Word for Today

From First Corinthians 12:

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.  ¹⁵If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.  

Dear fellow amputees, here is Kiarra. She's from Portland Oregon. She had a dream of dancing at the Julliard School.  There is a video about her here. It's a very inspirational little report! I think the picture and the video tell the story better than I, but one thing I will mention is this:

Kiarra says that when she choreographs a dance, she imagines herself with fingers and toes, doing intricate movements. Those lost digits are actually part of her dance, regardless of the fact that she possesses them. She imagines herself whole.

In the above passage of scripture, St. Paul is writing to Christians in Corinth. They had done what countless communities of faith do, which is honor one member of the body over the other. Some gifts are more apparent than others. Some people look for more attention than others. Some members hurt more than others. Some have more tragic lives. Some have better luck. It's easy to say to one, "I don't need you. We don't need you." Over time, the members of the body receiving the least honor disappear. The result? An amputee community.

When I think of the faith community, even my own self, I wonder what I've amputated. Maybe it was actual people. Gifts of the Spirit. Expectations.

I think I will take my cue from Kiarra, and imagine myself whole. I will be a dancing amputee, knowing that the promise of the resurrection, of a world made whole through Christ, grows members back to the body.

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 Isaiah 43:

  ⁴Because you are precious in my sight,

and honored, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,

nations in exchange for your life.

  ⁵Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your offspring from the east,

and from the west I will gather you;

  ⁶I will say to the north, "Give them up,"

and to the south, "Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from the end of the earth — 

From Acts 8:

¹⁷Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

This is my hand in Esther's. She is in her 90's, I in my 40's. I thought about this picture when I read about the disciples Peter and John laying their hands on Samaritan Christians, thereby giving them the Holy Spirit.

Hands move in accordance with the intentions of the mind. Your intentions will be sometimes evil, sometimes holy, sometimes related to work, sometimes love.  The intentions of the disciples that day were to give and gather. The giving and gathering happened in a single swipe, touch, of the hand.

What was given? The Holy Spirit; the very same Spirit that coursed through Jesus when he walked Samaritan roads, when he made a paste of mud in the palm of his hand, and when he wrote in the dust. This is not a replica or a symbolic gesture of any kind, it/she/he is the Spirit that belongs to Jesus. This is the Spirit that allowed the hands of Christ to be held down and nailed to a cross-beam. This Spirit was given that day through the disciples to new disciples.

And in the giving, the gathering has just happened. The verse from Isaiah proclaims that God gathers those who belong from the north and south, from all reaches of the earth. To be gathered into Christ isn't to be gathered to a place, but rather to a people. That's you and me!

I think of Esther often. I visited her yesterday and she has slowed down quite a bit. But the Spirit of Christ (whom we share) is still bright and hopeful, helping her long for the next gathering. She spends a lot of time looking out her window.

I hope you experience (and recognize) the touch of the Holy Spirit this week.

James Aalgaard

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Ontario Oregon

Word for Today

Celebrating Backward

From Isaiah 62:

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,

so shall your God rejoice over you. 

From Psalm 36:

⁷How priceless is your ^| love, O God!

All people take refuge under the shadow ^| of your wings.

⁸They feast upon the abundance ^| of your house;

you give them drink from the river of ^| your delights.

From John 2:

⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom  ¹⁰and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

In the touching and tragic movie "Life Is Beautiful" directed and starred-in by Roberto Begnini, A Jewish man woos a woman away from an arrogant suitor, eventually marrying her and having a son. The movie is set in the middle of the Nazi regime. Life becomes less and less beautiful as the movie progresses, and the man begins to rely on his comedic imagination to protect especially his son.

The family is interned in a concentration camp where his antics continue despite the risks. Games and jokes are plenty even when food and living conditions (including the chance of hope) are not. The movie ends after the man's death. American forces were approaching the concentration camp to liberate them, and the guards were chaotically shutting everything down. The man hid his son in a box (calling it a game) while he sought out the boy's mother, was caught and killed at the last moment before liberators came onto the scene.

This movie helps me to remember that we can "celebrate backward". In other words, we can taste the heavenly feast with every meal. We can practice the peaceable kingdom of God with every act of forgiveness and reconciliation. We can Claim the end of death with every burial. We can even be liberated from our own prisons by means of joy.

In the wedding at Cana, the best wine was served last instead of first. It was a backward celebration. It was enough of a difference that the chief steward noticed immediately. It was a sign, that the celebrating backward is happening in Jesus, the Word of God, "through whom all things were made" (John 1).

What are you doing to celebrate backward? The promise of God makes it possible for you!

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 Philippians 4:

Rejoice!

(The word of the Lord, Thanks be to God!)

We tend to favor certain emotions rather than others, and so we get much of life backward. William Butler Yeats hit the nail on the head and says it so well, "Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."

The longer version of that verse from Philippians is "Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I say, rejoice." There is much wisdom here. As we are nearer and nearer to the fulfillment of God's promise at Christmas, joy percolates up from within, and we may even (in temporary periods of joy) feel like our insides are fluttering, much like the child in this picture.

What is the joy all about? It's about being captured in the mystery of God born to this world, the mystery that I believe to the point that it's the most real reality I know, the mystery that you share it with me, and the mystery that others around you are about to be captured as well.

May your life mature into the joy of God through Jesus so that you can now live right side up, saying "being (insert nationality or heritage), s/he had an abiding sense of joy, which sustained her/him through temporary periods of tragedy."

pastor James Aalgaard

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ontario Oregon

Word for Today

From Luke 1:

⁷⁸In the tender compassion ^| of our God

the dawn from on high shall ^| break upon us,

⁷⁹to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shad- ^| ow of death,

and to guide our feet into the ^| way of peace.  

Sometimes it's good to pay attention to VERBS. "Break upon", "Shine," "Guide."

This is what the Dawn from On High is going to do to us, and I would say, through us. There is something quite powerful about living with expectation. These few verses are all about expectation. About hope.

The Christian faith has a wonderful way of talking about God. God is not cold and distant. At the end of the day God is not even angry. God is compassionate and loving. Since that's true, God must know fully and deeply the particulars of our selves. We might want to keep ourselves at a distance, shy or ashamed, but in the tender compassion of God, we need not live in fear.

When the dawn from on high breaks upon us, he will not wait for our permission, or for us to be ready. He will come in such an innocent and even powerless way that we are drawn to him, to the Christ-Child, and by being drawn to him, the dawn from on high, we will be changed. We will be able to walk in the way of peace. Peace with ourselves, our neighbors, our enemies.

Pastor James Aalgaard

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Ontario Oregon

Word for Today

From "Evangelical Lutheran Worship" prayer of the day for the First Sunday of Advent:

Let us pray.

Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. By your merciful protection alert us to the threatening dangers of our sins, and redeem us for your life of justice, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

From Jeremiah 33:

.. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."

Do you know the story behind your name? There is power in stories like that! The more spectacular the story, the more a name becomes the core of a person's identity. I would love to hear your naming stories.

The little verse from Jeremiah is a naming story. Judah has been having trouble with its identity. Wayward worship in particular made her fall away from God's favor. Judah, and Jerusalem especially, could be a definition of "unrighteousness."

So God promises to intervene. God promises to rename the people. When the Lord acts, they will be called "The LORD (Yahweh) is our righteousness." God will be righteous for them.

God will be righteous for us. This is the promise of Advent. It calls forth honesty and humility, but also faith in One who comes to make all things (including our hearts) new.

We start lighting Advent candles this Sunday.

If you are part of another faith community, you might like to start the practice of inviting a member of the community to light the candles. Here's how we do it at St. Paul:

Advent One: the oldest (or near oldest) member of the church lights the first candle.

Advent Two: someone retirement age lights the first and second candle.

Advent Three: a young adult lights the first three candles.

Advent Four: a young child or infant (with mom or dad helping) lights all four candles.

We're counting down, backward through the years, to the Promised Christ-Child.

Advent blessings to you!

James Aalgaard

St. Paul Lutheran Church

Giggles & Grace Early Learning Center

Ontario Oregon

Word for Today

From Revelation chapter one:

  ⁸I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

Christ the King Sunday is this week. It marks the end of the liturgical church year. The Sunday coming next is the first Sunday in Advent, which begins the time of waiting for the Christ Child.

When you think of endings, do you think of the "end of the line," the "final mile," or the "last hurrah?" I think of endings in such a way. As if it's a line on a page.

But in Christ, there is something else working. It is as different as time is to eternity. Christ teaches us that he is the beginning and the end, the first and the last letter of the alphabet. Simultaneously! Only the Lord of heaven and earth can be both the beginning and the end, never becoming less of the other!

The picture here is a celtic pattern. You can trace the pattern until you become exhausted, but you will not find the end of it. You will come to the end of your patience before you find the end of the pattern!

This must be a very simple picture of the eternity we get to know in Christ. The ruler of all, Jesus the Human One, has always been and always will be. The Word today, is that because you belong in him, you get to find yourself somewhere there, in Eternity.

Alleluia.