The Evolving Word

The Evolving Word

Jun 23, 2020 | Pastor Jim's Blog

Today’s Word from Pastor Dennis Hanson…  

Some of you may remember my friends Ole and Lena, Hittite family in the Midwest. The Pandemic has been hard for them, too. Along with the sad part of the epidemic, friends ill and some dying, no funerals and no gatherings on Sunday for worship, there is the boredom side of watching Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy reruns, facing summer without baseball, and perhaps a fall without football.

Pastor Trygve has been working very hard staying away from people, yet being available. Everything is online, of course, and he has a hard time convincing himself, when taping the Sunday service, he really is not preaching to an empty church, but the echo in the building as he talks is hard to ignore. Anyway, he is challenging his parishioners to read the New Testament in this “season.” But in a new way: Not in the order found in their Bible, but in the order of when each book/letter was written, according to the Oxford Annotated Study Bible dates. He read his NT this way back in the season of Lent.

You may ask, as Ole did, “What’s the point of this anyway?” Pastor Trygve tried to explain how the Apostle Paul’s letters were the oldest, and the rest, including the four Gospels, came later; all between the dates of AD/CD 50-100. Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension fall in the AD/CD 30-36 period. Paul is beheaded in AD 67. Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, is dated – AD 67-70. You, like Ole, might ask, “So what? I’m happy with Christ in our Home” or you, like Lena, might think, “We’ll give it a try,” which is how Ole and Lena started reading the NT as “The Evolving Word.” They were given the attached chart to guide them.

Athanasius (Google it) chose these 27 documents and brought the list to a Church Convention in AD 367. They adopted the list as the official canon of scripture along with the already received Old Testament, and thus, our Bible.

No word yet on how Ole and Lena are doing, or how far they have gotten down the list of The Evolving Word.

Pastor Dennis

To make a donation to Trinity, follow this link: https://trinitylutheranfreeland.org/give/

Fog, Molasses, and a Bag of Bricks

Fog, Molasses, and a Bag of Bricks

Jun 22, 2020 | Pastor Jim's Blog

Today’s Word from Denise Wilson…  
Denise is a TLC member, and faculty at the University of Washington

Here’s a typical work day during the pandemic. These days amount to just about seven per week, since the apocalypse was declared and certain professions deemed essential assumed that all persons employed in those professions were suddenly superhuman, devoid of any needs related to rest, relaxation, or recuperation.

I wake up in the morning feeling like a pile of bricks. My body feels so heavy that getting out of bed using my available muscle strength seems to be violating one or more laws of physics. It has been another busy, busy night supervised by a brain that is scrambling to complete multiple repairs of my psyche before it’s time to get up and go again. Some of that overnight repair job is submarined by stress dreams like the one where I’m late to the airport and run into every obstacle in the world en route, ultimately missing a most important flight to who knows where. Some of my sleep time is devoted to more ordinary nightmares where fear, anguish, and grief trade hands with one another over a story with no real plot but enough emotion to sort out and organize whatever lay heavy on my heart the evening before. Since the pandemic began, however, these dramatic dreams are often overshadowed by moments of terror where I am trapped in the middle of a horrifying situation while paralyzed by my brain which is preventing me from running out the door into the yard and down the road while still sleeping. Exhausted from all these machinations that go on in the night, I fall into deep dreamless sleep shortly before it’s time to wake up and get moving again. Of course, my body is at odds with my schedule and fights to keep me in bed, piling the bricks on one by one in the hopes that I’ll take another hour to sleep and recover my strength.

Having managed to push the bricks off of me and climb out of bed, I’ll get in a couple hours of being clear and focused, before the mental fog rolls in off the cerebral horizon. An equation that seemed simple suddenly becomes gibberish. A scheduling hiccup becomes impossible to resolve. A question from a student sounds like it’s uttered in a foreign language. A simple question about the grocery list might as well be about the theory of relativity. And with every question or every problem that I can no longer address with any measure of skill or elegance, I feel more dismayed. Inspired by my missteps, the mental fog grows even thicker.

By mid-afternoon, my battle with the mental fog has sapped most of the day’s energy and by the time I’ve finished class or finished with the umpteenth meeting of the day, I’ll find myself walking through a sea of molasses. While transitioning to the next item on the heavy-laden to-do list, a headline I only glanced at about death, sickness, lockdowns, or questionable political decisions now slows me down in equal measure to the mental fog that continues unabated. And, if I dare to take a break and close my eyes for too long, the bricks come back. And so it goes. Walking the days of the pandemic.

Hauling around a bag of bricks in a thick fog through a swamp of molasses … sums it up

By the early hour of ten or eleven in the evening, my day is done and my gaze is drawn to my bed with the greatest of anticipation as would be expected from the exhausted mere human that I am. In my tiredness, I’ve already forgotten about the nightmares and the chaotic dreams of the previous night. I can’t wait to collapse into bed and do it all over again.

Zzzzz……..

Denise Wilson

Reminder: Tomorrow, Tuesday June 23, is our drive-through Food Drive, 11:00 to 1:00. Swing into the church parking lot with your bagged groceries, and TLC staff will collect them right from your car!

To make a donation to Trinity, follow this link: https://trinitylutheranfreeland.org/give/

Is This Getting Old?

Is This Getting Old?

Jun 20, 2020 | Pastor Jim's Blog

Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…  

“I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where is my help to come?” Psalm 121

I went out to start my little car earlier this week. It would not start because I had not driven it in several days. The two cars that I run around in are 18 and 19 years old, so there always seems to be something wrong. Driving old cars is nothing new for me, but I am used to it. Last year after spending more time with the Simmons Roadside Assistance team than with my wife, I decided to buy my very own compact battery jump-starter. Once I hooked the car up, off she went and I was off to the store. Only one problem; I left my mask in the other car. Driving the car back home for the mask was good for the battery.

Is it me, or is everything more difficult these days? There are no easy tasks; effort is required for even the simplest errand. A deposit at the bank, a quick trip to Payless, take-out food, or even a visit to the church office requires thought. I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of 2020. Whose idea was this anyway? If you get on an elevator you will not find a 13th floor. Might we celebrate Christmas on June 25th this year, and then advance quickly to New Year’s Eve where we can kiss 2020 goodbye?

Is it me, or is this getting old? We miss seeing you all on Sunday mornings, but if you drop by during the week please bring your mask, sign in so that we can trace you, and wait your turn in the bathroom. Only two socially-distanced people at a time can relieve themselves.

Now that I blew off a little steam, I can concentrate on worship for this weekend. This Sunday promises to be a very special service. We will be concluding our journey in Oz with some very challenging and practical lessons. The service will feature beautiful music, and we will celebrate Father’s Day together. Tune in on Sunday morning and, just for fun, we are declaring Sunday to be Tee-Shirt Sunday. No dress code; wear a Trinity tee-shirt, your pajamas, or nothing at all. House rules should be followed.

If my humor is hard to take or impossible to recognize, just remember, everything is more difficult these days.

One day closer—Come Lord Jesus!

Pastor Jim

We’re having another drive-through food drive on Tuesday, June 23, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Swing into the church parking lot, and TLC staff will grab your bagged groceries right from your car! All donations go to Good Cheer and Gifts From the Heart food banks.

To make a donation to Trinity, follow this link: https://trinitylutheranfreeland.org/give/

God’s Will

God’s Will

Jun 19, 2020 | Pastor Jim's Blog

Today’s Word from Philip Yancey…  

Has it really been two years since Janet and I joined you in worship at Trinity Lutheran? No one could have predicted the changes in all our lives since that time. Here’s a reminder of where to put our trust, despite the confusion around us.

Many things happen in this world that are clearly against “God’s will.” Read the prophets, God’s designated spokesmen, who thunder against idolatry, injustice, violence, and other manifestations of human sin and rebellion. Read the Gospel accounts, where Jesus upsets the religious establishment by freeing people from disabilities the divines had deemed “God’s will.” Providence may be a great mystery, nonetheless I find no justification for blaming God for what God so clearly opposes.

The skeptic’s question does not melt away, though: How can I praise God for the good things in life without blaming him for the bad? I can do so only by establishing an attitude of trust, based on what I have learned in relationship with God.

I find a parallel in my human relationships. If I am waiting for my friend Ron at a rendezvous point, and he has not shown up an hour past the agreed-upon time, I do not start cursing his irresponsibility and thoughtlessness. Years of friendship have taught me that Ron is prompt and responsible. I assume that some other circumstance—a flat tire? an accident?—over which he has no control, has interfered with his plans. Those I love, I credit for good things and try not to blame for bad, assuming instead other forces are at work. Together, we have developed a pattern of trust and discerning love.

Over time, both through personal experience and my study of the Bible, I have come to know certain qualities of God as well. God’s style often baffles me: God moves at a slow pace, prefers rebels and prodigals, restrains power, and speaks in whispers and silence. Yet even in these qualities I see evidence of God’s longsuffering, mercy, and desire to woo rather than compel. When in doubt, I focus on Jesus, the most unfiltered revelation of God’s own self. I learn to trust God, and when some tragedy or evil occurs that I cannot synthesize with the God I have come to know and love, then I look to other explanations.

~ Adapted from “Reaching for the Invisible God”

Philip Yancey

To make a donation to Trinity, follow this link: https://trinitylutheranfreeland.org/give/

 
The Moon and the March of Time

The Moon and the March of Time

Jun 18, 2020 | Pastor Jim's Blog

Today’s Word from Rev. David Bieniek…  

The full moon this month (which happened back on June 5) had three different names that I found interesting. In Europe it was known as the Rose Moon, presumably the time when roses are blooming and could be harvested, even by the light of the moon. For the Algonquin and Lakota tribes, this was known as the Strawberry or Berry Moon. It was a time when the ripe berries could easily be picked and were at their sweetest. Some of our strawberries are ready, but most of our berries are definitely not ripe enough to eat yet; something which I prove almost every morning.

The third name I found might be familiar as it was eluded to in the song “Colors of the Wind” from the movie Pocahontas. The line was “Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon?” The Green Corn Moon was the name given to this moon by the Cherokee. It signified the moon before the corn was ripe which would happen later in the summer.

I recently saw a bumper sticker that read “If you like to eat, thank a farmer.” When I was growing up in South Texas, I was able to see farmland all around me. I still remember the joy each year of seeing the flax ripen. It seemed to me as if the green stems that I had been watching, turned a gentle blue toward harvest time, and the field looked like a waving lake.

My little boy heart watched with sadness as that field (and cotton, corn, and alfalfa fields) were plowed under to make way for malls, shopping centers, and parking lots. Rapidly, our little town turned from an agricultural to an urban environment.

Another reason that I love being on this island is the amazing abundance of agriculture nearby. I love watching the fields transform from kale in the winter, to various forms of vegetables in the spring, to corn growing tall and green in the fall. And in between each crop, the farmer will cut down the old crops, and then the eagles feast as the mice, rabbits, and voles are rooted from their hiding places. The Circle of Life is at its best in agricultural areas.

You may not have ventured out to them yet, but the abundance at our farmers’ markets on this island reminds us of the bounty of nature. There is no way to get to all of them in a single week. But what I love most is watching the parade of variety that different farmers are able to bring. One week there are Jerusalem artichokes and the next week, after we have learned to cook them, they are all gone and the beets have come in. The flowers also rotate. Daffodils, tulips, lilacs, irises, and peonies all take their turn as centerpieces on our table. When the dahlias come to bloom, you know the season is ending.

As the moon makes its way through the year reminding us of the march of time and seasons, as the fields get plowed and then replanted, as the vegetables and flowers rotate through their places in the farmers’ markets, may we also realize that our life, too, moves forward. Not all change is easy, and it may not seem that all change is good, but all change is important. May we all learn to embrace it and learn from the gifts of nature.

Our world will continue to march through this time of separation, reopening, and hopefully, healing. The old adage of “time heals all wounds” is not quite correct. It is what we do with that time that will help us to heal and move our life forward.

Rev. Dave Bieniek

To make a donation to Trinity, follow this link: https://trinitylutheranfreeland.org/give/