“Which is My Neighbor?”

July 14,2013   

Luke 10:25-37

This is the first time that I’ve preached on this bible story… “The Good Samaritan”. 

The first reason is that in my nearly 10 years as a pastor I’ve rarely used the lectionary. Primarily, because I’ve been in my contemporary congregations and use sermon series rather than the lectionary. 

Another reason is because I’ve found the lectionary seems to retell all of the same stories year after year and I find it difficult to find was to retell the story.

Another reason is that I find the lectionary often is disjointed and starts and stops in the middle of some stories leaving me scratching my head as to why they did that.

Lastly… I find younger generations like reflecting and going deeper through a series of messages rather than a single message. However… this year I’ve preached the most on the lectionary than I’ve preached on since becoming a past almost 10 years ago. And… it’s been good to do this.

Prayer

I was sitting at Taco Bell just over on Coolidge last Tuesday having dinner before Cana’s council meeting and observed 8 teenagers of varying ethnic backgrounds bantering back and forth in seemingly dizzying fashion of which I couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Then all of a sudden they all broke out singing a song that came on the P.A. system in unison. It was a song I hadn’t heard before… but they sure knew it and word for word. The song ended and they all laughed out loud and continued the bantering. I found it a wonderful site.

The next day when arriving at church a woman was walking her dog and was in front of Cana. I found the dogs markings different from what I’ve seen in the past and wondered what kind of dog it was. I had a suspicion, but wasn’t sure. So I asked her. I said hi… your dog has some different markings than I’ve seen before… what kind of dog do you have? She hesitated for a moment… I’m not sure it was because I was a stranger or the type of dog… then she told me it was a pit bull. I introduced myself and began a conversation about her dog as I petted it. I asked if she lived in the neighborhood and she said yes… we just moved in 4 houses down from the church. After some further conversation she continued her walk and I said welcome to the neighborhood and perhaps we will see each other again… nice to meet you and have a great walk.  

I received a call from a guy whose voice sounded familiar… he called seeking some help. I was sure I had heard this voice before… but he assured me he had never called before. However… this time this call seemed different and after hearing his story about needing some gas so he could go to a job interview I decided to help him. He wanted me to come to where he was living and I suggested a McDonalds or someplace like that. He baulked because he had at the moment no way of getting to a place like that. I said, “I don’t know you and if you want my help I will meet you at a public place.” He agreed and we met at a Wendy’s.

After some conversation about his job opportunity he shared that he had just been released from prison 3 months ago and was thrilled to have this opportunity to get a job and that he didn’t want to mess this up. I asked him why he was in prison… he hesitantly said in a low voice armed robbery and aggravated assault… my heart skipped a beat… yet I didn’t feel threatened or in danger… here was a guy trying to better himself and change his life and was asking if I could help.

Interesting stories… Right!!!

These stories raise an interesting and uncomfortable question.

Which of these is our neighbor?

Our bible story today is one of the most recognizable and well know biblical stories… virtually everyone knows or has heard this story or variations of it… and everyone knows what the story is about and what it means.

However… there are two parts of this story I find interesting… first… the lawyer… doesn’t know when to shut up.

He asks, “What do I have to do to have eternal life.”

Jesus answers him… “Love the Lord your God & Love your neighbor as yourself.”

He gets his answer… but he doesn’t stop there… he doesn’t shut up… he’s not satisfied… he continues.

He wants to know who is neighbors are.

You kind-of want to yell out to him to SHUT UP!!! Don’t you know Jesus is going to put you in your place!

He wants to know who is neighbor is… and he thinks he has a pretty good idea who his neighbors are.

Then Jesus tells him the Good Samaritan story…. Which leads to the second interesting part of this story when Jesus turns his question of “WHO,” into the concluding question of “WHICH” of these is the real neighbor?

Which is the question for us as well.

Certainly many of our congregations have been formed & nurtured by a shared faith, a shared ethnicity, and a shared experience and there’s nothing wrong with this. But we live in a different world in many ways where we are more diverse than ever before. We no longer see the large barrios and neighborhoods of ethic division that we once had in this country. There are no longer just German, Swedish, Danish, Italian etc… neighborhoods. So… I believe this story is an invitation for us to be a community of faith that is bound together with others not of our own kind, but by our shared common need, our shared sense of community, and our shared sense of living life together.

Jesus is asking us in these stories I shared earlier… Which if These is My Neighbor?

I believe God calls us to be neighbors to all.

God created all people in his image.

John 3:16… God loved all people so much he sent is son Jesus to make that love known…

And Jesus died on the cross demonstrating that love for all people.

My friends… this story ultimately is a story of radical Grace & Love that the Samaritan showed upon the person who was hurt… and we are invited to demonstrate this same radical Grace & Love with our neighbors… which by the way is, ALL of those we encounter. 

See You Out on the Road

 

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