Where are you in Bible stories?

Vicar Katelyn
3.6.2016

Luke 15 - the parable of the prodigal son

Do you ever find the Bible confusing? Or hard to understand? Scripture can seem so far from daily life. I often hear, from people of all ages, that sometimes it’s difficult to connect with something written 2,000 years ago. And yet the Bible is the best-selling book worldwide every year, indicating that it must still have applications, insights, and meaning that are valuable to us in 2016.

The Bible has plenty to say to us and we aren’t as far away from the story as we might think. As one pastor I know recently put it, “These are biblical times” -- meaning that our present time has resonances with contexts, situations, and lessons experienced by those we hear about in Scripture.

Today, I invite you to see yourself in the story of the prodigal son, which is likely a familiar story to you. When we do more than just gloss over familiar Bible stories, they can help us to see ourselves in the story and gain new insights. We’ll do this by exploring different perspectives in this parable and finding where we might fit in. You’ll hear a lot of different messages today, but keep in mind that you don’t need to remember all of them. I want you to focus on what perspectives you feel connected to and where you find yourself in this parable from Jesus.

Before we get into the story, let’s start with the understanding that all of us bring unique perspectives and contexts to interpreting Scripture. You cannot read the Bible objectively -- you hear and interpret Scripture based on who you are. This is a good thing! And this is exactly why we engage Scripture together -- to learn from one another.

I’ve been leading a parents’ group on Wednesday evenings in Lent as part of my internship project, and we discussed the prodigal son story a few weeks ago. Each person resonated in different ways with the characters and heard particular messages. I also shared with them this true story from author Mark Powell:

Powell separately asked a group of Americans and Russians to recount the prodigal son story. Only 6 out of 100 Americans remembered the famine, but 42 out of 50 Russians did. And whereas most Russians didn’t reference the son squandering the property, almost all Americans did. Powell also asked Americans, Russians, and Tanzanians, “Why is the younger brother hungry?” The Americans said because he wasted his money; the Russians said because there was a famine; the Tanzanians said because no one gave him anything to eat. Who was right about why the younger son was hungry? They all were. (Powell writes about this in chapter 2 of his book What Do They Hear?: Bridging the Gap Between Pulpit and Pew. I summarized this paragraph from STORY 2015-2016, a curriculum by the NE MN Synod.)

Your experiences impact what you hear, what stands out to you, what strikes you as important. Pay attention to what you connect with and why as we explore some perspectives and messages in the parable of the prodigal son.

Let’s start with the younger son. He goes to his father, demanding his inheritance now -- essentially saying he wishes his father was dead. He receives the inheritance, and spends it recklessly. Then a famine strikes and he has no resources left. He takes a degrading job feeding pigs, and has a difficult time getting by. With shame, he finally returns home and is met with surprising and overwhelming compassion from his father.

Perhaps you have had a period in your life in which you did incredible wrong, but eventually found your way back to someone you hoped would still love you. Consider the story of Jenna. Jenna grew up in a troubled home with parents who weren’t always around. She had access to drugs and alcohol pretty much whenever she wanted, and had no problem finding friends to join her. As she got older, her addictions became worse. Too young, she had a son, Caleb, and couldn’t care for him with all her problems. So she sent him to live with an Aunt, Lila, who was the only stable and successful family member she knew. Jenna, even with her addictions, was ridden with guilt from giving up her son. She didn’t clean up right away, but a few years later she finally began a rehab program. After more time had passed, and with help from a new support network, she was able to get her life on track - a job, an apartment, regular help. But she hadn’t spoken to Lila or seen Caleb since that day she sent him off, eight years ago. Nervously and shamefully, she knocked on Lila’s door. Her aunt opened the door and could see at once that there was something different about her niece than in years before. Lila embraced her, crying, “Have you really come home?” Jenna, overwhelmed by the acceptance, told her aunt all about her current situation, and said she felt new life in her aunt’s love.

Maybe this is your story, maybe not. Perhaps your first semester of college you took a turn for the worst and had to seek forgiveness from your parents. Perhaps you distanced yourself from good friends to follow a relationship that was never going to work, and you returned to them seeking support. There are many ways you might be like the younger son.

Let’s consider now the father. He gives the inheritance and painfully watches his younger son abandon and disregard him. But when the younger son comes home, he can’t help but be overwhelmed with love, that “what was once dead is alive again” -- and this is cause for celebration. His lost son has been found.

If you haven’t been the lost one, you may have been the one who received and welcomed the lost. Aunt Lila may be your experience. Think about how good it feels to find something that was lost. I have two brief examples.

One day, while I was waiting for the bus to go home from Luther Seminary, I realized my wedding ring had fallen off. My heart raced as I frantically searched for it in the dirt -- I probably looked ridiculous to others. The ring isn’t only special to me because it’s my wedding ring -- which is special enough -- but also because it had belonged to my great grandmother, a woman I adored. This ring has deep value to me. I kept searching, and finally, I found it, and was overcome with relief. It was far more important that I found it than that I’d lost it.

A second example - growing up, I watched my two younger brothers a lot. I am 7 and 13 years older than them. One summer day when I was 13 and my brother, Kade, was 4, he was having a particularly rough day. Nothing made him content and he wasn’t happy with me for some reason, probably because I wouldn’t let him eat chocolate all day or something like that.

Anyway, I went to use the bathroom while he was playing, and I came back and he was gone. My 13-year-old self was terrified. I couldn’t find him anywhere in the house. Finally I checked outside, and there he was, a short way down the dirt road. I caught up to him; he told me he was “Running away.” I was just really glad I found him! Eventually he forgot why he was mad and we had a good rest of the day.

Often we are so overtaken with joy at finding what has been lost - especially a person - that everything else fades and you’re just so glad to be reunited with what or who was gone.

Now let’s move on to the older son -- too often he is overlooked in this story! He is not excited that his brother comes home and that his father is celebrating. He has worked hard exactly like he is supposed to and can’t find it in himself to be happy that his brother is now “alive again.” You can understand his frustration while also wishing he would set it aside and put the possibility of a new relationship with his brother first.

Maybe you are the responsible sibling, always taking care of household chores or always the one to take care of your aging parents. But when one of your less-dependable siblings does one good thing, they get all kinds of recognition and praise, leaving you, the always-reliable-one, rather annoyed.

Or maybe you’re an always-in-church-every-Sunday kind of person, which is a good thing. But you become prideful and arrogant about it -- not a good thing. Then, when someone who hasn’t been to worship in months comes one Sunday, you scold them for never being there instead of extending a grateful welcome that they’ve come. This is like the older son, too.

I’ve shared several possible connections with the story of the prodigal son, and suggested a variety of messages that it may speak. Where do you find yourself? What message do you hear most clearly?

Although I can identify with each of the characters, yet another perspective stood out most for me this week. I feel grateful that God can do something that I can’t always do – embrace others who’ve gone astray. Even when I can’t love someone as God has called me to, I trust that God can and does, and I’m thankful for that. What is not always possible for me is more than possible for God. And that’s okay.

Instead of preaching one particular message today, I wanted to invite you into the richness of Scripture. I hope you see and experience the many insights of this Bible story. One passage contains so much. God’s Word breathes life into our lives, and if we’re willing to delve in, to put ourselves in the stories, then we can draw deeply from this rich well of Scripture.

Today I encourage you to go home, take out your Bible, and start reading. Start reading and experiencing, even if it's confusing or hard to understand … and expect God to show up and speak to you in that holy time. Amen.

A Life Worth Living

Bad news happens and people talk. Imagine the buzz in the marketplace in Jesus time. Maybe it sounded like this: Did you hear about what Pilate did this time? He killed the Galileans and dared to mingle their blood with the blood of sacrifice. That goes against God. Did you hear about the tower that fell in Jerusalem and killed 18 people? It’s awful.

Some things don’t change. Bad news happens… and people talk. It happens today too. Remember what ISIS did to the Coptic Christians in Egypt? Lined them up hooded and killed them execution style. What about the Uber driver – randomly killing innocent bystanders? It doesn’t make sense.

Whether in Jesus’ day or ours, bad news happens and people talk. People talk – and ask God: “How can you allow such a thing? How can you permit such evil?” “Why is there such suffering?” Then and now people ask the questions: “If God is All Good and All Powerful, why is there evil in the world?” “Why do innocent bystanders suffer?” “Is this part of God’s plan?” “Did God cause this suffering?” And then…people try to find meaning for all this suffering and often wonder…sometimes out loud: Did those people who are suffering or who were killed DO SOMETHING to deserve this? Are they being punished for their sin?

Jesus answers the last question with an emphatic “NO.” Speaking plainly, Jesus says, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you.” And in case his listeners wondered if he was speaking only of this particular situation, Jesus gives another example. Speaking of what seems like innocent bystanders when a tower fell, Jesus says, “do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you.”

Jesus makes it really clear that God does not cause people to die horrific deaths or suffer excruciating pain because they were worse sinners than anyone else. This is true for the people killed by Pilate, by Nazis, by ISIS or any other hateful person or group and it is true for people killed by the falling tower of Siloam, the falling of the Twin Towers, the bridge collapse or for those killed by the Uber driver. God is NOT punishing them for their sin. These people were no worse sinners than anyone else.

The fact that everyone sins doesn’t mean that sin – falling short of the life God has for us – doesn’t matter. It does matter – and Jesus calls us to repent. Twice Jesus tells his disciples and us, “unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did." Can you hear the urgency in his message? Repent. Do it NOW.

Stories of unexpected deaths remind us: We are mortal. I serve as a volunteer Police Chaplin for Robbinsdale, Crystal and New Hope. Most of the time when I’m called to a scene, it’s because someone has died. This past week the deceased was a woman who had clearly made some unhealthy choices in life. She smoked 3 packs of cigarettes a day, drank 3 pots of coffee, used street drugs, never exercised, and after staying up all night watching TV together, her brother – who weighed close to 450 pounds -- would make her a breakfast of “the works” including fried eggs, bacon, and sausage and more. And, he told me, “I didn’t give her skimpy portions.”

It’s pretty easy to make some connections between her lifestyle and her early death. Of course, the story is more complicated than simply making bad choices. They had other challenges that they couldn’t control that may have led to the unhealthy behavior that I won’t go into here. Their story made me sad for them – but their bad choices didn’t make them any worse “sinners” than I am.

Jesus calls them AND ME to repent. In Greek, the word is “metanoeó (met-an-o-eh'-o).” While in Hebrew the word for repentance means: “turn around,” the New Testament understanding is a little more nuanced. It means: “to change one’s mind or purposes.” Change is still needed, but it might not be a 180 degree turn. I don’t know about you, but there are a lot of things that I do and choices that I make that aren't “bad” – they are even “good” but sometimes doing those things keeps me from doing the most important things. In calling us to repent – to turn from those decisions that keep us from being all that God made us to be, Jesus is calling his disciples and us to live a life worth living.

I heard a story on MPR this week about a sculptor who makes beautiful sculptures of people out of ice. When asked why she goes to all of this work – only to have her beautiful sculptures melt away, she gave a surprising answer. She had looked at the great sculptures of people of the past and noticed that they were made of the most durable materials – bronze and stone. And she noticed that they were made larger than life – and that often they were raised high on horses or pedestals. She set out to do… the opposite. So she made smaller than life - three foot - figures out of ice, a most impermanent material, especially since she doesn’t place them outside at a Winter Carnival but instead takes them out of her frozen workshop and displays them inside. She sets metal bowls under her melting masterpieces to catch the drips and then amplifies the bowls to make the noise of dripping water even louder… When asked why she goes to so much work only to have it melt away, she replied, “to remind us of our mortality.” Clearly taken aback, the interviewer said, “Oh! Isn’t that depressing?” To which the artist replied, “No, it’s to remind us to make the most of THIS Life.”

We are mortal. How do we repent, change our mind, our purpose, to make the MOST of this life, to live the life that Jesus would have us live? As followers of Jesus, you maybe don’t need a 180 degree turnaround. But just as a sailing ship continues to need small course corrections as it battles wind and waves, so we too need help to “stay the course” and focus and refocus on Jesus’ way, and not to get distracted by all of the things around us, things that aren’t really “bad” -- especially compared to what other people are doing.//

But wait… did you catch that? We so quickly make this move: “especially compared to what other people are doing.” We are accustomed to comparing ourselves to OTHER PEOPLE – like the woman with the unhealthy lifestyle. The people in Jesus’ day made the same kind of comparisons. But that’s not the standard that Jesus holds out for them or us. The standard is Jesus – on the cross. So…if you want to compare yourself to someone, compare yourself to Jesus. We all fall short.

Jesus calls us to repentance. Again, there’s urgency to it. Don’t wait. Life is too uncertain. Jesus doesn’t give excuses or reasons that life is uncertain. He just states the truth. Life is uncertain. You are mortal. Repent. Do it NOW.

The reason that Jesus wants us to repent is because Jesus wants more for us. Jesus wants us to have a life worth living. And Jesus wants that for ALL of us. To illustrate, Jesus tells a story, a parable of hope and second chances.

In the parable, the owner of the fig tree first pronounces judgment – and then a second chance. That’s Grace. But the question remains: Will the fig tree change? Not by itself. The fig tree needs the help of the gardener to dig up the soil, to add the manure and fertilizer before it can grow.

Jesus calls us to repent, to change our focus, to refocus on Jesus’ ways. But like the fig tree, we can’t do it by ourselves.

This reminds me of the picture of heaven and hell that someone once painted. In hell there were people sitting at a table filled with sumptuous food – but they were given long forks and were miserable because they could not feed themselves. In heaven there were people sitting at a table filled with sumptuous food – and they were given the same long forks. But they were having a delightful time feeding one another.  Jesus has given us one another – to care for the other, to dig around the soil, to put Miracle Grow on the roots – and to encourage one another.

Jesus invites you and me to live a life worth living NOW. To do this Jesus has given us a community of faith. In this community of faith we are called to do our part to care for one another, to feed the neighbor, so that we – and our neighbor may bear fruit and live a life worth living. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane
February 28, 2016

MESSAGE:

Jesus invites us to live a life worth living NOW – and to do this as a community of faith, doing our part to care for one another so that we – and our neighbor may bear fruit

Luke 13:1-9

1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, "See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' 8 He replied, "Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.' "

Prophetic Action & God's Wing

2.21.2016
Vicar Katelyn

Gospel Reading: Luke 13:31-35

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Jesus is angry. He’s angry that the people of Jerusalem have chosen to reject truth-tellers, to banish and kill those who seek justice and who seek to lead the people in the ways of God.

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Jesus is also sad. This image of Jesus as a mother hen is at the same time tender and fierce. A mother hen keeps her chicks safe under her wing and is willing to protect them. Jesus longs for the people to gather together under his wing, but they’re not willing. It pains him to experience their rejection.

We’re not so different. While we’re not stoning prophets, we’re at least often shutting them down and refusing to listen to their truth. We’re telling them to quiet down, don’t cause such a fuss. We’re telling them to just be patient in matters of urgency. These prophets are truth-tellers, justice-seekers, God-messengers.

Prophets are the people demanding justice be served and leaders be held accountable for the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. Prophets are the people changing policies and educating the world about modern-day slave labor. Prophets are the people striving for equal and equitable education.

Sometimes it all just seems too overwhelming and we shut the prophets out. Or we figure “out of sight, out of mind.” And still other times we refuse to take off our rose-colored glasses and see the hurt and the pain and the devastation.

Or maybe you have experienced the other side. Maybe you’ve played the role of prophet at times in your life. Perhaps you’ve consistently spoken up for the millions of peaceful Muslims in the world. Perhaps you’ve taken a stand to uplift gender equality. Perhaps you’ve engaged in collective action by protesting apartheid or other oppressive regimes. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you have taken prophetic action in your lives and experienced hatred and rejection from those unwilling to even hear your story.

We’ve got to stop doing this … for the sake of our neighbor, and of ourselves.

And this isn’t what God desires. God desires for all of us to be gathered under God’s wing, trusting our lives to God’s guidance and care. When a mother hen enfolds her brood, she brings them all not only close to her, but close to each other. When we’re gathered together under God’s wing, we can’t help but be close to our neighbors, to our brothers and sisters from all walks of life. And in this closeness I hope that we couldn’t help but truly know each other’s stories, joys, and sorrow. It’s pretty hard to ignore someone who’s right next to you.

I don’t doubt that you know these things. You know that being close to God changes your life, and you know that the well-being of everyone, no matter who they are, is important. But even for the strongest advocates and the best-hearted people, things can get in the way.

Distractions and selfishness shift our attention from where it should be. Fear keeps us from doing the right thing. Wanting to be well-liked keeps us from speaking up. And it all makes us wary of these truth-telling prophets who might just rock the boat a little too hard for our liking.

So we shut them out. And when we shut out the prophets, we’re also trying to push our neighbors out from under God’s wing. To push them out of the beloved community. You see, these prophets are speaking and taking action on behalf of people who are included in God’s fold … which is everyone.

When we don’t listen to the truth, to the struggles of our immigrant neighbors, to the fear of young women being harassed, to the cries of those never given a second chance … when we don’t listen to the truth the prophets speak, we’re saying we don’t have time or concern for our brothers and sisters. We’re saying we wish they weren’t there so we didn’t have to deal with their problems.

Now I said that when we shut out the prophets, we’re trying to push our neighbors out from under God’s wing. But that’s not what actually happens. Instead, we end up walking away from God ourselves. God desires compassion and truth and justice … when we ignore these, we’re the people that Jesus is talking about, the ones “who aren’t willing.” Jesus longs for us all to be gathered, and it grieves him when we choose to walk away.

When we walk away from Jesus, life takes awful turns. We eliminate remarkable prophets, like Dr. King, because we’re afraid of “the other.” We end up destroying creation because we’ve valued human excess over creation care. We end up with huge wealth inequalities because we always want more for ourselves.

So what’s the good news? What do we do? We examine ourselves, our motives, our relationship with God. We’re honest. We repent. And we seek God’s transforming ways. Basically we embody the message of the Lenten season.

The good news is that God continually extends the invitation to gather under God’s wing, and that changing our ways is always possible with God.

A place to start could be aligning your life with what’s expressed in the psalm for today. Psalm 27 reads, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” God’s light illuminates your path and God is your stronghold when standing up for truth gets tough.

The psalm goes on, “I will seek to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” This sounds like seeking to be in that community gathered under God’s wing. Lastly, it says, “Teach me your way, O Lord … Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries.” Adversaries could be people, or they could also be the things - like distractions and selfishness - that are keeping you from following God’s path. Shifting your focus daily to this psalm’s message can help you evaluate what you’re doing and why. It’s a good way to begin.

Secondly, you can take an honest look at the gospel and at who Jesus is and at the faith you are professing. C.S. Lewis once said, “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.” You don’t need to be uncomfortable all the time, but seeking truth and justice, listening to the prophets, taking prophetic action … none of these are going to be comfortable. But they’re life-giving.

When we hear the truth of our neighbors and of the prophets and we act because we’re convinced we must, then so much good can happen. So much new life is given. I’d like to share two brief examples.

With some of my friends at Luther Seminary, I visited a church in the metro area. A member of this church told us how, at a different congregation, she and her son had been asked to leave because he was “too disruptive.” Her son had a mental disability and occasionally made noises during worship. In her current church, where we visited, she and her son were welcomed and they listened to her experiences. As a result, she was able to connect with other families who had special needs children, and together they formed an additional worship service that allowed for the noises, sounds, movements, and uniqueness of their children. Her truth-telling on behalf of her son made a difference. Their voices were uplifted and praised God. The church that rejected them certainly missed out!

Secondly, consider the partnerships we have with Wildfire. We could choose to be in competition with one another for members, seeing as most of us are relatively small. We could try do things bigger and better than the other churches, and promote only ourselves. Instead, we’re listening to the prophetic voices who decided to start Wildfire and to those who further its connections. It is prophetic to stand up and say we must work together in a world where so many, even churches, are in competition and are only looking out for themselves. Because we work together, our confirmation students can have fun and serve together, our choirs can praise God with a music concert together, we can hear different preachers during Lent, and ultimately we are nurturing our faith in ways we never could on our own.

These are just two examples of the many ways that seeking truth and justice change things -- there are so many powerful examples in our world. Take with you the knowing that while Christianity isn’t always comfortable, it’s always life-giving. And when things get tough, you can always depend on your God. So what truth have you been shutting down? What call for justice have you been ignoring? Choose to listen this week instead, ask God to teach you God’s ways and be your stronghold, and you might just find yourself as a prophet, welcoming more and more people under God’s wing. Amen. 

Listen to Jesus

Most people order their life and the world around them according to concrete and predictable rules: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west; 24 hours in the day and so on. But what happens in today’s gospel is anything but concrete or predictable. Instead, is full of mystery. It gives the disciples – and us -- a glimpse of Jesus as holy, glorious and awesome.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up a mountain to pray. The disciples were exhausted – after all, they had just climbed a mountain. This is all understandable. But as Jesus prayed, something unexpected, mysterious and wonderful happens as Jesus begins to glow with a holy light and prophets from of old join him on the mountaintop.

Peter responds by impulsively trying to somehow hold onto that holy moment and to stay in that holy place, saying, “Let’s build three dwellings!” In other words, “Don’t just stand there, DO Something!” But instead of a call to busyness, Peter, James and John hear the voice from the clouds proclaim, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"

“Listen to him.” It’s good advice – then and now. So how can we listen to Jesus? We can read scripture. We can hear Jesus’ word in Worship. We can taste Jesus’ blessing as we come together for communion. We can see Jesus in the world around us. Jesus is present where two or more are gathered in His name. We can listen to Jesus in all of these ways. But today, I want to focus on what Jesus went up the mountain to do: pray. We can listen to Jesus through prayer.

How do we pray? I’m glad to say there are many ways, including:

At WAPO Bible camp, youth jump up and down, energized by the Holy Spirit and singing songs of praise. That’s prayer.

When we gather for contemplative prayer, a candle is lit, the body stilled and silence is held. That’s prayer.

In our worship, we read prayers together and respond to prayer petitions, asking God to “Hear our Prayer.” That’s prayer.

Before mealtimes, we join together reading or reciting words of thankfulness to God for the food and fellowship. That’s prayer.

Before and after meetings, Bible studies, and any time two or more of us gather together, we listen and respond to words calling for God’s presence and guidance. That’s prayer.

These are examples of Corporate prayer. That’s a fancy way of saying: We pray together. Whether written or spontaneous, sung, read, recited from memory or silent, when we ask for God’s presence to be with us, we are speaking and listening to Jesus through prayer.

But we don’t have to wait to pray until we gather together.

There are many ways to pray on your own – and if you don’t have a habit of prayer, you may want to consider trying one of these methods during the season of Lent. If you have a pattern already that you enjoy, great. Keep doing it. But, perhaps for the season of Lent, you may want to try something new. Here are some ideas:

If you don’t currently have a prayer that you say, you can’t go wrong by learning or reciting the Lord’s prayer. If you know the traditional version by heart, you could try another translation.

Or, you could try using the Small Catechism. Martin Luther suggests prayers for the morning and the evening as well as at other times.

Another idea is to pray through the hymnal. You may borrow one of ours – please bring it back for Sunday worship! The words of the hymns that we sing reflect our faith. As the hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus” proclaims, regardless of the challenge, you can “take it to the Lord in prayer.”

There are several Lutheran online sources for prayer – especially through Luther Seminary.

You can try the Contemplative prayer group. Send me a note on your green sheet if you can’t make the Tuesday at 10 a.m. group. I would be happy to begin a second group. Contemplative prayer gives extra attention to the listening component of prayer. You can try it with a group first – and then try it on your own.

Clearly, there are many ways to pray – and God does not prefer one more than another. As one old Scandinavian professor at Luther Seminary once said: God hears the prayers of those who jump and shout “Praise the Lord” – but my fervent quiet prayers ring just as loud in God’s ear. The style of prayer is not the issue. All that is needed is a willingness to pray to God – sharing your cares and concerns and then… taking time to stop, listen and reflect upon God’s love and mercy and the way of Jesus.

There are lots of ways we can pray. But perhaps we need to address the question of: WHY we pray.

The easy answer of course, for the faithful, is that God commanded us to pray – and in our Gospel today, God commands us to LISTEN. Listen to Jesus.

But people often ask: if God knows everything then why should I bother to tell God what God already knows? It’s true that God doesn’t need us to act as reporters on the ground informing God of what is going on. But that’s not what God is asking for in prayer. What God wants is a relationship with YOU. It’s hard to have a relationship with someone if you never talk with them – or if they never listen.

So, for example, God knows that my mother has cancer. I did not have to report that to God. But I can talk to God, share my concerns with God and am comforted by knowing that God hears my prayer. But what’s more, I can listen for God’s response. In this case, God has more than answered my prayers not by healing her completely – she still has cancer – but by giving us some time together, time that we would not have taken if she had continued to work long hours. Am I glad for the cancer? No. I would never wish anyone the pain that she experienced. But I am glad for the way that God works through the pain to bring blessing.

Another question that people often ask is: If God is Almighty and has a plan for everything, what difference does my prayer make? In response to this question, I would say: look at Scripture. God has been known to change God’s mind. For example, God told Moses that he would destroy the people of Israel after they made a golden calf as an idol. But Moses prayed to God to change God’s mind – and God did. This is just one example of many.

The point is, God wants a relationship with you because God loves you and has claimed you as God’s child. God wants the BEST for you. This is why Jesus teaches us to pray – and the voice from heaven says, “Listen to him!”

God knows that there is evil in the world and that danger and challenges are there to meet us. And God wants to strengthen us and empower us for whatever lies before us, whether that be challenges, trials or blessings.

Like Peter, we may want to stay on the mountaintop basking in the glory of Jesus. But Jesus and his disciples did not stay on the mountain top – and neither can we. Jesus and his disciples come down the mountain to find a boy suffering from what looks like an epileptic seizure. Although dismayed at what is translated as the “perverse” but what really means backward looking generation, Jesus takes the time to heal that little boy. Jesus – and we – can have mountaintop experiences. Indeed it is both the mountain top experiences and our habit of prayer, of listening to Jesus, that gives us the strength to face the trials and challenges of life in our community.

This is why we need to take time for prayer – for OUR sake. God knows that our lives are busy, full and noisy. And God knows that we can easily fill up our life with TV, texts, twitter, facebook, and a myriad of activities. But God also knows that we need a Savior. We need Jesus. And so it is for OUR sake that the voice from the cloud says, “Listen to Him.” Through prayer, we can both share our joys and our cares and listen to Jesus so that we can hear God’s Word and see Jesus enlighten our path.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

Faith-Lilac Way

February 7, 2016

Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"—not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. 

[37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God.]

MESSAGE:  Listening to Jesus through prayer gives you the strength to face the trials and challenges of life

Love – Beyond Measure

First Corinthians 13 is probably the most popular scripture for weddings – ever. Called “the love chapter,” it is absolutely beautiful. How many of you have EVER heard this scripture at a wedding? It’s beautiful and says wonderful things about love.

But it wasn’t written for a wedding. Paul wrote this passage of his letter to the Corinthians not because they exemplified these qualities or were looking starry eyed at one another – but because they were at each other’s throats. Instead of describing what is – Paul seeks to inspire the Corinthians – and all faithful people who have come after – of what we should seek to become. So we can keep reading this scripture at weddings – but in my pastoral meetings with couples, I’m going to encourage them to dust this scripture off – at their first fight.

Listen again to how Paul defines LOVE: Love is patient.

Love is kind… It rejoices in the truth…

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.

Love never ends. In our world that is so full of heartache and pain, we could question Paul’s assessment. But while we sometimes fail to love and to be loving, Paul writes, “Love never ends” because God is Love and God’s love is everlasting. It is beyond measure.

As Vicar Katelyn noted in her sermon last week, the chapter prior to this “love chapter,” Paul speaks about the great variety of gifts that God has given to us. Paul ends that chapter and introduces this chapter by urging the Corinthians and us to: “strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.” This is not a bad translation. Love certainly is “a still more excellent way.” But literally translated, that introductory line reads “beyond measure.” Paul urges the church in Corinth and faithful followers ever since to embrace a love like Jesus’, a love “beyond measure.”

Beyond measure. The people in the church at Corinth were quite adept at measuring. Much of Greek society depended upon the ranking of people as well as professions. Those who were not “in” your group were not to be socialized with or even spoken to. But at the new church at Corinth, people of many different economic, professional, racial and ethnic groups were gathered into one. And Paul wanted them to act differently than how they had been taught by their culture. But he noticed that they were starting to jockey for position in the same way that they were accustomed to doing OUTSIDE the church – except instead of economic status or ethnicity, they were starting to measure themselves according to spiritual gifts.

Given the benefits of hindsight, it’s easy to see that the Corinthian Christians were falling into that trap in Greek culture. But what about us? While we pride ourselves on our diversity, our culture is just as prone to making distinctions based on race, ethnicity, socio-economic status and then treating people differently because of these distinctions. The lead poisoning in the water in Flint, Michigan is just one example. Officials are embarrassed now, but many have asked the question if that problem would have happened in a richer community. The point is, our culture has within it the same temptations – very human temptations – of measuring one group against another. A followers of Jesus, we, like the Corinthian Christians, need to guard against that temptation of acting like the culture instead of acting in love, acting like Jesus.  

So what does acting in love, acting like Jesus look like?

One of my favorite theologians is Henri Nouwen. He was thoughtful, brilliant and renowned an author and scholar at Harvard University. It would seem to all outward appearances that Nouwen was the picture of success. But Nouwen felt something was missing. He tried going to Latin America to get involved in Liberation theology. But because he was famous and didn’t speak Spanish very well, he was more of a liability for the group – and they asked him to go home and to pray and teach about their work. He became very depressed. Then one day, he received an invitation to become a part of L’arch community in Canada. L’arch is a community of people with disabilities and people who come to work with them. In the midst of caring for the basic needs of a developmentally disabled man, including changing his diaper, Henri learned to love and to receive love.

Henri Nouwen found the need to make a radical change in his life in order to learn to love and to receive love. Likewise, our youth often report that the change of place and the intentionality of serving others on Mission Trips helps them to see Christ. But we don’t have to go anywhere in order to see Christ at work in our world. Ordinary acts of kindness, showing patience and care, and acting out of faith within the confines of our ordinary lives, may be the best place for us to begin acting in love. That’s what it means to show Christ to the world.

At the opening sermon of the Conference for Listening for Change, Episcopalian Bishop Curry shared a story that Howard Thurman used to tell. Howard Thurman was an African American professor, the founding pastor of the House of Prayer for all People and an eloquent poet and author and an inspiration for Martin Luther King Jr.  

Howard Thurman said that he learned the power of love from his grandmother. Raised in a Southern state by his mother and grandmother at a time of segregation, they happened to live on the border of the segregation line. On the one side of their house lived a black neighbor and on the other side of their house lived a white neighbor.

The neighbor who was white resented the fact that she lived next door to a black family. And so, to show her disdain for her black neighbors, every day she cleaned out her chicken coop – and threw the “droppings” over the fence into the Thurman’s back yard.

Thurman said he wondered why this grandmother did not rise up in righteous anger. It happened almost every day. The white woman came out of the chicken coop and threw the chicken droppings over the fence. And Thurman’s grandmother did not do a thing about it. Granted, there probably wasn’t much she could do about it. These were times of segregation. So… like the old spiritual, she never said a mumbling word.

Then one day, years later, the white woman got ill. By this time, both the white neighbor and Mrs. Thurman were quite old.

Mrs. Thurman, a Christian woman, saw that her neighbor was ill and so she packed up some of her homemade chicken soup that she made with vegetables from her garden and she cut some roses from her backyard.

When Mrs. Thurman knocked on her door, the white neighbor suspiciously answered the door and said, “Can I help you?”

Mrs Thurman replied, “Well I came to help you!” and showed her the soup.

The neighbor was so weak she couldn’t resist. She let her in and then, because she was so weak she went back to her bedroom to lie down. Mrs. Thurman followed, got out a bowl and a spoon, poured a bowl of soup and then…quite literally… began to feed her neighbor soup, spoonful by spoonful.

When her neighbor was done eating, Mrs. Thurman asked, “Do you have a vase?” After finding the vase, she began to arrange the roses. The neighbor asked her, “Where did you get those flowers? They are beautiful!”

Thurman’s grandma smiled and said, “Well you’ve had a little something to do with it. You know all those chicken droppings that you’ve been throwing over the fence all these years?” Well… I’ve been using those droppings as fertilizer.

You’ve been eating the fruit of the land in that soup. And these flowers are the result of that fertilizer too. They are from my garden too. “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”

Thurman later recounted that it was learning that lesson that helped him realize that the transformative power of love could change a nation. Or as Bishop Curry said, we can learn from the old African American spiritual: “If you cannot preach like Peter and you cannot pray like Paul you can share the love of Jesus and say he died for all.”

Sharing the love of Jesus, the love which is beyond measure. Sometimes it starts with sharing a bowl of soup. But regardless of who we are or where we live, opportunities abound. May we as a congregation and each of you in your own neighborhoods, schools and workplaces and with all the people you meet, love your neighbor as Jesus has first loved you. Amen.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

31 January 2016

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Churc

Unity in Diversity

Vicar Katelyn

1.24.2016

“The future of the church … ” This phrase often stirs up anxiety. We associate it with declining numbers, financial issues, and a long list of unknowns. These all have some truth, and we shouldn’t ignore them, but like Pastor Pam talked about last week, we should also look for opportunity, for God’s abundance. Today, I want to frame “the future of the church” with hope, drawn from our First Corinthians reading.

This passage is well-known. It describes the necessity of all people’s roles in the body of Christ, links us all together, and reminds us of the many kinds of spiritual gifts we’re given. It sounds like a loving community where everyone matters and is able to use their God-given gifts for the sake of all.

It’s easy to turn this into an idyllic dream without recognizing that actually living this way takes hard work. We also might miss that this vision of the body of Christ isn’t just a nice suggestion -- no, Paul is telling us that “unity in diversity is a reality without which the church cannot live.”(1) In other words, we need all of us, all of our unique selves, to live fully as the body of Christ.

Listen to this Word of God again. “14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If a Woman would say, “Because I am not a Man, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make her any less a part of the body. 16 And if the Child would say, “Because I am not an Adult, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make him any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were White, where would the Africans be? If the whole body were Big-Picture Thinkers, who would manage the Details? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many members, yet one body. 21 The Lutheran cannot say to the Methodist, “I have no need of you,” nor again the U.S. Citizen to the Immigrant, “I have no need of you.” … the members are to have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together with her; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with him.”

Ok, so I changed the passage a little. I think it helps us to name real characters and attributes in this text. The point is that we need everyone’s voices and uniqueness to be lifted up for the sake of the gospel and for the strength of the church. If we can do this, then we have great hope for the church’s future.

The problem is that this unity in diversity is rarely lived out. We confuse unity with uniformity. We want to stay comfortable with people who think and look and act like us. We’re willing to let different people in our community, but ultimately want them to assimilate to how we are.

We’re missing out on a lot by not living fully into this call as the body of Christ. We’re missing out on a lot of rich stories, relationships, and ways of being Christ’s hands and feet in the world.

When we don’t live out this unity in diversity, it hurts all of us.

For example, I have a few friends who grew up in congregations that didn’t allow children or youth to participate in worship roles, like lectoring, ushering, greeting, music, and so on. In this way, they learned that they were less-than full participates in the faith community. They learned that their age was a problem, and that it was best to just watch the adults handle everything. It also hurt the adults because they were missing out on passing on teaching and on deepening connections with the youth.

I think that’s pretty awful. Think about how here at Faith-Lilac Way students lector, greet, play music, usher, help with communion … right alongside adult members. This is a real gift. It shows kids and youth that they’re just as much a part of this church as anyone else. And relationships are strengthened as adults and students serve in worship together. Everyone benefits from this inclusive approach.

We also miss out when we deny people’s gifts and contexts, when we reject something based on stereotypes instead of giving it a chance. For example, dance and rap music don’t easily find a home in some parts of Christianity. While dance is less of a problem, some still consider it inappropriate for church. Rap faces a stronger refusal, carrying baggage of trashy lyrics and images.

Dance or rap isn’t the issue. The issue is how people use them.

For a couple years, I attended Redeemer Lutheran Church in north Minneapolis. If you’re not familiar with this congregation, it’s located in the Harrison neighborhood and has worked very hard to become a church of and in support of its community, listening and tending to the gifts, struggles, and stories of its people. Most of the kids who attend their Wednesday after-school program and who are picked up for Sunday school and church like to dance and many of them also like to sing and to rap. Instead of rejecting these things, Redeemer has lifted up these gifts.

Sometimes the kids write raps in the after-school program and perform them in church. There are also junior high and high school boys who get together to write and to perform, and I can tell you that the lyrics and the messages they share in church are full of God and truth. While this expression might not be authentic everywhere, it is very authentic for these students, and instead of rejecting rap and dance based on stereotypes, Redeemer has allowed these gifts to flourish and to glorify God. Everyone benefits from encountering God in worship through their words and their praise.

Finally, we also miss out when we don’t do the hard work of getting to know one another and building each other up. The history of racism and hatred of other cultures and ethnicities in our world is long and painful, and it continues today, especially as people talk about immigrants and refugees. Even if we are welcoming and understanding, sometimes we stop at that and don't build deeper, lasting relationships because it just seems too hard. People just seem too different.

The strongest example of working together in unity across these lines of race and culture that I know personally is the Protestant hospital that my husband’s parents work at in Cameroon, West Africa. This Protestant hospital - and a few others in Cameroon - exist because of the partnership of the ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon, and the Malagasy Lutheran Church. Over the last two decades, my in-laws have served at a few of these hospitals as medical missionaries. The Malagasy Lutheran Church provided my in-laws as medical missionaries to help meet the needs the Lutheran Church in Cameroon saw for their hospitals. Cameroon also raises up leaders for the hospitals as well as workers. The ELCA is called upon, primarily through Global Health Ministries in Fridley, to help provide the necessary medical equipment. There are also ELCA congregations in South Dakota who have helped my in-laws with medical training during their visits to the United States. Here you have three different countries, three different peoples, three different churches working together in a common mission to be the body of Christ. No one is rejecting to work with another because their race is different, their theology is different, or their culture is different. They work together and take advantage of the gifts each has to offer in the unified service of the hospitals. Of course there are struggles and challenges, but those are worked through, with God.

I’ve given three examples of trying to live as the body of Christ in the way Paul describes in First Corinthians. But what does all of this have to do with the future of the church? Well, contrary to how we usually think of it, as something a few decades away,  the future of the church starts now. The examples I named are only a few of many sources of hope and of unity in diversity. The future of the church is forming as we speak, and we have to lift up these examples of working together, of allowing differences in gifts and backgrounds to flourish. The future of the church is together, is this body of Christ that Paul describes.

Times may be changing, and the center of Christianity has shifted from the West to the Global South, leaving places like the United States wondering what’s next for our congregations, but God has not stopped moving and acting and lighting our way.

We just have to be willing to let go of our fears and anxieties and let new things take place and shape the Church as we work with all kinds of people. The more we can work together and hold each other up, the more hopeful we can be. Our congregations won’t always look and feel and exist the way they do today, but in these times of wondering about our future, we’ve got to heed this message from Paul -- the only way forward is together, with all of our unique voices, histories, and gifts fully honored as Christ’s body. Amen.

(1) Brian Peterson, Commentary on 1 Cor 12:12-31a, Working Preacher http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2733.

GRACE UPON GRACE: With Eyes of Faith We See Jesus Offering Abundance and Blessing

“What if there is not enough?” Fear of not having “enough” plagues every funeral, wedding and gathering. Usually, people’s anxiety and fear causes them to order more than enough – and then discover that the caterer also wanted to be sure there was “enough” so they added to the original order and so we end up with an abundance of food – and a large quantity of leftovers.

At the Wedding of Cana, that fear became a reality. They ran out of wine. Jesus lived in a different culture than ours. Weddings lasted for days and the whole village and surrounding area was invited. Hospitality was a primary value. To run out of food or wine at a wedding celebration would have cast shame and dishonor upon the newly married couple. The social consequences of running out of food aren’t quite as desperate today – plus we have many more options. Someone can always run to the store for more. But the fear and anxiety of not having “enough” is the same today as it was then. No one wants to be embarrassed.

Out of compassion for this newly married couple, Jesus’ mother tells him, “They have no wine.” Jesus seems a bit surprised at her request. Yet, Jesus fixes the problem by transforming the water for washing the dirty hands and feet of guests into the finest wine. There’s no thunderclap announcing the miracle. Jesus doesn’t clear his throat and get everyone’s attention. As the servant brings the steward the ladle of wine, no one announces into a microphone: the gift of Jesus of Nazareth is 6 stone jars of the finest Cabernet. There was no fanfare. Yet, Jesus brings grace to a poor wedding couple, saving them from stories of scarcity and shame and transforming a sorry story into a joyful celebration.

Ordinary problems. Extraordinary generosity. Grace upon Grace. That’s the gift that Jesus brings to this wedding – and the gift that Jesus gives to us. Today’s Gospel comes from the Gospel of John. John is a bit different from the other Gospels. It begins by announcing: “the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory…full of grace and truth…. we have all received, grace upon grace.” John 1:14 & 16 This is the Good News that Gospel of John proclaims. Everything that follows are examples, John calls them “Signs” of Jesus, the incarnate God, God with flesh on, offering grace upon grace. Into ordinary life situations, Jesus provides extraordinary grace…. Like saving a newly married couple from embarrassment and shame by providing the equivalent of 1000 bottles of the best wine ever. To those anticipating scarcity, Jesus brought surprising, amazing abundance. That’s grace.

Grace. It’s hard to define. Dictionary definitions don’t help much either. The dictionary defines grace as elegance, poise, decorum and blessing. But these words don’t capture God’s Grace – which I consider more of a combination of mercy and blessing. A better definition is found in the Gospel of John. Through very earthy signs done in ordinary places to ordinary people, Jesus demonstrates what grace looks like, smells like, feels like and tastes like.

So… if Jesus so clearly demonstrated God’s grace, why didn’t everyone at the wedding in Cana respond with faith and praise? The answer is probably because most of them had no idea what had happened. When the servants brought the steward the wine, not telling him anything about where it came from, the steward smelled it, tasted it, drank it and proclaimed it good...very good…the best wine – but he doesn’t ask where it came from -- maybe he did not want to know. After all, it was his job to manage the wedding and he was about to be embarrassed if they ran out of wine. He makes an assumption it had been kept it back – like you do with the burnt or broken cookies – we’ll serve them if we run out. Operating from that perspective, he instead asks why this great wine was kept until last?!

As for the other guests, most of the wedding guests have no idea what happened – they are probably simply glad that the rumor of “no more wine” was false. Only the servants and the disciples knew the origin of the wine. We don’t know how the servants responded. But for the disciples, who had just begun following Jesus, another transformation took place. This transformation was harder to taste or touch than the water becoming wine but was even more remarkable: they believed. They were given the gift of faith. They were given eyes of faith to see God’s grace and hearts transformed by faith to believe.

At text study this past week, I was reminded of a story in which people were quick to make judgments about scarcity – and abundance.

There was a farmer who had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to condole over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"
A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"
The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.”

Unlike his neighbors, the farmer wasn’t quite ready to make any interpretations on his fortune. But we, as Christians, we are called to interpret our life and the world around us in light of the Gospel, the Good News of Christ.

Sometimes, what seems like scarcity – is really simply opportunity. At the wedding of Cana, if they hadn’t run out of wine, Jesus would not have been called upon to provide more. Like the guests at that wedding – who rumored to Mary that they have run out of wine… we too are apt to focus on scarcity instead of opportunity

At the Council meeting this past week, we discovered good news and bad news – the bad news is that we fell short of our budget for the year. The good news is that we received significant gifts for the elevator fund. Do we look at that as scarcity and with anxiety? Do we bemoan the shortage? Or do we celebrate the generosity of people for our capital appeal and look at the shortfall in the budget as an opportunity to remind ourselves of the “ordinary but essential” ministry that costs money too. As one of my pastor friends said at her annual appeal this past year, Grace is free. Church isn’t.

Likewise, on a cold day like today we could worry about the low attendance. Or, we can simply acknowledge that on days like today in Minnesota some people should not venture out. We could use this opportunity to remember in prayer those who, for medical or other reasons, could not leave their homes. We could think about who we could call to day to check in on them. We could wonder about who else, in our neighborhood, needs to hear Good News? We could think about how we could offer hospitality to the neighbor?

The truth is, God is still present and active in our world and in our lives. But not everyone has eyes of faith to see it. Our job, as children of God, is to proclaim God’s Word and to share Good News. God keeps offering new and surprising ways of showing us what God is up to in our world and in our lives – and offers us ways to be a part of God’s mission and ministry. And so, brothers and sisters in Christ, let us open our eyes to see and proclaim the ways God is acting in our world and in our lives offering Grace upon Grace.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

17 January 2016

Being a Witness - Sharing Your Story

Merry Christmas! Yes, it is the Christmas season still in the church, for a few more days. In these twelve days after Christmas eve, we still rejoice in its light.

Today we have this beautiful prologue to the gospel of John. It describes Jesus as the Word, the logos, who was present with God from the very beginning of creation. It tells us Jesus has made God known to us so that we may be God’s children. It tells us with boldness: the light shines in the darkness and “the darkness did not overcome it.”

And we also have this character, John the Baptist, or rather, John the Witness. He comes as a witness to testify to the true light, who was coming into the world. To testify to Jesus, the logos, the one in whom we meet and see God.

All of this sounds wonderful, but what does it really mean? Witness - testify? How often do you hear these words in Minnesota Lutheranism? What if I asked you to stand up right now and give a testimony of your faith? Don’t worry, I’m not going to do that. But we don’t need to be afraid of words like testify and witness, either. Yes, they have been abused by some Christians - you can’t just make up what you want and claim it’s from God. But let’s not allow the actions of a few to keep us from witnessing to our faith and testifying for God.

Being a witness means sharing your faith in Christ, living your life in response to who God is and what God has done for you.

Being a witness is believing that God truly became Incarnate, became human, so that we may see and know God. This is something to be excited about! That God is here, dwelling among us. What an incredible gift!

We can witness by recognizing this ourselves and sharing it with other people. I have found - and this is a generalization - that we in the ELCA, myself included, are good at talking about God and not as good at naming where God is or sharing what they believe and why.

We are able to say, “God is love, God is light, God wants us to care for our neighbors,” but we are less able to say, “I saw God in you when you comforted me after my friend died,” or “I trust God is always with me because of this set of experiences …”

If you are able to share these things naturally, then please encourage others! If not, I want to walk you through what makes it hard and offer a few examples of witnessing to your faith.

First - why is this even important? Why witness? There are many reasons I could give you, but considering this text and the Christmas season I will say we witness because God’s actions and creativity did not end with Jesus. We continue to respond to the Incarnation because God has not left us, and we want others to know this, too. And God is too expansive, too great, for us to comprehend. There is no end to how many ways we could testify for God or name his presence - so we keep on witnessing, because God keeps on acting. We trust that God will work through one of these many ways so others might know him, too.

Second - what makes it hard? One thing that makes it hard is not wanting to be like those who forcefully share their faith. We’ve been convinced that sharing your faith at all is offensive and will make people think you’re obnoxious, like those guys yelling with hateful signs on the street.

Another thing that makes witnessing hard is that we don’t want to tell anyone what they should think - we don’t want to come across as pushy. We want people to be free to make their individual choices.

Lastly, we may be hesitant to witness because we’re afraid we’re wrong, or that we won’t say exactly the right things. We let fear and insecurity convince us that maybe it wasn’t really God or that we’ll just sound stupid if we try to speak confidently about our faith.

I want you to know that sharing your faith is possible, and it should never look like those people shouting hate. You don’t have to have all the right words or ideas or the perfect stories and examples - just share and live from your heart, from what you know is true, from your relationship with God.

Witnessing can be as simple as sharing a story about God’s presence in your life with someone else.

If you’re unsure, focus on how amazed you are by God’s love, how grateful you are for God’s coming in Jesus, and how deeply your faith has influenced and changed your life. Would you want someone else to have the chance to experience these things too? I hope so! It is possible that you will open up these experiences for someone else by your witness, your sharing, your faith.

In places where you can’t talk openly about your faith, witness through your actions. Advocate for others. Give generously of your time and resources. Forgive and try to understand people’s situations. Perhaps others will notice your example and do likewise. Or maybe they’ll just be annoyed that you’re not acting the way they want you to. Either way, you’re still living our life as a witness.

I said earlier that witnessing can be as simple as sharing a story about God’s presence in your life with others. So, I’m going to share two stories from my own faith with you, in the hopes of being a witness and an encouragement for you to witness. In other words, I am putting into action what I have been preaching, and I hope something in my story will resonate with yours.

Many of you know I grew up in Moose Lake, Minnesota, about two hours north of here. It’s a small town of about 2,000 people. There’s a K-12 school, a hospital, a post office, and several bars and churches - as is typical. My home church is Hope Lutheran of Moose Lake. I spent a lot of time there in high school, helping out with whatever I could. And the friends I made there my sophomore year were ones I could really trust.

Chris and I in particular became good friends. He was a senior and wanting to go Augsburg College to pursue youth ministry. I hoped to be a pastor. We talked a lot about vocation, theology, the church, and just about anything else. There was a depth and trust to our friendship I hadn’t experienced before. He was also very good at making me laugh, and had a natural gift for working with the kids at church.

Unfortunately, Chris also lived with chronic depression. Although he had a loving family, a supportive church, and a closeness with God, the illness ended up taking him. One morning in June 2008, I woke up to a call telling me that my best friend had hung himself. This wasn’t unexpected - I knew he had depression and had been in treatment for it before. But nothing prepares you for the death of someone you love, especially not when you’re 16. Obviously I felt a lot of pain.

As you can imagine in a small town, everyone pulled together. With only 40 or so kids per grade in school, everyone knew everyone and so we were all affected. The pastor and youth director at my church made time and space for students to come together, to grieve, to just be with one another. I saw my church and people I looked up to being there for others. I heard from them that God does not cause this kind of pain, God does not have some set time for each person to die. God did not plan for Chris to kill himself. Rather I heard that God weeps with us, loves us, and is present in the very midst of despair. At his funeral, I saw in the faces of my friends and my church that God was weeping with us, that God was embracing us as we embraced one another, and that God was living and active right in the heart of all this agony and pain.

Looking back, I can name God’s love and activity in that situation and the days that followed, and I can share this story with you as a strong example of why I believe God is present even in the darkest of places and why I believe that the darkness can never overcome the light. I felt and saw and heard God in my pastor, youth director, friends, and congregation, I trust that God was with Chris even as he took his last breath, and the light I witnessed in people taking care of one another could never be swallowed up by the darkness. It might have not always felt like it at the time, but God’s love radiated through. So basically, what I’m trying to say is: even when life sucks, I believe God is right there.

The second story I have to share is one of having faith and following God. Just as many of you know that I grew up in Moose Lake, you also likely know that I am a relatively quiet person. I don’t think it takes long to figure out I’m more of a listener and definitely an introvert. Growing up with a rather loud and sociable extended family, I certainly felt out of place. I assumed that introversion was somehow a deficiency, that something was wrong with me, and that I would always be shy and quiet and not able to speak in front of others. I didn’t understand that introversion simply meant you gain energy from being alone, and it didn’t mean that you couldn’t be social or a leader -- it just meant it took more energy for you to do these things than it did for extroverts. So in the 9th grade when, with really no warning, this inkling came that I should consider being a pastor, I felt surprised and my reaction was something like: “How the heck am I supposed to do that?” But the inkling grew into a deeper sense of call and it was something I couldn’t help but follow.

So I started to push myself outside of my comfort zone. I read more in class. I gave a couple of homily-encouragement talk type things during a few youth retreat weekends I was involved with. I went to a theological camp at Augsburg College. I started talking to my pastor and youth director about ministry and a sense of call. I took on more leadership roles in high school and in college. There were all sorts of experiences along the way, and I continue to live into that. Of course there are times I doubt or think maybe I shouldn’t be doing this, I don’t have the ability. But then I find the more I am willing to follow this call and to go beyond my comfort zone and trust in God, the more I find this is a real calling and I can do it. This whole journey is why I believe that God calls the unexpected and is with you the whole way.

I hope something in these stories resonates with you. I encourage you to witness to others by sharing your stories, in all of their joy and pain. There are no bounds to where God might be at work, so go beyond your bounds, your comfort zone in being a witness, and notice God as much as you can. Don’t be afraid to name the places where God has come to dwell with you. You never know how your witness might welcome someone else into relationship with this most incredible God. Get out there, your story, and be the witness God is calling you to be. Amen.

Katelyn Rakotoarivelo
1.3.2016
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran

The Light Shines in the darkness

P: The Light Shines in the Darkness
C: And the darkness cannot overcome it.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—on them light has shined

At the time Isaiah brings this message to God’s people, they were in the midst of a political crisis, a crisis of national identity and a crisis of faith. It was a time of deep darkness, a time that seemed hopeless. Yet into this seemingly hopeless time, Isaiah inserts both a hope and a promise for the people of Israel, God’s people. 

It’s been awfully dark lately here too. Not only have we been in the darkest time of year, a time in which the sun has slipped behind the horizon earlier and earlier each night, but for many days this month the clouds have blanketed the sun. It’s been dark. In addition, some have lost loved ones, health, jobs or relationships. And, if you feel that you are the only one who isn’t “ho-ho-hoing,” Christmas-time can be a “blue season.” 

These times of darkness are not to be discounted. But, in addition to seasonal and personal times of darkness and despair, there is a deeper darkness afoot, a darkness that will not dissipate with the turning of the season or the sun breaking through the clouds or even the passage of time. There is a crisis or maybe a series of crisis both in our country and in the world that threatens our freedom and seeks to shatter our hopes and dreams. The security crisis against terror has reverberated around the globe – from Paris to Beirut to San Bernadino… people acting in terrorist ways have not only hurt innocent people but also cast shadows of suspicion upon all who look like them. While our and other governments threaten to destroy the groups that claim responsibility for such atrocities, the fingers of fear continue to creep out into the world. Likewise, violence in the street, violence by and against police, racquets up even more violence and fear and threatens to snuff out joy and hope in our neighborhoods, our country and our world. 

Yet… into that darkness, we proclaim: 
P: The Light Shines in the Darkness;
C: And the darkness cannot overcome it.

Twenty-five years ago, the people in East Germany were living a pretty bleak existence. Rather than develop products or industry, much of the economy of that country was swept up into an elaborate system of spying. The Stasi police had a file on every single citizen – and took photos of and opened a file on every single person who entered the occupied territory of East Germany. Neighbors spied on neighbors. The system was pervasive. Protests were shut down violently. Darkness seemed to reign. 

But in the East German city of Leipzig, the people at Nikolaikirche, 
St. Nicholas Lutheran Church, were allowed to gather for prayer services. And so they gathered and lit candles – and prayed for peace. It started with only a few people. But soon others, hungry for a chance to express their hope and need and desire for light instead of darkness, also gathered to light a candle. The pastor welcomed everyone in. With candles lit, they marched for peace. It started with only a small number. But their numbers grew rapidly. The Stasi police were on high alert. At one point, they tried to pack the pews with spies and police officers. But the pastor “reserved” the balcony for real pray-ers and protestors. And the peaceful, candlelit prayer marches continued. 

On the night of October 8, 1989, more than 70,000 citizens gathered in the streets of Leipzig. Before the march the St. Nicholas pastor admonished the demonstrators, “Put down your rocks.” Meanwhile, the Stasi officials were waiting instructions to put down the demonstration with force. The orders never came. A month later, the Berlin wall fell. In a film depicting the struggle, the security chief who wanted to subdue this “rebellion” is shown staring out at the crowd in front of his headquarters and saying, “We planned everything. We were prepared for everything…except for candles and prayers.” 1

Remembering the candles and prayers of the people of Leipzig, we proclaim:
P: The Light Shines in the Darkness
C: And the darkness cannot overcome it.

As my family and I walked through the former headquarters of the Stasi police – now a museum -- it was easy to see the light shining out of the darkness. There, we were looking with 20-20 vision back into the past. It was a bit more disconcerting when we went to Checkpoint Charlie. We entered what we thought was a little museum of people who had escaped or tried to escape the Berlin Wall. But it wasn’t a little museum. It went on…and on… and on. We read the stories of those who fled oppression and the stories of those who didn’t make it out. It was a bit overwhelming – but also irresistible. So we kept going, reading story after story. Suddenly… we realized… we weren’t back 25 years anymore. The stories on the wall were no longer those fleeing East Germany. They were current. This was a living museum that was continuing to tell stories of people suffering oppression in the Ukraine, in Russia, in Afghanistan, and in other parts of the world. It was a reminder that we can’t simply pat ourselves on the back for the light that came through the prayers and candles of the Lutheran church in Leipzig. The darkness of oppression continues. And yet, we proclaim:

P: The Light Shines in the darkness
C: And the darkness cannot overcome it. 

Robert Fulghum, the man most famous for the book, Everything I Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten, wrote about what might have been the greatest lesson he learned – quite a bit after kindergarten. 

Fulghum had been attending a conference at an institute for peace in Crete, an island of Greece on the sight of some of the bloodiest fighting between German Nazi soldiers and Crete villagers. The center had been built for healing between the countries – and this conference was part of that intent. It was the last day, the last hour of a two week long conference and the speaker, a doctor of philosophy and a founder of the peace institute, Alexander Papaderos, rose and asked the question that is often asked at the end of a conference: “Are there any questions?” 

Fulghum raised his hand and asked, “"Dr. Papaderos, what is the meaning of life?" 

People laughed – and started getting ready to leave. But Papaderos held up his hand, stilled the room and said, “I will answer your question.” 

Reaching into his wallet, he brought out a very small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. He explained that during the war, his family was very poor. One day, on the road, he found the broken pieces of a mirror from a German motorcycle. He couldn’t put the pieces back together, but he kept the largest one and filed it down with a stone to make it round. He began playing with it as a toy – and became fascinated by the fact that he could reflect light into dark place, places where the sun would never shine – into deep holes, crevices and dark closets. It became a game – to shine the light into the deepest and darkest and least accessible places he could find. 

Even as he grew up, he kept the mirror – and in idle moments would continue the game. But as he became older, he realized that this was not just a child’s game. Rather, this was a metaphor for what he could do with his life. 

Papaderos said, “I came to understand that I am not the light or the source of light. But light -- truth, understanding, knowledge -- is there, and it will only shine in many dark places if I reflect it…I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have, I can reflect light into the dark places of this world…. and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life."2

Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is the meaning, the purpose of our lives too. At your baptism, people of God lit a candle and proclaimed Jesus’ words to you: “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”  And so, sisters and brothers, by the light of Christ let us proclaim:

P: The Light Shines in the darkness
C: And the darkness cannot overcome it. 
P: And all God’s people said, “Amen.” 

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane
Christmas Eve, 2015

1 The Christian Century Nikolaikirche by Wall, James M. Film is Nikolaikirche, directed by Frank Beyer and based on a novel by East German author Erich Loest
2 It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It, by Robert Fulghum

Transformed by a Song?

Grant that what we sing with our lips, we may believe in our hearts and what we believe in our hearts, we may show forth in our lives.

John was barely responsive. He nodded a few times to questions. He managed to take communion. But it was hard to tell if he was really following.  Sometimes he seemed to be completely absent. But when we began to sing “Silent night,” he smiled, nodded his head, and as we left, he said in a clear voice, “Merry Christmas.”  Those may have been his last words. 

Music is powerful. It somehow – in ways that I do not understand –seems to have its own “back-door” into the soul and can express what words alone cannot.

Mary’s song – the scripture you just sang – is like that. It’s actually a pretty radical song. Mary – a poor unwed pregnant teenager – sings of joy and blessing, and dares to proclaim God’s new world order.  Who is she to proclaim a new order for the world? And yet, her song proclaims a world in which the hungry, poor and humble are lifted up and the proud, scheming, ruthless and rich are dashed, exposed, cast aside and are sent off unfed.  It’s a song for justice – God’s justice.

And Mary’s song wasn’t the first.

Mary’s song mirrors a song that Hannah sings when her prayer was answered. Hannah had been bullied for not having a child – somehow they thought it was her fault. So when God answered her prayers with a child, she sang a song of joy and praise and proclaimed God’s justice. Her child, Samuel, later became a great prophet in Israel. But she wasn’t the first to sing a song of justice. Hannah’s song was inspired by the song of Miriam, the sister of Moses, who sang a song of joy and triumph after crossing the Red Sea and escaping their captors.  

Why did God act in the lives of these three women?  None of them were powerful in the eyes of the world – in fact as women, and because they were poor, they were some of the least likely candidates in the eyes of the world.  Yet, God acted in each of their lives, transforming their personal lives and through them, transforming the world.

And they each responded with a song, a song of justice – and joy. At a text study, I remember a pastor friend saying, “Justice is always Good News to the poor.” But what made it memorable was the question that hung in the air:  Yes, justice is good for the poor – but how does it look for us?"  

Music has a way of entering through the back-door and with the music comes the message.  So, while we are singing “Mary’s song” – it becomes our song too – our witness to God’s plan for justice for the world. And while we may think of ourselves as “ordinary” and not the kind of people who make great changes in the world… certainly not the kind of people that would bring about “justice” – that is precisely the kind of people that God taps to carry out God’s plan for the world.

Indeed, God seems to delight in using ordinary people – like Mary, Hannah, Samuel, Miriam – and you to make a difference, to become a part of God’s salvation story. As theologian Judith Jones explains, “Jesus loves us just as we are but an encounter with Jesus never leaves us just as we are."1 That was true for Mary, Hannah and Miriam.  But it’s true not just for them – but also for people on the other end of the spectrum.

Take Zacchaeus for example. You remember the story - probably from the song. Zacchaeus was a wee little man – and a rich tax collector. And NO ONE liked him. But Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus – just like everyone else. So he climbed a tree.  It was very unusual, and not very respectable for a grown man to climb a tree. But Zacchaeus wanted to see – and so he literally put himself above everyone else. And Jesus called him down. But Jesus did not shame him. Instead, Jesus called him down out of the tree and then… raised him back up to the same level as the other children of Abraham, children of God.

Jesus loved him as he was, but this encounter transformed Zacchaeus to become and to act like the child of Abraham, child of God that God made him to be. So, in response to this encounter with Jesus, Zacchaeus was transformed. He repaid those he had cheated and he gave to the poor. The children’s song about Zacchaeus reminds us of Jesus’ grace – given freely– and the transforming power of justice.

That’s the kind of transformation that Mary is singing about. The rich and poor don’t exchange places. Instead, encountering Jesus blesses and transforms both the rich and poor.  For the poor, as my friend said, “it’s always good news.” And he’s right. God’s new order is good news – but, again, it’s good news not just for the poor. It is good news too for the very rich like Zacchaeus. He was restored to the community. He was allowed to share and, in being restored to community, he helped restore economic justice in his community.

It’s also good news for people in-between, people like you and me.  For like Mary, Hannah, Miriam and Zacchaeus, Jesus loves you just as you are – but Jesus does not and will not LEAVE you just as you are. And that is a good thing.

The world cries for justice.  As citizens of our community we can agree that we want “justice.” As Christians, we promise when we are baptized or when we affirm our baptism, we will “care for others and the world God made and work for justice and peace.”  And yet, how we do that can be a challenging question.  We talked in the adult education class a few weeks ago about justice. We didn’t come up with lots of answers. The desire for justice is strong – and yet enacting justice is especially challenging because the road to “justice” often seems elusive for some in our community.

But God has not given up on our world – and neither should we.  In seeking justice we need to remember that the biblical word for justice is the same word as the word for “righteousness.” In other words, there is no justice in retribution - in “getting even” or in exclusion or in scapegoating. God’s justice is not a system of  “winners and losers.” Justice comes when people are made “right” with God and with one another.  This is God’s justice; this is the justice that truly transforms.  It doesn’t come through power or status or guns or money. But it just might sneak in through a song.

It might sneak into our hearts and minds through a song, through music – because somehow… music can bypass all of the barriers – intellectually or otherwise constructed.  So sing! But don’t sing just any song. There are lots of songs out there with all sorts of messages. They may be catchy but they don’t all bear God’s word. So instead, in these few days of Advent that we have left, I invite you to sing boldly God’s songs of justice, love and grace so that the message of God’s love will saturate your hearts and transform your lives - and others'.

After all, as African American theologian Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman wrote:

The Work of Christmas Begins…

When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost,

To heal the broken,

To feed the hungry,

To release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations,

To bring peace among people,

To make music in the heart.2

May the song of Jesus Christ soak deeply into your heart, transform you and bring you love, light, peace and joy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane  
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church
December 20, 2015
 

1Prof. Judith Jones Working Preacher.com 2015
2Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman (1899-1981)

Repentance & Change

Reading: Luke 3:7-18

“You brood of vipers!” “You group of snakes!”

That’s not a good way to begin a sermon, or what you should be telling people who have come to be baptized. You wouldn’t want a speaker like this to be in a charge of pastoral care or to lead a youth group. You wouldn’t ask someone like this to be the face of your church.

But this is John the Baptist. And he has a unique agenda. He’s a wild character. In Matthew, it says he wore clothes of camel’s hair and ate locusts. He certainly would have caught people’s attention, in both his appearance and his words.

Now, John does have some very strong statements. It may be hard to hear any good news in what he's saying. But they’re words we need to hear, and there's good news in here somewhere. I think John’s startling comments in this text deserve our full attention.

He tells the crowds who are waiting to be baptized, “Bear fruits worthy of repentance!” In other words, you are not perfect, and there are parts of your life that need changing! This is true for us too. Repentance means examining your life, seeking God’s forgiveness, and committing to transforming your life for the better.

In the Lutheran tradition we have a beautiful focus on God’s grace and unconditional love. It is true that there is nothing you can do to earn God’s grace and love, but this doesn’t mean that you are unchanged by God. Being in relationship with God and having faith naturally lead to a new kind of life.

So John is telling us rather sternly that repentance -- which includes change -- is an essential part of this life with God.

But perhaps someone thinks, “Well, my family has been Christian for hundreds of years. I’m good to go. I just need to keep showing up each Sunday because that’s already more than a lot of people do.” John has some words for this, too!

He tells the crowds, “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.” Being a descendant of Abraham was a valued identity for these people. But John is telling them that this alone isn’t all that it takes. Likewise, your family having been Christian for generations and attending worship regularly, while important, and wonderful, are not the whole story.

Again, repentance and a changed life are central to being a Christian. Repentance is a turning, a change of direction into God’s truth.

There are things in each of our lives that we need to repent of, to ask God’s forgiveness for. Maybe the time you’ve spent online and using electronics has taken away from your relationships with family and friends in ways that you never intended. Maybe you have neglected to take care of yourself and so your ability to live well and serve others has been negatively affected. Maybe you have been deceitful. Our society has things it needs to repent of and change as well, like systems of injustice, abusing creation, hoarding of resources. All of these things require honest examination, admittance, forgiveness, and transformation.

But we don’t like to admit that we’re wrong. I know that’s difficult. And things like forgiveness and reconciliation and real change aren’t exactly the most popular in our society. We like immediate results, but profound change takes time, attention, and hard work. Most of all, it takes an honest examination of what’s wrong and a willingness to hear and see the truth, even if it’s hard or if it hurts.

But we need this. We need to repent and we need God’s work in us to help us live differently. This applies to us not only individually but as families, as neighborhoods, as the whole body of Christ.

John also offers answers to the people when they ask “What should we do?” You might ask, “How should I live?” Essentially, he comes up with things that hopefully we all value - integrity, compassion, fairness, honesty, kindness. He tells the crowds to share their excess of coats and food with those who have none. He tells the tax collectors to collect only what they’re supposed to. He tells the soldiers to not extort money from people and to be satisfied with their wages.

These aren’t ground-breaking, exemplary actions. They’re good ways to live based in what God intends and desires. And yet these actions of compassion, integrity, and honesty are so often beyond us.

“As long as there’s one homeless child in America, we have no room for refugees.”

“Close all U.S. borders to Muslims.”

“Give everyone a gun.”

I’ve seen these comments a lot the past few weeks. They are the opposite of compassion and integrity. I’ve also read this statements going around claiming that there is room for but one loyalty, one language, one allegiance in the United States, and that immigrants are only to be treated equally if they assimilate themselves completely to the American people, whatever that means.

All of this terrifies me. We close ourselves off. We seek safety with placing guns in the hands of people who may not properly use them. We perpetuate violent stereotypes about Muslims and immigrants even though we would never say “All white men should be locked up because one may be a mass shooter.” We tell Mexicans “learn English!” when it’s likely our immigrant ancestors were unfairly assimilated too. We claim to want diversity and to learn from other cultures and yet we aren’t willing to cross boundaries or really love each other. None of this is consistent with our faith or our God.

If we would live with honesty, compassion, and integrity with God the world would be different.

So we need to come to before God, on our knees if we must, because we can’t do this alone. We need to repent. We need the filth in our lives to be swept out. John says God will “gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” Racism, deceit, sexism, hatred, abuse … these are the chaff that needs to be burned away.

Verses 16-17 in the  Message version of the Bible say, “But John intervened: “I’m baptizing you here in the river. The main character in this drama, to whom I’m a mere stagehand, will ignite the kingdom life, a fire, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He’s going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He’ll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he’ll put out with the trash to be burned.”

This isn’t about casting people into damnation for eternity. It’s a refining and transformation of who we are and what’s in our lives.

This is scary and big and different. But coming before God and admitting what’s wrong, being forgiven, and living in response to this forgiveness is powerful. Incredible. Real.

If you don’t know where to start, start with looking at your positions in life. John told the tax collectors and soldiers to use their positions with integrity and fairness. If you’re a teacher, teach to the benefit of your students. If you’re a parent, raise your kids with love. If you’re a man, use your privilege to stand up for the equality of women. If you’re a supervisor at work, set the example of what’s expected.

Or start with an honest examination of yourself. The point isn’t to degrade yourself or to make you feel terrible; the point is to be real about what needs changing and to ask God to guide you more fully into the life he intends for you.

These might not seem like big things but they matter. And when we all do this together, we can create real change, starting in our own lives, our own homes, our own communities. We can be rid of all that needs to be cleaned out, and be filled more and more with the truth and ways of God. This is good news indeed. Amen.

Vicar Katelyn Rakotoarivelo
Faith Lilac Way Lutheran
12.13.2015

PAY ATTENTION: The Kingdom of GOD is HERE!

Today is the first day of Advent, the start of the church year, the year of the Gospel of Luke.  So you may wonder, why do we start at the back of the book with this doomsday sounding story of the coming of the Kingdom of God?  

I’m not sure why we always start with “eschatological” readings – which is just a long fancy word to say the end of time, the time in which Christ comes again. However… it might be to remind us that we read the whole story as one that is not over yet.  

Especially at this time of year in which the culture gets so wrapped up in sentimentality – we can use a reminder that Jesus, the Son of God, came with a purpose.  Jesus came into the world as one of us to set us free from the powers that threaten to destroy us. But that’s not all. Jesus promised to come again. In our lesson today we are reminded, the Kingdom of God has come near – but it is not complete.  God is not done.  That means we live “in the meantime.” And Jesus has a job for us – so pay attention.

Pay attention.  As Jesus says, there will be strange earthly signs and signs of war.  For the people first hearing Luke’s Gospel, they would think immediately of the destruction of the temple in 70 AM. That was a terrifying time for the city of Jerusalem and for both the Jews and the new Christians who fled the city as refugees.  

People today might worry about terrorists in Paris or refugees fleeing Syria or Russian planes being shot down over Turkey. Some have worried out loud about whether this is a prelude to World War III.  

Jesus does not pacify his followers of any age. Bad things are going to happen. But Jesus’ message is not to prepare for the end of the world or to succumb to fear. He does not issue a call to arms or to fight. But neither does he give platitudes. Instead, Jesus gives two commands. First: “Be on Guard” so that we are not distracted or our senses dulled with dissipation – that is wild and reckless living, drunkenness or the anxieties and fears of this life. Secondly: “Be watchful.” In other words, don’t ignore the world around you.  PAY ATTENTION. Jesus knew – and told his followers – that the world is a dangerous place but he also knew – and demonstrated by his actions – that the world was a place in great need.

Pay attention, because as followers of Jesus, you and I, like Luke, have a role to play. We know the end of the story. Our job, a job that we have been called to do by Christ, is to both do Christ's work in our world of need and be witnesses to Jesus at work in our world. We are called to be witnesses to God’s work in our world because, by faith, we are able to see what others do not.

I heard this story at a conference a few years ago about two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says "Morning, boys. How's the water?" The two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and says, "What the heck is water?"1

Sometimes it’s the most seemingly obvious things that don’t get spoken – that don’t get named.  As Christians, as followers of Christ, we are called to name the water. We are called to point out the work of Christ. Others don’t have eyes to see it.

Another story. A Christian and an atheist were having an argument about faith. Finally the atheist said – you know, I tried prayer once. But it didn’t work.  The Christian said, “Really?  What happened?”  The atheist said, “Well, I was out in the middle of a snow storm up in Alaska and I had completely lost my way.  I thought I was a goner for sure. So I prayed to God for help.”

The Christian said, “Well… you’re here aren’t you? Your prayer must have been answered.”

The atheist replied – “No. I got lucky. Two Eskimos on a dogsled happened to be going by and they stopped and brought me back to safety.”2

How would you interpret that story? The Christian saw it with eyes of faith. The atheist saw it as good dumb luck.

As followers of Christ, we can see that we are swimming in the water of the Kingdom of God. And so we are called to “Pay Attention” to Christ’s work in our world.  We are called to point out the work of the Holy Spirit. Christ has come.  The Kingdom of God is not just near – it’s here!  Christ has come… And Christ will come again.

But what does that look like?  Knowing that we live in the waters of the Kingdom of God, how do we live out our lives – especially when situations when things look dire?

One May day in the early years of the Connecticut House of Representatives, the room was bright and so the delegates were able to do their work by natural light. But then, right in the middle of debate, the day turned to night. Clouds obliterated the sun, and everything turned to darkness. Some legislators thought it was the Second Coming. A clamor arose. Some wanted to adjourn. Others called for prayer. A cry went out to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

But the speaker of the House had a different idea. He was a solid Christian believer of good faith and not easily rattled.  So he said, “We are all upset by the darkness and some of us are afraid. But, ‘the Day of the Lord’ is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. And if the Lord is returning, I, for one, choose to be found doing my duty.  I therefore ask that candles be brought.”

And so they went back to their desks and resumed their debate.”3

Do your duty. It sometimes feels rather ordinary.  How do we, as one Christian wrote, get caught “living the sort of life that makes people say, ‘Ah…so that’s how people are going to live when righteousness takes over our world.”4 The truth is that often other people won’t notice.

And yet, whether other people notice or not, Jesus calls us to care for one another.  And so we: feed the hungry: bring dinner to shut-ins at dinner at your door; supply food to the foodshelf, provide breakfast for the community, brighten someone’s day with a gift to the NEAR toy exchange.  These are ways – seemingly ordinary ways – in which we, as followers of Jesus, can love and serve the neighbor.

Loving and serving the neighbor takes practice.  And it takes intentionality.  On youth trips, one of the questions that we ask the youth in the beginning of the day is to pay attention to how they see God at work.  It’s amazing what they share at the end of the day after they have spent the day looking for God’s work.  Some see someone helping a child. Others recount the hard work that they did – and the grateful response they received.  Still others note a small kindness – an act that might otherwise have been forgotten.

And so, brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you to be a part of God’s work in our world AND pay attention. Pay attention because the Kingdom of God is at work in the world.  

And…. if you have eyes of faith to see it – then Jesus Christ asks you to share that Good news with others so that all can see.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane    

November 29, 2015

1 2005 Kenyon Commencement Address - May 21, 2005 by David Foster Wallace

22005 Kenyon Commencement Address - May 21, 2005 by David Foster Wallace

3 http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/advent-1c

4Standing on the Promises by Lewis Smedes