The Teacher

How appropriate that this Pentecost Sunday is Grandma Rasmussen’s 95th birthday! She is a prayerful Pentecostal passionate about equipping the church for mission with her gifts, has taught God’s Word across language barriers, and her love for me and for the Bible has had a profound spiritual influence on my life. Five years ago, I shared nine lessons she’d taught me. This year, I’m sharing a quasi-poem I wrote in honor of The Teacher.

After two weeks of helping her write her story – a special bonding time for us

Her fingertips pull the dough towards her,
Palms press it away,
Hands give it a quick quarter turn.
“Hannah, would you like to try now?”
Pull, press, turn.
Her skin is soft like bread dough,
flour fills in the wrinkles.
“Don’t worry if you don’t get it the first time.
I’ve had 87 years to practice!”

1947: In her home-economics classroom during her second year of teaching

I am one of her many home-economics students.
She taught me to iron, to make beds,
Cinnamon rolls and monkey bread.
When the family needed dough,
She kneaded dough.
This home economics teacher’s got muscles.

She taught me it takes a strong woman to feed a family.

When we visit,
she’ll celebrate with turkey dinner, my dad’s favorite,
keep frozen donuts in the fridge for my aunt,
set out Grandpa’s favorite tea,
and make oatmeal for me.
She says, “Glad you liked it.”

c. 1993: “Helping Grandma dust”

“My special Hannah…
I remember babysitting you when you were just a baby.”
I remember when I was a kid
we flew, her and I, in a six-seater plane
to Kigoma, and the best lake in the world.
When my mom had baby twins,
she spent three months with us in Africa
“Glad I could be of help.”

She taught me a helping hand is a hardworking one.

“3 dozen rolls, we’ll triple the recipe.”
She was a math teacher too.
Taught the grandkids times tables with her able mind,
Taught me all of seventh grade pre-algebra in a month.

She taught me smart money is invested where it counts.

The turkey pan was from their wedding
And who knows how many times she’s reused her Ziplocs.
Up to half their income was going to their church,
their missionary sons,
their grandkids’ college education.

2010: 61st wedding anniversary

She taught us it isn’t giving unless you give something up.
To put my dad through college,
they sold the retirement house Grandpa built.

She taught us love is faithful,
Still giggling at my grandpa
six kids and 61 years later.
“My, isn’t he so handsome?”

She taught us love is full of faith.
She’s a licensed preacher too,
Sang me the books of the Bible song
And taught half of those books to pastors
in four Bible schools across Tanzania.

1995: teaching Bible school with translator in Tanzania

She taught us to pray.
Every morning her hands fold
“Lord, bless the Rasmussens…”
She tears up as she lists each family by name.
She prays for me over the phone,
“We’re so proud of how you’re serving God at Macalester.”
Gives me her favorite devotional and the Daily Bible
so we can read it each day together.

She taught me
It takes a strong woman to feed a family.
A helping hand is a hardworking one.
Smart money is invested where it counts.
It isn’t giving unless you give something up.
Love is full of faith.

She taught me to pray.
So let’s pray.
“Lord, bless this bread and the hands that prepared it.”

c. 2004

You can learn more about my grandparents’ incredible ministry legacy in Faithful Servants: The Legacy of Virgil and Ruth Rasmussen, which includes their autobiographies, sermons, recipes, poems, and tributes from family and ministry partners.

God’s Children in an Era of Identity Crisis

In the US there have been many recent and competing conversations about different identities. It’s not wrong to identify with being a mother or a doctor or a pastor or a Republican or a Democrat or a Vikings fan or a Doctor Who fan or a woman or a person of color or a white person or a citizen of your country. So many of these identities are actually gifts from God – such as the talents, education, or job we have, the family and relationships we have. So many of these identities reflect the good and beautiful diversity of who God has created us to be and what we each appreciate about his world.

But our many good identities get warped into our whole self-image, which they were never meant to be. So our sense of self becomes so fragile that we can’t really love each other and work together because we’re insecure. There is a lot of pressure for us to put our main identity somewhere that will ultimately fail us. For the sake of ourselves, but also for the sake of the fabric of our whole society, we desperately need an identity that brings us together.

We are in an era of identity crisis. As Christians, we need to have better news than the news on TV. We need to have good news for this world. And I believe that part of that gospel is bringing people back to who they really are. I believe that this generation in this diverse society is hungry for a story that makes sense of who we are, which will then inspire us to live a transformed life.

Today we’re going to dig into one piece of who we are according to the Scriptures. It’s Father’s Day, and I do not nor will I ever have personal experience being a father. But I do know something about being a child. So today we’re going to talk about what it means to be God’s children.

That’s a snippet of what I preached at Bethel Christian Fellowship. Click here to listen to the rest.