God's grace instructs us how to live in this present age, the age of grace in between the two Advents of Christ. Christ appeared in grace to save us and to teach us how to live a new life. In this present age we live for Christ: 

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

 "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6:4

 "For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again." 2 Corinthians 5:14-15
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"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

"For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living." Romans 14:7-9

"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body." 2 Corinthians 4:10-11

 "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Romans 6:8-10

 "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." Ephesians 5:1-2

 "Live in order to please God…" 1 Thessalonians 4:1

 "So we make it our goal to please Him…"  2 Corinthians 5:9

Paul's letters are full of what it looks like to live for Christ, to live in step with the Holy Spirit, bearing His fruit, empowered by the life of Christ in us, revealing Christ's life in our attitudes and actions to the world around us.

This is how we are called to live in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope of Christ's return in glory - His Second Advent.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Advent is not really the season of preparing for Jesus' birth, as though he had never come in the first place. Advent is the season of preparation for his coming again... Do I really believe that Jesus is coming back, not just coming to individual souls one by one in their own hearts, but coming to call the entire universe into judgment, coming to bring history as we know it to a close, coming to bring his everlasting kingdom to pass? That's what the New Testament sets before us—not a private, invisible, spiritualized coming of Christ but a cosmic event that will be visible to everyone. "Every eye will now behold him, robed in dreadful majesty." This claim that the church makes is too serious to fool around with. If we don't mean it, we should put an end to Advent. We should take the phrase out of the Nicene Creed: "He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead." We shouldn't say that every Sunday if we can't believe it. 

Fleming Rutledge
Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ

The Advent season communicates a message of immense importance! Hope and promise are at the center of Advent and each one of us should feel that a promise has been made to him or her by the God who, unlike human beings, keeps his promises.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

One of my friends is sharing some brief (and beautiful) Advent reflections from past writings each day with her friends. She wrote a bit about what might ensue if we get tangled up with God. I love the image of us entangled with God, of God choosing to become entangled with us. Not God serenely dwelling within Mary, or within us, but God mixing it up with his people. Not God in a tabernacle, but out and about where the paths can be muddy, the ways steep, the risks many.

The reflection she wrote for this first week of Advent is about how Jesus is rather literally entangled with the physical world. The atoms and molecules he breathed and ate and drank, the very stuff that made up his body, is now entangled in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the wood of the cross we gaze at in the church. It's a staggering reality. But so too is the reality that we are tangled up in God in our hearts, our minds and our souls. We cannot extricate ourselves from this tangle! God decided to dwell among us, and nothing will ever be the same.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

These words from Psalm 33 are the promises and prayers which still provide a firm foundation for our own lives, the life of the Church, and indeed the future of God’s good creation:

“We wait in hope for the Lord; he is our strength and shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

To wait in hope isn’t the same as giving in. Another great hymn has the lines,
Save us from weak resignation, to the evils we deplore...
Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, serving Thee whom we adore.

We wait in hope before God because we have learned that God is our strength and shield, and we trust in his holy name. Hope is the opposite of shoulder-shrugging, I can’t help it resignation. Hope is when faith is at its most defiant. Hope is when we stand beneath the cross with broken-hearted disciples, and head with the women for the tomb with its immovable rock, and find that the immovable stone has been moved, and the crucified is glorified. And our hearts rejoice in hope.

We wait in hope because God isn’t finished with the church, and the church isn’t finished. How firm a foundation! What more can he say than to you he has said? Our church in Pasadena (like every other Christian congregation) is built on the firm foundation of God’s promises:
“You are fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” Ephesians 2.19-20.

So as Psalm 33 says, “We wait in hope…” Not wild unrealistic hope, but the settled confidence that God can be trusted. Not passive let’s do nothing hope, but hopeful living, hope-filled praying, acts of hopefulness and hope-building. Not fingers crossed and hope for the best hope, but an inner assurance that God keeps his word, and we can trust his holy name.

We are in a time of flux, unpredictability, and multiple crises. Anxiety and uncertainty can easily slide into despair. But our faith has a firm foundation, and so does our hope. What more can he say than to you he has said… “He who did not spare his own Son, but freely gave him up for us all, will he not, with him, freely give us all things.”

May your unfailing love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Descanso Gardens

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Don't forget to log on to read this month's Sharing our History post about language and ethnicity on the centennial blog on our website!
https://www.pascov.org/centennial

Amazing and merciful God, how easy it is for us to forget that we are your delight. You rejoice when we follow your holy ways and envision a future of goodness and grace for all your people. We blame you for divisions and strife. We justify our wars by saying that you are on our side. We rationalize the abuse of our enemies by telling ourselves that they are not your people, that their sinfulness exceeds your tolerance. In truth, you have told us that we are to love our neighbors indiscriminately. Moreover, we are to love those with the greatest need more fiercely and more immediately. Shower us with your mercy, O God, until we live by the plumb line you have repeatedly dropped in our midst.

Patient and steadfast God, you continuously call us to live in peace, leaving none behind. We hear your call. We know that your love endures forever. What you ask of us is not beyond our reach; it is not higher than the heavens or on the outer edges of the sea. For all of Creation to live in justice is not an impossibility you hold up to tease us with what we cannot have. If we trust you, it is possible for us to turn aside from our human ways. It is possible for us to love with your love. Enter our lives anew, Holy One, silence our fears and smother our distrust that we may live in harmony with all.

God of wonder and mystery, you love us still. You love us when we are filled with fear. You love us when we are filled with hate. You love us when we are filled with judgment. You love us when we think we are better than our neighbors. You love us when we think are neighbors are better than us. You love us when we blame others for creating the chaos that flows through the world. You love us when we abdicate responsibility for engaging in justice work. You love us through all our foolishness. However, you delight in us when we act with love and seek to bring your realm into the here and now. Flood every corner of our being with the strength of your Spirit that we may have the courage to love with your love, always. Amen.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

“Upended” might have been an understated description of 2020, but it captured my last week pretty well, too. On Tuesday, it was an iconic fall day — breezy, sunny and not too warm. I spent the morning working on the patio outside. At noon I took my lunch out on a tray, reluctant to waste a moment of this day inside. As I stood up to go inside, I lost my balance, knocked the tray, and sent my plate and favorite mug crashing to the concrete. I caught the $3.99 IKEA plate before it hit the ground. I did not catch my mug. 

Thursday, I managed to upend things again. I had a stack of books at the back of my table in my office, lined up to read for the pastoral cohort I am in. There were fresh flowers on my desk, too. My desk was clear, working space well organized, reading underway…and flowers! I reached for a book, the whole set tipped over, hitting the vase which then tipped a pool of water over my desk and the open book and notes on it. Whoops.

Neither of these events are by any measure catastrophes. My life — and those of many others — have been upended in far worse ways. But these little reminders how quickly things can turn from serene to chaotic have kept me grounded in the present, eyes open for joys in the here and now. Like another beautiful early fall day to read on the patio. I’d rather view this week as bookended by joy than by grief. 

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

“The joy of the Lord is my strength.”

Monday
Psalm 19.8 “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.”
There is joy in knowing God’s will, and how God wants us to be and to act and behave. Sometimes we worry about how we will know God’s will; this Psalm is telling us to do what we DO know God wills: to live a life close to God, to love God with all we are and have, to care for our neighbor, and to bear witness to Christ.
Tuesday
Psalm 4.7 “You have filled my heart with greater joy than when their grain and new wine abound.”
Hah! Says the Psalmist. Sure, there’s happiness, entertainment and a lot to enjoy in food and drink and parties. That’s not wrong, but it can never be enough. There’s a deeper joy in knowing God, in living a meaningful life of love to God, and service to Christ, who lives in us and through us. And the greater joy in being made new in Christ.
Wednesday
 Psalm 48.1-2 “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God the holy place. It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth.”
We need our minds expanded when we think of God and his purposes for this God-loved world. The whole earth shall see the glory and greatness of God. The good news is to be the bringer of joy to the whole earth. Remember Jesus' command: “Go into the whole world and preach the Gospel…and I am with you always and everywhere.” Jesus, the joy of the whole earth!
Thursday
Psalm 92.4 “For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord; I sing for joy at the works of your hands.”
All around us, every day, the clouds and the stars, the trees and the fields, our children and friends, every one of them the work of God’s hands. The blessings we count and the blessings we take for granted, but all the works of God’s hands. And the greatest work of God’s hands are seen in hands nailed to the cross, for love of every one of us – and it is out of that sorrow, sinners like us sing for joy, from grateful and forgiven hearts.
Friday
Psalm 100.1-3 “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.”
The New Testament knows nothing of miserable Christians! One of the obvious characteristics of the early church was the joy that was bursting from the seams of these young communities. I’m wondering if one of the ways of recovering from the whole pandemic experience might be heartfelt prayer for a baptism of joy, a rediscovery that we are a resurrection people, the gift of an inner spring of gladness that composes songs of joy from the circumstances of our lives.
Saturday
Psalm 126.5-6 “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him.”
We’re only human. Life brings us joy and sadness, peace and worry, health and illness, gain and loss. No, we can’t feel joy all the time. But if we are in Christ, and Christ in us, joy is a deep-seated reality because out life is held in the firm grasp of God’s loving purposes. In the whole story of our lives there are tears – of sorrow, and of joy. But our lives will be fulfilled in the harvest of those tears; like the sower carrying sheaves, our lives will bear the fruit of the Spirit, and the harvest of Christlikeness.
Sunday
Psalm 149.4-5 “For the Lord takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation. Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds.”
I love this! Lying in bed singing hymns of joy. I’m wondering when any one of us last did that? That’s the thing about the Psalms – emotions are not to be suppressed, but to be either cried or sung, lament or praise, complaint or thanksgiving. It’s about being real before God. These words are about real joy, lying in bed with thoughts of gratitude, praise and the serious joy of knowing the Lord takes delight in us.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
as you trust in Christ Jesus,
that you may overflow with hope
in the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

THE CALL OF THE DISCIPLES

He calls us all to step aboard his ship,

Take the adventure on this morning’s wing,

Raise sail with him, launch out into the deep,

Whatever storms or floods are threatening.

If faith gives way to doubt, or love to fear,

Then, as on Galilee, we’ll rouse the Lord,

For he is always with us and will hear

And make our peace with his creative Word,

Who made us, loved us, formed us and has set

All his beloved lovers in an ark;

Borne upwards by his Spirit, we will float

Above the rising waves, the falling dark,

As fellow pilgrims, driven towards that haven,

Where all will be redeemed, fulfilled, forgiven.

-Malcolm Guite

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Sweet nothings

When we listen for the voice of God

we don't usually hear big revelations

or great pronouncements.

We hear God's patter,

divine murmurings

as God goes about the house—

like,

“Well, look at that,”

or “I see you.”

A mother murmuring to her infant,

small talk,

terms of endearment,

sweet nothings.

Listen for that.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation