More thoughts on last Sunday's Gospel text

Though I wasn't the preacher this past Sunday, I have been reflecting on the Gospel reading from Luke. I hear Jesus' call to invite "the poor, the blind, the crippled and the lame" to dinner, instead of one's friends and family, and think, "But I don't really KNOW that many poor, blind, crippled, or lame people." And then I think, "Why is that? Maybe I should."
What does it say about contemporary small town/suburban life that it's pretty easy to go day after day without crossing paths with folks who are all that different from me?
Our household gives regularly to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank, and that's a good thing, but I don't know many folks who receive regularly from the Gallatin Valley Food Bank. I wonder how my life would be different - better, I'd bet - if I did. Jesus isn't just calling us to share what we have with those we don't know, but to get to know those who would benefit from our sharing. I believe it's in the relationship that everyone benefits, perhaps the ones sharing most of all. Yes, it might make me more uncomfortable on one level, to put names and faces and very real lives to all the statistics it's so easy to shrug off, but is it right, or holy, to avoid that discomfort?

Sunday Reflections

1. Read Luke 14:1, 7-14.
2. Why do the guests actions (v. 7) attract Jesus’ attention? How do you imagine this scene? How does Jesus’ view of honor vary from that held by others at the meal?
3. How do things like customs and status get in the way of loving others in your family? Church? Work place? School? Community? World?
4. If you could throw a party for the “poor,” “crippled,” “lame,” and “blind” in your world, would you invite? How might you do this?

Cereal Drive Continues

CtK's Annual Cereal Drive is on! So far we've collected fewer than 50 boxes; our goal is 300+!
If you're able, pick up an extra box (or two) of breakfast cereal the next time you're at your favorite grocery store, and bring it to worship with you on Sunday. Volunteers will make sure it gets to the Gallatin Valley Food Bank.
Thanks!

Annual Blessing of the Backpacks this Sunday

School is starting! School is starting! For some of our students, classes began yesterday. Others hit classrooms this coming Monday. Please remember to hold all learners and educators in prayer this week and next!

This Sunday, August 29th, we'll have our annual Blessing of the Backpacks during worship at 9:30am. All students, teachers, professors, etc., are encouraged to bring their school bags with them to worship for the blessing.

A Prayer for Schools

Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges and universities, that they may be lively places for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen

-ELW, p. 78

Spaghetti Feed & Silent Auction

CtK is hosting a Spaghetti Feed & Silent Auction to benefit baby Shelby and her family. While she is growing stronger each day, Shelby remains in the NICU, after being born 16 weeks early back in April.
All funds raised will go to help the Ullom family with medical bills and other expenses resulting from Shelby's hospitilization and care.
Who could you invite to join you for this fun event? There will be lots of great items to bid on (photo sessions, salon services, a ton (literally!) of hay, lots of handmade arts and crafts, gift certificates to local businesses and more) and super tasty food to eat. A free will offering will be received at the door, how much do you think we can raise?
The Broadwater-Gallatin chapter #30546 of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will be matching funds up to $5000. How great would it be if we can send several thousand dollars to the Ulloms!?!

Sunday Reflections

Did you notice that last week Pastor Grant wrote a reflection following his sermon on Sunday the 15th? Each week, the preacher is going to try to write something as a follow-up to his/her sermon, to help folks keep thinking about and applying the message to everyday life. Please let us know what you think! (especially you, Mr. Anderson...)

What IS Sabbath/Sunday for? Have you thought any more about that question? Have you considered being more intentional in the way you "remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy?"
In the Hebrew Scriptures, we see a development in thought about Sabbath - starting as a day to rest, as God rested in creation (Exodus 20), then as a way to celebrate freedom (Deuteronomy 5), and later as an identifying characteristic of God's people (Ezekiel): Who are the people of God? The Sabbath-keepers. Holiness, social justice, identity.

What gets in the way of your own sabbath-keeping? How would your life and schedule the rest of the week need to change in order for you to truly have a day off every week? Would it mean less TV on Tuesdays so that you could take a nap on Sunday? Getting the laundry and shopping done on Friday so that the to-do list doesn't get in the way of worship?

What blessings might you find in honoring sabbath? I know that I enjoy looking forward to a day with no "have-to's," or even "need-to's." Honoring sabbath reminds me that I'm not the one responsible for keeping the world spinning - not even my little corner of it. Keeping sabbath offers rest from the week before and fuel for the week ahead. Not that I'm always that good at it, but when the rhythm of my life includes a weekly day that is totally unlike the others, my life is better, and I'd venture to say I'm a better person to live and work with.

In Practicing Our Faith, Dorothy Bass writes,

What, besides churchgoing, is Christian Sabbath keeping? The answer must be
tailored to specific circumstances and will vary considerably in different
cultures and stages of life. It will be helpful in each circumstance to reflect
carefully on both what is good and what is not.
What is not good on Sabbath, or in Sabbath time? We would do well to heed
three millenia of Jewish reflection on the Sabbath commandment. Not good are
work and commerce and worry. To act as if the world cannot get along without our
work for one day in seven is a startling display of pride that denies the
sufficiency of our generous Maker. To refrain from working - not every day, but
one in seven - opens the temporal space within which glad and grateful
relationship with God and peaceful and appreciative relationship with nature and
otehr people can grow. Refraining from work on a regular basis should also teach
us not to demand excessive work from others. Commerce? Buying and spending are
closely related to working too much; they depend on work, create the conditions
for more work, and often are work. We could refrain from shopping on
Sundays, making a choice that might complicate the weekly schedule at first but
should soon become a refreshing habit. And worry? It may be difficult to banish
cares from our minds altogether, but we can refrain from activities that we know
will summon worry - activities like paying bills, preparing tax returns, and
making lists of things to do in the coming week.
And what is good on a Christian Sabbath? Most important is joyful worship
that restores us to communion with the risen Christ and our fellow members of
his body, the church. For Christians, every Sunday is Easter Sunday, a time
to gather together with song and prayer, to hear the Word proclaimed, and to
recognize Christ in the breaking of the bread. It is a festival, a spring of
souls, a day of freedom not only from work but also from condemnation. At
times, worshiping communities lose sight of this: hymns drag, elders judge,
children fidget, fancy clothes constrain, and the minutes tick
slowly by. In other congregations, joyful prayer and song burst
through the seams of the worship service, and hours pass before anyone is
ready to leave. The contrast suggests that we all need to remember that
Sunday worship is not just about "going to church"; it is about taking part in
the activity by which God is shaping a new creation. It is a foretaste
of the feast to come.

In Sabbath, Wayne Muller writes,

Our lack of rest and reflection is not just a personal affliction. It
colors the way we build and sustain community, it dictates the way we respond to
suffering, and it shapes the ways in which we seek peace and healing in the
world. I have worked for twenty-five years in the fields of community
development, public health, mental health, and criminal justice. With a few
notable exceptions, the ways problems are solved is frantically,
desperately, reactively, and badly. Depsite their well-meaning and generous
souls, community and corporate leaders are infected with a fearful desperation
that is corrosive to genuine helpfulness, justice or healing. As Brother
David Stiendl-Rast reminds us, the Chinese pictograph for "busy" is
composed of two characters: heart and killing.

A Welcoming Congregation

I've been doing a little research to help out one of our church council members who is writing a newsletter article for the September newsletter. It's amazing how much good stuff (and how much junk) there is online these days.

One of the good things I found online today is a set of "Tools for a Healthy Congregation," on an archived page of the ELCA website. There are three sections: Faithful, Welcoming and Generous. In addition to descriptions and stories to go along with each adjective, there are self-assessments showing how a congregation can becoming more faithful, welcoming and generous. If you decide to take any of the assessments, let me know what you learn!

Here's a great description of a Welcoming Congregation:
To be a welcoming congregation is to learn to welcome strangers as neighbors. It means moving from the mindset of “We know everybody here” to “I wonder who will come next; I can’t wait to get to know them!”
In welcoming congregations ALL members bear the responsibility of being a greeter. They have adopted the norm that they speak to at least one stranger BEFORE they speak to their friends. If they see someone they don’t know, they introduce themselves and welcome the visitor.

Do you think YOU could make it a habit to speak to at least one person you don't know (beyond just smiling and saying, "Good morning") before you talk to your friends and family here at CtK? You might be surprised how many regular worshipers you DON'T know. You might be the first to welcome someone new to Bozeman and new to the congregation.

How might the Holy Spirit use YOU on a regular old Sunday, to extend hospitality and welcome to new folks as well as the CtK "regulars?" What are some places, and who are some people, who have made you feel welcome when you've been the newbie? What can you learn from them?

Do you think you could make it a habit to talk to someone of a different generation at least once a week? How long would it take to get to know the names of every middle school and high school student? All of the elementary school kids? How would you feel if every Sunday a whole bunch of kids ran up to you to say "Hi!" and give you a high five? (It feels pretty great, trust me).

What do you have to lose?