A Holy Christmas at the Mission

December newsletter from the Navajo Evangelical Lutheran Mission

Warm hearts and wide smiles perfectly balanced the chilly Rock Point, Arizona winter air on December 15th at the Mission 2022 Christmas Program. 

39 Mission students in traditional Navajo finery and costumes sang Christmas carols and told the story of Jesus' birth so many years ago. Parents and community members beamed with pride and cheered all throughout the program. Our thanks to all the parents, teachers, and staff who worked so hard to make this year's program another annual community favorite.

Following the program was the long-awaited annual Quilt distribution. Over 1,000 quilts of a rainbow of colors and styles were given the community members. These quilts were donated to Navajo families by church groups, sewing clubs, and even international support organizations such as the Orphan Grain Train. This winter will be just a little bit warmer for our friends and neighbors thanks to the efforts of our many friends throughout the United States.

CELEBRATING ALL OF OUR BLESSINGS

Many Native American theologians say that Indigenous people lived Christ-like lives for many centuries. Some of the characteristics are helping others when they are in need, advocating for those who may not be able to, and seeking justice for marginalized populations. We share these same characteristics to our non-Native brothers and sisters who stand with us in the work we do in Rock Point, AZ.

For nearly seventy years, Navajo Lutheran Mission worked hard to level equal access to quality education, clean and safe drinking water, and addressing issues of food scarcity. With your help, last year we served over 20,000 meals through Hozho Café, disbursed over 500,000 gallons of water, and drove over 50,000 rugged miles to pick up our 39 students.

Our work continues to be very important as the Navajo Lutheran Mission is a beacon of hope and love. As you celebrate your blessings this year, I want to thank you for your continued support. We too, celebrate our blessings of your support that is transforming our community, our families, and our students.

— Patterson Yazzie
    Executive Director

OUR MISSION: ROOTED IN THE HOPE OF MARY

In the first chapter of Luke, Mary sings a song of praise to God for all that is about to take place. Does she know what that is? What assurances has God given her? What will be the outcome of all she ponders in her heart?

My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor
on the lowliness of his servant…
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the
thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful
from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly.

(Luke 1, excerpts)

With a confident voice of gratitude, Mary somehow knows to sing about God’s accomplishments – without even mentioning her miraculous pregnancy (except to call it ‘favor’). Everything has radically changed for her; even so, she visions something yet more praiseworthy. She gives voice to what God will do, as though she knows the future.

I find myself wondering about that kind of ‘God sighting’, and how God is calling forth what is beyond me, beyond Navajo Lutheran Mission, or beyond the Navajo people. Do you wonder the same? Mary sings her praise as though God has already righted the injustices and restored Creation. She points us to God’s accomplishments, beyond our own.

True, deep, lasting change is rooted in Mary’s kind of hope, believing that God is working in and through Navajo Lutheran Mission to right the story and restore justice for our Navajo neighbors and beyond. This newsletter is literally filled with evidence of hope (God’s accomplishments) expressed in the joy of children, the gratitude of a grandparent with a new quilt, a job-well-done smile from talented staff, each with a vision of something that is to come that will be yet more praiseworthy.

Give the Gift of Hope.

Partnered with hopeful people like you, we are accomplishing the miracle of transformation and lasting change. You bless us with needed resources to invest in a future brimming with ‘God sightings.’ Like Mary, we have caught a glimpse of what God can accomplish when we say yes, trusting God to right the wrongs and make straight the pathway to justice and peace. Thank you for the generosity and love that holds us in hope of what God is doing…trusting as though we know the future.

  — Kate Adelman

      Development Director and Pastor

Prayer Connection - Dec. 2022

LOG Prayer Connection

James 5:14 Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord.

As Advent begins and the pre-Christmas secular craziness begins in earnest, this is a reminder that asking for prayer support is available at Lord of Grace. There is a fully trained prayer team always available between services and after the 10:30 service on the 4th Sunday of the month in the preschool (former conference room) adjacent to the sanctuary just beyond the “Cave”, our media control room/closet. On any other Sunday someone from the team is almost always in attendance and available to pray for you following the service wherever and whenever you ask. Submitting to prayer by laity can be unfamiliar, scary, or uncomfortable for many. Rest assured that you will be listened to lovingly, unjudgementally, and confidentially.

As Pastor Lars preaches a sermon series on Healing, Body, Mind, Spirit, and Family during these Advent Sundays, be brave and ask for healing prayer. Whether it be for yourself or a loved one; whatever the “sickness,” a physical ailment, a medical treatment, worry, a tough decision, anxiety, family issue – whatever, “dare to share” and ask for prayer and in the name of Jesus it will be offered.

Yours faithfully, Sue Justis

Healing for Advent - Pastor's Column December 2022

A couple years ago I decided to bring back mid-week Advent services. I don’t remember ever doing them at LOG myself, but I think one of my predecessors may have. Either way, I didn’t want to do them for years because I didn’t want to just add “one more thing to do in December” to the church calendar. We all have busy lives shopping, going to Christmas parties, end of the school year plays, and end of the year reports and such. Who needs one more thing.

But then someone referred me to a progressive Christian web site called sanctifiedart.com that offered creative and interactive ideas for services. I dug around, and found Advent healing services there. It intrigued me, what if the mid-week services could be not another thing to do, but a chance to not do: to sit, to just be, to relax, to reflect, to contemplate, to be still and let God be God and just soak in God’s presence? And what if we could broadcast these online, so people at home could follow along and find some rest and peace, and connect with Lord of Grace? I was hooked.

So we did the services last year, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. Our prayer team came through with individual places to pray with prayer team members. We had some interactive art things, hands-on prayer stations, some cool videos of paintings being made to guided meditations. It took a lot of work, but I had many people tell me how it hit the spot.

It made me grateful, because I spent most of the services obsessing about getting the livestreaming technology to work, which it did most of the time.

During the last service, the Longest Night service, the one that deals with grief and loss, we got to a point where 5 minutes of meditation was planned. The old iMac computer decided to lock up at that exact time, and wouldn’t shut down or restart with any speed, so it became a 15 minute meditation time. I was freaking out, but the music kept playing, people kept praying, and we just handed out bulletins for the rest of the time.

More than one person told me they loved the long meditation. I guess I need to remember the value I had in making the service: to just be, and not do.

For this year I decided to do it all again – the exact same services, with the same liturgies. Instead of having something to rush to do in Advent, we now have four services to have no rush, but just to really be, especially at this time of year when the Christmas cheer can bring up all sorts of painful memories if you’ve lost a loved one who you won’t be celebrating with, or someone died around this time, or the holidays somehow remind you of some bad memory. With the world filled with cheer and wassailing, we’re providing space to let out, name, and be with God IN the struggle. It’s not meant to take away from the cheer, but to better experience it without it being fake.

And I won’t lie that I have a certain bias towards doing hands-on things in worship. It doesn’t always work out well, can take a lot of time and planning, and isn’t for everyone. But for those of us who learn and process in ways other than hearing words spoken and reciting words, who learn with our hands by making and creating and exploring and writing, these services can be super-powerful. And, especially if you’re distracted, stressed, have ADHD, or some difficulty sitting for long periods of time, prayer stations and interactive worship provides a way for you to put your whole self into it.

So I’m looking forward to another Advent of taking time to heal. In fact, I thought the topic was so relevant, especially coming off all the emotional damage we all suffered through with covid, covid isolation, covid fights about protocols, separation from loved ones, loss of loved ones – all of it. We need to take time to heal. And not just one year, but probably for many years to come. Because of that, I’m also doing my sermons on the topic of healing, looking at different facets of healing our whole selves. So we’ll talk about healing the body, the mind, the soul, and the family. I don’t believe you can really be at peace and healthy if these are off, and one being broken can make the others broken too. It’s time for churches to spend less time debating atheists about the predictability of miracle medical cures, and more time talking about wellness, whole-self healing, and being at peace with God.

The Schedule will be so: November 30th, 7th, 14th will be the healing services. Same liturgy each week. The 21st will be the longest night service, that will focus on grief and loss.

Then we will celebrate, as we always do, the birth of our Lord and Saviour on December 24th with our usual 6pm contemporary and 8pm traditional services. Christmas Day will be a rest day, even though it’s a Sunday, and we’ll worship again as a church on New Year’s Day (also a Sunday) with a combined service of lessons and carols at 9am.

We’ve had a good year of rebuilding in 2022. We’ve restarted many things, gotten back together, and are not looking at a new mission statement, vision, and strategic goals for our congregation. We’re leaning into the future, not letting covid stop us. But we’re also not moving forward without acknowledging the pain of the past, and providing time to work through the wounds we all go through in our lives. Our God is great, and loving, and caring, and wants us to know that love in the grief of loss and in the joy of a newborn’s birth. It’s all part of life, and all part of life with God.

Peace,

Pastor Lars