March 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

What God will you believe in?

Which God do you call your own?

And what does what you believe mean for the shaping of your life?

We take it for granted of course --- repeating the words of the Apostles Creed week after week in worship.  Some of us have known it by heart for so long we may hardly hear what we are saying any more.  It’s a wonderful statement of faith for its concise wording and for its powerful radical claims.

Indeed, while we do proclaim our faith together every week with these words, we do so in a different way when we celebrate a baptism.   On those special days we break it down into three questions and answers:

1. Do you believe in God the Father?  I believe in God the Father almighty…
2. Do you believe in God the Son?  I believe in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord…
3. Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?  I believe in the Holy Spirit…

Somehow just breaking it down helps me to hear what I’m saying in new ways.  In our words we lay claim to the God of the universe who made and sustains all that is.  In our speaking we stake our lives on the truth that Jesus is God’s Own Son --- who lived and breathed, suffered and died and rose again, defeating even death.  In our words we struggle to grasp the mystery of the Holy Spirit:  God powerfully alive among us and through us and for us in our journey of faith for the sake of the world.

It is surely worth pausing within these words again and so this Lent we will do just that --- working our way through the basics of the faith through the words of the Apostle’s Creed.  Please be sure to join us for soup supper before service (starting on March 16) and then gather in the sanctuary as we worship and learn together.

• March 9 Ash Wednesday:  Holy Communion and Imposition of Ashes
• March 16:  God the Creator
• March 23:  God the Provider
• March 30:  Jesus the Savior & Redeemer
• April 6:  Jesus the Lord
• April 13:  The Holy Spirit: The Church & Saints

Peace to you and many blessings
Pastor Janet

February 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness on them light has shined.”  (Isaiah 9:2)

We find ourselves now in the season of Epiphany: that short season that is sometimes lost between Christmas and Lent.  It’s when we remember the wise men coming to see Jesus.  It’s when we mark the Baptism of our Lord.  It’s when we come to deeper understandings (epiphanies, if you will) of who Jesus is and why he came to live among us.  And throughout this season we are reminded that it is a season of light: that just as the star led the wise men to see Jesus the first time, you and I are continually led by and called to be reflections of the light that is Jesus to one another and to the world.

I heard a story of this a few weeks ago.  The one sitting in my office was sorting through a recent and heart wrenching grief.   Even as he spoke of his pain though, he was also telling about the gifts that had been discovered and received during what was an otherwise terrible time. One of those came on Christmas Eve.

They had arrived here at worship in kind of a daze and had walked right by the basket of candles that waited for them to reach in to take one. They found their place in the pew and quietly sat and listened as all of those around them rang bells in celebration of the birth of Jesus, for they had missed those, too, when they walked in.  When we came to the candle-lighting, the ushers passed the light as they always do.  Our youngest usher at that service paused at their pew to see that they had no candles.  The one relaying the story said he looked at them rather quizzically before moving on and they thought that was that.  The tenderness of the next moment took them by surprise though for we were well into “Silent Night” when that young man came back with a couple of candles and handed them each one.  And they were then able to light their candles, too, as they whispered the words of that wonderful hymn we sing each Christmas Eve by candlelight.

The one telling the story was telling a story of epiphany --- of a new and deeper understanding --- than what he had before.  For in a moment he came to a sudden deeper appreciation of the whole family of God in this place and the gift of one noticing the need of another and meeting it. And in a profoundly simple gesture he realized what a gift it is to receive and share light with others.  Even in the dark time they were living in.  Perhaps especially then.

And so in this season we do give thanks for all the ways in which God sheds light on us.  May we always remember that the simplest of  gifts shared can help spread that light to others.  All we have to do is pay attention and take the first step.  And sometimes, as in the story I shared above, sometimes then the whole world is changed --- if only for one person at a time.  
                          
Peace to you and many blessings,  Pastor Janet