A little journey through this topsy-turvy journey of joys and sorrows and hopes and dreams with plenty of grace from God along the way.
Yesterday (August 25), a musical and cultural icon for many in Dolly Parton died at 80 years young. I will be the first to admit that the genre of her singing fame, may not be my favorite necessarily. Nevertheless, in recent years, Dolly has become cherished in our household for a completely different reason, one that has been appreciated by seemingly countless young families for three decades.
During this month of August, when we intentionally include time during our worship gatherings to bless students, as well as this Sunday (the 23rd) for teachers, faculty, staff, Sunday school teachers, bus drivers, custodians, and all those who will be shaping youth for the upcoming school year, we also need to offer a blessing to the parents and families as well. As the planning and shopping and coordinating drop-off’s and pick-up’s conclude, now the academic and sports and bands and choirs and all other extra-curricular activity for the younger life requires them to hit the ground running, not allowing much time for them or their responsible adult figures to take a breath and soak it all in. Holy moments of growth and struggle and learning and life-shaping memories will ensue to be sure, and so we lift up parents, grandparents, guardians, and all those who will be responsible to oversee the movements from A to B and C and well, well beyond; not to mention, hopefully, providing some space and time for continued love to nourish it all.
This weekend (August 15/16), we will not only recognize, but celebrate, Mary, Mother of our Lord. One way she continues to impact our worship life is her Magnificat, the song of praise that emerges in Scripture while she’s visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, in Luke 1. My favorite setting of it comes from our treasured Holden Evening Prayer. This was composed by Marty Haugen, a rather prominent musician in Lutheran and Catholic circles (in fact, he’s responsible for the settings of “Healer of Our Every Ill,” “We Walk by Faith,” and “All Are Welcome,” among many others, in our Evangelical Lutheran Worship red hymnal). Holden Evening Prayer was brought to life by Haugen amidst the snowy landscape of Holden Village, a contemplative retreat center, in Washington in the mid-1980s. The collection of songs has been sung by numerous communities of faith throughout this country and around the world ever since. And although it is often brought to life during Lent, the message applies throughout the year:
It has become an artform in of itself: the children’s sermon (or if you want to call it children’s time, children’s moment, or whatever we attempting-to-be cool churches wish to call it now to make it more inviting, I suppose). Entire books have been written about it. Seminary preaching classes will spend multiple sessions on it. We try to make it interesting enough for the children that they actually get something out of it, while also attempting to ensure a care-free laid-back nature to it, so that they may actually believe church isn’t supposed to be intimidating with the other high-and-mighty adults in a big room worshiping a high-and-mighty God. Safe to say, we’re still trying to figure this artform out, and not make it about satisfying the other…more life-experienced children-in-the-eyes-of-God in the big room.
This past week, our Roman Catholic siblings in Christ made a bit of a churchy splash among us of the clergy sort, as numerous Bishops in the United States put forth new policies regarding funerals for their respective dioceses (equivalent to our geographical synods in our Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). The links to the full text of the letter explaining the policies (with a YouTube video) and an article from the National Catholic Register are included below, but a few highlights:
