Eucharist Prayer During Lent

Eucharistic prayers within Christian worship date back centuries. Within the Lutheran Christian tradition, Lutheran pastors are free to follow the form and function of a Eucharistic prayer but change the language and metaphors to suit the context. This is consistent with Martin Luther's teaching that worship should take place in the vernacular (the language of the people). 

Given that 50% of the members of Spirit of Grace come from Roman Catholic backgrounds but are not currently able to receive the Sacrament from Roman Catholic priests at Spirit of Grace, I have been experimenting with bringing more Roman Catholic language, culture, and responses into the Eucharistic Prayers written for Lent. While consulting with Director Vinci regarding some of the nonexplicit cultural practices common in Roman Catholic celebrations of the Eucharist, I have incorporated a little extra silence at a few key places and the sung responses our community previously used during Roman Catholic mass. 

 While there are some differences and nuanced ways in which Lutherans, Catholics, and other denominations understand the Eucharist, as far back as 1967, Roman Catholic and Lutheran theologians have agreed, "Our confessional documents have in common affirmed that Jesus Christ is ‘really,’ ‘truly’ and ‘substantially’ present in this sacrament. This manner of presence ‘we can scarcely express in words,’ but we affirm his presence because we believe in the power of God and the promise of Jesus Christ...."

I welcome your feedback regarding how these language changes may enhance or detract from the celebration of the Eucharist for you as we continue on our journey as an ecumenical community in Christ. 

— Pastor Robyn Hartwig

A Prayer Reflecting on the Good Samaritan by Don Manghelli

When we read the story of the Samaritan in the Gospel, we’ve been primed to think from the viewpoint of the Samaritan, as Fr. Chuck did in his thought-provoking homily last Sunday.  Yet a book I was recently reading by Padraig O’Tuama invited me to be the person beside the road. What if I were a Galilean? And the ones who jumped and beat me were from Judea, would I hold a grudge and hate for Judeans who did this horrible thing to me? After all, the law then was “an eye for an eye.” When I regained my strength, would I inflict my trauma back on the Judeans, in the way a Judean had hurt me?

Modern psychology tells us that unresolved trauma gets taken out on others. In war, we don’t kill another human, a sibling who God loves as much as us, but we kill a less than human, an “enemy.” 

The one we try to follow, Jesus, came with a path that lets go of the trauma—a path of forgiveness. Speaking of his persecutors while on the cross he said, “Abba, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

Forgiving allows us to let go of the pain and trauma of the wound. We won’t forget the acts that hurt us—just the feelings we hold on to about how we have been wronged. 

In South Africa, Nelson Mandela was very angry when he was young—a man who, like Saul, fought those who oppressed him and his Black siblings. He could only lose his anger and establish healing by establishing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission after spending 27 years in prison.

So I have to ask myself, “If I lived in Palestine now, would I be open to seeing a Jewish person as a wounded person like me, someone who inflicts their inherited wounds on me? If I were Jewish, would I be able to see Palestinians as people who come from the same Creator rather than Gentiles who have persecuted my ancestors? Can each side live in the now, by letting go of the past, to see common humanity, to see a way forward from their mutual violent acts?

For that we pray. We pray that grace will flow onto the Holy Land and its people. That a spiritual and cultural roadmap will emerge to lead to peace in a troubled land. We ask this in the name of the loving Mother of the whole human family, and the whole universe.  And we ask this in the name of Jesus, who with the Spirit, is with us today as the Christ.  We pray together:  Amen.

What Dream for Our Country? A Reflection by Pastor Janet Parker

An Introduction from Pastor Robyn Hartwig

From the January 6 Congressional Committee hearings to the Supreme Court decisions on abortion and guns, there is so much unfolding in the life of our nation right now. As our country prepares to celebrate Independence Day on July 4, I will be turning over the sermon time to you on July 3 and inviting your own perspectives on the theme of "I Have a Dream" from Martin Luther King, Jr. Specifically, I invite all of us to consider:

1. How might you describe God's dream or your dream for our country?

2. As you consider this dream, what gives you hope and what weighs heavy on your heart?

3. Understanding that Christian faith calls us to civic engagement for the common good, are there particular ways you feel called to help realize this dream?

As we each consider our own perspectives, Pastor Janet Parker offers her reflection below.

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“The Spirit of our God is upon me:
because the Most High has anointed me
to bring Good News to those who are poor.
God has sent me to proclaim liberty to those held captive,
recovery of sight to those who are blind,
and release to those in prison—
to proclaim the year of our God's favor.”
Luke 4:18-19

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When I read Jesus’ “mission statement” in Luke, I see the contours of God’s dream for human society. I see Jesus’ vision of the kin-dom of God, the beloved community he came to inaugurate. In today’s terms, I read this passage to mean building a society of social, economic, and racial equity, where Black Lives Matter, mass incarceration ends, people’s basic needs are met, and oppressed groups are liberated and secure. And I would extend this vision to include the full and equal participation in self-governance—democracy—as the law of the land. I believe Jesus would be on board with that!

From the time I was born until 2016, I felt pretty confident that our nation was making slow if uneven progress toward these goals. Even after the 2016 election, I clung to faith that we would self-correct and return to our more typical pattern of two steps forward, one step back progress towards a more just society. However, the events leading up to and following January 6 and the Supreme Court’s recent decisions dismantling established voting rights and women’s rights have shaken me to the core. Now, I realize that I have been woefully naïve about the fragility of our American democratic experiment and the inherent flaws in its foundation. I am deeply worried about the survival of democracy as we know it, and about the basic freedoms and safety for anyone who is not a cisgender, straight, Christian, white male. This is what literally keeps me up at night.

But if the last couple of years have taught me anything, it’s that I constantly need to interrogate my assumptions. For example, why was I able to assume for most of my life that the American story was largely one of slow, uneven but inexorable progress towards “a more perfect union?” And why am I so quickly liable to feel demoralized and despairing when powerful, entrenched forces threaten to sweep away hard-earned gains and turn back the clock?

I am slowly realizing that these assumptions and feelings are a sign of my unrecognized white privilege, a symptom, I might even say, of a kind of “white fragility.” Because Black folks are not surprised when white supremacy rears its ugly head and scores victories, or when domestic terrorists launch attacks, or even when whole branches of government are taken hostage by regressive forces and their rights are stripped away. And while they no doubt feel anger and fear when this happens, they know that despair and inaction are not an option. For Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, hope is not a feeling; it’s a spiritual discipline—a practice of choosing to act for a better world.

Some Black leaders I am now listening to—Dr. Peniel Joseph and Rev. William Barber II—are calling our era “The Third Reconstruction.” The First Reconstruction, after the Civil War, brought great progress and real political power for Black people, but Southern whites violently dismantled it by the end of the 19th century (Jim Crow) and it took more than fifty years for the Second Reconstruction to break out—the Civil Rights era with all its achievements. Then, the marriage of the religious and political right at the end of the 1970's began rolling back these gains until the Third Reconstruction began with the election of President Obama.

With each period of progress for African Americans, a strong backlash has followed (Make America Great Again!) The difference this time is that White progressives are finally aware that our democracy and our rights are at stake too. And this time, women, LGBTQIA folks, environmental activists, and people of color are more aware that all oppressions are interconnected—all stem from an ideology that believes white, cisgender, heterosexual Christian men are created by God to rule family and society. These things give me hope: our increasing awareness of our intersectionality and the incredible resilience of Black, Brown and Indigenous struggles for justice. And above all else, my faith that God’s Spirit is the wind in the sails of every movement bound for freedom land.

In this moment of national crisis, I am struggling with the best way to deploy my energies. I feel pulled in several directions. I feel called to keep “doing my own work” when it comes to anti-racism education and to look for ways to engage in the issues I care about with “rainbow coalitions” or what William Barber II calls “fusion coalitions.” I also know that I have skills I can offer as a Christian ethicist and pastor to help ground our activism in our faith and defuse the hatred arising out of our polarizing environment. I’d like to find more targeted and effective ways to offer these gifts.

Whatever I do, I am committed to careful power analysis and to making sure the means match the ends—because otherwise we’ll just replicate the same unjust power arrangements in new forms. I hope to connect with many of you to hear how you are feeling called to respond to our current crisis; perhaps together we can find our way toward not just preserving, but strengthening our democracy.

-- Janet Parker

What Dream for Our Country? A Reflection by Pastor Brian Brandt

An Introduction from Pastor Robyn Hartwig

As our country prepares to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th, I will be devoting the July 3rd sermon time to one-to-one conversations on the theme of "I Have a Dream" from Martin Luther King, Jr. I will invite us to consider:

1. How might you describe God's dream or your dream for our country?

2. As you consider this dream, what gives you hope and what weighs heavy on your heart?

3. Are there particular ways you feel called to help realize this dream?

To help us all begin to consider our own perspectives, Pastor Brian Brandt and Pastor Janet Parker accepted the invitation to share some of their own reflections this week and next. Thank you to Pastor Brian Brandt for his offering below.

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I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.  — Isaiah 43:19

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When I retired a year ago, the new thing I planned for myself was walking along forest paths, meditating beside still waters, dwelling in sacred scriptures. In other words, making laziness my spiritual practice.
 
But God, it seems, has other plans. I’ve heard the Spirit’s call to organize a “Faith in Democracy” team working under the auspices of The Lincoln Project, specifically with its network of partners known as The Union.
 
The Union is “a pro-democracy coalition dedicated to saving our democracy from the authoritarian attacks it currently faces.” I’d seen The Union’s call for volunteers, so I filled out a form and listed my skills. I didn’t think they’d have any use for a pastor but offered my services anyway. Several months later, I got a call from The Union’s volunteer coordinator. She asked if I’d organize a faith-based group to address the religious dimension of the authoritarian movement sweeping America.  Once we’d talked, my heart said, “Here I am; send me!”
 
Why did my heart say “yes”? Because I’m worried about how religious faith is being misused by right-wing zealots to harm our nation. Because I don’t like how the name of Jesus is being misused to erode love for our neighbors, abuse human dignity, undermine the common good, and destroy the democracy we’ve used to secure these values.
 
It’s been a month since God summoned me to this new thing. I’ve got six partners on the Faith in Democracy team, Christians of all sorts from across the nation.  More will join us. We’re getting to know other teams in The Union. We’re figuring out what to say, how to share our message effectively.  The way forward is coming into focus.  The task is daunting. We feel less than capable. But God calls the weak and lowly to do great things. So, like Mary, I say to the angel: “I am the servant of my God; let it be with me according to your will.”
 
I am interested in being part of a new thing at Spirit of Grace, too. As you see in Pastor Robyn’s introduction, on July 3 she’s planning one-to-one conversations on questions drawn from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. My own interest is to be in conversation with people who want to explore “Faith in Democracy” at Spirit of Grace.
 
Why is “Faith in Democracy” important? No form of government can adequately embody the Reign of God. But authoritarian regimes actively work against it. Living in God’s reign means protecting human dignity, promoting the flourishing of individuals in their communities, and caring for the whole creation as if our lives depended on it. In God’s reign, we use love to do justice for all people, especially for those who are least, weakest, and most at risk. We do all this to express our devotion to God.
 
In America today, all this is at risk: dignity, decency, freedom, love, and justice — all these are at risk because of a growing militant authoritarian political movement that comprises “a clear and present danger to American democracy.” Our democracy “is on a knife’s edge.” [Retired Judge J. Michael Luttig, to the January 6 Committee]  Adding insult to injury, in this so-called “Christian nation,” these aspiring authoritarians abuse the name of Jesus to help them do their dirty work.
 
Personally, I find this as outrageous as it is astonishing. I never thought such things could happen here, in America, during my lifetime. Something new and profoundly dangerous is sweeping across America. We must respond by doing something new, as God’s people, to “bring forth the City of God” in our communities and our country — for ourselves, our children, and our descendants for all generations to come.
 
I believe God is doing a new thing, calling us to a new practice of Faith in Democracy. If you feel as I do, please join the conversation.
 
Brian Brandt
Formerly the interim pastor at Spirit of Grace