"Creating Space for Grace"

Almost three years ago we began our Capital Campaign: “Creating Space for Grace” to raise funds for the renovation of the Children’s Center and the Fetter Activity Center. On February 15, following the 11:00 service, we will dedicate and celebrate its completion! We have created space for grace and now we grow into this new space.

Any hiker knows that when you are lost or searching for your way, you look on the horizon for a pile of rocks stacked pillar like. Then moving to that cairn, you look for the next. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince wrote; 

"A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind." 

Rocks served as the altar for God’s Hebrew people and today symbolize our ongoing sacrifice of our time, talents and treasures for the mission and ministry of Jesus. We open this facility for our children’s classrooms, Boy Scouts, Food Pantry, pot luck meals, Nia classes, confirmation classes and youth group events. The list will go on as we continue to grow and look for the next marker on our journey, for we are not done. This is not a stopping point. 

“We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road.”  Martin Luther

As we travel this road, we pause to thank God for the many blessings we receive. I thank Bob Thonhoff and Thonhoff Consulting for his leadership and their service of engineering and expertise. Thanks to Eric Maclnerney and Heimsath Architects for plans and patience and more plans. Thanks to Charlie Cox and Chaney-Cox Construction for hammering, painting, leading and licensing. Thanks to Philip Drake for taking on the sound and technical portions of this build that saved us dollars as well as assured a quality system. Thanks to the members of the Building Committee that have spent months pouring over documents and plans and for daring to dream this place of grace. 

Mostly, thanks to God for being our rock and for showing us the way.

Incline your ear to me, rescue me quickly; be to me a rock of strength, a stronghold to save me. For you are my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake you will lead me and guide me. Psalm 31:2-3

Give Thanks to the LORD!

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.  Psalm 107:1

 

Lately, the Facebook “thing” has been to offer 10 days of thankfulness. Each day you are challenged to post something that you are truly thankful for. It should be an easy list and I think most everyone who tries this exercise ends up with some of the same “thanks”. I am thankful for my family. I am thankful for my friends.

 

Here is a list of very different things to be thankful for:

 

I am thankful for a world that celebrates diversity and confronts racism.

I am thankful for seasons that remind me of the cycle of life.

I am thankful for scientists and doctors that find cures.

I am thankful for people who stand up to bullies.

I am thankful for bartering with homemade/homegrown things rather than paper and coin.

I am thankful for fevers that send us to doctors.

I am thankful for the wind that pollenates the world.

I am thankful for peacekeepers.

I am thankful for questions.

I am thankful for prayer.

 

In this season of giving thanks, may you know thankfulness for the obvious, the difficult and the challenging.  Amen.

 

Go Camp!

I want to tell you a story…last year at Confirmation Camp I met a young woman that was at camp with the youth from her congregation. Ariel was their youth director. As happens at camp, we sat up late talking, solving world problems and dreaming. Ariel confessed a desire toward Word and Sacrament ministry, but worried that as a mother of two young children with a husband that had a good job, that  it would be difficult to physically go to seminary. I encouraged her to look into alternative ways to study and invited her to come to Austin to meet with me at the Lutheran Seminary of the Southwest with Director Rev. Dr. Jay Alanis. 

 

Ariel took me up on my invitation. It became clear that this dynamic, informed and intelligent young woman was destined to the ordained ministry. Jay encouraged her to find ways to include her husband and her children in her dream and told her a bit about some scholarship opportunities.

 

Last week, I saw that Ariel Williams purchased her books to start seminary at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg! The whole family picked up and moved. Next, I get an email from the director of the Fund for Leaders of the ELCA. This is the scholarship fund that paid for my seminary tuition. It turns out that Ariel thanked me in her application “for encouraging and supporting” her discernment and they wanted me to know that Ariel Williams is the 2014-15 scholarship winner! 

 

Full tuition paid.  Family together.  Church affirmed.

 

Go Camp!

 

“Here I am, Lord”

“Here I am, Lord”
When God called Samuel, it took him a while to recognize the voice, but when he did – he replied with “Here I am, Lord!”.  

When someone comes up to you and asks you to think and pray about a leadership position at Abiding Love, think about Samuel. Please don’t be reactionary and immediately say “Oh, No not me.” Instead seek out God’s will and direction for your response. 

We are about to get the Nominating Committee working for the November 2014 Annual Meeting. We will be electing a vice president, secretary, Worship Life Director, Children’s Ministry Director, Children’s Outreach Ministry Director, Parish Fellowship Director, Properties Board Director and Stewardship and Finance Board Director. 

The Nominating Committee first and consistently prays about God’s intentions for this congregation and its leadership. They take seriously their duty to find people that they feel God is pointing them to. They look for people that demonstrate a joy for serving and present themselves as leaders. 

Please, pray about your involvement in both mission, vision and ministry at Abiding Love, and let a member of the Nominating Committee know if you are interested in being a part of our church leadership team! 

2014 Nominating Committee: 
Elizabeth Collins
Linda Corhan
Lindsey Drake
Steve Kikta
Joel Lehman
Terry Wyatt

"Living Resurrected Lives"

 

Jesus heals the leper and says “show yourself to the priest.”

Jesus heals the Centurion’s son and the “servant was healed in that hour.”

Jesus heals Peter’s mother and “she got up and began to serve him.”

Jesus heals the Gadarene Demoniac of his many demons and the town “begs Jesus to leave them.”

On and on Jesus goes about doing resurrection things; healing, saving, transforming.

ἐγείρω (Gtr. egeiro) meaning 'to raise' – One of the meanings of ‘Resurrection’ is merely to raise. It’s not only bringing life back after death. Jesus “raised up” people from alienation, from disease, from shame to a new and better life.

Yet we know very little of what happened to those that he encountered in the days that followed. Their very lives had been altered for good – don’t you wonder what happened next? How did they then live fully knowing that they had been touched by the master? 

And what about us? How do we live as people for whom Jesus has come near?

What difference does the resurrection make? What difference does an encounter with Jesus make?

How can we live authentic, intentional and Spirit-filled lives?

In the Sundays that follow Easter, we will recall biblical stories of encounters with Jesus and examine the rest of the story….

April 27:  Simon Peter
May 4:     Thomas
May 11:    Mary and Martha
May 18:   James, the Brother of Jesus
May 25:   Paul
June 1:     Mary Magdalene
June 8:    Pentecost – Running on Empty

 

Take Up Your Cross Daily

This Lent we will explore the many human conditions that led Jesus to the cross. As Jesus journeyed the land,  he  encountered the poor and imprisoned, the diseased and the possessed. It was for these that Jesus spoke out against the imperial powers, and it was for these that Jesus offered a better and more Godly way. Truly, it was for these that he went to the cross. 

 

“Then Jesus said to them all, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’” (Luke 9:23)

 

In the Gospel of Luke the word “daily” becomes a challenge to the friends and followers of Jesus and it is “daily” that we are called to confront and minister to the very same worldly ills and societal tribulations that continue to plague us all. To offer Gods love, grace and mercy we must be willing to look upon those most vulnerable and needy and work, pray and create change. Poverty, disease, violence, oppression, illiteracy, hunger…these calamities and more are tied to the cross that we lift up as our statement of Jesus passion. 

 

Lent is a time to be introspective and to examine the challenges to discipleship. Join us as we learn from Jesus how we - can take up the cross daily. 

 

"Living Words"

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
When Netflix presents their home page there is always the “suggested” genera based on what you have watched in the past. You know it says: “Because you watched - - - you might like - - -“. If one where to take your Bible readings and make suggestions based on your past “views” the suggestions might be….

History Channel with more of Genesis for all those times that we decided that we were going to read through the Bible from start to finish but never made it past chapter 21.

Romance and Family since we seem to stick to all the fairly good parts such as; births, blessings and  benedictions, or

“60 Minutes” full of hard hitting and challenging messages – but not too much as you can really only handle about one hour

However, we aren’t Netflix and so we try, with great intentionality, to offer a proclamation that leads us all to want to know God more and to be better disciples of Jesus. It turns out that we are one of the few congregations, Lutheran Congregations, that is, that does – sermon series. Most congregations follow what is called the “Lectionary”, a three year series of lessons designed to give an overview of the life of Jesus.  But there is no way that a lectionary can really cover the entire story of the Bible and too often I feel as though some of the more difficult texts are left out. Also, there are times in the life of a community where specific proclamation is needed. We at Abiding Love have discovered that Sermon Series help us grow!

 

“We want to know – not because to know is to believe, but because to believe is to want to know.”  -- (Friderick J. Gaiser – Word & World)

 

This Epiphany season we will encounter the Word using a sermon series called: “Living Words”. May the Word of God dwell in you richly. See you in church!

 

Faith Is...

"Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that believers would stake their life on it one thousand times. This knowledge of and confidence in God's grace makes people glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, people are ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown them this grace" (Luther's Works, American edition, vol. 35, pages 370-371).

 

Faith is alive! When we understand our faith as active – vibrant and dynamic – we can change the world. Sometimes I think people use the fear of “works righteousness” as an excuse for keeping faith as a personal and private expression. While our works won’t get any special favor with God, works are a natural expression of our faith! How can we help but fully live out our faith?

 

Faith is daring!  It is daring to offer the love of Christ to all – and I mean all! No matter your race, creed, sex, sexuality or physical or mental ability – we love with the love of the Lord! It is daring to stand up for justice and peace in a world bent upon destruction and violence. It is daring to live a generous life – denying the scarcity mentality of a large part of the world. We dare because we know we are not alone. God walks with us in all our bold acts. How can we help but be daring?

 

Faith is confident! No we don’t have to be confident in our prayers, or our works, or even our daring lives. We are confident in God. We are confident in God’s presence, acceptance, urgings, and most especially love. How can we help but be confident?

 

Join us this fall as our new beginnings encounter a “Living, Daring, Confidence!”

 

On Being a Healthy Church...

Whenever I get together with other pastors and church leaders, I feel alone. (Well except that Pastor Brad is also there and he knows the same feelings as I.) Clergy after clergy are bemoaning lowering attendance, lack of funds and lack of enthusiasm. Pastor after pastor is lamenting a lack of spirituality and charity. Person after person expresses sadness and depression in their daily walk with God.

I sit there trying to figure out what to say….I want to say, “Things are great at Abiding Love! We are growing. Attendance is up – even for the summer months! Our children are crazy fun and always laughing! Our youth sponsors are bold and courageous! Worship is thought provoking and uplifting. I’m exhausted by the pure joy of it all!” but then, I’m afraid that they just wouldn’t believe me or that I would somehow be putting them down.

The fact is; Abiding Love is a very healthy congregation. Here are a few reasons that I think this is so…
•        We put love first.
•        We are not afraid of change, not just for change sake but for good reasons.
•        You aren’t afraid of your pastors.
•        We evaluate programs and ministries to make them the best they can be.
•        We know that we don’t have to agree on everything to be in ministry together.
•        We value children and their unique spirituality.
•        We talk things out, not behind any backs and not in the parking lot.
•        We put love first. Thank you God for placing me in this community!

Thank you for these members and these colleagues. Bless us as we go about your ministry and bless our neighbors and all those struggling with their calls and congregations. Amen.

He is Risen!

He is Risen! 

And now the real work begins. Just remembering his life, death and resurrection isn’t enough. Now, yes now, we must begin the work of new life.

For if we have understood his message, then we are compelled to BE the people of God that Jesus expected us to be. So, we cannot be routine or complacent. If we truly understand that Jesus came to show us the way, the way to live – then we have some work to do. To live in the kingdom of God as Jesus proclaimed is to be different than the rest of the world. It is to love kindness, to do justice. It is to walk humbly with God. This Easter Season we celebrate seeing and hearing the message so much that we walk differently. Like the disciples on the way to Emmaus we cry out, “were not our hearts burning within us, are not our lives alighted with fire?”   

 

Join us each Sunday as we emphasize Jesus living on through us.