April 7, 2019 - Fifth Sunday in Lent - Connected - RIC 10 Year Anniversary Sunday

Matt was not here and Jeremy filled in for him. The music always becomes fresh and accompaniment is different when this happens. The people who were leading today Jeremy, John, Susan, Claire and I all enjoyed and appreciated the different takes on the musical pieces as we played them.

There a couple of anniversaries to celebrate today, one more public and the other more private.

The first was Creator's Reconciling in Christ Ten Year Anniversary of being presented with a certificate by Lutherans Concerned / North America for adopting an Affirmation of Welcome that specifically welcomed people with different sexual orientations and genders identities.

The congregation remembered the anniversary through the worship in today's Confession, reading of the Affirmation of Welcome, the Sending Song and a post-service celebration where conversation and cake was shared.

In many ways most Creator members were open to LGBT+ welcome long before our Year of RIC Discernment and the official Affirmation of Welcome (which is likely true in most RIC congregations). However the formal adoption of this moral stance, that many already firmly believed in, allowed the identities of our members to be fully shared. This, in turn, led to fuller connections between us and served as an invitation to deeper conversations within the congregation. The Year of RIC Discernment contained planned events and discussions, structured so that everyone knew they were held in high esteem regardless of past hurts or current misgivings.   

Kim, Samantha, and Tara, who were actively involved in the process ten years ago, attended today's worship. Kim and Samantha were the first gay couple married at Creator as well as the first out couple who simply came to worship as all the other Creator members did. Their presence was another part of what made this anniversary celebration special. Obviously many of us were thinking of Pastor Dayle who did quite a bit of the nudging and leading to make Creator an RIC congregation. 

The more private anniversary is that this blog began on Palm Sunday, April 9th, 2006. During the 13 years of blog entries about Creator worship the journeys and meditations have, for the most part, been inspiring to record and revealed new insights when referred back to.

For example Pastor Ray preached about connections between people today in his sermon, just as Pastor Dayle preached 13 years ago. She quoted here another Creator pastor who was giving sermons at the time:

“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”.

The worship ended in beautiful moment. The congregation formed a circle and, led by Jon, sang the chorus to We Are One in the Bonds of Love three times. The last time was a Capella and felt like the notes were being lifted through the air.

Holy Week begins next week with Palm Sunday.