Apr 132013
 

List to the sermon here: Revelation 1 Message 

revelationofstjohn

The Book of Revelation gets scant attention in the preaching of the church.

In fact, as Craig Koester notes, in the three year cycle, The Revised Common Lectionary includes only six short, dissected passages out of the 22 chapters of Revelation – starting this Sunday.[i]

In the Lutheran church, we sing Revelation regularly, without realizing it: by my count, 119 of the hymns in the Evangelical Lutheran Worship echo passages in Revelation.[ii]

But Revelation deserves more extensive and explicit engagement in our congregations – especially given the fascination with Revelation and the distorted interpretations of it in our culture.

If we preachers do not interpret Revelation for our fellow disciples of Jesus Christ, someone else will.

John Ortberg writes, “When it comes to the book of Revelation, people in the church tend to have two primary responses. Sadly, both of these responses are unhealthy. There are those who become obsessed with the book. They treat it like a prophetic jigsaw puzzle that will give them insider information if only they can put all the pieces together. They write up intricate timelines and diagrams that im­pressively chart out the last days and appear to offer answers to all of our questions.

A second response people may have to the book of Revelation is to avoid it all altogether, either out of frustration or confusion. They say, ‘I can’t make heads or tails of this book. It has bizarre images of strange creatures, beasts, blood, bowls of sul­fur, people eating scrolls, bottomless pits, dragons, the four horses of the Apocalypse, war, pestilence, famine, and death!’ Sadly, these people are missing out on some powerful life lessons God wants to teach us through this book.”[iii]

 

We are going to spend time exploring the book of Revelation.

We will find that, even though Revelation has an amazing number of strange and confusing images, the book yet has a clear message.

We do not need to rely on so-called prophecy experts to decode the book.

For this Sunday, I have expanded the reading from Revelation chapter 1, from 5 short verses to the whole chapter, so that we can hear the full introduction to the book.

For next Sunday – read ch. 2 and 3…

The first sentence of Revelation sets the stage.

This book is a revelation, a revealing, an uncovering of that which is hidden from sight.

It is a revelation of Jesus Christ, given to Christ from God, made known to John by Christ’s angel.

John is revealed as a servant of Jesus Christ, called to bear witness to the word of God, to the witness or testimony of Christ, and to what he saw in this revelation.

A different John than the disciple and Gospel author.

This book is a specific message from John to his fellow servants of Christ.

We later hear that John has been banished to the island of Patmos because of his preaching the word of God, of his witnessing about Jesus.

It was on the Lord’s day – a Sunday – that John heard the voice of Jesus command him to write the words of this Revelation and send it to the seven churches in Asia.

 

It is ironic that the Lectionary never includes verse three in any reading:

3Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near.

This is an urgent message that must be shared and kept.

Share it with one’s fellow servants of Christ; keep it in the forefront of your heart and mind.

You will be blessed when you do.

This is the first of seven blessings in the book of Revelation.

Six short readings from Revelation, passed over once every three years in the church, are not enough!

We are claiming this blessing here at Good Shepherd!

 

This book is something of a letter, from John, to seven representative churches in Asia – modern day Turkey.

Seven is an important number in Revelation.

It is a number of “completeness and totality.”[iv]

It’s a prime number.

It’s four plus three.

It’s the days of the week.

Seven is God’s days of creation plus the day of rest.

John’s writing to seven churches suggests that John is writing to the whole church, even while the book is directly addressed to seven particular congregations.

 

This book is, first of all, a message of grace and peace from God and Jesus Christ, the witness, the faithful one, “the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.”

Revelation also glorifies Jesus Christ, the one “who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father.”

This is the foundation of this Revelation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus loves us, freed us from sin by his self-sacrifice on the cross, and made all of us into a kingdom of priests in God’s service.

Grace, peace, and forgiveness are given to us through Jesus Christ who loves us.

That’s the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

That’s why we’re here today.

We are a kingdom of priests serving God.

 

What’s more: Jesus Christ is coming in the clouds!

That’s a central message of Revelation.

Christ will come again in glory – soon.  The entire world will see his coming, and wail for the coming judgment. 

 

 

 

 

At the end of this chapter, we hear the first of John’s visions, a heavenly vision of Jesus Christ in the midst of seven lampstands that represent the seven churches, with seven stars in his hand representing the seven angels of the churches.

 

Jesus’ hair was white like the vision of God, the Ancient of Days, in Daniel 7:9.

His face shone like the sun, and a sharp, two-edged sword came from his mouth: the sword of the word of God, the sword of judgment, the word of good news.[v]

This vision of Jesus overwhelmed John, and he fainted.

Jesus, however, touched him with his right hand and said,

Do not be afraid.

As God is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things, so Jesus is also the first and the last, the living one.

Because Jesus has passed through death to resurrection life, he has conquered sin and death and Hades, or Hell.

Jesus holds the keys to death and Hades.

Not even death or Hell can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

The devil doesn’t have the keys to Hell – Jesus does.

That’s quite an Easter message, isn’t it!

 

Come Lord Jesus!  Come First and Last!  Come Living One! 

You call us and make us a kingdom of priests serving God.

Come into our hearts.  Come into our lives.

Enliven us with your Spirit.

Comfort us when we mourn.

Encourage us when we are afraid.

Strengthen us when we are weak.

Empower us to live and share you.  Amen.



[i] Craig Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things, 32.

[ii] Karoline Lewis, Sermon Brainwave podcast for 4/11/2010, www.workingpreacher.org noted that 78 of the hymns in the old Lutheran Book of Worship are based on passages in Revelation.

[iii] John Ortberg, Experience God’s Power, quoted in Toolkit, 4/15/2007.

[iv] The New Oxford Annotated Bible.

[v] Ibid.

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 Posted by at 8:51 am
Apr 032013
 

Eric Lemonholm, March 31, 2013, Easter Year C, Luke 24:1-11 (12)

 

Listen to this message here.

20130331-EASDAY_01

 

Crazy Talk[i]

Christ is Risen!

The Romans did not expect it.

The chief priest did not expect it.

Jesus’ own disciples did not expect it.

Jesus was a threat to the occupying forces of Rome and the chief priest appointed by the Romans.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God in an occupied Roman Province.

The Son of God vs. Caesar…

So they crucified him.

Crucifixion was a method of execution mostly reserved for those who rebelled against Roman authority.

When someone is seen as a threat to established authority or a cherished way of life, often their life is at risk.

Remember, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated 45 years ago this week.

Jesus gave himself to death on a cross for us; for you, and for me, and for all people and all creation.

 

Diana Butler Bass, channeling Julian of Norwich the medieval mystic, reflects on the difference between ‘for’ and ‘with.’

Yes, Jesus dies for us.  Jesus gives himself for the sake of the world.

For highlights the truth that Jesus is God for us; that salvation is something that God gives us as a gift, for the sake of Jesus Christ.

But for also implies a distance between us: Jesus dies for us; we don’t participate in Christ’s work.

 

However, even more fundamental than for is with: Jesus is Immanuel, God with us.

When Jesus suffers, he suffers with us.

When Jesus feels pain, he hurts with us.

Jesus is God in radical solidarity with us and with all creation.

 

Butler Bass notes,

“To Julian [of Norwich], the Cross was about ONEING–the complete unity of God with us and us with God; and not only us as humans, but as she relates from the vision, the ONEING of “all creatures that suffer pain, suffer with Him…and the firmament, the earth, failed in sorrow” and the planets, all the elements, and even the stars despaired at Christ’s dying. The cosmic circle of grief, emanating from Jesus’ Passion, reveals that Jesus not only suffered for us; but he suffered with us–his death occurred for the sake of “Kinship and Love” with all that was, is, and will be.”[ii]

 

Denise Levertov reflects on this reality in her poem “On a Theme from Julian’s Chapter XX”:

Six hours outstretched in the sun, yes,
hot wood, the nails, blood trickling
into the eyes, yes –
but the thieves on their neighbor crosses
survived till after the soldiers
had come to fracture their legs, or longer.
Why single out the agony? What’s
a mere six hours?
Torture then, torture now,
the same, the pain’s the same,
immemorial branding iron,
electric prod.
Hasn’t a child
dazed in the hospital ward they reserve
for the most abused, known worse?
The air we’re breathing,
these very clouds, ephemeral billows
languid upon the sky’s
moody ocean, we share
with women and men who’ve held out
days and weeks on the rack –
and in the ancient dust of the world
what particles
of the long tormented,
what ashes.

But Julian’s lucid spirit leapt
to the difference:
perceived why no awe could measure
that brief day’s endless length,
why among all the tortured
One only is “King of Grief.”
The oneing, she saw, the oneing
with the Godhead opened him utterly
to the pain of all minds, all bodies
– sands of the sea, of the desert –
from first beginning
to last day. The great wonder is
that the human cells of His flesh and bone
didn’t explode
when utmost imagination rose
in that flood of knowledge. Unique
in agony, Infinite strength, Incarnate,
empowered Him to endure
inside of history,
through those hours when he took to Himself
the sum total of anguish and drank
even the lees of that cup:

within the mesh of the web, Himself
woven within it, yet seeing it,
seeing it whole. Every sorrow and desolation
He saw, and sorrowed in kinship.[iii]

 

Jesus was crucified on Friday.

A group of Jesus’ friends, women of Galilee, followed Joseph of Arimathea and saw the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid.

Friday night through Saturday was the Sabbath, so the women, being faithful Jews, rested on the Sabbath.

Now, it is Sunday morning at early dawn.

The women come to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body—an act of love and care for their crucified Rabbi Jesus.

They did not expect to find the stone already rolled away from the tomb.

Going inside, they found no body.

It was probably still dark out, when suddenly next to them were standing two men in dazzling clothes.

Think about it, the women are either in a tomb or right outside one, in the middle of a cemetery in the darkness or haze of early dawn, and two powerful glowing men suddenly appear.

They were terrified.  These angels in the form of men inspired fear and awe.

The word ‘angel’ means ‘messenger;’ angels are God’s messengers, sent to communicate a message to us.

So, these figures in dazzling clothes give a message to the women: “Why do you look for the living among the dead?”

You won’t find Jesus in any cemetery.

In fact, the early Christians eventually forgot exactly where Jesus’ tomb had been.

It was not important to them, because Jesus was not there.

Eventually, someone else’s body was put in that tomb.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” the angels ask.

Don’t look for Jesus in tombs of stone or bone ossuaries.

Jesus is not dead.  He is alive.  He is risen.

 

The angels continue, “Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.”

The women do remember.  And they believe Jesus’ prophecy has come true.  He has risen!

 

So Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary James’ mother, and the others go and tell the other disciples – the men – what they had seen and heard.

How do the men respond?  They do not believe them.

To them it’s an idle tale.

Nonsense.

Crazy talk!

 

They saw Jesus die on the cross.

Their Lord was dead.

Their hope was destroyed by Roman soldiers.

Now, Jesus’ female disciples say that Jesus has risen?

It’s crazy talk!

People don’t just rise from the dead.

The men doubted; they were skeptics.[iv]

 

Jesus is risen!

It’s crazy, but true.

Can you receive that truth in your soul?

Can you believe this crazy, wonderful news?

Will you believe in Jesus?

When we hear the word, “believe,” we immediately think of head knowledge, believing in facts. [v]

So, when we talk about believing in Jesus, we think of believing things about Jesus.

That’s a modern way of thinking.

Now, believing things about Jesus is important, but it’s not the main meaning of biblical belief.

 

In the New Testament, belief and faith are the same word.  To believe and to have faith are the same.

To believe in Jesus is to trust in him, to be friends with him, to be faithful to him, to call him Lord.

Our English language reflects this older, wiser meaning of “believe”: the words believe and belove are related.

Originally, to believe someone meant to belove, to love someone.

As James wrote, “Even the demons believe” in God in the sense of believing things about God.[vi]  But they neither trust nor love God.  They do not belove God.

 

The good news of Easter is not just a fact we believe about something that happened 2000 years ago.

The good news of Easter is the power of God’s love over death and the grave.

The good news of Easter is that the tomb became a womb, and Jesus the Messiah was reborn, resurrected in the flesh.

The good news of Easter is that our Lord, our Savior, our friend Jesus Christ has risen from the dead and is alive!

The good news of Easter is that we receive “forgiveness of sins through [Jesus’] name.”

 

Rolf Jacobson writes, in his book appropriately titled Crazy Talk,

 

The basic message of the gospel is that God has acted decisively and permanently in Jesus.  The gospel isn’t something that tells us that we have to do something; it tells us what God has done for us.  People are always trying to mess with the gospel by adding conditions to it.  They like to say stuff like, “God helps those who help themselves.”  This messing-with-the-gospel garbage turns us into the ones who do stuff (for example, “help ourselves”).  The gospel is good news because God is the one who acts.[vii]

 

It may be crazy talk, but it’s true.

Jesus suffers and dies for us and with us and all creation.

But death is not the end of the story.

Though the Romans and their lackeys sought to silence Jesus’ message of God with and for us, they failed.

 

Even though we live in a “Good Friday world,”[viii] we believe the good news of Easter.

We believe that “in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died.”

We believe that we share in Jesus’ resurrection life.

We believe that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too walk in newness of life, now and forever.[ix]

As Jesus’ suffering with us gave way to resurrection life, so our suffering will end in never-ending, always awesome life with God.

The One-ing of God and creation begun in Jesus will be fulfilled in God’s Kingdom.

 

We are Easter people.

We believe the tale that the women told on that first Easter morn.

It’s not just crazy talk.

It’s the good news of salvation for the world.

We know it’s true because we know Jesus.

So we shout again:

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!

Can I hear an Amen?  Amen!

Hallelujah!



[i] “Crazy Talk” idea from a conversation with a colleague, who had heard it from someone else.

[iii] Taken from Breathing the Water by Denise Levertov (New York: New Directions Press, 1987).  http://www.unionlife.com/JulianMedFeb05.html .  Referenced by Butler Bass in “Being With God, A Different Holy Week.”

[iv] Deleted: Luke tells us that only Peter got up and ran to the tomb.  Peter was amazed by what he saw; then he went home.

At that point, not even Peter, it seems, understood the meaning of the empty tomb; although later in the chapter, you find out that Jesus appeared to Peter that day, but that experience is never described in the Bible (Luke 24:34; 1 Cor. 15:5).

[v]Credit for the following ideas go to Marcus Borg, The Heart of Christianity.

[vi]James 2:19.

[vii] Rolf Jacobson, ed., Crazy Talk: A Not-So-Stuffy Dictionary of Theological Terms, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 2008, 78.

[viii]W. S. Coffin

[ix]Romans 6:4.

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 Posted by at 5:35 am
Mar 242013
 

Note: this sermon inspired, in part, by Borg and Crossan’s The Last Week.

Palm Sunday 2013Listen here: Palm Sunday 2013

Let us pray a prayer by William Willimon:  

 

Almighty God, On this day your Son Jesus entered Jerusalem to the accompaniment of the joyous shouts of the crowds. He was hailed “king” by those who thought they knew what that meant. Before this week is over, he shall be handed over to the hands of cruel men who shall torture him and put him to death. The remembrance of these deeds is grievous to us because we know the instances of our own deceit and cruelty toward others. We think of all the ways that we have betrayed you by the cowardice of our weak discipleship. Lord, help us to be honest about our situation. Then help us to reach out to your forgiveness and grace so that we might be healed, forgiven, and restored to faithfulness. Amen.[i]

 

 

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week.

During Holy Week, we remember some of the details of Jesus’ final week before his death.

There’s not a week in the life of any other person that is remembered, mourned, and celebrated as much as Jesus’ Holy Week.

 

From the West, Governor Pontius Pilate and thousands of armored Roman soldiers and cavalry on horseback were entering Jerusalem with all the fanfare of Empire, to the sound of trumpets and the flashing of swords and spears.

They were coming to keep the so-called Roman peace, the Pax Romana, to discourage any movement of the Jewish people to throw off the yoke of oppression.

They were coming as representatives of the Roman Emperor, Caesar, who was proclaimed the Son of God.

Roman authorities did not like it when occupied people gathered in crowds, and at the yearly Passover celebration, about 150,000 Jews gathered in Jerusalem.

 

Jesus was one of those Jews traveling to Jerusalem for the Passover celebration.

He had planned his entry into Jerusalem.

As Pilate’s parade entered Jerusalem from the West, Jesus entered from the East, from the Mount of Olives.

It was street theatre: a non-violent, organized group action, a protest.

The King of kings riding on a donkey rather than a war horse.

A Galilean peasant rather than a Roman governor.

The Son of God in humble garb rather than silk and armor.

You can see why Gandhi and Martin Luther King learned so much from Jesus about speaking truth to power through the strength of nonviolent group action.

Luke tells us that “the whole multitude of [Jesus’] disciples” gathered to welcome Jesus to Jerusalem.

They welcome him with patriotic parade, waving palm branches.

They give him a royal welcome, laying their coats before him and shouting,

Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!

A king riding to his coronation, his enthronement – on the cross.

Of course, the people don’t know that part of the story – yet.

But they understand the message that Jesus was sending: the Kingdom of God is a humble kingdom, a peaceful kingdom, a kingdom of justice and equity that stands against the violent, greedy power of Empire.

 

In  Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, chapter 2, we hear an ancient Christian hymn:

5Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,        6who, though he was in the form of God,       did not regard equality with God       as something to be exploited, 7but emptied himself,       taking the form of a slave,       being born in human likeness.       And being found in human form, 8he humbled himself       and became obedient to the point of death —       even death on a cross. 9Therefore God also highly exalted him       and gave him the name       that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus       every knee should bend,       in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue should confess       that Jesus Christ is Lord,      to the glory of God the Father.

That is the road from the manger at Christmas, to Jesus’ ministry fishing for people, to the donkey palm parade, to the cross, and finally to his resurrection Easter morn.

It’s a downward motion, God becoming one of us, not to lord it over us, but to serve and give himself for us.

That’s what the people celebrated on that dusty road into Jerusalem.

 

Within the week, a different crowd would be asking for Jesus’ death.

To be clear, the crowd that welcomed Jesus at the beginning of the week was not the same crowd that shouted, “Crucify him” at the end of the week.

We hear in Luke 22:2, “The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.”

The people, the crowds of Jews who gathered for the Passover, protected Jesus.

That’s why the officials did not try to arrest Jesus when he was teaching in the Temple.

They waited until night, and they paid off Jesus’ disciple Judas to betray his location.

 

The crowd who shouted “crucify him!” was a mix of “the chief priests, the leaders, and the people.”

That group was not all of the 150,000 Jews gathered in Jerusalem, but a small, hand-picked crowd.

And, according to Matthew 27:20, “the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.”

 

In hindsight, it is not surprising that the religious leaders of Jerusalem wanted Jesus dead.

From his palm parade entrance to the city at Passover, to his clearing the money changers out of the temple, to his public criticisms of the Temple system, it is no wonder they conspired against him.

Jesus was rocking their world, shaking up the people against them.  He stood with the common people against the corruption of the Roman imperial system and the Temple officials who supported it against their own people.

After Easter, we are going to spend 9 weeks exploring the book of Revelation, its critique of Empire and an alternative vision of the new heaven and new earth.

The early church followed Jesus in spreading a subversive alternative to Empire: the Kingdom of God, rather than an Empire of power and wealth and violence.

 

I invite you to walk with Jesus this week.

Spend some time with the gospel of Luke 19-24.

Come to the meal around the table on Thursday.

Come experience Jesus’ Passion on Good Friday.

Journey with Jesus on the road to the cross.

Then, you truly will be able to celebrate on Easter morn.

 

As disciples of Jesus, we walk with him on his road to the cross this week and every week.

We stand with Jesus and proclaim the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of peace, justice, and equity, over against the power of Empire.

The force of life standing against death.

Justice and freedom standing against oppression and exploitation.

Friendship standing against enmity.

Love standing against hate.

 

 

Let us pray a Zulu Nazarite prayer:

 

Great is, O King, our happiness

in your kingdom, you, our King.

We dance before you, our King,

by the strength of your kingdom.

May our feet be made strong.

Let us dance before you, Eternal.

Give you praise, all angels,

to him who is worthy of praise.[iii]  Amen.



[i]      Pulpit Resource, 2001.

[iii] A Eucharist Sourcebook, Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1999, p. 31.  Quoted in Pulpit Resource.

 

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 Posted by at 1:49 pm
Dec 022012
 

Eric Lemonholm

December 2, 2012

Advent 1 C

Alternate Gospel – Luke 1:1-25

 

The Holy Gospel according to Luke, chapter 1… 

It’s the first Sunday of Advent.

There are less than four weeks until Christmas – it is a short Advent season this year.

Advent is also the beginning of a new church year, the year of the Gospel of Luke.

Throughout this next church year – from now through November of 2013 – our Gospel readings on Sundays will mostly be from Luke.

So, it’s appropriate to begin the year of Luke with a series on Luke, chapter 1.

It’s also a great way to prepare to hear the Christmas story from Luke chapter 2 on Christmas Eve.

As you listen to the beginning of Luke, in the beginning, notice how Luke tells us why and how he wrote his Gospel, before he begins the story…

Read Luke 1:1-4…

After this introduction, Luke begins his story of Jesus not with Mary and Joseph, but with Zechariah, the priest who will be John the Baptist’s father:

 

Read Luke 1:5-25…

The Gospel of the Lord…                    Please be seated…

 

Zechariah and Elizabeth are beyond the age when they could hope to have a child of their own.

And yet, when Zechariah the priest is offering incense in the Jerusalem Temple, along comes an angel, a messenger of God.

We sometimes picture angels as cute winged babies.

But in the Bible angels are awesome and often terrifying.

Zechariah is overwhelmed with fear.

That is probably why one of the first things an angel says is “Do not be afraid.”

Do not fear.

Fear not!

It’s the most common command in the Bible.  Fear not.

 

The angel declares a startling message:

Zach, don’t be afraid, you and Liz are going to have a baby!

You’re going to be the proud parents of Johnny, the Baptist Preacher!

 

Elizabeth and Zechariah are going to have a son, who will one day be John the Baptist, John the Baptizer.

John will bring Zechariah and Elizabeth joy and gladness.

He will be great in the sight of God.

Instead of being filled with alcohol spirits, John will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He will turn many of his fellow Jews to the Lord their God.

With the spirit and power of the Old Testament prophet Elijah, John will go before the Lord to the people.

John will wash the people of Israel in a baptism of repentance.

He will prepare a people for the coming of the Lord, by turning the hearts of parents to their children, and by turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.

 

What a vision of Advent!

Advent means coming.

During Advent, we wait for the coming of Jesus.

All of our time as followers of Christ is Advent time, of course, because we are always waiting for Christ to come.

Remember, a couple weeks ago, we talked about our life as Christians in the time between Christ’s first coming and his coming again in glory.

In a sense, we are waiting for Christ for all our lives as Christians.

 

But the season of Advent is a focused time of waiting.

Not waiting for presents under the Christmas tree.

Waiting for Christ to come and fulfill the kingdom of God, to create a new heaven and a new earth, to restore and fulfill all creation.

 

A common biblical theme of Advent is “Be prepared.”

John the Baptist’s job was to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

As the angel Gabriel said, “With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before [the Lord], to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

 

First, John will “turn the hearts of parents to their children.”

Imagine what our world would be like if the hearts of parents were turned to their children.

  • Who would start a war, if our hearts were turned to our children?
  • Who would tolerate abuse or neglect, if our hearts were turned toward children?
  • Who would sit back and let children starve, or let AIDS orphans in Africa remain homeless?
  • Who would do drugs, who would get drunk, if their hearts were turned to their children?
  • Who would commit adultery, knowing how devastating betrayal and divorce are to children?
  • What parent would subject their child to a dangerous, abusive spouse or partner?
  • Would we be so callous about destroying our world environment if our hearts were turned to our children, and our children’s children?

 

This applies, of course, to adults who do not have children or grandchildren of your own, too.

Just as it takes a village to raise a child, so any adult can be an important person in the life of a child.

In the Bible, God judges nations by how the most vulnerable people are treated – especially the orphans, the widows, the poor, the elderly, and immigrants.

So, an important way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to turn our hearts to our children – our own children, and the children of our community and of our world.

 

The second task of John the Baptist prophesied by the angel Gabriel is that John will turn “the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.”

We are all disobedient to God, we are all sinners, we all fall short of God’s vision for us.

 

We are all called by God to repent today,

  • to turn from disobedience to obedience,
  • to turn from foolishness to wisdom,
  • to turn from sin to righteousness,
  • to turn from doing the wrong thing to doing the right thing,
  • to turn towards Jesus Christ and await his coming into our lives.

 

It’s not easy.  It’s not a onetime accomplishment.

Advent waiting is a lifetime calling.

Zechariah’s child John will prepare the people of Israel for the coming of Jesus Christ.

In the same way, God calls us to be prepared for the coming of Christ at any time.

And, like Zechariah, we may have our doubts.

When Gabriel promised him that he and Elizabeth would have a child in their old age, he was skeptical.

Zechariah doubted.

He did not believe the angel’s words.

Because of his unbelief, his lack of trust in God and God’s messenger, Zechariah was struck speechless until his child was born – 9 months without saying a word.

 

Though it originated in unbelief and was not by choice, silence was how Zechariah prepared for the coming of his promised child.[ii]

During this loud, busy, anxious season, perhaps silence is a good way to prepare for the Advent of Christ.

Turn off or tune out the distractions, and be still.

Lift our hopes and fears to God.

Pray for Christ’s Advent in our lives, in our families, in our church, in our neighborhood, and in our world.

 

In the midst of fear, God says Fear not!

In the midst of doubts, God calls us to trust in God’s promise of the coming of Jesus.

In the midst of hopelessness or despair, God calls us to hope in the Lord, to keep hope alive.

In the midst of an unloving world, God calls us to fearlessly love our neighbors – especially the children.

Christ has come, Christ is present with us in the Spirit, and Christ will come again in glory.

That is our hope as followers of Jesus Christ.

God looked favorably on Zechariah and Elizabeth in their old age and took away their disgrace in the community by giving them a son who was great in God’s eyes, and who prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus.

This same God has promised us that Jesus will come again and will make all things new.

This is who we wait for in silence and in hope.

Amen.  Come Lord Jesus!

 



[ii] Gary Park made this point in our text study.


 

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 Posted by at 9:35 am
Nov 252012
 

Eric Lemonholm

Christ the King 2012

John 18:33–37

 

 

Jesus is a king.

This is, after all, Christ the King Sunday.

Now, there was a time when we had kings and queens, princes and princesses, lords and ladies.

But that time is gone.  Long gone.

What do we mean when we call Jesus a king, our king?

 

Certainly, we still have leaders.  We just had a major election in the US.

We have a President, Senators, Representatives, Supreme Court Justices.

We know something about leadership and power, even as we understand that true power flows from the consent of the governed.

We do not have an earthly king any longer, and most of us would not want one.

There is something wonderful and effective about our system of government, where every four years we hold an election for President of the United States, and we limit Presidents to two terms.

Think about it: right now, we have four living ex-Presidents living in America as private citizens.

No system of government is perfect, but comparing an absolute, hereditary monarchy like North Korea with the United States, I know where I’d rather live.

I’d much rather see a transfer of power happen through an election that draws on the collective wisdom of the people than through a violent game of thrones.

That’s what makes efforts at voter suppression and vote manipulation so dangerous: they try to keep the appearance of legitimacy of an election, while controlling the results.

 

If a king means an absolute dictator or tyrant ruling over everyone else, is that what we want Jesus to be?

Is Jesus just the top dog of earthly kings, the cosmic winner of a violent game of thrones, a tyrant to rule all tyrants?

Back in John 6, Jesus fed the people with bread and fish, and they tried to seize him and make him an earthly king.

They wanted a taste of Rome’s bread and circuses.

They wanted to live in the Kingdom of the Never-ending Buffet.

They wanted Jesus’ power to rule over them and crush their enemies.

Re-establish a monarchy in Israel, and push out the Roman oppressors.

But Jesus said no to being that kind of earthly king; because of that refusal, many of his disciples abandoned him (John 6:66).

 

In today’s gospel, Jesus has been arrested and brought before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.[1]

As a servant of the Roman Emperor, Pilate knows about earthly kings, earthly power.

In his encounter with Jesus, Pilate assumes that he – Pilate – has all the power.

Jesus is bound by strong ropes, surrounded by Pilate’s soldiers.

With a word, he can send Jesus to his death.

Indeed, Pilate will have Jesus flogged, mocked as a king with a purple robe and a crown of thorns, and enthroned on a cross.

If Jesus were playing an earthly game of thrones to become king of the world, he lost – big time – sent to his death by a two-bit provincial Roman governor.

 

So, what is Jesus up to here?

If Jesus is not an iron fisted king of violence, what kind of king is he?

In fact, in his discussion with Pilate, Jesus never claims to be a king; he tells Pilate, “You say that I am a king.”

Jesus never claims kingship for himself; but he does speak of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven – and in this passage Jesus speaks of God’s kingdom as his kingdom.

Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Jesus kingdom is not a kingdom of earthly glory.

Jesus comes not as an earthly king, but as a witness to the truth.

What is truth?

The truth is that God has come near to us, has become one of us and lived among us, in Jesus.

The truth is that Jesus reveals that the kingdom of God is breaking into the world not with violence but in the power of the Holy Spirit.

The truth is that God forgives us for Jesus’ sake and gives us a place in God’s kingdom.

The truth is that God is drawing us and all creation into the divine dance that is the community of the Trinity.

God is defeating sin, death, and evil not with violence, but with self-giving love.

 

As Jesus said in John 12:31-32, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

The kingdom of God is at hand, among us.

Not yet perfected.  Not yet complete.  But real and present in our midst.

As Paul writes in Ephesians 2:17-22,

17So [Jesus] came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near;18for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,20built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.21In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord;22in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling place for God.

We are citizens of “the kingdom of Christ and of God.” (Eph. 5:5)

We are being built spiritually into a holy temple and dwelling place for God.

We are what Christ has made us, a kingdom of priests serving God (Rev. 1).

We are a grassroots, passionate Jesus community, bearing witness to the resurrection of the crucified King.

As Jesus confessed the truth about God and humanity, we bear witness to the good news of the kingdom of God, the kingdom of Christ – the kingdom of justice and peace, the kingdom of mercy and love, the everlasting kingdom of God that is among us now, and which will come in full in God’s time.

Thanks be to God!



[1] I found Jaime Clark-Soles’ comments on this passage helpful: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?lect_date=11/25/2012#6

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 Posted by at 8:11 am
Nov 202012
 

Pastor Eric Lemonholm

November 20, 2012

Matthew 6:25–33

 

“Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?”

That’s the question Jesus asks, and it’s a good one.  What good does worrying do us?

Of course, we are human.

Sometimes worry is unavoidable, or at least natural.

We worry when our loved ones are driving on icy roads.

We worry when a friend is in the hospital.

We worry about people we know in Afghanistan or other dangerous places in the world.

Perhaps worrying about others is part of loving them.

It’s a way of showing that we care.

It can lead us to prayer.

In fact, when I worry about someone, and then pray for them, I worry less, because I remember that they are in God’s hands.

 

It’s similar when we worry about ourselves.

I know there has been a lot of worry in the last few years because of the economy.

We worry about unemployment or underemployment.

We worry about the cost and availability of health care for us and our families.

Will Social Security, Medicare, private health insurance, or a retirement account be there when we need them?

We worry about health, we worry about exercise or the lack thereof.

We worry about crime and violence.

Farmers worry about the harvest every year.

There’s a lot of worry to go around.  What do you worry about?

 

In the midst of all this trouble, Jesus says to me and to you, “Do not worry.”

You cannot change a thing by worrying.

People who worry a lot have more health problems than people who don’t, because worry, like stress, is within us.

Unchecked worry can eat away at us from the inside.

 

God knows our worries.

Our worries become prayers within us, as we turn to God, and the Holy Spirit prays within us with “sighs too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).

Don’t bottle up your worries within you.

Lift them up to God.

Let Christ bear your burdens with you.

Experience the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and the assurance of faith.

Remember your blessings: What are you thankful for?

Don’t forget what Jesus says at the end of the passage, Matthew 6:33:

Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 

God doesn’t want us to only sit back and not worry.

It’s often when we’re sitting still or lying down that we worry the most.

Jesus commands us to strive first for the kingdom of God.

Strive first to live out our mission statement, Living and Sharing Jesus.

Strive first to be in touch with the ground of your being, the source of your soul.

Strive first to live Jesus.  Strive first to love God and serve your neighbor in Christ’s name.

Strive first to bear the cross as we follow Christ into the world.  Strive first to share Jesus.

We don’t have time to worry.  We’ve got good news to live and neighbors who need it like we do.

Amen!

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 Posted by at 7:56 am
Nov 182012
 

November 18, 2012

Proper 28 B

Eric Lemonholm

 

When I was an intern, a pastor-in-training, at United in Christ in Eveleth, the year was 1999.

As 1999 drew to a close, the big worry was Y2K, the fear that the computers of the world would crash on January 1, 2000.

I even remember talking to a man on the Iron Range in Minnesota who was stockpiling food and fuel to be prepared for Y2K.  He thought it was all a plot by President Bill Clinton to seize power as a dictator.

In the end, nothing much happened.

The people who had predicted the end of civilization as we know it in 2000 were wrong.

Life went on.

But then, in September of 2001, over 11 years ago, we did receive a dramatic wakeup call.  Now, we recognize that we live in a complicated, dangerous world.

From violence an 11 year conflict in Afghanistan to a war between Israel and Gaza this very week, “wars and insurrections” abound.

By the end of 2014, we Americans will have been in Afghanistan almost three times as long as we fought in World War II.

Nations rise against nations around the world.

Hurricanes, earthquakes, famines.  We see them too.

The signs of the times.

No wonder some self-proclaimed experts claim to have an inside track on interpreting these signs, and telling us “the end is near, Christ is coming soon.”

 

It is the same old story.  For almost two thousand years, people have said “The time is near!”

For almost two thousand years, people have been wrong, literally speaking.

People have thought the end was near many times, including:

  • When early Christians were persecuted and killed by the Romans.
  • When the newly baptized Christian Empire of Rome was falling to the barbarians.
  • In the year 1000.
  • When Christian Europe was threatened with both the black plague and conquest by the Muslim Turks in the Middle Ages.
  • When Hitler was ravaging the world.
  • When the Cold War was at its height.
  • In the year 2000.
  • In our current terror obsessed time since 9/11.

 

And now, 2012!

There are actually people in the world who believe the world will end on December 21!

Why December 21, 2012?  Because that is when an ancient calendar of the Mayan civilization ends, or more accurately, starts over at year one, 5,126 years after the last year one of their calendar.[ii]

The idea is that the ancient Mayans knew something we don’t.

So, in the last few years, people have come up with various theories about why the world will end this year.

First, the earth aligning with the midpoint of the Milky Way Galaxy in 2012, which supposedly happens only once every 26,000 years and messes up the earth’s magnetic poles – in reality, every winter solstice, every year, the earth aligns with the Milky Way, and it has no bad effect on the earth.

Or solar storms from the sun ravaging the earth – solar storms which actually happen about every 11 years – the last ones in 2002, the next ones not until 2013.  Do any of you remember them in 2002?  They don’t have a dramatic effect on the world either.

Finally, some people think that there is some mysterious Planet X that is on a collision course with the earth – though, of course, no astronomers have seen any planets heading our way.

 

In truth, the fact that the Mayan calendar starts over in 2012 does not mean much at all.

Experts on Mayan culture have said that the Mayans themselves do not think that there is anything special or terrible about the year 2012 – it’s more an excuse to celebrate than anything else, the way we celebrate New Year’s Day each year.

Just because we start a new calendar year every January 1, does not mean it’s the end of the world.

In the same way, that the Mayan calendar starts over in 2012 does not mean the world will end either.

 

There is an old Chinese curse: May you live in interesting times.

Whenever we find ourselves in “interesting times,” we tend to worry, or HOPE, that the end of the world is at hand and Christ is coming.

In fact, the last book of the Bible, Revelation, ends with these words:

The one who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”  Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.  (Revelation 22:20-21)

That is the hope, and that is the promise – “Surely I am coming soon.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus!

In every generation of the Christian church, starting with the very first, there have been people who expected Christ to come a lot sooner than later.

Today is no exception.

Christ could come today… or on December 21… or in 1000 years… or in 10,000 years… or a million.

No one but God knows God’s timing.

That is why Jesus says to his closest disciples in Mark 13, “Beware that no one leads you astray.”

What they think is permanent – like the majestic, solid Temple in Jerusalem – will be torn down.

Wars.

Earthquakes.

Famines.

All will occur.

They are but the birth pangs of the coming kingdom of God.

Don’t let anyone fool you into thinking that they know the signs of the times.

If anyone gives you a date for Christ’s return – like December 21, 2012 – pay them no heed.

 

God has a glorious plan for bringing about the kingdom of God.

Here is Paul in Romans 8:18-21:

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.  For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

God will set us and all creation free from sin, death, and evil when the kingdom of God breaks into creation, when Christ comes in glory with all the angels of heaven.

But this will happen in God’s time.  Not ours.

Anyone who claims to know when this will all occur is wrong, because only God knows, as Jesus said, “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mark 13:32).

 

We do not know when the kingdom of God will be fulfilled.

We do not know when Christ will return.

We live in the in-between time, between the first and second comings of Christ.

From God’s perspective, we could be at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of that time.  Only God knows where we are on God’s timeline.

But so-called end-time prophecy experts probably wouldn’t sell a lot of books if they claimed “Christ is coming – maybe today or in a million years.”  Somehow the urgency would be lost from their message, and people looking for a short term, simplistic answer to the problems of the world would look elsewhere.

 

In the Christian faith, we often hold two realities in tension with each other – paradoxes.

 

  • There is one God.
  • God is three persons, three identities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer.

 

  • God’s Creation is good.
  • Creation is fallen, fragile, fractured.

 

  • Humans are created in the image of God.
  • Humans are sinful creatures, mortal, and limited.

 

  • The kingdom of God has come upon creation in Jesus of Nazareth.
  • The kingdom of God is not yet fulfilled, Christ has not yet returned in glory.

 

  • Christ promised, “Surely I am coming soon.”
  • Nearly 2,000 years later, that ‘soon’ has not yet arrived.

 

We live in between the first and second comings of Christ.

That’s where we are in the story of God’s creation as revealed in the Bible.

So, how are we to live?

In a word: faithfully.

Jesus tells us to beware that we are not led astray.  We follow Christ, the one and only Christ, whom we encounter in the Word of God and in the body of Christ, the church.  There is no other Christ, no other Lord for us to follow.

 

There is a biblical logic of gift and gratitude:

Salvation is a free gift given to us through Christ regardless of our worthiness or work.

THEREFORE, let us live a life of gratitude and love toward God by serving our neighbors.

 

As Christians, we live in an in-between time, between the coming of Christ and the fulfillment of God’s kingdom.  We encourage one another with the good news of God’s salvation, and we exhort one another to live faithfully in these end times.

We need each other as members of the body of Christ.

We have received much – especially the promise of God’s future.

We are free from fear – free to follow God and love one another.

 

The kingdom of God is coming.

It is time to get on with the mission of the church of sharing the good news of God’s salvation.  Living and Sharing Jesus.

It’s time to encourage one another, and all the more as we see the Day of the Lord approaching.

Whether Christ comes in glory in our lifetime or not, Christ is coming – and certainly for all of us, the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Whether the kingdom of God comes tomorrow, on December 21, in a thousand, years, or at our physical deaths, the Christian life is both urgent and peaceful: urgent because we see the Day approaching, and we have good news to share; peaceful and calm because we have hope in our faithful God.

Amen.

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 Posted by at 8:04 am
Nov 112012
 

Eric Lemonholm

November 11, 2012

Proper 27 B

Hebrews 9:24–28; Mark 12:38–44

 

Listen to this message here…

 

In the last month or so, we’ve followed Jesus on his road to the cross in the Gospel of Mark.

 

The story you just heard happened during the week later known as the first Holy Week.

On Sunday, Jesus had entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey while the crowds cheered.

Jesus had thrown the merchants out of the Temple, and then he spent his time speaking to the people there.

 

It is hard to overestimate how dangerous Jesus’ situation was.

Israel was ruled by the ruthless, rapacious Roman Empire.

Most people in Israel were immensely poor, and poorer because of the steep taxes they had to pay the Romans.

And yet, the Temple priests and scribes in Jerusalem were extremely rich and powerful.

They had wealth beyond what the average person could imagine, supplied by the tithes and religious taxes on the poor.

They owned vast amounts of land, much of it forfeited from bankrupt farmers – farmers could be sold into slavery if they couldn’t pay their taxes.

The Temple priests stood at the top of the pyramid of Jewish society, and they were in league with the occupying Romans.

As Jesus is teaching in the Temple, he must have seen some of these super-rich scribes and priests, in expensive long robes – you can’t do much work when you are wearing fancy long robes.

They sat in places of honor in Jerusalem, but they were sitting on the backs of the poor.

Jesus comments that they “devour widow’s houses.”

Widows in ancient society were perhaps the most vulnerable class of people.

“Widows who lacked male relatives had no status and no prospects for income, except for, as was often the case, prostitution.”[2]

That is why the Jewish law so often stressed the obligation to care for widows, along with orphans and refugees.

Some of the wealthy scribes and priests were exploiting and abusing their power to foreclose on the houses of poor widows.

 

So, Jesus is watching the crowd come and put money into the treasury, the offering box, in the Temple.

The rich were ostentatiously throwing in large amounts of money.

You can imagine the sound of their many gold coins clinking as they tossed them in.

It reminds me of my brother and I tossing our coins into the offering plate when we were kids.  We loved to really get the quarters clinking loudly on the offering plate.

Some of those rich folks were doing it for show – ‘Look how much I’m giving.’

 

Then, however, a nameless poor widow comes and puts in two small copper coins.

No one would have noticed her, if Jesus had not been there.

But Jesus noticed.

He says, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.  For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

In terms of today’s money, she gave a dollar or two.

But Jesus lifts up the poor widow as an example of true generosity.

As far as we know, she gave all she had out of obedience to God, out of love for God.

The temple priests violated the biblical commandments to care for poor widows, but this poor widow kept the commandments as she understood them.  Someone said,

When you stop to think about it, Jesus and the Widow were just alike.  They both gave everything they had.[3]

Jesus knew where he was heading later that week.  He knew he was going to give himself, all of his life on the cross, for the sake of the world.

As Mother Teresa said, “If you give what you do not need, it isn’t giving.”[4]

 

Here’s a story:

The Sunday school teacher asked her eight eager 10-year-olds if they would give $1 million to missionaries.

“Yes!” they all screamed.

“Would you give $1,000?” she asked.

Again, the kids shouted, “Yes!”

“How about $100?”

“Oh, yes, we would!” they all agreed.

“Would you give just a dollar to the missionaries?” she asked.

All the children exclaimed, “Yes!” just as before — except Johnnie.

“Johnnie,” the teacher said, as she noticed the boy clutching his pocket. “Why didn’t you say yes this time?”

“Well,” he stammered, “I have a dollar.”[5]

It’s easy to be generous with what you don’t have. 

 

The rich people were putting large amounts of money into the treasury, but it did not affect them personally or deeply.

The nameless widow gave what little she had, she gave it all, everything she had to live on.

She put her faith in God, not in her own resources.

 

Remember Jesus’ words to the rich man a few weeks ago?

“You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Mark 10:21

The rich man went away sad, because he had many possessions.  The more we have, the more difficult it is to give it away.

A story:

One day a certain old, rich man of a miserable disposition visited a rabbi, who took the rich man by the hand and led him to a window. “Look out there,” he said. The rich man looked into the street. “What do you see?” asked the rabbi.

“I see men, women and children,” answered the rich man.

Again the rabbi took him by the hand and this time led him to a mirror. “Now what do you see?”      

“Now I see myself,” the rich man replied.

Then the rabbi said, “Behold, in the window there is glass, and in the mirror there is glass. But the glass of the mirror is covered with a little silver. No sooner is the silver added than you cease to see others but see only yourself.”[6]

 

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Jesus lived that way.

He was not ruled by money or stuff.

He was not tied down to material things.

He was free from their ties, free to live generously and fully.

Jesus looked not into the mirror, but through the window to a world in need.

His treasure was in loving God and serving his neighbor.

Like the poor widow, Jesus gave everything for others, for us.

 

If we are honest, we are probably more like the rich scribes than the poor widow.

She did not have Social Security or Medicare to fall back on.

There was no social safety net in those days.

If she got evicted, she had nowhere to turn except to beg on the street.

But there is something about her simple, strong, reckless, generous faith that we can embrace and emulate.

Jesus pointed her out as an example of self-giving, an example he was to follow that week, on his journey to the cross.

 

The path to joy, says C. S. Lewis, winds through extravagant, reckless self-denial. Here’s how he put it in Surprised by Joy:

Give up your self, and you will find your real self.

Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being and your will. Find eternal life.

Keep back nothing. Nothing that you have not given away will ever really be yours. Nothing in you that has not died will ever be raised from the dead. Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find him, and with him everything else thrown in. [7]

 

Is God calling you to step out in faith and step up in your financial giving to the mission of the church?

Is God calling you to follow the example of the widow?

I love this definition of the church: we are “a grassroots, passionate Jesus-community that witnesses to the Resurrection for the sake of the world.”[8]

I also love our mission at Good Shepherd: Living and Sharing Jesus.

That is what our Faith Commitments are for: our offerings make possible our mission of living and sharing Jesus as a mission station for God’s mission: a grassroots, passionate Jesus-community witnessing to the Resurrection for the sake of the world.

When you think about it, we never really own anything.  We take care of material possessions and use them for our benefit and especially for the benefit of others, and pass them on to the next generation. 

We are stewards, caretakers, of what God has given to us, and it is our joy to give generously for God’s mission.

A vision of Good Shepherd: 2 years, 5, 10, 20 years in the future – a vision where GS is once again a center of community in this neighborhood, where GS is living and sharing Jesus with the children of this neighborhood – and their parents and grandparents.  You can help make this vision a reality.

 

We heard in Hebrews 9 that Christ “appeared once and for all… to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself.”

God overcame sin, death, and the devil once and for all through the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Then Christ “entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”

We have a high priest in heaven, Jesus the Christ, who is acquainted with grief and sorrow, with suffering and pain, and who gave himself 100% for us and for our salvation, for all people and for all creation.

That is the Lord we follow.  That is the good news we share in this place, in this community, and in this world – the good news of our generous God.

We are free to be generous people like the poor widow who was rich in faith, because God has promised that we will share in God’s future through Jesus our Lord.

 

How is God speaking to your heart?

How is God calling you to live like the widow, like Jesus?

Is God calling to you take a step in your giving for God’s mission?

A moment of silent prayer, reflecting on how God has blessed us, and how God is calling us to be a blessing to others…

 

Let us pray a prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr:

O Lord, who has taught us that to gain the whole world and to lose our souls is great folly, grant us the grace so to lose ourselves that we may truly find ourselves anew in the life of grace, and so to forget ourselves that we may be remembered in your kingdom.

Amen.



[2] Homiletics, November 8, 2009.

[3]          Unknown, Sermon Nuggets.

[4]          Sermon Nuggets.

[5] Homiletics, November 8, 2009.

[6] Source unknown, quoted in Homiletics, November 8, 2009.

[7]          Pulpit Resource, 2006.

[8] A phrase used by Neil Harrison of the ELCA Churchwide office, who may have got it from Stephen Bouman, and quoted by Bishop Larry Wohlrabe and others.

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 Posted by at 6:05 pm
Nov 042012
 

Eric Lemonholm

November 4, 2012 – All Saints Sunday (Proper 26 B)

Deuteronomy 6:1–9; Mark 12:28–34

 

Listen to this message here…

 

The scribe comes to Jesus and asks, “Which commandment is the first of all?”

What is the number one commandment?

If David Letterman were doing a top ten of God’s commandments, what would be numero uno?

In Jesus’ characteristic way, he answers not with one, but with two commandments:

“The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’  The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The first commandment comes from our reading in Deuteronomy 6, the famous passage known as the Shema, which means Hear: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone.”

Love the LORD YHWH your God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.

This love for God is not just a feeling.

It’s not just a sentimental journey.

Love for God involves your whole life.

Body, mind, and soul.

Loving God means keeping God’s commandments.

Loving God means following faith practices daily, weekly.

Your church teaches seven faith practices, all rooted in God’s word: pray, study, worship, invite, encourage, serve, and give.

To love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength means forming a life around those faith practices.

It’s a different life than a life lived for oneself.

To live in love with God is to be formed in faith through a daily turning from ourselves and our own consuming interests and concerns, and to turn to God, to love God actively, passionately, with determination and perseverance.

Keeping God’s word in your heart.

Teaching it to your children.

Sharing it with your friends.

Living close to God from your rising in the morning until you lie down at night.

 

We know that we can never fully, completely fulfill this commandment.

We are limited, sinful creatures.

If anything, following this command makes us more conscious than ever of how far we fall short.

And, to some degree that’s the point: as we recognize and acknowledge how far we are from loving God with ALL our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we recognize how much we need God’s grace and mercy in the first place.

We learn that we have a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

We don’t love God to earn God’s love: we love God because God first loves us.

 

That is the first and greatest commandment.

Jesus immediately connects it with a second commandment, however: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

The golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.

Jesus takes this command from the book of Leviticus, chapter 19.

This command is also unsentimental.

It’s not just about warm, fuzzy feelings.

Listen to what leads up to this commandment in Leviticus 19:

9When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.10You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: I am the Lord your God.

11You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.12And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.13You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.14You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.15You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.16You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the Lord.17You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself.18You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

Loving your neighbor is practical and active.

Help the poor and immigrants find food.

Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t defraud others.

Don’t withhold just compensation from workers.  If you’ve promised them a pension, keep your promise.

Don’t let someone’s wealth or poverty sway your judgment.

Don’t take vengeance or bear a grudge.

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

In chapter two of his little book, Jesus’ brother James asks,

15If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?

We don’t just express love with our words, we show love by what we do for our neighbors.

 

Jesus puts these two commandments together as the greatest commandment: Love God and love your neighbor.

As we said last Sunday, even though there is a tradition of animal sacrifice in the Bible to atone for sin, there is also a sense throughout the Old and New Testaments that the sacrifice that God really wants is a matter of the heart; or rather, a matter of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Following God means doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.

To obey God means to love God and love our neighbors.

Not sentimentally, but practically, holistically.

Loving God and our neighbor with our whole person, loving them wholly.

 

That’s really what our mission statement means.  What is it?  Living and sharing Jesus.

Living Jesus is grounding our lives in Jesus and the good news that Jesus brings.

Living Jesus connects with loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

 

Sharing Jesus is how the life of Jesus overflows ourselves and spreads to our neighbors.

We cannot help but share Jesus with our neighbors through acts of love: in word, in song, and especially in deed.

As we prepare our hearts and minds for Pledge Sunday, remember that we support our church with our time, talents, and dollars as a practical way to love God and love our neighbors.

Good Shepherd is a mission outpost in this neighborhood and this community, a grassroots, passionate Jesus community that witnesses to the Resurrection of Jesus for the sake of the world.

Loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves.  That is what we are all about.

Living and sharing Jesus – amen!

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 Posted by at 5:56 pm

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