Love’s Word is an Opening!

by | May 6, 2026 | Pastor's Blog

Friends of Faith,

We spent Lent and Holy Week watching.

We watched Jesus teach in life-changing ways. We watched him heal, watched people come alive around him — and watched others grow quietly, nervously afraid. His news of the new kingdom was a threat, and the people who benefit most from the “way things are always done” get anxious. Then, when people with power get anxious, they reach for their power as an answer.

But that power is not the end of the story. Even when that prideful power is our own, it is not the end of the story.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen.

What some tried to squash with death, God brings back to life. And what God reveals in that moment is that Love survives. Love exists beyond the reach of death. Love — stubborn, persistent, risen love — gets the last word.

And even that is not the end. Love’s word is an opening. It is, as Jesus had been saying all along, the new kingdom arriving. Not in power and dominance, but in resurrection and return.

In Easter sermons we’ve met a fictional detective (Doug Noir) trying to understand what has changed/opened. He keeps showing up at the scene of resurrection, notebook in hand, looking for witnesses. And what he keeps finding is that the witnesses won’t stay witnesses. (Love’s word is an opening!) The Life is afoot and changing things. Folks who may have just been watching, they are suddenly they’re in it. Spectators have become actors.

And that’s a key pattern to Easter’s real story with us:

All of us who watched from a distance, all of us who stood at the edge, or who still stand there at the edges of Christian discipleship, Easter Life draws us in. It means to make actors out of spectators, because Love’s Word is an Opening.

That’s where we are in May. Easter behind us, Pentecost ahead. We’ve been found by the story, gathered in from the edges, and now — like every witness Doug Noir has ever interviewed — we find we can’t quite stay neutral about it.

The kingdom was never just for the insiders. You are called a participant in the Love and Triumph of God’s mission.

May Easter life roll on!,

+Pr Shaun

Holy Week 2026

by | Apr 2, 2026 | Pastor's Blog

Friends of Faith, The beginning of this month is our church’s Holy Week. Think on that with me. This is the week that is set apart, claimed, distinguished, and observed. This is the “great week” of our faith. This is what we lift up high (“lift high the cross”). And what is it? What are we lifting up? The complete, unreserved self-giving of God in Jesus Christ. Feet washed. Bread broken. A life poured out. That is what holiness looks like when God shows it to us in the flesh. And what we’ll participate in during “Holy Week” is this very good news that we are always proclaiming. I like the mysterious and powerful way that our eucharistic liturgy puts it, quoting Paul from his first letter to the Corinthians: “when we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” That’s Holy Week’s proclamation and announcement: our Lord’s way is service, even of all of life! Paul’s point — and John’s foot-washing makes it unavoidable — is that “proclaiming” is not merely liturgical. It is bodily. It is social. You proclaim the Lord’s death when you take the servant’s position with someone whose feet are dirty. When you show up for the person no one else wants to deal with. When you absorb cost instead of passing it on. When you give what you have rather than protecting what you’ve earned. This is the theology of the cross lived outward. And our communion with God, our participation in Holy Week, forms us into people whose lives take on this shape— broken, poured out, given for the life of the world. I know it is a daunting calling. It’s been daunting for the church all along, and along all these sixteen centuries in which the church has labeled this week “Holy Week.” But the church will keep proclaiming it, this week and beyond, because we keep on receiving from this life-giving God. We are washed. We are fed. And so we are caught up in the contagion of all the grace we receive. We proclaim the Lord’s death, which is his way of life. That’s what all this is about. And so it must be what we are about. It is what makes any of this, or any of us with God, “holy.” Blessed Holy Week church, +Pr Shaun

Marching Around the House

by | Apr 1, 2020 | Pastor's Blog

Dear Friends,

When I was growing up I used to listen to Big John and Sparky on Saturday mornings. The musical theme for that show was “The Teddy Bears’ Picnic”. I remember hearing an invitation to get up and march around the house while that song was played. I don’t remember how many I times I actually took up that invitation. Obviously, however, I do remember the song and I do remember the invitation.
Right now we are living during some interesting times. In addition to approaching the culmination of Lent with the observation of Palm/Sunday of the Passion, Holy Week and finally Easter, we face the threat of placing one another in danger because of the highly infectious nature of the corona virus. In the face of that threat Faith has, let us say, made some “modifications” to our plans for these most important days of the Christian calendar.
With the experience of the last weeks of March behind us I believe that while we dare not gather together as is our wont, we can still gather, perhaps a bit more spiritually (!) through the use of technology. I am so surprised and pleased by the level of participation you have shown using Zoom to hold services that much of my concern about the viability of using it for the coming Sundays and Holy Week has been erased. So, that’s what we’re going to do.
Now, in that regard . . . . I bet you’re wondering about that opening paragraph. Well, here we go.
The vast majority of us grew up with the Sunday before Easter identified as Palm Sunday. You perhaps clearly remember sermons based on Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and the, apparent, victory that had been won. For reasons I don’t have space to address, by the 1970’s the name of the day changed to Sunday of the Passion. That recognition took place among all of the main denominations. With that name change a change in focus also took place so that the practice of many congregations today has the Passion according to Matthew, Mark or Luke narrated by the congregation. What happened to the triumphal entry?
It has been retained but it now is confined to the opening of the service. That juxtaposition of readings, if recognized, might assist us in experiencing, not just hearing, the whipsaw nature of that week. Jesus entered Jerusalem in an apparent political victory but by the end of the week he had been crucified among criminals. On a normal Sunday of the Passion we would have re-enacted that first Palm Sunday event. Forming in the narthex, waving the palms given to us, marching around the sanctuary and placing them in the chancel would have given way to a much more sobering set of readings, ending in the Passion narrative.
We’re still trying to figure out just how we might accomplish all of this but we’re working on it. Here’s the payoff. The opening hymn for that day is “All Glory, Laud and Honor to Thee Redeemer King”. When we get to that point I’m going to invite you to march around your home as we sing that hymn. This is your invitation to join us. You won’t be alone.
Peace, Stan

Identity

by | Aug 18, 2018 | Pastor's Blog, Uncategorized

Identity. Person fixed to occupation. What when the occupation is taken from the person, or the person leaves the occupation? Does the person cease to exist? If I am what I do, and I don’t do, then does this mean I am not?
Relationship defines us, not occupation. Family is a life history of relationship. Sometimes sweet, sometime not so sweet, but it endures. Take a look at the obituaries. They include occupation, but they are rich in relationship.
What of more than the self? The whole person, the soul. Is this occupation? No, it is relationship. Relationship with church people? Maybe. This can be sweet, but sometimes not so sweet. How about a step deeper?
Relationship with God. With Jesus. With the Lord. With the one who calls us into being and graces us with life, even eternal life. BY what means? Grace. God’s grace. Poured out upon us in the waters of baptism. As Luther reminds us, it’s not only the water, but the water with the word.
And the word is a blessing. “You have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.
There. That settles it. Your identity is absolutely rooted in the one who created you, who sustains you, who will love you for all time and beyond all time!
Now, go to work. Go to your occupation, go to your family, and go to your pastime. But don’t go empty. Go as the creature of God’s creation. Claimed, named, saved and blessed.

August Blog ~ Fire

by | Jul 30, 2018 | Pastor's Blog, Uncategorized

Fire.  The Carr fire.  The Ferguson fire.  The Whaleback fire.  The Mendocino Complex fire. Were that not enough, there are more fires in Southern California.  And there are fires here in Nevada. When I look out my window, I cannot see the mountains anymore.  I see smoke. I breathe smoke. I am uneasy and a bit afraid. How can we be saved from fire?

I use fire; so do you.  I have a barbecue on my porch that I put fire in.  I have a vehicle; probably so do you. The engine runs on combustion caused by explosive fires that cause pistons to move.  In many ways fire is our servant.  We cannot do without it. Fire is both a threat and a servant.   It may help us or harm us.  How must we treat fire?

We must understand ourselves in relation to the power of fire.  We must know our vulnerability!  As we see video of the fires now burning we see the danger.  We must be full aware of that danger and not dismiss it.  We must be humble before the force of fire.  At the same time we must know that fire is our servant.   We are full aware of the threat that fire can cause and therefore we treat fire with enormous respect.

There is a common theme in this discussion.  Not a theme of fire, but a theme of persons.  The common theme is, as Socrates once said, “know thyself.”   We know ourselves as creatures and not as powerful gods.  Fire reminds us of who we are.  We know ourselves to be servants.  As servants we seek to use fire for our benefit.  Fire reminds us of who we are.

Fire reminds us of who we are not!  We are not invincible.  We are not all-powerful.  We are subject to weakness and pride.  These are the attitudes beg us to undertake a religious attitude.  We are people of need.

God comes to people need with God’s grace of forgiveness and love.  When we receive these gifts we admit who we are.  When we know ourselves to be the creatures of God’s creation, we accept proper responsibility as God intends. We live in the presence of God who creates us, who saves us, who remains with us, and we can do what we must, we can live with fire that can help or harm.

Pastor’s June Blog

by | Jul 21, 2018 | Pastor's Blog

June’s Blog

Before I made my first visit to my wife’s grandfather I was given guidance to enable a peaceful conversation. “Just don’t say anything about religion or politics.” Well, we had a short conversation about the weather.
Religion and Politics. Why are these volatile subjects? Religion and Politics. Why must we run away from them? Religion and Politics. Is there an underlying concern? Is there a superior value that governs our conversation?
Recently I read an article from the Wall Street Journal. It described how some churches dealt with the topic of Religion and Politics. In some churches, members leave. They are angered. In some churches, membership grows. In those churches people are pleased to enter into conversation.

Hmmm. I wonder if there is a power issue here. The same power issue evidenced by a reply to Religion and Politics. “It’s OK as long as your politics are the same as my politics.” This suggests that the superior value is agreement in politics, which in turn suggest that politics is the more important thing. What shall we do with the first commandment? “You shall have no other gods.”

I wonder if we devalue religious values in deference to political values. What shall we do at Christmas and Easter when we proudly sing of Jesus as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords?”
Or is the issues not Religion nor Politics at all. It is emotion. We just don’t want to get upset. We don’t want to be angered. As the saying goes, “If you can’t say anything nice about a person, don’t say anything at all.” It we substitute the words religion and politics for “person” we can decide to be rather quiet people.
Merriam-Webster offers a definition for “religion.” It is defined in the definition 1b: the service and worship of God or the supernatural. The same dictionary offers a definition for “politics.” It is defined in the definition 5b: the total complex of relations between people living in society.

I hope those who confess they are persons in the service of God would bring that service into the complex of relations between people living in society. And do so gently, gracefully and lovingly. I hope the affections of our religion would redeem our politics.