Three days. Three worship services.
Saturday: My nephew Paul Charles Steege’s First Communion (my Lutheran-raised, turned devout Catholic brother keeps calling it “Second Communion” because it happens in second grade–cracks me up) at Annunciation Roman Catholic Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 51 second graders and their families. A certain joyous-ness that happens with kids that age. They believe what you say: Jesus is in this bread and this wine.
Sunday: Worship at my home church, Woodbury Lutheran Church in Woodbury, Minnesota (I also graduated from Woodbury High School–they’re not so clever with the naming in Woodbury). The faith community that stretches over time and miles. The Gospel proclaimed to me at Woodbury along with the question: “Would you ever think about being a DCE?” People who worshiped and sang with my parents. Roots.
Monday: Ralph Mueller’s memorial service at First Trinity Lutheran Church in Tonawanda, New York. The Gospel preached with boldness and clarity. Sons who told the stories of a faithful father. The mixed emotions of loss and New Life.
The constant? God’s Word. In all three worship services, God’s Word was read, reflected on and taken in. Little children read it. Adults read it. Teen-agers read it. God’s Word is alive–it matters. The Word comes to us in Holy Communion. As I heard in Woodbury: it is the Rock. You can stand on it. The Word comes to us as comfort when those we love go to join our Lord.
God is so good. So good.
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