Choose Your Own Adventure

In this first Sunday in Lent, we watch as the Spirit leads Jesus to the wilderness without food, water, shelter or relationships. Join us this week as the season of Lent invites us to draw closer to God, even through temptation. We celebrate with Lincoln, and his loved ones, as we welcome Lincoln to God’s family and St. Luke’s through his baptism on Sunday.

It’s so shiny …

The fresh snowfall this week brought the drab ground and sky back to a bright and shiny wonderland that glistens in the sun and forces you to put on sunglasses while driving. This shininess is just in time for our celebration of the Transfiguration of Jesus this weekend where we hear about the dazzling white and rays of shininess of Jesus on the mountaintop where the disciples experience the Glory of God. Come and join us in-person or online for worship.

Devotion: Saranam Kyrie

Yesterday in my conversation with Pastor Sally we continued our Epiphany focus on global mission, in the words of Simeon’s song: “A light to light the nations of the world.” I shared the history of the planting of a Southeast Asian ministry in Queens in the Metropolitan NY Synod of the ELCA. Pastor Daniel Peter from the Andrha Pradesh Lutheran Church in India was the pastor who developed the outreach. After the Tsunami in South Asia we gathered for comfort and renewal with South Asian Lutherans and neighbors for comfort and prayer. In the pastor’s blog is a devotion I wrote about that event.

Doing It Differently

I was planning a large camp game of capture the flag. There were about 150 kids playing. How in the world were we going to be able to keep everyone honest as to what team they were on? Our confirmation group had not pre-planned being able to ask students to wear or bring a certain color shirt to help with this kind of thing. I looked around and saw a group of leaders cleaning paint brushes from an art activity from free time. There! That’s it! Let’s use paint!

Yolanda’s Story

AAMPARO is the ministry of the ELCA which accompanies migrant minors (and their families) in Central America, their country of origin (especially the Northern Triangle: Honduras, Guatamala and El Salvador); in Mexico (the country of transit); and at the southern border of the US. I was Director of Domestic Mission for the ELCA and Rafael Malpica-Padilla was Director for Global Mission. We led a delegation to Central America to hear the stories of those who have been deported, and to hear what drives families to attempt to migrate to the US. This is one of the stories we heard

Cozy in Christ

Hygge (pronounces Hue-guh) is a Danish concept that cannot be easily described in one English word but encompasses a feeling of cozy contentment through enjoying the simple things in life. If you’ve ever sat and simply watched it snow while you read a book or sipped from a warm mug, you’ve experienced hygee without even knowing it. If I had to put the concept of hygge into one English word, I would probably use cozy.

There is No Short Cut

Seventeen years ago, Amadou Diallo was killed in a hail of forty-one bullets from police guns in the Soundview section of the South Bronx, holding a wallet, not a gun, in his hand. Bruce Springsteen wrote a song about it, “41 shots…American Skin.”  When I wrote an editorial about it, it got me in a lot of trouble. I said that if Amadou had been my son (one of my sons was Amadou’s age), he would still be alive. I called on public and religious leaders to admit that we have a racial problem in our community and that we needed to find the resolve to face it together.

Nature of Epiphany

I would like to reflect with you on the nature of Epiphany and the ministry we share at Saint Luke, especially as we find the mission field not somewhere else, but right outside our doors.