Pastoral Message: “Miscellaneous but Important Items for our Life Together” Week of the Second Sunday in Lent March 8, 2023
Pastoral Message:
“Miscellaneous but Important Items for our Life Together”
Week of the Second Sunday in Lent
March 8, 2023
Dear People of God at Faith-La Fe!
This week, there’s not a single thematic focus for my message, but brief statements on a number of important items of interest to the whole congregation.
Quiet Day on Christian Spirituality and Health
As part of your discipline of taking on more opportunities during Lent, please plan to join us on Saturday, March 18 beginning at 10:00 am in the parish hall for a Quiet Day exploring the intersections between Christian Spirituality and our health. The day will include worship, conversational bible study, body prayer exercises, including some gentle yoga, a healthy lunch and a conversation about how we may proceed in graciously supporting each other in our attempts to hold ourselves accountable for nurturing our health and well-being for the sake of the work God has entrusted to us. The day will conclude by 2:30. So that we may have a sense of how many to plan for lunch, kindly RSVP by March 15: pastor@faithalive.com.
Reflections on Lenten Abstinence and Fasting
Last week, I confessed to you that I have never given up anything for Lent; rather, I take on more activity. But that is not to denigrate various practices of abstinence during Lent, especially forms of fasting, which are included among the examples of the disciplines of Lent in the rite for invitation to a holy Lent. So, here are some brief thoughts on Lenten abstinence and fasting. It’s common for people to give up things like chocolate, fatty foods, and alcohol during Lent. This can become a kind of New Years Resolution for the forty days of the season. In common practice, such abstinence is usually understood to be in the service of promoting our better health, which is all fine and good as far as that goes. But, in keeping with Lutheran ethical principles which focus our attention on loving and serving our neighbors, I encourage you to reframe your giving things up for Lent in terms of how this abstinence serves your neighbors and not just yourself. Take the focus off of you and turn your attention to your neighbors, whoever they may be. So, for example, if you engage in forms of fasting, use the feelings of emptiness and hunger to focus your attention on those who suffer want in hunger and don’t have the luxury of refraining from taking in food – and maybe support world hunger relief through the money you might have spent on the food and drink you’ve given up. Or if you give up meat on certain occasions during Lent, focus your attention on how many resources are expended in the production of beef for our consumption, and perhaps offer support to organizations that promote greater sustainability in our eating and consuming habits. For when it’s all said and done, our Lenten disciplines are at their best when attention is taken off of ourselves and directed elsewhere – to God and to our neighbors. Then we come closer to abiding by the great commandment to love God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves.
Our Musical Setting for Holy Communion during Lent
You will have noticed that we vary our musical settings of Holy Communion seasonally at Faith-La Fe. Our goal is to represent over the course of the liturgical seasons of the year the great variety of types of music that accompany our celebrations of Word and Sacraments on Sundays. The musical setting we are using during Lent at the 9:00 am service in English is Setting Five in our current worship book, Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006). Life-long Lutherans may recognize this music, for it was Setting Three in Lutheran Book of Worship (1978) and Setting Two in the Service Book and Hymnal (1958). If there is a classical version of the Lutheran liturgy for Holy Communion in North America, the service music we’re singing during Lent is it. But this setting’s history goes a lot further back than just 1958. This service music was adapted for use in congregational singing from chorale traditions in Scandinavia and ultimately from Gregorian Chant by a professor at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, Regina Fryxell. Her research traced this music through its use in the Church of Sweden all the way back to its plainsong origins in the 10th – 13th Centuries. I offer this brief history lesson to inspire your deeper appreciation for what’s behind what we do on Sunday mornings, that you may know that our celebrations in word and song have deep roots in the length and breadth of Christian history. Plainsong, of course, is a style of music appropriate for the more subdued mood of Lent. Come Eastertide, you can expect some livelier musical renditions of the Mass.
If you want to listen to how our Lenten musical setting sounded in its purer plainsong forms, here are links to YouTube recordings:
Kyrie, Mass XI, Orbis Factor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHx8PIjP34U
Sanctus, Mass XV, Dominator Deus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hjFXeinteg
Agnus Dei, Mass XVII, Advent and Lent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t73RLozxqOU
Annunciation of Our Lord
Come March 25, right in the midst of Lent, it will be nine months until Christmas! On that day, we will celebrate a significant festival of the church, the Annunciation of Our Lord, when the angel Gabriel announced to Mary her having found favor with God whose Holy Spirit would cause her to conceive and to bear God’s Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Plan to join us for a special liturgy on that Saturday morning, March 25, beginning at 10:00 am when we juxtapose themes of the Incarnation and Christmastide with the focus of Lent on Jesus’ Passion, his death and resurrection.
Communicating Pastoral Care Needs to the Pastors
Pastor Veronica and I are here to serve you in your times of need and opportunity, to support you through our pastoral care-giving. If you are in need of pastoral conversation or visitation, please reach out to one or both of us directly – or have someone in your family or with whom you are close make that direct contact. Please don’t assume that word of your need or desire will come to us indirectly through others. Members of Faith-La Fe attend to each other’s needs in laudable ways, which is a wonderful thing. But there have been some occasions when your pastors have not been aware of circumstances that would warrant our outreach to you. We are here for you and want to be a part of the care that our congregation offers. So, please don’t assume we’re too busy or that what’s happening in your life does not warrant our time and attention. Pastoral care-giving is central to our identities as pastors of the church. Both Pastor Veronica and I regularly monitor our emails and phone messages, so please leave messages and we’ll engage with you promptly. My contact information always appears with my signature line below.
Welcome to Ordination Candidate, Tim Perlick
Over the coming weeks, we’ll welcome into our midst an approved candidate for ordination, Tim Perlick, who will be helping out at worship at Faith-La Fe as part of his ongoing formation for liturgical leadership as he embarks on a new journey as a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Please reach out to Tim and to his wife, Andrea Arey, to offer your word of welcome.
Voting Members Needed for Grand Canyon Synod Assembly
Faith-La Fe is in need of two lay members (one male and one female) to be voting members at the annual Synod Assembly of the Grand Canyon Synod which will take place at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Oro Valley in the Tucson area beginning midday on Friday, June 9 and concluding midday on Saturday, June 10. Synod Assemblies are a great way to get a sense of what’s going on in our wider church, both synodically and nationally. If you have interest in attending as a voting member, please reach out to me and I can give you more information.
A Word about My Health
Most of you are aware that I am dealing with some issues with my lower back which make it challenging for me to stand stationary for long periods of time – which is why Pastor Veronica has been distributing communion at the 9:00 am service for the past several Sundays. So, here’s an update on my condition: diagnostic tests reveal some compression of discs in my lower spine as well as some sciatica. These conditions are being treated currently by my visits to a physical therapist twice a week for several weeks. My condition is not serious, and it’s perhaps most accurate to say that my muscles are stiff in my back and legs and I’m out of shape! So, I am very glad to be engaging the discipline of a therapist/trainer to help strengthen me and to get me, quite literally, comfortably back up on my feet. So, physical therapy is yet another discipline I’ve taken on for Lent so that I can be in better shape to engage in my pastoral ministry. Thank you for your patience with me as I endure some of the frailties of our common humanity.
This concludes this week’s message exploring miscellaneous, but important matters in our life together.
With prayerful best wishes for you in Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jonathan Linman
Pastor’s Office Phone Number: 602-265-5860
Email: pastor@faithalive.com
Announcements
Interested in Membership at Faith-La Fe?
If you or anyone you know is curious about learning more about Faith-La Fe Church toward perhaps becoming a member of our congregation, kindly reach out to either Pastor Linman or Pastor Veronica. They are more than eager to engage you in conversation for your discernment. We are planning to receive new members at our Easter Vigil this year on Saturday evening, April 8 at 7:00 pm.
Invitation to a Special Lenten Discipline: Campus-wide Property Inventory
Saturday, March 11 at 1:00 pm
Pastor Linman is convening on Saturday, March 11 beginning at 1:00 pm a small group of interested members to make an inventory of items located in rooms and closets throughout the buildings on our property in the service of assessing and discerning what we may be called to keep and what we may want to free ourselves of for other homes. Kindly let Pastor Linman know if you would like to be part of this adventure this coming Saturday.
Lent 2023 at Faith-La Fe
Join us each Wednesday evening during Lent for a soup supper beginning at 6:30 in the parish hall, and followed by evening prayer in the chapel at 7:15. Evening Prayer will be led by lay persons, and the message will be offered by various neighboring pastors of congregations in the Capital Conference of the Grand Canyon Synod. As a feature of evening prayer, we’ll commemorate holy ones and saints on our calendar of commemorations. And the overarching title for the offerings of our local pastors is: “Pardon Our Dust: Finding God in the Mess of Change.” Here’s a description of what we pastors will be up to in our messages during Lent:
You’ve seen the signs, the bulldozers, the temporary fencing; perhaps you’ve driven by a construction site and asked, "I wonder what’s going in there?” or “I wonder how long this road will be like this?” The fact is, change is often messy and bewildering, even if it’s ultimately for the good. And when our lives are the construction site—when loss or transition force us to rebuild our sense of self, or when new challenges fill the road before us with unknowns—the mess of change can cause us to wonder how God is with us. This Lent, we invite you to join us as we prayerfully engage the experience of change, together with Biblical companions who found God anew while facing into the unknown. A “round-robin” pastor exchange with other Capital Conference churches will allow us to hear from different voices each week while gathering in our home church setting. Come and share the journey!
Please know that we need volunteers to sign up to provide bread and soup for the Wednesdays in Lent. Look for sign-up sheets on the bulletin board in the breezeway outdoors.
March 8 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Perpetua and Felicity and Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 202, transferred)
Speaker: Pastor Kristen Rice from All Saints
March 15 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Patrick, Bishop, Missionary to Ireland, 461, transferred)
Speakers: Pastor Phil Gustafson from Grace
March 22 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Jonathan Edwards, Teacher, Missionary to American Indians, 1758)
Speaker: Pastor Kari Williamson from Saint Andrew
March 29 + Midweek Soup Supper and Lenten Service
(Hans Nielson Hauge, Renewer of the Church, 1824)
Speakers: Pastors Veronica Alvarez and Jonathan Linman in a dialogue sermon
40 DAYS OF CARING FOR CREATION: A LENTEN PRACTICUM
It’s a beautiful planet, this Earth. Carl Sagan wrote of the view from space, “To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”
Home to 8-billion people now, Earth is heating up and heating up fast. None of us is immune from the resulting climate changes and their catastrophic effects. It’s “code red for humanity,” says the U.N. Secretary-General.
It’s Kairos time, says the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America in its draft social statement on Earth’s climate crisis, “a critical time when decisive action is required.”
This Lent, join us in taking decisive action! Featuring the Christian practices of fasting, almsgiving, and prayer, we will renew and improve our care of creation.
Here’s a hard truth: One person’s dietary and lifestyle changes won’t reverse a drought or stop the glaciers from melting or prevent a wildfire.
But here’s another truth, a truth about faith: We don’t have to carry on with our earth-crucifying ways. Nor do we have to be paralyzed by anxiety and despair. Each of us individually and all of us together can do better. We can choose to actively trust God’s vision for creation. We can do our part, small as it may be, to keep this Earth a habitable and wholesome home.
Join learner/facilitator Sheri Brown on Thursdays at 4:00 pm MST (AZ) for six half-hour virtual workshops, beginning Thursday, February 23, as we live into 40 days of caring for creation.
WEEKLY TOPICS
March 9: Your carbon footprint and what it says about walking the talk of faith.
March 16: Food choices and what they say about putting your money where your mouth is.
March 23: Human migration patterns and global demographic decline.
March 30: Purchasing choices and what they say about faith-based earth advocacy.
CULTIVATING CLIMATE JUSTICE RETREAT REGISTRATION
MARCH 10 – 12, 2023
CULTIVATING CLIMATE JUSTICE: TOOLS, HOPE, THEOLOGY, AND SPIRIT
Explore the economic, cultural, political, and ecological contours of the systemic crisis we face, and grow in the knowledge, skills, spiritual strength, and community that are so vital to forging the paths toward climate justice.
Click here for further information: https://spiritinthedesert.org/cultivating-climate-justice-registration/
Holy Week and Easter at Faith-La Fe
Here is our schedule for Holy Week and Easter 2023:
April 2 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Sunday of the Passion/Palm Sunday
April 6 at 7:00 pm + Maundy Thursday, Bi-lingual, Holy Communion, Foot Washing, Stripping of the Altar
April 7 + Good Friday: Noon, Stations of the Cross in English, 6:00 pm, Stations of the Cross in Spanish, and 7:30 pm, Liturgy in English
April 8 at 7:00 + Vigil of Easter with Reception of New Members
April 9 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Resurrection of Our Lord/Easter Day
Mark Your Calendars Now for Upcoming Special Worship Services
Further detail about the following special occasions for worship is forthcoming, but please note these special liturgies now in your calendars!
March 25 at 10:00 am + Annunciation of Our Lord, Holy Communion
May 18 at 7:00 pm + Ascension of Our Lord, Holy Communion
May 28 at 9:00 and 11:00 am + Day of Pentecost
May 31 at 7:00 pm + Visit of Mary to Elizabeth, Holy Communion
July 22 at 10:00 am + Mary Magdalene, Apostle, Morning Prayer
August 15 at 7:00 pm + Mary, Mother of Our Lord, Holy Communion
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, March 18 – a day to explore the intersections between Christian Spirituality and our health, holistically understood. We’ll consider health and wholeness biblically, engaging in some conversational bible study. There will also be time for some gentle, healthy, spiritually-focused exercises (prayer that uses our body), a healthy lunch, and then also a Service of the Word for Healing with laying on of hands and anointing with oil. Claim this day as part of your Lenten discipline.
Saturday, April 29 – an introduction to Lectio Divina, or sacred reading, an approach to prayerfully engaging scripture that emerges from the Benedictine tradition and is increasingly popular today among clergy and lay audiences. I’ve done extensive work on the experiential dynamics of lectio divina, and I’m eager to share insights for your inspiration and edification. We do a modified form of lectio divina during our Wednesday bible studies, but spending the day together will give us occasion to do this prayerful form of bible reading as it is more fully intended.
Saturday, June 3 – a day to more deeply explore the spirituality of preaching, with special focus on how sermons are occasions of spiritual guidance. We’ll also spend some more time on your role as listeners to sermons, and how you can get still more out of preaching for your spiritual edification. We will touch on listening to sermons at next Sunday’s adult forum, but focusing on this topic for a whole Saturday will give us occasion to go still more deeply into the topic. On this day, we’ll also learn some of what Luther had to say about preaching!
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 the 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.