Dec 7, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim
I called customer service and received an automated response. It seemed that all the customer service agents were helping other clients. After being told how important my business was to their company, the automated voice told me that the average wait time would be approximately 11 minutes. What’s 11 minutes out of my life? Besides, if I called back later or tomorrow the hold time could be longer. I kept my place in line. I paced patiently in this earthy purgatory for the next 32 minutes. Fortunately, the customer service agent who ultimately helped me was outstanding.
Waiting and preparing: the themes of Advent.
Did you know that the average American in their lifetime will be on hold for……..wait for it…….. 43 days. The waiting does not end there. 43 days on hold, 38 hours every year waiting in traffic, countless weeks waiting for medical appointments, test results, or surgeries. I could find no statistics on ferry line waits but suffice it to say that waiting for ferries is part of the rhythm of island life.
Sometimes we just have to wait. Acknowledging our lack of control and claiming our inability to speed up time, there is little to do but to wait. The Jewish people had waited for the coming of the promised Messiah. Mary waited for the first signs of labor while Joseph waited to hand out cigars, pink and blue bands just to be safe. Cub fans had to wait 108 years for a World Series Championship. Mariner fans are still waiting.
We detest waiting so much that we have devised vehicles to disguise the agony. The Advent Wreath marks our approach to Christmas. The waiting is not diminished, but each week the light of an additional candle offers us hope; hope that our waiting will give way to the promised arrival of the Christmas Child. When all four candles are lit, we know that the dawn of Christmas is near, and we will be rewarded for our waiting. The Advent Calendar serves the same function as each day a new lesson or treat is revealed. Slowly but surely, we move one day closer to the celebration of Christmas, marking progress as we go.
Waiting and preparing: the themes of Advent
Truth be told, most of us would rather prepare than wait. So, we distract ourselves with endless preparations for Christmas. We decorate and bake, send cards and buy presents. We shop on Black Friday, cyber-Monday and nearly every day is marketed as “the biggest sale of the year.” We trim the tree, we go Christmas caroling, we cry one more time while watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and we try to figure out once again what is going on in the Nutcracker. We plan special meals, host parties, and make travel plans. More than distracting, “the most wonderful time of the year” is exhausting.
Though I detest waiting, I do love Advent. Time honored traditions summon dormant memories from the past and the promised birth of a child ushers in a new year and a new season of hope. May God give us renewed hope this year. May God bless us in our waiting and may there be quiet grace-filled moments that kindle our faith as we trust in mysteries beyond our understanding.
Speaking of mysteries; what is with the Mouse King and how does Clara become the Sugar Plum Fairy?
One beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Nov 30, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Your TLC Staff wishes you all a festive, reflective, memorable Thanksgiving 2024. We are thankful for you and for the many ways that you generously support your Church, the Church where everybody’s welcome.
The first permanent European settlement in the new world was at Jamestown. The English settlers, all men, arrived and established the colony in 1607. Some 13 years later the Pilgrims arrived in Cape Cod. On December 18, 1620 they would dock at Plymouth Rock.
What was the most striking similarity between the settlers in Jamestown and the Pilgrims in Plymouth? Human suffering and hope. In Jamestown more than half of the settlers died of famine or disease. In fact, after eight months in the New World there were only 38 of the original 104 still alive. In 1608 a ship would arrive in Jamestown with 90 single women. This was an effort to ensure the permanent settlement of the colony.
Up the coast in Plymouth, only 44 of the 102 Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620 would survive to that fall of 1621. Only five women were left when the Pilgrims paused for a three-day holiday to give thanks. Imagine if 60% of us died in the next year, would we, could we, pause to give thanks?
The historian H.U. Westermayer writes:
“The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than those, who nonetheless set aside a day of Thanksgiving.”
Thanksgiving is a verb, like jogging, walking or swimming. It is something that we do; we give thanks. We pause and look around, and with eyes wide open we realize just how blessed we are. To give thanks is to acknowledge our dependence upon God and each other. We give thanks for gifts that have come to us by the grace of God and the labor of others.
A life marked by thankfulness is a beautiful thing. People who are thankful are just the type of people that we want to spend time with. The best things in life are free, and we are surrounded each day by abundant blessings.
Irving Berlin, the Jewish Immigrant who grew up in poverty in New York City, had it right, “Got no check books, got no banks. Still, I’d like to express my thanks, I’ve got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.”
So, what are you thankful for in 2024? I am thankful for you.
Blessed to be a Blessing!
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Nov 23, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
The Christmas lights are going up at Trinity Lutheran Church. The steeple is lit up year-round, a beacon of hope shining high above Highway 525. In December each year, the white lights of the steeple are joined by the colors of Christmas. For many years the Christmas lights were under the supervision of Bill Cochran.
When Bill took on a job, he did it right, and he did it in a big way. Each year Bill would recruit a volunteer or two to assist him. The lights, boxes and boxes of them, were stored at his house. Rain, shine or snow Bill was up a ladder and soon on the roof. Our community building on the highway was first as lights of blue, green and red announced the coming of the season. Then Bill would move his ladder to the taller and more challenging roof lines of our offices and finally he would ascend the steep slopes that lead to the cross. With the dawning of a new year Bill would ascend the heights again, pack up the lights, repair those that were broken and then it was time to rest. Well, that is not true. Rest was not really in his nature, he simply moved on with considerable energy to the next good deed at Church or at Useless Bay or in his community.
Through the years, on more than one occasion the Church Council gave me a clear directive; “Tell Bill Cochran that he cannot be on the roof. No man in his 80’s should be on the roof.” My response, “You really think that I can tell Bill Cochran what to do?” I mentioned it to Bill, and he said with a smile that he would sue me for age discrimination. 2022 marked Bill’s final light campaign. That year 8 men showed up to work under the watchful eyes of General Cochran. When the new year came the same group returned, packed up the lights and returned them home to Bill’s garage.
Last year donations were given to hire professionals to install and remove the lights. I feel a great sense of relief. Sending old men up ladders makes me nervous. But when I come to work in the dark wee hours of winter and see the sky lit up in the colors of the season, I pause and give thanks. I give thanks for the privilege of sharing the journey with Bill Cochran. Bill was one of a kind and his footprints are everywhere in our community.
One thankful beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Nov 15, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Sandra Moore…
I was fortunate to make a trip to Italy with a TLC group a few years ago. The day before we reached Rome, we stopped at one of the medieval hilltop towns called San Gimignano. Tuscany is breathtakingly beautiful. The walled town with its tall towers made breathtakingly beautiful go up a notch. It was a small place, very easy to walk from end to end in one day. Jim led us to the far end of San Gimignano to a small stone church, high above the winding valleys and green rolling hills. The priest allowed us to have a private service within as pilgrims on our way to Rome. It was a small and humble church. The priest told us that during the dreadful plague years hundreds of years ago that this church was used as a hospital. I had no trouble imagining those suffering taking refuge there in a time of great uncertainty.
During the recent TLC course led by Deacon Amy, we read the book By Heart: Conversations with Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. In the last paragraph in the introductory chapter we read the following sentence: “And most importantly, how can we stay true to Luther’s witness to the gospel and his vision to embed the Christian catechism into all hearts and minds, so that, in the hospital we call the church, people may discover the sickness of sin, hear the good news about God’s medicine of grace, and call on God for help in all of our need?” The church we visited in San Gimignano came to my mind and stayed there. I had never before heard the church called a hospital and it intrigued me. I had to look up the etymology of the word. Google told me it came from the Latin word hospitale, which means “lodging for travelers.” Anglo-French borrowed the word to first mean a charitable institution for the needy and later a place for educating young people. It was first used as an institution for the sick or wounded in the 16th century. Our word hospital is related to words like hostel, hotel, host, hospitality, and hospice.
Would thinking about the church as a hospital, our sanctuary for example, bring us closer to God? Maybe not if someone has had a bad experience in a hospital or if one fears hospitals. While I would not personally choose to work in a hospital, when I hear the word I think of a quiet, good place with patients mostly trying to be considerate of all the other patients who are waiting to hear good or bad news from the experts. I think of all the personnel in a hospital who treat patients with gentle kindness day after day. What if we came to church each Sunday as if we were entering a hospital? How would that change the way we interact with each other in the pews before, during, and after the service? TLC’s hallmark is hospitality. Are we attentive, empathetic, and responsive to those sitting around us? Do we behave at church as we would behave in a hospital or hospice with a loved one? How do we support and nurture our caregivers at church?
We live in troubled times. We come to church each Sunday with wounds, scars, and debilitating pain—both physical and spiritual—that are masked by our smiles. We come seeking comfort and hope, the same way people come to hospitals. We, fellow patients and hospital staff, offer kindness to each other in the spirit of hospitality. We are the hospice care givers to each other.
Every hospital has a prayer chapel. You might remember spending time in one or more of them. They are peaceful places of rest in times when we feel most uncertain and vulnerable. There is a synagogue in the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. There are twelve stained glass windows, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, designed by Marc Chagall. On a sunny day the bright colors are reflected down into the prayer room. In our sanctuary there is a square tower leading up to the cross on the roof outside. We have stained glass windows on either side. In a similar way, there is a box shaped tower in the synagogue of the Hadassah Hospital with three tribes on each of the four sides.
Hospitals offer our physical bodies hope, answers, no answers, mending; they are places of respite or urgent care in the journey of life in all of its stages. Church offers us the same but for our souls. Together, in our church community, let us be both givers and receivers of hope each Sunday in our hospital sanctuary.
Nov 9, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim…
Blessed to be a Blessing, Trinity Lutheran Church is touching the lives of our island neighbors and reaching the far corners of the world. We do it with buckets of money. Every gift to Trinity Lutheran Church falls safely into one of three buckets. The placement is determined by the donor.
Bucket one is the general fund. All undesignated giving is deposited into the general fund. The general fund allows us to keep the doors of the church open, utilities, paper products, choir music, Sunday school materials and staff salaries are all paid for by the general fund. The general fund also provides over $100,000 a year to benevolent causes.
Bucket number two is the Trinity Lutheran Church endowment fund. The Endowment has just shy of $6,000,000. Each year the Endowment Committee, consistent with their founding guidelines, provide hundreds of thousands of dollars for scholarships and non-profit support.
Bucket number three is a catch all that we call Restricted funds. Donors designate gifts for World Hunger, Helping Hand, Good Cheer or any number of other causes. The restricted fund is a holding bucket until the funds are dispersed. It should be noted that the three buckets each stand alone and are never co-mingled.
On Sunday, October 20th after everyone had gone home for the day, I had the privilege of giving away $85,000. $75,000 came from bucket number two, the result of our generous donors to the endowment. Local grants were approved by the Church Council and TLC was able to support Good Cheer, Gifts from the Heart, Whidbey Island Homeless Coalition, Tiny Houses, Whidbey Island Nourishes, Friends of Friends, Small Miracles, and Readiness to Learn. In addition, grants were approved for ELCA World Hunger, ELCA Hurricane Relief and the Guatemala Project of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services. The final $10,000 came from bucket number three; a restricted gift for ELCA Hurricane Relief.
In Guatemala, Trinity Lutheran Church has become the single largest supporter of a new program to help young Guatemalans returned from the Southern border of the United States. The grants so far this year have allowed 50 young people to establish small businesses in their own communities. But it more than that, the 50 young people are now able to provide hope and stability to their extended families in total 243 people.
Blessed to be a Blessing! Through October of 2024 we have given away more than $600,000 this year. $14,000 every week has left our campus for the common good of God’s people near and far. This is not magic, this is generosity. Generosity that allows us to keep the lights on, to provide space on our campus for dozens of non-profits and 12 step groups, to support our Whidbey neighbors and those devastated by war or disaster. It happens because of you! I thank you for your generosity.
Blessed to be a blessing! I am one beggar, telling another beggar where to find bread, I am your,
Pastor Jim
If you would like to email Pastor Jim direct please send a note to: [email protected]
Nov 6, 2024 | Pastor Jim's Blog
Today’s Word from Pastor Jim
What changed overnight? I sit in my office early this morning pondering God’s calling.
“What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
That has not changed. Some post-election thoughts:
Our political leaders come and go. Our Leader is unchanged by this election.
Nations and Empires come and go. The movement of Jesus Christ has persevered for 2000 years.
Christianity has thrived under persecution and trial.
Our Leader is unchanged. The foot washing Rabbi who ate with sinners is unchanged.
Our identity and our mission do not change with elections.
We are people of hope. The world needs people of hope.
We are people of Good News. The world longs for good news.
We are a community that celebrates and grieves together.
Grief is an inevitable part of the human journey, but we do not grieve as those who have no hope.
Our calling is unchanged.
We are called to extend hospitality and welcome.
We are called to love our neighbors.
Our neighbors come in all colors, creeds, political affiliations and gender expressions.
We do not make God’s guestlist, we simply set the table.
We are called to love God by loving our neighbors.
Our neighbors are the precious children of God.
Children of God; a title that extends beyond the man-made borders of nations.
Our Leader is unchanged. Our mission is unchanged. We are people of hope.
People of hope, we have work to do!
I will see you Sunday. One beggar telling another beggar where to find hope, I am your
Pastor Jim
