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Join Pastor Dave every day this week for a 5-part video series as he talks about Communion. Today he shares how God comes through sacraments.
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Pastor Dave welcomes Visitation Pastor Kari Sansgaard for discussion and prayers. Bible verse is John 11:1-45. How do we reach out and care for those who live alone or are more alone now because of “distancing?”
Physical distancing over social distancing. First I want to repeat what I have seen circulating in some of my circles on Facebook. We need to switch our language from “social distancing” to “physical distancing.” We need to physically distance ourselves from unnecessary interaction with those outside our family groups to help flatten the curve and slow the spread so that our healthcare system can keep up. However, we desperately need to stay connected socially (without physically being together) or this is going to be a whole lot harder for many of those who live alone or are isolated from connection already. How can we continue to stay connected socially to our friends, family, and groups we normally connect with on a regular basis? Our schedules have gone from overly busy to practically empty overnight. For those who get most of their social connection through the groups and organization they are a part of this new reality of distancing could take its toll fast if we don’t work together to stay connected through technology. This connection is of major importance especially for those who live alone or in communities that are now isolated from much if any other human interaction. We must use technology (phone calls, emails, video chats, social media, or however you connect) to stay connected to each other and support each other through this time of uncertainty and distancing. For my own sanity in the midst of this and especially because I live alone my goal is to reach out in this way to at least one person every day, to stay connected to my people. Are there people you know that you might reach out to? Or are you someone who might be in need of staying connected? Blessings, Sara Manning  Greetings, Shepherd of the Valley Folks! Here’s a little note to update you where we are in the middle of Week 2 as we continue to take care of our community by keeping distance. We have begun weekly online services and daily online posts. This Sunday and every Sunday you’ll be able to access worship and discussion via our website, Facebook, and YouTube. Next week we’re doing a five-part video presentation on communion, so watch for that! As we go along, we’ll add more stories and features. Tell your friends and neighbors about the resources and community you find here at myboisechurch.org! We have also begun reaching out to our members via phone and email. Everyone in our directory should get a call within the next few days asking how you’re doing, whether you need anything, and whether you might be able to help people who do. We’ll take that information and turn it into action. You can also look forward to an email each Monday talking about our ongoing service projects and one each Thursday updating you on the state of the church. Several new projects will start up next week. We’re going to reach out to the physical neighborhood around Shepherd of the Valley, letting our neighbors know that we are available to help in any need. We hope to start online “Zoom” Bible Studies next week or the week after. We’re gearing up for a brand new show on parenting with faith as well. We’re not even CLOSE to being idle during this time. We’re growing!  We’ve recruited church staff members to help with all these projects. We’ve sketched out responsibilities for them and allowed them to work from home to the extent possible. We are not cutting hours or support for our staff at this time, nor do we plan to do so. Please remember that your continued offering is important to keeping our staff members engaged during this transition. All of the people on staff have gone above and beyond to serve us during their tenure here. Please help support them during this time.
In order to minimize exposure, we’ve cut back “official” office hours to 10-12, Monday-Thursday. Our staff can get the office-based stuff done at that time. All of us continue to work remotely. You can always contact us by phone at 208-362-1112. We monitor email most of the day at admin at sov-id dot org. You can reach me directly at pastor at sov-id dot org. You should be getting my emergency cell number during the call you receive this week. Watch this space tomorrow for a fun discussion about things to do at home. We’ll talk to you soon! Pastor Dave
Ep. 65 - Jesus treats a man born blind differently than everyone else around him. What this simple story reveals about our assumptions and prejudices about God and each other.
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!  The gospel reading from this coming Sunday comes from the 11th Chapter of the Gospel of John. It recounts the story of Jesus raising Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. Lazarus had been dead four days by the time Jesus arrived. Particularly striking in the story is the plaintive cry of his sister, Mary, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” This is a difficult passage to encounter in this time of COVID-19. We all face the reality of brothers and sisters, parents and grandparents getting ill, or even dying. We face that possibility for ourselves as well. No interpretation that fails to address that can stand. If we read this chapter of John and see Jesus saving one man while leaving others to perish, we end up with a God who abides with the fortunate and healthy, abandoning those in need. That’s why the first key element in reading this story is understanding that while Jesus obviously loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha, this was not just about them. It wasn’t about one man coming back to life. If that were the point, Lazarus would still be among us. That’s extremely unlikely. Eventually, he died. So did Mary and Martha. That did not mean God stopped loving them, nor that they were less favored.  We like to create a God who responds to our choices. We like to say, “If you go right, God will favor you, but if you go left, you are doomed.” That puts power and control in our hands. We pretend we can figure out the secret to success, to earning our way into personal immortality. But even the best of us only get to pretend that for 80 or 90 years. Sometimes we get a little more. Some of us get far less.
Fortunately, God does not act like we expect. Our God does not say, “I’ll be with you only when you make the right choices and the best things happen to you.” Our God operates at a level beyond our choices, control, and circumstances. God says to us, “Whether you go right or whether you go left, whether you prosper or suffer, I will be there. I will not let go of you. I will have the final word, and that word is goodness for you.” People did not witness Lazarus being raised because Lazarus was great, because Jesus loved him more than he loves us, or because Lazarus’ life was the center of the universe. We witness the resurrection of Lazarus that we might know--even in times of hardship, grief, or despair—that God will act on our behalf and that not even death will stop God from doing so. As Paul declares in Romans 14, “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” Even when the road is scarier than we thought it would be, even if things go as wrong as can be imagined, nothing will take us out of God’s hands. Pastor Dave This week, in our very first videocast, we welcomed Brian Kiester, a wonderful friend, to help talk about the story from John 9. In this story Jesus heals a man born blind, but the community around him has a hard time accepting the transformation. We talked about these things amid a new reality of the spread of COVID-19, the reason we were speaking on video to begin with.
Brian is, ahem… experienced enough to have been through the AIDS/HIV epidemic of the 1980’s and 1990’s. He shared a few of his memories from that time. He talked about people operating on fear: looking for root causes for the disease, filling in gaps in their understanding with blame against those who contracted it. He talked about near-immediate prejudice that ramped up as the disease spread, a massive movement to target, label, and isolate people who were already suffering. He recalled condemnation, and how often people linked the spread of HIV/AIDS to divine disfavor. “This disease is God’s punishment on people who have done wrong.” The scary thing about his story wasn’t just how horrible it was, but how familiar it sounded. HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 are different epidemics, but our reaction to them feels similar. Brian and I absolutely praised engaging in social isolation for the sake of not spreading the virus. We also lamented how the isolation often doesn’t end with six feet of common sense, but quickly morphs into a dividing line with the fortunate on one side and the condemned on the other. We displayed and quoted statements from social media proclaiming that God would protect some because they were holy, while God would allow the less holy to suffer the virus. We noticed that whether people advanced their own goodness or condemned other people’s badness, the effect was the same. They were saying, “God is on my side, not yours,” which became another way of proclaiming, “You’re going to get the disease and I’m not.” It’s sad how often people describe a God who works on the behalf of the already-privileged, abandoning those who suffer. We juxtaposed this human societal impulse with the story from John 9, where Jesus healed a man born blind. The whole thing started when his disciples asked, “Who sinned, that this man was born this way? Him or his parents?” They, too, were looking to draw that line, identifying not just a cause for misfortune, but their own divinely-wrought immunity to it. Jesus responded by saying, “Neither!” Then he healed the man who had been isolated and disfavored because of his condition. A funny thing happened, though. Not only could the people around the formerly-blind man not believe he had actually been cured, they didn’t appear to want him to be! They could not deal with a reality where God was also with someone else, not just them. This is a sad part of our human response: we hang on to “greater than” and “less than” to make ourselves feel superior, even when the “less than” hurts others. We don’t know how to deal with a God who uplifts us all, not because of our superior choices, but because of God’s amazing love. Brian and I ended by affirming the need for social distance, admitting that few of us have the ability to avoid COVID-19, let alone cure it. But we all have the ability to reach across the divides we’ve created—whether necessary or judgmental/tragic--to accept, care about, and comfort each other. You and I may not discover the vaccine for COVID-19, but we can help create a world in which that vaccine comes to people who are already loved, already embraced, already fed and housed, already cared for in the midst of suffering. We can’t avoid sickness, nor can we eliminate our human addiction to judgment and our instinct towards fear. We can avoid marrying those things together and making them our guiding light. We can uplift something else besides sickness, judgment, and fear as central to our existence. If we can’t fill the spaces between us with handshakes and hugs right now, at least we can fill it with compassion and hope, shared together. Pastor Dave
Ep. 64 - Jesus converses with a Samaritan woman at the well. Justin and Dave discuss how this gospel has been (mis-) interpreted and lift up hope for new voices through new relationships.
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! Dear Shepherd of the Valley Community Members and Friends,
The spread of the COVID-19 “Coronavirus” is changing lives and neighborhoods around us as we speak. During these times of uncertainty, it’s important to trust in the things that always carry us through life:
Because COVID-19 is persistent, easily-spread, and can be present in a carrier who otherwise shows no symptoms, we are called to live out faithful ethics in a different way during this time. Medical officials have told us that there is no sure way to prevent the virus from expanding. They have asked that we maintain enough distance from each other to slow the spread to a level they can cope with. This is especially important for the most vulnerable among us: those of advanced age, other illnesses, or with compromised immune systems. The people Shepherd of the Valley are committed to caring for people at highest risk for negative effects from COVID-19. Our church council met last weekend and unanimously affirmed that the health of the Boise community—particularly the most vulnerable among us—lies at the center of our call to serve faithfully at this time. As of right now, we are taking the following steps:
We invite you to visit this space often, not just to see what you can receive here but also to see how you can help. We hope you will find many opportunities for both. Blessings during this time. If you want to talk or need assistance, call the church office at 208.362.1112. Pastor Dave
Ep. 63 - Nicodemus comes to Jesus by night to learn about God and our place in the world. Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care? How words to an ancient Pharisee still resound today.
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! |