Walking in the Light of God for the Next 500 Years

Reformation 10-29-17

(Video of my sermon here, sorry for the terrible angle)

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

Did you all know that the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation is this year? Haha, of course you did. And actually, this is exactly what we are celebrating today – that five hundred years ago on October 31^st, 1517, a monk and professor at Wittenberg University nailed a sheet of paper to the church door and the world would never be the same. What was on the piece of paper, you ask, that was so radical that we still are feeling the ripples down through the ages to this day? It was 95 thoughts on the practice of the time of selling something called Indulgences. Hmm… sounds pretty boring and irrelevant to our lives right now, 500 years later… or it is?

Now, bear with me for just a little bit before our eyes roll back into our heads from Church History Bored. The church at the time of Luther created an elaborate system of forgiveness. You sinned, you went to confession, then you could take communion and be forgiven. But Luther noticed a big shift when indulgences came along. Fewer and fewer people were interested in confession and seeking ACTUAL repentance. Instead, they bought indulgences, a piece of paper that forgave you. Imagine, or just a few coins, you had a “permission slip for any sin” - past, present, future… for yourself or any of your loved one.

If the 1500s had commercials, Luther might have seen one like this – Having problems shopping for a perfect Christmas gift for “hard to shop for family members”? Look no further! Introducing “Indulgences!” Forgiveness of any sin, any time! No expiration dates! No strings attached! Transferable AND portable! The perfect medieval stocking stuffer – yours for only a few of your hard-earned coins!

This sounds completely ridiculous, because it is. Ridiculous, and exploitative, since it not only played on people’s fears about hell, but the money was also for an extravagant papal building project in faraway Rome. Indulgences gave people permission to trust in a piece of paper rather than on the grace of God.

Enter Luther, a hammer, 95 theses, and a church door.

Martin Luther had to remind us that there NO WAY we can buy our way into God’s good graces. We are in bondage to sin, and cannot free ourselves. But this grace has already been given to us, free of charge. Grace is not for sale, at any price.

The repercussions of Luther’s ideas have reverberating throughout the centuries, and throughout the world. At the Lutheran World Federation 12^th Assembly I attended and preached at in May, every one of the sub themes related to something being “not for sale.” “Creation, not for sale…” “Human beings, not for sale….” And “Salvation, not for sale.”

Dr. Monica Melanchton

On the day of “Salvation, not for sale,” presenter Dr. Monica Melanchton from India shared that the 95 theses affirmed human dignity. She told us that “the selling of indulgences reduces the believer to a mere consumer of religious goods.” Dr. Melanchton reminded us that salvation is not an abstract theological concept, or a commodity to be bought and sold, or even hoarded and then given away by Westerners to 3^rd world countries.

Dr. Melanchton shared a poem I won’t soon forget, told from the perspective of a woman in India who survives starvation and experiences the love of God as food in a famine-stricken area. The poem goes, “I can hope to live one day more, for you made God come to me as 200 grams of gruel… Now I know what you are speaking about, for God so loved the world … every noon through you.”

In the poem, no one bought the starving woman an indulgence. No one told her “our thoughts are prayers are with you” and then stood by to watch her starve. God became incarnate to her through 200 grams of gruel, and the hands that provided her that food every day at noon. God becomes incarnate through these works of mercy. God becomes incarnate as we gather together in the breaking of the bread, then going out into the world to share that bread with others in need.

We are saved by grace through faith given to us by a generous God. But we cannot make Grace into a new kind of indulgence, giving us permission NOT to follow God’s call into the world to do acts of mercy. Not so that we may earn our way into heaven – which we can never do – but because “God loves the world…. THROUGH US.”

Martin Luther’s Thesis #42 reads, “Christian are to be taught that the pope does not intend that the buying of indulgences should in any way be compared with works of mercy.” Followed by #43: “Christians are to be taught that the one who gives to a poor person or lends to the needy does a better deed than if a person acquires indulgences.” Still think that the 95 theses are dusty old relics?

The ELCA has a tagline that goes “God’s work, our hands.” God used our hands this weekend when we packed meals for Feed My Starving Children – which, by the way, I think Martin Luther would have loved the fact that we celebrated the Reformation through acts of mercy rather than yet another brat fry or German fest (not that there is anything wrong with them). But perhaps a better use of our celebration would be to let God use our hands, and also to acknowledge that the work of the Reformation that continues around the world.

Turning over our check to FMSC (Second in amount to Merck Insurance!)

FMSC Meal Packing Event

The Lutheran World Federation was clear last May in it’s world-wide commitments in working for justice for the environment and for women, and to reform the church in a way that is “Global, Ecumenical, and Ongoing.  So, for the LWF to have gathered for the 12^th assembly in Namibia - a place that has seen its fair share of hardship, colonialism, and apartheid - was a pretty big deal.

During the Global Commemoration service during the assembly, Bishop Zephania Kameeta preached to the ten thousand Lutherans  from all over the world on this very text. Here in today’s reading, the Jewish people aren’t the “bad guys” – they are simply voicing a question that we all would have asked Jesus – “what do you mean, that we are not free?”

As Americans, WE have never been under the heavy yoke of colonialism or apartheid as places like Namibia have experienced….oh wait… Except that we HAVE. But having thrown off OUR English overlords, we have become a colonial power, imposing our way of life wherever we go. And we have created our own version of apartheid in the form of racism - more subtle, but no less evil in nature.

As Bishop Kameeta preached: “All this can be true that we are not slaves of anyone, but we certainly can be slaves of ourselves.”

Even in our celebration of the 500^th anniversary of the Reformation, we can easily become enslaved to the rosy picture of our past. We have become enslaved to our privilege as Americans, we have become enslaved to our whiteness, we have become enslaved to our heritage and the temptation to drive into the future while looking into the rearview mirror.

I’ll be honest, one of the things I was most looking forward to about the Global Commemoration service in Namibia was to sing “A Mighty Fortress” AKA the “Lutheran Theme Song” with ten thousand Lutherans from around the world. I was totally anticipating all the goosebumps, and feeling absolutely swept away in wonder…. And I was absolutely disappointed. Somehow my section in the stadium got completely lost and we ended up singing the last verse twice. So much for a transcendent experience.

… Except, I DID have EXACTLY the experience I was EXPECTING… at the END of the Global Commemoration service… when ten thousand Lutherans from all the world sang the South African hymn “We are Marching in the Light of God.” It was like an out of body experience. It was a moment beyond time, beyond sight, beyond language or thought. In that moment, together, we were Africans, Europeans, Asians, Middle Easterners, North and South Americans – TOGETHER, the body of Christ, one family of God.  In that moment, I got to see what the kingdom of God looked like, felt light, SOUNDED like. 

It looked like diversity, sounded like harmony, and felt like unity.

As one, with our beautiful harmonies ringing to heaven, we proclaimed to one another that the Reformation will live on in us… that we will march together, sing together, pray together, proclaim freedom together, all while being sustained by the light and love of God.

When we continue to walk in the light of God, as Bishop Kameeta said, “the amazing Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the over the top love of God, and the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit will be with all of us.”

May this be our prayer for the next 500 years. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Scavenger Hunts: What I do best!

I'm leading this activity at Miliken Park in downtown Detroit on Thursday.

Detroit Riverwalk Photo Selfie Contest 2015

Be creative! Be respectful!

Post to #RiseUpELCA

Let’s see your best selfie/video as you…

o  Be a vampire next to the Cullen Family Carousel

o  Optional bonus point: Selfie ON the Carousel (rides are $1)

o  Pose with downtown Detroit in the background

o  Do your best Canadian Impression with Canada in the background (optional video)

o  Pose with the Memorial Statue

o  Be a duck/bird/penguin in the wetlands

o  Be a frog impression on Lilly Pad lane

o  Do your best rendition of “this little light of mine” in front of or including the Milliken State Park Lighthouse

o  Do an impression of reeling in the biggest catch of your life from the river or pond

o  Do your best Yoga or Tai Chi Selfies (there are yoga and tai chi groups that often use the park)

o  Do a Tuesday night bus-reenactment selfie

o  Show your best bedhead recreation (or current bedhead)

o  Do your best performance of “Detroit is alive… with the sound of 30,000 Lutherans!” (The Sound of Music)

o  Do a performance of “Uptown Funk” dance moves

o  Pose with anything cool you see

o  Your best map-reading selfie on the giant map in the sidewalk (look lost, point in different directions…)

o  Make up a “Rise Up” Cheer

o  Sing/ reinact any song that has the word “river” in it

o  Sing/act out your favorite Motown song (Google it!)

o  Practice your “wave” for Ford Field

o  Make up your own!

Transfiguration Sunday: Being Resplendent

I read through verse:10. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.”

Grace and peace to you from God our father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen.
Frankly, sometimes the Bible can be pretty gosh darn weird. Every year, at the end of the season of Epiphany, and on the brink of the season of Lent, we get this strange little story from Matthew, Luke, and this year we hear from Mark– where Jesus - literally - lights up brighter than the Griswold’s house at Christmas. And right now, it kinda looks like it with all this snow!!

But perhaps it’s not quite as weird as we may think. After all, the season of Epiphany is all about light shining in the darkness. It began with the shining of a star high up in the sky, which led distant wise men to a child with the face of God, who would grow up to be the king and savior of all. And so it sort of makes sense that Epiphany ends with that same child, now all grown up, whose clothes and face and whole being are shining dazzlingly bright, high up on a mountaintop.

This is the perfect story to shake us out of our winter doldrums, isn’t it? Forget all that snow and bitter temperatures without Christmas to look forward to, forget the clearance Valentine’s Day candy and the onslaught of President’s Day sales. THIS is a story to get psyched about! Because it isn’t just a story about Jesus. It’s also a story about us. It’s a story… about… you.

For Mark, Jesus’s story begins with his baptism, where the heavens are torn apart and a voice from heaven says, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? Today we find ourselves right in the middle of the story of Jesus that Mark tells, at the event of Jesus’ transfiguration, where Jesus is transformed before his disciples and revealed his true resplendent nature.

Did you catch that word - “resplendent” - in the prayer of the day? I think it’s such a great word: Resplendent – adjective; attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous. Synonyms: splendid, magnificent, brilliant, dazzling, glittering, gorgeous, impressive, imposing, spectacular, striking, stunning, majestic; splendiferous.

Yeah, I think it would be accurate to say that Jesus is splendiferous, as well as resplendent.  … But Jesus wasn’t resplendent of his own doing. Up on that mountain top, God made Jesus resplendent and God called him Beloved, just the same as God did on the day of his baptism.

The day that YOU were baptized, you likely wore a brilliantly white gown – perhaps not quite AS white Jesus’s was. But you might have still had a special glow about you, the glow that comes from being surrounded by the love of your parents, the love of your family, the love of your sponsors and congregation, and the love of God. That day, YOU became beloved, AND YOU became resplendent.

But the glow fades, and life moves on. We grow up, and it becomes easy to think that over time we tend to out-GROW our baptisms, like outgrowing a pair of shoes. But what if our baptisms are something that we are always growing INTO? – sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly over time, sometimes smoothly and sometimes (maybe too often) in fits and starts… hopefully, though, always moving forward, more or less, toward working out what it really means to be BELOVED and RESPLENDENT.

So perhaps THIS is why the baptismal gowns that we put on our babies tend to be much too long for them. As if it’s going to take a little time for them to grow into their baptism and figure out how to wear it. And for most of us, this is a process that we’re still figuring out, year by year, day by day, moment by resplendent, transformational moment.

But just who am I to be resplendent, anyway? Most of the time, I don’t FEEL very resplendent. Being resplendent, LIVING resplendent is kind of uncomfortable, and even scary at times. People notice. Much easier, much more comfortable is it to stay up there on the mountain, where it feels safe. After all, that’s what Peter suggests. He knows full well that the world down there is a very dark and fearful place. Better to dig in a put off dealing with that scary world for as long as possible.

 I think that the poet Marianne Williamson shines a direct spotlight the thing we are ACTUALLY afraid of. She writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” (Here I would add RESPLENDENT and AWESOME) But she goes on: “Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God….We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.”

I’ll say it again – YOU were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within you. And how does that happen? Year by year, day by day, moment by resplendent, transformational moment.
Now this moment looks different for everyone. Sometimes they are big, resplendent, beacon-on-the-mountain-top experiences. Other times, it’s more like a small candle that bravely burns in the blackest night. Sometimes you even have lots of these moments. You can have them at five, fifty-five, or a hundred and five. But you all have had them, or will have them if you haven’t already.

And you COULD keep these resplendent moments to yourselves, like a dark little secret. OR you can be like the disciples, and be really bad secret keepers. The disciples in Mark often get a bum rap for being examples of the “what NOT to do” brigade, but THIS TIME I’m telling you to be like them! Blab! Blab like to disciples! Because we wouldn’t be here now, would we, if they hadn’t blabbed about moments like these after Jesus rose from the dead?

Pine Lake Councelor staff '06 (not the year in question) 

So I’m gonna blab for you one of my resplendent- transfiguration-transformation moments. Let me set the scene for you: The summer after my freshman year of college. First week of my first summer of Counselor Staff Training at Pine Lake Lutheran Bible Camp in central Wisconsin. Shy introvert who loved camp but at this point I was wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. We were playing team-building games as a staff, and our camp director LOVED to through in a wrench here and there, to make them even more challenging!  you – close your eyes, you can’t see. You – can’t speak. You – can’t use your right arm. You get the idea.

Suddenly the camp director yelled something that changed my life forever– “Everyone except Lydia can no longer speak!”  Uhh…. THAT was unexpected!

Every fiber of my being wanted to be like – whoa, wait a minute, time out. You REALLY don’t want to put me in charge. But in that moment, a little bitty spark lit a little bitty light that God had created in me, which just waiting for the right moment to ignite. Before I even knew what was happening, I was putting a plan into action, calling out orders, and suddenly the task had been successfully completed. And I believe, with every fiber of my being, that this resplendent – transfiguration – transformation moment is what God used to launch me to where I am today.

Now your story is probably pretty different, but I’m not the one who gets to tell it. That’s your job.
When we ARE terrible secret keepers, the light gets brighter and brighter, and the fear, though it might not go away completely, seems to become dimmer. We can say, I am resplendent, and you are resplendent, because Jesus is the resplendent one shining out from our hearts. Through Jesus, we are witnesses to the shining, resplendent, lavish, dazzling love of God that refuses to be extinguished, even in the face of the dark powers of this world who try to snuff it out. We are resplendent, because we know, that, in the end, they cannot and do not succeed.

Arise, shine, for your light has come. Go out into the world… and be your resplendent self. Because, God knows, the world could use a little more light in it. Amen.

"Jesus is God's Selfie," Sermon 9-28-14

Grace and peace to you from God our father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen.

Wouldn't it be awesome… if life came with an instruction manual? It would simply be amazing, wouldn't it - if every morning, we could get out of bed and immediately reach for our handy instruction manual, perhaps the one entitled:

“Instructions on how to fit in, have everybody like you, and always be happy!” Which might go something like this:

Step 1, breathe.

Step 2, greet the day, smile and say: "Good Morning, East Windsor!"

Skipping ahead, Step 9, eat a complete breakfast with all the special people in your life.

Obey all traffic signs and regulations. Enjoy popular music. Drop off dry cleaning before noon, read the headlines, don't forget to smile. Always root for the local sports team. Go, sports team!

And my personal favorite, drink overpriced coffee!

I of course am quoting from the LEGO movie, which I watched for the first time with our youth group two weeks ago. In this LEGO world, there are indeed instruction manuals for everything. Everyone obeys the rules of the seemingly benevolent leader President Business; no one is out of line or acts out of the ordinary; and so, this happy society is rewarded for obeying all the instructions by being part of a safe, homogeneous, and predictable, existence.

Kids see this world as fun because of all the LEGOs, but adults might look on this world with just a little bit of envy. This seems like a really good deal, doesn't it? Until we realize that President Business is not a nice guy looking out for the common good. It seems pretty awesome, until we realize that we have our own President Businesses right here in the real world.

We all live under some sort of authority, whether we are aware of it or not. Some kinds are pretty obvious – traffic laws, taxes, phone contracts, TSA travel regulations, just to name a few.

Some of the authorities we live under are less noticeable – sports and school schedules, the desire to be liked or to be successful, the dream of “having it all,” the drive for bigger and better. But, much like the LEGO people, we have been very well trained. We all know how to navigate the rules of the kingdoms of this world, both consciously and unconsciously. We know what scripts to recite and what patterns to follow.  Our education has come to us for free from the voices calling to us from every corner: from TV commercials and online ads, from newspaper fliers, from the billboards we see every day on the turnpike or the train, 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 we were born the right color or the right gender or in the right country to the right family, we have everything going for us. Following the rules of the world comes much easier for us than for many others. But one wrong move, one misstep in following the instructions, and we will find ourselves with those people, on the outside looking in. In the “Instructions on how to fit, have everybody like you, and always be happy” there is no room for failure. There is no rule about grace.

But, rules are rules, I guess. And when they DO work for us, it can be hard to change them. According to the instruction manual the world has ingrained in us, those people are those people for a reason.  We who have done everything right, who have worked in the vineyard from dawn until dusk, we DESERVE to be first in the kingdom of this world, and perhaps also in the Kingdom of God.
And so when someone comes along and upsets those rules, who hangs out with the wrong people and heals the blind,who rides into town on a donkey in an impromptu parade like he’s all that and a bag of skittles and kicks the money changers out of the temple, when this guy name Jesus comes to town and does all that, those of us who are good rule-followers might get a little uncomfortable.

We may even start asking ourselves, who does this guy think he is? Such a person is, at best, a crack pot, or at worst, very, very dangerous. Because this person reminds us that the rules of the world are harsh taskmasters. He reminds us that we follow all the rules in the instruction manual to a tee and still be feel alone and unhappy.

He reminds us that we are as broken and hopeless as the tax collectors and prostitutes, as single welfare moms and corrupt politicians. And yet, even for all that, there is a place for all of us to be loved and to be an essential part of a loving community.

There is another kingdom that we are citizens of, a kingdom with another kind of authority. This kind of authority is the complete opposite of what authority means in this world. This kind of authority does not fill itself up with power, but instead empties itself. This kind of authority does not build itself up or use its power for exploitation, but instead humbles itself. This kind of authority does not command obedience on pain of death, but instead is the essence of true obedience, even to the point of self-sacrificial death, even death on an instrument of torture.

This is the authority of God, shown to us in Jesus.

This week I saw a quote floating around on Facebook: “Jesus is God’s Selfie.” Way back in the day, before selfies and cell phones and before photography even, this preacher named Paul wanted to capture in a nutshell who and what Jesus was. So he quoted a hymn his contemporaries sang, which could have been the first century version of Amazing Grace or for us Lutherans, A Mighty Fortress. He quoted this hymn because it gets to the heart in two verses who Jesus is and what he has done for us - because this is the kind of stuff that is really hard for us to wrap our minds around. It just doesn't make sense to us: Power in humility? Authority in self-emptying? Divinity in the form of a slave? Say whaaaaaat?

And if Jesus is the kind of ruler in this kind of kingdom, what it looks like to live under this kind of authority REALLY makes no sense to the world. And yet, it is a beauty, wondrous, holy, and yes, awesome thing. This is not a kingdom where rules completely go out the window. This, however, IS a kingdom where the rule of the realm is love, condensed and concentrated into the living, dying, and rising of Jesus.

Instead of pleading for his life or arguing or trying to prove his claims of divinity to the religious authorities, Jesus set his face toward the cross and fulfilled the will of his father.

And later, Instead of scolding his disciples for abandoning him at the cross, Jesus give them a great charge: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”

And in this text for today, instead of arguing with the smarty pantses (like us) 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 and work in the vineyard today.”

Our vineyard, where Jesus commands us to go and work, could be far away among those “all nations.” More likely, though, our vineyard is much closer: at the school we attend, the team we play on, our place of work, the highways we drive and the places we shop and the coffee shops and restaurants we frequent. Sometimes our vineyard is right in our own homes with our own families.
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? And what if people think I’m weird?

Well, too bad for us, that when we turn our yeses into noes, we are under the authority of a God who all too often turns our noes into yeses, who turns our bad news into God’s good news. For, as Paul says, even when we are reluctant, or full of fear and trembling, it is God who is at work in us, enabling us to both will and to work for God’s good pleasure for the sake of the world.

And whether today is a yes day or a no day, at the end of the day we are still God’s sons and daughters, loved and awesome in God’s sight. And thank God for that. AMEN.