Shameless Promotions Dept. invites you!

“..and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” –The Bible, Luke 2

Friends in faith,

I write today to invite you and ‘yours to Christmas Eve services (on December 24th).

Services are at 6:00pm and 10:00pm. The BIG one is at 6:00pm – with handbell choirs, vocal choirs and lots of people. The smaller one is at 10:00pm. Both services sing stunningly beautiful carols by candlelight and share the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born into a world with no room.

No room. We will fill a gorgeous church full of people, all gathered to celebrate Jesus being born in a barn because there was no room for him elsewhere. No room. Do you know what it is to be unwelcome? Jesus did, from the very beginning; no room for him. Maybe you know people who feel like there is no room for them- especially in church. Maybe they haven’t been with a church that welcomes “their kind,” not yet.

Please print this letter for them and point to the next paragraph:

We have room for you! Please come join us on Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus being born on the outside of popular culture in order to welcome, teach, include and save every kind of you and me, no matter what! Please come and feel welcome to sing beautifully or badly- or not sing at all. Come and feel invited to Holy Communion even if you have never felt welcome before. Come and hold a candle and feel the warm wax. Come if you've got issues and you don't want to talk about it.. or maybe you do (!) Come and be welcome to wonder and enter a community of faith that asks really honest, really hard questions. Come and spend part of Christmas Eve with some not-entirely- perfect people who practice faith with roots deep enough to matter. Welcome!

Lots of churches today act more like the innkeeper in Luke 2 who couldn’t find room for Mary & Joseph. They specialize in helping people feel unwelcome who aren’t exactly their type, or who didn’t get it together soon enough to show up on time. We are sorry.

Our church is more like the barn. We welcome all kinds of animals: early and late, pregnant and not, married or not- (you name your fit..) to welcome and follow Jesus in our midst. Come rejoice with us!

Please give this letter away. (You can always print another anytime you need one.) Giving things away is very Christmas-like, it all begins with God giving Jesus to us in a barn. So give the letter away and keep an eye on your barn.

Merry Christmas, see you soon!

-Pastor Chris

As I was busy painting a stage backdrop for my daughter's elementary play, surrounded by a cloud of busy noise, whisking paintbrushes and seventy kids with their parents all equally and delightfully engaged in the same task, my phone rang.

"Are you the pastor at Zion Lutheran Church?" asked a woman.

"yes."

"I need to feed my kids."

Suddenly I was no longer painting a scene of stars and planets, space and comets.

Time stood still, along with my heart. There are many "human" things I see often enough as a pastor that I have learned to weather them comfortably - but terrified mothers with hungry children always stop everything around me. And so it was.

"I need to feed my kids."

Then her story began infecting mine, like a virus you have felt before and know you cannot escape but must bear carefully. . . and some stories don't infect at all - when they do not resonate with my truth, or when they aren't for me to address - but other stories are
too true
too close
too real
and they become mine.

Perhaps you have heard one or two of these? So it was.

In one moment the stars and the comets were not relevant.
Can you be interrupted?

Busy-ness has a cost.

Since my last post (months ago) my congregation has added a four-stop, three floor elevator to serve the mobility needs of those we prefer not to notice.

You know the type: the people who can't play soccer anymore, who don't eat with chop-sticks because their arthritis is too severe; who navigate life with only peripheral vision; who's parents push them through doors in wheeled-conveyances instead of holding their hands; who stumble along behind walkers, or poke the world with their canes. Them.

God knows we love them!

We added an elevator at enormous expense, and it was perfectly extravagant. After all, when the building was designed fifty years ago and the congregation was young and frisky and we couldn't imagine needing such a thing!

But today..

We added an elevator, and along the way I have met electricians, carpenters, engineers, sheet metal workers, general contractors, roofers, drywallers, painters and cleaners. And they have lived in our building, watching Lutherans.

They were so surprised at how busy we are!

Good.

So is God.