Bridging

I finished my call with St Paul Lutheran Church in Ontario Oregon on September 8th. It had been thirteen full years of challenges and joys. I was honored to walk with people of that community as they celebrated and grieved. We came up with some big dreams together. Even though the way wasn't always smooth, there was momentum and direction. I believe we were drawn together even as we were reaching out.

Soon I start at my next call, with the people of Grace Lutheran Church in Wenatchee Washington. It will be wonderful to learn what they have been doing and see what we can learn together about God's intentions for them and the whole community. I look forward to the move!

In between, during these few weeks of September, I have a different set of responsibilities. In this between-time I look more deeply inside myself, I am quieter, and I wonder. Tomorrow I turn forty-two. I am on my way. I am on God's way.

What can we learn about ourselves by realizing how long we stay on the bridge? What does it mean to cross too fast? Too slow? To never cross at all? I just read somewhere, "today is the tomorrow I worried about yesterday".



Photo credit: awesomenator.com

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Location:Ontario, Oregon, United States

Word for Today

}-Convergence-{

From 1 Kings 17 - ²¹Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again." 

From Psalm 30 - ¹¹You have turned my wailing into dancing;

you have put off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

From Luke  7 - ¹²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. 

This Sunday we have scripture that has to do with "convergence," when two substances, or two sources, meet up. Each source has power. Each source has intention. Each wants prime position. Each wants the other to not exist. 

The word "convergence" came to me when in my minds eye I saw Jesus coming up to the gate of the little town called Nain. The Lord was approaching a funeral procession. Eternal life was converging with a sense of utter hopelessness. Gladness converged with sadness. Wholeness met emptiness. Jesus met a grieving mother. His disciples mingled with mourners.

This idea echoes through the Elijah story too, and the Psalm is a celebration of the Great Convergence. Can you sense the convergence of desperate life and despair?

The Gospel, the Good News with all His promises has an effect on us. He does something to us. He washes death away with life, eroding the hardest things so that the way is made smooth for the working of his Spirit.

Get caught up in it. Like the onlookers in Luke 7, "A great prophet has risen among us!"

Photo credit: Jackson Pollack, "Convergence" from arthistory.about.com

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

Trinity Sunday - God as three-in-one, one-in-three

From Psalm 8:

O  LORD our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

From "Come, Join the Dance of Trinity" text by Richard Leach

"Come, speak aloud of Trinity, as wind and tongues of flame

set people free at Pentecost to tell the Savior's name.

We know the yoke of sin and death, our necks have worn it smooth;

go tell the world of weight and woe that we are free to move!"

What a multidimensional festival this is! Holy Trinity. In the Lutheran Book of Concord, this is described as "the greatest mystery in heaven and on earth."

We have a creating God (still creating), a saving God (still saving) and a sustaining God (still..)!

So much theology is written by thinkers who openly wonder, ask deep questions and then set out answering them. To read them feels like going on a merry-go-round! We want to KNOW, and in our knowing we get hung up on doubt, exceptions (seemingly), and minutia. Perhaps the best way to begin understanding Trinity, the Dance, is to consider something visual.

This image below shows three distinct points, reminding us of the three persons of the Trinity, but there's a ring in the middle, showing the oneness of God, and this entire image is carved from one piece of wood. If you trace the image with your finger you will notice its continuity.

Image from signsofspirit2010 found on artfire.com

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From John 14:

 ¹³I (Jesus) will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  ¹⁴If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

Here are a few verses that have some difficulty in their application. "Whatever" and "anything" are pretty clear and concise words, aren't they? Finally this is the key to health, happiness and good fortune! Do you need a job? Remember this verse and pray in Jesus' name! Need the blood tests to show you're healthy as a horse? Need help with will power? Need to let go of something that's eating you? John 14:13-14. Maybe you can even skip the prayer itself since the Holy Spirit knows what's on your mind, and just repeat that biblical citation like a mantra or a desperate plea: "John fourteen thirteen fourteen! John fourteen thirteen fourteen! John fourteen thirteen fourteen!!!" When your prayers aren't going your way, the stage is set for you to have a terrible crisis of faith.

Stop. I'm convinced there is something deeper, much deeper, happening in this teaching. Jesus makes a big deal of his name, of his purpose, and especially of his very close "abiding" relationship with the heavenly father. Jesus name is not a login and password. It's not a lucky horseshoe. His name is not a secret code that elevates your chances above your neighbors.

Jesus (through the writer John) is talking about his name as if it's an expansive thing, as if it's a space where you and I can be at home. Jesus' name, rather than being a universal tool you dig out of your toolbox, is a framework, a mode, a way of thinking. Jesus' name is a new life-giving frame of reference.

I don't have a clear vision of what asking in Jesus' name is all about. But I think it has something to do with making Jesus' purpose, vision, mission, glory more complete. See the hint above that Jesus himself gives about glory.

Ours is a "cruciform" life. It's cross-shaped. Jesus takes us into ill health, sadness, ill fortune, job rejections, and bad news from the doctor, ours and our neighbors', as light into darkness. Being in Jesus' name is being remade in the image of the resurrected Christ. You and I are part of the completion of his glory.

Photo: pastorross1.wordpress.com

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church
541.889.9349

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Word for Today

Our Penultimate Now

From Revelation 22:

 ¹⁷The Spirit and the bride say, "Come."

And let everyone who hears say, "Come."

And let everyone who is thirsty come.

Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift."

  ²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  ²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all the saints. Amen.

First off, something I would like you to notice as a student of the Bible.. The book of Revelation doesn't have an "s" in the title. It is Revelation and not Revelations. The book, as a whole, speaks of one revelation to (and through) the author. End of public service announcement.

Come Lord Jesus. This is one of the simplest prayers ever. The welcome from both parties is so profound here, so full of love and satisfaction. Isn't it fitting that our Bibles end with these verses? This is the way the Bible ends. Once you're done reading these verses, all you have left is an index and maybe some maps.

I love the word "penultimate." It refers to something that's next-to-last. You can picture the penultimate turn before arriving finally back home. You would rather eat the penultimate piece of cake.

Our faith needs to be penultimate. It needs a longing, a desire that expects something. Our faith needs to pray over and over and over, "Come Lord Jesus." The lovely thing about our "penultimate now" is that we are open to surprise, to friendship, to challenge, justice, sacrifice and love. This is made possible because of a promise: "Surely I am coming soon."

Photo from commons.wikimedia.org

Definition of PENULTIMATE

1

: next to the last <the penultimate chapter of a book>

2

: of or relating to the next to the last syllable of a word <apenultimate accent>

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From Revelation 22:

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb  ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations."

An ever-bearing fruit tree, on either side of a river, which runs down the middle of a street. How busy! How full of life!

This passage comes at the end of Revelation, which is a confusing, cosmic book of worship and praise. It ends with life bursting forth. If words were fruit or leaves, you wouldn't be able to close your Bible for the thickness of it.

What catches my attention this time are the leaves. Leaves for the "healing of the nations". I have this longing for healing between nations. Maybe you do too. It appears, so does God. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the strength of diversity outpaced the weaknesses revealed in differences? You and I have choices to make with every interaction, every news headline.

In an ever-bearing tree there is an endless supply of healing leaves. I say the healing leaves are just as vital as the twelve kinds of fruit.

Photo from commons.wikimedia.org

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From John 13

 ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Poker players have their "tells." I just learned that researchers examined poker players in action. The researchers split up into three groups in their observation. The first group watched only the players' faces. The second group watched only the players' arms. The third group watched the players' whole body from the table up.

As it turns out, players are pretty good at using their expressions to hide the quality of their hand. There really is such a thing as a poker face! By only watching a face, they weren't able to predict how good the hand was.

Also, when watching the players' whole body, there tended to be too much information to sort through on the part of the observer.

But when observers zeroed in on the arms, it became fairly obvious the quality of the player's hand. Hands and arms can reveal a lot about the person. Who knew?

I hope that what we do with our hands and arms "tell" of our association with Jesus. I hope they tell we are followers of his. I hope that when Jesus looks around the world, he can point to us, notice that we love one another, and thus call us his disciples.

Photo credit: closertolucy.com

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

Revelation 7:17

for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, 

and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

When I think of the Lamb of God (Agnus Dei), I think of Jack and Alice Roberts (members of our congregation in Ontario). When I think of Jack and Alice, I think of the Moravian Church, where Jack and Alice belonged (along with their family) when they lived in Winston Salem N.C. When I think of all these images together, I recall the slogan that goes with the Moravian's favorite symbol..

Our lamb has conquered, let us follow him. How perfect is that. It brings to mind sacrifice, love, and future-oriented faith. If we follow our lamb into the future, we will be led into a life of ministry that involves risk, joy, fellowship, all stuff that we can call the New Creation. Think of that for a moment, following the Lamb who has conquered into the future! The book of Revelation has the Lamb on the throne. A Lamb who is a shepherd. A lamb who leads. A lamb who cares for us. This is both comforting and empowering!

The Moravian Church has a very helpful motto: "In essentials, Unity; In Nonessentials, Liberty; in ALL Things, Love"

As I write this devotional, we are shocked by explosions in Boston near the finish line. Latest reports are that two have died and one hundred are injured. We who pray are called to pray for God to wipe away every tear. Especially I pray for peace that only the conquering Lamb can give.

Our Lamb Has Conquered. Let Us Follow Him

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

Dear friends,

These are the times (after Easter) when we examine what it means to live a resurrection-life. The resurrection-life is one that has the old shaped into the new, the broken shaped into wholeness. This is the season where Grace has a Place. When Grace has a Place, grace can really get to work bringing about a New Creation.

Here's a little story by Kevin Kling:

  Back in the days when pots and pans could talk, which indeed they still do, there lived a man. And in order to have water, every day he had to walk down the hill and fill two pots and walk them home. 

  One day, it was discovered one of the pots had a crack, and as time went on, the crack widened. 

  Finally, the pot turned to the man and said, "You know, every day you take me to the river, and by the time you get home, half of the water's leaked out. Please replace me with a better pot." And the man said, "You don't understand. As you spill, you water the wild flowers by the side of the path." 

  And sure enough, on the side of the path where the cracked pot was carried, beautiful flowers grew, while the other side was barren. "I think I'll keep you," said the man.

John 21:15 - When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."

Resurrection-life is about letting the abundance of God's love in Christ spill out, and the best water-way is the place in ourselves where we have experienced the deepest wound.

This is a photo by Lisle Boomer

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

"Scrolling Down"

Philippians 2:5–11

(Read responsively today)

⁵Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,

⁶who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

  ⁷but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

  ⁸he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death — 

even death on a cross.

  ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

  ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

 (All) ¹¹and  every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

As we come to the Sunday of Christ's Passion (also called Palm Sunday) we hear longer passages of scripture that require focus and a longer attention span. Attention span is a challenge for us today. So many fantastic distractions.

Even when writing emails, I try to write brief, so the reader doesn't have to be burdened with the need to "scroll down."

Today's passage from Philippians is a wonderful ancient hymn for the easily distracted. It quickly gets to the motive, the commotion, the emotion and the promotion of Christ. I believe we could say that when God highly exalted Jesus, God put the scroll down so we could focus and worship without distraction.

This photo is taken by Bo Løvschall of Denmark. It is of the "Hill of Crosses" in Lithuania

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From Isaiah 43:

  ¹⁸Do not remember the former things,

or consider the things of old.

  ¹⁹I am about to do a new thing;

now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness

and rivers in the desert.

From John 12:

 ³Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 

http://www.bulloughphotography.com/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=9&p=0&a=0&at=0

I invite you to click on the link above for a few spectacular examples of "rivers in the desert."

Bill Bryson, in the book "A Walk in the Woods" muses about the U.S. Forest Service. For all the good the Forest Service does, they also have a tendency to build a lot of roads. Paraphrasing Bryson, the Forest Service will look at a mountain-scape and say, "wow, that is so beautiful. I bet we can put a road through there."

Is this what the book of Isaiah means with this image? Is God interested in providing water for those who live in the desert, or a highway for those who want to get through the mountains?

I think the metaphor speaks for itself and is even more powerful as such. Through God's own power, God is going to make the impossible possible. God will make safe passage through the wilds of life, and will be satisfaction for the driest of souls.

Think of Mary's gift as a stream in the desert. Her love and devotion to the Lord changed that moment, even the air in the room was different!

May God be for you the way through the wilderness, the river in your desert.

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church
541.889.9349

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Word for Today

Preemptive Celebration

From Luke 15

²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate.

This Sunday we have the story of the Prodigal Son. It can also be called the story of the Forgiving Father! You can probably reassemble parts of the story from memory..

  Son wants to leave home

  Son claims inheritance

  Son leaves home

  Son blows all his cash

  Son reconsiders his home

  Son plans to work as a servant

  Father welcomes son

  Father throws a party

  Other son feels slighted

I would like to take another step. I find myself wondering what the other members of the household might be thinking. There may be some who don't know exactly what to think about him. There may be some who are as glad as the father to see a family reunited. Some may have thought of him as a dead-beat, a brat who only wanted to live on the edge without a care for those who cared for him most.

Now, back to the forgiving father. What if, along with wanting a celebration for the sheer joy of it, the father wanted to influence the attitudes of all the others in the household? What if the father wanted to direct his people to organize a preemptive celebration? Minimize the awkward moment while people try to figure out how they should think.

Perhaps you know people who throw together preemptive celebrations. You are blessed to know them!

Communities of faith - how about preemptive celebration as a guiding principle?

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From Psalm 27:

⁸My heart speaks your message— "Seek my face."

Your face, O LORD,  I will seek.

From Genesis 15:

 ⁵ God brought Abram outside and said, "Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your descendants be."  

Wouldn't you love to get lost in this star scape, lying on your back in the middle of a mountain meadow on a moonless summer night?

I wonder what the star scape was like when Abram looked at it. God was giving a promise to a childless man (childless from one perspective!). The promise was that Abram would be the father of many. Children are divine blessings. I don't suppose God and Abram lied down on their backs in order to gaze at the stars that night, but the mental picture is nice!

I hope this image stirs your heart a little. The psalm above mentions something about a message that the human heart knows. As if a dialog is happening between the heart and the mind:

Heart: "Seek the face of God."

Mind: "Yes! I will."

I pray for that kind of harmony between my heart and mind. I also pray for the driving passion that comes from the heart, which is created to seek God. I pray for you and me to seek God's face. Together.

Read about this picture here

Pastor James Aalgaard

www.wanderingnorwegian.blogspot.com

St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From Psalm 91:

¹You who dwell in the shelter of ^| the Most High,

who abide in the shadow of ^| the Almighty—

²you will say to the LORD, "My refuge ^| and my stronghold,

my God in whom I ^| put my trust."

This is a monastery called Metéora in Greece. It's an Orthodox monastery that was begun in the 11th century, shortly before the invention of cargo helicopters. Someday it would be a blast to visit this place. I would hope for a smog-free day.

Take another quick look at the Bible verse above. Do you think the psalmist was thinking of a place like this? To be suspended above the rest of the world and her problems seems nice. Maybe it would actually work to disengage like that.. for a time. Then thoughts and worries would span the crevasses that we created, and we would find ourselves right back in the midst of the world that still wants and needs us.

Where do we go to find God? Do we go to a high elevation? How about an exotic (read 'warm') place?

I take my cue this morning from the little phrase "shadow of the Almighty." Wherever there is a shadow, there is the Almighty watching over. Can you find a shadow near you? If so, then claim right now the protection of the Almighty.

The season of Lent is about drawing shapes around shadows, studying them, feeling their chill. But remember this, shadows can only exist with the Son nearby.

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From Exodus 34:29

"As (Moses) came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God."

From Luke 9:29

"while (Jesus) was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white."

Lene Vestergaard Hau, a Danish-born physicist, has developed a method for slowing down light. (Thank you Radiolab for a wonderful radio program). She uses sodium as her medium, cooling the substance so that when it's a supercold atomic gas, light itself will slow to 17 meters per second. That's quite an accomplishment when you recognize that light's natural speed is 186,000 miles per second! Light can take on wave-like properties and particle-like properties. There is so much to discover in light. It bears information. It's movement is efficient. It brightens our darkness.

This Sunday is the Sunday of the Transfiguration. Jesus goes to a mountaintop to pray, and his appearance changes. He captures light. He harnesses the light of the world. He glows with hope and possibility. If I were with him on that day, I would have joined Peter who said, "Let's hang out here for a while. I will start setting up the tents."

But this moment in time, or out of time, can be a light that brightens the darkest moments of our lives. From the mountaintop, Jesus goes down then up to Jerusalem, where he becomes enveloped by darkness, thus becoming the Light of the World. This is THE hidden will of God and our source of life.

Makoto Tojiki loves to use light in his art. Instead of commenting on it, I think I will just let you gaze and wonder yourself!

Blessings!

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church

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Word for Today

From First Corinthians 13

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 

Have you gone through the experience of having cataracts? I haven't and I am thankful for that, but I know many people who have. Before the procedure they have a steady decline in their ability to see detail. The world gets cloudy, fuzzy even. After the procedure to remove the cataracts, people act like they have a newfound freedom. A new lease on life. The ability to capture with your eye what you had been missing all along, that must be a sensational spiritual feeling!

Do you have spiritual cataracts? Do you miss the detail of God's work in the world around you? Are the loving acts of people toward you clouded with bitterness, or regret, or guilt? As you've graduated through the grade levels of the "hard knock" school of life, has your ability to see the way God sees gotten steadily more vague? It's understandable.

Love. That's the concept, the spiritual practice, that comes right before the cataract problem in this passage. Paul says with hope, "we will see (Christ) face to face." Love is what binds a community together. Love hardly ever feels equal (we so often feel that we are loved MORE than we love). Love is the way of Christ, a gift given through cloudiness from me to you and you to you to you. Do you ever love not knowing how it will turn out in the end? Good! One day, you will see your Lord face to face. Who could think of a better promise than that?

Pastor James Aalgaard
St. Paul Lutheran Church
541.889.9349

/W/orshipping/I/nviting/S/tudying/E/ncouraging/G/iving/P/raying/S/erving

Word for Today

From Micah 5:

²But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,

who are one of the little clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to rule in Israel,

whose origin is from of old,

from ancient days.

and from Luke 1:

 ⁴⁶And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,

Taking pictures of small things is a growing field. There are electron microscopes and x-ray lasers, invented by people with a desire to know and understand. Scientists are fueling their own curiosities by going smaller and smaller. And by reporting to the world, the world itself is becoming more curious! As you see below, patterns emerge that seem less chaotic and more beautiful. More wondrous.

I searched high and low online for photos of small things to include in this Word for Today. I found so many pictures, the problem for me is they were rather disturbing. How long can a person look the pincers of a bed bug? One of the worse was a picture of the hair follicles of a human eyebrow. A close second was the bacteria that reside on the human tongue. Not exactly appetizing. Bleh.

Scripture today talks about greatness coming from a little place. Little places, little things, small voices carry inside them all the "coding" needed to radically change the world. Little town Bethlehem is about to become a household name. For from her comes a Savior, God-With-Us, Emmanuel.

The first picture is a composite photo of proteins by Thomas White.

The next picture is a special one to me. It's Salvador Dali's painting of Christ. The first picture prompted me to think about the second one. 

The message I would like to leave you with today is that there is no place out-of-the-way enough where God's redeeming and loving presence cannot be. There is no space inside you that God's Spirit cannot fit into. In fact, there is a pattern in you that God laid out in creation which longs for one thing above all others, fellowship with God. Through Jesus, you have it.

Pastor James Aalgaard

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ontario Oregon