I grew up surrounded by beautiful things. It wasn’t curated art on the walls of our custom home or a curio cabinet loaded with generations of heirlooms. It wasn’t jewelry, cars, or exclusive vacation vistas.

Instead, the thick woods surrounding our neighborhood where our gaggle of friends ran, played, and explored, provided hours of beauty and awe. The trees, creeks, and trails were each compelling in their own way, no matter the season. We couldn’t stay away. If we weren’t snacking on somebody’s porch, we were most likely in the woods walking, digging, building, or splashing.

All day, every day, we are surrounded by beautiful things. Some are long-lasting, gorgeous creations that we can count on to provide joy and stimulation again and again. Nature, art, music, a book or film, a stunning panorama, or a special someone in our lives.

There are also many creations of beauty that only last for a brief time. In my part of the world, there are red and white springtime blooms everywhere right now, which will soon give way to summer leaves. The yellow daffodils dancing in the breeze will soon disappear. Even a smile, a hug, or a high five, with their short life span, can provide both temporary joy and a lasting impact.

I had an overload of beauty on our recent pilgrimage to the Holy Land. As I reflect on my trip, I’m slowly sifting through 1,800 pictures. How can one begin to make sense of such a trip in the multitude of holy places?

Some of the images are simply barren wilderness, offering only rock and dirt as subject matters. Still, there is great beauty as they tell their story and invite us into it. Other images are overflowing with the color and activity of the crowded markets of Jericho and Jerusalem. Bustling with people and vehicles in the midst of fresh produce and handicrafts, you can almost smell the spices and hear the conversations of friends as they greet one another in the image.

Try this. Stop what you are doing. Yes, even reading this. Pause and celebrate the beauty that surrounds you in your space at this moment. Is it a person? Tell them what a gift they are to you and how they enrich your life. Is it an image, a feeling, or a smell? Savor it and thank God for the tremendous and endless gifts of beauty that envelope us in this moment.

Mary Oliver, in her poem “Sometimes,” offers her best advice for embracing this and every occasion:

Instructions for living a life.

Pay attention.

Be astonished.

Tell about it.

In the coming weeks, we will join Christians around the globe as we lean into the events of Holy Week. We’ll wave palm branches and shout “Hosanna!” We’ll listen as Jesus gives a new commandment to his followers to “Love one another.” We’ll watch in shock and awe as Jesus offers himself, while Barabbas goes free. We’ll sit with the distraught and exhausted disciples in their grief and then declare “He is risen!” when the stone is rolled away.

As we hear these stories, pay attention, be astonished, tell about it. Who needs to hear a message of hope? Who do you know that could use a dose of resurrection promise in their lives? Invite them into the beauty and awe of this season.

American songwriter and protest singer Phil Ochs declares, “In such ugly times, the only true protest is beauty.” In a season of despair, let’s speak hope. In a time of retribution, may we declare forgiveness. In a world determined to hate, God offers love.

I praise God for you!

Pastor Lowell

One of my favorite moments of the day in the change of season is when I open the back door in the morning to let our dog out. How many birds will I hear? At first, there are a few chirpings here and there, but it gradually builds to an array of constant chatter. I love the sound of the world becoming alive again. What are they saying? Have they spotted a juicy worm finally coming to the surface in the softening ground or are they calling for a sweet partner to help fill a nest? Maybe both? We might miss the beautiful intricacies and intertwined life in the spring that God has created if we do not listen.

How often do we take the time to really listen? We move at such a fast pace, and there is constant noise in our world and in our heads that distract us. God wants us to listen but also have the wisdom to discern if what we hear deepens our faith or takes us further from our life in Christ. Finding the balance of listening to a constant bombardment of 24 hours of social media or news and listening to your child or spouse talk about their day should not be a difficult choice but many times it is. Our own agendas seem to drown out opportunities to love others by simply listening.

“Incline your ear, and come to me; listen that you may live…” Isaiah 55:3.  When we listen with our hearts set on Jesus, we move to living more fully in the life of abundance that God offers. If we start by listening to where God is calling us, we will be able to better hear what is going on with and through people. We all long to be heard and known. What if you gave the gift of truly listening to someone today? How might that profoundly change you and them?

As I was writing this and thinking of the birds, I began to contemplate about the real science behind their early morning chatter. Do I google or ponder? At least for now, I am going to continue to enjoy the start of my day by wondering and discerning how to really listen in the fullness of God’s amazing creation.

God’s peace,

Angie Seiller, Director of Faith Formation

Pilgrimage means different things to different people.

For some, it’s a return to the stomping grounds of their childhood. Meeting up with friends for the homecoming football game or celebrating and reconnecting at a class reunion can bring back a flood of memories and create new ones.

For others, pilgrimage might mean visiting a place you’ve always yearned to go and see. For the art student, you might land in Paris or Florence to connect with the masters. For the musician, you might grab a seat in a European cathedral or dance on the lawn at a bluegrass music festival as your favorite artists take the stage.

For a group of us this week, pilgrimage finds us in the Holy Land filling up on sites and sounds where biblical heroes walked and three major religions continue to call this area home.

We’re six hours ahead of Cincinnati, so we’ve already wrapped up our first day with stops in Caesarea, Megiddo, and Nazareth. We strolled along the Mediterranean and saw ruins of the ancient theater and palace. Perched on Tel Megiddo, we stood atop thirty layers of cities that had been destroyed and reconstructed, one atop another. 

Exploring the ruins of Jesus hometown, we celebrated the announcement from Gabriel to Mary and lingered over excavated first century homes and buildings.

Over and over, our tour guide has reminded us that we’re not here to look at rocks but to be enveloped by the stories and follow in the footsteps of Jesus and pilgrims throughout the centuries.

Join us this week as we tell stories and post images during our Holy Land pilgrimage. You can see photos from our second day on our Facebook page and other social media.This is a shared journey. Keep following along to share with us.

On the journey with you,

Pastor Lowell and John Johns

Who determines what is beautiful? And while we’re at it, let’s talk about ideals of beauty that perpetuate toxicity, such as unrealistic ideas of being fit or skinny, which can easily lead to eating disorders. And can we also discuss beauty standards being eurocentric, as blonde is the most popular hair dye for women in the United States?

Song of Solomon 1:1-9 causes us to ask “what is beautiful?” Song of Solomon is love poetry, written with two characters, a man and a woman. And a controversial verse, “I am black, but lovely,” (NASB, v.5), raises eyebrows. 

“Black, I am, but lovely,” the verse stands out because the word “but” was a choice of many when translating. In Biblical Hebrew, all conjunctions, that is “and” “or” “but,” whatever binds two clauses together, is the same word, technically the same letter. The conjunction, a “vav” is placed in front of the word lovely. Thus, this text can also be translated as “I am black and lovely.” 

We are not foreign to the idea of “black but lovely,” because we live in a predominately white society, in which whiteness is the beauty standard. Black curly hair is straightened, and school dress codes say, “no dreads,” as they are viewed as unprofessional. 

“Black” is another choice, as “dark” is also common in translations. It is clear from the sixth verse, “Do not stare at me because I am dark, For the sun has tanned me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; They made me caretaker of the vineyards, But I have not taken care of my own vineyard. (NASB)” that the original author of the text is not talking about race, as our character is dark from working in the sun. The character is not saying, “My ancestors are from Africa, but I am beautiful.” She is saying, “I am dark from working out in the sun, and I am beautiful.”

But again, translators chose to make a statement, as “black.” along with “but,” makes a rancid assertion about black women that is not in the text. 

King James Version: I am black but comely.

New International Version: Dark I am, yet lovely.

American Standard Version: I am dark, but comely.

New American Standard Bible: I am black, but lovely.

But we know who our God is, who created all persons in their divine image, for it says in Genesis 1, 

“God created humanity in God’s own image,

in the divine image God created them,

male and female God created them” (CEB, Genesis 1:27).

And once the Creator Almighty made humanity, God blessed them, blessed all people of all races and all sex, and then looked upon creation and saw that it was very good as God put the divine image into all of whom God made.

Created in the image are the thick curls of black girls. Dreads of black boys. Beautiful and lovely are black women as they are created in the image of God. Created in the image of God are working-class women darkened by their labor in the sun; they’re beautiful as dirt lingers under their nails. 

Redeeming the opening verses of Song of Solomon is not simply for black women and working-class women. We can find solidarity in the reality that all of us are subjected to standards of beauty as we apply retinol over our wrinkles, cover up parts of our body that we deem as unflattering, and as I place whitening strips on my teeth. We may find it hard to believe, but the psalmist is right when they proclaim you are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Sometimes, our beauty is hard to see, as we feel shame and are uncomfortable in our own skin, but God isn’t giving us an unrealistic beauty expectation. God made you and saw that you were, “supremely good” (CEB, Genesis 1:31).

Your sibling in Christ,

Pastor Alec Brock, Seminary Intern

It is easy to forget from week to week just how much we accomplish as a congregation. Watch this video and see the immense impact Lord of Life had on the community and the world in 2021. The video will open in a new window.

This past Tuesday, 22 February 2022, was both a palindrome and an ambigram. The date read the same from left to right and from right to left, as well as upside down. No matter how you look at it, the number is the same.

So it is with God’s love. No matter how we look at it, experience it, and wrestle with it, God’s love and action are consistent.

Early this month, Catholic priest Rev. Andres Arango resigned following what is being called a “pronoun malfunction.” For more than 20 years - ever since he had been ordained - Arango had been saying “We baptize you” instead of “I baptize you” when performing the sacrament of baptism. Any baptisms he performed using the “we” pronouns have been deemed invalid. Various sources agree that this is likely how he was instructed to say the baptismal words at the time of his training - before it was against church laws.

Catholic theologian Mary E. Hunt, frustrated by the indictment, pushes back against the Vatican ruling in an NBC (www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/invalid-baptisms-arizona-point-something-very-wrong-catholic-church-ncna1289612) report, saying, “the intention of people to be baptized and to have their children baptized remains fairly constant - to give public expression to their welcome, membership, and responsibility in a faith community. The words are decidedly secondary to the actions of using water, blessing, and welcome as visible signs of the grace of belonging.”

Thankfully, our Lutheran thinking agrees that God’s action is the primary in baptism. No matter how you look at it, God is the one doing the baptizing. More than once, I have called a child by the wrong name, forgotten to anoint ahead with oil, and even jumbled the words in the splashing moment. Oops! Despite my errors, God still shows up and claims that baptized one as a child of God, marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever.

Isn’t it strange that we think our missteps can undo God’s favor? God is not an adversary, lurking in the shadows, waiting for us to slip up so we can be censured. Instead, time and time again, God uses language of friend and companion when we speak of enemy and opponent. Jesus talks about seeking and finding where we see idleness and loss. The Spirit of God demonstrates abundance and generosity where we name scarcity and selfishness. Jesus talks about flipping the world upside down, turning lives around, and bringing life out of death.

Lent is a good season to remember that God is love, no matter how you look at it. On Ash Wednesday, March 2, we begin our forty-day season of reflection as we prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus, consider Christ’s sufferings, and rethink how we are called to take up our own crosses. 

Some of us give up things like chocolate or television during this season as a sort of fasting. Others try to integrate something new into their lives, like visiting folks in prison, sewing clothes, exercising, or praying. It is a good season to rethink how we live and to let some things go, or maybe even to develop some new holy habits. A variety of Lenten resources are available at Lord of Life to accentuate your journey.

Looking back on your life, how do you see God’s loving activity? Dreaming of what is ahead, how can you imagine God using you to change the world? Any way you look at it, God’s love is a constant presence of redemption and hope.

Come Lord Jesus, come!

Pastor Lowell