Guest Post: Kim Hesse '12

Kim shared this message at our final Chapel service of the year last month. It was a good way to end a great year of Senior Chapels! Kim is originally from Sheboygan, WI and is a Music Therapy Major/Worship Studies Minor. She's heading off to Cleveland later this Summer to do her Music Therapy Internship but first will be graduating at the end of the month. I had the pleasure of having Kim in my "Intro to the Parish" class last year. She's a thoughtful and kind young woman and we will miss her.

 So when Pastor Brian and Pastor Ramona asked me to give a senior chapel I was reluctant for a few reasons. 1, I don’t particularly love speaking in front of people and 2,  at the time they asked me, I wasn’t sure I even believed in God, and I was thinking to myself, great, how am I supposed to share a message in the chapel with people about my faith, when I don’t even know where I stand myself. As I started writing my message however, I realized that the hardest part was not going to be finding something to talk about, but finding ONE  thing, to talk about.

            

But I tried to narrow it down, and I want to start by talking about the idea of faith. Over winter break  I went to family video to rent Wreck it Ralph, but it was all out, so I ended up leaving with a move called Salmon Fishing in the Yemen instead.

Briefly, the premise of  involves a Yemeni salmon-fishing Sheikh (shake), which is an arab leader, with an weird dream.  He wants to go salmon fishing in the Yemen which is, of course, pretty much desert. Dr. Jones is a fish scientist who is pulled into the sheikh’s scheme despite his insistence that it is impossible. There was one conversation in the movie that really struck me and so I want to share that.

The Sheikh starts by saying: It would be a miracle of God if it were to happen

And Dr. Jone replies: I’m more of a facts and figures man.

 Sheikh: You aren’t a religious man, Dr. Jones?

Dr. Jones: No I’m not.

Sheikh: But you’re a fisherman Dr. Jones.

Dr. Jones: I’m sorry I don’t follow.

Sheikh: How many hours do you fish before you catch something?

Dr. Jones: Hundreds sometimes.

 And the Sheikh says: Is that a good use of your time as a facts and figures man.  But you persist, with such poor odds of success.  Why?  Because you’re a man of faith, Dr. Jones.  In the end, you are rewarded for your faith and constancy. 

Dr. Jones says: With due respect, fishing and religion are hardly the same thing your excellency.

And the Sheikh says: With equal respect, I have to disagree.

 I like that quote because I at many times have been caught up in the facts and figures. Against the standards of our society, the foundation of the Christian faith is strange to say the least. I was at a music therapy conference in Evanston, IL this past fall and I attended a session about spirituality in end of life care.  The leader of the session told a story about someone who they worked with in another country who had never heard of easter. They asked her what it was about, and after telling them the story of Christ’s death and resurrection the patient laughed and said, seriously?? People actually believe that?

 In the past four years I have been in that place many times, that place where I felt crazy for believing some of the things I claimed to believe, and I have experienced my strongest faith as well as my greatest doubt. Pastor Brian asked me when preparing for my chapel if I believed that faith and doubt were separate from one another and I replied that I believe it is faith that carries me through doubt.

Regardless of my perceptions of God, however, I seem to have always believed in the principle of love and that life-love=zero. I think that it is safe to say that to live by this motto requires faith because by the standards of our society, where the self is glorified, and money is reigning supreme, we have to admit it is not practical.  

 When I think about it too hard, I am often depressed by the sort of system that our world has fallen into, but the life of Jesus inspires me to believe that maybe there is another way, that we have simply lost sight of. Jesus, one of my good friends said, was a man with a plan, and one of the things I have come to admire about his life over the past few year years is the way he lived so that he did not submit himself to any  sort of system. He was who he was, and he was constantly suprising people and going against the norm. Even in his death, based on his track record of miracles he could have saved himself from the cross, but he didn’t. It was like his final blow to the system. He taught the opposite of societal norm, he said you cannot serve both God and money, and that we must die to ourselves in order to live. And he lead by example, Mark 10:45 says “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”.

 I think it is easy for me to get wrapped up in theology, but when I think about Jesus in this way, as the historical figure, who lived among us, and I read about who the bible says he was, and the things he did and said,  everything kind of starts to fall into place in my mind, and that inspires me. I still have questions, but I’ve also learned during my time at Wartburg that God is not afraid of my questions and in fact encourages us to test what we consider to be truth in 1 thesselonians 5:20-22 “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil.” And in 1 John 4: 1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world”.

The scripture that Sarah read said, what does the kingdom of God look like? And Jesus said, it looks like a mustard seed. And my grandma gave me this necklace when I was a kid and it has a mustard seed in it. Mustard seeds are tiny but if you plant them they can grow to be like 8 or 10 feet tall.  And so from this verse I understand that God doesn’t expect our faith to be huge and crystal clear all the time, but that he has promised us that if we plant the tiniest of seeds, if we have faith “this big”, he will gladly take it and nurture it and grow it until it becomes a place of shelter and rest, for ourselves, that we can then extend to those around us.

I’ve given my mustard seed of faith to God over and over again, and God hasn’t failed me yet. And I could tell you stories, but it isn’t something that I can prove to you by facts or figures, it’s something that can only be experienced through faith.

           

And so as we leave Wartburg and go out into the world I hope we will consider what it is that we put our faith in, and wherever we go I hope we will go with love, for God, for our neighbor and for ourselves, as God who IS love, has enabled us. I hope that we will strive to serve rather than to be served. And I hope that you will find inspiration in the reminder that even when our faith is the size of a mustard seed, even when we think we’ve abandoned God, his grace does not run out and he will never stop seeking after us.  

God's Plans & GPS

I have a new article up on the Living Lutheran site about young adults and the pressure to discover God's "plan" for their lives. It's entitled "God's Plans and GPS".

The Hashtag on the Prayer Wall

The Pew Research Center just released a new study detailing the internet habits of American teenagers. Much of the information contained in the report is fairly standard...I think we all know that younger Americans are far more technologically savvy than older generations were at the same age.

What really interests me in terms of ministry is not so much the obvious conclusion that younger people use technology, but rather how they use technology. One of the findings in the Pew Report is that one in four teenagers access the internet almost exclusively from their cell phones rather than a computer. And in just two years the percentage of teens that have a smartphone has jumped from 23% to 37%.

Many Churches are still thinking about how to engage a digital generation. But if this study is any indication even that is behind the times as media consumption habits increasingly become mobile. Just how much does this affect the way that young adults think? Although Facebook is still the primary social media platform for young adults I've noticed a huge jump in the number of our students using twitter. Twitter's 144 characters or less format is certainly more conducive for mobile internet users, which is perhaps why Facebook has been making moves to become more mobile friendly.

This movement toward mobile internet usage was brought home to me several weeks ago. We often do prayer walls during worship where students can write their prayer requests. Reading over the wall the next day I noticed that someone had used a hashtag (#theubiquitoustwittersymbol) on the prayer wall. That has never happened before that I've noticed and goes to demonstrate just how much of our student's lives are shaped by online experiences.

I'm still not exactly sure what all this means for the Church besides the fact that we're way behind the times. Although most Churches are probably never going to become social media mavens the truth is that some level of media savvy is necessary just to talk with those shaped by the digital age. Any good missionary tries to learn the native language of the people they serve. I think the Church needs to think about that when it comes to reaching out to younger generations.

Young Adults & Gay Rights: Ignore at your own peril, Pt. 2

I hadn't planned to make this a two part post (see part one) but upon further reflection I wasn't done talking yet :)

My previous post was in response to a well written blog by a student at one of our sister ELCA Colleges. This particular blog calls on the Church to begin paying attention to issues of importance to young adults, particularly welcoming people of all sexual orientations into the Church.

I agree with the sentiments expressed in this blog and encourage you to read it. But it occurred to me that one might be left with the impression that acceptance of GLBT persons is merely another strategy for stemming the tide of young adults leaving the Church. So let me be clear...becoming a LGBT friendly Church is not going to suddenly correct the absence of young adults in your pews. Neither is changing the music, meeting in a bar, or any other "strategy" to make Church more appealing to younger generations.

In truth I don't know what, if anything, can reverse these trends. I think there are certain things like full inclusion of LGBT Christians that might make the Church a more welcoming environment for young adults but there are no silver bullets. The current absence of young adults in the life of the Church is a result of many cultural and social factors. Social stability for today's young adults is more elusive than it was for their parents who tended to get married and "settle down" much sooner. Unfortunately for the Church social stability is one of the driving factors for institutional commitment.

My appeal to Churches that care about young adults is to approach the issue of sexuality with an authentic openness to change. If you're going to support the inclusion of LGBT individuals in your Church do it because it's the right thing to do, not to be relevant. More than likely changing your Church's stance on this issue isn't going to make much difference in the number of young adults in your pews on Sunday mornings. But then again...neither will keeping the doors closed.

Young Adults & Gay Rights: Ignore at your own peril, Pt. 1

Yesterday a friend of mine was ordained. That's not terribly surprising as I have a lot of friends in the Church world. What is surprising is how long it took. You see despite having been called and gifted for ministry my friend wasn't able to be ordained until recently because she is gay.

I know many in the Church would like the whole sexuality issue to just go away. That's how I felt for a long time until I got to know people like my friend. I watched her and many others struggle not only to discern their call to ministry (which trust me is hard enough) but also face a choice between two parts of their vocation...that of being a spouse and a Minister of the Gospel.

If you think that you can do ministry with young adults and ignore the sexuality issue you are mistaken.  The writer of this "Open Letter to the Church from my Generation" speaks of many young adults who rightly call out the Church when it fails to practice the love that Jesus commands of us.

Many have argued that not all young adults embrace marriage equality or support the rights of our GLBT brothers and sisters. That is true. But clearly it is the vast majority. Last week when people were changing their profile pictures to the marriage equality symbol I was amazed at how many people supported these ideas across the traditional divide between denominations. It's no longer just those from "liberal" mainline denominations that support this change, it's Evangelicals, Roman Catholics and more.

If you're on the other side of the fence, I understand. I really do. But you can't sit on the fence forever. Despite the dire predictions of calamity that many predict anytime the Church embraces change, this is not the end. It's a new beginning. And in this season of Easter new beginnings are in the air.

Thank God for new beginnings, and for the many Gay Christians who have continued to remind us of our need for repentance and change. My personal thanks to my friend who did the same for me. That collar looks awfully good on you.

Guest Post: Kevin Schneider '13

Kevin Schneider is a Senior Education major with a great story. A talented musician and a great guy, Kevin will be baptized on April 14th during our Sunday Morning Worship service. He's been preparing for his Baptism this year as part  our discipleship process, "The Way of Jesus". 

Recently Kevin accepted a job at Dowling Catholic High School where he will be teaching Biology. He and his fiancee Lexi will be married in July. 

Kevin is the personification of our mission at Wartburg. A first generation college student with no faith background, Kevin leaves us having made the most of his time on campus. This is his Senior Chapel message.

Luke 15: 1-7

Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.  But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

Then Jesus told them this parable: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.  Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home.  Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, "rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

~~~~Message: 

This is a common reading in the New Testament, and I've heard it in combination with the parable of the lost brother.  This reading is provoking, and really proposes an absolute.  It states that "It is better to bring one lost sheep home than to tend for the other 99 and forget the lost sheep".  Furthermore, the Lord and heaven rejoice more harmoniously over one redeemed sinner than over 99 righteous.  I was discussing this text with a friend the other day, and she mentioned that she didn't like the scripture.  She stated that this scripture wasn't fair.  I was inclined to her point of view, and totally understood her stance.  But I have chosen a different understanding of this scripture.  Experience is everything, and a wealth of my life experiences were spent as the lost sheep.  I come from what was a broken home, riddled with abuse of all forms.  Relationships broken, and no upbringing in a faith community.  In fact, I have been working toward my first baptism during the last year, and will have that honor on the 13th of April.  

Am I bitter about this past? No way.  I know that the Lord my God has a plan for me, just like for each one of you.  I spent many years lost, battered, beaten and broken.  Little did I know that it was the best of bonding time, because when we are at our lows, that we are at the cross.  Where better to bond with our Lord than at the cross?  During international choir tour, at a church in Saraspatek, Hungary, when our God finally revealed to me the wonderful work he had been doing in my life, I knew I was saved.  The amount of power and love I felt poured down on me at that instant was overwhelming.  I saw all of the ways God had carried and nurtured me, in a flash; an instant play by play put right before me. 

Since that moment, I have known that the Lord is my rock, and my faith has not floundered since.  

I reflect on the lost sheep parable, and I think about a post I put on Facebook a couple of weeks ago.  The support, from members of my hometown and those from Wartburg, was simply overwhelming.  Truly the Heavens are rejoicing at this lost sheep who has been found; and that rejoice is spilling into the earthly realms and onto my Facebook page (or I am a little too deeply thoughtful, spiritual, and maybe slightly egocentric in thinking that all of heaven is rejoicing for the likes of me).  

What I see when I look at myself is a product of love.  Love driven into my bones from my family, hometown community, the Wartburg college community, the faith community I have become a part of here at Wartburg, and ultimately, God.  I did not deserve any of this.  In fact, I have done, and am probably still doing things to justify stripping away my privileges and praise.  That is grace.  God is gracious.  He doesn't care if we have earned his love, or earned his forgiveness.  It is simply given to us, whether we want it or not.  I am so lucky and loved to have received this grace and can't thank God and my supporting community enough.

So where do I go from here?  Where does the community and God go from here?  Really, this is a defining moment in my collegiate experience.  Here, I am allowed to testify how I have been changed by the love of God, and what I intend to do as a result of that change.  Jesus is a teacher.  I originally chose education as a career path and undergraduate study because it was what I needed to do to meet financial deficiencies a few years back.  I had intended switching majors and doing something entirely different.  Still, the Lord has steered me back.  There is an old saying, "Hindsight is 20/20 and more often than not foresight is simply blind guessing".  In hindsight, my choice, unknowingly divinely influenced, has put me in a position to "pay it forward".  That is exactly what I intend to do and that is exactly what my students, friends, family, faith community, and future spouse deserve.  Not because they have earned it, but because I love them.  It is my duty as a disciple of Jesus to pay that gracious love forward.  Thank you God, Wartburg, and all of my friends, family, and loved ones for your grace.  You have instilled a sunrise in my heart, the light of the Breaking Dawn gleams in my heart.  Amen.

Young Adult Seeks Church: Guest Post by Carrie Smisek

Carrie is a former student of mine who graduated from Wartburg last year and is now attending Luther Seminary. When she was looking for a Church in the Twin Cities we had several conversations about that process. After starting this blog I asked her to write about the experience so that others could learn from her journey. Thanks so much for sharing this with us Carrie!

Recently, I had the task of finding a new church to hang out in.

I was actually quite excited to go "church shopping." I had been a part of my home congregation since I was born, and I was incredibly active in it. I attended Sunday School, sang in every Children's Choir imaginable, started my own worship band as a teenager, and even led my own worship services there. My home congregation was just that...home.

However, I found that finding a new place to worship with all new people to be both daunting and fun. I was leaving my established role and moving in familiar, yet uncharted territories.

I was lucky in that I found the church that I wanted to be a part of in only three tries.

The first church I attended was a lot like the church in which I grew up. Mostly everyone there was either a child, a young couple with children, or older adults. However, there was one difference between this place and my home church. This congregation was very willing to participate in new things. For example, the pastor there had everyone take a paper puzzle piece. We were then challenged to find the person with the puzzle piece that connected to ours. It was something that would have freaked out everyone at home, but these people must have been used to this kind of thing, because they were totally on board.

Everyone there was very welcoming and warm when they met me. The man whose puzzle piece matched mine was very interested in who I was and why I was there and invited me immediately to the breakfast they were having after the service. He was very excited about having a new person there, and he was great to talk to.

After the service, I talked to the pastor. He was very friendly and also excited about having a visitor. We talked about the congregation and how they are more "suburban," while he felt his personality was more "urban." He said this created an interesting atmosphere, but it opened both him and the congregation up to new worldviews.

While I really enjoyed this service and talking to the pastor, I eventually decided that this church was too much like my home congregation. I wanted something different than what I had always known and grown up in. This decision was a very difficult one to make.

The second church I visited was nothing at all like my home congregation. They were actually a starter church that is connected to a few other congregations in the area. I decided to look at them because I had heard everything there was so different, and I knew I needed change.

And it was different.

Instead of a choir and piano, there was a band and electric guitars. Instead of an altar, there was a stage. Instead of a church building, they gathered in a theater. Red padded seats replaced pews and young people wearing ripped jeans replaced the older adults wearing their Sunday best.

I thought that I may really enjoy this atmosphere, as someone who loves to hang out in old theaters and listen to bands, but this was not the case. I felt increasingly uncomfortable while sitting there. I wanted church, not a concert.

The part that convinced me that this was not where I wanted to worship was the affirmation of baptism that took place that day. A whole family: father, mother, daughter, were confirmed together. I thought it was beautiful that they would all be confirmed together, at the same time. However, they were asked to write testimonies on their faith. This is pretty normal for confirmations, but these particular ones got a bit strange. Some of them included things that I knew to be theological inaccuracies and one of them even mentioned how she knew she was going to be the one to announce the second coming of Christ.

Yeah, it got a bit awkward.

After the service, I talked to the pastor, who was way too interested in who I was. Unlike the previous church, I felt almost like I was being interrogated and pushed into becoming a member. He asked if I would be available to teach and lead their Sunday School program and almost forced me into the role. I never even told him I wanted to join, simply that I was looking for a new church, and he was already asking me to lead a program. Yikes.

A few days after this, I received a card in the mail from him with a gift certificate for a coffee shop near by, so that I could talk to him and a few other members about joining the congregation. I felt too-welcomed, uncomfortable, and pressured.

Very quickly, I moved on to a congregation that I heard about from a friend. They did not meet in a church, but instead, a town hall. I did not know much about this particular church, but I trusted the recommendation, so I went. And quite quickly, I fell in love with the place.

I realized this almost immediately when one of the members greeted me and brought me to their name tags.

"We don't spend money on fancy name tags." Their name tags were strips of masking tape on which you wrote your name with a Sharpie. It was awesome.

We then all gathered in front of an altar made of a folding table and simple table cloth which resided in front of a wooden cross. It was simple and perfect. Instead of traditional piano, a musician sang and played her guitar. Normally, I dislike the presence of this kind of music in worship; I often crave traditional "Amazing Grace," but she plays with such sincerity that it uplifts everyone around her.

It was a very small congregation, only about fifteen people attended, but everyone there participated fully in worship. They all read and sang with such enthusiasm. There was a definite air of quality over quantity.

The sermon was great, and it was not only informative but very intriguing. I spent many hours afterward contemplating it.

After the service, I met with the pastor who was not overly welcoming but very friendly. He told me all about this congregation and how worship was almost secondary to them; it was service that they really enjoyed doing. It was something that I hadn't experienced in other congregations. I also learned this congregation was actually connected to another congregation in the area, which turned out to be much more like my home congregation.

I felt like Goldilocks eating the baby bear's porridge. Everyone there was welcoming, but not too welcoming. It was contemporary but not too contemporary. It was new but not too new.

The members were all very diverse as well: younger people without kids, young families, and older adults all worshiping together and talking to each other. Age lines were so crossed over, they were blurred into nothing.

I finally felt at home. I go between both congregations, one that is very much like my home church and more traditional, and the one that is small but hearty.

Since joining, I have discovered all the great things that this congregation does. They meet for celebratory dinners at Thanksgiving, hold Epiphany feasts and spend plenty of time building and maintaining their community. They also take part in many different service projects like Loaves and Fishes.

It was so gratifying to find a place that I could worship and feel completely at home.

I think the one thing I learned from this experience that I would pass on to congregations is: be sincere. If congregations do not try to recruit so much but be sincere in who they are and what they do, they will be very attractive to young adults. There is no special formula for congregations, but if they are authentic in who they are, there is no denying the effect they may have.

Sincerity is what attracts young adults, not gimmicks, loud guitars, or fancy graphic designs. Sincerity."