GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE, FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS THE CHRIST.

Steve Charleston, an Episcopal Priest and the former Bishop in Alaska, who was the first director of the Global Mission Institute at Luther Seminary, writes,
“I will not surrender my life to fear, even though I am not courageous as a saint or wise as a sage. I will stand my ground and take the risk of believing, believing that we are all the same beneath the masks and costumes we wear, beneath the roles we act in the long play we call our human story. I will gamble on goodness, opening my spirit to every stranger, offering the hospitality of my compassion, the welcome of my own hopeful soul, searching for the sameness that binds our hearts as one.”
I will not surrender my life, to fear. I will stand my ground and take the risk of believing. These are perhaps the most beautiful and courageous words I’ve read in a very long time.

To stand your ground in the face of fear and open your spirit, your heart, your life to the hospitality of compassion as Charleston says,…this is the Christian faith.
We Lutherans have a long tradition of standing our ground, of standing for certain things even in uncertain times. Martin Luther said, “It is not safe to go against scripture or my own conscience. Here I stand, I can do no other.” Against all the powers of the Church and the Holy Roman Empire, he stood his ground, squarely upon scripture; squarely upon the Gospel of God’s divine love and forgiveness, of openness and hospitality. He stood his ground, for a reading of scripture that declares God’s gospel of grace and forgiveness.
It used to be that when somebody stood their ground, it meant that they were standing up for something noble, some virtue or ideal of human freedom. Yet somehow –just recently –because we are anxious and afraid –we have taken this phrase and twisted it, turning it to mean, “I have a right to kill you, if you make me afraid.” And because we are afraid, of crime, of violence, of those whose skin is a different color, whose language is different from our own,…we have turned this into law. We no longer know how to open our souls to others, offering the hospitality of compassion to those around us.
We stand, not upon ideals and virtues any more, but behind guns, and small-minded, fear-based laws that add not one iota of protection to our lives, but that instead turn us into legal killers, whenever we feel justified by fear.
We live in a fear based culture. We are afraid of difference, afraid of losing control, afraid of giving up power and position and privilege, afraid of losing some imaginary upper hand that we hold over others, if we instead dare to reach out our hand to lift our brothers and sisters up. We are anxious. We are afraid. We are busy with many things, distracted by many things, working to justify ourselves and our positions, our prosperity, and our privilege.
Fear is so much a part of our existence, we do not even notice that it is fear that moves us and shapes our behaviors and routines and the laws of our land…. There are words we need to hear that set us free:. “Stand your ground and know, “Our trust is in the Lord.”” “Stand your ground and know, “You are forgiven and set free.”” “Stand your ground and know, “Death has no dominion over you.”” “You are a baptized, child of God. Stand firm.”
Jesus says to us today,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. But Mary has chosen the better portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
To sit at Jesus’ feet and hear his words, and be unconstrained by this world’s expectations, even if only for a while, is a rare and precious and blessed thing. It is the better portion to be sure.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a time to work, and to labor, to reach out and build up, to provide for yourself and the needs of others. We need Martha’s in our midst and we need to be Martha’s ourselves, at least some of the time, but there is something greater here that we need to pay attention to. To sit, to wonder, to ponder, to listen, to pray, and to adore our Lord and Teacher, it is a wonderful thing.
And what is that greater portion then? What are the words we hear as we sit at Jesus’ feet today? What words, what better portion speaks into our lives and world today?
You know these words. “You shall not kill.” “If someone strikes you, turn the other cheek that they might strike that also.” “Peter, put away your sword.” “Love one another as I have loved you.” “Be not afraid.”
Where does Jesus say, to stand your ground, gun in hand, and do violence to another…for any reason?”
We need to sit at Jesus feet and listen to his words, because they are not the words we hear in the culture around us.
I know I’ve said this before. Forgive me if you must, but I have to confess: I am not a pacifist.
In my own faith practice, I line up with those who call themselves “Christian Realists.” These faithful believers in the Gospel are people who think that the use of force –when used to prevent a greater violence– is justifiable. These are people who agree with Edmund Burke who said that, “The only thing that’s needed for evil to triumph is for a few good men to do nothing.” These are people who appreciate that fact that Martin Luther said that a person could be a Christian and a Soldier, because a soldier’s job is to protect life and defend property.
In other places, I have argued that war is always sinful, always evil, but sometimes necessary.
–And what grieves me to the core is to know that the Christian Pacifists, and the peace churches, who sit at Jesus feet and listen to his teachings and stand ready to turn the other cheek regardless the cost…that they are closer to Jesus and his teachings than I am.
I know this in my bones and it troubles me, because I’m not there yet. So pray for me, and if you’re not yet there yourselves –then pray for both of us. Because I think that Jesus is standing somewhere else. We need to listen to the unsettling words of Jesus’ teaching and be unsettled, and then learn to work and speak for peace and non-violence, and put an end to fear. There is a deliverance here.
Jesus says, “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” What an amazing gift that is…if we can hear it, and take it in.
Martha means well. And so do I. But Mary has it right. I think the Peace Churches have it right. I think Steve Charleston has it right. I hope to have it right someday myself as well.
What if the law merely said, “Thou shalt not kill.” What if the law merely said, “The use of lethal force is not allowed…Period.” What would happen if the Christian Churches across this land would suddenly grow enough spine to say, “Enough! Stand your ground where Jesus stands, and not behind the barrel of a gun. Stand your ground where Jesus stands, and see…that your neighbor is sick and hungry, lonely and hurting and alone.”
Feed them, clothe them, shelter them, heal them, sit with them and listen to their story and tell them your own. Stand your ground where Jesus stands, or take your seat at Jesus’ feet and listen and learn, that there is no greater love than this, but to lay down your life for another. That’s where Jesus stands.
We are nervous, anxious and afraid, worried about many things, working to do what is expected of us in many arenas. But it just may be that if we stop and sit and listen to God’s Holy Word, then we will find that we are busy with all the wrong things. We may discover that we are afraid, of things we need not fear. That there is freedom, redirection, and release, if we but claim it. Mary has chosen the better portion, and it will not be taken from her. You cannot make her afraid any more, because she has heard the truth. She has chosen where to sit and where to stand and where to stand her ground.
Sit at Jesus’ feet. Listen to his words. Make them your own. Peace, be with you, Jesus says. Shalom. Stand firm and be set free.
So can we, may we, stand our ground right here. Our trust is in the Lord, and him alone.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.
“I will gamble on goodness, opening my spirit to every stranger, offering the hospitality of my compassion, the welcome of my own hopeful soul, …searching for the sameness that binds our hearts as one.”

What will I see and what will I wear. What will I see when I wake up in the morning and look in the mirror of the world? A nine year old boy gunned down in a random, senseless act of gun violence by a man in Oakdale. A Missouri man killed by police in a home in St. Paul when he stabs and kills a police K-9 dog. A county sheriff killed and another wounded in a gunfight with a murderer in California, who was also killed. Seventy five gun deaths a day in this country, eight children killed each day by gun violence. That’s what I see. What will I wear today? The ashes of repentance.

When I look in the mirror of the world, I know that I will see the signs of global warming; warnings of a three year old drought, extreme storms, glaciers retreating, ice-shelves melting, sea-levels rising, walruses and polar bears in search of new hunting and fishing grounds, deforestation in the Amazon, desertification in North Africa. What should I wear today? The ashes of repentance.

Awake in the morning, and shower and shave, and look in the mirror of the world and see: families that struggle to get by,… over a billion people living in absolute poverty worldwide, children who grow up with malnutrition and food-insecurity even in our own country. Homeless people who on cold winter nights over-run the available shelter space in Minneapolis and St. Paul. So, what shall I wear today? Today, I wear with others the ashes of repentance.

Look in the mirror of the world today, at your relationships: those that are torn and those that are tattered, those that are worn and those that are frayed: Husbands and wives who struggle to communicate, Parents whose children are estranged, siblings who are lost to each other, high-school and college friendships that have gone astray. There’s brokenness all around: in our families, in our friendships, in our workplaces. Repentance and forgiveness are so sorely needed in our own lives. What shall I wear today? Today I will wear the ashes of repentance.

How much does that mirror show of my own vanity? How much does it reveal each day of my ego and my pride, my self-centeredness and reluctance to share. How much does it show my greed and my indifference to the suffering of those around me? We wake in the morning and in that mirror of truthfulness we see ourselves. What shall I wear? Ashes, ashes, ashes of repentance.

Yet there is a word that comes to us each day, that breathes its whisper into our ears so that we hear, even though we dress in ashes, there is hope. There is another vision that we see beyond the mirror of this world that gives us hope in a yet more glorious vision, of a world redeemed by God.

Remember you are dust, it says. Ashes to ashes. Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return. There is peace in this. And there is hope. Because we know the voice that speaks to us. The earth is the Lord’s, it says, and the fullness thereof, the land and all who dwell in it. There is a word that says to us, that we are loved. We are dust, it’s true, to dust we shall return, but there is one who takes the dust and molds it in his hands and breathes into it new life and says that it is good.

And so what shall I wear today? The ashes of repentance and the ashes of new life. We know what God can do.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.

Whereas: In Christian faith we worship the one who comes as Prince of Peace and strive to serve as peacemakers, seeking God’s shalom for all the world and

Whereas: acts of violence are of great social concern, and gun violence in particular affects, diminishes and destroys the lives of many and

Whereas: those who suffer from mental health issues often find assistance, aid, referrals and care hard to come by and

Whereas: the Christian Church carries in its heart of compassion a concern for all people, acknowledging that all people are neither wholly good nor wholly bad but contain the capacity both for great good and great evil, and yet are wholly loved by God, and

Whereas: there is at this time a discernible kairotic moment in which our American society and culture seem willing to act in ways to diminish violence, improve access to mental health care and reduce gun violence,

Therefore: we commit ourselves as individuals, congregations, and the St Paul Area Synod, to support those individuals, movements, and legislative initiatives that seek to:
A.) improve access to mental health care for all people regardless of income, wealth or means,
B.) promote peaceful reconciliation of conflict in relationships, homes and workplaces and
C.) reduce the prevalence of and access to those weapons and accessories best suited to military and police use only, which pose the greatest threat for massive harm.

We commit ourselves to speak God’s word of peace into this moment and to act in support of these individuals, movements, and legislative initiatives through:
A.) our personal and corporate prayers.
B.) our personal and institutional communications and information sharing.
C.) our personal and public advocacy.

We publicly exhort all people and congregations of this synod to lift up and engage these issues of peace and wellness in their personal and public lives.

-Respectfully Submitted
Pastor Martin R. Ericson
Como Park Lutheran Church

The sad truth is that this “right” or liberty comes with a blood tax. My right to keep and bear, and your right to keep and bear arms costs this society the lives of eight children each day. It costs us an additional 75 adult deaths each day. It costs us one life paid in blood tax every 17 minutes of every day of the year. Eight children and 75 adults die as the result of gun violence in this country each day. I have no idea how many are wounded.

Is your right to own that handgun worth the lives of eight children today? Is your right to own that AR-style rifle worth eight children’s lives tomorrow? It’s the question we need to ask ourselves. What price are we willing to pay for this particular liberty?

• join a church,
•  join a civic group (like the Lions or Rotary or Kiwanis) and
• join a political party.

This was how Christians could live out their life in Luther’s Two Kingdoms doctrine; honoring God’s governance  over all things related to salvation while also honoring the governance he has entrusted to us for all things related to life in this world.

Times have changed.

Churches have taken on political advocacy and engaged themselves directly in neighborhood service in new ways.  Service organizations have dwindled and political parties have become more polarized and less cooperative.  One could also say they have become more committed to their own constituencies and less committed to the common good.

So how does a Christian live out their calling to life in this world today, so that they are still committed to service and civic engagement?  How does one act in a democracy as a Christian Citizen?  One answer:

• Get out and vote!

Invest yourself in knowing the candidates and their positions.  Understand the issues.  And if you are willing to define yourself as a Christian Citizen, committed to living out your faith in all aspects of your life, and making a Christian witness to the world, then ask yourself what positions and what candidates are most in line with your faith.   Is Jesus’ care for the widow and the orphan, the foreigner and the child reflected in your vote?  Is God’s care for creation and his charge of stewardship for all of creation reflected in your vote?  Are the values of mercy, love and compassion reflected in your vote?  Is God’s desire for justice something that shapes your vote?

What does it mean to be a Christian Citizen?  What does it mean to make a public witness to your faith in the kingdom of this world?  Voting is a faith-filled action.  Or at least it ought to be.  But in order for that to have a glimmer of reality, we Christians have to embrace our citizenship meaningfully as a public witness and a divine calling for how we are to be in the world, for the sake of the world.

This is where the Lutheran understanding of individual moral discretion comes in.  We read scripture together,  listen to its exposition from the pulpit, pray about it, talk about it together in community, and we come to our own faithful understanding of what we believe God is calling us to be and to do –both individually and together -in the world.  It’s a community activity in which the Holy Spirit works upon us.  It doesn’t allow us to live in isolation from one another, and it doesn’t allow us to simply parrot the authority or the sayings of others.  It requires our active engagement in scripture and in community.   At the end we may faithfully disagree with one another or with the positions of the church or others, but if we act faithfully, read and reflect upon scripture together, and pray earnestly, then it is enough to trust in the good will of the other and the work of the Holy Spirit so that we can respect each other and worship God together.

Consider your Christian citizenship.  Live so that God’s kingdom comes in part through you.  Get out and vote.

–Pastor Martin R. Ericson

There have been lots of introductions (and some second introductions) this first week of internship!  The members of Como Park Lutheran Church have welcomed me with bright smiles, healthy curiosity, and kind wishes.  This pleases me, but does not surprise me.  You see, a few common phrases I have heard are: “Como Park is very warm and welcoming; you’ll fit right in” and “You will find that people that come to Como Park are really friendly” and even “You will just love the members of Como Park Lutheran; they’re good people with good hearts.”  Dear reader, it might surprise you to know that those comments were not heard at Lutherans and Lattes, or over a brownie at the church picnic on Sunday, or before a Como Evening Prayer service.  (Although a number of persons said similar things at those happenings.)  No, those comments came from persons outside of the regular worshipping community…before I even arrived at 1376 Hoyt.  But yes, living up to the reputation, dear reader, your welcome has been gracious.

Understanding that the congregation has spent some time mulling over Old Testament themes this summer, using the narrative lectionary for Scripture in worship, perhaps the story of the Shunammite woman in 2 Kings is worth a read.  The whole story is long and filled with joy and sadness, but 2 Kings 4:8-11 is enough for the idea of hospitality:

                8 One day Elisha was passing through Shunem, where a wealthy woman lived, who urged him to have a meal. So whenever he passed that way, he would stop there for a meal. 9 She said to her husband, “Look, I am sure that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God.

                10 Let us make a small roof chamber with walls, and put there for him a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp, so that he can stay there whenever he comes to us.” 11One day when he came there, he went up to the chamber and lay down there. (2Ki 4:8-11 NRS)

This nameless woman not only welcomes Elisha when he passes through the area, not only invites Elisha to be a part of her household, the NRSV says she “urged Elisha” to eat with her family.  Then she does something interesting.  This astute hostess and her husband make a new space for Elisha—a place where he can stay, but also a space in addition to what was there before.  His presence changes them.  This family does not just make room, they actually make something new.  The Scripture does not say that she does this because she wants something from Elisha—not rent or work,…not even a blessing.  No, verse 9 lets us know that she creates space for Elisha because he is “of God”. 

So I wonder after a week of “hi”s, handshakes, and hugs: Why do I welcome new faces?  Why do you?  And, I wonder after a week of dates, deadlines, and descriptions of Como Park’s participation in God’s mission: Can we be the space and make space for something new?  How often do we expect something (or nothing) in return?  How often are our actions for the stranger, the neighbor, the [you fill in the blank]…simply because she/he is “of God”?  Some things I shall ponder on this week.  Perhaps you might too.

God bless. 

Intern Pastor Amy

There does seem to be, however, an under-reported religious war against diversity in America. Religions have always been free to call on particular observances by their own adherents. What seems to be new is the stridency of some religious groups to try to legislate their religious views for all people. The push by some religious organizations for creationism to be taught in schools as science, for abortions and sex education to be outlawed, for contraception coverage to be restricted, for competing religious and world-views to be denied space for houses of worship and public gatherings…all of this represents an organized war against diversity in belief and practice based on some group’s own religious belief. And if these churches and groups fail to win the day for their restrictions or inclusions, they scream, “Persecution!”

But religious persecution is what happens when one point of view is forced on everyone. It’s not what happens when others are allowed to choose different beliefs or behaviors than your own. Persecution is what happens when one’s own choice or belief is denied expression because of the cultural or religious dominance of someone else’s belief and practice. Being forced to practice tolerance or to accept diversity is not persecution.

So is there a war against religion? No. Is there a war against diversity, free choice, and the teaching of a scientific world view by some churches and religious groups? Clearly. And is there persecution? That depends on who wins.

The faith community that is Como Park Lutheran understands this line from Martin Luther and truly lives it out!  I have come to know this over the past year of internship.  You guys get it!  You know what it means to be an internship site for candidates for pastoral ministry like me.  You know that it is a vocation, a calling, an honorable one that comes with many requirements and duties, but also blessings. 

I want to thank you for blessing me this year – for teaching me, for praying for me, for growing with me.  Thank you for answering the call and for living into the vocation of an internship site.

My prayer for you is that you continue to live into this calling and all the blessings and challenges it brings!  Just think of the thousands who will be blessed because of your ministry to interns like me.

Thank you all.  Thank you for getting it and for living it out!  And now…

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,  from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.  I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21 NRS)

Dear Friends,

I wonder if someone would write a special check?
There’s a five pound block of metal on my desk, covered in grease and grit. It’s one of two main bearings from the air handler for the sanctuary that had to be replaced this summer. Since this particular size isn’t made anymore, it had to be fabricated and shipped from Ohio. It cost between $300 and $400 dollars and we needed two of them.   I don’t know what the installer charged for his time yet.

There’s a box on the floor in the boiler room that holds a new Baldor electric motor ($500) that needs to be installed. There’s a $600 phase control unit for this new motor that still needs to be ordered. Leaks in our roof last fall led to an $8700 roof repair that we completed early this summer -and a few very hard rains since then suggest the workers did a really fine job.

Our Chapel needs new carpeting, the Fireside Room does too. One is worn and stained and the other presents tripping hazards that we can’t afford. Figure about $4,000 for each room for commercial grade carpets and installation. And there are sidewalk slabs that we’re responsible for that need to be replaced or ground down so that people don’t fall and so water will run where it’s supposed to. We’re expecting bids for those projects later this month.

So how do you feel about bearings and air handlers, roof repairs and tripping hazards? These are some of the “hidden costs” of ministry and – quite frankly – our budget doesn’t stretch far enough to cover all of them. So if you’d like to donate a bearing, a motor, a phase control unit or several square yards of roofing or carpeting, Como Park Lutheran Church would gladly receive your special gift for “Maintenance and Ministry” this summer. Pray about this if you would, and consider what you can do to help.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Martin R. Ericson