Written by British New Zealander Richard Gillard in 1977, “The Servant Song” is such a beautiful expression of the Christian call to community and friendship, marked by selfless service, a walking alongside, and the bearing of one another’s joys, sorrows, and fears. 

Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too
We are pilgrims on a journey
Fellow travelers on the road
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load
I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the nighttime of your fear
I will hold my hand out to you
Speak the peace you long to hear
I will weep when you are weeping
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through
When we sing to God in heaven
We will find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony
Will you let me be your servant
Let me be as Christ to you
Pray that I may have the grace
To let you be my servant too

 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iu_T_FRvbY&t=112s

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Prayer Matters!

John 17:20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.”

It’s well worth remembering that before we utter a word of prayer, we have already been prayed for by the One to whom we pray. What’s more, the crucified and risen Lord “is at the right hand of God and ever lives to make intercession for us.” Every day, every breath and heartbeat, we are held in the heart of Eternal Love, drawn into the inner life of the Triune God. The Spirit prays within us, and Christ intercedes for us, at the right hand of the Father. We pray as those continually prayed for!
 
Romans 12:12 “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”

These three things are connected in the spiritual life. Joy isn’t an occasional emotional high, it’s the underlying confidence of faith, trustfulness in God who is the God of hope. Patience in affliction is easier said than done, but it’s often in the hard times, even the hardest times, that strength comes to us from beyond us, from God. Faithfulness in prayer is that persistent leaning on God, in whose hands we are held, and in whose loving purposes our daily lives are woven in mercy and grace.
 
2 Corinthians 1.10-11a “God has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.”

This verse is one good reason we pray for each other, and for those going through difficult times and valleys of darkness. We have no idea what difference our prayers make to how people’s lives turn out. We do know that people are helped by knowing they are being prayed for. What we don’t know is how God answers not only our prayers, but the deepest needs of those he loves. God uses our faithful prayers in ways we can’t begin to imagine in bringing blessing to others. You know you’re doing this prayer thing right when someone says, “you help us by your prayers.”

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Sentences that we should all be comfortable saying:

"I don't know enough about that yet, can you tell me more?"

"I've changed by mind about that topic."

"I was wrong. Thanks for helping me learn."

 Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Refugee by Malcolm Guite

We think of him as safe beneath the steeple,

Or cosy in a crib beside the font,

But he is with a million displaced people

On the long road of weariness and want.

For even as we sing our final carol

His family is up and on that road,

Fleeing the wrath of someone else’s quarrel,

Glancing behind and shouldering their load.

Whilst Herod rages still from his dark tower

Christ clings to Mary, fingers tightly curled,

The lambs are slaughtered by the men of power,

And death squads spread their curse across the world.

But every Herod dies, and comes alone

To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson

Pastor for Spiritual Formation

 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

John 1:14

This is as good a description of the hidden meaning of Jesus birth as you will ever find. It took Jesus' ministry, teaching, death, resurrection and ascension for the church to begin to grasp what Paul called the mystery of the ages. “For in him all the fullness of God chose to dwell…” 

Once we’ve told the Nativity story, beautiful in its humanity and ordinariness, we then tiptoe to the brink of mystery, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself.” Jesus, Immanuel – God with us, full of grace and truth. Ponder these things in your heart.
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The First Nations Version of the Bible is unique because it is a translation of the New Testament into English. And yet it is a translation done by representatives from the indigenous peoples of North America, for native peoples whose native languages have been all but replaced and forgotten. And so, the First Nations Version seeks to render the biblical text in the cultural logic and forms of meaning that resonate deeply with native peoples. The result, for both native and non-native readers—and I say this as a person who has tried to do my regular Bible reading out of this version for the last month—is illuminating, thought provoking, and moving. (The best way to become aware of your own cultural lenses is to look through someone else’s lens.)

Try reading a new translation this year:

LUKE 2   HUMBLE BIRTH

1-2When the time drew close for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child, the government of the People of Iron (Romans) ordered that the people be numbered and put on government rolls. This happened during the time that Powerful Protector (Quirinius) was the governor of Bright Sun (Syria). 3All the Tribal Members were required to travel to their own ancestral village to register. 
4-5He Gives Sons (Joseph) and Bitter Tears (Mary) set out on a long journey from Seed Planter Village (Nazareth) in Circle of Nations (Galilee), to House of Bread (Bethlehem) in the Land of Promise (Judea), the village of their ancestor, the great chief Much Loved One (David).
The journey took several long days and cold nights as they traveled over high hills and through the dry desert. When they arrived, tired and weary, they entered the crowded village. 
6The time for Bitter Tears (Mary) to have her child was upon her! 7But no place could be found in the lodging house, so He Gives Sons (Joseph) found a sheep cave where it was warm and dry. There she gave birth to her son. They wrapped him in a soft, warm blanket and laid him on a baby board. Then they placed him on a bed of straw in a feeding trough. 
8That night, in the fields nearby, shepherds were keeping watch over their sheep. 9Suddenly a great light from above was shining all around them. A spirit-messenger from Creator appeared to them. They shook with fear and trembled 10as the messenger said to them, “Do not fear! I bring you the good story that will be told to all nations. 11Today in the village of Much Loved One (David) an Honored Chief has been born who will set his people free. He is the Chosen One!” 
12The spirit-messenger continued, “This is how you will know him—you will find the child wrapped in a blanket and lying in a feeding trough.”
13Suddenly, next to the messenger, a great number of spirit-warriors from the spirit-world above appeared giving thanks to Creator, saying, 14“All honor to the One Above Us All, and let peace and good will follow all who walk upon the earth.” 
15When the messengers returned to the spirit-world above, the shepherds said to each other, “Let us go and see this great thing Creator has told to us.” 16So they hurried to the village of Chief Much Loved One (David) and found Bitter Tears (Mary), He Gives Sons (Joseph), and the child, who, just as they were told, was lying in a feeding trough! 
17The shepherds began to tell everyone what they had seen and heard about this child, 18and all who heard their story were amazed. 

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Into this world, this demented inn
in which there is absolutely no room for him at all,
Christ comes uninvited.

But because he cannot be at home in it,
because he is out of place in it,
His place is with the others for whom
there is no room.

His place is with those who do not belong,
who are rejected by power, because
they are regarded as weak,
those who are discredited,
who are denied status of persons,
who are tortured, bombed and exterminated.

With those for whom there is no room,
Christ is present in this world.

Thomas Merton

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

The fullness of time has come. The long-awaited King of heaven is coming to earth. All of creation has been aching for this moment. The promised Messiah Israel has been waiting for is coming as a tiny babe named “Jehovah is salvation.” Gabriel arrives to announce this great mystery.
            The infinite will grow in a finite space.
            Power will be wrapped up in weakness.
            The eternal will step into time.
            The invisible will become visible.
            Heaven will collide with earth in Mary’s womb.
            There are lots of ways God could have chosen to come and dwell among us. But we learn a lot about who he is and what he is like by how he comes into the world. The Lord of heaven and earth doesn’t appear in fire and earthquakes and a booming voice that echoes throughout the world saying, “Here I am! Worship me!’ The King of kings doesn’t arrive with fanfare, trumpets, and a rolled-out red carpet. He is so set on drawing near to us that he constrains himself within the most vulnerable dwelling we have ever called home— the womb…
 
            God is so bent on loving us that he became helpless. He so desires to empathize with us that he refuses the comforts and expanse of heaven to experience the pain and limits of our humanity. He leans in. He bends low. He gets close…
            (But) when we follow Jesus, we forsake the upward ascent because love calls us downward. Love bends low. It leans in. It gets close. Love calls us to descend into our own vulnerability to love the most vulnerable.
            And when we descend into human weakness, suffering, and powerlessness to love others, we will be awed by the glory of God that is revealed there. We will be filled with wonder at the paradox of how humans so limited and vulnerable can be so filled with the divine. 

 Bette Dickinson, Making Room in Advent

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

There’s something appealing about the idea of losing ourselves in the cozy joy and tinsel that this season offers instead of dwelling on the death, injustice, and division that has pervaded our nation and world.

But I’m also poignantly aware that being on a steady drip of holiday cheer will only temporarily mute the pain and fear that has built up over the past months. So, while we can still plan to embrace the lights and the cookies and the gatherings and the presents, I want to encourage us to lean into the tension that is so beautifully laid out in the Christmas carol “O Holy Night”:

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appear’d and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
 
Twenty twenty-three has felt like a vortex of sin and errors. But God promises the dawn of a world made new by His coming. During Advent, we get to remember that He did it once when Jesus was born and we are reminded that He will do it again. We may be wary, but we can still rejoice in the waiting.

Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation

Brother David Steindl-Rast — 97 year-old author, scholar, and Benedictine monk from Austria — is beloved the world over for his enduring message about gratefulness as the true source of lasting happiness. Known to many as the “grandfather of gratitude,” Br. David has been a source of inspiration and spiritual friendship to countless leaders and luminaries around the world including Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, Thomas Merton, and more. 
 
If you are familiar with this video, enjoy it again as you cultivate thanksgiving all weekend long. If he is new to you, be blessed by his gentle voice and eyes to see…
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSt7k_q_qRU&t=85s
 
Grace and peace,

Anita Sorenson
Pastor for Spiritual Formation