List to the sermon here: Revelation 1 Message 

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.

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

Listen 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.

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!

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!

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.