God is good all the time…who would have thunk it!  I took speech therapy classes all throughout elementary school. I remember half days of kindergarten, my mom coming to get me on her bike. My riding in the back. Then we would return to school later in the day for speech class. If I did well with my “s, sh, th, ch” sounds I would get a sticker. Oh what a sticker collection I had! And here I am X number of years later a preacher, which involves just a wee bit of public speaking…

So here I am today as a worship leader…engaged in the activity of helping people ascribe “worth-ship” to God.  Worship can become about so many things…the music, the language, the styles, you name it, it’s been a worship war at some time.  But when you boil it all down worship is us recalibrating our lives, saints and sinners that we are, desparately in need of assigning worth to something beyond ourselves.  Maybe if we reclaimed the word, if it actually is a word, worthship, we might actually wrap our heads around what we are doing in the sanctuary (sacred space).

This past weekend 9 of us from St. Martin’s Lutheran Church took part in one shape or another in the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod Assembly whose topic revolved around worship.

We explored worship hospitality, worship screen images, worship and funerals, worship and stewardship. You name it, we talked about most of it.  Not only do we get together once a year to take care of the business of the church, elect officers, hear about the larger church and what ministries our stewardship is going to support, but we worship together and this time around attended workshops on worship.  For something as uncomplicated as lifting our hands in prayer, lifting our voices in song, and lifting our ears in the hope of hearing the Good News, we can often complicate worship with where we place our worth.

Thanks be to God, God knows this about us and takes us as we are. As we continue to ascribe worthship to this mysterious and present God, may our lives be turned again and again to all that God is doing in and through us in our lives, our church, our synod, and beyond. Blessings on your worthship!

“Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.  The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.  When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.  His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.” Exodus 2: 1-4

What an odd and yet powerful story in just four verses. It starts off normal enough.  A man and a woman of the same tribe, language and culture marry.  They have a son. And then it starts to get a little questionable…she saw the baby was fine…so she hid it for three months.  I know as a mom those first few months with your baby are priceless. Some babies are so sweet and sleep all the time.  In fact, they actually might not make too much of a fuss that you could actually hide them, but why?  Next thing you know this mom prepares a waterproof basket with bitumen and pitch and lays him along the banks of the river…in the water!  And we are left standing there with his sister, staring at a distance in confusion and fright, waiting to see what would happen to him.”

So much of what has become an iconic story for us about Moses’ life, begins here with a mother desparate, trying to save her child’s life.  But why she needs to save his life, and how it is that Moses even survived to age 3 months is found one chapter earlier…

“Now a new king arose over Egypt…he said to his people, ‘Look the Israelite people are more numerous and powerful than we.  Come let us deal shrewdly with them or they will increase and in the event of war join our enemies…”   So… “The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’  But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them but let the boys live.”  To see how cleverly the midwives got away with this deception keep reading to the end of Exodus Chapter 1!

Shiphrah and Puah are two of my favorite heroines and “mothers” in the Bible.  Although this is one of the rarer cases in the Bible where women actually have names (think “Samaritan woman,” “woman with the flow of blood”, “widow of Nain”) they might as well be nameless for all the recognition they get.  Same goes for Moses’ actual mother, what’s her name?  (Oh yeah Jochebed, Exodus 6:20)

Were Shiphrah and Puah mother’s? I don’t know. It’s very likely that as midwives they had families of their own, but there is no mention.  I like this about their story. Because theirs is one of courage and strength, protecting children who are not their own. In this way we honor those who “mother” as Godmothers, Aunties, you name it.  If there were no Shiphrah and Puah, Moses would have been slayed on the birthstool at Jochebed’s feet.  Not a very heartwarming story for Mother’s Day but certainly a Biblical story.  What I do find so heartwarming about it, is the bravery of mothering that is required of all of us who care for our own children and are brave enough to extend ourselves for those who are not “by blood” our own.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is partnering with Lutherans all around the world in this role of mothering, as we bravely together fight malaria. (Find out more here.) In fact at our Synod Assembly this weekend we will be asked if our churches will commit to being a part of the Lutheran Malaria Initiative. (Learn more here.) My husband asked me recently as we donated to the cause, why I’m so interested in the Malaria campaign.  All I know to say is that I have been bitten countless times by mosquitoes and I can’t comprehend the thought of any single one of those bites killing a child, mine or anybody elses.  A mosquito bite isn’t ruthless pharoah, but it might as well be.  In fact I think this pharoah who would later be plagued by gnats, flies and locusts, could appreciate a swarm of mosquitos.

This Mother’s Day I give thanks for all those who mother, for Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Mary and Barbara, __________________(fill in the blank).  May we all, women and men, take responsibility for the children of the world in our care. Blessings and Happy Mother’s Day!

A year ago May 1st St. Martin’s celebrated the 12 years of ministry that Pastor Kelly brought to the church.  After much discernment Pastor Kelly decided that St. Martin’s was ready for a change, and that he would retire to allow that change to happen.  As most people know, change is never easy, even if we supposedly want it.  Certainly as we think back over this past year, we are grateful for Pastor Kelly’s foresight into the future of St. Martin’s and I thought it would be helpful to celebrate all those changes that he helped set in motion so that we can continue to strive to be the church God has in mind.

Talking about being the church God has in mind, we have a newly discerned mission statement:   Serve and love all our neighbors so that by God’s grace lives are transformed.

Just as our goals in life are ever shifting as we achieve them, a good evaluation of why we are here is always called for, especially as we go through such transitional changes as new leadership with a new pastor. How exciting that the church discerned together a mission for us to live out!

Along with that vision we came up with 4 Core Values:  This is who we are! We value…

Community:  by welcoming, caring for, and supporting God’s diverse people.
Education:  to grow in faithfulness.
Worship:  that is meaningful and rich in symbolism, music and scripture.
Service:  that transforms lives through Christ’s work.

How exciting that we as a church discerned together what we value!

Soon as a church we’ll be talking about our strategic objectives and what we are called to do over the next 5 years. But just a few more things to celebrate about the past year.

Our staff has continued to become more established in it’s ministry gifts and understanding of it’s role.  Volunteers have really stepped up to minister to our young people through Sunday School and camps!  Confirmation ministry has been strong and we will confirm our sole 8th grader at Pentecost!  We’ve had new member classes and baptismal prep classes as well as Communion classes.  We started a new partnership with Lutheran Campus Ministry to accompany with them more intentionally to reach our young adults.  We raised thousands of dollars to support our synod camp Lutherhill strengthening that mission.  We’ve evaluated and started strengthening our Team ministries including our various committees.  We’ve increased the visibility of our communications through a colorful and engaging weekly e-letter as well as handout in worship.  Our worship has been solid, with good lay leadership and preaching as well as creative aspects to engage newcomers.  Our Executive Team of church council started meeting regularly to achieve the goal of working in collaborative team ministry and helping the whole church in regards to communication between council and congregation.  Along those lines council led a class alongside others at Lenten University with our weekly worship and soup suppers.  Fellowship events of all kinds have taken place.  Money and support was raised for our high school youth to attend the ELCA National Youth Gathering this summer.  Our nursery ministry has grown in it’s ability to serve our young families.  Deeper connections through congregational care are being made with families, visitors and members.  Our service ministry is reinvigorated.  A ministry focused on reaching men, through Luthern Men in Mission was established.  Our Women’s Bible study is going strong.  A custodial service was hired and our facilities along with thanks to the Facilities team is in great shape!  We continue to build upon our desire to be a welcoming church and intentionally entered into a visioning process so that as a church discerning together God’s desire for us as a congregation in Sugar Land we can make a difference through Christ and transform people’s lives.

Thank you for being a part of these ministries, and all those unmentioned, whether with your financial gifts, your gifts of time, or prayer. 

We have much to celebrate about this past year! And I hope we do so!  Blessings!