We won't be wearing sunglasses, or driving around in a beat-up police cruiser, and we're not getting the band back together. However, this month our youth and their adult guides will be setting out on a mission to make a real difference in the lives of people in Greater Philadelphia. Youth from the congregations that participate in LIPY-CM (Lutheran Interparish Youth of Central Massachusetts) will travel to Philadelphia this month to engage in a week of service, fun and fellowship.
Already our group has collected and assembled food for the Upper Darby community pantry, and books and school supplies for the Drexel Hill after school program. These gifts are a way of saying thank you to Pastor Dave Shaheen and the people of Christ Church in Upper Darby, PA who helped organize our work sites.
We will be staying at Camp Inabah, a retreat center of our new full-communion partner, the United Methodist Church in Spring City, PA. Aside from lodging the camp will provide our food and our space for daily devotions and check-in. Each work day, a few of our youth will work on projects at the Camp as a way of thanking them for their hospitality.
During our work week, we will be serving in and around Philadelphia, particularly the West End and North Philadelphia neighborhoods. We will be volunteer for the following organizations: Share Food Bank, The Urban Tree Initiative, Upper Darby Weed & Seed, Cradles to Crayons, and The Upper Darby School District. Each of these sites will enable youth to have hands on service activities, engage with organizations that are committed to the well-being of their neighborhoods and meet new people from the local community.
No trip to Philadelphia would be complete without visiting our region's seminary, the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, for a tour and for worship. We have made arrangements to meet with the Admissions office to learn more about vocation. We will also hold our closing Eucharist in the seminary chapel, where our director of music, John Weit used to lead the assembly in song.
I am extremely excited about this year's trip and hope that you will prayer for the group as we travel, work, pray and laugh together during the week of April 19th to the 23rd. Your support means a great deal to the youth who are involved.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Does God Need a Guardian
“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” -from Matthew 1:18-21
On March 19th, the church commemorates Joseph of Nazareth, a descendant of King David, a carpenter and builder (we might say construction worker today). Joseph was Mary’s husband, (probably arranged from an early age) and functioned as Jesus’ human stepfather through his childhood. The last we hear of Joseph in any of the Gospels is in Luke’s account of Jesus in the temple as a boy (age 12-13). He is also mentioned in Matthew and John as people question whether Jesus could possibly be Joseph’s son. It turns out that questioning the legitimacy of someone’s birth circumstances is indeed a very old tactic to discredit them
The bigger question for Christians is not about Joseph’s genetic relationship to Jesus, but really whether he is important in the story at all, especially since Jesus’ public ministry is clearly grounded in a profound sense that the God of the Torah is also his Abba. There are apocryphal stories of Jesus as a child that feature him doing some astoundingly divine and yet childlike things, making birds out of dirt, levitating or flying, and zapping a neighborhood bully with a bolt of retribution. Does a child with such power need a foster father?
Yet, our affirmation of the full humanity of Jesus means that like all other humans, he grew, learned, changed and experienced his life as all children do. Studies have shown how vital positive adults are in the lives of children. Matthew’s witness places the responsibility for the flight to Egypt and handling their stay there with Joseph. In some small part, Joseph’s patient willingness to be a dad to a child that was not his own, and to provide the love, protection and guidance needed was a harbinger of the longstanding Christian ministry of adoption and caring for orphans.
That is the power of all parenting, both birth and adoptive, that the child may surpass the parents precisely because of what they give to the child. For Mary, what an honor to give life in the flesh to the life-force that spawned the galaxies. For Joseph, what an honor and a privilege to be the protector and the rescuer of the one who would rescue and save us all. God’s ability to work through the most ordinary people, and to do the extraordinary amazes me every day.
Let us pray:
Loving God, for Joseph and for all parents who foster, adopt and protect the children who were not born to them, but who were entrusted to them, we give you thanks. Go with them and with all parents this day, who in sharing your unconditional love with a child, reveal the might of your love for your own Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
On March 19th, the church commemorates Joseph of Nazareth, a descendant of King David, a carpenter and builder (we might say construction worker today). Joseph was Mary’s husband, (probably arranged from an early age) and functioned as Jesus’ human stepfather through his childhood. The last we hear of Joseph in any of the Gospels is in Luke’s account of Jesus in the temple as a boy (age 12-13). He is also mentioned in Matthew and John as people question whether Jesus could possibly be Joseph’s son. It turns out that questioning the legitimacy of someone’s birth circumstances is indeed a very old tactic to discredit them
The bigger question for Christians is not about Joseph’s genetic relationship to Jesus, but really whether he is important in the story at all, especially since Jesus’ public ministry is clearly grounded in a profound sense that the God of the Torah is also his Abba. There are apocryphal stories of Jesus as a child that feature him doing some astoundingly divine and yet childlike things, making birds out of dirt, levitating or flying, and zapping a neighborhood bully with a bolt of retribution. Does a child with such power need a foster father?
Yet, our affirmation of the full humanity of Jesus means that like all other humans, he grew, learned, changed and experienced his life as all children do. Studies have shown how vital positive adults are in the lives of children. Matthew’s witness places the responsibility for the flight to Egypt and handling their stay there with Joseph. In some small part, Joseph’s patient willingness to be a dad to a child that was not his own, and to provide the love, protection and guidance needed was a harbinger of the longstanding Christian ministry of adoption and caring for orphans.
That is the power of all parenting, both birth and adoptive, that the child may surpass the parents precisely because of what they give to the child. For Mary, what an honor to give life in the flesh to the life-force that spawned the galaxies. For Joseph, what an honor and a privilege to be the protector and the rescuer of the one who would rescue and save us all. God’s ability to work through the most ordinary people, and to do the extraordinary amazes me every day.
Let us pray:
Loving God, for Joseph and for all parents who foster, adopt and protect the children who were not born to them, but who were entrusted to them, we give you thanks. Go with them and with all parents this day, who in sharing your unconditional love with a child, reveal the might of your love for your own Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
What to Remember, What to Forget
“Remember the wonderful works he has done,
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.” -Psalm 105:5-6
If salvation is a “done deal”, why do we keep going back to the well (or perhaps the font?) and remembering the deeds of God. Why spend half a year every year rehearsing the birth, life, passion and death of Jesus? Why spend another half of the year remembering the ministry of Jesus and the nascent church and recounting what the Holy Spirit has done? Can’t we just peg our hopes on the sure and certain hope we have in God’s Gracious nature and get on with it?
The answer to this quandary is both yes and no. Our faith does allow us to move forward, not to be paralyzed in re-enacting ancient ritual out of fear. On the other hand, we do well in Lent and throughout the year not to adopt a totally casual approach to God’s grace. We can easily forget the lengths God in Christ has Gone for us. Or we can remember God’s goodness in a way that is not central to our lives and wellbeing. God can end up in that glass box down the hallway with the sign that reads “in case of emergency, break glass”.
Today the psalmist calls us to recall the history of God’s dogged persistence with the children of Abraham. We see the pattern of challenge and struggle and God’s willingness to get involved. This very pattern will be recalled through Holy Week and especially at the Great Vigil of Easter. This pattern of retelling the salvation story forms the scriptural base of the Jewish celebration of Passover. We need to remember that God has not forgotten us. It helps us to remember who we are.
his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,
O offspring of his servant Abraham,
children of Jacob, his chosen ones.” -Psalm 105:5-6
If salvation is a “done deal”, why do we keep going back to the well (or perhaps the font?) and remembering the deeds of God. Why spend half a year every year rehearsing the birth, life, passion and death of Jesus? Why spend another half of the year remembering the ministry of Jesus and the nascent church and recounting what the Holy Spirit has done? Can’t we just peg our hopes on the sure and certain hope we have in God’s Gracious nature and get on with it?
The answer to this quandary is both yes and no. Our faith does allow us to move forward, not to be paralyzed in re-enacting ancient ritual out of fear. On the other hand, we do well in Lent and throughout the year not to adopt a totally casual approach to God’s grace. We can easily forget the lengths God in Christ has Gone for us. Or we can remember God’s goodness in a way that is not central to our lives and wellbeing. God can end up in that glass box down the hallway with the sign that reads “in case of emergency, break glass”.
Today the psalmist calls us to recall the history of God’s dogged persistence with the children of Abraham. We see the pattern of challenge and struggle and God’s willingness to get involved. This very pattern will be recalled through Holy Week and especially at the Great Vigil of Easter. This pattern of retelling the salvation story forms the scriptural base of the Jewish celebration of Passover. We need to remember that God has not forgotten us. It helps us to remember who we are.
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