April 21, 2024 - Fourth Sunday of Easter - Shōgun and the Good Shepherd

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep."

John 10:11-18

This will not be short; my apologies. It’s one of those weeks with another memorable service and sermon. 

To begin with for nine weeks now my family has watched and appreciated episodes of the new Hulu "Shōgun" miniseries.

"Shōgun" is one of James Clavell's historical novel set in the early 17th century and follows the adventures of an English sailor named John Blackthorne, who is shipwrecked in Japan. Among the languages he knows he speaks Portuguese.

Blackthorne becomes embroiled in the complex and treacherous political intrigues of feudal Japan during a time when the country was ruled by powerful warlords known as "daimyo". The title of Shogun is given to the military dictator that unites the factions.

The samurai Lord Toranaga vyes for power against other ambitious daimyo. The novel explores themes of cultural clash, honor, loyalty, and the clash between East and West. The novel delves into the personal struggles and growth of its characters as they confront the challenges of their time.

Several episodes of this series began to hint at “Crimson Sky,” This appeared to be a secret battle plan for an all-out assault on a medieval castle which might determine who finally rules Japan in this period. “Crimson Sky” is also the title of this week's penultimate episode of the 10-episode mini-series, And, according to the genre of this kind of historical drama, a massive battle for control can often be the climatic event.

Instead this week's episode was a riveting look at a woman, Mariko, who has served throughout the series as Toranaga's translator of Portuguese between he and Blackthorne. Her family of Samurai nobility became Christian through interaction with Jesuit priests from Portugal. In this part of the story she is moved into character tests under extreme circumstances, channeling her lifetime of pain into one final incandescent act of strength and sacrifice. Obviously this episode did not contain the expected battle of massive armies the title may have promised. Here there’s just one woman, her mind and soul stretched to their limit by the overlapping dictates of her faith, her family, her society, and her own heart, pulling herself together for one final defiant act. In death, she finds a purpose she felt she lacked in life. It is both a triumph and a tragedy.

Jesus' words in this week's Gospel and Shōgun illuminate underlying messages in each. What 17th century Japanese culture and Christianity calls for within us both stirs many thoughts and emotions and moves our human hearts to the divine. Laying down your life for the ones you love due to duty or destiny simultaneously agonize and inspire us, each giving life deeper meanings.

Mariko faces death in different ways in the episode. First is her choice to fight soldiers who threaten to kill her for acting out of honor and duty. She fights them with others until this combat is obviously fruitless.  Dishonored she next chooses to die by her own hands. She wants to commit to an act mimicking seppuku, which was the honorable, ritual suicide by disembowelment. This was reserved for men of the samurai class in feudal Japan. Being Christian by faith and she worries that suicide is seen as a mortal sin within the Catholic church. However she is not deterred by this concern. 

Finally she chooses to protect others from a hostile bomb blast set by her enemies. She deliberately puts her body between those she loves and the impending blast to protect them from feeling its full force. So her decision to be a martyr comes into play. Heartbreaking, noble choices coming one after another. This story is based on a historical woman and her actions and choices changed the history of Japan.

And while I ponder this, two passages from scripture haunt me. The last verse of this Gospel "For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father." is one of those passages. The other is the Lord's Prayer, "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The passages turn my spirit from an overwhelming fear of death to devotion.

Sunday Worship Service Setting - African American Liturgy

The service centered around the subject of the "Good Shepherd" passage in the Gospel. Pastor Emillie's sermon focused on a rather deep paradox of the sheep / shepherd metaphor. She talked about a discussion she had about the meaning of the metaphor where a colleague of hers. The talk centered on what is characteristically assumed of sheep - namely that they blindly follow their shepherd. This bothered Pastor Emillie. Should Jesus be blindly followed? 

She went on to elaborate that sheep follow the voice of their shepherd because a relationship of trust has been developed when the shepherd takes care of their wants and needs. Does that mitigate this blind following? Perhaps it is persuasive enough to make that kind of following understandable or acceptable.

The language describing the Good Shepherd is not really reassuring or comfortable for the sheep. Yes, the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A noble gesture but it also leaves the sheep without a primary defender against predators and the elements. How a threat is stopped when the shepherd is dead remains unresolved. Whether it is a hired hand who abandoned the flock or the shepherd who has died for them, a continuing, inherent menace to the sheep remains.

Reflecting on inherent menace to the sheep through the Shōgun and the Good Shepherd lens surfaces another principle may regarding the danger to the sheep. Obviously this could be a less important a factor as the love that prompts the laying down of one's life for another. This both calls me out and calls me in to another perspective and the visibility of all this highlights a fault line in my soul.  

To save the sheep, the followers of Jesus may also feel the call to model Good Shepherd behavior themselves. This is a more subversive, disruptive message than is normally heard in these words. Currently, to me,  there are different levels - different speeds - that Christians are asked to live their lives. Perhaps this is as it always has been. A shepherd like Jesus is not always needed, but in the Gospel Jesus' desire is that some of his followers to be more than sheep needing protection appears evident. 

Today the Shōgun and the Good Shepherd and Pastor's sermon invited a deeper spiritual journey and understanding than I initially anticipated, including unexpected complexities.

April 14, 2024 - Third Sunday of Easter - The Road to Crucifixion and Jesus' First Appearance in the Passover Supper Room

Our recent Sunday worship Gospel readings reveal that the road Jesus takes to Jerusalem together with his invitation to table fellowship connect not only with each other but can connect with us. The Bible connects them with the detailed descriptions of sharing Jesus' entry into the city, the last Passover meal, in Jesus' encounter with disciples on their way to Emmaus, in his appearance to the disciples after the resurrection and on the Sea of Galilee.

How did all these connect then and how do they connect us now? 

There is a terrible weight involved in following Jesus' destination to Jerusalem and the destiny he fulfills in going there as we remember Holy Week. The disciples also came to understand this when he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

And what should we expect when we believe God loves us and promises to stand with us? Since many stories, particularly of Jesus appearances, involve the sharing of food surely there is a promise of being nourished and sustained by God as our destiny is fulfilled.  We shouldn't necessarily expect to be relieved of any 'terrible weight' regarding the 'road' we travel. Following rarely leads to any expected entitlement but hopefully to service.

Sunday Worship Service Setting - African American Liturgy

Together with Matt and Luka Tini and I sang the African American liturgy. There is almost always an infectious energy that takes hold of the congregation when they are singing this liturgy and today was no exception.

People were going out of their way to greet others today. The connecting I was contemplating this week was made real this morning. Pastor Emillie gave a great Children's Sermon which Logan really seemed to appreciate where she talked about all the efforts man has made to reach the heavens and illustrated it with a single sheet of paper. She started off by folding it into triangular shape representing and building. She then folded it to be an airplane. Then she tore it into the shape of a rocket, none of which could reach God or heaven. Then, finally, she made the last tears that turned it into the shape of a cross which she gave to Logan.

Immense joy and feeling of community was evident today.  

April 7, 2024 - Second Sunday of Easter - Jesus Appearances and His Repeated Caring Calls to Table Fellowship

The Gospel for every Second Sunday of Easter is John's Gospel story of Jesus appearing first to the remaining disciples and subsequently to Thomas, who wasn't in the upper room at that particular appearance.

The scripture describes when Thomas eventually did experience his presence as follows, "Then he (Jesus) said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.'” And Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”  

So, after each Holy Week and Easter, comes this same question, "What are we to make of these words of Jesus?" Is the story of Thomas' doubt a gift to our Christian community about how to acquire faith or do Jesus' words acknowledge and direct attention to some active spiritual resistance to faith that needs to be overcome? In our lifetimes personal beliefs may wax and wane regarding what was truly "seen" and recorded in the Bible, particularly with the supernatural aspects present in many scriptural stories. 

Personally I have written in previous blogs about how this Thomas story haunted me in my church life. As a teen I felt both singled out and excluded from the rest of my confirmation class when my pastor responded to a question I posed to him about the importance of Jesus' empty tomb by answering, "Of course the resurrection can only be about the physical body of Jesus.  You can't believe or think anything else and be Lutheran".  He added, "And the church certainly doesn't need another Doubting Thomas."

The question probably took him off guard. I know he did not mean to but his response broke my heart and, perhaps because he was my pastor, I felt at that time I endured a private and informal kind of excommunication from church that could and would eventually be made more public than it already was.

When I think of this passage now the lyrics from Godspell's Day By Day come to mind as I keep pondering this story's impact: 

Oh Dear Lord
Three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly
Day by day

And how can we see the Lord more clearly, love the Lord more dearly and follow the Lord more nearly? After Holy Week this is certainly has become an annual check that I use to mark what changes have happened each year as the years pass.

Sunday Worship Service Setting - African American Liturgy

All that was written to this point was written anticipating today's worship. I must say that what Pastor Emillie preached in her sermon healed an old wound this story opened up for me. Her words acted like a powerfully blessed balm. What a different feeling to what I suffered as I took in what my pastor taught so many years ago. 

She highlighted that the label "Doubting Thomas" is not in the Bible. Instead Jesus gives Thomas what he described and needed for faith at that point. Pastor Emillie preached frankly about her own doubts when God was not responding to her prayers by acting to make Emillie's mother well when she was ill. She also observed Thomas was not alone in doubting - all the disciples doubted. I learned years later to use doubt to deepen faith rather than running scared of it but this incident remained a deep and powerful faith memory I have come back to more often than I care to admit.

What Pastor Emillie's sermon did this year was to stress how Jesus invited the disciples, again and again to table fellowship. Jesus gave exactly what his disciples needed to quiet the despair they were feeling. He unlocked the door that they locked and bolted in fear. He entered and said “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." and breathed on them.

I truly felt that the breath that empowers and gives life through the Holy Spirit was present at Creator this morning.

March 31, 2024 - Easter at Creator - A Celebration of Traditions and New Beginnings

Easter, 2024 at Creator was a special culmination of 2024's Holy Week for us.

There were many traditions that were carried on this Easter. We caught up with those we haven't seen for a while, our Easter banner was once again revealed this year and we sang the familiar hymns we always love. And there was something more...

This was a celebration of Pastor Emillie first presiding at a Creator Easter service. This was profoundly moving and an inspiring service for those who participated. Her sermon this Sunday spoke to the transformative power of faith and the ability to observe Jesus as God playing a role in our lives.

Easter represents the pinnacle of Christian faith – the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the promise of redemption and together with a new life. It's a time of joy, reflection, and renewal as we come together to commemorate a central event of Christian religious belief.

Pastor Emillie told, and marveled at, her unexpected life so far. A life which led her and her family from being refugees from the Congo to family life in Uganda, through her time as an intern at a Tacoma church, to becoming Creator's called pastor last year. This added a deeply poignant and meaningful dimension to this year's shared Easter observance. Her testimony of experiencing God in that journey from adversity to leadership within the church served as an emotional story - relating the transformative power of faith and seeing a loving God at the center of our lives.

Under her leadership and guidance, there has been a sense of unity and solidarity within the congregation now that has been amplified as it was during the Creator call process for a pastor. Despite differences we may have as individuals in background, nationality, and life experiences, there is our common ground we are coming to experience in shared faith.

Pastor Emillie's presence also gives us a glimpse into global nature of Christianity this Easter, as it has been doing since she was installed last July. The interconnectedness of believers around the world has certainly been made palpable. Her unique perspective and insights enrich our understanding of the Easter story have deepened our appreciation for the universal message of hope and redemption it conveys.

In this moment of shared worship and fellowship, the Oregon congregation and their pastor from Uganda find strength, comfort, and inspiration in their collective faith. Their Easter celebration becomes not only a time of rejoicing in the resurrection, but also a testament to the transformative power of love, compassion, and solidarity within the Christian community.

Easter represents the pinnacle of hope for Christians which leads us to reflect with joy and gratitude to knowing God loves us, however hard that may be to believe at times. And when we face hardships or grief, Easter can offer comfort and solace. It's a reminder that God is present in the midst of suffering and that there is hope beyond the pain. 

The resurrection story is a source of comfort, assuring believers that they are never alone and that God's love endures forever.

March 28, 2024 - Good Friday - Tenebrae, A Service of Darkness

 What Abides - For Good Friday - 

 Jan Richardson

You will know
this blessing
by how it
does not stay still,
by the way it
refuses to rest
in one place.

You will recognize it
by how it takes
first one form,
then another:

now running down
the face of the mother
who watches the breaking
of the child
she had borne,

now in the stance
of the woman
who followed him here
and will not leave him
bereft.

Now it twists in anguish
on the mouth of the friend
whom he loved;

now it bares itself
in the wound,
the cry,
the finishing and
final breath.

This blessing
is not in any one
of these alone.

It is what
binds them
together.

It is what dwells
in the space
between them,
though it be torn
and gaping.

It is what abides
in the tear
the rending makes.

from Circle of Grace

Tenebrae - A solemn remembrance for Good Friday. As candles were extinguished after each reading tonight there was a sad rediscovery of pain and loss in the sanctuary draped in black. Pastor Emillie was wearing all black, as were others who attended. 

There was a dramatized ache many felt which culminated in the sound meant to represent the closing of the tomb. It was a solemn and reflective gathering that commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The atmosphere quickly became somber and reverent, as attendees contemplate the sacrifice made by Jesus for the forgiveness of sins.

As the service began, the ambiance was subdued, with somber music setting the tone. There were banners which incorporated symbols of Christ's suffering and throughout the service, the readings from the Bible reminded us of the profound suffering and sacrifice endured by Jesus during the crucifixtion..

Matt played the music Creator associates with Good Friday service and we sang with sincerity and reverence that expressed our emotions that were connected with the profound significance of the day.

Towards the conclusion of the service, there may be a period of silence or meditation, allowing attendees to reflect quietly on the significance of Christ's sacrifice and what it means for their faith and lives. Some services may also include a ritual of veneration of the cross, where attendees have the opportunity to approach and kneel before a cross, offering their prayers and reverence.

We reflected on  our repentance and our gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus.

March 27, 2024 - Maundy Thursday - Midweek Worship Taking Us From Table Fellowship to A Forsaken Crucifixion

Blessing the Bread, the Cup
Let us bless the bread that gives itself to us
with its terrible weight, its infinite grace.
...

Let us bless the cup poured out for us
with a love that makes us anew.
Let us gather around these gifts
simply given and deeply blessed.
And let us go bearing the bread, carrying the cup,
laying the table within a hungering world.

Jan Richardson, Circle of Grace.

Holy Week brought a history for me this year - a perspective from the time we joined Creator. What was experienced last year for example? What was important to the congregation? What set us apart and what drew us together? In 2023 Creator commemorated Maundy Thursday and Good Friday together in one service. It was hard at first to imagine the combination as it was planned. I felt a kairos reckoning asking to be made. 

Creator is currently focused on building community. This focus was represented by members of the community at this service giving each other communion individually and many of us either washed each others feet or had Pastor Emillie wash them. The first reading was from Exodus. The story emphasized Christianity's roots in Jewish tradition for me - drawing the communities together through Passover. 

The community building practices that have been in place during this Holy Week were having multiple volunteers reading from scripture, tonight's foot washing, and the way communion was shared tonight.   

On the national stage during this Holy Week the 45th U.S. president was hawking God Bless The USA bibles on television.  The $59.99 Bible, which was first published in 2021 and features an American flag and the words “God Bless the USA” printed on the cover. Inside, together with the words to “God Bless the USA”, the bible has "God Bless America", the text of The Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance and other historic American documents. Promotional material for the Bible shows the former president alongside country singer Lee Greenwood.

Historian and author Jemar Tisby says the whole project echoes the values of Christian nationalism — the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation and the government should work to sanction Christianity on a national scale. The tenets of Christian nationalism are historically tied to prejudice, nativism and white supremacy.

“There’s a very long tradition of what is included and what is not included in the Bible,” Tisby wrote.

Through his followers Trump compares his current trials to the persecution of Jesus. As a Christian I find the teachings of Jesus rich with wisdom. This Bible being touted during Holy Week reminds me of what I learn from the story of Jesus together with his teachings. The story of Maundy Thursday starts with a table fellowship among friends. It leads to crucifixion and then to resurrection.  What I think about today is that the resurrection stories, from the disciples locked in the upper room of the Last Supper to the beauty of the Emmaus story completes the circle back to table fellowship. Jesus does not promise to his followers "I will be your retribution."

This is not a political blog yet something is not understood from what I read in the "national public square". When Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial Republican U.S. Representative from Georgia, writes in a statement released on April 27 that she believes Catholic bishops are “satanic”, that they are protecting pedophiles, and that they are “destroying our nation” through their support of migrants, and that Satan is “controlling” the Catholic Church in the United States as a result. I feel this compels Christians to express a different understanding of scripture if they have one.

I know the Creator community has a different understanding of scripture and our Catholic brothers and sisters motives towards helping migrants than Greene's.

March 24, 2024 - Palm / Passion Sunday - A Reading of Mark's Passion Narrative on Palm Sunday

Faith, when it is spiritual and cerebral, can be comfortable. Simultaneously faith in Jesus can call us beyond that. I realize I am guilty of being attracted to what is cerebral and spiritual. In past posts I have written about the structure of the Triduum worship. I explored Dante's Divine Comedy on Maundy Thursday. I have written as well about the dichotomies of the Last Supper betrayal.

The Palm/Passion Sunday service demonstrates an emotional dichotomy during a Sunday morning service. We remember the story in this worship from the Jesus processional into Jerusalem to the Good Friday crucifixion. We say our hosannas in Creator's narthex, proceed into the sanctuary, lay down the palm leaves we have just lifted in praise and we read and listen to Mark's passion narrative. They will be burned for next year's Ash Wednesday remembrance.

This start of Holy Week (the first where we have the first pastor called to be Creator's pastor since the pandemic started), invites us into reflection and gratitude. Community is both being affirmed and being built today. Mark's Passion narrative in recounting the details of what was said and done highlights and dramatizes the rise and fall of what makes up most human communities.

This year as I read lament of Jesus as he cried to God on the cross "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani " I felt the sting of this man, feeling forsaken, struggling with what he feels he is meant to go through while experiencing the complexities of being a part of a human community.