You're Invited

     Each month during the 2014-2015 school year, the Lutheran Episcopal Campus Ministry will celebrate, strive for and embody a word or phrase of the Christian faith. September's word is Invite. This is a great word, especially as UWW's newest students arrive to campus, eager to do and become something new. It is a privilege to invite students, new and old, to join us in Faith, Fellowship and Food (ah, yes, the first Spaghetti Meal is September 14th) and to welcome them into the Christian community on campus.

     Inviting others to partake in something we know to be special is an exciting thing. But with this privilege comes a responsibility to open our arms just a little bit wider. Thinking in every day examples, when you invite a guest to your home, is your work done? Do you expect to gain a friend without offering your home address, opening the front door and offering a refreshment? Probably not. When we invite others to Christ's table, we joyfully grow our community for that moment, but to truly show Christ's love, we also need to be genuinely hospitable.

     Whereas invitation can leave room for difference - the inviter and the invitee, the host and the guest - hospitality can erase difference by setting a standard of servanthood. I think about this important relationship (and important difference) this week as the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, along with leaders in other denominations, called for a nation-wide, interfaith response to racism. This call comes after members of an African Methodist Episcopal Church were shot and killed in June 2015 by a white racist during a Bible study (read the full letter from The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori here). Clergy from many faith communities took the call and talked with their congregations about racism in our culture today, a brave beginning step to what has been and will be a long conversation.

     The Presiding Bishop's invitation for people of faith to be open with one another about our experiences with racism allows us to invite one another into conversation. Invitation is contagious. When hospitality follows the invitation, when servanthood and a shared respect for one another are fostered, invitations grow into a lasting, positive community in Christ. It stops mattering who is host or guest, rich or poor, majority or minority and only matters how we can serve one another in Godly love.

     At LECM, we invite you to share all your stories and experiences with us. As Jesus invited us to his table and shared with us everlasting life, may we be inspired to live in fellowship with one another and invite each other into conversation every day.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

I always listen to the host of the News and Classical station on WPR as he or she announces the next piece of classical music.  I like to learn about the music I’m listening to, and, even more fun, I like to pretend as if, by already knowing the shared musical trivia, I am a classical music genius.  So, I perked up one afternoon as Lori Skelton’s voice came over the waves.  I was all ears about the upcoming sonata.  That is, until I realized it was a flute sonata.

Ugh I thought Who knows anything about the flute?  Well (as I had already mentally interjected) quite a lot of people know about flute, including my very own piano teacher who would likely kick my butt if she knew I was looking down on that instrument.  Fine I thought Anyone can like flute, but I’m not required to.

By the time I’d finished this internal dialogue about whether I was a terrible person for not liking the flute, the music had started.  After several minutes of trying to get a foothold in some kind of musical analysis of the piece, I realized something that really amazed me.  The flute coming through my radio was the smoothest sounding thing I’d heard in a long time.  This especially amazed me because I’ve heard new flautists play, and it can be anything but soothing.  If there is one thing I know about flutes (and, yes, there may only be one), it’s that breathing breaks can disrupt even a well-practiced piece.  

As I continued listening, I thought about all the times people, including myself, disregard the value of something because of a lack of understanding.  That is, a person can recognize what something is or the purpose it serves (a flute sonata for people who enjoy the sounds of a flute sonata) without understanding the work that went into creating it.  So much beauty and worth is missed when things are taken at surface value.  A hand-made gift, a passing report card or a well-planned going-away party could easily be taken for granted by someone who buys the best gifts, gets straight A’s without an effort or who has never practiced hospitality.

Practice is one major difference between living a truly rich life and a life of instant - and fleeting - gratification.  Let’s revisit the analogy of music.  Yes, it is quite possible to enjoy music simply by clicking a mouse and downloading the latest album from your favorite artist.  Music can evoke powerful emotions and enliven us in ways nothing else can.  But wouldn’t it be nice if we understood just a little bit more?  Once we know what kind of sounds we enjoy, what kinds of tempos make our blood flow and even how to create new music, ourselves, our experience is richer, deeper and more meaningful.  

Of course, the ability to make music takes a lot of practice - most people don’t wake up being Mozart (except, maybe, Mozart).  But once we dedicate ourselves to practicing something we love, not only do we learn a skill we enjoy and can share with others, but we learn something bigger.  In practicing something, we learn to appreciate all the things in life that take more than the flip of a switch.  I could appreciate that flute sonata, not because I understand how to play flute, but because I understand that the level of practice and dedication I use in my own life - in knitting, in playing piano and in having faith - is the same for the person playing music for me.

Faith is one of the most difficult practices to have, but also one of the best and most rewarding.  It is challenging because faith is not something of which we perform drills, test or touch with our hands.  It is not a skill or a talent or a gift reserved for a select few.  But having faith enhances our lives and strengthens us, despite and because of all life’s challenges, to do the work of God in our world.  May we find a way to practice our faith in a way that will help our world and open our eyes to understanding one another.

New Beginnings

As another school year begins, students pack up their home lives, purchase books and supplies and say goodbye, for now, to summer.  Teachers finalize rosters and syllabi and set up for the first weeks of class.  It is a busy time and it is easy to get caught up in making sure everything is in perfect order.  We do so much to make ourselves feel ready.  Where can we find God in such a busy time?  

God is in newness.  The Bible is full of stories and images of newness.  Not least of these is the new life we find in Christ through Baptism. In the Lutheran and Episcopal traditions, Baptism is a Sacrament - an outward sign of an inward grace (to paraphrase a common definition).  The literal waters of baptism physically wash the baptized person, reflecting the way God’s grace, although invisible, washes away our sin and makes us new.

I think about the newness of Baptism and the newness of a school year because of our efforts, as humans, to reconcile the tangible and the invisible.  We see beauty in external markers of how we feel inside.  For school, new books, school supplies and dorm essentials present us with physical ways to start afresh.  This tendency and desire to balance internal and external is true in our faith lives, too.

Baptism is the perfect example.   We think of Baptism and all of the stuff that comes along with it - a baptismal font, a tux or white dress, a cake, a church, a minister.  These things range from seemingly essential to obviously trivial, but are any of them absolutely necessary for baptism?  The answer is no.  These items are meant to serve as guideposts for the act of baptism, but when the tangible requirements are not available or possible, God’s grace happens anyway.  

It is when we get caught up in the tangible requirements, no matter how essential (the textbooks, the ministers), that we lose sight of the gift of newness we have been given.  Yes, please buy your textbook for Chemistry 101 and show up to church a little earlier than the sermon on the day of your baptism, but don’t struggle with the tangible things so much that the real gift of the experience is forgotten.

Ready or not, the school year is approaching, and with it comes a new opportunity to learn and to find God in every experience.  May you remember your baptism, or another way God has given you new opportunity, and give thanks for the grace which is given unconditionally. 

God's Work

Bad news seems to be all around us. We hear grim predictions about the economy and the environment, learn about hostilities and divisions within communities, listen as our friends tell us their troubles. Everywhere we turn, the news seems to be negative. Even the prayer list at church can get us down. But our faith in Christ speaks of good news – good news for the poor and oppressed, healing for the sick and broken, freedom for captives, redemption from sin, and hope for us all. How do we discover and experience this good news that Christ has come to proclaim? And once we have found it, how will it make a difference for us and for all the world?

     Psalm 22:25-31

I offer praise in the great congregation because of you; I will fulfill my promises in the presence of those who honor God. Let all those who are suffering eat and be full! Let all who seek the Lord praise him! I pray your hearts live forever! Every part of the earth will remember and come back to the Lord; every family among all the nations will worship you. Because the right to rule belongs to the Lord, he rules all nations. Indeed, all the earth’s powerful will worship him; all who are descending to the dust will kneel before him; my being also lives for him. Future descendants will serve him; generations to come will be told about my Lord. They will proclaim God’s righteousness to those not yet born, telling them what God has done.

God, I see you at work in the world and experience your love in my life, and I am grateful. When things are going well, remind me that you are the giver of every good gift, and when challenges come, teach me to trust in you. Amen.  By D365, Elizabeth Jones Edwards

Easter III - Psst, hey, you! by D356

Pssst... hey, you. Did you know that there’s a wild and wonderful God traveling alongside you, all around you, within you right now? The Bible tells us that our God is like a shepherd who never leaves the flock for one moment. God is always with us. We are never alone, never abandoned. And no matter what we do – no matter what choices we make or what happens to us – this God is always reaching out to us in love. So pause. Rest for a moment. Abide in the Holy. And let God’s grace transform your living and loving.    - D365.org

When I was a little girl I had a map of the world on the wall right next to my bed. As I went to sleep my parents would leave the door ajar, so some light came in from the hallway… enough to illuminate the map. I wondered: how can God be everywhere? This is a big world. I felt lonely sometimes. Scared of the dark. You might know the feeling. When I felt alone, I would pray. Lots of questions: “Are you up there, God? Are you out there somewhere? Can you stay here with me so I’m not alone?” As I’ve grown older, I’ve had all kinds of questions about God. There are some things that seem incomprehensible to me. But I have always had a sense that God is, somehow, everywhere all at once. God is with us in the times that we walk through the pleasant valleys. God is with us when we’re lost in the dark and terrified. No matter what happens, God dwells with us and will not leave us.    By Caela Simmons Wood

April 13th - Unplug

Choosing to unplug, even for a few minutes, can be scary. What if we miss the latest tweet, post, or pic? We don’t want to be left behind in the fast-paced world of our always plugged-in friends. As much as we like being connected to an entire world at our fingertips, it’s important to step away sometimes. Because the spiritual life is about connecting to something deeper within.

                                                                   - D365.org

Take a few minutes today to unplug yourself from the screens, the emails, the work. Take a deep breath and listen to the wind, the birds, the rain falling on the ground. Breath in, and breath out. Listen and just be.

Heavenly Father, in you we live and move and have our being: We humbly pray you so to guide us by your Holy Spirit, that in all the cares and occupations of our life we may not forget you, but may remember that we are ever walking in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord.                                                                 - Book of Common Prayer page 100

April 06, 2015

For you, TEACHERS and STUDENTS!