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Sacred Efforts Needed

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  “—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”   These are the final words of President Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address; the full address is at the end of this posting. While longer than the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address in not long; it can be read in less than five minutes. Yet, an overwhelming number of Americans have never heard of it, even though it is engraved on the wall of his memorial in Washington, D.C.   In a lecture series I attended while in my first year of school at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, this speech by Lincoln was called, “An almost sacred text.” And I think Lincoln’s words live up to this title because what he told the nation was something that no president, before or after, has ever articulated with such clarity.   It may seem strange that I would share this reflection as we approach the Fourth of July. It may be more fitting to read the Dec
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Anti-grace

  Robert Lee Bennight I believe that self-rejection is the major symptom of all the depressive disorders people suffer from today. I think of depression as "anti-grace." Whereas grace is a gift of God's love that we cannot earn but in which we learn to live through our community of faith, anti-grace is also something that we are often born into by biology or initiated into by trauma that we do not deserve and in which we slowly die through isolation. The good news is that in Christ to whom we have been baptized, grace is the future reality. Anti-grace has no future beyond this malfunctioning biological shell. And even before we reach the future, each day is an opportunity to live into grace. And when we fail, and anti-grace seems to win, there is always the resurrection dawn that sets us on the path anew.
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Writing as Therapy

This is a creative writing Zoom assignment from a chronic illness support group: It was the night before I resigned as a police officer with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. I had asked my soon to be wife, Kathy, to come with me to the grounds of the local Episcopal church near the campus of my Alma Mater, the University of Arizona. In front of this Episcopal church was a prayer labyrinth. I had walked it many times before, but that night had more purpose than purely devotional.  I took my badge with me, the badge that I had to turn in the next day. I still remember how that badge looked and felt. It was polished brass and the engravings had grown smooth with all the polishing I had done during the past seven years. My number, 4570, was prominently displayed in blue, along with the words, “Arizona Highway Patrol Officer.” I had worked so hard to earn that badge.  But as I had closed in on seven years of police work, I knew that a new calling in me was being nurtured. I had prev
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"Go from your country..."

A challenge I find on Sundays is that I have already written my sermon and explored the texts, so my mind goes to what I am about to preach. So, as I try to compartmentalize about what I will be preaching on this Second Sunday of Lent, I am drawn to the Genesis reading and God's command to Abraham to, "Go from your country..." And this is a completely personal and selfish reflection. Pastoral ministry, at least in the years of my formation, almost always required one to "Go from your country..." My ministry travels have taken me to Berkeley, CA, Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, Concord, CA, Pacifica, CA, Clinton, WI, Dubuque, IA, Loves Park, IL, Rockford, IL, Durand, IL, and now to Phillips and Smith Counties in Kansas. All these places from someone who is a third-generation Arizonan, who initially served the state of Arizona for seven years, and who could not imagine anything that would entice him to leave. In fact, when I am honest with myself, the prospect of leavi
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Flooded with Law; Deaf to Grace

Something that I have noticed in teaching confirmation classes over the years is that the church has been very good at preaching law but not so much on grace. The questions I often get start out as, "Is it okay for Christians to...?" And while the law is important, the focus on the law as simply prohibitive instead of freeing is a real problem.  It is steeped in our culture. After all, we fight about the Ten Commandments being displayed in courthouses, but we never have the same discussions about the Beatitudes, which are a definitively Christian contribution that reveals for what and for whom we are freed.  So, I gently try to steer the questions from "Is it okay for Christians to...?" to "For what or for whom are Christians freed?" "How are we freed to be a living law of love and grace?" 
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An Emerging Divide

  I do not have these thoughts fully formed. But during my last few sermons taken from our lectionary texts around the Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount, I have been wondering if the "dividing lines" in Christianity are ceasing to be Orthodox or Catholic, Catholic or Protestant, Mainline or American Evangelical, or Fundamentalist or Progressive. Instead, I wonder if what is evolving is a schism between those who experience grace as God gifting us faith to make a correct choice or choices and those who experience grace as God gifting us a journey of faith with Christ in which all choices are redeemed. And while some denominations or groups are more predisposed to one side or the other, I am starting to believe that such a distinction will continue to cut across ecclesial structures because, at its heart, such a distinction defines our future understanding of soteriology, sanctification, sacraments, and ecclesiology. And while both sides will turn to scripture to promote i
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At Time for New Beginnings

I love to write and I write a great deal for my calling as a Lutheran pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. But I have not done a great deal of writing that feeds my soul. That is the goal of this blog. Even if no one ever reads it, I need a place to write, ponder, wonder, and simply be me. In the past, I have always been driven by writing for a certain purpose. Creativity and expression are my only purposes here. The name for this blog is based upon my understanding of the heart of Lutheran theology, which is always based upon grace first and foremost. This is a grace I need daily as I will express going forward with this blog. But for now, Grace Happens Always is simply my basic understanding of faith in which God has room and love enough for us all. 
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