Monday, December 24, 2012

Resource | Creation

I thought this might be a good illustration on the vastness of the Solar System as part of a lesson on Creation for a confirmation group, Sunday School class, etc.:

Ask Marilyn by Marilyn vos Savant, as printed in the May 29, 2011 edition of Parade magazine

You once described our solar system with fruits and vegetables.  Could you give us the "recipe" again?--David Erickson, Veneta, Ore.

Gladly.  If the sun were a pumpkin about a foot wide, Mercury would be a tomato seed 50 feet away; Venus, a pea 75 feet away; Earth, a pea 100 feet away; Mars, a little raisin 175 feet away; Jupiter, an apple 550 feet away; Saturn, a peach 1025 feet away; Uranus, a plum 2050 feet away; and Neptune, a plum 3225 feet away.  Pluto stays in the fridge.

www.parade.com/askmarilyn/2011/05/Sundays-Column-05-29-11.html

Friday, November 23, 2012

Sermon | "We Gather Together" | Day of Thanksgiving

They gathered together for a meal of Thanksgiving. The people of God, slaves in the bustling city of Rameses in Egypt. When their ancestors came to Egpyt to live as aliens, the were few in number. But in time, they became a great nation, mighty and populous. And when the Egyptians treated them harshly and afflicted them, by imposing hard labor on them, they cried to the LORD, the God of their ancestors; and God heard their voice and saw their affliction, their toil, and their oppression.

God listened to their cry and they listened to God’s instructions: Take a lamb for each household, a lamb without blemish, a year-old male.  Slaughter the lamb. Drain its blood into a basin. Then take a branch of hyssop, dip it into the blood, and paint the blood on the lintel and doorposts of each home. Roast the lamb over a fire, with its head, legs, and organs intact. Wait inside, prepared to leave. Eat the meal fully clothed, with sandals on your feet and staffs in your hands.

They gathered together for a meal of Thanksgiving with their families and the LORD passed over their homes, but struck down all the firstborns in the land of Egypt. So they departed the land in haste. They took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in
their cloaks on their shoulders.

And the LORD brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. And they gave thanks.

* * *

They gathered together for a meal of Thanksgiving.  This small band of Jewish pilgrims who had come to the bustling city of Jerusalem. The city was filled with merchants selling clothing and jewelry. Along with the others, they shopped for the food they needed: spices and herbs, fish, wheat and wine, but most important was the lamb. Utmost care was taken to follow the traditions of their forefathers. Early in the afternoon, they took the lamb to the Temple. They waited for the sound of the ram’s horn, before they slaughtered the lamb. Its blood was drained into a basin held by one of the priests. Then it was skinned and its fat and kidneys were removed and burnt on the altar.

They took the lamb to the room which had been prepared for their feast. The lamb was roasted outside in the courtyard. Inside the room was prepared. Cushions on the floor allowed us them
to recline and eat at low tables. Along with the lamb, the other dishes of their tradition were prepared: bitter herbs, bread, and the haroset, a mixture of fruit, nuts and wine. And there was wine to drink as well—four cups for each guest, mixed with water and heated…

They gathered together for a meal of Thanksgiving, the Passover meal. The disciples listened as their Rabbi Jesus took a loaf of bread, and blessed their God. Then, Jesus broke the bread and said, “This… is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  Later, when they drank the third cup of wine, the cup of redemption, he said, “This cup… is the new covenant in my blood.  Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

They were saddened and confused by Jesus’ words. But they remembered when the Lord had fed a crowd of over 5000 with only two fish and five loaves of bread, and they remembered what Jesus said afterward: "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
* * *

They gathered together for a meal of Thanksgiving--the colonists who had come to the “New World” and the Indians who were already there.  They colonists had come here from England on a merchant ship called the Mayflower. They were few in number. In November in the Year of Our Lord 1620, they landed on this continent. They began building a settlement, but the winter weather treated them harshly and many of them were afflicted by sickness and died.

Those who survived until the next year, about 50 in number, celebrated in the fall of 1621. With the harvest in, the governor sent four men out hunting, so that they might rejoice together after gathering the fruit of their labors. The four men in one day killed as much fowl as served the company almost a week.  And many of the Indians joined them, and among them their greatest king Massasoit along with some ninety men. For three days the colonists entertained and feasted, and the Indians went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon the governor, the captain, and others. Along with the deer and the duck, they feasted on lobsters and mussels, white
and red grapes, black and red plums and “flint” corn.

And although it was not always so plentiful as it was at that time, they remembered the goodness of God, and they were far from want.

* * *

Three meals from three different times in history. Three meals in three different lands and cultural settings. Three meals with the common thread of thanksgiving.

First, the Passover meal of the ancient Hebrews. A meal eaten in both in celebration of and in remembrance of their liberation from slavery in Egypt and the freedom to worship their God, the one true God, in their own way.

Secondly, Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples, likely a Passover meal, eaten by a Jewish rabbi and his Jewish followers in the city of Jerusalem, occupied by the Roman Empire.

And finally, the meal we in the United States have come to call the “First Thanksgiving.” A meal eaten by the English colonists of Plymouth and Native Wampanoag people in celebration of the harvest. It was not a day of “thanksgiving” in the strictest, religious sense of the word, but it was a celebration that included feasting, games, and prayer.

* * *
Tomorrow, we will gather together for a meal of Thanksgiving. First Lutheran will host a modern Thanksgiving meal. We will come together—family and friends and neighbors.  We will feast on turkey and ham (provided by the Shooting Star), and mashed potatoes (100 lbs., in fact, donated by Butch J.) and dressing and sweet potatoes, corn and cranberries, rolls, and a room full of salads. And we will surely all save room for dessert, pies donated by St. Michael’s. It’s a meal that brings the community together—people from St. Michael’s and First Lutheran, Circles of Faith, Immanuel in Bejou, Wild Rice in Asplund, and others. It’s a meal that supported by individuals in the community and organizations and businesses in the community.  Before the shopping on Black Friday, before the Mahnomen Indians take the field on Saturday, we will gather together for a meal of Thanksgiving.

* * *

There is one more Thanksgiving meal I’d like to mention.  It’s a Thanksgiving meal known by many names: Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Breaking of the Bread, the Sacrament of the Altar, and the Eucharist, to name a few. The word eucharist comes from the Greek word eucharistia, which
means “thanksgiving.”

For me, as a Lutheran, each of these names reveals something of the mystery of the sacrament. As Holy Communion, the meal reunites us in relationship with God and with each other, with the communion of saints, believers of all times and all places.  As the Lord’s Supper, we consume the body and blood of our Lord Jesus in the bread and in the wine. We Break the Bread, formed from flour formed from wheat, harvested from our fields; and we drink the cup, wine crushed from the grapes of our vines. In the Sacrament of the Altar we are invited to “eat and drink from the
true altar of God, the body and blood of Christ given and shed ‘for you.’” We remember Jesus’ Last Supper, his death on Good Friday, his Resurrection on Easter morning, and his promise to
come again. In this meal of forgiveness, we experience freedom from the bondage of sin and we worship God in freedom, in spirit, and in truth. For this Eucharistic meal, at which God bestows
mercy and forgiveness, creates & strengthens faith for our daily work and ministry in the world, draws us to long for the day of God’s manifest justice in all the world, & provides a sure & certain
hope of the coming resurrection to eternal life,” we give thanks.

Tomorrow, we will gather around tables in the basement of First Lutheran for a meal of Thanksgiving. Tonight, it is my hope and my prayer that someday, we will also be able to gather
together around the communion table, all of us--Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant—and give thanks together for all that God has done. Amen.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Poem | For All the Faithful Women

Priscilla and Aquila--
Who worked along with Paul,
They shared and spread the message
That Christ is Lord of all.
As we too toil together
Our voice join as one
To offer our thanksgiving
To Father, Spirit Son.

This additional hymn verse was written for the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of Women's Ordination in the ELCA predecessor bodies.  It was first sung in chapel on Nov. 18, 2010 at Trinity Lutheran Seminary.