From the Bishop

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

What images and metaphors do you use to describe your congregation? Scripture provides a few: the body of Christ, the flock of the good shepherd, the vine and the branches.

At our recent Bishops Academy, Bishop Kurt Kusserow invited us to think more deeply about the metaphors we use – especially the “built-in success meters” inherent in each.

Angela Harrison, a relative of George Floyd, participates in a panel of George Floyd Square Memorial leaders, with ELCA bishops from around the country. San Pablo/Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, hosted the conversation.

“If the specter of the decline in the ELCA is not the final measure of the efficacy of God’s work in the world, we need to find new metaphors to guide us.”

We know what a healthy body looks like. There are metrics we use: heart rate, blood pressure, weight, infection, fitness. When we look out over our congregation and see just a handful of worshipers scattered across a vast sanctuary, we may sense we “don’t meet the metrics of success.”

And, when we look across the whole ELCA, our concerns deepen. At its beginning in 1988, the ELCA had five million members. Today, it has three million. And, not only are the numbers declining, but the church’s structures are becoming more fragile.

WE WHO LEAD AND care for congregations and synods are anxious. By most metrics, we are not successful. And, it is to that anxiety that Bishop Kusserow spoke most powerfully. Referring to the Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession, he called us back to our faith: It is “God who calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth,” and this “one holy Church is to continue forever.”

If we stand on the promise that the church is God’s work, an abiding work for the sake of the world, then we may need to look for new images to describe Christian community. If the specter of the decline in the ELCA is not the final measure of the efficacy of God’s work in the world, we need to find new metaphors to guide us.

“When we look out over our congregation and see just a handful of worshipers scattered across a vast sanctuary, we may sense we ‘don’t meet the metrics of success.’”

Bishop Kusserow suggested the image of “women watching and witnessing.” In the Gospels, women were present at the most significant moments: birth, crucifixion, burial, resurrection. They did not turn away. They watched; and they told the story.

Rostered leaders at Holy Trinity Lutheran, Minneapolis, shared reflections on the 2020 Uprising in the congregation’s neighborhood. The Third District Police Precinct was located just one block from Holy Trinity. Many of the buildings surrounding Holy Trinity were destroyed.

The success meter for “watching and witnessing” is radically different from that of a healthy grapevine. The women saw events – not of their own making. They watched and told others about things external to themselves. And, though small in number, their witness mattered.

THE DAY BEFORE Bishop Kusserow gave his lecture, the bishops spent time with the “keepers of George Floyd Square,” primarily women who gather twice daily in the square to bear witness to the cruelty of racism and the vision of God’s justice. Perhaps, they are the Mary Magdalenes of today. And, perhaps, they might inspire us to recognize a new image of church:

• a gathering of people who watch, not turning away from the agony of the world, but bringing it to God; and
• a gathering of people who witness, sharing the hope and vision of redemption by God’s grace.

God fill us with strength and hope as we participate in God’s abiding work through the church.

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

If you ever catch yourself wondering if you should vote in the next election, spend a few days with our Lutheran partners from Leipzig. Last week, several leaders from our synod had that very experience.

We were blessed with the company of five remarkable leaders from the Leipzig District of the Church of Saxony, including its new Superintendent (read “bishop”) Sebastian Feydt. Together, we went to the George Floyd Square Memorial, accompanied by its executive director, Jeanelle Austin. We went to Holy Trinity Lutheran to learn about “permeable church walls” and how the summer of 2020 transformed the congregation. At the synod office, we learned about neighboring practices from Kelly Chatman, director of the Center for Leadership and Neighborhood Engagement (CLNE), and Nick Tangen of the synod staff.

Representatives of the Leipzig District of the Church of Saxony visit the George Floyd Square Memorial

During our conversations our Leipzig friends expressed an almost existential angst about our need to vote – a fundamental cornerstone of democracy.

In all of these places, we experienced a whirl of emotions – sadness, shock, discomfort, gratitude, hope. At the end of our visit, one particular emotion kept churning within me. It was this feeling of urgency whenever we spoke about the upcoming election. During our conversations our Leipzig friends expressed an almost existential angst about our need to vote – a fundamental cornerstone of democracy. They know what it meant to live in a non-democratic state, born and raised in Soviet occupied East Germany. And, they know how easily democracy can crumble – and what kind of sacrifice is required to rebuild it.

In one of our discussions, someone recommended we read Putin’s People. There, I learned how close Vladimir Putin lived to Leipzig – serving as a KGB officer only 63 miles away in Dresden. I also learned that the collapse of the Berlin wall was a turning point in Putin’s life.

IN HIS BOOK, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder offers 20 key suggestions for all who are concerned about the threats to democracy and want to make a positive difference. And, one of those suggestions is “Learn from peers in other countries.” Others include: be a patriot, defend institutions, practice professional ethics, believe in truth. (The book is a mere 110 pages, so the other 15 are easy to find.)

Leipzig District representatives listen to Jeanelle Austin, executive director of the George Floyd Square Memorial.

As our synod is focused on faith practices and neighboring practices, perhaps Snyder’s book can be one resource for all of us on “democracy practices.” Another resource will be the ELCA’s social statement on civic activity and faith to be completed by the 2025 assembly.

“Perhaps Timothy Snyder’s book can be one resource for all of us on “‘democracy practices.’”

I close with a quote from Snyder’s book that seems to reflect a deep truth in Scripture’s Ten Commandments and Luther’s Catechism: “The U.S. political system was designed to mitigate the consequences of our real imperfections, not to celebrate our imaginary perfection.”

Our vote is a key investment in promoting life and curbing the impact of our real imperfections.

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

Founded in 1988, we will soon celebrate the 35^th anniversary of the ELCA, formed by the merger of three predecessor bodies – the AELC, the ALC, and the LCA. However, even before the anniversary celebrations begin – and you are planning one, right? – the ELCA will launch a process to “reconsider the purpose and structure of our church.”

“The ALC existed for only 27 years; the LCA for 25 years.”

The ELCA was formed after the Commission for a New Lutheran Church worked for five years to develop the foundational documents for the ELCA. The Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church, established at the August 2022 churchwide assembly, will bring its recommendations in 2025.

We may wonder if it’s too soon for such reconsideration of our foundational documents. And yet, the ALC existed for only 27 years; the LCA for 25 years. Even more, Lutherans are part of a reformation movement often described as semper reformanda – the church reformed, always being reformed.

SO, HOW DOES THE ELCA need to change? In what ways does our church need to be reformed? The pace of change in society continues to accelerate. Even a cursory review of the ELCA social statements published since 1988 points to the issues facing the church: climate change, peace, racism, sexism, economics, education, health care, genetics. The action of the churchwide assembly named at least one call for reform: “reconsider the purpose and structure, … being particularly attentive to our shared commitment to dismantle racism….”

This is important work, holy work. One way the Minneapolis Area Synod can support this process is through our commitment to regular prayer. Of course, not every one of our three million ELCA members nationwide can serve on the commission. But all of us can pray.

“The pace of change in society continues to accelerate.”

We pray for the church council as it selects commission members. Council members begin this discernment process at the church council meeting beginning November 10.

We pray for the churchwide staff as they support the commission’s work. And we pray for the conference of bishops and church council members as they serve as conversation partners with the commission in its work.

I love the ELCA – even with its significant flaws. Deeply rooted in the Gospel and engaged in the world, we begin this process, resting in Luther’s reminder that our “faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.” And we keep on praying.

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen  

In 1991, the ELCA approved “A Social Statement on Abortion” that provides for our church one of the finest articulations of ethical discernment on an issue that is, once again, tearing our country, our congregations, even our families apart. I recommend it to you as a foundation for your thoughts and actions in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

The social statement speaks to both public policies and personal decisions. It recognizes that “what is legal is not necessarily moral, and what is moral should not necessarily be enacted into law.” Thus, one must read more than just the statement’s public policy sections to understand our church’s moral teaching on this issue.

Regarding public policy, the statement supports the role of government in regulating abortion. The statement continues that “in cases where the life of the mother is threatened, where pregnancy results from rape or incest, or where the embryo or fetus has lethal abnormalities incompatible with life, abortion prior to viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding of abortions for low-income women.” The overturning of Roe v. Wade means that abortion laws are now determined by individual states. And, some states have already made all abortions (including those listed above) illegal.

“Like each one of us, I bring my own, narrow, lived experience to this conversation.”

Regarding personal, ethical discernment, the statement reads: “Because we believe that God is the creator of life, the number of induced abortions is a source of deep concern to this church. … The strong Christian presumption is to preserve and protect life. Abortion ought to be an option only of last resort.”

Neither Scripture nor the Lutheran Confessions tell us when “life begins.” Jesus calls us to love our neighbor, to love our enemy, to love the person in need. He doesn’t address the question of when a fetus becomes a living neighbor. Surely, when the fetus becomes viable – around 23 weeks – but what about when brain functioning begins in the first 12 weeks?

MUCH HAS CHANGED since 1991. Birth control methods have expanded and become more acceptable. Abortion rates in the U.S. have decreased – but were still estimated to be 625,000 in 2019 (CDC). Genetic testing allows greater knowledge about “lethal abnormalities incompatible with life.” On the other hand, genetic testing also means that “suddenly, a new power [is] thrust into the hands of ordinary people – the power to decide what kind of life is worth bringing into the world.” Do you choose to keep an embryo with a genetic risk of breast cancer? Of schizophrenia? (See “The Last Children of Down Syndrome,” The Atlantic, December 2020.)

As a 67-year-old white woman with financial resources who raised a son with Down Syndrome, I – like each one of us – bring my own, narrow, lived experience to this conversation. In the U.S. in 2014, 49% percent of women who had an abortion lived below the poverty line, with another 26% very close to poverty (NY Times, December 2021). Theirs is a very different lived experience than mine.

“‘What is legal is not necessarily moral, and what is moral should not necessarily be enacted into law.’”

The ELCA social statement is clear about this diversity of experience: “We recognize that conscientious decisions need to be made in relation to difficult circumstances that vary greatly. What is determined to be a morally responsible decision in one situation may not be in another. … We have the responsibility to make the best possible decisions in light of the information available to us and our sense of accountability to God, neighbor, and self. In these decisions, we must ultimately rely on the grace of God.”

May we be the kind of church willing to walk with all people as they face such moments in their lives. For, I believe, it is the community of faith – providing care and moral wisdom – that can embrace us and guide us. Even more, it is the community that proclaims God’s grace, a grace that holds and redeems in ALL moments of our lives.

With all of this in mind, I encourage you to take a deep breath and pray with me:

“Giver of Life. May we be the kind of church willing to walk compassionately with all people as they face complicated and painful moral decisions in their lives. Amen.”

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

I distinctly remember a job interview when I served as pastor at Trinity Lutheran in Moorhead. When I asked the applicant why she wanted to work in a church, she replied, “I think it will really help my faith.”

Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about her remarks. Sunday was Pentecost – the birthday of the church – the day the Spirit miraculously transformed fearful disciples into a loving community boldly sent to share the good news of Christ, … even to the ends of the earth.

And the Spirit is still at work. Our synod assembly in April was filled with signs of the Spirit’s ongoing presence:

• We celebrated the news that $680,000 had been raised to start the Lutheran University Nigeria – a critical ministry in a country where only 40 percent of eligible students can find a spot in college.
• We rejoiced to welcome Holy Cross Lutheran Church in Minneapolis as the newest ELCA congregation.

“In the five weeks since our synod assembly, we have also seen powerful signs of the church’s brokenness.”

And yet, in the same five weeks, we have seen powerful signs of the church’s brokenness, including the Sierra Pacific Synod’s Assembly where 56% of those gathered voted to remove their bishop from office (a vote that did not meet the required two-thirds majority). And, yesterday, we heard that our Presiding Bishop has initiated formal disciplinary charges against Bishop Megan Rohrer.

The events in Sierra Pacific point ever more vividly to the racism and bias that infect the ELCA. Our responses on social media and elsewhere reveal how easy it is to amplify bad news and partial truths. We are broken.

IN HIS LATEST book, Do I Stay Christian?, Brian McLaren (our 2015 synod assembly speaker) starts out by retelling the story of the church’s brokenness – particularly the greed, power, fear, patriarchy, racism, and discrimination that have shaped it.

But then he tells the story of two sisters – Catholic nuns who face excommunication (and the loss of all earthly possessions) because of their challenges to the church. Still, they choose to continue speaking up until the church chooses to remove them – with both grace and defiance.

And, McClaren responds to their courage, writing, “Knowing what I see and know now (about Christian history), I will remain present to my [Christian] community, neither minimizing its faults nor hating it for its faults. … [I will join those who] stay with a good-natured but firm defiance, determined to keep our integrity and speak our truth as best we can, … staying centered in genuine humility and love.”

“Martin Luther is realistic about the ‘institutional church,’ recognizing that the ‘visible church’ is a human institution marred by error, a reflection of the sinner/saints who lead it.”

The church itself – whether it’s Trinity Lutheran in Moorhead or another congregation – will not always be a place where faith is strengthened. We may (likely) be hurt by the church’s sin and brokenness. Martin Luther is realistic about the “institutional church,” recognizing that the “visible church” is a human institution marred by error, a reflection of the sinner/saints who lead it. Yet, and still, the visible church is the incarnational vessel where, in Word and Sacraments, we receive the Christ and balm of the Gospel.

So, we speak up – with defiance and humility. We hold our church accountable – our ELCA, our synod, our congregation. We repent and seek reconciliation. And, we pray, “Come, Holy Spirit.”

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen 

Though I’ve been to over twenty Conference of Bishops meetings, last month was the first meeting where I made it to breakfast every day before 7am. I couldn’t wait to see my colleagues. I couldn’t wait to meet the 20 bishops who’d been elected since our last in-person meeting, held two years before.   

I imagine we’ve all had such experiences. When our synod staff was finally able to return to work in the office, the energy was palpable. When we are finally able to hug family or friends after a Delta or Omicron outbreak, the joy is immense. 

“Being social and meeting other people is, I think, the essence of being human,” writes neuroscientist Helena Wasling “If that’s taken away, it would be strange if we were not affected by it … So, when the pandemic takes away our ability to physically interact with each other, there’s a part of us that feels empty.” 

Which brings me to an important invitation. With care, faith, and thoughtfulness, the synod staff has planned a one-day all synod gathering scheduled for Saturday, April 30, 8:30 – 2PM at Central Lutheran Church. We call it Synod Assembly – and it’s our first in-person assembly since 2019! 

“When we are finally able to hug family or friends … the joy is immense.”

 Under the theme, “Life Together,” we will enjoy: 

• Keynote presentations on Acts by foremost New Testament Scholar, Dr. Eric Barreto, from Princeton Seminary. 
• Hymn Singing led by Cantor Mark Sedio 
• A delicious lunch and snacks catered by our favorite caterers 
• Inspiration from our VP Felecia Boone and Treasurer Ty Inglis (whose reports are so much more than reports!) 
• Some surprising announcements and celebrations, including one from Archbishop Musa Filibus of Nigeria 
• A devotion and greeting by Rev. Dr. Goitía-Padilla, former Dean of the Seminario Evangélico de Puerto Rico and currently ELCA Program Director for Theological Formation 

YES, IN 25 DAYS, WE GATHER IN PERSON for assembly, the first time in three years! If you’ve been to Central Lutheran Church, you know there is room for everyone with plenty of room for physical distancing. Though only voting members will be able to gather in person (there’s still room for more voting members), as well as an option for visitors to view the assembly online. 

Pastors and deacons under call in our synod can serve as voting members. Each congregation can elect at least one lay person (more for larger congregations) and one youth (age 15-18) to serve as voting members. And ten percent of our retired rostered ministers are eligible to become voting members. 

“Registration closes April 14th!”

For more information about the assembly, visit our website. If you are interested in becoming a voting member, visit with your pastor. Registration closes April 14th! 

We praise God that, so far, our assembly will occur when the Covid infection rate is low. And we pray that as many as are able will take this opportunity to gather, in-person, to experience “life together” in Jesus’ name. 

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen 

Friend and former bishop, Peter Rogness, now serving as interim pastor in Berlin, surprised me with an email last week. Since our synod’s companion churches are in Nigeria and Germany, he knew the email would mean a lot. 

Last Wednesday, three young men arrived in Berlin asking for assistance from the church Pastor Rogness serves. Their story began only a few weeks earlier when they left a violence-prone region of Nigeria seeking refuge in Ukraine. However, their refugee journey wasn’t over. Within weeks, their new home wasn’t just violence-prone – it was under attack from Russia.  

Fortunately, they were able to escape, again, along with 2.5 million refugees fleeing Ukraine.   

Within weeks, their new home wasn’t just violence-prone – it was under attack from Russia.”

The Lutheran Church in Berlin loaded these young Nigerians with items from their food pantry (currently, temporary hosts of refugees are on their own to support those they take in). Imagine how that host’s grocery bill will grow with three young men at the table. And the experience of that host is multiplied many times over around the city. 

LUTHERANS ARE THERE TO PROVIDE HELP. Ukrainian refugees need shelter, basic necessities and pastoral care. Lutheran Disaster Response is accompanying our companion churches in Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia and supporting the work of Lutheran World Federation and Church World Service. 

We are deeply blessed to have an organization we trust to provide humanitarian support “on the ground.” In addition, our gifts to Lutheran Disaster Response (designated “Eastern Europe Crisis Response”) are used entirely (100%) to support the people impacted by this conflict. 

In addition to the pictures available through news reports, please take a look at a picture of the Nigerians’ apartment building after it was struck by a Russian missile. Lutheran Disaster Response has also developed a 2-minute video that you can watch here.  

I hope we can join together in Lenten prayer and fasting, especially for all affected by this conflict. I encourage you to give generously to LDR and our partners by donating here.  

“Their name is Jesus.” 

Though I can’t tell you the names of the Nigerian men that Pastor Rogness met in Berlin, I can say that these Nigerian men, like all refugees, do have a name. Their name is Jesus. 

In Christ, 
Bishop Ann 

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…” As many congregations make their way through Year C and the Gospel of Luke, these verses from chapter 4 are foundational. They are Jesus’ mission statement: “The Spirit is upon me … to bring good news to the poor; proclaim release to the captives, give sight to the blind, free the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”   

Like the book of Romans was foundational to Luther and the 16th century reformation, Luke 4 was foundational to liberation theology – a reformation movement begun in the 1960s. “Now the text is Luke 4 instead of Romans 3,” David Tiede writes in a 1987 issue of Word and World. “It is a proclamation of the law of God, offering new hope and dignity to those who have borne the brunt of oppressive economic and political systems, and calling the powerful to repent.” 

“We yearn for justice; we yearn to know that we are beloved of God.”

One of the most radical parts of this mission is to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Every 50th year, the jubilee year, land would be returned free to its original owners and slaves would be released. The law protected the poor from the two greatest threats: loss of land and loss of freedom. Once in a lifetime, the whole economy was given a fresh start. So, in Jesus’ mission, the ministry tasks include not just feeding the hungry and poor but working for just systems to prevent poverty.  

Jesus articulates his mission, quoting the prophet Isaiah, reminding us that this is not a new vision, but the description of God’s reign in the law and prophets. 

BUT THERE’S MORE. Luke’s gospel ends with another public pronouncement from Jesus. In Luke 24, gathered with the disciples before his ascension, he says: “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” 

Repentance and forgiveness, proclaimed and granted through the death and resurrection of Christ. This is gospel – the free grace of God offered to all.  

And, what happens after Jesus’ ascension? The Spirit descends upon the disciples and empowers them to speak the love of God in Jesus in every language. They are propelled by the Spirit to live out Jesus’ two-fold mission: good news to the poor and new life for all through forgiveness in Jesus Christ. 

“In Jesus’ mission, the ministry tasks include not just feeding the hungry and poor but working for just systems to prevent poverty.”

You and I are called to continue that mission in 2022. To seek justice and proclaim forgiveness. We yearn for justice; we yearn to know that we are beloved of God.    

A few days before my father died, the pastor came to bring communion. I wasn’t sure Dad knew what was happening, so before I left, in a conversation that would be my last with him, I asked him some simple yes-or-no questions:  

“You know that I love you? And your sons, Rock and Brad, love you too?” 

“Yes, and I love you,” he said.  

“You know that God loves you?”  

“Yes,” he said.  

“And you know that nothing can ever separate you from that love?”  

He replied, “Yes, isn’t that amazing?”  

God’s love come to us this day; a word of love more powerful than anything else. And isn’t that amazing?   

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen 

When was the last time you apologized to someone? Not a “sorry” after bumping them in the grocery line. And not a non-apology like “I’m sorry you feel that way” or “I apologize if you were offended.” Indeed, such non-apologies add harm; a sort of blaming the other for “being too sensitive”. 

Maybe the beginning of this new year is a good time to explore apologizing as a faith practice; a good time to examine when and how we express remorse and seek to make amends. As we work to become a more diverse and culturally competent church, we will make mistakes. Are we able to admit them swiftly and seek restoration?  

For example, an ELCA bishop recently brought difficult news to a Latinx congregation on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The timing of the news, given the cultural significance of the day, was unfortunate. What can we learn about the “faith practice” of apologizing from this situation?

“It often feels that our only goal is to be right – to take a stand – no matter what the cost.” 

In the context of our civic life, we feel pressure to develop rigid opinions about many things (vaccinations, the fairness of an election, etc.). It often feels that our only goal is to be right – to take a stand – no matter what the cost. No matter what relationships are left in tatters along the way. 

Our God calls us to something different. We were created for relationships – with God and with one another. We were created for community. And we are called to tend these gifts from God.   

THE DAY AFTER CHRISTMAS, WE MOURNED the passing of one of our generation’s great saints, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. His impact on the church and world continues. And part of his legacy was his commitment to confession and forgiveness. Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, he wrote, “True reconciliation is based on forgiveness, and forgiveness is based on true confession, and confession is based on penitence, on contrition, on sorrow for what you have done.”[i] 

“As we work to become a more diverse and culturally competent church, we will make mistakes.” 

The dismantling of apartheid was dependent upon such a process. In his book, No Future Without Forgiveness, the Archbishop wrote, “Our country’s negotiators…opted for a ‘third way,’ a compromise between the extreme of Nuremberg trials and blanket amnesty or national amnesia. And that third way was granting amnesty to individuals in exchange for a full disclosure relating to the crime for which amnesty was being sought.” 

Perhaps the next time we share in the liturgy of confession and forgiveness, we add a moment of “silence to reflect on the people we have harmed; those to whom we should apologize in the coming week.” Our relationships matter. Our communities matter. May God grant us wisdom and compassion in the practice of saying we are sorry. 

[i] https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/truth_and_reconciliation 

By Bishop Ann Svennungsen

I have never attended a “Blue Christmas” worship service. Perhaps, this year.

The service, often held on the longest night of the year, is a time to gather with others, to name the losses that make this season difficult, to lament and pray, and to experience the promise and presence of God.

“The ancient wisdom of the Psalms speaks to us in our journey with the ‘universal and inescapable’ experience of grief.”

As we prepare to decorate our trees and homes during Advent, it’s hard not to experience the pain of loss in our lives:

• Setting up my mom’s white porcelain nativity set, wishing she were near
• Eating lefse and remembering the fun Dad and I had (and the incredible mess we made) trying to make this strange Norwegian treat.
• Wondering what it would be like if our son could have lived to celebrate his 36^th Christmas with his nephew and niece – now so grown up – and his nephew Noah, whom he never met.

DEATH IS NOT THE only loss we grieve during this season. The authors of All Our Losses All our Griefs write  “experiences that evoke grief are both more frequent and more varied than most people imagine. … Grief is universal and inescapable. … It is the composite of powerful emotions assailing us whenever we lose someone or something we value. Grieving is the intentional work grief-stricken persons engage in, enabling them to return eventually to full, satisfying lives. It can be avoided, but at a very high cost to the one who refuses it.”

“Death is not the only loss we grieve during this season.”

The ancient wisdom of the Psalms speaks to us in our journey with the “universal and inescapable” experience of grief. One liturgy for a Blue Christmas service begins with Psalm 22: (endnote 2)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.
In you, our ancestors trusted. They trusted and you delivered them.
It was you who brought me from the womb,
you who kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
Since my mother bore me, you have been my God.
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
God does not despise the affliction of the afflicted.
God does not hide from me.
When I cry to God, God hears me.
Thanks be to God.

This Psalm, also prayed by Jesus from the cross, connects us with our God who suffers with us and for us; our God who holds us in all our losses; and our God whose resurrection promise embraces us and our loved ones for all eternity.

Maybe this is the year for me to attend such a service. Perhaps you will, too.

And may God grant us all wisdom and compassion to be truly present with others. If the experience of loss is universal, it is likely we will encounter someone grieving in the days ahead. May we be lovingly attentive – not to fix or advise – but simply to love, as a small sing of the incarnate love of God.

And, Advent blessings to you all. (Should your community host a Blue Christmas service, I invite you to post an invite on our Facebook page. You can also register to participate in a virtual service.