February 12th, 2023

6th Sunday After Epiphany (Year A)

            We live in a society that is made up of laws. There are laws that keep us safe such as traffic laws—no doing wheelies on the interstate during rush hour traffic, for example. There are laws that protect money and property—no bank robbing or vandalism. There are laws that gives our government structure such as voting laws, and laws that are meant to protect human rights.

            In addition to the laws written in the law books, we also have many unspoken social laws or expectations that dictate how we behave. For example, while it is not illegal to cut in line at the grocery store, our unspoken social law tells us that this is wrong. I also recently saw a commercial that made a joke about the law of elevators. Social expectations tell us that we should face the elevator door, no making eye contact or talking to strangers riding with you or risk making everyone uncomfortable.

            Some laws are common sense, and some are very strange—for example, I did some research this week and learned that is it illegal in Kentucky to handle snakes during a religious service, and bear wrestling is also a big no-no. In general, laws are given for a reason and are meant to be helpful. They provide our society with boundaries and expectations and laws can often reflect a society’s values and helps people to make sense of themselves and the world.

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            In the Old Testament, God also gave the Israelites various laws to follow, around 613 to be exact. We are most familiar with the 10 commandments, but some of the other laws had to do with diet, proper worship, property rights, how to do business, solving conflicts and so on. These commandments—or “paths” as defined by the Hebrew word Mitzvah— were given with the intention of setting the Israelite people apart from other nations, molding them into God’s people. These commands were meant to offer a new path, a new way of life to the Israelite people as they continued to grow in relationship with God.

            These laws and commandments remained important to the Israelite community because they believed that following the commandments would bring God’s continued blessing, while disobeying would lead to trouble. We see this view in our Deuteronomy lesson today as Moses encourages the Israelites on the cusp of the Promise Land to choose life in obedience so as to avoid negative outcomes. I want to note that this does not mean that God was waiting to smite anyone who disobeyed, far from it, in fact. Think of this through the lens of a parent. Parents will give their children guidelines and rules meant for their overall wellbeing, and defying these guidelines can lead to consequences. Not looking both ways before crossing the street risks injury, choosing not to do your homework can lead to a failing grade, and lying leads to mistrust. These things are not necessarily punishments, but rather outcomes of poor choices, and sometimes, as every parent knows, you have to let a kid face the consequences in order to learn.

            It was similar for the Israelites. God set boundaries and expectations for the wellbeing of the people, and defying them risked negative outcomes. Worshipping other gods, for example, left them vulnerable to other nations and unhealthy cultural influences. Similarly, choosing to use corrupted business practices led to the oppression of the poor. When the Israelites failed to follow God’s ways the outcome was forgetting who God was and who God called them to be. They needed the laws given to them by God in order to remember who they were and remember their ongoing need for God.

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            Centuries later during the time of Jesus, the Mosaic Law was a tricky subject. The Pharisees and other religious teachers in the community were strict followers of the Mosaic Law and they were quick to judge anyone who didn’t meet their standards. The Pharisees used the Law as a form of power, and believed that they would receive God’s favor over the “Sinful Others.” The Pharisees used the Law as a means to salvation and as an excuse to look down on others.

            So, when Jesus came along doing his healing and preaching and gaining popularity among the people, the Pharisees quickly came to see him as a threat to their status. Jesus was not using the Law and the Scriptures as a form of judgement, but rather as a message of grace and calling others to turn to God. Jesus was associating with sinners, breakers of the Law, and still welcoming them into God’s love. Jesus taught the people that the Law was a guide to be followed to the best of their ability, but stressed that it was God who saves, and not the Law in itself. This was different than how the Pharisees were using the Law, and so they decided they wanted to get rid of Jesus, and began to use the Law as a weapon, trying to trap Jesus and accuse him of abolishing the Law.

            Of course, this is the opposite of what Jesus was doing. As our gospel tells us today, Jesus had come to fulfill the Law and not to abolish it. The Law had been given to the people by God. It was and still is good, not to be abolished. And yet, when the people were unable to live up to the Law, God did not condemn but rather had compassion. God so loved the world so much that God sent Jesus, to live a life according to the Law and to be an example of it to others. Jesus was the embodiment of God’s Law, and through the Cross he was also the embodiment of God’s love. God’s Love, Jesus, fulfilled the Law on our behalf and we have received God’s grace.

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            So, if Jesus has fulfilled the Law on our behalf as a means of grace, then how does the Law still matter today? After all, we no longer follow many of the 613 laws of the Old Testament. I know I for one wear mixed blends of fabric and eat pork. It’s important to keep in mind that many of the laws were written at a different time and place and in a different culture, so some of them may not translate to modern day as well as others. Despite this, the core of the Law is the same—to love God and to love neighbor—to be God’s people. That part of the Law will always be the same.

            Martin Luther teaches about the importance of the Law and the Gospel, stressing that both are needed and go hand in hand. According to Luther, the Law reminds us of our need for God. Try as we might we will fail to live up to God’s expectations, again and again. The Law keeps us accountable to this and reminds us that we cannot earn our own salvation. We need God’s help, and this knowledge helps us to truly receive the gospel and its gifts, accepting God’s forgiveness and living life anew out of this gift.

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            In the second part of our gospel today, Jesus sums up the Law and the Commandments in a simple way, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

            As Christians, our Law is to love—to love God in thanksgiving for all that God has done, and to love the neighbor in response to God’s Grace. We live life anew transformed by the gifts of the Gospel and God’s grace, and we seek to live this out in our daily lives. We follow the example of Jesus, and because Jesus lived a life following God’s Ways, we do our best to do the same by following the 10 Commandments. Like Jesus, we strive to do good works in service of the neighbor, and we do this not for our salvation but in response to God’s goodness. We strive to love as God first loved us and because God forgave us our sins, we try to extend grace to others for theirs. This is what it looks like to follow God’s Law.

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            So this week, as you go about following the laws of our world—please continue to stop at stop signs and don’t rob any banks—also think about how you are living into God’s Law. How are you honoring God with your time, talents and resources? How are you giving thanks to God with your life, and how are you using that life to serve others? Where in your life do you need to hear God’s grace, and where in your life might you need to extend grace to someone else?

            To be like Jesus and to follow God’s Law of Love is not always easy. In fact, sometimes it can be really, really hard to love, and there will be times when we get it wrong. The good news is that God is good and God is faithful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. When we fail to love God forgives and grace encourages us to try, try again. May God’s love bless us and may God’s grace guide us always, inspiring us to love God and love one another. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

February 5th, 2023

5th Sunday after Epiphany (Year A)

            When I was a kid, my dad liked to collect and sell antiques. He would collect antiques of all kinds—old machines, furniture, toys, jewelry, and the like. I have memories of Saturday mornings joining him as he drove to various antique shops in town. I was always curious in these shops, filled with so many things that I had never seen before, and relics of decades past.

            When I was in 2nd grade my dad moved to the small town of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, and in its own way Plattsmouth is an antique in itself. Founded in 1853 along the Platte River, it started as a one street town with simple shops on either side, and to this day its main street is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. To walk down the street in Plattsmouth feels a little bit like going back in time, so it made sense that an antique lover like my dad would choose to make Plattsmouth home.

            One of the shops on Main Street, of course, was an antique store. My father quickly became good friends with the shop owner, named Lisa, and we would spend many hours in the shop with Lisa and her daughter, Cami. Lisa would let Cami and I explore the various antiques, and I remember a favorite of mine being an antique radio she had.

            I was fascinated with this old radio. It was from the 1930s, the kind of radio the family would gather around in the evenings to listen to the news or a radio drama. The kind of radio where someone probably listened to FDR’s chats to the nation during the Great Depression. A real piece of history. Of course, this decades old radio didn’t have the best signal compared to modern day. Most often when I turned it on I got static, but with precise and patient tuning, I could often eventually get a radio station signal. From static to clarity, music finally would come through.

             Now, why on earth am I preaching to you about an antique radio, you ask? Well, in our 2nd reading today Paul is writing to the Corinthians and talking to them about wisdom, and I think tuning a radio is a good image for this. Paul teaches that God’s wisdom is different than human wisdom, and human wisdom on its own cannot get a clear signal, a clear understanding, of God’s wisdom and agency. We often try to tune our “spiritual radios” into what God is doing and sometimes we get static. God is a mystery to us, and to be honest, I don’t think we are meant to understand completely the mind and wisdom of God.

            And yet, through the death and resurrection of Christ, God has revealed to us the core of God’s wisdom—radical love, relationship, and restoration of the world.  According to human wisdom, the idea that the God of the universe would become human and then die on a cross is pure foolishness, a sign of weakness and even shame. What kind of God would choose to suffer and die? And what’s more, why would the God of the universe choose to do this for people who don’t even listen? It makes no sense according to human standards. To the world the Christ event is like static on an old radio, making no sense, but to the person who has glimpsed God’s Wisdom and received God’s Spirit, the Christ event is a clear signal, a clear message of God’s love and purpose revealed.

            I remember once having a conversation with an old friend who considered herself to be an atheist. We were talking about the purpose of life and the existence of the world, and my friend looked at me and told me that there was no purpose, no deeper meaning. She believed that because there was no God, everything was random and without reason. We were simply born, tried to survive in this messed up world, and then died. For her, that was it. To be honest I remember feeling sad as she shared that with me. In her view life seemed to lose its richness. There was no mystery or curiosity, no hope for a better world. Human wisdom and understanding on its own brings little meaning, like static on a radio with no signal to be found.

            But God’s Wisdom offers something different. In the death and resurrection of Jesus, and through the gift of baptism, followers of Christ have received God’s Spirit and been gifted with a new “spiritual radio” that tunes us in to what God is doing. We begin to see and hear and experience life and the world in a new way. It is God’s love that is revealed to us, unbreakable and everlasting. A love so deep that God would do the most unexpected thing—die on a cross and rise again—in order to offer new life and new creation to the world and to each one of us. It is God’s Wisdom revealed to us that gives us hope and purpose in our lives, and when we tune ourselves into God’s Wisdom we are transformed into a new creation.

             It is God’s Wisdom that tells us in our Gospel today that we are called to be the salt and light of the earth, a city on a hill, but what does this mean exactly? To be tuned into God’s Wisdom means that we are no longer consumed or defined by the static of human wisdom and the ways of the world. In fact, God’s Wisdom often turns human wisdom upside down. When human wisdom, for example, tells us that there is no hope for the world, God’s Wisdom gives us hope for a better future. Similarly, when the world tells us that we are not good enough, not lovable enough, it it God’s Wisdom that proves otherwise—after all, the God of the universe loved us enough to die on a cross. God’s Wisdom trades our brokenness into wholeness and brings the value out of each of us. God’s Wisdom tells us that we were each made in the Image of God and gifted with God’s gifts. It is God’s Wisdom that makes us new and we are chosen—as wonderfully imperfect as we are—to play our part in God’s work in the world.

            When we are tuned into God’s Wisdom, we cannot help but lived transformed lives, to be light and salt of the earth. We live in the example of Jesus, who guides our steps and helps us to live according to God’s ways. We see God’s Kingdom breaking into the world, and we participate in bringing God’s goodness to others as God works in and through us. God’s light dwells within each of us and we are called to live in a way that reflects that light to others, to add our own splash of flavor into the world around us. Think about it this way: God has equipped you with a unique personality, unique passions and unique gifts—how are you using them to reflect God’s light and love? How are you glorifying God and serving the neighbor? How are you pointing back to God and to the hope of God’s promises?

            So, to ask again, what does it look like to be tuned into God’s Wisdom of radical love, living transformed as salt and light? It looks like trusting in God’s promises even in challenging times. It looks like choosing kindness and hospitality to the stranger or choosing forgiveness in moments of anger. God’s Wisdom of radical love looks like speaking against injustice and doing what is right even when it is hard. It looks like each one of us, beloved and created in the Image of God, using our gifts, talents, passions, and stories for the sake of others. God’s Wisdom of radical love looks like this community, gathered on a Sunday morning to worship and do ministry together. God’s Wisdom is love, and we are salt and light when we reflect that love in our daily lives.

             So today I give thanks for the gift of God’s Wisdom, God’s radical love that defies human understanding. This Wisdom of love is revealed to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, a clear radio signal of who God is and who we are called to be in Christ. I give thanks that God creates all things new and equips us to be salt and light. May God’s Wisdom of love continue to guide each one of us. God’s ways are good, so let us live according to God’s ways and glorify God in all we do. Thanks be to God for God’s Wisdom. Amen.

Sunday, January 29, 2023

The Gospel in the bulletin is from the Message Bible, but I’m including this translation because I wanted you to read it both ways. The NRSVUE is a more accurate translation; the Message Bible seeks to express the meaning of the passage in more easily accessible language.  – Pastor Pam

  When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.NRSVUE  

 The refrain of an old song goes like this: “Count your blessings.  Count them one by one. Count your blessings see what God has done.”

 Count your blessings. It is a good thing to do – because we have been blessed. Often when we think about blessings, we think about the good things that we have received such as: the people we love, health, meaningful work, a home, freedom, and, last but not least, our community in Christ.

 But in the “The Beatitudes,” the name commonly given our Gospel for today, Jesus doesn’t mention any of those things. Instead, Jesus blesses those who have conditions that we try to avoid – being “poor in spirit” – or as it says in the Message Bible – those who are at the end of their rope; those who have lost loved ones, those who are meek; those who are persecuted.

 Jesus is not saying we should seek to become these things – but rather he is looking out at the people that he sees and blessing them. It is not because of what they have done. Instead, Jesus proclaims for them a different present and future than the one that they could reasonably expect. After all, these were people who were living under constant threat from the Roman Empire – death and destruction were common. So why is Jesus proclaiming blessings?

 We are in the Gospel of Matthew this year. Matthew, more than any other Gospel, connects the Jesus story to the Hebrew scriptures. The very first verse of the first chapter declares Jesus as the Messiah, the anointed, the son of David and the son of Abraham. When Jesus is born of the virgin Mary, Matthew calls this the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of Emmanuel, God is with us.

 Matthew’s Gospel also connects Jesus with the prophet Moses. Jesus’ family flees to Egypt and then, like Moses, he comes out of Egypt. After calling disciples, healing and preaching, Jesus, like Moses, goes up on a mountain. But while Moses comes down from the mountain with 10 commandments, Jesus goes up on the mountain but then sits down and begins to teach. It’s a long sermon. We will be reading the Sermon on the Mount for four Sundays. Jesus has a lot to teach. And just as the Bible begins with God creating the earth and proclaiming blessing each day, Jesus begins his teaching by proclaiming blessing.

 There is one blessing that stood out to me – Blessed are those who mourn. Or as the Message Bible puts it, “You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.”  It doesn’t feel much at all like blessing when you lose someone or some thing that you love dearly. It feels terrible. But what struck me is that grief or loss is the one experience that Jesus mentions in his blessings that anyone and everyone who loves some one or some thing will experience at some time. We may not all be meek or pure of heart or persecuted for Jesus’ sake. And yet, we will all mourn. And when you do, Jesus offers blessing and comfort to you.

 The other night I was at Faith-Practices, Neighboring Practices meeting and we were asked to think about and write down moments in our lives in which we felt God’s presence and were blessed because of it.  

 Arts and crafts projects are not my forte, but there were only colored pencils on the table so I felt compelled to try to draw a timeline of my life with high points and challenging points along the way. As I drove a curvy line across and around the paper, I noticed that God was present through it all. But I also noticed the blessings that came out of the low points in my life including those times in which I mourned the loss of those that I loved dearly – my father when I was only 17, a dear friend, and then my mother, not so long ago.  

 When we got into groups of three to share those times that we felt God’s presence, it was interesting that the others in my group also remarked upon God’s presence with them in challenging times. The blessings often came later in the gift of compassion for others when they mourned.

 Of course, challenging times are not the only times in which we experience God’s presence and feel God’s blessings. On the mountain, Jesus blesses all kinds of people – especially those who do not fit any society’s list of the successful. Jesus blesses the meek and humble; peacemakers; and those persecuted for his sake.  And Jesus blesses you. Jesus doesn’t bless you because you fit into some category or because of anything you do. Jesus says you are blessed – and because Jesus, who is God with Us, says it – you are blessed.

 Lutheran pastor and author Nadia Bolz-Weber began noticing modern day examples of Jesus’ blessings in her congregation:

Blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are they who doubt. Those who aren’t sure can still be surprised.
Blessed are they who not so certain about everything that they can take in new information.

Blessed are those who mourn –

Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like.
Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried.
Blessed are they who don’t have the luxury of taking things for granted any more.
Blessed are the motherless, the alone, the ones from whom so much has been taken.
Blessed are those who “still aren’t over it yet.”
Blessed are they who laughed again when for so long they thought they never would.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

Blessed are the pre-schoolers who cut in line at communion for they will be filled.

 I would add to her list:

Blessed are those who feel isolated. They are open to community.

Blessed are those who are seeking. God is seeking you.

 Friends in Christ - as you “Count your blessings. Count them one by one” do not forget those blessings that came in the hard times, in the challenging times of your life. For God, Emmanuel, was with you then too. And still is. So, go ahead. Count your blessings. See what God has done. For of this I am certain: Jesus is blessing you.  Amen.

Sunday, January 22, 2023

Third Sunday in Epiphany

            In our second reading today, Paul urges the church in Corinth to be one in mind and without division. That is easy to do, right? To be honest, I chuckle at this a little bit. Has Paul ever been to church before? I think anyone who has ever spent time in a church—or anywhere for that matter—knows that not everyone will agree or be ‘one in mind’ on everything. People are complicated and diverse, which is both a blessing and a challenge when living in community. At some point, there will always be something that people disagree on, even in church.

             There are the smaller disagreements and divisions such as what color carpet to choose, the best way to collect the Sunday offering, or how to arrange furniture. I remember the one year during Lent when my home congregation re-arranged the sanctuary into a circle with the altar and the cross in the middle—there were definitely some mixed responses there! With these kinds of disagreements and divisions feathers can be ruffled and there might be some frustration, but typically these issues do not interfere with the bigger picture of the Church’s mission. We can usually make it through these kinds of challenges without too much trouble. 

            But then, of course, there are wider matters of debate and division, such as questions of theology and how to do ministry. How should the church organize its budget and spend its money? How involved should the church be in political matters, or when might the church need to take a stand on a political issue? Who is welcome in the church, and what should the church do with “problem people”—the always misbehaving child, the drug addict, the undocumented immigrant? What does the church look like and how do we “do church” together in an ever changing and complicated world? These are complex questions that often come with emotions and dearly held beliefs. These are the kinds of questions that can divide a community if they aren’t handled with care.

             Well, I’m sorry to say that I don’t have the answers to these complicated questions, but I do know that the Church as a whole has been wrestling with complicated questions since the beginning. In the letter to the Corinthians Paul is writing to a divided church. The Church in Corinth was still in its early stages and they were learning how to do and be church together. They had to figure out what their worship would look like, what theological teachings they would follow, and how to interact with people of different backgrounds (I.e. Jew and Gentile, Rich and Poor, etc.). The people in Corinth were full of faith, passionate about their community, but they disagreed on various things and they were trying to find a way forward.

            So in the midst of these conflicts and questions, here comes Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. Paul writes to remind them who they are as a community. They are a community of people who have been transformed through the Gospel, called to be united in mission with Christ at their center. Caught up in their disagreements they were forgetting this fact, and I think we too can lose sight of our true purpose in such moments. To be one in mind does not mean we will always agree, but rather that we are committed to living and working together for the sake of God’s work in the world. Said in another way, there will be disagreements in the Church, but as Christians transformed by the Gospel we seek to be community together with Christ as our center.

             So how does a community transformed by the Gospel do ministry? How do we make decisions centered in our common mission in Christ? Of course this will look a little different in each congregation, but I think there are a few key things we can learn from Jesus when it comes to living in community together.

            First, the four gospels teaches us that Jesus had compassion and concern for the poor and marginalized. Rather than ignoring the “problematic people”, Jesus reached out to them in kindness. Think of Zacchaeus the tax collector, the blind beggar or the ten lepers. These are all people who were on the outside for one reason or another until Jesus reached out. He saw the humanity in them when others did not. As a community discerning ministry and life together, we can learn from Jesus to keep in mind the most vulnerable in the community and how we as a church can reach out.

            Second, Jesus was inclusive, and often included the most unexpected of people. Our gospel for today is an example. Jesus is walking along the shoreline and chooses to call two groups of fisherman to be his disciples. Now in that time period, Jewish boys typically went through a certain amount of religious instruction and education, and at the end of that training if a boy was smart enough/good enough he might be chosen to be a disciple of a rabbi. This was a great honor if you were chosen. But if you weren’t good enough to make the cut you lost the opportunity and went to learn the family trade. This is what happened to Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John. None of them were good enough to make the cut to be chosen by a rabbi. And yet, along comes Jesus, who calls these seemingly unqualified men to be a part of his ministry. He tells them “Come, and I will make you fishers of people” and they dropped everything and came as they were. I also want to note that Jesus did not specify what kind of people they would be fishing for. They would not be fishing for just the people that were good enough, smart enough, rich enough. They would be fishing for people, all kinds of people, because in God’s ministry all people belong. As a church we can ask ourselves in our ministry how we are following Jesus’s example of inviting and involving all people. Scripture reminds us—there are many gifts and many people but one Spirit uniting the Body of Christ. The uniqueness of each individual is an asset to the community as a whole, all people have value and something to share.

            Third, I think Jesus is a good example of relationship, patience and humility. Jesus took time to get to know the people around him. He seemed to have a genuine interest in others, and he even made time for children and the lowest in society. He had compassion and he listened. As a community, when it comes to making a decision or working through a disagreement, I think one of the best things we can do is to follow the example of Jesus and simply listen. People want to know that we care enough to hear their concerns. And who knows, we might just gain a valuable new insight we hadn’t had before. Being community together means being open and willing to learn from one another.

            Finally, and most importantly, Jesus’s ministry was rooted in prayer and discernment. Jesus often took time away from his work to pray and be with God. Taking this time to pray allowed Jesus to discern, listen and reflect so that his ministry could be purposeful and Spirit-led. Likewise, church communities also need time to pray and discern together when making a decision or facing a challenge. This time helps us as a community to remember our values, strengthen our relationships with God and one another and be open to where God’s Spirit might be leading. We can ask ourselves how we as a community are taking time to grow in relationship both with God and with each other. What might God say to our community if we took time to listen, pray and discern together?

             Being in community can certainly be challenging at times—relationships of all kinds have their challenging moments— but community is also such a gift. God created us to be in relationship with one another. Community can support us when we need it, as well as challenge each of us to grow and try new things. In community we learn to see God in our neighbor and we learn from those who are different than ourselves. In community we find belonging and the opportunity to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and when we bring our gifts, talents, resources and passions together we can do far greater things than we could do on our own.

            This is the kind of community I have experienced here at Faith-Lilac Way. This is a community that is passionate about ministry, and together you have done and continue to do wonderful things for the sake of the gospel. I have found this to be a community that supports one another, a community where people can be vulnerable when they need to be and still be accepted. This is a community that people can call home, a place to belong.

            God is with us in this community. This church is made of many members and many gifts,  and with Christ at our center this congregation will continue to grow in faith, relationship and mission. So let us continue together, one in mission and one in gospel. Let us show compassion and inclusivity, patience and listening. May we be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led in prayer and discernment.  With all of the the ups and downs that come with living in community, I know God is at work within this community and good things continue to be in store. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sunday, January 15, 2022

Second Week in Epiphany (Year A)

          In college I once attended a campus ministry retreat and at that retreat I found myself sitting around a table with a group of other college students and we were sharing our faith stories. We talked about the congregations where we had grown up, ways we had encountered God in our lives, as well as times where we had struggled in faith and in the Church.

          One young woman’s story has stayed with me years later. She grew up in a congregation where her family was very active—the kind of family that was in church every Sunday, volunteered to help at church events and sang in the choir. Growing up she loved going to church. She loved the Bible stories, she loved the music, she loved the people. Church was a place where she felt happy and loved.

          But as she got older things started to change. In middle school and high school she started to wrestle with her identity and with her sexuality. When she was a freshman in high school she came out to her parents as bisexual, meaning that she was attracted to both boys and girls. This went against the teachings of the church they attended, so her disturbed parents took her to see their pastor. While the pastor tried to be kind, he explained to her that something within her was wrong, broken. The pastor advised her to study her Bible and to pray, to pray that God would take away the “homosexual sin.” All she had to do was want it badly enough, pray hard enough, and everything would be okay.

          She tried. She read her Bible morning and night and prayed constantly. She withdrew from other kids as she tried to repress her feelings. Her parents, not knowing what else to do, had confided in some trusted friends at church and before she knew it there were whispers and rumors about her throughout the congregation. People who used to smile at her now avoided eye contact, or gave her looks of sympathy, possibly even a look or two of contempt. The church which she had loved growing up now became a place of discomfort and shame.

          By her sophomore year in high school she left the church. She believed that she was broken beyond repair. How could God love someone like her?

          A few years passed and she graduated from high school. Wanting a fresh start she decided to move away for college where no one would know who she was. She settled into her college classes and kept to herself—that is, until she was assigned to a study group for her college math class. The study group met on Wednesday afternoons and she soon became friends with her study-mates, especially a boy named Connor. As the semester went on she eventually learned that Connor was an ELCA Lutheran (something she had never heard of) and every Wednesday after their study group he went to something called “Campus Ministry” to hangout with other Lutherans.

          Soon Connor began to invite her to Campus Ministry. At first she said she was busy, but eventually she told him straight out—“Your church wouldn’t want me there. I wouldn’t belong.” Connor replied with four simple words: “Just come and see.” Finally she agreed. She would go just once—just enough to get him to stop asking—and then she would never go back.

          That afternoon when study group was over she packed up her stuff and followed Connor as they walked across campus to the campus ministry group. They walked in and to her amazement, she had fun! There were group games and laughter and conversations. There were people who didn’t know her but welcomed her. She was a little uncomfortable during the Bible study and prayer, but it wasn’t as bad as she thought it would have been. The next week she asked if she could go back. And the week after that, and the week after that.

          She became a regular of the group and even learned that there were a couple of other LGBTQ+ students there too. As the weeks passed she made friends and found community. And most importantly—she explained to the group of us listening to her story—she started to be introduced to a version of God she had never met before. The God she had grown up with was conditional and angry, but the God she was learning about now was abounding in love. She came to learn that she was God’s creation, made in God’s image and called beloved. She learned that God loved her just as she was, she didn’t need to hide any part of herself in order to be loved. Meeting this God changed her life—made her feel whole again—and she became one of those wild ELCA Lutherans.

          This young woman’s story has stayed with me for a few reasons. First, I could feel the brokenness she felt, the fear that she was not good enough to be loved. I know I have wondered myself at times if God could really love me even when I felt broken. Second, this young woman had spent years of her life searching. She was searching for a sense of meaning and purpose, for a sense of community and acceptance. I think we can all relate to that. And third, I was struck by Connor’s simple words of invitation: “Just come and see.”

          In our Gospel today we hear Jesus extend this same invitation. In this first chapter of John, John the Baptist has been preparing the way, baptizing and calling people to God.

He is telling anyone that will listen that a Messiah is coming. John the Baptist’s message was intriguing and soon he started to gain disciples of his own, including the two disciples from our gospel story today. These two disciples were drawn to John the Baptist’s message. I think they were searching, searching for a deeper meaning, searching for hope and to be a part of something bigger than themselves. So they follow John the Baptist and listen to his message. They want to be a part of the action, to know about this Messiah who John is talking about, and so they stay with John and wait for this Messiah to come.

          And then—finally—the day comes. In my mind I can imagine these two disciples standing with John the Baptist near the banks of the Jordan River where John has been baptizing. And in the distance Jesus is walking and John the Baptist cries out, “It’s him! The one we’ve been waiting for! He is the Anointed one from God!” I can almost see John pointing, maybe even jumping up and down a little bit with excitement! Seeing Jesus the two disciples are full of curiosity and amazement. They know nothing about this Jesus or what is to come, but they believe in that moment that he is the One, the One in whom they have been waiting and watching for. They believed Jesus would do something important, and these disciples wanted to be a part of it, to learn firsthand from Jesus. Jesus’s message is the deeper meaning that they had been searching for.

          So they left John the Baptist and hurried to catch up with Jesus. I can see them running up to Jesus and as Jesus hears them approaching from behind he turns to face them, asking a simple question: “What are you looking for?” They respond by saying “Rabbi, Teacher, where are you staying?” On the surface this seems like a strange question, but really what they are saying is “Teacher, let us go with you.” Jesus sees them for who they are, sees their curiosity, their longing. And then Jesus, full of compassion and mystery utters three simple words, “Come and see.”

          With those three simple words the lives of these two disciples, and soon a third disciple named Simon Peter, are changed forever. They will embark on a world-changing ministry with Jesus, journeying near and far to proclaim God’s hope to the people. They don’t know it yet, but they will follow Jesus to Jerusalem, they will witness the crucifixion of Jesus. Three days after the crucifixion they will rejoice in his resurrection, and they will witness to this story for the rest of their lives. With three simple words Jesus changed the lives of these disciples and invited them to participate in the process of changing the world. What a gift these three simple words of invitation can be: “Come and See.”

          Jesus holds out his hand and invites us with these same three words. “Come and see.” Come and see the love I have for you, what I have already done for you out of that love. Come and see the hope I bring, the good things that are in store. Come and see that amazing things that we can do together. Come and see.

          When we accept the invitation Jesus offers, life is changed. God invites us into ministry in our daily lives, and, filled with hope in God’s promises we get to be a part of what God is doing in the world. God fills us, renews us, and sends us out. We are sent out into our schools, workplaces, retirement communities, neighborhoods and families. We are sent out into a world that needs hope. There are people around us every day who are like the young woman I shared about earlier, people who are searching and waiting to hear about a God who loves. What a gift it is that we can be the ones who God sends to extend our hands and our hearts to others in invitation, saying, “Come and see. Come and see for yourself the God who loves.” Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Sunday, January 8, 2023

You are My Beloved Child

 Have you ever heard of the “Island of Misfit Toys?” In the Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Christmas movie and sequel, this is where toys go that are unwanted or unloved or just created a little differently - “like a spotted elephant or a lion with wings, a train with square wheels or a water pistol that shot jelly.” And if you remember the movie, they didn’t feel so good about themselves. They wanted to belong, to be loved and to be valued just for who they are.

 And so do we. And yet we spend far too much time feeling not “good enough.”

 It was a beautiful day and the teacher let my class out early as a reward to play kickball on the playground. Except it wasn’t a reward for me. That’s because, whenever we played a game-- unless it was a spelling bee -- the team captains were chosen from the most athletic kids in the class and they “picked sides” while the rest of us had to wait to be chosen. The athletes were chosen first, then the popular kids. I was not very interested in athletics and tended to kick the ball straight at the pitcher for an easy out… every time. I wasn’t very confident in my abilities either and yet I remember praying that I wouldn’t be the very last to be chosen. Like all the other kids, I wanted to belong.  And yet… I felt more like a misfit toy than a part of the team.

 Have you ever felt like a misfit toy? Maybe you are great at sports… but you didn’t get the grades that you wanted for school and so other doors were closed. Or maybe you have felt like you could never measure up to the expectations or demands of your mom, or dad or coach or boss or even yourself.

 From her research, Dr. Brene Brown has discovered that we all want to belong. She says that it is part of the “innate human desire to part of something larger than us... [and so] we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval.” The problem is that we do that, we end up tying our feelings of self-worth, happiness and success to goals that are not in our control. For example - if only I lose  pounds, then I’ll be accepted. Or, if only I make the team, then I’ll belong. Or, if only I win the lottery, then my troubles will be over. These “if only” goals set us up for failure and get in the way of being our own authentic self.  

 Last week, many people made New Years Resolutions. There’s nothing wrong with that. A new year can be a good time to take a look back and reflect on who we have been and an opportunity to reassess plans and goals and consider ways that we want to live better and to be the people we most want to be in the upcoming year. Maybe you want to eat better, exercise more or improve your strength, weight or break a bad habit or two. Good for you!

 Unfortunately, people are often overly ambitious in their goals and less ambitious in developing a plan to accomplish these goals. But change is hard, and so, for whatever reason, most of us fail to keep our resolutions, our promises to ourselves - as well intentioned and even good for us as they may be. 

 In our lesson from Isaiah, God speaks to a people who have failed to keep their promises. But their failure was not just a New Year’s resolution. They failed to keep their promises to God.  God had made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, and with all of their descendants, all of the people of Israel, to be their God. And they promised to be God’s people and to follow God’s commandments. 

 But again and again, the people sinned and broke the covenant and even sometimes forgot all about God. This did not please God. But God did not destroy them. God did not shame them or tell them that they were unworthy or unredeemable. Instead, God told them that even though they did not keep their end of the deal, even though they broke the covenant, God would keep that covenant. And, God would not only keep God’s promise, but God would send them a Servant Leader, a light to the nations, to keep their side of the promise as well.

 So God chose to send a servant leader who in Isaiah, God calls “my chosen in whom my soul delights,” to keep the covenant with the people of Israel and to extend that covenant to all people, to be a light to the nations.

 As Christians, we understand that servant leader to be Jesus. After Jesus’ baptism, God proclaims, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Or as the Message translation says,  “This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life.”

 When my children were little, I liked to sneak into their room after they were sleeping just check in on them. And regardless of whether it had been a good day or a more challenging day, as I looked at them sleeping peacefully in their beds, and I delighted in them. I think that that is what God is saying about Jesus – and how God feels about us. God looks at us – not only when we are sleeping – and delights in you.

 God delights in you because at YOUR baptism, you were proclaimed a child of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever.  At your baptism and every day afterwards, God says, you belong.  YOU are my beloved child. I love you. I delight in you and there is NOTHING that you can do that will make me love you any less.

 On the day that you were baptized, God sealed the deal… and today you have an opportunity – we ALL have an opportunity to say no to the devil, the forces of evil and everything that would tell us that we are not good enough…and to say yes to God who has already said yes to you. We can say yes to the one who says, “You belong.”  Thanks be to God who makes it so. Amen.

Sunday, January 1, 2023

We still seek Jesus & Christ is Seeking You!

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

 As many of you know, I was on a pilgrimage this Fall, the Camino de Santiago, I discovered that people go on pilgrimages for many different reasons. All of our final destination was the Cathedral de Santiago. In addition, our group was seeking time to walk and simply be together after the pandemic. But there were other things that we were seeking – and carried with us -- that varied from person to person. One sought comfort after the death of a loved one; another sought direction after an unexpected early retirement. Yet another sought strength – she had not had any opportunity to train due to some medical issues – and she worried she couldn’t make it. We were all on the same pilgrim trail and yet we each carried different hurts, questions, challenges and needs for how we wanted or hoped for God to enter into our lives.

I think the wisemen were also on a pilgrimage of sorts. They had seen a star at its rising – and according to their reading and understanding of the stars, that meant that a new King had been born. They plotted its course – without the aid of GPS-- and determined that this new King was born in the land of Judea, a new King of the Jews. And so they set off on a journey to find him and pay homage to him.

We don’t really know who these “wisemen” are. We know they were Gentiles – outsiders. The Greek word that is often translated as “wisemen” or sometimes “kings” is Magi – which means astronomer or astrology – which makes sense, since they were studying the stars. But, despite the prominence of crowns on the three kings in Christmas programs, they probably were not kings. They may have also been Zoroastrian priests,1 who would have been very knowledge-able of the stars. But this would also underline that they were not Jewish – and that even in the very beginning – chapter 2 of Matthew – the Good News of Jesus is beginning to spread to the whole world. Whoever these Magi were –they were on a journey, a pilgrimage, to find this new King of Judea and to pay him homage.

“Homage” is not a word we use often. It can mean reverence or honor or even worship. It shows up three times. First, the Magi tell Herod that they want to know where the new king was born because they saw his star at its rising and they want to “pay him homage.” In line with the culture of the time, they want to honor him as a king ought to be honored.

After telling to King Herod, he says he too wants to “pay homage” so he tells the Magi to be sure to come back and let him know where this new king is so that he also can go worship him.

The third time that the word appears is when the Magi actually see Jesus. They had learned from Herod that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem – so they head that direction. I wonder if they had started to figure out that Herod was not a trustworthy person. They may have wondered if he actually sent them on the right track.

But just when they may have wondered if they were ever going to find this new King of Israel – and who could they trust – the one whom they sought started seeking them. The star reappears to guide them and they were “overwhelmed with joy.” The Greek puts it even more strongly, saying they rejoiced exceedingly with a great joy.” When the star stops over the house where Jesus is, the Magi go in, and seeing Jesus, the Greek says that they fall down and worship him. No stiff taking the knee or elegant bows. They fall down prostrate on their face in worship. 2

The contrast between the Magi and Herod is striking. We read later in Matthew that what Herod really wanted was information on this new baby who people in other nations were calling a “King” so that he could kill him. This cruel brutality wasn’t anything new for him -- he killed several of his own sons and his wife when he suspected them of wanting his crown.

Unlike Herod, who was only interested in his own wellbeing, the Magi humble themselves and worship Jesus – and they do this not out of compulsion or fear. Instead, they did this after having been filled with Great Joy!

I think the Magi have something to teach us. The Magi came to see Jesus seeking to give him gifts and they received much more. The one who they sought to honor was seeking them too.

One Spring morning a few years ago as I was cleaning my front door, I noticed something strange on the lintel, above the door. There was chalk on the doorframe that said: 20 C+M+B 19

I wondered, “What in the world could this be?” Is this some new kind of graffiti? Or a very tall person using our door as a chalkboard for a math problem? Maybe it was a code. Maybe it’s some new thing that someone in the neighborhood is doing to mark the houses.

It turned out that it was a code of sorts. But it wasn’t someone trying to graffiti our house. Rather, it was part of a blessing that is traditionally – at least in England and other places – done on the 12th day of Christmas – also known as the day of Epiphany. The first two numbers 20 stand for the century and the last two numbers are for the year. The “+” signs represent the cross. The letters CMB stand for Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, the traditional names given to the Magi.

The letters CMB also stand for the Latin phrase Christus mansionem benedicat, “May Christ Bless this House” and for all who enter it this year. This is a reminder every time we enter the house – even when the chalk gets a little pale - that Christ has blessed our home – and us. It is a blessing and an invitation for us to bless others just as the Magi blessed and was blessed by Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, may you be blessed and be a blessing in this New Year. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

1Niveen Sarras https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/epiphany-of-our lord/commentary-on-matthew-21-12-8

2 Greek English Lexicon

Christmas Day, December 25, 2022

During my childhood my mom was well known among family, coworkers and friends as the Christmas Cookie lady. She would bake a dozen or more different kinds of cookies and Thanksgiving through New Years one of her cookie trays would appear at every event. Of course, with that much baking to do you have to start baking early in the season. Each year I would wake up on a Saturday morning at the end of October or early November to the smell of cookies baking and the sounds of Christmas music filling the house. Songs like Whitney Houston’s version of Joy to the World, Michael Buble’s Have a Holly Jolly Christmas and James Taylor’s Go Tell it on the Mountain.

            When I was younger I thought my mom was insane for playing Christmas music so early and I would tease her or, if I was feeling grinchy, I would turn it off. But now as an adult I must admit that these are fond memories and I have now become just like my mother playing my Christmas music much too early in the season.

            I inherited my mom’s love of Christmas music and to this day the Christmas song Go Tell it on the Mountain has been one of my absolute favorites. Go Tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born! With those words images of Christmas joy fill my mind, people shouting from the rooftops the good news of Christmas: Jesus—Emmanuel—God with us and come to bring hope to all people. When you hear such good news you simply can’t help but want to go, to be sent out into the world to tell the story of God’s love. 

             All of our readings today, in one way or another, tell us about messengers with a story to tell. Our reading from Hebrews today reminds us of God’s story of faithfulness through the prophets, as well as points to the Son, saying:

            Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the                                          prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he                                        appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.

The story of God’s history with Israel (and the world) is one of persistent and unconditional love. The Bible tells us that in the beginning, God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) created the world and everything in it and called it good. God deeply loved God’s creation, and God wanted to be in relationship with the world and with humanity. But over time people began to go astray as Sin entered in. Humanity was becoming separated from God—even forgetting about God—and of course this broke God’s heart. So God began to send messengers—the prophets.

            These prophets were sent by God as God’s way of calling out to God’s people, calling them to remember who God was and who they were as God’s people. Through the prophets God was seeking to reestablish relationship with the people and warning them to turn back from their destructive ways. Rather than an angry God, I imagine God here as a loving parent concerned for their child gone astray, as we too warn children when we see them doing something harmful to themselves or others. The prophets were God’s was of doing that, as well as God’s way of reaching out again and again to say “I love you, come back to me. I am yours and you are mine.” Of course, the people failed to fully receive this message through the prophets and eventually they ended up in exile, which is where our reading from Isaiah takes place.

  Our  reading from Isaiah 52 says:

             “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who                                           announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says                            to Zion, “Your God reigns.” 

The Prophet Isaiah, a messenger himself sent by God, points the way to another messenger who is coming who will announce salvation and the return of God’s reign. This was an important message for Israel, for during this time of exile the people had been scattered and they feared that God’s face would be hidden from them forever. But of course God was faithful and did not forget the promises he had made to Israel, and in time King Cyrus of Persia did send a message to the Israelites. Babylon had been defeated and the Israelites were encouraged to return home and rebuild the Temple. Because of God’s love and faithfulness, earthly salvation had come and God had returned to guide God’s people home. And yet, I wonder if the Israelites—or if even Isaiah knew—that God’s message through the prophet was also meant for something far greater than earthly freedom. Indeed, hundreds of years later another messenger of love would come—Jesus—to proclaim a different kind of salvation, the salvation from Sin and Death once and for all.

             And who is this Jesus, Son of God? Our gospel today tells us that Jesus is the Word of God, the story of God’s love become flesh. Jesus is essentially the embodiment of God’s love, and that love has been with God since the beginning. Through love God created the world and all that was in it and to this day God continues to create and sustain life through this love. Yet, when humanity was unable to experience and understand God’s love on their own, God’s love put on flesh and came to us in love’s most tangible form, a tiny and vulnerable baby laid in a manger.

            As many of us likely know, love is a powerful thing. Love has the power to bind people together in new and unexpected ways. Love can motivate extraordinary acts of kindness and guide our actions as we interact with those around us. Love has the power to overcome hatred and bring new life to places and people in conflict. Love is a powerful—even sacred—force and in a world that can seem so dark at times we need God’s love, the most powerful kind of love there is. God’s love brings hope, it conquers the darkness in our lives and the darkness of the world cannot overcome God’s love.

             So today, on Christmas morning, we celebrate God’s love become flesh, a love that enters into our world and meets each one of us where we are and as we are. A love that sees us as beautiful and worth loving despite our mistakes or short fallings. A love that has gone willingly to the cross and back again to conquer Sin and offer us salvation and relationship forever. Jesus is God’s ultimate love story, the light of the world and the hope for all people.

            This joyous news is worth celebrating and this story is worth telling again and again. So let us go tell it on the mountains, shout it from the rooftops and share it with strangers, neighbors, family and friends this Christmas. God’s love has come, and God’s love is for all people. Emmanuel—God With Us! Thanks be to God. Amen.

Christmas Eve * December 24, 2023

Bearing Witness to the Light and Love of Christ

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

 The days were getting shorter, darker and harder to bear for my friend, Melanie. She wrote about her experience that Advent. She found that even though she was doing all the things that she usually did in preparation for Christmas, that year she felt like she was just going through the motions. Her heart was not in it. She wanted to celebrate. But she was grieving that year – grieving the loss of hopes and dreams, the loss of the future that she had planned and anticipated. It was hard to celebrate. Perhaps you have experienced such a time.

 There are times when we don’t always “fit” the season. Maybe it’s a loss of a loved one. Maybe it’s a change or a loss of hopes and dreams. But in the midst of a season in which people are singing, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” it’s hard when it doesn’t feel so wonderful.  That was the case for Melanie. 

 But, she writes, “On the morning of December 13th that year, before the tenuous light of dawn made its way to us, our household woke to singing. It was like a dream—warm and cozy and quiet in bed, and yet...someone was singing just outside our window.” Her four year old ran to the door and called out…. it’s our friends! They are singing and carrying candles! 

 Melanie and her family threw on bathrobes and welcomed into their home their friends who not only brought gifts of light into the darkness and joyful song into the quiet early morning air. They also brought gifts of love and laughter as they shared their tradition of celebrating Santa Lucia day by sharing a feast with their neighbors and telling the story of their Santa Lucia traditions. Melanie recalls, “It was a such a gift that Advent—light and joy and love during a difficult time.”1 

 It was a difficult time for many people when Caesar ordered a census in order to count the people. Apparently, someone decided the best way to do this was to have everyone return to the hometowns of their heritage. But for some, like Joseph and Mary, this meant traveling, probably walking, a long way. This was done so that Caesar could tax them and pay for his soldiers occupying their land.  

 During this difficult time, God sent a host of angels – the Greek word could be translated as “army”  – an army of angels.2 But God did not send this fearsome army to confront the evil of the occupation. Instead,

the angels come singing and bearing light and witness to a Savior, Christ the Lord.

 They entrust this amazing message of light, joy and love to shepherds, ordinary working folks, who are on the night watch.  There was no plan B. The angel told the shepherds the good news, gave them direction and then this whole army praised God. Apparently, God thought these ordinary shepherds were well equipped to spread the Good News.

 And so they were. They had no theological training. They had no speech classes. They could have simply gone back to their hillside and watched their sheep. But after they saw Jesus, they were changed. They told everyone they saw about the baby, who is Jesus our Lord. They shared this message of light, joy and love with everyone – so that others could also be amazed. And someone told this story to Luke so that you would hear the story too.

 Receiving the gift of light, joy and love transformed the shepherds. And it made a difference for my friend Melanie too. Her family celebrates Santa Lucia day every year now. And some years they share the gift of this day with someone who they know could use “a little light and gentle joy.”

 There are always people who need the gift of light, joy and love.

 Amanda Gordon seemed to understand this when she wrote her poem, “The Hill We Climb” for President Biden’s inauguration in 2020. The country was deeply divided over many things and the riot at the capitol just days before accentuated that division. But into this chaotic time, Amanda Gordon leaned into her faith and proclaimed a little light and hope, saying, “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”3 

 This is a challenge for us, to be brave. For the light has come. Jesus Christ is the light of the world who came bright light and love and joy into our world and into our lives. So like Amanda Gordon, let us be brave enough to see it and to receive the light of Christ. And then, let us be brave enough to bear witness to the light and to share that light, to be that light for our neighbor.

 There are days that are or will be challenging – maybe for you or maybe for a friend, a neighbor, a loved one or a stranger. But regardless of the challenges that come, you and I can bear witness to the light, the light that shines in the darkness, the light that cannot be overcome.  

 On Christmas Eve, it is our tradition to light candles. The first light comes from the Christ candle and then we share the light. As you light the candle of your neighbor, I invite you to see the light of Christ in their face and to know the love of God which is given for you. For the light has come into the world and the darkness cannot overcome it. So let us rejoice and proclaim God’s love and Christ’s light. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

 1 Stewardship of the Light, Melanie Heuiser Hill in Stewardship Leaders Newsletter Issue

 # 84 | Dec.14, 2021

 2 Amanda Brobst-Renaud, Working Preacher 2018

https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/christmas-eve-nativity-of-our-lord/commentary-on-luke-21-14-15-20-16

“stratias (armies, Luke 2:13)”

 3 The Hill We Climb, Amanda Gorman https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/20/amanda-gormans-inaugural-poem-the-hill-we-climb-full-text.html

December 18, 2022

Fourth Week in Advent (Year A)

             Perhaps you have heard of the old Yiddish proverb: “We plan. God Laughs.” This wise proverb speaks to something that is very true. We often make plans in our lives and then those plans change. The proverb is not saying that it is a bad thing for us to make plans. In fact our plans and dreams can give us motivation and direction, especially as we consider where we feel God is calling us in the world. What this proverb gets at instead, I think, is that our lives will not always turn out the way we plan. Life is full of curveballs and unexpected events, and our plans and goals change accordingly. And while God may at times laugh at our well intentioned plans, some pretty amazing things can happen when those plans change.

            I am not a sports person by any means but I have found this metaphor to be helpful. In football, the quarterback huddles the team together and they make a plan for their next play. With the plan in mind the teams line up at the line of scrimmage. But then something happens and the quarterback has to call an audible. They change the plan at the last minute and the team follows. They have to be flexible and change their plan if they want to make the touchdown.

             When God created the world, I think God had a plan. God imagined creation to be in harmony. He had created the world and Adam and Eve in order to be in relationship with them. But then, unfortunately, Sin entered into the world, and Sin got in the way between God and humanity. Humanity began to turn away from God and go their own way and chase things that were the opposite of God.  God’s vision for a perfect world was shattered. Yet God loved creation, and so decided to create a new plan. To put it in football terms, God needed to call an audible—to come up with a new plan for salvation and to reconcile the world once again. That audible was Jesus, a tiny baby born of the virgin Mary and laid in a manger, who would grow up to set in motion God’s new plan for reconciliation through the Cross. This new plan, of course, was radical and would change the world—and the plans of Mary and Joseph!

             In our Gospel today we hear the story of Jesus’s earthly father, Joseph. We hear about Joseph as part of the Christmas story, and here and there in the gospels, but I think we forget the significance of Joseph. He was more than just the guy with whom Mary was engaged. As Jesus’s earthy father, Joseph is a descendant of David, and Joseph helps to connect Jesus to his Jewish history. Even Joseph’s name is significant, serving as a foreshadowing or allegory for what God is doing in the world through Jesus.

            Think about this with me: do you know another character in the Bible named Joseph? In the book of Genesis in the Old Testament we hear the story of another Joseph. This Joseph was one of Jacob’s 12 sons, and happened to be Jacob’s favorite child. His brothers envied him for this so they came up with a plot to get rid of him. They sold Joseph into slavery in Egypt and told their father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. This was the ultimate betrayal for Joseph, but thankfully God was with Joseph and through God’s grace Joseph became one of the highest officials in all of Egypt. And years later when a famine came upon the land, Joseph’s brothers had to travel to Egypt to buy food. Now of course Joseph recognized his brothers immediately, and he now had the power and every right to take revenge on them. But instead, Joseph ultimately decided to forgive his brothers, and not only that he then offered them all a home in Egypt. In short, Joseph took the evil of his brothers and through God’s grace turned it into a blessing.

            In the same way, God through Jesus could have sought punishment on God’s people for their evil—our evil too, but instead through grace Jesus was born as a baby and then died on the Cross for the forgiveness of all sins. The Bible is pretty amazing to me, and it amazes me to discover how Jesus’s earthly father, Joseph of the New Testament, connects Jesus to Israel’s history and to the Joseph of the Old Testament. Through Jesus’s earthy father, Jesus is truly the Son descended of David and the Son of God—both fully human and connected to the human history of Israel, while also fully of God and the key to God’s new plan for salvation.

             But let’s return now to Mary and Joseph in the Christmas story.  At the beginning of our gospel today we learn that Joseph and Mary are engaged to be married. Now, I imagine Joseph probably had had a plan for his life—and the immaculate conception of Jesus wasn’t originally part of it! He was going to marry his bride and probably hoping for a life raising a family and working as a carpenter. Life wasn’t necessarily easy for anyone back then, but he probably had his next steps figured out and a picture of what his life would be. And then out of nowhere he found out that Mary was pregnant. In that moment I imagine his plans went out the window. He had been picturing a life with Mary and now he thought Mary had been unfaithful. This was an unexpected event and now he was trying to formulate a new plan as he decided to quietly dismiss Mary and start anew.

            But before he got the chance to dismiss Mary, his plans changed once again! He received a vision in a dream, and God told Joseph to take Mary as his wife. God told Joseph that Mary would have a son through the Holy Spirit, and Joseph was chosen as a partner for Mary and expected to adopt this baby and be the earthly father. Now that certainly was unexpected. All of Joseph’s plans and imaginings for his life were flipped upside down, and he had no way of knowing what his future would hold with Mary and baby Jesus. It was all in God’s hands.

             What I admire about Joseph, though, was his obedience and compassion. Once the situation was explained to him he took Mary as he wife—which would have been pretty radical for that society under the circumstances.  As a man in that day and age he would have had every right to dismiss pregnant and unwed Mary. She would have been left high and dry as a single woman and Mother, and if Joseph had left the prospects for Mary and baby Jesus could have honestly been pretty dismal.

            But Joseph didn’t let that happen. By taking pregnant Mary as his wife he was honoring and obeying God and accepting all of the challenges that would come with this new plan. He was promising to protect Mary during her pregnancy, and to stand with her as the scandalous rumors likely flew for the unwed pregnant woman. And most importantly, he was promising to adopt baby Jesus as his own, to protect him, guide, and teach him as he grew. And raising Jesus was surely an adventure—fleeing to Egypt to escape Herod, losing the young boy in Jerusalem, and eventually watching his beloved adopted son go to the Cross. Joseph and Mary’s lives turned out nothing like they expected with lots of ups and downs, but with God’s grace they raised Jesus and ultimately played a part in God’s plan for salvation.

            From this story we get a glimpse of God’s love for humanity and creation. When Sin entered the world and God’s plan for a perfect humanity fell apart, God created a new plan by sending Jesus into the world. That is the depth of God’s love for us to send his own Son, the Word Become Flesh, to meet us where we are and to create a new way for us. Through Jesus our hope is secured, and we can live in hope knowing that we can never go too far from God’s reach. God will keep coming and keep trying to meet each one of us wherever we are. God is patient, and God is good at making new plans.

            We can also learn from the example of Mary and Joseph. Both of their lives took unexpected turns and they didn’t know what their futures would be like, what adventures, joys and pains they would have as the parents of Jesus, but they both put their trust in God and followed the course. God is good and God is faithful, so when our own lives change and we are entering into the unknown, we too can trust that God will be at work and with us in whatever may come. Through God’s grace, some pretty amazing things can happen when plans change—things like a baby born in a manger and sent to bring hope to all the world. Thank God for changed plans. Amen.

The Angel Song Is True.

“The angel song is true.”

But how could he share this message? That may have been the question that 17th century French Jesuit missionary Jean de Brébeuf  asked himself when he was sent to the Huron tribe in Canada. It was not an easy assignment. He didn’t speak the language, the weather could be harsh, living conditions were difficult and… there were multiple wars -- the English, the French and the Huron and Iroquois people were all fighting.  Missionaries were not welcome – two of the missionaries that had gone before him had been killed and his partner was sent back to France. So Brébeuf was alone – and he wasn’t successful in his quest to convert the Huron tribe.

And yet, he persisted. He learned the language of the Huron tribe and wrote the first stanza and refrain of “Twas in the Moon of Wintertime,” using the Huron name for God—Gitchi Manitou. Through song, Brébeuf  told the story of Jesus’ birth, not in a historical way, but rather as the story of God – who is the Lord of Heaven and Earth by any name.  He told of Jesus, the One who has come, incarnate, with flesh on, as the King and Savior for all people. 1

During this time, thousands of Huron people were baptized. Was it because of Brébeuf ’s patient endurance and willingness to stick with them – even though his life was in danger? Or was it because he taught them the story of Jesus in their own language? We don’t know – the Huron language was not a written language at the time so there are no records. But what we do know is that the Huron people knew and sang this song and taught it to their children and their children’s children for generations as a song of their faith. We know this, because one hundred and fifty years later, another Jesuit missionary wrote down the words as the Huron people sang the song to him.  An Indian notary, Paul Picard, then translated the words into French. Then, over a hundred and thirty years later, Jesse Edgar Middleton, a journalist and church choirmaster, wrote the other verses in English and set them to the traditional French carol that we have in our hymnal.2

The song that the angels sang – is true -- and lives on beyond the bounds of language and culture. The song that the angels sang is a song of praise to God – regardless of the translation.

Before the angel chorus sang, God’s angel had already given the shepherds all the information that they needed. They had already given the shepherds the message that Jesus is born and that he is their savior and how to find him.  But I wonder if it was the Angel’s song that compelled them to follow.  

Music has a way of cutting through all of the barriers that get in the way of our hearts and our lives hearing the Good News of God’s love for us. 

A young man was out with his little girl in a shopping mall. And she was fussy. He had some things on his list that he needed to do – and yet that little girl just so out of sorts that nothing that he seemed to do was enough to placate her. Finally, he just scooped her up in his arms, wiggling though she was, and started to sing softly, just a whisper in her ear. He made up a song of love to no particular melody, telling her that she was the apple of his eye and that he loved her. He sang to her as he made his way through all his errands and the longer check-out lines. He sang to her until he finally put her in her car seat for the way home. As he started the car she said, “Can you sing that song about how you love me again?” 

The angels’ song is kind of like that man’s gentle song into his daughter’s ear. It is a song of love. It cuts through all of our fears and anxieties, all of our guilt for not being the people we coulda/shoulda/wish we woulda been. It is a song of love – praising God and proclaiming God’s peace to all with whom God is pleased. And God is pleased to welcome one and all.  The angels’ song is true. And it is for you.

So let us join the angels in their song, for their song is true: “the hold child of earth and heaven is born today for you.” Amen.

1Hugh McKellar, https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-twas-in-the-moon-of-wintertime  

2https://hymnary.org/person/Middleton_JE

December 11, 2022                 Faith-Lilac Way                      Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

Sunday, December 4, 2022

Pointing to Jesus

Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

John the Baptist was quite a character. He wore funny clothes, went barefoot, refused to cut his hair and ate locusts and wild honey. But that wasn’t why people flocked to see him at the Jordan river. John the Baptist was a powerful preacher. He spoke the truth – with no sugar-coating. He preached repentance to people in power, to soldiers and to ordinary people too – calling everyone to change their ways and return to following the Lord.

 He must have struck a chord because people listened, and not only listened, but when he called them to change their ways and as a sign of this change to come down into the river to be baptized, they came. So naturally…people wondered…. is this the one? Is this the Messiah that we have been waiting for? 

 But John said, “No.” I’m not the one. “I am not worthy to carry his sandals.” Instead, John the Baptist knew that his job was to prepare the way. His job was to point to the one who was still to come. His job was to point to Jesus.

 Take a look at the cover of our bulletin. Do you see how long John the Baptist’s finger is? It’s almost as long as his head!  The artist, Matthias Grünewald, wanted to make John’s role clear. And if that long finger pointing to Jesus wasn’t enough, Grünewald includes a quote  from the Gospel of John quoting John the Baptist. It’s right over his shoulder. It’s written in Latin and is hard to read but it says:“He must increase, but I must decrease.”1 John the Baptist made quite a splash when he started preaching but he – and Grunewald makes it clear that John the Baptist’s mission was not to be the Messiah but rather to point to the Messiah, to point to Jesus.

 And he is not the only one!  In our children’s story time today, the children pointed to Jesus just as the angels pointed the shepherds towards Bethlehem to see Jesus on that first Christmas night. And, once they had heard the good news and seen the baby Jesus, shepherds pointed out to everyone they met that Jesus Christ, the Savior had come. They all pointed to Jesus and we can too.

 In Advent and at Christmas, we celebrate Jesus coming to us as a little baby. We join in singing the Alleluias of the angels. This is a time to put aside the things that divide us and remember the saving grace of God. This is the season in which we are amazed and wonder at God’s incarnation, taking on flesh to become like one of us.

 This is why John the Baptist as a prophet - points to Jesus. Jesus is the promised Savior and Redeemer not only of Jerusalem, not only of the people of Israel but of the whole world.

 John the Baptist came as a prophet. The people of Israel had seen prophets in the past. But Jesus was not the Savior that they expected. This is why the people of Israel then – and people today – need someone to point the way.

 The picture on the cover of your bulletin is only a small piece of the Insenheim altar that the artist Matthias Grünewald painted. The art on this altar is not meant to be a photo-journalistic portrayal but rather a devotional and inspirational way to tell the sacred story. This is why he has John the Baptist pointing to Christ Jesus with a Bible in hand – even though there were no bound Bibles at the time – and with a lamb and a cross and the communion cup at his feet. They all point to Jesus.

 Now turn to the inside page 7 of your bulletin.  There is another picture of the Isenheim altar. It’s still not the whole altar piece, but it shows you that John the Baptist is pointing Jesus – on the cross. This is the Savior of the world who came as a sweet little baby boy and who proclaimed the Kingdom of God, and who died for our sake and rose again to give us the hope, the promise and the assurance of  of eternal life. This is why John the Baptist points to Jesus. For Jesus is our Savior.

 And now the story comes back to us. This year, as we prepare our homes, write Christmas cards, buy gifts, sing songs, attend parties and concerts and events, and anything else that you do to prepare for Christmas, let us, like John the Baptist –point to Jesus. For it is now our job – and our joy – to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with our family, friends and neighbors so that all the world may rejoice and sing God’s praise. Thanks be to God! Amen.

1 https://static.artbible.info/large/isenheim3.