Water

This is my sixth sermon preached at Bemidji United Methodist, on 1/12/20. This sermon was for the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, and came on the heels of local news that went national-
(https://time.com/5761225/beltrami-county-minnesota-bans-refugee-resettlement/). I felt called to respond to the news, especially when mere blocks from where it happened.

Gospel: Matthew 3:13-17


Grace and Peace to you from God our Loving Creator and from Jesus the Beloved, with whom God is well pleased, Amen

On the brink of war, communities splitting over identities, and Pastor Rob asks me to preach on this, the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday. Happy New Year, eh?

For this is the context in which we live. A nation’s weary eyes, always looking at the next big thing to come across the bottom half of the TV, or across their news feed, or the latest conversation over coffee… This week, Bemidji and Beltrami County entered that same national conversation. And not for the best of reasons. Not for reasons that bring us here, under the shadow of the cross.

The cross that unites all who are called and claimed by the One who was nailed to it. The One who was baptized by John the Baptizer in the Jordan River, and called and claimed and named Beloved by God.

For in this common identity, in which we are claimed with a baptism through water and the Holy Spirit, we are called to love one another, and see the Beloved One in the faces of our neighbors.

The three Beltrami County Commissioners who voted for denying refugee resettlement on Tuesday night forgot that. And honestly, we all forget it sometimes. I forget it sometimes. But I don’t have official power over a county. I sometimes forget it when decisions are made about me that have everything to do with who I am as a human being, and not so much with my theology or ministry. I don’t have official powers over a county, but I do know what it’s like for my humanity to be discounted. To be legislated against.

I am not a refugee, but I have listened to them. Taught them Math, English and History. They taught me about Islam, Somalia, and a little about life as a recent immigrant in Saint Cloud. I am not an immigrant, but my father’s grandparents were. My younger brother’s parents-in-law are. I have worked alongside both documented and undocumented immigrants, with the fear of deportation very present in their minds.

Regardless of their documentation, their place of origin, their religion or their race - they are human beings and no less deserving of Christ’s love, and our love and understanding. Last week, Pastor Rob talked about fear of the other, and how if we’re walking on a sidewalk and see someone coming toward us, especially if they are of a different race than we are, that we can sometimes feel more fearful than if we were alone or if the person was of the same race as us. That’s called unconscious bias. It’s acting on or feeling something based on racist stereotypes that are buried in our broken humanity. This can manifest in fear of passing someone on the sidewalk, or fear in allowing the possibility of welcoming refugees to Beltrami County. 
  
This recent meeting was not the first, nor the last instance of racism deployed legislatively in this town. But maybe this very public display of racism can awaken us all to our own implicit and unconscious bias in our own lives.

By claiming our identity in the waters of baptism, we not only connect ourselves to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan but also everyone who has been baptized. In the new movie, Frozen II, there's a delightful snowman named Olaf that loves telling the story of water, and how water has memory, and has gone through a few people and fish before it touches our lips… but the story of interconnectedness is woven throughout the movie. For context, it’s also about intercultural relationships, in a metaphorical version of the Sami and Scandinavian peoples.

The connection that we all share, that the delightful snowman Olaf was connecting, is water. Water connects all living things, and we are all connected through the water. Today's Gospel lesson is more than the beginning of Jesus' ministry and where we get our sacrament of baptism from… but also the point where God proclaims for all that they are well pleased with their beloved child. Baptism is the point when God claims us all and says that we are loved and pleasing in her sight.

We can claim our Christian identity through the waters of baptism, but we cannot use that identity for reasons to dehumanize others of other faiths, or engage in war for our Christan identity. This area has a history of using faith as a reason to dehumanize, in the not-so-far-off history of Native boarding schools. With the inherent racism mixed with religiosity present in such realities… When a lack of infrastructure is used as a reason to deny hypothetical refugees, but not new housing developments or businesses… When a county commissioner uses the word ‘invasive’ in an email when describing refugees…

I was born and earned my undergrad degree in Saint Cloud, the second most populous area for Somali immigrants in Minnesota. I worked at an after-school program for Somali children and youth from Kindergarten through senior high. I was teaching 17yr olds addition and subtraction because for 16 years they lived in a refugee camp in Kenya, just eking out a living to survive. You want to hear an example of unconscious bias? I asked a friend to come with me for my interview for the job because I didn’t feel safe going alone.

We don’t learn until we either read, or experience these things for ourselves. Without my experience at the La Cruz Community Center in Saint Cloud or living on the poor side of Huntington Beach, California for a year, I don’t know if I would feel the way I do about immigration.

I think the Beltrami County Commissioners that voted against refugee resettlement should spend time listening to actual refugees, and learning from them.

Faith is more than baptism. Faith is learning from one another, even and especially from those that don't share our faith. Faith is living out our baptismal promises, and actively engaging the world around us in that faith.

The Muslim Somali immigrants had to have tremendous faith to persevere as long as they have. To have their faith questioned and ridiculed on a daily basis, but still remain ardent in that faith. The Orthodox Jews in New York had daily attacks during Hanukkah, and still persevere and hold onto their faith.

Our Christian identity is embedded in the waters of baptism, in Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan. But how, in this world of impending war, shifting denominations, and with national attention on our community - how do we live out our Christian identity? How can we stand united?

We can stand united believing in and worshiping a God that was, is, and will be even after all the lights go out. That this God that created, creates and will create- bestowed on humanity an only child. A lonely child born in an unlikely place, to unlikely parents, and surrounded by unlikely people. An unlikely child that grew up, was baptized in the river Jordan, gathered friends and broke boundaries to serve the marginalized and under-served. Jesus the Christ lived a life in service to others, bestowing Grace Love and Mercy to all. Through the work of the Holy Trinity, we are all bestowed this Grace, Love, and Mercy so that we may go out into the world to proclaim this good news and live out this truth for our neighbors.

I believe this denomination’s call to live out faith in a policy of Open Hearts, Open Minds, Open Doors is a strong way to live out faith, and it’s evident to most anyone that walks through these open doors.

I don't know what the future holds for the larger church, but I have faith that this congregation will continue living out that call past the next conference and beyond. Beltrami County will weather this storm. If anything else, we as a community can vote this spring for caucus and this November for the general election, and live out our American identity.

Most of all, I think we all can work better at joining together on projects in the community. Together, with other churches in the area, we could continue the conversation of refugee resettlement, if only to better educate the community. We could explore providing housing for even the current situation. Improving the infrastructure that was complained about. Continue building relationships with the many cultures already present in the community. United in our Christian identity, we can live out God's call to love our neighbor, and make our community better for all of us. Even for those that have yet to join it.

You are God's beloved. Remember your baptism, as we remember the Lord's.

Amen.

Reign

This is my 8th sermon preached at Faith Lutheran in Bagley, MN, preached on 11/24/19.

Gospel: Luke 23:33-43

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

The End. Not many stories begin with those two words, but this one does. Jesus washed the disciples feet, ate dinner with them, was handed over to be judged, carried a cross across town, and was nailed to that cross to die. The End. Oh yeah, and Jesus offers forgiveness to the criminal. The End.

Advent is the mirror of Lent, and one could argue, in fact I did last year up here, but Advent could last six weeks instead of four. With Advent’s Gospel texts about the ending of the world, we have a text about the end of Jesus’ mortal world. Or very close to it. And at the end of this text that we just read, there, Jesus gives his final forgiveness to a condemned and guilty criminal. In the Gospel of Luke, we’re not told what these criminals were guilty of, but clearly a crime that deserved a Roman death sentence.

In this Gospel, the author points out Jesus’ innocence a few times, once the innocence of Jesus is confirmed by a Roman soldier himself. The Romans knowingly put an innocent man to death to appease the people, broken humanity. What does Jesus do before offering God their spirit? Forgives the guilty criminal. Divine forgiveness. Divine forgiveness that only comes from divine love for humanity. However broken we are, wherever we are in life, there was the final example that Jesus gave us before death. “Surely, you will be with me in Paradise.”

This is Jesus at the penultimate end of the story. In a month, we’ll listen to the beginning. Eleven months ago, you listened to the beginning of the Lukan story. What’s happened in those eleven months around here? What was the life of this congregation like in those eleven months? I know that I was up here a little over a year ago, preaching a sermon about the end of the world. (Welcome to Advent).

In a month, it’ll be the end of the year, and the end of the decade. Those of you on social media might have participated in or seen the posts of people posting pictures of what they looked like at the beginning of the decade vs the end of it. What would the pictures of this congregation look like? Of Bagley? Of Northern Minnesota? Of this country?

With Thanksgiving in a few days, what kinds of things are you grateful for in this congregation? I apologize for all the questions, but in the words of my rabbi, my religious studies professor in undergrad, “Questions are good. Questions are what keep the conversation open. If we had all the answers, the conversation ends.”

Without conversation, Thanksgiving dinner might get a bit dry, and I don’t mean the food. With Thursday’s conversation comes gratitude. With gratitude… comes forgiveness? There’s something about forgiveness and gratitude, right? Think about it… Can you be grateful for someone, or something, without forgiving them of their wrongdoing?

The tradition of gathering around a table and offering gratitude for those gathered, could have been the root of today’s Gospel lesson. In Luke, before we get to Jesus on the cross forgiving the criminal beside them, we have Jesus gathered with friends around a table sharing a meal and offering forgiveness and gratitude with the washing of feet. Even for Judas. There’s that divine forgiveness again.

I don’t know what Jesus forgiving a betrayer before eating dinner or forgiving a criminal before death means for you, but I know for me, it’s something to live into, and hope to achieve one day. I’m probably like most of our fellow broken humanity, and find it difficult to forgive people who I vehemently disagree with. Usually it’s because their views directly contradict my very existence, so forgiving them is dependent on them seeing my humanity first. I’m not saying that’s where you’re at, where anybody else has to be, or has to feel, but that’s where I’m at.

Earlier this week, I saw a portrayal of the Christmas Armistice in a science fiction show I was watching. If you don’t know the story, the short version is that Allied soldiers and German soldiers on Christmas of 1914 came together for a night and stopped shooting at each other to share a meal, songs and even sports, in the name of celebrating Christmas. Enemies trying to kill each other one minute, and sharing a meal the next. The greatest example of forgiveness I know.

That’s the reign of Christ. The reign of Christ that calls humanity to seeing Christ in one another. Forgiving one another, loving one another, giving thanks for one another. The Reign of Christ is recognizing that the Christ who was born of humble beginnings, lived a life of teachingpreachinglovingserving, and died on a cross, and did it all for us - to save us all from ourselves. Through the Love, Grace and Mercy of God, the reign of Christ is knowing that we are saved so that we can live out our days proclaiming and bettering the world for those around us.

What does the reign of Christ look like in the next year for you? For this congregation? I personally love Advent, with the themes of Peace, Hope, Love and Joy all intermingled with Christmas shopping and end of the calendar year madness. Up here it means winter and early sunsets and hopefully warm beds with plenty of covers and sweaters to keep us warm. Hopefully plenty of great food and celebrations and Christmas carolers and music recitals. Above all, love and gratitude for your friends and neighbors in this holiday season.

One story before I end. Last week, I helped lead this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance service at First Lutheran in Bemidji. The names of twenty-two people who were killed because of their gender identity were read, along with a corresponding ringing of the church’s bell. Most people in town probably didn’t know why the bell rang that much. But I wanted the bell to ring purely for that question to be asked, and for the bell to be heard by the people of Bemidji. The bell’s vibrations could likely be felt in the nearby Mississippi River, and then sent onward, connecting the rest of the country in those ringing bells.

The reign of Christ is knowing that Christ forgave the criminal before death, and died shortly thereafter - and also knowing - that the death of Christ is not the end of Christ. That the actions put in place on Friday would have ramifications on Sunday, with the resurrection of Christ and the beginning of Christ’s reigning in the world, for the rest of the world, until the end of the world. Reading the names, re-membering the twenty-two trans people into the world around us, sending vibrations down the Mississippi... What we do in the world matters. Our lives matter to one another. I encourage you, when hopefully gathered around the table with friends and family this week, think about what impact that meal will have on you and everyone around you. Your kindness, your love, your gratitude, will send vibrations out in uncountable and unforeseen ways, but know in your heart that - that is the Reign of Christ in the world.

Amen.

TDoR Homily 2019

This is the homily I prepared and preached at First Lutheran Church in Bemidji, MN, on 11/17/19.

Grace and Peace to you from God, the Creator, Savior and Breath that holds us all together in love, Amen.

“...for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples…” Thus says God in the words of Isaiah. Here we are, in a church, where people are gathered to remember the names of 22 transgender folks who were killed for who they were as people. Year after year, the names of people killed for being transgender are read in community centers, parks, bars, houses of prayer, and places of worship. Year after year, the faces behind those names are similar in nature, because year after year, most of the names being read belong to specifically black trans women.

There are of course, people who are from every other nationality and gender identity that have been killed for who they are as transgender folks, but I want to be sure to name and make clear that the systems behind the crimes stem from the evils of racism, sexism, and classism. Who we are as transgender people is a threat to the capitalist patriarchy that we exist in, surely. But for those whose claims to privilege in this country are few and far between - when the evils of racism, sexism and classism are weighing down heavily on our rights to be authentic people in the face of God and society, then the likelihood of those evils fighting back increase.

Vicar Daphne read a poem from a transgender poet, Griffin Rae. On another poem, there was commentary added from Griffin and I wanted to share that with you. She writes,

“Thinking a lot today about how transmisogyny is not just about denying that trans women are women, but also an internalized belief that trans women are a lesser class of woman. The patriarchy always treats trans women as women by default, and are only treated as men when they must be demoralized or otherwise discredited. The patriarchy treats trans women like sex objects, same as cis women. The patriarchy wants to strip trans women of their bodily autonomy, same as cis women. The patriarchy is threatened by trans women, same as cis women. The only real difference is that trans women are subjected to a unique double standard: that a trans woman is a woman when she conforms to patriarchal norms, and that she is a man when her existence challenges those norms. Ex: manhood often presents itself as this mystical conception of power that must be attained through ritual, strength, and adherence to an unspoken code of conduct. However, only in the case of trans women is this title unscrupulously given out regardless of if they fit into the given parameters. The rules change, and then they change back; but only cis men get to say when or why. A trans woman is a woman when you're fucking (I said "with") her, and a deeply confused man when you want her to shut up.” https://www.instagram.com/

Bricks were thrown at Stonewall Inn in 1969, 50 years ago, so that people like the more than 22 people we remember today, like some people in this room, like me… could live an authentic life. People die, just to have a chance at living an authentic life.

The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”

People have been wanting to live authentic lives since the dawn of humanity. One could read in the book of Genesis, that Joseph was almost killed because of Joseph’s desire to be authentic in the beloved dress that was given to them by their father. That the sexual and gender minoritized eunuchs who were taken out of God’s houses of prayer in Deuteronomy, were welcomed back in Isaiah and one became the earliest foreign convert to Christianity in the book of Acts. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus describes that however someone was labeled a eunuch, that they were loved by God. That who they were, as authentic as they were, that God welcomed them into their favor.

We gather today to remember the list of names of violently killed transgender people, but also to acknowledge that this list is incomplete, that there are people who were murdered because of their gender identity, but not reported by the police. People who died from suicide because of their feelings of gender. That there are over 300 people worldwide that shared the fate of the 22 remembered today. Trans people that die in other ways because of the evils of racism, sexism, ableism, and classism. But I don’t want you to leave here today thinking that trans people are only remembered when they die. I don’t want you turning away from the realities facing the ones alive to live and tell their stories.

Whatever the reason that compelled you to come today, to help or to attend, to listen and remember - I ask that you not turn away from the justice at hand. Maybe your mind is opened just a bit more. Maybe your willingness to help combat transphobia strengthens a bit more. Whether you are trans, bi, lesbian, gay, asexual, two-spirit, agender, nonbinary, queer, genderqueer, questioning, female, male, pansexual, polysexual, polyamorous, hetero or homosexual or any combination or none of the above - Whatever your race, ability, culture, religiosity, faith, creed or nationality - know that your life matters. Black Trans Lives Matter. You are loved.

Those of us who are gathered here today are encouraged and called to go out into the world to fight the evils that allow the list of names read today to exist. We are encouraged and called to not turn away from those who call out into the wilderness asking for help, asking to live authentic lives. Asking who they are, and what they mean to you and the world.

In a little while, the names will be read, and the bell will ring. The sound of the bells will travel the length of the Mississippi, connecting from Bemidji to New Orleans, the West to the East. We will not turn away. We remember.

Amen.

Persist

This is my seventh sermon preached at Faith Lutheran in Bagley.

Gospel: Luke 18:1-8

Art by Karen Hallion
https://thewookieegunner.com/2018/06/16/star-wars-rebels-ahsoka-tano-enamel-pin-karen-hallion-illustration/

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

Persistence. It's this strength within us that keeps us coming back for more. That sense of... "keep on keepin' on!" But why do we persist? Is it our stubbornness? Our deep calling within us that if we persist, something better will turn up?

When I drive somewhere new, most times I use my phone's navigation to help me figure out where to go. Google knows everything. But, when I choose not to use my phone, because I like to live dangerously... I try using my intuition. And when that doesn't work, I keep driving. And driving. And I know that all roads lead home, eventually. But it's that sense of persistence that keeps driving me. That sense that the thing I want will hopefully, eventually, appear. I do this every time I visit the photographer. I know she's just right out of town. I know where her shop is. And yet, I stubbornly ignore my phone, and every single time, I drive and drive and I get about 5 miles out and then I realize... I already drove past it... So I turn around and persist knowing that eventually, I'll get there. I persist in this practice because I know eventually I'll remember the location of the photographer.

We push on in life, when we all face adversity. When the wind is in our face and we press on knowing that the goal will be in sight... That God will be with us on our journey, and with our persistence.

In our Gospel for today, Jesus throws around a parable about a woman who sought justice, for whatever reason, from a judge who neither respected God nor people. He didn't give her a decision for the longest time, but she kept on bugging him about it. As she persisted in her quest for justice, the unjust judge finally decided to rule in her favor. She received the justice that she desired. Through her persistence, justice was found. Her fight was for justice. In Greek, justice and righteousness come from the same root of dikaios. To fight for justice is to fight for righteousness. To be right with God.

For those that persist in fighting for justice and resistance against oppression, persistence is only one element that keeps them going. People from around the world cling to what they hold dear and fight for their very own survival in the name of justice. In some cases, there are heroes of a generation that come to the aid of people looking for someone to lead them to justice. This woman in our Gospel was likely not a hero for anyone but herself, but throughout history, people like Joan of Arc and Harriet Tubman and Greta Thunberg have risen up and taken the mantle of leadership to pursue a quest for a common cause.

Suppose there was a leader who was the ire of others, and a naysayer of all forms of justice. A leader who had children but was only aware of one of them. He did terrible things to other children and wouldn’t believe that he was wrong in any course of action he had. Merely a pawn in a larger scheme, controlled by an outside source, and persistent in his quest to make a name for himself in the world he inhabited. A news source devoted to spreading the message of his actions and the actions of his followers, while ignoring the pain happening around them. And yet, with a rapidly growing contingent of people fighting for justice and resistance against his rule. That’s right… I’m talking about D……. arth Vader.

In the world of Star Wars, the realm in which I inhabit most of my freetime in absorbing books, movies, shows, and video games… Such a reality that I just described, exists. Hard to fathom, I know. This is my seventh sermon with you folks, and I figured it was about time that I shared with you another one my interests. Specifically, Star Wars.

When I first started mentioning Star Wars in sermons, Star Wars was a six-movie epic with a TV show, and whispers of a third trilogy. Now, nearing the end of 2019, Star Wars spans eleven movies, three animated and one live-action TV shows, and plenty of books, toys, and video games to spread around, with talks of many more shows and movies to come in the future. For someone who even has a Star Wars tattoo, this is everything.

Both in-universe and out, Star Wars is a story about good and evil, but also about persistence. In the basic outline of the original 1977 movie Star Wars, it’s a movie about a farm kid that learns he’s part of a larger story, and he gets thrown into this larger story to rescue a princess with the help of a pirate, only to destroy the castle that held the princess and defeat the bad guy that held her. That’s Star Wars in a sentence.

But for a more detailed story and the point of what I was trying to get at with the reason for putting it into this sermon… This farm kid Luke lives at home helping his aunt and uncle carve out a piece of honest living, until a couple droids land in his lap and throw him into the larger story of the fight of the Galactic Empire vs the Rebellion. Luke has a mentor in a Jedi named Ben Kenobi, and together with Ben they hire Han Solo and his pal Chewbacca to take them to fit into the fight against the Empire, but end up rescuing Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star in the process. The next couple movies follow Luke and his compatriots in persisting the fight against the Empire in different parts of the galaxy. In the larger story, it’s good vs evil. In the grand scheme of the 11 movies and TV shows, they are classic stories of good vs evil with the protagonists persisting in the face of overwhelming odds, with the help of a divine presence and a little luck.

When we’re faced with overwhelming odds ourselves, it’s stories like today’s Gospel, knowing that God hears our persistent prayers and knows that justice is achievable. It’s stories like the Star Wars universe, or the Star Trek universe, where the underdog protagonists are faced with overwhelming odds and yet, with persistence and tenacity and a little bit of luck, they pull justice out of the hands of the opposition. It’s stories like these that help us to hold on, to keep going, to keep on keeping on. To quote yet another movie franchise, JRR Tolkein’s The Two Towers - Samwise says to his friend Frodo at the end of the movie,

“It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going, because they were holding on to something.” 

Frodo asks his friend what they’re holding onto - Samwise replies,

“That there’s some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it’s worth fighting for.”

Looking around, some days it may seem that life cannot return to what it was.
When farmers are looking at losing crops and money because of a wet couple months, it's hard to see past that. After a loss of a job, a friend, a family member, it’s hard to see how life can continue afterward. When I was stopped in my process of becoming a pastor and told I had to restart if I wanted to go on, it was hard to imagine what life would be like after that moment. All that I had worked at for years seemed to be up in smoke.

But my family and I moved up here and I found a new normal. I found pastors and congregations like yours that welcomed me and my family with open arms. It’s taken me nearly two years to get to this point, but I know that through persistence both ways, God has shown me what ministry looks like outside of a congregational call. I’m only beginning to see what that looks like in a practical sense, but with God’s help and guidance, I can see the fruits of labor in the congregations that I have been blessed to accompany the last couple years. I can see their impacts on me, your impacts on me. God is doing beautiful work in Northwestern Minnesota and I love seeing it right in front of me.

Through persistence and prayer, hopefully farmers will be able to harvest their crops.  This congregation will continue to keep on keeping on. You will keep on keeping on. In the words of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s famous paraphrase, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” In the parable that Jesus threw around, justice has the final word.

Christ lived for justice of the people. Christ died for the justice of all people. Christ rose again for the redemption of all people. Through God’s persistent Love, Grace and Mercy we are justified and saved from ourselves, so that we may go out into the world and seek justice for our neighbors.

There’s plenty of justice in this world, Faith Lutheran, and it’s worth fighting for.

Amen.

Found

This is my second sermon preached at Hope Lutheran in Saint Paul. Pastor Andrew Tengwall was gracious to invite me to preach again. I was glad for the opportunity once again.

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

Grace and Peace to you from God our Loving Creator and Jesus the Shepherd of us all, Amen

I said this a couple weeks ago, and I’m gonna say it again. Happy Palindrome Sunday! Yep. It happened two weeks ago when it was 9-1-19, and it happens again today on 9-15-19. Here’s to all the racecars and radars out there. Do geese see God? Was it a rat I saw?

Okay, now that I’ve got you lost in your own heads for a bit, we can talk about lost sheep and coins. Which one of you, having lost a remote in the couch, doesn’t dig and dig and dig for the thing, only to discover that it was on the table next to you the whole time? And then upon finding remote, rejoice with a renewed sense of security. For a little bit at least. Or maybe you’ve lost your keys, and discover them in your pocket after all. Or your wallet, or any other number of things that we frequently lose track of… How much relief and security is felt when we discover that lost item. How much joy… Don’t even get me started with phones… at least we can call those… as long as they’re on, and not on silent…

I lose things constantly. Mostly because I have ADD and when I happen to just haplessly put something down for no apparent reason, my mind decides to remember whatever I was thinking about at the time, rather than the actual placing of the object. My house is filled with half-done projects and “I’ll do that laters” and “Sometime soons”. As they say, I would lose my own head if it weren’t attached to my neck.

Even God seemingly forgets people and things now and again. Okay, so in the Bible it occasionally says, “And God remembered…” whatever, and you kinda just have to wonder…. Does God forget? Does God lose things? People?

If God is all knowing and all powerful and all, well, everything… then how does God lose people? If Jesus is throwing around today’s parable about God and people, and God represents the shepherd and we the sheep, or God the woman and we the coin… does God lose people?

Have you ever felt lost? Out of place, out of sorts with God? Lost in your own muck and mire of life, and seemingly detached from God? Or lost in reality, in your own world, in your own mind? In order to be lost, you had to have been found at some point in your life.

In order for an object to be lost, it had to have had some sort of function at some point. What if people decided that people from one area, didn’t belong in another, and asked them if they too were lost? When I lived here in Saint Paul for two years, I felt lost. Out of sorts with the world around me. I would drive by the U of M Saint Paul Campus, next to the fairgrounds on Larpenter, just to look at the empty farm field to the north. Pretend that there was nothing beyond it. For a few seconds of my drive, I felt like I was home.

But I grew up in rural western Minnesota, where the farm fields roam free. So free, they’re free range! The rolling prairies are dotted with small country churches with long Scandinavian and German names, like Kongsvinger and Sverdrup. These congregations at one point were full of people, with giant families that filled the Sunday School rooms and Confirmation classes. In the height of the American Lutheran Churches in the 50s and 60s, the giant families of the 30s and 40s had children and these children then attended Luther League and Confirmation and everything was peachy keen. But over the years, these small country churches that at one time were the centers of community went the way of the family farms. Smaller and smaller, and slowly closed their doors. Luther Seminary has an archive of many of these closed churches, and keeps relics and records from them when they close. Of the nine regions of the ELCA, Luther holds the most records and archives for these midwestern regions. When these congregations start to look at dwindling membership, less money in the offering and no longer enough money to pay a pastor, they might feel lost as to what to do. So much history and so many memories are built into the walls of these churches. And some do eventually close after looking at these decisions for a long time.

But just as Jesus reassures us that the sheep and coin are not lost, so also the congregations of these closed churches are not lost. In some cases, it makes financial and ethical sense to close. In other cases, congregations could look at altering their ministry. For instance, in recent conversations around immigration, rural communities that have been struggling beyond church membership but in community resources as well… might look into being more open and welcoming to recent immigrants to Minnesota. This conversation was even mentioned by one of the presidential candidates the other night in hopes to revitalize rural communities.

Sometimes when we’re feeling lost, God finds us, but maybe places us where we don’t necessarily expect. Smaller congregations in these communities with changing cultural demographics could do well to modify their outreach, and some have. They may feel lost in their problems of membership, but find new life in welcoming people they wouldn’t have originally expected into their worship spaces.

This reality in rural communities is of course not limited to rural communities, as you very well know and live yourselves. When I was in seminary, it was intriguing to me for me to be from these rural areas with shrinking congregations, and then witness a similar story play out in urban congregations. I studied Christ Lutheran on Capitol Hill when I was in my first year. Blocks from the capitol. Shrinking membership.

People can say that we are lost, that other people are lost, without God. Some Christians claim that people who identify a certain way, interact with the world in a certain way, live their lives in a certain way - may be lost and need to be found by God.

In these parables that Jesus throws around, we are told that God will find us when we’re lost. But what happens then? What do we do once we’ve been found? What does God call us to do? What do these congregations do that are found by God and God’s people?

God calls us to act on that finding. Congregations live into the welcoming of the stranger, and as people of the ELCA, we have been called to live into being a sanctuary denomination. God calls us to love our neighbor. To hold onto the freely-bestowed Grace that has been given and in turn share that Grace with our neighbors. We become proactive, and engage the world around us in continuing to find the lost and broken with God’s help.

When the shepherd finds the lost sheep, when the woman finds the lost coin, they react with such overwhelming joy at the finding of their lost ones. What immense joy there must be for these congregations that are struggling to be found again, to know that God’s Grace comes in all sorts of forms, but that God will see us through.

As was, is and always shall be - God’s got this. God’s got you.

Amen.

Flip

This is my fifth sermon preached for Bemidji United Methodist, preached on 9/1/19. Posting a day late because of Labor Day.

Gospel: Luke 14:1, 7-14

An intriguing origin story for this image
https://medium.com/@CRA1G/the-evolution-of-an-accidental-meme-ddc4e139e0e4

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

Happy Palindrome Sunday, all the Annas, Bobs, Hannahs, Elles, Eves and Ottos out there. It’s 9-1-19. In two weeks, it’ll happen again on 9-15-19, because the date is still the same backwards and forwards.

But most elements of our world don’t work the same backwards and forwards. You can point a remote at a TV or stereo backwards and it still works. A video game controller can be played backwards, but you may not go the way you’re thinking. Playing a record in reverse might not warrant secrets from the Beatles or Led Zeppelin. However, if you sync Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon somewhere in the opening of the MGM Lion in the Wizard of Oz, for whatever reason, the movie matches eerily well with the songs of the album.
(Below is a beautiful example of the combination)

Some foods match up weirdly well, like french fries and chocolate milkshakes, or Doritos and cottage cheese. Or, if you’ve ever been to the Red River Valley, cinnamon swirl bread with cheese spread. Other tastes definitely shouldn’t go together, like brushing your teeth and drinking orange juice right afterward… Never a great taste together. Until they had orange-flavored toothpaste for a while. Needless to say, you don’t really see that much anymore.

And sometimes, you feel called to just throw things together, and it ends up working out. When I cook, I don’t measure seasonings too often… a shake here, a couple there… Seems to have worked out so far. Sometimes we do the unconventional things, because there’s something in our inner being that compels us.

Or maybe we’re called to do the unconventional thing because God is calling us to do so. To flip the script of what we would normally do. Take a left turn instead of the right. Go down a road that you think will end up where you think it might, all for the sense of adventure. And yet, it’s more than just making a different turn for the sense of adventure. What Jesus is calling us to do in our Gospel text for today is to humble ourselves of our own feelings and misgivings, and lift another above ourselves.

There’s a picture that has been floating around the internet for a few years of a baseball game and three spectators watching from the fenceline. One side shows the three people of differing heights standing behind the fence, with only one person being able to see the game. That side is called “Equality” because they are all on the ground. The other image is one with the three people behind the fence, but the middle person has a box to stand on to see over the fence, and the third person has two boxes to see over the fence. Now all can see the baseball game. That side is called “Equity”. An added box to the right of that “Equity” box is the image of the same three people with the same baseball game, but the fence has been removed. That image is called “Liberation” or “Justice”.

I believe that progression of images is very indicative of American politics, and frankly, American Christianity these days. When it comes to conversations of race, gender identity, sexual orientation or ability… I believe tolerance is the first stopping point for people to grasp these realities. If tolerance is the stopping point where people are comfortable, then progress can no longer proceed. We tolerate colds. We tolerate subzero temps in the winter. Tolerance is the end of the conversation.

Equality is the next stopping point. If we believe that individuals of different races, gender identities, sexual orientations or abilities have equal societal barriers, then we miss the point of the conversation. That’s the inability to see the realities affecting the individual, in an effort to equal the playing field. So that we can be comfortable with each other without getting too involved. If I know you have the same troubles as I do, and the same societal issues that I do, then we can stand together on the same footing. And maybe that’s enough for some people, as a step above tolerance.

When equity is involved, then you have the added benefits of assistance. Programs like Affirmative Action, Medicare, Social Security, SNAP and WIC benefits, Temporary Aid for Needy Families, and the Affordable Care Act - help people access benefits and services that would otherwise be unavailable to them. When organizations that promote equality in the workplace or an open welcoming environment actually put societally marginalized people in leadership roles, in an effort to move past the conversation of equality, this is where equity comes in.

Lastly, liberation is the removal of those societal barriers. Liberation or Justice is the radical upheaval of the social norms. Standing in the face of, “we’ve always done it this way”. It’s taking issues like insurance and medical bills and removing the need for them. Seeing an issue like student loan debt and removing the debt and the reason for the debt completely. It’s putting the common good above the individual. It’s Spock’s “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. It’s putting everybody else’s needs above your own.

It’s Jesus throwing around the idea that we should not only sit at the lowest seat at the dinner table, but when we invite people over for dinner, we invite the people who can never repay us the favor. It’s Jesus alluding to the Last Supper, where the Savior of the World was humbled to the point of washing the feet of friends, literally sinking below all the others, raising the needs of everybody else. It’s Jesus dying next to a thief and murderer in a public, humiliating and painful way. It’s Jesus living a life full of teaching, service, and salvation, so that all of us can in turn share in that teaching, service and salvation.

This is more radical than adding two unrelated foods together, or unrelated pieces of art, or people of different origins together. This is more radical than reading the same dates and words forwards and backwards. This is Jesus throwing the table of the status quo in the face of society and calling us to live beyond the societal norms to serve below them. To wade in the muck and messiness of life alongside our neighbors and serve them without any hope of repayment. So that they may be lifted up above what people expect.

There’s a concept in midwestern Scandinavian Lutheranism known as the ‘Good Lutheran’. The ‘Good Lutheran’ sits in the back. Why? Maybe it’s a keen understanding of giving other people the better seats because of the added concept of ‘Minnesota Nice’. Maybe it’s the ability to be quicker out the door. Or farther from the pulpit so the preacher can’t see you close your eyes. Or the ability to see everybody else in the sanctuary and make sure certain people are there. Whatever the reason, the ‘Good Lutheran’ sits in the back.

I don’t know if there’s a similar concept in Methodism, but I think this congregation is doing it’s best in not sitting in the back. I think you folks are amazing in community engagement, leading the way in so many directions. Serving the community meal week after week is definitely placing the community’s needs above your own. It’s my hope that the continued conversation about welcome and inclusivity is a fruitful one, not only for the congregation but the wider community of Bemidji. For a rural small city to have one inclusive congregation is extraordinary on its own. Having two already in a town of this size is beyond extraordinary. Three would be a radical step in moving the dialogue from rural death and stagnation to continued growth and progress. It’s moving the conversation of radical acceptance to a community-sized conversation. It’s moving beyond the decisions of national bodies to a localized community that looks to welcoming in the face of fear.

I was reminded yesterday that things happen in God’s time. That God’s got this. We don’t know why things happen the way they do, when they do. Why a hurricane suddenly changes directions to hit another state that wasn’t expecting it. But we know that God’s gonna see us through it. That God’s gonna be there alongside us in that storm. That God sent a child into the world to guide us through whatever storms we face in life.

And God calls us to face the storms of life so that we can be there for our neighbors. To serve them in spite of ourselves. To lift them up despite our limited will or strength. To live not for ourselves but for God and God’s creation. So that when we encounter ourselves in a situation with someone totally unlike ourselves, that we might remember that God gave us Judy Garland and Pink Floyd, but it took something beyond the norm to discover their beautiful combination. Tip the scales, flip the script, disturb the status quo. Be who God is calling you to be. God’s got this because God’s got you.

Amen.

Prepare

This is my sixth sermon preached at Faith Lutheran in Bagley, Minnesota on August 7, 2019.

Hebrew Scripture: Genesis 15:1-6
Gospel: Luke 12:32-40

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


A couple weeks ago, our Gospel was Jesus throwing around the idea of God providing our daily bread. Last week, Jesus threw around the story about the rich fool who stored up everything for himself, and nothing for anybody else. This week, Jesus tells us all- that while God provides and oh by the way, we should go ahead and provide for everybody else too… we should go ahead and prepare for the inevitable as well.

But have no fear, because God will be with you. God provides, go ahead and provide for other people, and yes, keep enough around to live the rest of your days so that when the time comes, you’ll be ready. Whatever you’re waiting for. Whatever reality of life or death that you are waiting for, do not fear the morrow, for God will be with you through it.

That’s it. Sermon over. Let’s go ahead and get on with the service... No? You weren’t ready… for that? You wanted more out of this sermon? But what if I told you that I wasn’t ready? That I didn’t prepare, because I’m terrible at preparing. I procrastinate to the point of forgetting to procrastinate until the very end. Then the ADHD has to go away because I have to hyperfocus the rest of whatever task I’m supposed to be working on. And that’s how I earned most of my college degrees…

But life doesn’t work like that. As much as I can joke about my own misgivings and faults in the art of preparation… I love the seasons of Advent and Lent because they’re intentional times of the year where we as a Church are focused on the idea… of being prepared.

I would say most people aren’t like me, and most people are much better at preparing than I am. But I wonder if Abram in today’s first lesson prepared like me. Abram and Sarai had been childless for so many years. An entire lifetime and then some. And then God tells Abram that he’s gonna have a kid, at like 90-some years old? And not only that he’s gonna have a kid, but that his descendants will number the stars in the sky.

I’m not so sure anybody could have prepared for that. In the Hebrew Scriptures, God has a tendency to spring things on people, without warning. Later on, Abram will be called Abraham, and God springs upon Abraham the task of killing this son that he’s waited for his whole life. A sacrifice to God, and Abraham gets right up to the point of almost going through with it, and then God tells him to stop. What amount of preparation would Abraham have had to have gone through to be able to come to a place of mind… what kind of faith in God would Abraham would have had to had…

But that’s another sermon for another time. Back to this sermon… There are things in life that we can prepare for. That we probably should prepare for. A job interview, or a job in general… writing papers or sermons… playing music for church… even farmers in the winter time prepare for spring planting…

Preparing for such things allows us to have a predetermined idea as to how we believe things will play out. Scientifically figuring out that if I do this, then this will happen. If this happens, then I will be prepared for this reality and so on and so forth and on and on it goes. Without preparing, there’s a certain amount of luck or skill that’s involved in being able to do things on the fly.

I never prepared for tests. Rarely studied. I called it ‘winging it’. After a professor called me out on it… I may have studied a little bit more. But this is why I write down my sermons. If I prepare for anything, it’s these sermons. I have awe and respect for preachers that are able to preach a sermon off the cuff, or with notes. I know myself that I wouldn’t have the state of mind to be able to preach like that, but I can see why preachers do it.

There’s also a certain amount of fear in not preparing. Because there are times when life happens and out of the blue, we’re thrown into a situation where we need to give an impromptu speech or talk or sermon or explanation of what we do. Or someone gets sick or has an emergency that no one expected or some random happenstance where life and death are thrown out of whack. Where your whole world gets thrown upside down and it takes you a long time to recover.

Because life just happens that way sometimes. There’s a substantial list of people this congregation is praying for on the back of your bulletin. I don’t know many of them, but I know you probably know most of them, and maybe some of them are on that list that you might not have been prepared for, to be on that list. I do know that God knows them, and that God will watch over them, and hold onto our prayers.

We had two national tragedies back to back last week, and as often as these mass shootings happen, and how sad that phrase really is… No one can ever prepare for something as horrific as that. From schools to malls to churches to mosques to concerts to garlic festivals… Even literal sanctuaries… have been destroyed by such evil. This past week, the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, where Pastor Mark and several others from this synod have been, passed resolutions that have wide ramifications across the ELCA, and I’ll highlight a couple for you in this thought - First of all, one resolution was passed that enacted a commemoration for the nine people that were killed in their sanctuary at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, four years ago. This commemoration makes June 17th a day of remembrance, a feast day to remember the nine people who were killed by a boy raised in an ELCA congregation - and our continued work in repenting from the sin of racism.

“Have no fear, little flock”, our Christ reminds us. The other resolution passed will hopefully help other people to hear those words of our Savior. The other resolution labels the ELCA as a sanctuary denomination, the first one to make this distinction. I hope, along with other leaders, that this is a step in the direction of pushing congregations to becoming sanctuary congregations themselves. So that people fleeing persecution will always have a home and safety in an ELCA congregation. So that they too, can ‘have no fear’ from agencies that intend to harm them.

While these resolutions offer hope for a changing and growing denomination, there was also the reality that the ELCA still has much to grow on issues pertaining to income inequality, discipline for candidates and rostered leaders; and to still learn from their racist tendencies.

As much as we can prepare for the realities of today, sin gets in the way. Human brokenness gets in the way. Realities of life and death get in the way. All through the grey, through the messiness of life, Jesus our Savior is telling us to not be afraid. To have no fear. Because in all of the chaos that is modern life, God is right there beside us to guide us and be there for us, right in the thick of it.

When God bestowed their child into this broken world, to live among us and teach us, God was right there. God present in Jesus, walked in this broken world, and fed, clothed, healed those who were unprepared to be fed, clothed and healed. They were unprepared to learn from this teacher of humankind, this lover of sinners and saints. Jesus the Christ came into this world to live and be, and then die and live again, to love and bestow the Grace that we all share. This Grace that is bestowed on us all, so that we may go out into the world to better ourselves and one another.

From God telling Abram to prepare for descendants, to Jesus telling us not to fear what comes next, we live our lives being prepared or unprepared. I think we all live in that balance. Some of us more prepared than others. Ready yourselves for the world, so that together we may ready the world for what comes next. God will be with us in the preparation, and the action that follows.

Have no fear, little flock. God is with you through it all.

Amen.