JEFFREY HIGH
and create. In Chapter 7 of Tales of the Pointless People, for instance, the point-keepers unwrap the gift of Sab- bath, complete with instructions from God: “Here’s how it works: You take time off from work to do nothing but enjoy friendship with God, others and nature. During this time you can even run in meadows, hide in forests and act silly. You can lie in the grass and watch clouds roll by. The time-gift includes a day each week, and a year every seven years—a whole year to do nothing but enjoy God. Wow! The people said, ‘This is pointless, but let’s try it anyway.’ They did, and behold it was fun!” It’s easy for Lutherans to slip back into law rather than gospel, Erlander said.
“In the religious world where there’s so much that you ought to be doing or ought not to be doing—the voices that counter grace are so prevalent—we need to lift up grace,” he said. “There’s something so wondrous about the undeserved grace and mercy of God who receives us just as we are.” Grace-filled Lutherans run counterculture to crabby, he said, adding that he hopes his books evoke “joy, won- der and laughter into being Lutheran.”
Pentecost A
Daniel Erlander in his Freeland, Wash., home. For decades he has produced grace- filled resources for the church.
A Place for You: My Holy Communion Book; It’s All about Love: The Christian Journey—a Lutheran Perspective; and Water Washed and Spirit Born: A Baptism Manual for Youth and Adults. In his most recent book, Tales of the Pointless People,
Erlander uses an original story called “The Snake” by Anne Herbert to express the futility of keeping points. What Erlander hopes is that people really get it: “The
center of our Lutheran faith is the unmerited, wondrous gift of God.” Erlander’s books include observations about cranky, bickering, point-keeping people. “I like to use the word crabby,” he admitted. But mostly, Erlander uses words like frolic, dance
JEFFREY HIGH
fter teaching the disciples what they needed to understand, God’s risen Messiah left them in Jerusalem where they praised God daily in the temple and waited for a great empowerment which the risen Jesus had promised to send. The empowerment came on the Jewish
feast called Pentecost. First the sound of violent wind filled
the room. Yahweh’s breath blew as it had blown on the ancient chaos to bring forth creation, as it had blown on the womb
of Mary to form the New Creation. Whoosh! Then tongues of fire rested on each of the disciples. ... And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Yahweh felt the same joy as on the day of creation, the day of the exodus, the day Jesus was conceived, and the day Jesus was raised. Yahweh had now spir- ited a new people, women and men, to go forth and call the nations into a blessed life of manna for all and mercy for all. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
From Manna and Mercy by Daniel Erlander June 2011 31
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