I’m going on a journey, and I’m starting today.

My head is wet, and I’m on my way.

Christ’s mark is on me, it’s on you, too;

It says he loves me, and he loves you, too.

– Kenneth Larkin, ELW #446

Beloved of God,

Our crew is heading south to Los Angeles this month, compelled by the wedding of our nephew Jacob and his fiancé Maryel.  It’ll be our first family road trip to California and an opportunity to visit friends and family along the way—as well as take in the sights like the Magic Kingdom.  On our return trip the four of us will camp in the Redwoods, swim in Northwestern California rivers, and spend time with people and places I first met 30 years ago in my first Call as Pastor Director of Lutheran Ministry with Native Americans.  Reconnecting with these places and people and introducing Kai and Naomi to them is something I’ve been looking forward to for a long time.

I’ll never forget the first week of my new job.  I was attending a conference hosted by Humboldt State University that gathered together local tribal leaders, US Forest Service executives, environmentalists, and forestry professors from the university.  The topic was natural resources—approaches to developing and using them—and the fault lines of cultural perspectives that emerged were profound.  As we broke for lunch on the first day, I ended up at the same table as a Karuk elder who would become a significant mentor for me during my years of ministry there.  Our encounter was the first of many Spirit-driven events that took place during my five years of service in Indian Country.  I am forever grateful for the teachers, mentors, and companions God sent my way—both from Native communities and the church community—who extended and deepened my “education” in ways no seminary training could.

In a “parish” spread over 10,000 square miles, I worked with tribal communities—the Karuk, Hupa, Yurok, Tolowa, Wiyotte in particular—and a dozen Lutheran congregations, in a ministry of word and witness, advocacy and service. Along the way I discovered that my most profound learning often emerged when I was forced to confront the assumptions and limitations behind my own ways of thinking.  Looking at reality through the eyes of others challenged my assumptions about how and where and what God was up to.  Along the way, I discovered a new vocabulary to fit the new experiences that I was having, and came to appreciate the myriad ways God’s presence was embodied among peoples and within landscapes that were different from those I had known.  It was a journey I hope never to forget.

And the journey continues.  The earliest name given to the disciple community which gathered around Jesus was “people of the Way.” Our sisters and brothers of Calvary Lutheran marked the end of their journey as a congregation in a final festive sendoff June 26th.  That service marked the end of their formal life as a congregation, and the end of Pastor Paul Winterstein’s active years of service.  But it did not mark the end of their journey with God!  They remain “people of the Way.”  Their journey, which began in the waters of baptism, continues—through this life and into the next.  Some Calvary folk have indicated their desire to make Peace their new home base.  What a joy it will be to welcome them into our life and mission!  Others will take more time to discern where God is leading them now.  One thing we can be sure of, Christ’s mark abides on them and he will be with them, wherever the next stages of the faith journey takes them.

Whatever paths you travel this summer, claim God’s love for the journey, remember Christ’s mark on you, and stay wet!

Pastor Erik