Church Suppers

It's the season of church suppers. Our churches and churches all around us are having their annual fall suppers. The menus range from lutefisk and lefse to turkey and cranberries to fried chicken and mashed potatoes to meatballs and ice cream sundaes. People come in large numbers for the good, solid, homey food that church suppers provide. The suppers become annual events that are looked forward to, almost like reunions. Some families go from church to church, enjoying the great food and a night off from cooking.
These suppers are a reminder that we as a church are called to feed God's lambs, tend his sheep.
Through annual suppers and potlucks, we feed a physical hunger.
Through worship and Sunday School, Bible Studies and prayer, we feed a deeper hunger.
What it is that we are hungering for in our world?
What are we hungering for in our lives?
How can we nourish those hungers in ways that bring us wholeness and holiness?

Angels watching over me

Sophia tonight asked for a change in our bedtime routine. Normally, we sing "Children of the Heavenly Father" and Barney's "I Love You" song. Tonight, she asked for her Nana's song, "Angels watching over me". It was a timely request since today is the feast of Michael and All Angels. The Bible speaks of angels who worship God in heaven and throughout the Bible angels serve as messengers for God. They speak God's words of promise to Mary, that she will bear the Messiah. They proclaim Jesus' birth to the shepherds. Most of our statues of angels seem to portray them as women, but in the Bible, all the angels have masculine names. They are beings of power and majesty, bearers of God's word. And so tonight, on the feast of Michael and all angels, I sang:
All night, all day, angels watchin' over me, my Lord.
All night, all day, angels watchin' over me.

Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

Yesterday, the church observed the feast of Matthew, the tax collector that Jesus called to be one of his followers. Matthew's name means "Gift of the Lord". Since the earliest years of the church, he has been credited as the author of the Gospel of Matthew.
Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that we are gifts that God has given to one another. We grumble about each other, we criticize each other, we treat others with unnecessary disrespect. Yet, we need to remember that like Matthew, each one of us is a gift of the Lord. What does that mean for how we interact with each other? It means that degrading one another, insulting one another has no place in how we treat each other. Even when we disagree, even when there is need to correct one another, it is to be done in love, respecting the gift God has created. Gifts are special and God has gifted us to one another. Each person is a gift, not to be taken forgranted.

It's Raining....

I looked out the window this morning and saw a sight that has been rare this summer. Raindrops were landing in huge puddles outside the house. Sophia said, "Mommy, let's go jump in rain puddles!" It's been rare to have enough rain to make puddles.
I don't really like rainy mornings.... It's hard to get going in the morning, you want to stay in bed just a little bit longer. But we so need rain.
When you look in the bible, rain is often associated with God's blessings.
True, you have the story of Noah's ark where God's excess rain brings floods and destruction. But then often in the Psalms, one of the signs of God's blessing is that God waters the earth abundantly to bring forth a good harvest. In these years, where rain has been sparse, we know how much we need the rain and how much we also need God's blessings.
Without rain, our yard turns into brown crunchy spiky grass. With rain, it is soft and green and alive. Our lives are like that too. With God's blessings, we are alive and we thrive. Apart from God's blessings, we become dry and life slowly seeps away from us. So, even with the gloomy clouds around us, rain gives us hope because it is a sign of life!

I am Special

In preschool, the children are learning a song called "I am special". Currently, it is being sung in our house on a regular basis. It is a tremendous message for each of the preschoolers to be singing and repeating each day. Too often our world gives us the opposite message. So frequently, what we hear and absorb is that we are not special enough, that we are not pretty enough or smart enough or talented enough or successful enough. Yet each person is special, cherished by God and special in God's eyes. Today, I had a funeral for an older woman who had struggled with mental illness for forty years. She had never married, never had children. She had 12 people at her funeral to remember her life, 12 perople there to honor her life and her role in their lives. By our world's standards, her life seemed full of challenges and pitfalls, certainly not highly successful, and her loss seemed to only touch a few faithful family members who could see beyond her destuctive illness. Still, it is important to remember that her life too has dignity and worth. At one point, she too was a child full of hope and promise, who was full of dreams and excitement. At one point, she was someone's beloved child and always she is God's beloved daughter. No life should pass unnoticed, for we are all special, all precious, all children of God.

To everything there is a season....

The Book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that to everything, there is a season, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to mourn and a time to laugh, a time to plant and a time to harvest.
This week is an example of that in a nutshell.
Today is a funeral for an 80 year old woman who never married and had no children, so we will remember her life and entrust her to God's care with a small gathered group of her nieces and nephews present.
Saturday is a wedding for a young couple who met in high school and now is beginning their new life as husband and wife, joyously hopeful and filled with excitement.
Sunday is a baptism of a little girl only a few months old. What a week!
The seasons of life are right here for us to see and to marvel in. From birth and the new life of baptism, to a new marriage, to the newness of eternal life, all in a single week.
That is the challenge and joy of church life, we support each other during all the seasons of our lives, through sickness, through job losses, through the joy of new birth, through joyful graduations and confirmations. As a church, we help one another journey through all the seasons that we face.