from Pastor John D.F. Nelson
Being that this is Lent I guess it is as good a time as any for confessions. My confession: I like to be the driver when I am going anywhere. I know I am not alone in this control issue as many, male and female alike, prefer to be the one steering things. I like to drive because obviously no one can drive as well as me, maximizing traffic patterns and fast lines like I can, or knows the best and quickest routes to where we are going. Yes, I have an issue, I know… and admittance is the first step to recovery right? Well, let it be known I am willing, if asked, to hand over the keys. It would not be my first instinct, but I know it is possible to be a rider and not the driver.
I think one of the hardest parts of this “Surprise Me, God” spiritual experience we are all taking part in this Lenten season is the fact that we are being asked to give up the keys. It is not our natural instinct to let someone else determine where we will go. It rubs against our desire to predict, anticipate, and be prepared for exactly what is around the corner. It is so counter-cultural… yet it is very Biblical. Again and again in the Biblical narrative people try to control their destiny and God says, “give me the keys, trust me, you will be fine, in fact you will be better than fine.” Armies were sent into battle greatly outnumbered so the people could see it was God who was in control. Disciples were sent out with nothing but a pair of sandals to show that it was God who would provide. Children were set up as leaders to show it is God who gives wisdom and faith.
We have a plethora of witnesses who all point to the fact God does indeed do a good job of driving; actually a better job of driving than we, if only we will turn over the keys. Control issues are a funny thing because somehow we got the notion that we were in control of things when in truth, we never were.
I invite you to continue to turn over the keys, to slide over on the seat and let God have the wheel for awhile. You just might be amazed at the places God takes you. I know I have. Just say, “Surprise me, God.”
from Paul McKenzie, Director of Music & Fine Arts
Based on an article by Frederich Buechner
After being baptized by John in the river Jordan, Jesus went off alone into the wilderness where he spent forty days asking himself what it meant to be Jesus. During Lent, Christians are supposed to ask what it means to be themselves. When considering the “surprises” that God can give us, consider these questions and the possible "surprise" answers.
If you had to bet everything you have on whether there is a God or whether there isn't, which side would get your money and why?
When you look at your face in the mirror, what do you see in it that you most like and what do you see in it that you like least?
If you had only one last message to leave to the handful of people who are most important to you, what would it be in twenty-five words or less?
Of all the things you have done in your life, which is the one you’d most like to undo? Which is the one that makes you happiest to remember?
Is there any person in the world, or any cause that, if circumstances called for it, you would be willing to die for?
To hear yourself try to answer questions like these is to begin to hear something not only of who you are, but of both what you are becoming and what you are failing to become. Indeed, the answers that we give can be quite telling for us, and our “surprise” answers might be hard to give, but if the Lenten disciplines of prayer and repentance are at the beginning, then something like Easter may be at the end.
from Pastor Sarah Moat
We used to live on a city lot with a small back yard and an unattached garage by the alley. Each morning we would hurry through the yard to make our way to the garage and on to our destination. I remember one spring morning when Leah (my middle daughter) and I were hustling through the yard a bit late for wherever it was we needed to go that day. Leah was a pretty typical 3-year-old at the time - she was curious and low to the ground.
"Look mommy," Leah called from behind me.
"Not now honey, we’re late."
"But mommy, you’ll want to see this."
"Leah, you can show me later. We’re late now."
"Please, mommy. It will just take a minute. It’s a surprise."
Finally, I reluctantly and a bit nervously (what kind of surprise?) went back to find Leah making her way around the newly exposed dirt in our garden finding the tiniest proof that spring was on the way as she located each sprout on the spring bulbs. She delighted in the change that was happening in her world. She saw what I had missed because she took the time to look.
Leah’s adventure in the garden reminds me that God is at work all around us doing some pretty amazing things in some pretty unexpected places; yet, I am often too busy, too distracted, or too tired to take in God’s surprising presence.
During Lent we are encouraging everyone to participate in a 30-Day Faith Experiment called Surprise Me, God. We have a book by the same title that will be available and many small groups are scheduled to discuss the ways and places that we are surprised by God throughout Lent. The author of the book will be our guest preacher and forum presenter on February 7. It is also the theme of our Wednesday evening services. But more important than all of the activities scheduled we want to invite you to pray each day throughout Lent a simple, three-word prayer.
Pray "Surprise Me, God" and then be open to how God does, indeed, surprise you. Terry Esau, the author of the book and this experiment claims that the reason he created the study was to "stir the pot of his personal suburban faith." He wanted an "adrenalin shot-to-the-heart for the sake of his spiritual resuscitation." I encourage you to set aside your hesitations of how this might work and be part of the experiment. Be open to where God is moving in the midst of the big events and the day-to-day stuff too. Let God’s presence touch your heart.
To me, the biggest surprise of all is that God always shows up; we just don’t bother to notice. Terry Esau encourages us to "keep our eyes open and not let life become a forgettable blur." Let’s do it together.
Surprise us, God!
from Susan Radde, RN, FCN, Parish Nurse
As I reflect on how I am Engaged with God in a Living Faith, it is clear I need to tell my story.
I am a believer of telling God the true desires of my heart and have learned that I must listen for His answer. I have faith that God knows what is best for me. I do this ‘telling’ and ‘listening’ in my personal relationship with God during our discussions (prayer.)
Over a year ago, my daughter became deathly ill, a result of immunodeficiency related to her Multiple Sclerosis. A year ago I was in despair, devastated. Forlorn. Weeping. This is where I was, who I was. The strong, positive, can-do woman, who rarely shed a tear, was in a realization of disease and disability of my loved one, and I felt I couldn’t ‘do’ a thing about it.
The tears were short-lived; I reached deep to my faith in God. I prayed for His will to be done. I asked for Him to lead me, help me ‘do’ all I could humanly do to help our girl. I also prayed for Him to help me accept the outcome, no matter what it was. I had faith. I trusted God was leading, and I would follow. In a matter of two months, I received conflicting scientific medical advice – conventional medicine saying her condition could not be helped; and Northwestern in Chicago who said they definitely would help her. I know I wanted to believe the one that said they would help our child. To whom would you turn to help you decide which advice to take?
I looked to God, through prayer (sharing with Him my true desire of my heart,) asking Him to help me to decipher the conflicting human messages I was getting. I listened. Experts from Northwestern gave me proof of their success. The doctors and nurses here in MN were open to listen to the doctors and nurses in Chicago. They concurred that a stem cell procedure was the only option that could halt Multiple Sclerosis and give our daughter her health back. The reality that this procedure was not covered by insurance, the costs of a 2-3 month stay in Illinois, and needing childcare here in MN for my grandchildren seemed ominous. But, possible. God led us this far.
Then, just for the asking, my home filled with friends and family… a team - on a mission to raise funds for this transplant and the related costs. They met weekly. Then, a simple request to the president of my daughter’s insurance company, along with our ‘story’, resulted in an authorization for the transplant cost. The fundraising continued. The relocation and living costs were raised. An angel my grandchildren love offered to watch them while we were gone to Chicago. So here we are, 3½ months post transplant, and our daughter’s vision, physical strength, immune system, mobility and sensation are back!
God granted this miracle. If you walk with God, in a Living Faith, God will give you what God wants to give you… and you will have peace knowing it is His will, not ours. Know God intimately. He wants to hear from you.
from Pastor John D. F. Nelson
As I write this it is about four degrees outside and I cannot imagine a better place to be than at home, snug and warm. During these long, cold winter months we have ample opportunity to be home. While we are cooped up, some like to hunker down with a book and shut out the world while others surf the web and dream of escapes to warmer climates, or anywhere else. This process leads many to a crazed state of mind we term “Cabin Fever.”
The idea of being confined by space or time is something that runs contrary to our whole social structure. Imagine if this was intentional, a cloistered time. What would God’s purpose be in that, I wonder?
In her book, The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris wrote about her discovery when taking an intentional monastic vacation away from the world with a Benedictine order of monks. She was awestruck by a life that focused on the values of stability, silence, and humility that we so desperately need, yet relentlessly avoid. Taking the time to read the bible “at home” now meant she let the scriptures speak to her in new ways, “working the earth of her heart.” Learning much about simplicity, patience, forgiveness, the value of community, and the responsibility of freedom in the place one lives, forced her to realize the power of spirituality and the beneficial change it can effect - that "love can be the center of all things, if only we will keep it there."
As we are “cloistered” in our winter dens, I invite you to explore how God might be calling you to live out your faith at home. Let God into your home and let his love be “the center of all things.” Martin Luther was a huge advocate for faith development in the home and wrote the Small Catechism specifically to be taught in the home; spouse to spouse, parent to child, sibling to sibling. Faith instruction is not meant for church alone, but wherever two or three are gathered in God’s name.
Almost all of us recently spent some time over the holidays at home with our families. So how did you let the time go by? Playing games, watching TV and eating? Let us use this time faithfully, and share in telling the story of Christ’s birth and what that means for our lives. The good news is we probably have three more months of being cooped up together, so let’s take the time God has given us to grow in faith and in fervent love towards God and one another.
Blessings to you as you continue to share your faith at home.
