​Siblings in Christ,

We are in the last week of the season of the Advent.  Christ is coming...Christ has come...Christ will come again!  Something I’ve noticed over the years of celebrating Advent in the church is that it’s so much about preparing for Christmas; I think we often forget to prepare for the Advent of Christ in our regular lives, too.  It’s so easy to get caught up in the “big deal moments” of life; birthdays, Easter, New Year’s, Christmas.  Yet, Christ comes in the mundane, regular and daily moments of life as well.

An example: When we picture Christmas Eve, and especially when we celebrate it, we certainly pick out the most poignant moments, the most beautiful sentiments, and a lovely, picturesque nativity scene, soft and peaceful don’t we...Mary gazing down at a quiet sleeping newborn, Joseph keeping watch in a clear, starry night, a room full of apparently adoring animals non-pulsed that a baby has replaced the food in their food trough, and the light of a star shining down so directly that the baby is basked in a heavenly glow.  But when you really think about it, birth is pretty common, pretty messy, pretty painful, and not very peaceful at all!

Someone recently joked with me and wondered aloud “Why don’t we ever see the real thing; Jesus Christ CRYING (not lying) in the manger, animals mucking around smelling as they do and looking for the food that’s NOT in their manger but likely scattered all over the floor, Joseph trying to figure out how he can help and being a totally clueless new dad, Mary exhausted, sweaty, covered in all the things after birth with no running water to clean up.  This is not the picture of the song “Away in a Manger,” but do we REALLY expect that Jesus didn’t cry?!?!  In fact, if he wasn’t making a sound, we’d likely be a little worried.  But, of course if he WAS making a sound we’d be worried too; because we’d be new parents worrying about every breath, every cry, every wiggle.  This is exactly the daily and mundane that Jesus is born into, and if we believe that Jesus was truly human, Jesus had many mundane, or at least regular, days all throughout his life too.

One of my favorite songs from the 90’s was by a singer named Rich Mullins, titled “Boy Like Me” in which Rich sings about Jesus as a boy, wondering if he cried in the early morning, wrestled with a dog and let it lick his nose, got scared playing hide and seek, or cried when he scraped his knee.  These are the regular, daily things that make us human...just as Jesus was human.  And so it is fitting that we remember the regular things, too, and not make Christ’s coming only about the picture perfect or set apart times of life, since most of life isn’t picture perfect, set apart, or even special.

The season of Advent, even in the best of Christmas preparations, isn’t picture perfect either, though we try so hard to make it that way.  We have work to do, meals to make, children to care for, cars that break, faucets that leak or freeze, and chores to finish...the list goes on and on in our regular lives during Advent just as much as in the wrapping and decorating and baking and parties.  Perhaps that’s why gathering at church on regular Sundays and not just special occasions is a good thing to do.  Perhaps gathering on regular Sundays is a helpful way to remember and celebrate the Advent of our Lord in the daily and mundane parts of life, and not just the holidays - holy days.  (Isn’t it funny how we only call these special times of the year “holidays” or holy days, when in fact, holy is in every moment of our lives?)

I LOVE the season of Advent...maybe even more than Christmas.  I love the waiting and the special anticipation and recognition that we make in the church that Christ is coming.  I think that may be because Advent is a symbol of how our lives are to be lived every day...in anticipation and hope that Christ is come, and coming.  I wish we could remember in our more secular culture that Christmas doesn’t actually END on Christmas Day, but actually begins and continues for 12 more days until Epiphany.  Wouldn’t it be grand if we spent all those 12 days AFTER the birth of Christ celebrating, especially since in real life, everything really ramps up AFTER the baby is born rather than before?  Wouldn’t it be nice to always light our lamps, to always be waiting and watching, and to find Christ in the everyday?

Peace to you this final week of Advent; peace to you this Christmas.  And, may you find the peace of Christ not only in the celebration of these times, but in the regular, imperfect and mundane moments too, as God come to be with us, not only on Christmas, but each and every day.

​Siblings in Christ, 

Greetings in this third week of Advent!  There is much to prepare for in the next 6 weeks!  Along with the holidays, we have several meetings and events coming up in January.
 
First, on January 3, there will be a brief congregational meeting immediately after church.  The purpose of this specially called meeting is to vote on updates to the church constitution.  Copies will be made ready for this Sunday and will be available until that meeting day for you to take a look at.  However, the changes we are making at this time are primarily to update our language to match that of the model ELCA constitution.  Every three years, changes are proposed and sometimes approved at the churchwide assembly.  We have had 2 assemblies since the last update to our constitution, so it is time to bring it into the present.
 
Mainly, the changes to the document apply to the terms we use for rostered leaders.  We used to have three types of rostered leaders: pastors, AIMS and diaconal ministers.  Their purposes respectively were: ordained to word and sacrament, commissioned for word and service, and consecrated for word and service (one was primarily for work in the church and one was for work in the world).
 
Now, the ELCA has voted that all these will be ordained.  We have also combined AIM and diaconal ministers to one role called deacon.  Our constitutional wording needs to reflect this.  There are a few other minor changes to be made as well, but nothing questionable or controversial!  Just getting in line with our larger church body!
 
The council will be meeting at its regularly scheduled time (January 3 after the congregational meeting) and then again on January 10 to do some brainstorming and visioning.  They will also be hosting some small group meetings to gather information and thoughts from the congregation for input into our transitional process as well.
 
The annual Wild Game Dinner is on January 31.
 
Then, the congregation will have its annual meeting on February 14!  Whew!  A BUSY winter for the church!
 
Please keep your eyes on the weekly emails and bulletins for reminders about these events!  Your voice is important!!!
 
Pastor Heather

I know that in November it probably seemed like I focused a lot on grief and remembrance (before I had to quarantine!)  However, I think it’s important to recognize grief in the many ways it happens in our lives.  Grief cannot be healed if it’s never named or worked through.  And, in our crazy changing world, the church has changed too, which can bring on a grief that often goes unnamed.  I’m not just talking about Grace Lutheran, but many mainline protestant congregations in general are suffering and experiencing great change.  It has become harder and harder to bring new families with children and youth into congregations.  Families are increasingly busier, with too much on their plates, trying to keep up with a culture that no longer stops for church.  And, in all honesty, the faith of many of our young people today is more about being a good person and doing what’s right than following Jesus, because they find a lot of hypocrisy in many Christian communities that seem to exclude more than include.  It is a hard time for the church as we age without younger generations present to take the reins.
 
Therefore, even as we celebrate the past and what we have loved about the church in former years, we also have to grieve that it has changed, and that we need to look forward towards doing a new thing.  Paul gives us hope in 2 Corinthians 5:17-20:
                “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything
                 has become new!  All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given
                 us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not
                 counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So
                 we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf
                 of Christ, be reconciled to God.”
 
This message was written for and speaks to a community of faith, as Paul was writing the Corinthians collectively.  We become new when we live in Christ, and remember that we are ambassadors.  Ambassadors bring their message to the world, rather than wait for the world to come to them.  In this way, we as a church must figure out ways to bring our story of faith to the world.  We may hope to bring people in to worship or other church activities, but in today’s world, that may not work or be likely.  Yet, that doesn’t give us a reason to toss up our hands and despair.  It gives us a reason to be different...to change. 
 
As a pastor, it is scary for me to say that our traditional ways of worship and “being church” may not be long for this world.  I mean, what did I go to seminary for if that is the case?!?!  However, whether we continue to use our buildings, regular church practices, and traditions of old, or find other ways to reach out and be a church community, the point of what we do as Christians is to LIVE a life that reflects Christ, and share with others our story of faith and reconciliation; how Christ lives and loves in and through us.  We know our world IS broken, and when we reconcile ourselves to Christ, we are made new in order to be ambassadors of Christ for the world.  Our stories matter, and we can learn to share those stories in a way that more will hear it.  This is how we are made new; when we change and grow for the sake of others, and share our story...the story of our lives lived in faith.
 
Perhaps one of the best stories we have to share is the Christmas story.  As we celebrate the Advent of our Lord and as we see the advent of a “new way of being church” in the future, I also encourage you to think of the ways that the Christmas story has impacted your life.  What does it mean to you, and what have you experienced because Christ was born.  These are the stories of faith that matter...that encourage and engage young people who are searching for meaning, love and purpose in their lives.  Our own stories of faith are personal and relational...and that’s what newer generations are looking for.  This new church year, beginning right now with Advent, let us be encouraged to not only share Christ’s story, but our own life stories of faith that reflect Christ in our hearts; and let this shape the way we understand our work as disciples so that whether or not the places or methods of how we experience church change, we still know and share God in our lives.
 
In Christ’s Peace,
Pastor Heather