Labor Day

As Labor Day is just around the corner, it is a good time to remember that our daily work is an important part of our faith lives. Sometimes it can seem like the things we do during the week, our jobs, our errands, our parenting are totally separate from our acts of worship on Sunday morning. But the Lutheran tradition firmly believes that our daily work, our labors, our small acts each day, are ways to serve and glorify God. Martin Luther himself said: "People who quietly do thier jobs, tend their children, run the farms, fix shoes, cut hair and teach the children are the glue tht holds the world together."
This appreciation for our daily tasks helps us to realize that no matter what we do, we can serve God through each moment of our days. In caring for each other, in caring for the needy, in speaking words of respect, we glorify God in all we do.

All one body

This past weekend was my grandma's 90th birthday party.
It was also our 6th anniversary of ordination.
It was also the installation of a new bishop in our synod.
Many joyful occasions that remind me of how much all of us are connected to each other. We are all part of a family, biological families as well as families we choose. We are all part of communities that work together and strive towards common goals. We are part of the church, which includes our congregations but is also far bigger than our one church or even denomination.
The connections continued today. A young woman I knew as a camp director in our former synod has just moved into our current synod and is looking for a call to serve as a pastor. Our lives are connected in so many ways. God intended it that way so that we could support one another, work together, create a world where his love can be seen and evident. We are all part of Christ's body for the sake of the world God created.

Power

The theme for Bible School this year is that Jesus gives us the power. He gives us the power to be thankful, the power to help others, the power to be brave, the power to live forever, and the power to tell others about God.
As adults, we have a tendency to lose sight of Jesus' power, thinking that we have to do everything ourselves by our own power. We try to change things with our own effort or our own words, our own talent or our own insight. Yet, sometimes it is only through Jesus' power that situations change, that people are healed, that we become grateful. When we don't have enough power on our own, that is when we need Jesus' power the most, relying on him as we learn how to be grateful and helpful, brave, faithul and welcoming.

Swamped

A few Sundays ago, our Gospel told us the story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus, sinking, and being rescued by Jesus. Bible School has used this story as one of their lessons as well. To teach the lesson, there is a mixture of cornstarch..... LOTS OF CORNSTARCH.... and water that when it is mixed together allows you to have the experience of walking on water. If you walk over it quickly and keep moving, you can walk all the way across it. If you stop in your tracks, you sink and get stuck in the muck. It teaches the kids who've walked across it a great lesson. We are called to keep walking with our eyes on Jesus. Even when we are swamped with too much to do, too many worries, too many arguments, too many obligations, we are called to keep walking with our eyes fixed on Jesus. Then, we can keep going knowing we are headed in a right direction.

Teamwork

Lately, Sophia has been into watching the cartoon "WONDER PETS". It is a show about 3 school pets, a guinea pig, a turtle, and a duckling who have adventures trying to save other animals. At one place in their song, they sing, "Well, we're not so big and we're not so tough, but when we work together, we've got the right stuff." Another one of their songs says, "What's gonna work, TEAMWORK! What's gonna work, TEAMWORK!" The church could use this as our refrain as well. The church is a body, working together for the good of all. The church is a team and we are called by Christ to work together. When we do that, marvelous things can happen, unexpected things can happen. Unfortunately, though, even congregations can get all caught up in arguments and competition. We can lose sight of our call to work together as a team.
Financially, our churches are strongest when we work together. In witnessing, we are strongest when we work together. In service, we are strongest when we work together. We might not be the biggest or the strongest, but Jesus doesn't call us to be the greatest, he calls us to be faithful. Faithful disciples work as a team. "When we work together, we've got the right stuff!"

Back in time

Yesterday, we went back for a reunion at the school of theology where we recieved our Master's of Divinity Degrees. It was a school for us for almost 3 years, but it was much more than that. It was where Chris and I met, where we dated, where he proposed. It was where we struggled with the idea of what God was calling us to do to serve him. It was where we prayed and ate and lived and learned and laughed for an important time in our lives. The student life director is known to say that God calls all the students to be there for the time that they are, though sometimes God's purpose in calling us all there is hard to see at first. Life and faith is that way for me. Certain places have played a hugely important role in my life and in my faith, but perhaps at the time, I couldn't quite discern what the purpose was. Or maybe God's purpose was different than my purpose.
And people are the same. Somethimes relationships and encounters that I never would have expected, work God's purpose in my life in surprising ways.
The lake shore of Lake Sagatagan at St. John's perhaps is one of those places where God was present though I was not always clear on his leading and guiding the whole time I was there!