Past & Present

Written by Chamie

You could say that we have had some “past and present” moments in “Lutheran contexts.” We are currently staying in Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho. Norm & Kathryn Braatz retired here. Norm was the pastor of Tim’s church in Brea, CA during his youth and young adult years. Norm was remembering when he first met Tim. He had arrived at the church on a Tuesday to begin his new pastoral call. That Friday, the youth were having a progressive dinner, the last stop being at the home of the Delkeskamp’s. Tim was 14-years-old at the time and greeted Pastor Braatz and offered to ride with him to the different dinner stops so that he wouldn’t get lost. Apparently Tim talked the whole entire time. Pastor Braatz thought, “I think this kid might grow up to be a pastor.” Pastor Braatz has a special place in Tim’s life as well as our life together – it was Pastor Braatz who officiated at our quasi-elopement on the California beach ten years ago. It has been good to remember and reconnect.

We’ve also connected with a present Lutheran-Episcopal Church. When we were in the Seattle-Area last weekend, we worshiped at Church of the Apostles (www.apostleschurch.org). Karen Ward is an ordained ELCA pastor, but goes by the title “abbess” and this congregation meets at Fremont Abbey. We heard her speak at the National Pastor’s Convention a few years ago about the emerging church. During the summer, Church of the Apostles (or COTA) is having “inside-out worship” on the last Sunday of the month. This means they do the liturgy, scripture reading, singing, and Eucharist in the church and then proceed outside to serve the neighborhood. We got to be a part of trash clean-up and let us tell you... the children thought this was awesome – especially because they each got their own trash pick-it-up-gadgets! As we walked past the local bar, a group of people clapped and gave sincere thanks for those brightening the neighborhood (the pictures are Jude picking up trash and us with our "sabbatical-mates" Erik & Desta Goehner in the Fremont Abbey).

Tomorrow we head to Montana for a brief overnight at the Special K Ranch (www.specialkranch.com), a Christian ministry for adults with mental disabilities. Then we are off to Rapid City, SD where we will be staying at St. Martin’s Benedictine monastery (www.blackhillsbenedictine.com).

The Red Thread

written by Chamie

There is an ancient Chinese belief that an invisible read thread connects those who are destined to meet regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break.

Tara Molouf, who we have been staying with in the Seattle-Area, told me of this story, one she heard while she spent three weeks in China photographing her cousin’s adoption of a new baby girl (www.redthreadphoto.com).

I told Tara that I believe our sabbatical has been a story of red threads. We are grateful for amazing connections. I feel that God wanted Tara and I to meet… and up until this time of staying at her home, we had never seen each other face-to-face. Here is the story… I spoke last year at a MOPS gathering at Calvary Community Church in Westlake, CA. I talked with the moms about living in rhythm to the church year. After I spoke, one of the moms came up and said, “I have a cousin in Seattle who is a photographer and makes calendars of the church year. You two sound like you’re trying to live in the same way. You should really meet her.” That little seed opened the door to checking out each other’s websites and then several phone conversations and then Tara talking about their downstairs room that they offer to friends for retreat. All of this a red thread connection, you could say. And what a beautiful connection it has been!

One afternoon on this Seattle-leg of our journey, we went together to meet with the Mustard Seed Associates (www.msainfo.org), a community of Jesus’ followers striving to create the future one mustard seed at a time. We had tea and lemon bars with Mustard Seed leaders Christine Sine and Ricci Kilmer. We talked about family spirituality. At one point in the conversation, Christine said, “Have you heard of the book THE FAMILY CLOISTER?” I started to laugh at the ironic connections, “Why, yes,” I said, “we just had lunch yesterday with the pastor who wrote it!” Another red thread, you could say.

We are so very thankful for these grace-filled, beautiful connections. I feel sad to say goodbye to the Malouf’s this morning as it is time for us to journey to Bonner’s Ferry, Idaho. But I leave knowing that our red thread may stretch and tangle, but it will never break.


NOTE – Tara makes the most wonderful church-rhythm calendars I have ever seen. You can check it out at www.storyformed.wordpress.com. These calendars will be given to every family that attends the Family Retreat that Tim and I will be leading at El Camino Pines this November when we talk about “living in rhythm” during the next year.

Amazicle

Sabbatical has taken us back on the road again, but now in the United States. We have been traveling up the west coast with "sabbatical-mates." Pastor Erik Goehner, associate at Mount Cross Lutheran Church in Camarillo, CA, and his wife Desta and their three young children (almost the same age as ours) are on their way to Holden Village in Washington - and we're on our way to other ventures in Seattle - so we decided to travel together. It has been good to share with one another the joys and challenges that are uniquely understood by families-in-ministry.

As the ten of us traveled together today along the Oregon coast, we took a quick, unplanned road stop. It came as the result of a desperate 5-year-old squirming as he screamed, "I HAVE TO GO PEE-PEE NOW!" It was at that moment that we spotted a sign for a lighthouse trail - which had public restrooms (thank God) - and a fantastic little bay in which a crystal clear little river bed made its end. It was misting, yet gorgeous, and the children ran barefoot through the ankle-deep chilly waters to the other side of the bay, squealing with joy, spinning circles with outstretched arms, and praising life. Hannah, in breathless enthusiasm, ran in God's wonderland and exclaimed, "It's an amazicle!" And amazing-miracle, we surmised... a word that came forth out of pure and utter joy... a word that captured the beautiful moment we were all sharing. Hannah repeated the word several times. So did we.

Tonight we are all resting snugly in a 2-bedroom lovely, yet inexpensive, suite overlooking the ocean in Newport, Oregon. Tomorrow, we meet with Pastor David Robinson, a Presbyterian pastor who wrote the book THE FAMILY CLOISTER. The book came out of Robinson's experience in Benedictine monasteries and his desire to take those rhythms into his family life with his wife and three boys. The idea of "family monasticism" has a growing tug on us. After wandering through the old monasteries of England, living for a week in the monastic community of Taize, France, sitting in San Francisco and talking with Mark and Lisa Scandrette and their children about the "neo-monastic vows" of their community (www.reimagine.org), and preparing for tomorrow... well, we wonder what rhythms God may be writing anew in us???

Perspective

We are back in California on a "study week" as we prepare for our next leg of the sabbatical journey. As we reflect and "adapt," we've seen that sometimes it is all a matter of perspective...

...Hannah, for instance, on our first day back asked, "Are we going on a bus, a train, or a plane today?" That was the life she lived, after all, for three weeks!

...Jude, when we attended Westminster Presbyterian Church in Westlake for worship (where a friend pastors), Jude walked in and looked around and then said, "Wow, this place is tiny." And it must have looked tiny to a 5-year-old who had spent the last two Sundays worshipping in Notre Dame and then with 3,000 people at the church in Taize.

Words and picture give a different perspective... so we are including a link so you can see our European travels through the perspective of a picture slide show... at least that was our plan... but after two excruciating hours... of setting at it all, writing captions... then it disappeared into cyber world... and then we tried again... and it the icons just spun... and then we tried again... and then we started to cuss... and then we said ENOUGH ALREADY... oh, wait... maybe... try this:www.me.com/gallery/#100019... if it doesn't work, c'est la vie!

For now, we're off to study!

Taize

Written by Chamie

One bus, five trains, and approximately 15 hours later, we arrived back in Cambridge, England after our week in Taize, France. Our trip back was fairly uneventful and we had no interesting conversations on the trains - but lots of games of Uno. However, on the way to Taize, we met some wonderful people on the train. For now we will just tell you about Regina. She was warm and smiling. We chatted and laughed in broken French and English. Then she pulled out some bread from her backpack and broke it and gave us pieces along with the most wonderful pieces of cheese we have ever tasted. Though we were on the train to Taize and not the road to Emmaus, we still felt like the disciples who met Jesus and recognized him in the breaking of the bread. Jesus was there - with the added bonus of Burgundy cheese. It was one of the holiest communions in which we have ever partaken. As we got off the train and said "au revoiur," Regina gave us a block of cheese, noting that France can't export it to the United States. Tim said, "I will talk to President Obama about that."

We arrived at Taize to discover that we would be spending the week in the family village with 74 families from Germany (it happened to be a school holiday last week), 2 families from Holland, and us - the only family from the United States and the only native English-speaking family. It was an incredible experience. The "common language" of Taize is English, so our "opening moments" were in English. However, the Bible study lectures were not (but we had two German women who shared in translating for us). On the first day, Brother Wolfgang made note that we Dutch and Americans were the minorities and he said, "Here in Taize, we take special care and consideration of minorities. We would like you to extend such love to them." He asked for a group of families who would be willing to be in our small group and speak English during Bible study discussions and family group gatherings. Within seconds, we were surrounded by the grace of seven wonderful families who became friends. The whole experience made me ponder how I, we, the church, and our country treat the minority at home. Is it with grace and hospitality? Or is it with judgement and exclusion?

The language difference was greater for our children as most of the European children had not yet had an opportunity to learn English. Every morning, the children broke off in age-level groups for Bible study and activities. When we asked Aidan who his closest friend was, he mentioned a boy whose mother was German and father was Venezulan. "We both knew some Spanish," Aidan said. Many thanks to Senora Scott and Ascension Lutheran School (they begin Spanish in Grade 1)!!!!! We discovered, though, that the language difference wasn't really an issue. One of the parents in our group so rightfully said, "Play is the universal language." The children played and played and laughed and smiled with their new friends.

On our last day together, our small group of parents and children took water and gave thanks and marked one another with the sign of the cross and sent each other forth with words of blessing. There were many tears.

That evening, we gathered for our final time of prayer in the church and I realized I felt no tears or deep connection to the worshipping body or the brothers who live in Taize. Don't get me wrong, it was a very good week of prayer, song, and worship. However, I have a new appreciation for "incarnation" - for God becoming human flesh. In short, the only greeting you get at the door of the church is someone holding a sign that says, "silence." No one greets you when you leave. Not once did a brother speak a word of welcome or a gracious word of sending. In fact, the brothers don't ever get up to lead anything up front... it's always just candles. The brothers sit in their own area in the middle and begin the songs or read scripture from their seats. One could have a long conversation on the pros and cons of this - and Tim and I did have a rather lengthy theological discussion because that's what we seem to like to do... it's what we do for fun, you know. But in summary, I realized how much I liked welcoming people to church when I served as a full-time local pastor. It wasn't some script I said, but I really, really, really wanted people to feel welcome and at home. And I loved shaking hands as people went on their way because it is so good to connect with people, even if for a brief moment. At the center of our faith is RELATIONSHIP... it's what the Trinity is all about... it's the reason Jesus came... it's the reason our small group was so meaningful... and it's why the train ride to Taize was holy.