March 13, 2016

The Parable of the Prodigal and His Brother
11 Then Jesus[a] said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ (Luke 15:11ff)

We know that Jesus liked to tell stories. Jesus was a gifted story teller. The stories he told were about the things people knew and lived each and every day. So when he began this story, he used the structure of the family unit. In fact, even today, looking at this story, Jesus could be talking about my family or your family — my father has two sons – I have two sons. You have to wonder: “Did the father from this story in Luke (Luke 15:11-32b) also have two daughters?” After all, the bible likes to do things in pairs, so in essence, this story could again be about my family — or your family. Maybe you are the oldest child in your family – maybe you are the youngest. Perhaps as the oldest child you lived your life as the “do it by the book never stray from the straight and narrow path of being a good child”. Or perhaps as the youngest, you were just a bit of a rebel, didn’t always listen to your parents and didn’t always do things the conventional way.

The important point I want to make today is this: when you find a story in the bible that speaks to you, a story that you can personally relate to, you need to hold on to those stories, because so many of the stories Jesus tells are stories that capture our imagination, and speak to our reality. And, as such, Jesus not only uses situations that we are familiar with, but his stories usually speak about forgiveness, not condemnation; speak about mercy, not judgment; speak about love, not hate; and about many situations that resonate with our own lives. And, here is another point to remember, when we find a story that explains “Amazing Grace” — that tells the story of G-d’s unconditional love, mercy and Grace, then we better remember and repeat that story every day….every day.

Pastor Dave

March 12, 2016

As a matter of practice, many Lutheran churches do not schedule weddings or baptisms during the season of Lent. Woven within this practice are some practical reasons, some tradition, and some adherence to the seasons of the church.

Let’s begin with the practical reasons. Lent is a time of transition in the church season. Coming off the season of Epiphany, we move into the season of Lent, which brings with it extra services, including Wednesday noon meals and services and Wednesday evening services and dinners, along with other practices that highlight the season. As such, as I talk to my colleagues during the season of Lent, most of them are very busy with the added services and other responsibilities. Therefore, to throw into the mix the idea of scheduling and preparing for a wedding just seems to be adding fuel to the fire of the business of the season. So just speaking from the “trying to keep our sanity” perspective, most pastors would not want to add a wedding into the mix of the Lenten schedule. And, as Lent is a season of penitence, to have a celebration like a wedding just seems to be giving the wrong message. There are plenty of other months to celebrate weddings.

Next comes tradition. Lent was traditionally a time where new converts to the Christian church would be concluding a three year process of education preparing for their baptism at Easter. Since we think of Lent as a time of preparation, preparation for baptism, preparation for Good Friday and the other days of the Triduum, the church would not schedule baptisms during this season. In this day and age, each church decides how long the process is for preparing new members for joining the church, and as such new members are taken into the church throughout the year. The same is true for confirmation – some churches confirm during Pentecost, others wait until Reformation. However, the tradition holds that Lent is not a time to hold baptisms.

Will your pastor hold a baptism or a wedding during the season of Lent? I don’t know – you will have to ask them.

Pastor Dave