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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