Prayers across time

by Sarah Teichmann

A short while ago I came to work and found out that a colleague and friend was in the hospital. My supervising pastor and I went to visit him. His hospital stay was not planned nor was it expected. We sat with him for a while and talked about what was going on with his health and before we left we prayed the Lord’s Prayer together. We had prayed this prayer together many times in church during our routine morning devotions. Gone was our usual church location- gone was our predictable routine. As we prayed the Lord’s Prayer I could hear the emotion in our voices. There were times during the prayer where one of us had difficulty speaking but the other voices would carry on.

And it hit me. Fellow Christians have been praying the Lord’s Prayer for centuries, and we have been united by the bonds of God’s love in Christ Jesus. There have been times where one voice- burdened by fear and sadness- has difficulty finding the words, but this one voice is supported by the melody of prayers lifted around them.

We were not simply three people who were reading off a grocery list or reading from a phone book. We were three people who were part of a fellowship of believers that existed before any of us were born and will continue long after our days come to a close. The same prayer which carried us through days filled with routine was now carrying us through this day filled with trepidation. And we were not alone- we were three voices amidst an unending chorus of prayer, joined by a fellowship of all believers past, present, and future, and embraced in the loving arms of our savior, Jesus Christ.

Moving to the Music

I love it when we worship together and the music is so vibrant that people begin to move. You know that moment when the music is sinking into your soul so much that you want to sing a little louder to express your emotions – or move your body with the music. As I was walking out of the sanctuary after my installation I noticed some movement with the music and it warmed my heart. Sometimes it takes a different beat to get us up out of the pew and moving in the world.

Jesus walked to a different beat. He was born of the Spirit, healed on the Sabbath, turned water into wine, ate with the tax collectors, encouraged people to love their enemies, and died to overcome death. I pray we all have the strength and inspiration to walk to a different beat in the world! Jesus showed us how much it makes a difference.

I would like to take a moment and thank everyone who was able to attend my installation as the Associate Pastor at Christus Victor. I would also like to thank everyone who was unable to attend, but was present with us in prayer. I know the Spirit will be with us as we move to the music and make a difference in the world.

Tradition

On Sunday, I am going to be installed as the Associate Pastor at Christus Victor Lutheran Church. I have struggled with what it means to be a pastor in the ELCA. The organized Church is not without sin. Many people have been hurt by organized religion and now I am immersing myself as a leader in organized religion. So, I feel in a paradox. I fear becoming a part of a system that some people run from and those are the people I want to reach out to with Christ's love. This paradox makes me rethink what it means to be a pastor.

A pastor is called to preach the Word and administer the sacraments. In the Lutheran church the sacraments are Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. These sacramental traditions have been carried down through many generations. It is through these traditions that we experience God, God with us.

The reality is that church provides a space for us to live out a tradition that helps us experience God. Tradition is much larger than an experience. Tradition is something that we become a part of that was around before us. Tradition will be around after us. It is something that unites the universal church.

Holy Communion and Baptism are traditions or liturgy at the core. The creeds, theories, text and prayers we say in worship were formed to help worshipers understand Baptism, not Baptism being created to help understand the creeds and prayers. It was the community’s regular act of Communion and Baptism (liturgy) that brought about a theology to help understand these encounters with the living God.

So, though organized Church is not without sin. I hope and pray that I stay grounded in sacramental tradition. It is then that I am honored to be a leader helping to bring about encounters with the living God.

Thirsty?

Thirst is something that all humans experience. There are different types of thirst. After a long run we need a drink of water. After a salty meal or a night’s sleep we are thirsty. Our bodies are made up of 80% water so it is no wonder that we thirst for something to drink daily. Then there is the type of thirst that means we are longing for something. We thirst to see our family at Christmas time. We thirst for a closer relationship with God.

These two meanings of thirst are woven throughout the Gospel of John. The writer of John uses thirst to link both of the meanings. The theologian David Fredrickson argues that the thirst referred to in the Gospel of John is much more passionate than we have been trained to imagine. It is like a fisherman standing in a river on a hot sunny day with water running everywhere but no water to drink.

We long for a close relationship with God. We thirst to see God’s presence in our lives. The Gospel of John shares with us the abundant life given to us through Christ in his life, death, and resurrection; so, that we may never be thirsty.

Jesus shares with the Samaritan woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks of this water [from the well] will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I [Jesus] give them will never be thirsty.” (Jn 4: 13-14)