The Weekly View

Sunday, May 17, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

When my daughter Charlotte was little, we had a ritual where she would say “I love you,” and I would answer, “I love you more;” and she would reply, “Can’t be possible.” And then we would laugh as I would try to up her again by saying something about her understanding how very possible it is when she’s older and maybe has children of her own. 
 
This is how this Sunday’s scripture reads (John 14:15-25), with Jesus beginning with “If you love me, then you’ll keep my commandments,” which if you remember are to love God and love others. So we could understand this scripture as a kind of love letter. If you love me, then love me by loving others. And then Jesus ups the ante by saying, by promising the gift of the spirit and reminding us of how he lives inside of us and us in him. It’s an endless, almost embarrassing display of love, until we, like Charlotte used to say, “This can’t be possible.” But it is. 
 
And these days, for most of us in our community, we’ve been given the gift of time to reflect on the gifts of our life, like shelter and food.  But we’ve also been given spiritual gifts, like the indwelling of the spirit through Christ, who lives inside of us and with us intimately, like a partner who knows and sees us beneath the surface and loves us even more because of it.
 
Let us all be mindful in our prayers, praying that those who feel most alone during this pandemic may find that intimate love present in their lives, whether through Christ or family, stranger or happenstance. May we all take the power of our own spirits to be used by God as an advocate for those who are in need.
 
See you Sunday on Zoom.
 
With love in Christ,
Nicole

Sunday, May 10, 2020

 Dear St. Luke Community,

I’ve been doing a lot of jogging and walking lately, which means I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts and music. Each week I look for guidance from God in sermon writing, and this week, the theme that keeps coming up is about finding one’s voice and speaking your truth, even when it means risking loss: loss of friends, community and belonging, especially in the context of faith. So many churches require followers to hold certain beliefs or risk no longer being a part of the community they once belonged to. 

In the song I listened to this morning there’s this lyric… “So put your voice up to the test, Sing Lord, come soon.” What does it mean to put your voice up to the test? Stephen, the church’s first martyr, put his voice up to the test and it cost him his life (Acts 7:55-60). And while most of us will never have to face the decision Stephen did, what convictions of your own are you willing to speak up for and risk some kind of loss in the process? 

In our second scripture we’re told to let our selves be made into spiritual houses (1Peter 2:2-5). Houses are built upon foundations. In the context of faith, this is like our voices being built upon our convictions. When we find what it true in faith, we build everything else in our life upon that foundation. We speak from there, make choices from there and at times, it can ostracize us from our own community, political party, family, club and even church.

What are you willing to speak up for? What are you willing to risk? What are the foundations of your spiritual house that your own voice speaks out from?

See you Sunday,
Nicole

Sunday, May 3, 2020

Dear St. Luke Community,

We’ve been told to shelter in place for another month. We all have our own reactions to this news, but I will say that I’m noticing a kind of weariness among many of you as we get ready for another month of living differently. Someone asked me this morning how I am. I don’t know about you, but there’s no simple answer these days. Mostly, my heart is heavy: heavy for those who have lost their lives, those grieving, those sick and alone without family. My heart is also grateful for the small and simple blessings of life before me including our ability to be together virtually.

Our Scripture (Acts 2:42-47) has this one part of one verse that seems quite fitting…..they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts. That’s what we’ll do this Sunday. And while we won’t all be in one home or one house of worship together, we will still be one body, united in Christ. Some of us may roll our eyes at the silliness of lifting whatever you have in the house to your mouths; stale bread, crackers, banana bread. Others will take it more seriously. But isn’t that the beauty of this communion with Christ and one another? There is no one way of being required to receive what we are given in that moment. Our circumstances and our personalities vary greatly, and we come to the table for different reasons throughout our lives: a desire, a need, in search of love, to be saved, to be given second chances, searching for forgiveness, for strength, to find peace. Christ gives us all of that in the breaking, blessing and the offering of the bread, the offering of himself. More simply put, He is the bread of life.

See you Sunday,
Nicole