How Much Does it Matter?

Chaplain Sarah will lead the Wednesday evening "From Jesus to Christ" class this week. The film will examine the Roman persecutions of the early Christian church. While history suggests that the persecutions were regional, in the places where Christians were rounded up and arrested, things could get pretty grim.

Pliny the Younger was governor of Pontus/Bythnia in the early second century. His first encounter with Christians is recorded in letters he wrote to the Emperor Trajan. Pliny wasn't sure what to do with the Christians, so he followed this approach:

I interrogated these as to whether they were Christians; those who confessed I interrogated a second and a third time, threatening them with punishment; those who persisted I ordered executed. For I had no doubt that, whatever the nature of their creed, stubbornness and inflexible obstinacy surely deserve to be punished. There were others possessed of the same folly; but because they were Roman citizens, I signed an order for them to be transferred to Rome.

So in this day and age, in a nation with free expression of religion, when Christianity has been culturally acceptable for thousands of years, here is a question ... what does your faith cost you? What sacrifices have you made, and what sacrifices would you be willing to make, for the sake of Jesus Christ? Is getting out of bed on Sunday morning a sacrifice? Giving for the church a sacrifice? Self-identifying at your workplace as a Christian a sacrifice?

How far would you be willing to go if Christianity were persecuted today? At what point would you give it up, deny your faith, and go on with your life?

How much does it matter to you?

Getting Ready for Haiti

Tomorrow we leave ... Marjie Koons, John Mirely, Wendy Hedeen, Nancy Spates, Pam Miklavcic, Pastor Kit and my son Andrew Carlson-Lynch. We will be joining 40 other Christians from the Detroit area (and Montana!) to travel to Mirebalais, Haiti, with the Haiti Outreach Mission.

For ten years, Roger and Dominique Matthews have worked to build a health clinic, school, orphanage and bakery, side by side with local Catholic and Episcopal churches. For ten years, they have taken groups of American Christians to work and to see first-hand the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The work is as much to teach us about Haiti and its needs as it is to bring our assistance to the Haitian people.

Our parish has collected money and medical supplies for the mission. We have contributed vestments and altar linens from our sacristy. Some of our group helped pack 100 tubs full of supplies last week. We have spent three sessions with Michael Largey (thanks, Michael!) learning some basic Creole phrases.

Now it's time to head out. We'll leave Detroit Metro Friday evening, sleep over in Ft. Lauderdale, then get up early Saturday to fly to Port-au-Prince. From there, we will board buses and trucks and head immediately into the Central Plateau, to Mirebalais.

Sunday, Pentecost, the morning will be spent in church. Chris Yaw, rector of St. David's-Southfield, and I will take turns preaching in two Episcopal churches. Then it's time to set up the clinic for the week ahead.

Monday through Thursday are for work ... running the medical and dental clinics, helping at the school, and construction work. In the evenings, Chris and I will hold prayer and reflection sessions. On Wednesday evening, the children from the school will put on a program for us. Thursday evening is our farewell dinner. We return the following Friday.

It is a short and intense trip. We'll learn a lot. We'll help a lot, too, we hope. Keep us in prayer throughout the week ahead.

+ Kit

Saint of the Week -- Monnica, Mother of Augustine

I always think of Monnica as the patron saint of mothers with wayward sons who don't live up to their full potential ... at least for a while.

Monnica was the mother of St. Augustine, one of the greatest theologians of Christianity. But Augustine wasn't always so saintly, and his mother -- a seriously devoted Christian woman of North Africa -- was crazy with worry about him. He lived a life of debauchery. He had a mistress and an illegitimate child. He was brilliant and a stellar rhetorician, but he espoused a heresy called Manichaeism.

So Monnica fasted and prayed and wept and prayed for her son. She sent him to a bishop to see if the bishop could get him to see the light of Christ. No luck. But the bishop told Monnica not to give up, that "It is impossible that the son of so many tears should perish."

Augustine's famous conversion is told in his "Confessions." Shortly after his baptism, he was taking his mother home to Africa, but she died in Ostia, an Italian port. She died serenely happy. Her work here on earth was done. She was asked if she was afraid to die in a foreign country. She replied, "Nothing is far from God, and I have no fear that he will not know where to find me, when he comes to raise me to life at the end of the world."

Her son would go on to lead the church during the Fall of Rome, and to write great works like "The City of God" that would shape Christian thought and faith forever.

+Kit

We are Famous Now -- The Bell Blessing on You Tube

Reading Ahead -- Pentecost

In this week's readings, the selection from Acts and the the selection from John 20 each tell a different version of the sending of the Holy Spirit. The Acts story is public, dramatic, visible to the world. The John story is private, intimate, an action between Jesus and his followers (except Thomas, who must have been out golfing that day).

Without getting into which one "really happened," how about examining both and see which one speaks to you -- the mighty and powerful Pentecost experience in Acts, or the intimate Easter evening encounter between Jesus and his friends in John? How have you experienced the gift of the Holy Spirit in your life? Quietly or overwhelmingly? As something that empowers you to reach out to others, or as something that allows you to forgive the sins of others? Or both?

Coming Monday -- Rally for Justice

Monday at 6:30 p.m. in the All Saints sanctuary, the 13 member churches of ACTION of Greater Lansing will gather to rally for this year's issue of justice -- housing.

This is our chance to get prepared for the major event of the year, the Nehemiah Assembly on May 19 at Union Missionary Baptist Church. We will hear the results of the research team's work on questions of housing and the proposed action we will ask the city of Lansing to take on this issue.

Some things that have come to light during the research: Lansing does not license its landlords. So it is possible for a landlord to have a number of red-tagged houses and still be able to get permits to rent other properties. Also, there is no way for prospective tenants to effectively research their landlord's track record and find out if that landlord does not keep his or her property up to code. The issue of rental housing not meeting code becomes crucial when a renting family is evicted after a house is tagged. A large number of homeless families who go to the Red Cross arrive their after being evicted when their landlord's property is shut down.

Taking action on these issues in the city of Lansing is delicate and not without challenges. There are entrenched forces with an interest in keeping things as they are. We need the support of everyone who cares about our capital city and its residents to come out and show -- simply by your presence at these two events -- that the faith community cares about this issue and will not keep silent on it.

Plan to join us in the sanctuary Monday night at 6:30, and mark your calendars for May 19 at 6:30 p.m. at Union Missionary Baptist Church.

Up to the Heavyside Layer

The last moment! Up in the cherry picker to see the bell in the tower and throw a little more holy water on it for good measure. Six stories up, East Lansing looks darn pretty!

+Kit