Beloved of God,

How are you at entering a completely novel situation?  Are you a “go with the flow” kind of person? Or do you avoid new situations like the plague? Do you enter a new context spontaneously or do you try to prepare yourself as much as you can? Me, I like to get information in advance so I’ll feel more confident when I cross the threshold into a new place. We all have different ways of meeting up with something or someone new.  But sometimes, information is not available.  Sometimes, the context is so radically new that nothing can prepare us for what we face.

In each of the gospels, the disciples’ first reaction to the resurrection is one of fear. That’s not surprising, really.  Because in the face of things we don’t understand or can’t comprehend, in the face of questions that challenge our understanding of reality, fear and anxiety are almost always the first emotions to exert themselves.  That’s why nearly every time in the Scriptures that divine messengers and human beings meet the first words spoken are:  BE NOT AFRAID.  God knows how paralyzing fear can be.  God knows how fear diminishes our capacity to trust.

So it is no surprise that when Jesus speaks to his community as their risen Lord, he begins his greeting with the words, PEACE BE WITH YOU.   He begins with PEACE, and slowly, ever so slowly, fear unwinds and anxiety lessens, and then, new possibilities begin to emerge.  In back to back stories at the end of Luke’s gospel we can see how fear is finally overcome by faith and anxiety and despair are replaced by trust and confidence.  But this transformation doesn’t happen instantly!  It’s not a slam dunk!  When it comes to hearing the resurrection story and allowing the implications of that news to begin to register, once is not enough.  The first disciples needed it—and we need it—again and again.

During the 50 days of Easter we learn what it means to be Easter people.  We learn what it means to encounter the Risen Christ and to be sent by him into new territory as witnesses and servants of the Risen One.  But one Sunday, one worship experience, one trip to the Table, one Bible study, one conversation isn’t enough.  We need to be reminded of God’s grace and God’s call again and again.  We are Easter people, marked with the cross of Christ forever, and called to live our life in community in the context of a deep trust in our risen Savior.  Easter people who are learning to look at the world and their own experience through the lens of Christ’s resurrection. 

It took the disciples 50 days before they were ready to be witnesses, to bear good news in a form the world could recognize; to incarnate it; enflesh it; live it.  But whether it takes us 50 days or 50 years to grasp the transforming power that God makes available to us, we’ll keep on coming back here to this community, to this Word, to this Font and Table because this is where Christ promises he will meet us, and will calm our anxieties and banish our fears.

Not that fear and anxiety don’t try to creep back in.  But when we feel fear slinking into our thoughts and anxiety trying to take hold of our minds, we need to recall the words of Jesus:  PEACE BE WITH YOU.  And as his peace takes hold of us, fear is once more set aside and faith rises up to take its place, declaring: 

Ever with hope,

Pastor Erik

Beloved of God,

The griping happened without fail whenever we loaded the car for the hour-plus drive to our grandparents’ homes in Northfield: How long before we get there? So-and-so’s bothering me! I’m hungry!  I have to go to the bathroom! No sooner did we pull out of the driveway than the same old litany would begin. In response to this, a family rule was instituted in my family of origin: NO TALKING UNTIL WE REACH OWATONNA. Since Owatonna was 35 miles up the road, this rule guaranteed a half hour of relative quiet. No small feat in a station wagon with 10 people!

Of course, there were those times when an unresolved issue escalated to the point where traveling rules were violated, and it was at times like those we’d here Dad’s voice cut through the din: DO I NEED TO STOP THIS CAR?! Truth be told, I can’t remember Dad ever actually stopping the car; the mere threat of it was enough to make offenders repent—and quickly. The truth was, we didn’t know what would happen if Dad ever stopped the car, but we knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

So I can identify with the whole situation that unfolded for God’s people as they wandered in the wilderness year after year, losing heart and losing faith. How did they cope? They griped. WHY DID YOU BRING US OUT OF EGYPT IN THE FIRST PLACE? WE’RE GOING TO DIE HERE! THERE’S NO FOOD, NO WATER; THIS TRIP IS ALL ONE BIG MISERABLE MESS! (Deut 12:4f)

Of course, this was a case of selective amnesia. They had conveniently forgotten their experience as slaves in Egypt, and the fact that the food they loathed was the miraculous manna their lives had been sustained with.  Their lack of trust found them, once again, heading down a dead-end street. It was then that God stopped the car. Sure enough, the scene wasn’t a pretty one. Out came the snakes, and people start dying left and right.

Snakes are symbolic creatures whose presence suggests double meanings. On the one hand, they are stealthy and have a bite that kills. On the other hand, they are symbols of healing and transformation. By the end of this story, the snakes’ death-dealing nature has been transformed by God into a life-giving nature; a source of healing for the people of Israel.

The gospel during these weeks of Lent is all about God’s core values. Jesus expresses them so powerfully and clearly:

“Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Lent is about returning to core values…God’s. By God’s mercy, the serpent was transformed from a symbol of death into an instrument of healing. By God’s grace, Jesus, who suffered death for our sake, became the Way to eternal, resurrected life.

On this Lenten wilderness journey we gather beneath the cross of Jesus because we believe that there is something here for us and for our broken world that nothing and no one else can provide. Beneath this cross of Jesus we meet a God rich in mercy whose core values teach us that there is no obstacle too great for God to overcome. Oh! What good news!

God’s core values are clear. God transforms dead-ends into new beginnings, closed books into open subjects, contentious conflicts into opportunities for growth, cruel death into joyful resurrection. Our vocation as God’s people is to show and to share these core values with neighbors, family, friends, coworkers, and a world in desperate need of them.  This, my friends, is our privileged calling.

With you, on the Way,

Pastor Erik

Beloved of God,

The life of our congregation is like a dance.  On Sundays that dance gathers us around God’s Word and Sacraments, and then sends us out to be Christ’s body in the world…doing God’s work, with our hands (and feet!).  Within this larger whole, each small group/task force/committee and ministry team has its own series of steps, and moves to the beat of its own rhythm.  Fitting the choreography of each smaller group’s ministry into the larger whole in such a way that the rhythms and actions compliment each other instead of detracting from each other (or step on one another’s toes!), is an ongoing task.

At times we need to get off the dance floor and up to the balcony for a more comprehensive view of what’s happening in the life of our congregation.  That, in part, is what our annual meetings are about—the Bulletin of Reports provides an overarching view of our mission over the past year.  But if we flip to the green pages (financial summary) or pink pages (proposed budget) without reading the yellow pages (vision/mission plan), or white ones (small group/task force/committee reports) we’ll be missing something crucial.

A couple of paragraphs on paper won’t begin to tell the whole story, of course.  Our ministry is about flesh and blood people and relationships—the slideshow at our meeting helps remind us of that.  But the reports and figures do tell part of the story of how we, collectively, have lived out our calling as God’s dancing people during the year past.

This month marks the 7^th anniversary of my Call to serve as your pastor.  These seven years have been a rich and growing time for me personally, as well as our congregation.  Each year has brought unique challenges, some anticipated and some unanticipated.  The dance continues now in 2012 with a new Vision for Mission Plan embraced by our congregation on January 29.   So…slip on your shoes— it’s time to head back to the dance floor!  (You can read about the specifics in the summary of actions from the meeting, below.)

Funding our collective mission in 2012 will require us to step up and out in new ways.  In 2011 we scaled back our goal for funding our mission and, for the first time in seven years, our aggregate level of giving fell to less than it was the year before.  This year you have endorsed a spending plan that looks forward more boldly.  There is no reason why we can’t turn things back around in 2012.  In addition to our regular spending plan (budget), a newly authorized Capital Campaign Working Group will be begin work soon to set forth a process for raising the capital necessary to achieve the facilities goals we’ve now established as part of our Vision for Mission Plan.  Coupled with our plans for bringing a new Music Director on board, all this points to 2012 being another year of transition for us at Peace.

As we begin incorporating these new dance steps to our repertoire, we’ll be utilizing our God-given gifts and talents for ministry.  And with the Lord of the Dance beside us, guiding our steps along the way, we are wonderfully poised to turn opportunities into tangible emblems of God’s presence and power.  I’m game for that…how about you?

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Erik

Beloved of God,

What will this new year, 2012, hold?  When the calendar turns I begin imagining and hoping what the year will bring;  the places I’d like to go, the people to see, the goals to reach, the crises to avoid, the habits (healthy ones!) to cultivate.  How about you?  How far will you allow your imagination to carry you this year?

There are some voices out there that have identified 2012 as the year in which humankind will see “the end of the world as we know it.”  Despite the many examples of false “end time” predictions through the centuries, some interpreters of the so-called “Mayan calendar” suggest the end of the world will take place on or near the winter solstice of 2012.  Hollywood is already cashing in on the theme.  This is not a new phenomenon but an old, familiar one.  Only time will tell.

In the meantime, we as a congregation have some work to do!  There are significant decisions ahead for us this month as we consider the shape our VISION and MISSION PLAN will take in the next 5-10 years, and as we decide what level of commitment we will bring to the table as we prioritize and fund our congregational ministries.  There’s a lot to be excited about, and I hope each of you will be full participants in the process.  These decisions belong to all of us acting together—not just a few.

In his gospel, Matthew packs a whole bunch of short, pithy parables of Jesus into the 13th chapter.  Jesus is at his best as a teacher here—using common images from everyday life as new metaphors for understanding what God is up to in the world:  “The kingdom of heaven is like… a mustard seed…yeast in a batch of dough…treasure hidden in a field… a merchant searching for fine pearls.” Who would ever have thought that the reign of God would be so accessible and at the same time so subtly hidden in ordinary things?  Jesus invites us inside each image and gives us permission to activate our own imaginations to consider how and where God is at work in our everyday lives turning sorrow to joy, dead ends to new beginnings, and small gestures to grand movements of grace.  When we can see God anew in ordinary places of our lives there’s no end to the myriad ways we can experience “God-with-us.”

This week I presided at a memorial service for a woman I never met, but who has touched the lives of students and colleagues over a period of decades.  Her name is Marcelyn Shadow, and she once was a member at Peace.  By all accounts, Marcy left a deep and powerful legacy of learning and caring in the lives of hundreds of her middle school students.  Her zeal for teaching and her unorthodox classroom style ignited a desire for learning that led a number of her former students into teaching careers of their own.  When it came to working with these kids, Marcy was “all in.” Teaching was her true vocation, the place where “the world’s deep hunger” and her “deep gladness” converged.^[1] Where is that place for you?  That’s a question worth asking as the rhythm of the new year begins.

Blessings on the Way,

Pastor Erik

[1] Frederick Buechner

Beloved of God,

We had (we thought) no other choice. So when the bell signaling the end of lunch period rang at Brookside Junior High School in Albert Lea, Minnesota, the twenty or so of us who were so compelled did not return to class; we stayed outside. Walking en masse to the corner of the school property we turned and waited for whatever was next.

The whole thing had started that morning during a schoolwide assembly. A fellow student in the bleachers had challenged a teacher’s admonition. The teacher, angered, responded by laying hands on the boy and manhandling him off the bleachers and out of the gym, making enough racket in the process that the whole assembled lot of us became witness. As soon as they exited the gym, however, the assembly went on as planned. Afterward, the treatment our fellow student received was the subject of much conversation. During lunch his friends spoke about the injustice of what had happened. A line had been crossed. I agreed. What could be done about it? A walk-out seemed the best option. So with adrenaline pumping, that’s what we did. Now, as minutes ticked away, we looked at the building for a sign of what would happen next. How would the administration respond? What would our fellow students think of us and what we’d done? Would our parents be called? Would we be expelled?

After what seemed like a supremely long interval, Mr. Xavier, our principal, (who happened to be a member of the congregation my father served at the time) emerged from school and walked over to us. He asked and we told him why we were there. He promised to meet with a delegation of us to talk about the incident if we would return to the building. His offer seemed sincere and we obliged.

Most of the kids who participated in the walk out were friends of the boy who’d been mistreated. They were a tough crew, from the “other side of the tracks.” “Kindem,” they told me, “you’re a goody-goody; you need to be part of the delegation.” I agreed. A half dozen others were chosen, including the fiery, dark haired girl who’d been the instigator of it all. We walked back into school and convened around a large table in a conference room adjacent to Mr. Xavier’s office. Though some of our number had surely visited his office before, none of us had ever sat at this table!

I can’t recall exactly what words were exchanged that afternoon, or even what the ultimate outcome of our protest was, but I know we felt heard. It seemed that our protest had accomplished something. The situation was defused. We all moved on. I will be forever grateful to Mr. Xavier for engaging us the way he did. It was a teachable moment, and he gave us a lesson in civility. He treated us and our concerns with respect. The forbearance he showed us left a deep impression on me, and allowed me to look him in the eye when I saw him later that week in church.

As we move through Advent toward the celebration of the Incarnation, the Scriptures offer up words of comfort, hope, and challenge along the way. One of these words to us comes from Paul’s letter to the congregation in Thessalonica. In the closing sentences he uses short, pithy phrases, to sum up the attitude and faith practices he is commending to them as they await the Lord’s return. (Above) Are his words applicable to our day and time? I hope so.

The use of pepper spray as a tool for crowd control here in Seattle, on the UC Davis campus, and at other places around the country has ignited a lively debate about the civil rights and responsibilities of police officers, citizens, and the elected officials who represent us all. Where is the line between civil and uncivil protest? Between appropriate and inappropriate use of force? When basic constitutional rights are at stake, robust public conversation—including public acts of protest—are essential. So is civility.

When a Black Friday shopper used pepper spray to achieve a competitive edge over other bargain hunters, and when security guards used Tasers to deal with a suspected shoplifter, they became stark reminders of a growing incivility in our culture. Placed alongside the revived unrest in democratically emergent Egypt and the violent storming of the British Embassy in Iran, they illustrate how high the stakes are. We could use Mr. Xavier right now. 

Waiting is an essential component of this season. But what should the character of our waiting be? According to St. Paul, it is an active, alert, joyful waiting: “Rejoice…pray…give thanks. Do not quench; do not despise; test everything, holding fast to the good and abstaining from evil.” As those who bear the name of Christ, we are called to practice these virtues not only as individual citizens but as a community of faith. As Henri Nouwen so aptly puts it: “As we await Christ’s coming, we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.” Do I hear an Amen?

Joyful waiting!

Pastor Erik