My Peace I Leave With You

Beloved in Christ. We all have moments which are beyond words, especially when tragedy happens, when loved ones die. Our extended family is experiencing such a moment as we heard of the death of my nephew Peter this morning.

Listening to You

It should come as no surprise our listening season revealed a very diverse congregation with a multiplicity of viewpoints, needs, hopes, fears, and dreams. How our church will emerge from the pandemic was a repeated context in our conversations, spoken with both hope and fear. We were able to discern seven major themes, each of the themes holding a continuum of responses in what we believe is a dynamic tension.

Are You a Giver?

A number of years ago, I was at a leadership conference and the keynote speaker started with this question, “Are you a giver?” As the crowd took a collective sigh of exhaustion, the speaker again asked, “Are you a giver? I mean, a joyful giver?” He then began to unpack the statement.

Old Man and Scorpion

When I am conversation with friends and family and many of you at St Luke’s I hear from you a weariness and a kind of spiritual tiredness as we, in fits and starts, come out of this pandemic. But it is about more that the pandemic. We are tired of this graceless public square in which we live, where there are so many lies paraded as vehement truth, such hostile daily encounters, such divisive politics, and so many echo chambers as we get our news and opinions. It is soul crushing and we are tired of it.

The Endless Alleluia!

The Vision Team, our consultant and I, are in the midst of listening to over one hundred members of our congregation, community and neighboring Lutheran congregations, in a series of individual and group meetings. This past Sunday twelve of you participated in virtual and in-person group meetings. Several of our cabinets have engaged this listening process. If you would like to speak into this process with an individual meeting with a member of the listening team, please let Sylvia know in the office. I will be meeting in person with the Vision Team this coming Sunday as we continue to listen and gather insights and identify emerging themes and issues. In this blog entry I want to say a few words about the Easter contlext for this process.

Peace Be With You

Alleluia, Christ is Risen !

Last week we gathered for a triumphal celebration of the resurrection of our Lord. This week we hear more about the hours following Mary’s discovery of the empty tomb. Jesus comes to the disciples who are still hiding offering Christ’s peace as he breathed upon them. I wonder what that tomb breath may have smelled like but the scriptures do tell us what it felt like – the ultimate sense of peace.