God Has Made a Decision About You

by ADAM MORTON on Jun 15, 2020 • 3:00 pm

Once upon a time in the 1970s, a midwestern theology professor and his former student sat down to write a guide to Luther’s Small Catechism for teenagers, which sounds the most thankless task ever conceived by mortal mind. Breathtaking beauty is rarely associated with confirmation curriculum. However, these two were rare birds, and as they sat down, the theology professor dictated exactly how he wanted the book to open:

God has made a decision about you. He hasn’t waited to find out how sincere you are, how devout or religious you might be, or how well you understand the Bible and the Catechism. He hasn’t even waited to find out if you are interested or willing to take this decision seriously. He has simply decided.

God made this decision knowing full well the kind of person you are. He knows you better than anyone else could — inside out, upside down, and backwards. He knows where you are strong and where you are weak, what you are most proud of and what you would most like to hide. Be that as it may, God’s decision is made.He comes straight out with it: “I am the Lord your God.” This is the decision: God has decided to be your God. For God wants to be as close to you as your next breath, to be the one who gives you confidence and value, to open a future to you in the freedom of the Word. God wants to be the one to whom you turn for whatever you need.He has said this before, many times. He first announced this decision about you when you were baptized. “You,” God said, as the pastor spoke your name, “are baptized in my name. I am your God and I will never let you go.”He has said it since your Baptism, too, speaking on the lips of those who have loved you, whether they were part of your family, a teacher, or one of your pastors. In fact, God is saying it again in these very words: “You, the one who is reading this, I am your God. How do you like that?”

Maybe you would like to ask a different question: Who is this God, anyway?

It is the God who made you and everything that is, the God who raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead after he had been put to death on a cross, the one whose Spirit came like a mighty wind to drive home a word that gives forgiveness and hope. It is the God who called Abraham and Sarah out of the desert, the God who sent word to Mary that she would be having a baby, the God who covered the apostle Paul’s eyes with scales and then opened his mouth with a word of freedom.

Maybe you’ve got another question then: What’s in it for me? If God has made a decision for me, what do I get out of it?To start with, life itself. God’s decision is the life of you. For God is the one who has given you your mind, body, and all your powers, who has looked after you by night and cared for you by day, giving you all you need. The God who creates is the God of life. When this God says, “I am your God,” you can expect him to give you everything you need to live.There’s more. With God’s decision, you receive the freedom of forgiveness. The God who has decided for you is the God who in Christ refuses to hold your past against you, no matter what shape it has had. The God we know in Jesus is the one who takes you as you are — with your strengths, gifts, talents, and abilities, and also with your bad habits, selfishness, pride, and whatever else you might want to conceal. There are no strings on his decision and so no strings on you, either. You’re free.Still, there’s more. The God who has decided for you is the one who opened the grave the first Easter morning, the God who raises the dead. So when this God says, “I am your God,” the am stands forever. He is, was, and always will be your God. So no grave will ever be able to hold you. In the silence of death, you will hear Jesus’ voice saying, “Rise and shine. I am the Lord your God.” God’s decision opens your future.Does it sound pretty good? God has decided to be your God; the God who has made this decision is the one who has created you, freed you, and assured you of the future. God’s decision grants you life, forgiveness, and resurrection. You are free.

So begins Free to Be, by Gerhard Forde and Jim Nestingen, a theological classic hidden away in a most unlikely shape. Best of all, it’s true.

Zoom to Scripture Recording - June 18-20

Live Stream Change - June 20 Announcement

Live Stream is now moving to 10:15AM

Sunday Morning Worship Rules

• Wear a mask.

• All best practices for coming into Grace building still apply.

  • Keep the distance (6ft ).

  • Limit touching (people or things).

  • Wash hands (bathrooms, kitchen, or hand sanitizer).

  • Limit projecting when singing and talking.

    • Use your inside voice like your mother taught you.

[Sunday] Stuck in the Stone - God's Greater Story - Romans 8b

Service [above] Sermon [under]

Questions for the Week

1. Describe a time when you felt trapped in life, where you couldn’t move forward? 

2. Read Romans 8:18-30.  What does Paul say about our present sufferings?

3. According to Paul, how does God work in the middle of our sufferings and times we feel trapped in life, not knowing what to do?

4. Looking back at your life, tell of a time when you saw God’s Spirit lead you through a tough time.

Today - Sunday June 14, 2020

Flag Day

Worship Service and 8:30 AM

  video service www.gracelutheranpsl.com

Worship Service 10:15 AM

Korean Church Worship 1:00 PM

AA 7:30 PM

Rest of the week June 15 - 20

Heatherwood HOA Tuesday 7:00 PM

ZOOM Bible Study Thursday, 11:00 AM

     www.gracelutheranpsl.com

First Day of Summer Saturday

Korean Church Prayer Saturday, 6:00 AM

Next Sunday, 6/21, Father’s Day! 

For complete calendar information, go to www.gracelutheranpsl.com/calendar

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Corey Birtwell - 6/14, DJ Vik - 6/16, Linda Bowen - 6/19 and Nancy Oldham - 6/20

THE FLOWERS ADORNING THE ALTAR are given to the glory of God by Paul and Sarah Yoo.

PLEASE CALL PEOPLE I realize I take for granted that people just come to the church on a regular basis. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly.  Phone directories are available at the church for your convenience.  

SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM!  Coli will be hosting Zoom to Coffee at 10:30 each Sunday as those who are still worshipping at home may be interested in joining in fellowship virtually. All are welcome!

BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL Pastor Cris is conducting a “live” Bible study online for you to participate in on Thursdays at 11:00 AM.   Directions for participating can be found on the web page www.GracelutheranPSL.com.   Check it out, and if you need assistance, please call the phone number listed. 

AND…. even if you are not computer savvy or do not have computer access, you can participate over your phone.  

GIVING - Changing over to a social distance model of ministry has been quite challenging. We  needed to purchase new equipment and the overall church’s expenses did not go down even though we were not meeting in person.  We are here to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time” to those in our church and community.  Thank you for your past and continual prayers and financial support to Grace and your community.
Online Giving We have now added Paypal for online donations. We have been approved as a trusted non profit organization. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Big Windows installed!

[Sunday] Slave to Son- God's Greater Story - Romans 8

Service [above] Sermon [under]

Questions for the Week

1.  Describe a time from your childhood where you had to be forgiven by a parental figure.  What did that mean to you?

2. Read Romans 8:12-17.  In the previous chapter Paul has talked about how we are slaves to righteousness.  He has now progressed his idea to say that we are free.  What illustration does Paul use to describe what this freedom looks like?

3. According to Paul, how do we become sons (and daughters) of God?

4. Paint a picture with your words of what it looks like for us to live as family members of God? 

Today - Sunday June 7, 2020

Worship Service and 9:00 AM

  video service www.gracelutheranpsl.com

Small group Communion 10:30 - 11:30 AM

Rest of the week June 8 - 13

ZOOM Bible Study Thursday, 11:00 AM 

     www.gracelutheranpsl.com

For complete calendar information, go to www.gracelutheranpsl.com/calendar

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Linda Doran - 6/8, Austin Blizzard - 6/13

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Bob and Melissa Baily - 6/11 (32 Years)

THE FLOWERS ADORNING THE ALTAR are given to the glory of God in thanksgiving for our many blessings these past few months, especially through the chaotic and lonely times.

PLEASE CALL PEOPLE I realize I take for granted that people just come to the church on a regular basis. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly.  Phone directories are available at the church for your convenience.  

SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM! Starting at 10:30 AM, Sunday, you are welcome to join us in a virtual fellowship gathering on ZOOM.  On your computer go to our website which is: www.GracelutheranPSL.com and click on the link. 

BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL Pastor Cris is conducting a “live” Bible study online for you to participate in on Thursdays at 11:00 AM.   Directions for participating can be found on the web page www.GracelutheranPSL.com.   Check it out, and if you need assistance, please call the phone number listed. 

AND…. even if you are not computer savvy or do not have computer access, you can participate over your phone.  

GIVING - Changing over to a social distance model of ministry has been quite challenging. We  needed to purchase new equipment and the overall church’s expenses did not go down even though we were not meeting in person.  We are here to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time” to those in our church and community.  Thank you for your past and continual prayers and financial support to Grace and your community.

Online Giving We have now added Paypal for online donations. We have been approved as a trusted non profit organization. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Opening Up Announcement June 5th

We are opening up on June 7th.

Sunday service will be at 9AM, both on the live stream and in person.

• Our goal for worship services for the near future is to provide an excellent experience at home so those who are high-risk may feel comfortable staying home.

• We also want to have a safe place for the body of Christ to begin gathering together in person again.

• Important Understanding

  • Many people do not feel the same as you about the severity of the virus.

    • There are those who worry about being anywhere near people right now.

    • There are those who think all this is blown out of proportion.

    • And all sorts of views in between

  • A hallmark of the Christian church is that we love and take care of one another. No matter how you feel, it is an act of love and devotion to keep the distance from everyone at church. Please, no hugging or shaking of hands, and do not get close to someone to speak.

  • Romans 14 is at the bottom

Expectations for Coming to In-Person Worship:

• Wear a mask.

• All best practices for coming into Grace building still apply.

  • Keep the distance (6ft ).

  • Limit touching (people or things).

  • Wash hands (bathrooms, kitchen, or hand sanitizer).

• Limit projecting when singing and talking.

  • Use your inside voice like your mother taught you.

• 1 family group per seating section

• Limit 40ish in sanctuary

  • overflow for 10 in fellowship hall

Communion

• End of 9:00 Worship

  • Individual family groups will be called up to a certain side of the altar area.

  • Pastor will give communion to you.

  • When you are dismissed, you should leave the sanctuary.

  • if you would like to talk with anyone after service, please meet them outside (6ft apart).

• Small Communion Services

  • Available for those who did not feel comfortable coming to worship

  • Communion for 5 family groups (or less) at a time

  • 10:30 and 11:00 AM on Sunday

Zoom to Coffee and Zoom into Scripture

• Coli will continue to hold Zoom to Coffee from the church at 10:30 AM for those who would like to join in the fun online from home.

• Online Bible studies will still continue on Thursdays at 11:00 AM

One final note:
We are watching the heath statistics, and if we deem it unsafe to meet in the future, we will make that call.

Romans 14

5 One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. 6 Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. 8 If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister[a]? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11 It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”[b]

12 So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

13 Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 14 I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.

19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.

[Sunday] Deliverance- God's Greater Story - Romans 7

Service [above] Sermon [under]

Questions for the Week

1.  Share a time when you tried to do the right thing, but it ended up doing the wrong thing?

2. Read Romans 7:14-25.  Does knowing the right thing to do enable Paul to actually do the right thing?  Why or why not? 

3. How is your struggle with trying to do good, similar to Paul’s struggle?  What prevents you from doing good all the time?

4. As we’re trapped in our sin, it can seem hopeless.  Where does Paul look to for deliverance and hope?

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Al Cluroe - 5/31, Barbara Bock - 6/1, Marlys Pellin - 6-3, 

Cris Escher & Melville Mills - 6/4, Barbara Ruzicka - 6/5, Phillip Griffin - 6/6 

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Terry & Hatha Brown - 6/6 (12 Years)

PLEASE CALL PEOPLE I realize I take for granted that people just come to the church on a regular basis. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly.  Phone directories are available at the church for your convenience.  

SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM! Starting at 10:30 AM, Sunday, you are welcome to join us in a virtual fellowship gathering on ZOOM.  On your computer go to our website which is: www.GracelutheranPSL.com and click on the link. 

BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL Pastor Cris is conducting a “live” Bible study online for you to participate in on Thursdays at 11:00 AM.   Directions for participating can be found on the web page www.GracelutheranPSL.com.   Check it out, and if you need assistance, please call the phone number listed. 

AND…. even if you are not computer savvy or do not have computer access, you can participate over your phone.  

GIVING - Changing over to a social distance model of ministry has been quite challenging. We have had to purchase new equipment and spend lots of time getting ready. Remember, during this time, the church’s expenses will not go down even though we are not meeting in person.  During this time, we want to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time.”
Online Giving We have begun using Paypal for online donations. We have been approved as a trusted non profit organization. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Bible Study Recording from May 27 - Romans 7

[Sunday] - Resurrection of Van Gogh- God's Greater Story - Romans 7

Service [above] Sermon [under]

Questions for the Week

1. Do you have a favorite work of art?  Why is it your favorite?

2. Read Romans 7:1-13.  Are there rules that at one time you thought would bring life, but actually bear the fruit of death (see v. 5 specifically)?

3. Look at verse 4, what is the secret to living a life that is full of fruit for God?  Is it following rules?

4. How have you seen the resurrected life of God coming to you in these tough times of coronavirus?

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Claude Hessee - 5/24, Peggy Sawyer & Rod Kerstner - 5/25, Gertrude Behrens - 5/26, Soo Choung - 5/29

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK:  Ed & Jo Anne Furniss - 5/26 (30 Yrs), 

Cris & Coli Escher - 5/27 (14 Yrs), Pam & Ken White - 5/28 (32Yrs)

PLEASE CALL PEOPLE I realize I take for granted that people just come to the church on a regular basis. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly.  Phone directories are available at the church for your convenience.  

SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM! Starting at 10:30 AM, Sunday, you are welcome to join us in a virtual fellowship gathering on ZOOM.  On your computer go to our website which is: www.GracelutheranPSL.com and click on the link. 

BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL Pastor Cris is conducting a “live” Bible study online for you to participate in on Thursdays at 11:00 AM.   Directions for participating can be found on the web page www.GracelutheranPSL.com.   Check it out, and if you need assistance, please call the phone number listed. 

AND…. even if you are not computer savvy or do not have computer access, you can participate over your phone.  

GIVING - Changing over to a social distance model of ministry has been quite challenging. We have had to purchase new equipment and spend lots of time getting ready. Remember, during this time, the church’s expenses will not go down even though we are not meeting in person.  During this time, we want to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time.”

Online Giving We have begun using Paypal for online donations. We have been approved as a trusted non profit organization. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

Tom Roksvold's Graveside Service

How to Read the Bible - Session 10 - The Parables of Jesus [Video]

Session 10

How to Read the Bible: The Parables of Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth was a master storyteller, and many of his most well-known teachings were told as parables. But these stories were designed to do much more than simply "teach." Jesus said the parables were designed to both reveal and conceal his message about the arrival of God's Kingdom. In this video, we explore the main themes in Jesus' parables and ask why he used them as the primary vehicle for his message.

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/

How to Read the Bible - Session 9 - The Gospel [Video]

Session 9

How to Read the Bible: The Gospel

The New Testament contains four ancient biographies of Jesus of Nazareth, and altogether they are called “the Gospel.” Each one tells the story as an announcement of good news that the crucified and risen Jesus is the true ruler of the nations. In this video we explore why these accounts were written and how you can read them with greater insight.

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/

How to Read the Bible - Session 8 - Design Patterns [Video]

Session 8

How to Read the Bible: Design Patterns

Design patterns are one of the key ways the biblical authors have unified the storyline of the Bible. Individual stories across the Old and New Testaments have been coordinated through repeated words and parallel themes. These patterns highlight core themes of the biblical story and show how it all leads to Jesus!

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/

Groundhog Day Was a Horror Movie All Along

Taken from the Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/groundhog-day-horror-movie-quarantine/610867/

MEGAN GARBER

APRIL 30, 2020

In February, during the Super Bowl, Jeep ran an ad doing what Super Bowl ads so often will: It converted a beloved cultural product into a marketing message. This time around, the alchemy on offer involved the 1993 film Groundhog Day. Cheerfully soundtracked with the film’s most memorable song, Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe,” the spot featured Bill Murray reprising the role of Phil Connors, the misanthropic weatherman who relives the same day (and relives it, and relives it, and relives it). Instead of the existential agony posited in the original film, however, the commercial Murray delighted in the repetition. Because this time around, he faced his monotonous eternity as the owner of a Jeep.

A lot has changed since February. This month, acknowledging the shift, Jeep came out with another edit of its ad. In place of scenes of Murray joyfully navigating Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in a candy-colored four-wheel drive, this version begins with a black screen and sober text: “We understand that every day is starting to seem the same,” it reads, flashing briefly to Murray waking—again—at 6 a.m. The text shifts, abruptly, to the imperative: “Stay home. Stay healthy. When this is all over, the trails will be waiting. Jeep: #StayOffTheRoad.”

At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the movies that were most resonant for many people were ones that directly confronted the calamity: Contagion. The Thing. Safe. Outbreak, for a time, was one of the most popular movies on Netflix. But Jeep understood, with the canny intuition of the advertiser, that as the emergency became more permanent, viewers might be seeking a different kind of catharsis. As the days blend and blur—as the weeks become months and the tidy boxes of the calendar melt into formless liquidity—Groundhog Day, now more than 25 years old, has adopted a new kind of urgency. Earlier this month, the Today show featured a video essay explaining “Why Every Day Feels Like Groundhog Day Lately.” Esquire offered tips on “How to Avoid Groundhog Day During Social Distancing.” On Facebook and Twitter, a meme has been proliferating: an image of Murray, as Phil, announcing, “It’s quarantine day … again.”

The comparisons are signs of privilege; they are typically made by and for the people who have the luxury of doing their jobs remotely, of schooling their children from home, of counting boredom as a hardship. But the comparisons are reminders, too, of how easily quarantine, that act of physical separation, can also cause people to feel distanced from time itself. I’d remembered Groundhog Day, hazily, as a comedy above all, its profundities packaged as a love story, its message hopeful about the giddy possibilities of self-improvement. Watching it again, though—watching it now, in the interstitial space between the Before Times and the After—I was struck by how dark the film is before it gets light again. And I was struck most of all by the film’s suggestion that the true source of Phil’s agonies isn’t repetition alone; it’s the fact that Phil endures the endless days not knowing how, or whether, the repetition will end.

Here is the basic premise of Groundhog Day: Phil, a Pittsburgh-based weatherman, is assigned for the fourth year in a row to report on the Groundhog Day festival in Punxsutawney. He is extremely indignant about the assignment. And so Phil spends his day in Punxsutawney doing a version, the film implies, of what he does pretty much every year: mocking the festivities, belittling the people who partake in them, generally assuming that the celebrations—and their adherents—are beneath him. (Phil refers to himself, at one point, to his cameraman, Larry, and his producer, Rita, as “the talent.”) The pique continues apace, until: A blizzard blows in. Phil, Rita, and Larry have to spend another night in Punxsutawney. And for reasons that Groundhog Day, in a twist of filmmaking genius, leaves unexplained, Phil wakes up the next morning … to realize, slowly, that it is February 2 once more. He is doomed to repeat the day, caught in a loop of unknown origin or duration, until, finally, he is able to live a day of selflessness, of joy, of love—and, therefore, to break through to February 3.

Groundhog Day’s action is structured according to a classic redemptive arc: This is the hero’s journey, set in the small-town wilds of Punxsutawney. But as Phil moves from confusion to resignation to despair, the movie grows darker in tone. Trapped, panicked, desperate, he tries to escape the time loop by alternately jumping from a building, plunging a toaster into his bathwater, and driving himself and the groundhog, Thelma & Louise–style, off a cliff. He uses his compounding knowledge of the people around him to manipulate them. (“I’m a god,” he tells Rita at one point, wearily.) He experiments with consequence-free living: driving on train tracks, mocking a policeman, insulting people so insolently that they slap him. But he never gets any bruises. And so Phil, at once invincible and confined, comes to ask questions such as this one: “What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?”

This is comedy that operates, at its edges, as horror. It understands what Phil comes to realize: how easily time itself, when it refuses to move forward, can become monstrous. Groundhog Day has been interpreted as an allegory for ethics, for religion, for psychoanalysis, for self-help, for economic theory; it is also, however, widely recognized as an analogy for the dread of unchanging circumstances. The Oxford Handbook of Military Psychology offers a chapter on the psychic effects of contemporary modes of warfare. It is titled “Boredom: Groundhog Day as Metaphor for Iraq.”

That interpretation does a lot to explain why the film has become a meme in this moment. For those fortunate enough to live a life of easy monotony, time looms. Monday becomes Wednesday becomes Sunday; the activities that differentiated them have largely fallen away. What day is it? has been spiking as a search term on Google. Todd Meany, an anchor at Fox 8 News in Cleveland, has begun hosting a regular “What Day Is It?” reminder during the station’s broadcasts. The segments, which Meany said arose from the very real recognition that “nobody could remember what day it was,” are only partially a joke. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, while providing sober updates about the state’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, often adds reminders such as this one to his slide decks: “Today is Saturday.”

But also: “There’s no such thing as Saturdays anymore,” Tom Hanks, hosting the first quarantine edition of Saturday Night Live, said earlier this month, noting the new irony of the show’s name. “It’s just, every day is today.” In a subsequent episode that aired over the weekend, Pete Davidson performed a song that contained these lyrics: “For like two months I’ve been on my couch / Runnin’ out of things to talk about / It’s quarantine in my house / I’m going crazy, and crazy, and crazy / I’m going crazy, and crazy, and crazy.”

And so, Groundhog Day. Groundhog Days. “At first I was like, ‘This is great—I get to chill out, be in my pajamas, do breakfast whenever, slow and easy,’” Lisa Devlin, a stay-at-home mother, told The Washington Post recently. “And then I realized very quickly that just turns the day into an amorphous mess.” That stark shift in mindset, experts suggest, is a common experience. “Some psychologists,” The New York Times notes, “have compared the coronavirus’s effects to the aftermath of a natural disaster, except the disaster is moving in slow motion, taking place everywhere and has no end in sight.” In mid-April, CBS 4, a local news station in Miami, aired a segment that began, “It’s not February 2, but it sure does feel like Groundhog Day lately.” The reporter, Lauren Pastrana (“reporting from my garage, again”), remotely interviewed the psychologist Raquel Bild-Libbin, who noted how easily unstructured days can give rise to anxiety and depression. The doctor also noted the irony of that twist: “We have gained something that we have always wanted, which is time.”

This is another way that Groundhog Day speaks to this moment. Unstructured time, initially, might seem like a gift. “Let me ask you guys a question,” Phil says to two Punxsutawney residents he meets in a bowling-alley bar: “What if there were no tomorrow?” They consider the question. “No tomorrow,” one answers. “That would mean there would be no consequences. There’d be no hangovers. We could do whatever we wanted!”

But one of the lessons of Groundhog Day is that accountability is its own kind of asset. Without it, Phil is rudderless, and doomed to repeat his unending day. And one of the things that makes Phil’s predicament so unnerving, to him and to viewers, is that its dynamics are so deeply unclear. What happened to make time—Phil’s unique experience of time, at any rate—repeat itself? Why February 2? Why this particular February 2? The current moment brings similar questions. “We Still Don’t Know How the Coronavirus Is Killing Us,” New York magazine announced this week. On Tuesday, Yascha Mounk wrote a piece for The Atlantic that contained the following line: “After weeks in which it made sense to hope that something would happen to end this nightmare, the prospects for deliverance are more remote than ever.” Yesterday, Ed Yong published a sweeping essay headlined “Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing.” Its sub-headline: “A guide to making sense of a problem that is now too big for any one person to fully comprehend.”

The unknowns, like the disheveled days, loom. The plot trails off. Groundhog Day is a comedy, ultimately, because of its ending: Phil, finally, uses time to become a better person. He learns from the past. He comes to care about people in the present. He breaks his curse. Imagine what Groundhog Day would be if he didn’t. Imagine where we might be, too, if we fail to find a better way forward. There will be a tomorrow, and a tomorrow, and a tomorrow. But will they bring a happy ending? That is one more thing that, in this moment, is profoundly unclear.

How to Read the Bible - Session 7 - Setting [Video]

Session 7

How to Read the Bible: Setting

Every story has to take place somewhere, and very often locations have a special meaning or significance evoked by events that already took place there. In this video, we explore how biblical authors use settings in the narrative to meet the reader's expectations or to mess with them. Paying attention to locations and timelines in biblical stories unlocks deeper layers of meaning.

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/

The Acquittal of Our Guilty Pleasures

Music is always a near-essential for me when I hit the road. But now, more than ever, having a soundtrack to drive to feels absolutely critical. Typically, I have a playlist cued up to inject some presence into the errand I’m running to offset the Leftovers vibe I pick up everywhere I look around. 

Sometimes, though, someone’s using my Spotify account, and if I haven’t thought ahead and brought CDs (Ron Howard voiceover: He almost never does), my only recourse is the radio which can be a chore. But, when my choice is between listening to the radio or enduring the anxieties and withering self-doubts intruding upon my consciousness in the silence, well, you know what’s going to win out. 

Which is about the only way what I’m about to describe could ever happen. The other day I was surprised to hear the stuttering beat to Dave Matthews Band’s “Ants Marching” stagger out of the radio. Unsettled, I flicked the tuner in no particular direction, fleeing “anywhere but here” in sheer animal panic, reminded uncomfortably of it being my favorite song when I was ten and the subsequent growth in taste I’ve hopefully accumulated since then.

But that hopefulness only continued to be called into question as it went on the duration of my drive: ”Sorry” by Justin Bieber, “Sex Type Thing” by Stone Temple Pilots… Songs that I’m hesitant to admit used to set my heart beating like a defibrillator, and yet—oof, they did. They do.

What was going on? Aren’t I under enough psychic pressure from the cabin fever of sheltering at home already? Do I really need to grapple with why on Earth these songs should pluck some secret lyre in my heart?

I think two things can simultaneously be true: that DMB can be the ideal band for frat guys to get hammered to while assuring themselves they contain multitudes, and “Ants Marching” can excite the nerve endings in the hidden recesses of my soul and set them vibrating with delight in spite of my awareness of the first point. I don’t want that to be true, but it is.

Our guilty pleasures rupture the husk of our confirmation biases. They testify, “You are those things you let on to the world, but you are also these things.” They are acknowledgements that there’s more to us than our carefully curated public images would suggest. They extract and exclude the evidence of a concealed self we don’t want to let on. We suppress those things that make us feel guilty and ashamed, those things that will not let us forget how we fail to measure up to the standards we set in place for ourselves. The guilty pleasure is Exhibit A in our masochistic self-trials whereby we carve out selves we would prefer to be.

Even the label “guilty pleasure” is a way to cloak our attachment to these songs in the shade of a term implying distance. The phrase inoculates the song’s side effects by dismissing its significance and the resonant frequency with which it rings in sympathy with our being. It reassures us that we know better and regularly choose better, but much like catching a cold, can any of us ever be vigilant enough?

It’s an attempt to distance the self we project to the world and, most importantly, the ideal self we imagine and wish we could become from the irrational dilettante we routinely are in our unguarded moments of simply being. This distance is deceptive, however, because in the act of dissociation we end up burying the pleasure deeper within the self we don’t dare allow to see the light of day. 

The problem here is that that excluded self is still us. Georg Simmel emphasizes the uncomfortable point that

[t]he individual does not attain the unity of his personality exclusively by an exhaustive harmonization… of the contents of his personality. On the contrary, contradiction and conflict not only precede this unity but are operative in it at every moment of its existence.

(Georg Simmel, On Individuality and Social Forms: Selected Writings, ed. D. N. Levine [University of Chicago Press], pp. 71-72)

To be an I, in other words, is always to be a contradictory I. There’s no way around it.

“Do I want to be loved in spite of?” Tim Kreider via Donald Barthelme asks us, and the answer surely is, “No!” That sounds too horrifying for words. I want the love others pour into my prim, manufactured self to be imputed to the actual, unedited me silently behind the scenes. If I can’t earn that love, then by God, I want to smuggle in approval for a bogus self and worry about the divide later. Or never. 

Guilty pleasures essentially say, “Others might enjoy such drivel, but not I,” which is only slightly less obnoxious than the classic, “I thank you Lord that I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11). They serve as boundary markers for who we think we need to be, and who we will fight the outside world’s disciplining scrutinies to become. They’re bowling alley bumpers for our actual selves to ricochet within to safely arrive at the destination we assure ourselves is best. Guilty pleasures can be readily surrendered, we think, when the Thought Police break down our door and read us our charges under the Categorical Imperative of Cool. 

But they never actually arrive, do they? Sure, some of us have been embarrassed when we’ve been asked our favorite album and we’ve said, “Kiss’ Dynasty.” It happens. But the music magisterium we fear is really the oppressive voice of our own inner moralist, spoiling the fun by applying real aesthetic criteria beyond their legitimate bounds with no breaks. That’s no way to live, but that doesn’t stop that voice. 

The deepest, most fundamentally good news usually comes cloaked in the form of its opposite. So hear the good news: only phonies need Christ; positively put, inauthenticity is the price of admission. Maybe most of these songs really, truly aren’t good in any critical sense. But if I could be honest with myself for half a moment, I know the deeper issue my guilty pleasures refract back to me is that I’m not all that good, either. But Jesus wants me anyway. And he doesn’t agonize under any scruples that would try to indict him: “You are woefully inconsistent! Are you taking seriously the implications of the moral heart of your being and the objects of your affection? You can’t love Ian—what would that say about you? How can you be the true, the good, and the beautiful, and bring him into the sphere of reconciliation?”

In a way that evades our attempts at comprehensive understanding, God is both just and the justifier of nincompoops like us (Romans 3:26). Our clumsy likes and ill advised favorites won’t count against us at the eschatological tribunal. We’re just not all that good at consistently liking the best stuff. We might as well just own it. But God isn’t ashamed of you for the Bread records you inherited from your parents or your Big Daddy Weave CDs, or because Weird Al was your first concert. You, delighted by questionable tunes, are vastly preferable to him than dour-but-refined-and-checking-your-Top 5-list-“correctly” you. 

So crank that Starship song; get so severely down to Carlie Rae Jepson. Now is a time when we really don’t need yet another Law choking out our attempts to cope. Your guilty pleasures and mine have been acquitted, their questionability annulled by the superabundant righteousness of Christ. Add your favorites—your actual favorites—to his open-sourced mix. For his triumphal procession blasts all manner of music as we are led in the captivity of freedom (2 Corinthians 2:14). 

How to Read the Bible - Session 6 - Character [Video]

Session 6

How to Read the Bible: Character

Most of us think of characters in Bible as either sinners or saints, good or bad. At least that’s how Bible stories are presented to children. In this video, we’ll explore the ways biblical authors present characters as more complex and morally compromised than we usually imagine.

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/

[Sunday] - Reflection - God's Greater Story - Romans 6

Service [above] Sermon [under]

Questions for the Week

1.  Describe a time when you felt beat up by life.

2. Read Romans 6:1-14.  What is the relationship between grace and sin?

3. Read Romans 6:15-23.  What do you think Paul means when he says you are now a slave to righteousness, as opposed to a slave to sin?

4. How has Jesus pulled you through the sin of your past and given you new life?  What does he mean for you now?

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Joyce Matte - 5/18, Allison Schultz & Ervin Schimkat (99th)- 5/19, Danielle Hoffman - 5/21, Pat Gebhardt - 5/22

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS THIS WEEK: Raquel & James Thomson - 5/17 - 44 years!

REMEMBERING TOM  Our prayers are with Mary Anne and the Roksvold family in mourning and remembering Tom Roksvold, for he passed away Wednesday afternoon. Video recording of the graveside service will be available.

PLEASE CALL PEOPLE I realize I take for granted that people just come to the church on a regular basis. So that we all don’t descend into madness, let’s call and talk to each other regularly.  Phone directories are available at the church for your convenience.  

SEE YOUR GRACE FAMILY ON ZOOM! Starting at 10:30 AM, Sunday, you are welcome to join us in a virtual fellowship gathering on ZOOM.   Follow the same directions for the “Zoom Bible Study” that are on the web page to join the group, or you can also phone in and join the conversation.   

BIBLE STUDY FOR ALL Pastor Cris is conducting a “live” Bible study online for you to participate in on Thursdays at 10:30 AM.   Directions for participating can be found on the web page www.GracelutheranPSL.com.   Check it out, and if you need assistance, please call the phone number listed. 

AND…. even if you are not computer savvy or do not have computer access, you can participate over your phone.  

GIVING - Changing over to a social distance model of ministry has been quite challenging. We have had to purchase new equipment and spend lots of time getting ready. Remember, during this time, the church’s expenses will not go down even though we are not meeting in person.  During this time, we want to provide “Grace and Peace in this Chaotic and Lonely Time.”

Online Giving We have begun using Paypal for online donations. We have been approved as a trusted non profit organization. If you would like to give through Paypal, please go to: www.GraceLutheranPSL.com and click the “GIVE” button on the upper right side of the page.

What Had happened at Grace this week. 

How to Read the Bible - Session 5 - Plot [Video]

Session 5

How to Read the Bible: Plot

An important part of reading biblical narratives is learning how to understand the nature of "the plot," how stories are arranged into a pattern of conflict and resolution. In this video we'll see how ignoring the sequence of the plot can lead to distorted interpretation of biblical stories. We'll also explore how grasping the multi-layered nature of the narrative can help you see the unified story that leads to Jesus.

All Content, Lessons, and Videos are taken from the Bible Project. https://bibleproject.com/explore/how-to-read-the-bible/