A random act of violence in a neighborhood results in stray bullets ripping through the walls of a child’s bedroom in the middle of the night.

A series of random storm fronts converge, creating a powerful superstorm that destroys life and property over several states. A construction crane tumbles to the ground on a windy day, randomly crushing four unsuspecting persons.

The word “random” defines many of the occurrences in our lives. Without pattern and lacking regularity, these and many other arbitrary events pop out of nowhere, wreaking havoc in the lives of folks who are in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

You may have heard that a student in the Lakota School District recently took their life. While it was random, it is not rare. According to the CDC, suicide rates have increased by 30% since 1999.

Far too many of our youth – and adults – are overwhelmed by hopelessness and see no options. If you, or someone you love, is in a place of despair, please use these numbers and links:

o 24-Hour Suicide Text Line: text “4 Hope” to 741741
o Butler County 24-Hour Mobile Crisis Line: 1-844-4CRISIS (1-844-427-4747)
o Resources for Grief
o National Suicide Hotline
o Parent Resource
o Columbia Community Card for Teens
o www.nami.org

Thankfully, there are many other chance moments that happen around us every day, which are grounded in kindness and can impact and transform our perspective. In my own life, I’ve pulled up to the toll booth on the Turnpike, only to realize that the person in front of me already paid my way. After saying, “We’re ready for our check” at a restaurant, Tera and I discovered that our bill had already been paid by the couple sitting across the aisle who commented on our well-behaved children – Thank goodness for that random moment of peace at the dinner table.

Each of us already provides all sorts of planned moments of kindness to each day. We offer encouragement to a friend, pack a lunch for a loved one, and share treats with co-workers. In addition, countless random acts of kindness appear to be no big deal and may even resemble what many call manners: holding a door, helping someone load groceries into their vehicle, or offering a word of hope when someone is discouraged. But if you have ever been on the receiving end, you know that even the smallest act of kindness can transform your day. A brief moment of unpredictable generosity has the power to turn someone’s life inside out.

This spontaneity of giving is built into the fabric of our Christian lives. Random acts of kindness are a taste of that unmerited and undeserved favor that we call grace. They don’t happen after a judgment is made of someone’s worth to be a receiver, but are freely given out of love. The Holy Spirit is constantly stirring in our hearts and souls, ready to spur us at any moment to reach out with a gentle hand or kind word.

All too often, we stifle that impulse, afraid of how others might respond. The invitation in Romans 12 is a helpful challenge to us as we move forward in love: “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor… serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

During this Easter season, we celebrate the promises of resurrection. Jesus bursts into our confusion and paralysis, bringing restoration and showing us a way forward.

May is Mental Health Month. During this month, and always, let us cling to God’s promises and be living examples of kindness, sharing love freely and honoring the life with which we have been blessed. 

Trusting in Resurrection!

Pastor Lowell Michelson

The forty, introspective days of Lent are behind us.
The feet were washed on Maundy Thursday.
Jesus was crucified and buried on Good Friday.
The tomb was empty at Easter Vigil.
We sang our favorite Easter hymns with the organ and string ensemble.
The Easter egg hunts have ceased.
The Easter lilies have been taken back to their homes (most of them).
Church staff has gotten back into a normal sleep pattern.

Now what?
Do we go back to our “normal” lives, unchanged by the Easter message?
Do we go into “summer mode,” where Jesus’ mission takes a back seat for three months?
Do we put it on cruise control until Christmas?
How does Easter continue to fit into our daily lives?

Easter is known as “The Great Feast.” It is arguably the high point of the entire church year as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is actually a season-long celebration that last for 50 days, ending on Pentecost, the day when the Holy Spirit was given to the apostles. Growing up, I never realized Easter was a fifty-day celebration, I just figured it was the one day we got candy and elaborate Easter baskets. Life went back to “normal” after Easter and Kroger’s seasonal aisle prompted us to start thinking about Cinco de Mayo celebrations or Memorial Day cookouts.

But what would happen if we continued the excitement of Easter and the life-changing resurrection of Jesus, beyond the acknowledged holiday? How can we continue to celebrate new life, and promised eternal life, each day during this season of Easter? It won’t be easy. I know I only lasted about five or six days on the Lenten Photo Challenge, but I can’t let fear of failure stop me.

I encourage you to join with me over the next 46 days (or more), to attempt to intentionally live out the mission of the resurrected Jesus in little ways each day. How can we show love and forgiveness to those around us? How can we help to bring about new or renewed life to the world around us? If you want some ideas, here is a site that offers 50 ways to celebrate Easter: www.wau.org/resources/article/re6_family_50_days_easter/

Grab ahold of these ideas or create your own, and celebrate our new life in Christ.  Please share your experiences on our social media sites with #LOLMissionInAction.

Happy Easter (Season)!

Pastor Corey

It is Holy Week. On these days leading up to Easter, Christian communities gather to hear about Jesus eating a final meal with his friends and his startling arrest. We recall his brutal beating and makeshift trial. We remember a denial by the charcoal fire and the crowds screaming “Crucify him!” We try to insulate ourselves from the bizarre parade to the execution hill beyond the city walls and the violence incited by fear and hatred which took his life.

I wish that all of the gruesome events of these solemn days were sequestered in the past, but unfortunately our embrace of sin continues to propel similar occurrences right into our days and newsfeeds. Greed, selfishness, and betrayal runs rampant. Hate and revenge dismantles friendships and allegiances. The struggle to maintain power and cling to self-preservation distorts otherwise clear-headed thinking. Manipulation and judgment rooted in fear continue to be lived out in real time right in front of us.

Recently, three historically black churches were deliberately torched in Louisiana. Chaos reigns at our southern border. Democrats and Republicans point fingers and blame one another as they dig in their heels. Military budgets swell as countries fortress themselves for the future. Children continue to go to bed hungry. I write this following a day in court when a murderer was given the maximum sentence for stalking and killing one of our own.

Like the disciples, we are surrounded by periods of darkness and waiting and wondering, but we live as people of Hope who wait for what is promised. Death doesn’t have the last word. Pain and suffering isn’t the end of the story. Jesus bursts into our presence as the one who once was dead, but now is alive.

Clinging to the cross and empty tomb!

Pastor Lowell Michelson

This past Saturday, I joined a couple dozen folks from all around the Southern Ohio Synod as we gathered in the Fellowship Hall for the Seeing Race Through Faith event. To start off the morning, our moderators handed each person a statement to read out loud to the group. These statements came from a variety of leaders and famous personalities, from Martin Luther to Megyn Kelly to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unfortunately, the theme that tied the statements together was racism. Some of the statements were so atrocious that folks could barely stand to read them. In speaking of ‘super-predator gang teens’ and ‘burn the homes of Jews to the ground,’ the discomfort in the room was palpable.

Then the question was asked: How are you different from the sentiments in these statements? People shared their stories and what a variety there were. One person grew up ‘color-blind’ – in a culture where identifying a person by skin tone just didn’t happen. Some had racist parents, but recognized at an early age that they didn’t share that belief. Others shared stories of the welcome, or lack of one, that came when a family member married someone ‘different.’ It was interesting to hear the stories and I’m especially grateful to those who shared stories of what it was like to encounter explicit or implicit bias.

With our histories grounding us, we explored scenarios, based on actual events, about bias encountered during church life. We talked about how this happens even with the most well-meaning people. We talked about what actions we can take to ensure our church communities are truly welcoming to everyone. Do you see any racial or cultural biases at Lord of Life that might prevent someone from feeling welcome and included? If so, we would love to hear your insight. Please talk with a member of the church staff or council leadership.

Training and conversation at events like this one are effective in identifying hidden bias. If you would like to explore this topic, the Synod has scheduled another training session of Seeing Race Through Faith on May 4 in Springfield. You can register on the Synod website at www.southernohiosynod.org/aws/SOS/pt/sp/events.

I would like to thank the Southern Ohio Synod for providing this event and our moderators Paisha Thomas and Gabrielle Hudecek for putting on an excellent program and sharing so much of their own experiences. Paisha closed our day with prayer:

Wake me up Lord,

so that the evil of racism finds no home within me.

Keep watch over my heart Lord,

and remove from me any barriers to your grace,

that may oppress and offend my brothers and sisters.

Fill my spirit Lord,

so that I may give services of justice and peace.

Clear my mind Lord,

and use it for your glory.

And finally, remind us Lord that you said,

"blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God."

Amen.

Cara Hasselbeck

I have a bit of a hobby. It isn’t something I can take with me on a plane or work on while I’m waiting to go into a meeting. As a matter of fact, the less I have to move it around, the better. I am a pipe organ enthusiast. I don’t mean I just like to play the pipe organ. I love the craftsmanship of the organ. How each pipe is created, how the mechanical actions are built, how a wind system is engineered to provide pressurized air to blow through tubes to create sound.

For several years I’ve been working on an organ in my home. Most of the work has been moving all the pipes from their original locations in churches to my garage and then into my basement, where they will be set up to play. Some of the work has been tedious. Each pipe sits above a valve that allows air to pass through when an electrical signal passes through one of several hundred tiny wires. I’ve had to solder each of those connections – about 1,200 so far.

On Monday, Lowell, Brian, and I went to the home of another organ enthusiast. He put his organ together in 1976 and after decades of tinkering, playing, and entertaining, he fell ill and died. His wife wanted the organ to go to someone who would put it to use, so we were there to preserve it.

The picture a lot of people have of pipe organs is a façade of pipes of the same shape, lined up next to each other. But behind the façade is a forest of other pipes of different shapes, materials, and sizes. Lowell was excited to see up close how some of them made sound by putting air through a reed before being resonated through a longer tube. And that small changes in the shape and make up of a specific set of pipes might shape the sound so they can be used another way.

Some of them sound great playing a melody all by themselves, while others are more suited to play together as a group to support a full congregation singing. As years have gone by, some of them have been dented and gnarled. Sometimes the pipe can still go on playing, and sometimes the other pipes just have to fill in where that pipe can’t sing any more.

A few years ago I was helping to design an organ for another church and we hoped to put all those variations on display so that people could see all the color and shapes. When the graphic artist sent us the final drawing of what it would look like, the pastor exclaimed, “this is the kingdom of God – all of these different pipes working together, performing their individual roles for a common purpose.” This is my favorite way to think of the organ, and also the way I see what we do at Lord of Life. We all have our different gifts, we've all been made a different way, we're different colors and shapes, we work through our dings and our scrapes, and we all work together for the common good.

Musically yours,

John

This coming weekend, I hope to pull out the yard rake for the first time this season. I’ll begin by cleaning up the lawn and flower beds following a wet and windy winter. The usual mix of twigs and leaves are nestled among discarded dry cleaning receipts blown from who knows where, disintegrating mailers that made their way from the front porch into the bushes, and abandoned chunks of sidewalk chalk from last summer.

Scraping and scratching at the yard, digging in the soil and working around trees and bushes, I am always reminded how disconnected I’ve been from the earth all winter. It has been months since I felt the cool touch of grass. The lifeless leaves and cold, damp soil welcome me back and reconnect me to the ground.

In addition to being disconnected from the earth, it is all too easy to be severed from people. Most of our neighbors don’t interact much in the winter as we run from our cars to the mailbox before scurrying into the house.

Throughout the week, I pay at the pump, drive through the ATM, and zip through the drive-thru – all without encountering another human. Even though we are “connected” more than ever with phones and computers, we can easily go a whole day without ever engaging a person in person.

When we become so immersed in our own stuff, we miss what is happening around us. Our vision is narrowed to our lives, our goals, our dreams and has no room for others and their concerns and celebrations. But we need each other. We are created to be connected.

Connect Four^TM has been in heavy rotation in our home for many years. The strategy, counting, and scheming add up to hours of laughter and togetherness for our family. If you aren’t familiar with the game, the goal is to “connect” four of your checkers in any direction, while preventing your opponent from doing the same.

All too often, one of our kids whoops up on me, because I am lost in my own strategizing. Paying attention only to my plans and carefully making steps to connect my four, makes me unaware as someone else quietly plots and drops four red checkers in for the win.

This April finds me craving connections. The season of Lent and the days of Holy Week beg us to reconnect and the coming weeks deliver! Connectivity is central to what God is up to in the life of Jesus and the purpose of the Church. Worship connects us as our voices are bound together in song. Prayer connects us when the Spirit of God weaves us together as we say, “Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.” In creation, we are linked to our Creator.

Make time to connect during these weeks. We meet Jesus and one another as we gather around palms, a wash basin, bread and wine, the cross, and the empty tomb. When we connect, we all win.

In peace and hope,
Pastor Lowell Michelson