November 23rd, 2008 – Christ the King Sunday: Last Sunday of the Church Year

Lisa started the service with her Our Journey Story. As a five year member at Creator she outlined what stewardship means to her:

Present – Lisa considers a fundamental piece of stewardship being present for Sunday worship.

Participating – There are many ministries going on at Creator. Lisa encourages us to “go with the Holy Spirit when it tugs at us.”

Giving – The easiest and the hardest piece of stewardship. Lisa detailed how moving comfortably through by upping your percentage giving each year is one way to plan increases. This is also where faith and trust in God figures in the calculus we use to determine our giving. Will God provide for our needs or do we need to keep back what we could give for ourselves because we might need it?

Being this is the last Sunday of the Church year, Pastor Dayle reflected on the past year at Creator in her sermon. We celebrated the 20th anniversary of Creator’s first worship service through Pastor Mark’s unexpected resignation through putting into place the Spiritwork teams and the other changes that we have experienced at Creator.

In preaching on the Gospel reading Pastor Dayle asked "What does the reign of Christ look like and how can we bring it to come? In talking about the sheep and goats both do not know that both ask the same questions about what they did to help when the king was hungry, thirsty, naked or in prison.

Pastor Dayle observed we are both sheep and goat. We are challenged to bring about God's kingdom and sometimes we rise to that challenge and at other times we do not. This, however, is the time to put away the old and think about the new.

The Hymn of the Day, I Will Sing, I Will Sing became a joyful noise and it did feel like the old was being put away and we were thinking about the new as we were singing it. Then the children sang Mercy is Falling as special music for offering. The congregation appreciated their performance.

What Feast of Love had a simple majesty and mystery the way it was sung on Sunday during communion and Beautiful Savior continued with a feeling of reverence and beauty. Worship ended with Soon and Very Soon. Another clapping, joyful noise, end to the service.

The Adult Forum was on Asset Mapping. Pastor Dayle led a revealing Adult Forum this Sunday. She directed us to write on down three spiritual gifts we personally felt we had, three things we do for fun, and two things other people would say were our gifts. We then posted these, looked for similarities in the group, and broke into two smaller groups of people based on those similarities. The common interests (or gifts) among this particular group were music and compassion. We discussed ideas and ministries for those two groups.

This felt like a very concrete way to start to promote the participation Lisa talked about at the beginning of the service.

November 16th, 2008 - Pay Attention - The End is Near

Pastor Dayle was on a WELCA retreat, she arrived after worship and the Congregational conversation for today's choir minkistry. Father Al presided today.

He noted that Creator Praise was more worship than music this Sunday and that we would continue worship rather than start it.

The musis continued to be energtic. The Hymn of Praise was particularly strong full of celebration.

Father Al started his sermon by having us think about a sign with God is Coming printed on one side and The End is Near printed on the other. This mental sign was to mark that this Sunday is the end of Ordinary Time, the green "Sunday after Pentecost" Sundays. Next Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, the end of the churh year.

From there the sermon moved to how uncomfortable we, as Americans at this time and in this place are with Gospels like we have had the past two Sundays. Last Sunday was the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids; this Sunday the Parable of the Talents. Father Al talked about how we have domesticated God. We do not have a God that “shatters” history. Our God gives comfort and care rather than challenge. And yet the church needs to remember all of its history.

There are words that have gone stale. These are parables that teach us to pay attention to who we are and who God is. We need to pay attention to what we are doing today.

Paying attention. Why is that more difficult than it seems? The father in front of me was having his son follow his finger for the hymns and the words that were in the bulletin. A very beautiful moment about focusing attention.

There was a Congregational Conversation and a choir trip to Princeton Village this Sunday as well.

September 9th, 2008 – Getting Wet for God

It was Abby’s and Nathaniel’s baptism today. When Pastor Dayle asked Abby what she was going to do today Abby said she was “getting wet for God”. Every baptism is unique and, for me, the family and congregational support felt like the important emphasis of the first sacrament of the service.

Pastor Dayle emphasized this in her sermon saying that we were all “green and growing” in the faith, trying to understand each other with a new heart. The central portion of the sermon was on Gospel - The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids.

It is a difficult parable and Pastor Dayle labeled it ridiculous because the wise bridesmaids did not share oil with the foolish. She asserted most of us are not fully prepared but God comes to us anyway. She referred to Amos quoting the reading that “justice rolls down like the waters”. Sometimes there is a dam to attempt to stop that justice but God diverts the stream of justice around the dam.

It was an interesting juxtaposition for me; green and growing in faith and The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. This parable can be troubling and has challenged me many times in my life.

I taught it in Sunday School when I was a teen. The class asked why the wise bridesmaids did not share oil with the foolish. “That’s the Christian thing to do!” they maintained. I couldn't disagee with them but I felt there was more to this parable and I looked for an answer for years.

To me prayers are man’s communications with God and parables are God’s communication with man. Parables, as extended, story metaphors, form the center of Jesus’ teaching. A few, like this one, seem peculiar and confusing at first blush. When that happens there is likely a deeper meaning and it helps me to study, question and think about the story.

The New Man, a book the Creator Book group read, has an interesting perspective on this parable. The author asks questions that lift us from the literal meaning that causes confusion. What does the oil, lamp and light represent? The light, according to the author, represents the word of God. Briefly there are moments where the word can move us internally but to move from brief moments to sustained moments we need to ponder and think of a new way of looking at our world that is more aligned with God’s will. We can think of that as the lamp that sustains the light. Think here of This Little Light of Mine and the sustained shining that defines the song.

The oil, the author contends, proceeds from the knowledge that the teaching of Jesus must be applied in life and is practical. There are two sources for the oil. One is carried with the person; the other source is in the market or dealers. The foolish bridesmaids must go out and buy oil from those who sell it, perhaps meaning they are seeking others who will confirm this teaching is right or meritorious by reward or praise.

Now, this may help us understand why the wise bridesmaids could not share their oil. Simply, the oil of the wise bridesmaids cannot be used by the foolish. The foolish end up going to the dealers or market to serach for their oil instead of knowing the good of the teaching themselves. They also leave rather than meeting the bridegroom.

That the door to the wedding banquet is shut to them may be viewed as a judgment but it may also be viewed as a temporary state they are in until they apply this truth internally and they are recognized and welcomed into the wedding banquet, a celebration of the transformation of their relationship with God. We know, as Lutherans, when we proceed from actions to garner reward and praise something spiritually is out of kilter. We are not awake to the deeper truth within us.

This is one understanding of the parable that currently touches me. If you have another, please let me know. Learning about how other's find meaning in parables moves all of us to new understandings of God and Jesus.

November 1st, 2008 – All Saints Sunday

I arrived a little early, partly because of the move off daylight savings time, and found Greg and Will engaged in conversation. Other members of the Wednesday book group arrived as well. Jane and Nita joined us at different points as we talked about this coming Wednesday meeting.

I attempted to write about our discussions of East of Eden several times over the past few weeks and came up short. There is not much in the world better for me than book lovers with the opportunity to discuss literature they are reading together.

Greg has led this discussion and the background he made available to us was astounding. We started by reading the King James translation of the story of Cain and Abel. This is a root story that Steinbeck refers to throughout East of Eden. Our discussions have all been energetic and thought provoking. We have two more sessions, will take the Advent season off, and begin a new book in January.

Kelly and David led music for worship today. Team Faith was the Spiritworks team in charge of volunteers. There were different auditory pieces to the service today. In the Thanksgiving for Baptism the sound of water and during the Prayers of the People Pastor Dayle rang a bowl throughout the time the congregation named saints in their lives that they wanted to honor and witness.

During the offering Vaune, Annie and Kim sang Bright Morning Stars which is a traditional piece of church music. They followed a Wailin Jennys arrangement. Tight harmonies, together with the music, filled the moment with grace.

Pastor Dayle’s sermon stressed 1 John 3:1, first verse of the Second Lesson:

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.

God stretches, forms and transforms us. Pastor Dayle continued by saying that the blessings in our lives are participatory and that we are called to love one another and make a difference in each other’s lives. That participation leads to transformation.

The Adult Education was another in the Care of Creation series. Paul Stromberg led this discussion of ideas to save energy and the environment. Suggestions moved from compact fluorescents to LED Christmas lights to checking appliances and air filters to checking out resources and books like Animal, Vegetable and Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.