Outreach is Building Relationships

A blessed New Year! Despite the lingering problems of last year, the change of the calendar suggests the possibility of new growth rather than more of the same.

One of the new opportunities for St. John’s in 2023 is to call Dan Potaznick to be our quarter-time Associate Pastor for Outreach. Dan is being called to the Grand Canyon Synod office for ¾ time as the Director for Development & Strategic Development (telling about the good work God is doing through the Synod and encouraging support). St. John’s has the opportunity to call him to help us develop and implement a plan for outreach, especially to people who don’t identify with any religious tradition. Dan has a wealth of experience communicating and building relationships with people who are not involved in congregations.

We will have a congregational meeting to consider a call to Dan on January 29 at 9:45am in the Sanctuary.

What is “outreach” anyway? Sometimes people have a vision of going door-to-door, knocking and asking if people know Jesus and if they are a part of a community of faith. Other people may think of caring for the needs of neighbors as “outreach,” such as the Food Pantry, Family Promise, or the Shower Ministry. Both door knocking and providing needs for neighbors are outreach only if they help build relationships.

Following Jesus is all about relationships: with God and with others. If we are knocking on doors and getting to know a person’s name, their dreams and fears, then we are building a relationship that will help us introduce them to Jesus, the one who loves us and has freed us from our sins.

But if we aren’t building relationships, then it’s not outreach. We can offer showers to people struggling with homelessness, but unless we take the time to get to know them and help them know us, to build trust and demonstrate care, it’s not outreach. We become service providers, like a truck stop that provides showers for truckers passing through.

If we aren’t helping build relationships with Jesus, then it’s not outreach. Before introducing people to Jesus, we first need to have a relationship of trust and care with someone. If someone doesn’t think we care about who they really are, they won’t think Jesus cares about them either. But once there is a relationship, then we can introduce them to Jesus. This is not optional for Christians or the Church: Jesus said “Go, make disciples” (Matt 28:19-20), not “Go, make a club or service group.”

In what ways are you building relationships with others? Are you taking time to ask people’s name and share your own name? Are you talking about your dreams and asking about others? Are you willing to share your fears with another person and listen to what keeps them up at night? What can you share about your experience with God?

It’s a good way to start a new year: focusing on building relationships. That’s outreach!

Trusting God makes all things new,

Pastor Peter

Longing for Healing

Christmas doesn’t make sense without Advent. Or, to put it another way: without Advent, Jesus born in the manger becomes another Hallmark movie that makes us feel good for a moment but doesn’t address the deep longing in our souls.

Advent is the season of longing for healing: physical healing of chronic pain and weakness, emotional healing of words and experiences, social healing of relationships that are strained or completely broken. With the Psalmist, we cry out, “How long, O Lord?” (13:1), “my soul is full of troubles” (88:3), and “lead me, O Lord!” (5:8)

In the time that Jesus was born, the Romans ruled the Mediterranean and believed that the only way to keep the peace was to kill those who disagreed with their way. They expected people to help move commodities like wine and grain as well as luxury items to Rome and to participate in festivals to the emperor and Roman gods. To feed their families and to keep a position in society, some of God’s people, the Jews, collaborated with the Romans. Some of their families hated them for it. Imagine not being invited to Thanksgiving dinner because you worked at the dock helping load wheat to Rome! Words were spoken that left precious relationships damaged and even broken; families with deep hurts and anger.

In our time, we can thank God that we don’t have an emperor that uses violence or threats of violence to suppress dissent. We have a democracy that helps us to express our values and to sort out our differences, no matter how messy. Political advertisements may be extreme, but they shouldn’t kill. Elections take time to count ballots, but leaders can be changed without crucifixions.

Our social disagreements are deep, however, and they have caused wounds in precious relationships. I suspect that each of our families has topics we tip-toe around because we’ve had explosive arguments. In the heat of emotion, we have said or heard insults that left an emotional scar. These aren’t simple disagreements, either. The fire burns hotter because in today’s social climate, a position on a candidate or sexuality, immigration, policing, or education (to name a few) is given ultimate worth and sometimes put in language of a cosmic battle. It is as if to disagree is to oppose God. To disagree is to personally attack my very identity.

How long, O Lord, until the heat is turned down, and we listen to each other? Our souls are full of troubles and griefs over our broken relationships! Lead us, O Lord, to forgive one another and value each other as you, our Creator, value us!

Christmas doesn’t make sense unless we feel the deep longing of humanity for forgiveness to heal our bodies and relationships, a forgiveness that releases us from the prison of our past words and hurts, a forgiveness that is beyond our power. The birth of the king of kings in poverty is no sentimental and unreal movie that makes us feel good for a moment; it is the answer of God to the deep cries of humanity.

Come Lord Jesus!

Pastor Peter

Love your Neighbor by Voting

Election day (Nov 8) is coming and perhaps many have already voted by mail-in ballot. Thank you for loving your neighbor!

That’s right: voting is an act of love for our neighbor because it expresses our care about what happens in our community. When we vote, we are saying, “I think this person or this decision will best help my neighbors, especially those most vulnerable, to be healthy in body, mind, and relationships. As a result, our society will be more healthy, that is, more peaceful and just, as God desires all societies to be.”

Some people say, “why bother voting?” either because they believe none of the candidates are worthy of their vote or because they don’t believe their vote really will make a difference. Both responses are avoiding God’s call to love neighbor by voting.

If someone says they don’t think their vote matters, they are saying what they care about doesn’t matter. Christians know that what we care about matters ultimately to God; we have been commanded to pray to God our deepest desires (2nd commandment) because God cares. It is the devil, the world, and our sinful selves that seduces us into cynicism. Christ has triumphed over these powers so we would not surrender, but struggle against them, trusting Christ has won the victory in the end! Resist cynicism about elections or anything else to follow Jesus in the way of hope and life!

If someone says that none of the candidates are worthy of their vote, I say, “of course!” Every candidate falls short—that’s Sin in every human heart. Jesus is not on the ballot. But this does not mean that there aren’t better and worse candidates. Some candidates will serve God’s purposes of a healthy, peaceful, and just society more than others. Some will express more than others the values of sober and careful judgment and the concern for vulnerable neighbors. None will meet the standard, but that is no surprise; our task is to discern which is better.

There are some that would have us believe that one party represents Christian values. This is an attempt to manipulate us by setting some values against others and ignoring the history and temperament of a particular candidate. Christians follow Christ, not a party. We are free to zig-zag across party lines to follow the way our Spirit-formed conscience leads us to love our neighbor.

We also can begin to encourage people to run for office. If we are unsatisfied with the candidates presented to us, another way we can love our communities is to encourage people with the values and temperament to run for office. If we give into cynicism and apathy and do nothing, we can expect only the same.

However the Spirit leads you, please vote and love your neighbor!

Your partner on the journey,

Pastor Peter

Investing in Relationships

One of our long-time members was looking at last month’s newsletter and said to me, “there’s so many names I don’t know! I need to get to meet these people!”

I’m sure she will: she is a focused person who sets goals for herself and makes them happen—reflecting both a honed self-discipline and a gift of the Holy Spirit. She’s also an introvert—a person who is energized more by being alone or with one other person rather than a group. Introverts have to work a bit harder, invest more energy, in order to develop new relationships than an extrovert who is charged up by meeting new people.

Investing our time and energy in new relationships is an essential part of our calling to follow Christ. In the early Church when Christians travelled, they sought lodging in the homes of other Christ-followers who they did not know. The host had to invest their time and energy in opening their lives to someone they did not know personally but knowing that they were saved and brought together by the same Lord. The guest had to trust their host would not exploit their vulnerability. (See 2 and 3 John, short letters in the Bible, for how this did and didn’t work!) Both parties had to invest in a new relationship.

Likewise, St. John’s has been blessed by new members over the last few years, even during the pandemic. However, many forces challenge developing relationships. Pandemic restrictions meant relationships drifted apart. We have three different services with different styles that inevitably creates three different communities. Long-time members are aging and not able to participate as they did in the past. Newer members are busy with work, family, and other responsibilities. The combination of these factors means that it’s impossible to know everybody and that developing new relationships takes intentional effort.

There are a couple of simple ways to invest in a new relationship. One is to plan on staying around 15 minutes after the service to talk to someone. Think of this as a part of our worship time! (Jesus saves us so we can love God and love our neighbor—investing time and energy in a new relationship is loving your neighbor!) Find out what someone else does for fun, where someone would like to visit, and see where the conversation goes. I suspect you’ll find something in common that will deepen your relationship! We’re working on space in the courtyard that will help encourage taking this time.

A second way is to get involved with some other activity outside of worship. The Education Hour on Sundays at 9:45 brings people from different services together, as does the Monday night 7pm online Bible Study and the Thursday morning 10am Bible Study. The Men’s breakfast is starting on Oct 8 at 8am; the Women’s Brunch also on Oct 8 at 10am. Family Promise (Sept 25-Oct 2), the Shower Ministry (Oct 25), property work days, and more are all opportunities to work alongside someone and develop relationships.

God richly blessed St. John’s through Vicar Cogan over the last year, in part, because he invested so much into relationships with so many. In more ways than I can describe here, he helped us accelerate our vision of deepening relationships and developing leaders. I think he leaves us better than he found us. I am personally grateful for the energy he put into our time together and I pray that we will find ways to keep connected as he and Katelyn begin new adventures in the familiar surroundings of Indiana.

We are on this journey of following Christ together. The Church continues to be one of the few places where people from different walks of life meet. Our society needs us to lead and be examples in developing relationships. The road of life is not easy, and God brings us together to support one another in a network of relationships that catch us when we fall and help us to keep going. Just like putting a little money in savings each week, it’s worth putting our time and energy investing in relationships.

Your neighbor in Christ, Pastor Peter

COVID Gratitude

If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. (1 Cor 12:26)

It finally happened: I got COVID. Or maybe more accurately, COVID got me. Even experiencing COVID, I experienced God in so many ways and hope you sense God’s hidden leading towards new life in Christ and love of God and neighbors.

It’s hard to tell where the wrong place at the wrong time will be. One of our daughters worked this summer in places where people tested positive. Our other daughter worked in a more controlled environment and almost never went out, except a couple of times the first weekend in August. Guess which one caught COVID? Yeah, the one that almost never went out.

Masks do help. I wear a mask outside the house. Over the last 2 ½ years, I’ve been in several very contagious settings and didn’t catch the bug. I give credit to masking. That makes the house the vulnerable point. My daughter didn’t have symptoms and I sat a couple nights unmasked next to her on the couch watching a TV show.

Denial is powerful (until it fails). I started to feel fatigue on Friday but found ways to explain it away. I was so tired before dinner that I laid down to nap, but I had exerted myself a bit in the sun, that’s why. On Saturday, when I started to get a headache and sore throat, I excused it as allergies. When I was leaving the Saturday service, however, I thought I may have a fever. And my denial melted.

Staying home with symptoms out of concern for others. I didn’t test positive, even with the fever, but called Vicar Cogan and started to make preparations to miss Sunday services and activities. I have missed only about 3 Sundays in 25 years because of illness. I don’t like to miss services, even for vacation. But it would be worse if I infected someone else and they became sick or developed long COVID because I was stubborn. So, I stayed home even with a negative test. (After services on Sunday, I tested positive.)

Everybody’s experience is different. My daughter and wife both got COVID and experienced barely two days of mild cold symptoms. Quarantine was the toughest part for them! I ended up in bed for four days with a fever, cough, and a raw throat that felt and looked like freshly ground hamburger. A week later, I still have a sore throat, headache and mild phlegmy cough.

Isolation sucks. And leads to grief. I spent a week in my bedroom separated from my family, mostly so our uninfected daughter wouldn’t get it (she didn’t! Praise God!). This was also the last week that both daughters were home before going back to college. So, rather than spending time with them, I was in bed and isolated. I was extremely sad about it. I thought about many of you, with whom I had plans, visits, conversations that were cancelled or postponed, opportunities missed. And I was extremely sad about those too. I thought about the millions who have died of COVID, including our loved ones like Gladys Thurston. They and their families grieve more than just a few missed opportunities.

God works through prayer. I spent a lot of time praying for relief, for you, for St. John’s, for the Church, and the World. In prayer, I felt God’s love and a connection with you that helped me through sleepless nights of discomfort and coughing.

Gratitude overflows my heart! The week in COVID quarantine so fills me with gratitude for God and for many. Gratitude to Vicar Cogan for saying yes and stepping in with enthusiasm and ability. Gratitude to many who responded to extra calls to pitch in. Gratitude for texts and phone calls of concern and assurance of prayers. Gratitude for sleep that finally does come, healing that slowly dawns like the rosy fingers of dawn.

Maybe that’s what I experienced most: gratitude for people and relationships. Gratitude that simple things like masks and staying home do help. Gratitude for doctors, nurses, and scientists who devote their lives to helping others and unraveling these mysteries. Gratitude that Jesus leads us through this moment, COVID and all, to love God and love our neighbors.

Yours in Christ,
Pastor Peter

Calling all Introverts and Extroverts!

Our Vision as a congregation is to Deepen Relationships and Develop Leaders that help us Celebrate God’s love, Proclaim the Good News of Jesus, and Serve our neighbors. What does deepening relationships look like for you?
    It may matter where you are on the spectrum between extrovert and introvert. The issue is how you are energized socially. The early psychologists of the 20th century found it helpful to describe an extrovert as a person who is energized by being around groups of people. An extrovert often has many friends and enters into conversations with easy confidence and excitement. An extrovert needs other people to process their emotions and ideas. When an extrovert is feeling low or drained, it’s a good idea to go out and find a group of people. In those relationships, they will recharge their batteries.
    An introvert, on the other hand, is energized by being alone or, at best, with one trusted person. They have a small, close-knit group of friends and enter into conversations only hesitantly, even with people they know. An introvert needs time alone to process their thoughts and ideas before talking about them. The larger the group of people, the more an introvert’s emotional battery will be drained by the experience. They’ll need some time alone to recharge.
    None of us are pure extroverts or introverts. We are all somewhere on a spectrum between the extremes. To some extent, we will all be charged by being with other people and processing our lives with them; and, in other ways, need to be by ourselves to charge up our batteries. But, usually we tilt to one side of the spectrum more than the other. Can you find where you are? A strong extrovert? A moderate introvert? Kind of in the middle?
    It’s helpful to know because it will change the way you deepen relationships and live out our vision as a congregation. Sometimes we assume that extroverts are the only ones who are deepening relationships with new people. They are eager to meet new people and energized by groups who share their lives and dreams. Everyone notices they are building relationships!
    But introverts generally develop deeper relationships than extroverts, and especially with other introverts. Because extroverts will often have many more relationships, they have less time to listen when someone is hesitant to talk. An introvert will take a long time before sharing their lives. It’s most likely another introvert who will be around listening.
    Both extroverts and introverts are necessary to the Church living out its vision. Paul wrote many times (e.g., 1 Cor 12, Rom 12, and Eph 4) that the Church needs all kinds of people with all kinds of gifts to build up the Body of Christ. The human tendency is to focus on the flashy, immediate gifts and lose sight of the ways other less dramatic gifts are essential. Some believers even judge others for lacking the sensational gifts. In Paul’s time, it was speaking in tongues and healing that some said everyone needed to have. Paul insisted that all the gifts are necessary—and each person is essential to build up the Church, using their gifts with love.
    So, if you lean towards the extroverted side, the Church needs you getting out and welcoming people, getting to know their names, their stories and dreams. You do this naturally and are charged up by it! Thank you for helping us deepen relationships! Also expect some of the people you welcome may shrink back and not share. They aren’t being rude or cold—they likely are more introverted. Is there another person you can introduce them to, who is also introverted? They’re more likely to spend time together and deepen relationships.
    And if you lean towards the introverted side, the Church needs your careful processing and conversation. You think carefully before you talk to someone and you help the Church develop truly deeper relationships! Expect some people to come on too strong, want too much from you too fast. They aren’t being rude or overbearing—they likely are more extroverted. Can you smile and lovingly signal that you’d like the conversation to end (“Thanks for greeting me! I’ll see you next week”), knowing they might not get the message the first time, but knowing that they also are following Jesus in the way that leads to a deeper life?

Everyone can deepen relationships as the Holy Spirit builds the Church!

Glad to be in the Body of Christ with you!
Pastor Peter

Acts of God

After visiting family in Texas, my daughters waited in the Houston airport for their flight, a plane coming from Dallas to take them to Phoenix which the airline said was delayed “because of weather.” There was no storm anywhere near Dallas. They said it wasn’t a storm in Dallas but elsewhere in the country that had a ripple effect across their all their planned flights. Since it was “an act of God,” the airline wouldn’t supply a hotel or any food—they were on their own for the night until the rescheduled flight the next afternoon.

I am skeptical that God was the cause of the airline delay. Blaming God or weather encourages passivity, as if decisions by human beings didn’t contribute to the problem. Airline staff shortages have been well publicized and likely played a role. Leaders could have planned for contingencies such as weather in Buffalo. They have supercomputers that change the price of tickets each day to maximize their profits. They also can program computers to crunch how many planes and staff they will need to insure on-time flights. But I suspect that will cut into profits. So, human beings made a choice: airline leaders sacrificed customers’ well-being for shareholder value (until customers refuse to fly, that is!). It wasn’t an act of God.

I wonder how many problems we face as a country and as humanity that we accept passively: “that’s just the way it is.” Take the housing crisis. Is the lack of affordable housing just something we have to accept? Or is there something that can be done about it?

Human leaders made decisions to get us to this point: landlords, legislators, and neighbors. Arizona has no limit on how much a landlord can raise the rent. So, I have met with people coming to church for help with rent who have had raises of $400 to $800 per month., which represent 30 to 50% increases (Glendale had the biggest rent increases in the Valley in 2021). Legislators have not acted on various proposals to help build new affordable housing or incentivize existing landlords to accept low income renters. And neighbors are rejecting new apartment complexes, saying “Not in my backyard”. While affordable housing and some problems we face are very complex, they are not the result of acts of God. Human beings have made decisions, sometimes cumulative over decades, that have brought us to these situations.

As Christians, we do know the true acts of God: God gives the Holy Spirit so that we believe and follow Jesus. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection changes the heart of every believer so that we are free from Sin that turns us inward. Facing outward, we love God and love our neighbors as ourselves. These are acts of God!

Supporting affordable housing is a way we can love our neighbors. Leaders from Vida Nueva, Emmanuel, and St. John’s met with Valley Interfaith Project’s Jason Lowry on June 12 and housing emerged as one of the big concerns of our three congregations. We aren’t helpless in the face of this crisis, Mr. Lowry encouraged, but can organize to support solutions. For example, Threshold is a program to bring landlords together to incentivize a few units in every apartment complex. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church is inviting developers to build apartments on some of their unused land. Legislators do listen to organized groups of citizens. We have choices, and when we organize, our voices are amplified.

What other problems in society do you feel helpless to influence? Look for opportunities to gather with other’s and share the pressures you feel and opportunities to help solve the big problems we face.

When we’re loving our neighbors, there’s an act of God!

A fellow servant of Christ,


Pastor Peter

Flying in Strong Winds

How does a bird fly in strong winds? I was watching some birds and noticed that they angle their bodies and change direction temporarily but never take their eyes off their targeted destination. No matter where they are pushed, they keep their eyes on the goal.

How will we live in chaotic times? We are pushed by strong winds: COVID lingers, war on the other side of the world grinds, the price of a gallon of gas and baby formula goes up, Lake Mead is low enough to expose a water crisis, political polarization paralyzes the body politic, to name a few. Despite these forces, like the birds, we can angle our lives to redirect the pressure and keep our eyes on the goal no matter where we are temporarily moved.

As Christians, we know that Christ is alive and he has conquered death, sin, and the devil. We fix our eyes on Christ, who is both our leader and our goal. On June 4-5, we celebrate Pentecost: God gave us the Holy Spirit to help angle our lives, that is, to redirect our energy and time to what serves God and our neighbor in whatever situation we find ourselves. We keep our hearts and minds on God by our daily prayer, weekly worship, study of the Bible, and discussion with other Christians. When you are anxious or distracted, which of these helps keep you moving and focused? Now God may be calling you to strengthen these spiritual disciplines. Confirmation students will share their statements of faith that weekend at each service, and God may inspire you through them!

As St. John’s Lutheran Church, we keep our minds on Christ by focusing on our mission and vision: we celebrate God’s love, proclaim the Good News of Jesus, and serve our neighbor. That’s our goal. During the current season, we angle our body on deepening our relationships and developing leaders. In what ways are you deepening relationships with others? How are you developing as someone who helps others direct attention and energy towards our goal?

Water shortage is one of the powerful crises we face. Like tides on a beach or erosion that shapes canyons, the most powerful forces operate over a long period of time. This water crisis has been developing for at least 20 years and exposed not only bodies at the bottom of Lake Mead but our assumption that there will always be water when we turn on the tap. If you haven’t been following this, I encourage you to google “AZCentral Joanna Allhands Water.” For example, see her article https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2022/05/02/arizona-has-too-many-homes-without-water-how-stop-trend/9577225002/

As people who keep our eyes on Christ, the water crisis is a “serve neighbor” issue—and also an opportunity to deepen relationships and develop leaders. Taking short showers, fixing leaks quickly, switching to desert plants or filling in a pool—every act of conserving water helps a neighbor. Writing the mayor, city council, state and federal leaders about your water concerns helps show our leaders that we care about this long-term issue and need bold vision. Discussing water issues with our neighbors, people at work, family and friends helps us deepen relationships around a basic issue. As we discuss water, we will develop leaders who are passionate and direct our energy and time.

While we would never have chosen to live in such times, these times are an opportunity for Christ to shine through us—through the ways our lives focus on his call to celebrate, proclaim, and serve despite the winds that blow around and against us. In fact, even those forces that seem to blow us off course, are opportunities to deepen relationships and develop leaders. 

Asking God to guide and bless,

Pastor Peter

New Direction

“[H]e is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.” (Mark 16:7)

Christ’s Resurrection changes everything! God’s promised King is not dead, but alive! He is not far away but close! He is available now to love, forgive and to lead you and me!

Christ’s resurrection means he is alive to lead disciples in a new direction. They were outside Jerusalem in the south, near the center of power as well as close to Jesus’ strong supporters such as Mary, Martha and Lazarus. There were many reasons to stay where they were, grief and a hot meal being at least two. But the messenger brought the stunning news: “Christ is Risen!” Before they can process that news, they are directed: “Go to Galilee” and given a comforting promise that helps them leave behind Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and others: “he is going ahead of you.”

St. John’s is trying to discern the next steps where Christ has already gone. In January, St. John’s voted to allocate part of the Jorgensen fund for outreach, specifically a new position, “Associate Pastor for Outreach.” An initial group of council members (Phil B., Ben F., and Kevin S.) and young adults (Zoey G., Paul B., Zack M., Hank R., and Victor R.) has met and identified that young adults (those 18-29 yrs old) are looking for caring friends, purpose for life, and causes to fight for. This age group is underrepresented in most congregations, including St. John’s, and needs what the church has: community that is founded on our Risen Lord’s love, forgiveness, and direction.

Funding a full-time position for the long term would be difficult for St. John’s alone (the total package for a new pastor is around $80,000/yr), and so the Council voted to reach out to other congregations. We have begun conversations with the Cactus Conference (the 11 ELCA Lutheran congregations in the West Valley) about a Young Adult Ministry. A group of leaders from congregations met in early April and will meet again in May to write a proposal to the Synod and Churchwide.

One idea is that St. John’s call a part-time pastor of outreach and that the Cactus Conference call the same person to a part-time call for Young Adult ministry, combined a full-time position. Together, we could pay a full-time salary and be more likely to attract a highly qualified candidate for this position. We will be working out the details over the coming months.

Keep in mind our vision to “deepen relationships and develop leaders”—this is God’s direction we discerned in 2019 and affirmed in January. This means deepening relationships with those underrepresented at the center of the church’s life, for example, young adults. We will be developing leaders, both a new pastor as well as those trained to assist in this ministry. It will not necessarily mean that there are more young adults in existing worship services or contributing financially, but it will mean deeper relationships and growing leaders.

More details will be coming as Council, the Young Adult Ministry task force, and the Cactus Conference meet. Bring your questions and thoughts to the Congregational Meeting on Sunday May 1 at 9:45am in the Sanctuary.

Yours in Christ,

Pastor Peter

The World is Not What We Thought

The Russian war on Ukraine has revealed that the world is not what I thought it was. In the 21st century, I thought nations would not send hundreds of thousands of troops across a border to seize land from another sovereign nation. By not having to build up huge militaries, we could spend our money and energy to build dynamic societies and economies that provide opportunity for those who have historically struggled with poverty and access to education. The internet would guarantee that truth would be accessible to everyone and lies would be easily disproved. If you thought these things too, the Russian war on Ukraine has proved us wrong. It seems like we haven’t learned the lessons of the 20th century. Here we go again.

Cycles of humans hurting humans have happened throughout history, but it never felt so personal or real as it does now. The book of Judges tells story after story of God’s people learning from their failures for a generation or two, but then falling back into idolatry and self-destructive ways before crying out to God from the rubble. Repeat, with increasing suffering and death. Reading Judges from the relatively comfortable position of the late 20th century, we could say, “Oh, aren’t we enlightened!” Wrong. Human nature rears its ugly head again.

The resurrection of Christ is our only hope to break the cycle. I’ve said this before, but it is true in a visceral way now: hope of human progress has once again been blown up. Once again, we have human dreams dying under a barrage of cruise missiles and artillery, human aspiration dying on an imperial cross. What hope is there for life when looking at the power of death and evil? Only Christ’s resurrection.

This Easter, we will proclaim, “Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!” and we can say it with the fervor of a people who know there is no other hope. As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins…. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died!” Because Christ lives, we can face what seems like the endless cycle of human sin knowing that ultimately the cycle is broken, and only life in Christ remains. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:57-58). The world is not what we thought—Christ is alive!

I am encouraged by Christ’s resurrection, willing to face the cycle again with renewed energy to love neighbors and enemies, and pray you will be too.

Pastor Peter

Deepening Relationships

Our vision as a congregation is to deepen relationships with God and each other and develop leaders. This vision helps us focus on where we are going and what steps we need to take.

Let me spotlight two ways St. John’s has been deepening relationships and developing leaders and then a new opportunity, but first emphasize how important it is that the Church is focused on youth and young adults. I hear some talk about how nice it is to see youth and young adults in worship (and lament their absence). But the risk is that adults only want to see youth and not hear from them. The Church should listen to young people about God, faith, and following Jesus—that is, to deepen relationships. The Church needs to focus resources and energy in developing youth leadership, which is more difficult because of the many demands and pressures on young people in this technologized and hyper-competitive world. We can’t assume young people will want to be leaders in the church without intentional ways for their voices to be heard, for their influence to shape the church, and for resources to be available for them to grow as leaders.

Two ways St. John’s has been doing this are both in partnership with others. First, Camp ALOMA. St. John’s encourages children grades 3-12 to go to summer camp and provides financial support for any child to go who wants to. We encourage high schoolers to become junior counselors and then HS graduates to become counselors. Camp has helped develop leaders for St. John’s who have taught VBS, Sunday School, participate in worship, and led the mission of the church in other ways.

Second, Phoenix-area Lutheran Youth (PhLY) is a partnership with nine other ELCA congregations to provide larger youth ministry possibilities, led by Casey Goslin. Why should only large congregations have paid staff to help gather larger groups of youth together? Rather than give in to the economics of youth ministry, together St. John’s and other congregations provide these opportunities for youth to deepen relationships and develop their leadership skills. Many of the youth you see helping in worship are growing because of their involvement in PhLY.

While Camp ALOMA and PhLY are helping us move forward with our vision, a hole is with young adults—people between the ages of 18 to 29. Campus Ministries at ASU, UA, and NAU are one of the ways that the Church has directly reached out to this age group. A part of your offerings go to support Campus Ministry, but this does not help us in our part of the West Valley.

An opportunity for us is to partner with other Lutheran Churches in the West Valley to start a Young Adult Ministry especially focusing on GCU, GCC, and ASU West—all in our backyard. This opportunity arises in part because St. John’s approved using some of the Jorgensen Fund for Outreach and also because the Cactus Conference (the congregations of the West Valley) has been talking about a joint Young Adult initiative. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to guide these conversations and offer your thoughts to myself or Council members. Look for information in the next few months and offer your questions and support.

Thank you for your energy and passion to help deepen relationships and develop leaders of all ages!

Glad to be on the journey with you,

Pastor Peter

 

Nuance and Grace

A rule of thumb I have found helpful: Don’t make decisions when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired. The acronym HALT is one way to remember this. In each of these states, our ability to perceive what is really going on and make healthy judgments are impaired. My daughters call it “hangry” when people are hungry and snap at others over petty grievances. Some studies suggest driving tired can be more dangerous than driving drunk! When in one of these four conditions, it’s better to halt and take care of the real problem first before risking relationships, health, and property. Add on-going pandemic stress and fatigue to the mix plus reactionary political polarization, and it’s a wonder any of us can function without careening like a bowling ball in a glassware shop. By the grace of God, we made it through Christmas without smoke pouring out of every ear or tears from every eye!

It’s no wonder we can’t hear nuance. Nuance is trying to say multiple things at the same time. Nuance is when we say “I’m fine” but also “I really need someone to talk to.” It’s when teacher after teacher calls in sick and the principal tries to be upbeat in order to keep morale up but at the same time sound the alarm bell that help is needed. It’s when a building collapses and an inspector admits that he missed the cracks but that the department rushes its inspectors and needs to hire more. It's when a leader insists that both water conservation and augmentation are necessary to deal with a looming shortage.

When we are stressed, hungry, angry, lonely, or tired we only hear one thing, not the multiple things that need to be held together, and we react out of our own misperception and misjudgment. We dismiss the person that needs to talk. We ignore the principal’s plea for help. We get angry at the building inspector and forget the need for more funding. We build plants to take salt out of water but keep using water like it’s endless. It’s similar to when we are impaired by fatigue or alcohol, we miss clues about what’s really going on and respond in ways that are unhealthy to us and those around us.

One solutions is to HALT, to stop and address the issues that impair us. But how do we do that when the stress and fatigue of the pandemic are chronic and beyond our control? Even if we use destressing techniques like meditation and prayer, even if we get more sleep (which are all great ideas!), the basic problem doesn’t go away.

In many ways, the problem is similar to Sin (with a capital S), the endemic condition of humanity. Our perception and judgment are always warped by Sin in ways we can’t detect, and so we careen selfishly through our family, school, and work sometimes only barely noticing the damage we leave behind.

God has shown us the answer to Sin: Jesus. He takes the endemic human plague into himself and dies on the cross. His resurrection is healing from Sin. God gives him to us as grace, a gift in Baptism and Holy Communion, in our gatherings to receive Christ in Word and Sacrament.

So, the ultimate solution is grace, first a gift God gives to us, then a gift we give to others. In the midst of our stress, hunger, anger, loneliness, and tiredness we HALT and remember God’s grace towards us so we can be gracious to each other.

Beginning with grace helps us hear nuance and to empathize. Grace loosens our tensed shoulders and slows our quick tongues. We hear a person’s reluctance to share pain openly. We hear the principal’s tender plea and want to help. We understand the inspector’s rush and encourage systemic change. We reduce our own consumption for water and encourage others to do the same. We hear the many things our neighbor says because we hear the love that God speaks even in stressful times.

Listening,

Pastor Peter