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Pastor's Corner
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance…”
— Ecclesiastes 3:1-4
In his book The Jesus Way (40-41), Eugene Peterson recalls that hiking in the mountains was a favorite family recreational activity when his sons were growing up. But when the boys reached adolescence, he recalls, they became impatient with the slow pace of their parents on the ascent and would rush off ahead. “For them,” writes Peterson, “the trail, the way, was reduced to one thing and one thing only: the way to the top of the mountain. They set out with all deliberate speed to conquer (their verb of choice) the mountain, get to the peak, write their names in the metal box containing the names of successful climbers. They always took a couple of pictures to document their feat. And then, reeking with boredom, they waited for their slowpoke parents who were carrying the lunch. ‘What took you so long? … We’ve been waiting for hours!’”
Peterson gives this explanation, “What did take us so long? Well, there was a lot to see, to savor, to absorb, to enjoy: a mountain goat posing regally on a cliff, a blue-fringed gentian to look at again for the first time, the wind-sculpted trunk of an ancient white-bark pine, a water ouzel plying in a waterfall, the nectarine that we relished as we sat and took in the next range of mountains that had just come into view … Way for us was far more than a way to get to the top. It was a way of being present to everything on the way …” He recalls a line by Robert Pirsig: “To live only for some future goals is shallow. It’s the sides of the mountain which sustain life, not the top. Here’s where things grow. But of course, without the top you can’t have the sides. It’s the top that defines the sides.”
Peterson recalls that Dorothy Day loved to quote St. Catherine: “All the way to heaven is heaven, because he had said, ‘I am the Way.’”
Do we take time to truly appreciate “the Way?” I remember when my kids were little, and we would go on walks. It could take a long time to cover a city block, because they would become distracted by the leaves or the puddles or the cracks in the sidewalk. You might say they were easily distracted, but perhaps in some ways they were more attentive to the things I chose to ignore.
Why are we in such a hurry? Is our destination really more important than the here and now of the journey? My prayer for this new year, for myself and for you, is that we would slow down and appreciate each moment as a gift from God. And each relationship as precious.
Happy New Year; In Christ; Pastor Rich
A story on giving…
There’s a story of a woman who was Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves and other things in the store, she finally made it to the elevator with her two kids.
She was feeling what so many of us feel during the holiday season time of the year: overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don’t forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.
Finally the elevator doors opened and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all her purchases. When the doors closed, she couldn’t take it anymore and stated, “Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up and shot.”
From the back of the car everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, “Don’t worry, we already crucified him.” For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.
I gave up on New Year’s resolutions years ago. I’m all for personal growth. I just found that the goals I set were unrealistic. When I failed -- to lose weight or to exercise more or read War and Peace, I was never motivated to reset the goals. Maybe it had something to do with it being the dead of winter, with it’s limited sun light.
This year I’d like to make some Christmas Resolutions. Maybe resolution is the wrong word…maybe they are more like “Christmas Guideline.” Like many of my old New Year’s resolutions they are also meant to promote health…but now the focus is more on mental and spiritual health than the physical.
Here’s the path I will try to follow: to… spend less…do less…listen to more music… quiet myself before worship…and enjoy my family. I am resolved to be less anxious, more loving, and more present in the moment. If the “Prince of Peace” is the “reason for the season,” I want to envelope myself with peace, make that incarnate in the world.
I encourage you to find meaning, peace, and happiness during this holiday season.
n Christ; Pastor Rich
November 2010
One day, while walking through the downtown, a man sees in a store window the most beautiful, the largest, most magnificent pearl he has ever seen. Instantly he knows he must have it. So he enters the store and an old guy enters from the door to the rear of the showroom. The man addresses the storekeeper, "I want that pearl. How much is it?"
The storekeeper says, "How much you got?"
"Well, I have $300 in my pocket."
"Good, I'll take that. What else you got?"
"Well, I have a Chevy Suburban outside, low mileage, about 2 years old, paid off."
"Good, I'll take that too. What else you got?"
"Well, I have two CD's worth about $18,000."
"Good," says the storekeeper, "I'll take those too. What else you got?"
This goes on and on. The man gives away his house, his property, even his family. Until finally the storekeeper says, "Okay, here. The pearl is yours."
The man turns to leave the store. But as he is walking out the storekeeper stops him and says, "Hey, you know what ? that family of yours? I don't need a family. So I'm going to give them back to you. But remember, they are mine now, not yours. You must take good care of them. And that house in Connecticut, well, I don't need a house so you can have that back too. Although it does belong to me, I just want you to care for it. And as for the CD's and the stocks and the Suburban and even this $300, you can have it all back too. But remember, it is all mine. Take it. Use it wisely. Care for it for me."
So the man left with everything he had when he walked into the store plus the great pearl. But there was a big difference. He walked into the store owning everything he had. He walked out owning nothing. Instead, everything he had before was now a gift
. -- Juan Carlos
During November we will once again reflect on the gifts God has entrusted to us, and think about both stewardship and church budgets. In a short time you will receive a special letter asking for you to remember the gifts you’ve received from God. In response, please prayerfully fill out the enclosed cards with your commitment of time, talent, and money.
This is a critical time in Trinity’s ministry. Thanks for your partnership in the gospel.
In Christ; Pastor Rich Grudt
October 2011
Pastor's Corner
Some people shine. You know what I mean. They have a glow, a force. They seem to radiate energy. Others -- there very essence seems dull, like any sharpness has been worn down by loss, or disappointment, or day-to-day struggle. But in each of us, I believe, remains light and color.
October 7th was my Mom's birthday. When I lived in Michigan's Upper Peninsula I loved that date for another reason...it tended to be the peak of the fall colors, and they were stunning. I lived there for six years, including the first five of my marriage. The landscape was continuously changing, especially the colors - from the browns, blacks, and grays of naked forests, to the white of snow and ice, to the light green of early spring, to the darker, more varied greens of summer...to those brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows of the Fall colors. The full spectrum was stunning.
Now, I understand about chlorophyll and how those brilliant colors are present in the leaves all along, only hidden. But I still found it amazing, even startling as each year, beginning as early as August, there would be little dollops of color, on the tallest tree branches, which the cold winds touch first. The number of spots would increase, then there would be swatches of color, like a brush stroke, then whole hillsides would erupt in luminosity. These bright colors were always there, but were hidden.
In our midweek bible study we reread Jesus' parable on the final judgment (Matthew 25) and the sheep and the goats. You may remember the Son of Man comes and people are separated into two groups: the sheep - who have cared for the hungry, the thirsty, the prisoner, and the sick; and the goats - who have not. It can be seen as a basic morality tale which encourages us to be "good" by serving others. And we can feel guilty because of all the things we're not doing. But that's not the radical message of the passage. That's found in the why. The reason we are supposed to care and help is because found in each person in need is the Son of Man himself. Jesus is present - the light of the world, even in the darkest places.
What would it mean if we saw Christ present in each one we encounter? I'm not advocating some fairy tale understanding, that every person is kind or good or godly. No, in fact I believe we are all sinful, capable of righteousness but often falling short. But we are also all forgiven, as much as we turn to God for mercy. And we are capable of amazing compassion and creativity and community - light. And pure light contains all the colors of the spectrum. All our colors united together - hidden, revealed, transformed by the one who can still bring brilliance from our faded leaves.
In Christ — Pastor Rich
September 2011 Pastor's Corner
At night you can at times feel the darkness. It’s a force, that can seem overwhelming. Darkness can weigh down our spirit, cause us to doubt, renew old fears and bring up new worries. And fear can be incapacitating. It can make you freeze up and be no earthly good. We can obsess on certain thoughts. This can lead us to despair, or prayer.
Herb Brokering is most famous for his buoyant hymn “Earth and All Stars,” but he wrote many wonderful books. One I have rediscovered is called Hello Night: Healing Thoughts for Sleepness Night. It preciously addresses these obsessive thoughts and offers healing prayers. I’d like to share one of his entries:
“I feel like I’m falling apart.”
When I feel I'm falling apart, I stay with one of the parts to get a sense of being real.
Sometimes I lie awake and feel like there are too many parts. They move inside me like those little bumper cars at the circus, only now I'm not laughing. I'm between the cars, or I'm in all the cars. My insides tremble and shake. I feel like I may come apart. Part of me is playing some tune I've had in my head since yesterday. Part of me carries on an old, heated conversation.
Part of me is ticking off things I didn't get done for my trip. And part of me is saying, "I've got to sleep." These parts are all moving at once.
A friend of mine has a saying for times like this: "It's unreal." When I lie awake with these feelings, I say out loud, "I'm feeling unreal." Sometimes I say, "I don't like this. It really scares me."
To get real again, I touch something real: my hand (I think of all it has written, touched, held), a book by my bed (I think of what it's about), the colors in a Japanese painting (I met the artist in Tokyo). I stay with the thing. I pull myself together around it. Or I say something coherent like, "I'm not alone. I've been through this before." Something that lets me hear myself being real, being together.
Or sometimes I recall encouragement from my doctor, the exact words he said to me.
Sometimes I'll sit in an old green chair and say a Bible passage I remember: "I am with you always," or "With God all things are possible" or "The Lord is my shepherd." I say it out loud, and I say each word carefully, to give full attention to that word of God.
Then my insides start to come together around those words, that picture, that me who's real. When I'm whole again, I may sleep. I may get up and begin a new day. Or I may just stay still and give thanks.
My spirit is quiet. I am all together.
How to Know You're Getting Older?
Everything hurts! and what doesn't hurt, doesn't work!
You feel like the night before, and you haven't been anywhere!
You sit in a rocking chair and you can't get it going!
Your knees buckle and your belt won't!
Dialing long distance wears you out!
Your fortune teller offers to read your face!
The little gray haired lady you help across the street is your wife!
You sink your teeth into a steak, and they stay there!
You wake up in the morning and your water bed has sprung a leak, and you realize you don't have a water bed!
When you watch a pretty girl go by, your pace-maker makes the garage door go up!
When you know all the answers, and no one asks you the questions!
When you decide to procrastinate, but never get around to it!
C. Swindoll, Strengthening Our Grip, p.128
When does a “milestone” become a “millstone?” On July 10th I will be fifty – almost middle aged! Ha! For me it’s just a number, and I don’t worry about that number. My weight is another matter. The number of hours sleep I get, the amount of exercise…all those relate to my health, which impacts how I feel, and how productive I can be. But I don’t worry about some arbitrary number which records how long I’ve been breathing air.
On September 15th I will celebrate twenty years as an ordained pastor. That is perhaps the midpoint of my life as a pastor…if I’m lucky enough to stay in the game until age seventy, which of course if nothing compared to Pastor Blomquist. I’ve felt refocused and reinvigorated by our latest evangelism efforts, so who knows? I feel very lucky that neither my age, or my time left before retirement depress me. Yeah, life has it’s ups and downs, but I still feel like the best is yet to come. These dates are more milestones than millstones.
A millstone is self defined…it’s a heavy stone (usually around 130 pounds) that’s used in a mill to grind grain. But a millstone is also any heavy mental or emotional burden. Milestones are also physical – a stone or marker set up beside a road to mark the distance in miles to a particular place. But, like millstones, they are also symbolic, as spiritual marker of growth or pain or accomplishment. They’re not meant to be an endpoint…only a marker along a longer road.
So what was the point I was trying to make? Well, I suppose it’s that it’s too easy to let your age or health or wealth limit you. We can always focus on what we don’t have. Why not focus on the many blessings that God brings into our lives, blessings we are fortunate to be able to share. In Christ; Pastor Rich (McKenzies in Japan, continued) provisional, due to limited public transportation and shortages of basic staple items at stores,” he says. In spite of these struggles, Tim has reported being very
In Christ; Pastor Rich
What happens when we die? I remember my father, I believe, introducing me to Raymond Moody's 1975 book Life After Life. I was probably sixteen or seventeen when I read this popular account of near death experiences – you know, floating above your own body, the white light, departed family members, etc. I was fascinated by these common experiences, although, even with all the details, there was a lot of mystery, a lot of room for wonder.
I had been raised in church and had been taught all about the bible’s teachings on death. But there was mystery in what the faith taught, also. I believed that I didn’t have to fear death…that the grace of God, made possible through Jesus’ sacrificial death, would supercede punishment for my sin. I didn’t fear judgment or nothingness. Yet I wondered.
That sense of wonder and mystery attracted me to the latest movie directed by Clint Eastwood, “Hereafter,” now out on DVD. Matt Damon plays a man who can make contact with the dead, and he wrestles with whether this is a gift or a curse. Certainly those who have felt the devastation of loss from a death, especially a sudden death, understand that intense desire to connect with their loved one “one last time.” To share their feelings, or to hear from that “voice” beyond the grave. But the movie seems to decide, out of inclusive respect for many different traditions, to not take a side on the mysteries of the afterlife.
Three stories – one of a French woman who has a near death experience, another of a little boy who suddenly loses his twin brother, and the third of Damon as reluctant psychic play out and miraculously intersect in the end. There is sparse traditional religion, except for a pastor at a funeral who mouths with words “Death is not final…it’s merely the beginning, a gateway to the afterlife that effects our conduct on earth,” with little conviction or compassion. I don’t watch movies like this to educate myself – in other words, get answers. But I hope that they have an argument, a perspective, for me to bounce my beliefs off of. And for that, I found this movie lacking.
There are other movies I would suggest that are more spiritually and intellectually stimulating:
“Heaven Can Wait “(1978) – a football player in his prime is accidently plucked from his body, returning in the body of another man
“Made in Heaven” (1987) – Timothy Hutton in a film about life, love and reincarnation.
“Ghost” (1990) – This popular romance has perhaps shallow thinking, but still an emotional punch
“Defending Your Life” (1991) – Albert Brooks stars in this lighthearted look at what happens after you die – judged on how you handle fear…
“What Dreams May Come” (1998) – Robin Williams deals with the crushing blow of his wife’s suicide. It imagines the hearafter as a place of wonder and delight, but ultimately is a story of perseverance and determination to fight for what you love.
“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” (2004) – an adaptation of Mitch Albom’s book of the same name, where a man after death learns that he had a much greater impact in his life than he could imagine.
What about the finale for the TV show “Lost?” What about “The Sixth Sense?” There’s a lot of other source material. What comes to your mind?
I love movies…check these out, and let me know what you think. Keep in mind, I don’t agree with all the ideas creatively thrown about. But I do continue to wonder about this great mystery. And ultimately it has as much to do with how we live our lives, as how we experience death.
In Christ; Pastor Rich
The eagle is a great symbol of strength and freedom…a symbol for our nation, a symbol for our faith. Many years ago the prophet Isaiah wrote:
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope (or wait) in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
I’m told that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it. The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.
You see, with the power of eagle’s wings, when the storms of life come upon us - and all of us experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them. God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.
It’s a nice image, a nice symbol…but of course real life can be tough on symbols. I know some of you are really struggling with health issues, with unemployment and other financial problems, with relationship issues. My prayer as a church is that we can find ways to support each other through the great storms of life, that God’s spirit would allow us to be wind which upholds our brothers and sisters, and not just a lot of hot air.
In Christ’s name, Pastor Rich
April 2011 Pastor's Corner
Our only hope, this world’s only hope in these darker days, lies in a God who stretched out his arms and shouted out for all, all to hear, "I love you this much." God has already done whatever it takes to get the world back. Now it’s our turn to get the word out: God loves lost people. Darkness will never, ever, ever snuff out God’s light.
When I need a reminder (which we all surely did in hearing the news all this week), I look at the calendar. I see the first day of the week and I remember what happened one Sunday so many years ago...that first Easter, the day of resurrection. It was that day that guaranteed for time and all eternity that "God wins."
Tony Campolo tells of a Good Friday service he was at where a wise, old black man was the preacher. In Tony’s words:
For an hour and a half he preached one line over and over again..."It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin’!" He started his sermon real softly by saying, "It was Friday; it was Friday and my Jesus was dead on the tree. But that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin’!" One of the Deacons yelled, "Preach, brother, Preach!" It was all the encouragement he needed.
He came on louder as he said, "It was Friday and Mary was cryin’ her eyes out. The disciples were runnin’ in every direction, like sheep without a shepherd, but that was Friday, and Sunday’s comin!"
The preacher kept going. He picked up the volume still more and shouted, "It was Friday. The cynics were lookin’ at the world and sayin’ `As things have been so shall they be. You can’t change anything in this world; you can’t change anything. But those cynics didn’t know that it was only Friday. Sunday’s comin’! It was Friday, and on Friday those forces that oppress the poor and make people suffer were in control. But that was Friday! Sunday’s comin’!
Campolo continues, "He kept on working that one phrase for a half hour, then an hour, then an hour and a quarter, then an hour and a half. Over and over he came at us, "It’s Friday, but Sunday’s comin!" By the time he had come to the end of the message...He had me and everybody else so worked up that I don’t think any of us could have stood it much longer. At the end of his message he just yelled at the top of his lungs, `It’s FRIDAY!’ and all 500 of us in that church yelled back with one accord, `SUNDAY’S COMIN’!"
When you see what is happening in Japan, in Libya, and in Afghanistan and are angry and afraid, I’m here to tell you that SUNDAY’S COMIN’. Yes, there is lots wrong with this world. There are terrorists, and tragedies, and traumas everyday. Things are not what they ought to be, and I don’t like it. But I have hope. I remember a special day long, long ago, and with heart and soul and every fiber of my being I can say, IT’S FRIDAY, BUT, PRAISE GOD, SUNDAY’S COMIN’!
Darkness will never snuff out God’s light. In the midst of our tears, our anger and our fear-we light candles now-in remembrance of those who lost their lives, and to visibly show our hope that God’s light will shine in us.
In Christ’s name; Pastor Rich
March 2011
We think of Lent as being a time of repentance – turning in a new direction. I think that’s meant to be freeing. Yet so often we link a life following God’s ways with guilt and sadness. That’s a shame, for God has so much more for us that just to wallow in shame and regret.
Garrison Keillor tells a story about folks coming home to Lake Wobegon at Christmas. All these folks who have grown up and moved away, become all smart and sophisticated; they think they've outgrown Lake Wobegon, but at Christmas they make their way reluctantly back home. Father Emil at Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility Catholic Church really lets them have it for not living up to their vows, in spite of it being Christmas Eve. Garrison describes Larry Sorenson coming back to the Lutheran church.
Larry the Sad Boy was there, who was saved twelve times in the Lutheran Church, an all-time record. Between 1953 and 1961, he threw himself weeping and contrite on God's throne of grace on twelve separate occasions -- and this in a Lutheran church that wasn't evangelical, had no altar call, no organist playing 'Just As I Am Without One Plea' while a choir hummed and a guy with shiny hair took hold of your heartstrings and played you like a cheap guitar — this is the Lutheran Church, not a bunch of hillbillies — these are Scandinavians, and they repent in the same way that they sin: discreetly, tastefully, at the proper time, and bring a Jell-O salad for afterward. Larry Sorenson came forward weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the amazement of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon about stewardship, and who now had to put his arm around this limp, soggy individual and pray with him and see if he had a ride home. Twelve times. Even we fundamentalists got tired of him. Granted, we're born in original sin and are worthless and vile, but twelve conversions is too many. God didn't mean us to feel guilt all our lives. There comes a point when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and start grappling with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof and make church coffee and be of use, but Larry kept on repenting and repenting. (Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home, pp.181-82).
I pray that this Lent is a time of renewal for you, renewal that leads you to outward action, and not just inner reflection.
In Christ’s name;
Pastor Rich
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:1
Margaret Gredin. Jane Taylor. Chris Purtell. Olga Nelson. You won't find these names in history books. In 100 years, or probably less, memory of who they were will be dim. But these are people of greatness. These are a few names of people I've known in churches where I've served who have beared the burdens of others, and responded with simple acts of kindness.
Jesus had a special heart for the outcast. The early church provided special care for widows and orphans (Mark 12:40; Acts 6:1; I Timothy 5:3,9,16; James 1:27). We are called beyond our own personal needs, to bear one anothers burdens. We pay a price as our society is increasingly fractured, with families living far apart and less strong family ties. That price is an increasing number of abandoned people. Parents whose children live far away. My own family is spread across the country; my parents living in Florida before they died, my one sister still in Florida, the other in Connecticut. It is increasingly necessary for us to be aware of those who don't have the advantage of family support.
I've witnessed many around Trinity United who have also responded to the needs of others in a quiet, behind-the-scenes manner. I won't try to list everyone, because I'm afraid I'd leave someone out. I usually shy away from giving examples. But a stellar example is Carole Johnson, our parish nurse.
Carole, a retired nurse, works tirelessly behind the scenes in so many ways. She shares her medical knowledge, checks prescriptions, and takes blood pressures. But just as often she helped out with simple acts of kindness…being there to listen, visiting, remembering a birthday, going for groceries or hair supplies. She has such a history at our church, in the community, and at Vista East where she worked for years. Her ministry as our parish nurse is powerful. It's not just part of her job description -- it's how Carole lives out her faith.
Sometimes caring can be so simple, yet too much for us. A woman accompanied her husband to the doctor’s office. After his checkup, the doctor called the wife into his office alone. He said, “Your husband is suffering from a very severe disease, combined with horrible stress. If you don’t do the following, your husband will surely die:
“Each morning fix him a healthy breakfast. Be pleasant and make sure he’s in a good mood. For lunch make him a nutritious meal he can take to work. And for dinner prepare an especially nice meal for him. Don’t burden him with chores, and don’t discuss your problems with him, as this would only contribute to his stress. And see to it that you satisfy his every whim. If you can do this for 10 months to a year, I think your husband will regain his health completely.”
On the way home the husband asked his wife, “What did the doctor say?” “You’re gonna die,” she replied.
Ha! I hope our inaction doesn’t lead to death…but maybe it does lead to missed opportunities to reduce stress, anguish, and isolation. Celebrate the examples of compassionate service that surround you, and try to be an example yourself
Sundays after the Epiphany: Green is used for its symbolism of our growth in Christ. Green, in a sense, is a "neutral color," used when more festive or more somber color is not appointed.
Ash Wednesday: Black is the preferred color, since it is the color of the ashes to which we will all return. Purple is the alternate color for this first day of Lent.
Lent: Purple is indicated, as the stark color of repentance and solemnity
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