October 21st, 2023

GREETINGS TO THE CHILDREN OF GOD, WHO BEAR GOD’S IMAGE TO THE WORLD,

Our adult study focused on the Israel-Gaza Conflict: No End in Sight which was an article printed in May 2021.  The cycle has repeated and the creators of “The Wired Word” curriculum didn’t think they could add anything new, and the Bible references continued to stand firm.  They took this opportunity to consider intransigent problems in our own lives and look for what help the scriptures may offer on those issues. 

One of the first questions was, what does it mean to live by faith when surrounded by troubles that seem beyond solution?  My response is to pray and listen to God.  Our culture and fellow Christians often criticize this answer, at least the first part, prodding for more action than only prayer.  Walk the talk, do something.

And so, I pray with scriptures and listen to God as I listen to others.  Try praying with Habakkuk 1:2-3

 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
   and you will not listen?
Or cry to you "Violence!"
   and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
   and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
   strife and contention arise. (For context, read 1:1--2:3.)

God and Habakkuk were in conversation with each and God told him that he would continue to live in a time when justice would be hard to find and Habakkuk would have to wait in faith in a future yet to come.  Habakkuk response with this:

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
   and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
   and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
   and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD ... (3:17-19) 

Habakkuk bears witness to a difficult and painful relationship with God and the world he lives in.  He keeps his focus on God and trusting God.  And when it is a struggle to pray let the words of Romans 8:26 ring in our ears.

Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. (For context, read 6:18-30.)

Prayer, conversation with God is the place to start but it is not the end.  Listening and acting on the Holy Spirit’s prodding comes next.  On Monday as I visited Lou Ann Myers, I was reminded to pray the Psalms and at staff on Tuesday, our devotions led by Kevin Edens encouraged praying the Psalms in response to news from Israel and the Gaza Strip. 

As I listen to God and continue to pray and continue to reflect on my time in Israel.  I want you to know that Israel’s population is 9.7 million people, 2 million in the Gaza strip and 3 million in the west bank all created in the image of God.  I want you to see more of Israel than just the news you hear.  Before I went to the Holy Land, I thought it a very dangerous place and I wondered how they could live daily with the threat of terrorism.  I was safe while I was there and I was treated well.  I saw a great diversity of people, living together trying to navigate in complexity and seeing the humanity of the other.  It is not easy, but they are strong and determined people and I pray for them all and trust God.  As for my action, I will continue to remind you that in the heaviness of what we hear in the news, there are so many people in the Gaza Strip, West Bank and Israel trying to find a better way.  My hope is in these people who live each and every day in the Holy Land and who won’t make the news but yet strife for peace in their land.

As Paul, from prison encouraged the Philippians, so I encourage you – keep on doing the things we have learned and received and heard and seen and the God of peace will be with us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

October 12th, 2023

GREETINGS,

Thank you for the many prayers and thoughts of concern and care as we heard of the horrendous terrorism attack by Hamas on the towns bordering the Gaza strip. I am terribly sad and hold the nation of Israel in prayer as they grieve and figure out how to move forward.

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to spend time in Israel and visit many places that are peace-filled where Jews, Muslims, Christians, Israeli, and Palestinian people live together.  These people are navigating a very difficult course and I, from my very limited experience, think they are doing it well, not perfect but well. I have hope for the people, these strong and determined people who live there.

My hope in sharing my experience of Israel and the Holy Land with you is to give you another voice along with the headline news and the history of this place.  The Middle East is a very different culture than the West.  One of our lecturers said that if you want to understand the West, you need to know Christianity because Christianity shaped and formed the West.  If you want to understand the Middle East you have to know many narratives and history and everyone has an opinion. It is a complicated place and we may want swift solutions but that says more about us than the reality of their culture. Remember this land has been occupied more than it has been ruled from within and outside influences including the United States as well as the Arab world are interested in what happens in the country of Israel.

I ask you to pray.  Pray for peace. Pray for wise leaders who use their knowledge to the best of their ability to love this world and the people God created.  Pray for the peoples of Israel. Pray for those who grieve and who wonder what has happened to their loved ones.  Pray for those who are held hostage.  Pray for our enemies, like Jesus did, “forgive them for they know not what they do.”  Pray for hearts to be open to God’s will, including our own hearts.

Pray giving thanks to God and remembering God’s faithfulness.  Pray, remembering all you know about how God works in this world, a world God deeply loves and cares for and pray knowing that God calls us to work with him.  Pray on your knees with humility before God who works patiently with us, even when we are bent on destruction, God doesn’t give up or give in but God works with us and through us.  This is God’s good news, and we get to be a part of it and we keep praying, listening well for God’s discerning ways.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack

October 6th, 2023

IMAGINE A WORLD SET FREE

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 21:33-46 for this Sunday, Pastor Erika Uthe shares the following:

 God always finds a way. In the face of a vast expanse of sea, God parts the waters. In the den of lions their mouths are shut. In the exile wilderness God’s people make a new home. In the suffering and death of crucifixion God resurrects life. In the face of tenants who refuse to do what was accomplished, the land owner finds new tenants. In the face of a religious institution that has forgotten its purpose, God will find a new church. Put in such stark terms, the reciprocity of trust between God and disciple seems so clear and simple. God, having saved the world from sin and all evil, has entrusted the saved to behave accordingly: by proclaiming forgiveness, inviting others to the kingdom work, imagining new ways of reaching even more people, and stewarding the work of the harvest

You, a disciple, and we, the church, are stewards of the harvest, reaping that for which we did not sow. All too often though, we forget whose the harvest is, and how it is that we came to be the harvesters. Our egos quickly take over and we start to believe that the harvest was due to our own hard efforts, and as such, isn’t it our harvest to do with what we wish? It is an easy, slippery slope and all of a sudden not only do we believe it’s our harvest, but that we have the right to the harvest.

What does this mean in congregational life? Let’s take a look at how we talk about being church together. Parishioners often talk about ‘my church’, or pastors refer to congregants as, ‘my people.’ We talk about our desire to grow our congregations, to get more young families, to succeed at our ministries. Harmless, right? Except, is it really our church, our families, our ministries, or are we stewards of God’s church? And that is only the beginning. There are so many ways we have bought into the lie that we, the tenants of leased land, are in fact the owners. This results in, over time, the belief that the harvest of God’s church, the fruits of the kingdom, are completely up to us, and that we are somehow solely responsible for God’s mission to the exclusion of all others.

Imagine the freedom that comes with the acknowledgement that none of it is ours, nor is it up to us for God’s mission to succeed. What a gift! Perhaps when we remember that we are but stewards we can learn to hold gently the mission to which God has called us. Trusting in God to continually provide conditions for us to reap the fruits of the harvest, and God trusting us to continually follow and use what we have been given then becomes the focus of our efforts. In this way, and with imagination our only limit, we can see the ways God has prepared places for us to work, the people God has gifted for the work, and the truth that we are but stewards.

· What are the things you own that you cherish the most?

· What are things you are a part of that you cherish?

· What's the difference to you between ownership and being a part of something?

 · Does your involvement in this congregation feel like ownership?

· When are you asked to give things up? Or make sacrifices at home, church, work/school? Do you think you make sacrifices for your faith? If yes, why do you make those sacrifices?

· How might we be set free or free others? As we think about our congregational community? What about our community outside of this congregation? What are ways our community needs to be freed?

Pastor Erika Uthe

Assistant to the Bishop of the Southeast Iowa Synod

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