Category Archives: service

Habitat Day

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Yesterday, five of us from Resurrection worked at a Habitat for Humanity house in St. Paul. In spite of the heat and humidity we hung sheet rock in the upstairs bedrooms. The challenge was learning how to put up ceiling sheet rock, especially above the stair case. Fortunately our crew had an excellent crew chief, Roger Henry, who showed us the right techniques and special tricks to get the job done.

Roger Henry

I have known Roger for over a decade. He has been a long-time volunteer and champion of Habitat for Humanity. He brings his own tools to the work site and gladly teaches novices like myself how to use them. He knows that most Habitat volunteers are not skilled construction workers and that he could probably do the job more easily by himself. Yet teaching others is one of his passions and joys. I like working with Roger (but please don’t tell him that!).

I also have an abiding passion for Habitat for Humanity. I believe in its mission to build safe, affordable housing for people in need. They do NOT give away homes, but they invest in people. Any potential home owner needs to put over 500 hour of sweat equity into the organization, he or she needs to attend classes about home ownership responsibilities, and the family will have a mortgage when they move into the home. As Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat, once said, “Habitat is not a handout, but a hand-up.” The modest house we worked on yesterday is only 1400 square feet and will probably house a family of five or more. Twin Cities Habitat has built more than 850 since its inception in 1985. Learn more at their website.

Hard Work and Good Food

And whenever I have worked at a Habitat site, I have enjoyed a great lunch!

As I reflect on the day, I am extremely thankful for organizations like Habitat for Humanity and for individuals like Roger Henry. They are expressions of hope and joy and make me smile. In a world that often seems dark and foreboding, they shine with the light of Christ.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matt. 5:16

What people or organizations give you hope in today’s world?

Lord Jesus, may we together shine with your light of hope.

Deep Gladness and Deep Hunger

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The Wonderous Joy of Graduation

Yesterday Resurrection Lutheran honored our high school seniors who will soon be graduates. There are seventeen seniors in our congregation who now embark on a new section of their life journey. For many of them the journey includes further education or training before embracing a vocation or career. Rarely will that choice be a life-long decision in which they work at one setting all their lives.

I have posted before on Martin Luther’s perspective on God’s role in our vocation or calling. Yesterday with the seniors I quoted from author Frederick Buechner,

Vocation comes from the Latin vocare, “to call” and means the work a person is called to by God. There are all different kinds of voices calling you to different kinds of work, and the problem is to find out which is the voice of God rather than of society, say, or the superego, or self-interest.

By and large a good rule for finding out is this: The kind of work God usually calls you to is the kind of work (a) that you need to do and (b) that the world needs to have done. If you really get a kick out of your work, you’ve presumably met requirement (a), but if your work is writing cigarette ads, the chances are you’ve missed requirement (b). On the other hand if your work is being a doctor in a leper colony, you have probably met requirement (b), but if most of the time you are bored and depressed by it, the chances are you have not only bypassed (a), but probably aren’t helping your patients much either.

Neither the hair shirt nor the soft berth will do. The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. (F. Buechner, Beyond Words, p. 404-405)

Buechner’s words ring true for me. I have discovered great joy as I grow into my calling as pastor of Resurrection. I see it in my family as my daughter prepares again to be a pastry chef for the summer and as my son works to start a new business. Each of us is doing something we love and in a setting that will benefit others.

How have you heard God’s calling in your life?

Lord Jesus, show me how I can best love my neighbor through my vocation.

New Website for Resurrection

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Trust Live Serve

After six months of thought, discussion, prayer, work and waiting, Resurrection Lutheran Church has a new look for its website.  I am so thankful for all the creative work Sue Guck, Matthew Mayer, Susan Asplund, Sarah Storvick, and Betsy Hickey put into this project.  They not only worked hard rewriting and reformatting information, but they had to tolerate my occasional rants and false starts.  They are a great team and I am so thankful for each of them.

The website has some new features: calendar, map and streaming audio.  In the coming weeks we expect to add other features such an on-line registration, store and video.  It remains a work in progress and your feedback is welcomed.  Our primary goal is to introduce visitors to Resurrection and then to serve people within our community.

The new look is part of the process of communicating our congregation’s mission and vision.  Like many congregations, Resurrection is seeking how to best utilize the many tools the internet now provides: web, e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.  This blog is also part of the overall process.  No one tool is sufficient by itself.  Together they have the potential to reinforce our congregation’s mission: to call all people to a vibrant life of faith in Christ.

The internet is a powerful set of tools for our mission.  Yet there is an even better tool available. I am convinced that the best way to invite people to join our mission is face-to-face invitation.  A warm personal invitation to a neighbor or co-worker has the power of the Holy Spirit with it.   People are more likely to trust your personal words of invitation than all the e-mail, blogs or tweets that I or anyone can send.  You are God’s missionary in your community.

Jesus said,  “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8

The last time I checked south Washington county is not beyond the ends of the earth.

How do you bear witness to Jesus in a creative or caring way?

Lord Jesus, show me a way to bear witness to you today.

Mother’s Day

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Sylvelin Keller with her brother Jerry

Tomorrow will be only the second time in the last thirty years that I will actually be with my mom on Mother’s Day.  Last July she moved back to Minnesota after living in Washington state for over fifty years.  Her dementia had progressed to the point where she could not live alone in her house in Bremerton.   She now lives in a memory care unit in Woodbury, near Resurrection Lutheran.

It is easy for me to focus on the losses her dementia present.  Every time I take her out of her apartment for even a few hours, she becomes anxious, wondering when she will go back to her house in Bremerton.  She will frequently comment that she is so confused, unable to remember the lunch she ate fifteen minutes ago. “I am a hopeless case.”

But joy still breaks through. She smiles whenever she sees a photography of her grandchildren, especially her newest (and only) great-grandchild. She proudly exclaims, “You know what his name is?  Troy VINCENT!”  (Vincent was the name of my father, who died in 1995.)   She also remembers that I am at a new church, Resurrection Lutheran, and that my son’s fiancé is named Maggie.   Deeper emotions seem to make for deeper, more lasting memories.

Her dementia has cause some moments of humor. I had to take her out to sign some papers a month ago.  At the lawyer’s office, she had to sign and date several documents.  Each time she dated the document, April 7, she turned to me and with a big smile said, “That’s your birthday, isn’t it?  Happy Birthday!”   She must have dated six document that morning and each time she wished me Happy Birthday, as if it were the first time. The lawyer got rather tired of it, but I beamed each time she said it.  I flashed back to all the special birthday cakes and parties she gave me as a child.

I don’t know how many birthdays or Mother’s Days I will share with my mom.  Each will be a gift from God.  May your Mother’s Day be filled with joy, hope and loving memories.

Hear, my child, your father’s instruction, and do not reject your mother’s teaching. Proverbs 1:8

To Run or To Clean

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This morning I had a decision to make.  One choice was to attend the Cemstone Run for Others, a 5K or 10K road race at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church, my old congregation.  I co-directed the race for over ten years and the lead pastor, John Hogenson, invited me to attend.  My other choice was to help with the spring cleaning projects at Resurrection Lutheran, my new call.

For various reasons, I decided to help with clean up at Resurrection.   For one thing, the clean up would all be in doors, and this morning’s weather was raw with a cold wind and snow.  I always enjoyed running in the Run for Others, but this year I am still in recovery mode and would not have been able to run.  I certainly would have enjoyed seeing the many colleagues, congregants and community members at the race in spite of the weather.  They are many deep relationships there for me.

Everyone can help at Resurrection

Still I enjoyed my morning at Resurrection.   Allison and Owen are two young kids who came with their dad, Ian, to help out.  They vacuumed up the small metal shavings on the tables that Ian and I repaired.  They also helped sharpen pencils and clean some of the carpet.  At a recent new member class Allison and Owen helped me carry out some of the garbage and then we had a wonderful adventure exploring the nooks and crannies of their new church.  Their participation along with the twenty adults who came made this a memorable morning for me.  For me, a new fellowship of caring relationships is forming.

When a pastor moves to a new congregation, it can be tough to bring closure to the many relationships at the old congregation.   I realize that has been a challenge for me. Yet the greatest joy comes in being open to the new relationships at Resurrection.   This is where God has called me and where I plan to give my emotional and spiritual energy for many years to come. 

Someday I may run again in the Cemstone Run for Others.   But it wouldn’t be the day when Allison, Owen, Ian and I are doing our spring cleaning.

Making Space for Service

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Jim, Carol Ann and the Bookcase

Yesterday was Faith in Action day at Resurrection .  More than 210 people participated in various service projects.   The text for worship was from John 13, Jesus washing the feet of his disciples and instructing his followers to be servant leaders.  I was impressed with how the Faith in Action Team had organized our service into teams.  Along with others, Jim Popkens and I were sent to a subsidized senior-housing complex to assist with any spring clean-up chores. 

We knocked on the door of our first assigned apartment and no one answered.  At our second apartment, we were greeted by a friendly, small woman whose apartment was immaculate.   She needed help with only one thing: to clean behind her refrigerator.   Jim and I did find some dirt, but we were finished in less than five minutes.  We had a brief chat with the resident and then moved on to our final apartment.   I was thinking, “We may be done in less than twenty minutes.”  

My thoughts quickly changed once we entered Carol Ann’s apartment.  It was overflowing with craft projects, magazines and books.  She had a bookshelf from Target that needed assembly to help with her storage.  Fortunately, Jim had some experience with these project.  We cleared some space in her small living room and pulled out all the wooden pieces, connectors, brads, screws and instructions out.  It was warm in her apartment, so she offered us a glass of water.  Under Jim’s guidance, the bookcase slowly  took shape. Once, as we tried to fit the lower and upper halves together, nothing seemed to work.  Nothing that is until Jim discovered how the special internal latches had to be turned just so.  I think I would still be there if I had been doing the project alone.  

As we left Carol Ann’s apartment, she asked us about why we did this.  We briefly explained that it was part of our church mission to serve, to give back to the community.  She thanked us and we started our journey home.  Our service was nothing profound, yet I reflected my own love of books and how vital a bookshelf can be.   Service can often be simple: washing feet, cleaning behind refrigerators or assembling a bookcase.    Yet simple acts are at the heart of Christian love.

How has your faith been active of late?

Tsunami of Grace

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How will you respond?

Like so many, I have been overwhelmed by the pictures, video and stories coming out of Japan.   Last week’s earthquake and tsunami were horrific.  Prayers for mercy, compassion and strength are lifted up to God on behalf of the survivors and victims.  Two thoughts rise in my heart and mind.

First, I realize that some people may be asking, “Why God allow this tragedy to happen?  Could He not stop it? Or is it some kind of punishment from God?”  Jesus faced such a question once when asked about eighteen people who were killed when a tower fell on them.  “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Luke 13:5.   The people of Japan are no worse sinners than you or I.  We are not entitled to prosperity and safety.  Each day of life is a gift from God that easily be lost.

Part of our repentance, transformation, is to recognized the potential folly of our human enterprise.  I took basic geology in college.  The professor stressed two points for all the non-geology majors: don’t build your home near a geological fault-line nor on a flood plain.  Japan is located near a major fault: earthquakes and tsunamis have and will happen there.   Even with the best technological structures, humanity continues to build where such destruction can/will happen.  We can not blame God for our folly.

But a second thought rises as well.   This is again our opportunity to love our neighbor and to show grace and compassion.   We each can participate in some way in the restoration of Japan and other devastated lands.  I am a citizen of a nation that is already sending support; I can inform my elected representatives that I support such aide.  I am also a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and I have given financial support to its Disaster Response fund. We are called now to act with the compassion of Jesus so that a tsunami of grace can touch Japan.

There are many agency by which you can help the victims of Japan.  If you want to use the ELCA disaster relief fund or learn more about it, go to https://community.elca.org/NetCommunity/SSLPage.aspx?pid=631) 

How has the earthquake shaken your life?

Presidents and Leaders

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G.W. - Greatest President?

As an American history major in college, I remember a discussion in which we debated who was the greatest president in our history.  Several classmates argued for Abraham Lincoln because he was able to hold the union together during the Civil War.  Others thought Franklin Roosevelt was the greatest because of his leadership during the Great Depression and World War II.  You may want to add a name or two yourself.  I thought then and continue to think that our greatest president was our first, George Washington, for one simple reason.  After two terms he stepped down.

Watching the current turmoil in North Africa as large crowds protest their countries’ long-time leaders, I am thankful that our nation has a rich history of orderly presidential transitions.  George Washington started that tradition when he potentially could have been president for life.  His advisors were advocates for a longer tenure. They feared that the country would break apart without Washington.  But Washington wanted to step down and go back to Mount Vernon.  After eight years he was ready to hand leadership to someone else.

One danger for any leader is to think that your leadership is indispensable for the organization.   That is true in businesses, congregations, colleges and non-profits.  “The organization NEEDS me,” can become an egotistical justification for remaining in a leadership position long past one’s effectiveness.   George Washington showed our nation how one can gracefully step down from high office.  He modeled  a key characteristic of what Jesus described as servant leadership:

 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest.  But (Jesus) said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors.  But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves.” Luke 22: 24-26

What characteristics in your opinion makes a president or leader great?

Light Work

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Shoemaker as Light to the World

Jesus declared, “You are the light of the world. . .  Let your light shine before others so that they can see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14). I am convinced that our light is to shine in our workplaces, however challenging that might be.  The challenge can come in various ways as we seek to love our neighbor through our work.

I have adapted a story (attributed to Martin Luther?) that helps illustrate the idea that our vocation (calling) is to love our neighbor and by doing that we glorify God.  A cobbler was noted for making very good shoes and he had many customers who valued his craftsmanship.  One day the cobbler had a spiritual awakening and decided he needed to make a more overt witness to Jesus.   He determined that he would place a cross on every pair of shoes as a testimony to God.   At first his customers had no strong reaction, they liked his shoes and the cross was okay.  However the cobbler began to spend more and more time on the crosses and less and less time on the shoes themselves.  The quality of the shoes began to suffer and his customers were disappointed   They first came because they needed good shoes; now they had to go elsewhere to find the shoes they needed.

The cobbler loved his neighbor when he made good shoes for them.  When he neglected that calling, his neighbor and his business suffered.  The cobbler had a good intention when he wanted to bear witness to Jesus by attaching crosses to the shoe.   To bear evangelical witness to Jesus is part of our calling as Jesus’ disciples.  We can pray for opportunities to bear witness to Jesus at work.  There are  times and ways to speak to our faith in Jesus, even at our work place.  Yet the very quality of the work we do can be a light to the world.     

We all have gifts and talents that are needed in the world.  By doing that work well we glorify God in heaven.  We make “Light Work.”

How does God’s light shine at your workplace?

God at Work

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God at Work

Today I read Pastor Tim Keller’s comments about serving God in the work place.  Tim is no relative of mine, but I like the way he thinks, especially being a Presbyterian quoting Martin Luther.  You can check his remarks yourself at http://bit.ly/i77xMD.  A key concept for Keller is Luther’s “Priesthood of All Believers.”  Luther was commenting on I Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood.”

One does not need to be in the church to serve God.  As a pastor I like it when people volunteer and serve in our congregation.  I often give them special recognition and encouragement.  But the congregation is only one place where a Christian can serve God.  God’s work is not limited to congregations, important as they are.  

I serve God as I love my neighbor, which I can do in various ways.  I love to quote Dr. Marc Kolden, “God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does!”  And we love our neighbor through our daily work as a spouse, parent, worker, community leader and citizen.  The home, the office, and the community are as vital to God as the congregation.

For example, if one owns a small manufacturing company that makes machine parts for cars, the owner loves his neighbor in at least two key ways.  The company is helping provide necessary transportation (car parts) as well as providing employment to the workers.  God would want the owner to be fair and equitable with the employees and with the customers.   In this way God is working through the owner.  God does this with farmers, salespersons, artists, nursing aides, and even politicians.  As Luther wrote, these are the “masks God wears” to accomplish God’s task on earth. 

For sure, we live in sinful, broken world, in which people take advantage of each other.  As sinful human being we can turn work into a false god that consumes our lives.  We can make monetary profit the god that rules our lives.    We need God’s grace mediated through Jesus Christ to call us back to the vibrant life.  And the church can be a community that helps us stay faithful to God’s call at work.

How have you loved your neighbor this past week?