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Hello, Shepherd of the Valley Faith Community!
We haven’t talked like this in a bit, as I’ve been concentrating on video and podcast that reach people outside our walls easier than the written word. I wanted to take a few moments to talk about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, sharing where we are. We recently sent out a survey to members, asking them to rank themselves on a scale of 0-10, with 0 being, “Can’t/won’t come back until there’s a vaccine and COVID is no longer and issue” and 10 being, “I’d come back immediately if you opened the doors”. The results for the survey were split, with no clear consensus. Around 25% of people said they’d come back now. A few less than that said the exact opposite, that they can’t or won’t come back. The rest were spread throughout the middle. As with so many things nowadays, we’re all over the map. In the meantime, COVID has surged around us in yet another wave across the country, particularly in Idaho. Positive return rates are spiking to all-time highs. Hospitals are filling rapidly, many full or overburdened. Governments are considering re-instituting isolation protocols. Some already have. We talk about these things nearly every church council meeting. Watching what is happening around us, understanding that we serve a God of compassion who cares about the health of the people around us and setting an ethical, just example for the world, our course and resolve remain clear. As difficult as it is, we do not foresee re-opening in-person worship under these circumstances. We have resolved to take several measures during this interim time. Please read them and take a moment to consider each one. 1. We understand that, after multiple months of separation, feelings of distance are real among us. Beginning this Sunday, we’re opening up a Zoom meeting every Sunday afternoon at 4:00 for you to come and talk about the worship, gospel, and sermon for that day. Wednesday nights in Advent will be led by the Treasure Valley Cluster of Lutheran churches, but after the new year, we’ll also be opening a Wednesday night Zoom meeting where SoV folks can meet and talk about whatever they wish...almost like a virtual fellowship hall. 2. The sense of loneliness and loss will be particularly pronounced for some of us around the holidays. We are opening up opportunities for you to participate in our virtual Christmas Eve experience this year. We’re asking confirmation students to share some thoughts with us. We’ll be distributing luminaries to anyone who wants one, for you to light on your porch on Christmas Eve. We’re also going to ask you to record yourself lighting up a candle at home, so we can make that part of our service that evening. Along with music and a couple other things, we hope this will make us feel closer on that night. 3. Very soon, we’re going to be mailing and emailing you an update of all the things we’ve been doing this year, plus a couple yet to come so you can see that even though we haven’t met in person, your church and many people in it have been incredibly active. 4. We’re going to schedule and provide you instructions for our annual meeting in January, during which we’ll have important future plans to discuss. 5. We will pledge that, barring anything but a complete national disaster, we will assemble for an Easter Morning service in person. We may not be able to be back inside by then, but we will either rent a park, gather in someone’s field, or use our own parking lot and remain in cars. Whatever it takes, we’ll gather on Easter morning. (If we can gather safely before then, we will.) We hope that these measures will provide comfort and assurance, if not hope. Tomorrow in this same space, I’m going to talk about some of the theological rationales underpinning the COVID discussion and our stance on it. Watch for that if you’re interested in a deeper discussion of what’s at stake here for church people. Also watch your weekly emails for instructions on joining Zoom meetings and how you can help out for Christmas Eve! Blessings on your Thanksgiving week. We’ll see you on Wednesday for our Thanksgiving Eve service! --Pastor Dave
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What happens if your family and friends don't believe like you do? How to relax and be faithful with your loved ones instead of converting them. Ep. 97 - Changes, Part 2: Justin and Dave examine two streams of decision-making, how the church has migrated from one to the other over the centuries, and how our modern churches end up getting fast-tracked to inertia because of the way we drive them. What questions does your church need to ask in order to unpack and evolve your decision-making process? The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com!  In the next week many of us will be making or have already made the tough choices to not gather with our loved ones in the traditional ways we usually do. We are finding new and creative ways to celebrate together while apart. Finding ways to be together that keep everyone safe and healthy. Through this we will also grieve the loss of our traditions, of food shared around a table, of time spent playing with cousins. This will be my first thanksgiving not being home, it will be the first Thanksgiving in as long as I can remember without a morning spent with family on a wagon ride singing songs and sharing stories (except two years ago when it was so cold we all stayed inside). I won’t get my traditional photo with my cousin and her kiddos, or go with them to see Santa come into Cooperstown on the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, I am not dreading the Holiday next week. It will be different, but there are good reasons for why it will be different. We are continuing to make sacrifices and changes to protect ourselves, our family, and those around us. So in the midst of all of this how do we still celebrate and give thanks when it can feel like there isn’t always a lot to be thankful for right now. If you are struggling to feel thankful maybe making a list of things you are thankful for can help. Giving thanks can start small. Being thankful for having the basics of food, water, and shelter and praying for those who don’t have those necessities. Then as you feel ready grow the bubble of thankfulness from there. Or, I have seen many people posting lately each day one thing (or more) that day they are thankful for; you could end your day by thinking of something that made you thankful or grateful, whether it was the beauty of the sunrise or a stranger who made you smile. Things like this are important because they can help re-center us when we feel so disconnected and lost. By thinking about even just one small thing that makes us thankful can help us create a mindset of gratefulness that we can pass along to others through our actions. When we think thankful thoughts we act in thoughtful ways. When we think grateful thoughts we act in generous ways.
In this season of holidays that will be so different for so many of us, I pray that we all take time to think about and reflect on the things we are thankful for. To see that even in the midst of so much that seems different and hard there is good and growth happening too. Blessings, Sara We know we're never alone, but sometimes it feels like we are. How the Parable of the Talents speaks to people in isolation. Demons! Devils! Demanding Video Producers! How do we deal with supernatural forces in life and literature? Do the movies get it right? Ep. 96 - Changes, Part 1: Justin and Dave wrap up their series on Change in the Church by talking about how changes have developed historically/biblically and who got to make them. From the Tower of Babel to the Council of Nicaea and beyond, movement and faith have gone hand in hand for God's people. The Geek and Greek podcast is a show where two reverends talk honestly and clearly about faith, Christianity, scripture, and life. Follow us at GeekAndGreek.com!  In mid-October I traveled back to Valparaiso, Indiana (where the LDA’s office is) for my small in-person Consecration and while I was there I had the opportunity to worship at the Chapel on Valpo’s campus for Sunday morning worship. It was so nice to hear the beautiful pipe organ and though there was no congregational singing they had cantors in the balcony that lead the music. There is one piece of music from that worship that has stuck with me since then, I find myself singing it to myself often. It is a Marty Haugen piece called “We are many parts.” I found the words both powerful and moving. Here are the lyrics (Or you can listen here www.youtube.com/watch?v=q77uRQxKDCY.): We are many parts; we are all one body. And the gifts we have, we were given to share. May the spirit of love, make us one indeed; One, the Love that we share; One, our hope and despair; One, the cross that we bear.
God of all, we look to you, we would be your servants true, let us be your love for all the world. We are many parts; we are all one body. And the gifts we have, we were given to share. May the spirit of love, make us one indeed; One, the Love that we share; One, our hope and despair; One, the cross that we bear. So my pain is pain for you. In your joy, is my joy too, all is brought together in the Lord. We are many parts; we are all one body. And the gifts we have, we were given to share. May the spirit of love, make us one indeed; One, the Love that we share; One, our hope and despair; One, the cross that we bear. All you seekers great and small, Seek the greatest gift of all, If you love, then you will know the Lord. We are many parts; we are all one body. And the gifts we have, we were given to share. May the spirit of love, make us one indeed; One, the Love that we share; One, our hope and despair; One, the cross that we bear. I love most things by Haugen, but I think the words in particular are what spoke so strongly to me with this piece. Throughout the pandemic I have felt the weight of division around how to go about life while also protecting each other. Seeing protests about wearing masks, something that seems so simple as a way to protect each other, yet is so divisive. Through the way our country feels like a divided front in how we should combat the virus, with each state having its own plan of attack, rather than one united plan as to how to help us all get through this together. And need I even mention our division as a country and as people when it comes to politics. Whether it be the advertisements that degrade opponents, or how entrenched we are in a two party system, it shows how deep we have let division seep into our midst. This song spoke to my feelings of wishing we could learn to love each other, and realize that we are all in this together whether we like it or not. I feel like I have written about this a lot lately, in different ways, about the need to love our neighbor, to love each other, even when we disagree. I think that is because it is so poignant to where we are at and what we are experiencing in our daily lives. Whether it be disagreements about how to cope and live alongside and through a global pandemic, or disagreements about who to vote for and why, it feels like there is so much division and anger everywhere. And my heart longs more and more for us to find ways to have space for conversations where we can see how much we really do have in common as people and not just focus on the reasons we disagree. This is where I come back to the song, and the second verse in particular: So my pain is pain for you. In your joy, is my joy too, all is brought together in the Lord. It talks about feeling each other’s pain and joy, feeling empathy for what others are experiencing. Which reminds me of a verse from one of my favorite hymns: I will weep when you are weeping, when you laugh I'll laugh with you. I will share your joy and sorrow till we've seen this journey through (from “Will You Let Me be Your Servant”). This, I think, is the important task, to create space to see and listen to each other’s pain and joy. To see that each number in the Covid death toll is a person with a family is grieving their loss. To see what brings joy and pain to each other. To fully see each other and all that comes with that. To see that we are many parts but we are all one body. I pray this day that the spirit of love continues to work in and through us all, to help us see how connected we are to each other. To help us do every day the work that needs to be done to make us one indeed. Blessings, Sara Last Sunday's gospel referenced the Kingdom of Heaven. What does that really mean? Is it just the end time? Explore the God who walks with us every day in this week's Thursday Thoughts. Saul/Paul was a pretty mean guy who persecuted Christians. Then, on the road to Damascus, he was blinded by a vision of Jesus. With the help of Ananias, he was transformed into a follower of Jesus and became one of the most well-known evangelists ever. • What changed about Saul/Paul after Jesus appeared to him? • Why was Ananias afraid? • When have you changed your mind about something? |