Pastoral Message: “Concerning Holy Cross Day and More” Week of the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost September 13, 2023

Pastoral Message:

“Concerning Holy Cross Day and More”

Week of the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

September 13, 2023

Dear People of God at Faith-La Fe!

First off, I want to acknowledge with thanksgiving to God and to you that Sunday, September 10 was my one-year Sunday anniversary of the beginning of my pastorate among you. And what a Sunday it was! I am very pleased with the response to our share in the ELCA’s churchwide initiative, “God’s Work, Our Hands.” The front of the altar table was completely filled with breakfast items to support the overnight homeless respite program of Lutheran Social Service of the Southwest located at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church on Glendale. In the church freezers that morning were 9 breakfast casseroles prepared and baked by our own members, which will also benefit and give good nourishment to those without shelter. The “noisy offering” to aid victims of the Hawaii wildfires through Lutheran Disaster Relief was not very noisy because most people were generously putting in the cans bills which don’t make much noise at all but add up to significant contributions. Once I have the total, I’ll report it to you.

Additionally, our Chancel Choir returned after their summer break, and it was great to have them enhance our congregational singing again even as they deepened our worship experience through their own musical offerings. Attendance at the 9:00 am liturgy was 75, and then there were also over 70 at the 11:00 am service, which featured four baptisms!  Between the services, we commenced the new format for our Sunday Adult Forums which focused on questions for teaching conversation that emerged from the day’s readings. Attendance at the forum was excellent as usual – over 40? – and this new format seemed to be well-received judging by the significant extent of your participation in making observations and asking further questions.

Thus, a thousand thanks to all of you who baked, contributed breakfast items (along with the ear plugs), and who donated to wildfire relief. And a thousand thanks to everyone for your active and enthusiastic participation in the life of our congregation, either through specific leadership roles or by being a regular worshiper. In short, I say, how good, Lord, to be here!

Next, I’m drawn to reflecting on Holy Cross Day, which is this coming Thursday, September 14, when we’ll mark the occasion with Sung Evening Prayer beginning at 7:00 pm. First, a word about the historic origins of this day of commemoration. Why Holly Cross Day on September 14? It was on this day in the year 335 that the emperor Constantine dedicated in Jerusalem what is now known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the traditional site encompassing what is believed to have been the place of both Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross and his resurrection. Thus, because of this dedication of a new church building, September 14 became a day to contemplate the saving mysteries of the cross of Christ. Years earlier, Constantine’s mother, a devout Christian, is said to have found the remains of the wood of the true cross of Christ in the place where the church was later built and dedicated. It was not until the emperor Constantine banned crucifixion as a practice in the Roman Empire that Christians began to use the cross as a symbol of their identity. Thus, what originally was a sign of torturous execution under the tyranny of empire evolved into being a paradoxical symbol of beauty and deep meaning and life among Christians.

As you know, there have been countless artistic and popular depictions of the cross of Christ through the centuries, and still now. To whet your appetite, on Holy Cross Day 2024, next year, I am planning a mini retreat on that Saturday in which we’ll prayerfully explore a multiplicity of different crosses on that day of special devotion.

In addition to countless depictions of the cross, there are also various legends about the cross that have circulated throughout the Christian centuries. During Medieval times, for example, it was believed that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was constructed from wood taken from the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. Thus, the cross as a tree of life restores us to paradise after our sinful rebellion in the garden when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of that tree in disobedience to God’s commands.

The cross remains particularly meaningful to Lutherans who embrace a “theology of the cross,” an orientation to doing theology that focuses on the affirmation that God is present and active in saving ways even in the worst of human circumstances amidst the worst of what humans are capable of – namely, that God works salvation paradoxically via the cross of Christ in a way that death is conquered by new life in the resurrection.

Thus, alongside Good Friday, Holy Cross Day gives us occasion to ponder and thank God for the holy mysteries that took place on the cross of Christ. These mysteries are poignantly expressed in this snippet from a sermon from the third century from an anonymous source: “The cross is the tree of my eternal salvation nourishing and delighting me. The cross is my nourishment when I am hungry, my fountain when I am thirsty, my covering when I am stripped. It is my safeguard when I fear God, my support when I falter, my prize when I enter combat, and my trophy when I triumph. This is my narrow way, my steep way. This is the ladder of Jacob, the way of angels, the pillar of the universe, the support of the whole world…” (quoted in More Days for Praise: Festivals and Commemorations in Evangelical Lutheran Worship by Gail Ramshaw, Augsburg Fortress, 2016, pp. 214-5).

Again, for our liturgy on Holy Cross Day, we’ll be using sung Evening Prayer from Evangelical Lutheran Worship, one of our most beautiful musical settings of the liturgies for daily prayer inspired by the church’s plainsong tradition. In fact, virtually all of the music on Thursday evening – the sung dialogues, the hymns, the psalm settings, the prayers of intercession, the Lord’s Prayer – will be forms of chant from both the Western and Eastern traditions of the church. As usual, our nave will be beautifully adorned, and the lighting will match the mood of the evening. And, in a manner akin to what we do on Good Friday, there will be occasion for you to adore the cross of Christ as you come forward as you are drawn to make devotional gestures before the cross. And there will be incense…. Please join us for our commemoration of Holy Cross Day this coming Thursday, September 14 at 7:00 pm.

In the Cross of Christ, I Glory,

Pastor Jonathan Linman

Pastor’s Office Phone Number: 602-265-5860

Email: pastor@faithalive.com

Announcements

Sung Evening Prayer on Holy Cross Day, September 14

Rooted in the traditions of monastic spirituality, Evening Prayer is one of the church’s most beautiful liturgies, especially when it is sung. So, plan to join us beginning at 7:00 pm on Thursday, September 14 on Holy Cross Day, when we commemorate the healing mysteries of our salvation accomplished for us on the cross of Christ. The musical setting for this liturgy follows that which is provided in our principal liturgical resource, Evangelical Lutheran Worship. Hymns and other canticles for that evening will be taken from plainsong chant traditions. And not unlike our routine on Good Friday, there will be occasioned to offer worshipful devotion before the cross – another promising occasion of transcendent liturgical spirituality.

Celebrating Our Preschool’s 40th Anniversary

On Sunday afternoon, October 1 from 2:00 – 5:00, our Faith Lutheran Preschool will celebrate its 40th Anniversary. Current students and their families, alumni, staff and members of the congregation are invited to join in the festivities, details about which will be included in future announcements. But mark your calendars now and plan to join us for this important celebration in the life of our preschool and our congregation.

Autumn Rummage Sale 

Mark your calendars because the date has been set! Faith/La Fe will be holding its next rummage sale on Saturday, October 21. You may bring your donations beginning Sunday, August 20. Please coordinate larger and weekday drop-offs with Carly Chamberlain at 269-267-4899. For any other questions about the upcoming sale, please contact Carly and/or Jan Hulin.

Mark Your Calendars Now for Upcoming Special Worship Services

Further details about the following special occasions for worship is forthcoming, but please note these special liturgies now in your calendars!

·        September 14 at 7:00 pm + Holy Cross Day, Evensong

·        November 1 at 7:00 pm + All Saints’ Day, Holy Communion

Upcoming Saturday Quiet Days at Faith-La Fe in 2023

·        Saturday, September 30 – on this day, close to the commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi, we will explore Franciscan Spirituality and what it might mean for Lutherans in ministry and mission in the 21st Century.

·        Saturday, October 28 – as we approach Reformation Sunday, this will be a day devoted to revealing key features of specifically Lutheran Spirituality, or Christian spirituality with Lutheran accents. We will discover that there’s a lot to draw from in our own tradition to take us ever more deeply into spiritual life.

·        Saturday, November 18 – this day will be devoted to spending our time together in our beautiful nave doing “Stations of Our Stained Glass Windows,” a series of visual meditations on our stained-glass windows and the miracles and parables of Jesus they depict. We’ll explore in conversation the bible stories the windows are based on, and then look carefully at the windows to see features of the story which the stained-glass art highlights. Each station will feature a hymn before we move on to the next window.

Make it st The excitement is building! With just over two months to go before the Just Love Gathering kicks off, now is the time to prepare for in-kind giving.

 Providing in-kind support for the people of our host city is always a major component of any triennial gathering. It will be true in Phoenix too. There are three primary ways to support in-kind giving: through quilts, knitted knockers, and particular items needed by local service agencies. Check out the full details at https://www.womenoftheelca.org/new-triennial-event-page/inkind and download the fact sheet. A copy of the fact sheet is attached for your convenience. Make copies of the fact sheet and invite the women of your congregational unit to contribute. Why stop there? Invite your whole congregation! Invite your family and neighbors!

 and out

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.