It's About Love. - Sermon on Luke 4:21-30

My second sermon of 2016 at Zion Lutheran of Amor

Epistle - One Corinthians 13:1-13
Gospel - Luke 4:21-30

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

Other than a select few of you, I would suppose that most of you have moved away from where you grew up. Even if you moved away and came back, at one point or another, I’m thinking that most of you have the experience of moving away. Most of us have a sense of what it feels like to leave what you knew so well, and uproot yourself or your family to a new place. A new locale. A new school, a new job. Some of you might have gone away to college, or the service. Something called you away from home.

Home. It’s where the heart is; it’s where the heart wants to be. I considered, and still probably do consider Donnelly my hometown. So far, it’s where I’ve lived the longest. And yet, I’ve called many other places home. Each of us have a place we call home. Maybe it’s your home right now. Maybe it’s this church. We feel grounded in the place we call home. It’s truly where our heart is.

Jesus returns home in last week’s Gospel, and today’s Gospel is the second half to that story. Jesus returns home and it’s almost like he never left. The people still think he’s the carpenter’s boy. They’ve heard of his miracles in Capernaum, but don’t witness any while he’s there. They’re amazed at his reading of Isaiah, and wary of what he does with it. He points out that there are people that we forget about, and it’s not the people in his hometown. It’s not everybody else. There are people in his world; the blind, oppressed, poor and lame… that the people forget about.

Maybe they’re not held to the same standard as everyone else. Maybe these people are hurting, and are not taken care of. Maybe people blame them for their lot in life. It’s their own fault they’re poor, oppressed, blind and lame. Jesus points out that these forgotten people, are in need of salvation as well. They are in need of his ministry as well. They are in need of God’s love as well.

God’s love. Most of you have probably heard today’s second lesson. It is the quintessential wedding text. Why not? It’s about love, after all. It’s also a continuation from last week’s texts. Last week, Pastor Jim pointed out that we are all part of the Body of Christ. All of us use the gifts that God has given us. All of us are brought together by Christ, and the greatest gift that God gives us: God’s love. It is God’s love that breaks the bonds of division. It is God’s love that brings us together. Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, but we are all people of God. Through the waters of baptism, we are called and named children of God. It’s love. Love that is poured out for us.

This is true in our own world today. Entire populations of people are discriminated against because of their skin color. Because of who they love. Because of the money they make. Because of their gender expression or identity. In the name of whatever power they wish to hold over people; the Bible, the Constitution, the Country… People are discriminated against, and Jesus is there now, just he was then, telling us that all are deserving of God’s love. All are welcome at God’s table.

Paul wrote in his first letter to the Corinthians that Love - Love is the greatest gift that is given to us by God. Whatever we think we might know about people. Whatever we might think we know about what is going on in people’s lives, that makes them unworthy of whatever we want to withhold from them. Whatever we think we might know about what someone wrote about in the Constitution or the Bible or wherever… It is love that conquers all. Love that goes beyond knowledge. Love that goes beyond supposition, discrimination, prejudice, and hate. In the words of Paul, “Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.” 
(1 Corinthians 13:4-10 NRSV)

Love. Not hate. It was hate that drove Jesus out of his own hometown that day. It was hate that drove Jesus to the cross another day. Hate for the good news. Hate for the idea that everyone is special in God’s eye. The idea that everyone is loved, by the same God that loved God’s son. It’s that old verse from John that everyone seems to memorize. For God so loved the world… not just Nazareth. Not just Jerusalem. Not just Israel. Not just the West. Not just the United States… the world.

Why is this idea of a God that loves all… so offensive, so wrong, so despising… that people were willing to throw Jesus off a cliff? What is it about mentioning the forgotten ones, even saying that a select group of people, ‘those people’... aren’t worth mentioning, or worth focusing on…

This idea that God loves even the people who weren’t like everyone else that Jesus was speaking to… Jesus cures the sick, feeds the hungry, heals the injured, provides ministry to the Gentiles, prostitutes and tax collectors… shows the people that even the ones they’d rather not worry about… are deserving of his grace. God’s grace. God’s love. The unwinnable, unattainable, unwavering grace that God bestowed to all, through the death and resurrection of God’s son, Jesus the Christ. The death and resurrection of the Messiah that saves us all. From ourselves. Our sin. Our hatred. Our blindness. Our selfishness. Our complacency.

God’s love was poured out for us on the cross, and God is the one calling us to spread the message of God’s love to the world.

I was asked this week… So what? What can we do about it? What can we do about the realities that are happening in our world right now? In our own community? We’re a small community in rural Minnesota. Things are the way they are, because it’s the way it’s been. I’m going to explore this question with you more next week, as we look toward the Transfiguration of Christ and the transition into Lent, but let me leave you with this…

At some point, most of us will leave the home we know, and travel to a new reality. Most of our ancestors, probably came from the same general part of the world. Whatever land they came from, they probably didn’t go back. They probably left home… and looked toward a new life for themselves, on the shores of this great country. Not knowing what they’d see when they got there, they boarded the boats, and traveled across the treacherous seas with many other people. Many other people, who likely didn’t all speak the same language. All together in the same boat, these people of different backgrounds, headed to different destinations. Our Scandinavian ancestors all pretty much settled in the same general area of the United States. They settled in the same place, because they grouped together with similar languages, similar customs, similar religion.

They formed communities. Named them after their homeland. (Amor for instance, supposedly comes from the town in Sweden, Mora - but there was already a town in Minnesota named Mora, so they switched the A around and Mora became Amor…) They named their churches after their hometown or their region. These churches became the center of communities, just as they were in their homeland. They spoke the language of their homeland in church. They spoke the language of their homeland at home.

Our ancestors made a home for themselves that was very much like their home that they came from. Over the years, their native tongues were outlawed in public spaces, including churches, so churches soon offered services in English. Schools taught English. Homes gradually became English speaking, and the world around them, could speak the same language in church. The world around them, spoke English.

We know this history, because this is our history. Our way of life. Our way of life passed down from generation to generation. This is our heritage.

Now, understand, that this is not the heritage of everyone else. This is not necessarily the heritage of everyone in here. This is definitely not the heritage of everyone in this state. Jesus is telling the people of his hometown, that there are people in his world that don’t have the same experience as everyone gathered. There are people who don’t experience life as they do. Jesus tells them that they are equally deserving of love, as everyone there is. Equally deserving of his ministry. Because the prophets of old did it. Because Jesus himself did it. Because we must do it. Minnesota has a long history of neighbor welcoming neighbor. No matter their background. No matter their heritage. No matter their current reality. Love one another. As God loves you.

Amen

Sometimes Darkness Can Show You the Light: Sermon on John 1

My first sermon of the New Year at Zion Lutheran of Amor

Gospel: John 1:1-18

Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator, and from our Newborn Messiah, Jesus the Word made flesh, Amen
Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! Again!

That’s right, we’re still celebrating Christmas. It just never ends does it… The Christmas trees are still up, the Christmas candle is still over there. If last week and today are the closest I get to preaching Christmas sermons, that’s alright with me.

For those of you who might be confused as to what the Gospel has to do with Christmas, let me at first say that there are only two birth narratives of Jesus - one in Matthew, and one in Luke. Only twice do we hear the combined story we know so well. The Christmas story from the Gospel of John however… shows a different side of Christmas. One, more nuanced and poetic. This Gospel doesn’t have the manger, or the stable, or the inn, or magi or shepherds or even angels… This Christmas story is about God. God incarnate in Jesus, even though Jesus is not explicitly named.

How poetic to write about someone without even naming them. Metaphor after metaphor, the Gospel’s author perfectly intertwines the notion of a savior and God’s impact in Creation and the creation of Jesus. That Jesus is mentioned as the Word, as the Light, as God and Word made flesh…

This passage of scripture is known as the Prologue to John - written as a basis of what is going on in the Gospel. Shining through the darkness… Grace upon grace… These elements are what the entire Gospel is about. The word Grace is never uttered by Jesus, and is only mentioned here four times, right here in the Prologue. Scholars believe that this is the author’s attempt at showing that the Gospel itself is the incarnation of Grace - that Jesus the Messiah; whom John the Baptizer points to… Is the Grace upon Grace busting through the darkness into the light. The Gospel tells of the ministry of Jesus, and his bestowing Grace upon the world through his ministry and death.

There is a recent song written by the hard rock band Disturbed that sings something intriguing about this concept of light and darkness… The end of the chorus to this song is, “Sometimes darkness can show you the light”...

If you think about it, the song’s writers have a good thought there worth exploring. One could look at it as in the case of folks who unfortunately get cancer, but then beat it - I’ve seen people have different outlooks on life when they have faced death and beat the cancer. But does it take the ultimate darkness to show us the light of our lives? Does it take death to show us life? The Gospel lesson hearkens back to the Creation story both in the first verse by mentioning ‘In the Beginning’ - a very clear correlation… But also how God created light out of darkness - to separate the light from the darkness. The light came from the darkness.

Darkness is an absence of light. Without light, there is only darkness. One cannot bring darkness into light, but only take away light to welcome the darkness. God created everything out of nothing; light out of darkness; substance out of absence. Christ is the light that shines into the darkness.

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated the observance of Santa Lucia, or LOOSHA, and I had mentioned that the observance was a way of bringing light into the darkness of the winter solstice. Christmas is too, an observation of bringing light into darkness. So too are the celebrations of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Heck, we even borrowed the advent wreath and Christmas tree from the pagans…

We can’t stand the dark. There are people who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder who truly need to see sunlight, whether real or artificial, to survive winters. There’s an old Ray Bradbury short story, All Summer in a Day, where the main characters are living on the planet Venus. This was written in 1954, long before we knew what the surface of Venus looked like, but according to the short story, Venus was a planet of constant rainstorms. The sun only came out for one hour every seven years. (Minnesota is cloudy for most of the year, but it’s not as bad as that…) The story’s main character, Margot, had moved from Earth five years prior to the story, and was the only child in her class who knew what the sun looked like. The other children were jealous of her knowledge of the sun, and when that fateful day when the sun was about to shine finally arrived… The other children locked poor Margot in a closet. The teacher ushered every child outside to catch the sunshine, but forgot about Margot. Margot, who hadn’t seen the sun in over five years, was locked in the closet while the other children in her class were outside enjoying the sunshine. When the hour was up, and the rain started to pour again, the children all ran inside, and finally let Margot out of the closet.

And yet, going back to the song lyric, ‘sometimes darkness can show us the light’... According to the short story, do you think the sun was even more appreciated by the children on Venus more than it was on Earth?

I can honestly say, that I appreciate the spring a lot more when the winter is harsh. When a mild winter like we’re having right now happens, spring just kinda fades into view, as if the temperatures just kinda gradually get warmer. It’s almost like we don’t earn spring. With this global climate shift causing heavy rains, even tornadoes in Texas; massive fires out west this summer, huge drought conditions in California, and now with all the soil exposed in California from the drought… With the impending huge amounts of rain that have the possibility of falling on California and causing mudslides rather than nourishment… The weather is weird these days. The world is gradually getting warmer, and climates aren’t as they were. Weather isn’t as it’s supposed to be. Northern Minnesota was blessed to have a white Christmas, but southern Minnesota wasn’t as lucky. There was a time a couple weeks ago when the coldest part of the country was in Arizona. Arizona. You know, the place where everybody goes to get away from the cold.

Things are not as they should be. Weather is turned upside down. We’re having national debates as to when it’s okay to ignore the basic principles of the United States. We’re having national debates as to when it’s morally acceptable to kill innocent teenagers. We’re having national debates… over the most divisive of issues. People are at each other’s throats; people are dying… over whether or not it’s okay to discriminate against an entire class of people…

There are echoes, over and over again, over past events. From the reconstruction of America after the Civil War, to Jim Crow, to the Holocaust, to the American Internment of the Japanese, to the Civil Rights Movement, to Vietnam, to the Berlin Wall… To 9/11… There are echoes of past events; past darkness… That we already took care of. We already fought that darkness. There was already light shone in that darkness.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:5-14 NRSV)

The Word became flesh, was not accepted by his own people, and died on a cross. The Savior of the World, of us all, died on a cross to save us all from ourselves. From our own seemingly impenetrable darkness. Jesus the Christ was born in a manger low, and hung on a cross to die. He died on that cross one night, and a few days later, rose again to save the world from the deepest darkness; death itself. Jesus the Christ saved us all from death for eternal life with him; the brightest light shines in the deepest darkness. Jesus separates us all from that darkness; for Jesus is the Light of the World. Through the Grace upon Grace bestowed to us all by God Godself, we are rescued from our darkness. This last year seemed quite dark in many ways, but yet, as we heard on Christmas;

The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
    on them light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2 NRSV)

The prophet spoke to us on Christmas, and speaks to us looking back at last year. All we can do is hope for a better year this year. Perhaps last year’s darkness has shown us the light for next year. Perhaps the Light of Christ, the Love of Christ, the Peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding; will shine forth upon the world and show the nations that light is brighter when it’s shared. That hope is brighter when it’s shared. That love… is better when it’s shared. I hope you all have a wonderful new year this year, and once again, Merry Christmas.
Amen.

Humanity of Jesus: Sermon on Luke 2:41-52

Last sermon of 2015 for the community of Zion Lutheran in Amor

Gospel: Luke 2:41-52

There was a print of this painting hanging in the basement of First Lutheran in Morris
I never understood the significance of it until now....

Merry Christmas!

I usually don’t start out with a story about myself, and ultimately, it’s not a story about me. It’s a story, actually, about my son, Sam. You’ll figure out why I’m telling this story in a minute. We were living in St. Paul the last few years, and two Februarys ago, Sam was almost two. We were visiting a large Methodist church watching a friend preach, and before the service, we were given a tour of this large, magnificent church. So, during the service, the three of us sat off to the side while Sam calmly played with the toys next to us. The service was nice, my friend preached a beautiful sermon, and after the service, we got a chance to congratulate him on his sermon. We had just finished talking, and noticed Sam was no longer with us after the conversation. Sam was gone.

In a large, urban Methodist church, in which we’d never been before, Sam was gone. I don’t know how many of you have misplaced children for an extended period of time before, but Tiffany and I were scared. Frightened. We knew Sam was adventurous, but after spending what seemed like an eternity checking all the offices, the sanctuary and the upstairs area, we knew Sam wouldn’t venture stairs by himself. At less than two years old. A 23-month old child wouldn’t venture down the stairs, would he? Panicked at what a young toddler could do going down strange stairs could mean… We hurried down the stairs. Down the long winding hallways of this large Methodist church, there he was. In the nursery, calmly playing with toys like nothing was wrong. There was our Sam, playing with toys he’d remembered about from the tour before. There was our Sam, doing what came naturally to him: being adventurous and playful.

So also was Jesus doing only what came naturally to him. Jesus was out and about in the world, learning from the teachers and asking questions. Where else would he be but with the people? Jesus spends the majority of his ministry out and amongst the people. Jesus wasn’t a monk locked away studying, but learning and teaching amongst the people. Jesus was the long-awaited newborn King, but he didn’t rule from a lofty throne high upon a tall tower. Jesus lived, learned, and taught with people just like him. For Jesus was entirely human. Unequivocally, 100% Human. What better way to show the humanity of Jesus than to show Jesus as a small child, disobeying his parents by staying behind.

This is the only mention of this story in all of the Gospels. Only the author of Luke wrote about Jesus’ childhood. In Mark and John, we start right away with Adult Jesus. Matthew and Luke are the only Gospels that mention the story of the Nativity. And Luke is the only Gospel that mentions Jesus as a child.

Jesus’ humanity is shown here with Jesus as a child disobeying his parents, and being a typical inquisitive child. In Mark, Jesus calls a little girl a racial slur. In John, he takes out a whip and starts tossing a whip around in anger. Heck, he even cries when his friend Lazarus dies. The Humanity of Jesus is something that is difficult to understand; difficult to grasp; difficult to figure out. Jesus is God. Jesus is Human. Jesus is both. Jesus was born of a woman, but yet is the Son of God. He’s perfectly imperfect.

Why, do you think, is it difficult for us to rationalize Jesus as a fallible human being? Why is it difficult to rationalize any important person as a fallible human being? Celebrities, as high and lofty as they seem to be, up and away from everyone, are still human. They have affairs, divorces, diseases, and even bathroom breaks. They struggle with mental health issues, addiction, and injuries. They break the law, get away with it, and get on with their lives. They fight for the same causes we do, and fight against the same causes we fight against. They stand for values that we value, or values we don’t. The veil is lifted, and suddenly, they’re more human than they originally seemed.
That goes for all of us as well. We’re all human beings. We’re all fallible. We all screw up occasionally. We all have little quirks who make us who we are. We have mental health issues, physical ailments, the general wear and tear of the body. I have to say... I’ve learned more about the human eye from talking with folks here with glaucoma and macular degeneration, than I have ever. Uffda. It’s one of those body parts we definitely take for granted. Sight is one of those senses that we take for granted until we start to lose it.

Time… Time is one of those things that we take for granted. I’m younger than some of your grandchildren, and yet the passage of time has always fascinated me. You wait and wait and wait for a day to arrive, and suddenly, before you know it, it’s here. Screaming in your face at 3 in the morning. Then it’s walking, and talking, and running, and jabbering, and endless conversations and questions. Oh the questions.

We take humanity for granted. When the realities of humanity stare us in the face, and we’re awestruck by them. It’s still Christmas, and we want the baby boy child to stay in the manger. We want that effervescent glow of Christmas to continue. For the star to still hang over us. For the shepherds to keep watch. For the angels to sing out their angelic choruses. We keep the Christmas tree up forever it seems. When I was growing up, we sometimes kept the tree up until Good Friday, or even Easter. We don’t want to let go of that feeling.

We don’t want the harsh realities of humanity to creep in. We don’t want to read on in the Gospel of Matthew that Herod slaughtered children looking for Jesus. It’s hard for us to move on from the manger in the stable. It’s hard for us to realize that the Savior born that night in Bethlehem; the long awaited Savior of the World, in the form of a child… would one day disobey his parents and lose himself amongst those in the temple. This little child wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger… would one day have a dinner with his friends. A dinner, where even his friends didn’t want to rationalize that this Messiah friend they knew, was about to go to his demise. This Emmanuel, God Incarnate, would have to face a fate destined only for the worst of criminals, the lowest of the low… That one night, the long-awaited Messiah would hang on a cross, and die… to save us all… from ourselves. That one bright and cheery morning soon thereafter, the baby boy child who was once wrapped in swaddling cloths, would shed his burial robes and rise again, to save us all. That the undeniable Grace, Love, and Mercy that comes from God, shone like the Sun that morning, breaking through the bonds of our sin to bring salvation to all.

That even despite our humanity; that even despite our brokenness; our fear and anxieties… Jesus the Christ died for us and saves us all. This Truth, this Good News - is hard for us to grapple with. That the realities of sin and death are nothing for the power of God’s Love. That the realities of humanity, and the brokenness of this world… Are right up God’s alley. For God was made human through the life of Jesus Christ. The Emmanuel. God understands the brokenness, and is right there with us in the thick of it. God is with us in the manger, in the temple, at the Last Supper, at the Cross, and after the grave. God’s humanity springs forth and shows up in the darkest of places. Even when temporarily misplacing a child, when all the fears rush forth in your head of all the darkest of scenarios… God is with us. God is with you.

So the end of the year is fast approaching. Another year, another leap year for that matter... is fast upon us. Christmas is still with us for a  few more days, and you have my permission to leave the tree up for as long as you want. As we look back on the year here at Zion, in our community, in our state, nation and world… think of ways God was present with you and your life. Think of the times in which God felt distant, like God was missing somewhere else for an extended period of time… You know where God was, is, and will be. Right where God should be. God is with you. No matter what.

Amen.

What Then Should we Do?: Sermon on Luke 3:7-18

This is my sermon for Lucia Sunday at Zion Lutheran of Amor






Gospel: Luke 3:7-18

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

“What then should we do?” Take what you have too much of, and give it to those who don’t. Take the abundance, and provide to the scarcity. For the Son of God is coming to level the playing field. The Messiah, the Savior of the World; is coming to turn the world on it’s head. The mighty shall be made low. The wheat will be separated from the chaff; the fruitless tree will be cut down. Jesus the Christ is coming, and he will save us all from ourselves.

From our selfishness, our bigotry, our pain, our sorrow, our broken selves. John the Baptizer stands there in the wilderness; the Good News of Jesus Christ having bypassed all the rulers of the land, even the high priests in the temples. The Good News came to a wild man out in the Wilderness. On the banks of the river Jordan, the Good News came to John the Baptizer. A man of the common folk. John the Baptizer, stands there in the wilderness, and proclaims the Good News. One who is related to the Messiah, but is not the Messiah. John the Baptizer calls out to the people to give of their plenty to those who have none. All are equal in Christ Jesus,  but for those living on the bottom of the equation, life's not so equal.

Of the 58,000 or so residents residing Otter Tail County, around 12% of the county’s residents live at or below the poverty line. While this county has a higher poverty rate than the state average of 11%, we have a low unemployment rate of only 3%. Minnesota’s unemployment rate and poverty rates, are both in the lowest 10 of the country. Our neighbor, North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate at 2.8%.

So, we have jobs. We have people working those jobs, and yet we have a higher than state average poverty rate. There’s a disconnect there, and I’m not entirely sure what the disconnect means. Sure, we have seasonal employment, but I don’t think that’s the nature of the discrepancy. This conversation has been going on in my head for some time now, but the idea is the same - poverty is a reality that needs to be addressed, and everyone knows it. We’re taught, whether implicitly or explicitly, on purpose or on accident - from a young age that there are entire groups of people that we ignore or discriminate against.

Whether by race, creed, religion, wealth, gender identity or sexual orientation - we’re  taught from a young age that there are people different from us, and they are to be feared. Each generation has their token group, but otherness has scared us from the beginning of humanity. It is this otherness that keeps us at bay. Away from the knowledge of the other. So we keep them at arm’s length. Whether symbolically or proclaiming to the entire nation that an entire group of people is not welcome in our country… Otherness scares us.

While this theme of otherness being feared has been a constant since the dawn of humanity - the overarching theme of God telling us to get over ourselves has also been there. From the story of Cain and Abel - to Pharaoh fearing the Israelites to Moses sending the scouts into the Promised Land, only for the scouts to feel like grasshoppers to the people already residing there - to the story of Christmas and Herod fearing children… Otherness has been feared and God tells us to get over it. To embrace difference. To love one’s neighbor, just as God loves us. According to Jesus, that is the greatest commandment.

And yet, we persist. We keep the world’s harsh realities at bay, because we don’t want to disturb the life we have. We don’t want to know. We bury our heads in the sand and we hide. Maybe we’ll throw a dollar or two at it and hope that it goes away. Maybe we’ll close our church doors, and only allow certain people to come worship; to come to the table; to sit with us. We fear the unknown. The poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson postulated that “What we fear of doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

I’ve told this story a couple times in different places, but in January I sat across the table from Senator John Marty, the son of a prominent Lutheran scholar and brother of a Lutheran pastor in Iowa. He is a champion of fighting for impoverished Minnesotans, and on that day in January, told me the story of the 2006 legislative session. The Minnesota Legislature passed a Legislative Action to End Poverty by 2020 that year. That wasn’t the big ticket item in the legislature that year. At the same time, the legislature was engaged in talks about building Target Field, where the Minnesota Twins play. In one of the discussions, Senator John Marty stood up and plainly asked why we had to wait until 2020 to end poverty, when we could just ask the owners of the Minnesota Twins to end it for us right then and now… Crickets. The discussion continued without even getting that a thought.

The answers are staring us in the face. God calls us to love one another, and yet, we’d rather talk about why the other isn’t deserving of love. God calls us to clothe and feed the impoverished. We’d rather talk about how hard it would be to do anything about poverty. God calls us to welcome our neighbor. We’d rather talk about why they want to harm us.

This country was founded on welcoming the neighbor. My ancestors, our ancestors, were all welcomed here at one point. We have different ancestors from different parts of the world, and yet, here we are.

Here we are celebrating an Italian Catholic saint from 4th century Sicily because it’s a Swedish Lutheran tradition and most of the congregation is more Norwegian than anything… Talk about multiculturalism. Think about that: Here we are, in the middle of the United States of America, celebrating the life and service of a young girl from 4th century Sicily, more than 1700 years after she died. Saint Lucy, or Santa Lucia, or Loosha as we refer to her; lived in Syracuse in the late 3rd century. According to legend, she refused to marry a pagan, as she was Christian and didn’t want a life of indentured servitude to her pagan husband, and gave all of her dowry to the poor. A girl of noble birth, of wealth and status; gave most of what she had to serve the poor. She was martyred in 304 CE. Then, as the years went on, her story struck a chord with the hungry Swedes in Varmland Sweden, and since the 16th century, Lutheran Swedes have celebrated the arrival of a young girl providing food for the hungry. This day, the 13th, was once considered the darkest night of the year, and the image of a young girl with light around her head bringing food to the hungry - bringing light to their darkness - became a beautiful symbol that Swedish Lutherans held onto.

So John the Baptizer stood there on the banks of the Jordan, proclaiming the good news that the Messiah was coming, and he was coming to level the playing field. The Messiah was the light in the darkness. John told the crowds of people to give from their plenty to feed the less fortunate. Lucia took from her dowry and fed the hungry. Bringing light into the darkness.

Jesus is the Light that shines through the darkness. Through the fire and the flames we carry on. Jesus, this Light of the World, that shines for all of us - was born in the lowest of low places, and died on the highest tree around. Jesus, the Savior of the World, died and rose again, to save us all, from ourselves. From our bigotry, our selfishness, our hatred, our ignorance, our darkness, our shame. Jesus the Christ saves us all, by the Grace of God. This unimaginable Grace, Love and Mercy that does not, will not, and cannot end.

That is the Good News that John was shouting in the wilderness. That is the Good News that we each proclaim each day. There is so much darkness in the world, but Jesus shines through it. God’s Light shines through the darkness of this world, and shows us the way. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We respond to this Grace, Love, and Mercy by doing exactly as God calls us to do - to welcome our neighbor with open arms. To love our neighbor as God loves us. To clothe and feed the impoverished, as God has clothed and fed us. God calls us for a life of service to our fellow human being. It’s in the music of the season. In a few weeks, we give of ourselves to our family, our friends, and our neighbors. We continue a tradition of providing joy in the form of Christmas gifts. We continue a tradition of providing light where there is darkness. Abundance where there is scarcity.

What then should we do? Love our neighbor. Feed the hungry. Clothe the naked. Welcome them in with open arms. Proclaim the Good News of the awaited Messiah.

Amen.

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.