Wild Word of the Week: New

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.
-Psalm 51:10

Turi

Carol

Karen

Karen

Kirsten

Wild Word of the Week is going to take a little break for Holy Week and the Easter Season.  Instead, you are invited to share your photos of "God on the loose among us." Perhaps you see God at work in your children, colleagues, or complete strangers.  Perhaps you see God on the loose in creation.  If you can capture it on your camera, send it in!  Each week, I'll share the photos collected here and post them our Facebook page as well.  Have fun watching for God at work in the world!

Photos can be sent to me at pastorkirsten (at) gmail (dot) com.  Feel free to text them to me as well!

Bishop Mark Hanson: A Message on Racial Justice in the wake of Trayvon Martin's death

Our faith can inform the way we respond--to news, to events, to the needs of the world.  Occasionally, Bishop Hanson, the presiding bishop of the ELCA, writes messages that respond to major US and world news stories.  This is his most recent message, a reflection on the death of Trayvon Martin.

In  the wake of Trayvon Martin's tragic death, I call upon members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to join in public lament and to ask searching questions as we renew our commitment to act courageously and to work tirelessly for racial justice.

With all who mourn Trayvon's death we cry, "Lord, have mercy." For all who suffer the wounds that racism and violence infect we pray, "Christ, have mercy." For our turning God's gift of diversity into cause for distrust and division we plead, "Lord, have mercy." Who is more equipped to lament such agony, rather than deny it, than a people of the cross who trust that ultimately the power of God's love will reign?

May the sorrow and anger surrounding Trayvon's death move us to ask searching questions. How much longer shall any young person live in fear (and be feared) because of the color of their skin? Are we who are white ready to confront and lay down our power and privilege for the sake of a more just and inclusive society? Are we as a nation ready to reform our criminal justice system which "the cumulative effects of bias in the system as a whole have led to intolerably harmful effects on minority communities" ("ELCA Draft Social Statement on Criminal Justice").

Trayvon's death has emboldened the movement for racial justice. It calls for commitment from us. Now is the time for us as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America to live up to the commitments we made in the social statement, "Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity and Culture" (1993). We said we will "model an honest engagement with issues of race, ethnicity and culture, by being a community of mutual conversation, mutual correction, and mutual consolation" and further that we will "participate in identifying the demands of justice, and work with others who would have justice for all."

Trayvon's death calls us to act courageously and to work tirelessly for racial justice. Such courage comes from the confidence of faith trusting that "he [Christ Jesus] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us" (Ephesians 2:14 NRSV).

Let us together courageously engage in God’s work of restoring and reconciling communities. Let us together pursue justice and work for peace no matter how long the journey or wide the chasm. Let us tear down the walls we erect to divide us and turn those walls into tables of conversation and reconciliation.

In this season of Lent, let us repent and be turned by God toward our neighbor. Let us humbly confess that racism, both blatant and subtle, denies the reconciling work of the cross. Let us trust in God’s promise of forgiveness that frees us from the enslavement of racism. Let us live in the power and promise of Christ’s resurrection.

In God's grace,

The Rev. Mark S. Hanson
Presiding Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Tuesday's Text--Psalm 31:9-16

The Psalm for Palm Sunday is Psalm 31:9-16.

Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow,
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
and my bones waste away.


I am the scorn of my adversaries,
a horror to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many--
terror all around!--
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.


But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, 'You are my God.'
My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.

As we enter into Holy Week, we remember the story of Jesus' passion--his trial, journey to the cross, his death.  What images does this psalm bring to mind for you?

Do you find comfort in these words?  Why?

What does it mean in your life to trust in God even when you feel that you are in over your head?

Throughout the season of Lent, God's steadfast love has been a theme in the psalms.    How have you experienced this steadfast love?

A reflection on Psalm 51 for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

A reflection based on Psalm 51:1-12, which can be read here.

There is some beauty to the church year, in that during different seasons, we focus on different aspects of our understanding of the triune God and our relationship with God.  During the season of Christmas, we celebrate the incarnation.  During Epiphany, the light of Christ shining on all nations.  During Easter, resurrection.  During the Time after Pentecost, growth and vocation and learning.  During Lent, sin and forgiveness and reconciliation.  Some people find Lent depressing and long and dark.  Others find it refreshing and hopeful.  Saint and sinner, all of us, says Luther.  And Lent is certainly the season in which this becomes very clear.  

We sin.  It’s what we do.  We turn away from God and turn in on ourselves.  We sin knowingly and unknowingly.  We sin by doing and by not doing.  It’s part of life on this earth.  None of us can escape and none of us are completely innocent.  And, yet, we’re saints.  In baptism, we’re freed from sin’s power and brought to new life in Christ.  We’re cleansed and made whole.  We’re sinners who are forgiven.  We’re saints who still sin and find ourselves in need of forgiveness.  Simultaneously saint and sinner.  We’re both.  Every single one of us.  It’s the beauty of paradox.  It’s one of the things I love most about being Lutheran. 

www.oldlutheran.com

The website oldlutheran.com sells t-shirts, bags, and other items with all sorts of silly, Lutheran humor.  One of my favorites is a t-shirt designed by tattoo artist, Mark Palmer.  When worn, the people who see it on you see saint, but when you look down, you see sinner.  It is a beautiful design, but also a great reminder of the great need to look upon one another as saints, while still recognizing our own capacity to be sinners.  I think the world might be a different place if we looked at one another as saints, don’t you?  Don’t you think it might also be a different place if we recognized our own capacity for sin before pointing our fingers at another?  Sinner and saint, both.  Sinners in need of forgiveness, all.

Which brings us to today’s psalm.  The psalms are traditionally attributed to King David.  This one is supposedly written after the whole Bathsheba affair (remember that one--David saw Bathsheba on the roof, seduced and got her pregnant, then had her husband killed so he wouldn’t get busted, then their baby was born and died soon after).  Whether or not David actually wrote it, this much is certainly true--the writer understood the depth of sin and the despair.  The writer understood the longing for forgiveness.  The writer understood that he (or maybe even she) needed God because only God could offer the forgiveness he/she needed.  Only God could create the new thing--the new and clean heart.

The writer of this psalm knew how dark things could get.  He knew the weight of sin on his heart and mind and soul.  He knew those dark nights of the soul, of turning the thing over and over in his mind and trying over and over again to let it go.  And he knew that, alone, he could not free himself from the burdens of his sin.  He knew that, ultimately, he was desperately in need of the steadfast love, which can also be translated as undeserved love, that only God could give.  He knew that he had messed up terribly.  He knew he had rebelled and turned away from God.  He knew that he had hurt others by turning in on himself.  He knew that God’s mercy was the only thing that could possibly wash way the depth of his sin and allow him to start anew.  

In the Old Testament, the verb create has only one subject--God.  God is the only one who can create and the result of God’s creation is always something new.  How refreshing is that?  Create in me a clean heart, O God, prays the psalmist.  Make new in me a heart that is freed from the burden of this sin that I have brought upon myself.  Give me a fresh start.  Only God can really, truly forgive us from the burdens of our sins.

And yet, we know that God works in mysterious and wonderful ways.  We may experience God’s forgiveness by hearing the words “I forgive you,” from the one from whom we have turned away or from the pastor who proclaims the words during the absolution.  Those three simple words are powerful and have the capacity to give us new life.  Or perhaps we are called to be the ones to offer those words to someone who has hurt us.  Perhaps God is working on our hearts to forgive so that we, too, can experience the lifting of sin’s burden in our lives.  As any one of us who has struggled to forgive or has waited, with heavy heart, to be forgiven knows, it is not easy.  It is not easy to speak the words or to ask for them.  We really need God working in and through and around us to experience their healing effect.  We need God to work in and through and on our hearts to keep continually creating new hearts capable of love and grace and forgiveness.  We need God.  For everything.  Each and every single day of our lives.

Perhaps during Lent, we hear this the most clearly in church.  But Lent can happen at any time in our lives.  The all-to-real consequences of sin weigh heavy on our hearts and so we turn, sinners in need of forgiveness, back to the God whom we know to be gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  God frees us from our burdens, lifts us up out of the depths, creates in us newness, and allows us to see the promise of hope and grace around us.  Each and every single day, by God’s grace, God sees in us saints, the forgiven sinners we are. 

And so we pray today, and maybe everyday, with the psalmist:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit.  Amen.

Wild Word of the Week: Heal

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress; 

he sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction. (Psalm 107:19-20)

Carol

Barb

Amy

Kirsten

Inspired by Psalm 51:1-12

God sightings guest blogger: Rick

Today's guest blogger is Rick T. Rick and his wife, Rhonda, have been members at Peace for several years and have three children in 8th, 6th, and 4th grade. Rick has served as a leader for Route 56 and Route 78 for the past 3 years and has been on the Middle School Mission Trip twice. 

Where do you see God at work?  Sounds like a simple question but why is it so hard to answer?   The obvious answer is He is present everywhere around us.  But why can’t we see?  Why are we pressed to come up with examples?

These are questions I have been asking myself over the past few years.  At times answers come easy and at other times I am at a loss.  So I began challenging myself, especially during difficult times to remind myself of God’s presence among us.

I have had the privilege to be a small group leader for  5-8 graders in Route 56 and Route 78 for the past few years.  To watch these kids grow in their Faith lives is nothing short of astounding.  Day to day experiences, service projects and Mission Trips all show God is at work in profound ways with this group.  

When I asked the question to my Route 78 students at the start of the year they too struggled to provide answers.  What I think we have discovered is that God is so present in our lives that sometimes we begin to take his presence for granted.  I do not say this as a negative, the Holy Spirit has become ingrained in each of these kids there is no doubt.

Mission Trip experiences have been a huge source of answers to the question.  Without exception anyone who has participated in the Middle School Mission Trips for the past 2 years has commented that they have seen God at work at Mary’s Place.

 The service these kids quietly do and the connections they make cannot be put in to words.  Each participant will respond with the name or names of those they connected with at Mary’s Place.  They describe the interaction they had with that someone, perhaps playing a game of basketball, playing tag, doing crafts or reading to some of the young residents.  But you can see in their eyes the presence of the Holy Spirit as they speak. 

Moments captured in the hearts and minds of those who participated.  A young boy living at Mary’s Place began our visit two years ago being very shy.  He was engaged by some of our kids.   Soon he and his older brother were laughing and playing with the group.  Toward the end of the visit he appeared in a playroom for younger kids.  He asked Pastor Kirsten and I “Where’s my brother?”  Neither of us had seen his brother for a while and suggested he may have gone back to their room.   He turned and while looking at one of our kids his face beamed.  He pointed at the young man from Peace and said “That’s my Brother!”   A moment that moves me to this day!

Another Mission Trip highlight was packaging meals at Feed My Starving Children.  From a 2 hour shift worked by our kids and other volunteers enough meals were packed to feed 40 children for a year.  Each of our youths connecting, forming relationships, memories and experiences.  God is at work in them and through them!   

Losses touched many in our Route 78 group earlier this year.  The support the kids gave each other was well beyond their years.   During an especially difficult time for one of the kids a group of the kids immediately and spontaneously surrounded the one who was suffering in a group hug.  The wall of support was amazing.  Another amazing experience was just after one of the adult small group leaders experienced the loss of their father.  One of the kids who had been through recent major losses in their life was supporting the adult leader.

You may ask, Okay so where is God during the trying times?  I currently have four friends and acquaintances at various points in their individual battles with cancer.   God is definitely at work in and through each of them.  One beginning their battle demonstrates the will to defeat the illness and surrounds herself with the support of friends.  

Another describes drawing on this same will to survive to the point that Oncology Nurses encouraged her to reach out to other patients and serve as an inspiration to them.  She shares humorous stories about her determination in her recovery from surgeries.  The last friend has been on a long road in his battle with the disease.  We spoke one night of what it was like to be in a place renowned for medical miracles, a place where hope for cures is so prevalent that you can feel the energy in the halls.  We also spoke of acts both large and small of people connected to his family that have supported them in so many ways.  He thanked me at the end of the conversation.  I told him that I thought he helped me through our conversation more than I had him.   

A weekly reminder of God at work among us is in worship at Peace.  Whether it is the watching the banter of young siblings, the families gathered, senior members and single people. Watching the interactions of people of all generations is truly an inspiration.  Each has a unique story, God is at work in and through all of them.

Pause a moment each day.  Replay your day.   Open your heart to God, and become aware of where he shows His presence in your life.  

Where do YOU see God at work?   In you, through you and around you.  

Tuesday's Text--Psalm 51:1-12

The psalm for the fifth Sunday in Lent is Psalm 51:1-12

<To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.> 

Have mercy on me, O God, 

according to your steadfast love; 

according to your abundant mercy 

blot out my transgressions. 

² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, 

and cleanse me from my sin. 

³ For I know my transgressions, 

and my sin is ever before me. 

⁴ Against you, you alone, have I sinned, 

and done what is evil in your sight, 

so that you are justified in your sentence 

and blameless when you pass judgment. 

⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty, 

a sinner when my mother conceived me. 

⁶ You desire truth in the inward being; 

therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart. 

⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; 

wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 

⁸ Let me hear joy and gladness; 

let the bones that you have crushed rejoice. 

⁹ Hide your face from my sins, 

and blot out all my iniquities. 

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and put a new and right spirit within me. 

¹¹ Do not cast me away from your presence, 

and do not take your holy spirit from me. 

¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation, 

and sustain in me a willing spirit.

What questions does this psalm bring up for you?

What comfort do you find in it?

How does the inscription "To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba" change the way you hear it?

Do you ever hear the words in verses 10-12 differently in worship?

A reflection on Psalm 107 for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Today in churches around the world, two of the most beloved passages of the New Testament will be heard: 

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.  Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”  (John 3:16-17)

and

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of words, so that no one may boast.”  (Ephesians 2:8-9) 

For many of us, these four verses are the crux of our faith.  They are verses we long ago memorized, learned from parents or grandparents or beloved Sunday school teachers.  We hold them near and dear to our hearts, and for good reason.  They help us understand God’s grace and how God works in the world.  They remind us that it is God’s work, and God’s gifts of love, grace, and faith that save us.   

Into the mix of these much beloved verses, comes today’s psalm.  Maybe it’s a beloved one for you, but I have to admit, it’s not one that I think to turn to.  It’s not one I have memorized.  But, after spending some time with it this week, it really is a beautiful one.

“O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever,” it begins.  And though the lectionary only gives us a tiny bit of it, if we read the whole thing, we see some phrases repeat themselves:

Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress

and

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind.

If we read the whole thing, we see that this is a psalm that tells the stories of people experiencing hard things in their lives--hunger, thirst, homelessness, sickness, prison, and storms.  It tells the story of how--even in these times of trouble--the people remembered God and God did not forget them.  It’s a powerful psalm that tells the story of God’s saving work in the world--God’s action, not our own, redeeming us from the powers that would hold us captive to sin and death.  It’s a psalm that gives examples of God’s love and grace at work in the world, among real people, our ancestors in the faith.  It’s a psalm that they probably sang together in the temple--gathered together from north, south, east, and west--remembering together and celebrating God’s enduring steadfast love.

It is something to celebrate, isn’t it?  Even in this season of Lent, we can celebrate, it’s okay.  Because most of us have a lot to celebrate, don’t we?  If we really start to pay attention to the ways God is at work in our lives, couldn’t we, too, join in the thanksgiving to the God who redeems us, and loves us, and calls us by name?

The psalm and John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:8-9 all remind us that it is God’s work, not our own, that saves us.  It is Christ whom we turn to save us from the powers of sin and death that so badly want to hold us captive in the world.  And it is God’s love and grace that free us and set us loose in the world to tell of the marvelous things that the triune God has done.  And not only does God’s love and grace set us loose to tell about it, we are also freed to serve, to do something with the freedom that we have in Christ.  To be God’s hands and feet, to serve the hungry, thirsty, homeless, imprisoned, and sick.  To open ourselves to the possibility that maybe God will work through us, letting us be the vessels of God’s love.  To open ourselves to the possibility that in serving, we might also experience God’s grace through those whom we meet.  That they might show us a glimpse of that steadfast love the psalmist speaks of.  That we might be changed.

God’s steadfast love endures forever.  That is an amazing promise.  It frees us and fills us with hope.  It gives us plenty to be thankful for, even when the going gets tough.  It frees us to pray for our neighbor and our enemy and the stranger across the world whom we will never meet.  It frees us to do something for our neighbor and our enemy and the stranger across the world whom we will never meet.  It frees us from the burden of earning God's love and allows us to rest in the promise that that love is steadfast and endures forever.  And that there is enough to go around.  From north to south, and from east to west.  For the whole, wide world.

How have you experienced that steadfast love this week?  For what do you give thanks?

Wild Word of the Week: Rock

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, 

      O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.  (Psalm 19:14)

Carol

Carol

Karen

Karen

Barb

Amy

Kirsten

Inspired by Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

God sightings guest blogger: Carol

Today's guest blogger is Carol van Deelen. She and her family have been members of Peace for six years. Carol teaches at Madison Country Day School. She and her husband, Tim, have twins who are in seventh grade.



Carol wrote this reflection during the week after Transfiguration Sunday (February 19).

My pastor went a little crazy last Sunday.

It was the Sunday between St. Valentine’s Day and Mardi gras, two great celebrations of love and overindulgence.

During the children’s sermon, she passed out Mardi gras beads to the children. LOTS of Mardi gras beads.  (Does she know how people earn those in New Orleans?!)  She told them to pass them out to people in the congregation, to spread the joy.  And they did.  I thought they’d take the beads back to their parents and families, but they didn’t.  They passed them out to surrogate family members, surrogate grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles.  They passed them out to other children. They even passed them out to people they DIDN’T KNOW!

Then during the second sermon, my pastor flung pink, red, and white heart-shaped confetti over the congregation.  Not sprinkled; flung.  By great handfuls.  And she walked all through the pews to do it.  No one was spared.  We had it in our hair, in the hymnals. We even took it home with us. At school, my son found some in his pants pocket. There’s still a piece on our kitchen floor. Children and adults, yes adults, were picking it up by the handfuls to re-throw at each other.  The girl in the pew in front of us started collecting the larger pieces to bring home with her.  I helped her.

During this barrage, I found myself thinking about the waste of it all. The natural resources and energy at the factory that went into making this confetti. The marketing and shipping costs. I found myself thinking about how we might be able to collect it for reuse, maybe by the preschool or Sunday school classes. I found myself sympathizing with the custodian who would have to vacuum this all up.  What a waste.

And then it struck me.  To Pastor Karen’s extravagant display of God’s love, I was Judas.  You know the story, right?  Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem – to die – and a woman anoints his feet with expensive oil, then wipes his feet with her hair.  Judas stands by bemoaning the waste of expensive oil, oil that could have been sold to provide for the poor. 

(A noble thought, his. Unfortunately, the gospel writer reminds us, his real motive as a leader among Jesus’s friends, was to have stolen the money.  A noble thought, mine as well.  I can say though, that as a leader in our church, it never did occur to me to steal the money that was instead spent on the confetti.)

“Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany. There they gave a dinner for him.  A woman took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.  But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’  (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.)  Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’" (John 12)

Judas couldn’t see the extravagant love expressed by the woman, the extravagant act that Jesus endorsed.  Could I see what Judas didn’t?  

I did. To the children in the congregation the confetti was God’s extravagant love displayed. To the new Christians in the congregation, the confetti was God’s extravagant love displayed.  Between family members and strangers who threw the confetti at each other and walked out of church laughing, the confetti was God’s extravagant love displayed. Mostly, to the middle aged Christian who has heard of God’s love her whole life, read about God’s love, and experienced God’s love, the confetti was God’s extravagant love displayed.  

I needed to experience it most of all.

Tuesday's Text--Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

The Psalm for the Fourth Sunday in Lent is Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22.

O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; 

     for his steadfast love endures forever. 

² Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, 

     those he redeemed from trouble 

³ and gathered in from the lands, 

     from the east and from the west, 

     from the north and from the south.

17 Some were sick through their sinful ways, 

     and because of their iniquities endured affliction; 

¹⁸ they loathed any kind of food, 

     and they drew near to the gates of death. 

¹⁹ Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, 

     and he saved them from their distress; 

²⁰ he sent out his word and healed them, 

     and delivered them from destruction. 

²¹ Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, 

     for his wonderful works to humankind. 

²² And let them offer thanksgiving sacrifices, 

     and tell of his deeds with songs of joy.

-What images come to your mind when you hear "he...gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south"?

-How have you experienced God's healing in your life?

-For what do you give thanks today?

A reflection on Psalm 19 for the 3rd Sunday in Lent

A reflection based on Psalm 19.

I didn’t know this when I moved to Ohio: Cleveland is almost as wet as Seattle.  Really, you say?  Yes.  I think it rained every day for the first month I was here.  I was glad I bought cute rain boots because I wear them.  A lot.  And although I’ve always appreciated a sunshiny day, I think I appreciate them more here.  The way the sunshine comes into my office or fills up the living room with light.  Kids here aren’t afraid of a little rain, but their laughter and playing sounds a lot louder when it’s bright and sunny outside.  I feel like there’s a little extra bounce in my step when the sunshines and I find it a lot easier to watch for God moments when the sky is blue than when it is gray.  

But what gets me even more is the night sky.  On the rare occasion when we have a clear night sky, the stars here are incredible.  When Venus, Jupiter, and the moon formed a tight triangle in the sky, we were literally stopped in our tracks walking to a friend’s house to watch the Oscars.  And some of my favorite Boundary Waters memories are of star gazing.  The first time I saw the Aurora Borealis in the Boundary Waters, I was terrified.  What was that strange light in the sky?  Once my dad explained what it was, though, I was mesmerized.  Sometimes I just stand under that vast night sky, look up, and simply say “wow.”  

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.  In verses 4b-6, the psalmist primarily writes of the sun.  But I think the wonder of the whole sky--both day and night--appears in this psalm.  The belief that, somehow, all of creation is indebted to the Creator.  That all of creation is capable, in its own way, of pointing us back to the one who made us, the one to whom it all belongs.  The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the psalmist writes in Psalm 24.

But Psalm 19 isn’t simply a psalm expressing wonder at creation.  In verse 7, it moves into psalm that praises the law, the torah.  In praising this gift of God, the psalmist realizes that while the heavens can proclaim God’s glory, we need more than that.  We need to know God’s great capacity for forgiveness.  That humans, while created in God’s image, are quite capable of sin and desperately in need of forgiveness.  That we need instruction and help when it comes to living a life that reflects that image.  We can praise the glory, but we’re also in need of redemption.  

As Christians, we see that redemption coming in not so glorious ways.  We see it coming through the Word made flesh who lives among us.  We see it in flesh and blood in Christ.  We see it in the cross.  When we’re at our best (which, ironically, sometimes feels like our worst), we recognize our own need for Christ and the needs of the whole world.  We see stories of war and needless deaths and diseases that could so easily be prevented.  We realize that, while the heavens tell of the glory, the news sometimes tells of the realities of sin and death that still have a grasp on this world.

And yet, there is hope.  As the sunshine reminds us of the hope of spring, there is hope that the world is not forever stuck in the cycle of disease and death and famine and fear.       At the end of Psalm 19, as he does throughout the psalms, the psalmist refers God as “my rock.”  Strong, sure, certain.  A firm foundation.  And on that rock, we can lay our hope, our trust, our burdens.  We trust that in the midst of the confusion and anger and sadness, that God is working, through us, around us, and in us, to bring about change in the world.  To bring about the change that, with the heavens, proclaims God’s glory.  We trust that God is the one who redeems us and sustains us.  That God is the one who has created us and will never leave us.  And we believe that God’s glory doesn’t show up only in the heavens, but sometimes in the most unexpected of places.  Like dirty feet and around a table.  And on a cross.  And in a rock, rolled away to reveal an empty tomb. 

Wild Word of the Week: Horizon

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD... (Psalm 22:27a)

Barb

Barb

Emily

Emily

Emily

Kirsten

Amy

Inspired by Psalm 19

God sightings guest blogger: Abbie E.

Abbie Enlund has been a member at Peace for about 2 years.  She is a seasonal naturalist at the Aldo Leopold Center and shares her love of nature with the students at Peace Preschool.  She and her husband, Chris, have two daughters.   Abbie blogs at www.greeningsamandavery.typepad.com.

I asked Abbie, "How do you see God at work in the world?"  She responded:

He is in the Kids! 

My life is all about kids. There are the kids that I teach in preschool classrooms, kids that I teach at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, kids that I reach through my position with the WI Association for Environmental Education and kids that I work with in hundreds of other ways throughout my life. It doesn’t matter in what way I am getting a kid outside there is always an “ah-hah” moment. A moment where they see something new, find a treasure or accomplish a task they never thought that they could. In that moment I see God at work. I see Him showing these kids the amazing world He has created for us. I see Him building their connection to that world. And I see Him creating a future generation that will live like the stewards He wants us all to be. I believe God wants our kids to see His creation, to know it, understand it and love it so passionately that they protect it in every aspect of their life. 

In those moments when I am taking kids outdoors I see God at work in me. I see him rekindling my own inspiration and love for His world. I know that God gave me the gift of being an environmental educator, of knowing how to connect kids with the outdoors, and when I get a chance to use that gift I feel Him at work in me.  

But my most favorite time to see God at work is in my own girls. The family moments when we are hiking and get a chance to see an eagle or a beautiful view or find coyote scat (yes I am talking poop people!) along a trail. I know that He is building that connection with my own kids. He is bonding them to the land, to His creation, and bonding us together as a family. We create memories along those trails. Memories that will hopefully help us get through any rough times that we may face as a family in the future.  

I see Him whenever I take kids outside! 

Where do you see God most clearly?

Tuesday's Text--Psalm 19

The psalm for the third Sunday in Lent is Psalm 19.

Earthrise, 1968

   The heavens are telling the glory of God; 

     and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 

² Day to day pours forth speech, 

     and night to night declares knowledge. 

³ There is no speech, nor are there words; 

     their voice is not heard; 

⁴ yet their voice goes out through all the earth, 

     and their words to the end of the world. 

    

   In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun, 

⁵ which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, 

     and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 

⁶ Its rising is from the end of the heavens, 

     and its circuit to the end of them; 

     and nothing is hid from its heat. 

⁷ The law of the LORD is perfect, 

     reviving the soul; 

   the decrees of the LORD are sure, 

     making wise the simple; 

⁸ the precepts of the LORD are right, 

     rejoicing the heart; 

   the commandment of the LORD is clear, 

     enlightening the eyes; 

⁹ the fear of the LORD is pure, 

     enduring forever; 

   the ordinances of the LORD are true 

     and righteous altogether. 

¹⁰ More to be desired are they than gold, 

     even much fine gold;

   sweeter also than honey, 

     and drippings of the honeycomb. 

¹¹ Moreover by them is your servant warned; 

     in keeping them there is great reward. 

¹² But who can detect their errors? 

     Clear me from hidden faults. 

¹³ Keep back your servant also from the insolent; 

     do not let them have dominion over me. 

Then I shall be blameless, 

     and innocent of great transgression. 

¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, 

      O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

What is your favorite image of God?

What do you think the psalmist meant by "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork"?

A reflection on Psalm 22 for the Second Sunday in Lent

On Monday morning, I saw the story come across my Facebook page.  Yet another school shooting, this one in a suburb of Cleveland.  I’m slowly learning my Ohio geography, but hadn’t yet heard of Chardon.  A quick Google map search showed it to be a little over an hour away.  Now, a few days later, it has become a familiar place-name in the news.  Demetrius Hewlin, Russel King, Jr., and Daniel Parmertor are dead, two others injured, T.J. Lane’s life has changed forever.  As I watched the local news on Monday night, I was sick to my stomach and sad beyond belief.  I prayed for the students who witnessed this horror and the families of those who were killed, for TJ and his family, for all of the people of Chardon.  And the psalms echoed in my head-- “My God, my God, why have you abandoned us?” and “How long, oh Lord, will you hide your face from us?”  Though the psalmist wrote “me,” on Monday night, “us” was more appropriate.  On Monday night in Ohio, the psalms of lament were lifted in prayer.  

If we read the whole thing, Psalm 22 is a familiar psalm.  “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  It’s a psalm we’ll hear again in a few weeks, on Good Friday, recalling the words that Jesus spoke on the cross.  It’s a psalm that reminds us that in our moments of despair and grief and questioning, we are not alone.  Even Jesus felt that way.  No wonder we feel that we sometimes.  

Though we’ll hear the whole thing on Good Friday, today we hear only the end.  The part of the psalm where the psalmist has begun to come out of the place of darkness and has begun to see the light.  In this psalm, and in many others like it, such as Psalm 13, I sometimes wonder how long it took for the writer to write these lasts words.  Maybe the whole psalm was written from the perspective of hindsight, looking back over some hard times, yet realizing that he was never alone.  Or maybe it was written in chunks, a kind of journal of the ups and downs in this period of the psalmist’s life.  I tend to think this might be the case.  We don’t really know who wrote the psalms, but we do know that they capture so much of the reality of human life--complaints, fears, hopes, joys; feeling lost, forsaken, and abandoned; recognizing the beauty in God’s creation.  Whoever it was who wrote this beautiful psalm was going through some kind of ordeal.  She wrote about these ups and downs in her journey of life and faith, realizing that even in the midst of her despair, she might also remember her trust in her God.  Recognizing that she could talk to God about anything and everything and lay it all out there.  That God could handle it.  And then, maybe days or weeks or months later, when things were brighter in her world, going back and recording the praises she had for her Creator and putting it out there that there is goodness in the world and that there is reason to share it.

I love the line “all the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD.”  What a powerful witness and reminder of our need to turn back to God.  It’s one of the big parts of Lent--repenting, literally turning back/around to God.  How do we turn to God in every part of our lives?  The psalmist complained and petitioned and praised God.  Often, as in Psalm 22, within the confines of one poem.  And the beauty of a life of faith is that we can do it, too.  We can give everything to God.  God can handle it.  God is willing and able to hear our cries and complaints.  God hears our praise.  

One commentary I read this week suggests that perhaps when Jesus cried from the cross “My God, my God why have you abandoned me,” he did so with the intention that those who heard would remember not just the beginning of the psalm, but the whole thing.  That they would hear those words and remember “he did not despise or abhor the affliction of the afflicted; he did not hide his face from me, but heard when I cried to him.”  That they would realize, even as they lived through their own horrors, that they were not forgotten.  That we would remember, in the depths of depression and despair and grief and confusion, that we are not forgotten.  Because we’re not.  Not for one second.  Even when we cannot find it in ourselves to remember God or look to God, God knows us and loves us.  God journeys with us through life--all of it.  Not just the good parts.  Not just the parts when we feel closest or most aware of God’s presence.  All of it.  Every moment of every day.  The glorious moments and the most painful.  Joys and sorrows.  From his darkest place, Christ reminds us that we can indeed turn to God and that our cries will be heard.  And our praises.  So we worship and praise, cry and pray.  And we are heard.  All of us.  It doesn’t cease to amaze me.  

So bring it on.  Give God your complaints, your praises, your petitions, your adoration.  Give it all up to God.  And remember that, in Christ, God has given it all.  For you.  And me.  And all of us. 

Wild Word of the Week: Path

All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness... (Psalm 25:10a)

Keith

Kirsten

Karen

Inspired by Psalm 22:23-31