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Christ and Culture - April Pastor's Column

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In the last four years I’ve done several different online videos to increase the reach of our church – everything from short expositions on the Psalms, to online meditations, to reviews of ELCA social statements and Biblical criticism. It’s been a bit of a hit and miss in terms of getting views and responses. Mostly miss. The algorithms that control YouTube and Facebook are unforgiving, and tend to reward the more controversial or sensational videos, which is clearly not me. That said, one series I did last year on Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s ideas on secular society and “religionless Christianity” took off. They’re the most viewed (the first one has over 5400) and the source of most of the new subscriptions to the Lord of Grace YouTube channel. I didn’t anticipate this, but it makes sense. Evangelicals have been working hard to appropriate Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran/Reformed pastor from Germany, and revise the narrative so that he becomes the doctrinally conservative evangelical who dared to stand up to Hitler where the wishy-washy liberals did nothing. Of course, that’s not correct, for many reasons, enough to warrant a 12-part series. But their sudden interest drove traffic to the sight, and I got a lot of emails, and even phone calls, from people responding, most thanking me for clarifying and calling out the appropriation.

 So I thought I’d try another series based on the thoughts of another old theologian (the kind I know best) that seemed strangely timely: H. Richard Niebuhr. He wrote more about sociology issues, such as how denominations were more about economic class and ethnicity than theology, but also about culture, as in, “Christ and Culture” from 1951.  It’s a short, accessible, classic that lines most of the shelves of pastors a couple generations back. In it, he details six different ways people have construed the relationship of Christ to culture. They run the gambit from being opposed (Christ Against Culture) to syncretistic (Christ of Culture) to the Christ and Culture in Paradox of St. Paul and Martin Luther. Look for them on the church YouTube and Facebook pages, Thursday mornings at 10am

H. Richard Niebuhr

This series is proving far more difficult to produce than Bonhoeffer, precisely because Niebuhr engages the both-ands and back-and-forths of a relationship that is messy and often ill-defined for most of us. Is Jesus the fulfiller of culture? Does Jesus make culture better? Should we build a Christian Culture? Does the culture have things to teach us? Or is that “caving to culture”?

I will confess that what has driven my interest in the topic is two things. The first is the 2009 vote in the ELCA to create a new social statement on human sexuality. We know well how it led to losses and battles, with a common refrain being that we, the ELCA, had “caved to culture” and were letting it dictate our beliefs, not the Bible. The refrain then went out from those wanting to gain members from ELCA churches, “Come to our church. We believe in the Bible”. I thought we believed in Jesus, and the Bible taught us about him? But I get what they’re saying: The ELCA doesn’t take literally the passages we take literally so they are giving in and letting secular, liberal, modern society dictate beliefs.

And it’s a legitimate concern that I don’t brush off lightly. Just because an idea is new, popular, gaining momentum, promoted in universities, doesn’t necessarily mean the church should adapt it. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean we should necessarily reject it - that’s reactionary. And wasn’t one of the complaints about Jesus from the priests that he was teaching people not to obey the traditions and corrupting the youth? Wasn’t reacting to change and trying to shut it down part of why Jesus was killed? Should we not learn that sometimes God calls prophets into our midst to challenge and revise our stances?

Or, better yet, how do we even know that the stances we have really are Gospel, and not themselves culture?

The second concern is the growing talk I hear about America being a “Christian nation” and the need to restore Christianity to the government. This isn’t new. I’ve heard about how removing prayer from public schools was the cause of drugs and debauchery in kids for years. I’ve even heard it said that if we taught Bible in schools we’d prevent school shootings. This desire for a sort of religious nationalism betrays the anxieties of Christians who watch the kids and grandkids quit church, and watch comedians mock the Bible, and worry about the future of the faith in a culture that varies from indifferent to hostile to mocking. It’s understandable, but a little reactionary. Christianity has grown, and does grow, in cultures hostile to it. There are ways. Chinese and Iranian Christians do it with no help from their governments. We don’t need to make a Christian culture to make a Christian church.

 I read a book by a Chinese Australian Evangelical. It was about evangelism. He’s not a liberal, by any means, and proudly wears the evangelical label. One point really sat with me: in Asia and Australia evangelicals support gun control and government health care. Vast majorities. And they read the same Bible. And they play the same praise songs. And they talk about marriage as one-man-one-woman and believe in substitutionary atonement and literal miracles etc. etc. Yet, on these two issues, they take a different stance. Could it be that we are taking things from our culture and mixing them with the Gospel? Since the Asian churches are growing, maybe we should listen to their wisdom.

 But it gets back to the issue of being aware of the ways we incorporate beliefs from our culture into our worldview as Christians without taking the time and effort to critically examine whether or not they are really Gospel and really reflect Jesus. To be a little both-sider-ist, on the leftist extreme there are still Christians who tout Karl Marx’s views as fundamentally Christian and solid in theory, but that were just ruined by bad apples (Stalin, Mao, etc.). They’re few, but the idea of communist Jesus has not died. Most liberal Christians have been more focused on reform efforts like unions, workers rights, opposing racism, and the environment than collectivizing the means of production. But those who went full communist also incorporated into their Christian worldview things that were not the Gospel.

So it gets really complicated, really fast.

 Which is why we need to take a few weeks to go back and forth and examine the different positions, and take a critical look at ourselves and what we believe and practice, and see what parts of our stances are really Gospel, before jumping out and declaring that we are not caving to culture, when what we really mean is “those Christians are caving to culture”. How often does  “Christ is counter-cultural” really mean “Christ is counter their-culture”?

None of us are pure Christians. To be so would imply that we own nothing, give away everything, love all enemies, serve the poor, and get martyred for opposing state oppression. Few of us rise to Jesus’ level of love and sacrifice. Just admitting our mixed-ness with the culture is good, if only to be humbling and less reactionary or judgmental.

Part of what I have seen as my mission here, or mission in ministry in general, is to help us all have a more reflective, self-aware, critical-thinking, experiential, kind of faith. I want us to have the examined faith, the faith that has put itself to the test and still sees the power and hand of God in life. I don’t want us to be unreflective and afraid to look in the mirror and wonder why we believe what we do. I don’t want us to be scared to see the flaws in our own arguments, or the limits of our knowledge. I don’t see my job as purely to reassure certainties and provide the comfort of absolutes.

I know the examined faith life is hard, and not always a pleasant journey. It doesn’t feel good to realize you’ve been following something just because you were taught that, and not because you have tested it and owned it. It’s hard to think that my views are culturally conditioned, even my views on God, and know that I would probably see Jesus differently if I’d grown up elsewhere. But I would not want to go back to the unexamined faith. I want to be like Jesus, who both upheld and reformed the laws of his people. 

I’ve done a few of these studies already on Thursday mornings. They’re still on YouTube and Facebook. I worry that I ramble going back and forth to cover the complexity of the topic. But it’s been fun. I hope you’ll  check them out, and that they’ll help you on your journey of being a Christian in this American/Arizonan culture today.


God Bless,

Pastor Lars

An Announcement about Announcements by Pastor Lars

As I’m sure you’ve noticed these past couple months, the narthex has undergone some transformation. This is the first time since 2013 that it’s been changed. Back then we added the leather/fake leather seating and the brown carpet. The intention was to make a lobby area, like at hotels, with big, comfortable seats, almost like a living room, as well as to absorb sound in a room with a chronic echo.

As the years went by, things got added, until the room became filled. We had book shelves, rows of extra chairs, occasional sign-up tables, etc. It all contributed to a cluttered and somewhat disorganized look.

One of the goals of the worship committee in the strategic plan was to redesign the narthex to be more welcoming for visitors and guests to the church. So a team was created, and so we came up with new plans. The room was going to serve two primary purposs:

1) welcome visitors and make them feel comfortable,

2) facilitate fellowship, conversation, and relationship building after the 10:30am contemporary service.

The first is obvious; people often judge you on first impressions, and lowering anxiety for visitors helps our growth. The second comes from the fact that people rarely make the turn into the fellowship hall, after the second service, for fellowship – like they do after the early service. We’ve had refreshments and coffee outside, which has helped, but the weather isn’t always conducive to that.

But, we had to figure out how to balance those needs with the operations of the church and our ministries. We collect things for local kids, charities, mission projects. We have things that require sign-ups (such as the Maundy Thursday Agape Meal). These are also important. And while online sign-ups and recruiting are the way of the future, responses to those attempts here have been slow. The paper still is king.

So we cleared out all sorts of stuff, removing some things completely and relocating others, such as the Marana Food Bank donation cabinet – which is in the hallway to the fellowship hall. I’m still looking for a good home for the oak memorial book table that sat in the corner by the front door for 22 years. We will still record the names of memorial gifts in it, and keep it in the office, but felt it was not needed there.

The room then looked empty as we started filling it back in with new furniture which, surprise surprise, did not come immediately. I am hoping we’ll have all the chairs and things on back order set up by summer.

The narthex team deliberately wanted to go with a modern look, with a bit of a younger appeal. Hence the tall tables for putting your coffee and refreshments on while you stand and chat, the modern furniture, and hopefully some new coffee supplies.

For sign-ups, I have found that when we put up a table in the narthex right where people come out it blocks off 3/4 of the narthex to fellowship. People rarely walk around a sign-up or recruitment table to converse. Instead, they keep going out the door. Our solution, then, is the large sign-up table now by the windows to the sanctuary. The Rev. Paul Hammar made it out of old pew wood. It stands high to be easy to sign and read standing, and is prominent enough to be seen, yet not in the way of traffic. From now on, all sign-ups will need to be on that table, or outside on the patio if you need a full table. This clears up the old credenza to be the “welcome table” that focuses just on things for visitors (and the credit card machine until we remove it this summer).

It’s always a balance between the needs of the church and the need to welcome. We need people to sign up, and we need visitors to not feel like they’re being recruited the second they walk in the door. I think we have a good one, and it will get better as we continue to live into and make adjustments.

This also applies to the subject of pastoral announcements at the beginning of the service. We need to welcome visitors, make people feel at home in the church, let them know about fellowship and prayer concerns and things that would be of immediate concern for people new to the church. At the same time, we do need people to volunteer for things like clean-up day. What to do?

I have, lately, leaned more and more towards trying to keep the verbal announcements short. It’s easier in the summer than spring. When a lot is going on, every group wants me to mention their project. Sometimes if I forget, I get blamed for the lack of attendance. But I have to balance that with visitors being overwhelmed with information and things-we-want-you-to-do. People’s attention spans are also not great, and more than the first three or four announcements and most have tuned out or will forget. So I have been trying to mention things only the Sunday before, and keep it to all-church events. I don’t mention when confirmation class is that night, or each committee meeting, those you have to find in the newsletter and on the church calendar. I do mention special services, all church events, and outreach projects. I think it makes a good impression on visitors to see us doing a lot for the poor and needy.

So if I don’t mention your activity a lot, or try to push it off to later, it’s not because I’m trying to squash anyone’s ministry. It’s that I want visitors to get the best possible first impression, and come back again. If they don’t, we won’t have people to do ministry. But it’s nothing personal.

As for the slides before service….

Each slide is custom-made and runs on the screen (wall) and online on a loop of 15 seconds. This is to get as many slides across people’s eyes, especially online, where we only have 5 minutes of livestream before the service starts. We can be a bit more flexible with how long we run them, and run things a few weeks ahead if we want. I still try not to have too many, so people tune out.  Again, these are mostly for big events and projects, or special church-year and liturgical things, such as a new sermon series, feast day, or special services coming up. Because of the short time run, they need to be like billboards, with very few words and obvious graphics. Small fonts, lots of text, complex images, low color contrast, will be hard to see and read. Think what you see on the way to Phoenix: three or four words max and a picture.

Newsletter..

Of course, if everyone read the emailed newsletter and took out their calendars and entered all the church events they were interested in for the month at the beginning of each month, then I wouldn’t have to announce much of anything. But that’s not how it works. Nonetheless, we have even more flexibility in this publication, as content volume is unlimited. We can put in as many articles as we want. If they’re one paragraph or less, the whole thing usually goes in the email. If it’s longer, we post the full article on the news blog of the church web site, where we can be as long as we want. I do this, rather than publish the full article in the email, so the scrolling does not get so long people stop halfway down. This way people can scroll through the email, and if it piques their attention, they can click the “read more” which takes them to the web site full article.

I make one exception to this: church business. For example, the council minutes, constitutional changes, financial documents – basically all the “how the sausage is made” stuff that’s necessary and important but a big turn-off to a lot of people who disdain “church politics”. While I could respond that every organization everywhere has politics, and every one of them has debates about money and control, somehow in churches it’s a real visitor-chaser-awayer. I also don’t feel those things belong on the web site, for people completely detached from the church to grab, download, and repost out of context. The whole world does not need to know salary information, even in the aggregate with no names. So these sort of internal documents I have put in .pdf form to be read by the people getting the email. Yes, they could forward or publicly post it; I can’t control that. But we don’t need to put it out there in a world full of internet trolls.

Our strategies are sure to keep changing as technology and culture keep changing. I appreciate everyone’s patience as we keep trying new things and adapting. It’s my hope that we can continue to put our best foot forward for people visiting the church, while at the same time staying active in our ministries.

Pastor Lars

An Announcement about Announcements by Pastor Lars

As I’m sure you’ve noticed these past couple months, the narthex has undergone some transformation. This is the first time since 2013 that it’s been changed. Back then we added the leather/fake leather seating and the brown carpet. The intention was to make a lobby area, like at hotels, with big, comfortable seats, almost like a living room, as well as to absorb sound in a room with a chronic echo.

As the years went by, things got added, until the room became filled. We had book shelves, rows of extra chairs, occasional sign-up tables, etc. It all contributed to a cluttered and somewhat disorganized look.

One of the goals of the worship committee in the strategic plan was to redesign the narthex to be more welcoming for visitors and guests to the church. So a team was created, and so we came up with new plans. The room was going to serve two primary purposs:

1) welcome visitors and make them feel comfortable,

2) facilitate fellowship, conversation, and relationship building after the 10:30am contemporary service.

The first is obvious; people often judge you on first impressions, and lowering anxiety for visitors helps our growth. The second comes from the fact that people rarely make the turn into the fellowship hall, after the second service, for fellowship – like they do after the early service. We’ve had refreshments and coffee outside, which has helped, but the weather isn’t always conducive to that.

But, we had to figure out how to balance those needs with the operations of the church and our ministries. We collect things for local kids, charities, mission projects. We have things that require sign-ups (such as the Maundy Thursday Agape Meal). These are also important. And while online sign-ups and recruiting are the way of the future, responses to those attempts here have been slow. The paper still is king.

So we cleared out all sorts of stuff, removing some things completely and relocating others, such as the Marana Food Bank donation cabinet – which is in the hallway to the fellowship hall. I’m still looking for a good home for the oak memorial book table that sat in the corner by the front door for 22 years. We will still record the names of memorial gifts in it, and keep it in the office, but felt it was not needed there.

The room then looked empty as we started filling it back in with new furniture which, surprise surprise, did not come immediately. I am hoping we’ll have all the chairs and things on back order set up by summer.

The narthex team deliberately wanted to go with a modern look, with a bit of a younger appeal. Hence the tall tables for putting your coffee and refreshments on while you stand and chat, the modern furniture, and hopefully some new coffee supplies.

For sign-ups, I have found that when we put up a table in the narthex right where people come out it blocks off 3/4 of the narthex to fellowship. People rarely walk around a sign-up or recruitment table to converse. Instead, they keep going out the door. Our solution, then, is the large sign-up table now by the windows to the sanctuary. The Rev. Paul Hammar made it out of old pew wood. It stands high to be easy to sign and read standing, and is prominent enough to be seen, yet not in the way of traffic. From now on, all sign-ups will need to be on that table, or outside on the patio if you need a full table. This clears up the old credenza to be the “welcome table” that focuses just on things for visitors (and the credit card machine until we remove it this summer).

It’s always a balance between the needs of the church and the need to welcome. We need people to sign up, and we need visitors to not feel like they’re being recruited the second they walk in the door. I think we have a good one, and it will get better as we continue to live into and make adjustments.

This also applies to the subject of pastoral announcements at the beginning of the service. We need to welcome visitors, make people feel at home in the church, let them know about fellowship and prayer concerns and things that would be of immediate concern for people new to the church. At the same time, we do need people to volunteer for things like clean-up day. What to do?

I have, lately, leaned more and more towards trying to keep the verbal announcements short. It’s easier in the summer than spring. When a lot is going on, every group and every events wants me to mention their project. Sometimes if I forget, I get blamed for the lack of attendance. But I have to balance that with visitors being overwhelmed with information and things-we-want-you-to-do. People’s attention spans are also not great, and more than the first three or four announcements and most have tuned out or will forget. So I have been trying to mention things only the Sunday before, and keep it to all-church events. So I don’t mention when confirmation class is that night, or each committee meeting. Those you have to find in the newsletter and on the church calendar. I do mention special services, all church events, and outreach projects. I think it makes a good impression on visitors to see us doing a lot for the poor and needy.

So if I don’t mention your activity a lot, or try to push it off to later, it’s not because I’m trying to squash anyone’s ministry. It’s that I want visitors to get the best possible first impression, and come back again. If they don’t, we won’t have people to do ministry. But it’s nothing personal.

As for the slides before service….

Each slide is custom-made and runs on the screen (wall) and online on a loop of 15 seconds. This is to get as many slides across people’s eyes, especially online, where we only have 5 minutes of livestream before the service starts. We can be a bit more flexible with how long we run them, and run things a few weeks ahead if we want. I still try not to have too many, so people tune out.  Again, these are mostly for big events and projects, or special church-year and liturgical things, such as a new sermon series, feast day, or special services coming up. Because of the short time run, they need to be like billboards, with very few words and obvious graphics. Small fonts, lots of text, complex images, low color contrast, will be hard to see and read. Think what you see on the way to Phoenix: three or four words max and a picture.

Newsletter..

Of course, if everyone read the emailed newsletter and took out their calendars and entered all the church events they were interested in for the month at the beginning of each month, then I wouldn’t have to announce much of anything. But that’s not how it works. Nonetheless, we have a even more flexibility in this publication, as content volume is unlimited. We can put in as many articles as we want. If they’re one paragraph or less, the whole thing usually goes in the email. If it’s longer, we post the full article on the news blog of the church web site, where we can be as long as we want. I do this, rather than publish the full article in the email, so the scrolling does not get so long people stop halfway down. This way people can scroll through the email, and if it piques their attention, they can click the “read more” which takes them to the web site full article.

I make one exception to this: church business. For example, the council minutes, constitutional changes, financial documents – basically all the “how the sausage is made” stuff that’s necessary and important but a big turn-off to a lot of people who disdain “church politics”. While I could respond that every organization everywhere has politics, and every one of them has debates about money and control, somehow in churches it’s a real visitor-chaser-awayer. I also don’t feel those things belong on the web site, for people completely detached from the church to grab, download, and repost out of context. The whole world does not need to know salary information, even in the aggregate with no names. So these sort of internal documents I have put in .pdf form to be downloaded and read by the people getting the email. Yes, they could forward or publicly post it; I can’t control that. But we don’t need to put it out there in a world full of internet trolls.

Our strategies are sure to keep changing as technology and culture keep changing. I appreciate everyone’s patience as we keep trying new things and adapting. It’s my hope that we can continue to put our best foot forward for people visiting the church, while at the same time staying active in our ministries.

Pastor Lars

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Our Strategic Plan One Year In - Pastor's Column

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It’s been about a year since we finished up the structure of our strategic plan, and we’ve been filling it in more and more as we go. The intention was always that it would be a living document, and that we’d update it as needed, and revisit it often. Our goals, just to review, were to create a new mission statement for Lord of Grace, then have ministry groups meet and pray and brainstorm ways they could implement that mission. So our team met and we came up with this statement:

Love God

Open Our Hearts and Minds

Live Graciously Towards All

So far we’ve been moving along with these. Let me share a few of the accomplishments.

Property brought back the semi-annual clean-up days. I’ve always enjoyed the fellowship as much as the brush cutting. Out next one is March 16th, and we’re doing the pews and chairs inside as well as the grass and brush outside.

Worship started work on the narthex. The last time we did much was back in 2012 when we got a special donation and bought the couches and leather arm chairs. In 2013 the carpet was added to the middle, and since then it’s been a somewhat unintentional collection spot. This time a team met and looked at things like function, values, goals. The team wanted to make the room useful, not just as a hallway, but as a welcome center for visitors on Sundays and a fellowship space after service. Yes, we have the big fellowship hall, but experience shows that after the 10:30am service, we don’t make that left turn.

So the first step was to remove all the things we weren’t going to use. This included the couches, the memorial book stand, the fake ficas, the book shelves that were in my office, then the conference room, then the hallway, then the narthex, and now they’re back where they started. As you can see, the room is pretty empty right now, because the new furniture hasn’t been purchased yet.  The plan is to add some new chairs for seating, some side tables for coffee, a new coffee bar, a designated sign-up table, a shelf for books on prayer and health resources, and some things for children’s ministry. These will be purchased as we go, because the funds from the capital campaign are used up. If you’re interested in contributing to a part of the new narthex, just let me know. Here’s the things on our wish list:

L-shaped sign-in table. Kind of like a “welcome desk” you’d see in places, but big enough for clip boards.

Coffee Bar. Small cabinets on wheels for coffee supplies and refreshments. Primarily for after the second service.

Air Pods. Coffee shop grade brewers that will go in the kitchen, used for both services, and have removeable caraffes to go in the narthex after the second service - or any other event.

Area Rug. The current one is from 2013. We’d like to get one of equal or bigger size, with color.

Acoustical panels for the walls. Custom-made in shapes to mimic the rock wall in the sanctuary. Fabric on batting on a wood frame.

The panels are to deal with the sound problem. The original building committee put in $7/foot (in 2002 money) tile in the narthex for durability, I learned from an original member of the church building committee. . This means we don’t have to replace carpet from coffee spills, but the room echoes so you could do Gregorian chant with ease. The couches and center rug mitigated, but with the high ceiling and the rest of the tile, only somewhat. So the team has a plan to put up homemade sound panels on the walls for both color and echo reduction. Eventually, we’d like to get a new center rug with color as well.

Outreach has been super busy going over all the different projects we did as a church and seeing if we wanted to try some new things and retire some old. Just look in the narthex to see the multiplicity of things they’re spearheading.

A big one I’d like to highlight is the partnership with Roadrunner Elementary. The school is often forgotten, being on the west end of the district. It has a good portion of kids with low income, and we’ve stepped up with drives at Christmas and volunteering with their resource center.

Youth and Family has also jump-started some things. As I’ve written about many times, it’s hard for a church our size to field traditional “youth groups”. They require a critical mass of kids the same age, who also get along well, and a lot of staff/volunteer time. On top of that, they are not proven to be the most effective at keeping kids involved in the faith after graduation, in spite of the popularity they have with parents who are church-shopping. Parental faith witness, adults who know kids and care when they show up, the church being there for them in crisis, and getting involved in leadership all make way more difference than age-segregated youth groups.

That said, our focus has shifted back the old “Family Fellowship Sundays”, now called Community Days, we used to do them monthly after the second service, until Covid came. Now they’re back with a bit more organization, including often a theme and specific activities for after eating. It’s taking the little family church potluck and putting some steroids on it. Given that intergenerational witness is the most effective, I love the concept, and they’ve been well attended. We’ll keep these going at least through the school year, and review for fall 2024.

I met with the preschool teachers and our director, America Trujillo, to set goals for their ministry. It’s been a back and forth over the years how we define what it means to be a “church” preschool, as opposed to just a secular one that uses the building. Since there is no one prototype, I decided to have the teachers work on answering this question themselves, and, of course, they came up with far better ideas than I could have. Look for some new art and decorations, some things added to worship, some special drives for the community, and ways for us, as a congregation, to help out.

Of course, all these things are just a sampling, and they happen in addition to the regular work of ministry here at Lord of Grace.

Reflecting on the whole process, I always come back to the slogan about working smarter, not harder. There was a time, mostly in the 80’s and 90’s, when you could grow a church by adding buildings and adding programs. In fact, the more the merrier. People would see either how busy you were, and assume that as an indicator of quality, or would see a program for people “like them” – whatever that means – and find a connection to join. Really big churches still operate this way, because they have finances for large staffs to run things on an ongoing basis. For the rest of us, which is probably 99% of US churches, we run on volunteers and tight budgets. And, as the years go by, we are all finding that the supply of “labor” is not getting any bigger. Fewer people go to church, and those who do are often either busy with kids and family, or wish to retire from regular committee work. So we have to do more with less. It can be disheartening, if you’re trying to keep up with the big place down the road that always seems to have the giant youth group that does whitewater rafting and Christian rock concerts every month. But it’s the relationships, the connections, the spiritual practices, the community being community for each other and the world that has the biggest impact. That we can do by:

Doing what we do better, nor necessarily more.

Making a point to get to know who we’re worshiping with, learning each others’ names and asking each other, honestly, about how life is going 

Pray together and support one another in time of need

Invite people to worship and invite people to join us in our service projects

Get involved in, and support one another, in spiritual practices that help people experience Christ.

Christianity is growing through conversion in large parts of the world, in countries with little money and in churches that are small and meet underground. Programs are not why Chinese churches are getting bigger. We can step back, take a deep breath, and see the gifts we have and the impact we can make by working smarter, and more spirit-led, with what God has given us, and get off the treadmill of trying to compete with laser shows and adventure camps.

The new stations of the cross images

12 posters of stations will be set up around the sanctuary from 11am-1pm and you can soak them in at your own pace. At night the images will be on the screen with the worship liturgy.

On that note, this month is Lent, and Holy Week, and Easter. We get it all. Lots and lots of opportunities to worship, pray, reflect, and come closer to God. Worship is something we do well, and a great way to encounter God and one another. So whatever you volunteer in, I’ll personally invite you to join us at the Lent services on Wednesdays, where we contemplate, reflect, and discuss Bible stories about the disciple Peter. We even get original music by Stuart Oliver, composed just for our services. They’re casual and interactive, and you get wine and cheese after (we’re going full Episcopalian for Lent).

Then comes the agape meal for Maundy Thursday, and a new format for Stations of the Cross. We’re adding an 11am-1pm walk through the stations on your own in the sanctuary. The stations are on posterboard, and you’ll have a chance to go around and write and look and pray over each one at your own pace. At night will be a full worship service, with music and sermon and the pounding of nails.

So many ways to step back, breathe deep, and let the Holy Spirit soak in. What happens next happens next, and God will show the way.

Peace,

Pastor Lars

Lord of Grace Health Information Team March 2024

The Lord of Grace Health Information Team will be offering a presentation on CPR training on March 17th at 2:00pm by Wanda Moore.  This will be a participatory event and will be held in the Fellowship Hall. 

Any one of us could be put in a situation that requires CPR and being able to save a person’s life is an incredible gift.  This training will be available to anyone interested.  A sign-up sheet will be available in the Narthex. 

Outreach March 2024

Outreach Team – March 2024 Newsletter Article

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker.

We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

 Marana Food Bank
The Marana Food Bank would like to request that we collect hygiene items this month.  The most needed items are:  toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, dental floss, Chapstick, shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, deodorant, feminine pads, and razors.

Let’s help our neighbors have access to these essential items.

Donated items can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the hallway outside the Fellowship Hall.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that have been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass containers.

If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC

c/o Sahuarita Food Bank

PO Box 968

Sahuarita, AZ 85629 

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC.  You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org.

Your monetary gift goes a long way.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.        

Past Events

             

Feed My Starving Children

Thank you to everyone who volunteered to pack food for Feed My Starving Children on February 10th, from 8:00AM to 10:00AM at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. Here are some photos from our day of volunteering. Most of the volunteers from LOG were at the same packing table. They packed 540 bags, or 15 boxes, way to go! Thank you to everyone who volunteered and helped make the day a big success!

Baby Care Kits

We completed our first drive for Lutheran World Relief and it was a big success. We’ll assemble the baby care kits together at the next monthly Community Day event on March 3rd and mail them to the LWR warehouse in St. Paul where they’ll be distributed to countries in need. Thanks to everyone for making this a big success!  

Upcoming Activities

We will be preparing a dinner for the women at Sister José Women’s Center (1050 S Park Ave. in Tucson) on Friday, March 29th. The food must be prepared there (they have a commercial kitchen) or prepared in a commercial kitchen. We plan on having lasagna (from Costco), bread, salad and dessert. The meal needs to be served at 5:30pm and they have asked us to join the women at the meal. There will be a sign-up sheet starting March 3rd. We’re looking for up to 4 people to volunteer. We will probably carpool from church. Thank you!

Continuing Activities

Butler’s Pantry - Looking for a few volunteers!

We are looking for a few more eager members to join our group. Lord of Grace volunteers are needed to work a Monday evening or a Saturday morning or a work day (to sort and organize donations) each month.  We travel out in teams and usually carpool from church. We will also be collecting specific items throughout the year. If you are interested in helping volunteer with this ongoing outreach project please give Phyllis Teager a call or email at 520-906-1837 or pteager3@comcast.net. You can also check out the volunteer sign-up schedule and pictures of the pantry on the bulletin board near the fellowship hall.

 

Prayer Connection March 2024

This year, February 14th marks two special days in the year: Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent. As we combine these two traditions, we are reminded of the love of God for us, and for each other:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Lord of Grace, as we draw close to you in prayer this Lenten Season, open our eyes to see your heart of love all around us, and guide us to share your love with those you place in our paths and lives. Amen.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offers many resources to support us as we seek to pray more deeply in all situations in our lives! “The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use” offers prayers for mornings, evenings, workdays and school days; table prayers (including those who eat alone); prayers for times of conflict, crisis and disaster; health of body and soul; those experiencing affliction, trouble, bereavement; those suffering from addiction; the chronically ill and caregivers, support teams and health care providers; recovery from sickness; the unemployed; those who live alone; and prayers attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Julian Norwich, and Martin Luther.

We close with one of the prayers from this ELCA resource:

Almighty God, your love never fails, and you can turn the shadow of death into daybreak. Help us to receive your word with believing hearts, so that, confident in your promises, we may have hope and be lifted out of sorrow into the joy and peace of your presence; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Link to The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/DailyPrayer_PrayersBlessings.pdf 

Please know that the Lord of Grace Prayer Team continues to pray over all prayer petitions sent our way, including the requests entered in the prayer journal in the narthex. The Team will also continue to offer individual prayer times after each worship service on the 4th Sunday of each month. We strongly believe in the power of prayer and that a continual connection with our God will keep us all closer to Him. Remember, God can bring the peace you seek. Seek Him in prayer.

‘Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.’ Colossians 4:2

Prayer is on my mind and in my heart as we enter the season of Lent this year.

I have also been thinking about models in my life who have encouraged me in my prayer life. The person who comes to my mind is Betty, a ninety-seven year old friend and mentor who attended the church we went to when we arrived in Tucson and lived on the east side. I spent every Wednesday morning with Betty and others praying for the life of our church. Betty took prayer seriously and was devoted to her practice of praying for each person listed in her prayer journal every day. She often would check in with me to see how things were going with someone I had asked her to pray for. Betty also kept a gratitude journal and encouraged me to do the same. She said that her gratitudes kept her encouraged in her daily prayer life.

I have decided to add a practice of writing down my gratitudes in my journal during Lent this year. Like Betty, I will appreciate the encouragement.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for my prayer partners at Lord of Grace and all of those who have come before who have encouraged me in my prayer life. May I be of encouragement to others as they have been to me.                              

  In the precious name of Jesus I pray, Amen

Please know that the Lord of Grace Prayer Team continues to pray over all prayer petitions sent our way, including the requests entered in the prayer journal in the narthex. The Team will also continue to offer individual prayer times after each worship service on the 4th Sunday of each month. We strongly believe in the power of prayer and that a continual connection with our God will keep us all closer to Him. Remember, God can bring the peace you seek. Seek Him in prayer.

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New Sanctuary Mural

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The capital campaign for the church is almost over. Over $290,000 was raised, and this bought the church a whole list of much-needed repairs and upgrades. This includes:

  • exterior paint

  • mural on the outside wall of the fellowship hall by the playground

  • replace roof underlayment

  • new air conditioners for the narthex/nursery and sanctuary

  • livestreaming equipment

  • floor tiles for classrooms, fellowship hall

  • repaint the fellowship hall

  • new keyboard for the band

  • and the sanctuary…..

This last piece came in last, and included a whole list of things:

  • new carpet

  • repainting walls

  • new lights - sconses, stage lights, lights for the stone wall

  • build-out of the altar area into a stage-like platform

  • pews shortened and made moveable

  • mural on the back wall

  • replace the audio system (coming this spring)

I feel the need to list it all because it’s so impressive what we’ve been able to do with the generosity of the congregation. While the church is, and always will be, the people, and the building is just a tool we use, it’s important to keep the building in good shape and not kick the can down the road on repairs. Things never get cheaper. It’s also important to think about how your building communicates your mission, your values.

With a big mural outside, and now one in the sanctuary, we convey art, creativity, life, color. We tell people that faith is dynamic and exciting, and invite people in to explore and experience.

So this last piece, the sanctuary mural, came out of the planning process for the whole room. As you may remember, last year a team was gathered to come up with proposals for refreshing and upgrading the worship space. We looked at values, mood, function. We asked questions about what kind of things we would need in the future, so we could leave the next generation in the best place. We came up with ideas like: family, community, creativity, Jesus, welcome. We wanted it to be warm and flexible, to do creative worship and have options for different uses - hence the pews that can be moved. Everything was decided to accomplish our goals and convey our values, not to fit any particular personal preferences of the team members.

In this process the idea came up putting some sort of art on the big back wall. It just sat there empty, with nothing but livestreaming cameras and a big row of organ speakers. Initially, the plan was for a strip of Bible stories along the bottom of that wall, just above the bulkhead and the doors - much like cathedrals have a strip of carvings on the railing of the balcony. But then someone asked simply, “why not the whole wall?” Made sense.

We contacted local Tucson artist Michael Schultz to do the mural. He’s a veteran graffiti artist, and was a leader in Open Space Church before it closed after Covid. Having done church murals in Las Vegas and South Tucson, he was well-skilled for a job this size.

The vision was to do something modern, non-literal, and also tell some of the story of the Bible. This has three parts:

On the left: Jesus healing the woman who touches his cloak.

Middle: all the people coming together at the resurrection

Right: the women appearing at the empty tomb

Artist Michael Schultz with the finished mural

My own preference is always to keep church art a little abstract, a little modern, so we don’t start to take the image too literally and start thinking this is “how it actually looked”. We don’t know what it “really looked like” and can only make a best historical guess. But the truth of the scriptures is about more than the events, it’s about the experience people had of Jesus, and still do. It’s about how the Spirit shows you meanings in it, and the power that comes from that. So I wanted something that would both tell a story, and at the same time draw you in and get you thinking and imagining.

The splash of color is intentional, both to give it life and to contrast with the brown-blue theme of the building. It’s a highlight on your way out of worship.

In case you’re wondering, it was done with Kobra low pressure and Molotow spray paint, along with some Molotow art markers.

Pastor Lars

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New Things for the New Year - Pastor's Column February 2024

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This last month has been a month of planning for me, and for the church at large. Now that I’m back from the sabbatical and have had some time to catch up on everything, there’s now more energy to look forward. Christmas was wonderful, and the Advent series on “How does a weary world rejoice” was really enjoyable. I enjoyed the art to complement the words of the liturgy, as well as the special night time services, the healing service and the longest night – both of which are still on YouTube. For a long time I’ve felt that we limit ourselves in our connection with God when it’s only words and songs. So many of us, especially in our time, learn as much through visuals as anything. To be able to convey new ideas about the Bible stories, that aren’t only from me, with my limitations, expands everyone’s experience of the season.

So, along those lines we will be doing something similar for Lent. It’s starting early this year; February 14th is Ash Wednesday. Our ashes will have to compete with Italian dinners. But, to make it easier to do both, I’ve added a shorter noon service this year.

Still, we have a great program for Lent called “Wandering Heart” by sanctifiedart. It’s the same outfit that gave us “Weary World”. It all revolves around Peter the disciple and his struggles with Jesus and his teachings. The visuals are striking, and I love the concept of making Lent about exploring the harder parts of Jesus. Peter certainly did. Mid-week services will still go on Wednesdays, much like last year, with visuals, meditatation and open-mic discussion (followed by fellowship in the narthex).

Speaking of that, changes are coming there. One of the goals of the worship committee in the strategic plan is to redesign the narthex. Over the years it’s become a bit of a collection space, with more things than we really need there. It’s ground zero for first-time visitors to encounter our church, and needs to be as welcoming as possible. So, we formed a small team to look into how to make it both more welcoming and more useful. Lots of ideas to be unrolled in stages. The first step was to clean it out, remove old stuff, and start refilling it from there. We have plans to put in a coffee bar, permanent sign-up table, a re-vamped welcome center, and acoustic tiling on the walls to dampen sound. Some other things might come too, money allowing.

Other things are coming as well. The mural on the back wall of the sanctuary is going to get started as soon as we get all the paint. A general design was approved by the council for Michael Schultz, who has painted numerous Lutheran church murals (see Reformation Las Vegas, Holy Spirit Las Vegas, San Juan Bautista and San Juan Bautista). It’s going to cover the entire back wall, and will depict, in a creative and modern way, the following three Bible stories:

Mark 9:14-27 - Jesus heals a young boy who is possessed by an evil spirit and who cannot speak

Mark 5:25-24 - Jesus heals a woman who for 12 years is suffering from a hemorrhage.

John 20:11-18 - Jesus appears to Mary Magdalene as she weeps outside the empty tomb

Other things in the sanctuary are getting finished up – such as getting a second step built, new banner stands, a conductor stand, kneelers, and more. Give a big thanks to my dad, Rev. Paul Hammar, for building all this stuff for us out of the wood from the pews we took out. The audio system is also going to get some reworking so we don’t have problems with buzzing or interference anymore.

So much is going on in the church, the list could go on. At a time when many churches are struggling with decline, we have held steady. Worship attendance is down from before Covid, like almost every church, but has moved up in the last few months. 2023 was better than 2022. And the generosity of this church continues to amaze me. Our general offerings for 2023 came in at $17,211.85 above what we budgeted. I can’t thank you all enough. This puts us in a strong position going into the new year, with resources to keep moving forward instead of having to make cuts. All we do depends on your contributions.

The Honor Guard ceremony this month in the fellowship hall.

In more good news, we welcomed back Boy Scout Troop 219 to Lord of Grace. We’ve sponsored Pack 219 cub scouts for years, and did the troop as well when the church was younger (some time before I came). They’ve been at another church and are now re-chartered at Lord of Grace and will be meeting and having events here. I’m excited to open the doors to the community more. You may see their trailer by the electrical box in the parking lot. We have several Eagle scout projects here as well, so scouting has been a tradition of ours for a while.

Making the Advent lanterns for the Advent tree

And, of course, I have to give a plug for the return of our monthly family fellowship lunches after the 10:30am service. We did these pot luck, once a month, for a while before Covid. Now we’re back with intergenerational activities, food, and things for youth. These will keep going the first Sunday of the month until summer, and you’re all invited. It’s a great chance for us to be a big family, meet or catch up with people, and build connections between adults and kids.

So much is going on at our church, new people and new life and deep spiritual growth opportunities. Things are humming because of your time and support.

Pastor Lars

Lord of Grace Health Information Team

We would like to announce that the new Lord of Grace Health Information Team has recently been developed to provide health presentations to our congregation, as well as lists of resources for many areas of health concerns.   This team consists of Dorothy Green, Darlene Paul, Dianna Repp, and Cindy Stein.

Our first presentation is scheduled for February 18th at 9:30am in the Fellowship Hall.  We have a speaker coming to talk about Advance Directives.  If you have not already thought about or completed documents for your healthcare wishes, please come join us to find out more information. This is available to anyone interested.

Our second presentation is scheduled for March 17th at 2:00pm in the Fellowship Hall.  We will have a speaker and trainer coming to teach CPR.  As you know, any one of us could be in a situation where CPR is needed because someone’s life is in danger.  This is available to anyone interested.  A goodwill donation will be encouraged.

Work on the resource list is just beginning, and this will take some time to put together, but we hope to include helpful information and contacts in the following areas:

Hospice Agencies                           Divorce Care

            Funeral Homes                                Family Counseling

            Grief Support Groups                    Addiction Treatment

            Care Managers & Caregivers       Suicide Counseling

Outreach February 2024

Outreach Team – February 2024 Newsletter Article

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker.

We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Marana Community Food Bank

The Marana Food Bank would like to request that we collect pasta, spaghetti sauce (not in glass), cereal, crackers, mashed potatoes, canned tuna or chicken, and canned fruits.

Let’s help re-stock the shelves after the holidays so they can continue to serve our neighbors.

Donated food can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that has been opened/used or expired.  Also, please no glass  containers.

If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC

c/o Sahuarita Food Bank

PO Box 968

Sahuarita, AZ 85629 

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC.

You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org.

Your monetary gift goes a long way.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Continuing Activities

Butler’s Pantry - Looking for a few volunteers!

As a response to the Lord of Grace Strategic Plan and mission statement, the Outreach

Team decided to be intentional about serving those in our surrounding community. That

is how our partnership with Roadrunner Elementary was born. One of the ways we

support them is with donations and volunteer support at their wonderful community

resource center, Butler’s Pantry! The pantry has been open for a little over 6 months now serving children and families in this special community.  A big THANK YOU to the team of LOG folks who have been helping make this resource center a reality for Roadrunner School.

We are looking for a few more eager members to join our group. Lord of Grace

volunteers are needed to work a Monday evening or a Saturday morning or a work day

(to sort and organize donations) each month.  We travel out in teams and usually

carpool from church. We will also be collecting specific items throughout the year. If

you are interested in helping volunteer with this ongoing outreach project please give

Phyllis Teager a call or email at 520-906-1837 or pteager3@comcast.net. You can also

check out the volunteer sign-up schedule and pictures of the pantry on the bulletin

board near the fellowship hall.

Upcoming Activities

Feed My Starving Children

Thank you to everyone who signed up to work packing food for Feed My Starving Children on February 10th, from 8:00AM to 10:00AM at Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene. You should receive an email from Oro Valley Church of the Nazarene as the event gets closer. If you missed the deadline to sign-up, you still can! You’ll need to go to the following website, https://ovcn.church/fmsc/ to sign-up. If you want to volunteer the same time as other volunteers from Lord of Grace, make sure you select the same date and time. Thank you!

Baby Care Kits

Lutheran World Relief is one of the agencies we chose for our international involvement (in addition to Feed My Starving Children) as we realigned some of our Outreach activities to be in line with the Lord of Grace strategic plan and mission statement.  Lutheran World Relief has several ways to get involved as hands-on service. These include holding drives to collect kits – personal hygiene kits, baby care kits, school supplies kits, and fabric kits; or make quilts. Once the items for the kits are collected and assembled, they are sent to one of the LWR warehouses for processing and shipping overseas. They distribute care kits and quilts to 14 countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Europe. We’ve decided to hold our first drive for LWR Baby Care Kits and have as a goal 10 baby care kits. The Baby Care Kits drive will run from February 4th-February 25th. We’ll assemble the kits together and send them the beginning of March. We plan on having a display with tags, sign-up sheet, and a flyer after both services on February 4th.

 

Preschool Corner February 2024

Preschool is halfway through the school year!. We will begin enrollment for the 2024/2025 school year in a couple weeks. Current and previous families will be able to enroll Feb 1, 2024. March 1, 2024 will be open enrollment for all new families.

Our annual art show is coming up, we will be displaying several pieces from our preschooler’s artwork in the Fellowship Hall the first week in March we would love for you to come and browse.

The kids have loved our new playground!!! It has been so nice not having to deal with the dirt (thank you to everyone who worked so hard to provide us with such a beautiful playground).

Our Christmas performances were amazing!!!. The children did so good!

We would like to thank Melissa Elias for being so amazing and taking care of weekly chapel lessons and crafts.  THANK YOU!!!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!  Here’s to 2024 being a happy year!!

Prayer Connection February 2024

This year, February 14th marks two special days in the year: Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Season of Lent. As we combine these two traditions, we are reminded of the love of God for us, and for each other:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Lord of Grace, as we draw close to you in prayer this Lenten Season, open our eyes to see your heart of love all around us, and guide us to share your love with those you place in our paths and lives. Amen.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America offers many resources to support us as we seek to pray more deeply in all situations in our lives! “The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use” offers prayers for mornings, evenings, workdays and school days; table prayers (including those who eat alone); prayers for times of conflict, crisis and disaster; health of body and soul; those experiencing affliction, trouble, bereavement; those suffering from addiction; the chronically ill and caregivers, support teams and health care providers; recovery from sickness; the unemployed; those who live alone; and prayers attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Catherine of Siena, Julian Norwich, and Martin Luther.

We close with one of the prayers from this ELCA resource:

Almighty God, your love never fails, and you can turn the shadow of death into daybreak. Help us to receive your word with believing hearts, so that, confident in your promises, we may have hope and be lifted out of sorrow into the joy and peace of your presence; through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Link to The Prayers and Blessings For Daily Use: https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/DailyPrayer_PrayersBlessings.pdf 

Please know that the Lord of Grace Prayer Team continues to pray over all prayer petitions sent our way, including the requests entered in the prayer journal in the narthex. The Team will also continue to offer individual prayer times after each worship service on the 4th Sunday of each month. We strongly believe in the power of prayer and that a continual connection with our God will keep us all closer to Him. Remember, God can bring the peace you seek. Seek Him in prayer.

Let Jesus Be Jesus - Pastor's Column Jan 2024

From there Jesus set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Probably fewer passages put Jesus in a bad light than this one. Calling a woman a dog, more or less, seems so out of character. Was he just having a bad day? Was he tired or worn out from people incessantly pestering him for healing? That would make sense. If it was your daughter, you’d pester the guy with a cure, even if it meant he didn’t get a day off.

Christian theology, however, is full of explanations to make Jesus not look so mean. He was really just testing her faith – like the state denying your disability claim the first 5 times to make sure you’re serious about it. Or he wanted to make a point to everyone there, and knew she had faith, but just wanted them to see. Or something like that.

I like the Jesus who has a bad day better. The thought of him toying with the poor woman to use her as a “teachable moment” seems more cruel than just snapping. The explanations involve so many layers of 3D chess: I’ll say this, knowing she’ll say that, so I can give this response, so she’ll give this response, and the crowd will get this message. Wow! Jesus could just tell, what’s that called, a parable, instead.

It's one of my pet-peaves with what I’ll nickname “pious apologetics”. It’s that strain of thought that wants Jesus to always be perfect, never have a bad day, never lose his temper (except the tables, I guess) and always have a good moral lesson behind everything. This Jesus is so milquetoast that he's not really much of a person. We assert in the creeds that Jesus is fully and human and fully divine at the same time. But, to the pious apologists, he’s fully divine in a human shell. His humanity is only physical. His mind is pure-God. That smacks almost of possession – or one of those Stargate movies where the alien takes over the human body.

The Bible is full of passages that are, in some way or another, troubling to our modern sensibilities. A lot of them. It runs the gamut from Lot’s daughters seducing him to have kids, to David wiping out whole cities, to the commands for slaves to be obedient even when mistreated (yes, check out 1 Peter 18-19, Titus 2:9, Colossians 3:22). The outsider reads these and gets offended. “How could a good divinity command this stuff?”. Then the pious apologist responds with a lot of theological and hermeneutical (interpretive) gymnastics. David had to do it. Lot’s daughters thought they had no choice. Slavery in Rome was different, and not so bad (different from the US, yes, but definitely bad. Slave owners, by Roman law, could do anything they wanted to people they owned – including raping and killing). All this preserves the sense of perfection of the scriptures, of our heroes, of our Messiah. But pious perfection has never been the point. It’s about God continuing to work in the world when people aren’t perfect. And it makes Christians look ridiculous trying to explain away things that are indefensible, rather than just say, “look, we don’t take every passage literally, we know it was written by people, and some passages are just wrong – like the slavery ones”. Is that so hard? Even to say that Jesus had bad days and spit out some nasty words to get a woman out of his face.

Maybe Jesus was seeing some bigger picture, but the dog reference is so offensive, I can’t help but think he just really wanted her to go away, and thought if he made it sting she’d get the hint.

I can relate to Jesus here, being exhausted is something we all know. Just ask most moms, or rural doctors. Everyone wants something from you, and they’re demanding, because to them it’s urgent, but you only have so much in you. You want to help, but you don’t have any energy left to give. So when you need most to be calm, patient, understanding, you’re just irritated.

There’s a reason why, I believe, so many of the wisest teachers have light schedules. They have to protect their own inner peace so they have peace to give others. They have to have their hearts filled with the Spirit to lead others to it. It’s why I wish our public school teachers had lighter schedules. And social workers. And counselors. And………

It’s why I don’t have services on Christmas Day. It’s why the office stays closed most of the week after Christmas. It’s why I have more healing services in Advent, and fewer programs and events. We need to recharge, so the faith becomes something that builds you up, instead of another to-do on your long list. As if any of us really want more committees to sit on to manage business and ensure compliance with policy directives. We need committees and policies, but less is more in a world where everyone is over-scheduled to begin with. More things does not mean your church is necessarily better. The experience of the Holy Spirit is more important than filling the calendar with programs. And it will have a bigger impact on our faith and evangelism.

So we begin a new year, 2024. Keep time to find your time with God, your space to breathe deep, the spiritual gifts that make serving a delight, and not a chore, and have the patience to be loving towards those who pester and annoy us.

Peace,

 

Pastor Lars

Outreach January 2024

OUTREACH Ministry – January 2024

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker. We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Marana Community Food Bank

The Marana Resource Center would like to request that we collect tuna/chicken, tomato sauce (cans not glass), ready to eat meals, mac and cheese, peanut butter, jelly, cereal and oats.

Let’s help re-stock the shelves after the holidays so they can continue to serve our neighbors. Donated food can be placed in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex. Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that have been opened/used or expired. Also, please no glass containers.

Changing Hands at the Marana Food Bank

The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona decided to close the Marana Food Bank stating that Marana did not have a low-income population that needed a food bank. Fortunately, the Town of Marana jumped into action to protect this vital service for the community. The Town collaborated with the Sahuarita Food Bank to preserve the Marana Food Bank services. As of December 1, 2023, Sahuarita, has taken over the food bank and services will continue uninterrupted. If you would like to donate and keep your gift for the needy of Marana, you can send a check to:

MFB-CRC c/o Sahuarita Food Bank PO Box 968 Sahuarita, AZ 85629

Please make checks payable to Marana Food Bank – Community Resource Center or MFB-CRC. You can also donate online at mfb-crc.org. Your monetary gift goes a long way. Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Past Activities

Adopt a Child – Roadrunner Elementary

Thank you to everyone who donated gifts and food for Adopt a Child for Roadrunner Elementary students and their families. This year we supported 5 families each with 4 children, both for their needs (clothes and shoes) and wishes (such as toys, games or electronics), and gift cards for the parents. The food you donated will help them have an enjoyable holiday meal and have food for their pantry. You’ve made a huge difference at the holidays for these families! Thank you!

Ongoing Activities

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We have sign-up sheets to volunteer at the Butler’s Pantry on the bulletin board in the hallway before you go into the Fellowship Hall. Also, a reminder that we need cereal and canned meat, for example, beef stew, canned chicken, and tuna. The donation basket is in the hallway near the fellowship hall. Any questions, contact Phyllis Teager or Carol Buuck.

Upcoming Events

Hygiene Supplies Drive – ICS

ICS is sponsoring a hygiene supplies drive for MLK Day of service, see http://icstucson.org/MLKday. All donations will be distributed through the ICS Food Banks. They are asking for:

• Child/infant diapers and wipes

• Adult incontinence supplies

• Menstrual products

You can leave any donations on the table in the Narthex, donations are due by Sunday, January 14, 2024. You can also make a monetary donation at http://icstucson.org/donate. Thank you!

World Relief – Baby Care Packs

We plan on holding a drive in the new year for baby care packs to send to Lutheran World Relief. In 2022, they provided baby care packs to Angola, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. More information to come.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children will be coming up at the beginning of February, dates have not been set yet. The sign-up sheet should be available by December 31st. Stay tuned for information about this wonderful event.

Sister José Women’s Center

We plan on offering to cook an evening meal for the residents of San José Women’s Center. Outreach will provide additional information on this new opportunity in the new year. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.

Christmas Justice and Bike Loops - Pastor's Column December 2023

One of the gems of the city of Tucson is The Loop bicycle path. I hit it fairly regularly for exercise and relaxation. Yes, I know one can relax by sitting, but I find it easier, with the way my mind works, a lot of the times, to be physically active. It’s fun to be in motion, to see things, to know that you’re moving by your own power – it gives a sense of freedom and accomplishment. It also helps get rid of Thanksgiving dinner.

I remember riding The Loop when it was more like The Line, when it went along the Rillito River from Craycroft Road to the train tracks by I-10. That was it.

Now it’s expanded, so you can do over 100 miles if you want. It goes up into Marana and Oro Valley, and all the way down to Valencia along the Santa Cruz River.

One thing you can’t escape on The Loop nowadays is the massive increase in homeless people. In 2006 I don’t remember any. Now it’s inescapable. People are living in the river, along the path, in lots adjacent. They have carts, and often bikes with kid-trailers full of stuff – and often dogs. You can also see a profuse amount of trash in the rivers and, especially, along the west side of the Santa Cruz near downtown. One day when riding along the Rillito River, by the Tucson Mall, I had to actually stop and walk through the homeless because the path was blocked with people lighting their bongs in broad daylight and tripping out. Another day I smelled marijuana four different times. There’s clearly a lot of drug use.

Before I came to Lord of Grace I used to preach once a month at the Gospel Rescue Mission – men’s center. It’s a good test of whether your preaching is relevant in a room with 80-100 homeless guys. They’ve seen it all and been there, and heard a lot of preachers give a lot of testimonials. They have a B.S. meter that’s really, really attuned. Over time I got to know a lot of the guys, hear their stories. It made me a better pastor.

There were as many ways people ended up there as there were people. In general, you had different tracks. Some really just fell on hard times – like the vet who came back from Afghanistan to find his wife had divorced him and cleaned him out because he wasn’t there to go to court and contest it (I believe the laws have changed this somewhat). You had those who got into addiction and lost everything. Then you had those who lost everything and got into addiction. Plenty had been in and out of jail. And, of course, we know employers are all tripping over themselves to hire people with rap sheets. I never understood how making it harder for people to get a job was supposed to solve anything.

But I digress.

The Mission does amazing work, and they can give you stories of people who have actually turned their lives around and gotten better. They can show results. Of course, a lot of the people I see by the river won’t go there because you can’t use drugs on site, have dogs, and you have to follow rules. So they decide that a tent in the wash is better.

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One thing I try to cultivate in our church is generosity. We should be, as people of God, giving regularly, not just to the congregation but to those who are doing the work of helping people out of hard times. And we do a lot of these things – from the food we collect to our Christmas present campaign for families. In fact, I don’t have to work very hard for these to be so successful (I must credit the outreach team for their work, for sure), because the value is already there.

However, I am always struck by how random charity is. For example, we collect presents for kids at Roadrunner elementary. We’re going to help some families have a lot more joy at Christmas than they would have otherwise. But we are only scratching the surface. We could serve many times more families before getting all the kids who live in low incomes the same Christmas. It’s more than we can handle.

And then, of course, you have the other factors. Some parents are probably more bold with asking. Some are better at finding where the charity campaigns are.

Others, I’m sure, are not so bold, or confident, or maybe feel ashamed by their finances. Some are just not very sympathetic. They might have a bad attitude, or bad habits, or make choices that seem wasteful. Their kids often get less because they were born with parents who nobody likes. But should likeability be a criteria for kids getting what they need? Shouldn’t resources just be given based on need, and not your ability to work a system or make an ask or appear sympathetic and just likeable enough, and just sad enough, and just humble enough, but just hard-working and responsible enough, and just apologetic enough, but not too pushy or brash………

I’m glad we do what we can for those who need it, with the resources we have. I don’t think we’d be very faithful to Jesus if we didn’t. On the flip side, I don’t see how we can address poverty and drugs and homelessness without talking about money and power and politics. I don’t see any way out of it without using some taxes and government regulation – always controversial in our highly capitalistic society.

For example, part of what’s driving so much poverty and homelessness now is the skyrocketing price of rent. Did you know that banks and private equity firms are some of the biggest purchasers of houses? They are gobbling up real estate. They use the property as equity to get loans, then use those loans to purchase other financial instruments. Aren’t houses supposed to be for people to live in? But since it’s very lucrative, what’s going to stop them, if not the government making some limits? And why are we afraid, as Christians, to talk about the financial system that pushes up rents, pushes people out of houses, pushes families into poverty as rent gobbles up more and more of their money, and we keep spending more and more to try to save the people pushed out? Why not pass some laws that will bring down demand and make housing more affordable? Seems fairly common sense, and just.

Which, by the way, is a theme of Christmas and Advent. It’s the Virgin Mary herself who swore her baby would “cast the mighty down from their thrones and send the rich away empty”. It’s the prophet Isaiah who proclaims that justice is the key to peace – and he predicted the Messiah. It’s part of our time in the church year, and part of who we are. I’m glad to be in a denomination that’s willing to have conversations about justice, even at the holiday season, and systems and how the coming of the Messiah is not just good news for personal salvation, but good news to make a more just world. And I’m glad to be a part of a church that tries to make this world more a more just place to live in.

Peace,

Pastor Lars

Pastor Lars' Sabbatical Presentation and Stories - Dec. 10

Hear some of the stories from Pastor Lars of the sabbatical, things done, and a show of selected photos from his journeys during three months away. Identical presentations after each service on Sunday, December 10th (9:30am and 11:30am). About 30 minutes each.

Morning at the family cabin in Minnesota

To see the more full collections of photos, check out his albums with trip photos in the following sets on flickr.

(note: these albums have photos going back several years, but the sabbatical photos are the most recent)

Sweden

Kalmar

Northern Minnesota

Colorado

McCarthy Beach State Park

Tustin, Michigan

Northern Arizona

Reiman Gardens

Colorado Springs

Utah

Paint Mine

Camping at Crawford State Park in Colorado

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How Does a Weary World Rejoice - Advent 2023

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A couple years ago I decided that I was going to make Advent into something special, a bit of a big deal. My phrase was to “make Advent a thing”. The initial inspiration came in fall 2021, in the middle of Covid, as we were preparing ourselves for something, but really tired out from everything. It was hard to be giddy and all wassailing with so much stress. We needed a space to step back, reflect, heal. Then, as we were getting more of our services online, the idea came to bring back mid-week Advent services as a time for that healing and processing. If people couldn’t physically come, we could put it online. Maybe someone far away would find God’s presence in the time.

Since then I’ve tried to lean into Advent, making it its own big deal, but finding ways to do that that are relevant. Years ago I gave up preaching the appointed texts in the lectionary (the set of Bible readings that come with each day of the church year). They usually include John the Baptist calling the priests a “brood of vipers”, Jesus prophecying the end of the world; John the Baptist getting his head cut off; and maybe a little Virgin Mary the last week. It was so tone deaf, in a hectic season saturated with emotions, memories, events, we were preaching about “bearing fruits worthy of repentance” so we wouldn’t get burned in the fire. I couldn’t do it anymore.

Advent is not just a time of getting ready for Christmas, not in the church year. Originally it stated mid-November, and could run as much as seven weeks. It coincided nicely with themes of darkness and long night for our northern European friends. They wrote some of the best hymns in the book for it. And, for them, it probably had little to do with John the Baptist either. It was spending lots of time huddled together telling stories, reading the Bible, and eating the dried food you processed in the fall.

This year I’m going with a theme that I got from a Christian art collective called sanctifiedart.org. I’ve used their stuff before, because it’s creative, comes with pictures and poems and lots of really good reflections on life and faith for the season. This year the theme is “How Does a Weary World Rejoice?” It’s not about weariness, as much as honestly finding the space in ourselves to rejoice in the face of it. Too much modern Christianity, in my opinion, glides over topics of grief, loss, struggle, doubt in favor of a manufactured rejoicing that can feel disjointed to the pains of modern life. Yes, I want to celebrate the season, but….my husband/wife/child died around this time and all I have are memories of loss that keep coming up. Yes, I want to smile and laugh and share a warm cider, but…..I’m drowning in anxiety about the state of the world. Of course I want to win the holiday school bake-off, but…..I am worried about my kids’ future. We’re not trying to wallow in grief, but grief finds us, and won’t let us push it aside. We want to sit in God’s presence, feel the warmth of the glow of grace, in the place where we are now.

That’s why I was so excited about this theme. We’re going to rejoice, but do so authentically. We’ll take a look at four different stories in the Gospel of Luke that lead up to Jesus’ birth, and reflect a bit on the people, their stories, their struggles, their joys, and their encounters with God. We’ll walk through with them, and let them guide us to light in the darkness, and hope in the midst of pain.

Each Sunday will be a different story. I’ll give handouts to everyone with the images, poetry, and reflections for the day when you come to the service. December 6th will be a healing service, a space for you to dwell and reflect on the wounds/pains/traumas/stresses you have and bring them to God in prayer. Our prayer team will be there to pray with you. It will be livestreamed, and we will monitor and respond to online prayer requests as well.

On December 17th will be the Longest Night service, specifically tailored to finding space to process grief, loss, and related concerns right before the big Christmas celebrations. The service will follow an order based around the theme of “rejoicing in a weary world”, and will include dedicated chunks of time to sit back, pray, reflect, and bring your grief to the God who loves you and is with you in all things. Also livestreamed.

December 24th falls on a Sunday this year, and we will do a combined service at 10am in the morning, using the traditional/liturgical format – with the children’s sermon, kids chat, and the Advent themes.

Christmas Eve services will be 6pm contemporary and 8pm traditional services.

As usual, no services on December 25th.

The next service is the combined service of lessons and carols on December 31st at 10am.

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Family & Youth Ministries At Lord Of Grace

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We're forming a new focused ministry area at Lord of Grace called Family & Youth Ministries. If you've been waiting or hoping for more programming in this area, here's your invitation to join in making a difference.

 

Two ways to serve:
1)  Join the Family & Youth Advocate Team - this team will meet together 4 times a year to evaluate how we're doing and consider ways we can do an even better job reaching out and serving families and youth. This team cares about details, safety, policies, and ministry excellence too. Help develop a long-term strategy to keep kids & families connected to the church for life.

 

2) Join the Family & Youth Action Team. If the thought of sitting through another meeting leaves you a little queasy, join our Action Team. This team is more boots on the ground in coming up with ideas and making them happen. Serve around your schedule with ideas that you're excited about. We'll meet as needed over text, coffee, or while we're doing what we're doing.

 

So, which one seems like a fit for you? Email or text Laurie at laurieacker@gmail.com or 520.370.7106 to learn more.

Outreach December 2023

OUTREACH Ministry – December 2023

Our members include Chris Kollen as lead, Carol Buuck, Phyllis Teager, Patty Clymer, and Laurie Acker. We are planning new and exciting projects this coming year. If you’d like more information about becoming a member of Outreach, contact Chris Kollen at lizzykollen@comcast.net or at 520-419-7475.

Marana Community Food Bank

The Marana Resource Center would like to request that we collect pasta, mac ‘n cheese, jelly, peanut butter, canned tuna/chicken, beans, canned veggies, soups, and cereal.

Let’s show our thanks and share God’s love by re-stocking their shelves after Thanksgiving.

Donated food can be place in the wooden cabinet located in the Narthex.  Please remember that the food bank cannot accept any food items that has been opened/used or expired.  Also, please, no glass containers.  If you prefer to make cash donations, they are always welcome, and can be mailed to Marana Food Bank, 11134 West Grier Road, Marana, AZ 85653.

Your monetary gift goes a long way.  Every $10 helps provide 50 meals.

Past Activities

Thanksgiving Boxes – Roadrunner Elementary

Thank you for all of the donations to support our Thanksgiving Boxes and a special thank you to the Preschool. Roadrunner Elementary families appreciate your help!

Ongoing Activities

Butler’s Pantry – Roadrunner Elementary

We have sign-up sheets to volunteer at the Butler’s Pantry for December on the bulletin board in the hallway before you go into the Fellowship Hall. Also, a reminder that we need cereal and canned meat, for example, beef stew, canned chicken, and tuna. The donation basket is in the hallway near the fellowship hall. Any questions, contact Phyllis Teager or Carol Buuck.

Upcoming Events:                  

Adopt a Child – Roadrunner Elementary

We have the Christmas tree up for Adopt a Family. Last we checked there were only 3 tags left on the tree! The gifts will need to be returned to the church by Sunday, December 10th.  Roadrunner has asked us not to wrap the gifts, but instead to consider donating wrapping paper and tape so that the parents can wrap the gifts themselves. We are also collecting food to provide holidays meals for the families. The food donations are also due back by December 10th. Thank you for your help!

Lutheran World Relief – Baby Care Packs

We plan on holding a drive in the new year for baby care packs to send to Lutheran World Relief. In 2022, they provided baby care packs to Angola, Burkina Faso, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Niger, Poland, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Ukraine. More information to come.

Feed My Starving Children

Feed My Starving Children will be coming up at the beginning of February, dates have not been set yet. The sign-up sheet will be available by December 31st. Stay tuned for information about this wonderful event.

Sister José Women’s Center

We plan on offering to cook an evening meal for the residents of San José Women’s Center. Outreach will provide additional information on this new opportunity in the new year. Any questions, contact Chris Kollen.