Happy [insert-day-here]

In keeping with my theme of remembering holidays that occur around this time of year, here is a run-down of the past few days:

• December 26 is the day for St. Stephen, using the logic that as the first martyr, Stephen deserves to have his heavenly birthday the closest to Jesus' birthday. His day is mostly remembered by American Lutherans only when they happen to be singing "Good King Wenceslas".


• December 27 is St. John's Day, on which it is traditional to be really confused as to which John is intended. (Okay, not really, but "John" is the masculine equivalent of "Mary" in the New Testament...you have John, John, and the other John.) Visiting the island of St. John is not a tradition on this day, but it really should be.


• December 28 is the Holy Innocents, which, no matter how you look at it, is not the most cheerful of feast days.

~Pastor Sarah

Happy St. Thomas day!

Day Trippin' in Madras
Originally uploaded by Prince Roy

Today is the festival day for St. Thomas, which is hardly ever celebrated by Lutherans, because a-it sounds like something Roman Catholics would do and b-it is entirely too close to Christmas, and we already have enough extra services this week.

We mostly know Thomas for his famous profession of faith in the risen Lord (hey, I can always dream). What you may not know is that, according to tradition, he is also said to have been the first to take the gospel to India--in fact, to this day, there are Indian Christians who trace their roots back to Thomas. In Chennai, India, you can visit St. Thomas Basilica, which is said to be built over the saint's tomb (which you can also see), or St. Thomas Mount, where he may have been martyred. (When I was in Chennai a few years ago, we did not get to see inside the basilica because there was a funeral or a possibly a wedding going on. But the outside is gorgeous.)

Then, of course, there is the island of St. Thomas, which sounds pretty good this time of year, even though their website does auto-play an annoying sound effect.

~Pastor Sarah

August newsletter

We did it! Our 2009 youth mission trip (to Starbuck!) was a great success! How do I know? Well, we had a great time—but more importantly, we all learned about what God is doing here in our own community.

We discovered that God is present in the natural beauties that surround is: in the hills of the State Park, in the tiny little toads by the lakeshore; or even in the small and angry swallow that was nesting outside the nursing home. We discovered that God is most definitely present in the lives of our youth, who pitched in with a smile even when the chores were boring, who were brave enough to try something new, and who were even brave enough to invite their friends.

We saw how God is active in this community, in the warm welcomed we experienced everywhere we went, and especially at our time at the nursing home. And discovered that God is present and active in all four congregations of CrossWind Parish, each one full of generous people of lively faith, showing by our ministry together that the one Lord Jesus who unites us is stronger than anything that could divide us.

I usually report that there were eight participants in the mission trip—six youth and two adult leaders. But the truth is, it took a whole lot more than that to pull it off! So an extra “thank you” goes to everyone who was involved--those who prepared meals, those who helped with service projects, those who shared their time, those who greeted us as we were passing by, and especially those who remembered us in their prayers.

But wait! We’re not done yet! This is when it gets exciting, when we get to take what we learned from our trip and apply it in our everyday lives! So here’s the challenge: think about how you have seen God present and active in our community--and tell somebody about it. And always keep your eyes open to catch what God will be doing next!

~Pastor Sarah

Maybe we should just call him "Fred"?

The assigned gospel reading for the Second Sunday of Easter is always John 20:19-31, the story of the poor fellow we always call "Doubting Thomas", even though he spends as many verses believing as he does doubting (no, really, count them).

I have always liked this story, maybe because it is often thought that Thomas might have been a twin--and if he really was a twin, then he would probably prefer "Doubting Thomas" to "Thomas the Twin", which would be annoying even if it weren't redundant. (Being called "the twin" or "the twins" gets old. Trust me on this.) Did Thomas look just like one of the other disciples (or even Jesus), and so they jokingly called him "the Twin"? Or was he a twin? If so, did he leave his brother or sister at home, or if he had a twin sister, could she have been one of the women who traveled with Jesus? I could imagine how that could lead to some humorous exchanges.

But the real reason I like this story is because Thomas--solid, sensible Thomas, who really gets far too much blame--doesn't get in trouble for doubting. In fact, Jesus meets him right there, doubts and all. This is a good reminder for the second week of Easter: yes, the Easter message is for real people, doubts and all. And Jesus comes to us in our doubts. In fact, doubts often mean that we are getting to know him better! They're how we grow in faith, strangely enough.

Actually, this Sunday is Holy Humor Sunday, so I don't know if I'll be able to work any of this into my sermon. But I'll be thinking about it, quite certainly.

~Pastor Sarah

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

It's kind of refreshing to have a saint's day that is actually commonly remembered as a saint's day. Even though most people in the U.S. do not retain any religious associations with the Commemoration of Saint Patrick, at least we haven't lost that from the name, as we have with St. Valentine's!

Saint Patrick--the real Saint Patrick--makes for a remarkably good story. For one thing, he wasn't Irish--he was taken to Ireland as a teenager after being kidnapped by actual pirates. And we know more about him that about many other early saints, because we have some of his writings. We know that he worked to support Irish Christians and to convert the Irish to Christianity--we don't know a lot of the exact details, although of course there are many stories. My favorite is the legend that he drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Apparently, there never were any snakes in Ireland (it being an island), but still, it's pretty impressive, isn't it?

But what is really impressive about Patrick is that apparently he really did go back to the land where he had been enslaved. One might think that he would have hated the people and places of Ireland, but instead he loved them enough to share the gospel with them. That is a story I think we all need to hear from time to time.

Another interesting fact: Apparently, Saint Patrick's Day doesn't count as Lent in certain (probably Irish) circles, so if you were, say, giving up chocolate for Lent, today you could eat as much chocolate as you liked. (It's kind of like Sundays, which are always feast days, even during Lent, which is how you get the math to work out to have "40 days" in the season. Of course, if you exempt St. Patrick's Day as well, you end up with only 39.)

And, finally: Did you know that Saint Patrick's original color was actually blue? The thing with the color green is apparently a fairly recent innovation (in the last century or so).

~Pastor Sarah

Behind the scenes at the Famine

I had a great time at the 30 Hour Famine this weekend, and more importantly, I was tremendously proud of our youth and our parish. We raised over $2,400 to help support hungry children and their families! Even though money is tight for most people right now, our youth were still able to top last year's number, due both to their own dedication and the support of the people of our community. This event is a great example of how small contributions can add up into something incredible!

I'm sure I'll be sharing all kinds of stories (there are so many!) about the event this year, but for now, here are some behind-the-scenes things that even Famine participants might not know:

• The night before the Famine, LaVonne spent four hours pressing fabric for us to cut into quilt squares.


• Participants likely didn't see much of Pastor Paul on Saturday afternoon. That's because he spent most of that time processing donations. (It's not the most exciting thing, but somebody has to do it!)


• Does 6 am seem a little early to be having breakfast? Remember, somebody had to get up before that to set it up!


• Throughout our parish on Sunday, the folks who were setting up for Communion went a little (or a lot) out of their way to receive the gift of bread baked during the Famine. Communion servers, some of whom had never handled bread instead of wafers before, bravely gave it a try.


• Last Wednesday, the kids at K.I.C.K. (our after-school program) made cards for the Famine participants, many of whom they had never met. They put a lot of thought and care into this activity!

~Pastor Sarah

Today is Martin Luther day!

No, not Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, although it's an easy mistake. After all, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King, Jr. had a lot in common--both were Christian pastors who sought to reform their societies. (And, of course, the more recent "Martin Luther" was named after "our" Martin Luther.)

Today, however, really is the day for the commemoration of Martin Luther, because this day marks the anniversary of his death. This is an excellent opportunity to brush up on your Lutheran history, as remembered from Sunday School or Confirmation. Since one of Luther's chief concerns was the study of the Word, this is also a great day for Bible reading, as we give thanks for the gift of the Scriptures translated into our own language.

~Pastor Sarah

Thoughts on Saint Valentine

I've done a bit of research K.I.C.K. and I thought I would share.

What he know is this: There probably was a Saint Valentine. (In fact, there were several saints of the early church by that name.) He likely died for his faith.

St. Valentine was traditionally remembered on February 14th (in the West, at least), possibly the day of his death. (Since there was more than one saint named "Valentine", there may have been other St. Valentine's days!) Typically, we remember saints and martyrs on the days of their deaths, not their births, because that is the date of their "birth to eternal life".

Saint Valentine himself was not originally associated with romantic love. That is a more recent invention. There are many lovely stories that support this idea (for example, the story that he sent his jailer's daughter a note signed "Valentine" or that he performed marriages for young Christians), but they are probably based more on imagination than on history. That doesn't mean they're not worth telling--I think it's helpful for us as Christians to have positive ways of talking about romantic love. But that's not really our primary motivation. Regardless of what else he did, the original Saint Valentine was considered a saint of the early church--and that probably means that he was concerned, above all, with God's love.

So, on Valentine's Day, you have several options. You could stress about whether you are showing enough love (i.e. buying enough presents) for your significant other. You could stress about how you don't have a significant other. Or you could start by remembering that the real source of St. Valentine's life and strength was not romantic love, but God's. And that love is not shown with cards and chocolates (not that I'm opposed to either), but by the life and death of Jesus Christ.

~Pastor Sarah