Guest Post - 40 Days of Giving and Epiphany Star Words

ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving and Epiphany STAR Words: Discipleship

by Dawn Byrd

When I drew the star word DISCIPLESHIP out of the basket on the Sunday we celebrated the Epiphany (January 3), immediately I wanted to throw it back into the basket and draw something I was more familiar with, something easier to accomplish and fulfill! In fairness, I couldn’t really do that. It wasn’t meant to be something we are familiar with! I believe it was intended as an exercise to help each of us stretch out of our comfort zone (both here in our church life AND out in the community). So, I kept the word (it sits on my desk in the church office so that I can remember it every day!).

Discipleship n. . . . break it down to its origination – Middle English, from Old English discipul and from Old French disciple, both from Latin discipulus,  pupil, to learn – 1.) a. one who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another; b. an active adherent, as of a movement or philosophy; 2.) often Disciple (with a Capital D) one of the original followers of Jesus; 3.) Disciple, a member of the Disciples of Christ.

But what does it mean to be a disciple? How does one practice discipleship? Clearly I’m not one of the original followers of Jesus, nor am I a member of the Disciples of Christ; however, I hope that I am one who embraces and helps spread the teachings of Jesus. Right? But how? I struggle with this daily.

So, a few Wednesdays ago, while doing the Lent in a Bag daily devotional from the ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving booklet, the Scripture reading for the day was John 13:35. I grabbed up my Kindle, opened up the HOLY BIBLE app (I like Eugene H. Peterson’s translation, The Message, as I find it easier to understand), and this is what I read:

“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples – when they see the love you have for each other.” John 13:34-35.

That’s it! This is what it means to be a disciple of Christ! Love one another! That is so much easier to understand AND DO than any of the other definitions of disciple(ship) I had previously found . . . to follow in Christ’s footsteps. What does that mean? How do we follow in his footsteps?

Love one another is so much easier to do! Right?  Then I continued reading the day’s devotion:

“Please help us to live in your reflection, shining your love through us not only onto those who are near and dear and easy to love, but onto ALL of your precious and beloved people.”
OK, so it is not always going to be easy to love everyone, but I can certainly start by loving those around me. I can show love when I help serve meals at the Community Café, host during Family Promise, bake bread for communion, read scripture during worship, do the dishes after fellowship hour, just to name a few.

I believe I was meant to pull that word out of that basket . . .  perhaps God’s way of nudging me out of my comfort zone . . . to show love. To share food with the hungry, shelter the homeless, perhaps it is as simple as that.

Guest Post - The Faces of Hunger

This Lent, CtK joins thousands of other ELCA congregations in ELCA World Hunger's 40 Days of Giving. A daily devotional booklet, a piggy bank, and the challenge from CtK's 40 Days of Giving Team to give $0.25/day will help us learn about hunger issues, and make a difference in our world. Look for occasional guest posts from team members during this season!

Faces of Hunger, by Jerry Johnson

The many faces of hunger are . . . emaciation, bloated bellies, stunted minds, helplessness, hopelessness, disease and death . . . a trackless wasteland . . . a vast emptiness . . .

About 34 years ago, shortly after I returned from an ALC (American Lutheran Church) hunger-justice study trip to Mexico and Nicaragua, I was sitting in a church council meeting in Whitefish, MT and one of the members said he was tired of hearing about hunger. As a new hunger advocate, I vigorously disagreed.

A few years later, in 1998, I wrote an essay where I quoted Martin Luther who said, "If you preach the gospel in all aspects with the exception of the issues which deal specifically with your time, you are not preaching the Gospel." It was at that time that the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Reno, NV, began a once a month second offering with fast food cups to support the ELCA World Hunger Appeal against world hunger.

In 1999, when Margaret and I joined Christ the King Lutheran Church, we mentioned this way of collecting funds for World Hunger and CtK began using the fast food cups, also. Christ the King's "hunger" offering went from almost nothing to several thousand dollars a year for hunger relief, locally (Food Bank) and globally (ELCA World Hunger Appeal).

On the first Sunday of every month, when the ushers pass around the fast food cups for a second offering, it does two great things: 1) it helps educate people to curb obesity, and stave off diabetes and hypertension; and 2) it helps feed hungry  brothers and sisters and teaches them how to combat hunger, thus achieving dignity and life quality.

A couple of the Montana Synod congregations have adopted this same means of collecting special offering for ELCA World Hunger, but I must admit I haven't been able to get the churchwide organization to adopt this as a good way to increase hunger giving churchwide.

There are approximately four million members in the ELCA and the 2016 budget for hunger is 24 million dollars. This amounts to $6.00 a year per member, 50 cents a month or 1 3/4 cents a day. If every ELCA member gave a dime (10 cents) a day, it would add up to $3.00 a month and $44 million dollars a year. Can you imagine what could be done to alleviate world hunger with that?

I hate to say it, but in 10 years the average ELCA Lutheran has only increased hunger giving by 3/4 of a penny a day. We pray for God to help, but God uses our hands to do it! We don't give to pat ourselves on the back, but I thank you, thank you CtK for holding up our end of the bargain and also for taking on the 40 Days of Giving journey.

Guest Post - Jesus is our Power Supply for Faithfulness and Generosity

This Lent, CtK joins thousands of other ELCA congregations in ELCA World Hunger's 40 Days of Giving. A daily devotional booklet, a piggy bank, and the challenge from CtK's 40 Days of Giving Team to give $0.25/day will help us learn about hunger issues, and make a difference in our world. Look for occasional guest posts from team members during this season!

Power Supply
February 7, 2016

My computer crashed this weekend and perhaps in a causative yet reflective way, so did I.

How do I write an inspirational “devotion” addressing ELCA World Hunger’s 40 Days of Giving for CtK’s website when I am swamped  trying to book tickets and Airbnb rentals for my daughter Natalie and my long-awaited trip to meet Jeff in Italy next month?   One night spent in a European hostel could feed an African village for at least a day!  Our wealth and opportunity in the face of world-wide poverty and oppression makes my “circuits” cross and shutdown.   Sorting out thoughts, feelings, and experiences with hunger and poverty, and more importantly rebooting myself to take action in helping alleviate it, is about as looming and complex for me as trying to understand the operation of my aged computer. Can’t we just fix it?

I am thankful for the insight and guidance of others - in particular to Joel and “the computer guy” who tell me that it’s possible my computer “just” has a power-supply issue; diagnose that and it could continue to still have a use in my life - cool!  Power-supply issue…hmmm, could this help explain my own “shut-down” lately when it comes to feeling like I have little purpose, reflected in even less effort , in helping end hunger and poverty?  “Open the eyes of my heart, Lord…”  The song we sang in worship today reminded me that Jesus is our never-failing Power Supply, who can plug hearts back into seeing, feeling, and caring for all of God’s children and their wellbeing.  I can’t fix poverty or feed the whole world, but connected to Jesus I can be useful in someone’s life in some way that can makes progress in doing so.  

Once again, I am thankful for the insight and guidance of others - in particular the ELCA World Hunger 40-day devotional book and adult forum studies/discussions that will happen during Lent in our families and church.  With our Power Supply issue diagnosed (like my computer, I hope), we can wake up to the invitation of participating in life-changing work and “refresh” our efforts in ending hunger and poverty here at home and overseas.

With you together on our 40 Days of Giving journey-

Barb Benson
CtK 40 Days of Giving Team

Lent Haiku

Last night, after enjoying their soup supper (and mac & cheese - there's mac & cheese every week for the picky-eaters club), CtK youth wrote some haiku for the season.
I got the idea from a colleague in Oregon, who writes a haiku, instead of taking a photo, but uses a Photo-a-Day challenge for his themes. If you're inclined to do something similar, post in the comments. And please use #ctkbozeman on any social media posts, so we can find you!

I just asked our youth to think about Lent and Ash Wednesday. Here's what they gave me:

Sin infects our souls
Dark ashes upon our heads
Death will not conquer
...

+ + +
I gave something up
Ashes are on our faces
We are all sinners
+ + +
We are forgiven
It's the beginning of Lent
Ashes to ashes

Lent begins - Ash Wednesday, Feb. 10th

Lent, the season lasting 40 days leading up to Easter, begins tomorrow. CtK will gather for a simple supper of soup and bread at 6:00pm, and for worship, with the imposition of ashes, at 7:00pm.
Let us pray for a holy Lent.

It's Lent

Today is the Friday after Ash Wednesday, which makes it the first Friday in Lent. And it's not too late to take up a special discipline for the season. The traditional practices of the season are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. In keeping with the idea of fasting, lots of folks talk about "giving something up for Lent." The first few paragraphs of this article proved a helpful way for me to think about that - so helpful that I quoted them in my sermon last week.
I know a lot of people who "pick something up for Lent" instead, or who do a little subtraction for the sake of the addition - a "fast 'from' and feast 'on,'" if you will.
Here are a couple links to creative practices for Lent. Personally, I'm doing the Lent Photo a Day as part of my keeping of the season this year - I find it helps focus my vision, and helps me see what I might otherwise miss. If you decide to do the Photo a Day, too, consider posting your pics on your favorite social media platform, and be sure to tag them with the word for the day as well as #ctkbozeman. Thanks!

Lent Photo a Day

40 Things to Give Up For Lent: The List

If you're wanting to make a greater commitment or are looking for something a bit more robust, consider enrolling in Jan Richardson's online retreat - Beloved: An Online Journey Into Lent + Easter. There's a fee for participation, but everyone I know who's ever done one of her online retreats speaks highly of it!

Baskets of Promise

During the season of Lent, CtK is collecting items for Personal Care Kits, to be distributed by Lutheran World Relief. Each week, we add to our "Baskets of Promise" by collecting one of the items for the kits. This week (March 30th) we are collecting combs; next week (April 6th) we are collecting metal nail clippers. On April 13th we'll collect individually wrapped bars of soap (again), since every kit contains two bars of soap.
The response to this effort has been overwhelming. THANK YOU to all who have so generously donated items for care kits. While our original goal was to assemble 50 kits, it looks like we may be able to send even more than that.
I don't know about you, but I take a lot of things for granted - my toothbrush (given to me by my dentist), soap in the shower and near every sink (which are all indoors, with hot and cold running water safe to drink and bathe in), clean towels, my favorite hairbrush... Should I forget something while I'm traveling, I might be inconvenienced, but that's about the worst of it. Hotels often offer spares, and it's easy enough to go out and purchase a replacement whatever if I need it.
But for those recovering from natural disasters, or living in severely impoverished or refugee communities, the gift of a personal care kit means a lot. Personal care kits are a tangible expression of God's love and care for those in need.

Students open Personal Care Kits in their class.

If you'd like to learn more, check out the interactive map which shows distribution of Lutheran World Relief quilts and kits. (Personal care kits were shipped in late January to Syrian refugees in camps in Northern Iraq, and the timeline on the link will show when they arrive).

Be still and know that I am God.

My life is not very quiet these days.

This is why I need the quiet atmosphere of midweek Lenten worship to calm my mind, body, and spirit.

I have always enjoyed evening worship. There is something about darkness, candlelight, quiet music, and gentle voices that calm me and help me be still.

My eldest daughter Marit won’t take an afternoon nap unless she is still and quiet.

I have a hard time sensing the presence of the Holy Spirit unless I am still and quiet.

Evening worship provides an opportunity to be still and quiet.

A musical prelude and postlude draws me into the worship space, and keeps me there when I think I need to leave to tend to my duties as a pastor, husband, and father.

The contrast between darkness and light during evening worship holds my attention, unlike some other lighting arrangements.

Quiet voices reading scripture, uttering prayers, and singing hymns calm me down much like when I speak to my boisterous children with a still, small voice.

I will continue to participate in evening worship because I need the quiet, I need the calm, and I need the stillness to help me sense the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

Perhaps that is God’s gift to us during this season leading up to Holy Week and Easter.

We need the quiet. We need the calm. We need the stillness to help us sense the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

It's Lent

It's Lent. We're three days in already, having observed Ash Wednesday two days ago, with the solemn reminders that we are all, indeed, going to die; that sin is real; and that neither of those two realities is the last word on us. Thanks be to God.

 

While Lent may not be the happiest of seasons, I need it. I need the raw honesty, the reminder that I do indeed need saving from "weak resignation to the evils we deplore" as the old hymn puts it, and that I frequently need saving from myself. I need a fresh start. Again.

One of the downsides of Lent is how "do-able" it can seem - the invitation to embrace a discipline, or to undertake a "40 ___ for the 40 Days of Lent" challenge can make someone like me feel like maybe if I just try hard enough, and buckle down, and build up that will-power, I could keep a "Holy Lent." While I tend not to enjoy failure, I need that, too, especially during Lent, otherwise I'm tempted to make a god of my own good intentions and small successes.

 

It's a paradoxical season: Struggle with sin, and don't resign yourself to it; "return to God," to paraphrase the reading from the prophet Joel on Ash Wednesday. At the same time, recognize that you have, and always will, fail in that struggle. And that's precisely why returning to God (who never left us, by the way) is such good news. In Lent we are invited again to acknowledge that God always comes down to us, to our world, to the messiness of our hearts. And loves us. And takes up residence right in the middle of the broken, and weary, and otherwise hopeless.

So - pick a discipline (prayer, fasting, almsgiving, 40 ___ for 40 days) and embrace it with all you've got. When you follow through, give thanks. And when you falter, give thanks. You are human. You will die. And you are held, and loved, by a God who raises the dead to life.

The Basin and the Towel

Maundy Thursday always makes me think of this song, by Michael Card. And I wonder what it was like for Jesus' disciples to watch the events of that night unfold, still damp between their toes.

Thursday Thought

The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore - on the contrary; they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him "meek and mild," and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies. To those who knew him, however, he in no way suggested a milk-and-water person; they objected to him as a dangerous firebrand. True, he was tender to the unfortunate, patient with honest inquirers, and humble before heaven; but he insulted respectable clergymen by calling them hypocrites; he referred to King Herod as "that fox"; he went to parties in disreputable company, and was looked upon as a "gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners"; he assaulted indignant tradesmen and threw them and their belongings out of the Temple; he drove a coach-and-horses through a number of sacrosanct and hoary regulations; he cured diseases by any means that came handy, with a shocking casualness in the matter of other people's pigs and property; he showed no proper deference for wealth or social position; when confronted with neat dialectical traps, he displayed a paradoxical humor that affronted serious-minded people, and he retorted by asking disagreeably searching questions that could not be answered by rule of thumb. He was emphatically not a dull man in his human lifetime, and if he was God, there can be nothing dull about God either. But he had "a daily beauty in his life that made us ugly," and officialdom felt that the established order of things would be more secure without him. So they did away with God in the name of peace and quietness.

~ Dorothy Sayers, A Matter of Eternity, Selections from the Writings of Dorothy L. Sayers

A short explanation of the day and the church season upon us

Looking for a quick way to explain Ash Wednesday to your friends? Look no further than Busted Halo’s® two-minute video that describes the day which begins the season of Lent, and why Catholics and many other Christians(like us Lutherans) receive ashes on their foreheads.

Lent begins with a solemn call to fasting and repentance as we begin our journey to the baptismal waters of Easter. Now is the acceptable time to return to the Lord. During Lent we as a community of faith will reflect the meaning of our baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. On Ash Wednesday, we receive ashes traced on our foreheads, to remind us that in our baptism, we were marked with the sign of the cross forever. The ashes suggest our human mortality and frailty. What seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new beginning, in which we are washed in God’s mercy and forgiveness. With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the springtime Easter feast to come.

Let us pray,
Gracious God, out of your love and mercy you breathed into dust the breath of life, creating us to serve you and our neighbors. Call forth our prayers and acts of kindness, and strengthen us to face our mortality with confidence in the mercy of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen!

You are invited

Our Lenten journey begins tomorrow evening, starting with a soup supper to be held in the social hall at 6 p.m. At 7 p.m. we will gather in the worship space for Ash Wednesday.

Come with an open heart and an open mind, as we are reminded of our common humanity and mortality through the Imposition of Ashes. Hear how we are called to be a community of faith, the body of Christ, through proclamation of the Word and the breaking of the bread.

I’ll see you at supper and in worship.

In Christ, Pastor Grant

A Lenten Prayer

We're coming up on the fourth Sunday of Lent (and it's APRIL!). How is the season treating you? In addition to "a dollar a day for forty days," my other Lenten discipline this year has been giving up game shows - my own personal fast. I know, it sounds pretty lame, and it's not like I would consider myself unhealthily "addicted" to game shows. It's just that they have a tendency to become a time-suck in my life. Here's the deal: Grant really likes to watch the nightly news. Back when Marit was born we cancelled our DirecTV, and got an antenna. We now get CBS, the CW and five (yes, five!) different PBS channels. But that's it. No ABC, no NBC, no Fox, not even the Weather Channel!! So, our network news options are limited, and we watch the CBS news at 5pm on the nights we're home and not at church or out and about. Then the local news comes on at 5:30. All good. At some point dinner gets fixed, and if inertia takes hold, the TV stays on, as background noise, if nothing else, for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune. Without thinking too much about it, it becomes entirely too easy for me to watch two hours of television. Well, not anymore. No game shows for me these days. It's good - Grant and I have more time to read to each other (we're reading The Message - Eugene Peterson's translation of the Bible, outloud to each other this year) and to have real conversations. It's amazing how much I can actually get done in that hour if I want to, and how a fast isn't for the sake of the thing you're giving up, but in order to feast on something else.
Are you fasting from something this year? Is it as simple as turning off the TV? Are you fasting from facebook? From a favorite food? Here's a prayer to help us expand our thoughts, and discipline, around fasting this Lent:
A Lenten Prayer
Fast from judging others; feast on the Christ indwelling in them.
Fast from emphasis on differences; feast on the unity of all life.
Fast from apparent darkness; feast on the reality of light.
Fast from words that pollute; feast on phrases that purify.
Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude.
Fast from anger; feast on patience.
Fast from pessimism; feast on optimism.
Fast from worry; feast on trust.
Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation.
Fast from negatives; feast on affirmatives.
Fast from unrelenting pressures; feast on unceasing prayer.
Fast from hostility; feast on nonviolence.
Fast from bitterness; feast on forgiveness.
Fast from self-concern; feast on compassion for others.
Fast from personal anxiety; feast on eternal truth.
Fast from discouragement; feast on hope.
Fast from facts that depress; feast on truths that uplift.
Fast from lethargy; feast on enthusiasm.
Fast from suspicion; feast on truth.
Fast from thoughts that weaken; feast on promises that inspire.
Fast from idle gossip; feast on purposeful silence.
Gentle God, during this season of fasting and feasting, gift us with your presence so we can be a gift to others in carrying out your work. Amen.
William Arthur Ward (1921-1994)
(American author, educator, motivational speaker)

So, how's it going?

Are you keeping Lent this year? If you are, how's it going? Did you give something up for Lent - or add something? How's your new practice/discipline treating you?

I'm finding that making a point of putting a dollar a day in my little cardboard offering box is making me more aware of how I spend all my money. It's providing me with another opportunity to be mindful of the ways my life is more comfortable than I deserve, and to think of those who are more uncomfortable than they deserve - especially the survivors of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. I've also learned just how little sacrifice it is to set aside a dollar a day - at least for now. I've emptied my wallet of one dollar bills, but have also been emptying out that jar of spare change, 6 dimes, a quarter and 3 nickels at a time, and that has been pretty painless.

I know I could have just waited until right before Easter and gone to the ATM for two crisp twenties, and that the recipient of my offering would never know the difference, after all $40 is $40. Except it isn't - the daily practice of setting aside $1 is making me more grateful, more aware, and more prayerful. This discipline stuff might be good for me after all.

Ash Wednesday

We will gather for worship tonight at 7pm to begin the season of Lent with worship on this Ash Wednesday. Worship will be preceded by a simple supper of soup and bread at 6pm. (If you participated in all the Shrove Tuesday festivities last night, I really hope to see you here tonight!) Ash Wednesday services include the imposition of ashes, in the shape of a cross, on our foreheads, and the words "remember you are dust and to dust you shall return." It's a reminder of our mortality, and of our complete dependence on the steadfast love and mercy of the God who created us. We do well to remember.

Merciful God,
you called us forth from the dust of the earth;
you claimed us for Christ in the waters of baptism.
Look upon us as we enter these Forty Days
bearing the mark of ashes,
and bless our journey through the desert of Lent
to the font of rebirth.
May our fasting be hunger for justice;
our alms, a making of peace;
our prayer, the chant of humble and grateful hearts.

All that we do and pray is in the name of Jesus,
for in his cross you proclaim your love
for ever and ever.
Amen

Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers

Cafe: Stirring the Spirit Within, March 2011

This month's edition of Cafe, the zine of Women of the ELCA is now available.

Adding a little balance for Lent by Megan Torgerson

The foundation of our faith involves loving our neighbor—but what happens when we give love without balance? How will you add balance to your life and relationships this Lent? More

Faith reflections + study

We learn from the Bible that we are called not only to love people we like, but people we don't like. But how do we love our neighbor in a healthy way? More

Listen to this month's podcast More

Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper and Games

Lent will (finally!) be here, just around the corner. The season of Lent begins quite late this year, on Ash Wednesday, March 9th, because Easter is so late: April 24th.

Once again, the Family & Youth Ministry Team here at CtK is hard at work putting together an evening for all ages: Shrove Tuesday, March 8th. The festivities will run from 5:30-7:30pm, and will include an all you can eat pancake supper, a cake walk, hula hoop contest, pancake toss, and more. We'll "get some of the silly out" before the somberness of Lent begins.

This is a wonderful event and tons of fun. Invite your friends and neighbors to join in!

Good Friday - prayer

From Book of Common Worship

O crucified Jesus,
Son of the Father,
conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
eternal Word of God,
we worship you.

O crucified Jesus,
holy temple of God,
dwelling place of the Most High,
gate of heaven,
burning flame of love,
we worship you.

O crucified Jesus,
sanctuary of justice and love,
full of kindness,
source of all faithfulness,
we worship you.

O crucified Jesus,
ruler of every heart,
in you are the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,
in you dwells all the fullness of the Godhead,
we worship you.

Jesus, Lamb of God,
have mercy on us.

Jesus, bearer of our sins,
have mercy on us.

Jesus, redeemer of the world,
grant us peace.