No Church is an Island

July 7, 2013

                                                                  

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
 

The 4th July Picnic

A Jewish Rabbi and a Catholic Priest met at the annual 4th of July picnic. Old friends, they began their usual banter.

'This baked ham is really delicious,' the priest teased the rabbi. 'You really ought to try it. I know it's against your religion, but I can't understand why such a wonderful food should be forbidden.

You don't know what you're missing. You just haven't lived until you've tried Mrs Warren's prized Virginia Baked Ham. Tell me, Rabbi, when are you going to break down and try it?'

The rabbi looked at the priest with a big grin, and said, 'At your wedding.'

Prayer:

After hearing our gospel story today… I know what your thinking… You think I’m going to talk about doing Evangelism…. That I’m going to insist on you going out and knocking on every door in the city of Berkley and bringing in the harvest.

Well… your partially right… there is an element of our faith in Jesus that informs us to share our faith with others outside of this box. You know the Great Commission… that our faith in Jesus tells us to go out and make disciples.

That faith in Jesus demonstrates God’s love & grace for us. That faith in Jesus can and will bring life & life more abundantly.

So… YES my friends you are to share your faith with people outside this box… who often believe a Hodge Podge of beliefs and a kind-of do-it-yourself religiosity need to hear & see demonstrated our faith as grace and love found in Jesus.

So… YES… this story of Jesus sending out his disciples 2 by 2 is just as relevant for our time and place as it was then. And YES… there are risks and challenges, and obstacles in doing this, but we are commanded to share the story nonetheless. So what do we have to fear?... Franklin Roosevelt said, “Fear Itself”… but according to Jesus… Vs 19… “Nothing can harm you.”

I was reading the history of the merger between St. Peter’s and Gethsemane to form Cana that took place in 1980. I found it interesting and informative about the issues you were facing at the time. But what was most interesting was a newsletter article from Pr. Hansen of St. Peter who wrote, “We don’t have a financial problem… we have a people problem… it’s our reluctance to share our faith with others.”

My friends… that picture hasn’t changed in 30+ years… we still have the same issue today as you had back in the 1970’s.

Our story today addresses the lack of our readiness to share with others. However… there are a couple of things that standout for me in this reading besides the obvious that I’ve already mentioned, and which I believe are important just the same.

First… Jesus sends his friends out in teams… and

Second… that they are to totally rely on the Generosity & Hospitality of others.

Working Together.

I understand the team part of Jesus’ message here. Jesus understands & knows this will be a challenge… so he has them work together as a team. Working together makes the load lighter… right! When everyone does their part the work gets done more effectively. When one gets bogged down the other can lift up.It’s hard to roll the ball uphill by yourself… when others help it rolls much easier. Working together is just a smarter and more effective way to do things.

A great example of this I’m told is your VBS week. It’s a week where young & old come together and work together to share Jesus with the community. Did you hear what I said?

o   You come together…

o   You work together…

o   To share Jesus in the community… TOGETHER!!!

Working together… Just makes it better… RIGHT!!! However, I know our culture tells us that it all up to us as individuals. That it’s up to ME… It’s up to the pastor… or the Chair of the Learning Team… or whomever… We know that really doesn’t work… and I really don’t see many Lutherans walking the streets of Berkley knocking on doors sharing Jesus. But you’re sharing Jesus in the community during that VBS week by working together…  In what other ways could we do this by working together?

Hospitality & Generosity.

Jesus told them not to take anything with them. Vs 4… “Don’t take any money, or travel bag, or even a pair of shoes.” Jesus’ friends must depend on the Hospitality & Generosity of other. Most of us find this kind of dependency uncomfortable. We would rather make sure we have everything covered before we venture out… after-all… we want to be prepared.

When we depend on others we become vulnerable and we don’t like that. We want to show that we have our lives together… that things are good. All this makes me wonder… how might we demonstrate Hospitality & Generosity more effectively? 

What might it mean to be more Hospitable & Generous to others?

-       Gather in small groups where your seated and for a couple of minutes come up with some ideas on how you might do this.

Ask for ideas…See you have it in you… You have great ideas…

When we do this work together we gain confidence, when we are hospitable & generous we open ourselves to sharing faith, life, and Jesus. This is the picture we get from the Apostle Paul in Romans 12… where he writes about all of us being part of the body of Christ. “No man, writes John Donne, is an Island.” “The loss of any, he went on to say, diminishes each.” The same is true that No Church is an Island either.

The church is a community… meaning many… of faith.

It’s a community of faith that shares faith together.

It’s a community of faith that demonstrates hospitality & generosity together.

It’s a community of faith that dreams… shares… works together for the kingdom of God.

Closing:

Thomas Merton wrote… “Every man is a piece of myself, for I am a part and a member of mankind. Every Christian is a part of my own body, because we are members of Christ.”

“What I do is also done for them and with them and by them. What they do is done in me and by me and for me. But each of us remains responsible for his own share in the life of the whole body.”

What I believe Jesus is telling us this morning is that none of us are Lone Rangers… none of us is an island… we are a community of faith… and we do this TOGETHER!!!

See You Out on the Road

 

Gazing in the Rear View Mirror

June 30, 2013                                          

Luke 9:51-62

 A Sunday school teacher was concerned her students might be a little confused about Jesus. So she wanted to make sure they understood Jesus was for real.

He asked his class, Where is Jesus today?
Steven raised his hand and said, He's in heaven.
Mary was called on and answered, He's in my heart.

Little Johnny, waving his hand furiously, blurted out, I know, I know! He's in our bathroom!!!

The whole class got very quiet, looked at the teacher and waited for a response. The teacher was completely at a loss for a few very long seconds. Finally, she gathered her wits and asked Little Johnny how he knew this.

Little Johnny said, Well ... every morning, my father gets up, bangs on the bathroom door, and yells, Good Lord, are you still in there?!

Prayer:

Our gospel story from Jesus this morning is one that may be difficult for many of us. 

I mean… how do you deal with Jesus’ closing statement?

“Anyone who starts plowing and keeps looking back isn’t worth a thing in God’s kingdom.”

Another way of saying this… 

“If you’re always gazing in the rear view mirror you’re not moving forward.”

WOW… what do you do with that?

I don’t like it…. I mean… where is God’s Grace & Mercy? Where is God’s Love?

Where’s the loving Jesus… The caring Jesus… The forgiving Jesus?

Looking at the context of this story, we find Jesus and his friends have just experienced feeding 5000 people… healing a young boy… Jesus telling his friends he’s going to suffer & die…They go up to a mountain top for an awesome experience… Jesus breaks up an argument about who is greater… and now… Jesus refuses to engage with a Samaritan… and 3 guys who want to follow Jesus, but have excuses and expect Jesus to wait for them. Then… that disturbing statement… and it cuts right to the heart of the matter… and why I believe many pastor’s and congregants tend to downplay, soften, and dismiss because we don’t want to see Jesus’ unloving side.

Let’s be clear here… Jesus is not saying or doing anything unloving… if anything he’s being matter-of-fact in saying, if you want to follow me you can’t look back at what was. That’s not unloving… he’s pointing out… if you want to follow me… you have a choice… make me first in your life or don’t follow. Well… what do you think about that folks?

I believe this story has the church or the lack of the church written all over it. In fact… this story reflects the attitudes of 90% of the churches in the ELCA… perhaps 90% of all churches in the US!!

Listen to what happens when on guy says, “I will go anywhere with you, Jesus.” 
Jesus says, “I don’t have anywhere to live!”    
Jesus says to another, “Come with me.”  
He says, “Let me bury my Dad.” Jesus says, “Let the dead bury the dead.”  
A guy says, “I will go with you, Jesus, but let me take care of some home business first.”  
Then that statement… and I paraphrase… “Of your looking back you’re not worth it.”    OUCH!!!!

Luther Seminary Professor Michael Rogness asks, “Does the grace, mercy, and love of God found in Jesus trump our plans and shape our lives, or do we shape our faith to fit the lives we’ve already planned?”

So… Cana Lutheran, what are we to do with this? What does this mean for us?

It means… were IN through Faith in Jesus.

Last week I said we’re IN thru faith in Jesus… I like when my sermons have a continuing facet to them. Remember… in baptism God grabs hold of us and holds on even though we want to run in the opposite direction. Even though we want to do things our way… God continues to hold on shaping and molding us into being faithful people. No matter what we do as individuals or as Cana Lutheran God still loves us… NO MATTER WHAT!!!

The caveat is if we continue in patterns of the past we will never experience the treasure and blessings God has for us in the future. In baptism we are freed from the past and the future awaits us.

It means…No Looking Back.

We can no longer keep looking back to the past. We cannot hope for the good ole days to return… they will not.

As Jesus states… “You cannot keep looking back and expect to move forward.” You cannot keep gazing in the rear view mirror and expect to drive your car forward… it doesn’t work.

Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, Mark Hanson, in his book, “Faithful Yet Changing” says, “If we don’t become a changing church, we will simply be a museum piece in the religious history of the Am. people.”

Please hear me… it isn’t that your past, your traditions, your ministry was or has be bad or wrong. Many people have been blessed and positively impacted by it, and God has blessed you for it. But our God is not a God of the past or static… God is always moving… and God desires the church to be changing and moving as well. What once worked is no longer effective, so things need to be different. Looking in the rear view mirror, being sad about what was, working harder won’t make it better. The church needs to look forward through the windshield to the future and see what God sees and to what God is currently doing.

This is our hope my friends… that we have a God found in Jesus who joins us in our hesitancy, our fearfulness, & holds us while we both peer into and walk towards the future.

It Means…The Future Resides in Following Jesus.

I remember seeing a bumper sticker a few years ago asking, “If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?” The point of this story is… are you really willing to follow Jesus?

In the book, Jesus Freak, Stories of Those Who Stood For Jesus,

Each of us must follow Jesus for ourselves. You may never have to face the decision of whether or not to die for your faith, but every day you face the decision of whether or not you will live for it.
A quotation from the book Jesus Freaks: Stories of Those Who Stood For Jesus, presented on the Web site Soul Food: A Taste of the Wisdom of the Saints, Xtremespirit.org/soul.html. Retrieved December 12, 2003.

It is no longer good enough to be a building in the middle of a neighborhood named Cana Lutheran and hoping people will find Jesus.

One of the hardest things for us to get is the fact that Jesus is not someone we carry around inside us, or someone who hovers around our shoulders whispering in our ears. Jesus is in the face of someone in need. Jesus is in the hands of someone hurting. Jesus is in the feet of someone who cannot take one step further without our help. That's where Jesus is.

We must give up the illusions of the past, take some risks and throw ourselves wholeheartedly into following Jesus, trusting that God will join us in the adventure, through all the ups and downs while holding on to us no matter what happens.

So my friends… are we saying we want to follow Jesus?

It’s a hard thing to do for all of us… and we’ll fall at times, but God is holding on to us.

It’s like riding a bike… if you don’t pedal forward, you fall… but you get right back on a pedal some more.

See You Out on the Road

IN or OUT

Sorry for the late post this week. Just got busy and forgot. Life does move forward and things get pushed to the back of the line. No matter Here is last Sunday's sermon. Enjoy...

June 23, 2013  

Gal. 3:23-29

                                                                                   There is a Peanuts comic strip in which Linus is listening carefully as his sister, Lucy, boasts about her religious faith and her potential as an evangelist.

She says to Linus: "I could be a terrific evangelist. Do you know that kid who sits behind me in school? I convinced him that my religion is better than his religion."

Linus asks: "How did you do that?"

Lucy replies: "I hit him with my lunch box."

Prayer:

This morning my reflection will detour from the normal gospel stories, to a reflection from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians. We often don’t hear many sermons on Paul’s Letters in Lutheran circles. And that’s interesting on some levels because Luther spent a lot of time in Paul’s writings… particularly in the Letter to the Romans. In fact… Luther… was an Old Testament scholar before he discovered Paul & the grace of God found in Jesus thru the gospels. For Luther… Paul’s writings were the inspiration for Holy Living which ultimately comes thru Jesus.

Another reason Lutheran’s tend to hear few sermons on Paul’s letters is they tend to be… from our perspective… judgmental in tone, rather than loving as pastors have tended to portray the gospels. Truth is… Jesus does a fair amount of condemnation in the gospel stories, though pastors tend to down play it. In reality… Paul does write about the love of God in Jesus, but we tend to glaze over and emphasis it less. However, without Paul… we as Jesus followers & Christians of all stripes would not have the fullest understanding of God’s Grace thru Jesus and the significance of the cross.

It’s true… Paul’s letters to the various churches & faith communities are letters of challenge & rebuke about how the Christian life should be lived furthering the protestant moral ethic many of have learned challenging us today as that ethic unravels. And that’s another subject for another day.

Let’s begin by looking at the context of our Galatian excerpt… this is one of Paul’s earliest writings & experiences as a new Christ followers. And in the churches of Galatia he runs into difficulty because the people there don’t trust him.

We need to remember… Paul is a relatively new follower of Jesus and his past always seems to show up when he’s around people. Remember… Paul was a Pharisee and in charge of rooting out Jesus followers by whatever means… even murder.

So… as you might imagine… Paul’s reputation precedes him and people are a bit reluctant to believe his conversion experiences. So Paul often couches his conversations around his knowledge of the Law as a comparison to his new experiences with Jesus. And he does this by challenging the Galatian church to think outside the box on who’s IN and who’s OUT?

Evangelist Greg Laurie says, “Jesus did not command the world to go to church, rather Jesus commanded the church to go to the world. What a person does with this depends on if you see yourself as “In or Out of the Box.”

So… a natural question is… “Are you IN or are you OUT?

You see… Paul is talking to mostly Jewish folk who thought they were the only ones IN… they were Jewish and God covenant people. He’s talking to those who believed in the Law and obeying all the rules of the Law… because they were the IN ones… the ones with the promised God covenant. Vs 23-24. Paul isn’t telling them the Law & rules are necessarily wrong, but that the Law doesn’t make you acceptable to God. In fact… he says the Law is good because it teaches us right & wrong. But there’s more than just the rules… in fact… the rules don’t mean anything… they don’t mean your IN… in fact they may keep you OUT!

Faith Supersedes the Law.

What Paul is saying is that there is more than just the rules… a person must have faith and that… supersedes the law. What does that mean?

It means that just because you follow the rules, or your name is on a registry, or you attend, or follow the traditions doesn’t automatically put you IN.

Jesus says in Matt. 7, “Not everyone who calls me Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven.”

Paul is saying… Faith in Jesus gets us IN and the Law, Rules, Traditions limit us in experiencing the fullness of God.

So… maybe the question should be… What gets us IN?

Faith in Jesus at Baptism

Paul states in Vs 26-27… “That All are children of God thru faith in Jesus at baptism.” In baptism… God comes to us thru faith and grabs hold of us…  Go Grab Some Hands… In baptism God grabs hold of us and never lets go. Oh… we try to turn the other way, but God is still holding on. We might think our way is best, but God still holds on tight. In baptism God makes us his own. In baptism God sets us free… as Pauls says, “we are no longer Greek or Jew, Slave or Free, Man or woman, Child or Adult all of us belong to Christ.” We are all part of the community of faith in Jesus.

WE ARE ALL IN!!!!

Faith in Jesus as Participants.

If Paul is correct… All are IN by faith, thru grace, thru baptism, then how might we begin to encourage ourselves to set aside the Law, the Rules, the Traditions so that ALL can claim faith in Jesus?

….. Pause for Reflection….

How do we participate in what God is currently doing so all can claim faith in Jesus?

 Lutheran Theologian David Lose states, “it’s about the role each of us are invited to play in sensing, experiencing, and making known God’s work in the community.”

Perhaps the bigger question is… How much are we willing to lose so that all can claim Jesus… ALL can have Faith and be IN?

I’d like to finish with all of us praying this prayer together… this prayer is from Pr. Meredith Musaus from Holy Cross Lutheran, Menomonee, Wi.

L: Let us pray together.

C: Your church is composed of people like me.
   - I help make it what it is.
   - It will be friendly, if I am.
   - Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them.
   - It will do great work, if I work.
   - It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver.

   - It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, if I invite  

     and bring them.
   - It will be a church where people grow in faith and serve you, if I am

     open to growth and service.

Therefore, with your help Lord, we shall dedicate ourselves to the task of being all the things you want your church to be.    Amen. 

See You out on the Road

Really Jesus... Forgive a Sinner?

June 16, 2013                                        

Luke 7:36-8:3

Story: Bill Cosby talks about the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He insists that Mother’s Day is a much bigger deal because Mothers are more organized. Mothers say to their children: Now here is a list of what I want. Go get the money from your father and you surprise me on Mother’s Day.

For Father's Day, I give each of my five kids $20 so that they can go to the store and buy me a present--a total of $100. They buy two packages of underwear, each of which costs $5 and contains three shorts. They tear them open and each kid wraps up one pair, the sixth going to the Salvation Army. Therefore, on Father's Day I’m walking around with new underwear and my kid's are walking around with $90 worth of my change in their pockets.

Adapted from Fatherhood by Bill Cosby (Source: Brett Blair)

Prayer:

There is really a lot in this story one could talk about, but I’m going to narrow it down and focus on the two main characters… the sinful woman and Simon the Pharisee. And also Luke presents an interesting story that the other gospel writers don’t write about… in fact the others don’t even tell this story. Matt, Mark & John tell a similar story of Mary of Martha & Mary fame where Mary pour perfume on Jesus’ feet and dry’s them with her hair. However…  in this story there is a sinful woman and a righteous Pharisee… the other, a righteous woman and indignant disciple… Judas.

This story is also different because Luke’s Jesus tends to present women in a more favorable light and Luke’s Jesus tends to do a lot more forgiving of sinners than the other gospels. This seems to go against all the rules of the church because Jesus… the prophet… is forgiving sinners thus pushing aside the Pharisee’s position, and eliminating a revenue stream for them. Furthermore this also starts a cat & mouse game between Jesus and the religious elite… and we know how this ends.

This story about two completely different people is also a story about forgiveness and the gratitude that forgiveness creates. It’s also a story about hardness of heart & Judgment & entitlement as opposed to love & forgiveness & gratitude.

This story begins with an invitation for Jesus to share a meal with a top Pharisee and then goes against all conventional wisdom & rules when this so called sinful woman showers Jesus with extravagant hospitality over against Simon the Pharisee’s lack of hospitality.  And all of this changes the focus of why Simon invited Jesus over in the first place.

However… this story really begins before Jesus even gets the invite to dinner. Jesus forgave this woman previously and now she buys some expensive perfume and displays her deep gratitude towards Jesus by washing his feet. This outburst shocks Simon and his other guests saying, “If this man were really a prophet, he would know that this woman was a sinner.” But Jesus did know… that’s why he forgave her previously. Jesus then tells a short parable of who is more thankful of a person, one who owed more or a person who owed less after their debts are forgiven.

Simon says, “I suppose the one who’d owed more.” I wonder if this is how Jesus responded… Really Simon…. You suppose… of course the one who owed more!! Then Jesus traps Simon and I think us too… in our judgment with his next comments…

Simon… Have you noticed this woman? Have you really noticed her!

Simon did you give me water to wash my feet… like she washed my feet?

She washed them with her tears and dried them with her hair.

Simon… You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but she can’t stop kissing my feet.

Simon… You didn’t pour oil on my head, but she poured expensive perfume on my feet.

Yes… I forgave her of her sins and she does all of this out of great love.

What have you done… Simon?

Jesus forgives her again… in front of everyone…and SHOCK… who is this who forgives sins? What they are saying is… REALLY JESUS… FORGIVE A SINNER?

Well… YES… it’s what the ministry of Jesus was all about… to demonstrate God’s Love & Forgiveness.

For this woman… this story of forgiveness is a blessing and she expresses gratitude because she knows she needs it.

For Simon… I think he’s pretty sure he doesn’t need forgiveness.

o   He obeys the law and all the rules.

o   He’s a righteous one.

o   In fact… not only doesn’t he need forgiveness… the very mention of this is threatening & offensive.

o   And over time he becomes angry and ultimately it will lead to violence.

Closing:

This story in our lectionary when pointed out is one we might not want to hear about. But it is a story that needs to be pointed out as we in our lives often become more self-righteous than we ought to be. And we’ve all fallen into this at some point in our lives and our lives as church.

Many of us would like to identify with the woman, but often find ourselves or the church like Simon the Pharisee: Simon the judgmental, Simon the arrogant, Simon who couldn't even show the common courtesy of a welcoming kiss, but who still believed himself several cuts above the repentant woman.

The problem if we are like Simon, we are often blind to our need for forgiveness. Jesus did not tell the parable of the two debtors for the woman's benefit, but for Simon's. When a person suffers from sin-hiding blindness, it often takes direct confrontation to expose those characteristics to force insight.

If we don't see any of Simon in our own character, it may be we are blind to owning up to ourselves...but it could be because Simons always have trouble seeing themselves as they are. Jesus confronted Simon with the parable to make him see. We can use the parable in the same way to confront ourselves with the truth, then such forgiveness can take place in our lives and in the life of the faith community.

See You Out on the Road