Contemplating transitions?

Check out Cafe: Stirring the Spirit Within where I've recently written a faith reflection and study questions on "Transitions."

spirit tending

Today, I had the opportunity to reflect with my spiritual director on an image that I've loved for a long time--"Tree of Life" by Kristin Gilje. I have a copy of Kristen's beautiful painting in my office and a photo of that painting on my laptop so I see it nearly every day.

The image shows the tree of life with its roots firmly planted in the river of life. There's a rainbow in the water's spray and the tree is lush--with the twelve kinds of fruit and the leaves for the healing of the nations (Revelation 22). Within the trunk of the tree is a human image, an image of the divine One perhaps.

It is a beautiful and life-giving image for me, reminding me of what's important in our busy days--to cling to that tree, to firmly plant our roots in living water, to take in nourishment from the One who is our source so that we might bear fruit.

As you consider next steps in your life, God give you refreshment and all that you need to sustain you,
Pastor Joy

Earth Year at LSTC

This lush tree is across the street from my home and as we walk by it each night, we've imagined that its name is "Ellwood." We speak to it--hang in there through the winds of stormy nights; thank you for your shade; you are beautiful and grand.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to read a moving article in the most recent edition of Spiritus--by Mary Frolich called "Under the Sign of Jonah: Studying Spirituality in a Time of Ecosystemic Crisis"--I recommend it highly. I was moved by the themes of the article to spend the evening at the shore of Lake Michigan.

The summer feels like its coming to an end--classes will soon be in session again--and with that, there is both grief and joy. We will welcome students back to campus! The days are growing shorter once again but peaches are in season. The warmth of the sun will fade but we will have the opportunity to enjoy the harvest, cultivated in its rays. And, at LSTC, it is the beginning of our Earth Year! If you're on Facebook, check out Earth Year at LSTC: 2009-2010.

Blessings,
Pastor Joy

on the brink of big decisions...

In the midst of our church making decisions together, I pray for each of you who contemplate seminary and leadership/service in the church. I turn again and again to the story of Esther and her mentor/uncle Mordecai's call and question to her to step up on behalf of her people, "Who knows? Perhaps you are in this place and this time for just such a time as this."
Her response? In paraphrase: I will go and if I perish, I perish.

This is a time when leadership in the church is critically needed. We need people willing to take risks--even to put their life on the line on behalf of God's people. Could you be one of those who God is calling for "such a time as this?" Leadership as a pastor or rostered leader will certainly not be glamorous, as we might imagine Queen Esther's to have been or as we might imagine some past incarnation of "pastor" to have been... but that does not make the need any less great.

The future of our church body, our institutions, our congregations is not altogether certain but God's faithfulness is unending. God is still calling leaders into service. God sends the Holy Spirit to gather, enlighten, enliven and santify the church, the body of Christ--and perhaps the way of the church will radically change as we go into the future, but the One who died and was raised accompanies us on this journey... through whatever may come.

In the One who died and was raised to new life,
Pastor Joy

dreaming awake

To prepare for the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans, I attended a film showing of "Trouble the Waters," an independent film. It showed not only the hurricane and breaking of the levees at the time of hurricane Katrina but the aftermath over the course of two years. Some of the things that I learned in this film, I had not heard before.

The prison was not evacuated. Workers took the TVs out before the storm began, then locked everyone in their cells. For days, there was no food or water, just a locked prison. The hospital was not completely evacuated. Some people were simply left to die in their beds. When people from the ninth ward realized they were going to have to get themselves out--they would not be rescued--they were told by the Coast Guard to go to the Navy base (but no one aparently communicated that to the Navy base) because at the Navy base (where there were hundreds of empty beds), the men kept the people out at gunpoint. They received an award from President Bush for mitigating what "might have been a violent interaction."

Story after story showed how this was not a natural disaster but a disaster of human failure upon failure...from the failure of the levees to the failure to meet promises made to people who suffered through this ordeal.

Now, I'm here in New Orleans, mostly protected from the realities of that time by a sparkly French quarter, beautiful hotel and a massive Convention Center. However, amidst the fun, there are moments for engaging the realities. Youth and adults are donating their blood and their hair for those who need it. There is the opportunity to walk through a FEMA trailer and to learn at a Freedom School. And, we are entering hurricane season. It's muggy hot and thick with humidity. Each day, it's rained in the middle of the afternoon.

That's maybe part of why I dreamed this morning that it was happening to us. In the dream, there was a smell and we looked outside at the swelling river and cried out, "The levee's breaking." We started running, we were calling out for family and friends. Although I tried, I couldn't fall back asleep after that. The fear was too real; my heart was beating too fast.

In Isaiah 43, we read:
"Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you."
This word--from the God who created us, who formed us.

We were asked in the mass gathering at the start of this event to bear witness (to see, to hear, to experience) and to tell the truth about what was experienced here in New Orleans. How God was here through the flood, present with those for whom the water was up to their neck. Present as neighbors reached out to one another and gave help. Present, wearied and grieving, as humans failed one another.

God is present with you, too, as you consider next steps in your life, as you listen for God's call. If you are overwhelmed, hold on to this. The One who created you and who forms us in community is with you--you are precious in God's sight and honored and loved. God will make a way out of no way.

Wade in the water, for there, God can hide you & protect you--and on the other side is freedom.
Pastor Joy

first course: dignity

"Dignity"
Trinity Lutheran Church
Volunteers serving the homeless
First course: dignity

Read the story behind the ad.

theology in a nutshell

Today, I had reason to remember that conversation years ago on my NE Iowa Candidacy Committee when they asked, "What's the gospel in a nutshell?" I gave an answer somewhat similar to the words in John 3:16... God loves us and because God loved us so much, God gave us Jesus who gave his life for us. My answer didn't meet their expectations and they encouraged me to work on it. Somehow, by the grace of God, I eventually spoke some word that reassured them that I could be approved for ordination and make the promises to preach and teach in accordance with the holy scriptures, the creeds and the Lutheran confessions--that my theology was Lutheran. "We are saved by grace through faith and that is not our own doing but is a gift of God."

I've never been very comfortable with pat answers for complex questions. That said, I can understand why people ask. What we believe about God, God's role in the world, sin and evil, our role in the world as flawed and amazing human beings--all of that is important. And we especially want to know where our leaders are coming from on these most important matters.

In ministry, though, it's surprising how seldom one is asked "What's your theology?" More often the questions come in other forms. Why did God allow that to happen? What am I supposed to do with my life? What does the Bible say about ____? Does God love me? And even then, if I fall into answering, those answers are not always most helpful.

What I do know is that God has given a variety of gifts... some of us are passionate about stunning articulation of profound truths, some of us can speak a real and concrete word of God's love for the sinner and transformation of lives, some of us cling to the wonder and mystery of the God of all creation, some of us hear the voice of Jesus speaking right to our hearts, some of us are working for God's reign of justice and peace to be realized more fully. We see Jesus as lord, savior, friend, teacher/prophet, lover. It seems to me that all these ways of sensing God's presence in our lives are needed--not only broadly among people of Christian faith--but even among Lutherans. God created a body with a beautiful diversity.

Perhaps one of my strongest convictions is that God has created us to love us. Jesus showed us who God is and loved us even to the point of dying but God raised him from the dead. When Jesus' earthly life was done we received an Advocate--the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies. We are broken vessels but God continues to work, a patient potter, to mold us--into those who love God and one another. I'm still not sure I've got that "gospel in a nutshell" answer right (maybe you feel that way too) but God is not finished with us yet.

As we grapple with theology on the way,
Pastor Joy