Immanuel Lutheran Blog

It has been exciting working in partnership with Pastor Sam and Cindy Wolff during the past year on the work they do in support of the poor in Nairobi. As we have been reporting to the congregation, one special project we identified was the need for an AIDS outreach center to house the work their church carries out with victims of HIV in Kenya. By having an outreach center they will be able to greatly expand the number of people they reach with support, training, and essential medications.

In November of 2011 our church provided funds to the Nairobi International Congregation using money that members of our congregation have been generously donating for this mission effort. This was in addition to our annual pledged amount through ELCA Global Mission. We recently received the following update and pictures from Pastor Sam and Cindy about this project:

Hello Friends,

We are almost finished with the office building, which will include a small meeting room. The first photo is of the small meeting room with the

window to the office on the right; photo 2 shows the office. Photos 3 and 4 show the building from the outside.

After this report on the building, we received an email about the ways they are already putting the new structure to use: Here are some pictures of the HIV/AIDS Outreach and Support Group having a training session on raising animals and cooking nutritious foods.

Thanks to the members of Immanuel for their wonderful support of this important work!

For decades our good old sign has identified our church to the people around us. However, it’s gotten pretty worn through the years. This week it will be out with the old and in with the new, as we erect a brand new sign. This attractive, internally-illuminated sign will stand in front of our sanctuary on Grant Road. Its style will match the architecture of our sanctuary and prominently announce our presence to the community. We are grateful to the many people who have generously donated toward the sign’s cost. Thanks also to Gregg Wilson, the sign task force, and everyone helping with the installation. Below I have posted a picture of the design of our new sign, as well as a picture of the old sign for contrast. Our new sign will be dedicated in a special joint service at 10:00 a.m. on the Sunday of our annual meeting, February 12, 2012. Come and celebrate this new milestone for our congregation.

Before

After

Here’s a great picture from our Living Nativity that reached me by email. Every December for three evenings our church puts on an outdoor Living Nativity. This year it happened on Dec 18, 19, and 20. The main actors and participants are our youth, children, and their families. The kids put on costumes and portray the characters of the Christmas story for neighbors in the community and people passing by. We also have crafts, warm food and drinks, and on the third night even a petting zoo. This year we made some great new friends from people who visited the event. Thanks to our main organizer, youth director Danny Dye, and to all who participated.
One of our kids, Hannah Ford, wrote the following summary of her experience of the Living Nativity:

The Living Nativity is important because many people think that Christmas is only about presents.  The real meaning is Jesus’ birth.   We dress up in costumes so people can see that Christmas isn’t just about presents.  We try to get as many honks as we can.  We do the Living Nativity so people will remember that Jesus was born.  The Living Nativity has a donkey, sheep, three wise men, shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and of course, Jesus.  The Living Nativity is fun and helps people remember Jesus was born on Christmas.

Good job, Hannah! Although the Christmas season has been over for a couple of weeks, I wanted people who read this blog to be able to enjoy Hanna’s words and this picture.

We had Stewardship Sunday this past weekend. Among other things we put on a play in our services called “Stone Soup.” I based it on an old European folk tale. It illustrates how the gifts of many people can come together to meet needs in extraordinary ways, even when resources seem limited – not a bad model for Christian Stewardship. God can do great things in our community and beyond, when we offer the unique gifts God has given each of us.

A number of people have said they wouldn’t mind having a copy of this adaptation we used at Immanuel, so here it is:

 Stone Soup

Speaking Parts:

1 Narrator
2 Wanderers:
   W1
   W2  Wearing a backpack with a stone in it
4 Villagers:
   V1   Holding a pitcher
   V2   Holding salt and pepper shakers
   V3   Holding 2 carrots
   V4   Holding a cabbage

 Non-speaking parts: Several members of the congregation bring forward a food item to add to the soup as it is called out by the narrator.

Narrator (from the pulpit): Once upon a time in post-war Europe two wanderers, who had lost their homes, traveled through the countryside looking for food and shelter. After many days they approached a poor, small village on the edge of the woods.

Wanderers from the left front of the sanctuary

W1: How I would like a good dinner tonight.

W2: Let’s try this village. Maybe we’ll find a bite to eat here.

Narrator: Meanwhile the villagers saw them approaching. 

Villagers at microphones on the right of the sanctuary.

V1: Oh no! Here come two beggars.

V2: The trouble with beggars is they’re always begging?

V1: And they’re always hungry.

V3: I’m always hungry.

V4: Yes, you are. But it’s no wonder. We have little enough for ourselves. Let’s hide our food and tell them we have nothing.

Narrator: And that’s what they did. (The villagers hide their food items behind their backs.)

The wanderers arrive in the village.

W1: Hello, friends. Do you have a bit of food here in the village to share with the hungry?

V1: We have no food.

V2: It’s been a poor harvest.

V3: Yes, and I’m hungry.

V4: We haven’t got any food in the whole village, so goodbye.

W2: Good people, you misunderstand us. We have asked if you have any food, and sadly you have none. But we have everything we need and will prepare food for ourselves. Tonight we shall make some delicious stone soup.  

W1: Mmm. Stone soup, my favorite! It’s food fit for a king.

V3: I’ve never had food fit for a king before, and I’m hungry.

W2: Who knows, maybe we’ll make a little extra to share with your village.  

W1: Do you have the soup stone?

W2: (Pulls a stone out of the backpack) Yes I do. With this special nourishing soup stone, we shall make a soup such as none of you ever tasted.

W1: Let’s get to work. (The wanderers head away to the center of town.)

V2: Did I hear them right, stone soup?  

V1: They’re crazy. Can’t be any such thing.

V3: Yes, but if there is such a thing, I’ll never be hungry again. I’m much better at pulling stones out of my field than crops.  

Narrator: Filled with curiosity, the villagers followed the strangers.

V4: Excuse me, but we’ve never heard of stone soup before. Is it hard to make?

W1: It is an ancient secret recipe that we have carefully guarded. But you are a poor village, so we’ll be happy to show you. Gather around. The villagers approach.  

W2: First of all, we’ll need a large pot, some water, and some firewood.

V1: Well, I have that.  (V1 places wood on the floor, the pot on the wood, and “pours” a pitcher of water in.)  

W2: It’s time to add the main ingredient—the special stone. (W2 does so.) Then we’ll bring it to a boil.

W1: Let’s see how it’s doing. (Tasting it with a spoon.) It’s very good.  

V3: May we taste it? I’m hungry.

W1: Not quite yet. It seems to be missing something.

W2: I once added some salt and pepper to a stone soup, which made it just right.

V2: I have some salt and pepper right here. (Shakes some in.)

V3: May we have some now? I’m really hungry.

W1: Patience.  (Tasting it again.)

W2: What do you think?

W1: Almost perfect. It could use a bit of carrot, though. Too bad you folks don’t have any food.

V3: Carrots? Did you say carrots? I just happened to have two carrots here. (Throws them in.) Is it ready now?

W1: The best stone soups always have cabbage. But we know you have nothing to offer.  

(V2 elbows V4.  V4 pulls a cabbage out from behind his back.)

V4: Well, what do you know? Here’s a cabbage. (Puts it in the soup.) Is there anything else you’ll need?

W1: Well, if you want to have the very best stone soup there are a couple more things that you should always add.

Potatoes
Beef
Onions
Peas
Beans
Mushrooms
Bell Pepper

Narrator: When the last ingredient was thrown in, the wonderful smell of the soup filled the whole village.

V3: It smells so good, and I’m so hungry. How I’d like to have a taste.  

W2: And you shall. But this is a meal fit for a king. Set tables and let everyone prepare to eat a banquet.

Narrator: And that’s what they did. As they were preparing a couple of villagers realized that such a great feast required bread. And also cider to drink. They quickly fetched these things. Soon a banquet was ready and everyone began to eat.

V1: Never has there been such a feast!

V2: Never have we tasted such soup!

V4: To think, it was made from stones!

V3: And best of all, I’m not hungry anymore!

Narrator: After the meal the villagers gladly welcomed the two wanderers into their village as citizens. From that time forward, the whole village would come together a few times a week to make a large pot of stone soup, with everyone sharing what they had. And no one there was hungry again.

V3: Not even me!

This is a story I mentioned in my November article in the Immanuel newsletter. It originates from the latest communication sent by our mission partners, Pastor Sam and Cindy Wolff in Nairobi, Kenya. They tell about a recent event they called “Victor’s First Birthday.” This story seemed especially meaningful in the context of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday. It motivates me to reflect on the many gifts I have to be grateful for, and the opportunities I have to be generous with those gifts. Here is the story in its entirety:

 Those of you who have children, grandchildren, nieces or Nephews, or who have ever been a child, know how important birthdays are. They are a benchmark in our lives as well as a time of celebration when others let us know how happy they are that we were born. Birthdays are a time we are made to feel special. It is “our day”. Sometimes family and friends come from miles around to celebrate with us, and parties are planned months in advance. Gifts are often elaborate and always purchased with the wishes of the birthday boy or girl in mind.

Birthdays in Kenya are generally celebrated in quite another way. Today I invite you to take a peek into this world as we celebrate “Victor’s First Birthday”.  In Kenya and much of the East African world, birthdays are a much different type of day than we in the first world are used to. You see, many children do not know when their birthday’s are. Birth certificates are not generally issued at the time of birth but something you have to physically retrieve later through a bureaucratic system, which is highly disorganized and ineffective. It is often not worth the effort to get this piece of paper. Many children are born at home and there is no birth certificate. Others have mother’s who die in childbirth or shortly thereafter, and the date is lost in mourning. This is the case of Victor, a young man in our congregation.

Victor in His Neighborhood

Victor’s parents were very young when he was born. Soon after his mother died, Victor’s father remarried and had three more children. The date of Victor’s birth was never recorded and his father cannot remember it. When asked, he can only give an approximate year. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon in Kenya. Each Sunday Pastor Sam gives a small Bible to any children who have birthdays the previous week. When we came here, two years ago, we bought fifty small Bibles. We still have about 40 left.  

Victor with His Father

This year a volunteer, Ellen, who had befriended Victor, our daughter Brooke, and her friend Jessica, who were visiting from the states, and I decided to give Victor a birth date and a birthday party. We used the month and day of my birthday since it was coming up soon and chose a year which Victor thought might be his real birth year. We bought gifts and wrapped them and I baked a cake. The party was to be at a pizza parlor, the perfect venue for someone who was turning fifteen. It was not an elaborate affair in terms of an American party but for someone who had never even had a birth date to celebrate, it was monumental. We started by ordering pizza and sodas. 

Next the gifts were brought out. He received clothing, art supplies and money. It was truly a moving experience for us as well as him. He told us he had never received a birthday gift before.  

Now it was time for the cake. A great surprise to him as well as the other patrons of the restaurant. It was complete with fifteen candles.  

Victor’s desire in life is to be a pastor. He came to our church two years ago to get a morning cup of chai and a cookie. Then he started going to services and asked to be baptized and confirmed. He was awarded a Bible at his confirmation and read it in its entirety in a matter of months. Now he has joined the choir and is an assistant Sunday school teacher. He attends both services and is often seen carrying water for his baptismal sponsor. He also helps out in the HIV/AIDS outreach garden and ushers at church on Sunday. He has found a home at our church and a new life in Christ. His younger half-brother is now attending baptismal and confirmation classes also and at times his father attends church.  

I asked Victor the next week what he bought with his money (about $5.00 in U.S.D.). He said he spent $3.00 on a new pair of shoes and gave the rest to his father to buy food. I asked why he gave part of his birthday gift away. He said, “because, I like my father”. Victor received a gift and through this gave a gift. This was a joy to him to be able to pass part of his gift on. He surely passed a gift on to me. It is not only about what you receive, but what you can share with others. Victor is living his faith, for Christ teaches us to love one another and to care for each other.  

May you all be blessed and remember to pass on the daily gifts you receive.

Cynthia Wolff
Nairobi International Lutheran Congregation
Nairobi, Kenya

I haven’t written in this blog since early September. Much of my spare time since then has been taken up with family illness. On September 5th my mother (who lives in Southern California) entered the hospital. It was discovered that she had a large (nonmalignant) tumor in her digestive system. In the time since then she has been through three major surgeries, a number of setbacks, a few improvements, and continuous residence in the hospital. In the past 6 weeks I’ve made 5 trips down there for a few days at a time to help out. (I returned from the last one just 2 days ago.) That, of course, is in addition to all of the busy programming and activities we have had here at church this fall.

Throughout these extremely busy and challenging weeks I have been very aware of how much it means to have the support of our church and faith. I have been extremely grateful for the encouragement and prayers offered by everyone at Immanuel during this time. People’s ongoing prayers will be very appreciated.

I have a number of things I’d like to report on through this blog, and hope to be able to get back to that on a more regular basis in the coming days.

A couple of weeks ago we held a luau on Sunday evening at our church. It’s an annual tradition at Immanuel and a lot of fun, with everybody dressing up Hawaiian, as well as some great Hawaiian food and music.

I thought I’d share some of that music with you. Below is a link to a video of a song that our ukulele band played. That’s Blythe and Marc Musteric and myself on ukulele, with Carla singing lead, and also showing us her talents on the ukulele and kazoo. (Click on the word “Luau” to get the video.) Enjoy.

Luau

A couple of weeks ago our youth were the primary worship leaders in both of our Sunday morning services. They did an amazing job leading prayers, liturgy, the children’s sermon, assisting with holy communion, and even preaching our message for the morning. The theme of this Sunday was the two mission trips they participated in this summer:
San Diego, June 19-24
Mexico, July 30 – August 6

We were all very inspired by what they shared in the services about what they had learned on their trips. These mission trips truly were experienced as an opportunity to grow in faith and serve others in Jesus’ name. I was also impressed with how virtually every one of the youth came to see life in a different light. Before the trip the kinds of problems we typically experience here in this prosperous community in the US seemed pretty big. But after what they witnessed on their trips, our problems and issues began to look pretty small. The congregation and I are proud of them and the way they so eagerly took advantage of this great opportunity to reach out to others. This was a fine example of how we can make a difference in our world by using the gifts God has given us to meet human need.

Below is the speech given by one of our youth, Justin Ford, who reported on his experiences on the San Diego trip, along with a few pictures from the trip. (Thanks for sending yours to me, Justin!) If any more reports come in, I’ll share them here on the blog.

By:  Justin Ford, age 14

This summer I had the opportunity to go on both the San Diego mission trip and the Mexico mission trip.  The San Diego mission started with the day-camp flu bug, Pastor had the same thing.  Then I spent a week at the Holy Family Church where they were very kind and welcoming.  There were about 50 participants from 5 churches including: two from Washington, one from Idaho, one from Florida, and then there was us.  For ministry work we did quite a bit.  Each day we would go to one site in the morning and one site in the afternoon.  In the morning my group went to St.Vincent’s Soup Kitchen.  We served about 1,000 people each day.  There were many jobs in St.Vincent’s, such as working in the kitchen serving food onto the trays, giving out cups, giving out silverware, and pouring the juice.  After we finished we got to eat the food, which was quite good.  For the second part of the day we worked with a lady named Ruth.  Ruth started a program called Special Delivery.  Special delivery is for people that have terminal illnesses and are too sick to feed themselves.  We made meals for the Special Delivery people to deliver to the terminally ill people.  Each meal is prepared differently, to fit the patient’s needs.  During the evening, sometimes we did fun activities.  One night we went to the beach and played ultimate Frisbee, went in the water, and had a big fire at the end.  Another day we did a prayer walk.  For the prayer walk we walked around downtown San Diego and talked with the homeless.  Some people were trimming wires for copper, some had ideas about conserving energy in the future, and others just wanted to chill and spread the Lord’s peace with us.  On one of the last nights we went to a parking lot and had a barbecue (with no utensils, that was fun) and after that we took pictures in front of a cross. From this trip I was able to open my eyes to how many people are in need of extra help.  It also allowed me to see how much help can come from strength, love, and faith in God.

A couple of posts ago I indicated that I would like to use our church community to make connections that are helpful to each another in practical ways. One area I mentioned is employment, which is of course such a huge issue in these difficult economic times. At the time I wrote that post we had not yet seen the depths of the chaos in congress and the renewed fears about the economy that have resulted. I believe that as a community of faith, we can work to be there for one another and provide helpful connections.

For that reason from time to time I will be posting profiles of people associated with Immanuel who are looking for employment. Please be attentive to employment opportunities in the following areas, and respond with job opportunities that you may by aware of, or companies and individuals worth contacting. Here is a brief description of the experience and skills of 2 people:

Profile 1: Looking for a position in one of the following areas:

Product Development and Quality Assurance Engineer with over 20 years of product quality management experience in software, hardware, pharmaceutics, and government contracts. Candidate has demonstrated success in managing the development and introduction of new products across many disparate organizations. Extensive experience in business process optimization and quality system creation and management. Bachelors and Masters degrees in Electrical Engineering (Tau Beta Pi honor society).

Program Manager: IT Systems- e.g. Online products and services, Information Management, Business Intelligence, Master Data Management.

Profile 2: Elementary School Teacher: As an experienced school teacher I am looking for a position teaching in an elementary school classroom. I prefer a Christian school, but would take a position at a public school also. I have also done long-term substitute teaching.

If you would like more information about these profiles or know of possible job opportunities, please call the church office at 650-967-4906, or respond to this blog. Let’s see how we can stand by each other and use the connections God has given us to bless one another’s lives.

I have had some requests recently to post some of my sermons online.  Here is one from a couple of weeks ago (July 31) based on Isaiah 55. I’ll put some others up soon.

Results of a Survey

One of the challenges inherent in the task of preaching is trying to target topics that speak to the hearers. One way, I suppose, to take care of that would be to make sermons a two-way conversation: I ask you what questions you might have, and you tell me what you’d like us talk about. It would be fun, I think, but not very practical, because we have a limited amount of time, and of course if everyone spoke, we would be here for hours.

Then again we could do it as a written survey. I could pass out little pieces of paper like these, and you could write on here questions you have about faith and life. My 1st survey question would ask: “What is it about faith that you don’t really understand? Or what is the hardest thing for you to grasp about God or life in God’s universe?” It would be interesting to see what you would write. But once again to be realistic, we don’t really have time to do that either, at least not in the context of 1 short worship service. Just collecting and reading the papers could take a long time.

So, I decided . . . to take your survey for you. What I wrote on these pieces of paper are some theological questions, God questions, questions you might ask if we had time to take this survey in church. (These, by the way, are based on questions I’ve been asked through the years.)

So here goes, Question 1: Why does God allow so much evil in the world? Ah yes, the classic question. Some say that this is the main question that lies behind all religions. And if you think about it, it certainly is at the heart of much of our Christian teaching— ideas like sin, freedom, God’s fairness, the cross of Jesus, forgiveness – all these things have to do with the question of evil, and overcoming evil.

Question 2: How could God always have existed? Here we have the question of eternity. Needless to say, our human finite minds can’t grasp eternity or forever, so it’s difficult for us to think of a being with an eternal existence. We wonder things like, what was God doing before creation started? Does God experience time like we do? Another good question. You guys are asking some good ones today.

Well, like I said, we don’t have much time, so for now I’ll read just one more question. Here it is, Question 3: Where is heaven and what does it look like? This is kind of question I often get from kids? Everyone wants to know about the afterlife. Will we be physical or will we be spirits there? Are there tears in heaven? Will everyone be there? Will my pet tarantula be in heaven? What do you do with all that time once you’re there?

Well, there they are: 3 possible questions for our survey. But as you know, there are not just 3 questions, there are hundreds more questions I could have mentioned, because all humanity has questions, loads of questions, sometimes big questions. Certainly, the longer you live, the more you become aware of how much you don’t know. It’s really quite humbling. I would guess that many of us, perhaps most of us here, have spent many years going to church. We believe in God, we’ve thought about these things, maybe we’ve heard 100s of sermons, and yet often we have a hard time answering some of these very common and oft-repeated questions about life and faith.

And may I remind you that our questions are not merely theoretical questions about God and the universe. They are often extremely personal. “Why did this bad thing happen to me? How do I understand it? Does it have a meaning? And how can I find the strength to deal with it?

So what happens next in our survey? You’re probably thinking the next step is that I’m going to answer all these questions I’ve suggested. (Explain heaven, and the problem of evil, and things like that.) But actually . . . I’m not going to do that. There are two reasons:

1. There is that time limit thing I talked about. Some of these questions I’ve mentioned could take many hours to discuss. That’s why we have Bible Studies at church, discussion groups, Sunday School. We’ll be announcing new educational opportunities for the fall soon, and these are great places to explore questions like these.

2. But the other reason I won’t be providing answers now is the fact that I have to be honest with you: I couldn’t answer all of these questions, even if I wanted to. I mean, some of the things I have a pretty good understanding of, I have studied them for many years, and I can begin to offer some good answers. I could talk, for instance, about the problem of evil, and how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ speak to and answer that question. But in other cases I have no idea what the answer would be. For instance, I don’t know what heaven looks like. I’ve never been there. And neither have you. I see the beautiful images and descriptions in the Bible, but I don’t know if they describe literal things, or are only symbols of things that are even greater, too great for human words. I don’t know what we’ll look like in heaven, or if we’ll still eat ice cream. I really have no idea. Some people pretend to know such things, and even write articles and sermons on them, but trust me, they don’t know nearly as much as they claim.

In fact, there is a verse in the Bible that deals with these things we don’t know. It’s that passage we heard earlier in out service from Isaiah Chapter 55, which says: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
I love these verses. I always have, because they remind us that if it feels like you’ve got a lot of questions, and only a few answers, that’s OK. You’re supposed to. It’s a big and complex universe God made, and you, by comparison are really very small. So it only makes sense that there would be a lot of mystery in life, some unanswered questions, and a great need to explore, and pray, and learn, and listen for the answers. I think we should take this passage very seriously, and take great comfort in knowing that we have a God who is bigger than we are. That is why my only real intention in taking our little survey today was to emphasize how much you and I don’t know about our faith, and how much we still need to learn and grow. I want to create a hunger in us to know these things, to search, to read the scriptures, to keep asking.

The real problem in life is not what we don’t know. The real problem is when people give up, and stop looking for answers. When they say, “Oh well, I don’t understand faith, so I just won’t believe anything. I’ll just exist.”

Here at this church I intend always to be challenging us to ask big questions. Answers to questions like:

How can I know if my faith is true?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Is God in control of my world or am I?
What does Jesus’ death on the cross really mean for me?
How could God always love and forgive?
How can I forgive people who have hurt me? Should I even forgive?
Is there a purpose to my life? How can I find that purpose?

Hundreds of questions, thousands of questions.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

We have a whole lifetime ahead of us. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep looking for the answers. God has spoken. God is still speaking. Together, if we listen, God will help us journey toward the answers.