So Do Not Worry: Thanksgiving Sermon on Matthew 6

My sermon for Thanksgiving Eve at Zion Lutheran of Amor on my internship.

Gospel: Matthew 6:25-34


Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus the Christ, Amen


Happy Thanksgiving! This Gospel text, is a beautiful text. Consider the lilies of the field, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will bring worries of its own… Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew is full of memorable verses we all hold with us. The last verse that we read today is one that particularly sticks out to me.

When I was younger, I’d hyperfocus on things, and worry about different things in my life, or the world or whatever… I distinctly remember one night lying in my bed, and my dad came up, talked with me for a bit, and told me his favorite verse in the Bible, and it was “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:34 NRSV)

That moment and this verse stick with me, whenever I am worrying about life. And as you know, there is plenty to worry about these days, but there is much more to be thankful about. My second child will hopefully be here within a month. Star Wars is less than a month away. For those of you who have Thanksgiving feasts tomorrow or in the coming days, you can be thankful for that. Christmas is usually a stressful, but joyful time of year filled with good food, friends, family, presents, and the endless Christmas songs in all the stores. If you experience those things, then hopefully, this is a beautiful time of year to be thankful for.

Another memory I have associated with this text, is the 1963 film, Lilies of the Field with Sidney Poitier; a role in which he was the first Bahamian and African-American person to win an Oscar for Best Actor… It’s a beautiful film if you’ve not seen it. I highly recommend it. In the film, Sidney’s character plays a man in the southwest who gets stranded at a mission with German Catholic nuns. The sisters don’t speak much English, but they’ve been wanting to build a chapel, and see Sidney’s character, Homer Smith (or Schmidt as they call him) as a gift from God to help them build a chapel for the local Catholic mission congregation. I won’t spoil it for you if you’ve not seen it, but in the process of the movie, Homer finds common ground with these German nuns, as a Baptist man himself, and learns to appreciate the little things they can provide for him such as eggs and toast. Homer fulfills his mission, God fulfills God’s mission, and the heartwarming movie ends, quite literally with a resounding Amen. The audience is left to indeed, consider the lilies of the field, and not worry about things, for God will provide.

And it’s hard sometimes. It’s hard to remember that God provides, when we are seemingly left with so little to go on. When life throws everything against us; when terror strikes all over the world; when the nation still struggles with homelessness, poverty, and failing infrastructure… There are times when life seems… pretty scary.

When people are undergoing anxiety attacks, one of the ways professionals suggest that anxious people stuck in these anxiety attacks cope and fight these attacks - is by focusing on something small. Something stationary, something beautiful, something stable. When life is spiraling out of control for folks who undergo such anxiety attacks, it’s good to seriously consider the lilies - if  of course, there are lilies in one’s immediate vicinity. But seriously, there are times when we really just need to stop and smell the roses. (That is, if you’re not allergic to pollen…) Sometimes, we just need to take in what we have. Stress is high these days, especially with the Christmas season coming soon. Advent and a new church year start on Sunday, and Advent is a time in which the church, in general, tries to slow down and focus on the coming of the Messiah. Oftentimes, it’s not the case, but especially at the busy and stressful times of our lives, it’s very helpful to take a moment and focus on something else. Take your mind off of what’s going on. And give thanks.

Give thanks for the Savior of the World, who hung on a cross to save us from ourselves. To save us from our sins, our terror, our fear, our anxieties. Jesus the Christ, who was a refugee himself, fleeing the death and destruction left in King Herod’s wake; died and rose again to save us all. For the love of God, found in the death and resurrection of Christ, God’s son, was spilled out for the world. It is this Grace, this Love, this Mercy of God - that we give thanks for. We give thanks tonight for the Savior of the World, who was born in squalor, fled his home with his family as refugees, and died a criminal’s death. We remember his life, and give thanks for God’s Grace that is bestowed to the whole world.

But how do we give thanks? Well, when someone gives you a gift, the proper protocol is to thank them for the gift either in person or with a card. After the hustle and bustle of big events like confirmations, graduations, weddings and funerals… Giving thanks for gifts in the form of writing cards is tradition. It’s proper protocol. We sometimes forget or put it off, but usually someone reminds us to do so. We give thanks for the gifts we’ve been given because it’s the thing to do. Because it’s nice. Because the people appreciate it. But not, because it’s required of us.

Likewise, we give our thanks to God in worship. By offering thanks in our offering; in our tithing; in our time spent with folks; in the use of our talents at church. We give thanks by being active in our world, making God’s creation better for us all. We give thanks by standing up for one another; by being a friend; by offering a shoulder to cry on; by offering a listening ear to someone in need.
The world is a scary place. When blatant racism is alive and well in the streets of Minneapolis; when the fear of the unknown, the other - permeates who we are as Americans; who we are as Christians… and fear blinds us into believing our neighbors are more harmful to us than ourselves… It’s hard to give thanks for this modern world of fear. Fear is the mind-killer.

That is where the love of Christ comes in. That is where the Peace of Christ, that surpasses all understanding, must hold refuge. It is the Peace of Christ, the Love of Christ that allows us to look across at our neighbors… and see the Face of Christ. The child of God that looks into our own eyes. That is what we must be thankful for.

The Grace of God shown forth upon the world is a beautiful thing to be thankful for; for it is this Good News, this saving Word of God that surpasses all understanding that holds us bound to the truth - that the neighbor looking into our own eyes - is no more different to us as we are to them… That the neighbor looking into our own eyes - is no less loved by God than we are loved by God.... That the neighbor looking into our own eyes - is no less a beloved child of God than we are a beloved child of God… When we look into the face of our neighbors, we are looking into the face of God.

For it is that God is incarnate in Christ Jesus. For it was that this Messiah fled his homeland in search of refuge. That our Lord, Jesus the Christ, was a refugee himself. This Good News that our Lord Jesus the Christ - who tells us to not worry about tomorrow - who tells us to consider the lilies of the field - who dies like a common criminal on a cross and rises again - began his life in squalor and fled with his family as refugees fleeing their country.

So do not worry. In a world rife with chaos, hardship, struggle, anguish and despair… God will take care of it. Let us give thanks for all that God, our Creator has given us. God gave us life, that alone we must be thankful for. But the saving living Word of God found in Christ Jesus is another beautiful thing to be thankful for. We give thanks by offering ourselves, our time, and our possessions to serve a greater purpose: to better the reign of God on Earth not because it is required of us, but because we are called by the giver of life to do so. Not because we have to, but because we should. It is this response to the Good News of Jesus Christ that betters the world around us. So there is less to fear. So there is less to worry about. A great president once said that there is ‘nothing to fear but fear itself’... “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

Give thanks to God, for God is Good. Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Amen.

The End of the World is Almost at Hand, But Not Yet: Sermon on Mark 13:1-8

This is the fifth sermon I have preached at Zion Lutheran in Amor on my internship.

Gospel: Mark 13:1-8

Grace and Peace to you from God, the Alpha and Omega, and from Jesus the Christ, Amen

"When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come."

This Gospel lesson today signifies the beginning of the end. In Jesus' own words, "This is but the beginning of the birth pangs"… The end. The culmination of all that has been. In the context of this particular text in the church year, this Gospel text is indeed the beginning of the end of the church year. Next week is the end of the church year. The end of the month is the beginning of our celebration of Advent and the beginning of a new church year. We are truly at the beginning of the end today.

In the context of the Gospel, Jesus was also at the beginning of his end. After this, Jesus and his disciples march into Jerusalem and the rest is Holy Week. But before they do that, Jesus warns his disciples that the beautiful temple with the giant stones will soon fall. And, in truth, the temple of Jerusalem did fall about 35 years later in 70 CE - sending the people of Israel into a nearly 1900 year journey through Europe, Asia, Africa and the new world looking for a new home.

Jesus warned the disciples that the temple would fall. That the world that they knew was going to be turned upside down. That buildings would fall, empires would rage, and famine would continue. Because war, war never changes. The people of Jerusalem were expecting a zealot. A military leader as their Messiah to tear down the Roman Empire. To tear down the oppression they felt under Roman leadership. Well, it would take a few hundred years more, but the Roman Empire would fall eventually. Empires come and go, but the world continues to turn. At one point, the world turned and the sun never set on the British Empire...

But times change. The world changes. And yet, it still turns. The sun will shine until it burns out. All good things must come to an end. Did you know that when one looks out at the clear night sky and looks at the stars - that some of the stars we see... aren't in existence anymore? That some of the stars that we see are so far away that their light reaching our eyeballs took millions and billions of years to travel? That even the light from our own sun takes eight minutes to reach our eyeballs? The closest star to our solar system is still four lightyears away. Which means that if that star burned out right now, we wouldn't know for another four years?

Mayflies live and die within a matter of days. Mosquitos and other bugs last at most a couple weeks. Whereas, some trees and species of marine animals live for centuries. There’s even a tree in California that is thought to be over 5,000 years old… How long life is for different creatures; different entities is all relative. The average human lifespan for people in the United States has increased dramatically in the last 100 years.

With technology and better living conditions, our lives are longer. And yet, the passage of time has remained constant. The earth rotates a full rotation every 24 hours, and the earth rotates around the sun every 365.25 occurrences of those 24 hours. This has fluctuated a little over the billions of years, but time has still marched on. And even when life on this planet ceases, when an eye for an eye finally makes the whole world blind… Time will still march on.

God was there when the world began, and God will be there when the world ends. In our lesson today, Jesus warned his disciples of the end of the world. Mark’s author was writing this gospel about the same time as Mount Vesuvius’ explosion at Pompeii, and yes, after the temple burned in Jerusalem in the late 1st century CE. The gospel writer was sharing the good news with those whose life may have been literally falling around them… but whose life would be saved by Jesus the Christ.
The Good News that even while life on Earth is fleeting, life with God is forevermore. That Good News that even though Jesus’ life on Earth would soon be ending, his death and resurrection would guarantee salvation for all. That Good News that all are saved through his death and resurrection.
So, when Mount Vesuvius, Jerusalem, and Rome burned in the first few centuries; when Berlin, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Baghdad, New York, Kabul, London, Beirut and now Paris burned in the last century… when world ending heartache explodes onto the scene… When lives are changed forever by war, violence, and oppression… the Good News of salvation seems… not as important as what is going on now. And that’s okay.

For it is the Good News that Jesus the Christ died for us all, and saves us all from ourselves through the unending, undeserving, and unwinnable Grace, Love and Mercy of God, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End of all things. It is God that saves us from ourselves, and there is absolutely nothing we can do to earn it or abuse it. There is absolutely nothing we can do to make God love us less or not save us. The salvation of the world is already taken care of. We are called to go out into the world and proclaim this Good News. We are called to go out into the world and fight for justice against oppression. Peace against violence. Love against hate. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

The people of the world are traumatized. The world weeps for the people of Baghdad, Beirut and Paris. The world turns to point fingers at those responsible… But when will it end? When will the need to exact revenge stop? Jesus warned us of wars, of empires and of famines. Temples will fall. Buildings will fall. Empires will fall. The end of the world is at hand, but not yet.
We cannot throw in the towel. A pundit warned that this was the beginning of World War III. I think the world is tired of perpetual war. Because war, war never changes. Whether it’s with sticks and rocks, or bigger sticks and bigger rocks… The concept is all the same. As a country, we celebrated Veteran’s Day last week, and thanked all those who served in the military. And don’t get me wrong, I’m very thankful for all of you who have bravely served in our military. I just yearn for a time when our young adults no longer have to sign up to go fight other young people in the name of democracy, or freedom, or country.

Our daughters are sick. Our children are watching us. We lack one thing. Death is not the end. The end of the world is almost at hand, but not yet. The temple in Jerusalem fell, and Jesus warned his disciples it was going to happen. The world was eventually, coming to an end. But not yet. There is still hope. When enough people rise up and tell the world that enough is enough. Too much blood has been spilled to satisfy someone’s ego… When enough people realize that there is too much work to be done on this planet to sit around pointing fingers at the wrong direction. An eye for an eye eventually makes the whole world blind. We won’t have to worry about choking on our own greenhouse gases or starving ourselves when we run out of food if we continue pointing fingers.
I’ll end this sermon not with a song, but with a prayer. This prayer comes from our partners in Ministry, the Presbyterians, and I ask that you all join me in prayer.

God of mercy, whose presence sustains us in every circumstance,
in the midst of unfolding violence and the aftermath of terror and loss,
we seek the grounding power of your love and compassion.
In these days of fearful danger and division, we need to believe somehow that your kindom of peace in which all nations and tribes and languages dwell together in peace is still a possibility.
Give us hope and courage that we may not yield our humanity to fear..,
even in these endless days of dwelling in the valley of the shadow of death.
We pray for neighbors in Paris, in Beirut, in Baghdad, who, in the midst of the grace of ordinary life–while at work, or at play, have been violently assaulted, their lives cut off without mercy.
We are hostages of fear, caught in an escalating cycle of violence whose end can not be seen.
We open our hearts in anger, sorrow and hope: that those who have been spared as well as those whose lives are changed forever may find solace, sustenance, and strength in the days of recovery and reflection that come. We give thanks for strangers who comfort the wounded and who welcome stranded strangers,for first responders who run toward the sound of gunfire and into the smoke and fire of bombing sites.

Once again, Holy One, we cry, how long, O Lord? We seek forgiveness for the ways in which we have tolerated enmity and endured cultures of violence with weary resignation. We grieve the continued erosion of the fabric of our common life, the reality of fear that warps the common good. We pray in grief, remembering the lives that have been lost and maimed, in body or spirit.
We ask for sustaining courage for those who are suffering; wisdom and diligence among global and national agencies and individuals assessing threat and directing relief efforts; and for our anger and sorrow to unite in service to the establishment of a reign of peace, where the lion and the lamb may dwell together, and terror will not hold sway over our common life.

In these days of shock and sorrow, open our eyes, our hearts, and our hands to the movements of your Spirit, who flows in us like the river whose streams makes glad the city of God, and the hearts of all who dwell in it, and in You.
In the name of Christ, our healer and our Light, we pray, Amen.
http://pres-outlook.org/2015/11/a-prayer-for-paris-beirut-and-baghdad/

Death is Not the End: Sermon on John 11:32-44

This is the sermon I preached yesterday, 11/1/15 at Zion of Amor - my fourth on internship.

Revelation 21:1-6a
John 11:32-44

Grace and Peace to you from God, the Alpha and Omega, and from Jesus the Resurrection and the Life. Amen.

This sanctuary recently celebrated an anniversary. This worship space is now 20 years old, as of October. Some of you may remember when this space was built. Before this space, some of you also may have had the opportunity to worship in the previous sanctuary, where our fellowship hall is now located. I'm told that the sanctuary was dark; with the beautiful wood that covers the ceiling surrounding the sanctuary. Light gets sucked into the darkness of the wood, and has trouble reflecting much light, thus the darkness. That worship space was used as such for about 40 years, as it was built in the early 1950s. The building in which we worship has three major pieces - this 20 year old sanctuary, the 60-some year old now fellowship hall and office space, and the newest part, our three-year-old education wing. Three parts, one building.
 
Zion Lutheran Church of Amor has changed, grown, and seen much over the last 130-plus years of her existence. Before the core of this building was built, there was a previous building on this spot. You can see pictures of the previous building in a couple places in the fellowship hall. For over 130 years, people have met for worship on this patch of ground, and we're not even close to stopping. When faced with tremendous hardship, this congregation has endured, and thrived in spite of it. It is not the case in some other congregations, and some churches have indeed needed to close their doors. What they physically leave behind goes elsewhere.
 
At the Region 3 archives, nearly every congregation in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota; has physical relics in the archives at Luther Seminary. Memories of years gone by, pictures, membership rolls; the archives hold pieces of history for these congregations, to one day be accessed by anyone who desires. In some file, in some drawer, in some cabinet, in the archives at Luther Seminary, there is likely stories of Zion Lutheran Church of Amor. If this church ever closes it's doors, there will be a legacy left behind for people to remember us by.
 
So Jesus, after hearing that his friend Lazarus was dying, stayed where he was with his disciples for a couple extra days. Lazarus died, and then Jesus went to go see the body. Lazarus' sister Mary was grieving the death of her brother, and Jesus saw her weeping. Jesus was angered to the point of tears for Lazarus' death, so the writer of the gospel then writes the shortest verse in the entire bible: 'Jesus wept'. Anger. In the original Greek, according to scholars, Jesus was angry at his friend Lazarus' death. The sting of death was real for Jesus as it is for each of us.
 
Yeah, Jesus knew Lazarus was going to die. Yeah, Jesus knew he was then going to raise Lazarus from the dead, so that people may believe in the Messiah. These realities, however, still could not keep the sting of death at bay.
 
"Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life." (Revelation 21:6 NRSV)
The author of today's second lesson shows that God is the beginning and the end. Nothing starts before God started, and nothing ends after God ends. God is God's own bookends of God's bookshelf. God experienced death Godself in God's son Jesus the Christ. On that day, when the Savior of the World died on the cross, he would rise again on the third day and thus defeat death. Death no longer had it's sting for God. Through Christ's death and resurrection, God saved us all from death's sting. God saved us all from sin and death.
 
If there is a legacy to be left here, it is purely that: God loves and saves all of humanity from sin and death. Humanity is the only creature of God's creation that is aware of our own mortality. Even Lazarus died again. What do all of Jesus' healings have in common? They all died. Death is a reality we all must face. What's the old joke? The only sure things in life are death and taxes?

The confirmation students have learned in the last few weeks that all of us are both saint and sinner. Filled with both sin and grace. Imperfect perfection. The bible study group for the last few weeks was conversing over what it meant to be a Lutheran. One of the core elements that was emphasized over and over was this: We are already saved. Christ died on the cross to save us all long ago. It is our Lutheran identity that tells us to go out and serve in response to God's grace. No amount of good works will save us. No amount of working as hard as we can to earn that grace will save us. God's grace is unwinnable, un-earnable, un-shruggable. We all know we're going to die. God saves us from sin and that death, so it is up to us to do something with the life we are given. With the grace and salvation we're all given. It's up to us to leave a legacy behind us so others have something to remember us by.

This congregation has been on this plot of land for over 130 years, and the legacy this church has left behind in our footsteps upon this land has been grand. This congregation knows how to serve, and has served well in this area and beyond. People in Jamaica and the Philippines know of Zion. There have been 17 interns that  have served this congregation, and have this congregation to thank for improving their leadership skills. Our visitors and members hold this congregation in high importance. Whether it's the community, the people, the music, the preachers, the worship, the sense of duty, or the insistence of the Holy Spirit... our pews are warmed every week by people coming to hear the gospel proclaimed and to receive the Lord's Supper twice a month.

The legacy of Christ's resurrection is the Gospel that we proclaim and live out. The legacy left by this congregation is grand, but what about your legacy? What about the legacy of these people for whom these candles represent? What is their legacy? As we read their names aloud this morning; think of the legacy they left behind. Continue the story. Their story.

God is the beginning and the end. The Alpha and the Omega. Through God all things were made. Through God all things must end. But while we're on this earth, we can make a difference. The pain of other's deaths stays with us, and the legacy they leave behind becomes part of our story.
Our daughters are sick. Our children are watching us. We lack one thing. Death is not the end. We leave behind a legacy; a story; a monument to who we are as people. Take a walk of Amor. It won't take you very long, believe me. Take a walk and see what is left of this community. You'll pass by a few houses, a rundown old gas pump and station, and at the end of the town, past the stop sign; the cemetery. Stones with pairs of dates outline the bounds of people's existence on earth. The stones in the cemetery greatly outnumber the houses in the town, and symbolize the legacy of these small remnants of towns. In a few months, we'll hear the words, 'you are dust, and to dust you shall return'… Amor was a sprawling piece of rolling prairie once, and eventually, it may return to it.
May it be, that the pair of dates on a stone in the middle of the rolling hills and lakes, be more than a pair of dates, but a note of a life well-lived. That the pair of dates represent the expanse of time in which we made the world a better place for those around us. That we put a smile on a people's faces. That we made a difference in the lives of our family and friends. Christ died for us. Was Resurrected for us. Tasted the sting of death for us. Saves us all. Go out and live that life to its fullest; preaching the gospel and making the world a better place for us all. Leave a legacy for us all.
Amen.