Pastor's reflections
Monthly faith reflections from the pastor.
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Over 500 years ago Martin Luther was a catalyst for a chain of events that he never imagined would lead to where we are today in our faith and our expression of faith out in the world. If we want to get knit picky, in reality it was God and the Holy Spirit who put in motion these chain of events through Martin Luther and many other reformers of his time but for the sake of simplicity, we will give Luther the recognition for following the Spirit’s guiding. As we near then end of October, as Lutherans we recognize a very special day. No, I’m not talking about Halloween no matter how much I or others love to collect and/or give out candy or love to dress up as monsters, superheroes, princesses, or whatever your heart’s desire. Instead, I am talking about Reformation Day, which happens to be the 31st of October as well. October 31st, 1517, was the day that Martin Luther is said to have hammered the 95 Theses, which were largely written as a rebuttal to the idea and practice of buying indulgences to obtain God’s forgiveness of their sins, on the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg Germany and so we as the Lutheran church (and many other protestant denominations) celebrate Reformation Day on the last Sunday of October. Reformation Sunday is when we as the Church commemorate and remember Martin Luther and the events that transpired that led to reforms within the church. These calls to reforms led to divisions due to resistance to what was being called on to be reformed, as well as brought up disagreements within those looking for reform on what exactly they thought needed to be changed (this doesn’t sound relatable to today’s world at all, haha). There were disagreements over doctrine, theology, and practices in worship and daily life as a Christian. But at the heart of the reformation movement was the biblical proclamation that through the life of Jesus Christ and our faith in him that we are made right with God. We, sinners are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, for the sake of Christ alone, a truth revealed to us in Scripture alone. In other words, it is not about us and what we do or don’t do but it is about God and what God did, does, and will continue to do. Martin Luther didn’t set out to create new denominations of churches he was seeking the Church to go back to its roots of what was actually written in the bible, especially regarding Jesus and what he had taught about himself and God. Luther also, is largely responsible to bringing about the reality of Bibles being written in languages that common folk would be able to understand in their native language, instead of a language that very few knew and would then interpret to the masses. I implore you to not only think of the “reformation” as a past event but as an ongoing and continual event. At the heart of the reformation, it was about God’s love and mercy for all being made known and able to be understood by all people through the call to change and reform the customary practices of the day. We look around the world today and know that it has greatly changed since Martin Luther’s time, and we have also seen much change within our own lifetimes. These days, when we often hear people state that the church is dying, we can reframe our understanding of death and renewal to see that the church as we know it is actually being reformed by the Holy Spirit in ways we don’t yet understand. We could continue to hold tight to what we are used to that often makes us feel safe and comfortable, or we can embrace how God, Jesus, and the Spirit are at work transforming us and the body of Christ in the world. We pray that we will always be open to the work of the Holy Spirit and that the Spirit will guide us into new ways to be the Church together, sharing the good news of God’s love and mercy out in the world. Some events in Martin Luther’s life that led the church to the historical reformation:
Peace, Pastor Tamara Endure
“To put up with or endure” is the first definition of abide In English. And are these days not a test of endurance? I am often:
I am often also:
It takes discipline to receive both, to deny neither, to not react compulsively, to respond wholeheartedly, and to trust. This is the test of endurance: not to survive or merely “put up with” but to do in this difficult season what Jesus did and taught. Run the race and never give up “Abide in me as I abide in you” includes Hebrews 12, 1st Corinthians 9, and 2nd Timothy 4. (Go read them.) “…let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us…” “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.” “I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favorable or unfavorable…” Not all of us can or do run. Not many of us call ourselves runners. But use your hearts and hear the call. I raced in the Quad Cities Triathlon twice. While I was in training, experienced triathletes gave me this advice. “You can train before you race, or you can train while you’re racing.” “Train in all weather because you’ll race in all weather.” Our race is not for toilet paper or to avoid COVID or even to live long lives. Our race is to love God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The “weather” is bad and all of us are training while racing (i.e., we weren’t prepared for this), but Christ calls all the same, “Abide in me as I abide in you.” More to the race: from me to We I receive this pandemic as a judgment against us. Not in the way Christians so often do, scapegoating the few and exalting themselves while turning God into a torturer or mass-murderer. God did not send the virus to punish anyone. Instead, we are the punishing ones, through our generations-long, bipartisan lack of care for our sisters and brothers. Which is really our insistence that caring should only be done in private, not on the public, collective level. The latter is where we decide who works in meat-packing plants and who can work from home; who has preexisting conditions that put them at higher risk and who has the time, money, and access to good food and medical care to be healthy; who succeeds in school and who goes to prison, whether healthcare workers have the supplies they need and whether we have enough tests and who gets loans and relief money, etc. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” was Cain’s dismissive question for God. “And the Lord said to Cain, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!’” To abide in Christ in these days of testing includes accepting humbly that we are part of the whole which has failed so many. And we are part of the possibility of a new way to be a nation together, creating infrastructures of love for the lost and least, the stranger and the poor, the oppressed, the orphan, and the widow. the Race after the race The church I long for struggles “to provoke one other”—and the world—"to love and good deeds,” including in public. Isn’t it love when schools continue to provide meals to kids that need them, even when school is cancelled? So much more love is possible. Hope in Action’s work for a permanent bathroom in Clinton Park is valuable in itself and is training for even greater work in this direction. This is also true for this congregation’s long tradition of feeding ministries. When we’re done running this race—enduring isolation, disease, and death—there is another race ahead (which is the same race) to be transformed and to be transformers in love. This is our gift and calling as resurrection people. Christ abiding in us and us abiding in Christ means we’re never alone in that work of love, on the smallest and the largest scales. Thanks be to God. Pastor Clark Olson-Smith Abide. It’s the Gospel of John’s definition of Jesus and this Gospel’s definition of us. The abiding is mutual. Disciples abide too.
John says Jesus’ first disciples started following in this way: When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, "What are you looking for?" They said to him, "Rabbi" (which translated means Teacher), "where are you abiding?" He said to them, "Come and see." They came and saw where he was abiding, and they abided with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon (John 1:38-39, stay and remain replaced with abide). A row of small houseplants abide on a windowsill. Amos is most proud of the one in the yellow pot. When its plant died, Amos buried an acorn there. Now there’s a baby oak tree in the dining room, and it’s plain to see: it grows toward the sun. Do houseplants have more sense than I do? Sometimes I think so. And other times, I’m surprised to discover I’ve grown right where Jesus is. -PC Jesus said, “Abide in me as I abide in you,” and in the same breath, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”
At the end of March, April, St. Paul’s Director of Music, told me about the ups and very real downs of those social isolation days. Then she said, “And it’s been a real reset, a time to reevaluate and reorient.” The next day, St. Paul person, Kami, posted a similar sentiment on the church Facebook page. She’s hearing “a call just to retreat and listen to your heart and what it really needs” and get back to “what really matters.” “I am the true vine,” Jesus said, as if to wake us up to all the pretenders and to draw us closer. For our own sake and for the sake of the pandemic-wracked world. -PC |
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at the foot of the south bridge
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