Theology Pub: Sunday, March 6

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 March 6 will be Free Will, and we will explore the limits and possibilities of our capacity as humans in a broken world.  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 March 6 at 6 pm!

Serving Breakfast on March 6

Grace members will serve the Sunday morning breakfast of biscuits and gravy on Sunday, March 6! Please arrive in the church kitchen between 6:15 and 6:30 am to help. Thank you to all who use their hands and hearts to serve our community!

Lent 2022

Join us for a mid-week Lenten meal at 5:30 pm in the courtyard and worship at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary each Wednesday beginning March 9.  We will gather around the theme Change & Contemplation by singing Holden Evening Prayer, practicing contemplative prayer, and exploring how our ancestors in faith navigated change.

Ash Wednesday

Please join us for Ash Wednesday worship on Wednesday, March 2 at 6:30 pm in the Sanctuary along with Kaleo. For those who cannot join us, Pastor Sarah will be offering Ashes To Go at Van Buren and Central, 11:00 am–1:00 pm.

Sermon for Sunday, February 13

Day of the Church Year: 6th Sunday after Epiphany

Scripture Passage: Luke 6:17-26

Our Jesus story today comes from the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, but at the very end of the gospel of Luke, on Easter Sunday, the day Jesus rises from the dead, the women who had all along accompanied Jesus in his ministry travel to his tomb. When they are told by two men in dazzling clothes that Jesus is risen, the women run to tell the disciples. All but Peter believe theirs is an “idle tale.” The disciples have spent at least a year with Jesus, traveling with him as he healed people, listening to his teaching and preaching, getting the inside scoop on his miracles and parables, and even they don’t get it in the end. Their confusion is understandable. For, as one theologian asks, if the dead can’t even stay dead, what is there to count on?

And so, today, when Jesus preaches his first sermon in the gospel of Luke, the sermon on the plain, to the crowd gathered, including the disciples, no wonder it doesn’t make sense. Particularly in the gospel of Luke, Jesus preaches an upsidedown kingdom and an upsidedown vision of human community. In a kingdom where the dead don’t stay dead, people living in poverty, people who hunger, and people who weep know the blessing of God. In a kingdom where the dead don’t stay dead, people who are rich, full, and laughing are told to “pay attention,” which is a more accurate translation of “woe to you” in the original Greek. At first glance, we too may believe Jesus’ upsidedown vision is an idle tale, one less believable even than a God who becomes flesh, lives among us, is crucified, and raised from the dead.

I can believe Jesus is raised from the dead but not his blessings and woes!

We assume Jesus is just playin’. He can’t really be serious.

If we have been hungry, we know the pain.

If we have been or are currently poor, we know it’s a struggle.

If we have mourned or are currently mourning, we know it’s hard to get out of bed.

How is it that the kingdom of God belongs to us who are hungry and poor and mourning?

Conversely, if we are full, we are satisfied.

If we are rich, we have few material worries.

If we are laughing, we are at ease.

Why is it that Jesus calls us who are rich, full, and laughing to pay attention?

Isn’t the Sermon on the Plain an idle tale?

I thought so. I sometimes still wonder. Suffering is not romantic. It’s not pretty or glossy. Poverty, hunger, and grief are raw, real, and gritty.

When I was 22, I worked for a year at a shelter on the west side of Chicago. Going to work each day was like looking at the world upsidedown. A couple times a week, I would lead a morning devotional time called Morning Prayer. Most days, I would open up the prayer time, and people would pray aloud for those who were still on the street, for other folks at the shelter, for the world at large. Almost every person’s prayer would begin with words of gratitude for the day, for God having woken them up, for strength in their arms and legs. One day, I had the great idea of encouraging people to pray for themselves. After all, every resident of the shelter had no permanent housing and was healing from an injury or illness. Nearly every person had yet to find a job and was healing from active addiction. Many people were struggling with mental health concerns on top of everything else. Of course, everyone would want to pray for themselves; they were in such great need, I thought. But when I invited the group to pray for themselves that day, a silence descended on the room. Finally, one woman spoke up, and she said, “Miss Sarah, I feel like God has already answered all my prayers.”

I suspect the awareness of her need opened her up to the blessing of God. I suspect all of us more easily grasp the gifts of God in our lives when we do not take them granted. But when we are rich, full, and laughing, we are at risk of missing what God is doing in us and in the world, so “pay attention,” Jesus says.

This past week, I attended the downtown poetry slam at the Latino Cultural Center. A small crowd of us gathered to give our complete attention to the 20 and 30-something year old poets who stood at a microphone and shared their original work. In a complete reversal of our culture, not a cell phone could be seen among the audience, so focused was our attention on the pouring out of emotion and experience by the brave poets. The poems they shared told stories of addiction, abuse, body-shaming, racism, unrequited love. Each poet spoke of times of need, desperate need, words that drove to the heart of despair and isolation and brokenness. Yet, strangely, every poem revealed resilience and hope and even joy too. Well-turned phrases of deepest truth elicited supportive snaps, and as each poet left the stage, we burst into applause. In between sets, we flocked to the poets to bask in their light and courage and hope. As brilliant poet Adrienne Rich entitled one poem, these poets were “diving into the wreck” of their lives and paying greatest attention to the blessings in the midst of despair.

In a right-side-up world, we see those who are rich, full, and laughing as blessed, and that’s true, they, we are. We’re blessed by God. God loves us. God is at work in our lives. But we who are poor, hungry, and weeping are blessed too. God loves us too. God is at work in our lives too. And we know it. When we are poor, hungry, and weeping, we know it. We know God is at work. And so blessed are us who are poor and hungry and weeping for ours is the kingdom of God. Amen.

Campformation 2022

Campformation Registration Opens February 14!  Youth are encouraged to register for Lutheran Campformation beginning February 14 at Campformation 2022 - LUTHERAN CAMPFORMATION.  (That’s www.lutherancampformation.com.)  We’ll gather at Camp Pinerock in Prescott July 3-8, 2022.  Youth currently in 6th grade through 8th grade register as campers; youth currently in 9th grade register as GAP campers.  The mission of Lutheran Campformation is to provide Christian faith formation for youth entering grades 6-12 in an outdoor setting.

2022 Congregation Council

GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH

Say Hello to the 2022 GLC Council

Exec Committee: Pastor Sarah, President Sheila Petry, Vice President Fran Fry, Treasurer Renee Waterstradt, Secretary Andrea Sigala

Council Liaisons are members of the council who relate to a particular ministry team, to ensure items that need to go to the council from the ministry teams are heard.

Worship: Fran Fry, Andrea Sigala

Outreach: Renee Waterstradt

Faith Formation: Allison Overly-Stokes

Stewardship: Donna Martin

Hospitality: Joey Lay

Property: Ken Ehlen, Marty Dusenberry

Internship Committee: Donna Martin

We are engaged and ready to represent Grace Lutheran on all fronts with the guidance of the Lord. Feel free to contact us with questions,  comments, ideas for a Ministry, offer your service or just to say HI.

Yours in Christ,

Sheila Petry

GLC 2022 Council President

Sermon for Sunday, January 30

Day of the Church Year: 4th Sunday after Epiphany

Scripture Passage: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

After twelve chapters of instruction by the Apostle Paul to the Christians in Corinth, after twelve chapters of helping them untangle the knots in their community, after assuring them the Holy Spirit empowers them with gifts meant to be used for the common good, Paul concludes the chapter with these words: And I will show you a still more excellent way. 

Chapter 13 then opens: If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

More than wisdom or knowledge, more than generosity or faithfulness, love is the still more excellent way, the essence of the Christian life, the commandment to end all commandments.  For Paul echos Jesus who taught that the first commandment was to love God and the second to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul invites the Corinthians to love with patience and kindness, without jealousy or arrogance, to love in action.    

Just a couple months ago, long-time Grace member Alice Schilling died.  I had the honor of being her pastor for 11 years, and every Sunday, she would greet me at the end of worship with a smile and a hug and an assurance that she was doing great.  I assume she didn’t always agree with me, but I always knew I was loved by Alice.  I remember once when I went to cheer on her grandson Sammy at a basketball game, and after the game, the kids on his team gathered around Alice as she congratulated them and hugged them.  I later learned she was like a grandmother to all those kids, sewing names on jerseys, showing up at all their games.  At Alice’s celebration of life, as Sara and Leiana and other grandchildren stepped up to the lectern, one after another, they assured us who were gathered that, indeed, they were the favorite grandchild.  For though she didn’t always like what they chose to do, Alice supported them in their endeavors, showed up for their games and concerts, listened to them, received them into her arms at difficult times with no questions asked.  Alice loved in such a way that everyone thought they were her favorite.

Who has loved you?  Perhaps a parent or grandparent, a friend or co-worker, a neighbor or church member, a teacher or coach.  Please turn to someone sitting near you, share the name of one person who loves you, and one way they show you they love you.

People took time to share about someone who loves them and one way that person shows them they love them.

As we consider Paul’s words today, the still more excellent way of love, the admonition to love, do not be weighed down by the command to love.  Do not be burdened.  Instead, remember those who have loved you despite all your shenanigans and all your imperfections, those who have rejoiced with you at times of triumph and sat with you as you cried.  Remember those who have given of themselves that you might have life and have it abundantly.  It’s not just our family members and our friends.  It’s our teachers and coaches, health care professionals and scientists.  It’s our public servants: police officers and military personnel, elected officials and all who make the lights go on and the water pour out of the tap.  It’s those who volunteer across our culture to show compassion in countless ways.  It’s the artists and poets and musicians who create beauty to inspire us and the farmers and gardeners—and those who drive the trucks and stock the grocery store shelves—who nurture life so that we may eat.  It’s the church community that shows up for us and prays for us and has nurtured us such that we can hear the word of God today.  We look divided right now in our world; we really do.  But thanks be to God love is an action, not just a feeling.  And by the looks of it, love actually is all around.  And we, despite ourselves, love one another too.

When we remember the love all around us, we want to join that still more excellent way.  We want to be bowled over by the Holy Spirit that leads us into love, that nudges us to love, that compels us to love.  We want to be part of what God is doing all over the world, in every home, in every city, in every nation.  God’s agape love, the love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, God’s agape love is all around this world, sprouting forth among us despite our jealous, boastful, arrogant selves.  What at first appears to be an impossible dream, the agape love of 1 Corinthians 13, turns out to be all around.  We who struggle to love realize that we participate in God’s loving work every day, with every way that we contribute to the common good, both paid and unpaid, with every word of encouragement, with every prayer, by even showing up this morning to help nurture the faith of someone else by our presence. 

Without love, we are nothing.  But friends, we are loved, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we do love.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Serving Breakfast on February 6

Grace members will serve the Sunday morning breakfast of biscuits and gravy on Sunday, February 6! Please arrive in the church kitchen between 6:15 and 6:30 am to help. Thank you to all who use their hands and hearts to serve our community!

Lutheran Advocacy Day this Tuesday, February 1

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!

At-Home Volunteer Opportunity

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.

Theology Pub is back!

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!

Internship Committee

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.

Sermon for Sunday, January 23

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.

Holy Exchange

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.

Environmental Day at the Arizona State Capitol

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.

EVENT REGISTRATION

Sermon for Sunday, January 16

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.

News from our Missionary

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!

Brondos_News_2022_01.pdf (mcusercontent.com)

We're Hiring! Organist & Choir Director Position

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