Jan 11, 2026 Sharing Lit Candles Past and Present Through A Wedding at Cana and A Vigil in Minneapolis

The Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee Vigil 
near the for Renee Nicole Good Jan. 7, 2026.

“Truth has stumbled in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.”  Isaiah 59:14

This week, a clarion call was heard for empathy and morality. Our scripture offered us a vision that stands in painful contrast to the world many of us currently inhabit. Another shocking moment, reminiscent of George Floyd's, moved our nation.

Both grief and hope are accumulating faster than we can metabolize them..When the steward remarks, “You have kept the good wine until now,” during the wedding at Cana, he names a reversal. In God’s economy, the best is not hoarded by the powerful or consumed early and wasted. It emerges precisely when a community is on the brink of embarrassment and loss. Glory, in this story, is not domination or self-display. It is relational abundance. Shame is spared. Joy is restored. The celebration continues. 

That vision stands in painful contrast to the world many of us are inhabiting now. 

Many of us are still reeling from the murder of Renee Nicole Good, a life taken by a federal ICE agent, followed not by humility or accountability from national leaders, but by a manufactured narrative designed to justify the unjustifiable. Within hours, she was labeled a terrorist, despite video evidence that clearly contradicts those claims. Truth did not matter. Control of the story did. The opportunity to spread intimidation is taken. We're shown the bloody airbag. Don't try to protest or resist; otherwise...

Before that grief could even settle, more blood was spilled. In our own East Portland neighborhood, two additional people were shot by federal agents during an immigration enforcement operation. Once again, officials claimed necessity. Once again, communities were left stunned and terrified. Governor Tina Kotek named what many feel in our bodies: the federal government is causing chaos in our cities and shattering trust across the nation.

Power rarely admits its own violence. It re-frames it. It renames the dead. It insists the victim deserved what happened. James Baldwin warned, “It is not permissible that the authors of devastation should also be innocent.” And yet innocence is precisely what this administration claims, through repetition, spectacle, fear, and declarations of absolute immunity. When the state kills and then lies about why, it asks the public to participate in unreality. That demand is itself a form of violence. In such moments, lament becomes refuge for the sane.

In the Hebrew scriptures, lament erupts most fiercely when truth is under assault. The psalmists cry out not only against suffering, but against falsehood. The prophets rage when injustice is paired with deception. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,” Isaiah says, not as poetry, but as a diagnosis.

This moment carries many layers of sorrow: the killing of innocent people; the terrorizing of immigrants; the erosion of law and accountability; the steady drumbeat of a masculinity that confuses domination with strength and cruelty with order. These are not separate events. They are expressions of the same moral corruption, the replacement of truth with power and care with control.

Grief, in this context, is discernment. As Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, indifference to evil is more insidious than evil itself. Lament is the refusal of indifference. It is what keeps conscience awake when institutions fall asleep. It is what keeps us human when lies attempt to numb us.

Anger, too, is warranted. Rage rises when accountability is mocked, and victims are erased, something our African American and Native American siblings know all too well. But lament gives rage a different shape. It slows it. Grounds it. Keeps it from becoming what it opposes. Lament says: This mattered. This life mattered. Truth matters.

Faith traditions do not rush toward closure. They let lament linger. They understand that before repair comes truth-telling, and before truth-telling comes the guttural cry: How long, O Lord?

So let us say plainly: calling Renee Nicole Good a terrorist does not make it so. Repeating a lie does not transform it into justice. Defending violence with propaganda deepens the wound it claims to heal.

Cana reminds us that the common good is not secured by control, scarcity, or performance. It is discovered when we notice one another’s needs, submit ourselves to shared practices, act together, and trust that God’s abundance is meant not for isolated selves, but for all of us, together.

We are allowed to cry.
We are allowed to rage.
We are allowed to say this is wrong, without qualification.

And we are allowed to keep believing in the long, unfinished work of goodness and justice, not because outcomes are guaranteed, but because surrendering to lies would cost us our souls.

Be kind to your tender hearts. Let them grieve. Let them tell the truth. And then, together, we return to the slow, necessary work of building a more just and generous world.

Bishop Curry Issues Statement on ICE Shooting in Minneapolis 

Sermon from a Sister ELCA congregation in Minneapolis 

Reflection on Creator's 1/11 Worship 

Today I stood inside a sanctuary filled with song, liturgy, memory, and the gift of generations, all supporting this worship through service. So many moments in the service were profound 

Wednesday's Scripture Reflection

Sermon 

Pastor Emillie's sermon was heartfelt. She preached how John writes of signs rather than miracles. Jesus began his ministry in a public celebration of joy. He blessed it with an abundance of the best wine. She helped the congregation understand this was the beginning sign of a ministry that would end on the cross. She also lamented the present temptation to let our hearts grow numb. We offered thoughts and prayers for Renee Good. This was something no one from this administration did. We did not allow the death of Renee Good to become background noise by asking, "Really, what business is it of mine?" We acknowledged and understood the poet, wife, and mother who has been taken away from us, and responded. It matters. 

Kelly Carlisle, a former Creator Music Minister, played piano to our appreciative congregation. Old memories were shared, voices blended singing familiar music about light and Christ. The Gathering Song, in fact, was "Christ, Be Our Light" and the selected Sending Song was "This Little Light of Mine", His performance was, at times poignant, at other joyous. When Kelly played "All That I Have" the congregation sang with a special and familiar reverence.

Creator hosted a MIGRA training after worship, with Storyline facilitating. We learned more about what is going on in our community and how to respond to ICE actions. This training was open to all and felt particularly relevant to what happened this week.

We're in this together. 

November 10, 2024 - Shirley Peterson's Memorial

All photos by Ron Houser

There didn't appear to be an empty chair in either the sanctuary or narthex at Creator on Sunday afternoon for the memorial - but there was. And the attendees were acutely aware of the one who was absent. 

Everyone's bereavement and grief was an undercurrent as everyone tried to make it a celebration of her life yet the sorrow was still, obviously present. Shirley had a unique place in our lives. We were all bearing the weight of this loss, each of us feeling the absence of a person we cherished deeply.

Shirley chose John 14:1-4 as a message of comfort for the Gospel reading. She knew in this sorrow, we find would ourselves searching for some comfort and assurance. Jesus, knowing the fears and doubts of His disciples, said, 'Do not let your hearts be troubled.' The verse speaks to us today with these same words, inviting us to find peace in His promises.

This was a celebration of a life well-lived. Shirley engaged with and enjoyed everyone around her. She loved travel and excursions. Her love, kindness, and memories remained vivid with all of us and were abundantly shared.

Attendees included family and friends. There were past and current Creator members, the Creator Youth and SE Youth Collective were represented. Many members of choirs, both Creator and Tillicum Community Choir attended and sang. Past musicians including Marilyn Keller, A.J. McQuarters, Luke Stromberg, past Creator lead musicians, Kelly Carlisle and David Lee, together with Kim Lee Annie and Amy Miles who sang a delicate rendition of Wailin' Jenny's One Voice during the prelude.

The music was, as expected, stunning. Highlights included Kelly Carlisle on piano backed Marilyn Keller who sang an ardent, inspiring tribute to God and God's generosity - Great Is Thy Faithfulness. 

Luke Stromberg sang the solo and was backed by choir (that included the Creator and Tillicum choirs) on Carlisle's Nunc Dimmitus. The devotional impact of these words was intense.

Lord, let your servant depart in peace,
Now your promise has been fulfilled,
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
Which you have prepared in the sight of all,
A light to lighten the gentiles,
And the glory of Israel.

According to John's gospel after Jesus raised Lazarus Jesus told the crowd to do something as community after Lazarus came out with these words, “Unwrap him and let him go!” The Nunc Dimmitus served as our unwrapping and letting Shirley go in peace and confidence. 

The memorial ended with Keller and the choir leading everyone in an energetic, while also a prayerful Sending Song, May the Circle be Unbroken.

Shirley was a compatriot that stood side by side with many of us for so many years. She leaves her footprints on my heart and the memorial served as testament that there remains for each of us an empty chair in our lives now.

Second Sunday after Easter April 23, 2006

 Second Sunday after Easter April 23, 2006

We performed Kelly Carlisle's liturgy today. It is word and music infused with strong faith. I hardly feel I can describe it in a way that can capture much of it's power but I will try.

The Kyrie invokes God, and Kelly's music is rich stating our work in worship and our plea to God to unite us in God's love. It is personal and communal as the minister sings first the call and then over the response of the congregation. It is deeply treasured by our congregation.

Then, without pause, the Gloria follows. The joy in this music cannot be contained and it feels like angels could be singing to everyone about the peace and glory of God. There is a forward momentum that propels us through to the end where there is a confident recognition of the Trinity and that God alone is the Holy One and the most high.

Deep into the liturgy, during The Great Thanksgiving, is the Sanctus. The music builds the prayer, the words punctuate the music. Then, after amens are sung to welcome each aspect of the Trinity, the music changes key and there is this warm affirmation:

Through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, in the unity of the spirit, All glory and honor is yours, O God, now and forever. Amen, amen.

Pastor Dayle talks about Sunday and worship as 'a spiritual battery charge for those who attend' for the rest of the week. This is music that does precisely that for me, together with the rest of the liturgy.

Also we perform Kelly's Jesus Lamb of God with the liturgy for the first time. Beautiful song and it is beautiful how Kelly's litury continues to grow and evolve.

The music composed for the liturgy is complete but the service ends with This Little Light of Mine. There is something alive and joyful in this sending song that speaks to Kelly's liturgy for me - a confidence about God being with us and that what Jesus has given us will stay. The closest comparison I can think of is a Bob Dylan song that he performed during his Christian period called Solid Rock. The chorus is:

Well, I'm hangin' on to a solid rock
Made before the foundation of the world
And I won't let go, and I can't let go, won't let go
And I can't let go, won't let go, and I can't let go no more.

There is a confidence and a will expressed in the I won't let go together with a trust in God that the I can't let go describes.

Kelly's liturgy captures and elicits this spirit and faith within me.

Creator History - April 5th, 2009: Palm Sunday, RIC Certificate & Blog Anniversary

April 5th, 2009 – Palm Sunday, RIC Certificate & Blog Anniversary

This blog began three years ago on Palm Sunday. In 2006 the entry centered on my feelings about playing guitar for worship and the reason for this blog. This was to be the story of Creator’s good news as a church “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”.

A new piece of music was being debuted that Sunday, Kelly’s Peace I Give To You. The song was simple and powerful; highlighting 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”

In 2007 the Creator community came into Holy Week with the fresh, community knowledge that Bethany’s bone marrow biopsy showed that she is no longer in remission. Holy Week that year brought us together in unanticipated ways.

Last year the RIC team had just finished national LCNA training.

This year Palm Sunday was an amazing worship experience. The sanctuary was filled to overflowing with members and visitors. There was an explosion of colors in the narthex and sanctuary either rainbows or ribbons of colors suggesting rainbows which had kept the congregation focused on God’s covenant during Lent.

Our whole Lent experience was centered in journey. The configuration of the sanctuary changed from week to week, thanks to Larry, Pastor Dayle and others. On Palm Sunday our worship experience, like the week before, was in the round which concentrated a sense of community and celebration.

This was not a Palm – Passion Sunday. We processed in from the narthex after singing Creator Praise with the Processional Hymn All Glory, Laud and Honor. The atmosphere was one of exhilaration.

One part of a long journey for Creator was officially recognized with the presentation of Creator's RIC Certificate by LCNA Regional Coordinators Karen and Paul Jolly to Susan Nolte.

Pastor Dayle’s sermon highlighted the bittersweet part of this journey; the joy of this moment and the recognition of the long Good Friday that has been experienced around this issue, how long it has taken to get to this moment, and the struggle still ahead.

The past few days have been unprecedented in endorsing the rights of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals nationally. Last Friday the Iowa Supreme Court found that denying same-sex couples the opportunity to marry violated that state's constitution. Four days later, the Vermont legislature overrode the governor's veto of a law giving same-sex couples the right to marry. Vermont and Iowa now join Massachusetts and Connecticut in providing full marriage equality to same-sex couples.

Back to the worship I had not played guitar for awhile at worship but Janice suggested I write a song for the RIC Certificate presentation. I am glad she did. Investing the energy in writing and performing helped me understand and experience the moment in a way that would not have happened otherwise.

Pastor Dayle liked the song and I performed it just before the presentation with Kelly on piano and David on drums. With minimal rehearsal they helped drive the song in a unique way. Here are the lyrics:

A Coming Welcome

Pressing on, we keep on pressing on
To live out welcome
Holy welcome
A coming welcome.

God's courtship and call
Sets our hearts on fire
When we care for one another
When we lift each other higher

And we carry on
Both borne and bound
Ever stretching
Inspired to astound

While we're pressing on, we keep on pressing on
To live out welcome
Holy welcome
Our coming welcome.

Lord God Creator
We are yours
And though we fall and stumble
Your faith in us endures.

Let us see through your eyes
And may your strength we use
As we learn to act in love
How can we refuse

To be pressing on? We keep on pressing on
To live out welcome
Holy welcome
Your coming welcome 

Made to Celebrate Creator Becoming RIC

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.