This June, we invite you to deepen your spiritual journey through insightful messages, engaging scripture study, and thoughtful reflections. Pastor Wayne Zschech shares a powerful message on the boundless nature of Christian love, our Bible Discussion group delves into the rich narratives of 1 & 2 Samuel, and Pauline Worusski offers a personal reflection on the spectrum of faith.
Pastor’s Corner: Christian Love for One Another Knows No Boundary
By Pastor Wayne Zschech
In the Gospel from last week (Easter 5) Jesus commands his disciples to “love one another.” He goes further to declare that others will know they are Jesus’ disciples “by their love for one another.” Anyone who grew up going to Sunday or Vacation Bible School or went to a church camp remembers singing the song “They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love.” The lyrics went like this:
1 We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord; (sung twice) And we pray that all unity may one day be restored.
Chorus: And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.
2 We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand; (sung twice) And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land. Chorus
3 We will work with each other, we will work side by side; (sung twice) And we’ll guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride. Chorus
Sometimes the Holy Spirit works in mysterious, or at least serendipitous, ways. In my devotional reading for the Tuesday of week Easter 4 there was a reflection by Desiderius Erasmus (1466-1536) that seemed to reflect the above call of Jesus’ disciples to love one another regardless of their national boundaries. He wrote it in a time when there was great conflict in all of Europe. He writes: Above all else let peace be sincerely desired. The populace is now incited to war by insinuations and propaganda, by claims that the Englishman is the natural enemy of the Frenchman and the like. Why should an Englishman as an Englishman bear ill will to a Frenchman and not rather good will as a man to a man and a Christian to a Christian. How can anything as frivolous as a name outweigh the ties of nature and the bonds of Christianity?… A little strip of sea cuts off the English from the French, but though the Atlantic rolls between it could not sever those joined by nature and still more indissolubly cemented by grace. In private life one will bear with something in a brother-in-law only because he is a brother-in-law, and cannot one then bear anything in another because he is a brother in Christ?
Maybe the simplest way to say all of the above is that Christian love for one another knows no boundary. None. Not a geographical one like the Rio Grande River or 49th parallel or the Bering Strait that separates the United States from Mexico, Canada, and Russia. Not a melanin boundary of one’s skin tone that separates White, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Not a gender boundary that separates cis-gender from transgender or non-binary. Not an economic boundary that separates the poor from the rich, or an education boundary that separates the person with a GED from one with a PhD from an Ivy League university. Christian love for one another knows no boundary. Period.
As we listen and/or read the news, as we engage in conversation about the challenges of our town, state, nation, and world we would do well to remember that in all of those geographical places there are a lot of faces that bear an invisible mark of Christ on their brow they received in their baptism. How might it change our perspective and our conversation if we first considered that the migrant crossing the border might well be a sibling in Christ for whom we are called to love? How might it change our perspective in our advocacy of “the least of those” who live among us? How might it inspire and compel us by the Holy Spirit to “guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride?” May Christ’s command to his disciples be our mantra in these days of turmoil, chaos, and division. Let us love one another as Jesus first loved us. And by our words and deeds may those who witness them know we are Christians by our love.
Join Our Bible Discussion: Exploring 1 & 2 Samuel
“1 & 2 Samuel” Bible Discussion for Daily Living
Participants can join the discussion either in person, in the Conference Room 112 on the first floor, or by clicking the Zoom Link provided on the homepage of Our Savior’s website. Participant books are available in the church office, and if participants wish to defray the expense of the book a $15 donation is sufficient. Bring a friend!
Time: 7:00 PM on Monday Nights / 9:30 AM on Wednesday Mornings
The books of 1 and 2 Samuel are full of powerful images, engaging characters, and fascinating stories. People like Kings David and Solomon. Stories like David and Goliath. This discussion will provide a high-level overview of these two books, providing a foundation for further study individually. Participants will explore eight big questions based on selected texts from 1 and 2 Samuel. The discussion dates, questions, and selected texts are as follows:
- Jun 2/4: How long Lord? (2 Samuel 2:1-28)
- Jun 9/11: Is this it, Lord? (2 Samuel 7:1-17)
- Jun 16/18: How could he, Lord? (2 Samuel 12:1-15)
- Jun 23/25: Which way, Lord? (2 Samuel 16:5-14; 19:16-23)
Participants can join the discussion either in person, in the Conference Room 112 on the first floor, or by clicking the Zoom Link provided on the homepage of Our Savior’s website. Participant books are available in the church office, and if participants wish to defray the expense of the book a $15 donation is sufficient. Bring a friend!
The Spectrum of Faith (or, are you a Thomas or a Mary?)
By Pauline
When one is asked who their favorite person in the Bible is, the obvious (and very Sunday School) answer is Jesus. And yes, I do hope it’s Jesus for you, and not Paul (that’s a discussion we can have over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine). But I also hope you have some other Bible stories that have encouraged you to live a more vibrant and multi-dimensional faith. For me, Thomas has a special spot in my faith. We make such a big deal about his doubts that we have named him Doubting Thomas, but isn’t he really the only one who was honest about doubts? Who can truly say that they have never doubted their faith? I would bet that 9 out of 10 people have had their doubts, and when ignored or judged, those doubts can lead to the departure from faith. My own biggest season of doubt was in my 20s, when I saw the church ignoring injustice after injustice, had several friends who were rejected by their Christian families after coming out as gay, and had multiple people tell me I couldn’t be a music director because I was a woman. It was hours of spiritual direction by several wonderful pastors who were also my friends, being a part of a small church that truly saw and loved me as I was and am, as well as the guiding voice of Rachel Held Evans, Barbara Brown Taylor, and other authors who kept me in the church. I was allowed to doubt, process, walk away from the church for a while, and then return. I firmly believe that unless we allow people to voice their doubts, critiques, and questions, and we fully listen to them, our faith and church is one-dimensional.
I also greatly admire Mary. Not in the Catholic adoration way, but in the faith that she shows from the first moment until the last. When she is told that she will bear a son whose Father will be God, she at first hesitates (to ask about the, uhm, logistics), and then she says yes. This yes will resound in history without an end. She says yes without fully knowing the final outcome, but she says yes to God with her body and her soul. In fact, she sings to her cousin a song known as the Magnificat (Latin for it magnifies), which begins with “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” It goes on to a glorious vision of an upside down kingdom, in which the rich are sent away and the poor are lifted up, the hungry are fed and kings are pushed from their thrones. You can read the whole song in Luke 1:46-55 (and every December at Lessons and Carols as I always make sure to include it through song or reflection).
So my two favorite characters (after Jesus) are somewhat a ying yang – a doubter and someone who fully trusted God’s plan with her life, soul, and body. There is room for both, and there is room to be somewhere between the two as well. I believe that our faith is a spectrum, and some days you may be closer to Mary than Thomas, and other days it’s the opposite. No matter where you are, I hope you feel fully loved by God and know that you are held by God both through the doubt and the trust. – Pauline
