Turn, Turn, Turn

Fellowship with the Ladies of Beautiful Savior – Turn!

[singing]
To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
here is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven
[/singing]
Ecclesiastes 3 as written to music by Pete Seeger

Since coming back to BSLC, I have attended several of the monthly LWML fellowship meetings. I vaguely remember joining them once or twice before in my 'former life' at BSLC, but it really felt I didn't fit in because most of them are older, even older than my parents. In that 'past life' I usually only went if it was at my friend Lori's house – she's more my age, with school kids that match my kids in age/grade.

But now that I'm back, and started out by re-joining them at a holiday brunch meeting/fellowship time, I realize that I get so much out of being in a room with other women of faith, of all ages & backgrounds, sharing God's Word and our life experiences. These women have raised kids, some stayed married for many many years, some have suffered through divorce, some with family here in AK that brings drama & stresses, some with no AK family so the church & friends are their local family. But we all feel free to share our thoughts when we dive into the word together, and we learn from each other, strengthen each other, lift each other up. God did not intend for us to be isolated from others – even a married couple needs more than each other for true growth in faith & life.

Last night's devotional time was about “turning” – we read several Bible passages that had us reflecting on what we turn to, what we [should] turn away from, where we turn in times of pain [or joy]. How God has “turned” our life around, sometimes in complete circles. I shared a very brief history of the “turns” that God has taken me on. I feel like writing out a slightly longer version:

Just before the summer of 1994, I had arranged for a one-way ticket out of Alaska by the end of that summer – I was done with the Last Frontier; I wanted to be somewhere warm, and surrounded by family, so I was headed for Arizona. Then I met Jason.... and worked all summer to save up for a ticket to get back to AK. [turn #1] We lived together 4 years, unmarried and very much absorbed in the world's idea of what was good & OK for our lives... and then one day a bowling friend of Jason's tells him about this church & pastor that is not like any typical church. It's that invitation from Joel to a “seeker's service” at Beautiful Savior that turned us both back to God's grace. [turn #2] That was the fall of 1998; Jason had just bought a house, and our roommate had moved out. In November, we were pregnant. In December, we were married – and because Pastor Reinke was not available to marry us, but we really wanted to be married in a church, a Lutheran church if possible, we were married at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on December 26, 1998. [turn #3] We became confirmed members of BSLC the summer of 2002, the same summer we had both our boys (Dylan having just turned 3, and Noah not yet 6 months old) baptized by Pastor Morner. By the fall of 2005, however, Jason began looking for a different church – he was feeling his faith growth stagnate, and I had to struggle with my commitment to BSLC and my commitment to my family. In the end, Jason found a “non-denominational” church that seemed to have what he was searching for, and I ended my teaching at BSLC in February 2006 to join my family at Crosspoint Community Church. [turn #4] I immediately jumped into the planning of the crafts for their summer KidsCamp (known as VBS on steroids). And we spent the next 3 years (4 summers total) making lots of friends and me being involved in their Sunday School program & summer KidsCamps. But while I was being “trained up” in VBS – Jason was diving into the Word and history of the Reformation churches. And came to the realization that he really was a Lutheran, and needed to get back to the Lutheran church. And this time, as much as I had connected to all the people we met at Crosspoint, it wasn't as much of a struggle – or at least it didn't seem to cause me the same stress as leaving Beautiful Savior had. [turn #5?] But, for various reasons, Jason wasn't ready to just go back to BSLC – so we began attending Hope Lutheran, just up the road from us. We weren't “regular” attendees, as it WAS summer... but they'd made us name tags :) And then.... ELCA's national convention came out with the statement/position that supports their churches to call/appoint homosexual pastors that are in a committed homosexual relationship. This sent Jason into another search of the Word and his own heart, and ultimately we decided we could not keep attending an ELCA church. And we went back to Beautiful Savior – we came back “home” in a sense. [turn #6]

And before I go any further, I'd like to point out that my counting of the turns is not exactly how I “counted” my short version to the ladies. But with what I typed above... if you visualize me starting with a “southern & God-less” facing direction (I was going to AZ in the beginning, remember? And I had turned my back on the faith of my youth)... then I turn 90 degrees for each turn I counted above... I would end up having turned completely around one full turn, and ended up facing the opposite from where I started – facing North with a faith much stronger than that of my youth. Now, I'm not saying that turn # 4 turned me away from God again – only that in the end, I was turned totally and completely around, spiritually and worldly, from where I started. And that I look back with 20/20 hindsight and see God's hand in every minute detail, the struggles and joys and pain – all of it.

My mom gave me this bracelet last year – the Seasons of Life bracelet. Guess what's on it?
A charm for “birth”, a charm for “plan”, a charm for “weep”, I charm for “laugh”, a charm for “dance”, a charm for “embrace”, a charm for “love” and a charm for “peace”.

[singing]
To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven

A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late
[/singing]