Zephaniah, Our Stuck Culture and How God is at Work RIGHT NOW

Friends,

What follows is a rough manuscript of the sermon I preached this past Sunday at Messiah Lutheran Church in Rotterdam, New York, a Spirit-filled church where I'm incredibly blessed to serve as pastor. It's primarily on the appointed Hebrew Bible passage for this past Sunday, Zephaniah 1: 7-18. I'd love to hear what you think!

So wow… pretty intense message coming out of our first reading from Zephaniah, huh? Earlier this past week I was in the office working out this Sunday’s liturgy with Tina when I went over the texts for the first time, and after reading that passage from Zephaniah, I had one of those face in palm moments… Zephaniah ain’t playing here! All that doom and gloom… “the great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom… I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung… ouch! Today’s passage from Zephaniah is a perfect example of one of those Biblical texts that makes a lot of confused Christians say things like, “Geesh, the way God’s portrayed in the Old Testament makes God sound pretty mean! That’s not the God I know at all, so it’s not relevant. It’s not relevant, so I’ll just skip those passages and get to all that nicer sounding stuff with Jesus in the New Testament.” Be honest, who here’s done something like that before?

Here’s the thing though… despite the way Zephaniah portrays the voice of God sounding really mean and all, despite all the scary doom and gloom, the historical context Zephaniah wrote for couldn’t better match our own, and thus, definitely has some powerful and indeed profoundly good news to proclaim to us in this time, in this place, RIGHT NOW in twenty-first century Rotterdam. Zephaniah himself says he’s writing during the time of Josiah, sort of the last big, successful king of Judah before the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem in 587 BCE. And the times Zephaniah describes are certainly much like our own… “the people rest complacently on their dregs” the text says. Folks in King Josiah’s time lived in relative prosperity, things were okay, but the text repeatedly indicates there was a certain cultural “stuckness” going on in Judah. Sure there was injustice, all manner of sins going on, but in the end, perhaps folks’ greatest sin in that time was complacency or even apathy… a “stuck culture” where thinks weren’t really good, but not that bad, kinda meh… where folks didn’t either want or didn’t think they could do much to improve the situation. Yeah, they sort of continued to worship God, but they didn’t feel like God was all that active in their everyday lives… Zephaniah tells us the people said in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” So, the people weren’t really active, and they didn’t think God was all that active either… they were in a “stuck culture.”

That sense of complacency, of cultural stuckness is definitely something we can all relate to. You might remember a few weeks ago when in the midst of writing my sermon I reached out to some close friends, asking them the question “why are we so pessimistic?” Well, throughout the week that followed, one of my friends and I continued our conversation, and at one point he sent me a few texts that describe our situation incredibly well:

Ya know why we’re pessimists… it’s because there is nothing good left to look forward to. Going to the moon for the first time ever. Creating the interstate highway system… the American Dream. We didn’t grow up in a time of great fear that needed to be overcome, yet we’ve just succumbed to the fear anyway. 

And summing it up using a slightly less kid-friendly word than I will, he said, “People don’t have the brass to achieve anymore.” I think my buddy diagnosed our stuck culture pretty well. Ya know this past weekend I saw what I think will be considered one of the best films of the decade, Interstellar. Has anyone else seen it? Yeah… it’s awesome… because outside of its entertainment value, while on one level it’s about a not-too distant future where humanity needs to leave planet Earth to survive, on another level, it has a lot to say about our own times as well… that sense of complacently, that cultural stuckness that while not always there, seems all too often to weigh deeply upon our hearts. Speaking in terms similar to my buddy, the main character Cooper diagnoses the stuck culture of his world and ours with some pretty powerful words, “We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt.” We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt… yeah, that’s exactly what’s going on… we live in an incredibly stuck culture.

But luckily, it’s into just this sort of situation, a culture of complacency, a stuck culture that Zephaniah proclaims strong, profound and indeed, incredibly good news. Sure, he uses some pretty harsh words, but he uses all the spilling out of blood like dust and flesh like dung for an important reason… to wake us up. My sisters and brothers, you’ve heard the gospel proclaimed to you week after week, year after year in ways that could be summed up, “God loves you no matter what,” “God forgives you, no matter what” or maybe “God saves you, no matter what.” Now, in Christ, we are promised those things are absolutely true, and they absolutely are, and being reminded of such things is as important as ever. Absolutely. But in our time, in our incredibly stuck culture, the gospel message God cries out to us in the words of Zephaniah echoing across the millennia is one that is perhaps even more powerful… in Christ, God is calling you into a life of incredible meaning. In Christ, God is calling you and you and you into a life of incredible meaning. On an individual level, in your families, when you help your children or grandchildren doing their homework, even if the way they teach math nowadays makes absolutely no sense, what you do matters. What you do has incredible meaning in Christ. When you go and visit a homebound loved one or help out a fellow coworker, even in a small way, what you do matters. What you do can’t get you to heaven or get you right with God, because God already takes care of that for us, but still, what you do has incredible meaning in Christ.

On a larger scale, as a society, God is calling us to lives of incredible meaning as well. This past week as I watched coverage of the annual Veterans’ Day ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Arlington, and especially as I heard about Gerald’s flight to DC where he was honored as a veteran of the Second World War, I’ve been haunted by the incredible bravery of our women and men who’ve served in our armed forces… and I know we have a number of them in our congregation. Please stand up or raise your hand if you’re a veteran. Thank you for all you’ve done, for all you’ve sacrificed in service to your country. Now while we prayerfully hope that doing something like defeating the scourge of Hitler never has to happen again, we should also know that we’re still called to dream and solve difficult problems and do incredible things in our time, RIGHT NOW, despite leaders in both of our major political parties and other leaders in our stuck culture neglecting to ask us as a nation to do much of anything… ending hunger, caring for people who are homeless or undocumented, curing cancer, all these things are possible with a collective societal effort. Living lives of incredible meaning, doing things that matter, both on an individual level and as a wider society, isn’t something to be relegated to the past, whether it be two thousand years ago or sometime back in the good ol’ days, whenever those were… God is confronting us with the profoundly good news that we’re called to lives of incredible meaning RIGHT NOW.

And of course, God confronts us with the profoundly good news that we’re called to a life of incredible meaning as a congregation as well. Now let me first say, when you sing in the choir, or help care for our property or teach our children in Sunday school, that already has incredible meaning in Christ. On top of that though, you might recall I spoke last week about a question that the Spirit has certainly put on my heart, and I know on many of yours… “Given all the growth we’ve experienced here at Messiah, what might God be calling us to in that growth?” There was also a homework assignment, if you remember… to brainstorm, to think about needs in our local community, here in Rotterdam and the greater Schenectady area. I apologize, as I know my sermons have been going a bit long lately, I promise to reign it in after my vacation haha, but just take a minute to turn to one of your neighbors and talk about what things you came up with, what some needs are here in our local community…

… We might not be called to build cutting edge low income housing or feed every hungry person in Schenectady as a congregation alone, but whatever needs you talked about, we’re certainly confronted with the profoundly good news that we’re called in Christ to in partnership with others, work on at least a few of those things. As we enter into a busy Advent season as Messiah Lutheran Church, as a Spirit-filled church following Jesus Christ, I pray the conversations you had keep going, that ideas keep bubbling up. Once we get past Christmas, say in early January, I already heard from a few of you that it’d be a good idea to have a bit of brainstorm session together as a community, to discern what we might be called to do.

Even if the things we come up with seem small, my sisters and brothers, with every hungry mouth fed or family with a warm place to sleep or harmful public policy changed through our efforts, treating our neighbors as Christ is something that always matters. And furthermore, perhaps in doing these things we can proclaim to folks in the ridiculously stuck culture we find ourselves living in that they are called to lives of incredible meaning, that they can and indeed often are doing things that matter as well. For as Zephaniah proclaims, both to the people of his stuck culture and to ours, in this time, in this place, RIGHT NOW in twenty-first century Rotterdam, God is constantly breaking into our lives, stirring things up, making things happen. In Christ, our God has promised to do just that, and yes, as always our God is a good who keeps promises. Amen.

God's peace,

Dustin

Dustin serves as pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church, a Spirit-filled church following Jesus Christ in Rotterdam, New York. An evangelist, urban gardener, mountain climber, community organizer, saint and sinner, he spends most of his professional time wrestling with God and proclaiming liberation in Christ. Otherwise, Dustin likes hiking, playing frisbee, hanging out with his fiancée Jessie, his amazing pup Willy Bear and pretending to know how to sing.

God Is at Work in You!

Hi friends,

What follows is the manuscript for a sermon I preached yesterday at Messiah Lutheran Church, the amazing, spirit-filled faith community following Jesus Christ in Rotterdam, New York where I'm blessed to serve as pastor. It's primarily on one of the appointed texts for the Sunday, Philippians 2:1-13. It'd love to hear some feedback and thanks for reading!

In line with the style of this week’s children's sermon, this sermon will be a bit participatory adventure as well… So if you could take out your bulletin, open it, and focus on the right inside panel, where it has all the announcements and those sort of things. Now look near the bottom of the page in the box that says Messiah Lutheran Church and lists our contact info. Who here could read for me that first sentence below our wonderful sexton Nicole’s name? Just the first sentence… Thank you! Now there’s a bit of a typo there, but it’s pretty close… Our mission is “to be a spirit filled church following Jesus Christ.” So if you wouldn’t mind, repeat after me… Our mission is “to be a spirit filled church following Jesus Christ.” Our mission is “to be a spirit filled church following Jesus Christ.” Alright, awesome!!! Now say it one more time so you can keep it in you head while we chat for a few more minutes… “Our mission is to be a spirit filled church following Jesus Christ.”

Members of our busy kitchen crew last night @ Messiah.

So as you all know, it’s been a pretty busy time in the life our faith community, and frankly in my own life as well this past week. There was a lot of time spent preparing for the roughly one hundred folks showing up later this afternoon for a beautiful evening vespers, to celebrate all the amazing stuff we’ve achieved together over the past couple months, followed by an equally celebratory, awesome and I’m sure to be delicious ham dinner organized by our very own Kitchen Committee. Some of my family members are of course coming up to Rotterdam in a couple hours for the festivities, most of them for the first time, so I had a whole lot of house cleaning to do, which my increasingly mischievous pup Willy Bear has been making pretty difficult. Our new bishop in the Upstate NY Synod, Rev. John Malcholz, visited Messiah for the first time this past Thursday as well… he loved the new paint job in my office by the way. And on top of all that, you might be aware that I got engaged this past weekend to the beautiful Ms. Jessie Morton. Two of her closest friends, Ms. Brooke and Ms. Hailey, who are joining us this morning in what I think is both of their first Lutheran services, even flew up to spend this special weekend with us.

So given all this, I gotta confess I was pretty much running on fumes all week, not really on my “A game,” a fact that became most apparent when it occurred to me about ten minutes before I was scheduled to lead our first adult education class this past Wednesday evening that I had completely forgotten to plan anything, not even the briefest devotion, for the class at all. Given that I’m the pastor and all here I felt pretty irresponsible, kinda angry and really disappointed with myself, and definitely frustrated about how nuts things have been lately at Messiah, even though all that craziness has stemmed from pretty much all good, and in fact amazing things… new faces and returning old faces joining us during Sunday worship, a new girl scout troop and Home Bureau group using our building, new classes and programs galore… even plans for creating a whole new youth room in the works. We’ve indeed experienced growth in every way over the last couple months here at Messiah, and you’ve all contributed so much to this process, and on top of all that I was just about to celebrate some truly amazing moments in my own life, but no matter, I really upset and even angry about how busy and worn out I was feeling.

Our wonderful volunteer servers last night @ Messiah.

Luckily I had a copy of this week’s bulletin on me, as I was starting to think about today’s sermon, and that’s when I first spied that powerful mission statement of yours… our mission is “to be a spirit filled church following Jesus Christ.” Now mission statements are something folks usually argue over in various committees every five years or so and then promptly forget about, but I figured, hey, that sounds like a pretty good one to describe the mission of folks here at Messiah, so let’s talk a little bit about it and your accompanying dove symbol at the beginning of our adult education class. And guess what folks, we ended up having a fabulous conversation… we spoke about how when first coming here as prospective members looking for a new faith community, it was apparent how the Spirit was truly moving amongst the people of Messiah. We reflected a bit deeper about the how Holy Spirit works as well, about how we experience the Spirit in passion, in emotion, in movement, in making things happen, yet how the Holy Spirit’s presence is also one of indescribable stillness of the soul, and yes, of peace.

And it’s just that sort of thing, the presence of the Holy Spirit, that odd combination of making things happen, of passion yet peaceful stillness amidst it all that Paul’s referring to in today’s passage from the Epistle to the Philippians. Now a couple weeks back we were talking about those troublesome Corinthians… the new rich, people always trying to one up each other and that sort of thing, but the Philippians were a different crew entirely. Acts tells us they were Paul’s first church in Europe, some of the closest supporters of his ministry, and indeed, some of Paul’s closest friends. Paul writes them from what’s probably a Roman prison, in what was probably an extremely difficult situation, and writes predominately to share in the joy of Christian community with his friends and companions in sharing the Good News that is Jesus. And what he write’s them is truly awesome… first he quotes what was probably one of the earliest hymns about Jesus in order to urge the Philippians to be of the same mind as Jesus…

whom though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the God the Father.

And wow, it sounds like a pretty heavy deal… Paul’s urging the Philippians, and indeed us, to become obedient, even to the point of death, even to the point of death on a cross. We’re to empty ourselves? Just like me nearly panicking amidst the busyness of life this past week or just like us as community scrambling to feed a hundred folks ham dinner from our humble little kitchen and working through the growth happening all around us, or all of us while we’re dealing with all types of difficult challenges in our individual lives, when we hear stuff like that, to be obedient, to empty ourselves, we can’t help but throw our hands up in the air sometimes and yell wow God, how the heck do you think I can do something like that?

Yet all times, and especially in those moments, my sisters and brothers, when we have no idea at all what we’re gonna do, we also need to look at what Paul says to his dear friends the Philippians next… we need to look at what Paul indeed proclaims to us next here at Messiah Lutheran Church in Rotterdam, New York across the millennia… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. For it is God who is at work in you! It is God, my sisters and brothers, who is at work in all of us, every single day, no matter how imperfect or overworked or worn out we feel like we are… working through that odd combination of passion, of making things happen, and that still sort of peace that is the Holy Spirit. Although it at times may feel like an incredible burden, it’s an incredible promise… God is at work in all our lives, both in what we do here at Messiah and in our wider lives, whether you’re doing big things or seemingly inconsequential things… maybe you’re trimming the bushes outside, or visiting folks who can’t make it out to church anymore or making an emergency repair to the sink in the girls bathroom or volunteering as bartender’s at Proctors or caring for your grandchildren or helping your parents prepare dinner… God is at work in you!

Our Messiah community during Sunday worship.

Whether you’re getting ready to teach a Sunday School lesson or researching the prices of haunted hayride trips for confirmation class or sending out press releases or serving as ushers in worship or struggling to care for your aging parents… God is at work in you! Whether you’re keeping track of church finances or coaching your daughter’s softball team or cooking ham dinner or leading Messiah’s children in singing songs about God or journeying across the country to support a sick loved one, God is at work in you! Whether you’re being silly up in the choir loft or sewing together shopping bags for needy individuals at the SICM food pantry or dropping you kids off at a sporting event or learning more about prayer at our new God Talk series, God is at work in you! In our Spirit filled church following Jesus Christ, and indeed in all aspects of our lives, God is at work in all our lives, moving through that odd combination of making things happen and peace that is the Holy Spirit. In Christ my sisters and brothers, our God has promised to be at work in all our lives no matter who we are, and yes, our God is a God who keeps promises. Amen.


Dustin serves as pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church, a vibrant congregation ministering with the local community in Rotterdam, New York. An evangelist, urban gardener, mountain climber, community organizer, saint and sinner, Dustin spends most of his profession time wrestling with God and proclaiming liberation in Christ. Otherwise, Dustin likes hiking, playing frisbee, hanging out with an amazing woman named Jessie and pretending to know how to sing.

How Then Can We Live?

Hey friends,

What follows is a manuscript of the sermon I preached this Sunday at Messiah Lutheran Church in Schenectady, NY as part of our congregation's annual Rally Sunday. I focused mostly on the first appointed lesson for the day, Ezekiel 33:7-11. Thanks so much for reading, and I'd love to hear what you think!

God's peace,
Pastor Dustin

So we’re here on a beautiful early fall morning, worshiping outside, rallying at the start of a new year of Sunday School, choir and bunch of other exciting things at Messiah, probably hoping I’ll finish up my sermon early so we can get to the barbecue and that sort of thing, and we’re confronted by a bunch of real choice texts for what’s supposed to be a happy, joyful Sunday… I mean, when I read the texts earlier this week from what’s called the Revised Common Lectionary, this standardized list of Bible texts used each Sunday by most churches in a number of different denominations, I literally had like face in my palm, rolled my eyes… all the folks who came up with the list of texts really dealt us an interesting hand today for our Rally Sunday… In our Hebrew Bible reading Ezekiel is calling out the wickedness of his fellow folks from Judah, talking about how God has appointed him as a sentinel… in our reading from the Epistles, Paul’s writing to the Romans about how there’s no debauchery and reveling allowed… and in the Gospel of Matthew even Jesus gets in on happy fest… talking all about how if people in your faith community sin against you, there’s this long process you have to go through to either reconcile with them, or maybe kick them out… wowzers. Now, it’s not that there’s not wisdom in these texts, I don’t want to make light of them at all in that sort of way, but, to be fair, for a Sunday that’s supposed to be so fun and happy and about all the joys of Christian community, our texts today upon first read seem to be well, a bit of a bummer.

There’s no denying these aren’t the most joyful of texts, but that’s mostly because the speakers in all three texts are taking their prophetic role quite seriously, guarding against the specific sins of their time and local community. In all of three of today’s texts though, it’s not just all fire and brimstone sort of stuff by any means, because every passage proclaims hope in some way as well. Ezekiel explicitly states it this way, but both Paul and Jesus reflect the same message… when the community asks “how then can we live?” Ezekiel quite simply proclaims out, “God lives, so how could you die? God lives, so how could you possible have anything to worry about? God lives!” And to boil it down, that’s pretty much what prophets do right? They analyze the human situation specific to their time and place, figure out what folks are generally worrying about and then proclaim to folks how God is constantly breaking into their lives to show how those worries are complete hogwash. Whether its a people saying no, we can’t live under exile in a foreign land, as the people of Judah were in Ezekiel’s time, or a small, emerging faith community in Paul and Jesus’s time saying no, we can’t get along with one another, no we can’t figure out how to be a church, in both these and I believe in all human situations, there’s always some sort of “no” folks are coming up with. And often in quite simple ways, prophets pretty just proclaim how God is the eternal “yes” to all those “no’s” us human beings keep coming up with, whatever they are.

Just to reiterate, because I’m a bit more discombobulated than usual, I’ve made two points so far… 1) its easy to see that the prophets in our texts today took their jobs quite seriously, and 2) we can pretty much boil down the job of a prophet to show how God is the eternal “yes” to whatever specific “no’s” folks are coming up with in their specific time and place. So, here’s a third point for you to consider my sisters and brother… we’re all called to be prophets. Think about it… remember Jesus’ whole “great commission” thing? “Go and make disciples of all nations?” As Christians, we’re all called to be prophets. We’re all called to be prophets… to look at our specific time and place, figure out what “no’s” people are coming up with, and then show how God is the eternal “yes” to all those no’s and doubts… Just Ezekiel, and Paul and Jesus, we’re called to discern how folks are asking “How then can we live?” and then be able to proclaim, “Hey, like chill out, God lives!! God lives, so how could you possibly die?” We’re called to be prophets, to proclaim the good news of God’s liberating love in Christ to a world absolutely overflowing with all sorts of human hogwash… all sorts of “no’s.”

So what “no’s” then are folks coming up with today in our time and place, in postmodern twenty-first century Schenectady? What “no’s” are we called to answer with the good news of the eternal “yes” of God? There’s certainly a bunch of possibilities, a bunch of “no’s” floating around out there in the societal ether, but after thinking about it a great deal over the past week and having conversations with many of you, I believe two of the most popular “no’s” in our time and place are as follows: “No, I don’t think my life has a whole lot of meaning” and “No, I don’t really feel part of a community.” Think about it… things are changing more rapidly than ever. From government to religion to the market there no longer seems like any institutions we can trust. And there’s so many things to fear… terrorism, disease, loneliness and financial uncertainty are just a few of those things. And there’s just so much to do… most of us, and perhaps especially our kids, are way too over-programed… mounds of homework, twenty different sports teams… it’s an odd sort of paradox, actually. Despite being busier than ever, many of us feel more lonely than ever. And amidst the daily grind of all that busyness and fear and change, wow, we can’t help but often feel like there isn’t much of a point to the whole thing.

How then can we live like this? How then can we live without a life of meaning? How then can we live without a deep, fulfilling connection with community? How then can we live? We’re asking these questions… our neighbors are asking these questions… in our human imperfection, we’re all asking these questions, the specific “no’s” of our postmodern age. And my sisters and brothers, after hanging out here at Messiah for over a month now, after having conversations with most of you over meals or in committee meetings or while feeding hungry kids lunch, I feel more confident than ever that you’re just the prophetic sort of folks God’s calling to proclaim the eternal “yes” amidst so many human “no’s.” You’re just the prophetic sort of folks to answer those human questions “how then can we live?” with the only answer that’s ever really mattered, “God lives.” I mean look around at each other… seriously, nearly everyone here is deeply involved in the life of this congregation in one way or another. In most congregations you get maybe twenty, thirty percent of folks who do more than just come to church on a Sunday morning. Here at Messiah though, on an average week I’d say I see or speak with at least three quarters of you outside of Sunday morning. It’s absolutely amazing! It’s easy to see that in a society starved for meaning, in a society starved for community, you all can’t help but find meaning, you can’t help but find community here in Christ.

There’s a lot to rally about this Sunday, on this beautiful early fall morning, on Rally Sunday… you might not believe it, but just in the way you live out your life in Christ together, its plainly apparent to me how prophetic you’re all called to be. In a world desperately crying out “how then can we live without meaning?” and “how then can we live without community?” you’re just the sort of prophetic folks called to answer those specific questions with the eternal yes of God by being exactly who you are, by doing the simple things… by living out a life of meaning in Christian community and going out to welcome others in to gather with us around bread and wine, to sing together, pray together, share meals together and play together and raise our children together. God lives. God lives. God lives. And in such a time as this, that eternal yes, that good news that God lives is more important than ever. So, on this Rally Sunday, let’s indeed rally. Let’s sing and play and joyfully proclaim it at the top of our lungs my sisters and brothers, God lives!!!

Dustin serves as pastor at Messiah Lutheran Church, a vibrant congregation ministering with the local community in Rotterdam, New York. An evangelist, urban gardener, mountain climber, community organizer, saint and sinner, Dustin spends most of his profession time wrestling with God and proclaiming liberation in Christ. Otherwise, Dustin likes hiking, playing frisbee, hanging out with an amazing woman named Jessie and pretending to know how to sing.

The Only Nativity Scene I've Ever Felt Comfortable With

What follows is a post I recently wrote for my Christian Discipleship in a Consumer Society journal, a semester-long assignment regularly making entries for a course at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, where I'm currently in my last year of a Masters of Divinity program. Please comment! I'd love to hear what you think!

As we celebrate the Feast Day of Christ the King and begin preparations for the expectant, hopeful season of Advent, many folks (both Christian and otherwise) are probably not looking forward to the fact that Advent/ "the holiday season" is a time of the year when America's ongoing culture wars are probably the most pronounced. Things like fights over whether a child can mention the birth of Jesus in a public school, debates about whether a Christmas tree or even a nativity scene is allowed on the local town green and a common Christian lament about "the secularization/ commercialization of Christmas" around this time of the year are all too common.

While different understandings of the American concept of church/ state separation, concerns about the commercialization of Christmas and the skipping over of Advent are legitimate and thus are rightfully subjected to "spirited" public debate in our culture, there's one humble suggestion I have for my fellow sisters and brothers in Christ that would lessen tensions around this time of the year... if you have a nativity scene outside your church, make sure it conveys the good news of Christ that it's supposed to. With the exception of the nativity scene Saint John's Lutheran Church on Christopher Street in NYC had up last year, I can't really think of a particular outdoor nativity scene that does a good job of proclaiming the gospel (with some of those "living nativity scenes" as notable exceptions). Now I may think this because I haven't seen enough nativity scenes to make an honest judgement, but I do know that most of the non-Christian friends I talk with about the subject (if they notice them at all) tend to think one of two things about the nativity scenes they see sprouting up around town: 

• Nativity scenes are sometimes offensive. This is because the human characters in nativity scenes are frequently all European American (especially odd since Jesus and everyone else except for perhaps the three kings/ magi would have been West Asian).
• Nativity scenes are sometimes oppressive. For folks whose primary brushes with Christianity have been extremely oppressive, judgmental and perhaps even hateful, a nativity scene that doesn't proclaim the radical hospitality that Jesus is all about can simply become another reminder about all the sinful aspects of Christian history. For folks how have a sort of neutral view of Christianity but don't know the Biblical stories behind the nativity, such scenes can simply look like a bunch of pious "perfect people" standing around an empty manger with a bunch of farm animals instead of a display that proclaims God lovingly frees and welcomes in us sinners of all shapes and sizes.

So, with all that in mind, the two photos you see here are of the nativity scene outside Saint John's Lutheran Church last year in the heart of Greenwich Village. It depicts the nativity in a way that culturally translates... occupiers, a drag queen, a business man, hip-hoppers and a beat poet are all gathered around the manger with Mary and Joseph, expectantly waiting the coming of the Christ-child. What an amazingly creative way to get noticed and more importantly proclaim the gospel in a way culturally translates what Christ's coming is all about!

Many thanks to Pastor Erson for sending these pictures to me, but all the writing above reflects my thoughts and my thoughts alone. Please don't take this post as a challenge at all... I bet there's a bunch of really great nativity scenes out there! Rather, read this as an invitation to share some of those creative ways your faith community has discerned how to proclaim the gospel during Advent and Christmas.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently in his final year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, having recently completed a year as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in New York City. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Canada and the United States of America

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (4 August - 10 August) are Canada and the United States of America. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We give thanks that portions of the Defense of Marriage Act were ruled unconstitutional in the United States of America earlier this summer, and pray for the law’s full repeal. We pray that the rights and lands of indigenous people in Canada are respected by those involved in oil sands extraction. We pray for the passage of comprehensive immigration reform currently held up by the US House of Representatives. We pray for millennials in the US suffering from high unemployment and staggering student loan debt.

God's peace,

Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: The Caribbean

Haiti

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (28 July - 3 August) are the countries of the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for the people of Haiti as they continue to recover from the 2010 earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. We pray the normalization of relations between Cuba and other nations, particularly the United States, while also praying for the Cuban people as they continue to struggle in a post-Soviet economy. We pray for the people of all Caribbean nations as they enter hurricane season. We give thanks for the continued strengthening of regional cooperation through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Preaching Video: Trayvon, Malala and the Good Samaritan

What follows is video from me preaching on Sunday, 14 July following the acquittal of George Zimmerman on the gospel reading for the day, Saint Luke10: 25 - 37. I'd love to hear what you think.

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Preaching Video: Marriage Equality and Christ's Liberating Love

I realized yesterday I never posted this video of my sermon from a couple Sundays back, preached at Saint Peter's Church where I serve as Vicar on June 30th, 2013.  It's primarily on an appointed reading for the day, Galatians 5: 1, 13 -25, and the recent federal recognition of marriage equality.  Would love some feedback.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Galatians 5 Sermon: Liberating Love vs. Hate and Intolerance

Hey friends! What follows is a sermon draft I just came up with for tomorrow at Saint Peter's Church where I serve as Vicar. It's primarily on an appointed reading for the day, Galatians 5: 1, 13 -25, and the recent federal recognition of marriage equality. Definitely needs some changes before tomorrow so I'd love to hear what you think.
 
If you’re a rabble-rousing sinner like me, if you’re someone known to get a bit rowdy, or someone that well… has a bit of flavor in any number of ways, and thanks be to God we have a bunch of those folks here at Saint Peter’s, part of today’s first reading from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians probably didn’t sound like very good news at all… part of it might have bummed you out, angered you or even scared the heck out of ya. I’m specifically speaking about the part where Saint Paul condemns that nice long list of “desires of the flesh.” Desires of the flesh… for many folks such talk conjures up images of hate, images of judgment… images of times when our friends, our families and our own selves have gotten the message to feel inadequate or unwelcome because of who we are. And all too often, such messages of hate, such messages of judgment have come from the mouths of our fellow Christians.

Desires of the flesh… Perhaps you’ve had to sit and comfort a daughter or friend who’s made the difficult decision to exercise her God-given right to choose and then had to confront voices calling her a whore and fornicator on the way to a family planning center. Perhaps you or a loved one have had to deal with accusations of impurity or carousing because for any number of very legitimate reasons you live with a long-term committed partner before marriage. I know many of us were angered this past week when in the midst of celebrating the news of the federal recognition of marriage equality, as the tolling bells of advancing justice were ringing out loud across our country, our joy was interrupted by all sorts of people… politicians, pundits, and pastors especially, accusing the Supreme Court of going against the word of God.

At times, we can we respond to such messages of hate and judgment by shrugging it off or perhaps like Nancy Pelosi did this past week, we can easily reply, “Who cares.” But sometimes, we can’t, sometimes it’s not so easy… sometimes these messages, whether coming from our fellow Christians or from other polished and seemingly perfect individuals simply cut too deep. As Christians, they strike us at the core of who we know ourselves to be through faith as broken yet beautiful children of God. And that’s just for us Christians… for the increasing number of our sisters and brothers either born outside an organized faith community or painfully separated from one, such messages can hurt even more and certainly dissuade them from ever stepping foot inside a church, hearing the good news and knowing the joy of community in Christ.

So, what shall we do, what shall we say in this time and place, in a specific historical and cultural situation calling us to respond to hate and intolerance that is so frequently propagated in the name of God? First, I believe, we have to take stock of where we are as a society. Not even an hour after the Supreme Court released it’s ruling on the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, CNN brought Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council on air to give a “Christian perspective on the news.” Now, when you have the president of an anti-gay hate group representing the views of a diverse faith like Christianity to millions, it must be recognized that we have a long way to go. At the same time, we must also take stock of ourselves, our own biases and weaknesses, and create space to ask the difficult questions about how to name hate for what it is while still fully affirming those who propagate hate are just as much children of God as we are.

Next, we should celebrate our successes… in the past couple years we’ve seen a diverse group of folks from famous athletes to Jay-Z to even the President of the United States specifically cite their faith as a reason to affirm the rights of everyone across the rich diversity that is the gender spectrum in our world. And this past week, as marriage equality became federally recognized across our land, to cite the poetic summation of Martin Luther King, the long arc of the moral universe took a most powerful bend towards justice. That is absolutely amazing news, its absolutely amazing news folks… and as many of us gather to celebrate our freedom as Americans later this week, let us hold in our hearts that many of our sisters and brothers are more free now than ever before, and our whole society is the better for it.

But finally, the most important thing to keep in mind is that its not really about what you, or me or any other person for that matter is really doing to confront the forces of hate and intolerance at all… its about what Christ is doing… its about what Christ is doing in this time, in this place, in this city, and in this world… and that my sisters and brothers, is amazingly good news. For we know the compassionate work of God in Christ is not an act of intolerance, its not an act of judgment, but rather is an act of liberation, of freedom from all the powers of sin, of death and hate that may oppress us, and thus, an act of love. If one looks at Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians as a whole rather than just cherry picking that list of desires of the flesh, one realizes that in six short chapters it proclaims a message of Christ’s liberating love in the most profound of ways. You see, Paul wrote his letter in a cultural context much like our own…

Despite Paul’s earlier attempt to proclaim the liberating good news of God’s work in Christ, the Galatians had turned to a different “gospel,” to those who preached that following a strict interpretation of Mosaic Law was a necessary part of being a Christian, rather than living into the Spirit of God’s covenant with Israel as a gift. Paul boldly proclaims to the Galatians, “No folks… trying to get on God’s good side by following such a legalistic sense of piety doesn’t bring life… it kills you and it kills community! If you think you can score some brownie points with God by acting all polished and perfect… then what’s the point of God’s liberating work in Jesus at all? That path just leads to an inflated ego and a subsequent trampling on the hearts of others who we deem less pious.” Then, my sisters and brothers, Paul exclaims to the Galatians and to us as in this time, in this place, in this city, “By rising over the best attempt of those in power to stop His message of liberating love, by rising over the powers of sin and hate and death, Christ frees you from a need to be perfect, Christ frees you from yourself, Christ frees you and all people, into the hope of restored community with God and with one another.” Sure, sin is a very real thing, and Saint Paul lists those “sins of the flesh,” although perhaps we could update them… I don’t see sorcery being one of our major issues as of late, because neither he nor God wants us to hurt others or ourselves. Absolutely. But in the end, Saint Paul’s message, a saving message of God’s liberating love in Christ is that you don’t need to fit your own or anyone else’s definition of perfection. Rather folks, be your wonderful, broken yet beautiful selves. Do good things, make the world a better place, celebrate and share the good news of Christ’s liberating love throughout the world, but don’t do it out of a need to be perfect... Do it out of love for God and love for each other. Amen.

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay

Celebrating marriage equality in Uruguay.

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (23 June - 29 June) are Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for a peaceful resolution to the continued territorial dispute between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, whose citizens recently voted overwhelmingly to remain a British territory.  We give thanks and pray for Pope Francis, who is from Argentina.  We pray for those in Paraguay who are suffering from an outbreak of dengue fever and for decreased corruption in that country following the recent election of Horacio Cartes as President.  We give thanks for Uruguay’s recent passage of a marriage equality bill, which will begin taking effect this August.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Brazil

Protesting the Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil.

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (16 June - 22 June) is Brazil. While the paragraph below provides information on current events (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for all involved in the proposed Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil, that they seek a more environmentally sustainable alternative and that they would respect the human rights of thousands of indigenous persons being displaced by the dam’s construction. We give thanks for Brazil’s success in decreasing economic inequalities in recent decades. The number of Brazilians living on less than $2.00 a day and the number of those suffering from malnutrition has been halved since the early 1990s.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Gathered Up Into Community: Holy Trinity Sermon (video)

What follows is video of the sermon I preached a couple Sundays back at Saint Peter's Church where I currently serve as Vicar.  It's predominately on the Gospel for the day, Saint John 16: 12 - 15.  I'd love to hear what you think!

 

God's peace,
Dustin 


Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Angola and Mozambique

Luanda, Angola.

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (9 June - 15 June) are Angola and Mozambique. While the paragraph below provides information on current events (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for a peaceful run-up to this November’s elections in Mozambique, a country that has remained largely stable since its first multi-party elections in the early 1990s.  We give thanks and pray for continued peace and recovery in Angola following its’ decades-long civil war which ended in 2002 and took the lives of over 500,000 persons.  We pray that increased wealth from natural resource extraction in both countries is used to assist their many citizens who still live in extreme poverty.  

God's peace,

Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland

Mountains of Lesotho

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (2 June - 8 June) are Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. While the paragraph below provides information on current events (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources.

We give thanks for last year’s free, fair and peaceful elections in Lesotho and pray for continued strengthening of democracy in that country. We pray for the people of Mukwe, an area of Namibia stricken by drought. We pray for a just resolution of continued labour strife in South Africa, particularly in the mining sector. We pray for Ellinah Wamukoya, who was ordained by the Anglican Church of South Africa as Bishop of Swaziland last November, becoming the first female bishop in all of Africa.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Botswana & Zimbabwe

Gabarone, Botswana

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (26 May - 1 June) are Botswana and Zimbabwe. While the paragraph below provides information on current events (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources.

We give thanks for continued good governance in Botswana, Africa’s longest continuous multi-party democracy.  We pray for continued strengthening of the country’s HIV/ AIDS treatment programmes, as over one third of Botswana’s adult population are infected.  We pray for peace ahead of Zimbabwe’s upcoming general elections on June 29^th and that the country’s new constitution is honored by all parties involved.

God's peace,

Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

Even God Cannot Be Alone - A Holy Trinity Sermon

Just finished up my draft for tomorrow's sermon at Saint Peter's Church where I serve as Vicar.  It's still a rough draft (particularly the ending), but I'd love to hear what you think:

Even God cannot be alone. Even God cannot be alone… for God only does the amazing work She does, in Holy Trinity, in Community. Even in Her oneness, God cannot be alone, for She only does the amazing work She does in Community. And in giving us just a hint about how that Community of the Trinity works in today’s gospel story by recording some of the final words of Jesus before his betrayal and arrest, Saint John shows extraordinary foresight. He shows extraordinary foresight because he realizes that God’s gathered people on Earth, the people that are literally the Body of Christ, will face new things… they will face new troubles, new challenges and new opportunities. In other words, Saint John knows we, the Body of Christ, will face change, and he knows we need assurance that the Community of the Trinity will be at work in that change.

Knowing that we will face change Saint John highlights the fact that Jesus is sending us an Advocate, a Spirit, the very Breath of God to lead us, to comfort us, to guide us into truth. Just listen again to the words of Saint John crying out to us from across millennia:

[Jesus said to his disciples,] I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The Community of the Trinity is indeed at work in change… the Community of the Trinity is at work through the Spirit guiding us into truth, but there seems to be a big problem with what Jesus said… maybe it jumped out at you right away. The problem is that sometimes, and especially in the most rapidly changing and perhaps troubling of times, Jesus’ promise doesn’t seem to ring true. Whether confronting chaotic change in our personal lives or in the collective life of our faith communities, Jesus’ promise of the Spirit doesn’t seem to ring true… it can feel like there’s no Advocate, no Breath of God leading us into truth.

For many of us, myself included, this past year has been one of those times in particular, a year filled with immense challenge, a year filled with immense change, a year in which drowned in chaos, many of us have strained to feel the Spirit’s presence at all. In addition to whatever was going on in our own personal lives, let’s just do a quick recap of the immense changes and challenges our region, our city and our parish have faced over the last year: This past October many parts of our city and region were ravished by Hurricane Sandy, including many areas to have yet to fully recover. Around the same time we were also facing the anxiety of a bitter presidential election season, only to hear the devastating news a month later of the brutal murder of twenty children and six adult staff just north of us in Connecticut. The winter provided only a bit of a break… while certainly not bad news and in fact a great opportunity, the resignation of Pope Benedict and election of Pope Francis was still major change for a church that many of us hold dear to our hearts, and this thus brought about the stress that all major changes do. Increased tensions with a nuclear-armed North Korea also didn’t help matters. Continuing on, this April we were confronted by news of the Boston Marathon bombings, only to later hear that the perpetrators thought of coming to New York and setting off more bombs in Times Square. Only last weekend our city was rocked by news of the murder of Mark Carson in the West Village, killed out of hate because he was gay. Add onto all this hard decisions about staff reductions and budget cuts here at Saint Peter’s and the loss of our beloved Santa Clause, John Rusinak… folks, its easy to see that its been one heck of a year. It’s been one heck of a year, and many of us have understandably asked at times, “Where is God in all of this?”

Yet, there is immensely good news in such a dire situation. There is immensely good news in the fact that not even God can be alone, there is immensely good news in the fact that that God cannot be alone and that She only does the work She does in Holy Trinity, in Community. And, my sisters and brothers, there is immensely good news in the fact that God does not want us to be alone either. You see we too are invited into Community with God, as the Holy Spirit does the oftentimes slow, careful yet immensely powerful work of gathering us up together into the Body of Christ. While we held each other and wept at John Ruzinak’s funeral, the Spirit was there, gathering us up. While we sat at brunch and comforted folks who were flooded out of their homes or places of work by Hurricane Sandy, the Spirit was there, gathering us up. While we stood in worship doing the hard work of praying for not only the victims of the Newtown shootings and the Boston marathon bombings, but for the perpetrators of those heinous crimes as well as Christ commands us to do, the Spirit was there, gathering us up into the Body of Christ.

And ya know, even in the face of such a difficult year, Saint Peter’s has been doing amazing things in Christ, amazing things that have been celebrated and need to be celebrated, as the Spirit is there, gathering us up. Just look at this past weekend… I mean it was absolutely amazing… the work you folks are doing made the Bishop and many others cry tears of joy at brunch. You made the Bishop cry. And while wiping away his tears, Bishop Rembo said that our local iteration of the Body of Christ, our local expression of the Church here at Saint Peter’s is being exactly what the Church needs to be in this time, in this place, in this city. In a time when it’s trendy to talk about being a multi-cultural church, Saint Peter’s is actually doing the hard work of making it happen. There have of course been difficulties as we’ve entered into our new covenant relationship with Sion, but whether its been working through scheduling problems, surmounting communications barriers or simply dealing with our albs being hung up in the wrong place in the sacristy, those difficulties have been juxtaposed with joyous scenes of members of both congregations worshiping together, talking with one another about immigration reform on a Saturday afternoon and literally dancing with each other during Jazz for All last weekend. And in all these challenges and successes, the Spirit has been there with us, gathering us up into Community, gathering us up into the Body of Christ.

In a time when it’s trendy to talk about being a welcoming church, about being a resource for our local community, Saint Peter’s is actually doing the hard work of making it happen. There have of course been problems here as well, but whether it’s dealing with the frustration of not having enough space, or being extra protective of our communion wine or being rightfully angry about things being taped up on a freshly painted set of doors, those difficulties have been juxtaposed with joyous scenes of the Living Room being filled with folks getting a hearty breakfast on Christmas morning, of five folks showing up early at Federal Plaza to support their fellow congregation member seeking asylum status and this Sanctuary filled to capacity, worshiping together and learning about our heritage at the memorial vespers last weekend. And once again, in all these challenges and successes, the Spirit has been there with us, gathering us up into Community, gathering us up into the Body of Christ.

Even God cannot be alone, and She will not let us be alone either, and that is amazingly good news.  But I’ve been going on for a while already, and could keep going all morning, but we do have some Eucharist and some praying and some singing and the like to get to, so I’m going to conclude not with my own words, but with the prayerful words Christopher Vergara wrote for our Pentecost celebration last weekend, words that couldn’t describe any better how the Spirit has been work at Saint Peter’s over the last few months, gathering us up into Community with the Holy Trinity, gathering us up into the Body of Christ:

Up in the air
almost a 1000 cranes
Up in the air
70 hours of folding
6 emails about what shades of red orange and yellow to use
400 yards of fishing line
12 hrs in the catwalk
Up in the air
More smashed than folded 2yo desire to participate
Up in the air
A seminary field workers last Sunday
Up in the air
A mother and son's competition to see who is fastest
Up in the air
3 angry mothers on Mother's Day
Up in the air
Paper chaperones to teenage courting
Up in the air
Questions...
What are you doing?
What are those for?
Can I help
What is the next step?
What physically happens to us when we die?
Up in the air
Dealing with a parents death
Up in the air
Waiting...
Waiting for mass to end
Waiting for a mtg to start
Waiting for yoga, the opera, for poached salmon
Sitting waiting for another round of chemo
Up in the air
Another bombing
Up in the air
A shooting
Up in the air
A funeral for Santa Clause
Another deportation hearing
Another shooting
Up in the air
the fear that things will never change
Up in the air
The fear that things are changing to quickly
All these our joys and troubles we lift
Up in the air
Into your warm embrace O God
Trusting, trusting....
That there is nothing
Under the sea
On the ground or
Up in the air
That could ever separate us from your love and peace
In the name of our holy advocate, the Holy Spirit AMEN.

God's peace,
Dustin  

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Malawi and Zambia

President Joyce Banda

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (19 May - 25 May) are Malawi and Zambia. While the paragraph below provides some recent information (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources.

We give thanks for great increases in the country of Malawi’s life-expectancy rate in recent years and for the continued service of its president Joyce Banda, who became Africa’s second female post-colonial head of state on 7 April, 2012. We give thanks for the continued advocacy of Zambia’s First Lady Dr. Christine Kaseba against child marriages in that country and around the world. We pray for the release of prominent Zambian human rights activist Paul Kasonkomona was arrested in April and charged with “soliciting for immoral purposes” after arguing for the rights of LGBTQ persons on live television.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.