At Grace, we are called by God to be in the city for good! For those interested in volunteering this summer, we invite you to attend the orientation held in the North Room of Hope Hall on June 9th from 11:30a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Lunch will be served. Please RSVP at outreach@graceinthecity.com or call Clottee Hammons at 602-817-8996 if you plan to attend. View PDF flyer.
At the center of our religion, love. What heals us, love. What heals our communities, love. Also, the stated motive of most religious people, regardless of actual outcomes, love. I agree with the Beatles: “All you need is love.”
As we expectantly wait for Christmas, one persona dominates the church world, another persona our culture at large. These two prominent figures both speak of how we should act, what we should do—and the consequences if we do not. The persona of our culture at large? Who can we find everywhere at malls and on cards and sung about in songs during the month of December? Santa Claus.
How about the persona of the church world? Who is it who dominates our Advent stories? Right. John the Baptist.
“Curbside” Grace Room service will resume Monday, June 22, 9:00-10:30 am! Those needing clothing and hygiene products are welcome to come to the northwest gate of the church any time during the distribution window to share sizes and particular needs with (masked, gloved) Grace Room volunteers.
All Grace Room donations received will sit bagged and unopened for 14 days to ensure safety.
This week marks 5 years since the shooting of 9 Bible study participants at an AME church in Charleston, South Carolina. On Wednesday, June 17, the ELCA is gathering virtually for a service of commemoration at noon Eastern time or 9:00 am Arizona time. The service will include leaders from around the ELCA and ecumenical partners, as well as a sermon by Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton. We join in a time of repentance, mourning and prayer as we remember these nine martyrs and renounce the sins of racism and white supremacy. View the service at ELCA.org/EmanuelNine.
Our sister congregation, Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church at 12th Street and Glendale, will be holding a 30-minute outdoor vigil at 7:30 pm, also on Wednesday, June 17. We gather to remember George Floyd and many other victims of racism and will sing, pray, and kneel in silence (as you are able) for 8 minutes and 46 seconds. Please wear a mask.
Finally, also on Wednesday, June 17 at 2:00 pm, all are welcome to a discussion of the film Just Mercy. Based on the life work of Civil Rights Attorney Bryan Stevenson, this movie is a resource in helping those interested in learning more about the systematic racism that plagues our society. Please watch the movie prior to our discussion, which will be held via ZOOM (click here to register).
The film is available on several platforms for free all June. Click on this link: https://www.justmercyfilm.com
Arizona Faith Network, of which the Grand Canyon Synod of the ELCA is a member, will offer a Virtual Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Global Health and Peace each Thursday in June, 7:00-8:00 pm. Interfaith and community leaders throughout Arizona will offer prayers of strength, hope and healing. Together we will unite during these difficult times to remember those who have lost their lives, are ill, and are impacted due to COVID-19. Special prayers, reflections, music and readings will be offered by diverse faith and community leaders. RSVP at https://www.arizonafaithnetwork.org/ by scrolling down the homepage to Virtual Interfaith Prayer Vigil and clicking on "Please register."
For the next 2 weeks, you are invited to participate in a series called ELCA 101 about the church body of which Grace is a part. This is offered as a collaborative educational opportunity with other Lutherans in metro Phoenix via Zoom and will take place Thursdays, June 18, and 25 at 7:00 pm. Here's the zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82978115993?pwd=dmZSVFp1Yy9sSDJ1MUtpbHdKMnJyUT09
During the season of Pentecost, through Grace’s Facebook page on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 pm, we are exploring spiritual practices for the weary. We thought it would be helpful to share resources that describe the process for each spiritual practice. Click to access the resources for each spiritual practice that we have explore so far.
We continue to explore the theme of friendship and hope that these episodes might inspire you to reach out and make new friend connections or deepen your existing friendships. Click the play button below, and you will hear from Tim and Chris, and their particular friendship story. Thank you, Tim and Chris for sharing with us the story of your friendship! Leave us your comments and questions right here on the blog. We’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy!
The early Christians who first articulated the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, that is, God, Jesus, and Spirit eternally co-existent and in relationship one with the others, were people who remembered the persecution of their sisters and brothers in faith in the not so distant past. For three centuries, Christians built community in secret, prayed in secret, studied in secret. Those who practiced their faith publicly were imprisoned, stoned, thrown to the lions, crucified. A few years after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, people of faith publicly gathered to debate and discuss the nature of God—a debate and discussion that produced, among other doctrine, the doctrine of the trinity. This was no ivory tower, no theological conference among professional theologians, no heady intellectualism. To those who gathered to debate and discuss, the nature of God mattered. The doctrine of the trinity mattered deeply. People—and not just a few people—had died to proclaim and pass on to the next generation the good news of God in Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit in the world. Perhaps most controversial, most powerful, most counter cultural was this: God did not deign to take a body. God embraced a body in order to be with us in Jesus.
Because the Greek ethos deeply influenced the Apostle Paul and other biblical writers, they articulated a Christian message that subjugated the body and lifted up the spirit, a dualism so ingrained in New Testament scripture and contemporary American life that we may not even realize there is a different way to view the world. But the people of faith who gathered to debate and discuss the nature of God cast aside this dualistic view and instead declared God incarnate in the body of Jesus.
God embraces a body, the body of Jesus who, like every other body, hungered and tired, yearned and ached. At the very center of Jesus’ story is the story of his body, that he, his body, is delivered into the world at Christmas, that he, his body, fasts 40 days and encounters the tempter in the wilderness, that he, his body, is beaten and suffers and is crucified on Good Friday, that he, his body, is raised and transformed on Easter. Christians disagree on many details of doctrine, but I think we all agree on this: that Jesus’ body matters. Upon the ascension of Jesus’ body to the right hand of God, God pours the Holy Spirit upon all flesh. On the day of Pentecost and in all the places and times the Holy Spirit appears in scripture, the Holy Spirit is incarnate, is embodied. The Spirit doesn’t blow aimlessly but roots itself in the body of Christ and God’s beloved creation. As Lutherans, we pray for and trust that the Spirit takes root in us on the day of our baptism, that the Spirit reveals itself through spiritual gifts and leads us in lives of faithfulness and love. The Holy Spirit, who on this Sunday in particular we remember is the very same creator God, takes up residence in us. Our bodies matter because God has poured out the Holy Spirit on our bodies, all bodies—according to the prophet Joel and Peter on the day of Pentecost.
In these troubling days, when we witness across our country what I hope will lead to lasting change, when we witness yet another black body murdered without a conviction, without a trial, I pray that the doctrine of the Holy Trinity inspires us and leads us to say: Black lives matter. Not that others’ lives don’t matter because, of course, every life matters, every body matters. But in our beloved nation that strives to be a land of equality and opportunity and greatness, we continue to live in the stranglehold of racism. I say stranglehold because racism is not just about what individuals say and do but about a system that is larger than any one of us. Unfortunately, racism is so deeply embedded in US history that doing something other than unconsciously perpetuating it is difficult and requires much of us. What exactly healing from racism requires, I’m honestly not sure, though I imagine it will be some combination of humility and listening, civic engagement and advocacy. In the healing process, we will put our collective foot in our mouths. I’m sure I will put my foot in my mouth. We will make mistakes. We will disagree about what constitutes racism and many other things. We will move one step forward and three steps back.
Some of us will be angry because we have been hurt for so long by racism, and some of us will be angry because we don’t agree with the analysis of the problem. Why single out black bodies? And what about good police officers, those who truly serve and protect? And some of us will be ashamed because we know we haven’t done all we could to unpack our white privilege, and some of us will be confused because we thought we did all our work just to be told we aren’t ‘woke’ enough. Some of us will be frustrated because we’ve been on the anti-racism train for a long time, just waiting for others to jump on board, and some of us will be sad because we just want all humanity to live in peace. Some of us will be tired, tired of the same fight, over and over again. No matter how much we stumble as we go about this healing process, no matter how we feel, today, I hear in scripture and in the theological tradition of this church God calling us to care for bodies because bodies matter. And the collective sorrow of our nation is that black bodies have never mattered, at least not in the way white bodies have.
I was in college when I first read the work of Audre Lorde, a poet who taught at New York University, an activist, a mom, a black women. In both her prose and poetry, she was a powerful, articulate writer. This week as we communally grieved the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others, I have not been able to get Lorde’s words out of my head from a paper she wrote and delivered in 1980 about the different experiences of black and white women. She wrote: “Some problems we share as women, some we do not. You fear your children will grow up to join the patriarchy and testify against you, we fear our children will be dragged from a car and shot down in the street, and you will turn your backs upon the reasons they are dying.” Dear friends in Christ, as we give thanks to God for meeting us in the body of Jesus and in us, the body of Christ, through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, let us not turn our backs on the reasons black bodies are dying.
On the only Sunday in the church year where we lift up a doctrine, the doctrine of the trinity surprises us with its relevance. Almighty God showed up in the body of Jesus, shows up in the body of Christ, and having met God in the beloved bodies of humanity, the doctrine of the trinity sets us on a path towards healing. Thanks be to God! Amen.
You know that feeling when you get in the passenger side of a car with a driver you’re not sure you trust? How you anxiously and immediately buckle your seatbelt? How you helpfully inform the driver of upcoming red lights and cars in their path? How you continuously scan the roadway, clutching whatever is handy? How you discover you weren’t breathing when you pull into a parking space and finally draw a full, deep breath? When we are passengers in a vehicle, we don’t control what the driver does, what the car does, what the traffic does. We are simply along for the ride, maybe picking music, consulting the maps app, or making lively conversation.
On this Pentecost Sunday, 9 days after Jesus’ ascension, though Jesus had instructed them that the Holy Spirit would come down, I imagine the disciples felt the pressure, the vacuum of a post-Jesus world. I imagine they assumed they had better get to work, that they had better get on with ministry similar to that of Jesus. If we read Acts chapter one, we learn that the disciples had no idea what that meant, though. They appear to be stalling, to be stuck, to be…well, the same witless disciples we met in the gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Thanks be to God that the Holy Spirit swoops in as wind, like fire, and through language. Filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples open their mouths and out comes the good news of Jesus in languages they had never spoken. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter stands and raises his voice and quotes the prophet Joel proclaiming the outpouring of the Spirit upon all flesh, sons and daughters, young and old, enslaved and free.
As humans do, for the nine days between Jesus’ ascension and the day of Pentecost, the disciples likely assume they are in the driver’s seat of this ministry in a post-Jesus world, but they are wrong. They are simply along for the ride, traveling in the direction that the Holy Spirit drives them. They contribute, for sure. Once the Spirit fills them, they don’t run for the hills like Jonah or ask to sit at God’s right hand in the kingdom like they did earlier in the gospels. If you’ve been watching our Daily Meditations throughout the season of Easter, where we have been reading through the book of Acts, you already know that the disciples really do get up and follow the call of the Spirit. They share the good news. They heal people. They forgive sins. They baptize with abandon. They empower new leaders within the early Christian community. They’re on it. Filled with the Holy Spirit, they do what God wants done in the world. But equally obvious in the book of Acts is the fact that they are only on it because the Holy Spirit fills them.
We, the body of Christ, have also received the Holy Spirit at Holy Baptism. Collectively, the Spirit fills the church on earth, empowering us to do together what we could not do alone. We might think ourselves the drivers, but we depend on the Spirit to drive us. Our own agendas, our own plans and ideas, our own attempts to do the work of God fall, sadly, flat. When we seek out the direction of the Holy Spirit in prayer, when we relentlessly ask for the Spirit’s guidance, when the Holy Spirit drives us, we get where God wants us to go.
I am not a good passenger. I was only able to describe the feeling of anxious passenger in a car because that is actually what happens for me when someone else drives. I like control and struggle to give it up even when someone I love and trust who absolutely will do everything they can to keep me safe is driving. I do a little better trusting the Holy Spirit but only because I have seen time and time again that the Spirit works. In maybe year 10 of ordained ministry, after doing all I could to control situations, after dotting every ‘I’ and crossing every ‘t,’ after doing my homework and preparing for meetings, I learned to say: The Spirit will work. And of course, then, once I am out of the way, the Spirit does…work! The Spirit working is not my choice. The Spirit doesn’t answer to me. The Spirit blows where and how it wills.
Where the Spirit blows, a way is made, a way for acts of justice and forgiveness and grace, a way for community that not only tolerates diversity but celebrates it. How else do we, people of Grace, account for the ministry we are able to do with so few people and so little funds? Collectively, we are recipients of incredible generosity, and each one of us, each one of us contributes valuably to our life together. But we would not be here still, in the city for good, if we were not already filled with the Holy Spirit, if we had not allowed the Spirit to drive our mission.
The same is true of the ELCA and ELCA-affiliated institutions with our vast array of hunger, relief, public health, education, human service, advocacy, and faith formation programs both in the US and abroad through which we educate, raise up leaders, provide health care, build sustainable food systems and clean water resources, deliver aid to refugee camps and domestic disasters, resettle refugees, care for our elders in their homes, and many other acts of justice and grace. Really, how is this possible? We do it, yes, we get on board. But this is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, through us, for the sake of the world God loves!
In these days when Covid-19 continues to plague us, when police brutality continues, when those in power abuse that power, when we are staring a climate crisis in the face, we wonder: what are we to do? On this day of Pentecost, we might instead wonder: what is the Holy Spirit already doing, and how can we get on board? We might be anxious like a passenger in a car, having no control of where we go. But the good news is, people of God, the Holy Spirit is the driver. If we allow the Spirit to drive us, to set our course, we might be surprised where we end up. We might be uncomfortable, but we, like those on the first Pentecost, will be amazed and astonished and discover God’s own purpose. For the Spirit, for its presence in our lives, for the ways it drives and compels us, we say: thanks be to God! Amen.
We continue to explore the theme of friendship and hope that these episodes might inspire you to reach out and make new friend connections or deepen your existing friendships. Click the play button below, and you will hear from us, Vicar Beth and Pastor Sarah, about negotiating in friendship and ending friendships. Leave us your comments and questions right here on the blog! We’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy!
June 7 (The Holy Trinity)
First Reading: Genesis 1:1-2:4a
Psalm: Psalm 8
Gospel: Matthew 28:16-20
June 14 (Pentecost 2)
First Reading: Romans 5:1-8
Psalm: Psalm 100
Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:8
June 21 (Pentecost 3)
First Reading: Romans 6:1b-11
Psalm: Psalm 69:7-10[11-15]16-18
Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39
June 28 (Pentecost 4)
First Reading: Romans 6:12-23
Psalm: Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Gospel: Matthew 10:40-42
During the month of June, we celebrate with members & friends of Grace.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Solveig M.
Nina A.
Kenda K.
Erica K.
Hannah K.
Clark G.
Frankie A.
Pastor Mary Louise
Ruth E.
Dana D.
Adam H.
Donna M.
Phyllis S.
Elias R.
Sara W.
Brian F.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
John & Linda
Taylor & Leiana
To celebrate Pentecost this year, congregations participating in the collaborative group: Phoenix Fusion worked together to produce a video project. People from various congregations in the Capitol Conference of the Grand Canyon Synod responded to the questions: “Where is the church right now?” and “How do you see the Holy Spirit at work?”
One of the common hymns sung on Pentecost Sunday is “O Day Full of Grace” from our hymnal Evangelical Lutheran Worship #627. Christoph E.F. Weyse 1774-1842 composed the poetry while the music is a Scandinavian folk hymn. In celebration of Pentecost and as a gift to the Lutheran Church, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians performed a stunning arrangement of this hymn virtually, each of the 1300 organists, violinists, and singers performing in their own home but melding with the gift of technology to share “…bring light from our God that we may be abundant in joy this season. God, shine for us now in this dark place; you name on our hearts emblazon.” Click on the link below to enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldITpkTYM0U&feature=youtu.be
Ascension Sunday
Gospel Reading: Luke 24: 44-53
When I was six years old, the training wheels of my Disney princess bike were taken off. Up until that point in my young life, I was comfortable with my training wheels; they made me feel safe and secure and confident in myself as a bike rider. So confident, in fact, that I was convinced my dad could take the training wheels off and I would just ride off into the sunset perfectly balanced on two wheels.
You can imagine how that went. I fell. Hard. Many times.
Despite falling over and over again, my dad told me I could do it and all I needed was practice. He said he’d help me learn. So, day by day we went up and down the street with one of my his hands on my handle bar, and the other rested on the back of the seat. Day by day, I grew more confident and his hand disappeared from the handle bar. Day by day, we went up and down the street with only one of his hands on the back of the seat. Until one day, he let go. Of course, I didn’t realize he had let go until I was half down the block and looked back to see him in the distance.
He was right. I learned to ride to a bike without training wheels. Grinning ear from ear, I kept on riding. All the way around the block, because I was too afraid to make a sharp turn. But I was just ecstatic! I was filled with joy! Upon the return from my victory lap, I was greeted with smiles and hugs. It was a moment to celebrate.
Metaphorically, Jesus’ ascension into heaven is a moment when the disciples’ training wheels come off. They watch as their Savior is whisked into the heavens, and now, they are on their own. Jesus is no longer present in his physical form. Now, they’ve got to figure out how to ride this bike without training wheels.
But the disciples are not wholly unprepared for this moment in Bethany. They have followed Jesus around for about three years, they have witnessed his teaching and healing; they have watched Jesus break bread with tax collectors and sinners, they stood at a distance on the day he was crucified, and have just stood in his resurrected presence. The disciples have been by Jesus’ side throughout his whole ministry and now the Gospel writer of Luke is making space for the disciples to carry on the work of the resurrected Jesus.
The work of bringing good news to the poor, proclaiming release to the captives, recovery of the sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus’ story moves forward in their stories. And now, the disciples share in the story of resurrection. They have the insight that death does not have the final word because they have seen Jesus in his resurrected body. The disciples have resurrection faith.
Perhaps this is why they do not cry out with sadness or shout angry curses to the heavens when Jesus departs? Instead they are filled with great joy and they return to the Temple continually praising God.
Jesus’ ascension is not a moment of grief, but a moment of hope. It is not a moment of experiencing God far away, but a moment of sensing God drawing near; a realization that God’s story in the world does conclude with Jesus’ ascension but continues on through the lives of the disciples, through our lives as disciples.
This past Friday, I read an online blog post from a person named Daudi Msseemma, an ELCA representative in East Africa. In this blog, Msseemma talks about the lived experiences of rural people in his area of Tanzania, particularly the Maasai people: an indigenous ethnic group who reside in the northern, central and southern regions of Kenya and the northern region of Tanzania.
Msseemma writes how rural people, like the Maasai, are accustomed to cycles of plenty and poverty. During a severe drought in 2008-2009, he spent time in villages where the carcasses of livestock littered the ground and hungry children fainted in classrooms. He witnessed a lot of suffering. But he did not encounter hopelessness. He describes a saying common to the people of that area: “God is far, but he is very near.”
In the Maasai traditional religion, there is a belief that in the good times God is near with all God’s communal blessings. In the times of drought and communal suffering, God is far. But even when God is far, it won’t be long before he comes back.
Msseemma is careful to note that this belief is not intended to minimize the suffering of those experiencing hardship. He writes there is no healthy outlook or ideology that will help you pass painlessly through losing loved ones or being unable to feed your children. Rather, it’s a hopeful posture through pain—an understanding that pain is a season and it will pass.
In times like these, when we are weary of sheltering in place and watching this pandemic continue to affect the people of the world, it would be easy to say that God is far away. But Scripture tells us that God is a present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46). God never leaves us.
On the day Jesus departed for the heavens, he made a promise. A promise to send upon the disciples power from on high. He tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they have been clothed with this power from on high. The promised power of the Holy Spirit is coming.
It the power of the Holy Spirit which will give birth a new kind of community: the church. The body of Christ. It is power of the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh that will empower the disciples to ride their bike and bring the good news of the resurrection to every nation, to all people.
On the day we were baptized, our Lutheran theology tells us that we received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit promised by Jesus on the day of Ascension. The same Spirit poured out upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. The same Spirit who is walking alongside us in these days— encouraging us to ride our bikes through these times of weariness and uncertainty to proclaim good news, to do justice and to love our neighbor. As we wobble on this bike together, as we find our new rhythms, as we anticipate the new thing that God will do when this season passes: we are not alone. God may feel far away, but God will never leave us.
Thanks be to God!
Beginning Tuesday, June 2, Vicar Beth and Pastor Sarah will offer Pentecost Pause on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:00 pm on the Grace Facebook page via Facebook live. Our theme will be “Spiritual Practices for the Weary,” and each week, we’ll explore a different spiritual practice that can be done at home. Please join us!
We are suspending Heat Respite at Grace this year as we normally offer it. However, Grace will continue to share food, water, and hygiene supplies with members of the community who are experiencing homelessness. These items are set out behind the gate near the church office for anyone who needs them, Monday-Sunday, 9:00 am-12:00 pm. We are also providing iced cold water bottles every day 9:00 am–5:00 pm.
We welcome donations of bottled water, packaged snacks, and small-size hygiene items for this outreach. To ensure someone is here to receive your donations, please contact Adrienne in the church office or Pastor Sarah to set up a time to drop off donations. Thank you!
As the summer progresses, we hope to expand what we are able to provide for the community, but this will depend entirely upon the trajectory of Covid-19 transmission.
Congratulations to Grace Pastoral Intern, Vicar Beth Gallen! She is receiving a Master of Divinity degree from Luther Seminary over the weekend. We are so happy for her and proud to be part of her call to leadership.
Feel free to share notes, emails, or text messages of congratulations with Vicar Beth!
Vicar Beth, Associate the Bishop Rev. Jacqui Pagel, and Pastor Sarah on one of Vicar Beth’s first Sundays at Grace
People of Grace,
In this and the next couple episodes of The GLOW SHOW, we continue to explore the theme of friendship. We hope that these episodes might inspire you to reach out and make new friend connections or deepen your existing friendships. Click the play button below, and you will hear from Ruth and Renee, two members of Grace Lutheran Church, who have been friends for many years and share the story of their friendship. Thank you for sharing your story, Ruth and Renee, we are grateful! Leave us your comments and questions right here on the blog! We’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy!
With love,
Pastor Sarah and Vicar Beth
People of Grace,
In this and the next couple episodes of The GLOW SHOW, we explore the theme of friendship. We hope that these episodes might inspire you to reach out and make new friend connections or deepen your existing friendships. Click the play button below, and you will hear from Brian and Solveig, two members of Grace Lutheran Church, who have been friends for many years and share the story of their friendship. Thank you for sharing your story, Brian and Solveig, we are grateful! Leave us your comments and questions right here on the blog! We’d love to hear from you.
Enjoy!
With love,
Pastor Sarah and Vicar Beth
