{"id":1140,"date":"2011-04-29T09:34:16","date_gmt":"2011-04-29T16:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2011-06-02T15:33:21","modified_gmt":"2011-06-02T22:33:21","slug":"pastors-pen-for-may-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/?p=1140","title":{"rendered":"Pastor’s Pen for May 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
The risen Christ, who walks on wounded feet from garden tomb through darkened city street,<\/em><\/address>\n
unlocks the door of grief, despair, and fear, and speaks a work of peace to all who hear.<\/em><\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/address>\n
The risen Christ, who stands with wounded side, breathes out his Spirit on them to abide<\/em><\/address>\n
whose faith still wavers, who dare not believe; new grace, new strength, new purpose they receive.<\/em><\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/address>\n
The risen Christ, who breaks with wounded hand the bread for those who fail to understand,<\/em><\/address>\n
reveals himself, despite their ling\u2019ring tears, enflames their hearts, then quickly disappears. <\/em><\/address>\n
\u00a0<\/em><\/address>\n
May we, Christ\u2019s body, walk and serve and stand with those oppressed in this and ev\u2019ry land,<\/em><\/address>\n
till all are blessed and can a blessing be, restored in Christ to true humanity.<\/em><\/address>\n
\u00a0 – Nigel Weaver, Evangelical Lutheran Worship<\/em> #390<\/address>\n

Beloved of God,<\/p>\n

Christ is risen!\u00a0 Alleluia!\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>What a joy to utter these words once and ever more.\u00a0 The tomb the women came to see is empty; the body they came to tend is gone.\u00a0 What can this mean?<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 During the seven weeks of the Easter season we explore that question and its myriad permutations.\u00a0 We hear<\/span> how the risen Jesus came speaking \u201cpeace\u201d to a disciple community huddled in fear.\u00a0 We watch<\/span> as the risen Lord companions two travelers on the road to Emmaus, opening the Scriptures to them and, finally, opening their eyes in the breaking of the bread.\u00a0 We witness<\/span> the transformation of a fledgling community proclaiming Christ\u2019s resurrection and embodying the Way of life he taught.\u00a0 And we ask<\/span>, how will the resurrection of Jesus give shape and purpose to my life and to the life we share together in the community of faith?<\/p>\n

The momentum for mission conveyed in Matthew\u2019s final chapter and in Luke\u2019s second volume\u2014The Acts of the Apostles\u2013testifies with bold, powerful strokes to the power which Christ\u2019s resurrection and the gift of the Spirit unleash in the world.\u00a0 On one level, these witnesses make the whole story of our faith\u2019s founding sound automatic; as easy as falling off a log.\u00a0 But a careful look shows us there is more to it than that.\u00a0 For example, when Matthew tells how the eleven apostles gathering with Jesus in Galilee after his resurrection, he writes:\u00a0 \u201cWhen they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em>[Mt 28:17]\u00a0 It would have been so easy for Matthew to leave out the part about \u201cdoubt,\u201d but he includes it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Perhaps in part to tell those of us who come to the story generations later that grappling with doubt comes with the territory of faith.<\/p>\n

Nigel Weaver\u2019s marvelous hymn (above) captures beautifully the process by which followers of Christ\u2014both ancient and modern\u2014come to faith.\u00a0 Often enough it is through fits and starts.\u00a0 Nonetheless, because of Christ\u2019s faithful commitment to those whose \u201cfaith still wavers,\u201d who \u201cfail to understand,\u201d God\u2019s mission abides.<\/p>\n

As we engage our RE\/VISION process in earnest this month here at Peace, we do well to remember from whence the impulse to be about God\u2019s work with our hands comes\u2014ever and always from the Risen One.<\/strong>\u00a0 You\u2019ll note elsewhere in this edition some specifics about opportunities to join with other Peace people at specific \u201cListening Posts\u201d <\/span>which have been set up by the Re\/Vision Task Force.\u00a0 There are many new faces and voices in our congregation since the last Vision process in 2006.\u00a0 We want to make certain all can bring their voices and ideas and promptings to one of these gatherings.\u00a0 The greater the participation, the more authentic our process will be, and the better we\u2019ll be able to articulate our call as a congregation to \u201cwalk and serve and stand\u201d as servants of our risen Lord in a world in great need of hope, love, and healing .\u00a0 Please check your calendar and sign up so that you will be able to participate in these important conversations as we develop our Vision for Mission for the coming 5-10 years.<\/p>\n

Living in resurrection hope,<\/p>\n

Pastor Erik<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The risen Christ, who walks on wounded feet from garden tomb through darkened city street, unlocks the door of grief, despair, and fear, and speaks a work of peace to all who hear. \u00a0 The risen Christ, who stands with wounded side, breathes out his Spirit on them to abide whose faith still wavers, who […]<\/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-1140","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\/1140","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=1140"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1142,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1140\/revisions\/1142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.peacelutheranseattle.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}