Jesus is the reason for the season... Or something like that

A Special Christmas Message from Pastor Emily

Jesus is the reason for the season... Or something like that

As I drove home from work the day before Thanksgiving listening to the Christian radio station, the host came on rejoicing that the next day they would be playing Christmas music. I smiled, already feeling my body wanting to proclaim “Joy to the World!” Yet then that radio host continued, proudly asserted that they would be playing CHRISTMAS music, not **holiday music** (insert enough pejorative and snarky attitude to sink the Titanic). My heart sank. What is it about the birth of Jesus that some people feel is under enough threat to mock those who believe different things about God?  

I pondered what it meant to be inclusive, and YET affirm the good news of Jesus in a world so badly in need of the light that Jesus brings. Can we not be comfortable enough in our faith to celebrate the particularities while ALSO being respectful of others? In the words of John Wesley, “Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?” If I lived in Bethlehem today, I might walk out into the street this evening and hear the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, floating down the bustling streets from the local mosque. I’ve stood on the streets of Bethlehem and heard that music inviting and drawing me in. My faith wasn’t threatened as I received this gift of another’s faith. Nor did feel the need to obnoxiously break into Jingle Bells. 

While I want to live in a world where each can share their faith openly and honestly, I do realize that Christians have a preferred place in the mainstream of society. And I think this place in the mainstream imparts on us a certain responsibility to our neighbors of other faiths, particularly as we share the good news of Jesus’ birth. It’s “cool” to be Christian. It means you can drive around town with a little Jesus fish (also called an Ichthus) on the back of your truck as a statement of pride. In reality, the place of Christianity in society today is vastly different than its place in society when Jesus lived and when Paul and others wrote. In moving Christianity from the fringe of society to the center, our relationship to the sacred text, and I think to God, changed. It’s this shift that “justified” the Crusades and the Inquisitions, and even played a role in the Holocaust. No longer are we on the outside looking in and wondering how to belong to God. We are now on the inside, the center, the mainstream. And looking out, we didn’t always invite others in to belong.  

Belonging continues to ring true for me this Christmas season. In Jesus’ birth, God invites us to belong. That baby in a manger, no room for him in the inn, came as a King not with power and dominion, but with mercy and grace. How quick are we to forget that? That Jesus would go out on to the streets and invite the tax collectors and the sinners and the Jewish elite to all gather at a table together, to all belong to one another just as they belong to God. This Christmas, I think about those to whom I belong. To my parents, who we’ve had the joy of living near and visiting often year. To Aidan’s parents, who so frequently send us their love from afar. To Aunt Karen and Rachel and countless others, all of whom would drive hours to come see us at the drop of a hat. To Noah, Andrija, Nadia, and Zach, who bring so much joy and adventure to our lives. To St. John, the church that has welcomed us in and supported us in ministry. To the families I’ve met who seek rest and warmth at the cold weather shelters around Anchorage. Even to my neighbors who don’t celebrate Christmas, who have their own “holiday” music, or who don’t have any music at all. Yes, I belong to each of them too. 

And friend, I belong to you. Whether you are with me in proclaiming Joy to the World! Or you are having a really hard time this Christmas remembering loss and grief, remember that you too, belong. To me, to God, to one another. We rejoice together and we weep together. We are who we are because of one another. We are who we are because of a God who casts the net wide and invites us in to belong. So let Jesus be the reason for the season. Not in a way that mocks our experience of this holiday, but in a way that makes Christmas real, that centers us in that Holy Night, that tenderly embraces a world where all belong, in the goodness and grace of Jesus. May it be so. Amen. 

Merry Christmas from all of us at St. John!  We are so blessed to belong to you!

Time Stewardship Blog from Pastor Emily

A recent conversation with Monday Morning Women at St. John about time stewardship prompted some other thoughts, so behold this blog (with wisdom and wit, both up for debate)

  1. I’ve had “write time stewardship blog” on my To-Do list for almost a year (like, actually).  To be fair, there are really big things on that list too, such as “Evangelism/Church Growth” and “Discipleship Trail Map.”  You have time for what you prioritize (sometimes). Also, sometimes it’s best just to bite the bullet and get it done and cross it off the list for good!  A friend once told me a proverb (from Tibet maybe?) that goes somewhat like, “If you have to eat a frog, eat it first.” Do the hard thing that you are dreading now and get it out of the way!  What do you have on your list today that has been bugging you for a while? What would it take to make some progress on it?

  2. I often don’t get to some of the big or little things on my list because I feel like I’m too stressed and don’t have time.  A friend (the same one) once told me that stress is like packing for vacation. No matter the size of your suitcase, you always fill it up.  The same is true for stress. Truthfully, I have a very small suitcase right now, but it still feels full at times. This helps me remember that I really do have time for all those little nagging things and even those big things when I ignore the little things for a while.  Maybe your suitcase is gigantic right now and overflowing. How many extra sweaters do you have stuffed in there? What can you give to someone else?

  3. Avoid time-sucks.  As someone who cares deeply about doing things with high standards and is sometimes afraid of making a mistake (I’m a 1 on the Enneagram, see here: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-1), I sometimes want to avoid that stress of messing up by not tackling the task in the first place.  I know this about myself, and recognize my behaviors as avoidance. It might not be true for you. But for all the other 1’s out there, just jump in and do it, the biggest critic of your work is probably yourself.

  4. Flow is real.  Watch this TED Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow?language=en) and then try to find your balance between challenge and skill.  When you are in flow, time moves fast but you move faster.

  5. Plan your day and your week.  You have three chunks of time each day.  Morning, Afternoon, Night. That’s it! How are you using them?  How do you want to be using them?

  6. You are the boss of you.  I know this sounds obvious, but sometimes we need the reminder.  Sometimes I joke that I just do whatever my phone calendar tells me to do next.  But I make the calendar!  I schedule doctor’s appointments and meetings.  It’s okay to schedule rest, workouts, and dinner with family too.

  7. Time is a gift from God.  Being a steward of God’s gifts means giving our time in ways that are worthy of God.  Sleep. Eating good food. Spending time with loved ones. Worship. Work and talent development.  Rest. All (and more!) worthy of God. What do you feel God drawing you to give time to? What does that mean letting go of?

  8. 22 minutes later and that’s one more thing off the list for me!  Praise God who doesn’t measure us by the length of our to-do lists.  Praise God from whom all blessings flow. 


Pastor Emily ☺


I have a dream...

About ten years ago, Kate and I were co-directors of Wesley Acres Camp, a United Methodist Camp and Retreat Center in rural North Dakota. The camp was a mix of old and new structures. Some years prior, the Army Corps of Engineers had raised the ground level of the camp due to an upgrade in a downstream dam, and as such, they built a new dining hall and state of the art septic lift systems for the camp. 

Many of the sleeping cabins however, old army barrack style buildings, were well above water line and therefore not eligible for replacement. The previous directors had worked with a church about an hour away in Arthur, ND to arrange the process of replacing these cabins with new, comfortable, four season sleeping buildings complete with plumbing and a common room.

The people of Arthur UMC committed to building a new cabin, from the ground up, in their own church parking lot. For months, their members would come to their own church swing hammers and cut lumber, raising stud walls, insulating, sheetrocking, all while prayerfully preparing these sleeping places for future youth and guests of Wesley Acres. Upon the completion of the build, they paid a professional house-mover to lift the building and move it fifty miles west to the camp. The building is gorgeous. Tongue in groove knotty pine interior siding. Cedar plank exterior siding. Two sleeping rooms and adjoining bathrooms. Beautiful. Functional. And life giving for the camp. It was visionary. In fact, that's the cabin's name, Vision. And this build inspired others to build new cabins. The Jamestown Area ministry team built a new cabin. And upon our departure from the camp, a third new cabin was under construction, once again, in a church parking lot. 

This model of building in the parking lot and moving to the place of need has stuck with me these past ten years, and some of you may have heard me say out loud, “My dream, is that St John, along with churches all across Anchorage could do their own parking lot builds, but instead of cabins, we would build tiny homes to help solve the issue of homelessness in Anchorage.”

The research has been clear, the number one cost-effective way to deal with the issues of homelessness is to engage in a housing-first model. When people have a warm safe place to keep their possessions and lay their heads down at night, there is a much higher rate of success in finding and keeping employment, in finishing school well, in avoiding the emergency room for health care, and in preventing acts of mischief and crime.

I have a dream, that together, communities of faith across Anchorage can work together, footing the cost of building materials, providing the volunteer construction labor, and moving the structures to the place where they can best serve our homeless neighbors.

Of course, this is only a piece of the solution. After all, a location must be determined and acquired. Issues of infrastructure, like water, sewer, electricity, and heat all need to be addressed and funds appropriated. Issues of land use and on going security for the occupants must be addressed. Churches can do our part, but without a partner who specializes in the areas of infrastructure and logistics, the tiny homes would just take up spots in our parking lots, unoccupied.

And so I want to invite you to join me in praying for a solution. I am confident that people of faith throughout the Anchorage Bowl can and will step up to the plate to build tiny homes en masse, but we need to pray for the right partner(s) to come forward, those who have the power, authority, and funding to purchase and designate land close to services, deal with infrastructure, and provide an ongoing framework of support to help those who are homeless transition to a new life of security and civic productivity.

I have a dream, a God-sized dream. And so I'm asking that you would pray with me that God might reveal to us how to bring this dream to reality as we seek to be a blessing to our neighbors, all of our neighbors, here in Anchorage. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And Love your neighbor as yourself.

Emergency Cold Weather Shelter Update

This past Saturday night St. John hosted its first ever Emergency Cold Weather Shelter (ECWS).  With the helping hands of 17 volunteers we were able to provided a warm and safe environment for two families and one vulnerable adult for a total of six people including an eight month old little boy.  Filling their tummy’s full with a warm home-cooked meal followed by a much appreciated hot shower, our guests were thankful for our hospitality.  Several of our guests were able to benefit from the tubs full of gently used clothing that was so graciously donated by our congregation, our neighbors, and our friends.  Many hands went into making the evening a success including several of our youth who stepped up and lent a willing hand to help those in need.  Prior to our guests departing for the day, they were given a warm breakfast before heading out into the cold.  Though providing hot meals is not a requirement of this type of shelter, we simply can not just hand them a granola bar and send them on their way, we are Methodist right? 

 Volunteer opportunities are available for all during our evening spent helping our community.  Anything from cooking a meal, making a bed, playing cards with a new friend or lending a listening ear to those that need someone to talk to. 

If you are not able to donate your time to this ministry there are a number of other ways that you can help out such as:

•          Everyone loves a home cooked meal!  When we are feeling down and life gets rough comfort foods often helps pick us up.  Please include an ingredient list so that our guests can be aware in case they have food allergies.

•          We are in need of the following food donations:  baby food for all ages, granola bars, oatmeal in to go cups,  mac & cheese in to go cups, juice boxes, and cold cereal in to go cups.

•          We are in need of the following non-food donations:  diapers - all sizes including new born, baby wipes, travel size shampoo and soap, gas cards and new backpacks for adults and children.

If you are feeling a nudge from God to help in this rewarding ministry, please feel free to contact Tina Racy or Pastor Emily with any and all questions.  You can sign up to volunteer for an upcoming shelter night here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b054caaa922a46-stjohn5.  We look forward to working side by side with you in helping those in our community who are in need of shelter.