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By Daniel Thomas, Church Musician
I write this while in New York at a conference of theatrical producers (I am the Executive Director of 42nd Street Moon, a musical theatre company in San Francisco). One of the topics that has been a focus for us is the revival of older shows for modern audiences – in particular, shows that, in light of changing attitudes and acceptances towards race, gender, and sexuality, could be perceived as difficult, not in line with our current sensibilities and/or beliefs, or even worse, offensive or oppressive. Many of the shows that are discusses are considered “classics” and are well-loved by millions of people – to the point that many of the questionable content may not even register with a lot of people. As an example, even musicals that are currently receiving major Broadway revivals, such as “Carousel” and “My Fair Lady,” raise questions about empowerment, gender balance, and patriarchy that, when viewed through the prism of current events and mores, make those pieces look a bit antiquated or even regressive. A question that gets repeated is: how do we honor the legacy and craft of a hundred-plus years of theatre (and allow us the opportunity to hear some of the greatest music ever written) while recognizing that these are products of the time in which they were written, and often no longer reflect the world that we live in? This reminds me of a struggle with our Lutheran musical traditions that we have, especially as we look at Reformation and Christ the King. We have hundreds of years of hymns that use the language of war and patriarchy – and yet, millions of people, if asked to think of their best-loved hymns, will give you “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” or “A Mighty Fortress is our God” or other such pieces. Often it’s simply because that’s the familiar – we heard these songs countless times in the churches of our childhood, and so they are inexorably tied to the development of our faith, and the language and words may no longer register (or may never have) as problematic? So how do we balance the desire for the familiar (and often beautiful) music that is part of our faith tradition with the necessity to grow in our inclusiveness? Is it enough for us to excise the language of violence, or to play (as an online detractor put it) “pronoun police” with references to God? Or, will we find it necessary to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and to simply focus on the breadth and depth of music that is being written in current generations? And will be asking the same or similar questions about these pieces 20 years from now? I am not going to pretend to have any answers to these questions, although I love having the discussions. That said, spoiler alert: you’ll be hearing “A Mighty Fortress” in service on Reformation – just the music, though, not the words, as I think it’s a beautiful and timeless melody, and, for better or worse, because it represents a fundamental part of our history and tradition as Lutherans. I hope that all of us can have honest, open, and loving discussions about the parts and process of worship as we continue to move forward with the light and grace of God.
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By Joe Shackelford
I have been a member of CGS for only 5 years, compared to so many of you who have been here for many years. This is already my 3rd year on the CGS council. Some of you were here at the ground breaking of the original sanctuary, which is now the Great Hall. In this light, it gives me a very humbling view of this faith-based community, for your faith, your willingness to give your time, talent and financial support and a vision you had with each successive step. You all have made great leaps of faith during those many years, from the onerous project of building our new sanctuary and school. Those decisions have made profound changes in your journey and for the betterment of our members and greater community. We are now looking forward to how we can be better stewards of the wondrous gifts God has bestowed on us. This is an exciting time and CGS needs all its members to participate. This new journey is not just about the physical building, but it is about how we as members are going to serve anew, beyond the building and out into our community. CGS needs all of us, not just some. As in the past you all took part, you all gave your ideas. Some agreed and some did not but you continued to discuss until together you decided what was best for congregation as a whole and you achieved it. Now is not the time to step back and let others do, thinking that you are not listened to or not important. YOU ARE! You have been an essential part before and you are an essential part now, no matter how young or old. I had thought about not continuing with being a member of the CGS council seeing as this year is the end of my term, but have decided to take another term if you will let me. I cannot allow myself not to be a part of this exciting adventure. I pray that you all will be too. With God our Christ the Good Shepherd as our guide we will not fail. May God bless us all. Your devoted servant, Joe Shackelford
The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication helps explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action.
FILLED WITH THE MALAGASY SPIRIT On her first night in Fianarantsoa, Madagascar, Minnesota native Erika Storvick felt overwhelmed by her decision to serve there through the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program. “It’s probably the place that is most different from Minnesota,” she said of Madagascar. Through YAGM, Storvick answered a call to spend a year volunteering alongside Malagasy companions teaching English to primary, secondary and deaf students, and growing in faith. But that night she asked herself, “Why have I chosen to live on the other side of the world for an entire year?” Though she didn’t have an answer at the time, Storvick knows now that the experience helped her become more open-minded. While teaching was fulfilling, the Malagasy spirit—being intentional with others, to the point where time and schedules take a back seat as one focuses on relationships—really filled her heart. “I was a very overscheduled, overinvolved person before, so at first, my life felt empty if I didn’t have something scheduled for every minute of every day,” she said. “[But] you have so many more opportunities to grow if you don’t schedule every minute.” The challenges of living alone, walking an hour one-way to the deaf school where she taught arts and crafts, and overcoming a language barrier were at times daunting, Storvick said. But she stuck with it, said Kirsten Laderach, an ELCA pastor and YAGM country coordinator for Madagascar. Laderach’s work with YAGM is primarily funded through Mission Support. “She … just kept doing the work that you do when life’s not easy, which I really appreciate about her,” Laderach said. Storvick said the community spirit she was shown by people she met helped make her year abroad one of lasting importance. “I think I’m a better person because I did YAGM,” she said. “It’s taught me that [from] the places and people I least expect, you can grow friendships, and even in very humbling situations ... [when] you know nothing or none of the answers—those are the places I saw God.” To read more stories, visit ELCA.org/SOFIA and download a copy of Stories of Faith in Action.
Singer Focus-Mike White
I started singing in the summer before 5th grade. I had auditioned for the school choir in 4th grade and I was not selected - I was not happy about it. That summer, I joined the youth choir at my church to learn how to sing, and made the school choir the following year. I was also playing in the school band, so music just became part of my life. My band teacher told me I had a good ear and could pick things up quickly. The summer before 7th grade, my mother enrolled me in summer school to improve my reading, and I took Musical Theater as one of my electives. I played Tommy Albright in Brigadoon. That was the first time I got to sing a solo, and it was the first time I had to kiss a girl. After that production, I fell in love with singing and performing. I sang in the after-school choir and performed in shows all through Junior High and High School. I picked band as my elective and took up the alto saxophone and the flute. In high school, I was a self-proclaimed band geek and even became the drum major of the Oak Grove High School Golden Eagle Marching Band. I performed in the school musical every year and even got to play my hero – Charlie Brown – in one show. In college, I took a voice class for fun and started singing in a choir again. Phil Boyer is the reason I started singing with the CGS choirs. After a separation with my then partner, I started singing with Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus to make some new friends. As luck would have it, I got placed next to Phil and he invited me to sing at CGS because they needed another baritone for a Christmas song they were going to perform. I was so flattered that Phil invited, it wasn’t until a month later that I realized that he was really setting me up with my future husband – Rey Lambatin. They had to bring in another voice to help with my part. Both of the CGS choirs have become my musical home. I love singing with the Keynotes – it is an amazing brotherhood to be a part of. The mixed choir is my small family, and I love singing with the ladies. It will probably upset them for me to tell everyone this, but it is like having my mom around. My parents live in Montana now, and I don’t get to see them much. So, I consider the ladies of the choir my second mom. Singing is work, but it is also a lot of fun. Something very special happens when a group of people sing together. Nothing compares to the feeling when your voices blend to produce beautiful inspiration to those that are listening. My heart is filled when I sing. Everyone should give it a try. (Editor’s note-if you want to give it a try, the mixed choir rehearses every Thursday @ 7pm here at CGS, come check it out!)
The publication Stories of Faith in Action and the resources that go along with it are designed to share how important your weekly offering in your congregation is in sustaining and growing God’s mission. The portion of your offerings that support the ELCA’s synodical and churchwide ministries is called Mission Support. The publication helps explain and answer questions about Mission Support and tell the story of those gifts in action.
The summer before Nate Berkas started high school, he went on a camping trip that would change his life. Berkas said his faith journey began in earnest on a five-night visit to the Boundary Waters with Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry, an ELCA camp in Cook, Minn. “It was the first opportunity for me to feel and see and experience God in a really tangible way,” Berkas said. He went on several more trips to the area throughout high school before becoming a camp counselor in college, when he spent four successive summers working with youth at camp. “I realized through that experience that I was really passionate about outdoor ministry and really interested in pursuing that as a profession,” Berkas said. The next step in his journey came through acceptance into the ELCA Young Adults in Global Mission (YAGM) program, which is funded in part by Mission Support. Berkas, who grew up in Madagascar while his parents served as missionaries there, applied for YAGM because “it was my own opportunity to see God at work in various ways around the world and to be formed and transformed by our companions.” A highlight of Berkas’ YAGM year serving alongside companions from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa was a weeklong camp in Cape Town. The experience affirmed in Berkas the importance of “outdoor ministry and creating space for young people to come that’s outside of their normal context ... and to send them back renewed and refocused.” After returning home, Berkas served for five years at the ELCA churchwide organization, stewarding the relationships between ELCA missionaries and their sponsoring congregations. His experience with the many facets of nonprofit management would later be an asset when he accepted his current position. “While I loved so much of what I was doing [to support churchwide global ministries], where I feel most called is going back to that canoe trip after eighth grade and thinking about how formative that was for my life,” he said. Today, Berkas is site director at Wilderness Canoe Base—another ELCA camp in the Boundary Waters—where he gets to give young people the same experience he had as a camper. “I feel a deep call to this type of ministry,” he said. “I’m grateful for the way that all of this has worked together to shape where I am.”
By Pastor Manda
The festival of All Saints occurs just as the landscape in the Northern Hemisphere heralds the change of season – when some plants die away and others bring a surprisingly sweet winter bloom. This is the time when we ring the bell, light the candles, and remember those who have died in the past year. This is one of the gifts of Church: to speak honestly about human frailty and mortality. In other communities and spaces, such talk is too risky and inappropriate. Still, this truth rules our living days and without a place to feel the feelings and share the thoughts, we would become slaves to our fears of death. I know that many people love our sister Jean who has been an active part of our congregation and is now in the process of actively dying. And I hear the prayers of intercession that various people lift up about our loved ones, friends, and neighbors who are struggling to hold on to a life which they are not ready to relinquish. At the same time that we are faced with death, we confess our faith in a risen Lord, the communion of saints, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. Both life and death might bring us fear and uncertainty and still the liturgy callus us to hear God’s promise that Christ is with us in life and in death. This year in worship on November 4th we will once again lift up with the ring of a bell, the names of those in our community who have died in the past calendar year. And we know that there are more people in our lives and in our world who have died, so we will light candles in their honor. In doing so, we hope to remind one another that God unites us all into one body – beyond even death. If you remember someone of CGS who has passed away since November of 2017, please drop a note in the offering plate or send Pr. Manda an email. If you would like to help us prepare for All Saints Sunday, please let us know in the office. And if you want to light a candle in honor of someone in your life who has died, please be sure to join us for worship on November 4th. Thank you, God for the many people throughout the generations who have followed you faithfully and made your abundant life known to us. In the midst of trial, they held on to your promise; in the midst of hatred, they kindled love; in the midst of persecutions, they witnessed to your power; in the midst of despair, they proclaimed hope. We thank you for the truth they passed on to us: that by giving, we receive; by becoming weak, we are strong; by loving others we find love; and by dying we shall find life everlasting. God, give us courage to follow their example and join with them in the communion of all the saints.
You might remember Mary & Patrick September from when they visited CGS in their RV. They are now living in Washington and continuing in their quest to live together legally in the United States. Read an update about their process here:
On Tuesday, August 21, 2015, after a 12-½ year battle with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), including almost four years’ separation, my husband, Patrick, now with U.S. Legal Permanent Residence (LPR) status, landed at SeaTac International airport. Our 8-year-old son, Solomon, and I were waiting anxiously and I sobbed with elation and relief at seeing him after almost four years’ separation. However, my joy was premature. Since he’s been here, the welcome has been mixed, the betrayals bitter, with family that cannot get past their politics to welcome a brother, and the U.S. government spasmodically reversing its policies and legacy. Historically, processing a citizenship application (N-400), has taken 3-4 months. Lately, however, average wait times across the country for citizenship applications to be processed have doubled. We had hopes that this grueling process would be done by the end of 2018 but are apparently playing a game of Chutes and Ladders, again finding ourselves sliding several rows backwards just as the end is in sight. In the spring of 2016, Patrick, Solomon and I traveled around Washington state, telling our story. Time after time, people came to us with their immigration stories, impossible dilemmas and heartbreaking choices; Do you feed your children in one country or care for your ailing parents in another? “This is the great American democracy you foisted on us?” Patrick, a self-respecting survivor of South Africa’s apartheid government, asked me sardonically. Over the years I’ve been lauded for “doing it legally.” It’s an ingratiating phrase people have tacked on my chest like a mildew-y corsage, especially since we are now faced with a government that may never let us rest entirely at ease that we can remain here together. Instead of processing years of backlogged N-400 applications, the federal government is currently diverting resources into searching through old citizenship applications, looking for ways to rescind citizenship already granted. We have no guarantee that the same won’t happen to us in the future. During my family’s years of separation, determined to protect other families from the same fate, I started volunteering as a paralegal. Helping people fill out the 20-page N-400 application was my way of “paying it forward” and the questions range from laughable to ludicrous. “Between March 23, 1933 and May 8, 1945, did you work for or associate in any way (either directly or indirectly) with the Nazi government of Germany?” In response I get a blank look of incomprehension from the 24-year-old El Salvadoran mother of three who has been in the U.S. since she was 6-months-old. Equally baffling is my explanation of “an order of nobility in a foreign country.” When I mime a crown on my head, there are giggling outbursts in Swahili, Tagolog and Cantonese. On my way to mail Patrick’s N-400, I stopped to see the attorney who is advising us through this phase of the process. I ask him, “I hear wait times are double what they used to be, so we can expect to have an answer in 7-8 months?” “No, you’ll be waiting 14-17 months. The federal government is ‘punishing’ cities like Seattle for being proactive in providing naturalization services to their foreign-born community members.” (WTF!?!) Later, at the post office, “Do you want to pay extra to expedite the shipping? Laughing, I replied, “We’ve been at this for 15-½ years and they’re going to make us wait another year and a half. No, I don’t think it’s necessary to pay extra to rush it.” However I did pay extra to make sure I was notified and had proof when they’d received it. We’ve had enough pieces of our application “lost” only to be “found” when Patrick traveled hundreds of miles to show up in person and bellow at some poor soul working in a god-forsaken U.S. Consular office in Pretoria or Johannesburg or some other city. It’s a common occurrence, this “losing” of an application by the U.S. Embassy or USCIS only to have it resurface after a deadline has passed. The applicant is forced to reapply, pay the fee again, resubmit all the documents, update medical tests, etc. If the American tech industry functioned the way this branch of the U.S government does, we’d still be writing with charcoal on pieces of slate. Last night we had ice cream as a family in a modest celebration of the day’s event. After Solomon was in bed, I hesitantly asked Patrick, “So, did you know it was going to be a year and a half, instead of the 3-4 months we were expecting? Blase, he replied, “I don’t know what you’re worried about. When God decides it’s time for me to have it, it will be released.”What I wouldn’t do for the confidence that comes with his world-view! It’s not that I’m not grateful to be at this particular threshold in what looks like it will be a 17-year process to live in my own country with my husband, but disillusionment and cynicism have take up permanent residence in my gut. I hear the protesting of Americans from all walks of life as they observe current events, politics and the national discourse on immigration: “We’re better than this!” and I wonder, are we really? Or will we remain complacent until our own personal status quo is at stake? I for one, am ready to see Americans stop Being “better than this” and start Doing “better than this.”
By Pastor Manda
Last week we kicked off the Listening Phase. On its own, that name leaves a lot of questions. “Phase” implies that there is some multi-step process – but of what? What process? And to what end? When I arrived at CGS over four years ago, the worshipping community here was ready to use the momentum of a new pastor to organize us into a unified way forward – to the new future of CGS. That kicked off a Vision and Mission process. Where a committee of people led us in surveys and conversations to identify just exactly what God was calling us to in this world. I mean, we could just get together to drink coffee and eat donuts and we’d be happy as pigs in mud. But is that really our purpose? The faithful group discerned over almost a year and a lot of work, that we were called to proclaim God’s love in the world, to welcome all people, and to serve one another and the world. But what did that look like? Does coffee and donuts accomplish this mission? Maybe. The council at the time wasn’t sure. But they knew that without a plan, and some measurable goals, we might squander the opportunity to form a meaningful and fulfilling spiritual community. So they asked some people to dedicate their time and energy to making a plan. These people again, asked the congregation “What could we do that would proclaim God’s love?” and “How can we show people they’re welcome as a part of this congregation?” and “Where does God need us to serve?” This group also walked around the neighborhood and found out what is happening in our immediate community. They considered our resources, needs, and assets; and they considered how God might be moving in the world. Which led them to this proposal (in my own words, not theirs), the entirety of which you can find on our website.
So far, this process has felt like my first year of driving. Fits and starts, swerves and near misses, and the open road of freedom. Some of the things we’ve done have felt rather easy, like replacing our lawn with life-giving plants and a garden. Sometimes we take a step forward and then two or three backwards, like when we found an architect to work with and then the California fires meant they couldn’t move forward with us. Most of this work has been done in meetings of small teams on nights and weekends. People who have been able, have given considerable amounts of their time and energy. There aren’t awards ceremonies for work like this. And because we’re so focused on where this work is taking us, we don’t lift our heads up and talk about where we are. So this is where we are: we’re on the way. We have some big goals and are only starting to flesh out the details of how we’ll accomplish them. Right now we want to know if you’re up for moving forward. If there is enough trust between us and clarity of our mission to endeavor for big projects like remodeling the building and starting new service ministries. That’s what the MAP survey and Kairos Interviews are for. And in the meantime, I want to thank the people who helped us get this even this far: Vision and Mission Team: Amelia Johnson, Beate Teufel, George Liao, Joy Larsen, Bill Mille, Ray Tovar, Chuck Witschorik Sr., Jack Wall, & Shirley Woods Building Into Our Future Task Force: Steve Weirauch, Bob Charves, Chelsea Byom, LaVerne Washington, Ansgar Furst Liaison to the Architect: Steve Weirauch Liaison to the Development Consultant: Theo Olson Beyond the Building Team: Janet Keeley, Steve Weirauch, Theo Olson, Sarah Janigian |
Christ the Good ShepherdVarious editorials, articles, and other items of interest. Archives
September 2024
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