April 29th, 2007 - Good Shepherd Sunday

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

Reverend Al Miller preached today with Pastor Dayle away and Pastor Mark taking time with the birth of his son.

Al hasn't preached at Creator for a while. His sermon touched the heart, testified with honesty using personal stories that link back to our daily lives.

Before going into the sermon in detail, I will describe other parts of the services. The music moved out of the musicians hands in a beautiful way. There were, what I would call, fortutious mistakes. For example, both Kelly and I were playing chords and "missed" singing a lead part in Shepherd Me, O God during the first service but it gave Shirley an opportunity to sing a beautiful impromtu solo. We left it alone and many people commented on how solid the music sounded in each of the services.

Kelly sang a song for the Children's message called The Puppy Dog Song. A great piece of fun centered around Goodness and Mercy being the name of two dogs that, as the 23rd Psalm states, follow the singer throughout life. There was also a joke made that the "surely" in the Psalm, was not the name of one of the dogs as in Shirley.

Turning back to the sermon Al preached about being confronted, like many of us are, with society's questions about the value of religion overall and Christianity specifically. There is a defining appearance that, throughout history, religion battles religion. There is also basically a belief that intolerance, extremism and judgments on how best someone else should live their life are the primary components of those who choose religious life.

Al stressed something what else religion has brought to humanity. The hospitals that have sprung up from religious orders trying to help. Easily overlooked acts of love that are done throughout the world out of the hope that is rooted in religion. Al quoted the statement that started this blog by Margaret Mead. There were tears in my eyes when I heard the quote again. Al focused on the acts of love, audaciously done by the disciples, particularly Peter raising Dorcas from the dead in following Jesus.

Al described a personal connection with the name Dorcas. For him; his Dorcas was a pillar of the community, in a church Al went to, who kept traditions alive and sang in an impossibly high voice in church. He tied her love of the community in with his overall message.

What came to my mind as I listened was a comparative mystical book I discovered a couple of years ago. The book describes in a sentence a particular religion's way for the soul to arrive at truth. For Hinduism, it is the way of presence; Buddism, the way of clarity; Judaism, the way of holiness and Ancient Greece, the way of beauty. The way of Christianity is the way of love in action. All these echo in my heart but particularly the way of love in action.

Al also talked about the hymn quoted in Revelations in the second reading. This was an important and favorite vision of his and it was brought to life for us. Al preached "What more powerful image and words can we use to express this vision we have within us?" And he sang thinking about singing praise to God with a multitude whose sole purpose was to do just that, in white robes dripping from baptism. I am sure his Dorcas was singing in his vision.

After the 10:15 worship service Sunday, Josh perfomed the Grieg Piano Concerto with Luke playing the symphonic accompaniment on a second piano. Both gave an artistic and powerful delivery to the piece. The amount of effort Josh obviously devoted to the piece was impressive. There was good attendance and everyone in the audience was captivated by the piece and the energy with which it was played.

Later, a contingent of folks from Creator showed up in Canby at a ground breaking cermony for a new townhouse that will be built by Habitat for Humanity. According to the opening speaker the turnout was the largest that she had seen at one of these events.

We watched the residents break ground with several gold shovels brought for the occasion. During the ceremony we built a people house. Everyone lined up to symbolically form the walls of a home. A board everyone signed beforehand was raised with tape flowing down two four corneres that suggested a roof. The future residents entered the people house.

The people at the ground breaking are volunteers who will help build the townhouse.

Love in action.

April 26th, 2007 - Brandon Tyler Beatty Born

Email to the congregation today:

Brandon Tyler Beatty arrived this morning at 10:27 a.m.

Dena's doing great-- Pr. Mark is a proud papa. They are at St. Vincent hospital.

Dena's mom in arriving at 9:45 p.m. tonight

Blessings to all,

Pr. Dayle

April 25th, 2007 - Choir Practice

The choir rehearsed two energetic spirituals tonight, Let Everything That Hath Breath and I'm gonna sing. Both are planned for a Sunday, May 13th; Mother's Day performance. After that choir will recess and return in the fall.

The practice increased our confidence on both pieces. We had one soprano and one tenor. Instead of calling by section Kelly requested by name when he wanted Jan and Peter to sing. This, of course, immediately flashed us all into The Brady Bunch territory. We recognized we had our Greg in the Bass section as well.

We listened to David's recording of the choir's April 4th rehearsal of Girolamo Savonarola's Jesus, Refuge of the Weary and Handel's Hallelujah Chorus. A humbling experience and no, not because of any problems with performance. Instead the microphone shifts perspective. Normally, as an example, the bass section sounds deep, full and powerful to me. In the recording it was one element in the overall sound of the choir. The viola and strings respectively were moving but the sound of the singing was a choir, not a section. Quite beautiful and quite different.

To keep things light and fun for practice, as always, Kelly regaled us with a story around a musial clip Geoff sent him of an organist flub on the Hallelujah Chorus. I think I found this same clip on YouTube later:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DBAoWr-imY

After practice Joel gave good tips on better ways to use the doors without bending the closing mechanism that is geared to prevent fires from spreading. It is a bit counter-intuitive in that the door needs to open past a certain point and most people don't open a door that far.

We closed, as customary, with prayer. Pastor Dayle led us first in thanking God for the sounds we are give to offer in praise, knowing we are God's children. The next part of the prayer ached; praying for the Hartungs. Hearing Pastor's prayer acknowledging that the end of Bethany's life was drawing moved us to the next part of this journey to support Bethany and the family.

April 22nd, 2007 - Sunday Service; Earth Day Celebration Micah's Village

Pastor Mark gave the sermon today from behind the altar. Everything he wanted to emphasize was in close proximity; the cross, the banner and the Holy Communion table.

The sermon was a response to the Virginia Tech shooting tragedy that has held our collective national attention over the past week.

First Pastor Mark addressed the “what if” and “why” questions as our collective attempt to assert control over evil and prevent this kind of shooting from happening again. A noble enterprise we naturally engage in that is sadly doomed because evil always, momentarily, finds a way. In the end, evil does not have the last word but this can be hard for those of us battling a current darkness to see.

Pastor Mark tied this back to the Gospel Lesson; John 21:1-19. He talked about how we can do something to help those who are finding it hard to see that light will overcome the darkness of evil. Jesus calls us to “feed my sheep”. Pastor Mark pointed out Jesus called the disciples to do this after they have been fed themselves. We are fed at the communion table and we are called, in turn, after that to feed others.

Pastor's choice to give this sermon from the behind the altar was interesting. There is more seperation between the pastor and the congregation with this position. It gave the sermon a different feel this time; it was more dramatic than usual. Normally the struggle is to break down the distance between pastor and congregation and sermons preached from the center accomplish that goal.

At the end of the sermon Pastor Mark invited the entire congregation to sign a care booklet the youth created that will be sent this week to the Lutheran Student Movement at Virginia Tech.

After that the Hymn of the Day was Stay with Us. Often this hymn strengthens the sermon. Today both the sermon and the words of the hymn gave each other a new depth of meaning:

Walk with us, the road will bend:
make all our weeping, wailing end.
Wipe our tears, forgive our fears:
Jesus lift the heavy cross.

Our collective prayer, as music, rose upward throughout this piece.

We broke into small groups during the Adult Education hour. Debbie, Marvis, Roberta and I talked about the topic of how well Creator satisfies what newcomers might be looking for in a church. We will likely be continuing this talk in May after the next two Sundays.

These are talks where it is hard to generalize. For example, Marvis talked about members in the last church they belonged to overwhelming newcomers with questions and trying to fit them in before they had a chance to feel comfortable. Others feel shy about approaching members who are involved in conversations with one another after the service.

When we came back together as a large group we talked about what had increased membership in the past; follow up visits where bread was delivered. It seemed when this was discontinued there were many people willing to bakethe bread rather than deliver it. There were other ideas that were discussed. Hopefully this is what we will explore in detail during the Adult Ed hours mid to late May.

There was also some follow up conversation about exploring current questions with Bible readings during Adult Education. It will likely come up in our next Adult Education committee meeting.

After the service Mary and I went to the Earth Day Fair at Micah's Village, across the street from Creator. We had lunch and toured the booths. We learned about interfaith outreach efforts that the ELCA is involved in, when we explored the booths related to hunger and social justice issues.

There are many people trying to make a difference in the world.

April 19th, 2007 - Council Meeting

I attended the council meeting tonight by invitation. Two council members are reaching the end of their terms and I am one of two nominees currently tapped to fill those vacancies.

The business of the council meeting was recorded by John and I won't dwell on that here. What I found intriguing, as well as what we went over, were other meeting details and dynamics.

The first detail; chocolate was prevalent, Larry brought cookies and there was a small chocolate bar on each agenda as we arrived.

Among the Creator congregation and council members there are many teachers and others in the Education area. The perspective and knowledge of that experience was obvious during the discussion for many of the agenda items, particularly on a consent form that Pastor Mark presented. The form will eventually be used for Creator youth activities.

Susan led the meeting which lasted a little under two hours. The moments where her individual leadership style shone. Particularly when she expressed her concern about people using the resources the council could provide and to communicate their needs as promptly as possible.

Susan also gave a brief summary of a few strengths of outgoing council members. She highlighted Joel's input and work; the way he laid out direct and practical plans for moving council business forward. For David, it was an acknowledgement of his attention and ability to focus council on ministry and outreach. "Their voices will be missed," she continued, "and we will need to find new ways to cultivate what they contributed in council."

Pastor Dayle gave an update on when Bethany's biopsy was due. This was the first of several instances where it was obvious the council was not only intent on moving through the items on the 'business' agenda but that this was regarded as significant ministry concerned with events in congregational life as well.

Pastor Mark updated us on a package the youth were creating to send around the Virginia Tech tragedy. It sounds like this will be tied into a sermon on Sunday. Again, I don't want to get into the business details but Pat's work in her financial presentation showed.

Larry closed us in prayer. His upbeat comments throughout the meeting were appreciated by everyone.

April 18th, 2007 - Choir Practice

A talk with Debi before choir practice reminded me how energizing and affirming a like-minded community can be. Also the challenges, opportunities and questions that come up when that is not the case.

Debi was describing different themes in a set of three books she read by Brian McLaren. The books impressed her. She added, “I hope they will help me in talking with a group of Christians that Nancy and I meet with when we are scrapbooking once a month. They are members of several churches who are somewhat more rigid in a few of their core beliefs than Nancy and I. I don’t say anything when I feel that I should. These books deal with many of the topics that come up.”

Debi’s silence is something I understand completely. My internal debates, when I argue with myself about whether it makes sense to state views I know will not be appreciated by another person, are typically uncomfortable. Interestingly, it can be a flip side to the childhood faith that Paul brought up on Sunday. There can definitely be comfort in black and white answers to life’s questions. So what motivates the discomfort? Do I feel there a complicity or implied agreement if I do not say something?

During choir practice we run through the piece we will perform on Sunday, Praise His Holy Name. David will play drums and, in this rehearsal, we hear the shape of the piece. This gospel music we are doing now is an energetic tonic to the usual post Easter lull. As we learn these songs there is boldness and freedom that comes with the glimpses we see of singing in the Spirit.

All of the gospel songs we are practicing feel like they invite the presence of the Holy Spirit as we rehearse and hopefully that experience will pervade the choir and congregation as they are performed.

April 15th, 2007

Attendance at both services is down, as usual, the second Sunday after Easter.
Adult Education focuses again on prayer and Brent Dahlsing’s Grounded in Prayer. We went over questions about the difficulties we encounter in prayer.

Jim brings up our prayers for Bethany. As a group we talk about the emotions and troubled hearts we have as we pray for peace, for her and the family.

Paul felt like his prayers and his connection with God in prayer were stronger as a child. Paul also talks about the difficulty of staying in prayer as different concerns come into your mind.

Our group talks in general about prayer habits we try to define for ourselves and those we attempt to give our children. We talk about exercises in the book. One, about praying through the congregational directory, appears daunting but we do this as a church with our birthday prayers in the service. We talk about mechanical and conscious prayer.

The setting for the service today was the African American. I really admired Kim and Liz for stepping up to help lead the congregation.

The sermon is about Doubting Thomas, or Unbelieving Thomas as the Greek word is better translated. Pastor Dayle stresses something Marcus Borg has addressed in his writing. Thomas’ unbelieving is not a failure as was preached by many other sermons in the past. This is an immensely liberating perspective and, to me, understandable and loving with deep life lessons.

Instead of Thomas 'petulantly' saying “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands…” this moves to a request of what he needs to move from unbelief that God via Jesus answers. Thomas stays in community, the community does not shun him and he does not move away because of what he believes or does not believe.

This becomes an affirmation of inclusion. We come together with different experiences. Belief or unbelief is not a litmus test for being a Lutheran or a Christian. Instead there is more importance in belief as following Jesus and staying in community.

April 11th, 2007 - Choir Practice

Traditionally the choir starts slowing down rehearsals after Easter. Given this and that it was a practice right after Holy Week not many people showed up. Annie and I talked for a while before practice. She was knitting a small scarf while we chatted.

“I always like to be doing something.” she explained, and continued with the project.

Our conversation was a catching up and sharing of family news. Amy is going to the University of British Columbia. Amy considered Pacific Lutheran University and they visited there. My memories of the campus flooded back. I enjoyed our talk and slipped into the refreshed mood I always feel on Wednesdays.

I talked to Peter (also before practice) and again the conversation turned to college and his son Jonathan is doing. We talked about the pros and cons of community college as opposed to four year universities.

Kelly was under the weather with a slight relapse of an illness that had him down week before last and after feeling better late last week. Practice started and after Kelly let us know about the positive comments he received about the choir's contribution to Easter we talked about when we would perform next.

We sang Praise His Holy Name and a traditional spiritual I’m gonna sing. They were energetic, lively pieces and are certain to be well received when performed.

Kelly also introduced us to Be Thou a Smooth Way. Kelly had run through the piece on piano before the practice and as he sang and the choir tentatively joined it was easy to be caught in the beauty of the piece. The lyrics are evokative prayer and there are echoes of the St. Patrick breastplate, placing Christ all around you. This song starts:

Be thou a smooth way before me,
be thou a guiding star above me,
be thou a keen eye behind me,
this day, this night forever.

Pastor Dayle led us in prayer. We prayed for healing, that Kelly would get better, and we prayed for the Hartung family.

April 9th, 2007 - Hunger Awareness Team Meeting

Pastor Dayle mentioned in her Easter sermon that a member of the congregation got a nudge from the Holy Spirit, saw a need, and in just a few weeks we got on board as a congregation with Back Pack Buddies.

I thought about that during as we met tonight. Pastor Fred was a part of the meeting this week and came up with a couple of interesting suggestions.

First, a challenge anyone could participate in.

It is inspired by Governor Ted Kulongoski and his wife, Mary Oberst, planning to spend a week living on food stamps.

It's part of a program to draw attention to Oregon's hunger problem, and the food insecurity experienced by many low-income families. A number of other lawmakers were planning to do the same thing.

A week's worth of food stamps works out to about $21 a person, so the governor and his wife will have $42 to spend for the week.

"I challenge all Oregonians to experience first-hand what thousands of Oregon families go through everyday," said Governor Kulongoski. "Budgeting just $1 a meal each day for food, and trying to make that food nutritious, is a difficult task that sadly is a reality for too many Oregonians and their families."

Pastor Fred's second idea was to have someone from St. Mark’s talk to interested people here at Creator. The church runs a food pantry and we wanted to find out more about the particulars.

We talked about and thanked Vera for her efforts so far in taking the Fair Trade Coffee campaign as a responsibility. There was an open question whether anyone wanted to take on the Stand with Africa Again campaign or if this was something we would even be pushing as a congregation.

Diane talked about keeping up the discipline of steadily working on OFB donations as opposed to trying to take on extra tasks and, in effect, siphoning off energies we could use for OFB into an number of non-local help efforts.

Mary put together a list of potential films for a Creator Movie night. We will pick four from the list and show them on consecutive Wednesdays from the middle of July (July 18th) into August. Everyone was energized by the idea of showing films that had a tie to hunger and poverty.

Postscript to Holy Week

This year Holy Week was meaningful and memorable. Worship, the Creator congregation, reading and new prayer exercises contributed. Also, after better following the rhythym of this part of the year the purpose beyond remembrance and worship is clearer.

We start with Maundy Thursday the commandment to love one another and the sharing of the Eucharist. Pastor Mark's sermon gave a key of looking at what was recorded for this day as what is important in life and what Jesus chose to do on his last day.

Good Friday encompasses a specific phase of our spiritual life. There are moments of suffering and misery in life. The heart is destroyed, cracked apart but, as Pastor Dayle once said in a sermon, this is when we are finally open to our fullest potential and able to absorb the Light of God.

This state of misery and later grace is known by different names in the great traditions. Buddists name it Solving the Great Matter while the Sufis know it as Fanaah. It is St. John of the Cross' Dark Night Of The Soul, Fannah for the Sufis and the Lakota call it the Wakan or Holy Way. It is a tempering of the Holy Spirit and, for us through remembering our baptism, we are reborn carrying the only thing that can survive this passage, namely Love.

The understanding that opened Easter up started with what Borg as wrote about resurrection and the pre- and post-Easter Jesus. In essence Borg's writing and Pastor Dayle pointed me back to not what I believed about the details of resurrection but to the deeper meaning. That for all the no built into our lives, Christians understand life as Easter people. A point I read about was that the gospel stories often repeat and confirm details. The appearance stories in the New Testament after Easter are all individual and do not repeat.

Easter filled me with hope this year and an additional sense of Christian identity.

April 8th, 2007 - Easter

Sermons can be powerful, inspirational or thought provoking. They can confirm deep set beliefs or challenge your faith. During Sunday's sermon Pastor Dayle declared we were Easter people, people of the resurrection.

Her proclamation both confirmed our beliefs and challenged us. The sermon was one of the highlights of my experiences, readings and disciplines during the Easter week. This was the response to aspire to while experiencing the Easter highs and the Good Friday darkness that we have all shared at various times in our lives.

Before writing in detail about my response to the sermon, however, I want to address other parts of the service and the day.

The weather was a perfect, pastel-colored cloud day arriving at the church. It moved to brilliant sunshine for the services and Easter egg hunt. Later in the day the weather shifted again to clouds and rain but the morning could not have been better.

By the time I arrived Pastor Dayle was already busy getting the sanctuary ready with the last-minute-the guests-are-coming type details. A patch of candle wax from Easter Vigil the night before needed to be removed from the carpet, the banners and their stands needed to be placed. Pastor Mark and I helped. As Sara and crew for making breakfast arrived, people paying that kind of attention to detail multiplied.

Alot of multi-tasking went on to make the service special. I was impressed by Greg and his family during the first service and Shirley and her family for the second service. Both Greg and Shirley sang in the choir and were also readers during those respective services.

The Easter services overflowed with music. The choir started with Now, O Death Where Is Thy Sting. I must admit it took time in practice for this music to become meaningful for me. It was meaningful during these services. The lines Jesus Christ is risen moving from soft incredulity to loud affirmation dramatized in music something beautiful about Easter.

Now back to the sermon, Pastor Dayle asked us to ponder how we, as Easter people, live in a Good Friday world. The Good Friday world is our world of fear and darkness. It is where we can feel overwhelmed by public and personal problems. Pastor Dayle continued:

We live in a Good Friday world. There’s no doubt. But Good Friday isn’t the last word.

How do people of God, Easter people live in this Good Friday world? Easter people see light in the midst of darkness. Easter people see Jesus as a source of light and a resource for life. As resurrection people we look for the glimmer of light and focus our energies there.

How do we do that? We open our eyes to the pain in the world and we find the light.

Yes, yes, yes. Also we are there to help each other do both these things when it is most difficult.

We sang many old and familiar hymns during this service. We felt the spirit of the people who have done these things in the past, who helped us do these things until we were strong enough to find the light ourselves.

We sang Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises as we did during the Easter Vigil service. A mad joy crept into this performance and propelled the musicians and the congregation forward as the orchestra set up for the finale of the worship.

The orchestra and choir together performed Thine is the Glory with the congregation. Immediately afterwards came Handel's Hallelujah Chorus.

Kelly led David, the orchestra and choir in this unique, musical expression of praise and faith. Musical faith may not always be obvious but this performance testified. It was faith as commitment knowing the time invested in rehearsal would be a musical gift during the performances. It was faith in the talent and vision of a choir director like Kelly, that he chose the right material and understood the capabilities and limitations of individuals and the group.

It was faith to be moved by the music in performance. That part is always amazing to me. The choir rehearsed at one level and the day of the performance we sang and the musicians played differently. Today this piece wraps around the musicians, the choir and the congregation and leaves all of us elated. We marveled and felt firm in our faith once again.

Christ is risen. He has risen indeed! Alleluia!

April 7th, 2007 - Easter Vigil

There can be a sense of moving into 'God time' with Holy Week worship. I played a small, simple part in the music of these worship events, and these past few days of Holy Week have been filled with worship, or practice of the music for worship, or writing about it in these entries. And I want to be present, here, worshipping with this congregation and contributing what I can.

It is easy to gain a new appreciation for all the ministry and work that pastors, worship leaders and music ministers perform in the planning and preparation of these services.

Easter Vigil is an incredible service. It was not a worship that was part of my Lutheran upbringing and, the way it is celebrated at Creator, would not have been successful as worship at that time. After this year's Cross Walk we were in conversation with several pastors who led congregations that do not observe this Saturday worship. I know this would be hard service for me to miss now.

The reasons why are numerous. Creator Easter Vigil is much less formal than Sunday's Easter service. I did not know what to expect when I attended this service for the first time after I became a member of Creator. I described this in my blog entry for Easter Vigil last year. The congregation's love of laughter, acting and improvising stories is satisfied in this service. There is an exuberance and play at work that is hard to define. The tagline in a Creator flyer is that this service is a time we share stories and remember God will not abandon us. The exuberance, play, laughter and improvisation while we tell the stories is a strong testament that God will not abandon us.

This year, like last, Pastor Dayle first reads the Genesis story to the children from a children's book with great illustrations and a fun text. The children always enjoy and participate in the reading.

Next was the Story of the Flood. This year Larry was chosen to play Noah who needed to build an ark "as long as a football field and as high as a cell phone tower". The Lord provided him an "ark-itect" to accomplish this. Different people were chosen to become the core stock of animals who will ride on the ark. Larry made accomplished choices; Michelle, who is wearing a stripped shirt, was chosen as a zebra. The performances and quips from the congregation need to be experienced rather than recorded.

The Story of Moses and the Parting of the Red Sea was also acted out. It became humorous just trying to get the space to work for the drowning of Pharoah and his army (Luke and all the children and youth). Paul played the part of Moses and everyone enjoyed the improptu silliness of all that transpired.

After the stories there was Jake's Baptism, Affirmations of Baptism for Ariel, Andrew and Jake and a Reception of New Members; Brian, Alisa, Noah, Craig, Marvis, Chuck, Joanna, Sue and Larry. As the Baptisms, Affirmations and the welcome of new members took place we were reminded of the support and help we have pledged to give one another.

The transformation of the worship space, as is tradition now, happened as Kelly sang his song Out of the Darkness. All the black drapes were removed, revealing a banner that reads "Alleluia Jesus Lives". Flowers came out, everything returned to the altar and a white cloth was draped on the cross.

We proceeded to the Eucharist and this year there was a surprise that could only happen during Easter Vigil. Linda provided bread shaped like a bunny. As this bread is broken and distributed, the joy of the service spills out again to the congregation. Then Annie, Vaune and Kim harmonized during communion. They performed Robert Dufford's Behold the Lamb of God. These women have sung together for years and as their voices blended and soared everyone was thankful for the music they give to Creator. Their performances are always a special treat.

Kelly was on piano and David on drums and I played guitar on the last song Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises. The performance rolled with a new energy and set our anticipation for the morning Easter services.

April 6th 2007 - Good Friday

The worship space tonight was altarless, draped with black.

Pastor Mark led this Good Friday service, comprised of gospel readings, silences reflections and hymns. Mark and Dena traded as gospel readers. The service’s dark atmosphere took us to the heart of the passion story.

The choir reprieved Jesus, Refuge of the Weary that was sung for Palm Sunday. It provided an interesting link between the two services. Kelly directed this evening’s performance to a different sense of the music and words.

On Palm Sunday the devotional side of this piece was an emphasis. This evening’s performance the gravity went toward the dramatic understanding of God’s will revealed and communicated. There is melancholy in Geoff’s viola solo performance that certainly moved us on Palm Sunday. Tonight, as I looked to Geoff during the performance, a red spotlight reflected off the viola. The glow was astounding. It visually underlined a new sense of the solo as Geoff played it.

Here, suddenly, was the burning, eternal love of God, infused with the music and the voices. The solo was guiding, supporting and leading the performance in a way I did not recognize during the Palm Sunday service.

There are times when there is a strong, almost sentimental aspect to Good Friday and the suffering of Jesus. It comes from the familiar words of the gospels and the familiar hymns. We did sing familiar hymns, Were You There, Beneath the Cross of Jesus, and O Sacred Head, Now Wounded but I did not feel the usual sentiment. This Holy Week changed my perspective, at least, perhaps it changed others' perspectives as well.

During the reverence of the cross my thoughts moved more toward my Christian identity and what, through the events of Good Friday and Easter, who we are all called to become. In reading The Last Week that I mentioned in an earlier entry, the authors point out how the gospel of Mark stressed failed discipleship continually. This thought haunted me when I approached the cross during the service.

Finally, at the end of the service, the waning light obscured the faces of the congregation. I couldn’t read the music in front of me at the end of the service. We sung Were You There a cappella, and said the Lord’s Prayer. Once again, we departed in silence and this time in darkness.

Some choir members practiced a piece for tomorrow’s Easter Vigil after the service. It appeared that everyone had left while we were in the sanctuary but when we finished practicing and walked out of the church I couldn’t believe how many of those who attended this service were still in the parking lot, deep in conversation. They obviously did not want to trespass on the silence created in that last moment of the Tenebrae service.

It was a Good Friday service that will remain in my memory.

April 5th, 2007 - Maundy Thursday Service

Maundy Thursday begins this three day, three part service of Holy Week. We commemorate the Last Supper, when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples and established the Eucharist. “Mandatum novum do vobis” (“a new commandment I give to you”) is the command given by Christ at the Last Supper, that we should love one another.

Pastor Mark starts the service with a sermon on how impossible it is to live each day as if it were our last when this is only how we envision it (not working, spending all our time with our loved ones).

Looking at the way Jesus spent his last day gives us a different model, a different vision. He invests meaning into the everyday with the sharing of meal as Eucharist, serves his disciples and commands us to love one another.

The choir anthem is Stay With Us. Kirsten performs a gentle flute solo which highlights the calm invitation of the piece. The blending of the choir's voices, David's piano and Kirsten's flute evoke an ethereal atmosphere that stays with us through the rest of the service.

When we are involved in the foot washing, the multi-layered meanings of this act become easy to see. There is a tradition of taking shoes off in holy places. Our feet are where we touch the ground. What is on our feet ishow we experience the world. Washing of feet gives us a new experience, a new perspective of the earth. This is a vulnerable and intimate moment for everyone.

Pastor Dayle invites the congregation to communion in a less formal way than the normal words of institution. It stresses communion is rooted in our everyday experiences of eating and drinking, relaxing with our friends. It makes the communion feel different.

Peter and Kelly perform Marty Haugen's My God, My God while the altar is stripped. It is a dramatic end to the service and with no benediction we leave in silence.

April 4th, 2007 - Choir Practice

I arrive early to update the bulletin board for Hunger Awareness and I hear the Creator string section praticing first the Hallelujah Chorus, then Thine is the Glory. Already the knowledge, discipline, precision and art is apparent in the music. My spirit is levitated by this rehearsal before the choir has arrived.

Tonight the choir practices with all the instrumental accompaniment. With piano throughout we move first to the strings on the pieces just mentioned, then the viola and to the flute for the other pieces that are part of Holy Week services. Each instrument creates a mood, there is a brilliance and intensity in this practice alone that is moving the choir.

What is reinforced mostly for me tonight is the sense of community and church. Ruth is helpful tonight in pointing me to the bulletins for the upcoming services. Debi recommends a book to me by Brian McLaren, A New Kind of Christian. Greg gives an update of the work his family, mostly his son, is doing on the new Creator website. Joel and Al are in a playful mood, joking and talking about the best place to get Easter ham. Everyone is sharing conversation and humor. Kelly leads all the friendly enthusiasm being generated at this rehearsal.

We close with prayer that focuses our attention on the services ahead this week.

April 1st, 2007 - Palm Sunday

This blog began on Palm Sunday last year. Reading the entry refreshed my memory of the importance of that day. Reading portions of Dante’s Divine Comedy provided a deeper understanding and appreciation for me of Holy Week 2006. Dante set his journey to follow Holy Week and the Divine Comedy and Holy Week last year each provided insights to one another.

This year I followed Pastor Dayle’s recommendation to read The Last Week: A Day-by-Day Account of Jesus's Final Week in Jerusalem by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. This book also follows the Holy Week structure based on the gospel of Mark.

This reading is intellectually and emotionally challenging and has provided many insights and keys for understanding the movement of Christianity historically and possibilities that can be currently embraced.

Today’s service followed the ELW setting for Palm Sunday. The current overriding feeling may not continue, still it is hard not to think that this opening of Holy Week is filled with a mixture of deeper emotional swings than in the past. The swings move both higher and lower and with greater frequency than last year. Some of this mixture is planned and some is not.

The Creator community came into the week with the knowledge Bethany is not in remission. This will surely on our collective mind throughout this year’s Holy Week just as Easter plans and dreams are.

There was a personal disagreement and anger during the one of the services this morning which left the participants upset. Yet the services began with all voices raised for strong, intimate and joyful music in the narthex. Finally, the services ended with a beautiful, devotional piece, Jesus, Refuge of the Weary, sung by the choir. Geoff provided a viola accompaniment added specially for this performance by Kelly.

We later participated in the last annual Cross Walk for the Oregon Trail Cluster of the ELCA. It is a unique ministry. Church members and pastors follow a pre-planned route and carry a cross in a local neighborhood. At stops along the route each church leads the group in brief words appropriate to the service provided by those within the selected building. For instance, if it is a fire station, prayers would be spoken, appreciation would be given, and songs would be sung for the firemen. Those members of the church that lead are then responsible to carry a good sized cross to the next location.

A light rain seemed likely as we drive to Colton Lutheran but during the event it was a beautiful day, both cool and clear. The route moved from the church to Colton High School to a closed community center. Memories were shared about the initial hopes and dreams for this place. This emphasizes the feelings around today being the last of the Cross Walks. It is understandable given the participation and there are other thoughts about another event to commemorate Palm Sunday that brings the Oregon Trail Cluster together. Still bringing this current ministry to a close after six years puts a spin on the mood.

Another part of Palm Sunday is a story my sister tells me about her trip to Kalaloch Olympic National Park Sunday. She prayed at the beginning of her trip to the gods for a variety of weather. She wanted to show a friend how beautiful non-sunny weather in the Pacific Northwest could be. Her prayer was not only responded to but the response, according to her, was playful. They experienced rain, sun, snow, sleet, mist and hail together with a spectacular sunset and a full moon over the ocean that night. She delivers a special prayer to the spirit of our father that made the last event possible for her.

The language she uses is spiritually charged. I wonder what words I would use to describe the same experiences. Hers is a different kind of prayer than what was discussed the past few weeks and what I have read about recently. It is the root of a profound experience she had of being connected to the world this weekend. Her vision informs my understanding of the world's spiritual nature while I also realize the road she takes to get there is different from my own. All faith appears to dance between the rational and irrational.