Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 27, Nov 10 2024, St. M and M, Eagan MN

Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 27, Nov 10 2024, St. M and M, Eagan MN

1 Kings 17:8-16, Psalm 146, Hebrews 9:24-28, Mark 12:38-44

I’ll begin this morning with the great prophet, Gandalf, who says in response to Frodo’s comment, "I wish it need not have happened in my time." Gandalf says, "So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” 

(JRR Tolkien, The Hobbit, Book 1, chapter 2)

As we sit in these chairs this morning, as we go about our business and our lives, all we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. I acknowledge the emotions swirling about post-election. 

Grief, 

rage, 

happiness, 

satisfaction, 

smugness, 

abandonment. 

What will you do with the time you are given?

In this story from Mark, Jesus shows us what to do with the time we are given. Jesus focuses our attention, and begins with this admonition. “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” And then Jesus points us to the widow, he focuses all our attention on the widow. Jesus notices her, and lifts up her ordinary and humble faithfulness. Jesus calls attention to her generosity and faithfulness.

No matter what is swirling around us, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness. No matter what crumbles and collapses in front of us, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness. No matter who is leading, Jesus calls us to generosity and faithfulness.

Our marching orders remain the same no matter what, like the widow who shows us generosity and faithfulness, we go out into the world bearing witness to God’s love, we bear witness to generosity and faithfulness. St. Francis of Assisi has been quoted wrongly, “Preach the gospel at all times; when necessary, use words.” When actually what St. Francis really said, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” This makes so much more sense to me. Our walking is our preaching. What we say and do must be the Good News. What will you do with the time you are given? What does your walking say to those around you? How does your life embody the Gospel of love, generosity, faithfulness, inclusion, wherever you are walking?

When the earth shakes around us, what does your life say about the God who stoops and pulls you off the floor and says, I am with you? When there are wars and rumors of wars, what does your life say about the God who says you are strong and capable of doing hard things? When you are feeling alone and alien, what does your life say about the God who goes to the ends of the earth to include all creation in God’s body? When you feel like you cannot go on, what does your life say about the God who brings life out of death?

What will you do with the time you are given? 

How will you bear witness to God’s light and God’s love? 

Jesus points us to the widow, Jesus raises her up, Jesus calls attention to her poverty, and to her generosity. She begs these questions. Where will you focus your attention? With whom will you stand? And I can’t answer any of these questions for you. But I don’t need to, you need to. I believe the arc of God’s love answers these questions. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, love those who are alien. Be an advocate for health and healing, for justice and mercy, for honesty and truth.

None of this is easy, but God doesn’t call us to easy, God calls us to generosity and faithfulness. 

God calls us to be alert and present in the time that is given to us. And there is always something else we must remember. Jesus calls the disciples, ill-equipped as they are, a rag tag bunch of fishermen, women and men who long for something more. Women and men who are just like us, full of pride, full of anger, full of indignation, full of joy, full of ourselves. Jesus has stooped and picked us out of the bottom of the fishy boat, picked us up off the street, picked us up off the bathroom floor, picked us up out of the muck and the mess, and incorporates us into his body. We are made whole in the body of Christ, we are connected to God, to Jesus, to Spirit and to one another. We are not alone. This is our superpower. We live out this life in relationship with God, Jesus, Spirit and one another. We are not alone.

And it is in the middle of all of this where the light burns. No matter who you are or where you stand, 

let your light shine, it joins with all the others whom God loves, and God loves all of creation, to make one incredibly bright light. Together we will shine the light of God’s love. We will show our families, friends, neighbors, and those with whom we radically disagree, what love looks like. 

May we be like this woman in our story who knew no other than generosity and faithfulness.

Make it so. Thanks be to God.

  

“Life is short, my friends,

and we do not have too much time

to gladden the hearts of others.

So be quick to love,

and make haste to be kind.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

who created you in love,

who walks with you in love,

and who will bring you home in love,

be upon you and all whom you love,

this day forth and forever more. Amen.”

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24 Yr B Oct 20 2024, Grace Mpls

Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 24 Yr B Oct 20 2024, Grace Mpls

Job 38:1-7, Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b, Hebrews 5:1-10, Mark 10:33-45

Teacher, we have something we want you to do for us, James and John ask Jesus. Arrange it, they say, so that we will be awarded the highest places of honor in your glory - one of us at your right, the other at your left. James and John ask Jesus for something Jesus has shown no desire to give, placing some above others. Or giving some more or better attention. But James and John are not ill-informed or ignorant. They’ve witnessed Jesus’ miracles and listened to his teachings. James and John are doing what humans do best, hoping and praying that the world has not and will not change as much as it already has and as much as they know it will. But there is no return for James and John to what once was, to the power structures that used to be, not after Jesus turned the tables, not after the heavens were ripped apart. There is no going back. 

This misunderstanding follows the third time in Mark’s story Jesus tells the disciples the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes and will be condemned to death. The disciples, even though this is the third time they’ve heard Jesus say this, continue to  find this news astounding, alarming, and frightening. And equally as astounding, I think it causes James and John especially, and the others as well, to be confused about their own calling, and about who Jesus is. James and John seem to think this is about seating order at a party, not life in God's kingdom. They don’t seem to remember that Jesus has just taught them about laying down their life, or about what greatness looks like, or the words about being last of all and servant of all. And so Jesus has to tell them again. Jesus says, “I know this is hard, are you willing to accept that? Are you willing to drink the cup I will drink? Are you willing to be in this all the way to the end? Are you willing to participate in this earth shaking change? Are you willing to receive my love, my gift, for your freedom?” Because, Jesus’ love for us, God’s beloveds, washes over all of us no matter what.

We are more like James and John than we care to admit. We fall back on what we know—what’s comfortable; how the world always worked. The “used to be’s”. For James and John, that meant glory in hierarchy and power as prestige. Sounds a little too familiar, doesn’t it?

But the world changed for James and John, and all of Jesus’ followers. Jesus goes to the cross. The world has changed for us. What once was, is not working anymore. We know that. Deep in our hearts and souls. And we’re just beginning to learn how to fix it.

We are so like James and John. If Jesus were anything like me, and thank goodness he’s not, Jesus would say to James and John, since when did you think this was about you? Since when did you think this is about your power, your prestige, your privilege? 

You see, it’s about Jesus’ love for us, we are God’s beloveds. It’s about Jesus’ call to us to love our neighbor. Like James and John and the others, we get frightened or confused about our calling as citizens of God’s kingdom, and we forget who Jesus is. What we must remember is that Jesus’ love for us, God’s beloveds, washes over all of us no matter what.

Jesus’ love for us, God’s beloveds, washes over all of us no matter what. The call that James and John seem to be missing is right there in front of them, and is really good news, whoever wants to be great must become a servant. In the household of God, no one can claim privilege of place; we are all God’s children, and we are reminded of that in our baptism. Jesus asks James and John if they are willing to dive into the water with him. "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized." Jesus’ journey in the gospel of Mark’s gospel  began in the waters of the Jordan, in baptism, and that journey goes to the cross and resurrection. The grace in this story is that Jesus is the one who comes and shows the way of love, Jesus shows the way of vulnerability, Jesus shows the way of service,  all the way to the cross. You see, speaking and acting in terms of who deserves what, who deserves health care or housing or hospitality, who deserves eternal life, who deserves to be on Jesus’ right hand, are embedded in Jesus’ life of service. The grace in this story is that Jesus, with his very life, death, and resurrection, puts himself in our place, in your place, and in my place, and says, everyone of you is worth my love. Jesus’ love for us, God’s beloveds, washes over all of us no matter what.

You are God’s beloved. You are baptized into Jesus' life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Taking Jesus' cup is about diving into the waters of our own baptism, waters that bring the dead to life, waters that fill an empty soul, waters that give a heart the only thing worth living, and worth dying for. We get completely wet in these holy waters. There is grace in diving into the waters of baptism, and receiving the unconditional, undeserved, underrated love that is God’s love. When we take the cup that Jesus drinks, when we are washed with the waters of baptism, we, God’s beloveds, are called to respond to Jesus’ love, with love. We are called not to the seat of power, but to the posture of service. And our lives are made new, our lives are transformed, our lives become the wave of change. The wave of change, the wave of love, the wave of mercy, the wave of kindness. 

For the early followers of Jesus, the world has changed forever, there is no going back to life before the storm. Remember that when the heavens were ripped apart, the Spirit was let loose into the world, descending from firmament’s fissure and into Jesus. It would be that same Spirit who would be present with Jesus in the wilderness, on the cross, and in that cold, dark, and seemingly hopeless tomb. It would be that same Spirit who would stir the hearts of Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome to go back to that grave and look death in the eye once again. And it is that same Spirit who is in and among us, with us and beside us, calling us to change our perspective, to see what can be, to trust that the kingdom of God has come near and still is. It is that same Spirit who is inspiring God’s church once again to lead from the gospel, and to preach with our actions and sometimes our words,  the gospel we know to be true: our God is here. Believe in the good news. Amen. 

14 Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 16, Aug 25 2024, Grace Church, Minneapolis

14 Pentecost, Yr B, Proper 16, Aug 25 2024, Grace Church, Minneapolis

1 Kings 8:[1, 6, 10-11], 22-30, 41-43, Psalm 84, Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69

 

So we come to our last Sunday reading this sixth chapter of John. Jesus is the bread of life. Jesus is eternal life. And we hear some of Jesus’ disciples say, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

 

Are we some of those people? Do we ever say, following Jesus is just too hard? Do we ever say, this teaching is difficult; this one I’ll just pretend isn’t there? Some of it is really hard, following Jesus is hard, but we can do hard things. So today let’s take a look at what Jesus asks of us. Let’s take a look at how Jesus empowers us to be followers. And most especially, let’s take a look at how Jesus fills us with food, nourishment, and life, so that we may have new life. Let’s take a look at how Jesus abides in us.

 

And to get there, we need to remember what John asks us to recall. John assumes that we know our bible, and the story of Moses and the Hebrew people wandering in the wilderness for 40 years. They did a bit of whining while they were wandering, wouldn’t we all, and yet they were fed manna. They were sustained in the wilderness, but John is making a point that even that food was not the bread of life, the living bread. The trouble in this text is that people don’t believe Jesus is who he is. The trouble is that people don’t believe Jesus is God in the flesh.

 

It’s important for us to remember that John’s story is told many years after Jesus lived, suffered, died, resurrected, and ascended. John finds it very hard to understand that anyone who has an encounter 

with the story of Jesus would not believe that Jesus is indeed God in the flesh, the incarnate one. John shows us the truth of who Jesus is by showing us the signs that Jesus did, turning water into wine, healing the woman who bled for years, healing the man who was ill for 38 years, feeding 5000 people, healing the man blind from birth, and raising Lazarus from the dead. So the disciples make the statement we are thinking in our heads. This is hard, not only to wrap our minds around, but to open our hearts, and to follow.

 

What makes it so hard? Maybe because we didn’t see it ourselves or hear it ourselves. The trouble in our world is that talk about being faithful rather than successful is all foolishness. You all know this. You all have experienced this. Talking about things not seen makes your sanity suspect. Commitment to gathering in Jesus’ name, prayer and study makes your priorities questionable in some circles. And abiding in Jesus’ real presence in bread and wine, body and blood, is foolish.

 

So this good news is hard because it calls us away from a narrative of rugged individualism into community and interdependence, it calls us to accountability, it calls us to lay down our own desire for power. That’s why the Jewish and Roman authorities of Jesus day tried to trip him up, why tried to snare him. Their power was being threatened. And it is not so different today.

So in this last story of John’s gospel about the bread of life, the living bread, let’s see what may be going on. Remember the word John uses for the deep relationship Jesus has with us, to abide, or dwell. John is very interested in showing Jesus’ followers that is you and me, what incarnation looks like. Incarnation, God stooping to be born in a barn, God coming into this world as one of us, God taking on flesh. Incarnation means God dwells with us, God in our midst, God in the flesh. This relationship between God in the flesh, who is Jesus, and God’s creation, you and me, is cellular, it is so deep and so broad and so wide, it is so intimate, that Jesus’ presence is nourishment, sustenance, life, it is bread for our souls.

 

John uses this verb, abide, throughout the gospel, and it means the mutual indwelling of God, Jesus, and the disciples. Jesus says, “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his Love.” There is a sense of divine presence and companionship, and friendship.

 

Could this also be what is so hard? And maybe even scary. That God, who is creator of all that is, seen and unseen, creator of the cosmos, sees fit to walk this journey of life with us. That Jesus is so very present with us. Really present, present when we are so broken, we have no hope that the bits and pieces could ever be made whole again. Really present, present when our joy is so intense that we feel it throughout our bodies. Really present even in our worries, and in our mistakes that deep down inside we believe cannot be forgiven. Really present when we are filled with bread that is body 

and wine that is blood. Really present, and that presence fills us with fear, fear that is awe.

 

We have lost the sense of awe. Everything is awesome, but what about awe - full? Jesus, really present in the bread and the wine, the body and the blood, fills us with fear, with awe. How can this be? This is really hard, and somewhat scary. Jesus abides in us, Jesus calls us into relationship, Jesus nourishes us. Because when we are filled with Jesus, filled with bread and wine, body and blood, we are changed, we are transformed, and we are deepened, we are made into who God means for us to be. It is this abiding presence that empowers us to let go of and to lay down our burdens, our addictions, our worries, and be made into the new creation of God’s dream. And letting go is hard, giving up power, and the illusion of control is hard, but you can do hard things.

 

God’s dream for us is to be people who love. Because, if it’s not about love, it’s not about God. We are people who follow Jesus, who each day face the realities of our lives, our joys and our sorrows, our anxieties and our loveliness. We are people who get out of bed each day to face ourselves with integrity and honesty, with the heart knowledge that Jesus abides in us. We step out into the world in love. We leave this place filled with the real presence of Jesus. We love, we follow Jesus, because God first loved us.

 

Risen lord, be known to us in the breaking of the bread. 

Lord Jesus, abide in us, as we love one another. 

Amen.

“Life is short, my friends,

and we do not have too much time

to gladden the hearts of others.

So be quick to love,

and make haste to be kind.

And the blessing of God Almighty,

who created you in love,

who walks with you in love,

and who will bring you home in love,

be upon you and all whom you love,

this day forth and forever more. Amen.”

13 Pentecost Yr B Proper 15 Aug 18 2024

13 Pentecost Yr B Proper 15 Aug 18 2024 St. Martha and Mary, Eagan

Proverbs 9:1-6, Psalm 34:9-14, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58

When my mom died, we spent some time going through her things of course, and I went through her recipe box. I looked at and read many of her recipes, some I remembered with fondness, others were forgettable. I took pictures of some, the ones in her handwriting, and places where she had taken notes about changes to the recipe. I have her pie crust recipe, with the corners and the edges of the paper all folded and ripped. It's a little like talking to her about it. Kathy, if the air is dry you need a little more flour, or for the lefse recipe, if the potatoes are a little moist, just throw in a little extra flour. A recipe is not just a recipe, it's a story, a story of how it used to be, or a story of scarcity that proves to be abundance. My mom was the queen at being able to make a pound of ground beef feed a family of ten. Isn’t that the way it usually happens, you go looking for a good recipe, and in return you get wisdom, maybe it also happens the other way around too, you share a good recipe, and you share a bit of wisdom as well. 

We have the same pairing in our readings today, wisdom and good food; maybe there is not one without the other. Wisdom in scripture is not just about being wise, as opposed to being foolish; God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. And we learn from wisdom that there are certain ways of living in which people thrive, and other ways of living which lead people to death. Ordering your life to wisdom is what we read about in these scripture passages today. Wisdom and food. “Eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” In Ephesians we hear about wisdom as right living, “be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will,” which also may be translated desire, “understand what the desire of the Lord is. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, giving thanks to God the father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 

One of the marks of following Jesus is intentionality and spiritual practice. A mistake is made when people, Christians and others, think morality is the marker. It is not. I believe that intentionality, spiritual practice and our prayer together, or common prayer, forms us into the people who God desires us to be, who God dreams we can be. Not a perfect people, but a wise people, a people who can love one another, learn from one another. Paul’s words for the Ephesians are about wisdom as right living, and that God’s desire for us, God’s people, is to live wisely.

In John’s gospel, the wisdom tradition is applied to Jesus; Jesus now is the embodiment of wisdom. We continue to hear about the living bread, the bread that is Jesus. John is making a claim about the radical presence of God in Jesus, essentially John is saying that in Jesus, God provides everything; God’s abundance is made real in Jesus. We are invited to be present in God’s bounty. We are invited to feast on wisdom; we are invited to eternal life, all contained in this loaf of bread. 

God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. Ordering our lives to wisdom brings abundant and bountiful life. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom, and therefore not only do we feast on wisdom we feast on Jesus. Ordinary bread and our ordinary lives are made extraordinary by God’s abundant love.

I am reminded of the movie Chocolat. The story is about a young mother who with her young daughter blows into a rural French village on the first Sunday of Lent. She opens a chocolate shop and prepares amazing confections that seem to transform those who eat them. She is opposed however by those in the town who live by a certain set of rules, a morality, that doesn’t allow for the ordinary pleasure of chocolate, most especially during Lent. 

Our main character in the movie dispenses wisdom along with chocolate and other confections. Entering her chocolate shop through the ordinary front door results in extraordinary nourishment. And yet, there remain those who will not cross the threshold for fear of what may happen and how they may be changed. 

We are changed by ordinary bread, into an extraordinary community. We are changed by the wisdom feast into the body of Christ teeming with extraordinary life. We are changed as we abide in the flesh and blood of Jesus. This is as clear as Jesus can possibly get, whoever eats me will live. Wise or foolish, that is the reality. And that reality is scary to some, some will not cross the threshold into love because it changes them. 

The call to follow Jesus is a call to a foolish life of love. To follow Jesus is to believe that ordinary bread is made extraordinary, that it can fill you up and heal your heart. To follow Jesus is to practice the intentionality of love, even when you don't feel like it. To follow Jesus is to buck the conventional wisdom that the first will be first and the last will be last, it is to be fools for Christ and witness that the first will be last, and the last will be first. To follow Jesus is to let the truth that loves wins, take hold of your heart and your mind.

Following Jesus takes practice, it takes foolishness and wisdom, it takes brokenness and healing, it takes listening to our mistakes, and it takes forgiveness. Following Jesus is hard in this world where money and power seem to matter more than wisdom and love. Following Jesus means walking the road together, and sharing some bread along the way, oh, and some chocolate too. 

Following Jesus is to take into ourselves the very foolishness of flesh and blood, following Jesus is to practice loving our neighbor with intentionality and wisdom, following Jesus means that we will be changed. 

Thanks be to God.

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 11 Yr B July 21 2024, St. Martha and Mary, Eagan

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 11 Yr B July 21 2024, St. Martha and Mary, Eagan

Jeremiah 23:1-6, Psalm 23, Ephesians 2:11-22, Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

So there’s been some Taylor Swift mania going on these days. I really didn’t know who she was until recently, when there was some hullabaloo around football and her, and I have some interest in football. So, in order to educate myself, I watched some videos of both football and Taylor Swift. And you know what blows me away? She is an impressive entertainer, she puts on quite a show, but what really blows me away are the people, the tens of thousands of people who gather in massive stadiums, usually meant for football, who come out to watch her. Thousands of people singing the lyrics to her songs in unison. Listening to her preach a gospel of empowerment, self-love, beauty, worthiness, and success. I get it now. In this age of social media, with sound bites of 280 characters or less, filled with venom, misunderstanding, hatred, cowardice, she sings for 5 to 10 minutes with the whole arena singing with her, a message of female ambition. Whether that makes you cringe, or it makes you pump your fist in victory, she commands a crowd. I’m not judging good or bad, right or wrong here, just observing, for Taylor Swift, whether you like it or not, it’s all about her.

But what I’m also observing is the rock star Jesus and his band in Mark’s gospel. Who by the time we get this far into it, is commanding huge crowds. I’m not trying to set this up as a contrast in values, but I am trying to set this up in a context of clarity. Jesus isn’t a great entertainer, as some would wish their preachers to be. He’s not even a great preacher, he probably wouldn’t have been selected by the call committee who states, “not only do we want a great administrator, and someone who can attract young families with children, we also want someone who can preach exciting sermons.” Jesus, as we know, did not run a successful show, to all the world, Jesus looked like a failure. 

Jesus attracted crowds by incarnating a new way, a way of love that crossed boundaries and demanded compassion. A way of love that was concerned with feeding and providing for everyone, including widows, orphans, Greeks, and Jews. A way of love that healed the sin sick soul of all who encountered the beloved community that was rising up to empower not themselves, but the least of them, the lost, the broken in body and in heart. 

Let’s take a look at where we find ourselves in Mark’s gospel. The lectionary reading we have today, from the 6th chapter of Mark, is broken up. As chapter 6 opens, Jesus leaves his hometown due to a lack of faith there, he takes the apostles with him, and commissions them to go out 2 x2 into the neighboring towns and villages to minister in his name, trusting in the hospitality that the villagers may offer. Then, inserted into this narrative, we heard it last week, is the grisly story of the beheading of John the Baptist. Today we catch up with the feeding story. This is where Jesus crosses boundaries and encounters the great crowds that have been building around him. We skip over the debate about who should feed that crowd, definitely a sermon for another day. We skip over the story about walking on water, again, a sermon for another day, and we finish with the story about Jesus being recognized and people begging Jesus to heal them, even if it was just to touch the fringe of his cloak. From here on out, for much of Mark’s gospel, we follow Jesus and his posse, crossing boundaries and healing people. 

Jesus intended to rest with the apostles for a leisurely retreat, but Jesus was recognized and was filled with compassion for those who found him. 

So let us rest here, even if Jesus and his companions could not. Compassion, what does that look like? Compassion seems to be in short supply these days. Compassion, used in this context is that gut reaction that makes your insides need to move. Compassion here identifies a profoundly intense emotional response that viscerally propels the one feeling compassion into action on behalf of others. 

Friends, this is what it means to build the kingdom, compassion. Talk about taking the bible seriously, talk about following Jesus, talk about the beloved community… all of it arcs toward the kind of compassion that is action on behalf of others. Story after story shows us Jesus acting on behalf of others, healing, tending, feeding, putting back together broken hearts and broken lives.

What are we to do? How are we called to be in our own lives as people who follow Jesus? In a present reality that seems so cynical, so critical, so cruel, what does it look like to cross boundaries of comfort into the discomfort of compassion? In the feeding of the five thousand story, even Jesus' disciples were all bent out of shape over who was responsible for feeding everyone. They asked Jesus, who’s gonna feed all these people gathered on this hillside. Jesus did not say, well, they should pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and feed themselves. Jesus' response to the disciples was, you are. You guys go figure it out, these people are hungry and you need to figure out a way to feed them. 

Feeding people is compassionate. Clothing people is compassionate. Housing people is compassionate. Healing people is compassionate. Caring about people is compassionate. Jesus’ mission, therefore our mission, is not about success, entertainment, or putting on a good show, our mission is about contributing to the beloved community by being compassionate. 

What does compassion look like? Compassion says, “I’m with you.“ Compassion says, “I am here to help.“ Compassion says, “Cast your burden on me.“ So here’s a very simple story about compassion. I live by myself, I wake up early in the morning and go to the YMCA for my daily swim. The first person that speaks to me is the woman who sits at the desk at the Y. Every morning she looks at me, greets me with a smile and says “good morning.” I’m hardly awake yet, but I smile back. After my swim, when I am awake, she sends me out the door with “have a great day.” It might not seem like much, but because she has shown up for me in that little way, she sets me on a course of compassion and I am sent into the world to show up for others with compassion.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

 

4 Easter Yr B April 21 2024, Christ the King (Sturgeon Bay, WI) - Holy Nativity (Jacksonport, WI)

4 Easter Yr B April 21 2024, Christ the King (Sturgeon Bay, WI) - Holy Nativity (Jacksonport, WI)

Acts 4:5-12, 1 John 3:16-24, John 10:11-18, Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters. The words of this 23rd Psalm may be the most familiar words in the bible. The image of Jesus the Good Shepherd may be the most familiar image in the bible. It is depicted in artwork and in music and in beloved stained glass. We describe congregations as flocks, we describe pastors as shepherds. It isn't the only image of Jesus, but it may be the most comfortable. However, Jesus is also the bread, the light, a path, a gate, a vine. No matter how beloved, the Good Shepherd image is one among many that John presents to us.

Each one of the images that is presented to us about who Jesus is, the shepherd, the bread, the light, a path, a gate, a vine reveals something about the fullness and the wholeness and the extent of Jesus' invitation into the reality of the gift of God's love, the gift of God in our midst. Each of these images invites us in a different sort of way into how we might be related, how we might be in relationship, and what that trust is like and what it is about. This image we have before us today, this image of the Good Shepherd, helps us to see the fullness of God's investment in God's project of calling all people to God's self. We have in this story comfort and trust and guidance and we are called by name.

Hear the sound of your name as the one you love speaks it. Hear the sound of your name when your best friend in all the world is on the other end of the phone. Remember the sound of your name when your mom called you for dinner, or maybe used your entire name when you did something you shouldn’t have done, KATHLEEN ANN MONSON, or when she sang you to sleep at night. Even remember the sound of your name when used in anger, or in fear, KATHY, get out of the street! Or when your beloved calls out to you. When you hear your name like this, you know the one who is speaking it knows who you are. They’ve known you forever, they knew you before you were born, they’ve expected your homecoming, they named you, they love you. 

Hear the sound of your name as this one who loves you speaks it. You were called into being before you were born. Your name was spoken at your baptism. You are called to be the person you were created to be, the minister you were created to be. Kathy, follow me, you’ll be fed at green pastures and by still waters, I will guide you along right pathways, and be by your side through the valley of the shadow of death. I will feed you and fill you. You have been anointed for the work I call you to do. 

Who is this Good Shepherd that we follow? What makes the Good Shepherd good? For that we need to look at another story, the one that precedes this Good Shepherd story in John. Remember, location, location, location. It is what precedes the Good Shepherd story that tells us who this Good Shepherd is. In the story of the man born blind we have the sign that points us to the Good Shepherd. Jesus heals the man born blind. It’s an unprecedented miracle. And if that’s not enough, it is also an invitation to the possibilities of abundant life, as are all the signs in John. You have heard me speak of the themes in the gospel of John, and here is another one, grace upon grace. The granting of sight sign is grace, and what it signifies is grace upon grace. This man born blind has literally been in the dark, and now is in the light. The man born blind has moved from unbelief to belief. The blind man listens to Jesus’ voice and follows Jesus’ direction. The blind man first hears Jesus, just as Jesus’ sheep hear the shepherd’s voice.

And what happens to the man born blind once he is no longer blind? He is thrown to the curb, cast aside, marginalized, and Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calls to him, just as he calls to us, just as he calls to each and every one of God’s beloveds. That’s what makes the Good Shepherd good, no one is outside the Good Shepherd’s embrace. 

Jesus is the shepherd, calling my name, calling your name. Come, come with me, walk with me into this amazing place, run into my arms, into my embrace, this place of love, this place of life. Jesus says “I am the door, come through this door, here is a place of protection, of nurture, of sustenance, this is a place created for you.” And when our eyes are opened, when we hear and recognize the voice of the one who creates us, and comes to be with us, and loves us, we run through that door. 

And what’s more, is that Jesus does this again, and again, Jesus calls his followers by name, but not just you and me, Lazarus as well. You remember, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Jesus arrived at the tomb of his friend, and Jesus wept, and Jesus called to Lazarus, Lazarus, come out! In hearing his name, Lazarus came out, and was unbound, set free. Lazarus, the one who was dead, is now alive. 

But not even just you and me and Lazarus, Mary as well. Mary stood weeping at Jesus’ tomb. She bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, sitting where Jesus should have been. She did not know where Jesus had been taken. 

She turned around and Jesus was standing there, but she didn’t know him, she thought he was the gardener. Until he spoke to her, until he called her name, Mary! She turned and saw him, teacher! Mary went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord!” I have seen the Lord!

Lazarus lives! 

Mary proclaims!

We hear Jesus call our name, we recognize Jesus is the door through which we too can see God’s presence with us, making us into a beloved being. Giving us sight that enables us to see Jesus in our midst, in ourselves, in one another. Giving us sight that enables us to proclaim, like Mary, I have seen the Lord!

And what’s more, what’s even more over the top, more abundant, more amazing, is that Jesus, the door into God’s embrace, God’s love, is not exclusive or judging. This not about keeping people out, this is Jesus inviting people into new life, abundant life. “I am the door” is to invite people in, to recognize God in the flesh that is Jesus’ new and abundant life. To hear the voice of the shepherd, to walk through the door that is open, is to follow Jesus into Life, abundant life. Life in the here and now and life eternal in the resurrection. Life in the here and now because Jesus lays down his life for us, and life even when Jesus leaves us. You are enough, see Jesus, recognize Jesus is God with us, walk through the door, and receive life, abundant life. 

Jesus is the gate. And every sheep, everyone, is welcome. There is no priority of worth in God’s kingdom. All of us, those who are in pain, grief; those who are just messed up; those whose lives are just fine; those who need more and those who have all they need; those who just can’t believe. You, you are welcome, Jesus is the gate, Jesus is the shepherd, Jesus is the love that wins. 

​​3 Easter Year B April 14 2024

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​​3 Easter Year B April 14 2024 St. Martha and Mary, Eagan

Acts 3:12-19, 1 John 3:1-7, Luke 24:36b-48, Psalm 4

 

Let's start with some fantasy casting today shall we? If you were choosing the lead in the next blockbuster about averting the disaster that destroys the earth, who would be the one who saves the world? The James Bond type, like Daniel Craig? The Marvel Hero type, like Captain Marvel herself, maybe Harrison Ford, he’s always good as the hero. Which one of these could play The Messiah, the one who saves the world? Who would be your Fantasy Messiah?

 

You may think I'm being silly here, and maybe I am, but the faithful people of the early 1st century  were waiting with baited breath and wild anticipation for the one, the messiah, who would rescue them out of their predicament, and at the very least, put them into power and vanquish the Romans and the Greeks and the Temple Priests.  

 

And at every turn, Jesus, the messiah they got, was nothing like the Fantasy Messiah they had dreamed about, that they had imagined. Not in life, not in death, not in resurrection. Jesus, the Messiah they got, lived a quiet, nondescript life, grew up to be a teacher, of all things, ended up on a Roman cross, reserved for criminals, and died. To the world, the whole sordid affair looked like failure.

 

And then, after death, Jesus shows up in locked rooms, and on roads to nowhere. Jesus shows up, and just as in life they didn't recognize him as the messiah, in death they don't recognize him as Jesus, the one who was God in the flesh. The one who is the incarnation. They were terrified and afraid, they thought they were seeing a ghost.

 

They just couldn't believe what they were seeing. Feed me, he says, and he shows them the holes in his flesh. Maybe what Jesus is doing here is showing incarnation again, in the flesh, even after resurrection. Maybe Jesus is showing that God continues to be engaged in mundane activities, like eating. Because the reality here, and in all these stories we hear after Jesus' death on the cross, and the empty tomb, is that hardly anyone believed it. Traditionally, Thomas has gotten the bad rap, but really, very few believe it. In the Gospel of Luke, no one believes it.

 

This is the first time we read Luke this Easter season, so let's take a quick look at it. Those who went to the tomb found the stone rolled away, and when they went in, they did not find the body. The women were terrified, they saw what they thought were two men in dazzling clothes, who helped the women remember what they had been told about what would happen. Then the women remembered Jesus' words, and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to the rest. In Luke's telling, there were no words of "I have seen the Lord." The response to the women, in Luke's telling,in the Greek, the word that gets translated nonsense, or an idle tale, is the root of our word, delirious. So in response to the testimony of the women, the disciples say they are out of their freakin' minds.  Then, on the same day, two of them were going to Emmaus, while they were on the road, Jesus walked with them and told them stories, and they did not believe that it was Jesus until Jesus ate with them.

 

When we disbelieve, we are in good company. I have never believed that this life of being a follower of Jesus excludes disbelief. The story we live and breathe, the story of incarnation and resurrection, is inconceivable. Made more so when we try desperately to make it all make sense.

 

So what is so compelling about this story that has caused it to be authoritative and enlivening for centuries? The story is true. The story is true. It is true not because it is fact or because it is history. It is true in the way of truth that speaks into the deepest crevices of our broken hearts, it is true in the way of truth that speaks into our deepest joy, it is true in the way of truth that speaks into our deepest hungers that cannot be satisfied by only food, but by food that is shared. Truth is beyond ordinary fact, facts are important but not enough, they do not take you where you need to go.

 

Facts do not take you into the hospital room when you know that your loved one will die. Truth takes you there, the truth of love, the truth of pain, the truth of compassion, the truth that something arises out of it that only your heart knows, words can not.

 

Facts do not take you to the place where you are willing to give your heart to another. Truth takes you there, the truth that together you are so much more than you are alone, the truth that what you want is your beloved's happiness and joy.

 

If even the disciples lived in disbelief, if even the disciples believed all this talk of resurrection is freakin' inconceivable, what makes us think we are any different? It is not up to us anyway to believe and not doubt. Even theology cannot say enough about God to make you believe. It is up to us though, in the midst of darkness and pain, to say yes to love and life. It is up to us, when what looks like loss and failure to say yes to transformation and love and life.

 

Our disbelief does not stop us from following Jesus. Our disbelief does not change the truth that love wins, not power. Belief finally arises out of the reality of our lives. Faith is the acceptance of disbelief, of doubt. Faith is when we come to the place where we can embrace the truth of love, the inconceivability of incarnation, faith is when we can come to the place where we can trudge through the muck and the mess of this life, and know that in it we are not alone. Faith is when we are freed to love ourselves, we are freed to love each other. Faith is when we accept our freedom to love and serve others, and that love bears us up to do what Jesus calls us to do.

 

Faith is not in a fantasy messiah, faith is not in a superhero. Faith is in the love that goes to inconceivable heights and depths to accompany us in all that this life throws at us. And then it is in that place that we discover our own superpower, faith, and hope, and love. 

Blessing - In honor of Roger Payntor, the best preaching professor ever.

May God give you grace not to sell yourself short; 

grace to risk something big for something good; 

and grace to remember the world is now too dangerous 

for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.

And may the blessing of God,

Creator, Redeemer, Spirit 

be with you today and always,

Amen.

Fourth Sunday in Lent Yr B March 10 2024

Fourth Sunday in Lent Yr B March 10 2024 St. Martha and Mary, Egan MN Numbers 21:4-9, Ephesians 2:1-10, John 3:14-21, Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Location, location, location, continues to be our theme. In order to understand this passage from John that we just heard we must put it in its context, so we need to consider the story that precedes it. The story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus must have been curious about Jesus but because he is a Jewish leader, he could not be caught going to see Jesus, so he comes to Jesus by night. It’s pretty clear that Nicodemus doesn’t fully understand what is going on or who Jesus is. That is true in most of John’s gospel. Remember, Nicodemus hears Jesus speak these unfamiliar and foreign words about being born from above and wonders out loud about what that could even be about. Nicodemus is astounded and asks Jesus how these things can be. And with that question, you and I hear these very familiar words we hear today, “for God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” And, I am not even going to talk about those most familiar words, because really, there is so much more to hear in this reading.

Firstly, God gives Godself, God comes into humanity so that humanity may live. And secondly, that this is the time for discernment because the light of the world is shining bright. This is some really exciting news. 

In John’s gospel there is much language about ascending and descending. We see and hear that theme depicted in artwork and in poetry throughout history. But what is it that John is trying so hard to get across to Nicodemus, to the disciples, to us? Incarnation, God in our midst, Jesus in flesh and blood, is all about how God stoops into our lives and our hearts to raise us up and call us into relationship. And how different this is from before Jesus, when God was literally in a box, in the ark of the covenant, God is now in flesh and blood. This is what John’s language is all about. God descends, God comes to humanity for the sake of love, to bring humanity back to Godself. God comes to humanity in flesh and blood to bring new life. This is Jesus. This is the Word; this is God’s language of love. 

But there is a price to pay even for God. All incarnation, Jesus, you and me, all flesh and blood dies. That is the story we embark upon each Holy Week. That is the scandal of incarnation. And this is what John means with eternal life. The arc of John’s story is all about incarnation and continues to resurrection and ascension. Jesus returns to God for the purpose of preparing our place with God. So, the story goes to and through the cross, but the story does not end there. The eternal life that God offers through the flesh and blood of Jesus is relationship and love. There is a place prepared for us. 

You see, God makes the first move, God reaches out to creation in love, God becomes flesh and blood so that humanity may not be alone in this human journey. God knows it’s hard enough alone, so God in flesh and blood accompanies us on this journey. But because God in Jesus is flesh and blood, Jesus dies. But we are not left alone, God moves among us, Jesus accompanies us, the Spirit envelopes us. However, John makes it clear that this is not a transactional relationship. It is an unconditional relationship. This is the part that is so hard to wrap our minds and our hearts around. This isn’t a check off the boxes kinda deal. This is an all encompassing no matter what kinda deal. 

The hard part is that we live in a world in which we must run faster, work harder, make more money, be beautiful, have the most stuff in order to be valued, or loved, or feared, so that we can get the reward. That is not God’s love in Jesus, that is a lie. Eternal life is what God offers us here and now and in response we go out and love our neighbor, and our family, and those whose reality we cannot know. 

And that brings us to the second part of what John is trying to tell us here. My friends, the Light comes into the world, this is the time, there is no other. You see, the here and now of eternal life is a critical promise for us today, not just a future time or place. This is a moment of discernment. A closer translation of verse 19 rejects judgment in favor of discernment. So, it reads, “this is the time of discernment because the light of the world is shining bright; and we choose to ignore what’s being revealed.” Discernment means deep listening to God’s call to us, deep listening to what God would have us be about, deep listening to the love that sustains us. The Light of the world is shining bright, and it is time to deeply listen to what God is revealing now. The light is shining bright, this is the time of revelation. Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the dark, Judas betrays Jesus in the dark, Peter denies Jesus in the dark. The problem is that they all saw the light, but were afraid. The light comes into the world, but people continue to hide in the dark. 

Let’s bathe in the warmth and the love of the light. You see, living in the light is about telling the truth. Throughout my many years of ministry, I have taught about what I call the four marks of ministry. Showing up, listening, telling the truth, and letting go of the outcome. Do you recognize these in this passage of John? They are there, showing up is about being really present in your relationships and listening deeply to those who are present with you. 

That brings us to telling the truth, where we find ourselves today. Living in the light is about telling the truth and hearing the truth about all of our earnest goodness and all of our stupid mistakes. And telling the truth seems to be really hard these days. Telling the truth and hearing the truth in these days means that we must do some things differently. It means we must let go of our need to be right, and instead we must listen deeply to the lives of those we differ from; those who are immigrants, those whose skin color is different from our own, those whose gender and preference we just don’t get; those whose experience with sexual bias or even violence is outside of our particular box. 

Jesus calls us to listen deeply, and to love deeply. And in the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega, God’s light shines in the darkness, God’s love walks this earth, and God’s love wins. When we are low, sprawled on the floor, in the trench or the gutter, God reaches out and raises us up, Jesus walks by our side showing the way, and we carry the light and the love we have been given to all those we encounter.