Sermon: December 4, 2016 (Advent 2)

Isaiah paints a vision of what the messiah and a world in which the messiah reigns as peaceful.  If nothing else, the messiah ushers in peace.  There is no lack of clarity about this vision of peace.  This morning’s reading from Isaiah declares that, as a result of the messiah’s reign, the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard with the kid, and a little child shall lead them.  Isaiah declares that predators and prey will live with one another in peace, that carnivores will turn vegetarian, that the most vulnerable humans will play with and lead the deadliest of animals. 

You see before you The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks, a painting that depicts our text from Isaiah this morning.  Hicks was a Quaker minister who did his work in the early nineteenth century. 

I love this vision, this peaceable kingdom, yet it leads me to wonder: Will it ever come to pass?  For despite the realm of God breaking into our world with the birth of Jesus, our world has not begun to look this way, has it?  Violence is so routine in our culture, shootings are no longer a surprise.  In the city of Chicago, one of the places I once called home, they just hit the sad and deadly milestone of 700 homicides for this year, and they will likely surpass the record of 704 by year’s end.  We hear of bombings in other parts of the world, casualties of military personnel and civilians, if not casually then routinely, and we may not even think about the devastating effects of these deaths unless one of our loved ones is a service person in uniform somewhere in the world.  We know that people throughout the world flee to the US as refugees because the places they call home are torn apart by war, natural disaster, political or religious discrimination, economic conditions, or persecution due to sexual orientation or gender identity.  Violence in many forms is the norm, not the exception, yet during this season of Advent, we proclaim that a messiah is coming who puts an end to violence. 

So, this leads me to wonder: Is a peaceable kingdom even possible?  When will God implement this vision of peace?  When will we turn our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks?  When will the wolf live with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid?  When will a little child lead the deadliest of animals? 

Isaiah 11 verse 2 tells us that the spirit of the Lord shall rest on the messiah, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence.  The Holy Spirit shall enliven the messiah, and thus enlivened, the messiah shall usher in a reign of peace, of equity, of justice. 

That Holy Spirit came upon Jesus when he was baptized by John in the River Jordan, and the Spirit accompanied him through his ministry.  Indeed, that spirit led him into and out of the wilderness where he was tempted.  That spirit led him to preach love for enemies, to feed people who were hungry, and to heal people who were sick.  That spirit brought him into relationship with tax collectors, fishermen, women, and Gentiles.  In the spaces where Jesus lived and ministered, he did usher in peace, equity, justice.  He did so in a way that took the disciples by surprise because, even then, people believed that violence could lead to peace.  I wonder if the men—and women—who eventually followed Jesus were there with John the Baptist when he called people to repent.  I wonder if they thought that perhaps John was the messiah because here was a person fiery enough to get the job done, a person with enough spit and vinegar to kick out the Romans and usher in God’s reign.  But here’s the surprise of Jesus’ reign and the part we don’t quite understand as people who live in a world so saturated by violence that violence has become our norm: violence cannot usher in peace.  Only love can. 

The Holy Spirit that enlivened Jesus enlivens us.  Indeed, at each and every baptism, we pray using the very words of Isaiah 11.  We pray that the newly baptized would be sustained by the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in God’s presence.  Jesus’ reign on earth began with a baby born in a manger and continues in us: in our willingness to love and share our lives with one another, free from fear, aided and abetted, so to speak, by the Holy Spirit at work in us. 

I wonder if we might partake in the work of the Spirit here in our neighborhood, not in a fanciful way but in a very practical one.  Starting on January 11, I would like on the first Wednesday of each month to invite our neighbors from Roosevelt Row businesses, from the Evans Churchill Neighborhood Association, from the Hance Park Conservancy, from the new apartment buildings around us to come and share a meal with us at GLOW, just a meal and conversation with whoever shows up.  With our changing neighborhood, now more than ever, we need to meet each other, to know each other, to care for each other.  For some who share this neighborhood, there is a feeling that our community members who are experiencing homelessness are for some reason not fully members of our community.  As the development of this neighborhood proceeds, there is, then, an urgency in developing not only buildings but relationships with one another.  Developing relationships, more than anything, takes away fear and builds the peaceable kingdom Isaiah prophecies.   I hope you too will join in these Wednesdays just for a meal and conversation.

When will this peaceable kingdom come to pass?  My dear friends in Christ: now.  It comes to pass now when we do not allow our own fear and assumptions, our own prejudices and bitterness, our own discomfort and smallness to shut us off from our neighbor.  It would be easy to see our neighbor as wolf or leopard.  It would be easy to discount our neighbor as scary or of ill intent. 

And yes, there are times when things seem scary. 

Yes, there are times when we have legitimate concerns about safety.

But I think that the two most significant barriers between us and a peaceful world is one, our lack of belief in its possibility and two, our unwillingness to move beyond our own fears and assumptions and uncomfortability.  It is easy to say: well, if only this politician would do this…  It is easy to say: well, if only this large institution would do this…  It is far more difficult to look ourselves in the mirror and say: I can do something differently.  I can meet and get to know my neighbor.  I can see the humanity in others, and it’s not actually that hard.  It means starting out: Hi, I’m ____.  It’s good to meet you.  It means asking a question like: Have you always lived in Phoenix?  It means noticing something in particular about another person, perhaps their kindness or their humor, and just starting a conversation with a comment.  In these small ways, and they are small ways, we begin to break down the walls between us.  We, aided and abetted by the Holy Spirit, build the peaceable kingdom.  We are not wolves and leopards, but people, people loved by God, each and every one of us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Sermon: November 27, 2016 (Advent 1)

Ever since I can remember, my family has embraced the same Christmas traditions: eating hors d’oeuvres instead of a big, formal meal on Christmas Eve, going to church, and before opening presents, reading the Christmas story from Luke chapter two.  I assume my parents began this Christmas story tradition with the desire to impress upon me and upon my sister that Christmas is really about the birth of Jesus and not about the presents.  And I say kudos to them!  I think I did learn that as evidenced by the fact that I am now a pastor.  But something else I learned about reading the Christmas story before opening presents every Christmas Eve was exactly how long that story is—20 verses!  20 verses in the Bible takes a while to read.  There’s Cesar Augustus, then Mary giving birth to her firstborn son and lying him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn, then the shepherds and the angel and the glory of the Lord shining around them, and then finally Mary treasuring all these things in her heart.  To a nine year old waiting to open her presents, 20 verses is a long wait.  Starting at age 9 up to this very year, I have been the designated reader of the story.  In reading this story from a young age each year, I came to be acquainted with the Bible.  The Christmas story was the one story I could find in the Bible, the one story where I knew how to pronounce all the words, the one story that led me to find other stories.  While I rushed each year to get from Cesar Augustus to Mary and Jesus to the shepherds and back to Mary, in between those moments of rushing, I learned the foundational story of the incarnation—God coming in the flesh—and was led into further reading of the Bible, milestones in my early faith.  Thank goodness we didn’t rush to open presents!

Today is the first day of the church season called Advent, always the four Sundays prior to Christmas.  Advent is a season of waiting, a season of waiting for Jesus’ birth, a season of waiting for God to act.  We may be confused by this season of waiting because shouldn’t we just skip to Christmas?  What is the value of waiting?  Why does the church—through the mechanism of the church calendar—call us to wait?  I ask these questions because, as a culture, we are not keen on waiting and, like my 9-year-old self, are fond of rushing.

We have likely all been there…While driving or riding in a car, the person in the next lane—or let’s be honest—maybe it was us.  But for the purposes of this illustration, we’ll just say it was someone else.  The person in the car in the next lane drives with incredible speed, covering the distance between here and there with an astonishing flash of light and sound of squealing tires.  You watch them go…and then you find yourself next to them stopped at the next stoplight.  You shake your head and laugh.  Speeding up to get quickly through the stoplights of Central Avenue, 7th Street, or 7th Avenue—instead of patiently driving—doesn’t really pay off in the end. 

Or perhaps you know the feeling of learning to garden.  When I planted my first garden, I was astonished to read on the outside of the seed packet the number of days I would have to wait for my vegetables to come to fruition.  How long does it usually take?  60 to 90 days!  That’s 2 to 3 months!  All right now, I had energy and enthusiasm to put in a garden, but the wait time on the production of the actual vegetables can be a downer.

We will have to wait.  There are certain things we can’t speed up: how fast seeds grow or don’t grow into vegetables, how long it takes to get from here to Central and Bell Road in a car.  We will wait in lines and on the outside of closed doors.  We will wait for test results and college acceptance letters, for returned phone calls and returned text messages and returned emails.  We will wait for people we love to come home and maybe wait for things we don’t want to happen to happen.  We will wait anxiously, angrily, with dread, or we will wait patiently, hopefully, joyfully.  Regardless of how we wait, we will wait because some things just take time. 

Now, in our culture, this is a message we don’t want to hear, a message, in fact, that we often think we should not hear.  We have come to a place where we think that waiting for anything is the result of someone not doing their job well, not returning phone calls or taking too many breaks, the result of some travesty on the part of engineers who don’t know how to time stoplights, the result of a failed system.  Why must we wait for anything?  As a culture, we are uncomfortable with silence, with space, with being here and now.  As a culture, we are ever rushing towards the next thing, but Advent is a season that invites us to be here, now, fully present in this moment as it is.  Christ is coming!  Coming in the manger and coming back in glory, but here, now, in this moment, there is nothing we can do to rush Christ’s coming.  We can simply sit in this liminal space, the space between what was and what will be. 

For me, there is relief in Advent.  As a highly motivated, driven person, I perpetually have a list of professional goals on my mind, goals I strive to complete in a myriad of ways, ever looking for opportunities to take steps forward.  At home, I literally have a list of goals posted on my refrigerator, things at which I am working in my personal life.  In my driven state, Advent is a place of rest, four weeks of life where I realize that, while goals are good and helpful, there are some things I cannot rush.  Being fully present to the person I pass on the street or my neighbor or the person who appears to need help, being fully present to each conversation, to each activity, to the values implicit in the choices I am making is maybe the very best thing I can do now—or ever. 

We are perhaps ever living in Advent, ever waiting for what is to come.  In the midst of our wait which may feel wasted, we may discover some value.  We may discover that not rushing may be purposeful.  We may discover that waiting itself is part of the plan, part of the goal.  In the brilliant book The Red Tent by Anita Diamant which is a fictional account of the family of Jacob from the book of Genesis, one of the characters reflects on the time of pregnancy—though the same could be said for the time it takes to adopt.  The nine months of pregnancy—with all its difficulties and inconveniences—are regarded as the time in which mothers learn how to be mothers.  The nine months of waiting are not wasted but instead purposeful: a time of learning how to care for a being beyond oneself. 

At the end of this season of Advent, we will celebrate the coming of Christ in the manger.  Regardless of how we wait, Christ will come.  Nothing we can do will stop the coming of this baby savior.  But in the meantime, how will we wait?  What will we learn in this season?  Perhaps, with the prophet Isaiah, we will learn that we no longer need spears and swords.  Perhaps we will learn to see Christ coming again and again in our neighbor.  Perhaps we will sit in this moment, here and now, fully present to whatever God has to reveal to us today.  Regardless, now, we wait…

Christ the King Sermon (November 20, 2016)

Christ the King C2016

Luke 23:33-43

November 20, 2016

In the summer of 2010, I took a small group of youth on a mission trip to the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeast Montana…

I thought that I would never feel as stuck as I did that night we were mired in muck on the top of the buffalo jump.  But today, I feel stuck, and while of course I don’t know if this is true for everyone, I am guessing that most of us feel stuck.  We feel stuck in unjust systems, stuck in racism, stuck in sexism, stuck in heterosexism.  We feel stuck in the way health insurance works and the way we buy and sell houses.  We feel stuck in family systems that don’t feel healthy or loving.  We feel stuck in the ways we live that speed up the progress of global climate change.  I know I felt stuck by the election; I honestly was not a fan of either of the two major party candidates.  We feel stuck in free market capitalism, the way money works in our culture.  I think sometimes we don’t even realize how stuck we feel, especially when it comes to money.  I don’t think most of us can even imagine a world where money is not used; I think most of us forget that God didn’t create money—people did.  And we can’t begin to imagine a different way of getting what we need and want in the world, whether that is food or health care or education or religion.  What we have right here, right now is the limit of our imagination.  We feel stuck.

The good news today is that we are not stuck.  We are not stuck in a world where things must stay the same, day after day, year after year, generation after generation.  We are not stuck in a world that necessarily creates and supports injustice for Jesus laid a path for us to a different world.

In today’s gospel, Jesus does three extraordinary things.  He is on the cross, and in this place of ultimate humiliation and suffering…

1. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.”

2. He does not rush to defend himself or save himself but instead stays the course, knowing that God has called him to walk through this death and eventually into new life.

3. “Truly I tell you, today, you will be with me in paradise.”  Instead of walking the way of punishment, Jesus promises this man convicted of a crime that he will live with God eternally.

The way of Jesus, the dominion of Jesus on this Christ the King Sunday is a dominion not stuck in racism, sexism, heterosexism, a dominion not stuck in revenge, punishment, violence, injustice.  The way of Jesus is forgiveness, responding to God’s call despite its challenges, and love even in the midst of brokenness and sin.  We glimpse this dominion of Jesus wherever and whenever we extend forgiveness, wherever and whenever we respond to God’s call in our lives, wherever and whenever we reach out in love.  While we may feel stuck, Jesus is Lord, and Christ is king…really.  That means that forgiveness, our sense of God’s call, and love trump revenge, defensiveness, or punishment.  Jesus is Lord, and Christ is king.  I know we feel stuck, but we aren’t.  God has called us to live in this dominion of Jesus that is mixed up with the dominion of this world.  God has called us to embrace forgiveness and love and to walk the way of Jesus ever asking ourselves: what gifts do I have?  How might I serve?  How might I live so as to reveal Jesus’ dominion? 

I’ll leave you with an example.  I share this not to proclaim my goodness, not at all, because I have very much struggled with this, and to be clear, I am not telling you that this is something you should do.  Everybody has their own things they’re working on.  But this is a place where I felt stuck and now no longer do.  Several months ago, I borrowed my mother’s bike because I wondered if I might be able to bike more and drive my car less.  My experiment went pretty well, so I purchased my own bike.  And slowly, slowly, I have been changing my lifestyle so that I am biking as much as possible.  If I am going someplace within six miles of home, I will almost always bike there now.  It has meant changing how I schedule my time because biking takes longer.  It has meant changing how I dress because it’s sometimes difficult to bike in a skirt.  It has meant I am more thoughtful in general about how I use my car.  A year ago, I thought: I could never bike most places.  I want to.  I want to reduce my carbon emissions.  I want to be healthier.  I want to be more connected to my community.  I want to respond to God’s call to live more simply.  But I can’t do it, I thought.  Well, I am doing it.  This past week, I didn’t even get in my car four out of seven days.  Some weeks are better than others, for sure, but I am not stuck. 

Sisters and brothers in Christ, we are not stuck in a dominion of hate.  We are not stuck in a dominion of revenge.  We are not stuck in a dominion of punishment and violence towards anyone or the earth.  Jesus has laid a path for us, a path that is different than the world’s path.  It is different, but it has been laid for us.  And when we start to walk down that path, we will know the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us, making it possible to forgive, to respond to God’s call, to love.  We are not stuck in the dominion of this world for Jesus is Lord, and Christ is king.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

The trees are going in!

We are delighted that the trees along our property facing Hansen Park are going in :-) 

A huge thanks to Katherine for all she has done to make this happen. We'll have more details on the entire project later.

Thanks Catherine! Cutting red tape is harder than digging caliche. 

Marlene came out to let everybody working know that soup and sandwiches are waiting in Hope Hall.

2016 Heat Respite @ Grace Lutheran Church: Mid-week Update

We just wanted to add a special update in recognition of the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. They held a food drive this summer for Grace's Heat Respite program. This was inspired and coordinated by Michelle West, an employee there. Each day on her way to work, Michelle passes by the church and sees the folks lined up, waiting for the church doors to open for the day. She reached out to us and organized a food drive that would support our outreach.

Today they dropped off 784 lbs of non-perishable food items along with 45 lbs of hygiene items!

We are so grateful to those at the Phoenix Epidemiology and Clinical Research Branch where researchers in the Branch use several scientific approaches to determine the cause of the disease, including epidemiologic, clinical physiologic, and molecular genetic approaches.  

2016 HEAT RESPITE @ GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH: WEEK 11 (AUGUST 22ND - AUGUST 26TH)

Thank you to all of the donors of water, time, money, and love.  We could not do this without you.  Here are the numbers from Week 11:

Volunteers contributed hours 213 this week.

As the 2016 Heat Respite @ Grace Lutheran Church comes to an end this week, we have a message from our pastor:

"Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good."  

-1 Corinthians 12:4-7

I am grateful to God for all the ways the Spirit has been made manifest among us these past twelve weeks of heat respite!  Whether the manifestation of the Spirit in you was volunteering, donating, or participating in the program, we are blessed to be in community with you. We are grateful for the generosity that has allowed this year's heat respite program to function, both generosity in financial gifts and generosity of spirit. In worship on Sunday, September 4, we will lift up with thanksgiving the names of individuals, congregations, and other partners who volunteered or donated to heat respite 2016. Know that we see the Spirit at work in you! 

With joy,

Pastor Sarah

Trevor's Eagle Project : Helping Hands for the Homeless

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Trevor Hokanson

One of our own, 16-year-old Trevor Hokanson is a Junior at Buckeye High School and a Life Scout in Boy Scout Troop 263. In order to achieve the highest rank of Eagle Scout he is required to complete a service project.

Trevor is organizing an event on Friday, October 14 from 10:00am - 4:00pm to provide services to the disadvantaged in downtown Phoenix. He is looking for volunteers to help him serve up to 200 people. Volunteers will help guide the guests to make sure they make the most of the services provided. Some volunteers are needed for kitchen prep, serving, and clean up. There is still a need for volunteers who can provide haircuts.

Any volunteers under the age of 16 will need to shadow an adult. Volunteers 16 to 18 need to use the buddy system. Lunch will be provided for all!

Please click on this link to sign up as a volunteer!

Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). The designation "Eagle Scout" has a long history since its founding over one hundred years ago. Only four percent of Boy Scouts are granted this rank after a lengthy review process. The requirements necessary to achieve this rank take years to fulfill. Since its founding, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than two million young men.

Requirements include earning at least 21 merit badges. The Eagle Scout must demonstrate Scout Spirit, an ideal attitude based upon the Scout Oath and Law, service, and leadership. This includes an extensive service project that the Scout plans, organizes, leads, and manages. Eagle Scouts are presented with a medal and a badge that visibly recognizes the accomplishments of the Scout. Additional recognition can be earned through Eagle Palms, awarded for completing additional tenure, leadership, and merit badge requirements.

Who are some famous Eagle Scouts?

Learn more about Boy Scout Troop 263 in Buckeye. 

2016 HEAT RESPITE @ GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH: WEEK 10 (AUGUST 15TH - AUGUST 19TH)

Thank you to all of the donors of water, time, money, and love.  We could not do this without you.  Here are the numbers from Week 10:

Volunteers contributed hours 186 this week.

We received an extremely generous donation from Avella Specialty Pharmacy this week.  8 pallets of water!  The amount of water we have received from all out donors has been truly amazing, and we are very grateful for your generosity.  This allows us to share not only within our programs, but also to help a variety of other outreach programs around the valley with similar goals of helping folks escape this summer heat.

As when Paul wrote to those in Ephesus, “We do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in our prayers,” with deep and sincere gratitude we thank all who have given time, donations, and prayers and feel blessed to be able to share this space, and this love, over the past 10 week and the next 2 weeks.

2016 HEAT RESPITE @ GRACE LUTHERAN CHURCH: WEEK 9 (AUGUST 8th - AUGUST 12TH)

Thank you to all of the donors of water, time, money, and love.  We could not do this without you.  Here are the numbers from Week 9:

Volunteers contributed hours 173 this week.

We have felt particularly blessed to be able to provide this ministry as, even with the brief respite of rain, we experience this consistently 100+ weather. Thank you very much for making this possible.
This is a service not just addressing the physical needs of those in this space, but we wish to serve in a way exemplified by the words of Mother Teresa: 

“Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same -- with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.”

We want to thank the Arizona Rock Products Association and Arizona Association of Realtors for coming out with a group on Friday to serve and prepare breakfast and lunch.

News from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly

It is a big day at the Churchwide Assembly. The ELCA meets in assembly every three years but the work of the church, at every level, continues. Which means that there really is a week of work to get done. We are committed to get the business of the church done this week, so today might be a long day.  

As I reflect on our time in New Orleans some of it is hard to explain. I have watched the last several Churchwide Assemblies online and have been engaged and aware of the processes of our work. But the experience of it in person is very different. There is real power in the work we do together. It might seem as if our statements and resolutions are simply busy work, but we have always been a public church. What we say as a church, and how we create those statements matters. The ELCA Churchwide Assembly is a public process of discernment that we engage together and it makes me proud to be a part of a church that functions with such transparency.  No other church works the way we do.  It is in our DNA to publicly live out the Gospel of Jesus in this way. You can learn more about our statements, the decisions we have made and how we are living out our mission go to www.ELCA.org and you can live stream the plenary sessions and worship.

Update from Pr. Jeff Kallevig, Our Saviour’s, Tucson

News from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly

The work of the Churchwide Assembly is grounded in prayer and centered in worship. The theme of the assembly is "Freed & Renewed in Christ" and each day of the assembly we worship together as this expression of the church.  Leaders have been invited from various parts of the country to lead in turn.  Worshipping at a gathering of the larger church, at synod assembly or other gathering, is always enriched by our diversity.  Each day of this assembly, and our worship together, has been a blessing of renewal for me personally as a pastor.  Ours is a diverse church with a huge variety of settings, and many traditions from these settings. The diverse expressions of our worship inform and inspire our gathering this week.  Thank you for your prayers, your support and your spirit.  You can learn more and see our agenda at www.ELCA.org and you can live stream the plenary sessions and worship. 

Update from Pr. Jeff Kallevig, Our Saviour’s, Tucson

News from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly

There are a variety of things that go into the work of the ELCA. Our business at the Churchwide Assembly includes budgeting and elections, but also includes receiving reports from church organizations that are accountable to the ELCA and greetings from partner organizations with whom we work in settings around the world. Highlights of our Churchwide Assembly today include personal greetings from the president of the Lutheran World Federation and the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada. Sometimes we might be tempted to think of our church as the building where we gather each week, but we are a part of the church around the world every time we gather.  It is so important to be reminded, and to nurture those relationships. Thank you for your prayers and support in our work together. You can learn more and see our agenda at www.ELCA.org and you can live stream the plenary sessions and worship.

Update from Pr. Jeff Kallevig, Our Saviour’s, Tucson

News from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly

The work of our gathering has begun, and my backside is tired of sitting already. But the things we are learning and accomplishing are exciting. For example, today we learned about "Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist" which is the latest summary of all the ways the Lutheran and Roman Catholic dialog has found agreement. In addition to the business of elections and budget we are also making significant connections with those from other parts of the country. 

Walk along with the assembly as we do OUR work. You can learn more and see our agenda at www.ELCA.org and you can live stream the plenary sessions and worship.

Update from Pr. Jeff Kallevig, Our Saviour’s, Tucson

News from the ELCA Church-wide Assembly

As we prepare to begin the work of the ELCA, today is a day of reunion.

I first came to New Orleans in 2006, leading a group of adults in relief work following Hurricane Katrina. Alex O'Connell was the local coordinator for our work. As a native of New Orleans he shared deeply of himself, his experience and the history of his home. I brought groups back repeatedly in the years that followed, and he visited me while he was traveling. Reconnecting with Alex has been the highlight of my return to this city, and for me shines a light on the evolution of my ministry and the work of the ELCA. Our work together has helped heal this city, and in every way the city shows its gratitude. There have been many other reunions, and many other places where we are working where God is leading us.  I am so blessed to be a part of this church.

Update from Pr. Jeff Kallevig, Our Saviour’s, Tucson