Author: Ruth E. Hetland

Ruth E. Hetland is the pastor of Saint Peter's Lutheran Church of Audubon, Minnesota. She is a mom, wife, skeptic, and a 2014 Alt for Norge (Norwegian reality show) participant. She has served as a pastor in three other congregations prior to Saint Peter's: Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of South Newstead in Akron, New York, First Lutheran Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Our Savior's Lutheran Church at Norse of Clifton, Texas. She has been published in The Lutheran magazine, Christ in Our Home, the Word in Season, the Upper Room, Sundays and Seasons, and several other worship resources. Her most recent book is "Writing With a View of the Graveyard: Loss, Life, and Unruly Grace;" (2018). This devotional with photographs of rural churches is available in black and white on Amazon and in full-color by contacting Ruth at ruthehetland@gmail.com; Ruth's first book, a preaching resource, "The Power of Place and Story in Preaching," was published in 2012 and is available on Amazon. Check out her prayer and reflection journals at Pastrgrrl Press. Ruth can be contacted at ruthehetland@gmail.com.

Epic Scavenger Hunt

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Uncategorized

Our church and community recently held a great social-distancing activity. People arrived in teams and so were only riding in cars with people in their own households. We stood at a distance from one another outside the church as the rules were explained and any items handed from one person to another were done so wearing gloves. We had five teams participate and it was a very fun evening for all. I’m sharing the Scavenger Hunt list in case you would like to adapt for your own setting!

The list refers to a “mascot” which was a small item given to each team. They were various items: rubber duckies, magic 8 ball, small figurines, etc. that had been sanitized beforehand. Since we geared this activity to all ages I wanted to be sensitive to those who might find it hard to get in and out of cars for all the pictures that had to be taken. Using the mascots they were able to just hold it up and take the picture of the mascot without getting out of the car and then zip on to the next place.

We had a small prize for the winning team – $5 gift cards to Caribou for each member of the group.

The Epic Scavenger Hunt 2020

Rules:

* Your group must stay together at all times.

* Your group must return to Saint Peter’s by 8:30 pm

*You most likely will not be able to find/complete all the items on the list in the allotted time.  Select your items wisely – the most points at the end WINS!

*if an item is a photograph, take the picture and save it on your phone/camera or text it to Pastor Ruth at 254-265-5349

*All other items must be brought back to church with you and shown to the judges.

* obey all traffic laws and keep in mind social distancing measures at all times. Masks are available at the church if you are in need of any. Call Pastor Ruth if any questions arise: 254-265-5349

The Epic Scavenger Hunt List

  1. A family pet of a group member (cannot be dead, stuffed, or vicious) (10 points)
  2. A Johnny Cash CD or record (5 points)
  3. A high school yearbook from the 1950’s (50 points)
  4. One Can of Spam (3 points)
  5. A high school letter jacket from the 80’s (8 points)
  6. One red baseball hat (2 points)
  7. One stuffed tiger (5 points)
  8. 5 small toy cars (2 points)
  9. DVD or VHS of the movie “Gone With the Wind” (2 points)
  10. The signature and photograph of anyone who is over eighty years of age. (10 points)_________________________________________________ (signature here)
  11. One box of girl scout cookies (2 points)
  12. What year was Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church established? (2 points)_________________
  13. What year was First Lutheran Church of Audubon established? (2 points)_______________
  14. A kindergarten picture of people in your group (40 points if you have photos of every group member – otherwise 5 points per picture)
  15. One jar of Cheez Whiz (3 points)
  16. Currency (paper or coin) from a country other than the United States (5 points per each country)
  17. A passport (10 points per passport)
  18.  A prom dress (10 points per prom dress; 20 points per each prom dress that is from 1990 or earlier)
  19. A picture of one of your teammates wearing one of those prom dresses. (10 points)
  20. The signature of someone not born in Minnesota:  ___________________________________ (10 points)
  21. Find out the answer to this question:  what determines the date of Easter each year? Put answer here: ______________________________________ (2 points)
  22. One chicken – (alive – 15 points; fresh or frozen – 5 points)
  23. A Cassette player (5 points)
  24. A black and white television set (not color) – 10 points
  25. A manual typewriter – 10 points
  26. Autoharp – 50 points
  27. Four items for the food shelf (20 points)
  28. A baby picture of people in your group (10 points per picture)
  29. Your Mom (if she isn’t already participating in the hunt) (10 points per mom – 20 points if she is a grandma, too)
  30. Your child (if the child isn’t already participating in the hunt)(10 points per child – 20 points if a grandchild)
  31. A cell phone video of someone from your group singing “Jesus Loves Me” in front of First Lutheran Church of Audubon (20 points)
  32. A photo of your entire team with your mascot and the Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church sign in the background (5 points)
  33.  A video of someone in your group ordering something at a drive-through using a British accent (5 points)
  34. A church cookbook (not from your own church) (5 points)
Riddle: Tranquil, calm, this place of sleeping
Your sighs and laments ever keeping
I hear the traffic go by
I see flowers and butterfly
I wait for you at your last breath
I am not afraid of death What am I?  

35. Solve the riddle above and get a picture of your mascot (given to you by Pr Ruth at the beginning of the hunt – you must have your mascot to complete this task) in that place. You will know you have found the right place if you see this wind decoration in that location: (25 points):

  • Locate the places the following pictures were taken.  Get a picture of your team mascot in each of the following locations.   (30 points per location)

Finally, tally up your total points and put it here to be checked by the game-master (10 points)_________________

Return to Saint Peter’s by 8:30 pm in order to find out the winner of the Epic Scavenger Hunt 2020!

The winning team:

Image may contain: 5 people, people standing, sky, cloud and outdoor
Congrats to our winning team!

Black Lives Matter

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Justice

To me, as a Christian, a pastor, and a member of the human race, it makes complete sense to post a “Black Lives Matter” sign in my yard. A fundamental part of my belief system is that Jesus calls us to look out for one another and especially those who are suffering. I can see how my own vision of life is clouded by being white. Even though I did not grow up wealthy and I have known suffering in life, I have still been afforded more opportunities and experienced less obstacles than others because I happen to have been born white. I am devoted to learning about this and growing in my understanding. And if posting a sign in my yard that says, “Black Lives Matter,” helps even one person of color to feel seen and heard, then it is a good and worthwhile thing to do.

My children and I also posted a “Black Lives Matter” sign in a local area where people are always posting signs. Those other signs are for all sorts of businesses and causes and many have been there for years. The “Black Lives Matter” sign we posted didn’t even last for twelve hours before someone took it down.

All I can think about now is: Why are you threatened by those three simple words? What can possibly bother you about lifting up the fact that a group of people matter?

I will not say a negative word about where we live or the people here. I know so many people here who are so generous and kind, who reach out and help anyone in need. After living all around the nation, my husband and I chose to come back here to live and raise our children. People here care about each other and the world in which we live. Many are deeply thoughtful about issues that matter.

In any area of the country, that sign could have been stolen. But why? Why are you threatened by those three simple words? What can possibly bother you about lifting up the fact that a group of people matter?

I do not understand.

Sermon June 21, 2020

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Sermons

There is a African folk story of Sankofa – the story begins with a bird named Sankofa. She grows up in her community being confident in herself and loving life. One day, she decides to sneak away from her village. When she does, she meets a bird who insults her and causes her to doubt herself.

Sankofa has to return to her village in order to find herself again and confront this “voice” of the big bird. She is supported by all of her friends and ancestors. When she returns to the bird with her own sense of self-knowledge, the other bird disappears.

When she returns back to her village, her image is carved so that other youth in the village can remember her and her story. Because she had forgotten from where she came, she is depicted with her neck turned backwards.

The “Sankofa” has become a metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana, generally depicted as a bird with its head turned backward taking an egg from its back. It expresses the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress.

I love that symbolism. It’s so important that we learn from the past.

Kaj Munk was a Danish Lutheran pastor and playwright – and was a strong opponent of the German Occupation of Denmark (1940–1945). Several of His plays were direct attacks on Nazism. Despite friends who urged Munk to go underground, he continued to preach against Danes who collaborated with the Nazis.

The Gestapo arrested Munk on the night of 4 January 1944, a month after he had defied a Nazi ban and preached the first Advent sermon at the national cathedral in Copenhagen. Munk’s body was found in a roadside ditch the next morning.

Munk preached and wrote against the injustice of his time. He said, “What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: ‘Faith, hope and love’? That sounds beautiful. But I would say ‘courage.’ No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.

Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature. We lack a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth – a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.

And remember the signs of the Christian church have been the lion, the lamb, the dove and the fish, but never the chameleon.”

Munk’s words have been echoing in my brain the last days. I wonder if we Christians in the year 2020 are brave enough to speak against injustice in our own time? Have we learned from the past? Are we willing to rage against injustice – even though that might feel upsetting and go against our inclination to keep everything nice.

I like to keep things nice. I admit that. I have prided myself on being a nice person. I like nice people. I always thought being nice was a good thing – and of course it is…But it is imperative we don’t forget that this faith in Jesus Christ is about so much more than being nice. In the gospel for today, Jesus says, “Don’t think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The word of God – while comforting at times can also be convicting. It calls us to take a hard look at ourselves and our actions.

As followers of Jesus, he calls us to work for a better world and justice for all. It calls us to be uncomfortable sometimes – to risk having not everybody like us in order that we speak up for what is right.  Jesus understands discipleship as a series of choices made daily – to follow Jesus or to chase after something else. Jesus desires our sole allegiance. He even encourages us to pick up a cross and follow. Make no mistake – a cross made of wood is heavy. It cannot be casually thrown over a shoulder along with other things. Instead, carrying a cross takes a certain determination and persistence. But in doing so, Jesus promises we find life. Not comfort. Not ease. Life.

We have too often confused being Christian with being nice. Being a Christian does not mean being nice – it means being filled with holy anger at injustice. Being a Christian does not mean being nice – it means calling out those who treat any life as being less than other lives – no matter that person’s race or what side of the border they were born on. Being a Christian does not mean being nice – it means refusing to accept what is wrong with the world and working to be the change we want to see in the world. And as we do, we come to understand the fullness of life Jesus offers.

Usually when I pray for people, I pray for the peace that passes all understanding – but these days I also pray for us to have a bit more holy rage. A good measure of dissatisfaction with the way things are and a deep longing to use our energy to work for justice and goodness for one another. I pray for us to experience a thirst to learn about other cultures and issues and problems that we may not have paid any attention to in the past.

There’s a famous quote that reads, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” In the spirit of Sankofa, that West African folk story, in the spirit of Kaj Munk, the Lutheran pastor who died rather than keep quiet about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, Let’s learn from the lessons that life and history has taught us, and pray for the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and strength to work for justice and goodness for one another.

Let’s pray – dear God, we pray you guide us in these times. There’s so much hurt all around and we pray for all in need. Teach us how to care for one another as all children of the same Heavenly Father. Help us to lay down our pride and be willing to be instructed in the ways of justice and what each of us can do to work toward lasting peace. How might we do that this week? Show us, Oh God.

God, we pray for all who are struggling in body, mind, or spirit. We pray for your healing presence to be with all in any need – those who are recovering from surgery or are healing from an injury. We pray for those who feel lost or despondent. Help us to uplift one another with kindness and caring concern.

Dear God, we pray for our congregation during this time of worshipping differently. Unite us with your love and grace. Help us to invite others in and reach out to those who may be feeling isolated. Draw us all near to you.

Oh God, for these precious summer days, for friends, for family, for long evening shadows, for the cool breeze on the lake, the laughter of children, the smell of good food cooking, honest work, music – and all the millions upon millions of moments that make life worth living – we give you thanks. May we never stop giving you thanks and praise.

We pray these prayers and the prayers in our hearts in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The Reverend Dr. Ruth E. Hetland

Holy Rage

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Micro Messages

Kaj Munk was a Danish Lutheran pastor and playwrite – and was a strong opponent of the German occupation of Denmark(1940–1945). Several of His plays were direct attacks on Nazism. Despite friends who urged Munk to go underground, he continued to preach against Danes who collaborated with the Nazis.

The Gestapo arrested Munk on the night of 4 January 1944, a month after he had defied a Nazi ban and preached the a sermon at the national cathedral in Copenhagen. Munk’s body was found in a roadside ditch the next morning.

Munk preached and wrote against the injustice of his time. He said, “What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: ‘Faith, hope and love’? That sounds beautiful. But I would say ‘courage.’ No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth.

Our task today is recklessness. For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature. We lack a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth – a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.

And remember the signs of the Christian church have been the lion, the lamb, the dove and the fish, but never the chameleon.”

Munk’s words have been echoing in my brain the last days. The question is whether we Christians in the year 2020 are brave enough to speak against injustice in our own time. In a world burning with racism so many still want to ignore the flames or say that the fire was out a long time ago. However, placid messages of faith, hope, and love are profoundly vacant right now. The word the church needs to be preaching and hearing and witnessing to the world in these days is clear – we need to hear the cry for racial justice. Those of us who are white need to admit the ways we have knowingly or unknowingly been complicit in furthering injustice. And we must speak up in an ongoing lament for and a piercing assault against what we have been. We must vow to do better. Church, the Holy Spirit is summoning us, pointing at her watch, and saying “the time is now”. Speak up now. It is not time for peace, church. Now is the time for holy rage.

May this fire in our nation mold us into something new.  No longer complacent. No longer content with what we have been. Dissatisfied with the futility of trying to be color-blind and instead striving only becoming color-amazed. Let’s be that. Let’s only be content when we get to that brilliant mosaic of color-amazed. Stir us, shape us, melt us, mold us Holy Spirit.

The Gospel According to Queer Eye

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Micro Messages

The Gospel According to Queer Eye

Although it is beginning its fifth season on Netflix, I had never watched the show “Queer Eye” before this past Monday. I had heard that it was a good show but it wasn’t until I heard there was going to be another pastor from my denomination on the show that I tuned in while I was doing my morning workout on Friday.

The Fab 5

I was blown away. During the entire episode I felt like I was either laughing or crying. The “Fab 5” meet Pastor Noah Hepler from Philadelphia and help him prepare for his church’s 125th anniversary. The show spends a lot of time helping Noah talk about how he came out as a gay man as an adult and how he still struggles to find his voice and feel confidence in who he is. The men help him update his look, giving him a fresh haircut and beard-trim plus some new outfits. The show also shows the sad state of his parsonage, the residence owned by the church, which he lives in. Exposed pipes and mold, the place was in terrible shape. Hepler was quick to say that the church has plans to repair and update the parsonage. (That’s great – but he has been there four years! Come on, church! This tells a story that many of us have heard before – the difficult financial circumstances that so many churches find themselves in. I see on their webpage there is a place to donate to the church if you are so inclined: https://www.elcota.org/?fbclid=IwAR1b9w0ajdJ7wj0eWgJx2MN53vPuq7mfBgHpuxytRMJgoe51yRybCZzm1OA) The Fab 5 end up beautifully renovating a room in the church for him to stay in until his parsonage is fixed up. They also gave the sanctuary and a community room of the church an overhaul with beautiful new paint, banners, appliances, etc. The sanctuary was absolutely transformed – it’s amazing what color can do!

Perhaps most moving of all, they brought in a couple other leaders in our denomination (The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) who also have dealt with the challenges that come with being “out” as a religious leader. The words they shared with Noah were full of grace and encouragement. Bishop Guy Erwin affirmed Noah and his ministry at Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement in Fishtown. The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, a transgender pastor, after Noah mentioned how a young man in his congregation had come out recently, asked him if he would ever tell that young man that they didn’t come out soon enough. Noah said, “of course not,” and Rohrer said, “Well then, why do you tell yourself that, child of God?” Noah teared up and said, “I needed to hear that.”

I’ve watched a couple more episodes and each one has been just as moving and wonderful. These men offer not just friendly help to the people they meet – but the opportunity to see their own lives, homes, and futures differently. Sometimes we don’t realize on our own the unhealthy cycles of thinking and acting we have gotten ourselves into. Sometimes we forget that there is so much possibility yet out there. Bobby Berk, Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski, Karamo, and Tan France cast their glance lovingly upon the people they meet. Lovingly! They don’t come in and judge or to act as a savior – rather, they draw out the beauty in the people that is already there.

Bobby Berk and Pastor Noah were talking briefly about Bobby’s terrible experience with the church growing up. Like many gay people, he had been made to feel unwelcome and despised by the church. And yet, Bobby came in and transformed the 125 year-old church sanctuary at Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Atonement into such a lovely, warm space. I know it was his job to do it – but there is something profound in his transformation of that place. Imagine how much beauty the Church as a whole has lost over the centuries when it has focused on hate and exclusion? Imagine how much we have missed out on by making anyone feel unwelcome or despised. Pastor Noah spoke words of apology to Bobby on behalf of the Church. I pray Bobby can forgive us. I pray we can do better and no child or adult ever feels unwelcome or unloved in the church.

The word “gospel” means “good news” – and I felt so much good news as I watched this episode of Queer Eye. It’s good news when we are reminded that there are new ways to see things. It’s good news when someone shows us that our story can have a new chapter. It’s good news when there is renewal and welcome change. The Fab 5 are making the world beautiful in more ways than they know.

Pentecost

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Sermons

John 15:26-27; John 16:4-15 The Message (MSG)
26-27 “When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me. You, too, from your side must give your confirming evidence, since you are in this with me from the start.” “I’ve told you these things to prepare you for rough times ahead.
4-7 “I didn’t tell you this earlier because I was with you every day. But now I am on my way to the One who sent me. It’s better for you that I leave. If I don’t leave, the Friend won’t come. But if I go, I’ll send him to you.
“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.’

I love when the timing of things comes together – like I always think it’s lovely that we remember Pentecost this time of year that is traditionally a time when changes are happening. Graduation, confirmation, people moving back from being away for the winter and some moving away for summer jobs, flowers and trees blossoming with life again, some of our normal routines ending and making way for different routines – it’s a season of change and motion. Like Pentecost – the rush of the Holy Spirit coming in, like fire, like a strong wind – moving and refining us, changing us.
Changing us. What do you think of when you think of change? I’ve always said I love change, seeing different places, doing different things. There’s something inside me that needs it, craves it. Lately I have been going through my closets and books, getting rid of a ton of stuff. When Chad’s parents died and my parents died, we ended up with a lot of their stuff – and they had ended up with a lot of their parents stuff – and over time, when added to our own stuff, it just got to be a lot of stuff. Some of that I needed to hold on to for a while after they died. I couldn’t quite bear to get rid of my grandmother’s waffle maker even though it weighed about thirty pounds and the handle had broken off the lid so it was pretty much guaranteed you were going to end up with some kind of burn on your hand every time you tried to make a waffle. But it had been on that old waffle maker mom would make waffles for me and we’d sit and talk forever over breakfast. And I couldn’t quite get rid of many of my dad’s books even though they were so old and musty. I didn’t need them, I had plenty of my own books…but those were the books that filled the shelves in my dad’s room and brought him comfort through years of sickness and being homebound.
But lately I’ve started to feel like I can let go of some of those things, release them. It’s been a surprisingly spiritual process, to let go, to make room, to create space. To remember that a waffle iron collecting dust in my garage doesn’t bring me closer to my mother whom I always carry in my heart. Some books I never open have nothing to do with what my dad meant to me.
And it seems like the process of getting rid of a few things is catchy because then I started to look at everything with a discerning eye and asking myself questions about it. Do I own that painting because I like it or because a parishioner gave it to me 18 years ago and I felt like I should put it up? Do I own two crock pots because I need two crock pots or because I might need a spare just in case?
Anyway, the change of letting go of these things has been really life-giving lately. But I was ready for that change. I gave myself time, I didn’t have to rush into it.
Some changes are nice, right? Like graduation or confirmation, weddings, promotions, etc. – you’ve been preparing for it, there’s lots of good stuff about it, it’s exciting and you get cards and cake. Change is good! Come, Holy Spirit, Come! Right on!
But sometimes, oftentimes, changes come that we didn’t prepare for. Changes come that we didn’t want or feel like we needed in the least. The disciples must have felt this when they ate that final meal with Jesus and he started talking about how he wasn’t going to be with them much longer but the Spirit of Truth would be. “What? He’s leaving us? Why is he yammering on about this Spirit – we need Jesus with us, our Teacher. Where is he going? Why does everything have to change?”

It was confusing for them then and confusing when a short time later there was the sound of the rush of a violent wind and tongues, as of fire, appeared among them and rested on each of them and all were filled with the Holy Spirit. And that Spirit allowed them to understand each other speaking in their own native language.
And it can be confusing for us now as we think about the Holy Spirit and what it means for us in our daily lives.
There’s this great Rabbinic story about three disciples who used to study with their master teacher on Sabbath evening. And one night the three disciples were walking home and one says to the other two, “I’m so sorry the Rabbi spoke with me the whole night.” Then the second one said, “What are you talking about, it was clear that the Rabbi spoke with just me.” Then the third said, “You both are crazy, it was obvious the Rabbi was talking only to me! And it is me who should be apologizing to you two.”
Just then, all three of them fell silent because they realized what had happened. The ancient commentary says, “So it is with Spirit, that each person swears the divine was speaking to just them.”
You know that feeling, don’t you? When a something someone wrote or sang or spoke seems like it was written entirely for you and for what you are going through in that moment. That’s the motion of the Holy Spirit right there.
The Holy Spirit may seem difficult to describe, and yet we know it. We feel it. It’s what gives us a glimpse of encouragement when despair is setting in too close. It’s that intangible thing that unites a group of people, bringing a sense of kinship and light and peace. It’s when a deep truth settles in your heart, and you know something matters.
It’s like love – you can’t reason it out or ever describe it fully, and yet you know it. When it touches your life, you are never the same.
The Holy Spirit, also referred to as Comforter, Encourager, and friend, is always with us. It’s here right now as we worship and will go with you as we leave and go our different ways later. It’s with our friends who aren’t here this morning – wherever they may be – sharing cups of coffee over breakfast, on a trip out of town, sleeping in. It’s with you graduates as you take your next steps now and each day become more of who God made you to be.
Sometimes it is what comforts us through times of difficult change, and sometimes the Holy Spirit is the very thing encouraging us to make the big change. It’s a mystery and as close as your own heartbeat.
Maybe that’s why it seems like we talk more about God and Jesus than we do about the Holy Spirit. The other two parts of the Trinity seem more well-defined – God created all the things and Jesus the Savior of the world – meanwhile the Holy Spirit is this misty, filmy, ambiguity.
But it isn’t really. In some ways, we know it best – but the Holy Spirit is just easier to feel than to explain – because it can’t be explained. The Spirit is poetry and music, not a speech. The Spirit is a whisper and a nudge, the holiness of holding a newborn and smelling their head, it’s the sound of the wind in the leaves, the way your name sounds when it’s spoken by someone who loves you most, it’s the taste of good food shared with friends, that sudden great idea that came to you when you were daydreaming during the sermon, it’s the sunrise, the sunset, a walk in the woods, your favorite song, the scent of fresh-cut grass – or anything that makes you feel truly alive.
The Holy Spirit is what brings the things of God right into our day to day – right into us, our very breath. Remember that the Hebrew word for Spirit, Ruach, it is the very same word for Spirit as for wind and breath. That’s right, breath. You breathing in and out right now, that’s holy. The Spirit of God alive in you and through you.
You see, the high holy day of Pentecost is the day of the church year when we seem to try to put to words what can really only be felt. It’s true. So, I’m going to stop talking – and let’s pray…

George Floyd

by Ruth E. Hetland, posted in Justice

“If you (as a white person) are not listening, not exposing yourself to unfamiliar perspectives, not watching videos, not engaging in conversation, then you are perpetuating white privilege and white supremacy. It is exactly your ability to not hear, to ignore the situation, that is a mark of your privilege. People of color cannot turn away. Race affects our lives every day. We must consider it all the time, not just when it is convenient.” – Julia Blount

Image source: Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Nonviolence (2005). Adapted: Ellen Tuzzolo (2016); Mary Julia Cooksey Cordero (@jewelspewels) (2019); The Conscious Kid (2020) @theconsciouskid