Story Circles

During the month of October, we are engaged in our annual stewardship appeal whose theme is “My Story / Our Story.” This year, we focus on how our giving in many forms contributes not just to us and our lives but to our communal life and the common good. As part of the stewardship appeal, we invite all who are interested to participate in story circles. Story circles simply give us an opportunity to share our story uninterrupted in response to a prompt—and to listen to others’ stories as well.

Story Circles

Wednesdays, October 20 & 27 @ 6:30 pm

Via Zoom

Please RSVP to Nicole Gallen at thegallens08@gmail.com no later than 5 days prior to each story circle to ensure enough facilitators. Your Zoom link will be sent out when you RSVP.

The GLOW Show: Theological ABCs on the Law

During fall 2021, we explore Theological ABCs from a Lutheran perspective! Each week, we will define and discuss the words that shape our faith and their meanings. Today, we lift up L for the law!

Sermon for Sunday, September 12

Day of the Church Year: Pentecost 16B2021

Scripture Passage: Mark 8:27-38

I have compassion for Peter this morning.  After Peter correctly identifies that Jesus is the messiah, Jesus tells Peter and the rest of the disciples about his upcoming suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.  Understandably, Peter doesn’t seem to hear the resurrection part, but he’s super clear on the death part.  And he doesn’t want Jesus to go through it, so Peter rebukes Jesus.  In turn, Jesus calls Peter Satan and rebukes him right back.  Not Peter’s finest hour.  To add insult to injury, Jesus then instructs the disciples to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him, to go where Jesus goes.  So, you can see why I have compassion for Peter this morning...because who wants to follow a messiah who is going to suffer, be rejected, and die?  If you didn’t already know where I was going with this and had the choice in front of you: Who would you rather follow? A. a successful, brilliant leader or B. a rejected criminal who receives the death penalty, I’m guessing most of us would go for option A, the successful, brilliant leader.  Of course we would. 

Honestly, though I preach and teach about Jesus on the regular, I somehow still have managed to avoid really taking it in that the One we follow was convicted as a criminal, received punishment as a criminal, and was rejected by everyone except for a handful of women who stayed near the cross.  I have managed to avoid thinking about Jesus being actually quite dirty from his ministry travels where he was, in effect, homeless.  In my head, I skip over these unsavory and gritty details and move right to the lovely parts of his radical love and wise teaching about non-violence and the kingdom of God.  But Peter’s rebuke of Jesus and Jesus’ corresponding rebuke remind me this morning that Jesus and the literal, historical path he followed was pretty grimy.  He was touching people who were sick, making mud with his spit, and in constant close quarters with the crowds seeking healing.  You and I may be here at church on Sunday morning looking for a shiny messiah, but that’s not the one we have.

That’s not all.  Jesus instructs the disciples and us to follow him.  So it’s not just Jesus who will be grimy.  Jesus’ disciples were probably equally odorous and grubby—because they were doing many of the same things Jesus was doing.  No wonder Peter protested.  And Peter especially didn’t want to end up on a cross.  He didn’t want to suffer.  He didn’t want to be rejected.  Who wants that?  But that, apparently, is the way of Jesus. 

We are so accustomed to following shiny, successful people, people who fit the conventions of success in our world.  But the reality is that Jesus was not shiny, and he was not successful by any measure we would use in our world, with the exception of Jesus’ extraordinary wisdom.  He was not wealthy.  He was not respected by the people who mattered.  He didn’t follow important social conventions about the sabbath and who and who not to touch and talk to.  We see him as a sinless, perfect god-human, but he brought shame to his family.  Sure, he was popular—with the unpopular people, with the sick people, with the poor people, but even with those who followed him, he was only popular when he was healing and feeding them.  Once he got to cross, where’d everybody go?

Right about now in my sermon preparation, I was wondering: Wow.  Why do I follow Jesus?  And: he really is a different kind of messiah than we expect.

A messiah is one who leads and saves, and if a messiah is to lead and save, at the very least, he has to be alive, in power, and popular enough for people to follow.  But our messiah, Jesus, takes up a cross and denies himself and tells us to do the same, to follow him into suffering and rejection and death.   

I still can’t quite articulate why Jesus is so compelling to me when he invites us to follow him into suffering and rejection and death.  All I know is that, when I deny myself, when I make my life about others and not about me, when I take up the cross and joyously use my time to contribute to my community, life is better.  Way better.  For me.  Ironically.  When I give up trying to be popular and shiny, when I stop trying to please people and instead focus on just having integrity, sure, some people reject me, but others are drawn to that kind of authenticity.  The same is true for communities—like Grace.  When we focus less on trying to offer perfect programs, when we give up pleasing everyone, which we can’t really do anyway, we are freed to welcome all people, to serve one another through the pancake breakfast and heat respite, by providing rides for a neighbor who needs it and teaching and befriending kids, by doing our part to contribute to this community—whether it’s serving as a liaison to breakfast serving crews, mowing the lawn, vacuuming the carpet, singing in the band or choir, reading scripture during worship, or any number of other things.  We’re not perfect people, but because we deny ourselves and take up the cross, life is better.  For us.  For our whole community.

Today, I have compassion for Peter who wanted to help Jesus avoid all that was gritty and unsavory and downright painful.  I get it.  Somehow, in a way I don’t completely understand, when we look suffering and rejection and death in the face, when we let go of making our lives the way we want and stop focusing on us, something happens.  Seriously, it has got to be God at work.  Of course, it is.  For when Jesus looks suffering and rejection and death in the face, when he walks the way of the cross, what he finds at the end of that path is resurrection, new life.  We do too. Jesus says: Deny yourselves and take up your cross and follow me.  For those who save their lives will lose them, but those who lose their lives for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save them.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

The GLOW Show: Theological ABCs on the Holy Spirit

During fall 2021, we explore Theological ABCs from a Lutheran perspective! Each week, we will define and discuss the words that shape our faith and their meanings. Today, we lift up H for the Holy Spirit!

Seeking: Caretaker for Grace

Grace Lutheran Church

Phoenix, Arizona

Caretaker Job Description 

Position Summary:

The caretaker cleans, oversees property maintenance and repair, sets up for events, and provides hospitality to outside groups.

Reports Directly to:

Pastor

Position Requirements:

• Integrity and Trust: Is seen as trustworthy by others; practices direct, honest, and transparent communication; admits mistakes; responds to situations with consistency and reliability; respects the autonomy of each individual; is accountable for work assigned

• Emotional Intelligence: Demonstrates strong and appropriate personal boundaries in relationships; is emotionally and spiritually mature; can maintain a non-anxious presence in the midst of turmoil; can stand in the presence of others’ strong emotions without taking responsibility for them or reacting to them externally or internally; does not hold grudges or bitterness; practices forgiveness and generosity in interpersonal relationships; values individuals’ gifts and accepts individuals’ limitations without demeaning them

• Personal Resiliency: Can shift gears comfortably; can comfortably handle risk and uncertainty; is flexible

• Attention to Detail: Follows up on missing or out of balance items; resolves unanswered questions needed to address a problem

• Time Management: Uses time effectively and efficiently; can appropriate balance priorities

• Technical Expertise: Cleans effectively; understands which skills are lacking and seeks to develop those skills; recognizes when a project is outside their scope

• Quick Response to Emergencies

Principle Accountabilities

• Clean church buildings as described in extended job description (available upon request)

• Pick up trash around exterior of church twice per day

• Set up and take down for scheduled events, open and close for scheduled events

• Provide basic maintenance for church property

• Collaborate with property team and contractors to address property projects outside their scope

To apply, email Pastor Sarah Stadler your resume and at least two references at pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com.  For questions, you may email Pastor Sarah or call her at 602-318-6876.

Sermon for Sunday, September 5

 Day of the Church Year: 15th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: Mark 7:24-37

Friends, it’s bad.  The division among the people of this nation, the division among the people of all nations. 

In a recent visit to the ER where I learned I was just fine, a tech engaged me in conversation while conducting a simple test.  Talking about Covid-19 and his relationships with other hospital staff, he said: Back at the beginning of the pandemic, we were all on the same side, fighting for the same cause.  Now, there is division.  Though he didn’t say it, he implied that, at least at his hospital, there is division between those who are vaccinated and those who choose not to be vaccinated, a division replicated throughout our society. 

I strongly advocate for all people who are eligible for vaccination to get vaccinated.  I imagine there is a small subset of people whose doctors have recommended they do not receive the vaccine for some particular medical reason, and by all means, everyone should follow the advice of trusted medical professionals.  Still, we have learned from virologists whose expertise is the growth and mutation of viruses that vaccination is the fastest way to slow the spread of the virus and to mitigate virus mutation.  Vaccination is the way to end the suffering that has been caused by this pandemic: physical suffering, economic suffering, isolation, and the overwhelm of and chaos within hospitals that affects everyone—since we ourselves or someone we love will surely visit an ER or be admitted to a hospital at some time, just like I did two weeks ago.  Perhaps most troubling of all, like most other disasters, those who suffer the most are those with the least resources. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has fractured our community, our nation, our world.  I too am having trouble listening to those who don’t share my view because I believe that getting vaccinated is a matter of faith, love for all humanity, and justice.  Because getting vaccinated is not about us but about others, about the common good.  And tending to the common good is core to the prophecy of Old Testament prophets, to the life and teaching of Jesus, and to the writings of the Apostle Paul.  I’m having trouble these days.

In today’s Jesus story, Jesus encounters people his disciples and even he have trouble with.  People who are not Jewish; remember: Jesus and his disciples are Jewish.  People from neighboring nations: Syro-Phoenicia to the north of Galilee and Decapolis to the east.  A woman.  A woman who challenges Jesus when he insults her.  A man deaf and with a speech impediment, supposedly sinful as all people born with such conditions were considered at the time.  Jesus encounters this woman whose daughter needs healing from a demon and this man who desires hearing and speech, and instead of turning away from them because they are different than him or because he or his disciples have trouble with them, he pauses and provides for them what he provides for the crowds of Jewish people who follow him: healing, acknowledgment, even commendation.  Of course, though, the stories are more complex than that. 

Of all Jesus stories, Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman reveals the tension between Jews and Gentiles, non-Jews.  Jesus outright says that only the children of Israel deserve his healing, and because the woman and her daughter are not Jewish, he initially denies her daughter healing.  To illustrate his point, Jesus calls her and her daughter dogs who should not receive the children of Israel’s food, to which she responds: “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”  She acknowledges her status in his eyes and still cries out for his compassion.  Jesus appears to realize his mis-step, declaring: “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.”  Jesus publicly reverses his position on the worthiness of a Gentile woman to receive healing from him.  Jesus appears to learn from the Syro-Phoenician woman that he was wrong to insult her and disregard her.  In front of his disciples and all those who may be crowding around, Jesus acknowledges the value of this woman and her daughter.  He heals her daughter, yes, but he also begins to heal the fracture between the people of Galilee and the people of Syro-Phoenicia. 

In this Jesus story, Jesus demonstrates a prejudice typical for people of his demographic, a prejudice shared by his disciples, and his prejudice has to do with characteristics that cannot be easily changed: gender, nation of origin, and religion.  And so, this story is not a perfect match to our current situation where we are divided by vaccination status.  Yet Jesus teaches us that, when we come face to face with anyone, regardless of our differences, regardless of our choices, we come face to face with a person, a person with needs and a complex story, a person whose value is not up for debate.  Not for any reason.

There are no easy answers to the division in our nation.  On Thursday evening, I commented to someone in our community: “I want to know what to do.”  She heartily agreed.  What do we do in this context?  We weren’t just talking about the division sparked by the pandemic but about natural disaster, climate change, Afghanistan, and all the other bad news stories of this week.  The words I keep coming back to are from Thomas Merton, a 20th century mystic who wrote:  “Do not depend on the hope of results.  When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect.  As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself.  And there too a great deal has to be gone through as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people.  The range tends to narrow down, but it gets much more real.  In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything.”

We are a divided people, a fractured nation, and I too am having trouble.  We probably all are, regardless of our opinions and vaccination status.  This week, Jesus gets real, recognizes his own mis-step, and in the end, comes face to face with the woman and her daughter, people of value.  People of value, that’s us; people of value, that’s everyone.  Thanks be to God!  Amen. 

The GLOW Show: Theological ABCs with Bishop Hutterer

During fall 2021, we explore Theological ABCs from a Lutheran perspective! Each week, we will define and discuss the words that shape our faith and their meanings. We begin with G for GRACE because the grace of God is the very center of the Christian faith from a Lutheran perspective. Our Grand Canyon Synod bishop, Rev. Deborah Hutterer, joins Pastor Sarah. Enjoy!

Summer Journey 2022

Where is God calling us to serve and build community in summer 2022? Those interested in a summer 2022 journey met, and we are discerning between two possibilities: a return to Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington state or a mission trip to Chicago, likely staying at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. If either of those possibilities sound like something you feel drawn to participate in, please join us on Sunday, September 19 at 12:30 pm in the North Room or via zoom for further conversation and prayer.

Here is the ZOOM information:

September 19 at 12:30 pm in the North Room or via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81073091323?pwd=YUVOYWJROWkrc2xFNVQ1VFh0cWthZz09, Meeting ID: 810 7309 1323

Regardless of where we go, Covid-19 vaccination will be required as well as active participation in monthly team-building sessions and regular worship attendance. Friends are most welcome to join us too—as long as they are able and willing to commit to the same expectations. For questions, please talk with Pastor Sarah.

Sermon for Sunday, August 29

Day of the Church Year: 14th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: Mark 7:1-9, 14-15, 21-23

Each Christmas, my parents, my sister and her family, and I gather like many families do.  From the time I was 8 years old until just a few years ago, we ate the same foods every Christmas Eve: hors d’oeuvres.  Lefsa with butter and sugar, lefsa being a Norwegian potato flatbread, sausages cooked in a fondue pot with a sauce, sausages that we stabbed with toothpicks to serve, little Norwegian meatballs, crackers and cheese, a veggie tray, deviled eggs, and krum kaka which is an impressive trumpet-shaped Norwegian waffle cookie.  Every year the same.  When my family started this tradition, my dad was serving as pastor at a church where we had a Christmas Eve service at 4:00 pm and then a Christmas Eve service at 8:00 pm which meant that we had to celebrate Christmas between 5:30 and 7:30 pm.  While all the families in our little town sat down to large turkey dinners, my mother reasoned that it would be far easier to put together all the hors d’oeuvres the day before, cover them in plastic, set them in the refrigerator, and quickly warm up the hot items just before eating—since we had so little time in between services.  The next day, Christmas Day, blizzard or not, we drove to Minneapolis to celebrate with my mom’s side of the family.  Then came the year I moved here, the year we scratched our heads and tried to figure out how to celebrate on Christmas Eve with the worship schedule of not only Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church in Mesa where my dad served as pastor but also Grace’s worship schedule.  It finally dawned on us that could celebrate on Christmas Day, instead of Christmas Eve, since we all lived here and didn’t need to travel.  For several years, we continued to dutifully prepare deviled eggs, a veggie tray, and sausages even though the reason for this tradition no longer existed.   It took us several more years to realize that we could eat whatever we wanted because we were no longer constrained by church service times.

We likely all have similar traditions in our families, things we do a certain way that we started for a practical reason that then became just what we always do.  Even when the practical reason for the tradition ends, we keep our traditions alive.  Traditions such as these show up not only in our families but in our churches, in our workplaces, in our schools, in our government.  Traditions that began as a practical solution to a problem that no longer needs solving.  For instance, throughout most of the 500 year history of the Lutheran church, we have received Holy Communion every Sunday which may surprise you.  Theologically and liturgically, the centrality of Holy Communion in Lutheran worship makes sense both because Luther was originally Roman Catholic where Holy Communion is central to mass and because Luther taught that we should receive Holy Communion at every opportunity.  Holy Communion at every Sunday service was commonplace in all Lutheran churches everywhere until Europeans began to settle in what is now the United States.  Because settlements grew slowly, there were not enough Lutheran pastors to serve all the little Lutheran congregations planted in the countrysides of the Midwest and east coast.  Instead, pastors would preach and serve Holy Communion at Church A on the first Sunday of the month, at Church B on the second Sunday of the month, and so on, sometimes with as many as six congregations in one pastor’s circuit.  The tradition that developed to accommodate the shortage of clergy during the settling of the US was having Holy Communion once per month instead of every week.  In 2006, the ELCA worship office published a small book entitled The Use of the Means of Grace to set standards for Lutheran worship, and one of the standards was Holy Communion every week.  A cry arose among many Lutherans: we’ve never done it that way before!  To which I laughed and laughed.

Today in the gospel of Mark, the Pharisees question why Jesus’ disciples don’t follow the tradition of hand washing before eating.  The Pharisees aren’t concerned about hygiene; they’re concerned about spiritual defilement as defined by the tradition of the elders.  You understand, hand washing is not prescribed in scripture.  Hand washing is not central to loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves.  Well, except during a pandemic.  Hand washing is a tradition of the elders, and while the Pharisees may be uncomfortable with Jesus’ disciples failing to honor that particular tradition, the disciples do not defile themselves.  For Jesus says in response: There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.  Or in other words: one cannot spiritually defile themselves by eating with unwashed hands.  Rather, the evil intentions of our hearts defile us.  Jesus frees his disciples from traditions that no longer serve them.

And Jesus frees us from traditions that no longer serve us.  Sometimes, traditions can feel binding, sometimes comforting.  But if our only reason for doing or not doing something in particular is: “we’ve never done it that way before,” today’s story from Mark reminds us that Jesus seeks for his disciples and for us what leads to life.  Just parenthetically here, please don’t eat with unwashed hands.  That actually could be harmful.  But there may be other traditions that bind us today, that no longer serve us, either individually or communally.  We are free to let them go. 

Just yesterday, a few of us visited Beth El synagogue near 12th Avenue and Glendale as part of our education series Honoring Our Neighbor’s Faith.  Beth El is a conservative Jewish synagogue, and we joined a small portion of their congregation in-person—with others online, just like we do here—for their weekly shabbat service.  When we spoke with the rabbi after the service, I asked about some of the traditions of the synagogue and of the conservative branch of Judaism.  I was surprised when she, the rabbi, responded: “Well, we traditionally do this, (she described some of their traditions) but nowadays, we don’t really need to do that anymore.”  She spoke of the incredible importance of the Torah, the first five books of the Bible, for her and her community and the less important traditions of the elders.  Since I was already pondering Jesus’ words from Mark, I appreciated her clarity.  For her and her community, what really matters is the Torah.  Everything else is gravy. 

So it is for us. Jesus seeks for us what leads to life and that is the law of love—love for God, neighbor, and self.  He frees us from all else.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.