Baptismal Fire
49 ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 52From now on, five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53they will be divided:father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’
54 He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. 55And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. 56You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
“Well, pastor, God never said it would be easy. He said he’d be with us.” These are the words of Bea Gilmore, a history and wisdom-bearer in our community, as she took my hand leaving worship this past Sunday.
The fire that burns in Bea’s baptism is more akin to a blow torch or rocket boosters, closer to the Easter Vigil bonfire than a docile candle flame.
Thank God for saint Bea, as she reminds me that our baptism is the very same as the baptism of Jesus of Nazareth, our Spirit-fire the very same that burns in Jesus’ own heart, fueling him to Jerusalem, to the heart of oppression, to truth-telling and to truth-living, to rejection and to condemnation, to crucifixion, suffering, and death.
Bea and her husband, Rev. Rozelle Gilmore, were civil rights leaders in Portland. They founded churches and small businesses that offered hope and freedom, jobs and dignity to the community around them. Bea raised four strong, beautiful children. Three months ago, Pastor Gilmore died of cancer. One month ago, her son-in-law died of the same disease.
“Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, but rather, division!”
Bea Gilmore reminds me that Jesus’ Spirit-fire is our Spirit-fire. It’s a raging fury that causes conflict, not for conflict’s sake – not for fights over pew arrangements and worship styles – but for freedom from oppressive shackles, feeding of the hungry, reconciliation of the broken, and resurrection of the dead. It causes division, not because it yearns for separation, but because it cannot stand for injustice. It causes division because it is true, powerful, revealing, and threatens the status quo.
Bea Gilmore looked into my young, nervous eyes with wise eyes that know death and resurrection and spoke baptismal promise into my heart, stoking my God-given fire…the same that burns in you.
What Jerusalem are we headed for, brothers and sisters? It won’t be easy, but as Bea knows, we will not be alone.
+Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed
Leaven Project, Portland, OR
Church Expectations
Luke 12:35-40
35 ‘Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; 36be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks.37Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. 38If he comes during 
the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.
39 ‘But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.40You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.’
Imagine that you walk into church to find the baptismal font and altar nowhere to be found. Where did they go? How will Christ meet you today? How will you receive the Bread of Life?
As the church, we are taught to expect Jesus in the waters of Baptism and the bread and wine of the Meal. Even if the sermon is awful on Sunday morning, the Sacraments preach God incarnate in the everyday through the meeting of the promise in the mundane – water, the same that makes up 60% of our bodies, wheat and grapes, the same that become the caloric energy that moves us.
Over this past week, I joined other ELCA mission developers in Minneapolis, MN to discern a very important question: How will we, the church, be the church today and into the future. I learned of the church meeting in a garage and praising God through the riffs of a rock band. I met a pastor covered in tattoos who podcasts his sermons on the internet. I worshipped in a suburban school cafeteria swarming with small children who knew every song by heart. I participated in lots of conversations about how to welcome people “in” and grow worship attendance. All very excellent.
But as I read the Gospel for this Sunday from Luke, I wondered if perhaps, in order to answer how we will be the church, we need to ask another question: Where do we focus our attention and energy most often? And then, turn in the other direction. As the church, where is it that we least expect Jesus? Because according to Luke, this is where and when the promised One will show up.
“Be dressed for action and keep your lamps lit… the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour!”
In baptism, God dresses us in Jesus’ own garments and lights our lamps brightly so that we may see beyond our own expectations. In the bread and wine of the Lord’s dinner table, our hearts are nourished with holy energy that turns us around and sends us in the opposite direction.
Imagine that you search the church building high and low for the font and the table with no luck. Giving up, you step outside into living waters of Oregon rain baptizing the garden across the street where a communion of neighbors’ hands work among collard greens and corn, berries and beans to feed one another. You are ready.
+Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed, Leaven Project
P.S. A tidbit to add to the mix: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126977945&ft=1&f=1032
What Grid?
Some background: I’m the mission-developer pastor for an emerging ECLA ministry in NE Portland called the Leaven Project (check us out at http://leavenproject.org). At the heart of our approach to being church is the work of intentional relationship building through the discipline of sharing our stories. I have meetings with people in coffee shops and pubs daily for the purpose of reverencing our lives and our struggles, discovering our questions and our yearnings. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be with our Synod this August through these Book of Faith Reflections.
Someone in the crowd said to [Jesus,] “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21
Recently in a tea house on Alberta St. in Portland, a young “green” entrepreneur with a heart for sustainability and education (he built an RV that is totally “off the grid” – solar powered – for the purpose of teaching public school children about renewable energy!), shared that he believes most people don’t intentionally hurt the environment or contribute to global and local poverty through their everyday living – the transportation they take, the food they buy, the goods they purchase. “It’s just so easy to participate in the systems that hurt us,” he said. “But I believe,” he continued, “it’s possible to create choices and even new systems through which it is just as easy for us to do good.”
The person in the crowd from Luke is stuck, plugged in! He’s plugged into the economic grid system of his day. He cries out to Jesus to demand for him half of his brothers’ inheritance, an economic system that keeps some with too much and others with nearly nothing. We don’t know if this man is already wealthy or if he is destitute (recently laid off?). What we do know is that Jesus does no such thing and, instead, tells a story.
Here we go: The wealthy man’s farm in Jesus’ parable produces bountifully. At the same time the world is organized (by people) in ways that result in some having gross excess, so much so that they would need to build even larger barns and storage bins (think McMansions and personal storage, think corporate reserves). The crowd listening would have known intimately that at the same time, in the background of the story, there were many jobless, landless, and starving. Then Jesus drops the parable bomb that blows up the lie of the grid and blows open God’s reality…off the grid: “This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?”
the man: Jesus, plug me in deeper!
Jesus: Why?! Unplug!
Regardless of his societal status, the man in the crowd hearing this story is reminded that participating in systems that result in excess for some works against God’s reality come on earth. And, if those in the crowd are at all familiar with the prophetic tradition, they hear Jesus’ story as a critique of systems–of grids—that allow and even rely on such injustice. True wealth toward God, as the prophets preach, translates into actions and systems that provide enough for all.
Jesus to us: Unplug! You are already plugged into an inexhaustible life source!
God is rich toward us with abundance that changes everything and reveals God’s truth: there is no grid. As the church, whether we are wealthy or we are poor, a corporate executive or the woman losing her home to foreclosure – and we are all of it – because of God’s richness that cannot be contained and held up, we don’t need no stinkin’ grids! We are rich enough and blessed enough, free enough and powerful, graced enough to believe the reign of God is possible. We are enough to see the realities of the world as they are and unplug from the systems that cause them. We are enough to imagine and create relational systems–beyond grids–that do good. We are enough for the kin-dom come.
Peace and Amen,
Pastor Melissa Reed, Leaven Project
. . . to make an omelet.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is5qnn2mjuM
Luke 10:38-42 NRSV
“As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
I don’t know what to say. Jesus was just plain a bad dinner guest!
In Luke 11:37ff Jesus tells a Pharisee, dinner host, that his china is nice, but his soul is all nasty. People were offended.
In Luke 14:7ff Jesus tells a different Pharisee, dinner host, that his guest list was all wrong. “All you care about,” says Jesus, “is your reputation.” You guessed it. People were offended.
And in today’s lesson Jesus tells Martha that she’s all aflutter and just needs to cool her jets. Dessert will wait. I don’t know about you, but my mother taught me better.
People don’t seem concerned about Jesus dissing Pharisees, but our Mary/Martha story generally raising a lot of objections. Hospitality – it’s so important! And don’t we have any respect for the gifts and passions many women choose to invest in? What was Jesus thinking?!
Context is the key for me here. Jesus is on his way to die a nasty death in Jerusalem and he knows it. Such things have a way of changing one’s priorities. It puts life in a different light.
Pharisee #1, don’t you care about personal integrity and focus? Pharisee #2, what about the poor and outcast? Who do you think the Kingdom is for? And Martha, are you listening? Will you let your heart by transformed? Is anybody paying attention here?
These are the things Jesus is about to die for. Were it me, I’d want my life to count for something. How about you?
Well, this is a new day. None of us are Jesus going to the cross. Yet, I wonder about all the change in life. Does it put things in a new light? Is “nice” really a priority? “Survival” isn’t really the goal, is it? What do you think?
“Sometime you just have to break a few eggs . . .
Bishop Dave
The Mystery of Distinctiveness
Last Sunday was Pentecost. The Sunday after Pentecost is always the Sunday of the Holy Trinity. This is a little weird. Since Advent and Christmas our focus has been on the stories of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. With Pentecost we shift gears to the stories, teaching and trials of the Church. But before we do that, a word from our doctrinal sponsor. The Sunday of the Holy Trinity wants to pause for a moment and lay out the pieces of the puzzle – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
In the good old days we used to read the Athanasian Creed in worship on this day. It is the third of the three historic creeds Christians confess (the first two being the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed.) Most people find it pretty confusing and it does, in my opinion, push the envelope as far as it can possibly go. There is no way to define or quantify a mystery like the Trinity. Yet, we try.
What we Christians want to say is that God’s power and place as Creator of the world, God as “Father,” is one thing. And that God’s presence in Jesus of Nazareth, the “Son,” to heal and hold is another. And that God as the “Holy Spirit,” gifting, guiding and goading on the Church, is yet another energy. Yet, we know there is only one God and that God does all these things – and more. But these three things are unique, central and of vital importance to the way we understand faith and life. Our story is one of encountering God in these unique ways at different times and places.
Now, back to our regular programming. It is good to be clear. It is important to articulate our faith. We all have unique gifts and passions, just as God’s own reality is multi-faceted and brilliant. The power, though, is in the practice. It is not who God “is” as much as what God “does” that is important. So, too, for us.
How will you live this day? What will you bring to the table?
- As God creates anew each and every micro-second, will you honor and protect the gift?
- As God heals and holds that which is broken and abused, will you lend your hand to the same task?
- And as the Spirit calls you uniquely; as the Spirit calls forth from deep within you special gifts and energies that only you have to offer – will you give them?
If not, what does it all matter – really!?
Bishop Dave
Pentecost Sunday!
The story of Pentecost is in Acts 2:1-21:
“When the day of Pentecost had come, the disciples were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind . . .”
So the story of Pentecost begins. It’s not a bad thing that the disciples are “all together in one place,” but clearly the Spirit isn’t going to let them stay that way. Like bees in a hive, the work of the kingdom can only be done if and when we head out.
” . . . and (the wind) filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”
A violent wind, fire, the indwelling of the Spirit, voice! These are signs and touch points of power. One might assume the first three are metaphorical or symbolic. That last, language, voice, the ability to share hope and healing – this is real and meant to be shared just as it is.
Speak! Talk! Listen! Share! The Spirit invades the hive for just this purpose. The Spirit blows us out, burns us up, appoints, anoints and gifts us for no other purpose. Speak!
You can read the rest of the story for yourself, but I’d point out there that when Peter is pressed for an explanation, when people want to know what the heck is going on, Peter says this is the fulfillment of prophecy. As the prophet Joel foretold:
`In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . .’
So now we live in the age of “prophecy.” It is not a time when we look back to what others have said should happen – that’s not what I mean. And it’s not a time dictated or predetermined as if we were just living out a drama that has already been written. Not at all. What Joel foretold, and Peter embraced, is a time of vitality and life. It is a time when words and social engagement pour forth from the people of God.
Pentecost, now, this age of the Spirit, is a time when the most unlikely witnesses are to be heard. It is time when what we thought was light and salvation may be seen to be darkness and death. Life is turned upside down. Visions and dreams from the ‘least of these’ take on life.
Speak my sisters. Prophesy pastors. Now is the time!
Bishop Dave
50 Days of Prayer – Week 7
Week of August 9
(Reflecting on readings and prayer for Sunday, August 23 – the seventh day of the Churchwide Assembly.)Holy God, your Word feeds your people with life that is eternal. Direct our choices and preserve us in your truth, that, renouncing what is false and evil,we may live in you, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Wow,
The “whole armor of God!” Put it on, says Paul in our reading from Ephesians 6. I’m always impressed by the fact that this armor is all defensive, save for the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Even swords can be defensive, of course, but I think this “word” is our only – allowable! – offensive tool. We speak the truth, our truth, truth as we have discerned it – truth aimed at helping and upholding our neighbor.
So what are the spiritual battles in my life? And what do I need from God in these battles? Time is my spiritual battle. I constantly feel like I have too much to do and to little time. I also get “stuck” on tasks I don’t wish or don’t know how to proceed on. It would be good to “work my plan” more effectively.
What I need from God and my friends is understanding. I need the freedom to be “off” when I’m off and “on” when I’m on. I need the Gospel to remind me that my corner of the world is important, but small. Jesus has it all under control. I can relax, or at least stand “at ease.” So I wear my armor and give thanks. I grab my sword and speak. Then I seek to rest in God’s grace. May you do the same!
Bishop Dave Brauer-Rieke – Oregon Synod, ELCA
Word
Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18
Psalm 34:15-22
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69
• What are the gods that compete for your life and the lives of our communities? What are some of
the ways that “you and your household” serve the Lord? How has God supported, sustained and
nourished you in this service?
• What are some of the spiritual battles or struggles in your life? What do you need from God to
stand against these things?
• What unique or shared tools has God given you, your congregation and this church for declaring
that Jesus is the “Holy One of God”? What impedes that proclamation? What frees it?Reflection Hymn
We Who Once Were Dead (ELW 495) will be sung by the Churchwide Assembly. You might also sing
Thy Word Is a Lamp (TFBF 132) or Thy Strong Word (ELW 511).
Please go HERE! to find out more about our 50 Days of Prayer effort.
50 Days of Prayer – Week 6
Week of August 2
(Reflecting on readings and prayer for Saturday, August 22 – the sixth day of the Churchwide Assembly.)O God, you show forth your almighty power chiefly by reaching out to us in mercy. Grant us the fullness of your grace, strengthen our trust in your promises, and bring all the world to share in the treasures that come through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.
Friends,
It was the orange juice he carried with him. It was an eight-ounce jar filled with orange juice, sealed with a square of tin foil and tightly turned lid. With that delicately secured jar in the pocket of his grey suit coat pocket, my Grandpa Horn could go anywhere. And he knew it.
One of the lasting memories of my mother’s father – this Swedish sailor who jumped ship on the east coast and worked his way to Seattle, was that vision of him.
Fifty years ago, if there was medication for diabetes, I am sure he told the doctors that the orange juice was just fine — no need for anything more – in case he was to go into insulin shock as he walked the neighborhood.
People would find him sitting on the curb, or lying on the sidewalk – and he would say – “just open the orange juice for me, and I will be OK.”
One time when Grandpa Horn was only 87, my mother found an airline ticket to Sweden in that same pocket – soon to be joined by the orange juice.
“I am going home, to see it one more time.” And he did.
With that orange juice, Grandpa Horn could go anywhere, see anything and meet anybody.
I was reminded of him as I reflected on the bible readings for this week. St. Luke reminds us that people gathered together, sharing all that they had with “glad and generous hearts.” They praised God and believed that they could, with God’s help, go anywhere, see anything, and meet anybody.
I think too, that is the underlying motivation for the generous widow – a trusting woman, not captive to her scarcity but relying on the magnificence of generous God. That is, able to go anywhere, see anything and meet anybody because she, and the first disciples, and Grandpa Horn saw through the eyes of faith.
How I pray we would do the same.
Pastor Harvey Blomberg – Oregon Synod, ELCA
Word
Acts 2:42-47
Luke 20:45 – 21:4
• How is your congregation similar and dissimilar from the congregation described in Acts? What
might being there for each other in-season and out-of-season look and feel like for you?
• Who has unexpectedly shown you the grace of God that brings life? In what unexpected places
have you found a great wealth of faith, generosity and service?Reflection Hymn
Take My Life, That I May Be (ELW 583) will be sung by the Churchwide Assembly. You might also sing
Lord, Be Glorified (ELW 744) or This Little Light of Mine (ELW 677).
Please go HERE! to find out more about our 50 Days of Prayer effort.
50 Days of Prayer – Week 5
Week of July 26
(Reflecting on readings and prayer for Friday, August 21 – the fifth day of the Churchwide Assembly.)Holy God, source of all love, you command us to love one another. By your Holy Spirit, conform our lives to your will so that our words and actions reveal the care and redemption you have shown to all your people through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Friends,
These texts will be Friday’s scripture at Assembly. “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, nd that your joy may be complete.” Jn 15:11
What does give God joy? ow do we recognize and receive God’s joy? Joy is deeper than happiness. Joy is a gift of the Spirit. How are we faithful disciples, following God’s ways, when we know we disagree with one another? How can we go forward?
The journey of discipleship is not linear. We discern the next steps when we pray, listen, wrestle, debate, and go together. More than this, we are part of a reforming tradition. We are SUPPOSED to ask what reforming word we are to bring today? These scripture lessons all root us in God’s wisdom and push us to be disciples known by our joy! How incredible.
Pastor Susan Kintner – Oregon Synod, ELCA
Word
Leviticus 19:1-4, 9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
John 15:9-17
• God declares, “I am the LORD your God,” and we live in the assurance of that proclamation.
How does that assurance change how you interact with the people in your own life and the
places in the life of the world that are suffering, hurting, and broken?
• How would you describe some of the fruits that the love of Jesus has allowed you to bear in
your life? Can you imagine being called a friend by Jesus? How does that differ from being
called a servant?Reflection Hymn
O Christ, Your Heart, Compassionate (ELW 722) will be sung by the Churchwide Assembly. You might
also sing Here I Am, Lord (ELW 574).
Please go HERE! to find out more about our 50 Days of Prayer effort.
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