GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
Leftovers. I love leftovers. As the primary meal planner in my home, I love to have a back up plan with leftovers. For some foods, I think they are better the second time around. And most of the time the interesting things learned in study stay in the notes and don’t make the sermon.
Here is a leftover from our gospel lesson last week. The woman was bent over for 18 years (Luke 13:11). That’s a long time to be bent over with limited ability to move and see the world in which she lived. This is Jesus’ response to the pleas of the synagogue leader who wants healing to happen on the 6 other days and not the Sabbath. What does Jesus want to draw our attention to by healing on the Sabbath when the healing could have easily taken place on one of the other 6 days. Healings that are not life-threatening take place on Sabbaths is a pattern for Jesus. What would Jesus want us to learn about healing and Sabbath? The Sabbath time as a time of healing and restoration?
Eighteen years is a long time, and this is not the first time 18 is used. Eighteen could simply be a catch word to link two narratives together. In this case the woman is bent over for 18 years and there were 18 that died when the tower of Siloam fell (Luke 13:4). Linking tragic loss of life in both cases. The question Jesus throws back at the listeners who have told Jesus the news about Pilate’s killing Galileans as they offered sacrifice is, “do you think they were worse sinners than other Galileans, do you think they were worse offenders than others living in Jerusalem? No, Jesus says, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did." What does Jesus want us to connect with these two stories together? How will our idea of Sabbath expand and grow?
Eighteen makes an appearance in the word for life. All Hebrew letters have numerical equivalents. Aleph (a) equaling 1, bet (b) equaling 2 and so on. The letters chet (8) and yod (10), which together add up to the number eighteen, also spell chai, meaning “LIFE” from which the phrase, “l’chaim,”
“to life”’ comes from. Both the 18 people killed in the accident and the woman bent over for 18 years are lacking full “life.”
Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem with his mission to ultimately restore life, even life through death. Life is restored for the bend over woman and anticipated life returned for the 18 killed in the tower of Siloam – resurrected life, restored life as Jesus prepared them for his death, his resurrected life and his return to the Father.
Chew on those leftovers as you reflect on the restoration of the Sabbath and the gifts God gives to us through his Son, Jesus. The Holy Spirit nurtures these reflections in you, helping you to make connections between what God did and is doing now in your life. The restoration, the release from evil’s hold on us, the turning toward God in the midst of tragedy and loss of life. Jesus prepares us for life, death, life again and return home to our creator.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
August 18th, 2022
GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
“Brew coffee or tea, sit with a friend and ask them questions – questions just one step riskier than the last time you talked. As you listen, observe the flickers of sadness or hope that cross their face. Try to imagine what it must be like to live their story, suffer their losses, dream their dreams. Pray with them and dare to put into words their heart’s desires and dare to ask God to grant them.” - Andy Crouch
I didn’t have the opportunity to sit and share a beverage with one of our college students, but I did have the opportunity to have a quick conversation in the fellowship area at church and I was richly blessed. Lauren Frank will be starting her sophomore year at Marquette University in Milwaukee. In our conversation, I learned that one of her favorite books is ”Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Gregory Boyle, priest and founder of Homeboy Industries in LA.. The book is a reflection on his time serving in one of LA’s poorest parishes and walking alongside gang members, offering them another way. The stories are told to help us recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of these young men and women.
I’m listening to the book, enjoying the storytelling as Boyle reads. I’ve been collecting phrases from his stories. One of the gang members tells Father G that he is going to marinate on that – to let it soak in. Some of the poetic phrases from our prophets this summer have also made it on my marinating list.
From Hosea 11:3-4
I took them up in my arms
Led us by cords of human kindness
With bands of love.
Who lifts infants to their cheeks.
From Isaiah 1:18
Come now, let's argue it out.
From Jeremiah 1:4
Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
Marinate on those words. Marinate on the relationships God has brought together and what soaks in and how God weaves us together. Sit for a while with another and be seasoned and influenced, trusting God’s love for us.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
August 11th, 2022
GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
With the Supreme Court’s ruling regarding abortion, I want to remind you that we are part of a larger church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We join with nearly 3.3 million members in more than 8,900 worshiping communities across the 50 states and the Caribbean region. One of the things I appreciate about being a part of this body of faith in Christ is that we do not agree on social issues, but our unity comes through Jesus Christ as the Abortion Social Statement Summary says, “United in Christ and believing that the Bible is the authoritative source and norm for Christian faith and life, Christians are free, and even obligated, to engage in moral deliberation over our disagreements.” It is an important process for us to articulate what we believe and sometimes it is through what we struggle with where we can fine tune our words about our relationship with God and each other.
The words I speak in our communion liturgy come to mind, it is our duty and delight or joy that we should at all times give thanks and praise to God. It is in these places of disagreement that the cross comes into focus for us most clearly. Jesus gave thanks on the night he was betrayed. He gave thanks at other times but how important it is for us to hear that Jesus gives thanks on the same night he was betrayed.
So, I invite you into the duty and delight of ethical deliberation. Read the ELCA’s social statement on abortion. I will have print copies available for you to take at church on the usher’s or use this link:
https://www.elca.org/faith/faith-and-society/social-statements/abortion
Abortion - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America - ELCA.org
Abortion. The ELCA’s social statement entitled Abortion is grounded in the conviction that “Christians are united in Christ through faith with both the freedom and obligation to engage in serious moral deliberation.” (Page 1) As ELCA social teaching it draws upon this community’s faith tradition that understands God’s life-giving purposes as pressing “beyond the usual ‘pro-life ...
www.elca.org
Here you will find the downloadable social statement, a summary, and a study guide as well as other helpful links to resources. Then find someone or a small group you can talk with about God, abortion and what you think. Invite God into your thoughts and conversations and expect God to show up.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
August 4, 2022
Another prayer for National Night Out, August 2nd. A prayer of thanksgiving.
Holy God,
Thank you for your presence with us as we welcomed our neighbors and partnered with the police and fire departments. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for moving through us, your vessels. Thank you for the connections made. Thank you for the courage and curiosity to explore. Continue to nurture these relationships that we may welcome a bit of your kingdom presence here as we aim at getting to know one another and you. You are faithful and we give you thanks. Amen.
I’m so proud of you all and give thanks to God for you and your work. You were a beautiful witness. You, the people of Christ the King, showed up and welcomed our neighbors and emergency workers. Well done, good and faithful servants of God.
Those of you involved, please share your stories and your reflections. I got the opportunity to meet two of our new neighbors from the apartment behind Bryce Apartments. I invited them to use the park and shelter and they expressed interest in our community garden, and I was given an email for further communication. I invited them to worship with us.
I also got a big hug from one of our VBS kids from the neighborhood. It was good to see the family again and the mom took a picture with her boys and me. Mom and one of the boy’s names were drawn for the school supplies and baskets. It was a lot of fun. I got to reminisce about Tanzania with a Congolese family. Winters are hard to get used to when you don’t grow up with them. Some good conversations about the luck of the draw as kids anxiously waited for names to be drawn and hoped for a prize. Some of our youth not only painted nails and faces but trusted our neighborhood youth to paint them as well. Good partnerships were formed and there were works of art walking around. Kari and Paige from CTK Christian Preschool had an obstacle course for the little ones and the duck pond was a huge success. We sent a warm and welcoming message out on 200 popcorn bags. It was a wonderful night out with good music by the request of our friends and neighbors.
Well done. You are being the best neighbors we can be and the light of Christ is shining through you.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
July 28th, 2022
A prayer for us for National Night Out, August 2nd.
Holy God, be with the community of Christ the King as we host National Night Out for our neighborhood and our police and fire departments. Holy Spirit move through all those who participate in this event that we may experience a bit of your kingdom here. Help us to be your vessels in making the world a better place, a place that reflects the intentions of your creation. Give us courage and curiosity to engage in building relationships with our neighbors so that we may know them, they know us and you. Amen.
Thank you to all who have been planning for National Night Out. Thank you to all who are planning to show up and provide hospitality for our neighbors. Thank you to all who have been tending to King Park, the shelter, and the outside of Christ the King to welcome our neighbors and provide a beautiful place to meet.
As a staff, we are reading and discussing together the book recommended at our synod assembly, “Growing Young: 6 Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love your Church” by Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin. In honor and celebration of National Night Out and our ongoing desire to be God’s presence in this time and place, we read the chapter on neighbors, “Be the Best Neighbors: Loving and Shaping Your World Well.
The chapter begins with a quote from 20 y.o. Isaiah, “Christianity is about the restoration of how it is all supposed to be. We have been given hope, we have been redeemed, and we have been empowered by the authority of God to go out and change this world.”
We are encouraged even more by Andy Crouch who envisions a positive strategy when he says, “The only way to change culture is to create more of it…something that will persuade our neighbors to set aside some existing set of cultural goods for our new proposal.”
The story of God coming to us in Jesus Christ, the story of his life, death, resurrection, and return to God give shape and context to our biggest questions and dreams. His story shapes our story and how we navigate our world. We know that God’s got this world and loves this world. When we are overwhelmed with all that is before us and struggle to discern our way through, we know that God is with us, and God is faithful. Like our “On the Case Connections” Board for VBS demonstrated through simple but powerful strings of yarn, we are connected to Jesus, and we are connected to each other. As we move through the Gospel of Luke, Jesus teaches us about the fine points of discipleship with hospitality and listening to Jesus as we live in the wake of Jesus’ resurrection and return to God. Because Jesus lives and returns to God, we live life with a hope and freedom found in Jesus that shapes and forms our lives and our world.
We are called to make the world a better place – through the kingdom of God – the household – where we meet Jesus and walk toward death, resurrection, and return. God help us to translate this good news in a way that our neighbors, police, and fire fighters can hear and understand.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
