Mutual Conversation and Consolation

From Martin Luther's Smalcald Articles, "4: Concerning the Gospel. . . We now want to return to the gospel, which gives guidance and help against sin in more than one way, because God is extravagantly rich in his grace: first, through the spoken word, in which the forgiveness of sins is preached to the whole world (which is the proper function of the gospel); second, through baptism; third, through the holy Sacrament of the Altar; fourth, through the power of the keys and also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters.  Matthew 18:20: 'Where two or three are gathered. . .'"

Many people think that pastors only work on Sundays. . . it's a running joke in churches. . . not only that but that we only work about 2 hours (Worship and Sunday School).  We chuckle right along with you when you tease us about our light schedules, but under our breath we whisper, "If you only knew."  Just ask our kids and our spouses about it, they'll tell you the truth.  We know you work hard too but since much of what we do is out of plain sight it can be a mistake that parishioners often make about us clergy-types. . . that we aren't "doing" anything.  My husband often teases me about sitting around the house eating candy and watching soap operas. . . he knows how many hours I put in because half the time he can't keep track of me.

I'm not complaining, not at all.  I love being a pastor, can't imagine what else I'd do with my life.  But it can be a bit stressful at times. . . why? Because we love God's people!  When you grieve, we grieve.  When you are struggling we worry about you.  We worry about the budget, decisions that need to be made, if you're growing in your faith, how your kids are doing and more!  In general we try not to take on too much of your worries, because that would be rather unhealthy for all of us, but lots of times we can't help it because we are holding you in prayer, watching you deal with real life issues, and we are often helpless to change any of it.

As pastors we try to be there for each other, to lift one another up through it all because we can look at one another just know. . . we know when each other is getting burned out, overwhelmed, tired, and spiritually drained.  (So we not only worry about you, we worry about each other!) Just like we know when "life" is happening to those we were called to care for in our parishes.  Thankfully we have people in our congregations who see the fatigue in us. . . who call and check in on us, who tell us to go home, who bring us treats and send us notes to lift our spirits.  Thank you for that!  What I'm describing here is a little bit of what Luther called "mutual conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters."  But there's more to it. . .

The holy gospel comes to us as we care for one another, as we listen to each other and pray for one another.  God's mercy and grace comes to us through each other as we sit knee to knee and look at each other in the eyes and see, really see, what's going on in our brother or sister.  There's nothing like this in all the world!  This ministry has been given to all the saints, not just the ordained!  As Luther cites Jesus' promise, "Where two or three are gathered I am there among them." Christ comes to us as we gather together to tend to each other, to listen to what's going on in each other's lives, and to offer a word of kindness, hope and understanding.  We all need this!  And come to find out. . . it is as powerful as a sacrament for conveying God's grace!  

Forgiveness is like. . .

Why is it so hard for us to forgive one another?  
Why is it so hard for us to forgive ourselves?  
These are questions that I have pondered for years. . . 


I've had several Holy Spirit moments in my ministry where the power of God's love has washed over me and taken away all bitterness, anger, spite . . . when I knew I wasn't willing to let go of it.  It was as if God said to me as He took it ALL away, "I need you to let go of this because I have something for you to do. . . and if you are still hanging on to this poison you will not be able to do my work."  It would only be a matter of days or weeks when I would see exactly why God had taken the grudge out of me and replaced it with immeasurable peace.  Amazing.  Wonderful.  However, it cannot be willed!  It comes from God, not from inside of us somewhere.  


On the other side of this coin is the pain we carry around from past experiences. . .  intellectually I think we know that God forgives us (we hear it at least three times in worship each Sunday➔ confession and forgiveness, proclamation of the Word, and in the Eucharist).  But still, sometimes we can't let go of it. . . are we better than God?  What makes us hold on to it when God has already forgotten about it?  We've repented. . . we've asked, no begged, for forgiveness and yet still. . . we. . . hang. . . on.  


To hear that I am forgiven is the most amazing gift.  It means that I am loved.  It means that I matter.  It means that my sin doesn't define me in the eyes of God.  I am not the sum total of my sinfulness and neither are you!  "While we were still sinners Christ died for us," St. Paul reminds us in Romans 5.  Not while we were perfect, or lovable, or righteous. . . not while we had it all together, but while we were broken and fragile and straying.  

Why don't we practice telling each other that we are forgiven?  Why don't we free one another from the burden of sin, doubt, guilt and pain when we get the chance?  I happen to know that it makes a tremendous difference in this life and on this faith journey.  It revives the spirit and frees us to live into God's will for us.  I think we should make it a point of proclaiming forgiveness to those we meet-- imagine how it will free them to live life more fully!  


Thank you God for your mercy and lovingkindness and thank you, friend, for telling me I'm forgiven! 
Amen.

Too Many Details Hide What is Most Important

I am STILL working on whittling down a chapter of my DMin project from 32 pages to, well let's say, LESS than 32 pages.  It is a chapter that is taken out of Reformation history, a back and forth exchange between Luther and two fellow reformers.  But I am finding myself stuck in the details.  Ever feel like that?  Stuck in the details of all that is going on around you?  Unable to dig deep and get to what really matters?

Well, three informal submissions later, my advisor still says, "Get down to what is really important!"  (This is really interesting stuff, he says, but get to what really matters here!) In other words, stop trying to impress everyone with your knowledge base. . . it's not about that!  All the details don't matter and very few people would even be interested in all of that anyway!  So, now I labor away once more, I've printed it on paper so I can see it in black and white rather than on a screen.  The red pen is coming out!

Know why it's so hard for me to do this?  Because I am too emotionally attached to it!  I admit it: I don't want to sacrifice the work I've put into it.  I don't want to cut it or prune it or throw any of it away.  It's almost painful in a way. . . Sounds like a little bit of idolatry doesn't it?

How often do we get stuck in the details in our churches?
How often do we need someone to say to us, "Get down to what is MOST important!"  We are afraid of losing something. . .
*Losing the work we've put in to it.
*Losing a part of us and thinking that it never really mattered. . .
*Losing the legacy of our grandparents and great grandparents.
*Losing status. . . the fancier the better, the more important and more impressive we will be to those who don't know us yet.

We have some illusions that need to be crushed!  We have some idols that need to be crashed!

Sometimes we think that more and more information will solve our dilemmas.  If we could only just get more documents, more statistics, more experts weighing in on things then we would surely be just fine.  But I think we know what to do . . . we know how we've been called to serve, and live, and share the good news.  We simply have to be able to free ourselves up from all the baggage, data, facts and figures and get busy doing what God has called us to do.  Obedience, again?  So often it comes back to that, doesn't it?  In order to do what we are called to do we need to focus on the basics-- what is most important?  Oh, and stop worrying about our own egos, our own status, our precious reputations. . . none of that matters!  What matters is Jesus Christ and him crucified, risen and ascended.  Oh, and the promise that he will come again!
Amen!

Faith, once again, gets shoved to the background. . .

CNN Reports No Clergy will be Present at 9/11 Commemoration

The clergy were right there with the victims of 9/11, for months even years afterwards, but they have no place at the 10th Anniversary commemoration of 9/11.  I know several pastors from the New York City area who did serious, intensive counseling with victims, firefighters, police and other rescue persons after the greatest tragedy on American soil happened.  But do you think the Mayor of New York would consider inviting them to this milestone event?  Apparently not!  The dilemma according this report from CNN is "Who will get to be there?"  "How will we ever choose?"

It doesn't matter WHO!  As clergy know this is not a competition. . . it's not about which one of the local pastors would get the distinct honor of offering a prayer. . . we are all in this together so if one clergy person gets to be there then we are happily represented.  It simply makes no difference, it just doesn't matter if you're Presbyterian, Lutheran, Catholic, Wesleyan or whatever tribe you're from-- just let someone be there to offer a prayer-- OUT LOUD.  Furthermore invite a Rabbi and an Imam . . .  I don't care. . . just invite someone. (Or is the issue that it keeps extending on and on and on?  Even if it is. . . make a decision to include someone who considers themselves to be religious!)

This, like so many moments in human life, is about a ministry of presence.  No one will remember exactly what was said by the person who offers a prayer but they will remember that someone did.  They will remember that the event was couched in a deep reverence for the holy, an assent to the divine presence.  Silence is great but audible prayer in a time like this seems incredibly important.  But once again, the realm of "faith" gets pushed to the background. . . relegated to obscurity. . . cast into the category of irrelevance.

But here's the thing. . . even if the Mayor of New York seeks to keep "religion" and "faith" out of this ceremony (and I hope he changes his mind), he cannot keep the Lord away.  No one can keep God from showing up!  He's already there and has been there since the first airplane circled the World Trade Centers, before that he was there, he's always been there. Society can be hostile to religion but it cannot keep God from being God! And, God is a God of being there!  Society, Government, Culture (or whoever) cannot wish the Creator of the universe out of existence.

Wouldn't it be great if all the faithful who gather that day would quietly whisper their prayers, not to disturb the moment, but to let others know that they are praying to the God who never leaves us?  It doesn't have to be someone who is ordained. . . we are all capable of praying. . . and God hears all of our prayers. . . none are more important than another.


I love you, LORD, my strength.
  The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
   my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.     (Psalm 18)

A Way of Being in the World. . .

We all have our own way of "being" in the world. . . the way we are either draws people toward us, or repels them from us, or somewhere in between.  Sometimes we are ever drawn to people because of their abrasiveness rather then their gentleness if there is something within us that responds to that (might not be a healthy thing or maybe we just like a challenge?).  


St. Paul had some advice for us on how to "be" in the world.  We're not good at it all the time.  We can get better at it if we have a working awareness of the energy we put out into the universe though.  From 1 Corinthians 14 he advised, "Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adult." In other words, be mature, be grown up, be wise about things.  Don't be gullible or foolish or infantile and fall for everything!  

Next thing we need to work on in "being" in the world is to be ones who have hope rather than ones who lack hope.  There is much around us to cause us dismay, to grieve us, to get us to take our eyes off of Jesus. . . but Paul says, "First off, you must not carry on over them like people who have nothing to look forward to, as if the grave were the last word." He was talking to the Thessalonian Christians (4:13) about death and resurrection but I think it applies to daily life as well.  Don't live your life as if there is nothing to hope for!  There is hope all around you!  All the negative stuff can get you down but you have Jesus, and if you have Jesus, fully present with you at all times through faith then what have you to fear and grieve? 


Look around. . . what do you see that gives you hope for today?  
* A smiling child
* A cute puppy
* Someone helping another
* Some fresh tomatoes out of the garden is usually good enough for me!
* The sound of wind chimes in the breeze
* A good cup of coffee
* The kiss of a loved one
What gives you hope?  I really want to know. . .


Then Paul gives us some really great advice. . . it is probably the best advice we could hear in these contentious times where people seem to be at each other's throats (think politicians and reality TV) where we seem to have lost six layers of skin and everything hurts us and wounds us and we take things way too personally. . . 
Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life. (Ephesians 4:26 The Message)


So we can be people that resemble bulls in a china shop emotionally/spiritually/in our relationships or we can practice poise, patience, and perseverance.  One is easier but it wreaks a whole lot of havoc, and the other takes way more energy and intention but it creates peace and lowers anxiety.  Plus, people are drawn to the calm presence. . . how will you "be" in the world today?  God bless your day!