The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is committed to supporting policies that safeguard God’s creation, address the impacts of climate change on our most vulnerable brothers and sisters, and fulfill our moral obligation to future generations. Because of these commitments, ELCA Advocacy is deeply concerned about the White House’s executive action taken on March 28, 2017 to eradicate our nation’s progress in combating climate change. 

All children of God have a responsibility to be caretakers of our natural world and to preserve our ecosystems for future generations. In striving for climate justice, we understand that the burden of environmental degradation, pollution, and lack of access to resources falls disproportionately on marginalized communities. Therefore, we must cultivate and maintain a healthy and abundant planet that meets the needs of current and future generations.

The ELCA is mindful of the economic challenges faced as individuals and communities transition from employment based on fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. Any action taken to address climate change must also ensure sufficient and sustainable livelihood for all people.

We call upon the Administration to re-examine its actions under this executive order and to proceed with extreme caution. We also call upon the Administration to remain true to its stated commitment of protecting the environment and to base all actions on principles of stewardship, sustainability, and justice.

For more information on ELCA Advocacy’s commitment to caring for God’s creation, visit ELCA.org/advocacy.

Jen Krausz–Bethlehem, PA

Warm-up Question

What is appealing about fantasy books and movies (or for younger kids, fairy tales)?

Second Chance

Disney’s live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast has surpassed last year’s Finding Dory, which earned $135 million, to take in $170 million in the U.S. on its opening

Two models isolated on a black background. Blonde woman holding hands of a beast

weekend, making it the top-grossing G- or PG-rated movie opener ever. The movie broke other box office records as well, becoming the highest opening for a movie so far in 2017 and the best March release ever. It is also the seventh top-grossing opening weekend for a movie of all time.

Disney has made several of its animated classics into live-action movies in recent years, including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Maleficent, and “The Jungle Book. Upcoming planned releases include Dumbo, Mulan, The Lion King, and Aladdin, among others.

“Nostalgia is a very powerful driver for these films,” Disney head of distribution Dave Hollis said. “What’s exciting here is there is an opportunity to see these beloved stories in a way that’s never been seen before, but you get to build that on the foundation of something that’s very familiar.”

“But you don’t get to $170 million because of nostalgia,” Hollis added. “You have to ultimately make these movies great.” In addition to the record-breaking domestic release, the movie also made another $180 million around the world, and is expected to top $1 billion globally by the end of its run.

The movie featured songs from the original and starred Emma Watson as Belle. It beat out Kong: Skull Island, Logan, Get Out, and The Shack, all of which had debuted in previous weeks. The film follows the story of Belle, an independent, literate woman (who in this version is also an inventor), as she tries to protect her father from the Beast, who she doesn’t know is a prince, cursed by a witch for not being kind to her.

Discussion Questions

• Have you seen “Beauty and the Beast”? What did you think of it? Give a brief review.
• What is your favorite kind of movie? Why do you like them?
• The Beast is seeking redemption for wrong actions in his past. Do you think people deserve a second chance when they mistreat others? Why or why not?
• How was the Beast’s punishment appropriate to his actions? How would the world be different if people’s outward appearance reflected their inner character? Would you wish for such a world? Why or why not?

Fifth Sunday in Lent

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Romans 8:6-11

John 11:1-45

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Not only was Jesus’ raising of Lazarus a huge miracle that showed many people he was sent by God, but it also had a profound impact on Lazarus. Lazarus had a second chance at life on Earth—an opportunity that few people get.

The miracle of Lazarus is multi-pronged and has layers of meaning that don’t become clear to Jesus’ followers until after Jesus’ death and resurrection. Looking at Lazarus from beyond the resurrection, it becomes clear that Jesus is sending a message, not only about God’s sovereignty, but about how we are all dead, in a manner of speaking, because of our sins.

Just as Lazarus needed Jesus to raise him up to a new chance at life, we need Jesus to raise us out of the death that our sin brings. We may not all be physically dead, but without Jesus we are spiritually dead and in need of new life.

The difference between the redemption Jesus offered and that of the Beast in the movie is that we don’t need to—actually, we can’t—earn the redemption Jesus offers. No matter how well our inner character develops, no matter how much we mature, and no matter how many people we get to love us (show our love to), we will all “fall short of the glory of God,” as Romans 3:23 makes clear.

The Beast needed to earn Belle’s love to redeem his beastly state and make him human again, but Jesus has redeemed us from our fallen state; we need only receive that redemption and new life in faithful trust. There is a shadow of self-sacrifice and grace in many fairy tale stories that gives a glimpse of the real thing, and it is often what touches us in these stories and makes them great.

Discussion Questions

• Have you ever tried to earn God’s favor? How did that go?
• Do you believe Jesus can redeem the things that are broken in your life? Why or why not? Are you willing to let him redeem you?
• What does a redeemed life look like? What possibilities can become real when sins are redeemed?
• Lazarus was physically healed from his illness and brought back to life. What spiritual sickness(es) do you need healing from in order to find new life in Christ?

Activity Suggestions

If your church will let you, host a church-wide movie night where you show one of the following movies that have themes of self-sacrifice or redemption:

Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Ice Age (the original one)

Superman

Beauty and the Beast (the animated version)

After the movie, lead a brief discussion into the self-sacrifice/redemption aspect of the movie and how that parallels Christ’s actions for us. Sometimes a concrete example like a movie can help people understand the theology of redemption better.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, thank you for your gift of redemption that allows us to know you personally and removes the obstacle of sin from our relationship. Help us to share this good news with others so they can come to know you, too. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.

Today’s post is from Scott Weidler, who served for 21 years as Program Director for Worship and Music of the ELCA, and who currently lives in Toronto.

I remember when I first realized that prayer is as much about listening to God as it is speaking to God. In other words, I remember the first time I experienced real silence.

The Three Days (Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Vigil of Easter) are the most important days and liturgies for any Christian, but for an over-eager graduate student in the first year of my master’s program in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame, I was over the top in anticipation of what all I would experience. But I never imagined what would be most transformative.

I was a part-time church musician at a wonderful, local Lutheran congregation, with its own rich traditions of worship and music, but I knew that what was going to happen in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on campus was like nothing I had experienced before, so I adjusted my schedule to attend all the liturgies that I could.

It was Good Friday and we had a noon service at my church. The Good Friday liturgy at Sacred Heart was at 3 p.m. – a traditional time for Roman Catholics, I learned – the hour at which Jesus died. I also learned that the basilica would be packed, and I should arrive very early. Early? On Good Friday? This Lutheran found that hard to believe, but I did dash across town and campus, arriving an hour early. Plenty of time, I assured myself. I opened the doors and I heard nothing. I was convinced I was the first person to arrive. Obviously, I had over-estimated what arriving early meant. Much to my amazement, the basilica was already packed to overflowing. People were everywhere. In the overflowing pews. Sitting on the floor in the side aisles. Perched on the steps around the tabernacle and flowing clear back into the Lady Chapel.

What struck me most was the silence. The utter and complete lack of sound. The communal breath that one could only sense. The power of prayer, even if unfamiliar to me, permeating every being in that room.

Silence. Together. As the body of Christ. It taught me something about how we gather for worship. It taught me a lot about prayer. It was truly a transformative experience that shaped me forever.

Definition

Lent is the forty-day season (excluding Sundays) of penitence and preparation for the Three Days of Holy Week and Easter.

A Very Brief History

The term “Lent” originally comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “lencten” which means “spring.” This is the time, in the Northern Hemisphere, when the days are lengthening. The season began as period of fasting leading up to the Vigil of Easter. Catechumens, those preparing for baptism at Easter, would fast and spend days in intense preparation. For those that were already baptized, Lent was a period to be renewed in their faith by studying the Bible, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.

Although it was originally only a two-day period of preparation, Lent became a three-week preparatory period in the middle of the fourth century and then this was further expanded into six-weeks, or forty days. By the end of the fifth century, there was a desire to exclude Sundays from Lent since Sundays are always celebrated as feasts of the Resurrection. Thus Lent begins not on Sunday, but on Ash Wednesday.

The current practice of forty days of Lent recall Jesus’ forty-day fast in the wilderness after his Baptism (Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:1-2) as well as Moses’ forty-day fast on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:28).

A Few Notes on Current Practice

• The appointed liturgical color for Lent is purple because purple has long been associated with royalty. In this case, Christ reigns from a cross.
• Currently, the ancient understanding of Lent as both a time for baptismal preparation and baptismal renewal is being rediscovered in Lutheran rites and practice. Many congregations hold mid-week services during Lent and a baptismal renewal theme is particularly appropriate for these.
• Many congregations refrain from speaking or singing the word “alleluia” during Lent. “Burying” the alleluia occurs at the conclusion of worship on Transfiguration Sunday and it is restored at either the Vigil of Easter or Easter Sunday. A Lenten acclamation replaces the alleluia verse in preparation for hearing the Gospel (See ELW pg. 103 for one example). For more on this practice, see the FAQ, “Why don’t we use alleluias during Lent?”

ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking Grants are designed to support local projects and programs in ELCA congregations, groups and/or synods. The grant opportunity encourages ELCA congregations, groups and/or synods to think creatively about educating, mobilizing, and expanding their networks to increase awareness of and engagement with the root causes of and solutions to hunger.

Education grants can be used for events, educational programs or the development of shareable resources. For networking proposals, congregation-based and synod-wide hunger leadership events and trainings will be prioritized.

Proposals must be submitted by a non-profit charitable organization classified as a 501(c)(3) public charity by the Internal Revenue Service, or organization that operates under the fiscal sponsorship of a 501(c)(3).

Submit your proposal electronically as a pdf to hunger@ELCA.org.  Or, you can mail your proposal to:
ELCA World Hunger
Attn: Ryan Cumming
8765 W. Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60631-4101

PROPOSAL SECTIONS AND FORMAT – All proposals must include the following items.

1. Background and Context

a brief (2-3 paragraphs) description of your congregation, group or organization and a narrative of the context in which the project, event or initiative will take place. This should clearly show what your program, congregation or group is attempting to address and how the proposal relates to the current priorities of ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking.

2. Project Summary

a description of how the project, event or initiative will:

• Educate and engage ELCA congregations, groups, and/or synods;
• Influence this church body toward better action and engagement against hunger and poverty; and
• Encourage sustainable participation in the anti-hunger work of ELCA World Hunger past the conclusion of the project, event or initiative.
• Note: If your project involves service-learning, please include a detailed summary of your plans for preparing the participants and debriefing with the group after the event.
  

3. Project Goals, Objectives, Outcomes and Outputs

Goal – a brief statement that summarizes the direction and focus of the program and defines the scope: What are you hoping to accomplish? Who will be your audience? How many people will be affected?

Objectives –  statements that communicate your hopes for the program or project

• What will participants learn by participating? (for educational proposals)
• What actions will participants do together, begin or carry out in their congregations, synods or communities after the event or training? (for networking proposals)

Outcomes – How will you measure the success of your project? Please include one process objective (What activities will be completed in what specific time period?) and one impact outcome (What will change in the lives of participants or in your community because of this project?)

Output – Will your project create a story, resource, or learning that can be shared with the broader Church? If so, how will this be shared?

4. Project Plan and Timeline

a brief description of how the project will be implemented and funded with a projected timeline; if the project is ongoing, what is your plan for sustainable funding for the life of the project?

5. Budget

a clear statement of the amount of funding you are seeking using the format below:

6. Contact Information

the organization’s name, address, contact person, email, phone number, and tax ID number

7. ELCA Letter of Support

All proposals must include a letter of support from an ELCA pastor, bishop, synod or churchwide organization staff person or Lutheran agency/institution that explains how a relationship between the organization and ELCA World Hunger impacts/enhances each other’s work and furthers the objectives and guidelines of ELCA World Hunger, especially in education and networking.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

• ELCA World Hunger Education and Networking Grants, in general, cannot be used to support international travel.
• If your proposal involves direct service, you may want to consider ELCA World Hunger’s Domestic Hunger Grant program. In general, this is a more appropriate granting opportunity for direct service activities.
• If your group is seeking a grant to support a service learning experience, please include a detailed summary of your plans for preparing the participants and debriefing with the group after the event.

Proposals will be reviewed throughout the year and typically take 2-4 weeks to process. All proposals must be received by December 31, 2017, to be considered for funding.

Submit your proposal electronically as a pdf to hunger@ELCA.org.  Or, you can mail your proposal to:
ELCA World Hunger
Attn: Ryan Cumming
8765 W. Higgins Rd.
Chicago, IL 60631-4101

If you have any questions please email hunger@ELCA.org.

This post is in honor of Wynona J. Fields.

The ELCA Young Adult Cohort is a partnership of the ELCA Justice for Women program, the ELCA Strategy on HIV and Aids, the Young Adults in Global Mission Alumni, ELCA Young Adult ministry and ELCA World Hunger. These networks have identified a shared interest in young adult leadership development and faith formation within a social justice framework. In March 2017, members of the cohort participated at the United Nations 61^st Commission on the Status of Women (UN CSW).

In preparing for the trip to the UN CSW, some thoughts would keep coming to mind: How will what is learned from this experience influence my work? How can I share this with my church and community? How can I share with the team I work with on a daily basis? In this extraordinary space, there are signs of God’s work all around us, and as I hear the stories, it will become more clear not just for me but also for all those in attendance what we will be led to do after this experience.

My maternal grandma’s face keeps popping up in my head when I hear the words “caregiver,” “care work,” “domestic” and “economic impact of women.” As my grandma aged and was looking at how she was going to support herself in her later years, she was told she did not work enough in her lifetime to receive any Social Security benefits. The amount of money that she received was dependent on her husband’s work and the fact that she was his caregiver. Her worth in dollars was tied to her marital status and caring for him; therefore, it was deemed that she could receive an income. I remember thinking, as a kid, how could they say she has not worked enough? My grandma was always busy, working and taking care of someone else’s needs. She raised seven kids and helped raise several grandchildren, myself included. The regular income she worked for in her lifetime was for cooking, cleaning and care-taking jobs for a local school, children’s home and local people. As kids, if we wanted extra money for special events, she was the first one to tell us we needed to work for it, and she would take us to pick strawberries, wild blackberries, wild onions and walnuts to sell. Many times my grandma did those same things for extra money for gas, food or personal care needs. Other times when she would need money, she would make pies. I would go door-to-door and sell the pies.

Looking back, I would give anything to have those times again, to be able to say, “Grandma, you have worked too hard, let me care for you, tell me what you need.” She was a strong, Cherokee woman. She was a fighter, and she had great faith. She had faith that her Lord and Savior would provide for her family. She had faith that she would be taken care of despite her struggles, and she had faith that these values would live on in her family.

Throughout my time here at UN CSW 61, I carry her with me; I carry her spirit and her dreams of independence. There are many stories like this and many more that have not been told.

Thank you to ELCA World Hunger, The Lutheran World Federation, and Ecumenical Women for advocating for women to be recognized for their work and contributions. I am honored to be here with such phenomenal women who use their gifts selflessly to make the world a better place for women and children.

Jennifer Kirby is a member of the ELCA Young Adult Cohort and Eben Ezer Lutheran Church in Oaks, Oklahoma. This post originally appeared on the ELCA Young Adult Cohort’s blog at https://elcayacohort.wordpress.com/.

Tuhina Rasche, San Carlos, CA

Warm-up Question

In an age filled with distractions and doubts, what does it mean to truly “see” one another?

How Do You “See”?

I’m not going to lie; I probably spend way much more time on my phone than I should. If I want to check the weather, there’s the weather app. If I want to know directions to travel from point A to point B, there’s the map app. I even have my Bible app and Lutheran Confessions app if I need to look up something theological at a moment’s notice. I have instant access to the world through the information that resides in my smart phone.

The instant gratification of having access to people and information has increased drastically since I was younger. It was only 15 years ago that I had to wait a long time for pages on the Internet to load, or for someone to pick up the phone and talk to them, ort to get a ride to the bookstore to pick up a book, or for the day of the week and time when my favorite television show would be aired. How we engage the world has drastically changed over a time. With that comes growing pains and learning how to live in a new way. Sometimes seeing the world in a new way leads to bumps and bruises. For example, I missed a sidewalk curb because I was texting and walking.  This is just one of many dangerous scenarios which occur when people pay to much attention to their phone screens.

That misstep led me to remember an article about multiple (and even dangerous) scenarios that occurred when people paid too much attention to their phone screens and not enough to the immediate physical world around them. We can easily look at information, but fail to “see” the world around us.

There’s tension between our online and fleshy lives. We are embodied people, created in God’s holy image. We are also called to be in Christian community, to be the resurrected body of Christ.  Social media and online spaces are connecting Christian community in new and exciting ways (like interacting with Faith Lens). Part of my life is lived out digitally; this is where I feel the deepest theological connection to a community that represents the resurrected Christ. My church meets every Thursday night on Twitter for #SlateSpeak to engage in deep and meaningful theological conversations. I may not get to see this community face-to-face on a weekly basis, but I get to “see” their passion for Christ.

I value the connections I’ve made over social media, but at the same time, I wonder how to reconnect and engage with the world which lies beyond the screen of my phone. I am experiencing the tension of seeing the world in new and different ways, but at the same time, I wonder if I truly “see” my neighbor in the midst of additional noise and distractions. Do I see the beauty of the image of God in my neighbor in online and in embodied spaces? Do I deeply engage with the communities of faith in which I participate, or do I see things at a surface level, unsure of asking hard questions, and taking the risk to see my interactions within God’s community in new and challenging ways?

Discussion Questions

• If you have a smart phone, how much time do you spend on it? Do you think it helps you stay connected with the communities in which you participate? Does it keep you from participating in communities that meet “in the flesh”?
• With the multitude of information that comes through social media, are you able to see how you engage with your friends and neighbors in online spaces? With your connections in both social media and in the flesh, are these meaningful connections happening in community? How are these interactions meaningful?
• What are some of the ways you can see the world in new ways and stay engaged in life between the embodied existence of being “in the flesh” community and meaningful connections and communities in online spaces?

Fourth Sunday of Lent

1 Samuel 16:1-13

Ephesians 5:8-14

John 9:1-41

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

Today’s lengthy Gospel lesson contains multiple binaries. The obvious binaries include light and darkness, and blindness and sight. There are also deeper binaries of belief and unbelief, and sin and redemption. It is also important to recognize that while simple choices are presented to us in today’s Gospel lesson, the world is far more complicated than living in an “either/ or” situation. This is where the gift of our “both/ and” Lutheran theology helps us deal with the complexities presented to us, not just in John’s Gospel, but also in the world around us. Today’s Gospel is also further complicated when talking about the dominant narrative of ableism; Jesus does not use the term “blind man” to describe the person he encounters, but emphasizes his humanity, referring to him as “the man born blind.”

What is fascinating about this particular sign and wonder is that it comes from an unexpected place: a paste made of Jesus’ spit and mud (cue, “Oh, that is so gross”), then followed by washing in the waters of Siloam. Just as our sacramental identity in Christ comes to us in the simple elements of bread, wine, and water, so this healing salve is not made of extraordinary elements we encounter everyday but rarely take the time to  ponder as part of God’s fantastic creation. Our underwhelming sacraments give us a tactile experience of our overwhelming God. An underwhelming peasant man from Galilee is the overwhelming presence of God taking on our flesh.

How do we encounter the extraordinary that is found in ordinary daily elements? This is where John’s Gospel works with the concept of sight. We begin the lesson with a man who could not physically see, yet it ends with the Pharisees who could see neither the healing of the blind man nor the true identity of Jesus. The man born blind had immense faith and saw Jesus as the Son of Man (v. 38), the Pharisees could not “see” the healing that came from an ordinary peasant from ordinary elements. Must a sign use extraordinary elements in order to be believed?

The Gospel message compels us to see the entirety of our siblings in Christ and to see that they are created in the holy image of God. As our extraordinary God meets us in the ordinary, there is a sense of wonder in that meeting. When we are in community and make the effort to be truly present, we not only learn from our community, but  see God’s created world past the duality of binaries. We can “see” and respond in love to the petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.” May we approach this Gospel and our neighbor with such a sense of wonder that our eyes are fully opened and made fully present to  the gift of diversity found within Christian community.

Discussion Questions

• God constantly comes to us and shows up in the most unexpected of places. This is seen in the person of Christ and also how we experience Christ in the sacraments of communion and baptism. There are so many other places to experience God in community. Has God shown up for you in a place and time where you weren’t expecting? Where do you experience interacting with God within your community of faith? Do those places sometimes surprise you? Why?
• The Pharisees approached the man once born blind without actually seeing that he was healed. They had doubts to his identity, and their doubts led them to drive the man out of his community. Have there been times where you’ve had doubts in your faith journey? Have you had the opportunity to honestly talk about those doubts with people you trust? Do you feel encouraged to talk about your doubts in your life of faith? Why or why not?

Activity Suggestions

• We experience God in tactile ways, and sometimes in messy encounters. What does your faith look like if you were to describe it in a picture? What would that faith look like if you were to actually create that picture? In using the ordinary elements from this week’s Scripture lessons (oil, water, and dirt—preferably potting soil), create a portrait of your faith. Because oil and water repel one another, what was it like to create a faith portrait from these elements?
• What would it look like to create a space of blessing and healing for yourself and for others? This is an opportunity to do a simple activity with a profound effect. Stand in a circle, and with a small container of anointing oil or water from the baptismal font, make a sign of a cross on the forehead of the person next to you and state, “[Name], you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” Make sure everyone has the opportunity to give and receive this blessing. Once you have anointed one another, talk about the experience within community of what it meant to bless one another.

Closing Prayer

Merciful God who created us in the diversity of your holy image, we pray that we may experience the world through your vision. We pray to see your holy image in every living being we encounter. We pray that if there is something impeding how we encounter your grace and mercy in the world, that it may fall away. Help us to understand that there multiple ways to encounter the fullness of your love in the world, and it is in that fullness we continue to profess your grace and love. Amen.

Issue 51 of Administration Matters

Updated tax guides now available through Portico

Portico Benefit Services provides pastors and congregations participating in the ELCA benefit program with no-cost access to Richard R. Hammar’s annual tax guides. Members can use their Portico login.
For pastors, “Clergy Tax Return Preparation Guide” gives special attention to topics most relevant to ministers. >More
For congregations, “Federal Reporting Requirements for Churches” helps congregations understand their federal tax reporting requirements. >More

Buildings and grounds protection

Forty-five hundred churches are the victims of burglary each year, with the median burglary loss estimated at $2,000. >More

HR series – orientation

Few things in life are as exciting – or as harrowing ­– as starting a new job. It’s important that you make the new employee feel welcome and valued. Remember, first impressions last a long time and this is your opportunity to make it a good one. >More

Records retention information

It is important to know which records and information a congregation or synod should keep and which can be discarded. Some records need to be maintained permanently and others should be discarded periodically. Congregation records retention schedule. Synod records retention schedule.

Webinar for existing nonprofit users of QuickBooks

TechSoup provides donated products, services and educational resources for nonprofits, including webinars. A webinar on using QuickBooks for faith-based organizations is available for on-demand viewing. An upcoming webinar takes a deeper look for nonprofits already using QuickBooks for managing their accounting. The webinar, scheduled for March 22 at 1 p.m. Central time, covers these topics: best practices for list setup; different methods for entering income; using QuickBooks as a donor database; auto-allocating expenses to programs; reports for your board; tracking restricted grants; inputting in-kind gifts. Register online for this free webinar. >More

‘Here We Walk’ Lenten fitness challenge

Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City, Iowa, is practicing healthy habits and teaching about the ELCA’s heritage this Lent. Parish nurse Becky Elsbernd shared Trinity’s resources with Portico for others to try. Members can use the Portico login. >More

Today’s post is from Luke Tegtmeier, 2017 ALCM Planning Committee Member.

The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians is having its biennial national gathering in Minneapolis this summer, July 10-13. If you lead worship in any way – as an organist, director, guitarist, pastor, or singer – there will be something for you!

Not convinced? Here are ten reasons that you should come!

1. Connect with other musicians. Pastors have a variety of opportunities to share experiences and ideas, but musicians are often alone in a church. Attending an ALCM conference is a great way to spend time with colleagues who share the same challenges.
2. Experience something new. Whether it’s a new piece of music, a new rehearsal technique, or a new way to think about ministry, you’ll go home with something new.
3. Celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Reformation! There are lots of events happening in this Reformation year. For our conference, the planning committee chose the theme “Rise, Remember Well the Future.” Our hope is to find a balance between highlighting the treasures of the last 500 years and looking carefully at the future.
4. Visit St. Olaf College. Opening worship will be held at St. Olaf’s Boe Memorial Chapel, with organist Jamie Bobb and Rev. Christine Carlson preaching. ALCM got its start at St. Olaf 30 years ago, and we will recognize those charter members.
   
5. Visit St. John’s Abbey. We will also visit Collegeville, MN to explore our relationship with Roman Catholics 500 years after breaking away from them. We will close the day by singing Compline with the monks in their landmark Abbey Church.
6. Relax into worship. We’re all professional worship leaders. Take this opportunity to let someone else lead worship.
7. Attend a workshop to go more in-depth. Whether you want to learn more about the Orff Schulwerk technique for children’s choirs, conducting a choir from the organ console, bulletin design, writing hymns, or hear about church music in modern Germany, you can choose from over 20 workshops.
8. Hear the National Lutheran Choir. This nationally renowned ensemble, directed by ALCM member David Cherwien, will be leading a Hymn Festival for us one evening – sure to be a memorable evening of excellent singing!
9. Explore two great cities. Come early or stay late to explore the Twin Cities! Minneapolis and St. Paul offer a wide range of attractions, whether you want to visit parks, experience history, wander through a world-class art museum, or listen to live music.
10. Have a blast! With this many church musicians in one hotel, who knows what could happen around the piano in the hotel bar in the evenings?

Hope to see you in Minneapolis! Register here.

Andrew Tucker, Radford, VA

Warm-up Question

Have you ever had a sibling rivalry or a family feud? What was that like? If it resolved, how did that happen?

Sibling Rivalry

This isn’t new news, though it may be news to you. Before World War II, Adidas and Puma were the same shoe company, run by brothers Adolf and Rudolf Dassler. Yet, the power of sibling rivalry and the fog of war led to a split between not just the companies, but the brothers. While Rudolph and his wife were hiding in a bomb

shelter during an air raid, he remarked, “The dirty !#$!@%*& are back again,” almost certainly in reference to the Allied squadrons. Yet, he said it just as Adolf and his wife were climbing into the bunker. Stress already existed between the brothers, who shared a home despite a sour relationship between their wives. Hearing this remark, Adolf was convinced that his brother referred to him and his bride and not to the B17s overhead. By 1948, the businesses had split from one another, following the separation that already existed within the Dassler family. It’s fabled that the brothers never spoke again after the division.  While they were buried in the same cemetery, the separation remains visible: they demanded to be buried at opposite ends of the graveyard.

Yet, the feud didn’t end with the brothers’ deaths in the 1970s. Adidas and Puma had antipathy toward one another for nearly forty years, and with headquarters in the same town, that anger bled over into the social loyalties for the townsfolk.  In 2009, workers from both companies played a friendly soccer match, though residents of Herzogenaurach still suspect tension between the two companies. It’s incredibly difficult to bury fifty years of antipathy.

You can read more about the Dassler brothers here and here.

Of course, this isn’t the only story of such rivalry within business. For instance, another German family feud led to the development of Aldi and Trader Joe’s in the U.S., known in Germany as Aldi Süd and Aldi Nord, respectively. What makes the story of Adidas and Puma so powerful is that, even under threat of death from another enemy, the vanity of the Dassler brothers rivalry played such a prominent role to shape the future of their families, businesses, and industries for decades to come.

Discussion Questions

• What about the story surprised you?
• What parts, if any, do you identify with? Why is that?
• Imagine a world where the Dassler brothers reconciled. What would have changed for them? For their companies? For the town of Herzogenaurach?
• What’s the power of a grudge?

Third Sunday in Lent

Exodus 17:1-7

Romans 5:1-11

John 4:5-42

(Text links are to Oremus Bible Browser. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at Lectionary Readings

For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic Agnus Day.

Gospel Reflection

There are a number of the potential controversies within this story that relate to our lives today. For instance, much is made of the woman’s questionable marital status and the number of husbands that she’s had in the past. Others devote attention instead to the fact that this is a public encounter between an unrelated man and woman, which may seem normal to us but was a cultural taboo with intimate undertones to people in 1st century Israel. Both details deserve attention.

But the most interesting part for our day is that this conversation happens on the stage of Samaria. This is not just a man, but a Jew, and a rabbi at that. Nor is this just a woman, but a Samaritan woman who, either through terrible luck or infidelity (not necessarily her own infidelity, mind you), has been given such a bad reputation that she’s getting water in the middle of the day. Perhaps this doesn’t seem surprising at first, except most people sought water in the morning or the evening to avoid the heat of the day. It seems likely that she’s avoiding the side-eye of her neighbors, trying to save face by seeing as few faces as possible. And then she runs into not just a man, but a Jewish man, and he’s a rabbi to boot. In this day and age, Samaritans didn’t associate with Jews, and yet here we are.

There’s one more important detail to note about the matrix of this interaction. Jews and Samaritans are ethnic and religions cousins. All of the nastiness that you hear in the Scripture about Samaritans isn’t about just some random tribe, but about people who share a common lineage, who also claim Abraham, Isaac, and even the well’s namesake, Jacob, as their forebears. While we’re at it, let’s also remember Abraham’s wife Sarah, Isaac’s wife Rebekah, and Jacob’s two wives Rachel and Leah were prominent players in the story of these nations. The Samaritan woman’s surprise that this Jewish rabbi offers her a drink is quite genuine, for as the passage says, Jews don’t associate with Samaritans, even though they’re family (4:9).

The antipathy between the two groups has its roots in Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BCE.  Many of the elites were taken out of the land. Those who remained in Israel made the best lives they could in a land wasted by war, which meant they intermarried with people other than Jews and developed different social and religious customs, including worshipping on Mt. Gerizim instead of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. They became known as Samaritans.

The Southern Kingdom fell in 587 to Babylon and again the elites were taken into exile.  After the Exile (a period of about 50 years) those who returned to resettle Israel had developed their own set of traditions which focused on the Jerusalem Temple and strong preferences for marrying other Jews.  They did this to keep a strong religious and cultural identity in a foreign land. Yet, Jews and Samaritans worshiped the same God, kept remarkably similar sacrifices, and shared a common family tree. The reasons Samaritans and Jews didn’t associate with one another was because each felt like they carried on the proper traditions of their ancestors. Each identified as God’s truly chosen people.  It’s incredibly difficult to bury fifty years of antipathy between the Dassler brothers, it pales in comparison to the nearly six centuries of division between Jews and Samaritans before Jesus meets this woman at Jacob’s well.

Into this hurricane of social discomfort Jesus brings the message of salvation to the Samaritan woman, and through her, to her entire town. This points to Jesus’ desire to bridge the chasm between Samaria and Israel, bringing fulfillment of God’s promises to all descendants of Jacob and not just one side of the family tree. What’s incredible here isn’t just that Jesus opens salvation to a woman considered a sinner by people’s court, but that Jesus makes her an evangelist for God to Samaria, just as he and his companions preach good news to the Jews. Jesus makes a Samaritan woman a disciple of the God of Israel, who is also the God of Samaria, who is also the God of all creation. Through her, the neighbors who once scorned her past and presence now praise her for her role in bringing them into the joy of Jesus. The power of God isn’t just personal salvation, though it certainly is that, but the mending of ancient hatred for unified and abundant life in God’s kingdom.

Discussion Questions

• Reflection is one of the practices of Lent. How do race and religious practices build walls between us and our human cousins which are similar to those we see between Jews and Samaritans in John 4?
• Repentance is another Lenten practice. What divisions do we need to confess to God?
• Redemption and restoration are the great hopes of Lent. How can you live in ways that, like the Samaritan woman, anticipate God’s restoration?

Activity Suggestions

• “Sardines” highlights the kind of power of Jesus’ movement to overcome the divisions in our lives, even those that work hard to separate us from others. The work of one welcomes us to participate in a family unified in our diversity. For sardines, one person counts while others hide throughout the building (be sure to denote spaces that are out of bounds, like bathrooms). As that person finds the hiders, they in turn join the mission to discover every last person who remains apart from the group. The last person found becomes the new seeker.
• Work together as a group to repair something broken, out of order, or in disrepair. This could be something at the church, for someone in need, or items that each person brings and wants to see restored. Perhaps not everything will get fixed, but that provides for helpful conversation around the difficulty of restoration.

Closing Prayer

Lord God, we often allow the divisions in our world and in our families to make us believe that you love us more than others. Purge that lie from our lives. We repent of the walls that we’ve built. Send your Spirit to help us to build bridges across the artificial divides which prevent us from seeing your divine image in others. As we continue this Lenten journey, keep showing up in the Samarias of our lives, in the places where we least expect you, so that we might find your salvation even beyond the ends of the earth. We pray this all in the name of Jesus. Amen.