By Jean Hope

Little Orphan Annie believes it will. Let’s see: we have had floods, fires earthquakes, and extremely destructive storms. Now we have this plague-like virus. I haven’t seen any locusts yet, but it could happen! Is the end near? I don’t think so. We have been given many gifts as we journey through these opportunities of our lives. I say opportunities rather than challenges because our perspective determines our response to all that life presents us with. We have been given a beautiful planet that provides us with a home, inspiration and the opportunity to be good stewards. We have faced natural and man-made disasters before and we have pulled together in community, proving that we have what it takes to follow the example of Jesus. It is hard to be positive and grateful at times like these. Dark days over extended periods of time don’t look like any blessing I have ever received. And yet it is the darkest days and months and years that help us discover who we are and what we really believe. It is said that the law of gratitude is the law of increase. As hard as it is to be grateful when doom seems to be bearing down on us, it is this doom that provides us with the greatest opportunity for growth. I hope and pray that I can remain grateful and aware of the blessing of growth that life has provided me so far. I look forward (sometimes with knees knocking) to discovering whatever the future holds.
 

One of the most heartbreaking things about being asked to shelter in place is that we no longer get to gather for Lunch & Bible Study at CGS. 
It was such a good time and we had so many people coming together for a shared meal and a shared word. We will have to try again once the dangerous infectious period has passed and we can gather again in person. 

Until then, we will try to bring you a new, interesting at-home Bible Study option each week. This week, while our new normal is still fresh, and our staff is getting adjusted to creating and sharing alternative resources, here is some of what already exists out there in the world: 

Click here for a list of hymns that are a perfect length for washing your hands. Learn them all before the pandemic is over!

Click here for a daily devotional to schedule into your new family routine. Maybe this is a chance to reset your family rhythm and include some regular faith practices.  

Click here to find an eBook on sale at Fortress Press - the ELCA affiliated publishing house. Their spring sale happens now and you might find a devotional or other interesting book you like for your kindle or e-reader. 
Or, if you'd like to borrow a book - the door that leads from the Great Hall to the CGS Library has been left unlocked. Use your code to get in to the church, go into the Library, and check out one of our excellent books! 

Last, but not least, if you want to watch interesting, beautiful videos that actually teach you something about the Bible, check out the Bible Project by clicking this link. The people who make these are really great teachers! 

This past week, the county of Santa Clara issued a ban on mass gatherings of 1,000 people or more. This is just the latest direction by health officials to reduce the likelihood that the coronavirus will be transmitted between people. Keeping at least 3 feet from others, opting to work from home, cancelling events and gatherings – all these things are forms of social distancing. How much distance is the right amount? When does caution turn into fear-mongering?   
 
The Bubonic Plague hit Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. In that first epidemic an estimated 30% of the population of Europe died. It left even the survivors weakened and vulnerable to other diseases.  That wasn’t the end. The plague kept returning in 5-12 year cycles, and then in longer intervals, until the late 15th century. Some towns were completely decimated, some deserted, and some spared entirely.
 
This affected every part of human life. The sudden rise in mortality forced everyone to suddenly become concerned with salvation, and therefore, righteous action.  Some asked what the faithful response to the plague could be. What were we supposed to do? In response to these questions Martin Luther wrote a letter titled “Whether One May Flee from a Deadly Plague.”
 
In his letter, Luther reminds us that as followers of Jesus we are not called to flee for the sake of our own health, but to serve those who suffer alongside us. He encouraged all people – each in their own vocational realm - to provide for the care of the sick, dying, and surviving. When some Christians said that they should ignore plague precautions because God could heal through supernatural means, Luther responded that God had given us doctors and medicines as means of healing. In all manners related to the plague, Luther reminded us that love of neighbor was the guiding principal and that this was made manifest not in abandoning one another, but in banding together.  
 
Luther said, “If my neighbor needs me, however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely, as stated above. See, this is such a God-fearing faith because it is neither brash nor foolhardy and does not tempt God. Moreover, those who have contracted the disease and recovered should keep away from others and not admit others into their presence unless it is necessary. Though they should receive aid in their time of need, as previously pointed out, after their recovery, they should act toward others so that no one becomes unnecessarily endangered on their account and thus they cause another’s death.”
 
Luther and many other faithful acted on what they said. Luther took into his house several people who were infected. His own children were infected and survived. Stories are told of Lutheran priests and nuns who tended to the homebound and dying when no one else would and remained uninfected themselves.
 
All this reminds me of the time when CGS responded in a similar way in the 1980s. When all the prevailing guidance about AIDS was to quarantine the sick many took the distancing precaution to lengths that proclaimed exclusion over caution. Lutherans in this place did not join in this fear-driven exclusion, but served and tended to the sick and dying. When patients had lost their community, family, and dignity because of that plague, faithful people in this congregation brought medicine, community, and the means of grace.
 
Once again we face a plague in our midst. And not for the first time in our lives we ask the question of whether or not it is the faithful response to flee or exclude. So it turns out that Martin Luther’s letter from 1527 is still relevant. We are called not to preserve ourselves, but to serve one another.
 
A pastor in the Wuhan province of China wrote an open letter stating “Christ has already given us his peace, but his peace is not to remove us from disaster and death, but rather to have peace in the midst of disaster and death, because Christ has already overcome these things (John 14:27, 16:33). Otherwise we have not believed in the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15), and, with the world, would be terrified of pestilence, and lose hope in the face of death.”
 
Please, dear people do not be afraid. Do not let the world’s broadcasting about the coronavirus fill you with such terror that you lose hope and remove yourself from the Body of Christ. God is with us, even in this. I hope that your response to this virus will be formed out of a desire to honor the life of every person instead of fear of your contagion and death.
 
At CGS we will still gather for worship, Bible study, Catechism, Pi day, Tai Chi, choir, and every other activity; though we’ll use more hand sanitizer than usual, touch one another a little less frequently, and be more vigilant about washing and wearing protective gear. When some of us need to stay home because our immune systems are compromised, we’ll reach out via phone, text, email, and video calls so that none of us is isolated. If there is a need, we will find a way to serve one another in ways that honor every body and every life.
 
If you’d like to read Martin Luther’s letter, there are copies by the couch in the Narthex, or linked here. If you have questions about how you can be safe or serve through CGS, please contact a member of council.
 
 

​REY LAMBATIN, CHOIR DIRECTOR
As we enter the season of Lent, we often think of this as the time for personal reflection and a time for solitary prayer, reading or meditation. There is no other time in the church year that gives me more opportunities for personal reflection like the season of Lent. It’s a tradition rooted in me by my very Catholic mom since I was a child. I knew back then when it is Lent season - our house, the community, and the church seem quieter and more solemn, and I realize that this is to encourage self-reflection and bring a sense of reverence to the occasion.

But Lent should not just be a personal journey.

Many times, we hear in the gospel and Sunday messages that we walk in our faith journey as a community, and Lent season shouldn’t be any different. We are a church, that we may offer support and encouragement to one another in our community. This is one of the reasons why in observance of this season we have, aside from the weekly worship services, the adult catechisms and bible studies on Wednesdays. It’s a good added opportunity for us to gather to fellowship, study together, and support and encourage each other. It is essential for us to find a balance between an individual Lenten journey within the context of community. And as the choir director, I believe this emphasizes more the value of collective singing, not just in the choir, but as a congregation. Each week we join our voices together to sing hymns of praise, healing, and inspiration. This, we may not realize it, is an act of encouragement to our community. That every time we use our voice to sing a hymn with the congregation, we are engaging fully as the worshiping body, and participating in our community’s faith journey.

​And in this Lent season, it is my prayer that this collective journey will enable each of us to contribute our individual gifts to an effort to make a difference in the community of God’s people.

Pastor Manda

Almsgiving is a funny old word. It means “to give money to the poor”. It is a powerful word. We can trace the root back thousands of years and through more than one language to ancient Greek – and there, “almsgiving” is a cousin to “have mercy.” This is what we do when we give our wealth to those who are poor – we give our mercy. 

In 12th century France there was a debate whether or not the poor had the right to insist on their own justice. It was widely accepted that almsgiving was right and good but the action left those in poverty being seen as objects in the lives of the wealthy, and not subjects of their own lives. 

I wish that I could say with confidence that our thinking had changed since then, but it’s not entirely true. So often the charity that we dispense to the poor through our public collections comes with strings attached or is done in ways that highlight the generosity and goodness of the giver. The method and means don’t seem to treat the people in poverty as subjects of their own lives but as objects of our giving. 
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To be merciful in the way that almsgiving asks of us, we have to look to Matthew 6, where often on Ash Wednesday, we read:  

One of the ways that we do almsgiving here is truly a lived experience of having mercy and giving our wealth – in secret – to those who are poor. We do this through the pastor’s discretionary fund. $2,000 of our offerings budgeted to give to individuals for their needs – buying clean pants, food, or gas; paying past due utility bills and rent; or probably some other needs that are even too personal or shameful to share with us. 
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I would like to invite you to dig deeper this Lent and make a contribution to this fund as a part of your almsgiving practice. You can see the special flyer in your bulletin for more information on how. As for the why, it’s because I want to invite you to practice storing up your treasure in a new place; not in the good feelings that come when people see how generous you are or in the satisfaction of knowing that you’re part of the solution, not the problem; but in the place where mercy lives and generates life abundant enough to sustain you and the poor people you live with.