St. Nicholas

Today, Friday December 6, is the Feast of Saint Nicolas to many Christians, unless you are Dutch for whom this is Saint Nicholas Day. Saint Nicholas is celebrated today by giving children gifts of fruits, candies, or toys. Often these gifts are put in children’s shoes or sometimes socks, otherwise known as stockings.

We know this about Saint Nicholas, he was born in what we now call Turkey. Uncertain exactly when he was born, he died about 342 C.E. Almost immediately after his death he was revered, and churches East and West began being named after him. He was most likely the bishop of Myra which is on the southwestern coast of Turkey. The other most commonly held beliefs about Nicholas was that he was persecuted by Emperor Diocletian in 303 and was imprisoned and tortured, and that he later attended the Council of Nicea in 325 where he confronted Arius over his views of Jesus’ divinity. 

Perspective

There was a period of time, between the writing of the texts that now comprise our New Testament and the final determination of what first century writings would be in the New Testament. In this season of about three centuries the churches were learning how to communicate the gospel to those outside the church and how to teach the baptized how to live out their new-found faith. What we now call “spirituality” was understood then as growing in one’s understanding of living a life in the Spirit to become more like Christ. Many of those writings have been preserved and are available today. These were writings that addressed how to live out one’s Christian faith in difficult times. What many of these writings focused on was how to put one’s life in a new, Christian perspective.

Times and Seasons

The third chapter of Ecclesiastes begins “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted…”. It continues this litany of timely contrasts, ending in “a time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.” Folk Singer Pete Seeger turned this into a song by changing the last line to “a time for peace, I swear it’s not too late.” He also added the refrain “Turn, turn, turn,” implying this is the season to turn from one to the other, especially peace not war. This was the season of the Viet Nam war, after all. Of course, The Byrds turned this lyric into a folky pop tune and had a big hit with it. It was a time for success for both that band and the song writer, evidently.

Identity

As many, if not most, of you know, someone claiming to be me sent out a phishing email. This person’s end game was to have you send them gift cards, supposedly as a gift for our staff. Shortly after these emails began to arrive in some of your inboxes, my phone was abuzz with your emails and texts asking if it was truly from me. Which it was not.

In my life as an academic, I was given yearly training on the latest scams, what to look for, and how to respond. In general, view any email that asks you to do something for them or provide personal information (like a password, credit card or social security numbers, and the like) with deep suspicion. If suspicious, look at the email address from which it was sent.

Our Scriptures, Perspective, and Fear

Our church chose to follow the discipline of the Church Year before I arrived, a practice we continue. In particular, we commit a large part of each worship service to the proclamation of scripture, in both the reading and preaching of the assigned texts for that day. In the free church world of worship, this is not typical. But in this post-election season we find ourselves in, it is a great resource.

All Saints to All Stars

The word “saints” (in Greek “hagios”) literally means “holy ones.” Holy ones were considered to be all those who were baptized in water and Spirit into the church. Often a church would be referred to as “the holy ones” or “the saints.” (See Philippians 1:1, for example). The earliest Christians considered themselves, as well as their sisters and brothers in Christ, to be saints. But that has changed over the centuries. Today we tend to think of “saints” as sort of an elite group, a hall of fame of faith, Christian all stars.

Faith and Politics

The past two Sundays we explored and discussed some general themes in the relationship between the Christian Faith and the political systems Christians find themselves within. It is a particularly pressing topic given the way faith in general, and the Christian faith in particular, are being presented in this election season. The Covenant provided a very helpful resource, which we drew upon for our two sessions. Here is the Covenant site.

“I Believe in the Communion of Saints…”

The third paragraph of the “Apostles Creed” reads this way:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and life everlasting.

Although this paragraph may seem a bit hodge-podge compared to the rest of the creed, it is actually very interconnected. This section has its touchstone in the first statement on the declaration of the importance of the Holy Spirit. It declares that the Spirit establishes Christian relationships, with God and with people, as well as our resulting redemption in Christ in life beyond life.

Celebrating Disciplines

In 1978, Quaker theologian Richard Foster wrote a book that changed the Christian landscape, particularly that of evangelical Protestants, entitled Celebration of Discipline. In this book Foster reintroduced a large part of North American Christianity to traditional practices that were inward, outward, and corporate which had been lost or abandoned. In many ways he was popularizing the work that had begun in the early part of that century by scholars who wrote for Catholic and Anglican audiences. It also shaped the formation programs of many seminaries. Ironically it had little impact on North Park Seminary’s faith formation, because as a pietist tradition, we had not lost much of what Foster was trying to restore.

Welcoming Sum Yet Lee

This past spring, our church began a process of searching for a new Director of Music at First Covenant Church. A Search Committee was formed including James Haagenson as chair, Tom LaPaze, Elsie Nelson Brown, Barbara Rhoe, Pastor Lauren, and myself as an ex officio member. We had a good deal of interest to our job posting, resulting in a number of fine candidates for us to consider. In the end I believe the committee chose the person who was best for us both musically and spiritually, and would mesh with not only our worship life but our broader congregational life.

Introducing the Millennial-ish Group

A couple Sundays ago, our young adult group met for the second time. During our meeting we discussed what we were going to call this group. A name is important. The label we place on groups like this helps us to define our purpose, and helps others identify whether it’s a space for them

Enacting the Gospel

It is good to have a guest preacher every once in a while. This past Sunday having Rev. Mae Cannon preach gave Lauren and me a nice break the day after our Staff-Council retreat. It also brought a different voice and perspective to the pulpit. Mae’s sermon reminded me of Tony Campolo’s comment that him, being a guest prophet not a pastor, can say things a pastor might not say, and let the pastor and church to figure out what to do in response to his sermon. 

The Rhythms of Life

Inspiration and respiration, inhale and exhale. Diastole and systole, blood in and blood out. Out with some, in with some. The rhythms of our bodily existence speak of input and output, and it is so obvious we experience it without thinking of it. But, upon reflection, I would suggest that these rhythms are a great image for the rhythms of our lives beyond the biological. They speak of my life right now, maybe yours as well.

The Blessing of Animals

I received an email in June of 2021, shortly after Susan and I arrived in Seattle and a few weeks before we met in person for worship for the first time. It contained a curious request. This email came from a member of our church who mentioned how many families had acquired "COVID" pets during the pandemic and how important they were to their and their families’ wellness during the unwell season of the pandemic. The request was to have a blessing of animals near the Feast of St. Francis (October 4) that year. (This is commonly done by churches of all sorts on or about this day.) I was not opposed to the idea but wasn’t able to pull it off that Fall. So, I kept the idea on the back burner, but never moved forward with it. When Pastor Lauren was called to serve our church, I thought this would be right up her alley. And so, Pastor Lauren and our Vashon community group have been organizing such a worship service for our church on Saturday, September 21 on Vashon Island at 11:30 am.

Directing Music

We are on the threshold of hiring a new Music Director. We have spent some time creating a job description, defining what we would expect this person to do as well as what gifts and skills we would hope this person would bring. There are tasks like playing, choosing, coordinating, leading, and collaborating. There are various constituents they need to coordinate: from children to adults, vocalists—solo to ensemble, instrumentalists, as well as helping to facilitate the worship of our congregation. Because of the configuration of our church, it is difficult to direct an ensemble or choir in our choir loft while accompanying them because of “challenging sightlines” to say the least, so this person may or may not direct the choir. Regardless, as a church we have an appreciation for beauty, and those who are able to make beauty part of our vocabulary of worship, and we value all this person will do to that end, whatever they do or do not do.

Notes on Notes

This past week began for me with a request to republish some of my “Notes” from our previous Life on the Vine issues. After some consideration, I consented to one that they suggested, and you can now find last week’s offering on this week’s Pacific Northwest Conference blog. This invitation has given me reason to reflect on what it is I am trying to do in these weekly offerings. 

A busy summer

Every year, I’m surprised by how quickly the summer flies by. This wasn’t always the case. When I was a child, it seemed to last a blessed lifetime. The sunny days were endless–filled with time for swimming, biking, visiting family and–most importantly–eating lots of ice cream. That all changed when I became an adult. Now the summer is over before it even starts. Part of that is the general passage of time which seems to speed up as you age, but I think another part is that my summers are much busier now. Between work, sports, and vacations squeezed in between, September comes all too quickly on the heels of June. 

A busy summer

Every year, I’m surprised by how quickly the summer flies by. This wasn’t always the case. When I was a child, it seemed to last a blessed lifetime. The sunny days were endless–filled with time for swimming, biking, visiting family and–most importantly–eating lots of ice cream. That all changed when I became an adult. Now the summer is over before it even starts. Part of that is the general passage of time which seems to speed up as you age, but I think another part is that my summers are much busier now. Between work, sports, and vacations squeezed in between, September comes all too quickly on the heels of June. 

Words

Susan and I are hosting Jurhee, Sang, and Alice for the week. Alice is on the threshold of two years old and has grown a great deal since last we saw her in person. She is certainly more verbal. Her parents are bilingual, Korean and English, and so they speak to Alice in both Korean and English. So Alice calls her parents “mother” and “father” using both the English and Korean words. 

Owning Up

A myth is a story that may or may not be historically “true,” but contains truths about a people group, such as their values and their views of themselves and their world. One of our nation’s earliest myths is that of George Washington “owning up” to cutting down a cherry tree. That story speaks of the values of honesty and taking responsibility; qualities of not just our first president, but what we expect from all our presidents.