The weather outside is frightful, but hopefully a brief little live stream will be delightful! Winter storms have kept us from gathering in person this Sunday, but I pray this may at least be a little God moment for the start of your week.
Thursday, November 26, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Thanksgiving Eve Eve
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 12:03; children’s sermon starts around 13:36; sermon starts around 19:32)
Reading: Matthew 6:25-33
In the children’s sermon, naturally, we talked about things we are thankful for. We talked about how it feels to be thanked when we do something nice for someone else. I asked the kids why we make such a big deal out of thanksgiving, why it’s so important to give thanks. We talked about how giving thanks shows respect to others and makes them feel good and appreciated. And we talked about how showing gratitude benefits us as well. Being thankful means remembering that we have good things in our life to be thankful for – and even more importantly, it reminds us that we have people in our lives who care about us and love us enough to do nice things for us. Giving thanks helps us to be joyful. And it builds up our relationships with others. God is pleased when we give thanks, and gratitude helps us grow even closer in our relationship with God.
Who all here tonight has ever helped someone else learn to drive? I imagine a lot of the parents here have done so. If you had to sum up that experience in one or two words, what would you say?
I remember how anxious my dad was back when I was learning to drive. In fairness, I was a nearsighted teenager with poor spatial reasoning – and already in my early teens, I was beginning to develop a bit of a lead foot. The first time Dad let me drive his vehicle out on the highway down to Norfolk, I swear you could audibly hear him stomping on the imaginary brake on his side of the car the whole way there.
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Reign of Christ Sunday
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 21:49; children’s sermon starts around 26:35; sermon starts around 33:35)
Reading: Jeremiah 36:1-8, 21-23, 27-28; 31:31-34 (Luke 22:19-20)
In the children’s sermon, we talked about what it means to be a leader, and what kind of qualities or actions it takes for someone to be a good leader. We talked about how today on Reign of Christ Sunday, we celebrate that God in Christ is our leader. Christ is merciful and forgiving and loving toward us and calls us to be the same kind of leaders in the world. Sometimes we can get frustrated or angry or sad when human leaders in this world act in ways that don’t look like Christ’s leadership at all. But today we remember that human institutions and human authority will pass away, but God’s kingdom of love will stand forever.
I’d like to start out the sermon today… with a pop quiz! (haha) Don’t worry, it’s not graded. I feel pretty confident guessing that most of us in here have been to at least a few worship services in our lives – which means you’ve all heard the words of institution we say during communion a time or two. But it’s one thing to hear it over and over again, and another thing to actually say it! So today I’m curious to find out how well you all remember the words of institution from memory. Ready?
Continue reading “Sermon: A New Covenant (AKA Good King, Bad King)”
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Twenty-Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 23:32; children’s sermon starts around 25:38; sermon starts around 34:47)
Reading: Isaiah 6:1-8
For the children’s sermon this morning, we talked about awe in all its forms – from awww to awful to awesome to amazing to overwhelming and terrifying. I asked the kids about times in their lives when they have felt some kind of awe. We talked about how Isaiah must have felt seeing this truly awesome vision. I asked them if they thought they would have responded in the same way Isaiah did, crying out “Here I am, Lord, send me!” And we remembered that God does call us to carry God’s word to the world, even though our call is usually a lot less flashy than Isaiah’s. And while that can still be kind of a scary call, it’s also pretty awesome that we get to share God’s word of love and grace.
Before I went to seminary, I worked for a few years teaching English and basic job skills down at Lincoln Literacy. To this day, other than being a pastor, it is my favorite job I’ve ever had. I loved working there. My coworkers were all really fun people, and I got to work with students from all over the world – refugees, migrant workers, university students, people who had found their way to Lincoln for all kinds of different reasons. And it was really rewarding and satisfying to watch them learning together, gaining confidence in their skills, and building these wonderful new friendships with people from different cultures. Plus, you’d better believe that the class potlucks we had were absolutely epic.
I was fresh off of four years as a Peace Corps Volunteer when I started working at Lincoln Literacy. And it actually ended up being a really great place for me to land after that experience. It’s really weird coming back to your own country after you’ve spent years living somewhere else. You expect home to feel the same, but you don’t realize how much you yourself change during that time. In fact, for that reason, the Peace Corps actually requires that every Volunteer go through Close of Service training – specifically to prepare them for the unexpected culture shock of coming home.
Sunday, October 20, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 24:54; sermon starts around 30:10)
Reading: 2 Samuel 7:1-17
My first call as a pastor, as many of you know, was to St. John’s Lutheran Church up in Schuyler, NE. I was there for about five years, and during that time, I lived in their parsonage – it was a nice little three-bedroom ranch-style house with an attached garage (so luxurious!).
But probably my favorite part about the house was actually the backyard. It was a nice, big backyard, fenced in all around, with a clothesline and a little concrete patio. There were all kinds of plants back there – trees and flowers and little shrubs and grasses – and they had all been planted by someone who clearly… had no idea what they were doing.
Continue reading “Sermon: Embrace the Mint (AKA The Tent Is Mightier than the House)”
All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
John 17:10-11
One of the most striking features in the worship space of the Lakota Lutheran Center in Scottsbluff — where I am currently serving as interim pastor — is a large, beautiful dreamcatcher adorned with feathers and butterflies that takes up the entirety of a large, round window high up in the wall behind the chancel. The image of the dreamcatcher kept coming back to me as I contemplated the readings for this Sunday. And not only did this image wind up in my sermon; I actually decided to weave a dreamcatcher while I preached!
Continue reading “Holy Mother of Mothers”
Sunday, February 11, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Transfiguration Sunday
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 22:05; children’s sermon starts around 24:25; sermon starts around 33:26)
Reading: Mark 8:27-9:10
This Sunday, the kids and I talked about superheroes. Specifically, we talked about superheroes like Superman, Spiderman, Batman, etc. who have secret identities. Inevitably in their stories, there seems to come a moment where the people in their lives who know them as relatively ordinary people – as Clark Kent or Peter Parker or Bruce Wayne – catch a glimpse of who’s behind the mask (or the cape and the giant ‘S’) and are shocked to find out that there’s a lot more to this person than they would have ever guessed. For the disciples in this Sunday’s reading, this moment of Jesus’ transfiguration on the mountaintop seems like one of those kinds of moments. Even though they (in theory) know Jesus’ true identity as the Messiah, it’s clear that until this moment, they had no real idea what that meant, and the truth is startling and a bit terrifying for them.
But we also talked briefly about how the gospels aren’t just some dry academic books that were written just for the sake of future posterity. They were written to and for specific communities of people who needed to hear the story. Mark wrote his gospel during the chaotic time immediately surrounding the destruction of the second temple. The people to whom he wrote needed a reminder that the God they served was still a superhero – one much stronger than any powers of empire, temple or no temple. And that story can still remind us and give us hope, that the God we continue to serve is a God of hope and love and peace much stronger than any power in this world.
There is a map of North America that makes the rounds on social media from time to time. It shows every single state and province on the continent, each one color-coded by how close it is to the ocean. There are coastal states in blue, then landlocked states, then double landlocked states. And right in the middle of the map, there is one lone state in red: Nebraska. We hold the distinction of being the only triply landlocked state in North America – meaning that no matter which direction you go, you have to go through at least three other states before you reach the ocean.
Continue reading “Sermon: Tiger by the Tail”
Sunday, February 4, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 23:23; children’s sermon starts around 29:05; sermon starts around 40:14)
Reading: Mark 6:1-29
Hehe, for the children’s sermon, I wore a large pair of headphones that completely covered my ears and then pretended I couldn’t hear anything they were saying. They finally convinced me to take them off, and we talked about the things that make it hard for us to hear sometimes. Sometimes those are physical things, but sometimes they aren’t – sometimes it’s hard for us to hear/listen when people are telling us things we don’t want to hear. Our long reading from the gospel of Mark has three stories that involve people not wanting to listen to what Jesus has to say, what his disciples have to say, or what John the Baptist has to say. We talked about the importance of listening, especially to God and to our parents and to other people that we know love us and have our best interest at heart – it’s important for us to be aware of the things that make it hard for us to listen, especially when someone is saying things it would be good for us to hear. And we gave thanks that God always listens to us.
One of the things I enjoy most about living in a city again is the opportunity to meet new people. But whenever these new people find out that I am a pastor, I have found that they almost always tend to have the exact same reaction. It doesn’t matter if they’re Christian or not, or even if they’re religious or not, they almost always do the same thing – or, rather, they stop doing the same thing. Any guesses what it is?
It’s swearing. People almost always stop swearing or apologize for swearing around me the instant they find out I’m a pastor. It’s honestly kind of hilarious to me, because if you’ve spent much time at all talking with me in casual conversation, you already know that I don’t give a flying ffffff…fruitcake about people swearing. I do try to rein myself in in church though, heh.
This reaction seems to reflect a particular mindset that people often have about clergy – that because of our vocation, we are somehow holier, saintlier people than the average person. But if you actually read some of the stories in the bible about the people God chooses to call – this whole cabal of losers, rednecks, murderers, sex offenders, criminals, and outcasts – you really start to get the sense that maybe being called into God’s service isn’t exactly a compliment. (lol)
Sunday, January 28, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 22:28; children’s sermon starts around 25:12; sermon starts around 36:16)
Reading: Mark 5:21-43
In the children’s sermon, we talked about what it feels like when we get really sick, and we tried to imagine what it might be like to be sick – and bleeding! – for twelve long years. We talked about ancient worldviews about sickness and ritual uncleanness and how lonely life must have been for this woman with the hemorrhages. She wasn’t supposed to be there with all the people in the crowd, and she manages to get close enough to touch Jesus without anyone seeing her. But Jesus sees her – really sees her, in all her suffering – and declares in front of everyone that she has been made well and whole. Whenever we are sick or suffering and feel like no one notices or cares, we can trust that Jesus sees us too – really sees us – and holds us in love.
When I was in eighth or ninth grade, I started getting into a lot of honor bands and honor choirs. I was discovering that I really liked to sing, and it turned out that I was actually pretty decent at it! Plus, playing and singing in these honor ensembles gave me a great opportunity to get out of my tiny hometown for a while and meet some new people and see at least a little bit more of the world.
I got my first solo in an honor choir when I was only 14. I was so excited! There were a lot of people who auditioned for it, most of whom were upperclassmen – but I still came out on top. 😎 We had to wait until after lunch to find out who got the solo. When we came back to rehearsal, the director – who clearly didn’t know any of our names – stood up and announced that the solo would be performed by… “The young woman wearing the ‘Colorado’ shirt!” I remember kind of looking around and then finally looking down and realizing, “Holy crap, that’s me!!”
Sunday, January 21, 2024
Spirit of Hope Lutheran Church, Lincoln, NE
Third Sunday after Epiphany
(narrative lectionary)
watch this service online (reading starts around 22:26; children’s sermon starts around 24:39; sermon starts around 35:38)
Reading: Mark 5:1-20
In the children’s sermon today, we talked about the work of chaplains – pastor-ish people who work in settings like prisons and hospitals and the military – in places where people might be suffering or under great stress or in need of hope. I talked especially about my experience working as a hospital chaplain. Like me, most chaplains don’t tend to have much of a medical background; we don’t have the knowledge or skill to heal sick and injured people who come to the hospital.
So I asked the children why so many hospitals would hire chaplains, knowing that they can’t actually make anybody better. We talked about what a blessing it can be for someone who is lonely or suffering or in pain to know that they aren’t alone, to know that someone cares. I asked them to think about times they have been lonely or sad or hurting and someone was there for them.
In our reading, Jesus steps off a boat and meets this man who is plagued with demons. His community doesn’t seem to know what to do with him, so they chain him up out in the cemetery and leave him there alone. He was already suffering from this whole demon situation, but no doubt this rejection and isolation from his community made things feel so much worse for him.
We imagined together how much different this man’s life might have been if his community had treated him with kindness and sat with him in his suffering. They didn’t have the ability to heal him, like Jesus does in the story, but we agreed that they could have made his life a whole lot better by showing him compassion.
It’s perhaps the most important lesson I learned as a chaplain: sometimes people are going through hard things that we just can’t fix. And we might be tempted to avoid them because there’s nothing we can say or do to make things better. But just showing up and being present, showing someone you care and that they’re not alone, can make more of a difference than we know. We can be a physical, tangible sign of God’s unfailing love in the moments when people need it the most – and that is an extraordinary blessing indeed.
I was invited by my dear friends at the UNL Lutheran Center to contribute a short reflection for the Lenten devotional they are putting together: “The Emotions of Lent.” I chose to write the reflection on anger, based on this passage from Exodus. I enjoyed writing this reflection enough that I decided to expand it a little bit and post it here. Enjoy!
Continue reading “The Emotions of Lent: Anger”
Sunday, June 30, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Third Sunday after Pentecost
I was flying home one time to visit family, back when I lived in the Dominican Republic. My flight had a six hour layover in Miami, and the Miami airport isn’t exactly the most fun place to spend six whole hours (not that any airport is!). So I decided I’d call an old Peace Corps friend of mine who lived in Miami to come pick me up.
I had been living in the Dominican Republic for about three years at this point, and I found that being back in American culture was a little overwhelming. Between the heat and the sensory overload, I stepped out of the Miami airport with a massive headache. So my friend and I headed to the nearest Walgreens to pick up some aspirin.
Now, in the DR, I had gotten used to just going down the street to the little corner store whenever I needed something for a headache. I could usually count on having one or maybe two options for painkillers. But the painkiller aisle in that Miami Walgreens seemed to stretch all the way to the horizon, painkillers as far as the eye could see. They had aspirin and ibuprofen and acetaminophen and naproxen; they had tablets and capsules, bottles and packets and boxes of every size and quantity imaginable. It was ridiculous. I just wanted to feel better – but by the time I finally picked something out, I felt like my head was literally going to explode.
Sunday, June 23, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Second Sunday after Pentecost
cover image
As I was first reading our gospel lesson for this morning, there were a couple of moments in this story that stuck out to me as being kind of odd. Despite the fact that this is a wonderful story of Jesus performing a miraculous healing, it is filled almost from beginning to end with fear. In fact, the stage is already set with fear right before we even get to this particular passage. Before this encounter with the Gerasenes, in the same chapter of Luke, the disicples get into a boat with Jesus to cross the Sea of Galilee – and what do you suppose happens? A massive storm comes up – and just as they are all preparing to die, Jesus wakes up from his nap and tells the storm to cool it. In response, the disciples are amazed and afraid.
Then they reach the other side of the sea and step out of the boat into Gentile territory. And literally just as they are stepping out of the boat, they are accosted by a naked man, with iron shackles clanking on his wrists; he falls down before Jesus and starts shouting wildly. After a brief confrontation, Jesus casts many demons out of the man. And when the people of his city come running – all his neighbors and family – they find this man clothed and in his right mind and sitting calmly with Jesus. And then they are afraid. And when the story is told again of what Jesus has done for this one man, the entire country of the Gerasenes is seized with such great fear that they ask Jesus to leave.
It’s not exactly the reception you would expect for such an incredible miracle of liberation! You’d think people would be lining up around the block to have Jesus heal their own maladies. So what is everyone so afraid of?? Is it just that people were so awed and amazed by Jesus’ incredible power over demons that they were afraid of him? I mean, maybe. But it seems like maybe there’s more than that going on here.
Sunday, June 16, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Trinity Sunday
cover image
Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday – one last white Sunday before a long season of green. We celebrate the nature of God as three-in-one and one-in-three – the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now, here’s your pop quiz for the day: does anyone know how many times the word “trinity” actually appears in the bible?
Sunday, June 9, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Day of Pentecost
Before I went to seminary, I lived in Lincoln for a few years. I had just gotten back from the Peace Corps, and I was trying to readjust to life back in the US. Because of my experience teaching English as a foreign language, I quickly got a job with an organization called Lincoln Literacy. At Lincoln Lit, we worked with refugees and asylum-seekers and other immigrants – with and without documents – we taught them English and helped them find jobs and adjust to their new life in the US. I loved working there. Almost everyone I worked with – students and staff alike – seemed to feel in some way like fish out of water, just like I did.
We had students from all over the world: from Mexico and Guatemala and Venezuela, from Iraq and Afghanistan, from Bosnia, Sudan, Congo, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, all over. In our classes, you would see people of every color, people dressed in hijabs and blue jeans and saris and intricately woven fabric. During one particularly hot summer, one of my colleagues even showed up to work a few times wearing his wife’s skirts to keep cool – and no one so much as batted an eye. Everyone belonged, just as they were.
Sunday, June 2, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Ascension Sunday
You may have noticed something kind of unusual about our readings this morning – and that is that we actually read the same story twice. Both our first reading from Acts and our gospel reading from Luke tell the story of Jesus’ ascension. Acts was actually written by the very same author as the book of Luke – which means that Luke is the only gospel that comes with its very own sequel!
And, like any good sequel, the story of Acts picks up “where we last left our heroes.” We read about Jesus’ ascension in the last chapter of Luke, and then we pick up the story again right away in the very first chapter of Acts. The ascension is sort of the hinge between the two books that connects one to the other. But there are some differences in the stories.
At the end of Luke, the ascension is presented as this mystical, mysterious event; Jesus is taken up just as he is blessing his disciples, and they are filled with joy and start worshiping God, and the credits roll, and they all live happily ever after. But in Acts, this story doesn’t feel like as much of a happy ending. We have anxious disciples and mysterious strangers and an even more mysterious Jesus. And we get the sense that the ascension isn’t really the end of the story at all – in fact, it’s only the beginning.
Sunday, May 26, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Sixth Sunday of Easter
When you go to seminary, you get to learn a whole world of new vocabulary words; words like: kerygma… hermeneutics… homiletics… epiclesis… eschatology! As I was reading our gospel for this morning, I kept thinking of one of these five dollar words that I learned in seminary: “pericope.” Anyone heard the word pericope before? It’s a good one. Pericope is a word that’s sometimes used to talk about a passage taken from the bible – it’s basically like how we use the term “reading” or “lesson.” But “pericope” comes from the Greek for “a cutting-out” and I find that image of cutting out helpful for talking about a pericope like this one that we read this morning.
The group of people who put together the three year series of readings that we follow – the lectionary – are responsible for cutting out the texts that we read together each Sunday. Most of the time, it’s pretty obvious why they chose to cut texts where they did – perhaps there’s a story or a parable with a clear beginning and ending or a section all on the same theme. But sometimes, like today, the place they chose to cut something doesn’t make much sense to me at all.
Sunday, May 19, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Fifth Sunday of Easter
During my first few months in the Dominican Republic, I lived with a host family. They were very nice people and I got along great with them for the most part. But my host mom, Doña Nicia, never thought I ate enough – she was always trying to get me to eat more. The trouble was that, after a while, I had gotten really tired of eating rice and beans all the time. It was always the same thing every day: rice and beans, stewed meat, mashed plantains, and a big mug of fresh milk in the morning and in the evening – the milk part sounds really nice until you find yourself actually having to peel your milk twice a day (I never thought I’d appreciate the word “homogenized” so much).
One day, Doña Nicia’s daughter-in-law, Moraima, made a great big pot of a rice dish called chofán and brought a bowl over for me. It was basically fried rice with a mix of vegetables and some chicken – and I completely devoured it. Seeing this, my host mom was like, “Aha! She likes chofán!” So the very next day at lunch, Doña Nicia proudly set before me a big, heaping bowl of “chofán”; except, instead of rice and a mix of different vegetables, this was rice with a mix of different meats: chicken, pork, goat, and – I swear to you this is true – hot dogs, all chopped up into little pieces. I knew she was so excited to make it for me, so I ate as much of it as I could stomach. But to be honest, I felt a lot like I imagine Peter did in our reading from Acts. In Peter’s case, he has a vision of some kind of bizarre picnic descending down out of the clouds – and a voice tells him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!” and Peter takes one look at that picnic and is just like, “Uhhh… pass.”
Sunday, May 12, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Fourth Sunday of Easter
In case our readings for this morning didn’t already give it away, today is the Sunday in the church calendar when we celebrate “Good Shepherd” Sunday. We celebrate that God in Christ is our good shepherd.
And even though most of us have little or no experience with actual, real-life sheep or sheep-herding, we have at least some idea of what a shepherd does. We know that shepherds are responsible for the wellbeing of their sheep, which is a 24/7 job. Shepherds guide their sheep to food and water, they protect them from predators, and they find shelter for them when things start to get stormy. They help the sheep to survive and flourish. It’s a position of trust; like Jesus says in our gospel reading, the sheep learn to recognize the voice of their shepherd and they follow it.
Sunday, May 5, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Third Sunday of Easter
Our gospel reading for this morning picks up right on the heels of the gospel reading we read last week, which is actually kind of odd. Last week, we read the story of “doubting” Thomas from John 20, a story that ends with Jesus saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” John then goes on to write,
Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.
Now, that really sounds like it’s the end of the story, doesn’t it? It sounds like it should be the end of the book of John. All it’s missing is “and they lived happily ever after, the end.” So it’s kind of surprising then to turn the page and realize that John actually goes on for a whole other chapter.
Sunday, April 28, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Second Sunday of Easter
image source
Thomas is in the wrong place at the wrong time in our gospel reading for this morning. Or, at least, he’s not in the right place at the right time. The rest of the disciples had gathered in fear following Jesus’ crucifixion, probably to talk about the rumors they had heard that Jesus had somehow risen from the dead – when Jesus himself suddenly appears among them! Only Thomas isn’t there to join in the rejoicing or to hear Jesus speak peace to them.
We have no idea what Thomas was off doing, but we do know that when he came back, he definitely did not expect to hear that everyone else had gotten to see Jesus while he was out. Thomas reacts to this news with disbelief – and he flat out refuses to believe the testimony of the other disciples. Instead, he insists that he will only believe if he sees Jesus with his own eyes and touches his wounds with his own hands.
Sunday, April 21, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Easter Sunday
Alleluia! Christ is risen!
[Christ is risen indeed, alleluia!]
This joyful greeting is the same one that Christians have used for centuries to greet each other on Easter morning. This is indeed a day of great joy! For many of us, that joy is obvious – the joy of gathering with family, of seeing children and grandchildren, the joy of a time to rest and a time to celebrate with the people we care about.
But of course, the true joy of Easter goes much, much deeper than these things. Today we celebrate the fact that the fundamental order of the cosmos has been shifted. When Christ was killed and then rose from the dead, he broke death itself. On Easter, we remember that we have been freed from slavery to sin and death; we have been joined to Christ forever in both life and death, and we too will rise again to eternal life in God’s kingdom. Surely this is a cause for boundless joy!
Thursday, April 18, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Maundy Thursday
About a month before my 24th birthday, I was starting my second year of service as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic. I got sent to the next town over from mine to spend the night with a family there, to see whether I thought they would be a good host family for the new volunteer who was coming. They turned out to be really sweet, lovely people who welcomed me with open arms. Esmeralda, the mom, made a delicious meal for us, while her husband Manyango told me all about their community, Jánico. They were curious to get to know me as well – and when they found out that my birthday was less than a month away, they insisted that I come back and celebrate with them.
Sunday, April 14, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Palm / Passion Sunday
This is a story we have heard so many times before. Many of us grew up hearing it. Year after year, we follow Jesus on a Lenten journey to Jerusalem. And every year it leads us here, to the threshold of Holy Week. We read the story of his triumphant entry into the city, and we read again how the crowd’s shouts of “hosanna in the highest!” quickly turn into chants of “crucify, crucify him!” We follow Jesus all the way from a stable in Bethlehem to the cross and to the empty tomb.
This story is so well known and so familiar to the church that it’s hard to add much to it. Some friends of mine even asked me a couple of weeks ago: how do you preach on stories that people have heard so many times? How do you find something new to say? And I told them honestly: the Spirit works! But also, I can’t help but think of how many thousands of years we have been telling ourselves and our children these stories. Humanity has a long term relationship with the story of salvation in Jesus Christ. And so, as old as this story is, it somehow keeps being new. Each year that we tell it again, it seems to speak to us in a new and different way.
Sunday, April 7, 2019
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Schuyler, NE
Fifth Sunday in Lent
As most of you – or probably all of you – know, I used to be a Peace Corps Volunteer once upon a time. I served for four years in the Dominican Republic. And as you might expect, there is a lot of training and preparation that goes into becoming a Volunteer. In training, you learn the skills that you will need to do your project work; and you also study the language and the culture of your assigned country to try to prepare yourself to live and work for two years – sometimes more – in a different country.
But one aspect of Peace Corps that doesn’t get talked about very often is the fact that they also actually train us for how to come back. We actually spend time in Close of Service (or CoS) training before coming back to the US. They help us update our resumes and teach us how to condense our years of service into concise stories – literally, we had to practice that. But even more than these practical bits of training, they tried to prepare us for the strange reality of reverse culture shock.
Most people know what regular culture shock is – you move to a new place and find yourself constantly bumping up against a different culture with different values and different ways of doing things than what you’re used to. Reverse culture shock, on the other hand, is when you come back again and the culture is the same one you’re used to, but you are a different you.
This is the Day 