Losing your life to Find Your Life

Have you ever read a book that changed your life? Sunday when I asked that in church, most people said “Yes, the bible.” Any other book change your life? Several books have turned my life completely around. One of them is a book by the Catholic Monk, James Finley. He was a student of Thomas Merton, the famous Trappist Monk. When I was twenty-one years old I read a little book by Finley called, Merton’s Palace of Nowhere. I admit, the title did not grab me. But the subtitle did: Discovering God through a Discovery of Your True Self. In fact, I have read this small book numerous times, and have recommended it to many, because for me it zeroed right in on the message of last Sunday’s gospel.
This last Sunday churches around the world read the gospel where Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whoever of you wishes to save your life will lose it, but whoever loses your life for the sake of the gospel will find it.”
What? What is Jesus saying? This paradox is at the heart of this life of faith. Finley’s book helped me to understand what Jesus was saying. Finley suggests we think of it as I printed it in the title of this blog: losing our life – with a lower case “l” in order to find our Life – with a capital “L.”

In other words, most of us live too small. We go about our daily lives worrying what we will have for lunch or the phone calls we need to make. How seldom do we live that bigger Life which God is calling us to live each and every day? Do we have the courage to truly live our lives as Spiritual Adventure? To follow God’s lead in big and small ways every moment, every day?
This past weekend was also Labor Day weekend. eighteen years ago I began a tradition at our church, which you are welcome to try at your community of faith. Every Labor Day weekend we have members of our community of faith speak about what they do for their life work, their sense of vocation or calling to the work that they do, the gifts God has blessed them with to do what they do, and how they see God in the midst of all this.

What about you? If you see what you do every day in this way, it will never feel like work again! You will begin to live your Life as Spiritual Adventure.
But you need to know that when Jesus talks about living this way he also talks about the cross. In terms of his own life, or fulfilling his own calling, he lets his disciples know that for him this will mean suffering and death. Then he tells his disciples, “If you really want to be my disciple, you must take up your cross, and follow me.” THEN he adds, “For whoever of you wants to save your life will lose it, but whoever of you loses your life for my sake and for the sake of the Gospel (literally the Good News or Good Message) will save your Life.” So…Jesus makes no bones abut it. This way of life will not be easy. In fact it will involve suffering.

The more I study the various faith traditions of this world, I see that every single one of them tells us that there are two great universal experiences we all go through in this life: suffering and love.
To live our Lives as Spiritual Adventure is not always easy. We will suffer. Sunday I shared the story of my own calling. When I was just fifteen years old I felt called to be a pastor. My mother was so excited about this that she told me to have our Vicar (seminarian studying to be a pastor) over for dinner to tell him the good news. After dinner, I got up the nerve and told him with great excitement that I had experienced God calling me to be a pastor.
He laughed at me. He laughed so hard that he pounded the arms of the chair in which he sat, and then, still pounding to emphasize each word, proclaimed: “You? A pastor? You can NEVER be a pastor! You…are a girl!”
At this point my quiet, stoic Swedish father, the father of four daughters, spoke: “Vicar, if God is calling my daughter to be a pastor, then, by God, she will be a pastor.” Then my father added, “Now I will show you to the door.” That was my father’s polite way of kicking the guy out of the house!

My father was right. Since God was calling me, by God, I have become a pastor. But it was not without my share of suffering. Nevertheless, it has been one amazing, difficult, challenging, joyful, intense, glorious Spiritual Adventure.
So…what about you? What is the Life God is calling you to live? And what is keeping you from that? One of the speakers at our church, an amazing woman whose own journey has included great suffering, but also abundant Life, said that she has a huge poster up in her house which she sees every time she walks in her door. It is a quote by the writer E. M. Forrester, which says, “Are you willing to let go of the life (with a lower case “l”) which you planned, in order to live the Life (with a capital “L”) which is waiting for you?”

May you see God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all thou encounter,

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright September 2, 2014

Take the Challenge

 I am on the train heading back to RI after a wonderful couple of days in New York City. I stayed with my daughter, Juliana, an actor and nanny. Last night I filmed Jules as she accepted the Ice Bucket Challenge. Five friends had challenged her to dump a bucket of ice water over her head to raise awareness and funds to help stop the brutal illness ALS. (see side link for the video of her Ice Bucket Challenge if you wish)I have heard a lot of hype about the Ice Bucket Challenge. This morning I heard that George W. Bush did it, and challenged Bill Clinton to do it. Pretty cool that some things, like stomping out ALS, cross partisan lines. I myself have been committed to ending ALS, ever since the husband of one of my dearest friends fought a courageous battle, then died at age 37 from ALS. I am not sure who thought this whole Ice Bucket Challenge thing up, but I am always encouraged when someone uses their creativity to challenge people to work together, have fun, and fight for an important cause all at the same time. Now I would like to challenge you, each and every one of you who is reading this blog, to take up another challenge. A challenge to use your creativity to bring people together, have fun, and fight for an important cause.

I came to New York this weekend with my nephew, John and his family. On the way here my nephew and I had a wonderful, challenging conversation. Two things weighed heavily on my mind when I got into my nephew’s car Sunday night: Ferguson, MO, and income inequality, two things which are actually very deeply related. Sunday the new Vicar (intern) at our church, Brett Hertzog Betkoski, had preached his first sermon, and it was what I call a “Kick butt” sermon, which is the greatest compliment I can give a preacher. It was about Ferguson and racism and income inequality. (See link in sidebar to hear this sermon). So I was all revved up by this sermon, and by wanting to do something about Ferguson in some way.

My nephew John and I are pretty far apart on the political spectrum. Our life work is pretty different too: I am a pastor, writer, and spiritual director; he is the Director of Health Care Coverage for Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, the eighth largest bank in the world by assets. But despite our differences, we deeply love each other, respect each other, and enjoy being challenged by each other’s very different perspectives. And…we both care deeply about our country and the challenges we face as a nation, especially in the aftermath of Ferguson, and the deep racial, economic, and political chasms that exist between us in these sadly not so “United” States. In fact, when John was a college student, he and I worked as a team organizing community service projects for “Rebuilding Together,” and Youth Service and Opportunity Program (YSOP) in Providence, RI, and New York City. John is a brilliant financial executive with soul. If he ever runs for president, I will vote for him, even though it would probably mean crossing party lines! But I would keep challenging him to continue to see things from “the other side” also.

 Isn’t that the beginning of bridging the great divides? To actually engage in conversation with people who feel on the opposite end of the spectrum, to open ourselves to truly listening respectfully to their perspective, and to be mature enough to admit when we are wrong, or short-sighted, or clueless? One time I spent the six hour drive back from my son’s home in Delaware really ticked off at him over a challenging conversation we had had. By the end of the drive I realized that I was ticked off because he had struck a nerve! He was right! I needed to change that entrenched belief I had been clinging to because it was inherently wrong! Are you a big enough person to admit when you are wrong? Only then will you be able to learn, to expand your perspective, and to be part of the bridge rather than part of the great chasm that divides people from one another. For many years I have had a close friend who at the beginning of our friendship admitted to me that he was racist. This took a lot of courage on his part, because he knows that I am passionately against racism. Rather than end our friendship, we entered the challenging place of talking about his racism, of trying to understand where it came from, and what it is he is really afraid of deep down. I have seen him change, I would even say transform! I continue to challenge him. How will racism ever end unless we white people have the courage to challenge our racist friends, family members, co-workers, and the systems which maintain racism? How will our nation ever again experience unity we have in the past when Republicans and Democrats worked together for the common good to build a stronger nation for ALL?

The day after our conversation my nephew John said, “You know I thought a lot about what you said, and did a couple of hours of research on income inequality, and some of my previous information had not been as accurate as I had thought, so thank you for the conversation.” Imagine the maturity of a young financial executive who s willing to change his mind? I replied, “Yes, well, thank you, because I had been shortsighted and had not-considered the international dimension of income inequality, and really need to think about that (namely that if we put “caps” on salaries at the highest income levels, or too heavy a tax burden,then many of our most brilliant, talented people will move to other countries where they can continue to make a billion dollar income where there are no income caps and where there are less tax burdens).” In other words, we were both willing to learn and to change, to open ourselves to hearing the other perspective.

So, my challenge to each of you does not require you to dump a bucket of ice water on your head. That might get a lot of hype, but it is only worthwhile if you let it change you. My challenge is for you to be willing to change. My challenge is for you to have a difficult conversation, at least once a week, to be a big enough person to admit your own short-sightedness, and to let that conversation change and expand you. That is step one. Step two is to watch a film called “Inequality for All” (available through Netflix), and then discuss it with people who you know are on the opposite end of the political spectrum from you. Finally my challenge to you is for all of us to use our creativity, our intelligence, our skills and talents, our genius to bring people together,  and end the chasms of racism and income inequality which are plaguing our nation, our world. A nation is judged not on how it treats the brightest and best of its citizens, but on how it treats the most vulnerable of its people. If you are treated as less, I too am diminished. I challenge all of us to live as Gandhi challenged us to live: To BE the change we wish to see in this world. 

 May you see God in ALL you encounter,

and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright August 26, 2014

Photos:  Canal, Greece, 2011; my nephew John, his wife Nicolette, and their son, John Luca, 2012; great chasm between tectonic plates, Iceland, 2008; chasm between “heaven and hell,” Turkey, 2011; Juliana under a bridge in Central Park, New York City, 2013; the Newport Bridge, this last amazing photo by Jules, 4th of July, 2012.

Let’s Eat!

I am very excited because tomorrow night I am having some friends over for a fiesta. A group of us have been meeting one night a week all summer for what we call “Spanish Cafe.” Half of us want to learn how to speak Spanish, and half of us want to kern how to speak English more proficiently. So we have been getting together on Wednesday nights for coffee, snacks, and conversation in Spanish and English. One of the members of our group will be going back to her country, the Dominican Republic, at the end of the summer. So tomorrow we are having a farewell fiesta. I just cleaned my house, bought the food, planned my menu.

One of my favorite things is to gather with friends around a table and to share a meal together, along with conversation, laughter, sometimes also tears, as we share the stories of our ives with each other. Some of my most memorable experiences are of friends and family gathered together for a holiday or a birthday. Even business meetings are more enjoyable when there is food involved. As one of the members of our leadership board says, “Fed people are happy people.”

It s interesting that most faith traditions also revolve around some kind of meal. An altar, in fact, is essentially a table. In the Hindu tradition, a person prepares a meal with prayer and devotion, then offers it to God as prasada, a spiritual offering. After the ritual offering of the meal to God, those who prepared the meal can then merge it back with the rest of the food s/he has prepared, and partake of this meal as an act of spiritual devotion. In Judaism, the Passover meal with its story of the Exodus, and foods symbolizing the different parts of the story, is one of the main festivals of the Jewish faith. Christians believe that Jesus was celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples when he took the unleavened passover bread, and the cup of wine after supper, blessed them and gave them to his disciples, giving the Passover Seder a new meaning in what has become for Christians the Eucharistic meal. In both Judaism and Christianity the most predominant image for heaven is a great heavenly feast!

I remember hearing a Rabbi teaching that still in the Middle East today, covenants or agreements are “sealed” with a meal. He said that while we in the United States shake hands, or sign an agreement to make a transaction legally binding, still in the Middle East people do so by breaking bread together. He said with utmost seriousness, “When you share a meal with someone, it is a very intimate thing. You become one with that person. You would never think of breaking your word after you have broken bread with someone. That would be the utmost affront.” Most of the stories about Jesus have to do with food. In fact, Jesus was always getting in trouble because of his table fellowship. It is said throughout the New Testament that Jesus ate with tax collectors (traitors against their own Jewish people in Jesus’ day and culture), prostitutes, and various kinds of sinners. In other words, Jesus was saying that he was “one” with such folks, which I think is pretty remarkable. From Buddhism I have learned a great deal about mindful eating. Last fall I attended an event in Boston led by Thich Nhat Hanh and a large number of Buddhist monks and nuns. One of the things they did with us was a mindful eating exercise. Two thousand of us sat in a large assembly hall with our lunches on our laps. In silent meditation we listened as a young monk led us in a contemplative prayer, emphasizing how the entire cosmos is in our lunch:

the sunlight that made the vegetables grow; the water from the rain which nourished the plants; the soil filled with nutrients which helped it to grow; the farmers who planted it; the persons who harvested it; etc. Now I contemplate every meal in this way.

in my own Lutheran Christian tradition, we speak of God who comes to us each and every day through what we call “The means of grace:” that is, the Word and the Sacraments. The older I get the more I come to realize that every time we gather around a table, and share the stories of our lives, we are receiving God’s Word. Every time we break bread together, it is a sacrament.
I remember hearing a story from a friend who spent many years in ministry in Latin America. He said the people of his village could always predict which priests would have a short tenure among them and which priests would stay for a long time. How do you know? my friend asked the villagers. “That priest will not stay long,” they said. “Because he does not sit on the porches with us and share food and stories with us.”

The meaning of the word “Companion” is “One who breaks bread with you.” True understanding of another involves the intimate act of sharing a meal as well as sharing the stories of our lives.
Every meal is sacred. Every story is God’s story. As we gather around a table, may we see the faces of our gathered companions, knowing that in each face we can glimpse the face of God.

May you see God in all that you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright August 19, 2014

Photos:  Sylvie with Cheerios, 2013; Anti-Racism Adventure in NYC with Gloria Dei Multi Cultural Ministry, and First Lutheran Church, May, 2014; Cathedral in the Night Worship at NE Synod Assembly, June, 2014, Springfield, MA; Dancing in a restaurant on the Isle of Crete, 2011; community garden, Farmington, CT, June, 2014; our backyard garden, Warwick, RI, 2008; the fish tacos Zach made me for Mother’s Day, 2014; First Lutheran Church picnic at Goddard Park, June, 2014; Thanksgiving dinner, Newport, RI, 2013

A few years ago I led a retreat at a place called Casa del Sol, (House of the Sun), at Ghost Ranch, Abiquiu, New Mexico. The retreat was called, “Celebration of Creation,” and focused on sacred texts from six of the majors faith traditions, which celebrate the presence of the Divine in the sacred landscapes of our earth. We went in chronological order, beginning with quotations from the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s sacred texts. We then looked at sacred texts from Native American writings, and even went on a field trip to what is considered the most ancient sacred place in the United States, Chaco Canyon.

We looked at texts from the Hebrew Bible (also shared by Christians). Then texts from the Zen Buddhist tradition. We looked at sayings of Jesus from the New Testament, as well as some of the Christian mystics. Finally, we looked at texts from one of the most famous Muslim poets, Rumi. Indeed these six major faith traditions all echoed the same deeply held belief: that the earth is sacred, and that when we immerse ourselves in the mystery and miracle of God’s creation, we celebrate the Creator of all.

Today is my day off, so my husband and I did our usual seventeen mile bicycle ride around Newport. It is a glorious day. The sunlight is dazzling. The wind was fierce, something you notice a lot more when you are on a bicycle! For the first half of our ride we rode into the wind, or you could say against the wind, but when we hit the halfway point at Brenton Point, the wind was at our backs. In every language I know the Word for Spirit is the same word as Wind and Breath! In Sanskrit is is Prana; in Hebrew it is Ruach; in Greek it is Pneuma! Nothing helps me to understand the Spirit more than riding my bicycle! The stronger the wind, the harder I must struggle to peddle, so the heavier I must breathe! But when the wind is at my back, it is as though the Spirit’s hand is whisking me along into her flow, with very little effort on my part.

We just got back from a trip to Southern California and Hawaii: two of the most gorgeous natural landscapes on this sacred earth. Yet as I ride my bicycle around Newport, I feel that in its own way it is just as beautiful as any of the amazing places I have visited in my travels. Each and every day, as I immerse myself in the beauty of our sacred earth, I feel deeply blessed. It is as though God is shouting at me: “Here I Am! Notice! Pay attention! Appreciate! Celebrate! Honor Me in All of It! Treat it as sacred. It is My Presence, My Body, My Incarnation!

During my daily bicycle ride, I pray. I pray for my long list of family and friends, for those suffering or grieving, lost or despairing. I also pray in gratitude and thanksgiving for all that is right in this world. Mostly, I Notice! I pay attention! I see God’s presence in all of it!
In the brown-skinned fishermen, exuding a deep inner peace as they stand on ancient rock cliffs, casting their lines into the sparkling sea. In the older couple walking the dirt path, holding hands, the tilt of their heads toward each other. In the families with young children, picnic blankets spread with toys and food, a toddler’s eyes following the bird’s flight against vivid blue.

In the Navy man in full uniform, getting up from a blanket he had spread on the ground, and folding it neatly, probably headed back to the navy base. In our dogs, swimming back and forth, back and forth, raising their heads to the sky, exultant in frothy waves.

And I wonder: is there a connection between those who spend time immersed in this sacred earth and the way they treat others? I cannot imagine any one of us doing anything to harm this landscape in which we revel. How could we ever mar any part of it? I remember reading that Jesus spent approximately 95% of his life outdoors. I can imagine it was similar for Moses, Muhammad, the Buddha. But the same study said that for most of us in “industrialized societies” today it is the opposite: over ninety percent of our time is spent indoors. How has this changed us? Research has shown that immersing ourselves in nature calms us, and reduces stress. But I would say it also improves our interactions with others. For when we realize that we are intimately connected to all things, that all that we encounter reveals God’s presence to us, then how can we not treat everyone and everything with reverence? In her book The Color Purple, Alice Walker writes, “I think it pisses God off if you walk through a field of purple flowers and do not even notice!”

This day, may you see God in all that you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter,

Pastor Linda Forsberg Copyright August 4, 2014

Photos:  Casa del Sol; Chaco Canyon; Bicycling in Nova Scotia (I did not have a photo of us bicycling in Newport!); Na Pali Coast, Kaua’i, Waimea Canyon, Kaua’i, Fort Adams State Park, Newport; Sylvie at the beach; Wildflowers in a field, Glacier National Park

World Peace Starts Here

As I write this I am preparing for my vacation.  My followers should know that I will not be blogging for the next two weeks. I will miss it. I hope you will miss it! I promise to come back with lots of great photos and material for future blogs.
Yesterday in church the gospel was “Come unto me all you who labor and feel heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11: 28) I am feeling it. When we work excessive hours, and do not get our usual time off, our lives begin to slowly slip out of balance. I have a simple test I use that tips me off when this is starting to happen: when I get home at the end of a day, and find myself trying to insert my office key in the door of my home, that means I have been spending too much time at work!

Every faith tradition I know speaks about the necessity for moderation or balance in our lives. In the Jewish and Christian traditions the Sabbath is of extreme importance. We think of Sabbath as a holy day, as the commandment reminds us to “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.” We think of this as a reminder to go to church, temple, mosque or synagogue. But the word Sabbath literally means “rest.” In the first chapter of the first book of the bible, in the first story of creation, we read that on the seventh day God rested. I always remind the work-a-holics, “If God needed to rest, who are we to think that we do not need to rest?

The word Sabbath is related to “Sabbatical.” In some professions (most commonly professors and clergy), a sabbatical is advised at least once every seven years. In the Torah farmers are also commanded to let their fields rest every seven years. The earth itself needs a rest! Why? Because without a Sabbath rest it is depleted of nutrients, and will not be able to produce a healthy and abundant harvest. It needs a year off to be replenished and restored.

Yet so many professionals pride themselves on never taking any time off. You are kidding yourself. I worked with one colleague who took pride in never taking a day off. Yet every time I went into his office, he was playing games on his computer. He looked busy, but was far from productive. He would have been better off staying home, being with his family, getting replenished and restored. Frankly, his life and ministry would be more healthy and fruitful that way.

In Eastern religions balance is also essential. So many in the US practice yoga as a form of physical exercise. Ironically yoga is actually a spiritual practice. The physical asanas (poses) developed as a way of creating a suppleness in the body to allow the body to sit for hours in prayer and meditation. The word yoga literally means “yoke.” Yoga is all about the need for a healthy balance in our lives, “yoking” together in Hatha yoga, the the opposites of sun (Ha) and moon (Tha), masculine and feminine, heat (hot , strength building yoga practices) and coolness (gentle, restorative yoga practices). Yoga is about balancing our bodies, minds and spirits. How ironic that in the US we have turned it into something that is primarily a rigorous physical workout, and forget that it is essentially a spiritual practice.

The older I get, however, the religious symbol that has become the most important for me is the yin and yang symbol of Buddhism. As with Hatha yoga, it signifies a balance between masculine and feminine: yin stands for the feminine, gentle, restful, restorative side of ourselves, and yang for the masculine, hard, strength building aspect of ourselves. To live a healthy life, we need to keep both aspects in balance. This is parallel to what psychologist Carl Jung teaches about balancing our animus and anima (masculine and feminine).

We all, men and women alike, have masculine and feminine, animus and anima, Ha and Tha, Yin and Yang, within. In our American culture, however, in fact in most cultures, the masculine is revered so much more than the feminine: work valued more than rest; strength revered more than gentleness, war valued more than peace. One of my spiritual mentors, Sister Jose Hobday (Lakota, as well as a Franciscan nun) said that in most Native American tribes, it is the women who give the final vote as to whether a tribe should go to war. This is because the women are the life-bearers. They know what it takes to create human life, and realize that it can never be squandered or treated dismissively. This lack of balance between the feminine and the masculine is also why our planet, our great Mother Earth, is slipping out of balance: because we honor the masculine more than the feminine.

The answer is awareness. When I automatically take out the key to my office, my life is out of balance. I need to reel in the work hours. When I do nothing but intense physical workouts, my body will eventually become worn out and depleted. Extreme Sports never make it into middle age or older stages of life. For the long haul, moderation is essential.

The thing I like most about the yin and yang symbol is that it is about wholeness: the two halves are held together in one circle. Two equals one equals three (the two plus the one whole). It is simultaneously a trinity and a unity of opposites.

The band U2 sings, “I can’t change the world, but I can change the world in me.” Start here. Start with yourself. Notice when you are out of balance. Rest. Restore. Rejuvinate. Only when we have peace in our own hearts, will there ever be peace in the world.

May you see the God in all you encounter,
and may you reflect God to all you encounter.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright July 7, 2014

What is Grace?

Last night I met a woman, Lauren, who is a follower of this blog. A mutual friend had arranged to have us over for dinner, so we could meet, and talk about some of the things I have written in this blog. “You should write about grace,” said Lauren. “I don’t get it.” I decided to take Lauren up on her suggestion. Lauren is new to the Lutheran tradition of Christianity, which is all about “grace.” “Is Martin Luther saying that we don’t need to do any good works? That we just need to have faith? Why wouldn’t he want us to do good works?”

The whole concept of “grace” is radically counter-cultural, which is one of the things I like the most about it! Our entire culture here in the US is based on the Protestant work ethic: that if we want to succeed, we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, work hard, and become self-made men and women. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,” or free anything, for that matter. There is a huge section in every bookstore, called “self-help” books. The implication is that if we just work harder on ourselves, we can become better people. Into this “self-made,” work harder if you want to succeed, no pain, no gain culture, comes the gospel message (gospel literally means “good message,” or “good news”): “For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God – not on the basis of works,lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

In Greek, the language of the New Testament, the word for “grace” is “charis,” the same exact word for “gift.” Our relationship with God…drum roll…is not baed on anything we do. It is sheer gift! All we have to “do” is receive the gift, open the gift, live in that gift. The hard part is that it is so counter-cultural. Even in our relationship with God we feel, “What’s the catch? There must be some strings attached!” This is because in our world, admittedly, nothing is “free.” There is always a catch; strings are always attached. But in the bible we read, “My ways are not your ways,” says God (Isaiah 55:8)
The thing I love about Martin Luther is his imperfection, his “rough around the edges” personality. He lived in the late medieval period (1483-1546) in Saxony (Germany). He was a Roman Catholic Monk, of the Order of Saint Augustine. The Church during his time taught that if you wanted “salvation,” (a big, fancy “churchy” word that really means “God’s saving, healing love”), which in Luther’s day many thought of as “if you want to go to heaven when you die,” then you had to do a lot of good works, to earn God’s “approval.” Luther himself agonized over this, because he never felt “good” enough. Even if he did all kinds of good works, he had “bad” thoughts! He tried as hard as he could, but his own scruples made him feel that he would never succeed, would never be able to earn God’s love, would never be perfect enough for heaven. Ever feel that way? That no matter how hard you try to do the right thing, to take the high road, to be the person you desire to be, you still aren’t there yet?

Thanks be to God Martin Luther was a Professor of the New Testament at the University of Wittenberg. One night, studying the New Testament in preparation for a lecture, he read: “For by grace you have been saved, through faith;, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God – not on the basis of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) God’s Word broke through Luther’s own scrupulousness, and ignited a fire in his soul! He realized that he could never earn God’s saving love, but that he didn’t have to: God loved him no matter what! God’s love is a gift, free and clear. This realization so transformed Martin Luther, that he wanted to help to set other anxious and agonized people free also. “By grace (God’s sheer gift) we have already been saved (received God’s saving love) through faith (all you have to do is believe it, receive it).”

So…to answer Lauren’s question, what about good works? If we don’t “have to” do them, wouldn’t people get lazy and just sit on their butts and do nothing? Wouldn’t the world go to hell, with no one caring about anyone else, or helping the poor, or doing the right thing? Luther said that when you really truly “get it,” when you realize that God loves you as you are, with all of your faults and failures and shortcomings, then you are so transformed by this realization, that you cannot keep it to yourself! You have to share this whole new way of looking at life with others. In other words, good works will automatically flow through you toward others. It is the natural, organic outcome of the realization of God’s love for you, as you are, right now.

The bible says that we can understand this a little bit through some of our deepest, closest human relationships, which reveal God’s love to us. It speaks about marriage, friendship, and parenting. In all of these human relationships, we often do not “deserve” the love we receive, but our spouse, our closest friends, our parents love us anyway! For me the parenting example is the purest example, because adult relationships are often contingent on behavior. But with our children, well, I feel it is a different matter. I love my children whether they love me back or not. I love my children when they make the right choices, and are “good” people, but I still love them when they make bad choices, and disappoint me. If my child committed the most heinous crime, it would sicken and dishearten me. I would hate what s/he did. But I would still love my child. That is how I think God is with us. “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion (literally “womb love”) on the child of her womb? Even should these forget, I will never forget you,” says our God. See? I have inscribed you on the palm of my hand.” (Isaiah 49:15-16)

So…like it or not…we are loved by God, no matter what. When we can let ourselves open and receive that love, it changes us. How can it not? Luther says that this change is too good to keep to ourselves. We are so transformed by it that we cannot contain it. Luther expert Timothy Wengert says that we no longer need to worry about earning God’s love, or going to heaven. We have already received all of that as a gift. So now that we don’t have to work our butts off achieving it, (my words, not Wengert’s),we are set free from this way of thinking, and have a lot of free time on our hands! What are you going to do with all of your free time? Help set others free, feed the hungry, serve the poor, help the earth, work for peace, etc. Not because we have to to earn God’s love, but because that love has so transformed us, that we can do nothing else but transform the world with it!

Today, may you know God’s love for you, just as you are right now,
and may that love transform you into all that you can be.
Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright July 1, 2014

Celebrate What’s Right With the World!

I am on a badly needed, week-long, directed silent retreat, which began last Friday, June 20. It is at a place called “Our Lady of Calvary Retreat House,” in Farmington, CT. Our Lady of Calvary is an incredible retreat house, one which used to belong to the Bissell family, the makers of carpet sweepers. Then in 1958 the Sisters of the Cross and Passion of Jesus purchased it for a retreat house.

There are gorgeous grounds for walking and praying. My spiritual director had been inviting me to this place for several years, and this would be the first time my schedule had allowed me to go. She had asked if I would serve as a spiritual director for some of the women who were coming on this retreat. She said that, because it was a week-long, silent retreat, and I as a spiritual director would only need to meet with my directees for an hour a day per directee, that I would be able to kind of sneak in a bit of a retreat for myself during my down time. Well, let me tell you,I desperately needed a retreat.

My father died on December 30, and I know in my heart that I have not even yet begun to grieve the loss of this amazing man in my life. On a practical level, since his death, my ministry has been such that nine times out of ten, I have not been able to take my two days off each week. Most weeks it has been one day off at the most, which, when you work about 65 hours a week, is not enough. Then three weeks ago my secretary did not show up for work. She is always so responsible about letting me know when she will be late or absent, that I began to seriously worry about her.  Sure enough, she had been taken to the emergency room by ambulance, in great pain, which turned out to be bacterial pneumonia. She was in the hospital for almost a week, and then ordered by her doctor to rest at home. So for the past three weeks, I have had no secretary. Thanks be to God for a volunteer who filled in a few hours each week. During her absence we had some tragic deaths. The first tragedy was a beautiful 22 year old girl who died in a plane crash, whose family was connected to our church. Her funeral was the same day our women’s group gave me a birthday party, and also the same day I had a wedding rehearsal on Block Island. Talk about moving from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other! We pastors are human too, and the loss of someone, but especially someone so young, so tragically, is something we grieve as well.

Finally, the day the retreat was to begin, I finished all my administrative work at the church, then got into my car to drive the two-hour drive to Farmington, CT. Of course I had a stack of telephone messages to return from my Honda CRV “office.” First message: “Pastor I am hungry and have no food. Can you help me?” Second message: “Same thing.” Third message, “Pastor I will be evicted if I do not pay my rent. Can you help?” Last of all, a call about another tragic death, this time of a 41 year-old young man, his mother’s only son, in his sleep, of a heart attack. I returned my calls. Then for the rest of the drive, I prayed. I almost never turn my radio on when I am in my car, except for the news on NPR. My car is one of my places of prayer. Well, I guess I really needed to pray because rather than taking the two hours it should have, with traffic, construction, and a horrible accident up ahead of me, it ended up taking me three and a half hours! Here I am, on my way to a place to help me relieve all of the stress and the overwhelming burdens of my life and ministry, and I can’t even get there!

My first time as a spiritual director at this retreat house, and I show up forty-five minutes late. I am the only non-Catholic person here, and, amidst all of the quiet, peaceful nuns, I show up like my renegade forebear, Martin Luther, interrupting the peace and quiet, with my frazzled, discombobulated hunt for a bathroom for my bursting bladder, then scrounging around for food they had already started to put away. How to make a good impression.

To “kick off” the retreat, to set the tone, the Sisters showed a twenty minute film, which I had never heard of: “Celebrate What’s Right in the World!” It is a film made by a photographer, named Dewitt Jones. (See Link in Sidebar.) For the past thirty years, Dewitt Jones has served as a photographer for National Geographic Magazine. Ironically, the word “God” is never mentioned in this film, but for me, God was revealed in every minute of it! DeWitt Jones says at the outset of the film, that National Geographic sent him off on every single assignment, to places around the world, with the charge to photograph the things and the people that should be celebrated in each particular place! Talk about a dream job! I would love that job. But wait a minute, that is what this “Life as Spiritual Adventure” Blog is kind of trying to do!

How ironic or how providential that the retreat began with this film, because when I arrived, I was feeling so burdened and overwhelmed with so much of the hard stuff of this life. For me, frazzled and exhausted and depleted, this film was a healing balm for my soul. In fact, in just twenty minutes, I felt reborn.

It is visually gorgeous, funny, poignant, inspirational, and for me it was also transformational. Dewitt emphasized that every day, we should be open to the unexpected. Sometimes he would be sent to photograph a specific event, but would meet a person who intrigued or fascinated him. He would follow his gut, which for me is the Holy Spirit. He would interview and photograph the event he’d been sent to shoot, and then he would interview and photograph the person who intrigued him.

Most important of all, Dewitt says that every day, no matter what we do, we should do it with eyes and ears and hearts and minds that can see something, in the midst of life’s struggles, and sorrows, and suffering, every day we can also see something, someone worth celebrating. That’s what DeWitt does with his photography. That’s what I try to do in my ministry and in this blog. That’s what I invite you to do, no matter how overwhelmed or sad, frustrated or lost you might feel. Look around. It is always there.

It’s the woman who volunteered to help in the church office. It’s the Sister who scurried to get me a plate of food. It’s the love of the family who lost the 22 year old. It’s my friend standing beside me to sing a song at her funeral. It’s the concern and faithful presence of the husband for his wife, whose only son just died. It’s the four beautiful children at our church who just celebrated their First Communion.

As much heartache as there is in this world of ours, so also there is beauty, and goodness, and love. Look around. What is it you see? Let’s celebrate what’s right with this world.

Pastor Linda Forsberg, Copyright June 24, 2014