God's "Yes"

You are the God who is simple, direct, clear with us and for us.
You have committed yourself to us.
You have said yes to us in creation,
yes to us in our birth,
yes to us in our baptism,
yes to us in our awakening this day.

But we are of another kind,
more accustomed to “perhaps, maybe, we’ll see,’
left in wonderment and ambiguity.

We live our lives not back to your yes,
but out of our endless “perhaps.”


So we pray for your mercy this day that we may live yes back to you,
yes with our time,
yes with our money,
yes with our sexuality,
yes with our strength and with our weakness,
yes to our neighbor,
yes and no long “perhaps.”

In the name of your enfleshed yes to us,
even Jesus who is our yes into your future. Amen.


From Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth, Walter Brueggemann

Week of April 18th

Prayer of the Day
Eternal and all-merciful God, with all the angels and all the saints we laud your majesty and might. By the resurrection of your Son, show yourself to us and inspire us to follow Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Readings

Acts 9:1-6

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”


Revelation 5:11-14

Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels surrounding the throne and the living creatures and the elders; they numbered myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, singing with full voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slaughtered to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing, “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

John 21:1-19

After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and he showed himself in this way. Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Just after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on some clothes, for he was naked, and jumped into the sea. But the other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards off. When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go.” (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, “Follow me.”


Reflection

"Humans do not live for themselves alone in these mortal bodies to work for their bodies alone, but they live also for all of humanity on earth; rather, they live only for others and not for themselves. They cannot ever in this life be idle and without works toward their neighbors.

People, however, need none of these things for their righteousness and salvation. Therefore they should be guided in all their works by this thought and comtemplate this one thing alone, that they may serve and benefit others in all that they do, considering nothing except the need and the advantage of their neighbors.

This is what makes caring for the body a Christian work, that through its health and comfort we may be able to work, to acquire, and lay by funds with which to aid those who are in need, that in this way the strong member may serve the weaker, and we may be children of God, each caring for and working for the other, bearing one another's burdens and so fulfilling the law of Christ. This is a truly Christian life. Here faith is truly active through love" ~ Martin Luther LW 31, 364-65.



Looking Ahead

Thursday, April 15 6 pm SPIRIT
6:30 pm New Members' Class
6:30 pm Youth Choir

Friday, April 16 10:00 am Wellness Center
Sunday, April 18 9:30 am Service of Holy Communion
Building Our Future Capital Campaign Kick-off
10:45 am Sunday School
11:00 am Adult Forum - Rev. Dr. Ted Weeden "Lost Gospels"
3:30 pm Nile Lutheran Service

Week of April 11th

Prayer of the Day

O God of life, you reach out to us amid our fears with the wounded hands of your risen Son. By your Spirit's breath revive our faith in your mercy, and strengthen us to be the body of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.


Readings for Sunday, April 11, 2010

Acts 5:27-32

When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”


Revelation 1:4-8

John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

John 20:19-31

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.


Reflection

"Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.

Jesus is God’s wounded healer: through his wounds we are healed. Jesus’ suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love. As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others." ~ Henri Nouen, The Wounded Healer


This week's calendar:

Wednesday, April 7 - 7:30 pm Senior Choir
Thursday, April 8 - 6:00 pm SPIRIT
Friday, April 9 - 10:00 am Wellness Center for Adults
Saturday, April 10 - 9:00 am Third Presbyterian Dining Room Ministry in Auditorium/Kitchen
Sunday, April 11 - 9:30 am Service of Holy Communion
11:00 am Gathering Space Presentation in Auditorium
11:00 am Adult Forum, Rev. Dr. Ted Weeden
7:00 pm Vespers/Second Sunday Music Series

An Easter Evening Reflection...

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Words exclaimed in our worship this morning. But these words of Easter Resurrection hold true long after the pews of our sanctuary have emptied and we have returned to our daily lives of hopes and dreams; heart aches and disappointments. For the risen Christ not only appears to unsuspecting disciples in front of an empty tomb, but he also walks with the brokenhearted on a dusty road to Emmaus at the end of that first Easter day.

As the pastor/poet Barbara Brown Taylor puts it, “He comes to the disappointed, the doubtful, the disconsolate. He comes to those who don’t know their Bibles, who don’t recognize him even when they are walking beside him. He comes to those who have given up and are headed home, which makes this whole story about the blessedness of being broken.”

It shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus would meet his friends on the road to Emmaus, the road of broken dreams. That’s what he did throughout his life: meeting broken people and helping them to put the pieces back together again. That’s what he always did, and if this story is to be believed, that’s what he still does.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Pastor Doug

Pastor Doug's Good Friday Reflection

"Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing". These are the words pleading from Jesus' lips once his hands and feet have been nailed to the Cross in that place called "The Skull". His concern is not for himself, but for those who are killing him. "Please, God. They don't know what they're doing". Who are they? Roman soldiers for sure. Luke tells us that some religious officials are there "scoffing" at him. But there are others as well. The crowds. Unlike the soldiers who are gambling for his clothing, as ragged as they are, or the religious officials who are tempting God to save him, "if he is the Messiah, the chosen one of God", the people are standing at the foot of the cross in stunned silence. People so caught between their love of God and their fear of Rome that they don't know what to do. His friends. Where are his friends? Luke tells us they are all standing at a distance watching. Just watching. Standing far enough away from their teacher to be safe, who is after all, beyond help.

So who is responsible for Jesus' death? Judas? The religious officials? Pilate? Herod? The Roman Soldiers? His disciples? In the original Greek language, Luke puts their actions in the passive voice. The Divine passive voice. Meaning: God is the prime actor in the story. In other words, God's plan is in action. Not theirs. Not ours.

Tragically the Christian Church has not spent much time pondering these questions. From the very beginning, the answer has been easy: The Jews. The Jews betrayed, condemned and handed him over to be killed. These are the people in need of God's forgiveness, or so at least the legend goes. But because of this legend, the Jewish people have had their history marred by Good Friday. Today, Good Friday, has long been a frightening day for many of the Jewish faith and for good reason. If you read Jewish history, the litany of violence is astounding.

1096 - The First Crusade is launched with the slaughter of Jews in the Rhineland
1190 - Jews are massacred in England
1233 - In Inquisition offers Jews a choice: Become Christian or die
1290 - Jews are expelled from England
1348 - Jews are burned in Switzerland for "causing" the Black Death
1394 - Jews are expelled from France
1492 - Jews are expelled from Spain
1648 - Jewish ghetto is created in Venice
1881 - Attacks on Jews become an institution in Russia
1938 - Krystallnacht is launched in Nazi Germany
1939-1945 - 6 million Jews die in Europe, including 1.5 million children

Any way you do the math, Jesus' death has been avenged millions of times over by Christians who have twisted the gospel of loving your enemies and doing good to those who persecute you into a 2000 year long nightmare of racism and revenge. Ironically many of those on the losing end of Christian persecution have turned to the Bible: Psalm 22 in particular: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?"

Tragically, we have crucified Jesus over and over again, or at least stood far away from his Cross at a safe distance. "Father forgive them". Who was Jesus pleading for? Us. But he has given us the benefit of the doubt by assuming that we have no idea what we are doing.

How often have we killed Jesus in our attempts to defend him? Just look at history for that answer. If God answered Jesus' prayer on the Cross, which we can assume he did, then that is the end of it. No more blaming, scapegoating or getting even. Jesus died to put an end to that. He volunteered to be the last victim, so that his followers would never make victims out of anyone again. He even gave us a prayer to pray if we should ever find our own hands nailed down: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing".

Peace in Christ,
Pastor Doug

Incarnate Word Table Talk: Week of March 28, 2010

Prayer of the Day, Festival of the Resurrection, April 4

God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.


Acts 10:34-43
Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they did not find the body. While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; then he went home, amazed at what had happened.



Easter us
You God who terrified the waters,
who crashed your thunder,
who shook the earth, and
scared the wits out of chaos.
You God who with strong arm saved your people
by miracle and wonder and majestic act.
You are the same God to whom we turn,
we turn in our days of trouble,
and in our weary nights;
we look for steadfast love and are dismayed,
we wait for your promises, but wait in fatigue,
we ponder your forgetfulness and lack of compassion,
and we grow silent.
Our lives, addressed to you,
have this bitter-sweet taste of
loud-clashing miracles and weak-kneed doubt.
So we come in our bewilderment and wonderment,
deeply trusting, almost afraid to trust much,
passionately insisting, too timid to insist much,
fervently hoping, exhausted for hoping too much.
Look upon us in our deep need,
mark the wounds of our brothers and sisters just here,
notice the turmoil in our lives, and the lives of our families,
credit the incongruity of the rich and the poor in our very city,
and the staggering injustices abroad in our land,
tend to the rage out of control, rage justified by displacement,
rage gone crazy by absence, silence, and deprivation,
measure the suffering,
count the sufferers,
number the wounds.
You tamer of chaos and mender of all tears in the canvas of creation,
we ponder your suffering,
your crown of thorns,
your garment taken in lottery,
your mocked life,
and now we throw upon your suffering humiliation,
the suffering of the world.
You defeater of death, whose power could not hold you,
come in your Easter,
come in your sweeping victory,
come in your glorious new life.
Easter us,
salve wounds,
break injustice,
bring peace,
guarantee neighbor,
Easter us in joy and strength.
Be our God, be your true self, lord of life,
massively turn our life toward your life
and away from our anti-neighbor, anti-self deathliness.
Hear our thankful, grateful, unashamed Hallelujah!
Amen.


Walter Brueggemann, March 29, 1994

Holy Week Schedule

Thursday, April 1
12:15 and 7:30 pm Maundy Thursday Worship (7:30 with 3rd Presbyterian at Incarnate Word)
Friday, April 2
12:15 Good Friday service at 3rd Presbyterian Chapel
7:30 pm Tenebrae service of shadows at Incarnate Word
Saturday, April 3
2:00 pm Easter Egg Hunt
8:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter

Sunday, April 4 Festival of the Resurrection
9:30 am Festival Eucharist

Pastor Doug's Holy Week Reflections

“To endure the cross is not tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ”
~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The days are getting warmer. Bulbs that were planted last fall are beginning to push their way through the once frozen soil. The hours of daylight are lengthening. Deciduous branches which once mirrored death are giving signs of new life with slight hints of hazy green beginning to emerge. The journey toward new life has begun.

The journey toward new life has begun as well for followers of the One who became flesh and dwelled among us. Our new life is not born in the bright light of a warming spring day, but in the darkness of a cold grave, ushered in by the hard wood of a Cross on Golgotha. We now enter into the darkest, yet holiest week of the year for the Church. A week that begins with shouts of hosannas and a triumphal entry and ends in screams of "crucify" and "My God, why has thou forsaken me?"

By all appearances, "darkness" and "holiness" should contradict each other. And yet it is precisely because God's son was not born into the bright lights of dazzling and powerful empire, but rather came into the world through an un-wed teenager in the cold darkness of a Bethlehem cave, that the Holy One, Jesus, dwells in the darkness with us.

In just a few hours, Harry Morrow, one of our cherished members of Incarnate Word, is going to be given his inheritance with all the saints in light as his body closes down and he is gathered into the arms of Christ to stand in the presence of God forever. And all of this made by possible by the Cross of Christ. As sad as I am at his approaching death, I am profoundly comforted by the truth of the impending Holy Week journey that reminds me of God dwelling most brightly and powerfully in the darkness and weakness of a Holy Week Cross.

I, along with you, will shed tears at Harry's passing, but I also know that at the end of our Holy Week journey, you and I will stand at the foot of the cross where heaven and earth touch in powerful love. And in that place, I will be assured of two things: Harry is going to be okay. And so too shall I.

Peace in the Cross of Christ,
Pastor Doug


Holy Week Schedule:

Sunday, March 28 9:30 am Passion/Palm Sunday - All congregation communion
Thursday, April 1 @ 12:15 Maundy Thursday service
Thursday, April 1 @ 7:30 pm Maundy Thursday service with Third Presbyterian Church
Friday, April 2 @ 12:15 pm Good Friday service at Third Presbyterian chapel
Friday, April 2 @ 7:30 pm Tenebrae service of shadows at Incarnate Word
Saturday, April 3 @ 8:00 pm The Great Vigil of Easter w/Holy Communion
Sunday, April 4 @ 9;30 am Festival of Easter