Prayers and Ponderings - Being Still with God

Demons in our Pews!

2012-01-29T18:10:00.001-05:00

Sermon for January 29, 2012. Epiphany 4. Jesus' ministry begins with an Exorcism in the synagogue.

Dad... I'm Going To Be A Disciple

2012-01-22T19:37:00.001-05:00

Sermon for January 22, 2012. Epiphany 3. Simon and Andrew follow Jesus to fish for people. James and John leave their father Zebedee to join them.

Apocalyptic Expectation

2011-11-06T20:43:00.001-05:00

Sermon for November 6, 2011. All Saints Sunday.

A Reformation in Progress

2011-10-30T22:10:00.001-04:00

Sermon for October 30, 2011. Pentecost 18. The Reformation continues even today; bringing us closer to God's kingdom.

I Don't Know. What Do You Think?

2011-10-30T22:09:00.001-04:00

Sermon for October 16, 2011. Pentecost 18. The Pharisees attempt to trick Jesus with their questions.

Dressed For A Feast Of Grace

2011-10-30T22:08:00.001-04:00

Sermon for October 9, 2011. Pentecost 17. The King has a feast and the guest refuse the invitation.

I Am Not The Most Important Person Here

2011-09-25T17:32:00.001-04:00

Sermon for September 25, 2011.

Who do YOU say that I am?

2011-08-21T13:18:00.001-04:00

Sermon for August 21, 2011. Pentecost 10

A Miracle Waiting to Happen

2011-08-07T13:06:00.003-04:00

Sermon for July 31, 2011. Pentecost 7. Jesus feeds the 5000.

Dandelions and Moldy Bread

2011-08-07T13:06:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 24, 2011. Pentecost 6

Not Qualified to Pull Weeds

2011-08-07T13:05:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 17, 2011. Pentecost 5

Divine Disarmament

2011-07-17T21:33:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 3, 2011. Pentecost 3.

Ordinary Time

2011-06-17T10:32:00.000-04:00

Ordinary Time

It takes the Church fifty days to celebrate the Resurrection, that’s seven Sundays – a “week of weeks.” The Resurrection event is so important and so big that it can’t be celebrated fully in one day, or even one week. The fortieth day marks the Ascension. On the fiftieth day (the final day of Easter), we celebrate Pentecost – also known, by some, as “the birthday of the Church.” That’s followed by Holy Trinity Sunday when we celebrate our understanding of this God who is more complex than we can possibly imagine!

Now, we enter the Season After Pentecost, also known as Ordinary Time. It wasn’t given the name “Ordinary” because it’s common, normal, or run-of-the-mill (as if any worship time could be dull or unexciting), but because the season of Sundays outside Advent-Christmas and Lent-Easter were simply designated by ordinal numbers…first, second, third, etc. There can be as many as thirty-four weeks in the ordinary time between Easter and Advent. This year, however, because Easter was so late in the year, there are only twenty-three Sundays in the Season After Pentecost, the last four of which include Reformation, All-Saints, and Christ the King Sundays.

Starting with this Sunday, you’ll see plenty of green. The seasonal color for Ordinary Time is green, so the banners, pastor’s stole and chasuble, and altar frontal will be green until Reformation Sunday on October 30. Lovely green, that denotes renewal, growth, health, vitality, Creation, LIFE!

Ordinary Time, while not mundane, does offer us a contrast to the festival seasons when the work of God is revealed through the great events of God’s sacred story. In Ordinary Time, we “come to know the work of God in the world that is closer to us in time and space,”[1] by way of the events of Christ’s ministry on Earth. It’s a time when we see “God’s less dramatic but equally important continuing presence.”[2] It’s not that the divine story of God’s saving action in our world isn’t celebrated during Ordinary Time, but it’s a time when we can be reminded that God’s grace is revealed and recognized in varying ways, at varying times, to the benefit of all humankind. It’s during this season of green growth and renewal that “we should be particularly aware of, and thankful for, the work of God in our midst on every sort of occasion.”[3]

This is the year of Matthew. So, we’ll be working our way through the Gospel according to Matthew, starting this Sunday with Matthew 28 (the Great Commission appropriately following the birthday of the Church). Then we pick up with the 10^th chapter and work our way through the Gospel until November 20, when we arrive at the 25^th chapter. You might want to familiarize yourself with the over-arching story as it’s told from Matthew’s perspective. If you’d like you can borrow a Lutheran Study Bible from the church office to read the overview of Matthew’s Gospel, or ask me for some resources about how this Gospel relates to the other three. I would love to accommodate your interest in Holy Scripture!

Let us ask God, during this holy green season of health and vitality, to open our eyes to God’s action of grace in our life together and our individual lives every day – day by day – as we walk with Christ through his ministry on this Earth as seen through the lens of the Gospel according to Matthew.

May the joy and vibrancy of Christ’s faith be yours as your faith forms and grows in this season of life!

[1] Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1996), p. 134.

[2] Claus Westermann, Blessing in the Bible and the Life of the Church, trans. Keith Crim (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1978).

[3] Stookey, p. 135.

God's Glory Will Appear

2011-05-25T09:56:00.006-04:00

As I pray the Psalms, I find myself appropriating the prayer of the psalmist as my own, fitting it to the circumstances I see around me. Many, many of those prayers are for our church. Here’s what caught my heart today from Psalm 102, verse 16:

“For you will build up Zion,
         and your glory will appear.”

I boldly appropriate this prayer, this statement of confidence, for Resurrection Lutheran Church. May the Lord build up our church so that God’s glory will appear. But, I have to ask myself; do I ask this for God’s glory? Really? Or do I ask it for the glory of you who have, for years, put so much of yourselves into the life of this church and for you who have recently been led to this church and are lovingly giving yourselves to God’s work here? Do I hope for God’s glory, really? Or do I hope for the Confirmands that I want to see complete the three years and be confirmed? Their glory and mine.

God of Glory, please keep my eyes, heart, mind on your glory – not ours.

“For you will build up Zion,
         and your glory will appear.”

I appropriate this prayer for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Of course I believe that we, of the ELCA, tell the story as faithfully as it can be told, and the world needs our voice, our hands. I’m sure we don’t have everything ‘right’, but I do believe we’re on the right track as we speak love and grace more loudly than judgment and condemnation; welcome rather than walls of separation.

So, if God is doing the building up, then God will build up that within us that does reveal God’s glory and let the rest of what’s in us fall away – or be blown away like the chaff, the garbage that’s attached to each grain of wheat.

“For you will build up Zion,
        and your glory will appear.”

Finally, I claim this hopeful prayer for the geographical Zion: Jerusalem, Israel/Palestine.

O God, your glory seems to be trampled there.

All eyes look there to see God revealed, and what they see is the dust of the chaff blinding their eyes. Hatred, violence, intolerance, exclusion, oppression, fear, enmity, power struggles. Everyone seems to declare God’s name but many live in opposition to God’s desire for justice and peace. What will it take for God’s glory to shine through the debris?

“For you will build up Zion,
        and your glory will appear.”

God of Glory, please accept our humble, sometimes misguided, efforts and offerings; make of them that which will reveal your glorious name, your love, mercy, and hope for all the world. Burn away the chaff so that our motives will be true. For you will build up Zion, and your glory will appear. Amen. Yes, Lord, please let it be so – and soon. Amen. Amen.

Trust Me, I've Got This!

2011-05-22T21:10:00.001-04:00

Sermon for May 22, 2011. Easter 5

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He Meets Us on the Way

2011-04-24T21:16:00.001-04:00

Sermon for April 24, 2011. Easter Sunday

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Every Knee and Every Tongue

2011-04-18T19:31:00.001-04:00

Sermon for April 17, 2010. Palm/Passion Sunday.

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The Resurrection and The Life: Here, Now, and Forever

2011-04-18T19:30:00.001-04:00

Sermon for April 10, 2011. Lent 5

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Come and see!

2011-03-27T19:56:00.001-04:00

Sermon for March 21, 2011. Lent3

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Nic at Night

2011-03-20T21:00:00.001-04:00

Sermon for March 20, 2011. Lent 2.

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It's Just Human Nature

2011-03-14T13:37:00.001-04:00

Sermon for March 13, 2011. Lent 1

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WWJD: A Good Start but Not Enough

2011-03-12T07:49:00.003-05:00

Christian Ethics and WWJD
WWJD: A Good Start but Not Enough

What would Jesus do? It’s a compelling question that invites us to look at what Scripture tells us of Jesus’ life so that we might try to pattern our lives like his – not a bad idea. Asking this question is a positive place to begin a conversation about what it looks like to live a moral life. It’s a good start, but it doesn’t capture the full impact of the difference Christ makes in our lives. Oftentimes, when we look at what we know about Jesus’ life to solve a situation in our context, we come away without a clear and definitive answer. Scripture doesn’t speak directly to every situation we encounter. So, we take our own vague generalities of Jesus’ teaching about love and try to apply them as a fix-all to the failure of our broken world. At best we’re left with less-than-helpful platitudes: love makes the world go ‘round; all you need is love; love is a many splendored thing. We don’t even need WWJD to tell us this; pop music is doing a fine job. But platitudes don’t approximate the love that Jesus took with him to the cross. At worst, we face, in these inaccurate generalities, an impossible standard, one which we, broken and fallen creatures, can never accomplish on our own – a love that overcomes evil. So, we opt for the lesser of evils and hope for the best. We settle for less than Jesus.

As a matter of fact, it’s possible to live a decent life whether we believe Jesus died for us or not. Even people who don’t believe in Christ, crucified and raised, would agree that the Jesus of the Bible was a model of a good human, a symbol of morality, and a good example to follow. His moral example can be followed whether I recognize him as Savior or not. In fact, if I live a good life, love children and dogs, recycle, and give to charities, I’m a good person, right? So, why do I need a savior anyway?

Well, if a set of rules for living was all that mattered, then WWJD might be enough. But given that Jesus suffered, died, was buried, and was raised so that we can be raised, the question of what Jesus would do falls short of helping us understand our lives as Christians redeemed, reconciled, and made perfect. Jesus is about something much greater than moral integrity.

Christian Ethics: More than a Moral Code

A set of rules for living leaves us where we are, trying hard to be good, but sinful, fallen, and broken nonetheless. The difference Christ makes goes way beyond a code of ethics because Christ does not leave us where we started (sinful but trying hard to be good). Instead, Christ raises us up to a new standard of being human, the standard of God’s intention in creation – a being in God’s own image. In Christ we become perfected humans, ones for whom it’s possible to participate in the divine life of God, the story of God’s reconciliation. In 2 Corinthians we read:

And he died for all, so that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised for them. From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.

Christain Ethics is not about something we do in and of ourselves “from a human point of view.” Rather, it’s about becoming a new creation in Christ, which has implications that far surpass a rule for living. Becoming a new creation is not simply a matter of new self-awareness or altered self-understanding but about rebirth into a new community, a people reconciled to God, reconciled to God’s intention for humankind that was present in the creation of the first human – a reconciliation which was fulfilled by Christ, himself. Jesus did not die on the cross so that we would have a set of values. He went to the cross with love for us so profound that he would die to overcome our evil and fulfill, for us, obedience to God’s will that we can never fulfill for ourselves, regardless of our grand plan of moral living.

Baptized into Christ’s own body, we are a community of believers who are raised out of the muck and mire of our good intentions, failed promises, and broken resolutions so that we can participate in the story of God’s activity of salvation in the world. Within this new community we discover that we fall far short of living in God’s image, and we are in desperate need of Christ and his salvation. Our confessions and creeds inform us of our broken condition and point us specifically to Jesus as the one who restores us to wholeness and life with God.

As a gathered community of reconciled people, we respond to Christ’s redeeming work in confession, worship, and praise. We receive the means of grace, the sacraments and the word, read and proclaimed. Made worthy through Christ, we are then sent out as witnesses to the difference Christ makes in a world filled with vague moral generalities and worn-out platitudes of love. We join God’s story of creation and reconciliation when we join the Christian community at worship and witness. Christian Ethics then, far beyond WWJD, is our living worship that points to what Jesus has done – no less than the radical redemption of all humanity.

Mired in Human Things

2011-03-09T13:35:00.001-05:00

Sermon for March 6, 2011. Transfiguration Sunday

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Beatitudes - Promises of Blessing

2011-02-28T11:37:00.003-05:00

I wonder how differently we would hear the first part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount if the
translators had used words like this:

Blesssed are the stressed, the rushed, the harried, the frustrated, and the worried for there’s more to this world than what they now see.

Blessed are those whose hearts are broken, those caught in the hell of depression, those in a spiral of sadness, for they will have comfort and know joy.

Blessed are those who give without taking, the quiet ones so often forgotten, the underdogs,
for they will enjoy a place of prominence, a place of belonging and ownership.

Blessed are those are starved for a relationship with God and with God’s people, who long to hear the Word of God, to feel the splash of the water of grace, and taste the wine and bread of forgiveness, for they will be filled and satisfied.

Blessed are those who reach out to others with a hand of love and grace, those who have forgiven wrongs done to them even when it was a struggle, those in whom compassion is a stronger force than anger or vengeance, for they will receive compassion and forgiveness.

Blessed are those who have no malice, no hidden agenda, whose hearts aren’t divided between their own andGod’s will for all creation, those who are single-mindedly devoted to God. For they will see God, not as we see now, in a mirror dimly, but face to face.

Blessed are those who actively seek to establish or restore relationships and make peace where there is conflict or where relationships are broken; they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are mistreated because they pursue righteousness – that right relationship with God and people - they will have all of heaven as theirs.

Blessed are you when people abuse you, insult you, and tell damaging lies about you because of me. Rejoice! You are blessed with a great reward in heaven, just like the prophets who endured all kinds of persecution.

Because you’re so blessed, you shall live the blessing and be a blessing.

Did you hear yourself described in that interpretation?
Jesus recognizes, in this speech, that all these circumstances are realities of being his followers and living in this already-begun-but-not-yet-complete kingdom of God.
He wants us to hear what the overriding realities are for us who are God’s children.

Though these statements are often used as imperatives, or instructions, for how a disciple who wants to receive blessing ought to live, they are actually indicative statements (Promises of Blessing) that tell, even in the reality of pain and persecution, there’s more than what we see, and things will come right.

This is the good news of the kingdom that Jesus has come to proclaim!

Inscribed on the Palm of God

2011-02-27T17:19:00.001-05:00

Sermon for February 27, 2011. Epiphany8

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We Love to Hate the Bad Guy

2011-02-20T14:39:00.001-05:00

Sermon for February 20, 2011. Pentecost7

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Relationship, Relationship, Relationship

2011-02-15T23:07:00.001-05:00

Sermon for February 13, 2011. Epiphany 6.

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Salt, Light, and Posture

2011-02-08T21:00:00.004-05:00

Sermon for February 6, 2011. Epiphany5.

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BLESSINGS or S-G-N-I-S-S-E-L-B?

2011-02-08T21:00:00.001-05:00

Sermon for January 23, 2011. Epiphany 4.

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The Voice I Most Long to Hear

2011-01-25T22:23:00.003-05:00

Sermon for January 23, 2011. Epiphany 3

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He Did It

2011-01-25T22:23:00.001-05:00

Sermon for Jan 9, 2011. The Baptism of Our Lord.

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2011, An Epiphany Year

2011-01-25T22:22:00.003-05:00

Sermon for Jan 2, 2011. Christmas 2.

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What Difference Does This Baby Make?

2011-01-25T22:22:00.001-05:00

Sermon for Dec 24, 2010. Christmas Eve.

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Love Has Come

2011-01-25T22:21:00.003-05:00

Sermon for Dec 19, 2010. Advent 4.

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Expectations and Un-expectations

2011-01-25T22:21:00.001-05:00

Sermon for RLC Dec 12, 2010. Advent 3

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The Wilderness in Our Hearts

2011-01-25T22:20:00.001-05:00

Sermon for RLC Dec 5,2010. Advent 2

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Advent Anticipation

2010-11-26T11:47:00.002-05:00

Advent Anticipation

Isaiah 2.1-5

Promised is the day when God will gather all nations.

“In days to come, the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains.” It will be the pinnacle of all life, rising above every other thing in this world that would claim our devotion, loyalty, addiction, and worship. It will rise above even our quarrels about who God is, what “right” worship is, and who really are God’s people. “All the nations shall stream to it…For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Christ, himself, will settle the disputes and there will be peace – real peace – in which all people work toward nourishing the world rather than conquering it. (my interpretation of Isaiah 2.1-5)

A few days ago, I was at the Volunteers in Medicine Clinic, offering a devotion and prayer at the start of their clinic day. Sometimes the people there have no desire to talk; other times they have a lot to talk about and aren’t afraid to engage me in conversation. This was one of those ‘other times.’ One man, sitting close by, hearing my conversation with a lady, asked me this: “Why are there so many churches?” After I clarified that he was referring to so many different traditions or denominations rather than the fact that there seems to be a ‘church on every corner’ in this area, we entered a wonderful conversation about the richness of the gospel story and the different expressions that it takes in all these different faith communities.

He didn’t seem to know about the Reformation, or the fact that the Roman Catholic Church was the only church prior to the Reformation. I think it troubled him that there could be different interpretations of, and different responses to, the one gospel; he seemed bothered that we don’t all agree. He asked if I thought there would ever be one church again, and another lady chimed in saying, “It would be like the Democrats and Republicans agreeing on everything.” I agreed with her, but I told them that I sincerely believe it will happen in the Church on that Day when Christ, himself, comes and settles the disputes.

None of us can truly visualize peace, because none of us have ever experienced a world that is at peace. Many of us have a hard time using the word ‘peace’ in the same sentence with anything in our lives (any teenager with siblings can tell you that).

Isaiah gives us an image of a world at peace, a world in which every person in every nation is oriented toward the Lord whose voice is the final Word on all arguments, disputes, conflicts, and wars – even the ones that are caused by our different expressions of the good news of God.

This is what we anticipate as we enter and experience the season of Advent!

“Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!”

Who Would Want a Crucified King?

2010-11-21T22:13:00.003-05:00

Sermon for November 21, 2010. Christ the King Sunday.

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Apocalypse Now!

2010-11-21T22:13:00.001-05:00

Sermon for November 14, 2010. Pentecost 25

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Stories We Can Tell

2010-11-11T13:25:00.003-05:00

Sermon for November 7, 2010. All Saints Sunday.

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It's a Matter of Trust

2010-11-11T13:25:00.001-05:00

RLC Sermon for October 3, 2010. Pentecost 19

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It Takes Faith to Persist

2010-11-11T13:24:00.003-05:00

RLC Sermon for October 17, 2010. Pentecost 21

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We Are Beggars, This Is True!

2010-11-11T13:24:00.001-05:00

RLC Sermon for October 24, 2010. Pentecost 22

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Life Complete Without Stuff

2010-09-29T09:48:00.002-04:00

Matthew 19.16-22
Here’s a young man who wants something more. He wants this ‘life that is eternal’ that he’s heard about and that seems to elude his grasp. “What good thing must I do?” This question suggests that, to him, eternal life is transactional; it’s a commodity to be bought, an acquisition.

Jesus’ response is about ‘entering’ the life that’s eternal. It’s not about ‘getting.’ Entering and living the life that’s eternal is about living in healthy relationship with others. The ‘you shouldn’ts’ are about protecting the life, property, and reputation of other people, honoring authority, and loving your neighbor as you love yourself. The man says, “Yea, yea, I’ve done all that. Something’s still missing. What will guarantee the delivery of what I desire?”

Jesus said, “Here’s what’s missing. If you want to be complete, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor. Then you’ll have treasure in heaven. And come follow me.” But the young man went away sad because he had so many possessions.

As long as he had all those possessions, he wasn’t free to live this new life that is eternal. The man’s possessions were what stood in the way of him being complete – of living a life that is complete. IRONY! Don’t we acquire possessions when we feel something’s missing in our lives, in an effort to make life ‘complete’? Oh, my life would be complete if I had a shady back porch and a grill!

Jesus says, “No! The opposite is true!” Regardless of what the car commercials tell us, life that is complete is a life in which that stuff doesn’t matter. In fact, more than being irrelevant, that stuff is a detriment to us sometimes because it can come between us and our actually living the life of freedom that Jesus offers. How can we follow him when we’re so tied down by managing and paying off and cleaning and storing and buying and rearranging and attending to the stuff in our lives? The only way for the man to realize this is for him to rid himself of the stuff. His selling everything and giving the money to the poor wouldn’t necessarily change the lives of the poor forever, but it would change his life in a way that is eternal. Jesus suggests this purging, not for the sake of the poor but for the sake of the man.

Eternal life begins now. If we look at it always as something that begins when we die, it will only affect our lives here and now by way of us counting tic marks, points to be earned, so that we have enough to buy our way through the pearly gates. Jesus wants us to realize that eternal life, life that’s complete and whole in him, is today. And we can enjoy it now! But we probably need to de-clutter ourselves enough to realize what it is.

Lazarus Is At Our Gate

2010-09-27T11:06:00.001-04:00

Sermon for Sept. 26, 2010. Pentecost 18.

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Self-Absorption

2010-09-16T10:20:00.002-04:00

In her book, An Altar in the World, Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “The great wisdom traditions of the world all recognize that the main impediment to living a life of meaning is being self-absorbed.” 1

This statement takes me back more than twenty years to a time when dear friends of mine were talking of getting a divorce. The pain they were experiencing as they struggled through counseling and learning to live together was a heavy part of my prayers and ponderings. I realized something, through witnessing their journey, about myself – and people in general. We’re selfish.

This couple was, each, so self-absorbed, that they were constantly in competition with the other. Neither of them were bad people, they were just so selfish that they couldn’t flex for the other’s benefit. Each was so central in his or her worldview that little room was left for the consideration of the other, and the result was that they regularly injured each other’s heart and love. Their selfishness chipped away at that love that brought them together initially.

I concluded that selfishness, self-absorption, is the root of sin. “It’s all about ME,” my pain, my glory, my wardrobe, my job, my diet, my health, my happiness leaves no room for God and even less for husband, wife, brother, sister, friend, neighbor.

When asked by a legal expert about which commandment is the greatest, Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord you God with your whole heart with your whole being, and with your whole mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” A life of wholeness and meaning is a life grounded in loving God above all else and loving others even as we love ourselves. There is room there for self-interest; it’s part of the commandment too. The sin creeps in when self-interest prevails over God-interest and other’s-interest.

Eve (with Adam right beside her through the whole conversation) was tricked by the serpent that it would be ok to put herself above God – that she wouldn’t really die in her self-absorption. The most cruel part of the trick is that the serpent confused Eve (and Adam) about what death is. Death doesn’t just mean a stopped heart and respiration or a non-functioning brain. Death occurs when a relationship is broken. Eve and Adam broke their relationship with God that day by putting themselves in the place of God. They died in their absorption with self. The very next story in Genesis is about a murder of one brother by another. Cain’s self-absorption left no room for him to love his brother Abel and to celebrate Abel’s success. Cain could only lament his own failure and that led him to hate his brother and kill him. Abel died in Cain's self-absorption, and Cain's death began that day too. The rest of his living and breathing was marked with that act of putting himself above both God and his brother.

Thanks be to God, my friends from twenty years ago were able to learn this. They’re still selfish (I say this with great affection), but they recognize their own failures in this area and they forgive it in each other. Their marriage is quite a spectacle – there’s always a lot of energy in their home, sort of like lightening sometimes. But they’ve finally sorted out the priority of God, and the equality of the other. Their life together has become a life of meaning and fulfillment as they’ve allowed themselves to become more absorbed by love that goes out from each to the other than absorbed with themselves.

1. Taylor, Barbara Brown, An Altar in the World: The Geography of Faith, (New York, Harper Collins) 2009, 81.
2. Matthew 22.37-40, CEB

The Poison of Envy: Psalm 73

2010-09-14T08:54:00.003-04:00

(You might want to have Psalm 73 handy to look at.)

Psalm 73.25 "Whom have I in heaven but you [Lord]? And having you, I desire nothing upon earth. 26 Though my flesh and my heart should waste away, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 28...it is good for me to be near God; I have made you my refuge, Lord God, to tell of all your works.

Psalm 73 is a confession of envy. The psalmist starts out confessing his envy of the prosperity of the proud and wicked people, those to whom money seems to come easily and who seem to have lives free of pain, while he has been good, but broke. To him nothing has come easily. "12 In vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 I have been afflicted all day long, and punished every morning." How many times do we lay on our beds worrying about money, feeling anger and bitterness toward our neighbor's prosperity? How often do we agonize over our weight or waist-size while feeling contempt against those for whom a slender build seems easy? We all know our areas of envy. How many of our prayers are consumed with resentment of those who prosper in spite of their meanness while we seem to languish in our goodness?

The psalmist realizes that this mindset is a betrayal of all that he knows about being a child of God - v. 15

Then, the psalmist realizes that the wicked will get their punishment, and he begins to be mollified, vs. 16-20. Judgment against the wicked always seems to make us feel better, right?
Well, maybe not...look at verse 21. Here's the real 'ah-ha!' moment.

The psalmist recognizes his bitterness, perhaps realizes that he, himself, is wicked. "22 I was stupid and had no understanding; I was like a brute beast in your presence."

This is when his transformation begins, and he says: Yet…I am always with you; you never leave me (no matter what an ass I am). You hold me by the hand. There is nothing more important than you, nothing I desire more than you. And, having you, I am completely satisfied (my translation of vs. 23-25).

So much for the envy now, right? Here’s an example of a transformed heart and a transformed life. It’s hard to imagine a life without envy or jealousy or judgment against those who seem to have what we want. This psalmist ‘gets it’. Our hearts aren’t transformed when we just smother our envy with the satisfaction of knowing the wicked ones will get theirs. Our hearts are transformed when we realize that WE have the better portion after all. Our lives are transformed when we live in the knowledge that, with God – in God, all our desires are fulfilled. In fact there’s nothing on earth TO want.

We’re happier when we leave judgment up to God and simply life our lives near God, with God as our refuge. We sin when we envy and judge. The only way to be cured of envy and judgment is to remember that it’s all about God – not us, not the prosperous jerks out there. It’s all about God, “26 though my flesh and my heart should waste away, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Consider envy. It’s a dangerous sin because it’s not obvious like murder or adultery, yet it’s as poison as arsenic. It will wreck lives, and no one is immune. It’s probably even more dangerous than murder or adultery because it’s so pervasive.

Holy God, it’s all about you. Though my flesh and heart should waste, YOU are the strength of my heart and YOU are everything I need or want. And with you as my refuge from the sin of envy and judgment, my life is transformed. Help all your people to get this as the psalmist gets it. And then, with you as our refuge, Lord God, inspire us to tell of all your works! AMEN.

God Is At Work In Our Chaos

2010-09-12T21:43:00.001-04:00

Sermon for Sept. 12, 2010. Pentecost 16. Rally Sunday outdoor service.

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Fire! Baptism! and Division!

2010-09-12T21:42:00.001-04:00

Sermon for August 15, 2010. Pentecost 12

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Choices on the Edge

2010-09-12T21:41:00.001-04:00

Sermon RLC for Sept 4, 2010. Pentecost 15

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King Jesus, and the Saints of the Roundtable

2010-09-12T21:40:00.001-04:00

Sermon for August 29, 2010, Pentecost14.

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Being Authentically Cool

2010-08-18T12:28:00.003-04:00

Ok, the word of the day is authenticity. I just read a news article from the Wall Street Journal (someone for whom I have great respect as a person of authenticity shared it with me) that basically says the church is making a mistake trying to attract young adults by packaging the gospel in a cool, ‘hip’ presentation. It says that twenty-somethings don’t want cool, they want real. You can see the article in the August 13th edition: “The Perils of ‘Wannabe Cool’ Christianity” by Brett McCracken

Whatever the packaging, are we authentic? Do we truly represent the gospel that we preach? Do we truly reveal, to those around us, the God from whom we receive unconditional love? For two Sundays in a row, Jesus calls people hypocrites in the gospel lessons. Last week it was the people following him around; this week it’s the leader of the synagogue (and everyone else within earshot, it seems).

What if I stood up in church and started my sermon, “You hypocrites!”? (“You” would include me, of course.) Isn’t that what Jesus is doing – standing right in the middle of the people who are called by God’s name and calling them hypocrites? Isn’t that what Anne Rice has done by disassociating herself with the word ‘Christian’ and declaring herself a ‘follower of Christ’ instead (see my last blog for more information)? Isn’t that what this article is challenging us to face? And, as a pastor who is also a mother of a twenty-something son whose weekly habits don’t include any church door, can’t I say out loud that we’re all a bunch of hypocrites if we think that gimmicks and show-biz will make the gospel more relevant to him?

Who are we kidding? The gospel is already relevant to our lives! We are the ones who are irrelevant to the gospel! Our efforts would be better placed in making our lives relevant to the gospel rather than trying to repackage the gospel so that it’s relevant to our crazy lives.
When will see that people are looking for something that’s real in a world of virtual reality, and the church is the only place where there’s any hope of finding real? What is real? Who is real? Only Jesus. Only Jesus. And, tragically, we’ve covered up the real Jesus in layers upon layers of bad interpretation, judgmental misunderstandings, and out-of-context scripture quotation that has gone on since Christ walked the earth.

We’re so consumed with ‘converting’ the ones who don’t believe in God. Maybe the ‘conversion’ first has to happen to the ones who do believe – the ones who would come within earshot of Jesus’ harsh label ‘hypocrites.’ And it has nothing to do with making ourselves more ‘cool’ so that we can be more relatable.

How do we get out of this mess? Maybe a good place to start is acknowledging that the gospel, at its most basic, is love. It’s love. When we dig down to the absolute foundation, it’s love. It’s the good news of God who loves us enough to come to us. And to live the gospel with authenticity we first love God with every fiber of our beings and we love our neighbors as ourselves. Then in deep prayer and holy conversations with each other about the love demonstrated by Jesus’ life, we ask ourselves these questions: Do our lives reflect this love? Does our life together as the Church reflect this love?

I think that’s where authentic Christ-following begins. Maybe being real is all the coolness we need.

Oh, holy Jesus, help us all to see the real you and to live the real gospel! Ah, Holy Spirit, peel back the layers of hypocrisy that we’ve heaped on the truth of your real gospel and lead us into all truth. Help us to always focus on living authentic lives that reflect your love and your life so that we might be fit for worshiping with twenty-somethings and eighty-somethings and everyone else. Amen; yes, let it be so!

Christ Followers or Christians? Which are we?

2010-08-05T12:31:00.002-04:00

Theology on Tap is a 'young' adult Bible study, a ministry of the congregation that I serve, (Resurrection Lutheran in Ooltewah, TN). Our conversation centers around theological issues that we live with - the realities of being followers of Christ in this world, this country, this city, this skin. How might those issues be addressed and informed by scripture, by Christ, by holy community and conversation? We meet in Greenlife Grocery, on the North Shore of Chattanooga, where you can get excellent, reasonably priced food and beer. Yes, as the name suggests, we enjoy beverages that come from a tap and are easily spotted in the dining area as we have beer on the tables with our Bibles.

One issue that's come up, again and again, is that almost all of us feel uncomfortable with being associated with and identified as the current stereotype of 'Christian' in mainstream America. When we first started meeting at Greenlife we realized how awkward it felt to carry a Bible through a grocery store and concluded that, if we saw a person in the store carrying a Bible, we'd walk the other way.

With that in mind, when one of the founding members of the group and I were thinking of a way to describe ourselves for some promotional cards, we decided we need to qualify our use of the word ‘Christian.’ So, our cards describe our conversation as being from a “progressive Christian perspective.”

In a recent conversation with Resurrection’s Mission Team about updating and refreshing our Vision Statement, one of the first things proposed (by a completely different person) was that we might consider replacing the word “Christian” with the word “Christ,” because the common understanding of what ‘Christian’ represents doesn’t identify who we are. We also considered that our focus for our vision is more appropriately placed on Christ than on ‘being Christian.’

Then, out of the blue, I get an email link to a news release. Anne Rice, the famous author, quits Christianity! http://marquee.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/30/anne-rice-leaves-christianity/?hpt=T2 . She wrote, “I remain committed to Christ as always but not to being ‘Christian’ or to being part of Christianity. It’s simply impossible for me to ‘belong’ to this quarrelsome, hostile, disputatious, and deservedly infamous group…following Christ does not mean following His followers. Christ is infinitely more important than Christianity and always will be, no matter what Christianity is, has been or might become.”

Our conversation “from a progressive Christian perspective” at Theology on Tap was sparked by this article and fed by our own history of discomfort with the trend that is taking “Christianity” to a place we don’t want to go. We talked about other times in the history of the church when “Christian” didn’t represent Christ. For example, in the middle ages, so many abuses of power and exploitative measures by the church led Martin Luther to take his stand in protest, leading to the Reformation. Also, in our own country in the 19th century, scripture was used (without attention to contextual interpretation) to justify slavery, and it took 100 years for Martin Luther King, Jr. to finally protest effectively enough that people (church leaders included) paid attention to the injustice that was lingering even then.

In the first chapter of Isaiah, God tells Israel that God hates their worship which serves only as a cover-up for their wickedness which is described as injustice and abandonment of the oppressed and helpless in society. Then in John 13, Jesus tells his followers, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And in Matthew 22 “ …a lawyer, asked [Jesus] a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

Being a follower of Christ is about love. Alienation of others can never be a demonstration of the love of Christ who loved even his betrayer and the ones who nailed him to the tree so much that he died on their behalf too. The Theology on Tap group never reached a consensus about whether or not we should renounce the title “Christian,” which one of us described as having been “raped and pillaged.” Another described it as “more of a human, political expression” than an identifier of one who follows Christ. Some of us are willing to let it go to the alienators. Others of us want to hold on to it and be part of a 21st Century ‘Reformation.’ Whether we identify ourselves as Christians or as Christ followers, it’s time for us to pay attention to Christ – Christ alone – and to search and pray for clarity about what following Christ means in our lives as individuals and as a community in communion with him.

I believe the conversation is just beginning…

Holy Consumption

2010-08-03T08:52:00.005-04:00

If you've every taught children's Sunday School or done a children's sermon (or even heard a children's sermon), you've probably figured out that, at least one child in every bunch 'gets it.' At least one understands that every question can be answered correctly by shouting "Jesus!!!", and it's not fair or helpful to throw in trick questions that would distract their focus from the One who truly is the answer to all of lifes questions or concerns.

I needed to be reminded of that this morning. I found myself, once again, whining in my prayers...worried and distracted by my concerns for Resurrection Lutheran. ('Worried and distracted,' does this remind anyone of Martha, as in the Martha and Mary story, Luke 10.38-42?) When I look back in my prayer journal, I can easily see a pattern of that one dimension, worry and distraction about RLC!

I'm consumed by this call, this church! My prayers, my thoughts, my energy, most of my time - from morning to night - everything I do seems to be somehow engaging the ministry in this church. Maybe that's why St. Paul said it's good to remain single. I just kissed my husband goodbye as he left for a business trip, and here I am ranting and raving to God, not about John's safe travel or about his well-being but about my worries over a church program! (Being single would be too lonely a life for me, though - and I do adore John.)

Maybe my consumption isn't healthy. But instead of thinking about how to fix this with healthy boundaries and self-care, which are huge points of concern in seminary training, my thoughts settled on the word 'consumption'. What does that mean in the life of one who follows Christ?

There is, of course, the medical definition of consumption and the economic reality of consuming, but I'm thinking of the consumption of a life. This statement comes to mind: at the Communion table, we consume that which we are. We consume the body and blood of Christ and we are the body of Christ, the Church. In that way, even as we consume Christ, Christ consumes us into his body. And there, Pauline, is your answer to living a life of healthy consumption - Holy Consumption.

A healthy consumption for all of us is to be consumed by Christ, rather than the church, and apply the labor and fruits of that Holy Consumption to the congregation. Our call to ministry is less about the church than it is about Christ. Church, let Christ consume you - your thoughts, prayers, energy, time, passion. Be careful with being consumed by church. If it's all about the congregation, it's not about Christ, and all our decisions will reflect the congregation rather than Christ, who is the one we're called to follow. We'll succumb to gimmicks and ideas that might have little, or nothing, to do with Christ and his mission. Sometimes we get it backward and think the church has Christ as it's mission, but the truth is, Christ's mission has the church!

Yes, pay attention to the uniqueness of the congregation, it's gifts and passions. Consider, though, that the passions are rightly directed only when they're directed toward Christ and Christ's mission - only when they're directed toward the One who is the source, guide, and goal of our life together.

And finally, at the end of this prayerful rant, the Holy Spirit gifts me with this message (prayer is a two-way conversation, after all). And 'thus sayeth the Lord': Now, be at peace; you're being faithful. Keep praying. Keep sitting still with me. Look at Me, even as you pray about and plan congregational programs and service. Let it be all about Me, Pauline; there's room for John in that consumption too. I'm consuming you together; you are one flesh. I'm consuming the congregation along with you; you are one body, My body. Remember, the correct answer, the right focus, the healthy obsession, is always Me. Be consumed by Me.

Once again, the children's sermon answer is correct..."It's Jesus!!!!" It's as simple as that. It's as complex as that. A lifetime being consumed by Jesus won't be long enough to 'get it' like the children do, but it's so worth the effort!

How to Contain "The Good Life"

2010-08-01T13:54:00.001-04:00

Sermon for August 1, 2010. Pentecost10

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Lord, Teach Us to Pray...

2010-07-25T14:05:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 25, 2010

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There is Need for Only One Thing!

2010-07-20T15:21:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 18. Pentecost 8.

Luke 10:38-42. Mary and Martha host Jesus.

Please accept our apologies for the audio difficulties this week. The first 1:25 of this recording is at very low volume.

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Hospitality...It's not all Southern

2010-07-12T12:15:00.006-04:00

It seems like hospitality is a prominent theme of the scriptures appointed in these first few weeks post-Pentecost. And don’t let the word ‘hospitality’ trip you up – this is about more than being Southern or reading Martha Stewart or tailgating or fancy receptions, although these are components of hospitality. It’s really about life and death.

A few Sundays ago, Jesus sent the seventy witnesses out to the towns and we learned a lesson about hospitality – both giving and receiving it. Last Sunday, we heard the story of the Merciful Neighbor, aka Good Samaritan, and got a lesson about a different kind of hospitality – caring for one whose only identifying marks are his desperate need.

Now, this Sunday’s appointed reading from Genesis (18.1-10a) is another example.

Abraham responds to three unexpected guests by running out to meet them "in the heat of the day" and honoring them with his escort as they approach his campsite. He gives them comfort – washing their feet, offering a place to rest in the shade. He gives them excellent food, even though nothing was prepared in advance. Remember, they were unexpected! Sarah has to start from scratch to make the bread, and the tender calf has to be butchered! Then, Abraham, himself, attends to them while they eat their feast…

Surprise! Those three unexpected guests turned out to be none other than the Lord. (You have to read down a few more verses to where Sarah gets caught laughing at the Lord’s promise to see where the identity of the travelers is revealed.)

The Lord comes to Abraham in these three travelers. Abraham welcomes the Lord, offers honor, comfort, and fine sustenance. While the Lord is enjoying all this, the Lord reminds Abraham of the promise awaiting him and says, “I’ll come back, and when I do, the blessing that I’ve promised you will happen – Sarah’s son will be born.”

Abraham’s hospitality is a model for all of us. Notice, however, that this story is immediately followed (not accidentally) by the beginning of the story of Sodom, which shows a huge contrast, a different response to the same unexpected guests.

The travelers who had enjoyed the hospitality and comfort of Abraham’s tents were met by Lot at the gates of Sodom and warned not to spend the night in the square but to hurry into Lot’s house for the night where they were given comfort and hospitality by Lot’s family. Before the night was over, though, the whole town came against Lot’s house, demanding that he send the travelers out. They intended violence against the strangers. When Lot wouldn’t surrender his guests to the mob, they turned their violence against Lot himself – reminding themselves that Lot was an alien in their midst too.

The Sodom story is often interpreted as nothing more than a judgment against homosexuality. Sadly, this has diverted our attention away from its foundational message (warning) about how we are to receive and welcome God in our midst. The townspeople in the story might as easily have said, ‘Send out the travelers so that we can rape them,’ or ‘Send the travelers out so that we can hack them into little pieces and eat their flesh,’ or ‘Send them out so that we can rob them and beat them up and leave them to die in the ditch!’ How the townspeople intended to harm the travelers is not where the judgment lies. The judgment is in their failure to receive and care for the Lord, whether in the form of three men, two angels, a beaten-up person in a ditch, or seventy disciples of Jesus. And God showed how serious their crime was by allowing Sodom to be wiped off the map of existence – living now only in the infamy of their failure to reflect the hospitality of the Triune God.

Our failure to receive and welcome God is our biggest failure as humans. When God came to us in Jesus Christ, we not only withheld hospitality but grabbed him and violently attacked and abused him, even killed him. So abhorrent was he to us – this one who was pure and undefiled in the midst of us who are so dirty and stinking – that we had to get rid of him.

Nonetheless, he opened his arms on the cross to us. He took the punishment for our failure. He took the beating for our violence. And he welcomes us into the shade of his tents; he cools and cleans our stinking and sweaty feet with the living water of baptism; he feeds us with his very presence – his own body (good news for the tender calf), and calls us his own family.

For the Love of God... and Neighbor!

2010-07-11T16:32:00.001-04:00

Sermon July 11, 2010. At Trinity Lutheran Church, Hixson TN. Pentecost 7.

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We're Called to a Mission of Hospitality

2010-07-05T13:58:00.001-04:00

Sermon for July 4 2010, Pentecost 6

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Jesus Set His Face On His Mission!

2010-06-27T16:48:00.001-04:00

Sermon for June 27, 2010. Pentecost 5.

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Gratitude is More Attractive Than Worry

2010-06-16T18:47:00.001-04:00

Sermon from Resurrection Lutheran Church. June 13, 2010.

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It's Okay if You Don't Understand the Trinity

2010-06-15T21:44:00.002-04:00

Sermon from Resurrection Lutheran Church, May 30, 2010

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Ministry of Reconciliation...Why am I surprised it's so hard?

2010-06-03T11:20:00.002-04:00

Ministry of Reconciliation…Why am I surprised that it’s so hard?

2 Corinthians 5:15-21 We’ve been given the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Godself, not counting their sins against them and entrusting this message of reconciliation to us…we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (my paraphrase of Paul’s letter)

Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church is an appeal for the congregation to reconcile conflicts and divisions. In the second letter Paul tells the church that the ministry we’re called to is a ministry of reconciliation.

We can walk around for years understanding that we’re called to a ministry of reconciliation, and that it begins with, and exists in, God’s reconciliation of Creation to Godself in Jesus Christ. That’s our message; that’s the gospel. Tell it! Preach it! Shout it out from the rooftops!

And DO it.

Ouch! I’d much rather talk about it. The actual doing of it is much harder. Why is it so hard? Why is it so hard to live a life that is reconciled?

Reconciled to God is one thing; we’re told that God doesn’t hold our sins against us. Of course, that doesn’t mean WE don’t hold tight to those sins and count them against ourselves every day. Yet, we are reconciled to God through Christ even when we’re not reconciled to ourselves.

Reconciliation between us and others is tricky in a different way, though. It even seems impossible at times. So often we’re not even aware of how we contributed to a breach in relationship. We’re ignorant of how we hurt someone. Then, when we’re made aware of it, our knee-jerk reaction is defensive. We don’t want our sins counted against us; so it’s best to deny them (especially to ourselves). Eventually the day comes when we can deny them no longer. God blesses us with clarity of vision, making us see how we caused pain and division. Then, the really hard part begins. It’s scary to seek reconciliation with someone whom we’ve wronged. What if they don’t respond with grace? What if they respond with more judgment, needing to cause pain in return? What if they reject us? Faithfulness to our calling means that we risk it.

Maybe Paul’s words give us a clue of how to go about this difficult calling. He entreats us, on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled with God. Maybe that’s the first step in seeking reconciliation with our brothers and sisters. First we go on our knees in repentance and confession, to God, of our part in this, and we receive forgiveness from the one who doesn’t hold our sins against us. Maybe it’s a good thing to go to a trusted friend-in-Christ for individual confession and forgiveness, actually hearing, with our ears, the words of God’s forgiveness from that agent of Christ (we even have a rite for this in our red worship book, ELW pg. 243).

THEN, we can go to our sibling in Christ with the knowledge that even if that person’s pain is still so raw that they aren’t ready to forgive, we have God’s forgiveness. Later in this same letter to the Corinthian church, we read that the Lord responds to Paul’s cry for relief from something that’s giving him pain with these words: “My grace is sufficient.”

Maybe we go to our brothers and sisters longing for reconciliation with them, knowing that even if they reject us, Christ’s grace is sufficient for us. We still long for reconciliation, but we can rest in our restored relationship with God until such time as God can help mend our relationship with our beloved sibling too. Christ doesn’t hold our sins against us, and his grace is sufficient.
Amen.

While He Was Still Speaking

2010-03-29T10:39:00.007-04:00

Yesterday's gospel included the account of Peter's denial of Jesus. We heard Jesus' prediction that Peter would deny him three times before the cock would crow. Then we heard his heartbreaking words of denial when he was questioned by three different people who insisted that Peter was 'with' Jesus. This is the verse that caught my heart (Luke 22:60): "But Peter said, 'Man, I do not know what you are talking about!' At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed." The words that jumped off the page were 'while he was still speaking.'

Here's why: A few months ago, as I was reading a story in Acts (also written by Luke...in fact they're considered to be like one book in two volumes, "Luke/Acts"), I came across words that gave me confidence in the Holy Spirit as I prepare for sermons. They were so striking to me that I wrote them on a card and stuck them on the refrigerator. In Acts 10: 34-43, we read a sermon that was preached by Peter to the household of Cornelius. Then verse 44 tells us this: "While he was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word." While he was still speaking!

While Peter was still speaking his words of denial, that blasted cock crowed, searing Peter's failure into his heart, bringing his unfaithfulness into harsh, glaring light. Yet later - another day, in a different place - while Peter was still speaking the words of the story of Jesus (claiming the same one he had previously denied) to a group of unbelievers, the Holy Spirit was moving and working, using Peter's words to bring life and light to all those who heard Peter's words.

Peter blew it with his denial; he let Jesus down. He abandoned Jesus. But the Holy Spirit did not abandon Peter. That crazy Spirit will love and use us, even though sometimes we're weak and scared. We get to choose what we speak - denial or proclamation. Sometimes we blow it, even though we have good intentions, and we speak denial. Sometimes we blow opportunities to proclaim the message of Christ's life.

BUT, we can be sure that, though we might abandon Jesus, he will never abandon us. And when we choose to be faithful and speak the words of life, we can know that, even while we're still speaking, even while we're still whispering the love of Christ to someone, the Holy Spirit is falling on those who hear our words. That beautiful, out-of-control Spirit is working in our words! And we know that great things happen when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of someone!

By the way, I decided to write this blog yesterday when I was trying to tell John about this, but I didn't do it. Then, this morning when I read the First Lesson for Easter Sunday, guess what it was...Acts 10:34-43! The lectionary leaves off verse 44, but we just might read that verse this Sunday anyway.

Have confidence in the Holy Spirit while you are speaking CHRIST!

Who Would Want to be One of the Twelve?

2010-03-24T08:57:00.002-04:00

Luke 18.34 (Jesus is talking to his disciples; he foretells his death and resurrection.) "But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said."

I read this and think how frustrating it must have been for those disciples who never seemed to 'get it.' Would I continue following and working with a leader who spoke in riddles (parables), whose words and actions were puzzling and sometimes incomprehensible, even dangerous? How many of us would have stayed with Jesus when, according to the gospel writers, the disciples seemed, more often than not, to be stumbling around him in blind confusion?

We want full disclosure. We need to scrutinize every bit of information that comes in. We need to see the planned outcome before we take the first step (especially if crucifixion and death are involved, right?). We need updates along the way, and then, our 'two-cents worth' needs to be considered. We simply can't invest our lives in ambiguity!

I used to think how sad it is that the disciples abandoned him and denied him when he was arrested. I would grieve over Judas' betrayal. Today I'm thinking, 'it's no wonder!' In fact, I'm astonished that they stuck it out with him until that time! I can't say that I would have.

Yet...our inability to comprehend is a function of our own limitations as humans. We can't hold Jesus responsible for our ignorance! Jesus IS the full disclosure of God! We all want to have an image of God with which we can be comfortable - that we can 'wrap our minds around,' but our minds can't possibly wrap around the "I AM" which is completely "Other" than us. So God stepped into our world, became one of us and showed us the divine nature. Jesus is God, fully disclosed in human flesh, And his nature is still too much for us to grasp!

(Of course, I could be wrong about all of this!)

We are the kingdom of God

2010-03-10T08:24:00.004-05:00

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden. The seed then grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. Then he said it is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened. (see Luke 13.18-21)

What does this mean? Is this one of those bits of scripture that you must read past to get to the stuff that's more comprehensible? These parables are sometimes hard to understand, but being scripture, are worthy of our attention.

Here's what these comments on the kingdom of God are whispering to this pastor, on this day, as she thinks and prays about her congregation that's redeveloping and renewing, becoming missional and evangelical, becoming the kingdom of God.

In another place in Luke, Jesus says that the kingdom of God has both 'come near' and 'is among us'. Here, he compares it to: 1. an enormous tree in a garden that provides a life-giving home to Creation; 2. a fully risen loaf of nutritious, life-giving bread, the most basic source of food necessary to sustain life.

These are both large images. Consider the sources of the two things. Very small, seemingly inconsequential, every-day things utilized by ordinary people.

The tiny mustard seed is planted in the ground, covered up with dirt by "someone." The tiny seed goes into the vast ground. It seems like the ground would just swallow up the tiny seed, overpower and kill it. But no. The seed germinates and continues to grow in spite of the enormous odds against it. The germination happens in secret; it's invisible. And the growing of the tree is not caused by the person who planted the seed.

The same thing can be said for the yeast. A little tiny bit of that yeast is mixed into a huge bowl of flour by a "woman." It seems that so much flour would overwhelm the yeast and make it inert. But no. The yeast lifts that flour and transforms it into something new and delicious! And the rising of the dough is not caused by the person who mixed the yeast.

Jesus promises that the kingdom of God has come near and is among us. The kingdom came with Jesus and it's planted and mixed in the world by ordinary 'someones.' WE are the ordinary 'someones', planting mustard seeds and mixing yeast in a world that is so huge it makes our tiny efforts seem insignificant. But again, no. There's nothing insignificant about God's work done by our hands.

As we grow our ministry, sharing our faith with friends, and serve our community, we're planting and mixing the very substance of God into the world. We can have faith that the germinating and growing of that substance will happen. And thanks to the Holy Spirit's power and desire, and it will be transformed into the kingdom of God, a vital, life-giving, home to many people, complete with the very bread of life!

Does God give us more than we can handle?

2010-03-01T09:38:00.002-05:00

1 Corinthians 10.13, "No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it." RSV

Here's a quote I hate: "God doesn't give us more than we can handle."

Have you ever heard it? Have you ever said it? Have you ever thought, 'I wish God didn't trust me so much'? (All three of these apply to me, by the way.)

Maybe this verse from 1 Corinthians is where this quote originated...it's a misquote, though, in my opinion. Nothing in this verse says God gives us testing. God doesn't give us testing, in fact, God protects us from more than we can handle. And God even gives us the strength to endure when we feel overtaken by it and gives us the way out of it so that we can bear it! We don't have this strength on our own; so, without God, it would be more than we can handle.

This quote might be meant as encouragement like, "Oh, you can do this! I have faith in you." Or my friend, Jan's, favorite thing to say to me when I whined in seminary, "Buck up, suck up, and get going!" (OK, Jan, that did help then, because we laughed about it and laughed at ourselves in the process.)

But when we're truly overtaken by trials and suffering, maybe that's not so helpful. Maybe when we're really struggling, we don't need to just jump into action with a knee-jerk reaction (that knee-jerk might also be inertia). Instead we need to buck up and PRAY, suck up and LISTEN to God, LISTEN to the One who knows the way out of the crisis or knows how to help us not only survive it but thrive in spite of it. Then, is the time that we can get going, with confidence, in a direction that is helpful rather than reactionary and perhaps harmful.

But, of course, I could be wrong.

This is now your life. Live it!

2010-02-23T11:48:00.003-05:00

Zechariah 3:1-10 (Old Testament, after Haggai, before Malachi, 2nd to last book) If you don’t have a Bible handy, I invite you to look at http://www.enterthebible.org/Bible.aspx a Bible and commentary website produced by Luther Seminary.

Imagine coming home (to your home country/land) after a long-term enforced exile and finding it in ruins. Life interrupted, twice. First, when you and your neighbors were driven away from your homes, and now on returning, not knowing where to begin to put life back together.

Where is God in all this? What have we done to make God turn the divine back on us? Are we being punished for our disobedience? How do we make things right? God gives Zechariah a vision of holy grace in the face of dark, filthy guilt.

Joshua is the high priest. If anyone could be holy, one would think it would be the high priest! Yet here is a vision of that high priest, possibly the holiest person we know, standing before the angel of the Lord (aka God, sort of a code word for God in the OT), and this high priest also has Satan (the accuser) standing right beside him, in his ear (Whispering? Shouting?), telling of all his sin and guilt and shameful dirtiness!

And the Lord rebukes Satan on Joshua’s behalf. The Lord orders that Joshua be cleaned – his filthy garments replaced with clean ones – saying, ‘See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” Now, “walk in my ways and keep my requirements… rule my house and have charge of my courts.”

There are so many times when we’re facing life’s ruins, helpless, life is interrupted by illness, death, natural disasters (like in Haiti), crises of all kinds involving the people we love, broken relationships; you know your own life’s interruptions and disasters.

In these periods of trial and disaster, it seems like we’re in exile – where is God in all this? What could I have done differently? Am I being punished? Oh, I’m so dirty; I’m to blame! How do we make things right? Where are you, God? Zechariah reminds us here that God is right in the middle of it with us. This is a cosmic picture that includes the forces of this world, our own helpless selves, and the power of God! The ultimate judgment! God and Satan and me. Satan accusing. God pardoning.

God says to me and to all of us, the Church: "See, I have cleaned you in baptism. I’ve taken away your guilt and clothed you with Christ’s garment that is pure and clean! Now, walk in my ways, keep my commandments of love, and be my Church!”

When we face ruin, ruin of our own making, ruin of a broken world – life interrupted – God says: "I’m here. I offer myself for you. I’m making you OK! Now, this is where to begin to put life back together; study my ways and live them. Be my Church; wear my clean clothes, live in me, re-present me every day, everywhere you go. This is now your life. Live it!"

Let us pray: Gracious, Holy God who stands with us to face our accuser and who puts us back together when we’re ruined, thank you for your Son whose clean clothes we wear. Now, show us your ways and help us to live them for the sake of the world that you love. In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.

Rescue Mission

2010-02-11T10:14:00.002-05:00

Rescue Mission: Jesus and the Tax Collector, Continued
Consider yesterday’s story…Jesus left a house full of people where he enjoyed great fellowship and friendship – probably some people after their own agenda from him too, but otherwise, a group of people with whom he enjoyed acceptance and camaraderie. He left this group to go out to someone on the ‘outside,’ to invite that person into relationship, Levi, a tax collector.

Today I’m reminded of something I heard last weekend at ‘Catch the Spirit’ (our Synod’s annual spiritual renewal event). David Stark was the keynote speaker, and he said something that has caught in my mind. He said that many congregations have a resemblance to a Caribbean cruise. We come to the ship (the church building) and gather to eat, laugh, sing, eat, play, eat, meet, greet, eat, worship, eat…and it’s great fun, great fellowship; we’re a really close family who enjoy common time and share our lives together. It’s a beautiful thing, except when we forget that this ship is on a rescue mission! There’s a purpose for our gathering, laughing, eating, singing, worshiping, and even playing…the purpose is to rescue those who are dying from lack of love.

Jesus was on a rescue mission. When he walked away from the gathering in the crowded house, he took with him the spirit and love that he had experienced there, and he shared it with Levi, the one who had no experience of love and fellowship from these people who knew God.

We are on a rescue mission.

Acceptance: Jesus and the Tax Collector

2010-02-10T22:24:00.003-05:00

Luke 5:27-32 27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him. 29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house; and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others sitting at the table with them. 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31 Jesus answered, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; 32 I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance."

This is the gospel reading assigned for today in the Revised Common Lectionary. Here are my reflections in response to this story:

If you have a Bible and want to open it, you might enjoy reading the events that precede this passage (5:17-26), because where Jesus was before he encountered Levi, the tax collector, sheds an interesting perspective on how we read today’s story.

See, when Jesus encounters Levi, he had just left a house full of people who liked him – a lot. The people were crowded so close that a paralytic had to be lowered down through the roof just to get in front of Jesus. Jesus healed the paralytic, and the crowd loved him. Yes, he had some enemies there too, but the crowd was positive, filled with amazement and glorifying God! Jesus had success in his mission to reveal the gracious, loving, healing nature of God, and he was among people who liked him.

Then he walked out of the house and saw a tax collector, Levi. He went to Levi and invited him into relationship: “Follow me.” Levi did follow, and then he invited all his tax-collecting friends to dinner so they could meet Jesus too!

Now, Jesus had been having a great time, being accepted by the “acceptable” people in the crowded house. He could have just stayed there and enjoyed his success…God was being glorified. But what he did was to go and seek out the very one who wouldn’t have been welcomed or accepted in that house – and who might reject Jesus. (Mmm…a risk.)

It’s startling, how quickly Levi accepted Jesus’ invitation. Maybe Jesus’ notoriety was enough to make him like a rock-star in that community, so Levi was attracted to his fame. Maybe Levi was so hungry for a relationship with someone from the “acceptable” crowd. Maybe the Holy Spirit just took over Levi’s brain for a second. Whatever the motivation, when Jesus made the offer, Levi took him up on it. Then, finding love, acceptance, relationship, community, respect (the revelation of a gracious and loving God), Levi invited all his friends to this relationship too.

Of course, Jesus was then criticized for eating and drinking with the “unacceptable” people. He responded that they are the reason he came. (Look back at Luke 4: 18-19 for more of Jesus’ purpose.)

Jesus revealed God’s gracious, loving, healing nature when he healed the paralytic AND when he invited Levi into relationship.

Can we pray on a blog? Let’s try it… Holy Lord, help us to see those people that we’re here for, as we are your Body in this world. Give us the wisdom and courage to invite them into relationship, even though we might be criticized for it. Help us to re-present you with a community that offers love, acceptance, respect, healing along with your holy Word and Sacraments. Thank you; we love you! Amen.

Wow, look at all the times I used the word ‘accept,’ in various forms. It reminds me of another season of pondering when I explored the difference between ‘tolerance’ and ‘acceptance.’ That’s a conversation for another day…