"Always on safari doing good..."

Thursday nights at the Chapel our joint partnership with between the Lutheran and the Episcopalians has yielded up something called "Open Space."  It is an emergent style of worship with time in the middle for journaling, reflection, prayer, kneading bread, and other practices.

For the past couple of weeks at the "creed" station, we've invited people to reflect on the Masai Creed which has this wonderful little phrase in the 2nd Article about Jesus who is said to be “always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and humankind, and showing that the meaning of religion is love."

Is there a better way to talk about being (as we say at the Chapel) "at work in the world" than being "on safari doing good!" 

Just look around at what is happening at the Chapel these days.  We become a hub of activity for people who on safari!

There's this new partnership with the Episcopalians.  Chaplain Tom is a great blessing!  Many of you heard him preach last week and probably found yourself as delighted as I was with his wit, warmth, and thoughtfulness!  I've been thinking all week about what it means to become a thief who steals wantonly from the lavishness of God's grace and promiscuously distributes this love all over the place!  In our work together, he is energetic, creative, and enthusiastic.  Who knows what direction this partnership is going to take, but it is delightful to be on safari together, doing a bit of good on campus! 


Stop by the Chapel during the week sometime and you may run into any of a number of people who have offices and desks at the Chapel.  There's the Rev. Vy Nguyen who was formerly the coordinator for Lutheran Volunteer Corps and who now has an office here working with Church World Service (the Crop Walk people)!  You might meet Yvonne Charles or see Linda Ely who both work with the Lutheran Volunteer Corps.  Yvonne is the local LVC coordinator and is responsible for the 4 Bay Area houses and almost two dozen volunteers.  Linda is national LVC staff and is a the Communications person!  And of course there is the SHARE Foundation!  Jose Artiga (Executive Director), Sara Schultz (Operations Manager) and Meg Gray (Developoment Director) all have their desks downstairs in SHARE's new national headquarters!  

And then there is Pastor Reinholtzen!  This past weekend, the Synod Council voted to affirm the Chapel's decision to call Pr. Sanna as our Associate Pastor for Prayer and Healing.  Next week, Bishop Holmrud will take this to the meeting of the Conference of Bishops where we pray that they too will smile kindly on our initiative and desire.  If they affirm the decisions of our congregation and our synod council, then we will be able to begin a new era here at the Chapel with an expanded pastoral staff.  Pending the decision by the Conference of Bishops we've tentatively set aside October 10th to affirm Pr. Sanna's ministry here, to welcome our Dean Katie Hines-Shah to install her as an Associate Pastor in our community, and to celebrate her with a luncheon following liturgy.  No one is more excited or pleased than I am with this development and with the opportunities it will provide for us in our work in the world! 

Spend some time at the Chapel during the week!  It is an inspiration just to be around all of these incredible people who are partners in our ministry and are  “always on safari doing good, curing people by the power of God, teaching about God and humankind, and showing that the meaning of religion is love."

Cheers!

Pr. Jeff