Birth pangs

Hebrews 10:11-14 [15-18] 19-25; Mark 12:38-40; Mark 13:1-8

I want to start with a bit of last week’s Gospel reading. Mark 12:38-40 says:

As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” NRSVUE

I have been struck this week by the phrase “devour widows’ houses.” Anyone want to explain this? It seems pretty simple, doesn’t it. The scribes – who know the scriptures about taking care of widows and orphans – use their greater training to take advantage of widows.

According to Gotquestions.org, “The phrase devour widows’ houses means “greedily cheat widows out of their property.” In ancient times widows held little or no power in the courts. It was not uncommon for a husband to appoint in his will a Jewish legal expert—a scribe or Pharisee—to be the executor of his widow’s estate. Essentially, this gave the executor authority to oversee the widow’s finances and assets. It would not be hard for a corrupt lawyer to find legal ways to trick a widow out of her house and other property—and this is precisely what the religious leaders were doing.” So, without their homes and people to care for them, widows were poor and unsheltered.

Just a few verses after this comment from Jesus, the disciples point out the grandeur of the temple. To be sure, it is an amazing sight: the stones, the building blocks, of the temple are the size of semi-truck trailers. Today, we can’t imagine how the builders were able to create something so huge with the technology of the day. The disciples are amazed; but Jesus throws cold wet water on them, saying, “The scribes, who collect the funds daily to run the temple complex, steal widows’ houses.” But the disciples don’t hear the criticism, even when they watch a poor widow drop her offering in the receptacle.

Today, we might accuse Congress, or the Governor, or the County Commission, or even the HOA (home owners association) of cheating us. For example

… About 20 years ago, I was talking with a member of a church in Chicago. She was lamenting that the congregation was once much larger. But the powers-that-be decided to build the Dan Ryan Expressway through their neighborhood. Those who owned homes were forced to accept the price offered, or lose their house outright through the process of eminent domain.

It’s telling that the neighborhood was lower income, and mostly people of color. Though the residents and business owners protested, they lost the fight, and the highway split the neighborhood and the geographical parish in two. With limited access to the “other side of the highway” the congregation lose many members. The “powers-that-be” in Chicago found it easy to devour widows and poor persons’ houses.

… Back to our scripture. Jesus warns the disciples that before long, this temple will be destroyed, not a stone left on stone. Jesus continues, this will be the beginning of the birth pangs.

This comment is often interpreted negatively – That the birth pangs issue in a time of destruction and terror. It is seen to imply that the birth pains bring a time of chaos and fear. Wars and rumors of wars. Earthquakes, fire, flood; natural disaster after natural disaster. We remember that in this nuclear age, we can destroy entire nations and the world with the touch of one button by an angry leader.

But, what if Jesus meant the idea of birth pangs in a positive sense? Many of us have experienced or at least observed birth pangs. After more than 8 months of carrying a baby in our bellies, women look forward to the pains of childbirth, because a child, a tiny human, will be the result. Babies are good news, bringing joy and hope of a better future.

I regularly check Facebook for pictures and news of my grandchildren. Especially, I look for pictures of my new great-grandchildren. Aiyanna at 6 months is learning to blow raspberries, and George looks handsome at 3 months in his new sleeper. Birth pangs bring good news and hope.

… Jesus promised that good things would come out of bad news. Even as the temple walls were crumbling, the numbers of those who believed in Jesus were multiplying all around the Mediterranean Sea. The Good News about Jesus was carried by those who fled the destruction, and within 300 years, there were believers in Britain and Spain and Libya.

The Good News announced a new way of living, a new way of believing. The author of the sermon for the Hebrews puts it this way. With the current plan of temple sacrifice performed by the priests, forgiveness is not fully effective, so it needs to be repeated daily. The forgiveness of the priests grants temporary access to the Divine, to God.

But with Jesus, his offering of his life makes forgiveness perfect, complete. We receive this forgiveness through our baptism. We can trust in this promise of forgiveness and never worry about it again. Further, through baptism, we are made holy, sanctified, and granted permanent access to the Divine, to God.

For individuals, this access to God’s forgiveness is the good news that results from the birth pangs of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We live in the knowledge that we are loved and forgiven; we are God’s beloved.

For communities like the Chicago neighborhood affected by the construction of the Dan Ryan Expressway, the good news is that their congregation is still there, sharing the good news with those around them.

And for congregations like Gloria Dei, there is work to be done in our neighborhood, too. How can we meet the needs of widows and orphans and foreigners in our midst? Is there a new ministry to pursue, especially in partnership with another congregation? Where, or how, are we feeling birth pangs today? How will those birth pangs bring good news, new life, to those in need?

This week, I wonder how will you see good news in the bad news. And I hope you will talk with someone about your ideas. It could be God’s Holy Spirit sent them to you. Amen

Widows among us

 1 Kings 17:8-16; Mark 12:38-44

I was collecting things to read for the sermon this week, adding them to a file I would eventually print. This comment struck me and wouldn’t let me go. “Why was the widow poor?”

Yes, indeed, why was she poor? In both circumstances, from First Kings and from Mark’s Gospel, there was no explanation. Apparently, poverty in widowhood was so common, it needed no explanation.

In addition, there was a cultural tendency to blame the poor for being poor. “Everyone” knew that God blessed those who were righteous by giving them power and wealth and children. The widow, or her ancestors, must have sinned, must have done something bad, to cause her current circumstances.

… In the case of the widow of Zarephath, it was the result of a famine. Which itself was the result of Elijah’s condemnation of the rule of King Ahab and his Queen Jezebel. At the time of their encounter, the woman, a widow, has a son, and just enough food for a final meal before they would succumb to starvation.

But hospitality reigns, and when Elijah asks her to feed him first from the meager supply, she agrees. I imagine she thinks, “At this point, what’s a little less for us? There is nothing left after this anyway. With her compliance, Elijah promises her that the supply of meal and oil will not run out until there is rain. I assume he really means until the rains produce a harvest.

Why was this widow poor? We don’t know why she was a widow, but it is clear no one was looking out for her, seeing that she was fed and cared for. Many around her were also hungry, too. But the main cause of her poverty, her situation was the poor leadership of King Ahab, who strayed from worshiping only the Jewish God.

… In the Gospel reading, again we don’t know why the woman is a widow. We only know that she is faithful, and generous. We congratulate her on her generosity, but worry about her future. Is she going to be like the widow of Zarephath, starving to death from this moment? Or does her Social Security Check arrive in the mail next week?

Jesus’ point is NOT that she gave up everything, but that she gave proportionately so much more than the wealthy persons did. I want to be clear that Jesus doesn’t want her, or anyone, living hand to mouth, scrounging in restaurant rubbish bins for leftover food.   

Jesus’ point, like the author of First Kings, is that the leaders were not paying attention to the people, all the people. They were allowing the poorest people to starve to death instead of making sure they were provided for. They were ignoring the demands of the Torah to care for the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners in their midst. I found 6 mentions of this in Deuteronomy, so the educated leaders would have been familiar with them!

… A couple weeks ago, when Mike had what seems to have been an episode of chemical imbalance, I watched as a laundry cart rolled by. Then I realized it was a scrawny old woman pushing it. Well, she looked to be my age – or maybe her life circumstances had aged her prematurely. But I question why someone my age needs to do such work to survive? Are we caring for our own elderly, whether they are widows or not? … It's not just the USA, of course. In Hong Kong, old women collect cardboard for money to live on. 

Since tomorrow is Veterans Day, I want to acknowledge the widows and widowers that have resulted from wars in the last couple of centuries. As a nation, we have not always done such a good job of caring for them, or for those who have come home eternally damaged by the experience of war. I thank all who have served, or now serve, our country.

… The persistence of poverty in our nation, in our world today, is shameful. About 40 years ago, I read a book called Rich Christians in an age of hunger, by Ron Sider. It was reissued in 2015 to update the data. Here is what the book jacket says.

In an age obsessed with wealth, Christians seem to have forgotten that scripture encourages believers to give to the poor. Why do 1.3 billion people live in abject poverty? And what should Christians do about it?

Despite a dramatic reduction in world hunger, 34,000 children still die daily of starvation and preventable disease, and 1.3 billion people around the world remain in abject poverty. Dr. Ron Sider, a professor of theology, examines the issues of poverty and hunger in modern society. While the Bible is full of instructions to care for the poor and warns against being seduced by riches, it’s been statistically proven that the richer countries become, the less they give. Finding that Conservatives blame morally reprehensible individual choices, and Liberals blame constrictive social and economic policy, Dr. Sider finds himself agreeing with both sides.

… As a nation, under any administration for almost 250 years, we have not done the best job of caring for the neediest among us. During election cycles, candidates promise to fix these problems, in different ways, and sometimes in radically different ways. As citizens, we are responsible for voting for those we believe will best resolve the problems, like hunger, that we are concerned about. And then to call to account those we elected to actually do the fixing they promised.  

But since the time of Elijah – and hundreds of years prior –leaders have failed at caring for the needy. Hungry people, sick people, disabled people, young and old people, do not have what they need each day to live. So, it ends up being us, the individual, the group, the congregation, who do the caring.

At Gloria Dei, we are justifiably proud of the way we feed hungry people each month. So are thousands of other organizations justifiably proud of the way they feed the hungry people. The gifts we give to the church, to support the car show and other fundraisers, are essential to those who need what we share. [The Christ of the Breadlines, Fritz Eichenberg 1950]

Though we are not having an official Stewardship Drive, in preference of year-round stewardship messages, I want to remind you that whatever we put in the offering plate is given to the mission Jesus calls us to, and ultimately to Jesus himself.

One last story. Years ago, I was in Chicago at a weekend-long Women of the ELCA event for about 15 leaders. We went as a group to a restaurant for supper one evening. Since our rooms did not have refrigerators, we left food on our plates as we headed back to the hotel. All except Mary, who took hers in a to-go container. As we walked back to the hotel, Mary looked down the alleyways until she saw a person. She offered her meal to them, and the hungry person smiled in gratitude.

So, this week, I encourage you to notice those around you, as Elijah did, as Jesus did, as Mary did. I hope that you see poor persons as one of God’s needy children, one of our siblings, and seek ways to help them in their time of need.  

Let us weep together

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

Let us weep together

Today, the author of John’s Gospel gives us permission to weep, to let tears flow from our eyes, to express the emotions we usually try to hide. John tells us, “Jesus began to weep.” Or, “Jesus wept.”

I assure you that scholars are divided on how to interpret this little sentence. We usually think of weeping as silent tears falling from the eyes. But in ancient times, weeping was noisy boo-hoo-ing. Because of this difference, some scholars say Jesus was angry, more dismissive of the crowd than sad. The word used in the Greek is dakruo, tears falling from the eyes, demonstrating deep sadness. Jesus is grieving the death of his good friend.

I think that Jesus spends a lot of time with these three, Lazarus, Martha and Mary, because they feel free to say what they are really thinking. Only with good friends do we speak as bluntly as Martha and Mary do. “If you had been here …!” both women say. In other words, “I’m angry with you,” They believe that Lazarus’ death is Jesus’ fault.

Because of this close relationship, I also think that Lazarus is the “One Jesus loved” at the end of the Gospel. When Jesus said to Mary and the beloved disciple, “This is your son; this is your mother,” I believe Jesus is talking to Mother Mary and good friend Lazarus.

With these assumptions of close relationship, I think it would have been hard for Jesus to not have tears flowing from his eyes, even though he knows the rest of the story ahead of time.

… It’s natural for us to have tears when someone we love is seriously ill or dies. It’s natural to have tears when we remember them, even years later. That makes today, All Saints Sunday, a day when it is easy to let tears fall.

I don’t know about you, but I find great comfort in the fact that Jesus was weeping at the thought of Lazarus dying. It helps us know that Jesus/God knows what it feels like to be human. While Jesus walked the earth, he knew all about being human: the joys and sorrows, the hungers and the satisfactions, about conflicts and peace. When we believe God understands us, it is easier to trust God, and to be comforted by knowing God loves us.

And it’s easier to believe that death is not the last action we will have in this life. Jesus calls his beloved friend out of the tomb, calls him to life again. The sisters saw it, and rejoiced. The crowd saw it, too. Many of them believed. But some of them went to tell the Pharisees, who would be angry at this latest sign of Jesus’ power.

… The last verses of the book of Revelation bring us some amazing promises.

• ·      God dwells with us
• ·       We are God’s people
• ·       God will be with us
• ·       God will wipe away every tear
• ·       Death will be no more
• ·       Mourning and crying and pain will be no more

Can you imagine what it would be like? A place and space and time when no one is weeping? A place and space and time when all we feel is love? Maybe then we’ll be weeping with joy instead of pain and sadness.

This week, I hope you will allow yourselves to feel the emotions that remembering loved ones brings on. Go ahead and weep; smile through your tears; hug loved ones; and tell the stories as you remember. Let others comfort you – they are Jesus’ own arms wrapped in those we love.

 … This week I also hope you remember that God is in charge, no matter how the election goes. If you haven’t voted yet, please go and vote on Tuesday. Your candidates may win, and they may lose. We know there will be weeping with joy for the winners, and weeping with sadness for the losers.

 Remember that if – since – God can raise us up from death, God’s purposes will triumph. The cross is empty because Jesus was raised from the tomb, much to the surprise of those who watched him die. We can trust God to make whatever happens come out all right, because Jesus knows what it’s like to be us. Amen

 

 

“Mine!”

 Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31

When we are born, everything we know is about our own needs. We are hungry, we need a diaper change. Our tummy hurts. We need a cuddle.

By the time we are toddlers and learning words, we use the word “mine” as often as possible. Our toys, our books, our cookies, are all mine. But, right about then, most parents begin to teach us the word “share.” And we learn that some things are not mine, or not only mine.

We may learn empathy, and begin to understand that sharing means everyone gets some of whatever is available. Children offer bites of cookies, or ask adults to give more to other children.

However, some children learn that sharing is not important, that having more than others is a good thing. This attitude can lead to bullying or cheating. It leads to unfairness when there are not enough cookies for everyone to have one.

… The ancient belief was that those who had much more than others was blessed. If you didn’t have much, you or someone in your family, some ancestor, must have sinned; your lack was due to unrighteousness. And so you believed that getting the most was God’s blessing, even if it meant ignoring the frequent calls to take care of the orphan, the widow, and the foreigner in your midst.

This is what the Prophet Amos is talking about. He speaks God’s words to the wealthy people of his time, and ours. You who have much and don’t share it with the needy are sinful and unrighteous, … and there will be consequences if you don’t change your ways. Learn to hate evil and love good, so God will be merciful with you.

… When the rich man approaches Jesus, he wants to know how to have eternal life. Jesus has a conversation with him, first about keeping the Jewish life rules. ‘Have you kept the commandments?’ ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘All my life.’ Jesus then says, ‘There’s only one other thing for you to do. Sell everything you own, give it to people who have less, and follow me.’

For the rich man, this is a step too far, or maybe a mile too far. It means giving up all comfort, like fine wine, like cushioned chairs, like meat everyday, like servants to do your work for you. Following Jesus means living in the open, or in someone’s smelly barn, eating whatever is offered, and sometimes going hungry. It means becoming the type of person he has been taught is NOT blessed by God. … and he walks away, because he can’t go that far.

Mark says, Jesus was sad, because he loved him. I find it curious that this comment comes after the man says he had obeyed all the commandments. We can’t be sure, but I suspect it was because the man was so proud of his faith in following the rules. But following the rules didn’t include taking care of the needy folks around him, as Amos and many other prophets urged him to do.

… It’s easy for us to judge this rich man. Oh, we say to the man, you should have listened to Jesus. You missed such an opportunity. We would have loved to spend that time with Jesus! But would we really have given up everything to go on the road with Jesus? Are we so sure we would have believed so easily, that we would have acted in such a countercultural way?

We get a clue about whether we would have followed Jesus then by how we follow him today. Would you be willing to give up everything to go and tell people about Jesus? All day, every day? If not today, but when you were young and physically able to do so? Today, are you willing to put Jesus first when you give your time, talents, and finances to Jesus through the ministries of Gloria Dei?

So, let’s assume this rich man is probably more like us than we want to admit. We would find it hard to live without our usual creature comforts. We would find it hard to have a change in social status. We would find it a challenge to join the line for food at Joining Hands in Food Ministry, instead of being the ones giving the food.

... But there is good news for us. Jesus is willing to forgive us for our prideful-ness as we hold so tightly to our wealth, our status, our self confidence. How do we know that? Because the author of the letter to the Hebrews, Paul or one of his followers,  tells us that Jesus is our high priest. And he’s the type of priest that loves hanging out with people who don’t obey all the commandments, and admit it.

We can confess our sins, our guilt, to Jesus and know we are loved and forgiven. Confessing our sins doesn’t condemn us, but leads us to greater compassion, greater empathy, if we permit it.

Which takes us back to where we began a few minutes ago… what we have is not ours – or mine! Everything we have is a gift from God, with the intent that we share it, so that all may have their daily bread, and more.

… I think we all know folks who don’t believe in God, and who claim that everything they have is through their own hard work. It can be hard for them to share, to give away what they have because it’s “mine”. Those of us who believe in God, and understand that what we have is God’s gift to us, find it easier to give what we have away, because it’s not “mine” to begin with.

This week, I hope you will think about what you consider yours – or “mine”. Does it control you, or are you willing to give away significant portions of it, in order to more closely follow Jesus? Amen

Perfect brokenness

 Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16

This story in Genesis about God creating humans is so familiar, we often overlook some details. And we read it in English, not Hebrew, so we miss some of the word-plays. The authors give us man – ish – and woman – ishah. These are obviously similar words.

But it is easy to miss this: God creates a human out of the dust of the earth, Adam out of Adamah, making Adam an earthling. The earthling doesn’t have a partner, an equal, so God sort-of clones a woman out of the man.

Finally, the man says, this is flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone, an equal partner. Often translated as helper, or helpmeet, the word ezer in Hebrew is also used as a description for God. So, we have a man and a woman, bound together by God in relationship from the beginning, one-flesh. … But we know that perfect partnership doesn’t last long. Soon the tricky snake enters the garden and invites the couple to make a decision that becomes a symbol of human brokenness throughout the rest of Scripture.

… We are all broken earthlings. Some seem more broken than others. My Mom was raised at first by alcoholic parents, then by an aunt who never let her forget they took her in when no one else would. My Mom was verbally abusive, to my Dad and to us kids. We knew when she was upset, it was best to make ourselves scarce. After we were all grown and out of the house, her abuse of my Dad continued.

At the same time, Dad was passive, especially in the face of her anger. His Dad died young, so my Dad lived with the fear that he would also die young. I don’t know much about my grandmother’s life, other than she struggled to earn a living as a widow. And she prized perfection.

I once asked each of my parents, separately, why they stayed together. And they each said, “I don’t think your Mom/Dad could make it by themselves.” I often imagined they would be better off living in separate homes, or apartments, next door to each other. So they could be together when they wanted, and apart when they needed space.

Because my parents were broken people, we kids, my sister and brothers, all are broken. It’s true that there are no people who do not have some brokenness. Jesus recognizes this, of course. God doesn’t need our perfection, only our faith and trust, imperfect as it is, and our willingness to see each other as children of God.

… Jesus stresses this when he responds to the Pharisees. Citing Genesis and God’s plan for healthy relationships between people, Jesus challenges the Pharisees. “Since you have asked me, I say what God puts together should stay together. God’s plan was for harmonious relationships, where people worked out their differences as equals. Moses gave
you a plan for settling broken relationships because of your hard hearts and reluctance to see each other as equal partners, as ezer.

In fact, God wants you to be more like these children, open to receiving God’s blessings.”

… The letter to the Hebrews was probably written by Paul or one of his followers. We will read portions of it for the next several weeks. In today’s section, the author is trying to explain to Jewish believers who Jesus is – that he is the incarnation of God’s own self, appearing on earth for a little while. His life and death demonstrate God’s extreme care for us, even though we are broken, sinful, people. Further, we are Jesus’ siblings, his brothers and sisters, all beloved children of God.

It can be hard to remember we are siblings, sisters and brothers of Jesus and of each other. Disagreements happen, and we each believe we are right. Too often, we don’t want to find a middle ground, the common ground that can bring us together. Everything from the new kitchen color to the path to peace in Jerusalem becomes an intractable battle, with each person or party or nation claiming they are the most injured entity.

… Last weekend, I officiated at the marriage of young friends. At any marriage, during the message, I always do this little exercise with the couple. I ask them each to repeat after me: “Yes, dear.” “Please and thank you.” 

And “You’re right.” It never fails. One of the two will have a problem with that last one, with admitting that the other may be right, because it indicates that they may be wrong, or at least, not totally right. Family and friends always laugh at the struggle, because it is so real, so true about the reluctant one. My hope is that couples will remember this little exercise in tense moments and work a bit harder to find the path to a solution that works for both of them.

It comes down to respect, to believing that each person has value, no matter who they are, or what they think. I hope this week, this month, this election cycle, that you will remember that even those who are very different from you are God’s children, and just as beloved as you are.  And maybe, once in a while, you will have the courage and respect to tell them they are right, at least in one or two things.

Amen

Leaders with Spirit

 Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Mark 9:38-50

How do we choose our leaders? I want to make it clear today that although these remarks could be applied to choosing a president, a senator, or a mayor, I am more concerned with choosing leaders for the Church, for the congregation. I want us to consider how we choose a pastor, a council president, a musician.

The stories from Numbers and Mark’s Gospel remind us in powerful ways to allow room for the Spirit to work. We can make lists of qualifications. We can design a clear and precise ad for Indeed, the job search website. We can rule out those who don’t seem to fit the qualifications. But we can’t control the Holy Spirit. The story of how Len Cremisio came to be our music director is a clear example of the Spirit at work.

… Let’s look at the scriptures: Moses was exhausted. He had assumed the responsibility of the entire encampment – from finding food to resolving disputes between people. It was simply too much, and he was DONE! So he went to God and kvetched about it. “These people whom you gave me…!” And he listed his grievances. God said, “It’s time for you to learn to delegate! Find leaders, I’ll take some of my spirit that rests on you, and put it on them, and all will be well.”

We note there is a parallel story in Exodus when Moses’ father-in-law Jethro is the wise advisor. The point is not who said it, but the recommendation to delegate the work.

So, Moses did as he was told. But there were 2 men who were hanging out on the fringe of the group who also received the spirit, and demonstrated its power. Some people were upset, and tattled on them. “These two men had broken the rules. They weren’t supposed to have this spirit!” But Moses said, “I wish many more had the spirit on them and could prophesy in God’s name.”

A similar situation occurs in the gospel reading. Although – Let’s call him Billy – although Billy is not a follower of Jesus, he is able to heal people in Jesus’ name. Once again, he is breaking the rules, and the disciples tattle on him. But Jesus is happy about it, and tells the disciples to leave him alone.

… Since I am the dean of Pinelands Conference, I know more than other pastors about the congregations and candidates they are interviewing. This past year, I have observed the Spirit at work in so many ways! A pastor wanting to serve one day a week called the Synod office about serving at First, Brooksville. A pastor who wants to do campus ministry, and who thinks outside the traditional church box, asked about interviewing at University, Gainesville.

And call committees said, “We need to give this a try! We need to let a new pastor lead us in new ways.” Because of congregations trusting God’s Spirit, Pr Lindsey has been at University for a few weeks, and First votes today to call Pr Brenda.

… I have been around the church and paying attention for a long time. The year I graduated from college, 1970, 54 years ago!, women were first given the right to serve as pastors. But just because we had the right doesn’t mean we had the opportunity. During seminary, I was told to avoid getting sent to one particular synod because the Bishop didn’t believe in ordaining women. It was hard to get a first call there, and even harder to get a second call.

For many congregations, anywhere in the church, this is still true. Some congregations refuse to call women to serve. The same is true for pastors who are Black or Latine or LGBTQ. The shame is that these congregations don’t know what gifts they are missing out on.

… So a story. The pastor had accepted a new call and Bishop Hansen came to talk with the council about the call process. He made it clear that there might be women or people of color on the call list of candidates to interview. We would be required to give equal attention to all candidates, and to choose prayerfully the best one for the congregation.

And then Bishop Hansen told us a story about First Lutheran in Rural Anytown, Michigan. They reluctantly voted to call Pr Jill, but only because she was the only pastor who wanted to serve in that remote location. Five years later, the council told Bishop Hansen that he had better not consider having Pr Jill interview for any other churches. They loved her and wanted to keep her forever.

… You have a few months to go before it’s time to interview pastors for call. I hope you will be as open-minded as University and First have been when you interview again.

In the meantime, we have a congregation to care for. I know for a fact that many people over 65 or 75 come to Florida and say, they want to sit on the beach or play golf, and never serve on a committee or congregation council or teach a class or be on the stewardship committee. They say, “Been there, done that. Not gonna do it again.” Unfortunately, that means that this congregation is missing out on the gifts God gave them. And they are stifling those same gifts or other gifts and interests. 

Now, I encourage you all to remember the source of those gifts – God’s Holy Spirit – and to find ways to use them for God’s purposes. This is important because we will soon be electing new leaders to serve on the congregation council. We will want to form a call committee in a few months. And I love to work with committees, so we need committee members for them.

Please pray to find ways to serve, to use your gifts for God’s purposes. Please be open to the urging of the Spirit. And say “yes” when you are asked or urged by the Spirit to serve in some ways at Gloria Dei. Amen

Worth dying for

 Mark 9:30-37

Today, we are mostly going to follow my train of thoughts, from one idea to another, and round-about to the beginning again. It all focuses on value, on worth. I hope you can follow, and not get derailed along the way.

… Jesus and the disciples are walking back to Capernaum from Caesarea Philippi after Peter says out loud what they are all thinking: “Jesus is the Messiah.” As they walk along, Jesus continues to teach them. He makes up parables, they laugh and joke about some situation, and some of the time Jesus teaches the hard stuff.

The text here in English is a progressive verb – he was teaching – the teaching is ongoing. He tells them many times that he will suffer, die, and rise again. But, they struggle to understand. Of course, they have never known anyone who was raised from the dead, so it’s the farthest thing from their minds that it would be possible.

They would rather think about power and glory. They begin to plan who will be the leader of the group when Jesus is gone – they are thinking about the succession plan. Which of them is more important, who has more value, Peter or John or James?

This question leads to arguments, and Jesus overhears them. So, when they are alone, he teaches them a lesson. He sees a child, picks them up, and cuddles them, then says, “When you welcome a child in my name, you welcome me, and when you welcome me, you welcome God who sent me.”  

… We often hear that children “back in the day” were not valued, they were chattel. But, over and over again there are scripture stories of the value placed on children: Isaac, Samuel, David. Over and over again, Jesus heals children. Instead of value-less, this child is precious, yet innocent, not yet affected by the worries of adulthood.

…So, following my train of thought about the value of people, I wondered: what IS the value of a human life? I did a little research and here are some of the results:

-      Chemically, we are worth about $576 in oxygen, carbon, calcium, and so forth.

-      If we were to sell our individual body parts, heart, lungs, bone marrow, and so forth, we are worth up to $45 million, depending on the condition of the tissue being sold. Most of us in this room are probably worth a lot less!

-      Economics calls it the VSL, the value of a statistical life. VSL is used in risk analysis – at what point is the loss of life higher than the cost of saving a life? For example, how much more does it cost to add a beep to the car to remind people to wear their seat belt, compared to how many lives are saved. In the US, the Value of a Statistical Life is around $7.2 million.

-      We value wealth, and most of us seek to have more wealth tomorrow than we have today. Oprah Winfrey is more valuable than I am, because she has megabucks, and I don’t.

-      We value political influence, so the President of the US, the Bishop of the Synod, even the head of your HOA, has more value because they have been granted more power.

-      Some people are more valuable because of physical ability, so Simone Biles, Usain Bolt, Caitlin Clark, and Babe Ruth are famous for their athletic abilities.

-      Sometimes we value age for different reasons – young people have energy and enthusiasm while elders have experience and wisdom.

… My train of thought then led me to this: How valuable do you think you are? Are you worth $546 or $7 million? Are you worth more or less than Oprah or Bishop Suarez or Caitlin Clark? Are you worth more or less than Julian or Quiana or baby Barrett, the youngest members of Gloria Dei? Mostly, we would say we are equal in value with any person, no matter how famous they are, or how much money or fame they have.

But here’s a different question: are you worth dying for? Here, we might get some resistance to the notion of having value. I’m nobody. I’m insignificant. I’m not worth dying for.

Jesus disagrees. You might remember last week when I said Jesus is God who came to earth for a time to tell us in God’s own words how much God loves us and how readily God forgives us.

Jesus intentionally gave his life so we would know the depth of God’s love for each person, the depth of God’s love for ourselves. The choice of Jesus Loves Me as one of our songs today is very intentional, because we need to hear for ourselves, often, that Jesus does indeed love us, that he loves us today as much as he did when we were children singing that same song. So, simply because we are beloved children of God, we have value. We are worth dying for.

… This week, I hope you will spend some time thinking about the idea that you are worth dying for. Is that easy or hard for you? And then, consider how everyone else is also worth dying for. Does that affect how you think of your neighbors?

I try to include a challenge for you each week, a practical way of living out the gospel, or the sermon. Please tell me the stories about what happens when you spend time pondering them.

 

Who is Jesus for you?

2024 09 15 Sermon

James 3:1-12; Mark 8:27-38

I graduated from seminary in 2001, and had an interview with the Bishop of Southeast Michigan and his Assistants soon after. We talked about logistics, about the kind of ministry I like to do, and that sort of thing. Then the Bishop asked me about my theology,  starting with the question for today. “Who do you say Jesus is?”

My answer was something like this, “I believe Jesus is God’s Son, God who walked the earth in person for a time, so we can hear directly from God just how much God loves us and how easily God forgives us.” It’s what I still believe. It’s what I believe all people need to hear, and they need to hear it often.

… Of course, on that day 2,000 years ago, the disciples didn’t know the whole story. They had been hoping for decades that the Romans would be defeated and cast out of Judea, and that a new King David would restore the kingdom to the glories of a thousand years before. Sort of like, Make Judea Great Again.

The disciples are still trying to figure out who Jesus is. He heals people, he challenges the leaders, he multiplies food. Rumors about him abound.

Jesus knows he needs to manage the situation, so he asks them. “Who do people say that I am?” And then, “Who do YOU say that I am?” Some of the disciples repeat what others are saying, but Peter can’t hold it in. “You are the Messiah!” I imagine him jumping up and down with excitement.

Jesus goes on to tell the future. And it’s a stunner. Jesus will suffer, he will be rejected by the religious leaders of the day, be killed, and after three days rise again. The disciples don’t get it, of course,  and Peter goes so far as to tell Jesus he is wrong. From top of the world to foot in mouth in 5 minutes. The thing is, no one has ever died and been raised to life again. The disciples won’t know that for a while – at least a few months from then.

Jesus goes on to tell the crowd, who are also wondering just who Jesus is, that they should not be thinking about glory, but about servanthood. In other words, don’t try to make me your king! You should all take up a cross and follow me. Again, the crowd won’t understand this until later, either. But the message is clear: God in Jesus is present to lift up broken hearted and needy people, by becoming one of the oppressed people himself.

… James’ letter is filled with practical advice. Martin Luther didn’t like it because he preached and taught so much about grace and forgiveness, that he disliked James’ focus on peoples’ behavior.

If we try to read between the lines, we can guess that people James is writing to are being really nasty to each other, and not following Jesus because of it. They are not demonstrating the love and grace Jesus taught them about, from Jesus, from God, from each other.

In this election season, it is easy to focus on the wrong things, to hear and say nasty things. I have heard stories about broken friendships, fraught family meals, and broken relationships because of discussions about partisan politics. Believe me, I am not going to talk about any candidates and their views or their values.

But I am going to encourage you to pay attention, especially for the next couple of months, about how you think and talk about other people. My lunch group has had a rule, we don’t talk about candidates or certain topics that we know we disagree on. We do discuss, exploring why we believe X or Y, but we respect the others’ viewpoints. We have this policy because we believe we all have the right to have an opinion, and mine may be different from yours.

This is what James is after. You can have different opinions, different ideas, but you also have to treat each other the way Jesus treated all people, with love and respect.

… So, a story. It was an election year, a number of years ago. A man became a regular visitor at the church I was serving. One Sunday, I had a chance to talk with him and discover more about him. He said he was unhappy at his current congregation and looking for a new place to worship. I said we were happy he was visiting us and hoped he’d stick around.

Then he said this, “But you never say anything about politics. You don’t talk about the candidates and which one to vote for.” I replied that “I would never do that. It’s not my job. It is my job to talk about what Jesus stands for, and for you to choose a candidate that best fits with Jesus.” We never saw the man again.

… So, let’s go back to Jesus’ question. If we base our decisions on who to vote for, and we want to look to Jesus as our role model, who is Jesus for you? Who do you say Jesus is?

We can use the church’s liturgy to help us. In the Apostles’ Creed, we say that Jesus is the Son of God, that he suffered, died and was buried before he rose again. And now he is with God, judging us, living and dead.

We can describe Jesus with a lot of adjectives and nouns: holy, loving, shepherd, savior, I am.

And we can describe what Jesus does: saves, comes, gives, forgives. loves.  

This week, this month, and always, I hope you will ponder and take to heart James’ warnings about the unruliness of the tongue, and the thoughts it presents to the world. If we believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God, that he came to show us how much God loves us and how readily God forgives us, let’s work to be as much like Jesus as we can. Let’s love, forgive, respect, and honor each other in all things.

Amen