March 31, 2022

GREETINGS BELOVED

FAMILY OF GOD,

Last Sunday morning, I walked into the church and smelled the strong scent of grains and protein.  Yes, the Take Away Hunger Food Packing Event was ready to go and people whose lives have been torn apart in the wake of tornados will be fed with the meals we helped to pack and sent off with thanksgiving.  Thank you all for your help in making this event possible.

Smells of grains and proteins are a pleasant fragrance because of how it helps our neighbors who are in need.  What scents do you associate with powerful positive or negative experiences?   

When Mary floods the room with the scent of pure nard powerful positive and negative experiences come with it.  This family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus have just been through Lazarus’ sickness that led to death with the stench of 4 days dead and all the emotional energy that accompanies sickness and death.  They heard Jesus call Lazarus from the tomb and they helped to unwrap Lazarus from his grave clothes and welcomed him back to life.

Time has passed, they are 6 days out from Passover and the family gives a dinner for Jesus.  Lazarus reclines at the table with Jesus and Mary anoints Jesus’ feet propelled by the powerful experiences they have lived through.  Their lives are changed and these powerful smells link these two stories together with the next story of Jesus’ own death and resurrection ready to unfold.

A fragrance that reminds them of their intimate dance with life and death and how their lives are changed, forever transformed because of Jesus.  Now this powerful scent is linked to the future event of Jesus’ death and God’s calling him to resurrected life.

We are invited into the powerful smells and the experiences they call forth as we remember our own journeys with sickness, death and God’s call to new life for all of us.  Recline with Lazarus enjoying new life. Serve and anoint with Martha and Mary, living through all the experiences of life with Jesus.  Hold this story with the parables of lost sheep, coin and family.  Is this one of the lost and found parties?

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

March 24

GREETINGS BELOVED

FAMILY OF GOD,

We get to be the ambassadors, the ones that get to tell God’s good news made known to us in Jesus Christ.  We have the great challenge of translating this good news into language that makes sense in our culture today.  As any translator knows, there are always decisions to be made when translating and we turn to the Holy Spirit to help us to discern the way forward.  And Jesus gives us these great stories, parables that communicate throughout time to help us with translating the good news now.  We’ve just experienced both Iowa’s men and women’s basketball teams get beaten even though they were better seated than the teams that won.  What are the odds of that? 

This week Jesus tells us the 3rd parable in a 3-part series where the odds keep getting worse and yet there is celebration to be had in each story.  Welcome to the party and the story telling!  None of us would throw a party over one found sheep amidst a hundred sheep in the fold or one found coin in ten.  But these stories help us to tell the story of God’s crazy attempts to reach us and call us back.  Because even when we think there is no hope for redemption or reconciliation and the odds are against us, God has a different ending that includes celebrations and life where there has been dead ends and death.

Jesus teaches these stories to a group of grumbling Pharisees, Scribes, tax collectors and sinners.  What a great group of people.  Ever encounter a mixed group like this or a bunch of grumblers in general?  Do the odds that Jesus present in these stories give you any hope?  Don’t worry, it gets worse. 

Dealing with grumblers?  Welcome to the family.  And this is a messy family.  A father had two sons.  How many biblical stories can you think of with a father that has two sons and how well that worked out?

Adam has two sons, Cain and Able.

Abraham has two sons, Ishmael and Isaac.

Isaac has two sons, Esau and Jacob

Joseph has two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim

Tamar and Judah have two sons, Zerah and Perez

David and Bathsheba have two sons, the infant dies and Solomon.

How many families do you know that are living in messy and complicated circumstances?  How might this story, incorporated in your life, guide you as you walk in difficult situations?  Families are messy business and the father and sons in this story are no different and there is still a party and celebration for the lost has been found, the one who was dead is alive.  And yet there are hard questions.  Why didn’t the father invite the older son, who learns of the party from a servant? Will the other son, the older son, join the party?  Will the father’s pleading for sympathy and comfort be enough of a welcoming invitation for the oldest son?  Will the father still be at 50% with welcoming his sons?  Repentance, looking again, reconciliation are difficult and complicated.

We are given this beautiful and complicated story that invites us in.  How do you want the story to end?  What would you like to see happen?  Who is the hardest to welcome to the party or throw a party for?  Take each of these characters and invite them to the relationships you encounter where the odds are working against you and consider what it would take to throw a party for the lost who have been found and what it would mean for the rest of the household, especially the neglected, the overlooked and the responsible ones. 

Our relationships are complex and complicated, and the odds are against us and yet we are called to be translators and ambassadors of God's good news in Jesus Christ.  A Father had two sons, Adam and Jesus.  Trust the Holy Spirit in this journey and get ready, there will be a party!

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

March 22, 2022

GREETINGS BELOVED FRUIT BEARERS OF GOD,

God’s love is planted in us and flows through us, and we bloom in the sunshine of God’s grace.  God’s grace transforms us to be more like Jesus.  Jesus matters to us.  What he taught us.  How he lived among us.  And what he did for us on the cross matters for us.  Jesus teaches us to be human and bear the image of God in the world.  I get to see the image of God in you, and you get to see the image of God in me.  As witnesses of what and why Jesus matters, we are translators, communicators of God’s good news in Jesus Christ. 

Luke’s gospel presents us with people who are wondering about the suffering and death that Pilate caused for worshippers and Jesus throws into the mix people who died when a tower fell.  Jesus uses these incidents to redirect their focus back to God in his call for repentance, look again.  And then he tells a parable about a fruitless fig tree.  What do you want to see happen to this fig tree?

Look again at the suffering we see today that captures our attention.  How does it make you feel or compel you to act?  We could easily insert Putin for Pilate when we think about world leaders causing suffering for people.  We wonder why and Jesus invites us to look again.  Look for how Jesus is at work in the midst of this suffering. How does that make you feel or compel you to act? 

God loves this world and is already here and at work in the suffering of the world.  I am compelled to pray and listen for what the Holy Spirit is calling us to do.  I am compelled to give money to Lutheran Services in Iowa as they work with our government to resettle refugees.  What are you compelled to do as you turn to God?

Read the parable of the fig tree and ask what you want to see happen to the fig tree.  Do you want to see the fig tree cut down or bear fruit?  Do you want to see the gardener be successful even if she failed to care for the tree for 3 years?  Is tending now, after 3 years going to be enough?  Should the vineyard owner, who planted the tree done more than simply look for figs?  Whose fault, if any, is it that the tree has not yielded fruit?

What do you want to see happen?  Wrestle with these questions. Turn to God and each other and see what happens. Jesus uses stories like parables to teach us, to get us ready for the tree that he will bear fruit on, a tree of suffering and death that will produce new life in us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

JANUARY 26, 2022

Greetings Holy People of God,

Greetings Beloved People of God,

“Imagine two astronauts go to the moon, and while they’re there, there’s an accident and their ship can’t take them back to Earth. They have only enough oxygen for two days. There is no hope of someone coming from Earth in time to rescue them. They have only two days to live. If you were to ask them at that moment, “What is your deepest wish?” they would answer, “To be back home walking on our beautiful planet Earth.” That would be enough for them; they wouldn’t want anything else. They wouldn’t think of being the head of a large corporation, a famous celebrity, or the president of the United States. They wouldn’t want anything but to be back here—walking on Earth, enjoying every step, listening to the sounds of nature, or holding the hand of their beloved while contemplating the moon at night. We should live every day like people who have just been rescued from dying on the moon. We are on Earth now, and we need to enjoy walking on this precious, beautiful planet. Zen Master Linji said, “The miracle is not to walk on water or fire. The miracle is to walk on the earth.” I cherish that teaching. I enjoy just walking, even in busy places like airports and railway stations. Walking like that, with each step caressing our Mother Earth, we can inspire other people to do the same. We can enjoy every minute of our lives.”

Thich Nhat Hanh, Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm

Yes, we can enjoy every minute of our lives.  That is something to aim for.  We are on earth now and we will meet for another annual meeting in which we look back at our past year and look forward to the year ahead and give thanks for the place we are today.  We do not find ourselves in the desperate situation of the astronauts, so I am hoping that you are thinking about a president for the CTK preschool board. 

We do walk this beautiful earth at this time and this place, called to be proclaimers of the God’s good news in Christ Jesus.  That is why we exist.  It is our purpose for which the Spirit has called us together and will help us, meeting us each and everyday to walk with us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

December 2020

GREETINGS HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Happy Church New Year!  We begin a new liturgical year.  This year Advent began with the Gospel of Mark in the 13th chapter.  We begin by looking back.  This Sunday, we look at the first chapter of Mark, which has us looking back even further to the Old Testament prophets, Isaiah and Elijah.  As you haul out your Christmas decorations and prepare for Jesus’ birthday, we haul out some of our favorite old time characters from the bible, especially that locust eating, camel coat wearing John the baptizer who so faithful points us to God and why we need God to come to us.  We do all of this to prepare ourselves, reminding us of our deep desire and love for God.

If you are struggling to tap into that deep desire for God, check out The Bible Project’s video on the Song of Songs, aka Song of Solomon.  Although it’s hard to imagine that Solomon would have written a book about lovers chasing after each other because the characters in the Song of Songs are so devoted to each other and Solomon had so many relationships, devoted to none. It is a book of poetry and intense desires.

As you make meaning out of the events of the world, check out the Bible Project’s video series on Wisdom where they take the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job and hang them on the wall like portraits with Proverbs representing lady wisdom, Ecclesiastes representing the critic and Job representing the old man.  Wisdom and meaning for life are complicated and complex.  Looking at these books together gives a perspective on finding meaning and developing your philosophy of evil and what a good life looks like in the midst of random events.  After viewing the videos you may also try reading the actual books. 

I love how the numbers run just in terms of chapters of these books.  Proverbs, those little bites size pieces of wisdom, give us 31 chapters, one chapter for each day of the month.  Ecclesiastes, the critic is 12 chapters, one chapter for each month of the year because it’s a hard book to read.  And the old man, Job is 42 chapters, so sip it like a fine scotch when you have the time to be reflective and can sit in a recliner and mull it over.

Or if you are curious about how the bible was put together or its literary styles, this is the place to go to get a quick summary and overview and who knows where the Holy Spirit will take you.  They have 19 videos on how to read the bible.  Did you know that in rough estimations that 43% of the Bible is narrative (historical and parables), 33% is poetry and 24% is prose discourse including laws, sermons, letters and even one essay.

The Bible Project is one of my favorite resources.  I love their videos and use them in Confirmation class.  I listen to their podcasts because I love to hear others talk about the Bible.  During Advent you may want to check out their word studies, The Advent Series focusing on hope, peace, joy and love.

Look back to some of your old favorites in the Bible with a new resource to open it up and trust that the Holy Spirit is with you guiding you in this process.  God loves you and wants you to work with Him in this kingdom work we have been called into. 

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack