Rock of Ages

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Friend and parishioner, Glenn Jorenby, has been an avid photographer most of his life.  His recent picture of boulders in the BWCA caught my eye as I enjoyed his new website, travelinglightimages.  I have posted on rocks before, but they are such a rich image that I had to return.

Rocks get a bad rap. We often describe a difficult transition as a “rocky road” and an impossible task or person as an “immovable rock.” Yet for the psalmist, the rock became a powerful symbol of God’s strength and faithfulness.

God alone is my rock and my salvation.  (Psalm 62:2)

The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. (Psalm 18:2)

During the exodus from Egypt when the Israelites complained about thirst, God commanded Moses to strike a rock and water flowed out (Numbers 20:8).  In the book of Acts, Peter (the ROCK) preached, “Jesus is  “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.'” (Acts 4:11).   Rocks and stones are symbols of God’s trustworthiness.

As a kid, I was fascinated by rocks. The ocean beach at Port Angeles, my childhood home, was lined with rocks of all sizes. I had a habit of picking out a special stone and carrying it home as a reminder of my trip to the beach. Now when I back pack in the mountains, I often pick out a stone by which to remember the trip.  My rock collection continues to grow, as does my trust in God’s strength and mercy.

What image of God gives you strength and hope?

Jesus, be the rock of strength in my life. Amen.

One Year Reflection

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Marmot Lake in Washington Cascade Mountains

One year ago today I started this blog. I wanted a platform by which to communicate some of my passion to trust, live and serve as a follower of Jesus Christ. As a newly called pastor at Resurrection Lutheran Church, I wanted a way to communicate with the congregation and beyond. In my first blog, I wrote about having three foci: the physical, mental, and spiritual components of faith. I also thought that I would be posting three times per week.

It turns out that I have posted an average of 4.5 times per week and my favorite topic has been reflections on scriptures. I like to think this blog as a supplement to my sermons on Sunday, helping prepare people for Sunday worship or giving additional insight afterward (“nuggets” that I could not work into my Sunday sermon).

Also I have done a variety of life posts. One of my most “visited” posts was last April when I wrote about my son’s engagement. I have reflected several times regarding my journey with my aging mother. And whenever I can write about the beauty of wilderness I rejoice.

I have not written as much about running as I first thought, probably because I have been struggling with a number of chronic running injuries. As those seem to be clearing up, I may return to that topic on occasion. Running often clears the mind for writing.

I still think this a valuable tool for communicating with the great people of Resurrection and beyond. Though I often post some short comments on Facebook or Twitter, the longer format of a blog seems to work well for me.  If you have any comments/topics/critique, please leave a comment or send an email. Like most bloggers, I appreciate comments.

(BTW, my e-mail is back at resurrection-woodbury.org)

Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens the wits (and the words) of another. Proverbs 27:17.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the communion of saints.

Done Enough?

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Yesterday our e-mail and website went down. Our domain name, resurrection-woodbury.org, was dropped as our congregation transitions to a new webhosting site. I am so thankful for people like our office administrator, Sue Guck, and our web volunteer, Matthew Mayer, who immediately saw the problem and are now working hard to correct it.  We should be back up by tomorrow. Technology is a great tool, but it has its glitches.

Though frustrated by this event, it caused me to reflect on my overreliance on such technology tools and the constant “buzz” it produces. I have this feeling that I NEED to be connected. Such feelings can become unhealthy. Sort of like overtraining in running, or becoming a workaholic, it is too much of one thing. God gave us work, exercise and community as gifts, but they are not to become “gods.”

The Sabbath is also a gift from God. Wayne Muller has written about sabbath rest for the Lutheran magazine. He asks the question, “When have we done enough?” Since many of us think we cannot rest until we have finished everything, we never rest.

I remember being on a retreat with a large number of pastors and doing a devotion on resting in God. The one response that stood out was a pastor who said he could never rest, since there is still one more person to visit, one more couple to counsel, one more family to help. God “expected” him to bring care to the entire congregation. I wondered silently, “are you trying to be God, rather than God’s agent?”

So many of us just keep plowing along. Sabbath is the promise of God that we have done enough, worked enough, served enough. It is the promise that we can rest in God’s promise that we are God’s children in spite of our inadequacies and unfinished business. It is a gift of grace that needs to be practiced weekly, whether we are finished or not.

Jesus said, “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

Lord Jesus, let me rest in you today.

Zeal Gone Too Far?

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Temple of Baal in Shamin Syria

Having preached Sunday on King Josiah’s renewal of God’s covenant in 2 Kings 22, I am fascinated with his reforms afterwards. According to the book of 2 Kings, Josiah was one of the few kings who followed in the path of God. Despite being raised in a palace where the fertility idols of Asherah and Baal were preferred, Josiah placed his trust in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David. And when he heard the Book of the Law for the first time, he became zealous to reform the religion of Jerusalem and surrounding Judah.

First he cleaned out the temple of Solomon, the house of the Lord, removing all the foreign idols (2 Kings 23:4). He burned them outside of Jerusalem and scattered their ashes on public graves, which desecrated these ancient cultic objects. He marched out into the countryside to destroy the “high places” or non-Temple worship sites. He also expelled any foreign priests.

Such “zealous” action may sound excessive to our tolerant ears. Living in our pluralistic culture, we may read such harsh actions as bigotry and intolerance. Yet Josiah and the people of Judah had been given a very specific mission from God: to trust in the Lord God alone. Without this radical obedience their mission could easily be diluted into cultural irrelevance by the neighboring nations. No one would be following God’s covenant. Still, I doubt that we are called to burn or destroy the temples of other religions today. Such a brutal attack would not be honoring Jesus command to love our neighbor (Matt 22:39).

There is a second part to Josiah’s reforms that speaks more directly to our day and culture. It was a revitalization of worship towards the Lord God. He reintroduced the celebration of Passover in Jerusalem, a celebration of God’s victory in releasing the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. (2 Kings 23:21-23). The same holds true today. As Christians we need to more completely understand and celebrate our heritage as God’s people. The narrative lectionary has helped our congregation rediscover some of the Vibrant Life of Faith that can be found in the Old Testament. We don’t need to burn “high places,” but we can certainly burn with the light of faith in God. Our light can beckon our neighbor to a Vibrant Life of Faith in Christ.

How do you bear witness to faith in God in our pluralistic society?

Lord Jesus, may I be faithful as you are faithful.

Stir-up Sunday

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This week is filled with colorful adjectives: Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.   Somehow Sunday was skipped.  Perhaps we could name it Stir-up Sunday (from Bishop Larry Wohlrabe).  He is remembering the prayer for the first Sunday in Advent:

Stir up your power, O Lord, and come. Protect us by your strength and save us from the threatening danger of our sins, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  (Lutheran Book of Worship, p.13)

The prayer is based on Psalm 80:1 -2.

Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead  Joseph like a flock!  Stir up your might and come to save us.

I certainly could use some of that stir-up power.

A Thanksgiving Story

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Thanksgiving seems like an odd holiday to me. After all shouldn’t we be thankful every day? Why give this virtue a special holiday? We don’t set aside a holiday for patience, joy, peace, kindness or hope. (We might consider Valentine’s Day as the special “love” day, but that is a blog unto itself). Still a thanksgiving story seems appropriate.

In the 1930s, George Strester remembers his father who tried farming in Nebraska in 1873. Thanksgiving was approaching and the family had a tough harvest due to the dry and dusty summer. They wanted to give thanks, but the pantry was nearly bare, so George’s father decided to butcher the cow. It had become nice and fat from eating a variety of vegetables, including some rotten onions, but had gone dry and was not giving any milk.

The children all shed a few tears when Old Broach the cow was killed, for she was a family pet, but the family needed to have something to eat. The cow was butchered the day before Thanksgiving and the next day George’s mother planned a real Thanksgiving feast. — a large roast of meat with potatoes and carrots lay around it. Something the family had not had for years.

However a peculiar odor filled the house as the meal was cooking. Mother said it might have been something on the stove, which now was causing the terrible odor. The table was set and the roast was brought out and how delicious it looked. George’s father first gave a prayer of deep thanks for the many blessing that the family had enjoyed and then he carved the roast, placing a liberal helping of meat, carrots and spuds on each plate. George’s mother took a bite and looked at her husband; he took a taste and looked at the kids.

George took a mouthful and his stomach heaved, – horror of horrors, the taste of rotten onions had permeated every piece of beef. Their cow had not simply fattened up on vegetables, but on rotten onions. Their entire dinner was spoiled and all they had to eat were johnnycakes with nothing to put on them.

Still George observed that though his father was greatly tempted, he did not say any cuss words, but decided on that day, to quit farming and reaffirm his vocation as a Methodist minister.

The Strester family took a moment that could be called a family disaster and turned it into a memory of laughter and joy. It was also turning point in their lives. Their father rediscovered his calling and the family was able to adapt to the changes.

God takes our crisis points, small or large, and turns them into his moments of joy and thanksgiving.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your gifts of grace, love and joy.  Create within me a thankful everyday.

Honoring Our Elders

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I am in the sandwich phase of life. Though my children need me less each day, my mother’s care continues to grow.   I recently wrote a post about her fall and hip surgery: 86 and Laughing.  Her recovery continues and hopefully she will return to her apartment soon.

I sometimes wish my mother had made some long-range decisions before her dementia restricted her choices. She had always wanted to die at home in her own bed, but living alone became less and less an option as her dementia grew. My siblings are scattered from Atlanta to Kodiak, Alaska, and we knew we had to do something but no clear choice arose. We talked to Mom about moving, but she resisted any conversation on the topic. Her local neighbors and friends in Washington State kept telling us she should not be living alone. But anytime we suggested a home health care aide, she adamantly refused. Mom knew she was losing control but did not want some stranger to enter her home. Who can blame her?

My siblings and l wrestled with the fourth commandment: Honor your father and mother. What did honoring meaning in this situation? How do we love mom and make her final years happy, significant ones? There was no simple solution.

Finally in the summer of 2010, my sister  flew with mom to Minnesota for an extended visit. We had Mom visited a gerontologist, lawyer and financial planner. After three months in our home, my wife and I found a memory-care assisted-living apartment in Woodbury, near Resurrection Lutheran Church. With considerable reluctance my mom moved in and began the adjustment. We hung her family pictures on the wall, and made sure she had plenty of crossword puzzles to enjoy. Within a couple of weeks Stonecrest became her home.  Her recent fall and surgery may only be a temporary set-back.

I am still unsure how to honor my mom, other than to visit, pray and remind her that she is loved by all her children, grandchildren, friends relatives and God. Fortunately, she still honors me with a smile and a hug.  And I smile each time I am so honored.

Lord Jesus, thank you for the blessings of family.

Jesus and the Temple in John

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Christ Driving the Money Changers from the Temple by Michael Smithers

With my recent posts on Isaiah and the Temple in Jerusalem, I am reminded that Jesus had some harsh words about the Temple. Solomon’s temple had been destroyed in 587 BC by the Babylonians. The temple was rebuilt in 515 BC but it was not as grand as the previous temple. King Herod had started a major rebuilt of the temple prior to Jesus’ birth.

Early in John’s Gospel, Jesus had a confrontation with the Temple leaders. After driving the money changers from the courtyard with a whip, he was asked, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body.  (John 2:19-21)

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman by He Qi

Later in the gospel, Jesus had a conversation with a Samaritan woman regarding the proper place of worship. Samaritans worshipped on Mt. Gerizim while Jews claimed Mount Zion as the one true place to honor God. Jesus responded,

“Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:21-24)

Jesus redirected our understanding of worship away from rituals and places to the essence of worship, a transformed heart or spirit. When our spirit aligns with God’s Spirit worship becomes true and real.

Finally in John’s Gospel, after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, he appeared to the disciples in the locked upper room. Clearly this is not the Temple. But Jesus breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22) The Spirit of God no longer resided in a building of stone, but in gathered human community. You are God’s Temple now. The temple of God has become the portable tabernacle again. Anyone have a tent?

Lord Jesus, send your Holy Spirit into my life today! Transform me into one who worships you in spirit and in truth.

Climb the Highest Mountain

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Mount Everest

In the first chapter the prophet Isaiah attacked Temple worship in Jerusalem as a burden and abomination to God (see last post). Yet a chapter later Isaiah made a completely different declaration about temple worship.

In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountain and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his way. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

Isaiah is not saying that Mount Zion (where the temple sat) would suddenly become a volcano and literally become a new Mt. Everest for mountain climbers.  Rather, using metaphor, Isaiah declared that the Temple would become a magnate drawing all people into relationship with God and the esteem given to Mount Zion in Jerusalem would be sky-high. The temple would be a great blessing to all nations, just as Abraham had been promised in Genesis 12.

The shift from attack to blessing and promise may seem abrupt to our ears, but Isaiah believed the people’s hearts would be changed. No longer would they go through the empty motions of sacrifice and prayer, but rather their worship would be the avenue by which they renewed their covenant relationship with God. Worship would become real and heart-felt. Prayer would be honest and transforming.

Perhaps too often we approach worship as a kind of therapy session to fix our life problems. We want to consult God like Google: to type in our worries and have him list out possible solutions. Thomas Kelly proposed a deeper, more intensive view of worship similar to Isaiah.

Swiss Valley

It begins first of all in a mass revision of our total reaction to the world. Worshipping in the light we become new creatures, making wholly new and astonishing responses to the entire outer setting of life. These responses are not reasoned out. They are, in large measure, spontaneous reactions of felt incompatibility between the world’s judgment of value and the Supreme Value we adore deep in the Center. (A Testament of Devotion, p. 47)

Lord Jesus, you are the true temple which draws all people to yourself.

Dead Worship or Vibrant Life?

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Worship created a controversy for the prophets of the Old Testament. The Lord God had instituted temple worship during the reign of King Solomon. The temple in Jerusalem had various rituals like animal sacrifices and pray incense which had roots from the time of Moses and the Exodus. The Israelites were expected to worship God in the temple on a regular basis and many did.

However the prophets spotted a major problem in worship. It had become empty rituals that did not transform the lives of the worshippers. The prophet Isaiah spoke against such abuses,

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts.
Trample my courts no more; bringing offerings is futile;
your appointed festivals my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood. (Isaiah 1:11-15 abridged)

Worship had not transformed God’s people into agents of God’s peace and healing for the world. The prophet’s words can be a critique of us today. Has our worship service turned us into servants of God? Do we expect to encounter the living God at worship and be changed?

I have been using Thomas Kelly’s book, A Testament of Devotion, in my personal devotions. He speaks to the transforming power of prayer, but sees it as not our work, but God’s great work within us.

We may suppose these depths of prayer are our achievement. But this humanistic account misses the autonomy of the life of prayer. This inner life has a life of its own, invigorated not by us but by a divine Source. . . . Our prayers are mingled with a vaster Word, a Word that at one time was made flesh. We pray, and yet it not we who pray, but a Greater who prays in us. In a holy hush we bow in Eternity, and know the Divine Concern tenderly enwrapping us and all things within His persuading love. Here all human initiative has passed into acquiescence, and He works and prayer and seeks His own through us in exquisite, energizing life. (p. 45, abridged)

Now that is a description of the Vibrant Life of Faith in Christ.

Lord Jesus, turn my tired, routine prayers and worship into a joyous dance with your Spirit.