For all the saints

Tomorrow, we as a church celebrate the feast of All Saints.... Traditionally, the day has been used to remember the saints of the past who are now with God in glory. BUT the Bible uses the word "SAINTS" to refer to God's living people in the church. So on All Saints Sunday, we do celebrate the saints who have gone before us, but we also celebrate the saints of today. We celebrate:
~God's saints who sew quilts for those in need, knit hats and mittens for children and crochet prayer shawls
~God's saints who spend hours making meatballs and lefse and other foods for church suppers
~God's saints who teach Sunday School and Confirmation classes
~God's saints who bring food to the food shelf, bars for the funeral lunch, and chicken soup to their sick neighbor
~God's saints who read Bible stories to their children and grandchildren
~God's saints who rake a neighbor's leaves or drive them to the doctor's
~God's saints who ask difficult questions and struggle to understand their faith

On All Saints Day we celebrate and thank God for his saints of the past and the living breathing saints of the present. Thanks be to God!

Heaven... Dog Heaven, that is...

It seems there are lots of funny and touching pieces written about faith and dogs or life lessons we can learn from our pets. Often, we as humans need to try to wrap our minds around great lessons and to do so, we use the things we think we understand, like our dogs. Lassie, the great TV dog, was held up as an example of faithfulness. There's an email that occasionally goes around that talks about lessons we've learned from our dogs. Martin Luther, the owner of a Pomeranian, once quipped: "I wish that I could pray the way a dog looks at meat!" At another point he also said: "Be comforted, little dog, thou too in the Resurrection shall have a tail of gold." Billy Graham once said: "I think God will have prepared everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there [in Heaven], I believe he'll be there." Now we don't know if there are dogs in heaven. We don't know much about the physical details of heaven. Many have tried to imagine what it will be like. Those who have had near death experiences have talked about what they have encountered. But still we wonder.
At the library this past week, we picked up a children's book called "Dog Heaven". It speaks in whimsical language about heaven where dogs run all day because that is what they love to do. It gives an image of God baking dog biscuits because that makes dogs happy. Here is one of my favorite passages: "God turns clouds inside out to make fluffy beds for the dogs in Dog Heaven, and when they are tired from running and barking and eating ham-sandwich biscuits, the dogs find a cloud bed for sleeping. God watches over each one of them. And there are no bad dreams." Thanks to the author, Cynthia Rylant, for her imaginative view of what heaven might be like.... At least, Dog Heaven.

Women of Faith

Yesterday, the church celebrated the lives of three women from the early church whose stories are written about in the book of Acts and Paul's letters. Each of them impacted the early church and the church we know, though through the years their names and stories were often silent.
You may be wondering, who were these women? Lydia, Phoebe, and Dorcas were all celebrated on January 27. Who are they? Lydia was Paul's first convert in the town of Philippi. She was a merchant of purple cloth, probably a woman of some wealth, most likely a widow. She and her entire household were baptized by Paul and she offered hospitality to Paul in his travels. Dorcas is a woman remembered for her charitable works, especially making clothing for needy widows. Pheobe was a deaconess in the early church who Paul praises in his letters for her service of Christ and the church.
This day, with three amazing women celebrated, gives us an opportunity to reflect on the many and various ways women have served Christ and the church throughout the years. As lay and ordained, wealthy and poor, young and old, faithful men and women have served the work of Christ faithfully and wonderfully. Lydia offered hospitality, Dorcas offered acts of kindness and service, Phoebe preached the Good news. They all made a contribution to those of us who have come after them and we thank God for their lives.

What brings you joy?

In the midst of this cold winter season, as the darkness comes early and it takes more and more layers to keep us all warm.... What warms your heart? What brings you joy?
As we catch ourselves grumbling about the cold and mumbling about more snow on the roads, as bad news abounds on TV and in our newspapers, what brings you comfort?
Winter is a time when many people struggle with depression and an overall sense of gloominess. We feel limited by the weather, housebound in the coldest months. We feel the effects of long dark nights. Christmas has come and gone and some in the months after Christmas feel a sense of loneliness and disappointment. How can we find the light in all this? How can we get in touch with God's goodness and grace? This week, think of something each day that brings you joy and do it. Savor a cup of hot chocolate. Read a good book. Call a good friend. Sing your favorite song. Whatever it is, do something to lighten your day and bring joy to yourself and others.

Frozen

It seems obvious to me that when it is 35 below outside, the world freezes. Things just seem to stop working. Pipes freeze up. Otherwise reliable cars do not want to start. People don't want to come out as much. Things just seem to become frozen. Sometimes our lives of faith are like that. They freeze up, get brittle, have a hard time starting on their own. That's why a community of faith is so important. Our churches, our friendships with other people of faith keep us from freezing up in our spiritual lives. When our hearts have frozen solid, when it seems that our compassion is getting brittle, other people of faith help thaw our hearts and warm us again. The prayers of others carry us when our faith seems to have gotten cold. In the midst of a frozen season, the words of a hymn can light a fire in our souls. At times when God might seem so ultimately far away, then others can help draw us closer to the fire of God's love and grace.

Mommy, I've got it all under control!

A few days ago, Sophia decided that she was going to be my helper and feed our dog, Cubby.
Cubby and she have an interesting mostly friendly, but sometimes competitive relationship. They like to race together, read books on my lap together, but when it comes to food and blankets, there is no such thing as sharing. So, Sophia declared when it was time to feed Cubby that she would do it. SHE would put one handful of food into his bowl, all on her own, with no help from me. When I asked her if she was sure that she didn't need any help, she firmly stopped in her tracks, looked at me, put her hands on her hips, cocked her head, and said quite seriously: "Mommy, I don't need any help. I've got it all under contol." I couldn't help but chuckle and then I wondered where she heard that phrase. She told me it came from one of her morning cartoons. It took me a bit by surprise.
But I wondered how often do all of us say something similar: Don't worry, I can do it all by myself. It's all under control. I'm perfectly self-reliant. I can handle it, I don't need help right now. Those phrases are pretty common for us to say. Even when we need help, we don't like to admit it.
But sometimes we do need to admit that we need help. We sometimes need doctors and medical care to help us feel better. We sometimes need friends to be a listening ear. We often need advice or another perspective on a complicated situation. We need to rely on others, more often than we like to admit.
I think sometimes God hears us saying the same thing Sophia said and shakes his head, waiting for us to need him, knowing that we can't possibly do it all on our own. God waits for us to realize that sometimes, frequently, we need him, because we don't have it all under control.

The View from Under the Pew

One of my favorite parts of being a pastor is being able to look at and read all sorts of books... I especially love looking at wide varieties of children's books and am ecstatic when I find a creative book about church or faith or God. In November, I picked up about 10 books like that. My favorite book from that group of wonderful books is called "The View from Under the Pew". It is a unique book indeed, written in a dog's perspective about church life. The book includes a pastor, Pastor Diane, and her seeing-eye-dog who goes with her through a week of church life. From meetings to visits to hospital calls to Sunday worship, this canine companion guides Pastor Diane and keeps her safe. It is a touching book, an out of the ordinary book, that shows us how big the church and God's kingdom can be.
In real life, I've now had 2 guide dogs in training be part of our churches. Once in Pennsylvania and also now occasionally at Cushing, these obedient, friendly, servant dogs come to worship with us. On Christmas, one sat right in the very front row. The book and these dogs raises our awareness of people who need helpful companions, people who need our care and concern in unique ways. How do we as a church reach out to all God's people with their challenges and talents, joys and hopes?

A New Year and a New Waffle Iron

Yesterday, a new year began... A time to make resolutions for the new days and weeks and months to come... A time for a new start.
I have always loved waffles.... My grandma made me waffles in sugar when I was growing up, my German host mother Brigitte gave me a recipe for sweet almost dessert type waffles when I stayed with them in High School. When I spent a year in Belgium, I ate my fill of waffles, since they made a great travel snack. When Chris and I spent a weekend in Northfield this past week, we found Sweet Lou's Waffle Bar, a place specializing in waffles with toppings including marshmallow fluff, bananas, chocolate chips, nutella, salmon, raspberries, etc, etc, etc. Well, my old waffle iron had become sticky and sickly, not letting go of any waffles it cooked.... Probably in the new year, I should have made a healthy resolution to not eat any waffles with nutella or marshmallow fluff on them. But the new year led to a different new resolution: a resolution to cook fun and special things, like waffles, more with Sophia. So, new year, new waffle iron, new possibilities and recipes here we come!

My Lord Katie

On Saturday December 20, we honor the festival for Katarina Von Bora, who became Mrs. Martin Luther. She waws born to an impoverished nobleman and was 5 when her mother died. She was sent to live in a convent and took vows as a nun, but later escaped the convent in a herring barrel at age 24 so that she could go join the reformer Martin Luther. With Luther, she had 6 children and cared for other children as foster children. For Luther, she was a trusted partner, gifted manager of the household while he pursued more theological pursuits, and a partner in prayer. Luther often called her the morning star of Wittenburg, because she rose so early to tend to the home and farm. He also jokingly called her "my Lord Katie". I love the stories about Katie Luther, because they show us a woman who was strong in her faith and grounded in her care of those she loved. There are stories that Katie once took the study door off its hinges to bring a meal to Luther because he had been locked in his study for days working on his writing and had not stopped to eat. Katie worried that he had died and so took down the door to check on him. She also was known for her staunch belief in Luther's reforms. Often, men like Luther or Calvin or others who led the Protestant Reformation are noted, but Katie gives us a reminder to look beyond the headlines for those who also influenced our faith traditions.

Silent Night

Sophia just recieved a book from her Sunday School teacher that has the words to Silent Night in it.... So far this Christmas Season, we have focused on learning Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells, and Come on Ring Those Bells. But the Silent Night book has her singing phrases of it in strange order on her own as she sings to her dolls. It struck me as I read it to her how little silence we all have in our lives. The phones ring, the TV is on, music is playing all around us. There is so much to do that we rarely take time for silence, with presents to wrap and cookies to bake and cards to get out and trees to decorate... Do we stop for silence in the midst of all this? Do we stop to appreciate, to wonder? It is so easy to get caught up in the do do do, hurry hurry hurry, mindset of the holiday season. Have we lost the silence of that Silent Night? How can we capture even a moment of silence each day?

Stir up....

Many of our prayers in Advent begin with the words: Stir up your power and come!
One retired pastor once joked that Advent is the time of the cowboy prayers, the "Stirrup" prayers. Yet, Advent is characterized by that prayer. Stir up your power, O God, and come!
Stir up the power of your peace , so that violence may come to an end. Stir up the power of your comfort, so that those who mourn and live with sorrow daily will not be overcome by it. Stir up your power and give us hope, so that those who see with despairing eyes can catch a glimpse of your promise. Stir up our hearts so that we can see you in our world and in our lives. The prayers of Advent express such longing for God to come and make our world a better place. They express a longing for God to be present among us, with us, in tangible ways. How do you long for God's power to be stirred up in your life this Advent?

Elizabeth of Hungary

Sometimes when we think of holy people, we think of those who lived long lives and grew into holiness over many years. There are many saints who fit this description. But there are also other saints, who knew God's love and lived lives of faithfulness at a very young age. Elizabeth of Hungary is one of those people.
On Monday, November 17, the church celebrated her feast and she is remembered as a renewer of society. Elizabeth was a princess in Hungary who gave large amounts of money, including her marriage dowry to the poor. She founded hospitals, cared for orphans, and used the royal family's own food supplies to feed the hungry. She had the support of her husband, but her acts of generosity and charity did not earn her support within the royal court. After the death of her husband, she was driven out and she joined the Franciscan Order to continue to care for the poor. Her legacy of generosity and courage is inspiring, especially considering that she died at the age of 24. Many hospitals are named in her memory.
Elizabeth reminds us that all of us, regardless of our age, our gender, our backgrounds, are called to lives of service and holiness. No matter who we are, no matter where we are, we can see people in need all around us. There are people in need of food, people in need of hope, people in need of love, people in need of comfort, people in need of rest. How do we reach out to those in need around us? How do we show God's love to them?

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is about a week or so away and many of us are beginning to shop for our traditional Thanksgiving dinners. Our shopping lists include turkeys and corn, stuffing and cranberries, pumpkin for pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes most likely. These foods are so powerfully attached to the celebration of Thanksgiving for us that it hardly would seem like Thanksgiving without them. When I was in Belgium for a year studying with 30 other American students, our advisors promised us a traditional American Thanksgiving dinner. The menu included squash soup, fried potatoes of some sort, a meat that they claimed was turkey (but looked more like a red meat of some sort), no cranberries, no sweet potatoes, no stuffing. I think I remember dumplings and a few other side dishes added in as well. To 30 homesick American college students away from home for their first Thanksgiving, this was not the traditional feast they were expecting. So after dinner, we all made a stop at McDonald's. This moment taught me how important memories and tradition are as well as the symbolism of food for us in celebrations. But did you know what the original pilgrims most likely had to eat? When the Wampanoag people and the Colonists sat down to their three-day feast to give thanks, they dined on lobster, fish packed in salt, dried and smoked meats, and freshly caught wild game. They did not eat corn on the cob (as Indian corn was only good for making corn meal, not eating whole) or eat pumpkin pie or cranberry sauce since sugar, yams, or sweet potatoes had not yet been introduced to the New England region.

So, as we prepare our Thanksgiving tables, let's remember how traditions help us connect to our history, but let's also make new memories, new legacies of thankfulness to pass on to future generations.

Gratitude

Melody Beattie once said:
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.
If can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

Sometimes we struggle with gratitude. Our society has created a sense of earning things ourselves and being rightfully entitled to them. We tend to take so much for granted. Perhaps that is why we see so much confusion and chaos, anxiety and worry. During this month that leads up to Thanksgiving, we have a chance to work on our sense of gratitude. May that gratitude make sense of our past, bring us peace for today and give us a vision for tomorrow.

Great minds

Eleanor Roosevelt once said:
"Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people."

If you look at Jesus' teachings, he discussed ideas, visions, great perspectives on God's kingdom.
If you look at great leaders throughout history, they focused on ideas, dreams, hopes, plans to create a new and better world.
What do we discuss in our conversations?
Do we spend time discussing great ideas, like justice and peace, like wisdom and faith?
Do we focus most of our time on discussions about events, like the election or the economy?
Or do we spend large amounts of our time talking about people? There is a danger when we focus our conversations solely on other peope, for it does not take long for our talk to become competitive or critical or sharp tongued. How do we speak about others in ways that are charitable and encouraging, open-minded and compassionate?

Confirmation

Today at worship, we confirmed 4 young women who are now full members of our congregation.
The wonderful thing about confirmation for me is to watch young people who have studied their faith and put in hours of community service finally stand up and speak for their faith themselves.
It is a moment when a congregation and families look at the spirit and commitment and enthusiasm of the young people and pray for God's gifts to be poured out upon them.
In the prayers of confirmation, we pray that the gifts of the Holy Spirit will be stirred up in them, that God will confirm their faith and guide their lives. Really those are prayers that can be spoken for each of us each and every day. "God, stir up in me the gifts of your Holy Spirit. Confirm my faith, guide my life." Amen.

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!