Beloved in the Lord,

We were in Leavenworth with Chris’s family, marking Naomi’s birthday on New Year’s Eve and the dawning of the New Year with a parcel of visiting cousins we were meeting for the very first time.  Soon after arriving at their home along Icicle Creek, I was called to help my brother in law Doug remove the Tree that had stood at the center of Christmas celebrations the week before.  He was determined that there would be no lingering Tree this year; no waiting until February before disposing of it.  This year a new tradition would be inaugurated: the burning of the Christmas Tree as one year ended and another began.  It was the kind of tradition I could definitely get behind!  We carried the Tree out away from the house and planted it in the adjacent field in the two+ feet of snow that covered the ground. There it stood, upright and firm.

The plan was simple.  When fireworks were set off later that night the biggest one would be placed beneath the outstretched branches of the Tree, thus igniting its needles and creating an amazing pyrotechnic display.   As a guy who can sit around for hours watching fires, let me say that I was all over this idea.  With the Tree now in place, Doug used the snow blower to clear a space a safe distance away where we would bring the portable fire pit and chairs, while Kai and I went to work gathering wood for the bonfire.

All the elements were present to make it a truly memorable night: the snow-covered field…calm weather…a crackling fire.  As night descended, the adults gathered around the bonfire while the younger ones went searching for icicles to add to their collections.  Finally, the moment arrived.  After some preliminary rocket displays, nephew Aiden placed the Big Bertha of fireworks at the base of the Tree, tilting it so the trajectory of its flares would stream right through the branches.  Then, lighting the fuse he stood back.  All eyes were glued to the Tree as the fireworks began to fly!

You remember how susceptible Christmas trees are to burning, right?  It’s one of those axioms of modern domestic life—“Never attempt to burn a Christmas tree in your fireplace at home; there could be dire consequences.” (I know a man who actually tried this once…an L.A. firefighter no less!  You should have seen the look on his face when his neighbors, seeing the billows of smoke erupting from his chimney, called 911 and the clarion call of fire engine sirens came hurtling down the block!  But that’s another story…) Well, it turns out this Tree was not.  Not one branch or even needle of the tree actually burned.  Some were scorched, yes, but that was about it.  I guess it wasn’t dry enough yet.  The kids went into the house while those of us who remained turned our attention to the crackling fire in the pit once more.  It seemed that this was one tradition that would have to be tweaked a bit in order to match the vision of blazing glory our minds had so readily imagined.

As we turn the page each January, it is our nature to hope that the failures, flare-outs, and ill-conceived ideas of the year past will not make it with us into the New Year.  Oh! that it would be so!  We fervently long for a new order, within us and between us, where fear, violence, and dread no longer hold sway.  As people whose destiny is shaped by hope, we are learning to put our trust not in our own plans but in God’s purposes.

Isaiah captured that purpose when he spoke of God’s salvation as a “burning torch” that would light the way for God’s people.  A torch of such magnitude that it would dispel the bleak darkness of exile and usher in a new way of being and living that would bring the community into alignment with what our Creator has intended from the beginning. That light has come in Jesus.  The feast of Epiphany with which this New Year begins invites us to embrace his light, to have our eyes—like those of the Magi—opened to see just what God is up to in this one who turns plain water into the wine of community.  As 2013 unfolds, let us strive to keep our eyes focused—even glued—on him.  For he is truly the light no darkness can overcome.

New Year’s Blessings,

Pastor Erik

Beloved of God,

The story of how God’s love takes on flesh in the world and in our lives can be spoken in many different voices.  It can be expressed in the language of theology and through the words of philosophical inquiry.  It can be told through the lens of history, with specificity and detail.  But I find the story to be most powerful when it is most intimate. This Advent, as we begin year three of the common lectionary cycle—the year of LUKE—we get a full dose of Luke’s masterful telling of God coming into the flesh and acquiring an address on earth.

The story of Jesus’ origins and birth, which unfold bit-by-bit and song-by-song in Luke’s gospel, offers us an insider’s perspective.  We become privileged eavesdroppers and witnesses to scenes which are highly personal and even private.  Luke does not leave us standing outside of the locations or the minds of the story’s chief characters as detached observers, but rather brings us inside in his intimate portrayal.  The vast literature of music and poetry that Luke’s story of Jesus has inspired speaks powerfully to our need and desire to take hold of the radical truth that God is not aloof or remote, but has come to be with us. This year, on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 23, (“Little Christmas” in the parlance of some) we will follow Luke’s unfolding story in all its marvelous detail.  I hope you’ll be with us as we lean toward Christmas that day, taking in the message: DO NOT FEAR.

One beautiful example of an intimate moment portrayed by Luke comes to us from the pen of Rainer Maria Rilke.

There is much, as always, that begs for our attention during this full season.  The to-do lists grow impossibly long; the obligation to fashion a meaningful experience that meets the expectations of ourselves and others—and all with good cheer—weighs on us.  Alongside all of this comes the Spirit’s invitation, as the curtain parts, to come inside to behold and marvel at the audacity of the One who emptied heaven to be with us.

In joyful anticipation,

Pastor Erik

Beloved of God,

Gratitude and thanksgiving are hallmarks of this month of November.  On All Saints Sunday we lift up the lives of all the faithful people of God who have gone before us, who have sown seeds of faith in our lives, lighting the way toward a future in which hope reigns.  Hope reigns for us and all creation because God reigns, and where God reigns there is always hope—hope both for this life and for the next, thanks to Christ’s triumph over sin and death.  Six Peace and former St. James members will be remembered on November 4th: Lyla, Elmer, K, Gena, Elma, & Grace.  Each of their stories have interacted in different ways with our own and are now enfolded into God’s story like strands of thread in a tapestry God has been creating from the beginning of time.

Celebrating the lives of those who have gone before naturally raises questions for us about the legacy of faith we leave to those who come after us. During the coming months, you’ll be hearing about one such legacy that comes to us through St. Paul’s interaction with the church in Macedonia.  Acts 16 records that as Paul and his companions went about their work of planting churches, one night Paul had a vision: there stood a man from Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” As soon as Paul had the vision the group set out to “cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.” (Acts 16:9-10) Later, in his second letter to the Christians of Corinth, Paul writes about what he experienced with the Macedonia people.

“We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.”

The church communities in Macedonia, Paul goes on to say, “voluntarily gave according to their means, even beyond their means, begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints” in Jerusalem who were suffering from a famine. (2 Cor. 8:3-4)  How did the people of Macedonia become motivated to give to their sisters and brothers in Jerusalem?  “They gave themselves first to the Lord,” then they also gave themselves “by the will of God, to us.” (2 Cor. 8:5)  These were acts of commitment and spiritual maturity that began with their baptism and flowing from their foundational relationship with the Christ Jesus.  When people give themselves to the Lord, the Lord makes things happen—and did it happen!  Their “overflowing joy and extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity,” writes Paul.  Practicing generosity in the face of tough times is not easy.  Not for the Macedonians.  Not for us.  But it is possible—even surprisingly so—when we follow their ancient example by first giving ourselves, our lives, fully to the Lord.

In coming months the Stewardship Team will be lifting the Macedonian Challenge before us, inviting us to reflect on what we can learn and adopt for our own practices, individually, as households, and as a congregation.[1] Stay tuned!

This month we’ll be given several opportunities for generous giving to ministry needs beyond our doors. We’ve all seen images of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy this past week.  From the Caribbean to the North Atlantic Coast, millions of lives have been affected by this “super storm.”  Our ELCA is known nationwide as a leader in disaster response.  It’s one of things we, as church, do together when we participate in synodical and churchwide sponsored ministries.  You’ll find a LINK on our website homepage that provides more information about how you might respond.

In addition, our THANKSGIVING OFFERING this year will help in two directions: (1) subsidizing our Agape Fund, which serves those in desperate need of help, and (2) participating in the White Center Food Bank’s new “Team Henrietta” and “Milk Banks” programs.

This All Saints Sunday we’ll hear these words from Revelation 21:

“See, the home of God is among mortals.  God will dwell with them as their God; they will be God’s peoples, and God himself will be with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes.  Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:3-4)

We live in the hope that this vision of renewal for the future of creation includes renewal for us even now today.  We participate in that renewal whenever we gather around the Font and Table.  It’s what we do; it’s who we are.

With you on the way,

Pastor Erik

[1]For an example of a modern day Macedonian tale, follow this LINK (http://www.lutheransnw.org/content.cfm?id=213&content_id=8) to the story of Kent Lutheran Church and the transformation they have undergone through connecting with Sudanese refugees in their community and half a world away.

Beloved of God,

Fall is a favorite season of mine. I love the colors, the crispness in the air, the golden light of late afternoon, the harvest moon.  And I am awed by the transformation that occurs as leaves let go of their homes in the sky and begin their new project of nourishing the soil.  In autumn the earth teaches us what it means to let go, to relinquish, to shed, to become empty and ready to be filled, a lesson we practice year after year, time and again.  As I watch the leaves turn and fall I’m reminded of a poem by Macrina Wiederkehr entitled, The Sacrament of Letting Go.[1]  Here are the opening lines:

Slowly she celebrated the sacrament of letting go.
First she surrendered her green,
then the orange, yellow, and red
finally she let go of her brown.
Shedding her last leaf…she began her vigil of trust.

We celebrate two sacraments in the Lutheran Christian tradition:  the sacraments of font and of table—Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.  But if we ever added a third, I would cast my vote for the Sacrament of Letting Go.  The earthly sign for this sacrament would be a red or golden leaf plucked up from the ground where it fell.  And the texts? There are many. We’ll be hearing two of them later this month, from Isaiah 53 and Mark 10. Isaiah 53 includes the fourth and final Servant Song from Isaiah’s corpus.  You’ll recognize the verses as coming from the section of Isaiah we hear particularly in Holy Week as we contemplate the passion of Jesus:

This Suffering Servant of whom Isaiah speaks knew the Sacrament of Letting Go.  The first Christians came to recognize in these verses the one they had come to call the Christ; the one of whom St. Paul spoke when he wrote: “Though he was in the form of God he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave…and being found in human form, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death.” (Phil. 2) 

In the 10^th chapter of Mark, after all the time they’ve spent with Jesus, all the teaching they’ve taken in, after all the miracles they’ve witnessed and experienced, we find James and John asking Jesus for special favors.  “Teacher,” they say as they sidle up to him, “we have something we want you to do for us. We’d like the places of highest honor beside you in glory—to sit on your right and on your left.”  While the gospels don’t contain stage directions, I readily imagine Jesus, after hearing their request, bowing his head, shaking it slowing, and sighing.  After all this time, they still didn’t get it!  So he tells all of them once more: 

Jesus asks them (us!) to learn the sacrament of letting go.  “You know how the world operates,” he tells them.  “But that’s not how we’re going to operate.”  Jesus takes the power-grabbing, top-down approach to authority and turns it on its head.  After 2000 years, the church still struggles mightily to embody the way of being that Jesus made so clear.

The hymn of Richard Gillard quoted above celebrates this call to servanthood which belongs to each one of us by virtue of our baptism.  The God who emptied himself to become one with us invites us to loosen our grip on our own agendas and yearning for power and to embrace the yoke of service each and every day of our lives. Like baptism, this letting go is a life-long sacrament.  We’re never done with it.  We are called to practice this sacrament as we send our children off into the world.  We are called to practice this sacrament as we begin a new job, or as we retire, or as we leave a home we’ve known for years and move to some place new.  We are called to practice this sacrament when, in various circumstances, for differing reasons, significant relationships in our lives can no longer be sustained.  We are called to practice this sacrament when death approaches, separating us from those we love.  No, we are never done with it, never done with letting go.  But neither are we alone.  For every step along the way, with every leaf that falls, every trembling fear, every ounce of pain and suffering, every gesture of relinquishment, we are companioned by the One who claims us in baptism, and whose promises are so secure death itself cannot put them asunder.

This month, as servants of the Servant, we’ll hit the pavement on the annual CROP Walk and write letters to congress advocating a Circle of Protection around the vulnerable poor.  We’ll hear from our youth how trips to the Yakima Reservation and other places have transformed their understanding of what it means to be a servant.  We’ll hear also how a congregation at the end of its life cycle dared to dream that by dying well it could become the seedbed for a transformed model of ministry—Luther’s Table.  (NOTE: Pastor/Developer Gretchen Mertes will be guest preacher here Oct. 21)

In autumn the trees teach us what it means to let go and become empty so we are ready to be filled.  And in doing so, perhaps they also teach us how we might embody servanthood in such a way that Jesus will smile instead of sigh.

With you on the way,

Pastor Erik

 [1] Macrina Wiederkehr, Seasons of Your Heart.  (New York: HarperCollins, 1991).

Beloved of God,

Fall is in the air, and in this election year that means a good deal of attention on the air to campaigns for office at every level, as well as referendums and initiatives on the ballot. Of particular attention in our state is Referendum 74 on marriage. We’ll be hosting a congregational forum on this referendum September 9th after worship. I hope you’ll come. The gospel for that Sunday comes from Mark 7, the story of Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman. (Read quote above.)

Do you feel yourself cringing at this story the way I do? “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” OUCH! Even 20 centuries after the fact, his words still sting. Here is a view of a Jesus we hardly ever see, and it’s a bit disconcerting to say the least. He seems prepared to dismiss this woman and send her away with nothing. It’s easy to imagine the woman leaving that house humiliated and ashamed; kicking herself for thinking that Jesus would somehow be different than the others. But if this woman is caught off guard by Jesus’ rejoinder, she doesn’t show it! Without missing a beat she delivers the best comeback in the entire New Testament:

“Lord,” she says, “you may look upon us as dogs, but even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

As silence envelops the room, Jesus takes in her words and is challenged to re-evaluate whom he has been called to serve, to revisit the boundaries between Jew and Gentile and to move beyond an ancient barrier.

In every other encounter recorded in the gospels, Jesus wins the debate. But here this mother bests him. His NO becomes a YES. “For saying that,” he tells her, “you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”

I once heard Presbyterian missionary Harold Kurtz speak powerfully of how the gospel serves as a catalyst of transformation in every culture it encounters. He shared an experience he’d had with the Maji, a people who sit at the bottom rung of the ladder, ethnically, culturally, and economically, in Ethiopia. The Maji are people of the land, who stay as far away from the modern world as they can and are treated like second-class citizens by their fellow Ethiopians. When they come in to market to buy something to drink, they are forbidden from drinking out of a glass like all other customers. Instead, they must bring a leaf and it is into that leaf that the market vendor pours their drink. Harold had an opportunity to go to a Maji settlement and speak with the people who had been learning the gospel story. In the midst of the meeting, one man from the community rose to speak.

LOOK AT ME, he told Harold. And pointing at himself, he asked: IS THIS A FACE OF A DOG? IS MY FACE LIKE THAT OF AN ANIMAL? IS NOT MY FACE A HUMAN FACE? ARE NOT MY EYES AND EARS AND NOSE THOSE OF A HUMAN? YET, he told Harold, WE ARE TREATED LIKE DOGS. BUT I AM LEARNING THAT THERE IS ONE WHO DOES NOT SEE ME AS A DOG, BUT AS HIS CHILD. I AM LEARNING THAT IN THE HEART OF GOD I AM WORTHY OF LOVE.

The story of the encounter between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman could easily have been tossed out by early Christians as an unfavorable portrayal of the one they had come to know as their Lord and God. But it wasn’t. The story was remembered and passed on. There is something here that is fundamental to understanding the gospel. And if we, dear sisters and brothers, can witness Jesus himself growing in his understanding of how wide God’s mercy and justice extend, can we not imagine ourselves, too, being changed? It’s worth thinking about.

When it comes to politics, our choices on candidates and referendums will never be unanimous. But as citizens and as people called to be salt, light, and leaven, we ought to grapple with the questions nonetheless. And as we grapple, it will be our “duty and delight” to be generous with one another, practicing the arts of listening and loving as a witness to the world of the sure bond between those who follow Christ.

With you on the way,

Pastor Erik