{"id":1063,"date":"2011-01-08T10:28:59","date_gmt":"2011-01-08T17:28:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1063"},"modified":"2011-02-06T22:31:42","modified_gmt":"2011-02-07T05:31:42","slug":"pastors-pen-for-january-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1063","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Pen for January 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace;<\/span><\/em><\/address>\n
The mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song,<\/span><\/em><\/address>\n
and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.\u201d<\/span><\/em> \u2013 Isaiah 55:12<\/span><\/address>\n

Beloved of God,<\/p>\n

The New Year is here\u2014wanna dance?<\/em> I certainly feel like it!\u00a0 What gets me there?\u00a0 Lots of things.\u00a0 There\u2019s that old Fred Astaire film we watched over Christmas break (how does he make it look so easy?), and the Celtic jam sessions that have us jumping and whirling regularly on our family room floor; there\u2019s the glee on Naomi\u2019s face at her 3rd\u00a0birthday party New Year\u2019s Eve, and that rare, sun-kissed bicycle ride on New Year\u2019s Day.\u00a0 And then, dear friends, there\u2019s your response to December\u2019s CLOSE THE GAP invitation\u2014a response which left me (again) humbled by the abundance of God filtered through the generosity of God\u2019s people (you all) for extraordinary ends (God\u2019s mission).<\/span><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n

\n <\/span><\/address>\n
ABUN-DANCE\u2026it\u2019s right there in the word. <\/span>A DANCE that ABOUNDS\u2026that\u2019s what God is about. Doesn\u2019t it make you want to dance, too?<\/em><\/span><\/address>\n

\n <\/span><\/address>\n
The 55th\u00a0chapter of Isaiah is one long lyric of abun-dance, beginning with the shout-out in verse 1\u2014<\/span><\/address>\n
\u201cHO! EVERYONE WHO THIRSTS COME TO THE WATERS; AND YOU THAT HAVE NO MONEY, COME, BUY AND EAT!\u201d<\/span><\/address>\n
\u2014to the closing verses where all nature sings, dances and claps in celebration of God\u2019s abundant graciousness.\u00a0 Such a DANCE may not be where some of us naturally tend to go\u2026but it\u2019s where God goes in Isaiah, and it\u2019s where God ends up in Jesus\u2014the Lord of the Dance\u2014who \u201cleft it all on the floor\u201d and invites us to do the same.<\/span><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n

\n <\/span><\/address>\n
In a recent synod article, Bishop Chris Boerger shared the experience he and his wife DeDe had during their sabbatical sojourn in South Africa last summer.\u00a0 Listen to his story:<\/span><\/address>\n
We had occasion to worship at the Lutheran Church in Edendale\u2026 This was the shortest 3.5 hour service of worship I have ever experienced. There were no musical instruments in the building, but the singing was in four-part harmony and was amazing\u2026 The point of this story is to reflect on the eleven offerings that took place.<\/span><\/address>\n
It should be noted that Edendale as a township is a place where the poor live. At the time of the offering, plastic containers were placed in front of the congregation. The church council was invited to come forward with their offering while the congregation sang an African song. As the music started, the council danced forward to give their offerings. After the song was finished the next song was announced and the Sunday School children danced forward with their offering.\u00a0 Each group was accompanied with a different song. The older men, then the older women, the young men, young women, those who worked in the service industries, those who had a job, those who had a car, the youth of the congregation and finally those who wanted to help pay for the bread and wine used in communion danced forward with their offerings.<\/span><\/address>\n
This was an act of worship. It was the community joyously sharing, dancing at the opportunity to share in the work of God in their lives, their community, and their church\u2026 I learned anew the fact that our offerings are part of our worship. In these days of economic uncertainty, we too often treat our offerings as a business transaction or a bill to pay. The church is just another way we use our discretionary income. For the people of this congregation in South Africa, the offering was part of their worship experience. It was their turn to respond to what God was doing in their lives. We have much to learn from our sisters and brothers in South Africa. The joy of sharing in God\u2019s work is just one of them. Shall we dance?<\/span><\/address>\n

\n <\/span><\/address>\n
\u201cYou have <\/span><\/span>turned my mourning into dancing; you <\/span><\/span>have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy!” <\/span><\/span><\/address>\n
– Psalm 30:11<\/span><\/span><\/address>\n
During the final month of the year, as we celebrated the advent of the Light of the world\u2014our fiscal slog through red ink was transformed into a dance; an ABUN-DANCE.\u00a0 Amazing. \u00a0So how does it feel to be an instrument of God\u2019s work? \u00a0Wanna dance?<\/em><\/span><\/address>\n
<\/address>\n
Pastor Erik<\/span><\/address>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For you shall go out in joy, and be led forth in peace; The mountains and the hills before you shall burst into song, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.\u201d \u2013 Isaiah 55:12 Beloved of God, The New Year is here\u2014wanna dance? I certainly feel like it!\u00a0 What gets me […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-newsletter","category-pastors-pen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1063"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1091,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1063\/revisions\/1091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}