April 25, 2024: Celebrating Earth Day

This Sunday we will be celebrating Earth Day. Not only will our Creation Care Task Force be sponsoring an adult forum on the topic of Creation Care after the service, but our liturgy itself this week reflects a focus on a theology of environmental stewardship.

I invite you to listen for and appreciate all of these connections in our worship this week. For example:

• We open our service with a Confession of Sin highlighting our recklessness in caring for God’s good creation, yet even so we find hope in God’s promise to forgive us and inspire us to do better.
• We harken back to the Garden of Eden in our Gathering Hymn, Morning Has Broken, and then in lieu of a Kyrie, we sing a Song of Praise in celebration of Earth and All Stars.
• Our gospel text from John, in which Jesus identifies as the “true vine,” invites us into an organic and intimate connection with God, each other, and with Creation.
• Our Hymn of the Day, All Creatures Worship God Most High, written by Francis of Assisi, reinforces the message by developing these creation themes further, as does our Sending Hymn, Joyful, Joyful.
• Finally, our Eucharistic Prayer, drawn from the Lutheran liturgical resource, All Creation Sings!, places our sharing of the bread and wine within a broader understanding of God’s care for, and desire to restore, the entire created order.

May we all be inspired by our worship to be God’s agents of renewal, hope, and re-creation!

April 17, 2024: Our Partnership with Isimani

On Tuesday of this week, a small group gathered at church at the invitation of our President, Erlinde Beliveau, to discuss the history, status and future of our partnership with the good people of the Isimani Lutheran congregation in Central Tanzania. Present at the meeting (in addition to Erlinde and myself) were several veterans of this ministry, including Margareta Claesson, Judy Evans, Russ Hilliard, Dot Kasik, Ed Mallon and Jo Whiting.

The meeting was a real education for me. For those of you who also may be new to this ministry, I learned that the partnership began almost thirty years ago when a new UNH professor, Joe Lugalla, arrived at Holy Trinity and asked if we’d be interested in a relationship with his father’s Lutheran church in Isimani, Tanzania. Our then-Pastor, Linn Opderbecke, took Joe’s request to the Church Council, which enthusiastically embraced the idea. Pastor Opderbecke then travelled with Joe to Isimani to meet the congregation and, a year later, a dozen Holy Trinity members followed on the first congregational trip in 2006. And so, a relationship was born.

Importantly, even though our connection with the people of Isimani initially came through Joe Lugalla’s introduction and very personal history, the ministry is part of a broader network of relationships between individual churches within the St. Paul Synod of the ELCA and churches within the Lutheran Diocese of Iringa. An umbrella organization, Bega Kwa Bega (which means “Shoulder to Shoulder”), manages this network of relationships and provides guidance and support to congregations like ours.

Since that first congregational visit in 2006, there have been many subsequent trips of Holy Trinity members to Isimani. Just as importantly, there has been an ongoing relationship of prayer and a broad range of projects between the sister congregations. Holy Trinity has, for example, provided scholarship monies for secondary school and college education for Isimani youth, our members have taught courses at the nearby Iringa Lutheran University, we’ve supported the local library and sewing school in the community, and we’ve helped purchase food, livestock and other essentials. Everyone at our Tuesday meeting also testified that we at Holy Trinity have likewise benefitted enormously from our relationship with these Tanzanian brothers and sisters in Christ.

Because of COVID and Holy Trinity’s own transition in pastors, our relationship with Isimani has been somewhat dormant these past few years (although, to be sure, several of our members have quietly continued to work in support of the ministry in both big and small ways). Sadly, this past year Joe Lugalla also died, and the long-time pastor of Isimani (Livingston Msungu) left to pursue further theological education. We just learned this week that the congregation has called a new pastor, the Rev. Samson Laiser, whom we have yet to meet.

In the wake of these developments, the purpose of our Tuesday meeting was to see how we as a congregation might go about re-starting this ministry now that the pandemic has lifted and both Isimani and Holy Trinity have new pastors in place. We agreed that an initial first step is to convene an adult forum at which veterans of this relationship could share their personal experiences and discuss both the history of the ministry and its future possibilities. We may also be able to enjoy a short “zoom visit” with some of our Isimani friends and their new pastor. We have scheduled this adult forum for Sunday, June 16th, right after church. It will be a wonderful opportunity to learn more about this incredible partnership and together discern its future. Please mark the date on your calendars!

April 10, 2024: Historical Context

One of the shifts that we make during Eastertide is that our readings during this season increasingly focus on John’s gospel, the Johannine epistles and the Book of Acts. These texts have been chosen by the lectionary editorial committee because they give eloquent testimony to the Resurrection of Christ as a historical and theological reality and show how the early church emerged from its Jewish roots in the first few centuries of the Common Era.

As powerful as these readings are in their witness to Christ, there is a danger lurking here too: for these texts often use language that seems to depict “the Jews” as the enemies of this new religious movement. John’s gospel, in particular, is replete with such references. This last Sunday for example, in our reading from John 20, we heard that the disciples had locked themselves behind closed doors “for fear of the Jews.” Likewise, in John’s account of the Passion, which we heard on Good Friday, similar language was used to describe the “the Jews” as primarily responsible for Christ’s crucifixion.

And John’s gospel is not the only text which presents this interpretative issue. This coming Sunday, for example, our reading from Acts includes a sermon by Peter to “the Israelites” in which he accuses them of, among other things, “having killed the Author of life.”

In all these contexts, it is critical to remember that Jesus, the disciples, and the vast majority of Jesus’ earliest followers were all Jews. These texts were primarily written by Jewish Christian authors in a time and place when they were creating a new group identity, over against their fellow Jews who chose to adhere to traditional forms of Judaism. As is often the case when a religious group fractures, there was often animosity between the two groups that led to sometimes harsh name-calling. Within that historical context, it is understandable why the authors of John and Acts chose the language they did.

Unfortunately, however, throughout the centuries this language has fueled a long history of vicious anti-Semitism by subsequent generations of Gentile Christians that continues to this day. And sadly, Martin Luther, late in his life, made some particularly heinous contributions to this hateful legacy.

Such anti-Semitic hate has no place in our church. Let us once and for all put to rest the lie that “the Jews” killed Jesus. This is a pernicious myth perpetrated by the church over the centuries to make itself—to make ourselves—feel better about the Crucifixion by pinning the blame on somebody else. In truth, we all killed Jesus. Rome killed Jesus by ordering his execution. The mob killed Jesus by picking Barabbas over the Son of God. Peter killed Jesus by denying him three times. The other disciples killed Jesus by abandoning him at his time of greatest need. The religious authorities killed Jesus by turning him over to Rome in the first place. Judas killed Jesus by betraying him. And we continue to kill Jesus every time we turn to violence, or power, or other false idols, rather than loving God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves.

So, please, when you hear these readings during Eastertide, understand their historical context, and let us not distort the words we sometimes find there in service to misdirected scapegoating and anti-Semitic hate.

March 28, 2024: From Gethsemane to Golgotha to Glory

We are in the throes of the holiest week of our year. These next three days -- what our tradition calls the Paschal Triduum -- encompass the foundational stories and practices of our faith. Jesus gathers us around his table one last time to share bread and wine, drawing us into the mysteries of his own sacrificial love. He gently washes our feet, embodying for us the humility and service of the Christian life, and tells us to love one another as he has loved us. But then, as the powers and principalities of the world rear their ugly head, unable or unwilling to comprehend his way of love and peace, we panic and abandon our Lord. Yielding to weakness and frailty, we give him up to the authorities of the world, to be condemned and crucified. The agony of the Cross exposes and convicts us. All seems lost. His body is carried away, prepared for burial, and secured in a tomb. What now? Then, the unimaginable happens. God refuses to allow the world's hate to have the last word. He is risen! Life overcomes death in the glory of Easter morning.

My hope and prayer is that you are able to live deeply and fully into these sacred stories over these next few days, and most importantly, that on Easter morning you celebrate with utter abandon the joy that is new life in the risen Christ. Please join us for some or all of the many worship opportunities listed here as we live out the great and wonderful drama of our faith.

Holy Week blessings, Pastor Luther

March 21, 2024: Palm Sunday

One of the most difficult liturgical decisions pastors have to make on Palm Sunday is whether the focus of our liturgy should remain just on the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, with all of its palm-waving and Hosanna-shouting drama. Or, whether we should then add and conclude the liturgy with a reading of the Passion Story, which this year would be from the Gospel of Mark.

Many decades ago, Protestant churches in America made a decision in favor of the latter option, combining the two stories into one Palm Sunday/Passion liturgy. The principal reason this decision was made was because fewer and fewer congregants were attending Good Friday services--where the passion story is front and center--and it was felt that this was just too important a story to be missed by the average Sunday churchgoer. That is a perfectly sensible decision.

However, the price that is paid in making this choice is that the Palm Sunday liturgy becomes an emotional rollercoaster, moving abruptly from the triumphal entry into Jerusalem to the horrors of the passion story, in a very compressed and head-spinning timeframe. This approach essentially condenses the entire drama of Holy Week into one service, which can be somewhat confusing.

My preference has been, and is again this year, to separate the liturgy of the palms from the Passion story, so that Palm Sunday remains focused on the triumphal entry narrative, with all of its suspense and expectation. I believe this is more liturgically coherent. In doing this, however, my fervent hope is that all of you will come on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, to watch how the rest of the narrative unfolds during the course of the whole week. These two Holy Week services are among the most powerful in all of Christian liturgy.

I realize, of course, that for some people it may be impossible or difficult to attend Holy Week services. If you fall into that category, I have another option to suggest: please consider taking fifteen minutes out of your day some time next week to read on your own Mark's account of the passion story. It may be found at Mark 14:1--15:47. Or, to make things even easier, you could watch a dramatic reading of the story on video like this one, which has the benefit of offering some visual detail to the story. Finally, I also will be leaving some pamphlets in the Narthex on Sunday with copies of Mark's Passion story in them for those who want to pick one up.

The crucial point is that, in addition to coming to our Palm Sunday service this weekend, I strongly encourage everyone to experience the Passion narrative for him- or herself, either by coming to church during Holy Week or reading or watching story on your own. Remember, we can only get to Easter by going through (not around) Good Friday.

March 14, 2024: What “service” looks like at Holy Trinity

This coming Sunday we will conclude our three-part series of adult forums on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together with a discussion of his chapter on “service.” My hope is that this session will lead us into a deeper conversation about what “service” looks like at Holy Trinity. And by “service” in this context, I mean all the concentric circles of serving one another—service in our individual relationships, service to our church, service to our community, and service to the wider world.

In having this conversation, I hope we can model what Bonhoeffer names as “the first service” Christians owe one another—and that is the service of listening. I find what Bonhoeffer says about the ministry of listening to be both profound and underappreciated. I invite you to take a listen:

“The first service that one owes to others in community consists in listening. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for brothers and sisters is learning to listen to them. It is God’s love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear.

So it is His work that we do for our brother or sister when we learn to listen to him or her. Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.

Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother or sister will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too.

This is the beginning of the death of the spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words. One who cannot listen long and patiently will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others, albeit he or she may not be conscious of it. Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his neighbor, but only for himself and for his own follies.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, chapter 4).

I hope to see you on Sunday!

February 29, 2024: Happy Leap Day!

Happy Leap Day! Yes, it is February 29 today, which only happens every four years. Why do we do this? Here is what the History Channel website teaches:

Nearly every four years, we add an extra day to the calendar in the form of February 29, also known as Leap Day. Put simply, these additional 24 hours are built into the calendar to ensure that it stays in line with the Earth’s movement around the Sun. While the modern calendar contains 365 days, the actual time it takes for Earth to orbit its star is slightly longer—roughly 365.2421 days. The difference might seem negligible, but over decades and centuries that missing quarter of a day per year can add up. To ensure consistency with the true astronomical year, it is necessary to periodically add in an extra day to make up the lost time and get the calendar back in sync with the heavens.

I love that last phrase: to get us “back in sync with the heavens.”

You are probably growing weary of hearing me talk about “the seasons,” but this small example of “Leap Day” and its rationale is just another reminder of how our lives are not within our control, much as we wish they were, but are shaped by the rhythms of the created order and God’s seasons. And, whether we like it or not, it is good for us to stay “in sync with the heavens,” rather than letting our own distorted sense of time, urgency, and what is important, derail us from where God wants us to be.

One of the ways God tries to keep us in sync with the heavens is through the commandment to keep the sabbath. “Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. . . .For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.” Exodus 20:8-11.

On this third Sunday in Lent, we will hear as our first lesson the giving of the Ten Commandments, including this crucial exhortation to set aside a holy day of rest and worship. At our bible study this week, many of us reflected on why sabbath is so important and why reclaiming it in our lives should be a priority.

This is how the great Jewish theologian Abraham Heschel once explained it: “The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.”

As you hear and reflect on this text this Sunday, I invite you to focus in particular on God’s desire for you to keep the sabbath holy. Think of this commandment not as a prohibition on what you cannot do, so much as an invitation just to be quietly with God, in the company of those you love and in the presence of this beautiful world. You might be surprised by what you discover!

February 22, 2023: Search for Director of Music is Underway

As we discussed at the Annual Meeting, the church is looking for a part-time Director of Music to help coordinate the musical elements of our worship and work with our talented array of current musicians and singers. Last week, the Council approved a Job Description which may be found here. If you know someone who may be a good fit, please share this PDF with them.

February 15, 2024: "I Cannot Do It Alone"

As I announced last Sunday, during this season of Lent we will be reading together Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, a classic book on the nature of Christian community. Bonhoeffer also penned many prayers, some of which are collected in his Letters and Papers from Prison, an anthology of writings drawn from his two-year imprisonment by the Nazis before his execution on April 9, 1945.

This prayer, entitled “I Cannot Do It Alone,” is an especially apt one for Lent:

God, I call to you early in the morning,

help me pray and collect my thoughts,

I cannot do so alone.

In me it is dark, but with you there is light.

I am lonely, but you do not abandon me.

I am faint-hearted, but from you comes my help.

I am restless, but with you is peace.

In me is bitterness, but with you is patience.

I do not understand your ways, but you know the right way for me.

May Bonhoeffer’s prayer be ours also.

February 8 , 2024: The Season of Lent begins

The season of Lent begins with our observance of Ash Wednesday next week. Call me weird, but I love Lent. I’ve always been given to introspection and quiet reflection, and Lent just seems to give me permission to do what I already love to do.

Lent is a time of honest self-examination, an occasion to clear out the debris that is standing in the way of a deeper relationship with God. During Lent, we confess our foibles, ask ourselves what really matters in our lives, pray for God’s guidance, connect more deeply with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and try to live more intentionally and faithfully.

At our Adult Forum this Sunday, I will offer some reflections on how we can all “live into Lent” more fully. In addition to some practical suggestions, I will also invite you to read with me over the coming weeks one of the great Lutheran spiritual classics, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Life Together. It is a short book (less than 100 pages), yet it is rich in theological insight and practical wisdom. In a nutshell, it is all about “Christian community,” and what it means to share a “life together” in Christ. It is a perfect lens through which we can think about and discuss the nature of our own community here at Holy Trinity.

Written in 1938 just before the outbreak of World War II, the book describes the small, underground seminary community that Bonhoeffer led in Finkenwalde. The book reads like one of St. Paul's letters, giving advice on how life together in Christ can be sustained in families and small groups. The role of personal prayer, worship in common, everyday work, and Christian service is treated in simple, almost biblical, words.

My suggestion is that we use our reading of Bonhoeffer’s book to frame a series of three adult forums we will hold over the coming weeks in Lent on the topics of: (1) community life, (2) worship, and (3) service. In these forums, I hope we will spend 10-15 minutes summarizing Bonhoeffer’s insights on these subjects, and then devote the remainder of our discussion to reflecting on how our Holy Trinity family lives into the values and practices he describes.

My hope is that these discussions will lead us to suggest new and creative ways in which we can further enhance our community connections, worshipping experience, and opportunities to serve each other and the community.

I hope you can join me in this journey. The schedule of sessions is listed below.

In Christ’s peace, Pastor Luther

February 11 – “Living in Lent: An Overview”

February 18 – Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, Session 1: “Community Life”

February 25 – Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, Session 2: “Worshipping Together”

March 3 – Bonhoeffer’s Life Together, Session 3: “Service”

February 1, 2024: Candlemas

Tomorrow, February 2nd, is Candlemas, one of the “Lesser Festivals” on the Lutheran liturgical calendar. It commemorates the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, a story reported by Luke in chapter 2, at verses 25-40.

At the time of Jesus’ birth, Jewish tradition dictated that on the fortieth day after giving birth the parents would go to the temple to present their child to the Lord. Forty days from Christmas day brings us to February 2nd, which is why we celebrate Candlemas then.

What Luke reports is that when Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple that day, the wise old man Simeon, moved by the Spirit, took the child into his arms, proclaiming: "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

These words of Simeon's, of course, quickly became known as the nunc dimittis, the beloved canticle of “Christ’s light,” that to this day is a cornerstone of evening prayer and compline. In some churches, special services are held on Candlemas in which this story of Luke is re-told and the church’s candles for the year are blessed in a ceremony featuring the eternal light of Christ.

We don’t bless our candles at Holy Trinity, but we certainly do try to live each day guided by the Light of Christ. I hope the light of our Savior burns brightly in your home and heart during these grey days of winter. And if it is not, or has been dimming of late, I invite you to go back and re-read the story of Simeon and Anna, and allow yourself to be drawn in by its luminous simplicity.

In Christ's radiance,

Pastor Luther

January 25, 2023: Our Upcoming Annual Meeting

As an Episcopal priest who has spent most of my ordained life serving Episcopal communities, one of the things I notice and appreciate about Lutheran congregations is how faithfully they live into the theology of “the priesthood of all believers.” At the time of the Reformation, Luther rebelled against a medieval church that had vested too much power in clergy. He rightly insisted that the Church belongs to all the baptized and that each one of us, ordained or not, is an essential part of the Body of Christ, called to do God’s work in accordance with the gifts we have been given.

From everything that I have experienced during my time with you, this conviction that the church belongs to its people is an important part of the Holy Trinity culture. This is perhaps nowhere more clearly expressed than in our Annual Meeting, when all members of the congregation gather to elect leaders to guide the church in the coming year, discuss our plans for the future, and approve a budget that allocates our collective resources to do God’s work.

This year’s Annual Meeting will take place this Sunday, after worship. This year, in particular, we have so much to be thankful for, both in terms of the extraordinary people who have led our church during this past year of transition and those who are offering their time and talent to serve us in the coming one. In my Pastor’s Report, which is attached as part of the materials for our meeting, I seek to convey the many reasons I believe our future is bright, even in the midst of these challenging times. I hope you will read it, as well as the other reports. But more importantly, I hope to see you on Sunday to share in the joy of our shared ministry.

January 4, 2023: Baptism of Our Lord

Today, we celebrate the "Feast of the Baptism of our Lord," which always occurs on the first Sunday after the Epiphany. This year our gospel text for this day comes from the evangelist Mark, who begins his gospel, not with the nativity scene, but rather with an account of Jesus being baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. With great drama, Mark tells us that, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, "he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, 'You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.'" Mark 1:10-11.

We are a church whose life is centered in this Beloved Son of God, Jesus Christ. And just as Jesus was baptized, we are too. And, as we emerge from the baptismal waters, we are empowered and invited by the Holy Spirit to share in Christ's life and in his transforming work to heal our broken world. Our baptism is thus not a "one and done" event, but rather sets us out on a lifelong journey with Christ and His Church. Living our baptismal covenant means growing in our faith together and supporting one another in practices of discipleship.

For centuries, the Church has set aside this particular "feast day" for baptisms, confirmations, and for welcoming new members to the Church. And so, this Sunday we are overjoyed to baptize Lenora June Larson and VJ Strehl, to confirm Adrianna Grace Marcus, and to welcome sixteen new members to the congregation, whose names are listed below.

Let us praise God for the gift of each of these brothers and sisters in Christ and offer thanks for this great sign of vitality and new life in our Church!

New Members: Chris Dunn, Linnea Richardson, Rani Marcus, Scott Marcus, Lena Olsson, Sue Kelsch, Kem Taylor, Judy Yovichich, Eileen Kackenmeister, Carl Kackenmeister, VJ Strehl, Craig Strehl, April Murphy, Meredith Goodwin, Pamela Brouker, & Julie Anderson.
Confirmation: Adrianna Grace Marcus.
Baptized into Christ: VJ Strehl & Lenora June Larson.

December 14, 2023: Not a Silent Night

Even though we Protestants have our differences with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, at this time of year in particular I think we can learn something from them. One of the great strengths of Roman Catholicism, I submit, is its reverence for Mary, the God-bearer, the young woman who dared to say ‘yes’ to God and agreed to bring our Savior into the world.

This coming Sunday, in lieu of reading a psalm, we will instead hear the Magnificat, Mary’s great song of praise in response to the news that she is bearing God’s child. When you listen to this great song this week, I invite you to consider what your response is to God coming into your life. Does your soul magnify the Lord? Does your spirit rejoice in the reality that God in Christ is your Savior?

You might also try inviting Mary into your prayers during this holy season of Advent. For if you do, you just might hear her soft voice, reminding you that you too are God’s holy, blessed, and beloved child.

Finally, our own Yvonne Topping has written a poem about Mary that beautifully captures the profound complexity of her role as the God-bearer. With Yvonne’s permission, I share it with you….

Not A Silent Night

By Yvonne Topping

It was a holy night. It wasn’t a silent night: Sounds of traveler’s feet on rocky pitted roads Sounds of weary sighs and tears Sounds of mutterings, complaints, and questions Sounds of hungry animals.

People inside shelters: Sighs of relief, tears, and laughter Sharing food Drinking wine Talking with family, friends, and strangers.

Mary and Joseph: Moans of not now Gasps of intensity Distress and no place to rest: Frantic search Accepting whatever Making do.

The awaited King came. How much did you understand, Mary? Were you taxed to your limit and beyond or did you experience a quick and easy birth? Was the presence of God strong or elusive?

Your soul magnified the Lord and all generations call you blessed!

November 30, 2023: Advent Credo

As we enter this season of Advent, the world around us seems to be falling apart. But then you didn’t need me to tell you that. We are bombarded incessantly by one piece of bad news after another. Where can we find hope in the midst of such darkness?

The poet and South African clergyman, the Reverend Allan Boesak, has written a gospel-centered “credo” that gives me such hope. Boesak worked alongside Nelson Mandela and others in opposing the apartheid government in South Africa, and his “Advent Credo” is born of that experience. These truths are worth holding close to our hearts in our own troubled time.

Advent Credo

It is not true that creation and the human family are doomed to destruction and loss—This is true: For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.

It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and poverty, death and destruction—This is true: I have come that they may have life, and that abundantly.

It is not true that violence and hatred should have the last word, and that war and destruction rule forever—This is true: Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, his name shall be called wonderful councilor, mighty God, the Everlasting, the Prince of peace.

It is not true that we are simply victims of the powers of evil who seek to rule the world—This is true: To me is given authority in heaven and on earth, and lo I am with you, even until the end of the world.

It is not true that we have to wait for those who are specially gifted, who are the prophets of the Church before we can be peacemakers—This is true: I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions and your old men shall have dreams.

It is not true that our hopes for liberation of humankind, of justice, of human dignity and peace are not meant for this earth and for this history—This is true: The hour comes, and it is now, that the true worshipers shall worship God in spirit and in truth.

So let us enter Advent in hope, even hope against hope. Let us see visions of love and peace and justice. Let us affirm with humility, with joy, with faith, with courage: Jesus Christ—the life of the world.

November 9, 2023: Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem, a sonnet by Malcolm Guite

I find it hard to focus these days as we continue to watch the horror of war unfold in the Holy Land, with more and more innocents dying every day. I don’t know about you, but I feel utterly helpless in all this. And, as important as prayer is, sometimes prayer in the face of such relentless violence feels empty and pointless.

In my despair over the world this week, I was helped by some words I came across by Malcolm Guite. If you don’t know of Guite’s work, I commend him to you. He is an Anglican priest and one of the greatest religious poets of our time.

In a blog post from Holy Week last year that is strangely apt to the current moment, Guite reminds us of that scene in the gospels where Jesus weeps over Jerusalem. Guite writes: “It’s hard to see through tears, but sometimes it’s the only way to see. Tears may be the turning point, the springs of renewal, and to know you have been wept for is to know that you are loved. ‘Jesus wept’ is the shortest, sharpest, and most moving sentence in Scripture. We are well to remember that we have a God who weeps for us, weeps with us, understands to the depths and from the inside the rerum lachrymae, the tears of things.”

In homage to this profound scene from Scripture, Guite has written a sonnet of his own, entitled ‘Jesus Weeps Over Jerusalem.’ Perhaps this kind of lament is all we can do in this time of crisis; or, at least, it may be a useful place to start as we seek guidance from God as to what the nations of the world can do in the days and weeks ahead to contain this tragic conflict in the Holy Land.

Here is Guite’s sonnet:

Jesus comes near and he beholds the city

And looks on us with tears in his eyes,

And wells of mercy, streams of love and pity

Flow from the fountain whence all things arise.

He loved us into life and longs to gather

And meet with his beloved face to face

How often has he called, a careful mother,

And wept for our refusals of his grace,

Wept for a world that, weary with its weeping,

Benumbed and stumbling, turns the other way,

Fatigued compassion is already sleeping

Whilst her worst nightmares stalk the light of day.

But we might waken yet, and face those fears,

If we could see ourselves through Jesus’ tears.

November 3, 2023: All Saints Day

We celebrate All Saints’ Day this Sunday. I don’t know about you, but I feel a desperate need in these fragile times to be in the company of holy women and holy men. For saints, even in the midst of darkness, have a way of reminding us that God’s light will not be extinguished but continues to shine in the lives of faithful folk around the world.

One of my favorite reflections on saints is from the writer Frederick Buechner in his book Wishful Thinking:

“In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a pocket handkerchief. These handkerchiefs are called saints.

Many people think of saints as plaster saints, men and women of such paralyzing virtue that they never thought a nasty thought or did an evil deed their whole lives long. As far as I know, real saints never even come close to characterizing themselves that way. On the contrary, no less a saint than Saint Paul wrote to Timothy, ‘I am foremost among sinners’ ( l Timothy 1:15).

In other words, the feet of saints are as much of clay as everybody else's, and their sainthood consists less of what they have done than of what God has for some reason chosen to do through them. When you consider that Saint Mary Magdalene was possessed by seven devils, that Saint Augustine prayed, ‘Give me chastity and continence, but not now,’ that Saint Francis started out as a high-living young dude in downtown Assisi, and that Saint Simeon Stylites spent years on top of a sixty-foot pillar, you figure that maybe there's nobody God can't use as a means of grace, including even ourselves.

The Holy Spirit has been called ‘the Lord, the giver of life’ and, drawing their power from that source, saints are essentially life-givers. To be with them is to become more alive.”

In the short time I have been at Holy Trinity, it has become abundantly clear to me that in this church I am in the midst of many, many life-giving saints. Thank you for inviting me into your beloved community. I look forward to many years ahead in our shared journey with and toward God.

Blessings, Pastor Luther

October 19, 2023: Why I am a ‘Lutherpalian’

After church this coming Sunday, I hope you will join me for an Adult Forum during which I will share some of my personal faith journey. Tongue firmly in cheek, I have tentatively entitled it “Why I am a ‘Lutherpalian’: How a fellow named after the Great Reformer, and who was baptized into the ELCA, ended up an Episcopal priest, only to return home and fall in love all over again with the Lutheran church.”

I am a firm believer that sharing faith stories is an important aspect of building Christian community. I hope that by sharing a piece of my journey, we can begin to get to know one another on a deeper level.

I also want to use this discussion as an opportunity for us to explore together the rich possibilities of the Lutheran-Episcopal partnership we are embarking upon. In the course of reflecting on my own journey, I will share with you what I find compelling and beautiful about both traditions, and will invite you to offer your own perceptions of the similarities and differences between our two denominations.

It has been over two decades now that Lutherans and Episcopalians have been in “full communion,” an agreement first ratified by the ELCA in 1999 and then approved by the Episcopal Church in 2000 at its General Convention. Entitled “Called to Common Mission,” the work of living into the relationship is now carried forward by the Lutheran-Episcopal Coordinating Committee.

In the introduction to “Called to Common Mission” there is an important statement about the spirit of this agreement: “Our churches have discovered afresh our unity in the gospel and our commitment to the mission to which God calls the church of Jesus Christ in every generation. … Our search for a fuller expression of visible unity is for the sake of living and sharing the gospel. Unity and mission are at the heart of the church’s life, reflecting an obedient response to the call of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

My hope and prayer is that our life together at Holy Trinity in the years to come will be a creative and vibrant example of such ecumenical partnership. I am convinced this is the future of the wider church: learning to find unity in difference and working together to build bridges among the different varieties of Christian community in our world.

October 12, 2023: Praying for the Holy Land.

My heart has been breaking this week as we watch horrific events of violence unfold in the Holy Land. Innocent civilians in Israel—men, women, and children—were brutally murdered, maimed, and taken hostage by a terrorist organization bent on evil. All people of good conscience should condemn such atrocities. We likewise should pray for the dead and injured and extend our hearts and hands to our Jewish brothers and sisters in their grief and horror.

Frankly, I have been disappointed in how slow and equivocal our church leaders—both Lutheran and Episcopalian—have been to say these simple things. As the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, once put it in a different context, what the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ teaches us as Christians is that “it is with the innocent victim that God identifies, and it is in the company of such victims that God is always to be found.” That is where we should be too.

For this very same reason, we also should stand in solidarity with those Palestinian brothers and sisters who have nothing to do with Hamas, who find themselves caught in a bloody conflict not of their making, and who are often themselves the victims of oppressive violence by their neighbor. And especially we pray for the innocent civilians, including the millions of children, who now find themselves in harm’s way as Israel prepares its response to this attack and the fighting on both sides inevitably escalates.

To be a Christian is to live with such contradiction because we claim an identity grounded in something that transcends political labels and national boundaries. This is no time for political sparring or jawboning. This is a time to pray for innocent victims—whether they be Jewish, Muslim, Christian, or otherwise. And it is time to pray that all those who hold political authority in this world do everything they possibly can to put an end to the madness.

"O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."

October 5, 2023: Spoiler Alert: Ministry is Messy.

A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR

Our “Celebration of New Ministry” this past Sunday afternoon was a splendid occasion all around and a day that Pat and I will not forget. There was a great spirit in the church and, as I said in one of my remarks, I can’t wait to see what new and wonderful things God has in store for us as we move forward with this holy partnership! Thank you again to everyone who worked so hard to make it a special day.

As I now sit down to make a list of all the possible new projects that we could embark upon, it is easy to get carried away with an ambitious enthusiasm. Each one of us, I’m sure, has his or her own “wish list” of new ministries to pursue or existing ministries to grow and improve. The list gets long really quickly, I’ve discovered!

Part of being a good steward, however, is learning to proceed deliberately and thoughtfully, making sure that we don’t get out ahead of one another, and taking the time to listen and pray before we embark upon a new course of action. Eager as we are to “get going,” taking on too much too quickly—before we’ve even gotten to know each other—is a recipe for disappointment, or worse.

So, as we get started in this great adventure of shared ministry, I would ask you to please be patient with your new Pastor, with our Council leadership, with your great staff, and with each other.

In this same vein, upon hearing about my new call as your Pastor, one of my Episcopal priest friends sent me a poster with these words on them:

Spoiler Alert:

Ministry is messy.

The Church isn’t perfect.

We are all a little crazy.

God is really good.

You are incredibly loved.

This strikes me as such good advice that I’ve taped it to my office door. It’s a call to humility, a call to laughter, and a call to trusting in God’s goodness and love above all else. If you ever see me frustrated or overwhelmed or losing my patience, please just point me to the sign on the door. And I promise to do the same for you.