Christmas

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.”   James 1:17

It is interesting how as the years go by, I don’t all that much care about Christmas gifts any more. As a child, I loved unwrapping the many surprises that would be found under the tree; a doll, a cradle, a book. As a teenager I was just sure that I needed all sorts of things; a typewriter, a Carpenter’s record album, a Partridge Family poster! These days, I can’t even make a list of what I need or want! In fact, while I love GIVING gifts, the ones that I give are usually very utilitarian or just plain silly. I’m giving my brother in law license plates for his golf cart. WHAT! – who needs license plates for their golf cart?

Mostly, I want to spend time with family and friends. While that doesn’t seem like a great deal, the truth is, it’s not as easy as it should be. We are scattered about the country. We are busy and scheduled to the fullest. We don’t prioritize one another.

 
If we could focus upon the scripture from James, maybe the stress and need for perfection of the holidays would diminish. Really, every good gift is from above. May you tell yourself that God loves you and that love is the greatest of all gifts.

 Merry Christmas and Blessed New Year!

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

Moving the Furniture.

Growing up, my family had a couch that was a favorite. Everyone fought to get the corner seat that was closest to the TV! After many years the corner seat got flat and there were even a few lumps and some poky springs! By angling the couch in a new way, the best seat became the center! My mom loved moving the furniture!

I took a church architecture class while in seminary. One of the books we read was ‘Moving the Furniture’ by William Seth Adams (the instructor!). It was an interesting book that challenged the student to move themselves along with the furniture into some new configuration. It’s intent is to “change” opinion and practice!

I’ve never let it be a secret that I LOVE change! I really do! I find change exciting and full of possibilities. 

We’re really moving the furniture at Abiding Love. Not literally, but figuratively. We are welcoming Pastor Brad Highum as our Associate Pastor on Dec. 1, 2011. We are transitioning with Ashley Dellagiacoma as she moves out of working with Youth and Education but remains with us as our seminarian, with Abiding Love as her teaching

congregation. This means that Ashley will spend around 5 hours a week with us in ministry as a field for learning, but she will no longer be in the office focused on our Youth and Education programs. 

Along with those changes, we are working with Heimsath Architects on our Abiding Love Mater Plan for refurbishing and renewing the Fetter Activity Center and the Children’s Center! Soon the entire congregation will be invited to walk about the grounds and help imagine ‘moving the furniture’! I’ve had several couches since that favorite old family one and yet I still love moving them around! 

With abiding love,

Pastor  Lynnae

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”  Luke 10:36

Times are hard. More and more people seem to be ‘falling among thieves’ as the man in the Good Samaritan story of the Gospel of Luke. Prayers and emotional support are one way of ‘binding up the wounds’ of those in need. We also are given the opportunity to offer financial help.  One way is with the South Austin Assistance Ministry (SAAM), of which Abiding Love participates with donations and representation. SAAM is one way in which those neighbors that show up, out of the blue, are referred for financial assistance. This charitable organization relieves us of the background checks, verification and just plain old banking.

On the other hand, members of our own congregation, when in need, are helped with the Abiding Love Good Samaritan Fund. This fund is accessed by me, the Senior Pastor. Of course, this isn’t cut and dried. There are times when I break my own rules and give some money to those that just walk in off the streets. Sometimes, as Pastor Fetter used to say “we error on the side of grace”.

We don’t send members of Abiding Love to SAAM, we assist them directly. This month we have given over $800 to help those sitting next to us in our pews. As of writing this article, we have $293 left in our Good Sam Fund. Please help your neighbors. Indicate on your offering envelope any gifts that you offer to ‘Good Sam’.

With abiding love,
Pastor Lynnae

“Freed in Christ to Serve”

“Freed in Christ to Serve” – This was the theme of the 2011 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I was honored to have been elected as a voting delegate to attend the Assembly this last week in Orlando, Florida. Sunday, Aug. 14th, I said “Go in Peace, Serve the Lord” and immediately got in a car to be taken to the airport for a 2:00 PM flight to Orlando! I joined some 1,500 ELCA delegates and staff people as the largest legislative body of our church met for the work of God’s mission in this world. 

It’s a good thing that I am a parliamentary procedure nerd because our meetings began at 8:00 AM and usually Bishop Hanson was getting permission to extend the meetings into the supper hours and several nights until 9:00 PM. We had worship with communion every day, bible study every day, and reports every day. I loved it! 

We officially began the ELCA Malaria Campaign of which we were a pilot synod, and of which our synod raised an overwhelming $125,000 (we even wore red shirts bragging of the fact and were asked to stand!) 

We voted in a new mission strategy and management plan called LIFT (Living Into the Future Together) that takes  seriously the call of mission and ministry of the local congregation and synod strategy. 

We officially adopted the “Genetics, Faith and Responsibility" social statement. 

I sang in the choir, went to gatherings of Global Mission and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, where I met with old friends that I served in Slovakia with! I met with my prayer partner, a pastor from Ohio! It was great! 

At our closing assembly, Bishop Hansen said:  “I came to the 2011 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) more grateful for the mission of this church than I have ever been. My sense of hope and my gratitude only increased throughout the week.”

This is your church and I’m so blessed to serve! 

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

Vacation Bible School!

The power of imagination.

As I am writing this, we are in the full throws of Vacation Bible School! Adults are running around decorating and making costumes! Teachers are reading up on “Threshold”, “Mezuzah”, learning songs and signs and even working on ancient bead making! VBS is always a great deal of fun, but I’m even more excited this year as we step back in time to visit the Hometown of Jesus— Nazareth! 

I am amazed by how the history of the ancient times so attracts people of all ages! I guess it is the power of imagination.  Some think that imagination is for child play. Some don’t connect imagination and spirituality.  Of course, some people scare me with their ‘imagination’ as they dream up encounters with God, say in the grocery store, leading them to the perfect fruit salad.

“In traditional Jewish terms, the human imagination, our yetzer, good or bad, is our human self-- creating alternative possibilities for responding to our personal situation. And, like it or not, we create our world in terms of our interests and purposes as well as our ideals and aspirations. In the Hasidic tradition, this means that we have to live constantly with the tension between a constricted, self-interested awareness of our world and a more expansive, self-transcending consciousness.” — Spirituality and Imagination by Tsvi Blanchard.

I am slowly seeing that imagination can be a conduit for encounters with Jesus. Through guided imagery, we can have a dialogue with our Lord!  May your imagination bring you closer to God and bring a little heaven on earth!

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

Pentecost

The growing season – Pentecost.

We enter the season of the church year, Pentecost. This is often called ‘ordinary time’. Summer seems everything but – ordinary! We’ve got a full Children’s Center, with the summer camp program in full swing. We’ve got new adult Sunday School classes! We’re doing all sorts of alternative worship styles with loads of lay involvement! Yet, it is ordinary time. Summertime brings a change in our rhythm and pace. Many of our readings this summer will have to do with ‘agriculture’. We can follow the growing season in the lessons of light and seed. We will grow with the disciples as they come to understand all that Jesus was showing and teaching. We will hear many parables and as our ‘Godly Play’ curriculum suggests, ‘we will see how Jesus becomes a parable’. Come grow with us! See you in church!

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

AWEsome Worship!

Micah 4:1-2a


In days to come

the mountain of the LORD's house

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be raised up above the hills.

Peoples shall stream to it,

and many nations shall come and say:

"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,

to the house of the God of Jacob;

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths."

My nephew Michael and I were talking last night and it is amazing just how much he has learned from just one year of college! Mike just finished his first year at Texas Lutheran University as a pre-engineering student. He told me that he has figured out the WORSHIP makes all the difference. You go to “worship for God but somehow you end up getting so much out of it for yourself” – so he says. What a great life lesson.

We are going to have AWEsome summer! The Alternative Worship Experiences that the Worship Life Board is planning is sure to AWE you! In this house of worship we will sing and dance, pray and praise the Lord our God! Don’t let summer pass you by! While you are on vacation – remember that Sunday is the Day of Our Lord for worship and renewal through the sacraments. See you in church!

Barabbas

Barabbas came to visit.

Last Friday, Good Friday, Barabbas came to visit Abiding Love.

If you’ll remember, Barabbas was the prisoner that Pilate freed instead of Jesus on that day before the people. Now there is some question lately as to “who” Barabbas actually was. Some people say that he was a thief or a murderer, others that he was an insurrectionist, or that he was, like John the Baptist, an Essene (religious zealot) that openly opposed the Roman Empire and the corruption of the Temple leaders by the occupation. I believe that Barabbas came to visit us last Friday evening. I didn’t see him, but I heard about him. He was rumored to have used foul language, been drunk and disorderly. It seemed that he was homeless and angry. Or maybe the real Barabbas was you or maybe me.

I don’t really believe in the atonement theology of the early church, understanding better the Old Testament understanding of forgiveness. That understanding informs me of just how blessed and loved we all are. Barabbas truly was given another chance! He was set free by the person of Jesus. I wonder what he did with the rest of his life? I wonder what you will do? I hope Barabbas comes back to Abiding Love. I should like to get to know him.

Building the faith:

In Japan today, people are cleaning up. Before they can do any new building, they have to destroy the old water washed and earthquake crumbled buildings to start again. Yet, these are their homes, their schools, their shops and theaters. They are theirs, and yet they have to deconstruct before they can reconstruct their own. They have to face that what was past is no longer useable. They have to figure out how to rebuild with the history of the past in mind.

It seems lately that we, churchy types, do a great deal of deconstructing. It is all around us. Authors like Marcus Borg, James Bryan Smith and top selling pastor Rob Bell are all ‘deconstructing’. They are trying to remove the old broken down and unjust theologies and systems in order to reconstruct the faith that Jesus builds. Sometimes they are brilliant and offer new light on old problems. Sometimes they make the issues worse or even water down the faith. What I find most fascinating is that they are willing to enter into the deconstruction zones at all.

The reasons why we need to ‘deconstruct’ is clear when you look at society today. Less and less people are convinced by the old ways of the creedal and confessional church. More and more people are leaving the traditional church in search of some greater meaning. Spirituality is up – congregations are down. Faith is pluralistic – denominations are insular.

I think cleaning up is a good thing and goodness knows I am not afraid of change, but let’s work together on this deconstruction. First of all, it makes the job more fun and second, doing things in community is bound to be more Godly.

We should look for the original intent, question the easy answers and examine the path with the light of Christ. I want to have some frank conversations about ‘heaven and hell’, ‘forgiveness and sin’, and even ‘war and peace’. In the near future, I will be setting up some dialogues with other pastors and theologians to talk about deconstructing and reconstructing our faith. Look for these dialogues and enter in the ‘Reconstruction’!

With abiding love,
Pastor Lynnae

Table Etiquette

Growing up, my mother had all sorts of ‘teachings’ about the table. She taught my sister and I how to set the table (fork on the left sort of stuff). She taught us how to fold napkins in an ordinary and a fancy way! She taught us about where to sit and what side to serve from (always serve from the left and clear from the right). One standard was, ‘you don’t serve yourself first and then your guests’ – unless it is Ethiopian food and you are showing them how to do it!

In an effort to be more hospitable and practical, I am going to take communion last. I’m asking the communion assistants to do the same. Ritual is important and our understanding of the how and why is just as important. The handbook on The Use of the Means of Grace – says that leaders may commune “before or after the congregation”. I would like to commune after, so that my attention is given to the guests first. I realize that there will be some chaos for a while as we get used to this, but soon, it will become culture and be natural.

I wonder how many families are still teaching the etiquette of the table? With Holy Communion – we are. All are welcome.

God is Good

God is Good.

I have this friend. She quit attending her local Lutheran church years before after some personal difficulties. The experience of a divorce, children who were acting out publicly and some serious financial life adjustments, and she just plain quit being ‘active’ in her church. One day I just asked her, “what it was exactly that she did not like about ‘church’ anymore?”. I was surprised by her answer. She said that it isn’t really anything about God that keeps her away, but she just doesn’t want to be reminded by church members of her public shame. Public shame? Do we do that? Do we as members of Abiding Love do things to make people feel ‘shameful’? I don’t believe in a God that asks for ‘public shame’. I believe in a God that loves through everything that no one is ever — shamed. Shame is not part of God’s Dream. The Kingdom of God is good and beautiful and it is beginning right now.

We have a good and beautiful God that welcomes everyone, especially those for whom the world tries to shame. Come, experience God’s love and let your load be lightened. My friend still doesn’t go to church. But, she does call me and talk with me about ‘who’ this really good God that I have come to know is. For now, that is enough.

“In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

“Raising the Roof”!

Abiding Love is “Raising the Roof” as Staff, Congregation Council, Boards and members in 2011! Raising the roof on “barriers to overcome” by identifying and addressing the key factors that our growing church and children’s center must consider as “barriers to overcome” as we strive to grow.

As we follow God’s call to grow both spiritually and physically, we have recognized some obstacles. Our Congregation Council will be informed at their council retreat this January with the leadership of Bishop Emeritus, Reverend Paul Blom (whom we know as Pastor Paul). Pastor Paul will use material from his own experience, the Carver Board Leadership Model, ‘Raising the Roof’ by Alice Mann and from Lyle Schaller’s ‘Worship Type Analogy’.

Alice Mann’s research shows that churches are generally organized in one of four ways:

1)      Family Church: Average attendance up to 50  people

2)     Pastoral Church: Average attendance up to 150 people

3)     Program Church: Average attendance up to 500 people

4)     Corporate Church: Average attendance over 500 people

For years now we have been stuck in an attendance plateau of around 195 people. Lately, we have begun breaking the glass ceiling on this number! Please pray for Abiding Love to meet the needs of the community and it’s membership as we grow! These are exciting times and, with God’s help, we really are - “Raising the Roof”!

With abiding love,

Pastor Lynnae

Have you seen our website?  www.abidinglove.org