Come Dwell with us

During this season of Lent, I am participating in a multiuser weblog with six other Lutheran pastors from around the country. Each day, one or more of us will offer a brief devotional reading that is based on the ELCA's daily reading e-mail devotional. You can subscribe to the daily e-mail by visiting http://listserv.elca.org/cgi-bin/wa.exe?A0=BIBLE-READINGS and entering your address. You can visit the Lenten blog by surfing to http://manybutone.wordpress.com Not only can you check in daily to examine new reflections on the scriptures, but also participate in the conversation, leaving comments and asking questions of the authors. What follows are some samples of the work you will find there. Won't you stop by and check us out?

“I love Moses!  He is the only person throughout the history of the world to have actually received a burning bush from God.  In that bush he received a crystal clear message from God as to what he was to do with his life.  God told Moses that he was to go to Pharaoh to bring God’s people out of Egypt.  Moses was called by God to God’s work and God promised to provide him with all he needed to get that work done.  Really, does it get any better than this?”
Rev. Meredith Lovell Keseley

“This season starts with the words “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” and it leads us to the death of the cross. Yet despite the dust and death, this is a season of life … for in Lent the church takes an honest look at sin and death and dares, nonetheless, to speak a word of life. We can’t proclaim new life without also speaking about death. We can’t seek to draw close to God without first confessing our self-alienation from God. We can’t proclaim forgiveness without acknowledging the reality of sin.”
Rev. Chris Duckworth

“It was when the Israelites shared what they had that they were able to create a beautiful tabernacle.  And it is in sharing what we each have, whether physical gifts or spiritual gifts that we are able to come together as a Christian community to worship and serve the Lord.
Who are the skillful women and men in your lives? And how do you use your gifts and skills to worship and serve the Lord?”
Rev. Becca Middeke-Colin

Multiblogging!

For the season of Lent I will be cross-posting my writing from a collaborative blog called Many but One that I am writing with six colleagues from around the United States.

To the faithful assemblies gathered around Word and Sacrament, and apparently around the LCD flat screen, grace and peace be to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. I bring greetings from the church that meets at the corner of Salisbury and Lancaster streets in the city of Worcester. My name is John Longworth, and I serve as the Associate Pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church. My call has a special focus on education, catechesis and young adults. As part of my work with young adults I spend some of my time each week ministering to students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, a university in the same neighborhood as the church building.

I live in Worcester with my wife Sara. Sara's daily work involves driver examinations for the Central Massachusetts Safety Council Auto School, though her calling is centered around handmade clothing and fine arts. Fortunately, Worcester has a growing arts scene and is a very diverse immigrant destination. This makes two of our favorite activities, exotic cooking and exotic dining, quite possible.

Beyond its status as an immigrant and refugee destination, Worcester has a rich history as an industrial center, a medical/biotechnology hub, a college town, home to New England's only diner factory and to several classic diners, and a bastion of independent punk and hard rock, from the days of Wormtown radio and the shows at the Paris, Palladium and Tammany Hall to weekends at Ralph's Diner (Punk Dive Bar par excellence!)