10th Sunday after Pentecost
2 Kings 4:42-44 Psalm 145:10-18 Ephesians 3:14-21 John 6:1-21 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is faithful in all words and loving in all works. Amen We have a God whose love and works surpass human understanding. We can’t explain how Elisha was able to feed a hundred men with a little bit of bread and corn let alone Jesus feeding five thousand with five loaves of bread and two fish Jesus’ walking across the top of the sea of Galilee in a storm defies the laws of nature that God set in place, and these are only the examples we have from the readings for today, the Bible is filled with stories that we can’t explain, at least with head knowledge, logic and reason But with heart knowledge, our ability to accept the reality of mysteries we know that these stories tell us the truth, the truth about God and what it means to be a child of God. As a society, we’ve come to depend almost entirely on head knowledge, for something to be true it must be able to be proven. Now I’m not discounting science and measurable outcomes, the ability to understand the world around us is a gift from God and has done much good, but we limit our experience of life if we rely only on head knowledge and dismiss the power and truth of heart knowledge, truth that defies explanation and yet exists in the world. So what do we who live in a world of logic do with truth that defies explanation? I think our best course is to follow the lead of the psalmists who in the face of the inexplicable takes the time to describe their experience, however contradictory. Have you ever noticed that about the psalms? Especially the psalms of lament, the psalmist goes on and on about how awful life is and then at very end they give praise to God, and it seems to go against everything that came before, but we recognize the truth in these psalms because that’s how people of faith live, with the ability to tell God everything that’s going wrong and at the same time still praise and trust God. Our psalm for today is a psalm of praise, in praising God, the psalmist describes the actions of God, who upholds all who fall and lifts those who are bowed down, who satisfies the desire of every living thing, who is near to all who call, and throughout this litany of what God does there is a kind of refrain as the psalmist says: “You Lord, are faithful in all your words and loving in all your works.” and later again “you are righteous in all your ways and loving in all your works.” Even if we don’t understand what God is doing with our head knowledge, we know with our heart knowledge that God is faithful to God’s promises and God acts in love. And so we live into that truth. It’s why we baptize babies like Royce. Yes she doesn’t understand what that splash of water was about, and if we’re honest we don’t always fully understand either, but she does understand love and ultimately that’s what is at the root of what happens at the font, God loved the world so much that God sent Jesus, and in his death and resurrection Jesus bridged the gap between God and humanity and God who is faithful in all words claims us as children of God, and God who is loving in all works gave us a sign of that promise so that on the days when we have doubts we have a moment in time to point to and can say I am baptized! I am a child of God! I am loved! And though we only baptize once, the water and the word are just the beginning of the baptismal life, a life where we live into the love and identity that God has given us, which is why we all promised to continue to live in community with Royce and we promised that as she grows to bring her to the table and to teach her the creed and the ten commandments, and the lord’s prayer, and when she can read we’ll place the scriptures in her hands, all the while continuing to surround her with love, as we strive to do with all God’s children. And we pray with Paul that God work through this community to strengthen her inner being with the power of the spirit, that Christ may dwell in her heart as she is rooted and grounded in love, and we pray that she grows into some understanding but most of all that she knows with head and heart the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. That is our prayer for Royce, and for all God’s children, including those of us gathered here, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God and that secure in our beloved identity as children of God we may overflow with praise for the one who is faithful in all words and loving in all works. Amen
0 Comments
9th Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 23:1-6 Psalm 23 Ephesians 2:11-22 Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is our unity and peace. Amen We live in a world divided. I know, it’s an obvious statement, one so obvious that it hardly needs saying everywhere we turn it seems like another division is appearing, another crack in the ground beneath our feet separating us from our neighbor, it’s chaotic and tiring and frankly sometimes it’s hard to know what to believe or if it will ever settle down. into this division Paul proclaims that our unity and peace come from Christ And in the midst of the daily conflict this sounds perhaps a bit hollow, a nice sentiment to be sure, but idealistic, out of touch with reality, we’ve become so tired by everything around us that we even question the peace of Christ as hollow optimism. yet, when we dig a little deeper, this unity and peace in Christ that Paul proclaims on behalf of God is based entirely on reality, it is a message of hope because it is unity and peace that have arisen from chaos, much like what swirls around us today Chaos is nothing new to us humans we heard God speaking through the prophet Jeremiah in our first lesson, “Woe to the shepherds who scatter the sheep of my pasture! Says the Lord.” and God goes on to promise to gather the scattered together again and to raise up from David a righteous branch, who shall lead and bring about justice and righteousness. As Christians we believe that God fulfilled that promise in Jesus Jesus, who we see in our gospel having compassion for the crowds because they were like sheep without a shepherd, pressing in on Jesus and his disciples such that they couldn’t even eat, and when Jesus and the disciples get in a boat to go to the wilderness, to rest and get back in touch with God the crowd anticipates where they are going and follow them, wherever Jesus goes he creates an uproar because the people, the everyday people on the ground, need so much, education, health care, food, hope. And they find it in Jesus who is our unity and peace Unity and peace that comes about through the sacrificial actions of Jesus as Paul reminds the Ephesians: “For he [Jesus] is our peace, in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is the hostility between us… he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one spirit to the Father.” Jesus brings peace and unity by crossing boundaries, often invisible and stronger than physical barriers. He sees a crack in the ground as a place to build a bridge or take a bigger step, he sees people on the other side as friends he hadn’t met yet, he sees all as beloved children of God who need the loving direction of a good shepherd who will see the sheep through the peaks and valleys of life whose sheep are unified through the shepherd. And ironically Jesus’ peace disrupts the world, because it is true peace, where all live in harmony with one another, as opposed to the peace of the world where one group finally dominates another group and there is an absence of open conflict. Jesus’ peace is a peace that must be practiced, it starts small and begins to grow. In our second reading Paul is giving the Ephesians a pep talk before they continue with the mission of Christ and in the part we heard today he reminds them that though they are one community now they started out as two, two communities that the world said would never get along, and even in Christ, at the beginning there were conflicts, fights over what was required for a person to become part of the community, and now people who started out as divided strangers “are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord…” Sometimes when a community is established it’s hard to remember just what it took to get that way Peace and unity, even peace and unity in Christ is a state that is intentionally grown into which means ultimately that there’s hope for us and the world around us because in Christ we are called be growers of peace and unity. Peace and unity grow when we take the time to listen and try to understand someone who holds a differing opinion than ours, peace and unity grow when we reach out instead of pushing away, peace and unity grow when we build bridges and cross boundaries to reach the children of God on the other side, peace and unity grow when we know that we have enough and work to share the extra. And yes this is hard work, so there are times when we need to go to the wilderness, to reconnect with God, to regain hope for the large task still ahead of us so that when the seemingly endless crowds push in around us we can still look with compassion rather than contempt as we remember that we too were once in that situation but like lost sheep Jesus found us, brought us into the fold and continues to care for us like the good shepherd that he is, guiding us in unity and peace. Amen 8th Sunday after Pentecost
Amos 7:7-15 Psalm 85:8-13 Ephesians 1:3-14 Mark 6:14-29 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ grace and peace to you from the one who destined us for adoption as Children of God. Amen Identity and purpose, these are the threads that run through our scripture today, calling us to consider who we are and what that means for our lives. And who we are, Primarily are people chosen by God. Our reading from Ephesians hammers this home again and again, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ… He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will...In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance...you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit.” God has acted decisively in regard to our identity, there can be no question, we are God’s and while we use a variety of images to try to explain this, the end result is always the same, God has chosen us, not because of anything we have done or earned but because that’s who God is. We are God’s because of the grace of God. And the appropriate response is to live for the praise of God’s glory. When faced with such a gift, what can we do but offer praise to God? And how do we praise God? In worship, prayer and song certainly but also with how we live our lives, consciously living out God’s vision for the redemption of the world, a vision lived and taught by Jesus, one where all people have value and are treated accordingly, value that is based on their God given identity and not on the many ways that the world has found to define and divide people, rich or poor, healthy or sick, by place of birth, color of skin, what value they’ll add to the economy, age, the list goes on And here’s the hard part, the world, those with power don’t like when we live for the praise of God’s glory in this way, and sometimes we have to admit that when we have power, we aren’t always comfortable living for the praise of God’s glory either, because at times the blessings of the world seem to outweigh the blessings of God. But that doesn’t change who we are and what we are supposed to do, and yes this is difficult, our passage from Ephesians is a kind of pep talk to the community, building them back up before sending them out into the world again, a world that is unreceptive to their message, that will resist it in all ways possible. The prophets are familiar with this resistance, two prophets join us today, in the Hebrew scriptures and in the gospel. Amos is called by God to pronounce judgement on Israel, and when he does he is confronted by the priest on behalf of the king, who says ‘I know you have a message, just go someplace else and share it, the king and the land can’t take it, I won’t kill you, just go away.’ to which Amos responds (I paraphrase of course) ‘I feel you buddy, I was minding my own business tending my farm and my flock when God told me to go prophesy to the people. I don’t see myself as a professional prophet, just someone who is doing what God told them to do.’ In other words, this isn’t about earning a living as the priest suggests but a response to the call of God, however inconvenient that may be. God works through all of us, not just the professionals. And then we have our friend John the Baptist and the end of his story, John who dared to tell the King what everyone knew, that it wasn’t lawful for him to marry his brother’s wife Herodias, who hated John for pointing that out because she had more power married to Herod than his brother Philip. So Herod puts John in prison but protects him because he has some respect for John as a holy man, but then comes the night where Herod hosts a banquet and is pleased by his daughter’s dancing, and in front of everyone present, all his officials Herod promises to give her whatever she wants. She consults her mother and runs back to ask for the head of John on a platter and Herod is presented with a choice: protect a man who he knows to be righteous and holy in front of all his officials or maintain the facade of his benevolent power and do as requested. And we know which he chooses John is beheaded in prison and that is the end of that prophet. Everything is at stake when we proclaim the message of God. John lost his head, Jesus was crucified, but that was not the end. God is bigger than the resistance the world puts up bigger even than death, in God life goes on, and so does the message we are called to proclaim, and more than proclaim we are called to live, The message that God “set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” And when God says all, God means all. Even the people we don’t think deserve it. At the youth gathering Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber spoke about grace and her struggle with the fact that God’s grace is “Both for me and my haters.” She confessed she struggles with the wideness of God’s grace, Her struggle is not a particular to her we all do at times, because it just doesn’t seem fair and yet the only way that God’s good news can be good news for us, is if it is good news for the people we can’t stand, even for the people who have hurt us, because when it comes down to it, we don’t deserve God’s grace either. And yet God claims us as Children Has included us in the inheritance of redemption And marked us with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit So how can we not live to the praise of God’s glory? Amen |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
February 2021
Categories
All
|