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).