Now introducing members of our congregation as guest writers for this column! Questions or ideas? Contact Amy James, Director of Lay Ministry, amy@normluth.org

Spiritual Practice

Shine in My Heart, Lord Jesus

In Him there is no darkness at all
The night and the day are both alike
The lamb is the Light of the city of God
Shine in my heart Lord Jesus.
(Refrain, ―I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light)

In the 1980’s, and the farm crisis was in full swing; farms adjacent to ours were going into foreclosure. The year I turned fifteen was particularly bad; prices for crops were at an all-time low, debts were high, and worry and sadness darkened the mood at home much of the time.

That December, all five of us confirmands at St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church were invited to attend a special Christmas dinner, prepared by Bob’s wife, Betty. None of us had ever been to a fancy dinner party, and we weren’t sure what to expect.

When my friends and I arrived, we quietly took off our coats and boots and made our way to the dining room. Each of the plates had a hand-written place-card. We found our spots, joined hands, and sang, ―Be present at our table, Lord.

Betty served us a salad course, a soup course, a main course, and then, her tour-de-force – a Baked Alaska. It was magical. In this house, the mood quickly turned happy and cheerful, thanks to Betty’s humor and Bob’s laughter. After dinner, we moved into comfortable chairs in the living room. The towering Christmas tree filled the room with a lovely pine scent, and the lights twinkled color around the room. We sang Christmas carols and hymns, read the Christmas story from scripture, and learned how Martin Luther began the tradition of bringing an evergreen tree indoors, lighting it with candles to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As we joined hands again to pray at the close of the evening, I felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, a lightening of the heaviness I’d been feeling.

As we all struggled into our boots and coats, I remarked to Pastor Bob that I really liked his socks, which were red, decorated with Christmas trees. He smiled as Betty commented, ―Who knew you were so hip, Bob?

The next time I saw Pastor Bob and Betty was at church on Christmas Eve. As I pulled on my choir robe, Betty approached with a small package, wrapped in red paper.

I ripped open the paper to find a pair of socks identical to Pastor Bob’s. ―Now you can be just as cool as Bob, she said, smiling.

Every Christmas I pull those socks out of my drawer and pull them on, because even though thirty years have passed, they remind me of that gathering, singing carols, reading scripture, and recounting legends in the soft glow of a twinkling Christmas tree. Even in times like these, when we fear we may lose everything, when the future is so uncertain, if we gather together in His name, the Holy Spirit will be among us, and will sustain us, if we let it shine in our hearts, and share it with others.

Kris Bigalk
Kris Bigalk has been a member of Normandale Lutheran Church and the Normandale Choir since 2003. She and her husband Mike Burgoyne have five kids, ranging in age from 6 to 18. Kris is the Director of Creative Writing at Normandale Community College, and her first book of poetry, Repeat the Flesh in Numbers, will be released in late February.

Writing Your Spiritual Memories

Think back to a transformative moment in your own spiritual life. Maybe it was a "big moment" marked by a ceremony, such as a baptism, a confirmation, a wedding, or a funeral. Or maybe it was a personal moment, when you were alone and experienced an epiphany. Or maybe it was a moment you shared with another person, or a group of people. To get started, make a list of these moments, or just start freewriting on the topic of spiritual moments. Or, if you have an object or photograph that was taken that day, start with describing it, in detail.

Once you’ve chosen a moment to write about, close your eyes and take yourself back to that moment. What details do you remember? What did it smell like there? What were the sounds you heard? The textures of the things you touched? The taste of the food you ate? The colors, shapes, and details of the objects and people that were there?

Often, when we tell stories from the past, we skip over the details and summarize a moment – after all, that’s what we’re used to doing in everyday conversation. But when we write, we can think of ourselves as a camera focusing in on each detail, close up, evoking a moment second by second – immersing ourselves and our reader in the moment. Keeping a journal that records our everyday experiences can also help preserve the "God in the details" that we may not see at first glance. As C.S. Lewis pointed out: "We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito."