4th Sunday in Lent
Numbers 21:4-9
Psalm 107: 1-3, 17-22
Ephesians 2:1-10
John 3:14-21

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the one who is responsible. Amen
 
Who is responsible?
This question is rarely asked
after something good happens.
 
A parent walks into a room
 to find children standing in the midst
of a disarray of couch cushions and a broken lamp,
“who is responsible?” They ask,
 as small eyes suddenly find something very interesting
 about that corner of the ceiling
 
“Who is responsible?”
A manager cries out
after getting off the phone with an unhappy client,
 gazes avert in this situation as well
 
“Who is responsible?”
The people cry
out after a storm leads to a flood,
“was it the poor construction of the barriers?
Was it government neglect?
Was it God?”
 
God tends to take a lot of the blame for things,
it used to be and maybe still is in some cases
that natural disasters were referred to as “Acts of God” on insurance forms.
 
As I said,
the question who is responsible?
Rarely follows something good
 
And the answer,
at least the answer provided by those asked
 is usually “someone else” 
 
We see this today in our first reading.
The Israelites are tired of wandering in the wilderness,
 they are getting impatient,
because they are impatient they think they are suffering
“why have you brought us out of Egypt into the wilderness where there is no food?
To die? Oh and we hate this miserable food” they whine,
 
 even though God gives them food each morning,
 and when they complained about the lack of variety in the manna
God added quails to the menu,
and when they complained that the water was bitter,
God made the water sweet,
 
now it seems like they are complaining about God’s saving actions in the Exodus
and it is too much,
and we are told that God sends poisonous serpents among the people
 and many people die. 
 
Who is responsible?
God for sending the serpents?
Or the people for all their complaining?
 
As it turns out,
The people realize
that the snakes are the consequence of their actions
 and they repent,
they come to Moses and confess:
 “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you,
pray to the Lord to take the serpents away from us.”
 
So Moses prays to the Lord
and God has a decision to make,
the snakes were the consequence
for the people’s actions,
does God remove the consequence like the people ask? 
 
In the end
God does not remove the serpents
from among the people,
 
 being sorry for an action
does not make the consequences of the action go away,
 but God does give the people a way out,
 
  God tells Moses to make a serpent out of bronze,
put it on a pole
and place it in the middle of the camp. 
 
When someone is bit by one of the serpents
all they have to do
is look at the bronze serpent
 and they will live
 
 God is gracious to the people
 and finds a way through the consequences of their sin
to give them life.
 
The gospel of John
understands God’s actions in Jesus
 through the story of the bronze serpent.
 
In the course of our lives
we do things that turn us away from God
and as a consequence
our relationship with God is broken,
 
when
like the Israelites
we realize what we have done,
we repent and confess our sin.
 
And like with the serpents in the wilderness,
God does not take away the consequences of our actions
 but works through them
 and gives us a way forward to new life,
 Jesus lifted on the cross.
 
This is the good news that we share with the world
 and often
we share it using the section of John
 that we read today.
 
John 3:16,
 how many times have you seen that verse
on signs at sporting events,
 scrawled as graffiti or on billboards by the road
 
and though it proclaims good news
John 3:16 has become shorthand
 for the idea that unless you believe in Jesus
you’re going to hell.
 
Frankly, I’ve never understood this evangelistic strategy
using God’s ultimate act of love
 to inspire fear that leads to someone “accepting Jesus as their personal savior”
 
According to this perspective
 the one who is responsible for your salvation
is you
 
and this is a choice
that you’re making
not for right now
but for the future,
your eternal future,
 
heaven or hell
the choice is yours,
you’re responsible, what are you going to do?
 
The trouble is as humans
we can’t seem to stop sinning
and separating ourselves from God.
Even when we try as hard as we can
 
In fact, God knows that it is impossible for us
 to do and say all the right things
 that would lead to being in the presence of God,
of bridging the gap between human and divine,
 so God takes care of it all for us.
 
God works through Christ to make us alive,
 and through Christ brings us into the presence of God as a gift,
A gift that is given right now, in this life.
 
Jesus says a little later in the gospel of John
“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly”
And considering all the healing and teaching
feeding and forgiving Jesus did among his followers and the crowds
 it’s safe to say that Jesus meant abundant life now, as well as later.
This is the grace of God,
That God wants the same quality of life for all creation,
abundant life lived in the presence of God
and God offers this life to all, freely,
 
as Paul says in Ephesians:
“4But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us 5even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—9not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Who is responsible?
 (here is one of those rare positive moments for this question)
 who is responsible for salvation?
 For life?
 God,
 
God is the one who is responsible,
God is the one who works through the brokenness and failings of humanity and the world
 to make abundant life possible,
 and not only possible but a reality. 
 
and it becomes a reality in our life
when we trust the promise
and begin to live in the presence of God
 and even this trust, this faith is a gift of God
who continually reaches out to us,
calling us,
turning us toward life.
 
Give thanks to the Lord, for the Lord is good,
  for God’s mercy endures forever. Amen
 
 

2nd Sunday in Lent
Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:23-31
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you
from the one who makes all things possible, Amen.
 
Throughout our readings this week,
 God seems to be promising the impossible,
 and not only promising
 but expecting humans to both trust
and participate in bringing the promise to fruition. 
 
God gets some mixed results from the humans.
God promises Abraham and Sarah,
well past childbearing years,
that they will be ancestors to a multitude of nations
 
and they trust God,
well kind of,
 
Paul in Romans makes it sound like Abraham was perfect
and yes Abraham had great faith,
 he and Sarah also tried to take things into their own hands
 to make the promise of God happen on their own terms
 using and abusing Hagar along the way.
 
Jesus tells the disciples what is going to happen to him,
he promises that in the coming days
the Son of Man will undergo great suffering,
 and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
 and be killed, and after three days rise again,
 
Peter doesn’t even try to believe this,
 he goes straight to thinking a demon has possessed Jesus
 and tries an exorcism,
 
Peter means well
so imagine his shock
 at Jesus rebuking him right back
and then going on to lay out the requirements for following Jesus,
 
 denying oneself,
 taking up a cross,
losing life.
Sounds like an impossible list to me,
so why even try?
 
When I start thinking like that
I remember something a wise professor in college told me.
 Professor Freiert was at the end of a very long career in teaching and was revered by students, you did not want to disappoint Professor Freiert. I was headed toward seminary and wanted to get my Greek requirement done in undergrad but to get to biblical Greek, which is a much easier form of the language, you first had to take ancient Greek for two semesters, he had us translating Plato. I was also writing my senior religion thesis at the time so I was a bit stressed out and I failed a test in Greek and wound up in Professor Freiert’s office, there may have been some tears,
 
in the course of our conversation
 he told me this:
 “There is nothing worth doing that isn’t worth failing at.”
That was gospel to me in the moment,
 and obviously it made quite an impression.
 
His point to me
was that even seemingly impossible things
 are worth attempting,
 in fact it’s the most difficult challenges
that are often the most rewarding, most worth pursuing,
challenges like say,
 taking up a cross and following Jesus.
 
God is well aware of the frailties and failings of humans,
 they are why Jesus, as Paul says
 “was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification”
there is no way that we on our own
 can make ourselves perfect before God,
 
 so God stepped in
 and through Jesus made the impossible a reality
and gave it to us as a gift,
this is the grace of God.
 
Now it would be easy at this point to just say
‘great, God’s got it taken care of, I don’t have to do anything’
 and this too would be wrong, 
 
 God doesn’t expect us to be perfect
but God does expect us to try.
 
why?
because God in the wisdom of God
 is working with humans to bring about the Kingdom of God,
and God knows that this is going to be a process
 
Notice how Jesus doesn’t just tell the disciples what’s going to happen,
“he begins to teach them what must happen”
 the way that God is going to work through the messiah
is a lesson the disciples will have to learn,
 
it’s not something they know already
something that will come easily,
it is something they have to be taught,
 a lesson to be learned over and over again,
 
 in fact they will have to first unlearn
what they’ve been taught about the messiah
before they can comprehend Jesus’ teaching.
 
The disciples have grown up
 being taught that the messiah
will be a powerful political and military figure
who will gather up the downtrodden and dispersed Israelites
 and lead them in a military revolution
 to overthrow their Roman oppressors
and take back autonomy and sovereignty for the people. 
 
Which is just about the opposite
of what Jesus proposes will happen,
 that the messiah will be rejected by the people they’ve come to save
and be killed by the oppressors.
The rising on the third day thing just doesn’t make sense.
 
So it’s no wonder Peter initially rejects Jesus’ teaching
we react the same way
when someone tries to teach us something
 contrary to what we’ve been taught our whole lives,
our immediate impulse is the reject both the message
and the messenger as crazy
 
But if what we have been taught our whole lives
 is contrary to the way of God,
 God will keep sending messengers,
keep teaching until the message is understood and lived out,
 
 sometimes that takes a long time in human years,
 an example in the United States
is our history with slavery,
 
 people were taught that they had a right to buy and sell people from Africa
 and their descendants,
 a teaching contrary to the way of God,
even though God and the Bible were at times used to justify slavery,
 
and when the message of God
had spread enough that some people were ready to stop enslaving people
there were others who fought a war to maintain that teaching,
 
and even after the war was lost
the teaching that the former slaves
 marked by the color of their skin
were still less than
persisted,
 
and though it has become less prevalent
it still persists today,
and God is still sending messengers,
 God will continue to teach until the lesson is learned.
 
Peter rejects Jesus’ initial lesson,
 rebukes Jesus for his teaching
and in return Jesus rebukes Peter
 “Get behind me Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
 
It seems like a harsh response
 but what Peter is proposing is tempting,
 from the human perspective
 it makes sense to avoid suffering at all cost,
 
but that is not the divine way,
 the divine way is to go through suffering
to the new life on the other side,
 
 the divine way is the way followers of Jesus go,
confronting the pain of the world
and the teachings that have created it,
facing the violent rejection of the world
for the sake of new life,
 
 new life that seems impossible
except that God has promised it.
 
This is what we are called to as followers of Jesus,
and it is so impossible
 that we will fail at it,
 
we will try
but then the pain will be too much
 or our mind will slip back to human things
 and God will rebuke us,
 show us where we’ve gone wrong,
 
and then God will forgive us,
 teach us the lesson once again
 promising us the impossible
and invite us to try again
 at the worthy task of living the divine way
and the new life that follows.
 
We experience how this works in the season of Lent,
we are invited into a season of fasting and spiritual disciplines,
 perhaps we give something up,
 or propose to pray more
 or go to church every Wednesday
 
and despite our best intentions,
we sleep in instead of praying,
 we eat that chocolate we said we wouldn’t
or the reason we don’t drink that soda
 has more to do with wanting to lose those five pounds than Jesus,
 
 in short we fail,
 
 and Easter comes anyway,
God makes it possible
and invites us to share in the joy and new life.
If new life seems impossible right now,
 keep trying,
keep trusting,
it’s coming,
God promised. Amen
 

1st Sunday in Lent
Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-10
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you 
from the one who has been through the wilderness Amen.
 
Welcome to Lent,
 the season in the church year 
when we confront the truth 
that life is not always easy,
 that hardships, trials and death will come our way 
 
And
 we once again experience the presence of God throughout, 
God who goes with us 
and in the end has the last say, 
and the last word is “life”.
 
Now the first part is not too difficult for us,
 we know very well the times of suffering life brings our way, 
but the second part,
 having faith in the resurrection work of God
 is more difficult, 
 
the good news is that it is something we can learn to do 
with the help of God and practice 
we see this in our psalm for this morning 
where the psalmist proclaims great trust in God 
and asks for forgiveness and teaching in the ways of the Lord:
 
Show me your ways, O Lord and teach me your paths
Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; 
in you have I trusted all the day long
Remember, O Lord, your compassion and love, for they are from everlasting.
Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions; 
remember me according to your steadfast love and for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.
You are gracious and upright, O Lord; therefore you teach sinners in your way.
 
Faith, trust in God, can grow with practice, 
and our training ground is the church calendar,
 more than just a way of marking time 
it is also a training regime for life, 
designed to work out our faith in all situations,
so that we are prepared when we face them in the course of our life.
 
 in Advent we practice waiting,
 in the time after epiphany we practice looking for God revealed, 
in Lent we practice wilderness times, 
in Easter we practice celebrating new life, 
at Pentecost we pause to notice what the Holy Spirit is doing 
and then spend a long time practicing living out the call of the spirit as disciples of Christ, 
and then the whole thing starts over. 
 
As we enter Lent 
we recognize that this year lent is not a drill,
 we are in the midst of a wilderness journey,
 one that started about a year ago with reports of a new virus, 
that soon drove us away from the comfort of familiarity
 on a long twisting journey through many hardships and unknowns,
 
 it’s path we’re tired of taking 
and one we have no choice but to follow through to the otherside,
 
 so more than ever this year 
we are ready to hear the good news of lent, 
we long for the wisdom for wilderness journeys lent has to offer, 
 
show us your ways O Lord and teach us your paths.
 
Today the path takes us to the promises of God, 
promises that God makes and marks with a sign
promises we are to hold on to 
because no matter what happens or what it may feel like, 
God keeps the promises God makes.
 
Our promise for today 
is that we are beloved by God, 
and the sign is water, 
that most common and necessary of elements
 that has the power to give and destroy life, 
 
this promise and sign are combined together in baptism, 
a promise and sign that will carry us through wilderness times, 
which we see with Jesus in our gospel for today.
 
Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan river 
and just as he comes up out of the water 
the heavens are torn open 
and he hears the voice of God say 
“You are my Son; the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”  
 
That’s quite an experience and proclamation, 
but it seems like Jesus doesn’t have much time to savor it 
because Mark tells us that “the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.”
 
Mark is a writer of few words 
but there’s a lot  packed into these two sentences. 
 
First the spirit drives Jesus out into the wilderness, 
Jesus did not decide that he could use a nice long spiritual retreat, 
no, forces beyond himself push him 
and he finds himself in the wilderness. 
 
In the Bible and in our lives 
most wilderness experiences start this way 
where one moment we’re loved and affirmed 
and in the very next the bottom seems to have dropped out
 and we find ourselves in strange, unfamiliar and unfriendly territory,
 whether it’s a global pandemic, 
the end of a relationship, facing illness or unemployment 
all of a sudden we look around and our world has changed and not for the better. 
Jesus has this experience
 
And Mark tells us that “He was in the wilderness forty days” 
forty in the Bible is shorthand for a long time,
 a time so long that it seems that it will never end 
even through God promises that it will end, 
 
But there’s more,
 if it were just a long time it would be tiresome but perhaps not so bad, 
but not only is Jesus in the wilderness for forty days,
 during that time he is tempted by Satan; the accuser,
 the one whose job it is to call into question the promises of God. 
 
“So God called you Son, huh? 
Are you sure you heard that right?
 If you’re the Son of God, then how did you end up here?
 If God is so pleased with you, then what are you doing in the wilderness? 
Are you sure you’re beloved? Maybe you should test God just to make sure, just a little test, that way you’ll know for sure…” 
 
Sound familiar?
 The endless string of doubts and questions 
that run through your head in the midst of a wilderness time? 
That is the temptation of Satan
 
Jesus is out in the wilderness for a long time, 
satan is tempting him, 
and there’s more,
there are wild beasts out there too, 
more than the temptation of satan there is real danger in wilderness times 
A reality the must be dealt with in addition to everything else
 
and if this seems like a whole lot,
Maybe too much,
 it is, but Mark has one more detail to add,
 “and the angels waited on him” 
 
angels are in the wilderness as well, 
messengers of God’s love and care, 
even if we don’t notice them, 
there are always angels in our wilderness times
 
God is always present, 
working through these times
That have a way of defining us, 
in fact they almost seem necessary for growth, 
 
now to be clear I don’t think God desires extreme wilderness times for us, 
God doesn’t want to hurt us, 
but it also seems to be a fact of life 
that we will experience wilderness times 
and God doesn’t let those times go to waste, 
God uses them to shape and mold us into more of the beloved children
 that God has created us to be.
 
Jesus makes it through the wilderness, 
he’s confronted Satan, and doubts, 
he’s affirmed his identity as beloved child of God 
and now he is ready to begin his ministry. 
 
When John is arrested 
sending his followers into their own wilderness, 
it is time for Jesus to step up and proclaim the good news of God
and begin his next journey, 
the one to the cross, 
the journey through death into new life. 
 
In our baptisms, 
named by God as beloved, 
we are joined to Jesus’ journey through death to new life, 
and in this joining 
God promises that whatever we face in life
 we face with Jesus who has already traveled the path 
and that the last world will be God’s 
and it will always be life. 
 
This is the promise onto which we hold
Proclaiming with the psalmist
“To you O Lord I lift up my soul
My God, I put my trust in you.”
Amen
 
Thanks to Debbie Thomas 
 

5th Sunday After Epiphany
Isaiah 40:21-31
Psalm 147:1-11
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39
 
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the most important one. Amen
 
What’s the point?
 
This question kept popping into my head this week
 as I spent time with our readings, 
it’s a question that changes ever so slightly 
based on context and inflection.
 
 In the mouths of a teenager arguing with authority
 it’s a rebellious question: “what’s the point?”
 
 coming from one who is overworked and underappreciated 
it’s a question the spells defeat: “what’s the point?” 
 
Asked by a teacher it’s a test: “what’s the point?” 
 
now you’re all thinking okay pastor, 
what   
is the reason for fixating on this question? 
 
It’s because what this flexible question indicates 
is that while we know some things in life are more important than others 
we also know it’s easy to get distracted 
by the many important but not most important things in life 
and often we need to be reminded both of what the point is, 
and to ask the question 
and we find this in all of our readings for today.
 
In Isaiah
 the people have begun to ask the question using the defeated tone, 
they are in exile separated from the promised land, 
under the control of their enemies 
 
the prophet is reminding them that God is everlasting,
 creator of the ends of the earth 
and everything pales in comparison to that fact,
 their suffering, 
the people momentarily in power, 
even the wonders of creation all are less than God, 
 
God who never tires or gets defeated,
 God who has promised to renew those who wait for the Lord, 
to be with the people through their suffering, 
to raise them up again. 
 
God is the point the prophet reminds the people 
and sure we as people may not understand
 what is going on in the world at this exact moment, 
but God does
 and God will help us through,
 stay focused on the most important thing, God.
 
But it’s so easy to get distracted, 
the new disciples discover this in our gospel for today, 
 
remember Jesus is at the very beginning of his ministry,
 he has been baptized and revealed as God’s beloved,
 he has been tempted in the wilderness by the devil 
and now he has begun his public ministry 
by announcing the good news that the Kingdom of God has come near 
and enlisted disciples to help him spread that good news. 
 
The disciples and the congregation at the synagogue in Capernaum
 just heard him preach with authority and rebuke unclean spirits, 
and we are told that his fame starts to spread around the region. 
 
As we join them today 
Jesus and the disciples leave the synagogue
 and go to Simon and Andrew’s house to spend the night,
 
 when they get there they find Simon’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever, 
Jesus heals her
and word obviously spreads 
because by the end of the evening 
the whole town is gathered around the front door 
and they’ve brought everyone who needs any kind of healing to Jesus, 
who cures and casts out demons from many of them.
 
It would be really easy for Jesus to get distracted at this point,
 his teaching has been praised, 
he’s gathered crowds and people are excited to have this healer in their midst. 
It seems like Jesus could really make a name and career for himself in this town
 if he spent some time there continuing to do good, important work.
 
The temptation to remain is strong 
but early the next morning 
before even his disciples can begin to make demands of him 
Jesus goes to a deserted place to pray,
 to wait for the Lord, to be renewed, 
to be reminded of what the point is 
 
and so he is ready when the disciples find him, 
“everyone is searching for you!” they exclaim 
ready to take him back to Capernaum 
to pick up where he left off the night before, 
 
but Jesus responds “Let us go on to the neighboring towns; so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” 
Jesus will not be distracted from his mission, 
nor will he allow his disciples to be distracted 
even if it means leaving a place of success.
 
Now it doesn’t mean leaving these places abandoned, 
all along the way Jesus will call followers
 each to their own mission, 
some will continue to proclaim the good news,
 some will pick up with the healing, 
some will serve the last and the least
 and in this way the kingdom of God will continue to come near.
 
But Jesus knows what the point of his time on earth is, 
and he will remain faithful to his mission,
 all the way to the cross, his ultimate point, 
his death for the sake of the whole broken and distracted creation of God,
 his resurrection affirming once and for all that God has the last say. 
This is Jesus’ mission, his purpose, his point 
and in fulfilling it he gave us new life and purpose. 
 
And because God knows that we will get distracted along the way
 God gave us the gift of baptism,
 a moment in time we can point to 
when we look at our lives and wonder what’s the point? 
 
What’s the point? God says,
 the point is that in the words spoken at your baptism 
I claimed you once and for all as a child of God
 and gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit 
to help you along the way 
 
in the water I washed you clean 
to give you a fresh start to live out your purpose, 
helping to bring about the kingdom of God 
using the particular gifts I have given you.
 
This is who we are, children of God, 
this is the answer to the question what’s the point? 
 
And yes, along the way we will get distracted 
whether it is by despair like the Israelites in exile,
 success like the disciples at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry 
or a debate over who can join in
 and how they should act once they do, 
 
that’s what Paul is dealing with in our second reading,
 the early church that Paul was a part of 
got distracted by debating who could become a member of their new community, 
 
could gentiles join in? 
And if they can, do they have to act like Jews? 
 
Can poor people become a part of the community? 
And if they can, will they be expected to contribute the same amount as the rich? 
 
What about the weak in faith, if so how weak is too weak? 
Do the strong in faith have to accommodate their weakness? 
 
This is what Paul is speaking to,
 even as he seems to be bragging about his abilities as a disciple
 and setting the impossible standard of being all things to all people,
 his point is that the message of Christ and the kingdom are what matters, 
not who hears it or how they hear it, 
in fact different groups of people will hear it better 
when communicated in different ways
and Paul is willing to do that in service of the good news of God 
he is willing to set aside good and important things in service of the gospel.
 
It’s so easy to get distracted from the most important one, God 
and yet God keeps reaching out to us, 
through prophets and apostles
 who remind us that spending time with God will renew us and keep us focused, 
 
through water and word 
that remind us who we are and whose we are, 
 
through communities that gather together to praise God,
and at the table where through words of promise
 bread and wine become body and blood 
And Jesus joins us to himself once again, 
forgiving and renewing us 
then sending us out once more to proclaim the good news
 “the kingdom of God has come near” 
 
this is the point beloved children of God,
 may we alway keep it before us, 
and when we get distracted may we always be brought back to it. Amen
 

3rd Sunday After Epiphany
Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62:5-12
1 Corinthians 7:29-31
Mark 1:14-20

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who makes us into disciples. Amen
 
Today we have the familiar story
 of Jesus calling his first disciples,
 it’s a story I think we usually approach
with both extreme familiarity
 as well as suspended disbelief.
 
 On the one hand
 we know where this is going before it even starts,
 Jesus is walking along
 and sees some guys fishing
 and when he tells them to follow him,
 they drop everything,
 their whole lives and livelihoods even family
and follow him.
 
on the other hand
while we’re amazed at their response
we are also a bit disheartened
because we think if that’s what it looks like to become a disciple of Jesus
then we probably don’t have what it takes,
 
the contemplation of that much sacrifice is too much for us,
 good for you Simon and Andrew, James and John
 but our lives are too complicated
to just up and leave like that,
we must not be disciple material,
we’re tempted to give up before we’ve even begun.
 
 And if we look at the story this way
 through the actions of the disciples,
sure it seems highly unlikely
 that many of us could live up to that level of action and dedication,
 
but here’s the thing,
 when we focus so much on what the disciples do,
we miss what God is doing.
 
God is the one whose action matters.
 As our psalm for today reminds us: 
“Put your trust in God always, O people,
  pour out your hearts before the one who is our refuge. 
 Those of high degree are but a fleeting breath; those of low estate cannot be trusted.
  Placed on the scales together they weigh even less than a breath.”
 
God is the one who is of consequence,
the strong rock and refuge full of steadfast love,
 
 God is the one
on whom our focus should be,
not the disciples or other humans,
 who if they were weighed on a scale with God would barely register.
 
Now when we return to this story,
looking for what God is doing,
we notice that Jesus’ call is less of a command
and more of a promise
“Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”
 
I will make you
Jesus is the one who promises to transform these fishermen into disciples
 and will do so in a way
 that will draw on the skills and gifts they already have.
 
At the beginning of his ministry
Jesus is looking to gather people together,
these first disciples
have lifetimes of practice gathering fish together,
 
 from long observation and wisdom passed down the generations
 they have learned what kind of fish to seek out,
where in the lake those fish like to stay,
 in what weather, at which time of day it is best to catch them
 all these skills can be applied to people with help from Jesus
 
he will teach them
what people to seek out
where they can be found
what message to share that will bring them to Jesus.
 
 
Most importantly perhaps,
these first disciples
 have also learned the hard lesson
 that even if you do everything right,
some days you won’t catch anything
 and the best thing to do is to try again the next day.
That's what being a fisherman is about,
 that’s what being a disciple will take. 
 
Jesus promises to take the fishermen as they are
and make them into disciples,
 just as Jesus promises to make each of us disciples
using who we are,
which means our journeys probably won’t look exactly like those first disciples. 
 
“Follow me” Jesus calls out to us, “come and see,” 
it’s the simplest part of this whole disciple business
 that is up to us,
and yet we still get hung up
 on that simple task,
the act of following,
of getting moving,
sometimes we even go in the opposite direction
 and yet, God doesn’t give up on us.
 
Our first reading was from the book of Jonah
who is the poster child for struggling to follow God,
in fact he runs the other way at the call of God,
yet God still manages to work through Jonah,
 
 the sailors on the ship Jonah boards to flee the Lord,
believe in the God of Israel
by the time Jonah leaves them,
 
albeit over the rail of the ship
and into the belly of the whale
where Jonah, humbled by the grace of God
 gets back on track.
 
When the big fish belches Jonah up onto the beach
he goes to Ninevah as God has asked
but as Author Eugene Peterson observes
“Jonah obedient turns out to be as much in violation of the word of God as Jonah disobedient.” (Under the Unpredictable Plant, 29).
 
 Jonah does what God calls him to do
but very reluctantly,
hoping that it won’t work,
 
Jonah wants to see the city of Nineveh,
 enemy of his people
destroyed by his God,
 
he even goes out and sets up in prime view
 to watch the fireworks,
but amazingly,
the people listen to Jonah’s message and repent
and God decides not to destroy the city
 much to the displeasure of Jonah.
 
God worked through Jonah running the other way,
 God worked through Jonah obeying the letter of God’s command
 if not the spirit,
 
 imagine what God can do with willing partners,
 people who upon hearing the call of God
 agree to try their best,
people like you and me.  
 
 sure our path to discipleship
may not be as dramatic as Simon and Andrew, James and John
up and leaving everything,
but God already has Simon and Andrew, James and John
 
God needs something different from us
 and even if we don’t have exactly what God needs right now,
it’s okay
because God will make us into the disciples God needs,
our job is to listen for God’s call
and follow where God leads.
 
And yes we will not be perfect,
we will make mistakes,
we will be reluctant at times,
we may even run the other direction
 and there’s grace for that.
 
Grace that God can work through our reluctance and mistakes,
 grace in the offer of forgiveness
 and growth in our repentance,
grace in the renewal of the call to discipleship,
 
 God still wants us
and God promises to make us into the disciples God needs.
 
This goes for communities as well as individuals,
today after church is our annual meeting,
it’s a time to reflect on how we as a community
 have answered God’s call to discipleship this past year
 
and to consider
how God might be calling us to be disciples
in the coming year
 
we make these considerations
all while trusting that God will work through our imperfections
 and make us into the disciples God needs in this time and place.
 
“Put your trust in God always O people”
God is the one of consequence,
the strong rock full of steadfast love.
 Come, let us follow. Amen

Baptism of Our Lord
Genesis 1:1-5
Psalm 29
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the one with the most powerful voice. Amen
 
From the very beginning words have been powerful 
as the first words of scripture testify:
“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.”
 
There in the presence of the spirit, 
God speaks the world into being. 
Words have power to create.
 
Words also have power to destroy.
We hear that in our Psalm for today:  
“The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice;
  the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendor. 
 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees;
  the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
 bursts forth in lightning flashes.
 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
  the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 
 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe and strips the forests bare.”
 
Yet as alarming as all this might sound
we are told that “in the temple of the Lord all are crying, “Glory!””
The power of the Lord is on display in the voice of the Lord
and it brings the faithful to worship.
 
The words of God move the people of God to action. 
Words are powerful.
 
Especially the words of God
Which sometimes God speaks directly
more often
 God speaks through people like John the baptizer,
 
 who Mark tells us appeared in the wilderness
proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
and at his words
Mark tells us that people from the WHOLE Judean countryside
 and ALL the people of Jerusalem
were going out to him to be baptized.
This might seem like an exaggeration of the size of the crowds
but Mark makes sure that we know
 the people are drawn to John by his words
 rather than his way of life,
 
 he’s kind of an odd guy dressing in camel’s hair
 and dining on locusts and wild honey,
 and while this may add a kind of authenticity
 to his presence as a prophet
 
the people are not looking to emulate him,
 but his message is spreading
and making a difference in the lives of people
John’s call to repentance is a call to live in a new way
And people are responding
 
but like any true messenger of God,
John knows that all this fuss isn’t about him,
it’s about the one to whom he is pointing
 “the one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit”
 
John knows that his role and words are preparatory,
preparing the way for the one who is coming after him,
 
And onto the scene walks Jesus,
now in Mark this is the first time we meet Jesus,
Mark has told us in the very first verse
 what his gospel is about: Jesus Christ the Son of God,
but then goes straight to John in the wilderness,
 
there are no angels or virgin birth
or even stars in the sky to announce who Jesus is,
that happens when Jesus travels from Nazareth of Galilee
 and is baptized by John in the Jordan
“and just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘you are my Son the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
 
The voice of God names Jesus God’s beloved Son,
 and it is so,
that is who Jesus is
 God’s spoken blessing creating the future as it identifies Jesus.
 
 This is one of the reasons that I appreciate how Mark tells the story of Jesus,
 because family connections, and prophesy
are all less important than this moment
when once and for all God speaks,
identifying Jesus as beloved child
and filling him with the holy spirit,
 
and Jesus listens to the voice of God
 and goes on to live into the identity God has created for him
 as we’ll see him start to do in the coming weeks of Epiphany.
 
God does this for us as well.
 At our baptisms,
God, speaking through the Pastor,
claims us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
 and through the hands of the Pastor
God marks the sign of the cross on our foreheads saying
 “child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”
 
and it is so,
that is who we are,
 
where we came from,
what we’ve done, our family connections
 all less important than this moment
where we have been identified as beloved children
 and filled with the Holy Spirit.
 
And the question becomes,
will we listen to the voice of God
and live into the identity that God has created for us?
 Beloved, created for love.
 
Or will we get distracted by other voices?
 less powerful but often louder,
 the ones that try to get us to define ourselves through power
gained at the expense of others that the voices label less than
and peddle the lie that their mere existence is a threat.
 
Beloved of God, whose voice do you listen to?
 What words do you surround yourself with?
It makes a difference
 because words have the power to create and destroy,
power to lead people to praise God or to perpetrate violence.
 
Whose words shape your life?
God has spoken, now the choice is yours,
In closing after this difficult week,
 I’d like to offer you the opportunity to make that choice again
publicly affirm your baptisms,
 to once again commit to your God given identity, 
the blessing from God that shapes our future.
 
Please rise as you are able,
we will use the words of the apostle’s creed found on page 6 in your bulletins.
 
Here in the presence of God and one another I ask you to profess your faith in Christ Jesus, reject sin, and confess the faith of the church.
 
For the following questions the response is “I renounce them”
 
Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?
Response:
I renounce them.
Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?
Response:
I renounce them.
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?
Response:
I renounce them.
Do you believe in God the Father?
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
You have made public profession of your faith. Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in holy baptism:
to live among God’s faithful people,
to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
The assembly makes affirmation:
I do, and I ask God to help and guide me.
The minister addresses the assembly.
People of God, do you promise to support and pray for one another in your life in Christ?
We do, and we ask God to help and guide us.
The presiding minister prays for God’s blessing.
Let us pray.
We give you thanks, O God, that through water and the Holy Spirit you give us new birth, cleanse us from sin, and raise us to eternal life. Stir up in your people the gift of your Holy Spirit: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence both now and forever.
Amen.

May it be so

1st Sunday of Christmas
Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Psalm 148
Galatians 4:4-7
Luke 2:22-40

Christmas 1
12/27/2020
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who comes to those who show up. Amen
 
Merry Christmas!
Yes we’re still in the season of Christmas,
 we will be until January 6th
 when the magi show up
revealing once and for all
 that Jesus is the messiah.
 
 We’ve heard the story of the baby in the manger
 and today we have another story
of Jesus as an infant,
the story of Mary and Joseph
 presenting Jesus at the temple,
of Simeon and Anna’s hope being fulfilled,
a story of the Holy Spirit
coming to those who are faithful,
those who show up.
 
Now, this isn’t intended
 to either shame or overly congratulate anyone
but the truth of the matter is
that those who are faithful,
who seek the presence of God
have a better chance of encountering God
 
 and while God can and does
 work outside of religious rites and institutions,
 God also works through them
 but in still surprising ways,
probably because the Holy Spirit is so unpredictable.
 
For as much as we trust that God is with us,
that Christ comes to us
 especially in the sacraments,
 there are times when we feel the presence of God more than others,
times when the Holy Spirit comes to us when we need her,
times when she jumps out and surprises us.
 
I experienced this perhaps most vividly
at least for the first time in college.
 Gustavus is a Lutheran school
 and this Lutheran identity and faith
are still a strong part of the mission of the school
 such that in the daily schedule of classes
every day at 10am
 time was blocked off for chapel
 and a service offered
 
For most students it was
 an extra half hour to sleep
or finish up homework, or get breakfast.
 
 Some people went to chapel a couple times a week
or once a week for the sung morning prayer service
but there were a few of us
 who went pretty much every day.
 
 I know I started going every day
because I was still working out my call to ministry
 and daily chapel seemed like a good place to start.
 
 I kept going
because I realized that I didn’t know when the Holy Spirit would show up
 and I wanted to be there when she did.
 
 Not all the services were winners or deeply meaningful,
just like not all Sundays are winners or deeply meaningful,
 but every now and then the spirit would show up,
 like the time the dance major
who was giving his senior sermon
and had clearly not prepared
 made us all get close together and hold hands and form connection,
 
or the time Chaplain Brian
bent over in the pulpit before starting his homily
 and when he stood up he was wearing an accordion
and proceeded to preach accompanying himself on the instrument,
okay maybe those were just very memorable times
 
but there were times
when the message was exactly what I needed to hear that day
 or when the choirs filled the air with beauty and truth
that transcended words.
 
So each day at 10am in college,
you could find me in chapel,
waiting, hoping that the Holy Spirit would show up.
 
I suspect that some of you may have had similar experiences
with other faith practices,
like daily devotions or prayers at mealtimes.
Where sometimes you do it because that’s what you do,
you show up,
 and sometimes in the midst of that
the spirit flashes through
leaving you wanting more,
and coming back each day.
 
Simeon and Anna have been showing up at the temple
and waiting for a long time,
their whole lives,
 which Luke makes sure to tell us
 have been long.
 
They have been waiting for the spirit to come to them,
hoping for an experience of the divine
and yet when they enter the temple this day
 they have no indication
that this day will be any different from the others.
 
and into the temple walk Mary and Joseph
 with the baby Jesus,
 they too are not expecting anything out of the ordinary
they are they too are simply being faithful,
fulfilling the law and the tradition of their people
dedicating their firstborn son
 to the temple and making the appropriate sacrifice. 
 
And now the stage is set,
we have four faithful people
who have come to the temple to live out their faith
and one baby messiah
 and in sweeps the Holy Spirit,
 
 first she directs Simeon to Jesus,
now we are told that Simeon has already had an encounter with the Holy Spirit,
 who told him he would not see death
until he had seen the messiah,
 
 ‘here’s the messiah’ the Spirit tells Simeon,
 who proceeds to take the baby in his arms
and sing a song of praise to God,
 thanking God for the gift of seeing the messiah
who will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.
 
In his song, Simeon,
 guided by the spirit
expands Jesus’ mission beyond the people of Israel
to the whole world.
 
Mary and Joseph are amazed at Simeon’s words,
you’d think that after several angelic visits
 they couldn’t be surprised any more
 but perhaps in the midst of caring for a newborn
who needs the same care as any other newborn
 those experiences have faded,
 
Simeon blesses the parents
 but closes with a warning to Mary,
 her Son will do great things
but not without controversy and pain.
 
Then Anna takes over,
Luke tells us that she is a prophet
 and after being widowed early
 has spent the rest of her life in the temple
 
she too praises God
and tells about Jesus
 to all those present
looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,
 
and those others who showed up at the temple that day
 have their own unexpected experience with the divine.
  
And then the moment is over,
 Mary and Joseph take Jesus home
and go about the everyday task of raising their child
and apparently nothing of note happens
 for another twelve years
 until that one passover
where Jesus decides to stay behind in the temple debating scholars.
 
This time in the temple
was just a moment
but one that everyone present
would carry with them the rest of their lives.
 
It’s moments like these
 that carry us forward in our faith,
and it all starts with simply showing up,
 practicing faith in a regular way
creating space for the Holy Spirit to enter into our lives.
 
These practices don’t have to be as extreme as the prophet Anna
 who basically lived in the temple,
 or my college self at chapel every day,
 
 but something that regularity creates space within our lives,
within ourselves
 for the Holy Spirit to show up
for God to enter in
Just as God entered into the world in Jesus,
 Emmanuel, God with us. Merry Christmas.
 

Christmas Eve
Isaiah 9:2-7
Psalm 96
Titus 2:11-14
Luke 2:1-20

Merry Christmas!
 
In this year unlike any other
we need Christmas more than ever,
 
even as our celebrations look and feel different,
 we need Christmas to bring us the truth
that God considers the world,
however broken it may be,
worthy of love and salvation,
 
worthy enough for God to fully enter into the experience of the world
pure infinite love
taking on a fragile finite form.
 The extraordinary held within the ordinary.
 
This year as I once again immersed myself
 in the most familiar story
of the baby born and laid in a manger,
 I was struck by how closely the ordinary and the extraordinary
are tied together,
 
God’s entrance into the world
turning the most common events into unique occurrences. 
 
Mary is pregnant,
 an ordinary experience in the scope of humanity
 but unique to Mary
 her pregnancy heralded by an angel of the Lord,
brought about by the Holy Spirit
and now she is carrying the Son of God within her,
 extraordinary.
 
To add to that
 Mary is unmarried,
which while putting her in a difficult spot
is still rather ordinary,
 
what’s extraordinary
is that God chose to work through an unmarried girl
 
and that her fiancé, Joseph
 has stuck with her,
 continued in his promise to marry her.
 
 When we join them this night
 they are traveling,
in the midst of a once in a life-time event,
a grand census of the whole world
causing people to return to ancestral lands
to be counted by the Roman empire,
 
and there in the midst of this numerary chaos,
 in the city of Bethlehem
is where an ordinary everyday occurrence happens,
Mary goes into labor and a baby is born,
 not in a deluxe birthing suite but in borrowed space,
in the midst of everyday life.
 
This is how God enters the world,
in a way so ordinary as to be unnoticeable
 except by those right around him
for a miraculous as each individual baby is,
 they are born all the time.
 
But for this birth we’d expect that there at least be a little fanfare
to mark this extraordinary occasion
and our expectations are not disappointed,
but what is surprising is who this news is announced to,
 
some shepherds doing what they do,
 watching their sheep out in the fields
away from everyone else,
 
to these laborers on the margins of society
 angels appear!
They tell them of a special baby
and where to find him
and end the message with a serenade by the heavenly host. 
 
‘Well you don’t see that everyday’
the shepherds say to themselves
and so they follow the directions
and find everything just as the angels had told them.
 Understandably the people gathered around the new little family
are surprised by the shepherd’s visit,
most babies aren’t visited in the night by field hands,
 
and they are even more surprised
by the message they bring,
that this child is the Son of God,
the shepherds have it on the authority of angels
 
 and everyone there,
 probably Joseph’s extended family
was amazed at this pronouncement,
 
except Mary
who treasures the message she’d already heard
 confirmed by another angelic visit.
 
 The shepherds leave praising God,
 and that’s it,
that’s the story of God’s entry into the world,
 extraordinary for its relative ordinariness.
 
At each turn in the story
the ordinary is paired with the extraordinary.
 It’s a pairing that we are all too familiar with,
 
we too are in the midst of God willing,
 a once in a life-time event,
though rather than everyone being on the move,
 we’ve all been staying at home,
 
and so the ordinary, home
has become extraordinary,
in how focused our lives have been on our homes,
which have also becomes places of work,
 schools and even sanctuaries.
 
And when we’ve ventured out of our homes,
the world around us has changed,
 what was ordinary now is different.
 
This Christmas we’re celebrating the advent of the Christ child
as we do every year,
and yet we’re doing so in different ways,
we’re worshiping online with our families,
 we’re driving to church parking lots and waving glow sticks,
 and gathering in smaller groups.
 
And as different and unique and even ordinary as all these experiences may be,
Christ still comes.
 
Because that’s how God,
 Immanuel, God with us,
comes among us,
 in the midst of both the ordinary and the extraordinary.
 
 God is with us in all the everyday places
where we might not think to look,
the daily routine, the endless dishes,
 the meals at home,
 
and God is with us in the novel,
the new, the unexpected,
all the zoom calls,
the caring for those in quarantine,
the exhausted staff at hospitals.
 
As what once seemed extraordinary
begins to become ordinary
God is with us in the midst of this too
 helping us to navigate the world around us,
coming to us in friends and community,
the help of a stranger,
 resting with us as we struggle
 to reconcile the ordinary and the extraordinary. 
 
The miracle of Christmas
 reminds us that this is precisely how God works,
extraordinary love
taking on ordinary form,
 
coming among us in the midst of brokenness and upheaval
bringing healing and redemption
 for the beloved creation of God.
May you on this ordinary yet extraordinary night
 be filled with the love of God with us. Amen

3rd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Psalm 126
1 Thessalonians 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
Advent 3
12/13/20
 
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
grace and peace to you from the one who sows joy. Amen
 
Today we lit the third candle on our Advent wreath,
 the candle that traditionally represents joy.
 It might seem a bit odd
during this season of reflection and preparation
 that joy be included,
 but in fact, preparation and joy go hand in hand,
 
we prepare in anticipation of joy
and sometimes we need joy to continue with preparations.
But what do we mean by ‘joy’?
 
Often in world around us,
especially at this time of year
joy is sold as the result of a big build up to Christmas morning
 and so preparation sounds a little like this:
 
He’s making a list, 
Checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice
Santa Claus is coming to Town
 
Only those children who are nice
 will rejoice on Christmas morning
 with a big pile of presents under the tree
 
so we are encouraged to prepare by writing lists to Santa
to get our shopping done
 and make everything just so for the coming celebration.
 
 This understanding of joy is fleeting,
as the months of build up
 are uncovered in half an hour
and toys lie discarded by the end of the day. 
 
Now to be fair
there can be great pleasure
in exchanging gifts as signs of love and appreciation,
and in some ways the preparation is as fun
if not more
 than the actual moment.
 
But if that’s all there is to the day
If what we are left with is an empty feeling
when all is said and done
what we experienced wasn’t joy.
 
Because joy, true joy,
goes deeper than the ecstasy of a moment,
 joy follows anticipation yes,
 but joy also follows hardship and disappointment,
 
which mean acknowledging the hardship and disappointment
and the longing that comes from knowing
that things are not as they ought to be.
 
 Joy
is the response to the saving promises of God
 in the midst of the brokenness of the world.
 
 Which means our preparations sound less like Santa Claus is coming to town
 and more like:
 
Comfort, comfort now my people; 
Tell of peace! So says our God.
Comfort those who sit in darkness 
Mourning under sorrow’s load.
To God’s people now proclaim
That God’s pardon waits for them!
Tell them that their war is over;
God will reign in peace forever.
 
Our preparation
 includes acknowledgment
 of the reality of the world around us
 
 but like the candles on the Advent wreath,
 our preparations also include hope,
the promise of peace
 and yes even joy,
 
because the preparations for the saving promises of God
 also include the hard work of clearing away the rubble of the past
to create space for the new thing
 that God is doing
 
and without hope, the promise of peace and joy
it is easy to become discouraged.
 
We see this first in our reading from Isaiah.
The prophet is speaking to a group of people
who are discouraged, disappointed by life around them
and humiliated that they cannot do the work that God has called them to do.
 
They are the people who returned to the promised land
from exile in Babylon.
For years and years and years
they dreamed of going home
 and how great it was going to be,
so much better than their current circumstances
 
and now they are faced with reality,
the reality of a destroyed temple and cities,
 the reality that there’s a lot of work to do
 to restore the temple and land to its former glory
and since there’s not a lot left to work with,
 it’s starting to seem like an impossible task.
 
Into their discouragement God sends the prophet
 “to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor…”
this year of the Lord’s favor
refers to a jubilee year,
 
In the jubilee year,
all debts were forgiven,
 all land reverted back to the original owners,
and slaves were freed,
 
society was basically supposed to reset
to the beginning of the time in the promised land
when the gifts of God were equally divided.
 
 The jubilee year
 was a chance to return to the manna way of life
and God understood that would only be possible
 with a fresh start,
a level playing field for everyone.
 
Because it seems that the unfortunate fact of human society
is that some will prosper and some will,
 for whatever reason
find themselves in debt,
 
and once in debt,
it is extremely hard to get out from under that burden,
 no matter how hard one works
and that burden even gets passed down the generations
 
Lately there’s been a movement among some churches
 and nonprofit organizations
 to put jubilee into practice
by raising money to forgive medical debt.
 
The most recent example I saw
 was from a church that a friend goes to in Iowa,
 they were able to forgive $5 million in medical debt.
 
Which seems like an impossible amount,
even for one well off congregation.
I was curious so I did a little research,
 
it seems that there is a whole industry
that profits off of people being in debt,
 when someone can’t pay their debt to the hospital,
the hospital can sell the debt,
at a reduced price
 to a debt collector
 
who is allowed to try to collect interest
and the full amount owed
 and the difference between the discounted price they got from the hospital
and the full amount is their profit
and these companies often take a much more aggressive approach
 in trying to collect the debt than the hospitals
 
So this is where nonprofits and churches come in,
 they buy that reduced price debt,
 and instead of trying to collect it,
 they forgive it.
 
Instead of debt collecting bills,
the people receive a notice
 that their debt has been forgiven,
 they have been set free.
 
 Imagine the relief and yes, joy,
 the weight lifted
of receiving such a notice,
 especially since the groups target people whose debt is
5% or more of their income. 
 
And guess how much that $5 million in medical debt cost?
$8,000.  0.16% of the original
 
This is salvation proclaimed and made tangible,
 the clearing away the rubble of the past
leading to the freedom to serve God rather than debt.
 
This is what God proclaims to the Israelites through the prophet,
and the change is immediate,
from a humiliated people
they now become “oaks of righteousness”
and are able to rebuild the cities and the temple,
 
they will rejoice in God
and sow their joy among the nations
so that it spreads around the world,
 
 even the prophet can’t hold back at this good news,
 after sharing the message of God
the prophet shares from their own perspective
 “I will greatly rejoice in the lord, my whole being shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation…”
 and likens the results to a garden
where the seeds sown spring up, creating more life.
 
God promises salvation,
real tangible here and now salvation,
and God calls us to share our joy
and bring God’s salvation to others,
 
which means preparing the way,
 taking an honest look at the world around us,
clearing out the rubble to make way
for the new thing that God is doing, 
 
Jesus,
God’s real tangible salvation
sent to bring forgiveness,
 jubilee into the midst of our suffering.
This is the one for whom we wait, and prepare,
 
and greet with:
 
Joy to the world
The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her king’
Let every heart prepare him room
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven and nature sing. Amen


https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/health/2020/12/11/des-moines-church-buys-more-than-5-million-iowa-medical-debt-forgives-the-debt/3869165001/?fbclid=IwAR3-Sm9c9oqLiwQ3jCd3ZbPeaYXaDG5frgNiejvCKgdNGpGg-PdRbjSXF2o

1st Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
 
Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you
from the one who calls us to stay awake and to hope. Amen
 
Welcome to the season of Advent!
Our decorations have changed to blue,
we’re at the beginning of a new liturgical year
where we will get to spend time in the gospel of Mark,
 and of course our advent wreath
 reminds us that Christmas is coming,
the more candles we light
 the closer we are to the festival celebrating Immanuel,
 God with us, God among us, God one of us.
 
 It’s exciting the newness and anticipation of the season,
it’s like the advent calendars
with a little chocolate for each day before Christmas
 mirroring the sweetness of anticipation.
 
And yet there’s more to advent
than lighting a few candles and eating a chocolate a day,
 there’s more to wait for than the birthday celebrations for Jesus,
 
 if we go a little deeper into advent
 the scriptures remind us
that we are also waiting for the return of Christ,
and in this reminder
we are recalled to the painful reality
that even as Christ is with us,
God still has work to do,
 
God’s beautiful creation is still broken
and waiting for its healer to come
restore it to the perfection of the garden,
to the promised time when weeping and crying and pain and death are no more,
 a promise we are still waiting on God to fulfill.
 
This side of advent is a striking contrast to the first,
and yet both are true.
 
It’s a paradox (two seemingly contradictory things that turn out to be true)
 and the season of advent is full of them.
 
 The season of advent holds space to acknowledge the tensions in life,
especially the life of faith.
The tension between the fact that we are both saint and sinner,
the tension between the fact that Christ has come and we are still waiting on Christ,
 the tension between the reality that Christ saved the whole world and the world is still broken.
 
There are so many paradoxes,
both ands,
 as we sometimes call them in Lutheran circles,
but that is one of the things that I really appreciate about the Lutheran tradition,
 the acceptance of the both and,
because we know the deeply lived truth
of the seemingly contradictory
and while the unresolved tension can be frustrating sometimes
 it is an authentic reflection of life.
 
So I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised
when our theme for this first Sunday in advent is a paradox:
“those who dream, keep awake”
 
When we hear dream
 we tend to first think of the sleeping kind,
 you know the ones where upon falling asleep
you find yourself in an alternate world
where you’re back in your childhood home
 but your mom is now a panda
baking you bamboo cookies,
and what’s your third grade teacher doing there in the background?
Anybody? Just me?
Those dreams are impossible to have while awake.
 
But of course there’s another way dream is used,
the way Martin Luther King Jr. did
 when he proclaimed “I have a dream”
 his dream, a vision for the future
where the wounds of the present are healed. 
 
God too has a dream,
 a vision for creation,
that all be intimately connected with their creator,
that all, people, animals, nature, live in harmony with one another and God,
a harmony where everyone has what they need,
no one has too much or too little.
 
And God has promised
 that in partnership with people
this dream will become reality.
 
And the thing about these kinds of dreams,
is that to dream them,
one must be awake,
 aware of all the ways that the present world around us
 is less than perfect.
 
Awake to the promises of God
and how they have yet to be fulfilled.
 
In our gospel
Jesus tells his disciples to keep awake,
to wait for the fulfillment of the promises of God,
 to watch for the signs that they are coming
 since no one knows the exact timing.
 
As we wait,
it is tempting to fall asleep,
to fall asleep to the pain and imperfections around us,
to take a break from the harsh reality of life
 
and yet,
 Jesus tells us to keep awake.
To be awake is to acknowledge the broken places of life,
to be awake is to reject the narrative
that it will 'always be this way',
to be awake is to hope.
 
And here seems to be another paradox,
that to have hope we must be awake
to all the realities that argue against hope,
the situations that make the dream for the future look impossible,
 
this is the essence of hope,
to look at the seemingly insurmountable obstacles
 and say ‘nevertheless, I believe that God will work through this,
that good will come out of this mess.’
 
But it’s a process to get from pain to hope,
 and we see that process in our first reading from Isaiah:
 
It starts with lament,
 ‘O that you would tear open the heavens and come down’
cries out the prophet,
it’s frustrating when the world is so far from the dream of God
 and it seems like God isn’t doing anything.
 
We wonder,
why if God is so powerful,
doesn’t God just come down and fix everything, 
 
because we do believe that God is powerful,
 the prophet says as much in the next part
extolling the awesome deeds of God
 
but in affirming the power of God
the prophet on behalf of the people,
 realizes that the people have not kept up their end of the covenant,
 and the lament turns into confession
 
 “we sinned… we have all become like one who is unclean
 and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth” 
have you ever tried to clean a table with a dirty dishrag?
It doesn’t work right?
 As good as your intentions are
 if the cloth is dirty it just spreads the dirt around.
 
 That’s where the people are at,
 just spreading their own dirt around,
and while it might seem that this confession,
this awakening to reality
might be cause for despair,
what it does is lead to hope.
 
 As the prophet acknowledges
 that the people are living with the consequences of their actions
what could easily return to anger or lament becomes hope,
  
 hope based on the trust
 that God keeps the promises God makes,
trust that comes out of the established relationship with God
“yet, O Lord, you are our Father, we are the cay and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.” 
 
In the end God has promised
 that no matter what happens,
 no matter what others label us,
or we think of ourselves
our primary identity is that of children of God,
 
God kept that promise with Jesus,
God made that promise individually to each of us at our baptisms,
 that we are children of God
and nothing can separate us from the love of God
 this relationship is the root of our hope.
 
This Advent there are many reasons we might despair,
 things in the world that make us want to detach from reality,
 to fall asleep and in our dreams pretend that nothing is happening.
 
But God calls us to stay awake,
awake to the messiness and imperfections of life yes,
and awake to the promises of God
and in this wakefulness
join in dreaming with God
 of the day when all live in harmony with God and one another,
and so awake and dreaming, we hope. Amen