Sunday, May 7, 2023

The Fourth Sunday in Easter

The Good Shepherd

            I have always loved the imagery of Jesus the Good Shepherd. It is probably one of the best known and comforting pieces of Scripture as it reminds us both of God’s protection and God’s tender care. Out of curiosity I googled the words “Good Shepherd” this week and came upon hundreds of paintings and drawings depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd. I am sure you have seen a few of these pictures yourself. When I see these pictures, Jesus always seems to be in a tranquil green pasture surrounded by happy and adoring sheep. These beautiful pictures are peaceful and comforting, but I wonder if they accurately represent the life of a shepherd.

             To be a shepherd in Jesus’s time was a hard job. While shepherding was not the most dignified profession, livestock such as sheep were valuable and large flocks were considered a sign of wealth. Sheep were used for food, religious sacrifices, and many other things. The sheep were a great asset to the owner, so the shepherd held a great responsibility for their protection.

            A shepherd was responsible for the sheep at all times and would often live outside with the flock. During the day the shepherd would lead the sheep to pasture and calm waters and keep watch all day as they grazed. Come heat, wind, rain or storm, the shepherd remained steadfast. If a sheep wandered off—as they are prone to do—the shepherd was responsible for bringing it back to the flock, and if a sheep became injured or sick the shepherd was responsible for that too. At night the shepherd would lead the flock back to their pen, often sleeping at the gate entrance so no sheep could wander, and no thieves or wild animals could come in. Simply said, shepherding was a hard, tiring, messy and sometimes dangerous job.

            And yet, despite the hard work, the shepherd was dedicated to the sheep. The shepherd came to know and care for each sheep individually, to the point that he would risk his own wellbeing for the sake of the sheep. No generic hired hand would go to such lengths, and that is why the sheep knew the shepherd’s voice and trusted the shepherd alone. For the sheep, the shepherd was their protector, their provider, their comforter and their leader. The shepherd was their lifeline and their survival.

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            In our Gospel today, Jesus asserts himself as the Good Shepherd, taking on the role of deep relational love and care for the flock, God’s people. God is the owner of the flock and the flock is valuable to God. God knows each member of the flock. Each and every one of God’s people has a name and a story, and God wants each and every person to know that they are loved and belong to the fold of God’s people.

            Yet, God knows that we are a vulnerable flock. We live in a world that is unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. There is sin and fear, distractions and voices that lead us astray from God’s goodness. In a world that is so busy and uncertain, it can be hard for us to hear God’s voice. We can forget who we are and who God is. But because God loves God’s people, God sent his most trusted shepherd, God’s own Son, to personally tend to God’s people. In love, Jesus accepts the task and desires to care for and love each person whom God has created and loves.

            I am thankful today that Jesus is our faithful Good Shepherd. Jesus knows and cares for each of us personally, and Jesus knows our needs. Jesus offers us guidance and company in a world that is chaotic and sometimes uncertain. Troubles will come and we may go astray, but the Good Shepherd is steadfast and will not run away in the hard times. The Good Shepherd stands with us when the rain pours and the thunder rolls, carries us when we are tired, and comes after us when we wander. Our Shepherd will go to great lengths for our wellbeing and there is nothing that can snatch us away from the love of our Good Shepherd. In fact, our Good Shepherd loved us to the point of laying down his life on a cross, so that we could find life and have it abundantly. Our Good Shepherd is faithful, and in Christ we find our hope.

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            I also give thanks today for the flock and for the gift of community. Just as sheep do better in a flock, our Good Shepherd created us to be in community too. We were created for life together, with God and with one another. The flock is both community and family.

            I learned this truth for the first time when I was 4 years old. I always loved going to church. I loved the Bible Stories, the music, the grownups who would always smile at me. But I remember one terrifying moment at church when I got separated from my mom. I was standing in the back of the sanctuary with a crowd of people moving around me. It was the busy time right after Sunday school as parents were gathering their children and going into worship, and others were coming in to get ready for the service. Everyone was shuffling around me and no one seemed to notice me. The faces were familiar as I saw many of them each week, but as I turned in circles none of them were my mom and I was scared. I started to cry. A woman named Lesley noticed me and immediately came to my aid. Giving me a hug and taking my hand, she told me that church was family and I didn’t need to be afraid.

            Lesley’s words stayed with me as I grew up and they became true—church was family. There was Robin who always gave me a bear hug and a kiss on the top of my head. There was Mary who taught me how to “pan for gold” during Vacation Bible School, and Judy who told me Bible stories and taught me how to cross stitch. There was Andy who played the guitar and knew all of my favorite church camp songs, and Chuck who was at every church event with a helping hand. These people became family and community for me. They weren’t in my life every day when I was at school or at home, but there were still family, a community, a support system and a refuge for me no matter what I was going through. I needed my community, to be a part of the flock.

            Faith-Lilac Way is the same. Some of you have been members for years and some are newer to the group, but it doesn’t matter because we are family. We worship together and work together to do ministry. We share our talents and passions with one another, whether that be music, fixing things around the building or cooking in the kitchen. We have book clubs, pancake breakfasts and community gatherings. Many of us have formed friendships that go beyond our church doors and we walk alongside one another in the daily parts of life. Together we laugh, play, cry and pray. We live life together, both the good and the bad. We are blessed to live together in community, to be a part of God’s community.

            God’s community is special, both at Faith-Lilac Way and in the wider Church, and what is unique about God’s community is that there is always room for more. God’s flock comes with an open invitation. In our Gospel today Jesus says he must bring others into the fold until there is one Flock and one Shepherd. The Good Shepherd is good at finding lost and vulnerable sheep, and sheep that did not originally belong find welcome in the flock. In my mind I picture a ragtag group and colorful and unique sheep gathered around the Shepherd—sheep of different colors and sizes, ages, background, abilities and beliefs. It is a beautiful picture I see. It is the Shepherd who decides who belongs, and it is the job of the flock to simply be the flock. Now, life together in the flock is not always easy. Challenges do come and sometimes the sheep get on each other’s nerves. Sometimes mistakes are made and sometimes feelings get hurt. Sometimes life together is hard, but with the Shepherd’s help the flock is strong and remains united. The flock is the community of welcome and life together, guided by the Good Shepherd.

            What a beautiful image of church—to be a church that lives in community together as God’s flock, a community that supports one another in good times and in bad, a community that eagerly welcomes and loves all of those brought into our midst. What a transforming and beautiful kind of church that is—God’s Church. With God’s help I pray that Faith-Lilac Way can be that kind of church now and always. May we be a church that follows the voice of our Good Shepherd, a church that trusts in God’s promises, a church where others find welcome, and a flock that reflects God’s love to one another and the world. May it be so. Amen.

April 30, 2023

Third Sunday in Easter (Year A)

            Perhaps you remember the chaos at the airport during the holiday season over this past winter. Due to bad weather and airport miscommunications, hundreds and thousands of flights were cancelled across the country, leaving people stranded and desperate to find a way home for the holidays. Maybe you or someone you know were one of the many at the airport trying to catch one of those cancelled flights.

            The same thing happened to a group of 13 strangers trying to catch a flight from Florida to Tennessee. Unable to find other travel arrangements, this group of 13 complete strangers made an interesting decision. Together they would rent a passenger van and road trip the hundreds of miles to their destination. How unusual in this day and age—an age of so much caution and mistrust—for a group of compete strangers to come together in this way, having never met and yet united on a mission.

            Of course, living in the world of cell phones and the internet, the group of strangers made videos along the journey and posted them online to share their impromptu adventure with the world. They quickly went viral on the internet and their story became famous—people were fascinated about this group of traveling strangers on a journey.

            Well, after hundreds of miles and hours on the road together, the group reached their destination, and at the end of their journey they parted ways no longer as strangers, but as friends. One traveler in the group said the trip had restored her trust in humanity, reassured her that people could be good. The unexpected journey had transformed her outlook on life and her outlook on the strangers around her. It is true that sometimes the journeys we take and the strangers we meet along the way can change everything.

            Well, in our Gospel today we find two disciples who are also on a journey. They are on the road to Emmaus, and as they travel along they are reflecting on recent events. These two disciples are dismayed and confused. So much has happened to them in the last few days. They remember the feeling of hope they felt when Jesus came into Jerusalem. It was only a week or so since Jesus had rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the shouts of Hosanna, and yet, it seems so long ago. How quickly their hope had turned to despair as Jesus was crucified. But now Jesus was dead and buried, and these two traveled along the road, weary and unsure of what to do next.

            But, suddenly, here came a man, a stranger, who spoke with them. This man must have been living under a rock because he hasn’t heard anything about Jesus’s crucifixion, which is all people have been talking about for the last three days. But the disciples, wanting to be polite, patiently brought the man up to speed as they travel the road together.

            And as they walked along, this man listened to their story and then shared some interesting ideas of his own. He was well educated about the scriptures and talked about Moses, the prophets, and Jesus. He said all of these things came to pass as part of God’s plan. And the two disciples listened to their new companion, bust still they did not recognize him. It wasn’t until hours later, breaking the bread over supper, that their eyes were finally opened to recognize Jesus. It had never been a stranger with them along the road, but rather the resurrected Jesus himself.

            But what is it, I wonder, that kept these two disciples from recognizing the resurrected Christ? Was it a divine act that kept them from seeing, or were these two disciples just clueless? Who knows for sure, but I wonder if perhaps it was their expectations that had kept them from seeing. They had expected things to turn out differently with Jesus, but Jesus had fallen short of their expectations with his death. And now that Jesus was dead, they expected that to be the end of that. They expected one thing, and when the opposite happened, they were unable to see it.

            I wonder how often it is that we do the same thing. What are our expectations of Jesus? Where do we expect to find Jesus in our lives? I think most of us would say we expect to see or experience Jesus at church, but do we expect to encounter Jesus at the grocery store or the post office? We expect to see Jesus in the faces of church members, friends and our families, but do we expect to see the face of Jesus in the stranger, or in the face of the outsider? How often might it be that we miss Jesus in our daily lives because we don’t expect Jesus to be there? How often might we look back and see Jesus afterward, but miss Jesus in the moment?

            I got curious about this question this past week, so I decided to go on a hunt for stories. I wanted to know about some of those unexpected places, situations and people where Jesus showed up and wasn’t recognized at the time. I found a lot.

            I read a story about a 7 year old boy who was sick in the hospital. The doctors were unsure if the boy would survive, and so the mother prayed at his bedside as the boy slept. At some point, as the hours ticked by, a nurse walked into the boy’s hospital room and started a conversation with the boy’s mother. The nurse introduced herself and reassured her that her son would be alright, and together they prayed before the nurse moved on to see other patients. Within a few hours of the visit the boy’s vital signs began to improve and over the next few days he recovered. Later, as hospital staff was preparing to discharge the boy, his mother asked to see that nurse again. She wanted to thank that nurse for her prayers and companionship during that difficult moment. She asked for that nurse by name, and the strange this was, there had never been a nurse or hospital employee with that name. The boy and his mother believe it was an angel or Jesus himself.

            I read another story about a man who was down on his luck. He was going through a divorce and had lost his job. He drank a little too much to dull the hurt he was feeling, and he didn’t know what to do next with his life. One night he stopped at a gas station near his house to buy some more alcohol, and as he walked toward the door a man standing on the sidewalk nodded at him and said to hang in there because it was all going to be okay. The stranger said good things were around the corner, just wait and see. Now, he didn’t know this man, but as he went in to make his purchase he got to thinking about this stranger on the sidewalk. How could this stranger possibly know what was going on in his life? He decided he wanted to talk to the stranger some more, so he put the alcohol back on the shelf and went outside the door, but the stranger was gone. Both confused and intrigued, the man got back in his car and drove home, thinking about the stranger’s words all the way. Those words stayed with him over the weeks and months that followed. He sobered up, got a new job, and remarried two years later. He credits the stranger, his “Jesus in disguise” as he called him.

            I read a news story about prisoners in a Georgia prison who saved the life of a prison guard suffering a heart attack. The guard was alone at the time, and the prisoners could have chosen to use that moment to take the guard’s gun, unlock the doors and attempt an escape. But instead, prisoner’s rushed to the guard’s side and used his radio to call for help, giving aid until emergency responders arrived. These three prisoners were credited with saving the officer’s life. Jesus definitely showed up in the faces of those three prisoners on that day.

            The stories go on, each one different, but Jesus is present in each one of them.

The two disciples on the road to Emmaus were not expecting to see the resurrected Jesus, nor were any of these everyday people expecting to see Jesus in the face of the strangers around them. And yet, the face of Jesus was in each person, in each kind act, in each unexplainable or unexpected situation. They may not have been aware of Jesus in the moment, but looking back it was clear. Jesus in disguise.

            The same is true for us. Everyday in our lives as we go about our errands and activities, we are encountering strangers. We encounter strangers in the checkout line, in the bank or in the car stopped at the light next to us. We encounter strangers in the new employee at work, or the new resident in the retirement community. Each one of those strangers has the potential to be Jesus in disguise, present in your life in ways both big and small.

            The challenge for us, often times, is to slow down and open our eyes to those around us. Who are the strangers around us who embody God’s presence, and when might we be that “Jesus in disguise” for someone else? The Good News for today is that Jesus works in unexpected ways and in unexpected people, the Spirit is always moving.

            So today, let us give thanks for the strangers in our lives, the many “Jesus in Disguise” people who accompany us along the journey. And with God’s help, may we open our eyes and our expectations—because Jesus does indeed walk among us. Thanks be to God, Amen.

Sunday, April 23rd, 2023

Second Sunday in Easter

           Have you ever believed in something that didn’t make sense—something maybe even a little bit ridiculous? One night around bedtime when I was in preschool, I happened to look out my bedroom window. This window faced the back alleyway behind my house, and I was shocked at what I saw! It was dark outside, but I swore that I saw a large gorilla in the alley! If my mother is watching the livestream right now, she is already laughing at me. But I swear—the gorilla in my alleyway must have been King Kong! It was the size of a garbage truck and had bright glowing eyes. It boomed like it was pounding on its chest. In amazement I ran to get my mom, but by the time she got to the window with me, the gorilla was gone.

          My mom laughed and told me that it was probably a garbage truck, but I was not convinced. For days and weeks afterward I looked everyday, and I talked and talked about the gorilla. I simply could not be reasoned with. Even years later my family will still tease me when the topic comes up. It doesn’t make any sense, and I know that, but a part of me still believes it.

          Of course for my family, they could not believe what I thought I had seen because they had not experienced it for themselves, and it simply didn’t make any sense. Why would a gorilla be in the alley behind my house in the middle of a busy city? To my family, it simply wasn’t possible.

          In our gospel today, we hear the well known story of Doubting Thomas, the disciple who refused to believe the resurrection unless he saw it with his own eyes. Thomas often gets a bad wrap—I’ve heard many a sermon chiding Thomas for his perceived lack of faith. But Thomas deserves a break. Thomas is a realist, and like many of us, he looks for things that make sense, and for Thomas, the idea that Jesus had risen from the grave was a gorilla in the alley—that is, not likely.

          I don’t think any of the disciples really understood what Jesus was talking about when he said things like “rising again.” When Jesus died on the cross, I think most of them assumed that was the end of the story. I can imagine the disciples gathered together in that room, hiding themselves away from the outside world and trying to figure out what was next. Mary Magdalene had told them about the empty tomb and her encounter with Jesus, but they had not yet seen it for themselves, so they were understandably skeptical. It was more likely that his body had been taken rather than resurrected. So imagine the shock and amazement when Jesus appeared to them and they could see him with their own eyes. Seeing and experiencing this even—even though it didn’t make sense—was believing.

          But Thomas was not there that day. We don’t know where he was, but he did not see the resurrected Jesus with the rest of the disciples. I wonder how Thomas reacted when he returned to the group and heard their wild story. If I was Thomas, I probably would have assumed that they were trying to play a prank on me, or maybe they had all been driven to some crazy collective make believe story out of their grief. Who knows, but someone dead now alive? That doesn’t make sense.

           I can understand why Thomas doesn’t believe it. Be honest, would you believe it if you were standing in his shoes? Looking back knowing the whole story, we might be tempted to say we would believe, but in reality, Thomas’s response is a human response, and one that most of us would likely have.

          The truth is, we all are like Thomas at some point. We all have doubts and questions in faith when things don’t make sense. A couple of weeks ago we had a movie night here at church and we watch the movie Life of Pi. At one point in the movie, the main character, Pi, is walking with a friend and talking about his faith journey.  He tells how he grew up in India in the Hindu tradition, and later also adopted Christianity and parts of Islam. Pi described faith as “a house with many rooms.” His friend asks him if there is room for doubt, and Pi responds saying, “There is plenty of room for doubt. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing.” I think this is true, doubt makes us think and reflect, it makes us ask questions, wrestle and grow. Because we will never fully understand the ways of God, doubt is a part of the human experience, and I believe that God is present and working even in our doubt.

          Returning to Thomas’s story, we hear him tell the disciples that he will have to see Jesus for himself before he believes it. What strikes me is that Jesus gave Thomas a full week to sit with his doubt and questions before he finally appeared. We might wonder why it took Jesus a full week to appear again, but I think God knows that sometimes we need time to sit with our doubt in order to grow in faith. But finally, Jesus does appear to Thomas, and when he does he offers Thomas a word of peace and invites him to experience the evidence he needs to affirm his faith once again. In other words, Jesus heard Thomas’s need, and once Thomas was ready, he met Thomas in his doubt and offered reassurance. What an experience that must have been for Thomas.

           In his time of doubt Thomas needed to see Jesus with his own eyes and touch the wounds to affirm his faith, and we must also ask ourselves what it is that we need to trust. What are we supposed to do when we experience those moments of question or doubt? I think we can all agree that there are parts of the Christian story that doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense why the God of the universe would become human, die on a cross and raise from the dead. It’s a strange story, and perhaps, like me, you have been asked before why you believe in something that doesn’t seem possible. In our world today people are looking for science and evidence, and the resurrection story is far from scientific.

          So how might we respond when someone asks us why we believe this story? After all, I don’t know if any of us have physically seen the resurrected Christ. I know I haven’t. But if we think about it, I think most of us would say that we have personally encountered God in other ways, even if we couldn’t physically see, touch or explain. Perhaps you have encountered God in nature, through the kind actions of someone else, or during a difficult time in your life. I have heard stories of people encountering God in a dream, through an answered prayer, or even through a miracle. Whatever it may be in your case, I think most of us would likely say we believe in this story because we have encountered it in one way or another in our own lives. We have seen or experienced the work of the Resurrected Christ in our world here and now, and so we believe in the story and in the hope of the Resurrection Promises. We have experienced the story to  be true.

          But, like Thomas, we will all have doubt and questions at times along the faith journey, and it is okay to wonder and not know the answers. Faith does not necessarily have to make perfect sense for it to be true. After all, faith is a house with many rooms, and we experience and are affirmed in faith in different ways.

God blessed Thomas in his doubting, and likewise God is faithful and meets us in our doubts and questions too. So today may God bless the uncertain, the doubters and the questioners. May God bless those who wrestle in faith, and may God bless our personal encounters with the Risen Christ, our personal stories and witnesses to faith. May God bless the journey. Amen.

Sunday, April 16, 2023

Blessing of the Animals

I didn’t even see him. There were lots of rocks on the path and so I must have just stepped over him. But my husband noticed and called, “Hey, look at this!” I turned around and trudged back up the path – and then I saw him…. It was a little bunny quivering with fear sitting on the path and trying to look like a rock. He succeeded with me. But now he was shaking in fear because he couldn’t get out. He was so little and the ruts of the path were too steep and deep for him to climb out. He trembled at the sight of what must have looked to him as two giant creatures. He did not know it was his lucky day because we had no intention of making him into a tiny Hasenpfeffer stew.

 Instead, we just stood there and looked at him for a moment and asked him, “Why are you in the path instead of hiding in the bushes? Don’t you know that you are lunchmeat for a hawk or any bird of prey that flies by?” The bunny didn’t say anything. It just shook with fear. 

 I’m not a big fan of the rabbits who eat my garden plants and vegetables. But this poor little creature seemed so helpless and I felt strangely responsible for him. I wondered, should I help him out of the path? I took a step closer to him.

 And then, all at once, he jumped on my boot and ran through my legs and continued scurrying down the path until, finally, he came to a place in the path that was flatter and he was able to jump off the path and escape into the brush.

 In our Gospel lesson, Jesus challenges his disciples to notice the birds of the air and the flowers of the field and to see the way that God cares for them. And, by extension, the way God cares for us too.

 I don’t know what happened to that bunny after we left, but I was reminded that the first step of caring for God’s creatures might be to notice them so that I don’t step on them!  

 So how do we properly care for our fellow creatures?

 In Genesis, it says that God gave human beings the charge of ruling over all of the creatures of the land, sea and sky. But in the past, that has often been interpreted as “subjugating” and using to our own benefit all of the other creatures. But with the power to rule also comes responsibility. God has given us power over but also responsibility to care for all that fly, swim, walk or crawl. And when we don’t exercise our rule with care and responsibility, it isn’t good for the creatures or, ultimately, for us.  

 I was walking by Lake of the Isles the other day and saw two different people walking their dogs. The first man wasn’t walking – he had the dog on a very long leash and was actually running, chasing his dog around the lake.  They looked like they were having fun until suddenly, the dog went one way around a tree and the young man went the other.  After they untangled themselves, I thought certainly the young man had learned his lesson. But no sooner had they started down the path again than the dog notices a duck on the water and he practically drags the young man into the lake! 

 By contrast, the other man who was walking his dog had the dog on a shorter leash and the dog was right at his side. Almost under his breath, the man said, “pace,” and immediately, the dog looked up at the man and matched his pace. The man changed speed a couple of time and the dog followed, happily looking up to the man to receive a smile of praise.

 Clearly, the second man was in charge, he was “ruling,” but in a manner that demonstrated responsibility and care for the animal. This man inspired me with the way he cared for his four-footed companion.

 God has entrusted us with the care of the land, water and all of earth’s creatures. So let us not only notice them but care for all of God’s creation in a healthy and respectful way. After all, the animals, birds and all that swim in the sea and creep on the land are God’s creatures too. 

And we would be wise to listen to them. As John writes in the book of Revelation, “I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, singing” praises to God.” For they too have a song to sing and praises to proclaim to God. But, maybe we just don’t know their language.

 On this day we celebrate creation and bless both the animals that we live with and care for as pets and the animals, birds and fish that God cares for in the wild. Let us have notice the wonderful variety of God’s creatures and seek to listen, care for and appreciate all creatures – great and small. Amen.

 Sunday, April 16, 2023 + Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023

Easter Sunday

Holy Gospel Matthew 28:1-10

Sorrow gives way to “fear and great joy” when two women are sent by an angel to proclaim the good news: Jesus is risen! Jesus meets them and again proclaims, “Do not be afraid.”

The Gospel according to Matthew, the 28th chapter 

Glory to you O Lord.

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, “He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.” This is my message for you.’ So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, ‘Greetings!’ And they came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.’

The Gospel of the Lord. 

Praise to you, O Christ.

 Suddenly, the earth starts to shake, and an angel as bright as lighting and shining as the whitest snow descends from above and rolls the stone away from the tomb. Frightened, the guards faint – or as Matthew writes, they “become like dead men.”

 The women – Mary Magdalene and the other Mary, probably Jesus’ mother -- are afraid too. Wouldn’t you be?

 But the angel has a word for the two Marys, saying… literally, “Do not you be afraid.” The angel knows that unlike the guards who were there because of their supposed strength, the women had come with broken hearts, carrying grief and sorrow and broken dreams. The strength of the guards is no match for the piercing brightness of the angel. But the angel treats those who come in faith, with broken hearts and with mingled fear and sorrow differently. To them he says, “Look, the tomb is the empty. Jesus, the crucified one, whom you are looking for, is not inside – He has been raised. Go and tell the disciples.”

 Their fear doesn’t leave them, but the words of the angel fill the women with great joy. And so it is that with both fear and great joy the women run to tell the story.

 And that is why we are here – for when fear holds hands with joy, courage is born. Courage – which is the ability to do something even though it frightens you -- gave Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and John and Jesus, the strength to share the Good News of Jesus’ resurrection. And that changed the whole world.

 By itself, fear can be paralyzing (like the guards). And goodness knows there are plenty of things to be afraid of in our world. The news is full of wars, earthquakes, shootings, fires and deadly storms. And like the Marys in our Gospels, our hearts still break with the news of the pain of this broken world – and of our own brokenness as well as the pain and suffering of people we know and love.

But, because of the witness of these two Marys and countless others who have had the courage to share the good news with us, we also carry both fear and great joy. On the strength of their witness, we know that the brokenness of our world is not the end of the story.

 A few months ago, I read a Japanese folk tale about the servant of a feudal lord in Japan. This servant worked in the teahouse – and one day, he broke a tea bowl. Now, I would assume that if you work in a tea house, sometimes the dishes might get broken. But in Japan at this time, tea sets were very valuable and this particular bowl happened to be the favorite of his master. The servant knew that not only was he in trouble, but that this would bring shame to his entire family. The only way he could imagine that his family could be redeemed -- was by his death. And so…he was very afraid. But what should he do? He could try to hide the bowl. But since the broken tea bowl was a favorite – it would be missed. And if his master found it, broken, he would be in even bigger trouble and would certainly be put to death.

 But this young man did not want to die. He had a wife and child, whom he loved and who brought him great joy. He picked up the broken pieces of the bowl and saw that while they were cracked, they were not smashed to smithereens… and then he had an idea.  He took all of the gold money that he had been saving and melted it with lacquer– and then, very carefully, put the bowl back together, filling all the cracks with gold. It was stunning. When the bowl was dry, he composed a song and, with great courage, he started to sing as he brought the bowl to his master.

The master was surprised but also delighted at how beautiful the bowl had become. And so, instead of punishing the servant, he praised him for creating something beautiful out of what was once broken.

This story is a folktale. But the method of repair is real and became known as Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold, silver or platinum.  The goal of Kintsugi is to not simply repair or even restore the pottery to what it was – but rather to transform it into something even more beautiful. 1

This is the story of Easter. What was broken has not been simply restored or fixed or patched back together. Instead, Jesus transforms us by pouring the love of God into our hearts, filling the cracks in our broken world and our broken lives. 

 Oh, we still live in a broken world with mortal bodies. We will still receive that hard phone call in the middle of the night. We still suffer grief and loss.  And yet, Jesus says to you, “Do not be afraid.” This is the same message the angel gave the women and that Jesus repeats when he meets them in the midst of their journey. “Do not be afraid.”

 “Do not be afraid” for just as the resurrected Jesus joined the women on the path, so too, Jesus is with you – on the road, on the path,

on your journey.  And while there is much in the world that could dampen our hope and cause us to despair, we dare to live with courage because our fears are holding hands with Jesus’ joyful Easter message. The power of death, despair and fear will be overwhelmed by the life, love and joy of Christ.

 Winston Churchill apparently understand this. At the end of his funeral service, which he planned himself, a lone trumpeter stood at the west end of the chapel and played “Taps” – the song that signals the end of the day and is often played at military funerals. But just as the last note of “Taps” was dying out, another trumpeter stood at the East side of the chapel and played, “Rev el ee” – the song of the morning and a call to a new day.2

 This is the hope and the promise of Easter. Do not be afraid. Transformed and made whole by God’s love, you are called to a new day in Christ. So let us rejoice and sing. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 Easter Sunday, April 9, 2023                   Faith-Lilac Way             Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane          

 1https://tsugu-tsugu.shop-kintsugi.com/blogs/tsugu-tsugu-columns/the-history-of-kintsugi

2 https://www.workingpreacher.org/dear-working-preacher/easter-courage, David Lose, 2014

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Palm Sunday Meditation

Matthew 21:1-11

Journeying into Jerusalem

            “Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest!” What a joyous and celebratory scene this is. The crowds have heard that Jesus, a King is coming! He rides humbly on a donkey and the people wave palm branches and create a pathway into the city.  They are full of hope for this coming king, but what kind of King is he?

            The people are hoping that Jesus will be the one to liberate them from Roman oppression, but little do they know that Jesus has come to do something much greater. The people do not understand, and in just a few short days this same crowd will be the ones shouting, “Crucify! Crucify!”

            I like to think that I am always the one to wave the palm branches and shout praises, but I know that is not always true. There are moments—more than I would like to admit—when I am more like the crowd shouting for crucifixion. I do not always see, I do not always understand what Jesus is doing, and sometimes I am in the way, shouting my condemnations.

            On Palm Sunday I must reflect on the times when I am giving praise to Jesus, and when my actions attempt to condemn Jesus. And all the more, I must give thanks for God’s faithfulness. Even as I stand in the crowd and shout, “Crucify!”, Jesus is still going to the cross for me. Even when I turn away, Jesus still willingly dies on the cross. This is depth of God’s love. God’s love for me, for you, for the neighbor, for all of us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sunday, March 26, 2023

5th Sunday in Lent -Mental Health Focus Week Two           

As I shared last week, Faith Lilac Way is spending the last two weeks of March talking about and exploring mental health, so today I will be talking more on that subject. Last week I shared my story with mental health, and this week I would like to tell you little bit about my friend Jace.

          I have known Jace since we were kids, and as kids we were close enough that people frequently mistook us for brother and sister. Jace is kind, likes to laugh and be silly, and is the kind of person who will stand up for what he believes in. He is not afraid to be his own person, and I have always admired who he is as a person.

           Overall Jace is a great guy, but he does have his challenges too. Jace has ADHD, had learning difficulties in school and also experiences anxiety and occasional delusions. There are times when it is hard for him to distinguish between reality and what he thinks happened. For example, I remember him once calling me late one night when he was certain he had seen aliens looking in his windows during a thunderstorm. Jace is not crazy by any means, but sometimes the lines of clarity can be blurry, especially when he is anxious.

          Growing up with these conditions made life difficult for Jace in a lot of ways. Jace struggled in school academically because he had too much energy to focus, and his brain couldn’t process the material in the same way that worked for other students. Socially he was considered the weird kid and sometimes his strong sense of right and wrong could get him into trouble. For example, I remember he was once suspended from school for a few days after getting into a fight while defending another student who was being bullied. His intentions were always good, but sometimes those intentions got the better of him when it came to acting in those situations.

          Even now as an adult life can sometimes be difficult for Jace. It can be hard for him to maintain a job for a long period of time, and it can be hard for him to relate to others in the way he would like to. He has shared with me before how lonely he can feel, and sometimes he feels trapped in his mental health. He even once asked me why God made him the way he was.

          Unfortunately, Jace’s feelings of disconnectedness is not uncommon for people facing mental health challenges, as many people with mental illness describe feeling lonely or trapped by their condition. I know I found it hard for myself to feel connected to life and those around me when I was really struggling.

           In our gospel today we hear the story of Lazarus, and I think it is a fitting story as we think about mental health and mental illness. Lazarus was going about living his life when he for whatever reason became sick. There was nothing that he had done to cause his illness, it just happened and that sickness caused his death. Similarly, a person struggling with mental illness may also feel as if a part of them has died or been lost. Just as Lazarus was trapped by sickness and death, a person with mental illness can feel as if they are trapped by their condition as it prevents them from living their lives the way they would like to. It can be a very difficult thing.

          Now, I don’t know why mental illness exists in the world, all I can say is that the world is imperfect and it is part of being human to at times struggle. Mental illness is not a punishment from God nor is it a sign of weakness or a lack of faith. For whatever reason, mental illness just exists.

          So with that truth in mind, the question is how can we—both as Christians and as fellow humans in the world—respond to mental illness? I think there are a few different ways. Sometimes we might be like Mary and Martha from our gospel today, asking Jesus why he didn’t prevent this from happening. Other times we might be like the mourners in the story, weeping over lost hope and dashed dreams. Both of these responses are human nature, and it is certainly okay to grieve or ask questions of God. Even Jesus wept for Lazarus. But there is another way we might respond to mental illness as well.

          In our gospel story today, Jesus miraculously calls Lazarus from a state of death to life once again. Acting in faith, Jesus rises Lazarus from a place of darkness and hopelessness and brings Lazarus back into light and life. Now, I want to be careful to say that mental illness is not something that can be magically cured—while many people do recover from mental illness, there are some mental health diagnoses that are life long—but even so with hope and proper support people with mental health conditions can still live purposeful and meaningful lives.

          And that is what I think that we as people, and as the Church, are called to do. We are called to support people with mental health conditions, to walk alongside them in their journey and to help point the way toward hope. In community we are called to support and lift one another up, especially when times are tough. We are called in community to be people of hope and people of life.

          So what might it look like for the church to support mental health?

          First, churches can be educated about mental illness. Mental illness is something that churches can and should talk about, just as we have been talking about it the last couple of weeks. Knowing about mental illness prepares us to be empathetic, and we can also be educated about available resources to offer further support. Faith-Lilac Way, for example, has a list of local resources that can be shared to connect people to help. Studies show that many folks will talk to their pastor about mental health before a doctor, so the church has an opportunity and responsibility to be a bridge for people who need help.

          Second, the church can push back against negative or harmful theology—for example the idea that “praying hard enough” will fix a mental illness. Prayer is powerful and helpful—we should definitely be praying with and for folks who are hurting—but there should not be shame if someone also needs professional help or a medication to support their mental health. I have used and benefitted from both at different times in my life.

          Third, as American citizens we can support and vote for legislation that will build up our mental health system both locally and nationally. Across the country there is a shortage of mental health professionals, mental health care funds, and a shortage of space in mental health treatment centers. Some people will wait weeks or even months to get the help they need. During my time as a hospital chaplain I was shocked by the number of mental health patients I met who were admitted to the hospital but unable to get a bed in the mental healthcare unit. I don’t know what the solution may be to this bigger issue, but simply being aware of the need and speaking out can go a long way in helping to solve the problem.

          Fourth, people with mental illness deserve supportive community. We all need a place where we can belong and a place where we can be valued. They deserve to be seen as a full person and not defined by their condition. We all need to hear that we are loved and cared for by someone else, and church can and should be a place where we can find that kind of community.

          Finally, and most importantly, people need to hear the hope of God’s love. People need to know that God sees them and knows them, that God walks with them in their pain and that no matter what they are a Child of God. People need to know that God’s promises are for them and that there is reason to have hope. Sometimes the greatest gift we can give to someone is to tell them and treat them as if they are loved.

          In all of these ways we can be like Jesus, acting in faith to call people from a place of hopelessness to a place of light and life.

          To tell you a little bit more about my friend Jace, he grew up in the church and in fact that is where we met and became such good friends. The church was not perfect because no church is, but the church community did do some good things to support Jace and his family. Jace was given opportunities to go to church camp, be a part of the youth group and go on mission trips. The church found ways to include Jace and his family despite the challenges that could at times bring, but I think doing these things is what Jesus would have done. The church could not “fix” Jace or erase his challenges in life, but the church could offer community and words of God’s love, and sometimes that is what Jace needed most.

          I pray that Faith-Lilac Way and all churches can be a place of community and love for all people, including those with mental illness. May we be educated about those with mental health challenges. May we patient and compassionate, and may we be willing to offer a supportive hand when needed. May we be a place of radical inclusion, and with God’s help may we be like Jesus, a community that supports life and dignity, calling people to hope even when things seem hopeless. May we be the hands and feet of Jesus to people like Jace and many others who face similar challenges. Let it be so. Amen.

Sunday, March 19, 2023

4th Sunday in Lent Mental Health Focus March 19th, 2023

            During these last two weeks of March, Faith Lilac Way is talking about mental health. Many churches struggle to talk about mental health and mental illness, but it is an important topic, nonetheless. According to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, in any given year 1 in 5 adults (20%), will face a mental health challenge. With statistics like these it is likely that we have members in our congregation and community who face mental health challenges. You may have a member in your family, a friend, or a colleague who struggles with mental health. Perhaps you have had challenges with your mental health before.

            Mental health is also a topic that I am passionate about and as we begin the conversation, I would like to share some of my own mental health journey with you today, as well as where I found God along the way. I believe in the power of sharing stories, and I am at a point in my life now where I can share my experiences. I can even say now that I am thankful for these experiences, though it took a long time to reach this point. At the same time though, it can be a difficult story to share and to hear, so at any time if you feel triggered or need to take a break from listening, it is okay to step out of the room. Self-care is important, so please do what is best for you as I share my story.

            I had my first panic attack when I was 6 years old. I was in kindergarten and had the day off from school, so my mom was taking me to a friend’s house. We were driving down the interstate in the family van when we got into a minor car accident. The damage consisted of a dented bumper and some leaked fluid. There were no injuries, and I didn’t even know what had happened at first. But standing on the side of the road and looking at the dented bumper and dripping coolant, something happened to me.

            I felt like I was dying, and I really thought I could be. My heart raced and felt like heart palpitations. A deep sense of dread and terror fell upon me, and the world was closing in. My body felt tight and heavy, and I was shaking. I was dizzy and felt sick to my stomach. I couldn’t stop crying. I kept trying to scream but it was hard to breathe. No one could console me. I even remember the confusion and fear on the face of the other driver as she and my mom helplessly watched me panic. It was awful.

            Unfortunately, as the years went on the panic attacks continued, became more frequent and even more intense. The feeling of dread lived in the pit of my stomach as a part of my daily life, to the point that I often felt physically sick. I would have panic attacks over things such as the weather, being lost, unfamiliar places, or not being able to control something. I could never, ever be left home alone, and even in middle school I would take and hide my mom’s car keys so she couldn’t go anywhere without my knowing. I would have panic attacks at school terrified that no one would be there to pick me up, even though that had never happened before.

            My anxiety consumed my life and restricted the life of my family. I couldn’t turn it off or hold it in no matter how hard I tried (and believe me, I really did try!). I would pray constantly asking God to take my fear away, but the anxiety continued, nevertheless. My family couldn’t go out to places like concerts in the park, nor could my mom go out for an evening with friends. My mom tried hard to help me and sometimes she got frustrated, wanting to fix things and not knowing how. Sometimes my sister would get angry at me if we couldn’t do something because of me, and I had fights with friends who didn’t understand why I was afraid. I carried so much guilt and shame. I was in 5th grade the first time I seriously contemplated suicide. I just wanted to make it stop, and I wanted to stop hurting the people around me. I believed that it would be better for the people I loved if I wasn’t around to burden them.

            In that way, I think I can relate to the blind man in our gospel today. As a blind person in that day and age, he had no opportunities for work and no way to provide for himself. He had to rely on the charity of others, and he was an economic drain on his friends and family. He had no dignity or agency, and to add to his stress he also had to carry the social stigma of being a disabled person, as it was common in that time—as pointed out by the disciples—to believe that disability or illness was the result of sin. I wonder if he believed that too, if he carried the guilt and shame wondering what he had done to deserve this lot in life. I know I struggled with those kinds of thoughts with my own anxiety and depression. I wonder if, like me, he ever wondered if it was better for him to have never been born. Where was God, and why would God allow him to suffer in this way? I asked those same questions. Maybe, I thought, God had just given up on both of us.

            Well, it took many long years of patience, therapy, and medication for me to reach a place of mental stability. In high school I finally started to feel a little more normal. My anxiety and depression were still there, but I was able to better cope.

             It was in 10th grade that I became friends with a girl at school that I will call Nicole. Nicole was kind, bubbly and enjoyed talking and laughing. She was a great person and fun to be around. But then, halfway through the school year, Nicole drastically changed. She became reserved and quiet, actively withdrawing from her friends and pushing them away. She began failing classes, ate lunch alone every day and wouldn’t talk to anyone as if everyone was invisible.

            Hurt and confused, after a few weeks our friends gave up trying and left her alone. I wanted to give up too, but something in me kept trying. She wouldn’t talk to me but I would talk to her, and I would sit at her lunch table even when she got up and moved away. I just kept trying. It was in Spanish class one day that her sleeve rolled up just enough to expose the cuts she had been carving into her arm. I didn’t know why, but I knew my friend was deeply hurting. She needed help, and she needed to know that she was not alone.

            During study hall the next day I confronted her about the cuts on her arms. I told her that I knew something was seriously wrong, and whatever it was I didn’t want her to go through it alone. I cared about her, even if she didn’t want me to. She wasn’t going to scare me away. She was silent but for once she didn’t get up and move away from me. So I sat there doing my homework and just waiting. And finally, after twenty minutes or so of awkward but persistent silence, she told me what was happening. She confided in me that she had been sexually assaulted at the school. She felt ashamed and was too afraid to tell anyone, and she was afraid when she saw the person who had hurt her in the halls. She was cutting her arms daily and told me she wanted to die. She needed the hurt to stop.

            I couldn’t relate to Nicole’s circumstances, but I could relate to the pain she felt because I carried pain of my own. I shared with her my own experiences with anxiety, depression and suicide. I told her that she was not alone, her life mattered and things could get better. I promised to support her, and together we went to the school counselor to report what had happened to her and get her some help.

            Nicole spent three weeks in an inpatient psychiatric program getting therapy, medication, and learning new and healthier ways to cope. She was finally released from the hospital and able to come back to school, but her recovery wasn’t over. It took months of hard work, social and professional support for her symptoms to improve, but bit by bit she was getting better and finding her new normal. Over that time, she and I had many, many conversations about mental health, our experiences and even about God and faith in the midst of it all.

            A year later Nicole invited me to her 16th birthday party. She was back to laughing and telling stories, enjoying the day and her friends. It was great to see her happy. And later as the party came to an end, Nicole pulled me aside and handed me a small box from her pocket. She gave it to me and inside was a small sunshine necklace. With tears in her eyes, she thanked me for playing a big part in saving her life. Wow—I was incredibly humbled. All I had done was present and share my story, and it had made a bigger difference in her life than I had realized.

            In our gospel today the disciples ask Jesus if the man had been born blind because of his sin, and Jesus tells them no. The man was not born blind because of sin, because God does not choose to punish people in that way. I want to be very clear in saying that God does not choose to inflict people with disabilities, illnesses or disabilities. God does not cause this suffering—we just happen to live in an imperfect and sometimes broken world. Bad and difficult things can happen to us, and there isn’t always a reason why.

            But Jesus continues in his answer.  This man, though blind, can still reflect God’s love and promises to the world. Even this perceived disability cannot stop God. God can and does still work in and through broken people and situations. There is still hope for healing and new life, even in situations that seem hopeless. God did not heal the blind man because the blind man was broken, but rather to open the man’s eyes to his value. When the world told the blind man that he was broken, Jesus reminded the blind man that his life mattered, no exceptions. The life of that blind man, the life of the person with mental illness, the life of the homeless person down the street—all our lives—all of us matter and have hope and purpose in God. That is the kind of God we worship, and I am gosh darn thankful for that.

            During my periods of deepest depression and anxiety, I was blind to God’s grace and presence. I believed that nothing good could come from what I was experiencing, but now after my experience with Nicole, I give thanks all the more for God’s grace and promises because I have experienced them first hand. God took my brokenness, my most painful and vulnerable parts, and used them to bring new life and hope to someone else. God can and does use all of me, just as God can use every part of you. There is nothing and no one that is too far from God’s grace, and nothing that can separate us from God’s loving hope.

            It is in that hope that I share my story with you today. In my story I hope that you hear that you are loved and never alone. I hope that you hear in a new way that mental health matters. I hope you hear that there are people who care and that God is faithfully at work even in the most difficult of circumstances. I still have to be careful to take care of my mental health, and I still have times when I struggle, but I do have hope in God’s presence in the midst of it. I hope you hear that you can trust in God’s promises and look to see where God is present in your story. We all have stories to tell of God’s hope and we certainly live in a world that is in need of that hope, so may God use us and our stories—even our broken parts—to bring hope and new life. Thanks be to God, Amen.

Sunday, March 12, 2023

Woman at the Well

The woman walked out of the city carrying her water jar. Again. She had done this every day… sometimes many times a day. It was already noon. The sun was hot and she knew the jar was going to be a lot heavier on the way back.

 “Will you give me a drink of water?” Surprised – she looked up. But the only person she was a Jewish man. She wondered out loud: “What was he – a Jewish man - doing, asking her - a Samaritan woman -- for a drink of water?”

 It wasn’t a big request.  She was standing right beside the well with a jar for water. But surely, he knew that culturally, politically, and socially, it was a big taboo for him to talk to her. And yet none of those barriers seemed to bother Jesus.

 He even knew who she was – and that she had five husbands and that the one who she was living with was not her husband. He seemed to know her whole story – and yet he didn’t condemn her like other people did who assumed that there must be something wrong with her. Instead of shaming her, this man offers her life-giving water and reveals to her, that he is the Messiah, the Christ, the one that they have all been waiting for.

 What a morning! What began as a routine walk to the well outside the city ended up transforming her life. The woman – we don’t even know her name - abandons her water jar and goes and tells the community about Jesus. And even though she doesn’t even know whether to believe it or not herself, she becomes the first evangelical preacher. Her message raises enough faithful curiosity in the community that they believe it too and want to hear more. So Jesus stays and teaches for two more days. And then the whole community believes.

 The taboos that separated the Jewish-Samaritan people seem pretty foreign to us. Men couldn’t talk with women. Jews and Samaritans were distantly related – but there was bad family history – and so they couldn’t even talk with one another. Clergy – the rabbis -- couldn’t touch anyone who might be ritually unclean – and that could include any number of things so they would NEVER touch a woman who was of childbearing age… but then they wouldn’t touch a woman anyway…. So clearly there was no hugging the pastor. There were a lot of rules. There was a lot of division. And Jesus cut through it all with a simple request for a drink of water.

 It’s easy for us to see the divisions between the Jewish and Samaritan people – but what about the divisions in our world, in our country, in our communities. As a country, we are divided politically; by who we trust to give us the news; by how we feel about a whole realm of social issues and even what words are acceptable to say. And yet… Jesus cuts through all of our divisions too.

 A young man standing on the corner with a clipboard asked Sister Helen, “Hey would you be willing to write a letter to a man on death row?”

 It was a simple request. Sister Helen had been an English major and enjoyed writing. So, it didn’t seem like too much trouble. So, she wrote a letter. She had become a nun before Vatican II and she had assumed that her whole life would simply be a life of prayer in the cloistered halls of the monastery. But all that had changed after Vatican II when the pope invited the nuns to come out of the monasteries and serve the poor. She figured prisoners were poor so by being a pen pal she would be serving the poor.

 The man wrote back. He wrote that no one would visit him – and so she thought that wouldn’t be too much trouble either. The prison wasn’t far away. So, she visited him in the prison and he asked if she would be his spiritual advisor. She was a nun – and he clearly had no one else -- so she agreed. She didn’t know that meant that she would be the last person, the only person who wasn’t happy to see him dead, to be with him when he was executed. He was admittedly guilty and had done horrific things – and yet while he told her that she didn’t have to come – she told him that she wanted the last face for him to see to be a face of love and not a face of hatred. She wanted to be Jesus’ face for him.

Sister Helen Prejean tells her story and the story of Pat Sonnier,

in the book which became a movie, “Dead Man Walking.”  Reflecting back, Sister Helen said she had no idea that when she agreed to write a letter to a man on death row, it would transform her life into becoming an advocate for eliminating the death penalty.  This is the work, she said, of “sneaky Jesus.” 1

 “Sneaky Jesus” cut through all the taboos of the Samaritans and Jewish people. “Sneaky Jesus” transformed Sr. Helen’s ministry of prayer to becoming an advocate of life and dignity for all people – even those who had killed another. And Jesus – “Sneaky Jesus” as Sr. Helen calls him-- is still at work in our world. For Jesus invites all of us – regardless of who we are, what burdens we carry, or what barriers and divisions we imagine separate us from others – to hear and share the Good News of Jesus. Thanks be to God!

 Amy Starr Redwine,No Shame in That A Sermon for Every Sunday, Lent 3A https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Amy-Starr-Redwine-Samaritan-Woman.pdf

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Cracking Open Our Hearts

John 3:16 has often been called the “Gospel in a Nutshell” – because of its concise proclamation of God’s saving action and the promise of salvation that it gives. If you had to pick only one verse to remember – this is a mighty good verse to know. But because it is so well known, and so concise, we sometimes think of it as simple. But understanding and living into God’s love and saving grace proclaimed in John 3:16 is not as simple of a nut to crack as one might assume.

 The next verse takes away the exclusive sting that is sometimes ascribed to John 3:16 and cracks open our understanding of why God sent Jesus.  “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.” God acts out of love to save the world. And God isn’t done yet.

 As I was thinking this week about our theme of being “Unfinished,” it made me think about how God has cracked open and continues to crack open the world to receive God’s love and grace.

 Cracking an egg is easy. Crack, separate, drop yolk and white in a bowl and the shell into the compost. But that’s now how God works. Instead, God’s cracking open the world is more like the way a baby duck comes out of its shell.

 A mother duck used to lay some eggs in the church courtyard at Westwood Lutheran. My boys when they were little and at preschool, were eager to see the ducks come out of their shell. It started with just a small little crack and then the chick would peck a little more… and then need to rest. It took a long time – forever – in the eyes of a preschooler before the egg opened and the duckling emerged.

 When God called Abram and Sarai to go from their homeland to a new land, God promises to make of them a great nation which will be a blessing to all the nations. God did this – because God loved them AND God loved the world. While it took a long time in their eyes, God gave them a child, Isaac, who had children, who had children and God continued to love them and crack their hearts open– even when they got anxious, restless or neglected to remember God.

 Nicodemus, a pharisee and teacher of scripture knew well the story of Abram and Sarai – the people God renamed Abraham and Sarah, the ancestors of his people. But then he met Jesus. Jesus wasn’t like the prophets who had come before. Jesus was teaching and healing and acting in a way that didn’t fit with the way that Nicodemus had always been taught.

 Unsettled, but perhaps afraid to say something in front of the other Pharisees, Nicodemus comes to Jesus in the middle of the night. He’s polite and deferential, and asks reasonable questions – but Jesus gives him riddles for answers. I wonder if Jesus was trying to crack open Nicodemus’ carefully organized academic understanding of the world…  just one piece at a time.

 Nicodemus doesn’t get his questions answered that night in a simple way like cracking an egg… but clearly, he is being opened up to a new understanding of who Jesus is and how God is at work in the world. We see Nicodemus two other times in the Gospel. The next time Nicodemus appears he uses the law to defend Jesus against the other Pharisees. The third and final time we hear of him, Nicodemus is at the cross. He brings a gift of a hundred pounds of aloe and myrrh, gifts worthy of a king, and helps Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus’ body off the cross, wrap him in spices and lay him in the tomb. Clearly Nicodemus was on a journey – and we are too. 

 How is God at work, calling us to crack open the ways that we are “stuck”? How is God calling you to open your eyes to see Jesus – maybe in ways that you had not imagined before?  We might not always notice – but God has been at work in you from before you were born. At your baptism, you became cross marked and Spirit-Sealed, but this was just the beginning of God’s work in you.

 Like Abraham and Sarah and Nicodemus, our path is not always clear and we don’t always see God at work, calling us to be open to the Holy Spirit. But often when we look back, we see the hand of God working to open us up to God’s work – especially at times when we seem stuck.

 For example, my mother was working as a librarian and media specialist in a small school by our farm in Wisconsin. She noticed the new Superintendent acting in ways that were suspect and maybe even illegal. She decided she had to say something and that the only way that the school board would listen to her, and do something about it, was if she would resign and speak the truth. So…she did.  

 As a young person, I wondered what we would do without my mother’s job. I thought we were stuck. But God gave new dreams to my parents.

We moved to Plymouth. My dad went back to school – after having been a farmer all his live. My mother got a job working at Westwood Lutheran as their Christian education director. This led her to begin a preschool, which grew into a Christian early childhood center. Her work there transformed her life – and blessed the families of hundreds of children.

 When she got cancer and had to quit after 40 years of building this program, I worried about my mother. How would she cope? And yet, God provided another way. God opened her eyes to the other cancer patients in the doctor’s office – they were all on the same chemo schedule -- and so little by little, she and her friend Carole brought love and care as well as joy and laughter to the waiting rooms.

 I could tell many stories about the Holy Spirit opening people up, cracking us open and providing unimagined blessings. But the next story I want to tell you is a story about a church in Indiana that was cracked open in a new way. Nick Tangen, the director of Faith Practices, Neighboring Practices, interviewed Pastor Michael Mather on his blog about how his church in Indiana was transformed when they started noticing and supporting the gifts of the people in their neighborhood.

 The church had been running a tutoring program for 30 years. They were proud of the program – they had professional people in the city coming to help. But, despite their efforts, the graduation rate in their neighborhood continued to get worse. It wasn’t because of what they were doing – but it was discouraging. They never thought to ask the neighbors for help.

 Until one day, when they met Maya. Maya runs tutoring out of her house. She works at ATT at night. During the day she invites the kids on her block to come over to her house and teaches them everything from phonics to Sophocles. When they asked why, she said, “well, if the kids don’t know how to read, I teach them phonics. If they do, I teach Sophocles – and everything in-between.” Then, every Fridays she has a barbecue in the backyard and the kids present what they have learned to their families.

 The pastor asked her to come and meet with the church. She said she was too shy to speak in front of the whole church, but that she would come and they could tell her story and she would stay and talk to people after church. Maya lives only a few blocks away, but they could tell that she had never been to church there before because when she came into the church, she sat down in the front row. 

 At the end of the service, the pastor invites Maya to stand and then tells the congregation about the tutoring program that she runs out of her house.  He then asks everyone who would like to support the work that she is doing, to stand up. Everyone stands up. But Maya doesn’t know this because her back is to the rest of the congregation since she is still standing in the front row. Then the person who is leading says, “Will all of you who are standing support Maya with your prayers, your presence, your gifts and your witness? If so, say, “We will.” The congregation shouts We WILL!” At the sound of all those voices, Maya jumps up in the air and turns around. Two things are cracked open that had been invisible before. The congregation knows the good gifts and the ministry that had been happening right in their neighborhood – and Maya knew that there was a whole congregation of people ready and eager to support the work that she was doing.  God cracked open the ministry of that church on that day. They changed their ministry from thinking about what their neighbor needed to focusing on the gifts that God had given them and their neighbors.  

 How is God opening our eyes and our hearts? How is God at work in our lives and in our neighborhood and in the gifts and talents of our neighbors?  God is not finished. Let us pray God will open the eyes of our hearts to see God. And, let us pray that God’s love may be proclaimed in and through us and our neighbors to this world that God so loves.  Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Unfinished, Discovering God’s Call in the Not Yet.

Called to Follow Jesus’ Values

 If you are reading a novel – especially if it is a mystery – do you sometimes peak and read the ending? No shame if you do! It can be hard to be stuck in middle – not knowing the ending.

 That is not the problem that we have as Christians. We know the ending. We know that God sent Jesus into the world and that he died for us. We know that, because of Jesus, God claims us as God’s beloved children and we know that Jesus will come again to judge and redeem the whole world. But… we are not there yet. We are somewhere in the middle– we are in the unfinished part of God’s story.

 Our theme for this Lenten season is “Unfinished, Discovering God’s Call in the Not Yet.”  As Rev. Charlene Rachuy Cox, writes, “The church by its very nature, and we as people of faith, live our whole lives in the space between no longer and not yet. Cross-marked and Spirit-sealed, we dwell in the space between the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and the final fulfillment of God’s hope-filled promises.”1

 God’s kingdom is “unfinished.” And so, as Christians, as we live into the promise of the future of God’s Kingdom, but know that it has not yet come, and that it is our call to discover what God’s call, God’s purpose is for us today.

 The theme for this week is “Called to Values.”  When you think of your values, what comes to mind? Do you think about the 10 Commandments?  Or Jesus’ commandments to love God and love your neighbor?  Do you value other things that maybe were ingrained in you from the time when you were a child or that you have simply learned along the way – things that aren’t written in the Bible like “clean your plate;” or “take turns” or even “God helps those who help themselves.” We have lots of unwritten values and social mores – and sometimes they come into conflict.

 Right before our Gospel reading for today, Jesus is baptized and God proclaims “you are my Beloved Son.”  But instead of a celebration, or a road trip proclaiming his anointed status, Jesus is led by the Spirit  - that’s the Holy Spirit -- into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

 Have you ever wondered why? That’s one of the questions I’ve been thinking about this past week. I don’t think that Jesus is undergoing a test – like students have to take to get into college or like some sort of weird hazing like what goes on in some fraternities and sororities for students who want to belong. God has already proclaimed Jesus as His son.

 The wilderness can be a challenging place. But it is also a place that God took the Israelites when they left Egypt and were learning to trust in God as their Lord.  So perhaps the Spirit led Jesus to the wilderness to give Jesus some time and space to wrestle with what it means to be God’s son, to be a child of God who is also human. I think it is good for us to see the humanity of Jesus –that even Jesus had to wrestle with the temptation that comes from having a human body that gets hungry; and from having a human ego that might desire status or power or glory or the meaning and ability to make a difference in the world. These are not bad things in themselves – and the devil knows it. He even uses the bible to try to bolster his argument.

 But what Jesus confirms during this time in the wilderness is who he is called to be – the Son of God - and what his mission will be – and what he values. As he deftly turns aside the temptations of the devil, it is clear that Jesus values God’s word and that his mission is not to seek his own glory or power but instead to trust in God’s steadfast and abiding love and presence.  Also - did you notice? The Spirit led him to the wilderness… and there is no mention that the Spirit ever left.

 This is good news!  It is good news because when you were baptized, you were marked with the sign of the cross and sealed with the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit hasn’t left you either.

 This is good news for our ordinary lives – and it is especially good news for those times of temptation, those times of trial and those times that are simply hard.

 Since the pandemic began – and maybe before – we as a world, as a country, as a city, as people have gone through some hard and challenging times. It feels like a wilderness time – where people are hungry, housing is scarce, children are killed in schools, people of color don’t feel safe on the streets and war and earthquakes cause devastation. I have to admit that the other day I was reading the news too late in the evening and I ended up having nightmares all night.

  We may be in a period of wilderness – but make no mistake – the Holy Spirit is with us still and always. This can be hard to remember when times are challenging – but that is one of the advantages of our community of faith in the church. We can remind one another of the promises of God and encourage and strengthen one another. 

 It is also helpful to be reminded that in the past,  Christians – even those leaders we admire, like Martin Luther -- have been in and come through hard wilderness times too.  As the story goes, one night…

  “Martin Luther invited some friends to share dinner at his home during a particularly challenging part of the Reformation and, during the meal, bemoaned the many setbacks they had recently experienced. As the night went on, Luther’s catalogue of disappointments grew longer and longer, until Luther suddenly realized that his wife, Katie, had left the table and come back dressed all in black. When Luther asked her why she had changed her clothes, she responded, “Well, to hear you talk, dear Martin, I thought that perhaps God had died and I should dress for his funeral.”

Which caused Luther to laugh at his own foolishness, to remember God promises, to get up from the table, and to get back to the ordinary and everyday tasks of preaching and teaching and trust the future of the reformation, and the world, to God” 2

 As we seek to value what Jesus values and live faithfully into this “unfinished time – this time between already and not yet, we too can be thankful that the Holy Spirit is not only with us but that we can trust our future and our world to God. And as we do that, we can ask Jesus to walk with us along the journey and discover that he is already here. Thanks be to God. Amen.

 Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church + February 26, 2023+  Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

 1 Rev. Dr. Charlene Rachuy Cox

2 Rev. Dr. David Lose, A Sermon for Every Sunday

Sunday, February 19, 2023

Transfiguration Sunday Sermon

Listen to Jesus! Receive the Gifts of God

Listen Up! Pay attention!  Our Confirmation video begins each session with those words. It assumes that we aren’t listening and that we aren’t paying attention.

 This was not the case for Peter, James and John. Jesus had their attention. First of all – Jesus has brought them to a mountaintop. Looking back to our first lesson about Moses – important things happen on mountaintops.  Secondly, Jesus has been preaching and teaching the Sermon on the Mount – so maybe they think they are going to get some extra credit teaching. But they are amazed when they see Jesus’ face shining like the sun, and his clothes were a dazzling white.

 A few years ago, I remember driving on 34th street – just west of Douglas Drive on a sunny winter afternoon. It had just snowed and the snow was sparkling white.  I was behind a pickup truck and as we came up the hill the sun peaked over hill the sun blinded me -- and must have blinded him. The street was a bit narrow and he was driving next to the curb when the sun blinded him – and he crashed into a car parked along the side of the road. Luckily there was no one in it.  That blinding light is what I imagine Jesus looked like.  The disciples would have been reaching for their sunglasses if it happened today. 

 But then, Moses and Elijah– the representatives of the Law and the prophets -- show up to chat with Jesus. This was another confirmation of the proclamation that Peter had made just six days before that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God.  No wonder Peter gets excited and eager to capture and memorialize this moment. But when a bright cloud overshadows them and a voice from heaven interrupts Peter with the same proclamation that was made at Jesus’ baptism – the disciples collapse in fear.

 Who could blame them? Their senses have been overwhelmed. Their eyes have been blinded first by light and then by a cloud. They have had a collective vision of Moses and Elijah. Their ears have heard the voice of God. No wonder their legs collapsed. 

 The commandment from God is clear – Listen to Jesus. That sounds pretty simple, right? But when Moses came down the mountain with the 10 commandments and found God’s people -- who were tired of waiting for him – worshipping a golden calf – Moses is incensed – and even God is angry. But notice how Jesus responds to his disciples. Jesus already knew Peter’s and our failings to follow God’s commands. But still… Jesus remains by their side. Moses and Elijah disappear. But Jesus stays and gently says to them, “Get up” literally, “Rise up,” and puts his hand upon them and says, “Do not be afraid.” Jesus is not angry. Jesus is compassionate as he reminds the disciples – and us -- he is God with Us – always. Jesus wants to be in relationship with us, with you.

 I wonder if the biggest challenge for Christians today in listening to Jesus and in staying in relationship with Jesus is the “busyness” of our culture. And it did not let up during the pandemic – many people just substituted online activities. This is not only a challenge for working parents but I’ve noticed that kids are uber-scheduled. In addition to a phenomenal amount of homework, kids are busy with after-school activities and with community sports, dance, art, karate and social media. I asked one of our youth, “When do you have time to sleep?!” Busyness affects all ages. Retired friends have told me – rather proudly – I’m busier than ever before.

 It turns out this is not a new challenge.  In The Cloud of Unknowing, a book written in about the 14th century by an unknown English monk warns,

“Be attentive to time, and the way you spend it… God, the master of time, never gives the future. He gives only the present, moment by moment.”

 Recently I went on a weekend silent retreat as part of a class that I am taking. I was told to turn off my phone, not bring my computer or any work or homework but just my Bible, my journal and my clothes. I was a little afraid that they would hand me a roll of duct tape to put over my mouth to keep me silent. But it turned out to be not as difficult as I feared.

 On the first night I pulled out my Bible. Actually, it was my mother’s Bible. As I was hurriedly packing, I put her Bible in my bag because it was smaller and a lot less heavy than my study Bible. I was so glad that I did. I noticed all of the passages that she had underlined, passages of hope and promise. It reminded me of the importance for us all to take time each day for God’s Word. Even a short devotion helps us take time to: Listen to Jesus and be in relationship with Him.

 Having extra time also allowed extra time for prayer. This was the point of the retreat, after all. But again, it reminded me of the importance of taking time for prayer – even when it isn’t on a retreat.  We still live in a busy world and it can be challenging to find the time for prayer. When I was a young mother, my prayer time was at night after the kids were in bed. Now I find the morning to be best for me. Another woman said that her prayer time was on her commute.  It doesn’t matter when you pray or what form you use. But it is good for me – and it is good for you – to talk with God. God wants to be in relationship with you – in the ordinary times of life as well as in your joys and in your sorrows and challenging times.

 God is with us even in the ordinary challenging times.  I was able to take a break from our cold north winter by travelling to the Florida Keys a couple of weeks ago. We rented a lovely condo – well… lovely except for the bed which gave me incredible backaches which is unusual for me. Usually, I sleep like a rock. But one night – it was about 4 in the morning -- I simply could not sleep or even lie in that bed any longer. So I got up and went out on the patio. My husband had set up a hammock. Suddenly inspired, I grabbed a blanket and snuggled in, hoping that I would catch a few winks.  But just as I lay down, a bright light was shining on my face. Irritated, I looked up to see if I could shut off the light. I could not. It was the full moon surrounded by stars and palm tree branches. It was absolutely beautiful. I forgot about my sore back and with wide eyes of wonder I gave thanks to God, and simply soaked up the beauty of God’s creation until I work up in the morning, completely refreshed and filled with joy and wonder. 

 The gifts of God are all around us. The commandment is to listen to Jesus and the blessing we receive as we open all of our senses, our hearts, our minds and our lives to see, to hear and to receive the gifts of God is the abiding presence of Jesus, God-With Us.  Thanks be to God. Amen.