Whoever is Faithful in a Very Little

Jesus’ teaching in today’s Gospel reminded me of a scene from the movie Moonstruck. Loretta, played by Cher, is a young widow who is anticipating an evening out with a man with whom she has just fallen in love. She begins doing her ordinary tasks of the day which include going to the family business to pick up the deposit on the way to the bank. But on the way… she gets distracted. She stops to get her hair done… and then does her nails, goes shopping and basically spends the whole day getting ready for this evening.

The next morning, her aunt and uncle, the owners of the family business show up at breakfast looking as if their best friend has died. Loretta asked them about it and then they said we went to the bank….

Suddenly… it clicks. A look of horror crosses her face as Loretta races to her coat pocket and says, “The deposit! I forgot to go to the bank with the deposit           ! As she pulls it from her coat pocket, they all breathe a sigh of relief. It’s still there.”

Crisis averted.  But still her aunt and uncle then felt a need to affirm that of course they trusted her – they had always trusted her but they had been worried for her and they couldn’t imagine what they would do without that money, their retirement money… For them it was a crisis of both financial hardship and of relationship. For if Loretta had used the money from the store to pay for her new hairdo and spa treatment and the new clothes that she bought it would also have either created a rift between the families or with her. Either way, her reputation would have been destroyed. 

It was just an errand to the bank. But, that little errand – was a big deal.1

Whoever is faithful with very little is also faithful with much.” Luke 16:10

Last week we had some workmen come into our house to replace our cracked kitchen counter. When they were done, I noticed a dime sitting precariously on the window sill. I thought it was odd --- but then I remembered what my boss told me when I worked as a house cleaner on a summer job years ago. She said, “if you ever find money on the floor or on the couch or anywhere, even if it is just a penny, be sure to put it in an obvious spot on the table or counter close by where you found it. Never ever ever ever put it in your pocket. You might forget it. And then your reputation and mine will be ruined.”  Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much.

In this Gospel teaching, Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and scribes. They are the ones who have been entrusted with money and power in their community. And they like it. But Jesus challenges them -- who do they love? Who do they serve?  Is it God or money?

It’s the same challenge that we read about in the lesson from Amos. There the rich people were eager for the Sabbath and the new moon festival to be over so that their market could open again and they could make more money by dishonest means. They clearly had put their thumb on the scales. They were not faithful or trustworthy. They were being dishonest and as a result, they were getting richer… and the poor were getting poorer. Amos warned them - the Lord sees what you are doing… and would remember. Later, Amos reports, it doesn’t turn out very well for them.

God cares about how we use the money we call our own– because our relationship with money affects our relationships with God and with one another.  As Jesus says, “You can’t serve God and money.”

But unless we enter a monastery, we can’t live without money – and even there, someone is paying the light bill.

So what does this mean for how we use money and how we treat it?  We all need it. And yet…money can so easily become the thing that we put first in our life. And that’s when money becomes a problem.

It is a bit ironic that the words “In God we trust” are written right on US coins and bills. I wondered why?  So I looked it up.

Apparently, “In God we trust” was first added to U.S. coins in 1864 when religious sentiment was on the rise and Americans wanted to know what their country stood for. Roosevelt felt it was “vulgar”, so he tried to take it off – but a backlash ensued and instead of getting rid of it, in 1957, the slogan was added to paper money. According to a Times article, “Today even ardent separationists seem to agree with retired Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, who wrote in 1983 that slogans such as ‘In God We Trust’ have ‘lost any true religious significance.'”2

That slogan may not pack a punch anymore in the country at large – it’s like the back of the cereal box. You’ve seen it so many times you don’t read it anymore.

However, rather than depend on our government’s slogan, I believe that the key to how we are to treat money is found in our opening verse, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” I also like the NRSV translation that is on the cover of the bulletin: Whoever is faithful in a very little, is faithful also in much.” Faithful. Trustworthy. Jesus is calling us to be faithful and trustworthy in all things – including or maybe even especially with the money and resources that God has entrusted to us.

Money has so much power in our world and this is why Jesus spends a good deal of time talking about money – and how we use it. Jesus calls the Pharisees, the scribes, his disciples, and all his listeners and followers including us -- to be faithful, to be trustworthy with the money and resources that God has entrusted to us.

We are to be faithful and trustworthy – because everything we have, all that I claim as “mine” and everything that you claim as “yours” --  belongs to God. As the saying goes – “You can’t take it with you.” Theologian NT Wright puts it this way: “Money is not a possession, it’s a trust. God entrusts property to people and expects it to be used to his glory and the welfare of his children, not for private glory or glamour.”

God expects us to be good caretakers, to be trustworthy. This is why God got mad at the rich people cheating the poor in Amos day and that is why Jesus says, “You can’t serve God and money.”

God knows our hearts. And, while when we’ve been working hard, and the financial numbers are good, it is tempting for us to trust in our selves and to think of it as “my” work and in “my” money, “my” bank account – regardless of the resource -- it all belongs to God. Everything we lay claim to is a trust from God. God not only entrusted to us resources – but the skill and talents and educational abilities in order to do what we do. And so, it would good if we trusted not in the money that we receive, but rather, took to heart, in the words written on our money – “In God We Trust.”

Brothers, sisters, siblings in Christ, God entrusts to us so much – time, talents and yes treasures too. In response, let us seek to be faithful in all things – both great and small– and to put our trust in God. Amen.

-         Pamela Stalheim Lane      

1. Moonstruck Written by John Patrick Shanley and directed by Norman Jewison. 1987.

2. N.T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, Great Britain, 2001 p.196

3. Sarah Begley, January 13, 2016. Time Magazine, Online Version

Rejoice!

Today I’m thinking about the sheep that was lost. She wasn’t doing anything wrong.  She was simply doing what sheep do - following her nose and blissfully eating one tender blade of grass after another. Then she saw another blade of grass – over there. She didn’t bother to look up – she was content and enjoying the grass.  But eventually… she felt the cold wind as the sun dipped beneath a cloud at the horizon. Sensing it was time to huddle up with her fellow sheep, she finally looked up and discovered - she was all alone. The rest of the herd had also followed their noses… a different way. Suddenly she was a little anxious. She bleated, hoping to hear the answering baa of her mother. But she heard nothing. She was alone… and that is a very dangerous place for a little lamb to be. 1

This would have been an all too familiar occurrence in Jesus’ day… sheep were constantly wandering off, following their noses to anticipated green pasture without thinking about how much they need the community. That’s why sheep need a shepherd.  The shepherd watches over the sheep – and if it one is missing – the shepherd goes and looks for it. The sheep in today’s story wasn’t a bad sheep. It belonged. It simply had gotten lost. So the shepherd hunts for her and brings her home and invites everyone to celebrate!

Jesus tells this parable as a description of what God does for us – each one of us -- all of God’s children. For there are times in our lives when each one of us may feel lost - things are not right, and we get separated from the love and support of our community. It is at times like these that God seeks us, hunts for us in the corners and crags of our world and of our lives to bring us back into community. Because… just like sheep, we need community.

I had several friends and relatives who lost loved ones during the pandemic. Maybe you did too. One of the challenges of the pandemic is that all of the traditional ways that we as a community of Christ have learned to address illness, death and despair were upended. We couldn’t gather together. We couldn’t eat together. We couldn’t sing. We couldn’t hug or even touch one another. No one wanted to risk infecting someone else. It’s no wonder that so many – maybe you would include yourself in that number – have felt lost, alone, isolated and depressed.

Others have felt lost because, too often, we are plagued by old tapes running in our heads that tell us that we are not worthwhile, that we are too slow or too fat or too skinny or that we are simply not good enough. Somehow, we have gotten the message that we don’t measure up -- and that if and when we are lost – no one would care enough to go and look for us.

Kate Braestrup, in her memoir, Here If you Need Me, shares some of her experiences as a chaplain with the Maine game wardens. One day she is waiting with a young man whose sister had gotten lost and likely had overdosed in the woods. As the wardens search, the young man tells Kate that his sister had been suffering from depression for a long time and that recently she had gone to church and been told that the one thing God never, ever forgave – was suicide. So he asks Kate, “would the church do a funeral for a suicide?”

Kate replies, “The game wardens have been walking in the rain all day, walking through the woods in the freezing rain trying to find your sister. They would have walked all day tomorrow [and] the rest of the week, searching for Betsy, so they could bring her home to you…And if there is one thing I am sure of…it is that God is not less kind, less committed, or less merciful than a Maine game warden.” She then said, despite what that pastor may have said, “there is no doubt in my mind… God is holding your sister close to His tender heart. Betsy is safe, she is forgiven, she is free at last from all her pain.” And then she gave him the number of some other pastors who would proclaim God’s mercy and love rather than shame at Betsy’s funeral.

There are old tapes – lies --  out there that paint God as a vengeful God who is more interested in vengeance and punishment than mercy and love.  These old tapes claim that God expects us to look and act perfect and put on our happy face…even when we are crying on the inside.

Those old tapes belong to the Pharisees. They are the ones who said to Jesus, “Why are you hanging around with tax collectors and sinners?” Why do you eat with those people?

In response, Jesus asks the Pharisees and scribes and us …. which of you would not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go in search of the lost sheep. This sounds like a rhetorical question.

But it’s a real question for the Pharisees - would they?  Would they leave 99 sheep in the dangerous wilderness in search of one little lamb that might already have been found by a hawk or a coyote or a bandit… all of whom liked to eat lamb. Would they risk the 99? Would we? Is that even good management of resources? Or would that lost sheep be considered “collateral damage” – a business loss, a tax deduction?

But God does. God goes after the one who is lost – even at great risk.

In another story, Jesus talks about the hired hands versus the Good shepherd. The hired hands wouldn’t look for a stray sheep. But the Good Shepherd is constantly on the lookout because to the Good shepherd, it’s not just another sheep. It’s his sheep – who he knows and loves. 

This is how Jesus describes God. Jesus says that God is like a shepherd who seeks, and hunts and looks and doesn’t stop until He finds the one who is lost.  And so know this… if you are ever plagued by questions of whether you are good enough, whether anyone would ever care, whether anyone would bother to look for you if you didn’t show up… Jesus says that God is seeking you. God is seeking you because you are worth looking for, searching for and going after. God not only wants to find you but God wants to restore you to community.

Jesus was spreading a message of God’s expansive kingdom and the tax collectors and those who were designated as “sinners” were listening. But the Pharisees were grumbling: "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." Clearly, those designated as “sinners” were those people.

But rather than address the negative grumblings – Jesus tells a story to help the Pharisees and scribes, the tax collectors and his disciples and all those who have ever sinned (which includes all of us) to know that God is a God of love and mercy. God knows each person by name and when someone is in trouble, is disconnected from community, is involved in unhealthy behavior or is making damaging choices… God goes and looks for “them,” for those people.

Who are “those people” for you? The Pharisees called them “sinners.” Who are those people who you don’t agree with, don’t understand and don’t frankly even like? God is seeking those people too to restore them – and you and me --into community…together. For no matter who you are or what you have done or not done, where you were born or who you love or what is the color of your skin or your political party– God seeks and invites you all to live into the community of God where there is no designation of “us” and “them.”

And then God throws a party. For God wants to rejoice with you’all. Like the shepherd who finds the lost sheep and the woman who finds the lost coin, when God finds God’s lost child, God calls everyone to rejoice! For there is great joy in heaven when the lost are found and the found are restored.

Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, we are all God’s children, so let us rejoice with God and all the angels and the whole company of heaven. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

-         Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

“What are the Costs of Discipleship?”

Texts:

• Deuteronomy 30:15-20—Moses delivers a speech to the Israelites before they enter the Promise Land, encouraging them to choose life by following God over idolatry and suffering.

• Psalm 1:1-3—Blessed are those who follow the ways of the Lord, for they are like trees planted by streams of water and bearing ripe fruit.

• Luke 14:25-28—Jesus warns a crowd of followers that true discipleship comes at a great cost and requires full commitment.  

Good morning, and grace and peace to you from our Loving God and Father in heaven! Amen.

My name is Joanna Kathol and I am excited to be Faith Lilac Way’s new vicar for this next year! My welcome into this community has been warm and I look forward to doing ministry together. Yet before we can dive into ministry together it is helpful to get to know each other, so I would like to take a brief moment to introduce myself.

To tell you a little about myself, I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska with my mother and my older sister. I grew up in a wonderful ELCA congregation that encouraged its youth from a young age to participate in worship, and I felt a call to ministry for the first time when I was 10 years old. You might find it fun to know that Faith Lilac Way’s first intern, Paula Lawhead, is now the pastor at that church where I grew up, so it seems like God’s hand was at work to bring me to this congregation as well. I am blessed to be here with Faith Lilac Way over the next year and I look forward to meeting more of you and building relationships together. God is good and I know God has some good things in store for us during our time together.

Now I have to be honest, I didn’t expect my first sermon at my internship site to be over a difficult text such as this one. The words which Luke writes this morning are jarring and even disturbing. What could Jesus mean when he speaks such harsh words about hatred for life and family? These words do not seem to mesh well with the Jesus we hear about in other Bible stories, the Jesus who heals people and preaches about justice and loving the neighbor.

Well, when I am confronted with a jarring text such as this one it helps me to think about the context in which Jesus would have spoken these words. So what is going on here in this text? First, it is helpful to know that for the last few chapters of Luke, Jesus has begun his journey to Jerusalem and toward the Cross, and along his journey Jesus has continued to teach sermons and conduct miraculous healings. He teaches radical things about “a New and Coming Kingdom”, a new social order that is just, and new life. These are hopeful messages for the Jewish people who have been under the oppression of Rome. Jesus is gaining attention and the people are thinking,’ This might really be the one we have been waiting for!’ The Jewish people have been longing for someone to save them from Roman oppression, and in the midst of this longing, here comes Jesus doing miracles and teaching about a new Kingdom.

For many people in the crowds surrounding Jesus, Jesus is the answer to their prayers—their hero—and they believe that if they follow Jesus they too can witness and experience the power and glory they imagine Jesus is going to have. Now Jesus is indeed the answer to their prayers, but not in the way they think. While the people are thinking about earthly kingdoms and political power, Jesus is thinking about God’s kingdom. He knows his mission is to do something much greater than defeating the Romans, but in order to do his work he must first go to the Cross.

So while the people think Jesus is headed toward glory, Jesus knows that he is instead on his way to suffering on the Cross for the sake of the world.

Jesus also knows that the people who follow him may also likely suffer the pain in which he will suffer, so as Jesus turns to speak to the crowd gathered around he is being quite blunt with them. Basically he is telling them ‘If you want to follow me, be prepared to lose everything. If you truly want to be my disciple you will have to be fully committed, even above family and comfort and all the other things you hold dear. So before you decide to really follow me, reflect and weigh the costs. If you aren’t ready to follow me even to the cross then you are not yet ready to be my disciple.’

But is Jesus really saying that discipleship requires one to hate or reject their family and even life itself? I can assure you that is not the intended message, but Jesus did intend for his message to turn heads. In the culture of Jesus’s day it was not uncommon for speakers to use stark words when they were trying to drive home a point. We even see an example of this in our first reading this morning as Moses warns the Israelites to follow God and choose life rather than go astray and choose death. In our Old Testament reading Moses was reminding the Israelites that following God required whole-hearted commitment—it was not a passive decision but one that entailed deep trust and daily action.

This was what Moses told the Israelites then and it is the same message that Jesus was delivering hundreds of years later to this crowd. Jesus was not telling the people to hate life and family, but rather emphasizing the full-hearted commitment that true discipleship would take. To follow Jesus to the cross would require a willingness to face the costs of discipleship, a commitment to put their faith first and central in their lives. These disciples could be far away from their homes and families, they risked being mocked by their peers, and they could even face imprisonment or death themselves. This is some pretty serious stuff Jesus is talking about here and he is giving them the opportunity to reflect and decide: Were they going to be half-hearted followers, or would they be all in?

Even two thousand years later I think Jesus in this passage asks us the same question. In our own modern day and culture being a Christian and walking the path of discipleship can come at a cost. There are times when our faith may likely be at odds with our culture and those around us. It can be a cost to us when our faith calls us to step outside of our comfort zone, or to speak and act in a difficult situation. It is a cost to at times set aside our own needs for the sake of the neighbor. Even taking on the label of “Christian” can be a cost. In larger society there are many who believe that Christians are judgmental or closed minded, and this can certainly be a cost to us when others apply these stereotypes simply because we use the word “Christian” to identify our faith. And yes, there are still places in the world today where following God can even cost a disciple their life.

This is serious stuff we are talking about, and in the midst of it here is Jesus, asking us if we too are ready to be “all in” in discipleship.

Are we ready to rely on God above all else and keep Christ central in our lives?

Are we ready to follow the example of Jesus when it is difficult or goes against the status quo?

Are we ready to stand up for the oppressed and welcome the marginalized?

Are we ready to step outside the comfort and safety of our church doors to go out into a world and to people who desperately need to hear the hope and good news of God’s love?

Are we ready for a journey to the cross and to allow ourselves to be transformed and made new?

These are big questions and they are decisions that change and frame the way we live our lives and approach the world. These are questions that reach deeply into our hearts as we ponder this morning what it means for us to be disciples.

But here is the good news: the Jesus who asks us these questions is the same Jesus that walks with us each step of the way. To say yes to these questions and to accept the risks and the costs of discipleship does not mean we go forward alone. Instead when we say yes we are stepping into relationship with God, into a relationship that is life changing and life-fulfilling in the best ways possible. Being a disciple of Christ does not mean that life will be glorious or easy, but in saying yes we open ourselves and our world to so many new and wonderful opportunities. God is good and God is faithful, so may God bless us, strengthen us and guide us as we say yes to the journey of discipleship. Amen.

-         Vicar Joanna Kathol

You Are All Invited

You are cordially invited to the celebration of the marriage of… This is often how a wedding invitation begins. I was talking with a couple of twenty-somethings this past week. They are in the time of life in which their friends are getting married and so naturally, they each receive quite a number of invitations. But, because weddings are often really expensive – and because some are still taking covid precautions, sometimes the guest list is limited. So when the invitation comes addressed to just one of them, they look to see if they have a “plus 1.”  Can they bring their girlfriend/ boyfriend? Only if they have a “plus 1”.

In Jesus day, there were also rules about wedding invitations. Jesus notices that in the culture of the day, the people who would be invited to wedding feasts and other celebrations – were the powerful, the rich, and those who could “repay the favor.” He also noticed who was missing, who was not at the table  – those who were poor – such as servants and slaves as well as those who were crippled, lame, and blind. None of these people could “return the favor.” But this is exactly who Jesus challenges the host to invite – those who do not have a place at the table.

Who doesn’t have at the table today? I would argue that, most of the time, we don’t even see them…

After publishing a children’s book, Jarrett Krosoczka returned to his old elementary school to share his book. As he was setting up his projector in the cafeteria, he looked up and recognized someone immediately. It wasn’t a former teacher or classroom worker. It was… the lunch lady. He greeted her – and she recognized him too. He told her about his  books and then, he said, “she started telling me about her grandkids, and that blew my mind. My lunch lady had grandkids, and therefore kids, and therefore left school at the end of the day? I thought she lived in the cafeteria with the serving spoons.” 1

Jarret suddenly saw her as a whole person… and not just someone who served him and the other children chicken nuggets for lunch. Inspired, he created a comic book series about a lunch lady who fights off the bad guys with her kitchen utensils and at the end of the story captures the bad guy with her hairnet and proclaims “Justice is served!” 1

His books were a hit! Not only with children – but also with lunch ladies. Popular culture has not treated lunch ladies very well over the years. And so they were absolutely touched that someone noticed them; and appreciated what they do and even made a superhero who looked like them. After all… what is I that the lunch staff do? They serve. They don’t sit down to eat at the table. Their role is to serve 5 billion school lunches every year.

Who else don’t we “see?”

The activity director of a local nursing home asked if I would do a worship service for the residents once a month. I agreed. And so, a few weeks ago I went there and did a short service – it was a small group but they sang the songs and followed the bulletin and seemed to appreciate it. So when she called me to tell me that the pastor of the church that was scheduled to do the service had covid – and would I help them out, I readily agreed. And then the activity director said – “Is it ok if it is on 2nd floor?” I said I didn’t care what floor I did the service on. I did not realize that “2nd floor” was a code.

When I got to the nursing home, I went to the second floor. There were a couple of people in the TV room – but they were not the people that had come to the worship before. Instead, they were either sleeping or not responsive. But I waited. And as I waited, I started to notice things. There was garbage on the floor. The tables were broken. The furniture was soiled. The carpet squished under my feet. And none of the residents who were there could talk to me.  Then the staff person and a few more residents arrived. One woman recited the Lord’s prayer for me. But that was about it. 

This seemed to be the group this time, so I started the service. I sang the songs… but no one chimed in.. I read the lesson. No response. So I asked the staff person – communion? He shook his head no.

I have to admit that at the end of the service, I just wanted to run away -it seemed like a complete waste of time. But something stopped me and instead of running away, I thought, “The heck with the Covid rules. I may get in trouble for spreading germs but I’m going to shake the hand of each person and acknowledge them. So I went up to each one and held their hand and blessed them. And to my utter surprise and delight, most of them responded. Some smiled. Others straightened up in their chair. Some looked surprised. The words that I spoke and sang during the service may not have been able to crack through their consciousness – I’ll never know – but a simple handshake did.

I was telling a friend of mine about my frustration with this whole event – but after I told about their response to my handshake, my friend said to me – well then God was at work.

Yes. I was humbled. I just didn’t see it.

The next day I decided to contact the activity director about my experience and I asked her about the change to the 2nd floor.  Her response surprised me. She said, “Thank you for coming. The residents voted to have the service on 2nd floor so that those who were cognitively impaired could participate.” Oh.  That explains it. They were cognitively impaired. These are people we don’t run into in the grocery store. These are people we ordinarily just don’t see. But now I do.

Now I see them. Just as, after watching the 9 minute video of George Floyd,  I can no longer ignore the treatment of black people by the police. I saw it. You saw it. The world saw those 9 minutes in which a black man died under the knee of one who was called to serve and protect. And now we can no longer not-see .

Jesus invites us to open our eyes to see others – especially those “others” that are usually out of sight, out of mind, those people who we do not normally encounter. Notice that Jesus did not just say “welcome” others – because in order to be “welcomed,” the guest has to make the first move – they have to dare to come, to show up uninvited. Instead, Jesus challenges the host in the Gospel and Jesus challenges us to invite those who have not been invited, those who are poor, differently abled, those who are different from us and yet also beloved children of God.

Jesus calls us to reach beyond our circles of comfort not just for the sake of others, but for our sake as well. For it is not just receiving grace that transforms us, true transformation happens when we extend grace with no expectation of anything in return.

This past week we held our Big Band Bash – and it was a ton of fun! The band was great, the food was good - as always - but the best part was that we had a record crowd there – and the reason? People personally invited others to come – friends and neighbors.

Brothers and sisters, siblings in Christ, let us open our eyes to see our neighbors and invite them to sit at the table and join with us in the banquet Jesus has prepared. For you – all – have received an invitation with your name on it – and a Plus. But it isn’t a plus 1. Instead of a 1, there is an infinity sign behind the plus. You plus an infinite number of friends, neighbors and strangers. There is room at Jesus’ banquet for one and all. Thanks be to God. Amen.

August 28, 2022                                                                           Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane   

Jarrett Krosoczka, ttps://www.ted.com/talks/jarrett_j_krosoczka_how_a_boy_became_an_artist

Jesus Sets You (and Your Neighbor) Free!

She was bent over. For eighteen years. Imagine being this woman. All she could see were other people’s feet – and her own. Her back must have been killing her. Every day.  And yet, she was there for worship. She showed up. Maybe she was there to pray for release.  Or maybe she had given up on the idea of healing… but she went to worship anyway.   

She had heard that a travelling Rabbi was going to speak that morning but by time she got to worship – it takes a long time to walk with your head always faced down--all the best seats close up were taken. But she couldn’t see him anyway. All she could see was her feet.

It turned out that she didn’t need to see Jesus – because Jesus could see her. Jesus and could see that she is hurting.  He calls to her – and, even though she could feel the eyes of the whole congregation on her, she comes.  She hobbled over, head down, not knowing what would happen. She might have been afraid.

For there was a belief at the time – it’s still around today – called the Prosperity Gospel. This belief holds that anyone who was afflicted – like the bent-over woman -- must have done something wrong. This belief assumes that God gives prosperity and wealth to those God favors – that these are the ones whom God loves – and that the ones who are in poverty and hurting are that way because …they have done something wrong.

But that’s not what Jesus teaches. Luke calls the cause of her suffering a spirit. Jesus calls it Satan – which is to say, the forces of evil. 

In the Magnificat, Jesus’ mother Mary proclaims that her child will be the Savior of the world who has come with mercy to lift up the lowly. And in his first sermon, Jesus proclaims that the Spirit of the Lord has anointed him to bring good news to the poor, release to the captive, sight to the blind and to set free those who are oppressed.

When Jesus sees this bent-over woman, a daughter of Abraham, a child of God, he sees a woman who is oppressed. And he acts to set her free.

Jesus calls her to himself, proclaims her released from her ailment and places his hands on her back – even though touching a woman, especially one with an ailment, was forbidden for a rabbi. Yet Jesus doesn’t hesitate. As he places his hand on her back, she immediately straightens up and responds by praising God with a shout of JOY!

What a miracle! There should have been dancing in the street. And yet… not everyone was rejoicing. The leader of the congregation stood up and said, “This is against the rules.” It’s the sabbath. If you want to heal her, fine. But it could have waited until your office hours in the morning. Today you should be honoring God – and not working.”

At that moment, I can just imagine all the air suddenly going out of the room. It sounds like a clash of values. What’s better? Healing a poor woman or “honoring the Sabbath?” It’s wonderful to see this woman healed, miraculously – but honoring the Sabbath is not only a strong value, but it’s a commandment, one of the big 10 Commandments. So what were people to think?

Jesus shows the leader – and us – that the best way to honor the Sabbath, the best way to honor God, is by showing love – to God and to the neighbor. For every day is a good day to show God’s love and mercy.

This is in keeping with God’s law and Christ’s way. Jesus teaches us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love the neighbor. Every other law from God depends upon following these two commandments FIRST. For every day is a good day to show God’s love and mercy.

This is why Jesus not only heals the bent-over woman but names her as a daughter of Abraham. By naming her as part of the family of God, he restores her to the community. This is important because even though the woman is now healed, she still needs community – maybe more now than ever before. For her situation has changed. When first healed, the woman rejoiced and praised God. And when Jesus restored her to the community – they can join in to rejoice with her. 

When I was in college, I decided to take a phy-ed class in swimming because I was not born here in the land of 10,000 lakes and did not even learn how to swim until I moved here. And I still wasn’t very comfortable in the water. So I took this class, hoping to learn a few strokes and improve. However, unbeknownst to me, the swim team also took swimming as a class – just for the phy ed credit and as a way to practice. Every week, the instructor would pick a new stroke and ask everyone do the stroke across the pool. Then he would invite everyone to get out of the pool –except for three people – who would do the stroke again -- two good examples and one bad example of the stroke. Guess who was always the bad example. Yep. It was me. I was the perfect bad example of how to do the stroke – and apparently the swim team learned from me what not to do.

In the same way, the leader is a great “bad example” for us to learn from. He was trying to follow the law. He clearly saw himself as a gatekeeper, a rule-follower. So I have some sympathy for him – but I also see in him an example that we need to avoid. He thought he knew all the rules. He thought he knew exactly what God wanted and saw himself as an enforcer of God’s law.

But Jesus gave us a much better understanding of what God wants us to do and how God wants us to act toward our neighbor. This past week I was talking with some of our neighbors next door whose rent was messed up during the pandemic. They were bent over with anxiety about their housing. I don’t know much about housing rules but I was able to call someone who did know someone who could help.

What I did wasn’t much – but what I can do and what you can do is find ordinary ways to encourage one another and show love and kindness to each other.  After all, EVERY day is a Good Day to share God’s love and mercy.

The other day I was talking with a woman who was clearly in absolutely the right job. She was serving as a nurse – and she loved it.  And yet, she told me that she was almost stopped from pursing this career. Apparently, she hadn’t been a very good student in high school and so when she told her counselor that she wanted to be a nurse, the counselor tried to steer her another way, suggesting that she wasn’t “college material.”

To be fair, the counselor was just looking at the data available and from her perspective all she could see was a student who was bent over. But maybe she – and we -- need to broaden our perspective so that we can see people as Jesus sees them and encourage them. For every day is a good day to show God’s love and mercy – and to encourage one another.

Jesus saw this nurse and empowered her to do the work that she loves. Jesus saw her as part of the family of God who could be set free to love and serve and praise God.  

And Jesus sees you.

So…even when you feel burdened with the weight of the world on your shoulders, with cares and concerns about health or work or family or anything else… remember this: Jesus sees you and has come to set you – and your neighbor -- free.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, let us remember this: every day is a good day to receive God’s love and mercy – and every day is a good day to share God’s love and mercy. So let us bring our cares and concerns to Jesus - regardless of how bent-over you or your neighbor may feel. For Jesus sees you – and your neighbor and Jesus has come to set you all free so that together, you can rejoice and sing God’s praises. Thanks be to God. Amen.

August 21, 2022                Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran                  Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Witnesses of Faith

“Look at the camera. Look at the baby.” That was the refrain as countless photos were taken of my niece after her baptism. She was the first baby of her generation – on both sides of the family – and it was an event that was duly recorded. 

Admittedly, we went a bit overboard – I’m guessing that the same thing – or something like it -- has happened at important events in your life too – especially now when you don’t have to go to the expense of printing photos but you can carry a million digital photos with you on your phone.

Photos can remind you of a person, an event, a place – and often there is a story to go with it.

Scholars believe that the letter to the Hebrews is written to a community that was discouraged after facing a variety of trials and is a word of encouragement to persevere in faith.1

Today’s reading concludes a long list of “snapshots” of people of faith in the Bible  - including some you probably know – such as David and Samuel but a few lesser known people too. They are reminded of the faith that conquered kingdoms – like David and Joshua – and whose faith shut the mouths of lions – like Daniel. But they are also reminded of people who suffered, who were tortured, even those who were sawn in two because of their faith. The faithful were not always a picture of success. Nor were they perfect.

You may remember David – King David - not only conquered kingdoms, but also forgot that the commandments applied to him too. He was guilty of murder – and adultery. His prayer for forgiveness is found in the Psalms, a reminder that no one is unredeemable or unforgiveable in God’s eyes. Perhaps that is an even greater testament to faith than all of his “successes.”

The book of Hebrews calls those who went before us a great cloud of witnesses. But this cloud of witnesses is not limited to those whose names or actions were written in the Bible.

For example, some of you may remember a Hazel – a thin little woman strong who worked tirelessly at NEAR Foodshelf. It was only after she died that I found out that she had not had an easy life – but that had found meaning in service to others. And serve she did - she not only recorded information – but she also lifted big boxes of food onto and from the shelves. And now others are doing that work of service.

Or you may remember Don who painted every wall of this church. Or Valerie who suffered with pancreatic cancer and yet still made homemade Christmas cards and proclaimed her faith in so many ways. There are many ways to live out our faith.

I remember my grandmother who read me Bible stories when I was little. She was a great witness to me – as was my grandfather, who after he and my grandmother moved to an apartment in Westwood Lutheran, was in charge of making the coffee – and opening the doors and welcoming in whoever came to the church. He taught me the importance of hospitality as a part of living out your faith.  

These are just a few examples. Perhaps you remember a parent or grandparent who read their Bible or sang in the choir or served on the church council – or a Sunday School teacher who encouraged you.

These people – and many more -- are all a part of the great cloud of witnesses –who have helped nurture you and me in the faith.

But the great cloud of witnesses is not limited to those who have died.

For example, at our Wildfire Vacation Bible School worship this year, the leader, Raul, asked, would anyone like to pray? Up shot the hand of four year old Evan. He stood up, took the microphone and  prayed a heart-felt prayer that he composed on the spot that was relevant to the story of the day. What a great witness of faith!

And that’s not all. Last weekend, Emma shared a beautiful reflection on the mission trip and then she, Lydia, Bella and Vicar Kyle recounted stories of their mission trip and their faith-filled service.

And you, you who are here, you who are in the parking lot, you who are at home listening on-line or reading along, you too are witnesses. You too can pass on the faith to those around you.

For example, this past week I was visiting a member in a care center and he called over a nurse to complement her on her work. She responded by giving the praise back to God, quoting the song, “One day at a time, sweet Jesus…. Just give me the strength to do what it takes, one day at a time.

Oh, we don’t always respond with grace and mercy. Like King David, we aren’t perfect.

I read story the other day that reminded me of our imperfection:

“A man was being tailgated by a woman who was in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him; she yells her frustration in no uncertain terms; she rants and makes crude gestures. While she is in mid-rant, someone taps on her window. She looks up and sees a policeman. He invites her out of her car and takes her to the station where she is searched and fingerprinted and put in a cell. After a short time, she’s released, and the arresting officer returns her personal effects, saying “I’m very sorry for the mistake, ma’am. I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, using obscene gestures and bad language. I noticed the WHAT WOULD JESUS DO bumper sticker, the FOLLOW ME TO SUNDAY SCHOOL window sign, and the FISH EMBLEM on your trunk. Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car. 2

Sometimes we get so focused on our own agendas and neglect to be the witnesses of Christ that we want to be. We harden our hearts and take sides. We stop listening.  This is what Jesus describes as what can happen– even in families. We fight against one another. We forget to put God first in our lives. We pick tweedle beetle battles.

And yet, Jesus loves us anyway. For Jesus has come to be our savior. That’s the baptism that Jesus is talking about in the Gospel. Jesus endured the shame of the cross – for our sake. Jesus has taken upon himself our sins, our transgressions, our foolishness. And has sent the Holy Spirit to fill your heart with grace for the other – for the one with whom you disagree – and to fill your heart with mercy for them and for you. And, Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to fill you with faith.

Receive this gift of faith – it is given FOR YOU and wrapped with love. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Hebrews 11:29 - 12:2

29By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. 30By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days.31By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

32And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— 33who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. 36Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— 38of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. 39Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40since God had provided something better so that they would not, apart from us, be made perfect.

12Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,2looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 The Lutheran Study Bible Background p 1974

2Not original to her but as told by https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Judy-Kincaid-10th-Sunday-after-Pentecost-8-14-2022.pdf

August 14, 2022      +     Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran    +   Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Kyle's Last Sermon

My great grandmother attended a national youth gathering of the Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh in 1920.  Just to get to Pittsburgh from western Illinois would have been quite a trip in 1920.  The hard road in the county was not even completed until 1924 so the thirty mile trip to the rail hub in Galesburg would likely have been on unpaved roads and then it would have been a three hour train ride to Chicago and today on Amtrak Chicago to Pittsburgh is nine and a half hours.  For a bunch of small town and farm kids in 1920 it would have quite the experience to visit a major city and meet kids from all over the country.  Our trip was much easier. Everyone had a short ride to the airport and Delta checked our group in quickly.  We had a five hour direct flight and there were one hundred different movies and many television shows to watch. We were even provided with complementary beverages and two snacks.  Even though our trip was smooth it was a trip that transformed all of us.

The scripture that was featured for the week in Puerto Rico was Romans 12:9-21.  The Lutheran Study Bible labels this passage as “Marks of the True Christian.”  In this text Paul outlines in everyday, practical terms how Christians are to live as justified believers.  One night we were asked to pick out the verse that had the most meaning to us and to write a key phrase on an armband.  There are a lot of different themes which are present in the text.  There is a call to let love be genuine, to rejoice in hope, to be patient in suffering, to persevere in prayer, to extend hospitality to strangers, to live in harmony with one another, to feed your hungry enemies, and to overcome evil with good.  In short, these are really high ideals which are worthy of emulation but the truth is that we often do not live up to them.

I have to admit that I cheated.  I wrote “be transformed” on my armband.  The phrase “be transformed” does not appear in Romans 12:9-21 but it does appear in one of my favorite Bible verses which is Romans 12:2.  Romans 12:2 according to the NRSV is “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”  I think that this verse about transformation really gets to the heart of the Christian life.    We may not be able to be perfect according to the standards of Romans 12:9-21 but we are capable of transformation.  I grew up in the church but my faith was kind of lukewarm for many years.  When I was thirty years old I decided to read the Bible each and every day and reading scripture completely changed my life.  Things that had once been important to me no longer mattered and things that I once ignored became meaningful to me.  I started to volunteer my time to serve others and in serving others I saw first hand the impact that oppressive and unjust systems have on many people’s lives.  I will never be able to help everyone and I will never be perfect but I can be transformed.  If we let Christ’s love transform us God will work through us in ways that we cannot fathom.  It seems completely crazy but I am pursuing a call to ordained ministry because I believe in this idea that through this transformation of individual hearts and minds God does bring love, peace, and justice into the world.

I was a bit worried about the carbon footprint of our trip to Puerto Rico.  The carbon emissions just on the flight down there was for each of us double the annual carbon emissions of the average person in Kenya.  However, to grow and to be transformed you have to step out of your comfort zone and this was a chance of a lifetime to experience a different lifestyle and a different culture.  I am proud of the kids because they worked so hard and made new friends during the week.  Doing manual labor, learning new skills and interacting with the community in Puerto Rico is a good recipe for transformation.  I do not know if my great grandmother and her peers did any community service during their time in Pittsburgh but I assume that the experience of those kids in 1920 transformed them in some way.  The kids of 1920 helped to create modern society and I think that they left the world a better place.  My hope is that God will continue transforming the world through the kids who went to Puerto Rico in 2022. 

I am really glad that the Puerto Rico trip came at the end of my internship.  I would not have been ready or prepared to go on this trip in August 2021.  After a year and a half of working at home and taking all of my classes online it was quite a transition for me to be in a role where I was again interacting with people on a daily basis.  In many ways I had to learn how to be a human being again.  I am so glad that my transition back into society occurred at Faith-Lilac Way.  This congregation has been very welcoming and I really appreciate the hospitality that has been shown to me.  I have enjoyed getting to know the members of this faith community.  Faith-Lilac Way has been a place where I have been able to grow and to transform.  Pastor Pam has given me so many opportunities and she encouraged me to become involved with all areas of ministry here.  After online worship for a year and a half I was pretty rusty.  During this year I have become much more comfortable being in front of the congregation leading worship.  I have also appreciated the frequent opportunities to preach.  I am not perfect but I believe that I am becoming a Christian leader who can preach the gospel in a way that inspires others.  The twelve mile trip either by bike or by car on good roads from my apartment in St. Paul to Faith-Lilac Way is much less arduous than a train trip from western Illinois to Pittsburgh or the flight from Minnesota to Puerto Rico, however coming here fifty two weeks has been a journey of transformation for me and I thank you for being with me and supporting me during the past year.       

-         Vicar Kyle Anderson 

Sunday Sermon

Everyone owns some personal property, and we use our property in the course of our daily lives.  Everyone has rights in the personal property that they own including the right to possess and use the property, the right to derive income from it, the right to dispose of it, and also the right to control the property by excluding others from using it.  According to the Pew Research Center 88% of American households own cars.[1]  For the vast majority of Americans a car is the most expensive piece of personal property owned by the household.  You have the right to own a car and to drive it but it is not an absolute right as car use is highly regulated.  In order to drive you are required to have a license.  When driving you are expected to follow the rules of the road which includes abiding by the traffic laws and the speed limits.  You are also required to register the car, have liability insurance, and renew your license plates.  You have the right to derive income from your car which you can do by making money driving for Lyft or Uber.  The right to derive income however is not an absolute right because any money that you earn is taxable income that must be reported to the tax authorities and when you are driving passengers for hire you are responsible for the safety of your passengers and you are subject to legal liability.  The right to dispose of the car is a pretty broad right but even it is not absolute.  If you sell a car in Minnesota you are required to file a report of sale online and you are required to assign the title to the buyer.  You also may need to make an odometer disclosure and a damage disclosure to the buyer depending on the age of the vehicle.  Despite these regulations there is one right that you have in the car that is absolute and that is the right to exclude anyone from using the car.  You can go out and spend $1 million on a Ferrari and nobody can force you to drive the car, nobody can force you to let someone else drive the car, nobody can force you to sell the car.  You have the absolute right to let that Ferrari sit in a garage until you die or until it rusts out and falls apart.

The hypothetical that I just presented is a bit ridiculous as no person in their right mind would spend money for a car that they never intend to drive, however as I just outlined our laws regarding personal property do not require anyone to use their property wisely or productively.  It is interesting that Jesus does not condemn this man because he has great wealth.  In other situations, Jesus says that it will be difficult for the wealthy to enter the Kingdom of God but he does not do that here.  Jesus criticizes the man because he is going to let his property sit in storage and potentially go to waste.  Jesus knows that the man can do anything with his property and Jesus teaches us in this parable that the use of our personal property reflects our personal values.  We have the opportunity to use our property to meet the needs of our community and our neighbors rather than hoarding our property while people continue to suffer.  God does not require us to relinquish all of our possessions but by asking us to give up our lives God invites us to build blessed community through the wise use of our property.  Growing up there was a man that I knew that built a couple of barns and accumulated some property, however unlike the man in this parable he dedicated his life to God and served his community and used his property to improve the lives of his neighbors.  This man who built barns filled with goods while being rich toward God was my great grandfather Leslie Newton Baldwin. 

We can accumulate wealth through our career or vocation and Jesus is not criticizing the man for his prosperity.  My great grandfather earned a living as a dairy farmer who built barns for his farm machinery and a milking parlor for his cows.  He grew up on the farm but nobody alive today knows why he stayed on the farm.  I believe that he went into dairy farming because he found meaning and purpose in his work.  My great grandfather was able to meet a community need while making a living.  In 1941 the average person in the United States drank 744 glasses of milk which is about two glasses per day for every man, woman, and child in America.[2]  During World War II two glasses per day per person meant that the nation needed a steady and reliable supply of milk and my great grandfather was a part of that.  As the United States became involved in the war, I am sure that there was a sense of dread as lives were disrupted as young men went off to war and the quality of life suffered as certain items were rationed.  Drinking a glass of milk not only provided nutrition but comfort during a turbulent time.  I am sure that he felt that his work on the dairy farm made a positive impact on the quality of life in his community.

Vocations can be ways in which we devote our lives to Christ.  Some of you may love your work and others may be yearning to change careers.  The low unemployment rate may provide you with the chance to transition into a new career that might be more meaningful to you and bring significant value to the community.  You may want to stay in your current field and this may be the time to find another company that may better align with your ethics and values.  I know that many of you cannot switch jobs because your current job may be the only way to support your family, but you can still give your customers the best possible service as you provide them with a product that enhances their lives.  Through our vocations we meet community needs and generate wealth.

In the course of making a living some of us do accumulate property much like this man who wants to build bigger barns.  Returning to the automobile hypothetical my great grandfather definitely did not have a Ferrari rusting away in the garage.  In the 1980s I remember him driving a Chevy Celebrity which was a car that was not fancy but it was comfortable and reliable.  The Celebrity was his way to stay connected to his neighbors and his community as he used the car wisely and productively.  Even in his eighties he was still actively engaged in community life.  He was still very active in Rotary, the county museum board, and his church.  He had already given so much to his neighbors but he continued to give his time even in his old age.  Without the Celebrity he would have been isolated out on the farm and not involved in the life of the town.

It is not always easy to see how our property can be used help others.  Many volunteer opportunities are seen solely as opportunities to donate time but property does play a role.  Most opportunities to serve are going to require driving or biking to a location.  In Puerto Rico we did a significant amount of driving to reach the work sites.  I know that in my neighborhood there is a community organization that is looking for people to deliver fresh produce to low-income individuals as part of a food justice initiative.  Yes, volunteering is more often seen as an investment of time but it can also include the use of property to help build community.  Sometimes we have to get the Celebrity out of the garage and interact with our neighbors and meet the needs of the community. 

Finally, the topic of money just cannot be avoided when talking about stewardship of resources.  Luke writes about money frequently in his Gospel and in Luke we often read that Jesus favors the poor and the oppressed and that Jesus is willing to condemn those who are stingy with their wealth.  My great grandfather gave away a significant amount of money.  In fact, he gave away so much that he was actually audited by the IRS because the amount that he was giving to charity was higher than what they were expecting.  He made it through the audit without owing any additional tax because the IRS discovered that he was actually giving away as much as he was claiming for a charitable deduction.  Despite all that he gave to charity my great grandfather did not give up everything that he had.  He did not die broke or destitute.  Jesus lived in an era where there was no social security, no social safety net, and someone engaged in the hard labor of farming without machines knew that some savings would be useful when they would no longer be able to work in the field.  We are not called to give everything away but we are called to put our wealth to work to help meet the needs of the community.  By having trust in God and giving what we can our financial gifts can make our world a better place for all of us.  We can use our charitable giving to support the causes that are most important to us.

Our ability to make a living and everything that we have are blessings from God.  God favors us in so many ways.  We offer our treasures to God and to our neighbor and God uses them to create a beloved community.  The most precious of God’s gifts is eternal life.  Yes, eternal life includes heaven but just as importantly eternal life is lived by each and every one of us here on earth.  When we share ourselves and our property in the course of our humble lives God works through us in ways that we cannot fathom.  By simply making a living, being connected to your community, and being generous with your wealth God is working through you and your property to make the world a better place for everyone.  It is fine to build a barn and have possessions but remember that everything that we have ultimately belongs to God who loves all of us and who invites us to make wise use of God’s gifts.          

  -         Vicar Kyle Anderson

[1]Jacob Poushter, “Car, Bike, or Motorcycle? Depends on Where You Live,” Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/04/16/car-bike-or-motorcycle-depends-on-where-you-live (accessed July 26, 2022).

[2]“Drink Up!” Smithsonian Natural Museum of American History Behring Center, https://americanhistory.si.edu/object-project/refrigerators/milk-bottles (accessed July 26, 2022).

The One Thing...

We were going to be late for dinner. After 10 hours of driving the day before followed by six hours of navigating construction… we simply were not going to make a five p.m. dinner time – which is when our 97 year old friend Peg eats dinner. Could I bring something? I asked.

She said,“Absolutely not. Call me when you get to your hotel. I’ll have my friend pick up dinner.” Peggy had a plan B.

We ran into more highway delays, but by 6 p.m. we finally made it to our Airbnb – which turned out to be a townhouse on a busy street. My plan was for us to run in and change quickly – I’d brought a nice dress and thought we would freshen up a bit before going to Peg’s. But, there were no parking spots for blocks due to a local festival in town. And it was getting later…. One of my family said, “Maybe we should just go to Peg’s first?” I looked like a mess. But he was right. It was getting late. And we were hungry.

Meanwhile Peggy’s friend had trouble too – the Amish dinner she planned to pick up was all sold out. So – plan C - she picked up sandwiches at the local grocery store.

So, we went in our shorts and t-shirts and sat on elegant furniture that will one day be in a museum and ate chicken sandwiches out of a box. And Peggy was delighted.

It made me realize – again - that what I wore and what we ate were not the most important things. What was important was that we were together. What mattered was the relationship –  simply taking the time to listen to one another and care for each other.

This is what I think is happening in the Mary- Martha and Jesus story. Martha was doing exactly what she had been taught to do – she was cooking and cleaning and preparing for guests. That’s how she saw herself practicing hospitality.

Hospitality is an important cultural value – in Bible times and now. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with providing hospitality. It’s a good thing. This is what Abraham and Sarah provide for the three men who stop by their household. This is what the Good Samaritan does for the man lying on the side of the road. This is what Martha thought she was doing – and what her sister Mary was not doing. And so she complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 

It sounds like an honest complaint based on traditional values and traditional roles. But Jesus does not do what she wants. Instead, Jesus tells Martha that the problem is not that Mary is listening to him but that “you are worried and distracted by many things.”

Worry. Distraction. These are stronger forces than we often realize. In a sermon that I read by Debie Thomas, she calls it a spiritual problem and goes on explain that “the root meaning of the word ‘worry’ is ‘strangle’ or ‘seize by the throat and tear.’ The root meaning of the word “distraction” is ‘a separation or a dragging apart of something that should be whole.’ And then she says, “These are violent words. Words that wound and fracture.”1 I think she is right. Worry and distraction can lead us to speak and act in ways that do not reflect our best selves.   

When she complained to Jesus, Martha wasn’t operating out of love and kindness. She was so distracted by what she thought were her duties – and her anger at her sister not doing these duties – that she wasn’t able to pay attention to Jesus, listen to His words or show love by her actions. Instead, as Debie Thomas points out, all Martha could do was “question his love (‘Lord, do you not care?’), fixate on herself (‘My sister has left me to do all the work by myself’) and triangulate (‘Tell her then to help me.’) 1

This is not the condition or state of mind, heart and soul that Jesus calls us into.  Clearly, neither Martha nor we can focus on Jesus and his message if we are “worried and distracted by many things.”

Instead, Jesus tells Martha – and us: “there is need of only one thing.”

What is this “one thing?” This is what Jesus wants us to hear. Jesus tells parables about the one pearl of great price, the lost sheep, the lost son, the kingdom of God. And as Jesus taught, “‘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 eternal life. ‘Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”John 3:16-17 NRSVNE Jesus wants you to listen and to hear the extravagant love of God that is given – freely – for you. And Jesus wants you to fall as madly in love with Him as He loves you.

This is the message that Jesus wants Martha – and us – to hear. This is the message that Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet to hear. This is why Jesus commends her as choosing the better part – even though it went against the societal norms – women had not been allowed to sit and listen to rabbis. But Jesus made room for Mary – and for Martha and for you and for me and for all people. As the voice from heaven said at Jesus’ baptism, “Listen to him.” This is what God wants us to do because God wants us to hear how much Jesus loves you.

 “Listen to him.” Listen to Jesus. It sounds easy enough – but… it is sometimes hard to hear when there is so much “noise” and so many voices trying to get your attention to “do this” buy that, listen to this or that.” Like Martha, it’s so easy for us to get distracted, to become overwhelmed, and to stop listening to the one voice who wants only the best for you. For the one thing that Jesus wants from you - is a relationship…with you. Because, Jesus loves you.

So I wonder…what did Martha do? Did she stomp back into the kitchen muttering how unfair her life was? That’s what I’ve always assumed that she did. But maybe she stopped short – and saw the love in Jesus’ eyes and heard his words – not as a condemnation of her work – but rather as a release from the busyness and worry and distractions that troubled her. Maybe she heard the invitation to come and sit down and listen.  Maybe she said to Mary – “Move over, I want to listen too. It won’t hurt the stew to simmer awhile  – and I think we will have enough pita bread to go around. We don’t need those extra dishes I was going to prepare. We can always order take-out.” (Ok, she couldn’t order takeout).

We don’t know what happened next, but it is clear that Martha did listen to Jesus. For after their brother Lazarus died, it was Martha who, still showing hospitality, went out of the house and down the road to greet Jesus. And it was Martha who had a conversation with Jesus about her belief in the resurrection. And it was to Martha that Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’” John 11:25-26 At this, Martha makes one of the most profound statements of faith in the Bible. She replies, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”John 11:27

Martha listened to Jesus and was filled with faith. It was that faith that gave her the courage to act with true hospitality – and to proclaim her faith to Jesus and to us.

Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, hear the invitation of Jesus to listen and to hear the Good News of the one thing that is needed. Be filled with the Good News of God’s love and care – for you. For Jesus wants you to know that you – and your neighbor – are God’s beloved child – and that he wants a relationship with you because God is smitten with love for you.

So come. Come and fill your ears with this message of God’s good news. If you have been waiting for the time to come back into church – you are invited to come on back. Or listen online. Make it a habit to read or listen to God’s Good News every single day. Because you need to hear it. I need it. We need to hear the Good News of God to combat all of the bad news that surrounds us. This is why God invites you to listen to Him. Listen to Jesus. For you need to hear the Good News of Jesus that is given for you.

And then… Come and eat. Come and taste. The banquet is ready and is prepared for you by Jesus Christ. Come and be filled with Christ’s body and blood, the sacrament that strengthens and nourishes us.

It is only after you are reminded that God loves you with an extravagant grace and after you have been filled with God’s word and strengthened with Christ’s body and blood… that you and I are sent out. We are sent out to listen and see what God is doing in the world around us – and to discover how we can be a part of God’s loving and redeeming work in our world. Thanks be to God! Amen.

1https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Debie-Thomas-6th-Sunday-after-Pentecost-7-17-2022.pdf  

 Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane                Faith-Lilac way Lutheran Church                            July 17, 2022

Sunday Sermon

One of the best parts of living in a major metropolitan area is the opportunity to see extraordinary people when we are hosting an event in town.  Business leaders, activists, and world leaders appear occasionally in the Twin Cities and we welcome them with a dose of Minnesota Nice.  Church leaders also appear in the Twin Cities as well.  On May 1, 2017 I had the opportunity to worship with church leaders who had gathered in Minneapolis for the National Workshop on Christian Unity.  That day was grey and cold and there was a light rain that afternoon and mixed with the light rain there were some little white specks that appeared so that Minnesota could uphold its reputation as the coldest state.  The worship service that night was for conference participants and it was also open to the general public.  It was quite an assembly as the heads of multiple denominations were represented including Bishop Eaton of the ELCA and there were leaders of synods and regions from a variety of denominations including from the Lutheran, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Methodist, and even Baptist traditions.  At the start of the service there was a procession of these leaders walking into the worship space with their long flowing vestments and some wearing really cool hats.  Watching the procession go right by me was the fulfillment of a church nerd’s dream.  The preacher that night was Michael Curry who is the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.  Curry had been elected presiding bishop two years earlier in 2015.  He is the first African American to serve in the role which is a big deal because The Episcopal Church is predominantly white just like the ELCA.  A year later Curry would become known to a larger audience as the preacher at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle but the night I heard him preach he was still only famous to church nerds.  Bishop Curry gave a very impassioned sermon on the Good Samaritan and he framed his sermon in the context of the 2016 Presidential Election which had just occurred six months earlier.  Bishop Curry told us to think about who we voted for and then to imagine the opposition candidate as the Good Samaritan.  Republican voters were asked to see the Good Samaritan as being Hillary Clinton and Democratic voters were asked to see the Good Samaritan as being Donald Trump.  In a very divided country, it was an important and welcome message.  Rather than despising our opponents we should view them as being capable of not only doing good but being capable of helping us directly in a time of great need.  I left St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral that night in an upbeat mood and I was hopeful that our leaders could settle their differences and work for the common good.

Reflecting on Bishop Curry’s sermon from five years ago it is a bit discouraging that things are now even worse.  Our political differences are now even larger.  We lost over a million people due to COVID-19 and a just released National Academy of Sciences study has shown that one-third of the COVID-19 deaths in the United States could have been prevented with a universal healthcare system.[1]  Anyone who has stopped by a gas station or a grocery store knows that the cost of living has significantly increased and has not been accompanied by an increase in pay.  Gun violence is impacting our society and the mass shooting that occurred in the wealthy suburb of Highland Park, Illinois is proof that gun violence is not just confined to low-income neighborhoods.  So many bad things are happening at once so we are losing sight of the worldwide climate crisis as heat waves are becoming more common, Sydney Australia is flooded and a glacier just collapsed in the Italian Alps.  Right now, it feels like each and every one of us is the person who was beaten by robbers and who is laying alone on the side of the road.

Bishop Curry asked the assembly to view leaders like Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the Good Samaritan in this parable.  Five years later neither one of these individuals holds a public office in the United States but it is clear to me that our political leaders are filling the roles of the priest and the Levite in this parable.  The fact that our leaders continue to pass by on the other side and fail to address our problems is having consequences for all of society, but the impacts are felt most acutely by the poor and the oppressed.  I have not yet missed a meal or even a snack and I have freely traveled using both my bicycle and my car but those individuals who are low income are not so lucky and are having to make very difficult decisions about how to spend their funds in order to meet their basic needs and travel to work.  We also see this inequity in the impact that the recent Supreme Court cases will have as we move forward.  The overturning of the concealed handgun restrictions in New York will more severely impact low-income neighborhoods because areas which experience severe poverty are more likely to have higher crime rates.  The limitation of the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases will have a greater effect on low-income neighborhoods which are disproportionately impacted by pollution.  The overturning of Roe v. Wade will be felt more acutely by those of limited financial means because wealthier people will simply access abortion by traveling to a different state.  There are strong legal arguments on each side and that is why these cases were not unanimously decided.  We can quibble about the law and the facts but there is no dispute that the poor and the oppressed will suffer more consequences from these decisions and the general inaction of our politicians.  The poor are left to suffer while our leaders walk by on the other side of the road.

I recently took a class at Luther Seminary titled Ministry with Persons with Mental Illness and Their Families.  Our professor was Hollie Holt-Woehl who has served churches in this area including House of Hope.  She talked a bit about the topic of funding government programs for those with mental illness.  In her experience with her son who has special needs she has learned that advocates for those with mental illness are called to work very hard and very persistently with the government to obtain the best possible support for those with mental illness and to pray very hard for systems to change but that one also has to be prepared to be disappointed when the government funding for a program does not work out as anticipated.  That is where we are at right now in our nation.  We hope for the best but we must be prepared to accept disappointment.  Our leaders have consistently been walking by on the other side but that does not excuse us from engaging in the political process.  As Maynard Jackson the first African American mayor of Atlanta said in describing the Civil Rights movement, “Politics, although not perfect, was the best available nonviolent means of changing how we lived... Politics is not an end, it's a means to an end.”  There are ways for Christian leaders to be political without being partisan and in the coming election season I invite you to advocate for issues that are important to you and to this community and to help people to register to vote and encourage them to vote.  Greater participation in the political process amplifies the voices of the poor and the oppressed so that they are heard so that our leaders are less likely to walk by on the other side of the road.

There has been a lot of law in this sermon so I also need to point out the good news in this text as well.  The good news is that God does not let us remain abandoned on the road.  Even as the priest and the Levite walk by the Good Samaritan eventually appears.  The love that Jesus showed on the cross is so strong that even two thousand years later it continues to manifest in daily life.  The suffering has been great during the pandemic but the response of many has been compassionate and has addressed the very real issues of human need.  When people lost their jobs and businesses were damaged due to the impact of the uprising that accompanied the murder of George Floyd many people had nowhere to turn and it is amazing how quickly mutual aid groups formed in our community.  Many of these mutual aid organizations were based in churches around the Twin Cities, however they were not necessarily run by the churches.  People from the community identified an immediate need and started coordinating efforts to help others   Donations flowed in and needs were met as churches served as staging areas where goods could be collected and distributed.  During the tough times Good Samaritans emerge and people find ways to help each other as the hands that help us enable us to be the hands that help others.  As a church we are called to spread the Christian message of love and service so that nobody is left alone on the road.

I would love the chance to listen to Bishop Curry preach on this text again five years later to hear what words he would proclaim about it in light of our current situation.  We are called to study the word of God and listen to it being faithfully proclaimed by gifted individuals like Bishop Curry, and we also are called to not simply rely on our leaders but to use our own hands to meet the needs of our neighbors.  The problems facing the world and our society are so great right now that we cannot simply wait for our leaders to take action and that is why Jesus invites us to be a neighbor to our fellow humans and to God’s creation.  No matter how many times the priests and Levites pass by on the other side we know that the love of Christ empowers the actions of the Good Samaritans among us who bring healing and relief to those in our community who need it most.     

-         Vicar Kyle Anderson

[1] Sarah Elbeshbishi, “Lack of Universal Health Care Cost 300,000 American Lives in Pandemic, Study Shows,” https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/06/23/universal-healthcare-save-american-lives-pandemic/7652206001/?gnt-cfr=1 (accessed July 6, 2022).

A New Creation

Today we conclude our series on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. A little background for today’s reading: Paul started this congregation of Gentile Christians – and then he went on to preach and teach elsewhere. But then other preachers came who taught that the Gentiles had to adopt the Jewish rites of circumcision and kosher diet in order to become fully part of God’s family. Paul is vehemently opposed to this. He writes that it is Christ who has come to fulfill the law and that it is by God’s love and grace and faith in Christ that all people – Jews and Greeks, slave and free, men and women, those who are circumcised and those who are not, -- are all made a part of God’s family. He concludes the letter with a personal note and a pastoral word for the people of Galatia and all Christians.  

A New Creation 

Today’s lesson made me think about moss. I know many people think about moss as a weed – but Robin Wall Kimmerer in her natural and cultural history book, Gathering Moss, suggests that we could learn a lot from mosses. She asks, “What is it that has enabled them to persist for 350 million years, through every kind of catastrophe, every climate change that’s ever happened on this planet, and what might we learn from that?”  She noticed that mosses are not solitary in nature but are dependent upon a web of relationships.  As mosses grow in the forest canopy, they use the trunks of trees as a foundation and they collect and store water. Then, she writes that “even without rainfall, the canopy mosses collect water and slowly drip it to the ground, keeping the soil moist for the growth of trees which in turn sustain the mosses.” She argues that some of the lessons that we can learn from mosses include: being small, giving more than you take, working with natural law, [and] sticking together. 1

These are good rules for us too. How do we live in community with one another and the world around us? It’s easy when everything goes well and everyone cooperates. But what do we do when someone breaks the rules?

Paul begins this last portion of the letter to the Galatians by addressing that question. How do you treat someone in your Christian community in whom you “detect a transgression?”  There may have been a particular person or grievance of the Galatians that Paul was addressing, but he doesn’t say who or what it is. Neither does he seem to be at all concerned with what or which transgression occurred. Instead, he is concerned about the way we as Christians respond to those who have done something wrong or hurtful. Paul says, “you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness.” Restoration and reconciliation is the goal – not punishment or shunning or excommunicating or even teaching a lesson to the one who erred.

Paul knows the Galatians – he spent a good deal of time with them and they seem like an earnest and good Christian community.  And this is why he is concerned. He’s concerned they may be tempted when dealing with someone who has made a mistake – maybe it was even huge transgression -- to judge and to compare themselves to this wayward soul. They might even be tempted to say, “well… at least I’m not as bad as…that person.”

But this is what Paul wants them and us not to do. This is why he says, “each must carry their own load.” If there is any comparing or judging to do – judge your own work on its own merits for on the last day we will each meet our maker. This sounds harsh, but thankfully, God has sent us a Savior, Jesus who promised to carry your load, your burdens – and gives us his light load in exchange.

This is why, rather than engage in these very human comparing and judging and self-justifying actions and attitudes, Paul urges the Galatians – and us --  to “bear one another’s burdens.”  This is the way of restoration. We are to bear the burden of another – as if it were our own burden, even our own transgression. In doing this, we are being Christ to our neighbor. For just as Christ has taken on our burden, we are to be as Christ and take on the burden of our neighbor.

This sounds hard – but it doesn’t have to be. Years ago, when I worked in Minneapolis in the inner city, I became friends with a woman named Mona. She taught me how to bear the burden of another. Mona volunteered with our Mom’s group which included many neighborhood women were living in poverty who had lots of problems. After the meeting they would often go to her and talk about their challenges. She would listen and pray with them.

Someone – maybe it was me - once asked her how she could listen to so many problems and not become overwhelmed by all of the burdens that were shared with her? Mona smiled and said, “I listen to their burdens and I pray with them. But I don’t keep the burdens. I give them to Christ.” And with that, she took her hands – which had been cupped together in the shape of a cross and raised them up over her head and released the burdens to God. Mona helped build Christian community – by giving the burdens that were shared with her – to Christ.

This is what we are called to do too. We do not need to be weighed down by our burdens or the burdens of our neighbor. Like my friend Mona, we can take on the cares and prayers and concerns of our neighbor – and then give them to Christ.  For together, in Christ, we are a new creation.  

We are a new creation that is bound together – not by our burdens – but by the life-giving love of Christ. For our part, we can strive to be more like Mona in listening to our neighbor and giving their burdens to Christ. We can also take a lesson from the mosses who live in relationship with one another and God’s created world. For God cares for all of God’s creation, sustaining the little moss on the rock and helping it to change and adapt to thrive in new environments and God cares for us too – molding us into a new creation to live in community with one another and all of God’s beloved world. Thanks be to God who loves us so. Amen.

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church                        July 3, 2022                      Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane           

Christ Has Set You Free!

Freedom! I like that word. Don’t you?  Freedom!  Say it with me: FREEDOM! 

I turned on the radio and these are the words I heard. At first, I assumed it was a political rally or maybe a sermon on Galatians. But no. It was a bitcoin conference. The speaker was celebrating the freedom of cryptocurrency -  a digital currency like bitcoin that is independent – that is free - from any government or bank management. I don’t know much about bitcoin – but I do know the power of words.

Freedom is a powerful word. Freedom is a rallying cry that stirs our hearts and lifts our spirits. Freedom is powerful because we want to be free. Next weekend we will be celebrating our country’s Independence day – and our freedom as citizens. Today, with joy, we hear Paul proclaiming, “Christ has set you free.”

There are some similarities between Christian freedom – and the freedom of our country and even the freedom of bitcoin. In each case, there is a desire for being free FROM something. Cryptocurrency wants to be free from government or bank management (they aren’t doing so well now – which is why the report was on the news). On July 4th we celebrate the beginning of our country’s freedom from foreign rulers. And today in his letter to the Galatians, Paul is calling them and us to be free in Christ.

And then Paul writes, “do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”No one wants to be a slave. But in the next 12 verses  -- verses that we didn’t read -- enslavement is what Paul argues will happen if the Galatians follow the traditional Jewish rites of circumcision and dietary laws. Those laws, he argues, had their time and place. But now, all people are welcome – men and women, people of all ages, every heritage and culture, every race, clan and tribe. In baptism into Christ we are all one and by his death and resurrection, Christ has set you’all free!

So what does freedom in Christ look like? I’m not the only one with this question. Inspired by this verse, the artist Paul Granlund created a sculpture that is located in downtown Minneapolis. A picture of it is printed on your bulletin cover. Take a look at it.  See how the people are emerging from the solid bronze box and stretching towards the sky – unbound from all the material that used to bind them. Perhaps this is what Christian freedom looks like –the liberty to embrace life and reach beyond the confines of all those things that would bind us.

But what does freedom taste like? Does it taste like fresh strawberries? OR is it as juicy as a watermelon? Is it crisp as a Honeycrisp apple or and mellow as a cantaloupe or honeydew.

 Paul says that freedom in Christ is sweet – and produces good fruit. And that fruit – is not self-indulgence or selfishness. Eating a whole watermelon at once by yourself would give you nothing but pain. In the same way, Paul says, if “you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.” This is what happens when we abuse the gift of freedom that we are given. Paul also gives us a vice list of things to avoid. But I’m more interested in looking at how Christ calls us to live.

Freedom in Christ is meant to be lived as Christ Jesus would have us live –loving one another as Jesus loves us. Paul says be “slaves to one another.” This seems contradictory since he has just argued against slavery and for freedom. But the Message Bible’s translation is more helpful. It reads: “use your freedom to serve one another in love.”

Paul is describing a life of discipleship. This is a life that bears fruit.  He says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Phew. That’s a lot. It can seem a bit overwhelming. When we shop for fruit, we can choose apples over oranges and grapes instead of pineapples, but we don’t get to choose which of the fruits of the Spirit we want. We don’t get to choose love, joy and peace and leave generosity, faithfulness and self-control on the shelf.  The fruits of the spirit are a package deal. This is what discipleship, being led by the Spirit, is all about. Not only are we freed by Christ FROM the power of evil and FROM the fear of death and despair. We are freed FOR a life of meaning, of purpose and of hope. We are freed to love our neighbor as Christ loves us. This is discipleship.

So how do we live a life of discipleship?  In a recent edition of Living Lutheran1, one writer said that she noticed that when she overwhelmed by the needs of the world around her and didn’t know where to start or what to do, she ended up doing nothing. She realized that she couldn’t do everything so she wanted to focus on one thing Her next question was: what would it be? And then she noticed that her children tended to go back to the toys and books that they loved – over and over again.

So she decided that the best place to focus her attention might be to first ask the question: “What do I love, and how can I use that love to serve others?” And she suggested we might try that too.

So, for example, if you love to cook perhaps you could make an extra meal and share it with a neighbor. Or, if you love to read – you could join our book club and foster a spirit of community or work with a reading buddies program.  Love to write or draw? You can send letters or cards to our shut-ins or your neighbors. Love to knit or crochet? We need more prayers shawls. Love to walk? Bring along a trash bag and clean up God’s good creation as you go. These are just a few ideas.

Alternatively, you could ask, “What breaks my heart – and how can I make a difference? How is God calling me to respond?  I remember Eleanor Bjorkquist once told me, “I know I can’t do everything, but what I can do is ‘feed people.’” So she was involved with Dinner at your Door. Other people continue that work now and still others have the same relationship with NEAR foodshelf and EveryMeal, the food program for school kids.

However, if nothing strikes a chord for you, or you find that you are no longer able to “do” as much as you used to – or you are limited by work or covid or other circumstances, then I invite you to pray. For prayer can be done anytime and anywhere. Pray for those who are in need of care, pray for the ministry of our church and the world around us – and pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you and us more deeply into a life of discipleship.

The good news is that the life of discipleship comes with the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us. Receive the fruits of the Spirit, the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And remember: Christ has set us free!  Thanks be to God. Amen.

1 Guided by love to serve Growing together – May 2022 By Kimberly Knowle-Zeller May 3, 2022

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church     June 26, 2022      Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane