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.

September 21, 2023: An Open Discussion on our Church's Priorities

A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR

As we begin this new chapter in the life of Holy Trinity, your Council and I have been in prayerful conversation about what our priorities should be for the year ahead. This coming Sunday after the service, I encourage you to stay for an “Adult Forum” in which we will enlarge this conversation to include your voices, as we very much want to hear your ideas on this subject as well. Ultimately, of course, the real task is for us to discern God’s will for our future. But such discernment can happen only if we all gather in prayer and share what is on our hearts and minds.

The upshot of the discussion your Council and I have had thus far is that our energies in 2024 should be focused in five areas:

Enhancing Our Worship Experience Enriching Family and Youth Ministry Enlarging Adult Education Opportunities Extending Pastoral Care and Community Life Ensuring Financial Stability through Good Stewardship and New Member Recruitment

At our Adult Forum, I will briefly summarize our preliminary thoughts on these topics and then invite you to express your own ideas as we together develop a vision for the future. Your Council and I have scheduled a retreat at Camp Calumet for late October during which we will discuss what we have learned from our collective conversations with you.

I hasten to add that the above list of “priorities” for the coming year does not mean to exclude other important ministries of the church, such as, for example, our outreach and social justice ministries. These will remain central to who we are. Rather, the sense is that by focusing first on the five priorities listed above, we will create a foundation that will allow us over the long term to further grow our outreach efforts, both locally and beyond.

At any rate, the important point here is that we want to engage YOU in this conversation about priorities because YOU are the Church and the ministry of the Church is the ministry of ALL the baptized. I hope to see you on Sunday!

September 14, 2023: The Journey to October 1.

A WORD FROM YOUR PASTOR

How wonderful it is to be back in your midst! The only difference is that this time I can drop the “interim” label, and with gratitude and humility, step into the role of being your Pastor full-stop. The reality of this new beginning hit me when I arrived in the office on Tuesday and opened the official letter from the New England Synod approving your call and granting me the authority and privilege to serve as your Pastor.

We will get to celebrate all this on October 1st, of course, when we gather at 4 p.m. in our sanctuary to mark this new chapter in our shared ministry. I am touched by the fact that so many of you have for weeks been hard at work in planning for this event. I know that it will be a joyous occasion and I hope and pray that you can come.

The Dean of the New Hampshire Conference of the New England Synod, Pastor Kim Hester, will be presiding over the rite of installation. And I have invited my good friend, the Rev. Dr. Richard Simpson, to preach. Rich is a fellow Episcopal priest who serves as the Canon to the Ordinary (Episcopal-speak for “Chief of Staff”) to Bishop Doug Fisher of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts. I invited Rich to preach not merely because he is a friend and fine homilist, but more importantly, because he is a leading spokesperson for the importance of Lutheran-Episcopal collaborations such as ours as one manifestation of an emerging ecumenical and reforming spirit in Christ’s Church.

Since 2001, the ELCA and the Episcopal Church have been in full communion, with clergy being able to move across denominational lines to serve and learn from each other. But it has only been recently that churches from both traditions have started to seriously engage with the rich possibilities of such partnerships. Holy Trinity has the opportunity to be a real pioneer in this new adventure. I so look forward to exploring with you what such a theological collaboration might look like for our community, as we draw on the very best of both the Lutheran and Episcopal traditions. What I suspect we will learn is that we can do so much more when we are working together!

Before we get to October 1st, however, we have two Sundays of worship to get reacquainted. I will be presiding and preaching this coming Sunday (Sept. 17) and look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. And please try to wear nametags as Pat and I will need some help in remembering everyone and getting to know you even better!

In Christ’s peace, Pastor Luther

May 18, 2023: Ascension Day

ASCENSION DAY GREETINGS FROM YOUR PASTOR-ELECT

Happy Ascension Day!

Although I will offer a short reflection on the meaning of this holy day in just a moment, I want to begin by reiterating just how thrilled and humbled I am at your decision to call me as your next pastor. Pat and I are still talking about our celebration with you on April 30th, and how much we miss worshipping at Holy Trinity on Sundays. I can’t wait to join you officially in September!

In the meantime, I am preparing for another summer season at my lovely chapel in Manchester-by-the-Sea, which runs from the first Sunday in June through Labor Day weekend. Many of you have kindly inquired about our services. Please know that you are more than welcome to visit if you’re looking for a worship experience by the sea. We are about a 50-minute drive from Holy Trinity and our little coastal town is quite scenic. The church itself is just a stone’s throw from Singing Beach, one of the nicest beaches around. Our principal service is at 10 a.m. For more information, see www.emmanuelmanchester.org or email me at pastorluther@htelc.com for help in planning a visit.

Now, back to Ascension Day! Although it is a “major feast day” on both the Lutheran and Episcopal church calendars, Ascension Day is perhaps the least observed and understood of the major Christian holy days. This is unfortunate because it really does matter!

Luke is our primary source for the Ascension, and he offers accounts of it in both his gospel (Luke 24:44-53) and in the Acts of the Apostles (1:1-11). In a nutshell, Luke writes that forty days after his resurrection, Jesus "was taken up before the disciples’ very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight," and so he was "taken from them into heaven."

If you think this sounds somewhat fantastical as a piece of history, you are not alone. Even for many faithful believers, the spectacle of the risen Christ floating off into the heavens seems just too much to swallow. At the end of the day, however, I’m not sure that the literal accuracy of Luke’s attempt to describe what happened that day is the real point. God’s movement in and through space and time is a mystery after all, and human attempts to fully capture things like the Incarnation, the Resurrection or the Ascension are bound to fail. Luke did his best to describe the indescribable.

My conviction is that the importance of the Ascension lies less in the “mechanics” of “what happened” and more in the “why of its happening.” This is how the philosophical theologian Stephen Davis of Claremont University puts it: "I do not believe that in the Ascension Jesus literally went up in the air, kept going until he achieved escape velocity from the earth, and then kept moving until he got to heaven, as if heaven were located somewhere in space. Rather, the Ascension of Jesus was primarily a change of state rather than a change of location. Jesus changed in the Ascension from being present in the realm of space and time to being present in the realm of eternity, in the transcendent heavenly realm."

Understood this way, the Ascension is about the glorification of the resurrected Jesus before God, not his elevation to a geographical place called heaven "up there."

So, why does all this matter? It matters because it assures us of the co-equality and intimate connection between God the Son and God the Father. Jesus was not just some great human teacher, here today and then gone tomorrow. Rather, Jesus was and is eternally present with God, both before and after his time on earth.

Sometimes such admittedly paradoxical, theological truths are best approached through artistic expression. In this vein, I commend to you and will conclude with this lovely sonnet about the Ascension from the Anglican priest and poet, Malcolm Guite, taken from his book, Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (2012). His words are so much more beautiful than mine!

We saw his light break through the cloud of glory Whilst we were rooted still in time and place As earth became a part of Heaven’s story And heaven opened to his human face. We saw him go and yet we were not parted He took us with him to the heart of things The heart that broke for all the broken-hearted Is whole and Heaven-centred now, and sings, Sings in the strength that rises out of weakness, Sings through the clouds that veil him from our sight, Whilst we ourselves become his clouds of witness And sing the waning darkness into light, His light in us, and ours in him concealed, Which all creation waits to see revealed.

Here ends your theology lesson for the week!

Until next time, Pat and I offer our love in the name of the ascended Christ, Pastor Luther

March 9, 2023: Listening to your Life

So, how is your Lent going? Now that we are almost at the half-way point, it seems like an appropriate time to check in regarding our collective progress (or lack thereof!) The question that keeps ringing in my ears this season is a big and challenging one: Am I living the life God desires for me?

Anyone who has listened to me preach more than a few times knows that one of my favorite Christian writers is Frederick Buechner, who just passed away last year. One of his books that I always keep by my side is a collection of daily meditations for the year entitled, Listening to Your Life. In writing about Lent, Buechner re-frames the Lenten task of self-examination in some provocative ways. Consider these questions during Lent, he suggests:

“If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?

Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you would most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?

Is there any person in the world, or any cause, that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?

If this were the last day of your life, what would you do with it?”

These are daunting questions to ask indeed. As I think about them, I’m not entirely sure I like all my answers. The good news of our faith, however, is that we’re not alone in answering these questions. God in Christ takes all of our meager and misshapen efforts at “self-improvement” and, through the mystery and gift of grace, makes something new, wonderful, and unexpected of us. This is what we call resurrection. It is the joy of Easter that awaits us on the other side of Lent.

So, for now, think deeply about who, and whose, you are. And then, as we look ahead toward Easter, let us rejoice that Christ’s love for us is so profound that He already has plans to make something marvelous of whatever life we have to offer.

February 16, 2023: Trust the slow work of God

A WORD FROM YOUR INTERIM PASTOR

It has been well over a year now since Pastor Tim left Holy Trinity. In that time, many of you have been working very hard, in tandem with the New England Synod, to move forward in the process of discerning the call of a new pastor. You dutifully completed the congregational assessment tool (CAT) used by the Synod for transitions, met to discuss the results, assembled a team of writers to author a ministry site profile (MSP), and pulled together a Call Committee, who, in turn, has been interviewing candidates. Even so, and despite everyone’s best efforts, things are moving slowly and it feels sometimes as if no progress is being made.

The problem, of course, is that this is a very challenging environment in which to search for a new pastor as so many churches are competing for a smaller and smaller pool of qualified candidates. It is easy, given all this, to become frustrated and despondent.

In times like this, I have found comfort and wisdom in a beautiful prayer by the French Jesuit, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. It is entitled “The Slow Work of God” and it goes like this:

“Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are all, quite naturally, impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new; and yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability -- and that it may take a very long time to get where we are going. And so it is with you. Your future matures gradually -- let it grow, let it shape itself, without undue haste. Don’t try to force what is to come, as though you could be today what only God’s grace will make you tomorrow. Only God can say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give God the benefit of believing that his hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in the wondrous suspense of being incomplete, trusting that God is guiding you where you need to go, guiding you into His Truth.”

The fact is that these times of transition, as unsettling as they can be, are also filled with great grace. I know that I have experienced many moments of such grace in the time I have been here with you. I hope you feel the same way. Together, let’s trust that God is slowly but surely leading us all to where we need to be. The journey may not always be comfortable or easy, but it wouldn’t be called the Way of the Cross if it were.

February 9, 2023: the Exchange of the Peace

Our Scripture lessons every Sunday have many purposes and functions. Often, they offer moral and spiritual guidance, as, for example, Jesus’ teachings from the Sermon on the Mount, which have been the subject of our gospel readings these past few Sundays. Other times, our lessons teach us history that allow us to appreciate how God’s people in generations past have encountered many of the challenges that face us today, and how God stood faithfully by their sides just as He stands by us. And still other times, our Scripture readings teach us deep theological truths about the nature of God.

Sometimes, though, these lessons also help us to understand our liturgy and why we do what we do during worship on Sundays. This week’s gospel text is one such example. In yesterday’s Bible study, among other verses from Matthew, chapter 5, we considered this teaching by Jesus: “So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to you brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24).

What do we make of this? On one level, this verse is just a part of Jesus’ teaching on anger and broken relationships, and his point is simply that all Christian must endeavor to work toward forgiveness and reconciliation, setting aside things like enmity, bitterness, jealousies and envy, and all negative feelings that create friction and division within Christian community.

And it is also more than that, making its way into our worshipping life each Sunday. Indeed, this teaching about reconciliation was viewed by the early Church as so foundational that it became the theoretical cornerstone of what we now call “the Exchange of the Peace,” which comes at the end of the Liturgy of the Word and before Holy Communion. You know, it is when the Pastor says: “May the peace of the Lord be always with you,” the congregation responds, “And also with you,” and then everyone greets one another with the sign of the peace.

This moment in the liturgy is much more than an opportunity for socializing or stretching your legs. Its original purpose was a much more solemn one: to invite everyone in the community to be reconciled to one another—i.e., forgive each other for any past wrongs, hurts, or slights, and “make peace” with one another—just before receiving the sacred gift of the sacrament of bread and wine.

This is how one ELCA worship guide explains the “Exchange of the Peace”:

The exchange of peace is a ministry, an announcement of grace we make to each other, a summary of the gift given to us in the liturgy of the Word. This ministry we do to each other is far greater than a sociable handshake or a ritual of friendship or a moment of informality. Because of the presence of Jesus Christ, we give to each other what we are saying: Christ’s own peace. Then, having been gathered by the Spirit around the Risen One present in the word, we turn to celebrate his meal.

If you want to learn more about this topic, and how it relates to our gospel lesson this Sunday, visit the following link. Paper copies will be available at the Entrance Table on Sunday morning.

I offer this not just as a bit of bible study or liturgical history, but also in the hope that it might re-frame how you experience this moment in our worship. Yes, “exchanging the peace” can still be a pleasant opportunity to warmly greet your neighbor, but it should also be an invitation to soften your heart and let go of that grudge or other negative feeling that is keeping you from loving everyone as Christ wants you to love.

February 2, 2023: The Desert of Compassion

Now that we’ve turned the calendar to February, your pastor has started thinking about Lent. We still have three Sundays of Epiphany to go, but Ash Wednesday will be here before we know it, this year falling on Wednesday, February 22.

Lent, of course, is a time for self-examination and reflection. In this season, we are invited to go into the wilderness with Christ for a conversation about how we are doing. Despite what you may have heard, Lent is not so much a time to wallow in guilt about our many foibles and failures as it is an opportunity to listen to Christ about how we might grow and mature in our faith in the days ahead.

Every Lent, I like to try a new devotional to help me along in this journey. This year I have selected a new book by Pastor Rachel Srubas entitled The Desert of Compassion: Devotions for the Lenten Journey. A Benedictine oblate and Presbyterian minister, Rachel pastors a Presbyterian church in Tucson, Arizona. Her book was just published last month, so I have yet to read it. But I’ve heard good things about it from readers who received advance copies and my perusal of it this past week confirms that it seems a thoughtfully constructed devotional.

My proposal to you is that we read it together during Lent. The book is organized so that for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday all the way to Holy Saturday, there is a short Scripture reading, a reflection, and a prayer. The book is only 170 pages, so it is to be lingered over rather than rushed through.

My thought is that after church on Sundays during Lent (roughly from 10:45 to 11:30 a.m.), those who are interested might join me for a discussion of each week’s entries as we make our way through the book. I have ordered a couple dozen copies from my local bookseller and I should have them in hand and available for purchase at church starting Sunday, February 12. I hope you will join me in this Lenten journey of reading, reflection and prayer. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks.

January 5, 2023: Resolutions

So, what are your New Year’s resolutions going to be? That is a question that many of us start asking each other this time of year. According to one website I stumbled across, the top ten resolutions this year are:

1. Exercise more
2. Lose weight
3. Get organized
4. Learn a new hobby
5. Save more money
6. Spend less money
7. Drink less
8. Spend more time with family and friends
9. Travel more
10. Read more

Sound familiar? Most of us have been here before, resolving to improve ourselves in one way or another, but usually failing.

One of the more comprehensive scientific studies of New Year’s resolutions was done by Professor Richard Wiseman of the University of Bristol in England in 2007, who checked in with 3000 English folk of different demographics in early January that year to get a list of their resolutions, and then he followed up with them twelve months later. The results? 88% of the participants failed to keep a majority of their resolutions.

For Christian theologians, this result is not surprising in the least. It falls under the rubric we call ‘sin,’ which in the Greek literally means to ‘miss the mark.’ The sad truth about human nature is just this: when it comes to doing what we should, we tend to miss the mark fairly consistently. The Christian conviction is that we are all broken people in one way or another, and that one of the first steps in the life of faith is humbly to admit as much. That is one reason we always confess our sins each Sunday before we come to the altar to receive the renewing gift of Christ’s body and blood.

The trouble, though, is that our broader culture refuses to accept sin as a truth about human nature, insisting instead that “I’m okay, and you’re okay,” and that everything will be better if we all just try a little harder. The American civil religion is one of self-improvement, self-reliance, and a relentless can-do optimism that refuses to accept limits to what we can accomplish. And so we have a multi-billion dollar cosmetics industry that denies the reality of aging; a multi-billion dollar digital entertainment industry that seeks to divert us from really meaningful human activity; and a multi-billion dollar drug and alcohol industry committed to medicating us when life’s disappointments rear their ugly little heads.

Almost imperceptibly, we have moved from being a Puritan nation that was admittedly too preoccupied with human weakness and moral failure to a nation that has completely expunged ‘sin’ from its vocabulary, believing that human happiness is just one more pill, or one more facelift, or one more Porsche, away. When the quintessentially American entrepreneur David Rockefeller was once asked: “so how much money is enough?” he famously replied: “just a little more.” We are a people obsessed with achieving, and ever confident we can create our own happiness, all results to the contrary notwithstanding.

Which is why the Incarnation we just celebrated is such good and welcome news. It turns out, you see, that our relationship with God is not about achieving; it is about receiving. I can’t tell you what a hard lesson this is for type-A, self-reliant Yankees to learn, but it is the gospel truth. We become God’s children by receiving the gift of the Christ child in faith, not by achieving anything on our own.

So, does this mean we can all kick back, get fat and be happy, because we are saved by faith and need do nothing on our own? By no means! If our faith is genuine, it will lead slowly but surely to transformation. When we really feel loved, we inevitably will want to be our best selves for our lover. The fancy theological word for this is sanctification. What the law cannot accomplish in us through our own sweat and toil, faith in God can. Such change certainly doesn’t happen overnight, and it often occurs in fits and starts, but once Christ’s love gets ahold of you, strange and remarkable things can happen.

So, what does this mean, then, about our New Year’s resolutions? Well, if you want to bet that you’ll be among the 12% of the population who are lucky enough to keep your own resolutions this year, then by all means, make them and take your chances. But here is another strategy you might consider. Instead of resolving to achieve this or that goal to improve your self – like losing weight or exercising more or spending less – you might resolve to give up on your self altogether and instead merely receive something: something, say, like God’s love in the holy child Jesus. Because my conviction is that if we all stop believing in our selves quite so much, and instead believe in what God can do in and through and with us, it is much more likely that Christ’s love will lead us into healthier and more fulfilling patterns of living. We may or may not lose those few extra pounds, but we are very likely to leave the world a better place and, by doing so, find ourselves an eternal home.