Phillip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."  John 1:45-46

"What would Jesus do?"
   I was in college when the question became a slogan. I'd walk into Christian bookstores and see entire shelves dedicated to the phrase. Teenagers came to church with the acronym emblazoned on bracelets, T-shirts, caps, and hoodies: "WWJD?" Pastors used the question to title sermons, and youth group leaders chose it as an organizing theme for summer camps and vacation Bible schools. Goldmine industry though it became, the goal of the paraphernalia was to encourage kids to orient their lives around Jesus. If he were here now, facing the situation we're facing, what would he do?
   As I reflect on Jesus's first encounters with his disciples, I wonder if we might shift the WWJD question a bit, from "What would Jesus do?" to "What would Jesus see?" after all, the Jesus of the Gospels spends a lot of time looking, noticing, and discerning. Perhaps we should begin where Jesus begins. If he were here right now, looking at what we're looking at, what would he see?
   In this Scripture from John's Gospel, a skeptic named Nathanael journeys from doubt to faith. He experiences an epiphany, discovering for himself that Jesus of Nazareth is in fact the Son of God, the light that has come into the world. 
   But the story at its core is not about what Nathanael sees; it's about what Jesus sees. It's a story about Jesus' way of looking and seeing, and about what becomes possible when we dare to experience his gaze. In this story, what makes salvation possible is not what Nathanael sees in Jesus, but what Jesus sees in Nathanael...
   Seeing is alway selective. We have choices when it comes to what we see, what we prioritize, what we name, and what we call out in each other. The selves we present to the world are layered and messy, and it takes both love and patience to sift through those layers and find out what lies at the center of who we are. But there is great power in that sifting too. Something happens to us when we are deeply seen, known, named and accepted.
   Jesus has a choice when it comes to seeing Nathanael. I wonder what would have happened if instead of calling out Nathanael's purity of heart, Jesus said, "Here is a cynic who is stunted by doubt," or, "Here is a man who is governed by prejudice," or, "Here is a man who is careless in his speech," or "Here is a man who sits around, passive and noncommittal, waiting for life to happen to him."
   Any one of those things might be true of Nathanael. But Jesus looks past them all to see an honesty, a guilelessness, a purity of thought and intention that makes up the true core of Nathanael's character. Maybe the other qualities are there as well, but would Nathanael's heart melt in wonder and joy if Jesus names the quality he wants to bless and cultivate in his would-be follower, the quality that makes Nathanael an image-bearer of God. 

   What would happen if we routinely saw as Jesus sees?...

The invitation to "come and see" is an invitation to leave our comfortable vantage points and dare to believe that, maybe, we have erred in our original certainties about each other, God and the world. To come and see is to approach all of life with a grace-filled curiosity, to believe that we are holy mysteries to each other, worthy of further exploration. To come and see is to enter into the joy of being deeply seen and deeply known, and to have the very best that lies hidden within us called out and called forth...

   What would Jesus see? Come and see likewise.

   excerpt from Debie Thomas
   "Come and See"
Into the Mess and Other Jesus Stories 

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

"Lord, have mercy. The sea is so vast, and my boat is so small."

When life seems too much - too complex, too scary, too unpredictable, and yes, too exhausting, I come back to this prayer. It's traditionally called the prayer of the Breton fishermen. It's a prayer for those who feel out of their depth. A cry of the heart when the waves keep coming and every one of them gets bigger. 

It may have come as a prayer of desperation, hope clinging to an old story of disciples in a storm, the sea of Galilee a frenzy of destructive forces. And Jesus asleep.

Like the sea, long periods of life can be calm, navigable, predictable, and relatively safe. Then weather patterns change and the sea transforms into threat, and we rediscover our finitude, our limits, our humanity; we are reminded of what we can't do, what we don't know, and what we cannot control.

This brief one-line prayer asks for mercy, but does not tell God what to do. At most it points out the obvious, the vast realities we face, and the limited resources at our disposal. God already knows all that. But it is deeply human to cry out for help, for mercy, for something that pushes the balance of fear towards faith, despair towards hope, and transforms that sinking feeling into a sense of being held.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.  
 James 5:17-18

What Elijah was able to accomplish through prayer is quite astounding, and downright intimidating too. I’m grateful, therefore, that the Apostle James shows me that Elijah wasn’t superhuman after all, but that he was just like me! He got tired, he got angry, and he even failed sometimes. However, there’s one thing that made him different from many of us—he prayed earnestly. Elijah prayed with intensity and tenacity.
 
James uses the story of Elijah to inspire, encourage and challenge the Church to pray earnestly. However, many of us may be feeling discouraged, or burnt out, and not wanting to engage with the Lord in prayer.  
 
After three and a half years of no rain, Elijah prayed again, the rain came, and the earth produced crops. This implies that the farmers were willing to sow seeds in the dust while there was no rain, believing that one day the rain would come. Prayer can sometimes feel like this—as if I’m sowing seeds in the dust. Physically, it feels as if nothing is happening, but in fact that’s not the case spiritually. I want to have seeds in the ground when the rain comes. 
 
(From James Aladiran, “Earnest Prayer” October 18, 2022 Lectio 365)
 
 
The seed is in the ground. Now may we rest in hope while darkness does its work.

Wendell Berry

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Here’s a gem from the gospel of Luke (Message version): "God had overwhelmed her with mercy."

May it be so for each of us.

If you don't know how to pray for another person, pray that they be under God's mercy, overwhelmed with God's mercy. Even if you think you know how to pray for another person, pray that God's mercy covers them. If you don't know how to pray for yourself, pray for God's mercy in your life. When you read the word mercy, think love.

Hope flows from the mercy of God.

Grace and Peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Spirit of God,
           breathe in me.
Be my breathing,
           that I may breathe deeply of life.
Breathing in, may the wind of your earth enter me
           and become me,
the gift of life
           transformed into my cells.
Breathing out may I breathe
           your grace and your peace.
In your grace
           breathe me out into the world.
Breathe in my speaking,
           that I may speak truth.
Breathe in my singing
           that I may sing joy.
Breathe in my silence,
           that I may listen deeply.
Breathe in my walking,
           that I may go in peace.
Breathe in my dying,
           that I myself may be your breath
breathed out into the Mystery,
           in peace, breathing peace.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light

Grace and Peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Beach observations in late September

 
“Wah-hoo,” cries the ecstatic kid as he rides yet another wave to shore. He’s grinning from ear to ear, shouting with joy, along with the dozen or so kids riding their boogie boards at the Santa Monica shore. There are adults out there, too. Clearly having a good time, but none of them are screaming with delight. 
 
Adults, me included, can be wary of joy. Worried that it makes us seem undignified. So, we tuck it in our pockets rather than wrap it round ourselves, we walk it back rather than dance with it. We offer a wan smile while inwardly jumping for joy. But as multiple writers have said, “joy is the surest sign of the presence of God.” If our dignity stems from being created in the image and likeness of God — we ought to be clothed in joy, it ought to trail behind us like a sparkling train!  We ought to shout and leap and grin madly in the presence of our God. Who is before us, behind us, beneath us, within us. And in every wave that carries us to shore. For we are all worthy of joy!
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The end of summer can be a seismic shift for many. We go from days with nothing at all on the calendar to days that are end-to-end meetings and classes. There is no happy medium. It can be chaotic, and it always takes us a bit of time to find our rhythms.

This year it feels a bit like making meringue, as I gently try to fold my summer schedule into the coming year. When you fold egg whites into a batter you need to be gentle, and slow. Use too much force, beat them too fast, and the whole project utterly collapses.

These are good lessons for life as well. Be gentle. Don't rush. Let the lightness balance out the moments that feel overwhelming and heavy. Sometimes it's enough to get things basically combined, but if one tries too hard for perfect uniformity, one can lose some of the spaces to breathe. 

As fall arrives, keep trying to keep some of summer's pockets of air folded in. The goal is to let the summer leaven the year, and to avoid collapsing the whole cake…

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Many of us tend to think that the focus of the gospel is solely on the individual: Jesus came to save individuals from sin and bring them to personal salvation. This is incomplete. Jesus came to rescue us and restore us into relationship with God as Father and to one another as siblings. Jesus came to redeem his people collectively. Through faith in Christ’s death and resurrection, we are reconciled into the community of faith, the family of God, his people, the church. Look at how this is expressed in Scripture:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  1 Peter 2:9-10 

Understanding that God has saved “a people for his own possession” is the foundation for strong, authentic, loving community in the church. At PasCov, we come together with three commitments in all of our Small Communities:

FELLOWSHIP  “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of His return is drawing near.”  Hebrews 10:23-25
 
FORMATION  “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives.a Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom He gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”  Colossians 3:16
 
MISSION  “God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.”
1 Peter 4:10  
 
We hope to see many of you tomorrow at our Rekindle forum from 10-12 in the sanctuary, where we will encourage each other and be equipped to serve our Good God!
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Instead of measuring a church by its attendance and budget, here’s another idea:
Let’s assess it by the quality of community life that disciples people to love well: a culture that equips individuals to have a 1st hand life with God and commitment to release people in their gifts.
Rich Villodas
 
Ruth Haley Barton notes that community is the most ‘overpromised and underdelivered’ aspect of the church today. There is something about human beings trying to get together and function together over the long haul that is difficult. What about you? How many have joined a church in hopes of experiencing care, connection and belonging, only to be disappointed? Or have been deeply involved with the church but were not being transformed at the deepest levels of your being?

The promise that we can become like Christ is one of the great promises of the gospel (Galatians 4:19). Spiritual transformation is central to the message of the gospel and therefore central to the mission of the church. 
 
At PasCov we are committed to create opportunities for community in which spiritual transformation takes place. Our transformation takes place ‘in and through the Trinity, as God transforms us into the image of Christ through the real presence of the Holy Spirit’ (Barton, Life Together in Christ). Some of our transformation takes place in solitude with God and also by choosing to walk together where certain kinds of growth, attention and support can be cultivated for the purpose of deep change into the image of Jesus. 
 
Lord Jesus, may we be known as a community that disciples people to love well, that invites everyone to a transformed shared life!
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

I

“I am going to speak to you simply as a pastor, as one who, together with his people, has been learning the beautiful but harsh truth that the Christian faith does not cut us off from the world but immerses us in it; the church is not a fortress set apart from the city. 
The church follows Jesus, who lived, worked, struggled and died in the midst of a city, in the polis.”
—Archbishop Oscar Romero, shortly before his assassination in 1980
 
We build community and connection within the church so that we can reach out beyond the church and share the love of Christ to the world around us. We embed our presence in the places we find our lives and rely on the Spirit to lead us to seek and share God. And as a whole church body, we partner with those who have a reach into our community and meet needs and build bridges, do justice and seek the shalom of the city. 

That peace
will rise like bread
we can always hope.

That justice 
will flow like wine
we can always hope

That the Table 
will make strangers kin
we can always hope.

That our hope
will rise like bread
we can always pray.

-Jan Richardson

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation