Trinity Lutheran Church

  It is tempting, when thinking about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and Wanblee, SD, which was the site of our mission trip this past week, to see only statistics.  Things like:

• Unemployment is 85%
• Per capita income is $4,500
• Suicide rate is twice the national average, and teen suicide is FOUR times the national average
• Alcoholism rate is estimated to be 80%
• Life expectancy is the 2^nd lowest in the Western Hemisphere.  Only Haiti has a lower rate.
• Diabetes is eight times the national average and for heart disease, it is double the rate nationally.
• Many homes are the size of a small trailer from a trailer court and many don’t have electricity or running water.

   Sometimes, we only see the statistics, which are so stark, grave, and disturbing.

But this is what I saw:

• I saw little kids from Wanblee run up to our youth and others and give hugs, ask for piggy back rides, and smile.
• I saw kids who just wanted to be loved and who gave love in return.
• I saw a girl, Jean, who is three, whose smile was so bright it would melt the polar ice caps.
• I saw someone who was so grateful for our help getting their trailer repaired that they brought a note and a cake as a thank you.  He will put his other seven family members into that trailer.
• I saw a man who was successful off the reservation who came back to make a difference in the lives of his people, one person at a time.
• I saw youth who, despite bitterly cold showers and sleeping on air mattresses in crowded rooms, gave their hearts and their strength to the people and who never whined and complained.
• I saw youth who, despite not all being in the same social circles, treat each other with respect and reach out to people different than themselves.
• I saw looks and smiles of gratitude from adults who were thankful we were there.
• I saw a Youthworks staff member break down because she was so thankful for our work, our attitude, and our faith that it reminded her why she was doing what she was doing.
• I saw amazing countryside, amazing sunsets and sunrises, and the beauty of a rainbow.
• I saw youth who didn’t want to leave, whose hearts were breaking when they left the people and kids of Wanblee.
• I saw Jesus.  I saw Jesus everywhere.

  There are times in life, even for a person like me, when an experience cannot be summed up in words.  It can’t be summed in pictures.  It cannot be adequately expressed, it can only be felt and lived.  Our time in Wanblee was one of those times.  The shared experiences I had with our amazing youth and adults are something that I will carry with me every day.  It is something they will carry with them every day as well.

   But mostly, I will remember all the ways I saw Jesus at work in and through our youth, in and around that community, in and through the adults present.  And for that, I will always be thankful.  Because despite the statistics, despite the harshness and pain that exists there, God is there.  And God is doing good things.  Thanks be to God!

  As I looked out at the vastness of the ocean during the last day of our cruise Amy and I took during our vacation, I had the same feeling that I have had when I stood at the top of a volcano in Hawaii or when I looked out at the majestic Yosemite Valley or those times when I look up at the beauty of the stars on a clear night: “Wow, the world is a BIG place.”  I get this sense of overwhelmingness (I just created a word), of feeling very, very small and insignificant compared to the majesty of this world and of God’s creation.

   And in the midst of that feeling, I hear the words of Psalm 8 in my head:  “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; ⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?”

   Because we often spend so much time focused on our own little bubble, on our own wants, needs, concerns, and that of our immediate area, we can be shocked when confronted with the BIGNESS of our world.  And in that moment, we might feel insignificant.  Unworthy.  We might feel very alone, that our life doesn’t really make much of a difference and that we don’t make much of an impact in the grand scheme of it all.

     I know that sometimes I feel like that and sometimes that happens in those moments like on the cruise.  It fills me with profound sadness and despair.  And then I remember the next verse of that psalm, Psalm 8: “Yet you have made them a little lower than the angels, and crowned them with glory and honor.”  In the midst of God’s fast and majestic creation, God has blessed us, crafted us in God’s own image, and sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ to save us.  In the midst of the vastness of this world, God promises to hear OUR prayer, to walk with US every day, to give us a future with hope, and to be with us till the very end of the age.

   And so, that feeling of sadness is replaced with a feeling of joy, of thankfulness, of blessing.  I am reminded that I am God’s child, saved by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, and called to be God’s servant in this great big world we call home.  I am reminded that my life does make a difference in the world because I share love with other and that love, like everything else, comes from God.

    The same is true for you.  You are a child of God.  You are loved and forgiven and redeemed and blessed by God.  You are a servant of Jesus Christ and you do make a difference in the world.  Every day.  YOU are not only blessed, YOU ARE A BLESSING.   You are blessing to your friends and family, to neighbors and strangers, to your community and to the world at large.

    As I write this, I’m not looking at an ocean or standing on the top of a mountain.  I’m looking at a parking lot and some trees and houses.  Yet, I am reminded that it is a great big wonderful world out there.  And, by the grace of God, I get to be a part of it.  And so do you.

    So I am again reminded of verses from Psalm 8, the first and last of that Psalm: “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”  How majestic indeed.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

On Saturday morning, Amy and I went and planted our flowers for the year.  We planted some herbs as well as a hibiscus bush as well.  Over here at the church, Del Boley’s family were here planting our church garden in memory of the late Steve Boley.  I know that many of you over the past weeks have been planting your gardens, your flowers, getting everything ready for the summer months.

Planting flowers and gardens is always an exercise in hope.  We hope our vegetables grow and produce, we hope our flowers bloom fully, we hope that our garden ends up as we hope it will be.  We are planting seeds and hoping that things will grow.

The same is true in the church.  In the church, we are planting seeds of faith and we are hoping that faith grows in people’s hearts.  We had a baptism Sunday and hopefully, over time, the baby will grow in faith and be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  We not only plant seeds in our youth, but in our adults as well.  We hope that not only will that planted seed produce faith, but produce the fruits of faith.  We hope that the disciples of Jesus Christ will use their gifts for the sake of this ministry and for love of the neighbor.

In the past two weeks we have lost two great seed planters in Joyce Hopkins and Lois Oakland.  These two great women not only used their own gifts to plant seeds of faith but they helped to nurture the faith of others.  We are blessed with people at Trinity who also nurture those planted seeds, using their gifts to inspire others.

My hope for you is that as you spend lots of time watering, weeding, and nurturing the plants and flowers of your garden is that you will remember to not only nurture your own faith through prayer, worship, and service, but I hope that you will help to nurture faith in others, to keep planting seeds.  I’m thankful for all the people in my life who not only planted the seed of faith but continue to nurture it.  May God continue to bless us as we plant the seeds of faith in the world and may the Holy Spirit grow those seeds into beautiful flowers of faith.

4 Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and 5 like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.  1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10

This past Sunday was new member Sunday and as I looked out at our new group of members, I was struck at the diversity of them all.  Some came from other ELCA congregations, others from a different Lutheran denomination, and still some others from other Christian denominations or didn’t have any prior church affiliation.  Some were there because family members were already members, some had lived in the area their whole lives while others hadn’t lived here very long. For some, it was an entire family joining.  Others, just a single individual from a family.  No matter what, these people have become part of our congregation, our Christian family, individual stones that build the spiritual house called Trinity Lutheran Church.

I must admit that over the past year I’ve struggled with the concept of church membership.  At Trinity, you can be baptized, married, buried, given communion, go to Sunday School, get confirmed, and basically do everything else in the church except vote in a meeting and be on church council as a non-member.  Part of me wondered: what’s the point?  Why do we worry about counting people and judging that as part of our ministry success?  Isn’t worship attendance, dollars given away, ministry done a better measure?  Do people really care about the name of the church on the outside of the building?  With so many people skeptical of the institutional church, of “religion,” maybe there is a better way to live and be as a group of Lutheran Christians?

And then, as I stood up there last Sunday and installed these new members, I read the above words from 1 Peter.  I have always loved these verses and as I read them to our group of new members, as I was reminded that church membership actually does matter.  It isn’t about numbers or what you can do and can’t do.  In the end, it is about one thing:  identity.  It is about having a place where you can hear of God’s mighty acts who have brought us out of darkness and into his marvelous light.  It is about having a place to call home, filled with people who love you and value as a stone in this spiritual house that God has built.  God in Jesus Christ has called us to this place to live boldly and freely in the faith and to be inspired and encouraged by each other to go out into the world to proclaim God’s mighty acts, to love the neighbor, and to serve the poor.

I thought of this as well when the news of the passing of long time member Joyce Hopkins had passed away.  I remembered so many people who helped her and cared for her and prayed and visited her these past years after her stroke.  I remembered all the people she helped and encouraged in the years prior to the stroke.  Mostly, I remembered the love that was shared between her and members and vice versa. And I was reminded that being a part of this special place does matter.  It is important.

God has called each of us to Trinity and has formed us into a spiritual house.  We are God’s own people, part of a larger church but also uniquely our own.  We support and love each other, whether we have been here for six months or sixty years.  But most importantly, this is the place where we hear of the mighty acts that God has done in our lives and in the lives of others.  Thank you for being a part of this spiritual house, for sharing and using your gifts, and for proclaiming to others the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The above picture is part of my very favorite blanket, my Bears/Cubs quilt.  Amy made for me our first year together and gave to me as a Christmas gift the day after we got engaged. I use this blanket basically every single day.  I take naps with it.  I take it to camp with me and it will be traveling on the  mission trip this summer with me.  My dogs lay on it.  Heck, when I took this picture, my dog Henry was laying on the other end of it.  It is something very special to me.

However, over time, it started to show its wear.  There were tears in the panels, wear along the stitching, and I was getting worried that I or the dogs were going to damage it enough that it would be hard to use.  But thankfully, I had an angel on my side:  Mary Slind.  I took the quilt to Mary to have her patch it up for me, to fix all the tears, shore up the seams, get it back to good working order.  And Mary fixed it, patched it up, made it almost like new.

My quilt is a lot like the relationships in our lives.  We have many of them and many of them are very important.  But sometimes, over time, those relationships sometimes get frayed.  Sometimes they get ripped apart.  Sometimes they seem like they might never be able to be repaired. Sometimes the relationship that is the most damaged is our relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

However, that same Savior is the one who helps mend our torn relationships because our Savior Jesus Christ is one of forgiveness.  Jesus goes to the cross to mend our relationship with him.  Jesus defeats sin and death and offers us his grace so that we might be in right relationship with him.  And because we receive that forgiveness, we in turn can forgive others.  Christ enters into our lives to show us how to repair and sew back up our damaged relationships, restoring our quilt of life to wholeness.  God sends us the Holy Spirit to help us not only seek forgiveness, but also to forgive, so that our relationships can be restored.

I am thankful that my quilt is patched up and fixed.  But I am more thankful for the way that Christ helps to fix my relationships in life, most especially with him, for our God is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and ready to forgive all those who call on his name.  For that we can say, “Thanks be to God!”  Amen

Last Tuesday, I was very excited, and it just wasn’t because my spring break vacation was going to start at 3:30 pm.  No, I was excited because in the mail that day was a movie I was highly anticipating was going to arrive in the mail:  “Frozen,” the massive Disney animated hit.  Even though I was leaving and would be able to watch it for a bit, I couldn’t wait to.  It is one of the best movies that I have seen in awhile, which puts me on par with many of your kids who loved it too.  I loved the visuals, the music, the humor, the story.  A great movie.

And then, Wednesday morning, I got a gift.  Amy and I decided to upgrade our flight to first class which meant a larger seat, a full, hot breakfast, and a free digital player filled with TV shows, movies, and more.  Guess what was on it?  FROZEN!  Even though I wanted to sleep since we had woken up at 2:30 am, I instead excitedly watched it and I thought it was even better than I had remembered.  What is worse, on the way back, while sitting in coach this time, a girl in front of me and across the aisle rented one of those players and was watching “Frozen” on it.  I might, repeat, MIGHT have watched it over her shoulder for awhile.

It has been a great time of movies for me.  In the past month, on TV alone, I have watched the original “Star Wars” Trilogy, “The Little Mermaid” (my favorite animated Disney movie of all time), “Cinderella,” “10 Things I Hate About You,” “Goodfella’s,” “Caddyshack,” “Animal House,”  “The Blues Brothers” (my Dad’s favorite), “Ghostbusters,” and “Casablanca.”  On Blu-Ray or DVD I’ve watched “Thor: the Dark World,” “Iron Man 3,” and “Mary Poppins,” with the second Hunger Games movie cued up to watch during cleaning on Friday.

Movies, for me, not only help me de-stress by getting lost in the story, but they also take me back in time.  I stayed up very late to watch “Blues Brothers” because it always makes me think of my Dad.  The same is true for “The Little Mermaid,” which is a story in its own right.  “Ghostbusters” makes me think of early youth, “The Star Wars” movies always make me think of my best friend Ryan and our marathon watching sessions, and “Animal House” and “Caddyshack” make me think about college years.  I remember the people and friends who I watched these movies with and the feelings that I felt the first time I watched them.

I look forward to the new memories that will be made with the newer movies that I see.  But most of all, I will appreciate the power of the movies to give me a chance to leave the stresses of the world, even for just a little bit, as they help me “Let it Go.”  Get it?  See, how I did that there?  “Frozen” rules.

Have a great day!

17 The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.”  25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.  John 18:17, 25-27

I want you to imagine it is 1986.  Some of you might remember it better than others.  It is the summer and I, a 10 year-old Pastor Brad, is doing what most 10 year old boys are doing:  causing trouble.  My parents are not at home.  They are not even in the state.  They are in Maine, taking their very first vacation without kids since their honeymoon in 1968.  My grandma is staying with us, watching over us, and unbeknownst to our parents, teaching us how to play poker.  Grandma Schimka ruled.

Anyways, during the late afternoon 10-year old Pastor Brad is playing in the backyard with his neighbor Curt.  They have played some baseball, battled it out in a light saber duel for the ages, and then got to the good stuff:  attempting to blow old toys up.  After some unsuccessful attempts, we take some fireworks and poppers and let them off on the edge of my backyard, right by a field that will turn into a subdivision three years later.  Laughter is had.  Bodily harm has mostly been avoided.  Dinner time commences and we retreat to our respective homes.

Twenty minutes later, as I’m eating dinner, Curt comes to back door by our kitchen, wondering if I can come out and play.  “I can’t,” I say, “I’m eating dinner.”  Ok, he says.  Five minutes later he comes back, with a glass of water in his hand.  “I can’t come out yet,” I say.  “Alright.”  Curt leaves.  Five more minutes go by and he comes back again.  Before he says anything I say, “Curt, I’m not done yet.  Sorry.”  Curt then says, “Uh, I think you better come out.  Your pine tree is on fire.”

We run out of the house and sure enough, our pine tree, right near where we had been playing around with fireworks, is on fire.  Curt was holding the water glass trying to put it out.  As my Grandma calls 911, I grabbed our hose and started to try to put it out.  Eventually the fire department comes, gets it out, and everything is fine.  Until they start asking questions about how this could have started.  Curt and I clam up, claim we have no idea how it could have started.  We denied having anything to do with it.  We knew better, were taught to always tell the truth, but we were scared to death of what our parents might do to us.  So we denied it.  Completely.

Today we have a story of denial, one we might know well, Peter’s denial of Jesus after Jesus is arrested.  It can be easy to be critical of Peter in this situation.  Peter was Jesus’ number one disciple.  Peter was the first one to confess that Jesus was the Messiah.  Jesus was going to build his church on Peter, his rock.  Heck, Jesus even told Peter he was going to deny him, which Peter said would never happen.

But here he is: denying Jesus.  Even though Jesus told him he would, Peter denies Jesus.  Why?  Because he is afraid.  Peter is afraid of being arrested like Jesus, Peter is afraid of something happening much worse than that.  So Peter hides the truth.  Just as I did.  Just as we all do.

We often deny Jesus is our Lord and Savior.  There are times when we don’t let our faith show.  Often we do it out of fear.  What will someone think of me if I confess or show my faith?  What if I get made fun of?  What if I get rejected?  What if they think, because I’m a Christian, that I won’t accept them for who they are?  Will they generalize or pigeonhole me as being this or that because of my faith?

Frankly, many times it is easy to deny our Lord and Savior, to keep our faith hidden, maybe bring it out on Sundays for church or something like that.  Sometimes we justify our denial for self-preservation, other times so that we might not “offend” someone else.  We can make all kinds of excuses, but the end result is the same: we are denying Jesus.  The Savior who dies for us.  The Savior who forgives us.  The Savior who brings us to everlasting life.

The thing is, of course, is that Jesus does not deny us.  Jesus bleeds and gives his life so that we might have new life.  Jesus does not deny us when we come to him in prayer, when we are in need of strength, when we look for hope.  Jesus does not deny us when we need to be pulled out of the abyss of grief or the black hole of despair.  Jesus does not deny us when we are in need of acceptance and belonging.  Jesus keeps being there, no matter what we have done, when we call on him.

And thanks be to God for that!  Thank goodness that our denials of Jesus don’t keep him away.  Jesus loves us, and because of that, Christ will never deny us.

I was afraid, and so I denied that I had anything to do with our tree burning down.  Even when my parents came home from vacation, I didn’t fess up.  But it ate at me, and a while later I admitted that it was my fault.  And in admitting that, I felt new freedom, and my parents gave me forgiveness.

Lucky for us, when we do find ourselves hiding and denying our faith, when we come to our Savior in repentance, we receive that forgiveness.  May the Holy Spirit come into our hearts so that we would not deny our Savior but live boldly in faith, not ashamed of our faith but celebrating.  After all, our Savior has given us everything we need in this life and will be with us always.  For that we can say, “Thanks be to God!”  Amen

Psalm 121:  1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore.

I recently met with a woman who had suffered a tragedy.  Answers to the why’s of the event were not available and probably never would be. Besides feeling like her heart had been ripped out of her chest, she felt devastatingly alone.  Though people were around her, trying to give her support, she felt very lost and alone.  She did not know where to turn to for help.  She did not know if she would even be able to get up in the morning, let alone try to live.

After we spent time talking, I read her this Psalm.  Psalm 121 is one that is written for those who feel lost in life, who feel lone, who feel like the only place they now reside in is one of pain and despair.  This Psalm is full of promise: that the Lord helps, the Lord hears, the Lord protects, and the Lord walks with us.  Even more importantly, this Psalm reminds us that the Lord cares.

I’m not sure if my conversation with the woman helped or not.  I hope it gave her some comfort, even for a few moments.  But I know that the words of the Psalm will have lasting impact, that she will know that she can always turn to the Lord who created her, saved her, and promises to be with her forevermore.  After all, it has always done that for me.

It is always amazing to me what happens when I haven’t played my ukulele in a bit.  It might just be a week, or maybe even a couple; but the first time I pick it back up after a layover I find it really hard to play like I should be able to. I don’t hit the chords just right, my hands hurt, and I even forget some of the chords. It doesn’t take long before I get out of shape and need to be renewed.

  The same is true for our faith. When we are not practicing our faith; when we are not keeping our FAITH ALIVE; it grows stale, cold, out-of-shape. Lent is a time to make our FAITH ALIVE, to be renewed in our faith and think about ways we can live out our faith every day so that it remains strong and vibrant.

  We start with ASH WEDNESDAY, where we come forward to not only acknowledge our sinfulness, but to receive God’s forgiveness in Jesus Christ and to be reminded that in our baptism we are always children of God. We will then move to THE BIBLE, the place where we hear of God’s promises for us and to know that Jesus loves us and is there for us.

   Next we will explore WORSHIP, the place where we receive God’s grace through the sacraments and hear and give thanks for the salvation won for us by Christ on the cross. Then we will talk about PRAYER, the tool given to us so that we can communicate with God who wants to be in relationship with us. These are all focused on us as individuals and how our individual faith is renewed by the Holy Spirit.

   But our last two weeks, HOSPITALITY and SERVICE, we will take a turn and look at how by living out our faith in the world not only encourages others but also renews our own faith. These two weeks remind us that we are not alone on our faith journey and that Jesus calls us to live our faith every day and that by living it out, we strengthen it at the same time.

   Besides exploring these topics, we will gather together in fellowship at Lent suppers and enjoy moving-worship through Holden Evening Prayer led by the Youth Choir and Men’s Choir.

   Lent is an opportunity to make our FAITH ALIVE! I hope to see you on Wednesday nights and may the Holy Spirit renew us in faith every day.

Today is always a sad day.  It is the last day of football.  As much fun as watching the Super Bowl is, I always feel a little bit sad at the end knowing that it will be many long months before I get to watch football again.  Sure, there is the draft and free agency, but it just isn’t the same as watching games.  Even worse, I really don’t watch much basketball, though I will follow some college ball right before the NCAA tournament so I can at least try to make informed decisions on my March Madness bracket.  If it wasn’t for hockey, it would be a couple of months of sports boredom until the Masters comes for golf in April and baseball starts.

But not this year!!  No, this year, for three weeks, comes one of my favorite things ever:  the Winter Olympics!  I love the Olympics.  I’m the kind of guy who will wake up at 2 am to watch curling (FYI: I’m fascinated by curling.  Rapt by it.  I’m not sure why, but it is so awesome).  I do enjoy the Summer Olympics, but the Winter Olympics is my favorite.  Other than cross cross-country skiing and biathlon, I enjoy every other sport.  Even figure skating.

Time for a tangent:  I don’t really enjoy figure skating per se.  However, due to my mother and sisters, I was subjected to many hours of figure skating in my youth.  Because of that, I find myself checking out the finals, but only because it is the Olympics, otherwise I would never, ever watch it unless I was at gun point.

The Winter Olympics are so cool.  How can you not love bobsled and luge?  Those people are nuts.  There is nothing more thrilling than watching a skier coming down the mountain trying to win the gold medal.  I also enjoy the extreme sports like snowboarding and freestyle skiing because they just do amazing stuff.  Speed skating is always thrilling.

But the crown jewel is Olympic hockey, both Men’s and Women’s.  The games are really amazing, the passion unbelievable.  If I can’t watch Team USA games, we will DVR them and watch them later, even if we know the score.  I spent the past two months stalking USA hockey gear to wear during games and finally got stuff yesterday.  I can’t wait.

Of course, national pride is part of why I love the Olympics, but mostly I love it because it is thrilling sports.  It is what I love best about sports:  people pouring all of their passion and ability into a chance to win a medal.  There are great triumphs and shattering heartbreaks.  There is great drama and inspiring moments.  I can’t wait.

So join me at 2:00 am on February 10^th for world champion Canada versus Germany in Men’s Curling and then for the USA women against Switzerland in Curling at 4 am.  Shoot.  USA women against Switzerland in hockey at the same time.  What to watch?  Both, of course.  Sports heaven.