All Will Be Well

This video was produced as a project of healing.  During a brief partial hospitalization for  major depression and anxiety, hope found me.

Hope became a reality through the stories of my peers who were participating in the program for similar diagnoses.  It was within the stories of these amazing individuals and the staff that I found God’s ever present promise.

God promises never to leave us even in our darkest hour. God walks beside us in and through  our neighbor, whether they realize it or not.  These moments of mutual speaking, listening, and feeling are moments in which we live out our human existence by being drawn into a relationship with Christ.

The Holy Spirit continually works in our life so that we may know and may be known by God and one another.  It is through the sharing of our story that we are able to lean into authentic and real relationships in which we might live as healed and with hope.

 This project is dedicated to those who share my story-  God, my amazing family and those friends at PHP.  May God’s blessings continue to flow into our lives, so that we might live in constant hope.

Please click below to watch the video:

 ic2643 Janna Bader-All Will Be Well.

CREDITS- Music:  All Will Be Well:  Music an lyrics by Laura Bates and Brandon Foote http://c3.cduniverse.ws/CDBABY/Large/92/700261 213392.j

Biblical references:  Psalm 139 NRSV, John 1:15 NRSV,  John 14:16 NRSV,  Jeremiah 29:11 NRSV,  Revelation 7:17NRSV,  Ecclesiastes 9:4NRSV

Images taken from Google images.

All Will Be Well-(Lyrics)- Laura Bates & Brandon Foote

” It’s time to lift the backdrop baby

It’s time to drop the show

And face the brutal consequence

 

Of seeds we did not sew

Its time to tell the truth

About the things we have at stake

And the fragile thread in each of us

That fear is gonna break

Sojourn through a world where

There are cynics at each hand

Who say that love is nothing more

Than just to have or to be had

They say that life is just a wicked brow

For the player to be played

And the little hope I’m clinging to is just an opiate I’ve made

And what can I say

What can I say

Things would point that way

And I feel this love

Think I have been made

That things will be okay

So here upon the broken ground

Lets stand up tall and look

And here our doubts just

Stick and go back inside the glance we took

Maybe one timid step into the dark

Would obliterate the fear Maybe the quaking mountain under us

Is what has brought us here

What has drawn us near

And that would be a comfort

If we let ourselves believe

Instead we let the madness in it

Drive us to our knees

So we can melt the broken pieces

Of our faith in one more test

Yeah, its hanging on for one more day

Knowing this all soon shall pass

And we will be fine

We will be fine

We will be alright

We have been loved

We have been made

And things will be okay

We have been found

We have been found

We have been called out

Out of the dark

And into the light

And one day we’ll shine bright

Sister of mine

Sister of mine

One day you’ll shine bright

And all will be well

All will be well

All manner of things will be well”

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Online Video

http://blip.tv/center-for-social-media/remix-culture-fair-use-is-your-friend-2091622

The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn’t even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, “That’s mine; you can’t have it.” They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.  Acts 4:32-33

 

Be fair and share.  Two foundational learnings from our early educational years everyone…I hope.  In a world in which communication literally “goes viral” and people seek to share information, to merge information, and to connect the informational dots in their lives whether it be for entertainment, for acquisition of knowledge or to promote  new ideas, we need to be fair and share.

Communication is what binds us in social relationship.  Communication that does not interact and tumble within new ideas is dead.  Sharing our creative work is what keeps our communication alive.  Sharing gives communication a spirit that connects the generations by allowing contemporary culture to embrace the message.

God models this relationality within the living voice within God’s own Word, The Holy Bible.  We read, we ponder.  We frame it and re frame it to the ages and stages of our lives from generation to generation.  The Spirit of the Word is shared freely by the author, so freely it speaks to us as we interact and tumble within.

We too are creators, using our human connectedness as a springboard to keep communication alive and meaningful.  As our world continues to advance in technology we must continue to work together globally to be fair and share.

Loving our Neighbor with Justice and Hope

 Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.

 Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.

 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.” 

Romans 12:9-19, THE MESSAGE

When I was a child I wanted a baby brother so badly.  I had three older brothers and apparently I didn’t think three was enough.  My parents told me that there would be no more babies to be born in our family.  My last plea was…”Can’t we just adopt an Indian baby?”  I grew up in the seventies, a time of great racial tension in the Dakotas between the Native American culture and the oppressive white culture.  I grew up in an area where people were 99.99% white, and even as a small child I thought like the mainline culture.  My parents were loving, giving and inclusive; and I rarely if ever heard them condemn others, but still I was narrowly white in my reasoning.

This past week, I have been pondering the criminal justice system in the US.  We are a nation with an extremely high incarceration rate.  Our system seems to be more punitive than reformative. In the ELCA social statement, Hearing the Cries:Faith and Criminal Justice, we name some of the dilemmas and concerns with our current judicial system.  I found this document to be an informative springboard of discussion and action in which we as a church can be in conversation about racism, classism, and our failings to be a society in which we (as we read above in Romans)  “don’t hit back, and find the beauty in everyone.”

We are called to have these difficult conversations, to make difficult decisions, and to take difficult actions.  With that comes the willingness to take the steps we need to be informed and engaged.  Please take time to read, Hearing the Cries:Faith and Criminal Justice, and find your place of engagement in this issue.

ELCA Proposes Statement on Criminal Justice:

http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/Criminal-Justice.aspx

 

 

The Digital Divide and Justice & Equality

Here is the question of the week for my Gospel and Global Media Cultures class:

How can communities of faith draw on denominational/theological statements to advocate for easing or even erasing digital divides?

Because we are social people we desire and need social connection.  The 1990’s ushered in the ability to connect globally in sharing information and social media grew quickly as a result of the internet movement.  We are now able to connect socially,  instantly and globally.  In fact we have entered into an age in which having an internet connection is almost necessary.  Online education, online banking, online employment applications, online tax returns, online insurance claims, online communication from one’s doctor….these are a few of the ways that we connect as a community of people, a nation, in the digital age.  However, there is a divide-an equality issue- in our country as to who is able to access these digital resources.  In her book, Captive Audience, Susan Crawford informs us of a digital divide that is deepening the inequality in the US.  Please take time to watch this short video:

What do we do about this injustice?  As people of faith, how do we take up the cross and enter into a solution?  Our ELCA approach to justice in social issues includes this statement:

What is justice and how does it relate to your faith?

Justice is love applied to many neighbors. It means more than acting out of a sense of charity, or making a donation or volunteering our time.

“Doing justice” means addressing inequities in political, economic and social systems. It works to restore relations among people and with the earth to the way God intended them to be. It means challenging ourselves to step outside our comfort zones.  Evangelical Lutheran Church in America  http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Justice.aspx#intro

How can we as a church step outside of our comfort zones to eliminate a digital divide that causes inequality in God’s world?

Facebook as Pastoral Care in Social Ministry

This is a wonderful example of how people use Facebook to help healing of community when one faces an illness.  This young man attends our church and his parents shared this video after he had received the diagnosis that his LCH had again developed in his body.  I found this to be comforting to so many in our community. It is in fact an example of the gift of love and care that we offer through our communities of Christ-those who suffer offering care and understanding to those of us who seek understanding.  This young man plants seeds of hope for us all .

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4362275058033

Caring Bridge-caring for community

This week in our Gospel and Global Media Class, we pondered caring ministries in social media, specifically Caring Bridge.

Before I adventured into the life of Luther Seminary, I was an elementary school teacher.  Because of my husband’s job, we moved several times.  On more than one occasion I was able to use Caring Bridge to communicate with friends and former students who were facing challenging health issues.  What I found was that social media sites such as Caring Bridge can provide a safe place for us to pray, encourage, grieve,  and cheer on.  It is a place where joys and sorrows are shared and human connections of love and peace sustain relationships, sometimes in the most vulnerable of moments.

What are your experiences with Caring Bridge?  What are some of the other sites that offer a safe environment such as this?

Gospel, Social Media……Hospitality?

Let mutual love continue.  Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.   Hebrews 13:1-2

How do we testify our faith and love for God, in the person of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit?  And, how do social media platforms, such as this blog, testify to this same faith?  These are questions that our class, The Gospel and Global Media, wrestled with this past week.  I have contemplated how it is that I testify that I am a follower of Jesus…a Christian.  As a Lutheran, I desire, uphold, and participate in a Word and Sacrament ministry and through the Word and Sacraments I receive the faith to be sent into the world to testify to a Trinitarian God who meets us in the moments of our everyday lives.  God meets us and we receive God in an exchange of hospitality.  God welcomes all, and we welcome God-God in our creation and God in our neighbor.

Sometimes in our churches though, we may not welcome all with the heart of God.  Or, we may not feel welcomed into a church community.  This has perhaps gone on since the very first Christian churches began to form in the first century.  Within the brokenness of our humanity is our tendency to exclude.

My thought this week is how might social media include those who may feel or may have felt excluded in a church setting?  Will social media such as blogging, and Facebook allow us to testify to our faith and the power of Jesus in our lives in a new and more comprehensive way?  Will people hear who would otherwise not hear?  Will people be heard who are excluded?

I feel that social media will heighten the opportunities for our stories, stories from all around the Globe to be connected with God’s story.  Our testimony has the ability to become viral-we could reach millions!!  What do you think?  What would be your social media “channel” for testimony?  How could you testify the love of God in your life?

the Gospel….the word woven

 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being  in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. John 1:1-4

Since forever and always God comes to us to claim us as God’s own.  God comes to us as a presence that creates, gathers, and sustains life -our lives and the life of all creation.  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.[i]   For we^[b] are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [ii]  And we say to God, When you send forth your spirit, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground.[iii]  Since forever and always God comes to us to claim us as God’s own.  God comes to us as God incarnate as a human being in Jesus Christ.   He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight  he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ,  as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.[iv] God comes to us through Christ to reconcile our relationship to God.  Christ prays, “I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,  that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,^[f] so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,  I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.[v]Since forever and always God comes to us to claim us as God’s own.  God comes to us through the Holy Spirit to make us holy. As Luther states in The Small Catechism, “ I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”  [vi] God has promised his presence in our lives.   But the Advocate,^[a] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.[vii]In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit;  this^[d] is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.[viii] 

Since forever and always God comes to us to claim us as God’s own.  This is the Gospel of our Lord in our lives.  The Gospel is the Word- the living voice of God that is woven and braided into our origin, our being, and all that is to come.  The Gospel is the word-the faith, hope, and love that comes to us and moves through us as we live into God’s kingdom.

---

[i] Genesis 1:27

[ii] 2 Corinthians 6:16b

[iii] Psalm 104:30

[iv] Ephesians 1:5-10

[v] John 17:20-23

[vi] http://www.lutheran.co.uk/docs/Small%20Catechism.pdf

[vii] John 14:26

[viii] Ephesians 1:13-14

 

Prayer from Gospel and Global Media class at Luther Seminary

Was so blessed to be a part of the prayer group this week and would like to share our scripture and prayer.

Blessings to you all and thank you.

http://vimeo.com/60354811

Social Media: Who is not present?

^25-29 A woman who had suffered a condition of hemorrhaging for twelve years—a long succession of physicians had treated her, and treated her badly, taking all her money and leaving her worse off than before—had heard about Jesus. She slipped in from behind and touched his robe. She was thinking to herself, “If I can put a finger on his robe, I can get well.” The moment she did it, the flow of blood dried up. She could feel the change and knew her plague was over and done with.

Mark 5:25-29

 

 

I love it that my mother reads my blog from across the miles.  We are connecting in a way that we have never connected before as mother-daughter. (Love you Mom!)  But when posed with the question this week from my Gospel and Global Media class- How are social media changing the ecology of our communities of faith? – I thought  about people who are of Mom’s generation and the essence of “church” in their lives.

I grew up in a small town in North Dakota, where church was a central part of the community.  Church was a gathering place and people, especially the women of the church, gathered often.  For people who experienced church in this strong presence, how does social media support this relational component of church?  Can Facebook, blogging, and twitter faithfully engage a generation of people who may have experienced church as a hug, a meal, and an intimate face to face conversation across the  table?

This past week, I have visited several in our congregation who are part of the generation who are not connected by social media.  In fact, they are people, who are 80+, and who are very lonely and seeking to be connected to our community of faith-directly face to face.  People who so desperately need touch and caring conversation.  People who, like the woman, need Jesus’ healing touch, but also long to give Jesus’ healing touch to others.

My professor, Mary Hess, expressed that our exploration of social media can be a process that can “disrupt our taking for granted ways of knowing enough, to see some of the cracks, crevices that are already present that we just  haven’t noticed because they become so much a part of our surround.”  This week I have noticed that there are the faithful who are aging and searching for the presence of their church community in their daily lives.  How do we authentically facilitate this?  What does that look like as the church?  And…..how does social media fit into the picture?