Like those who sought out John the Baptist in the wilderness, we come to worship longing for renewal, courage, justice, and the assurance that we belong to God. He called us to repentance not as shame, but as transformation—an honest return to our shared story so we can step faithfully into the future God is preparing.

Advent is a season of wakefulness—an invitation to resist spiritual numbness and stay alert to God’s unfolding work in a weary world. It is time to rise, prepare, and live expectantly, trusting that God’s light and justice are drawing near even when the night feels long.

You may have learned from news reports that Morgan Geyser, one of the perpetrators of the 2014 Slender Man stabbing in Waukesha, attended services at Good Shepherd’s Madison campus the past few weeks. No one at the church, nor the Madison Police Department, knew she had been moved to a group home near the Madison campus. While visiting Good Shepherd, she became friends with another recent attendee, Chad “Charly” Mecca. Saturday night, police said Geyser, with Mecca’s help, cut off her ankle bracelet and tried to flee the state. Geyser and Mecca were found at a truck stop outside Chicago and now face charges.

Our leadership acknowledges this incident touched Good Shepherd and affirms our responsibility to address congregational concerns. Good Shepherd is cooperating fully with law enforcement and, at this time, has no indication anyone else in our church community was involved.

Good Shepherd is committed to welcoming all to love God by building inclusive, grace-filled communities where everyone belongs. At the same time, we understand the importance and challenge of creating and maintaining a safe worship environment for our members and visitors.

We will continue our ongoing review of Good Shepherd’s safety and security plans in the next few weeks as we seek to balance our mission to welcome all, while keeping our members and visitors safe.

Although our modern world feels chaotic, human time and its troubles don’t bind God, whose resurrection justice is rooted in mercy for all. Speaking of human distractions, Job’s struggle and the reality that the righteous suffer while the wicked prosper, show us that we should not be consumed by distractions but trust them to God, who is big enough to hold our confusion and vulnerability

It has been a long time…

This month will be my one-year anniversary of serving at Interim Lead Pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. It has been a whirlwind. I am just now beginning to reflect on how much we have accomplished together, setting the table for the Lead Pastor GSLC calls to serve.

I have begun updating my sermons page, not knowing when it will be time to serve another church as an Interim Pastor. I am in no rush, I hasten to add, glad for the time I am given to serve GSLC.

God bless you all my friends. I will be in touch again soon.

The first symbol of the Christian church was a boat at sea.  The disciples were fishermen, after all.  Our gospels feature stories of the disciples together in boats on water much like Christians are gathered in the church in time.  

One of those stories has been particularly meaningful to Christians navigating in other tumultuous times. 

After Jesus feeds the multitude, needing some time alone to pray, he sends the disciple ahead of him in a boat.  While he prays through the night, the boat is “battered by the waves… for the wind was against them” (Matt 14:24b).  

As the sun rises, Jesus “came walking toward them on the lake” (Matt 14:25b).   We might well expect the disciples, of all people, to recognize Jesus coming to their rescue and to be relieved when they see him.   Instead they were terrified, saying, ‘It is a ghost!’ And they cried out in fear (Matt 14:26).  

Their cries are a form of prayer as familiar to us as is the comfort Jesus gives them:: “Jesus spoke to them and said, ‘Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid’” (Matt 14:27b).

There are twelve disciples, but only “Peter answered him, ‘Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water’” (Matt 14:28).

Peter believes he does not need to be afraid like the others.  He speaks for  those times when we ourselves recognize discipleship is about stepping out of the boat and into tumultuous seas believing Christ will meet us there. 

Jesus said, “‘Come.’ So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water and came towards Jesus” (Matt 14:29). 

Alas, when Peter “noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’”

Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’ Matt 31-33

Peter demonstrates the conflict of discipleship, the courage to take the first step toward our fears and the thrill of discovering again the power of faith to sustain us, and in taking a second step finding anew we cannot make it on our own.  

This vision of discipleship is put into verse in a familiar hymn:

Jesus calls us o'er the tumult
of our life's wild, restless sea;
day by day His sweet voice soundeth,
saying, "Christian, follow me."

We are sailing tumultuous waters in our homes, in our schools, in our national politics, and in the church.  It is our natural, human tendency to look for safety however we can find it, even if it means believing other powers can calm the troubled seas, or that discipleship requires neither risks nor courage nor stepping out in faith.  

We emerged from 2023 dripping wet, like Peter.  Jesus has reached out and taken us by the hand, and rescued us yet again, as always.  We have learned a lot about faith and discipleship along the way.  

Though we began the year with a deficit budget, we ended the year with a surplus.  Our members are participating in the worship life of the church as never before–our Serving in Worship program is thriving.  Our Council emerged through the tumult with a plan for two steps of faith our congregation will take in the coming year.

First, we will begin a Conflict Transformation Process. Our goal is to transform conflict into energy for growth and renewal through change.  Second, it is time for our congregation as a body to clearly define who we are and where we are going together–our Vision and Mission.  Working toward this clarity will enable us to constructively and cooperatively plan for our future.

Finally, and speaking of steps of faith, Bob Mutton completes his service as our moderator after guiding our Church Council with courage and compassion these past two years.  Bob would love to serve as our Moderator for another two-year term, but other important matters call him away from us.

We are grateful to Bob for his passion, humor, and discipleship.  We are thankful the Spirit called him to serve as our Moderator, and trust the Spirit will guide him as he answers the call to leave us to sail other seas. 

God bless you Bob. We love and are grateful for your faithfulness.  

Yours in Christ,
Pr. Craig

I have begun attending a Community of Practice, hosted by the Wisconsin Conference of the UCC.

Six UCC pastors meet each month as a community to talk about pastoral ministry. It is a chance to talk with friends who have answered the call to ordained ministry and how we put this call into practice.

It is a great help to gain perspective of congregational life in other churches, sharing the joys and burdens of ministry.

Our leader, Bob Ullman, a retired pastor, has many years of experience serving as the church, and now works with the Wisconsin Conference to develop pastors and to help congregations.  

Bob shared an article recently on the page that follows.  

The article, originally published in the Wisconsin Conference Newsletter, summarizes a talk Cameron Trimble delivered to local pastors and church leaders. I hope it speaks to you as it did to me.

Yours in Christ,

Pr. Craig 

Congregations Provide the ‘Circles of Sanity’ We all Need

The pandemic is over, but the challenges to mainline churches remain: Although 50 to 60% of people are regathering in person, there’s nothing to suggest that the other 40 to 50% of the congregation plans to return. How can the church thrive in the face of those statistics?

The answer, suggests the Rev. Cameron Trimble, is to engage our collective imagination to shape the church we want to see. Trimble, a UCC pastor, futurist and church consultant, earlier this month delivered a Leadership Matters Lecture hosted by the Damascus Project. Her talk, “Church Post-Doom: The Future of Spirituality and Congregational Life,” took dead aim at the malaise gripping many segments of the church.

“What we’re suffering from in the human condition is a poverty of imagination,” she said, noting later that “innovation comes at times of desperation.”

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated existing trends, Trimble said, including the breakdown of democracy, the climate crisis, the racial reckoning around the death of George Floyd and widening economic inequality, as well as the declining size of religious institutions and their influence on society. One result of these trends is an epidemic of loneliness.

“It feels like a hot mess,” she said.

The antidote: Build “circles of sanity . . . communities that hold the values we want to see in the world.”

“I would call them ‘congregations,’” Trimble said. Among the keys to building the congregations that serve the future we want:

• Build trust. “Change moves at the speed of trust,” Trimble said, and people increasingly find institutions untrustworthy. As we create “circles of sanity,” let’s make sure they provide a trusting, safe environment where relationships can blossom.
• Be authentic. For trust to grow, congregations and individuals must be accountable for being who they say they are.
• Nurture community and connection. “That’s the subversive act of congregational life,” she said. 
• Communicate. Lack of communication erodes trust. In her work with congregations, “Almost universally one of the first complaints is ‘I don’t know what’s going on,’” Trimble said, noting that “surprised people behave badly.”
• Recover a deep sense of spirituality. People of faith must cultivate the inner life, to “recover a deep sense of spirituality, of experiencing the faith we proclaim.”

These imperatives are vital to innovation. “What we need to be doing is building and rebuilding trust, identifying and living values, building connections and bringing forth our greatest creativity to meet the moment,” Trimble said.