At Grace, we are called by God to be in the city for good! For those interested in volunteering this summer, we invite you to attend the orientation held in the North Room of Hope Hall on June 9th from 11:30a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP at outreach@graceinthecity.com or call Clottee Hammons at 602-817-8996 if you plan to attend. View PDF flyer.
At the center of our religion, love. What heals us, love. What heals our communities, love. Also, the stated motive of most religious people, regardless of actual outcomes, love. I agree with the Beatles: “All you need is love.”
As we expectantly wait for Christmas, one persona dominates the church world, another persona our culture at large. These two prominent figures both speak of how we should act, what we should do—and the consequences if we do not. The persona of our culture at large? Who can we find everywhere at malls and on cards and sung about in songs during the month of December? Santa Claus.
How about the persona of the church world? Who is it who dominates our Advent stories? Right. John the Baptist.
Lutheran Advocacy Day is fast approaching! Join us this Tuesday, February 1, 8:30-10:30 am at the state capitol to advocate for our most vulnerable neighbors. The focus of the day is hunger awareness in our state. To register and to learn more information, click on the link below.
Register for Lutheran Advocacy Day February 1 — Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona (lamaz.org)
We are called to love God and love our neighbor as we love ourselves; this is one powerful way to do so!
Do you love wishing people Happy Birthday? We are looking for someone to send birthday cards to members of the Grace community on behalf of all of us. All supplies will be provided, and this simple way of reaching out in love toward one another can be completed from home. Please speak with Pastor Sarah if you are interested in this ministry.
In a time when nothing seems to make sense, all are invited to a monthly ecumenical gathering to connect and share a beverage over meaningful topics. The topic for February 6 will be "Living with Gratitude," and we will explore how gratitude can ground us. Theology Pub is back the first Sunday evening of each month, 6:00-7:30 pm, at Arizona Wilderness DTPHX, 201 E Roosevelt. We will gather on the patio of Wilderness, and participants are welcome to eat and drink if they would like but are not pressured to do so. Please join us February 6 at 6 pm!
This coming August, we will welcome a seminary intern to Grace! Through their internship, a seminary student gains skills, continues to discern their call to ministry, grows spiritually, and, more than anything, learns from a congregation about how to be the church. This requires feedback, support, and guidance—which the Internship Committee does by meeting with the intern on a monthly basis. If serving on the Internship Committee sounds like a good fit for your interests and energy, please be in touch with Donna Martin (dmartinstoryteller@gmail.com) or Pastor Sarah (pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com). The committee will meet beginning in April in order to prepare.
Day of the Church Year: 3rd Sunday after Epiphany
Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a
You are the body of Christ, the Apostle Paul writes, and individually members of it. In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word “you” here is plural, not singular. The Apostle Paul, who wrote much of the New Testament, who established Christian churches throughout the known world of the first century, who more than any other person is responsible for the flourishing of the Christian faith, writes that we-collectively-are the body of Christ. Paul writes to the Christian church in Corinth that, even two thousand years ago, was pulled apart by a spirit of individualism.
As just one example among several in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, some of the Corinthian Christians want to eat meat sacrificed to idols. Now, these Christians know that the idols are false, that the sacrifice is meaningless, that the meat is simply food to satiate hunger. Paul affirms: “We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do.” However, other members of the Corinthian church struggle to understand this. Corinth is a cosmopolitan city in Greece, and many who join the Christian community there had engaged, like nearly everyone else, in sacrifices to what they now consider idols. In seeking to follow Jesus, eating meat sacrificed to idols causes them to stumble for they are still growing in faith, still finding the way of Jesus. And so, a controversy arises in the Corinthian church. The Christians who wish to eat meat without any risk to their faith believe it is their individual right to do so, but according to the Apostle Paul, individual rights or personal freedoms are secondary to the good of the whole. Paul strongly advises them, therefore, to refrain from eating meat sacrificed to idols—not because eating such meat is profane but because eating the meat disregards the needs of others.
You-plural-are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
A wild imagination is not required to see how Paul’s writing might be relevant to us today. Just because something doesn’t personally, directly impact us doesn’t mean it’s not important. As Paul writes in today’s reading, “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.” For us, the freedom to eat meat sacrificed to idols no longer tops the list of individual rights we may assert. But we well know the individual freedoms we assert on a daily basis, and we can also easily bring to mind accommodations we make for others that are not relevant to our own lives. We may not need handicap parking spaces or sturdy railings alongside stairs, but we certainly know others who do. We may be healthy, free from chronic illness, and have access to high-quality medical care, all of which may lead us to a sense of freedom with Covid-19 restrictions, but we know this is not true for everyone. We are privileged to live in virtually the only place in the United States that does not annually experience life-threatening weather events exacerbated by climate change, with the exception of extreme heat, but how we steward the land on which we live still impacts watersheds and animals, other people right now and fairly soon in the future we ourselves. We may not be a teacher or have a student in the local school system, but how we support our young people—or not—in their education impacts us and all those we love because those children will one day be the scientists, doctors, business owners, artists, and leaders we need for a healthy society. We may believe we are too busy to nurture community whether at church or in our neighborhood, too busy to show up for our friends, too busy to serve others which nurtures a compassionate society, too busy to concern ourselves with public policy and voting, and we are free to do that. But that also means community, whether church, neighborhood, and even nation, disintegrates for us all.
In our individualistic culture, I think the common good gets a bad rap—as if caring deeply about the world beyond ourselves and the ones we intimately love were an altruistic endeavor filled with sacrifice, pain, and deprivation. Friends, nothing could be further from the truth, at least in my experience! Why do I love Grace? Love this nation? Love my neighborhood? Seeking the common good with the gifts the Holy Spirit has poured out on us brings us into relationship with so many people and all creation. We learn, and we grow. We lift up others and are lifted up. When we fall, many reach out to catch us. When we rejoice, many rejoice with us and increase our joy. When we use our time to serve, to help out another, we gain perhaps more than the person we assisted. When we live in community with one another instead of isolating ourselves, we end up being blessed by connection—and so do others.
This is the way God created us—to live in community. And according to Paul, this is why God gave us gifts at all—to seek the common good. We are the body of Christ and individually members of it. Thanks be to God! Amen.
It is with gratitude and delight that the Grand Canyon Synod Stewardship Team shares good news — Grace Lutheran, Native American Urban Ministry, and ASU Campus Ministry will be an integral part of the “The Generosity Project: Holy Exchange” workshop sponsored by the GCS Stewardship Team and funded with a grant from the Grand Canyon Synod.
Saturday, February 26, participants from the three worshipping communities will gather 11 :00 am-2:30 pm on the Campus of Grace Lutheran. NAUM will prepare a noon meal that meets diverse dietary needs and includes Native dishes. Students from ASU campus ministry will assist and add their voice to the conversations. The GCS Stewardship Team will provide supplies and facilitate the interaction.
The interactive and fun workshop is for ALL ages, ALL households, and those of ALL socio-economic status. Children, elders and all generations in-between will be engaged in a Holy Exchange of prayer, play, worship, food, and lively conversation. We will celebrate God’s generosity and the “cycle of blessing” that sustains our GCS communities of faith and its households.
The goals are to Connect Generations, Honor Culture, Equip Households, and Practice Generosity. Learn more about The Generosity Project https://www.thegenerosityproject.net
The workshop is free. Interested in attending? Please speak to Pastor Sarah so that we can get a head count for lunch. Specific Covid protocols to keep everyone safe will be shared closer to the workshop date.
Join the Arizona Faith Network, Arizona Interfaith Power & Light, and more than 20 other organizations as we combine to take action on environmental priorities at the Environmental Day at the Arizona State Capitol. This year's theme is: Act Now! There's a climate crisis. We'll be hearing from speakers, meeting with legislators, and networking. This is a hybrid event with both in-person/outdoors and virtual activities, and you may indicate how you'd prefer to participate when you register.
Wednesday, February 9, 8:30 am-2:00 pm
Click on the link below to register; more detailed information will be shared when you register.
Jesus’ first miracle or “sign” in the gospel of John has always confused me. Every other sign in the gospel of John or miracle in Matthew, Mark, and Luke are signs and miracles of healing, casting out demons, raising people from the dead, providing food for hungry people, walking on water and calming storms to showcase the glory of God, or telling people the truth about themselves, truth that leads to spiritual growth. These signs and miracles are practical, or they lead those who witness them to say to Jesus: Truly, you are the son of God! The signs and miracles of Jesus meet real, raw human needs. And you know me: I dig that about Jesus. That God comes to Earth in the flesh and gets God’s hands dirty, really, actually dirty is about the most compelling thing I could ever say about God. God shows up to do the dirty work, not just the lofty spiritual stuff-though the spiritual tasks of providing hope and forgiveness and grace are by no means unimportant. But Jesus’ first sign in the gospel of John is changing water into wine at a wedding.
Jesus, Jesus’ mother Mary, and the disciples are guests at a wedding in Cana, a city in the region of Galilee. Mid-wedding, Mary notes to Jesus: “They have no wine.” Implying she wants him to do something about it. Jesus dismisses her statement, but later, he tells the servants to fill six large stone jars with water and to then serve it to the chief steward. When the chief steward receives it, he consumes the finest of wines and goes to the groom with some astonishment about the quality of wine held back until mid-party. The story concludes with the gospel writer lifting up the glory of God revealed in Jesus changing water into wine. There are lots of interesting theological questions to ask about this story: What is Mary’s role in identifying Jesus’ life purpose? How does Jesus know when it is “time” to reveal who he is? But mostly, what I want to know is: Why bother, Jesus? Why bother spending your miraculous, spiritual capital on changing water into wine at a wedding? Is that really important?
My answer to that question is, clearly, no. Ha! But since Jesus decided to go ahead and spend that miraculous, spiritual capital on changing water into wine and since Jesus is God in the flesh, I feel confident that I’m wrong. But it’s taken me years to accept what nearly every biblical scholar will tell you about the wedding at Cana: Jesus changes water into wine because he came to bring life, abundant life, and what is more full of life than a joyous wedding, the union of two families, the love of two people?
Nearly twenty years ago, I completed my summer unit of clinical pastoral education at Banner University Medical Center, then called Good Sam. For twelve weeks Monday through Friday, I rode the Valley Metro commuter bus from east Mesa to Good Sam. Five days a week, I visited at least 10 patients per day as a chaplain, attended deaths, prayed with people, and talked with them about their big, theological questions as they laid in their hospital beds. I slept at the hospital in the on-call room two nights a week and responded to trauma calls and codes. Part of my job was to call the family members of trauma room patients to let them know their loved one was in the hospital after, usually, some ghastly accident. I did things that scared me that I had never done before and then got good at them. In the world of seminary, clinical pastoral education is generally seen as bootcamp for pastors. Hard. Stressful. A slog you just have to get through. All the chaplains on staff that summer got to choose their units for regular visiting, and I specifically chose, among others, the post-partum units since I knew I would not be a mother and would need to understand the experience of mothers. Instead of visiting to discuss big, theological questions, I visited just to congratulate the new moms, to offer a blessing for the baby, to listen to their stories of birth, and sometimes to listen to their fears—though few needed or wanted to share those. Of all the hard things of that summer, this was the most difficult—for me—to simply be present for joy. At the end of the twelve weeks, my supervisor noted the same in my evaluation. She wrote: “This posed Sarah’s greatest challenge—how to celebrate blessing without having to work and struggle for it. She found herself in the middle of grace filled moments that asked nothing from her except the openness to recognize and celebrate it.”
When Jesus changes water into wine, the story does not end with an admonition to have faith or trust or believe or go and tell the good news. The disciples do not sit in wonder, and the crowds are not confused. At the end of this story, people are kicking back, drinking wine, eating good food, building relationships, celebrating family alliances. People are celebrating for Jesus comes to bring life, abundant life.
As noted by a commentator this week, abundant life is more than mere existence or survival and certainly more than an abundance of material things. And what I had to learn and am still learning is that abundant life is not just the product of a long, deep struggle or even a life of joyous service but also the grace God provides without us doing anything. The abundant life Jesus comes to share at the wedding in Cana is simply gift; he too enjoys a good party!
For us who are tired by the world, perhaps this is the time, after all we have endured, after all the work we have done, after all the loss we have suffered, perhaps this is the time to hear my supervisor’s words: “This poses our greatest challenge—how to celebrate blessing without having to work and struggle for it. We find ourselves in the middle of grace filled moments that ask nothing from us except the openness to recognize and celebrate it.” Even with a world gone wrong in so many ways, Jesus still comes to bring abundant life in ordinary moments. A sweet child who hugs our legs, an orange cat that curls up under our grapefruit tree, a courteous driver who waits and lets us onto a traffic-filled street, a truly helpful customer service representative, a friend who calls just to see how we’re doing. I suspect we have, to some extent, shut ourselves off from grace filled moments because we are exhausted. But actually, grace still abounds. Here, for you, for each one of us—if we but open ourselves to recognize and celebrate it. This week, Jesus changes water into wine—just to celebrate, just to bring abundant life, just because grace abounds—then and now. Thanks be to God! Amen.
Grace supports Rev. David Brondos who works with the Lutheran Church of Mexico in prayer and financially. Click on the link below for his latest update!
Grace Lutheran Church, Phoenix
Organist & Choir Director Job Description
To Apply
Send your cover letter, resume, and at least two references to Pastor Sarah Stadler at pastorsarah@graceinthecity.com. For questions, contact Pastor Sarah at the Grace office at 602-258-3787.
Supervisor: Pastor
Consults with: Worship & Music Ministry Team, Praise Band Leader
Hours: Sundays, 10:00 am-12:30 pm
Thursdays, 5:30 pm-8:00 pm (Bells of Grace & Chancel Choir rehearsal)
3rd Tuesdays of April, July, and October, approximately 6:30 pm-8:00 pm (Ministry Night)
Flexible preparation, rehearsal, and worship planning time
Total of about 10-12 hours per week
Mission Statement: By God’s grace, we are in the city for good!
5 Biblical Guiding Principles
1. Jesus is Lord!
2. Pray, seek, and follow God’s will
3. Share the good news of Christ
4. Embrace God’s challenge to love and serve others
5. All are welcome
Our organ is a 3-manual, 19-rank pipe organ rebuilt and enlarged by Pipe Organ Artisans of Tucson in 2003.
Job Summary
The organist and choir director leads music within traditional worship services, including leadership of the Chancel Choir and Bells of Grace.
Essential Functions
• Sunday Morning Worship Music Leadership at Traditional Worship
Hymn Accompaniment
Service Music Accompaniment
Liturgist Accompaniment
Vocal & Instrumental Soloist & Small Group Accompaniment
Choir Accompaniment, including Christmas Cantata
Prelude, Postlude, Holy Communion Distribution Music
Collaborate with Pastor and other musicians to teach new music to the congregation
Think creatively about how to encourage and grow congregational singing
• Special Service Worship Music Leadership
Wednesday Evening Lenten Worship & Holy Week Worship
Funerals when possible
Weddings as requested (couple will compensate you)
Joint Worship Services with Praise Band as requested
Other services as requested
• Chancel Choir Conducting
Rehearsal on Thursdays, 6:30 pm-8:00 pm
Anthems sung every Sunday in traditional worship, September-May
Select anthems—keeping in mind church season and lectionary readings
Coach liturgists on psalm leadership when necessary
Select and direct the annual Christmas Cantata
Recruit and maintain Chancel Choir members
Maintain, update, and cull choral music library within Worship & Music budget
Encourage the spiritual growth of Chancel Choir members
• Bells of Grace Conducting
Rehearsal on Thursdays, 5:30-6:15 pm
Anthems played once per month in traditional worship, September-May
Select anthems—keeping in mind church season and lectionary readings
Recruit and maintain Bells of Grace members
Maintain, update, and cull choral music library within Worship & Music budget
Encourage the spiritual growth of Bells of Grace members
• Participate in Quarterly Worship Planning Sessions
• Communicate with Administrative Assistant about bulletin content and newsletter articles in a timely manner
• Assist with children’s Christmas Program music and Vacation Bible School music as requested
• Arrange for regular piano and organ tunings
• Report any organ maintenance and handbell maintenance issues to Caretaker and Pastor and work with Caretaker to address said issues
• Develop healthy relationships with members of the congregation
• Other duties as assigned
Physical Requirements
• Walk up and down steps
• Navigate around the organ
• Be able to push the piano into its place in both the sanctuary and choir room as necessary
• Be comfortable picking up and moving chairs and music stands as necessary
Core Competencies
• Technical Expertise: plays organ, piano, and handbells at a level of competence which allows the musician to quickly learn new music; is skilled at sightreading; conducts with competence; teaches others how to accomplish musical goals
• Interpersonal Skills: establishes good working relationships with co-workers and congregation; uses diplomacy and tact; is approachable; avoids triangulation in communication; communicates directly
• Church Music Knowledge: connects biblical readings thematically to hymns and anthems; is familiar with western music tradition and world music as found in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal; understands or is willing to learn about church seasons and seasonal rituals
• Aesthetic Awareness: senses the best possible timing for music within worship services; sees worship as one continuous flow and knows how to support that flow
Dear friends,
It is unusual for me to be sending a note to you on behalf of Lutheran Disaster Response on a holiday such as today, but the needs of those we serve persist even on such days – and today, the needs of our neighbors in Colorado are great. The Marshall Fire ignited on Dec. 30 in Boulder County, Colo. Over 6,200 acres burned quickly, forcing the evacuations of 35,000 people. The fire spread throughout suburban neighborhoods, destroying at least 500 homes. While December wildfires are rare, the severe drought in the western United States created hazardous conditions that allowed the Marshall Fire to spread rapidly. This unusual fire is one of the impacts of a changing climate and will become increasingly more common. "Click Here” to read more.
The Beatitudes Campus is a senior living community located at 1610 West Glendale Avenue in Phoenix with options for independent living, assisted living, and skilled nursing care. If you are interested in learning more about this community, please join a small group of Lutherans for lunch at the Beatitudes Campus on Wednesday, January 19 at 11:30 am; RSVP with your pastor no later than Monday, January 17. Please “Click Here” to read more.
Day of the Church Year: Christmas Eve
Scripture Passage: Luke 2:1-20
Tonight, I’m in awe of the shepherds. While to us Mary and Joseph are the shining stars of the Christmas play, a young couple who have been immortalized in countless pieces of art, played by teenagers and adults dressed in cotton robes and head dresses, while to us Mary and Joseph are household names, to the common people of Israel two thousand years ago, Mary and Joseph are no one. On that dark, silent night, Mary gives birth in a town not her own, with Joseph and perhaps the local midwife at her side. Children are always a precious gift but this one named Jesus more vulnerable than most with unmarried parents hounded by scandal and born in the elements. No family, no friends surround the holy family. But when the angel appears to the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks by night and tells them: “Good news! A savior has come! ...and the savior is a baby,” they don’t seem to flinch. They go and see the baby, the baby savior. A baby savior? The strangeness of the good news does not deter the shepherds. These hopeful shepherds go and see.
Tonight, I want to travel with the shepherds as they move with haste across the countryside. Their hope, their excitement, their joy. As they go, they already know a bit about what they’ll find. The angel tells them the savior lies in a manger, a feeding trough for animals. Though the messiah, the one meant to liberate humanity from all that binds us, the one who will defy death and evil and sin, this one lies in a manger, not even a bed, perhaps 21 inches from head to toe. Whatever they find in the manger astounds them for they go and tell the news of a savior born. They return to glorify and praise God for what they discover in the manger. Isn’t it just a baby?
The shepherds live in an occupied Israel with soldiers on the streets.
The shepherds live hand to mouth, hunger and poverty common among the ancient people.
The shepherds live in an age of instability, uncertainty, and violence we struggle to imagine in the 21st century.
The shepherds, along with all the ancient Jews, are eager to receive the messiah, the one sent by God, from the line of David.
But it’s safe to say a baby in a manger is not what they expect to end Roman occupation, hunger and poverty, violence and instability.
But they go anyway.
They go anyway when they hear the news from the angel.
They trust that there might be a different way.
They trust that God might work in ways they’ve never considered, in ways they don’t yet understand.
They go and then they tell and then they praise God.
To us, the good news of Christmas might seem obvious. Jesus is born! But the shepherds don’t yet know what will happen, and they will have to wait 30 years to find out, long enough that, by the time Jesus calls disciples, all of these shepherds will be gone. Yet the shepherds exhibit profound hope—that there might be a different way through the injustice and violence, hunger and poverty of their world, that God might be entering the world in a form they could not have anticipated.
For us, it’s been a year. Of highs and a lot of lows. A year of division and injustice. A year that began with an insurrection at the capitol. A continued year of pandemic. A year of natural disaster and refugee crisis in Afghanistan and at the Poland-Belarus border. A year of violence. For many of us, a year of illness and isolation and feeling not quite stable and grounded. It’s not just been a year of some highs and many lows; the world has changed. Most of us probably haven’t gotten our bearings. We may still be wondering when all this will end instead of accepting the change that is happening throughout not just our country but around the world.
Dear friends in Christ, on this dark, silent night, in a rapidly changing world, God is making a way, a new way, a way for hope and peace, joy and love. God is making a way into this world, perhaps a way God has never made before. The world is different, but God is still at work. The world, our lives, even the church is changing profoundly, but we are people of hope and peace, joy and love. God is doing something new even now, this moment, making a way out of what looks to us like no way. We don’t know what is to come, but we know God is here with us because God entered the world in Jesus. So let’s travel with the shepherds as they move with haste across the countryside. Let’s go and see what God is doing. Let’s spread the good news—of hope and peace, joy and love.
On this strange and unsettling Christmas, a baby savior still brings joy to the world and hope for a new way. Against all the odds, let’s go and see what God is doing—and then tell the world. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Amen.
Members of Grace, please plan to attend the annual meeting to discuss, vote on, and hear updates on the Grace property, the internship program for 2021-2022, pandemic-related protocols, the election of council members, and the 2022 mission plan. Non-members of Grace are welcome to participate in the meeting, but may not vote.
Sunday, January 23, 2022, 10:30 am in Hope Hall & via Zoom
Join via Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86092008706?pwd=cSthTHdUQkxIMnhYVHNQajcxWlpqUT09
Passcode: 348897
Meeting ID: 860 9200 8706
On Sunday, January 23, we will worship together at one service in the Sanctuary at 9:00 am.
At Grace’s annual meeting on Sunday, January 23 at 10:30 am in Hope Hall and via Zoom, we will elect
3 Grace Congregation Council Members
3 Voting Members for the Grand Canyon Synod Assembly
For those interested in serving on the Grace council, the council meets on the 4th Tuesday of every month, 6:30-8:30 pm. Council members are also asked to attend the Quarterly Pizza & Ministry Nights on the 3rd Tuesdays of April, July, and October, 6:30-8:00 pm, as well as the annual meeting. Terms are three years long. Council members vision for the congregation, tend to the fiscal and personnel matters of the congregation, and decide on policies and some procedures. Council members are spiritual leaders of the congregation and must be members of Grace.
For those interested in attending the Grand Canyon Synod Assembly as a voting member, the synod assembly will be Friday, June 10 and Saturday, June 11 at Love of Christ Lutheran Church in Mesa. Grace will cover the cost of registration for voting members. We may bring 1 man and 2 women OR 1 woman and 2 men to serve as voting members. Voting members receive reports, catch the vision of the synod, connect with members of other Lutheran congregations, tend to the business of the synod, and worship together. Voting members to the synod assembly must be members of Grace.
Winter REtreat is just a few weeks away. Phoenix Lutheran Youth High School Ministry
Winter Retreat 2022
Camp ALOMA
300 Margaret Dr, Prescott, AZ 86305
Martin Luther King Weekend
Friday January 14-Monday January 17
$25 per youth due upon arrival at Camp ALOMA
Phoenix Lutheran Youth High School Ministry has a fun-filled weekend planned with various camp activities, meditations, service projects, and more. Click to “Read More.”
During fall 2021, we explore Theological ABCs from a Lutheran perspective! Each week, we define and discuss the words that shape our faith and their meanings. Today, we conclude the series by lifting up G for GOSPEL. Enjoy!
In congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, of which Grace is one, our structure is bottom-up instead of top-down. This means that the typical hierarchical structure found in businesses and non-profits alike is turned on its head. The congregation as a whole makes decisions about its ministry. The decision making structure within the congregation looks like this:
Congregation in Assembly (in congregational meetings)
Congregation Council (elected by the congregation at large)
Executive Committee (elected from within the council)
Church Staff (hired by the executive committee to fulfill a job description)
Pastor (called by the entire congregation)
When we come together for congregational meetings, any member of the congregation is able to share, question, propose ministry ideas, and offer solutions for problems or challenges. On Sunday, January 23 at 10:30 am, we will gather in Hope Hall and via zoom to discuss the ministry of Grace Lutheran Church in our annual meeting. If you believe God is calling us to serve in a particular way or if you would like to offer a solution for a problem or challenge you see us facing, please put your proposal in writing and then reach out to council president Tim Gallen (thegallens08@gmail.com) to let him know you would like to be on the agenda. If you put your proposal in writing prior to January 9 and send it to Tim, we will be able to include it in the annual meeting materials.
Because our structure is bottom-up instead of top-down, the church is the people. If we want Grace to serve in a particular way, that means we will serve in a particular way. The pastor leads and visions, and the church staff organize and tend the ministry as described in their job descriptions. But the work of the church is the work of the people. We are church together for the sake of the world God loves!
Day of the Church Year: 4th Sunday of Advent
Scripture Passage: Luke 1:39-55
Seemingly out of the blue, the angel Gabriel visits a young, unmarried Jewish woman named Mary and announces she will bear a son named Jesus, a son who will be called the Son of the Most High, a child who will be Son of God. Despite the real danger for Mary, being pregnant but not married at this moment in history, Mary responds to the angel Gabriel: Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. Mary then rushes to the home of her cousin, Elizabeth. The child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy at the sound of Mary’s greeting for the child Elizabeth will bear will be John the Baptist. Elizabeth identifies Mary as the mother of her Lord. Mary then rejoices in God who looks with favor on lowly servants, who humbles the proud, who brings down the powerful from their thrones, who fills those who hunger, who empties those who are wealthy, who keeps promises from generation to generation.
In this last Sunday of Advent, we hear how God enters the world, and though Mary expects a son of the Most High, a humbler story could not be told. Though filled with danger for Mary, a more joyous story could not be told. Though Mary has every reason to question and doubt this strange experience she has with angel Gabriel, she rejoices in God doing a totally new thing-through her! Instead of stubbornly holding onto her own dreams and plans for her life, she gives her life over to the call of God. And somehow, she recognizes that by doing so, she enters into a life not of drudgery and pain but a life of joy and abundance—to be chosen by God to contribute to the world in this particular and very special way.
We are living in a strange time. In some ways, we have returned to quote-unquote normal even though Covid-19 continues to spread through our community, our nation, and the world. There is also something very strange going on with the US economy—incredible inflation, a hot job market with so many job openings that many businesses cannot function as desired, and at least here in Phoenix, sky-rocketing rents and home prices. The economy and the pandemic have only contributed to our own personal questions and challenges and struggles. The sense of not knowing what will happen is thick. Truth be told, we actually never knew what the future held, but I think, prior to January 2020, we deluded ourselves more successfully than we can now. I imagine some of us--maybe many of us--find ourselves asking existential questions in this strange in-between place: now that the world has changed, what should I do? What am I here for? What is the meaning of all this? And maybe most urgently: Will this ever end? This is the most adventy-Advent we’ve probably ever experienced. The expectation, the waiting, the holding of our collective breath. In the big picture of our lives right now, the scandal of God entering human life through the humble Mary is maybe the least of our worries, the most grounding thing we’ve heard this week, the least scandalous thing we’ve heard in a while. But her acceptance of God’s call to bear Jesus and her joy in the midst of a very strange situation might be illuminating for us today.
For while the story of the angel Gabriel’s visit to Mary, her eventual pregnancy, and even the birth of Jesus seem commonplace to us, her actual experience of all these events must have been very strange, very disorienting. It’s hard to imagine how that conversation went with her parents, with Joseph, with the village women. One day, she was doing the things every woman her age in that place did; the next day, she was to bear the Son of God. When she rushes to the home of Elizabeth who calls her “the mother of my Lord,” Mary rejoices. She rejoices. In a dizzying reorientation of her life, she rejoices—and gives her life over to the call of God.
In my home hangs a piece of art someone who is part of the Grace community gave me a few years ago. The words printed there inspired for me this Advent poem that, I think, reflects the joy of Mary.
No one has ever become poor by giving.
I puzzle over these words
taking them literally.
Surely, if we give enough,
we reach the end
of our finite resources.
Yet we give more than money
and need more than money.
The oft-repeated lie
of this and many cultures is:
Money is all you need.
But my friend taught me,
my friend who is poor in cash but rich in love,
“It’s just money.”
There is more.
Jesus tells us:
We do not live by bread alone.
Perhaps he meant the eternal,
but I mean love.
We do not become poor by giving.
Somehow, we grow rich
in love, in joy, in purpose.
The oft-repeated lie
isolates
isolates
isolates
until, stripped bare, the one
who had always received
has nothing
and no one.
No one has ever become poor by giving.
So, give your life away.
Give and give and give.
Even in poverty, you will know abundance.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
