“The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.”
Psalm 145:14
Throughout the first half of Psalm 145 the power of God is described and affirmed. It is power on behalf of those who trust God. The second half of the psalm describes the results of such powerful, compassionate love. Like a parent picking up a child who falls, or a friend helping to carry a heavy load – God is the Uplifter of those bowed down by sorrow, anxiety, overwork, unfair expectations, and whatever else drains us of energy, joy and a sense of our own worth.
“The Lord upholds…lifts up.” May you know this is your inmost being this week.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
It's Ash Wednesday on February 14th. Next week! Once again the annual give-upfest comes around. Need to eat less. Do more exercise. Reduce caffeine. Refuse chocolate. Prohibit clicking the Amazon shopping basket. Stop cheating in speed limits. Walk more and drive less. Keep tabs on food waste. Keep tabs on my own waist. Detox from the Internet. I've just written a Lenten Decalogue. Ten new commandments to make life, me, the world, a little more this, a little less that.
I'm not going to try to keep any of them. Each one is valid, valuable and salutary. These I should be doing whether it's Lent or not. The fact I can so easily compile such a personally relevant checklist of virtues or their absence is evidence enough of my need for improvement.
And yet. Somehow this year I feel less interested in pulling out a few weeds, and more interested in replenishing the soil. Not so much interested in dealing with this or that bad habit, more challenged by the issue of the kind of person whose habits they are.
Which brings me to Jesus. Matthew 12:35-37 tends not to be among the more comforting words Jesus ever spoke. My guess is we interpret them as hyperbole, a good natured warning phrased strongly for rhetorical effect. That is a category mistake. These words are spoken with an exacting exactness —Jesus means what he says. Seriously, Jesus is being serious.
A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.
So this Lent I am giving up words. Well at least giving up, so far as prayerfulness and carefulness allow, empty words.
As a Lenten discipline, what might it look like to cultivate a stewardship of words, develop a discipline of language, practice a care for speech as therapeutic? And perhaps above all, a recovery of the eloquence of silence, out of which come our deepest thoughts and those words that have a lasting worth and legacy in the enriched lives of others.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Written by British New Zealander Richard Gillard in 1977, “The Servant Song” is such a beautiful expression of the Christian call to community and friendship, marked by selfless service, a walking alongside, and the bearing of one another’s joys, sorrows, and fears.
Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too
We are pilgrims on a journey
Fellow travelers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load
I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the nighttime of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear
I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through
When we sing to God in heaven
We will find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony
Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iu_T_FRvbY&t=112s
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Prayer Matters!
John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”
It’s well worth remembering that before we utter a word of prayer, we have already been prayed for by the One to whom we pray. What’s more, the crucified and risen Lord “is at the right hand of God and ever lives to make intercession for us.” Every day, every breath and heartbeat, we are held in the heart of Eternal Love, drawn into the inner life of the Triune God. The Spirit prays within us, and Christ intercedes for us, at the right hand of the Father. We pray as those continually prayed for!
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
These three things are connected in the spiritual life. Joy isn’t an occasional emotional high, it’s the underlying confidence of faith, trustfulness in God who is the God of hope. Patience in affliction is easier said than done, but it’s often in the hard times, even the hardest times, that strength comes to us from beyond us, from God. Faithfulness in prayer is that persistent leaning on God, in whose hands we are held, and in whose loving purposes our daily lives are woven in mercy and grace.
2 Corinthians 1.10-11a “God has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”
This verse is one good reason we pray for each other, and for those going through difficult times and valleys of darkness. We have no idea what difference our prayers make to how people’s lives turn out. We do know that people are helped by knowing they are being prayed for. What we don’t know is how God answers not only our prayers, but the deepest needs of those he loves. God uses our faithful prayers in ways we can’t begin to imagine in bringing blessing to others. You know you’re doing this prayer thing right when someone says, “you help us by your prayers.”
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Sentences that we should all be comfortable saying:
"I don't know enough about that yet, can you tell me more?"
"I've changed by mind about that topic."
"I was wrong. Thanks for helping me learn."
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Refugee by Malcolm Guite
We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,
Or cosy in a crib beside the font,
But he is with a million displaced people
On the long road of weariness and want.
For even as we sing our final carol
His family is up and on that road,
Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,
Glancing behind and shouldering their load.
Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower
Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,
The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,
And death squads spread their curse across the world.
But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
This is as good a description of the hidden meaning of Jesus birth as you will ever find. It took Jesus' ministry, teaching, death, resurrection and ascension for the church to begin to grasp what Paul called the mystery of the ages. “For in him all the fullness of God chose to dwell…”
Once we’ve told the Nativity story, beautiful in its humanity and ordinariness, we then tiptoe to the brink of mystery, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” Jesus, Immanuel – God with us, full of grace and truth. Ponder these things in your heart.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
The First Nations Version of the Bible is unique because it is a translation of the New Testament into English. And yet it is a translation done by representatives from the indigenous peoples of North America, for native peoples whose native languages have been all but replaced and forgotten. And so, the First Nations Version seeks to render the biblical text in the cultural logic and forms of meaning that resonate deeply with native peoples. The result, for both native and non-native readers—and I say this as a person who has tried to do my regular Bible reading out of this version for the last month—is illuminating, thought provoking, and moving. (The best way to become aware of your own cultural lenses is to look through someone else’s lens.)
Try reading a new translation this year:
LUKE 2 HUMBLE BIRTH
1-2When the time drew close for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child, the government of the People of Iron (Romans) ordered that the people be numbered and put on government rolls. This happened during the time that Powerful Protector (Quirinius) was the governor of Bright Sun (Syria). 3All the Tribal Members were required to travel to their own ancestral village to register.
4-5He Gives Sons (Joseph) and Bitter Tears (Mary) set out on a long journey from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth) in Circle of Nations (Galilee), to House of Bread (Bethlehem) in the Land of Promise (Judea), the village of their ancestor, the great chief Much Loved One (David).
The journey took several long days and cold nights as they traveled over high hills and through the dry desert. When they arrived, tired and weary, they entered the crowded village.
6The time for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child was upon her! 7But no place could be found in the lodging house, so He Gives Sons (Joseph) found a sheep cave where it was warm and dry. There she gave birth to her son. They wrapped him in a soft, warm blanket and laid him on a baby board. Then they placed him on a bed of straw in a feeding trough.
8That night, in the fields nearby, shepherds were keeping watch over their sheep. 9Suddenly a great light from above was shining all around them. A spirit-messenger from Creator appeared to them. They shook with fear and trembled 10as the messenger said to them, “Do not fear! I bring you the good story that will be told to all nations. 11Today in the village of Much Loved One (David) an Honored Chief has been born who will set his people free. He is the Chosen One!”
12The spirit-messenger continued, “This is how you will know him—you will find the child wrapped in a blanket and lying in a feeding trough.”
13Suddenly, next to the messenger, a great number of spirit-warriors from the spirit-world above appeared giving thanks to Creator, saying, 14“All honor to the One Above Us All, and let peace and good will follow all who walk upon the earth.”
15When the messengers returned to the spirit-world above, the shepherds said to each other, “Let us go and see this great thing Creator has told to us.” 16So they hurried to the village of Chief Much Loved One (David) and found Bitter Tears (Mary), He Gives Sons (Joseph), and the child, who, just as they were told, was lying in a feeding trough!
17The shepherds began to tell everyone what they had seen and heard about this child, 18and all who heard their story were amazed.
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
Into this world, this demented inn
in which there is absolutely no room for him at all,
Christ comes uninvited.
But because he cannot be at home in it,
because he is out of place in it,
His place is with the others for whom
there is no room.
His place is with those who do not belong,
who are rejected by power, because
they are regarded as weak,
those who are discredited,
who are denied status of persons,
who are tortured, bombed and exterminated.
With those for whom there is no room,
Christ is present in this world.
Thomas Merton
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation
The fullness of time has come. The long-awaited King of heaven is coming to earth. All of creation has been aching for this moment. The promised Messiah Israel has been waiting for is coming as a tiny babe named “Jehovah is salvation.” Gabriel arrives to announce this great mystery.
The infinite will grow in a finite space.
Power will be wrapped up in weakness.
The eternal will step into time.
The invisible will become visible.
Heaven will collide with earth in Mary’s womb.
There are lots of ways God could have chosen to come and dwell among us. But we learn a lot about who he is and what he is like by how he comes into the world. The Lord of heaven and earth doesn’t appear in fire and earthquakes and a booming voice that echoes throughout the world saying, “Here I am! Worship me!’ The King of kings doesn’t arrive with fanfare, trumpets, and a rolled-out red carpet. He is so set on drawing near to us that he constrains himself within the most vulnerable dwelling we have ever called home— the womb…
God is so bent on loving us that he became helpless. He so desires to empathize with us that he refuses the comforts and expanse of heaven to experience the pain and limits of our humanity. He leans in. He bends low. He gets close…
(But) when we follow Jesus, we forsake the upward ascent because love calls us downward. Love bends low. It leans in. It gets close. Love calls us to descend into our own vulnerability to love the most vulnerable.
And when we descend into human weakness, suffering, and powerlessness to love others, we will be awed by the glory of God that is revealed there. We will be filled with wonder at the paradox of how humans so limited and vulnerable can be so filled with the divine.
Bette Dickinson, Making Room in Advent
Grace and peace,
Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation