Pastor Erik--March 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!