Category: Pastor

The council and the group that meets for Wednesday evening prayer service have been reading Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life. It’s been a little slow going because the authors introduce new ways of thinking about on common concepts in Christianity like community, servanthood and, well, compassion. Displacement, however, is not exactly a common concept in Christianity. Yet, after some unpacking, it’s clear that it is a necessary concept of Christianity.

Displacement, understood as a “shift from the ordinary or proper place,” is indeed what happens to us when we become part of the body of Christ. Some might equate church with what is ordinary and proper. But the gospel does something different to us. When we recognize the invitation to displacement, we no longer have the need to cling to the expected, routine, often comfortable spaces. Displacement frees us from the illusion of normal. Displacement allows us to see our own brokenness. Displacement makes space for grace. Jesus Christ is God displaced in humanity. The Christian Life is life as the body of Christ!

I have still not been successful finding the letters we decorated last year. Luckily I have my own personal artist at home!

I’ve also not been successful in finding our advent wreath frame. I remember packing away the Christmas decorations last year and thinking I’d be clever and put the advent wreath somewhere I could find it easily this year. No such luck!

For the past several years we have gotten one of the Lego advent calendars. Not so this year.

I’d like to say that COVID is the reason for not having my act together for Advent, but that would just be an excuse. Nor would it explain why this happens every year! I loathe the earlier and earlier Christmas decorations showing up all over. I’ve even grown resentful about #GivingTuesday as just another way to the get on the bandwagon of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

This is why I’m grateful for the Advent season. It gives me time to prepare. It helps remind me of all the preparing God is doing. Just one lone candle reminds me this week.

If you are following along with A Video Advent here is the link again!

While many are familiar with Bethlehem as the little town in the story of Jesus’ birth, not as many may think of the present day city of Bethlehem. A group of young adults in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and the ELCJHL (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land) thought to change this. They put together a series called Advent Pilgrimage in Palestine involving weekly videos and blog posts using the hashtag #AdventInPalestine. In this first week of Advent, we hear from The Rev. Ashraf Tannous, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Beit Jala, Palestine – outside Bethlehem. Rev. Tannous talks about what the first Advent candle – hope – means to him as a Christian and as a Palestinian.

Over the four weeks of Advent, we will be led on a virtual pilgrimage through story, education and theological reflection. You can register here to receive resources, including weekly videos and blog posts via email. Or search for #adventinpalestine in your favorite social media app!

This year we will be journeying through the alphabet as we move our way through Advent towards the Day of Christmas. Last Christmas Day a small group of us gathered for an intimate worship that included getting crafty! I had each letter of the alphabet plainly sketched out on a sheet of paper waiting to be decorated. The thought I had was to hang up these creations throughout the season of Advent. 26 letters in the English alphabet. 26 days from Advent 1 through Christmas Eve this year! Little did we know back then that things hung up in the church would not be seen by many people…

So for the letters I can find, I’ll include an image here. Otherwise there may be some other image that speaks to the word of the day. May these daily reflections through the season of Advent be a gift to you. I’ll also be including a link to a video Advent project of which I was blessed to be a part. These are 5 – 7 minute offerings (longer on Wednesdays) shared with the wider church and those beyond the church. Many thanks go to The Rev. John Michael Longworth, OEF, of Rutland, Vermont for curating this collection and all who contributed.

A Video Advent

Looking ahead to April 26

Pastor Sara Anderson lead us in worship. She is on Bishop Hazelwood’s staff with responsibilities for our conference and some of us got to know her as she co-led the Forward Leadership program. Here is the link to Sunday’s bulletin:  https://drive.google.com/open?id=1vrTe1yIjI4y0WqxaxfNuteFPHy4ZcCEz

As we continue our Easter Season celebration, this Sunday we will be joined by Bishop Hazelwood and the rest of the New England Synod! Pastor Gaeta is off and a service will be available to watch together via Zoom. The link to view the service from your own computer is: www.nelutherans.org/worship. 

This is also Pastor Gaeta’s first week of being off in a 3/4 time capacity. Under normal circumstances, there would be an on-call pastor available for emergencies. Well, these aren’t normal circumstances. So in an emergency, she will still be available. Additionally she will be at the council meeting Tuesday evening. Aside from that she will be digging in to the Spiritual Guidance Program she will be in for the next 20 months.

Join us on Zoom for our Church services.

Today’s daily readings <- Click here for all of today’s readings (Psalm 17; 1Chronicles 21:1-17; 1 John 2:1-6

A theme that jumps out to me among these three readings is God’s mercy. God, while desiring our best, is just and forgiving. While we are given countless guidelines for living faithfully, they are hopes for us, not hoops to jump through. Lent can be a time to try and be better, but we always rely on God’s mercy and forgiveness.

I’ve had a hard time starting out my own Lenten discipline. The temptation is strong to berate myself and give up. But the real discipline is to remember God’s mercy. John’s letter makes it clear that we are to strive not to sin, but knowing that we will, he reminds us of Jesus’ role as advocate for us and the whole world. David chooses a punishment meted out by God rather than humans because he is sure of God’s mercy. God is way more forgiving than we are. And others are often more forgiving of us that we are of ourselves.

The following post is from a blog which I don’t follow, but happened upon. I just clicked on a link in a facebook group. But I offer it to you as a framework for how we might approach Lent. I read it for those who were present in worship on Ash Wednesday. I had a request for copies to share, so here’s the original post: http://www.barbmorris.com/a-letter-from-god-to-her-daughters-who-observe-lent/