Always with Us

 

The Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen is the only non Italian sculptor commissioned to have one of his statues erected in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican. He was not allowed to sing his “Monument to the Pope Pius VII” because he was a Protestant; not Catholic. What Thorvaldsen is most known for, however, is his Christus carving known popularly as “The Resurrected Christ.” You can see it today in the cathedral of Denmark’s magical city Copenhagen. Thorvaldsen wanted to create the greatest statue of Jesus ever made. Out of clay he molded a monumental, majestic figure with regal gestures: his face tilted upward in triumph, his hands raised in power and authority.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the unveiling. A partially opened window in his ocean-side studio let night fog and sea spray work their way with the clay. When Thorvaldsen returned to his studio after a brief absence, the upraised hands had drooped. They no longer commanded, but welcomed. The confidently unturned face had lowered itself on the Savior’s chest. The face was no longer that of a King wearing a crown, but a compassionate shepherd worrying about his sheep. At first Thorvaldsen agonized over the time wasted and the need to begin again. But the more he looked at the statue shaped by the mist, the more re realized that this was a more accurate Jesus than the one he had originally conceived. So instead of the inscription FOLLOW MY COMMANDS on the base of the statue, he chiseled another message: COME TO ME.

 

In the creation of the first human, there was another mist that molded the First Adam into an image of vulnerability and beauty. There are two creation accounts in Genesis: A macro one in Genesis 1, and a micro one in Genesis 2. In the Genesis 2 micro-creation story, God creates “Adam,” “the human being,” the first inhabitant of the earth, by breathing into his nostrils God’s breath, the “Breath of life.” Once divine spirit is added to physical matter, Adam “Became a living soul” (Genesis 2:7). No other creature receives God’s own breath as its source of life…until Jesus. In Church theology, Jesus is sometimes referred to as the “Second Adam,” or the “Last Adam,” because Jesus’ perfect humanity expunged the failures and “fall” of the “First Adam.” Now Jesus breathed the “Spirit of truth” into a clueless collection of frightened followers and created a new, living entity, a new form of humanity. Jesus’ Spirit-breath created the community that today we call “The Church.”

 

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

Rally Day

As life goes on there seems to be a tendency to putter with the familiar things rather than to strike out in new directions. Having so often been threatened by obstacles or out distanced by competitors, we sometimes lose heart and settle into tinkering. The challenges of life are relentless. They are often so overwhelming that we are tempted to retreat from them or simply relegate them to a limbo of helplessness. Our expectations of renewal or relief wane, and we resign ourselves to our fears and frustrations.

C.S. Lewis wrote about “that first, fine, careless rapture” that lifted the Church into global significance in the worst of times. The Church had no history, except for those short years of Jesus of Nazareth, and with his leaving they might have simply faded away. But that didn’t happen. The disciples seemed to be in many ways like children on the first day of school. They were going to show up for whatever God had for them to do. Trusting that the New Year would bring them new experiences, uncover new things to learn, and certainly propel them further along to live out what life was for. They could not go back to the old fires of memory or sentiment and try to get warmth from cold ashes. There were new fires to be kindled.

That’s what Rally Day is all about. It is what a “new” season is all about. The students among us will go on to things we have not yet learned, or at least never studied in the same way. As for those of us beyond “school,” we will all hear of events and experiences that never happened before in quite the same way. Every day will be a kind of lesson, offering us insight, experience, and maturity.

Not only will the lessons and the headlines be new, so also will God’s presence. We are living out a destiny that is being revealed to us one lesson at a time. We may go back to the old familiar places, the old school buildings, so to speak, but the lessons will be new. If we had figured out some answers for the questions of last year, well and good, this coming year there will be new questions. And, as Isaiah put it so clearly, “The Lord…will be there to teach you.” (Isaiah 30:21-22) “Call on me, and I will answer you, and show you great and hidden things which you have not known,” is what Jeremiah was instructed to tell God’s people. (33:3)

It may not be the first day of school for you, but there is a way to take hold of life that can be grasped only through Jesus Christ. One of the first names they called him when he walked the earth was Teacher. Indeed.

Yours in Christ,
 Pastor Jansen

          

Thinking of the Future

The 40^th Anniversary edition of the Smithsonian magazine featured a cover with the words “40 Things You need to Know about the Next Forty Years.” That’s looking to 2050, way past my time and perhaps many of yours too! According to one writer, “Within the next 40 years, most Americans believe the United States will get the bulk of its energy from sources other than oil. Computers will converse like people. Cancer will be cured and artificial limbs will outperform natural ones. Astronauts will land on Mars and ordinary people will travel in space…and the U.S. will face severe water shortages.” All of these thoughts are not surprising but in the next 40 years there are going to be a whole lot of changes to the way our friends and neighbors live their lives.

LOL Quilters make quilts to be distributed by 

Lutheran World Relief wherever they are needed throughout the world.

 

 

The number that jumps out at me about 2050 is 100 million, that is, 100 million more people with whites no longer being in the majority and current minority populations exceeding 50% by that time. This population increase is not necessarily a bad thing, but these numbers and changes in demographics present a challenge for us as a faith community at Lord of Life.

LOL Confirmation Retreat

As Lord of Life approaches her 44^th year of life as a Christian community, this congregation has been blessed by a strong, forward thinking, committed lay and pastoral staff. We have been blessed these past 40 years, but the future is ahead of us and awaits our commitment. An increase of 100 million new people with significant population diversification, what does that say about planning for the future of this congregation? I know it is difficult for us to think about the distant future let alone five years from now because, “Today’s troubles are sufficient for today.” As the lawyer asks of Jesus, “What must we do to inherit eternal?” So we must ask how we are going to bring the Way, the Truth, and the Life to the neighbor generations that follow.

Think and pray on these things!

Pastor Knauff  

We Must Be People of Passion

The Holy Spirit empowers the church to be the agent of change in the world, a counter-cultural entity. The task of the church is to breathe in the Spirit and be inspired by the Spirit to act on behalf of God. As the Spirit of God flows into us, it also ought to flow from us in the way we treat one another, the way we speak to one another, in the way we treat others in our community, in the way we live out the new life we receive when we accept Jesus Christ as Lord.

A couple of weeks ago I as at an event with Tony Campolo, a sought after speaker, he told a story of a time attending a Christian conference in Honolulu, Hawaii. Since there was a six-hour time differential between Honolulu and his hometown in Pennsylvania, he experienced some confusion in his sleep pattern and on his first night he woke up, got dressed, and left the hotel where he was staying, searching for a place to get something to eat. Eventually he found a tiny coffee shop that was open. Here is his description of what happened there:

“The fat guy behind the counter came over and asked me what I wanted. I told him I wanted a cup of coffee and a donut. As I sat there munching my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning, the door suddenly opened, swung wide, and to my discomfort in marched eight or nine provocatively dressed and rather boisterous prostitutes. It was a small place and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was loud and crude. I felt completely out of place. I was just about to make my getaway when I heard the woman next to me say, ‘You know, tomorrow is my birthday. I’m going to be 39.’ Her friend responded in a rather nasty tone, ‘so what do you want from me, a birthday party? What do you want, you want me to get a cake and sing happy birthday to you?’ ‘Come on’, the woman sitting next to me said, ‘why do you have to be so mean? I’m just telling you that it’s my birthday. Why do you have to put me down? I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why should I have a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life.  Why should I have one now?’

Campolo said, “When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women left, and then I called over the fat guy behind the counter and asked him, ‘Do they come in here every night?’ He answered, ‘Yeah.’ ‘The one who was sitting right next to me, does she come in every night?’ ‘Yeah”, he said, ‘that’s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in every night. Why do you want to know?’ ‘Because,’ Campolo replied, ‘I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday. What do you say we do something special for her? What do you think about throwing a birthday party for her right here in the coffee shop?’ A cute kind of smile crept over that fat man’s chubby cheeks. ‘That’s a great idea,’ he said. Agnes is one of those people who are really nice and kind. I don’t think anybody has ever done anything nice and kind for her.’ ‘Well, look,’ he told him, ‘if it’s okay with you, I’ll be back here tomorrow morning at 2:30. I’ll decorate the place. I’ll even get a birthday cake for her.’ ‘No way!’ he replied. ‘The birthday cake, that’s my thing. I’ll bake the birthday cake myself.’

At 2:30 the next morning, Campolo was back at the coffee shop, he had picked up some crepe paper and other decorations at the store, and made a sign the said, ‘Happy Birthday, Agnes!’ He decorated that diner from one end to the other. The word must have gotten out because at 3:15 that morning every prostitute in Honolulu was in that place. There was wall to wall prostitutes—and Tony Campolo, At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes. He had everyone ready to scream ‘Happy Birthday, Agnes!’ And then we sang to her. And you know never has there been a person so flabbergasted, so stunned, so shaken. Her mouth fell open, her knees started to buckle, and she started to cry.

Harry, the fat guy behind the counter, gruffly mumbled, ‘Blow out the candles, Agnes, blow out the candles.’ Then he handed her a knife and said, ‘cut the cake, Agnes, cut the cake.’ Agnes looked down at that cake, and without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, ‘Look, Harry, is it Okay with you if I, I mean, if I don’t, what I want to ask, is it okay if I keep the cake for a little while? Is it Okay if we don’t eat it right away?’ Harry shrugged and answered, ‘Well, sure, Agnes, that’s fine. You want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.’ ‘Oh, could I?’ she asked. Looking at him, she said, ‘I just live down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the cake home, okay? I’ll be right back, honest.’

She got off the stool, she picked up that cake, and she carried it out of the diner like it was the Holy Grail. She walked slowly toward the door, and we all just stood there, speechless. When the door closed behind her, there was stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, Campolo broke the silence by saying, ‘What do you say we pray together?’ Campolo says that looking back at it now it seems more than a little strange to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But he prayed. He prayed for Agnes, He prayed for her salvation. He prayed that her life would be changed, and that God would be good to her.

And when he finished, Harry leaned over, and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said, ‘Hey, you never told me you were a preacher! What kind of preacher are you anyway? What church do you belong to?’ In one of those moments when just the right words come, he answered him quietly, ‘I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.’ Harry thought for a minute, and then almost sneered as he answered, ‘No, you don’t! There is no church like that. In fact,’ he concluded, ‘If there was, I’d join it.”

Maybe Harry was right. Maybe there is no church that is open enough to the leading of the Holy Spirit to be that kind of church. But if the church is to continue to provide a witness to the world about the unconditional love of God, that’s the kind of church that dances with the wind, a church that celebrates life, a church that twirls and laughs and parties with everyone the Holy Spirit drags us to. Because of the Holy Spirit in our lives we can be people of Purpose, Power, and Passion. Resolve today that you will never be content again with a powerless, puny, poor-mouthing, pessimistic life-style. Tell God that you want to soar on the wings of the spirit. When we do, the weak are made strong every day.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

We Must Have Power

The church needs people with purpose. The church needs to be people powered by the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost the disciples were given the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. They were given power. It is hard sometimes to relate to a concept of spiritual power. Too often, I fear, we get the misconception that when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they became spiritual supermen. Nothing could be further from the truth. These men had far less talent, creativity, resources, and education than modern people today. What they did have was compulsion. It was this motivation that thrust these dozen men out into the world with a message of redemption and by the end of the first century over a half million people had been brought under the Christian banner. That is power.

People of the Bible are witnesses to this power. The words from Ezekiel date to a period of conflict and warfare in the history of the Hebrew people. They were in exile in Babylon, Ezekiel among them. Jerusalem had fallen to a great nation contending with other great nations. Jerusalem and the people of Judah were only small players in this military contest, but not to Ezekiel, not to God. “Can these bones live?” These are words that continue on lips this day. For some people there is a hopelessness that we feel through the greater and lesser crises of our lives. People pat us on the backs and say, “You can’t do anything about it, get used to it.” We feel scattered, disconnected, and dry. Can these bones live? Around us hangs the heavy weight of “no.” We feel trapped, in the dark, behind a great obstacle.

It’s so easy to lose heart and hope, to assume that things have gone too far. It’s too late; there’s nowhere to turn. To assume it’s over. You can’t get the grades that parents demand you achieve. You can’t get into the college of your choice. You can’t find meaning in your job that has become weary and boring. You find that your family is not the perfect family you read about in story books. You want to have children but cannot. You want to have purposeful work but your health won’t allow it. You want to die but your tired old body won’t let go. Against such despair the church proclaims that the love and power of God in Christ Jesus is come into the world. Out hope is not reserved for another day, another life, another world. Can these bones live? By the grace of God the answer is surely “yes.” We have the power to change, grow, gain control, find acceptance, be comforted, gather strength, whatever we need to renew and rebuild our lives.

We need not despair. The Christ who lives in us is the resurrection and is the life. Meaning, promise, and purpose can’t be held hostage to the limits of the conventional wisdom surrounding us or to the narrowness of our own experience. Can these bones live? Listen to the rattling across the valleys of our lives. We who have our hope in Christ live in him, and we can take hope and give it to one another, and to others beyond. 

A few years ago in the Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena, a float stalled. Frustration increased quickly because other floats could not move in this nationally televised event. Mechanics quickly surveyed the stalled float, searching for the problem. Finally, someone had the presence of mind to check for fuel. That’s right. It was out of gas. This became even more embarrassing when the crowd realized that this float’s sponsor was one of the major oil companies. The power available to every Christian far exceeds fossil fuels, or even nuclear energy. The Holy Spirit is the greatest power in the universe. Ask for a daily in-filling.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

We Must Be People of Purpose

In the 1800’s, no business matched the financial and political dominance of the railroad. Trains dominated the transportation industry of the United States, moving both people and goods throughout the country. Then a new discovery came along, the car, and incredibly, the leaders of the railroad industry did not take advantage of their unique position to participate in the transportation development. The automotive revolution was happening all around them, and they did not use their industry dominance to take hold of the opportunity. In the video tape The Search for Excellence, Tom Peters points out the reason: the railroad barons did not understand what business they were in. Peter observes that “they thought they were in the train business. But, they were in fact in the transportation business. Time passed them by, as did opportunity. They couldn’t see what their real purpose was.

Some of you know that the same thing happened to the watch and clock industry. The Swiss had dominated time keeping. They controlled 90% of all revenues made in their industry. They made the most precise gears and springs in the world. Their watches and clocks were perfect. Then something new happened called the Quartz movement—LCD readout. Guess who invented it, a Swiss man, but because it had no gears or knobs or springs it was rejected. They failed to recognize that they were in the business of helping people tell time not making the precision gears. They lost their dominance in the industry. They now control 20% of all revenue. Seiko is the dominant leader.

If Sports Illustrated magazine understood it was in the sports information business, not the publishing business, we would have the Sports Illustrated Channel, not ESPN. Our purpose is to make disciples for Jesus Christ and if we loose our focus will be become obsolete. If we get distracted by tradition, habit, custom, ritual, routine, we will go the way of the trains, the Swiss, the Sports Illustrated. We must remember our basic identity. We must whenever, however, wherever—fulfill our basic purpose. That is why our mission statement starts with these words: Our purpose is that “All may know Jesus Christ and His love for you.” Churches need to be a place where God is seen, love is felt, and lives are changed. 

Every one of us is asked to be part of that team. None of us can sit on the sidelines without getting into the game of life. It is a matter of life and death for those who do not have a relationship to Jesus Christ. This church must be empowered by the Holy Spirit and going out to the streets with spiritual power and authority. The Holy Spirit compels us to go. “Go” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley

An Extreme Makeover

Extreme Makeover is a television show which tugs on the viewer’s heartstrings. Two people are chosen who will undergo an “extreme physical makeover.” Their piercing, moving stories of low self-esteem, based on bodily features, coupled with unkind words of others led them to want an extreme makeover. Features such as ugly teeth, unflattering nose, protruding chins, body shape, fat, wrinkles have led to such a low self-esteem that they cry out for help. They are in need of some type of savior. Some feel they can hardly go on living. After six weeks of surgical work and healing, it’s time to see the results of this “extreme makeover.” The day of the great unveiling brings joy and happiness to that person in need, and also to family and friends who can hardly believe how this person now physically looks.

Today we can also witness an extreme makeover: the refreshing wind of the Spirit is blowing and it is changing the men and women who wait. It is causing things to begin to happen. The Holy Spirit’s presence is always equated with power. Just as the violent wind shook the room, the disciples knew that something glorious was happening. They were immediately convinced that what they had been waiting for had begun. Christ had kept his promise to them! They would never doubt that their Lord had come to them in this unmistakable way. The mighty breath of God was moving among them.

Breath is life. We breathe eighteen times a minute, 1,080 times an hour, 25,000 times a day. At age 40 you will have had 365 million breaths, each a gift from God, the gift of life. A few moments without breath and you are unconscious, a few moments more and you are dead. No wonder the Psalmist declares, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” Psalm 150:6. On his death bed, John Wesley’s last words were “I’ll praise…I’ll praise…” he was struggling to say the words of the great hymn of Isaac Watts, “I’ll Praise my Maker while I’ve Breath.” What natural breath is to the human body for its existence, so is the mighty Breath of God—the Holy Spirit—to the spirit of a person. We simply cannot live long without him. We are more right than we knew when we pray as we sing, “Breath on me Breath of God, Fill me with life anew.”

Each year we witness as our eighth graders confirm their faith. Their journey is also one of an extreme makeover. How do they look? Physically they have matured. I have had the privilege of baptizing a number of them and I have watched them grow to this point. But it is in the area of the Spirit that they have undergone an “extreme makeover.” From their statements of faith, class discussions, the love shown on service projects and ministry around the church, they have undergone an “extreme makeover” spiritually.

It is also good for each one of us to reaffirm our faith in Jesus our Christ and acknowledge the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives as well. What is to be the result of our extreme makeover with the Holy Spirit?

Go with God,

Pastor Qualley