Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,
Prayer List – Please add these to your Sunday prayers.
Lectionary – A summary of the upcoming lessons.
Funny Contemporary Worship Video.
Drucker on the second half of life.
Grand Isle, LA closing public beach.
Drucker
The number of non-profits and charitable organizations in this country has exploded in the past several years, but many of them get poor results, Drucker said, because "they don’t ask about results, and they don’t know what results they want in the first place. They mean well and they have the best of intentions, but the only thing good intentions are for (as the maxim says) is to pave the road to hell." To achieve the best results, Drucker said people must ask the right questions and then partner with others who have the expertise, knowledge, and discipline to get the right results.
Fall Leadership Gathering
Friday for rostered leaders. Saturday for rostered and lay leaders. Be the church together.
- August 13-14 at St. Paul’s in Brenham
- August 27-28 at Christ the King in Kenner
- September 10-11 at Zion in Houston
Thinking About June, and the Summer
This year the 4th of July falls on a Sunday. I don’t know why, but this interesting fact has shaped the way I think about this summer’s sermons unfolding. As we head into Memorial Day Weekend, I think of Memorial Day and the 4th as bookended national holidays. They are obviously not Christian holidays, but we would be foolish to not recognize patriotism will be in the air. Although next Sunday is actually Holy Trinity in the Christian calendar, I’d like to ramble on about Christianity and nationalism for a bit. If you’re interested in some thoughts on the Trinity, see my comments last year on The Shack, still the most provocative book I’ve read on the Trinity in years.
First, an overview of the Epistles this summer:
June in Galatians: Summer takes us through Galatians in June: The law was our custodian (an adolescent babysitter) until faith came (June 6, 13, 20, 27 and July 4). On June 27 we have "For freedom Christ has set you free; do not submit to a yoke of bondage…"
July in Colossians: Then we get a taste of Colossians (July 11, 18, 25 and August 1): The Coming of the Cosmic Christ.
August in Hebrews: Then the rest of August we get the "Great Cloud of Witnesses" texts from Hebrews 11-13 (August 8, 15, 22, 29).
And the Gospels:
June in Luke 7-9: Raising of the Widow of Nain’s son, sinful woman with alabaster jar forgiven, healing of the Geresene demoniac, Jesus rejected by Samaritan village (cost of discipleship).
July in Luke 10-11: Sending of the 70, Good Samaritan, Mary and Martha, Jesus’ teaching on prayer (and the Lord’s Prayer).
August in Luke 12-14: Including September 5 (Labor Day Weekend): Parable of the Rich Fool, where your treasure is there will your heart be also, I have not come to bring peace but sword, healing of a crippled woman on the Sabbath, Jesus heals again on the Sabbath and lectures on the Law, renounce family and possessions.
Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and now the whole month in Galatians, whose theme is the freedom of the Gospel. Add to this Juneteenth, and you have an interesting convergence of issues.
Perhaps a hymn for this time is ELW 887, This is My Song. The Worship Team introduced this hymn to me last week. The tune is Sibelius’ familiar Finlandia. The words, however, set the tone for Christians and national celebrations. Stanza 2:
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean
And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine
So hear my son, O God of all the nations
A song of peace for their land and for mine
Perhaps this would make a good hymn to sing several Sundays in light of the themes. I am reminded that Christ transcends culture, and nation. I am reminded of the perils of nationalism, so clearly seen in the insanity of 20th century European nationalism, swastikas draped on Lutheran altars. Jean-Jacques Rousseau coined the word "civil religion" as a good thing, holding countries together. But Robert Bellah saw a dark side to "American Civil Religion," which risked turning the American Dream into a religion, along with militarism, capitalism, interventionism, materialism, and on. We are a Romans 13 people. We believe the Christian is duty-bound to support the governing authorities, but we also are citizens of another land, a land without national borders.
So a balance must be struck, affirming loyalty to country and patriotism, but not allowing love of country to supersede love of God. Our first allegiance is to God. The first Christians tried to obey the laws of the land, but would not worship the Emperor, often forfeiting their lives because of this. We honor those who serve our country, but do not allow our flag to become an object of worship, or nationalism to become our new religion.
Memorial Day began as Decoration Day, a day to remember the obscene number of fallen soldiers of the Civil War. Later it was expanded. One can draw upon images of giving ones life for others as a noble, and certainly Christlike virtue. In past years, we’ve invited vets to wear their uniform, or at least the hat if the uniform doesn’t fit anymore. It always generates deep conversation and reflection on life and sacrifice.
June 6 falls two days after the day of the Tienanmen Square Massacre. I can see the man standing in defiance before the tank. Then we launch into Paul’s protracted argument in Galatians that Jew and Greek are on a level playing field. They are equal in God’s eyes: sinners and saints. There is no distinction.
June 13 is the Sunday before Juneteenth, the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas. I’ll write about that more on June 6th, but here’s the deal: equality is a big issue in the gospel and in society.
June 20, also Father’s Day, we have Paul in Galatians reminding us that because of what Christ has done, for us there can no longer be Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female. These distinctions of race, class (economy) and gender are irrelevant, because the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals God’s egalitarian vision for human community.
June 27 Paul reminds us that for freedom we were set free, and so we should never again submit to a yoke of slavery. He’s speaking of bondage to the law, and human religion, but in the ears of our people these words will ring with complex overtones, as the Scriptures so often do.
July 4 we finish up Galatians with the reminder that bearing one another’s burdens is the sum of the law. And Jesus sends the 70 to speak peace to the countryside, because the country of God is breaking into our world. There are some alternate texts for this day, but I can’t put my hands on them at the moment. I’ll hunt.
The other thing that’s in the air, of course, is the ongoing frustration with immigration, an issue that is also about countries, borders, freedom, law. People are frustrated on all sides for varying reasons: the breaking of laws, our inability to enforce them, the treatment of immigrants, the treatment of Latinos in general, separation of families and so on. Right and left both know the system’s broken. As sides polarize, it sure would be nice for the church, the community of reconciliation, to be a meeting ground. We need to be the place where people can talk about things openly, a place where civility in public discourse is still en vogue.
Perhaps a way forward is simply to celebrate who we already are: a nation of people from everywhere. June could be a time to collect people’s immigration stories. My great, great, great, great grandfather, George David Rinehart, arrived in Philadelphia on the Duke of Bedford as an indentured servant on September 14, 1751. They farmed, had lots of kids, and built a Lutheran Church. What if we invited all our people to tell their immigration stories? It might be a soulful conversation, with lots of discoveries.
For this Sunday, coming back to the Trinity, equality seems to be popping up all over in the weeks ahead. The equality of the three persons of the Trinity is the ultimate model for human community. And for the Church. All the parts of the body are important, though they have different functions. We are to be one, as the Father, Son and Spirit are One.
This is my prayer, O God of all the kingdoms:
Your kingdom come, on earth your will be done…
Michael Rinehart, bishop
Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod
12941 I-45 North Freeway, Suite #210
Houston, Texas 77060-1243
(281) 873-5665
Synod Webpage: GulfCoastSynod.org
Bishop’s Webpage: BishopMike.com
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