,
Waiting until we are in need, and seeing who stops.
How many times have we been in this position
And been surprised by who comes to our aid?
Who shows up at the house with a casserole and a caring shoulder?
Who gives that reassuring look at just the right moment?
Who gives us the care we need,
Even when we don’t even know what it is that we need?
A man is dying along the side of the road.
He is you and me,
He is the lawyer in the story,
He is Alton and Philando, Brent, Michael, Patrick, Mike and Lorne.
He is the citizens of Iraq and Syria, Paris and Brussles,
He is all those mourn the loss of those they loved,
He is all those who suffer and who are in pain.
We are all the suffering ones, lying in the ditch in need of help,
And the Good Samaritan is Jesus,
The one who comes to us in our trouble,
Binding up our wounds, carrying us to safety,
Providing all we need in this world and the next,
Caring for us as no other can.
There is a man who died,
And he is Jesus.
The one who saw the pain and sorrow we face in this world,
And did not walk past, but chose to come and join us in it.
The only one who could give what was needed to save this world,
His own life.
On the cross Jesus died to save all of humanity,
Through his death and resurrection
We are all made children of God.
Children who may not always agree with one another
But who are called to care for one another in love,
To help to bring abundant life to all people
In the world that God so loves,
As we ourselves have been cared for by God.
Amen
Who is he?
If you listen to, watch, or read the news,
You know his name.
If you got your news on Wednesday, his name was Alton Sterling.
If you got your news on Thursday, his name was Philando Castille.
If you got your news on Friday, you might not know his name,
But you know he was a police officer in Dallas.
If you got your news three years ago this week,
The last time this particular lectionary story came up
His name was Trayvon Martin, and the man who shot him
Was just acquitted.
If you got your news from an international news source,
His name would likely be difficult to say
Because he would be one of 125 Shia Muslims
Killed by a car bombing in Baghdad
During the most holy month of the Muslim year.
A man is dying by the side of the road
Who is he?
Could he be a young black man about to start college?
Could he be a gay man out for the evening with his partner?
Could he be a child in a school?
Even a young girl, only wanting an education?
A man is dying by the side of the road,
And it’s a story we hear every day.
In our text for today Jesus told a story about a man dying by the side of the road.
The story is told in the context of a discussion between Jesus and a lawyer.
This man seems in all ways respectful of Jesus
Certainly he is wanting to justify himself
But it’s quite possible he really want to know
When he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”
In response Jesus tells us the story of the man on the road.
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho
When he fell into the hands of robbers who stripped him, beat him,
And went away, leaving him half dead.”
Who was this man?
Was he a good man?
Was he a criminal himself?
Scripture gives us no clues to the identity of this man
He is just a man, dying on the side of the road.
Jesus’s story next introduces us to a priest and a Levite,
Both part of the religious class of the day,
Both who were too worried about their own ritual purity
To check on the man – fearing that if he were dead
They would not be able to do their jobs in the temple.
So, they walked on, not even daring to get close to the man
To look upon his situation.
Next comes a Samaritan man,
One who already lives outside the law
Samaritans didn’t follow Jewish ritual purity laws
And this man, not having the same hang-ups about staying clean
Can actually look at the man with compassion.
The Good Samaritan checks on the man, and finds him alive
He dresses the man’s wounds,
He carries the man to safety,
And he provides for the man’s ongoing needs.
So, Jesus asks, which one was the neighbor?
Obviously, the one who cared.
The one who came to his aid and helped him.
The neighbor is the one who provided care for the man in need.
A question I like to ask when looking at a parable of Jesus’s is
“Where am I in this story?”
People often have different answers to this question,
And it can help us see things we haven’t seen before in a parable.
This particular parable, being in response to a question from a well-meaning man,
Invites us to see ourselves in the place of the lawyer.
The lawyer sees himself as one who is in control.
Trying to figure out who to care for,
The one walking by on the road, deciding whether or not to care.
But, what if Jesus is inviting this man to see himself a little differently.
This man is asking how he can figure out who his neighbor is,
And the one who learns who his neighbors are is the man who was beaten.
Jesus is suggesting that we figure out who our neighbor is
By waiting until we are lost and alone
Until we are in pain, suffering the random act of a stranger,
Or a random instance of disease,
Waiting until we are in need, and seeing who stops.
How many times have we been in this position
And been surprised by who comes to our aid?
Who shows up at the house with a casserole and a caring shoulder?
Who gives that reassuring look at just the right moment?
Who gives us the care we need,
Even when we don’t even know what it is that we need?
A man is dying along the side of the road.
He is you and me,
He is the lawyer in the story,
He is Alton and Philando, Brent, Michael, Patrick, Mike and Lorne.
He is the citizens of Iraq and Syria, Paris and Brussles,
He is all those mourn the loss of those they loved,
He is all those who suffer and who are in pain.
We are all the suffering ones, lying in the ditch in need of help,
And the Good Samaritan is Jesus,
The one who comes to us in our trouble,
Binding up our wounds, carrying us to safety,
Providing all we need in this world and the next,
Caring for us as no other can.
There is a man who died,
And he is Jesus.
The one who saw the pain and sorrow we face in this world,
And did not walk past, but chose to come and join us in it.
The only one who could give what was needed to save this world,
His own life.
On the cross Jesus died to save all of humanity,
Through his death and resurrection
We are all made children of God.
Children who may not always agree with one another
But who are called to care for one another in love,
To help to bring abundant life to all people
In the world that God so loves,
As we ourselves have been cared for by God.
Amen
"Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave"
Episode 4: God Parents
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
This is the fourth week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This has been a week full of travel for Samuel and the family. He had his first out of state experience going to Wisconsin to visit my dad’s place and my mom’s graveside on Memorial Day. Amanda and Sam then came with me to a Glocal event I helped to lead in North Dakota. As I write this we are happily nestled in Iowa visiting Amanda’s family and friends. So many people to meet! Blood relatives, and family in the Christian sense, all surrounding him with care and attention as he moves into wider circles in this world. More on that later.
This is the fourth week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This has been a week full of travel for Samuel and the family. He had his first out of state experience going to Wisconsin to visit my dad’s place and my mom’s graveside on Memorial Day. Amanda and Sam then came with me to a Glocal event I helped to lead in North Dakota. As I write this we are happily nestled in Iowa visiting Amanda’s family and friends. So many people to meet! Blood relatives, and family in the Christian sense, all surrounding him with care and attention as he moves into wider circles in this world. More on that later.
During this time he has also been eating like a champ, gaining a pound over the past two weeks. A feat that truly impressed both Amanda and me, and surprised the doctor enough to re-weigh him just to be sure! We continue to experiment with Amanda’s diet and our burping techniques, and seem to be getting a handle on the gas troubles that have persisted.
While on the road Amanda and I have been discussing important matters, including finalizing our list of Godparents ahead of Samuel’s baptism (we will be announcing a date soon), which got me wondering how familiar the congregation is with baptismal sponsors and their roles. Much more than just an honorific to bestow on family members or friends, the purpose of a baptismal sponsor is to support the person baptized in their growth and development in the Christian faith. While not the only people to help in the growth of a Christian, these people have a special calling from the wider community to ensure the person baptized receives nourishment in Christian faith and life.
My own Godparents, Charlie and Mary Arnsen, have played a shaping role in my faith and life. Church friends of my parents, they have grown into life-long connections who have walked with us through many major events including my mother’s death and re-adjustment afterward. Their work in Tanzania for Heifer International got me thinking about serving internationally which led me to serve in Namibia, and their blended family with children who were born-in and children who were adopted-in gave me a vision of God’s family with love bonding us more powerfully than simple blood lineage. At present, I also have the joy of serving as a Godfather to three children – Roger Olson, Nalani Applehans and Asher Porter. While I am far away from each, we keep in contact and make special effort to stay connected as time and proximity allow.
So, what did we look for when we were looking for baptismal sponsors? First of all, we were looking for role models in faith and life. These are people we are asking to play a significant role in Samuel’s development and so we were seeking folks with faith and life habits we would be happy for Samuel to “catch”. We considered those who were a regular part of a church community, were continuing to invest in and develop in their faith, and who were living lives shaped by Jesus through that investment and development. Next we considered folks with the time and focus to live into the role of baptismal sponsor. We all have busy lives, but in selecting baptismal sponsors we are asking them to make ongoing connection, with us and with Samuel, a priority. Relationships are wonderful gifts, but they need tending over time to take root and develop to their potential. And so we sought those who would make the time, along with us, to build flourishing bonds that will help Samuel grow. Finally, we sought diversity – looking for different personalities, and looking at whether they live near by or far away, and whether they are related by blood or not. This diversity points to the diversity of Samuel’s Christian family and the reality that there is not just one way to faithfully follow Jesus. Furthermore, such diversity will hopefully support a fuller connection for Samuel with our Lord - because that is the connection toward which all this is pointed!
Which brings me back to you, gentle reader. In Christ you have received God’s gift of love and salvation fully. But who helps you to unpack that gift? We often think of sponsors with children, but we all, from 0-125 years old, could use a few intentional people to walk beside us, support us and point to Christ in our walk of life and faith. Who are those people in your life? Who could become those people for you? What connections could Jesus be calling you to foster for His work and glory in this world? Something to think about…
Blessings on your week!
Pastor Grant
While on the road Amanda and I have been discussing important matters, including finalizing our list of Godparents ahead of Samuel’s baptism (we will be announcing a date soon), which got me wondering how familiar the congregation is with baptismal sponsors and their roles. Much more than just an honorific to bestow on family members or friends, the purpose of a baptismal sponsor is to support the person baptized in their growth and development in the Christian faith. While not the only people to help in the growth of a Christian, these people have a special calling from the wider community to ensure the person baptized receives nourishment in Christian faith and life.
My own Godparents, Charlie and Mary Arnsen, have played a shaping role in my faith and life. Church friends of my parents, they have grown into life-long connections who have walked with us through many major events including my mother’s death and re-adjustment afterward. Their work in Tanzania for Heifer International got me thinking about serving internationally which led me to serve in Namibia, and their blended family with children who were born-in and children who were adopted-in gave me a vision of God’s family with love bonding us more powerfully than simple blood lineage. At present, I also have the joy of serving as a Godfather to three children – Roger Olson, Nalani Applehans and Asher Porter. While I am far away from each, we keep in contact and make special effort to stay connected as time and proximity allow.
So, what did we look for when we were looking for baptismal sponsors? First of all, we were looking for role models in faith and life. These are people we are asking to play a significant role in Samuel’s development and so we were seeking folks with faith and life habits we would be happy for Samuel to “catch”. We considered those who were a regular part of a church community, were continuing to invest in and develop in their faith, and who were living lives shaped by Jesus through that investment and development. Next we considered folks with the time and focus to live into the role of baptismal sponsor. We all have busy lives, but in selecting baptismal sponsors we are asking them to make ongoing connection, with us and with Samuel, a priority. Relationships are wonderful gifts, but they need tending over time to take root and develop to their potential. And so we sought those who would make the time, along with us, to build flourishing bonds that will help Samuel grow. Finally, we sought diversity – looking for different personalities, and looking at whether they live near by or far away, and whether they are related by blood or not. This diversity points to the diversity of Samuel’s Christian family and the reality that there is not just one way to faithfully follow Jesus. Furthermore, such diversity will hopefully support a fuller connection for Samuel with our Lord - because that is the connection toward which all this is pointed!
Which brings me back to you, gentle reader. In Christ you have received God’s gift of love and salvation fully. But who helps you to unpack that gift? We often think of sponsors with children, but we all, from 0-125 years old, could use a few intentional people to walk beside us, support us and point to Christ in our walk of life and faith. Who are those people in your life? Who could become those people for you? What connections could Jesus be calling you to foster for His work and glory in this world? Something to think about…
Blessings on your week!
Pastor Grant
"Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave"
Episode 3: Play it Again, Sam.
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
This is the third week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This has been a week of steady growth and development. Samuel can now see farther and seems fascinated by his larger world. He saw Ruby for the first time, which ignited a look of shock on his face, the memory of which still ignites a smile on mine. He is taking interest in toys, and seems to want to grab them, though his motor skills at most manage a focused stare, a bit of “scooching” on his mat, and flailing in the toy’s general direction (sometimes knocking it over on his face, igniting another priceless expression). He also seems to be getting accustomed to Amanda and me, and even finds a rhythm with us, from time to time, in which we each can start to anticipate what the other will do. With mom, he eats and burbs and cuddles and talks. With dad, he bounces and burps and dances and sings. The singing especially, has turned out to be a wonderful gift to share.
Music has always been a big part of my life, and sharing that music with my son seemed a given, but I have been struck by just how central a role it has played. From the first moment when I held Sam in my arms I started to sing. Sure, this was a bid to calm and comfort him, but it was also so much more. It was a way of welcoming Sam into the world and introducing him to my world. There were songs from choir in college that I hadn’t thought about in years. Songs from high school musicals. Songs from our culture. Songs from other cultures. Songs that my mother used to sing to me. There were happy songs, sad songs, confident and contemplative songs, drinking songs and many, many hymns - all tumbling out of my mouth in a stream that was not fully mine to control. With each song came a story, a memory of people alive and long gone, coming in a parade to meet my boy and share with him the love we’ve known.
It was my own little experience of the communion of saints – that cloud of witnesses that accompany and encourage us as we run the race of faith and life, a cloud that reminds us of the love we’ve known, and points us to the greater love that God has for us – a love that made us and our ability to love, a love that accompanies us through the beautiful and the awful, a love that has gone to hell and back to ensure that, no matter were we find ourselves, there it will be, for us, transforming even death into new life. It’s a love that, like music will come through walls and all other obstacles to find us, calm and comfort us, and continually introduce us to a wider, more beautiful world.
Sam has gotten quite used to singing with dad. He has his favorites – currently Danny Boy and the Marine Corp March – and those he is not a fan of – Italian opera for starters – but through it all he is connecting with a gift that is far bigger than either of us, a gift that will carry and support him as he ventures out into this world. A gift of connection and love that surrounds him, vibrates through him and gives a small reminder of the true love that made and sustains us. We too have this gift. I feel blessed for having tapped into it through music. Where might you find it?
Blessings on you week!
Pastor Grant
This is the third week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This has been a week of steady growth and development. Samuel can now see farther and seems fascinated by his larger world. He saw Ruby for the first time, which ignited a look of shock on his face, the memory of which still ignites a smile on mine. He is taking interest in toys, and seems to want to grab them, though his motor skills at most manage a focused stare, a bit of “scooching” on his mat, and flailing in the toy’s general direction (sometimes knocking it over on his face, igniting another priceless expression). He also seems to be getting accustomed to Amanda and me, and even finds a rhythm with us, from time to time, in which we each can start to anticipate what the other will do. With mom, he eats and burbs and cuddles and talks. With dad, he bounces and burps and dances and sings. The singing especially, has turned out to be a wonderful gift to share.
Music has always been a big part of my life, and sharing that music with my son seemed a given, but I have been struck by just how central a role it has played. From the first moment when I held Sam in my arms I started to sing. Sure, this was a bid to calm and comfort him, but it was also so much more. It was a way of welcoming Sam into the world and introducing him to my world. There were songs from choir in college that I hadn’t thought about in years. Songs from high school musicals. Songs from our culture. Songs from other cultures. Songs that my mother used to sing to me. There were happy songs, sad songs, confident and contemplative songs, drinking songs and many, many hymns - all tumbling out of my mouth in a stream that was not fully mine to control. With each song came a story, a memory of people alive and long gone, coming in a parade to meet my boy and share with him the love we’ve known.
It was my own little experience of the communion of saints – that cloud of witnesses that accompany and encourage us as we run the race of faith and life, a cloud that reminds us of the love we’ve known, and points us to the greater love that God has for us – a love that made us and our ability to love, a love that accompanies us through the beautiful and the awful, a love that has gone to hell and back to ensure that, no matter were we find ourselves, there it will be, for us, transforming even death into new life. It’s a love that, like music will come through walls and all other obstacles to find us, calm and comfort us, and continually introduce us to a wider, more beautiful world.
Sam has gotten quite used to singing with dad. He has his favorites – currently Danny Boy and the Marine Corp March – and those he is not a fan of – Italian opera for starters – but through it all he is connecting with a gift that is far bigger than either of us, a gift that will carry and support him as he ventures out into this world. A gift of connection and love that surrounds him, vibrates through him and gives a small reminder of the true love that made and sustains us. We too have this gift. I feel blessed for having tapped into it through music. Where might you find it?
Blessings on you week!
Pastor Grant
"Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave"
Episode 2: Living Connection
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
This is the second week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
Much has been happening around the Applehans household since last week. Almost everything is moved out of the apartment, boxes are slowly making their way in from the garage, laundry and trash have begun their regular flow, the kitchen is organized into “version 1.0” and other rooms are taking shape as Samuel’s naps and our available energy will allow. Of course, the big news from this week had nothing to do with any of these things – this week was all about the umbilical cord.
The umbilical cord – that bright blue tether that supports and nourishes the baby throughout pregnancy. The umbilical cord - that life-giving strand that could have been the end of Samuel. The umbilical cord – that primary living connection that bonds us to our mother and through her to our society beyond – a bond that simply is, whatever we think or feel about it.
Samuel’s umbilical chord is in the process of coming off this week. We first noticed the stump coming off as we gave him a sponge bath a few days ago. Since then, the stump has come completely off, but another part deeper down is still working at disconnecting. Or job at this point is to keep it clean and dry, and wait.
When the stump came off, I got to thinking – “What should I do with it?” Here, in the highly individualized culture of the 21st century western world, we consider the umbilical cord “medical waste”, something that is no longer of value, now that it has served its purpose. But in cultures all around the world this primary symbol of our attachment and connection is not taken so lightly. Some cultures keep it close as a powerful totem of their connection with their people and the earth. Others, such as the first settlers on the big island of Hawaii, carved intricate pictographs in rock to hold the umbilical chords of their children as a way of introducing the child to the ancestors, and all those people to whom the child was attached, but would never know personally.
Connection – it’s a real thing in our lives whatever we think or feel about it. We are not individual actors simply sharing a stage. We are not discrete individuals deigning to mingle with one another. Rather, we are connected beings: connected in the air we breath and the water we drink, connected (if not in agreement) in our thoughts and perspectives, in our feelings and reactions. Think for a moment of how different you are in different situations - more outgoing or shy, joking or serious - depending on those around you. Yes! We are born into this world bonded to what was before by a living connection that gives us life and (as in Sam’s case) can also be quite dangerous. And that is where things get tricky. For our connection with one another isn’t a pure positive. We are connected with all the good, bad and ugly that it brings. Original sin comes to us through the same connections as all the wonders and wisdom of the ages. Caring and callousness are both known through the interpersonal connections we share. While the umbilical chord may dry up, we remain linked with all the ambiguous and ambivalent thoughts and feelings that come, part and parcel, with this connected life. And while we can step back from a wounded situation, we can never fully disconnect from the brokenness around and within us, any more than we can disconnect from the love and care that have embraced and formed us.
And that’s where Jesus comes in: Taking God’s pure positive – pure love, pure commitment, pure passion, and abundant, eternal life - and literally connecting it into our ambiguous, ambivalent web of connections, through His Body and Blood fed into you, giving forgiveness and healing that are for you, but don’t end with you. Forgiveness and healing that flow through you as well, seeping into your other connections, healing those connections, giving strength and endurance for honesty, conversation and growth - bringing out possibilities that would have otherwise been impossible. This is the gift of God within our wounded, connected life. He is the vine and we are the branches, and as we live that connection, the future can’t help but be fruitful, for us and all those connected to us!
So the next time you run across your belly-button, think on these things: the connections you share, the God who has connected Himself with you, and the impossible that He is making possible through His forgiveness and love - and know that I am contemplating them too as I swab rubbing alcohol on the final remains of Samuel’s umbilical chord.
Blessings on you week!
Pastor Grant
This is the second week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I am writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
Much has been happening around the Applehans household since last week. Almost everything is moved out of the apartment, boxes are slowly making their way in from the garage, laundry and trash have begun their regular flow, the kitchen is organized into “version 1.0” and other rooms are taking shape as Samuel’s naps and our available energy will allow. Of course, the big news from this week had nothing to do with any of these things – this week was all about the umbilical cord.
The umbilical cord – that bright blue tether that supports and nourishes the baby throughout pregnancy. The umbilical cord - that life-giving strand that could have been the end of Samuel. The umbilical cord – that primary living connection that bonds us to our mother and through her to our society beyond – a bond that simply is, whatever we think or feel about it.
Samuel’s umbilical chord is in the process of coming off this week. We first noticed the stump coming off as we gave him a sponge bath a few days ago. Since then, the stump has come completely off, but another part deeper down is still working at disconnecting. Or job at this point is to keep it clean and dry, and wait.
When the stump came off, I got to thinking – “What should I do with it?” Here, in the highly individualized culture of the 21st century western world, we consider the umbilical cord “medical waste”, something that is no longer of value, now that it has served its purpose. But in cultures all around the world this primary symbol of our attachment and connection is not taken so lightly. Some cultures keep it close as a powerful totem of their connection with their people and the earth. Others, such as the first settlers on the big island of Hawaii, carved intricate pictographs in rock to hold the umbilical chords of their children as a way of introducing the child to the ancestors, and all those people to whom the child was attached, but would never know personally.
Connection – it’s a real thing in our lives whatever we think or feel about it. We are not individual actors simply sharing a stage. We are not discrete individuals deigning to mingle with one another. Rather, we are connected beings: connected in the air we breath and the water we drink, connected (if not in agreement) in our thoughts and perspectives, in our feelings and reactions. Think for a moment of how different you are in different situations - more outgoing or shy, joking or serious - depending on those around you. Yes! We are born into this world bonded to what was before by a living connection that gives us life and (as in Sam’s case) can also be quite dangerous. And that is where things get tricky. For our connection with one another isn’t a pure positive. We are connected with all the good, bad and ugly that it brings. Original sin comes to us through the same connections as all the wonders and wisdom of the ages. Caring and callousness are both known through the interpersonal connections we share. While the umbilical chord may dry up, we remain linked with all the ambiguous and ambivalent thoughts and feelings that come, part and parcel, with this connected life. And while we can step back from a wounded situation, we can never fully disconnect from the brokenness around and within us, any more than we can disconnect from the love and care that have embraced and formed us.
And that’s where Jesus comes in: Taking God’s pure positive – pure love, pure commitment, pure passion, and abundant, eternal life - and literally connecting it into our ambiguous, ambivalent web of connections, through His Body and Blood fed into you, giving forgiveness and healing that are for you, but don’t end with you. Forgiveness and healing that flow through you as well, seeping into your other connections, healing those connections, giving strength and endurance for honesty, conversation and growth - bringing out possibilities that would have otherwise been impossible. This is the gift of God within our wounded, connected life. He is the vine and we are the branches, and as we live that connection, the future can’t help but be fruitful, for us and all those connected to us!
So the next time you run across your belly-button, think on these things: the connections you share, the God who has connected Himself with you, and the impossible that He is making possible through His forgiveness and love - and know that I am contemplating them too as I swab rubbing alcohol on the final remains of Samuel’s umbilical chord.
Blessings on you week!
Pastor Grant
Refresh and Renew: Pastor Grant's adventures in paternity leave
Episode 1: Better Out Than In!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
Refresh and Renew – it’s our theme this year, and feels especially appropriate as I sit in a room full of boxes with my week old son at my side. We are doing a lot of refreshing and renewing at the Applehans household these days, and it is wonderful!
This is the first week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I will be writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This week’s topic – gas. Samuel has been a joy to sit with, and sing to, to cuddle and to bounce. But for a couple nights earlier this week he was an angry bear, uninterested in any of these things, and simply screaming for hours, until I was afraid he would go hoarse. He screamed, and Amanda and I walked with him - taking shifts sitting, singing, cuddling and bouncing. These were long nights, but we pressed on with what we knew. It was only after several days that we figured out what was wrong – gas. Sam’s newborn stomach wasn’t ready for onions and tomatoes, even filtered through his mother’s milk. With this information in hand, we got some gripe water, Amanda has been experimenting with diet, and we are rapidly improving our techniques of burping him, motivated by the carrot of a good night’s sleep.
Which got me thinking about confession. Every week we name how we are tangled-up in sin. Some of it we know very well – how we have hurt others, how we have screwed up the opportunities we’ve been given, our tepid response in the face of injustice, how we persist in destructive behaviors with no clear path out. Some of it we know we don’t know – the harm we have done without thinking or caring, the systems we perpetuate that harm our neighbors, yet feel as natural as the air we breath. These pressures, like the gas, are invisible to the unpracticed eye, but they are there - adding up over time, and keeping us awake at night with a pain that we may or may not understand. That’s where confession comes in! Like gripe water or so many techniques for burping, confession gets the ache out – out where we can see it, out where we can talk about it and deal with it, out where it can dissipate in the clean air of God’s forgiveness and love, out where it will lose its grip on us and free us to do something about its effects in our lives and in our world. Better out than in, as they say, and that is true with confession as well. So come to worship, and confess with the rest of us, and if that doesn’t give you rest, set an appointment with me or pastor Mericle to talk it out, receive God’s forgiveness, and imagine a better way forward.
After we applied the gas techniques, Sam felt much better. He was more restful at night and more playful and cuddly during the day. Amanda and I also found that our moods and, in fact, our lives were significantly improved by Samuel being in less pain. It certainly hasn’t changed everything – he has his good nights and his bad nights – but it has gotten much better, and there is real hope that it will get better still as we walk this path together. Amanda and I are sleeping a lot better now for having learned better techniques for dealing with gas, may each of us do the same with sin
Episode 1: Better Out Than In!
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and Jesus, the Lord of life!
Refresh and Renew – it’s our theme this year, and feels especially appropriate as I sit in a room full of boxes with my week old son at my side. We are doing a lot of refreshing and renewing at the Applehans household these days, and it is wonderful!
This is the first week in an amalgamation of vacation, paternity leave, continuing education and planning time that I am taking over the summer to get to know my son, help my wife, set up our home and refresh and renew myself for the year ahead! While I am away, though, I want to keep connected. So, as the weeks unfold, I will be writing blog posts on happenings at our household and the thoughts they tease out.
This week’s topic – gas. Samuel has been a joy to sit with, and sing to, to cuddle and to bounce. But for a couple nights earlier this week he was an angry bear, uninterested in any of these things, and simply screaming for hours, until I was afraid he would go hoarse. He screamed, and Amanda and I walked with him - taking shifts sitting, singing, cuddling and bouncing. These were long nights, but we pressed on with what we knew. It was only after several days that we figured out what was wrong – gas. Sam’s newborn stomach wasn’t ready for onions and tomatoes, even filtered through his mother’s milk. With this information in hand, we got some gripe water, Amanda has been experimenting with diet, and we are rapidly improving our techniques of burping him, motivated by the carrot of a good night’s sleep.
Which got me thinking about confession. Every week we name how we are tangled-up in sin. Some of it we know very well – how we have hurt others, how we have screwed up the opportunities we’ve been given, our tepid response in the face of injustice, how we persist in destructive behaviors with no clear path out. Some of it we know we don’t know – the harm we have done without thinking or caring, the systems we perpetuate that harm our neighbors, yet feel as natural as the air we breath. These pressures, like the gas, are invisible to the unpracticed eye, but they are there - adding up over time, and keeping us awake at night with a pain that we may or may not understand. That’s where confession comes in! Like gripe water or so many techniques for burping, confession gets the ache out – out where we can see it, out where we can talk about it and deal with it, out where it can dissipate in the clean air of God’s forgiveness and love, out where it will lose its grip on us and free us to do something about its effects in our lives and in our world. Better out than in, as they say, and that is true with confession as well. So come to worship, and confess with the rest of us, and if that doesn’t give you rest, set an appointment with me or pastor Mericle to talk it out, receive God’s forgiveness, and imagine a better way forward.
After we applied the gas techniques, Sam felt much better. He was more restful at night and more playful and cuddly during the day. Amanda and I also found that our moods and, in fact, our lives were significantly improved by Samuel being in less pain. It certainly hasn’t changed everything – he has his good nights and his bad nights – but it has gotten much better, and there is real hope that it will get better still as we walk this path together. Amanda and I are sleeping a lot better now for having learned better techniques for dealing with gas, may each of us do the same with sin
Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
Happy Mother’s Day! It’s a day filled with emotions and history. A day for celebrating ideals of motherhood and those real people that struggle in the hard and unending work of mothering. As I sit in the hospital typing these words, watching Amanda feed our new born son, I think about that bond, that care that carried him for 38 weeks and still carries him, though differently, now. I think of all of the ups and downs of the road that brought us to this point, and the hopes and dreams that flood our visions of his future.
Which brings me to his name: Samuel Ephraim. It took us a while to come to that name. We like it for how it rolls off the tongue, how his initials will spell S.E.A., how his name gives him options both familiar and exotic, and how it points to the Bible, which has been transformative in our lives and we hope will be transformative in his. But more than anything, it was the stories behind the names that kept drawing us back to Samuel Ephraim.
Samuel is a Hebrew name that’s really a phrase meaning “God hears!” or “Listen to God!” It’s kind of a play on words because both meanings played out in the biblical Samuel’s life. Before he was born, the biblical Samuel’s mother prayed to the point of embarrassment that she could have a child, and Samuel was the sign that God heard and fulfilled her prayers. “God hears” was a living, breathing testament to the God who hears our prayers and doesn’t abandon us in the midst of our troubles. Amanda and I could relate to this wrestling with questions of fertility as we prayed for a child over the past few years. One of our seminary professors, upon hearing Amanda was pregnant, told us he would call our baby “Samuel” until he heard different for this very reason. We had prayed, we had asked others to pray, and as we worked and hoped and longed for God’s answer, it often felt like wandering in a wilderness crying out, uncertain where to go next. I believe that God hears us and cares about us, whether we receive what we want or not, but I am happy that we can celebrate this answer to our prayers in Samuel’s name.
The other way that you can translate Samuel, is as a command for us to “Listen to God!” The biblical Samuel spent his life dedicated to helping people listen to God. Serving as a prophet and leader of the people, who anointed kings and helped those kings to remember what God wanted for them and for his people. He was strong and courageous in the LORD – listening for God’s voice and standing up for what was right, just and true, even in the face of the most powerful people in the land. His courage was a gift that blessed God’s people and led them in good paths. He was not afraid, because he knew where his help came from, and I hope for our little Samuel the same sort of courage that flows from God and serves the world.
Which brings me to our son’s second name. Ephraim is also Hebrew, and means “Fruitful.” It was the name of a tribe of Israel that stood at the heart of the Northern Kingdom. As our little Samuel Ephraim goes through this life, I hope for him fruitfulness as well, that will benefit him, and give him a full and joyful life. I hope that he will cultivate the gifts that God has given him and enjoy the fruit of his labor. And I hope as he continues to produce good fruit, he will be generous with what he has, sharing what God has given him with a fruitfulness that feeds those around him, and leads them to praise God.
And so we welcome Samuel Ephraim to this world with joy and gratitude, with hope and excitement for what God will do in the years ahead. I look forward to getting to know him, and look forward to sharing him with you!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Happy Mother’s Day! It’s a day filled with emotions and history. A day for celebrating ideals of motherhood and those real people that struggle in the hard and unending work of mothering. As I sit in the hospital typing these words, watching Amanda feed our new born son, I think about that bond, that care that carried him for 38 weeks and still carries him, though differently, now. I think of all of the ups and downs of the road that brought us to this point, and the hopes and dreams that flood our visions of his future.
Which brings me to his name: Samuel Ephraim. It took us a while to come to that name. We like it for how it rolls off the tongue, how his initials will spell S.E.A., how his name gives him options both familiar and exotic, and how it points to the Bible, which has been transformative in our lives and we hope will be transformative in his. But more than anything, it was the stories behind the names that kept drawing us back to Samuel Ephraim.
Samuel is a Hebrew name that’s really a phrase meaning “God hears!” or “Listen to God!” It’s kind of a play on words because both meanings played out in the biblical Samuel’s life. Before he was born, the biblical Samuel’s mother prayed to the point of embarrassment that she could have a child, and Samuel was the sign that God heard and fulfilled her prayers. “God hears” was a living, breathing testament to the God who hears our prayers and doesn’t abandon us in the midst of our troubles. Amanda and I could relate to this wrestling with questions of fertility as we prayed for a child over the past few years. One of our seminary professors, upon hearing Amanda was pregnant, told us he would call our baby “Samuel” until he heard different for this very reason. We had prayed, we had asked others to pray, and as we worked and hoped and longed for God’s answer, it often felt like wandering in a wilderness crying out, uncertain where to go next. I believe that God hears us and cares about us, whether we receive what we want or not, but I am happy that we can celebrate this answer to our prayers in Samuel’s name.
The other way that you can translate Samuel, is as a command for us to “Listen to God!” The biblical Samuel spent his life dedicated to helping people listen to God. Serving as a prophet and leader of the people, who anointed kings and helped those kings to remember what God wanted for them and for his people. He was strong and courageous in the LORD – listening for God’s voice and standing up for what was right, just and true, even in the face of the most powerful people in the land. His courage was a gift that blessed God’s people and led them in good paths. He was not afraid, because he knew where his help came from, and I hope for our little Samuel the same sort of courage that flows from God and serves the world.
Which brings me to our son’s second name. Ephraim is also Hebrew, and means “Fruitful.” It was the name of a tribe of Israel that stood at the heart of the Northern Kingdom. As our little Samuel Ephraim goes through this life, I hope for him fruitfulness as well, that will benefit him, and give him a full and joyful life. I hope that he will cultivate the gifts that God has given him and enjoy the fruit of his labor. And I hope as he continues to produce good fruit, he will be generous with what he has, sharing what God has given him with a fruitfulness that feeds those around him, and leads them to praise God.
And so we welcome Samuel Ephraim to this world with joy and gratitude, with hope and excitement for what God will do in the years ahead. I look forward to getting to know him, and look forward to sharing him with you!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
–Isaiah 43:19-21
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
What is God up to? This is a question I bumped into time and again throughout my seminary training. It’s a good question to slow us down, to jar the thinking and take a step back from our own intentions, plans and expectations. It’s a question that invites us to see a wider view and listen for God’s voice. It’s a question that draws out faith, as we remember that this community called church is God’s community, and we are simply here by grace to help out as we have been gifted and called to do. What is God up to?
Over my first year among you, I’ve been listening - listening for God’s voice in conversation with you and in prayer, listening for what God is up to and where He is calling us, listening for good ways forward that will bear good fruit for individual members of the body of Christ at St. Paul Lutheran, for the congregation as a whole and for our community and the world which God so loves.
Through this listening, I’ve heard about the amazing talents that our members have, and the passion we have for serving and sharing those talents with others. I’ve heard of the care you share with one another and the honest joy you have in joining together. “Sharing Christ’s Love with Joy!” is our motto, and I have seen it lived out in small ways and large through individual action and team efforts. From passionate companionship with our sisters and brothers in Tanzania, to joyful imagination, connection and growth in VBS, from the transformative service of the annual mission trip to the joy of serving our neighbors every month through the food truck, to puppets and Sunday school, keenagers and confirmation, worship services that sing out in traditional and contemporary keys, and so much more. Truly God has blessed you, and you have responded to His call!
I’ve also heard of some of the challenges we face in living out those callings. Some could use a rest and a break. Others are happy to help, but uncertain how to plug-in. Some are just interested in transitioning to new ways to serve. We wrestle with financial questions as individuals and as a congregation. Even while we do amazing things together, we long for greater connection and clearer and more compelling communication as we walk this road together. We have been through much transition, over the last years and now we are looking to regain our footing and get better coordinated to further our mission of sharing Christ’s love with joy!
Trusting that God is present through all this I’ve been hearing, I confidently believe He is calling us in this direction: 2018 will be our 150th year as a congregation. Through the council we have discerned it will be a year focused on blessing as we count the many ways God has blessed us as a congregation and celebrate those blessings by taking up the challenge to bless more lives than we have we have ever blessed before. This year, 2017, will be a year of preparation, a year of Refreshing and Renewing, a year of focusing on receiving God’s gifts of love, rest, passion and calling both as individuals and as a congregation. We will be talking about our passions and gifts and how we can better coordinate to live them out in this congregation together. We will be working out new methods of communication that will serve us well, now and into the future. We will be opening up safe space to talk about finances and the opportunities and challenges there-in. We will be doing this while continuing our normal patterns of trying new things and exploring new possibilities as the Spirit moves and as God refreshes and renews us all.
It’s going to be exciting years ahead. I look forward to sharing them with you!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.
–Isaiah 43:19-21
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, grace to you and peace from God our father and Jesus the Lord of Life!
What is God up to? This is a question I bumped into time and again throughout my seminary training. It’s a good question to slow us down, to jar the thinking and take a step back from our own intentions, plans and expectations. It’s a question that invites us to see a wider view and listen for God’s voice. It’s a question that draws out faith, as we remember that this community called church is God’s community, and we are simply here by grace to help out as we have been gifted and called to do. What is God up to?
Over my first year among you, I’ve been listening - listening for God’s voice in conversation with you and in prayer, listening for what God is up to and where He is calling us, listening for good ways forward that will bear good fruit for individual members of the body of Christ at St. Paul Lutheran, for the congregation as a whole and for our community and the world which God so loves.
Through this listening, I’ve heard about the amazing talents that our members have, and the passion we have for serving and sharing those talents with others. I’ve heard of the care you share with one another and the honest joy you have in joining together. “Sharing Christ’s Love with Joy!” is our motto, and I have seen it lived out in small ways and large through individual action and team efforts. From passionate companionship with our sisters and brothers in Tanzania, to joyful imagination, connection and growth in VBS, from the transformative service of the annual mission trip to the joy of serving our neighbors every month through the food truck, to puppets and Sunday school, keenagers and confirmation, worship services that sing out in traditional and contemporary keys, and so much more. Truly God has blessed you, and you have responded to His call!
I’ve also heard of some of the challenges we face in living out those callings. Some could use a rest and a break. Others are happy to help, but uncertain how to plug-in. Some are just interested in transitioning to new ways to serve. We wrestle with financial questions as individuals and as a congregation. Even while we do amazing things together, we long for greater connection and clearer and more compelling communication as we walk this road together. We have been through much transition, over the last years and now we are looking to regain our footing and get better coordinated to further our mission of sharing Christ’s love with joy!
Trusting that God is present through all this I’ve been hearing, I confidently believe He is calling us in this direction: 2018 will be our 150th year as a congregation. Through the council we have discerned it will be a year focused on blessing as we count the many ways God has blessed us as a congregation and celebrate those blessings by taking up the challenge to bless more lives than we have we have ever blessed before. This year, 2017, will be a year of preparation, a year of Refreshing and Renewing, a year of focusing on receiving God’s gifts of love, rest, passion and calling both as individuals and as a congregation. We will be talking about our passions and gifts and how we can better coordinate to live them out in this congregation together. We will be working out new methods of communication that will serve us well, now and into the future. We will be opening up safe space to talk about finances and the opportunities and challenges there-in. We will be doing this while continuing our normal patterns of trying new things and exploring new possibilities as the Spirit moves and as God refreshes and renews us all.
It’s going to be exciting years ahead. I look forward to sharing them with you!
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Grant