September 29th

IMAGINE A WORLD TRANSFORMED

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy.       1 Cor 4: 1-2

Pastor Erika Uthe, Assistant to the Bishop of Southeast Iowa Synod has prepared stewardship resources for us.  The prayer of the Office of the Bishop is that this resource might spark imagination in our faith community about what it means to be stewards of God’s mysteries – and to be found trustworthy in them.  Reflecting on our gospel reading from Matthew 21:23-32 for this Sunday, Pastor Erika Uthe shares the following:

Upper Midwest Lutherans often wear their stoic stubbornness as a badge – knowing full well that there is more than a kernel of truth in those Ole and Lena jokes or the Church Basement Ladies’ franchise of plays. IMPORTANT: This is of course a broad brush stereotype of Upper Midwest Lutherans – knowing full well that ‘Lutheran’ does not equate to Germanic or Scandinavian descent, and that ‘Lutheran’ is not a cultural identity complete with jello salad or hot dish. What is true, though, is that the large majority of Lutheran congregations in the Upper Midwest have their roots in that culture and the stubborn stoicism of our ancestors actually made it possible to survive in those early days of living here.

What matters here is that like it or not, we who now carry on the legacy of our church ancestors live with that sort of stoic stubbornness deeply rooted in congregation culture. Honestly, in a world that changes so much, it can be a balm to know that church is there. That year after year you can expect the annual festival, to welcome the community children for Vacation Bible School, or to end Christmas Eve by lighting candles and singing ‘Silent Night’. Yet as much as these traditions and rhythms provide a deep sense of anchor and life, the church is done a great disservice when we forget that we are stewards of change.

The Pharisees in the text today did not change their minds, and as such, they missed out on the fullness of the kingdom of God. Likewise, the two sons in the parable deal with a change of mind – or dare we say – change of heart. We as disciples, and the church as a body through which God works in the world, are stewards of change. Time and time again in scripture we hear stories of God and the people of God change in life-giving ways, and each time it is expressly because the change means that more people are able to experience the grace, love, and forgiveness of God.

Church as an institution, and individual disciples as members thereof, have been entrusted to steward change in order that as the time and world context changes, so does the method of proclaiming the gospel. Imagine how the world might be transformed if we took seriously the change which God has entrusted to us! Change for the sake of reaching those who feel unworthy to come into a church building, or for whom church buildings are harbors of bad memories and pain. Change for the sake of showing the world the abundance of God’s love and the depths of God’s desire that all experience life.

As stewards of change, you can encounter God in new ways – through prophets like John, and the risen Lord Jesus Christ who comes to us as our neighbors. As stewards of change, you can overcome the imagination-killing phrase, ‘We’ve never done it that way before.’ As stewards of change, you can imagine a world completely transformed in new ways by the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ. And, honestly, huge change takes time. So – as stewards – perhaps our work is to discern which change we can best steward at which time, and with which gifts. Regardless of how and what the change might be for you and your faith community, we trust that the change transforms the world through the love of God.

· What does it mean to you that you are a steward of change?

· Name a time that you changed something – your mind, your heart, your behavior, etc. How did you experience God in that change?

· Change goes beyond individuals. Name things in society that have changed. How have you experienced God’s presence in that change?

· What do you think God might be calling you to change – individually? As a faith community? How might that change serve as a witness of God’s love in the world?

Pastor Erika Uthe

Assistant to the Bishop of the Southeast Iowa Synod

September 21st

IMAGINE A WORLD TURN UPSIDE DOWN

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.  Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy.    - 1 Cor 4: 1-2

Pastor Erika Uthe, Assistant to the Bishop of Southeast Iowa Synod has prepared stewardship resources for us.  The prayer of the Office of the Bishop is that this resource might spark imagination in our faith community about what it means to be stewards of God’s mysteries – and to be found trustworthy in them.  Reflecting on our gospel reading from Matthew 20:1-16 for this Sunday, Pastor Erika Uthe shares the following:

Do you remember how excited you were when you got to be the line leader? I remember the excitement in my classrooms each week when the teacher pulled our names for the weekly chores, especially being the line leader. Later as a camp counselor, I remember the excitement when kids got chosen to go first in line. There is something wired in our brains, I think, that just likes to be first.

For a long time, I always thought of this text as a great reordering, where the last (and the least) would be lifted above the first (and the powerful). A world turned upside down. This year, and especially in the context of stewardship, I am reading it completely differently.

“And about five o’clock [the landowner] went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’” The landowner recognized that these workers had gifts to use – but no one had called them to put them to work. Even at the five o’clock hour, the landowner recognized that it was not too late. In this way, it wasn’t about the pay at all, but it was about the gifts and skills that went unused for too long. Sure, those workers who toiled all day were jealous that those who worked so little got the same pay, but in the end, it’s not about their jealousy – it’s about the fact that every single person has gifts and skills and is waiting for someone to call them, invite them, and welcome them to the work.

What if, in this text, we see ourselves as the landowner rather than the workers, and we become stewards of the invitation? Imagine a world where Christians went around affirming the gifts in others and inviting them to put them to good use! In a world where so much energy is used to tear down, demonize, and assume the worst, we have an opportunity to turn the world upside down. God trusts us to invite others to use their God-given gifts to help build up the kingdom. Perhaps with this understanding, our faith communities can be transformed into places of mutual building up and invitation for the sake of joining those already hard at work for the sake of the kingdom.

I would imagine if any of us have been in the church world for any length of time we’ve encountered those who, upon being invited, will decline, saying that they don’t feel equipped to complete the task they are being asked to do, or that they don’t have time, or some other reason. Lately, I’ve heard that this happens for the most mundane of jobs that are part of a faith community: ushers, greeters, communion assistants, altar care, Sunday School or confirmation teachers – it seems that the workers are tired. But here’s where we might imagine a world turned upside down – maybe we’re inviting people to the wrong kind of work. Please hear me loud and clear – I know it takes people to do worship. And making sure worship happens is a really important part of what it means to be Christian community.

Perhaps though, we’ve been hindering the use of the gifts of the baptized by limited imagination of the work it takes to be church. Could it be that we’ve been looking only to fill slots, rather than to match people with their vocation? Those places where their passion meets the needs of the world, as Fredrick Buechner said? Imagine the kind of communities we might build together if we invited people to use their innate gifts, not just seeing them as warm bodies to fill vacancies on council or committees, but as gifted people of God whose unique gifts might be used to turn the world upside down! We are stewards of the invitation – inviting others and listening to the invitation ourselves – for the sake of kingdom work.

· What does it mean that you are a steward of the invitation?

· Have you ever thought of yourself as the landowner in this text?

· What do you think are the gifts that God has given you?

· Think about a time someone noticed your gifts and invited you to use them, or even thanked you for using them.

· What did it feel like to be asked to do something you felt you were good at, and that made a difference in the world?

· Have you ever been courageous enough to notice someone else’s gifts and tell them? How did they respond?

· Have you ever invited someone else to do something because you thought they would be good at it? How did they respond?

· How might your faith community be different if you (collectively) spent more time affirming each other’s gifts and inviting each other to use them in the world? How might that change how you think about what ‘ministry’ is?

Pastor Erika Uthe

Assistant to the Bishop of the Southeast Iowa Synod

September 15th, 2023

IMAGINE A WORLD FORGIVEN

Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries.

Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy.

- 1 Cor 4: 1-2

Pastor Erika Uthe, Assistant to the Bishop of Southeast Iowa Synod has prepared stewardship resources for us.  The prayer of the Office of the Bishop is that this resource might spark imagination in our faith community about what it means to be stewards of God’s mysteries – and to be found trustworthy in them.  Reflecting on our gospel reading from Matthew 1821-35 for this Sunday, Pastor Erika Uthe shares the following:

When I was younger and got in fights with my sister, my mom did not just make us apologize. We were made to ask each other for forgiveness. I found it terribly annoying because, like any sibling who fights, I wasn’t all that sorry nor did I think I had done anything that needed forgiving. With that being said, as an adult I am acutely aware that asking for forgiveness is immeasurably different from saying sorry, and am grateful that I had so much practice simply saying the words, “Please forgive me.” Of course, I have plenty of reason and opportunity to say these words now, and corporately we get to practice each time we gather for worship, starting off our liturgy with a confession of sin and asking God’s forgiveness.

But forgiveness is not usually something we think about stewarding. After all, aren’t we freely forgiven and called to freely forgive in return? What then, would there be to steward? In answer to this question, I bring some wonderings. I wonder about the amount of hurt and trauma that people carry with them – not just into the world, but the hurt and trauma that is carried into the buildings, sanctuaries, and gathering spaces of Christian community. I wonder how well the church has done of stewarding the practice of seeking and offering forgiveness, and if there might be a way our communities could find a different sense of wholeness and peace in the midst of deep division. I wonder if there is a way the church can provide a witness to the world about what it means to live in that forgiveness together.

You see, the truth is that more and more I am hearing stories of people who do not believe they’re worthy to even enter a church building. A much more sad and damning truth is that part of the reason people believe this is because of the actions of Christians. Too often our humanity and ego cause us to act like the unforgiving slave in the Matthew text, and too often as time goes by, it becomes harder and harder to ask for or grant forgiveness. As church today we cannot deny that this is a large part of the context of our world today, and it impacts how we think about stewarding the mission God has set before us. Can you imagine believing that you have done something, or have become someone, who can’t even approach God? This is unthinkable to me, who has known in one way or another for my whole life, that God is love and forgiveness.

Imagine if we lived in a world where everyone knew the grace that comes from being forgiven – not just by God, but by the people we know and encounter on a daily basis, and often those we hurt most deeply. We can cause so much hurt human-to-human and while we know that God forgives, the pain of unreconciled relationships can haunt waking and sleeping hours. Forgiveness is a tricky business, not because it’s difficult to say the words (any angry 9-year-old can say them), but because it is a practice in faith which stretches a believers’ capacity to embody the forgiveness so freely granted by God.

Asking for or granting forgiveness does not always mean reconciled relationships. Sometimes our actions hurt too deeply for reconciliation on this side of the kingdom. But we are nonetheless called to steward forgiveness in ways that show the world that forgiveness is always available, even if only received from God. God trusts us to forgive – as we’ve been forgiven.

Imagine if the next time a disagreement arises in your own congregation, rather than parking lot meetings, or factions at the council table, your community remembers the call to steward forgiveness – and practices both asking and granting it – so that the conflict can be handled in a healthy way. The more we take seriously our call to steward the practice of asking and granting forgiveness, the more our communities resemble that of the beneficent king who forgave the debt of the slave.

· What does it mean to you that you are a steward of forgiveness?

· What does it mean that you are freely given God’s forgiveness, unconditionally and always?

· Can you think of a time you’ve been offered forgiveness by another person?

· How did you feel asking to be forgiven? What was it like to receive forgiveness?

· How does that experience shape your own understanding of what it means to forgive someone else?

· Have you ever known someone who doesn’t feel worthy of God’s forgiveness, or who doesn’t feel like they can be part of a faith community because of something they’ve done?

· How do you think your own life would be different if you didn’t know the experience of being forgiven?

· What might that tell you about what it means to steward forgiveness as part of your own life? What might that mean for your faith community?

· Can you brainstorm ways that you or your faith community can make known God’s forgiveness in your own community?

· What other questions do you have about stewarding forgiveness, or what it means to give and receive forgiveness?

Pastor Erika Uthe

September 7th, 2023

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

Over the weeks I have been giving you bit size pieces of my experience in Israel.  Last week and this week, you have been offered communion bread that was made with olive oil and honey brought back from Israel.  The olive oil was made from the over 500 hundred olive trees that surround the Tantur Ecumenical Institute.  This is the place I called home for 4 weeks and I walked by these trees daily. The honey has a more complicated history.  The honey was purchased at the Resurrection Church, also known as the Church of the Crusaders in Abu Ghosh.

Abu Ghosh is an Arab village located about 9 miles from Jerusalem and one of three sites that claims to be Emmaus, the place where the risen Lord revealed himself to two disciples in Luke 24:13-35.  It is also the village that is mentioned in the Old Testament as a mountain village on the boarder between the territories of the tribes of Benjamin and Judah.  It was the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant for 20 years between its restoration by the Philistines (1 Sam. 6:21 – 7:2) and its removal to Jerusalem by Kind David (2 Sam. 6). 

This site is favored because a caravanserai, a roadside inn was discovered here.  For the medieval pilgrims it was easy to imagine this place as the place where the risen Jesus broke bread with two of his disciples and in 1140 a church was built by the Knights Hospitallers probably over a Roman fortress.  In 1187, after the defeat of the Latin Kingdom at the battle of the Horns of Hattin, this village lost its importance because travelers took a different route to Jerusalem and Emmaus was then thought to be at Qubeiba.  Between 1350 and 1400, the Mamlukes restored the roadside inn, and used the church as a mosque and removed the faces from the frescos as their tradition required but the faceless frescos proved to be too much of a distraction, and they built a new mosque next door and used the church as a stable.  France bought the church in 1873 and was rededicated as a church in 1907 and used by the Benedictines. Today this church is part of a complex mixed monastery for both men and women.   This is a big step for the Roman Catholic Church. 

This is where the honey was purchased and where we were given time to roam, pray and then sit under the trees and have our weekly sharing times. Thanks to Eric Vigil’s request that I bring honey back from the Holy Land, I can also share with you the sweet taste and complex memory of the Holy Land with you.

Now I have the daunting task of trying to put something together in two 45 minute sessions to give context to my impression of the Holy Land. As I have given you a taste, I too know what our Tantur leaders were up against in designing a program for us and they had four weeks but yet so much ground to cover. 

I give thanks to God for the beautiful Tantur team made up of Jesuit Father John Paul who is the Rector and overall director of our program.  His parents were from Lebanon/Syria and immigrated to the US and lived in the Sioux City area. Before serving as Rector of Tantur he was in Minneapolis.  JP as we called him understood the culture of the US and Christian ecumenical community.  Nizar Halloun, our program director before coming to Jerusalem was in Mt. Carmel and Galilee, has a masters in comparative literature, BA in Hebrew and French linguistics and served as a tour guide in Israel.  When Nizar was not serving as our tour guide, he provided guides that were Jewish, Muslim or Palestian depending on where we were touring.  He was a wealth of information and wonderful resource. Sister MariaFarouza Maximos is the program coordinator and is from a growing order of nuns, known as the Sisters of the Way that focus on being ecumenical and being together in a different way.  This was a dream team and I have yet to introduce you to my traveling companions. 

So pray for me.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will help me to sift through all that I have experienced in a way that communicates the impression that has been left upon me and continues to shape and form me.  It is a daunting task.  I am not good at sorting through and distilling the most important because it all carries memory and meaning for me.  Pray that the Holy Spirit will help me to tune into what you most need to experience as well.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

August 31st, 2023

GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,

On Monday our nation will celebrate Labor Day, a long weekend for many, an extra day off for workers and extra pay for the hourly workers who don’t get the day off.  Labor Day began 141 years ago as a response to poor working conditions.  Workers came together to fight for better wages and working conditions. The “Labor Day” parade brought together more than 10,000 workers in New York City to march for their rights on September 5th, 1882. Two years later, “Labor Day” became an official American holiday to commemorate the labor movement and laws were created to support and protect workers. 

As I continue to integrate my continuing education experience, I find myself very grateful for how our nation supports and encourages the values of my Christian faith with laws and even celebrations that help us to remember to love our neighbor as ourselves. Spending a month in Israel gave me the opportunity to experience being in a country where Christians are the minority and not supported by the laws of the nation.  The weekend is very different.

In Israel, Sunday is a workday, a business day.  Sunday in Israel is like our Monday.  Friday at sundown the Sabbath begins and there is great hustle to get home before sundown and the celebration of the Shabbat meal for the observant Jew. Friday is the day of community worship for Muslims.  In the Old City of Jerusalem, Christians gather on Sunday. 

For us, Tantur Pilgrims, it meant we had to work more in our planning of our time off and the destination where we wanted to go.  It had to be open on Saturday and we had to make sure we could get to the place.  Museums were open but not much else. There is limited public transportation and taxis and get (their uber) charge more because they know that transportation is limited.  In Israel, every taxi or uber ride is negotiated before you get into the vehicle with payment on arrival of your destination.  So we planned ahead and traveled in small groups of 4 or we stayed at Tantur and rested.  Our attendance at Sunday worship was countercultural.  When we got on the bus on Sunday morning, dressed for church, we stood out among the workers.

These small things of participating in another country structured differently than ours helps me to be thankful for our country and our labor laws and how our nation supports the love of neighbors.  I also wonder if we did not have the encouragement of the weekly structure if we would continue to survive as a Christian community that gathers for worship and I am grateful that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers and enlightens us. God is faithful and I am grateful.  

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack