Getting Lost in the Woods

We are the people of Saints James and Andrew.  We had the unusual experience of getting to choose our patron saints.  Some of you may recall that when we merged in 2017, we identified Saints James and Andrew as a working name.  We lived with that name for four months, until we could survey the congregation. There were 22 different suggested names, including: All Saints; Church of the Holy Spirit; and Immanuel.  In the end, 70% of our faith community wanted to keep Saints James and Andrew as our permanent name.  The rest, as they say, is history. Next month will mark five years since we began to explore how we might be better together.  During that time, I’ve come to really appreciate our decision to continue with James and Andrew as our patron saints.  Here’s why.  In today’s gospel lesson, we witness Jesus of Nazareth call his first disciples.  Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee’s shore, where he notices two brothers casting their net...

Lutheran writer Ellie Roscher once said, “How we spend our days is how we spend our lives.” *  Poet Mary Oliver famously wrote, “Tell me, what is it you plan to do  with your one wild and precious life?” ** Both of these women are inviting us to take notice.  Life is pure gift.  How will we respond to such a gift? For that matter, how are we living into our role as caretaker of our one wild and precious life?  Do we cherish our gift?  Leave it to collect dust on a shelf?  Regift to someone else? We alone are the caretakers of our lives.  We are responsible for how we share our time, talent, and treasure.  While it would be lovely if there was a manual telling us the best way to do this, that is not how life works  (though plenty of folks may try and tell you otherwise) .  It is going to look a little different for everyone.  Take for example the widow we meet in today’s gospel.***  Mark tells us she is a poor widow, placin...