Humility...

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 2:1-5

My grandmother used to say that she didn’t have wrinkles, she had laugh lines. In this world and time of ‘youthfulness’ and ‘Botox’, it is truly a counter cultural statement. No one wants wrinkles, but maybe we all need a few ‘laugh lines’. Humility is a quality that is often overlooked. Some think that humility is weak and powerless. Jesus showed us at the cross that what looks weak actually has the greatest power. Humility laughs in the face of pride and aggression. Humility probably gives a person many – lines.

Go ahead, laugh.

Jesus Justice Jazz

As the Senior High youth get ready to go to the ELCA National Gathering this July, they are studying the theme – “Jesus, Justice and Jazz”!! It’s easy to figure out how ‘Jazz’ fits the Gathering because it is being held in New Orleans! As the capital of jazz in the United States, New Orleans offers the variety and free spirit that are required by the unique style of jazz. Jazz also fits a spiritual mandate of community, cooperation and freedom. Did you know that in jazz music no one carries the melody line? Each instrument at one time or another plays a few notes of the melody, but the song only comes together when all the instruments play together. It is the same with the Christian Church and community. The Holy Spirit works in and around us to make beautiful music!

Justice is not a new theme for God’s faithful people. Justice is as old as Abraham and Sarah. “Compassionate justice” is a newer way of presenting the biblical theme of justice. In this day, too many people mix the judicial understanding of justice with the Godly understanding. To say ‘compassionate justice’ is to clarify that God’s justice is not always fair and that in God’s justice we find kindness and humility. As the Senior High youth prepare to go to New Orleans, we ask that you help us to learn of – ‘Jesus, Justice and Jazz’! Play on!

(Any who would like to donate monies to help a young person afford this spiritual journey, please let me know!)

In the Shadow of the Cross

Being plunged into darkness. That is what is happening. We are being plunged into darkness. We don’t generally go into darkness easily. It is natural to want to be in the light. Darkness is for sleeping. Darkness is for secrecy and underhandedness. As we prepare for Holy Week, we choose to step into darkness. At the shadow of the cross we stand.

Theologically, the last days of Jesus life on this earth were full of secrecy, underhandedness and shadows. To willingly go to that place in our own hearts where we confront the darkness of our own lives is to confront that which Jesus came to die for. It is for our sinful selves that Jesus took his place on the cross. We remember his life and death as we mark our own sin and confess our need for Jesus. The Gospel of Mark tells us that “darkness came over the whole land” at the death of Jesus. We know that darkness. We know that place where our sin and his grace meet – in the shadow of the cross.