What the heck do you do with Luke on an Anniversary Sunday?

Today during the children’s message we talked about what an anniversary was. There were lots of guesses. An anniversary was a day when the guy surprises the girl and the girl surprises the guy. It means cake, and it’s about something people did. It’s something people who are married do. Then we talked about how anniversaries are about a big event- it could be getting married. Or for our church it’s kind of like a birthday. But anniversaries are about doing something together. I had the kids hold hands and asked what would happen if the person at each end decided to run toward the wall closest to them. Well, there would be fighting or the chain would break. And we learned that to stay together takes work. And then I asked them to turn around. And at first one person in the middle just twisted around and everyone else got jumbled. I encouraged the person on the end to lead them to turn the whole chain around. And we learned about working together. And then we looked at the cross. Because the big event that brings us together is about Jesus. Jesus’ love is why we are here, and it’s what helps us work together. And Jesus is why we get to celebrate.

Here at Holy Spirit, a long time ago, people gathered responding to a need for a Sunday School chapel in this part of the city. But they quickly realized they really wanted a church. It was kind of radical asking to be freed from the church that started us. But it seemed critical. In critical moments we get clarity. 102 years ago, there was that clarity. At other times however, we can deceive ourselves into thinking things happening elsewhere don’t matter or have nothing to do with us. This congregation had a long tradition of strong dynamic leaders who grew an off shoot Sunday School chapel into a vibrant congregation in this city. It took a lot of labor and saving and having some of the right people at the right time. But basically like all of the other congregations of the city, we kind of functioned unto ourselves. One way I know this is that none of our fellow churches knew a lot about us really. When I first came and would ask beyond these doors about Holy Spirit, most people here in the city would say they really didn’t know. Not bad, just unknown. Collectively we were complacent as churches. Today we hear about a manager who has gotten complacent. Used to doing things his way.  

In the parable, it’s only when the kind of complacency the manager had fallen into is disturbed that he gets an eye opener. Until now he’s probably been really focused on his own needs to the exclusion of the needs of his neighbors. But then he realizes he actually really needs other people. And even then he still comes off as a little suspicious. I suspect changes of heart often come across that way. He spends a phenomenal amount of energy in a new direction. But others aren’t really totally sure what to make of it. Yet while his motives may be mixed, there is blessing in what he does. People who owe a lot of money are given breathing room, and the boss who was feeling a money crunch gets some relief and people are connected in ways they had not really been relating before.

What does that have to do with our anniversary?  Anniversaries are about a past, and a present and hope for the future.

As we’ve gotten to know each other, and I’ve heard your rich history, I’ve learned of the quilts that were sent, and the pretzels for the military, and caring for neighborhood orphans. When I asked you to replenish the benevolence fund recently, there was $1800 in two weeks! All ways of caring, past and present.

At the same time, there were wise people who wanted to make sure that this parish was always cared for-always had a pastor. And a seminary education fund was born, and funded. A fund whose original intent I suspect was somewhat self serving- wanting to guarantee this place always had a pastor, we prepared to fund his education. And later wanting to know our own were cared for if they went to seminary. We took care of our own. An amazing amount of forethought, and may I dare say, at the same time, a fund that was really about serving ourselves. Holy Spirit has been blessed to not only have pastors but to fund education for two Lutheran pastors.

But I said we get clarity when there is a critical moment. What is the critical moment?

Well, last year our bishop brought to all of us the fact not enough is being given to  fund the ministry we’ve been called to share- asking us to see more than our own congregations, and to stop doing things complacently. And it would be easy to say that’s not about us. But our leaders gathered to think about how to do more. Out of that conversation and looking at all of our assets closely, we began talking about the seminary education fund. Sitting there with $90,000 in it. And truth be told the first thing people wanted to know was whether we really needed to keep it for its intended purpose. Couldn’t we use it for our other needs? Because here we are and there it sits. Just growing and being unused. How should it be managed?

But, there’s another critical moment. The fact that in the next 10 years 50% of the ELCA pastors will retire. Half. Take the number of leaders and make it half. And unlike being forgiven half a debt, creating a deficit by 50%- only half the number of churches with pastors is a loss. And dare I say it, God could ask what the heck we’ve all been doing. Going around without ever thinking about the future and even what it takes to be a pastor. Used to be congregations and synods paid for the dormitory and tuition, and future pastors would pay a few hundred dollars a semester to live in a dorm, have their meals and laundry taken care of and be sent out to churches to learn. Somehow we never saw that that changed. Except here where we did our part for our own. And one could say let those other parishes pay for their own. It’s not our debt. But that’s not really the truth. We are church together.

Today it costs no less than $100,000 to cover books, tuition, fees, meals, transportation and supplies. And at the Philadelphia Seminary you can’t even get a meal on campus anymore. How do future pastors, young or old, pay for all of that? If you go full time you can’t work. Students with families end up with kids on food stamps. Seminaries have branches of the local food bank feeding future pastors. I think God wonders what the heck is going on.

So here we are. We realized that if we had a fund that could pay for educating pastors, it could pay for educating other pastors studying who were from this synod- about 18 right now. Maybe even cut their debt in half. We had a transformation and did an unexpected thing. $25,000 to endow a fund in our synod. And suddenly a whole bunch of people knew who we were. At synod assembly this year we offered another $25,000 as a matching grant.

 And the money keeps coming, and with it, those relationships. The ones we weren’t tending.

This is the kind of shrewd Jesus is talking about. Being shrewd with what you’ve been given in a way that furthers the relationships and care of the kingdom. Clarity and new direction. Deeper relationships and a future.

It started with us wanting to know if we could use that money for ourselves. But being transformed by God. And inviting others to share in a new totally radical thing.  That is worth celebrating!

But I want to invite you one step farther- God wants you in this story. Today. You see, it’s one thing to be gracious with money of another day. It is something else to let God speak about our money today. Between now and the end of November, I want each of you- yes, each of you, to join this work. In addition to whatever else you give, give something. Yes, something more. Sacrificial giving. Put it in an envelope and mark it Seminary. Think of all the saints and leaders who have gone before here, and let’s surprise ourselves by celebrating and honoring God’s work past and present in all of us and giving for God’s future.   

And may God the giver of all good things continue to bless the world in and through us as we journey into the future together. AMEN

It is finished! It is just beginning

Summer Greek ended Friday and I have now come home, introduced myself to my family again, and caught up on my sleep, my laundry and my snail mail. But rejoice with me- I made it! Prepare Ye and I were both convinced that we had pretty much messed up on the final ( which of course is closed book). The practical 43 year old in me sarcastically wondered when there would ever be a theological emergency requiring me to immediately translate in Greek from memory in order to save the day. And of course for those of you who have experienced the Croy book, I think he is need of serious pharmacotherapy. Sentences involving dead children, dead holy sisters and evil sinners start to get a little unsettling after a while. Joking aside, I LOVE translating Greek and envision conjuring up the spirit of the time when the texts were written that make up our New Testament. The subtle nuances are fascinating. Learning how to detect the true emphasis of a passage, which is sometimes different than I might have thought is thrilling. It feels vital.
If you are not familiar with the Croy book, say thanks to God and I do not recommend it for light reading.
On a lighter note, the intensity of the summer Greek two week class that jams what other longer classes would cover into a tiny stretch of time is a great way to bond in common adversity with others. We are all in this together is the thought, and, as the Marines put it, we will leave no man behind.
Indeed, we did all make it, and were sorted into two classes for fall. Much to my surprise and to the surprise of Prepare Ye, we placed into the advanced class.
Each day at the opening of class one of the students was chosen to lead prayer. On the day of the big test when we met for the review of the test, one of my classmates, after offering the prayer, closed with leading us all in the prayer Jesus taught us. It brought tears to my eyes as I listened to the instant sense of peace come across the room.
When I came to campus for Greek, I was more than a little stressed about being away from my family for two weeks. As I have said, every one else comes and goes on trips, but I am always the one at home ready to receive them back. To have this role switched was unsettling. Having my husband email to say that he never realized how many little things I do that he never realized was gratifying but bittersweet.
I texted the Chicks and emailed the family while I was away, but while this was somewhat of a respite, you know you just cannot hug an electronic device ( at least not safely).
I often believe that the things in life we experience are a chance to see what we have not seen before and give us tools for the future. This experience allowed me to greater appreciate how people who travel away from family for work regularly must feel in the absences. My father was one of these people, yet when he came home after sometimes weeks on the road, there was always some little trinket he had picked up, and even spending the day with him running errands was time I cherished as a child. I never felt that he was absent from my life. He once had a flight canceled because of snow and he rented the last rental car to drive 12 hours in bad weather to get home for Christmas Eve. I know he must have been anguished and exhausted. But by God's grace he made it to be with us.
And, minus the 13 hours in snow, so it was for me, as I packed my car before the final so I could leave right after class. I had gone to the bookstore and picked up trinkets. And I pulled into the driveway in time to get to the first fall football game where the Lutheran Chicks are in the band. I caught the pregame show. With tears in my eyes I was glad to be home.
My parents have just left to go home to FLA, and we went to church to hear LC#1 cantor, and it is 18 years ago that my beloved and I walked down the aisle together. Last night we celebrated LC#2's birthday 10 days early so we could do it as a family with my parents. A friend of mine has an old Lincoln Towncar stretch limo complete with steer horns on the hood which I decorated and drove us in to go out for Chinese- her favorite food. A spontaneous idea I had that was a great surprise for everyone else.
So this weekend has been kind of a watershed time. I found myself looking back across the years that my sweetie and I have traveled together. The ups and downs, the highs and lows.
We have received great blessings. We have each other, in all of our quirky humor, sharing a love of civil war history, the British Isles and Atlantic Canada. We have been blessed to travel to these places and share wonderful moments ( both before kids and with kids). We share a love of the comic strip "Get Fuzzy" and he will make sure every day that I get to see it. We enjoy books, and music and reading the personal ads in the London Review of Books.
I have learned to cook the things he likes including Chicken Paprikash, even with very potent paprika a co-worker brought us from Hungary. It does not require the same amount in a recipe. I learned this when proudly serving it to our interim pastor, and watching his face immediately turn red, and as he drank about three glasses of water I wondered if it might be too spicy. Miraculously the pastor lived. And my hubby has learned to eat things he would never have eaten growing up.
We share a love of the same music ( most of the time)and the milkcrate of albums he brought into the marriage is still upstairs. Along with the posters of the band "Rush" which are ( to his dismay) not displayed in the house. We have each been the one to bring home a dog who needed a home and you will find us telling stories about them almost as much as we talk about the kids.
But we have also walked the road of a terminally ill parent ( his father)whose service I planned and whose eulogy I delivered because I was the only one who knew his wishes. We have walked the road of getting a call that a parent is in the ER with heart issues ( his mom and my dad), we have walked the road of almost losing LC #1 at birth and diagnosing her learning issues, we have a child whose birthday is September 11th, which in 2001 was hard to deal with. We have walked the road of my uncle taking his life and me packing up my mother to travel a long distance to a funeral that was incomprehensible.
But through all of these things, God has blessed us with each other, and with more than we truly need. And as I have woven my way through discernment to now, he has been my biggest supporter and encourager, often telling me what I need to hear.
And all of this from the man who was not joining a church, just going to humor me.
I came home from Greek to find pizza on the counter, a glass of wine at the ready and flowers in my kitchen window. It doesn't get much better than that.
A time for endings and beginnings. A time to give thanks for the gift of family. And later today, a time to do my Greek homework.