Newsletter Thoughts March 22, 2025

Dear Friends,

As we continue our journey through Lent, this week we contemplate the words “rest” and “growth.”

From a fitness perspective, these words are more linked than they are opposites. When training we actually break down our muscles. This is why after a very hard effort you might be sore. You see, it is during rest, or recovery, that growth happens. People who don’t rest risk injury while also not improving because their bodies are not able to recover. This is true for more than our muscles!

God knows we need rest. God rested on the seventh day. God gave us the sabbath for rest and worship. For a community of faith, we continually flow between work and rest.

How do you experience this flow? I look forward to reading your responses on our poster tomorrow, or if you want to email me that would be great!

On another note, a friend of mine asked me to write a letter in response to her request for funds being denied due to the titles of books in her school library. The organization that denied the funds identifies as a Christian foundation. Neither of us expects that the letter will lead the organization to change their minds about the grant. But my friend knew that she would receive a more inclusive message from me. I am sharing it below. 

See you tomorrow. 

Peace,

Pastor Nancy

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Dear Grant Manager,

Greetings to you in the name of Christ. I am a pastor, ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA). I am writing to you today at the request of a dear friend who is a physical education teacher at a middle school in Ventura. As part of her work with these children she runs a running group. This group has been life changing for some of these kids as they’ve discovered an activity that is both challenging and rewarding. My friend has had kids return as young adults to tell her how their life paths were re-directed through this program.

As a pastor, I love hearing stories of how a caring adult (such as a middle school teacher) has had a positive impact on the lives of young people. Recently my friend told me that she requested a $1,000 grant for her running program (costs are otherwise born by the students who come from low-income families). Your response was to deny the request due to the selection of books in the school’s library. 

Christians have no need to fear what people write, and they certainly have no reason to fear diversity. In fact, our diversity is a gift from our Creator. Did God make mistakes in creating such diversity? Are we not to be stewards of all creation? It saddens me that the Christian message that my friend (who does not attend a church) received is not one of love for all of God’s children but rather scorn for people who do not conform to a political idea of what is proper.

This rejection of diversity is also offensive to me as an American. Underlying your rejection of a school group because of what is in the school’s library is antithetical to our country’s founding principles. Until recently, our country was not a country of censorship. It saddens me to see groups operating in the name of Christ doing this. Decisions like this hurt young people and as they are known in the community tell of story of Christianity that is exclusionary.

Both my faith in God and my patriotism are such that I am not afraid of others’ voices. I may not agree with what people are saying, writing, singing, drawing, or painting, but I will defend their ability to do so. 

Intrinsic to my call as a pastor is to share the love that God, through Jesus, so generously gives us. There is nothing we can do to earn this love. It is a free gift of God’s grace. But there is much we can do to convince others that this love is not for them. This has been a historical reality for “the church” and one that is sadly conveyed when children are excluded from help because their school has books.

Jesus answered a question about the Law with these words: 

“This first is ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”  (Mark 12:29-31, and similar in Mt 22:34-40 & Lk 10:25-28)

We do this in response to the love that God has already given to us. Ironically the only way we adequately demonstrate our love for God is through our love of neighbor. My continued prayer is that more Christians would understand, experience, and share this love. I also pray that more Christians lean into the command to love rather than a fear of others that leads to exclusion.

Peace in Christ,

Rev. Nancy Switzler