The Message
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Service for May 4 Third Sunday of Easter
Sermon for May 4, 2025 Third Sunday of Easter Pastor Val Metropoulos
The disciples, at this point in the Easter story have already seen the risen Jesus but we get the sense that they didn’t know what to do with that experience. They had no way to integrate the Jesus they had seen die on a cross with the Jesus who appeared to them in a locked room. They had no framework that could accommodate both of those events into anything that made sense.
From all they had seen, they expected Jesus would conquer their enemies in a spectacular way, “the coming of a comet”: the mighty empire Rome defeated, and the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Moses redeemed for all the world to see. But what they got was Jesus, the one who had died, now apparently alive again. Not a god of power, not even a man of steel. Jesus is a man marked by his suffering, bearing the scars of the nails in his hands and feet and the piercing of his side. He is alive but he is flesh and bone: changed, now able to appear in a locked room, but still much the same as the Jesus they knew.
They were floundering and so they return to what they know. They go fishing.
And Jesus meets them there on the seashore, on the beach, offering some fishing advice, cooking up the fish they caught thanks to his encouragement. He serves them and he shows them the way forward. He offers them truth not triumph. Hope not the hallelujahs of the crowds.
Following Jesus, for those first disciples and for us, there will be no military victories. There will be food enough for everyone. With Jesus as our teacher there will be time with each other. There will be real conversation that does not ignore past pain. Conversation that strengthens relationships that had been damaged.
Peter who betrayed Jesus three times is given three chances to proclaim his loyalty to Jesus. Peter was already forgiven. Jesus had accomplished that on the cross. But now Peter knows it, deeply. He was lost but now he’s found. He was broken and now he’s whole. The church that still follows Jesus to this day, began then and there on that quiet beach.
We might think that forgiveness for Peter’s sin was not that big a deal. But, that “real” sinners, people who have committed crimes, or maybe even for us, if we admit our own sins, surely God requires real repentance, proof of regret, before real sinners can be forgiven?
I return again and again to the Biblical story and find reasons to trust it, not only because it is a beautiful story about God’s love for humanity and for all of creation – which it is! What won’t let me go, what I find compelling is the truth it tells about humanity, the truth that the Biblical story tells about me. That truth-telling compels me to return to it again and again and to trust it.
Before we give in to the temptation to think some people’s sins require greater repentance than others, we return to this truth-telling book that gives us the story of Saul, transformed as we heard in the first reading today into Paul. But, remember that wasn’t the first time we heard of Saul. Earlier on in the book of Acts we heard that Saul was hunting down Christians, dedicated to keeping the purity of his Jewish faith intact when he comes upon Stephen who has been speaking truth to the powerful Jewish leaders, forcing them to face the truth of how badly they had been leading the people.
Let’s hear a bit of that story from the book of Acts:
When the [Jewish leaders] heard [Stephen saying] these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen.[j] 55 But filled with the Holy Spirit, he [Stephen] gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 “Look,” he said, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. 58 Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. (Saul, the one who organized the mob to hunt down the Jesus followers!)
59 While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he died.”
Now, Saul is on his way to Damascus to hunt down more Christians, when the forgiveness that Stephen prayed for is realizedin the “sudden appearance of a light from heaven” around Saul. Even this man, Saul, who was responsible for the torture and death of so many people who were guilty only of following Jesus, even this man is forgiven before he even thinks to ask for forgiveness! Robert Wall says, “The real climax of the story is not Saul’s conversion from moral morass to virtuous living or from Judaism to Christianity; … Saul’s turn to Jesus rights him for a future scripted by God as “a chosen instrument to bring [Jesus’] name to the Gentiles and .. the people of Israel…” (9: 15-16).
Saul becomes Paul and spreads the message of Jesus across 10,000 miles before dying a martyr's death in Rome. He experienced Jesus in a flash of light and a voice, and his life was changed so that he could tell the story of God’s love in Jesus and that changed the world, all without a word of repentance from Saul.
Those fishermen after eating breakfast on the beach with Jesus, will never go back to their old lives. The resurrection of Jesus was their resurrection as well, a resurrection from a life of desperation, fear, and hopelessness to one of abundance: abundant hope, abundant community, abundant grace. They had experienced a conversion, a turning from the old way of life and toward the abundance and grace of God’s love. Like Saul, the disciples turn toward Jesus who “rights them for a future scripted by God as a chosen instrument to bring” God’s name wherever it is needed.
Here on the beach around a few fish and a charcoal fire Jesus shows them how to live. Jesus uses words and actions to tell them: “Don’t try to do it on your own. I am with you. Ask for my help and I will help you find what you seek. Begin where you are with what is right in front of you: Your friends are hungry so feed them. The sheep are wandering, so guide them home. There is shame and disappointment over past mistakes. Face it head on to restore that relationship. Then eat, and laugh and relish the goodness of life.”
Those fishermen will go out and tell the world about Jesus, one small group at a time, always beginning with one person just as we tell the story one person at a time. You tell your story. Your conversion, your understanding that you are God’s beloved that you have been forgiven of everything; that you are worthy and beautiful just as you are, no matter what you have done or left undone; all of that is for a purpose. God’s love is for a purpose! Each of us is beloved and saved not just for ourselves; but “for a future scripted by God as a chosen instrument to bring” God’s name wherever it is needed.
This is hard work! Forgiveness is hard work! In her poem, Phase One, Dilruba Ahmed writes, “forgiving myself is the “first phase” of spiritual maturity. It’s a necessary beginning. Compassion towards myself liberates me to love others.” In the last four lines of her poem, Ahmed even forgives herself for not forgiving herself. She writes, I forgive you “For being unable / to forgive yourself first so you / could then forgive others and / at last find a way to become / the love that you want in this world.”
You’ve probably heard about the Japanese technique of Kitsugi, where damaged pottery is repaired by fusing the pieces together with gold. In kintsugi, instead of hiding the flaw in a piece of broken pottery, the artist highlights and even celebrates the damage by repairing it with gold. The restoration is more beautiful than the original precisely because of, rather than in spite of, its repaired brokenness.
Kintsugi is a philosophy that understands that breakage and repair are normal parts of life. Instead of denying or hiding our faults and failures, we embrace our imperfections. We tell the truth that the wear, and tear, and damage are marks of beauty to treasure and honor, not a reason to discard what is broken.
Kitsugi is truth telling that gives us life. Like a gold-dusted piece of repaired pottery, like Saul and Peter, and every other human being, we learn that there can be beauty in brokenness. We are already forgiven. We are already loved.
As those who love Jesus, we have been forgiven and given our purpose in this life just as he gave it to Peter: feed, tend, follow. Feed the hungry. Tend to the needy. Follow Jesus in Jesus’ way for the sake of a future scripted by God. Amen.
Service for April 13 Palm Sunday
Sermon for April 13, 2025 Palm Sunday
The Passion according to Mark
It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The Chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; for they said, “not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people.” Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Jesus to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.
On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, at evening Jesus came with the twelve. And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, the one who is eating with me.” They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, “Surely, not I?” Jesus said to them, “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.” While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. Jesus said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. And Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to him, “Even though all become deserters, I will not.” Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” But peter said vehemently, “Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And all of them said the same.
They went to a place called Gethsemane; and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And Jesus said to them, “I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.” And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.” Jesus came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were vey heavy; and the did not know what to say to him. Jesus came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand.
Immediately, while Jesus was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.” So when he came, he went up to Jesus at once and said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him. Then they laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
Then Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled.
All of them deserted him and fled. A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked. They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. Pete had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself by the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none. For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony did not agree. Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.” But even on this point their testimony did not agree.
Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?” But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” Jesus said, “I am; and ‘you will see the son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power,’ and ‘coming with the clouds of heaven.” Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “Whey do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?” All of them condemned him as deserving death. Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him,” Prophesy!” the guards also took him over and beat him.
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.” But Peter denied it, saying, “I do not know or understand what you are talking about.” And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed. And the servant girl, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them.” But again he denied it. Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean.” But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, “I do not know this man you are talking about.” At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Pete remembered that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. Pilate asked him,” Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.” Then the chief priests accused him of many things. Pilate asked him again, “Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you.” But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed. Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. So the crowed came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom, then he answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. But the chief priests stirred up the crowed to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
Pilate spoke to them again, “Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify him!” Pilate asked them, “Why, what evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!” So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowed, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified
Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace; and they called together the whole cohort. And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they lead him out to crucify him. They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take. It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”
And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself, and come down from the cross!” In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him. When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachtani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “Listen, he is calling for Elijah.” And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick and give it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. …And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.
Now when the centurion, who stood facing Jesus, saw that in this way he breathed his last, and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!” Then Joseph bought a lined cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.
The passion of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Service for March 30 Fourth Sunday of Lent
Sermon for March 30, 2025 Fourth Sunday of Lent
In our gospel reading today Jesus is teaching people very much like us. This is such a familiar reading, there is a danger we won’t hear the depth of it’s meaning for us. So, I’d like us to shift gears a bit. We all learn differently but maybe try listening to the reading in a new way. If you usually read along, try listening with your eyes closed, just hearing the words instead of seeing them. Relax, take a deep breath. Prepare your heart and your spirit to hear these words as if for the first time.
As you listen, I’d like you to listen closely for 3 things. First, listen to what Jesus says to the people he is speaking directly to. These are the people who come with open hearts to listen and learn. They’re the people on the margins; those for whom life is hard. Our gospel reading calls them “tax collectors and sinners.” But, really, they’re just regular people doing their best in a hard world.
According to the religious authorities, they were “really bad people.” At least they were really bad in the eyes of the people with power, and money, and privilege. Maybe it would help us understand them to reframe that description as “those people with nothing to lose.” Those people who were desperate and hopeless and so they came to Jesus with open hearts read to listen and learn.
So, we’ll call them, the “so-called really, bad people.” Listen for what Jesus’ words sound like if you’re one of them.
Secondly, listen for the people on the sidelines who hear what Jesus is saying to those “so-called really bad people.” They are the religious authorities, Pharisees and Scribes who are keeping their distance from Jesus, but taking it all in. They were religious but not necessarily faithful. They may have kept all the rules, maintained the traditions of the church but for some reason, maybe their status or security, something made them feel threatened by Jesus’ words and so they could not hear good news in what Jesus was saying.
We’ll call them the “really religious people.” Listen for what Jesus’ words sound like if you’re one of those “really religious people.”
Lastly, listen for Jesus’ message of hope at the end.
Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32 Now all the tax collectors and sinners (the “so-called really bad people”) were coming near to listen to [Jesus] him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes (the “really religious people”) were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So [Jesus] he told them this parable: 11 “There was a man who had two sons. …The Gospel of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Ok, we were listening for 3 things. First, who Jesus was speaking directly to: the “so-called really bad people.”
It might help us make sense of why Jesus is telling this particular story at this time to these people, to notice that there are missing verses in our reading today. What we missed were two familiar parables: the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sheep.
Jesus told those parables, speaking directly to those so-called “really bad people”, those people we’ve identified as the desperate, the hopeless, the powerless.
Those parables were meant to give those people hope. To reassure them that God would stop at nothing to gather them in, to claim them and to bring them into God’s family, loving and caring for them. Those parables told them that they were part of God’s family and would never be left behind, despite what the really religious people said.
Immediately after those two parables, Jesus tells this story, the story we know as the story of the prodigal son. Those first two stories of being lost, were told to the hopeless, the so-called “really bad people.” But this story of the prodigal son is told directly to the second group I asked you to listen for; those standing on the sidelines, those watching and judging; the “really religious people;” the rule followers and tradition keepers; those with power and privilege.
Jesus’ message was meant to provoke them out of their complacency, out of their comfort, judging Jesus for the company he kept, rather than opening their hearts to his message. Jesus was holding a mirror up for them to see themselves in the older brother.
The really religious people could not imagine that God’s grace could be free. They could only imagine that being “good” or “right” or “following the rules” would earn them a place in God’s kingdom; earn them God’s priceless love!
The really religious people respond with anger to the idea of God’s love being unconditional for everyone – no exceptions. They lash out like the older son, recalling a litany of his brother’s mistakes and all the reasons he did not deserve to be welcomed home by their father.
Two brothers. Two experiences of life in the same world. The so-called “really bad people”, the ones we see in the younger son, the one who ran away; they experience all the sadness this life can offer: exclusion, poverty, oppression and they respond by surviving however they can. They do whatever it takes to survive: they engage in professions that are seen by the “really religious” as disgraceful, but it puts food on the table. Their families survive to try again tomorrow. They may have to steal or game the system for their children to survive. Jesus’ message of God’s unconditional love is music to their ears: God loves them. God sees them. God knows them – not for what they’ve been forced to do to survive but for their humanity. God loves them and welcomes them simply for being human. God walks with them in their desperation.
The “really religious people” hear Jesus’ words and condemn him. From their position, from their comfort and privilege, Jesus’ acceptance of those so-called ‘sinners’ is threatening. If Jesus is right and God’s love is not earned but freely given, well, that means that all their work to protect their positions and the religion; all their rule-keeping and tradition-maintaining are meaningless. If Jesus is right, they’re no better than the so-called ‘sinners.’
Those “very religious people” will, ultimately conspire with the Roman government to bring Jesus down. They would rather kill him than have their position, and privilege, and the tradition questioned.
In reality, like all of Jesus’ parables, it’s complicated. It’s complicated and these neat categories I’ve set out for you are, of course, false. Nothing is that cut and dried. We all carry within us aspects of the younger son and the older one. Every one of us has made mistakes. Every one of us has tried to do the right thing. We’re all a mashup of good and evil. That’s what it means to be human!
Remember I asked you to listen for three things. The third thing was the hope Jesus offered at the end of the parable. Did you hear that?
It’s when the father says to the older son, the jealous “good” son, “you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice! Because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” That is the hope we need. That’s the good news we all need to hear!
We have to celebrate because “this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
We have to celebrate because since we’re all both sons. Because we carry the capacity for both good and evil, God’s grace embraces us all!
The father has love and room and plenty for all: for the “so-called, really bad people” and for the “really religious people”. God’s love holds us when we’re bad and when we’re good.
There is a feast to share. There is plenty for everyone. The lost are no different than those who never strayed to begin with. We are all one family. Of course, the father welcomes us all. There is no distinction in the Father’s eyes. God doesn’t expect perfection. God invites us to the feast. God invites us into relationship.
At the feast which is God’s desire for all of humanity, a table is set with true forgiveness and equality, a place of genuine love, a table “where everyone is seated and sated,”1 welcomed and fed.
That is true. That is reality. That is how God has ordered all of creation. We who cannot admit our need for God; we who cannot let go of our privilege; we are the ones who keep ourselves separated from all that God longs for us. God, waits for us watching, hoping that we too will return, we too will join in the feast of the universe.
Truly, each of us has been at one time or another the younger son who strayed. We turned our backs on God’s love intentionally or unintentionally. We hardened our hearts toward God and toward those who hold a special place in God’s heart because the world despises them so: the marginalized, the vulnerable, the weak. When we refuse to join them at the feast or welcome them into our table, we are refusing the Father as well. Jesus is telling us that any distance we perceive between ourselves, and God is self-imposed. We have separated ourselves and our dear Father waits, watching for any sign of our return so that he may run out and meet us and love us, not even waiting to hear our confession, not expecting perfection but rejoicing simply in our humanity.
In all these stories the result of finding the “lost” is joy, rejoicing, the exuberance of having the lost restored. The return of the lost is important! The return of what was lost means all other concerns must be put aside. It is cause for celebration! In God’s world a party is the only appropriate response to the return of whatever (or whoever) was lost!
That is the party you are invited to today, at the table of grace where Jesus is host and welcomes you and everyone to experience God’s unconditional love! Amen.
Pastor Val Metropoulos
Service for March 23 Third Sunday of Lent
“No I tell you, unless you repent,…”
I once helped a friend start a community farm in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. He and his church became aware of some abandoned parcels of land in the neighborhood. we cleared weeds and trash, we also took soil samples and sent them away. We were sobered to find elevated lead levels in the soil. No matter where we or anyone planted in much of that town, we’d confront this consequence of 20th century coal-fired steel-making, leaded automotive fuel and building waste. And this was a neighborhood we people didn’t have the resources or the social power to get the those with power and resources to remedy the problem.
So rather than abandon the vision or the place, the church’s task to remediate the soil. We had to research means to remediate, like a remedy, remediate the soil, so that the neighborhood could more easily grow good food there. It can be done, and all the ways are expensive- it would take work, tools, treatments, money or time, and maybe all of them. Excavate the soil and replace it with new topsoil, treat the soil with expensive solvents and a sealed vacuum bag system, grow fungus or plants that can remove the lead, increase the humus content with lots of compost, which would be a kind of biochemical shield between plants and lead. Remediation would be a pretty big effort. We didn’t see US Steel knocking on our door to help. But he church and the people they came to work with, chose to follow the call of that effort, because that place and its people, made in God’s image, were worth it.
I thought about all this memory as I read the gospel passage this week, with its story of gardening, which Jesus tells to let the listeners consider that unless you repent... What do we mean by repent? What does Jesus mean by repent? The greek word means something like ‘to change your mind’ or ‘change your heart.’ A fundamental change in your outlook and understanding, what is worth pouring your time, money, attention, life energy into, how you look at and are with others and the world and yourself and God. There are two related hebrew words for repent. One means to comfort, to be sorry for, or regret something. Another, means to literally turn around. So, Repentance, to repent,means a change within us that embraces our whole being, and it changes what we do, how we do it.
And that change isn’t self-initiated. America loves self starters and go getters. Well, repentance means God is the one who starts all good things, and we are unashamed to be grateful recipients of that common gift. It means we live into the reality of God remediating, remedying, remediating the soil of our hearts and life. As people who receive and live from the remediation God undertakes in us and through, maybe we can even become people who do small things with great love.
Jesus tells a story about what it means to repent. Yes, we expect fruit! But there is a better way to do that. And that means remediation, an effort to tend, heal, repair, mend, nurture. It takes time, and patience and humility. The gardener meets the man who was so disappointed to find no fruit. He is overheated, demanding, very clear that the tree must but cut! The gardener meets that zeal, urgency, even rage.
“Sir!” You can imagine that the gardener has his attention now. Not too many gardener’s would address him like that. Imagine it… “Let it alone for one more year,… until I dig around it…, and put manure on it…this tree is worth it. and I know more about trees than you, speaking respectfully sir. this tree is worth it, that fruit would taste so good, and good things take time. And stop, think, for a minute-how would you feel when you take your grandkids out for a walk next spring and they ask “where is that fig tree we planted with you?”
And God graciously sees that you and I are worth it, and don’t we want to let God cause us to repent to turn around, change us, remediate us?
Sermon, RCL C, 3rd Lent, 3-23-25
The Rev. Evan G Clendenin
Service for March 16 Second Sunday of Lent
Sermon of March 16, 2025 Second Sunday of Lent
Who saw the lunar eclipse on Thursday? What was it like? I like some of you went out of my house, and to be honest, the promise of seeing something new and wonderful took me out not only of my house and my usual bedtime routine, but especially out of some of my own worries about jobs, housing, family, the political situation. And what did I see? The bright, silvery full moon, with a little brush of shadow, them a greater patch growing darker, a field of shadow creeping across those great basins on the moons surface. The shadow increased and the light sliver of moon grew more intense, like a glowing burst of light, then even that was gone, and through binoculars it was dark and glowing.
And God speaks in such sights, and the wonder of such a moment expands into our being. When you and I are afraid, anxious, apprehensive about what is to come next in our lives, our work, our families, our church, God takes us out to see with new eyes, new heart, new hope. God can give us a wondrous sight of what is already right there-moon, stars, salamanders, the face of a neighbor, a human struggling to get by like you do.
In such a moment of fear, God speaks to Abram that constant message of scripture ‘be not afraid.’ How does God say it? God has been listening to Abram’s anxious complaints, hears his griefs about life and fears about what is to come. God doesn’t tell him ‘stop complaining,’ or ‘think positive.’ No, God takes him out to look up at the night sky.
God takes Abram out, out of the whirring fears of his heart, to a place where he can see things-himself, others, the world, God,-anew. “Look toward heaven, look at the stars, can you even count them?” God takes Abram out of one land, to lead him to a new land. God takes the children of israel out of slavery in Egypt into freedom and living as a community trusting in God day by day. In Jesus Christ God takes us out of all athat binds us with fear, resentment, harm to self and others, and lets us see and live from the truth that God is for us, God’s compassion upon us, God’s light glowing to guide our hearts.
In this time of changes for your church, God will take you out, and give you some new and renewed ways of seeing yourselves and others, of what is to come, and how God is already here at work in Centralia and beyond.
And I would encourage you to pay attention to three things in the coming weeks and days.
First, pay attention to when you feel afraid or anxious. Notice it, don’t ignore it or hide it. Noticing how you are feeling during times of change can help you take good care, and not make decisions solely out of fear.. Slow down, try to give yourselves the time and room you need to feel and think clearly, and to speak and act as ones Jesus Christ has freed to live with compassion.
Second, pay attention to the signs and nudges that show up. This might be in your personal prayer time, in conversations on council or other ministry teams, the things you know and notice about the wider Centralia community and its needs and gifts, or the people and other gifts of God who show up unbidden.
Third, pay attention to what you and your community just spontaneously give, including the gift of weekly worship. What do you just love to do, such that it spills over in generosity and joyful welcome or sharing? What about worship together gives you joy, delight, or stirs your heart with compassion?
And, of course, you might just look up at the sky, or down at the ground, across the street, right there, stars, planets, birds, rainbows, a neighbor across the street, blooming camas lilies, countless sights to renew us and draw us nearer to God.
If you look to these things in your lives and among you, God will speak in a vision, and take you out to see anew, and lead you toward what is coming, and even already among you.
Immanuel Lutheran, Centralia, WA
2nd Sunday of Lent, RCL C, 3/16/25
The Rev. Evan G. Clendenin
Service for March 9 First Sunday of Lent
Sermon for March 9, 2025 First Sunday of Lent
Luke 4: 1-13
When I’m looking for insight or inspiration one of the writers, I often turn to is Diana Butler Bass. In her blog post this week she wrote this: “On this Ash Wednesday, my heart is broken and every shred of hope I once had is gone.
I’m not well. My soul is sick. I see nothing but greed, destruction, lying, inhumanity, and evil all around.
If anyone tells me that I came from ash and will return to it, I may well laugh in their face. Or cry and never stop. I just hope I don’t hit the priest. Because — read the room, people — we’re standing in ash up to our knees.
This is a brutal Ash Wednesday.”
I think many of us can relate to Butler Bass’s lament. Some of us are facing job loss. Others have health concerns or financial trouble; marriage problems, grief or stress… the list goes on and on.
But Ash Wednesday and Lent are upon us and the wisdom of the church year has sustained generations of people through the joys and sorrows of millennia. So what can the season of lent offer us this year?
A typical Lent tradition, even popular among many people even those who are not church goers or even believers is to “give something up” for the 40 days of Lent. That may be helpful, especially if you use it as a way to clear out those habits or things that no longer serve you. Simplifying your daily routine or even clearing away some things may give you space to hear God’s voice; the voice that always calls you beloved. It is the voice always inviting you into a life of abundance, of love and goodness and hope.
I’m not sure giving up dessert or carbs or a glass of wine, can serve that purpose. If it can, good for you! Do it!
But it might even be counterproductive to give things up.
One writer had this to say about giving things up for Lent:
“Jesus would probably laugh at us for giving up things like chocolate, beer, coffee…all the things that actually bring us joy and make us happy.
What he might suggest is giving up the things that make us miserable in God’s Paradise.
Things like self-doubt, insecurities, jealousy, greed, and gossip and anger.
The things that move us away from the Light.
Honor (Jesus’) sacrifice by giving up the darkness in your life.”
How can we honor Jesus’ sacrifice by giving up the darkness in our lives?
That’s what Jesus was doing in the wilderness in the gospel story we heard today. He was giving up the darkness and moving toward God, toward the light! The key to understanding this story is to remember that Jesus wandering in the wilderness came AFTER Jesus rose out of the river Jordan, newly baptized hearing the voice of God name him “Beloved.”
Even being God’s beloved does not prevent a time of wilderness wandering; a time of isolation, loneliness, or even temptation.
It may be, in some sense, that for Jesus to fully understand what his belovedness meant, he had to face the darkness that all humans face. Maybe it was important for him to understand that belovedness is found in the midst of our lives – in the midst of all the joys and the sorrows.
After those 40 days of isolation and deprivation, Jesus is faced with choices that force him to define what it means to be God’s beloved.
One of my favorite writers is Barry Lopez who in his last book, wrote about the life of Captain Cook; you know Captain Cook, the first European to set foot in Hawaii. Lopez tells the story of Cook’s voyages that mapped the part of the world we call the Pacific Ocean and the lands that border it. Lopez writes about Cook’s accomplishments but also about his self-doubt. Cook wrote in his journals about the doubt he had about whether his life’s work had been worth the years away from his family, years of doing work that was of questionable value, in his mind. In summarizing Cook’s life Lopez asks, “What did Cook mean by his life?” “What did Cook mean by his life?”
It’s an interesting way to ask that question. We usually ask, “What did his life mean,” when we’re evaluating someone accomplishments. But Lopez asks, “What did HE mean by his life?”
When our lives are over, if we could live our lives coherently, always making choices that align with our values and our purpose as we understand it, we might be able to say exactly what we meant by our life. From the perspective of the end of our lives we might be able to say, “This is what I meant to say by the choices I made!” This is what I meant by how I reacted to what life gave me! This is what I meant to convey to my family, to my dearest loved ones and friends! This is what I meant to convey to everyone! This is what I meant by my life as God’s dearly loved child!
In this BRUTAL Lenten season, rather than being too hard on ourselves, maybe it’s enough to gently ask ourselves, What do we mean by our lives? What do we mean to say by the choices we’re making in this Lenten season and every day?
In an effort to follow Jesus’ lead, maybe we can gently ask ourselves, is this (whatever it is): this activity, this use of my time, this way I’m spending my money – whatever it is in your life, can we ask ourselves: “Is this freeing me from the darkness? Is it helping me to follow Jesus in knowing how truly beloved I am by God, no matter what is happening in my life or in the world around me? Or are my choices, my actions and my thoughts contributing to the darkness.”
And then, still, being gentle with yourself, just notice. Listen to your heart. Listen to your Spirit. Listen to the still, small voice of God who is always, relentlessly calling YOU Beloved, my dearly loved one; calling you to come rest in God. Come trust in God’s goodness.
The Spirit leads to places where we encounter what we need; things that are not always easy, not always comfortable. Immanuel/God with us does not mean God takes away all pain, all that is challenging, all heartache. We are promised that God is With us – in it all; through it all.
At this time, when so many of us feel as though each day brings news of uncertainty, of chaos, and fear of worse to come, in these times the pattern of the church year calls us to make space for the truth and the awareness that God is WITH US, that we ARE God’s Beloved and we can choose every day to walk a little closer to the light! Amen.
Pastor Val Metropoulos
Immanuel Lutheran Church
Service for February 23
Sermon for February 23, 2025 Seventh Sunday of Epiphany
Two things I think about every time I preach:
First - What does Gather (and this week Immanuel) need to hear this week? I want to be faithful to God, not my ideas, but his.
Second - Would this preach in Auschwitz?
Think about that.
Sermons not to preach: prosperity gospel, if you obey all commandments/rules your life will go well, if you just have enough faith you will get what you desire
To the affluent, pastors will say, You are blessed. Jesus says this to the poor. One example of how upside down the Kingdom of God is compared to our world today.
This sermon is appropriate for Auschwitz, or modern day Palestine, Ukraine, and many other places, but preachers who would preach the aforementioned sermons might not want to preach this one.
Ordo Amoris – Augustine – order of love or rightly ordered love
Basically says that “special regard” is to be paid to those persons who “by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection” with the Christian individual. First love God, then others. The priority of others varies with time, place, and matter at hand. Can’t love everyone equally all the time. Prioritize based on need, not just proximity.
It is right to help a stranger in dire need over a family member in little need. – family/friends/people like us aren’t necessarily given priority automatically
First love God, then love others as their needs require and we have ability to meet those needs
In Augustin’s time, no ability to meet needs around the world. We have that ability and should use it as we are able.
Love should not stay with our family, tribe, or demographic and love is not “my group first”. Not about concentric circles, but about need.
*****************
You may have heard this in the news recently – different interpretation
“You love your family and then you love your neighbor, and then you love your community, and then you love your fellow citizens in your own country, and then after that, you can focus on and prioritize the rest of the world”
This is the way of the world. Take care of your own. Love in concentric circles and run out of love. This is the opposite of the way of Jesus.
As usual, Jesus turns the world’s way upside down.
Recap last week – blessed are you who are poor, hungry, weeping, and insulted
Woe to you who are rich, full, happy, and spoken well of
Woe – lament – riches and comfort keep us from seeing poverty and hardship, we are blind to Jesus in the face of another when we are full of ourselves
Blessed are YOU
Woe to YOU
There are both rich and poor in the crowd and Jesus speaks to both. Jesus does not talk to one about the other…important because we tend to be US and THEM.
Other groups represented – Jerusalem, Judea, Tyre and Sidon (former Canaanites – enemies of the Israelites)
Friends and enemies are in the crowd
Jesus begins with - If you are still listening, listen to this – LOVE YOUR ENEMIES
Blessed are you…woe to you…love your enemies, remember who is in the crowd – poor could see rich as enemies, different people groups could see each other as enemies, can you imagine people looking at each other – what would they be thinking?
The challenge from Jesus is to love those whom it is not natural for us to love. As a matter of fact, our natural inclination would be to hate them. That’s how the world works. That way of thinking pervades our society today. Played out on the national and international stage every day.
“Love your enemies” has been called the hardest commandment.
To our modern ordo amoris believers,
Jesus says: “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.”
Modern examples: If you love those in your church, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those in their own clubs. If you love those with your same political leanings, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love the likeminded.
Worldly common reciprocity is motivated by gain, quid pro quo
This is not love, it is transaction
High divorce rates come because when people feel their end of the transaction isn’t being met, they leave the “business”.
People use this modern day ordo amoris way of thinking to figure out who to exclude from their love. Some use their own order of love to justify hate.
God calls me to love and protect my own (family, friends, church, etc.)
Any threat, real or perceived, brings out the opposite of love.
_________________ (group of people) threaten my way of life, so they are enemies and I don’t have to show them love.
If I see them as keeping me from protecting the ones I love, then I don’t have to show them love.
As if hatred, discrimination and persecution will make the world a better place for the ones they DO love.
Pope Francis wrote a letter to US bishops saying, “The human person is a subject with dignity who, through the constitutive relationship with all, especially with the poorest, can gradually mature in his identity and vocation. The true ordo amoris that must be promoted is that which we discover by meditating constantly on the parable of the Good Samaritan that is, by meditating on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.”
Luke 10
Expert in the law asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him what the law says.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus tells him to do this and the man, trying to justify himself, he asks, “Who is my neighbor?” (Modern view of ordo amoris – is this person in my sphere? Do I have to love him/her?)
Retell the Good Samaritan parable
The Samaritan would have been considered an “enemy”. He was loving his “enemy”.
Who was a neighbor to the man?
Answer: the one who showed him mercy – can’t even say “Samaritan”
This puts the idea of neighbor in a new light – it isn’t about seeing who is a neighbor, but about being a neighbor to everyone, including enemies. This didn’t set well with the expert in the law and it certainly doesn’t set well today.
Augustine said, “You are all looking forward to greeting Christ seated in heaven. Attend to him lying under the arches, attend to him hungry, attend to him shivering with cold, attend to him needy, attend to him a foreigner.”
And I would add, attend to him an enemy.
What does it look like to love our enemies – We can learn from Jesus and from the Good Samaritan
Jesus doesn’t say “do it” without giving us the way to do it.
A couple of things first off: loving enemies doesn’t mean liking them
It doesn’t mean rolling over to their demands or letting them into your life on a meaningful level, or “forgive and forget” (not really a thing)
Jesus’ direction to turn the other cheek or give your coat as well as your shirt is not simply rolling over to the demand. It is active non-violent resistance. Active non-violent resistance is love because it is not retaliation.
Loving is greater and more powerful than any of these.
Second: this is a journey, working through pain, hurt, emotions, anger. Keep moving forward and you will get there, even if it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Do good to those who hate you
Outrageous and radical, then and now
We are good at blame, individually and societally
We are good at loving our neighbor and holding everyone else responsible for the ills of our society
When we do that, we hold anger and hatred in our hearts, which only hurts us individually. I use the metaphor of carrying a box of rocks. As we add hurts and unforgiveness to our hearts, it is like adding rocks to the box.
We cannot control the actions or thoughts of others, but we can control how we respond. Respond with kindness, mercy, and love. This will free you from the box of rocks, though it may not alter how the other person feels and that’s ok.
Bless those who curse you
Revenge is not sweet
Retaliation brings no comfort, no joy, no peace.
Speak kindly to and about those who insult you, disparage you, or slander you
Hard to do, takes courage and strength that we often don’t have in ourselves
What comes out of our mouths matters
Pray for those who mistreat you
Pray first that the person and their actions will not have such a hold on you that you can’t even pray for them. Pray to be freed from the negative thoughts, the scenarios, the replaying of past hurt that makes everything bigger and worse than it actually is.
Bring the situation before God, bring what it is doing to you before God, and when you are able, bring the other person before God.
Be merciful as your father is merciful –
From the cross, Jesus prayed Father forgive them, loving his enemies to the very end.
Love and mercy go together, and we love in part by showing mercy, not seeking to retaliate, but to do good, to bless, and to pray. This is the journey of healing in the way of Jesus.
Service for February 9
Sermon for February 9, 2025 Fifth Sunday of Epiphany
If You Say So, I Will
Have you ever seen something that is so overwhelming you can do little more than stand in awe? Some people describe entering one of the great European Cathedrals this way.
My first experience like this came unexpectedly. During my first year of college, I was part of a group crossing the country performing with a Symphonic Wind Ensemble. We had not been on the road long when we had a chance to stop by the southern rim of the Grand Canyon. Now up to that point, if you had asked me do I want to go to the Grand Canyon, I would have said no. But when we got there, all I could do was to stand there, looking out over the expanse in silence, awestruck with God’s glory.
There have been other experiences like that for me, mostly having been overcome by the beauty of Symphonic music. To this day, I cannot listen to Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony, called the “Resurrection” without breaking down in tears of joy at its conclusion. These experiences have been for me epiphanies, the intuitive grasp of reality far beyond explanation or investigative means.
Such describes the case in our first reading this morning, when Isaiah is brought into the Temple, not the one made with human hands which must have been glorious enough, but the true Temple, the location of God’s throne. The description Isaiah offers of necessity pales to his experience. If you can even come close to comprehending what he heard and saw, you can probably comprehend Isaish’s response, Isaiah 6:5 (NRSV) “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Isaiah’s response to the vision is repeated at different times and in different ways throughout Scripture. You may remember the visions of Daniel and Ezekiel. The encounters David had with God, encounters of chastisement, grace, healing, and restoration. And of course, the vision of John called the Revelation of Jesus Christ, truly an epiphany for all who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to follow.
It may not appear that way on the surface, but our Gospel text is an epiphany to the same degree as these others. The simplicity of the story Luke tells may not seem to be as dramatic, but I think it is.
Luke presents Jesus standing on the shore beside the Lake of Gennesaret proclaiming God’s word to the crowds that had gathered to hear. Luke says the crowd “was pressing in on” Jesus.
If you have ever seen paintings of famous teachers like Plato or Aristotle, you may have noticed that when they taught, they were sitting, and their audience was standing. Well here, Jesus is not sitting and the bigger the crowd, the more you can imagine people moving closer to hear better.
While this is going on, there are professional fishermen who are washing their nets following a very unsatisfying night of catching nothing. Jesus got into one of the two boats there, Luke says it is the one belonging to Simon, and he asked Simon to take him out from the shore a bit (a nice break for Simon who has been working so hard all night). Jesus then finishes addressing the crowds.
Luke is a great storyteller, but so far there is nothing he has described that is anything but ordinary. Except, when Jesus is finished with the crowd, he turns his attention to Simon. “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
What!? Simon objects. The fishermen are the experts. They know where to let down their nets and when to let them down. They’ve been making their living fishing for a long time. Some nights are good, some are not. Every job has its ups and downs. But they have been up all night and have not caught anything.
Who is this “carpenter” that thinks this is a good time to fish? Everyone knows you don’t fish the deep waters.
Are you ready for it? Simon responds, “If you say so, I will let down the nets.” This was the exact moment Jesus was waiting for. R.C.H. Lenski, a good Lutheran theologian, said of Simon’s response, “He intends to say, ‘The fact that thou hast spoken commands my will.’ That is exactly what Jesus wanted: Peter was to drop everything else and to throw himself absolutely on his Lord’s utterance alone. Yea, he was to go counter to all his own experience, science, wisdom, reason, or what not, including all that men might say and to hold to only one thing, his Lord’s word.”
Simon submits his will to the word of Jesus, and what happens? They catch such a haul of fish they can’t get all in the boat. They signal for the second boat to come and help and even then, they filled both boats to the point they were both starting to sink.
Simon Peter’s obedience to Jesus’ words reveals something about the reality of life and that sudden awareness resulted in humility, confession, and worship.
There are two sides to Peter’s new understanding: First, the Lord teaches us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It is imperative for us to recognize that the provision of our needs is the result of FAITH, not work. As Lenski wrote, “The fact that you have spoken, commands my will.”
Interestingly, these men all left their boats, nets, and their biggest catch ever behind them. Fishermen are notorious for their fishing stories. No one would believe this one.
Second, and here is the real epiphany: “Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’”
This one encounter that started with a frustrating night on the job and a sense of failure, Jesus began the transformation of these men from mere fishermen into heavenly fishers of men.
Maybe next time you have a hard time at work, next time things seem to be useless and fruitless, try turning away from all you think you know and simply pray, “As you have spoken, so I will do.”
Amen.
1 R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel, (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 279.
Sermon for January 26
Sermon for January 26, 2025 Third Sunday of Epiphany
Good News
Friends in Christ, Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen
When my daughter Sara was three years old, I had to leave her with a babysitter while I went to work. I was indeed fortunate to have a neighbor, someone just down the block as a babysitter. When I would arrive home, I would walk up the block to get Sara and take her home. Sara got so she knew when I would be coming and she would, weather permitting, wait out in front of the babysitter’s house. She knew she had to stay there and could not go down the street. But when she would see me, she would yell at the top of her three-year-old lungs, “Mommy! Mommy!” and spread her arms wide and run to me. And I would yell, “Sara! Sara!” and spread my arms wide and run to her. We were taking the good news to each other that we loved each other and we missed each other and that was great good news for each of us and not something we were quiet about either.
Children have a wonderful exuberance and spontaneity about them and if they have good news, they tell you about it. They can’t wait. They must speak that good news right now. I hope each of you has a small or large person in your life to tell you the good news that they love you. And yes, that usually fills our hearts to overflowing and we usually have to tell them back the good news that we love them too.
When Jesus preached in the synagogue at Nazareth, he had good news to share. He could not keep it to himself. He stood up to read the lessons of the day at worship and proclaimed from the prophet Isaiah: The Spirit of the Lord was upon him and he had good news to bring to the poor, freedom for the captive, and sight for the blind. And the best news of all was that that very day this scripture had come true right before their eyes. He was the one to bring this good news to fruition!
Unfortunately, the people who heard him that day were not very receptive to his message. They couldn’t really believe that he, the home town boy, could really be from God with that good news. Their reaction may come in next Sunday’s lessons, but you need it today too. They tried to throw him off a cliff.
This was the start of Jesus’ ministry according to Luke. He had been baptized and driven out into the wilderness to resist temptation. After temptation he comes to Nazareth and lays out his mission statement in this wonderful proclamation of good news. And he even tells the good news to those who are not receptive to his telling. It is important that he tell the good news.
And we who follow Jesus, we also have good news to tell. We have a God who loves us and promises to always be with us no matter what happens in our lives or even within us. That’s good news!
I once visited an ageing gentleman who could no longer get to church. He told me that all through his life God had been present with him and he had never been alone. Through wars and struggles and near-death experiences, he knew he was never alone. It was the good news he held onto, and he told others that good news too.
It is in the man, Jesus, that we know most clearly the presence of God who will never leave us alone. It is in the man, Jesus, that we see God come to be with us. You know that. Your church name is Immanuel, which means God With Us. We follow Jesus. He proclaimed good news and our ministry too, is to be with people, to be present with them that all might know that no one is alone.
Jesus was anointed to bring good news to the poor – not just the spiritually poor – the poor – the dirt poor – those who have little or nothing but want and privation in their lives. Throughout the Bible we repeatedly hear the message that those who have much are to share with those who have little.
Last Monday, besides being presidential inauguration day, was Martin Luther King day. Martin Luther King Jr was one who took Jesus’ message of good news to the poor seriously. His “I Have A Dream” speech galvanized people with a vision where the character of our children is more important than the color of their skin or the state of their finances. I know, that last phrase, “the state of their finances, ” was not in the I Have A Dream speech. But that speech was not the only thing Martin Luther King Jr ever said. Martin Luther King Jr spoke not only about race relations in America. He also spoke about the issues of poverty. He said, “Any religion which professes to be concerned with the souls of men and is not concerned with the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a dry as dust religion.” I think the one who proclaimed himself to be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord to bring good news to the poor smiled upon the one who brought good news to the poor with those words in the 20th century.
And who is to take good news to the poor in this century? You and me. I found out a little more about you by worshipping with you last Sunday from your announcements and also from talking with some of you following the service. Good on you, as my Australian friend would say.
Good News. Good news of God’s loving grace and presence in our lives. Good news for the poor, sharing the abundance of God in concrete, real terms. That’s a good place to start. Release for the captives, all kinds of captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, healing for all those who need healing are other places to go too.
Good News. Jesus had news too good to keep to himself. He proclaimed that good news to people in word and in action and in his very life blood poured out for you and me and all. And he gave that good news to us, not so that we might keep it hidden in our hearts where no one can see it. He gave it to us to take into all the world, even to people who may not be receptive to it.
The mission of the church is to carry the Good News out from the church into the world. And there is a distribution channel for this good news already in place. Every member of this congregation – every one of you and me too – out in the world today – is God’s good news messenger. Each one of us is a conduit for the pouring out of good news, not just here in this church building but wherever we go in our daily lives.
I had lost track of where a good friend was until I met her here after church last Sunday. When I said that to her, she asked, “Well, where you been?” She has been active in the Synod in ways I have not been active since I retired.
I have always had a heart for the people who are not in the church. I also have always loved the outdoors. So, when I retired, I turned into a long-distance hiker, like, thousands of miles of long-distance hiking.
Many hikers are unchurched, some hurt by the church. Unchurched people have a need for Jesus’ unconditional love, even if they don’t know it. I’ve met a lot of people on my travels. And I’ve had opportunities for prayers with hikers on the Appalachian Trail, on a pass in the Sierra on the Pacific Crest Trail, sharing Holden Evening Prayer at shelters, in my tent, or in homes of people who helped me. Also just being a safe, listening ear on some trail somewhere when hikers learned my hiker name, my handle on the trail, is Medicare Pastor. That really just means old lady retired pastor.
I’m not telling you this to say I am so great. I’m not. I often get foot in mouth disease, fail to say the right thing, and get so excited about what I’m saying that I don’t listen too well to others. What I’m trying to say is we are all called to share the good news Jesus outlines for us in whatever way we can, wherever we are. In and through our church homes and outside of the church too. We are called in our ministries to follow what Jesus did in his. He took that good news into his very self and it went with him wherever he went – in a synagogue, on a hill, in a boat, at a banquet, to the sick, to the poor, to a wedding party, to a hill far away on a cross anointed with his own blood, to a grave and past a stone rolled away, into your life and mine. And everywhere he went he brought the good news of the love of God for all of us.
I’m glad I have gotten to come here for a couple Sundays and seen a bit of the ways you share the good news at Immanuel.
We come together at worship, called by God, to hear about and share and praise God for such great good news. And we go out into the world to take that good news. It’s too good to just keep to ourselves.
Can we, in some way, each one of us, every one of us, be like three-year-olds who run down the street with arms stretched wide? Can we share the love we have received, the good news of God’s love and forgiveness and grace and healing and presence with those who need to hear it in the world around us? Can we follow Jesus and make his mission and ministry shine in us? Even to those who don’t think they need it?
Jesus’ ministry is ours too. Yes. Even at the risk of being thrown from a cliff. For we follow Jesus, who loves us all. Thanks be to God, Amen.
Sermon for January 19
Sermon for January 19, 2024 Second Sunday of Epiphany
Gifts and Old Jars
Friends in Christ, Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our Gospel lesson today is about a wedding and an extravagant gift. Our second reading picks up on the theme of gifts. Our God is a gifting God.
First, the wedding. There was a wedding in Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus and Jesus and his disciples were there. Weddings are joyous occasions and then, as well as now, they are wonderful excuses to have a party. In the first century, I have read that it was not too unusual to have a wedding party that would last for up to 7 days. That’s quite a party.
Now, our story tells us, halfway through the wedding, only on day 3, they run out of wine. This would be very embarrassing for the bridegroom. He didn’t plan ahead enough to serve his guests. This is a problem.
Jesus is nudged by his mother into solving the problem. Jesus is somewhat reluctant since he knows that solving the problem will reveal who he is or at least that he is from God. But he does step forward to put things to rights. He tells the servants to fill six large stone jars which usually held water for the Jewish rites of purification. These jars were big! Each one held 30 gallons. The servants filled the jars and, lo and behold, the water, when poured out, is tasted to be the very finest wine imaginable. Now, where there was a problem and scarcity, there is now extravagant abundance of 180 gallons of wine for one whing ding of a party! There is more than enough wine to last the rest of the wedding party. Jesus has provided more than what was needed.
This does indeed reveal that Jesus is not your usual wedding guest. Jesus, though, was not the only one active in this story. The servants trusted him and did what he told them to do and his disciples believed in him.
And what message is there in this story for you and me as we face a new year, new challenges in our lives, new opportunities, the situation here at Immanuel? Trust the giver, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Do what he calls us to do and believe in him.
Is it really that simple? And who are we in this story? Are we the jars in need of filling? The servants needing to listen to Jesus and follow his directions? The disciples who believe? Or are we the wine to be poured out for the benefit and joy of all? I believe the answer is ---yes, we have a role as all of those.
Well, let’s take a look at our second lesson of the day. Perhaps it will give us some help. Paul is writing to that fractious, devisive new church in Corinth. They are having trouble getting along with each other. They are fighting over who has the best gifts from God, who is the real Christian and what should they do with the gifts they are given.
This lesson is not talking about the gift of wine at a wedding but all the gifts we are given and what we are to do with them. And we are definitely not given gifts to fight about them.
Now, I am just your visiting pastor and I really don’t know you, though I have preached here once before. But I don’t know of a church anywhere, that has not had big disagreements about any number of things just like the church at Corinth. So I assume that is true here too, if not now, then in your past. If not then, it will be true in your future. It’s just the way we are. We have trouble getting along with one another. We have trouble with our differences. We have trouble recognizing and valuing our own and each other’s gifts. Sometimes we have trouble welcoming new and different gifts in our well established groups of friends.
In the beginning of the letter to the Corinthians, Paul blows his top in anger that they could be so petty and fractious, dividing themselves into this little group or that little group because of their history, specifically, their baptismal history, their ‘church” history. They had trouble living with their differences as Christians. In our passage for today, Paul has settled down a little and is explaining that there is one gift that is the most important. The one gift that is given by the Holy Spirit to everyone is to say, Jesus is Lord.
We are given the gift of the Holy Spirit in our baptism. That Holy Spirit grows in us and gives us the gift of being able to say, Jesus is Lord. To say “Jesus is Lord” is the universal gift of the Holy Spirit to all Christians. And here that was something we thought we did that all by ourselves. No. It is a gift.
And after that all our gifts are differences. There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.
Why are we given all these different gifts? So we can get into arguments and fight? So we can gather together with those who think just like us and we can kick out people who don’t see things our way? Do we have a pure church of everyone who thinks, serves and acts like I do?
No, we are given our differences as gifts for the common good. Paul is bold enough here to say that we need each other and our very differences have a purpose for the common good of the church. The Holy Spirit gives us all gifts. As an old saying goes, “God don’t make no junk.” What’s more, no one person gets all the gifts, not even the pastor, especially not the pastor. Everyone is given gifts and all are important for the common good. Different gifts are given to all and all are needed. Diversity is not just politically correct. It is Spirit given and very Biblical.
Now, since I do not really know you, I don’t know what all your gifts are. But I am sure you have them, in abundance. You are a gifted people. Each one of you is a gifted person. And Jesus is still busy filling up your jars with wine, filling up each of you and your congregation with ever new and wide ranging gifts.
Now sometimes we need tools to recognize the gifts that are given. One of my favorite such tools is the Meyers Briggs Personality inventory. What I like best about it, is that it emphasizes that that each and every personality type is a gift. There are no bad personalities, just different ones. We need all the gifts and no one has them all but everyone has gifts simply in who they are. Sometimes that is a real eye-opener to those who take that test and learn a bit about it and how it applies both to them and to others around them and to our relationships with each other.
Another tool which is even more simple and equally powerful is a little exercise I remember doing in a Women of the ELCA group in a congregation many years ago. We played a little game of musical circles, sort of like musical chairs. Two circles of women, an inner circle and an outer circle moving in different directions when the music is going, stopped when the music stopped and faced each other. Then each person told the one opposite them what the gifts were they saw in them. It was a powerful thing to hear another person identify your gifts, some of which you did not know you had. Point of the game was to affirm each other and to identify for each other the gifts that were seen.
So – what are your gifts? Each one of you and as a congregation together? And how is Jesus filling your old jars with new gifts?
Is there some new gift God is developing in you? Some way of using your gifts you have never really considered? Have you been open to receiving new gifts, new people, new ideas, different, new ways of God working in you, through you, for you, for others?
The servants listened to Jesus. Listen to Jesus in prayer. And do what Jesus calls you to do and recognize new gifts that are given to you and to others.
We have been gifted by an incredibly generous God whose gifts come with abundance to accomplish all that we do for the common good. These gifts are not to be held in jars. These gifts are not to be held tightly in us. They are to be poured out for others, for the common good.
Look around to see the gifts already given to you. Recognize and affirm those gifts. And be ready for the new gifts God will give even when they are different gifts from what you expect or think you need. Receive the gifts of God and join together to use those gifts for the up-building of the community of faith and the up-building of the greater community around you. This is what our gifts are given for.
And celebrate! Jesus likes parties and celebrations. He even contributed enough wine for a 4 day party. Lutherans have all the right words to have a party but we seldom pull it off. Seldom do we find a way to be as celebrative and joyful as a 4-day wedding feast with 189 gallons of wine. We tend to focus on what we don’t have instead of the gifts already given.
When we look at what we don’t have its like running out of wine at the wedding. Right now you do not have a regularly called pastor. Sometimes, when a door is closed a window opens and new ways of doing things are found.
Are you the servants? What is Jesus asking you to do? How is Jesus trying to fill your old jars? Or is Jesus asking you to pour out your gifts as the servants poured out the wine?
We are gifted by God in a myriad of ways from our basic personalities, our histories, the world around us. And above all we are gifted by the extravagant love of Jesus who poured out his lifeblood to bring us God’s own love.
Oh Lord, Jesus, Open our jars, our hearts, our church to receive filling. Help us to listen to your directions and follow them. And open our jars, our hearts and our church to pour out your love. Then may we celebrate your gifts to us and our gifts from and to others.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Sermon for December 24, Christmas Eve
Sermon for December 24, 2024 Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve Candlelight Service
So I asked the internet this week what women say giving birth feels like. One mother shared rather graphically, "The best description I can offer of how the pain actually felt was like a deep internal 'pulling'–like someone kept reaching up deep inside me, grabbing hold of whatever internal organs they could, and trying to tug them out." Unpleasant. Another mother said, "My labor pain felt like my hips were being pulled apart!" But it is not just the pain, one mother named the satisfaction of ending the nine months of pregnancy, she said, “It was the most empowering thing I've ever done. I would do labor over again in a heartbeat; the nine months preceding it is the hard part.” So many endings come with a birth: the ending of the nine months pregnancy, the ending of the labor and delivery…but also bigger, “idea” endings: if the child is your first the birth is the ending of family just being the two of you, or the ending of whatever “me-time” you thought you had as you enter the world of diapers and midnight feedings. So many endings come with a birth, and yet we understand, that to make a birth about endings is to completely miss the point of the birth.
Especially this birth. I love how on Christmas Eve we get to just pause in the magical and transcendent moment and bask in the glow of mother Mary, cradling her newborn babe, father Joseph hovering protectively, really unsure of what is next, the shepherds, completely out of place, still shaking in awe and fright from their encounter with the angels. It is a quiet, perfect moment, the sounds of animals bedded down for the night and the sweet smell of hay. And yet we understand that with the birth of this one who will be called the Christ, everything has changed. God has entered the world in the flesh of a newborn babe. And, yes, his birth means a whole lot of endings. His birth signals the ending of the Temple and all the sacrifices, the ending of the law as it was observed by the Pharisees and scribes. His birth is the ending of the time of the prophets and ending to the old age itself. His birth will be the ending of death and the reign of sin. And yet we understand, that to make this birth about endings is again to completely miss the point of the birth. Because to focus on the ending is to miss the kingdom-shattering and world-changing new beginning. And God is all about new beginnings.
The Israelites couldn’t help but look back and long for the days in Egypt, but of course the whole point of the wilderness was not to make them miss Egypt, but to prepare them for the new way of living and a life of faith God had in store for them in the promised land. Paul had to be utterly confused and his life turned upside down when God blinded him on the road to Damascus, but the point was the new transformational thing God had in store for Paul. Or again, the three days Christ lay in the tomb the disciples hid and were afraid, only counting the cost of what they had lost, completely missing the new thing God was about to do on Easter morning. You see, our God is all about new beginnings. And so on this night we celebrate a birth. We look forward and anticipate what God is going to do next. Because our God is faithful, our God is powerful, and our God is in charge. What does this new beginning mean for us?
The new beginnings promised this night make us want to stand and sing; truly, it’s Christmas Eve, how can we not sing? “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light!” And my God, for those of us experiencing loneliness or grief or struggle, listen to the new thing God is doing! In your darkness a light has shined. Or again from our reading from the prophet Isaiah, the promise that in this birth God is working an end to all wars and violence! The beginning of the reign of the Prince of Peace! “For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child has been born unto us…and he is named…the Prince of Peace.” Don’t you just get exhausted by all the violence and murder in the news? War after war, more and more gun violence and senseless shootings. Into all this war and bloodshed we are promised God is doing a new thing, here in this birth! Swords into plowshares! Melt down all your guns! For one has been born and his name is the Prince of Peace! The promised new beginnings here in this birth are nothing short than the very reign of God itself!
We are told that mother Mary took all these things and treasured them in her heart. Her heart became the Hope Chest, that treasury of all things meaningful and significant. She would have added to those treasures of course the promises of the angel Gabriel, who in his visit to her announced that this child, this newborn babe, would be called “the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” Or again her uncle Zechariah, at the birth of John, announcing of her baby now lying in the hay in the manger, “God has redeemed his people and raised up a savior…who will give salvation by the forgiveness of sins!” Son of the Most High God? The throne of David? Forgiveness of sins? The Savior? All these things swirled in Mary’s mind in this quiet moment, exhausted, at the end of so many things, and yet beholding this new thing that God was doing.
This is a night of so many endings, it is true, but to make it about endings is to completely miss the point. For our God is a God of new beginnings. And beginnings are powerful. Beginnings are laden with hope. Beginnings are full of opportunity. Beginnings invite us into a season of change as we behold this new thing that God is doing. And on this night of all nights we celebrate and proclaim this new thing that God has done, that indeed Christ the Savior is born. Amen.