Bethlehem Lutheran Transformation Talk

August 2010--Pastor Erik

2010-08-01T22:11:00.000-07:00

What’s Next For Bethlehem?

All summer our congregation has been participating in a “Season of Listening” in which we have gathered together, shared a meal, and told stories about what’s important in our lives. If you’ve attended one or more of these events you know that they have been lots of fun, and we’ve gotten to know one another in new (and deeper) ways. It’s been amazing to hear the life stories of the other people in our congregation and see just how much we have in common as well as what we can learn from one another. Several people have remarked that they had no idea about the stories of people they had shared a pew with for years and it’s been a great way for all of us to get to know our newer members. One of our table leaders asked “Why don’t we have these sorts of conversations every week?!” I certainly hope we can.

Relationship building and story telling are really some of the key elements of this process, and a huge part of the reason we are doing this. But there is another reason that will come to the forefront in our August gatherings. As we come into late summer, we’ve got some really important work to do as a community. For the past four years, our leadership has been struggling to describe our congregations “purpose” and to form a concise statement of the particular role we play in God’s mission in our neighborhood and in the world. In studies of vibrant congregations, again and again “clarity of mission purpose” is a key factor in the strength and sustainability of the congregation and in ownership and participation by the members. If we are clear what it is we are up to, its easy for each and every one of us to find the particular part God is calling us to play in our common mission.

In previous years, something like “to be a place for Lutheran Christians to gather to hear the Word and receive the Sacraments” may have been enough of a purpose statement (and those things will certainly be part of our purpose). But the struggles Bethlehem has experienced in the last 20 years (both financial and participation struggles) and especially the last 5 years have shown that on its own a purpose such as this one isn’t able to inspire and motivate the members of our community to the point where we are sustainable, let alone to draw in new people to join us in this purpose. We are not alone in this. We’ve heard stories over the summer about other congregations you’ve been a part of that have struggled similarly--and other organizations (from the Grange to PTA to Elks and Eagles) that used to “just work” without that much effort, who have faced similar declines (and closures) in recent years.

It is out of the relationships we have built and the stories we have shared this summer that we will do the shared work of figuring out what our purpose is. The purpose-related questions before us are along these lines: “What is it that we value together?” “What sort of purpose for our congregation would we be excited to be a part of?” “What gifts has God given this collection of people, and how are we called to use them in mission?” We can all come up with ideas to “attract” new people, but the reality is if we don’t know why we are excited to be a part of this community of faith, why do we think other people would want to be a part it? But a clear purpose (in the form of a purpose statement we all know by heart) that motives us to act together is contagious. People will see how excited we are to be living out God’s call in this community that they will want to join us in our common work. And everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, has gifts that God needs. As I say again and again, God has given us everything we need to do what God is calling us to do. When we figure out just what that is, I expect the results to be extraordinary.

July 2010--Pastor Erik

2010-07-01T22:15:00.000-07:00

A Season of Listening

This week we completed our first of four “Season of Listening” gatherings. There were 40 people in attendance, plus a gaggle of kids. We shared a meal together, and gathered in groups of 6 at small tables. Joel Williamson, one of our soon-to-be newest members guided us through a process of story telling and story listening. This first session focused on “stories of self”and gave us a chance to get to know one another on a level deeper than we usually tend to. We shared stories about what things in our lives gave us meaning, times when we felt like we were part of something significant, and how churches and other organizations centered on community gathering have impacted our lives (and the lives of our parents and grandparents). And the stories flowed—powerful stories about what is most important to us and why. And it wasn't long before the stories started to connect to one another and we saw how our lives intersect with one another in ways we never imagined. We also began to realize the broad experiences that people in our group share—differences that allow us to learn from one other. And by the end, the general consensus was “Boy, was that fun!”

You may be wondering just what all this has to do with church, especially the conflicts we've been having lately over pews or the hard conversations we've been having about our financial situation and whether or not we'll be able to continue as a congregation. I know some people attended expecting to dive deep into these issues (or others) and this event wasn't quite what they thought it would be. And we will get into these issues, but first it's important for us to reconnect deeply as a community—to learn one another's stories and to appreciate one another. The season of listening is not just listening to opinions and complaints, but listening deeply to one another's lives and drawing strength from one another. Only then will we have the ability to face those things that seem to threaten to divide us. Because in the end, the church is not the structure, the building (or furniture), or even the worship—but it is a community of people, who share and care for one another, who know and participate in one another's stories, and who make new stories together. Through this Season of Listening we're seeking to reconnect, to get to know who we are as a community, and only through this will we be able to make the right sorts of decisions about where we are going, how we will worship together, and what sort of purpose God has in mind for us.

If you missed the first gathering, don't worry, there are three more: July 14, July 28, and August 11. All these events go from 6-7:30pm and include dinner and childcare. There is a shape to the four weeks and they build off of one another, so everyone is encouraged to attend all four sessions, but if you can only make it to some, please come. We'll be shifting into “stories of us” (who we are as a congregation and what our shared values are) and then into “stories of now” (who God is calling us to be). Then in late August or early September we'll have a big celebration to reflect together on what we've heard from this Season of Listening and what we want to do about it.

If you are interested in helping to plan and lead these events, a group is meeting on Sunday after each Wednesday event to reflect on what we heard and to help shape the future events. Talk to Pastor Erik, Dennis, or Leona if you'd like to participate in this (or just show up).

Pastor Erik--June 2010

2010-06-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

Worship Space Transformation 2010: What we’ve learned so far

The seasons of Lent and Easter have drawn to a close, and we find ourselves once again in the long “Season after Pentecost” also known as “Ordinary Time.” This spring has brought many changes to the physical layout of our worship space as we embodied the “wandering in the wilderness” with dramatic art, interactive worship, and changes to our seating. It’s been a time of experimentation and conversation, of challenge and pain, of joy and new beginnings. Our worship team has never worked harder or taken its task to proclaim the Gospel more seriously. And it’s been awfully fun. Along the way we’ve learned some things that I thought I’d share:

1. The consistent “sameness” and “reverence” of our sanctuary is an extremely important and emotional issue for many in our congregation. For some, to have any seating other than pews is “not Lutheran.” For others, the use of a table instead of the large altar means we’ve “removed the presence of God from the sanctuary.” Some remember friends and family members making the pews by hand, and see the use of chairs not only as a loss of these beloved items, but of a “going backwards” since getting pews was a big milestone for our community. Several people have made threats to leave or withhold giving if things aren’t put back exactly the way they were, and a few have already chosen to leave our community because we’d do such a thing even temporarily.

2. The “stuff” of our worship life is clearly very important, and to loose or change even seemingly minor things such as furniture arrangement can be cause for pain and grieving. As we’ve listened to the stories of those most upset, we’ve seen that these changes have uncovered some fear that our whole existence as a congregation might be slipping away. And this is not unfounded (see the financial info later in this newsletter).

3. At the same time, many in our congregation are experiencing a whole new dimension to worship and life in Christian community. We’ve heard comments like “I’ve never been to such a powerful worship experience” and “the art and interaction brought a whole new meaning to the Bible story that I’d never thought of before.” A first time visitor remarked “I sat down in the chairs, looked around, and thought ‘They’ve arranged it like this for a reason, and I can’t wait to figure out what it all means.’” Worship planning participation is at an all time high—and nearly everyone in the congregation has had a hand in some element of creating worship through participating in the art, to interactive stations in worship, to being part of the conversation during the sermon time. The team that led our ministry review in March (which included pastors from our area, our synod, and the ELCA Churchwide organization) called the worship they attended “creative, exciting and powerful. It included ways of speaking that would appeal to new people. The music was appealing, and the artistic talents were evident and beautiful.”

4. Some in our community are still struggling with the shared leadership and participatory decision making model we have adopted. Some expect the pastor or worship team leader to “make decisions” about how things ought to be (which everyone else is to follow) and others believe every decision should be taken to vote before the whole congregation. The “get involved” model and consensus based decisions are tough for some, and take more effort than some are interested in giving for the long haul. Some in our community struggle to feel heard when the worship team makes decisions that go against what they think ought to be done. But we’ve done our best to listen, to honor objections and dissenting opinions, and to take all comments seriously. We’ve sought to compromise and adjust where we can, without undermining the process of prayer, Bible study, and discernment that goes into making worship decisions. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to be part of the worship planning process and team. The team, not simply the leaders, are the ones who are making these decisions so if you’d like some influence, roll up your sleeves, show up to a meeting, and we’d love to have you help out.

5. Like any experiment, some things didn’t go as planned or weren’t as great as we thought they might be. The table in the center was a great focus (if you didn’t look at its spindly legs), but I ended up doing a little twirling dance during communion so my back wouldn’t be to some people the whole time. It was hard to figure out where to walk for communion—and we kept changing the traffic flow (and it didn’t help much!) The art that was so fun to add and build up during Lent, became kind of a cluttered jumble by the end of Easter. Too much stuff! The spring colors representing new life that graced our ceiling kind of gave off a more “circus tent” feeling than we’d imagined. And sitting in the circle, while designed to make us feel like one community together, actually felt segmented and like we were in separate quadrants. Six weeks of really deep reflective conversation in small groups during the sermon was probably too much—especially since for some in our community ANY reflective conversation in small groups is too much. And we also learned that while chairs may help things be more flexible, pews are actually a better sort of seating for many in our congregation (young and old—especially if you are short or have back problems).

6. We are beginning to find the balance of traditional and creative that works for our community. It’s also a balance of comforting and challenging, and of individual and community experience. Some in our community see worship and Christian life as purely about maintaining tradition or bringing comfort or being “for me”—so introducing creativity, challenge, and “for us/for others” is a bit of a stretch. Some are not interested in being stretched in this way, and have chosen to find other communities in which to worship. The question of how we proclaim the “old, old story” in ways that people (in 5 generations) can connect to isn’t an easy one, and it takes some experimenting to get it right. But we’re on our way.

Here's what to expect this summer (starting May 30^th):

· We'll be using our “Shorts” liturgy (short service, wear shorts) but upstairs this year. We think we've got enough AC to keep us comfortable upstairs.

· We will be facing parking lot side of our sanctuary as a way of expressing God's call to turn from ourselves and towards God's world. We'll be praying for our neighbors.

· The center row of seating will be pews, with chairs on the sides, all facing the same direction (towards the pulpit and communion table)

· Communion will be at the rail (kneeling if you desire) and the art area will have a calming (and uncluttered) Baptismal theme. The Baptismal font will be part of this, and the Harold Balazs cross will hang in its usual place.

· There will be a kids table off to the side so most of our kids can stay with us through the service (but we’ll still have a nursery attendant for the wiggly ones).

· We are not planning any extra interactive or conversation-based elements (though don't forget the whole liturgy is meant to be interactive!).

Join us this Summer for a “Season of Listening”

The Bethlehem Lutheran Transformation Team will be hosting a series of conversations about where we feel like God is calling our community. We will do this in two ways: with groups in members homes and one on one with individuals. We’re calling this a “Season of Listening” because we want to deeply listen to one another so we can hear the stories and values of everyone in our community. Through this process we’ll look for ways to connect those values in our life together, and encourage one another to truly live out what we value in the world. All so that we can better hear God’s call for our life and ministry together.

There will be four gatherings in homes throughout the summer, two in June and two in July. There will be several homes throughout town meeting on the same night and all the groups that night will be talking about the same topics—but each week’s gathering will be different. You will receive an invitation to the first gathering (which will be near where you live) and we hope that everyone will attend all of them, but at least one per month. In August we will have an event that brings together all that we have heard—and hopefully by then we will have a clearer sense of who we are, what we have, and what significant things God is calling us to do.

Mark your calendars for: 7:00-8:30pm on June 16th & 30^th, and July 14th &28^th. More info will be coming soon.

Talk to Pastor Erik or any member of the Transformation Team if you have any questions.

Some Financial Stewardship Information to Ponder and Pray About

Comparing BLC Jan-March 2009 to Jan-March 2010

32 families decreased giving (22 families by more than 50%)

15 families increased giving

6 families gave in Jan/Feb but gave $0 in March/April

2009: 56 giving families = $37,087

2010: 50 giving families = $30,588 (lost 12 added 6)

That is a difference of $6,529 or $1,632 per month.

That puts on track to have spent $13,225 of our endowment reserves (which are currently around $50,000) by end of the year. This is very close to what we predicted in the budget we passed in January. If we weren't sharing our building we would be on track to spend $33,025 of those funds.

We’ll have some decisions to make this summer about what God is calling us to do with these gifts—so keep your eyes open for discussion meetings. God shows the way!

Pastor Erik--May 2010

2010-05-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

“When are we going to put the pews back in rows and get back to the way things have always been?” This is a question I've heard from a few folks our congregation with increasing frequency in the past several weeks. And the answer is more complicated than it might seem. First, the organization of seating in worship is the responsibility of the Worship Team and so any decisions about pews and chairs happens in that team (you are welcome to join us). The second answer to that question is that we're probably not going to ever “Get back to the way things have always been” even if the Worship Team were to decide put the pews back in rows tomorrow. And here's why.

Just about a year ago, the Bethlehem Church Council took a hard look at our financial situation. Even though we'd had 49 new members in the previous two years and all manner of life and ministry of our congregation was on the upswing, our financial picture was not “A-OK” like we figured (or hoped) it would be. New members just did not equal financial security. So last spring we held a series of conversations with the whole congregation about what we might do about that. The reality was that since our grants from the ELCA were going down (as planned over 3 years) and our giving had not risen at the same rate, that our ministry as we had structured it was becoming unsustainable. In fact, if we didn't see some changes by Christmas of 2009, we were going to be in some real trouble.

And so we had conversation together about options, in terms of what God is calling us to do next—Do we keep on as we are, hoping something will happen? Do we find a way to cut back what we are doing so it doesn't take as many financial resources? Or do we all roll up our sleeves, get more involved (both in finances and hands-on participation), and open ourselves up to whatever God has in mind for us? Nobody said we should just keep on as we are, two or three people voted for the “cut back” option, but the rest of us (many enthusiastically) thought that God was calling us to roll up our sleeves and get Bethlehem to the next level so that our ministry could be sustainable. Almost immediately, God placed an amazing opportunity in front of us to share space and partner with Bethany Presbyterian and Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Churches, and our council whole-heartedly embraced this opportunity. This was a much needed boost to our budget, even if it was not really enough to make us sustainable (and is only guaranteed for two years).

Despite the strong and hopeful affirmation of God's call for new directions for our congregation and this exciting new partnership, in the weeks and months that followed it seemed as though many people in our congregation were actually living the first option (that nobody voted for)—let's just keep on as we have been and hope that something happens to keep us going. Giving and attendance dropped, we were having trouble filling volunteer slots that a few months before were full (ushering, reading, bringing cookies, etc), and many of our newer members drifted away (and a few were pushed away). And many seemed to sense a grumbling dissatisfaction lurking just below the surface. Our leadership struggled, and then grew frustrated with where we seemed to be—its as if people said “Lets go for it!” but really meant “You go ahead and go for it!” without wanting to get more involved. As we moved into fall, that Christmas 2009 “end point” seemed increasingly likely, and in fact without the income from Bethany and Emmanuel we wouldn't have had the financial resources to go on past then.

So our council leadership had some difficult discussions over the fall about whether Bethlehem was financially sustainable at all. We shared these concerns through our stewardship season, basing our budget on actual pledges and estimates from the congregation rather than on “what we need will come in somehow” as we have for many, many years. And in December we had some conversations with the whole congregation when the 2010 budget income numbers weren't matching the outgo numbers. And despite much conversation, our community wasn't able to come up with a solution. So then we began to ask: What is going to change in the next year or two (when we might loose our space sharing income) that will make us more sustainable?

Keeping on as we have been puts us on the clearest path—continuing the 20 year financial decline that we're currently in past the point where we can't afford a full time pastor and a building. We're on the verge of that right now, and have been for at least 5 years. As our three year grant ends, what will we do to make it through? It was clear to the council leadership that Bethlehem of January 2011 was going to look very different than Bethlehem of 2010—either because we've radically transformed, or because we've closed. The options we presented to the congregation at the annual meeting were: Do we spend the next 12 months of our life together closing down and giving thanks for over 50 years of ministry at Bethlehem? Or do we spend the year laying it all on the line and embracing some really radical change to see where God might take us?

At the annual meeting we unanimously passed resolutions about how we would go forward in which we committed “to become the 'leading edge' of what the ELCA church of 2046 might be” and “to experiment with what that future might be as part of our continuing ministry together, thus becoming an exciting example right here in the heart of our own Synod.” We also passed by a 2/3 majority authority to use our $50,000 long term reserves (aka “endowment”) over the next year to make that happen. It was clear that the will of Bethlehem was not to close down in 2010, but to “go for broke” and see what God has in mind for us.

“So”, you might ask, “what does all of this have to do with pews?” Part of what I (and others) believe the Lutheran church of the future will look like is one that takes tradition seriously, but also is willing to engage that tradition creatively for the proclaiming of the Gospel. I also believe that churches are not called to preserve the past, but to engage in the gifts that are currently present--and to use the gifts of everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, to make that a reality. As Kelly Fryer summarizes is “Be who you are, see what you have, do what matters.” As we've taken stock of who we are (a community leaning into the future) we recognized that one of the things we have is a higher than average collection of artists—painters, graphic designers, musicians, singers, visual artists, and all manner of people with gifts for creative worship. And we think that we're called to use those gifts for something that matters.

And over the past 5 years we've been trying to use these gifts without pushing too far past the sort of Lutheran worship that was common in the middle part of the 20^th century. But in doing so we haven't allowed our creative folk to use their full potential. When the Worship Team gathered with the freedom the congregation called us to in our commitment to “experiment with what the future might be” and what it might be to be the “leading edge,” we started talking about what traditional intergenerational Lutheran worship might look like in the future. Two people on our team had been to conference in which they explored the power of not just the words and music, but also the arrangement of the worship space, in speaking the “message.” (and I learned about this in seminary as well). Flexibility and congregational participation were key themes. And so we started thinking about moving some of the pews sideways for Lent and coming up with some creative interactive bits, and perhaps moving the pews into a circle for Easter when we would focus on interacting together in community. When we started experimenting with the pews, we found them to be too tippy when not attached to the floor and so we decided to use chairs for this experiment.

This is not as radical as it may sound or feel to us for whom it is unfamiliar. In 1979 the manual that went with the Lutheran Book of Worship (green hymnal) said this: “Worship space ought to be as flexible as one can make it. Pews are often a hindrance to the movement of a people, and they lock a congregation into a fixed pattern of seating and action. Newer churches often use wooden chairs instead, which can be moved into various arrangements as the several services of a congregation may direct.” (Manual on the Liturgy, pg 149). In fact, it says of the LBW hymnal itself: “That book is a step in the unending process of liturgical revision and reform as the church seeks continually to shape its worship in responsible historic and relevant ways, reflecting the best of contemporary scholarship about where the church has been, where it is now, and where it is to go in years to come.” (pg 6) Traditional Lutheran worship is not just one set thing, its always evolving and adapting to new times and places while keeping connected to where it has been. And as we move into the future we'll have to be even more intentional about doing this.

Here we are 30 years later still trying to live into the recommendations of the worship experts of the last generation. If we are going to be serious about being the “leading edge” of the Lutheran church we've got to be willing to experiment (and learn from our mistakes) if we are going to figure out what that looks like. “Getting back to the way things were” is just not in the future we discerned together that God has for us.

Does this mean we will never have pews again? No, not at all. During this experiment we realized that pews have some real benefits to chairs especially for those with back or neck problems, people who are shorter that 5 feet tall, those who need something solid to grip while standing, and anyone using crayons during worship (they fall through the cracks in the chairs). It turns out pews are ideal seating for the very young and our very old (and anyone who likes to cuddle during worship). But we wouldn't have learned that if we hadn't tried this out and heard from the people who had feedback about what they like and don't like about what we are doing. So our Worship Team conversation for what to do next will certainly include “How could we continue to have flexible seating, but incorporate pews for those who prefer or need them?” There are more creative answers out there than “put everything back” and we'll keep experimenting until we find one that works for our community. And, if we together discern through this process of prayer, Bible study, and reflection (and in light of our guiding principles and shared commitments) that the best way to proclaim the Gospel in this time and place is to put things back, and that God is calling us to do that, then we certainly will.

The questions at the first worship team meeting in April about worship this summer (which had 14 people in attendance—a new Bethlehem record!) were: “Is there a way to use more pews and still be flexible? Is there a way to find a middle ground and compromise? Can we find a solution that works for all 5 generations that are part of this congregation and doesn’t simply yield to the needs or preferences of one or the other?” I think the answer to these questions are “Yes, with the help of God” and as we continue to engage with one another, through ordinary people like us, God will show us the way to where he is calling us to go.

If you would like to be a part of these sorts of decisions, I encourage you to get active in our Worship Team. We spend time in prayer, read the Bible lessons for the upcoming Sundays, and seek together for the message God is calling us to proclaim. Then we figure out how to use the gifts we have to make that message live during worship so that our community together can experience it. It’s an awful lot of fun, and we can use as many people as we can get in this process. I also believe that the Lutheran church of the future will be a lot more participatory—no longer will pastor's and professionals call all the shots and the lay people like worker bees will simply follow orders. No, we Lutherans believe that all Christians are called and given gifts for ministry, and we live out those callings in community. So if you have opinions on the pews or on anything else that is going on in our congregation, get involved, pitch in, and be part of the conversation. We need everyone’s voice, and God needs everyone’s hands.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--March 2010

2010-03-01T13:05:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently recommended a book to me called “Community: The Structure of Belonging” and shared this quote as a summary of what the book was about:

“The future is created one room at a time, one gathering at a time. And we start with the room we are in.”

She shared this with me the same week we rearranged our “room” (the sanctuary) for the season of Lent and before our first gathering in that room. It struck me as I thought about the path that we recently embraced at our annual meeting where we committed to becoming the “leading edge of the Lutheran church” as it might be in the year 2046 (the date some have predicted as the end of the ELCA if current trends continue). What if what we are up to at Bethlehem is not just the rearranging of furniture? What if we are really creating the future of the Lutheran church—starting in our little room? Could God, through us, be bringing about something bigger than us?

There is a concept in theology called “prolepsis” that helps me think about how all this might work. It was developed largely by a theologian named Wolfhart Panneberg, whose writing I find nearly impossible to decipher, but was made clear by my teacher Ted Peters in his book “God: The World’s Future.” The basic argument goes something like this: most of us think of time in a “one way street” sort of way. God created the world (in the past) and it is a straight line from there—which eventually will end in one way or another. People argue about whether and how God might intervene in time, or what the end might look like, but the basic idea is that God created something that keeps on going. In this way of looking at the world, Jesus came to get us back on track when we’d gotten off of the generally right direction we had been on. In this sort of view of the world you build something (say, the church) and then try to keep it going as long as possible. If you build something right, and maintain it properly, it ought to keep on going forever.

Prolepsis looks at time a bit differently. In this way of looking at things, the first thing that God did was to create the future—the end or “fullness” of time. Rather than pushing us from the past, God is calling us from the future and pulling us towards his dream for us and the world. It’s not that the world is getting worse and worse until God finally pulls the plug (which is how many Christians see history) but rather, God is guiding us into the future he has in mind for us. In this way of looking at the world, Jesus is not a corrective in the flow of time to get us back on track, but really is a bit of the future fullness right in our midst (a foretaste of the feast to come). Jesus came to show us what God’s future looks like so that we could quit resisting it and allow ourselves to be drawn ever more closely to it. The church, in this way of understanding time, is meant to catch on to God’s future and begin to live it here and now—as we help each other live more fully into God’s reality.

I spend a great deal of time in prayer and thought about what the Lutheran church of 2046 might look like. I know that many of you plan to be frolicking with the angels by then, but I’ll turn 68 that year and I wonder about the church that will (or will not) be around for my children’s children. We live in a time where it looks like many Christian communities (including this one) could well die off once the 65+ age group is no more. Nearly 47% of Bethlehem’s membership falls into that category, and many of us are actually in the 75+ age bracket. And we are not alone. Churches—Lutheran and otherwise—across Spokane and across the country are dealing with similar demographics and have not found ways to really connect to the folks who are under 40. Ten years ago we were wondering how to connect to folks under 30, twenty years ago under 20. That means in ten years we’ll be wondering how to reach people under 50, and in twenty years under 60. If we keep on doing what we’ve been doing, it looks as though there won’t be a church for my grandchildren. In a linear way of looking at the world we’ve failed to keep the church going—do we want to be remembered as the generation that let the Christian faith die with us?

But I find great hope in a proleptic way of looking at the future. Perhaps the reason things haven’t been working out so well for us is that God is calling us to a whole new future as the church. Perhaps God has a dream for this congregation, for Lutherans, for the Christian faith that we haven’t even imagined. What if God was calling us to live out that future now—by allowing ourselves to be caught up in God’s dream for us and the world? And what if we could get a sense of what that future might look like and begin to live it out now? What would that mean for the way we worship? For the way we teach our children? For the way we live out the Gospel in the world? What sort of room might we be called to build in God’s future? What sort of gathering? What part do you play in God’s future-centered dream for our church? For the world? Could God, through us, be creating the future? What are you waiting for? Let’s live it out together now.

Pastor Erik-- February 2010

2010-02-01T20:02:00.000-08:00

At the annual meeting a few weeks ago, we heard a statistic about declining demographics in the ELCA nationally that identified the date 2046 as the day the ELCA “turns out the lights” unless major change and renewal take place. During that same meeting we adopted a resolution “that we at Bethlehem Lutheran Church commit to become the “leading edge” of what the ELCA church of 2046 might be should it survive, and we will experiment with what that future might be as part of our continuing ministry together, thus becoming an exciting example right here in the heart of our own Synod.”

One of the questions our worship team has been has been asking for quite a while is “What will Lutheran liturgical worship look like a generation from now?” Lutheran scholars and teachers of worship and liturgy teach that worship is more than simply repeating a particular ancient pattern, but all that we do and say (in worship particularly) is meant to proclaim Christ. Worship is meant not only for us to passively receive Good News for ourselves, but to engage a community of faith in our calling to proclaiming Christ in word and deed in the world. Our worship team believes that Lutheran liturgy in the future will emphasize creativity, flexibility, and interactivity—while staying connected to the liturgical patterns that have helped the people of God encounter Christ in worship for nearly 2000 years. As part of this new commitment to becoming the “leading edge” of the Lutheran church, we will be beginning to experiment with some new ways of proclaiming Christ in worship.

During the season of Lent (which begins with Ash Wednesday on Feburary 17) we will be on a wilderness journey in our worship gatherings. Like God’s people who left behind the difficult (yet reassuringly stable) life slavery in Egypt, we will be leaving behind some things as well. Our comfortable way of encountering God on Sunday mornings will be disrupted a bit symbolized by the moving of furniture—the altar, the pulpit, the font, the pews—but we will center ourselves around the presence of God at the heart of our lives even as we journey into the unknown. In their wilderness wanderings, God’s people were reminded that God journeys with them, and in the wilderness God brings us together to support one another. During Lent we will encounter God in different ways, through movement, through conversation, through the worship space itself. And yet, at the core will be the ancient pattern of the liturgy, and some “touchstones” that remind us that we are not cut off from God’s action with us and with God’s people in the past. Here’s some of what you can expect:

Our worship gatherings in Lent will continue to follow the basic four part pattern of ancient liturgy: Gathering, Word, Meal, Sending. Within each section will be something to ground us, to keep us centered, to bear the wisdom of tradition into our lives today. In the Gathering we will gather as Christians have for nearly 2000 years “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” and we will sing a hymn from our list of “Old Favorites” to remind us that we carry with us the faith that has brought us this far on our journey. During the Word we will hear the ancient texts of the Scripture proclaimed and we will confess our faith as Christians have for nearly 2000 years with the Apostles Creed. During the Meal as Christians have done for nearly 2000 years we will proclaim Christ in, with, and under the bread and the wine with the words of institution Jesus spoke at the last supper (“In the night in which he was betrayed…”) and will pray together the prayer he taught his disciples, which we call the Lord’s Prayer. And during the sending we will receive the blessing that God’s people have received since the wanderings in the dessert (“The Lord bless you and keep you…”) and will be sent forth as Christians have for nearly 2000 years, to embody the Good News of Jesus in the world.

In and among this framework we will be experimenting with some different and creative ways to embody and proclaim the message God has for us through these 5 weeks. The first several sections of pews will be removed and the altar table brought into the middle of the sanctuary as a symbol of the disruption and discomfort that comes as we may a new journey into the unknown of the wilderness. And yet, on this table now at the center of our gathering, the Bible, the baptismal font, and the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper will remind us of God’s presence in the midst of our wanderings. Around the altar table we will gather in chairs facing one another, to remind us that we are not on this journey alone. During the Gathering section we will speak together about the journey we are on through a responsive litany. During the Word we will encounter God through our neighbor as we interact in various ways with one another. During the Meal we will participate in the proclamation in various ways with symbolic actions and movements. During the Sending we will be sent forth in a number of creative ways with the charge to not let the encounter with God end as we leave our gathering place, but to carry it with us into the rest of the world and into the rest of our lives.

This season of Lent will be a time of stretching as we lean into the future God has in store for us. It will challenge us, disrupt us, and perhaps disturb us. But we will again and again be reminded that God has promised to journey with us even into the most frightening of wilderness experiences. Like the ancient people wandering in the desert dreaming of the Promised Land, we will continue to confess “God shows the way!”

Because we know this journey will be a challenging one for many of us, we will be also starting a monthly afternoon service called “Rock of Ages,” that will follow the form of Lutheran liturgy this community has been more used to. We will sing only our “Old Favorite” hymns, won’t be using the more creative and interactive elements, and will commune with wafers and individual cups. The first of these services will be February 28^th at 1pm.

2009 Annual Pastors report

2010-01-01T20:11:00.000-08:00

2009 has been a momentous year for the Community of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. We are in the third year of a process of Transformation supported by our Synod and the Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission branch of the ELCA. Our year began with some dramatic property changes: the removing of the two large trees that stood in front of our building, which we both mourned and celebrated. This was part of living into the purpose statement we developed for our property: “To make clear that everyone is welcome and help everyone encounter God in this place.” With renewed openness and vision, we saw our property continue to transform over the year: a new sign, plans for landscaping redesign, our beautiful statue of Jesus teaching children done by Spokane Artist Ken Spiering, and a whole host of changes to the inside of our building. Whatever our neighbors may know or not know about us, it’s clear that things are changing at Bethlehem Lutheran.

In the spring we started to face the reality of our budget challenges. Though in the previous two years we’d received 49 new members and with it a ton of new energy for mission and ministry, our financial situation had not been keeping pace with that growth. Our leadership realized that our path was not sustainable, and that something major needed to change by Christmas of this year if we were going to “keep on keeping on” with the way we have been doing ministry. What that might be, none of us were sure, but in our conversations as a congregation we claimed our guiding principle “God shows the Way” and said we were ready for whatever God had in store for us.

And God did show the way, that very same week, when we were approached by Bethany Presbyterian about the possibility of sharing space with them for two years while they figured out where God was calling them to re-root after having to leave their building which is in the path of the North South Freeway plan. And the “negotiations” over the summer seemed blessed by God as well—and it seemed like a partnership that was meant to be. This fall we began the adjustments to our new partnership, which came to include Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Church as well, because as long time renters at Bethany, they too were homeless. We switched our worship time to 9am, gave over some space to be used for the offices of the other churches, and began to adjust to an increasingly active building (which we are also using to host many of the AA groups from Bethany as well.) We celebrated with a joint Reformation Day service, so large (over 275 people in attendance) that we held it in a tent on the lawn—something that wouldn’t have been possible before as the altar was placed right on the spot one of the trees had once been.

And yet, despite the newfound blessings and the energy of our partnerships and new ministries, our congregational life seems to be more and more difficult to maintain. The influx of money from our new partners is an amazing blessing, but still not what we need to pay for our ministry as we have come to structure it. We end this year with a budget forecast more in trouble than three years ago when we began this transformational journey. Our grant funding from our ministry partners is ending, and the economy has not helped us out at all. We’ve been trying to “do more with less” (at least since 1990, when our income was nearly identical to today) and haven’t found a way to be sustainable as we are. In addition to our financial concerns, volunteerism is down, hope seems to be fading, and our fear increasing. Many of us have begun to seriously wonder, will Bethlehem Lutheran still be around a year from now?

I have a renewed sense of hope and vision that God is up to something among us. And I believe that if we embrace it, it will be a blessing not just to us, but to so many--to other Lutherans, to other Christians, to people who are outside of churches, to God's world. The question before us is: Are we ready to boldly go where God is calling us? This is a question we each need to ask ourselves and that our community as a whole needs to be clear on. And its not a question that can be answered "Maybe" or "Let's see what happens"--we've tried that approach for three years as we've prepared for this journey, and the last few months have shown us what it looks like to say "yes" but mean "maybe". It's exhausting and counter productive--and leads us closer to having no choice but "no"--to not act is to act, to not choose is to choose. Now is the time to get going, to claim "Yes" or to claim "No" as individuals and as a community. And I truly believe that if we can claim "Yes" to embrace the difficult and uncertain future trusting only in God to bring us through, that God will bless our efforts beyond anything we can imagine.

I'm getting more and more glimpses of this every day as I see the people just outside waiting to see if we are serious before they jump in with both feet. It's like the question I heard somewhere about the way churches do "evangelism": "Why do we think people who aren't here yet will be more committed to this than we are?" The willingness to "go for it" and acting despite our fear will be contagious and I believe will release a well of creativity that has been kept just below the surface. Like the trees, the "way we've always done things" has become a sacred cow, an idol, and is are keeping us from having the freedom to do what we feel called to do. It’s time now to create some space for God to do a new thing among us.

Will people all of a sudden flock to our Sunday worship service because we rearranged the furniture (literally or figuratively)? Absolutely not. But are people interested in being a part of a faith community that is deeply rooted in the ancient faith that began with Jesus, but isn't so tied to old ways of doing things that it is afraid to act boldly and embody that faith today? Absolutely. I talk to people all the time in coffee shops and pubs that remember fondly the deep peace and the sense of God's presence they got from the liturgy in churches they used to be a part of, but have left faith communities who refused to actually embody the presence of God the liturgy is meant to bring into our experience. Communities that were more concerned with preserving and repeating what had been done before that it cost them the life of their community now and into the future. Instead of reinvigorating the "community" element, our congregations have invested an ever increasing amount of time and energy into keeping the "church" from crumbling around them. The "church" may live on, but without the vibrant "community" that is its soul. To use Bonhoeffer’s distinction, we’ve become Kirche (church structure/building) without its Gemeinde (church-community). And the call I hear over and over from people outside the church and from an increasing number of people inside the church (especially the under 35 crowd) is all about the Gemiende and we should build a Kirche that is able to create the space (physical and spiritual space) for that to happen.

I know that we are afraid to loose some of our dear members, especially those older ones who will experience "going for it" as pulling the rug out from under them. I am no longer afraid of this, I believe it will happen and it is part of the call of God for this community to change--and part of that change is saying goodbye to people we love who can't or aren't willing to join us on this journey. And that is a time for sadness, for mourning, and for caring for our brothers and sisters. But I want to encourage us to also remember that Bethlehem Lutheran is not "The Church". Let's remember the bigger picture, that God is blessing Spokane through over 15 ELCA churches--many of whom are struggling much as we are and would be blessed beyond measure to find Lutheran Christians committed to the liturgy as American Lutherans have done it for 75 years, who adore the stability of worship space and format that doesn't change, who are willing to give sacrificially to keep that way of being Lutheran Christians alive as long as possible. Perhaps that is the calling of other Lutheran communities--but I can't see that as our calling. And if you are feeling like Bethlehem is on a journey you don’t feel called to be a part of, let us mourn with you, and bless you on your journey to the places God is calling you.

God has blessed us with a moment where it is possible to embrace something totally new, to see if we can't be a part of figuring out what the Lutheran church will look like 30 years from now, to try to figure out how to honor our heritage and traditions in a way that deeply connects to the generations that will be part of God's mission when we are dead and gone, to do as generations before us have done for nearly 2000 years: pass along the faith of our fathers as a blessing to our children and our children's children. Will God be upset if some of our members moved to an ELCA church across town? Or to another Christian denomination? Will God be upset if we close down operations here and disperse our members and financial resources to profoundly bless the other things God is up to in Spokane and in the world? I can't see why he would be. I do think God will be upset if we are too afraid to loose what we have (even as it slips away from us) to embrace the gift God has laid before us.

I almost want to say to us, (quoting our Synod's Guiding Principles) "No Fear, Transformation!" but I don't think that's quite right. Because I don't want us to deny that we are afraid. I think we need to name our fears, to bring them to the light of day, to talk about them and support one another through them--but finally to not give into them. Let's not let our fears overpower us (this is the power of evil) but to trust so deeply in God to be with us in the midst of our fears, and to lead us from darkness into light. I say we look at our fear in a very Lutheran way, as "Law" and "Gospel". Let us allow our fear be the "law" that shows us finally that we can't rely on our own strength, but instead let the law (our fear) turn us to trust even more deeply in Christ--and the "Gospel" is again (and again, and again) that powerful reminder that God in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit has already done for us what we can never do for ourselves. We have spent the last three years re-rooting ourselves in scripture, in prayer, in community, in seeing what God is up to in the world, and in preparing to go into that future that God has in mind for this community. And God has given us everything we need to step boldly into that future--to not be afraid but trust that where he is calling us is where we are meant to be. And more and more that call for Bethlehem seems to be "Loosing our lives for Christ's sake, and for the sake of the Gospel" so that we can find life abundant.

As I see it, the decision before us is: Do we loose our life by spending the next year closing down and celebrating God's ministry through Bethlehem for 55 years? Or do we loose our life by being willing to risk the response to the call of God we have been hearing? I hope we are willing to embrace that loosing of our life by laying it all on the line for the possibility God is giving us glimpses of. But if we aren't, let's be clear on that too so that we can honor the gifts and ministries and history of this community, and can release the resources we have so that this bold transformation can happen somewhere else.

2010 will be a year of great Transformation for us, whichever path we choose. I believe God has called us to be the people to make this journey, and that now is the time he has given us to make it. It’s an adventure into the great unknown, but a leap of faith we can make confidently, knowing that God has been with his people through bigger challenges than this, and will be with us now. God shows the way, and calls us to follow. Ready?

+Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--January 2010

2010-01-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Our stewardship season has drawn to a close. For the past several months, our church community has spent time in prayer, considered what God is calling us to do together, and each of us has made commitments of time, talent, and treasure based upon how we feel called to be a part of what God doing in and through Bethlehem Lutheran Church. As we tally the numbers on the financial side of things, its clear that there are some major changes in store for us in 2010—that God has in mind something very different than the way we have been operating. During the month of January we will be preparing together a budget and plan for mission in 2010 and will be making decisions on this at our annual meeting on January 31^st. We will need as many people as possible participating in this process, so we can get a clearer vision of where God is calling us go and what God is calling us to do with the abundant resources he has given us to use in his mission in the world.

Here are the facts (in round numbers): As of December 13^th(at the end of our stewardship campaign), the giving estimates you all submitted for 2010 give us an operating budget of just over $70,000. (There are likely to be more gifts coming in, but its hard to tell just how much.). Sharing of our building costs with Bethany Presbyterian, Emmanuel Metropolitan Community Church, Hearts and Rainbows Preschool, and the AA and other support groups, frees up an additional $20,000 (though only for the next two years for sure). That brings our total up to just over $90,000. This is an amazing abundance and comes from both small and large gifts: 7 commitments were for $300 or less for the year, 16 were for $300-$3000 and 7 were over $3000 (some significantly over $3000). Whether your resources are meager or plentiful, you have committed generously to God's mission through Bethlehem (and these figures don't include the gifts of time and talent which are no less valuable). Thank you for your prayerful and abundant gifts to God's mission. Through you, God has unleashed $90,000 for his purposes in Spokane (and that doesn't even include the other places we share our gifts). And in these uncertain financial times, that's nothing short of a miracle.

The question before us now is: “How is God calling us to best use these amazing gifts for his purposes in mission for the sake of the world?” Although our stewardship campaign may be over, the task of stewardship is not a once a year thing—its a way of life. How are we as a community going to be good stewards (caretakers, managers, trustees) of the gifts God has entrusted to us? Or, in other words, how can we use this $90,000, our building, and the gifts of time and talent of our community in the best possible way—in the way God is calling us to?

I recently discovered Bethlehem's financial information from 1989 and the budget for 1990. 20 years ago we had an income nearly identical to what we have today and we gave nearly $12,000 to the synod for the work of the wider church. As I've read the annual reports of the years since then the theme has been “Let's keep what we've got going for another year.” And with some creativity (and a bit of begging) we have. But as you know, 20 years ago a dollar was worth significantly more than it is today, and it seems like our costs for everything from electricity to health care keep going up—doing things the way we've always done them just costs more and more every year and so we've had to do less and less. Our draft budget for 2010, based on a trimmed down version of the way we've done mission and ministry at Bethlehem for our entire history, comes in at just over $130,000 and that's before we include the over $10,000 shortfall from our 2009 budget.

In the past we've kept things afloat by holding bake sales, working at baseball games, serving coffee at rest areas, by pressuring one another to just give more, and by failing to keep our commitments to the synod and the ELCA. For the past three years we've kept things going with the help of a Transformation Grant from the ELCA. But we're at the end of that help and need to figure out how it is God is calling us to use our resources in mission for the sake of the world. We've reached the point where “just trying harder” isn't going to come up with the additional $40,000 - $50,000 we need to keep doing things the way we have always done them. Perhaps our problem is that God is calling us NOT to do things as we always have, but to engage in mission and ministry in a whole new way. And while we're falling short on resources to do what we've always done, perhaps we have more than we need to do what God is actually calling us to do.

In the past year we've gotten clear on how God wants us to use our building—not keeping it for ourselves but sharing it widely. Today mission and ministry take place in and from our building pretty much every single day of the week. Prayers are prayed, quilts are sown, couples are counseled, the Bible is studied, God is worshiped in many ways, forgiveness of sins is given and received, alcoholics find community, drug addicts find ways to stay clean, and lonely people find others to share their lives with. And from all of these communities God multiples our efforts, sending us forth to visit the sick, help our neighbors, care for the poor, and make a difference in God's world. Sharing our building in fact hasn't diminished our resources, instead God has given us more: $20,000 more to use for mission rather than keeping up a building and new partners for living out God's mission together. In some ways it doesn't make sense, but God's economy is like that—the more we give, the more we receive.

The question before us in the next month is this: How can we do with our finances the same purposeful reflection and transformation that we've done with our property? How can we reshape the ministry that we have to make the best use of the financial abundance God has provided for us? I truly believe that God gives us the resources that we need to do what God is calling us to do. $90,000 and a prominent building on a major road are amazing gifts—and its no wonder God is calling us to use them for the sake of others. Our task as a community is to figure out just what we think God is calling us to do with these gifts and then to set about doing it. It's not going to be easy, its going to take our entire community to figure out, and it will likely mean making some tough choices and perhaps even putting our survival on the line. But we can trust that God has something in mind for us—perhaps a new mission we haven't even dreamed of yet—and not only will God show us the way, but will give us what we need to do what he is calling us to do.

Advent Community

2009-11-25T15:29:00.002-08:00

The group formally known as the Acts 8 Bible Study will now be known as “The Advent Community”. We will gather in the fellowship hall at 10:30am every Sunday to listen for the call of God (and go there), to pray together, to support one another, and “do life” together. This is not “Bible Study” in a traditional sense, though we will read the Bible together. We believe God has something in mind for us and we want to be a part of it. Everyone is welcome. Come and see what God is up to among us. www.AdventCommunity.org

Pastor Erik--December 2009

2009-11-25T15:29:00.001-08:00

God is going to do what God is going to do. The question is, do we want to be a part of it or not?

On Sunday, October 12 I preached a sermon entitled “What is holding me back from following Jesus?” (you can listen to it here) The Gospel story was Mark 10:17-31 about a rich man who wanted desperately to follow Jesus. He had been very religious his whole life, followed all the rules, done everything right. When he asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus tells him to give his riches to the poor and follow him. The rich man didn’t follow Jesus, but went away grieving because he had many possessions. We explored how Jesus asks each of us “What is holding you back right now from following Jesus?” is it money like this rich man? Is it fear? Is it your family? Is it tradition? Is it too much stuff? What is it for you?

After we pondered this individually (on our now classic sticky notes) I shared what the answer was for me, though it was difficult for me to do so. What is keeping me right now from following Jesus is trying to save our congregation. Over the past three years as we’ve engaged in transformational ministry together, I (along with many of you) have poured my heart and soul into this community, helping to lead us through some difficult but important work to discern where God is calling us, and how we might transform to be better able to go where God calls. This spring our council leaders realized that while many changes were happening and our life together was improving, our finances were still in trouble, and the path we were currently on was simply not sustainable without some deeper transformation and more changes. The council invited us all to take this seriously and make a decision to either step up in a whole new way with time, effort, and finances for the sake of mission or to find a way to live together that requires less resources and less energy to maintain. To either lay it all on the line for mission or to choose to maintain what we have as long as that lasts. And in those conversations, folks by and large enthusiastically said “Let’s go for it!”

But in the months that have followed, the actual response has been less enthusiastic. We’re having an unbelievably hard time getting people to participate, even in things like ushering, bringing cookies, and reading the lessons. Attendance on Sunday morning has gone down, not just the temporary summertime “dip” we have come to expect. Offering is below what we need for our budget, and because of that we’re nearly $10,000 behind in our commitment to the wider church and the world through our Synod. Nearly two thirds of members invited to our “member appreciation event” who RSVPed earlier that week, didn’t show up. Events planned by new members did not find support among the congregation, and now many of those new members have disappeared from our community (some are just not around much and some have decided to join other churches). There have been fewer and fewer children in worship. And complaining is high: about the liturgy, about worshiping downstairs during the summer, about all manner of changes that are taking place. And we are hearing more and more “When is this transformation thing going to be over so life can get back to normal?” This is hardly the “let’s roll up our sleeves and get to work” response any of us were hoping for.

And so, for the past 6 months I’ve been praying fervently for our congregation. “Lord, what is it going to take to save this place? Just when we need to step up into your dream for us it seems like we are taking a step back? What more can we do? What more can I do?” And as I studied and prayed over Mark 10:17-31 in preparation for that sermon in early October, the voice of the Holy Spirit whispered in my ear “Give up what is holding you back, and follow Jesus.” And I realized that in the previous 6 months (and probably longer) I’d been holding on to the “saving” of Bethlehem Lutheran Church as my personal responsibility—or at least to lead the charge that would save it. And God reminded me that this is not my job, and I was not called to “save” this community, but to lead efforts to transform it. And the transformation was not ours to make happen, but God’s. Our job is simply to figure out what God is up to and do what we can to join in. As rock star Bono of U2 once said: “Stop asking God to bless what you're doing. Get involved in what God is doing -- because it's already blessed.” And so, in the face of all this, “I let go, and let God.” And so I pray: “God, if it is your will for Bethlehem Lutheran to continue as your people in mission in this place, let it be so. And if it is not, help me (and all of us) face this reality and live and love one another though it.”

Since that sermon, many people have asked me if I’m “giving up” or “planning to leave.” And I can see how people might have gotten that impression. The answer to both is no. What I’ve given over to God is the “saving” of Bethlehem. I am not intending to fall short on my call to lead us into the future God has for us—even if it’s a future none of us was expecting. I was called to this community to lead our efforts to transform into God’s dream for us and the world—and that is still my calling here. But I had confused that with saving the organization known as Bethlehem Lutheran Church (and maybe you have too). I feel called to be a part of this transformation effort until I simply can’t be any more—at which point God will be calling me to other adventures.

I have to admit given the lower offerings, the threats to leave or withhold giving if changes continue, the lack-luster participation of these past 6 months, and the seeming rejection of the next stage of transformation raises my anxiety level. As the stewardship packets come in this month and we meet to discuss what we are going to do with our budget, I wonder if there will be enough support from the congregation to pay my salary—and I don’t know what this means for my family. And even if the finances come through another year, is it going to be sustainable in the long run? And what about participation and volunteering? The truth is, I simply don’t know what all of this means for us as a community of faith. But the call to follow Jesus is not always meant to be clear, and he certainly didn’t suggest following him would be easy. But it is easier together than alone, and it leads us into deeper community and authentic life together. I can’t imagine a harder, or more rewarding, way to live.

I hope that all of this doesn’t sound too pessimistic, because I don’t doubt that God has something in mind for us, and that God is going to transform this community for the sake of the world. It’s just becoming more and more clear that it’s going to be a different sort of transformation than any of us hoped. More “death and resurrection” than “resuscitation.” But I (and we) can trust that God will come through on God’s promises to us—to be with us on our journey even (maybe especially) in the wilderness. And God has a plan, even if the details are foggy (or frightening) to us. Ruban Duran, from the ELCA Churchwide division we connect with in our transformation efforts, once said “God is going to do what God is going to do. The question is, do we want to be a part of it or not?” And that, I believe, is the question before us all.

Pastor Erik--July 2009

2009-07-01T16:09:00.001-07:00

In February of this year our congregation entered into the third year of our three-year Transformational Ministry grant, a grant from the “Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission” division of the ELCA to help us reconnect to God’s mission in our congregation for the sake of our neighbors and the world. The grant provided us $15,000 the first year, $10,000 the second year, and now $5,000 this year. It also committed us to engage in the “Transformational Ministry” process, including forming a “Transformation Team,” which we voted on and approved as a congregation at our annual meeting in January of 2007. While the grant funds were intended to support innovative projects for mission and outreach, we’ve been using the funds mainly to plug the holes in our budget, with the expectation (and hope) that the renewed energy, excitement, vision, and mission this process would give us would make our budget and congregation participation concerns go away.

At the May meeting of the church council it became clear that this was not happening to the extent that we had hoped, and we were facing a $3,500+ budget shortfall for the first four months of 2009—a trend which, if it continued, would mean around $12,000 short for the year. Next year, with the grant funds ending, that will be closer to $20,000. In addition, while we have built up a new and energized leadership core, these leaders have been struggling to find people willing to participate in the existing volunteer and ministry needs we have—and we’ve found little excitement around any of the outreach and mission “adventures” we have tried. At the June council meeting we took a hard look at where Bethlehem Lutheran Church is, and realized that the “plateau” we seem to be on is not sustainable, both financially and in terms of leadership and participation. We’ve come to see that we are at a real turning point in our life together—a place to either take on the challenge that God has in mind for us and engage in mission in our neighborhood, or to scale back our ministry to focus on meeting the needs of our existing members. Whatever path we take, major changes are in store for us as a congregation.

The council wanted to extend this conversation to the whole congregation; and so on June 28^th after church we will start to talk together. Since not everyone will have been able to be there, I’m writing this article with some of the things we will use to start the conversation on June 28^th, so we can all engage in this conversation together over the next few months.

First, it is important to be clear on what kind of change we need. Most of us expect organizations like churches to operate on the level of “technical change.” This sort of change assumes that the leaders know what needs to be done, and it is just a technical question of how to get it accomplished. This is where we expect our leaders to figure out a solution for us to follow. However, the crisis we are facing is one that needs “adaptive change” where everyone must learn new ways of operating and the whole organization must adapt to what will be required of them. “Adaptive change” is at the heart of Transformational ministry—where we trust that God will direct not just our leaders, but all of us to engage in the ministry God has in mind for us. This goes along with “there is no they, only us.” Someone else (who we often call “they”) is not going to solve our problems for us. We have the gifts and abilities we need to figure out what is wrong, and to begin together to address our common concerns. God has put before us an opportunity for all of us to rethink what it means to “be church” together—and to together take up the mission of God. But it can only happen if we are all willing to respond to this call and take up this great (and probably chaotic) adventure to figure out what God is calling us to do and to be.

At the June council meeting we discussed the understanding of our congregation of what it means to be a “real church,” meaning if any of these elements were missing our congregation would feel like we were not living up to what it means to be a church. We’ll do this again on June 28^th so the answers might be slightly different, but our council talked about these 6 elements: For Bethlehem to feel like a “real church” means 1) Having a building (preferably well maintained) 2) A full time pastor 3) Certain programs including worship, Bible study, Sunday school, and visitation of sick and homebound members 4) Enough members to pay the bills 5) Enough volunteers to do what needs to be done 6) Minimal conflict. This seems to be our basic image of what it means to “be a church,” and is connected to the sort of church founding visions that were in place in the 1950’s when Bethlehem began. The goal of a new congregation in the 1950’s was to find enough members to worship, support a pastor, build a building, support some programs and then, once established, to find a nice plateau, set the “cruise control” and things would continue on from there. We might need little adjustments from time to time, but not really any major changes to our trajectory.

Over the past 50 years Bethlehem has at various times fallen off of this plateau, usually connected to the loss of a pastor. And as soon as a new pastor was found, the situation improved and life continued on pretty much as normal. However, as the situation with our budget and lack of participation now is making clear, this simply isn’t the case anymore. Even with 48 new members in the last 3 years, the current plateau financially won’t last much beyond Christmas (or spring of 2010 if we draw down our endowment funds). A big part of this has to do with how the culture has changed—people no longer simply show up at churches the way they did in the 1950’s and people aren’t as excited about simply maintaining church buildings and church programs for their own sake. Churches that are thriving are engaged in mission and ministry not only within their walls, but in their neighborhoods. They are focused more on others than themselves. And they are not only doing “the same thing, only better” or even “the same thing with guitars and drums” but looking for creative ways to live out the Gospel in the world.

As I look toward our future together, it’s becoming clear that this 1950’s model for a “real church” just isn’t sustainable for us. It was the right way to be the church at the time, a faithful way to live out the Gospel in this neighborhood in the day and time and culture in which the congregation was planted, and for much of our history. But it hasn’t really been working for a long time, probably longer than we’re willing to admit. I think right now we are at a crossroads where we either need to decide together to be less than this or more than this. To be less than this “1950’s real church” would mean to scale back our programming, probably move to a part time pastor, focus on worship, fellowship, and caring—spending our efforts and energy on our current members. Something would likely need to be done to reduce the cost of our building (especially utilities)—either through renting out more space or sharing with another congregation (or two). To be more than the “1950s real church” would mean really recommitting ourselves to mission and transformation, and being willing to lay it all on the line for the sake of God’s purpose for us. It might mean any number of creative ways to rethink what we do together, and we will very likely re-emerge a very different community than we are today, though still connected to the rich history and tradition that has brought us to this point. It means each and everyone one of us rolling up our sleeves to engage in some hard work learning what God is up to in our neighborhood and seeing how we can be a part of that. It means giving ourselves away for the sake of others—loosing our life for Christ’s sake so that we may find it. It means being willing to change, adapt, and renew—even if this means changes we don’t personally like. And it means letting the vision of the “1950’s real church” die so God can give birth to something new in us.

If we were going to start a new congregation in this neighborhood in 2009 we would do so very differently than was done in 1950. To start, we would gather together to read the Bible, pray, and talk about what God was up to in our lives. Then we would spend some serious time getting to know our neighborhood—what is God up to there, and where could we make a difference for the sake of others. We would take stock of our gifts and try to find ways to connect the gifts God has given us to the needs and opportunities in our neighborhood. Then, before ever holding a worship service or breaking ground on a building, we would start to work for the sake of our neighbors—as our guiding principle states: “We are called to work in God’s world.” And only after engaging in mission in the world, would we think about how we might come together for worship, to support one another, to build one another up, to connect more deeply to one another and to our newly befriended neighbors. If it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us we might then use our resources to build a building, but depending on what our neighborhood needed it might look more like a coffee shop, a pub, a food bank, a gym, an arts center, a community center, or a gathering space than a 1950’s church. And all the while we would root ourselves in Word and Sacrament, in Bible study, worship, and prayer, in fellowship and support of one another—trusting in the Holy Spirit to use the gifts God has given us to proclaim in word and deed the Good News of Jesus Christ to our neighbors and the world.

The call of God is before us—giving us the opportunity to take up this challenge or to scale back our efforts. Spend some time in prayer and reflection, talk with one another, and then decide which way you feel called to go. I believe God has a grand adventure in mind for us. If we respond to this adaptive challenge, if we engage with this transformative work, if we are willing to put our congregation on the line for God’s mission I believe God will lead us into an amazing future. Is this something you feel called to be a part of? How will you respond to this call? What could God be calling us to do together?

Pastor Erik--June 2009

2009-06-02T10:55:00.001-07:00

Paul Turner, author of “The Slice” column in the Spokesman-Review was one of the speakers at this year's “Bike to Work Week” kickoff breakfast. Barb Chamberlain, the organizer of the event, asked him to ride for a week last year and write about it in his column. It was a big gamble, Barb said in her introduction of Paul, because she knew if it was a good experience for him he would write glowing things about biking in Spokane. But if it wasn't...we'll, you've read “The Slice.”

Paul took Barb's challenge, figuring even if he hated biking to work, he'd at least have a good weeks worth of sarcastic comments for his column. But instead, Paul found he actually enjoyed biking to work—and kept it up even after Bike to Work Week was over. And so he was back this year, encouraging all of us at this breakfast event to be, in his words, “bike evangelists” and spread the news about commuting by bike in Spokane.

This call to be “bike evangelists” struck me as funny, because I was standing there wearing what I had been calling my “bike evangelist” outfit—which is really just my regular bike gear with a black clergy shirt and white tab collar. I felt amazingly out of place in that outfit standing in Riverfront Park at 8am—even more so than I had felt wearing that same outfit in the pulpit at Bethlehem the day before. In our culture you aren't supposed to mix things like religion with ordinary things like riding bikes, or commuting, or eating pancakes in Riverfront Park. Religion is meant to be private, practiced in sanctuaries filled with like-minded people, or in the privacy of your own home. These are two separate realms and you aren't supposed to mix them.

But its not so easy for me to separate these two, because riding my bike (to work or otherwise) is a deeply spiritual experience for me. First, it causes me to slow down. When I don't have my car, I can no longer pack in appointment after appointment across town, counting on zipping from place to place with only a few minutes to spare. I've got to plan, be deliberate, make use of the time and energy God has given me to do what is most needful. Secondly, time on a bike is time with God, experiencing the amazing beauty of God's creation—seeing, hearing, and smelling all those things we miss when we travel at 70 miles an hour. On a bike you feel part of it all—sun, wind, even rain—and it is so much easier for me to see God at work in the world. And third, I find time on the bike to be perfect for prayer. As I pedal down the road or trail my mind and body are occupied just enough that I can find that focused place where distractions are a little bit less, and where I can connect in prayer to God. Or I'll take the scriptures assigned for Sunday and roll them over again and again in my mind—and find a sermon beginning to take shape. There's just no way to separate bike riding and religion for me.

And so I find myself a “bike evangelist.” A pastor wearing a bike costume on Sunday and a bike rider wearing a pastor costume on Monday. And as such, I don't really fit into either world entirely. I want my church friends to know and experience the joy of riding a bike to work (and everywhere else) and I want my bike riding friends to know and experience the joy of a life lived in a community centered in Jesus Christ. And I must admit, it's easier to say to someone “come ride with me” than it is to say “come follow Jesus with me.”

As Christians we do live in two worlds; like dual citizens we live both in the “kingdom of God” and in the “kingdom of the world.” And we really don't fit entirely into either. As dwellers of God's kingdom we get caught up in the cares of the world and forget to trust in God alone. As dwellers of the kingdom of the world we never can quite believe that things are only as they seem for we trust in God's promises. And God calls and sends us as witnesses into the world, bearing Christ in word and deed to a world that longs to experience him. We are all meant to be evangelists, wearing our world costumes in church and our church costumes in the world—blurring the line between the so-called holy and ordinary places and reclaiming the entire world as loved by God. And we're meant to be so caught up in the joy of life in Jesus that we can't help but invite others to come along.

What excites you the way riding a bike excites me? What brings you so much joy that you can't help but want others to be a part of it too? My guess is, for most of us, following Jesus or participating in church doesn't make it high on that list. Why not? What keeps us from saying “I've experienced great joy as a follower of Jesus, come with me so that you can experience this too”? What do we need to change about our life together, or our worship, or our service to others that would get you excited enough, energized enough, caught up in the joy of God enough to say “I want everyone I know to experience this!”?

Bike to Work Week Spokane grew from an expected 200 participants last year to over 1500 this year—and pretty much all because of “bike evangelists,” people who love to ride their bikes to work getting out and spreading the word. And while I know the term “evangelist” brings up images of bullhorns and bullying—no one was forced, no one was tricked, no one was bullied by these “bike evangelists.” We simply shared our story and our love of biking and encouraged others to come along with us and experience it for themselves. Come and see, come follow me, you just might find joy here too. That's what evangelism—sharing the Good News—is all about.

Pastor Erik--Toward God's Purpose for BLC

2009-03-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

Towards God's Purpose for Bethlehem Lutheran

On Sunday March 8, 2009 Pastor Erik preached a sermon on Mark 8:31-38. This is the story of when Jesus tells his disciples that following God's purpose for his life means that he will undergo great suffering, be rejected, killed, and will rise again. His disciple Peter takes Jesus aside and rebukes him, insisting that there must be another way. Jesus says to Peter (so that all the disciples can hear) “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.” Then to the disciples and the crowd Jesus says: "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

Peter wasn’t able to see that God’s purpose for Jesus would bring him to the cross. He probably suggested all sorts of safer ways that Jesus could have continued his ministry more safely and without taking the sorts of risks Jesus was talking about. But Jesus told Peter (and the disciples, and the crowds, and us) that following God’s purpose for us is not safe, it’s extremely risky. It’s not that Peter’s plan wasn’t a good one—maybe he suggested Jesus continue to heal people, travel the world proclaiming Good News, and live a long and happy life—but it wasn’t God’s plan. The real danger in this story isn’t a bad idea, but a good idea that just isn’t what God has in mind.

Pastor Erik gave everyone in the congregation index cards and asked us to write “Get Behind” on one side and “Take up” on the other side. (He realized later that it should have been “Put Behind” which is what we’ll use from now on.) On the “Put Behind” side we were asked to list those things that Bethlehem Lutheran Church might spend our time and energy on that, while certainly “good” things to do, might not be what God has in mind for us. These are “safe” plans that don’t involve much risk. On the “Take Up” side we were asked to list those things that God might be calling our congregation to—risky things that might cause us to “loose our life for Jesus’ sake” but are the ways to ultimately save it. Here is our list of the things we think Jesus is asking us to “put behind” and “take up” to better follow Jesus into God’s purpose for our congregation.

Put Behind

l Church improvements

l Groups using the church

l Ceremony and beautification if they are for superficial reasons—if for outreach, take them up

l Elaborate building

l Unwise use of funds

l Beautification of church building grounds and landscape

l The property being beautified—money better spent elsewhere

l Spending time designing and funding member programs

l Spending all our resources on just our property

l Coming to church and fellowship only

l Speed at task completion

l Having members only groups that discount those interested in our church

l Disguising God's calling in a way we like

l Misjudging or ignoring a task of God

l “Contemporary” worship service

l Beautifying the church out of vanity

l The finances as they will be discussed today

l Being self serving

l Having functions, fundraisers, etc that serve only BLC members

l Not rocking the boat

l No conflict

l Landscaping with an architect when we have talent in our own church

l Pay the mortgage

l Focusing just on church members

l Complaining—count your blessings

l Landscaping renovation things

l Greeting and talking to friends but not greeting visitors

l Worrying about money for things: yard, building

l Worrying about more people in church for money purposes and membership numbers

l Raising a lot of money

l Having more social events

l Church members and their needs

l Welcoming on a superficial level

l Being concerned just for our church or comfort zones

l Being self centered, self serving

Take Up

l Neighborhood welcome activities

l Compassionate care for people in need outsite of the congregation

l make church more open and inviting to encourage others to see what we are about and hear God's message

l Lutheran community

l Hunger

l Reach the neighborhood individuals and families

l Feed the hungry

l Build homes for the poor

l Work with other groups to do even more

l Outreach

l Evangelism

l Welcome others to this church

l Children education

l Youth

l More personal outreach

l Neighborhood dimension

l Ice cream social

l Evangelizing

l More friendliness to visitors and each other

l Sponsoring a Thrivent Food Bank here in our parking area

l Get out in the world of Spokane

l Spend finanical resources on ministry in Spokane

l Get out of pews and donate time to ministry in Spokane not just Bethlehem

l Having more volunteers for projects going on in the area

l Get to know the neighborhood better

l Have more activities for teens

l Sending a group of people to help in suffering parts of the world

l Use financial resources on parts of our city that need help

l Have congregational interaction across the city, looking for callings from God

l Service to our neighbors

l Let neighbors use our space

l Some sort of weekly feeding program

l Global mission

l Food bank and homeless shelter assistance

l To be a place that welcomes gay and lesbian people—open and affirming

l Help at community dinners

l Assist with shelter for the homeless

l Utilize church property for community needs (like AA, NA, etc)

l Reach out to neighborhood

l Change—new music and liturgies

l Open doors to community even if they might spill something on the carpet (risk)

l Evangeliszing

l Care of needy

l Mission Support

l Lighting of windows

l Upgrade sound system with “audio loop” for hearing impaired

l Spread what we have learned from service to give to friends and neighbors

l Service to worthy causes outside of church

l Evangelizing to the neighborhood and friends and family

l Service in this community

l Look in the neighborhood for service projects

l Help our neighbors

l Reaching out to the homeless

l Caring about the souls of neighbors

l Making God's house a place of welcome and safety and a place of learning about Jesus and God

l Reach out to more people geographically

l Think more about doing things for others

l Evangelizing

l Providing refuge sanctuary

l Donating money to causes

l Witness to the gospel

l Serve the needy

l Artistic expression

l Be God's light to the neighborhood

l Reach out to our neighbors

l Do for others even if it costs us the “put behind” concerns

l Be examples that show this (doing for others)

Pastor Erik--March 2009

2009-03-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

Prayer and Purpose

In the next several months you will be hearing the words “prayer and purpose” quite a lot. In part, this will be because this is our theme for Lent this year. But also because during this season of Lent we are going to devote some time to prayer and trying to discern our purpose as a congregation—and drafting a purpose statement. Lent is the perfect time to do this, because the season of Lent is meant to be a time of reflection, taking stock of who we are and who we are called to be, repenting of where we have strayed from God's calling, and recommitting ourselves to be about what God would have us be about.

Dave Daubert, in the book “Living Lutheran” writes the following about our purpose as the Church of Jesus: “A primary point of being the church together is to refocus us when we gather so that we can be effective when we are apart. We don't gather to escape the world. We gather to be sure we are doing a good job of engaging it. God wants our help. If a church is doing effective ministry, people leave better prepared to be missionaries to the world and ambassadors for Jesus. Our participation in this work is called our 'purpose.'” The next phase in our Transformation process is to figure out what specific purpose God has in mind for Bethlehem—just which part of God's dream are we called to be a part of?

Daubert makes clear that there is a difference between “mission” and “purpose”: “Mission is what God is up to. It is the mission of God. Lutherans are very clear that the mission belongs to God. Everything that is of ultimate importance and eternal value starts and ends there. But that doesn't mean that God prefers to work alone. In fact, God has demonstrated time after time that God prefers to work with others—to include people in the creative work of bringing in the kingdom.” (Living Lutheran, pg 38)

We've already seen the power of purpose (and purpose statements) at work at Bethlehem. Last spring, our Property Mission Task Force met for prayer, Bible study, and conversation around how God was calling us to use our property. Out of that process, we developed a purpose statement for our property which reads: “The purpose of Bethlehem Lutheran Church's property is to make clear that everyone is welcome and to help everyone encounter God in this place.” And since then we have seen some pretty major changes take place to our property, starting with a rock wall on the corner of our property, a transformation of our lobby to be more welcoming to all who pass through our building, and the cutting down of the two large trees in front of our building and the opening up of our property for a whole host of projects. And all of this has come about because we started to ask ourselves “Is our property fulling living into the dream God has for it?” and as we looked at our purpose statement we realized there were ways to get closer to this dream.

God has done some amazing things with our property through this focus on its purpose. Just imagine what God will do with us as we form a purpose not just for our building and grounds, but for our congregation. And much like our guiding principles, this purpose statements will not just come out of the blue, but is meant to be deeply connected to the things God has been doing among us for our entire history. When we figure it out, it should “feel right” for us—though it may also stretch us, much as our guiding principles have done.

I hope that you will take the opportunity to get involved in this process, because the more voices involved, the better chance we have of really hearing the dream God has in mind for us as a community. We'll be engaging in prayer, Bible reading, and conversations. We'll think about purpose in sermons (yes, the sticky notes are coming back), through some cottage meetings, in Adult Ed, during coffee hour, and in all sorts of other ways. Join in the conversation as we figure out together the specific purpose we are meant to play in what God is up to in the world.

Pastor Erik--Annual Report 2009

2009-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

Note: this post is the text of my annual report to the congregation. It's all about Transformation so I figured I'd better post it here as well.

Pastor’s Report on ministry in 2008

This past year has been one of beginning to live into our Guiding Principles. It was one year ago that our congregation met as over a foot of snow fell outside around us (which seemed like a lot at the time) and committed to six Guiding Principles: Jesus is Lord and Savior, Everyone is welcome, Love changes people, We are called to work in God’s world, God uses ordinary people like us, and God shows the way. We had spent many months previously in prayer and conversation about what the central principles were for the ministry God was calling Bethlehem Lutheran to be about. These six statements emerged, newly articulated but core to what this community has held central from the beginning. And for 12 months we have been living those principles out in many ways—figuring out what they mean for us and the purpose God has for us in the world. And we have only just begun this adventure.

Some mission moments that have come from our living out our Guiding Principles:

The ministry of caring at Bethlehem has expanded exponentially this past year. Thanks to some dedicated leaders, a growing team of people have felt called to participate in caring ministries, and are bringing care and connection (and transportation) to our shut ins, to the sick, and to those in need of God’s presence. And God has used these people to bring about amazing miracles of healing in mind, body, and spirit. An example: After returning from a hospital visit last week, I got a call from one of our parish nurses informing me that she and another nurse had visited the wife of the person I had been to see to pray and to help her understand his medical condition. Based on that conversation, our nurses wanted to be sure that our whole congregation was aware of some key medical information that could help others in similar situations, and contacted the leader of caring ministries—who knew that another of our nurses was intending to write something similar for the newsletter. This nurse happened to be out visiting a shut-in member and bringing her communion, and offered this person a ride to church the next Sunday. What an incredible network of caring that has emerged because of an amazing team of people. These ministers have felt called to use their variety of gifts (organizing, nursing, driving, time, listening, prayer) to proclaim the Good News of Jesus into the lives of people at a time when they most need to not only hear, but experience the love of God. Love changes people. We are called to work in God’s world. God uses ordinary people like us.

Our connection to our synod and other Lutheran congregations in our area has grown a great deal in this past year. Where once we were cut off from our neighbors in faith, we are now becoming ever more connected and interconnected. The synod assembly this year included a whole host of mission workshops which were open to not only delegates, but all the people of our congregations—and many of you went and learned some amazing things about mission and how to be a part of what God is up to in the world (and have been putting that to use here at Bethlehem). For one of these workshops, our congregation was asked to share the story of how God has been working through us in Transformational Ministry. I heard just the other day that the story of our struggle and how God has been present through it (and transforming us) has inspired a small rural congregation in another part of our state to renewed hope for their congregation too. Our connections with the other Lutheran Churches in our cluster over the past several years has this year shifted into a real sense of collaborative ministry—which has been named “Lutherans Together.” Beginning with shared youth ministries, this relationship is evolving to include a network of small groups for young adults, and likely soon a network of Bible studies throughout our congregations. And that’s just the beginning of where God is leading us together. God uses ordinary people like us. God shows the way.

The work of the church council has been transformed in the past 12 months. When I first got here nearly three years ago, church council meetings were exhausting 3-4 hour marathons in which the common complaint was “But we never actually DO anything!” For the past year we have spent the first 45 minutes of our meetings—before any business or discussion—in prayer, scripture reading, and worship. We pray for our congregation and for what God dreams for us, we pray for the world, we pray for those in need, and we pray for one another. We share the Lord’s Supper, and invite God to be present in our meetings—to show us the way. And you know what? The meetings rarely go over 2 hours—even with less time for “business.” We’ve remembered that our first business as the people of God, and as leaders of God’s church, is prayer. And so much more is getting done. The miracle this year which you will see today is that we actually have more people running for council than there are spots to fill. Jesus is Lord and Savior. God shows the way.

Another mission moment has come through this transformation in the council. Rather than spending all our council time doing all the work of the church and making all the decisions, our council is shifting into a new mode. No longer to we see our task as “gatekeepers” limiting what goes on at Bethlehem, but instead we are vision shapers and permission givers—helping to shape the vision of where God is calling us, and to get people in our congregation to participate in making that a reality. When conversations about changes to our church property came up, our council appointed a task force to listen to God’s calling for the use of our property, shape a purpose statement to reflect this, and empowered them to get to work making it a reality. This task force would be led by our property chairperson—who no longer needed to be a council member. Through prayer, Bible study, and conversation the task force appointed by our council came up with this statement: The purpose of Bethlehem Lutheran Church’s property is to make clear that everyone is welcome and help everyone encounter God in this place. The task force then set about thinking of ways to make our property more in line with this purpose—and began to dream some dreams for the Ray Street side of the church property. This side of our property was picked because of the word “everyone” (remember our Guiding Principles?) and thinking about the thousands of “everyones” who drive by our church every day. How will our property communicate to them that they are welcome? Even if they never even slow down, how will the people who pass near our property get some experience of the presence of God? Some corner landscaping and a new sign are the first two phases of that transformation, and the next phases include plans for a memorial garden (including a place to inter cremated remains), walking paths to make us more neighborly, and new trees and plants that will show forth the beauty of God’s creation. Out of this work, other’s have felt called to bring the inside of our building closer to God’s purpose as well and have begun to find ways to make our inside space more welcoming, hospitable, and useful to the people whom God sends our way. Jesus is Lord and Savior. Everyone is Welcome. Love changes people. We are called to work in God’s world. God uses ordinary people like us. God shows the way.

These stories, and the many others like them, give me great hope about the future of our congregation and its place in God’s mission in and for the world. But there are a few areas which we have not engaged as fully as I have hoped, and that will be some of the primary work ahead of us in the year to come. One is developing and stating a purpose statement not just for our church property, but for our church community as a whole. The question before us is: What specific role is God calling us to play in what God is up to in the world? The second area is renewing our connection to our neighborhood and to our neighbors. The second set of questions we need to ask ourselves (which are harder to ask, let alone answer) are: If Bethlehem Lutheran blipped out of existence tomorrow, would our neighbors care? Would they even notice? How are we making the Good News of Jesus real and present in the lives of our neighbors?

Answers to these questions are already beginning to bubble up among us, and God is already at work making these dreams a reality. Our call is to respond to this task and through prayer, Bible study, and conversation to engage in the tasks before us. What an exciting time and place to be the church! Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik--Jan 2009

2009-01-01T19:31:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not know, I've been participating in a leadership program since September called “Leadership Spokane.” This organization describes their program as “an intensive, 10-month long training for 50 emerging and established leaders from business, government and community organizations.” Each month I gather with the rest of my “class” (which consists of leaders from throughout Spokane) for a day long session about a particular topic such as governance, media, community health, the arts, etc. Additional opportunities happen between sessions as well. I've taken tours of manufacturing plants in Spokane and learned about their operations from their CEO's, toured a new affordable housing complex downtown, and participated in a ride along with a police office. One person described the experience to me as a crash-course in the Spokane community—the sort of thing it would take 10 or more years of active involvement to gain experience in. The purpose of this program is to develop a network of what they call “trustee leaders,” people connected to the various business, non-profit, and volunteer organizations in our community who can participate in building better and stronger community—developing citizen-leaders to make our community a better place together. I thought I'd write a bit this month about why I'm excited to participate in this experience, and also share some of what I've learned in the first few months.

Part of our commitment to the Transformation process is to seek ways to re-connect and to more deeply connect our congregation to the neighborhood and community in which God has planted us. This has been a bit of a challenge for us because, although we once we a largely neighborhood church, our folks are now from all over the Spokane area. On any given Sunday at Bethlehem, people have come from Cheney and Otis Orchards, from the south side of Spokane Valley and Newport, from Greenacres and just north of the Y on Division—and everywhere in between. And yet, God has drawn all of us to gather week after week in a little church building on Ray St in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood. For two years I (along with the Transformation team) have pondered how to wrap our minds around which community God is calling us to engage—and how. While deep in prayerful discernment of this last spring, I received an invitation to apply for “Leadership Spokane,” which I had never heard of before. As I looked into this organization and what they were about, I realized that this could be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Spokane community, its needs and gifts, and what sort of role Bethlehem might be called to play in God's dream for our area.

While I'm just getting my feet wet in this experience and just beginning to build the relationship with other participants—one common theme has jumped out at me that connects to our Transformation work. In the book “Living Lutheran” that we have used various times in the past few years (and that helped us in forming our guiding principles) the author, Dave Daubert, describes how the church finds itself faced with “discontinuous change.” It used to be that we could get our minds around how the world around us was going to change—it happened slowly and predictably and we could guess that in the future things would look pretty much like they do now, only better. But now, the world changes so often and so rapidly that it seems nearly chaotic—and we no longer can predict what will happen next and so the change is dis-continuous. The Christian church has realized that we have pretty much stayed put, resisting most change—but that the world has changed around us. Where the church once was the center of culture, family, and neighborhood life, we now (quite surprisingly) find ourselves on the edges of society—not quite sure how we got here or how to get back to where we were. How do we engage with a world that changes so quickly and so unpredictably? That is what our Transformation process is meant to help us figure out.

What I have realized in my experiences with Leadership Spokane, is that the church is not alone in this strange and precarious position in the midst of a rapidly changing world. Manufacturers in Spokane (and around the world) are seeking ways to make their production processes “lean” so that they can respond to constantly changing markets and conditions in the volatile marketplace. Media outlets are questioning how to reinvent themselves in the face of 24-7 news coverage on cable and the abundance of (free) news on the Internet. Non-profits are struggling with sagging donations and a dwindling volunteer force. “The way we've always done things” just isn't working anymore in any sector of our society—and everyone is struggling to figure out what is coming next—and how to make our community and our world a better place in the midst of all this chaos.

While its comforting to know that we aren't the only ones experiencing this, I'm starting to wonder if the Christian church might really be a resourse for the rest of society in navigating these difficult times. The Bible is full of stories of God's people struggling, wandering, feeling abandoned and confused—and of God's continued presence and guidance in the midst of all this chaos. The foundational story is the wandering of the people of Israel in the desert. Through no fault of their own, God's people were ejected from a bad but at least predictable situation in Egypt to wander for 40 years in search of the promised land. It got so bad that the people longed to be re-enslaved in Egypt—at least they knew what was coming next! But God was with them through their difficult wandering—through the trials, dangers, and chaos of the wilderness—and kept his promise to deliver them and fulfill his promises to them. And again and again this theme reoccurs in the Bible: with the people of Israel, with individuals, families, and communities, with the followers of Jesus, and with the church. God remains with us through our wilderness experiences and keeps his promises to us—even when all signs point to doom and disaster. The trick is to listen and respond to God's call for us—and to be ready for God to do something new with us and through us.

I would venture to guess that nearly every one of us lives within walking distance of a Christian church—and that this would be true in nearly every community in the United States. And I would also venture to guess that a majority of these Christian churches are struggling to make their way in a world that is very different from the one in which they were founded. And I think in our success oriented society we've come to take that struggle as a sign of divine judgment—that we must have done something wrong to fail to attract people to church like we once did. If only we'd get better at what we used to do so well, everything would be back to normal. But what if our struggle isn't a judgment, but an opportunity that God is giving us to make a difference in the lives of people and in our community? Because unlike the businesses, media, and secular non-profits—the Christian church has the resources, the strength, and the faith to weather the sort of chaos that we are in.

In the wilderness God's people learned that they could trust in God when everything else had failed them. They learned that they needed one another and the importance of community. They learned that though they may struggle, God will provide what they truly need. And they learned that even when it seems like God has abandoned them, that God is with them and that God keeps his promises. So valuable were these lessons that we've told them again and again, teaching them to our children and grandchildren, for thousands of years. What if our struggles as a church were to remind us of these important truths, and what if God intends for us to remind the world of these things as well? What a gift is our struggle! What a gift is our time in the wilderness! What a gift it is that God is giving us to share! What if the little struggling churches God has planted in every neighborhood are meant to witness to God's continuing presence in the midst of the wilderness? Our task then is figuring out how to take this gift (and all the others God has given us) and make this message of hope and faith ever more present in our families, neighborhood, and community. How will you do it? How will we do it together? Isn't Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik--Dec 2008

2008-12-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again when we start thinking about giving thanks and giving gifts. In a time of economic hardship we can get discouraged about how little it seems like we have, wondering how to pay our rising heat bills and stretch our Christmas dollar. Its so easy to let our bank accounts, our shrinking 401k portfolios, and the daily bad economic news distract us and keep us from remembering that God gives abundantly and generously, and calls us to do the same. When we are called by God to a mission, God gives us what we need to make that mission happen—and sometimes that means being creative and trusting that God will use what we have to offer for amazing purposes (read 1 Kings 17 for a great example of this). Whatever gifts we have, when offered wholly to God, can have incredible, unexpected results—and even can result in miracles.

The week I arrived in Spokane in 2006 and began this call at Bethlehem was the week of the Synod Assembly. At that assembly one of the speakers was talking about gifts, how we all have them, how we have more than we realize, and how God can use even what seems like the most insignificant gift for his purposes. He had all of us make a list of the gifts we have, talents, passions, money, time, etc. Then he had everyone list a gift that they had that they thought couldn't be used by God. So I wrote down “drinking coffee.” Now, most of you know that drinking coffee—the stronger the better—is one of my great joys (in fact, I just poured a fresh cup). But I had no idea how God could possibly use such a silly gift to his purposes, but I wrote it down and offered it up to him none the less.

When I came back to Spokane and began to explore the neighborhood around our congregation, I wandered into a place called “Black Tie Coffee Co.” I immediately noticed lots of information about Fair Trade Coffee and when I ordered a cup and was brought out a strong, dark, steaming brew I knew I was right at home. About once a week after that I have found my way up to Black Tie, often for prayer or to study for my sermon, or to meet with someone—always with this “drinking coffee” gift in the back of my mind. I came to find out that Tom, the owner of the shop, is a Christian and not only are talk about God and faith allowed there, he actually encourages it. I began to wonder if maybe God was going to use this silly gift after all.

Over the past two years (and many cups of coffee) Tom and I have dreamed about what God is up to in our neighborhood, I've talked about faith with the employees and customers at Black Tie, we passed along a gift of Bibles that we didn't need that were an answer to a youth group's prayer, we've had the folks at Black Tie at our Fair Trade events, and we've shared our building a few times with Tom's church for their Bible study group and worship. God is clearly at work.

So when I got a crazy idea near the end of summer that involved coffee, it was only natural that I take it to Tom at Black Tie. I'd been thinking about ways to connect to our neighbors, and the school a few blocks down seemed like a natural choice. “Hey Tom,” I said one day while he was making my coffee, “I've got this crazy idea to bring free coffee to all the teachers at Lincoln Heights Elementary on the first day of school. Could you cut me a deal on a couple of thermos pots of coffee?” Instead of a discount, Tom said that if I'd take the orders and handle the delivery, he'd make free espresso drinks to order for every teacher in the school. I was blown away with his generosity.

And so, early on the first day of school I headed out notebook in hand to every teacher in the school. They were blown away too. “Free?” they'd insist, “Whatever I want?” “Yep,” I'd say “from your friends at Bethlehem Lutheran and Black Tie Coffee. Have a great first day of school.” I have to tell you, taking free coffee to stressed out teachers was a whole lot of fun. And thanks to the help of the Bethlehem Quilters, everybody got their lattes and mochas piping hot. I left the school that morning giving thanks to God for such a fun and creative way to connect to our neighbors—and what a way to use this silly gift I'd offered.

Later that day I got the following email from one of the teachers: “When you came into my classroom this morning, I was just praying silently for God to help me. If everything could go wrong, it did this morning, yet by His grace and your kindness, my mind calmed down and the Holy Spirit was able to do its job! I got out of the way and enjoyed the delicious cup of coffee. Now mind you, the day was still hectic, but yet filled with joy and and a sense of love of kindness. Thank you Pastor and please thank the sweet ladies who helped you. What a wonderful gift you brought to our room.”

If you've ever experienced God using you (quite without your knowledge or intention) to work a miracle in somebody else's life you know its an amazing feeling. Who knew God could work such miracles in a simple cup of coffee? But it didn't stop there. Later that week I got a call from Tom saying he wants to do it again somewhere else—and my coffee ministry continues, who knows where it will lead. All this from being willing to offer up a silly, seemingly insignificant gift to God's purposes and paying attention to when the call came to put it to use.

What silly, seemingly insignificant gift do you have that you could offer up to God? Give it a shot and let me know what miracles God works in and through you.

Pastor Erik--November 2008

2008-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

Last August, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America met in Churchwide Assembly in Chicago. Among the various items for discussion was something called the “Book of Faith Initiative.” Its intent, in a nutshell, is to put before the church these questions: “We Lutherans take the Bible seriously, right? Well than don’t you think we all ought to read it more? And shouldn’t we all do this together?” The answer, as you might guess, was a resounding “Yes we should!” And our church went to work figuring out how we were going to encourage every synod, every congregation, every disciple of Jesus to dig in once again to the Bible, our Book of Faith.

One of the ways our wider church is helping us do this is through the publications of resources for Bible study, the first of which we have been using for our Adult Education class here at Bethlehem this fall. It’s called “Opening the Book of Faith” and its purpose is to get us started on this renewed journey into God’s Word for us. This is only the beginning of this journey, we will continue to use the Book of Faith resources as they come out (next is “Rediscovering the Book of Faith”) and very likely will have other places and groups using the series so that more and more of us can get on board. One of the taglines of the Book of Faith initiative is “Open Scripture. Join the Conversation.” I hope that all of us will.

There is another tagline that some folks at Bethlehem have asked questions about: “The language of scripture is our first language of faith.” This is not a call for all of us to suddenly become Hebrew and Greek scholars, but to deeply learn the “language” of the stories of the Bible, how God has acted in the lives of God’s people throughout time and history, and to learn to “hear” and “speak” this language in our daily lives. As the leaders’ material puts it “The language of the Bible becomes our language. It shapes how we think and speak about God, about the world, and about ourselves. We become renewed, enlivened, and empowered as the language of Scripture forms our hearts, our minds, our community conversation, and our commitments.”

If this is all a bit confusing, how about a story. My mom wears a silver bracelet with a Native American image of a whale on it. If you ask her about it, she will tell you the story of Jonah and the whale (well, in the Bible it says “big fish” but that ruins this story, so lets stick with whale). Jonah, if you recall, was told by God to go to the town of Nineveh and preach to the people there. Jonah didn’t listen, and embarked on a wild journey to avoid God’s call for him. He ended up on a ship in a storm, was thrown overboard and swallowed by a whale. Finally Jonah did what God asked him to do (though he was grumpy about it) and the city of Nineveh was saved.

But why, you would likely ask her, do you have a whale bracelet? Then she’ll tell you about how she was sitting in church one Sunday feeling overwhelmed with all of the demands on her time, longing for a sense of balance, and she heard again the story of Jonah. But as she listened, the call from God became not just a call for Jonah, but also for her. And the call from God was not to go to Nineveh, but to simplify and find some balance in her life. However, the final message she heard from God was the same: “Do what I say or I’ll send a whale to swallow you up!”

Fast forward a few months, and she and my dad are in London at the British Natural History Museum. When she walked into the room with a full size whale (bones and skin) hanging from the ceiling she involuntarily jumped back. Her heart started to beat fast and she thought. "Yikes, God, so you really mean it!" Thankfully, the whale did not come crashing to the ground as she feared. From that moment of awakening, however, my mom started making some changes in her life. She now wears her whale bracelet every day and thinks of it as a tangible reminder to focus on balance and try to listen to what God is calling her to do and not what she has put on her own to-do list.

So can you see how the “language” of the story of Jonah from the Bible became the “language of faith” for my mom? She knew this story deep down, from when she was a child—but that Sunday heard it in a new way for her. And then, months later, the story gives the occasion for a flash of insight, and she sees her life through the lens of Jonah and the whale. Because that story, in the “first language” of the scriptures, was part of my mom’s story, God was able to use it to work a miracle in her life. And now she (quite literally) keeps that story with her every day and it shapes the decisions she makes moment to moment. This is how the Bible is supposed to work in our lives. God breathes new life into stories written thousands of years ago so they can become alive again in our hearing, and shape our lives to be part of the one great story, God’s story. That’s what our “Book of Faith” is for. I do hope you’ll join in the fun.

Pastor Erik--October 2008

2008-10-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was forwarded an email with some outrageous claims about one of the candidates for President of the United States. Now I get these sorts of emails all the time, about both candidates as well as other political figures, and usually I just delete them. But this one was supposedly from a Christian source that was using the Book of Revelation from the Bible as the backup for its claim—and it got me thinking about our role as Christians in the political realm.

According to this email, Chapter 13 of the Book of Revelation outlines the reign of the Anti-Christ as 42 months, which is nearly a presidential term. It then goes on to claim that one of the candidates for president fits the Book of Revelation's description of the Anti-Christ perfectly—his age, his background, his demeanor all are clearly laid out in Revelation. The implication is that if someone votes for this candidate, that they will be electing the Anti-Christ and therefore a good Christian would never be foolish enough to do this. And so, following the logic of the email, the only possible vote a “Christian” could make would be for this man's opponent.

Go ahead and grab a Bible and flip to Revelation 13. See if you can figure out which candidate was described in the email. Unless one of the candidates has sprouted six more heads, a bunch of horns, and all sorts of animal parts since his last television appearance, it's not entirely apparent to me who this might be so “clearly” referring to. You might have a hard time finding the term “Anti-Christ” as well, since this term doesn't actually appear in the Book of Revelation at all. (It is in 1 and 2 John, but never with a description except that the Anti-Christ will deny the divinity of Jesus. This is something neither candidate has ever done to my knowledge.) The Book of Revelation is not one of those books that lays anything out clearly anyway—its language is figurative and symbolic. And throughout history people have been convinced that what is going on in their day and age (or in the past or future) is what the author of Revelation was warning us about. Though, unlike this email, people usually try to make this claim by connecting a person or situation to some sort details that could actually be found in Revelation.

So the email is baloney, so what? We all get a hundred emails a week with all sorts of garbage in them, why should we care? There are many problems I have with this email: it plays fast and loose with the Bible, it uses fear and deception to try to bully people into thinking a particular way, and it's just downright mean spirited. But what troubles me the most about this email is that it implies that there is only one “Christian” way to vote—and that there is no need for Christians to engage in the political process and no need to debate or exchange ideas. One only has to find the right “Christian” candidate and the discussion is over before it begins—and of course Christians are all of one mind and so the decision is clear.

I do agree that as Christians it is essential that we take our faith, our values, and our morals into the voting booth with us (OK, to our kitchen tables or wherever we now do our voting). We pray continually that “God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and part of that means electing leaders and supporting positions that we believe bring us closer to God's dream for us and creation, rather than farther from. But to assume that Christians are all of one mind and so debate and discussion isn't needed is simply false. I know for a fact that in our congregations are Republicans and Democrats (and at least one Libertarian). There are people who think abortion should be legal and those who think it should be outlawed, there are people for and against gay marriage, prayer in schools, the death penalty, offshore drilling, tax stimulus checks, bailouts for financial firms, and a whole host of other issues. And these folks support these candidates and positions not simply because of partisan politics or because they have been duped by the media, but because of honest attempts to apply their faith and the teachings of Jesus to the real world—a world where the answer to “how can God's will best be done?” is not always so clear.

I happen to be for one particular candidate (as I assume you are as well), but I don't think that makes me (or him) more Christian—and I certainly don't think that anyone who disagrees with me is any less Christian. Whatever our politics, it is essential that we are able to live together in community—and that doesn't simply mean ignoring our differences. I would like to see those of us who are Christian be an example of Christ's teachings to the world and approach our political life with the same sort of Christian values that we live by in the rest of our life. This means at the very least speaking the truth in love (and not spreading falsehoods and rumors), giving our neighbor the benefit of the doubt, and still being able to live in community (and share a table) with those we profoundly disagree with.

And so as this political season begins to really heat up, and the fear based politics and baloney continue to increase, I hope that we as Christian people and as a Christian community are able to engage with one another (and with the political process) without giving in to fear and the spreading of falsehoods. In the end, our unity comes not from all agreeing with a particular candidate or position—or even from agreeing with one another—but because we have been claimed by God and made one in baptism. Our unity is in Christ and this trumps all divisions that we can come up with—political or otherwise. So roll up your sleeves and be a part of the political process, but do so with humility and compassion for your brothers and sisters who disagree with you—remembering that your will is not the same as God's will, and that you may be sharing a pew with your so-called opponent on Sunday morning. And when the time comes to pass the peace we put aside all those differences so we—Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians alike—can come to Christ's table as one people, who share one meal, for the sake of God's world. Doesn't that sound like God's will?

Pastor Erik

PS. If you ever want to know the baloney factor of emails you get, check out www.snopes.com, the recognized online authority for such things.

Pastor Erik--September 2008

2008-09-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

All this summer we have been focusing on mission in our neighborhood. We hosted a neighborhood BBQ, delivered lots of fliers, watched movies out on our lawn with our neighbors, attended the Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Association meeting, and have even started digging up our property in order to make it more welcoming and accessible to our neighbors. We’ve learned that we don’t really know our neighbors very well at all, and that our neighbors don’t really know each other either. But we’ve also learned that God is up to something in our neighborhood, and is calling us to be a part of it—getting to know our neighbors is just the first step in figuring out just what this is, and this will be a process that continues throughout the year and beyond. The word is out, Bethlehem Lutheran wants to be an active part of this neighborhood again. It will be fun to see what God does with this desire.

As we move into fall, we’re shifting our mission focus just a bit. We kick off September with a number of events that draw us into thinking about what God is up to not only near us, but all over the world. Our Global Mission team has put together a huge slate of events this year. On Sunday, September 7^th we’ll be joined by Rev. Mark Nelson, assistant to the bishop, who will fill us in on our companion Synod in Tanzania. He’s recently back from a trip there and the installation of their new bishop so he’s chock full of stories about what God is doing through our partnership with this other Synod.

Then on Saturday, September 13^th we’re having a Fair Trade Fair featuring food and crafts from around the world that have been made without harming people, the environment, or local communities. But don’t think this is just a shopping day (though it is a great time to pick up Christmas gifts for loved ones). It’s going to be an emersion experience designed to give us a taste of life in Tanzania.

The high point of all of this will be our Global Mission Festival Worship on Sunday, September 14^th. From our summer worship space downstairs we’ll be journeying back up to the sanctuary. And with drums and music from around the world we will worship God with joy and energy. We’ll hear several “mission homilies” throughout the service, including a live video feed from Africa with missionaries Arden and Susan Strasser. This is one Sunday you won’t want to miss!

With all this talk of global mission, I hope you don’t think I intend us to ignore the local missions we participate in as well. It is my sincere prayer that through local and neighborhood missions we will be stirred to wonder about what God is up to around the world and how we can be a part of it. And in the same way, I pray that through global missions we will be stirred to wonder about what God is up to closer to home and how we can be a part of it. God is loose in the world, both here and far away. Its time to celebrate what God is up to and get on board!

Pastor Erik--August 2008

2008-08-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

We’ve shortened our service and moved downstairs for the hot days of July and August—and we’re encouraging our community to feel free to dress comfortably (yes, shorts in church!). Since our regular worship service is shorter this summer, we are offering several other worshipful activity options that people can do before the service, after the service, and during the week. We are calling this “Open Space”—a time to open some space in your life and your heart to experience God and to remember that we don’t just worship God an hour on Sunday mornings, but in many ways and with our whole lives. You are free to choose any of the options, try several, or spend the time in whatever way is most meaningful and helpful for you. The weeks options are available on our website, follow the “Open Space” link at www.BethlehemSpokane.org.

I know that many of you are asking, where on earth does Pastor Erik come up with these crazy ideas that he keeps trying out on us? Most of them (particularly the ones that seem to flop) come out of my own warped imagination. This idea, however, has some interesting roots that I thought I’d share.

Over the past couple of years I’ve been reading and keeping up on a movement in Christianity that has various names, most typically it is referred to as some variation on the “emerging church” or “emergent church” (I happen to like “emerging missional church”). While its hard to pin down exactly what this movement looks like or what it is all about (it’s very postmodern that way) these experimental worshiping communities are finding that the things that they are up to are really resonating with people in their 20s and 30s—the group that is largely absent from churches world wide. And the appeal is not what you might think—gone are rock bands, big screens, and stadium style worship entertainment events. The emerging missional movement is all about authenticity—in worship, in community, in discipleship and it goes about renewing the life of the church by going deeper into our roots. Small groups of Christians throughout the world are reclaiming some of the traditions and rituals of the Christian faith and re-appropriating them to speak in new ways in our context. They are finding small groups with which to gather and pray, to experience God in worship and service, to grow disciples of Jesus and make a difference in the world—and they are doing this more often in places like coffee shops and bars than in sanctuaries. The Community of Taizé is one such example of this, and there are communities cropping up around the world that are seeking to “be church” in new (and yet ancient) ways. The idea for “open space” worship I stole from one of these communities, The Church of the Apostles in Seattle, of which my brother is a member.

The reason I’m encouraging this experiment with us is not to be “hip and trendy” and figure out if we can “attract” more people (in their 20s and 30s or otherwise). In fact, one of the main tenets of the “emerging missional church” is getting away from the “attractional” model of outreach—authentic community is the model instead. As I’ve been reading about and experiencing the worship of these “emergent missional communities,” I’ve seen some real parallels to the sorts of things we have been talking about in Transformation, as well as some deep connections to our Lutheran roots and theology—and things we already do as Lutheran Christians.

Every worship at Bethlehem is meant to help those who are a part of it to encounter God and their neighbor. The entire service is shaped around the Bible lessons of the day and the sacraments of Baptism and Communion—the sermon, hymns, prayers, and the entire liturgy itself is planned and shaped to help all of us experience God through these “means of grace,” that is to say these ways that God communicates to us. Worship in “emerging missional communities” is reclaiming this element of worship that has often been neglected in many Christian communities—both in its “traditional” and “contemporary” forms. The “emerging missional communities” are rediscovering something that we have known all along—that worship is more than just going through the motions of liturgy and it’s more than just a few praise songs and a long sermon. Instead it’s about encountering and being transformed by God revealed to us in Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

I hope in the next few weeks that you will try out some of these “unusual” worship elements that are part of this “Open Space” experiment. They are designed to stretch us into thinking about and experiencing worship in new ways and to help bridge the artificial gap between church and “real life.” I’m also really hoping for some feedback—both positive and negative. One of the challenges of many “emerging missional communities” is that they struggle with being intergenerational, the sorts of things that really connect with the younger folks don’t always with the older folks. But my theory is that these experiments are tapping into something deeper than just what’s “hot” at the moment—and I think there’s that multi-generation churches like ours could add something important to this movement. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas on new elements to try. And thanks for being such gracious guinea pigs!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--July 2008

2008-07-01T10:16:00.000-07:00

Loving our Neighbors

One day, Jesus was being questioned by some religious folks who wanted to know what the most important commandment of God was. Perhaps they thought they were so religious, so holy, so good at keeping laws that they would surely be found to be keeping whatever this most important commandment was. Jesus’ response was: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39) That particular answer didn’t go over so well.

The problem for us when we are confronted by God’s commandments, is that we pretty much never measure up. I love the Lord my God, but do I really do it with ALL my heart, and ALL my soul, and ALL my mind? ALL the time? No way. And is it even possible for me to care as much for my neighbors as I do for myself? Would I really sacrifice my own money, or food, or shelter for the guy living next door to me? Or would I expect him to face life on his own? If these are really the greatest commandments of God, I for one am in big trouble.

We expect this as Lutheran Christians, I think. We know that we are saved by God’s grace through trusting faith—and know that when we fail to live up to God’s expectations, that God will love us anyway. But we also know, as Lutheran Christians, that because we are loved by God and don’t HAVE to do anything, that we become free to fulfill those dreams that God has for us. Imagine, for a moment, if all of us could actually love God with all our hearts, souls, and minds and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves—wouldn’t life on earth be pretty amazing? No more poverty, war, violence, self-centeredness. Even though we know that the world is more complicated than that and that we’ll never make that happen, doesn’t that sound a lot like what God wants for us and for all humanity?

But hold on for a second if you think I’m suggesting we set up some sort of religious-hippy commune where we are all happy and high on God—because I’m not. But what is our life together if not living together in a community shaped by Christ, in which we worship, pray, eat, serve and seek to live more fully into God dream (even if it never quite appears in it’s fullest form)? And, according to Jesus, this dream that God has is never just about us and God, but always includes our neighbors near and far—in fact, the whole of creation.

So, how are we doing on this “love your neighbor” stuff? Our Guiding Principles might help us here. I’ve been impressed, again and again, at how well we live into our principle “Everyone is welcome.” The way in which the people of Bethlehem reach out to and interact with visitors and new folks is inspiring—and I keep hearing talk of how we can make this place more welcoming to visitors and make clear that the hospitality we offer comes from God’s hospitality. This hospitality and welcoming presence is an amazing gift that God has given to us, and we use it to share the love of God and bring people into the community we share with one another in Jesus Christ. It’s a powerful witness of God to all who worship with us.

We’ve got another Guiding Principle, however, that we don’t live out as fully as we might: “We are called to work in God’s world.” We do, however, recognize this call, even when we aren’t fully living out what that call is. And it’s not as if we don’t try—but so often it’s hard to know just what our calling in the world is meant to be. As a community, we’ve recognized this as one of our growing edges—the place in which God is calling us to grow into that dream God has for us. And it’s strongly connected to this whole idea of “love your neighbor as yourself.”

But how, exactly, do we get there? As I’ve been thinking about this particular Guiding Principle, and this command to love our neighbors, I was struck with a question: “How am I supposed to LOVE my neighbor, if I don’t even KNOW my neighbor?” How many of us know the people who live in the houses immediately around ours? How many of us have shared a meal with those folks? And how about our church neighbors? Do you know the names of the folks we can see from our windows on Sunday morning? I don’t. And we certainly haven’t eaten with them.

But God has given us some great opportunities to get to know our neighbors. This summer, there are several events in which there is a good chance that our neighbors will be around and we will get the chance to get to know them: the neighborhood BBQ we are hosting on July 12^th and the Outdoor Movie Nights in July and August (see the schedule elsewhere in this newsletter). While these events are fun, what if we were to see them as more than a fun way to spend the evening (or stay away because it’s not what we think is a good time)? What if instead we saw these events (and the people who come) as gifts that God is giving us so that we can get to know our neighbors and neighborhood better? We’ve got lots of practice on Sunday morning during coffee hour getting to know and sharing stories with the new people who come our way. What if we were to do the same with the folks who might wander into our BBQ and movie nights? Surely through our neighbors we will get a fuller picture of what God is up to in our neighborhood, and might just get clued into the ways in which we might be “called to work in God’s world.” I hope you will come this summer to get to know our neighbors.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--June 2008

2008-06-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

At the Synod Assembly last month I attended a workshop on evangelism by Pastor Michael Nel. This was quite possibly one of the most interesting, informative, and useful hours I have ever spent. Pastor Nel’s main point was that when churches do evangelism, it’s all about anxiety—and this is not a good thing.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “Of course evangelism is about anxiety! What could cause more anxiety than telling me I have to go up to complete strangers and try to convince them to believe in Jesus?” And, while its true that talk of evangelism is enough to raise most Christians’ blood pressure—this isn’t the sort of anxiety that Pastor Nel was talking about (and this also isn’t the sort of evangelism he was talking about either).

Pastor Nel talked about anxiety not in individuals, but in a church as a whole. When things are going well, he said, most churches go through life quite happy to avoid evangelism. But when things start to look grim—worship attendance slips, offerings are down, it’s hard to find people for leadership positions—the church gets anxious. When this happens, someone is sure to pipe up with “You know what we need? An evangelism campaign!” And everyone agrees, more people, more money, and some new blood in leadership could do us wonders. And so a church sets out to spread the Good News and attract some new folks. This, says Nel, is exactly the WORST way to do evangelism, because we do it out of anxiety—and on top of that, it just plain doesn’t work.

Here’s why. When we do evangelism in this way, the message we are spreading is really not the Good News of Jesus Christ. It’s something more along the lines of “We are really anxious that our church is having trouble. Wouldn’t you like to come join us, do some work, pay some money, and help us feel better about ourselves? Then our lives will be so much easier and we won’t have to worry about our church going under.” But who wants to come and be a part of a church that is so anxious that it’s out recruiting other people to solve its problems? No wonder “evangelism” as we usually conceive it is so terrifying—if we don’t recruit some more people to save us, our very survival is at stake. And in reality, this so-called evangelism has nearly nothing to do with God and everything to do with us, our needs and wants.

So what’s the alternative? Pastor Nel redefines evangelism away from “convince people to believe in Jesus” and even “convince (or attract) people to come join our church.” Instead, he says evangelism is “The process of defining oneself as a Christian to the world around one.” In other words, letting the world know you are a Christian—and telling the story of what God is up to in your life in public. What people do with this information is their own business. Of course, we hope and pray that God will stir up a desire for faith, perhaps even that they will want to come and see what’s going on at our church—but in reality the call to evangelize is not to “recruit” but simply to bear witness to what God is up to in our lives. It’s about planting seeds and trusting that God will nurture them into plants that bear fruit.

So then, what does this mean for us? This is an exciting time in the life of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Ministry is flourishing, the Holy Spirit is loose among us, Transformation is growing deep and spreading throughout our congregation, hope is alive and well, and people are daring to dream about the future of Bethlehem Lutheran in God’s mission in the world. On Pentecost Sunday we celebrated all the things that the Holy Spirit has been doing in our midst, ending with a list of miracles shouted out by the congregation (you can listen to the podcast on our website if you missed it). There is much to tell about what God has been up to among us!

And it would be easy to just sit back and soak it all in—to coast for a while thinking everything is OK. But now is exactly the time that we should be thinking about evangelism and about connecting what God has been doing among us to what God is up to in our neighborhood and beyond. So in the next several months don’t be surprised to be hearing more about how we can live into our guiding principle “We are called to work in God’s world” through Global Mission, through service locally, through reconnecting to our neighborhood and getting to know our neighbors—not so we can recruit them to bail us out, but so that we can share the hope, the joy, and the love of God we have experienced and also receive new gifts, new passions, and new challenges. God has done way too much at Bethlehem Lutheran for us to keep it for ourselves. We are called to share, to bear witness, to be messengers of God’s love for the sake of the world. And so, here we go…

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--May 2008

2008-05-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I was part of something called the “First Call Theological Education Summit” at the ELCA Churchwide offices in Chicago. When I get invited to things such as this where I get to work with the other expressions of this church (the three expressions being: congregation, synod, churchwide) I usually try to take them up on their offer. I always come away having learned something more about what God is up to in the ELCA, hear exciting stories of mission and ministry from around the country, and come away inspired with something to bring back to our work here together. This trip was no exception.

The purpose of this “summit” (a fancy word for conference I think) was to talk about best practices for “First Call Theological Education” as well as what makes a healthy and supportive “First Call Congregation.” First Call Theological Education is a mandatory three year process that all pastors coming out of seminary participate in (including me). Just what is looks like varies from synod to synod and region to region. First Call Congregations are congregations (such as ours) who have called a pastor in their first call out of seminary. This event brought together those who plan First Call Theological Education, some of us who are participating in it (that’s why I was invited), as well as lay leaders and pastors from some First Call Congregations. Central to the conference was the presentation (in various forms) of the results of a research project the ELCA has undertaken (funded by the Lilly Foundation). First Call Congregations from around the country who were identified as “exemplary” were studied to find out just what are the things that make for successful First Calls—for the pastor and for the congregation.

As they were sharing the results and stories that came out of these exemplary First Call congregations, I kept thinking to myself “Man, Bethlehem should have been part of this!” When it came time to report the themes that the researchers found in these congregations, I realized why. Here are the themes that this research found make for a healthy and supportive First Call Congregation:

Nurturing: welcoming and supportive of their new pastor (including forgiving the pastor’s mistakes!, and creating a community of care for one another
Connected: to each other, to their past, across generations, to the local community, to synod and churchwide
Flexible: having deep, connected roots allowing for building on the strengths of the past while holding an attitude of openness and flexibility
Strong Lay Leadership: committed, faithful lay leaders who are called to ministries in the congregation and the world (including those that have traditionally been “the pastor’s job”)
Spiritually Practiced: centered on prayer, reading the Bible together, care for one another and those in need, mentoring and supportive of youth, practicing hospitality

I realized that these are the very traits that lie at the heart of what this community is all about, and they are all things that God has been bringing even more to the surface through our Transformation process. Having been built up in all of these areas over the past few years, we are now in a period of vibrant ministry in which God is using us in new and different ways. It’s exciting to imagine what God has in mind for us, and how these strengths of our community will be called forth for work in the world. Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--April 2008

2008-04-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Last month I wrote about our Guiding Principles, and how I wasn’t going to tell you just how we are supposed to use them. I know this was less than satisfying for many of you, who are still trying to wrap your heads around these six statements and what they mean. I’m with you. It’s not clear how God is going to continue to transform us through these statements. But…I’ve got another example to share—one that took place even before these guiding principles were put to paper (or bulletin, or business card, or giant full color poster, or T-shirt). And once again, it has to do with our doors.

Back in September, I wrote about how I saw in the process of replacing our front doors what I thought would be one of our Guiding Principles—the principle that came out “Everyone is Welcome”. Well, now it’s clear to me that God had us using all of our Guiding Principles in that process—even though we didn’t consciously know what they were yet. And here’s how:

1)Jesus is Lord and Savior. Conversations about our broken doors and whether we thought they ought to be repaired (again) or replaced have been going on around here for years. Some people wanted new doors, some people didn’t think we needed them. Hours and hours were spent in council meetings on whose opinion should win, but nobody wanted to hurt anybodies feelings, and so nothing ever seemed to happen. That is until the conversation started to move away from “what do we want/need/think is best” and towards “What is God calling us to do?” Jesus—not me, the council, or even the congregation—is Lord, and when we started to think in this way it lead to…

2) Everyone is Welcome. When we started to think about what God is calling us to do and be, and how we proclaim (or don’t proclaim) Jesus to the world it quickly became clear that we believe “Everyone is Welcome” but our old, clunky, broken doors were communicating “Everyone Stay Out!” In a clear use of our emerging Guiding Principle, the old doors were quickly gone, funds raised, and new ones installed—not because somebody wanted it and they one, but because we together saw how we weren’t living up to something very central to us, and were communicating to the world exactly the opposite of what God was calling us to.

3) Love Changes People. Though the process to replace the doors happened quickly, there continued to be different opinions on whether this was the right move or the right time. Rather than pushing for their way, those who felt called to lead us into getting new doors helped us gently see the possibility of change, loving us into a new future. It was actually the kids who got most excited about this, each week they pasted a picture of one sort of door we might want to get onto the old doors. Little by little the dream began to spread, lovingly rather than by force, and pretty soon the congregation was alive with talk of the vision of new doors. Rather than conflict, I heard those with objections being heard, their opinions valued and listened to, and instead of being the “loosers” were part of the process, whether they every thought replacing the doors was a good idea or not.

4) We are Called to Work in God’s World One of the best reasons against the doors that was raised was “wouldn’t this money be better spent in helping the needy?” If we believe “we are called to work in God’s world” we should always ask this question—and carefully weigh our decision. As the people of God we should not simply think of ourselves, our own needs and wants, but should always be mindful of our role in the world and the plight of those who struggle to survive. But rather than a selfish “we want our church to look pretty” decision, in the end the motivation for the new doors was welcoming those outside our community, done not for us, but for others—following God’s call to hospitality.

5) God Uses Ordinary People Like Us. Though the council had gone back and forth about the old doors, this transformation happened not because of a council decision, but because ordinary people felt called to lead, and to hold us to our Guiding Principle “Everyone is Welcome”. The official vote came long after the vision had been stirred, a good portion of money raised, and real excitement built over this transformation. And though there were a few people who contributed a large amount of money, each of us who put even a few dollars into the plate for the doors helped to make this happen. In small and large ways God used us to make this transformation happen, a visible sign to us and to all who enter that God is at work at Bethlehem—that we are being transformed from the inside out. And through something as simple as some new doors.

6) God Shows the Way. In the end, the success of our new doors had little to do with our efforts, our casting of the vision, or anything else that we did. Instead, because we took the time to listen to God, to pray and dream about what God might want us to do and the sort of church God wants us to be, God lead us into transformation. And through this process we got a taste of what it looks like to engage in transformational ministry, to use our Guiding Principles (even if we didn’t know it at the time), and to follow God’s lead.

Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--March 2008

2008-03-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

At our annual meeting at the end of January, our congregation adopted these Guiding Principles:

Jesus is Lord and Savior
Everyone is welcome
Love changes people
We are called to work in God's world
God uses ordinary people like us
God shows the way

These six statements represent those things that are most central to our life together as followers of Jesus in this place. They came from months of Bible study, prayer, and conversation by many people in our congregation. As God continues the work of transformation among us, these principles will help us make decisions, help engage us in mission, and help draw us more fully into God's dream for us.

In the past month, many people have asked “Just how are these Guiding Principles supposed to work?” It's a great question to ask, because if we just agree that these statements sound good, adopt them, but never put them to use they really won't impact us. If they are really going to serve as guides, we will need to seek to use them at every opportunity. Part of our task of the next several months is figuring out together just how these Guiding Principles will guide us. What sort of changes will we need to make together? What sort of callings might we take up (or put down!) because of them? How will we continue to check the principles themselves against God's Word and what we believe God is calling us to do and to be? Its up to every one of us to help our congregation claim these Guiding Principles and figure out how to live them out more fully and in new ways.

“So, pastor,” you might be saying to yourself, “what you're saying is you're pretty much not going to tell us how Guiding Principles are supposed to work.” And I suppose that's true, but not just because I want to be difficult. There are several reasons that our use of Guiding Principles can't just be laid out by me and followed by everyone else. The first reason is that they aren't just my Guiding Principles, or the Guiding Principles of the Transformation Team or the Church Council—they are our Guiding Principles. Another reason is that a big part of using them comes from the process of figuring out how we are going to use them, together, as a community of faith—to guide our life together as a congregation, to guide each of us as we seek to follow Jesus, and to guide our interactions with the community outside our walls. But the main reason I'm not going to just tell you all how we're going to use the Guiding Principles is that I actually don't know how they are going to work on us, or just what God has in store for us as we seek to live them out. But I'm excited see!

Over the next several months there will be many opportunities for us to use, think about, and apply our Guiding Principles, both in hypothetical situations and in the real life decisions we make together. And we should be prepared for God to transform us through them—and in ways we can't even imagine. To illustrate, I'll share a story from another Transformation congregation much like ours in Phoenix, Arizona: Alleluia Lutheran Church. They adopted a set of Guiding Principles (which are actually quite similar to ours) and they decided to propose a hypothetical situation to the congregation as a way to help people see how they might work. “Suppose,” they said “the City of Phoenix was looking for a solution to help homeless people find shelter on the coldest days and they asked our congregation if we would be willing to share our facilities to help.” Instead of pitting it as an argument between one side that thinks this is a good idea, and one side that thinks its a bad idea, they used their Guiding Principles, asking “If we were to take these principles seriously what sort of decision would we make?” When they used their Guiding Principles (Jesus is Lord, God welcomes everyone, Everything we have belongs to God, Everyone is on God's team, and Everyone needs a neighbor like us) they decided that choosing to help with the homeless project would be more in line with their principles (and closer to God's dream for them) than deciding not to. “God's welcome really is for everyone, including the homeless,” they decided, “and since our stuff is really God's stuff and we are part of God's team, we should share what we have with them—and doing so is being the sort of neighbor we would like to have.” If this sort of proposal were in front of them, they said, they would participate.

Well wouldn't you know it, that very same week—completely out of the blue—they got a letter from the Mayor of Phoenix asking if they would be interested in participating in a program very much like their hypothetical one. Who would have thought! It seems as though God was calling them to be serious about their Guiding Principles! Through their Guiding Principles God has continued to challenge them and is transforming them from a dying little Lutheran congregation, into a thriving, relevant, disciple-making community of faith. I look forward to see what God is planning for us as well!

To learn more about our Guiding Principles, the process we went though to develop them, and more about Transformation in general (including a link to Alleluia Lutheran Church) click on the “Transformation” link at www.BethlehemSpokane.org.

Pastor Erik--February 2008

2008-02-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that its time to start thinking about Lent already.

As I write this, my Christmas lights still hang on my house (no matter what I claimed I would be up to on Epiphany Sunday afternoon!) and a heavy blanket of snow which fell yesterday makes it hard to imagine spring as anything close to right around the corner. Nevertheless, Ash Wednesday is on February 3rd this year, one day later than the earliest it can possibly be—in fact the earliest it will be until the year 2160. The system for choosing the date for Easter is unbelievably complicated and has to do with the phases of the moon, the vernal equinox, and a 2000 year debate over which calendar one is meant to use. Suffice it to say, Easter comes 40 days after Ash Wednesday and it always falls (for Christians in the West) between March 22 and April 25th (inclusive). Sundays during Lent are not counted in the 40 days, because while Lent is meant to be a time of prayer, fasting, and preparation for the celebration of Christ's resurrection, every single Sunday is a “little Easter” when we gather together to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Sundays are times to celebrate and feast—no fasting allowed! I have to admit, as interesting as it may be to ponder church church calendar, our family calendar this month is dominated by another date—February 16th—the day Tauni is due to give birth to our second daughter. The Bethlehem church council has voted to give me some leave to be with my family during this important time and so our Lenten time together this year will be a bit different. For two weeks following the baby's birth I will be on paternity leave. On Sundays during those two weeks we will be having “Hymn Sing” services where we will sing our congregation's favorite hymns (and there are many!) from the lists you all have submitted in the last several weeks. I have to admit, I'm disappointed that I will miss these. If you have an emergency and need pastoral care during these two weeks, call the church cell phone number (252-0445) which will be forwarded to a local Lutheran pastor who will be filling in during my absence. After that, for four weeks I'll be preaching and leading adult education on Sundays, I'll be in the office on Tuesdays from 9:30-12:30, but otherwise working half time from home. I'll check messages and email and will have my cell phone back in case of emergencies. Our Wednesday night Akaloo education program with our other 6 cluster churches is on hold for Lent (we start back again March 25th). On Ash Wednesday we will use a service that combines the Ash Wednesday ritual from our new hymnal together with Taizé prayer. Throughout Lent we will continue our Bethlehem tradition of Wednesday night soup suppers (6:15pm) and will be joining together in Holden Evening Prayer (7:00pm) led by our some of our congregation's many gifted singers. There will be no soup supper or service on the Wednesday before Easter (March 19th), but we will be celebrating a full Passover Seder Supper on Maundy Thursday (March 20, 6:30pm) as we did last year to much acclaim. Good Friday (March 21, 7pm) will again be Taizé prayer, there will be no Easter Vigil this year, and Easter Sunday we will worship at 10:30am. As we welcome another child into our family Tauni and I appreciate Bethlehem's willingness to give me a bit of time away from our church family. Please pray for us as we enter this new journey—and may God be with you on your Lenten journey.

Pastor Erik

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Bethlehem Lutheran Church's Guiding Principles (Passed at the Annual Meeting January 27th 2008)

Jesus is Lord and Savior
Everyone is welcome
Love changes people
We are called to work in God’s world
God uses ordinary people like us
God shows the way

Pastor Erik--January 2008

2008-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

In the early 1990's there was a show on TV called “Quantum Leap” that remains one of my favorite series. It starred Scott Bakula as “Dr. Sam Beckett,” a physicist from the future whose experiments with time travel had gone awry causing him to be (perhaps forever) suck “leaping” into various points in history. Each episode would begin with Sam “leaping” into someone else's life in a new time and place. Only the TV viewers saw and heard Sam; when he looked in the mirror he (and we) got to see who he had become. Each episode was the story of one such “leap” as we followed Sam (as the show's intro explains) “striving to put right what once went wrong and hoping each time that his next leap will be the leap home.” Sam was guided by a hologram named Al, a friend from the future who helped Sam navigate his new surroundings and fulfill his purpose in that time and place.

In each situation Sam had a particular job to do—saving someone from one disaster or another, or stopping someone from making a life altering decision, or any number of other wrongs—and he and Al spent much of their time figuring out just what that purpose was supposed to be. Very often, however, Sam's purpose didn't become clear until the last few minutes of the episode—and often not at all in the way that Sam, Al, or the viewers expect. Once his purpose had been fulfilled Sam would “leap” into the next situation, into another time and place, just as unclear as to what his new purpose was meant to be. As the series progresses, it becomes clear that Sam's “leaps” are not just random chance, but that there is some method to the madness. Sam's seemingly minor actions have huge consequences: wars are averted, tragedies minimized, and life is better for everyone—with effects way beyond the people Sam interacts with. And as Sam “leaps” from life to life he, and Al (and the viewers), begin to wonder if maybe Sam's little purposes aren't part of a bigger mission—and that, perhaps, the method to the madness might just be God.

In the next couple of months we will be talking a great deal about mission and purpose as we continue our work of Transformation. Now I know trying to base our Transformation work off of anything other than the Bible is downright silly (especially some old TV show...somebody call the Bishop!). But I bring up “Quantum Leap” because I think it helps illustrate a key distinction as we continue in this work: the difference between “mission” and “purpose.”

Most organizations, businesses, non-profits, and even some individual people have developed “mission statements”—key statements about what that group is all about and how they go about their work. Many churches (including ours) develop mission statements as well, though more often than not they occupy some forgotten file drawer or are posted and forgotten. In thinking about mission and purpose it is essential that we remember that the Church's mission (and I mean the whole Christian Church on earth) is really God's mission. The Church exists not because its good in and of itself, but because it is a way that God works towards God's mission in and for the world. We play a part in that for sure, but whatever the Church is about (and whatever Bethlehem is about) is always going to be in relationship to what God is about.

But like the larger mission for Sam's “leaping” throughout history, just exactly what God has in mind for all creation is not always so crystal clear (though “putting right what has gone wrong” is not too bad!). In Adult Ed we have been reading a book called “Living Lutheran” and one of the exercises is to pray the Lord's Prayer but to repeat the line “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.” This is in part to remind us that God's dream for us, for the world, and for all creation isn't completed yet—that the kingdom of God, while here on earth, is not fully completed—and won't be until God's reign is fully expressed “on earth as in heaven.” God is continuing the work of creation, loving and blessing the world until it is as God wishes it to be. That is God's mission, and we, as the Church, are called to take part in it.

Like Sam, Bethlehem Lutheran has found itself in a particular time and place. Our job is not the same as God's—it is not our role to save the world and make it the way God wants it to be. But nevertheless God has a purpose in mind for us: it may be large, it may be small, but it is particularly ours (and may lead to other purposes as well). We may or may not get to see how our purpose fits into God's larger mission, and we may never know the full impact of our living out of God's purpose for us. But my hunch is that once we are able to figure out our particular purpose right now in God's larger mission—and seek to live it out faithfully—some hints of the larger pattern will start to appear to us too. That's what happens in the Book of Acts as the disciples try to live faithfully as followers of Jesus by eating and praying together and telling the story of Jesus. Suddenly they found themselves being called and sent to the ends of the earth—a purpose they never even imagined, but it became clear this was where God was calling them. And God used them as they lived out their particular purpose for the bigger mission that God had in mind. And their guide (the Holy Spirit) is even more helpful than a hologram named Al. It's the Holy Spirit who guides us too as we seek to figure out our particular purpose in what God is up to in the world—even if God's whole mission is not entirely clear to us. And so we are called to “leap” into the time and place into which we have found ourselves, trusting that as we seek out our purpose that God is using us in ways we don't even realize, and along the way will begin to see that we are part of something much larger than ourselves—the mission of God in the world.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--December 2007

2007-12-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

Transformation is among us!

Its been nearly a year since we began this process called “Transformation.” Now, you may be wondering when transformation is going to “happen” so we can get on with church life as usual. How are we going to know when we've arrived? When will we be transformed? Or you may even be asking: When can we quit talking about all of this?

In the gospel of Luke similar questions are being asked of Jesus about the kingdom of God: “Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’”(Luke 17:20-21) Like the kingdom of God, Transformation is not a destination exactly, not something that comes so you can say “Ok, we've done it” and just hang out. But, also like God's kingdom, you can see hints of Transformation—signs that God is up to something—the Transformation of Bethlehem is among us!

Here are some of the best signs that God is making Transformation happen among us:

Stuart Shawen

Tim Campbell

Ruth McKee

Sandy Rogers

John Slete

Mel Hayes

Linda Hayes

Nathan Clemens

Rebecca Clemens

Elliot Clemens

Ken Baungards

Vicki Baungards

David Holthaus

Erin Holthaus

Jacob Holthaus

Hannah Holthaus

Sienna Holthaus

These are the people who, in the past year, have felt called to participate in the mission of God through Bethlehem Lutheran Church by becoming members. There are 17 people on this list. For a congregation that regularly has 40-50 people in worship on any given Sunday, this is nothing short of a miracle! And two times this fall we have had 80 people in worship—more than we had this past Easter. And there's no reason to think that this won't continue. I don't think that growth for growth's sake is really what being the people of God is all about, but I also know that people don't join dying congregations. People feel called to participate in a congregation that is on its way somewhere, a community that's tuned in to what God is up to in the world and is seeking to be a part of it. We don't transform simply by adding people, but as we are transforming, people will naturally want to join with us in God's work. And through our Transformation, they have. This is cause for us to celebrate.

But in our celebration, we need to be careful not to think that “we've arrived,” that our Transformation is complete and we can just “be the church” now that we've been saved from the brink of disaster. Like the kingdom of God, Transformation is continuous, an ongoing emerging reality that we now live in. It's not about having enough people to pay the bills and being able to afford a pastor. Its not about having a full sanctuary, or lots of programs and activities, or being known as a vibrant congregation. All of these things are simply means to an end: getting us ready to engage in the purpose that God has for us in God's mission in and to the world. And for us, that's the next step. In the coming months we will be working hard on Guiding Principles—those statements that will lead us to that next stage of mission and participation of what God is up to in the world. We'll be developing a purpose statement, and seeking to find some clarity as to what it is we are to do next. God is calling us to do more that just simply “be”—we are called to transform and to keep transforming so that we will be ready to be part of God's mission and purpose for us. Its an exciting time to be a part of Bethlehem Lutheran Church to see where God is leading us next. Transformation is among us!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--November 2007

2007-11-01T08:20:00.000-07:00

Over these past months of Transformation, one question has come up again and again: “How do we recognize the call of God?” The creator of the universe is not prone to cell phone or email conversation, and only rarely resorts to inscribing things on stone tablets or giving grand visions where everything is all laid out—and none of these things seem to be happening to us. So how are we supposed to know what God has in mind for us as a community or as individual people?

We’ve been reading the Book of Acts together every Sunday morning. Actually, we’re on our second time through—having come to the end of the book at the beginning of summer and realizing that we need another run at it. It’s a great and thought provoking book—even the second time (maybe even more so). It’s an incredible (and dramatic) story, and those of us who have been delving into it are coming to realize that it has a message for us and what God is calling us to—even if the specifics on that aren’t entirely clear. Acts is itself a story about the call of God and those who respond to it—and it is chock full of transformation. So I think it’s a good place to start in answering the question “How do we recognize the call of God?”

First, we’ve got to start in prayer. Prayer is a constant activity in Acts—and especially as the disciples of Jesus faced hard, difficult, or confusing decisions. And we’re not talking merely memorized recitations here; in Acts the disciples “devote” themselves to prayer. And through prayer, transformation begins.

Next, it’s about telling the story. Again and again, even when faced with persecution or death, the followers of Jesus tell the story. They tell anyone who will listen (and even some who don’t want to hear it) about Jesus, and how he brings forgiveness, and how his message of wholeness is meant for all people. And they tell their own stories, stories of the amazing and often strange ways God has worked in their lives. Through the telling of the story, not only the hearers, but the tellers of the story are transformed.

Then, we’ve got to be sure to listen for the Holy Spirit and be willing to follow where the Spirit leads. Paul, Peter, James, Barnabas, Stephen—they all found themselves in places they never expected to be, telling about Jesus to people they never expected to encounter, and doing things they never thought possible. And when things got difficult, they listened to the Spirit and went about it some other way—and through this, God led them into ministry they never even dreamed of.

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? One could almost write a whole self-help book on these three principles: pray, tell the story, and listen for the Holy Spirit. Just do these three simple steps, and you’ll know for sure where God is calling you. But this morning in Bible study something profound hit me. Most of the time, the disciples in Acts had no idea what was going on. From our perspective it looks so clear: “And the Holy Spirit called Paul to thus and so” but as the things were taking place, I’m pretty convinced they were fumbling around just like we do. Paul got knocked off his horse and spent several days blind before some gracious soul came to tell him what the heck was going on. Peter was released from prison by an angel, but thought he was dreaming until he found himself standing outside by himself. Again and again the disciples of Jesus bumble around until they find the place that the message will take hold—trying and failing again and again until God gives a resounding “You’re on to something!” and things work out.

In the coming months, we will be working hard on developing some guiding principles—praying, telling the story, and listening together to get those hints as to who God is calling us to be. We will seek to figure out and articulate what lies a the core of who we are, those things that make Bethlehem Lutheran Bethlehem Lutheran and will give us a clearer picture of where we may be called to go next. Part of this process will be several “cottage meetings” where we will gather in small groups around food or other activities to talk about what it is that God wants our neighbors and the world to know is true about us. I hope you will make an effort to be a part of one or more of these meetings, and participate in the shaping of our future ministry.

Maybe someday when someone writes “The Acts of Bethlehem Lutheran Church” the unfolding of God’s call will be crystal clear, and we will see what God has been leading us to all along. But in the mean time, we’ve got to bumble around like the disciples in Acts—deep in prayer, continuing to tell the story of Jesus and our own stories, and listening for the Holy Spirit for where we are to go next. If we do this, and seek to live faithfully in the mean time, I believe our calling as a people will begin to get clearer and clearer, like it did in Acts as they discovered that the Good News about Jesus was just too good to keep to themselves. God is calling us to find a place in his vision and mission in the world, too.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--October 2007

2007-10-01T20:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday, September 9^th started off like any regular Sunday at Bethlehem Lutheran. As people began to fill our sanctuary, we noticed a few unusual decorative elements—colorful cloths and hangings, a globe of flowers representing the world floating in a blue sea beneath the Christ candle, wheat and other plants where we usually see flowers, and the baptismal font directly in front of the altar—hints that something different, something festive was in store for us. When we looked a bit closer, we noticed some drums up by the pulpit and wait, is that a projector? But it wasn’t until the prelude began that we knew we were in for a wholly different worship experience than had ever taken place at Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Rather than the organ, we heard the beat of drums from our parking lot. “Listen! Listen God is calling!” The voices rang out to our neighborhood. “Hear the invitation, sent forth to all. Let us come and worship, answer God’s call.” And then, the drummers and singers made their way into the sanctuary. “Listen! Listen God is calling through the Word inviting, offering forgiveness, comfort and joy.” And you couldn’t help but listen and be drawn in to the invitation to experience God in this place. In addition to the unusual music, during this Global Mission Festival Service we focused on Global Mission, what God is up to around the world, hearing stories of pain and suffering along side stories of miracles God is doing through people just like us (and including us) and how we can be a part of what God is up to. It was challenging, heart breaking, inspiring, jarring and comforting all at the same time.

But it wasn’t all new and different. Amidst the drums and songs from Africa, Jamaica, Palestine, Brazil, Nicaragua, and other places projected up on the wall, we recognized our liturgy—bits and pieces that were familiar anchors: the Kyrie, the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the Word and the Sacraments at the center. Through the ancient pattern of worship God kept us connected to Christians throughout time and around the world—while through the unfamiliar parts we received the gifts of Christians in other places, and through these gifts God revealed himself to us in a whole new way. And it was fun! As we left the sanctuary, young and old were energized, dancing down the aisle still singing “Alabare! I will praise my Lord” as we made our way down to a coffee hour with the most incredible spread of desserts from all corners of the earth that we have ever seen. “People really eat that?” we wondered (as we ate it) “Boy, I wouldn’t have put these things together and called it dessert, but this is really good!” The presence of God was clearly among us as we worshiped and ate together—energizing us—and those who were there just can’t stop talking about it. Even little Emma sang “Uyaimose” all the way home.

Since February we have been engaged in a process of Transformation, opening ourselves up to what God is doing in the world and seeing how we can be a part of it. This worship service is a sign that this Transformation is really starting to take root. And the miracles abound. We had drums and a projector in the sanctuary—treasonous acts in some places—and they actually helped us focus on God. We raised over $150 in small change for world hunger. There were 84 people in attendance on Global Mission Sunday, TWELVE MORE than came on Easter Sunday this year. Think about that! And to top it all off, since the Global Mission Sunday nine people have indicated that they want to join Bethlehem. NINE PEOPLE! And almost all of them are under the age of 40.

Kelly Fryer in an article entitled “Traffic Jams and Transformation” reflects on research done in the past decades in the ELCA about what sorts of factors and techniques help churches to grow. She writes: “There was no single ‘technique’ that DID make a difference over the past decade…It didn’t matter what our newsletters looked like or how often we knocked on doors inviting people to church or how much people liked the pastor’s sermons. There was – get ready – only ONE factor that was a good predictor for whether or not a church grew: The ONLY factor that really matters is whether or not a church has a clear enough vision of where God wants it to go that it is open to change. The real issue, you see, isn’t HOW we do things. The real issue is who we ARE. Are we people who are so confident in God’s love and grace that we are able to try new things and welcome new people and embrace new ideas and dream new dreams? …Are we willing to let ourselves be turned upside down and inside out by a God who wants for us, for our congregations, and for our world more than anything we could ask or imagine?”

I don’t believe that these nine people (or anybody for that matter) want to join Bethlehem because we put on a good show, or because we had drums and a screen in the sanctuary, or for any other reason related to the Global Mission service except that it showed that we—the people of God who gather together here to be Bethlehem Lutheran Church—are listening to where God wants us to go and because of this we are open to change. The Global Mission service came about not because we thought it would be fun, or because we thought it would draw in more people, or for any reason other than the fact that the Transformation team, the council, and the new Global Mission team discerned a call from God that we should be exposed to what God is up to in other parts of the world—that God was calling us to think outside of ourselves. And through responding to that call, God worked amazing and miraculous things in our midst. We were, and are, willing to let ourselves be turned upside down and inside out by God—and God is already leading us into a future that is more than anything we could ask or imagine. And the people who come and worship with us experience this, and want to be a part of it—to join with us in what God is up to in the world. Our Global Mission Service was a great big sign that God is Transforming us—a little bit of our future right here in the present—that calls us even more deeply into figuring out what God has in mind for us. Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--September 2007

2007-09-01T19:57:00.000-07:00

Transformation for our Doors!

As part of the Transformation process that we are undergoing, we will be focusing on three things over the next several months: 1) recognizing God’s mission in our neighborhood and in the world, 2) our vision for the part we believe we are called to play in God’s mission (aka our purpose), and 3) the guiding principles we hold that will shape how we seek to live out both of these together. This is not an easy task, and will involve a great deal of prayer, Bible study, and conversation together as we try to discern what God is up to among us and how we are going to participate in it. But thankfully, God does not wait for us to get our act together before transforming us (we call this grace) and I believe God is already putting us to work on what will probably be one of our guiding principles. And we can see it in one of the most mundane things about our life together as the people of God—our old, broken front doors.

The guiding principle I’m talking about is something along the lines of this “Bethlehem Lutheran is a welcoming community.” Now, we may not always live this out as fully as we might, but this principle seems to be central to how we see ourselves as a community, as a church, and as part of God’s mission in our neighborhood and the world. We live this out in various ways, from kind words to newcomers at worship, to bountiful feasts at funerals, to keeping an attractive sanctuary and fellowship hall so that when you step inside our church building you can feel “right at home” and know that we are a welcoming community. This connects to what we have read and heard together in the Bible: that God’s Good News is for everyone, that Christ welcomes all people to his table, and that we are meant to embody this in real ways in service to our neighbors.

Sometime this past winter, when the front doors had once again stuck open in the cold, I heard someone say a prophetic word: “You know, Bethlehem is very welcoming once you get in, but you kind of have to overcome these industrial doors to get there.” And suddenly the truth was before us—not only were the doors broken, they were communicating something to all who entered and also something (maybe even more loudly) to those who never entered. But it wasn’t until we were able to put our doors in conversation with this emerging guiding principle that things actually started to happen. When enough people started to say “Hey, Bethlehem is a welcoming community, and these doors just plain don’t reflect that!” the Holy Spirit grabbed hold of us, and something pretty amazing happened. Rather than a 6 month drone of “the doors are broken, please give more money” to which endless committees added the monotone base note of debate of endless possibilities resulting in yet another winter of not much changing—we saw transformation. People were motivated, visions pursued, doors found, money raised, and (hopefully by the time you read this) new doors installed—in weeks rather than months.

I believe the difference is that we looked at the doors in light of our guiding principles. We, as the people of God in this place, are a welcoming community. These old doors don’t reflect that, and are in the way of God’s work through us here, and so they have to go. When the criteria is “how do we best communicate this” rather than “what do we want, what do we like or dislike, what do we think we need to do for ourselves” we put the project of new doors in another framework. The doors become not about us, but about God’s mission in the world.

I have yet to talk to anyone who has not been utterly astonished at how quickly this has come together—in our experience “church business” usually gets bogged down, discussed and re-discussed, often so long that everyone just gives up. But this project was not just about “church business” it was about “God’s business” and we found ourselves responding to a call and all the pieces (together with a bit of hard work and great generosity) all fell into place. And this is just one project, with one guiding principle. Can you imagine what God will do with us when we are able to figure out a few more? Isn’t Transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--August 2007

2007-08-01T19:55:00.000-07:00

A Spectacular Failure

For the past several months I have been using this space to talk about the miracles that God has been doing among us, and that we are starting to notice and celebrate as part of our Transformation process. This month, however, I’m not going to highlight a miracle, but rather a spectacular failure. “Oh, come on, Pastor,” you may be saying to yourself, “isn’t this newsletter supposed to be inspirational? Shouldn’t we just focus on the positive?” But part of trying something new, and of trying to figure out who God is calling us to be as a congregation, is failure. In fact, if some of the things that we were doing didn’t fail, it would be a sure sign that we aren’t risking very much, that we aren’t willing to try something really new for the sake of God’s mission. We are called to try and fail, and sometimes to fail spectacularly.

The spectacular failure I’m referring to is our experiment with our weekly Thursday night “Club Akaloo” education event for kids from Kindergarten through 8^th grade. The vision was there. Our Sunday School superintendent Christine Colestock had an inspired idea for a high-energy, multi age, educational experience—a dream that was to eventually unite our whole community with age-appropriate education for everyone and a spirit of togetherness as we gathered on Thursday nights to learn, fellowship, and worship together. As if by a miracle, the Lutheran Church put out a new education curriculum, called “Akaloo,” which was designed for exactly this sort of thing. And so Christine led us in this new direction, blazing a new trail, to see if this was where God was calling us. And our congregation cheered her on, remembering a time when our Sunday School flourished, when Bethlehem resounded with the energy and enthusiasm of young people. And, miraculously, youth education at Bethlehem tripled in size in just a few months, from 5 kids to 15, half of whom weren’t otherwise connected to our congregation. And these kids came week after week, and they learned about Jesus, and they experienced the love of God here, and they really enjoyed it.

But after a while, it became more and more work to keep Akaloo going. Christine had hoped that we could all get behind this new thing God was doing among us, that everyone in our congregation could participate in whatever way they could. But despite what seemed like widespread support for work with young people, week after week, Christine was serving alone, with only her pastor there to cheer her on. Like a campfire that refuses to start no matter how much newspaper and matches you throw into it, Akaloo wasn’t able to catch Bethlehem on fire, and slowly smoldered out.

I’m going to be honest with you, I was pretty annoyed by this at first. Christine (and I) poured huge amounts of energy into this project and really wanted it to be a gift to our community—to be a rallying point for us to get behind that would reenergize us for mission. With no one willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved, however, leaders become quickly tired, burned out, and discouraged—and when going it alone, no matter how hard we try, all our hard work leads to failure. And even more frustrating was the fact that it seemed as though everyone was behind it. But as I listened carefully to folks as they remembered the days when the Sunday School was thriving, what they remembered, really, wasn’t just an impressive Sunday School, but the feeling of what it is like to be connected to God’s calling for us. When everyone wants to get on board, and be a part of what God is doing among us and through us—that’s what gives us energy for service. Perhaps this “spectacular failure” is an indication that our calling isn’t to rebuild the Sunday School we had in the past, isn’t to reconstruct our congregation on old blueprints, but to strike out in a new direction. And we wouldn’t have caught this new vision in we hadn’t tried and failed.

When we tap into what God has in mind for us, things take off and fly as if they had a life of their own (we could say “inspired by the Holy Spirit”). That’s one of the ways God show us that we are on the right track. People can’t wait to get involved, all sorts of connections start to happen, we become inspired and energized to work our tails off in service to God (think of the miracles of the last several months). But God also offers course corrections. When things become extremely difficult and people serve only out of a sense of duty, or begrudgingly, or find a way to dodge when the sign up sheet comes around—this could very well be an indication that we are off course a bit, and that God has other things in mind for us. A little bit of resistance is expected, but when roadblocks come up at every intersection, we should pay attention. Even if something worked well in the past, even if it works well at a church across town or across the street, no matter how hard we try, no matter how committed we may be, no matter how great an idea might be, if it’s not what God is calling us to do, no amount of effort on our part can make it happen. This might sound fatalistic, but it’s really good news. Our job is not to create something out of nothing, or to continue to bail out a sinking ship, but to keep asking “Is this what you want from us God?” and giving things a shot. When we hit on what God has in mind for us, we’ll know it.

In the Book of Acts, the religious council is debating whether to let the new “Christians” continue in their work, or to try to get rid of them. The religious leaders were threatened by all the “new stuff” these Christians were up to—what would happen to their old traditions? And (more to the point) what would happen to their power? Gamaliel, a respected teacher, responds in Acts 5:38b-39: “If this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!” And yet, we shouldn’t be so quick to judge what is and isn’t of God. The God who raised Jesus from the dead again and again brings new life out of seemingly hopeless situations. Our “spectacular failure,” has inspired a whole new ministry. Three Lutheran churches in our cluster have been looking for something to do together, and heard of our Akaloo experiment. We shared with them our vision, and suddenly our entire cluster of churches is involved—with a seven-church weekly Wednesday Akaloo event starting in September that really has something for all ages. (see the flier elsewhere in this newsletter) Our little Bethlehem dream, and spectacular failure, has evolved into an incredible ministry that we never could have done on our own.

Though we “failed” in what we set out to do, we really were just given a bit of a course correction. It’s as if God said “Try it on your own, and it won’t work. What I have in mind is something that all the churches can do together.” And instead of little Bethlehem Lutheran striking out on its own with little support, we are now part of something bigger than ourselves. Though we thought our calling was for a “Bethlehem Only Akaloo,” in fact God was using us as yeast for a much larger loaf. Will this multi-church Akaloo ministry take off? God only knows. If this plan or undertaking is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is of God, well, we might just see some more miracles. But we’ll only find out it we are willing to roll up our sleeves, get involved, and risk another spectacular failure that just might lead us to wherever God is calling us next. Isn’t transformation fun?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--July 2007

2007-07-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

This is what Transformation looks like!

When you tap into what God is up to in the world, and (often through trial and error) figure out what part God is calling you to play in it, it’s often amazing what God will do. As Christians we know that God takes ordinary things and does extraordinary things with them. Think Communion and Baptism. As Luther asks (and answers) in the Small Catechism: “How can water do such great things? Clearly the water does not do it, but the Word of God, which is with, in, and among the water, and faith, which trusts this Word of God in the Water.” The same is true for us. How can ordinary people do such great things? Clearly we do not do it, but when we allow God to work through us and act in faith (that is to say, trusting in Christ), God can use us to do his work in the world. More often than not our response to God’s call is “OK, God, I’m not sure you have the right person, and I’m not sure just what you are wanting from me, but I’ll give it a shot.” When we stretch ourselves to follow where we think God is calling us, and trust that God will use us for whatever he has in mind, this is precisely where God takes up our ordinary actions, and transforms them. And when we live lives of service in response to God’s call, God takes our transformed actions and transforms us as well.

An example. There is rather simple ministry that has begun among us, that I believe is the “first fruits” of our Transformation. In March, while the Transformation team was away at training in Issaquah, the Holy Spirit was busy at work at Bethlehem. When we returned, Rose Greiss and Clara Donder responded to an invitation I had issued to accompany me on a communion visit to one of our homebound members. During this visit, I encouraged (they might say tricked) them to assist with distributing Communion, and they agreed. A simple action, surely, but the Holy Spirit grabbed a hold of it. As we drove back to the church, we spoke about how one recognizes God’s call, and these two women recognized that this may in fact be something God was calling them to be a part of. But the Holy Spirit wasn’t done yet. Out of that first visit, suddenly a whole team of folks have risen up to visit and bring Communion to our folks who have trouble getting to worship.

From where I stand this is a major miracle. Once God raised up some leaders who felt called to this ministry, I imagined that it would take a whole year before we could find a team of people that felt called to this ministry, help them feel trained and educated enough to serve as Eucharistic Ministers in people’s homes, and set up a plan so that everyone who was unable to come to worship could receive Communion at least every other week. But within a month, there was suddenly a team of Eucharistic Ministers, our ministers were training and mentoring each other, and sharing with one another the joy that comes from hearing and responding to God’s call. Incredible! Amazing! This can only be God at work!

But the Holy Spirit wasn’t done with us yet. Out of this group came an idea to encourage more of our members to accompany them on visits, so that our folks know that “when you can’t come to church, the church will come to you.” And so last month we held a “spring sing,” like Christmas caroling but in the spring and singing hymns. It was a wonderful afternoon and a powerful witness to those of our church who have trouble getting out that they are still a part of our community, and that we (and God) still care for them. Now instead of one visitor (the pastor), or a couple of people (our Eucharistic Ministers), we suddenly had a small congregation gathered in their homes as we sang hymns, fellowshipped, and shared Communion with them.

But the Holy Spirit wasn’t done with us yet. We were singing at the care home of one of our members, and after we had finished the family members of the man next door thanked us. The man next door was dying, and his family was holding vigil at his bedside. Our singing, quite unbeknownst to us, was for them a gift from God. They spotted my pastor’s collar, and wondered if I wouldn’t mind saying a prayer with them. As I stood around the bedside of a dying man I had never seen before, holding hands with his loved ones, and prayed with them it was clear to me that God was at work. I believe God put us all in that place on that Sunday afternoon to be an answer to prayer. And I also believe that God put us there so that we would get a glimpse of what Transformation looks like. Simple actions, responding to seemingly ordinary callings, and yet being open to the Holy Spirit doing what the Holy Spirit does—transforming everyday, ordinary things and people into the means God uses to proclaim the Good News. It’s miraculous!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--June 2007

2007-06-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Stop…Look…and Listen

A number of years ago there was a popular book called “All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten.” Along with such sage advice as “share everything,” “hold hands and stick together,” and “take a nap every afternoon” was this little bit of wisdom to prepare you to take a leap of faith, step off of a familiar curb, navigate dangerous traffic, arrive safely on the other side and be on your way to somewhere new: Stop…look…and listen. To leap off the curb too quickly means running headlong into oncoming traffic. To stay where you are comfortable for too long means to miss out on all the wonderful things on the other side. But how is a kindergartener to have the courage to cross over to the other side? And how are we, as the people of God, to have the courage to go in the new directions God has in store for us, when the road ahead is full of unknowns? Maybe Stop...Look…and Listen is good advice after all.

And so we “Stop”, and in prayer take stock of where we are. Who are we? Where have we been? What has led us to the place we are now? Where has God called us in the past? In which direction are we headed? What are we afraid of? What dreams do we have? What miracles has God done among and through us? As part of our congregation’s transformation, we have been prayerfully asking these questions for the past several months, seeking to get a picture of who we are and what we are all about.

The next step, “Look,” may be one of the hardest. We are called to look around and see what God is already doing. What gifts do we have already? What is God up to in our congregation? What things is God already doing in our neighborhood? In our city? In our world? Seeing God at work in our lives is not always easy, but once we train ourselves a bit, once we start to see with a new set of eyes, it becomes difficult NOT to see what God is doing, and how God is already actively working to transform us.

Then we “Listen,” listen for where God might be calling us to go. Through prayer and reading the Bible together in community, we can start to hear that “still small voice” of God, gently leading us. But like seeing what God is doing, listening for God’s call takes practice and patience, and sometimes just giving something a try. By trying something new (and maybe failing) we can start to see where we are being led. And who knows, perhaps we’ll latch on to something God has in mind for us, and when this happens, there’s no telling where it will lead.

One of the principles of transformational ministry is that God has already given us the gifts we need to accomplish what we are being called to do. There are many example of this, and of the working of the Holy Spirit among us. I’ll share one example that happened in our own congregation this past month. Several months ago, I received in the mail a magazine and report from Lutheran World Relief, describing the work that God is already doing in the world through us through the ELCA. I read it, and instead of throwing it away, I passed it on to Jan Moorefield because I remembered a conversation she and I had about her passion for Global Mission. I had been praying that God would put something in my way that would help Jan find a way to put this gift into service at Bethlehem. Jan read it, and was inspired (by the Holy Spirit, I believe) with an idea for a Global Mission Sunday for Bethlehem this fall.

When the idea was presented to the council, not only was it given a strong word of support, but three more people felt called to participate, bringing their various gifts and ideas. When I got home that night, and relayed to my wife the miracle that people were not only volunteering for a new committee (amazing!) but were actually excited about it (double amazing!) her response was, “That sounds like fun, can I be a part of it too?” Now this little idea about “something to do with global mission” has turned into a plan for a festival worship, a “fair trade” fair, a global foods potluck, an event to invite our neighborhood to, an education event about our companion synod in Tanzania, and all sorts of other things that God is inspiring us to do (and some we haven’t even seen yet). Pay attention, folks, this is what Transformation looks like—God working through us to lead us in new directions, putting to use our gifts, raising up leaders, inspiring us to new ministry, and giving us the energy and willingness to do something new. And it’s fun!

Stop…Look…and Listen. Where is God calling you?

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--May 2007

2007-05-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Miracles and Ministries Among Us

Transformational ministry, by definition, involves change. But that is not all that this new way of seeking to live out God’s call means for us. Another part, a big part, is recognizing the things that God is already doing among us. God is active in the lives of the people who gather to become Bethlehem Lutheran Church. God is active in the ministries we share, in the conversations we have, in the neighborhood in which our church building stands. And yet, for a whole range of reasons, we aren’t always aware of what God is doing, or aware that what we see as nothing special might just be God at work. Because of this, for the next several months (maybe longer) I’m going to be highlighting some of the ways in which I see God active, already, in our congregation. I hope this helps you to see what God is doing, how God is transforming us, and that you will begin to share the ways in which you see God working as well.

A year ago when I was interviewing at Bethlehem, I was informed, on several occasions, that this is a congregation that likes to eat. Part of my interview was a stellar potluck, and it was promised that if I took the call, there would be many more where this came from. As a lover of potlucks (and food in general) I joked that this was the deciding factor in accepting the call to Bethlehem. In the year since, you have not let me down on your promise, the potlucks have been incredible and it’s clear that this is a congregation that loves to gather for friendship and fellowship around food. But have you ever thought of your gift of putting on magnificent potlucks as ministry? What about evangelism? What on earth could tuna noodle casserole have to do with the Good News of Jesus Christ?

Fun is not the only motivation for potluck dinners at Bethlehem. In fact, some of the best meals that we have shared together have been for funerals. When one of our members—or anyone even remotely connected to our community—dies, a team of volunteers springs into action. With the shortest of notice, phone calls are made, suddenly tables are set up, salads, casseroles, and deserts appear in our fellowship hall. In an incredible act of hospitality, Bethlehem Lutheran Church welcomes and feeds not only our own people, but all who come. In the darkness of grief following the loss of a loved one, our fellowship hall becomes a beacon of light, a place of warmth and welcome, where we gather to eat with one another—friends and strangers—and to comfort each other in a way that goes beyond mere words.

When I’ve asked some of those who participate in this ministry why they do it, the answer is some form of “That’s just what we do here.” Funeral meals have become just part of the fabric of our community, part of our DNA. It’s normal, ordinary, nothing to make too much of a fuss over. But I believe that the real reason that our congregation responds in this way lies much deeper than “it’s just what we do” and has everything to do with responding to the call of Jesus Christ. And, far from ordinary, this ministry is one of the ways that God is active among us.

This was brought to my attention particularly during a funeral held this last week. It was reported to me that one of the people attending made a comment along the lines of “I didn’t know churches did this sort of thing,” obviously struck by the strangeness of our kindness and hospitality in a “fend for yourself” world. We live in a world where more and more people have no idea what goes on behind the doors of our churches. And yet, from time to time, for a funeral, wedding, holiday or some other non threatening event held in a building marked “Church” they might find themselves here. What do they experience? At Bethlehem, through this simple ministry of food, people experienced a bit of the love of Jesus Christ, who welcomes the stranger, comforts the grieving, feeds the hungry, forms people into community, brings hope in the face of death.

Though we may not be conscious of it, I believe that this is something we do because of what God has done for us in Jesus. When we respond to God’s grace in such a way, we are sharing the Good News, proclaiming through our hospitality the abundant hospitality of God who welcomes everyone, who forgives everyone, who loves everyone. This is ministry, and when we engage in this ministry with those who are outside of our community, it is evangelism too. The transformation part comes when we recognize that this sort of hospitality is not normal, it’s not expected, but rather is something the Holy Spirit is doing among us. When we begin to recognize this, and celebrate God’s work through us, and someone asks “Why do you folks do this?” we can respond “Because of Jesus Christ,” opening a conversation about how God has worked in our lives, and how we feel called to respond. Ministry and evangelism are not just about preaching and door-knocking, but are about engaging in the work that God is calling us to, proclaiming in word and deed the Good News of Jesus, and helping others to be a part of it too. As we cook and share a meal, we enact, if only for a few hours, that great, abundant, free Grace of Jesus Christ for all in a way that others can experience it. This is God’s work!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--April 2007

2007-04-01T19:32:00.000-07:00

God is loose at Bethlehem!

One of my favorite musicians, Peter Mayer, has a song called “Loose in the world” that has been stuck in my head ever since the Transformational Ministry training event a few weeks ago. “Hey, hey, this mercy moves. Hey, hey, God is loose in the world.” It was just those two lines, over and over, as I worked and visited, as I spent time in our neighborhood, as prayed and preached. “Hey, hey, God is loose in the world.”

To be honest, I thought the Transformation process was going to be a tough sell. That somehow those of us passionate about seeking where God was calling us to go, and trying to figure out what God wants of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, would have to convince the rest of y’all that this was a good thing to be spending time and energy on. But I was forgetting that this church isn’t our church, it’s God’s church. The ministry and service we do here isn’t our ministry and service, but it’s God’s. “Hey, hey, God is loose in the world” like a voice from heaven, God is calling us to remember why we are here, and what we’re really about. Rather than a lot of convincing, when the Transformation Team got back from being trained, we found God has already been working on us all, preparing us for where we are being led.

It’s been amazing to me to watch what the Holy Spirit is already doing among us, the way that we are already being transformed by God, and shaped more and more into disciples of Christ. In the Book of Acts, the apostle Peter preaches to the crowds of the newly formed Church, saying when the Spirit is poured out upon you the young will see visions and the old will dream dreams. I’ve seen the Holy Spirit transform Bethlehem into a place where young and old together are dreaming about God’s future for us. We have been openly sharing our fears and anxieties, while at the same time being bold about what it might be that God has in store for us.

In a short two weeks, I’ve seen people in this place praying together, reading the Bible together, sharing stories of the way God has been working in their lives. I’ve seen quiet lives of faith opened up, perhaps for the first time, and others drinking deeply from these wells. I’ve seen the Holy Spirit opening up people’s minds to gifts that they didn’t even know they had, and calling them to use those gifts in ministry. I’ve seen people thinking of new ways to connect to what God is doing in the world, stepping outside of the walls of our church and into the world that God loves so deeply. “Hey, hey, God is loose in the world!”

My favorite verse in Peter Mayer’s song goes like this: “The word went leaping off the pages. Breaking in the windows and leaping over walls. All you asked for was a cool glass of water. And you got a waterfall.” God is doing amazing things among us, transforming us into a new people, giving us depth of prayer, immersing us in his Word, and sending us out to be ambassadors of what God is up to in the world. We ask for a sip of new life, and God gives an overflowing cup. And I don’t think we are going to be able to stop it even if we wanted to. We’ve let the Holy Spirit loose among us, so hang on folks, I have a feeling this is going to be an amazing ride

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--March 2007

2007-03-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Let Us Pray

The season of Lent is once again upon us. This 40 day period of solemnity (we don't count Sundays, they're always feast days) was once a time of preparation, fasting, and prayer for those preparing for Baptism. The season of Lent would end with these candidates for Baptism (called "catechumens," from the Greek and Latin word for "to instruct") participating in the Sacrament of Baptism at the Easter Vigil on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday. With shouts of Alleluia and much fanfare, these new Christians would be welcomed into the community of faith and together the entire Church would shake off the darkness of Lent and celebrate Christ's resurrection.

As the centuries have passed, the focus of Lenten practices has shifted away from the catechumens and on to all Christians (perhaps because we no longer have so many catechumens--what will we do about that?). Many of us are familiar with the tradition of giving up something for Lent. Chocolate and coffee seem to often top people's lists (although folks in my generation might think of the movie "40 Days and 40 Nights"). If giving up something is part of your tradition, I don't intend to put you off of it, but I wonder if you might join me in another Lenten discipline this year: prayer.

All Christians are called to lives of prayer, but if you are like me, at times this can seem more like a dream than a reality. My parents have a poem hanging in their house that begins: "I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn't have time to pray." Especially in our technological and busy world, finding even a few minutes to pause and center on God can seem impossible. The poem goes on to describe a chaotic and difficult day, in which it seems as if God is not paying attention, but by the end the poet realizes where the communication has broken down (it wasn't on God's end) and concludes: " I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray."

I invite you for these 40 days of Lent to spend some time each day in prayer. How you pray is not as important as that you pray. You can pray first thing in the morning or at night, before meals, over your coffee, in the car, with others or by your self, silently or out loud, structured or free, speaking to God or listening. Some of my best prayer time is swimming laps at the YMCA (I think it has something to do with Baptism, don't you?). If you're new to prayer, out of practice, or just need help just holler, I know of several veteran pray-ers in our congregation, there are guides to prayer by our front door, check out our Wednesday night Taizé prayer at 7pm, or download the daily podcast at http://www.pray-as-you-go.org

And then lets talk to one another about how our prayer is going. That's one of the main reasons we gather as a congregation, you know, to encourage and support each other in our Christian lives. Ask someone how they pray, or offer to pray with them. Invite someone to pray for you, it can be a powerful experience. And please include our congregation in your prayers. We are now one month into a five year process of Transformation. This will be a time in which we spend a great deal of time and energy trying to figure out what sort of congregation God is calling us to become. Transformation is not something that we can do, it's something God does in and through us. Prayer is central to listening and responding to the call of God. And after all, isn't that what we're all about? Let us pray...

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--Feb 2008

2007-02-01T19:22:00.000-08:00

Worship Matters

In November, several members of Bethlehem attended a conference at Messiah Lutheran Church that introduced the new hymnal of the ELCA. Together with hundreds of Lutherans from Spokane and the surrounding area, we sang hymns and liturgies from the hymnal entitled “Evangelical Lutheran Worship” (ELW). To be honest, all of us that went really like the old green LBW hymnal, and were pretty suspicious of this new red one. As we learned and sang, however, we began to come around, and by the end of the day were excited about the renewed worship possibilities of this new hymnal. The worship committee has decided to try out one of these new liturgies (the one we liked the best) during the season of Lent which begins at the end of this month. If you would like to take a look at all that is in the new hymnal (it includes 10 settings of Holy Communion including two from the LBW), talk to Jan McKee or me and we can point you to one of the copies that are floating around Bethlehem. Those of us that plan worship are looking forward to getting to use this new resource and we hope that it enriches your worship life this Lent.

This Lent we will also be holding mid-week services. Lent is historically the time when new Christians undertook a 40 day period of study, fasting, and prayer in preparation for baptism which would have happened on Easter Vigil, the night before Easter Sunday. Longtime Christians have also observed Lent as a time for study, fasting, and prayer and to reconnect to their Christian faith. Some people give up something for the 40 days of Lent (chocolate, coffee, and cigarettes always seem to top the list) while others make a commitment to take on some sort of spiritual practice, perhaps prayer, a simple meal, or a mid-week worship service. The service of Ash Wednesday jump starts Lent with a 7pm service on Wednesday, Feb 21^st. Our Wednesday night Lent services this year will begin on Feb 28^th with a soup supper at 5:30pm and a prayer service at 6:15pm. The prayer service will use the songs and style of prayer that come from the Taizé Community in France. The simple meditative service of chant and silence developed as a way to invite young people into prayer, and hundreds of thousands of young people from around the world have flocked to Taizé ever since. I hope that you will find it a helpful addition to your spiritual journey, and a time of rest and reflection in the middle of your week. To learn more about Taizé visit www.taize.fr.

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--January 2007

2007-01-01T17:07:00.000-08:00

Transformation

As we mark the arrival of 2007 there is more to celebrate than simply a New Year. This year, Bethlehem begins a process of transformation. During the time Pastor Jeremiah was here, you as a congregation and your leaders on the church council spent a great deal of time and energy reflecting on the identity of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, and where it might be that God is calling us. A big part of that was in the call process, making the leap of faith to call a new pastor rather than some of the other (and frankly, cheaper) options that were before you. Listening to you all talk about this over the past several months, I hear in this decision a deep trust that God is calling Bethlehem to a new ministry, to be the Church in a new way, and that a bold step in faith was needed.

But you also knew that a new pastor was not going to be a fix-all, and so Bethlehem took another bold step in faith, linking itself to the division for Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Through this branch of our wider Church, the ELCA assists congregations in re-centering their congregational lives and ministries into mission. It does this in part financially—we will receive $30,000 over the next three years to aid in our mission—but also through training, support, and by holding us accountable. The ELCA has structured this assistance into what it calls “Transformational Ministry.”

Transformation begins by the recognition by the congregation that the future that “business as usual” is ultimately leading is the death of the congregation. This is a difficult thing to recognize and come to terms with, but is essential to the process of renewed life and mission. Some sort of radical change needs to take place—new leadership (both pastor and lay leaders), a new vision, a new sense of ministry, a new way of being the Church in our time and place—so that we can participate in the mission into which God is calling us.

This is where we as a community are right now. We’re aware that something needs to change, that we need to listen to the call of God and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us into something new. Just where it is that God is calling us, or who it is God wishes us to be, is not so clear—but we trust that God has an amazing transformation in store for us.

A part of this transformation process is a “Transformational Ministry” training in Seattle that a delegation of leaders from our congregation will be attending in March. During this four day training we will learn the skills and concepts that have helped many other congregations transform from a focus on “maintenance” and move into “mission”—and thereby transform from shrinking congregations with a lack of community into healthy and growing congregations empowered with a sense of God’s call and sent out into the world. They have found that churches focused on survival tend to struggle and turn inward, churches focused on mission find renewed purpose and turn outward, and find that people are drawn to be a part of the mission God is calling them to. The call of transformation is to become a community in mission.

These are exciting times to be a part of Bethlehem Lutheran Church and I hope that you too will take up God’s call to be a part of this transformation. Please pray diligently for our leaders and for our whole congregation as we enter into this time of transformation. Happy New Year!

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--December 2006

2006-12-01T17:04:00.000-08:00

Worship Matters

You may have noticed over the past several weeks the return of the role of Assisting Minister to the Sunday worship at Bethlehem. I though you might like to know what it is all about.

When the Lutheran Book of Worship was published in 1978, it brought again into Lutheran worship the important role of Assisting Minister. The Assisting Minister role is based on the ancient deacon, a person whose churchly vocation was prayer along with care for the community and the poor, something they most often did along with their regular day to day work. Because of this, the Assisting Minister need not be an ordained person, but a person who cares for and is connected to the life and needs of the community. In worship, the Assisting Minister is the chief prayer minister, offering and leading prayers for and on behalf of the entire community. The best preparation to serve as Assisting Minister is a regular devotional and prayer life.

During worship the Assisting Minister prays/reads all parts marked “A:” (for Assisting Minister). This includes the Kyrie (may be done by a cantor), the opening of the Hymn of Praise (if included—also may be done by a cantor), the Prayers of the People, the Offertory Prayer, the Post Communion Prayer, and the Sending. Several people can share the Assisting Minister role during a single service (including one person writing and the other person praying the Prayers of the People).

As you can see, the Assisting Minister is largely in charge of leading the prayers that happen during the Sunday service. What the Assisting Minister does is to act as the chief layperson of the day, leading the congregation in its parts of the worship service. Whenever you all have a role to play in the service, expect the Assisting Minister to be there, calling you to prayer or leading you out in service. The work of the Assisting Minister highlights the worship elements that extend and flow out of the ministry of Word and Sacrament—Prayer and Service. These are the work that we all do, both inside and outside of the church. Each of us is called to lives of prayer and service, and the Assisting Minister helps us in that task, and sends us forth to continue our ministry in the world.

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Anxious about Passing the Peace during the season of Advent? Here’s some (tongue-in-cheek) encouragement from the Lutheran Handbook:

“How to Share the Peace in Church”

“In Romans 16:16, Paul tells members of the congregation to ‘greet one another with a holy kiss.’ The First Letter of Peter ends, ‘Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.’ (1 Peter 5:14)

Some Lutherans worry about this part of the worship service due to its free-for-all nature. Some also feel uncomfortable because of their fear of being hugged. You can survive the peace, however, with these steps.

1) Adopt a peaceful frame of mind.

Clear your mind of distracting and disrupting thoughts so you can participate joyfully and reverently.

2) Determine the appropriate form of safe touch.

Handshaking is the most common. Be prepared, however, for hugs, half-hugs, one-armed hugs, pats, and other forms of physical contact. Nods are appropriate for distances greater than two pews or rows.

3) Refrain from extraneous chitchat.

The sharing of the peace is not the time for lengthy introductions to new people, comments about the weather, or observations about yesterdays game. A brief encounter is appropriate, but save conversations for the coffee hour.

4) Make appropriate eye contact.

Look the other person in the eye but do not stare. The action of looking in the eye highlights the relationship brothers and sisters in Christ have with one another.

5) Declare the peace of God.

‘The peace of the Lord be with you,’ ‘Peace be with you,’ ‘The peace of God,’ ‘God’s peace,’ and ‘The peace of Christ,’ are ways of speaking the peace. Once spoken, the peace is there. Move on to the next person.

Be Aware

Safe touch involves contact that occurs within your personal space but does not cause discomfort or unease.”

(Lutheran Handbook [Augsburg Fortress, 2005], 44-45)

On a more serious note, I have been asked about the danger of sharing the peace during flu season. If you think you are contagious, or have health problems that make hand shaking inadvisable, find a creative way to share the peace (bowing with your arms folded, perhaps) that won’t endanger your health.

Pastor Erik--November 2006

2006-11-01T17:03:00.000-08:00

Worship Matters—The Passing of the Peace

For the season of Advent, our worship committee has decided to re-introduce a worship practice that hasn’t been used at Bethlehem in the past several years: The Passing of the Peace. Believe it or not, this is one of the most ancient parts of the liturgy. Far from just a time to meet and greet, this practice caries an important meaning, and holds an important part in the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Hopefully, with a little knowledge, and a little practice, the Passing of the Peace can be an enriching moment for you and for our community as we worship together.

In the early church, the Peace of Christ was announced and then shared among worshipers with the words “Greet one another with a holy kiss,” after which the people would actually kiss one another! Over time, this practice evolved to a highly symbolic one where the priest kissed the altar and then a ritual item called the “pax-board” (pax means peace in Latin) which would then be carried around for worshipers to kiss. Eventually, the practice became less regular, and would happen between the priest and deacon only on special occasions. Luther, however, thought that the peace should be proclaimed at every Communion celebration, as “a public absolution of the sins of the communicants, and the true voice of the gospel announcing remission of sins.”(Luther’s Works 53:28) Luckily, by our time, the practice has evolved to a much less frightening (and more sanitary) handshake accompanied by the words “Peace be with you.”

While in some congregations the Passing of the Peace seems to become a time to say hello and have a quick conversation with your neighbor (isn’t that what coffee hour is for?) its meaning is actually quite a bit more significant. The Passing of the Peace occurs right at the beginning of the Communion celebration, and is a time for reconciliation and coming together as a community. Jesus said “If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:23-24) The Passing of the Peace is a moment for us to reflect on our own relationships with those around us, and to offer the reconciliation to one another that we have already received from Christ. It’s putting into action the “as we forgive those who sin against us” part of the Lord’s Prayer.

The Passing of the Peace is a way for us to put aside our differences, if only for a moment, and come together, as one community, united by the forgiving power of Christ. As a unified, forgiven community, we come forward to receive Communion—to participate in the unity we share through Jesus Christ with those next to us and those around the world. The Passing of the Peace can be a powerful moment for reconciliation and is a time for us all to connect, physically, with one another. If you’re chatting, your missing something. Instead, look your neighbor in the eye, grasp his or her hand and say “Peace be with you”. You are preaching to your neighbor the love of Christ, letting them know that whatever they have done to you or someone else is forgiven, by God and by you, and that all are welcome to come to Christ’s table. What could be more important? The peace of the Lord be with you always!

Pastor Erik--October 2006

2006-10-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

Worship Matters

Several people have asked me about why I stand near the (uncovered) baptismal font at two points during the worship (have you noticed when?). This is different that “business as usual” here at Bethlehem, and, to let you know a secret, it’s new to me too. I started doing it when I came here, and I thought I’d explain to you why.

Where one stands during the worship service—like many parts of the worship such as what one wears, how the sanctuary is decorated, when to stand and sit—fall into a category of what the 16^th Century Lutheran reformers called “adiaphora,” matters that are not essential to faith. This does not imply that such things have no meaning. Actually such seemingly unimportant things can carry quite a bit of meaning. Things that are considered adiaphora are done or not done based on what they communicate.

The reason that I stand near the font at two points during the worship has to do with a matter that is essential to faith: Baptism. Worship, as Lutherans understand it, is all about Word and Sacrament. The Word part is clear enough, the proclamation of the Gospel through the reading of Scriptures and the sermon, as well as things like hymns and prayers. In recent decades, Lutherans have begun to reclaim the focus on the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper (also called Eucharist or Communion), returning to the ancient practice of celebrating it every Sunday. But we as Lutherans have not only one, but two Sacraments—Baptism is the other. Apart from an occasional infant Baptism, confirmation, or new member reception, however, this essential element of our life of faith doesn’t seem to hold any place in our worship.

In some ways this makes some sense. In the Nicene Creed we “acknowledge one Baptism for the forgiveness of sins.” Since Baptism is “once and for all,” there is no need to repeat it. And yet, our Baptism does not only reside in the past. Each and every day we can reclaim and renew the baptismal promises that God makes, remembering that we are forgiven sinners, reborn children of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever. Martin Luther said that each morning when we splash water on our faces we can remember that we are Baptized, and we begin anew each day as we seek to live out our Baptism.

There are two points in our Sunday worship where it makes particular sense to remember our Baptism: the time of confession and forgiveness and also the confession of the Creed. Standing by the waters of Baptism during the “Brief Order for Confession and Forgiveness,” each week I proclaim to you the forgiveness that Christ brings. Of course, this promise is already yours through your Baptism. I don’t know about you, but I certainly need to be reminded of this from time to time! The Apostles Creed which we confess together, has its roots in the ancient baptismal rite. Standing by the waters of Baptism, together we confess again (and again) the faith in which we are baptized.

I leave the font uncovered as a reminder that we always have access to the promises God made to us. Don’t be shy, go ahead and touch the water when you pass by. You can even trace the sign of the cross on your head (or on someone else’s) to remember that you have been forgiven and are a beloved child of God. Perhaps we should say “Take and Splash! Remember that this is new life given to you. Do this in remembrance of your Baptism.”

Pastor Erik

Pastor Erik--September 2006

2006-09-01T17:02:00.000-07:00

I was going to write an article about the underlying theory of our new Christian Education program called Akaloo (which comes from the Greek word, akolutheo, “to follow”). But I found that the introductory paragraphs from the Akaloo Guidebook did a pretty good job of laying it out for us, so I’m going to let it speak for itself. I hope that you will respond in some new way to Jesus’ call to follow him here at Bethlehem. In the months ahead we will be focusing on what it means to be a follower of Jesus and I invite you, whatever your age or experience, to become a disciple of Jesus (from the Latin word discipulus, “student”). Learn about him and from him. To aid in this, we will be offering several different educational experiences: “The Catechumenate” for those new to faith or wanting to go back to the basics, “Discipleship” for those who want to move beyond the basics into a deeper life of faith, and “Club Akaloo” for kids and teens in kindergarten through 8^th grade (see the schedule elsewhere in this newsletter). I hope you will come and join us.

Pastor Erik

The Theology of Akaloo (from the Akaloo Guidebook, pg 6-7)

“It is well-known that Christ consistently used the expression ‘follower.’ He never asks for admirers, worshipers, or adherents. No, he calls disciples. It is not adherents of a teaching but followers of a life Christ is looking for.” Soren Kierkegaard

Kierkegaard’s claim has a deep rooted biblical basis: Jesus came across two fishers casting their nets from the seashore, two ordinary people doing their ordinary jobs, and he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Matthew 4:19). That simple invitation—or, rather, the person who issued it—would change those fishers’ lives forever. With a few words they became disciples of Jesus Christ. Not admirers (though they surely admired him) and not adherents (though they surely agreed with his teachings), but followers. And a follower is something altogether different.

Whatever the disciples eventually became and however they lived out the rest of their days (they all grew into zealous spreaders of the gospel, many of them martyred for its sake) they owe to the fact that Jesus chose them to be his disciples. Walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus strolled into their everyday surroundings as they went about their everyday work and called them to follow him.

It’s noteworthy that Jesus’ disciples struggled mightily with the task of following him. In fact, they were often lousy at it. They peppered Jesus constantly with questions (often trivial ones), they bickered with one another about which of them was the best, they panicked when the seas rose around them, and in the end they abandoned him and hid like cowards. It seems that whatever of Jesus’ attributes the disciples acquired through all of this, they only did so not by studiously listening to his words or emulating his actions, but through the good fortune of close proximity to him. They didn’t become his disciples through their own effort or will, but simply by experiencing Jesus first hand. They were present when he healed the lame, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. Those experiences could make a disciple out of anyone.

Jesus’ invitation—“Follow me, and I will make you fish for people” (Matthew 4:19)—is an invitation to become an inviter. In fact, the Great Commission is a self-replicating invitation, an invitation to make disciples who make disciples who make disciples, and so on (and luckily so, or there’d have been no Christians beyond the original 12). While the life of discipleship is driven by the disciplines of faith—prayer, service, obedience, worship, study, and stewardship—the one that often gets short shrift is inviting others to join the circle.

Discipleship’s ultimate objective is to bring newcomers into the important conversations, to proclaim salvation in Jesus Christ to our neighbor and say, “Come, follow him with me.” The call to discipleship is the act of sinful, imperfect beings inviting other sinful, imperfect beings, not to become perfect or sinless, but to follow the one who is. Discipleship means to gather in as close proximity to Jesus as we can as often as we can and experience him, the Word of God made flesh in all his healing, feeding, resurrecting glory, until he comes again.

Pastor Erik--August 2006

2006-08-01T16:59:00.000-07:00

Conga lines. Tens of thousands of young Lutherans in San Antonio, who were moved again and again to participate in the most amazing conga lines you can imagine. They happened at a moment’s notice, but quickly spread throughout the dome. Faster and more chaotic they would pick up speed, crossing other conga lines, merging and splitting, picking up teenagers along the way, until the entire floor of the dome was streaming with a moving mass of people. I’ve never seen anything like it.

But the conga lines at the 2006 ELCA Youth Gathering were not the most amazing things that I witnessed. As 40,000 teenagers descended upon the city of San Antonio over two weeks they participated in morning and evening programs of Bible study, speakers, and bands. They gave of their time in service projects all around the San Antonio area, from reading to kids at an orphanage to picking up trash at a park. They gathered in the 400,000 square foot interactive center where they learned about the various ministries of the church, heard more bands, played, and just “hung out”. They participated in activities in their hotels (if you weren’t a teenage Lutheran, there was no room for you at the inn in San Antonio!), connected to their youth groups, and learned about the culture and people of San Antonio. And on Sunday morning, they gathered together for the most powerful and moving worship service I have ever experienced. The Holy Spirit surely descended upon the church as it came together at the Youth Gathering.

The theme of the Gathering was “Cruzando: Journey with Jesus.” The word “Cruzando” is Spanish for “crossing,” a theme that evokes both the act of “crossing” and the “cross” of Christ. Each day’s theme began with “Jesus encounters us,” Jesus encounters us in our neighbor, Jesus encounters us in the cross, Jesus encounters us at the borders, Jesus encounters us in the feast. The overall message was there is nowhere you can go that Jesus has not already been, there is no boundary that Jesus has not already crossed, and in fact, it is precisely in the unknown and scary places that Jesus encounters us. The last day’s theme, Vaya con Dios, (go with God) became a rally cry, sending back 40,000 teenagers into their homes, schools, and congregations to proclaim the Christ that they had encountered. God gathers the church of Christ together, fills it with the Holy Spirit, and then sends it back out into the world.

Over the next several months you will undoubtedly hear much more about the Youth Gathering from me here at Bethlehem. I hope that I can convey to you a hint of the power of this event. I have never been more proud to be a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a church that so values its youth to commit to an event of this scale and depth every three years. A church that calls on its synods, congregations, universities, and social service organizations to supply over 2000 volunteers who plan and put on this event. And a church that takes so seriously the spiritual development of its young people to engage them where they are, with the questions they have, in languages they can understand, and is not willing to settle for the overly-simplistic and moralist messages that so often get foisted upon our young people. I thank you for recognizing my call to participate in this ministry of the larger Lutheran church. In this small way, each and every one of you had a hand in proclaiming the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ to 40,000 young people, some of whom had never been encountered by it before.

Pastor Erik

For more information about the ELCA Youth Gathering visit www.elca.org/gathering/

Pastor Erik--July 2006

2006-07-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

It used to be that when Christian missionaries went to far off places like Africa and Asia to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ they assumed that their job was to bring God into a place that God hadn’t ever been before. What missionaries have come to realize in recent years is that there is nowhere on this earth that God is not already at work. More often now missionaries begin by asking: “What is God up to in this place?” That question then becomes the first step, to see what God is already doing among whatever people they find themselves with. If they don’t ask this question they might miss the amazing and wonderful things that God is doing.

“What is God up to in this place?” is a question that you will hear from me a great deal, especially in our first few months together. In part I will ask because I don’t know. How is it that God works among the people of Bethlehem Lutheran Church and how is it that the people here respond to God’s gifts and the call to use those gifts in service of the neighbor? I know that there are many wonderful ministries that nearly all of you take part in. From copying the bulletin, to leading the choir, to reaching out to the needs of the community, it is already clear to me that nearly everyone in this community has a part to play, large or small. Finding out what God is up to in this place means, in part, finding out the many (often hidden) ways that you all serve here.

I also ask “What is God up to in this place?” because as we seek new directions and new energy for the life of our congregation this is a question we should all be asking ourselves. Our job is not to figure out the most amazing strategy for church growth or to attract as many people as we can and get them to give as much money as they can. Instead, our job (both as a community and individually) is to prayerfully discern what God is calling us to do in this time and in this place. You see, God already has a dream for this community, already has a plan and a way to make things happen here. Our task is to not get in the way of God’s working through us, and little by little to clue into what it is that God has in store for us. “What is God up to in this place?” I’m not sure, but I’m looking forward to figuring it out with all of you.

Pastor Erik