5th Sunday After Pentecost
Zecheriah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-14
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you
 from the one who offers to teach us another way Amen.
 
Life is full of contradictions,
 some are as simple as the fact
 that chocolate cake tastes better than broccoli,
 but it is far healthier for us to eat broccoli
 than it is to eat chocolate cake. 
 
Other contradictions are more sinister
 like the fact that those who gain positions of power
In order to work on behalf of many people 
often use that power to work only for themselves.
 
whatever the example 
it seems that as humans, 
even if we are aware of the conflict 
and which is the better part, 
we almost always seem to choose to do more of the thing
 that is less beneficial to ourselves 
 
and even when we try to regulate our actions
 with outside rules and laws,
 we invariably seem to return to that chocolate cake 
even though we know we need to eat the broccoli.
 
This is what Paul is struggling with in our second reading 
remarking that even though he logically knows
 what he should do, and he wants to do it
when it comes time to do it, 
he invariably does the opposite, 
 
he says “I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not what is what I do. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.” 
 
Here he names the greatest contradiction we experience, 
that even as we have free will to act,
 there is another force working against us, 
sin, 
that embeds itself in the fabric of life 
so even as we try to do what is right, 
we are led astray. 
 
The buzz word for this right now is “systemic”
 we talk about systemic racism, 
where racism is so embedded in how we live 
that as individuals we are unable to extract ourselves
 because the everyday options available to us
 within the established way of life have sin woven into the fabric 
such that it is impossible to separate out the individual threads.
 
 Jesus, teaching the disciples
 points out another contradiction with humans, 
the inability to make everyone happy, 
he observes that when John the Baptist came 
fasting as part of his religious experience
 people claimed he had a demon 
 
and when Jesus himself came eating and drinking 
and interacting with normal everyday people
 the people say ‘look a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 
These are the two main options for a messianic figure 
and yet people have rejected them both.
 
 Lately, the best example of this has to do with face masks, 
on the one hand there are people who refuse to go anywhere
 they are not required, 
on the other hand there are people who refuse to go anywhere 
they are required. 
 
Confronted with the contradictions within ourselves and humanity, 
it’s enough to drive us mad, 
so what are we to do? 
 
Paul himself throws up his hands and cries
 “Wretched man that I am, who will save me from this body of death?” 
and there is the key,
 to acknowledge that we need help,
 
 and Paul immediately follows with
 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord” 
Jesus is God’s answer to the contradictions of life.
 
Jesus himself is a living contradiction, 
God and human,
 who lived among and experienced first hand 
the contradictions of humanity
 the reality that it’s impossible to please everyone. 
 
Observing the contradictions in the gospel
 he concludes ‘yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds’ 
he knows that time will tell 
who was wise and made the better choice 
and which was the wrong decision 
 
and then he offers to help in making those choices
 “He says all things have been handed over to me by my father” 
Jesus has the inside scoop 
and he offers to share that with everyone, 
but unlike those get rich quick scheme infomercials 
Jesus offers this for free:
 
He says “come to me all, you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon, you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
 
What Jesus is offering is not a quick fix scheme, 
a magic wand that with a flick of the wrist makes all trouble disappear,
 what he offers is an invitation to self-reflection and the pursuit of wisdom,
 he offers to teach us another way 
to deal with the contradictions of life.
 
 The yoke, was a common image in rabbinic literature 
that referred to obeying the Torah (working preacher), 
the law that God gave as a gift
 to help humans live with one another. 
 
Jesus is a teacher of the law, 
and he has said that he’s not come to abolish the law, 
but he has seen how the pharisees and sadducees 
have taken to following the law for the sake of following the rules
 and not for the original intent of the gift of the law, 
for abundant life of the people. 
 
Following the letter of the law
 has gotten in the way with the spirit of the law 
and so Jesus offers another way, 
one that is lighter, that can be summed up as
 “love the lord your God with all your heart and soul and might, and your neighbor as yourself.” 
 
Jesus offers a gentler way, 
and even then 
he sees how impossible it is
 for humans to do the right thing, 
 
which is why Jesus goes to the cross for us, 
to make us right with God, 
to offer us forgiveness 
for when despite our best efforts we mess up, 
when we continually choose the chocolate cake instead of the broccoli.
 
 “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
Paul has named it, 
we can’t dig ourselves out of the hole we’ve created, 
we need help, 
and Jesus is that help. 
 
Now that doesn’t mean that we should keep intentionally digging holes 
for Jesus to get us out of, 
but when we invariably do 
Jesus is gentle with us, 
and again and again helps us out of the pit 
and shows us another way, 
one where burdens are shared and wisdom is revealed.
 
This doesn’t mean that life will be easy 
or without contradictions,
 Jesus did after all instruct his disciples
 to take up the cross and follow him, 
 
but what it does mean 
is that we have a way to navigate the contradictions of life, 
One where we share one another’s burdens, 
where we strive to live lives turned toward God and neighbor, 
 
where we know that because we live in Christ 
we are not condemned by our failures 
no matter how deeply entwined they are.
 
We have been set free, 
free to live the lighter path of gentleness and humility,
 of wisdom that carries on 
through the midst of the contradictions of life. Amen
 

Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-19
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the one who welcomes us. Amen
 
Today we have a very short gospel text 
where the word welcome 
is repeated over and over.
 
 Now when we hear this word
 we perk up a bit because “welcome” 
is such an important concept in Christianity, 
particularly because we are called
 to keep expanding the community
Sharing the message of Christ
Growing the community
 
So when we hear this passage 
as Professor Rolf Jacobson remarks
we hear it as a command. 
 
We place ourselves in the role of the welcomers 
who will receive the reward that Jesus is talking about
 and yet when we back up 
and look at the whole passage that this little chunk of gospel is a part of, 
we realize that rather than a command, 
this passage is a promise 
and the disciples are not the ones who will be doing the welcoming, 
rather they will be the welcomed.
 
Our gospel for today
 comes at the end of what is known as The Missionary Discourse, 
we’ve heard parts of it over the past two weeks. 
 
Jesus summons his twelve disciples, 
gives them power over unclean spirits 
and then he sends them out
 
 instructing them to travel light, 
not to pack extra sandals or clothes
not even food.
  
 as they travel they are to proclaim the good news 
that the kingdom of God has come near
 and to rely on the hospitality 
of those they encounter for their livelihood, 
 
it’s a very vulnerable position 
and Jesus tells them up front 
that it’s not going to be easy, 
“see I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves” he tells them,
 and predicts that they will be beaten and driven out of towns 
that the message they bring will divide families, 
that as disciples they are to take up the cross 
and in following Jesus expecting to lose their lives,
 
 but do not be afraid Jesus tells them, 
this is something bigger than just yourselves 
and at the very end, our gospel for today, 
Jesus promises that despite all the hardships 
the disciples can expect
 there will be those they encounter 
who will welcome them and take care of them 
 
and in doing so these people they encounter
 are welcoming Jesus and his father. 
The disciples represent the full presence 
of the one who sends them. 
 Those who welcome the disciples
 are the ones who will receive the reward.
 
Jesus’ call to discipleship
 is first and foremost a call to vulnerability,
 to dependence on others,
 a call to be present with others, 
to accept their hospitality 
and in that way bring the presence of God.
 
Now this is a very different picture of discipleship 
and even evangelism than we are used to,
 we’re used to being on the action end of things, 
of going out and making things happen
Of doing things for people, 
which sometimes turns into doing things to people,
 
 We generally think it’s others 
who are supposed to accept our message 
and way of doing things.
 
But that’s not what Jesus tells the disciples,
 he tells them simply, go and be among people, 
to offer the message of the kingdom of God
 and to expect that most people will reject it and you, 
but some will receive it and you, 
and that makes the whole thing worthwhile.
 
This is a hard for message for us
 who are so individualistic, 
who love to depend on ourselves, 
who like to make things happen, 
but sometimes it just doesn’t work that way.
 
 Sometimes change, 
of mind, of way of being 
takes the small everyday presence of many people.
 
I’ve experienced this a little bit myself, 
as a woman pastor. 
This week marked the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women 
in the predecessor bodies of the ELCA 
and it took ten more years before a woman of color was ordained. 
 
The big decision was made 50 years ago
 but the culture didn’t change overnight, 
it took years of my foremothers serving
 to get to the place where I could pursue ordination
 without my gender being the primary focus of my resume. 
 
And yet along the way 
there have been reminders 
that it was not always so, 
 
my seminary was built in the 1960s, 
they didn’t anticipate female students, 
so on the main classroom floor 
while the men’s bathroom was just across the hall 
the women’s bathroom was tucked back in a corner
 by the office section, 
and not all denominations ordain women, 
I’ve been in some places
 where I’ve been the first female clergy that people have encountered
 and they haven’t quite known what to do with me, 
especially on CPE where most of the patients in the hospital 
were either Baptist or Catholic,
 I often got ‘are you a nun?’ and ‘what do I call you? Mother?’ 
And I would tell them what to call me
And go on with my job.
My presence a stronger argument than any words
For women serving as pastors.
 
Some interactions are not so mild, 
one of my friends,
 upon meeting a new colleague out in the community, 
(she wasn’t wearing clergy attire at the time,)
 introduced herself and was treated warmly
 but as soon as she got to the part 
where she explained that she was the new pastor 
the colleague withdrew his hand from the handshake 
and refused to acknowledge her existence, 
but her presence in that community
 was a living testament to what the colleague rejected.
 
 Jesus gives each of the disciples gifts 
then sends them out to be the presence of God wherever they go. 
 
Jesus gives each of us gifts
 and calls us to be the presence of God wherever we go, 
 
discipleship, evangelism is a way of life, 
it’s not something we do on Sunday mornings 
or at special times 
and then go back to doing whatever we want, 
 
who we are, how we live, 
the way we treat others
 all show those around us what it means,
 for us at least,
 to be in relationship with God 
and when our actions fail to reflect the ways of God
 people notice. 
 
One of the major critiques of religion
is the hypocrisy of those who practice it imperfectly.
People notice how we live
 
And yet if the expectation to live perfectly sounds impossible, 
you’d be correct,
 no matter how hard we try
 we will never be perfect, 
 
God knows this 
which is why God offers us grace
 in Christ who is perfect, 
Offering forgiveness when we mess up and confess and repent, 
allowing us the chance to grow in faith and life with God, 
sending others into our lives,
 to bring the presence of God
 with their own God given gifts 
To bring the kingdom of God near to us.
 
this is the life that Jesus calls us to live,
 lives that give witness to the grace of God 
who receives us as we are 
and who encourages us to witness
 to the kingdom of God with our whole selves
 even as we are called to grow and be changed
 by the witness of others we encounter along the way. 
 
Rather than attempted perfection
I think the opportunity for forgiveness
and the commitment to growth, to do better
 is a much more compelling way of life 
 
The grace of God sets us free from the need to be perfect 
and the accompanying fear of failure
The grace of God calls us to be vulnerable
To dare to be the presence of God
And to allow others 
to be the presence of God ,
with their own God given gifts, to us
 
And Jesus knows that at times this is difficult
 that some we encounter will expect perfection immediately,
 or will reject the message of grace,
That in the process of living this way
we will lose our lives, 
the lives where we’ve always done it this way, 
 
but in losing our lives we will find new life, 
and God promises
 that there will be people along the way who will welcome us, 
and encourage us,
 even if it’s as simple as offering us a cold cup of water.
 
All this is possible because Christ first welcomes us,
Forgives us,
And sends us out.
 
The kingdom of God has come near. Amen

3rd Sunday After Pentecost
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:7-10, 16-18
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you
 from the one who calls us
 to take up the cross and follow him. Amen
 
Jesus does not hold back in our gospel for today 
as he teaches about discipleship,
 what it truly means to follow him.
 
 to be a disciple says Jesus
 means uncovering the things
 that society would rather keep secret, 
it means that some will want to do bodily harm to you,
 that families will be divided, 
That you will lose your life.
 
Jesus clearly wasn’t working with a PR firm
 on his marketing for recruiting disciples.
 It is not an attractive picture he paints
 and I’ll admit in the past I’ve struggled with this passage.
 
 And yet this year, 
in the midst of all that is going on in our society and world,
 I found this passage oddly comforting.
perhaps because the world is so uncomfortable now
 and at its heart the gospel is meant to comfort the distressed 
and to disturb the comfortable
And my life is generally speaking, comfortable.
 
But Jesus knows
 that in the way of the world 
comfort of one individual or group is achieved 
at the expense of another individual or group
 and the systems that are comfortable
 will fight to the death to preserve their comfort.
 
Jesus has come to bring abundant life for all
And that means dismantling the systems that oppress people.
And the first step in that 
is to bring out into the open 
the things those in power would rather cover up. 
“For nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered proclaim from the housetops”
 
We are in a time of uncovering right now, 
what was remarkable about George Flyod’s death 
was sadly not the way he was treated
 but that it was recorded for all to see. 
 
The holiday Juneteenth 
has been observed since 1866 
and yet many people are only learning about it this year
Scholars and epidemiologists have studied for years
 in preparation for a global pandemic 
and now after the proverbial horse has escaped the barn 
the results of their studies are being widely disseminated. 
 
And while it may be uncomfortable
 for those of us hearing about these things for the first time,
 imagine the relief of those who have known all along 
who have been reduced to whispering in the past 
that now are able to proclaim from the housetops. 
 
Jesus lets us know 
that no matter how hard we try to avoid certain topics of conversation, 
they will eventually be brought out into the open,
 and that is liberating, for everyone. 
What we are experiencing is the next step on the arc toward the liberation of all. 
And Jesus knows that this will divide people.
 
That’s what Jesus means when he says
 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth, I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” 
 
The sword, 
The liberating message of Jesus
has two edges, law and gospel, 
the law to show us how we have fallen short 
and the gospel to comfort, 
 
and actually these two are often the same message, 
how it is understood depends on who hears them, 
for those who have been comfortable at the expense of others 
Jesus’ message of liberation will sound like law,
 for those who have been oppressed
 the message will sound like gospel, good news. 
 
Jesus says that to be a disciple 
we must take the side of the oppressed, 
This is what the call to take up the cross means
 
the cross, was an instrument of state terror 
designed to make a horrifically painful example
 of anyone who tried to defy the empire,
Those who were crucified were killed
Because they were seen as a threat to the status quo
A threat to the comfort of those in power.
 
This is what it means to be a disciple of Jesus
To openly talk about the secrets of society
To take the side of the oppressed
To take on the powers of the world.
Why would we want to be a disciple?
 
Because to be a disciple
Also means that we are known and valued by God
Jesus knows his message is difficult,
 three times in this passage he says do not be afraid 
and in the end affirms the value of each individual disciples,
 “even the hairs of your head are all counted, so do not be afraid.” 
 
to be a part of the Jesus movement 
is to be a part of something much larger than yourself 
and at the same time be known and valued for your own individual gifts and talents,
 and it is because we are so valued 
that we are able to take risks for others.
 
Paul picks up a variation on this theme in his letter to the Romans.
Writing looking back through the lens of the crucifixion and resurrection
He says “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life...The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
 
Christ died and rose for us
To set us free from sin
being turned in on ourselves, 
taking care of our own comfort at the expense of others.
 In relation to God
 the matter of sin has been taken care of by Jesus
 
 but just because God forgives us 
does not mean that we keep sinning 
rather it means that we try to live without sin 
and this is a daily struggle. 
 
This is the essence of the baptismal life
The daily dying to sin
And rising to new life in Christ
All because God has unequivocally claimed us.
 
Today happens to be my baptism birthday, 
33 years ago my parents brought me to the font
And God claimed me.
 
 While it’s hard to believe 
that that baby needed to be forgiven for anything, 
what that moment did was start a lifelong journey
to live a life bigger than myself
 
 and sometimes that means 
setting aside my own comfort and security for the sake of others
 just as Jesus set aside his own comfort and security 
as he went to the cross for the sake of the whole world. 
 
This is Jesus’ call to all of us, 
to face discomfort, division and fear, 
not because it might save us, 
but that it might save someone else.
 
 Jesus expects this of us 
because it is exactly what Jesus himself did 
but we do this 
secure in the fact that we are known by God, 
who values us and knows every last detail about us, 
down to the number of hairs on our head.
 
We are in a moment in time 
where we are being called to set aside our own comfort
 and act for the sake of others
 whether it is wearing a mask in public,
 or taking the time to learn about 
how the sin of racism infects the ways of the world, 
challenging the powers that say some are more valuable than others. 
 
And we are up for the challenge
Not because we are particularly brave
But because we are so thoroughly loved by God. Amen
 

2nd Sunday After Pentecost
Exodus 19:2-8a
Psalm 100
Romans 5:1-8
Matthew 9:35-10:8

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you from the one who dared to die for us. Amen
 
Welcome to the time after pentecost, 
often called ordinary time, 
symbolized by the color green. 
 
In this green season 
our scriptures and prayers
 will point us in the direction of growth, 
growth in faith, in discipleship, in understanding, 
in what it takes to build the kingdom of God.
 
 And this season will stretch on and on, 
for the next few months,
 it will be fall before we see a color on the altar 
other than green 
and that too holds true to the theme of the season 
because growth takes time. 
 
And growth is difficult at times,
 do you remember growing up,
 when you hit a growth spurt 
and literally felt growing pains, 
aches in your bones as they stretched toward your full height?
 
In his letters 
Paul writes to a church experiencing growing pains,
 to many he writes of specific difficulties,
 the Thessalonians were afraid of church members dying 
before the return of Christ, 
the Corinthians had all sorts of conflict
 and it seems like he just missed the Philippians,
 
in his letter to the Romans, 
Paul is writing to a church 
that he has never met
 but whom he wishes to visit,
 and because he’s never met them, 
and realizes that he might never meet them 
he presents his rationale for the gospel in a more measured tone, 
Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham
 and his main point
 is that God does the work,
 all Abraham did was trust in the promise, had faith. 
 
For us, Jesus does all the work 
and our role is to trust the promise, have faith.
 
That’s what is leading up to our reading for today
 where Paul concludes: “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”
 
We have peace with God! Paul proclaims,
given our sinful and broken relationship with God
 it would be reasonable (using human logic) 
for God to want to even the score, 
punish us, make us hurt in the same way we made God hurt 
 
“But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” 
God settled the score or however you want to put it,
 and the end result 
is that God has promised that through Christ 
we will share in the glory of God. 
 
We have been set free in our relationship with God 
but that freedom does not absolve us of responsibilities,
 rather it allows us to turn our attention 
to the broken relationships of the world, 
relationships that will insist that they are fine the way they are, 
relationships that will resent and push back
 against even the suggestion that they need to be examined, 
 
which is why Paul says 
that even as we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God “we also boast in our sufferings”
 
So, what
 (asking our pentecost question) 
what does this mean? 
What does this mean for us today? 
 
What it means is that we have work to do, 
examining the broken relationships in this world, 
to acknowledge them, understand them
 and work toward healing them. 
 
Sadly there are many candidates for this work,
 but at the forefront right now 
is the relationship between the white community
 and the black community within this country.
 
 It is a relationship that is broken 
and has been broken for hundreds of years, 
and it is also one that some will insist is fine
 and will resent even the call to examine the relationship.
 
 But this is exactly what Jesus has set us free to do, 
it is what he did and calls us to do, 
to go to the places that are hurting and in need of good news.
 
We heard in our gospel 
that as Jesus went around all the cities and villages
 proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God 
he encountered whole crowds of people
that needed healing and hope
 
 and “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few”  
 
One person teaching and healing is not enough, 
so Jesus sends the disciples out to do the same things 
that he has just been doing, 
and he knows it’s not going to be easy 
or that everyone will receive their message
 but that it is important work to be done
 
 and he promises that whatever happens 
they are loved and cared for by God, 
they are free to take risks because God is their safety net.
 
We are free to take risks 
since we are justified by faith, 
we have peace with God, 
which means that nothing can separate us from the love of God, 
even if the work we do 
in working on human relationships is difficult 
and produces suffering, 
but we know that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
 
Hope does not disappoint us.
 It may be hard to look around the world right now and have hope.
 But that’s only if we confuse hope with optimism. 
 
Optimism looks at all the hard and difficult things of the world 
and says, ‘I don’t know how but it will all turn out okay.’ 
 
Hope takes a hard look at the realities, 
the seemingly insurmountable obstacles, 
and says ‘nevertheless I trust that there will be new life.’
 
This week in my reading 
I came across a passage which speaks directly to this kind of hope, 
I have returned to a book I read in seminary 
“The Cross and the Lynching Tree” by James H. Cone, 
a prominent black theologian, 
reading it is part of my own work 
examining the broken relationships in this world 
and working to acknowledge them,
 understand them and work toward healing them. 
I invite you to join me in this work 
and will in the near future be offering some ideas for how you can join me.
 
In one part Dr.Cone describes hope in the black experience 
as expressed through the spiritual “Nobody Knows”
 
He says “The first three lines accent despair;
 
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen, 
Nobody knows my sorrow.
Nobody knows de trouble I’ve seen,
But the last line accents hope with an exclamation:
 
Glory Hallelujah
 
“Nobody Knows” reaches the peak of despair in its repetition of the first line in the third.
            African Americans did not doubt that their lives were filled with trouble...Trouble followed them everywhere, like a shadow they could not shake. But the ‘Glory Hallelujah’ in the last line speaks of  hope that trouble would not sink them down into permanent despair...In another version of ‘Nobody Know,’ the dialectic of doubt and faith is expressed with a focus on Jesus’ solidarity with the one in trouble.
 
“Nobody knows the trouble I see,
Nobody knows but Jesus,
Nobody knows the trouble I see,
Glory Hallelujah.”
 
...In the second version of “Nobody Know,” the source of the hope is Jesus, for he is a friend who knows about the trouble of the little ones, and he is the reason for their ‘Hallelujah.’ His divine presence is the most important message about black existence.” (pg 20-21)
 
Hope is the belief
 that the future will triumph over 
the often seemingly insurmountable hardships of the present. 
 
Jesus is the source of hope. 
He had compassion on the crowds, 
he pointed out and preached against a broken system 
and for his trouble he was crucified on a cross 
 
and nevertheless 
he rose from the dead on the third day, 
he is new life in spite of death.
 
And he did it all for us, 
his life and death and life again, 
so that we too could have new life, 
peace with God. 
 
As we look around our world 
and see the brokenness and suffering, 
Jesus, who has set us free,
 calls out to us, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few” 
and sends us out to work for new life
 grounded in the hope of the resurrection, 
the hope of Jesus. 
 
Hope that does not disappoint. Amen
 

Holy Trinity Sunday
Genesis 1:1-2:4
Psalm 8
2 Corinthians 13:11-13
Matthew 28:16-20

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you from the community of God. Amen
 
Today is Holy Trinity Sunday, 
it’s an odd little festival
 that is crammed in between Pentecost 
and the long stretch of ordinary time 
that takes us to the end of the Church year
 
 it’s odd because it is the only festival 
that is dedicated to a doctrine or teaching of the church,
 you see, the doctrine of the trinity,
 the idea that God is one in three, three in one
 doesn’t appear explicitly in the Bible.
 
 We do hear the trinitarian formula
 at the end of the gospel of Matthew, 
we heard that just a moment ago, 
but as a description rather than a teaching. 
 
because while the math doesn’t work 
and the concept is confusing, 
how can God be one and three at the same time? 
In the end we have found that the trinity 
is the best description we can come up with
 for our experience of God. 
 
We have experienced and believe in God the creator, 
the one who, as we heard in our first reading 
created the heavens and the earth, 
 
and we have experienced Jesus 
who in the beginning was the Word
 and the Word was with God and the word was God.
 Jesus who told his disciples 
that in seeing him they had seen the one who sent him, 
who rose from the dead 
 
and we have experienced the Holy Spirit, 
the wind that swept over the waters at creation, 
who descended upon Jesus at his baptism in the form of a dove,
 the advocate who Jesus promised to send 
who with a rush of wind 
blew the disciples out into the streets
 with tongues of fire above their head
 and all the languages of the world 
coming from their mouths, 
 
We have experienced all three 
and yet we believe that to experience each of these members of the trinity
 is to fully experience one God, 
the God of Abraham and Jacob, 
the God of Moses who led the people out of slavery in Egypt to freedom in the promised land, the God who sent his son to once and for all redeem the world, 
who promises to be with us to the end of the age.
 
Our one God is a community within Godself. 
The various experiences of God 
working together to become the full expression of God.
 and yes how exactly that happens is a holy mystery, 
when we try to explain every single aspect 
we invariably get into trouble 
because our explanations fall short of reality
 but we know what we have experienced, 
our God is communal. 
 
Last week we talked about the beginning of the church
 and how it is like a body, one body many members, 
and the one body needs a diversity of parts to create the whole. 
This week we discover that in a way 
the same thing is true for God, 
that even God needs diversity within unity to be whole.
 
 So what does this mean?
(Remember our Pentecost question?) 
 
What the trinity means for us
 is that diversity is essential to existence, 
even the existence of God. 
 
The way God created the world 
means that we need a diversity of people
 to be whole as humanity. 
We need people that look different 
and think and move and communicate differently, 
variety is a strength 
and we will never be whole
while some differences are valued higher than others,
 while some differences hold more power than others. 
 
Until that is acknowledged
 there will always be something missing in the experience of humanity. 
That’s the march toward justice that we have seen break out, 
the acknowledgment of pain of division and the desire to be whole.
 
What the trinity means
 is that the lie of individuality is exposed, 
our wellbeing is inextricably linked to the wellbeing of all 
and when one person or group is hurting, we hurt too. 
 
The same applies to our faith, 
our faith is communal, 
it grows and flourishes when in relationship with God and others,
 and this is so because our God is a communal God.
 
What the trinity means
 is that we are to set aside our own advantages and privileges 
In our quest for the wellbeing of all
because we have a God who set aside the privileges of being God,
 but took on flesh, and in the words of the Christ hymn from Philippians:
6who, though he was in the form of God,
 did not regard equality with God
 as something to be exploited,
 7but emptied himself,
 taking the form of a slave,
 being born in human likeness.
 And being found in human form,
 8he humbled himself
 and became obedient to the point of death --
 even death on a cross.
 9Therefore God also highly exalted him
 and gave him the name
 that is above every name,
 10so that at the name of Jesus
 every knee should bend,
 in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
 11and every tongue should confess
 that Jesus Christ is Lord,
 to the glory of God the Father.
 
What the trinity means
 is that we have a God who works in the world through us. 
We heard in our gospel Jesus’ last words to the disciples his last command:
 
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
 
God comes into our lives and claims us 
through the community of God, 
the parents that bring the child to the font, 
the sponsors and Sunday school teachers and classmates,
 the people who gather together linked by their own baptisms.
 
What the trinity means 
is that joined to God in baptism 
we are never done learning, 
the baptismal journey
 is one whose whole length 
is spent learning to obey the commands of God, 
all summed up in the greatest commandment,
 love the lord your god with all your heart and soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself. 
 
And yes because we are always learning and growing 
we will make mistakes along the way,
 and when we do, 
when we acknowledge our sins and repent,
 we are forgiven and freed to continue to learn and grow
 
What the trinity means 
is that in community with one another and God 
we are never alone, 
Jesus’ last words before he ascended were a promise: 
“And remember, I am with you always to the end of the age.”  
 
God the creator is with us always 
in the diversity of creation that God made and called good. 
 
Jesus the Son is with us always
 in the Church, the body of Christ on earth, 
 
The Holy Spirit is with us always, 
blowing through our lives, 
calling, gathering, enlightening and sending us in the world. 
 
Three experiences, 
one God, 
with us forever. Amen.
 

Pentecost
Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104:24-35b
1 Corinthians 12:3-13
John 20:19-23

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, 
grace and peace to you 
from the one who blows new life into our lives. Amen
 
It’s pentecost! The festival fifty days after Easter 
when we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit 
and the start of the church. 
 
Each year I’m reminded of a song from my children’s choir days
- Mom you know exactly which one I’m talking about, 
and yes my mom watches the worship videos online- 
this pandemic has created avid youtubers out of moms of pastors all across the nation- 
anyway the song went a little something like this:
 
Pentecost is happy birthday
Happy birthday to the church
When every single doubting Thomas
Comes alive with Jesus’ promise
That he would not leave them
In the lurch.
 
Now with the exception of the fact
that the song continues to smear the disciple Thomas’ character 
for the sake of a rhyme 
it’s a pretty good basic interpretation of the day. 
 
We heard last week
 how Jesus promised the disciples 
the gift of the holy spirit 
and commanded them to take his message to the ends of the earth 
before ascending to the right hand of the father 
 
and we just heard in our reading from acts, 
how the spirit blew the disciples out into the streets, 
each speaking in a different language 
so that the people assembled from the ends of the earth
 could understand their message 
 
and later though it wasn’t part of our reading,
 we are told about 3,000 people are baptized and join the disciples 
and it is exciting and a great celebration 
but it’s one that comes as the culmination of a long time of waiting and uncertainty.

We’re intimately familiar with those dual feelings aren’t we?
 uncertainty coupled with waiting
 and even if we are trusting in the promise of God to bring new life 
 it can be really hard to wait,
 we get impatient,
 
 or we imagine what the future will look like 
which invariably ends up being unrealistic, 
because we always imagine ourselves in the role of the hero,
 we anticipate and hope that when our wait is over 
and the spirit is on the move 
that we will be like the disciples stepping forward to face the crowds
 but the reality is that often when the Holy Spirit blows in new life,
 it looks nothing like what we imagined 
and in turn we are act more like the crowds than the disciples
 
Act tells us that the crowds
 gathered by the commotion the disciples are making
 are first astonished to hear the disciples 
whose accents betray them as Galileans, 
speaking in their own languages 
and then they have one of two reactions
 
some in the crowd react with curiosity,
 asking “What does this mean? But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine." Their response is to immediately dismiss what is happening 
using the least generous possibility as an explanation,
 
 and while it is amusing to hear Peter protest 
that the disciples are not drunk because it is only 9am
 think about how the disciples felt, 
here they are receiving the long awaited gift from God, 
and some immediately dismiss them because they are disturbed.
 
That’s the thing about the Holy Spirit, 
as new and exciting as it is, the new life it brings
 is coupled with the potential for destruction,
the potential exists even in the way the arrival of the spirit is described, 
with a sound like the rush of a violent wind,
 and as tongues of fire, 
out here we know the power of wind 
and what it can do to trees and structures that seem strong in one moment 
and in the next are torn apart. 
Fire, used for cooking and heating,
 is always only one spark away from destruction.
We also know that giving birth
Even in the best of circumstances,
 is painful and dangerous and full of uncertainty
Until the first breath is taken and even after.
 
When we are faced with the arrival of the Holy Spirit,
 New life and all the comes with it to bring it into the world
we are faced with two options:
 to dismiss the strange things before us 
with pat explanations that demean those through whom the spirit is working, 
 
or we can approach with curiosity,
 to ask the question: What does this mean? 
To take the time to listen to the ones who like Peter 
stand up and offer an explanation,
 to explore what others have experienced leading up to this moment 
That makes new life necessary
 to seek out those who have visions and dreams for the future, 
those who can help us imagine ourselves in that future, 
those whose faith remains unshaken even as we are unsure.
 
In short, faced with the work of the holy spirit 
we need the help of the gifts of the spirit
 that Paul describes in our reading from 1 Corinthians, 
gifts that the spirit has distributed as she sees fit 
and never all in one person, 
 
when we need the gifts of the spirit
 we need the community. 
We need the people who are wise,
 and the ones that are knowledgeable, 
we need the ones that get things done, 
and the ones who are good at figuring out what we need to do,
 
 we need those who prophesy 
and those who translate that prophesy into a vision for the future. 
“All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free- and we were all made to drink of one spirit.”
 
We are united in the spirit 
but Unity in the spirit doesn’t erase our individual identities,
 in fact we need people to be different 
so that we all can be whole
 
 Paul continuing with his body analogy later says “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body.” 
and what keeps a whole body alive?
 Breath, the spirit.
 
The common theme running through the major upheavals in our world right now 
is lack of breath, 
COVID19 is a sickness of the lungs,
 the people who die are those whose lungs are so compromised 
that they are no longer able to breathe. 
 
George Floyd could not breathe,
 his airway cut off by another person
 and he is not the first to have uttered those words 
in a similar circumstance. 
 
Those seeking new life for other
Have their breath taken from them
By those who want things to stay the same.
 
Our world needs breath, 
needs the spirit,
 even as we are made aware
 that we are members of a community,
 that our health and wellbeing 
are tied up in the health and well being of our neighbors, 
the ones next door, 
across the country, 
and around the world.
 
The world needs the spirit, 
and I believe that the spirit is at work, 
bringing new life, 
even, especially if it is life like we haven’t imagined,
 
 and the work of the spirit, 
like a strong wind,
 will be unsettling, 
even for those of us who long for the new life that the spirit brings. 
And when faced with the work of the Holy Spirit, 
we have two options: curiosity or dismissiveness.
 
We can dismiss the need 
for finding new ways for common life 
that enable the health of all, 
we can dismiss the protests 
using whatever pat explanation comes to mind.
 
Or we can ask:
 What does this mean? 
And listen with an open heart and an open mind
 to those, who like Peter, 
have the gifts of the spirit 
that allow them to explain the long history leading up to this point, 
who show us why this is a moment 
that should not be dismissed but paid attention to. 
 
And it may be hard to hear
 what the Peters in our midst have to say, 
and at each point when we feel discomfort, 
a sign that the spirit is working by the way, 
we once again have two options: 
we can dismiss it 
or we can ask what does this mean? 
And move further down the path toward new life 
 
and as we go down this path,
 we will never be alone 
 
because we have been given the gift of the spirit 
who is as close to us as the breath in our lungs, 
who is there to unsettle us when we need to be unsettled 
and to comfort us when we need to be comforted 
 who activates in each of us gifts, 
who works in our lives through the gifts others share 
who gathers us together in community to wonder together: what does this mean? 
If you are feeling the moving of the spirit, 
If you ever want someone to wonder with 
and ask the hard questions,
 know that I am available to wonder and question with you, 
because this is something that we don’t do alone 
and if we can’t ask the hard questions in the church, 
where can we ask them?
 
Pentecost is happy birthday
Happy birthday to the church.
 
What does this mean?
 It means the start of something new, 
something unsettling and comforting at the same time, 
it means God is with us 
and God is sending us. 
It means Jesus keeps his promises. Amen
 

Seventh Sunday in Easter
Acts 1:1-11
Psalm47
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:44-53

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen indeed Alleluia!
 
Well, here we are, at the end of the Easter season, 
our celebration of the resurrection 
was a bit quieter than what we’re traditionally used to 
but perhaps more poignant 
for the much needed message of hope, 
the proclamation of Jesus’ ultimate victory over death. 
 
We’ve heard how Jesus appeared to the disciples
 giving them what they needed to believe 
and reminding them of all that he had taught them,
 
 and we’ve heard once again, 
of Jesus’ promise
 that he will not leave us orphaned 
but send an advocate,
 the holy spirit to show us the way,
 
 and now here on our last sunday in Easter
 we hear of Jesus’ ascension, 
his return to heaven and the right hand of the Father
 as we confess in the words of the Apostle’s Creed, 
 
we confess this
but I don’t think the ascension is one of the parts of Jesus’ life
 that we think about all that often,
 in fact, why mention it at all?
 
As it turns out,
 the Ascension, 
which some smart alec online defined as 
“when Jesus started working from home” 
is crucial for the spread of the good news of Jesus Christ. 
 
While it seems counter intuitive, 
Jesus has to leave 
so that the work of the church can begin.
 
 
Luke tells us 
how after appearing to the disciples in several ways,
 Jesus finally gathers the disciples together, 
reminds them of all that he taught them
 while he was with them, 
opens their minds to understand
 that he is the fulfillment of the scriptures, 
“that because he rose on the third day, repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in [Jesus’] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”  
and that they are the ones who will be making those proclamations
 
Jesus reminds the disciples 
“You are witnesses of these things.” 
the life, death, resurrection and now ascension of Jesus. 
Witnesses who now have the responsibility
 to share what they have seen and heard with all nations, 
 
of course Jesus will give them the gift of the Holy Spirit to help,
 though that comes next week, 
first though Jesus has to leave, 
and with a final blessing he is carried into heaven,
 
 the disciples return to the temple blessing God 
and soon, next week, 
the holy spirit will blow them out into the street, 
to share what they have seen with all the nations,
 
 and this wouldn’t be possible without Jesus leaving, 
as long as Jesus is around, 
he will be the center of attention, 
 
ascending to the Father, fulfills the scriptures 
and gives the disciples space
 to live out the mission he has given them. 
 
Because let’s be honest, 
as humans we tend to get distracted by the physical, 
by what is before us, 
what we can hold on to, 
 
in Acts the disciples stare heavenward as Jesus ascends 
and two men in white 
(indicating that they are messengers of God)
 come alongside them
 and ask why they keep staring up to heaven
 when what is important is before them on earth, 
 
Jesus will come back 
they remind the disciples
 but until then you’ve got work to do,
 the work of becoming the Church, 
the people of God on earth who,
 in relationship with God and partnership of the holy spirit, 
grow in their own faith even as they share the hope of Jesus.
 
This is what Paul reminds the Ephesians of in his letter to them, 
a new community in Christ 
who heard of Jesus through Paul 
who is now encouraging them from afar, 
giving thanks to God for them in their growing relationship with God 
and reminding them that while Jesus is the head of the church, 
they are the hands and feet of the body of Christ 
 their presence in the world is how Christ works now. 
 
In sharing the good news and loving the neighbor 
the Ephesians bring Christ into the midst of their community. 
How they do it will be different than the Philippians, 
or the Corinthians or the believers in Jerusalem 
because of the differences in community, 
and that is okay because different communities have different needs 
and ways of doing things 
but they are all valuable members of the body of Christ.
 
Wherever there are people whose hope is in Christ,
 who look to God for wisdom and understanding, 
who listen to the holy spirit that calls us to love and serve our neighbor,
 that is where the church is, 
that is Jesus present in the world.
 
And Jesus needed to ascend to the father for this to happen, 
it’s like giving kids progressively more independence as they grow up, 
as care givers we still direct and encourage 
but they need the space to  learn to do things on their own.
 
Jesus being physically separate
 creates the space the disciples need 
to do the work set out for them, 
and with the help of the promised holy spirit 
they will take Jesus’ message to the ends of the earth.
 
And sure, sometimes our attention gets stuck in one direction for awhile
 but that is when Jesus sends messengers to redirect our focus, 
To see once again
 all the people who need to hear of the hope of Christ,
 who need a living community 
one that adapts to the times and challenges 
while proclaiming the timeless message of Christ, 
 
and with the eyes our our hearts enlightened 
our hope is renewed 
and we work to become a community 
that reaches out to the forgotten that need to be remembered 
and the hungry that need to be fed, 
the lonely that need a friend,
 
 in these acts great and small 
whether it is one person or a whole multitude 
the church is present 
and that means Christ is present.
 
Today as we reflect on the ascension of Jesus to his father, 
we are reminded that distance, 
whether it is physical like what we’ve been practicing 
or Jesus ascending to his father
 is sometimes what is needed for growth, 
for new life 
 
and that often the new life that emerges
 is even more powerful than what existed before, 
because it means that more are empowered. 
 
You are witnesses to these things,
 you have heard repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name, 
you have the gift of the holy spirit. 
YOU are the church. Amen
 

Sixth Sunday in Easter
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed Alleluia!
 
We are still in the season of Easter,
 celebrating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
 but even as we celebrate
our texts are starting to turn us toward the ascension
 when Jesus returns to his Father
and the bodily resurrection appearances stop,
leaving the disciples wondering,
 where is God?
 
Where is God?
 I think this is a question that we’ve all asked
 at some point in our lives,
 whether in the depths of sorrow
or simply musing about the meaning of life,
 in fact, how we answer the question
is impacted by who we say God is.
 
In our reading from Acts,
 Paul is traveling,
telling all he meets of Jesus,
 
when he comes to Athens
 he encounters multiple ideas of gods,
each with their own places of worship,
images, and spheres of influence
and though he considers them all idols
 he recognizes that the Athenians are very religious
 
so religious
that they have covered all their bases
by even erecting an alter “to an unknown God”
 a God without image or idol,
 
and Paul grasps on to this imageless God,
I know who this God is
Paul tells the people,
 this God that you consider unknown,
possibly in part
 because you have not been able to come up with an image,
is the God who made the world and everything in it,
 
 God who rules the heavens and the earth
and who created all people
 doesn’t live in a shrine
 or need the sacrifices of humans,
 
God cannot be contained in precious metals
or even in the imagination of mortals
because God is so much bigger than all that,
 
 and though this makes it seem like God is far away
 and that we humans have to search for God
 in reality
God is never far from us
 “for in him we live and move and have our being”
 
we are offspring of God,
 Paul tells the crowds,
which means we are in relationship with God,
God the creator of heaven and earth is a relational God,
found in relationships rather than places.
 
Which is good news
 because it means that we are not tied to any particular place
 for the worship of God
 
 but it does mean that we need to maintain relationships,
 with God,
 with other people whom God works through,
 and maintaining these relationships
 leads to regular places of gathering.
 
God is not tied to these buildings and locations
 and yet it is undeniable
 that there are particular places
where we feel closer to God,
 sacred spaces
where the veil seems thinner somehow
 and we seem to more easily slip into the presence of the divine,
 
 and separation from these places is not to be taken lightly
because they play such a role
in maintaining our relationship with God.
 
I found one of those places in college,
 at Gustavus there is an arboretum attached to campus,
 with a variety of walking paths,
 
sometimes it seemed like the only place
 for an introvert to go
 to get away from all the people on a residential campus.
 
There was a particular stone I’d go to and sit on
 and talk to God,
 pour out the anxieties and troubles of my late teens and early twenties
and there I felt the presence of God.
 
 When I graduated and moved away,
 I was surprised by the ache I felt deep within
at being separated from that sacred space.
It made me think of the Native Americans,
whose spirituality is so closely tied to the land
and who were forcibly removed from their sacred spaces
 and the ache that they still feel generations later.
 
Even if we acknowledge that God is greater than a single space or image,
we humans still search for more solid connections to God,
 whether it is a place, a building, a community,
or something else,
and when we find one of these connections
 we hold on for dear life.
 
The disciples in our gospel
have found one of those connections in Jesus,
in fact Jesus has told the disciples
that in seeing him they have seen the father,
to see Jesus is to see God.
 
and yet now Jesus is telling them
 that he must go away,
that they will no longer see him.
  
And the disciples are understandably feeling some trepidation,
 if they can no longer see Jesus,
 they will no longer be able to see God
and then where will God be?
It’s hard not to feel like they’re being abandoned.
 
And Jesus knows this
and promises the disciples “I will not leave you orphaned”
 he’s using the language of relationship,
 
 Jesus’ going away is necessary
but he reassures the disciples
that  it doesn’t mean the end of a relationship with God
 it will just take another form:
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth.... You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”
 
The gift of the spirit,
 received at our baptisms
 means that God is always with us,
 is as close to us as the breath we take,
even when we feel separated from God,
 God is there residing in us,
advocating for us.
 
I don’t think we often think of God this way,
 even as we acknowledge the gift of the spirit
we still think of God as separate
 and far off
 
and it takes a moment where the spirit makes herself very clear
 before we feel the intimacy of God,
for the disciples this happened at Pentecost,
for the rest of us it happens at different times,
perhaps in a special place, through prayer
or in the course of everyday life,
 often it happens at times when life has changed in some way
and we are feeling separate from God
that’s when God, through the spirit,
reminds us that God is with us.
 
We are in a time of change right now,
whether it be anticipated
like the graduation from high school or other life events,
 or because of what is going on in the world around us,
 
we may be feeling separated from God,
 but Jesus is with us
sending the gift of the holy spirit,
keeping the promise that he made to the disciples
 “because I live, you also will live.”
 
Christ is alive, Alleluia
Where is God?
Right here with us. Amen
 

Fifth Sunday in Easter
Acts 7:55-60
Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

Easter 5
5/10/20
 
Alleluia Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen indeed, alleluia.
 
This week our psalm really caught me,
the image of the psalmist
who has taken refuge in God
seemed to speak to our time
when “shelter in place” and “stay at home”
 have become everyday phrases,
 
the psalmists’ crying out to God
“deliver me” in one breath
and “my times are in your hand” in the next
capturing the multiple emotions that envelope us.
 
As I mulled over the images,
 I wondered what images we might use today
and so as an exercise I paraphrased our psalm for today,
 seeking to use the images and emotions of 2020,
and here is what I came up with:
 
In you God I take refuge
Keep me from acting out of selfishness.
 
Listen to me!
Come quickly!
 
Be my home
That I may shelter in place in you.
For you are where I retreat to safety.
You hold me like the cushions of my couch.
 
Take me out of the net of fear
That has been woven around us,
For you are my truth.
 
Into your care I comment by body and spirit
That you created, called good, and redeemed.
 
 Time is in your hands
Save me from fear, anxiety,
Inadequacy, lethargy, numbness
And from the ones who want me to feel this way.
 
Shine on me like the springtime sun
That each year 
Coaxes bare branches back to life. 
 
Part of the power of the psalms
 and why we turn to them for comfort
is that they hold so true to life,
 
contained within many psalms
are both cries of lament
 where the psalmist feels abandoned by God,
 and in the next breath
 proclamations of trust in that same God,
 
in these seemingly contradictory emotions
 we see our own experience reflected,
the times in our lives
where many things are true
 even things that seem to be in opposition,
 
 and we see this in psalm 31 today,
the first part a cry of the heart
 and the second part reliance on God
 in the midst of the unknown,
 and both are true at the same time,
 
And that’s one thing that I think
will help us get through this time of laments and unknowns
 the realization that we don’t have to be on one end of the spectrum
 or the other,
we can both and, 
 
We can both want to see the whole way before us
and trust that God will guide us,
 
we can be concerned about the health of our community
and concerned about the health of the economy,
 
 we can both understand why it is important
that large gatherings not take place
 and grieve the loss of connection and communal observations,
 
high school seniors can be both excited to be graduating
 and sad that it won’t take place in the traditional way.
 
In times of turmoil,
we so desperately want to know what’s coming next
 that we often grab onto one image of the future
and that is all that we can see,
even though there may be many different options.
 
That’s the place that the disciples are in
in our gospel for today,
Jesus is on the way to the cross
 and is trying to prepare his disciples,
he has told them what is going to happen,
that he will be crucified, die and on the third day rise again
 
but they are holding on to their own image
 of what the messiah will do,
come in as a military leader and wipe out the Romans,
 
 Jesus knows that they will be sorely disappointed
and tries to give them another idea of what is to come..
 
 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” he tells them
“believe in God, believe also in me”
 belief in God is the antidote to the troubled heart,
 
and he knows that their hearts are troubled
and they are wondering where do we go from here?
 And so he paints a picture for them,
of his father’s house,
a place with many rooms,
enough rooms for everyone,
 
and Jesus is going to prepare a place for all of them,
 he’ll go and come back
and go again
 but where ever he is,
the disciples know that there is a place for them.
And Thomas,
ever the practical one
says this all sounds great Jesus
but we don’t know the way,
 how will we get there?
 
 and Jesus responds,
“I am the way and the truth and the life”
which is not really what Thomas was looking for,
he wanted something along the lines of
 go north for five miles until you reach a tree, then turn left,
that kind of thing.
 
 But Jesus doesn’t give directions like that,
his answers to questions are not easy
but they are backed up by the promise of abundant life.
 
 In his I Am statements,
Jesus is proclaiming that he is one with the father,
 when the disciples see Jesus, they see God.
 
So where do we go from here?
 In this time where many things are true
and many things are unknown
 we cling to Jesus, the way,
who promises us abundant life
 
 and since, unlike the disciples,
we are hearing this teaching after the resurrection,
we know that Jesus keeps his promises,
 that he has been through our ultimate fear, death,
and come out the other side
and promises that we will do the same,
 guided by him, the way. 
 
This is not an easy answer,
it doesn’t lay out every single step that we will take,
 like we might wish,
but it does give us something to hold on to,
 Jesus the way, the truth and the life,
 
who promises to be with us
and guide us all along the way,
who holds us when we are afraid
and comforts us in the face of the unknown,
who brings us to life everlasting. Amen

Fourth Sunday in Easter
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
Christ is Risen Indeed, Alleluia!
 
Today, the fourth Sunday in Easter,
has the unofficial title of Good Shepherd Sunday
as there are sheep and shepherds
 all over our readings for today.
 
God, Jesus,
as the Good Shepherd
is one of the most common images all throughout the scriptures
and has caught the imagination of many
particularly those who love Psalm 23.
 
 But what does it mean to call Jesus a good shepherd?
 Well, what does a shepherd do?
They take care of the sheep.
 
 At text study this week
 (done over zoom of course)
we were discussing sheep,
and how well
 they aren’t very bright
 
and if Jesus is the shepherd
that means we are the sheep,
 
 one colleague suggested
 that people might be offended
 by being associated with such dim creatures,
 
 while another pointed out
that when she looked at her life
 she identified with the sheep,
always getting into scrapes
 and needing to be rescued by the shepherd,
 
and her point is hard to deny,
 even at our smartest and best intentioned
 we humans have a way of getting into situations
where we at least need a little help to get out of,
 even if we insist that we don’t at the beginning,
 by the end we realize that we have need of a shepherd.
 
That same colleague mentioned the story of Shrek the Sheep
as an example of this.
 It’s been a few years since Shrek was in the news
 but Shrek was a sheep in New Zealand
who decided that he didn’t want to be sheared,
and so he escaped,
and hid from his shearers for six years,
 by hiding in caves,
which I think is one of the funnier parts of the story.
 
Now Shrek was a kind of sheep
 that was bred for the production of wool,
without a shave his wool kept growing and growing,
when they finally caught him
he looked like a giant cotton ball with a nose and feet.
 
 I’ll post a picture and a link to his story
along with the video of worship
and when they sheared him,
his fleece weighed 60 pounds
 and contained enough material to make suits for 20 large men. 
 
Now Shrek may have thought he was free
 and hiding would ensure that,
 but the longer he hid from the shepherds
 the more weight he had to carry around.
 Imagine the freedom he felt
when he finally had a haircut after six years!
 
We humans are often like Shrek the sheep,
 there are times when despite the good care our shepherd is taking of us
that we feel like we could be freeer on our own,
 and off we go,
 we don’t need a shepherd we insist,
hey look a nice comfy cave we can hide out in,
 
and at first it may seem like fun and freedom,
but as time goes on
 we find that there are things we can’t do for ourselves
and these things begin to weigh us down
 gradually accumulating
 until we are hauling around a fleece of monumental proportions,
our sins and worries,
mistakes and vulnerabilities
all tangled around us
obstructing our movement
and only the shepherd can set us free.
 
And the whole time
 the good shepherd has been looking for us.
 God is not willing to remain at a distance from us
 and so is continually calling to us and searching us out. 
 
That’s what we see in our gospel for today,
the story actually starts a chapter back,
with Jesus healing the man born blind,
we read that together about a month and a half ago,
 
 Jesus sees a man blind from birth,
 heals him, and when the man goes to the Pharisees
they don’t believe his testimony about Jesus
and kick him out of the temple,
 
 hearing this
 Jesus goes and finds the man,
he seeks him out
and what we have today
is Jesus teaching the man born blind who he sought out
 and the pharisees that kicked him out. 
 
Be careful he tells the gathered crowd,
 it is perilous to follow the wrong shepherd,
 the implication being
that the pharisees are the wrong shepherds.
 But they don’t get it.
 
So Jesus tries another image
saying “I am the gate for the sheep”
 the gate open in the evening
 allows the sheep into the sheepfold
and closed keeps them safe from anyone not supposed to be there.
Open in the morning it allows the sheep to access food and water.
 
 And Jesus must have received more blank stares from his audience
because he summarizes it for them
whether he’s the shepherd or the gate
or any other number of images he says look
“I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly”
 
This is Jesus’ mission statement in the gospel of John.
The Word present at creation in the beginning
becomes flesh and lives among the people
 so that they may have abundant life.
 
Jesus is the way to life
because he himself is life.
 
And as all of Jesus’ varied imagery shows us,
what abundant life looks like
 depends on the time and place,
 
 at night abundant life for the sheep is being gathered together
behind a closed gate that keeps out all the things that go bump in the night
 that like to eat sheep.
 
During the day
abundant life looks like the ability to roam,
to find the tastiest bit of grass
 or most refreshing drink of water,
 but all the while the shepherd is there watching,
 calling to the sheep
keeping them close
 so that the shepherd can point them to abundant life
whatever that happens to look like in the moment,
 
 and if one sheep wanders off,
the shepherd goes looking for it,
brings it back to the fold
 and the care of the community.
 
We are like sheep,
to have full abundant life
we need the care of our good shepherd, Jesus,
who knows each of our names,
who calls and gathers us
 and leads us to abundant life
 
and yes, sometimes that may actually feel restrictive
we long to leave the fold
 and so we make a bid for freedom,
we strike out on our own
 
 and Jesus notices,
 calls out for us,
 goes out in search of us
 for as long as it takes
 and when he finds us,
only he will be able to set us free
 from the heavy load we are carrying,
the load that we created.
 
If you are a sheep who has wandered far and long
and now in this time of uncertainty
would like to return to the fold
 but fear that the load you are carrying is too heavy
 too much for even the good Shepherd,
know this,
it is not,
 
Jesus knows your name
and is calling you back
and there is no load so great
that Jesus can not set you free.
 
And if you are a sheep
who has remained close to the shepherd
 but is starting to chaff at staying within the pen at night,
remember the shepherd guides us to abundant life,
even if it’s not quite like we imagine
the good shepherd has our best interests at heart.
 
 Whatever kind of sheep we are
 Jesus knows us,
 and calls to us,
guiding us along
offering comfort and life abundant,
 he truly is the good shepherd. Amen