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

Is Atheism a religion?

I've kept pondering this piece by David Lose, on Atheism as a religion.  Recognizing the truthfulness of what he has written could change many contemporary conversations.

Reflection Lakes in the Rain

Reflection Lakes in the Rain
Originally uploaded by BearTrackArt

Before it all starts, and the busyness of the program year overtakes me, I paused for some reflection.

The Lutherans Die Out

This is worth reading, and taking seriously:

http://robinwoodchurch.wordpress.com/2010/09/01/the-lutherans-sterben-aus-die-out/

One Lutheran Looks at Baptism

Titus 3:5-7

⁵ 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, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. ⁸ This is a trustworthy saying.  ^{TNIV ©}

Nothing puzzles our neighbors in faith more than the way Lutherans look at baptism.  We don’t understand it the way the Roman Catholic Church does, though like them, we baptize anyone, including infants.  We don’t understand it the way the Presbyterian-Reformed tradition does, though they are our closest kin in the way we understand God’s relationship to us.  We surely don’t understand it the way those who baptize only adults understand it. 

There is plenty of diversity among Lutherans, so I will only dare to say this is the way one Lutheran understands baptism.  My understanding is grounded in two places, the Bible and in Luther’s Catechisms as they interpret scripture.    

What is baptism?  It is water with the word.  God talks to us and touches us.  It’s not that God gives us information, but that God speaks personally to us.  When a parent says to a child at bedtime, “I love you,” that is not new information.  The child already knows that as a fact.  But in the words “I love you” the relationship is refreshed and strengthened.  The child is reassured, comforted, warmed.  Those words are a very part of the relationship.  A hug or a kiss on the forehead with the words can make them even a bit more powerful. 

God understands that we need to be addressed in ways that get through to us.  God knows we communicate with all our senses, and so God communicates with us in a way we can feel and see as well as hear.  We see water, feel it as well as hear it.  The water doesn’t go on someone else’s head, or everyone’s head, but our own personal noggin.  There’s no mistaking it.  This is for me!   

When God speaks to us personally, and it dawns on us that we are hearing God say “I love you,” faith happens.  Baptism is for the sake of faith. 

How are we saved?  How is our right relationship with God established?  As we read in the letter to the Ephesians, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” It is not that we are saved by faith plus baptism.  It is not that baptism is a work that must be done. 

Can you imagine that God would say to us, “I forgive you all your sins, all the things you have done to and failed to do for your neighbor, but you have to get this ceremony done right in order to be saved?”  I can’t. 

We are baptized so that we can believe we are forgiven.  It’s for the sake of our faith.  It’s God coming close to us and speaking as clearly and personally as possible:  You are mine.  You are my child, and I love you.  You are clean and pure in my sight, for Jesus sake.  Here’s a sign of my love, that you can hang on to. 

I baptized my daughters as tiny infants so that we could raise them in the promise that, long before they could respond or choose, God had claimed them as children of God.  It was for the sake of their faith that I baptized them, so that they could grow up believing they are God’s much-loved children. 

What about children who are not baptized?  The news that God loves them, that Jesus gave his life for them, is the word that makes for faith.  That word comes with water; when necessary it also comes without.  That word comes with bread and wine, too.  In every case, it comes so that we may believe it, trust it, live in it.  Baptism is a powerful and personal way God delivers that word, and I believe we ought to share the word that way because God told us to!  But when it can’t happen due to parents who will not assent to it, there is no reason to despair.  Share the word ‘dry’ or ‘wet’ as you are able. 

Scripture contains no instructions for baptism.  If such were needed, they would have been supplied.  Baptisms happened in thousands (at Pentecost), households (Lydia’s and Stephanas’, for instance) and individuals; in roadside water (the Ethiopian eunuch), a house (Paul) and at the river (Lydia and her household.) 

But how much water is needed, if baptism is God’s word being applied to you with water, so that you may believe?  The amount of water does not finally matter.  Even a few drops of water would do in an emergency.  The mode of applying the water does not finally matter.  Only God’s word matters. 

Of course, if God instructs us to use water with the word, we need not be stingy.  We can and should get things a little wet. 

Luther wrote: 

How can water do such great things? Answer:

Clearly the water does not do it, but the Word of God, which is with and alongside the water, and faith, which trusts this Word of God in the water. For without the Word of God the water is plain water and not a baptism, but with the Word of God it is a baptism, that is, a grace-filled water of life and a “bath of the new birth in the Holy Spirit,” as St. Paul says to Titus in chapter 3, “through the bath of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he richly poured out over us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that through that very grace we may be heirs in hope of eternal life. This is most certainly true.” ^[1]

---

^[1]Kolb, R. 2000. The Book of Concord : The confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Fortress Press: Minneapolis

The Little Ice Age of the Church

Sometimes the climate changes. During the Middle Ages, Europe enjoyed warm temperatures and abundant harvests. Then came the Little Ice Age and it all changed. Crops no longer grew as far north as they had, and crop failures became common. Codfish didn't congregate in the same waters. Those people who adapted to the changed climate thrived. Those who did not adapt suffered.

Cultural climates change too. Lutheranism has always known a pleasant climate. Some of the authorities may have wanted Luther dead, but the ones that mattered protected him. Then through the centuries the prevailing culture has supported the Lutheran churches. In America, we were an immigrant church, but our immigrant communities supported the church. We built the church with the props of heritage and family firmly in place.

Now, we are entering the Little Ice Age of the church. America is turning more and more against Christian faith. The reasons are numerous, but the circumstance is clear. Ethnic heritage no longer means much, and most of us are personal melting pots anyway. Few people make religious commitments based on family today. Peers, friends and acquaintances are more influential.

As we enter the Little Ice Age of the church, those who adapt may thrive, even under a kind of low-grade persecution. Those who fail to adapt will suffer and disappear. The gospel of Jesus is as relevant as ever. I believe Lutheran teachings have a lot to say in the twenty-first century. But when it comes to the way we do things, we must adapt.

If I knew the ways we must adapt, I'd write a book. Some things are clear to me, while many are still in the fog. Prayerfully, and not in a panic, we must adapt if we are to flourish in the changed climate. Ponder with me what needs to change, and what cannot change if we are to be faithful in the twenty-first century.

One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts. Psalm 145:4 ^©TNIV

Sometimes we’re slow to learn. For decades, we Americans have tried to make our youth happy with church. We’ve entertained them to get them to come to church activities. When they’ve become unhappy we’ve let them disengage from church. The last thing we want is to have them resentfully say “My parents dragged me to church.” So we let them sleep in on Sunday mornings.

Now we’re learning, after decades of trying this approach, that it’s not working. High school is the time when young people are figuring out what they think. They’re developing their view of the world. There are no guarantees, but if they develop their view of the world without even a conversation about God, they probably won’t see God in the world. They’ll become, as the great cop-out of our day goes, “spiritual but not religious.” If they develop their view of the world in conversation with a community of faith, they just might grow up to be believers.

My own family reminds me that there are no guarantees: My great-grandparents raised twelve children and got eleven active Lutheran Christians. My grandfather was the exception. But then, he raised my dad not to be a believer and he became one anyway. There is nothing we can do to assure whether or not someone is a believer. But when we look at the overall pattern, it’s clear. We’re far more likely to share our faith with the next generation if we focus on doing just that.

I’ve been reading about a study of churches where the young people stay connected or come back in far greater numbers than typical congregations. What stands out first is that, in these congregations, people have lively conversations about God. The young people can find many folks who encourage them, who take an interest in their developing faith, and who talk with them.

Youth ministry is the job of the whole congregation. Do you know one of our youth? Take an interest in their life and faith. You may make a bigger difference than you can ever imagine.

Click to see my photos at Flickr.

"The mission of the Church is to love Jesus Christ. Everything else is just strategy." Dr. Mark Allan Powell

This concludes my notes from Dr. Inskeep's presentation.

Sunday morning has a lot of competition now. How do we deal with what's out there? One church Dr. Inskeep described put up a tent on a soccer field, offering services before and after games.

People's first question is "Is this about me?" Lutherans tend to want to say "Oh, but it's not about you." But if it isn't about them, at least in the beginning, they're not interested.

How important is it to us to make disciples? Do we want people around who don't know the rules, who don't understand everything about the church?

We do not compromise our basic understanding of who God is and what God is up to. Everything around it is open for debate.

Lutherans have really important things to say about who God is. But we are unprepared for these changing times.

There was a huge growth, from 1990 to 2008, in people who say they have no religious affiliation. Another group that has grown is 'generic' Christians. Many of these people are young people thinking for themselves, and who find Lutheran woship to be irrelevant.

Church attendance has fallen significantly overall.

Why don't Lutherans talk? Our congregations are communal--designed primarily for the people who are here. We know how worship happens, how we serve ommunion, who sits where... And we are comfortable with that.

We want to leave behind the nervousness of everyday life. So we want things to be predictable and safe.

The more purposeful we are about engaging the community the less sure we will be about what is going to happen on Sunday morning.

I'm in my first hearing, with Kenneth Inskeep from the ELCA's department for Research and Evaluation.
There is a big debate going on whether the United States is becoming more secular, like northern Europe, or whether something unique is happening here.