May 24 is Ascension (or Easter 7)

Sun May 17 23:33:20 EDT 2009

Dear Gulf Coast Leaders,

May 24 (or Thursday, May 21) – Ascension 

 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/acts1a.htm> Acts 1:1-11 – Ascension. You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.

 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm47.htm> Psalm 47 - God has gone up with a shout. (Ps. 47:5)

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm93.htm> Psalm 93 - Ever since the world began, your throne has been established. (Ps. 93:3)
 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/eph1b.htm> Ephesians 1:15-23 – With the eyes of your heart enlightened, may you know the hope to which God has called you.
 <http://www.textweek.com/mtlk/lk24c.htm> Luke 24:44-53 – I am sending what the Father promised, so stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.

Errata – Alert pastor Fred Krebs (Southwestern Texas Synod) pointed out that the Fort Wayne Seminary was located in Springfield, Illinois, not Springfield, Ohio. Thanks Fred. It’s nice to know that these missives are finding their way into other synods.

Thanks for building

Thanks to all who participated in Build with the Bishop yesterday, and thanks to Tiffany Darst with Thrivent, for asking me to do this. It was truly a joy to see seven Lutheran congregations (including 2 Conroe ELCA, 3 ELCA from The Woodlands, and 2 LCMS congregations) cooperating on a Habitat House. In addition, the house next door was being built by St. Anthony’s Catholic. Another by First Methodist. Another by First Baptist. They’re building 100 homes  in East Conroe, not far from Sally Ahren’s house. It got me to wondering if we could get 10 congregations to build a house together in Houston or New Orleans. The church cost for a Habitat House is $55K. That would be $5,500/church plus a few volunteers each Wednesday night and Saturday. 

My Witnesses

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth…

Today I want to say thank you to all you pastors and church professionals who have devoted your entire life and vocation to the proclamation of the gospel, to making disciples, and to being Christ’s witnesses here at home and to the ends of the earth. 

This week I had the great privilege of being with our newest leaders who have heard God’s call to a vocation in ministry. LSPS graduation (the Lutheran Seminary Program of the Southwest) festivities began on Monday afternoon with a rehearsal of the graduation ceremony and Eucharistic liturgy that would take place the next day. Later that evening there was a choral evensong followed by a reception. LSPS is housed at ETSS (Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest) in Austin. The chapel at ETSSS was standing room only, packed with Lutheran and Episcopalian seminarians, their friends and family, bishops, professors and staff. TX-LA Lutheran bishops T-man and Kanouse joined together with outgoing Episcopal Diocese of Texas bishop Don Wimberly, incoming bishop Andy (the same age I was when I started), suffragan bishops Dena and Rayford from Austin and Tyler, and a couple of other bishops from here and there, who had come to support their grads. 

For these students this choral evensong as the real goodbye. The service the next day would be a big, bombastic Eucharist at the ample St. Matthew’s Episcopal in Austin, but this evensong was their last soulful worship service in the intimacy of the chapel at the seminary where their faith was fed, and their vocation honed for the last 3-4 years. It is doubly emotional because this is the last class of MDiv students to graduate from LSPS as the MDiv program here is suspended indefinitely due to financial struggles at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, which, along with LSTC in Chicago grants degrees to those who complete their studies at ETSS/LSPS in Austin. Sadly, the dorm is being sold, and most of the faculty and staff are being let go. Ray Pickett is already up at LSTC. Faye Schott and Eliseo Perez-Alvarez have not yet determined their next move. Wayne Menking and Jay Alanis are staying on. The program will be entirely a TEEM program now without the MDiv offering.

I remember my seminary graduation. I had studied with these folks for four years. We had grown up together. We been through a lot together. (Greek. Hebrew.) We were young and shared a common sense of call. We had a community and camaraderie that I somehow knew I would never experience again in that way. So it came as no surprise to see many hugs, smiles and tears this week as the group gathered for evensong. The service was entirely sung (even the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer) with the exception of the lessons, read by Episcopal student Isaias with a heavy Philippino accent: “Devote yourself to prayer,” the apostle Paul wrote to his young Colossian church (4:2-18). Good advice – for all of us in full-time ministry. No sermon. During the offering a small choir sang a choral setting of Spenser’s Sonnet LXVIII:

MOST glorious Lord of lyfe that on this day,
    Didst make thy triumph ouer death and sin:
    and hauing harrowd hell didst bring away,
    captiuity thence captiue vs to win.

This ioyous day, deare Lord, with ioy begin,
    and grant that we for whom thou didest dye
    being with thy deare blood clene washt from sin,
    may liue foreuer in felicity.

And that thy loue we weighing worthily,
    may likewise loue thee for the same againe:
    and for thy sake that all lyke deare didst buy,
    with loue may one another entertayne.

So let vs loue, deare loue, lyke as we ought,
    loue is the lesson which the Lord vs taught.

Love is the lesson which our Lord taught. Indeed, love of God; love of neighbor. On these two rest all the law and the prophets.

 Toward the end of the service, Master Craftsman James Avery personally presented each of the 25 Episcopal and 10 Lutheran graduates with the pectoral cross he had designed. It was a moment pregnant with a joyous but bittersweet ambiguity that marks so many sacred, life-changing transitions. 

Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. 

Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; 

and all for your love’s sake. Amen.

The next morning began with coffee hour then photos. Of the Lutheran students, four were TEEM and six were MDiv. TEEM stands for Theological Education for Emerging Ministries. This program was developed in the 90’s to provide pastors in places where it is traditionally hard to find pastors: remote rural, ethnic ministries, urban ministries. Students study at LSPS while serving at their ministry site, which becomes their internship. Two of the graduates are from our synod: Linda Mosley and Nancy Simpson. Linda (wife of Pastor Bill Mosley) is an Associate in Ministry (certified lay church professional) serving as a Synodically Authorized Minister at St. Paul in Shelby, TX. Pending approval of our Candidacy Committee and a congregational call from St. Paul’s, she’ll hopefully be ordained August 9. Nancy Simpson lives in Dayton and is a member of Atascocita Lutheran. Her husband is an optician in Humble so she’ll be looking for a call in that general vicinity. I was to have been Nancy’s internship supervisor when I was elected. She still did internship at Grace, Conroe with interim pastor Ackerman, then returned to ETSS/LSPS for her senior year. It was touching to see her complete this work. Jake Fain is from the Southwestern Texas Synod, but has been assigned to our synod. He sat in our office a few weeks ago at the invitation of Pastor Don Carlson, assistant to the bishop. Jake loves to hunt and even organized a men’s hunting group at his internship site. He’s a young, enthusiastic leader. We’re lucky to have him too.

The Eucharist was well-attended, and long as Episcopal services often are. The homilist had each of the 35 grads stand. Then he invited people in the congregation to shout out things they appreciated about these folks. It raised a lot of energy. It was nice to see some familiar faces: Pastor Gary Anholt from Atascocita Lutheran, Pastor John Hunsicker from the Lutheran Foundation of the Southwest, Pastor Pam Brouker, living in Austin and currently at St. David’s Episcopal, a nice group from St. Paul, Shelby, and  others.

There is something renewing about being with young leaders embarking on a vocation of ministry and second-career leaders beginning a new chapter of life. I feed off their passion and hope and excitement. I pray for them. I pray they will find in ministry the great joy I have experienced these last 21 years, a joy that has sustained me through the highs and lows. I pray they will lovingly stewards that sacred access to people’s lives with which we pastors are entrusted. I pray they will be Christ’s witnesses here at home and to the ends of the earth. I pray that the Word of God will dwell in them richly, ever renewing their zeal for ministry. I pray that they will be devoted to prayer, for as branches we can do nothing unless connected to the Vine. 

שלומ سلام Peace,

Mike Rinehart 

Michael Rinehart, bishop

The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

12707 I-45 North Frwy, Suite 580

Houston, TX 77060-1239                

281-873-5665

www.GulfCoastSynod.org <http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/> 

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May 31 – Pentecost

 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/acts2a.htm> Acts 2:1-21 – Day of Pentecost. Rushing wind. Tongues of flame. Multi-lingual, multicultural event. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

or    <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/ezek37.htm> Ezekiel 37:1-14 – Valley of the Dry Bones. I will put my spirit in you and you shall live. You shall know I am the Lord when I open your graves…

 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm104.htm> Psalm 104:24-34, 35b Send forth your Spirit and renew the face of the earth. (Ps. 104:31)

 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/rom8c.htm> Romans 8:22-27 – Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness… intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/acts2a.htm> Acts 2:1-21 – Day of Pentecost. Rushing wind. Tongues of flame. Multi-lingual, multicultural event. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn15_16.htm> John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15 – When the Advocate comes, he will bear witness to me… lead you into all truth.

Time after Pentecost 2009

June 7 – Trinity

 <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/isaiah6.htm> Isaiah 6:1-8 – Call of Isaiah. Six-winged seraph. Holy, holy, holy.
 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm29.htm> Psalm 29  - Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. (Ps. 29:2)
 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/rom8b.htm> Romans 8:12-17 – Life in the Spirit. Present suffering incomparable to the glory to be revealed. Creation eagerly waits… in labor?
 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/jn3a.htm> John 3:1-17 – Nicodemus. Being born of the Spirit, which blows where it wills.

June 14 – Pentecost 2B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/1sam15_16.htm> 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13  – Samuel anoints David and the Spirit falls mightily upon him.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/ezek17.htm> Ezekiel 17:22-24 – I will dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. The high tree will be brought low, and the low high.
 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm20.htm> Psalm 20  – Some take pride in horses and chariots, but our pride is in the name of the Lord God. 

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm92.htm> Psalm 92:1-4, 12-15 - The righteous shall spread abroad like a cedar of Lebanon. (Ps. 92:11)
 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/2cor5a.htm> 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17 – We walk by faith and not by sight, at home in the body and away from the Lord. 

 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark4a.htm> Mark 4:26-34 – The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which so small, yet grows and provides branches for the birds to make nests.

June 21 – Pentecost 3B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/1sam17.htm> 1 Samuel 17:(1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49 – David and Goliath: The Lord who saved me from the lion and the bear will deliver me from this Philistibeatne.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/history/1sam17_18.htm> I Samuel 17:57 - 18:5, 10-16 – Jonathan loved David. Saul tries to kill David.
                or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/job38b.htm> Job 38:1-11 – The Lord answers Job out of the whirlwind: Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm9.htm> Psalm 9:9-20  – The Lord judges the nations.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm133.htm> Psalm 133  – How good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm107.htm> Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32 - God stilled the storm and quieted the waves of the sea. (Ps. 107:29)
 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/2cor6.htm> 2 Corinthians 6:1-13 – Now is the acceptable time; now is the day of salvation. We have endured beatings, riots, hunger, imprisonment…
 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark4b.htm> Mark 4:35-41 – Jesus asleep in the boat, wakes and calms the sea: Peace. Be still.

June 28 – Pentecost 4B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/2sam1.htm> 2 Samuel 1:1, 17-27  – David mourns for Saul, the glory of Israel, and for Jonathan: Your love to me surpassed the love of women.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/apocrypha/wisdom1_2.htm> Wisdom of Solomon 1:13-15; 2:23-24 – God did not make death. God does not delight in death. Death came into the world through the devil.
Psalm 130  - I will exalt you, O LORD, because you have lifted me up. (Ps. 30:1) 

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm30.htm> Psalm 30  – God’s anger is for a moment; his favor for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night but joy comes in the morning.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/lament3c.htm> Lamentations 3:23-33 – The steadfast love of the lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.

 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/2cor8.htm> 2 Corinthians 8:7-15 – During a severe ordeal of affliction, the Macedonians joy and poverty overflow in a wealth of generosity.

 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark5.htm> Mark 5:21-43 – Inclusio: Jairus’ daughter and the woman with the 12-year hemorrhage. 

July 5 – Pentecost 5B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/2sam5.htm> 2 Samuel 5:1-5, 9-10  – The elders make a covenant with David and anoint him. 

or  <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/ezek2.htm> Ezekiel 2:1-5 – Call of Ezekiel: Whether they hear or not, they shall know a prophet has been among them.
 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm48.htm> Psalm 48 – The city of Zion is established forever.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm123.htm> Psalm 123 - Our eyes look to you, O God, until you show us your mercy. (Ps. 123:3)
  <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/2cor12.htm> 2 Corinthians 12:2-10 – Paul’s out of body experience, and his thorn in the flesh. My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 
 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark6a.htm> Mark 6:1-13 – A prophet is not without honor except in his own country. Jesus sends the twelve two-by-two.

July 12 – Pentecost 6B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/2sam6.htm> 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 – David dances before the ark in a linen ephod. 

or  <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/amos7.htm> Amos 7:7-15 – Amos’ vision: God sets a plumb line amidst the people of Israel
 <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm24.htm> Psalm 24  – The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm85.htm> Psalm 85:8-13  - I will listen to what the LORD God is saying. (Ps. 85:8)
 <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/eph1a.htm> Ephesians 1:3-14 – The sentence that never ends: Blessed be God who chose us before the foundation of the world, destined us for adoption, as a plan for the fullness of time to gather all things in him…
 <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark6b.htm> Mark 6:14-29 – Herod, Herodias and John the Baptist’s head on a platter.

July 19 – Pentecost 7B

 <http://www.textweek.com/history/2sam7b.htm> 2 Samuel 7:1-14a – David wants to build God’s house, but God will establish David’s house, his offspring.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/prophets/jer23a.htm> Jeremiah 23:1-6 – Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! The days are coming when I will raise up from David a righteous branch.
  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm89.htm> Psalm 89:20-37 – I anointed my servant David, and my hand will always be with him.

or  <http://www.textweek.com/writings/psalm23.htm> Psalm 23 - The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want. (Ps. 23:1)
  <http://www.textweek.com/pauline/eph2b.htm> Ephesians 2:11-22  – You uncircumcised were once strangers to the covenant, without hope, without God. You who were far off have been brought near. He has abolished the law with its commands and ordinances, that he might create one humanity out of two. No longer strangers. 
  <http://www.textweek.com/mkjnacts/mark6c.htm> Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 – Jesus to his disciples: “Come away to a deserted place and rest for a while.” 

Hymns: No Longer Strangers (David Haas, from Gather)

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