Sunday, November 19, 2023

Seeing Jesus… in “the least of these”

Are you on a reward program for your favorite coffee place? Or do you like to collect credit card points or “miles”? I know people who have travelled to amazing places – Alaska, New Zealand, and others just by using various “Point” systems.”  I’m a bit of a novice but I like to think I’m being a “Savy shopper” when I collect points – which I think of as basically an electronic way of clipping coupons and watching for sales before buying something.

But one day I met a woman who takes “points” a lot more seriously than I do. This woman, I’ll call her Amy, had befriended a friend of mine who was needing some help cleaning out stuff after a death in her family. Amy was friendly and seemed to love to clean and sort and just be helpful.

One day after church I stopped by my friend’s house and Amy was excited to tell me about the latest opportunity that she had had to help someone out.

She had found a man’s wallet on the street and was overjoyed that she was able to reconnect him with his wallet. I’m sure the man was grateful too. So I smiled and said, “Nicely done Amy! That’s another star in your crown!” To which she nodded and then replied, “well… I think it should be worth two points because I not only found it but went out of my way to reconnect him with it. And my friend here gets an “assist” because she helped me find his number,” So I think that’s two points for me and a point for my friend are going in the book. And then she smiled with contentment.

I stopped smiling. “You’re not serious are you? I mean, you don’t really believe that what you do earns you points in a book?” That’s not how God works.

Amy replied a bit defensively, “Well, yes. You know, the book! In Revelation it talks about the book where everyone is judged. There are are names written right there – with our deeds beside them.

At that moment, I realized that Amy interpreted the book of Revelation quite literally and a lot differently than I do. I then dawned on me that the reason she was so helpful to everyone she met was to gain credit, to get points to assure her spot in the kingdom of heaven. I still had my collar on and it was starting to get hot. I said, “I do not believe that what we do earns us salvation. Salvation is a gift of God. Salvation comes from Jesus who died for us out of his great love and grace.” 

Amy persisted, “But the book. It all gets written in the book!”

I had to leave.  Amy wasn’t going to listen to me – or change her mind. She firmly believes that everything that she does gets written in a book and that one day, she will be judged based on her actions alone. She’s working hard to make sure she’s got enough points. … By the way, Revelation says nothing about points.

On one level, today’s Gospel seems to confirm Amy’s position. The king doesn’t ask the sheep or goats what they believe. Instead, he sorts them on the basis of what they did, and how they treated, “the least of these.”

Jesus tells a story, a parable, about the judgment of the nations. It is the last parable in a series that Jesus is telling his disciples about the kingdom of heaven. In prior parables, Jesus teaches them who God is: God is extraordinarily generous, ready to forgive and abounding with grace and love. In this final parable, Jesus teaches them who they are and how they are to act as followers of Jesus. 

In short, they/ we are to act like Jesus. Jesus fed the 5,000; we are to feed the hungry. Jesus gave life-giving water to the woman at the well; we are to give a drink to the thirsty and take care of the water supply. Jesus welcomed outcasts, lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors and Samaritans. We are to welcome refugees, immigrants and the stranger – even if they don’t look like us, talk like us or even vote like us.

Throughout his ministry Jesus cares for those who are poor, hungry, thirsty, homeless, imprisoned or vulnerable in any way.  And in this parable, we see that not only does Jesus care for them, but Jesus as “the king” identifies with them and becomes one with them to the point that he says, “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”  

Jesus invites his disciples and us to do more than be able to recite the commandments to love God and love the neighbor. We are invited to care for the stranger, for the one in need--not to rack up points and not to justify ourselves but just because that is the kind of person that God has called us to be. Jesus says, “A good tree bears good fruit.” You are made to bear good fruit. And like the good tree, the righteous in our parable bear the good fruit of loving kindness without even knowing it. It's just the way they are. 

Looking back through the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gives us other clues about who we, as followers of Jesus, are called to be. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus doesn’t say you are like salt – but proclaims: “You are the salt of the earth.”Matt 5:13 “You are the light of the world”Matt 5:14. And this is why Jesus calls us to the promise we received at baptism1, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.”Matt 5:16 Goodness knows the world needs some common sense - salt, a whole lot of light and lots more people who look at those in need and see Jesus and respond with love and care.  

But in our world today – it seems a tall order and becoming more rare. The news is full of horrible images of just how unloving people can be to one another. Innocent people killed or used as hostages. Children, families, hospitals hit by incessant bombing. Looking at the desolation from across the ocean, it’s easy to simply point the finger – maybe at one side, maybe at both. 

But the challenges of loving the neighbor aren’t just “over there.” Political discourse has become divisive and mean-spirited and is tearing communities and even some families apart. I know one household in which the matriarch declared at the beginning of the meal that there would be no political conversation – she declared that she would have peace at her table. Some of you may be wondering about instilling that rule at your Thanksgiving table too. It’s hard to see Christ in your neighbor’s face when we have difficulty seeing it in the face of our own families.

And yet, what would happen if we – you and I – tried to see the face of Jesus in the faces of those who are considered, “those people” in your mind. What difference would it make in the way that we treated “them?”

While I was writing this sermon, I got a call on the church phone. It was a woman asking if we had any gas cards. I smiled and hoped that we did. I mean, when you are writing a sermon about welcoming the other because it may be Jesus, I was sure hoping that we had a gas card to offer.   I checked. We did. Phew.  I invited her to stop by. When she came, she asked, “Are you doing anything for Thanksgiving?” Surprised, I said, “Just having dinner with family. You?” She said, “No, I mean at the church?”  “Oh,” I said, “Yes! We are having a Thanksgiving eve service at 7PM – with pie afterwards. Come and join us if you can!”  She smiled and said, “Thank you. I might.”

So, if you see a woman or a man that you don’t know at our Thanksgiving Eve Worship and pie on Wednesday night, be sure to stop and talk with her or him. Invite her or him to join you for a piece of pie. It may be Jesus.

Here’s an experiment for this week – or maybe this month – or to the end of the year: Try to see the face of Christ in those who you or those in your tribe would consider “other”. What could happen? Will you treat that person differently? Let me know. It might be just be a blessing.  For this is the life that Jesus calls us to embody. Love the neighbor. Feed the hungry. Give water to the thirsty. Care for the stranger, the refugee, the one who is vulnerable. Because, Jesus says, when you do, you are caring for me. Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, may the eyes of your heart be enlightened so that you may see Jesus. Amen

1Dirk Lange, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/christ-the-king/commentary-on-matthew-2531-46-4

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church + November 19, 2023 + Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

November 12, 2023

Image of God

November 12, 2023 + Faith-Lilac Way + Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

“Who do you say that I am?” This is the question that Jesus asked his disciples. Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Messiah, the son of God, the one for whom we have been waiting.” 

 Peter got the answer right! But before he could do a victory lap, he decides to steer Jesus away from taking up his cross and Jesus chastises him in no uncertain terms, calling him Satan. Peter was right in calling Jesus the Messiah – but Peter didn’t understand what that meant.

 And Peter is not alone. Throughout Christian history, followers of Jesus have been trying to explain to themselves and others who Jesus is and what that means for us as followers. As Lutherans, our professed creeds, the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian, all came about because of arguments over how to answer Jesus’ question, “Who do you say that I am?” The creeds do a good job but the task is impossible. As 13th Century Thomas Aquinas warned followers then and now, we cannot understand who God is. As Aquinas writes, “If you comprehend God, he is not God.”1 No matter how amazing we think God is, the moment that we try to reduce God down to something that we can imagine or worse yet, put into a box – theological or otherwise, we have failed. God is always greater; God is always more than we can explain.

 And this is why, I think, when Jesus is talking about who God is and what the kingdom of heaven is like, Jesus tells parables, stories told with a purpose. The purpose of these stories is not to define God or explain the kingdom of heaven but rather to help his followers, including us, to live lives of discipleship in this time in-between the resurrection and Jesus’ coming again.

 Stories have a way of getting past the absolutes of confessions and doctrine. In a way, a parable is like a prism – you see it differently depending on where you stand and the angle from which you observe it. Stories leave room for the imagination and the Holy Spirit to work.

 Today’s parable is like that. It follows close behind another parable about the kingdom of heaven that stresses the period of waiting that the followers of Jesus will have between the resurrection and the second coming.  Taking a slightly different angle, this parable focuses on how the servants act in the absence of the master.

 It begins as a simple story of a man who goes on a journey and entrusts his money to three servants. To the first one he gives 5 bags of gold; the 2nd one receives two and the third one receives one bag of gold. But… before you start feeling sorry for the one who only received only one bag of gold, each bag was worth 1.5 million dollars. So, whether it’s 7.5 million, 3 million or 1.5 million dollars worth of gold, they were each entrusted with a fortune.  They do not know when he will return. He trusts them with his riches – and he gives them the gift of time to use them.

 The first two servants immediately got to work investing the money wisely and doubled their money. So, when the man returned, he complimented both of them and said, “enter into the happiness of your master.”  Notice that the they were invited into the happiness – also translated “Joy”  -- of their master not because he wanted to get richer, but rather because he was glad because they used what was entrusted to them.

 The message of the first half of the parable to the disciples seems to be clear: use the gifts that God has entrusted to you wisely and then you too can enter into the happiness and joy of God.

 The parable takes a turn with the third servant. He reveals to the master that he thinks the master is unfair and unjust, “harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.” The servant says that because he was afraid, he did not dare invest the money and so, instead, hid the gold in the ground. He returns the money he had received to the master, saying – take what’s yours.

 The master seems a bit surprised and angered by this insult and judgement by the servant whom he had trusted.  The master doesn’t confirm or deny the accusation. Instead, he accuses the 3rd servant of being lazy – if he really thought the master was so bad, why didn’t he invest the money with the bankers? Why did he simply bury the money?

 This raises an interesting question: is the third servant right about the character of the master? If they had been asked about their image of the master, the first two servants would, I assume, give glowing reports of the master’s generosity and trust. So which is true? Is the master generous or is he really a hard man who is deceitful and unfair?  And what is the message of this second half of the parable for the disciples?

 Scholars have different opinions – and since it is a story, there is no way to prove which is true. But because the point of Jesus’ parables is to prepare his followers for discipleship, especially in this in-between time of waiting for the return of Jesus, I find theologian and pastor David Lose’s argument compelling.

 Lose suggests that the third servant is so bound up in fear that he is unable to act as a faithful servant and this is why he buries the money that was entrusted to him rather than using it in service to his master.  And, it is this same fear and insecurity that causes him to lash out with accusations at the master. Finally, Lose argues, it is the third servant’s all-consuming fear that, in the end, catapults him into the utter darkness.

 Fear is a powerful force. Located in the brain stem, it initiates a fight, flight or freeze impulse. It fills us with anxiety and prevents us from reflecting and reasoning and taking time to make good decisions. In this way, fear could keep us from being faithful followers – especially if we have put fear in place of God as what is our operating principle.

 In the parable, the master gave each of the servants an abundance of resources, the gift of time and his trust. These are also the gifts that God gives to us – we may not have been entrusted with millions of dollars to invest – but we have been entrusted with God’s trust and the time, skills, resources and abilities to live faithfully in this time between the resurrection and the second coming of Christ.  The message for the disciples and us, is that God trusts us and invites us to not to hide these resources but rather use the time, skills, resources and abilities that God has entrusted to you, to us, for our needs and for the needs of our neighbor.  And when we do this, we are invited to join in the joy of our Lord and Master Jesus Christ who loves us – regardless of our “success.”

The debilitating fear that the 3rd Servant suffered from is not the “fear of the Lord” that is found in the Psalms and that Luther writes about in his small catechism. The biblical understanding of “fear of the Lord” is not the fear connected to shame, punishment or wrath. Instead, the Biblical understanding of the “fear of the Lord” is silent wonder, radical amazement and affectionate awe at the infinite goodness of God.” 3

 God is good and loving and cares for you -- beyond your understanding  or mine. This is an image of God that we can embrace. And, when looked at together as a whole, this is the image of God that Jesus reveals in the parables. Jesus portrays God as extraordinarily generous, ready to forgive and abounding with grace and love – not because of anything that we did or deserve but simply because God is so incredibly good and loving. Thanks be to God. Amen.

  1Healing Our Image of God and Ourselves, sermon by Brennan Manning, 2007 for Alive Communications’ Authors and Industry Executives p. 3

 2David Lose, https://www.davidlose.net/2020/11/pentecost-24-a-believing-and-seeing/

 3 Manning, p. 7

All Saints Sunday – November 5, 2023

Blessings and Promises

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

This summer I performed a wedding. The bride was anxious that she would remember her lines. The groom was worried about her. They entered as two single people, in love and excited for the life that was to be. And then…with the words: “I now pronounce you husband and wife” their status changed. They were now married.

 If I can change the status of two young people, how much more can Jesus – with a single word – change the world?

 And Jesus does.

 To the ordinary people of Galilee and his disciples, Jesus declares, “Blessed are the poor… Blessed are those who mourn, Blessed are the meek,  Blessed, Blessed, Blessed. Nine times Jesus blesses those who do not seemed blessed by the world’s standards, turning upside down the values of the world for money and power and glory and lifting up those whom the culture considered weak, poor and shameful. 

 But then again…maybe Jesus blesses those who mourn for they wouldn’t be mourning if they had not loved. And maybe Jesus blesses the merciful because they show mercy to their enemies instead of taking revenge. With a word, Jesus blesses – honors – and transforms those who had been considered unworthy, un-holy, unfit for blessing.

 Who would Jesus bless if he was standing on a mountain – or in a stadium today?

 Perhaps we would hear Jesus declare:

 Blessed are the caregivers who care for the weak and vulnerable, the youngest children or the aging of body and mind – for God will care for them;

Blessed are the schoolteachers who not only teach with their words but also protect with their actions – for God will teach and protect them;

 Blessed are the nurses and the nursing assistants for they change dressings and bedpans for those who are too ill to care for themselves – for God will care for them.

 Blessed are those who drive school-busses, food trucks, ambulances, firetrucks and more for they bring people and what we need to where we need to be – God will be with them on the journey and one day carry them home.

 Blessed are the parents and grandparents, the aunts and the uncles, the neighbors and the Sunday school teachers who care for others’ children for God will care for you as God’s child.

 Blessed are you. With a word, Jesus pronounces blessings on ordinary people – like you and me – out of Jesus’ love for you. Jesus’ blessings proclaim who you are - you are a child of God. And, God has given you the freedom to live into that identity. 

 NOW you are blessed… then you will see God. Once blessed, our calling as children of God is to live into the space between the NOW and the THEN.

 In the same way, John proclaims to his struggling congregation – and to all of us who follow: “Beloved, we are God’s children now! (1 John 3:1-2).  We are God’s children because out of God’s love – that is what God has declared. That was true of the people who first read this letter – and every time a person is baptized that proclamation is repeated – You are a God’s beloved child. NOW.  And you are called to live into that identity with love for God who loves you… and with love for the other children that God loves.

 And yet… it is challenging to live into that proclamation of being a blessed Child of God whose call is to follow Jesus.

 For the world and our culture has different values. And we live in that world, a world in which divisions keep growing and human capacity to hurt other humans seems to be growing too. It’s hard not to become numb when reading or listening or watching the news about wars and, closer to home, the violence that happens in our own streets.  When there is a school shooting – it should make us take action… and not just sigh. It is hard not to feel helpless and simply do nothing. But does our inaction make us complicit?  How do we keep from enabling a culture that treats others as collateral damage?

 Divisions. Conflict. This was the norm for the community that Jesus was preaching to on the Mount of Olives. Their land was occupied by Roman soldiers. Taxes were high. The people were poor. There were division between them. Likewise, John, the writer of Revelation is writing to a people besieged by the Empire. And the writer of 1st John was writing to a congregation that had split in two over differences between them. 

 And yet… into each of these seemly hopeless communities, God proclaims blessings and promises for the people both NOW, in that moment and also THEN – into their future.

 “Beloved, we are God’s children now! This is the blessing, the word that was written in the first letter of John – and that is indeed who they are and who Christians are called to be – in every time and place.

 The Christians on the island of Patmos were a marginalized community of outsiders suffering from persecution, martyrdom and exile. In the midst of seemingly impossible suffering and violence, they asked:  “Who then can stand?” “Who is worthy?” 

 The first answer to their question is one that we read in Revelation – an answer made popular by apocalyptic – end of the world – stories. It is a rather small, excusive number – 144,000 from the 12 tribes. Maybe it seemed like a large number at the time.

 But our reading today reveals that this was just the beginning of the number of people whom GOD made worthy, who God blessed. Instead of a small elect group of people, we read that there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”  

 When Jesus blesses – the action happens now. Beloved, we are God’s children NOW.  Our reading from Revelation points to what the kingdom of heaven will be like THEN– “They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat.” The challenges of this world will cease and the peaceable kingdom will begin.

 Hear the promise: the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”This is the hope and the promise to which God called the people of Patmos and to which God calls you and me.

 NOW, we are claimed as God’s Children. And THEN Jesus will lead us.  And in the in-between time, we are called to live as Christ Jesus called us to live – loving one another as He first loved us. But we are not alone. Jesus walks with us, beside us, giving us the courage to share that love with one another even, or maybe especially, with the ones that we despise, those who we disagree with, those with whom we call as “other.” For God calls those we would call “other” – our brother and our sister, another child of God.

 When will this happen? The “when” is not ours to know. But, as John tells us, “What we do know is this: when he [Jesus] is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”

 Brothers and sisters, friends in Christ, may you trust in God’s promise both for the NOW and for the THEN and in the in-between time. For Jesus has promised to walk with you, leading you like a shepherd to springs of water and wiping away every tear from your eye. And for this, and all that is to come, we can say Thanks be to God. Amen.

Sunday, October 29, 2023

Sermon:  Martin Luther and the Faithfulness of Jesus

Today is Reformation Sunday, the day we remember Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation, which began the day Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of his Wittenberg church, hoping to stop the sale of indulgences, but became a wide, sweeping reform of corrupt church practices and resulted in the formation of many Protestant denominations, including the Lutheran church, to which we all belong.  This was so much more than Luther had in mind. 

But the seeds of the Reformation were sown years before that.  They grew from profound feelings of unworthiness that haunted him for years, beginning with his early years as an Augustinian monk.  He called it his dark night of the soul.  No matter how much he prayed, fasted, and punished his physical body, no matter how many good works he performed, he could never convince himself that he could ever be right with God—could ever be seen as righteous in God’s eyes.  How could anyone ever fulfill the law perfectly?  How could anyone ever accumulate enough grace and forgiveness to achieve peace? To earn a place in heaven?  “How can any Christian, especially one as sinful as I am, achieve the righteousness of God?!”  he asked.  Luther often found himself in deep despair.

Until one day, after becoming a priest and a professor, while he was studying and preparing to lecture on Paul’s letter to the Romans, he finally found the answer to these questions, and his despair gave way to rapturous joy, profound peace, and overwhelming gratitude.  The answer lies in our Romans text for today, and can also be found in various portions of Galatians.  “apart from the law…righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”  Grace is a gift we are given by God on behalf of Jesus.  And grace justifies us in the eyes of God.  We don’t have to be perfect.  We don’t have to earn grace.  We don’t have to earn anything.  Grace is God’s free gift…to everyone. 

Eventually, after intensely studying the letters of Paul, both Galatians and Romans, Luther came to recognize that even our faith, the faith through which this Grace is promised to come to us, isn’t really ours, that faith is also a gift from God, a gift that comes through Jesus.  The redemption, the salvation, the faith and the grace that set us right with God, are all gifts that God bestows on us through Jesus—every bit of it a free gift—nothing we need to earn for ourselves.  Thank God!  Because Luther was right, there is no way we human beings could ever earn it for ourselves.  Grace that effects salvation and forgiveness comes to us free of charge, at no cost to us whatsoever. 

No wonder the selling of indulgences was so offensive to Luther.  The church was charging for something that God offers to everyone for free.  The church was playing on people’s fears and consciences, and using the proceeds to build a great Cathedral.  The people were being charged money for something they didn’t have to buy, because Christ had already paid for it, and God had already granted it to them.  They just didn’t know it.  They didn’t know it, because they couldn’t read it.  The Bible was only available in Latin, but the people in Luther’s corner of the world didn’t know Latin.  They spoke German.  Luther would fix that in 1522, by printing his own German translation of the New Testament, and a complete German Bible, both Old and New Testaments, in 1534.

But I want to back up a little and take a closer look at the text of Romans.  Two summers ago, I took a class on the Epistles, and I learned something about this verse, something that I swear made purple smoke come out of my head.  It blew my mind, and made me get up and dance and shout, “Hallelujah! and Amen!”  You see, there is a tiny translation error in the text that, when corrected, makes Martin Luther’s Good News even better.  It’s just a little two-letter preposition.  According to the grammatical structure of the Greek, the word “in” should actually be translated as “of”.  “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ” should actually read, This righteousness is given through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” 

Why did this get me so excited, you wonder?  Because I am a universalist.  Romans 6:10 says that the death [Jesus] died, he died once for all.  Jesus died For all—all time, all people, all creation, “for God so loved the cosmos, that he gave his only son…” That’s what John 3:16 actually says—the cosmos, all of creation.  I believe God’s love is ubiquitous, universal, unlimited and uncompromising, like the love I feel for my children.  There is absolutely nothing any of them could ever do that could cause me to reject them, to turn my back on them, to love them with less than my whole being.  And that’s what this tiny little correction says about God.  The same error exists in Galatians 2:16, which is where it was first pointed out to me.  Fix it, and it reads, “6 yet we know that a person is justified, not by the works of the law, but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.”  Redeeming, saving, sanctifying, forgiving grace comes from Christ’s faithfulness—to God, and to God’s plan for saving all humanity and all the world.  And maybe, just maybe, since our faith also comes as a gift from God, then maybe there is hope for those who don’t believe, for those who never hear the Gospel, for those who never get baptized, for those who can’t believe, or who stopped believing, because they were hurt, rejected, vilified by the church.  In John 10:9, Jesus says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.”  So maybe Jesus is the gate to eternal life, the gate that stands perpetually open to everyone—the gate that turns no one away, that shuts no one out.  At the very least, these are loopholes that leave room for possibility, for hope.  They’re also good reminders that we need to be careful about the assumptions we make, the judgements we pass on others.

What is meant by “the faithfulness of Jesus Christ?”  It means Jesus faithfully fulfilled God’s covenant with Abraham—a covenant for which God took on sole responsibility, fulfilling both Abraham’s promises to God and God’s promises to Abraham.  By fulfilling the covenant, Jesus has redeemed sinful humanity, and brought us from a position of guilt to a position of grace.  All God’s covenants were enacted in order to deal with human sin.  In fulfilling the covenant, sin was removed as a barrier between humans and God.  For “as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12).  God no longer sees nor remembers our sins.  In Jesus, God has erased our wrongs, and given us a clean slate. 

The sacrifice of atonement is a reference to the cherubim on the cover of the arc of the covenant, in which the tablets containing the Ten Commandments were kept.  This was the mercy seat on which God sat, where God appeared in a cloud to meet Israel at Sinai.  It is the place where God meets God’s people.  In the person of Jesus, God comes to meet us, and in covenant faithfulness, to do for us that which we cannot do ourselves.  God makes us righteous by clothing us in God’s own righteousness.

But what about the law?  What about works?  If works of the law don’t get us anywhere, then what’s the point of upholding the law?  Didn’t Luther caution against doing works?

Yes.  Luther cautioned about doing works, but not because obeying the law is wrong.  Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law.  Like grace, the law, too, is a gift from God.  The law is love.  God’s laws are about relationships—our relationships with God, our relationships with each other, with all others.  If we live according to the law, we will have healthy, harmonious relationships.  If we could truly live by God’s laws of love, we could have peace…world peace.  Luther’s cautions were about motives—our motives for doing works, not the works themselves.  At the time of the reformation, the church taught that following the Commandments could earn you brownie points with God, and that God was keeping track.  If you did enough “good works” theoretically you could earn your forgiveness and your salvation—you could essentially store up enough points to trade in for a ticket to heaven when you died.  Of course, in spite of the church’s claims, it has never worked that way.  Luther said that doing good works was wrong, but only if you did them for selfish reasons, in an effort to earn God’s favor. 

As Christians, we are disciples of Christ, and as disciples, we should be imitating Jesus and following his teachings.  Jesus taught us to love God and our neighbors.  Jesus was faithful—to God’s will and to God’s laws.  He obeyed the law out of love for God and God’s people and out of his desire for justice that would make it possible for all people, for the whole world, to flourish.  So long as we follow Christ’s example, obeying and upholding the law out of love for God and others, rather than out of a selfish aims and desires, hoping to be rewarded, then following the law is a good thing.  It’s what God wants.  And that’s what Luther wanted Christians to do, too.  The most faithful response to Christ’s faithfulness is to dive, heart first, into Gods laws of love, loving God and our neighbors with all our heart and soul and mind and strength in concrete ways, with joy and eagerness, but no ulterior motives.  That’s what Christ redeemed us for—to free us to live boldly into the law, without fear or reservation.  Christ freed us so that we could bravely follow him by loving others.  Sure, we’ll make mistakes.  We’re still human, still imperfect.  But no matter how often or how badly we screw up, there’s grace enough for us through the faithfulness of Jesus, who is proof positive that God keeps God’s promises.  Thank you, Lord Jesus!  Hallelujah! And Amen!

Sunday, October 22, 2023

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind….You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  Love God. Love your neighbor. Jesus sums up all 613 commandments in the Torah and the Prophets – the Bible that Jesus read – into two basic but essential commandments: Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. But while they may be easy to recite – they are not always so easy to do.

In light of what is happening now in Israel and in Gaza, I can’t help but think of the time that I visited Gaza when I was on the St. Olaf Term in the Middle East.

As we approached our Thanksgiving break, Arch Leann, the Professor in charge of the program, asked the students said if we would like to do a service project with the students from Birzeit University? We had been in Israel for two and a half months and had gotten to know the Old city and some of the shopkeepers. But we were eager to meet other students, Palestinian students. Besides, this seemed like a wonderful way to put our faith into action. This would be a way that we could “Love God and Love our Neighbor”. And so it was arranged. We would travel to Gaza, which was then little more than a refuge camp, still patrolled by the Israelis.

The students arrived with a school bus and we all climbed in, eager to meet our new friends. The trip went well – there was much good natured chatter… until we were about to reach the checkpoint. We didn’t understand why, but the Palestinian students asked the blond haired and fair skinned Americans to sit by the windows. We passed through the checkpoint easily. 

When we got to Gaza we were assigned homes to go to for dinner and to sleep. The house I was assigned to was simple but clean and after dinner I joined the Palestinian women and girls in one room, and was assigned a mat on the floor in the middle of the girls. The girls did not speak English – but we got by with sign language and I was loving the experience. And isn’t learning about people who are different from you part of what it takes to “Love your neighbor as yourself?” Curled up in soft blankets and surrounded by these new sisters – I wasn’t finding it hard to love my new neighbor.

In the morning the students all gathered back together and were assigned our working groups. Some of the students were going to be working on roofing crews – there were about five groups of two or three of our students and some Palestinian students and some workers who knew what they were doing. About half of us were left and the Palestinian leader told us that we would be going to the graveyard to clean the graves of their martyrs.

I remember thinking this was odd – I thought we were there to do some real work!  But who was I to say what was the most important thing was to the Palestinians?

As we were setting out to walk to the graveyard, the Palestinians handed some of us – primarily the young women – like me – signs to carry that were written in Arabic.  Oh, it’s a Thanksgiving parade?! But we were guests and so, of course we would join in their parade. And while we walked, there was cheering and singing – all in Arabic of course.

When we got to the cemetery, we found the graves were covered with sand. We were in a desert after all. And, we discovered that we only had one shovel and one bucket. How were we going to clean the graves with one bucket and one shovel. But, again, in the spirit of “loving our neighbor” with American ingenuity, we organized a buck brigade to pass the bucket of sand down the line to remove the sand… in the desert…from the graves of the martyrs.

We didn’t work long however, before we were surrounded by a large group of Palestinians singing and shouting and carrying signs with the pictures of martyrs on them. And then we realized: we weren’t there to clean the graves. We had set the stage for a protest. 

Jeeps with Israeli soldiers holding rifles pulled up. The rifles were not set on safety.  The soldiers quickly confiscated the identity cards of the Palestinian students and ordered the Americans into the jeeps. They drove the Americans to the edge of the refuge camp – and deposited us on the side of the road. We had no bus. We had no water. We had only half of the students. Oh, and this was before anyone had cell phones. So, we had no way of communicating with the students who were left in Gaza.

Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. It was getting harder.  How do I love my neighbor when they put us in harm’s way?

I think about that time in Gaza now after Hamas has attacked Israel by land, sea and air. Militants have taken innocent people – families – and cruelly murdered some, raped others and taken still others as hostage.  This is not loving the neighbor. This is not loving God. And what about Israel – cutting off water and food to ordinary people, the Palestinians families living in Gaza. The stated goal is to destroy Hamas. But since Hamas is embedded in Gaza City, that means destroying everyone else in the city too.

As I write this, the situation is grave. The hospital has been hit and humanitarian aid relief has been promised – but it is too dangerous to get to some parts of the city – like the hospital. The city is in danger of collapse without water or food and it is constantly being bombarded by rockets. There is talk of a ground invasion.  By Sunday, when I preach, the situation may have changed – for better or worse. And, unfortunately, it is likely to be worse, much worse.

How do Christian Palestinians who are caught in this struggle between militant Palestinian and angry and now militant Jewish neighbors follow Jesus’ command to love the neighbor as yourself? How do Israelis follow the commands in the Hebrew Bible that Jesus cites? For later in the chapter, the words of Leviticus get even more specific about how to treat the foreigner. Continuing in Leviticus 19 it says, ‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them.  The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19: 33-34

Loving the neighbor is sometimes really, really difficult.

Theologian Clayton Schmit writes that part of our difficulty in living into Jesus’ command is our understanding of the word “Love.” We say we love a movie, a dress, or a color. We did an ice cream survey with our Greater St. John neighbors and were surprised to discover that many people love butter pecan. Many of you love chocolate. We say that we love things because we enjoy them, they make us feel good. On a deeper, emotional level, we profess love for our family and friends. This is all good.

But Schmit distinguishes biblical love from a passive or emotional love, writing that in the Old Testament, God’s love is active and this is the love that God asks from us, “the active response of the faithful person to the love of God… To love God with all one’s heart, and soul, and mind, is to choose to respond to God even as God chooses to love us. Feelings and emotions do not enter into the equation.” 1

In the New Testament, Schmit says, love most often “refers to what can be called loving-kindness. It is not passive emotion, but active mercy. It is marked by patience and generosity, again, both acts generated by the one who loves.  In short, loving is a choice, not a feeling.”

So, if loving is a choice – not just a feeling or an emotion – that means that even when I do not feel emotionally loving to my neighbors who are fighting and acting in ways that I do not like or support – Jesus still calls on us to choose to love the neighbor.

Jesus never said it would be easy.

After our group was dumped by the side of the road outside the Gaza refugee camp, I watched as my professor worked – for hours – trying to get the bus to return early and to gather all of the American students and the Palestinian students and their identity cards (IDs) – without which they could not work or go to school or travel. negotiate a positive outcome. It wasn’t easy.

The soldiers wanted us to leave as soon as the bus arrived. But Arch refused. He was not going to leave some of his students behind. The American students were unwitting hostages in the negotiation. I say unwitting, because they were told they were being protected from the soldiers and so they needed to hide. But unlike the hostages today, they were treated well and given lunch – which was fortunate because one of the students had diabetes and needed to eat.  But the Palestinian students were not willing to let our students go until they had their IDS back and were also allowed to go back on the bus – I think some of them had been thrown in jail.

Through this whole ordeal, our leader Arch maintained a firm but steadfast loving kindness to both the Palestinians and the Israelis with whom he was negotiating. Eventually, through the prayers and dogged determination of Arch that he would not leave until all of the American and Palestinian students and their IDs were safely on the bus, he succeeded. 

On the way back to Jerusalem, the Palestinian students were jubilant at being released and having had a rally. They said to us, “See what we go through? See how terrible the soldiers are?”  But we American students were silent – we thought we were friends – but we felt used and discouraged. We no longer trusted our Palestinian “friends” but we also saw the poverty and frustration amongst ordinary Palestinians who wanted to live good lives and yet were constantly living in a potential war zone. We also saw how quickly the soldiers moved into conflict mode – even to what had been a peaceful protest. One of my friends noted – did you notice that the soldiers’ guns were not on safety when they escorted us out of Gaza?

Love God and love our neighbors – all of our neighbors. It is not easy to love some of our neighbors – especially in the midst of conflict, war and violence.   But Jesus does. And Jesus calls us to follow. Love the neighbor. It’s not an emotion.  It’s a choice.  And it is one that we cannot do on our own. We need God’s help to love our neighbor and to help our neighbors to love and care for one another.  And the way we can do this – even though it seems so little an action at times – is to pray. For God hears our prayers and we know that God not only listens but acts – in love – for all of God’s children.

So let us pray: Loving God, teach us, help us, to love our neighbor. Even when – and especially when – it is hard for us to do. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

October 22, 2023        Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church     Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Clayton Schmit,  provost of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary School of Theology, Lenoir-Rhyne University in Columbia, S.C. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-30/commentary-on-matthew-2234-46-2

Sunday, October 15, 2023

The Joy of Giving!

You may have heard it said: we give to get God’s blessings.

 I first heard that message when I was about 10 years old. My family was visiting relatives and we went to their church on Stewardship Sunday. The visiting preacher’s message was: “Give to Get.” He told a story about a time when things were fight for him but he went to church and it was stewardship Sunday. So, when the offering plate went by, he reached for his wallet, intending to put in a dollar. But when he opened his wallet, he saw two bills – a one dollar bill and a $100 dollar bill. He wrestled with what to do. The day’s message had been “Give to Get.” He decided to risk it. He put in the $100 dollars. He wondered if he would regret it. The next day he got a new job, blessings and ever since, he’s been out preaching, “Give to Get.” He must have said that phrase a hundred times. Give to Get. Give to Get.

 I know it’s weird for a 10 year old to not only listen but remember a sermon. But I remember being so bothered by this phrase “we give to get” and thinking, “That’s not right.” We don’t give to God in order to get God’s blessings. God’s blessings aren’t for sale! The phrase sounded manipulative.

 As we heard in our Gospel reading, Jesus encourages us “not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God’s giving. For just as God takes care of the birds of the air and the flowers in the field, so too God provides abundantly for us. In response to God’s giving, we don’t give to get, we get to give because God has entrusted us with an abundance of gifts to share. 

 You may have heard it said that the job of the stewardship committee is to wring money out of people. But sharing the gifts that God has entrusted to us is not meant to be forced. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, so I say to you, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  God has provided more than enough – for all of the people in the world.

 So let’s begin by giving thanks. We give thanks because all that we have comes from God.  And let us give thanks – for Jesus.  For Jesus has called you and me to be his disciples, his followers. And being a disciple, a follower of Christ, affects how we see God’s gifts.

 Seeing God’s gifts is kind of like when I first got a contact. When my eyes started to get worse, I began using cheaters because I needed them to read from my worship bulletin. But then, when I looked up to see you, you were very blurry. So I went to the ophthalmologist (eye doctor), and she offered me a contact – I was amazed. Suddenly, I could see both my bulletin and the people in the congregation. For those of you who have grown up with contacts or glasses this may be old news for you. But I was so thankful for the change that this little tiny contact made – so that I could see.

 As followers of Christ, we are wearing Christ-colored glasses which changes how we see and what we do with the gifts that God has given us. God gives us many gifts – everything that we see, everything that we have and all of life is a gift!  

 It is all gift. However, Crossways Director and Pastor Harry Wendt points out the way God gives gifts to us is different from the way that we give gifts to one another. 1

 For example, if I were to give you this pen, it’s not mine anymore. I’m transferring ownership of this pen to you. It’s now your pen and you can do anything you like with it. You can write with it, you can put it behind your ear, you can even break it or throw it away. Afterall, it’s your pen now. But, when God gives us the gifts of food and water, land and sea, God isn’t transferring the deed of that piece of the earth to you. It still belongs to God.  You may have to pay taxes on the land you live on to the state and federal governments… but…ultimately, it is still God’s. As we read in Psalm 24: The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” God hasn’t transferred the deed to us.2

 Instead, when God gives us gifts – what that means is that God entrusts us with caring for the world and our neighbor. That is what the word “stewardship” means. We are stewards, caretakers of God’s world and one another.  And, as God generously entrusts us with blessings, God calls us to generously share those blessings with others. In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.”  

 We get to give in response to God’s gifts to us and in doing so, we grow in faith and in relationship with Jesus. As Pastor Charles (Chick) Lane writes in his book, “Ask, Thank, Tell,” “the goal of our stewardship ministry is to help God’s people grow in their relationship with Jesus through the use of the time, talents and finances God has entrusted to them.” 3

 This is what discipleship is all about- growing in faith and in relationship with Jesus. At Faith-Lilac Way we have our core values written on the wall in our narthex. There is a picture of it on your bulletin cover. We are growing disciples of Christ through serving, worshipping, giving, encouraging, learning, inviting, and praying. These are the marks of discipleship.

 I think I would add one more – and that is JOY. Dave Fernelius, in kicking off the stewardship appeal quoted the mission of the ELCA: “Together in Jesus Christ we are freed by grace to live faithfully, witness boldly and serve joyfully.” Joy comes from giving, giving of our time, our talents and our finances. All of these are the treasures we share. And, as Jesus said, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be.”

 If you were here two weeks ago, you could see the joy with which Brenda Tiber, a member since birth, shared not one but several mission moments that she has experienced here at Faith-Lilac Way. She said that as she reflected back on her life, she discovered that in all of her mission moments she was filled with: “Love for God, love for my family, friends, and church community. A love so deep, that tears fill my eyes, a lump forms in my throat and deep joy fills my heart.” Joy echoed throughout her talk.

 Last week, Grant Galarneau-Becker, a relatively new member, shared that he and his fiancé- now his wife – were searching for an officiant for their wedding. They came to check me out - but when they visited Faith-Lilac Way, they also found all of you -- a welcoming community of Christ that they wanted as a part of their life. Being a welcoming community in Christ means sharing the gifts that God has entrusted to us. It is a mark of discipleship. And it brings us all joy.

 There is much that we can celebrate here at Faith-Lilac Way for the ministry that has been nourished here for the past 80 years this Fall. But we are not done. God is still at work here and in our neighborhood. Our challenge, yours and mine, is to discern how God is calling you and me to support Christ’s mission here in this place and how together we can further Christ’s mission in the world around us? That is the task to which we are called. Can you support our mission together? Would you consider increasing your financial support so that we can fully live into our mission as Christ’s church in this place?

 Growing in faith, growing in grace, let us serve the Lord by joyfully sharing the gifts that God has entrusted to us. Together, let us join with Paul in proclaiming, “Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” Amen.”

 Sunday, October 15, 2023  Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church             Pastor Pamela Stalheim Lane

 1Ask, Thank Tell, improving Stewardship Ministry in Your Congregation; Charles [Chick] Lane, 2006.

2 Ibid p. 21

3 Ibid p. 20

Sunday, October 8, 2023

Sermon: Stewardship 10/08/23

                So, chances are, you’ve probably heard somebody say, whether to you or someone else, or maybe in a TV show or movie, “It’s your money.  Spend it the way you want to…on whatever you want.”  And it sounds really good, sometimes, doesn’t it?  I mean, you do work hard for that money, don’t you?  And isn’t there always something you’ve been wanting, but never let yourself buy, for whatever reason?  But is that sound, Christian theology?  Is that even good advice?  What does the Bible say?

Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?  It seems like an odd question to ask, just out of the blue, doesn’t it?  Whose bright idea was it to try to trap Jesus with a monetary question?  Good thing Jesus has Matthew the former tax collector to consult with, right?  Where does that question come from?  I’m gonna be honest with you—I was actually a bit confused about this myself.  I mean, what does paying taxes have to do with stewardship, or with theology, for that matter?  Something tells me that Roman taxes didn’t have a lot of loopholes that could get you out of paying taxes.  I mean, after all, death and taxes are the two things that are certain in life, right? 

            So, I did a little investigating, and surprisingly, paying this tax has everything—everything to do with theology.  You see, the specific tax referred to here is the Roman Census Tax, aka the Roman Head Tax that was initiated in 6 AD when Judea became a Roman province, around the time Mary was pregnant with Jesus.  The Jews, including the Pharisees, disapproved of the tax.  In fact, this tax itself triggered a surge of Jewish nationalism and the Zealot movement, which eventually led to the Jewish rebellion and ended with the Roman destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, reducing it to a pile of rubble, just as predicted by Jesus.  The tax amounted to one silver denarius for every inhabitant of Judea aged fourteen and up, equal to one day’s pay for a laborer.  It wasn’t the amount of the tax that was problematic.  It was the fact that it had to be paid specifically in this specific Roman coin—the silver denarius--which displayed the image of the emperor Tiberius and the inscription: "Tiberius Caesar, august son of the divine Augustus, high priest."1 This inscription declared that the emperor was divine, both God and high priest.  For monotheistic Jews, this was blasphemy, and to pay this tax, even to carry this coin, was tantamount to idolatry.  The act of paying this tax was seen as a violation of the Jewish covenant.  Why?  Because the true and rightful king of Israel was always God, and their human kings were only representatives of God.  It was to this one true God, creator of the Universe, to whom all citizens of Israel owed their allegiance.  To recognize the authority of any other king, much less one who claimed also to be a Deity and their high priest was forbidden, unthinkable.  The scriptures are clear that when it comes to Israel, God is a jealous God who insists on total fidelity.  To pay this tax using this coin was essentially equivalent to acknowledging and declaring allegiance to Caesar as not only their King, but also their God and their High Priest.  No wonder this was a hotly debated topic at the time. 

The Pharisees and most other Jews opposed the tax, but still paid it.  There really wasn’t a way around it.  Then, as today, taxes were not optional, and the punishment for refusing to pay were quite severe.  The Herodians, however, were supporters and collaborators in the Roman empire, and supported the tax, hence their presence and curious attention.   Is it lawful to pay this tax to Caesar?  If Jesus says “Yes,” then he will alienate the Jewish nationalists, who are among his followers and seeking the Messiah.  Answering “No,” could result in his immediate arrest by the Romans, and the Herodians would not hesitate to testify against him.  But he isn’t ready to be arrested—it’s not quite time yet. 

Jesus asks to see one of these silver denarii with which the tax must be paid.  And, lo and behold, one of the Pharisees pulls one out of his pocket!  Not only do the Pharisees and priests allow money changers exchange other currency into Roman coinage in the Temple, but the Pharisee, by simply carrying such a coin in his pocket, reveals his allegiance to Caesar and his willing participation in the Roman economic system.  Jesus asks him to identify the image and inscription, to verify it is, indeed, the emperor’s coin.

Jesus avoids giving a simple yes or no answer.  "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's."    On the surface, this sounds like Jesus is skirting the issues of idolatry and affirming allegiance to a false God, but actually, he doesn’t.  Instead, he reminds those in attendance, that their primary allegiance belongs to God, and that, in actuality, everything they possess, even their very lives belong to the God of Israel.  Jesus reminds them who they are and whose they are, and leaves it up to each person there to choose which kingdom they belong to, and which King and God they will pledge their allegiance and service.  No one can serve two masters. 

            This is the question at the heart of Matthew’s Gospel.  Who is your king?  Who do you serve?  To which kingdom do you belong?  Who or what has sovereign power over your life?  Matthew presents two contrasting options:  An earthly political kingdom ruled by a flawed human king or president who wants to be worshiped and adored, or the Kingdom of Heaven, ruled by Christ, the King of Kings whose law is love.  To which do we pledge our undying allegiance?  In truth, we can be both citizens of the USA, and also citizens of God’s kingdom.  The church is, after all, people called out of their homes into public spaces in this world, to do the work of God and point to God’s activity and presence in the world.  And insofar as we live and participate in the civic order, we have civic obligations to fulfill.  Our ultimate obligation, however, which places boundaries and limits on all other obligations, is faithfulness to God, the ruler of all creation.  It’s not an either/or question, but rather, a question of degree of commitment, of priority.  God must come first.

Jews traditionally gave their first fruits as an offering to God.  First fruits represent not only the first portion harvested or earned, but also the best portion.  Today, as part of our stewardship discernment, I challenge us all to ask ourselves, “How does my ultimate allegiance to God and the Kingdom of Heaven impact my lifestyle and my habits of giving and spending money?  Where do I give my first fruits, my best efforts, my most generous gifts?   How can I make my giving better align with my faith commitments?” 

 1.      Boring, M. Eugene.  The Gospels and Narrative Literature, Jesus and the Gospels, Matthew, and Mark. Matthew 22:15-22. Vol. VIII. 10 vols. The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1995. https://www-ministrymatters-com.luthersem.idm.oclc.org/library/#/tnib/add77bfc574095cf0b01bbb03e62ae23/matthew-191-2246-conflict-and-ultimate-polarization.html.

Sunday, October 1, 2023

You May Have Heard It Said… that God helps those who help themselves. But do you know who said that? It wasn’t Jesus. It isn’t even in the Bible. If you have read our  October newsletter you may know, that while it’s not original to Benjamin Franklin, he popularized this saying back in 1733 in his Poor Richard Almanac.  But Benjamin Franklin wasn’t a Christian leader. He was a Deist – someone who believed that God set the world in motion but that after that, God left people to fend for themselves. This is not a Christian message. As Christians, we believe that not only did God create the world but that God is continually active in our world and in our lives. We also believe that Jesus calls us – commands us -- to love and care for our neighbor – the other - …. just as Jesus loves and cares for us.  

 During this stewardship season, the stewardship team – including Vicar Karen and I – hope to “debunk” some of the old tropes, that You May Have Heard … but don’t reflect what Jesus said about money and us. So let’s see what Jesus has to say about money.

 Today’s Gospel reading from  Matthew reads a bit like the book of Proverbs, with several wisdom sayings strung together. For example, Jesus says, “you can’t serve God and wealth.”

 Some people have understood this verse to mean that wealth and money are bad. But I don’t think that is what Jesus is saying. Certainly, some, like St. Francis of Assisi and some religious orders feel called to a life of poverty in order to focus on God and service to others. And, for those who are called in that way, this is admirable. But the Greek word for wealth – also translated as “Mammon” or, in the Message Bible as “bags of money” – does not depict money, in itself, as something that is evil. 

The problem comes if wealth or money or anything else is valued above God.

 And yet, Jesus knew our human nature. As  Bob Dylan once wrote in a popular song, “You’ve got to serve somebody. It might be the devil or it might be the Lord, but you’ve got to serve somebody.”  Jesus knows that seeking wealth is tempting. Wealth brings with it access to power and status and security. But, as Paul writes in 1st Corinithians – he gladly gave up his status, his security, his power and his priviledge in Roman society and in his synagogue, everything that he once valued, all for a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Money couldn’t buy what Jesus freely gave.

 You may have heard it said, “follow your heart… and then the money will follow.”  But Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” It’s actually the reverse of what one might expect. You might assume – that if you love something – you will naturally financially support it. But Jesus knows how we are wired.  Jesus knows that when we invest in something – with our money, our time, our skills, our gifts, , everything that we treasure… then our heart follows.

 Some of you may remember Don and Lorraine Dorff. They were a beautiful couple, clearly devoted to one another. Don cared for Lorraine in their home long after her memory made it difficult to do so, and then he had lunch with her, every day, at the nursing home. They were also faithful members here. They shared their gifts of time and talent. Lorraine, a schoolteacher, taught Sunday School when she was able and Don was a faithful usher. They gave faithfully of their financial resources too. They loved their church community.  They were part of a group that liked to go out to eat after church – at McDonalds. They were not big spenders.  The only thing that Lorraine did that was a bit excessive was the number of books she owned. When I visited them the books lined the shelves, the tables and spilled out in piles on the floor. Lorraine loved to read. 

 They were pretty humble people and they were happy. Don always expressed his content - despite the challenges that came their way with his diabetes and memory loss for Lorraine. They loved God and they loved their Christian community. Their treasure was here.  And so – unbeknownst to anyone here - they put the church in their will. Their final gift to the church is what helped us update the church building and burn the mortgage, saving tons of money in interest. Clearly, they loved Jesus and loved their Faith-Lilac Way family. And we are grateful for them and for all of the gifts of their time, their talent, their treasure and themselves.

 Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.

 Don and Lorraine’s love story with each other and with Faith-Lilac Way is not unique to them. I know that there are many others who serve God and serve this community in Christ in many ways. And I give thanks and this church gives thanks to God for you. But I can’t tell your story. That is for you to share. But I can tell you a part of mine.

 When I was called to this church twenty five years ago, I was eager to come. Being a pastor was what I had trained to do and I felt called to this work.  But, I’ll confess… I was conflicted.  You see, I was a parent of a one year old little boy. How could I serve God and this parish and also be a good mother to this little one?  Could I really be both a pastor and a parent?

 I received the answer to my question at my ordination service. There is a part in the service in which the candidate for ministry comes forward to receive the laying on of hands and to have scripture read.  I remember that my family came forward with me. And I will never forget what happened when I knelt down to receive the blessing of scripture and the laying on of hands.  My son saw me and began to cry… loudly. As I’m kneeling down, out of the corner of my eye I can see my mother holding him and trying to comfort him.  I could tell that she was torn as to what to do. She was half-heartedly headed towards the door to take her grandson out but I knew she really wanted to be there for the laying on of hands. I looked at her and, without even thinking, I held out my hands and she placed him in my arms. He snuggled in – and we were both blessed.

 Somehow, I had forgotten that I didn’t have to choose between being a pastor and a parent. Putting God first does not mean ignoring the other parts of our lives. It does mean that we are inviting God’s fingerprints to be on everything that we touch and everything that we have.

 And that includes how we invest our time and our talents and our treasure. Ever since that moment, I have been investing in this place by sharing the gifts, skills, and time that God has given me. My family and I have been investing in this place financially by giving generously of the money and resources that God has given to us. Every year, we try to increase our gifts. And, just as Jesus said, I have found that where my treasure is there my heart is too. I have been blessed and I invite you to join me and my family in investing in this church too.

 Where your treasure is – there your heart will be. Thanks be to God, Amen.

Sunday, September 24, 2023

Kingdom Calculus 101

I have a good friend, a very faith-filled friend, named Terri.  She said something to me one Sunday that I will never forget.  We were talking about God and justice.  And she said to me, “I was always told that God is just, but not fair.”  I was flabbergasted.  You see, I understand the words just and fair to mean pretty much the same thing.  I found myself wondering, as I prepared this sermon, if she was referring to this parable, to the way it had been explained to her, that somehow it gave her the idea that being fair and being just were very different things.

When we read scripture, we bring with us all the baggage that we carry, all our life experiences, and our God experiences, our ideas about right and wrong, our hopes and our prejudices—we bring our whole selves, along with everything we remember learning in church and Sunday school, even past sermons.  Sometimes all that baggage gets in the way, gets us trapped in a particular interpretation.  Sometimes it helps us to hear something new, something different and brings us to a new insight. 

That’s what happened when I was preparing this sermon.  One familiar phrase stuck in my head, and it challenged everything I had ever heard preached, and every commentary I could find about this parable. 

  How you react to any parable depends on where you see yourself in that parable.  Who do you relate to?  Are you the disgruntled worker who feels cheated?  Or are you among the last hired, who works only one hour for a whole day’s pay?  According to every interpretation I could find or have ever heard, we should all see ourselves as the last hired, and celebrate the good news that we get the same rewards as Peter and James, John and Andrew, Thomas and Matthew.  But that assumes that the Kingdom of Heaven referred to in the parable is… Heaven, the afterlife.  OK.  If that’s what the kingdom is, then sure, that makes sense.  We all get the same reward, because there is only that one reward—eternal life in heaven in the presence of God. 

But, that’s not how Matthew understands the Kingdom.  That’s not how Jesus understands the Kingdom.  That’s not how I was taught to think about the Kingdom.  If you can remember back a whole month to my last sermon, the Kingdom is the Already—Not Yet rule of God on Earth represented and exemplified by the church.  It’s not a place.  It’s not a reward.  It’s not the      after-life.  It’s a way of life—the Christian way of life.  This is the Way of Jesus.  This is the Way and the Truth and the Life that the Bible—that Jesus himself claims he is.  When Jesus talks about the Kingdom, he isn’t talking about the end of the world when he returns riding on the clouds in Glory. 

Jesus is teaching the disciples how to live as disciples, how to live according to God’s wishes, how to be disciples.  Jesus is giving them, and us, a choice between living as citizens of the world according to the laws and dictates of flawed and sinful human beings, or living according to God’s will, but in either case, the time is now, in this life, and the place is here, on this earth.  Because salvation isn’t something that takes place at the end of life, or at the end of the world, but here and now, in following Jesus.  As the church, we are supposed to live in the way of Jesus, according to the Law and the will of God, bravely, without fear of failure, because we know we are living in Grace, already and always forgiven, always loved.  When Jesus meets Zacchaeus, he declares that salvation has come to his house today.  Jesus came that we might have abundant life, the most fully flourishing life possible, starting here and now. 

This parable isn’t about rewards for being faithful in this life.  This parable is lesson—to be perfectly honest—it’s a math lesson.  Yes, that’s right.  This is one of those word math problems that we all hated in school, because they were always so hard.  This is a lesson in what I like to call Kingdom Calculus, the way God equates worth.  Remember that Matthew suggests this is a reversal, because the ways of the world are often inverted, turned upside down from the ways of the Kingdom, the way God wants them.

The sentence that signals it’s a math problem is ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’   Did you hear it?  You have made them EQUAL to us.   Making things equal that are not equal to begin with requires a mathematical operation, an addition or subtraction,  multiplication or division by some factor. 

The workers hired first assume they deserve more, they assume they are superior, that their effort is more valuable simply because they did more, or did it longer.  And that is certainly how our economics works today.  Our capitalistic economy values us by what we can produce, and how fast we can produce it, and by how much we can consume.  Higher skills mean higher wages, and we are generally paid by the hour.  So, the last hired are being paid eight times the hourly wage as the first.  By our system this seems astonishingly unfair.  If you see it this way, then God doesn’t seem fair.  I have to admit, I have always struggled with this.  But what the owner actually promises to pay them is “whatever satisfies justice” not just what is right or fair.

But then I stopped to wonder “Why?”  If God is just and fair, doesn’t God value everyone the same, love everyone the same?  So why pay this group so much more, or the same for so much less?  For that matter, why go back and hire people over and over throughout the day?  And why weren’t those last people hired to begin with?  Weren’t they there at the beginning?  Why weren’t they hired sooner, or by someone else?  These are important questions, and yet, they are questions I have never heard asked, much less answered.  Why is that?  Do we just assume they are just lazy?  The text doesn’t say that.  The text says they are idle, because they haven’t any job to do.  They haven’t been hired.

We Christians in the US tend to identify with the first workers, who feel cheated, undervalued.  But the secret to understanding a parable is to imagine yourself in the place of each character, to see it from each perspective.  So put yourself in the position of the worker who wasn’t hired until the end of the day.  Why weren’t you hired?  Maybe you’re elderly, or feeble.  Maybe you’re lame or injured or disabled.  Maybe you have a poor reputation.  Maybe you’re a single parent, and you couldn’t find daycare that morning.  Maybe you’re a twelve-year old orphan with younger siblings to look after.  Maybe you’re malnourished and homeless.  Maybe you are ill.  Or maybe you are foreign.  Maybe you don’t speak the language, or your skin is the wrong color, or you are an illegal alien without a work permit.  Maybe you’re a woman, an elderly widow, or a mother with a sick child.  Maybe you had no transportation and had to walk 5 miles to the city gate where day laborers are hired.  Maybe you are handicapped or disfigured… a leper.  Maybe you have a disease and you can’t afford the medicine.  Maybe you are deaf, mute or blind.  Maybe you’re an ex-con just released from prison, maybe you weren’t even guilty.  Can you think of other reasons?  The point is—you were there, you wanted and needed a job, but no one hired you.  And maybe you were too humiliated to go home, empty-handed, passed over, again, for the umpteenth time.  Until this vineyard owner showed up and showed you mercy, and gave you dignity.

What I see in this parable is equity.  We don’t all come into this world in equal circumstances.  We don’t all start out whole, healthy, strong and educated, and we don’t all stay that way.  We aren’t all valued or treated the same.  Some of us are practically invisible, sometimes just because people find it hard to look at us, to acknowledge we exist.  We aren’t all the same, and we aren’t all equal.  We don’t all get treated equally.  We don’t all have the same opportunities, the same social and economic advantages.  Yet, we all have the same needs:  food, shelter, healthcare, friendship, dignity.  It still costs us just as much to survive, to supply these things—even more for those who have an illness or disability, who need special care, special equipment or medications.  In God’s eyes, each one of us is just as deserving of the next.  But not in this world. 

To have true equality and justice, requires equity—and that’s what I see in this parable.  I see God recognizing that some people have limitations, and can’t work as long, as hard, do as much, but still need just as much to survive, and still have the same right to thrive, to experience abundant joy, purpose, respect.  So, the owner of the vineyard gives them the more that they need to flourish.  Not because they earned it.  But because the owner of the vineyard is both just and fair. 

Kingdom calculus requires that we open our eyes to see people through God’s eyes—to recognize their value, to see in them the image of God, the face of Christ—and to do our best to see that those who fall between the cracks of the system, those discarded, disregarded and disabled (or as I prefer to call them, differently abled) receive the equity they need to live dignified and fulfilling lives.  God isn’t saying we have to empty our pockets to do so.  Although, that is precisely what the first Christian communities did. 

Acts testifies to the fact that the disciples understood this lesson.  “All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.”  Acts 2:44-45.  The Disciples learned to do Kingdom calculus.  The question is, can we?  Can we now place ourselves in the role of the owner of the vineyard?  Can we love like God?  Can we be graciously generous?  Can we stop grumbling in jealousy over worldly things and share our wealth so that all God’s people can flourish? 

Sunday, September 17, 2023

Peter probably thought he was being generous when he asked Jesus, “How many times should I forgive someone? Seven times?”  Seven is one of those Biblical numbers – the number of days of creation after all. But when Jesus said, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times,” Peter doesn’t say a word. His jaw was probably on the floor.

 Then Jesus tells a complicated parable comparing the kingdom of heaven to a story about giving and withholding forgiveness. Clearly, Jesus is advocating for us to forgive just as God has forgiven us.  For Jesus knows – and if we are honest, we know too, we are all in need of forgiveness both for what we have done – and for what we have left un-done. We need forgiveness both from God – and our neighbor.

 This is why we begin our worship almost every week with a word of confession and forgiveness. The good news that we hear every week is that God forgives us --every time. Why? Because God loves you.

  The challenge that we are given – is that Jesus wants us to extend that same kind of generous forgiveness that God gives us so freely – to those who need forgiveness from us.

 Some people and situations are easy to forgive. Someone steps on your toe and says “I’m sorry” right away – and you forgive them. Even if the toe still hurts. But sometimes we are faced with deeper hurts; losses that cannot be repaired. “How can you forgive when someone does something terrible to you – or to someone you love?

 Joseph shows up as an example of someone who did just that.  Even though his brothers threw him in the pit and then sold him into slavery, and told lies to their father about his death, he forgave them. For Joseph was able to see that he was a beloved child of God and that God was with him through it all. And, he was able to see how God worked in his life to create good where evil had been intended. Joseph credited God with putting him in a place where he was able to save his whole family from famine. And so Joseph forgave his brothers – not because what they did was ok – but because God’s love and care made his life meaningful. Joseph realized that because he had received grace and love from God, he could extend that gift of love and grace and forgiveness to his brothers - and in the process, he could restore community for himself and his whole family.

 In the parable that Jesus told, the forgiven debtor had the chance to extend the grace and forgiveness that he had received to his debtor. But he did not. The result is pretty violent as he gets thrown back into prison. I think the point that Jesus is making is that God cares – on heaven and on earth – how we treat our neighbor. Jesus urges us to forgive our neighbor just as God has forgiven us. For forgiveness is a gift of love.

 And yet… what if the victim of a crime is not ready to forgive her offender? Is the victim supposed to keep forgiving his abuser? What if the abuser has not repented or changed his or her ways?

 In the Cherish All Children devotion this week, Deacon Erica Larson wrote, “Expecting an abuse survivor to forgive and reconcile with their abuser is tantamount to spiritual abuse; and steps towards healing require a thoughtful, careful approach.”1 In other words, you can’t force someone else to forgive. I would also add that for healing and forgiveness to occur, the abuse must stop. And even when it does…sometimes forgiveness and reconciliation take time.

 However, even in these situations, Jesus’ call for forgiveness is a call for healing, hope and change. As poet and author Morgan Richard Olivier writes, “Forgiveness does not mean that what they did was ever acceptable then or now. Forgiveness does not mean that you will allow that person back into your life or that you ever should. Forgiveness means that you are releasing the feelings of resentment or bitterness associated with that person or situation. You are no longer allowing it to have power over you. You are moving forward for yourself and not taking the baggage of others or their offenses with you.”2

 The Truth and Reconciliation process in South Africa, revealed an incredible number of horrible acts of cruelty. And yet, Bishop Tutu urged those who had been hurt to embrace forgiveness as a gift of love for themselves and one that they could extend to someone else.  In The Book of Joy, Tutu writes, “Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. We are bound to the chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped. Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness, that person will be our jailer. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. We become our own liberator.” 3

 Forgiveness can be an important part of healing not only for the one who committed the offense but also for the one who was hurt and for their family, friends and loved ones.

 Chris Singleton was a college sophomore and a minor league baseball player drafted by the Chicago Cubs on the night that his mother, Sharonda, was at a Bible study at Emmanuel church in Charlottesville. She, along with eight other Christians were murdered. That event changed Chris’ life.

Singleton said. "It feels like it was yesterday, but I call it the unthinkable adversity. Losing my mom in a racially motivated mass shooting on June 17, 2015, has sparked me to do what I do now.”

24 hours after the shooting Chris gave a speech, and today, he is still speaking all over the country, especially to youth in high schools and colleges. But Chris said, the message has remained the same:   “It's that love is stronger than hate so the way that we come together is by loving one another not throwing bricks of hatred at one another.”

When asked about forgiveness, Chris said, "Forgiveness is a superpower…"Although I do hope that one day he -the shooter- repents and gives his life to the Lord, for me … I have been able to move forward with my life and be a great husband and a great dad and now share this message because of the power of forgiveness."

This is the power of forgiveness: God forgives us freely as an act of love. And, God empowers us to forgive – as God forgave us.  At times this can be hard. But as Chris Singleton explained, he felt called to forgive so that he could move forward with his life and with his mission.

This is the message for us too.  As followers of Jesus, we have this opportunity to live into a kingdom world, the world that Jesus wants for us.  Every Sunday when we confess our sins and the ways that we fall short you receive God’s gift of love and forgiveness and promise of healing and wholeness.

 We also are given the challenge to ask for forgiveness from those who we may have wronged and the opportunity to extend the gift of forgiveness as a gift of love to those who have wronged us.  And when we do this – we are all set free. Thanks be to God. Amen.

1Cherish All Children devotion by Deacon Erica Larson, Director of Children, Youth and Family Ministry at Transfiguration Lutheran Church, Bloomington, MN.

2Morgan Richard Olivier, The Tears That Taught Me, Oak Agencies, 2022.

3Arch Bishop Tutu p. 234 Book of Joy.

4 https://www.chrissingleton.com/chris-story; https://www.wyff4.com/article/son-of-charleston-church-shooting-victim-speaks-about-racism-and-adversity-in-hopes-to-inspire-others/29314018

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Where Two or Three are Gathered in My Name…

Fanned by strong winds, wildfires wrecked destruction on the Hawaiian Island of Maui. Water from Hurricane Idalia poured into towns in Florida and towns in Kentucky and California are overwhelmed from flooding.  Each place faced devastation and destruction. But after each storm, neighbors came together to help neighbors.1

In one town, the power was out at the gas station but rather than waste the food that might spoil, workers were cooking up a free feast for the community in the parking lot. Others brought bags of charcoal and helped clear the parking lot of debris.2

In another town, in response to her community coming to her aid, a woman said, "Thank God for small towns and people helping people who will come out and help you no matter what."3

 Stories like these warm my heart. People came together to help neighbors. People of every gender, race and heritage work together to bring people to safety, serve food, and clean up the mess. No one seems to notice any of the categories that tend to divide people.  When people come together to help one another, I am reminded that God can work through even the worst disaster.

 As Jesus said, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’ And I think that is what happens when people work together to do good for the world both on the ground and with the prayer and financial support that faithful people everywhere offer up. That is what we do through the ELCA’s Lutheran Disaster response. Our thoughts, prayers and donations not only reach people in their immediate need, but what makes this relief effort different is that “when the dust settles and the headlines change, LDR stays to provide ongoing assistance to those in need.”4  This happens not only in places like Florida and Hawaii but also places like Ukraine and Sudan.

 And in our neighborhoods. This is why the ELCA focuses on doing God’s work in the neighborhood. We believe that serving the neighbor is “God’s Work” and God uses “Our Hands” and feet and voices and all the gifts God has given us to do good work in our world.  And, Jesus is in the midst of it all. As Jesus said, ‘where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’

 Jesus is with us when we serve, and when we pray, and when we study the Bible and when we worship God together. In all of these circumstances, where two or three or more are gathered in His name, Jesus is with us.

 These are the times that I think about Jesus being with us. And yet, Jesus said these words in a very different context. Jesus was talking with his disciples about the very sticky problems that we face as a church and as a community when a brother or sister in Christ sins against another. There is real hurt and there is a real problem. And it happens.

 Jesus tells his disciples – and us – concrete steps we can take to address the situation and, hopefully, restore the offending party to the community. Perhaps there was a particular problem that Jesus anticipated or that the church was experiencing. But even if there were, that’s not as important as the process that Jesus lays out for Christians to follow.

 So… imagine that “Chris” sins against “Pat”.  Jesus says: “Pat, first, go directly to the person – Chris - who hurt you. Don’t talk about it with other people. Don’t tweet about it. Don’t send out an email or post something on social media complaining about “Chris.”  Simply talk directly to Chris. And, if Chris listens to you, then the relationship can be restored. I assume that also means that whatever the “sin” was is then able to be forgiven, amends made and relationship is restored between Chris and Pat and the whole community. That’s a win!

 But if Chris doesn’t listen, then, Pat, you need to take another person or two with you. Again, see if Chris will listen. If that doesn’t work, then involve the whole church – the community.  The goal is not to shame Chris. The goal is for Chris to listen so that Chris and Pat’s relationship may be healed and Chris may be restored to good standing in the community.

 One of the key words here is “Listen.” I think this is one of the hardest things for people to do when confronted with their own sin, their own shortcoming. It is much more tempting to deny it happened or defend ourselves from blame. It takes courage to listen.

 It also takes courage for Pat – the one who was hurt - to speak, to tell the truth about the hurt. But the truth, when spoken in love, helps not only the victim – Pat -- but also helps Chris - the one who sinned. For the sin – the hurt – the abuse – also hurts Chris.

 For example, when someone is abusing alcohol, family and friends may be hurt. But the alcohol is also hurting the drinker. Out of love and care for their loved one who is misusing alcohol, family and friends may do an intervention in which they express their concerns, advocate for treatment and speak the truth in love. Good results are never guaranteed, but studies show that this kind of support often helps the person seek help.

 This is what Jesus encourages us to do to restore community. It is easier to come together when the culprit is a storm or a fire or a flood. But when it is your brother or sister who commits the hurt, who inflicts the damage, then it is harder. Jesus recognizes this and this is why he wants you to know that you are not alone. Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

 Reconciliation of people and restoration of community is always the hope. But sometimes it doesn’t happen. In those cases, Jesus tells us to treat the perpetrator like a Gentile or a tax collector. At first, this may sound like we should ostracize them and treat them like “outsiders.” But… do you remember how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors? Jesus healed Gentiles and ate with tax collectors.  Jesus also called one tax collector, Matthew, to be one of the 12 disciples. 

 Jesus also called Zacchaeus, another tax collector, out of the tree he was sitting in and invited himself to dinner. In that culture, eating with someone was like giving them a seal of approval. Jesus ate with Scribes and Pharisees who hated him and with prostitutes and tax collectors – like Zacchaeus who was despised for working for the Romans and who was assumed to be a cheat. But after Jesus saw him, named him and invited himself to Zacchaeus’ house, Zacchaeus joyfully proclaimed that he would give half of his possession to the poor and repay fourfold anyone that he had harmed. Jesus proclaimed, “Salvation has come to this house” and restored Zacchaeus to community.

Reconciliation and restoration of the community may not happen immediately between the Pats’ and Chris’ of our world. But maybe it can happen – in God’s time. There is always room for hope and for the Holy Spirit.

 When I was at Almstead’s the other day, I ran into the son of one of our members whose funeral I did during the pandemic. He was not much interested in church and yet he respected his mother’s faith. He greeted me warmly and spoke with more hope and joy in his voice than I had ever heard. As I chatted with him, I hoped that the Holy Spirit was at work in him for… where two or more are gathered…Jesus was there too.

 I had no sooner finished chatting with him than another man approached me.  “Pastor Pam,” he said, “do you remember me?” I looked at him… trying to place him. I knew I knew him but I was still thinking about the conversation I had just had and so I said, “Help me.” He told me his name. And the memory of him came back with a roar. You see, when he left our church, he was quite angry with me and with the ELCA. He had posted some rather harsh words on social media. I chose not to respond then…but the words filled me with sorrow.  But that was then -- and here we were, in Almsteads, face to face. “Of course, I remember you,” I said with a smile. I asked him how he was doing and asked about his family and if he had found a church. He had.  And then…I felt a certain peace come over me. We still disagree now about the things that we disagreed about then. But… we also knew that Jesus was with us. For two or three – gathered in the name of Jesus – are promised the presence of Jesus Christ and the assurance that Jesus came to save God’s children – all of us. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

1By: Kenzie Krueger https://www.wtxl.com/florida-neighbors-help-neighbors-after-hurricane-idalia

2 https://news.wfsu.org/wfsu-local-news/2023-08-31/after-idalia-neighbors-in-perry-share-a-spirit-of-hope-and-togetherness WAKULLA COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL)

3 https://elca.org/Resources/Lutheran-Disaster-Response

4 https://asermonforeverysunday.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Michael-Renninger-Fifteenth-Sunday-after-Pentecost-9-10-2023.pdf © 2023, Michael Renninger

Sunday, September 3, 2023

Called to be a Cross Bearer

Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran +September 3, 2023 +Pastor Pam Stalheim Lane

Have you ever given or received some unwanted advice?  Growing up in a family of girls, it happened… more than I would like to admit. Something was said; voices were raised. And then there were tears. And by the time it was done, we were sent to our rooms.

But we never got a rebuke as strong as the one that Jesus gave to Peter. Remember… when Jesus asked the disciples, “who do you say that I am” Peter proclaimed, he “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  And Jesus had praised the answer.

So maybe Peter was feeling empowered to speak or maybe he was just shocked, surprised and worried when Jesus began telling the disciples, for the first time, that he was headed to Jerusalem – not for glory, not to ride in on a white stallion to establish his kingdom –but to suffer and to die at the hands of the priests and scribes. This is not the Messiah that Peter was looking for.

In his rebuke, Jesus calls Peter “Satan” and accuses Peter - the rock- of being a stumbling block. Pretty hard words for the one he had just praised. But Jesus will simply not allow anyone to promote glory instead of the cross.

And it is not a problem only for Peter. It’s a problem for the whole church. As a working preacher commentary reminded me, Dostoevsky’s novel, The Brothers Karamazov, illustrates the church’s desire for glory rather than the cross too.  In the novel, one of the brothers tells a parable called the “Grand Inquisitor.” In the story, Jesus returns to a Spanish town during the Inquisition and begins doing miracles. He is arrested and sentenced to be burnt. But that night, The Grand Inquisitor visits Jesus and explains why the Church chose to side with imperial power. He says, ““The Church no longer needs you. You were wrong to refuse the power to feed the poor, perform a miraculous leap from the Temple, and grab rulership over the world. We picked up where you left off and improved on what you started. In fact, we corrected your mistake. Yes, it was necessary to use the devil’s principles to do so but we do it in the name of God. What you don’t understand,” says the Inquisitor, “is that humanity cannot handle the free will you gave them. We gave them what they really need, security from want.” 1

Like Peter, the Grand Inquisitor and the powers that be in the church wanted glory – not the humility, pain and suffering of the cross. They were happy to partner with the devil – claiming that the ends justified the means. They even dared to declare that they had improved on Jesus’ message because they took away freedom – and instead gave the people food security. And they did it all in the name of God. 

But this is not the way of God. Jesus tells Peter to “Get behind him.” In essence, Jesus is reminding Peter that his role is behind Jesus, as a follower. And so is ours.

Jesus gives the disciples and us a powerful challenge: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves – some translations say “forget themselves” – a hard challenge for the Grand Inquisitor to be sure. But it is also a challenge for us – and for our culture today. Our culture encourages us to look inward and to buy everything that we want – not just what we need.

But Jesus challenge remains: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Unfortunately, this verse has been misused and misinterpreted in hurtful ways so many times that I feel compelled to clarify what “taking up one’s cross” does not mean. Taking up one’s cross does not mean that you have to put up with being in an abusive or dangerous of life-less situation. Taking up one’s cross does not mean that you should be treated as less than the beautiful child of God that you are. Taking up one’s cross does not mean that you have to become a victim or adopt self-sacrificing behavior that does not allow you to enjoy life’s joys and blessings and responsibilities.1

So what does it mean to deny yourself and take up your cross?

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote that when Christ calls you… it is a call to come and die – die to the “old self” and our attachments to what the world values. It is a call to live in the way of Jesus. For the disciples, that meant leaving their nets and their homes and literally following Jesus. For Paul, it meant traveling to other churches to spread the Good news to the Gentiles. For Martin Luther, following Jesus meant getting out of his cloister and bringing the word to the people. For Bonhoeffer, following Jesus led to martyrdom. For all of us… it means following Jesus’ way – and not the way of the world and that means the loss, the death of the way things “were” in order to become new. As Bonhoeffer says, “Thus it begins; the cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.”  We are called to be cross-bearers – not only bearing the cross of Christ on our brow but also living a cruciform life – a life that reflects Jesus’ life. 2

The challenge for us is this: how do we be cross-bearers in our everyday lives? Paul understood that challenge and wrote about it in his letter to the Romans. At first glance, today’s reading looks as if it would be good advice for anyone – whether they are a believer or not. But taken in context, Paul’s letter to the Romans is a call to compassion for the church and for their relationships with one another and with their neighbors.

Paul begins with love, Agape love. “Let love be genuine”. In other words, it needs to be authentic. Love needs to be real – not just an act. He urges the church to “love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”

He continues: Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering; persevere in prayer. These are good practices for faith-full living for yourself but Paul also encourages the Romans to care for their neighbors and strangers. “Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.”

These are good words to live by, but Paul goes even further, reminding the church in Rome to show loving even to your enemies. This is in keeping with the teaching of God throughout the Bible. In fact, what seems like an odd instruction to feed your enemies if they are hungry and give them something to drink if they are thirsty because it will be like heaping burning coals on their head is a direct quote from Proverbs. I think it is meant to instill a little humor. It’s ok to laugh. We are to take the way of the cross seriously – but not take ourselves too seriously.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.  Leave the vengeance to God. This is what God calls us to do.

This is what Jesus does in Dostoevsky’s story. After silently listening to the Grand Inquisitor’s proclamations, Jesus silently kisses him on his “bloodless, aged lips” – offering agape love despite everything he has done.

Jesus responds with love – agape love -- for this is the way of cross, the way of Jesus and – as challenging as it is -- this is how we, as cross-bearers, are to act too. May God help us to make it so. Amen.

1 Richard Ward. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-22/commentary-on-matthew-1621-28-6S

2 Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship (London: SCM Press, 1948/2001), 44.