Southwood Lutheran Church

Will You Come and Follow Me

The beautiful hymn “Will You Come and Follow Me” was written by John Bell. John Bell was born in and resides in Scotland. He is a liturgical composer who writes cooperatively with colleagues in Glasgow. He has a deep interest in music from non-European cultures and a passion for song of the Assembly. In May, I had the opportunity to go to a conference in Atlanta, Georgia and hear John Bell present a series of workshops on music and worship. It was a great joy to listen to him lead songs that he has written and witness his passion first hand.

“'Will you come and follow me’ (called ‘The Summons’ in The Faith We Sing) is perhaps the most famous of Mr. Bell’s hymns. The hymn appeared initially in the first collection of music produced by the Wild Goose Worship Group, Heaven Shall Not Wait: Songs of Creation, the Incarnation, and the Life of Jesus (1987). The song asks a series of 13 questions, perhaps a record in the annals of hymnody.

Characteristic of Mr. Bell’s style, the text is prophetic, using many words not usually found in traditional hymns. ‘The Summons’ of Christ is to a radical Christianity. We are challenged to ‘leave yourself behind’ and to ‘risk the hostile stare’ (stanza two), ‘set the prisoner free’ and ‘kiss the leper clean’ (stanza three), and ‘use the faith you’ve found to reshape the world around’ (stanza four).

The tune is a traditional Scottish ballad entitled KELVINGROVE, named after a section of Glasgow. Mr. Bell often uses traditional melodies from Ireland, Scotland and England for his hymns. These tried and true tunes make the songs not only singable, but often provide a Celtic flavor that is popular today.

For Mr. Bell, the purpose for singing is to engage people in a fuller participation in the congregation’s song, stretch their faith and encourage them to live in a manner that reflects justice.”¹

1. Hawn, C. Michael. HISTORY OF HYMNS: Bell’s Scottish hymn gives radical summons. ©2012 UMR Communications, Inc. Date visited: May 20, 2012. http://www.umportal.org/article.asp?id=6012

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

How to Define the Holy Spirit

Nana, my father’s mother, always referred to the Holy Spirit as the “Holy Ghost.” I remember her dipping two fingers into the Holy Water at Holy Cross Church and making the Sign of the Cross, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost” as she touched wet fingers to forehead, heart and shoulders.

Frankly it gave me the creeps.

As a child, I didn’t find any comfort in the thought of a ghost, holy or not. I often imagined it trailing after us, hovering above our heads as we made our way down the center aisle and into the pew. I was always relieved when we exited out the front doors and down the stone steps after Mass. I assumed Nana put the Ghost back when she made the Sign of the Cross again with the Holy Water before stepping into the parking lot. I imagined that the Ghost swirled back into the basin of Holy Water and sloshed around in there until the following Saturday evening, when the swish of two fingers in the cool water released it again.

As I got older the term “Holy Ghost” fell out of favor, replaced by the less threatening but no less baffling Holy Spirit. This was somewhat better. I thought of the Holy Spirit as a benign force, a little bit like an invisible Tinkerbelle or Glenda the Good Witch, spreading goodness, peace and love like fairy dust.

Those were my two impressions of the Holy Spirit: creepy and vaporous or gentle and sweet. So you can imagine my surprise the first time I read the description of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2:

“Suddenly there was a noise from the sky which sounded like a strong wind blowing, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then they saw what looked like tongues of fire which spread out and touched each person there. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to talk in other languages, as the Spirit enabled them to speak.” (Acts 2:2-4).

A noise from the sky? A strong, gusting wind? Tongues of fire? This was not anything like the Holy Spirits I’d imagined in my childhood. This Spirit was powerful, overwhelming, terrifying.

Just imagine, for a moment, what that must have been like for the disciples. Picture the force of a powerful wind, bending trees, kicking up dirt and debris, the grit stinging your eyes and coating your mouth. Picture the flames descending out of nowhere, coming closer, licking the top of your head, your limbs, your hands and feet. Can you imagine the terror…and the awe?

In the presence of such mighty force, there would be no question: you would know unequivocally that you were in the presence of something far beyond normal, something supernatural and awesome.

Although I’m not a kid anymore, I still try to define the Holy Spirit in a way that makes sense to me. I tend to try to box him in, contain him. I try to understand that which cannot be fully understood. I try to define that which cannot be fully defined. Part of me resists the powerful, forceful nature of the Holy Spirit because I am afraid of it – I don’t want to hand over control, to surrender to something so wild and untamed.

Yesterday, on Pentecost Sunday, my dad emailed me a timely devotion written by Franciscan Richard Rohr – a telling and perceptive observation of how many of us, me included, approach the Holy Spirit and what we miss with our narrow definitions and trepidation.

We still wait behind closed doors; fifty days (Pente-cost), fifty years, five hundred years, we are always waiting and hoping, but not really expecting. It is the day we are always waiting for but never prepared for, the day of the great outpouring of fire-laden love, the day that ties all other days together.

Pentecost is actually every day, if we expect it; but, not surprisingly, this is the greatest forgotten major festival of the entire church year. Most come to church expecting no new outpouring, or maybe not even remembering an old one.

Yet it is Pentecost, the day of the great gathering in and the great sending out. The Holy Spirit must get tired of waiting for us, always hiding behind our closed doors (from Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, day 205).

Today, my prayer for me and you is this: May we open ourselves. May we step out of our boxes and from behind closed doors, not merely waiting or hoping for a benign, milk-toast Holy Spirit that fits within the confines of our narrow minds, but recognizing and embracing Him in whatever form He comes. And may we expect, know, that He comes indeed.

How has your perception of the Holy Spirit changed over time?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Spirit, Shine On Us

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. (2 Corinthians 3:17NIV)

This Sunday is Pentecost. On Pentecost we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the world, to the church, and to each of us individually. We remember the Holy Spirit is a continued gift that is renewed each day. In addition to singing hymns about God’s Spirit, a small group will share an anthem called “Spirit, Shine on Us.” Included in the anthem is the song “Spirit of the Living God.” Author Debbie Carsten shares these thoughts about that song:

“Imagine being one of Jesus’ disciples when He breathed on them and gave them the Holy Spirit (John 20:22). With Jesus’ breath, the disciples received the power and authority to bring His life to the world. Christ has also given us that authority. Because ‘all Scripture is God-breathed’ (2 Timothy 3:16), we encounter the living Word every time we open the Bible. And God’s Spirit breathes into us as we receive His truth.

This truth, the truth about Jesus, is meant to set us free (John 8:32)! WE become all God wants us to be as we let the Holy Spirit apply His Word to our lives. We break out of old patterns and ways of thinking and are given newness and freshness. The Holy Spirit knows how to use Scripture to melt us, mold us, and set us free.

Instead of being fearful about what God may do in us, we can be assured that HE wants to bring us into new levels of freedom. He wants to melt our resistance to change, mold our desires to higher purposes, fill us with the power to live an abundant life, and use us beyond what we could imagine. All that, and heaven, too!

Look into God’s Word and heed Jesus’ words from John 20: ‘Receive the Holy Spirit’ (John 20:22)”.

 

1. Carsten, Debbie. Open the Eyes of My Heart: Daily Devotions. (Brentwood, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2002.) Pg. 91.

Tuesday Tales from May 20, 2012

Sunday School Celebration Time!

We ended the Sunday School program year with a celebration for all age groups upstairs in the Fellowship Hall.

We celebrated a year of “Walking Like Jesus” and caring for people like Jesus did. Through our offerings, we were able to buy 31 goats for Honduras and Tanzania, collect almost 400 books for children that come to Clinic with a Heart, donate $2,000+ for medical prescriptions at Clinic and pay for a year of secondary education for 3 AIDS orphans in Tanzania.

Our Sunday School children certainly lived out the verse from 1 Timothy: 4:12: “Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and in your purity.”

At our celebration we also said “THANK YOU” to all the Sunday School Teachers, Large Group Leaders and Education Station Volunteers.

There were VBS characters and puppets to tell us about what was coming up this summer.

With great VBS song leaders who taught us some of the new VBS songs!

And no celebration would be complete without a special treat.

We hope all the students and teachers got their shoestring reminders that Jesus would walk with them all through the summer! Be sure to check out all the summer activities on the card they were tied to.

It was definitely a year to celebrate.

Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! Psalms 47:1

     

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Hope in a Text

I’m about to submit my May column to the Lincoln Journal Star. It’s entitled “What I’ve Learned from Not Publishing,” and it’s a positive examination of how I’ve grown spiritually despite – or perhaps because of – the challenges I’ve faced along this writing journey.

I meant every word I wrote, of course, but what I didn’t say was how hopeless it all feels sometimes. There are days when I want to give up. There are days when I see people I respect and love making the kind of progress I yearn for, and I succumb to jealousy and bitterness. There are days, like last week, when I said to my husband at dinner, “Today I feel like I’m at the bottom of a deep well, and I’m trying to drag myself out inch by inch and am getting absolutely nowhere.”

At 8:43 p.m. that same day, as I sat tucked into one end of the couch, Noah on the other end, both of us with our noses buried in our books, I heard my cell phone chime from the depths of my purse. A text. I didn’t jump off the couch to retrieve it. In fact, I forgot about it until the next morning, when I flipped open my phone in the midst of school-morning bedlam to read this, from Jennifer:

“Praying Isaiah 50:4 over you and your writing tonight: ‘The Sovereign Lord has taught {Michelle} what to say, so that she can strengthen the weary.’”

I had spoken to Jennifer earlier that afternoon – on the bottom-of-the-deep-well day. She had called to ask me for advice, and instead ended up listening as I unloaded all my writing and publishing frustrations into her ear.

And then later that night she sent the text, praying encouragement for me.

I thought of Jennifer, the telephone conversation and that text yesterday as we read these verses from Ephesians.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better,” wrote Paul to the Ephesians. “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…” (Ephesians 1:17-18).

That phone call? That text at 8:43 p.m.? Jennifer was my Paul that day, encouraging and strengthening me, and reminding me of the hope God has especially for me. She opened the eyes of my heart.

Has anyone been your Paul lately, encouraging you or reminding you that God has a hope planned especially for you?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

The Potter's Hand

Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8 NIV)

This Sunday in worship we recognize the many high school seniors who will be graduating soon. We pray God’s blessings on them and hope they will ask God the Potter to mold and direct their paths of faith.

“The story is told of a master pottery maker in Peru. Having heard of the distinct quality of his work, people from all over the world traveled to the outskirts of Lima in search of his unpretentious shop. It was an uncovered, cluttered workspace exposed to the intense rays of the South American sun. As a result of forty years of continuous labor, the potter’s sun-baked skin resembled the dark reddish-brown clay he shaped into beautiful pots and bowls.

What distinguished this artisan’s pottery was a small indentation that every piece boasted. The notch- like feature at first glance might be considered a flaw. But it was not. It was the result of a claw-like digit on the potter’s right hand. He was born with it instead of a thumb. The shriveled stub and its permanent sharp fingernail imprinted the clay as it was fashioned in its final form. What had been a source of endless humiliation as a child had become the signature of success.

Although our Creator’s fashioning hands are not deformed, as He shapes us into His image, the evidence of His fingerprints in our lives render us valuable and priceless in His eyes. Celebrate the worth He sees as He looks at you today.”¹

 

1. Asimakoupoulos, Greg. Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart –Daily Devotions from the Greatest Praise and Worship Songs of All Time (Brentwood, TN: Integrity Publishers. 2002), pg. 113.

Tuesday Tales for May 13, 2012

Happy Mother's Day!

The students in all age groups wished their mothers a Happy Mother’s Day!

The lesson in the PreK/K classroom was about how Jesus shows that he loves us by giving us families that care for us. The reverse of this is also true, we can show Jesus that we love him by loving others.

In Large Group, Gordy helped kids remember how great their mom’s are and in their classroom, they remembered the kids at Clinic with a heart and how they could show them love.

 

1st – 3rd grades were learning about Paul’s journey to Thessalonica and Berea and how very different the people were in theses two places. In Thessalonica, Jewish people were jealous of Paul and drove them out. The people in Berea were very willing to hear God’s message and every day they read the scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. From the Bereans we learned to treasure God’s promise. As a reminder of this, students added jewels to a bookmark with a reading plan for the book of John printed on it. And the day wouldn’t have been complete without a card telling mom how much we treasure her!

The 4th & 5th graders were “Seeking Success” just as Zacchaeus sought fame and fortune as a tax collector. It wasn’t until Zacchaeus found a relationship with Jesus that he found true happiness. Through a game called “Chasing Success,” students attached “Success cards” to Alfred to remind us that chasing after “stuff” won’t bring happiness, but in “chasing” (knowing) God, we will find contentment.

Under the direction of Pablo Pistachio, the great artist, 4th & 5th graders finished their sculpture, Alfred. Through these lessons they talked about how God shapes us through troubles and that is when Alfred’s head was created. God shapes us through failures and that is when we created Alfred’s feet. He shapes us through service and that is when we gave Alfred hands. Finally, God shapes us through the way we seek success.

And sometimes, on a beautiful day, you just need to get outside and run!

Outreach Update

With the offerings from last Sunday we are able to give: $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition, $1,915.16 total for prescriptions for Clinic with a Heart patients (this is an accumulation of the offering money that is left each week after we remove the $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition). Plus, we have received a total of 357 books to give to the children that come to the Clinic!

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Even on the Raving Lunatic Days

Would there be anything I could do that would get you to not love me?” Noah asked me the other night as we were tucked under his comforter, watching the pine tree boughs wave against the moon. “No, absolutely nothing,” I assured him. “Even if you did the worst thing you could think of, even if you were in jail for your whole life, I would still love you.”

Yesterday morning, Mother’s Day, Rowan asked me nearly the same question. And I answered the same: “I love you guys every minute, every day, no matter what.”

“Even the lamp day, when you got super mad…did you love me the same that day, too? Or did you maybe love me a little bit less?” Rowan persisted.

Ah yes, the infamous lamp day. Not exactly the parenting moment I wanted to relive during the first 20 minutes of Mother’s Day: the day Rowan hurled a pillow across the living room and broke the lamp, mere hours after my mom had bought me a new lamp to replace the other lamp Rowan had broken more than 8 months before. The day I’d morphed into a maniacal lunatic.

I’d gripped the lamp base white-knuckled in my fist and raised it over my head, shaking it and raving incoherently. My mother stood speechless next to me, paralyzed along with the boys by my bellowing outburst. I ordered the boys to their rooms while I swept up the fragments, ranting about how they’d spend the entire day behind closed doors. My mother followed suit, retreating to the basement guest room as I crashed around the kitchen, slamming the box of fresh donuts into the trashcan and fuming aloud to myself while the boys howled in their bedrooms.

Not exactly indicative of the kind of overflowing love Paul talks about in his letter to the Philippians:

“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep growing in knowledge and understanding.” (Philippians 1:9)

As Pastor Greg preached about how parents must practice sacrificial love, tough love and gracious love, I thought about how much I'd failed as a mother on the lamp day. I thought about how I’d spread fear, how I’d burned with anger, overflowing not with love, but with bitterness and resentment; how I’d epitomized gracelessness.

But as I slumped in the pew, I also thought about the conversation that had taken place in the kitchen on Mother's Day morning, and the answer I’d given Rowan when he asked if I’d loved him less on the lamp day. “Even though I was really mad, and really disappointed about the lamp, and even though I really yelled a lot, I still loved you just as much,” I assured Rowan. “My love wasn’t even a tiny bit less. Love stays the same no matter what.”

My answer seemed to satisfy Rowan as he slurped the remainder of his milky cereal. And you know what? Later, after Pastor Greg's sermon, I realized that my answer applies to me, too. No matter how disappointing my behavior, no matter how God may grieve my raving lunatic lamp days, he still loves me just the same, not even a little bit less. No matter what.

How does God's limitless grace make you feel {especially on those raving lunatic days}?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

For the Beauty of the Earth

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” (Psalm 103:2 KJV)

Have you ever taken a walk among your blessings? Folliot Pierpoint did. He was feeling discouraged and a friend suggested that he take a walk among his blessings. The list of his many blessings is found in his hymn “For the Beauty of the Earth.” Since this Sunday is Mother’s Day, reflect especially on the blessings of this verse: “For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child . . .”

“One of the delights that we as adults have in being around children is to hear their squeals of pleasure as they observe and discover some ordinary object about them. No doubt our heavenly Father is also pleased when His children take time to observe and appreciate His creation and then to simply express joyous gratitude to Him for His countless blessings. Today’s hymn reminds us of the common blessings of life that many of us often take for granted—the beauties of nature, our parents, family, friends, church. The lyrics then direct our ‘grateful praise’ to God Himself, the giver of every good and perfect gift.”¹

 

1. Osbeck, Kenneth W. Amazing Grace (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1990, 2002), pg. 331.

Tuesday Tales from May 6, 2012

The Holy Spirit was at work in Sunday School at Southwood!

PreK/K children play acted the Spirit coming at Pentecost. Blowing wind from fans, streamers like fire, and teachers talking in different languages gave them a sense of what it might have been like many years ago when the Holy Spirit came to those who were believers of Jesus. That day over 3,000 believers joined the power of the Holy Spirit creating the birth of the Christian Church! Children created crowns of fire to help them remember that “God’s Spirit lives in me.”

1st-3rd graders discussed the missionary Paul and how his steadfast love of Jesus gave him the strength to continue spreading the news that all who pray in the name of the Lord, will be saved regardless of race or status. The children created a list of people in their own lives that need a friend and discussed what they could do to open the door of friendship to them by “walking like Jesus.”

4th and 5th graders are working with mannequin heads to illustrate how God shapes children and their character if they let him. This Sunday they talked about Jesus showing his humility by washing the disciples’ feet and how they too need to remember to serve Jesus by their actions. They wrote on pieces of tissue paper the times they have helped others in the past and brainstormed some ideas of serving in the future. The tissue paper was then stuffed into gloves to be the “serving hands’ of their class mannequin heads.

 

Outreach Update

With the offerings from last Sunday we are able to give: $100 for the AIDs orphans tuition, $1,799.02 total for prescriptions for Clinic with a Heart patients (this is an accumulation of the offering money that is left each week after we remove the $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition). Plus, we have received a total of 332 books to give to the children that come to the Clinic!

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

The Vine

As Pastor Sara lifts the bread high, the boy in the plaid shorts with the crown of whorled blond hair climbs onto the padded pew. Grabbing his dad’s shirt with one hand, he raises the other hand toward the ceiling, fingers splayed like a small, creamy starfish.

The dad knows what’s next – clearly this is a weekly routine. He lifts the boy until his flip-flops rest on the back of the pew in front of him. Clenching a fist-full of polo shirt, the boy straightens tall and steady, feet firmly planted on the back of the pew, his father’s arm encircling his waist like a lasso. And then the boy watches, steady and solemn, as Pastor Sara lifts the cup of wine toward the sky.

The little boy with the blond hair knows instinctively what I so often forget. He reaches, he climbs, he clings. He rests steady, comfortable and secure in his father’s arms.

He knows and accepts what I can never seem to remember: that apart from his father, he can do nothing.

“Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. “ (John 15:4)

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

There is a Redeemer

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17 NIV)

On Easter Sunday, the Senior Choir sang an arrangement of the hymn, “There is a Redeemer.” It was a powerful way to celebrate that Christ has Risen! The celebration continues during this Easter season.

God deserves our most heartfelt thanks. This song provides the opportunity to express our profound gratitude to God for sending Jesus to us. He didn’t have to. He could have let us live aimless, worthless lives, eventually dying far from Him. He didn’t have to love us; He didn’t have to save us. After all, our sin had hurt Him deeply and separated us from Him eternally.

God knew we were lost. He knew we were hopeless and that the only way to save us would be to do it Himself. So He did that, coming to earth in His Son. Then, when Jesus returned to heaven, He gave us His Holy Spirit. Jesus called Him our “Counselor” who would be with us forever (John 14:16). God did not leave us to our own devices; He left us the Holy Spirit to walk with us and to guide us.

The Holy Spirit empowers us to do Christ’s work on earth—the work of serving, loving, sharing, and helping others enter the kingdom. One day God’s work on earth will be done. On that day, we will rejoice at all that God has done in us and through us for His glory!¹

 

1. Carsten, Debbie. Open the Eyes of My Heart: Daily Devotions. (Brentwood, TN: Integrity Publishers, 2002.) Pg. 21.

Tuesday Tales from April 29, 2012

  

In our PreK/K story, Jesus returned to heaven but left us with a very important
job to do. He wants us to tell everyone about him! But he didn’t leave us alone to do that job. He promsed to send his Spirit to help us. Stay tuned for that story next week!

Just like Paul and Barnabas we’re set apart by the Holy Spirit for a missionary journey, our 1st-3rd graders were packing a suitcase with the unique tools they have for the mission journey that God has for them. It may or may not involve travel, but there is a way for them to share God’s love with others wherever they are.

 

The 4th and 5th grades added feet to Alfred, their mannequin head, as they learned about Paul’s persecution of the Jews and how despite those failures, he was able to show others how God can change people! He became one of the most influential disciples, especially among the gentiles, and wrote many of the letters in the New Testament. Through Paul we learned that we all have flops (mistakes) but God can make good things come out of those mistakes when we follow where God leads us.

Outreach Update

With the offerings from last Sunday we are able to give: $100 for the AIDs orphans tuition, $1,716.33 total for prescriptions for Clinic with a Heart patients (this is an accumulation of the offering money that is left each week after we remove the $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition). Plus, we have received a total of 323 books to give to the children that come to Clinic!

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

A Crowd of Witnesses in Real Life

Yesterday was confirmation Sunday at church, and I cried my way through most of the service without a shred of Kleenex in my purse. The young people kneeled straight and tall, white gowns cascading onto altar steps, scarlet carnations pinned to their chests, and as our pastors prayed over them while their parents crowded behind with bowed heads, hands on their shoulders, one word rang in my head: community.

In her sermon, Pastor Sara talked how each of us is surrounded by a “huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith” (Hebrews 12:1) – those who run the race of faith with us, paving the way before us, carrying us along as we grow weary.

“The people who have gone before us and who we spend our time with now help us tell our story,” Sara acknowledged. “The spirit of people both past and present cheer us on in our faith.”

As I listened to Sara I thought about the community of women Deidra, Erin and I hosted in my home on Saturday. Some of these women I know well – friends, colleagues and neighbors – and some I just met for the first time Saturday.

Truthfully, I’d been nervous about hosting this event. In fact, I’d awakened the night before at 3:30 a.m. in a panic. Should I buy flavored creamer? Did I have enough chairs? Should we wear name tags? Would I have to pray out loud? Would we stand around with our arms folded over our chests in awkward silence? Would people notice how sprongy my couch is with the broken springs?

How is this going to work with such a disparate group of women – women who don’t even know each other, who aren’t even in the same place in life, I wondered as I tossed and turned, sleepless and sweaty.

I worried about the fact that we were probably all at different spots on the spiritual spectrum. “What if it’s too Jesus-ey?” I worried. “What if it’s not Jesus-ey enough?” I fretted.

You know what?

It worked. It worked beautifully.

Sure, some of us had never met before. And it’s true, we were different, all of us at various life stages – married, single, divorced, empty nester, grandmother, young mother, working, stay-at-home, retired. And yeah, we were undoubtedly at various points on the spiritual spectrum, too. But despite all that, we laughed. We shared stories. We ate scones.

We connected.

And when I dashed out the door to head to work before the meet-up had even officially ended, and I saw Deidra up to her elbows in a sink full of soapy water, and Frances with a dish towel in her hand and Amanda clearing my table (two women, by the way, I’d only just met two hours before), I knew I was witnessing something beautiful.

As I stopped for a second to glimpse those three women cleaning my kitchen, I witnessed in-real-life community unfold right before my harried eyes.

Where have you found unexpected community?

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

Tuesday Tales from April 22, 2012

You know Summer is right around the corner when Camp Carol Joy Holling comes to visit! 

First through 5th grade children learned a little bit about the camp adventures in large group with Dennis Pope from Camp Carol Joy Holling. There are several types of camp to choose from; Ranch camp, Tipi Village, TrailHead and a Family camp. Members from Southwood who register before May 8 will receive $20 off the cost of camp. Flyers are available at Education Station. If your child or family is interested learn more about camp opportunities www.nlom.org

PreK/K talked about spreading the good news to others that Jesus is alive and forgives our sins! To practice sharing the news they headed outside for a fun microphone relay where they could shout out “Jesus is God’s Son” or “Jesus is Alive”.

1st-3rd graders discussed the power of the Holy Spirit. By creating a Balloon Rocket, they talked about how the balloon filled with air is like the breath of God, that fills our lives and gives us power to go in God’s direction.

Pablo Pistachio visited the 4th and 5th grades as they worked with mannequin heads to illustrate how God shapes children and their character if they let him. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God is shaping us to become more like Jesus. But he uses unusual tools like circumstances or events to do this. Should we find ourselves in trouble we need to tell God, trust God to guide us and look to others who love and care for us so together we can see how God can use a situation to shape our character.

 

Outreach Update

With the offerings from last Sunday we are able to give: $100 for the AIDs orphans tuition, $1,689.59 total for prescriptions for Clinic with a Heart patients (this is an accumulation of the offering money that is left each week after we remove the $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition). Plus, we have received a total of 318 books to give to the children that come to the Clinic!

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

Heaven Doesn't Feel Real

I’ll never forget the evening Brad and I walked past Noah’s bedroom a couple of weeks after Brad’s mom had died. Cat Stevens’Morning Has Broken was blasting on his CD player, and Noah sat tucked under his comforter next to the wide-open window. “I open my window and put this song on loud so Haukebo can hear it while she’s painting in Heaven,” Noah explained matter-of-factly to us.

Heaven doesn’t feel real like that for me. I know I’m supposed to believe in it, and I do, in a vague, religious kind of way, but it bothers me that I can’t wrap my head, or my heart, around it concretely.

I wish I believed in Heaven the way my kids do, but all I have is an amorphous, Christianese vision of Heaven. Frankly my view doesn’t offer much comfort; it doesn’t sustain me the way I suspect it does other people. I get some comfort from the thought of eternal life and the opportunity to spend face-to-face time with God, but Heaven? When I think of Heaven I draw a big blank.

Biblical descriptions of Heaven don’t help either. Pearly gates, streets of pure gold and a river bright as crystal sound like someone else’s vision (and I guess it is someone else's vision: it's John's). Like Brad said yesterday after we heard the description of Heaven from Revelation, “Gold streets don’t appeal to me. I think I’d prefer a softer, spongier material to walk on.”

When Noah was very young, his definition of Heaven consisted of “lots of white pine trees and mint chocolate chip ice cream all the time.” Yesterday after church when I asked him if his view of Heaven has changed since then, he told me that now he envisions “really puffy, soft clouds that you can walk on, and Ailanthus trees everywhere, growing right up out of the clouds, because Ailanthus means ‘tree of Heaven,’ you know.”

Rowan added that he thought Heaven will be a place where there’s “lots of fun stuff to do all the time.” I suspect he envisions infinite Mario Bros…without the nagging mother who puts a limit on screen time.

In the wake of my in-laws’ deaths, we’ve talked about Heaven more than usual in the last 18 months. I know I’ve used Heaven as a balm for the fear and pain that’s come with that loss, a way to offer brightness and hope for my kids in the midst of their grief. As a parent I’m desperate to ease my kids’ suffering, so I toss out Heaven as the only antidote I know. But to me, it feels like a weak consolation when they are missing their grandparents in the here and now.

I often ask the boys what they think Haukebo and Papa are doing in Heaven in an effort to create a link, a lasting connection between them and their beloved grandparents. But I think part of me is also trying to cement a vision of Heaven that they might carry with them into adulthood. While I know they won’t always believe that Heaven is comprised of mint chocolate chip ice cream, Ailanthus trees, Haukebo painting landscapes and Papa dancing to Johnny B. Goode, I hope that talking about Heaven now will somehow keep a sliver of it real for them later.

What about you? Does Heaven feel real to you?

{As an interesting side note: when I looked for images of Ailanthus trees on the web, I came across this description on the Duke University site: "More appropriately called the tree from hell, this common weedy tree is a seriously invasive species from China, most often found in disturbed areas and along roadsides." Hmmmm. Mabe Heaven really is in the eye of the beholder?}.

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.

 

The Day of Resurrection

T“While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.” (Luke 24:4-5 NRSV)

This Sunday we continue the celebration of Easter. We sing with joy that Christ has victory over death and that we will have live eternally with Him in heaven. Our opening hymn is “The Day of Resurrection” and we join a long procession of saints who have sung this Easter hymn. This hymn is around 1200 years old!!

"The Day of Resurrection" is one of the oldest hymns in our hymnal. The words were written by St. John of Damascus of the Greek Orthodox Church. John was born in Damascus in the 8th century, and was engaged in secular work for many years. He became an Orthodox priest late in life, and spent the rest of his life at St. Sabas convent near Jerusalem. He was a gifted poet¶#151;the greatest poet of the Greek Church. The story is told of John writing a hymn for the funeral of a fellow monk—a monk not yet dead but at death's doorstep. After writing the hymn John started practicing it loudly. The next thing he knew, the dying monk came shuffling into the room to protest the unseemly noise.

This hymn, "The Day of Resurrection," was part of a much longer poem. John Mason Neale translated it into English in the 19th century—a thousand years after it was first written. The first verse calls us to celebrate the resurrection—to proclaim it abroad. The second verse calls us to live lives pure from evil—to live, as it were, resurrection lives. The third verse calls all the heavens and earth to be joyful—to sing—to proclaim a joy that has no end.”¹

 

1. Richard Niell Donovan, “Hymn Story: The Day of Resurrection” Copyright, 2007. Date visited: March 17, 2012. http://www.lectionary.org/HymnStories/The%20Day%20of%20Resurrection.htm

Tuesday Tales from April 15, 2012

JESUS IS RISEN — He is risen indeed!

Since there isn’t Sunday School on Easter, we remember the crucifixion the Sunday before Easter and the resurrection the Sunday after Easter. So we were all on the same story this Sunday – Jesus’ resurrection.

Our classes were all about new life and sharing this news with others.

Some classes made butterflies and thought about new life. Some hunted Easter eggs.

Everyone filled eggs with colored jelly beans and a poem to help them tell the story to others. One egg for themselves and one to share.

• Green is for the palms to wave.
• Yellow is for the love He gave.
• Orange is for the edge of night.
• Purple is for His hands clasped tight.
• Red is for His blood shed in sorrow.
• Pink is for a new tomorrow.

Just like the women who found the tomb empty, we too are excited that Jesus is alive and we are eager to tell others the good news!

 

Offering Update

With the offerings from last Sunday we are able to give: $100 for the AIDs orphans tuition, $1,650.04 total for prescriptions for Clinic with a Heart patients (this is an accumulation of the offering money that is left each week after we remove the $100 for the AIDS orphans tuition). Plus, we have received a total of 304 books to give to the children that come to the Clinic!

We Walk by Faith

Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. (1 Peter 1:8 NIV)

Last Sunday we celebrated Easter with great enthusiasm and we had little doubt that Christ had risen from the dead. This Sunday, we hear the story of doubting Thomas and we confess that we too struggle with doubts as we make our way through the difficulties of life. Is it a weakness to doubt or is there perhaps a positive side to doubt? Wayne Wold gives this answer:

“First of all, doubt is a sign of a thinking mind. Just as it takes little thought to simply accept all we are told, rejecting any ideas that lie beyond our own imaginations is an equally scandalous underuse of gray matter. Having doubts means we are capable of weighing possibilities and reaching conclusions. Second, strugglers and searcher have a better chance of working through doubts than those who neither question nor search. Come to think of it, if it weren’t for doubt how would we know when we do have convictions? How do we know we do believe if we never consider not believing? Third, if Thomas’s encounter can be used as an example, expressing honest doubt may lead to a one-on-one encounter with Jesus. Just as having faith is not something we can attain on our own, we need each other, we need the word and sacraments of the church, and we need the real presence of Christ to help us as we grapple with doubt. And when we gather together with others who think, and doubt, and struggle and, yes, believe, we encounter the risen Christ in our midst.”¹

 

1. Wold, Wayne. Soli Deo Gloria. (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Fortress, 2009) pg. 58.

Reflections on a Sunday Sermon

Use it On Monday, by Michelle DeRusha

Michelle writes a daily blog about finding faith in the everyday at Graceful. On Monday's she reflects on Sunday's sermon in a weekly post entitled "Use it on Monday." She's nice enough to let us re-post it on Southwood's blog. You can read it here each week and then click over to Michelle's blog for more of her writing.

With His Death

When I was 25 and working as an editor at an art magazine in New York City, I came down with a mysterious illness. For several weeks doctors couldn’t figure out what it was – test after test revealed nothing, despite my worsening symptoms: searing headaches, blurred vision, twitching, aching muscles, extreme fatigue, severe nausea. Once a long-distance runner, I didn’t have the energy to walk to the mailbox or lift my arms to brush my hair. Riding Metro North for an hour to my job in the city and working 50 hours a week was out of the question, so I took a leave of absence from work and moved back in with my parents.

Each night, limbs splayed, window open to the stifling August heat, I’d lay gripping the sides of the twin bed in my parents’ guest bedroom, paralyzed by the fear that I was dying. I was convinced I’d be dead by the end of the year. In my mind there was no other explanation – no one, I reasoned, could feel like I did and survive.

The absolute low point was the night I crawled into my parents’ bed and slept between them. I was 25 years old and sleeping with my mother and father like a three-year-old.

I eventually recovered from the illness, but the fear of death that had dogged me since childhood and intensified during the year I was sick never abated. More than ten years after that illness, married and the mother of two children, I continued to lay awake nearly every night gripped by the fear of death.

I didn’t pray about it, because I didn’t believe in God. I didn’t hope for a reprieve from the ever-present fear, because I didn’t believe that hope existed.

“With His death, the power of death over us is no more,” I heard Pastor Sara exclaim yesterday during Easter service, and as she spoke those words, I nodded yes, yes. It’s true. I believe it now.

I still think about dying from time to time, but not the way I used to. I don’t obsess over it any more. It doesn’t keep me awake at night, sheets balled in my fists, eyes wide at the ceiling. Nor do I believe that when I die, I will simply cease, that my body will be put into the ground, end of story. While I can’t quite envision what eternal life will look like, on most days I believe in my heart that it exists.

I tell you this story today, the day after Easter, for one reason: to give you hope.

It may be that you know someone lost, unmoored, hopeless. Someone who feels the talons of death grip tight. Someone who doubts or downright doesn’t believe.

It may even be that that someone is you.

My story isn’t dramatic or exciting. There’s no sky-splitting, fall-to-my-knees conversion. I never heard the voice of God or felt the presence of Jesus come suddenly into my life. I didn’t escape death or overcome insurmountable odds. This transformation from fear to hope, from death to life, unfolded slowly and uneventfully over a period of years. Truth be told, it’s still unfolding, this process of God replacing my heart of stone.

My story is pretty mundane, as far as conversion stories go. Yet it’s a story of hope and truth nonetheless. I am free from the power of death. With His death, the power of death over me is no more.

I pray you know that hope and truth in your heart, too.

You can read more of Michelle's writing on her blog Graceful.