In just a few weeks, we’re going to take a specific walk with Jesus from Bethany to Jerusalem.

We will move through the Upper Room and Garden stopping by Pilate’s and Herod’s before taking 400-600 steps down the Via Dolorosa (the Way of Suffering that Jesus walked to the cross).

​Regardless of your feelings about CNN, they produced really helpful video that helps us see this walk with our own eyes.

Commit to walking.

• Wherever you are, set aside April 10-17 as days you will walk with Jesus in a special way.
• Thankfully, Jesus’ walk doesn’t stop at the cross… it goes through a borrowed tomb, out into a new garden, through different rooms, and into our hearts and lives, everyday. Check out ways to walk with Jesus from Bethany to the New Garden at oslc.com/easter.

  ​Center your heart.

• Set aside some time to read John 11-20.
• Put yourself into the story as an observer of these events. What do you notice yourself thinking about and feeling as the story unfolds?

Walk with Somebody Else.

• Whether it's through the woods or life, walks are better, together. Nobody walks alone. . . so, who will you invite to walk with, April 10-17?

March is Women’s History Month.

So, I thought it would be fitting to have Danielle Strickland share an inspiring story about how we see Jesus determines how we see others.

After you watch the story, drop me an email. I'd love to hear about which other women are inspiring you to follow Jesus these days.

​You can watch Danielle's entire talk here.
Video Credit: Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, Urbana 2018.

Where did Ash Wednesday come from?

I'm glad you asked. :)

Ash Wednesday has its origins in the early Christian Church – somewhere between the sixth and eight centuries. Originally, the idea was that a Christian, as a sign of repentance, would sprinkle ashes on his or her head.  In the Bible, ashes were always associated with humility and mortality, fasting and remorse. If you had sinned against God, and you felt remorse about that sin, and you were repenting of that sin, then sometimes, in the Bible, you would sprinkle ashes on your head as a sign of sorrow and repentance. Ashes were supposed to remind you that you were mortal, that you will eventually become ashes after you die. We’re only ashes, and we need to repent of our sins now while God gives us a time of grace. 

During 6th or 7th centuries, Christian churches thought about this idea. Sometimes, in private, people would sprinkle ashes on themselves as a sign of repentance. Eventually, this became a public practice. Instead of sprinkling the ashes on your head, the ashes would be rubbed onto the forehead in the shape of a cross. It was a sign of repentance, and a reminder of your baptism, when the sign of the cross was placed on you with water and the Word. The ashes would actually be taken from the palm branches from Palm Sunday, burned the year before.

As you think of the ashes on your head, you might think how Christians have done this as a remembrance of sins for hundreds of years. 

So how do we begin preparing our hearts for Ash Wednesday and the walk through what we call, Lent?

One way is through prayer.

Throughout the entire Christian scriptures, we hear generations praying, the same prayer: Lord, have mercy...
​

• The Psalm writers and the Tax Collector...
• The Cannanite Woman and the Blind Bartimaeus...
• The crowds of people lining the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus rides in on a donkey...

They're all praying... crying... begging... Lord, have mercy...

The prayer, "Lord, have mercy..." is still echoed today. And, every generation finishes the prayer with a specific subject.

This week, it's appropriate that we pray, Lord, have mercy on Ukraine and Russia.

So, let's do that together.

In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

For the Reign of God, and for peace throughout the world, for the unity of all, 
let us pray to the Lord. ​

On Wednesday, March 2, I'm going to be taking this prayer a step further and unpack how Ash Wednesday is God making his mercy known to us.

So, let's take a walk together through what we call "Lent".

​Join me here onsite in Tacoma or online at www.oslc.com/lent.

For now, check out this video to learn more about Lent.

Hi from Phoenix!

Our ministry team is honored to have been chosen to present breakout sessions at a national ministry conference. If you get a chance, send them a note to encourage them. And then ask them about how it went the next time you see them.

Yesterday, while I was with our team here in Phoenix, Governor Inslee shared that beginning March 21, the statewide mask mandate for most indoor spaces will be removed. Our staff has been anticipating this day and are ready to adapt with your health and the health of our entire community in mind. In the coming days, we are anticipating guidance from the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department to guide this transition for our wider community and our specific ministry environments. As the next few weeks unfold, I will keep you updated about what this means for our ministries as we move into the spring.

There's no doubt that our campus facilities are some of our greatest assets. They support gathering, connecting, and serving together alongside our wider community. Here's a quick update...

• Both Men's and Women's Bathrooms near the Chapel are open.
• Any future Basement work will be included in our larger Master Campus Planning process.
• Unfortunately, earlier this week, we learned that our West Campus facility will need to be connected to the City Sewer System. Because of this large unanticipated expense combined with the rising cost of construction and labor, we are re-evaluating our options to determine the best way to expand the capacity of our Backpacks 4 Kids program. Please keep this all in your prayers!

Finally, preschools like ours here at Our Savior are not only about helping young children learn their A-B-C’s and 1-2-3’s… it’s also about influencing their families to model the love of Jesus at home.

I want to share what Leah Jennings did when her daughter asked her,  "Mommy, what if God isn’t great? What then?". Click here to read more.

Preschools help parents like Leah gain confidence to respond to our littlest's hard questions.

For more resources to better understand how preschoolers learn and how you can influence the little kids in your life with the love of Jesus, check out the Parent Cue Resource Library.

Between 2005 and 2007, I had the privilege to pioneer service and leadership experiences at Lutherhaven Ministries.

At that time, we called it the Servant Leadership Institute. It was a year-long  service and leadership experience for high school and college students who led their peers to significantly plan and lead how best to serve people in the Silver Valley (ID), Sunnyside (WA), Seattle, and Baja California (Mexico).

17 years later, students and adults are still serving side-by-side people.

​Since then, ISA has become a more accessible week-long experience (now known as Idaho Servant Adventures or "ISA"). In the last 10 years, ISA has immersed over 10,000 students and adults (over 100,000 service hours) from around the world into the Silver Valley located in North Idaho's Panhandle communities of Shoshone County.

​Quite incredible!

These pictures give you a taste of what I'm talking about.

You can imagine how thrilled I was when a few months ago, our Youth Minister, Cary Hoff shared that he is was planning to begin taking students from Our Savior to Idaho Servant Adventures. This week is filled with hands-on service engagement, leadership opportunities, laughter, and fun that combines to transform the hearts of students and those they serve. That transformation is then seen when they return home to their schools, friends, families, and churches.

You can learn more about it here. Registration opens February 15.

This week, I share a conversation between my friends Dust Kunkel and Clint Kunze. Clint shares his vision for consistent service in Shoshone County, what it's like being called to love a specific community, and how ISA equips teenagers for a lifetime of service and leadership. 

Check it out and let me know what you think.​

Hello from the Year 2030.

I know it’s hard right now. Life seems confusing and disoriented. And, it's normal coming out of a global pandemic to feel as if everything is shaken up as if our plans for the future were disrupted by something out of our control. Of course, that's exactly what happened... even for the church.

While you don't know what is going to happen, let me tell you that I’m so proud of the young adults who began gathering together as a Life Group on February 3rd at 6:30pm.

What did this Young Adult Life Group begin doing?

• shared meals
• found true friends and grew closer with old ones
• shared life stories 
• encouraged each other with grace and truth from the heart of Jesus
• invited their friends to explore the way of Jesus in a non-judgmental and safe space
• learned to pray with and for each other in powerful ways

I know you think the group is pretty small. And since you can’t see, touch, feel, or smell what God is doing right now, it’s really difficult to see where this is all going. And yes, the adulting that will happen in the group will be messy and confusing. But, don’t get discouraged. This is normal.

And it's all worth it because in just 7 years...

• Kids are who are being born and starting preschool this year have Jesus' unconditional love in their families and homes.
• Generations of people are now running toward the needs of others - not away.
• “Sinners” are welcomed with open arms - no questions asked.
• People are trusting people again around their kitchen tables and backyard fences.
• There is a new sense of belonging and friendship emerging that looks more like Jesus.

The unconditional love of Jesus has become unavoidable where these once-young-adults live, work, and play through their word and deed… all because a few of them got connected in a Life Group.

But don't take my word for it... take God's Word for it.

Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins,
They will raise up the former devastations;
And they will repair the ruined cities,
The desolations of many generations. (Isaiah 61:4)

So if you're wondering if it’s worth encouraging an 18-29 year old to be a part of the new Young Adult Life Group starting February 3rd - the Year 2030 says, “absolutely”.

We still love you.
The Year 2030

It is no secret that the Global Pandemic has exposed what US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy said in a 2017 Harvard Business Review article, is the most common human ailment: loneliness. While heart disease or diabetes are the most pervasive physical illnesses in America; loneliness is by far the most prevalent disease wreaking havoc in the mental, physical, and spiritual lives of people, today.​

According to a December 21, 2021 article in the New York Times​, one way to begin moving beyond our loneliness is by volunteering to serve. The article went on to share that Val Walker, author of 400 Friends and No One to Call: Breaking Through the Isolation and Building Community says, “Volunteering is one of the best, most certain ways we can find a purpose and meaning in our life”.

Perhaps those of us who experience loneliness - both extroverts and introverts - don’t necessarily need more people in our lives… we need deeper connection.

Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943) helps me understand that connection is vital to all of life. And while there are many scripture passages that affirm we have a forever connection with our very best friend, Jesus (we call that faith!), that is often too abstract to embrace - even for the most spiritual of us. Even communion, the tangible body and blood of Jesus with the bread and wine, is quite the mystery.

I need something tangible. Flesh and blood. Here and now. 

Thinking about it some more, Jesus has given me something tangible to help with my human loneliness (and yours): each other.

I need concrete human connection… and you do, too

And this is one of a few reasons why I need this Midwinter Shindig.

Perhaps there are others like me who need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. To enjoy being together and to give our time in the interest of others.

And Jesus gives it all to us. Like in the Garden of Eden, God gives people to people to enjoy connection. And that’s what heaven will be like, too. Ultimate connection. 

In the meantime, it’s the invitation to “be Jesus” to one another… especially when it may be hard for us to admit our own loneliness to ourselves. 

You can join me as a Shindig Volunteer to help make the event happen, or seriously... just show up… because sometimes we just need to be together.

​Before I get serious, I said that I would share what I learned about shindigs.

Thanks to Google, I discovered that besides being a “large, lively party, especially one celebrating something” (Oxford Languages), it has its roots in a Scottish game like hockey called, “shinty” (etymonline.com). There might not be much to celebrate right now when it comes to the Kraken, but there is plenty to celebrate when it comes to just being together.

So, grab your mask and come make new friends… catch up with old ones… and let’s have some boot scootin’ fun!

I also learned that ‘merrymaking’ happens at shindigs… I’m not sure what that all will entail - but it sounds like a whole lot of fun!

Alright, onto the rest of this week’s post.

In honor of MLK Day 2022 coupled with my conviction that racial diversity is close to God’s heart, I want to share some of my thoughts about how we as a church can become more racially diverse (like our local community). At the end of the post, I will offer a few ways for each of us to help shatter the status quo and better engage our neighbors and new ways of living.

Here’s the truth: we live in an increasingly racially diverse community.

According to US News and World Report, the student body served by Franklin Pierce School District is 31% White, 30.5% Hispanic/Latino, 15.8% multi-racial, 13% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian, or Alaska Native, and 9.7% Black. Now, those stats are from 2017 or so, but I'm guessing we're just as diverse - if not more, today.

I’ve often thought about how can a larger church like Our Savior be so homogeneous while immersed in such a beautiful multi-racial community. If you're interested to hear where I'm at with this, I’m happy to grab lunch or coffee with you sometime. My treat.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what I think. Regardless of how we got here, there are ways we can work together to become more racially diverse like our local community. 

Considering today’s talking points on the right and left sides of the aisle, it’s easy to hold racial diversity hostage in the prison of politics. Simply put, politics divide people. And because race and diversity has been in the political hopper for quite some time, I understand how the lines get blurred.

We must remember that for a Jesus follower, racial diversity is a matter of the heart and mission of Jesus. Jesus’ heart is for all people. Jesus’ mission is to go into all of the world (Mark 16:15) and to every nation (Matthew 28:19-20) to be and share the good news of freedom and salvation. The mission of God has always been and will always be for every culture, class, and race. The gospel, which is the power of God for salvation (Romans 1:16-17), is the hope of the world - not politics. And, as Jesus’ partners on His mission to gather all people back to His heart, we desire to see a racially diverse church.

If our practice of pursuing racial diversity (or not) as a church becomes more about a political alignment than about Jesus, we have lost the gospel.

Bottom Line: Keep Jesus in the center of “why” we want to become more racially diverse as a church. . . and let the news networks fight about the politics of race.

​Sometimes… okay, maybe most of the time, how we do church is tied to our stories.

Jack Miezrow in his capstone book, Transformative Dimensions of Adult Learning says that we are all caught up in our own histories. This is true as both individuals and institutions. As a person, what I find valuable in my past is what I continue to do in the present and plan to continue doing in the future. The same is true with a church.

Historically, much of Lutheran tradition goes through Germany or Scandinavia (Norway or Sweden). It's not bad. . . it just does. I mean, after all, Martin Luther was European. It wasn't like he had a choice in choosing his race or ethnicity.

At the same time, racial identity and idolized ethnic pride has caused some tensions over the years - especially in the land of the free and home of the brave. For example, in 1911, Lutheran churches divided over whether to begin worshiping in English which gave rise to the “English District”. In the midwest, several churches celebrate Oktoberfest, a German fall festival featuring beer while their neighbors spoke Spanish, Hindi, and Mandarin. In communities rooted in Nordic traditions, Lutherans continue to share Lutefisk dinners around the Christmas holiday while Somolians, Ethiopians, and Afgans became the dominant population.

My point is that tradition is often times grounded in racial and ethnic distinctions. And while tradition is certainly not a bad thing, it's easy to forget that in a multi-racial community, one people group doesn't own the block on tradition. The goal must become creating equity and promoting equality when it comes to understanding and celebrating cultural traditions and dare enough to create new traditions together where all races and ethnicities can embrace something new and different, yet intrinsically familiar to everybody... which takes hard work, a lot of faux pas, a ton of vulnerability, and a whole lot of time. This doesn't happen in a year or two... it happens over decades and generations.

Reflecting on our own traditions makes me think about the role tradition plays in the ministry of Jesus. It seems to me that tradition for tradition's sake is not helpful; however, tradition that helps people see less of us and more of Jesus is much more valuable.

I remember hearing about a church who wanted to reach their growing Latinx community. So, they decided to post flyers around the neighborhood inviting their neighbors to an Oktoberfest complete with beer, brats, a polka band, and the chicken dance.

They wondered why nobody showed up.

Christmas (an entire season of tradition!) reminds us that Jesus came and "tabernacled" among us. Jesus surrendered his heavenly home to step into a foreign and different way of life. He learned what it meant to be human and at the cross and empty tomb, Jesus brings equity and equality between God and His creation.

Philippians 2 describes the Jesus way as one of surrendering our way or traditions and lifting up others’ for the sake of our shared unity with God through Jesus.

Reflection Question: What traditions does our community celebrate that may not look like ours? How can we learn about and be present with them in their celebrations?

​I used to think the ultimate expression of racial diversity and unity was a worship service.

You may have had similar thoughts of every race, class, and language in the same room singing the same songs worshiping the same God in the same ways.

Then in 2012, I was introduced to a new principle (which is really an ancient one):

What happens in the home is celebrated in the worship gathering and what is celebrated in the worship gathering happens in the home.

That is to say that if we want to grow in our home prayer life, model it in church. If we want people to grow in praying with others in church/public, then grow our personal prayer lives at home.

I believe the same principle is true when it comes to racial diversity. If we want to see a more racially diverse worshiping body, then let’s become more racially diverse in our weekly lives outside of worship. And if we want to become more racially diverse where we live, work, and play, let’s find a place where we can gather with other people groups at least once a week.

Think About This: Where can you go in your local community that is already racially diverse?

And now, as promised, here are three ways you can help shatter the status quo and better engage our neighbors and new ways of living.

• Read the Scriptures with Jesus’ Mission in Mind - Open “the Book” and every time you read a passage, ask what it has to do with Jesus reaching out with his unconditional love to you and others. The way you read the Bible (and apply it) might dramatically change!

• Spend Time in Racially Diverse Spaces - Find the spaces in your community that are already racially diverse. Go there and “just be”. Notice how you feel, what you smell, and what you hear. Then, consider how they may feel walking into “your space” (church, work, neighborhood, etc.). The good news is that the more you spend time in racially diverse spaces, the more comfortable (or “normal”) it becomes. That’s when the real fun starts because you become part of that racially diverse space! Simply put, you begin to belong to something greater than yourself.

• Make Friends with People Not Like You - Make a point to have at least one conversation with someone of a different race, each week. Think about it - a conversation a week can build a life-long friendship.

How else can you engage your racially diverse community? Drop me an email and let me know.

​​When you’re reading the Bible, have you ever found yourself thinking or saying, “I’m so confused!”?

Adam Grant in his book, Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know writes: “I need time for my confusion. Confusion can be a cue that there’s new territory to be explored or a fresh puzzle to be solved."

Adam’s voice gives us all hope that while the Bible, Jesus, and spiritual things, in general can be really confusing, that there is so much to be explored and discovered.

​This week, I’m sharing three ways to explore and discover God’s Word - the Bible. And then let you choose how best you will grow deeper and wider in your understanding of Jesus - the star of the entire Bible.

Fill Your Toolbox
Studying the Bible by yourself is good for your own self-care and personal development. Working out and good nutrition can help care for your physical body. Sudoku puzzles can help care for your brain. Close friendships can help care for your heart. And, your time with Jesus and His Word can help cares for your soul.

• Get your own Bible and start reading. If you’re looking for a good place to begin, start with the Gospel of John. It’s all about Jesus’ life! And if you’re looking for a good translation to begin your reading, I suggest the New Living Translation or New International Version!
• Grab a notebook or journal (or your phone) to keep track of all your questions that will come to mind when you read. Your questions can also be your prayers!
• Looking for an Audio Bible? Click here to check out a few really good ones!
• Check out the Netflix of Bible Studies at Right Now Media. Click here to sign up for your free account.
• Want to go “old school? Read a commentary (other Bible researcher’s notes)? You can click here to get started with Logos (online library) or check out what we have here at Our Savior in the Chapel.

Find and Join a Bible Study, starting next week.
Bible Studies help us grow deeper and wider in your understanding of Jesus. Bible studies are courses taught throughout the year on Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings to help people grow in their knowledge and understanding of Jesus.

• Ruth (sorry gents; women, only) - Tuesday Mornings
• Prophets (for everybody) - Wednesday Evenings
• Knowing God: Reading the Bible - Anytime, Online
• Click here to learn more about and register for these and other Bible Studies
• Looking for a Deeper Dive with Directed Study Time and Homework? Check out Bible Study Fellowship.

Find and Connect in a Life Group
​Life Groups are the main way we are in relationship with God together beyond worship and where we make disciples. Life Groups of all ages and types gather weekly to share, listen, laugh, pray, and celebrate on the journey of following Jesus and joining his mission together. Click here to find and connect in a Life Group today.

Let’s be honest, the Bible will always be humanly confusing because it’s God’s Word (not our word!). But, don’t let that intimidate or stop you.

• Grab some tools for yourself.
• Find a Bible Study.
• Connect in a Life Group.

Start these three habits and you'll be well on your way to growing deeper and wider in your understanding of Jesus and His love and plans for you, this year!