With Good Courage

 11-15-20 

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.

There is probably only one thing as challenging as having a tough text to preach on as your first sermon – having a tough text to preach on for the last one.

Way back at the beginning of Matthew, Jesus gives his inaugural address, which we also call “The sermon on the mount.” I don’t know if you all remember, when I started here at Family of God, we had just entered into the year of Matthew, with all those “fun” – meaning hard – texts from this Sermon on the Mount, about being salt and light, about murder and divorce, and turning the other cheek – getting into the deep end of our faith which is hard enough when you are jumping into a brand new pool.

Fast forward to the end of Jesus’ ministry – this parable comes days before the Last Supper and the crucifixion - and Jesus’s tone has changed a bit.  He might sound a little on edge here because Jesus knows where he’s headed – in just a few more chapters, Jesus will be leaving them. Jesus felt a strong sense of urgency, knowing he was running out of time.

This story we just heard comes directly on the heels of last week’s tale of the kingdom of heaven being like 10 bridesmaids waiting in the dark for the groom to arrive for the wedding reception with oil lamps. This too is another story that both makes us uncomfortable, but perhaps also confuses us by referencing things we don’t encounter in our everyday lives –  things like slaves and slave owners, and gigantic coins called Talents that were worth about 15-20 years’ salary at minimum wage – so… a good chunk of money.  

But there are plenty of things about this parable that ARE familiar – absentee landlords or managers, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, unfair division of resources, the fear of being at the whims of those in power, and the misery of being alone in the outer darkness.

In a year where many of us feel like we have nothing left to give, and even what little security we do have feels on the brink of being taken away, I believe that God is less like the absentee master than thousands of years of theologians may want us to think. THIS year… THIS parable makes me wonder… perhaps God is actually present with slave in the outer darkness. After all, not long after Jesus told this parable, he was cast out, rejected by those who held power, had everything taken away from him, nailed to a cross, and mourned by the faithful women who never left his side. The third slave made an impossible and controversial choice, a choice that we still don’t fully understand. This year espe3cially it feels as though there is no right choices, and at any moment we may face the “outer darkness,” if we are not already there.

We do know one thing - Jesus had the courage to make the hard choices, trusting that God is in control of the outcome. Therefore, as we navigate the challenging future we have before us, we know that we are doing the best we can, and God is with us no matter what.

A favorite prayer I have prayed often, which is found in our hymnal, is known as “The Servant’s Prayer." It goes: “O God, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go, but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hopefully we do travel the journey of this life “with good courage” knowing that the hand of God is leading the way, and the love of God keeps us going, like an ever present companion. The path twists and turns, it goes through scary and beautiful places. But no matter where it may take us, we are going to be ok.

I have been taking down the wall art I’d hung up to get ready for moving to the next venture that God has called me to. One is a picture that hung in my office, a gift from another goodbye, of baby Moses in his basket of reeds, rescued by the princess of Egypt. Another is a cross made out of broken ceramics put together with wise women, as we embraced our brokenness together and made something new and beautiful out of the broken pieces.

Another is a quote from C. S. Lewis, painted on wood reclaimed from the scrap pile, which says, “Courage, dear heart.” It’s a quote from one of the Narnia books, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The crew of the ship “The Dawn Treader” are lost in a magical cloud of darkness, and all despair of ever finding the way out. Then a white albatross flies overhead, whispers a message of hope – “Courage dear heart, and then flies away, leads the way out.

Take courage, dear heart, on all the paths the God takes you. Courage, dear heart, when you are tempted to bury your wonderful gifts of generosity and kindness. Courage, dear heart, as we all go forth into these ventures with unknown endings, knowing that God holds us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Lit for Jesus

 11-8-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

No one likes waiting. But we certainly did a lot of it this week – waiting in lines, waiting for news, waiting for colors on a map. Emotions were – and are – high. Some of us spent this week stress-eating or binging on Netflix shows. While I waited with everyone else, I read book called “Embodied: Clergy Women and the Solidarity of a Mothering God” written by an ELCA clergy mom. She had no idea that anyone would be reading her book during such a waiting moment when I read some of her wise advice: “Conventional wisdom invites us to count silently to ten before responding in emotionally fraught scenarios.” Perhaps waiting can be an opportunity for growth and self-examination, no matter how uncomfortable is feels.

Both wise and foolish bridesmaids were waiting ….waiting for the arrival of the bridegroom and the coming wedding celebration. Both wise and foolish bridesmaids fell asleep, since the bridegroom was taking SO LONG.

I wonder if the “wise” bridesmaids had been in this position before. Perhaps this was familiar to them, and they knew what to expect. They might have known that the night might be long, they might have known what it’s like to run out of oil. Perhaps they had been foolish bridesmaids in the past, and this time were ready for the long dark night ahead.

But shouldn’t this elicit some compassion toward the foolish bridesmaids on the part of the wise? Maybe not, given that the foolish bridesmaids demanded – “GIVE US some of your oil!”

The foolish bridesmaids are foolish not just because they didn’t come ready for a long night, but also because they DEMANDED that their more prepared sisters cough up some of their hard-earned and hard -won wisdom, I mean, oil. The foolish wanted a quick fix, and easy solution, with no work or suffering or accountability on their part.

The foolish bridesmaids were foolish because they didn’t stay in the dark. They didn’t trust the light of the other bridesmaids to carry them all through the night. They didn’t acknowledge their lack and ask for grace, but instead gave up, seeking a fast cure rather than trust in the other’s light, and in the love of the approaching bridegroom.

It’s been a tough week as well, tougher than most… and that’s saying something for 2020, after more than eight months of a pandemic. Today you might feel like ready and prepared to face whatever is next. Or you might feel foolish and unprepared, like your lamp is flickering and about to go out, and you too are panicking and wondering, why won’t Jesus just come and rescue us already????

We’re in the “in-between time,” waiting in a twilight world between two dawns. The world as we knew it is over, but we don’t quite know what the new world will be like.

Listen to the wise bridesmaids. We are not giving up. We won’t be distracted. We are not searching for a quick fix. We are in this for the long haul, folks, and we are in this TOGETHER. The going might be tough. The way might be hard to see. Our lamps might threaten to go out on us. And Jesus might take his sweet time showing up.

However. It seems that the kingdom of God is not a group project. If another “so called” member of the body of Christ demands your oil just because they couldn’t be bothered to do the work themselves… do not share. You have these words from Jesus himself – never ever bring half of your blazing, amazing self to the party.

Likewise, if you have not done the work… if you are not actually ready to show up for our siblings in Christ who are on fire doing God’s work of justice right now… DO NOT DEMAND FOR THEIR OIL. Do not challenge or argue the basic, human, God-given rights of others, when your rights have never been challenged, argued, or called into question. When we demand that are siblings show up as half of themselves for our comfort, we are no better than the foolish bridesmaids, shut out of the party.

To make it through this waiting time in one piece, together, as the body of Christ, we’re going to need all-hands-on-deck, and honor every single gift that God has given us. And that might mean, rather than diminishing others for our own needs and desires, to instead embrace basking in the blazing, beautiful light of others as they lead the way into God’s amazing party for all.

We’re still sitting in the night, but we can see and trust that the dawn is coming. Our siblings in Christ are lighting the way – Our black, native, latine, trans, immigrant, queer, women, no-binary members of our family. They are lit with the flames of justice, and our job is to let them show us the way to the fulfillment of God’s kingdom here on earth. A party where we are ALL invited. Thanks be to God, amen.

Sinners and Saints of God's Redeeming

 All Saints Sermon 11-1-20

Grace to you and peace from God the creator and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

How many of you remember when you were baptized? If you were a baby, and DON’T remember, let me remind you what happened that day. In the service of baptism, we are publicly acknowledging the fact God loves you and has chosen you to be his beloved child. If you were a baby, your parents promised to raise you so that you could live into this reality, both with their help and with God’s help. You would be welcomed into the company of God’s saints.

The truth is, we’re still going to mess up. Being a saint, a beloved child of God, does not mean that we are going to be perfect and nice all the time. That is not the Lutheran understanding of a saint – we don’t believe you have to be extra holy or perform miracles to qualify. We ALL are saints.

But… We’re still going to get frustrated at our kids or grandkids. we’re still going to want yell at people in traffic or for not wearing a mask. We’re still going to screw up our relationships and spend our money on things we don’t need and make judgments about people who are different from us.

But this is why Jesus didn’t just skip ahead to the cross to get to the “dying and rising for us part,” though that part is SUPER important, of course. Jesus knows that we need help, he knew we can’t do it alone. That’s why he walked around for three years saying stuff like “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Stuff that really is pretty obvious, but is actually really hard to do.

Martin Luther was on to something when he described our both-at-the-same-time realities like this – we are both 100% sinner and 100% saint, at the very same time. A few years ago at a conference in Philly I attended, one of the presenters greeted us this way… “Good morning saints…” (meager response) “Good morning sinners.” (robust response). Yes, and it went EXACTLY like that!!

THESE are the saints –those who don’t have it all together, those who carry heavy burdens with no one to help them, those who do good deeds behind the scenes with no notice, those who are lonely and ignored, those who humble themselves and serve others. Jesus calls THESE people saints. And I am sure that we can all find ourselves somewhere on this list.

God loves you. And God chose you as a beloved child of God. A sinner yes. But also, a saint.

At the end of every funeral service, we hear these words: “Into your hands, merciful God, we commend your servant. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive them into the arms of your mercy…. And into the glorious company of the saints in light.”

We lost many of our beloved saints this year, members of our community who we loved and valued. Where each and every one of them prefect in every single way? Certainly not. Were they still God’s saints? Absolutely yet. And Someday, we will too will join the saints who have gone before us, and rest in the arms of God’s mercy as we are laid to rest in the presence of our loved once. Today we remember them, and today we remember that promise. We are sinners redeemed by God, and saints of God’s own flock. Thanks be to God, amen.

"Taskmaster" Reformation Sunday

  Reformation Sunday Sermon 10-25-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit Amen.

Imagine if I were to climb into the pulpit today, and find a sealed envelope, containing at task to perform, from Martin Luther himself. 

(Opens envelope) “Reformation Sunday Challenge: You task is to preach a sermon that, to the best of your ability, integrates interpretations of the Bible readings with modern day relevance, in way that makes meaning and connections in people’s lives, and expands their understanding of God, their faith, their community, and themselves. You have ten to 15 minutes. Your time starts NOW.”

Sometime last this summer, we began watching newish British show called Taskmaster. 5 comedians are set ridiculous tasks performed under pressure, using creative and funny solutions, competing for points that are given by the highly subjective “Taskmaster.” These tasks range from – do something that will look impressive in reverse, eat as much watermelon as you can in 1 minute, or make the “best” noise.  The person with the most points at the end of each show wins that episode, and the winner of the most points at the end of the season is the Task Master Champion.

Some things are easy to judge – after all, you can measure how much watermelon is left, for example – but…. What constitutes the “best” noise? As you can imagine, the main gag of the show is navigating the mostly arbitrary whims of the draconian “Taskmaster.”

To our modern sensibilities, the world that Martin Luther lived in may seem equally nonsensical, most demonstrated by the confusing hierarchy, doctrines, and practices of the church at that time… especially on how a person “gets to heaven.” Earning indulgences – ways to shave years off of purgatory - must have felt a little bit like trying to earn points and navigate the nearly impossible tasks. Only this was very much not comedy. It was real life - a matter of life, death, the afterlife, and eternal damnation. And that set the stage for a monk named Martin Luther to call out this abuse of power of the church as a “real life Taskmaster” and to share his 95 objections this arbitrary “point system.” Which paved the way for us to be here today, over five centuries later.

And 15 centuries before Martin Luther, the taskmasters and gatekeepers of this point system in another form were very alive and well. In this and the previous chapter in Matthew, Jesus had been tested relentlessly, supervised by the religious leaders of his day. Last week we heard Jesus give a wise answer to a very tricky question about paying taxes. But apparently the religious leaders had one more demand up their sleeves.

With this newest question, the religious leaders would be able to gauge where the very core of Jesus’s teaching lies. “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” they demand to know. Who are you, really? What do you stand for? Answer us! Your time starts now!

As usual, and in a way very much consistent with Taskmaster the show, Jesus didn’t quite stay in the parameters he was given. Jesus did not reply with just one commandment, as they had asked, but instead two.  Apparently Jesus preferred a kind of both-and situation… which became a pretty solidly Lutheran idea a few centuries later. 

Jesus knew his Torah. He knew that loving God is intimately tied to loving your neighbor, and trying to separate one from the other is like trying to separate rice suspended in a jar of honey – part of an actual task in the show. Jesus said, “On THESE TWO commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In other words, every single letter of the law and every single word out of the mouths of the prophets are supported by these two commandments. Without them, the Old Testament, and the New Testament for that matter, would fall in a heap on the floor, useless, like a coat without a hook. 

But love is a complicated word. Just what kind of love is Jesus talking about here? There are many kinds to choose from. I love watching TaskMaster…  I love my cats… AND I love my family. Is love what we see on the big screen, like Love Actually? Is what we experience like a Taylor Swift song or more like “Love Hurts”?

The people of Jesus’ time knew about a dozen words for “love” – it’s hard to fathom so much meaning in our one little word, L-O-V-E. Trying to define love as we know and experience it is like trying to figure out the best way to impress the Mayor of Chesham, which was an actual task on Taskmaster.  

Most of the time, we think of love as a strong emotion attached to someone who is dear to us. We all certainly know what love feels like, whether you have experienced love for a parent, a child, a spouse, or a dear friend. But love is more than just what we feel, - it’s what we do to show that love, sometimes at great personal cost to ourselves. Perhaps you know a parent who has given up a career to care for an ill child, or a friend who struggles day to day caring for an aging parent.

Loving the Lord our God with our entire heart, soul, and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves not in impossible task judged by a tyrannical Taskmaster.  Jesus did not come to be human among us to give us more rules to follow, on top all the regular challenges that life brings. Jesus did not come even to narrow down the rules to just the “really important ones.” Jesus did not come to give us the minimum requirement of getting into heaven – Love God and Love your Neighbor – because that is a pretty big ask.

This is a task that takes a lifetime to complete, and but you won’t have to do it alone. This is actually a “Team Task,” and here are your companions, present with us virtually, literally a “cloud” of witnesses. And beyond this place, our siblings of faith in different countries are following the same path. And even beyond this time, the saints have walked this path before us, loving God and one another, are present as well, cheering us on.

This is a strange and wondrous life that Jesus has called us to. It may not take us to foreign countries or encounter other cultures… but this invitation might just push you to do things that will test you in the name of love. Things that may seem impossible, but given creativity and vision, could turn out pretty surprising and amazing. But then again, love is pretty amazing, as Jesus has shown us – love arriving in the form a helpless child, healing for the sick, feeding the hungry, and advocating for the vulnerable, defending the poor and lifting up the weak. This love looks like a cross. This love looks like an empty tomb.

Now, this love looks like us. This love, is our task. We are the hands and feet of Jesus, called to show God’s love to the world. Are we up the task? I think we are…

Just a few minutes ago, I had a task to perform. Now it’s your turn. This one is from Jesus:

(Opens second envelope): “People of God: You shall love the Lord your God will all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. You have… the rest of your life. Your time starts… Now!” Thanks be to God, amen.

Coins and Crown Tickets

 10-18-20

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Nine years ago this fall, I visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for the first time. After trekking all the way to Battery Park in New York City, waiting in line to get tickets, waiting in line to get on the ferry, waiting in line to get off the ferry, waiting in line to get through security…. It was only much later that it became clear – coming from the New Jersey side would have been much faster – there were almost no lines on that side!

In the famous great hall on Ellis Island is a stairway called the Stairs of Separation, which is divided into three sections – going to New Jersey, going to New York, and going to be detailed, maybe quarantined after failing the infamous health check.  I was surprised to learn that only steerage passengers arriving in the United States were subjected to the health check. Those with the money to upgrade to second class could skip over Ellis Island entirely!

Surely, over a hundred years later, things of this nature no longer happen… right? Imagine my surprise to learn that, at the Statue of Liberty, the purchase of the pricey Crown Tickets (to go all the way up to the top) allowed you to skip the rest of the line waiting to go through security at the statue and go right to the front.  Apparently no matter what era you live in – money talks.

Israel was a nation under the thumb of the oppressive and expansive Roman Empire… So, it was a matter of course that the Romans used their currency to remind the Jewish people who was boss. Currency that had the faces of Roman emperors on them, emperors who the Romans considered to also be gods. If you recall, this is in direct opposition to two dearly held beliefs of the Jewish faith – you shall have no other gods, and you shall make no grave images… (Remember that one from a few weeks ago?). But in order to function in society as a Roman occupied area, using these blasphemous Roman coins were compulsory.

In response, Jewish leaders found themselves in one of a few different factions with varying degrees of complicity or resistance to the Roman Empire. Of the two that are named in our text today, one is familiar to us - the Pharisees – the religious leaders with no love for Rome but tended to keep their heads down to retain their positions. We don’t know a lot about the other group – the Herodians -  except that they supported Herod, the ruler appointed by far-away Rome. Different groups with different perspectives, brought together by their mutual dislike of Jesus. As the saying goes, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

This encounter happens almost immediately after Jesus told that really difficult parable last week …. The Pharisees were quickly catching on that Jesus was talking about them, and saying things that would upset the delicate balance of survival. They had to figure out how to get rid of Jesus, and they decided to try to trick him into making a fatal mistake.

Together, these two groups devised a question with NO RIGHT ANSWER. “Is it lawful to pay taxes?” If Jesus says yes, then he would be validating the Roman oppression, which would probably anger his supporters and go against his message. But if he says NOT to paying, he could be in deep trouble with the Romans.

But Jesus was on to them. He had them bring in a coin, which they did- one with the emperor’s face imprinted on it… which is hilarious because they are currently having this little chat IN THE TEMPLE…. And Roman currency of any kind was banned from being used IN THE TEMPLE, for the reasons that I mentioned before. The Roman money needed to be changed… or exchanged… for the acceptable temple-approved coins… which could ONLY happen in one place: the temple. And we all know what tends to happen then there is a monopoly, or when a commodity is in high demand. Exchange rates are high, hurting the poor and most vulnerable worshipers… which sets the stage for Jesus flipping tables and running these money changer out of the temple in just a few chapters. 

Jesus sees straight through their load of baloney. We are filled with glee when Jesus retorts: “You hypocrites, Give to the empire what belongs to the empire….” But are a bit dismayed when he follows it up with - “And give to God what is God’s.” Just what does belong to the empire? And what does belong to God?

A better question to ask might be, what DOES NOT belong to God? Nothing. Because everything we have and everything we are belongs to God.

But we live in a world where we cannot seem to escape the Empire and all that comes with it. By empire here I am not referring to the Roman empire, but from the forces in the world that govern our lives and our time, the machinations that trap us in systems of oppression and oppressing one another. Wherever we go, we can’t escape being part of the system, or being on some level complicit in the empire and all that it represents.

Every time I hand over a bill with George Washington or Andrew Jackson on it, I am participating in this system. The coffee I love some much at Starbucks was probably harvested by people not being paid a living wage. The inexpensive dress I want to buy was almost certainly made in a sweatshop in Bangladesh or Honduras.

Like a coin bears the image and title of the Empire, WE bear the IMAGE of GOD, and bear the title of “beloved child of God,” when we were marked on our foreheads with the cross of Christ when we were baptized. I bear the image of God, and you bear the image of God, and both you and I are worthy of love and respect, and deserve being treated as such.

When we forget that we bear the image of God, we forget our humanity. We forget that all of us belong to God, and we must treat one another – AND OURSELVES – accordingly. When one of us who bears the image of God is not free, none of us, are. THAT is our work, as the image bearers of God - to free the oppressed, to believe the stories of the harassed, and to work for justice for ALL of God’s family.

What I do with my money matters, and it sends a signal to the rest of the world what my values are. It is my hope that at least most of the time I am using this money – God’s money – for things that align with God’s Kingdom rather than the Empire of the world.

As Pastor Meta Herrick Carlson writes in a poem about playing bills in her book “Ordinary Blessings:” “Each… payment [is] …. A testament to comfort and control, values and grit, need and greed, and inherent responsibility to ourselves, the vulnerable, future generations, and all of creation. May we consume with care, pay what is right, challenge power with justice until everyone can pay with dignity.”

There sure are a lot of little things we can do so that God’s money can do some good through our hands. We can buy fair trade coffee and chocolate, especially with the big holiday Reforma-ahem-Halloween coming up. We can purchase clothes second hand from local thrift stores where the profits benefit others. We can hold back on unnecessary purchases and instead donate to good causes we are passionate about. We can even learn to balance our budgets and so that we are able to be generous tithers to this congregation and all its missions. We can give the Empire back all the bad stuff it has given us, and instead give back to God what belongs to God: Everything. Our money, our possessions, our time, ourselves.

Nothing is too much or too little. We are enough. We belong to God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

"Say Yes to how Jesus Dressed"

 

Sermon 10-11-20

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.

Who would have guessed that, based on how 2020 was going, we would have a total of six baptisms this year? One of the things that I miss about not being able to do baptisms with the whole congregation present in person is carrying the baby around to say hi to all of her new siblings in Christ. In my first call congregation, my pastor colleague would hoist the newly baptized youngster around the sanctuary “Lion King Style” – we would sing “you have put on Christ, in him you have been baptized. Alleluia, alleluia.” And every time, I would marvel at his upper arm strength. 

When many of us were baptized, we were wearing a white gown to represent that we are now clothed in the grace, eternal life, and love that Jesus has promised to give us. In baptism, we are welcomed to God’s victory feast over death and the grave, which we receive a foretaste of whenever we celebrate Holy Communion.  In our baptisms, we are now invited to that feast, the biggest party in the universe, and there is a special place for us at the Lord’s Table. But with that special place also comes that special garb that we wear.

You might be familiar with the TV series “What Not to Wear.” Or you might watch award shows like the Emmys and the Grammys and hear the female actors be constantly bombarded with the question, “Who are you wearing?” When really, they should also be asked about, you know, their actual acting careers. Or even the show, “Say Yes to the Dress.” In preparing for a wedding, one of the big ticket items is THE BIG WHITE DRESS. Choosing THE DRESS. Finding the necessary accessorize for THE DRESS. On the big day, revealing THE DRESS. Everyone admiring THE DRESS.

In the parable for today, that feast in described as a wedding feast, or a wedding reception. God is compared to a king with a son who is getting married. Some scholars had said that the groom is Jesus, and the bride is the church. Martin Luther took this idea and ran with it – calling this “the happy exchange” or “the blessed exchange.” Even though we forget that a marriage is not JUST about the dress, or even the wedding itself, but really it is about two people linking everything they have – economically, emotionally, personally…. To be part of a partnership for the long haul.

 You know that funny saying about marriage that goes, “what’s yours in mine, and what’s mine is ours”? So, in this “blessed exchange,” what do WE bring to the relationship between Jesus and us? Honestly, not very much at all…. And what we DO bring is mostly not good. Sin, brokenness, pettiness, fear, hate, selfishness, and shame – not what we would exactly consider assets.

What does Jesus bring to the relationship? Everything. Life, resurrection, freedom, love, joy…. There is a reason it’s called the Blessed exchange. WE are the ones getting blessed. When we are chosen and named as beloved in our baptisms, at that moment Jesus gets all that WE have and all that HE has becomes ours, when we “put on Christ” and all that he has given us. Maybe not in a literal garment, but in the way we carry ourselves in the world.

A few weeks ago, in a Facebook group I’m in that’s called “Things they didn’t teach us in seminary,” a clergy person from another denomination posted about something interested that happened to him at a baptism he had just done. He asked, “What does a pastor say when a family shows up in church for a baptism and the grandfather tells you that the beautiful christening gown the baby is wearing (and the family has used for generations) was made by a family slave in 1836?”

I mean, what DO you say in the face of SUCH an intense dichotomy – the very white gown that is intended to represent our union with Christ gifted and clothed with free and abundant life is at the same time an item created under conditions that are the exact antitheses of this freedom – chattel slavery in the United States and the denial of human dignity toward another person. Honestly, it made my brain explode and took my breath away. I did not envy this pastor once bit.

I simply cannot fathom that, upon this baptized person’s deathbed in seventy, eighty, or ninety years from now, this child of God would be refused welcoming into God’s eternal rest because of the fraught history of his or her baptismal garment. I don’t believe that, based on what the baby was wearing, that their baptism can and would be invalidated.

However. At one point during our baptismal liturgy we do ask the parents and sponsors of the child being baptized to publically profess their faith… which does include a renunciation of certain things: the devil and all the forces that defy God, all the powers of this word that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw us from God. You all know that I love to bring up the fact that this part of our baptism liturgy comes from the ancient Christian right of exorcism – casting out and banishing evil forces in our midst. And don’t think it’s a stretch to say that chattel slavery is evil, and must be renounced…. Rather than taken pride in as a source of family history… ESPCIALLYALLY to co-opt something as symbolic as a baptismal garment on an infant.

It is also easy to take the high ground here, and be affronted at the apparent fragrant callousness and hypocrisy in this family… and maybe even this pastor. But….  How are WE doing at turning our backs on the forces of this world that defy, rebel, and draw us away from God? For example, do you know WHO you are wearing right now? When was the last time you checked the labels on your favorite T-shirt to see where the sweatshop was located that created it? Almost everything we wear was created by people across the ocean working for pennies a day in virtual slavery. Fast Fashion is an evil plague that destroys economies and ecosystems, and yet, there is almost no option to except it’s reach – almost all of our clothes are made this way.

And this is not even to mention the food we eat, the cars we drive, the hygiene products we use, the electronics we buy. Everything is tainted. We are all tainted. God has good reason not to let any of us “into heaven” for any and all of these reason alone.

However… do we really believe that God would do this? That God would toss one of God’s guests out into the cold, bound hand and foot, just because the guest was wearing the wrong thing? I don’t believe so.

Then if God isn’t the king… who is? And if Jesus isn’t the son or the groom in the story… what if Jesus is the ejected wedding guest?

“Come Lord Jesus, be our Guest” is a common table prayer that I grew up with. But what happens when Jesus does show up for you… but also refuses to play by the rules of power, privilege, and authority that we are used to and take for granted as the “way things are”… ? How are we going to react when Jesus instead, takes off his robe, takes up a towel, and tries to wash our feet and the feet of our neighbor? Let me give you a hint. It didn’t go very well for Jesus on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. But Jesus did it anyway. And so we are to as well.

As theologian Debie Thomas shares: “May we choose affliction over apathy, even when it costs us a spot in the palace.  May we refuse sham banquets while our cities burn and our streets run with blood.”

To wear the robe of Jesus – to fully embrace our baptismal promises, also means taking off the garments and trappings of the world. Hate, fear, a spirit of scarcity, privilege.

What SHOULD we wear? Love. Kindness. Generosity. Empathy. Justice. Mercy.

In short, we should be “wearing” everything that Jesus has so generously given to all of us.

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let THESE gifts, to us be blessed. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

"How Hard is it to Not Murder?"

 

Sermon 10-4-20

(I'm in a different location because of connection issues)

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.  

Imagine the topic of conversation between Moses and God, just after Moses presented the 10 Commandments to the people. God asks, how are things going? Moses replies, “Good! We’re working on the commandments… how hard is it to not murder?” God follows up by reminding Moses that God also told them not to depict God in any earthly form ... you know, so people wouldn’t get something silly in our heads about God looking like an old white man with a big beard… so, “Make no graven images.” Horrified and confused, Moses replies, didn’t you mean “make ….Caucasian images?”

This was actually a TikTokvideo made by Lutheran Pastor Emmy Kegler, playing off a recent trend to depict heavenly conversations where God clearly said one thing and someone else – an angel, the devil, Moses - misunderstands and ends up doing exact opposite of what God actually wants. For example, God wants the dinosaurs to be more muscular – “meatier” – and the angel hears “meteor.” Pastor Kegler’s TikTok is also a commentary on these videos themselves, because in almost all of the others, God is depicted with…. a big white beard.

I bet you never thought something as serious as the 10 commandments would become such a great subject of fun irreverent fun on a social media app. However, God actually “started it” the 10 commandments with a pun in Hebrew! I have heard it “loosely translated” as “I am Yahweh and not of these other Yahoos are allowed to be more important than me.”

I for one did not learn that in confirmation class…. Even though confirmation class was probably the last time most of us studied the 10 commandments for any length of time. How many of you memorized the Small Catechism in confirmation? I have a confession to make – I didn’t memorize it until my second year of seminary … its hard! You could tell when the second year seminary students were about to have their final exam when you them wandering glassy-eyed around campus, muttering to themselves “The first Commandment: You shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We are to fear, love and trust god about all things…”

I think that many of us, myself included, can tick off most of the 10 commandments and think “well, this week I didn’t murder anyone, I didn’t rob a bank, I didn’t sass off to my mom, and I haven’t wrongfully used the Lord’s name. All things considered, I think I’m actually doing pretty well.”

Let me tell you a little secret. The Ten Commandments were not given to us to make us holier people. God gave us the Ten Commandments in order to minimize the damage I could do against my neighbor, especially in Commandments four through ten.

Old Testament Guru Walter Brueggemann explains that Commandments 4-10 “all attest to a different kind of community in which others …. Are an end and not means, not threats to be killed, not objects to be exploited….” (Preaching the Old Testament, P. 57)

As God led God’s people out of bondage into freedom, God realized that the people needed to learn a new way to live. All too familiar was their old way of life – the damaging power structure, the constant need to consume, the tireless economy of productivity, and the endless tasks of Pharaoh. New patterns of free living must be learned in order to become a DIFFERENT kind of community. In this community – God’s community – you are not just responsible for yourself, but also accountable for the good of your neighbor. And how you treat your neighbor is a direct reflection of your relationship with God. 

Moses joked with God, “How hard is it do not murder?” Not so fast, Moses. well, as it turns out, it is actually much harder than it seems. In Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, Luther provided clarifications for each of the commandments. For the 5^th commandment, “you shall not murder,” Luther writes: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all life’s needs.”

As with each commandment, it is not enough to simply refrain from doing something bad. Keeping the 5^th commandment, for example, is NOT about NOT killing, pardon the double negative. Truly keeping the 5^th commandment as Luther adds, also means living together in unity and helping our neighbors out when they are in need. 

Just when we thought that one was in the bag! That rascally Luther, reminding us that living as God’s people is not just about doing the bare minimum!

This is something the people of God have struggled to get right since the 10 Commandments first existed - The people at the bottom of Mount Saini didn’t always – or even often – get it right. The people who eventually followed Jesus didn’t get it right. We don’t get it right.

Even religious authorities and leaders don’t always get it right. We are currently neck deep in the middle of some tough parables – Thanks Matthew! – and this one is certainly a doozy. This one especially has a long history in being used as justification for anti-Semitic violence… even murder, through events like the Holocaust – this parable proves that Jesus thinks violence and murder is ok, right?  Well, actually, when Jesus asked the religious elite – pastors and theologians of his day – what the landowner should do to the evil tenants… it is the PASTORS and THEOLOGIANS who say – “the king should put those terrible people to a miserable death!”

And Jesus NEVER condones violence and murder. Not for one hot second. Instead, perhaps for that very answer, Jesus basically says “don’t you guys read the Bible? Did you hear what just came out of your mouth? You, who claim to intimately know the will of God? You have just cast God in your own image, and you couldn’t be more wrong.”

God is not a king or Pharaoh who tosses people aside and murders on a whim. God is not a harsh task master of productivity or a strict arbiter of rules. God does not glorify violence. And when we cast God in this way – making God in images we are familiar with – exclusively in the image of power, hierarchy, authority in the guise of old bearded Caucasian men… God gets ANGRY and HURT when we do this. Just as God is angry and hurt when we meet God with violence – in the ways we continually are creating violence against those who bear the image of God… our neighbors.

We create violence against one another in all kinds of ways– physical, mental, emotional, systemic, institutional, and environmental. We do horrible things to one another out of fear, and injuries fester and poison our relationships. But God never meets violence with more violence. God never meets our violence with more violence. God does not act like us…. God does not look like us….. and yet, God’s image can be found in the likes of ALL Of us.

Who is God then? God is love. And God created us to love. Jesus is the love of God with skin on, literally love fleshed out. And WE are the love of God with skin on. Love asks us for our words and our deeds to be life-giving, not life-limiting. And, ironically, these Ten Commandments God gave us help us to live into this more fully.

We – together - are called to be part of a different kind of community - the kingdom of God, where we all find welcome, where we all are made whole. This community defies time and space, spans political parties and world views, resists racial and economic divides. A community that doesn’t just refrain from doing harm, but instead intentionally acts for the good of our neighbors. That is the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, which we are all part of. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

 

Funeral Sermon

 Funeral Sermon for Dennis Fly

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.

A couple of summers ago, we planned a special service where members of Family of God could vote for their favorite hymns, and the “winners” would be sing and heard one of the Sundays in August.. I joked that everyone should write their name on their ballot, so that we knew people only voted once. As it turns out, this is how I discovered that Denny voted…. three times...and each time for different hymns (even though some of them do overlap!). Some of his voting selections were used in the prelude and postlude for today’s service.

Denny’s approach to voting for his favorite hymns – enthusiastically all-in - reveals the kind of person Denny was. That man never seemed to slow down, not for one second, all through the course of his life. He was a force of nature. No one and nothing could stop him – not from planning and building what seems like 90 percent of this church building, not from popping in on a weekday to fix something wrong with the carpet, not from having connections to nearly every single person worth knowing within a 10 mile radius.

While nothing could stop his spirit, we all know that the breakneck-pace of his life often took a toll on his body… and often his relationships. And many time it felt like no sooner had he conquered one hurtle, only to be faced with another, and knocked off his feet – sometimes literally – once again. Here was a man who looked suffering and hardship in the face many times… and it showed. Denny was stubborn. He had opinions. He had been hurt and let down, over and over and over again. And somehow he kept going, sometimes in ways that took my breath away.

Whenever I talked to Denny this past summer what he said frustrated him the most was just sitting on his “cotton-picking back doing nothing,” not able to be at home, not being able to take care of and look after Sandee. Looking at those same four walls of that room for the past six months probably made him long for the rooms he wanted to be – at home with the people he loved and those who loved him. If possible, making a latte.

While Denny spent his life building – building walls and rooms and homes, mostly for other people – Jesus was preparing a room and a home for Denny. While Denny was building the pews and furniture … and the CROSS in THIS very room, Jesus was preparing a place for him.

As Denny described, he was once assisting during worship, when after the service his mother asked him why there was no cross above the altar. The next week, his mother suddenly passed away. As Denny sought a way to honor his mother’s memory, weeks and months passed, and the beginning of the season of Advent brought inspiration – a star in the shape of a cross, the like Star of Bethlehem. But the Star Cross seemed to need something… So, from a restoration project his parents had helped with, wood from an oak barn received new life in the shape of a larger cross.

In Denny’s own words, he described this special cross this way: “The Star enlightening the Shepherds and Wise Men, to come to witness the Birth of Our lord Jesus, the Christ Child, then a space in time reflecting the life and work of Jesus, and following to the heavy cross being carried by Christ to his Crucifixion and death and then after 3 days, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ!” with an exclamation point.

When Jesus was eating his last meal with his followers, in that upper room just before Jesus’ death, his disciples were worried about what the future would hold. Jesus reassures them, for his is going to prepare a place for them. In God’s house, there are lots of room, he tells them. Not only will there be a place prepared for them, but Jesus himself is going to lead them there.

Jesus’ promise is not just for his disciples at the time Jesus walked this earth, but it is for all people at all times. This promise was present for Denny during his life and in his death. This promise is for you, right here and now. Jesus always makes a way, and makes room for us, just as Jesus prepared a place for Denny, after a lifetime of preparing places for others.

We cannot prevent setbacks, but we aren’t alone in our struggles and grief. We cannot defeat the power of death over us, but Jesus can. And Jesus did, by dying on the cross and rising again. Jesus took the sting out of death. He overpowered it, conquering it with the power of his love. Even though those we love still leave us, we trust that in sharing in Christ’s death, we also share in Christ’s resurrection.

This same God who promised to walk with Denny through his hills and valleys is the same loving God who promises to walk with US through our own valleys of shadow and grief. God does not let us tread this sorrowful path alone. Our loving God sent his son Jesus to travel this path ahead of us and with us, so that we may someday join him in sharing eternal life with God, as Denny done before us.

Today, in this hour of sadness and grief, we commit beloved father, grandfather, and friend Denny to the care of God, the author of his life. Though this earthly song has now ended, the song of his legacy plays on. The music of his life is now joined with the heavenly chorus. I believe that we might hear him singing, with the heavenly host, the words of one of his favorite hymns,

God’s word forever shall abide, no thanks to those who fear it. 

For God fights by our side, with weapons of the spirit.  

Were they to take our house, goods, honor, child, or spouse,

thou life be wrenched away, they cannot with the day: The Kingdom’s ours forever.

We are God’s forever. Denny is God’s forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Go with God's Authority

 9-27-20

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.

We all live under some sort of authority, whether we are aware of it or not. Some kinds are obvious – traffic laws, taxes, phone contracts, mortgage and loan agreements, state and local mask mandates. Some of the systems we comply with are less noticeable – who bullies and gets bullied on social media, who is more likely to speak in a zoom meeting, how much the same house is appraised for based on the perceived skin color of the owner, among others.

We have been very well trained. We all know how to navigate the rules of this world, both consciously and unconsciously. We know what scripts to recite and what patterns to follow, from what we see in TV commercials and online ads, from newspaper fliers, from what we see from our neighbors and classmates, from the conversations and interactions we have with our family and friends.

And for some of us, following the rules WORKS. Because some of us were born the right color or with the right biology, or in the right country to the right family. Following the rules of the world comes much easier for some than for others. This is what is called “privilege.” We didn’t earn it or do anything special to deserve it. But it is the air we breathe.

But one wrong move, one misstep, and we will find ourselves with those people, on the outside looking in. There is no room for failure. There is no room for nuance. When a white female Methodist pastor in the Midwest is outspoken for justice, her bishop reserves the right to fire her without recourse. This particular pastor will find out later this week if she will be fired, effective immediately, just because she said “Black Lives Matter” in a sermon.

But, rules are rules, I guess. (heavy sarcasm) 

And when they DO work for us, it can be hard to change them. Those people are those people for a reason...right? We who have done everything right, like those have worked in the vineyard from dawn until dusk from last week, we feel we DESERVE to be first in the kingdom of this world, and perhaps also in the Kingdom of God, don’t we?

How dare this Midwestern pastor take a stand on something that is so clearly at the heart of the Gospels? Like, where does SHE get off, living into what it means to follow a first-century Palestinian Jewish man? … a man who had the audacity to hang out with the wrong people and heals the blind, who rides into town on a donkey in an impromptu parade and kicks the economy of the empire in the teeth… like does she even KNOW who Jesus IS and what he PREACHED?

It turns out she does. And that is making the authorities over her uncomfortable.

Jesus makes us uncomfortable because he reminds us that we are as broken and hopeless as THOSE people seem to be, the tax collectors and sex workers, and people left behind by a broken health care system. These are exactly the kinds of people Jesus chooses to hang out with. He reminds us that we can follow all the “rules” to a tee and still be on the wrong side of history.  

Jesus makes us uncomfortable because he reminds us that there is another kingdom out there, a kingdom with a very different kind of authority. This is the authority of God, shown to us in Jesus.  To live under this kind of authority REALLY makes no sense to the world. This is not a kingdom where rules completely go out the window. This is a kingdom where the rule of the realm is love, condensed and concentrated into the living, dying, and rising of Jesus.

At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gave his followers a great charge: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… and I WILL BE WITH YOU.”

And in this text for today, instead of arguing with the smarty pants religious authorities of his day, Jesus told them a story instead – about a man with two sons and two different responses to his charge for them to “Go.”

Our vineyard, where Jesus commands us to go and work, could be far away among those “all nations.” More likely, though, our vineyards are the zoom classrooms we attend, our place of work, the people we sit in the yard with, who we attend worship with and greet in the comment section, and drive on the same highways with. Sometimes our vineyard is right in our own homes with our own families, especially now that many activities are taking place online.

And the work that we do there is not always easy to figure out. God has not left us with a book of easy-to-follow instructions on “how to successfully make disciples of all nations 100% of the time.” In fact, we may not want to go into the vineyard at all! It’s so hard, and I’m not very good at it, and what can I even do, anyway? Especially now, with a pandemic on! We’ve never done this before!

The good news is that we are not alone in this work – we have the whole church on earth, past, present, and future.

The bad news is, the church in a human institution.  Seventeen centuries ago when the church suddenly found itself with authority instead of being on the margins, we lost a potent opportunity. Instead of showing the world a different kind of power and authority, the kind of servant heart exhibited by Jesus, the church instead chose to tread the path of hierarchy and supremacy, copying what already existed in the world. In other words, the institutional church told Jesus “Yes,”… but then we didn’t follow through.

But it is not too late. There is hope for us. While we cannot undo the wrongs of the past, we CAN and SHOULD stop them from happening in the present. We can confront injustices in the name of Christ. As a church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be a servant to those in need and a witness to where the Spirit is at work the world.

As I learned from the board retreat of LAMPa this week, this year is the 500^th anniversary of the most revolutionary essay that Martin Luther wrote called “The Freedom of a Christian.” In this essay, Luther writes about how we as Christians are “perfectly free…. subject to none.” BUT ALSO:  Christians are “perfectly dutiful servant[s] of all, subject of all.”

Luther wrote: "Christian[s] … do not live in themselves but in Christ and their neighbor, or else they are not Christian," "They live in Christ through faith and in the neighbor through love. Through faith they are caught up beyond themselves into God; likewise through love they fall down beneath themselves into the neighbor — remaining nevertheless always in God and God's love."

We don’t serve the world. We don’t serve the economy. We don’t serve institutions, even if it is the church. We serve Jesus, and we do that be serving our neighbor. We serve our neighbors Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Jacob Blake, the trans teen kicked out of their home by their parents, the foster child that who has never known a home, Savanna and other the indigenous and native women who have gone missing, singles moms who use SNAP, the two-hundred thousand people who have contracted and died from Covid-19, including members of this congregation. How are we serving them?

These people were made in the image of God… just as we are made in the image of God. We are chosen and anointed in our baptisms and then we are called out – under God’s authority - into the vineyard where the work of justice is always taking place. God is always at work in turning us into God’s people. God is always turning bad news into good news…. God is always turning “nos” into “yesses.” And whether today is a yes day or a no day, at the end of the day we are still God’s children. God still says YES to us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

The Purple Blob of God's Love

 9-20-20 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and from our savior Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, amen.

You may remember that I might have mentioned Pine Lake Lutheran Camp in Waupaca Wisconsin… once or twice before. They, like many camps across the country, have suspended normal camp, and instead need to support themselves in creative ways, such as offering individual all those empty cabins to families for some vacation time. And when I heard Pine Lake was doing the same, we jumped at the chance to support this place that had been integral to my own call as a pastor. As we walked around the camp, I fondly remembered the songs, games, evening campfires, and funny skits we would do as a staff, especially one of my favorites, the Purple Blob skit.

It goes something like this – a single person goes to the front, pretending to carry a large purple blob with both arms. They narrate how much the LOVE big purple blob. In succession, various individuals enter, chat, and ask to have some of the blob. When the blob-carrier refuses, their friend goes away sad, and each time, the blob gets smaller, until eventually the blob is small enough to fit in the palm of their hand. Terrified their beloved blob will disappear, the person decides to try something different: to share. All the same people come back through, one by one, this time given some of the blob, which is shown to get bigger, and bigger by how wide everyone’s arms are. At the very end, unable to contain the blob any longer, the Big Purple Blob is tossed into the audience.

This skit is both bad math….  AND good Lutheran doctrine. One of our core Lutheran tenants is idea that we are at the same time both sinner and saint. The fancy Latin way to say this is simil iustus et peccator. One hundred percent sinner in desperate need of God’s grace. And one hundred percent saint saved by that grace in our baptisms. One hundred percent AND one hundred percent.  You might remember that I talked about it this spring over Facebook live…. Only 6 months but feeling like a million years ago.

This is Purple Blob Math… God’s math. It is math that doesn’t make sense to us and the world that we live in. And there are other examples of God’s math, adapted from a post a friend of mine shared on Facebook:

Jesus equals = One whole human nature + one whole divine nature

1 + 1 + 1 = 1 (that’s the Trinity, by the way – Father, Son, Holy Spirit, three in one and one in three at the same time)

This one is from two weeks ago:  where 2 or more are gathered (or “n”) always equals another guy (Jesus) is there or “n” + 1.

One sheep (greater than sign, or more important than) ninety-nine sheep. Also, one coin is greater than 9 coins.

God's love (minus) love that you give away = MORE of God’s love than what we had to start with…. Like with the Purple Blob of God’s Love.

And then from this week we get a couple of whopping examples of “Purple Blob Math.” Twelve hours of work equals one day's wages… but then one hour of work ALSO equals one day's wages! One twelfth equals to twelve-twelfths!  The last will be first, and the first will be last! This is certainly some “purple blob math”!

Perhaps then it is not so surprising that Jesus used stories and not math as a teaching tool over the course of his ministry. I’ve shared before how these stories are called “parables,” which comes from a word that means “to cast alongside,” “Consider A by considering B.” These parables of Jesus are often hard to swallow, because they resist easy comparisons. They are not really analogies or allegories, where one thing clearly stands in – or equals, if you will – another thing. They are vignettes and snippets, combining elements of real life, both a shorthand of things we find familiar. Until everything familiar gets upended…which also happens to be one of Jesus’s favorite things to do.

Like the original owner of the purple blob believed at the start of the skit, we live in a culture that convinces us that scarcity is the name of the game. If you have more, that means that I have less. We are constantly looking at what our neighbor has and compared to what we lack. If we see our neighbor being blessed in some way, we are tempted to feel resentful and left out.  If another group gets something that we thought only belonged to us, we feel less valued. So they hang on to what little they do have with a vengeance…. But they may find, like the kid in the skit, the purple blob gets smaller and smaller when we live that way.

There is even an acronym for this that is floating around social media: FOMO. Fear Of Missing Out – the anxiety that comes with missed opportunities that often happens when we are preoccupied with what other people are doing. Much like the workers who labored all day, as they complained against the others who worked fewer hours but got the same about of pay. Instead of being satisfied that the vineyard owner gave ALL of them a fair daily wage, some peeked over the shoulder of the other workers, and felt cheated. They feared that they missed out on something that they imagine COULD have been MORE, and belittling the generosity of the employer, instead of realizing that what THEY have is enough.

Right now many people are treating some lives as less important, invisible in our society, but they matter to God, and they should matter to us. With our actions, the church can say, “these people matter too, and they are enough.” Because we know that it won’t make us matter LESS in God’s eyes. Until we all ACT like ALL lives really are precious, loved, and worthy, we HAVE to lift up Black lives, Trans lives, Homeless lives, and the lives of the most vulnerable among us.

Some things should not be considered a zero-sum game. Love… equality… freedom … “mattering”…. Saying one person matters does not mean that other people matter less. It just means that some people are being treated as mattering less and we are bringing it to everyone’s attention, so that we can take corrective action together and right the injustices in our world. Until we live in a world where all lives are treated the same, we who have privilege and voice must speak up.

At the end of the day, we all need to eat, whether we worked one hour or twelve…. Or none at all. And we all get the same amount of God’s love – all of it – not that we have done anything to deserve it. We each get an infinite amount of God’s love, and there is still an infinite amount left over. If you haven’t noticed, big purple blog math is Grace… another deeply cherished Lutheran idea. Grace is God’s purple blob math in a nutshell.

The world doesn’t want us to live by God’s math, aka grace. And the sinner-ness in all of us doesn’t want to live by this math either. But that is what our baptisms are for – a place where we begin to live by the purple blob math of God’s grace.

We were baptized once, though we also need to repent and remember our baptisms daily. We were baptized with water that wasn’t just plain water, but is also infused with the Holy Spirit and a promise. At every moment, we are both our old sinful selves and our new baptized selves. Baptism is a kind of death – to sin – so that we may have life – raised as Jesus was raised from the dead. We were born once, but in baptism, we are reborn as children of God, marked by the cross of Christ on our foreheads… invisible…. Part of a larger whole and not to be kept to yourself…. Like the big purple blob that is the body of Christ, meant to be shared with the world.

It’s everywhere, and we cannot escape this grace. Thanks be to God, and big purple blog math. Amen.