Blog Anniversary - Palm Sunday: First Blog Entry from Creator's Historic Blog: April 9 2006

 Holy Week: Palm Sunday - Morning Worship Services

Praying for God’s grace and help; this blog is dedicated to you on Palm Sunday April 9, 2006.

So what is to be remembered in the first posting from this present to our past? What really happened, that these words can pass along, during the Palm Sunday services at Creator Lutheran Church and an afternoon Cross Walk in Oregon City today?

With each struggle made to capture the events of the day, layers of significance are revealed. When should I call an end to the struggles? What will these words convey and what details will not be used? What can be revealed in these pages?

I know many people looking to achieve the best daily life offers; others are looking for another level of meaning. Many have hopes and desires to reach both. Different hearts with different open doors. Right now, these words are a door I want to keep open. As to the other decisions, basically the workmanship of these postings I leave to the spirit within.

I’ll start with the Sunday services. Parking and approaching the church on an early gray morning is familiar like most Sunday mornings. The routine silence always focuses me on the physical details of entering the building. It is easy to spot our church because the size of the cross in front dominates the overall structure. A cell phone company once approached the congregation with an opportunity to build a cell tower which would provide a guaranteed annual income. There was an initial reluctance which was finally overcome when the idea came to make the cell tower take the form of a cross.

I arrive early to I play rhythm guitar for worship. There is time to turn on the sound system, make adjustments to the microphone positions, and still have a few minutes to warm up. The other musicians, those involved in altar set up, other volunteers, greeters and ushers also arrive. Quickly the musicians agree who will play which instruments for each song, and then we quickly run through the least familiar songs.

At its best, Sunday worship is a heady, hearty mix of music and ideas; of celebration and confession; of ritual and innovation; of drama and the everyday detail, of individual need and community talents. There is a conscious effort to change the liturgy and music from week to week. Services here are often at their best and filled with joy and a strong sense of the holy.

I am nervous and tense this morning. I waited to start writing until today and I debate with myself whether to jot down notes or fully participate and remember the details later but since I play guitar through the service jotting down notes really isn't practical.

The service starts in the narthex and there is a procession into the sanctuary this morning. As the service progresses I soon find my wait is rewarded by three auspicious moments or, more precisely, three fortuitous signs of a great beginning to the start of this blog occured in the morning services.

The first came in Pastor Dayle’s Palm Sunday sermon. She spoke of an upcoming documentary on the Gospel of Judas. She emphasized that Bible is a book of faith, not a book of facts so this gospel should not threaten faith and quickly moved to other ideas.

The next is how we, as Christians, both reach in and reach out in ministry. She reaches the heart of her message when she says,

“Last week Pastor Fred Ruhnke preached about reaching out and telling others about our faith community. That’s about service! Reaching out is ministry. We reach in and we reach out. Some of you have prepared meals for families from Creator who suffered a loss or who have an illness… others of you have received such a meal. My family received a meal a few years ago when Peter’s dad died. Twenty or so family members were served a meal from a Creator family. I cannot tell you how such a ministry lifts a burden for a family. That’s ministry in the nitty gritty details of life.

To know Jesus is to have a relationship with him. We could each write our own stories of good news or gospel. Each of our stories would be a little different. Some would have palm branches; others wouldn’t even mention a tree. It’s likely that we’d all have a story or two of betrayal… because we all have betrayed or been disloyal to Jesus and to our own call to discipleship”

I am astonished as she says this. I did not share my intention to begin this blog with anyone but my wife and here Pastor Dayle’s sermon addresses in great detail everything I desire to do. I want this to be a story of Creator’s good news; to be a ministry that reaches in and reaches out and to tell of the ministry we share in the nitty-gritty details of life.

This is still in my thoughts when Kelly Carlisle, Creator’s former music minister, together with his sons, premieres a new song Kelly wrote and dedicated to his wife.

My attention focuses on this new highlight. “Peace I Give To You” quietly swells and touches many hearts, as I find out later. The song has a simple, classical feel which highlights the words of Jesus from John 14:27 “Peace I give to you; not as the world gives, give I to you. Don't let your heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful”.

Kelly does not play music at the church as often now. He was our past music minister but when he was given a promotion he realized he needed to devote more time to his career. Matt Weiers, a talented jazz pianist and drummer, became the new music minister. David Lee, another talented jazz pianist who also playsdrums, is an essential part of the core group that plays each Sunday.

Needless to say, unveiling a new Kelly Carlisle composition is an event. True faith and hope are difficult to capture in song. With this song, like his other compositions, one feels the kingdom of God is not only possible but is in the process of becoming a reality. This work is structured on a bible verse and adds different dimensions to it. It is as strong and beautiful as the liturgy Kelly wrote. It helps me understand in a new way how a composition can build faith.

There is one last celebratory event that closes the service. The ending musician orientation is David Lee, playing piano, Matt on drums, and Kelly and I on guitar. David leads us through an energetic calypso-feel rendition of our closing hymn “Go, My Children, With My Blessing” as the service concludes. He runs through improvisational solos, changes rhythm, and takes his fellow musicians breathlessly through a wondrous musical breaking out. His talent is astounding and David creates an unusually free and playful musical space for us to work in. Creator is open to this space and takes this kind of exploration to heart.

Holy Week has begun for Creator.

Holy Week: Palm Sunday Afternoon - The Cross Walk

Since my wife and I first participated in the annual Cross Walk for the Oregon Trail Cluster of the ELCA, it has become an important part of our Holy Week observance. It is a unique ministry. Church members and pastors follow a pre-planned route and carry a cross in a local neighborhood. At stops along the route, each church leads the group in brief words of welcome and appreciation, tailored to the service provided by those within the selected building. For instance, if it is a fire station, prayers would be spoken, appreciation would be given, and songs would be sung for the firemen. Those members of the church who lead are then responsible to carry a good-sized cross to the next location.

At 2:30 PM, my family headed for Zion Lutheran Church in Oregon City. The rain, which was threatening all day, begins once we are underway. Mary is recovering from being sick. Both of us remember last year’s Cross Walk when it poured down rain for the entire event. Mary asks me to promise to stop her from walking in the rain because she is worried she will become sick again if she does. Fortunately, the weather clears when we pull up to the church.

David Biggam is already in the church, ready for the initial service, and Pastor Dayle arrives as well. Both have been a part of the Cross Walks that we have attended over the years. While we are waiting for the service to begin David notes, “This doesn’t excite as many people in our congregation as the church auction or other fund raisers. I am not sure why.” Something in his thoughtful gaze and his voice shows how important this ministry of walking out into the community is for him.

Why this is a powerful experience for all of us is certainly unique to each individual and, at least for my wife and I, varies from year to year.

The first year we chose to attend there was a large group of people. The weather was beautiful. There were so many people Sunday traffic was stopped and cars waited while we crossed streets. The power that year came in what this demonstrated to the community outside of the participants. This was doing something unusual. It was easy to imagine pedestrians and drivers pausing to consider what they were seeing.

Last year the focus shifted to the endurance of the group. Many did not have umbrellas or waterproof coats to protect themselves from wind and rain. Umbrellas were useless anyway when carrying the cross, and water penetrated the coats. The waterlogged cross was heavy and awkward. I know my wife and I, had we been alone, would have left for comfort and shelter as soon as the heavy rain started. However, the strength of those around us, as they persevered, kept us on the walk until the end.

This year, there was no rain and we were thankful. There was also a much lighter turnout and there was speculation it was due to last year’s experience. We walked the area where the Oregon Trail ended and, in beauty and the quiet of a peaceful Sunday afternoon, the songs the group sang stood out for me today.

As each of us sang these very familiar songs, it emphasized the community we share in common with one another that has developed over years of worship. The qualities that contributed to the strength of the songs is hard to breakout and describe. The group was small and the individual voices were clear. We sang songs of faith; we sang outdoors without any musical accompaniment and there was a beautiful vulnerability in that sound.

Music is important to our church, but I must admit I don’t often recognize those moments when the music is moving beyond the ears of those who could possibly be listening. That was what I felt with the songs. It didn’t matter who was listening, these songs were reverent messages to God. Once again, the power of the Cross Walk was overwhelming.