He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior… Titus 3:5-6

 Dear People of Zion Lutheran Congregation,

In the early centuries of Christianity, this season of the year was a time of teaching in preparation for baptism.  We've spoken about baptism at our first Lenten Wednesdays.  At those evenings, I've been learning that many of us don't have a very practical understanding of baptism. 

Why do Lutherans baptize at any age, from infant to elderly?  We understand baptism to be a word from God to us.  It’s not holy water.  Luther writes, “It is not water that does these things, but God’s Word with the water and our trust in this Word.”  We get the benefit from baptism when we remember the word.  Now, are we hearing that word in our daily lives?  It's a promise.  Are we hearing that promise spoken to us from day to day? 

If you feel regret, what does baptism have to offer you?  A regret is a sense that we have done something wrong, or failed to do something right.  Maybe we don't identify that as a sin.  Most often, we should.  When we've failed to live out our calling in the world, failed to be what God has put us here to be, that's a sin.  That someone would label it naughty is not what makes it sin.  It's whether we've done what God wanted us to do. 

Baptism is a promise that we are cleansed from our sins.  That regret, that change of mind that says I would do things differently now, makes us ready to confess to God.  As as we confess, God forgives.  Then we can begin to let go of our regrets, knowing that we have been forgiven. 

Baptism is a promise that we have been claimed children of God.  Regrets can make us fearful.  Have I done something that will mess up an important relationship in my life?  Whether friend, co-worker, family member, how we're getting along with someone has a huge impact on our daily life.  The word in baptism promises us that, whatever happens with other people, God still claims us as beloved children, and always will. 

Baptism is a call to change our minds, regularly and often.  Sinners need to do that.  Luther wrote: “What does Baptism mean for daily living? It means that our sinful self, with all its evil deeds and desires, should be drowned through daily repentance; and that day after day a new self should arise to live with God in righteousness and purity forever.” God is working to bring a new you to life, every day.  Some emphasize one moment of conversion.  We believe conversion ought to happen every day.  That regret, and the change of mind that goes with it, together with God's abundant forgiving love, are meant to shape you.  They shape you, bit by bit, into the person God needs you to be in the world.  In this life, God's work in you will never be done. You'll still be a sinner when you take your last breath.  But that doesn't mean God hasn't made some significant changes in you. 

I am baptized. I am cleansed.  I am claimed.  I am called.  Can you say that?  Then baptism has begun to become the practical part of your Christian life that I believe it is meant to be. 

Your Pastor in Christ,

Ladd Bjorneby

Lutheran World Relief in the Philippines

Like a Business: Living in Paradox

“Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;

    the God of Jacob is our fortress.                                                           Psalm 46:10-11 NIV©

The Board is reading a book a pastor suggested to me while I was on sabbatical. Jim_Collins writes mainly for business, but he has other organizations like churches in mind too.  As mechanics like to figure out how motors work, Collins likes to figure out how human organizations work. But wait, the church isn't a human organization, is it?  After 56 years of life in congregations, exactly half of that time as a pastor, I can assure anyone that the church is a human organization.  To be sure, God is at work in it.  But God is at work in our whole world, businesses, non-profits, trade unions, even the government!  We have much to learn from those who figure out the mechanics of human institutions. 

Let’s pop the hood with Collins. He writes about what he calls the "Stockdale Paradox."  It's named for Admiral Stockdale, who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam. When Collins interviewed him, he asked him who survived the experience of being a prisoner of war, and who didn't.  Stockdale told him the ones who didn't survive were the optimists. They said "surely we'll be out by Christmas" and when they weren't, they were heartsick.  Stockdale's answer was to be brutally honest about the challenges they were facing, but never to stop believing they would prevail in the end.  Those things sound contradictory.  But sometimes the truth is best told by holding together two things that sound contradictory.  (That the truth is often best understood by holding two apparently contradictory things together is at the heart of Lutheran theology!) 

For decades, since the boom times after World War II, the traditional denominations in the US have been optimists, waiting for those boom times to come back, filling our Sunday Schools to overflowing again.  That optimism has almost killed us off.  How about if we try the Stockdale Paradox instead? 

Here's the brutal reality:  Society has changed, and keeps changing.  American society no longer values religious community—that's just an option for those who are "into" church.  There is no holy time in the week, no common time of rest, much less a common time for worship.  Families are under increasing pressure.  Organized sports have gone from an important way to teach teamwork and encourage fitness (both of which we need) to the main way Americans raise our children. America's faith is in sports’ ability to form the character of the next generation.  The old-line denominations have made some fundamental errors in trying to pass on the faith, errors we recognize now but that aren’t easy to correct.  That’s reality. 

Zion is like most congregations in that it's been shrinking and aging for decades.  Now, even the very conservative groups that boomed while we were already going bust find fewer people in worship, overall, and some are shrinking fast.  As we try to carry into the future what we treasure, the good news of Jesus Christ and the fellowship of a church family, we are going against the stream. 

Knowing this, how are we supposed to maintain our faith that we will prevail in the end?  "Were they to take our house, goods, honor, child or spouse, though life be wrenched away, they cannot win the day; the kingdom's ours forever."  We Lutherans love to sing those words of Martin Luther.  Do we believe them?    Yes, our God is a mighty fortress. 

We're trying some new things this fall, not dreaming that these will magically bring back the boom times of Zion's past, but trying these things in the hope that these will help us move forward into the future God has awaiting us. This is a great congregation, with some wonderful young families, a lot of faithful seniors and a strong sense that God is at work.  

Let's live in the Stockdale Paradox.  Lutherans ought to be right at home there.  These are tough, challenging times to be a congregation.  On the other hand, we serve God, for whom nothing is ever too tough. 

Hedal and Begnadal

Hedal and Begnadal, a set on Flickr.

The woods, fields, farms and church where my ancestors carried on their lives for centuries are depicted here.

Patriotism

It's nearing the Fourth of July.  Are we losing our sense of patriotism?  I hear the concern often from regular folks. Meanwhile, I hear the concern of quite a few pastors that we are too patriotic.  Pondering that, I find myself thinking there’s a really good, healthy patriotism and then there’s an unhelpful, even dangerous patriotism.  We need more of the former, but not more of the latter. 

A good healthy patriotism understands that it’s not all about me; it’s about us.  God calls us to care about our neighbors. We have a special responsibility because in our nation, our government is, at bedrock, “We the people.”  When we are loyal to those neighbors and seek to defend them and build them up, when we participate in our communities and seek the common good, that’s the best kind of patriotism. Can we have too much of that?  

Lutheran pastors in particular tend to be nervous about patriotism because of what happened under the Nazis.  Yes, people compromised all kinds of Christian principles under the guise of being patriotic.  The government favored certain ethnic groups and despised and killed others, and relatively few Christians objected.  Country came before God.  It was one of the most unspeakably cruel periods of human history.  That period is an important warning, but it we shouldn’t overreact to it in such a way that we lose what is good about patriotism. 

I love my country.  I fly my flag.  I would rather live here than anywhere else on earth, and for reasons that are too numerous to count. 

I do not believe God loves America more than other nations, or that we deserve what other nations don’t.  “God shed his grace on thee,” we sing. It’s grace, not deserving. When I’m at a gathering and O Canada is sung, I join in.  I do the same with Yes, We Love This Land, the national anthem of the land most of my ancestors came from, or You Old, You Free, You Mountain-high North, the anthem where the rest of them came from.  They’re not my countries, but they’re part of this God-beloved world too. 

Fly your flag, bless God for the grace shed on our country, and pray that God will guide us as we continue to seek to be a place “with liberty and justice for all.”  

A Recorded Sermon

Listen to a sermon here.
Click the link above to listen to Pr. Ladd Bjorneby preach on Mark 1:4-11, the Baptism of Our Lord, on January 8, 2012. Or you may listen to the same sermon on iTunes.

Pastor's Annual Report for 2011

Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me.”  Luke 18:16a ^{TNIV ©}

Zion has always been a congregation that welcomed kids.  But like most other traditional Protestant congregations, each year it seemed like we had fewer of them.  Now, we are blessed with encouraging numbers of small children; nine kids in the nursery at the first service, fifteen kids in the nursery at the second service last Sunday, and that’s not an unusual report.  We are being given a great opportunity to serve families and children again!  If you don’t speak with people from other congregations, as I do, you don’t know how rare this is in a day of shrinking and aging churches.  Are you grateful for what God is up to among us? 

This year I want to highlight this ministry.  We are baptizing surprising numbers of people, both adults and children.  Sunday after Sunday, the water flows with God’s promises, and we all grow.  Will all these folks find a home here?  We are richly blessed by our staff who work with children, with Lacey who makes the nursery a safe and loving place, with Meredith who makes whole families feel welcome and cared about, with Sunday School leaders who make that a positive experience for all.  These people make for a ministry with children that we can be deeply grateful for.  They are God’s gift, not only to the children and their families, but to the whole congregation. 

The Zoo Crew Preschool is a ministry that doesn’t show itself on Sunday mornings, but that is our major ministry to the community where we’re planted.  Pam and Sandi faithfully help children reach their potential and prepare for Kindergarten.  You may not know that Zoo Crew is also our most visible connection to West Valley High School as classes interact with Zoo Crew kids.  Sometimes if you’re here on the right day, you might find the whole class of four-year-olds going to high school! 

Are you grateful for what God is up to among us?  We really ought to be dancing in the aisles!  God has given us opportunity to pass on to the next generation the promise of his love. 

Your Pastor in Christ,

Ladd Bjorneby