Stay with us, till night has come: our praise to you this day be sung,

Bless our bread, open our eyes: Jesus be our great surprise

Walk with us, our spirits sigh: hear when our weary spirits cry,

feel again our loss, our pain: Jesus take us to your side.

Walk with us, the road will bend: make all our weeping, wailing end.

Wipe our tears, forgive our fears: Jesus lift the heavy cross.

Talk with us, till we behold, a joyful life you will unfold:

heal our eyes to see the prize: Jesus take us to the light!

Stay with us, till day is done: no tears nor dark shall dim the sun.

Cheer the heart, your grace impart: Jesus, bring eternal life.

– Herbert Brokering, Stay With Us

Beloved of God,

Christ is risen indeed, alleluia!

The lyrics and melody of certain songs touch me to the quick. Herb Brokering’s hymn Stay With Us (With One Voice #743) is one of them. His poem is a meditation on the road to Emmaus journey (Luke 24) that two disciples of Jesus take on the evening of the Resurrection.  As they walk together, struggling to come to terms with the reality of Jesus’ death, a stranger comes and begins to walk beside them; a stranger who not only becomes their companion on the way but their teacher and, as they finally discover during their shared meal, is none other than their Risen Lord!  Brokering takes the experience of their longing, grieving, and joyous hearts and makes them our own, with marvelous result.

Luke is the only gospel writer to share the story of this resurrection walk with Jesus. Walking with Jesus, the Emmaus story tells us, is a journey full us surprises and unexpected grace! What does your walk with our risen Lord Jesus look like in these post-Easter days?  How is the surprise and deep joy of the proclamation, HE IS RISEN, animating your daily existence?  How can you share that joy transparently with those with whom you share your Monday through Saturday life?

The truth is, every day is a day spent in the presence of our Risen Lord.  Therefore, we can talk about every day as a day in which we walk with Jesus.  Of course, on some days we feel Jesus’ presence powerfully, while on others the pressures of life leave us feeling quite a distance from him.  The Good News is, regardless of what we may feel on any given day, the spirit of the risen Jesus is here.  Jesus walks with us every day, just as he promised he would. His accompaniment is something we can always count on, no matter what the circumstances of our lives may be.

As the month of April unfolds, we will experience Christ’s accompaniment in our Sunday worship when we, like those Emmaus travelers, gather around bread and wine.  But we will also experience it on numerous other occasions: when we join with the people of Our Lady Guadalupe for a joint service day on Saturday April 16; when we work in yards and gardens preparing the soil and seeds for another year of growth; and when we share a smile or listen to another’s troubles; or make a meal for someone in need; when we stand up for someone who’s being taken advantage of; pray for someone who has offended us; bless our loved ones before bed.  For we who are people of the Empty Tomb, Easter isn’t a once a year event but a way of life.

Talk with us, till we behold, a joyful life you will unfold: heal our eyes to see the prize: Jesus take us to the light

Much of the news that dominates the air waves works to pull us toward the dark, drag us back toward the tomb.  But we are Easter people – and we won’t allow that to happen!  We have glimpsed the end of the story, the prize, and we accept with gratitude the joyful life that our risen Lord unfolds before us, day by day.  Thanks be to God!

With Easter joy,

Pastor Erik

Marvelous Truth, confront us at every turn, in every guise…

dwell in our crowded hearts, our steaming bathrooms,

kitchens full of things to be done, the ordinary streets. Thrust close your smile that we know you, terrible joy.

– Denise Levertov, Matins

Beloved of God,

The table is set for the final weeks of Lent, for the Three Days, and our celebration of Christ’s resurrection.  A team of planners and dreamers has been working behind the scenes to shape these worship services of the coming weeks in meaningful and engaging ways.  The Spirit has promised to be present and all that’s needed now is you. So come—and not alone!—as we complete the journey that culminates at the foot of the cross and in the light of the empty tomb.  A Marvelous Truth awaits us there, a truth that longs to transform the mundane spaces of our lives into arenas of resurrection.  Let’s make the journey together!

The Vision Catcher which hangs above the Altar/Table is changing bit by bit, week by week (have you noticed?) as we envision new ways to live out the five fundamental promises and practices of baptism within our community life:

Living among God’s faithful people;

Hearing the word of God and sharing in the Lord’s Supper;

Proclaiming the good news of God in Christ through word and deed;

Serving all people, following the example of Jesus;

Striving for justice and peace in all the earth

St. Paul speaks of baptism as dying with Christ in order that we might also be raised with him, and—truth be told—there is something in each of these promises/practices that demands a kind of death.  “Living among God’s people”   requires showing up; letting loose of the weekend “have to do” list long enough for our feet to find their way on to the path toward community.  “Hearing the word” requires turning off the babble of other voices and sounds—whether our own or others, whether alarms or invitations—so God’s still small voice can penetrate to our souls.   You catch the drift.  There’s what we might call a “little death” involved in each of these practices.  Amy Plantinga Pauw writes:

“As followers of Jesus, we are not to save death and dying for the end of our lives. Life in Christ requires dying now.  Those who hope in God as the redeemer from death must enter into the vulnerable, suffering love that leads to the cross.  The entire Christian life draws us into an ongoing ‘death,’ in which we die to everything that thwarts God’s intentions for life, peace, and joy.” (from Practicing our Faith)

In coming weeks we’ll follow the drama of Jesus: his anointing, his final meal, his betrayal and arrest, his abandonment by friends, his suffering and death; his being raised from the tomb.  This drama all gets packed into a few days.  But in reality, we live most of our lives between Good Friday and Easter, between the cross and the open tomb.  We live with pain in its many forms, we enter relationships, we leave them; we embrace, we let go.  We yearn for something beyond ourselves, outside of our grasp, that we can count on.  We long for a word, a sign, a promise, a person whom we can trust, who will know us intimately and love us unconditionally.  That person is Jesus.

At Font and Table Jesus calls us into a community; meeting us there he anoints us to be his presence here and now for each other and for the world.  We bear his treasure in the clay jars of our lives.  And because he remains faithful, we discover him still “in our crowded hearts, our steaming bathrooms, kitchens full of things to be done, the ordinary streets,” and all is well! This is the journey we’re on together.

Living in Resurrection Hope.

Pastor Erik

The LORD brought Abram outside and said,

“Look at the heavens and count the stars, if you are able to count them.

So shall your descendants be.”

– Genesis 15:5

People of the Covenant,

As we begin the season of Lent this month, we prepare ourselves for a journey once more; a journey with Christ that takes us from the source waters of baptism to the foot of the cross.  What will we steer by along the way?  Who will be our guide during these 40 days?  Our Wednesday evening gatherings with sisters and brothers from Calvary (our final time for sharing, since Calvary will be completing its ministry in June of this year) will focus on the five baptismal promises/practices that we make at the baptismal font.  In response to God’s adoption of us as beloved children, we commit ourselves to: Living among God’s faithful people; Hearing the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper; Proclaiming the good news of god in Christ through word & deed; Serving all people, following the example of Jesus; Striving for justice and peace in all the earth.  Baptism is the wellspring for our lifelong relationship with Christ.  I hope you will participate in the simple rhythm of Meal and Worship and the conversation we look forward to together.

What else can guide us as we take up the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving?  Brother Martin once addressed this question in response to a query posed by his barber Peter.  “How should an ordinary person like me pray?” Peter asked.  In response, Luther wrote A SIMPLE WAY TO PRAY, encouraging Christians to pray in their own words rather than reciting prayers they had memorized, and to trust the Holy Spirit to guide them.  Though Christians nowadays have more experience with personal prayer than the men and women of Luther’s day, we can still sometimes feel uncomfortable or inadequate in our praying.  Luther offered to his barber Peter, and offers us, a simple way forward.

Start with a scripture text or hymn, wrote Luther, and read it four ways.

• Read it as a schoolbook, reflecting upon what God is teaching you.
• Read it as a song or praise book, giving thanks to God for the gifts God give or bring to your awareness.
• Read it as a penitential book, confessing your sins, your needs, and your weaknesses as they are reveled to you.
• Turn the words into a short prayer you may speak to God.

There are no “right” or “wrong” prayers in this approach. Luther’s core conviction was that the Scriptures are not intended to fill our heads with interesting ideas, but to bring the active power of God’s Word into our lives.[1] Perhaps this is where we can begin our own Lenten journey.

Whatever other practices might guide our feet, we can also take our cue from the Genesis 15 above. Years have passed since Abram first heard God’s word of promise—“you will have an heir”—yet he and Sarai remain childless. In a vision God visits Abram to reassure him, but Abram wants something more. So God invites Abram out of his tent and tells him to look up at the stars. COUNT THEM, IF YOU CAN MANAGE, God says. SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE. Beholding those stars, Abram is struck by the enormity and sweep of God’s promise with is for him and beyond him. And trust finds a nesting place in his heart once more. On this Lenten journey we do not place our trust in our ability to successfully follow disciplines or acquire good habits—though are helpful things to do. Our invitation is always and forever to trust that what God promises, God will deliver. Those stars are a confirmation of that promise, so keep your head up!

Pastor Erik

[1] Luther’s response “For Peter, the Master Barber” is summarized in Kathryn Kleinhans, Lenten Journey: Seven Wonders of the Word. (Augsburg Fortress, 2010)