David Robert Lambert

Most merciful God, amidst this global pandemic, you hold each of us dear to your heart. Hold those with Covid-19 in your loving arms and tenderly draw them into your love, together with their loved ones who are praying for their recovery.

From a distance, assure them that they are not alone, and give them courage and faith for all that is to come. Strengthen the first responders and hospital staff who care for them and treat them, and guide those who do research into a cure. Nourish those who have lost sight of you, and heal the spirits of those who are broken.

We pray this in the name of Jesus, who suffered and died, and then rose from the dead to lead us into new life, now and for ever.

Amen.

SOURCE:  Adapted for Covid-19 from the United Methodist Book of Worship, Pastor’s Pocket Edition, 1992

Shrove Tuesday is observed by many Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and Roman Catholics, who “make a special point of self-examination, of considering what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of spiritual growth they especially need to ask God’s help in dealing with.”

Shrove Tuesday is exactly 47 days before Easter Sunday, a moveable feast based on the cycles of the moon. The date can be any between 3 February and 9 March inclusive. Shrove Tuesday in 2020 occurs on February 25.

The expression “Shrove Tuesday” comes from the word shrive, meaning “absolve”. This word began when the Latin verb scribere (meaning “to write”) found its way onto the tongues of certain Germanic peoples who brought it to Britain in the early Middle Ages. Because it was often used for laying down directions or rules in writing, 8th-century Old English speakers used their form of the term, scrifan, to mean “to prescribe or impose.” The Church adopted scrifan to refer to the act of assigning penance to sinners and, later, to hearing confession and administering absolution.

As this is the last day of the Christian liturgical season historically known as Shrovetide, before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one might give up as their Lenten sacrifice for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations. The term Mardi Gras is French for “Fat Tuesday”, referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. Many Christian congregations thus observe the day through the holding of pancake breakfasts, as well as the ringing of church bells to remind people to repent of their sins before the start of Lent.

“The Bruton Fount” Spring 2020 Issue from Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, cites the February calendar published in the 1774 Virginia Almanack with these lines:

You Friends, who late on Pancakes Far’d,
For Fasting now must be prepar’d,
‘Cause ‘tis the holy Time of Lent;
Of all your Sins you must repent,
And you will find your Time well spent.

SOURCES (accessed 02/29/2020)

Wikipedia Article on “Shrove Tuesday”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrove_Tuesday

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary Article on “shrive”
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shrive

Spring 2020 Issue of The Bruton Fount, Bruton Parish Episcopal Church, Williamsburg, Virginia. p.5
http://images.acswebnetworks.com/1/1318/BPCFOUNTSPRING2020.pdf

Lord of the fields, the Bible says that when a farmer reaps the harvest of the land, they should not reap the very edges of the field or gather the gleanings of the harvest.

Jesus, you said the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few and to love your neighbor as yourself.

Today in America, 40% of all food goes uneaten. Send modern-day gleaners to grocery stores and restaurants to gather food that would otherwise go to waste. Fill our food pantries with your bountiful harvest and love for the needy and stranger among us.

In your precious name, we pray.
Amen.

Sometimes people ask “What are you?” meaning what church do you attend in which denomination or what is your religious background.  Sometimes I don’t know exactly how to answer this question because I have such a varied church background.

I first attend, or at least I thought so at the time, a very old Congregational church in my home town of Wethersfield, Connecticut, founded in 1634.  Then I worked for IBM in the Fishkill/Poughkeepsie, New York area where neighbors invited me to join their Dutch Reformed church.  A work-related transfer took me to Montgomery County, Maryland where I drifted, so to speak from a church perspective, and later joined a United Methodist church.  My wife and I now are ELCA Lutherans.

Back to the beginning of my church life, I will digress with a short story.  Nearly twenty years ago, soon after my mother passed away in 1999, I enquired as to what church my parents were married in.  The answer was “the stone church at the top of the hill on Farmington Avenue” in West Hartford Center.  I wasn’t surprised because both of my parents grew up in West Hartford.  I vaguely remembered that they had an apartment near the center before buying their first “starter” house in Wethersfield.

I found the church office and asked if there was any documentation they might find related to Charles Lambert and Virginia Landegren.  They said they would look into it and get back to me.  I returned home to Potomac, Maryland and a week later I received a phone call; they had found my parent’s Marriage Certificate!  They continued saying there were two more “Lamberts” in their files, Charles and David.  I replied, yes, Charles was my father and I’m Dave but what am I doing in your church records?  The surprising answer was “You were both Baptized on the same day.”  Therefore, add Episcopalian as the absolute first of my church affiliations.

A mongrel dog is a dog that is not definable by type or breed.  In informal settings, I sometimes say I am a “Mongrel Christian.”  In more formal situations I say I am a “follower of Jesus” and let the enquirer take that as a good enough answer or an opportunity to open the door to ask more specific questions.

The meaning of “full communion” between two churches is described in the United Methodist Book of Discipline, paragraph 2401:  Full communion describes the relationship between two or more Christian churches that (1) recognize in each other the one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith as expressed in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the church’s historic creeds; 2) recognize the authenticity of each other’s baptism and eucharist and extend sacramental hospitality to each other’s members; 3) recognize the validity of their respective ministries; 4) recognize the full interchangeability and reciprocity of all ordained ministers in each of the churches.  That relationship commits the churches to working together as partners in mission toward fuller visible unity.  A relationship of full communion does not mean there are no differences or distinctions between the churches but does mean that these differences are not church dividing.

The ELCA has a similar definition on their Full Communion Partners web page:

• common confessing of the Christian faith
• mutual recognition of Baptism and a sharing of the Lord’s Supper, allowing for joint worship and an exchangeability of members
• mutual recognition and availability of ordained ministers to the service of all, subject to the disciplinary regulations of other denominations
• common commitment to evangelism, witness and service
• means of common decision-making on critical common issues of faith and life
• mutual lifting of any condemnations that exist between denominations.

The UMC is the ELCA’s sixth and most recent full communion partner.  The following scripture passage is located at the bottom of this web page:

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens,
but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household.“
Ephesians 2:19

Timothy Whitaker said in 2009: “As Lutherans and United Methodists begin to come closer together, we Methodists should tell the story of how our church fathers, Charles and John Wesley, experienced assurance of their justification by grace through faith.  Both Charles and John encountered the writings of Martin Luther at the time they had their life-changing experiences.  Charles was moved by Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Galatians, and John was moved by Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.”

Leaders of The United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are discussing ways the two denominations can work together as they further explore what it means to be in full communion with each other.

“We share a lot of issues in common that are very, very important to us,” said Doug Ruffle, Associate Executive Director of Path 1, host of a day-long meeting in 2015 with ELCA representatives.  “They include … ways to better equip leaders for leadership in the 21st century …”  The Rev. Dr. Stephen Bouman, Executive Director of Congregational and Synodical Missions said: “Both denominations have gifts to give and to receive.”

“Unity is a gift that we’ve already received in Christ,” said Kathryn Lohre, ELCA assistant to the presiding bishop in North Carolina and executive for ecumenical and inter-religious relations. “Our task as churches is to make that visible and to work toward reconciliation where people have sought to divide what Christ has already united.”

The UMC Ministry of the Laity is the work of mission or ministry to which each believer is called.  As Christians, we are all called to this ministry or priesthood – not just clergy. Each of us has a responsibility to proclaim the Good News and reach out to others in love.  I once heard that 99% of people are laity and 1% are clergy.

As a Certified Lay Speaker in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the UMC (2001-2007), I am aware of the excellent training resources that are available.  In recent years, the UMC has broadened the program and rebranded it Lay Servant Ministries.  There are now three categories: Certified Lay Servant, Certified Lay Speaker and Certified Lay Minister.

United Methodist Lay Servants are to serve the local church or charge in any way in which their witness or leadership and service inspires the laity to a deeper commitment to Christ and more effective discipleship. This includes the interpretation of scriptures, doctrine, organization, and ministries of the church.  Of course, some material is of a denominational nature but many courses and resources are generic Christian in nature and can be used by another denomination with little or no tailoring.

Because Jesus came to serve, not to be served, it is our duty to learn as much as we can about the Christian faith so we can serve God and our neighbor to the best of our ability.  Cooperation between denominations, especially those in full communion, should be emphasized.  One such way would be for full communion partners to recognize programs and resources for laity as they now do for the mutual recognition of clergy.

REFERENCES

Full Communion Between Lutherans and United Methodists (UMC, Timothy Whitaker, 9/18/2009, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.flumc.org/blogdetail/653124
Note: On the UMC Council of Bishops website (accessed 6/26/2019) I was unable to find the article Building a Relationship UMC-ELCA that was cited in the blog referenced above.
http://www.gccuic-umc.org

Full Communion Partners (ELCA website, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.elca.org/Faith/Ecumenical-and-Inter-Religious-Relations/Full-Communion

United Methodists and Lutherans Look for Ways to Work Together (UMC Discipleship Ministries 7/28/2015, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/united-methodists-and-lutherans-look-for-ways-to-work-together

Stronger together — ELCA congregations find vitality through full-communion partnerships (Living Lutheran, Robert C. Blezard, 8/10/2018, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.livinglutheran.org/2018/08/stronger-together/

Ministry of the Laity (UMC website accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/leadership-resources/ministry-of-the-laity

Lay Servant Ministries (UMC website accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/leadership-resources/lay-servant-ministries

Lay Servant Ministries Catalog (UMC 2017, updated January 2019, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/lay-servant-ministries-catalog

Lay Servant Ministries Course Descriptions and Equipping Resources (UMC 2019, accessed 6/26/2019)
https://gbod-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/legacy/kintera-files/laity/LayServant2019_NOCROPS_LORES_bookstore.FINAL.pdf

ELCA-UMC Frequently Asked Questions (ELCA website, accessed 6/26/2019)
http://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/ELCA_UMC_Frequently_Asked_Questions.pdf