February Ponderings: Ash Wednesday and Lent

Greetings Friends!

On February 14th, we begin our journey through the season of Lent. Ash Wednesday prepares us for the forty days of Lent and culminates it’s the three days of Holy Week. We hear, ‘Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ and we mark our foreheads with ashes as a symbol of our need for God’s grace and love in our lives.

Ashes symbolize multiple aspects of being human:

1. An ancient symbol of repentance, ashes mark our foreheads as a sign of our need for God’s forgiveness.

2. Ashes remind us of our own human fragility and the shortness of human life. One day we will all return to dust.

3. Ashes symbolize cleansing and renewal. On Ash Wednesday our foreheads are marked with the sign of the cross—the mark of our baptism! Even in our ‘dustiness’ we remember the hope and the promise of Easter!

4. Our ashes represent our need for repentance, confessions, and for God’s forgiveness.

Ash Wednesday is full of ritual and symbolism to remind us of our need for the cross, the center of God’s love, in our lives. Lent is a journey to the cross, centered on the cross. On February 14th, and throughout Lent we will hear Psalm 51.

“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and sustain in me a willing spirit.”

— Psalm 51:10-12

We pray for God’s transformative love in our own lives. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” God’s love changes the world, and it changes us. Our own will and hearts become God’s medium for life-changing love and service. As we journey through Lent, we focus on the cross where God reveals this life-changing love. We center ourselves on the cross of Christ, trusting in the promise of Easter hope.

This Lent Bethany is full of opportunities to worship, to engage in faith formation, to share in fellowship, and to join in communal spiritual practices. Be sure to read announcements, The Echo, and The Monday Messenger for all these opportunities.
 
And if you’re thinking of asking someone to join you for worship on Ash Wednesday/Valentine’s Day this year you can invite them with this lovely poem.
 

Roses are red, violets are blue.
I want to remember my mortality with you.

 
Peace,
Pastor Lily

From Generation to Generation

In our house, we have a monthly finance meeting. Yes, Alex and I call our conversations about our household budget finance meetings. Any member of the household can call a finance meeting to talk about anything. While the meeting agenda can be flexible, our rules of procedure are not.

Rule #1) Finance meetings are allowed to last up to 15 minutes.

Rule #2) Bring a refreshing drink to the finance meeting. Whether it be hot tea or a favorite beer, we come to the meeting with hydration.

We like to keep it light. Household finances can be stressful conversations. Planning for your future financially can be scary and be filled with uncertainty. Money is not our favorite thing to talk about, but in these conversations, we have developed a spiritual practice for ourselves. We ask ourselves, “Where are we giving our money?”

As people, called by God through the waters of baptism, it’s as important of a question as, “How much money will we spend on food?” or “What work does the house need next year?” How do we live out our calling to love our neighbor, serve God, and welcome all people through our financial habits? Everything we have, whether it feels like too little or too much, comes from God. We are stewards of these gifts. How do we steward God’s generosity in our lives?

Perhaps your household doesn’t have finance meetings. What time do you take to sit down with yourself or with your family to reflect on your role as stewards of God’s generosity? Our stewardship verse for reflection this season comes from Matthew 6:21.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

— Matthew 6:21

The treasure of our time, talent, and resources guide our devotion, passion, and care. Where is God calling you? Where do your gifts align with the needs of our world? I encourage you to ask some of these questions as you go about your day-to-day life. From making household budgets to grocery shopping to picking up kids from school: how is God’s generosity present in your life?

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

Why the Reformation? What Does It Mean for Us Today?

Lucas Cranach the Elder Martin Luther 1528

© Luther Memorials Foundation of Saxony- Anhalt

On October 31st, 1517, a young theology professor changed the Christian church and world history forever. Well, maybe not all in one day, but on that day a series of events were set into motion that changed everything. Brother Martin Luther, a friar of the Augustinian order, sent his work, Disputation of the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, in the mail to Archbishop Albrecht of Mainz. You might know this work better as the 95 Theses.

These events set into motion a movement we refer to today as the Reformation. Martin Luther never set out to begin a movement, nor divide the church. To Luther, these 95 Theses addressed necessary concerns of his time and his place. Luther believed that ‘justification’, or being ‘right with God’ happened through faith alone. It couldn’t be bought or achieved or worked toward, rather God’s grace only came through trusting God. 

Why did Luther write these 95 Theses? In Luther’s time and place, indulgences were becoming a more common practice in the church. These indulgences were a part of the theological understanding of the world in the Middle Ages. While they believed God forgave all spiritual sin, it was taught that indulgences were a way to pay back the earthly penalty of sin. Luther saw a way to talk about God’s faithfulness in his critique of indulgences. He used his time and place to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ for all people. 

He began a tradition of reformation that we continue today. 

We don’t live in the Middle Ages of Western Europe. Our time and place is different than Martin Luther’s, yet our faith tradition asks us to look with a discerning eye. How do we practice and proclaim that faith alone is what God requires? In what ways do we turn faith into work that seeks to prove our worth, rather than trusting that God finds us worthy? 

On October 29th we will celebrate the tradition of the Reformation and the confirmation of our students. The question of faith continues to permeate through our own time and place. We celebrate what Martin Luther began so many years ago. We remember through God all things are being made new. We are called to continue to discern the ways we are church in the world. Through God’s grace we are free to question and to change. We are called to trust in God alone for all life, healing, and wholeness.

This is what Luther began so long ago, and it’s a tradition we continue today.

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

Faith Formation Is For Kids Big and Small!

“Then children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them, but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.””

— Matthew 19:13-14

Do you know the expression, “kid at heart”? It could be an important one to keep in mind this time of the year. On September 10th, we are rallying together to begin a new year of faith formation! On Rally Day, we celebrate the ways we equip young people to have a relationship with God. At Bethany we have Sunday School and Confirmation programs that meet the needs of students ages 4-15. But that is by no means where faith formation stops.

We know that God walks alongside us our whole life. From the cradle to our deathbed and beyond, we are accompanied by a God who loves us beyond measure. It’s the great and mysterious confession of our faith that Jesus is the good news of God’s love for all people! Faith formation is a means through which we can acquire tools and friends to ask the hard questions of our life and our faith.

Where is God when the person I love most in the world dies? (God is crying with you. You are not alone in grief.)

Am I good enough? Have I done enough for God’s love? (Yes. You don’t have to do anything for God’s love.)

But what about when I have a hard time believing it’s true?

But what does it mean for me to live as a disciple of Jesus?

Did the unicorns just not make it on the ark? (I wonder?)

Following Jesus changes everything about our life. It’s not easy. It’s often challenging and frustrating. Yet, Jesus beckons, “Let the children come to me!” We are all, big and small, invited to go to Jesus with wonder and curiosity! Worship, Bible studies, retreats, and fellowship give us opportunities to wonder and to form our faith. It may not always give answers, but better questions. It may not solve our problems, but it may comfort us in our suffering.

We celebrate faith formation not only for young people but for all people. It’s a lifelong journey. I challenge you to try something new this year. Try a Bible study or a retreat. Volunteer with a new group. Try serving sometime in worship - we always need more help. Try something new. God’s world is big and God’s love is even bigger. There’s much to learn and much to explore.

Jesus says, “To such as these, the kingdom of heaven belongs.” Stay curious, beloved people!

Love,

Pastor Lily

Click here to learn more about faith formation opportunities this fall!

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

August Ponderings with Pastor Lily

Dear Friends in Christ,

It is that time again. Stores are filled with backpacks, pencils, and folders. Teachers are counting down on the calendar, with mixed emotions, the days until in-service. You know families squeezing last-minute vacations into a long weekend. You are trying to squeeze the last bit of summer fun into your schedule. School is just around the corner. Summer days are growing shorter.

It is a time of preparation and expectation. Whether this time is filled with joyful anticipation or with heavy dread it can’t be avoided. We even feel it at church! As we gear up for another year of Sunday School, confirmation classes, and faith formation of all kinds we see the schedule fill. How will it all be done? Will there be enough teachers? Is there enough time in people’s schedules for faith formation?

I wonder, do you find yourself worrying about what is to come? As we anticipate the changing of the seasons, are you worried about what will be? Will there be enough for everyone’s school supplies? How are we going to make everyone’s schedules work?

Our first Sunday in August featured a story in the Gospel where the disciples have similar concerns. A large crowd has gathered to hear Jesus teach. But it’s lunch time and there’s not enough food for the thousands. Some call it a miracle. Some call it the contagion of sharing. But, by the end of the day, there’s enough food for everyone. Actually, there’s more than enough food for everyone.

In the month ahead I hope your planning goes well. But, I also hope you find time to enjoy the fleeting moments of summer. We can ask the question, will there be enough? We can make plans to ensure our needs are met. But, behind it all is God who provides what we need. Perhaps it’s a miracle. Perhaps it’s people gathered together sharing what they have with their neighbors.

We share our burdens and our joys. We share our scarcity and abundance, trusting that it all comes from God. We are all one in our need for Jesus. That meal that Jesus gives to us chases us down our whole lives. In times of rest and in times of preparation, you will be fed. There’s more than enough.

Peace to you,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

Defiant Rest: Reclaiming Sabbath

Do you feel rested? We live in a culture more than willing to fill our calendars; asking us for just a little more of our time, promising satisfaction and progress for the sake of an hour in our calendars. As if being overworked, over-scheduled, and anxious is a badge to mark our worthiness. I’m sure I’m not alone in seeing a blank spot on the calendar as an opportunity for activity. But have you ever bumped against the wall? Have you ever felt anxiety or thoughts or exhaustion crash around you?

It’s so easy to be overworked. It’s so easy for our kids to be overscheduled. It’s so easy to forget that we were made for rest. God creates a space meant for our rest.

“On the sixth day God finished the work that God had done, and God rested on the seventh day from all the work that God had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that God had done in creation.”

— Genesis 2:2-3

Have you heard the word sabbath before? In Christianity, we most often hear the word Sabbath mentioned in The Ten Commandments. Martin Luther explains this commandment by saying, “God invites us to rest.” Sabbath brings us back to this story in Genesis. God rests. God sabbaths in the Hebrew. After the work of creating a whole world from nothing, God takes time away from that work. God calls that time holy. 

As we walk in the days of Easter, think about how rest is a defiant declaration of resurrection hope. You do not work for your salvation. You do not labor for your place at the table. You do not need to overwork yourself for the sake of anything. Jesus gives us hope that a new creation is being born. From the emptiness of a tomb, hope shines forth in this world. In the midst of society’s desperation for your exhaustion and your time, God beckons you to take your rest. 

Remember what God is doing for you. God names rest as holy. As tempting as the business and the labor and the stress can be, do not forget that through the waters of baptism you have been claimed for life with God through Jesus. The Holy Spirit guides you to moments that restore and renew your soul. You are made for rest. In order to remember to whom we belong, and in whom we have our very being we have to remember how we were made. 

Rest is holy and sacred. God made rest holy for the very sake of you. In order to reclaim the hope of resurrection in our busy world and in order to reclaim our relationships with God and with another, we must reclaim rest. 

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

April Ponderings with Pastor Lily

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

During the Easter season we greet each other in worship with this celebration of what God has done through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, through the resurrection, breathes new life into all of creation. What we believe was dead, what we believe was withered, and without hope is new. Jesus is not dead. Jesus is alive!   

“Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said.”

— Matthew 28:5b-6

When Jesus’ two friends, Mary and Mary, were at the tomb that morning they expected to honor their friend in death. Instead they meet an angel who offers them comfort, “Do not be afraid.” We don’t often think of Easter as a scary season. But, how unsettling must have been to go to the tomb, and to find it empty. What happened? Where is the body? Where is our friend? 

This new life promised to us in Jesus’ resurrection changes everything and it is terrifying. Change is scary. Newness is scary. What is unknown and unexpected is scary. Scary is okay. It is okay to be afraid of this new life around us. 

“Go and tell.”

As they return from the tomb, the Marys encounter Jesus on the road. He comforts them, “Do not be afraid.” and gives them this command. “Go and tell.” 

It is okay to be afraid of what change might mean. It is okay to wonder and to be a little bit skeptical of what this new life might mean. Jesus comforts us in our anxiety. Where Jesus comforts, Jesus also guides. The news of the resurrection is here and now. The world needs to know just what God’s love can do. The world needs to know that the old has passed away and that new life emerges. 

The world needs to know God’s promise of hope. It’s blooming all around us. Go and share this good news with all the world! 

Easter is a season of fifty days. Maybe you want to adopt a spiritual practice for these fifty days. Try noticing signs of a sign of new life around you each day. Are the daffodils popping up through the snow? Did you see a neighbor do something kind and life-giving for someone else? Make a note of the ways Jesus’ resurrection changes our world.

Can you hear Jesus calling out to comfort and to guide? Go and tell someone about it. 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! 

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

Beautiful Things: A reflection on Ash Wednesday

Beautiful Things

Dear Bethany Lutheran and Friends,

We have traveled through Advent and Christmas together. On Epiphany we heard how the news of Christ’s birth spread . We looked with awe as we saw a dove descend upon Jesus at his baptism. Every Sunday we marvel as we hear stories of Jesus’ ministry on earth.

In February we will begin a new kind of journey together in our worship life. On Wednesday, February 22nd, our foreheads will be marked with ashes. We will hear the words, “You are dust, and to dust you shall return.” and we remember that God shows up in the most unlikely of places.

“By the sweat of your face you shall eat 

bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; 

you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Genesis 3:19

This verse comes from a moment of broken trust. As the story goes, Adam and Eve had taken a bite of the fruit from the forbidden tree. They had made a promise in their relationship with God, and they had broken that promise. By the logic of the world, God should have abandoned Adam and Eve there and then. Instead, God promises to protect them. Their life won’t look the same now, but God will not abandon them. They will have food. They will have shelter. They will have their God. 

These ashes remind us that just like Adam and Eve we take bites out of that apple. Broken trust in a broken world turns us from God time and time again. But the mark of the cross, a reminder of our baptism, hold the echo of God’s faithful promise, “I am with you.”

In the midst of our sin and the pain of our world, God sent Jesus to walk among us and to show us the love and faithfulness of God. On the cross, Jesus looked at our dustiness and found it worthy of love beyond measure. From the tomb, we see the wonderful things God can do with dust. 

I am dust. You are dust. We all are dust. And someday, we will return to that dust. 

Beloved this is good news. God makes beautiful things out of that dust. 

God is at work bringing new life into the dust of our world.

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome to worship with us!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.5.

Beginnings

Beginnings

The New Year brings with it an orientation to beginnings. Phrases to the tune of, “a fresh start” or “new year, new me” can be found all around. They ring with a desire to live the year to the fullest, to pick up new hobbies, and to achieve new goals. 2023 offers us an opportunity for growth and change. A new calendar year gives us permission to let go of the weight of the former and to be hopeful about new opportunities. January is a month ripe with anticipation and expectation.

January reminds me of baptism. Baptism promises us the grace to let go and to let die those things that wish us ill. Shame, grief, regret, and despair drown in baptismal waters. These are the old things which can be left behind. In these same waters, through Christ, God raises us to those things that provide life, healing, and wholeness. That’s the work of God. It doesn’t happen each year, but every moment of our life. 

In the month of January, we will emerge from the wonder of the Christmas story to hear the tales of Jesus’ early ministry. In the next weeks we will hear about Jesus’ own baptism and the start of his own ministry. In just a few short weeks our readings go from the manger, to the waters of the Jordan, to the calling of the first disciples. These stories ground us in the hope and excitement of new beginnings. Like Magi following the star to the manger, we go out into the world to see what God is up to here and now.

On January 29th, our annual meeting will take place. We will look at the year of ministry behind us: a year of new beginnings. We opened a Free Store, our parsonage became the Recovery Home, and we began our ministry together. And we will look to the year ahead of us. A year of learning and discernment. What kind of beginnings does God have in store for Bethany Lutheran in Escanaba in the year 2023? Where does God call us to see new life at work? Where do the waters of baptism beckon us to serve on our own journeys of discipleship? 

All of us are here in this place, by the grace and the call of God. In 2023, on our little corner in Escanaba, God calls us together, and sends us out into the world for the sake of the Gospel. We are disciples, being called by Jesus to bear witness to God making all things new through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Where is God calling you in your life in the year 2023?

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.

Bethany 2023 Commitment: Where Your Heart Is

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

On my first Sunday at Bethany Lutheran I made reference to the history of our congregation. For 143 years, Bethany Lutheran has existed for the sake of God’s good news in Jesus Christ here in Escanaba, Michigan. On April 15th, 1879 the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Escanaba began with only 35 members.

One hundred years ago, on Christmas day in 1912, we worshipped for the first time in our sanctuary. This year, in 2022, we will have Christmas worship in that same sanctuary. One hundred years of fellowship and worship for the sake of God’s message of Love in Christ Jesus. This big and beautiful sanctuary is testament to the faith of the congregation in those first forty-three years.

Those 35 people had no idea the growth their congregation would experience in fifty years. They had no way of knowing how many building would need to be built to accommodate those who wanted to worship. They had no way to know how the Spirit would work through their ministry, welcoming folks into the body of Christ.

They wanted a place to worship.

They wanted a place to gather and to be fed by God’s Word through readings, preaching, and the sacraments. They needed a place to be sent from to share God’s love with the growing community.

They wanted to share the love they knew in Christ.

143 years later and the landscape of Escanaba and United States religion looks different. We don’t need a bigger building. We don’t need a larger place to worship. But, not everything has changed.

The world still needs to hear the good news that is God’s love for all of creation. The people of our community still need to know God’s abundant grace spreads to them. Our neighborhoods need to hear that Jesus’ love rattles our very reality. God is making all things new.

In Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus presents the same challenge to the crowds gathered around him as he does to the group of 35 Swedish immigrants 143 years ago as he does to us today. Trust what Jesus has come to show us. Trust in what God continues to do in our world.

We belong to God. Stewardship asks us to live into this reality, and trust in God’s goodness. Where do we place our treasures? Do we trust what God can do with our lives, our time, our gifts and our resources? Where does our heart belong?

No one ever knows what the future will hold. By gathered together in God’s love we respond to the world with hope, trusting in God’s future of healing and wholeness.

Peace,

Pastor Lily

All are welcome!

Worship with us on Sunday mornings at 10:45 a.m. in-person, or worship remotely via Facebook Live, AM600, or FM93.