God on the Loose Among Us

Mark Blume sent me this story about how he saw God at work last night.


The Juergens family hosted a dinner party tonight for Joni’s parents and her two sisters who were visiting from out of town. Denise and I and Jan and Alan Rutkowski were invited. Denise and I because Denise visited New York with Joni and her sisters last year and Alan and Jan because Alan went to Marquette University with Joni’s sister Laurie and Alan, Jan and Laurie had become good friends during that time but had not seen each other in over 20 years.

While we were visiting with each other before dinner, we noticed a couple looking for something in the field next to the elementary school behind the Juergens' house. Wondering what they were looking for and thinking they could use some assistance, Joni and a couple of us went out on her deck and asked the couple if they had lost something. The women responded that she had lost her ring in the grass but was about to give up looking for it. Joni offered to help and the woman and her husband declined, but we insisted. So we all went out the field to help search for her ring.

The woman and her husband were from the Oshkosh area and had been attending their granddaughters’ soccer game. The woman stated her hands had gotten very cold and her ring must have slipped off her finger and fell into the grass. When we asked what kind of ring we were looking for and the woman indicated it was a gold band with five diamonds.

Some of us formed a line and began crawling on our hands and knees to search in the grass for the ring, while others spread out around us and also searched in the grass. After I’d say about ten minutes, Joni’s sister Laurie jumped up and shouted she had found the ring. And sure enough there it was….the woman’s missing ring. The woman was obviously very happy and thanked Laurie and all of us for finding her ring.

Someone suggested a picture. The woman’s husband tried to take a picture of Laurie and his wife with his phone. But the memory card on his phone was full and he could not take any additional pictures. So I pulled out my phone and took a picture of Laurie and the woman and then the entire group (minus me and the woman's husband).

We invited the couple to join us for dinner. They declined and the woman’s husband made a joke about buying us all dinner, but at McDonalds since there was so many of us. We headed back to the Juergens' house to enjoy a great night together and the couple headed off to their car presumably to return home.

God was definitely on the loose among us tonight.

Tuesday's Text--Acts 2:1-21

This weekend, we celebrate Pentecost--the day when the Spirit descended and the people understood one another, even though they spoke in their own languages.  It's sometimes referred to as the birthday of the church.

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. ²And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

⁵Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem.  ⁶And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.⁷Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? ⁸And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? ⁹Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, ¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, ¹¹Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” ¹²All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” ¹³But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”

¹⁴But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. ¹⁵Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ¹⁶No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: ¹⁷‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy. ¹⁹And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. ²⁰The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord’s great and glorious day. ²¹Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

How have you experienced the Spirit at work in your life?

God sightings--the gifts pastors receive

I've talked about it before, but it is so true that I'll say it again.  Pastors receive amazing gifts from the people who sit in the pews.  They may not be intentional, but they are extremely beautiful.  I don't think they can be planned, they just happen.  In any case, these moments are memorable and I treasure them.


I think about the candlelit faces on Christmas Eve.  When I stand up to give the benediction and look out over all of those faces, sometimes stretching all the way to the back of the narthex, I see beautiful images of the light shining in the darkness, the Word becoming flesh, brothers and sisters created in the image of God.  Simply beautiful.


There are moments at the communion table when time seems to stop and I get a glimpse of God's time.  I see hands stretching out--old hands and young hands--to receive Christ's body.  I see our youngest ones beginning to understand that they have a place at God's table, that God's love is for all of us, that all are really, truly welcome.  I can't put a value on these moments.  I can only say they are beautiful.


Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to preach and preside at Faith Lutheran Church in Lakewood, Ohio.  The pastor told me when we talked earlier in the week that one of their members was celebrating her 95th birthday and that she would be there (probably in the third pew on the right) with her daughters.  I watched as she took communion, with bright pink fingernails, and a daughter on each side and found myself with tears in my eyes.  It was a moment overflowing with love--love of mother for her children, love of children for their mother, the love of God made manifest in a little bit of bread and wine. 


A little later, during the announcements, I watched as a huge smile grew on her face while we sang happy birthday to her.  We were singing to her, but that moment was a gift to me.  A reminder of the beauty of the body of Christ.  A reminder of the way that we are connected in baptism, made brothers and sisters in Christ, that our church is way bigger than the people we know and recognize from regular encounters.  It was a moment I will treasure.  A gift and a grace.


We can't always know when we will catch glimpses of God at work.  All we can do is trust that in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the world, God is at work, all around us.  Sometimes we catch glimpses of the grace and beauty and love in moments when we least expect it and sometimes in the places where we trust so fully in the promise that God will indeed be with us.  Beautiful beyond words and every day blessings.

1 John 5:9-13

This second reading for the 7th Sunday of Easter is 1 John 5:9-13.

If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Who gets to decide who "has the Son"?

What does it mean to you to have eternal life?

This is the last weekend we will hear from 1 John for awhile.  What new insights have you discovered over the past several weeks?  What new questions do you have?

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday in Easter

I am looking forward to my return to Peace on June 10.  I have, however, enjoyed this time to meet other brothers and sisters in Christ in Northern Ohio.  I was invited to preach at Faith Lutheran Church in Lakewood on May 13.  What follows is the sermon I preached there.

What does love look like?  Is that a puzzling question or does an answer come immediately to mind?  What does love look like?

We’ve been listening to readings from 1 John all through the season of Easter.  And it has struck me this year just how important love is in this little book.  The word is used over and over again.  Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action....  Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God....  God is love....  Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also....  And today, by this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.  Combine this with Jesus’ pronouncements in the Gospel of John, “Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love” and “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” and we have a pretty powerful reminder that love--God’s love--is at the center of this life of faith.  So what does that love look like?

I don’t remember who first taught me about God’s love.  I do know that since before I could remember my parents have told me they loved me, and my grandparents.  I know that skipping stones in the Mississippi with my grandpa and going to visit grandma at the nursing home where she worked are some of my earliest memories, along with climbing into my dad’s lap to read story after story and remembering my mom staying up late to sew doll clothes or paint individual tulips on the wall of my childhood bedroom.  All of them, each in their own way, helped me understand what it means to love and to be loved.  

I don’t remember the first time I sang “Jesus Loves Me,” but I know that by the time I was in Kindergarten, I was so confident in that love that I stood in front of a group of sixth graders and scolded them, with hands on my hips, “How many times do I have to tell you, when you’re singing about Jesus you should have a smile on your face?”  Folks at my home congregation who remembered that story were not surprised when they learned that I was headed to seminary.

A pastor friend once told me that every night, he traces the cross on his children’s foreheads and says “Jesus loves you and so do I.”  Not long ago, he and his teenaged son had an argument that resulted in the son stomping off to his room for several hours.  But when it came time for bed, he emerged and came upstairs to tell his dad he was going to bed.  He leaned down to receive the blessing he had received nearly every night of his life.  “Jesus loves you and so do I.”  

Maybe your story is different.  Maybe you remember vividly the day that you first learned about God’s love.  That you first experienced it and took it in.  Maybe you remember the first time someone spoke those amazing words that are so full of grace and hope and promise, “Child of God, you are loved.”  Whatever the story we have to tell, isn’t that promise still absolutely amazing.  You are loved.

We love because God first loved us.  And, as you all know well, God’s love moves in us, through us, and around us.  When we really stop and take it in, we can’t help but be moved.  And it gets us moving, right?  Whether we speak of God’s love or show it, when we really take it in, we can’t help but to share it.  And since God gives us a variety of gifts, we use those gifts to the best of our ability to let light of Christ’s love shine in a world that so often needs to hear it again that love is more powerful than hate, that God is love, that you are loved.  

So what does love look like?  I took a look at your website and it looks to me that love at Faith looks a little bit like a community clothes closet or a community meal.  It looks like a place where “a church for all” is taken so seriously that there’s even a place for pets every once in awhile.  It looks like a place where quilts are created with love and resources are shared in the neighborhood and around the world.  It looks like a place where God’s people understand that love is active.  It looks like a place where generations have been nurtured and joys and sorrows shared and where strangers are welcomed as brothers and sisters. 

My husband moved last August to teach for the year at Oberlin.  I joined him at the end of November.  During our time in Ohio, we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to visit many different churches--ELCA, Episcopal, UCC, and Baptist.  This is what we’ve witnessed again and again: God’s love takes on many different forms.  We’ve stumbled into congregations that are tiny and some that are quite large.  We’ve seen confirmation students excited to share God’s love through service and college students who have experienced God’s love in places near and far.  We’ve watched as brothers and sisters in Christ washed one another’s feet and have knelt at many a communion rail.  I heard last weekend at the South Central Synod of Wisconsin assembly stories of congregations reaching out to show God’s love in various ways in their own communities--through community meals and outreach to immigrant communities.  I heard stories from around the ELCA of the ways God’s love is being shared with folks who have heard about it for years and folks who have just recently heard the promise for the very first time.

And when we stop and think about it, this love of God that is steadfast and encompassing and sure, we realize that that love surprises us and delights us and fills us with awe.  That that love works in many and various ways in and through the people around us--friends and family and strangers.  That God’s love is something to be shared.  That God’s love is engrained in us deeply and yet entirely new.  That God’s love empowers us and fills us and renews us and refreshes us.

Today, like we do most every Sunday, we gather at the Lord’s table, where we take in the body and blood of Christ.  Where we hear the words of promise “This is my body given for you.”  Words that are so full of love.  Words that change us.  Words that charge us to share that love, not just within these walls but out into the world.  The authors of a book on Lutherans and immigration called They Are Us put it this way “In the eucharist, we not only eat at the altar table of our congregations, but we follow the real presence of Jesus into the world to connect with the community.”  God’s love changes us.  It frees us to serve.  It sends us out into the world to use the gifts we have been given to the best of our ability, all in the name of Christ, whose love is so strong it conquers death.  That is a stunning and empowering reality for us, isn’t it?  In Christ, we have a promise of love so amazing it conquers even death.  So what have we to fear?  We lay down our burdens and follow the one who is love.  We are freed to love and sent out to serve.  

It never ceases to amaze me when I hear the promise at the end of Matthew’s gospel.  “Remember, I am with you always until the end of the age.”  God calls us to love and promises to be with us through the joys and the sorrows and challenges that an active love brings.  At Christ’s table, we are nourished once again to go our many different ways to love--neighbors and strangers and enemies and friends.  We love because God first loved us.  We do our best to obey Christ’s command to love one another.  We abide in Christ’s love, so amazing, so divine and we rest deeply in the promise that God is love.  Amen.

Living, Daring Confidence

"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times."  --Martin Luther

Over the weekend, over 400 Lutherans from around South Central Wisconsin for the annual synod assembly.  We heard updates about what is going on around the synod and around the church.  We met with colleagues and friends.  We were challenged by Luther Seminary professor Rolf Jacobson to live into the amazing story of God.  Whenever we gather, I am amazed to hear the stories of God on the loose among us--in South Central Wisconsin and in the world.

Thanks to new technologies, the ELCA has been able to put together a video the past several years so that we can see some of the ministries that are happening around our church.  I was moved by the theme of living, daring confidence--the theme for the video and of our assembly.

How have you been moved by a living, daring confidence in God's grace?

This week's Bible study--1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

The theme of love continues.  What does it mean to you to love God?

The theme of "children of God" is very important in this letter.  How has your idea of being a child of God changed throughout your life?

How does the Spirit work in your life?

1 John Online Bible Study--1 John 4:7-21

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.

God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgement, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

How have you experienced love in your life?

Why is love so important?

How do you describe faith lived out?

God on the loose among us

Sue sent these photos of the ways she's seen God on the loose...

There's a female cardinal that wants to drive out another cardinal she thinks is in our basement window.  I guess we all want to protect what we feel is ours.

In the woods, there is life growing from an old dead stump.  

In the backyards of our neighborhood, there are sandhill cranes that seem to want to move in. They are so majestic and awesome!




Thanks for sharing, Sue!  


How have you seen God on the loose?  
E-mail photos to pastorkirsten(at)gmail(dot)com.

A Confirmation Day Reminder...for all of us

This is the sermon preached at the 8:00 service on Confirmation Sunday at Peace (April 29, 2012)

In a few minutes, we’ll watch Peace’s traditional Confirmation video--with pictures of the nineteen confirmands growing up.  Some of you will remember seeing those little faces.  Perhaps you have watched them play bells or soccer or sing in the school choir.  Maybe you even remember the day one was baptized, that he cried or she almost slept through the whole thing.  Some of them were baptized here at Peace, others at other places.  And today, they affirm the promises made to them in baptism.

It’s a special day for them.  A day when they are reminded of the awesome promises of God--the one who named them and claimed them and knows them each by name.  The God who loves them beyond measure.  And even though you might not be there at 10:30 when they stand before us and say their “I will and I ask God to help and guide me’s,” it’s a special day for all of us.  It’s  day when we can remember the promises that we have made over the years.  Promises to the strangers and promises to our loved ones.  Promises that we would support them as they grew.  And we remember the ones who made the promises to us.  No matter where it happened, the fact is that someone made a promise to you to help you grow in faith.

We believe we are united as the body of Christ.  So even though none of you were there on the day I was baptized, there were people who spoke for the body of Christ and made promises that they would help me grow.  And even though many of the people who have helped me understand what it means to live into the identity of child of God were not there on the day of my baptism, they have helped fulfill the promises those other brothers and sisters in Christ made.  We work together.  We speak for one another.  We are the body of Christ.  Together.  United across time and space by the God who knows us each by name.

Most of us were brought to the font by our parents.  They made promises to nurture us in faith, to help us grow and learn what it means to be a child of God.  But as Martin Marty writes to parents in his little book about baptism, “You will need all the help you can get.”

  No parent can do it alone.  We turn to others--the Sunday school teachers and choir directors and camp counselors and the person who always sits behind us in church and whose voice we miss when she’s not there.  All of those people help us grow up to begin to understand what it means to be a part of this mystical body of Christ.  To have brothers and sisters who are not biological, but spiritual.  Who are all part of this huge and amazing family of God.  

Living in community is part of what it means to be a child of God.  There are no only children in this family.  Instead, we have millions of brothers and sisters, spread across the world, most of whom we will never meet.  And yet, somehow in the marvelous mystery that is faith, when we make promises in baptism and when promises were made to us, all of those far away brothers and sister are included, too.  And when we pray for all of the baptized, we pray for a whole huge body of Christ.  It is mind boggling and amazing.  This is the stuff that makes this pastor really excited!

So what holds it all together?  God, of course.  But love has a big part to do with it, right.  Little children, John writes in our second reading today, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.  He calls that ancient community to task.  He urges them to attempt to understand that if they have any chance of living together in harmony, they better figure out pretty quickly what it means to show love, not only speak it.  To live it out in their actions.  Every day.  Even when they didn’t like that neighbor or didn’t get along with that one.  It’s a noble and worthy goal.  And it didn’t stop with that gathered community.  It’s the command from Christ: “Love one another as I have loved you.”  It’s hard, isn’t it?  And so we pray for help.  We keep turning back to God and asking, once again, for guidance and grace.  Because we struggle, we fall short, we fail.  And we try again and succeed and turn back to God for help.  And even with this saint-sinner life, God loves us.  Every single moment of every single day.

Even though our human communities are sometimes a little messy, isn’t it also in these relationships that we see God’s work most clearly?  Isn’t in these moments when we realize, in spite of our questions and our struggles, that yes, somehow God is at work in this world?  In laughter with friends or those evenings when all of the sudden you realize hours have passed and you didn’t even realize it.  When you witness the patience of a husband with his beloved of many, many years whose mind is wracked by dementia.  When you watch as the boundaries created by assumptions are tossed aside and perhaps only for a split second you feel as if you are catching a glimpse of the kingdom to come.  God is working in the world.  Through us.  In us.  Around us.  God is working in this world.  

Today is an important day for the confirmands.  And will tomorrow and the next day be.  And so will they be for you.  We don’t have to wait for confirmation day to role around again to remember the promises and affirm them.  Unlike baptism, which happens only once, we can affirm the promises every day.  It doesn’t take a special day to remind ourselves of the promises “to live among God’s faithful people, to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of Jesus, and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.”  Our faith does not play out only within the walls of this church.  The love of Christ is embodied in each one of us, the children he knows each by name.  And we carry that love out into the world.  And it makes a difference.

God’s love, which we have the honor and privilege and responsibility to share, makes a difference in this world.  It makes a difference when God’s love causes us to love the stranger or enemy or friend.  It makes a difference when it causes us to visit the sick or feed the hungry or see the homeless person on the street as a fellow human being.  It makes a difference when we take the time to see God’s image reflected in the folks we meet.  We don’t live our lives in individual bubbles.  We live them in community.  Most often, we probably live our lives among people we know and trust and love.  But every once in awhile, stop and ponder the promise that we also live our lives as a part of a great community of saints.  People of every time and place whose lives are intertwined with ours simply because we are called child of God.

At each of our baptisms a different community represented the whole body of Christ, promising to help us grow.  And that process takes a life time.  It involves questions and struggle and moments of clarity and moments of doubt.  It involves turning to trusted loved ones and sometimes total strangers.  It requires love, both given and received.  

We love because God first loved us.  We are bound together because God calls us to live not as individuals, but as community.  We are witnesses to the love of God that weaves through all of history.  We are members of the body of Christ.  We are known and we are loved.  And we are, each and every one of us, called child of God.  Amen.

God sightings guest blogger: Hannah T.

Hannah Terpening is a Freshmen UW-Platteville, majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in Psychology and emphasis in Forensic Investigation.  She is a member at Peace and has worked on the summer staff, been on two mission trips, and played with the Radical Ringers.

God has been working in many different ways through me in the past few months.

Over Easter I went home to be with my family and celebrate the remembrance of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ. And as we were all together on Easter morning waiting for my Mother to finish cooking a delicious ham meal, which we are grateful that we can fill out bellies, we were watching the Master Golf Tournament.

Quick history about my family, My Grandfather, known to us as Bumpa was diagnosed with the number one killing cancer, Lung, in April of 2009. Nine short months, and a vigorous battle with this cancer, he left us on earth to join God in Heaven in July of 2010. My Bumpa was one of my best friends. He taught me how to golf, came to sporting events, and always had a smile no matter what. 

While watching the Masters it made me just think about him, and how he must have the best view on the whole entire golf course. I wish everyday that I could have spent just one more day with him, but then I think about him and passing away and he taught me a valuable lesson. 

I learned that just because you are ill, doesn’t mean that you should stop living your life. There are going to be bumps in the road, but that’s the trick of life. If you can hit a bump and get over it, you will strive at anything you put your mind to, if you hit that bump and get a flat tire it may take sometime to fill that tire up but keep on going because that tire will inflate again and you will be on your way. 

“My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way” Isaiah 51:5.

There are a few things that I remember every night. First, my favorite quote that I recite every night. It gives me the courage I need to let me clear my head and get good nights sleep no matter how good or bad my day was. “There is a God to carry us through the bad times and encourage us through the good!” Last but certainly not the least, God may have taken my Bumpa off this planet but it is because I needed a Guardian angel. Grandfather, Guardian angel, Best friend, Father, Listener, and finally, my hero. As I continue on through college I often have times where I am very busy and forget exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life. But at that moment when I am feeling over whelmed, I close my eyes, and remember My Bumpa and all the happy times that we have shared together. 

Going to church and praising God our Father makes me feel closer to God, which I have always prayed and hoped for. I knew that God had a plan for all of us and that I would do anything for our Lord and Savior. Even if I do something that he disproves of I know he will always love me and I will go, and do then what he asks of me. Isaiah 6:8 says that “Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”” And I said, “Here I am. Send me!" Bumpa was not willing to say goodbye to his family and friends, but he knows that we all miss him, and think of him everyday. I know my Grandma, Nana, really misses him. It has hurt her the worst. Her best friend of 55 years, and husband for 52 years is gone. I know it is good for her to talk about him, and to grief but it is hard to keep it together because we all miss him so dearly. 

Bumpa, you mean the world to me and I know that you are watching my up there high in the heaven clouds. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

Online Bible Study--1 John 3:16-24

We continue with our study of 1 John.  The "rules" for the discussion are posted below.  Folks have been shy about posting, which is okay, but it can be fun to engage some online conversation, too.  Remember, there aren't right or wrong answers.  The purpose is to engage in discussion!  Thanks for participating.

1 John 3:16-24


We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? 

Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.








On Sunday, our ninth graders will affirm the promises made to them at baptism.  What a great text for that day, right?


What does it mean for you to "love in truth and action"?
What questions does this text raise for you?
What good news do you see?
Why do you think John stresses love so much?










During the season of Easter, you are invited to join with me in an online study of 1 John.  We'll be looking at the texts selected for the Second Lesson for the weekends during Easter.  One of the big themes in 1 John is love and what it means for us as believers.  To learn more about 1 John, check out Enter the Bible (maintained by Luther Seminary).  On Sunday, I'll post a reflection on the text from 1 John.

The "rules" for this on-line Bible study are as follows:
1.  There aren't necessarily "right" or "wrong" answers.  That said, all comments should be respectful. 
2.  You can post comments or questions or respond to posts by others.
3.  The more the merrier!  Even if you're unsure about your thoughts, please post.  Your comments will add to the conversation and help make for better learning and engagement for all of us.
4.  The pastor (ie ME) doesn't have all the answers!
5.  Don't be shy.
6.  Have fun!

Children of God--a reflection on 1 John 3:1-7

A reflection on 1 John 3:1-7.

This week, like most weeks, was a week filled with good news...and sad.  I saw a story about a 100 year old teacher who isn’t quite ready to retire.  I saw wedding pictures that made me a little misty eyed and received daily photos of our 2 week old nephew from New York.  My grandmother and father-in-law both spent time in the hospital and the grandmothers of two of my good friends died.  It’s part of this life we live--the ups and downs and all arounds, isn’t it?  

Through these moments--both the happy and the sad--I take comfort in the promise before us in 1 John 3: See what the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.  Wow.  This is an amazing promise.  We are children of God.  We are wrapped in God’s love, held in God’s light, given the promise of new life in Christ.  Now.  Not in the distant, far-off, unknown future, but now.  Today.  And forever.

The community to which John wrote, not unlike our own, struggled to figure out what it meant to live in a world where we are simultaneously children of God (Lutherans like to say saints) and people who still turn away from God (ie sinners).  If we’re children of God, we can live like that now, John says.  There’s no need to wait.  Not a single one of us is perfect.  We can’t be.  We will sin.  It’s what humans do.  But I think John is trying to remind those people to whom he wrote so long ago that they don’t have to wait to live into that incredible, amazing identity of child of God.  We can hear that message loud and clear today, too.

You are child of God.  Period.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  Whether you are two or twelve or eighty-seven or one hundred and four.  You are a child of God.  Name it.  Claim it.  See the beauty and grace in it.  You are a child of God.  Now.  Today.  And forever.

For a couple of weeks, I’ve seen this video floating around on Facebook.  But I didn’t actually watch it until earlier this week.  “Caine’s Arcade” tells the story of a little boy with a big imagination who creates a cardboard arcade in his dad’s auto-supply store in LA.  His first customer happened to be a film maker who asked permission to make a short film about the arcade.  “Well, it’s kind of a joke,” said his dad, “you’re his only customer.”  The filmmaker set about changing that.  Using social media, he created an event during which tons of people came out to play at Caine’s arcade.  It is SO worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch it.

Now, I don’t know anything about Caine’s family’s religious background, or the beliefs of the filmmaker or any of the people who came out that day to play, but here’s what I do know.  In their faces, I saw reflections of children of God.  I saw awe and wonder and creativity in Caine and kindness, generosity, and childlike playfulness in the folks who lined up to play.  I saw a whole bunch of children of God, throwing away assumptions about perfection and convention and embracing life.  They laughed and smiled and cheered.  And the smile on Caine’s face when he sees the line was precious and heartwarming.  My husband and I both got a little choked up watching it.  On that day, a whole bunch of people in LA embraced life.  And their joy is contagious.  The video has been viewed over 2 million times on YouTube.  That’s a lot of God’s children who saw a promise of new life, even though they might not have even realized it.  But I bet they realized that they saw joy and goodness and grace.  And that, my friends, is a glimpse into being a child of God.

This world is crazy.  Sin makes a big mess of a beautiful thing.  There’s no question that we all fall short.  We turn in on ourselves.  We turn away from one another.  We think we can do it on our own and turn away from God.  And God gets that.  And loves us anyway.  In spite of the messes we make, God calls us God’s children anyway.

I try to grasp this concept, but it’s hard.  And that’s the thing.  So much of God is pure and complete and utter mystery.  We can’t understand how God would see a mess and call it a masterpiece.  We can’t understand how God can hear all of our prayers or love us all or give us life everlasting, but we trust that God does.  We trust, in this Easter season, and in every season of our lives, that God is constantly at work making all things new.  That God is, somehow, working in and through and around us.  That God knows us and loves us and calls us by name.

See what love the Father has give us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.

Amen.

God on the Loose Among Us

Your challenge during this Easter season is to watch for signs of new life, resurrection, and God on the loose among us.  If you can capture God's work on your camera screen, send photos my way.  We'd love to share them here and on our Facebook page.

Route 78 Food Pantry Scavenger Hunt
Rick

My favorite spring flower, the trillium
Kirsten

This one needs a bit of explanation.  I was on a bike ride this week and passed this gross, polluted water.  "Yuck," I thought, "God is NOT working in that."  But then I thought some more (I do that a lot when I ride).  "Maybe God is working in that by calling me to work harder to preserve water and keep it clean.  Maybe God is on the loose by calling me to keep an eye out for ways to care for creation."
Kirsten

Our nephew, Rocco, 2 weeks old
Kirsten & Justin

My mom took this assignment to heart this week when she visited a farm owned by some family friends.  Here are her images of God on the loose among us...

Aaron and mama cat

In the dandelions

Lilacs

Maple branch

Violet

Wind turbines

Hens and cat

Pigs

The Egg

God sightings guest blogger: Allie M.

Allie Marshall has been a member of Peace Lutheran Church for most of her life alongside her parents, Paul and Karen, and her brother, David. She grew up involved with Sunday school, Bible school, and various musical groups, and during her college years came on staff at Peace to help with summer programming. She has been on multiple high school mission trips and has a passion for youth. She is still actively involved with JuBELLation Ringers. Allie currently works as Communications Assistant for the International Student Ministry Department of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship in Madison. She is an InterVarsity alumna from Carthage College, where she graduated in 2011 with degrees in both Religion and Communications. In her free time, she loves running and being outside, playing tennis, reading, writing, painting, and spending time with her family and dogs.

As a writer, or at least someone with a passion for writing, I can appreciate a good book. I love when all of the plot lines come together in the end. I love when the details add up to a surprise ending. I love the character development, the language, and the mystery that comes as you turn page after page. And as a writer, I have always viewed my life from this angle. I see my life as a book that is writing itself day by day…one that has many completed chapters, but many more yet to be written. My life is a story being written by God and revealed to me one page, one line, one word at a time.

Six years ago, I stood at the front of the church at First Presbyterian sharing my testimony of a life-changing moment that I had in Mexico. While my actual testimony was significantly longer, what I shared with the congregation that day was essentially this:

“The first drive through Tijuana was absolutely breathtaking! It is a city amongst the mountains with no natural resources, and therefore blanketed with poverty. It is so heartbreaking, yet beautiful in its humble simplicity. I have never felt a closer and deeper connection with God than I did down in Mexico. In the most deserted, barren place I’ve ever seen, God’s presence was unmistakable. While I was down there, I experienced this sense of ‘rightness’. It was as if I was where God wanted me to be doing just exactly what he wanted me to do. 

One of the mornings that we were here, things just seemed to fall into place in my head and in my heart. I started to pray. I was thinking about all of the things that had influenced my being there in Mexico. I was realizing that I had traveled a long way on my faith journey, but I was unsure of where it was headed. All of a sudden, I felt this longing to devote my life to God – this passion to give Him everything that I could. It was no longer just a feeling of excitement, but rather more of a calling. I realized that all of my struggles had led me to exactly where I was. 

This experience of feeling such a defined sense of purpose set up a new framework for my life. I began seeing things from the other side. In my younger years at the high school, all I could think was “why me?” and now I had realized that it wasn’t about me at all, but rather about what I could do to help make the world more like God originally intended it to be. 

And as I moved forward into the next chapter of my life, I knew that I would face more change than I had ever encountered. There would be new people around me and I would have the opportunity to become anyone that I wanted to be. But I knew then that I only wanted to become myself. God had a purpose for me. And although there would be bumps in the road, I would continually feel this sense of purpose. I was excited to keep traveling along this journey of faith. I couldn’t wait to see what God had in store for my life and who He had in mind for me to meet next. Whatever the future held for me, I knew then that I had to live with purpose because it was not a matter of why I had to go through the struggles that I did, but rather a realization that my struggles had shaped who I was back then.”

This was the first of what I like to think of as “book-end” moments in my life. It marked the start of a significant chapter, taught me lessons that will stay with me forever, and opened up my heart to a whole new world of possibility and uncertainty. It was certainly not the first chapter in the story that has been my life, but it was the beginning of the one with the most significance and meaning, at least so far.

At the time when I gave my testimony, I felt that my future would be easier. I hoped that following in Christ’s footsteps would mean that I wouldn’t have to struggle nearly as much. I envisioned a future full of hope, promise, and happiness.

Now don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of hope, a lot of promise, and a lot of happiness along the way, but there have been a lot of struggles too. I have experienced more pain and heartache in the last six years than I could have ever imagined when I stood at the front of that church so confidently just a few years prior.

I struggled with the normal teenager stuff: rocky friendships, relationships that didn’t go the way I had hoped, conflict with parents, etc. But there was even more going on than that. I experienced significant loss in so many ways. Loss of people, but also loss that had nothing to do with death. It was a very hard time in my life. In fact, even just a few months ago, I recall a phone conversation with a great friend. I asked him “when will this end?...when will the pain go away?...when will bad things stop happening?” and of course, he couldn’t give me an answer, because only God knew those answers…but he comforted me and reassured me that things would get better in time. As we continued talking he asked me about my experiences in Mexico. This conversation with him allowed me to relive that testimony that I had given years back. It gave me a small glimmer of hope and encouraged me that I was on the right path. It reminded me of that wonderful “book-end” moment that I experienced in Tijuana and had me looking forward to the next moment like that…the one that would end this difficult chapter in my life.

As God usually does, He surprised me. No more than a day or two later, that moment came. It was not a day that I would have expected, and it was not in a way that I could have planned for…but it was perfect, because it was on God’s watch…not mine.

I attended a Listening Prayer Workshop at my job…and although I attended hoping to learn a thing or two about prayer, I will admit that I did not have very high hopes for the afternoon. But as the afternoon went on and we spent time listening, learning, and praying, God presented Himself to me through prayer just as He had done in Mexico almost exactly six years ago. Through a series of events, God showed me that He continues to have a plan for my life. He made the path ahead of me clear. It was as if my life were a giant “connect-the-dots” and every struggle in my life had, until that moment, been a singular dot on a piece of paper, but throughout this workshop, God connected the dots and allowed me to see the whole picture. And the picture that it created was beautiful. It no longer felt broken or disjointed or faltering. It no longer felt heavy. I was no longer burdened. The lesson that I had learned six years ago was reconfirmed…I knew that my struggles had all happened for a reason. My heartache had made me stronger. Lost and broken relationships taught me things about myself and about how God works among us. Every little painful thing that I endured had shaped me into the woman that I have become…and throughout this long six-year process of ups and downs, highs and lows, triumphs and trials, God has given me the tools to fulfill the next chapter of His plan for my life.

While I am still in the midst of a cloud of uncertainty about exactly what steps to take next, I feel a definite sense of direction. I have many decisions to make, but know that God is guiding me. 

I again know that I am standing at the beginning of the next chapter. As I look out, all I can see are blank pages. Yet, this time, that does not scare me. I have been through some very hard things…and have not only survived them, but have thrived, have grown as a person and grown closer to God because of them. I have had amazing “book-end” moments that have shown me firsthand how God is at work in my life. And I have seen what amazing things are possible when I surrender control over to Him. Yes, as a writer, that can be hard. It is easy to envision the fairy-tale ending. It is easy to dream up what the next chapter might hold. It is easy to want to write my own story. But the truth is that it isn’t up to me to write my own story…it isn’t even up to me to write the next sentence. The only thing I can do is listen to God and give Him the time and space to write the story that He has planned for me. And I know that the next chapters of that story will be even more beautiful, more surprising, and more perfect than anything I could ever write for myself.