tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78171061538231813262024-03-13T11:59:09.681-07:00Like a LutheranLydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.comBlogger436125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-22885189211499922962022-12-11T06:30:00.010-08:002022-12-22T06:35:39.078-08:00The Best Advent Ever?<p><br /></p><p>12-11-22</p><p>Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</p><p>How is your Advent going? Are you going to finish strong, or did everything go off the rails starting the afternoon of the first Sunday in Advent? Are you behind on your Aldi Chocolate Advent Calendar? These texts for this 3rd week in Advent aren’t exactly helping foster any Christmas spirit- There is still no sign of Mary, Joseph, angels, shepherds, manger, or anything resembling the Christmas story. Instead, here’s John the Baptist, again!</p><p>This week, though, he is no longer “the preacher on fire” in the desert. Instead, John has been thrown in prison for his bold words. Last week John described righteous judging and fiery smiting… which by this point in Matthew’s gospel Jesus is NOT doing. So it’s no wonder that John sends people to ask Jesus, “are YOU the one who is to come? … or is it someone else?” I wonder if John was just a little bit disappointed in the kind of savior Jesus is turning out to be. </p><p>Disappointment is just par for the course around Christmas time, though, right? Though we DO get disappointed all the time, this is the time of year we may feel it most. This so-called “most wonderful time of the year” is instead full of family being difficult, friends letting us down, opportunities not panning out, the weather being iffy at best…not to mention the wreck that the world seems to be in at the moment, with the Triple Pandemic, violence on the rise, inflation is still a thing… Maybe we should just forget any hope of Christmas 2022 being anywhere close to “normal.”</p><p>And last, but not least, we can’t let God off the hook for being a disappointment. Think about all the “if-onlys” and “what-ifs,” even of just the past year – where you had wished that God would have acted more like a savior, both in your own lives and in the world in general. </p><p>And so, we wonder along with John - is THIS the savior we’ve been waiting for?</p><p>The savior we WERE given came as a helpless baby, born to a teenage mother far away from home. He grew up to become a homeless healer and preacher and got on the wrong side of the people in power. Jesus disappointed John the Baptist, Jesus disappointed his family, he disappointed his own followers, and he died, disappointing the hopes of a nation waiting for God to act.</p><p>And in dying, Jesus was again a disappointment… This time, disappointing death itself. Because dead people are supposed to stay dead, after all. And - spoiler alert - Jesus did NOT stay dead. </p><p>Today, though, Jesus asked the crowds what they had expected to see when they went out to the desert to see John the Baptist. What they got was the opposite of a man in soft robes – they got a man who lived his convictions with every ounce of his being – even down to his diet and wardrobe. </p><p>Today we could also ask ourselves: What do WE expect this Advent season? Are we expecting a Christmas to arrive that is as lovely as sort of pre-2020 ideal, as pristine as most of our nativity sets? As lovely as they are, most of them depict the holy family well-rested, composed, and ironically enough, draped in soft robes.</p><p>But that is dead wrong. God is not just found in the perfect glittery Christmas cards and the Hallmark family channel movies. God is not just found among palaces with soft robes. Instead, here is our God, who sticks by us, no matter what, every year, through all the good and bad Christmases alike. Here is our God, born to us as a tiny helpless infant, who probably had plenty of blow outs and days where he refused to nap. Here is our God, who died and rose again for you, even when you disappoint yourself and others. </p><p>As we continue our march toward Christmas, we can remember some wise words shared by Pastor Sarah Scherschligt, Pastor of Peace Lutheran in Alexandria, who wrote a facebook post nearly every day for a year and a half during the height of Covid. She actually compiled her work into a book called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/God-Holds-You-Pandemic-Chronicle/dp/B0BKSCTXK1">“God Holds You.” </a>Now available on Amazon! Makes a great Christmas gift! On December 23rd, 2020, Pastor Sarah wrote this: </p><p><i>I always imagine on Christmas Eve, after everyone has gone to sleep, there's a … moment… in which God does something small and powerful and unstoppable. And it doesn't depend on us at all.</i></p><p>We can’t know exactly where the next year will take us. But we can know where God is in all the happenings in our lives. God is right here, in the beginnings and the endings, in the disappointments, and the busy-ness, in the starting strong and in the fizzling out, in the dying and in the rising. Our God is right here: in the arrival of our savior Jesus, in the manger, on the cross, at the table. In the bread and wine. And in the face of one another. Things that are small, but powerful, and unstoppable. Thanks be to God. Amen.</p><p><br /></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-75354872792725459142022-08-21T13:16:00.001-07:002022-09-01T13:19:01.042-07:00Bent Into Shape<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-0757c9dc-7fff-8c6b-bef3-69a5ecc97baa"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every three years in early August, almost a thousand delegates from across the country attend the Church Wide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran church in America, or just Churchwide assembly for short. Nearly every year, I watch the livestream with rapt attention, like the big church nerd that I am, and I was lucky enough to be a delegate in person in 2019 when it was held in Milwaukee, back in my home state. This year though, I was on maternity leave…. But I admit I still watched a lot of it! And it turned out that our brand new daughter liked to watch Churchwide too, even though parts of it were like watching paint dry. Roberts rules, voting machine problems, amendments to amendments, and seemingly endless amounts of confusing rules for discussion. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I know that in theory there is a good reason behind using Robert’s Rules of order, especially with such a large group of diverse opinions, and with so many important topics to be discussed. But often it felt like these rules got in the way of this necessary discussion, like when it took 30 minutes to talk about adding 30 minutes of discussion time to the agenda. I wish I were kidding. It was at times like this where, as one pastor friend so wisely put it, “the institutional patterns are set up to be more important than individual need.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Turns out this is a problem humans have always had - as long as there have been institutions, there have been rules established to ignore the needs of marginalized individuals within those systems. Of course this was the same in Jesus’ time, as he was preaching and teaching, as is so often described in the Gospel of Luke, where he often goes head to head with institutions on behalf of the needs of these individuals. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may remember Jesus’s controversial first sermon at the beginning of the gospel of Luke, where Jesus proclaimed that through </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">him,</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> God would release the captives, give sight to the blind, and let the oppressed go free. That one was not exactly well received, but here Jesus is again, teaching in the synagogue… where now he </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">stops</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mid</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sermon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, for someone in immediate need of that freedom and release.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">That woman was literally invisible. Bent over double for as many years as it takes a newborn child to graduate from high school. She was unable to stand up straight, unable to see and participate in the world around her, in a world where she was already mostly invisible for being a woman.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sees </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this woman</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, he stops </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">everything</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Her</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> healing cannot even wait until the end of the sabbath day, or even till </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the end of his sermon</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">! He has to heal her RIGHT NOW….and in doing so, Jesus broke the 3rd commandment. Or at least according to how </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">some</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> were choosing to interpret it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Remember the …. Sabbath day, and keep it holy.” That is the 3rd commandment …. But What does THAT mean? Martin Luther explains in his Small Catechism, “We are to fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">but instead keep that word holy and gladly learn from it.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Just as God rested on the 7</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: 0.6em; vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> day of creation, we as God’s people need a day of rest. All in God’s creation were commanded to embrace our limitations and be reminded that God created us for life, not for exhaustion. But, what do we humans too often do with things that are free gifts from God? We try to control them, regulate them, and create a lot of rules. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To their credit, these religious leaders were doing their very best to preserve expressions of their faith in a world that worked against them at every turn. They tried to be faithful to their ancestral ways of worshiping God while heavily oppressed. They tried to save the shape of a tradition and, in turn, forgot that God is the creator and maintainor of these traditions, and they were created for OUR sake.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So when the bent over woman became UN-bent, this leader became BENT out of SHAPE. He could not see the true shape of what sabbath is … the shape of care over rules, life over order. Sabbath was created in the shape of justice and mercy, for freedom of those marginalized and oppressed. These leaders could not see that when </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">one</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of us is in need of freedom, we all are. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With Jesus there is no more waiting. According to Jesus, Now is the time. This is the day to be set free – that YOU are set free - from bondage. WE are set free... so we can free others. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While some of the work discussed at the ELCA churchwide gathering earlier this month WILL take time to implement, some of these very sabbath-oriented tasks have begun, or can be started immediately: For example, we elected a new ELCA vice president Imran Siddiqui, the first person with Middle Eastern roots elected to this position in the ELCA. We adopted resolutions to seek justice with our Indigenous and native partners, including land acknowledgements and funding ELCA indigenous ministries. We as a denomination committed our churchwide office to reduce their carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and and be net zero by 2050, and we can follow their example, </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this is just a fraction of what was discussed - because of, or perhaps in spite of, all the rules and regulations. Necessary changes were passed and honest conversations happened and justice was at least begun, if painfully and imperfectly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We as ELCA Lutherans have inherited a legacy of always reforming ourselves and our church, of always being made new by God’s grace. It’s messy and imperfect and sometimes awkward and painful, because being part of a community is messy. But this work, hard as it is, is necessary and life-giving. And getting to be part of it and watch this new shape of freedom unfold is humbling. And sometimes parameters and and keeping to a particular shape is needed … but we must never let them get in the way of the needs of ourselves and our neighbors, NOW, for rest, for restoration, and for justice. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-86847314879354900872022-05-02T08:25:00.005-07:002022-05-02T08:26:05.904-07:00"Welcome Sunday" Message<p> 5-1-22</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and lord and savior
Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">How are you enjoying our little “Welcome Sunday” experiment? Are
you learning anything so far? As we mentioned earlier, there are treats and
bags of goodies for our visitors under the big orange tent in the open space we
call the Centrum - you can’t miss it! You are also welcome to join any of the
small groups that are active here, and we have a cadre of extra friendly
greeters who are ready to point you in the right direction. And if none of your
friends or neighbors could make it today, feel free to bring a bag home with
you to deliver to them! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">We’re so glad for EVERYONE that is here, both in person and
online, and it’s my hope that all of us can benefit from learning more about
why we do what we do on Sunday morning. This pattern of worship we use every
Sunday is an ancient one, and many parts date back to thousands of years. In
fact, the idea of special seasons that guide our lives is as old as humanity
itself. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Most of us pay at least a little bit of attention to the <b>calendar
</b>year - days, months, holidays, the change in weather and seasons. Some of
us are ruled by the <b>school </b>year - vacations, breaks, quarters,
semesters, sports, band concerts, homecoming, prom season, graduation…. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Then there is the “Church Calendar” of special seasons and
holidays too. Sometimes all of our calendars line up or overlap like
Christmas and Easter day… and sometimes they aren’t quite in sync, like with
Pentecost or Reformation Sunday or the season of Lent. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">As we mentioned earlier, in the Church Year today is the third
Sunday after Easter. That means Easter Sunday was 3 weeks ago, and we have 4
more to go, because Easter is not just one day, but a season that is 7 weeks
long!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Perhaps by now the Alleluias are starting to get a little stale,
and the lilies you brought home are looking kind of sad… and life outside
these walls have definitely gone back to “normal.” Our other calendars are WAY
past Easter and telling us to gear up for graduation season and summer. So
really, did it matter that a few weeks ago we celebrated Jesus’ victory over
death? Do we go back to “business as usual” after we have encountered the
life-changing reality of the Resurrected Jesus? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">From what we heard in our reading from John just now, according to
Peter’s reaction … His answer to the second question seems like yes - time to
go back to fishing as usual. Peter and the other disciples have by now
experienced the Risen Jesus… not once but MULTIPLE times… but Peter still
apparently longs for the familiar. But as we just heard, Peter and the other
disciples are soon off the boats and eating breakfast with Jesus. After brunch,
though, Jesus keeps Peter on task. Peter needs a little reminder that following
Jesus means taking care of the people that Jesus loves - the hungry, the
vulnerable, the oppressed, people in need of hearing the good news. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">But Jesus also alludes that life following him would not be lattes
and bubble baths. They were in for a hard time, often caused by none other than
Saul from our first reading. (By the way, time can sometimes be a little
wibbly-wobbly here in worship!)</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">From the book of Acts, which is short for The Acts of the
Apostles, we heard how the followers of Jesus were hunted down and prevented
from talking about Jesus. One of the most notorious of these enemies of the
early church was Saul. And, spoiler alert - he probably has the best
redemption arc in all of history. First, he is Christianity’s worst enemy… and
then he becomes Christianity’s best PR person EVER. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">How did this happen? Well, his villain story begins in another
part of the book of Acts. At the stoning of the first Christian martyr Stephen,
a young Saul held the cloaks of the others who did the actual deed. From that
moment on, Saul became infamous for his relentless harassment of the early
church, arresting both men and women for believing and preaching about
Jesus. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">But persecuting Christians in
Jerusalem wasn’t enough for Saul. He wanted to stamp out these heretical
followers of Jesus <b>everywhere</b>. But on his way to a neighboring city, he
had an encounter he didn’t expect - with the very last person on earth he
expected to meet - Jesus himself! A bright light flashed from heaven and Saul
was made completely blind in an instant. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Now, to switch gears for a moment, imagine you are Ananias. One
night, the Lord speaks to you, and tells you <b>not only</b> that the one and
only SAUL is in your town, but that you should GO VISIT him… and to top it all
off, to HEAL HIM! </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Well, we heard how Ananias responded. Even after all that Saul had
done, Ananias did heal and welcome him, and even called Saul his “brother.”
That, I think, might just be the true miracle of the story. Saul was then
baptized and began to preach about his encounter with Jesus. He changes his
name to Paul, and becomes the author of most of the New Testament. All because
he encountered Jesus and was welcomed into the community of faith with open
arms. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiicRPtArLCk8qER-95Y1R43SILZpOrc4Flp8IrENAueHGZetoCRRyYuyY89xeIKM_9_HV19_LzXS2n5A_mREShJdCknKZUXVNcz67mTDnHvKsdsIQOhvILi8DiD0AQO73VCCUGhZvGhuxTpL_CHPldtpkP-T4j73Oo4AnM1iaJwG9Tuv8zeryhTwb" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="224" data-original-width="225" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiiicRPtArLCk8qER-95Y1R43SILZpOrc4Flp8IrENAueHGZetoCRRyYuyY89xeIKM_9_HV19_LzXS2n5A_mREShJdCknKZUXVNcz67mTDnHvKsdsIQOhvILi8DiD0AQO73VCCUGhZvGhuxTpL_CHPldtpkP-T4j73Oo4AnM1iaJwG9Tuv8zeryhTwb" width="241" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">It's not surprising then that Paul also became a champion of
including outsiders into this community of faith - and is the reason all of us
are here today, as part of the Christian fold belonging to God’s flock. Because
Paul was welcomed, Paul became a champion of God’s radical welcome for
all. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Nothing will get in the way of God’s radical welcome - not Ananias’s
reluctance, not Paul’s past, or Peter’s obliviousness…. And nothing will get in
the way of God welcoming us: not <b>our</b> past deeds or misdeeds, not <b>our</b>
past inability to see Jesus, not by <b>our</b> desire to go back to the way
things were - not even sin, human brokenness, and death can stand in the way.
And so, We simply do what Jesus <u>modeled for us</u> and <u>commanded us to:</u>
invite. Jesus welcomes. And so <b>we</b> welcome too. Whether this is
your first time year or your one millionth time here, there is a place for you
among us. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">Now, this is the part in the sermon where the pastor usually wraps
up… but also it’s supposed to be where you insert yourself into the story. As soon
as this sermon is over…. as soon as this worship is over… as soon as Sunday is
over, our Monday lives will creep back in. Now is the perfect time to ask
yourself - how have I felt welcomed today? What can I do to keep the welcome
going Monday through Saturday in the coming week? What can our family talk
about on the way home from worship today? How can I talk about this at the
water cooler or at the lunch table on Monday? How do these stories of Peter,
Paul, and Ananias speak to me this week? </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif;">That’s the fun and exciting part that YOU get to explore - how God
is at work with this week’s word inside your heart and your minds. Good luck,
and know that you are not alone in wondering, learning, welcoming. Because next
week, guess what? We get another chance to do it ALL OVER AGAIN. Thanks be to
God. Amen. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; tab-stops: 22.5pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Montserrat; font-size: 14pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Montserrat; mso-fareast-font-family: Montserrat;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-37187385822975636192022-04-17T08:28:00.001-07:002022-05-02T08:30:39.261-07:00Easter Sunday Message<p> Easter Sunday, April 17th, 2022</p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-70210477-7fff-2877-c6f2-067a2756a21d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every Easter, and any large family gathering when I was a kid, we gathered at my dad’s parent’s house. And no meal was complete without the special prayer we dubbed “The Posselt Prayer.” It has 3 parts - first is the very familiar “Come lord Jesus” prayer. The second and third parts are from Psalm 118 - “Oh give thanks unto the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever” followed by “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” To this day, whenever there are 2 or more Posselts gathered for a meal, no matter WHERE we are, we look at one another and ask “are we praying the Posselt Prayer?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But eventually the family meals became smaller and more sporadic. Both my dad’s parents died years ago. But this special prayer lives on, appropriately today on Easter Sunday- “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” was my grandpa’s favorite verse. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is the day that the Lord has made, but do we really feel like rejoicing? Today, this Easter morning 2022, what were you expecting to find or to feel? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Were you expecting that, after wandering around in the wilderness of Lent, you would come out on the other side, to rise this Easter morning completely refreshed, restored, and renewed and in an ”Easter Mood”? But life doesn’t exactly work out in the way we expect it to, does it? If anything, the year 2020 taught us that.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like many of you, and like the women followers of Jesus, I woke up in the darkness of this morning to the very real, very present realities of pain, brokenness, and suffering in our world and in our lives. Our lives are still in the same mess that they were in yesterday. We’re still two years into a pandemic that really won’t actually end, there is still violence around the world and in Ukraine, our weather has been off kilter around the country all week. We still find ourselves buried in all sorts of dark tombs - illness, broken relationships, loss, mental health struggles, and an unknown future.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And yet…. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> we are, on Easter morning,..... I’m </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. You’re </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Life is poking out of the ground all around us </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. And Easter morning </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">has</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">arrived</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">here</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and it DOES change things - just not in the ways we expect. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Really, this whole week tells the story of the unexpected: How Jesus was welcomed into town with a parade on Sunday, and being nailed to cross on Frida. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How on Thursday Jesus washed his disciples feet, even Judas’s feet, and shared his last meal with all his disciples, the very ones who would betray him, deny him, and stand silently by as Jesus was arrested, tried, mocked, and beaten before being nailed to a cross.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These women had seen him be buried that day, so naturally they expected to find death </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> morning as well. They expected to find the body of their beloved Jesus, so that they could care for him one last time by anointing his body with spices. They expected to find </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">death</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> in a place OF </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">death</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, as we all would.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead, </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the women found</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the stone covering his tomb had been rolled away, and the shock of an empty tomb with no body. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The women found</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> two dazzling dudes, with a laser pointer question for </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">them</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These women expected to find death in a place of death, but instead became the first witnesses to the resurrection of our Lord. They were the first to share the GOOD WORD, that death no longer has the LAST WORD. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All this past week, we followed in the disciples footsteps by remembering too. We remembered Jesus’ welcome into Jerusalem, we remember the night Jesus was betrayed, and how he washed the feet of ALL of his disciples, even Judas. We remembered Jesus’ command to love one another, and to be sustained by his body and blood in the Eucharist in </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">remembrance</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of him. Then we remembered his death and burial on Good Friday. But that is not the end of the story. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We who have been buried in the darkness of tombs for - buried under things such as, divorce, fear, depression, numbness, stress - for one season, or maybe for years…. we have also been buried with Jesus in our baptisms, as Paul wrote and we profess in our baptism liturgy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so, being baptized, we will be united with Jesus in his resurrection. New life sprouts up out of death. As my favorite Easter hymn </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">reminds</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> us: </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Now, the green blade rises from the buried grain, wheat that in dark earth many days has lain; Love lives again, that with the dead has been. Love is come again like wheat arising green.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like when I visit the cemetery where my grandparents are buried, and I see their gravestone etched with a gorgeous picture of the family farm, I know it lives on in my dad, my brother, and will hopefully continue for future generations of Posselts, just as the “Posselt Family Prayer” lives on.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why do we look for the living among the dead? Because we may have forgotten what we already knew. We expect to find death in a place of death, but Jesus has done the unexpected. He has </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">risen</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from the dead. He IS NOT HERE. He WAS here, but he is not here any longer. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead, Jesus has vacated the tomb and allowed some women to be his spokespeople. And, unexpectedly, he is actually nowhere to be found - at least by the women and later by Peter. Instead, today we rely on remembering what we have been told by Jesus and by the followers of Jesus - that Jesus WILL show up… even in the throes of a ham and chocolate bunny hangover, when we have to go back to work or school or our regularly scheduled lives. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, Jesus has already gone on ahead of us, to meet up with us </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">out there</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the roads we travel. On this day, which the Lord has made, and tomorrow too. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! Amen. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoX6mEL5t3fnhmu5dm8m_Kxicrh4bXESfUG5ug42WXdqujjIZe5PPhs1nzLVM7KvMe-eBr4FpN8Hiu4Pnim05V_Xp0zgcChtfZZR1ZBZmqbSlNHUDDBWYK8S1_CXpxSjVNKt3H-TRodc3t5Xg8njH1jsxezfZFIr-LLqT0smUGLf73prnzzxybU7Fu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoX6mEL5t3fnhmu5dm8m_Kxicrh4bXESfUG5ug42WXdqujjIZe5PPhs1nzLVM7KvMe-eBr4FpN8Hiu4Pnim05V_Xp0zgcChtfZZR1ZBZmqbSlNHUDDBWYK8S1_CXpxSjVNKt3H-TRodc3t5Xg8njH1jsxezfZFIr-LLqT0smUGLf73prnzzxybU7Fu" width="286" /></a></div><br /><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-19206439396651533862022-03-28T08:43:00.002-07:002022-03-28T08:43:24.875-07:00Oldest Sibling Syndrom<p>3-27-22 </p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f03316d9-7fff-0aba-c379-37e8443c38ba"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If I had to guess… there are probably far more “older siblings” present here with us today, both worshiping in person and online. I don’t mean </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Older Sibling by physical age in your family of origin, but more like sharing the characteristics of the older brother in this parable.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To be involved with this congregation, volunteering faithfully despite the “family issues” that all churches have, rather than leaving to join another church, shows some of the common “Older Sibling" traits of faithfulness, steadfastness, and commitment.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But beware the shadow side of the Older Sibling. Here in this parable we witness his resentment, anger, and stubbornness, and rigidity. This is what keeps the older brother in this story on the outside of the party, and on the outside of the joy of his father, and estranged from reunion with his family. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I myself am an actual older sibling, but moreover I am a lifelong Lutheran and a lifelong church-goer, so I “get” the older brother and the twinge of resentment he may feel. So often in the church world, pastors are asked our “call stories.” Now, I don’t have an “amazing” story to tell that gets me invited to be interviewed by Krista Tippet or invited to speak at the ELCA National Youth Gathering. But that’s ok. My story is my story, and the important thing is that I see where God has been present in it. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However... at the moment, it feels as if a significant number of pastors who are also in their thirties are all publishing books. Not everyone, but enough to notice. Like, it’s what all the “cool kids” are doing - if you aren’t having a baby, you’re getting a book deal.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I’ve also noticed something about most of these books coming out … they are from perspectives that have traditionally been thrust to the margins, or at least, they are voices from the “outside.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">These authors have something in common – they have all experienced being on the outside or have felt lost within the church in some way. I wonder if any of them would trade their book deals to have the position of being on the “inside,” to have a story that is more like mine, one that seems boring, but less fraught and stressful in many ways.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One example of a book I read very recently is <a href="http://emmykegler.com/all-who-are-weary/">“All Who Are Weary, </a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://emmykegler.com/all-who-are-weary/">Easing the Burden on the Walk with Mental Illness,</a>” the second book published by Pastor Emmy Kegler. You may recognize her name from another book many of you read a few years ago, called “One Coin Found.” In that first book, she shares her perspective on being lost and found by the church, and by God, relying heavily on another of Jesus’ “lost” parables - the lost coin.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In her second book, “All Who Are Weary,” she examines how mental illness has been stigmatized and mishandled by Christians both in the past and in the present. In addition to being treated as an outsider because of her gender and sexual orientation, in this book Kegler dives deep into the ways that her experience with depression throughout her life has caused her to feel like an outsider too. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus did not name his parable “The prodigal son” or even “The lost son.” That came much later. Perhaps we could also call this parable “The TWO Lost Son.” Or even, “The Prodigal Father” – because of the prodigal, wasteful, and extravagant use of resources on BOTH of his lost sons. After all, the word prodigal just means “extravagantly wasteful” or “uses resources freely.” The father in the story IS very much like God – God loves us lavishly and extravagantly, throwing us the ultimate victory feast over death, every… single… Sunday… and then, coming outside, to where we are, to give us a personal invitation.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With Jesus, the “church insiders” find themselves on the outside, and the outsiders get first dibs. That is how Jesus operates…. And it's so maddening! Or at least, it can feel that way... to us “older siblings.” The truth is, though, that with Jesus, there is no inside OR outside. There cannot be </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">anyone</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> on the outside if </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are truly embraced in the family of God. There is enough Jesus to go around. The love and grace of God is not going to run out.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The older son in this story forgot that. He forgot that he is the OLDEST son in the family and is therefore entitled to the lion’s share of his father’s inheritance already. But his father has to remind him – everything that belongs to the father also belongs to the son.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus was speaking with the “Older Siblings” of his faith community when he told this story. The Pharisees and the scribes are often cast as “the bad guys,” when really they are trying their best to preserve some semblance of Jewish identity in a world that is very, very hostile to them. They might sound grumpy and judgy of Jesus for hanging out with the lost people on the margins, when from their perspective, Jesus looks as though he is diluting his faith. But these “older siblings” of their time forgot that rules and boundaries may have a place, but they never take the place of Jesus. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We all belong to God, and our inheritance has always been evident in our baptisms: claimed as beloved children and given abundant life in Jesus’ victory over the grave. But sometimes we have our heads down, eyes to the plow, dedicated to the work - so much so that we completely miss the music and dancing and celebrating happening in God’s house. And God is at the doorstep, holding out a hand and an invitation to the party… into relationship with people that we might have judged wrongly in the past, or looked down on. This invitation summons us to a future that makes us realize that we have been unnecessarily spending our energy in unhelpful ways, and that is why we have missed out on this party all along… and makes our hard work feel like a waste. But hard work is never wasteful as long as we learn something along the way.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what are we going to do? We can stay outside the celebration and choose to remain just as lost as the younger brother was. After all, a sibling turning his back on another sibling is not all that different from a son that up and leaving his father with his half of the inheritance.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; padding: 12pt 0pt 0pt 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our other choice is to take the hand of the prodigal father and go into the party, to take a risk that might make us feel uncomfortable or scare us a little bit. To welcome our siblings face to face, and to realize that you both have been lost, but now are found… you both were dead and now are come back to life, through the same love of Jesus Christ, and joined together in one family – older and younger, parent and child, dedicated and prodigal, you and them and me. Thanks be to God. Amen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></p><br /></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-71176585155170447012022-03-14T08:02:00.002-07:002022-03-14T08:02:35.066-07:00Chicks of Mama Hen Jesus<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">3-13-22</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-6431edbd-7fff-ffc9-69dd-61982910af46"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace and peace to you from God our creator and our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">By now in Jesus’ ministry, Jesus has gone through “one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem” (Luke 13: 22) causing all kinds of “trouble.” He’s been healing on the Sabbath. He’s been casting out demons. He has fed the hungry. He has been spending time with all the wrong people, teaching radical ideas like “the first shall be last and the last shall be first” … all the while boldly making his way closer and closer to Jerusalem, into the very den of the foxes like Herod and the religious authorities. No “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/06/us/trucker-convoy-protest-washington-dc-sunday/index.html">circling around the city tooting his own horn</a>” for Jesus…. He has the guts to dive right in, head first, clearly not afraid of what Herod might have planned for him. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Too often we vilify the Pharisees as the enemies of Jesus , but really it’s Herod and what he represents - the puppet king of the powerful Roman Empire. And Herod now has it out for Jesus, just as he did for John the Baptist. Remember John’s head on a platter? That’s what John got for speaking up fearlessly against Herod, and he paid for it with his life. And, like John, this Jesus too is ruffling too many feathers. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here in this text, and out there in the world, we seem to be caught between the fox and the hen. If you listen to the wily and manipulating foxes - the Herods of the world - you might believe that only certain types of people have value, and some have more worth than others, based on skin color, physical and mental capabilities, age, gender identity, who they love, where they live, and how they present themselves to the world.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jesus the Mama hen tells us that a different world is possible. After all, a hen is a mom who would lay down her life for her chicks. And if you haven’t noticed, Moms can be fierce. And when they get together in the name of God and children and justice, they beat the fox at his own game.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to tell you about an amazing Lutheran by the name of Leymah Gbowee (No relation to singer David Bowie, hers is spelled with a G) She is a single mom who won the Nobel Peace Prize just over 10 year ago and<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXKxKDVPyAw&t=164s"> spoke at the 2012 ELCA youth gathering</a> in New Orleans (see more about her documentary <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9F8E4wA6pc">HERE</a>). She is a Liberian citizen who almost single-handedly brought an end to fourteen years of civil war in Liberia. Though she had a LOT of help - she gathered together both Christian and Muslim women to protest for peace along the commute of Liberia’s president. She did that every day. FOR YEARS, rain OR shine.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> When peace talks finally started between opposition leaders, they soon stalled when the men got distracted enjoying the fancy hotel rather than negotiating peace. Gbowee and a few hundred women marched into the hotel and actually trapped the men inside the peace talks conference room – literally laying down their own bodies to barricade them in, blocking the door and sitting in the hallways. The women stayed there for days, singing and praying and demanding that the peace talks resume. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because of their efforts, the war ended a few weeks later. All this came about because one woman loved her three children too much to give them a future filled with violence and death. So, she put her body on the line in order to fight for a better future, for herself and for them. She and her fierce “mom posse” got it done.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We don’t hear as much about the Love of God being like a mothers love as often we </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">should</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and it’s a real shame. In the Old Testament, God’s love is in some places compared to a nursing mother for her baby, a mother bear protecting her cubs at all costs, a mother hen extending her wings of safety over her wayward young chicks, as Jesus chooses to describe himself and his love for his people. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are under the mothering and comforting protection of Jesus, who, through the giving up and laying down of HIS body, we are saved, healed, and given a future with hope. The foxes of the world make a serious miscalculation when they choose to mess with God’s children. The fox Herod did not know the lengths to which our mother hen would go to get us back – all the way to death, even death on a cross. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When Jesus is talking about “you will not see me until the time comes when you say ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’,” he’s talking about when he will ride into Jerusalem on a humble donkey at the end of Lent, on Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. That is where Jesus is headed – to put himself on the line for his beloved children, even if it leads to death on a cross later in that week. But that’s not where that week will end. Holy Week doesn’t end in Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Holy Week will end in Easter. Holy Week will end in Resurrection and an empty grave. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our own journeys through the season of Lent, we remember that we too are on our way to die – to die to the ways of the Fox and all the lies that he tells us. But because we follow the crucified and risen Jesus, we can find hope in the face of Jesus’s suffering; we see life in a tool used for death. And we can fight with the same fierceness and loyalty as Mama Hen Jesus for ALL her beloved children. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re seeing it all over the world -<a href="https://madison.com/news/unicef-parents-fleeing-ukraine-to-keep-kids-safe/video_75137823-b3d5-52cd-804b-3c64fcb73337.html"> parents fleeing from Ukraine</a> with their young children to keep them safe. Parents and allies gathering in state capitals to protest against <a href="https://www.hrc.org/news/florida-senate-passes-dont-say-gay-or-trans-bill-legislation-heads-to-desantis-desk-for-signature-or-veto">legislation </a>that harms children by making it illegal to acknowledge their belovedness or give them the <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/10/1085808630/parents-of-transgender-youth-fear-texas-new-anti-trans-orders">medical interventions</a> to help them become who they were born to be. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Places like the Lamb Center are gearing up to be the protective wings over an expected influx of people in need, as the federal government ends emergency housing programs for the unhoused and the annual Hypothermia season comes to an end. A lot of “God’s beloved chicks” are going to need some protective wings in the coming days and weeks and months. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so, as followers of Jesus we too are called to protect the vulnerable, because we are lost chicks ourselves too. We are called to put our bodies on the line for the sake of others. It may not feel like we have skin in the game, but we all do. We are all children of God - when one of us chicks suffers, we all do. And everything we do for these “chicks of God” we do under the protective wings of our mothering God, lead on by the fierce love of Mama Jesus. Thanks be to God. Amen.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-57732707373272155462022-02-28T08:13:00.002-08:002022-02-28T08:13:22.617-08:00Transformed by Love<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">2-27-22, Transfiguration Sunday</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-fc6bdb45-7fff-97ac-4b91-c11775c03231"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today is a very special day - we will be welcoming many of our young people to the Lord’s table. It’s a bright spot of celebration in what definitely felt like a dark week - especially how we’ve been hearing how children in other parts of this country and world are suffering - through the anti-trans legislation and rhetoric happening in both Texas and Florida, and the children hiding in the subways of Kyiv or boarding buses out of town with only one parent while the other parent stays behind. So much has changed in the last weeks and months.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both inside the church year and outside in our lives, Transfiguration Sunday feels like a transition point, a time of transformation like a chrysalis. We are no longer what we were - in Epiphany the season of light, but we are not quite at the season of Lent yet. Our young people are transitioning through a milestone in their faith. We’ve reached another threshold in the pandemic and we (yet again) don’t know what the figure will hold. Our world has also crossed a threshold of violence that we have not seen for nearly a century. It would be so nice if we could just stay at brunch eating burritos after worship forever, and not have to face whatever Monday brings.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I think Peter may have felt something similar up on that mountain with Jesus, when he suggested setting up shop up on that mountain. After all, what a LITERAL mountain top experience! It’s not every day you get to see Jesus transform, hanging out with some of your biggest heroes, and hearing God’s voice!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">However, Peter may have forgotten that the rest of the disciples were waiting for them down the mountain, and had no idea any of this was going on. They were back in the valley, down in the trenches of ministry, struggling and failing to help this suffering boy and his worried father. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contrary to Peter’s wishes, Jesus DID come down the mountain, and just in time too. As Jesus approached, the illness cast the poor kid down to the ground yet again. But Jesus got closer, and so his pristine, dazzling white clothes became covered in the dust that got kicked up. And, both still covered in that dust, Jesus healed the child and gave him back to his father, who I’m sure was too overjoyed to notice all the dirt.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m sure that father was glad Jesus came down the mountain, even though Peter had clearly resisted the idea. Perhaps Peter was afraid that Jesus’s shiny special-ness might wear off if he went down the mountain and hung out with all the “common people” again. But what Peter didn’t know yet is that Jesus is not just for special occasions and for special people, Jesus is for everyday use. He didn’t know yet that Jesus was serious about getting involved with the messiness of being human, and that meant getting a little dusty, tear stained, even bloodstained. But this is how we know that the love of God is real. Real love will stop and nothing will transform us into who we truly are - beloved children of God. Even if it means getting dirty and used up in the process. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You know the story of the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_m054tLKvs">Velveteen rabbit?</a> That stuffed rabbit toy got all threadbare from how much he was loved by the little boy, especially as a comfort during a time this boy was very ill. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But when the boy was better, all his “contaminated” things were packed up to be thrown away, including the rabbit. As the rabbit sat out with the rest of the garbage that night, The Nursery-Magic fairy came to visit him. The rabbit’s scruffy and shabby appearance proved that the boy had loved him very much. The rabbit did not yet realize that </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Love</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> had already made him real, so the fairy simply completed the process by transforming him into a living, breathing rabbit.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Earlier in this story, his friend the Skin Horse says to the velveteen rabbit: “Real isn't how you are made… It's a thing that happens to you…You </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">become</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” And that rocking horse is right. Being real is being a little rough around the edges, a little dusty and ordinary. Because that is where we live MOST of the moments of our lives – not up the mountaintops, but down in the valley where we are transformed by our experiences and transformed by God’s love more and more into who we have been created to be. And that can be a very messy process, and takes a lot of time. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.2519; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A wise friend once said to me, “Jesus is not birthday cake… Jesus is our daily bread.” Jesus is not special and doesn’t have to be put away up on a mountain to be kept safe, only to be used on special occasions. Jesus chooses very “ordinary” things for his work and transforms them: Water and a promise become the way we are called beloved Children of God in our baptisms. Ordinary bread and wine become the way we are welcomed and strengthened by Jesus’s presence. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus is with us every moment, in the breaking of bread, in the dust and in our tears, in our sweat as we work for justice. And when we follow Jesus’ example, WE are likely going to be transformed: becoming dusty, smudged, faded, or even broken, but no less beloved. We won’t have all the answers, and we won’t always know if we’re getting it right. But we will always have Jesus. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are about to embark on the season of Lent, which begins on Wednesday with a smudge of ash on our foreheads and a reminder that we are dust, and to dust we shall return. Next week he’ll be spending 40 days in the dust of a barren wilderness. For now, though, Jesus is both up on the mountain, shiny and savoring the glory of his identity of the Beloved of his Father, before descending into the dust that makes up our daily realities. He is down here where real love gets a bit messy while being revealed in ordinary things, hidden in plain sight - in water, wine, and bread. So whether this is the first time you are experiencing Holy Communion… the fiftieth time… or the five-hundredth time… you are welcome to receive strength for your week in these ordinary things. There is a place for you here, at the Lord’s table. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"> </p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you receive, whether you are accompanied by your own immediate family, or you come alone, know that you are NEVER alone … you are surrounded by your family here, and beyond these walls. After we have received this gift – for the first, fiftieth, or five-thousandth time – we are sent back down the mountain, down into the ordinary, where we find Jesus there yet again. And we are forever transformed by the experience. Thanks be to God, amen.</span></p><div><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-5952205349988521962022-02-07T12:19:00.001-08:002022-02-07T12:19:30.365-08:00On the Beach and on the Couch<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sermon 2-6-22 </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-127e00e1-7fff-b05f-c08e-63e88f066fab"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine, at that lakeshore, Peter and his fellow fishermen, exhausted, as they ended a long and unproductive night of fishing. Along comes Jesus, who tells them to go into the deep waters and try again. They do, somewhat reluctantly, but then are shocked at the size of their catch – so big, their boat starts to sink from the weight of all that fish!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At this miracle before their very eyes, Peter makes a correct assumption – this man must be from God. When Jesus commands, stuff happens. But this realization terrifies Peter. Peter falls to his knees in awe and blurts out that he is a sinful man. It makes me wonder if that is Peter’s way of expressing his confusion - how is it that this holy person, this man clearly blessed by God, would deign to be among these ordinary people in this ordinary place? More specifically, in an ordinary fishing boat, in the middle of some sweaty men and stinky fish. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Peter grew up in a religious tradition where there is clear separation between sacred and profane, between holy and ordinary, where God </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and where God </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">is not</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> expected to show up. The holy is set apart and protected… and not always necessarily FROM us, but FOR us too. The sacred can be dangerous and unpredictable, and so, for everyone's safety, the boundary between holy and ordinary is crossed only at one’s own risk, as we heard in our Isaiah reading. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Though we are thousands of miles and thousands of years removed from the worldview of Peter and his people, we still BEHAVE as if this is true. That God can only be found in some places rather than others, and only at certain times, or in certain circumstances. And sometimes this idea gets picked up and amplified by none other than the New York Times. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Of course I am talking about a recent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/30/opinion/church-online-services-covid.html">opinion article shared</a> by the New York Times. In this article, already limited in its accessibility behind a paywall, a pastor from a small fundamentalist denomination claims to know where God does and does not show up. She writes that with the pandemic being “managed” with masks, distancing, and a milder variant, </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> churches should </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">cease any and all </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">online options, in order to focus back on physical gatherings and get people “back in the pews.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may have noticed all through the pandemic, social media posts have been passed around the internet with a similar theme: “You can’t REALLY worship from your couch” - as if everyone who has chosen to participate in worship online is by default lazily sipping coffee in their pajamas on their couch, rather than being bothered to get dressed and get in their car to “show up” for worship. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On this day, however, when we are resuming in-person worship in the hope that the cases of Omicron continue to fall, it’s still important to remember why community is important in ALL the ways that you and your family are able to connect. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgvoFw0piT_SZS9bQNfIvDV5UULdRmTwlaBm4aq0_2zNc48p8vffw4IGxuFI6EKRolA7_0X0hnLy8rozPiq-aT6YtGm1L-ITq8MeOfP6jdwHXU4Cav8qz3Y8F3_E0YYOEDPEkV7wT0iB2IcOI_cuiMwiSJ9CIuaOPX5oKBhHffEbNNYlJGHweQgV_G" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="2779" data-original-width="2779" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhgvoFw0piT_SZS9bQNfIvDV5UULdRmTwlaBm4aq0_2zNc48p8vffw4IGxuFI6EKRolA7_0X0hnLy8rozPiq-aT6YtGm1L-ITq8MeOfP6jdwHXU4Cav8qz3Y8F3_E0YYOEDPEkV7wT0iB2IcOI_cuiMwiSJ9CIuaOPX5oKBhHffEbNNYlJGHweQgV_G" width="240" /></a></div><br />Yes, even community from your couch. </span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may not be able to leave your couch if you struggle with a chronic illness… but you can sing and pray while worship is streaming. You CAN experience the power of God’s presence, even if you aren’t able to be with everyone every Sunday … maybe your children are throwing up all over the couch, or your anxiety or depression are keeping you to your couch, or your autistic child is having a hard time and the couch is a safe place for them today. We see you, those of you who are on the other side of the camera, and we value you, and we love you. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christians need community, and community comes in many forms. We can contribute cards and share Facebook posts and prayer requests and email encouragement and tithe from literally ANYWHERE now. We can serve, sacrifice, encourage, pray, and do life together both online and in person. And actually, many of us have been doing it for years already. Online options are here to stay, and this is a blessing from God.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We can’t be all things to all people. But our call as communities of faith is to do what Jesus did – meet and love people where they are at, in all the miraculous ways we can be embodied together, however that may look like. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Isaiah met God in the temple - and God could barely fit and then God sent him out. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus met the crowds by the lake on a workday, and not in the synagogue on the sabbath, as he has already done previously. Jesus met Peter and called him to discipleship in the middle of a precarious boat among smelly fish and smellier guys. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus showed up for the crowds, for Peter, and for us to show us that the holy CAN be found in the ordinary. That God is not ONLY found in the church building - no matter how beautiful the newly redone pews look. The church is not active for only one hour per week. The church is a body of people all the time - it’s on the internet, on your couch, and sometimes even in pajamas, at all hours of the day and night. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This article that I’ve mentioned is not the only reason that the New York Times currently is making people irate. It also recently acquired the now infamous online word game called “Wordle” - perhaps you’ve heard of it? May I be so bold as to suggest some future answers to the Wordle game.... Words that the New York Times, that pastor who wrote this article, and all of us can benefit from being reminded of, such as: world, agape, boost, links, pivot, and unite.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And maybe you can think of a few words to add as well … but just remember, the word CHURCH - C-H-U-R-C-H - does NOT fit. The Church cannot be contained by those 5 green boxes… nor can it be contained by the limited imagination of pastors and other church leaders… nor can it be contained within boundaries, temples, boats, expectations, and limitations… nor can it be contained by death itself. Jesus always breaks nets and boxes, and we as the church are called to do the same. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-28085512230474845322022-01-02T09:25:00.001-08:002022-01-17T09:28:59.327-08:00Star Words and Recalculations<p> Sermon 1-2-22</p><p>Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</p><p>We all know this voice: “In one thousand feet, take the exit on the right. Continue for three quarters of a mile. In one hundred feet, turn left. Turn Left…..TURN LEFT. Recalculating route. Make the next legal U-turn. Recalculating route.”</p><p>Have you ever felt that life can be like following the directions on your GPS? Everything seems to be going just fine for a while – when suddenly you pass the exit you were supposed to take, or are told to take a turn that doesn’t exist. That’s how this last year - or two - may have felt: like one big recalculation, and you ended 2021 in a part of the map you weren’t expecting. </p><p>Today is the second day of the new year of 2022, but we are also celebrating the Day of Epiphany. While the rest of the world has already finished up the after-Christmas sales and put away the lights and decorations, and already forgotten their New Year's Resolutions, today WE are observing the final element to the Christmas story: Wise men from the East arrive, following a blazing star that told them of the birth of a mighty ruler. </p><p>These wise men or magi from another country made it their business to study the night sky. But do you remember the last time you looked up at the stars? Often we are too busy to look up at the stars anymore, and we no longer need them for navigation and time keeping, thanks to our fancy GPS and digital watches.</p><p>But when spending the summer as a camp counselor in rural Wisconsin, you get to see them A LOT. At this Lutheran camp I worked at, one night during every week, every cabin pitched tents in the woods for a camp out. After dark, 8 teen girls and I would go on a hike on the trails to find a nice dark spot. We would stop and then… I turned the flashlight off. After the initial shock, our eyes adjusted to see a sky FULL of stars. </p><p>To their astonishment, I would tell my campers of the time before cars and GPS or even reliable maps, when people used the stars to find their way, using the North Star here in the northern hemisphere. Now, the North Star is NOT the brightest star nor the easiest to find. However, while all the other stars travel around the sky during the night, the North Star stays fixed in place… making it so very helpful to find north. And this star too has found its place more than once in history: For enslaved people in the southern part of our country over a hundred and fifty years ago, the North Star was both a beacon of hope and a map to show them their way to freedom.</p><p>Each of those teenage girls in my cabin lived in a constantly changing world, while figuring out their identity and direction. They were trying to find their way in a world that was often not very kind. But while everything around them swirled and shifted, I would tell them that the love of Jesus will never change, would never shift or falter or dim, like a kind of North Star shining in our night sky.</p><p>In many ways that world hasn’t changed, then and now - the world the wise men navigated was just as full of disasters, tragic events, scandals and bad news as today. </p><p>Perhaps the wise men who followed the star wondered if their star GPS was working properly, when they finally arrived in Jerusalem. They expected to find a young prince, amid the trappings of power and wealth. They certainly found a ruler all right, but it was wiley King Herod, appalled to learn there was someone out there who would dare threaten his position. </p><p>For people like Herod, the status quo he benefited from was just fine - and any threat must be found out, either through intimidation and brute force, or cunning and manipulation. </p><p>But the wise men saw through Herod’s sneaky ways, took a detour, and recalculated, following the star instead. The light stayed with them until they arrived at their destination – the boy Jesus, found in unexpectedly humble circumstances. </p><p>The life of this Jesus when he grew up seemed to take a few detours, too. He did not grow up to be the king that others expected him to be. Instead of wearing fine robes and dining in palaces, he broke bread with poor and homeless people, hung out with fishermen, talked to tax collectors, and healed the sick. Instead of wielding a sword as a warrior, he used his words to teach and to heal and bring peace. </p><p>Instead of being crowned and venerated as king of his people, he was worshipped and given gifts by wise men from another country. And later, he was crowned with a crown of thorns and enthroned on a cross… and throughout Jesus never wavered. The light that he brought into the world blazed on, and could not be snuffed out. </p><p>These days in the season after Epiphany will continue to grow brighter, bit by bit, by precious minutes each day. But while we’re in the midst of it, this increase can be hard to notice. We all need reminders of this - especially right now in the thick of Omircon. </p><p>For the wise men, this reminder was a star. But for us, in these days, it can be something smaller and less interstellar. It can be something physical, perhaps something that you use often or see every day. </p><p>You may have heard of a somewhat recent Epiphany tradition called “Star Words.” Star Words are like the opposite of a new year’s resolution – it’s not a goal you choose for yourself because you feel deficient in some way. Instead, a star word is a gift that you receive, it's a word NOT of your own choosing, which you carry with you for your whole year. It can set the tone for your year. It’s a way to listen to how God can be speaking to you in 2022. </p><p>Originally, we had planned to hand these star words out during communion, but it turns out that 2022 has other plans for us. But never fear! We recalculated. You can still get your word at any time. We’ll still have some here at the church building if you are here to drop off supplies for Hypothermia or for a small group activity. You can also receive one online at a special Star Word generator at <a href="http://www.wordoftheyear.me.">www.wordoftheyear.me.</a> That’s what I did. I got….</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim8TccAZMKcwVRaiaRx4uEDsRTOI5Bx1ugtcQ-dgMvD-KTuRXvkqOAN6_GvwW0NOVsaQ-uKAlbjlWnXXgGqAc3LcDC0BOW2_fe4OwGGkNprZjv-1pJaHwbveS-nmCxFZs6qfrwb-TJy_7YkyksnSREFvQFHGFt-Mh5NAmof8mFyc-YuIBA4i5yEjq_=s1052" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="592" data-original-width="1052" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim8TccAZMKcwVRaiaRx4uEDsRTOI5Bx1ugtcQ-dgMvD-KTuRXvkqOAN6_GvwW0NOVsaQ-uKAlbjlWnXXgGqAc3LcDC0BOW2_fe4OwGGkNprZjv-1pJaHwbveS-nmCxFZs6qfrwb-TJy_7YkyksnSREFvQFHGFt-Mh5NAmof8mFyc-YuIBA4i5yEjq_=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p>Take this star, and write down the word, OR you can screen shot the word you got, either print it out, or use it as the background picture on your phone. Share this word with others, or keep it to yourself: it’s up to you. Post it in the facebook comments today. Hang it somewhere you can see, so that you may be reminded in the coming year that God loves you. </p><p>The Herods of the world don’t want us to remember that Jesus arrived into this world to give life and love to all of us – even the dim bulbs and the broken lights that we may feel like sometimes. Even when we feel lost and our lives are in constant need of U-turns and recalculations and detours. </p><p>May this star word, and the coming light of this Epiphany season, give YOU some illumination this year. May Jesus enlighten your life in 2022, and guide you as a light that never dims, never wavers, and will always brighten whatever in your life seems dim and hopeless. Thanks be to God. Amen. </p><p><br /></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-4403475491506593022021-12-29T11:26:00.003-08:002021-12-29T11:26:43.807-08:00Emmanuel, God Finding Us<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">12-26-21</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b31f71d6-7fff-232d-2036-ee1691f3e778"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace to God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you ever noticed that the rest of the world seems to forget about Christmas by about… 6 pm yesterday? How many of your neighbors are taking down their decorations today? How many trees have you already seen at the curb this morning? And depressingly, the Valentine’s day candy AND EASTER candy are already out in the stores! </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s December 26th, and we want to put Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the sheep, and even baby Jesus in the manger back in the box to wait for next year. The ironic thing is though, the wise men technically haven’t even arrived yet - THEY don’t show up until Epiphany - NEXT Sunday!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I mean, what IS time right now anyway? Jesus has gone from being a baby to 12 years old in a matter of hours! Not quite a child but not yet grown up – and definitely too young to be wandering off by himself (though definitely old enough to be vaccinated). </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Can you imagine what Mary and Joseph must have been feeling when they realized that they had left their son behind in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is a huge city to get lost in – Mary and Joseph spent three whole days searching for him, probably panicking the whole time. Remember, this is before text messaging, GPS, or the Amber Alert. To them, Jesus was truly lost, maybe even forever. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When they found him in the temple, imagine the relief that flooded through them as they realized that he was safe. Joy - and some exasperation mixed together filled Mary as she admonished her son – “How dare you do that to us?!? We were so worried!” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jesus’ answer blew them all away. No apology or guilt from him. Instead he asked “Why were you searching for me?” “Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s [house]?” Who would have thought that our tween Lord and Savior would sass off to his parents. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And this is only a foretaste of the feast to come - at 12 he sneaks away from his parents. As an adult, he continues to cause trouble. He evades being categorized. He talks in circles. He’s hard to pin down. It seems as though we constantly have to “find” him - like when impeccably dressed proselytizers knock on your door and ask you “Have you found Jesus?” as if Jesus is Waldo. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This begs the question - Can Jesus be trusted when he wanders off, and always seems to be in need of being “found”? Even worse, it seems like when we need Jesus the most, when we desperately need comfort and hope, that’s when he seems the farthest away. Where WAS Jesus during a year like 2020 and 2021, especially when the turn of this year looks pretty dicy, not to mention during all the </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">regular</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> times our hearts get broken? Where IS Jesus when life gets tough? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus doesn’t alway do what we expect him to do, and stay where we expect him to stay. And that actually can be a good thing. He was born a king on Christmas, but he did not grow up to be the king that others expected him to be. Instead of wearing fine robes and dining in palaces, he broke bread with poor people and hung out with fishermen, tax collectors, and women. Instead of wielding a sword, he used his words to teach and to heal and bring peace. Instead of being venerated as king of his people, he was honored and recognized by wise men from another country. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the hope arriving in our lives. He isn’t hiding, like in a game of hide-and-seek, behind the couch with the dust bunnies. He didn’t jump out the tomb that first Easter morning and ride into the sunset, never to be seen again. He WANTS us to find him. That is the exact reason why Jesus clothed himself in love so that we would recognize him, by becoming one of us. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">How better to show us God’s love than to become one of us and to tell us face to face? How better to show us that we are children of God than to FIND US where we are at, in all our smiles and tears, in our joys and sadness, in our hopes and fears. There was no better way to wrap us up in love than to come as a present, wrapped like one of us. This love has been in front of us the whole time, wrapped in the form of a baby, almost completely unnoticed by everyone except for Mary, Joseph, some angels and some shepherds. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This gift of love that he has given us, in coming as one of us, surprised humanity so much that we didn’t see it for what it was. God gave to us Jesus before we even knew that we needed him, and Jesus keeps showing up and surprising us, and not just at Christmas either. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last year during Vacation Bible School, do you remember that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BrAAB8dTfE">one of the songs </a>was about Christmas? That’s right - in the middle of the heat and the onslaught of the cicadas (remember those?) all the kids were singing about Jesus as a little baby. They sang “It can feel like Christmas in the springtime or the fall. It can feel like Christmas through the hottest months of all…. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emmanuel, God is with us all year long</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.” At the time, I though there was no way that these kids would be into this song in June… but I was wrong! They were really into it, and requested that song again and again. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The second verse of that VBS song starts “I don’t need presents, I don’t even need a tree. Remembering that Jesus came is all it takes for me.” That’s easy to say in the heat of June, but it’s also true in December - While we are searching for hope amid the leftovers and the crumpled wrapping paper and the drying out tree Jesus finds us and holds us tight. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We are found, and become all wrapped up in the amazing and all-encompassing love of God, not just during the Christmas season, but on every day of our lives. Emmanuel, God is with us all year long, even on December 26th. Emmanuel, we don’t have to go looking for him. Emmanuel, who finds </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">US </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">when WE are lost. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><br /><br /><br /></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-46446299041325950722021-12-13T09:50:00.000-08:002021-12-13T09:50:30.669-08:00"Doing, Not Brooding"<p>12-12-21 </p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-569624c7-7fff-d61f-bfb0-5931d37a55e3"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I just love the “Advent meme season.” It seems that every year, social media jokes about Advent get funnier and more numerous. Like the classic John the Baptist picture from a few years ago that is the perfect ideal visual for today, captioned by: “Happy Advent, you brood of vipers!” How’s that for a festive holiday message? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a month where it kind of feels like nothing is festive and everything is on fire, so to speak, it feels like John the Baptist is so fired up that he just wants to let ‘er rip at everyone and everything. And after month like this, between things like another tragic school shooting and the continued onslaught on reproductive health care, rising cases of both Delta and now Omicron, and some parts of the country still refusing to get vaccinated and travel in flux for the upcoming Christmas holiday, I don’t blame John one bit. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Honestly, at the moment, it feels like we, in the concluding weeks of 2021, might deserve John’s harsh words. Maybe John is right, in a world where not much has changed - and in many ways, we feel as though we are going BACKWARDS even. One example is these texts came up in 2012, the Sunday after the Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre. And now, it’s only been a matter of days since the most recent deadly school shooting in Michigan. Maybe we are no better than children of snakes, as John says.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From this passage I imagine John as a gritty, towering man, thunderously pacing and preaching. He is dunking people left and right, admonishing the people in power for their selfish ways. Everything about this guy just seems larger than life, and his challenge to those with power and authority is exciting to the average person, powerless and under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And so, they wonder - is this the one whom we have been waiting for? Is he the Messiah? Has he finally arrived to kick out their Roman oppressors? But John says to the people – you think what I’M doing is radical and life-changing? Just you wait! I’m only the messenger. Someone EVEN MORE potent is on his way!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">John is laying the foundation and churning up the soil to make ready for the coming of Jesus and the beginning of his ministry. John is the warm-up act to Jesus the headliner; John is the trailer to the full-length film of the coming of God. He is the last of a very long line of prophets stretching back through the ages, and their messages were one and the same – the Lord WILL ARRIVE! And that can be both exciting and terrifying.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To us, John’s “good news” may not sound like “good news” … Or does it? At least the people listening to John weren’t completely turned off, because many were emboldened to ask in response “what then should we DO?” Two interesting groups are specifically mentioned to respond: Tax Collectors and Roman soldiers – not exactly the type of people we would expect to show up to John’s fiery preaching. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Roman soldiers were like the bouncers of the empire – to keep the oppressed populace in line. And yet, here they are – out there in the desert getting dunked and taking to heart all that John was saying. And similarly, the tax collectors did the Roman Empire’s dirty work, betraying their own people and skimming more than a little off the top for their own profit. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Both</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> these groups were moved, and asked “what shall WE do?” The empire should be very nervous at this point, and rightly so – their muscle </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> their money people are starting to show a change of heart. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And if we’re doing Advent “right,” if </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">we</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> are asking questions and using this time to reflect and prepare for the arrival of Jesus amid the lure of free two-day shipping and the barrage of buy-one-get-one deals, the empires of power around us should be shaking in their boots, too. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Because the answer to the question of what we do in response to John is shockingly easy, if we too listen to John. So, what CAN we do, as students, as accountants, as teachers and parents, as retirees, as homeowners, as teachers, CPAs, nurses, cashiers, business owners, real estate agents, siblings – what should WE DO in the face of the arrival of God’s kingdom here on earth?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Oh, nothing major – live within our resources, not to overstep, to minimize our footprint on creation, and not take advantage of the power and privilege that we do have. In fact, give away that power, and use the privilege for others. Don’t impose on the rights of other people, their right to not just to survive, but to thrive, because that is what we deserve too. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This Advent season I’m going to try to do my small part in dismantling the empires of consumerism, white supremacy, apathy, the mirage of success, the cult of busyness. To help do this, I am going to make sure I reach out to the people I care about and make time to give them my presence over worrying about presents. I’m going to find joy in the small things, to focus on the important things, and remain open to the experiences and stories of others.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’m going to remember to be kind to the strangers around me. I’m going to try to do small things to work for justice, like shopping fair trade when I can, and supporting small local businesses, or non-profits like ELCA Good Gifts, or other retailers that align with the justice issues I feel passionate about. I can get some coffee from the fair trade fair after worship today, or pick a star off the star tree. I can sign up to take part in serving the local Vienna unhoused community by signing up for Hypothermia week and attending today’s adult forum to get ready, or pay for a month of internet for our Afghan family. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We do this, not because this is how get into heaven. Instead, this is a response to the gift of our baptisms in Jesus, that we are chosen to be God’s children, baptized into Jesus’ death, and raised up as new people to live in this new way. This is what John means by repent – not simply </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feeling</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> sorry but </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">showing</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that we are sorry by showing a different kind of behavior than before. And what John here is saying, is taking responsibility for our actions and seeking to make it right when we can.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus isn’t asking us for heroics. We don’t have to give up everything and go hang out in a desert on his behalf– John already did that. Jesus arrives to invite us to be more fully who we are – not children of snakes, not children of tradition, not children of the empire, but beloved children of God… children to get to see and participate in the arrival of the Kingdom of Jesus here on earth, in advent, and every single day. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><br /></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-26499302325855574982021-11-29T10:26:00.001-08:002021-11-29T10:26:07.395-08:00"Look Up, Look Busy!"<p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUBeYxuyTuHWmAfmuQ3lXu4X-W7uXuexcZ4sa4KMYsqmCsKBSodfW2Ntn29TLndvZt-1cRh1b3RWcjpJAxlRMSTA-1WZWfCb96PWBe8VPxxaYJGb9LC0VzDQQOARjXXcEHmZpqTeK4R0/s940/Jesus+is+coming.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDUBeYxuyTuHWmAfmuQ3lXu4X-W7uXuexcZ4sa4KMYsqmCsKBSodfW2Ntn29TLndvZt-1cRh1b3RWcjpJAxlRMSTA-1WZWfCb96PWBe8VPxxaYJGb9LC0VzDQQOARjXXcEHmZpqTeK4R0/s320/Jesus+is+coming.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">11-28-21</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-02701882-7fff-f1fd-f714-aae201411b40"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“It’s the end of the world as we know it…and I feel fine!” Actually, no, I don’t feel fine! I feel stressed! There are too many cars on the road, too many people shopping at Giant, my packages are all delayed because of “supply chain issues,” covid cases are trending back up even though vaccinations among 5-11-year-olds are rolling out. I would much rather stay home and binge watch “The Great Christmas Bake off” on Hulu. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Especially since this week even though it’s advent, and everyone around us has gone full-tilt Christmas with carols on the radio and Christmas trees up and decorated… here we are with nary a manger or angel or Mary or shepherd or even a scrap of hay … instead we have crabby Jesus and, “it’s the end of the world as we know it…” and nobody is feeling fine.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Have you ever seen the bumper sticker or memes that reads “Jesus is coming – look busy”? Like how dare Jesus find ou taking a nap or slacking off when he comes back. It reminds me of that Christmas song about Santa that is weirdly creepy… you know the one that goes Santa “you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout...” you better look busy or Jesus may bring you something worse than coal. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But I’m not sure how exactly I’m supposed to be “looking busy,” especially when it seems as though Jesus must be ready to come back any minute. Between the unpredictable acts of violence, refugee crisis stretching on, the effects of climate change getting really scary…. So much pain, fear, suffering has happened just the last few weeks.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It might cause us to question whether these are the very signs Jesus was talking about. Should we “look busy”? Or should we duck and cover? Stockpile our basements with Mac and Cheese and toilet paper (again)?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well, Jesus has an opinion about what we should do to get ready for his impending arrival. Not look busy. Not squirrel away supplies like a doomsday-prepper. But also, not to be weighed down by fear. Jesus tells us to stand up and raise our heads, be alert, full of prayer and hope. Because another kind of future is on our way to us – not our future, but God’s future, where we will live as part of God’s Queendom/ kin-dom/ kingdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During another time of great upheaval in human history, the prophet Jeremiah shared similar words of encouragement to an overwhelmed people. The people of Israel were conquered by a foreign nation – one of many during the centuries - and they were forced to become unwelcomed refugees in a strange land, defeated, defenseless, and dejected, they might have given up on God and given up on hope.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We fast forward to the first followers of Jesus hearing these words written by Luke. At this time, Jerusalem had yet again been destroyed, this time by the Roman Empire. Their beloved place of worship was gone, their city devastated, countless people died, and their world had become unrecognizable. Which left the early followers of Jesus wondering, can God still show up, even after all this? Is God’s kingdom still near, will God be able to break into all the doom and gloom of this present moment?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If THIS kind of stuff is what we’re going to be getting during Advent, let’s do as the rest of the world does and skip over Advent completely, right to Christmas carols and peppermint lattes. But I will let you in on a little secret. In Advent, time refuses to behave properly. I dare say, it becomes downright wibbly-wobbly.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">During the season of Advent, Jesus comes to us as a baby and as a grown man. He was born, he is here, and he will return…. but we don’t know just when and how until he shows up. His Queendom/kin-dom will come, and at the same time his kingdom IS ALREADY HERE among us. From the past we find hope for the future, and the future becomes the “now.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">From Bethlehem to Vienna, God has given God’s people a head’s </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">up</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to lift our heads and look </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">up</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, that from the dead stump of tragedy, a branch is going to spring </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">up</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, to show us that despite all the chaos and the fear and the pain, God is still going to SHOW </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">UP</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Even when all hell breaks loose. While the rest of the world is telling us to duck and cover, or look busy and hustle for our self-worth, Jesus says to stand </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">up</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and see where he is showing </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">up</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Because otherwise we might miss where Jesus and the Queendom/ kingdom are breaking into our world RIGHT NOW.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And in most unlikely places, even in the full-on advent of the Christmas shopping season, there are still plenty of opportunities to witness Jesus. Today we recognized a historic moment of inclusivity for the Scouts in our first class of young women eagle scouts. Tomorrow night we will be a presence in the Vienna community during the annual church street stroll. We have been stepping up to help support our Afghan family, even though their arrival in our lives was a total surprise. I might even choose to be courteous of that slow car ahead of me, even if they have that bumper sticker that says, “Jesus is coming, look busy!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every Sunday when we pray in the Lord’s Prayer “Thy Kingdom Come,” we are looking toward a time where God’s justice and mercy will reign. We look forward to a time when there is no more racism, sexism, classism, ableism of any kind, where fear and war and violence and greed and death no longer rule us. And every time we pray for God’s kingdom/ Queendom/ Kin-dom to arrive, we are allowing ourselves to be open to being part of that arrival. And not just by “looking busy” and being distracted, but instead by being aware, alert, and ready to LOOK for what and who is bringing in God’s kingdom.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-top: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Until God’s kingdom comes in its fullness, and Jesus does come back, surfing on a cloud, we wait, and we hope. That is the heart and soul of the season of Advent. We don’t know what the world will bring to us around the next corner or in the next news cycle. But we can keep our heads raised knowing God is going to show up, both in the manger and in the mundane. Thanks be to God, AMEN.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-9198727902280513232021-11-21T07:52:00.004-08:002021-11-21T07:52:23.216-08:00The Queendom of God<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from the one who is and was and who is to come, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, by the power of the holy spirit, Amen. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-8a2d765b-7fff-4807-72ff-015d463cf12d"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today is known as Christ the King Sunday, or alternatively as Reign of Christ Sunday. In the liturgical calendar, today ends the church year, which does feel a little weird being right before Thanksgiving. It also feels strange, because we live in a world where a lot of countries are ruled by presidents and prime ministers… and so to speak of Christ as our king seems a bit out of touch.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our gospel reading, on this Christ the King Sunday we sort of HAVE time traveled – all the way to Good Friday, where we overhear the conversation between Pilate and Jesus after Jesus’ arrest. As the Roman ruler of Jesus’s occupied homeland, Pilate had probably seen it all - rebellions, uprisings, messiahs, unrest, violence…. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But even he had to be surprised when confronted by this defenseless man who claimed to be a king. Jesus had no throne, no mansion, no wealth, no political influence, no generals, and no crown. The night before this conversation, on Maundy Thursday, all his “loyal” followers had all fled (or at least all the men had). And today, Jesus is alone, arrested and beaten up and looking the worse for wear… yet calmly having a repartee with Pilate about kingship and kingdoms.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pilate is clearly flabbergasted… and we should be too. We all recognize, as Pilate did, that traditional power - I should specify as male patriarchal power - looks a particular way. And Jesus DOES NOT fit the bill. He never fought a single battle; he didn’t flaunt wealth or command influence: he wasn’t angry or loud or violent or “macho.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus refuses to fit into the toxicity masculine ruler narrative - Jesus’s birth was witnessed by lowly shepherds and his first crib was an animal feeding trough full of hay and cow drool. His conquering campaign involved wandering around teaching and feeding, hanging out with homeless and sick people. He was crowned with thorns and his coronation was his torture and death, and his throne is a cross.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">THIS is why it IS important that Jesus was a man… NOT because God has imbued cis men with something special that women, transgender, and nonbinary people do not have. It’s because giving up power is EXPECTED by women in the patriarchy… but it is an aberration, even an abomination for men to do the same. Men don’t DO that in a regular kingdom. But apparently, GOD DOES. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We don’t need another kingdom of violence. We don’t need any more Kingdoms, period. What else should we call God’s reign, then? A “Queendom” perhaps?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This idea comes from a fabulous book I just read called “<a href="https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9781506469140/Thy-Queendom-Come">Thy Queendom Come”</a> by Kyndall Rae Rothaus. She’s a Baptist preacher and author who co-founded an ecumenical preaching conference designed to elevate those on the margins. She called it “Nevertheless, She Preached.” This event was created out of the recognition that most preaching conferences are dominated by white male preachers, and she knew that we, the church, can do better than that. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In her book, Kyndall Rothaus wonders if Christ’s reign is better understood as a “queendom” rather than as a kingdom. Are our ideas we associate with the word kingdom too tainted by hierarchy and patriarchy to be useful in understanding the true upside-down reality that Christ ushers in? Rothhaus asserts that yes, the word “Kingdom” IS too compromised to be useful. Which is why she uses the word “Queendom” instead. This is not a realm where </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">women</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> dominate instead of men – </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> still falls into the old hierarchical way of thinking. But instead, in a Queendom, power is shared and decentralized. There is no head of the table in God’s Queendom. God’s table is round.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If the word “Queendom” is still a bit too potent a word for you, some have used the word KIN-dom, K-I-N, to better describe this reign, emphasizing that we are all family. No matter what we call it, Jesus did not organize a coup, storm the castle, and replace himself as the new, though much kinder, king. He instead got to work on leveling the playing field, giving up all the power and privilege that was due to him as the Son of God, in order to model for us, his followers, how we are to live. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This does feel like a scary reversal if you happen to be in the group that previously enjoyed the byproducts of power and privilege. Centering other voices in this kingdom, queendom, or KIN-dom - </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">feels</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> like suppression to those who are used to having the floor ALL the time. But that’s not </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">silencing,</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but instead </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">sharing</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - it’s what justice looks like in God’s reality. Liberation is not a pie, where giving out one piece means less for others. It’s more like the number Pi - it never runs ends.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Pilate is clearly confused and uncomfortable coming face to face with this idea… as were Jesus’ own male disciples the night before, on Maundy Thursday. Jesus demonstrated the meaning of sharing power by literally stripping down, making himself vulnerable, taking the lowest social position and doing the most demeaning job imaginable - washing the disciples feet. Jesus still washed all the feet… the feet of those who would later run away, deny him, abandon him, and betray him, as had played out by the time Jesus and Pilate had this conversation about kings, kingdoms, power, and truth. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a friend of mine reminded me, “[God] is The very Truth of existence and The Reality Upon Whom all reality stands.” Our reality does not stand upon able-ism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, tribalism, white supremacy, discrimination or structural inequities. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">THOSE realties stand directly against GOD’s reality - justice, mercy, abundance, acceptance, forgiveness, sacrifice, welcome… LOVE. And so, as citizens of God’s Queendom/ Kin-dom, we cannot and do not STAND FOR them when they rear their ugly head in our midst, in our laws, in our courtrooms, in our classrooms, and in our congregations. We call out and we speak out the truth - the ways of Pilate, of intimidation and violence and reliance on weapons and taking another’s life at will is never sanctioned by God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Today we may be disheartened that this Queendom feels farther from us than ever, as the <a href="https://milwaukeesynod.org/">Bishop of the Greater Milwaukee Synod</a> wrote in a statement released yesterday: “God’s vision for our world, one in which love conquers evil and peace triumphs over fear, may seem more distant today, but ... it still has the power to shape and guide us all.” </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At the close of this liturgical year and as Advent is set to begin, we wait for the arrival of this vision; and we act to participate in this arrival by stepping up - or stepping out of the way - for others as necessary. As Kyndall Rothhaus concludes in her book “They Queendom Come,” she reminds us that “this is [God’s] queendom, where the power and the glory are shared.” (137) Thanks be to God, amen. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-4018400794650319682021-10-19T11:06:00.005-07:002021-10-19T11:07:08.820-07:00"Be Careful What you Wish For..."<div style="text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;">Sermon
10-17-21</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: small; font-weight: normal;">Grace to you and peace from God our
creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy
Spirit, Amen.</span></div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">“Be careful what you wish for.” We all
know stories that have this as it’s lesson - once wished for, having what we
desire seems awesome at the start, but we find out that there tends to be
pesky, unforeseen consequences. While most of these stories include a magical
element - a creature or item that grants these wishes, occasionally we find
that this can still happen to us out in the real world - we finally receive
something that we had been coveting for a long time… only to find out that it’s
not quite as amazing as we had hoped.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">In a way, James and John may have felt as
though they had stumbled into something too good to be true. They had been
following a man who so far had been doing AMAZING things – healing people from
their illnesses, casting out unclean spirits, walking on water, feeding
thousands of people with very little, and flouting the authority of those in
power to turn the world upside down. And THESE two, James and John – just two
sons of a fisherman – got to be a part of the inner circle! This was THEIR
ticket to be SOMEBODY when the world told them they were NOBODIES. They finally
had ARRIVED!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">Well… not quite. Jesus and his disciples were
on their way to Jerusalem, where they <b>thought</b> Jesus was going there to
be crowned a king. Because that’s what usually happens – a king goes to
Jerusalem to be anointed and recognized to rule. But actually, Jesus was going
to Jerusalem to <b>die</b>… and actually, he has been pretty upfront about this
the whole time. In the verses prior to this, Jesus said, “See, we are going up
to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and
the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over
to the Gentiles; they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill
him; and after three days he will rise again.” Seems pretty straightforward.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">But all John and James heard must have
been something like “Bla Bla going to Jerusalem … bla bla after 3 days, rise
again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">They must have thought “OOOOH yes, king
time!” And THIS was their chance to ask for prime spots in the new regime. The
left hand and right hand were reserved for only the next most powerful people,
like joint chiefs of staff. It wasn’t enough for them, apparently, for the
privilege to follow him and hear his most exclusive teachings. They wanted
more. They wished to be able to do what Jesus did… and they missed the fact
that Jesus was going to suffer and die. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">But Jesus DOES grant them their wish… sort
of. James and John DID get PART of what they wanted… after Jesus’s death and
resurrection, they went on to proclaim the coming of his kingdom, and they DID
give their lives for it – meaning they drank the same cup and were baptized
with the same baptism as Jesus. It wasn’t what they THOUGHT they were going to
get… but likely, by the end of their lives, they realized that what they <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">GOT</b> was infinitely better that what
they had WISHED for.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">If you remember the last time you went to
a baptism, you might have heard the pastor talking about how we have died with
Christ in his death, and we are raised with Christ in his resurrection. When
Jesus refers to his baptism, he is not talking about the day he was baptized in
the river with John the Baptist. He’s talking about his upcoming death. In
Luther’s Small Catechism, Luther writes that baptism “signifies that the old
person with all sins and evil desires is … die daily…. And … that daily a new
person is to rise up to live before God…” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 115%;">Likewise, in the garden of Gethsemane,
alone in the darkness before his passion began, Jesus prays that the cup might
pass from him…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not a cup of fine wine
decorated in gold befitting a king, but the cup that Jesus is to drink from is
his suffering and death. Jesus DID drink from this cup, handed himself over to
the power of death, was tortured and mocked, and finally hung on a cross.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And two people WERE on Jesus’ right and left
hands…. But not James and John, but instead criminals condemned to a shameful
death, as Jesus was.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In
the world’s eye, this Jesus was a failure – he hung out with the people nobody else
wanted to be around. No fancy buildings were named after him. He didn't write a
best-selliing book. Instead, he was murdered by the state as an enemy… but that
was not the end of the story. As Jesus himself said, on the third day, he would
rise. And we who follow Jesus, who are baptized into the death AND resurrection
of Jesus, ALSO receive this abundant and eternal life. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The
last thing the world needs is another kingdom built in the image of James and
John, built in the image of the powers of this world. What we need, Jesus
proves, is a Kin-dom – of K-I-N, where we are all remember and act like are <b>kin</b>,
we are family to one another, instead of lord it over one another as the powers
of the world do.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Following
Jesus means that we take up our cross. Following Jesus means that whoever will
be first must be last. Following Jesus means prioritizing the least likely to
reciprocate. Following Jesus means success often looks like failure. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 107%; margin-bottom: 8pt;"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Be
careful what you wish for, because with Jesus, you just might get it. And more
than you ever expected. More discomfort, but more growth, more love, and more
joy, more life. Thanks be to God, Amen. </span><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 17pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Book Antiqua"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Book Antiqua";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-10732006141536235172021-09-27T10:46:00.004-07:002021-09-27T10:46:37.623-07:00Eldad, Medad, and You-dad<p> 9-26-21</p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-a8926b98-7fff-7425-561e-9b1e1170f3db"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This past Tuesday night, 5 members and staff from this congregation were recognized at the annual Vienna Mayor’s Volunteer Reception, for their tireless work during this summer’s Liberty Amendment’s month. Though it made for a very long night - about one hundred and fifty people were recognized that night - I was so impressed with many of the other volunteers and the community efforts they were being recognized for. Dozens of volunteers raised money for food and supplies for people in need during this pandemic, and I lost track of how much money they raised to help. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCnUbCCZhNbKFxVH0KLOV6BeoT0BZgrpQqV_OZ__hWxdv7h8VXOOJnVznhtG0ZS8ppefQttSieCpyoroAhQtVuwcPkuS6vZn6WqqYTFagRlTL3sknN3oNCowEtIgzmF3u1rKrJtTs3D4/s2016/volunteers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1512" data-original-width="2016" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaCnUbCCZhNbKFxVH0KLOV6BeoT0BZgrpQqV_OZ__hWxdv7h8VXOOJnVznhtG0ZS8ppefQttSieCpyoroAhQtVuwcPkuS6vZn6WqqYTFagRlTL3sknN3oNCowEtIgzmF3u1rKrJtTs3D4/s320/volunteers.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I did notice something interesting. Very few congregations were overtly recognized. That could mean a couple things - that congregations in our area are </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">not</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> helping the community (which I </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">don’t</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> think is true). It </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">could </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">mean that the people in the pews are going </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">outside their congregations </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">and finding opportunities to help, which could be very true. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As it might turn out, people of faith don’t have the corner market on caring for our neighbors. Now, we COULD find this as reason to be dismayed, and wonder why so few of these honorees seemed part of organized congregations. Like Joshua, when he saw that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp, even though they were outside of the tent when the spirit of the Lord rested on the other seventy sent to give Moses a hand. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Instead of being miffed, Moses seems relieved! The more the merrier! He seems very glad for help with this group of people who were SO caught up in nostalgia that they only remembered the </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">food</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of Egypt, and selectively forgot the fact that they had been </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">ENSLAVED</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. I wonder how many years, months, or even weeks it took for them to overlook that critical memory in favor of all the cucumbers, leeks, and garlic. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been over 18 months of our own type of wilderness experience. We’re wandering in this uncharted pandemic maze, hoping that something good will eventually come out of it on the other side, but also longing for what was before. But was everything about the “before times” really “working”? DO we </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">only </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">remember the “cucumbers, melons, and leeks” part, while having selective amnesia about being trapped by endless busy schedules, constant programming, long commutes and bad traffic? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the brief moment of normalcy that was the month of July, I heard more than one person lamenting that they no longer knew how they kept up with the pace of life that was in the “before times.” But at the same time, we still long for what used to be familiar, even if it was not life-giving. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I wonder what Eldad and Medad were saying to the hangry people complaining to Moses in the wilderness. We know that they were prophesying, which does not mean they were telling the future. The job of Both First Testament and modern prophets is point to where God is at work, to say hard truths, and to stand up to where we are actively working against God’s kingdom, whether that means refusing what God provides (like Manna) or by keeping control on who can and who cannot be a prophet of God. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Every week when we say the Lord’s Prayer, we pray “your kingdom come,” that God’s kingdom would arrive on earth in its fullness. Martin Luther explains the meaning in this way: “in fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us.” When we pray this, we must ask ourselves, am I hindering or helping the coming of God’s kingdom? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We say “God’s work, our hands” but still use those hands to harm. Same with feet that cause us to wander us away from the path of the Gospel. The same with eyes that too often look backward to the past, or fixate on a future with only certain people given access to God’s love… Well, Jesus has some harsh and very uncomfortable words to say about these wayward body parts, didn’t he? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Well… the Body of Christ might in fact BE MORE WHOLE… if we are a little more </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">intolerant </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of the </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">intolerant</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, willing to cut them off for the sake of the </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">rest</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> of the body… especially for the sake of those who are vulnerable, for children, for those who are not believed when they seek justice, and those who are disempowered. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is a huge task, and not one that one person can do on their own, even if they are Moses. We need as much help as we can get. We need every Moses, Miriam, Joshua, Eldad, and Medad, to renounce and call out everything that tries to pull us away from God’s kingdom. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a congregation participating in a baptism, before we get to the Apostle’s creed, we do some “renouncing” together. We renounce the powers that defy God and the ways of the world that draw us from God. Then, we witness where God IS and work - calling a new child of God into the family, and claiming them as both beloved and called to the work of God’s kingdom. Through anointing of oil and the sign of the cross on the baptized child’s forehead. Through a lit candle, to remind us of the light of Christ. And, in one old Catholic tradition, a piece of salt was placed on the lips of the baptized child - the child was to be seasoned with the word of God, to join the ranks of the other prophets in the past and present.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">With this salty taste on our lips, we the baptized go out as fellow prophets, to do what salt does - draw out the flavor that is already there. Salt doesn’t stay in the shaker; salt is meant to be shared. It means pouring yourself out for the sake of others. It means telling people about what God has done for us in our lives. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And while being salt doesn’t make us perfect people, God will work through each and every one of us. In fact, God will even work through people that we wouldn’t have ever dreamed that God would use, those who might be “outside” of our group. It may make us mad, like it did for Joshua and later for the disciples. But whoever is not against Jesus’s message of love and inclusion for all of God’s children, is FOR Jesus and is contributing to the arrival of God’s kingdom.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I like to think that Eldad and Medad were a bit salty in the name of God, to remind the people that God brought them out of bondage in Egypt into freedom. God WAS providing them with food - manna - and leading them to a life that would be full of abundance. I hope you have some Eldads and Medads in your life, who are prophetically pointing out for you where God is at work. I also hope that you can be Eldad and Medad for others, to help bring out the flavor of hope and love. Today, God says: “I’ve called you ALL to be my salty, prophetic people! I’ve called you to be like Eldad and Medad. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YOU</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YOU</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YOU</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">YOU</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">!” (dad!) Thanks be to God. Amen.</span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-87310728745432599762021-09-20T12:38:00.001-07:002021-09-20T12:38:19.740-07:00"God's Work, Our Lives" <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sermon from 9-12-21 “God’s Work, Our lives”</span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-e2671908-7fff-5727-b284-84ff42f6bf6e"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our lord and savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s been cute seeing all the “first day of school” pictures on Facebook for the last few weeks! Everyone is wearing new clothes, new masks, new backpacks. We’re coming into a new season, there are new classes and schools to attend, new initiatives at work, new routines at home… but also still navigating a lot of uncertainty: Is my child safe at school? When will my child be eligible for the vaccine? Will there be a new Covid variant later this year? </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We try to put our best foot forward… But a few weeks from now, those clothes won’t be AS new… crayons will break… the pens will leak... the notebooks get lost, or messy with juice spills and dog drool… piles of dishes, laundry, and homework threaten to overwhelm. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have the best plans and make the best preparations… but usually life throws us a curveball – or two – and things don’t always turn out as nice as we imagined. Life can feel like a pop quiz that we haven’t studied for. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This particular passage we just heard is smack dab in the middle of the Gospel of Mark, where the luster of following Jesus is perhaps wearing off for the disciples. Jesus decided to check their progress with a little surprise midterm exam, with JUST TWO QUESTIONS. Question 1 is: “who do other people say that I am?” Peter nails it - THE MESSIAH! Ding, ding! Gold star, Peter!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But there is a SECOND question to this exam, and this one is an ESSAY - “who do YOU say that I am?”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But then… Peter doesn’t quit when he’s ahead. Peter says: “Now look here, Jesus. You’ve got this Messiah thing all wrong.” To which Jesus responds, “Get behind me, Satan.” Oops. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We tend to be so hard on poor Peter, probably because Peter is us. We would all prefer to live at the beginning of the story where everything is still shiny and new; or to skip all the way to the end, where everything is nicely wrapped up. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we don’t live our daily lives there, at the beginning… or even at the end of the story. We live in the middle, that awkward place where we don’t know what’s going on, but the novelty has long worn off, and we’re just tired. In fact, I have heard our feelings right now described as “languishing” and I think that’s accurate. All our preparations and good intentions are out the window, and honestly we have no idea if this whole mess is going to turn out OK or not, and we are exhausted by the wondering. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The good news is that to be a follower of Jesus, we don’t have to have it “all together.” We don’t have to wait until our lives look like the perfect dorm room in that slick and new IKEA catalog.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But… the flip side is that following Jesus is not a path OUT of the awkward middle part of the story, either, as Peter thought. Peter saw Jesus as a ticket right INTO power and prestige, to rival the Roman Caesars in authority and might. But that’s not what Jesus is about. Jesus calls us to a path that he himself followed: living his whole life for the sake of others, even to the detriment of himself. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This very weekend – known in the ELCA as “God’s Work, Our Hands Day,” but also as the 20th anniversary of 9/11, is kind of an accurate mish mash that is perfect for the middle of our story. So many of you came out this weekend, sporting your Emmanuel shirts, ready to give some time to care for our little corner of the planet here in Vienna. And today, also acknowledge how worn out and in need of healing we and the community are... plus we recognize the world-shaking, life altering tragedy that occurred not all that far from here twenty years ago yesterday. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We remember all the people who lost their lives that day, and also admire the special type of courage and sacrifice it takes for so many people to put the lives of so many others ahead of their own. For some, it meant the end of their lives, like for those on Flight 93 and many first responders in New York. For some, it meant opening up hearts and homes to seven thousand stranded strangers from all over the world, as it did for the people of the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Serving, healing, remembering - this is the work that God is up to, and the work that God is calling us to do in this still very awkward middle time. Who would have thought that we would be entering a third program year of navigating hybrid and online learning as our youth get sent off into something we haven’t gotten a handle on yet? Who would have thought, 20 years after 9/11, we rightly wonder how the last 20 years could have gone differently. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I saw an unattributed quote floating around Facebook - “Grief is a journey with three stages - the beginning, the middle, and the rest of your life.” Our world has shifted around us so often in our lifetimes, and there is no roadmap for what we have yet to face. We’re going to make mistakes, prioritize the wrong things, and fall flat on our faces, epically and often, not unlike Peter. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jesus did not reject Peter. When Jesus says, “Get behind me, Satan,” he’s telling Peter to get behind him IN ORDER TO BETTER FOLLOW HIM. Like, stay in your lane, Peter, and let me lead. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Letting Jesus lead will feel awkward sometimes, and some of the things we hold dear might end up looking a little different… or have died away only to be resurrected into something new. If we’re ready to do this, we better buckle up because the way is going to be anything but boring. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You may lose the sure ground under you, but you will gain your life. You may win a cross, but death will lose its sting. You may lose your life as you know it, but Jesus has won the victory over the grave. Because it is our hands and our lives, but it is God’s work to do. Thanks be to God, amen. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRjBgBtY1PWe9ruOj_HQB1s5u8jU0_opMxqAPOQ_fElRSdDWPTX-TvFjN4MQa7efJgw7PuELpNnwhdG7OeC46MSD3ywxSGNEsKYU6fIKS_kvxdVgsFh_yEPGY9B7sLKOzu3ECKghqzis/s960/purple+shirt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlRjBgBtY1PWe9ruOj_HQB1s5u8jU0_opMxqAPOQ_fElRSdDWPTX-TvFjN4MQa7efJgw7PuELpNnwhdG7OeC46MSD3ywxSGNEsKYU6fIKS_kvxdVgsFh_yEPGY9B7sLKOzu3ECKghqzis/s320/purple+shirt.jpg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-87277654936611890332021-09-09T11:49:00.003-07:002021-09-09T11:49:37.962-07:00Hand Washing, Schmigadoon, and the 8th Commandment <p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace to you and peace from God our Creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-45caff4e-7fff-c674-6d6b-f5c81dd18d63"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bye-bye, Summer of Bread! It’s time to get back to Mark. And what a doozie it is to get back to - on the surface it may seem like the Pharisees have a legitimate complaint to bring against Jesus and his followers – it IS kind of gross not to wash your hands before you eat. Especially now, after 18 months of a pandemic where, at least at the beginning, we obsessed about disinfecting EVERYTHING - hands, packages and mail, food from the store, hymnals, library books…. maybe we all went overboard, but at least it’s better safe than sorry, and in the end, no real harm done, really. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But… Palestine 2000 years ago had never heard of germ theory, disinfectant, or vaccines. What, then, is it about this behavior that has gotten the Pharisees bent out of shape? At the risk of oversimplifying, they took issue, not with the lack of cleanliness, but the disregard of long-respected traditions. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In a world full of trauma, violence, and regular upheaval, at their core Pharisees are a group within Judaism making sense of their Jewish identity in a situation that is hostile to them. They are rightly concerned with questions of identity, and they choose to live out their faith through a clear - though very lengthy - list of purity codes. And really, we can’t fault them for this. Who wouldn’t want specific answers to the question - how in the world do I live out my faith in this “bananas” world?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One way to do this IS to follow a specific code of morality. This reminds me of the ridiculous but awesome miniseries/musical that just came out called Shmigadoon on Apple TV. If you are a fan of big bombastic mid century musicals, this is right up your alley. Schmigadoon is a magical small town that regularly bursts into song, and is pretty much run by the pastor’s wife, played by none other than Kristin Chenoweth. Two newcomers from the outside world cause delightfully predictable chaos, and the pastor’s wife is not happy. In a big epic musical number, she calls out all the bad things that would happen with the coming changes brought by the new people. By the end of the song, she is running for mayor, to set things right again - back to the way they were. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">To the Pharisees, this newcomer Jesus person might be trying to break down a social order that SEEMED to work well enough. Jesus was causing change, upsetting the delicate balance they had worked so hard to establish, which really was a matter of life or death. They are extremely concerned at the breaking down of the identity they had worked hard to maintain as a people, and rightly so. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But Jesus is concerned too - concerned that rules for rules sake - even good rules, might do more harm than good. What was once meant to help now harms. What was once meant to include has been used to exclude, that means missing the point of what it means to be God’s people. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Rules are good… until they are not. Rules are helpful, until they harm. This most recent Afghan refugee crisis is a very relevant example. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A few years ago, I read a book from Spark house called <a href="https://www.wearesparkhouse.org/store/category/286972/Dialogues-On-The-Refugee-Crisis">“Dialogues on the Refugee Crisis,”</a> and learned a thing or two about the many RULES that exist for refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates it takes 2 years from initial screening to resettlement – 3 years or more to unite families. All refugees here are expected to repay the resettlement cost within 4 years, and the first bill comes six months after their arrival. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Recently in a webinar from <a href="https://www.lirs.org/">Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services,</a> I learned that now, the refugees who land here from Afghanistan are on “Humanitarian Parole,” and will not have access to normal safety nets that are available to others in the pre-citizen ship process. They get 90 days of help from the government… then that’s it. That’s three months…. three months to learn to navigate a language and culture, three months to get a job, three months to get through a horrendous, life changing trauma, and figure out how to achieve what we claim as the American Dream.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On the flip side, one one of the many non-profit organizations that are helping resettle Afghan refugees are reporting that over forty thousand people have signed up to help. Churches are filling up with donations before they even advertise. I heard on NPR an Afghan restaurant in DC has already filled up its basement with donations. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We also have to remember that we’ve been here before. Where I grew up and around other parts of the Midwest is the home of <a href="https://publichistoryproject.wisc.edu/hmong-american-alumni/">a large Hmong population</a>, brought to the United States for their help in the Vietnam War. Before they settled here, they were landless people who didn’t have any physical acreage to call home. Unfortunately, unless you’re an Olympian like <a href="https://www.today.com/news/suni-lee-reunites-her-family-1st-time-after-olympics-t227428">Suni Lee</a>, the Hmong people are still treated with suspicion and distrust, rather than gratitude for how they helped our country, their new home. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our own lives, we are guided by that something you may have heard of - the Ten Commandments? Believe it or not, they were not given to us to make us into super holy people. Instead, they are to strengthen relationships and community. God gave us the Ten Commandments in order to minimize the damage we could do against our neighbors. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Some of the Ten Commandments appear pretty “easy” to follow - killing, stealing… but others are sneaky. Like the 8th commandment, the one I argue might actually be the hardest. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Seems simple enough on the surface, right? Until we read Luther’s explanation, which goes: “We do not tell lies … or slander our neighbor…. Instead, we are to come to their defense… and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My thoughts, words, and actions don't always reflect this, especially based around behaviors that</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> deem to be impolite, unhealthy, or peculiar. Perhaps the Pharisees, like us, were not interpreting the actions of Jesus’ disciples in the best possible light, and THAT is what was upsetting to Jesus. They focused on the rule not being followed as the most important thing. Jesus focused on feeding hungry people as the most important thing. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Pastor’s wife in the magical singing town of Schmigadoon condemned the newcomers in her town with damnation, but these newcomers ended up giving her a chance at salvation. When she was overcome with the changes happening around her, they didn’t drive her out with a closed first, but instead extended an opened hand. And she and all the Schmidadoonians join in <a href="https://publichistoryproject.wisc.edu/hmong-american-alumni/">singing the final number,</a> saying: “This is how we change, reimagine, rearrange. See ourselves through others eyes… This is how we grow.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is how we grow - with Jesus. We reimagine what a new future might hold, even though that thought might be frightening. We may not feel prepared at the rearranging and reordering of our priorities, but we follow in the footsteps of Jesus, to keep pushing the boundaries of compassion, especially for those who have been pushed to the outside. Jesus shows us the way of compassion with constant self examination and reassessment - seeing ourselves through others eyes, and seeing others stories through our own eyes. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our journey with Jesus does not end when the final note of the closing number fades and the curtain falls. But we can take the advice of the fictitious singing nondescript midwest town, as the last line in their musical - “What the future holds, we just don’t know, but there’s hope for all, and we call it, Schmigadoon!”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">What the future holds, we just don’t know, but there’s hope for all…. and we call it…. YOU, body of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 15pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-31447930014135258782021-07-13T16:01:00.001-07:002021-07-13T16:01:31.661-07:00Power, Herod, and Shark Week<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;">7-11-21</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our
Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">I knew the shark song BEFORE it was cool. I don’t get to
say that often! I learned it as a counselor working at that Lutheran Bible camp
in Wisconsin, only the tune was slightly different. Same words though – Baby
shark dododododododo…. Did you know there are OTHER verses, that there is
actually a narrative? Baby shark, momma shark, daddy shark, grandma and grandpa
shark, then it’s “going for a swim, saw a fin…shark attack, lost a leg, lost an
arm… going to heaven. Now when I teach that song, I tend to skip the ending and
stop with the nice happy shark family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Today begins Shark Week on the Discovery Channel - entire
week dedicated to the beauty, power, terror, and general awesomeness of sharks,
not just the famous great whites. There are mini sharks, super-fast sharks,
deep sea sharks, sharks with whip tails, even sharks that glow in the
dark. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Shark Week convinced me that Sharks <b>are</b> <b>awesome</b>.
But they are a particular kind of awesome <b>that I for one</b> would never
EVER need to see up close. God created these awesome creatures with strength
and speed and power and big teeth. We are in <b>awe</b> of them, and rightly
so, because they possess a power that we can’t tame or control. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">During a Shark Week of years passed, I learned that
sharks have not changed all that much over the last few million years. But from
<b>this text</b>, THIS week, we learn that <b>people</b> have also not changed…
pretty much ever!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Sharks don’t eat when they’re not hungry. They don’t
throw big parties and make grand showy promises in order to impress. They don’t
commit murder to save face in front of the people they need to sway to stay in
power.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It makes me wonder what sharks think of our world, if
they knew. If the sharks new that just this past week alone Haiti was plunged
into confusion over the assassination of their president, the death toll in the
tragic condo collapse in Florida is rising, the Delta variant is threatening
our return back to some sort of “normal,” and the Olympics Committee is still
holding fast to <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-57748135">transphobic</a> and <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/olympics-ban-on-swim-caps-for-natural-black-hair-is-causing-barriers-ontario-business-owner-says-1.5505126">racist </a>practices. Out there
in the world, power is used and abused, power hurts and manipulates. <b>We</b>
perhaps could learn a thing or two from SHARKS about being more HUMANE. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Last week, in the adventures of Jesus according to the
Gospel of Mark, Jesus went to his hometown. Jesus gave power to his <b>disciples</b>,
and sent <b>them</b> out two by two, healing the sick and proclaimed the gospel
of repentance in Jesus’ name, doing deeds of power, and they are getting
RESULTS!! But these results make the people <b>in authority</b> very, very
nervous. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">John the Baptist, if you remember, is Jesus’ forerunner.
At the very beginning of Mark, the words of Isaiah announces his arrival….
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.”. And
he was a <b>big</b> <b>hit with the people</b>, baptizing left and right,
making the powers-that-be very, very nervous. Especially with John’s tagline – <i>The
one who is coming after me is more powerful than I am.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">And sure enough, after John, <b>Jesus arrived</b>,
healing, casting out demons, calming storms and eating everyone. It was all
coming true, just as John had predicted. And that make King Herod very
nervous, indeed. Herod was already hanging onto his power by a thread. Herod
thought he had already taken care of his awkward little problem. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This traumatic little story is actually a flashback. John
the Baptist has already been arrested and killed by Herod by the time Jesus had
sent out his disciples last week. But John’s execution must have haunted Herod,
which must be why Herod believed in the most absurd thing – that John whom he
had killed must be alive again. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Because John was SUPPOSED to be an example. When you
speak truth to power, you will not get a trophy or metal or pat on the back. <b><u>THIS</u></b>
<i>(head chopping motion)</i> is what happens to prophets and prophetic voices
- when you <b>call out</b> the leaders, behaviors, and cherished institutions
in this world, you get into big trouble <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">You might not lose your head, like John. But you might
lose friends, lose face, be labeled as “easily offended” by your friends or
family, or otherwise thrown under the metaphorical bus. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But our power…. And the power of the disciples does not
come from this world, from King Herods or Romans or Caesars. OUR power comes
from CHRIST - the one who also spoke truth to power, and showed the world <b>power</b>
through God’s <b>truth</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">As it turns out, Herod <u>was wrong</u> about Jesus. John
<b>had</b> <b>not</b> come back from the dead, as some thought. But at the same
time, Herod was <b>right</b> about Jesus… just a little too soon. John <b>would
not</b> rise again after his death. But Jesus did. That, I think, is the good
news to be found in terrible story – even though John died… even though We will
die… But Jesus died AND was <b>raised</b> from the dead. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">That’s real power, and it makes the powers of the world
shake in their boots.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus showed once and for all the power of God is not the
same as the power of human beings. That <b>God’s kingdom</b> is not the same as
human kingdoms. That <b>God’s rules</b> are not the same as human rules.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus showed the world a power that it had never seen up
close before - a power that did not come from brute force, or intimidation, or
violence, or injustice, or discrimination, or bullying, or
manipulation. The power of <b>this world</b> is built on fear and but
is as slippery as we imagine sharks to be – always in danger of slipping away
and gone in the blink of an eye. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">God’s power is built on love, and will last forever, and
never runs out. Its for you and for you and for you and for me, all members of
God’s eternal family. Even more unchanging than a million-year-old shark. Now,
and forever, you will always be a …” Child of God, dodododododo, Child of God,
dodododododo….” Thanks be to God, Amen. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-79499997363612866602021-06-21T09:58:00.001-07:002021-06-21T09:58:10.738-07:00Outstretched Arms in the Storm<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; white-space: pre-wrap;">6-20-21</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-32312eda-7fff-9e19-f82b-dd0160bc29d9"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grace and peace to you from God creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the holy spirit. Amen.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I don’t normally do this, but I want you to take out your smart phone, right now… I want you to google “Jesus Calms the Storm painting, Daniel Bonnell.” <i>(I would have purchased the digigal download of his work, but it was the only one that cost $200!)</i> If you don’t have a smart phone at the ready, I’ll describe the painting and you can look it up later. In Bonnell’s stunning paining depicting today’s reading from Mark, the moon is shining, but it looks like it’s pulsating in an ominous red sky. The water is sweeping and black and churning and takes up about the entire the painting. It feels as though you’re looking UP at the moon from the bottom of a whirlpool or from across ridiculously high waves. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you do get a chance to look at this picture… try to find the boat. It’s surprisingly hard to find - it’s super tiny, in one corner of the picture, on the top of one of the steep waves, with Jesus and his out-stretched arms a challenge to make out against the red sky. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I’ve never been on a boat during a storm, but this painting does remind me of how I felt as a kid sitting in the basement during tornado warnings, or when I lived in NJ on the eve of hurricane Irene and or Superstorm Sandy.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Storms in our lives take on endless forms – some physical like nor’easters and hurricanes. Other storms are invisible but deadly, like the pandemic. Some are societal or systemic, like poverty, or racism or sexism or queerphobia. Some are internal and individual. But in one aspect they are all alike: in our every storm, that little figure of Jesus in the boat does not seem to be doing us much good.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In fact, when the storm starts for the poor disciples in the boat trying to cross the lake, Jesus is curled up, snoring away! It seems understandable that the disciples are upset at Jesus. After all, it was all Jesus’ idea in the first place to take this trip across the lake, in the dark, after a LONG day, to a place THEY didn’t want to go - the OTHER side of the lake.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The other side of the lake is where THOSE people live - who look, cook, eat, act and dress differently. Why in the world would Jesus want to go over there? And why do WE have to go with him?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">After all, we certainly have a hard enough time worrying about those in our lives we love and care about, and things happening in our immediate vicinity. Why should we concern ourselves with what’s happening on the other side of the lake, other side of the country, other side of the world, anyway?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In that storm painting I talked about earlier, you can’t see the other side of the lake. You can’t see these poor, frightened disciples. In fact, you can barely see the boat. But what you </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">can</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> see, starkly against the freaky-red sky, are the tiny, but firmly outstretched arms of Jesus. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus has one job to do: to usher in the Kingdom of God. Only that kingdom is not going to look like we expect. It will involve Jesus bringing together different kinds of people– People from both sides of the lake. People related, not by blood, but instead by doing God’s will. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God’s kingdom just might have something to do with Jesus endlessly reaching out to people, to stretch his arms out to encompass and heal and teach and welcome any who come to him – even stretching so far and wide as the beams of a cross, stretching so wide as to even reach beyond death and the grave. All so that you, me, and the people across the lake… across the country… across the world, are all gathered into this beloved family.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">And that makes the powers in this world that defy God shake in anger ...and terror. These powers, forces, institutional structures, and ways of sin that pull us away from God will do everything they can to throw obstacles in our way: send others to discourage us. They will make it easier to choose not to see to institutional racism and white privilege. They will paint certain people with broad strokes. Pummeling us with wind and rain and voices and waves to fight against. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The closer we get to Jesus and the more we try to live as part of God’s Kingdom come near, the </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">worse</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> this storm may actually get. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The winds and waves and rain and darkness seem stronger. The winds of injustice and violence … the waves of fear and hate….. the stinging, cold rain of apathy… All threatening to capsize us. Like in this painting, it seems like a distinct possibility that the storm just might win. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The 6</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="vertical-align: super;">th</span></span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> anniversary and commemoration of the Emmanuel 9 was this past Thursday. June 17th 2015 in Charleston, South Carolina, Nine African American church members, including the pastor, were killed by a white gunman during a Bible study. That gunman grew up in an ELCA church. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We as a denomination have begun the work of grappling with our history. We’re nowhere near done yet, but there are signs of hope. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Juneteenth was on this past Saturday, where all of Vienna gathered as a community to begin the Liberty Amendments Celebration month. Community non-profits, organizations, schools, faith communities - including us at Emmanuel - remembered that formerly enslaved people in Texas were FINALLY given the news of their freedom… two and a half years after it had been put into effect by the Emancipation proclamation. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">One of the amendments we commemorate during the Liberty Amendments month is the 13th Amendment - the formal end chattel slavery… though the legacy of slavery are still felt even now, and informal slavery still exists in the form of systemic racism and mass incarceration. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We have a long way to go for real freedom. And we still have a lot of storms to navigate before then. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">But we’re not out there in the storm by ourselves. Jesus is </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">in</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the boat </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">with us</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the one calling us out into the lake, steering us in the right direction. Jesus is the one who has command over the wind and the waves. </span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus</span><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is navigating us, not us, making sure that we will get where we’re supposed to go. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">God is steering us toward a future of love and freedom and peace, where are of God’s beloved children are loved, where SOMEDAY we don’t have to remind ourselves that “black lives matter,” because we will treat ALL lives as if they mattered. We will no longer need a “Liberty Amendments Month,” because someday we will actually live out “liberty and justice for ALL.”</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.295; margin-bottom: 8pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We’re not in this storm by ourselves, because there are other boats with us. We’re part of Jesus’ armada of peace, crossing the lake to the people on the other side, with wide open arms, just like Jesus. Thanks be to God. Amen. </span></p><div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; font-size: 16pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-27315125999196086502021-06-15T21:00:00.000-07:002021-06-16T16:21:07.766-07:00Wednesday - "Pride and Jubilee All Year Long"<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Reading: Luke 4: 14-21</span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">14</span></sup><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Then Jesus, filled with the
power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through
all the surrounding country. <sup>15</sup>He began to teach in their
synagogues and was praised by everyone.<br />
<sup>16</sup>When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to
the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, <sup>17</sup>and
the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and
found the place where it was written:<br />
<sup>18</sup>"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,<br />
because he has anointed me<br />
to bring good news to the poor.<br />
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives<br />
and recovery of sight to the blind,<br />
to let the oppressed go free,<br />
<sup>19</sup>to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."<br />
<sup>20</sup>And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and
sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. <sup>21</sup>Then
he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your
hearing."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Wed. 6-16-21<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our
hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This is the very start of Jesus’s ministry. He has just
returned from being baptized by his cousin, John the Baptist, and from 40 days
of being tempted in the wilderness. Full of the Holy Spirit, he returns to his
hometown. He has only been doing a bit of preaching and teaching, no healing
yet, or casting out any demons, or distributing any loaves and fishes. In his
home town especially, he was still “just Mary’s kid,” born amid town gossip –
even back then, people knew when the math between the wedding and the birth
didn’t “add up.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">He was “that kid” who got “lost” in Jerusalem one year
when he was twelve. And as an adult, he was turning out a bit off-beat – perhaps
“goody-two-shoes,” a John the Baptist groupie, and unmarried adult man … which was
unusual that culture. But he was still a very active synagogue attender, and
that week when he was handed the scroll to read, he preached his first sermon
and maybe even the best one ever. It certainly was one of the shortest – “today
the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Boom. Mic Drop. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The passage that Jesus read was from the prophet Isaiah
and refers to the “Jubilee year” or the “Year of the Lord’s Favor.” We learned
a lot about the mentions of the Jubilee year in other parts of the Old
Testament, as we learned during synod assembly from Dr. Ryan Bonfiglio, Assistant
Professor in the Practice of Old Testament, Chandler School of Theology at
Emory. According to Dr. Bonfiglio - <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just
as after 6 days we are to take a day of rest, after 6 years the land and fields
get a year of rest, depts are forgiven, and slaves were freed – THAT is the
jubilee year. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus came to stand in solidarity to the poor and
disenfranchised. Jesus came to release those who are in bondage of any kind.
Jesus came to heal and reveal. Jesus came to bring freedom to the exploited and
demoralized. Jesus came to make a Jubilee Year forever. All are freed, all are
loved, and all are welcomed into the kingdom of God that Jesus is ushering in. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We as a congregation and we as the broader church like to
say that “all are welcome here.” But when we say this, do we truly mean it? Do
we truly extend the welcome that we ourselves have received from Jesus? Or do
we – consciously but usually unconsciously – put caveats on our welcome?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We <b>say</b>, “all are welcome,” but we MIGHT <b>mean</b>
– you <b>can</b> come to worship here, but we may not talk to you at coffee hour
(in the before times). You <b>can</b> come and sit in our pews (in the before
times) but only if you aren’t sitting in MY pew. You CAN come, but you might
not find an easy way into our building, or you might not find a bathroom you
feel comfortable using, or you might not hear God in a way that feels
accessible to your experiences or language. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But when we are REALLY welcoming to people, we are doing
it in the name of Jesus, in our language, symbols, and actions. Stating our
preferred pronouns. Advertising our “Reconciling in Christ” designation. Emmanuel
should be proud that we chose to do the work, and it tells the whole world that
WE MEAN IT when we say ALL are welcome… but it does <b>not</b> mean that our
work is <b>done</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">A few of us on staff are reviewing the new book “Made
Known Loved,” about creating an LGBTQIA inclusive youth ministry. The author
reminds us that Jesus knows what it’s like to <b>not</b> be welcomed, even in
the hometown of his youth. Jesus was born from a woman who was not yet married
when he was conceived. Jesus grew up with two fathers. As far as what the
Gospels tell us, Jesus was not married, but instead surrounded himself with a
“chosen” family, as we heard a few weeks ago, when Jesus referred to his
followers as his mothers, sisters, and brothers. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Right after Jesus preaches this sermon today in that
synagogue, some people are amazed, but some wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff.
This turned out to be the pattern for Jesus’s ministry – Jesus going viral, but
also making some people very angry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">If Jesus’ message of freedom and love makes you feel glad
when you used to feel sad – blessed are you! The kingdom of God is yours. If
Jesus’s message makes you feel uncomfortable – great! That means you’re
growing! Let’s keep exploring together. If Jesus’ message makes you feel angry
– don’t leave. Jesus preached freedom to those who are in bondage, and he cast
out all kinds of forces that draw us from God, and Jesus is still doing this
even now to you and to me. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This is how Jesus chose to embody God in the world – announcing
release, recovery, freedom, good news. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
Jesus embodied it, putting his body, his life on the line. As his followers, we
welcome and invite in Jesus name, because all parts of us are welcome in Jesus
name. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We join our bodies with that of Jesus, pray the Spirit of
God rests upon us and live compassionately and justly. We don’t “just” love and
honor our welcome our LGBTQIA siblings just during pride month. Like sabbath
isn’t just one day, we should not just love and show solidarity with our
LGBTQIA siblings for one month out of the year. Share your pronouns all year
long. Wear your rainbows all year long. Proclaim the Lord’s favor to everyone,
all year long. Because you are freed,
all year long. Jesus said it, so we believe it. Thanks be to God. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-75773619881913412252021-06-06T07:42:00.001-07:002021-06-14T07:44:07.772-07:00New Family in Jesus <p> 6-6-21</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our
Lord and savior Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It’s sort of comforting to know that in Jesus’s own
family, Jesus was the “black sheep” … that even in Jesus’ family, things
are complicated. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We are back in the Gospel of Mark after a really long
time in John. Remember, this is THE year of Mark’s Gospel, the snappy, fast
moving gospel with a sometimes grumpy Jesus.. .and today he definitely seems
grumpy with his family.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It’s early in his ministry, and Jesus has gone viral.
Jesus was already preaching, teaching, healing, and gathering the 12 disciples,
wandering here there and everywhere followed by huge crowds. His family must
have though they lost control, and were after him to reign it in. Presumably
with Joseph absent, Jesus would be the male head of the household, expected to
behave in a certain way in the highly patriarchal hierarchy of the ancient roman
world. But, here, as Jesus proves again and again, Jesus is very bad at upholding
the patriarchy. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Actually, Jesus is pretty bad at maintaining societal
rules at all. In fact, in exasperation of his less-than-supportive family, he
declares all the women and men present in the crowd to <b>be his family</b>,
based on their commitment to God, <b>rather than</b> affinity by a
heteronormative family unit, as was normal both back then and now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It’s Pride Month, and from what I have heard over and
over again from my gay, lesbian, trans, and queer friends is this familiar
familial story. Rejection, lack of support, or grudging acknowledgement from
family, is all too common. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, some
gather around them a “found” family. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This is what Jesus is modeling for us here – a new type
of family system, where our siblings do not necessarily share our <b>genes</b>,
but instead share our <b>passion</b> for the gospel. A new family where
our siblings might not be related by <b>blood</b>, but instead united through
the blood of <b>Jesus</b>. A new family brought together not by the waters of a
mother’s womb, but by the waters of our baptism and the promise of an empty
tomb. A new family that is not bound up by strict gender roles or hierarchy
norms that claim to be Christian that actual does harm.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This kind of family Jesus is forming is not bound up in
the patriarchal interpretations of the Bible, including Genesis. Genesis 1 and
2 tells not just one story but TWO stories of creation, culminating in God
creating Adam and Even to partner in their care of the earth. Later, In Genesis
3, the snake convinces Eve to try the fruit from the forbidden tree. Eve eats,
then Adam eats. Their eyes were opened, and they knew they were in big trouble.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Throughout history, Eve usually gets the whole blame for
The Fall, which became the justification for sexism in Christianity – in one
book I read during my “Reading Week” last week, said “They take Eve being
deceived by the serpent and claim that if the man had been the ‘head’ of his
wife… or had lead his household… the fall would not have happened” (p. 22,
Dialogues on Sexuality). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">BUT, If you recall, Adam was RIGHT THERE, and, when God
questions Adam about what happened, <b>he</b> passes the blame onto Eve AND
God, then says, “The woman WHOM YOU GAVE ME, SHE gave me the fruit.” Not like a
“head of household” at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Eve is not perfect, she but doesn’t deserve all the
blame. Genesis does NOT state that Eve was a seductive temptress and therefore
all women are inherently more sinful than men. This story has been used and
abused as a reason to mistreat women. Similarly, Genesis is also not a science
textbook. AND Genesis is NOT a primer on WHO IS ALLOWED to get married – there
is no mention of vows, a white dress, cake, or the chicken dance is
mentioned. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Instead, Genesis tells us that love, and relationships
are messy and problematic and broken and full of mistakes and blame. Sometimes
we are passive like Adam, to stand by and watch while objectionable things
happen and make no attempt to stop them. Sometimes we are Eve - curious,
testers of limitations and seekers of knowledge and risk takers, who sometimes
goof up big time. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The Adam and Eve in all of us all too often trust the
words of the crafty serpents around us, rather than the incredible promise that
we are loved and claimed as God’s children in God’s family. When our own
families reject or question us, when the rest of the world tells us the
opposite, <b>God</b> tells us that <b>we</b> are <b>worthy</b>, <b>we</b> are <b>loved</b>,
and <b>we</b> are <b>enough</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We belong to this new family because of Jesus. The family
that Jesus creates is not created around a husband and a wife. It’s created around
mentors and nurturers like parents, <b>and</b> equal relationships between
siblings, caring for one another… a family that is beyond blood ties and clan
affiliations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jesus calls this new
family – still full of imperfections –to be a new kind of kingdom, a kingdom
where everyone is treated with fairness and respect, where all feel safe,
welcome, and valued, both within our buildings and out in the world. Every
Sunday, every day, every moment, is a “family reunion,” minus the potato salad.
It’s a RE-UNION as “members of the Body of Christ.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus breaks this boundaries and constructs because
hierarchies harm the people <b>with</b> privilege as well as those <b>without</b>.
Then, when he breaks down these building blocks of society, some people felt
threatened at their loss of power, and accused Jesus of being possessed by
demonic, evil powers. Here, Jesus shows us that in following the vision that
God has for the human family will cause some <b>loss</b> – loss of respectability,
loss of relationships, loss of influence, loss of stability. But to ignore or
compromise on Jesus’s message of radical inclusive love means turning our backs
on who we belong to and who we are called to be. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus embodied his message until the very last – even
giving up his life on a cross in order to create this family. Yes, Jesus own
mother Mary was there. But Jesus was also surrounded by his by his new family –
faithful women surrounded Jesus to bear witness, to stand by him. And in
standing by him, they saw for themselves that death, rejection, and sin does
not have the last word. And they shared this with the rest of God’s family. So
that NO ONE is EVER left out again. Thanks be to God. Amen.<span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-84079247009859581282021-06-02T16:55:00.000-07:002021-06-02T16:55:00.211-07:00Wednesday - "The Faithful Work of Smashing the Patriarchy" <p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; text-align: center;">6-2-21</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of our
hearts be acceptable in your sight oh Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">At the seminary I attended in Minneapolis, at the end of
every semester was something called “Reading Week.” While it <b>was</b> a week
of <b>no</b> <b>classes</b>… it <b>was</b> <b>right</b> before all of our final
papers were due – a time to catch up on all our reading and writing. Ever since
then, every so often I take a “Reading Week” for continuing education, to catch
up on some of the books that I have become quite a tall stack. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This is one of the books I recently picked up after hearing
about it on NPR – “The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of
Women Became Gospel Truth.” Now, granted, may seem like an unnecessary book to read
for an ELCA pastor… after all, the ELCA and her predecessor bodies have been ordaining
women for more than 50 years! Emmanuel has a few women pastors, and we even
have a woman bishop – Bishop Leila Ortiz! AND we have a woman Presiding Bishop –
Elizabeth Eaton! We are SOOOO Enlightened!! <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Perhaps… but we are also swimming in a sea of other Christians
who perhaps aren’t so…. “enlightened” let us say. There are plenty of LUTHERAN
denomination that do not ordain women. 18% of the Lutheran denominations that
make up the Lutheran World Federation DO NOT ordain women. Additionally, many
women pastors IN the ELCA even now find themselves the first woman pastor ever called
to the church they serve and face less respect and are paid less than their male
counterparts would be. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It also happens that some of the loudest Christian voices
out there tend to subscribe to a very narrow view of women’s roles in and
outside of the church and baptize these ideas in the name of Christ. Using the
Bible, and more specifically the writings of Paul, certain branches of
Christianity don’t allow women to: preach, teach mixed gender Sunday school
classes, and live fully into their identities as beloved children of God. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Dr. Beth Allison Barr, the author of the book, The Making
of Biblical Womanhood, knows this all too well, and tells her stories of being
a Ph.D. in Medieval Christian history, and yet, needing special dispensation
from her pastor to teach Sundays school when no men where available. Her book
reminds us that the patriarchy existed well BEFORE Christianity… she writes: “Patriarchy
may be part of Christian history, but that doesn’t make it Christian.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Lots of the letters of Paul ARE used to make the Christian
Patriarch into some kind of Gospel – <b>that</b> part I was well aware of. But
in reading Dr. Barr’s book last week, I was also astonished that Paul didn’t always
mean what we <b>think</b> he meant. All those “wives should submit to their husbands”
clobber passages might actually be <b>counter cultural</b>. It turns out, ancient
pre-Christian Roman society was SUPER patriarchal – no huge surprise there –
but early Christianity was seriously shaking things up. For Paul to directly
address wives at all in these “household rules” as he did was <b>radical</b>
and <b>unheard</b> <b>of</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Paul also wrote for Christians to not be conformed to the
world. Do Christians really want to look MORE like the world, meaning MORE like
patriarchy? It’s just as rough out there in the “secular world” for women as it
is inside Christianity, between sexual harassment, the pay gap, lack of affordable
childcare, and lots of old men in the government telling women what to do with their
reproductive systems. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It was not PAUL</span></u><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"> who
told my mortgage lender to send mail to our house in MY HUSBAND’S NAME, rather
than mine, even though I was the primary point of contact through the whole
process. <u>Paul did not stipulate</u> that upon marriage my name MUST BECOME “Mrs.
Husband’s First and Last Name.” It confuses Christians AND non-Christians alike
that I still go by my last name of origin. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">You see, the same man who wrote “wives submit to your
husbands” also wrote the passage from Galatians 3… words that I image would
also be just as likely to come from the lips of Jesus. After, all it was not
Paul who died and was raised for us, it was Jesus. And Jesus talked to women,
healed women, were sponsored and supported by women, were friends with women,
and called women to share the good news of his resurrection with all. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In the era that Dr. Barr knows best- the medieval period
in Europe, plenty of women preached and taught. Instead of moving forward,
Christianity as a whole has gone backward. And when one of us is not free, none
of use are free. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">A long time ago, Jesus set women free… why has it taken
us so long to do the same? In baptism we have been set us free… why are we
holding hostage the potential of any who has been called to do the work of God’s
kingdom?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Dr. Barr ends her book as she ends each of her classes in
Medieval History – Go, be free! She writes: “Once again, I propose that we stop
making Christianity look like the world around us, and starting fighting to
make it looked like the world God inspired Paul to show us was possible” – I would
add, a world where there IS no longer Jew, Greek….slave, free… male, female… rich,
poor… citizen, immigrant…. Housed, homeless… outsider, insider… for all of us
are one in Christ Jesus. One, Free, Empowered, and beloved. So, go, be free!
Thanks be to God. Amen. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-69786383123797095182021-05-24T14:57:00.001-07:002021-06-02T14:59:08.855-07:00"Jesus Doesn't Play Favorites"<p> <b style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">5-23-21</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our
risen Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy spirit,
amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">You may have noticed that time <b>within</b> the church is
a bit wonky. <b>For example, </b>Easter is not just a <b>day</b>, but it is a seven-week
<b>season</b>. We can skip <b>years</b> of Jesus’ life between Sundays, and we
can spend <b>weeks</b> talking about what happened on <b>one</b> <b>single</b> <b>night</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Just today even, we heard FIRST about the actual arrival
of the Holy Spirit, with the wind and the flames and the languages and the
confusion. Then, our Gospel reading takes us all the way BACK to Maundy
Thursday, the night Jesus was betrayed… to hear how Jesus gives his disciples
the <b>first</b> announcement of the Holy Spirit’s arrival.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus was leaving…Jesus would die, rise, and then
ascended into heaven… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>but <b>Someone was
coming</b> to be at their side when life gets scary and unfamiliar until Jesus
returns again. Jesus was leaving…. But <b>Someone was coming</b> would lead the
way into the abundant life and exciting future that God was calling them
to. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">We have the Holy Spirit to be present with us when Jesus
is not. We are not alone, because we can’t walk this path on our own. The
disciples shut themselves up in a room until the outpouring of the Spirit
happened on Pentecost. Martin Luther explains it in this way: “I believe that <b>by
my own</b> understanding or strength <b>I cannot believe</b> in Jesus Christ my
Lord or come to him, but instead the <b>Holy Spirit</b> has called me through
the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy, and kept me in the
true faith.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Luther here means that when we rely on our own smarts and
strengths, we often miss the boat on following the way of Jesus. It is the Holy
Spirit who gives us the tools we need, pushes us out the door, and of course
reminds us that we are loved. And so, we are empowered to love others, as Jesus
has done… as agents of the Holy Spirit, to <b>remind</b> OTHERS that they are
loved by God, and to treat them accordingly. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">There are so many voices out there trying to drown out
the Holy Spirit, by telling people that they are not loved, they are not
worthy, they are not valued for whatever reason. Sometimes these voices are
loud, scary, and occasionally in one’s own backyard (and I’m not talking about
cicadas here!) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">I attend an online weekly text study with many Lutheran
pastors across the country, including one Episcopalian priest. This priest also
happens to be one-half of the famous Christian music duo called “Lost and
Found” – You may have heard of them! Last week he informed us that he would be
reading a 90-year-old sermon on Pentecost, and when we all expressed our
surprise and confusion, he told us the incredible story behind it. I think you’ll
see why he’s preaching this particular sermon at his church, St. Timothy’s, 90
years later. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In May 1931, in his town of Massillon, a Greek gangster
was killed by another gang. Because there were no Greek Orthodox churches in
that town, the priest of St. Timothy’s at the time let other priests from that
tradition use St. Timothy’s for the funeral…. and it was HUGE funeral. By all
accounts, the locals were OUTRAGED and felt their church had been “desecrated.”
The following Sunday was Pentecost, and apparently, this priest <u>let them
have it.</u> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">My friend was kind enough to send our group a copy of
this sermon, and I was flabbergasted at how it much power these words still held.
In the famous sermon, the priest never mentioned the event by name, but
instead, lays into his parishioners by saying, “I find that as I talk with
people today, they do not at all understand what the Church is and what Christ
intended it to be.” Now, this next sentence of the sermon is written in all
caps, in the original: “IT IS NOT THE CLUB OF THOSE WHO HAVE ATTAINED TO
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SAINTLINESS!” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But oh, he’s not done! He goes one by saying: “But the
Church is never so weak as when it permits itself to be a cold-storage
warehouse for uncorrupted truth, or a gymnasium for the calisthenics of
individual souls, or a Sunday Club … or an entertainment bureau which seeks to
amuse…”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">WHOA. Let me remind you that these words were written in
1931! I was shook as my friend read these words out loud, and I read the rest
of the text of that sermon. The church is not a social club, or a sterile
cold-storage for truth, or an exclusive member-only gym for the “saved.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The priest then describes the work of the Holy Spirit
through the body of Christ – the church – as a powerplant built next to a
powerful, thunderous waterfall, pumping out electricity in a constant stream,
hour after hour, day after day – the constant and relentless energy of love
through God’s people - the church – us - out into the world. Apparently, the
Holy Spirit speaks in mysterious ways, including a 90-year-old sermon. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">After all, the Holy Spirit never stopped speaking. Instead
going back to the disconnected reality we got complacent too in the “Before
times,” what if we paused, just for a little while longer, and listened to
where the Holy Spirit is calling us? As we are navigating a world in flux and experiencing
intense transitions, what is the Holy Spirit saying to us, Emmanuel in this
time?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In a world were nearly every community has been experienced
trauma in the last year, the church has the important responsibility of
bringing people together for the sake of participating in God’s kingdom. Rather
than going back to “the way things were” without a second thought, instead the
church’s mission is to offer an alternative way of living, right now, as we
move closer to a post-pandemic reality. Our job as followers of Jesus is to
champion that mission - to welcome and value all people, and doesn’t leave
anyone behind. God’s love is for all and all people are God’s beloved children
and should be treated accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">If Jesus doesn’t play favorites, then neither can the
body of Christ. The spirit of inclusion is at its core a refusal to practice exclusivity.
After all, we are all sinners in need of redemption, broken people in need of
healing, exhausted and in need of resurrection. And our job together is to
remind each other that we are loved, valued, and worthy, no matter what. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">A great irony is that the end of this famous 90-year-old
sermon wasn’t even written down. The sermon text ends by saying simply in all
caps: “CONCLUDE BY APPEALING FOR THE DIVINE AND POWERFUL INSTITUTION THAT
CHRIST FOUNDED.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Whatever it was, it worked, because my friend’s church is
still there. Emmanuel is still here, and the whole body of Christ on earth is
still here – still doing the work that God has set out for us to do. May we
never forget that this is God’s work, and God’s church, and it is for everyone.
Thanks be to God. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-74469212689831057222021-05-20T05:03:00.000-07:002021-05-20T05:03:09.591-07:00Making Self-Control a new "Cool" Fruit of the Spirit<p> <span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;">5-19-21, Galatians 4 & 5</span></p><p><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif;">Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our
Lord and savior Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Almost 4 years ago was the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation and you may remember that Lutherans around the world pulled out all
the stops to celebrate. Including the Lutheran World Federation, a worldwide
communion of Lutheran denominations like the ELCA. Part of the festivities
included a preaching contest where a young adult pastor – in this case, yours
truly - would be preach the sermon at the closing worship. That’s how I got an
all- expense paid trip to Namibia to hang out with Lutherans from all over the world.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The theme for the whole week of the assembly was
“Liberated by God’s Grace.” And text chosen for the closing worship included
these verses from Galatians 5. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">I shared in my sermon at the end of <b>that</b> amazing
week, that this reading and “Fruit of the Spirit” was the theme for VBS when I
was in 5<sup>th</sup> grade. My class preformed a skit, each T-shirts with each
fruit listed. What I <b>ALSO</b> remember clearly is that NO ONE in my class
wanted to wear the shirt that said “SELF-CONTROL.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Self-control is not as “cool” as love, joy, and peace. To
describe someone as being “self-controlled” is not common complement we give.
And honestly, I never pray for God to make me more self-controlled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But maybe I SHOULD, because the truth is, though, when I
let my SELF guide my day-to-day life, I am NOT very loving, joy-filled,
peaceful, patient, kind, generous, or particularly faithful. When my SELF is at
the lead, I march in the wrong kind of parade, to the tunes of buying more
stuff, acting unkindly, being afraid of my neighbor, and generally being too
concerned about myself to see the very real needs of others. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">These devious tunes lead us into captivity while
disguised as “freedom.” We are in bondage and cannot free ourselves. We are
captive, like the European legend of the Pied Piper - captive in a parade that
marches us toward death in body, mind, and spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">There IS another tune calling us, another parade that we
are invited to, another parade where we belong. Jesus frees us from the parade
of death, to be part of his parade of <b>life</b>. Not so that my SELF can steer
me – instead, Jesus frees me FROM my SELF. I no longer bound to my Self,
limited by my flaws, imperfections, blind spots, and fears. In addition, I no
longer bound to the WORLD, who would have me believe that I am not enough, and
that certain types of people are not enough. Instead, I belong to Christ, and
YOU belong to Christ, and together, we are called to march in the parade led by
the Holy Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">And THIS is a parade that is going some amazing place –
the destination and fruit will lead us to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, AND self-control. But not for our own
benefit alone. THIS parade leads us OUT into the world, out to our neighbors, where
the fruits of our freedom in Christ are given away to others. Just like we
can’t grow this fruit by ourselves without being connected to the “Jesus
Parade,” we don’t get to keep the fruit that we grow in the Spirit. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">A great devotional or prayer life, will-power of steel,
and excellent self-control aren’t going to get this parade where it needs to
go. The tunes of the world are very loud, and sometimes they don’t even wait to
the end of the postlude turn up their deceptive soundtrack. We are going
to need some help.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">I once heard a fellow Lutheran pastor joke that the
response “I will and I asked God to help me,” we say when we install pastors
and lay leaders should be <b>instead</b> “I <b>won’t</b>, and I ask God to help
me.” Thank God WE are not steering the parade on our own. Guided by the Spirit,
we are marching exactly where we are needed – out into the community of Vienna,
out to Fairfax County, the Metro DC area, Virginia, and beyond. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">That is the thing about parades – they aren’t limited to
buildings, and they don’t sit still. As I have been caught up in the Jesus
Parade since my time in Namibia, I have become more aware of what’s going on
around the world, and personally been brought deeper into the work of justice
and advocacy for our LGBTQIA+ siblings, our siblings of color such as African
American and Asian American neighbors, and advocacy for justice using our
voices to call our elected officials to account. I have been part of quite a
few conversations that tell me many of you are hearing and following this tune
as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Maybe bearing the fruit of self-control in this moment is
loving our neighbor by putting something off to contribute to our new endowment
initiative to fund future ministries. Maybe it’s wearing a mask just a little
bit longer when you in a crowd of people, especially when children under 12 are
present. Maybe it’s willing to be uncomfortable just a little while longer, to
in order to better examine what about the old tunes we followed want to keep,
and which need to be ignored or discarded for new tunes and new directions. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Whatever this fruit may look like, the Holy Spirit gives
us the growth. And I look forward to marching along with you, into this future
God is calling us to, in the Jesus parade, to bear good fruits – with the help
of the Holy Spirit. Thanks be to God. Amen.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7817106153823181326.post-51454166083965457342021-05-09T07:49:00.001-07:002021-05-09T07:49:13.119-07:00Easter Joy on Maundy Thursday <p> </p><p align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">5-9-21<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Grace and peace to God our divine parent, and from our
crucified and risen Lord Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">What do you think of when you hear the word “joy?” It’s
one of “the fruits of the spirit,” from Galatians; it’s one of the four candles
on our wreath in Advent; and the first word in one of our favorite Christmas
carols. You know the one “Joy to the world!” But is Joy just a “churchy” word
we use to decorate Christmas ornaments and hear in Easter hymns?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The world around us, especially lately, doesn’t seem to
be contain a lot of Joy – while the vaccine role out is improving in much of
the United States, and the covid positive rate in our county has been falling,
we are still dealing with the very present realities of the past year – losing
family members, losing jobs, losing year of our lives to milestones and plans. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">If you are not feeling “joyful” right now, even with
things in our lives “going back to normal,” that’s ok. While our state and many
communities around our country are lifting restrictions as covid cases go down,
we find some distressing things coming back with a vengeance that we’re
considered very regular in the before times – mass shooting events, income
inequality, and crisis in our mental health. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">This is not to mention the personal tragedies and
struggles we each experience every day without a pandemic. Where can joy be
found during all of these troubles? Joy seems nowhere to be found right now. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In the way of many children’s movies, I happen to love
how Joy is described in the Pixar movie from a few years ago called “Inside
Out.” According to the movie, Joy is a blue-haired, green dress wearing person
of unlimited optimism and the voice of Amy Poehler. Joy, along with
Disgust, Sadness, Fear, and Anger, are personified emotions inside the head of
an eleven-year-old girl named Riley. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Sadness and Joy find themselves lost deep in Riley’s
brain while on a mission to get back some of her formative memories. At every
turn, Joy is frustrated by Sadness’s… Well, <b>BEING SAD</b>. Joy keeps being
dismissive toward Sadness… that is, until… Joy finds herself trapped in a dark
place called The Memory Dump, and needs Sadness’s help. There, Joy discovers
that our most joyful memories only feel so joyful because sadness was part of
them too. And they forge a powerful, if unlikely friendship, because of the
experiences they had together. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">In a similar way, is there a possibility that Jesus might
be on to something, that joy can also be found in the everyday, mixed up
together in the pain and troubles of the world and in our own lives?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Jesus told his disciples “Do not let your
hearts be troubled.” He said this back in John chapter 14, at the start of his
goodbye speech, on the night that he was betrayed – Maundy Thursday. That’s
right, we are “back” in Holy Week even though we are in the sixth week of the
Easter Season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">How incredible it seems that here is Jesus, talking about
<b>love</b> and <b>joy</b>, just hours before the disciples would scatter in <b>fear</b>
and <b>dread</b>… abandoning Jesus to be arrested, falsely tried, and sentenced
by crucifixion. On such a night, right before all of this pain was to come to
pass, love and joy seem terribly out of place. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Love and joy seem nowhere to be found when your rabbi and
teacher says things like he’s leaving you, and that the world
will hate you in his name. Love and joy seem nowhere to be found when
Jesus tells you that the greatest love, which he commands you to emulate,
possibly might mean laying down your life.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But it turns out that Easter Joy is only complete because
of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Joy is complete when that Jesus chose to be
his disciples a rag-tag band of perfectly flawed human beings, though they be
betrayers, deniers, and abandoners.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Joy is complete on the darkest night that Jesus ever had,
when he chooses to break bread with US – rich and poor, queer and straight, the
power-full and the power-less, with abled and the differently abled, the neuro-
divergent and neurotypical, young children and wise elders. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Joy is complete in seeing the beautiful image of God in
the faces of people of all faiths, races, cultures, languages, genders, sexual
orientations, <b>and</b> ALL family configurations. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RQg2LiczhiFtaDQ8OCpJMtPRogpqhH8hoK15cXu8o9Z8tjQzjOubuUsatGjMORPZUo956QKLQwvylNF0qKhWwjIS6MBsC-ajql5eOmGJKJh3W8MbxU9zEUNfMekd1ZFcAr9Fb7CBR7k/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="940" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2RQg2LiczhiFtaDQ8OCpJMtPRogpqhH8hoK15cXu8o9Z8tjQzjOubuUsatGjMORPZUo956QKLQwvylNF0qKhWwjIS6MBsC-ajql5eOmGJKJh3W8MbxU9zEUNfMekd1ZFcAr9Fb7CBR7k/" width="286" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Joy is complete when… a synod assembly on the west coast
goes unexpectedly awry…. But then chooses to elect the first ever transgender
Bishop in the ELCA, the Reverend Dr Megan Rohrer. He was the first transgender
pastor ordained in the ELCA, and now he is the first out trans pastor in the
ELCA. </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Joy is complete when just when you thought that death had won, joy is
that NEW LIFE HAPPENS.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">It may have appeared a little odd to still be back to the
night that Jesus was betrayed during the celebratory season of Easter. But we
know that you cannot have one without experiencing the other. New life cannot
happen apart from death. Resurrection cannot happen without crucifixion. Easter
cannot happen without Good Friday. Joy cannot exist apart from being open to
the possibility of discomfort. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">The reason that we have no need for troubled hearts in
this troubled world and in our troubled lives is not because Jesus makes the
lives of his followers into easy and overflowing with cupcakes and lattes. Being
a friend of Jesus does not earn us any bonus points or bragging rights or a
ticket to easy street. Just look at the lives of Mary, Peter, James, John,
Paul, and the rest, <b>after</b> the resurrection. Their preaching of the joy
of Jesus brought them: prison, pain, and persecution. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">But when we do the will of Jesus, when we follow Jesus
commands to love one another… THAT is where Jesus continues to impact our lives
and our world. Like the memories of people who we love who are no longer with
us – their love and their memories live on in us, in what we do in their name.
And so, even when they no longer here, they are not actually gone. As Jesus
said, “Do this, in remembrance of me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua", serif; line-height: 107%;">Joy is complete that Jesus chooses US to be his disciples
too, also flawed and imperfect human beings. Joy is complete by being chosen as
children of God, and through us our faith is conquering the world in a
revolution – not of might and power, but a revolution of peace and love and
understanding and friendship. Thanks be to God. Amen. <span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Lydiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06312286151052827314noreply@blogger.com0