On the night of the Great Vigil of Easter, we repeat the sentence: This is the Night. We say that over and over again to profess our faith that in the Easter moment, God breaks through our human life and ends all that separates us from God. God claims all creation once and for all. It is powerful every time we say that sentence, knowing that God’s promise is for us.

If that is the night, then Sunday, April 24, was the day. All day I kept saying (and praying): “This is the day.” On Sunday, Faith Lutheran Church was filled with God’s promise for us and the ways we honor and believe that promise.

In the morning, nine 2nd graders received a Bible from our church. This gifting from Faith is an extension of the sacrament of Baptism. At baptism, parents promise to teach their children about God and “to place in their hands the Holy Scriptures”. The congregation promises to support the parents in their promise to their children and to God. This moment on Sunday was an important part of our sacred relationship with God and with each other.

Later in the morning fourteen 8th graders participated in the Rite of Affirmation of Baptism (Confirmation).  This is the moment when after years of learning and Bible Study, these young people affirm the baptismal promises their parents made for them and now they make them for themselves. I was emotional as I looked at this group of young men and women. I have known almost all of them since they began Sunday School as little ones. It has been an honor to watch them grow in their faith. Full disclosure…this group is squirrelly and full of energy…everything you would expect in middle schoolers. Yet on Sunday, they were so serious about the promises they were making. It was an important moment for them and the congregation in our sacred relationship with God and each other.

Then in the afternoon, after the joy of the morning, our hearts were unbearably heavy. Faith Church was the place for a funeral for a beautiful little baby whose life was way too short. For Eliana, her baptismal life is now complete. She is in the arms of God. While that is a beautiful thought…it is so not fair. Eliana and her parents did not have the opportunity to live out the promises made at her baptism – for Eliana learn and grow and love God.
God’s people came from all over to honor her life; support her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncle; and collectively remember the promise of God. God’s promise is hard to remember at times like this. Our questions for God are loud. Our questions belong in that sanctuary in the midst of the singing, hearing God’s Word and tasting God’s meal. God’s promise is all the more powerful when it is woven in with our questions and doubts. Honoring Eliana’s life and God’s promise for her, is important to our sacred relationship.

This is the day.

Sunday was the day. Today also is the day…and tomorrow.
We don’t have all the answers. We don’t always feel peace. Our days are a mix of joy and sorrow, understanding and doubt, light and dark. God’s promise to us is that God is in our human experience with us. Nothing can separate us from our sacred relationship with God.

This is the day.

​~ Pam

“One step at a time.
One punch at a time.
One round at a time.”

Recently I watched the movie Creed – the latest in the decades long Rocky series of movies. While the entire movie was entertaining, what has stayed with me were those words of encouragement that Rocky gave to Adonis, Apollo Creed’s son.


Life has felt heavy lately. It is not that my own life has become heavy. It is that we are called to carry each other’s burdens. So many people around me are struggling with illness or profound sadness. They are people I care about. Our national relationships have been weighed down with verbal and physical attacks. The sin of racism, sexism and homophobia are ingrained in our public institutions. My heart is heavy for all people who have to carry our prejudice in their every step.

As my vision widens, the negativity and heaviness of life feel overwhelming. Is it possible for our national culture of meanness to change? How can we address and change the systemic prejudice in the United States? When will my friend’s baby daughter turn the corner and start to heal?

Life is heavy. And yet, here we are in the season of Easter, living in post resurrection hope. God has shown us through the Easter miracle that no matter how overwhelmed we may be with life, we will never be alone.
How do I move forward when my feet and my heart feel stuck? How do I get through the daily-ness of life?

[Enter Rocky Balboa]

The young impulsive Adonis Creed wants to prove himself. He wants to take on the doubters and prove that he is not a “throw-away”, someone who is easily forgotten. Adonis/Donny is fighting with life more than any opponent he faces in the ring. Rocky tells the young man to slow him down, to narrow his focus so that he can see what is in front of him.
The Italian Stallion coaches: Don’t focus on your legacy. Don’t even think about the end of the fight. Take one moment at a time. “One step at a time. One punch at a time. One round at a time.” Find yourself in that moment at do what needs to be done.

Rocky is also talking to me. Don’t be weighed down by all the heaviness in the world. Don’t carry more than you can hold. Find yourself in each moment and do what needs to be done.

Maybe Rocky Balboa had taken advice from the writer of Hebrews, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us”. (Hebrews 12:1)
We are surrounded by witnesses and we are the witnesses. We carry the weight for others and we let others carry the weight when we can’t.

That is how I will cling to resurrection hope. I will lift my head and see what is in front of me to do. I will care for the people important to me. I will draw attention to prejudice when I see it. I will call out meanness. The big picture isn’t mine to change. God already did that.
I will run the race set before me. I will take one step at a time, one moment at a time…with you - together.

​~ Pam