A Tribute To All American Heroes

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THIS IS NOT BACKGROUND MUSIC

Writing this blog, I have gone through a few Kleenex as I watched and listened to several moving tributes to our heroes before choosing this one. I like that this tribute ends (and I bet begins) in prayer, and invite you to watch and listen to its entirety.  

As we honor the Seven Faith Practices at English Lutheran, it might seem providential that America’s (U.S.) upcoming Independence Day Celebration falls almost between June’s focus on Worship (offering praise) and July’s focus on Prayer. As many across this country gather for July 4th community and family festivities, I hope we also take the time to honor and pray for the many thousands of Military, Firemen and Women, Police, Doctors, Nurses, Chaplains, and countless Unsung Heroes who support and help sustain them.  These are the folks who have and continue to put their own lives on the line, to fight for and sustain the FREEDOMS and SAFETY which we enjoy and live in each and every day.

As we honor All Our Heroes and participate in various Independence Day celebrations, may we also continue to strive for ‘Justice for All’, finding means through peace, prayer, mercy, understanding and compassion, in God’s Spirit .

For many this upcoming holiday is a bittersweet time: a time to celebrate and a time to mourn. There is a ‘thin line’ which joins both, and in the breath of this ‘thin line’ one can find the seeds of Compassion, Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Life.  These are seeds which, when shared, can foster freedom and justice across our country and our planet.

This Independence Day, may you know the joys and the gratitude of the freedoms we share, giving thanks to God for all we have, and to All Our Heroes for their services and lives!

Fountain of Everlasting Peace and Healing Balm,
Wash over our wounds of war, violence, and hatred,
Scrub deep the stains that destroy the fabric of Your Existence,
Mend the tattered threads of the Cloak of Your Majesty,
The delicate web of the universe which is Your Life and Love...
.Help us to learn forgiveness, kindness, tolerance,
Greatness of mind and heart,
So that destroying all weapons of war,
Burying all animosities and differences,
We may hear the Divine Harmony of Your Love,
.That draws all into Unity in one Compassionate Heart.
Making Peace grow in our hearts as seeds for a new era,
Birthing the song of non-violence
Which blesses our world with Peace
Eternal.

from ‘Prayer for Peace Day - Sister Rosemarie – 2006

Shalom,

Susan

Prayer as Exercise: Ways to break the rut

 "The two best prayers I know are 'help me, help me, help me,' and 'thank you thank you thank you.'"

Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies

For me, prayer is like working out: I know I should do it everyday and always feel better when I do. But I usually tend to put it off or flat out not do it unless there is a crisis, or we hit the annual spiritual "new year's resolution"-like experience of Lent.

Here are some ways that I have rejuvenated my prayer life when stuck in a rut, can't find the words, or am just plain lazy.

• Breath prayers. Think of a mantra, phrase, or other simple thought you would like to say to God. Some of my stand-bys are "kyrie eleison, christe eleison" or "Emmanuel, Emmanuel, into my heart to dwell." Breathe in, thinking of the first part of your mantra, hold it, breathe out on the second. Repeat as desired. 

• Color/Sound prayers. Pick a color or a sound and pray every time you see/hear it. A common one is saying a prayer when you hear a siren for those it affects. Martin Luther is said to have prayed with gratitude for baptism every time he touched water.
• Prayer Labyrinth. Walking a labyrinth is an ancient tradition. There is one available at Franciscan Skemp, and ELC rented one this year for a weekend. If you're not able to get to a prayer labyrinth, sometime a walk around the neighborhood and praying for the people in each house you pass can serve. There is also an online prayer labyrinth if you're not able to get outside. 
• Protestant Prayer Beads. While the Catholics have their rosaries, we can also use beads as a way to pray. Luther recommended prayer beads for Lent, starting with one a day and adding one through each of the forty days. There is something very tactile and comforting about praying with beads. Again, there is an online version, but I would also invite you to make your own if Spirit moves.
• Praying hymns or Bible verses. When I can't make sense of my own thoughts, I sometimes go to those of others. Lectio divina is one way to mindfully slow down on passages that speak to our souls.
• Community resources. The ELCA has a whole page of prayer resources. I have found our pastors to be enormously helpful when I've been stuck in my prayer life. I have asked close friends to pray out loud for me when I cannot find my own words.

And when all else fails, I recite the Lord's prayer and/or the Apostles creed until my mind and heart are still enough to pray as my soul needs.  My prayer for you this week is that you are able to deepen your prayer experiences in a way that is meaningful to you and allows you to sense and hear the loving presence of our God.

~Rachel

Prayer - A Daily Dose Will Do It!

Prayer is a dynamic activity that requires purpose and effort. When I find myself disciplined in a daily ritual, I also find that I feel more at peace with life, no matter the ups and downs. For me, prayer comes in the form of frank discussions with God, out loud or in my head while doing daily chores or driving. In the morning, prayer comes in the form of quieting my mind and merely listening while trying to turn off the chatter in my brain. When successful (this is the most difficult kind of prayer for me), it is a calming way to begin the day. I tend to be more productive on days that I start with this type of prayer. Other days, I pray through reading proverbs or scripture. Sometimes I sing songs from my kids’ bible camp song CD and use that as my prayer time. No matter the form, prayer is critical for me to be successful in life. I define success as living a purposeful life that works towards making the world a better place than it was before I was here.


With that as my goal in life, prayer is necessary to guide me towards my purpose. I have recently been introduced to Richard Foster and Julia Roller’s “A Year With God” (a good book to help wtih the daily prayer ritual). In this book a portion on prayer talks about the guilt we tend to feel because we do not pray enough or correctly. The book goes on to say that we should not feel guilt, just start to pray any way you can then the Spirit will move you along. We are human, and therefore perfectly imperfect. Pray whenever the thought hits you in any way you can and you will see your life transform as well as the lives around you. Instead of giving yourself a hard time for not praying enough, celebrate the times you remember to pray. In doing so, you will find yourself celebrating daily before you know it!

Romans 8:26 - 

We do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

-Eva Marie

Worship: What makes your soul dance?

Background music


When I moved to La Crosse, finding a church home was as high a priority as getting my drivers license. For the first time, I had a large number of churches to try and didn't have friends or family to guide my decisions. I decided to dig through church websites and make a spreadsheet of credentials that were important to me--including style of worship. I started with my highest scorer and systematically worked my way down the list. English didn't win a lot of points, in large part because we have a praise band that plays at every service periodically. I love Gregorian chant, Taize, sung liturgy from the ELW, and other such "traditional" styles. This music feeds my soul, connects me to our church history, and helps me find God through simplicity in a chaotic world. On the opposite end of the spectrum, praise band to me three years ago meant songs that I snarkily call "Jesus is my boyfriend" music: in other words, chords from pop music and lyrics where "my significant other" could be substituted for Jesus and still make sense. How could I find a community with those who didn't share the same kind of music that I love? How could I find God in music that makes my inner music snob cringe?


Long story short, I found my home, my family, and God at ELC. I play an obnoxiously hot pink electric violin in our praise band. Worst of all, I've gone through a complete transformation where I even look forward to Faithlift Sundays. Chant and Taize still remain a part of my personal devotion time, but I found that praise music can also be a powerful experience. I realized the importance of having different ways to worship to speak to different people and to each of us at different moments in our lives. I learned that judging a church based on its music is awfully similar to judging its people based on what I initially see, instead of seizing the opportunity to know and love neighbor as self. I've discovered that when I am open to God and His many mysterious ways of working that I grow personally and spiritually.

ELC strives to vary its worship and styles. In worship council, I've participated in energizing discussions as we plan a multitude of worship experiences. We examine ways that worship can build community, as well as both soothe members in all walks of life and simultaneously challenge them to grow. We learn about best practices for worship, attend other churches to see how they structure worship, and consider if or how these ideas would work in our own congregation. In all our work, we prayerfully consider our people and the God we serve.

My confirmation pastor taught me that experiencing God feels like your soul is dancing. He encouraged my class to seek those "thin places," as Borg calls them, wherever we are in our lives. I pray that you do find God in worship--both in ways that you expect, and in the ways God may be nudging you to be open, grow, and let your soul dance in new ways.

Rachel

Abandon Yourself to Worship

 [ Back ground music - click here]

One of the great joys of any given Sunday is when Faithlift starts an upbeat tune, there are couple of our younger members who start dancing with all abandon in the aisle in front of the choir. They have the greatest joy that just ERUPTS from them in movement, their feet are bouncing and kicking, their arms waving, their smiles are wide and electric.  Every adult within eyeshot cannot help but have a wide grin.   Perhaps worship is best approached with a bit of childlike abandon!

 

Worship is expressed, as Susan notes in the previous blog, in prayer, music, ritual and giving. These are all expressions that can be merely observed, but when they are lived and experienced they can reach deep into your soul. Marcus Borg refers to these times as the “thin places” where the kingdom of God and our plane of existence come closely together. It’s a little uncomfortable. You are a little vulnerable. You are seeking to make a connection to God. If you are coming to worship with a closed mind or a closed heart, no matter how friendly the greeters, how good the music, the reading, the sermon, the wine at communion – worship cannot happen if you don’t open yourself to the experience.

Ask any three people about what makes a good worship service and you’ll get 4 answers. Like any other church we try to make worship a significant experience for all who join us.

ELC has a Worship Council – a group of dedicated people who are committed to that task.  The Worship Council has adopted some definitions, a vision, and principles to guide ourselves as we plan -- which I will share below with some annotation.

What is worship?  ELC’s working definition is “ God’s people receiving God’s gifts and responding with praise and thanksgiving.” Worship is the main reason why we come together in community – it has been the reason ever since the first followers gathered in small house churches. They met to be together, to hear the Word, to share a meal. Pretty simple really. It was a way of strengthening each person to go out and be God’s hands at work in the world. Our worship takes many forms, but the main things are still there – Community, Word and Sacrament.

What is quality worship? “At ELC, worship shall be diverse, participative, inspirational and transformative” – so states our vision.  Quality, like beauty, may be in the mind of the beholder. But as a community, we strive to achieve the above attributes within the design of our worship. We bring different styles of music, different ways of presenting scripture, different ways of looking at/hearing the Word to make our worship experiences vital and authentic. If you particularly like (or dislike) something that has been done in worship, please let me know.  Everyone has different tastes and has different ways of “getting into” the worship mindset, so as a community we continually seek to find new ways of supporting each other in our mutual desire to worship in community.

What are the Principles for Worship? There are 4 primary principles we believe:

 1)   God is the center of worship

 2)  The chief aim of worship is to praise God

 3)   Liturgy is the work of the people - we believe worship is to be participative, intergenerational

                 and involving the whole person.

       4)   God speaks in worship and God’s Word comes in the forms of law and gospel.

Translation: worship is not a performance to be passively viewed. It is an experience/connection with God to be participated in with heart, soul, mind, voice, and body.  Through worship then, we seek to abandon our “selves” (or ego if you prefer) to receive the gifts of God. It’s hard to receive the gifts of God with a closed mind or heart.

“Oh, but I can’t sing, I don’t know how to pray, I don’t understand the ritual, I don’t know these people very well.”

It’s okay. It’s not a performance, remember? No one is judging you (and if they are they shouldn’t be!). You are a welcome member of our community if this is your first visit or your 201^st. Start small, learn a couple of the tunes. If you can’t really carry a tune, move with the music , say the words in rhythm and clap. It’s all good. Pray a simple prayer - “Lord help me get through the week” and build on that. Follow the ritual. You’ll understand it as you do it over and over and over again. That’s how ritual works. It becomes a part of you and in it you find YOUR meaning. Then meet one person. Ask them how they are doing. Then ask another.  Pretty soon you’ll know LOTS of people.  Give a little something and you’ll receive way more in return. 

Dance with the children and you’ll find yourself by abandoning yourself to worship.

Paul

Come and Worship: Come and See

The Lord’s Prayer, chanted in the Aramaic language which Jesus spoke.

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised. Psalm 113: 3     

To Worship is to offer an expression(s) of reverence and devotion towards a deity. As Christians  and Disciples of Christ, worship is a time of offering praise and prayer to the Holy Trinity of God, communally and individually.

In today’s culture, Worship Services are often offered in a variety of styles: e.g. traditional, contemplative, contemporary, and praise. Across the globe, worship is expressed according to culture and language. Yet, within these differing and emerging variations, one might ask, ‘What are the roots which bind this diversity of worship styles?’  Scripture offers these essential roots.

Praise and Thanksgiving which includes prayer: "Therefore, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to God." (Heb. 13:15).

During my early years, celebrating Jewish Holy Days often included the prayerful ritual of washing hands before dinner. Though I didn’t understand the meaning of ‘worship, the idea of coming together to perform this act seemed sacred to me. Amid the many ways we offer God praise and thanksgiving, doing so in the presence of community is both powerful and fortifying.

Music as found in the Psalms. "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands!  Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing." (Psalm 100:1-2).  
Music has the ability to speak beyond language and reach into one’s heart and soul. History has shown the spirit of music can build bridges within the challenges of human development, and reach across the barriers of culture and language. Can you imagine brothers and sisters around the world lifting their voices, singing praises to God at the same time?

Observing God’s Holy Days of Worship, since the beginning of time. On the 7^th day, God rested and saw what was good (Genesis). "Now on the 1^st day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, 'Where do You want us to prepare for You the feast of Passover?' ” (Matthew 26:17). I will say more about this worship note later.

The Giving of Spiritual Gifts and Tithes speaks of our intentions within worship. "To each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift....so you may grow in all ways into God, from whom the whole body joined and knit together, by what every joint supplies…according to the effective work by which each part employs…causing growth of the BODY for the edifying of itself in Christ’s love." (Eph. 4:7, 15-16).

I found myself reading this a few times to take it all in. The words speak to God’s intention creating us in God’s image; in relation to, and as stewards of this earth and of one another. They also lead me to my earlier reference to Mathew 26:17.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread or Passover Feast was also the Last Supper. In early times, God had commanded the Hebrews to set aside 7 days in remembrance of their journey into freedom. The lamb, unleavened bread, and wine, which they were instructed to eat, was to be shared with anyone alone or unable to afford this meal. These foods were not just to be given to the poor; rather this feast was meant to be shared. This was a time of worship intended for the purpose of edification; a time to give, to teach by retelling and sharing the journey to freedom, to pray and to sing. This was also the meal which Christ shared his disciples. This was Worship, which we gather and share in today.

There is a Hebrew song which translates “It is good for brothers and sisters to dwell together." During Friday eve Worship at this week’s Synod Assembly, we sang as prayer, “Christ Be Our Light."  The last stanza reads:  

  

Many the gifts, many the people, many the hearts that yearn to belong.
Let us be servants to one another, making your kingdom come.

Christ, be our light! Shine in our hearts. Shine through the darkness.
Christ, be our light! Shine in your church gathered today.

There is a wealth of information pertaining to today's and early practices of Worship.  I invite you to explore our ELCA Worship website and check out this weblink. http://www.biblelessons.com/origins.html

May your worship experiences enrich your own life, and the lives of others near and far.

Shalom,

Susan 

Synod Assembly in 3s

Synod assembly is a gathering/meeting of lay people of the 74 churches in the La Crosse area synod to resolve business issues of the church that require clergy and lay input. It's an annual event, and this year Pastor Mark, Pastor Melinda, Bill Newburg, Susan Moss, and I (Rachel), represented you. We will be giving a briefing in worship on this in the coming weeks, and writing more in the Voice. You are, of course, welcome and encouraged to ask us any questions.

But, because my teaching pedagogy classes taught me to only offer three main points for maximum retention and effect, here's my 2012 assembly wrap-up in threes.

Three main ideas

• We are blessed to be part of a global church that is committed to Jesus Christ, to youth, and to social justice. We passed resolutions that support strengthening the youth and youth workers of our church, to reduce the number of people incarcerated, and to prevent and heal malaria. 
• We are called not just to read the calls for social justice and the promises of God's love--but to "put legs" on our faith and act on our convictions and follow our commands.
• We are so immensely loved by a God who created humans, then forgave them; He made promises and offered us rich gifts of life, and freedom, and we rejected them. He became fully human, we crucified Him, and God offered resurrection. We created a church that is imperfect at best, yet God inspires and guides us. And in all of this, we are promised a new creation and a new life that is yet to come.

Also, sincere gratitude to Pastor Len Liptack who helped me see this Biblical so clearly for the first time. Please talk to him or take his Bible 101 class at the synod for a more eloquent and thorough explanations, and apologies that my paraphrase is not nearly as powerful.

And three words:
God's Love: Immeasurable

Wishing you blessings on your week.

Seven Faith Practices

For the remainder of this year, we will focus our Book of Faith blog on the Seven Faith Practices of the ELCA.   Followers of Jesus are inspired to develop practices and patterns for living that characterize a life that is devoted to daily discipleship. Seven common practices have been identified as key to model and nurture:

-Pray
-Study
-Worship
-Invite
-Encourage
-Serve
-Give

For more information on each of the practices, click here.  (You can also click on each of the practices and it will take you to another page with further details on each one.)  We'll focus on each of the seven practices for a month, starting with prayer in June.  As you follow along with our writers, we encourage you to start these habits in a deliberate way.  There are many other Faith Practices such as simplicity, retreat, hospitality, and fasting but these seven form a good foundation for our practice of the Christian life.