Kindred in Christ,

I remember being 10 years old and being babysat for a day by a woman from my church that was known for being a phenomenal baker. After a couple of hours of playing with her dog, she could tell I was beginning to get bored and asked if I wanted to bake something with her.

“Bread!” I said excitedly. I love bread. I aways have, and always will. “We can do that,” she replied. Apparently, bread only takes four ingredients: flour, yeast, water, and maybe salt. Who knew it was so simple? I didn’t until then!

So, we began to clear the counter tops, we got the bowls and ingredients, and I start to feel one part homie-old-fashioned, and one part food network. And I liked that feeling!

She instructed me to get out her cookbook. And I when turned to the bread section, I realized that the bread recipe was a lot longer than I thought. It’s just four ingredients, but it’s paragraphs of instructions! First you levin the yeast, then mix it all together, knead the dough, set it aside in a special towel covered bowl, and then you must wait for it to rise. Afterwards, you divide the dough and put more flour, and then wait some more for it to rise before you can do some actual baking.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed I asked, “How long will this all take?! My sitter responded, “About four hours.”  Feeling dismayed I said, “I was hoping we could eat something in about 20 minutes or less.”

“Honey, that’s not how bread works,” She replied. So, in the end, we made chocolate chip cookies instead. It wasn’t for another several years after that I would come to learn the deep and warm joy of committing to the process of baking fresh bread for myself and loved ones.

Worthwhile things often take time, and they take the right ingredients. Baking bread, growing a community, and revitalizing a church, all take time, and the right mixture of our patience and participation. Our personal Christian spiritual lives are also this way.

Join us this Sunday, as we conclude our series Depth of Grace. In past weeks we have considered three aspects to the Christian Spiritual life (see below), and this week we will conclude with “floating” in God’s grace—the need to sometimes rest or wait in God and trust the unfolding process of God in our lives. We also hope you will remain after worship for an update from our building committee on the unfolding process of our future building plan, which has been a holy work of patience, participation, and trusting in God.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

Letting go can be hard. And yet, for an authentic Christian spirituality, it is essential.

I was once at a church retreat. As I was relaxing and reading a book on a beach chair on the dock of a lake, I was overhearing a conversation between my friend Brian and his then 11-year-old son, Henry. “I want to learn to dive!”, Henry stated with excitement. Apparently, he was a good swimmer and diving was the next step.

My non-anxious parent-friend said, “Sure, son. It’s not too difficult. Just stand at the edge of the dock. Put your hands together while pointing them to the water. Then lean over and just let yourself fall headfirst into the lake. That’s how you dive.”

Henry looked a little puzzled, “Really, that’s how you dive?” So, he puts his little body into position. He waited for the courage to come. And right as he began to let himself go and dive into the lake, he simultaneously tried to pull himself back up at the last second, which resulted in him belly flopping instead of diving. He came up spluttering and gasping, “Dad, it didn’t work!”.

Brian responded, “That’s right son; it’s because you didn’t let yourself fall in. Good try though! Try again. I know it is scary, but this time just let yourself fall in.” Henry tried again and again for half an hour! It just did not happen. Each time he would end up on his face or belly, because he would hold back and not just let himself fall in. Eventually, he gave up and walked back to the cabin.

I was watching all of this with great interest from the corner of my eye while pretending to still read my book, because I personally know how hard it can be to just let go in life and trust God. I think Henry’s story speaks for a lot of us who want to go deeper, beneath the surface of our spirituality or relationships, but find it hard to let go of the superficial things that provide us temporary comfort.

Over the next three weeks we will explore together three aspects essential to the Christian spiritual life, both for us as individuals and as a church:

I look forward to exploring these themes and learning to go deeper together!

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday we celebrate Pentecost, a.k.a. ‘the birth of the church’! We hear of rushing wind, tongues of fire, and the breaking down of social barriers. The multilingual celebration we read about in Acts 2 reminds us that God sent all humanity a gift—the Spirit, with its promise of passion, diversity, and creativity.

Yet, it is not an exclusive party. With all that wind and noise, and hazardous pyrotechnics of the Spirit, the text tells us that the Apostles were moved outdoors to begin their multi-lingual proclamation. While they began indoors, the Spirit pushes them outdoors to connect with new people in new ways. Rather than starting outdoors and being moved inside a temple, the Church is born when a group is empowered to “come out” and connect with the world in a new way.

This Sunday also kicks off our Pride Month series, God is Proud of You!  We will celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community and the way the Spirit is still working to break down walls that exclude and birth new and inclusive community through us.

I hope to see you as we celebrate Pentecost and Pride in the weeks to come through worship gatherings and outreach events.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz

Kindred in Christ,

This coming Sunday is Ascension Sunday! And while a major feast day in the church calendar, it is not accompanied by a wealth of traditions like Easter, Christmas, or even Pentecost. There are no Ascension Day cards to give to loved ones, nor any Ascension Day family dinners to attend—at least not in my family. Nor do any familiar Ascension Day hymns come to mind.

Perhaps because at first glance the story of the Ascension seems bizarre and sad—the resurrected Jesus ascends into heaven and abandons the disciples on earth (Acts 1:1-11).

Yet as much as the disciples must have wanted Jesus to just to stay put, in Jesus we do not see a God that stays put. Rather, Jesus reveals a God that transcends our assumptions and expectations, to fill all creation with divine love and bring us to a faith that is as expansive as the sky.

Christ ascends into the depth for us to find Christ everywhere, especially where the world only sees death and despair. As Lutheran theologian Vitor Whesthelle reflects, “It is from down below that he comes. Don’t look into heaven. It is from down below that glory emerges. Don’t gaze up, look down. Look down where life is broken, where creation is tortured, where nature is abused. Down there in the troubles of our days lies the glory as much as it once was found in the womb of a poor peasant maid of Galilee or lying in a manger in the midst of dung, animals, and flies. Consider then the homeless old woman in the city street and know that Christ is there and that NATO’s whole air force in all its glory is not armored as she is. So, do consider the lilies of the field, but consider as well the pollution, the waste, and the violence against which the blossoming of the most simple flower is already a triumph that beats the odds and tells a story of ascension.

May the glory down below shine through our lives in its unseemly fashion so that we might know that what God assumes God redeems and then we will also know that we don’t need to be anxious about tomorrow, for we know the places where tomorrow begins.”

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz