Pete the African?

My ancestors have been in America for a long time.  The earliest ones, the Owings, came from England in the 1600’s and settled in Maryland.   In the late 1800’s the Reusses came over from Germany to New York and Virginia.  The Englehardts and the Dodds came to this new world from the same countries.  My mother was German and English.  My father is German and English.  I am German and English.  This past week, I was reminded that my family is a bit bigger than that.  I have brothers from South Sudan.  I have sisters from Ethiopia.  I have relatives in Liberia.  I am part of an amazing family.

At the end of last week I travelled to Chicago for the ELCA’s African National Summit.  Most people probably notice that I’m a bit ‘pale’ to be called African, but in my role as Mission Director of the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, I travelled to the event with ten men and women from South Sudan. 

I had an amazing experience.  Worship with people born and raised in Africa is powerful.  The room filled with the thumping beat of drums, the clapping of hands, and the dancing of feet.  I got caught up in the experience as together we praised God.  Even I ‘danced’ in worship.

The stories of the African people broke my heart.   These aren’t people who decided to come to American because it sounded like a great place to live!  They fled civil war and persecution in places like Sudan, Liberia, and Ethiopia.  They told of family members killed before their eyes…tanks and planes wiping out entire villages…machine guns going off in the middle of worship services…hunger…thirst…refugee camps…despair.  The people I met left the African refugee camps for a nation that they did not know and a language they struggled with.  They came to America with only the clothes on their backs and have worked hard to make lives for themselves.  They took the jobs they can find, often very physically demanding ones that pay very low wages (would you like to work in a slaughterhouse for $11 an hour?).  People look down on them for their accents, for the color of their skin, and for their poverty.  I can’t imagine living the life that they have endured. 

As the African National Summit unfolded, I was constantly reminded of the unity that I have with ‘these people.’  On the surface we seem so different.  I grew up on different continent.  I had an easy childhood.  I have not known the suffering that they have experienced.  I’ve never feared for my life or wondered if I would have food to eat.  I speak English with only a ‘Minnesooota’ accent.  My skin is lily white. 

Differences abound, but in Jesus Christ we are one.  The same Lord who died for me also died for ‘them.’  In Jesus there is no ‘us’ and ‘them.’  We’re just ‘us.’  The South Sudanese have welcomed me as one of their own family and work to teach me their languages.  When I hear news reports of fighting in South Sudan, I no longer breeze over it, thinking, “It’s just another war in Africa.”  No, the people being killed are friends and relatives of people I know.  Their suffering now impacts my life.   These are my brothers and sisters in faith.

Our culture tends to separate people based on things that divide us. Christians have a different approach!  We come together around the thing that unites us: Jesus Christ!  It doesn’t matter whether a person is born in Africa, Asia, Europe, or America.  In Christ, we are family.

I am German and English, but I have brothers and sisters in Africa.  What a great family!

The 'Kinky' Side of the Bible

How beautiful you are and how pleasing,
my love, with your delights!
Your stature is like that of the palm,
and your breasts like clusters of fruit.
I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
I will take hold of its fruit.”
May your breasts be like clusters of grapes on the vine,
the fragrance of your breath like apples,
and your mouth like the best wine.

This morning I woke up early to read a little before heading off to play basketball (calling ALL players to the D-E High School gym from 6:00-7:00 on Wednesday and Fridays)…and the quote above is part of what I read.  How’s THAT for interesting morning reading?!

No, I’m not into Harlequin novels (ick).  I don’t get into books of love poetry (too sappy).  It’s not a quote from a kinky website (don’t even GO there).  These words, surprisingly, come from…the Bible!  Really!  Look at Song of Solomon chapter 7!  Pretty sensual for scripture, wouldn’t you say?

We come from a culture that has MAJOR hang-ups with sexuality.  On the one hand, sex is all around us.  It sells! How many commercials abound in scantily clad women?  Every time I drive back from the Cities, the strip club in Cannon Falls has a full parking lot.  Pure Pleasure billboards scream for us to come check them out.  Internet porn is quick and easy to access.  Sex…sex…sex…everywhere you look.

On the other hand, we have a puritanical side of our culture that pushes back against such sexualizing of the world.  Churches have been at the forefront of the battle, often bringing a ‘Just Say No’ attitude towards anything sexual, viewing the whole topic as dirty or obscene. 

Yet here, smack dab in the middle of the Bible, we find the Song of Solomon (aka the Song of Songs).  This book tells of two lovers who just can’t get enough of each other.  It’s amazingly explicit…you don’t have to have much of an imagination to understand what they desire. 

This coming Sunday we will read the story of creation from Genesis 1, and we will hear God’s command to the first people, “Be fruitful and increase in number.”  In crass terms, God tells them to “Have sex and make babies.”   That IS the method God created for people increase in number!

Genesis 1 and the Song of Solomon both teach us that sex is good.  Yes, it can be perverted in very harmful way…we see the harmful effects of that every day.  But sex is not inherently dirty or obscene.  In the proper context, it is a beautiful gift of God. It is something to celebrate.

God is good!

Faith: Running with Others

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12:1-3

This past spring I got back into running with a goal in mind: I wanted to put in a good showing at the Eyota Days 5K road race.  It took a few months of training to get in shape, but by the middle of July I felt pretty good.  Ben and I ran the 5K trail several times prior to the race.  By race day, I was ready to go!

After the Eyota Days race, I grew busy…it got hot…I was out of town…(excuses…excuses…).  My running regimen disappeared for a while, so when Ben asked if I would run with him in St. Charles’ Gladiolus Days race, I wasn’t so sure.  I’d done some running, but nothing near the 3 miles that the race required.  After putting off a decision for a while, on Thursday I finally decided to bite the bullet.  My goal…to finish!

On Saturday morning I lined up with all the other crazy runners.  As the gun sounded I found a comfortable pace and plodded along, winding through the streets of St. Charles.  At about the halfway point of the race I found myself in a ‘gap.’  I had a few runners in my sights ahead of me.  I couldn’t sense anyone behind me.  I ran alone and felt myself fading.  I didn’t have the energy to catch the person ahead of me.  I soon heard the footsteps of someone coming up from behind.  I’d fallen back.  As the runner moved to pass me, something in me clicked.  I wasn’t about to let someone blow by me!  As he moved by me, I picked up the pace to keep up.  Before long I started to pull away from him, but he hurried to keep up.  For the last 1 ½ miles of the race, the two of us ran side by side.  When one person fell behind, he’d kick it in gear to catch back up again.  Together we moved up on the pack and, one by one, we passed the runners ahead of us.  On the home stretch I was able to blow by the winner of the 12 and under girl’s division (so yes, I AM faster than a 12 year old girl!  Barely!).

Had I run the second half of the race alone, I know that would have faded back into the pack.  Once I had someone to run with, I found extra energy.  I had someone to keep up with!  After the race I tracked my fellow runner down and thanked him for ‘picking me up.’  He had a funny response, “I was just trying to run your pace and keep up.”  He pushed me.  I pushed him.  Together, we finished strong.  He helped me to do what I wanted to do all along…run well!

That race is a microcosm of my life of faith.  When I feel ‘alone’ in faith, it’s easy to fade...to lose motivation.  A few years ago I tried (on my own) to read the Bible in a year.  I didn’t come close to making it!  This year we have a group of people all doing it at once.  As of today, I’m up to date!  They are helping me to do what I want to do.  God continually puts people in my life to ‘push’ me in my faith life.  They challenge me to be the person I want to be.  They remind me of the goodness of our Lord. 

I need others to help to throw off everything that hinders me and the sin that so easily entangles me.  They run with me as together we fix our eyes on Jesus.

A life of Christian faith isn’t a solo journey!  Others run with us.  Thank God!

God had a day of rest, so why don't I??

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. (Genesis 2:2-3)

In six days God:

·         created the heavens

·         created the earth

·         created plants

·         created animals

·         created people

On the seventh day God rested.

In six days I:

·         write sermons

·         plan church events

·         organize church youth activities

·         do a zillion behind the scenes church things

·         oversee new ministries in the synod on behalf of Bishop Usgaard

·         do projects at home

·         cook

·         clean

·         do some laundry

·         run my son from event to event

·         garden

·         take care of the yard

·         etc…etc…etc…

On the seventh day, I have just a few one or two more things to take care of.

I think God is on to something! 

We live in a culture that doesn’t know when to stop, and I’m as guilty as anyone else.  The list of things to do never ends.  I wake up early to have some time to catch up.  I often get to bed later than I’d like because I have ‘just one last thing to do.’  I measure the ‘quality’ of my day by how much I accomplished.

When my family goes away to our cabin for a few days, a new list appears: move some rock…push the cattails out of the way…repair the boat…  Last Friday I thought I’d try something different.  After a few 13 hour work days, my family and I headed north.  For one day, I ignored the to-do list.  I slept in…I fished…I grilled lunch...I read a book…I napped…I went jogging…I played cards. Imagine – a whole day without feeling any obligation to get stuff done…a day of rest!  It was lovely! 

I know that when I have some time to relax I’m happier, I’m more fun to be around, I’m a better parent, and I actually get more done.    Why don’t I do that more often?  Why do I keep running the rat race?  It makes no sense.

If God can rest after six days of work, why do I feel the need to keep charging ahead?  My challenge for this fall, as my schedule fills up with new activities, is to find a time of rest.  God created us to take time to unwind and enjoy God’s world.  God calls us to times of peace and reflection.  God reaches out to us in worship and prayer.

I suspect I’m not the only one struggling here!  There’s no glory in having the busiest schedule.  The list of things to do will still be there tomorrow…it doesn’t need to be done now.  Let us join God in a weekly day of rest!  God knows that we need it.

Cancer - Creation Groans!

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Romans 8:22).

Right now my life is surrounded by cancer.  My wife has lived with ovarian cancer for 7 ½ years.  My mother-in-law has endured 17 years of cancer treatments and soon will have yet another surgery.  Joe, my good friend and pastoral coach endures some nasty lung cancer treatments.  Larry, my synod-staff colleague from Southwestern Minnesota, was just diagnosed with a lymphoma.  Enough already!

Last Friday night my family went to the Freeborn County Relay for Life.  A large crowd gathered to raise money for cancer research.  Over 5000 luminaries honored those fighting cancer…and remembered those who succumbed to it.  Cancer touches so many lives.  Enough already!

Everywhere I turn I run into cancer and the horrific treatments that people endure to fight it.  The reality is that chemo and radiation are poisons.  Yes, they fight against the cancer cells, but they also overwhelm the body.  The list of side-effects from most chemo treatments is frightening.  I’m convinced that in 20 years we’ll look back at today’s methods of fighting cancer and say, “How barbaric!”  Sadly, it’s the best that we have right now.  While brilliant researchers work to find better options, people still have to continue enduring the agony of treatment.

The question often arises, “How could God allow cancer?”  The reality is that we live in a broken world.  We live in a world overrun by sin.  Sin is much more than some people doing some bad things.  All of creation groans under sin.... it permeates all things.  Everything in creation works to rebel against God.  People push away the God who created them, preferring to live lives of anxiety and pain.  The earth has the capability of unleashing horrific pain in earthquakes or floods or tornadoes.  Even the DNA of human cells mutates, causing tumors to grow…and destroy all around them! 

All of creation has been groaning as in the pangs of childbirth.  That’s a good way of describing it.  We live in a broken world where pain and suffering will always exist.  Modern technology has helped alleviate some of this…but it will never go away.  There will always be something.  Human progress will never get rid of suffering and death. 

Some people find this world a depressing place to be (and I admit, it stinks sometimes!)…but this is the world Jesus came to live in.  This is the world that God works to redeem.  In the midst of despair, God acts to bring hope and life.  That doesn’t mean that we’ll be cancer free.  It doesn’t mean that we’ll avoid tragedy in life.  It does mean that God doesn’t leave us alone.

Jesus came to earth to walk with us.  Jesus came to wipe away our tears.  Jesus came to earth to destroy death forever.  In the midst of cancer and pain, we as people of God proclaim hope.  The sin that permeates our world will never drive God away.  God acts daily to save God’s people, both in this world…and in eternity. 

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³ Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴ Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39).

Not even cancer can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.  For that, I thank God!

Growing Faith

What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. ⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸ The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. ⁹ For we are God’s co-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:5-9) 

Last week it felt like I stepped back in time.  My family headed back to the small town of Benson, Illinois to visit the congregation that I first served as pastor, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church as they celebrated 100 years of ministry on July 31^st.  For six and a half years after graduating from seminary (1997-2003) I had the privilege of living among the faithful people at St. Paul.  We had good years together!  I got to be a part of a growing, rural congregation.  New people came to hear God’s word.  The congregation tried several creative ways of reaching out to the community.  I celebrated as they celebrated and I grieved as they grieved.  It was exciting to go back and reconnect with many people I haven’t thought of in years. 

I wasn’t the only former pastor to return for the festivities.  It was fun to hear others tell stories of their time in Benson.  God worked through a number of pastors before I arrived … and several after I left.  While I had a great six and a half year ministry at St. Paul, they never tried to rename the church ‘St. Peter.’   The ministry was never about me.  My job was to point to Jesus.  Rev. Gess tilled.  Pastor Phil planted.  Pastor Earl watered.  I simply tended to God’s garden for a while before handing it over to Pastor Ann.   While God worked through me while I was there, God worked through many leaders in that congregation over 100 years.

 Pastors are definitely NOT the only ones working in God’s field!  In our everyday lives, we all point to Jesus.  Some plan the seed of faith through showing compassion.  Others water the seed of faith by being a listening ear.    Others tend to the soil by telling stories of faith.  Still others nurture the faith by serving people in need.  We work as part of God’s family.  We never do it alone.

People with a healthy ego (like me!) need to be reminded that it’s not all about us.  People don’t come to faith because of our wonderful ministry…people come to faith because God uses a wide array of people to tend to those fragile seeds of faith.  We may plant…or water…or till…but God gives the growth.  God gets the glory.

People with less ‘confidence’ in their faithful witness need to be reminded that it’s not all about you!  God doesn’t call you to make someone believe in Jesus.  God simply calls you to small tasks which can help others grow in faith.  You may plant…or water…or till…but God gives the growth.

God has used many people to tend to my life of faith.  How can God use us to do the same for others?

God, the cancer is back!

Dear God,

My wife Shannon’s ovarian cancer is back.  It never really went away, did it?  Last November the oncologist couldn’t see any cancer, so Shannon was taken off of chemo.  She’s had a great eight months of gaining strength, getting to travel and enjoying life.  We knew that it wouldn’t last.  Deep down, we’ve been expecting this cancer to return.

This cancer has put my family on a roller coaster over the years.  God, I thank you that you helped Shannon to notice those lumps back in 2004.  You gave her an excellent surgeon who cleaned out the cancer and prepared her for chemo.  That first chemo was nasty stuff, but we had great hopes that you would use it to make the cancer go away forever.  It didn’t.  Six months after that chemo regimen ended the cancer returned.   Another surgery and more nasty chemo followed.  Again we hoped that the cancer would go away.  It didn’t. 

Lord, I can never forget the conversation with her oncologist after the cancer returned that second time.  She explained that Shannon had a type of cancer that was resistant to the standard therapies.  The oncologist told us that Shannon didn’t have many options remaining.  There were just a few experimental therapies available for her type of cancer.  None of them had a track record of getting rid of cancer.  They sometimes slowed its growth. That was the best that could be offered at the time.  It didn’t sound good.

I admit that when that happened I was pretty scared.  My mother died when I was in second grade.  It seemed likely that my family history would repeat itself.  In the midst of that dark time, you taught me something very important.  I learned to live in the moment.  Every time that I looked into the future I only saw darkness.  I didn’t want to lose my wife!  I learned that I can’t live life like that.  I learned to pay attention to the present, to enjoy the time that I had with Shannon.  The darkness lifted and we learned to live with cancer.

Lord, you’ve worked miracles with her chemotherapy.  One treatment that normally only worked for people for a few months before becoming ineffective kept the cancer at bay for over a year.  Another treatment that was only expected to keep the cancer from growing actually diminished the tumor to the point where they couldn’t see it anymore.  The number of options for treating the cancer continues to grow.  You are giving great wisdom to people who work to find an effective cure to this awful disease.  Thank you!

Now that the cancer is back, I will need help in prioritizing things in life.   The chemo will sap Shannon’s energy, and I will need to set aside those frivolous things which take so much of my time and energy.  You’ve helped me to it before…help me again!  Cancer has a way of cutting through the clutter and helping me see what’s essential in life.

You have given Shannon strength to deal with over seven years of cancer.  Shannon’s mom has endured something like seventeen years of fighting ovarian cancer…and she’s back in treatments again.  The two of them share the same oncologist…the same cancer…and now the same chemo schedule.  Mother and daughter will sit side by side on Mayo Clinic’s Gonda 10.  Help them to strengthen each other as they live with ovarian cancer.

God, you have walked with my family through this whole cancer journey.  Give Shannon and her mom the strength to live with the chemo.  Give their oncologist wisdom to find the most effective treatments.  Give the researchers wisdom as they explore ways to battle cancer.  Give me energy to handle my added responsibilities around the home.

We put ourselves in your hands, Lord.  What else can we do?  Thank you for being with us through this whole ordeal.

 

Pete