Immanuel Lutheran Blog

I received a number of requests to post online what I presented at church last Sunday (April 21). The following is the result of some work I did on collecting and comparing various translations of Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”

Psalm 23 (King James Version)
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Psalm 23 is undoubtedly the most popular chapter in all of the Bible. It’s a favorite to read at funerals, and it does contain a lot about eternal life, so that’s appropriate. But when you look at it more closely, you see that it’s really more about living than dying; specifically, what kind of life we lead, and what quality of life we have; and that based on what we learn about ourselves and about God through this Psalm.

As you can imagine, because of its popularity there have been hundreds of translations and paraphrases of the Shepherd’s Psalm in English. In church we usually read from the NRSV. The best known version in English, the King James Version, appears above. But the oldest English version that’s part of a complete translation is from 1384 by the English reformer John Wycliffe, written in middle English, which is almost unreadable nowadays. But what you can understand includes enjoyable phrases like: “Thou hast made fat mine head with oil.” Clearly they were still working the bugs out of the English language, since Wycliffe wasn’t using words like “anoint” yet.

That’s the oldest. Probably the most amusing I encountered was a hip-hop translation from the early 2000s, which includes phrases like: “The Lord is all that . . . He allows me to chill. He keeps me from being heated and allows me to breathe easy.” And “Even though I walk through the hood of death, I don’t back down for you have my back.” (From the “The Hip Hop Prayer Book” adapted by Ryan Kearse)

Whether using slang or traditional language, one thing that all people have agreed on is that this psalm is all about calm and serenity in life, about lessening the sense of anxiety and fear that so often takes over people’s lives. This comes across most clearly in the words of a Psalm that is circling on the internet, which uses the structure of Psalm 23 to present its very antithesis. Here it is:

The clock is my dictator, I shall not rest.
It makes me lie down only when exhausted.
It leads me into deep depression. It hounds my soul.
It leads me in circles of frenzy, for activities’ sake.
Even though I run frantically from task to task,
I will never get it all done, For my ideal is with me
Deadlines and my need for approval, they drive me.
They demand performance from me, beyond the limits of my schedule.
They anoint my head with migraines.
My in-basket overflows.
Surely fatigue and time pressures shall follow me All the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the bonds of frustration forever.

Nicely done, and sadly it sounds all too familiar. It certainly works as a good description of where a lot of people lives are at, or at least the direction that modern life is constantly driving us toward.

But I also discovered as the exact opposite of this version, one which addresses the same issues of stress and the need for balance in life, but from a faith perspective. This is one that usually goes on the internet by the name of the “Japanese version of Psalm 23.” Here it is:

The Lord is my pace setter, I shall not rush.
He makes me stop and rest for quiet intervals.
He provides me with images of stillness which restore my serenity.
He leads me in ways of efficiency through calmness of mind, and his guidance is peace.
Even though I have a great many things to accomplish each day, I will not fret, for his presence is here.
His timelessness, His all-importance will keep me in balance.
He prepares refreshment and renewal in the midst of my activity, by anointing my mind with his oils of tranquility.
My cup of joyous energy overflows; surely harmony and effectiveness shall be the fruits of my hours.
For I shall walk in the pace of my Lord, and dwell in His house forever.

Both of these, of course, represent a complete rewriting of the psalm to address a particular issue in modern life. But there are plenty of versions out there that stay close to the original, and provide us with some great new insights because of the wording they use. In the following I will share some readings of each verse of the psalm as different people have translated them, to see what we might learn.

We start with verse 1. The original Hebrew of Psalm 23 begins with these words: “Adonai ro’i.” This means literally, “Lord! My shepherd.” The word “is” is usually understood in Hebrew to be there without writing it, so that’s why most translate this as “The Lord is my shepherd.” But some do try to preserve the original feel, such as a translation called The Message which says simply: “GOD, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.”

Some translations try also to explain the shepherd metaphor itself, like a translation called the Basic English Bible, which begins with the words: “The Lord takes care of us as his sheep.”

Then you have an ancient Catholic translation from 1610 called the Rheims-Douay (based on the Latin Vulgate), which totally interprets the meaning by translating the “Lord is my Shepherd” as “The Lord ruleth me.” I suppose that is part of what shepherd means, but it gets too far the original metaphor, which is why that was both the first and the last time we saw that in an English language Bible translation.

There are some nice wordings for vs. 2 & 3, such as The Message’s: “You’ve bedded me down in lush meadows, you find me quiet pools to drink from.” Or Contemporary English Version’s (CEV):  “You let me rest in fields of green grass. You lead me to streams of peaceful water, and you refresh my life.”

By the way, saying “You refresh my life” instead of “restoreth my soul” reflects an important word in the original Hebrew, the word ‘nephesh’. It is frequently translated as soul, but it means much more. Your nephesh is your life, your strength – physically and spiritually, your mind, your sense of self. A translation called theAmplified Bible reflects this by saying: “He refreshes and restores my life / my self.”

Continuing on, the second half of verse 3 has: “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” That one has always seemed a little murky to me. What is this “for his name’s sake?” The CEV makes it a little clearer with: “You are true to your name” instead of “for his name’s sake.” And Today’s English Version (TEV) has: “He guides me in the right paths, as he has promised.” This works because in the scripture the concept of God’s name is very powerful and carries within it the characteristic of God’s faithfulness to the promise. By attaching God’s name to the promise, we are assured of being led in right paths.

In verse 4 we encounter the “valley of the shadow of death.” I have always liked this vivid wording, but there are some other nice variants of this. A good internet paraphrase has: “Even though I stumble through the valley of deep darkness, I shall fear no evil, for my Shepherd is with me.” (http://www.scribd.com/doc/66772526/Paraphrases-of-Psalm-23) The word ‘stumble’ is helpful, because that’s exactly what we experience when we are in those dark places in life. And one of my favorite wordings for this verse is from the CEV: “I may walk through valleys as dark as death, but I won’t be afraid. You are with me.”

The 2^nd part of verse 4 returns to the shepherd’s language with things like rod and staff, which of course is something that tends to be obscure to us. The basic idea is that the shepherd’s tools provide security for the sheep— the rod to ward off enemies; and the hooked staff to direct the sheep by tapping them or even pulling them back. And so The Message has: “Your trusty shepherd’s crook makes me feel secure.” And the Amplified gets the most explicit with: “Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.”

Verse 5 talks of oil, food, and drink, all in the presence of enemies—the idea being of abundant provision, even in the middle of hostility and danger. CEV does a good job with this: “You treat me to a feast, while my enemies watch. You honor me as your guest.” Some paraphrases highlight specific points in the verse, such as the effect of the oil: “My Shepherd anoints my head with healing oil at eve’s light, soothing the wounds of my daily sojourn in the fields.” And from the same paraphrase: “My cup overflows, and this abundance I am able to share with others.” This paraphrase is clearly an interpretation, but it highlights well one of the reasons God gives us much, so that we can be generous. I’ll share one more translation for this verse. The ancient Rheims-Douay translation I already mentioned has what for us today is a humorous take on the overflowing cup. It says: “My chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!”

Finally, ‘goodness and mercy all of my days’ is the subject of verse 6. And there are some nice versions of this. Like The Message’s“Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life.” Or a hymn written in 1633 by George Herbert:
“Surely, your sweet and wondrous love/ Shall measure all my days,/
And, as it never shall remove,/ So neither shall my praise.”
I also like TEV’s: “I know that your goodness and love will be with me all my life; and your house will be my home as long as I live.”

I’ll finish up by noting what an amazingly effective thing this Psalm is. In looking up these translations I came across comments from literary critics who have little or no connection to religion or faith, but were touched by it and felt that this is among the most powerful poetry ever written. The evidence of its power is the fact that we can derive so many helpful ideas from the Psalm, even though it uses a metaphor that has virtually nothing to do with our lives. After all, very few people in the US today are shepherds or ever will be. And yet it sure works well for putting you in a better frame of mind.

And I want to say something about the effect of the Psalm in the context of recent events. With the tragedy we witnessed this past week in Boston during the bombing and its aftermath, how truly we need the hope and calm of these verses:
-to know God’s provision is there even in the presence of our enemies,
-to know that even beyond this life we may dwell in the Lord’s house forever.

I close by sharing the version I came across which was probably my favorite, Moffatt’s translation of the 23^rd Psalm from 1926:

“The Eternal shepherds me, I lack for nothing; he makes me lie in meadows green, he leads me to refreshing streams, he revives life in me. He guides me by true paths, as he himself is true. My road may run through a glen of doom, but I fear no harm, for thou art beside me; thy club, thy staff – they give me courage. Thou art my host, spreading a feast for me, while my foes have to look on! Thou has poured oil upon my head, my cup is brimming over; yes, and all through my life Goodness and Kindness wait on me, the Eternal’s guest within his household evermore.”

A convenient source for many of these translations all in one place can be found at:

http://theory.stanford.edu/~oldham/church/ps23-translations-2006Feb22/ps23-translations-2006Feb22.pdf

Pastor Marcus Hess was interim pastor at Immanuel from September 2008 to March 2010 before I arrived here. Marcus died Thursday morning, September 13, in Duluth, Minnesota from a very aggressive form of colon and liver cancer. He had only received the diagnosis a few weeks earlier. Marcus was only 6o years old.

Our congregation gathered in a quiet service of prayer and meditation for Marcus on the evening of Wednesday, September 12. Our purpose was not only to pray for God’s strength for him and his family, but also to seek God’s comfort and presence for our congregation and for all who knew him and celebrated his life. As it turned out, our service took place only hours before his passing. It was very meaningful for us to know that we were surrounding him with prayer in his final hours here on earth.

We will continue to hold Marcus’ family in our prayers. May he rest in God’s peace.

The following is a link to a recording of the service of prayer for Pastor Marcus.

Pr Marcus Service 2012-09-12

Here is a sermon I preached recently on the subject of how we use our words.

I want to begin by asking you to imagine with me the following three brief conversations:

1. A boy finishes his evening meal. He says to his mom: “Thanks for supper, Mom. By the way, that was the worst meal you ever made.”

2. A woman runs into an old friend of hers by chance. She says: “Hey, it’s you. Wow, great to see you! Boy, have you aged.”

3. A parishioner is exiting the church. He shakes the pastor’s hand and says: “Pastor that’s got to be the worst sermon I ever heard.”

What do all three of the statements have in common? Well, obviously the fact that they all sound pretty cruel. They could definitely all cause some pain. But that’s not the only thing they have in common. The other thing is that they are all potentially true statements. Uttered in the right context each could be a statement of fact:1. There certainly are times when a mom or dad trying a new recipe for supper might create something less than appetizing. 2. It’s certainly possible that a friend you haven’t seen in a long time would have aged. We’re all doing that. 3. And it certainly is not hard to imagine a preacher preaching a boring sermon. (Hopefully you’re not beginning to realize how possible that is right now.)

We’re not talking here about the issue of truth versus untruth. We’re talking instead about the use of the truth. We are encouraged a lot in life not to lie, because lying hurts. It weaves a tangled web we get caught in sooner or later. It destroys the trust of the person you’re lying to. But the truth is that the truth can hurt too. It can hurt very badly. And although it’s virtually always better to tell the truth than to lie, what we need is to understand the proper use of the truth.

After all, even really nice words of truth can be a problem when spoken in the wrong context. Take, for instance, the words “I love you.” What could be a nicer thing to tell someone? And yet it’s not the kind of thing you want to tell a person too soon. Even if you’re really smitten with someone, you’re likely to scare them off if you tell them you’re in love with them the first time you go out. And if you really want to watch them run, ask them to marry you on the first date.

In other words, there’s not only the question of how you tell the truth, but when to tell it—whether you’re telling the truth of confessing your love for someone, or trying to correct a bad habit, or telling them about Jesus and the Christian faith—timing can be an important matter in how your words are received.

And by the way, this issue of the timing of your words of truth can be very tricky. Because just as it’s possible to jump in too soon and blurt out the truth, it’s possible also to wait too long to tell the truth. Imagine you come home and find your little preschool girl playing with matches. You look at her from across the room and you think: “Oh, the precious dear. Look at her. She’s having so much fun. I know it’s dangerous, but this is part of her process of self-actualization. I won’t interrupt her fun just yet. I’ll let her play a little bit longer.” The truth is, of course, that with this approach she probably won’t be around much longer to tell the truth to. There are times when the people we love are involved in behavior that is very dangerous, like drug and alcohol abuse, suicidal or depressive tendencies, or just playing with matches. And at times like that the truth just won’t wait.

So, how do you know when to let someone have the truth? Whether it’s the truth about a life and death matter, religious truth, truth about what you really think of them, or truth that simply might be helpful in some way? There probably is no definitive once and for all answer to every situation. But there is a beautiful little guiding principle in the Bible, found in Ephesians 4, which we read earlier in this service. Just five little words that you might have passed right over if you weren’t paying attention. Those words are: “speaking the truth in love.”

Let’s think about what that can mean. Speaking the truth in love is something that can help you, first of all, by enabling you to differentiate between truth that truly helps the other, and truth spoken only for your own satisfaction or advantage. Such as the difference between telling someone their hair is messed up right before a speech, so they can fix it and won’t be embarrassed; or telling them their hair looks terrible when they’re just around the house and not going anywhere. In both situations it may be the truth, but in the first one you are really helping them, and in the second you’re merely informing them that they don’t meet with your approval.

And secondly, speaking the truth in love can also affect how you say things. It makes a big difference if you have to correct someone to do it with a little compassion, understanding, and kindness. It sure is more effective than the method we often succumb to of yelling, chiding, and scolding. Sometimes it’s not so much whether something is true, but how it is presented.

By the way, today as part of our time together we will be celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary of Doug and Gisela Daetz. I’m guessing that in their 50 years together they have experienced marriage as a school in which they have had to learn the art of not just speaking the truth to each other, but speaking that truth with love. (Doug and Gisela, we’ll all be looking for pointers from you on this at the celebration after the service.)
And speaking of pointers, Jesus is a good example of this way of using words. He really had this speaking-the-truth-in-love thing down.

He could be extremely gentle and supportive to people who were vulnerable. Like when a woman (in John 8 ) was brought to him about whom the truth was that she had been caught in the act of adultery and was probably going to be stoned for it, or at least castigated and excluded from society. Jesus stood up for her, kept her from being condemned by others, but also encouraged her to find a new and better path in life. That time he was very gentle.

But at other times he could be extremely blunt. This was usually the case when he was defending someone else, such as in the text that I read to you a moment ago from Mark 7. In that passage Jesus has no problem strongly speaking out against the religious leaders as hypocrites, because they are subjecting the people to all kinds of criticism for not observing the ceremonial law as strictly as they did. That passage refers to how the Pharisees had created all these ceremonial purity and kosher laws about washing yourself in prescribed ways at different periods of the day. These rules and others gave you this huge body of ceremonial duties each day, and when you didn’t do it their way, they came after you pretty harshly. Jesus contention was, “You’re creating all these traditions that make it harder to keep God’s law than it has to be.” And then he gets to the crux of the truth about this by saying: “You know, it is actually what comes out of a person that defiles them. That’s what makes them impure, not the ritual purity of the food that goes into them.” Because what can come out of them may be words of hate, slander, lust, greed, cruelty. All kinds of poison.

And sometimes even words of truth can be spoken in this way. Which is why not merely speaking the truth, but speaking the truth in love is so important, as we were trying to demonstrate today with the children in the children’s message by letting the positive instead of the negative define what we say.

This, by the way, is one of my great concerns with political life in America today. Regardless of which side is right or which story is true, the Republican or the Democrat, there is so much hate and anger being used in our political discourse, that to use Jesus’ metaphor, that which is coming out of us is defiling us and our life together. We would do well as a nation to take his warning about the words and spirit that come out of us seriously.

Well, I wanted to share these brief thoughts with you today about truth in all its various forms, not so much to give you all the answers on what to do in every situation; but rather just to remind you that with the truth you hold in your hands an extremely powerful tool – a tool that can be used to build or to destroy. And as with all tools, it needs to be used in the right way.

Jesus himself is called in our Christian faith, the way, the truth, and the life. He is not just a speaker of the truth. He is the Truth. And so there is no doubt that he wants us to use the truth boldly and honestly, whether it is the truth of the Gospel, or the truth about politics, or the truth about supper. But like him we need to know when and how to use it. Like him we need to see when others are prepared to hear it, and to communicate clearly so that our truth does not become untruth. And above all we need to speak the truth as Jesus does, with one overwhelming motive that fills every word and colors every action. As the Scripture says, speak the truth, but speak the truth in love.

Here are a couple of things that have been happening around our church during the past month:

BIRTHDAY PARTY

On July 17 after our worship services we held a birthday party for our oldest member, Ken Haukom. Ken celebrated his 99th birthday in July. Our celebration included great food, stories, and even a song written by Ken’s grandkids.

Happy 99th, Ken!

VBS/DAY CAMP

This year Immanuel conducted its own Vacation Bible School July 16-20. Over 30 children from our church and surrounding community attended.

In addition to this, over 20 of Immanuel’s high school and junior high youth participated by providing leadership, working together with our youth director, Danny Dye, and myself.

It was amazing to see the spirit among our youth as they worked so well together, and provided a fun, safe, and faith-building environment for the kids.

The fellowship hall was also full on Thursday evening as everyone enjoyed a potluck and the children put on a show for parents and members of our church.

On Sunday, July 22, VBS children and staff gave a presentation about their week in both services.

A great time was had by all. Thanks to everyone who participated and volunteered. Special thanks to Danny Dye for his vision and leadership.

The following is a sermon that many people told me they found interesting and helpful. I preached it on Trinity Sunday, June 3, 2012.

Today I would like to talk about 2 subjects: dancing and the ancient Greek language. Now because you’ve probably never heard a sermon introduced in that way, let me explain what that means and what that does not mean. It does not mean that I intend to demonstrate for you a unique talent I have by reciting Greek Bible passages while dancing before you. That is the kind of scary-sounding talent that I do not happen to possess. So no need to head for the doors… yet.

Instead I would like to use these topics to talk about the theme of this day. This is a day referred to in the church year as Holy Trinity Sunday— a day in which we focus on the theme of Trinity in a special way, and lift our praise to God, revealed to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I don’t think I need to tell you that when we begin trying to understand and explain God, Trinity is one of the ideas that Christians find most puzzling. And you’re probably also aware of the fact that some other groups, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Muslims to name two, have heaped all kinds of criticism on us Christians for talking about this conception of God, as one God with three natures, of God as Holy Trinity.

Now, there’s no doubt that we can certainly see this idea all over the scripture. We read 3 passages today (Isaiah 6:1-8, Romans 8:14-17, John 3:5-17) that talk about God in these three ways:

-as God the Father and Creator, ruler of all;

-as Jesus the Son of God who walked with us in this world;

-and as the Holy Spirit, the presence and inspiration of God, always with us.

John 3, which we read today for example, tells of the Spirit moving in our lives, and also about how God our Father so loved the world that he sent his only son, Jesus, so that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. The language is there, but how do we really understand this language? What does it mean?

It turns out that Christians long before us spent a lot of time thinking and talking about this, and they came up with a wonderful word to describe God as Trinity. That word is perichoresis. Let me tell you about perichoresis. You probably know that the language of the early church was Greek. Perichoresis is a Greek word that has two parts in it: – peri – which means around (as in peripheral) – and choresis – which is where we get our word choreography from; that as you know refers to dancing or any kind of beautiful rhythmic movement.

Now we learn much more by seeing than just hearing, so to make sure you understand what I am saying: according to perichoresis this is what God is not like. God is not just a distant being or force like me up in the pulpit, frozen in one place looking down on you from afar.

(At this point I moved out of the pulpit and walked around the sanctuary.)

Instead God is movement. God is giving. Ancient Christians like to say that our God, as Holy Trinity, is like a dance— a perichoresis, a dance of life, and power, and interaction with you and me and all creation. Which is why God came to us in Jesus, and why God comes to you everyday in the Holy Spirit, whether you’re aware of it or not. Just as I am walking out among you, God is not just expecting the universe to come to him, but reaching out continually to the universe he made and sustains.

Now it’s always interesting to find out what earlier people thought, but maybe this all sounds a little esoteric, to the point where you may be inspired to say, “Interesting, but so what?” In response to that question I want to say that I think this subject is good for us to talk about because of the way it can speak not only to who God is, but also to who we are, and who we’re called to be. I think one of the reasons why people shy away from so-called difficult theological subjects is because they think they’re so far removed from real life. We need to understand that ideas like Trinity or perichoresis aren’t concepts that merely theorize about God, but they describe how loving and relational our God is.

For instance, this concept helps us to understand what it means when the Bible says:  “God is love.” The issue is that if God was only oneness, then until God created other beings there could be no such thing as love, since love is by definition something between persons. But if God is simultaneously one and three, then loving relationships are something that God has always been about. The early Christians imagined the Trinity as the ultimate expression of community. According to them Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in continuous, mutual, self-giving love – a beautiful choreography.

So that means the phrase, God is love, is bigger than we think. When people say ‘God is love’ they usually only mean that love is really important, or that God wants us to love; which is all true, but it doesn’t go far enough.  In the Christian understanding, love is not just something you do. Love is actually the very essence of what God is, because the ultimate reality of God is a communion of love within God’s self.

And furthermore these things are relevant because they describe not just God’s reality, but ours. When we get together each week, our worship and fellowship here are to resemble the same dance. That’s why Christians do so much music, more than any other group or institution in society. Through this music and the other things we do in worship we’re to be experiencing the delight of pouring ourselves out in love toward God and each other, and receiving that same love, grace, and affirmation back from God and our Christian sisters and brothers –perichoresis.

And God also intends all of our life to become this dance of love and service. Meeting for Bible study, praying for one another, meeting as a congregation to do the business of the church after this service, caring for the weakest and neediest among us, taking care of the environment, loving not only our friends and family but also the stranger, praising and thanking God in daily life— these things are not just optional, occasional activities for Christians. They are part of the dance of love that God calls us to enter into continually.

So there it is. Ancient Greek, dancing, and the concept of the Trinity all in one compact message. (And hopefully you don’t think I just danced around this subject.) Because I mean it very seriously that the implication of these words is that God intends for you and me to break out of our self-centered, NOT-dancing mode, and enter the dance of God– by caring, worshiping, giving, and believing in the one who has given himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

On Pentecost this year (May 27) we emphasized the theme of Birthday. For the children’s sermon I even lit a candle on a cake, and had the kids blow it out as we sang Happy Birthday. Whose birthday was it? Not Jesus’, of course. That’s Christmas. And not the birthday of any saint. Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, the celebration of the day almost 2000 years ago when 50 days after Passover and Easter (that’s where the “pente” comes from –it’s literally the feast of the 50th), Jesus’ disciples gathered together and by the power of God, took his word to those around them; three thousand people were received into the church that day by baptism, and the church was born. This event is described in Acts 2.

Now we usually make a big deal out of birthdays. So what about this birthday? Is it worth a celebration? I say absolutely. Because as you can see from the story of that first Pentecost Sunday, what that day was really about was creating a new kind of community, a community in which all of our distinct communities are brought together.

In fact, there’s actually a joke connected with Pentecost in this area. It’s kind of a joke among pastors to see which one of our church members will get to do the Bible reading from Acts 2 on Pentecost Sunday?The reason is because this is the reading that has all those ancient ethnic and national names: Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, etc. It can be pretty challenging to say the least.

But what we need to know is that when Luke was writing this chapter he wasn’t just trying to create a Sunday reading that church members would fear for all time. He was trying to make a point about this new kind of Christian community.

So here’s how it works. You know how most of the communities of the world are centered around the idea that they are different from all the others and, therefore, must be at odds with others. And so in the world you have white communities, black communities, Latin communities, Asian communities, rich and poor, male and female, liberals vs. conservatives, workers vs. management, developed nations vs. developing nations, old vs. young. And the assumption is that all of these communities must be in competition with each other, have different values from each other, and therefore be opposed to each other.

But this Christian community born almost 2000 years ago is built on the notion that all of these so-called differences are rather small and petty in the light of the unifying power of God’s love demonstrated for us in the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And therefore, anyone can find a place in this new community. You are now no longer just one of those categories– rich, poor, Mexican, American, old, young. Now you are Christian, sister, brother. Now you belong to God.

Of course not everybody believes these things about the church. Some people don’t even know about this, and try to dismiss the church as an outdated religious system with little current relevance. What do you think? Is the Church really a transformative community that has the power to bring all other communities together? Or are these mere unattainable ideals?

I’ll tell you what I say: I believe in this community. I believe that the Church really is God’s healing, helping family (or at least it can be). And I’ll give you my reason. My reaon is a person named Harry. Let me tell you about Harry.

Harry is a man that I knew when I was pastoring a church in southern California. He had many problems, among them addiction and mental illness. Because of these problems, by the time I met Harry he was living on the street. I met him because every Wednesday my church served lunch to homeless people. Harry found out about our meals and came to them for many months. Gradually he got acquainted with our people, and even helped out at the meals when he could.

Then Harry suddenly became very sick, and he died. I was privileged to be asked to conduct Harry’s funeral service in our church. That turned out to be the most incredible experience. Here’s why.  As a result of Harry’s problems he had isolated himself, and his family hadn’t seen him for many years. The only family Harry had known in recent years was his fellow homeless people and the people he had contact with at our church. When it was time for the funeral, some of his original family members had been notified of his death, and so his brother, sister, and former wife came to the funeral. Many homeless people came also. And so you had these two different families together that day, families that had never met before: the family Harry had grown up with that loved him and missed him during his years of struggle and isolation; and his current family composed of our church and homeless people from the streets of our city. These two families sat side-by-side in church as I shared words of God’s promise and hope from the Gospel, in which God tells us that he will wipe away every tear, that God will heal every illness, including the illness of addiction and mental turmoil. These two families came together, heard God’s word, got to know each other a little, and comforted each other in their loss.

Do I believe Pentecost is worth celebrating? Yes, I do. Because Pentecost celebrates the birthday of the place where things like this can happen. After all, where else could you create one family out of two such disparate families, like the two that came together for the memorial that day? Where else could people with such enormous differences find unity and belonging. There is no other place.

And so we celebrate on Pentecost the wonderful healing family that was born 2000 years ago. We celebrate the people sitting around us in church, no longer strangers from different communities and different worlds, but brothers and sisters in Christ. We celebrate the opportunity to welcome them and to be welcomed by them. We celebrate the opportunity to share a meal with each other when we come forward to the Lord’s Supper, a sign and experience of our unity.

As you come to that meal in worship on any Sunday, know that because of Pentecost the Church is not a place of low expectations, merely going through the motions of religion. It is instead a place where you will encounter the Christ who offers genuine love and acceptance: a place to be united with your brothers and sisters from all walks of life in faith community.

It is the place, in other words, where you will experience a true Happy Birthday.

We wish to send our heartfelt prayers and good wishes to Pastor Sam and Cindy Wolff, who are retiring and beginning a new life to the U.S. after 33 years in foreign missions. Here is a farewell letter from the Wolff’s:

Dear Dave, Carla and Good Members,
Greetings from Nairobi. It has been great having your church walk the path with us. Thank you for all of the personal support and friendship over the years.   We will be leaving Nairobi at the end of May having served in the mission field for nearly 33 years.  We began in Nairobi in 1980.  In 1991 we went to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.  Beginning in 2001 we served for eight years in an International congregation in Frankfurt, Germany and since 2009 we have been back in Nairobi to up finish where it all began.  God has blessed us beyond measure.  It has not always been easy, but it has always been an adventure.

Cindy has finished her work with Pangani Lutheran Children’s Centre (PLCC).  As you know it is a street children programme for girls.  In her time with PLCC literally hundreds of girls have been taken off the street and given an opportunity for a new life.  It was a blessing that she was still here to see the new facility official opened and occupied.  It is a wonderful housing complex built outside of the city, so as to not only get the girls off the streets, but to keep them off.

Sam is wrapping up his time at Nairobi International Lutheran Congregation.  We completed the chapel last July and were finally able to move out of the tent.  Since then we have grown in spirit and numbers. The Nursery School, Knitting School and Sewing School carry on serving many of the “least of these” in our community, empowering adults and children alike through education and job skills.  The HIV/AIDS outreach and support group is continuing doing a very fine ministry reaching out in His Name. They have recently received national awards for their dedicated work.

We are also happy to report that new missionaries will be coming to continue this mission. But for now its almost time we leave our wonderful church at the foot of the Ngong Hills.

We remember all of you and we thank you for walking with us.  Without you our highway for God would have not been made straight nor our valley exalted, the hill and the mountain would still be high and the rough places less smooth.  For it is through your prayers and support that the glory of the Lord is revealed and we have been able to work together in His vineyard. (Some words borrowed from Isaiah 40: 3 – 5.) On behalf of so many, Thank You!

May God bless you good people abundantly and we will remain in touch, Sam and Cindy

We are happy to report that Immanuel will continue our vital support relationship with the Nairobi International Congregation and the mission in Kenya. Sam and Cindy’s successors will be Pastor Mike and Leslie Fonner. As more news becomes available about the Fonner’s arrival, you’ll read it here.

These next few posts will help me to catch up on the past couple of months, which have been too busy to get anything up on this blog. I’ll start with a few pictures from our congregational life.

CONFIRMATION

May 20 was Confirmation Sunday. We celebrated with 9 of our young people and prayed for God’s blessing on their future. Congratulations to Hendrik, Hannah, Emma, Alexander, Camille, Jenna, Hunter, Christine, and Amelie. Thanks also to all who contributed in many ways to make this an exciting and inspirational day! If you’d like to see the Bible passages the kids chose for their confirmation verses, look up the following (a good way to get to know some of the comforting words the Bible brings us):

John 8:32        Matthew 5:9    Psalm 30:1

Psalm 27:1      Psalm 37:4       Psalm 46:1

Proverbs 16:3            Hebrews 11:1

PENTECOST

Here is a picture from Pentecost Sunday, May 27. Our 11:00 service began with a festival processional designed to emphasize the gift of the Holy Spirit given to people of all nations on the first Day of Pentecost. Themes of Spirit, wind, freedom, and the weaving together of our separate lives were represented by the long pieces of colorful cloth and the helium balloons. Thanks to our processional team (and especially Val and Nyx, who did a great job of releasing the balloons).  “And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” – Acts 2:2,4

EASTER EGG HUNT

Our annual Community Easter Egg Hunt on April 7 was lots of fun for all in attendance. We estimate attendance to have been over 300 people. Our great staff (mostly Immanuel’s Senior and Jr. High youth) put on a great program and managed these large numbers extremely well with crafts, games, stories, snacks, and of course the egg hunt itself. Near the end of our time together we took the families into the sanctuary to sing and hear how Jesus’ message of resurrection is behind our celebration.

TALENT SHOW

We had a talent show on May 8 put on by the youth as a fundraiser. They also provided a fine dinner. Here are pictures of a few of the acts.

I recently got a request to post the text of a sermon I preached at Immanuel a few weeks ago. This is from March 18, 2012 and is based on a passage from the Gospel of John chapter 3:16-20. It’s all about the things we run from in life. Here it is:

Back in the 1970s I spent some time in the Army. My basic training was at Fort Ord near Monterey. Some of the experiences in my training remain very vivid in my mind. One in particular was a nighttime survival exercise. What happened is that we were put at one end of a large area about 1 mile in length. It had some trees and shrubs, as well as some open land. Our assignment: to make it from one end to the other without being captured by the many patrols that were out there. They were also setting off flares to illuminate the area, so it was quite a challenge.

We started out. A lot of guys made a mad dash for it, and got caught right away. I took my time getting going. I analyzed the situation. I stayed low, listened, found good cover, and used other guys’ mistakes. In this way I made slow and steady progress without getting caught.

In fact I did too well. I did such a good job of staying hidden, that after the exercise was over I (and a couple others like me) were still out there. They actually sent a jeep out to look for me. It took a while for them to find me too, because I was trying to keep out of sight of everyone, including those who wanted to get me home that night. And so I had the ironic experience of hiding from the very people who were trying to help me.

In the Gospel lesson I just read to you Jesus Christ describes a similar situation. He talks about a God who created people and dearly loves them. And God looks at people and God sees alienation:- The way people become alienated from each other, misunderstanding, hating, fighting, not just between countries and ethnic groups, but even within families. - God sees how people become alienated from the creation—destroying it, polluting it, abusing it— whether it is the creation that is their environment, or the creation that is even their own bodies. - God sees how people become alienated even within themselves– turning on themselves with self-doubt, depression, worry, and all kinds of self-destructive habits.

And so God says, “I’m going to them to help them. I will not leave them to themselves.” So God comes to our world in Jesus Christ to bring us back from the darkness; to bring us guidance, and a place to belong, and salvation from our self-destructive ways. As John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

And how do people react? Well, Jesus says very often they hide. Just like my experience in the Army, where I was hiding from the very ones who were trying to end my long cold night, and give me a ride back to the warmth and light of my living quarters – people hide from the help, love, and newness that Jesus offers.

Why? Jesus puts it this way in John 3:19-20: “This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Those who do evil hate the light and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.”

But honestly, what are people really hiding from when they hide from God and faith? You heard the words from Ephesians 2:4-5, another one of our readings today: “But because of God’s great love for us, God who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in our sins. It is by grace that you have been saved. This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
So it turns out, according to this passage when people hide from God, they are hiding from a gift, because that’s what the word grace means. God offers humans the gift of forgiveness, of acceptance as we are, of new life and eternal life, and the opportunity for genuine change. And yet people often see faith, hope , and a more eternal perspective as something to avoid and to run from.

It is perhaps a lot like someone who has a long lost uncle. We’ll say this someone is you. And this uncle has died and left you an incredible sum of money. But the lawyer who is the executor of the estate is having trouble reaching you by mail or telephone; so he decides to come to your house and inform you personally of the good news. He and a colleague show up at the house and knock on the door. But you look out through a side window, and you think: “Who are these people in suits? Are they IRS representatives? I haven’t always been totally honest with my taxes. Or maybe they’re FBI, and they’re going to charge me with a crime. Who knows? Maybe they’re Mafia hit men? So you decide to stay hidden, to play it safe. You don’t answer the door, until they finally go way. But they come again next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. And everyday the same thing happens: you hide and refuse to answer the door, because you don’t want to take the risk that this could be something bad. So they start showing up at your work. But you always find a way to elude them. You crawl out between the desks when you see them coming, or you escape out the backdoor. You start to disguise yourself with a false mustache or with wigs when you go out. The executor pursues you everywhere and everyway he can to try and give you your inheritance. But for years to come you outsmart him, by being too smart for your own good. And in the process, you find a way to run away from the very thing that could make your life much more pleasant and prosperous.

Face it, humans are good at running and hiding from what’s good for us. We hide from each other, we hide from love, we hide from change, we hide from God. Very often the absence of a place for spirituality in a person’s life is disguised by a lack of time, or discomfort with deeper questions in life, like: Should my life have moral values? What will happen when I die? Very often there’s a struggle even to admit that we are fallible or mortal. And so one avoids exposure to things about God and faith, and this whole piece of life is missing. A very common situation nowadays.

But in the midst of all that denial, we hear the voice of Jesus saying: “Come. Come without fear and be exposed for who you are. Come and be cleansed. Come and be loved. Come and be accepted. Come and be transformed.”

For by grace you are saved; by grace and love. This gift is not of yourself. It is the gift of God. Come out into the light, embrace faith, and receive the gift.

This past week we finished up another series of midweek Lenten services at Immanuel. The theme this year was The Ten Commandments. We took a closer look at the commandments as a congregation and added a special emphasis. Many people, of course, approach these ancient rules for living as mere restrictions – as negative “do nots.” Together we explored the positive within each commandment, seeking to discover the blessings of freedom hidden within its language of obligation. As in the previous year, these services were part of a special project for our Confirmation youth. The kids provided leadership by reading, leading prayers, and sharing ideas we came up with together in class. Using Martin Luther’s writings in the catechisms as our starting point, I had them restate each of the commandments positively and share that with the congregation. Here, for instance, is what they came up with for the 7^th commandment, ‘You shall not steal’:

• You shall share with other people.
• Support your neighbors by protecting them and their things.
• Remember how you feel when you are robbed.
• You shall show respect for others’ goods.
• You shall be fair.
• Remember the poor.

We also had a great musical team for the services, with many of our musicians working together. Thanks to all who helped. My wife, Carla, wrote a special song for the services fitting with the theme calleded “The Law of the Lord Is Love.” Here is a recording of it:

The Law Of the Lord Is Love