Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.  So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord! “       John 20:24 

I’m reflecting on Thomas this week, and his encounter with the resurrected Jesus. He's the disciple who argued they should all go to Jerusalem and die with him. For whatever reason he wasn't with the gathered disciples when Jesus first came, stood among them, said “Peace be with you”, and proved he was alive.
When Thomas said he wouldn't believe till he saw and touched Jesus, he was asking for no more than had already been given to the others. 

Peter couldn't face going into the tomb. If Jesus was still there and dead, he didn't want to see him. If Jesus was indeed risen, then Peter wasn't ready to meet him. The Beloved Disciple did go in, saw Jesus wasn't there and believed—but he still had no evidence and Jesus was elsewhere. Mary simply thought Jesus’ body was stolen. It's not only tears that blurred her vision; grief closed down her perceptions. Until Jesus spoke her name.
Then there is Thomas. Passionate, courageous, intelligent and realistic Thomas, not to be taken in by the wishful thinking of others. What is telling about John's telling of the story is that Thomas who had demanded to see, and touch and invasively poke the wounds of Jesus, did none of these things when the time came. Jesus invited Thomas to touch the evidence, but Thomas is far ahead of such needs for proof. His confession, "My Lord, and my God" are the crowning words of faith in the entire Gospel and of John's art as a storyteller of the Gospel. 
The Gospel of John starts with "In the beginning was the Word", the creative, light-shining, life-giving Word. And Thomas saw that Light of Life.  "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth," and Thomas was persuaded and won by that same grace and truth. Throughout John there are signs of Jesus as the Word of God, water into wine, the feast of the 5000, the raising of Lazarus, and now Thomas was seeing in the risen Jesus the new wine, the bread of life, and the resurrection as promised. 
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Galatians 5:22-23

I've read those words hundreds of times, it might be thousands. Many times I've prayed them as I read them. Often, too often, they have been prayers of confession that whatever fruit there might be is unripe, maybe even unformed.

As with everything else in Christian experience, the fruit of the Spirit is sown in grace and harvested in the life of those who are in Christ, who live by the Spirit, and whose first confession is of grateful praise for the love of God in Christ. 

And yet. The last thing Paul intends by listing the fruit of the Spirit is that those virtues should be a further checklist of our failures. They are to be looked for as the natural outcome of God's gifting grace, Christ's reconciling love, the Spirit's liberating power. 

Instead of seeing the fruit of the Spirit as mere aspiration, what we'd like to be but never will, (or even worse, as a hit list of our chronic failures), take to heart Paul's advice to another group of Christians whose behavior was at times far from exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit: "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)

We are called to live into the freedom of Christ, to walk and live in the surrounding environment of the Holy Spirit. Crucified with Christ, and living by faith in the faithfulness of Christ, knowing that the Son of God loves us and gave himself for us, we live in Christ and Christ in us, and the fruit will appear.   
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

While I am always happy to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus at Easter, I am also always glad that Eastertide has begun. Traditionally lasting 40 days to commemorate the time the resurrected Jesus remained on earth before his Ascension, in some western churches Eastertide lasts 50 days to conclude on the day of Pentecost.
 
I wish we in the church did more with Eastertide, made it the mirror of Lent.  Commit to adding something good in Eastertide, for yourself or the world.  Examine not your sin but your joy.  Eat sumptuously.  Laugh a lot.  That’s why I wish all those yearly Easter worshipers would come back – they just get the beginning of the good stuff, the amuse bouche of the faith and not the main course.  Easter is the appetizer, not the dessert. 
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Poetry for Holy Week

Maundy Thursday
 
Kneeling on Boston Common it's this foot, 
naked, resting in my lap with clean towel, 
socks, warm water waiting, that tells me 
this is what happens after a cold winter
of deep snow when you're homeless in 
dirty socks and cracked shoes that don't fit: 
this foot, bloody, swollen, toes deformed, 
I wash gently, first one, then the other, and 
never have I felt so close to Jesus, his feet,
bare, pierced, bloodied, nailed to the wooden 
cross.
 
Sarah Rossiter 
 

Good Friday

Am I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy blood’s slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon –
I, only I.

Yet give not o’er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

Christina Rossetti

Judas, Peter

because we are all
betrayers, taking
silver and eating
body and blood and asking
(guilty) is it I and hearing
him say yes
it would be simple for us all
to rush out
and hang ourselves
but if we find grace
to cry and wait
after the voice of morning
has crowed in our ears
clearly enough
to break our hearts
he will be there
to ask us each again
do you love me?

Luci Shaw, 

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.         Eph. 6:23 

Peace, faith and love, but the greatest of these is love. Three times Paul emphasizes the relation of love to faith, and of grace to loving trust. We love because he first loved us, and Paul prays for grace to fall upon all those who pledge and intend to live a life of undying love for Christ. Of course, we fail and fall, our love is inconstant and the rhythm of sin and forgiveness, complacency and passion, wrong desire and right desire, is real enough for each of us. Hence Paul’s prayer, which we can take as a personal benediction tumbling down the centuries from Paul to us, here and now:

“Grace also to me, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, so that I too may go on loving our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.” Amen.
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

In our Pathway to Unity that the Leadership Team introduced to the congregation last December at our congregational meeting, why did we start with Table Talks first, for practicing listening to each other share stories, rather than a forum or presentation on Biblical interpretation of Scripture? By building our skills through listening to, understanding, and identifying with the experiences of others, people begin to build bridges across differences and they learn about themselves in the process. 
 
Having opportunities to listen and be listened to can be transformative. We can decenter our own experience and step into others’ shoes, cultivating empathy and compassion. It’s rare that we get opportunities to intentionally grow in attunement. Simply receiving whatever other participants choose to share is a sacred act of trust and sets a foundation for gracious conversations to come.
 
It also breaks the ice and softens our hearts at the entrance to taking up the challenging LGBTQ+ conversation in the next step of the pathway. Our Table Talks will likely run through April and May, and we will come back this fall to a forum discussion of Biblical interpretation and practice generous listening and responses. Please don’t miss the opportunity to sign up for a Table Talk gathering—remember it is just a single session, two hours, with trusted facilitators in a home setting. We’d love everyone to have a chance to listen well this spring.  

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

With you it is never "more or less"

We will be your faithful people -

                                   more or less

We will love you with all our hearts -

                                   perhaps

We will love our neighbor as ourselves -

                                   maybe.

We are grateful that with you it is

                                  never "more or less"

                                  "perhaps" or

                                  "maybe."

With you it is never "yes and no,"

                  but always "yes" - clear, direct,

                  unambiguous, trustworthy.

We thank you for your "yes"

                 come flesh among us. Amen

From Walter Brueggemann  Awed to heaven - Rooted to Earth

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

 Lenten prayer

You who are over us,
You who are one of us,
You who are also within us,
May all see you-in me also.
May I prepare the way for you,
May I thank you for all
that shall fall to my lot,
May I also not forget the needs of others.
Give me a pure heart-that I may see you.
A humble heart-that I may hear you,
A heart of love-that I may serve you,
A heart of faith-that I may abide in you. Amen.
 
Dag Hammarskjold, Markings.
Swedish economist and Secretary General of the United Natios

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Matthew 6.17 “But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to anyone else that you are fasting, but only to your Father who is unseen; and your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

God of justice and grace, unseen yet seeing everything. Teach us the blessing of a true fast is to refrain from self-praise and practice generosity; to do good in secret, to be kind to strangers, to use our words, our money and our actions to break yokes that burden and crush others. Father in heaven, we can’t fix everything, but may we be faithful, persistent and caring in all our efforts to repair what we can, making space within us to be attentive to your call and receptive of your grace. Amen.

Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Blessing the Dust

So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are
but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made,
and the stars that blaze
in our bones,
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.
 
Jan Richardson
 
Grace and peace, 

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation