. - Holy Trinity Lutheran Church - North Liberty

Marie Barnett didn’t consider herself a worship songwriter, although she had led worship with her husband, John, for years and wrote her own compositions during her personal worship time. “John was the writer,” she says, adding "I never sat down and wrote thinking, ‘This could be sung in a congregation.’ It was more between me and the Lord in my bedroom with the door locked."But that changed many years ago during a Sunday evening service at the Mission Viejo Vineyard in Southern California. She worked as a dance teacher by day, and Barnett’s boss of 10 years had recently taken his own life, leaving behind a note asking her to take over the dance studio. "He was very depressed and had just gone through a divorce, and was on all kinds of weird medications,” she recalls of the tragic incident. "He even came to church with me once right before he took his life, and I was like, Well, what good did that do?" In the end, the event left Barnett with questions for which there were no answers. And that desperation came out in her songwriting.Shortly thereafter, the Barnetts were leading worship as they had done hundreds of times before, and words to what would become "Breathe" just spontaneously came out. Before she knew it, the congregation had joined her. So they began to sing the song regularly in church, and it continued to elicit a strong response, bringing many to tears. Barnett says even now she can hardly get through it. "I think the word ‘desperate’ digs deep into me," she says by way of explanation. "The longer I’m a Christian, the more desperate I am for God."In my experience, the attempt to live out one’s faith in an intentional manner has that sort of effect on us. At a younger age, we’re convinced that if we were only passionate enough about our connection with Christ, it would help us take seriously the demands of discipleship, and lead us into meaningful ministry. Certainly, that might be your experience. Still, such attempts can just as easily lead to being disillusioned, despairing, and asking many more questions than finding the answers to those you may have been asking initially.At this point in my faith journey, there are days when I feel this song’s “desperation.” While there is so much to celebrate about what God is and has been doing at Holy Trinity, the reality and depth of the pain suffered by so many can sometimes almost knock the wind out of me. I can literally feel the weight of the burden they carry around, and I often feel so helpless to be able to lift it in a way that provides any significant respite or relief.It’s at those times that the reminder to “breathe” comes as a gift. As in the emergency drills one endures prior to an airline flight, I am reminded that before I can be a helpful presence to anyone else, I need to first be about assuring that I’m firmly anchored to the only real source of any strength, perspective, or hope I can offer – the grace of God in which I stand. When I do, I discover healing for myself, and for my neighbor.Perhaps it is in such moments of savoring the most basic gift God has granted us – the breath of life itself that sustains us daily – that we can finally become the Body of Christ we proclaim to be.

Our reflection song for this week, entitled “Oceans,” was pieced together by the staff of Hillsong, the Australian megachurch, in between time spent in New York and then finding themselves perched beside a waterfall in their native land.In fact, they felt strongly enough about the song, and about the female lead vocalist who embodied it in rehearsals, that the recording itself was done all in a single session.It’s actually the second piece we’ve used this season which recalls the story of Peter walking on water.The lyrics take me back to the first times I ever played in the ocean as a child, off the Gulf Coast of Florida. There in the midst of what were warm, salty waves were a vast assortment of alien creatures that were a joy to watch and discover. Horeshoe crabs… manta rays…. dolphins… all to the utter delight of a young child. Yet, as my parents had to warn me, also lurking in those very same waters, unannounced, were “rip tides” that could draw you out deeper into the Gulf, where you could very quickly find it impossible to make it back to shore.The depths, in other words, were a threat, and something to be avoided in that context.Our faith journeys are quite different. As much as it was an experience for Peter to walk across the surface of Lake Galilee, even for a moment, the real adventure began when he finally put his fears aside and ventured into the depths of what it meant to be human. He did this by following Jesus…. and following into situations that seemed out of control, downright risky and dangerous, and the kind of thing that just didn’t make sense.So where are you and I, as contemporary “followers of Jesus,” allowing our fears to get the best of us, such that we never explore the depths, but remain instead in the shallows of faith?Where do we allow our trust and discipleship to remain at a juvenile or adolescent level, wading in the shallows, instead of diving in with all our being?You may not be standing beside the refreshing image of a waterfall, but the Lenten season gives us opportunity to try both “walking on water” and “diving in” in ways we haven’t risked before. May we put ourselves in the kind of mindset, and the kind of situations, where we need to trust Jesus at least a little more than we’ve allowed ourselves to in the past.Chances are, we’ll discover something new about our humanity, as well.

One of the more common comments I receive from folks when they learn that I am a pastor is that they cannot imagine how anyone can get up and speak to people publicly week after week – especially to what is essentially the same people!   In fact, the thought of doing so was no doubt a primary obstacle to my pursuing a call to ministry, as I found the notion to be quite unfathomable myself.   That may not always be quite so apparent on a Sunday morning, when you might sometimes find yourself wishing that I would just “wrap it up!”    Yet it is true, nonetheless.I know that Scripture suggests that the Holy Spirit will provide the words to us when we need them, and while I get a bit nervous about relying too much on the Spirit and thus not doing enough preparation on my own, I still appreciate the point.   The song that serves as our reflection this week, however, speaks to the flipside of such a scenario, when we seek not so much the words for US to speak, but simply for the Word of God to address our own needs, longings, concerns, and questions.Word of God, speak to me, indeed.    The prophet Isaiah suggests that the power of God’s word is such that “it does not return empty.”   He believe that it accomplishes that which it says – that it thus has an active role in shaping reality.   I’ve seen that happen, to be sure.   But I’ve also felt what it was like to hunger for God’s Word to resolve a deep ache in my being that I cannot seem to quench on my own.  I’ve found myself praying for an answer – sometimes even if it’s not the answer I want – just so that I can get on with my life, as it were.   Yet sometimes it has felt as if God remained silent… and perhaps even ignored my heartfelt plea.The common thread to most of those situations is that I haven’t taken the time to develop a vocabulary through which God can speak.   In other words, I have allowed my prayer life to dry up such that even if God was literally shouting at me, I was all but deaf to God’s cries. The solution, then, is to give God access to my heart.  It’s to allow Scripture to flow through me such that I become sensitive again to the ways in which God speaks.  It’s to spend time with prayer partners and in small groups such that others can help me hear where I may have become deaf to God’s voice.   And it’s to spend just as much time in prayer listening as I do speaking.   So how about you?   How is your prayer life at this point in your journey?   Are you giving God a vocabulary which provides the common ground upon which the message of law or gospel (in other words, admonishment or comfort, can make it through to you? The good news is that it’s never too late to start, or to start again.  If God can bring life out of death, God can also resurrect the conversation He is longing to have with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvfMDhTyMAIt’s not intentional, but this week’s piece for reflection is yet another song that is based upon a much older tune.   It’s one that Matt Maher crafted with three other songwriters, one of whom remarked in the process, “hey, this reminds me of that old hymn “Every hour I need thee,” and they proceeded to borrow from some of its lyrics to create this new confession of faith, which has been a fixture in our worship in recent weeks.  I don’t know whether it’s coincidental or something else, but both I and others have noted how boldly our congregation is willing and able to sing this piece, even though it’s truly quite new to us.    I tend to think of it through two distinct lenses.One of those is my own awareness of how easily and deeply I abandon God.    I can quite easily coast along for days, weeks, or even months, all the while essentially keeping God at arms’ length.   I can cruise through one potential crisis after another, relying on my own wits and ability to dodge any bullets that come my way.  But then my pride and ability to rationalize ultimately let me come crashing down to reality, and I realize how unable I am to dig myself out on my own.  It’s times like this that I can easily find myself reluctantly and humbly saying or singing “Lord, I Need You.”   I suspect that you can relate, based on some of your own experience. That’s one scenario to which this song speaks.   It points to our recognition of need when we’re struggling, down and out, or at the end of our rope.  In situations like this, our need for God is really quite obvious.But there is second situation when I pray we might also utilize the refrain of this musical treasure.   My hope is that at some point, it’s not that I go to God in my need, but when I am so overwhelmingly hit between the eyes with the love of God that I would go to Him in my JOY;  and in my JOY still say “every hour I need you.”  Not just in awareness of my brokenness;  but in the sheer blessedness of being alive.   All of us can look around and see SO much struggle… it’s not hard to find.   Yet there is always a reason to have JOY if we look hard enough..”Matt suggests that it’s only when we need God that we come to understand who God is.   He points to the experience of observing his 5 mo. old son whose needs are beautifully obvious.    When his needs aren’t met, his son cries out as one would expect a baby to do.  But we have needs, too… the need to be loved, to be valued, to have a purpose.  And when those needs aren’t being met, we cry out, too… with resentment, with bitterness… with comparing ourselves to others. All the while, God is waiting…. to satisfy our every desire and need.  God is the one who ultimately satisfies…. both in times of struggle, and times of joy.Q:  In which arena of your walk of faith are YOU most in need of God’s presence today?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNqo4Un2uZIAs Matthew tells the story, when the apostle Peter witnessed the sight of Jesus walking on the water, he attempted to do the same himself.   And as long as his eyes were locked onto those of Jesus, he did, in fact, stay afloat.    But when he allowed the stormy waters around him to draw his eyes away, he began to sink. Peter’s confidence lasted as long as he kept his eyes on Jesus, but when he allowed himself to be distracted, he began to sink.   Even then, of course, Christ reached out to catch him, and called him what has come to be one of my favorite words in Greek – “oligopistoi,” which is roughly translated “ye of little faith.”     It seems that he intended it not as a criticism, however, but only as a term of endearment for one of those who were learning what it meant to try and follow him.Today, even when you and I don’t have the benefit of Jesus walking beside us in the same way Peter did, we’re wise to at least keep his PROMISES in sight.    For no matter HOW bad things can seem immediately around us, if even demons, wind, & waves stand in awe of Christ’s authority, we can trust that we do not labor or struggle alone.The refrain “It is Well With My Soul” did not originate in the song you’ve heard here, but is instead from the 19th century hymn text by Horatio Spafford.    Some months prior to the Chicago fire of 1871, Spafford had invested heavily in real estate on the shore of Lake Michigan., and his holdings were thus wiped out.  In fact, just prior to this, he had experienced the death of his young son.Desiring a rest for his wife and four daughters, and feeling the need to look to the future, Spafford planned a European trip for his family.  In November of 1873, due to an unexpected business development, he elected to remain in Chicago for a few more days, but sent his wife and four daughters on ahead as scheduled.  Tragically, their ship was struck by an English vessel on November 22nd, and sank within twelve minutes.  When, several days later, the survivors finally landed at Cardiff, Wales, Mrs. Spafford cabled her husband with the message, “Saved alone.”   Shortly afterward, Spafford left by ship to join his bereaved wife.  It is said that while on the sea, near the spot where his four daughters had drowned, he penned the text of his hymn even while his “sorrows, like sea billows roll.”   How he could possibly see beyond his own immense grief to the promises of Christ, and still write “It is well with my soul” is beyond me.Yet that is what our faith both proclaims and clings to.   I have never known the kind of tragedy that the Spaffords experienced, but I’ve certainly known what it is to be overcome with fear when I’ve taken my attention away from the presence of Christ alongside me.Perhaps you can relate.   Yet “through it all,” Christ’s eyes remain upon us… his arms ready to wrap around us, and his shoulder poised to catch our tears.It is well, indeed.  Q:   What will it take for you to keep your eyes on Jesus during the next forty days?