Storms and Shark Fins

 Sermon 8-9-2020

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

Did you know that something really exciting is happening today? It’s Shark Week! Thought it’s not quite as exciting as having 4 baptisms all in one day, as we are having in just an hour from now. For the uninitiated, Shark Week an entire week on the Discovery Channel dedicated to the beauty, power, and general awesomeness of all sharks - mini sharks, super-fast sharks, deep sea sharks, sharks with whip tails, great whites, even sharks that glow in the dark. We are in awe of them, and rightly so, because they possess a power that we can’t tame, control, or even fully understand. Unfortunately though, we have a tendency to fear what we cannot tame - a tendency that Stephen Spielberg banked on in his classic summer blockbuster, Jaws!

You all know the plot – Big White Shark terrorizing Beach Resort Town. The sheriff fights to keep people safe… AND with the local mayor, who puts the economy above the lives of his people.

The first time we see the shark up close, huge teeth and all, the sheriff is tossing fish bits from the back of a boat piloted by a crusty sea captain…. He turns around, and finds himself face to tooth with the jaws of… well, Jaws. Here is where we get one of the most remembered lines in movie history - the sheriff realizing that “we’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

Now, the Sea of Galilee is no Atlantic Ocean, but there is definitely something that makes us nervous about what we can’t see below. And to make matters worse, danger lies both below and above the surface – in how large bodies of water react to the weather ABOVE the water. Wild wind, driving rain, huge waves, and low visibility caused by storms are even more dangerous when all that protects you is a tiny fishing boat.

We definitely don’t need a lot of imagination to place ourselves in the boat with the disciples,  after what happened this past week with the Tropical Storm EEs-EYE-EE-Ahs (“meess a clean this”).  And to add terror on top of utter terror, out of the storm, the disciples see – not a shark fin, but something almost as scary - a man! Walking on water!

Jesus walking toward them through the wind and the waves might as well been a shark fin, based on their reaction. It’s easy to judge their slowness and disbelief, since these men had just seen Jesus feed twenty thousand people with just a little bread and a few fish. Jesus had already showed himself to be master of storms by calming one seven chapters before this in the Gospel of Matthew. It is natural to believe that, had we been in their place, we might have been quicker on the uptake to realize that this was Jesus, a shark, or a ghost, or insert any scary monster here.  

But despite our active imaginations, we were not actually there, drenched in water and battered by the wind, literally being tormented by the crashing waves in a small fishing boat, probably wondering by now why in the world Jesus isn’t there to calm the storm, like that other time. By the time Jesus DOES show up in this storm, it’s nearly morning, and these poor guys were most likely in the brink of complete exhaustion from the enormous physical and mental energy it takes to NOT sink.

However, though we weren’t there, in living on the east coast, most of us do have a story or two about living through a big storm that came through these parts. Hurricane Irene, Superstorm Sandy, Tropical Storm EEEs-EYE-EE-As, not to mention the mid-winter Nor’easters and the feet of snow they bring.

But there are others storms that don’t need moisture, wind, and the ocean to form. These are the storms that damage the heart: The hurricane-force winds of hopelessness that knock you down. Every day coming like another wave, of grief pounding and pounding your fragile little boat, making you wonder if the next wave will be the one to cause you to sink? And all the while, the constant rain of stress, or disappointments, or depression beating down on you, mingling with your own tears, blinding you from being able to see what’s ahead.

Maybe your “storm” is called Hurricane Covid. Or Superstorm Grief. Or Tropical Storm Depression, or Anxiety. The storms might not show to the world any external damage. But we can feel the devastation all the same. And we too are exhausted from the enormous physical and mental energy it takes NOT to sink.

Being following Jesus did not stop the storm for Peter and the rest that day. The winds still came and the wave still crashed, and the land and the dawn seemed so far away. Obeying a command from Jesus’s own lisps did not prevent Peter from going under. Peter took a leap of faith, but he still began to sink into the waves.

The people we love still get Covid….hospital roofs get ripped off, putting small children in danger… power goes out for days at a time… we lose our jobs and health benefits… we lose touch with someone because of an addiction or a toxic relationship… perhaps we are in the middle of fraught family systems (like Joseph was) with siblings or family members who are preventing us from flourishing as human beings.

We feel so unprepared for what life throws at us, once we experience the violence of the storm… or the teeth and jaws of the sharks that seem to be chasing our little vessel… It certainly makes us want to go in search of a bigger boat. But there is no boat big enough to protect us and those we love from what we fear. But we have something better than a boat. 

The mighty winds and waves of the storm DID not and COULD not prevent Jesus from coming to the aid of his followers in that little bitty boat, because no storm can stop Jesus.

When the disciples were so frightened that they thought Jesus was a ghost, Jesus said, “take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”  When the raging storms of OUR lives are so frightening to us that we see specters instead of a helping hand, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid.”

If you have been reading along in our 90 Day Bible Challenge you may notice that God tells us to “Fear not” and don’t be afraid” an awful lot. God isn’t telling us that we shouldn’t be scared of what’s happening around us. I think God is trying to tell us that we should not fear that God is not going to show up in the midst of it. Courage and bravery isn’t the absence of fear – it’s looking the storm in the face, staring down those big scary jaws, and not letting them stop us from doing the right thing.

When we listen to the wind, and reason out how inadequate we are, how much we are failures and nobodies and unlovable, how our boat is nowhere near up to the task… Jesus reaches out his hand and catches US, just as Jesus caught Peter.

The good news is that we don’t have to abandon the boat in order to be brave. Sometimes it’s enough to carve out a few minutes to hear a word from God. Sometimes, it’s knowing the difference between our own storms and someone else who is trying to give us theirs. Sometimes even navigating our daily lives in this new world can feel as difficult as walking on water.

But one thing remains the same. Jesus is not going to let us sink, no matter what storms try to get in the way. No “bigger boat” is necessary. The winds will subside, the rain will dry up, and the waves will calm, and there will be Jesus. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Welcome to the Test Kitchen, Home Edition

Sermon 6-28-20

Youtube video of my sermon here. 

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.

Well before this pandemic started, my husband and I were addicted to a YouTube show called “Gourmet Makes,” created by the US food magazine, “Bon Appetit.” In this show, a pastry chef named Claire would recreate all of our childhood favorite processed food – Twinkies, twizzlers, Taquitos, you name it, made in such a way that we all – theoretically – could also make at home. One problem though – Claire was surrounded by a beautiful and fully stocked “test kitchen” located in Manhattan, brimming with state-of-the-art gadgets and staffed with other food professionals. We watched, but we didn’t make. After all, who has Masa Harena flour and a professional grade dehydrator just lying around the house?

Then, the pandemic hit. And the videos changed.

Now, the staff members and youtube stars of Bon Appetit no longer have access to their amazing Manhattan “text kitchen”… they can only use whatever is on hand in their own kitchens, or the kitchens of their parents. They started doing videos about how to make great “pantry” pasta, or sharing their favorite way to make coffee. Instead of asking other staff for a taste and an opinion, their kids and their cats wander into the videos. They welcomed us into their kitchens, where they were also struggling and making do. And we’ve already made more than a few of these new recipes.

During this strange time, we as a church and as congregation are no longer worshipping our “Text Kitchens” aka the church building – where we used to be able to  “test out” and practice our discipleship in a controlled environment. For the last three months, however, we have been thrust full time into our own “home kitchen” worship and discipleship spaces, where children are crying and being goofy, dogs and cats are getting into our business, and things are a little bit messy. But it’s just a little bit closer to real life.

We as followers of Jesus may find ourselves in figurative and metaphorical “kitchens” different from ours. And for some of us, we are seeing the kitchens of others for the first time. The terrain and utensils are unfamiliar and in different places than we are used to. It feels uncomfortable to explore or to ask for help. And it’s going to feel really uncomfortable.

In the before times, it was much harder to be a guest than it is to be a host. Yes, when you host someone, you have the inconvenience of having someone else using your towels and eating your food. But you know what is in the kitchen. But as a guest, you sleep on someone else’s pillows and drink from someone else’ cups. You eat what comes from someone else and learn how to respect and navigate someone else’ kitchen.

At the end of Jesus’ long pep talk to his follower’s right before they travel, Jesus reminds his disciples of what it means to welcome and be welcomed. The followers of Jesus found themselves traveling during a very uncertain time. They didn’t know if or when they would be welcomed or rejected. We, as disciples of Jesus live in some uncertain times as well, and not just because we are still very much in a pandemic.

As we look forward to celebrating July 4^th this year in 2020, there are still citizens of our own nation, even of our own Lutheran denomination, who don’t know if, and when, they will be welcomed or rejected by the country they belong to, or the denomination they love. The ELCA is the whitest denomination in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center. Even those of the MORMON faith have more racial diversity than we have. But diversity itself is not the answer to our challenges right now.

Certain people aren’t allowed access to our “kitchens,” and we are not willing to be guests in theirs. When this happens, we lose a part of who we are. Without the mutual love and support of ALL of our diverse members – black, white, straight, gay, bi, transgender, rich, poor, differently abled, young, old – without all members, the body of Christ is incomplete.

We like to say that “all are welcome here.” But what do we really mean when we say that? 

We – consciously but usually unconsciously – put caveats on our welcome. We say, “all are welcome,” but we mean – you can come to worship here, but we won’t talk to you at coffee hour (in the before times). You can sit in our pews (in the before times) but only if you aren’t sitting in MY seat (and yes, that has happened HERE at Family of God).

But when we REALLY welcome people, we are doing it in the name of Jesus. We are doing it because our language, symbols, and names are important in how we welcome. When I introduce myself and state my pronouns as “She/ Her/ Hers,” or wear a pronoun button, I am normalizing the conversation for transgender individuals and hopefully creating space for welcome. Designations like “Reconciling in Christ” in the ELCA are vital for welcoming our LGBTQIA siblings. If our congregation chooses to do the work of being recognized in this way, it tells the whole world that WE MEAN IT when we say ALL are welcome, because we have spent some time learning in another person’s kitchen… and not just during Pride Month, but every month. We are called to do this, because ALL are welcomed into Jesus’s kitchen.

In Jesus’s kitchen, all are welcomed, and all are fed. In a simple meal we are given life… we are given welcome…. and we are given a new kind of family. We were given the body and blood of Jesus, a body that was broken so that humanity might be made whole, and blood that was shed so that we treat one another as blood kin, not someday, but right now.

Writer and abolitionist Fredrick Douglas was a slave who escaped to freedom, but later in life he wrote an open letter to his formermaster, to extend an invitation to his home. Douglas wrote, “There is no roof under which you would be more safe than mine, and there is nothing in my house which you might need for your comfort, which I would not readily grant. Indeed, I should esteem it a privilege, to set you an example as to how [we] ought to treat each other. I am your fellow man, but not your slave.” As far as I know, the slave owner never took Douglas up on his offer. He stayed at home… just as most of us white people would much rather do right now more than ever – stay home, safe and ignoring the world, where we don’t have to face anything uncomfortable.

Well, too bad… This radial welcome of God comes after us, and is knocking on our HOME door right now, come right here into you home kitchens, even as we are streaming. And it WILL NOT leave us alone. The radial love of God is like the worst kind of house guest – making noise, getting all up in our business, rejecting the excuses we make. We are being called out of our comfort zones and into other people’s kitchens. And we will find ourselves doing things we don’t normally do, things we never expected we would be doing.

When we welcome others, we welcome God, as God has welcomed us.  Nothing will get in the way of God’s radical welcome in God’s kingdom. Not our own prejudices and biases, not institutional racism or white privilege - not even sin, human brokenness, and death can stand in God’s way.

The training wheels are off. Our congregational building “Test Kitchen” is still off limits. But you, beloved child of God, have the tools at your disposal to make some recipes that are practical, nourishing, and will feed your families and feed the world. The world is hungry – the world needs some good news. Its time get cooking. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Choose Love

Sermon 6-21-19

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.

So, I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in finding today’s quotes from Jesus very uncomfortable. After telling the disciples what NOT to pack last week, Jesus informs his followers – and us - of some bad news. Following Jesus, the Prince of Peace, does not always lead to a life of peace and harmony, Frappuccinos and cupcakes. In fact, most of the time, it WILL be the cause of conflict.

Following Jesus means that we don’t follow other things. Following Jesus means that we have priorities that seems strange to the world. Following Jesus means that the world will make us pick a side.

Jesus was putting the pressure on the primary source of identity at the time and NOW – the family unit. Your family was your security, your social status, your comfort zone, your whole world. When Jesus throws a wrench in that system, both then and now, he sends shock waves across society that causes divisions across even families – daughter against mother, father against son, people who grew up in the same house.

But the Prince of Peace who brings a sword isn’t the oxymoron that it seems to be. Jesus doesn’t bring division for the sake of division. Jesus causes division because of OUR LACK of UNITY. 

The world makes us choose sides. Or really, the world tries its hardest makes us choose THEIR side. The world tells us daily and even hourly that some types of people are worth more than others - that some should be hated and feared because of the color of their skin, because of what part of the world they come from, because of the name they call God, because of the kind of people they love and want to marry.

The world tells us constantly that buying more stuff will make us happy, and to blind ourselves to the high cost to creation, and to people.  The world is trying to convince us that just because SOME parts of our society are “open,” that means normalcy is back. It’s not. The world tells us that making money and going back to our “normal” routines of dining out, cross country travel, and driving our economy is more important than keeping vulnerable lives safe.

But let me tell you about Jesus’s side, what we call the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it is harder to see, because the works of this kingdom don’t often make the news. This kingdom tells us that all people, regardless of country of origin, skin color, orientation, gender, economic status, ability or disability is a beloved child of God created beautiful and worthy of being treated with dignity and love. The kingdom of God is for righting the wrong, freeing the oppressed, healing bodies and relationships, feeding the hungry, welcoming the stranger, resurrecting what has become dead, and losing our lives for the sake of others…. which is especially important as we navigate new realities in the age of the Corona virus.

Every moment of our lives now will have some sort of increased risk. But the questions we must ask ourselves now are these: am I being careful and engaging in behavior that is considerate of others? Am I minimizing my contact or the time I spend in order to keep people safe? Are the activities I DO choose to engage in necessary, or for the benefit of others…. or will it possibly expose others just so that I can have a sense of routine?

The hard part is that no two states, cities, families, or even individual people within families completely agree. And these disagreements right now are fraught with rhetoric and anger. For example, some who speak of the joy of gathering in large groups at Peace Valley Park or for Memorial Day with extended family or serving dinner in homes in one breath, then go on to question or condemn those who seek to correct racial injustice, who exercise their constitutional right to peaceful and unarmed protests because of the risk.

However, as Minnesota Epidemiologist Michael Osterholmstated just this week in NPR, the Black Lives Matter protests did not result in the types of spikes that some expected.  

Another host of NPR stated also: “In other words, perhaps the better question is not, will the demonstrators cause a spike in COVID-19 infections? But rather will all of us … behave in a way that keeps the reproduction number low and ensures that these marches and any improvements to racial equality they achieve don't come at a price of many more COVID-19 deaths.”

I can imagine Jesus asking similar questions of us, as his followers. We as people of faith cling to what Jesus has taught us and modeled for us – living as if we love God with our whole being, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Sometimes, that will mean we have to draw a line, or “pick a side.” And the side we’re supposed to pick might lead us down a road of misunderstanding at best, and outright hostility at worst.

The world has much more power, more funding, is more stealthy and crafty, has more support, and is better equipped and armed than we are. The odds seem overwhelming to us, especially when even Jesus did not escape their wrath.

The world rejected Jesus when he picked God’s side. They even nailed him on a cross for the audacity of his choice.  How dare he choose love over things like “family” and “freedom”?

We know that Love IS family. It’s belonging to a family built on our unconditional worthiness, and not limited to blood, or success, or perfection.

We know that Love IS freedom. Luther wrote that we are freed FROM sin and death so that we are freed TO SERVE our neighbor and act in the world with their best interests in mind.

God is love. And God created us to love. Jesus is the love of God with skin on, literally love fully fleshed out. God’s love for us has always been and will always be the same: limitless and unwavering. We know this because he sent his own son into the world to change everything.

Choosing love is never the wrong choice. We may – no, we WILL make mistakes in how we live this out. Love is hard. It calls us to do difficult things. Love asks us for our words and our deeds to be life-giving, not life-limiting. Love calls us to walk the path of who we were created and called to be: no more and no less than beloved and brave Children of God. And love will, and does, win. Thanks be to God, amen.

FOG Window Sermon (Notes)

Palm Sunday window – people waving the palms, Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, Start of Holy Week 

10 Commandments – 2 tablets of the 10 commandments, numbers written in Hebrew, Moses went up Mount Sinai to get them, it took many days, the people made a golden calf…. 

Hand of the Almighty/ God - creation – first article of the creed - For about 1000 years, no attempt was made to portray the 1st Person of the Trinity in human form. Early Christians believed that the words of the LORD in Exodus 33:20--You cannot see My face, for [humankind] shall not see me and live—and John 1:18--No one has ever seen God ... the universal symbol for the Father was a hand emerging from a mass of bright clouds. Psalm 145:16 says the LORD opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing.  

Bethlehem and Star – “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” - Christmas and Epiphany (separate holidays) different gospels: Luke and Matthew. Star – wise men came later, Jesus might have been as old as 2

Manger – Christmas, Jesus born in a manger, probably in a cave, probably not a stable. “Away in a Manger” 

Empty Tomb/ Easter – Jesus BURSTING from the tomb! EXPLOSIONS!

Alpha and Omega & Lamp from Revelation - the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the Alpha and the Omega. These are our Savior's designation of Himself in Revelation 1:8 and 22;13: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End." Lampstands are mentioned in the book of Revelation. In the Psalms – Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Jesus says, you are the light of the worlds…. You don’t put a lamp under a bowl, instead you make it visible

Cross and Lilly and Rainbow – Cross is good Friday, Lilly represents Easter and New Life (looks like a trumpet), Rainbow is the sign from Noah and the ark and the Flood – that never again would God destroy creation with a flood. Symbol of Hope. 

Wheat and Grapes –Instituted Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday. Jesus said, "I am the Vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in Me and I in them bear much fruit… " (John 15:5, N.R.S.V.) Jesus broke the bread on the Road to Emmaus in Luke  

Tongue of Flame – Pentecost – which is coming up. Disciples were in a locked room praying, then a loud wind came upon them and it looked like there were tongues of fame on their foreheads, and they could speak different languages. 

Crown of Thorns – Rose (Not pictured) – represents the crown of thorns Jesus wore as he was being humiliated and hung on the cross – Jesus is not your typical king. His crown and thrown are not made of gold or precious stones, but of thorns and his throne is a cross, because he defeated death. 

Resurrection in Locked Rooms

4-19-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our crucified and risen Lord and savior, Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Alleluia, Christ is Risen! Lent is OVER, and Easter is HERE. All seven weeks of it. That’s right folks. We have six more weeks of the Easter season left to go. It’s the Sunday after Easter, and what about the world has changed? Anything? It’s after Easter, but some days the world feels more like it is still Good Friday. Yes, Jesus has been raised from the dead – and hallelujah for that! – But what, exactly has that gotten us?

I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s been an entire month since Easter. Probably because after Easter, we were well into our fifth week of social distancing, waiting and wondering when or even life as we know it will ever resume, and knowing it will look different when we do. Not unlike the disciples, one week after the very first Easter morning, the second Sunday after Easter… AKA “Doubting Thomas Sunday.”

Poor, poor, Thomas, forever to be saddled with the nickname “doubting.” He gets such a bad reputation. We can’t really blame him for his reaction to the other 10 disciples. If I were him, I might think that the rest of them were playing some cruel version of an April Fool’s joke while I was out. But Thomas is not actually the most egregious doubter in this resurrection account. The true doubters are the other 10 disciples.

Earlier that day, according to the gospel of John, Mary Magdalene had gone to the tomb of Jesus, only to find the stone rolled away. And later, after Peter and the other disciple had corroborated her story and went home, Mary encountered the risen Jesus while she was still weeping outside the tomb. Their Lord was alive! He had risen from the dead! And what do you think happened next? Did they start running around, telling people the good news? NOPE. On Easter evening, they locked themselves in a room.

After the FIRST Easter, on the very evening that Jesus had been raised from the dead and appeared to Mary, the disciples actually WERE of one heart and one soul. But not the heart and soul we are supposed to emulate, a heart of love and a soul of generosity. They were united in fear, and of one soul in the desire to hide. So, they locked the door. They were still afraid.  It was after Easter – but the disciples were still stuck in Good Friday.

And so that is where Jesus found them, when they were all together, except for Thomas, locked in a room out of fear, when he burst INTO their locked room, just has he had burst OUT of the tomb.

Perhaps a better game plan for Jesus would have been to go and find some new disciples, for heaven sakes! But he didn’t. The evening after he was raised, he showed up in the very locked room that they had hidden themselves away in. Their fear had locked them IN, but it could not keep Jesus OUT.

But after other ten disciples saw Jesus for themselves, a week later - one week after Easter – where did Jesus find them? Yet again, they were sealed up in their old familiar tombs out of fear. And so, Jesus had to bust in YET AGAIN.

I think this year we understand the disciples just a little bit more. We are all in our own homes, physically distant from one another, because of some very real fears. We have sealed ourselves off from one another to keep each other safe from spreading a contagious illness, it does not buffer us from the very real fear we might feel about the unknown. We can wear masks and social distance as much as we can, but it doesn’t always completely protect those we love from getting sick ... and it certainly doesn’t protect us from things like job loss, loneliness, and depression.

So we ask ourselves: What’s now? What is the way forward? How do we walk through these uncertain, fearful times? How will we be living our lives now? Questions that I’m sure the disciples themselves were facing in that locked room.

In her book, “Learning to Walk in the Dark,” (which we will be reading together as a congregation) Barbara Brown Taylor writes: “We are all so busy constructing zones of safety that keep breaking down….. We keep thinking that the problem is out there, in the things that scare us: dark nights, dark thoughts, dark guests, dark emotions. If we could just defend ourselves better against those things, we think, then surely we would feel more solid and secure…..” And we are just as scared here in our locked rooms as we are about the scary things that wait for us outside of them. Nowhere seems safe, and we are trapped in the locked rooms of our own fear, immobile and isolated, fearing that there is no way out and no way forward.

But, we have seen and heard what Jesus does with sealed tombs and locked doors. We have seen and heard what Jesus does with the bonds of sin, with the sting of death, and the captivity of the fear.

The Good News of Easter, which is just as true today as it was a week ago, is that Jesus has busted open the stone of your tomb like it as if it were nothing; he has ploughed through the doors of your locked rooms as if they were butter. He stands in the doorway, reaching out to take your hand, showing you the marks of the crucifixion that still remain his body. And he calls you, as he did to Lazarus, while standing outside of that dead man’s tomb, calling to him, “Lazarus, come out!”

As Barbara Brown Taylor also writes in her book about the darkness in our lives:  “...new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.” Fortunately, Peter, Mary, Thomas, and the rest of the apostles DO eventually get out of the locked room. And someday we too, will be able to leave our locked rooms, and we can still witness to what God was up to in our lives even as we were social distancing and under quarantine. New life begins here, shut away, but it doesn’t stay there. Nothing can hold it at bay and keep it from transforming our lives forever.  

The way forward is unknown, but it also well-tread. Thomas has walked this way before, as has the other 10 disciples, and Mary Magdalene, and the other women at the tomb. Together, we learn to walk in the dark, knowing that we are not alone. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Good Friday: Grasping and Remembering

GOOD FRIDAY 4-10-20

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

Thursday night began in celebration, with Jesus celebrating the Passover with his twelve disciples. They broke bread and shared a cup of wine. But that celebration was bittersweet with the knowledge that one of Jesus’s own closest friends would betray him and the rest would abandon him in his hour of greatest trials.

As the darkness deepened, Jesus is betrayed, arrested, and taken away to be secretly tried by the religious authorities, who falsely try him and hand him over to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor. In the meantime, Peter has denied Jesus three times as the rooster crowed, just as Jesus predicted.

Today, Friday, Jesus is taken by the religious leaders to Pilate in order to carry out his death sentence.

But before Jesus is to die, the Roman soldiers under Pilate must put on a show of strength. These soldiers are under the impression that they are mocking Jesus when one takes off his own robe to create a sham of a cape, and another braided a pitiful crown out of thorns, and a third pulled up a tall weed for a scepter. But the truth is, Jesus was never the kind of king to wear gold and jewels and fine robes.

What they put on Jesus is just what a suffering servant-king ought to wear – not trappings of power and might, but badges of pain and suffering. There is one last item that the Christ will wear before that Friday is over, one last garment that this King will put on for our sakes. That is the shroud of death. And his royal palace shall be a stone tomb.

In many ways we may feel like we are waiting in the darkness of a tomb – a tomb of social distancing, made necessary by a virus that is causing real harm to the people we love. In many ways, the only thing we can do is wait with the disciples – huddles just out of sight somewhere, wondering what is coming next.

Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson wrote a book of poems and prayers for the ordinary moments in life, and I think one of her meditations speaks to this moment, both on that first Good Friday and this Good Friday. In her poem called “For Rock Bottom,” she writes with words that clearly resonate to all of us now” “I am separated from friends and neighbors…. My eyes have adjusted to the grim confines of this grave, and I could give up, but even here my hands grasp at the darkness in search of the God who claims to care …. I have nothing but time and will wait for you to remember me.” (128-9)

In less than three days’ time, we will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and savior. On Easter we will be singing “Alleluia.” Truth be told, will we really feel like saying that, when our lives seem like on long Good Friday that never ends…. Where it feels like we have nothing but time to grope around in the dark?

But there is one thing we do know, one thing that we profess even in the midst of intense suffering and even despair - we cling to the hope that the Lord is near and is in our midst…. ESPECIALLY in the midst of pain and suffering, which Jesus has experience and knows well. 

God has always been in the thick of it with us. No amount of misery, no amount of isolation and physical distance, no amount of fear could ever make God turn away from us. No life is too broken, no loneliness is too deep, no death is too tragic for God to be near. Jesus walked that path ahead of us, and now he leads the way, as we walk this difficult Good Friday path with no clear Easter ending date. We walk, knowing and trusting and hoping and feeling and remembering… that Easter WILL arrive. Thanks be to God, amen.

A Holy Week - And a King - We don't Expect

4-5-20- Palm Sunday

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.

Sometimes, when you’re having a good time, or you’re “in the zone,” and hours or an entire day can pass in the blink of an eye. Other times, time can stretch out and feels like an eternity. Especially when you are at home, social distancing - an hour may feel forever, or you may collapse into bed every night wondering where the day went, and we can’t stand the thought of doing the exact same thing tomorrow.

During these forty days of Lent, we are deliberately stretching out time, so that we are spending six weeks with our eyes on the cross. And now we are here, the beginning of Holy Week, starting with today, Palm Sunday.

It all began with such high hopes, when Jesus entered Jerusalem in a parade, palm leaves flying. It’s no wonder – for the people have seen some pretty amazing things from Jesus in the last three years. Jesus has healed people with skin diseases and people who were paralyzed. Jesus has calmed storms and cast out demons. Jesus has feed thousands and told story after story about the amazing love God has for his wayward people. So they shouted “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!” Hosana – save us! But these are dangerous words, especially when this country is under occupation by a ruling force that is both powerful and swift to punishment.

The people wanted this Jesus to be a king to rise up and send the Romans packing. Those backed by Roman power and authority feared that this Jesus would rally enough support to be a threat. Later on this week, Jesus will pay the price, and be labeled as a failed king by his enemies.

This was not the first time, though, that Jesus had been called a king. Long before this, back at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, a group of wise men from the East arrived in Jerusalem, and asking “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews?” This terrified the entire city of Jerusalem, and with good reason. Then, as now, there can only be one king, and his name is Caesar. So, when Jesus was arrested, the religious elite imagined charges that would get the Roman’s attention – that Jesus claimed to be a king.

Jesus, who seems so harmless to us – welcoming children, talking to women, feeding people, healing the blind and the infirm. But the great irony is that Jesus is actually guilty of the trumped-up charges against him. Jesus really IS the King. “Christ” is not Jesus’ last name, it’s his title. It means the one who is anointed, selected and set apart by God, to rule as king.

But Jesus is not just a regular old king, like the brutal and cruel Caesars of this world, set apart above and beyond the people they rule over. Jesus is not a king that comes with armies and weapons to vanquish his enemies. Jesus came to be a king WITH his people, to rule them by example of self-giving love. His is a kingdom that conquers by peace, rather than the violence and death that SEEMS to win by taking Jesus’s life. Death seems like the only option to shut Jesus up. After all, even kings die. No ruler, no emperor, no king, no matter how powerful, has ever defeated the power of death. But then again, Jesus isn’t just a regular old, king, is he?

And this is not going to be a regular old Holy Week, is it? This is a Holy Week for the history books, and years from now our children and grandchildren will ask us – what was it like, in 2020, when there was no palms and no parade and no in-person gatherings at all?

I admit, this year I had such high hopes. I really wanted to try Dinner Church for Maundy Thursday, and I was excited to have an even bigger turn out for our Noon Five Senses Good Friday service than the forty we had last year. I think we could say that we would all love for Jesus to rise up and send the virus packing. Hosanna – save us! We could really use it right now.

But this isn’t the first time that unexpected circumstances have stretched us and challenged us, and it’s not the last time that Jesus is going to show up in ways we didn’t expect. So this year, instead of a parade around the church to usher in Holy Week, we stay home to protect our vulnerable neighbors and keep it safe for all the medical staff and essential workers who are working hard to heal the people who are sick. They are the real, unseen heroes, putting themselves on the line, who are working hard and so doing are showing us the way of Jesus. And so, the least we can do is help them – by staying home, by not stashing away toilet paper….. but also for advocating for fair pay and compensation for those left vulnerable.

This is not the Holy Week we’re expecting, just as Jesus is not the king we expect. Jesus may not be the king we want, but he is exactly the kind of King we need. Because no matter what happens, Jesus is here.

This week is what the forty days of Lent have been leading up to. We are about to enter a week where time is more than just seconds ticking by on a clock. Where the cross - an instrument of torture and intimidation - becomes the means through which we are saved. Where our sacred and meaningful rituals have been temporarily stripped away from us… but our faith remains. Jesus remains. And, as the Roman officials and Jesus’s enemies found out the hard way at the end of this week – Jesus is NOT going anywhere. Thanks bet to God. Amen.   

God at Work in the Waiting

3-29-20

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.

In 2012, after being a pastor for just shy of a full year in New Jersey, I was on deck to preach on November 4^th, less than a week after Hurricane Sandy. That Sunday, the church had no heat or light - and no printed bulletin either - but both services that morning were packed. It was All Saints Sunday, and this very text – Jesus raising Lazarus from death – was the gospel of the day then too. During worship, we sat in the natural light of the sanctuary, coats still on, after having Sunday School and adult forum by candlelight. Earlier that week, I remember waiting impatiently for the power to come back on – sort of like when that big storm went through here last year, and all those trees came down.  

Then, as we are now, we were all waiting for life to return to “normal… though for many of us, the “normal” may be long in coming, and may look very different than it did before.

We all know what waiting is like. Waiting for things to change, waiting for the suffering to pass, waiting with a hope that life will someday be better and that our distress will be a just memory.

Sometimes, our waiting is rewarded. The power comes back on. The baby is delivered safely. A potential employer calls and wants a second interview. But sometimes we wait, and we wait… and we seem to wait in vain. Either nothing happens at all, or worse… the thing we fear the most takes place.

Lazarus, Jesus’ friend, was not just sick. He was dying. And his sisters Mary and Martha knew that his only hope was for Jesus to come and heal him on the double. They sent word to Jesus, urging him to come quickly. Then they waited. And waited. And waited some more… until it was too late.

When Jesus finally arrived, Lazarus has been dead and buried for FOUR DAYS. There was no mistaking it for a coma. There was no chance of a sudden recovery. The memorial service was long over, and the luncheon leftovers all eaten.  In fact, the smell of death and decay had already set in – which is not something that we in twenty first century north America have much experience with. But it was a normal – though final – part of mourning the loss of our loved ones.

In her latest book, Mortician Caitlyn Doughty reports that one of the questions that she is often asked in her talks with kids about death is the question: “Can you describe the smell of a dead body?” Doughty writes that the smell of decay – which we imagine the sisters referring to – is not evident unless the person has been dead for several days, which Lazarus had. It seemed that Jesus had lost his chance to heal Lazarus – he was beyond saving.

Caitlin Doughty also wrote something interesting in her 2019 book that seems particularly timely. In this same chapter, she shares about Dr. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis, who, in the mid-1800s, noticed that new mothers who were treated by midwives fared better than those who were treated by trainee doctors. Why would that be? The trainee doctors also had contact with people who had died… and handwashing was not a common practice yet. Dr Semmelwies came to see that contact between the two was dangerous for the women in labor.  “So, Semmelweis issued a mandate that hands must be washed between the two activities. And it worked!” Not such a big wonder to us now.  But he was proven right when “Rates of infection dropped from one in ten to one in a hundred within the first few months. Unfortunately, the finding was rejected by much of the medical establishment of the time.” (164)

Why? Because for doctors, “hospital odor” – or the smell that would have come from Lazarus – was a sign of prestige.  To put it crassly: Handwashing was resisted in the medical community at the time because “[this] smell was a badge of honor they had no intention of removing.” Not even for the safety of other people… specifically new mothers. How things have changed! Or have they?

Mary and Martha knew what this smell coming from the tomb meant, and it was both natural and also good news. It meant that it was too late for Jesus to arrive and save him. Mary and Martha had resigned themselves to the fact that they will never see their brother Lazarus again in this lifetime. Their waiting and their hope in Jesus seem to have been in vain.  

Then suddenly, they heard that Jesus is just outside of town, that he just heard the news of Lazarus’ death. Martha heard first and dashed out to confront him. She is the first to say what is also on Mary’s lips, which we heard a moment ago: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

Mary and Martha thought that Jesus’ job was to PREVENT bad things from ever happening. Jesus was supposed to come and SAVE their brother from having to die – well, really just postponing the inevitable. Jesus was supposed to heal Lazarus BEFORE his illness became fatal. We may fault them for their “lack of faith,” – after all, this is JESUS we’re talking about…. But again, after all… WE know the end of Lazarus’s story.

But we do not know the end of our own. We join with Mary and Martha, in asking their question:  Where WERE you, Jesus, when Lazarus breathed his last? And likewise, Jesus - where were you when this pandemic started? Where were you when people we know started getting sick, some of them seriously, some of the to the point of death? Where were you, Jesus… when you seem to show up much too late to do any good?

Jesus, amid his own tears of grief, went to the place of Lazarus’ burial. And in front of the giant stone shutting the cave where Lazarus lay, Jesus said, “Take that stone away.” Undeterred by the heavy stone, by the four-day-old grave, the reluctance of the sisters, the heckling of the crowd, unaffected even by the smell coming from Lazarus’ decaying body, Jesus called forth: “Lazarus! COME OUT!” And Lazarus… CAME OUT. Wrappings, and smell, and all.

With Jesus, death … leads… to life. In Jesus, we trust that, even in the midst of grief and suffering and death, Jesus IS present, and he is also working through us to bring about new life. He knows death all too well, including how it smells. But no grave could hold him; no stone could keep him in. And so we hope: even when we are filled with fear, and don’t yet see a way forward, as we wait for a new kind of normal.

Eight years ago, I preached in a chilly sanctuary full of people, and today I’m in a warm but empty sanctuary. And while I would never desire to repeat that experience, I can say that I have learned a few things from Hurricane Sandy. I have learned that a time of crisis really does reveal who people are at their core. I have seen God can and does use the compassion and generosity of people in times like these, and I hope you have seen these moments too, among the fear and the grief. And I encourage you to share these moments with one another. Where have you seen God at work in all of this?

Things are going to be challenging for a while longer yet – how long? We’re not sure. But we wait, with Mary, with Martha, and with Lazarus, knowing that our waiting is not in vain. The tomb will be opened, and we WILL be called forth, and unbound, to new and abundant life, alongside Jesus. Thanks be to God. AMEN.

Welcomed both Inside and Out

3-22- 20 
(This sermon was also livestreamed on Family of God Lutheran's facebook page) 

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.

My friend Beth Wartick, a Lutheran Pastor in Iowa – shout out to her, though she’s probably live streaming her own service - Besides being an awesome pastor, she has written for the Living Lutheran magazine, which is pretty awesome. She writes that she remembers when she was ten, and her mom told her the story of bringing her– Beth - to worship, only to be brought up short by another member who insisted that, because of how Beth was borm, God MUST BE punishing one or both of them. Punishment for what, you might ask? You see, Beth was born with one arm.

In her article, Pastor Beth reflects – “When congregations never talk about disability, it sends the message to people with disabilities and their loved ones that they don’t really matter to the church. And when congregations talk about disability thoughtlessly or unkindly, it sends another message—that people with disabilities aren’t really welcome.”

We are good at making judgments about what’s on the outside – skin color, biological gender, cultural values or economic status, weight, height, athletic ability, physical differences or visible disabilities. What happens when we perceive people as their whole selves instead?

In reading her article, I appreciated Pastor Beth’s reflection on being both “a lifelong Lutheran and a lifelong person with person with a disability,” and the call to the church to welcome both identities. She writes: “… Every member of the body of Christ has the responsibility and power to make every other member welcomed and included. “

In this really long reading from the Gospel of John you just heard, we get to experience a pretty clear mode of how NOT to do this.

Jesus and his disciples walked the road, when they met a man born blind. When the disciples saw this man, they instantly judged him and his parents as sinners, much like the people at Beth’s parents’ church. In the minds of the people in his community, his disability was an outward sign of someone’s sin, which was a common idea, both then and now. What is the parents’ sin, the man’s sin, the sin of one of his ancestors? It JUST HAD to be one of them who was at fault.

But Jesus refused to participate in this blaming and shaming. Instead, Jesus saw the man with more than just his eyes. He saw him through the eyes of God and viewed him as a child of God, worthy of love, instead of judgment and rejection. Jesus saw this man in need, separated from his community, and healed him. This is what Jesus is in the habit of doing – finding people who are on the outside.

And yet, even when this man who was born blind is now visually un-impaired, he is still on the outside. It’s almost funny, that after this man is healed, everyone in his life plays “pass the buck” with him. It’s as if once his “identifier” – being blind – is gone, he has no other identity in his community to speak of. They never saw him as a whole person – they only saw him as impaired, as someone to be pitied.

When his identity is taken out of that neat little box he had been placed in, people don’t know what to do! Their label for then man is gone, so he doesn’t make sense in their worldview anymore. It’s like they are grabbing at straws - accusing everyone of anything they can think of – the man is a sinner, his parents are sinners, Jesus is a sinner, this man must be Jesus’ disciple, back to this man must be a sinner…. And the man is driven out, back to the outside of his community.

While the man is again on the outside… Jesus AGAIN finds him. After Jesus gives him his sight, Jesus give the man something even better – agency… identity…. Empowerment. The man believed. And the man worshiped. But only once Jesus said, “…. You have seen him… AND the one SPEAKING with you is he.” Jesus went back to the sense that the man knew the best – hearing.

Jesus healed a lot of people, but he didn’t “cure” or “fix” everyone who could not see. But Jesus did come to wake us up and tune us in, to a new kind of reality. One where we are found and chosen by Jesus. A reality where no one thing defines who we are in our entirety. This reality is God’s reality, and it’s easy for us to miss if we’re not looking for it.

Those of us who drive on a regular basis know about something called “blind spots.” The first time you merge into another lane only to be honked at by another vehicle right there in your blind spot is a time you don’t soon forget.

Something looms so large in our minds that it pretty much blocks out everything else. Right now for most of us, that “big thing” blocking our view of the world is the Covid-19 virus and our world being on varying levels of hiatus and lock-down. Many of us have been putting in extra hours to keep everyone safe, or to construct a whole new way of doing things, including new ways of being the church.

Being safe, being healthy, washing our hands, buying toilet paper, staying up to date on the news… all these things we’re focusing on right now are not bad things. But when these things get in the way of fully being children of God by creating anxiety, inequality, and panic, we should probably scale back or reassess.  When we allow our desire for security to take over our lives, we miss the point of being part of God’s kingdom.  We box ourselves in by creating a world that is comfortable, yes, but is devoid of growth, risk, challenge, and even joy and love. Just as we box other people in when we only pay attention to what’s on the outside. But, to live in a box is not where God has called us to be – it is not who we are.

Unfortunately, many of us are sort of literally in a kind of box that we need to stay in, in order to remain safe, or in order to keep others safe. But even so, every single day, nearly every single moment, God breaks into our lives in surprising ways, providing us opportunities to respond to Jesus invitation. Right now, I am speaking to you in your phone or through your computer (hopefully!).  As I have been making phone calls to some of you, I hear that you are making calls to one another, checking in. This is the body of Christ at work! Keep it up! We are about keeping people included, even if we can’t see them in person.

This is a new kind of normal, not one that we had expected or anticipated…. Or are even properly prepared for, really. And some of us may feel off-kilter, at least I know that I do! Not unlike the man from this gospel:  this man’s entire existence had been turned utterly upside down… though he faced questions on all sides, by everyone he ever knew … he stuck with his gut, and stated what he DID know… “IF this man is not from God, he could do nothing.”

God IS doing something, all right. We might not be able to see what God is up to at every moment, with all of our fears and anxieties looming large. But we’re still here. The church is not what goes on in this building. The church is NOT the building. The church is you. Every week I say “Welcome, there is a place for you here.” But for the time being at least, that is going to change. Not the welcome part, but the “here” part. From now on, perhaps we should say, “Welcome, there is a place for you… with us. Wherever that ‘here’ may be for you.” Thanks be to God. Amen.