As promised...

Here is the sermon I delivered this morning:

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, o Lord our rock and our redeemer.

Amen

In the Gospel reading today from Matthew, the word welcome is used four times within the first verse alone. Four. As I was preparing the sermon for today, that word kind of jumped out at me, just a little bit. So, what exactly does the word welcome mean?

+ It can mean a word of kindly greeting, such as: “Welcome Stranger!”

+ It can be a kindly greeting or reception, such as: to give someone a warm welcome.

+ Another way it is used is to receive or accept with pleasure, or to regard as pleasant or good: to welcome a change.

+ The final one the dictionary gave me was: agreeable, as something arriving, occurring, or experienced: A welcomed rest.

Looking at the word biblically, welcome has several of the same meanings. However the one that struck me as being the most encompassing of all the ideas is: to receive favorably, give ear to, embrace, make one's own, approve, not to reject. The last part of that definition is what really caught my eye: not to reject.

In the scripture, Jesus is talking with the twelve apostles. He is getting ready to send them out among the people of Israel. They are going out without food or plans of shelter. They are going out, counting on people to be welcoming, for people not to reject them.

The idea of hospitality in the days of Jesus was astounding. People were expected to provide for travelers coming through their land, just as they would be provided for while they were traveling.

I can relate a bit to the apostles and their feelings of worry and anxiety. Starting school at a university where I knew all of one person was really intimidating. I was worried that I wouldn’t fit in, worried that people would not approve of me; that they would reject me. What was even harder was finding a faith family in which I would be welcome.

As many of you know, I started attending Shepherd of the Hills back in January, at the beginning of the Spring Semester. What most of you may not know is that during the previous fall semester, I had tried out other campus ministries and churches in the area. All stated that they welcome everyone. However, looking at the definition, they did not. They did not try to embrace me. Though they did not verbally reject me, I could tell that they did not approve of me.

The first time I had an experience with members of this church was the first Lutheran Campus Ministries meeting after the start of the semester. Somehow, I had gotten it into my head that the dinner and meeting started at 6:30, not 6. So I arrived at about 6:10 to find Pastor Rosemary and the rest of the group about to bless the meal. As I tried to quietly slip in, Pastor Rosemary looks at me and says “Are you Tara? Come, join us! We’re just about to pray.”

I felt more welcome in the first thirty seconds of LCM than I had in a semester of some of the other campus ministries. After the blessing, I talked with Pastor Rosemary a little more to find out that one of my home pastors had contacted her and asked her to watch out for me.

I came that first Sunday to Shepherd of the Hills, not quite sure what to expect. Thankfully, you all were just as open and welcoming as everyone at LCM. That day, I learned more names after service during the fellowship time than I could remember! Everyone was interested in me, the student and fellow sister in Christ, and how they could help me.

Throughout the semester, everyone continued to be as welcoming as they had that first week. In fact, that is the reason I am here this summer. You all agreed to welcome me as I try and figure out what God is doing with my life.

Even as I have new and different ideas, such as signing parts of the worship service, my ideas are welcomed. The sign for welcome “welcome” really fits the concept of the word, in my opinion. The word is signed with a smile on the face and open body posture, giving the appearance of being happy to meet someone. The sign is very similar to quite a few other signs including “good” “accept” and “mine,” which all conceptually fit with the definition of welcome.

Jesus said “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” In today’s society, I feel like sometimes people focus on embracing only those people they feel are acceptable and have things to offer, rather than focusing on not rejecting anyone, even if they don’t seem to have much to share. Not too long ago, I read an article about a young man with cerebral palsy who was asked to leave the sanctuary and watch the service from a different part of the church. I greatly appreciate you allowing me to try and welcome everyone by signing.

The good news, though, is that even if all we can do to welcome someone is give them a place to rest and a glass of water, that even then, we will not lose our reward as long as we do it with good intentions.

Having said that, I would like to leave you all with a parting thought in the form of a song. It is called ‘I Saw a Stranger Today’ and is based upon the Celtic Rune of Hospitality. There is an insert with the lyrics on it in your bulletin.

Here's the lyrics:

I saw a stranger today; a poor man wandering my way.
I put food for him in the eating place, and drink in the drinking place
And music from a violin in the listening place.

And in the name of the Holy Trinity
He blessed myself, and my family
And the lark with her song seemed to say:
“Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”

I saw a young girl today, and why she wept I could not say

In her slender arms lay an infant child; she herself a forgotten child

She clutched me as I wiped her eyes, and the young girl smiled.

And in the name of the Holy Trinity
She blessed myself, and my family
And the lark with her song seemed to say:
"Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”
“Often, often, often goes Christ in a stranger’s guise.”

I saw a stranger today.

Amen.

Another one bites the dust

My streak of bad luck seems to finally be coming to an end. At the beginning of this week, an ear issue had me traveling to the health center to see what was going on. They sent me home with the usual... "Oh there's nothing we can do for it. Take Sudefed and ibeprophen and it'll get better." Let's just say I was back the next day, because instead of getting better, it got worse. Now, after antibiotics and other fun stuff, I appear to be returning to healthy me.

This week has been an interesting week for me, because it's been the week of preparing my sermon. I am pleased with how it turned out and I hope everyone enjoys it tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, my mom and sister are coming up to hear me preach :-D I can't wait to see them!

Today, PR and I went to the Sylva Quilt Show, held at the new Jackson County Library. The library looks really cool, and I can't wait to go and check out a few books. I really enjoyed looking at all the different quilts, too. There were quilts of all shapes, sizes and colors! After viewing the quilts, we went to the luncheon, where PR did the invocation. The food was not bad, especially the chocolate cake! It was cool to get to meet some of the older population of the area. There was also a fashion show, spotlighting hand-made garmets. It was really cool to see what people are able to make. I wish I could do what some of those ladies can do!

Last night, I had dinner with a few of my good friends. We ate and then played a few rounds of a board game called "Last Word." It's a really fun game to play, especially with a group of chatty college women! Then we went to the local icecream shop. Jack the Dipper's has probably 50 different Blue Bell flavors. It's always a challenge for me to decide which to choose. I usually end up getting the Southern Blackberry Cobbler. It has pieces of cobbler crust in it!! But the best thing about Jack the Dipper's is that they make their waffle cones right when you order. You can choose from either vanilla or cinnomen. Then they mold it into a cone, put your icecream in it, and hand it to you. The cone is still hot. Sometimes the icecream starts to melt!

I am really enjoying this summer. Having this specific time to be with God and to really talk with him is starting to help me figure out my path. I love working in the church, because I can always walk the 30 feet to the sanctuary and just be if I need to.

I can't believe that this summer is almost half way over! It really seems to have flown by. I'm looking forward to starting back at WCU, especially working with my students. We're getting four new participants in the program, for a total of eight students with intellectual/developmental disabilities attending college. It's really cool to see that happen.

Well, I hope you've been able to follow this somewhat random post, and I'll catch you all later!!

God's Peace

Tornados, laptops and vehicles

This past week has been insane. I was planning on updating at the beginning of the week, when to my dismay, my laptop battery completely died. So, I had no computer until Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday evening, a line of severe storms moved through the area, spawning a tornado which knocked power out, both at the house I'm staying at and the church. Duke Energy was saying that power wouldn't be restored until 11pm, SUNDAY NIGHT, so you can imagine my surprise when I walked out of my room Thursday evening and saw the glorious sight of lights on in the house.

It's kind of cool to see how communities come together when something like this happens. The first strip where electricity was restored was where all of the stores/restaurants. So, you can imagine where everyone spent the days without electricity. I went to Wal-Mart the morning after the storm, and everyone there was really polite. No one was pushing or complaining about the really long lines. The people working were all at least putting on smiles. Whether they be real or fake I don't know, but there were smiles. The University, which also was one of the first things to get power back, opened its facilities so that people could come take showers.

I'm preparing a sermon to give next Sunday, on the texts of Jeremiah 28: 5-9, Psalm 89: 1-4, 15-18, Romans 6: 12-23, and Matthew 10: 40-42. I have a few ideas on where God is leading me, so we'll just have to see how it turns out.

PR and I talked about prayer, and the different ways of prayer. One of the things she mentioned was that I might like to try out a different way of praying. I decided to make prayer bead chains, and I really like them! It helps me have something to do with my hands while I allow my mind to talk with God.

One of the projects I am working on is signing the Sunday service. One of my passions is to work with people with disabilities, and providing translations to people who cannot hear is one way I can do that in the church. As of right now, I have The Lord's Prayer and The Words of Institution translated. Currently, we do not have any members who cannot hear, but who sign. I hope that as it becomes public knowledge that it is a service we're offering, that we will start to have some deaf/Deaf people come.

I am also employing another of my talents that I never considered to be ministry-related. As some of you know, another of my passions is Martial Arts, especially Tae Kwon Do. I will be leading a self-defense class for the members of the church, and any friends that they might want to bring. I never knew my interest in TKD would be something that I could turn into ministry.

I wonder what else there'll be?

Busy week, eh??

Hey Guys!

Sorry that it's been about a week since I've updated, but boy was this past week a doozy!
Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday were spent at Lenoir-Ryhne University, which was hosting the North Carolina Synod Assembly. Having been my first time going, I was kind of overwhelmed. I believe the last number I heard put the total people gathered around 600... Pastors, rostered leaders, lay voting members, and just plain old visitors, such as me.

But it was a lot of fun. At opening worship, during offering, a woman painted. At first, what she was painting was hard to figure out. I thought it might have been a candle, or maybe an angel. Looking back and forth, however, from the screen to the actual picture, I figured it out, but waited to say anything until she revealed it. When she was done, she flipped the painting over and "AHH's" could be heard from almost everyone. She had painted a portrait of Jesus, upsidedown, so that it was really hard to see it until you flipped it.

Later that night, I sat in on two forums that I thought would be cool. There was one on how to try and help get more youth into a congregation, and one on the 2012 NYG, being held in New Orleans again. While I was there, I ran into an old friend, Sarah Embry, so it was good getting to see her again. The next day, I had a fun job. Before the Assembly, PR made a white stole for Bishop Bolick, on which we were going to ask all the participants to leave a thumbprint. So, Friday was the day of painting. Since I knew what was suppose to happen, PR left me with the stole while she went and taught her forums. By lunchtime, we had the stole full of prints, and we were letting it dry. All this had happened without Bishop Bolick knowing, which was a feat in and of itself.

During the afternoon session,  PR, Tammy Jones West and I presented the stole to Bishop Bolick, and I think he was really surprised, and really liked it. He almost ruined it by walking backstage while we were getting ready with it, but PR and I distracted him by talking about Project Connect. Plus, he was too busy with other things to really notice his surroundings too much :)

Saturday morning came around, and we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Living Waters church in Cherokee. It was really cool, because the Pastor there, Jack Russell, led our closing worship. I have now experienced smudging, singing in the Cherokee language, and their directional prayers. It was really cool to see how they have been able to incorporate their traditions in with our Lutheran teachings.

We came back Saturday afternoon, and on Sunday morning, I got to help with communion for the first time at Shepherd of the Hills. That was a really good experience for me. I also got to sing the Kyrie again, which I love to do!

This week has  been a week of catching up on things around the Church itself. I got to have youth time again, with our one sole youth. He is such an adorable 2 1/2 month old!!

Tomorrow, I might be going tubing with one of the besties, as long as it doesn't storm! It's been thundering all day here, and two days ago, we had a horrible hail storm! The weather is kinda wacky here in the mountains... But the views are beautiful. We visited with some of the parishoners yesterday, and they have the most gorgeous view, westward facing the mountains. They said that when the sun sets, the whole sky turns the most beautiful shades of reds, pinks, and oranges.

Thank you, God for the BEAUTIFUL mountains!

Kronos, Kairos, and Zelot, among other things.

So, I definitely have been meaning to post the past day or two, but it's been CRAZY! I'm not sure why, exactly, but it just has been. Last week, we had the orientation for the internship, and this week we have Synod Assembly. Luckily next week doesn't look so hectic.

Today was kind of a rough day, because it was the day that PR and I went through the hymns I chose, based on the scripture verses. We had to look at the last time the hymns had been sung, if at all. If they were new ones, we had to decide whether or not we thought the congregation could learn them. It was frusterating, because I had found some really good ones, scripturally, but we had to veto them because they were challenging for some reason or another. But it was a good insight as to what pastors have to do each time they start at a new church, or new lectionary year. And again, people who choose songs on a regular basis, MAJOR KUDOS to you.

Speaking of words that start with 'K,' I had fun learning the difference between kronos and kairos- two forms of what can be translated as time. It came up when PR and I were translating some of the verses into the original languages during sermon prep. From Acts 1:

4 While staying with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the promise of the Father. "This," he said, "is what you have heard from me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now." 6 So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.

Time translated is Kronos. Periods translated is Kairos.  Kronos is time like we understand it, whereas kairos is God time. If I remember it right, kronos is time as we move through it. We won't know the time, literally, but we also won't know kairos, or the universe, when He will return.

Another interesting thing I found out is the word we get the word 'zelot' from is the same word that, in Hebrew, means knife. So a zelot was someone who would literally kill for Christ. Scholars also believe that the Zelots were like a political party, so for Simon to be called Simon the Zelot (in Acts 1: 13) is interesting to me.

I hope you all are having a wonderful first week of June. As for me, it's HOT here in the mountains.

Peace be with you all!