Christmas Eve/Christmas Day 2008

I thought I could get away with preaching the same sermon on Christmas Eve & Christmas Day, because last year there was no overlap in the congregation. People either came to Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship, but not both. That did not turn out to be the case this year, so hopefully those in attendance at both found something of worth through their second listening!

So, without further ado, here it is for your reading pleasure...

Good News of Great Joy!
Luke 2:1-20
Christmas Eve/Day – December 24 & 25, 2008

As I listened to the radio this week, I was struck by something I heard a reporter say. “There's no reason to sing this Christmas,” he said, as he went on to list 1 alarming economic sign of the times after another. There's no reason to sing this Christmas – because times are hard and getting harder. No reason to sing – because the news from the street is bleak and not likely to improve anytime soon. No reason to sing – because we live in dark and anxious times.

We all know that Christmas is supposed to be a time of joy and peace and light, and yet this year, for many of us, that joy and peace and light may be overshadowed by worries and concerns about what the new year will bring. Underneath our smiles and our festive Christmas clothes may lurk hidden fears about how we'll pay the Christmas bills when they start to come or worries about how secure our job is, or what's happening with the retirement portfolio, or how the mortgage or the property taxes will get paid. For others, Christmas joy may mask loneliness and sorrow because this is the first Christmas without that special loved one they lost this year. And still others come with health issues weighing on their mind, or any other number of the troubles that life seems to bring, whether or not it's Christmas. As we sit here tonight/today, we may wonder along with that reporter if there is any reason to sing this Christmas.

The people in the story of that first Christmas knew the weight of the world as well as we do; they came to that first Christmas night with anxiety and worries on their minds too, uncertain of what the future might hold. Luke sets the stage for us from the very beginning of the story. “In those days, a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered.” A not so subtle reminder that the people of Israel lived under the oppression of a foreign king, one who had the power to make them travel great distances to be registered. And then Luke zooms in on one couple among many - Joseph and Mary, who have come from Nazareth to Bethlehem, unwed, and yet expecting a child, arriving at the end of their journey only to find that there's no room at the inn, knowing that the baby will come any time now, wondering what will happen. Will Mary be okay? Will the baby?

And then Luke shifts the focus to look at the shepherds, rounding out this classic Christmas tale we hear each year. Shepherds, who were considered the lowest of the low in their culture – thought of as shiftless and dishonest, looked upon with suspicion, and here they are in the middle of our story - living in the fields. Living there – did they have no other place to go? Were the shepherds homeless, even though they were employed?

I doubt there was much singing as they began that night, for the world must have seemed a dark and scary place to these folks who had no place to turn, no idea what the future would hold.

But then, just as the prophet Isaiah had promised, a light shined on those who walked in darkness. Out there in the night, completely unexpected, an angel of the Lord comes and shines with God's glory, surrounding the shepherds with God's light, bathing them in it! Reminding them that even though they are in darkness, they are not forgotten, they have not been abandoned. God has seen, God has heard, God knows their struggles and their worries and their fears, and God sends to them an angel -
to shine with God's light,
to bring a message of hope,
to announce good news of great joy for all the people:

“Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid, for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

The Messiah, the one they have been waiting for, the one who will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace – he is here, finally here. God's kingdom is breaking in, beginning even this night, to make all things new, to heal what has been broken, to fill their hearts with peace.

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors.” There the angelic host was in the night sky, singing to God, singing in the darkness, because even in the midst of the darkness, when Jesus comes, there is always a reason to sing!

That is why we come together to celebrate this and every Christmas. Not because we hope to push back the darkness of our world on our own with our bright lights and our beautiful music, but because we know the Light of the world, Jesus. He shines already in our darkness, bringing hope, bringing peace. We come, despite our worries and our fears, come to hear God's angel say to each of us, “Do not be afraid, for see – I bring you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.”

Jesus – God in the flesh – is born, born to reveal God's deep and boundless love for us and for everyone; born to remind us that our God is an up-close-and-personal God who has not forgotten nor abandoned us. Our God is a God who doesn't just stand by watching, letting us fumble in the dark, but is God-with-us, experiencing our pains and our burdens as if they were God's very own, helping us through, shining with light and love in the darkest parts of our lives. This is our God, who comes to the last and the least and the lost, comes to the oppressed and the confused and the scared, who sends angels to say to each of us, “Do not be afraid – for to you is born this day a Savior, the Messiah, the Lord!”

That reporter may think there is no reason for singing this Christmas, but we know different, don't we? For Jesus is with us, and when he comes, there is always a reason for singing! Thanks be to God.
Amen.

Unexpected Gifts - December 21, 2008

The Lord Is With You
Luke 1:26-38
Advent 4 – December 21, 2008

Have you ever had a Christmas where you didn't get anything on your list? When all of the presents were unexpected, because they weren't any of the things you had asked for? I remember one Christmas – I think I was a senior in college. As always, my mom had called before Christmas to ask me for my Christmas list. Of course, as a poor college student, I had no problem coming up with a long list of things I would like to have, things I couldn't afford to buy myself. I compiled a very thorough list, filled with the very specific things I wanted. I didn't quite get to the point of cutting out pictures and taping them to the page, but I made sure what I wanted was very clear. I certainly didn't expect to get everything on my list, but I did want to make sure my mom had plenty of options to choose from.

Well, with all the care & effort I put into making my list, you can imagine my surprise when I opened up my presents on Christmas morning, and the only thing I got from the list was - - SOCKS! And I don't want to sound ungrateful, but I have to admit that there was a big part of me that wondered, “What in the world did I make a list for if she wasn't gonna use it?!?”


I have to wonder if Mary felt a little bit like that during this exchange with the angel Gabriel. Because I'm fairly certain that what Mary got that first Christmas was nothing that she had put down on any list.

You see, Mary was a young girl, probably all of about 13 or 14, but considered a young woman, old enough to get married, ready to start her grown-up life soon. And as she dreamed about that life and planned for her future, I imagine that the things she wanted, the things on her “list”, so to speak, were to have a good marriage with a nice home, have some children, and raise their family right there in her hometown of Nazareth, living a quiet, happy, peaceful life, her very own happily-ever-after.

But then Gabriel comes bursting in on her life with a message from God. The Message version of the Bible puts Gabriel's message like this: “Mary, you have nothing to fear. God has a surprise for you!” And the surprise? “You will become pregnant and give birth to a son and call his name Jesus.”
Well, I'll bet it sure was a surprise! Mary wasn't even married yet! Having a baby out of wedlock certainly wasn't on her list of things she wanted in her life, nevermind the damage to her reputation and her relationships that would come along with it. Traveling to Bethlehem for a census when she was nine months pregnant & giving birth in a stable or racing off to Egypt to escape King Herod's threat on her newborn son's life probably weren't on the list either. This is what it means to be God's favored one?! In the shock of that initial announcement, as she thought about what this would mean for her life, Mary might very well have wondered, “why did I bother making a list if God wasn't gonna use it? - Why make plans for my life if God is just going to upset them?”

We all face questions like those in our lives. We dream and we plan for the way we want our lives to be... our relationships, our families, our homes, our jobs, and on & on. Even if we don't plan out the exact specifics or cut out pictures and tape them to our paper list, most of us have our own mental wish list of the things we want in our lives. But sooner or later, we all find ourselves in situations that are nothing like what we asked for: someone we love dies; there's a crippling accident; we lose a job; the economy goes off in a tailspin. These are things no one ever asks for, and when they happen, we find ourselves wondering, “What do I do now?” We wonder why we planned our lives and dreamed our dreams if God was just gonna upset them. Why make a list if God isn't gonna use it?

Sometimes we think about God the way I was thinking of my mom that long ago Christmas morning – we think that just because we make a list, God is obligated to get us what's on it. We think that if we are truly God's favored ones, God will show us that favor by giving us everything we ask for.
But what I learned so many Christmases ago is that sometimes the unexpected gifts are even better than the things we ask for. Those socks my mom got me from my list are long gone – glad to know that, aren't ya? And I think most of the other things on that list would be long gone by now too, but I still have some of the presents my mom chose for me. She knew what she was doing, even if I couldn't appreciate it at the time.

And if that's true for moms, it's certainly even more true for God! God doesn't always give us the things we think we want, but God's unexpected gifts are even better! Although Mary may have thought she wanted safety and tranquility, what she got was beyond all of her expectations. When Gabriel came to her, he said, “ you will conceive and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” In that little boy, her son, the Son of the Most High, Mary would come to know the truth of Gabriel's greeting: “The Lord is with you.” The Lord is with you. Even as she had to face her parents and her fiancé with the unbelievable news that she was pregnant and still a virgin – The Lord is with you. Even as she traveled on the long journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem – The Lord is with you. As they escaped to the foreign land of Egypt, the place where their ancestors had been enslaved – The Lord is with you. That was the promise, the reality that gave her hope, that gave her strength, that gave her the courage to say in response to God's call to bear this child and face all that came after, “Here I am, the servant of the LORD; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary was just an ordinary girl, but she knew the truth of God's promise. And that promise is ours to hold on to too. It is the message of God's angel ringing throughout history to all of us: The Lord is with you.

The Lord is with you, no matter what situation you are facing. The Lord is with you and will never leave you. The Lord is with you, giving you hope and strength and courage. That is why we celebrate the birth of Jesus every year - for it is in him, born as a baby, sent to live with us and share our burdens and our pain - it is in Jesus that we see the face of God, God who is with us. It is something with we would never have thought to ask for, but worth more than anything else in the world.

Thanks be to God for unexpected gifts!

Amen.

December 14, 2008 - Stuart Smalley vs. John the Baptist

God Sent John to Witness to the Light
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Advent 3 – December 14, 2008

“I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”

Back when I was in high school, this was the mantra of the fictional Stuart Smalley, who was played by comedian-turned- Minnesota-politician Al Franken on Saturday Night Live. In the skit, Stuart was the insecure host of a cable access show called Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley. Every show was a comedy of errors, but in Stuart's words, that was - “okay,” and he ended each program by looking at himself in the mirror and saying this affirmation, “I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me,” as if trying to convince himself that it was really true.

Now John the baptizer doesn't appear to have any such problem with his self-confidence or self-esteem. The way the Gospel of John tells it, John the Baptist was filled with purpose; he knew what he was supposed to do with his life, and he got out there and did it. John was sent with a message for the people, “Repent & be baptized! Make straight the way of the Lord!” And we know from the last week's lesson from Mark, and indirectly from this one, that people came out in droves to hear him preach and to be baptized by him in the Jordan.

No, John was not what we would call insecure. He was so bold in following through with his mission that he caused quite a ruckus out there in the wilderness – so much so that the religious establishment of the day sent out the equivalent of investigative reporters, the priests and Levites, to find out what was going on! John was kind of stealing their sheep, you know. “Who are you?” they ask him. Are you the Messiah? Are you the famous prophet Elijah? (You remember him, he was the one who had not died, but was carried to heaven on a chariot of fire?) Are you the prophet? (That's the prophet “like Moses” who God had promised to raise up in Israel.) “Who are you?” they want to know. But they're asking about more than just his name, more than his identity. What they really want is for him to show them his credentials. “If you're not any of these famous figures, what are you doing out here causing such a stir? Why are you baptizing? Who gave you the right? Who do you think you are?”

“Who do you think you are? - Who are you?” Important questions for the followers of Jesus who dare to even think about witnessing to his Light in our dark world. And for most of us, I'd wager a guess that we hear those questions not so much from others, but in the sound of our own voices. The ones questioning our credentials to share the good news of God's love for us, revealed to us through Jesus, are not likely to be other people. Because most of us aren't out there catching their attention and causing a stir by sharing the message God has sent us with. No, we are kept silent by our inner investigative reporters, who come to us asking, “Who are you? Who do you think you are? What qualifies you for this job?”

They are the voices of our doubts and our fears,
voices that are loud and powerful -

because we know the reality of who we are,
and who we are not.

When we think about telling someone else about Jesus, we worry, because we know
that we are not good enough,
we are not smart enough;
and doggone it,
we are afraid that if we dare to open our mouths
people won't like us.

Witnessing to Jesus and who he is can be a scary thing – and most of us feel more like insecure Stuart Smalley than bold John the Baptist on any given day. “Who are we, who are so broken, so imperfect -” we wonder, “- who are we to carry this good news into the wilderness of our world?”

The question of what our credentials are can stop us in our tracks – but it did not stop John the Baptist. And we find out why right from the beginning of this passage. “There was a man sent from God...” His name was John, and he was a man sent from God. God sent John to be the voice in the wilderness. God sent John to be a witness to testify to the light. “What are your credentials?” the priests and the Levites asked him. “God sent me,” he might have answered. God sent John, and those are the only credentials he needs. John didn't need to memorize the Bible front to back; John didn't need to go to a special school to learn about religious doctrine and the “right” answers to tricky theological questions. God sent him. And John knew that this mission wasn't about him. His job was always to point beyond himself, to the one who was coming after him, to the light coming into the world, to Jesus, the true Messiah who would fulfill what the prophet Isaiah declared in our first lesson -

– the one who was coming
to bring good news to the oppressed,
to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
to comfort all who mourn.

This was John's mission, to point Jesus out, for he knew what others did not. John knew that Jesus was among them, and yet he was unknown to so many. The good news of his presence was what they had all been waiting for, but they could not see it on their own! This was good news that had to be shared, so when God sent John, John went!

But John is not the only one God sent. God sends each of us too, with a message to share! After he is raised from the dead, Jesus comes to his disciples and says to them, and through them, to us,

“As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21).
And again: “Go therefore and make disciples...” (Mt. 28:19).
And again!: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation...”
(Mark 16:15)

We who are followers of Jesus have been called, chosen, and sent by God to witness, to testify to the light of the world. And we don't have to have the whole Bible memorized, we don't have to go to a special school and get special training or a degree in theology. Those can be good and useful things, but they are not necessary; we don't need them to prove our credentials. All we need is to know that we have been sent by God to share the ways that Christ's light has shone in the darkness of our lives, to tell the stories of how that light has healed us and transformed us.

There are people in our lives who have never met Jesus, who have never known his love, his peace, his joy. He stands among us as one whom they do not know, and they need someone to point him out. That someone is you! God is sending you!

If somehow you missed the memo, I want to remind you that Christmas is coming (duh!). It's a time when people, even in the midst of their shopping and decorating and baking, might be willing to look beyond those things to the story that inspires the celebration, might be willing to consider this man Jesus in a new way. What better time to share the Good News!? To invite a friend or co-worker or neighbor to come and see the truth that “God is with us” in Jesus? To silence our inner questioners by pulling out the credentials that God has given us?

And if you're still not sure about your qualifications - if you still question those credentials, go ahead and take a page from Stuart Smalley's book... Stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself this:

“You're good enough,
“You're smart enough,
And doggone it, God sent you!”

December 7, 2008

The Holy Spirit Comes to Clear Out Our Clutter!
Mark 1:1-8
Advent 2 – December 7, 2008

You could always tell when company was coming in my house as a kid. Because when company was coming, my mom recruited all of us, my brother & 2 sisters & I, to a frenzy of house cleaning. What passed for good enough in our everyday lives was suddenly not good enough anymore. Company was coming – so we had to clean up the clutter that tended to fill our house – the shoes left haphazardly inside the door had to be put in the closet, the toys on the floor had to be picked up and put away, the counters had to be cleaned off of whatever homework or mail had taken up residence there. And of course there was the dusting that had been neglected, or the vacuuming that hadn't been done, plus all of the other normal things you do when guests are coming to your house.

But I was always dumbfounded by my mother's actions. Because getting the house to look neat & clean on the surface wouldn't do for her. If it'd been up to me, we would've hidden our clutter away in closets, or down in the basement, or that perennial favorite catch-all, the junk drawer. But when company was coming, that was where you were likely to find her. Knowing company was coming motivated her; she took it as an opportunity to clean and organize the most cluttered places of our family's life. I could never understand it, because from my perspective, cleaning up the surface stuff was plenty – why bother with the places no one would ever see?

I got to thinking about that question when I was reading the gospel for this week. Mark starts off his story of the good news about Jesus with John the Baptist, “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'” John comes outta nowhere, telling us, “Get ready – Company's coming!” And I was wondering, how do we prepare? How do we get ready for this company? Most of us are pretty good at preparing for Christmas, but how do we get ready for Christ? How do we make a straight path in our lives for Jesus to come to us? What mountains or valleys stand in his way? What causes such uneven ground, so many rough places, to appear in our lives? How do we level them out, make a plain so that Jesus can come into our lives without having to hurdle the clutter that so easily piles up?

Because our lives are cluttered. Not just with the physical stuff that most of us have more of than we know what to do with, but spiritual clutter -the clutter of too many things to do, the clutter of distraction, the clutter of selfishness or resentment or addiction. All of that clutter is just a symptom of a deeper problem, & let's just call it what it is: SIN. Sin – all of those things that keep us from putting God first, that's what clutters up our lives. And it's hard to think in all that spiritual clutter, to remember that company is coming, and we need to prepare. And what I learn from this story is that a surface cleaning isn't enough, like I used to think when company was coming to our house. It's not enough to spot clean and hope that Jesus won't see the dirt that we've tried to sweep under the rug, or hide in a closet, or dump in the junk drawer.

The people of Jesus' time had the same struggle we do: how to prepare the way of the Lord, how to make his paths straight. That's why Mark tells this story of John the baptizer who appeared in the wilderness, calling people to prepare. He went out there with a message to the people to repent, to be baptized. This wasn't baptism the way we as Christians understand it, but it had the same idea of being made clean, of washing away sin.

Hordes of people came out to hear him, and they heard the call, “Company's coming! Time to clean house!” They heard John, and they responded, they went down in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. They didn't settle for just tidying up the counters and putting away the shoes. They got down deep in the hidey-holes of their lives, clearing out all of the clutter, so they could be really clean. Confessing their sins, they started over, getting rid of the obstacle course and making a level path in their hearts and lives for Jesus to come.

The trouble is, clutter is sneaky. No matter how many times we sort through it, and organize it, and put it away, or give it away, or throw it away, somehow we turn around, and there it is again! And I know it's not just me! Every year when we have the Harvest Festival, I marvel at how much Bric-A-Brac people bring in, and I wonder: Where does it all come from? We just cleaned out our houses last year! How much more stuff can we have? And yet there it is, enough to fill up the auditorium. Clutter has a way of coming right back into our lives, no matter how hard we try to control it.

Sin is like that too. On our best days, we heed John's call; we try to clear a path through the clutter so Jesus can come straight into our lives. We want to have our house ((our lives) ready for our most important guest. And so we follow the example of this story: we come to church, & we confess each week that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. Hopefully that attitude of confession & repentance, of turning back to God, is a part of our daily prayers too. But as soon as we confess & receive forgiveness, we turn around & see the clutter of our sin piling up again. Clearing out the clutter is an on-going challenge, something we can't ever take care of all on our own.

But John reminded his listeners when they came out to repent, to confess, and be made clean that the one who was coming after him was more powerful than John himself was. John could baptize with water, but the one whose coming he was announcing, Jesus, will baptize them with the Holy Spirit. And that promise is for us too! When we are baptized, it is not just with water, but with the Holy Spirit. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit as a life-long gift. In a way, the Holy Spirit is like those cleaning and organizing gurus you see on shows like Clean Sweep or Oprah. People on those shows have become overwhelmed; their clutter is overtaking their lives. And in come the organizing experts, with fresh eyes for the situation, and a vision for how life could be, a life lived in freedom from the weight of all their stuff. They see the patterns that got the guests into that mess to begin with, the habits that got them into trouble. And then they set about the hard work of cleaning it up... They guide and direct their clients, working along side them as they dig in to get rid of the clutter, helping them to start over, to start fresh.

The Holy Spirit is kind of like that. She comes in to our lives and sees things we can't see. She identifies the patterns of sin that have taken over our lives, that have blocked the path for Jesus' Coming. The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see our sinful ways for what they really are, and then inspires us to want to change, to start over, to start fresh. And then that same spirit gets to work right alongside us, coaching us about what we need to get rid of, what we can keep; guiding us to confess and to turn to Jesus for new life. The Holy Spirit works in us, with us, to set the house of our lives in order so that Jesus will have a straight path.

The clutter of our sin will always be more than we can conquer on our own, but the Good News is we don't have to go it alone. Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to help prepare the way. Thanks be to God!
Amen.

An Advent Conspiracy

We have entered into the beginning of the church year, the season of Advent. If you heard or read last week's sermon, you know that Advent is a season of anticipation, of active waiting, of being Christ's hands & feet in the world while we wait for his triumphant return when he will make all things new.

The 2nd reading from this coming Sunday is from 2 Peter (chapter 3, verses 8-15a, specifically). The writer of this second letter of Peter (who probably wasn't really Peter, but we'll talk about that another time), says this:

"Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God...?" (vs. 11-12a; italics mine)

This passage suggests to me that there is something we can do, that we ought to be doing to speed up God's coming, to be part of bringing God's kingdom (God's reign, God's ruling) here on Earth, here in our own lives. Advent is a good time for us to be thinking about our part in God's dream for the world, to wonder individually and together what we can be doing to reveal God's love to that world, the world God loves so much...

While wandering Facebook (a social networking site that connects me with friends and colleagues and loads o' interesting information), I learned about the "Advent Conspiracy", which invites us to spend Advent in this way:

Worship Fully

Spend Less

Give More

Love All

This video from their website is great & says more about what this season should be about vs. the way we tend to experience it.

What would it look like if we all bought one less gift and gave the money away? For clean water, for world hunger, for warm clothes - for some need that speaks to your heart personally?
Let me know what you think in the comments!

Give Thanks - with a Grateful Heart

Nearly a week after Thanksgiving, I finally had a chance to watch this short (about 2 min.) video that Andy sent me on Thanksgiving. It certainly puts things in perspective. You've got 2 minutes - check it out!

November 30, 2008

Jesus Is Coming
Mark 13:24-37
Advent 1 – November 30, 2008

...Waiting...

Advent is a season of waiting...

Waiting for Christ to come as a little child; waiting for Christ to come again in glory & power to renew all of creation.

Waiting is something we've got tons of experience in – It's estimated that we spend 3 years of a 70-year life span just waiting. If you've lived longer than that, you've spent even more time waiting! And there are all kinds of waiting. In Oh, The Places You'll Go, Dr. Seuss talks about the waiting place, filled with people:

Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.

Yes, we wait a lot, at the grocery store, at the doctor's office, on each other -and with all of that practice waiting, you would think that we would be good at it! And yet, in our instant oatmeal, high-speed Internet, overnight delivery world, waiting is something we tend to resent. We want whatever we're waiting for to be here already, to be happening now, instead of on some future day. We have a hard time living in the present moment. We have a hard time waiting.

The early church was not so good at waiting either. That's the group that the author of Mark was writing to. The Gospel of Mark was written about 3 or 4 decades after Jesus had lived and died. Those early Christians fully believed that Christ was coming back - was coming soon, in their lifetime! But as time wore on, he didn't come, the first followers began to die, and waiting for the day of Jesus' return became harder and harder. They saw the events Jesus had talked about as signs that his coming was near start to happen around them: the temple had been destroyed, families had started turning in their Christian relatives to the authorities, persecution for their faith had begun. And still, Jesus did not come. Times were tough for them, and they longed for Jesus to come back and set everything right. They wanted Jesus to come and save them. As I imagine how they felt, I hear an echo of what we heard in Isaiah this morning: “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence...” There's a sense of longing, but also, maybe, of impatience, kind of like the guy from Caddy Shack who Andy likes to quote: “Well... we're waiting!”

“Show up now God! You've been gone too long.”

This story that Mark tells us this morning is part of what's known as the “little apocalypse.” Jesus describes the day of his return as a day when “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven...” We read passages like this, and honestly, don't they sound kind of scary? But to that early group of Christians, frightened by what they saw taking place in the world around them, it was good news! The message that Jesus was gonna come back gave them hope and courage, even as the world around them seemed to be falling apart. Here in this passage, Jesus promises them, and us, that even though heaven & earth will pass away, his words will not pass away. We hear once again a parable about a man who goes away, but we also hear that the master of the house, Jesus, will return. No one knows for sure when it will happen, not even Jesus, just God the Father, but Jesus promises that he will be back! The troubles that surround them will not last forever, because Jesus is coming, and when he does, the world will be restored, and all the troubles they're facing will be over.

But knowing this isn't a license for them to sit around, twiddling their thumbs and doing nothing. Jesus says that while they wait, they have work to do! He tells them to beware, keep alert, be on watch. Keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come. The man has gone on a journey, and he has left his servants in charge – each with their work. They have been given a job to do, duties and responsibilities to fulfill. They are supposed to be doing the work of the master, even though he is gone. That is part of their waiting, their hopeful expectation that he will return someday, their joyful desire to do his work even in his absence.

As we enter Advent, this season of waiting & watching, today, it is good for us to hear this story again. It is not quite what we would expect or hope to hear, while the world around us fills up with twinkling lights and the sentimental songs of the season. But in our troubled world, where terrorists take hostages and kill innocent people, where greedy shoppers are so intent on getting a great bargain that they trample over a man caught in their way, we too long for a Savior to come and set things right, to change the world, to change us into the people we know we should be, the people we were created to be. We need to hear over and over again the promise that Jesus is coming, not just as a babe in a manger, but as the “'Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory,” who will usher in the fullness of God's kingdom, where God's will is always done, here on earth as it is in heaven.

This is good news! It is the day we look forward to, the day we cry out for, when we say “Come, Lord Jesus.” And while we wait, Jesus calls us to keep alert, to be on the lookout, because we don't know when that day or hour will be. And I don't mean that we're supposed to be like kids in school whose teacher has to leave the room & leaves them without supervision. You know how that goes, right? In my school, kids would take that as a chance to act up, to act wild, and usually one kid was set at the door to be the lookout, to warn everyone else when the teacher was coming. That not what Jesus is talking about. That's now how we are supposed to wait. While we wait, Jesus tells us to be alert, to watch with joyful anticipation, to wait for our most honored guest, to get ready to meet him when he comes. Remember the way you used to wait for Christmas Eve and for Santa to come? The hope, the excitement? Our waiting should be like that!

And while we wait, Jesus tells us we have work to do! We can't sit around twiddling our thumbs, bemoaning the state of the world, and wishing for Jesus to come back. It's not like the John Mayer song of a few years ago – we can't “keep on waiting, waiting, waiting for the world to change.” Jesus wants us to be part of the change, just as he was. Until he comes back, we are Christ's hands and feet in the world. We are to look for the signs of his coming, to see the places where God is already at work, those kingdom moments when God breaks through from eternity into the here and now, and to point those signs out to others, so that they can look forward to Christ's return with hope & longing, instead of fear & trepidation! Not only that, we are called to share in God's work, to reach out into our world to make a difference – feeding the hungry, and giving the thirsty something to drink; welcoming the stranger and clothing the naked; caring for the sick and visiting those in prison. When we look for Christ in the faces of the ones he called “the least of these,” we will find that there is more than enough to keep us alert and awake while we wait for his return.

Stir up your power in us, O God. Stir up your power and come. Amen.

November 16, 2008

God Gives Us Gifts to Use with Joy!
Matthew 25:14-30
Pentecost + 27 – November 16, 2008
Commitment Sunday

What would you do if you won the lottery? What would you do with all that money? It's a question that gets the imagination running, & it's a question I ask our 8th graders every year at the beginning of Confirmation. Imagine you have just won the lottery – how would you use the money if you suddenly had more of it than you had ever dreamed, all at once? I don't give them any limits or rules or suggestions – and their answers are as unique as they are. Some of the money they would spend on themselves, for clothes or candy or cars, music or video games or parties. Parents, you'll probably be glad to know that most of them would give some to you or to other family members to help pay off the house or other debt or just because they love you. Some of them mention using it to help solve some of the world's big problems, like hunger & poverty or global warming. And some would put most of it away in the bank to help pay for college or their own homes someday. But no matter how they would use it, not a single one of them has any difficulty coming up with ways to use it. And none of them ever says that they would bury it underground for safekeeping.

Yet that's exactly what the 3rd slave does in the story Jesus tells in the gospel this morning. Here comes the master of the slaves, who apparently was Warren-Buffet-rich. He gathers 3 of his servants together, and tells them that he's going away for a while. And on that note, he dumps huge amounts of money into their care. Jesus says he entrusted his property to them – giving the 1st 5 talents, and the 2nd 2 talents, and the 3rd 1 talent, giving to each according to their ability. But even one talent was a huge amount of money – it was about 20 years worth of wages. Can you imagine suddenly having 20 years' worth of paychecks added to your checking account all at once? And once he does this, the master is out of there, off on his journey, leaving them all this money, and no instructions on how to use it.

But the expectation is obvious. The master clearly expects the slaves to do something worthwhile with his money – he expects them to use it wisely, to do his work while he's gone, to have something to show for it when he gets back. And two of them do just that. They went off at once and traded with it. The master has trusted them with this money, and so they go boldly, seeking to live up to that trust.

But the 3rd slave – he is caught up in fear. Given this money as an incredible symbol of the trust his boss had placed in him, he's paralyzed. Slave number 3 doesn't know what to do. For whatever reason, he holds a very low opinion of the master, an opinion the other 2 don't seem to have, I might point out. And so what does he do? He lets his fears over what might happen if he makes a mistake, if he does the wrong thing, if he somehow loses some of the money that's been given to him to work with – he lets those fears take charge, and he hides the money away. He grabs a shovel, digs a hole, and throws the money in (maybe he thought money really does grow on trees?, marking the spot in his mind for the day the master will return. And the master is gone for a long time, Jesus says. I kind of get this picture in my mind's eye of the 3rd slave, going out every day to check on the money, to make sure it hasn't been disturbed, unable to enjoy life because he has allowed his fear to take over.

Fear and worry about money is something we can all relate to, especially these days. Every day brings some new bad news about the economy – unemployment is rising, big businesses are sliding toward bankruptcy if they're not there already, and the government bail-out plan doesn't seem to be working very effectively yet. In times like this, we sympathize with the third slave, because burying our money or hiding it under the mattress for safekeeping doesn't seem like such a bad idea anymore. Like the 3rd servant, we may be trapped by our fear, constantly checking the stock market and our retirement accounts to see if our money is still there. We don't know what the future will bring, so we are really tempted to just hunker down and guard what we have, to hide it away for some future day.

But this is not the joyful life God has called us to live! The first two slaves in the story got that. Seeing the amazing gifts the master had given them, they rejoiced in the trust that the master had shown in them. They knew that the money wasn't theirs to spend or use how they pleased; it had been given to them to do the work of the master while he was away. Knowing how much they had been entrusted with, they went to work, freely & joyfully, wanting to accomplish something good with those gifts for the sake of the master. Instead of being held captive by what the man had given them, they were set free to do great things in the world! When the master returns, they're like little kids - “Look what I did!” They are proud and happy to show what they have done, sure that their boss will be pleased with them. When the master invites them to enter into his joy, it's really just an extension of the joy that is already theirs. Even while he was gone, they were living in that joy, because they were free to use his gifts, freed from fear.

That is good news for us today – God has given each of us an amazing amount of resources. It's almost like we won the lottery! We may not have the checking account to prove it, but think of all you have. Think of the many ways God has already blessed you! We have all been given different amounts – but none of us has been left out! God has given each of us abundant gifts - right from the very start, at the beginning of the story! And God gives them to us with a purpose. God doesn't mean for us to hold on to them in fear; God gives us gifts to use with joy! God gives us all that we have so that we might be at work in the world, doing God's will, helping to bring about God's dream for the world. This story is a call to trust the master who has given us so much, and to live out that trust boldly, to share generously out of what we have been given.

When we do that, when we let go of our iron-fisted grip on what we think belongs to us, we are set free – free from our worries, free from our fears, free from the slavery to our stuff that imprisons so many of us. It doesn't happen all at once, no, but using God's gifts generously is a step in the right direction, a step on the path to freedom.

During the past month, we have been emphasizing financial stewardship and what that means for our walk with Jesus. You have heard stories from members of our congregation, stories about the times when they have struggled, stories about how they decided to trust God anyway – and to act on that trust through their giving. They have shared how God has been faithful, how there has always somehow been enough, how God has blessed them abundantly – not necessarily financially, but in so many other ways. And underneath it all, I hope you have heard what I have heard, the truth about how God has set them free! Free to see God working through them and through us and the gifts we offer. Free to go dig that money back up out of the ground and set it loose in the world where it can do some good. Free to trust God even more. As they shared their stories, we have seen people who have been set free, and have already entered into God's joy, the joy that comes from sharing abundantly!

That is the opportunity we all have this morning, and the invitation to us: to remember the amazing trust God has placed in our hands and to respond boldly, not fearfully. It is a call to trust God, despite the circumstances, a call to step out in faith, trusting that God will take care of us, and choosing to live that trust as we share generously out of what God has already given us. Don't bury God's gifts in a hole! Let God set you free, and enter into the joy of the master!
Amen.

November 9, 2008

God Gives Us Oil for Our Lamps
Matthew 25:1-13
Pentecost + 26 – November 9, 2008

Last year my little sister, Jess, gave me & Andy each one of these little lamps that she brought home for us from Israel. When she gave them to us, she told us that the lamps were designed to burn brightly, to be a pool of light in the darkness. They don't require any special kind of fuel, just regular ol' olive oil will do. But, she said, these are not “set it & forget it” kind of lamps. You can't just fill 'em once & light it & expect it to burn forever. No, Jess said, you have to keep an eye on the oil level, and make sure you refill it when it starts to get low. Otherwise, they'll just burn out & they won't be able to do what they were created to do.

Jesus tells us a story about lamps today – 10 lamps to be precise, and the 10 bridesmaids who carried them. Now weddings back then were different than they are now, & so the customs & expectations for bridesmaids were different. People didn't go to the church to get married; the groom & his family would leave their home and go to the family of the bride. The ceremony would start there & then they'd all come back to the groom's home where the rest of the guest would be waiting. The ceremony would be finished & then the party would begin! So the job of the bridesmaids was to wait for the bridal party to come to the groom's house. And while they waited, they were to tend their lamps, so they would be shining brightly, lighting up the night so that everyone could see that the groom was coming! That was their one job – to make sure everyone could see the groom through them.

Jesus tells us that not all of the bridesmaids were able to do that. For whatever reason, 5 of them didn't bring along any extra oil. Who knows why – it's probably not that there was an oil crisis – the other 5 seemed to have plenty. My guess is that the ones Jesus describes as foolish didn't even think of it. Maybe they were too busy running around getting for the wedding, rushing out the door, & didn't have time to grab the extra flask of oil. But for whatever reason, they find themselves awoken in the middle of the night to the announcement that the groom is near & panic when they realize that they're almost out of oil – their lamps are gonna go out!

So they ask the other bridesmaids – it kind of reminds me of a song I learned in Sunday school or Vacation Bible School years ago - “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burnin', give me oil in my lamp I pray. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burnin', keep me burnin' til the break of day...” And those wise bridesmaids say, “No, we can't – there won't be enough for all of us. Go get your own.”
Now I have to tell you that that piece right there kind of bothers me. Why won't the 5 wise bridesmaids share? What kind of lesson is Jesus trying to teach here? He always taught his followers to love their neighbors as themselves, and that doesn't seem like a very loving thing to do.

But what I realized is that Jesus is telling us that each of us needs to be ready. He's talking about the day we look forward to – the day when he will return & the never-ending party can begin! And he's saying that each of us needs to be prepared. It's like what my sister said about the lamps she gave us. Our lives are like those lamps – created with a purpose, designed to shine brightly, even in the darkness of the world. In the Sermon on the Mount, way back in Matthew 5, Jesus told his listeners that they were the light of the world. So let that light shine, he says – let it shine through your good works so that others will see & will give glory to God in heaven. Hold up the lamp of your life, in other words, and show others that Jesus, the groom, is coming! Help them to be ready, help them to see that Jesus is on his way, he'll be here any minute, & the party is about to begin! That's our job Christians, to keep our lamps ready, so that they can shine brightly until Jesus comes again.

But in order to do that, we need to make sure we have enough oil. We need a source of fuel if the lamp is gonna keep shining. We need to have a reserve of oil if we are gonna be able to do what God has called us to do. And it's not something we can borrow from anyone else. I think that's why those other bridesmaids didn't share. Because Jesus wants us to know that oil doesn't come from other people. Because the oil that keeps us going can only come from God. It comes through cultivating a relationship with God, spending time with God, growing with God – and no one else can do that for us. It's like asking to borrow your friend's homework – you can get the answers, but you can't get the learning & understanding that comes from doing the work yourself. Likewise, you can't look at your friend who has a happy, solid marriage and ask them to give you some of what they have. They just can't do it. Some things can't be borrowed.

Many of us though, myself included, are more like the 5 foolish bridesmaids than we'd like to admit. We mean well, we have good intentions, we want to serve God in the world & let our light shine, but most of the time, we are so busy running out the door from one obligation to another that we forget to check the oil in our lamps. Even when are lives are not hectic & frantic & busy, we take our light for granted. We're easily distracted, sucked in to the whirlwind of options that are fun & entertaining - but they don't refill our lamps! It's only when we're sputtering & spitting, trying to keep the flame alive that we realize we've let the oil run out.

The good news is that God has an unending supply of oil for us. Only God can supply it, but God is always ready & waiting to fill us back up. And even better, it doesn't cost us anything but some time! Time spent with God each and every day – time spent in intentional prayer and in reading the Bible and in worship. Many of us are really good at the quick prayer – in the car or in the grocery store. That's kind of like the text message of communication with God. Text messages are good for quick questions or answers, but they don't really deepen the relationship. Coming to worship every week is helpful too. That's kind of like a phone call – a wonderful way of keeping in touch. But nothing beats one-on-one time, being together in person! In order for the relationship to grow and mature, to sustained for the long haul, you really need that time together. When was the last time you did that - set aside time just to spend with God, with nothing else going on? When was the last time you let God fill you up to overflowing, instead of settling for a drip here and a drop there?

God longs to spend that kind of time with each of us. And I'm not talking about hours everyday, but I am talking about taking some time every day; focused time, time that is just for you and God. Time for God to take your lamp & fill it up – because just like this little lamp my sister gave me – we can't hold too much oil at one time. We need to come to the Giver everyday if we're gonna keep shining! And God has buckets of the stuff, more than we will ever need to keep our lamps lit while we wait for Jesus to come. All we have to do is come to God & ask. I even have a song you can sing... “Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burnin'. Keep me burnin' til the break of day!” Make that your prayer today, and let God fill you up.
Amen.


And if you don't know the song, here is a clip of a little boy singing verse 1 + the chorus, which I left out...



Gotta love YouTube!

All Saints Sunday - November 2, 2008

Salvation Belongs to Our God!
Revelation 7:9-17
All Saints Day – November 2, 2008

I'll never forget the spring of my junior year in high school. It was the first time I ever saw Billy Joel in concert. My cousin got me tickets to see the show in Pittsburgh, & I rounded up some fellow fans, and off we went for one of the highlights of my young life!

If you've ever been to see one of your favorite musicians live & in person, you can imagine how I felt – the anticipation, the excitement, the joy of being in the presence of this person whose music I loved so much. The concert was wonderful – Billy performed for 3 hours straight, no opening act, no bad numbers. I remember being there in the darkened arena with thousands of screaming fans, all who loved him as much as I did. And I remember this amazing sense of unity among all of us, drawn together from who knows how many different places, joined into one as we lifted our voices in song, singing along with Billy Joel the songs he had written, singing back to him the words that we all knew by heart. It was - for me - a little glimpse of heaven.

Because that night is what the 1st lesson, the passage from Revelation, reminds me of. I don't know how most of you imagine what worship will be like in heaven, if you ever give it any thought at all, although I doubt most of us ever think it'll be anything like a rock concert. More likely, we think of subdued, solemn angels, gently plucking their harp strings, drifting from cloud to cloud. Peaceful, but boring. But from what the prophet John says here, I'm betting it'll be so much more than that!

He says that there will be a huge crowd there, bigger than any stadium or arena could ever hold, and in that crowd will be people who come from all over! They will be there from every nation on earth, and from every tribe and people, and speaking every language that there ever was or ever will be. And all of these people, different as they are, as separated as they might have been on earth – by socio-economic class or beliefs or sheer physical distance, will be united, drawn together by God & Christ, the Lamb, all singing together at the top of their lungs in love and praise for the One who has saved them! Just as I was at that concert, they will be lifted beyond themselves, lost in the joy & wonder of singing back to the one who wrote the song of their lives, the song of love, singing the words they know by heart (no need for hymnals in heaven!), amazed that they get to be there in person, forgetting all of the trials and tribulations that came before.

It is a beautiful, powerful picture John, a different John than the author of the gospel, paints here. It was an important message for the early church to hear, because they and John were living in dangerous times. It was a time of persecution and oppression, a time of insecurity and threats and random violence. It was a time when being a Christian marked you for potential attack by your neighbors, by your rulers, by the government. It was not a time that lent itself to feelings of joy. Fear & worry about their day-to-day existence, about their very survival, would have lurked at every corner, shadowing their hearts and minds even as they sought to follow Jesus. It is into this situation that John brings his message of this amazing worship before God's throne, where diverse people are united, crying out together, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” They are going through tough times now, but John's vision of the future brings them hope and courage – that their ordeals will not last forever. And when they have come out of the great ordeal, they will worship God, for God will shelter them & fears and tears, hunger and thirst, sin & death will all be a thing of the past. They will be delivered from all of the things that limited their lives on earth, called into wholeness of life, abundant life, in God's presence.

It can be hard sometimes for us in in 21st century America to make the connection between our experience and the events that happen in the Bible. We are not persecuted for our faith like our 1st century brothers and sisters were. But we can relate to their sense of fear and concern over what the future holds. As the election has gotten closer and closer, people on both sides of the political fence have been increasingly predicting doom & gloom if the opposing party wins. We worry about the economy and about wars and the threat of global warming & natural disasters. The future seems uncertain, insecure.

But into this situation, the Revelation of John come to us too! He paints a glorious picture of what is to come when God's kingdom comes in its fullness, when God's will will be done on earth, as it already is in heaven. In that day, God will be our shelter, and we will hunger and thirst no more. The Lamb who is also the Good Shepherd will lead us to the springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from our eyes! John's message comes to give us hope & courage to keep the faith, to trust in God despite our circumstances. John comes to remind us, not only of what God has done, but of what God is doing and what God promises to do!

But this vision he gives us of the departed saints worshiping God in glory is not just some future event. It's happening now, as we speak! Today, on All Saints Day, we remember and rejoice in the lives of all the saints, and we especially celebrate that the saints who have gone before us, the loved ones who are no longer with us, have joined the multitude that already surrounds God's throne! They are there with all of God's people, joining their hearts and their voices together to sing God's praise!

This marvelous picture of the present future keeps breaking in all around us who are still here on earth. Heaven breaks in, it peeks through, and I hope you feel it as you worship here this morning, that you feel united with each other, drawn out of yourself & beyond your worries and your fears, into something bigger than yourselves, into the love of the God who saves! For when God's people come together to worship and praise, we see the future now! It comes in different ways and different places for each of us. I felt it just a few weeks ago at the installation of Bishop Rimbo. It was like seeing this scene play out now, as people from many different nations and tribes and languages came together, singing and praising and praying together. We heard the Old Testament lesson read in its original Hebrew, and the prayers spoken in all the different languages represented there, and if we were looking up, in sign language too! And the music - organ & brass, classical quartets, African-American gospel, the steel drum band, traditional hymns and more recent additions to our common song! All of us giving praise to God in our unique ways, all of these things drawing us together as one people of God, because our focus was on God, not on ourselves.

And God's presence isn't felt only in the big high festive days of worship with hundreds of people. It breaks through in the everyday too! I have felt it in tiny groups of people gathered to sing our prayers through repetitive, contemplative song. I have felt it with groups of youth singing around the campfire - not just Kum Ba Yah, but the joyful stand up and jump and dance for Jesus kind of songs. And I have felt it here among us, as we have gathered for just a typical Sunday morning worship, when God's holy people – all of us – come together, and for one hour, give or take, we put aside our worries for the future, and stand together around God's throne, giving glory & honor & praise to the one who created us, and cares for us, and is bringing salvation into our lives every moment! Heaven breaks in when we focus our attention on God, instead of on each other and what may be. Salvation belongs to our God! Oh come, let us worship & praise! Amen!

Abundance vs. Scarcity - An Article by Walter Brueggemann

Right now, our fall emphasis on financial stewardship is going on. It got me to thinking about this article from 1999, which I first read a few years ago. It looks at the promise of God's abundance that runs all through the Bible vs. our natural inclination to worry about not having enough. It's long-ish, but such a powerful witness to the great goodness God offers to us everyday. We don't need to fear that we will not have enough, even in these times of economic roller-coasters. It is a call to share what we have, in trust, in faith; to put aside our slavery to money and all it represents, a slavery we enter into out of our fear.

If you have a chance, please go read it. It may change the way you think of money, possessions, stewardship. Just click on the title above to go straight to the article!

Reformation Sunday - October 26, 2008

In honor of the Reformation, a brief clip from Luther (2003): Luther preaching in Wittenburg quite a while before he posts the 95 Theses, unintentionally starting the whole thing off with a bang... this clip is a good summary of Luther's move from believing in a God of condemnation to a God of love




And now the sermon...

The Son Sets Us Free
John 8:31-36
Reformation Sunday – October 26, 2008


“Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.”

We've all heard it, most of us have probably said it – but somebody shoulda told the people Jesus was speaking to in the gospel today. From their history and world geography lessons, these Jews who believed in Jesus would've known about the Nile River, but they were blind to the fact that they were living in denial.

Because when Jesus is talking to them and says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free,” they come right back at him. “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?”

His listeners were in denial. Political denial, for 1 thing, for they certainly had been slaves – for generations in Egypt, and then during the exile to Babylon, and even now, as this conversation is going on, Roman forces occupy and rule their land; they cannot rule themselves. But more than that, they were in spiritual denial too, blind to the fact that they are enslaved to sin. They couldn't see the truth right in front of them, that they were captives to their sinful selves, the part of them that turns away from God, the part that declares independence from the one who gave them life.

No, denial ain't just a river in Egypt. And somebody oughta tell us - because we live in a state of denial too. If someone were to come along and tell you that you are a slave, what would your reaction be? My guess is that we would deny it right away. Perhaps we would say with the people in this story, “We have never been slaves to anyone!” We live in America, the land of the free. Liberty is one of our unalienable rights. Freedom is our birthright.

But despite all our talk about freedom in this great land of ours, I ask you today, when was the last time that you felt really and truly free? Really, take a minute and think about when you last felt free.

Can you answer that question quickly, or do you need even more time to think, to comb through recent & distant memory to find an example of freedom? We are all walking around enslaved to something, but the fact is, we are so used to it, it is so much a part of “normal” for us that we don't even recognize we are living in slavery until we stop to think about those times when we have felt free – and we suddenly realize that most of the time we don't. Every week in church, we confess our sin to God – we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves, but do any of us ever stop to think about what that means? Do we stop to consider what is holding us captive? Original sin, yes – the self-centeredness that makes us think we are God, that we are should be in control, but our specific sins too – our greed, our idolatries, our fears, our busy-ness that has spun out of control?

Martin Luther it seems, did not live in denial. He knew he was enslaved. He was captured by his fear of God, a God who he believed was angry and filled with wrath, ready to punish even the most minor sin, a God who needed to be appeased by human acts before God could or would forgive. Luther was a slave to his attempts to get right with God on his own, and to his knowledge that no matter how hard he tried, he would never be able to do enough or be repentant enough to earn God's forgiveness. Luther knew he was trapped, and he longed to be set free, wrestling for years trying to find a way out.

But finally, Luther rediscovered the truth of the gospel, a truth that had been muted for so many years - the truth that God's love and forgiveness cannot be earned, but come to us as a gift by grace through faith in Jesus! Even as Luther wrestled with the voices of his own fear and guilt, he was encouraged by his spiritual mentor to continue in Christ's word – to study the New Testament, to pray, to seek the face of Christ, the one who had lived and died for him. And there in the words of the gospels, in the witness of Paul's writings, like those we heard today from his letter to the church in Rome, the truth was revealed to Luther, and Christ is truth. As he studied the words written in the Bible, Luther came face to face with the Word, with a capital “W” - Christ himself. The beginning of the gospel of John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God... And the Word became flesh and lived among us...” (John 1:1, 14). And from this very personal Word, Luther learned the truth that even though he was a sinner, God loved him anyway, loved him with a love so deep and so strong that God sent the Son to set him free.

It was a truth so powerful that it changed the world. It sent Luther to pound his 95 Theses on the Wittenburg Door on October 31, 1517, when he saw the wrongs being done in the name of God and could no longer keep silent. It was the truth that compelled him to speak out, to dare to call for conversation and debate about the practice of selling indulgences, a practice that taught that God's love and forgiveness could be bought & sold, a practice that played on and profited from the fears of the people. It was the truth that sparked a revolution, as people were set free to search for God's truth in their own lives, to find God in the words of scripture translated into their own language, to learn to know God personally, as the God of love who longs to be in relationship with each of us.

This is the truth the Bible speaks to us today, the truth that will make us free. It is the truth that calls us to stop living in denial and face who we really are, to admit to God and to ourselves that we are sinners, and then reminds us that we accepted by God anyway, just as we are. It is the truth that assures us that we are justified – made right with God – not because of the things we do or the things we keep ourselves from doing, but because of God's grace, God's undeserved, unmerited love. It is the truth that the Son has come to set us free from our enslavement to sin – free from those things that keep us from God, free to be transformed by God's love into the people God created us to be.

God's word, both the words of scripture written down in the Bible, and Jesus, the Word incarnate, together invite us to step into freedom, to walk with Jesus in the way of discipleship. It calls us to live in the world as free people, no longer bound by fear or anger or regret, but people who live joyfully and boldly because we know we have been given a permanent place in the household. It encourages us to be courageous in confronting the wrongs we see in the world, speaking the truth to power, unafraid of the consequences. People of God, the Son has set us free – let us live in that freedom and share the Good News, so that all may be made free!

Amen.

October 19, 2008 Mary Poppins meets the gospel?

If you've never seen Mary Poppins, or if it's been awhile, you may want to watch this clip. Of course, you can also just skip it!





Even the Future Belongs to God
Matthew 22:15-22
Pentecost + 23 – October 19, 2008

With all that's been going on in our world lately, with the stock markets doing the limbo – you know, “how low can you go?” - and the credit crunch and banks failing or threatening to fail, I keep thinking of a line from the movie Mary Poppins.And no, it's not SUPERCALIFRAGOLICIOUSEXPIALIDOCIOUS. Mary Poppins has basically tricked the father into taking Michael & Jane to the bank, his job, with him. Dear old Dad has given Michael a coin, which he wants to use to buy bread crumbs to feed to birds. But this won't do, it won't do at all. And so all of the uptight officers of the bank break into song to try & convince Michael to invest his money, to save it at the bank. And the president of the bank, an old curmudgeon of a man declares, “When stand the banks of England, England stands! When fall the banks of England, England falls!”

Certainly describes how many of us are feeling, doesn't it? But as I thought about the gospel for this morning, it dawned on me that it has more in common with this movie than I ever would have thought. Because in the movie, Mary Poppins has come floating into the lives of the Banks family with her trusty umbrella (& yes, that's really their last name). She's come to be the nanny to their children, but in her wake, Mary Poppins brings great change. Just the way she is in the world, the way she treats people and notices things others didn't brings great upheaval into this family's life together. She is not caught up in the frantic pace of their lives. She's not interested in achieving more, getting more, being more successful - she has a different perspective. She has great influence over Jane & Michael, filling them with joy & laughter, teaching them to look beneath the surface, to care for those who are less fortunate than they are. This causes such disruption in the household that the father nearly loses it! And this disruption overflows into the wider world when they are at the bank, when Michael's generosity, his desire to share his coin with the Bird Lady outside, inadvertently causes a run on the bank, gripping the bank's leaders with fear and desperation.

It reminds me of the scene we have in Matthew's gospel today, for Jesus too, has come, uninvited into the world of the Pharisees and priests and elders of the people. He comes bringing a different way of looking at the world, a different way of being. He is not part of the system, not part of business as usual. He has come and he has changed everything. He's turned over the tables of the money changers at the temple the same day as this story, and he's been telling parable after parable that pretty much say that that business as usual is about to cease. The people in charge, the people who have been in control aren't going to be in control much longer. And they have had it! Enough with this Jesus already. So they make plans to entrap him, to trip him up with his own words. The Pharisees send their disciples, their students, to Jesus, along with some Herodians – people who sided with Herod, in effect supporting the occupation of Jerusalem & Judea by the Romans, people who the Pharisees had very little in common with. And after they butter him up, they ask him, “What do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” It's a trick question, like asking someone if he's stopped beating his wife yet. There's no good answer; whatever you say can & will be used against you.

But Jesus is more clever than his questioners are. Presented with options A & B, he comes up with option C. Asking them to show him the coin used to pay the tax, a coin inscribed with Caesar's image and title, Jesus leaves them with a simple sounding answer: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperors, and to God the things that are God's.” it sounds simple, but it's easier said than done.

Not because it's so hard to give to the emperor what belongs to the emperor. When it comes to that, we don't have much of a choice. We may not like paying our taxes, and we may disagree about how they should be used, but we can't easily avoid paying them.

Giving to God on the other hand is a much bigger struggle. God doesn't send us a tax bill, God doesn't send us a monthly statement stamped with how much we owe. Especially as we face the economic circumstances that surround us, as we wonder what will happen, we naturally start getting protective of what belongs to us. When we don't know how we're gonna pay the bills, if our job is going to be there when we go back to work on Monday, if our house ownership or ability to pay the rent is in question, it is the normal human response to hold tightly to what we have. It becomes harder and harder to consider giving any of it away. Even when we know in our heads that everything we have comes to us as a gift from God, that none of it belongs to us but is just on loan from God, that everything is God's from the beginning (you've heard me say that a time or two, right?), even when we believe that God will take care of us, it's a much harder thing to put that into practice. Believing something to be true and acting in a way that shows we believe it are 2 very different things. We struggle with trying to give even a portion back to God, whether it's through giving to the church or giving to a charity or directly to people who are in need, because we don't know what the future holds for us.

But even though we don't know what the future holds, we do know who holds the future. No matter what our circumstances are, we know that God holds the future. We know that God walks with us in whatever situation we are facing, helping us through each day. The God we follow is faithful. The God we follow is trustworthy! We sing with the Psalmist who says, “you, O LORD have made the heavens... The LORD is king! The one who made the world so firm that it cannot be moved...” We hear from Isaiah the words God spoke to Cyrus, “I am the LORD, and there is no other.” We celebrate with Isaiah that God used the events of history to bring God's chosen people back from exile, that God did not leave them in Babylon forever, abandoning them to their situation. We rejoice with Paul that the God we serve is “a living and true God” who raised Jesus from the dead! And we give thanks for this, not just because it means that we can look forward to life after death, but because it proves that there is no situation in this life so dark, so fearful, so final that God cannot intervene to save us! Even as we wonder what the future holds, we remember God holds the future, for the future is one of those things that belongs to God.

In Mary Poppins, despite the persuasiveness of all of the elders of the bank, little Michael refuses to be swayed by their greed and their fear. He longs to give his one coin away to the Bird Lady, to have the joy of giving and the joy of feeding the birds. And as I said, panic ensues. People hear him crying out “I want my money! Give me back my money!”, and it causes a run on the bank. Mr. Banks loses his job at the bank and all seems lost. And yet, at the end of the movie, we see that everyone has been transformed. Faced with financial turmoil, they are forced to rethink what really matters. They rediscover the importance of their families, the joy of the simple pleasures of life. They are set free from their captivity to money and all it represents.

Now real life is not a Disney movie, and I know that the financial struggles of our world are very real and impact us in very real ways. But I say to you this morning: trust God anyway! The future still belongs to God, and God calls each of us today to gave over our fears for the future, to hand them back to God, trusting that God can and will take care of us. And in this story God is inviting us, challenging us to live into that faith, to loosen that grip we have on our things and our money (and the grip it has on us!), to give a portion of what God has so generously given us back to God's work in the world. Not just so God's work can be done with the those in need around us, but so we can be set free from the fears that bind us, that hold us in chains. Give to God the things that belong to God, and be set free! Amen.

Wednesday, October 15 - Teresa of Avila

As the heading indicates, this sermon was prepared for and preached to the SW Nassau Conference of Lutheran pastors here at St. John's. Once a month we gather at one of our churches to worship together, check in with each other, and conduct the "business" of our conference - sharing information, learning from each other, and supporting each other. It is a blessing to be with them. And to hear them sing today (a capella - that means w/ out instruments!) was beautiful - breaking into harmony all over the place. God loves to hear us raise our voices in song! (and so do I!)

October 15 is the day the church commemorates Teresa of Avila, a teacher & renewer of the church. She was a Carmelite nun in the 1500s who sought to reform the Carmelite order. She wrote some books about prayer and connection with God, and co-founded (w/ St. John of the Cross) a new branch of the Carmelites. I did an internet search and found out some interesting things about her life, her faith, and her ministry. Happy reading, if you've gotten this far!





The Lord of hosts is with us!
Psalm 46
Commemoration of Teresa of Avila
SW Nassau Conference Worship
October 15, 2008

When I was in college, my roommate & I had one of those “How Are You Feeling Today?” posters. It had several cartoon faces on it, each depicting a different emotion, from the normal happy and sad to more intense emotions like enraged, ecstatic, hysterical. And I was wondering this morning, how are you feeling? If you had the poster in front of you, which one would you pick?

I suspect that if you have been watching the news or reading the paper at all lately, you might use feeling words like concerned, confused, overwhelmed, or maybe anxious, worried, frightened. For as the Psalmist says, the nations rage, and the kingdoms shake. I like how the NRSV puts it; it's what drew me to preach on this text: The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter. And surely that is true for us, within our country and around the world. The nations are in an uproar. We fear that our kingdom may totter and fall. We can't escape the constant stream of news about the economic turmoil that is gripping the world. Banks failing, mortgage foreclosures, bailouts, the credit crunch, the rise and fall of the stock market – the state of our financial situation is on everybody's mind, and it's certainly been a prime topic of conversation whenever people gather. Is it gonna get worse before it gets better? How is this gonna affect me? How will it affect my church? Are we headed to The Great Depression 2.0, as Time magazine called it?

Now the elections are looming, and the political scene is reaching a frenzied pace. With the wars we have been engaged in for years seeming like they may never come to an end and fears about the economy, we worry about our potential leaders, fearful that more disaster will follow if we vote the wrong one in, whoever you think that may be.

Add to all of this the stress of daily living, just getting through the daily routine, of caring for aging parents, of coping with loved ones who are sick, the highs & lows of ministry. It's no wonder to me if we feel anxious or overwhelmed or just downright frightened, because truly, the world is in an uproar.

Today we remember Teresa of Avila, a teacher and renewer of the church, and she too lived in a time of turmoil. The world around her was changing about as rapidly as ours is. Just a few decades before she was born, Columbus in 1492 sailed the ocean blue to the “new” world, which we remembered earlier this week. Just a few years after she was born, Luther went over to the Wittenburg Door and pounded those 95 Theses into the wall, and the Reformation and Counter-Reformation were off & running, turning over the religious systems of their day. Teresa lived in Spain during the time of the Spanish Inquisition, lucky her! And as she sought to reform the practices of the Carmelite order, to return to the life of poverty, simplicity, and contemplation they had vowed to undertake, trying to set up a new convent that would practice that way of life, Teresa faced opposition from her sisters and religious superiors, who put her name before the Inquisition, although the charges were eventually dropped. Teresa knew what it was to live in a time of upheaval.

And from the Psalm, we know that the Psalmist did too. We don't know the exact circumstances surrounding the writing of this song; scholars are divided on what category to even put it in! But clearly, the psalmist was acquainted with trouble. Natural and political disasters seem near at hand – the earth may move, the mountains shake, the waters rage and foam. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter. The people of Israel were living in unsure & uncertain times, just as we do today.

And yet, the theme that runs under and through this whole psalm is one of trust, trust in God. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...” We will not fear, though the earth changes, though the mountains shake, though the waters rage & foam. We will not fear, though the world around us is in turmoil, though the kingdoms shake. Why? Because “the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” The Psalm sings not of a God who is far off, who watches from on high while the world is crumbling around the people, but of a God who is here, present, who longs to help. This is the God who has the power to speak and make the earth melt away. This is the God “who makes wars to cease in all the world, who breaks the bow, and shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire.” This is the God who rules over heaven and earth, who stands firm even when the earth is shaking, even when the kingdoms are tottering.

And Teresa, despite all she went through in her life, wrote the words of the poem found on the front of the bulletin -

“Let nothing disturb you, Let nothing frighten you, All things are passing away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. Whoever has God lacks nothing; God alone suffices.”

Let nothing frighten you – God alone is enough. Teresa echoes the call of the Psalmist today in verse 10: Be still and know that God is God. God is God, and we're not. And we don't have to be. Whatever is yet to come in the current political scene and financial crisis, whatever is happening in our churches, in our lives, whatever it is that may have us in an uproar lately, God is God. The same God who was with the Israelites in the midst of the trouble that surrounded them, the same God Teresa of Avila found to be enough in all of the circumstances of her life– this is the same God who promises to be with us today. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore we will not fear, for our trust and our hope is not in money or financial institutions or political leaders. Our trust and our hope is in God, who is with us: The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Be still then this morning, if only for a little while. Be still – an emotion that wasn't on that feelings poster as I recall, and if it had been, we probably wouldn't point to it very often. We don't know how to be “still” very well. But today, be still. Hear God's voice and be renewed. Be still and know, remember that God is God, and God is with us. Amen.