Recovery Worship of Fargo, ND

Recovery Worship of Fargo, ND
A fellowship of Christians who have choosen to live by the 12 steps of Recovery.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Recovery Christmas

Sometimes I forget how important people in recovery take the slogan "One Day at a Time." This past Sunday, the first Sunday after Christmas, I posed the question, "What is your favorite Christmas memory." About two answers in, I suddenly realized I had done it again. Past Christmases for many of the people in recovery are full of pain. Christmas spent in addiction, family separation, divorce, lost opportunities and pain. Several of us at Recovery Worship have lost parents this past year, one man learned on Christmas Eve that his estranged wife had died suddenly of a heart attack earlier in the day.

I heard all of these emotions as people stood up to tell their story, the stories full of pain were often ended with the same line, "but I am sober today and that is what is important." They spoke that living a life in recovery has turned sad memories of Christmases past into happy memories of Christmas this year. One of the last people to tell their story was a man who has only been to Recovery Worship a few times.

"My favorite Christmas story" he said, "is this Christmas. This is the first Christmas in thirty years that I have been sober on Christmas Day." He is still in treatment but you could hear the hope in his voice. This time, this Christmas, he was going to make it, the rest of today he will be sober, he will worry about being sober tomorrow…..tomorrow. Those Christmas's spent in addiction are in the past, in recovery he has been given a "do over" and he plans on making it work today!

We all have the right for a "do over" after all; God got a "do over" after Noah and the flood didn't he/she! That will be the topic this coming Sunday as we have a Service of Healing and New Beginnings on the first Sunday of the new year.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Addiction Right Between the Eyes

Last Tuesday night I was sitting in my office talking with a friend and getting ready to head for the Trustee's Meeting. Suddenly my cell phone beeped to inform me I had received a text message. I opened my phone and it was from Sandy, "Go online and Google Pastor Bill Bendert." I closed my phone and headed out the door. Pastor Bill presided at our wedding twenty years ago in Memphis, preached at my ordination in Ohio in 2000 and we have visited occasionally over the years and we have stayed in touch via Face Book and email. I wondered what had happened, if it was serious Sandy would have called me, maybe he had taken a call to Fargo or maybe he was elected Bishop.

Following the meeting, I was sitting behind my desk and my phone beeped again, "Have you Goggled Bill?" another text from Sandy. I got on line and Goggled the name and suddenly was thrown into disbelief, "Pastor Bill Bendert arrested for solicitation of an 11 year Old" was the first hit. Following this hit were similar headlines from news outlets in Michigan, Ohio, and even national websites like The Smoking Gun.

As I read the FBI report of the investigation, my stomach was tied into knots. This is the pastor who married us, baptized Martha, sat in our living room and played games with us, as I read the quotes from the AOL chat room between Bill and the FBI agent I could hear Bills voice. The conversation between Bill and the FBI agent posing as the mother of an eleven-year-old girl and the things he would do to both of them if they wanted. I have read other such conversations, but I know the person speaking these words, this is not some demented creep this is my friend. When I finished reading the fourteen-page report I felt dirty, I needed a shower.

I have been working with people in addiction for three years but this is the first time I just didn't know what to do, it has taken a while to sink in; both Sandy and I have been feeling the same thing. We thought about his wife and college age daughter. What was Bill thinking? How could this have happened? All the questions I have always thought I had the answers to ran through my mind but the answer just was not to be found. It was not until this morning as I was sharing this story with the Saturday morning Recovery meeting here at the church that the answer came to me, via one of the other folks around the table. "Why not Bill!"

What makes Bill different from anyone else with a Sexual Addiction? Does the fact that he is a pastor make him impervious to addiction? Does the fact that he is a friend of mine make it anymore unthinkable that he would do such a thing impossible? No on both accounts, that doesn't matter. When addiction strikes, it does not matter whom a person's friends are or what their occupation is, it hurts the people most directly impacted by the addiction.

It can happen to any of us, even if not especially, us pastors. As I write this week's blog I am alone in my office here at the church. I spend a lot of time here by myself on line, taking more breaks then I probably want to admit to check my email, Face Book page, Drudge Report and other sites. I am only one click away from all the porn I would ever want to look at, and only one click away from an inappropriate conversation on some chat page.

Sexual Addiction (in all of its forms) is a huge problem in the church…..all churches. I am not sure the church is doing everything it can to prevent it. It is getting a lot of experience in cleaning up the mess after it has been made public. Bill is not a pervert, putting that label on the addiction is too easy and doesn't address the problem. Bill is one of many sex addicts in our society. I wonder if he feels relieved that he got caught, many of them do. I hope he admits that he has a problem; that is the first step, on the long road to recovery.


 

Friday, September 10, 2010

On the Cover of Pretty Good Lutheran

Years ago, one of my favorite musical groups was Captain Hook and the Medicine Show. In prep for this blog, I visited some websites and the memories really startled flowing. Song’s like “Soup Stone,” “Freaker’s Ball” and “Cover of the Rolling Stone” a gimmick song that was probably intended to do just what they wanted, get their picture on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
There are only two blogs that I regularly follow, “Spirit of a Liberal” and “Pretty Good Lutheran” both sites deal with issues within the church. You can imagine my surprise when a few weeks ago I saw my name on the “Blog of the Day” area of Pretty Good Lutheran. Every day they have a selection of Blogs posted on their front page. Mostly pastors who tend to think a bit too much, occasionally a Bishop who always think they have something important to say, people I would not normally hang with unless it was either mandatory or they were buying. At first I thought about the old saying, “keep you mouth shut and have people think your foolish, or open you mouth and leave them with no doubt that your are foolish” ran through my mind. Then I thought, “Hey….this is really pretty cool.” I felt a little like Dr. Hook getting his picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone. Maybe it was a slow news day around the ELCA, I did notice that they didn’t use the picture of Martha and me doing our “Captain Morgan” pose, instead they used a silly stick figure, hardly an accurate representation of me.
So with my apologies to Dr. Hook, my mind started playing with new lyrics for his song.

Well I’m a Recovery Worship pastor, I’ve got golden fingers
And I’m tolerated everywhere I go
I preach about recovery and we preach about truth
At ten o’clock every Sunday or so
I try all kind of frills that give them all kind of thrills
But the thrill I’ll never known
Is the thrill that'll get me when I get my picture
On the cover of the Pretty Good Lutheran

Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Pretty Good Lutheran


I got a lot of little AA blue-eyed groupies
Who do anything I say
I got a genuine Recovery Bible
That’s teachin' me better way
I got all the friends that money can buy
So I never have to be alone
And I keep gettin' fatter but I can't get my picture
On the cover of the Pretty Good Lutheran.

Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna see my picture on the cover
Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna buy five copies for my mother
Pretty Good Lutheran
Wanna see my smilin' face
On the cover of the Pretty Good Lutheran

If this works maybe I will shoot for the Lutheran magazine!!!

See you next week

PS. As of September 10 "Pretty Good Lutheran" is no more :(. So much for my dream of 15 min of fame. Thanks for all the good reads Susan. I hope this post didn't play a role in your decision!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Rainbows and Butterflies

I am often asked by people unfamiliar with the ministry of Recovery Worship why we have a "rainbow cross" on our webpage. "Are you a gay ministry" I am asked. Well, when I told this to one of my folks here at Recovery Worship his response was "Well, yes, we are a bunch of really happy people."

Following the flood God said Noah, 'This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.' Following the death of all living things on the earth, except Noah, his family, and his flouting zoo, God promised that He/She would never do it again, at least with water. From near total death and destruction, God gave us another chance, following the flood the world was a new creation.

We also like to use butterfly imagery here at Recovery Worship, one of the graphics we use is a rainbow colored butterfly. For a butterfly to live, something has to die, in the case of the butterfly it is a caterpillar. Now I am not a butterfly expert so I am not sure exactly how it happened (I didn't pay much attention in 4th grade science class) but a caterpillar has to wrap itself up into a cocoon and die, from this death a butterfly is born.

To be born anew is a wonderful experience. When I hear people talk of their recovery I am reminded of the conversations I have had with people who have had "near death" experiences. They feel they have been given a second chance in life, they view life differently; they feel that they are a new creation in their recovery. In their addiction they have experience hell on earth, in their recovery they still have difficulties but they now have a new way of handling those difficulties. For them, being a new creation means more than simply not using, drinking, or acting out their addiction. Some would use the term "born again" well if that is works for you that is fine but it carries a heavy fundamentalist tone that we avoid here at Recovery.

However, in defense of the idea of being "born again" it isn't really the same. As the Big Book of AA states, recovery is a program of "Spiritual growth, not Spiritual perfection." You can say all day long that you are in recovery but if you have not fundamentally changed your life from your pre-recovery life you are only fooling yourself. If you say you are born again, yet you continue to live your as you did in your prior life, well you are only fooling yourself.

We will never be perfect in our spiritual life, in our recovery life, or in our Christian life, but in all of this we are a New Creation!


See you next Sunday

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Two Young Deaths, Two Different Circumstances

As you may have noticed I have taken the summer off from blogging. However events during the past couple of weeks have changed all of that and I am now compelled to return to my blog to vent. In the serenity prayer we pray for "the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and the wisdom to know the difference." I cannot change the fact that I did a memorial service today for two men who died too young and I know that it is not within my power to change that. However, if God is willing, I may be able to change the way we understand such unexpected events.

I received a call from someone at Recovery Worship that one of our folks, Tony, passed away un-expectedly in Minneapolis a week ago. Tony was a regular at Recovery Worship, his smile lit up the room anytime he walked into the room. A few months ago Tony took a job at a local home improvement store and the job required him to work on Sunday mornings. Whenever Sandy and I visited the store we looked for Tony. Once again we would always be greeted with a smile, a hug, and a question, "How are my friends at Recovery?" We would chat and then Tony would walk us to the counter and give us his employee discount. We will miss his smile, his sense of humor, his strong faith in his Lord, his story of Recovery, and yes, the 10% discount.

Last Sunday, while on vacation in St. Paul I got an early morning call informing me that Jeff, a man who has been struggling with his addiction to alcohol, had committed suicide in the graveyard adjacent to his home church in rural Minnesota. I knew Jeff had gotten arrested for a DUI back over the 4th of July and he had not been in church recently but I did not know things had gotten to the point that they had. Jeff, a retired Army officer was frustrated with life: he couldn't get a job and he couldn't kick his habit. I understand the frustration, one day you are a Major in the Army, the next day you can't get a job making pizza because you are "over qualified." Jeff kept looking for fastballs and life kept throwing him curves.

Tony died un-expectantly from a heart attack, as tragic as that is ministering in such a situation is pretty easy. Jeff died of suicide and there is nothing that is ever easy about ministry under such circumstances. I was honored that the family asked me to lead the prayer service the night before the funeral, and to speak again at the funeral. I asked them to remember Jeff for his love of life and his love of family and not to remember him simply for how he died.

The pastor, a Lutheran and a person in recovery followed up my little talk with announcing that suicide is a sin. Uffda, I am not so sure anymore, and I am not so sure that is true in every circumstance. I also asked myself that while that may be true, is it good pastoral care to proclaim that from the pulpit? I did not know Jeff well but I do not believe he would have committed suicide if he had not have been an out of control alcoholic. Jeff's cause of death should be blamed on his disease of Alcoholism and not by suicide. If Jeff had been able to work the program and find recovery he would be alive today, but he didn't and he's not and I cannot change that. If a person can be loved sober, he would be alive today. His family and friends loved him very much. If a person can be prayed sober he would be alive today, a lot of people were praying that he would find sobriety.

Two young deaths, two different circumstances, one was pretty much unavoidable, the second, well as much as we would like to think it was unavoidable in the end I am not so sure. The Big Book of AA says that some people will never find a way to recovery, and it says that the disease of alcoholism is "cunning and baffling." This week we have experienced the cunning and the baffling side of alcoholism.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Step 3; Making a Decision

I have always had a problem with "Decision Theology." Maybe it is the fact that I have spent most of my life around "Fundies" who continually asked me if "I had decided to follow Jesus" or if I "had a personal relationship with Jesus." The problem with this theology is that after you make such a decision, the folks pushing someone to make such a decision would then set the criteria for which such a person should live. If we had made such a decision we would live by their standards, and I found that almost impossible. My argument against Decision Theology has always been that God has already decided to love us; so for us there is no decision to be made by us. I know, many of you are saying "you have to do something!" We do, we have to be receptive of God's love for us and remember what Luther said in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle's Creed, "I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ." Any attempt to make this belief into a human work is useless. It is through the work of the Holy Spirit, and not by any decision on my part, that I believe.

"Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him/Her*" is step 3 in the 12 step program of AA. In this understanding of what a decision is I am in full support. A person in the pits of addiction has no understanding of God and God's grace. A person in addiction may acknowledge the existence of God, but that same person plays the role of God. They know what is best for them, they know what is right and they will decide what is right and what is wrong and they will not listen to anyone else's opinion, especially those who are closest to them, the very people they love.

When the person in recovery decides to "turn their will and their lives over to the care of God" is not a statement of salvation, but a statement of recovery! They have broken free from their job at playing God and have come to the conclusion that Gerhard Forde made in his book Where God Meets Man, God is God and we aren't. This is a huge step in the recovery journey, maybe the most difficult. When we have accepted the fact that we are powerless we must fill that void with another power, and that power cannot be us, we are the ones who lost the control in the first place.

The God (also referred to as Higher Power in many AA circles) of our understanding is also critical. At Recovery Worship that God is the God revealed in Jesus Christ. But we also understand that for people new to Recovery Worship that might not be the case. We teach whatever Higher Power is keeping you sober is good, however, and this is important, as you continue on your spiritual journey keep your options open. This is where I see our Lutheran of the Spirit breaks in, the Spirit, working within the church, within the person, moving from an obscure Higher Power to the love that is found in Jesus Christ. They didn't decide to follow Jesus; the Holy Spirit stirred their understanding, hearing words of forgiveness not words of condemnation and the words of the Gospel, led them to believe in Jesus Christ. It works, that is why, I believe, I have done more adult baptisms at Recovery Worship than infant baptisms.

*I have changed this understanding because a large number of women at Recovery Worship struggle with the concept of a loving Father; many of whom were sexually abused by their fathers when they were young. We have been able to free our understanding of how God is revealed to us at Recovery Worship by discarding traditional "God Talk" from our worship service.

See you next week for Step 4

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Journey from Powerless to Higher Power

This summer I am doing a sermon series of the 12 steps of AA. This isn't my first time for doing this; I taught the 12 Steps three years ago when I first came to Recovery Worship. Not being in recovery myself I felt that it would be a great way to learn the steps. I not only preached on each step, I actually did each step, an interesting endeavor.

I always need to remind myself that Dr. Bob, Bill W. and the rest of the group in Akron and New York wrote the Big Book of AA and the 12 steps very early on in the program. Bill W. had only been in recovery 3 years when the project was started, most of the people who helped had only been in recovery a few months.

Step One of AA is "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable." The keyword in this step is powerless. You could, I think, have a life that is unmanageable but still be in control, to be powerless means being out of control, a life in turmoil and a life that is unmanageable. I have a hard time imagining what that must be like! However, to begin this journey of Recovery we have to admit that we are powerless over our addiction. For the alcoholic there is no such thing as the "occasional drink," one drink is too many, 1000 drinks is not enough.

Step Two of AA is "Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." I will say right now that believing in a Higher Power means more than simply saying "I believe in Jesus," while that is enough for salvation, that is not enough for sobriety! I have known a lot of drunks who say they believe in Jesus, but it doesn't keep them from drinking. It was wise for Bill W. and Dr. Bob to use the term Higher Power, the drunks of their day, and ours too, had Jesus out their ears from groups like the Salvation Army and the church that tried to reform them out of fear rather than love. Step Two is that first step to a "Spiritual Awakening" that will enable the addicted person to begin the process that will lead them to Step Three. After reading the Big Book I have no doubt that the Higher Power that the writers were talking about is the God of the Old and the New Testament.

The journey from the Powerlessness of Step One to the Higher Power of Step Two is crucial to the addict, without this journey recovery will not be possible.

For those of us who are not addicts, our first step is to accept addiction as a disease and not as a moral weakness. I am still amazed at the number of clergy who tell me that addiction is not a disease that simply with the right amount of "will power" the person can kick the addiction. Philip Hansen in his book "Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired" suggests that when we hear someone make such a statement that we tell them, "The next time you suffer from diarrhea, see how well will power works for you." Amen!

Monday, May 24, 2010

The First Stop on Jesus’ Return

A few years ago I was at a county ministerial meeting held at the home of the local Missouri Synod pastor's home. His wife, who claims to be a direct descendant of C. F. W. Walther (Patriarchal Father of the MO. Synod folks), asked me an interesting question. "If Martin Luther returned from the dead today" she asked, "which branch of Lutheranism do you think he would join?"

I hate stupid questions, and this is a pretty stupid question. So I thought I would give her a pretty sarcastic response. "If Luther came back from the dead today" I said, "I don't think he would join either the Missouri Synod or the ELCA. I think he would be pretty disappointed with both of us." "You take yourself way too seriously and marginalize women. We don't take ourselves seriously enough and He would also be disappointed that we quote him way too much." Needless to say, she didn't like my response.

I often get asked the question, "If Jesus returned today where would be the first place he would go?" Well, for one I am not real sure. A couple years ago I was driving back to Cooperstown, ND from Grand Forks, on a very hot day. Ahead of me, in the middle of the highway was this gleaming white vision, as I drew closer I was able to make out a man with long hair, walking stick in hand, robe flowing in the wind and for a moment I was certain that it was Jesus. As I drove pass he offered a friendly wave, later that night He was on the news, it wasn't Jesus.

So, if Jesus did comeback this coming Sunday morning where would He go? I hear that some of the larger churches, especially the ones downtown, train their ushers on how to divert homeless people from the sanctuary without making a commotion so we can cross off those churches. I would hope that He would be welcomed at Recovery Worship; at least He would get a cup of coffee and someone would offer him a smoke. The LCMC church in town would turn him away because they would think He was gay, the Lutheran Brethren would turn him away because He isn't Norwegian, and the Baptist church would want to baptize him first. (Ok folks, I'm joking so hold the emails)

Where would Jesus go? Well, I think the first place He would go would be to a local bar. I know that He would be welcomed, someone would offer him a beer, He would feel right at home with his followers, "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

How have you welcomed the stranger today?


See you Sunday

Monday, May 17, 2010

Stirring the Pot

When I say "stirring the pot" I mean that I like to occasionally say things that create conversation, it isn't always important that I agree with what I have written, however, I think conversation is healthy. For those of you who follow this blog you probably got here through Facebook, one of my favorite modes of stirring the pot. I love to put links on my page that I know will create conversation, especially between me and my politically active son Allan and daughter Martha. It doesn't take much to get them stirred up.

Last week I read a link that had been posted by one of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. Susan Hedahl. Her link was to an article by Chris Hedges (http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/after_religion_fizzles_were_stuck_with_nietzsche_20100510/). In the article Hedges presents a pretty gloomy prediction for the future of religion, to be specific Christianity. I agree with much of what Hedges observes, by the way. If it was Susan's goal to "stir the pot" she was certainly successful.

In my comment I questioned some of the language that is used in churches today. A church that says it is "Welcoming" but churches seldom are. Two weeks ago while I was at Gettysburg Seminary I heard the following line of welcoming to the Communion Table. "All are welcome to Communion with us today. If you believe in the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist and are baptized, please come forward to communion" or words to that affect. Is that really being welcoming? What, as an example, one of our Full Communion partners whose view of what happens in communion is a bit different than ours is in attendanceI, they would not feel welcome. What if I am a "seeker Christian" someone who has come to accept the teaching of Jesus but have not yet been baptized? I would have to have stayed in my pew, not feeling very welcomed. Anytime we "welcome" people but then add qualifiers (if, or, but) we are not welcoming, it only sounds like we are and that makes us feel good, but does not make someone else feel welcome.

Well my comment received some pretty harsh response from a pastor from Penn. He describes himself as an "Evangelical Catholic" which means he is a Lutheran who really would rather be a Roman Catholic. He suggested that I take a refresher course in the Lutheran Confessions. My question is simply this; does God speak to us today through the Lutheran Confession of the 16th Century? Is it healthy for the church to cling to documents written from a drastically different world view then we have today. When Martin Luther wrote his Small Catechism there were not IPod's, IPad's, Wii or X-Boxes. Most children were born into and were raised in a two parent home. The adults, and children, spent most of their day in heavy labor without the distraction of cable TV or the local Mall to get in the way of their everyday life. The church clergy was made up of men, still mostly single men, and their biggest concern seemed to be the Muslims at the gates of Vienne.

Now, before my Orthodox friends get all excited and start sending me anonymous emails, I am not saying the Lutheran Confessions should be filed away under ancient history. I would like to suggest that we read them through the eyes of the 21st century, in light of the issues that face us in our world today. Is it really that bad if we welcome everyone to the communion table and risk the chance that an un-baptized person receives the bread and the wine? Isn't worth the risk? I think it is!


 

See you next week.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Storefront Jesus

It has been over three weeks since my last post. I took a couple weeks off for a trip back to Gettysburg Seminary for a continuing education event (which included a pilgrimage to the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, PA) a class reunion and an interesting meeting with an ELCA Bishop who is in recovery. While I was in PA Sandy called and told me that her father Dean had died, so I left for Ohio to pick up a few things, and then drove to Memphis for the funeral.

The south is an interesting place. You can't spit without hitting a church. Within a couple of blocks from my step-son's house is a large United Methodist church. Down the road is a large Presbyterian and Episcopalian church. Every strip mall (a bit of an exaggeration but not much) has a church. Tucked between mega churches, like Belleview Baptist Church that looks larger than the Fargo Dome, are small little churches with names like Full Gospel Baptist, Holy Spirit Pentecostal, El-Shadi Tabernacle, and several churches like MB Baptist or MB Pentecostal, not really sure what the MB stand for. I went to a church on Sunday where, one after the other, people stood up and proclaimed how happy they were to belong to the "true church of Jesus" I also watched a lot of local pastors on the public access TV channel make the same proclamation.

I wonder what Jesus' response would be to all of this stuff? People proclaiming to have the "truth" as least as they see it anyway, I think he would walk in and turn over a few tables; it worked in the Temple.

When I retire I am going to move to Memphis, rent some space in a strip mall and start my own church. I will put up a neon sign, "Bishop Ray's Full Recovery Tabernacle." It's my church, might as well be a Bishop. Sandy can sell fried green tomatoes and hush puppies to raise funds and during the week I will play golf. Sounds like a plan.

See you next week; it is really great to be home in Fargo!


 

Pastor Ray

Monday, April 12, 2010

Three and a Wake-Up


 

Everybody needs a little recovery sometimes so on Friday I am going into treatment, treatment in the form of a vacation. I will be heading to Gettysburg for what is billed as a "Continuing Education" event. Along the way I will stop by Luther Seminary (the seminary where the Lutherans who can't get into any other seminary go) for lunch with my good friends Alvin L and Rick F. The hour or two of laughing will go a long way to renewing my brain and heart for this job God has called me to.

Along the way, and the way home, I will stop in Ohio to visit my mom and my daughter, Cathy. In Gettysburg I will pretend to pay attention to the presenter at the lecture, reconnect with classmates (10 year class reunion) laugh some more and take a drive or two around the battlefield. Next Tuesday we will take a "Pilgrimage of Remembrance" up to Pottsville, PA and visit the Yuengling Brewery, "Americas Oldest Brewery." Rumor has it that they have had to cut back on production since the graduation of the 2000 class from LTSG but I think that is just a rumor.

This will be Sandy's and my first separate vacation. She will be heading to Memphis later in the month (after preaching at Recovery next week) to visit her Mom & Dad, Greg, Halley, Neely, Ella and the new grand-daughter, Avery. Seems she would rather do that than sit around with a bunch of pastors, can't imagine why.

I will return in two weeks, refreshed and ready to face the summer. When I return I will be starting a sermon series on the Twelve-Steps. I have not done this since my first summer at Recovery Worship; it will be interesting to see how I have changed my approach to recovery since that first summer.

In the past when I have left on vacation I could not get out of town fast enough, this time I leave with hesitation. Not that I am not looking forward to vacation, I am, and not that I don't need a break, I do. I will miss Sunday morning at Recovery Worship. I will miss the laughter, the hugs and the hand shakes. I will miss Sunny's smile and the kids crawling around on the floor during worship. I will also miss Stephanie's and Susan's chatting during my sermon.

I will also miss the adult baptisms! Three in the last three weeks, as I said in church on Sunday, I am starting to feel like a Baptist!


 

See you all when I get home.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Recovery, a Celebration of Easter Every Day

Another Easter Sunday is rapidly approaching. A funeral yesterday, it wouldn't be Holy Week without a funeral. It was my first Native American funeral, very moving and I will write about it more in the future. But today I look forward to finishing up the services for the week. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are in the can, so to speak. "Come As You Are" Saturday service, Easter Vigil and Sunday services are floating around in my brain but haven't made it to my fingertips yet. It will come, just hope it comes quickly.

As I think about Easter I am beginning to ask the question "why"? Don't we celebrate Easter every Sunday? Why don't we proclaim "Christ is risen" at the beginning of every worship service throughout the year? I do think it is important to set aside Maundy Thursday and Good Friday for special services. But Christ is the reason life is won, death has been defeated. Because of Easter we are all risen.

I know that we already celebrate Easter every Sunday, but as I prepare for this Sunday I am struck that this is nowhere more evident than at Recovery Worship.

Every Sunday at Recovery Worship we hear individual "Resurrection Stories." Stories of people's resurrection from addiction to a new life of recovery, incredible stories of living a life while dead, held in their living graves by their addiction; stories of broken families, broken relationships with children, friends, and with God. Not everyone will find their personnel resurrection from their addiction, as a friend reminds me on a regular basis, "Cemetery's are full of people who have failed to find recovery."

So this Sunday we will do the religious thing. The altar and the cross will be draped in white, banner will be hung, and everyone, for this one Sunday, will be dressed up and we will proclaim "Christ is Risen." As we proclaim Christ risen we will also remember that this one great event in the history of the world now gives us the ability to proclaim our own resurrection, a resurrection into a new life of Christ, a life of recovery from all the addiction and hardships of life. This Sunday and every Sunday we can proclaim "Christ is Risen" but we can also proclaim, "Stan is Risen," "Bill is Risen," "Joni is Risen," "Kathy is Risen"; risen to a new life in recovery, and a new life in Christ.

See you Sunday, thanks for stopping by.

Pastor Ray

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

Back in December, a closed meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous started at Recovery Worship. When a meeting is listed as closed, you need to be an alcoholic to attend. I felt honored that this group, made up mostly of people who attend Recovery Worship invited me to attend.

At the first meeting, following the traditional sharing of the Serenity Prayer and first names, we listened to a tape lecture on the First Step, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol and that our lives had become unmanageable. The lecture was given by a gentleman, Phil Hansen. I read with interest the short bio on the back of the case. Ordained in 1951 Hansen was a Lutheran pastor in Minnesota. At some point in his career he was a chaplain at the famous Hazelden Center. He was also hired to set up a treatment center in a hospital in Minneapolis. As I listened to the tape I felt myself wanting to know more about this man. I assumed he was in recovery, his knowledge of the 12 steps and addiction was impressive.

Following the meeting I went to a Christmas party of a group of pastors, mostly retired, that I have breakfast with every Friday morning. As we were sitting around the table shooting the bull I asked, "Does anyone here know of a pastor named Phil Hansen?" It was pretty much unanimous, everyone knew him. One of the pastors said, "I was in the room across from him at college." Trying to be funny I said, "So you were the reason he was an alcoholic?" Right away Vid, one of the pastors said, he wasn't an alcoholic! Wow I thought, another pastor who works with people in recovery. I had to find a way to meet him. As we talked, I found out that Pastor Hansen had died several years ago. But Vid mentioned that Hansen had written a couple of books so the next day I searched the shelves of Lost and Found Ministry and found his stack.

Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired was the first book of his that I read. It is a small book, but it is a good book on alcoholism. In the book Hansen weaves his story with the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which he says, is a story of alcoholism. The Son in the parable is an alcoholic. Hansen calls Alcoholism an "addiction of abundance." In order to maintain one's drinking, you need money and you need it abundantly, focusing on where the money will come from for your next drink. The son withdraws his inheritance from his father and strikes out into the world, a world of drinking and self abuse. The father, says Hansen, had probably done what most parents of alcoholics have done: bailed him out, got him help and loved him a little too much. Now he was ready to do the tough love part, let the son go.

Well we all know the story, the son eventually hits rock bottom, sleeping with the pigs. In the closing scene the father is running down the lane to embrace his son; a scene many fathers and mothers, wives and husbands dream of for their alcoholic family member.

Unfortunately Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired is no longer in print. A few used copies can be found on Amazon or EBay but this is a book that needs to be in print. If you have a loved one in addiction, read it! If you are in addiction, read it! If you are in recovery, read it!

Glad you are here, see you next Sunday.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Addiction of Religion

Over the past several months I have been reading a lot of blogs dealing with the strife within the ELCA. I have struggled to put a name on what I have seen as an unhealthy attitude by some in the church. However, because of my work within the recovery community of Recovery Worship and a recent email from a longtime friend, I have finally been able to put a name on what is ailing many in the church today. The ailment is "Religion Addiction" or simply "Religionism". In Alcoholism or other addictions there are signs that tell us that the addiction is present; warning signs alert us to the possibility of addiction. Here are a few signs that may indicate that a person is a Religionaholic:

  1. Over use of the word "Orthodox." Orthodox is typically used to mean adhering to the accepted or traditional and established faith, especially in religion. Of course you can only be Orthodox if you believe completely with the religionholic. In other words, if you are deemed acceptable in your belief systems and worship style and interpretation of scripture then you are Orthodox, as least in the view of the religionaholic.
  2. Quote Luther as if it is Scripture. This applies to the Lutheran religionaholic. A Methodist religionaholic quotes Wesley, a Presbyterian religionaholic quotes Calvin. A Roman Catholic religionaholic quotes every Pope and all Catholic Saints and tradition. I am not sure there is recovery for the Roman Catholic religionaholic.
  3. Religionaholics have an unhealthy aversion to people different from themselves. They will tolerate female clergy despite what Scripture says, yet they break into DT's if they hear a church may wish to ordain an openly gay man or woman.
  4. They claim to be "Missional" but they don't believe in any church structure that may require too pay benevolence.
  5. They read the Bible literally, except when they need to read it another way to support their position.

There is hope for the religionaholic! The following was from an email from an old friend, Pastor Don Prange. I would love to tell you more about Don but space doesn't allow. If you know a religionaholic, pass this along, it is never too late to find recovery.

1) We admitted that we are powerless over our cultural & religious addictions and they often made our lives unmanageable…

2) We were convinced that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity…                                      3) We made a decision to turn our wills and lives over to the higher power we named as God however we understood that…                                             4) That allowed us to make a fearless and moral inventory of our lives…                                                                     5) We admitted to God, ourselves, and others the exact nature of our problem…                                                                 6) We were entirely open to let God remove all these defects in our lives…                                                                     7) In humility, we asked God to remove our shortcomings…                                                                             8) We made a list of persons we had harmed and resolved to make amends to them all…                                                             9) We made direct amends to such people when possible, except when doing so would have injured them or others…                                                 10) We continued to take personal inventories of our lives and, when we were wrong, promptly admitted it…                                                     11) We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious relationship with God (as we understood that), praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and our power to carry it out…             12) Having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other compulsive cultural and religious addicts and tried to practice these principles in all our affairs… From: Spirituality of the Beatitudes – Matthew's Challenge for First World Christians," Michael Crosby, Orbis Books, 1980]

Have a great week, glad you were here.


 

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

The Spirituality of Recovery

I have never considered myself a "Spiritual" person. Not sure why, maybe because as a youth I never heard people talking about spirituality. Not that the people I grew up weren't spiritual, they were, they just didn't go around talking about spending time with their Spiritual Guides or quoting Henri Nouwen all of the time. When I arrived at seminary I had classmates who were required to have a Spiritual Guide and to meet with them regularly. I wasn't, and wondered why, but was glad my synod didn't require me to have such a person. I can also remember talking with a couple of people who said there needed to be a new rostered position within the church, that of Spiritual Guide, because in their view, it took special training to be a Spiritual Guide.

In my first call I met some very spiritual people, mostly people in the GIFTS (Growing in Faith to Serve lay led ministry) program in my congregations and in the Eastern North Dakota Synod. The worked on their spirituality, they read books by authors they knew they would not agree with, the studied their Bible with a critical eye, never compromising their beliefs but never unwilling to stretch their mind and learn.

It wasn't until I started my call to Recovery Worship and my work with people in recovery that I really began to understand spirituality. To live a life of recovery a strong sense of spirituality is essential. Without a Higher Power you can't get beyond step two in the twelve step program. They might not consider themselves Christian, even when they are. Tthey will refer to God as their Higher Power more often than any other name for God. For a person in recovery, God reveals Him or Herself in many ways. At first, Higher Power might be their group, or maybe their sponsor. If it is the God of the Bible, recovery people will be reluctant to attend church because of the lack of understanding most churches have of addiction.

In the book The Spirituality of Imperfection by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham the opening chapter starts with the header, "Religion is for people who don't want to go to Hell, Spirituality if for people who have already been there." In a recent The Lutheran magazine Bishop Mark Hanson pretty much pooh pooh'd this statement; this is a good example of the lack of understanding of addiction and people in recovery. People in recovery from addiction can describe to you what the gates of hell look like, some of them can show you the burn marks.

If you want to read a good Spirituality book, pick up a copy of the AA Big Book. You will read incredible stories of how God works in the recovery process. So put down Henri Nouwen and pick up Bill W. and Doctor Bob.

See you next week.


 


 

Monday, March 1, 2010

Saving Souls or Saving Lives

An important part of every worship service at Recovery Worship is the "Time for Sharing." I will toss out a question based on the Scripture reading for the day, and, I hope, somehow directed at recovery. One thing I hear from people is how Recovery Worship has "saved my life." These are powerful words indeed. I have heard a lot of people from other congregations say a lot of things about their church, claiming that their "church had saved their life," is not one of them.

Several years ago when I was in the Navy I was deployed to Atlanta, GA for a few days. The first day at our hotel I noticed all of these men walking around in suite and ties, very clean and proper, each wearing a tag that had a number printed on it, in big bold, black letters. In smaller letters just above the number were the words, "Souls Saved." In the elevator I asked one of the men what the tag meant. "Well," the man said, "I am a Baptist pastor and this number represents the number of baptisms that I did last year." I just kind of smiled and said, "That's nice," hoping that he would not ask me if I had been baptized.

Like so many notches in a gun slingers pistol grip, this man was taking credit for the salvation of those whom he had baptized. I can think of a dozen questions that I would have liked to have asked that pastor today. How many of these "souls" remained active in his church? How many were truly healthy and living out their baptism? Or, was all of this simply a matter of numbers, like yearly sales figures, an effort to avoid being embarrassed with a small number on his tag at the annual church convention.

I have a lot of problems with this idea of soul saving. We Lutheran's believe that in Baptism, God is doing the action. For Baptists, Baptism is what we do. There isn't a lot of support in Scripture for this individual "soul saving", a brief statement in the Book of James, and of course we all know what Lutherans think about James. Is it the mission of the church to save souls? I know a lot of people will turn blue and say, "of course", but what if the church focused more on saving lives then saving souls? I ponder, is it easier to have someone's (I refuse to take credit for anyone's soul being saved) soul saved if their life is saved first? When I hear these heart tugging stories of recovery and how Recovery Worship has played a critical role in that story, I am filled with wonder.

I would suggest that the church of the future pay more attention to saving lives, the Holy Spirit will take care of the souls.


 

See you next Sunday!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Prophetic Voice

For the past two weeks and for the rest of Lent we will be taking a look at a few of the Prophets of the Old Testament at Recovery Worship. People at Recovery Worship don't think much of the Old Testament; you can hear the moans after the reading. "Too much Law, with little or no Grace" they say. "The God of the Old Testament is always mad, and way too much killing" they add. There is Grace in the Old Testament, plenty of it, you just have to look a little header to find it than in the New Testament.

For the past two weeks we have had readings from Jeremiah and his warnings to the people of Israel in the time prior to the exile into Babylon. Back in my days at Gettysburg Seminary I can remember the first day of the Prophets class when Dr. Schramm started the class by saying, "The Prophets are not your friends." Old Testament prophets did not bare good news, they were chosen by God to bring His/Her word to a troubled people. The prophets were not well received, Jeremiah faced many hardships during his ministry. Even Jesus stated the hardships that the prophets faced. "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!" Matthew 23:37

The Prophetic Voice is still with us today. The church is called to be the Prophetic Voice in our world, hoping that it will have an influence in a world where injustice, hatred and poverty impact the lives of millions of people. The problem is, as it was in the day of Jeremiah and the other Old Testament prophets, how do we know if the Prophetic Voice we are hearing is from a true prophet or a false prophet? In our debate about sexuality, social justice issues, just war and other hotly debated issues, how do we discern the true will of God in such matters?

Today we hear people accusing other people in the church of not believing the Bible is the Word of God. Some people thump their chest and proclaim that they are true "Orthodox" in their faith, or "Confessional" as if they have the inside track on Biblical interpretation and only they know the true Word of God. The problem I have with all of this is, the more I hear from these folks, read their blogs and web pages; I have come to believe I am listening to false prophets.

I have often wondered if the people Jeremiah was directing his words were like these people, "We have never done it that way" would be a familiar complaint I am sure. There are things in our church today that we take for granted, yet at one point in church history it was the Prophetic Voice, "crying in the wilderness" for change in the church. In 1880 Anna Howard Shaw was ordained in the Methodist Church (today United Methodist Church). I can only imagine the outcry from other denominations, especially us Lutherans. The ELCA didn't ordain a woman until the early 1970's, and there are still some men complaining about woman ordination. It took some time for the Prophetic Voice to break through, and unfortunately still is not breaking through in all denominations. It puzzles me today when I hear female pastors condemning the ordination of openly gay men and women; I guess Biblical interpretation only applies when it benefits you, sad.

As a divorced man I am thankful that the ELCA does not prohibit divorced men from ministry despite Jesus sharp condemnation of divorce in Matthew.

For a long time in the early 1800's mainline denominations supported the idea of slavery, quoting Bible verses to support their views. Thankfully, Prophetic Voices within the church began to be heard and by the time of the Civil War most mainline denominations were fighting for freedom of the slaves.

The list goes on and on, thankfully the progressive theological Prophetic Voice has generally prevailed for the good, and it will continue to prevail. There will always be churches that choose to ignore the Prophetic Voice, to hold on to the Biblical interpretation of Spurgeon and other archaic scholars. However, there are more and more churches willing to listen to the Prophetic Voice of today and open their doors to all of God's children.

See you next Sunday

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Law, Gospel, & AA

We Lutherans love the Law, we also love Grace. Some Lutherans seem to love the Law a whole lot more than they love the Grace, and some Lutherans seem to love Grace a whole lot more than they love the Law. We are taught at seminary that every good sermon must contain both law and gospel in order to be a good Lutheran sermon. "You must convict before you can offer the Grace" as a former colleague of mine used to enjoy saying.

I decided a long time ago that if I was going to favor one side over the other it was going to be Grace over Law, especially here at Recovery Worship where the congregation is all too familiar with the law. However, it took an evening with a recovering alcoholic and a drunk, to understand that in many ways. AA is much more Law & Gospel than is the Lutheran church.

It happened last Wednesday, I was at the church when the phone rang, and the man on the other end of the line was very drunk. He slurred his words as he told me that he needed somebody to talk with, and he wondered if I would come over to visit him. Believe it or not, this is the first time this has happened in my almost three years as pastor of Recovery Worship. I jumped in the car and headed for the address that the man had given me, feeling good that he thought to call me.

However it soon dawned on me that I really didn't know what I would say to him. Not being an alcoholic I knew that any attempt to express myself to him would be met with a drunken, "Pastor Ray, your not an alcoholic, you don't know what I am going through," and I suddenly realized while drunk on his butt, he is absolutely right. I am a pastor. I thought, sitting next to this guy, reading the 23rd Psalm is not what he needs right now, he needs another alcoholic. So, in a very rare moment of sound thinking, I knew who to call. I called a good friend who has been in recovery only about as long as I have been at Recovery Worship but at the time I didn't know who else to call. I was delighted when he agreed to meet me at the man's apartment.

I got to the apartment about ten minutes before my friend did; I walked into the apartment and sat down across from a very intoxicated man. Sure enough, I had not been there two minutes and I heard the words that I had anticipated, "Pastor Ray, you don't understand, you aren't an alcoholic." I assured him that he was right, I didn't know but someone was coming over who did understand. For the next ten minutes I heard him cuss and swear at me, his wife, and life in general.

When my friend showed up he sat down next to the drunk on the couch and looked into the man's eyes and said, "If you don't stop drinking, Pastor Ray will be doing your funeral real soon." For the next hour and a half I watched as a recovering alcoholic preached the best law & gospel sermon that I have ever heard. The drunk asked me to call his wife; she had left him earlier in the night telling him that she would not come home again. "She didn't leave you." said my friend to the drunk. "You as much as kicked her out; she would not have left if you had not started drinking."

Several other "truths" came to light during the conversation. The reason the man called me was simple, all of his buddies have given up on him. They are tired of listening to his BS and his lies. They are tired of listening to why it is everyone else's fault that he drinks and why he won't go to treatment because "they don't know what they are talking about."

My friend told him over and over again, "go to treatment, go to meetings, get a sponsor, work the program and you will have a life; keep drinking and you will lose your family, lose your job, and in the end, you will die." The prophet Jeremiah could not have said it better.

The good news is, the sermon worked, at least for now. The next day the man let me take him to a local treatment center. Who knows if it will work this time, we can only pray that it does. The one thing I know for sure, if it doesn't work he can only blame himself. We tried, we tried really hard.

See you next week.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Prayers from the God Box

Prayer is an important part of recovery, prayer for a friend wallowing in addiction, prayer for those struggling in recovery, and for the will of God in one's life. Prayer is mentioned several times in the Big Book of AA; every open meeting I attend is opened with the Serenity Prayer and closed with the Lord's Prayer. In order to pray we need someone, or something to pray to. In recovery it is a Higher Power as "we have come to understand Him." At Recovery Worship prayer is an important, and lengthy, portion of the service. Step six says we were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character, and then in step seven, humbly ask God to remove our shortcomings, all of this done through prayer.

At Recovery Worship we have a "Turn Things Over to God Box," a locked box with a slot in the top and pieces of paper for people to write. I asked the folks at Recovery to write down those things they wanted to turn over to God. Things that hang over them like a piano hanging by a thread, concerns that keep them awake at night. Prayers for personal concerns, prayers for loved ones, or, if necessary simple comments concerning worship or anything they would like the pastor to know. I wasn't sure what the reaction to this little exercise would be: would anyone put a prayer concern in the God Box, my goodness was I wrong. As people came up for Communion people placed their folded sheet into the box, I was surprised! It looked like voting day in Chicago; people were stuffing the God Box.

On Monday I began reading the prayers from the God Box. I was amazed at the honesty and openness that I read on those pieces of paper. Prayers for healing, recovery, reconciliation, faith, forgiveness, prayers for children who are fighting addiction, prayers for estranged parents, prayers for forgiveness of adultery, the most touching were the prayers of thanks for the ministry of Recovery Worship. Children gave up prayers of healing for their parents; parents said prayers for their children.

One young woman came up to me and told me of her prayer request. She had recently lost her boyfriend and she had not been able to find closure with his death. I remembered reading her prayer on Monday. She told me of a dream she had, in the dream her boyfriend was sitting in a chair in front of a very bright light. As she walked over to him he stood up and gave her a hug. She was overcome by warmth that made her feel at peace, he turned and walked away toward the light. Through her prayer she has turned it all over to God's care, by writing the prayer down, walking forward in church and placing that prayer in the God Box she was able to find closure in her life.

The Turn It Over to God Box has become a permanent fixture in our sanctuary.

See you next Sunday!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Abortion, Budweiser, and Gays….Oh My!

Super Bowl, the one day in the life of American when the country slows down, divides over team loyalty instead of political or social issues opinions and parties down. I had hoped that the Vikings would have gotten into the Super Bowl this year, it would have made our "First Annual Sober Super Bowl Party and Chili Cook-Off" at Recovery Worship a bit more interesting. But hey, most of us are less than enthusiastic observers and really only watch the game for the commercials anyway…..right?

I have been to a lot of Super Bowl parties where the room only became quiet when the commercials came on, especially the beer commercials. The football games themselves, for the most part are normally pretty ho hum, but the commercials have been cutting edge and very funny. Commercials this year, as most years in the past have been, are almost, if not more, anticipated than the game itself.

This year the debate has started early, with CBS agreeing to allow two ads that many say are "activist" spots that have in the past been refused by the network showing the game. The first commercial and the one receiving the most attention is a commercial sponsored by "Focus On The Family." Their own website says that they are "dedicated to nurturing and defending families worldwide" and protecting family values. The commercial they are sponsoring is an ad featuring Tim Tebow, Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Florida. He will appear along side his mother who will tell the story of his birth. She was in the Philippians when she was pregnant and was suffering from a tropical illness and the doctors suggested that she have an abortion. She chose life over the option of aborting her son who would turn out to be a fabulous athlete.

I am sure it will be a powerful commercial, I can also appreciate her difficult decision, and however, the same kind of argument can be made on a lot of other issues concerning the importance of life. As an example: war. How many of our youth have been lost in war? Maybe we can make the point against war by saying that maybe, just maybe, one of the 58,236 American killed in Vietnam might have been gifted by God with the intelligence to cure HIV/Aids or cure Malaria. Maybe one of the young Army nurses would have mothered the person who would have found a pollution free energy source to fuel cars. We will never know, will we?

The other ad is for a match making website for homosexuals. I wasn't aware that homosexuals needed a match making website but I guess I am not that in touch.

This is not a political cause I am on, I am just wishing we could escape the pain of our time for just a couple of hours to watch a football game and laugh at beer commercials. Mrs. Tebow should give thanks to God that she had the choice that she had to make, not all women get that choice. The match making website for gay people, well, visit the I-Beam bar in Moorhead, good hunting!


 


 

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Diversity

This week I was invited to First Presbyterian Church of Fargo to share with them the ministry of Recovery Worship and Lost and Found Ministry. It was an interesting experience, much different than Recovery Worship. The people were kind, welcoming and, in good keeping of mainline protestant tradition, subdued. I ran into a few old friends that I have known since my days as a "temporary" member of the Presbytery of the Northern Plains. They are so Scottish, as is their tradition, yet the congregation was pretty diverse. Several people of color where in attendance and, knowing this is a pretty liberal church, also a few same sex couples. When compared to Lutherans the Presbyterians seem to be doing a better job at diversity then we Lutherans, and I wonder why?

While the Presbyterian tradition is from Scotland, you would never know that by looking around their sanctuary. Except for the one picture of a bunch of men in kilts and Scottish Rite fezzes on their heads you would not have known about that tradition. However, walk into many Lutheran churches and you are bombarded with the Scandinavian or German tradition of the church. Names in the stained glass window are in German or Scandinavian; the paraments are often hardanger or quilted. The hymns are German, unless the congregation is trying to be diverse then we will sing a good African American Spiritual number that will be butchered by the pipe organ or key board. If you have ever tried to sing Shall We Gather at the River accompanied on an organ you know what I mean.

I believe we Lutherans, at least us Lutherans in the United States, will struggle with diversity as long as we cling to our Scandinavian and German roots. I am speaking of us Lutherans in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American. Missouri Synod, Lutheran Brethren and Wisconsin Synod are so stuck into their individual traditions that they will never be diverse. At least we in the ELCA are trying, but it is an uphill battle. I once had a colleague that said that "diversity is evil," if that is the predominant view of the church we don't have much of a chance.

Several years ago I had an intern serving with me from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in Berkley, CA. On her mid-term evaluations there was a question that asked how the intern did when dealing with racial minorities. While the Intern Committee was going over her evaluations one of the women at the table asked why that question was on the evaluation form. I tried to explain to her that some interns were assigned to areas that were racially diverse and that this was an important question. "Well" she said, "I don't know why they have to call themselves 'African American' we are all Americans." As she said this, she sat there with her Norwegian sweater, Norwegian flag pin, and Norwegian earrings on. Most of us Lutherans struggle with being diverse because we our so stuck in our Lutheran identity that we can not imagine a person not like us being a Lutheran.

Thankfully the only thing that the folks at Recovery Worship share in common is their recovery.

See you next Sunday.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Abundant Wine…..Abundant Life

The reading this morning from the Gospel of John is the story of Jesus turning water into wine. A very familiar story, a story full of illusion and metaphors, a story so full of traditional "Bible Story" stuff it has reached for some, "Fairy Tale" status.

It is a fun text to preach on, Jesus, the thirty-something year old Rabbi, being pressured by his Jewish mother to do something about the wine shortage at the wedding. Jesus' terse response to her pestering, "Woman, what concern is this to you and me" makes us wonder about Jesus' less than respectful (though certainly reflective of his culture) attitude toward his mother. Mary (not named by John) telling him to basically do it anyway. What a great story. Jesus' Mom seems to be saying, "Look Jesus, you are thirty years old, time to get a job and move out of the house. Do something about the problem so you and your buddies can make something out of yourselves."

It is interesting that Jesus makes about 120 gallons of wine, what a party this must have been! I am sure the host would have been happy with a couple of boxes of wine from the local drive-thru. But no, Jesus needed to make a point so he made an abundant amount of wine. Why so much, well, I think this is where we get into the metaphor part of the story. Jesus made an abundant amount of wine because he wants us, his followers to live life abundantly. I am constantly impressed by the way many people in recovery live life with such enthusiasm. In their addiction they have been to the gates of Hell, in their recovery they know that they have been given a second chance in life, so the live life abundantly!

I am sure there are many more Theological ways of looking at this story, but to tell you the truth I really don't care. Jesus wants us to live life abundantly, abundantly in love for one another, abundantly in love for God, and abundantly in the life of recovery. Jesus made so much wine because he wanted the people at the party to have a good time, or, maybe he was just showing off. Maybe the woman getting married was an old girlfriend and he wanted to show her what she was missing….that will get you literalists fired up!

See you next week.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Remembering our Baptism

This morning at Recovery Worship we heard St. Luke's narrative of the Baptism of Jesus. One thing I like about the new Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal is the "Remembrance of Baptism" liturgy that is used during worship. I am not sure why this has become important to me, but over the past couple of years it has. It also seems more than a coincidence that this text comes a week after the death of my father and last week's blog concerning Baptism.

My last act as pastor at my former parish was to do a funeral for a dear friend. Scott died after a short battle with cancer, leaving a wife and three wonderful kids. I could always count on Scott to be a Confirmation mentor, even if he didn't have a kid in confirmation. Scott loved kids, his church, his community and most of all he loved his family and his Lord. Scott lived out his Baptismal promise he made when he stood in Faith Lutheran Church in Hannaford, ND and, along with Darla his wife, had his children Baptized.

At his funeral a former pastor was invited to give the sermon, it was right after the new hymnals had arrived and I started the funeral with the "Remembrance of Baptism" liturgy. As the pastor started the sermon he said that Scott's last words to his kids were "keep the faith" not "remember your baptism" as if to say remembering our Baptism isn't important in our faith life. My initial reaction was, well…duh, who would say "remember your baptism" to your kids while you were dying. However looking back at it from where I sit today, "remembering your baptism" would have been a perfect thing for Scott to have said, because he remembered their baptism.

Scott was a dedicated Christian man who always ensured his children were in church. Scott, along with Darla, taught his children the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostle's Creed. When it came to church and kids Scott never said no. He lived out his Baptism in the way he served the elderly of the community when he drove the Senior Citizen's bus, visited the elderly in the nursing home, and laughed and joked with people in church. He helped parents who were not as good at keeping their Baptismal promise by helping us with the youth programming at church. When I think of someone living out their Baptismal promise I think of Scott.

While I believe the pastor at Scott's funeral used the opportunity for a little "church bashing," he is no longer in the ELCA. He was wrong in his criticism of remembering our baptism. When we remember our baptism we are keeping the faith; living out our baptism and living out our faith is, in my view, one in the same. I hope, when it comes time for me to mutter my final words to my children (and hopefully grandchildren and great-grandchildren) I will be able to look at them and say, "Remember your Baptism"!

See you next week!

Pastor Ray