Trinity Lutheran Church

Sunday, July 19^th-Closing Worship and Ride Home.

I apologize that you didn’t wake up to a blog this morning.  I learned three things trying to do one on the bus:

1. Typing on a moving bus is super hard.
2. There was not reliable WiFi so even if I could have typed it, it wouldn’t have sent.
3. Typing on a moving bus is crazy, crazy hard!

So we started our Sunday by sleeping in an extra ten minutes (yeah!) and meeting down in the lobby.  I got us checked out of the hotel and saw one of our hotel Community Life members checking out.  They had a couple of signs and I asked if I could take them and she said, “Sure!”  So that will be a cool display item.

Our bus was about ten minutes late or so due to an accident on the freeway but we got loaded up and we were the last of the big groups to be picked up, so we were sitting in the back of the bus again like we chose to do on the trip down (this will be important later).  We picked up the last group and then the driver dropped us off just a few blocks from Ford Field and near Comerica Park, home of the Tigers.

We got to our spot about twenty minutes after the doors had opened and found our normal rows taken!  The gall!  We just sat a few rows up and not too long after the kids from Cumberland joined us for the third straight day (which made a girl in our group very happy).  My sister and niece visited to say goodbye before and then during the service (my sister to me, my niece for someone else!).

Worship started and we heard great music from the House Band, had a wonderful sermon by the ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, thanked the retiring director of the Youth Gathering and installed a new one, and took communion with 30,000 of our closest friends.  I can’t tell you how cool it is to watch and see that happen.  It is just so neat and amazing.

Near the end of the service, we did one last big wave around Ford Field and at the end of the wave, they revealed the location of the 2018 National Youth Gathering: Houston, TX!

We walked back and got to the bus and got settled in.  We stopped at a McDonald’s about an hour and a half to eat and I spent the time typing in all of the kids thoughts about the trip that they put in their trip journals.  We got back on the bus and as we kept going we noticed a small issue.  The bathroom stank.  Really stank.  We had tried to discourage people of using it but a couple of kids from another church made multiple trips.  It got so bad that we put some dryer sheets on our vents to help with the smell!  We were able to get some Frebreeze eventually and that helped, but it was never great!

The bus ride was long and the kids spent time sleeping, looking out the window, reading, talking, and playing on their phones.  We watched four movies, “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” “Finding Nemo,” “Elf,” and “Ratatouille.”  We made a stop in Madison and changed drivers and got some Culver’s, which made our ice cream crazy people happy.  Eventually, after about 15 hours, we pulled into the BP in Boyceville just after 2:00 am.  We unloaded, left the bus, and the Youth Gathering was officially over.

It was a really good Gathering and we appreciated all your prayers and support.  I give major thanks to Wendy Bird for chaperoning and all the great work she did.  The kids will be presenting their experiences on Sunday, September 13^th, so join us for worship that day!

Rise Up!

Saturday, July 18^th-Proclaim Justice Day.

Today was our last full at the Gathering and we all felt, every last one of us, like this picture right here:

We were tired.  Long nights, short sleep, busy days.  Our bodies felt it (especially this old body).  But we got up to start our Proclaim Justice Day with our bright orange shirts.  It didn’t help that the hotel breakfast moved from 6 am to 7 am, so we couldn’t access breakfast before our 7 am pick-up, but we tried to make due with some of our room snacks.  We got to Detroit and went to the Riverwalk for our morning devotion.

We got inside as quickly as we could because we all knew that it was going to be super hot and humid.  We had our water bottles, our sunscreen, and our work gloves for being outside at our service project.  But first, we went into the Proclaim Community space to do the Walk for Water which we couldn’t do yesterday.  This walk simulates, at a tenth of the distance, what a woman in Africa walks, on average, every day to get water for her family.

We carried 5 gallons of water (40 pounds of weight) and each container had a color on it which corresponded to who we were.  I was a nine-year old boy.  Along the way you stopped to read facts, see if you have a disease, encounter obstacles like uneven ground, an injury, or more.  I got worms while others got malaria and still others, diarrhea, which kills more people in Africa than AIDS.

The Walk for Water is a physical and tangible experience that puts a real world problem into perspective.  After we got done with our walk, those who hadn’t donated contributed to the campaign.  A couple is going to match every dollar donated up to $500,000, or $1 million total.  There is even a Synod competition.  The Gathering had raised over $300,000 as of tonight!

We headed out to Hart Plaza to gather for our launch for our Proclaim Justice servant project.  We were Launch B, Bus 64.  Due to the complexity of the launches, there is a wait.  We found a shady spot after a bit and chilled out and there was even some dancing to the DJ who was playing music and dismissing buses.  Finally, we got to meet our Servant Companion, Ashley, and get ready to head out.  As we waited, we had something unfortunate happen.  Kayla got sick.  We took her to first aid and it was determined that, because of the heat, she shouldn’t go out on the service project with us.  Wendy took her back to the hotel to rest and get better, while we headed out for our service project.

We arrive at a neighborhood to be part of the Focus: Hope “Keep it 100” project.  The organization, Focus: Hope, is trying to clean up and revitalize 100 blocks in Detroit.  We arrived and saw many other groups there and we began to clean out an abandoned lot that they hope to turn into a small park.  We pulled weeds, took out boards and trash, and tried to get a good start on getting this lot cleaned up.  Our kids worked very hard and took the necessary breaks but never quit working for long.  They did more work than any of the other groups.  I spent a few good hours hauling stuff in a wheelbarrow.  Neighborhood residents were out as well to greet us, thank us, and some even pitched in!  Nik even helped an old lady across the street!  In the end, they were amazed at our progress and said that is made a huge difference in that they could bring some equipment in now to get rid of the rest of the weeds and hopefully make this area into a basketball court for the neighborhood.  Ashely said that our bus was her best bus of the three days.  The next three pictures is a before, after, and then the group shot of our bus.

Here is a before picture

Here is an after picture.

We were hot, sweaty, dirty, and tired.  There is no better feeling that getting back on that air conditioned bus!  We got dropped off at Cobo and made our way back to Hart Plaza looking for ice cream from some of the food trucks that were there.  Though we didn’t find ice cream, many kids got slushes and many also got food for dinner.  We heard from Wendy that Kayla was feeling a lot better and was going to join us for our last Mass Gathering at Ford Field!

We got to our section and enjoyed some great music while we also changed into some fresh clothes. We had our last Dance Move of the Day as well.  Cumberland joined us again as we heard music from Rachel Kurtz, Trip Lee and speeches by Kyle Larson, Rozella White, and Veronika Scott.  Marian Wright Edelman, a civil rights pioneer and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, also spoke.  Though she had a lot of wonderful things to say, she bombarded the audience with facts and numbers and went very long.  Because of this, our headlining band Skillet went on much later than expected.  They rocked and the kids were having a great time but then they made an announcement that we had to leave for our shuttles, even though they were still playing.  So we did.

One of the reasons that they wanted us to get going was that rain was coming in.  We got sprinkled on a bit but it wasn’t too bad.  The crowd moved quickly to the buses and we made it back at a much more reasonable time than the night before.

Tomorrow we have worship in the morning that includes Holy Communion.  You can join us at 8:30 am at www.elca.org/gathering.  I will try to blog on the bus on our way back but it might not be able to be sent until I get back to Boyceville.  Thanks for following us on our Detroit adventure and for supporting us so much with your prayers and generosity.  Remember, because Jesus loves us and is with us, we can Rise Up Together!

Friday, July 17, 2015

I stood at the top step just before the platform and I thought to myself, “This might be a bad idea.  There is much that can go wrong, I am old and frankly over the weight limit for what I’m about to do.  I could get very hurt, break the thing, embarrass myself, and much more.”  Then I took four more steps, paused, and jumped.

This was one of the first things I did on our second full day here at the Gathering, our Proclaim Community Day.  This is a day in which we spent mostly in the Interaction Center, but more on that in a bit.  We got up at our usual super early time and made our way to the bus in a pouring rain.  This meant we couldn’t do our morning devotions outside but we did them inside the Cobo Center instead.  After devotions, we went shopping at the Gathering Store and bought something for our man Luke.  The good news is that he is feeling a lot better and is on his way to a full recovery.  The bad is that we still miss him.

After shopping, it was time to start our Proclaim Community day inside the halls of the Cobo Center.  We split up with Wendy, Kayla, and Kendall going one way, the rest of the girls went towards the high ropes, and Nik and I headed to the jump into the inflatable mat that was much higher than it looked on the ground.  It was a lot of fun.  Megan, Peyton, Maddy, Nicole, Sammi, and Katie all did the zip line while Hayley joined Kayla and Kendall as they went around the center.  After Nik and I jumped, we met up with most of the girls to do the Tinkletown Wheelchair activity, but the line was super long and very slow so we eventually left that line.  However, while we waited we did run into my sister and some of her group.

We split up after that with Kayla, Kendall, Wendy, and Hayley going one way, Maddy, Sammi, Nik, and Peyton going another, and Nicole, Megan, Katie, and Me going our own way.  Some of the activities people did included making hats, faith trees, riding bicycle bumper cars, doing graffiti art, visiting the photo booth, learning about human trafficking, working for people with disabilities, the Gospel of Mark through art at the Book of Faith Initiative (ran into Bishop Rick Hoyme there), and much more.  Many of us donated money to the Walk for Water campaign.  We wanted to do the walk but the line was huge all day and we are going to try to do it tomorrow.  Some even watched and listened to a lip synch battle!

One of the cool things for me is running into people I know and old friends I haven’t seen in a bit.  Even the kids run into people they don’t expect to be here!  Today was a great day for this.  I ran into Mary Toufar, former program director of Luther Park, right away this morning.  Saw the Bishop and other pastors of the synod, met a girl who goes to a friends church in Holmen, saw some former pastors from our area who have left, and even cooler, ran into one of my favorite people of all-time, Dave Lyle.  Dave and I lived next to each other two out of our three years at Seminary.  He has been in South Carolina and is moving to IL to a new church next month.  He saw me and ran at me right before the Mass Gathering and we got to catch up for a few minutes before they had to be someplace.  We hadn’t seen each other in ten years.  These are the type of interactions that are great about the Gathering.

We left Proclaim Community to meet up with Pastor Tim Schmidt from Cumberland and his crew at the original Buddy’s Pizza, a Detroit landmark, to celebrate Pastor Tim’s 40^th birthday.  All day I made videos of our group, pastoral colleagues, the Bishop, and even strangers, to send to Tim for his birthday. We made 16 in all.  Our meal at Buddy’s was unbelievable and totally awesome.  We taxied there and then we took a taxi over to Ford Field for the Mass Gathering.

At the Mass Gathering, we got our normal spot in section 220 and jammed out dancing to pre-show music.  I even learned a few new moves!  We saved a bunch of seats for my sisters group from Hope Lutheran Church in Farmington Hills, who really wanted to join us tonight.  They have made some friends with our group ever since our pool party with them on Tuesday.  Plus, my niece has a crush on Nik (and probably the other way around too!)  I have fun teasing him!  The Cumberland group also joined us tonight too.

We heard lots of great speakers and music.  The standouts included Pastor Steve Jerbi who encouraged us to not only Build Bridges (our theme of the night) but also to claim Jesus in our lives.  The best musical act was the Motown All-Stars, made up of some of the members of the great Motown groups like the Temptations and the Miracles.  They really brought it and the Gathering thundered in its applause!  As we left, we took a group picture with our friends from Hope and then headed into the streets to fireworks from the just completed Detroit Tigers game which ended at the same time we did.  Our walk back was slower due to increased traffic and we almost didn’t have a bus to take us back to the hotel. When we got one, they went the wrong way but since I always keep the hotel in my GPS, I was able to help them get us home, though much later than we wanted.

I let the kids go straight to bed as we have our Proclaim Justice Service Project tomorrow.  It will be a hot one but I know that we will come with energy, with purpose, and full of servant hearts ready to serve Jesus and help Detroit “Rise Up!”  Thank you for your prayers and support!  God bless!

Thursday, July 16^th-Proclaim Story Day

Good evening friends!  Today was a Proclaim Story Day at the ELCA National Youth Gathering.  We had an early start with our bus leaving at 7 am.  It dropped us off at the Cobo Convention Center where we proceeded to go to the Riverwalk, take a gander at Canada across the water, and have our morning devotions.  The fresh air, sunshine, and God’s Word woke up our tired hearts, minds, and bodies and prepared us for the start of the day.

We took a nice long walk along the Riverwalk, enjoying the beauty of the river as well as the State Park that we came to as well.  We got off the walk to go to an urban path that has graffiti on overpasses and other places, works of art that are there to make something that is abandoned or derelict look beautiful.  It was a longer walk than expected but it was a good one as well.  After the walk, we went to the Renaissance Center for some shopping and lunch at the food court.

The kids got all sorts of things at the food court: pizza, soup, mac ‘n cheese, and I got a Coney Dog, a Detroit staple.  They liked it so much that we went back for dinner (though it was insanely packed at dinner).  After lunch we headed to the Cobo Center for our main portion of the day, our Proclaim Story day.  This is done with all the kids from our Synod, the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin.

I have to admit that often times this portion of the Gathering is like a Jay Cutler pass: incomplete.  However, I was very pleasantly surprised this year.  Rachel Kurtz, one of our main musical acts who has written music for the Proclaim Story Day and the last couple of Gathering, showed up as a surprise performer.  We had a band that played music for us as well along with leaders made up of youth from our Synod.  Bishop Rick Hoyme spoke as well as preached during the worship service.

During Proclaim Story, we talked about our individual stories and how we are all part of God’s story of love, forgiveness, and salvation.  We were encouraged to bear each other’s burdens and live out God’s story in our daily lives.  We discussed stuff in small groups as well as a larger group and we heard, and said, that Jesus is Good News.

We left Cobo and headed back for dinner at the Ren Center and then to Ford Field for the Mass Gathering.  I had my still only half eaten dinner in my bag and they took it away from me (and Megan’s open bag of goldfish crackers) but everyone’s food got through!  It was Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese and it was good!  We went to the same spot even after Wendy helped a person who was lost from their group.  The group from Trinity Lutheran in Eau Claire also joined us.

We heard an amazing spoken word poem from someone whose name now escapes me as well as talks about Karis Ailabouni who is part of ELCA Young Adults for Global Mission and Professor Eric Barreto from Luther Seminary about how God loves and encourages diversity and then Alexia Slvatierra, a pastor who works with immigrants and their struggles.  There was amazing music again by the House Band and a great mini-concert by Puerto Rican singer Blanca, even though she kept calling us the ECLA instead of the ELCA.  There was much dancing and I enjoyed seeing my sister and niece on stage as part of the closing song.

We went out a different exit and had a much easier walk to our bus and the bus area was much better organized and less like a zoo. After a 25 minute bus ride (many people have to ride an hour or more), we got back to our hotel, had evening sharing, talked about the next day, and off to bed.

Tomorrow we get to learn and do it by activity in our Proclaim Community Day which is mainly held in the Cobo Convention Center.  Continue to pray for us and for the Gathering that our energy will continue to be high and we will continue to feel God’s love for us in Christ!

Today started off sadly as we learned that Luke would not be able to join us.  He just wasn’t feeling well enough to come.  So we sent him this picture of us being sad.  He is with us in spirit and we pray that he gets better soon.

After getting some breakfast downstairs in the hotel, we got on the hotel shuttle and headed out to Greenfield Village.  Greenfield Village was built by Henry Ford, right across from a Ford plant, to house and display important buildings and things of America, especially late 19^th century stuff.  It is broken into sections like the Working Farms, Liberty Craftworks, Railroad Junction, Porches & Parlors, Edison at Work, Main Street, and Henry Ford’s Model T.  It includes actual buildings that were moved here, like Edison’s Menlo Park lab or Henry’s Ford family home, and other buildings that were reproductions like working glass works, mills, and even a church.  We started with a train ride around the whole property and then broke into groups to experience all that Greenfield Village had to offer, which was a ton.  Everyone had a great time and we met at lunch time to eat at the Eagle Tavern which served seasonal Michigan food from the 1850’s.  It was fabulous!

Outside of Greenfield Village

After a wait for our hotel shuttle, we made it back to the hotel to get some battery power back into our phones.  We arranged to have the bus that brought us from Wisconsin to take us into Detroit.  This was fortunate for us, because it let us stay longer at Greenfield Village and also help out our neighbors on our floor from California who missed the last Gathering shuttle to Detroit.  So we gave them a lift.

We got into Detroit and walked the 25 minute walk or so from the Cobo Center to Ford Field.  We found some seats in the upper levels looking almost straight on to the stage.  As we listened to music we went and got some dinner from the Ford Field concession stands.  Lost and Found started us off and then we learned the dance move of the day.  The House Band shared music with us and then we were pumped and ready (and had done a bunch of waves throughout the stadium) to officially start our first Mass Gathering!

We met our emcee’s and then heard from the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, and the bishop of the Synod Detroit is in as well.  Mikka McCracken of the ELCA World Hunger Appeal spoke to us about the need to Rise Up to end hunger and our main speaker was Dr. Luke Powery from Duke University, who powerfully encouraged us to be Rise Up and be witnesses to the resurrection of Christ and make a difference in the world.  We ended the night with music from Agape and the Selected of God.  It was a great first Mass Gathering!

We then headed with the throng through the streets of Detroit to get to our buses to take us back to the hotel.  Along the way, we saw lots of people taking cell phone video of about 30,000 Lutherans walking right down the middle of their streets.  We had a pretty good wait for the bus, then made the 25 minute journey back to our hotel.  We talked about the day, planned for our 7:05 am pick-up for tomorrow, and prayed before heading off to bed.

Thursday we will do a little Detroit sight seeing followed by our Proclaim Story stuff with the rest of the folks from our Synod, then another Mass Gathering!

Thanks for all the prayers!  Below is a few extra pictures.  God bless!

Monday-Tuesday, July 13-14^th, 2015.  ELCA National Youth Gathering

Good evening!  This is the first blog of our trip to the ELCA National Youth Gathering in Detroit, MI.  I write this on the end of our first full day here in Detroit. 

   We got off to a bit of a rocky start as one of our group, Luke Knudtson, became very ill Monday morning.  He was sick enough that he was not able to join us on the bus.  Hopefully, he will be better and be able to fly in on Wednesday afternoon to join us.  We pray for his health and hope that God will help him feel better and be well.

  We  got started in the rain at 7:45 pm at the BP in Boyceville.  The kids took their places in the back of the bus and we headed out, picking up groups from Elk Mound, Bateman, and then Medford.  The Elk Mound group brought movies and we watched (and some sang) The Lion King and Tangled.  We stopped in Tomah to switch drivers.  Along the way, the kids slept (especially Kayla Nelson, who can sleep anywhere), cuddled, laughed, talked, and sang (still).  We made it through Chicago and stopped just short of the Indiana border at an Oasis I call the Quarry, which is a place my family would stop on the our way to Michigan to see relatives.  It was about 5 am when we stopped and we all had some McDonald’s breakfast. 

    Most of us fell back asleep again on the way towards Detroit, even with the sun rising and a new day starting.  We did have one close call on the drive as a semi-truck tried to beat us in a construction zone as we went from two lanes to one.  Luckily, we didn’t get hit and everything was fine.

  About an hour outside of Detroit we stopped at a Meijer, which is like a Wal-Mart store but much bigger.  We got snacks as well as supplies that people forgot.  After an hour, we got back on the bus and arrived at our hotel, the Country Inn and Suites Dearborn.  We got checked in and the kids went to their rooms for a needed shower while Wendy and I picked up our wristbands, Bibles, and information for the Gathering.  After a shower, we went to a Big Boy restaurant next door for a much needed real meal.  We sang, “We Thank You Kindly” for grace. 

   After our meal, we went back to the hotel for some nap time or TV time.  At 5 pm, Pastor Brad’s sister Amy and his brother-in-law Will picked us up for an evening at their house. We also dropped off all our diapers that we brought to help the people of Detroit. Joining us was PB’s niece’s church group from Hope Lutheran as well as another group from Iowa.  Though the weather looked dicey and we had fun playing the pool, playing badminton and basketball, playing with the dog, swinging on the swing set, talking, and enjoying some food.  The kids also enjoyed quizzing Amy and Will about PB and seeing pictures of him when he was young.  It was a truly awesome experience to see kids from three different states share and play together. 

    We got back to the hotel, hopeful for ice cream at Baskin Robbins but it was closed.  Some kids got some ice cream from the hotel lobby.  We gathered in PB’s room to recap the day, talk about the next day, set our t-shirt schedule, and pray for a good week, for Luke’s health, and for good rest tonight.

    Tomorrow we will be visiting Greenfield Village and then heading to Ford Field for the first Mass Gathering.  You can join us online at www.elca.org/gathering at 7 pm.

   Please keep us in your prayers and may God bless you!

My niece Kaelyn and I.

I woke up this morning at Luther Park Bible Camp and through my window I heard the soft pitter patter of rain drops.  Mixed in with that sound was the sound of birds chirping.  It was amazingly peaceful.  I sat there in my bed at 4:45 am (yes, I know), and two thoughts came into my head: oh no, we won’t be able to have campfire worship tonight at Trinity and I hope it stops so the girls can go back out on the challenge course today!

It is no secret of my love for Bible Camp and the important role I believe it plays in the faith development of kids. I’m also a realist and understand that camp does not always have the same impact on every youth.  There will be a profound impact on some, some it will have a smaller impact, and on others it will have a large impact but they won’t admit it as it would be uncool to do so.  Camp not only impacts faith, but it can challenge, it can stretch boundaries and expectations, and it can push and test a person’s limitations.   I believe all of that is good for kids no matter their age.

But sometimes I forget that the impact felt is not just on the kids, it is on the adults too.  I think of our girl’s counselor Jess.  This is her first week EVER of leading campers.  She was scared.  I remember my first week as a camp counselor.  I thought I was going to pee my pants. But she has done an amazing job with the girls but what I also see is that they are doing amazing things for her.  As we shared and talked together, she spoke about what great girls they were, how much she enjoyed them, and how she was going to remember them for a very long time.  And this was on Tuesday.  Our kid’s spirit, their faith, was inspiring her.

For us pastors, we get inspired by the kid’s faith as well, by watching the Holy Spirit pull on them, by seeing the ways they express themselves and interact with each other.  Pastor Ken from Stanley and myself went out on the challenge course with our girls (who are in the same cabin) to take some pictures and they wanted us to participate, and so with them we tried to conquer the log and the balance platform, laughing and falling and struggling and succeeding together.  In those moments, we weren’t pastors and kids, we were teammates and members together of the body of Christ. And last night, at dinner, when they asked Pastor Ken and I to join them again on the challenge course today, it was hard to see them be sad when we both said we couldn’t because they were going out in the late afternoon and we would both be back at church, getting ready to lead worship.

We pastors also get inspired by each other through the conversations we have and the friendships and relationships that are formed during camp week.  We serve camp where we can but we are encouraged to just be with the kids and the counselors.  It has been cool to have counselors who remember me and talk to me like an old friend and to meet new ones and get to know them.  It is fun for Pastor Brahm and I to play during worship and to have all the pastor’s try, and fail, to play capture the flag with the kids.  We get to sit with and meet kids from all over and get to see that God is doing amazing things.  And it was surreal to get a phone call from Kayla, a counselor who had kids from Trinity 7 years ago at Luther Park.  She also came and was VBS coordinator for our VBS one year.  I got to know her very well and in that seven years I watched her go from camp counselor to seminary student and, on August 15^th, she will become my pastoral colleague as she will be ordained into Word and Sacrament ministry.   She called to tell me the date and ask if I might be able to be there and that she wants me to have a role in that service.  And that all started seven years ago when, during her very first week of campers, she was inspired by, and shared her faith with, a group of campers from Trinity Lutheran Church.

God works in mysterious ways.  Thanks be to God!

Note:  The following below was my sermon at this year’s Boyceville High School Baccalaureate service.  I think you might like it.  And if you don’t, then it won’t be any different than my previous columns.

Note 2: I did not actually write out this sermon.  I had this idea a year ago during the Baccalaureate service.  I came home and wrote down the following: “Selfies” and “I am with you always.” I just went off of that.  So, this is my best shot at remembering what I said four days ago.   

You all might not realize this, but I founded the selfie.  It’s true.  Before you could take a hundred pictures and delete them on your phone, or before Kim Kardashian put out a best selling book of just pictures of herself, I took selfie’s with cameras that had this strange thing called “film” in them.  If you had a camera and you left it or handed it to me, I would take a picture of myself.  Hold on, I’m going to do that now.  (take picture).  I once took 20 pictures of myself at a friend’s wedding, who had 20 disposal camera’s on the tables of their reception.  They were super happy to see my face so many times.

A selfie, is of course, a picture aimed at just the person taking the picture.  It is focused solely on the self.  It is pointed inward.  And today, as you get ready to graduate, you probably feel like everything is pointed right at you.  Why shouldn’t it be?  We are here to celebrate this important event, this achievement that you have done.  We are here to celebrate all that you have accomplished during your high school career and at your parties, your parents will be proudly displaying all sorts of picture, your awards, your achievements.

But I bet that none of you accomplished those awards and achievements on your own.  I bet that if you looked closely, you would see that you had help along the way.  You had friend who studied with you for tests, teammates who helped you achieve your goals, cast mates in plays that helped everything go well.  You had parents and coaches that instructed you and inspired you and supported you.  You had parents and family members who were there for you.  You were never alone.  You had people with you every step of the way.  And, you had your Savior Jesus Christ with you.

In our readings tonight, God makes promises to you.  To be your shepherd, to be your God, to always love you, and to be with you always till the end of the age.  No matter where you go or what happens in your life, God in Jesus Christ will be there.  To forgive you, to save you, to lead you of through the valley of the shadow of death, to surround you with a great cloud of witnesses.  There are going to be amazing highs in your life and dreams will come true.  And there will be times of unimaginable sorrow and sadness, where dreams are crushed and life is dark.  In all of it, you will not be alone.  You will not be alone because God has promised to be there.  Always.  ALWAYS.  Life is never just a selfie, but a group picture because Christ is always there.

Do you know what the most tweeted selfie of all time is?  A group one that was taken at the Oscars two years ago.  May you know that you are never alone and my you remember that Christ will be with you always.  Amen

Note 3:  At this point, I took group selfies with the class.  You can see them on my Facebook page

“For I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners”  Matthew 9:13b

I love this above quote from Jesus.  There is a part of me that wishes this was over the door leading into either the church itself or the sanctuary (not that I don’t love our Welcome graphic or the Trinity stained glass).  Why would I want this quote to be something that people see before they enter this building or worship space?  Because it is a reminder that I think we (including myself) need.

There is a misconception that the church is a place for “good” people,” that the church is a place where you will find the morally perfect.  But that is not the mission of the church and that is not the mission of Jesus.  The church is not a place for the righteous, though we have often portrayed ourselves as such.  The church is not the place for the perfect or people who never make mistakes.  The church is a place for sinners.

See, we all know we sin.  That is no surprise.  We all know that we mess up and need the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Again, no surprise.  But what is surprising sometimes to us is that we would actually welcome other sinners.  What is surprising is welcoming the person that looks different from us, acts different from us, dresses different from us.  What is surprising is that we might welcome people who have messed up in life in ways that often that are hurtful and shameful.

For way too long the CHURCH has tried to set itself above everyone else.  But Jesus doesn’t go away from those that are stuck in the mud of sin, Jesus jumps head first into the mud with them.  Jesus goes in places that drive the religious leadership crazy.  A few verses before the one above, we hear this: “When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” They can’t believe that Jesus would even dare get near these people. Yet, Jesus does. And so should we.

We need to be honest that we are sinners and that the church needs to be a place for sinners. Of course, through our faith in Jesus Christ, we strive to live according to God’s will. But when we falter and when we see others falter, we can’t just ignore or shun or toss out those people. We can’t ignore or shun or toss out ourselves. We must welcome and remind and forgive and inspire them through faith in Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, will we really be able to change the world and show them that the CHURCH is not a place of hypocrites or a place where people look down on others, that the CHURCH is a place of forgiveness, love, and hope.

May the Holy Spirit help us in this calling and may we remember that Christ has come for us, sinners, who are in need of redemption.

The other day I was playing golf with a friend (this was before it went to being winter-like) and though it was a beautiful day, it was really windy. Sometimes the wind was a help, either keeping a ball in play or helping it to fly farther than it normally would go. But then, sometimes it helped make a bad shot worse or made a hole much longer as it needed to be.

It reminded me of life. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it goes bad. Sometimes you hit a good shot, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes the wind pushes your ball the right way or the wrong way. But what I thought about was that no matter where the wind pushed, my friend was still with me. Rejoicing when it was going well, suffering when it wasn’t, walking besides me.

Our Savior Jesus Christ walks with us every day. In the good and the bad, Christ is there. He is there to rejoice with us and to cry with us. He is there to give us a high five when things go well and a supportive hug when we need comfort. No matter how we play in life or how the game goes, we always have a friend with us.