My wife and I read to our sons every night before we put them to bed.  And, of course, the boys have their favorite books and stories they prefer.  Jackson, at six years old, is obsessed with the Magic Tree House, a series of 40 or more chapter books that we make our way through one at a time.  Each book takes us through adventures of all kinds, from the volcanic destruction of Pompei to the Civil War, and Jackson can’t wait to finish each book so we can move onto the next.

Max, the three year old, is a different story.  With a library full of a variety of books, his repertoire is surprisingly limited.  If it’s up to him, he’ll choose the same Toy Story or Peter Pan book every night of the week.  He’s seen the movies enough to already know how the stories end.  Even though he can’t read, you might not know that by the way he finishes my sentences as I yawn my way through those picture books night after night after night.  In spite of all of that, Max still smiles, giggles and pays attention as though these stories hold as much adventure and suspense as they did the first time around.

I can only guess that it’s because he’s still watching and learning and caring about what he sees and hears on the page.  He still notices something new every time.  He still thinks the jokes are as funny as they were the first time he heard them.  He still likes to remind me about what’s going to happen next and he still likes to point out his favorite part, no matter how many times he’s told me about it.

I wish each of us approached the Bible like my boys engage their books.

We’re beginning a new year of Christian education at Cross of Grace.  On Sunday, September 12^th, we’ll begin another year of Grace Quest and Sunday school and Adult Forums.  Throughout September, there will be new opportunities for Women’s Bible Study, Men’s Bible Study, the Bethel Bible Series, CrossRoads classes for new members, Faith Formation for Teens and Soup, Salad and Scripture studies, too.  These opportunities call us to engage Holy Scripture with all the interest, enthusiasm, joy and humility that is meant to be ours as children of God.

Like Max and Jackson, I hope we realize there is so much more to learn.  I hope we’re able to notice something new about God’s grace in our lives.  I pray we’ll learn to point out our favorite parts of the story for the world around us.  And I trust the grace of God we share through our learning together, will make us smile again and again – or for the first time, even – no matter how often we’re bless to hear about it.

Please pray about how, where and when God is calling you to open the Bible and be changed by the grace that unfolds within its pages.

See you in class,

+Mark

I was part of a plot recently to arm the kids in my neighborhood with squirt guns enough to soak a small army.  Please know, when I say “squirt guns,” those of you who haven’t witnessed the technological advances in water warfare in recent decades, may misunderstand me.  These guns don’t merely “squirt,” like the transparent, brittle, plastic pistols of my youth, shooting a thin stream of water that might irritate a small kitten.  These are “Super Soakers” that throw and twist and shower water onto their targets with as much velocity and volume as a garden hose.

Anyway, my three-year-old, Max, being the youngest kid in our little circle of soldiers on Redbird Trail that day was struggling.  Once the older neighborhood kids realized his arms weren’t long enough or strong enough to force the pump that released the water from his weapon, he was done for.  Armed with a re-purposed Windex bottle of warm water from the kitchen sink then, Max was doing little damage to his enemies who deluged him with icy water from the spigot.

Still, Max was having a blast.  His teeth chattered, his lips were blue, and he was cold to the touch.  While his enemies winced, screamed and scurried away at the slightest stream of water from his puny little makeshift weapon, Max laughed and leaped, smiled and shivered from head to toe, charging head first into the face of all the water that came his way.

Of course, all of this made me think about God’s blessings to us in the waters of Holy Baptism.  And watching Max made me wonder about how we’re called to relish those blessings of new life and forgiveness of sins and abundant grace, even in the face of so much in this world that threatens to send us wincing and screaming and scurrying in the opposite direction.

The point of a water fight after all, is to get wet, in the end.  The point of life as a baptized child of God is to get wet, too.  As children of God we are soaked with forgiveness, drenched with love, washed away by grace, drowned, revived and renewed, over and over again, and in the face of what looks like loss and struggle and defeat to so much of the world around us.

I’m grateful for the batch of baptisms we’ve celebrated in the last month or so at Cross of Grace.  I look forward to those that are still to come.  And I’m grateful for Max, just the same.  Quite simply, they remind me of God’s victory for the sake of us all and they inspire me to live more graciously and joyfully because of it.

See you in worship,

+Mark

When I was a kid, my parents bought a new couch for our family room and, shortly after, covered it with a fabric couch cover. The cover wasn’t plastic, like the ones we’ve all seen in Grandma’s living room, but the effect was the same. Why buy a nice, new couch, only to hide it under a cover? Moreover, Grandma, why call it a “living room” if it’s so sterile and off-limits no one would want to really live or spend time in there anyway?

One of the ways we talk about the Word of God in the Bible is to describe it as “alive” or “living” among us. Too much of the time though, our Bibles are covered with dust or serve as nothing more than decorations for the coffee table in that formal living room no one spends time in. Too much of the time, the lessons for life we’re meant to glean from the ancient, timeless tales of Scripture seem to be hidden, off-limits or irrelevant to our life and faith as we know it.

In an effort to embrace more fully what we’ve called “The Year of the Bible” at Cross of Grace, and as a way to bring the living, breathing, life-giving Word of God to bear upon that which matters most to us, I’d like to respond to your questions and quandaries about Holy Scripture through a series of sermons this summer.

For those of you who’v e missed it, “TXTing” means “texting,” and all the kids are doing it. What’s more, it’s a verb, meant to invite and encourage your participation in creating the questions we’ll answer – or at least wrestle with – along the way.

So, do you have a passage of Scripture that’s always given you pause? Is there a story you’ve never quite been able to wrap your heart around? If Jesus stopped you in the grocery store, knocked on your front door, or dropped by the office and gave you 20 minutes of his time, what would you want some clarification about?

Please e-mail your questions to Pastor Mark (pastormark@crossofgrace.org), fill out the cards we’ll have available on Sunday mornings, or, in the technological spirit of it all, post your questions on the wall of Cross of Grace’s Facebook page. Mostly, I hope you’ll join us for the journey – this summer and beyond.

Peace,
+Mark

I have a new hobby creating high-quality, professionally bound photo albums of family pictures using the user-friendly software of Snapfish.com.  I’ve taken to creating baby books to document the first years of each of our sons’ lives.  I’ve also begun to create “yearbooks” to document and to celebrate wherever the Havels go and whatever we do from year to year.  This means I spend a lot of time looking at old photographs.

Recently, a couple of pictures in particular caught my attention.  Strangely enough, they were pictures of myself.  The reason they caught my attention was that I appeared as happy and relaxed and as full of life as I can remember looking in so many of the hundreds of the pictures I’d been screening lately.

It was no surprise that these were recent pictures – ones taken during a week of vacation with extended family and during another weekend away from home, where I presided at the wedding of an old, high school friend.  Like I said, I was utterly happy, completely relaxed, as full of life and as surrounded by friends and family as I had been in quite awhile.  In those pictures, I look the way I believe God created me to be.

My discovery was a blessing for me and a reminder and encouragement for the summer’s Sabbath that is fast approaching our life together at Cross of Grace.  Every year, we deliberately embrace the longer days and warmer weather of summer by allowing the pace of the congregation’s life to slow down.  Our choirs stop rehearsing, many of our midweek Bible studies break, our Sunday school and Grace Quest programs take a summer vacation, and so on.

My prayer is that each of us experiences the fullness of God’s grace through whatever family and friends we’ll share time with in the months to come.  I pray we’ll look for and find God in our homes and in whatever travels we make.  My hope is weekly worship will be a part of the way we celebrate those gracious gifts.  And I have faith in God’s willingness and ability to bless our lives and the ministry we share, all along the way.

See you in worship,

+Mark

Have you heard about the suggested solution to our airline security troubles – that passengers be allowed, even encouraged, to fly with no clothes on?  It was a joke not long after 9/11 that has received even more airtime after the botched underwear explosion of that Delta flight from Amsterdam to Detroit this past Christmas.

Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, was recently cited as saying, “They won’t be able to hide any powders or liquids, and they’ll speed right through security.  This is a win-win.”  I’m pretty sure that was a joke as well, but it does make you think – even if those thoughts aren’t always so pretty.  (Suddenly, it may be almost worth the risk NOT to buckle your seatbelt!)

But seriously, it makes me think about Lent, too, and our walk of faith as Christian people.

These days of Lent are about reflection and repentance.  They are about coming clean before God about the sinfulness of our hearts and minds and lives that needs forgiving.  These days are about laying bare our sins and our shame and our very souls so that God can redeem what we otherwise cover up, hide and fear acknowledging the most.

Still, while the thought of it all isn’t always pretty, the greatest gift of Lent is that no matter how difficult it may be to admit what God already knows, these days are filled with promise.  We are invited, in spite of our sins, to be fully known before the cross.  And we’re called to trust that we will walk from the empty tomb clothed in righteousness and joy, covered with forgiveness and love, redeemed from the inside out – for all of eternity – by God’s amazing grace.

See you in worship,

+Mark

“Gisela Garmin” is what I call the new Global Positioning Satellite system my parents got me for Christmas. She’s affectionately named after an old German waitress at my favorite college hangout and has an amazing knack for knowing things about how and where I am in the world that surprise me.

Not only does Gisela give me specific instructions about how to get from “here” to “there,” but she reports how fast I’m going, what the speed limit is where I’m traveling and, with fairly precise accuracy, the time at which I’ll arrive at my destination. What surprises me most though, is how willing and able Gisela Garmin is to “recalculate” all of the above when I deviate from her suggested route.

See, I haven’t used the GPS yet to navigate unfamiliar territory. I’ve just played around with it for fun around town to see how it works. More than once, Gisela has suggested I follow a different route from what I’m used to. When I ignore her suggestion, turning left when she thinks I should go straight, for instance, she simply says, “recalculating,” and a new set of directions is prepared to get me where I need to be.

Lent is a time for us all to “recalculate.” Ash Wednesday, February 17th, marks the beginning of our collective journey to the cross of Good Friday and through the empty tomb of Easter. This journey is an opportunity to look deeply within ourselves to see where it is we’ve been and where it is our lives are heading in relation to our faith and in connection to God’s desires for us.

Very often we travel familiar paths, even if they’re not the fastest or safest way to get where we want to be. Very often we deviate from the route God would have us take, following our own inclinations and getting lost along the way. Very often we try to “recalculate” all on our own and find ourselves back-tracking or traveling in circles despite our best efforts.

The good news of Lent and Easter is that God has displayed a willingness and ability to “recalculate” the journey for us all. From ashes comes redemption. From sin comes forgiveness. From dust and death comes resurrection. And, in Jesus Christ, the lost are not only found, we are loved deeply and carried home by God’s amazing grace.

We have some good and meaningful things planned for our Lenten journey this year at Cross of Grace. I look forward to having you along for the ride.

See you in worship,

+Mark

Several times in recent weeks, I’ve found myself getting Christa’s attention so that, together, we can relish moments of peace, quiet and sweetness with our boys.  It sounds cheesy, but what I mean is, Jackson (5) and Max (2), have reached ages where they play well together almost as often as they scream and bicker, disrupt and destroy the aforementioned peace and quiet, I long for.

For example, I’ll walk by Jackson’s room and find him looking quietly through a book, explaining something to his little brother.  They also share toys and pretend well together for extended periods of time.  Max has even been known to cry out for Jackson, instead of Mommy or Daddy, when he’s upset about something.  All of this brotherly love seems to have been a long time coming.  And, while I realize it hasn’t blossomed in all its fullness, I’ll take whatever of it I can get.

As people of faith, there are many reasons why we call ourselves “children of God.”  It’s easy to see why that may grow out of a penchant for bickering, fighting and our other childish ways.  But I think it has a lot to do, too, with our need to be reminded about how loved and adored we are by our Maker.

Over the last few weeks and months at Cross of Grace, we’ve had some pretty holy conversation and dialogue in response to recent ELCA decisions about human sexuality and the Church.  Some of those conversations have been challenging.  Much of that dialogue has been hard.  I think I can say faithfully, though, that all of it has encouraged those of us who engaged it to grow up and to grow even more fully into our role as God’s children.

Just like Jackson and Max make me smile so often these days, I believe God smiles to see us poring over Scripture together, asking questions and sharing ideas and insights about what we find there.  I believe God smiles to see us sharing ourselves – our feelings, fears, concerns and joys – honestly, generously and with grace.  And I’m certain God smiles to see us leaning on each other, comforting each other, encouraging each other and loving one another in the face of difficult days.

Just like Jackson and Max, I know there is so much more learning and growing and becoming for all of us as brothers and sisters in Christ.  My prayer and deep hope for 2010 – and all the years to come – is that Cross of Grace will be a safe, sacred place for that sort of growth to bloom and that through it all we’ll be a witness to the world about the grace of God that holds us together.

Happy New Year,

+Mark

Many have asked if and when I might share more of my experiences from my recent time in Mexico.  Since there’s interest, I would like to have a gathering of some kind in the near future for that purpose, but know you’ll get glimpses of what I learned through conversations, sermons and in newsletter articles like this one.

At the cathedral of San Juan Chamula (named for St. John, the Baptist), a village in the hills outside the city of San Cristobal where we stayed, I heard a great story about the town’s celebration of Christmas.

After morning prayers and mass on the day of Christmas Eve, the doors of the cathedral are locked as midwives from the community gather around a statue of Mary, at the back of the sanctuary. For the remainder of the day and night, these faithful women dance and sing and celebrate the birth of Jesus that is to come.

At midnight on Christmas Day, a statue of the baby Jesus, which has been kept on the other side of the village, is carried into the church and a larger celebration begins. The doors of the cathedral are opened and the midwives, along with men, women and children from the community, parade around the church square, carrying statues of the saints with them as music plays, singing rings out, and fireworks explode recklessly into the night.

Throughout my time in Mexico, I was continually moved by the faithful way men and women honored ancient traditions with such discipline, reverence and joy. This particular story about Christmas Eve in San Juan Chamula, inspires me to look ahead with expectation and joy for all that is to come back home at Cross of Grace, in Indiana.

After all, we share the same story of grace, good news and new life in Jesus Christ that our brothers and sisters celebrate in Chiapas. And we’re called to worship and reflect in the days to come in the same spirit of discipline, reverence and joy. I look forward to joining with you in the days of Christmas that are coming, giving thanks for the gift of it all and filled with hope that someone new will see us and share the story in return.

See you in worship,
+Mark

Our family took an impromptu road trip to Kings Island last month, squeezing one more bit of vacation out of the summer before it ends. I texted a few friends and family with whom I grew up visiting the amusement park, telling them I was “having flashbacks” as I walked through the entrance.

While the fountains and water features just inside the gates and the large, mock Eiffel Tower look just like they always have in my estimation (which is how they looked back when the Brady Bunch visited the park), lots of other things have changed. I wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but I can say I was sorry to see my nostalgic trip down Memory Lane end so soon.

As you may know, so much has been added and changed by more up-to-date cultural influence. Most notably, rides that used to be named so simply have taken on corporate sponsorship. What used to be known as “The Beastie,” a children’s version of the legendary coaster “The Beast,” is now called the “Fairly Odd Coaster,” named after a cartoon on Nickelodeon. Similarly, what use to be ingeniously called the “Log Ride,” because you rode around in a log and got splashed by water at the end of the hill, is now named the “The Wild Thornberry’s River Adventure,” again, after another Nickelodeon cartoon. And those simple swings where even the youngest of kids can sit in and, well, swing around in a circle, aren’t just “swings” anymore. They’re the “Backyardigans’ Swing-Along,” thanks again to Nickelodeon.

I admit, it wasn’t enough to get angry about, but odd and different and, because my trip down Memory Lane hit a dead-end much sooner than I’d expected, I was disappointed.

It didn’t take me long to realize that this is how so many Christians feel when it comes to living together in the Church. Whether it’s a new hymnal, a different style or time for worship or even a profound theological understanding, when things change – especially when they’re different from something that’s attached to a fond memory or a warm feeling in our heart of hearts – we get prickly about it. It may not always be a big enough deal to get angry about, but “odd” and “different” take some patience and some getting used to.

Join me in remembering this over the coming months as we continue to pray and to plan for some kind of change to our Sunday morning routine this fall, and as we continue to grow and change in other ways, too, in all the years that are ahead for us as a family of faith.

My kids had a blast at Kings Island while we were there – and so did I. I remembered, after all, that I hadn’t made the trip just for me. I was there to share something fun and exciting and new with my children. And, of course, their wide eyes and big smiles and hearty laughter made my day.

God is always up to something new and different and challenging among us. It may not include corporate sponsorship. It may not always be simple. But the gifts of grace that come our way when we remain open to God’s Spirit in our midst are always worth the ride.

See you in worship,
+Mark