GENEROSITY GIVES US JOY

GENEROSITY GIVES US JOY

They wanted more bread. The day before, they witnessed a miracle. Jesus blessed five loaves of bread and blessed two fish and 5,000 people were fed. They came back, hungry for more signs and wonders. They came back, wanting more bread.  

Aren’t these people just like us? We want more. Our bellies are hungry every day too. So who could blame them? They are eager to see if Jesus is going to do it again, just like Moses in the wilderness. 

But Jesus reminds them that Everything belongs to God. As we read in Psalm 24, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those who live in it.” Everything belongs to God.

OK, the people say, “Give us this bread ALWAYS.” And Jesus responds that he has come not to just fill their bellies with a bread that will satisfy for just a short time. Instead, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life.” Jesus came - not to be a perpetual food service provider - but to give us everlasting life to us because of God’s great love for us.  

You know this. Many of you have memorized John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have everlasting life.” Jesus came because God loves.

I have three things for you to remember today: 1st) Everything belongs to God. 2nd) Our Generous God gave us everything. You know this too: God gave us EVERYTHING - even those things we may claim as “ours” - all of our talents, our skills, our stuff and the world around us - all came from and belong to God. 

And… 3rd ) We get to give generously too.

Conventional wisdom assumes that if you are successful, then you will have money and be happy and able to be generous. But… the truth is, money doesn’t make you happy…and it doesn’t make you generous. 

It’s quite the opposite. As author Seth Godlin writes, “Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful.” 

Conventional wisdom also tells us that we live in a world of scarce resources - there is not enough time, money, love or security to go around. Conventional wisdom says we need to look out for ourselves and our family first, making sure we have “enough” before we share with others. God helps those who help themselves right?  

No. NO. No No No. That’s not in the Bible. Instead, what the Bible teaches is that 1) Everything belongs to God. 2) God gave us everything. We don’t live in a world of scarce resources. We live in a world in which God calls us to manage, that is steward, the abundance of gifts that God has entrusted to us. And, like God gives to us, 3) We can give generously too. 

Our stewardship theme this year is “Seeing 2020: Focusing on our Future.”  We, as church, want to look ahead to the next year, to open our eyes, to see with 20/20 vision  the gifts that God has entrusted to us. 

But…you may argue, isn’t “Hindsight 20/20? ” It can be, so let’s start by looking back. 

As a congregation, you are generous! We have reason to rejoice & be thankful for the gifts that you have given. Please open the colored insert titled “Seeing 2020: Focusing on our future” to the inside pictures.  

See the picture of our Confirmation class this year with Vicar Becca and myself? Vicar Becca is the 11th Vicar we have had since 2008… You have generously and JOYFULLY supported these pastoral interns through prayers, encouragement and your offerings.  

And those gifts that you have given have multiplied the ministry of God’s word out into the world, serving people in other congregations in Minnesota, Nebraska and Pennsylvania. And this has given us great joy!

But that’s not all. Look again at that picture. Future pastors are not the only ones that you have mentored and supported with your financial gifts, your prayers and your encouragement. This year we confirmed the faith of five young people. We invest in our youth - and that gives us great joy! 

Looking across the page, as a church, and individually, we invest in local, regional and global ministries. We joyfully support NEAR foodshelf, Kidpack, Luther Seminary, Lutheran Social Services and Global Health Ministries as well as the ELCA ministries around the world. There wasn’t enough room for pictures of all of the ministries we support. With 20/20 hindsight, I am proud to be able to say that you are a generous people. 

As a congregation, you know that 1) Everything belongs to God. 2) God gave us everything and that you and I 3) get to respond by giving generously too. And it brings us joy. 

Looking forward… Brothers and sisters in Christ, we have a new opportunity to be generous, a new way in which to joyfully share what God has first given us. But before I tell you about that… with 20/20 hindsight, I want to point out another generous gift that is sitting right in front of you. Faith-First and their accompanist Judy Bakke and their director, Mariana Duffney have generously given of their time and their talents to sing Gospel music to the praise of God. They have also used these talents to raise money for NEAR food shelf. And in doing so…. they have spread joy!  They give of themselves and their time freely… but I would dare to bet that if you ask any one of them, they would say that sharing this gift gives them joy. This is the truth of giving generously: It gives joy. 

Today we give thanks for this ministry that has served us so well in the past. But we also look forward, seeking to look with God’s vision for us in 2020 and beyond. The Wildfire churches - including First and Faith-Lilac Way - are seeking to do something new together - investing in a faith based community organizer.  I’ll be talking about this more after worship in the library so please join me. 

We don’t know exactly what this new ministry will look like. But we are committed to getting out into the neighborhood and doing it together.

There was a story in CityPages just a couple of weeks ago about an ELCA church, Peace Lutheran in Lauderdale. By all accounts, they were dying. They were down to 20 members and 18 months of savings. But rather than just close their doors, they decided to see what would happen if they radically lived out Jesus’ call to love the neighbor. So… they made 700 flyers and leafletted the neighborhood, offering to roof houses, fix plumbing, repair anything in need, free of charge. There would be no litmus test, no income requirements, no concern if you were Lutheran or atheist and no expectation that you would join the church. The idea was to simply help the neighbor. As one person said, “Your quality of life can be improved if the toilet works.”

On their first try, only two women responded - one needed some painting and another needed her garage repaired. But the people of Peace kept at it - cleaning the house of an elderly widow, fixing a furnace, building a chair lift for the disabled. The word spread that Peace was the place to go for help. 

The idea also attracted other people who wanted to help. Non-members joined the cause by the dozens. Grateful neighbors have kept Peace afloat. It’s still a little church but they are doing God’s work in the neighborhood, loving the neighbor in word and deed.  

I don’t know what our WILDFIRE outreach into the neighborhood will look like but just think about the joy that is in store for us as God seeks to do a new thing, with us, in our community.  This is why we are asking for your support.

Looking forward with 2020 vision, we remember: 1) Everything belongs to God. 2) Our Generous God gave us everything. and 3) We get to give generously too! It gives us JOY! 

Thank YOU for your generosity and Thanks be to God for all of God’s gifts to us! Amen.

Blessed

The Gospel according to John, the 6th Chapter from The Message Bible:. Coming down off the mountain with them, Jesus stood on a plain surrounded by disciples, and was soon joined by a huge congregation from all over Judea and Jerusalem, even from the seaside towns of Tyre and Sidon. They had come both to hear him and to be cured of their ailments. Those disturbed by evil spirits were healed. Everyone was trying to touch him—so much energy surging from him, so many people healed! Then Jesus spoke:

You’re blessed when you’ve lost it all.
God’s kingdom is there for the finding.
You’re blessed when you’re ravenously hungry.
Then you’re ready for the Messianic meal.
You’re blessed when the tears flow freely.
Joy comes with the morning.

 “Count yourself blessed every time someone cuts you down or throws you out, every time someone smears or blackens your name to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and that that person is uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—skip like a lamb, if you like!—for even though they don’t like it, I do . . . and all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company; my preachers and witnesses have always been treated like this.

But it’s trouble ahead if you think you have it made.
    What you have is all you’ll ever get.

And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself.
    Your self will not satisfy you for long.
And it’s trouble ahead if you think life’s all fun and games.
    There’s suffering to be met, and you’re going to meet it.

 “There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not truth contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! Your task is to be true, not popular.

 “To you who are ready for the truth, I say this: Love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer for that person. If someone slaps you in the face, stand there and take it. If someone grabs your shirt, giftwrap your best coat and make a present of it. If someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. “Here is a simple rule of thumb for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them!” 

Blessings

Blessings. I often think of blessings as good things. But in today’s Gospel, Jesus has a rather different idea about how we are blessed and how we should respond. Jesus says we should count ourselves blessed if someone smears our name because we are Christian – and our response should not be indignation or outrage but we should “Skip like a lamb?” And heaven applauds? This is a blessing? 

I should note that there are two Biblical accounts of what are sometimes called the “Beatitudes” or blessings.  The most familiar is the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus is on the mountaintop and proclaims spiritual blessings to those who are hurting, hungry, poor and in mourning. 

Luke tells the story differently.  Jesus comes down off the mountain and stands on a level place, in the midst of people. These people, ordinary people, came to be healed, to hear a new word, to be made whole. To them and to us, Jesus says:  

“You are blessed when you’ve lost it all…. when you are hungry… when you are in mourning and can’t stop the tears.” This is blessing?  

Jesus says this is blessing because these are the times in which you are most likely to be vulnerable and most willing to open yourself up to the way of Christ, and to the kingdom of heaven.  It’s when we are vulnerable, that is - when we are not thinking that we’ve got it all made, or that we can do this on our own and we don’t need anyone else -- it’s when we are vulnerable, in those times that we have been stopped in our tracks, when we realize that we can’t do it on our own… it is at these times that our hearts are broken open to hear God’s voice and not our own. 

And on the flip side, Jesus warns: there will be “trouble ahead” for those who are so well off that they think they’ve got it made and they don’t need Jesus – or anyone else. At these times – it’s easy to not listen to God’s voice, trusting instead in our own council. It’s not that God sends trouble… Jesus is simply describing the way of the world.

The “blessings” that Jesus cites don’t affect people equally - those who are paycheck to paycheck are more likely to face hunger than others and yet…no one is immune. If the stock market crashes or a business fails or illness strikes … people who thought themselves “safe” are suddenly faced with challenges that they never imagined could happen to them. 

But grief - mourning the death of those we love – is something we all experience or will experience regardless of our economic status, our heritage, or our world view. We all mourn. Grief comes to everyone who has loved someone who has died and to all who have lost dreams, hopes and opportunities.  

Today, All Saints, we pause to remember those who have gone before – those people who are now saints in heaven. We call them “Saints” but not because they were perfect. They weren’t.  They were imperfect people while they lived among us. In some traditions, there are rules of who can become a Saint. But in our Lutheran understanding, all the baptized people are both saints – claimed by Christ – and sinners, people who fall short of being the people God made us to be.  Some of those who are now Saints were teachers and mentors who inspire us. Others, unfortunately, left some scars and unfinished business. Yet, we call them all saints because they have been made Saints by Jesus and, at their dying, Jesus has taken them, in their frailty, in all their brokenness, and made them whole. 

A month or so a woman I’ll call Sarah called and asked if she could come by to talk about the death of her husband. At first, I assumed that she wanted to plan a funeral. But no, she wanted release from the pain of unfinished business. Her husband had been abused as a child and that hurt was coming out sideways and he wouldn’t seek help. Instead, he retreated to their cabin and wouldn’t come home when she called. Frustrated, her last words to him before hanging up on him were, “I hate you. I never want to see you again.” And now… she wishes her words would have been, “I love you.” 

Sarah mourned not only her last words and the death of her husband but also the loss of her dreams of their life together.  Her tears wouldn’t stop until I wrapped her in a prayer shawl and, in Jesus’ name, proclaimed forgiveness, release and wholeness for both her and her husband.  Jesus proclaimed to her that day: “Joy comes in the morning.” It wasn’t necessarily going to be the next day… but the promise of Jesus was there for Sarah – and is there for you. Christ’s light shines and breaks open the deepest darkness. As followers of Christ, we can proclaim hope in the midst of despair. Hear Jesus’ promise: Joy comes in the morning. 

Joy comes in the morning. Grief comes in different ways, often surprising ways. But so do blessings. As many of you know, my mother Marilyn died this past year. I lit a candle for her today. Her death wasn’t a surprise. She had had cancer for over five years. And while you are never ready to lose a loved one, my mother taught me a lot about how to live and how to die. 

Marilyn’s goal was to use herself up. And at the end, she had done that – her body was nothing more than a wisp. When the time for hospice came, we prayed. We sang. We read a line from her favorite devotion: “Every morning lean thy arm awhile upon the windowsill of heaven, and gaze upon thy God.” This became our inspiration for each day. When we released her to God’s love and care, we gave thanks to God for her, and all that was left, was joy. “Joy comes in the morning.”

The way of Jesus is not easy and it’s not the way of the world. The way of Jesus is counter-cultural. Jesus calls us to love our enemies, pray for those we do not like, and open ourselves up so that we can become our best selves. Jesus calls us to be generous – both in spirit and in the way we live our lives. It is not easy. But I do think we can start living generously, in Jesus’ way, in small everyday ways. And then… we have the rest of our lives to practice. 

And the good news is that we aren’t on our own. Regardless of what comes our way….Jesus is with us. This is why we can dare to open ourselves up and embrace the life we live in Christ.  Because whether we face sickness or heartbreak, if relationships or jobs fail or disappoint us, and even if we feel that we are at the end of our rope, God is with us. And so are our brothers and sisters in Christ. For the way of Jesus means opening ourselves up and both receiving the love of Christ from our neighbor and receiving the love of Christ from our neighbor. We are called to use ourselves up until nothing is left but the love of Jesus and we discover that – despite all the odds - Joy comes in the morning.  That’s a blessing. That’s the kingdom of God. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church

All Saints Sunday, November 3, 2019

Pray Always Do not lose Heart

Luke 18:1-8

Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. Jesus said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, "Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, "Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow causes trouble for me, I will give her justice, so that she may not, in the end, give me a black eye’"  And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"  The Gospel of the Lord.

Pray Always. Do not lose Heart.

 “Pray Always.  Do not lose heart.” Those are Jesus’ words to his disciples and us. Great advice. But it’s hard to do. It’s hard to “Pray Always.” And it’s hard not lose heart when bad things happen. And there are plenty of bad things that happen.  It’s in the paper; TV; newsfeeds on your phone or computer; social media; Twitter.  And sometimes bad news happens to us and to those we love. It is at those times that we really need to hear Jesus’ words: Do not lose heart. 

I was a high school senior when my dad died.  I had heard Jesus’ call to pray always. But, in the midst of my grief, the prayers that I learned as a child didn’t seem to work. After all, I had asked for healing. And it didn’t happen. Instead, the strongest man that I knew was suddenly gone.  It was hard not to lose heart. I felt like I needed to pray – and didn’t know how. Up until then, everything in my life was pretty secure and I was able to believe people who said that “everything will be wonderful if you just pray.” But suddenly, that premise didn’t match my experience. 

I asked my pastor for a book on prayer.  I told him I didn’t want a sunny book of everything works out for good people kind of prayer book. I needed something heavier. So he gave me a big heavy academic book on the theory of prayer. That’s not what I needed either. 

What I wanted to know about prayer was how to pray in a way that made sense, in a way that mattered, in a way that didn’t feel as if I was just talking to myself.  In my search for the way to pray, I discovered that there isn’t just one way. The key is the same as it is when you are learning a new instrument, a language or a skill – in a word:  practice. The way that I pray and the tools that I use change over time but the most important thing that I have learned is to “just do it” even if it feels like you are stumbling around in an awkward conversation.  So… let’s just do it. Would you pray with me?  

Jesus, you said that we should “Pray always” and not lose heart. Help us to be real, to be authentic when we talk with you, honest about our cares and concerns, and bold enough to turn our prayers to action for the sake of justice.”  Amen. 

Prayer can begin as simple conversation with God. It can be just talking to God – silently or aloud. God hears it either way.  

Prayer can be written down – I have a journal that I write prayer concerns in. Writing doesn’t have to be formal – like the prayers we pray in church. But I find that often writing helps me to get the stuff in my head out – and then I can give it to God. 

Prayer doesn’t have to be done by yourself. Prayer is even more powerful when concerns, praise and concerns are shared. Our prayer chain is one example. Our Contemplative prayer group is another. Prayer partners is another one. Sue Ferkingstad would be happy to sign you up for prayer for a child, a youth or a young adult if you don’t have someone to pray for already.  Just let her know – or write it on your green sheet.

Prayer can be done using art – some people draw; other color; some play music or sing. All of these can be ways to pray. 

Prayers can include silence. Contemplative prayer is the practice of taking time to intentionally listen for God’s voice in the midst of all of the busyness and hubbub of life.  This can be helpful. 

Tools can help. And there are a lot of tools available. There’s even an App for that.  Just one warning – don’t try all of the tools at once. It can be overwhelming! I’m going to be sharing some prayer tools in the library after worship, so I won’t go into any more detail now.  Just know this: God wants to hear your prayer. 

God wants to hear your prayer. Really. It’s not because God doesn’t know what is going on in the world or in your life. But God wants to hear YOUR prayer and YOUR cares because God cares about YOU. 

In Jesus’ day, widows were the least powerful adults in the community. They had no vote. They often had no income. They were dependent. Judges on the other hand, had a lot of power. Yet in his parable, the judge – who by his own admission, didn’t care about God or respect people – eventually does what is right for the widow.  Why does he do this? The NRSV translation written in the bulletin reads “because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.' The widow sounds like a bit of a persistent nag. But the translation that I read, which is closer to the original Greek, makes the widow out to be not like a pesky fly but rather like a boxer. It reads: “because this widow causes trouble for me, I will give her justice, so that she may not, in the end, give me a black eye”.  

Even though she was considered one of the least powerful people in the community, the widow, by her persistence and action – even to the point of not being polite – gets justice. 

Now I think there are two take-aways from this parable. First of all, Jesus argues that if an unjust judge who doesn’t care about God or people is willing to give justice to a persistent widow, we can be assured that God, who is just and loving, will give you justice, love and care. 

Oh there are times, when you, when I, wonder… God, are you listening? Could you do something here?  But when justice and healing don’t come as quickly as you want or in the way that you want, know this: God has not forgotten you. God is still by your side. 

And the second thing that Jesus is teaching his disciples and us is that he is not just encouraging us to wait patiently for God to act. Instead, he lifts up this widow as an example. I think that Jesus had a sense of humor. I mean, this was unfair fight right?  Imagine: a petite little old lady and a great big football player sized judge. He has all the power. She has none. But… in that parable, that widow didn’t give up. She persevered. She was like a mama bear who was going to protect her cubs – no matter what. And in the end, it is the judge who is worried about getting a black eye – maybe not literally but he’s worried about his status and so gives her justice.  

This is what Jesus is teaching his disciples and us to do. To persevere in prayer, to not lose heart, but instead to let that prayer lead you to action. Because prayer is not simply passive and it is not just one-way. The God who created you also entrusted you with gifts to use in this messed up world of ours.

One prayer book puts it this way: “Prayer is less about trying to get God to something we want God to do and more about getting ourselves to do what God wants us to do and to become who God wants us to be.”

Well then. Do not lose heart. Pray. Because God is listening and  God wants to hear your cares and concerns and needs and God wants to empower you to act for the sake of justice. 

Last week at worship, I invited people to write down a gift that God has given you. That’s a prayer. Today, I would like you to write down a need, a care, or a concern to share with God. This is a prayer too, a prayer God wants to hear.  

Let us pray together: God of power and might, God of love who cares for the least of us, we lift up our prayers to you. Give us courage to follow where you lead, putting our trust in you and acting for the sake of the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane 

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church 

October 20, 2019 

1From Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Enuma Okoro 

The Message I want the people to hear: Pray Always. Do Not Lose heart. Pray because prayer changes both you and the challenges you face; do not lose heart because God is with us, bringing justice and healing and wholeness to you and me and the world – but not on our timetable. 

Grateful

Luke 17:11-19

11 On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, 13 they called out, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" 14 When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were made clean. 15 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He prostrated himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus asked, "Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? 18 Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" 19 Then he said to him, "Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well."

Grateful

Thank you. One man came back and said, “thank you.”  And he was a Samaritan. 

Jesus wondered about the other nine. Where were they? I imagine, they were doing just what he told them to do – going to see the priest. After all, leprosy was contagious and feared, and so they had had to live outside the city, cut off from family and community life. It was only with the priest’s verification that they could return home. 

So why did the one man come back? That he was a Samaritan, one who Jesus’ Jewish listeners would not expect to have good manners to a Jewish rabbi, just makes it all the more striking. Jews and Samaritans had a several centuries old feud – there was no love lost between these two groups of people.  Samaritans were considered the deplorables, the “aliens,” the “undocumented” of the day by Jews – and vice versa. 

So why did he come back?  I don’t think it was because Samaritans, as a group, had better manners.  But something in this man caused him, when he saw that he was healed, to praise God, turn around, run back and fling himself at Jesus’ feet to thank him.  

Something was different about this man – and it wasn’t just that he was a Samaritan – although that made it all the more surprising.  Was it just his nature? Or was gratitude somehow – through his upbringing or through his own actions – cultivated and nurtured so that his response was thankfulness? 

I don’t think that any of us came out of the womb thanking our mothers. Perhaps some people are more naturally inclined to be grateful than others. I don’t know. But I do think that we all can grow in gratitude  - I know that I have become more grateful just by seeing it in other people. 

For example, this past week I received an email for the prayer chain. That’s not unusual. I’m glad to pray people’s cares and concerns and to share these concerns with our email prayer group. But this time the message wasn’t asking for prayer. It was thanking us for praying – and I have permission to share it with you. Helen wrote, “I'm a believer in miracles in today's world. How else could you describe my 93 year old brother recovering from blood clots in his lungs?  He is back in his own home in Willmar …I just had to share the Good News, and maybe the prayer chain would like to hear a huge thank you from me for all their prayers too.”

Helen and her brother noticed God’s work in his healing. And they said, “Thank you.”  And we rejoice with them. We are grateful for God’s surprising work in our world and in our lives. 

But sometimes, we or those that we know and love, aren’t healed. Last Sunday I was invited to crash a family party that Bev Evans was having. It was ok. Bev said that I was a good “party crasher.” As many of you know, Bev has had MS for many years. She has been in and out of the hospital lots and lots of times. Her mobility is incredibly limited.  At times she can barely move. And yet, on Sunday, there she was, delighted to be surrounded by family and full of joy and gratitude for life. Bev will never be healed of her MS but she has been made whole.

Bev reminded me of my mother. She is one who intentionally cultivated gratitude – especially after she discovered she had cancer. And she taught me a lot about it too. She loved to tell this story – so perhaps you’ve already heard it. At the cancer center where she received her treatments there was a bell in the lobby. Every time that someone had successfully completed their treatments, and were essentially cancer-free, they got to ring the bell and everyone would celebrate with them. One day, after a woman rang the bell a man leaned over to my mother and said, “I bet you are waiting for that day when you are done with treatments so that you can ring the bell.” She smiled and said to him, “Oh no. I will never ring that bell.” The man was embarrassed and started to apologize. But my mother went on to say, “I am grateful for every treatment. That’s what’s keeping me alive.” 

I want to pause for just a moment. Because you might be thinking, “Oh great. Now she’s asking me to give thanks for cancer and MS and these other really bad things in my life.” No. We should never give thanks for illness or abuse or evil in the world.  My mother didn’t give thanks to God for cancer. But, knowing that her days were limited, she – and we -- were more intentional about how we spent those days which turned into years. So she – and we as her family ---gave thanks for the gift of unexpected, intentional time together because the threat of cancer made each day more precious. God is at work – even in the midst of hardships – and when we see that and claim that – we too can give thanks.

Diana Butler Bass wrote the book, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks at a time in which she did not feel grateful at all…and wished she could.  But she was stuck, in part because as a child she had been abused by an uncle and this experience heightened her awareness of injustice – both personally and in the world around her.

Knowing this, a friend who had also known suffering, said to her, “Your life is like a garden, and it is not well tended. You need to grow your garden.”1 

Diana took that advice to heart. She began to see that experiences, including suffering, are like the soil in her garden and from it can grow both negative emotions like hatred and shame and positive ones like gratitude. But,“left untended, certain emotions can choke out others, like the wild grasses that threaten the lettuce every spring” in her vegetable garden. She also discovered that “hard work on one’s knees is the surest way to tend the garden - both in prayer and in rooting around in the dirt of the soul.”  She doesn’t know exactly how or when, but in the process, forgiveness began to sprout and instead of feeling pain, shame and fury she began to see her abusive uncle as a flawed and pitiful person. And then she noticed: gratitude had begun to grow in her.2 

So how do we cultivate gratitude in the garden of our souls? Diana shares a whole list of things to do – but the thing that struck me the most was to engage in a “beloved community,” in order to practice together gratefulness as a way of life. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we are here as Christ’s beloved community. In the midst of a world that is full of violence, anger and reeks of hate-speech, let us be a community of gratitude, nurturing gratitude in one another and giving thanks for God’s gift of Jesus who frees us and makes us whole. 

Remember: Jesus cured all 10 of the lepers. But it was the one who noticed that he was healed, and took the time to come back to thank Jesus who was made completely whole. He received a double blessing. 

So what do we do? A Benedictine monk once said, “Ninety-nine percent of the time we have an opportunity to be grateful for something. We just don’t notice it.”3 Or maybe, like the nine cured lepers who were racing to get to the rabbi to be declared healed, maybe we just don’t stop to think of it. 

This is why, in the children’s message, I asked you to write down a gift of God for which you are grateful. I invite you to place it in the offering plate as a thanks offering from you to God.  It is not a requirement. God has already made you a part of God’s beloved community. Jesus has already freed you and made you God’s child. God loves you. All of you. So let us be a community of gratitude, nurturing gratitude in one another and giving thanks for God’s gift of Jesus who frees us and makes us whole. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church

October 13, 2019

Diana Butler Bass, Grateful: The Transformative Power of Giving Thanks p.40 

Ibid., p.41

Ibid., p.54

What’s First? God or Money?

Bob Dylan sings, ”You gotta serve somebody. Maybe it’s the devil and maybe it’s the Lord. But you gotta serve somebody.”1

Jesus says, “You can serve God or money.” But not both.

Today’s parable is one of the hardest to understand. Theologians and pastors scratch our heads when we read this one. So in preparing for today’s message, I turned to an expert for help. Dr. Barbara Rossing is a New Testament professor from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. She explains that our difficulty with this parable comes, at least in part, because there was a different economic system at the time that the Romans ruled Galilee. Jewish law did not permit interest. There was no such thing as capitalism or banks. But people didn’t always have the money that they needed to pay their bills and so they went to the rich ruler or landowners. And – despite the Jewish law against interest - these rich rulers and landowners were often loan-sharks who used exorbitant interest to grab more land, kicking peasants off their family land. In this parable, both the rich man or "lord," along with his steward, who was basically hired as a debt collector, were exploiting desperate peasants.2

There are still loan sharks today. Payday lenders and other high interest lenders have taken the place of the rich rulers. But because our economic and justice system is different, other parts of the parable are harder to translate to our day. However, Jesus’ conclusion still rings true. You can’t serve both God and money - or as the King James Bible called it, “Mammon.”

But, for better or worse, money is how our economic system works. You no longer have to carry around a stash of it – you can pay your bills online and use a credit or debit card when you buy something. But we still need to use it, manage it, and “steward it” because it seems we never have “enough” of it.

‘At least that’s my assumption. If you have more money than you know what to do with… see me after church. I have some ideas to help you.

But now imagine, for a moment, that you won the lottery. Yesterday, the Minnesota Powerball was $80 million dollars. The cash option –they take out the taxes for you - was $54 million, 400 thousand. It’s hard to even imagine that much money. Or what would happen to your life if you won it. Here’s what happened to a couple of people:

Friends said Lara and Roger never argued before they won a $2.76 million lottery jackpot. At first it was great - they bought their dream house and a Porsche and took luxurious trips to Dubai, Monaco and New York city. But five years later when a freak fire gutted their house, which was underinsured, their fortune was quickly used up. Their marriage of 14 years crumbled too after Lara noticed emails from another woman. Roger didn’t argue – but he did drive away in the Porsche.

“Bud” won 16 million in the Pennsylvania lottery – but was $1 million in debt within the year. He was sued, successfully, by a former girlfriend for a third of the money. He over-invested in his family’s businesses and his own brother hired someone to kill him, in the hopes that he would inherit some of the money. Bud said, “I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare.” 3

Clearly there are some people who have won lotteries or come into money that haven’t lost it all or wasted it. I have also heard a story of a couple who received a million dollars from an estate. They wondered what they should do with it and decided that, while it would be fun to travel, or to buy a fancy car, they could affect more lives by giving it away. And then they told the story of how much joy that gave them.

Lots of money can be a nightmare… or a blessing. But what if you – or your neighbor - were on the other side of this scenario with too little money.

Isabella is a single mom who, in addition to her children, is caring for her extended family. The company that she worked for reduced her hours. She started to look for a second job. But, on the way to an interview, her car was hit by pickup truck. It wasn’t totaled but it wasn’t drivable either. She felt she had no choice but to get it fixed.

As you can imagine, the cost of the car repair plus her reduced wages meant that she didn’t have enough money to pay her bills. Isabella felt trapped. Her credit card was already maxed out. Then she noticed a new PayDay loan office in her neighborhood. She also noticed that the interest rate was high but she felt she had no choice. She signed.

Isabella’s financial situation went from bad to worse. The next month she didn’t have enough to pay her bills or her loan, so she took out another loan. She felt even more stuck.

But, fortunately for Isabella, her church, Holy Trinity Lutheran in South Minneapolis, in response to seeing a PayDay Lending store open on their block, decided they had to do something about the unethical lending practices that were happening in their neighborhood. They began Exodus Lending, a non-profit that gives people a no-interest loan and financial counseling through Lutheran Social Services to help them get out of their debt and into financial health. Someone told Isabella about the program, and since enrolling, Isabella has not only paid her loan but has learned the importance of saving money. She is looking forward to paying the loan back so that the money will be there for the next person who gets stuck like she did.

Now I realize that most people don’t suddenly have a million dollars. And I hope that most of us aren’t stuck in a payday lending loan –– see me if you are because there is help for you. But I’m guessing that most of us are somewhere in-between. But the question is this – whether you have a million dollars or just one or are like most people and are somewhere in-between – what is your relationship with money?

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Jesus cares about your relationship with money. He talks about money and what people do with it in the Gospels more than anything except the kingdom of God. The reason that Jesus talks so much about money, is that your relationship with money can get in the way of your relationships with God and with other people -- no matter how much or little money it is.

Jesus wants your relationship with God – not Mammon, not money -- to be number one in your life.

So how do we do that? The details of your finances are particular to you and your family situation, but here’s an overview of how to have a healthy relationship with money. #1) Have a plan for how you use your money – some people call it a budget. #2) Plan to do three things with your money: 1) Share. Remembering that our resources are entrusted to us by God, remember to put giving as the first thing that you think about when you plan your budget. The Old Testament law was 10%. That’s a great goal – but it is not a law for Christians. You are free to give less – or more! 2) Save. No matter how little you make, like Isabella, learning to save is important for your financial health. 3) Spend. Figure out what you need and what you want and have a plan for spending wisely. Share. Save. Spend. Make a plan you can live with.

God has given you and me abundant gifts of time, talents and resources – including the money we receive and the money that we earn – and wants us to manage it well so that we can reflect God’s will and God’s way through every part of our lives. Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us work to make it so putting God’s way into our daily life. Amen.

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church

September 22, 2019

1 Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan," 1979.

2 Barbara Rossing, WorkingPreacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/profile/default.aspx?uid=2-barbara_rossing

3 Business Insider https://www.businessinsider.com/lottery-winners-lost-everything-2017-8#bud-post-lost-162-million-within-a-nightmarish-year-and-his-own-brother-allegedly-put-out-a-hit-on-him-2

Cost of Discipleship is Love

I didn’t choose the Gospel lesson for today. I can think of a lot of scriptures that are more welcoming for the Sunday we kick off our Fall schedule – like Jesus welcoming the children or healing the blind, or feeding the 5,000. And I could have just picked one of those stories for today’s Gospel. But as I wrestled with the texts assigned by the lectionary for today, I discovered that they have an important message for us today about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

Now I recognize that after reading today’s Gospel, it would be fair to ask: “Really? Following Jesus means hating our mothers and our fathers? What happened to The 10 commandments? Especially #4 Honor your Father and Mother?

We’ll get there. But first a little context about the Gospel lesson: Jesus is in what an outside observer would say was the height of his ministry. He’s healed the sick, the blind and the lame. He’s cast out demons and restored lepers to community. He’s taught God’s word – and people came from miles around to listen. He feeds them out of nothing – two fish and 5 loaves – more than 5000 of them at a time. He really knows how to stretch a meal. Clearly, Jesus is at the top of the charts – and he doesn’t even have a guitar.

But then he tells this crowd about what discipleship means... and it doesn’t sound easy. It doesn’t sound glamorous. It doesn’t sound like a sunny day in the park feeding the crowd. It sounds too hard. It sounds unrealistic. It sounds impossible.

Fast forward just a few months. Jesus enters Jerusalem. Again, there are crowds. They are shouting with joy, “Hosanna! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” But, by the end of the week, those same crowds are shouting, “Crucify him!” And the only ones left, standing with Jesus, are a few women weeping with his mom.

Following Jesus was too hard – even for the disciples.

Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. Three days later comes God’s great surprise: Jesus is alive! But even the disciples didn’t believe it at first. They didn’t really “get it” until a stranger - who turns out to be Jesus - opens the scripture to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, explaining to them how Jesus was indeed the Messiah and how the prophecies were fulfilled. It was only then that they were able to see Jesus and to begin to understand that Jesus was calling them – and us – into a way of life that is not the way of the world.

You see, the way of the world in Jesus’ day valued family, status, and possessions. These are all good things. But discipleship means putting God and the way of Jesus first – above father, mother, spouse and children, above your possessions, your stuff, your status, your life. It’s not about shunning the 4th commandment which says, honor your father and mother. It’s about keeping the first commandment – love God – first. And not just academically – not just in your head. Discipleship is about living out the way of Jesus – and not the way of the world - in your life.

In his letter to Philemon, Paul is also lifting up the way of Jesus instead of the way of the world. Paul implores Philemon, a fellow Christian, to treat his former run-away slave, Onesimus, who has become a Christian and a friend to Paul, in the same way that Philemon would treat Paul. It was a big request. Slavery in Paul’s day was not the kind of slavery that we had in this country. Slavery was not based on race. Someone could be enslaved for not paying a debt – or be taken as a slave as one of the spoils of war. But still – there was a huge difference in status between a former slave and the slave owner – and the slave owner was not likely to overlook that -- especially since Onesimus was a runaway slave who had not yet “earned” his release.

But Paul is so confident that Philemon will do the right thing, and will abide by the way of Christ rather than the way of the world, that he sends Onesimus back to Philemon with his letter so that Philemon can welcome him back as a brother instead of as a slave.

We don’t know how Philemon responded. But what we do know is this: Jesus is still calling ordinary people – like you and me – into discipleship. Jesus is still inviting you to love God and live your life focused on the way of Jesus rather than the way of the world.

Because the way of the world hurts people. Moses calls it the choice between life and death. He warns the people back in his day “choose life by loving and living in the way of the Lord.” The other choice is death.

Brené Brown, the academic whose honest Ted Talk on the power of vulnerability swept her into fame, writes, “Ten years after I got sober, my breakdown spiritual awakening started. In addition to not drinking, I had just quit sugar and bread for the first time. I thought I was going to come out of my skin. I sat across from my therapist, Diana, and said, “You need to give me something for my anxiety. I can’t take it. There’s nothing to take the edge off anymore. I’m freaking out.”

Diana calmly replied, “What do you want me to give you?”

Infuriated by her calmness, I said, “I don’t know! Medicine. Something for the anxiety! I’m like a turtle without a shell. I have NO SHELL! No booze, no muffins, nothing! I’m a turtle without a shell in a briar patch. Everything in the briar patch is poking me and jabbing me. It hurts.”

She said, “Maybe we should talk about getting out of the briar patch?”

I was pissed. “Get out of the… briar patch? That’s your advice? Instead of giving me a new shell, you want me to live somewhere less prickly? Seriously?”

Diana said, “You don’t need to find a different place to live. Maybe we could just think about a different way to live. One that doesn’t require that heavy shell.”

Brene Brown doesn’t pretend that she has “made it.” She is still honest about the challenges in her life to living well. She quotes another author, Mary Karr, also a recovering alcoholic, “What keeps you sober is love and connection to something bigger than yourself.”

That’s what Jesus wants for you too. Jesus offers us love, a relationship with God and a way of life that is much bigger than yourself. So what does this look like for us? Maybe something like this…

Joe and Amanda met at a friend’s wedding. They began dating and it didn’t take long before they were seeing each other every day. Clearly they were in love. They seemed like the perfect couple.

But there was a problem. Our country had just gone to war in Iraq and Joe was a Marine, Special forces. He invited Amanda to his apartment for dinner. He told her that he had a confession to make. She said: “Your married, right?”

No, he laughed. But then he became serious, saying,“But I am committed to serving out my term as a Marine. I just got the call. It will be at least three years… maybe five. I don’t know when – or if I’ll be back. I’m going to a dangerous place and I do dangerous things. Then

he took her hand and said, “I love you. But we just met and three years is a long time. And it might be longer. I don’t expect you to wait – especially because there’s no guarantee that I’m coming back.

The next morning, as he got ready to board the plane, he saw her. She shouted from the gate. “I’m in. I’ll wait.” It’s a love story.

That’s what Jesus is inviting you into – a love story. For the cost of discipleship is love. Jesus is all in for you. Discipleship is about responding, in love, and living your life focused on the way of Jesus rather than the way of the world. Amen.

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Faith Lilac Way Lutheran Church

September 8, 2019

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer

“Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep.”

That’s the first prayer that I remember saying as a child. Maybe you said that – or a different one. The last two lines of the one I recited are meant to be comforting words:

 “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” But, when we had children, we didn’t want them to pray that prayer. At that time, I didn’t want to hear my children reciting a prayer about death and salvation – I wanted them to know they were in God’s care. So instead of this prayer from my childhood, we taught them the Lord’s prayer.

Jesus’ prayer is a prayer that can be prayed at any time – morning or evening, at the start or close of a meeting, or any other times.  And we do.  Here at Faith-Lilac Way, we pray the Lord’s prayer at every worship, council meeting and many other times besides. And this is a good thing! The blessing of knowing a prayer “by heart” is that it is available anytime of day or night. The danger is that it can become “rote” –easy to say it without thinking. So today I want to look at the Lord’s prayer – hopefully with “fresh eyes.”

The prayer begins with an acknowledgement of our relationship with God: Jesus calls God “Father” and invites us into a relationship that is so close that it is like a child and their father – or their mother or grandparent or someone else who cares for them, someone who loves them no matter what.

I was blessed to have had a great dad. But I also know that the name “Father” doesn’t, unfortunately, always conjure up good images for everyone like it does for me. I remember, as a kid, my dad swinging me up in the air and putting me on this shoulders, a place where I felt safe and secure. I remember my dad calmly teaching me to drive. I have lots of good memories. But some hard ones too. And that’s because human fathers are… well… human. They make mistakes.

But there are some men who, instead of being loving, have been mean or abusive to their children. So sometimes, the name “Father” doesn’t bring to mind someone who is worthy of trust and an example of someone who loves you unconditionally. If that’s the case for you, the Bible describes God in many other choices: I AM, Holy One, Lord, Comforter, Redeemer, Creator, and Mother. God cannot be contained or defined by a name. What God wants is a loving relationship with you.

In the next petition, when we say, “Hallowed be thy name,” we are reminded that even God’s Name is holy.  And when we pray, “Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done” we are saying that we desire God’s will – and not our own. Sometimes, when we are praying this prayer, I don’t think we realize what we are praying for, because what we are doing is setting aside our own desires and asking that God’s desires become our desires and not just in heaven but here on earth.

So what is God’s will? God’s will is that we love the way that God loves us. That means that we love God and share God’s love with all of God’s creation. That doesn’t sound so radical. But it becomes harder when it starts including people who don’t look like us, who come from other countries, who have needs. Then the fear mongers start saying, “those people are coming to take the jobs of your kids,” or “those people are coming to hurt you” or “those people are coming to take your money, use your resources.” Unfortunately, that’s when good people like you and me respond in fear. That’s when good people start to draw in close and start excluding others. That’s when we start putting our own will or security or fears first.

And yet we pray to God, “THY Will or YOUR Will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In praying this prayer, we are asking that not only do we want God’s will – and not our own – but we want God to guide us so that we do God’s will. It’s a pretty radical prayer.

Give us this day our daily bread. Martin Luther talks about “daily bread” as anything our bodies need – including food and drink, medical care for our bodies, money to buy the things that we need, shelter, good government, honorable relationships with our spouse, children and other people. It’s not only OK to ask for health and wellness and care for others – but Jesus encourages to care for ourselves too.

Then comes a hard one: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive others. Or as another version of the prayer says, “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Jesus forgives us freely and asks to do the same for others.

At Vacation Bible School this past week, I was teaching the Bible stories.  One day, I invited them each to pick up a rock.  

I told them: a rock is hard – kind of like sin. One isn’t so bad – you could put one in your pocket and forget about it. It wouldn’t wear you down much at all. But if you kept putting rocks in your pocket, soon those pockets would be full. Maybe you would put them in a pail. But if you were never ever able to set down that pail – but instead kept adding more rocks, more sins… it would be wearing on you. That’s what it would be like if you were never able to give or receive forgiveness. It would simply wear you down.

Not forgiving someone else wears you down just as much – or maybe more – than carrying around your own sins – your own rocks. 

Now I know that forgiveness can be hard.  Maybe someone has hurt you – or someone you love-- deeply. And they haven’t asked for forgiveness. So why should you forgive them? Why should you let them off the hook?  They don’t deserve forgiveness, right?

Maybe not. But… the problem is this: When you don’t forgive someone – you haven’t stopped holding onto that rock. Maybe you put the rock in your pocket and forget about it for a while. Maybe it doesn’t bother you at all. Except maybe at night. When you roll over in bed and there is this great big rock jabbing you. And then the anger comes back… and you are stuck with the problem again.  You haven’t released it; you haven’t forgiven yet. Worse yet, when you are holding onto one rock, it’s hard not to hold onto another, and another, and another. The weight of those rocks/ sins adds up.

Now there are times, when the pain is so great that you can’t forgive someone right away. Don’t beat yourself up about that. Sometimes it takes time. It certainly did for me. I was really angry at a doctor in a local hospital who gave up on my mom when she was first hospitalized. I don’t get angry often but I was furious. But… as I look back on that situation, if I hadn’t gotten angry at that doctor, I would never have insisted on a second opinion – and my mom would most likely have died five years ago.  Sometimes God works through bad situations to bless us anyway.

Just to be clear, I am not saying that bad behavior to you or to anyone else is OK. God wants you and all people to be safe, healthy and whole. Never ever ever does God justify people being abusive or manipulative or cruel to another person.  

The Bible sometimes talks about someone being hard of heart. Being hard of heart is what happens when something comes between a person and God’s way of love and justice and righteousness.  Hardness of heart means that you are following your own will – and not God’s. It’s what happens when people close themselves off from the love of God and refuse to receive it or to give it. It’s hard on them and sometimes it’s even worse for those who love you.

A neighbor of mine has tended toward seeing the glass half empty for a long time, but when she fell a couple of years ago, her rage at the world increased. Right now, she is not able to see any blessings, anything that is positive in the world. It’s hard on her; it’s really hard on her husband. He is at his wits end. It’s not the way that God wants her or him to live.

The way out of that kind of despair and negativity is forgiveness. Forgiveness means forgiving both the other person – and yourself. Forgiveness does not necessarily mean forgetting completely. But it does mean that you are free from holding onto the pain and sorrow that the action caused. Because after forgiving someone, the deed that caused you sorrow no longer has power over you. And… while you don’t dwell on it, you also have become wiser, and hopefully develop some appropriate boundaries so that  you become more resilient.

At the end of the prayer, Jesus tells a parable and a story. He explains that God is better than the best father or the best neighbor – and wants the best for us. Even in those times when it feels as if God is not listening, God is not hiding.  God wants a relationship with us.

Prayer is a gift – from God. It’s a way to be in relationship with God, to bask in  God’s love ad God’s grace. Prayer is a journey of discovering that you are the apple of God’s eye every day at every stage of your life… And that’s a promise you can hold onto. But prayer does not always come naturally. Like any habit, it takes time – and practice. And there are many ways to pray – but that’s a different sermon. So… if prayer is something that you struggle with – and would like help with – please let me or Deacon Kirsten or Vicar Becca know – or write it on your green sheet. Whether it is in a sermon series or in a workshop or class, we want to help you as you seek, ask, yearn for a deeper relationship with God.

What Do You Want? Exploring God’s Way for Your Life

Luke 12:13-21

Someone in the crowd said to Jesus, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me." But Jesus said to him, "Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?" And Jesus said to the crowd, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions." Then Jesus told them a parable: "The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And the rich man thought to himself, "What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?' Then the rich man said, "I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.” The Gospel of our Lord.

What Do You Want? Exploring God’s Way for Your Life

Rabbis in Jesus’ day often served as judges and arbitrators as well as pastors, priests, and teachers. So it is not unusual for someone in the crowd asked Jesus to settle a dispute. But the question is - what did he want? Is he just asking for his fair share? Or… is it something else? Jesus warns the whole crowd - not just him - about the snare of an abundance of possessions.

If that was all the Gospel said today, that would be a good word for us today. In our country and culture, we are inundated by “stuff.” My sister and I have been going through my mother’s estate - and it is easy to become awash in memories with every dish, every picture, every item. So while the memories are wonderful, the stuff can be overwhelming. And I don’t think I’m alone. According to the LA Times, the average American home has 300,000 items. And we keep buying more.

At some point, it becomes too much. I think this is why Marie Kondo’s book, “The Life-changing Magic of Tidying Up” has become so popular. Kondo urges you to get rid of all of your “stuff” that does not bring you joy. She provides a good antidote to our desire for more and more and more. In response to the question, “What do you want?” Kondo asks, “What brings you joy?”

I like some of Kondo’s methods - I learned from a YouTube video a great way to fold a shirt and store it, for example. I enjoy beautiful clothes and yearn for clean and organized drawers. But for all of the benefits of “tidying up,” I’m not willing to call it “life changing magic.” I want something more from life than just a tidy drawer or even a tidy life. Jesus wants more for you and me too.

Jesus tells a parable - a story with a message. A rich man had a bumper crop. And so he asked himself what he should do? His solution was to build bigger barns and silos so that he could have enough stored up that he could retire.

Growing up in a farm community, I wondered about this parable. After all, wasn’t it a good idea to store your crops? Isn’t it a good idea to prepare for the future?

But Pastor Elizabeth Johnson, a friend of mine who is now a professor, suggests that the problem for the man in the parable isn’t that he is preparing for the future or that he wants to retire or even that he is rich. Instead - as I hope you noticed from the way that I read the Gospel - his attention, his focus - was completely on himself. Did he thank God for the abundant crop? No. Did he think of how he could share the crops with others? No. Did he think of anyone other than himself? Again, the answer is “no.” 1

So what does the man in the parable want? He wants stuff, he wants to be rich, but even more than that, he wants to be in control. The rich man assumes that the one with the most stuff wins and that once he puts aside an abundance of stuff, an abundance of money, and an abundance of resources for himself… then he will be untouchable. He will never have to worry. He will be in control.

Except… he’s not. There was one very important thing that this rich and supposedly “successful” business man had not planned for - his reckoning with God. God said, “ "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.” How valuable are those treasures then? What does it matter how big your bank account is? What does it matter what kind of job you have? Or whether your sweaters and shirts are properly folded? Or whether you have lots of stuff?

The rich man in the parable learned what the writer of Ecclesiastes realized, “You can’t take it with you.”

And with that thought, Ecclesiastes begins to despair, “Perfectly pointless” he exclaims. Or, in the traditional translation, “Vanity of Vanities, everything is vanity.” The teacher realizes that everything he worked for, he will have to leave to someone else.

At first the writer of Ecclesiastes thinks that he is so wise that he can see what others cannot and he turns to despair. What’s the point? It’s all vanity - chasing after wind.

But despair, giving up on life, declaring it all hopeless, is another temptation. It’s a temptation that many of us fall into as well. All you have to do is listen to the news. It can get depressing - more gun violence. The one in Texas is by a white nationalist - age 21? What are we teaching our children? Despair can be tempting.

But while the writer of Ecclesiastes first despairs at the temporary, pointless, mortal nature of his life and all he thinks he has worked for, he comes to realize that God has not given him cause for despair. Instead, he sees that he has a reason to rejoice, because he is not in control and God is.

This is what Jesus teaches too. Jesus reminds the crowd - and us - that God is our true security. So instead of searching for security and purpose and joy from stuff, money, or status and instead of giving up and despairing, Jesus invites you into relationship with God. Jesus invites you to let God’s way, God’s vision be what you want.

For when we align our lives towards God’s grace and God’s kingdom instead of our own selfish passing desires, then we find blessing upon blessing - even in the hard times.

For the man in Jesus’ parable, I wonder if realignment could have begun with changing the pronouns, and his focus from I/Me/My to God/s Will/ God’s Way/ God’s fields/ God’s vision. Could the story have had a different ending if he had paused to THANK God for the abundance of gifts he was given; thought about who in his community might have been in need; asked God to instruct his heart, his life, his soul.

Jesus told parables for a purpose - to get people to think outside of their own story to hear God’s message for their life. And that is true today too.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, may God’s way be your way and God’s vision be your vision. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

1Elizabeth Johnson at Working Preacher

https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4048

Drink Deeply and Be Comforted

Listen to “Drink Deeply and Be Comforted” sermon by Vicar Rebecca Holland (7-7-19).

Cast Out My Demons, O Christ

Listen to “Cast Out My Demons, O Christ” sermon by Vicar Rebecca Holland (6-23-19).

God’s Love is FOR YOU!

God’s Love is FOR YOU!

Today has been declared, “Father’s day.” It is a good day to thank and honor and remember those men in your life who have encouraged you, challenged you, supported you and been an inspiration for you – even if they were not your birth father.   When I was young we always gave my father one of two gifts – a tie – or socks. And if it was a good year… he got both! I do have the secret to the best gift to give to a father…and it isn’t socks… but I can’t tell you yet…

Instead…. I have a question for you:

How many of you were encouraged by your father to boast when you were growing up?  I don’t think the word “boast” was even in my father’s vocabulary. He was such a humble man that I can’t imagine him boasting.  If he did something well, he never talked about it. And if he was caught doing something well, he would just say, “Thank you – you would have done the same thing.”

When I was growing up, I was taught NOT to boast. We were supposed to be humble – right?  And yet Paul is encouraging the Roman Christians to boast! He says, “we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”  And then he says, “we also boast in our sufferings.”

This didn’t make sense either. So I wondered what Paul was talking about when he encourages the Romans to boast. It turns out that the word “boast” could also be translated as “rejoice!” It makes much more sense to rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  But…when you are in pain or suffering, how many of you boast? Do you rejoice?

I don’t.  I complain. I certainly don’t seek out suffering – and I wouldn’t wish suffering and pain on anyone else either – and I certainly wouldn’t tell them to rejoice in their pain.

So what is Paul saying?  He isn’t masochistic – he doesn’t love pain. But….Paul does know that we live in a broken world and that pain and suffering happen in our world and in our lives.  

He also knows the story of Jesus and God’s great love. God not only took on human flesh and blood, but God revealed God’s love through the suffering and death of Jesus, his own Son on a cross, an instrument of terror and a symbol of shame.

In itself, Jesus’ death would have been have been incredibly powerful – and sad. But the cross is not the end of the story. God took what was shameful, painful and seemingly hopeless …. and turned it around to give us the incredible gift  - of grace, peace, hope, love and everlasting life. Where there was sorrow, death and despair, God brought joy, life and hope.

And this is not just what we believe about in our heads. This is how God works in live our lives. God is present with us – even as we struggle in our faith and in our lives. There will be suffering in our broken world. But, God promises to be with us even in the midst of our suffering, and just as God made joy, hope and life come out of sorrow, death and despair in Jesus, God also works in our lives, pouring love into us. God works through our suffering to build in us endurance and character and a capacity to hope.

It’s Father’s day today… and yet… it was hard for me to read this passage today – and not think about my mother Marilyn who we buried yesterday in the family grave in Wisconsin. As many of you know, she died recently after living with cancer for five and a half years. Those years were not without suffering and pain.  And yet… my mother taught me how she could rejoice – not for the pain – and yet rejoice…despite the pain and suffering. Like Paul, she could rejoice, because she knew three things:

First: she knew she was not forsaken by God. Her cancer was not a punishment. Cancer is part of the brokenness of our world. And God was with her through it all.  

Second: she knew the story of Jesus who brings life and hope.

But perhaps most importantly,  she knew what the story of Jesus meant for her life. She knew that she was a child of God. And, because of the love and support of God, and her Christian community… she knew that suffering and pain would not be what defined her life.

It was the witness of her parents, especially her father Spencer, that taught her endurance in the midst of suffering and pain. Their house burned down when she was about 8. For about two weeks, they lived with her father Spencer’s parents and aunts and cousins who lived at the top of the hill – maybe a mile away in a very big well maintained farm house. But then… they moved back to their farm and into a woodshed, for five years, while Spencer cut the trees, let them dry, planed the wood and built the house.  She learned endurance from her dad.

They could have been bitter. After all, their grandparents and cousins lived in relative luxury while they lived in a woodshed in which the water froze in the bucket under the sink on winter nights.  But they didn’t complain. In later years she wondered why, when her aunt lived in the big house at the top of the hill, that everyone came to their woodshed house for any celebration. Perhaps it was because her parents welcomed everyone… and just put up another sawhorse table when more people showed up. They didn’t just endure in the woodshed, they built character and shared the love of God with everyone.

I think it is because of the mentoring of her father – and others – that my mother learned to look at her situation, and even her cancer, as an opportunity.  

She told me that there was a bell in the cancer clinic that people would ring to celebrate the end of treatment when they were cancer free. On one day when one of her newfound friends was ringing a bell, my mother must have looked especially happy. A man turned to her and said, “When will you be ringing that bell? Sometime soon, I hope?”  Marilyn turned to him and said, “No, I will never ring that bell.” He was embarrassed and said, “Oh I’m so sorry – I just assumed that since you have had to endure so many treatments it would be your turn soon.”

Marilyn looked at him and smiled as she said, “I am glad for these treatments. They are what are keeping me alive!”  She rejoiced – not in the suffering but in the hope that she had of living fully another day.

Her cancer had made her more aware of the preciousness of life. It was because she knew that her days were numbered that she took time to tell stories, gather with friends and family, travel and enjoy life to the fullest.  Her prayer life deepened too.

Her intentionality of living a faith-filled life produced not only endurance, but character and the belief that life was worth living. This gave her hope, a hope that sustained her.  

Marilyn had hope – an audacious joy-filled hope - because she knew the story of Jesus – and what it meant for her. She knew she was a child of God.

Marilyn was a remarkable person – but so are you. As Apostle Paul’s said to the Romans, so I say to you: God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

You have received the gift of God’s love – and here is the double blessing of God’s love – it grows when it is shared.

Remember that I promised to tell you the best gift you could give today?  The best gift that you could possibly give to any father or anyone else for that matter -is the gift that our Heavenly Father gave to us – the gift of love and the assurance that God’s love is for them too.

God’s love is poured out without measure and without price for you – and it is given for you to share.  This love allows us the courage to rejoice – to boast – because we know that God is with us always and will be with us regardless of any challenges that we may face… and that gives us endurance… which gives us character… which gives us hope…and allows us to love…because we know God’s love is given for us. Thanks be to God!

YOU are witnesses.

Luke 24:44-53
24:44 Then Jesus said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you--that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled."

24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures,

24:46 and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,

24:47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

24:48 You are witnesses of these things.

24:49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high."

24:50 Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and, lifting up his hands, he blessed them.

24:51 While he was blessing them, he withdrew from them and was carried up into heaven.

24:52 And they worshiped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;

24:53 and they were continually in the temple blessing God.

YOU are witnesses.

 “The Nurturing Place” in Jersey City is a daycare run by Catholic sisters for children of homeless families.  Like the families that some of you helped care for this past week through Families moving Forward, a program that houses homeless families in churches, the children of these homeless families did not have many opportunities; none of the little ones had even been to the beach – even though it just was a short distance away. So one day, the sisters took the preschoolers to the Jersey shore and then shared what happened.  

Can you imagine: The little legs of the 3 and 4 year olds scrambling up the sandy dunes, falling down in the sand and then giggling as they climbed back up again. It seemed like climbing a mountain. Finally, they reached the top of the dunes.  And then… they could scarcely believe their eyes: there it was - the ocean – with water as far as they could see.

Those little preschoolers – as eager as any child would be - slid down the hill and ran towards the waves, running in and out of the water, laughing, splashing. What happiness! What joy! The children played and played until the sisters said it  was time for lunch.

They left the beach and went to a park – not far away. But, after lunch, the children begged to go back up the sand dunes. No sooner had the sisters said yes than One little boy named Freddie took off. He outran the rest and climbed his way to the top. He looked out, then turned to the others and shouted, “It’s still there!”1

It’s still there. In Freddie’s young life, so little was “permanent” that he wasn’t sure that anything would last – not even an ocean.

We may not wonder about the ocean… pretty sure that is going to be there… but with melting glaciers we may wonder about the ocean levels -- or about the stability of other things. With 40 tornadoes pounding the heartland of the US in May and blizzards hitting us – last year in April and this year in May… the weather feels less predictable, less certain than in the past.  The whole world feels unsettled… not only in our country but also the world – I mean, what’s up with Brexit? In our ever-changing world, it sometimes feels as if we are walking on shifting sands.

The disciples may have felt like they were walking on shifting sands too. They had been following Jesus for three years, watching as Jesus healed people; listening to his teaching; rejoicing in his triumphal ride into Jerusalem; then despairing as Jesus was crucified, died and was buried. But …Easter morning, they suddenly hear reports that Jesus is alive – and Jesus appears to them.

It is no wonder that the disciples are unsettled …to say the least. Perhaps they were afraid. After all… some of them had run away when the Romans came. Others had stood at a distance. Maybe they felt complicit or anxious… certainly confused... and clueless as to what was coming next…

Into this anxiety of unknowing, Jesus does three things:

First he opens the scriptures, like he did for the disciples who had been on the road to Emmaus. and like he had for them time and time again as they were traveling with him. So Jesus interprets for them – and shows them how his death and resurrection fulfills the prophecies.

Secondly, Jesus proclaims repentance and forgiveness, beginning in Jerusalem…with them. Jesus knows their fears and anxieties and forgives them. Remember… they were standing there… certainly blaming themselves –and probably each other for letting Jesus down. But Jesus wipes all that away and proclaims forgiveness, not only for them and for all those in Jerusalem who had condemned him but for all the nations.

And then… Jesus proclaims to them… and to us: You are witnesses. You are witnesses. What does that mean?

The role of a witness is to tell the truth, to proclaim to others who have not seen, who have not heard – like Freddie telling his friends, “It’s still here!”

Being a witness means you can’t keep silent. You have a responsibility. As it says on my cross, “Christ is counting on you.”

So did Jesus’ make a PR mistake? I mean… counting on a bunch of fishermen? I guess they were turned around. But what about today? Is Jesus really counting on people who have been taught – at least culturally - that faith is private, personal – live and let live- don’t bother your neighbor… don’t make waves… ?  

But maybe Jesus’ didn’t make a mistake. Have you ever heard the legend of the invention of chess?  The story goes that the emperor was so pleased with the inventor of the game of chess that he said to the inventor – “Name your reward!”

The man responded: “Oh emperor, my wishes are simple. I only wish for this: Give me one grain of rice for the first square of the chessboard, two grains for the next square, four for the next, eight for the next and so on for all 64 squares, with each square having double the number of grains as the square before.“

The emperor agreed, amazed that the man had asked for such a small reward. Until, the next week when his treasurer came back and informed him that the reward would add up to an astronomical sum, far greater than all the rice that could conceivably be produced in many many centuries!”

The legend of the grain of rice is the story of how sharing the Good News of Jesus works.  After all… who has been a witness for Christ in your life? I’m not asking who was the first person who told you about Jesus. I’m asking, who have you seen living a life of faith?

For me, it has been many people – certainly in the beginning my mom Marilyn and dad Ardell and my grandparents, Mabel and Spencer, Martha and Albert, and my Sunday School teacher Elsie Olson and my pastors Rube and Dave and Anne. But that is not all. The witness that I have seen continues with my family and friends and with all of you.  After all, what are you doing? You are showing up to worship, encouraging me – and one another. By living a life of faith, you ARE a witness.

This is what it means to be a witness. It means “practicing” your faith inside these walls, but not just inside these walls. It also means taking it outside to the places where you live and work and play.  

Maybe Jesus did not make a mistake in entrusting the message to his disciples – and they, in turn, to each person that they met.  After all… if one grain becomes two… and two becomes four… soon 1000 becomes 2000. Good News can multiply too. 

Jesus did one more thing: he blessed his disciples. They responded - not with dread or anxiety because of the weight of responsibility that Jesus placed upon them, but -- with joy, blessing God.

Jesus blesses you and me too and sends us out to bless others. In the words of the song we are about to sing, we join heaven and earth in responding with JOY “for in your life and mine is shining the glory of God; your life and mine unite in the love of God and your life and mine will always bear witness to God.” 

Thanks be to God!