It’s a basic structure. Bars over the windows secure it, but there is no glass in the frames or shutters to keep out the weather. And the toilets are outside, shielded from view by a row of banana trees.

For years, during trips to visit his father, Tom would look at the school as he drove by and think about what he might do to improve it. Then during his last visit, the head teacher came to his father’s house to talk about conditions at the school.

“For a while I had convinced myself that sometime I would do something about the school,” he said. After that trip he decided not to wait any longer. “I grew up there — I went to church there, and though I did not go to school there, my school was very much like this. I would like to see it in better shape.”

By the time he returns for his next extended stay, Tom hopes to raise $4,000 — enough money to rebuild the toilets at the school. The school needs other improvements, too: glass or shutters for the windows to keep out the rain, books, and eventually computers to help teachers prepare the children for a changing world. But at this very minute the most important thing is replacing the existing lavatory.

A schoolhouse in a farming village

The government of Tanzania provides an annual budget for the Meera school, enough to cover teacher salaries and a few supplies, but not enough to cover capital improvements and repairs, and the community does not have the wealth to improve the facility on their own.

The families that the Meera schoolchildren come from are subsistence farmers. They grow coffee, bananas, corn, beans, peas and cassava — a root vegetable that does well in poor soil. In a good year a few families may grow more than what they need, but for the most part the acre plots are the families’ only support.

The school’s toilet is a type in use all over Tanzania. It’s basically a pit about 20 feet deep. At about 10 feet the pit widens and the walls are reinforced with brick. A building that houses the toilets straddles the pit. The whole thing uses no water — an advantage in a country where clean water is precious and infrastructure for sewage treatment is non-existent. And when built correctly — deep enough, and lined with brick — a toilet like this works well and can last 20 to 30 years.

The toilet at the school, however, was built cheaply. To save funds the pit was not lined, and as a result the walls are beginning to cave in. It’s been 20 years since the school was constructed, so the lavatory is on borrowed time. Usually when one of these toilets fails it is filled in and a new one is built elsewhere on the property. That’s what will happen at the Meera school, but the school doesn’t have much land to start with, so it’s important to construct the new one properly — so it lasts.

The $4,000 that Tom wants to raise will pay the special crew that digs these very deep holes. It will also buy brick for the liner, and the building materials and supplies needed to construct the bathrooms. There will be four seats for 300 children: two for boys, two for girls.

One thing Tom is eager to provide is more privacy for the children.

Education in the shadow of Kilimanjaro

The Meera school is the first step on a path that leads to university. For most children, though, this is the only school they’ll know.

Tom himself went to a school similar to the one in Meera, a few miles from his family’s home. Tom’s father, Martin, now 84, was a deacon at the Lutheran church that stood on the land now occupied by the Meera school. As a deacon Martin volunteered during services and sat on the governing board. At one time the senior Kombe was also a member of the school committee, and Tom remembers teachers bringing valuables from the school to his house for safe keeping.

Primary school lasts seven years. Education is prized in Tanzania — a cultural legacy of the German and British colonial rule, Tom thinks. So despite the fact that subsistence farming is labor intensive, families send their children to school as long as possible.

At the end of the seven years children take an exam for boarding school. “You knew if you did well on your exams you would go to boarding school,” Tom said. “You looked forward to it.”

At that time, the government paid for boarding school. Tom attended Moshi Secondary School, which was called “Old Moshi” before he was there. For those who did well, high school followed — Tom attended Mkwana High School, which was even farther away from home. A small percentage made it to university; Tom himself went to the University of Dar es Salaam. All of his education was paid for by the government, including room, meals, supplies and a stipend.

Because he was on a tenure track for a faculty position at Dar es Salaam, he was sent to Canada for his masters degree and to Arizona State University for a Ph.D. in industrial engineering. During a return to Tanzania before he started at ASU, Tom met and married Edith. Circumstances out of Tom’s control — the length of time required to complete an American Ph.D. — precluded Tom from taking that position at the university back home, so the couple settled in Arizona. They have a son. Albert. Tom works for the state Department of Transportation.

Unfortunately, in Tanzania government support for education beyond primary school is very minimal these days. “The leaders that took over did not have the same belief in government education,” Tom says. Now it is monumentally more difficult for children from schools like the one in Meera, where most are from poor (by Western standards) farm families, to advance.

“Sometimes it means the best students don’t go,” Tom said.

From the ground up — literally

Thinking about the children in the Meera school it’s easy to dream about putting glass in the window frames, shutters to keep out the rain and a shelter over the passageway between the two buildings. But why stop with the building? Bringing computers to these schools would open up vistas. And think what scholarship funds might accomplish! Boarding school costs a family $1,000. Think of it! For $1,000 you could fund a year of education for a bright young person. Talented students should not be forced to end their education after primary school.

For now, however, Tom’s concentrating on the basics — finding the money to provide something most of America, certainly Ahwatukee, takes for granted.

Clean, private toilets.

Tom and Edith Kombe and son Albert are members of Esperanza.

This year, you can donate on-line! Just visit https://www.habitatcaz.org/donatenow/ and fill out the form, putting “Esperanza Lutheran” in the field at the end labeled “Are you making this gift for a specific house?” The deadline for donations that can be credited against your 2010 AZ taxes is Dec 31, so click on the link and do it now–it only takes a minute!

More tax info can be found at http://ouresperanza.files.wordpress.com/2010/12/tax_brochure_10.pdf and http://www.azdor.gov/TaxCredits.aspx.

Questions?

Disregard that byline. This heartfelt post is from Steve Sponaugle! — Liz

Is it August already? Wow, our baby Kyle starts his senior year at DV next Monday. That thought hits me square in the eyes. WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE?

I thought I would use this theme to try to get more Esperanza blogging interest now that our fall programs are just around the corner. Past blogs have just been plain fun to read, and sometimes very spiritually uplifting to me. Esperanza e-news is easy to get these days, with the mid-week blasts, facebook, website downloads of newletters and sermons, twitter bible studies, but there is just something special about posting blogs and interacting with Esperanza friends in this way.

But I digress, back to time, and where it has gone. I fondly remember my introduction to the Lutheran church when Cindy’s Mom Joyce walked Cindy down the aisle to “give her away” to yours truly. This was in Sauk Centre Minnesota in 1984, but lately, it seems so much more recently than that. I also remember baptizing Eric and Kyle in Joyce’s church in St Paul. This was in the early 90’s, and Joyce’s Lutheran influence was full of grace in our lives again and again. Did I mention I was devoting this blog to my mother-in-law Joyce Nass? She has recently been diagnosed with lung cancer and as I write this, Cindy is taking care of things with her three sisters (ReNae, Brenda, Barb) in St Paul. I love Joyce dearly, and ask for your prayers for Joyce and her houseful of queens.

After a brief encounter with an ELCA church in Clear Lake City Texas in 1994, we moved to the Valley of the Sun in 1995 and were blessed to find Pastor Dave’s church called Esperanza. Of course, over time, we realized it was not Pastor Dave’s church, it was our church. The people are the church, and so it was, is, and always will be with Esperanza. I have always loved Esperanza. I will always love Esperanza. Today, I love Pastor Steve’s sermons. I love ushering. I love teaching Sunday school to our children. I love blogging. I love fellowship (don’t forget about the Progressive Pool Party on August 14!!). I love talking to new members. I love talking to old friends. I love the Esperanza worship experience. I love watching Kyle lead the church band!! I love the men’s breakfast. I love campus cleanup. I love twittering on the book of Acts. I love Esperanza hikes (including the Grand Canyon!!). I love Esperanza camp outs. I love Esperanza bike rides (including the motorized kind!!). I have always loved Esperanza. I will always love Esperanza.

And now the Fall programs are approaching. Let’s all get involved!! They are easy to learn about, with all the e-news available. Personally, I am really looking forward to getting involved in the new e-zine. I believe this will be a significant quarterly publication of no-holds-barred Esperanza topics of creativity. I can’t wait to see it materialize!! I believe one of the focuses of the first publication will be the community garden. I can’t wait to see that materialize!! The community outreach possibilities of our community garden seem astonishingly outrageous.

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE? WHERE IS IT GOING?!!

His name is Bear, and he is a member of the Tohono O’odham nation. His family’s ranch is on the border near Sells, AZ. In 1853 when the U.S. acquired the land south of the Gila River from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase, the border between the two countries bisected the Tohono O’odham land. As a result, Bear’s grandmother’s house and some of his relatives are the Mexico side.

Bear was there to see what we would do about Resolution 10.03 — “Welcome to the Stranger in our Midst.” We were lucky to have him at our table. He was sitting with friends — folks we had just met from a church in Carefree.

10.03 was one of three resolutions brought before the assembly.

We had passed Resolution 10:01 without much discussion. “Affirmation and Support for Latino Ministry in the Grand Canyon Synod” calls on congregations “to support their sister Latino congregations through prayer, talents, and financial mission support.” A second resolution, defeated by a wide margin, sought to begin the process of revisiting the social statement on abortion passed at the Churchwide Assembly in 1991.

Resolution 10.03 was offered from the floor. It is a response to SB 1070, Arizona’s new immigration law. The resolution cites Galatians 3:28 (“…for all are one in Christ”), Deuteronomy 10:18-19 (the command to love and provide for the stranger), and Matthew 28:19-20 (Jesus’ call to make disciples of all nations). It concludes:

“WHEREAS we are called to provide ministry of word and sacrament for all who desire Christ’s presence, therefore be it

RESOLVED that the members of the 2010 Grand Canyon Synod Assembly commend the congregations … to continue to welcome, love, and provide ministry to all people without regard to immigration status.”

Unlike the other two, this one caused murmuring throughout the room — and some parliamentary maneuvering.  

Almost immediately someone moved to amend the resolution, adding the words “provide sanctuary to” in that final paragraph. After some discussion, the amendment was defeated, leaving the wording as I’ve recorded it above. Shortly after that we voted to postpone discussion to the following day, so that members would have the evening to review a written version and think about it. When we returned on Saturday, a move was made to postpone the vote indefinitely. This would have left the door open to taking it up at the next assembly, but it could also mean — probably would mean — killing the idea altogether. Once the matter was placed before the assembly, declining to make a statement would have been a statement in itself.

I voted in favor of the resolution. There were only a handful who voted against. An arguement that this action might result in unintended consequences didn’t convice me. All we were doing, really, was affirming what we are called to do, and we know the consequences of that! It seemed to me that now is a good time to say loudly that worship and the feast of the Lord are truly open to all. We do not exclude other kinds of lawbreakers from worship. Not to be facetious, but I worshipped with you while waiting for my court date on my red light ticket. Most important of all, we welcome each other — sinners every single one of us — to church every week.

But it’s true that this is not a simple issue. Just consider Bear. The border lies between himself and  the family home in Mexico just miles away from his ranch. Closing the border with a fence or army patrols would surely make it harder for him to see his family. Yet status quo is no solution either. These days he doesn’t stay at the ranch because the flow of desperate immigrants and, most likely, the drug cartels,  across the land has made the area dangerous.

When I’m up against something I can’t figure out, let alone control, I take it to God in prayer and in worship. Before God I’m simply one of his children, and we come to the table as just that — God’s children. In God’s eyes we are all beloved, citizen or immigrant, in good stead with the law or not. The proper response, it seems to me, is to care for each other the same way.

 The weather conditions at sea were already choppy. We are a denomination dominated by congregations in decline, he pointed out. Our membership is aging; the primary focus for building membership in many congregations is survival rather than discipleship; the cost of ministry is rising; we are plagued with continuing decline in worship participation.

But then the storm hit. The shake-out from last summer’s sexuality vote was a 30-foot wave. So far, Talmage reported, five Grand Canyon congregations have left the ELCA. Two more have taken a first vote to withdraw, and will most likely affirm that decision in upcoming meetings.  Another church is about to begin the process and the expectation is that they will leave as well. Two more synod congregations are still ELCA, but have been severely disrupted, he reported,  and a new mission development project was closed after the pastor/developer resigned from the ELCA. And then there is the recession — economists say it’s over but it sure doesn’t feel like it — with unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies.

So, looking ahead, what are the trends? According to the bishop:

• Church participation is declining — in 1990 20.6 percent of Americans were in worship regularly; today it’s 17.3 and by 2020 it is expected to be 14.7.
• Americans say they are spiritual but decreasingly religious. In 1990, 86 percent claimed an affiliation with a church; today it is 76 percent.
• We are increasingly individualistic — it is ‘all about us.’ Dual careers, family, youth sports, all put powerful demands on our time. We are less and less willing to make commitments and connections to social structures like churches.
• When families no longer connect with churches, children lose the example of a mother and father who follow Jesus — a predictor of faith as those children grow up.
• Our communities are getting more diverse, ethnically and religiously — and it scares us.
• The Latino community is growing. This group, predominantly Roman Catholic (or at least they say they are), has a building interest in charismatic worship, and shows a strong preference for worshipping communities that are Latino.
• There is a new stage of life, “emerging adulthood” — the 18-30 year olds. They are looking for a different experience — if they go to church at all. 25 percent list “no church offiliation” when asked.
• Then there are post-boomer innovators: the emerging church advocates (worship at a bar or coffee shop), the “appropriators” (who try to make worship more relevant to the dominant culture), the “reclaimers” (back to candles and incense), and the “resisters” (need I explain?).
• It’s a digital world, and many churches are using the web and social networking. Yet there is a segment of non-adopters who stil look for paper communications. And at the end of the day, many of us are on information overload.

Each bullet point could be looked at as a challenge — or an opportunity.  So how do we respond? One way is despair and defeat. Or, as Talmage said, we can “declare our faith so loud that the neighbors complain.”  

His next image was about boats, too. Is ours the boat crushed by arctic ice, and we the traumatized survivors? Or are we the Titanic, torn open by an iceberg that exposed our hubris? Or the Mayflower, that sails toward the horizon and an unknown future?

Really?

Last night Bishop Minerva Carcano of the United Methodist Church (Phoenix Episcopal Area) preached at the opening worship service of the Grand Canyon Synod Assembly. Her visit was significant because last summer the Churchwide assembly approved full communion with the Methodists.

Bishop Carcano’s story begins with her father’s immigration to this country, and the experiences of new arrivals have been central in her life. Her faith formation took a serious turn in the early 1980′s when she worked with an ELCA mission group on the border, ministering to immigrants. Later, she was with an ELCA group in El Salvador, where she witnessed the courage of a Lutheran pastor and his church as they ministered to both sides during bloody civil strife.

The work of the Holy Spirit is done through you, through the Lutheran tradition, she said, gesturing toward our assemblage. “What I saw and learned at your feet transformed me.”

Bishop Carcano’s context was our new law — 1070 — and the questions it raises for Christians. She quoted from yesterday’s E.J. Montini column in the Republic, which talked about Arizona’s clergy. The first person arrested under the new law, Montini wrote, will likely be a pastor. Good column — but the story was written first in the Arizona Capitol Times by Luigi del Puerto (June 11). “When lawmakers were considering a measure that would require police to check the immigration status of people they contact and to arrest illegal immigrants under a trespassing statute, religious leaders representing a broad spectrum of faiths and denominations were disregarded as they pled for a more humane solution to Arizona’s border crises.”

Carcano told us about an experience she had as a young pastor, when she was gathering a congregation in an immigrant community. She was meeting with a group in a home, intent upon preaching at them about the Good Shepherd. “Do you know the Good Shepherd?” she asked. She was startled when a woman interrupted her to reply, and what she heard brought her to humility, and taught her about real wisdom and the value of listening. The hostess of her small group told her own story: about an abusive husband and her flight through the desert to find a safe home for her children — and about the unexplainable nudge that woke her from a sun-burned stupor in the desert to find a jug of life-saving, clean water. “Oh yes pastor. I know the Good Shepherd.”     

Earlier in the day, our bishop, Stephen Talmage, spoke briefly about the ELCA missions in Senegal, where Christians are only 5 percent of the population. Instead of violence, however, this community lives in peace with the majority Muslim population. The bishop said their culture includes a concept called “cousinage,” which connects some ethnic groups as cousins – even across difficult religious lines. Cousins talk with each other. They listen.

So this morning I’m thinking about Bishop Carcano’s experiences with us — with Lutherans —  in El Salvadore, in the midst of bitter conflict, where a small Lutheran church brought the message to all. I’m thinking about a about a woman saved by a jug of clean water. I’m thinking about the cousins in Senegal, living together in peace.

Can we be that church here, in the midst of incredible wealth, where skin tone correctors are lauded as life-changing? In our oasis, can we listen? Can we reach out in love to our cousins?  

Never underestimate the Spirit.

To Mike, John, Donna and Johnny  – words are insufficient to thank you for your service, but it’s a good start. If you haven’t done so, fellow members, make it a point to tell these folks how wonderful they are. And while you’re at it, seek out the rest of council, too, for a few words of support and appreciation.  

Attending every meeting (I think) since last August makes me the council’s number one fan – it’s number one gadfly, you might say.  And I’ve served two terms on council myself.  Combined this puts me in a unique position, as a non-member, to comment on the effort and care that has gone into serving on Esperanza’s board. It was not a fun year, and John, Mike and Donna as officers bore the brunt of the emotions that churned like a stalled storm system in our midst. I cannot report on what might have been said to these folks in private conversation, but I know from watching body language during meetings that they listened to a lot of talk, including some that was unfair, untrue and unkind. Meetings were long and sometimes punctuated with hot discussions. There were difficult decisions to be made, some of them very painful and unpopular. Through it all – Mike Willis especially – they remained calm, listened patiently and when confronted with bitterness they responded with kindness. Leadership demands much, and Mike is now my model for leading well.

Given how demanding council membership can be, a three-year term can seem like an eternity. It’s one of the reasons why nominating committees have so much trouble finding candidates. Yesterday we took the first of two votes that will change the three-year council term to a two-year commitment. Pastor Steve explained that because this is a constitutional change rather than a bylaw amendment, we have to vote it at two consecutive congregational meetings before it can go to synod for review and finally go into effect.  And so, we’ll have to vote again in January. The new two year terms could then be phased in starting next May.

In other business yesterday:

• We elected three members to attend the Synod Assembly June 17-19 in Tucson: Bob and Carolyn Mullin and Liz Farquhar
• We elected  six to the nominating committee: Peggy Wagner, Alice Venezia, Donna Sparber, Joni Thorpe, John Gemma and Mike Willis
• We accepted reports from committees and task forces. John Gemma reported that the new finance committee has met, and is working on a more comprehensive and understandable way of reporting church finances to the congregation. He also presented a status report showing that we are $4,228 in the black. I am going to see if we can get the reports posted to myesperanza.org so that everyone can read them.

At the end of the meeting, Pastor Steve commented that “ministry is mutual,” and urged us to communicate with each other in direct ways. “Please. Let’s talk,” he said. Amen to that. I hope this will be the year that we re-focus on Jesus and the word, and that we take action on what he calls us to be – that we open ourselves up to the possibility of personal and community transformation. We closed by singing John Bell’s hymn, “Take, O Take Me as I Am”:

“Take, oh, take me as I am.
Summon out what I shall be.
Set your seal upon my heart
And live in me.”

During Lent we listened to Walter Brueggemann’s lecture, where the scholar presented a way of reading the Bible’s story as an account of God’s opposition to repressive systems. Instead  of focusing on acquiring things and position, we are called to practice hospitality, generosity and ‘no vengeance,’ he said. Implemented fully, these values comprise an approach to living that’s counter to our society’s ways — radical, Brueggemann says. Hospitality, generosity, no vengeance. Those words are written in a corner of my white board at work … they’ve been knocking around in my head. What do they mean to you?

Generosity

There a six economists in the office where I work. They are interesting people, and I’ve learned a lot from them. For example, since I’ve been a writer all my life you’d think I would have fully appreciated that language is a precision instrument. Still I was surprised — and a little delighted actually — to discover that economists have developed different meanings for some common words. “Real” and “bias” have shades of meaning when used in economic analysis that are different from their meanings in common speech.

So it is with “generosity.” Off the top of my head I would say generosity is the willingness to give. It’s about a donor who supports a church or school with money, or a volunteer who gives time.

Like hospitality, though, I think generosity can mean much more if you think about it in terms of your life. Similar to hospitality, generosity suggests opening doors, allowing access, to what you have always regarded as yours.

That’s easy to do if you feel like you’ve already got enough. And because we are so well-cared for — like the lilies in the field — we really do have enough. But this is a time and a culture that stresses the scarcity of resources, and if you allow yourself to be convinced of that, then everything is zero-sum game and you ration your generosity.

Ok, so some resources are finite — water, money. But we are taught that those to whom much has been given, much is expected, and our experience as Christians has been that when we give we are then renewed — it’s not a zero sum game at all.

So I’ve been thinking about the ways I am stingy. Am I a good mentor, or do I clutch to myself any opportunity to do the work I love? Do I trust that God has so much good work for us to do that I will always have the chance to practice my craft? Looking at generosity that way, it’s really a lot like hospitality — making room for others and sharing.

Are you defining generosity broadly enough?    

Hospitality

When Steve and I were married, a friend gave us a framed needlepoint of a pineapple. In colonial America, the pineapple was a symbol of hospitality. There were pineapples on the posts of the maple bed my brother slept in as a boy; maybe the furniture designer was thinking about a guest room.

Hospitality is about welcoming someone to your place: a guest for the weekend; friends for dinner; visitors in the pew on Sunday. It involves letting people into a place that is not essentially public — opening the doors to guests who then experience your home. Hospitality also suggests that something has been done — care taken — to provide comfort and pleasure. Martha Stewart comes to mind. To be truly hospitable is something we should all work toward, and not just at home, because hospitality creates a positive atmosphere for human interactions — personal or business.

More deeply, I’ve been thinking about hospitality in relation to my own life. If I am to live out hospitality, I must allow people into my life. That means making time for them — making that phone call, stopping to talk — and taking care to listen. If I am a hospitable friend, then I allow others to see the real me, and not just the pretty stuff. It’s risky, though.  If I’ve really welcomed them into what is the very hearth of my personality then they’ll see that I’m not perfect –I have weaknesses and needs as well as ideas and  talents — just as I have dusty floors in my house. Widen the focus — being hospitable means opening your social circle, your favorite committee, to someone new. And just as if you were entertaining them for a weekend, you need to be your best self — giving them room to setlle in.

There’s always a risk when you open the door — someone might break a vase, hurt your feelings. But it’s a risk that God wants us to take because when we do so he’s there with us. Interesting that we call a really good host “gracious.” It’s grace that makes it happen.

Just read the financial pages — you’ll see that Pharaoh’s production and consumption model, reliant on the many to produce for the few to consume,  is alive today. We can see it in our own lives, too. We are defined by our jobs — valued for our ability to produce wealth. In contrast, the way of the cross refocuses us on each other. As Brueggemann says, we are to give our lives away for the sake of the community. The real tension for us as individuals is to resist the pull of Pharaoh’s system and follow the way of God — identify ourselves not as producers and consumers, but as people knit together in a neighborhood.

Even though she’s been gone for several years now, I’m still sifting through some of my mother’s things. Her attic in my home town was like an archive, and some of it moved west with her. Among the family photos and letters there was the manual of the First Free Congregational Church in Lockport, N.Y. dated 1885, where her relatives taught Sunday School and sat on the board. She also saved a green book with brittle brown pages — “The Endeavor Hymnal,” copyright 1901. Maybe it was from her youth group days. Another hymnal was stamped inside the front cover: “Property of Lake Street Presbyterian Church.” That’s the church where I was baptized. Another denomination took it over in 1952 when our congregation moved to its new building down the street. She saved the centennial program from that church — she had been a member there for more than 50 years at the time. Along with many worn out Bibles, these artifacts are a partial record of the family’s ties to religion.   

But I thought I was leaving that all behind when I went to college. Teenagers who are working out their own ideas about life can be harsh observers. It seemed to me that despite the example of many members, including my parents, church was mostly a social requirement, a fashion show on Sunday morning that didn’t impact the way many people behaved the rest of the week. Years later I returned to church as a new mother. Steve was a faithful Catholic, and I knew if I did not go back to my roots our son would grow up not knowing the traditions of my side of the family. The teenager still struggled inside me, though, and I’ve always said to myself that I just wasn’t interested in church if it was going to be plain vanilla, another social convention.

I spent a couple lunch hours this week listening to the Walter Brueggemann DVD, “Countering Pharaoh’s Production-Consumption Society Today,” that we are watching together at the mid-week Lent services. I asked Pastor Steve if I could borrow it, because, as I’m sure some of you would agree, it’s challenging to follow from the pew. But, I had caught enough of what Brueggemann said to be powerfully curious about the rest of his message. Brueggemann is an Old Testament scholar. He uses the journey from slavery in Egypt to the covenant at Mount Sinai, and Christ’s path from birth to the cross to give us a view of the faith that is anything but plain vanilla. It’s a call to reassess our understanding of what God wants our relationship to be, and what faith community means.

Pharaoh’s Egypt , Brueggemann says, was a repressive society based on production and consumption. In the exodus story, God hears the people cry out in pain and enters, unbidden, into the world to interrupt what Brueggemann calls a “rapacious” economic system. Under Pharaoh’s rules, he says, the many were enslaved to produce wealth for a very few to consume.  Brought through the wilderness to Sinai, the people received God’s rules, which compel us to commit ourselves to community rather than the acquisition of power and things. The first three commandments make clear who God is and that we cannot use God for our purposes. The next seven set out new rules that are all about living together in community, concluding with the admonition not to covet. Coveting, Brueggemann says, is to take more for one’s self than you need. That’s Pharaoh’s way — not the way of God.

Moving on to the story of Jesus, Bruegemann shows us that there was a new Pharaoh in town, Caesar. Once again God entered human history to upend the system. Jesus led the apostles to a life different from the established power structure, and empowered them to heal the broken society — drive out its demons. Paul’s “lyrical” recitation of Christian ethics in Romans 12, Brueggemann says, outlines a life of gratitude — the gratitude that wells up when you are given a second chance even when you don’t deserve it. We are to practice hospitality and generosity and forget vengeance, Paul writes; there’s no place for acquisitiveness or consumption.  And everyone, conservative and liberal, is called to live  it out.  ”Hospitality, generosity, no vengeance.”  It is our point of unity, no matter what our political, philosophical differences.

Brueggemann says this message is as radical as it gets, especially today.

Our society is stretched tight between the poles of  ”isolated individualism” and conformity, he says. Just read the financial pages — you’ll see that Pharaoh’s production and consumption model, reliant on the many to produce riches for the few to consume,  is alive today. We can see it in our own lives, too. We are defined by our jobs — valued for our ability to produce wealth. In contrast, the way of the cross refocuses us on each other. As Brueggemann says, we are to give our lives away for the sake of the community. The real tension for us as individuals is to resist the pull of Pharaoh’s system and follow the way of God — identify ourselves not as producers and consumers, but as people knit together in a neighborhood.

What does that mean for the person I am at work and with you at Esperanza? What does that mean for us as a congregation? What role is Esperanza supposed to play in our Ahwatukee neighborhood? These are timeless questions, pondered by the Lockport Free Congregational Church in 1885 and by this aging hippie today. We’re not talking plain vanilla here. I’m excited just thinking about it.

When this blog started last August I promised to report on council meetings. Since then I’ve attended every meeting, but I’ve been a little lax as a beat reporter. I promise to do better from now on, in the spirit of timely communication. These reports will be written in a straight news fashion, and where I do not have full information or understanding, I will say so. — Liz

Service Committee  Carolyn Dowling reported that service committee is going ahead with a couple fundraising projects this spring, with proceeds to support mission projects. Andrea Hunter is the lead on the March 28 yard sale and Jayne Peterson and the Skinners are organizing an April 10 talent show, followed by the bloodmobile on April 11 (Julie Burnett). In May, the Newborns in Need group is planning another baby shower event. The actual mission project has not been decided. The committee has been looking at the Navajo Lutheran Mission as well as projects in the city. Discussion developed about how the service committee might be involved in planning the intergenerational service project voted at the January 28 meeting.

ChristCare Small Groups — A year ago Roxane Papachek took on the task of learning about, and getting trained for ChristCare Ministry. A participant in ChristCare at Desert Cross church, Roxane briefed council on this initiative. ChristCare groups are small groups that study the Bible and the way faith can impact life. Each group, facilitated by a trained volunteer, becomes a close community. Roxane testified to the powerful effect it has had on her life, and offered to be an information resource should Esperanza decided to initiate a ChristCare ministry of our own.

Finance report — Council discussed the report for February, which showed a year-to-date total of $54,280 in receipts and $66,656 in expenses (as of February 28). There are several reasons why expenses are ahead of revenues right now, including the way certain one-time expenses are paid out. As the year progresses, it is expected that this situation will reverse and we will be operating in the black consistently. This is an “an unusual year,” said president Mike Willis, with variables related to the recent change in leadership. He indicated that he is optimistic and that it’s important for those who have not pledged to do so soon. The group decided to accelerate the formation of a financial advisory committee, who will be qualified to analyze our financial situation and work with a communications specialist on getting accurate information to the congregation concerning both current conditions and the trend for the year. Meantime, for more information please contact a council member.

Property Council will be moving ahead to terminate the landscape contract and to expand our maintenance person’s hours and duties to include that work. As reported at the annual meeting, donations of equipment and volunteer time will be needed to make this work.

Pastor’s Report — Among other items, Pastor Steve talked about Sunday School and VBS. After Easter, a different form of Sunday School will be piloted. Modeled after Vacation Bible School, the program will have children rotate to three stations: Bible study, crafts and service. VBS itself is scheduled for June 14-18, with a ocean theme. Gretchen Hammer Gardetto will be the director. Holy Week this year will include a traditional celebration of the Triduum, at 7 p.m. each evening. Easter worship hours will remain the same. Liz Farquhar is recruiting volunteers to run the Easter breakfast.

Pastor Steve’s Job Description – Wilma Wells worked with the personnel committee on a job description for the position of senior pastor. This is not particular to Pastor Steve, but would apply to all senior pastors. The board asked Wilma to work with the committee to re-craft  the “qualifications” item. At the same time, the board discussed how to arrive at the goals and objectives against which Pastor Steve will be measured during the quarterly reviews required by the Bishop’s recommendations. Steve will create this list, and will work with executive committee to produce a final document that will be shared with the congregation.

New Council Member — Taryn Hoover resigned as one of two youth members and the Council voted to appoint Blake Ward in her place. Blake was the runner up in last May’s election for  the slot.