I think Judy and I have decided that 2023 is the year we will return to New Orleans. We visited the city many years ago and it has remained on my “bucket list” as a city I want to see again. It is a remarkable city. A resilient community. Despite crime, poverty, corruption, and devastating storms, it is a city with spirit. It is a welcoming city that has a lot to celebrate and knows how to party.
Three powerful lessons await us this coming Sunday from the Epiphany Four lectionary.
Our Epistle for Sunday invites us to focus on the cross and consider the many surprising and unlikely ways that God is with us. “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” (1 Corinthians: 18-31)
Come on Tuesday March 7 at 8:30 a.m. This month we welcome James Hanlon from the Park Ridge Zoning Commission as our speaker. Please join us for a delicious pancake breakfast, fellowship, and lively conversation. Please join us for a delicious pancake breakfast, fellowship, and lively conversation.
All children of all ages and stages like to be read to, for good reasons – the closeness of being with a person they love, enjoying pictures together, engaging with a story by listening or reading for someone else! Long ago, before there were books, people devoted hours telling each other stories of all kinds. Today, children develop their morals, good character, problem solving and an understanding of faith and the needs of others through books. William Kirkpatrick, author of Books that Build Character, says reading aloud may well be “one of the most important contributions parents can make toward developing good character in their children.”
You can call it: Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Paczki Day, Festivale, Carnivale, Fastnacht Day or Mardi Gras (which is a week-long celebration leading up to Ash Wednesday). In many cultures, this day marks a time of indulgence and celebration before moving into the solemn season of Lent at Ash Wednesday.
In 2 Corinthians chapter 8 we hear about the Macedonian offering. Paul is taking an offering to support the hungry and beleaguered Christian community in Jerusalem. The church in Macedonia was one of the most impoverished churches in as the Christian movement. Paul contrasts their poverty with their generosity. Here is Paul describing the offering:
The past three years have seen more conversation about and struggle with racial injustice than we have seen at any time since the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Caring Connections, an ejournal published by Lutheran chaplains, pastoral counselors, and clinical educators, made a contribution to the conversation in its September 2020 issues, “Reflections on Racial Justice.” Following below is an edited version of my personal response to Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, published in that issue. I commend the book to you.
Pastor John Schumacher, BCC
“As with gladness men of old
Did the guiding star behold
As with joy they hailed its light,
Leading onward, beaming bright
So, most gracious Lord, may we
Ever more be led by thee.
As with joyful steps they sped,
Savior to thy lowly bed,
There to bend the knee before
Thee, whom heav’n and earth adore;
So, may we with willing feet
Ever seek thy mercy seat.” (LBW, 82)
I would like to reflect with you on the nature of Epiphany and the ministry we share as pastors and church leaders, especially as we find the mission field not somewhere else, but right outside our doors.