May 10, 2020 - Fifth Sunday After Easter - Healing Hearts and Communion

Pastor Janell and the Holy Spirit shared a few substantial gifts at worship today. A moving worship on a number of levels.

Paul shared zoom hosting duties with Valentine. Shirley was the assisting minister. Jan and Sonnet were  readers.

The Gospel reading was John 14:1-10 which starts with "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me". This was the verse that came to my mind last week as we learned about following Christ through his voice without necessarily understanding all that Jesus was teaching.

John 14:1-10 mostly is Jesus talking about knowing God the father through knowing him. During Children's Time Pastor Janell shared a photo of her daughter Abigail and shared family storied about how physical resemblances can trigger feelings of connection. Then, during the sermon, she spoke of Emily, her other daughter, standing in front of the silk art Pastor Janell made as she worked through losing Emily.

Today these healing hearts illustrated two interwoven stories that were colliding, dancing and providing meaning to one another. One is an ongoing story of an individual dealing with grief. The other is a story of a community still at the beginning of this story of healing hearts. This was our first shared roadmap and it was apparent that Creator's future was locked into these hearts.

She preached about the connection and the scars that all these hearts shared that constantly remained in every heart. This was no unearned, optimistic God will make everything right statement. She talked about how often our hearts are troubled by things we cannot control. At this time, at Creator, there are many things troubling us that we cannot control. In the messiness of our lives, however, God dwells with us. 

Pastor Janell posted last night that she prepared the communion bread she was going to use with her grandmother's bowl and gluten-free recipe from Northern Illinois Synod, ELCA,. She prepared the table with pottery made in college and a weaving created at Holden Village.

I had to overcome something within me to start preparing today's table at home with things that were meaningful to me. I found a small ceramic tray my son had made and a coupe champagne glass which emphasized the extravagance of Christ's blood being shed.

As the bread was broken I played some incidental music on the guitar and sang:

Christ Our Redeemer / Lord won't you hear our prayer / Break open our imagination

I prayed that this new way of sharing communion would not be a strange communion for people to share. At least for me that prayer was answered and I look for the new opportunities to connect with each other as church.