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The Sheep and Goat Test

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 20:20:47 +0100

For a while now I have been skeptical of the self help craze so I have decided to give up on all self betterment programs.

I guess I am sick of thinking that the better me is right around the corner.

That if I read some new book, or go to some seminar I will discover some secret to finding life’s happiness.

The fact is that this is it.

We are who we are.

We can’t make ourselves better.

Now you might think that this is some flag of surrender on my part.

That I have given up on life.

To the contrary I have decided not to dictate the terms of my life.

Instead, I have decided that we live each day in the grace of God.

As Americans we spend about 8 billion dollars a year on self help material from books, to seminars, to programs, to DVDs.

And despite all this we don’t feel any better about ourselves.

So today I am giving everyone here permission to stop trying to improve yourselves.

Today’s Gospel is often preached and heard as “We all need to work harder at being better Christians.”

So go out there and feed the poor, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, visit the sick and those imprisoned.

And then just like reading a self help book we leave worship and not much changes in our lives.

I think it is a miss use of the Bible to see it as a Christian self help guide.

The Bible is about the essential question of life.

Who are we?

Who is God?

What is worse is that people who get the most media attention are really people disguising Christianity as self help.

Rick Warren became a millionaire by selling a book called “The Purpose Driven Life.”

Which is really just a book about how finding our purpose in life we can find the better us.

Rick Warren has admitted that he made the mistake of overlooking 25,000 other verses in the Bible that deal with how our lives should be about serving others, and not just naval gazing.

Joel Olsteen who preaches weekly in a football stadium and has a television show had a New York Times Best seller with the book, “You Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living to Your Full Potential.”

The book says nothing about helping the stranger, the poor, the sick, or imprisoned.

I don’t remember Jesus giving us 7 steps to living our full potential.

Of course it is not just pastors; Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann who are running for the Republican nomination to be President of the United States belong to an organization called New Apostolic Reformation.

The basic idea of the New Apostolic Reformation is that Christian leaders need to take over the world in preparation for the end times.

Now I have said many times I have no interest in being a politician, but if politicians insist on being theologians than I have to step in.

It is not a Christian’s job to take over the world, or to change in the world.

The Bible is very clear that God is in charge of the world, and gives it to us to be good stewards.

That is what Jesus is upholding in today’s Gospel.

What Jesus tells us is this morning is that if he is Lord of our life than we as good stewards we care for the poor, imprisoned, naked, stranger, and sick.

I don’t know if we can claim to follow Jesus if we can clap when someone is electrocuted, or deported, or kept out of the health care system.

I don’t care what political party Michelle Bachmann or Rick Perry belong to the simple fact is that they do not pass the sheep and goat test Jesus gives this morning.

My guess is that they are molding a theology to justify their politics.

I don’t have a problem with someone who says they believe in the death penalty, or the idea that we live in a world where every person is for themselves, or the idea that in a capitalist system some people are left behind, just don’t call it Christianity.

But what I won’t say is the Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann need to work harder, or be better.

The problem is that they just don’t know Jesus that well.

In our text today neither the goats nor the sheep know who they are.

“When Lord? When did we see you hungry, naked, thirsty, sick, or imprisoned?”

Being a sheep and a goat is something that we don’t do because we have thought about all the options and decided to do this thing over that thing.

It is something that comes naturally from who we are, and what we are about.

Those who know Jesus well will know that he does not care about conquering the world, or self help programs.

Jesus cares about the lost, the broken hearted, the poor, the sinner, and sick.

People who know Jesus well know that he had no use for taking over the world, or making sure that you had your best life now.

Jesus died because he knew that we did not have it all together.

Instead he died so that we might be saved from ourselves.

Jesus gave his life even though he could have taken over the world.

So if you are really a Christian and really know Jesus well then you cannot believe that executing people is a good thing (even if as a government official you might have to do it).

You cannot possibly believe that some people will fall behind and that is OK.

You cannot possibly believe that a health care system that allows about 50 million people to be without health care is a good one.

You cannot possibly clap when you hear that people have died, been left out, or been deported.

For me it brings up two very difficult things.

On the one hand it brings up the question of what it means that I am Christian.

And what does it mean that Rick Warren, Joel Olsteen, Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann claim to be a Christian too.

I guess the only difference is that we can claim not to be perfect.

I don’t know what my best life is, and I don’t want 7 steps to get there, I don’t care what my purpose is, I don’t want to take over the world for Jesus.

I simply want to know Christ and him crucified.

I want to know that his grace is sufficient for this day.

I believe that being part of this Christian community helps me to do things that I maybe could not do on my own.

You may not have the ability and time to do all the things that Jesus names this morning.

But here you belong to this community that does.

And the things that you cannot do someone in this community are doing on your behalf.

Consider that about 6 people for the last year have been working with a refugee family here in Concord.

They have been doing this not because they thought it would get them in good with Jesus on the last day.

In the words of the one of the participants of that group, “I want to show them love. So they will know God’s love.”

That is why they do it.

Because they feel it is where Jesus would be.

Recently our congregation helped to give a baby shower for this family as the welcomed there newest member.

At the shower I felt that they appreciated those gifts.

In fact, they invited us on the following Monday to their family celebration.

I went and I have never felt more welcomed in a place.

In that time I felt Jesus among us and with us.

This is who we are.

We are welcoming to the stranger among us in them we see Christ.

When I was at my endorsement interview, which is the final step in our churches discernment process before ordination.

I was asked what I liked about doing ministry with the poor.

All I could say was, “I don’t know. I have always just felt that is where God called me.”

It was not that I set out in my life to try and be more Christ like.

It is that through getting to know Jesus I naturally did the things that are Jesus like.

We are all really flawed human beings.

The best thing we got going for us is that we know Jesus Christ.

Having Jesus as our Lord and savior is the best self help we can have.

It does not tell us to change or be different then we are it just asks us to acknowledge who we are.

This is not about making a choice or trying harder it is about living in the grace and mercy of God, and seeing everyone else living in that same space.

We don’t know if we will pass the sheep and goat test either, we can only get to know Jesus better and believe that through him we too will be saved.
Amen

Big Bright Beautiful Tomorrow

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:22:27 +0100

This last week I was on vacation with my family in Disney World.

My favorite ride in all of Disney World is a ride called, “The Carousel of Progress”.

For those who have never had the extreme pleasure of going on the Carousel of Progress let me explain a little about the ride.

It was originally designed by Walt Disney as an attraction at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City.

You sit in a theater and watch a number of scenes as an American family move from the turn of the 20^th century until the present day.

The theater moves in a circle as the father of the family explains all the technical advances of the 20^th century.

For example, in the opening sequence the father of the American family explains that they can get from California to New York in Seven days by train.

He goes on to explain that two brothers are working on a flying contraption that “will never work”.

I love this ride because it reminds us of where we have been, of all of the progress that we have made in a short time of human history.

But I love it most because it reminds us that the future is wide open.

That all things are possible, and that we as human beings have a great capacity to think, invent, and create.

The chorus to the song on the ride goes, “It’s a bright big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of every day.”

When I read the Gospel for this morning I instantly thought of this ride.

Because one of the questions we always have to wrestle with is why didn’t the religious leaders of Jesus day recognize who he was?

Why didn’t they know he was the Messiah?

Why did they conspire with political authorities to have him killed?

Last week we heard them question Jesus authority, and Jesus told them a parable.

They didn’t understand that parable so Jesus tries again with the parable of the vineyard.

In this parable the stewards of the vineyard come to believe that the landowner is done with the vineyard, and that now they own it.

So when servants show up to ask for the fruits of the vineyard the steward left in charge doesn’t want to hear it.

Here is part of the problem of the religious authorities.

They stopped believing that God was talking to them.

They believed that God had chosen them, and have made certain promises to them.

That God would deliver the kingdom to them.

They came to believe that the vineyard was theirs instead of God’s.

They got stuck in what had always been and forgot that God is always working on the future.

Because of this they did not believe that God was still at work in Jesus.

I believe this sometimes our problem too.

We have become complacent with the idea that Jesus Christ is our savior.

We have become complacent with the idea that the Church is the gathering of God’s people.

Because of this we forget that God is always speaking to us.

God is always demanding that we are producing fruit.

To be the people of God, to be the Church, it is not enough to merely believe that God is with us.

We have to act like we believe it.

If we live in the grace in mercy of God then we will act like it by extending that grace to others.

Do we believe in the big bright beautiful tomorrow of God?

If we did we would not believe that everything is done or that are best days are behind us.

One of the great things about the resurrection of Jesus Christ is that it points us not to what happened, but what will happen.

It shows us that God is never done, but always working.

We should always be in on the lookout for what God is up to next.

I once heard a comedian talking about people’s obsession with television.

He said, “You gotta understand my generation saw Lee Harvey Oswald get shot on national television. We were glued to the screen for the next forty years wondering what would happen next.”

The same is true for our lives in Christ we should be clued to the screen wondering what will God do next?

What ways will God call me, our congregation, and the Church to bear good fruit?

What needs to be gathered and harvested for the good of others?

What is it this day that God is calling me to give so others may flourish?

I really believe that we are living in an extraordinary time in Christian history.

It is time when anything and everything is possible.

All of the old doctrines are being questioned.

Lines of denomination and even religions are being crossed.

Barriers to people often left out are being crumpled to the ground.

Consider that in our day the supposed third world has the largest growing population of Christians in the world, while Christianity in America and Europe are fading away.

I could for see the day when Africa sends missionaries to the United States to try and convert us heathens.

Consider that in our day young people are saying no to discrimination, hatred, and prejudice based on gender, race, sexual orientation, or anything else.

Consider that more and more people are pushing the boundaries of the Church beyond four stained glass walls and into bars, coffee shops, homes, and wherever people are meeting.

Consider that information and ideas flow between people at a pace that is sometimes dizzying but always interesting.

All of these things are making for some pretty exciting times in Christianity.

They are making for opportunities to reach out and be a blessing to the world.

Are we ready to follow God into his bright big beautiful tomorrow?

It is also scary times for some people.

Ways of thinking that have sustained people in difficult times in the past are being questioned.

Ways of making ourselves feel safe are being torn away.

But I believe it is simply God speaking to us in new ways.

God helping us see the progress that tomorrow brings.

God helping us see what happens when we labor in the vineyard, not because we own it and expect to get paid, but because we know it belongs to God and expects everyone to share in the bounty.

I suppose some of you could take my sermon this morning and just think that I have gone drunk with the magic of Disney.

But my sermon comes from my faith in God who does not leave us alone.

It comes from a Biblical faith that God has promised us a bright big beautiful tomorrow and given us the gift of being stewards in the vineyard.

What a gift to have this wonderful vineyard that God planted, put a fence around, dug a wine press in, and built a watchtower.

What a privilege to serve God in God’s vineyard.

And God knows that we need reminding from time to time that it is not our vineyard, but God’s.

We need reminding that we don’t tend this vineyard for our own purposes, but for the world to see.

In our Isaiah reading this morning the prophet reminds the Israel that God made them a people not for their own good but so they might be a blessing to other nations.

That is why we have a church.

Not to hold the relics of the past, but to remake a big, bright, beautiful tomorrow in the image of God.

That is why God sent Jesus to us.

Not so we could brag that we are favored by God, but so that we might spread God’s love, joy, and peace to the world.

The religious leaders of Jesus day might have known the past.

They might have known tradition, but they forgot God’s future.

They forgot that the vineyard was planted not for them to horde, but for them to give away to the world.

Because of that they shut their hearts to hearing the message Jesus brought.

May we always have our hearts open to Jesus message as we see God’s bright big beautiful tomorrow shining at the end of everyday!

Amen

Confirmation Is Not Graduation From Church!

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 19:34:17 +0100

Today we get to witness something really special.

We get to see these four young people confirm the vows that their parents made at their baptism.

We get to be witnesses to the Holy Spirit descending like fire on each of these fine young people.

Some of you who are here today saw them be baptized.

Some of you were the ones who stood up and said that you would make sure that they got to this moment.

You said that they would learn the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, that they would learn the Bible stories, and they would come and worship among God’s faithful people.

I know that the parents of these four young people took the promises they made very seriously.

We should congratulate them on getting their kids to this point.

Today I would like to talk about some of the things that might be said along the journey to this moment.

Here is what happens.

Somewhere between fifth grade and seventh grade church becomes boring.

Kids begin to find their own voice and begin to rebel against coming to church.

Most Sunday mornings becomes a battle between parents and their kids.

I can say this because this was how it was in my house growing up.

And parents being responsible say something like this, “You have to go to church until you are confirmed and then it is your choice.”

Let me say I don’t think this is the wrong thing to say.

The sentiment behind it is correct.

Parents made a promise to get their kids to this point.

This morning I want to say to Elena, Rene, Ben, and Ben that after today it is not your choice anymore.

This is your last chance to run for the door and to say “no”.

Because confirmation is not graduation from Church!

In fact: let me hear all of us say that together.

Confirmation is not graduation from church!

I have gotten to know these four young people over the last two years.

I want you all to know that they are extraordinary people.

God made them each unique and gifted.

As we heard St. Paul tell us this morning we are all “given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”

Each one of these young people has something special to add to the body of Christ.

Take Rene for example.

Rene cares about the world deeply.

He thinks about issues of justice.

He thinks about the people who are left out.

Rene supports causes like fair trade and gay rights.

He cares about the world.

That is a passion that we need in the body of Christ.

Take Ben Wirth for example.

Ben has energy.

He likes people and is passionate about the people he meets in the wider church.

Ben this year went to the synod assembly with me and he was so happy to build relationships with other people from other congregations.

Ben is extremely active and brings energy and life to everything he is involved in.

Isn’t that something that we need in our church?

Take Elena for example.

First of all Elena knows the Bible better than I do.

When we need a Bible verse Elena is right there with it.

She is dedicated and determined.

She wins the award for the best attendance, but more then this Elena brought her love of the God into everything she did.

Don’t we need that in the Body of Christ?

Take Ben Maurer for example.

Ben came here a year ago, but he managed to fit right in with everyone.

I was grateful for Ben because he was often the person doing exactly what he was suppose to be doing.

He was the calm amidst the storm.

He is steady and dependable.

Don’t we need that in our church?

Each one of the young people today picked a Bible verse to be their confirmation Bible Verse.

I have written them down.

I would like them to hold them and one parent to come forward.

Would the parent please read their child’s verse one at a time.

What was amazing about this process was that each young person picked a verse that I thought really suited them well.

It was a real Holy Spirit moment.

And today is a real Holy Spirit day.

It is filled with a rushing wind, fire, and a sense that anything with God is possible.

I hope that you all will remember your confirmation verse and carry it with you in your life.

That you will remember this day as the day when you felt the Holy Spirit and were blown away with the wonder and awesomeness of God.

I hope you will remember this day as a beginning in your faith journey.

Today is the beginning of you taking even more seriously your commitment to God.

Because confirmation is not graduation from Church!

Imagine if after having been given the Holy Spirit by Jesus the disciples stayed in that lock room.

Jesus died on a cross, rose from the dead, and gave his followers the power to go out and live as a child of God.

How can we waste such a precious gift?

The truth is that all of us everyday affirm our baptism.

Every day we go out into the world and live as disciples of Jesus we are saying to the world were our priorities are.

Because all of you who were confirmed years ago that was not graduation from Church for you either.

It was just the start of something even greater.

I want to say one more thing this morning.

After the Holy Spirit comes over the crowd on that first Pentecost Peter gives a sermon and he uses as his texts the prophet Joel.

He talks about how the young will see visions and the old will dream dreams.

He talks about sons and daughters prophesying.

In other words all the people gathered there were going to be needed to accomplish the work of the church.

Confirmation is not graduation from Church.

It is important for all of us to remember that.

Because I think that sometimes congregations expect that young people will simply go away after confirmation.

I don’t expect that at all.

I expect that these four young people will use those gifts and passions to grow the church.

I expect that they will change the church.

I think that we as members with them in the Body of Christ have to respect them.

We have to be willing to listen to what they say even when it is not what we think.

Our young people are prophesying to us all the time and often we don’t listen and simply dismiss is as foolishness.

The church has to be a place where we all come together for something greater then ourselves and that means listening to the next generation.

These young people need our support because they will not get it out in the world.

It is not like when I was a boy.

All my friends went to church.

That is not so anymore.

These young people are going to have a hard enough time trying to maintain their faith in a world that says that faith is for the foolish and the week.

We need to be there to tell them that this is there church to explore to prophesy, to see visions of the way the world can be.

And we old people can dream dreams with them of what God will and can do.

Confirmation is not graduation for us either.

We are not done with these young people.

We are excited to have them as our brothers and sisters in Christ as we are led by the Holy Spirit to do God’s work in the world.

Let us go forth led by the Holy Spirit to call on the name of the Lord so we might be saved. Amen

Earthquakes!

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:28:50 +0100

May of us have heard the Easter story many times which sometimes makes it difficult to hear it with new ears.

What struck me this year about the Easter Story from Matthew was that Jesus rising was accompanied by an Earthquake.

Both at his crucifixion and now God creates an earthquake.

In the last couple of years we have become accustomed to earthquakes.

It seems that we move from one earthquake to another Indonesia, Haiti, and most recently Japan.

They can be destructive.

They rip through countries causing lots of damage, and destruction.

And we all have things in our lives that are damaging and destructive.

But this morning’s earthquake is there to open the grave and announce the resurrection.

Just as the earthquake on Good Friday announced Jesus’ death today’s earthquake announces Jesus life.

That is thing about earthquakes is that even though they destroy they also bring new things as the earth moves and shifts, so too God moves and shifts even in death bringing hope and life.

Consider the case of Dina.

On a normal day she awoke and drove 20 miles to her brothers wedding.

She left behind her three sons who were 2, 3, and 5 years old because they were too young to be at a wedding.

That was the day that the earth shook and disrupted her life forever.

It was the day in Indonesia of the tsunami.

Her three sons died in that earthquake.

How does one go on after such a thing happens?

How does one find life again?

Today Dina runs post traumatic groups for people that have lost loved ones.

She has become a surrogate parent to children who have lost their parents.

In the midst of the earthquake she found new life.

Dina says that she lives knowing that one she will meet her boys again.

“Life and death are too close.” She says.

That is the Easter story out of death comes life.

Out of the earthquake that destroys and disrupts hope comes.

In Matthew’s Gospel it does not tell us why the women are coming to the tomb that morning.

In the other Gospels it is to anoint Jesus body, but in Matthew’s Gospel the woman sit and watch Joseph of Arimathea put Jesus body in the tomb, and then come back on Sunday morning.

I like to believe it was because they knew something was going to happen.

They knew that this was not the end of the story.

It is the same reason we go and visit the graves of those that we love, because we know in faith that they are not gone just temporarily away from us.

Death is the ultimate earthquake it is the most disruptive part of our lives and yet because of faith even that is not the end for us.

Even in death we still have hope.

We still believe in life eternal.

That is the Easter story out of death comes life.

Out of the earthquake that destroys and disrupts hope comes.

That is what the resurrection does for us it tells us that no situation is hopeless.

Consider the story of Molly Macdonald.

She was diagnosed with Breast cancer.

She was a single mother and a lawyer.

Because she couldn’t work during her treatment she lost her job.

She had to make a $1,200 cobra insurance bill every month.

She lost her house to foreclosure.

Her and her kids were homeless and would get food at the local food pantry.

She said that she felt like a “total loser”.

Then she got better, she got a job, and began to put her life back together.

Because of the generosity of the people who kept her going during that time she was able to change.

She knows now that anyone’s life can change in a heartbeat.

She knows that earthquakes happen at any minute.

Now she gives back by volunteering at the food bank so others can get the help that was given her.

From out of the rubble of her life came something new and better.

Earthquakes can help us to re-orientate and gives us new life.

That is the Easter story out of death comes life.

Out of the earthquake that destroys and disrupts hope comes.

This week I had to go to Manchester and I was in a Starbucks in Manchester, and right after I got my drink order the power went out.

It was totally dark in Starbucks.

At first we all thought that the electricity would come back on in a few minutes.

Then a fireman at one of the tables showed us the fire on the poll down the street.

It was then we all realized that the power was not coming back on any time soon.

The workers were telling us that they were going to lock the doors so that no other customers would think they were open.

One of the other people in line yelled, “All right a party.”

In the midst of darkness and disruption a party broke out on a Wednesday afternoon at Starbucks.

That is the Easter story out of death comes life.

Out of the earthquake that destroys and disrupts hope comes.

Sara is from Sweden and in 1994 she was on a cruise when her boat sank in the Baltic Sea.

She managed to get into a raft with 16 other people.

In the morning when they were rescued on 6 people were still alive on that raft.

When she heard about the earthquake in Indonesia she volunteered to help.

She organized groups of people who met to comfort and console one another.

She said she knew, “how important it was to meet others who had lived through disaster. The aim is to go on with life”

Out of a tragedy God was making something new happen.

God was bringing and showing life even in the midst of death.

That is the Easter story out of death comes life.

Out of the earthquake that destroys and disrupts hope comes.

John Lennon on the night before he was shot gave an interview and famously said, “Where there is life there is hope”

The message of the Gospel is even more dramatic because it says where there is death there is life and hope.

Earthquakes will come and disrupt and damage, but Jesus Christ is risen so we live and have hope.

The Easter story is not the end of the Gospel it is only the beginning because all the time we experience the life coming out of death.

All the time we experience the hope we have through knowing Jesus Christ who this day has risen.

He is risen!

He is risen indeed Alleluia!

Amen

Light and Salt!

Mon, 07 Feb 2011 18:43:00 +0100

This past week we were all reminded of the importance of salt.

Where would we be without salt to make our roads free from snow and ice?

They are finding out in Dallas this week the importance of salt.

Dallas is where the super bowl will be played today and the weather there has been snowy and icy, and they don’t have any salt for the roads.

Dangerous road conditions led to this headline, “Snow adds to weather misery in Dallas-Fort Worth”

Salt in our case is what saves us in our difficult winter conditions.

Salt is the subject of Jesus preaching this morning.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”

If we lose our connection to Jesus we lose our saltiness.

We fail to live righteous lives and we fail to have faith in difficult times.

We fail to have our righteousness exceed that of the Pharisees.

Likewise we know the importance of light.

Without light how can we see in the dark?

How can we find our way?

We are the light of the world.

And if we are not shining with the love of Christ how will others see through the darkness.

It might seem like a tall order that Jesus has given us.

This is a lot of responsibility to be the light of the world and salt of the earth.

But where else are people going to find their way?

How else are people going to have a sure footing and safe travel through the journey of life?

The truth is that there have been other people who have come before us.

There have been other people who were salted who shined light into the dark places.

All of us have these people in our lives.

We all know of someone who we looked up to and thought I want what that person has.

I want to have a faith like that person has.

I want to serve others like that person does.

So we know that what Jesus asks of us is not impossible.

I would say that we need to be even more salted now than ever.

When religion is seen as a negative thing.

When religious morals and values are being eroded we need now more than ever to be the light of the world to be the salt of the earth.

We cannot expect that the world will be able to teach peace, love, and compassion.

We know that it does not.

For example, in a reactionary move the state legislator is considering adding more reasons to allow the death penalty in New Hampshire.

It is no doubt that the murders from home invasions are awful.

But I am not sure that killing more people will solve the problem.

Have we as a society totally given up on the idea of reconciliation.

Have we given up on forgiveness?

Only people who are salted know that these are important moral beliefs.

I was thinking of the people in my life who I have met who where lights shining for me, of the people who were well salted in their lives.

They all shared certain characteristics.

One, they all had a deep relationship with Jesus.

They studied their Bibles even into their later years knowing that God’s word was the key to knowing their Lord.

They had disciplined prayer lives, and they all felt worship was the highlight of their week.

Two they all had a certain amount of humility.

Not fake humility, but the idea that they were no better than anyone else.

Three they all were eager and able to forgive.

Four they were about creating peace in their lives.

In their families, in their churches, in their homes they were about peace.

Not peace as a political slogan but a deep and abiding peace in the depths of their souls.

Five they had a faith in the possibility of a better tomorrow.

Six they loved deeply and told you that they loved you.

Seven no matter their life circumstances they had faith in God’s ability to do something amazing and wonderful.

I am sure there are more but these were the ones that came up easily for me.

When I think of what Jesus meant by being salt and light I think of these things.

Not because they are great religious ideals (even though they are) but because they were brought to life by someone I knew and respected.

If we are able to live as Jesus teaches us to I think that some people will revile us.

But I also think that some people will look at us and think, “I want what that person has.”

I want to have faith in the midst of trouble and turmoil.

I want to love more and say it to those I love.

I want to have a deep and abiding peace.

I want to have faith in a better tomorrow.

Maybe you are one of those people like me who desires more out of life then the accumulation of wealth, or winning the big game, or being the best and brightest.

I want more than this.
I want what Dorothy Ricks has.

She is an extraordinary woman who was the chair of my internship committee while I was in seminary.

She had seen many things in her life.

She had good times and bad times.

And she had this thing about her.

She was faithful, loving, caring, and a person of great peace.

She loved Jesus and knew her savior well.

She was my teacher, and my guide for the year I was on internship.

Then there was Ms. Rene.

Another salted person who lived a life of service.

She was the first one at the church every morning and the last one to leave.

She was one of the people that started the homeless feeding ministry.

She was strong, clear, and filled with the spirit.

She was my teacher too.

I could go on and on of all the people I have known who were well salted who shined a light into my life.

To be salted and the light is to know Jesus and who he is.

That is why the sermon on the mountain is so important because Jesus is giving us a road map on how to live.

We live through Jesus.

Jesus fulfills the law, by helping us see it in life.

If you want to know what it means to follow God then look at Jesus, know Jesus and his teachings.

The problem is that we fall away very easily from our relationship to Jesus.

We get busy and other things get in our way.

We are too busy to pray, or study the Bible.

I will worship when I get other things in my day.

And then we lose our saltiness, we lose the light that makes us see through the darkness.

This is not about following the law.

It is about knowing Jesus so well that instinctively without thinking we live as the salt and light.

I want to end by saying that our children especially need this.

Our children have lost their way.

This week I heard a report that kids are less connected to social networks.

Because of this they are becoming less compassionate.

Malcolm Smith of the University of New Hampshire gave a lecture this week and said that “repeat bullies have a deficit in social learning and are missing basic values like manners, civility and kindness. He says they think they are better than others.”

We need to be salted ourselves and remain in relationship with Jesus and one another.

The church is still that place where we have to show up, and we have to deal with other people.

The Church can be the place where we show that kindness matters, and that we are no better than anyone else.

But that God loves us all the same.

That we are all equally sinful and saved by the light and salt that is provided by Jesus Christ.

I believe that we have an important part to play in our world.

That we can be the place that continue to teach about the important morals of peace, love, kindness, civility, and compassion.

Jesus told us that we are the salt of the earth; we are the light of the world.

And through us others would see God and glorify God’s name.

Jesus believed that we as the church centered in Jesus can provide safe travel through the dangers of life.

People would see our good works and think, “I want what they have.”

So go out and be the salt of the earth and the light to the world.

Amen

This Wonderful, Frightful, Life Changing Story

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 15:33:37 +0100

It seems appropriate on the day of our annual meeting that our Gospel reading for this morning is about the call of the disciples.

Because annual meetings are about a call.

A call we hear from God to do the work of the Gospel in this time and this place.

In Matthew’s Gospel the call for all Christians and all time is presented at the end, “Go therefore into all nations baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

But in today’s Gospel we have the start of that call, the beginning of the extraordinary story of Jesus life.

This morning we hear Jesus offer a call to some fishermen on the shores of a Lake.

Fishermen who are going about their business one minute, and the next being called into participation in a wonderful, frightful, and inspiring story.

We too are called into that same story.

Today at our annual meeting we do more then pass budgets and hear reports on meetings held this past year.

We discern together what it is God is calling us to.

Where is Jesus telling us to lay down our nets and follow him?

Where is our story connecting with the story of Jesus?

Think about the disciples who leave their nets in order to follow Jesus.

They leave a steady job to follow some long haired hippy idealist talking about the kingdom of God.

I can only imagine the conversation they had with their families when they tried to explain their next big career move.

The message of the call is clear.

God, not just in this case but all the cases of calls in the Bible, says it is too safe to simply continue to go about our business as usual.

Jesus is calling us away from that into something more, into a story more than we can imagine, into places yet unknown.

Churches are famous for playing it safe.

Churches are famous for doing the same thing over and over.

The line, “That is the way we have always done it.” I am pretty sure was uttered by one of the disciples inside the upper room where they were hiding after Jesus crucifixion.

You can hear the discussion right now.

Peter saying, “Why are we in this room? We should get out and do something.”

John saying, “But this is what we have always done.”

So every year I think it is important to ponder the question where is Jesus calling us this year.

Consider that Jesus own life in the Gospel of Matthew was not one of ease.

Jesus was always moving about never having a home.

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is an internet preacher moving about always into new uncharted territory.

This morning for example we are told that Jesus moves into Gentile country.

Away from his home and what he had known into uncharted territory in order to follow the call.

Jesus then calls us away from what is familiar and easy into what is unknown in order to follow God.

What will that be for our congregation this year?

Last year we embarked on the Heart for the Homeless campaign.

For our congregation it was stepping out into an unknown world into new territory.

And this last year we listened for the ways that God was calling us to help those in need.

Because we were open to that call we have done some extraordinary work together.

We have helped many people.

We started a community circle to help a refuge family here in Concord.

For many of us this was new territory.

We did not speak the same language, there are many cultural differences, we were not sure what we were getting into, and we were not sure we can do it.

But that group of people has really done an outstanding job.

They heard God’s call and stepped out in faith.

This year we heard about the need in Concord for help for families and children who were homeless.

We started to organize a Family Promise organization here in Concord.

It has been difficult there have been set backs.

We are not always sure it will work.

But in faith we feel God calling us in this effort.

We have heard the call and are following into unknown territory.

This is true not only in our life together.

But also as Christians who live outside of these walls.

What are the ways that you have been called by God?

Where are the places in your life that God has called you to spread the Gospel?

Has God called you to a new vocation?

Has God called you to witness to someone in your life that needed God?

Has God called you to love someone everyone else dislikes?

Has God called you to forgive a wrong done to you?

Has God called you to leave something you regret behind?

Perhaps today is a good day to hear the call of Jesus.

Come and follow me and I will make you fish for people.

Come and follow me join my story to your story.

Come and follow me make your life about my life.

Come and follow me to what is unknown, scary, and yet life changing and wonderful.

Do we dare?

As Paul says to follow Christ is to take the story of the death and resurrection and make it our story.

“For the message of the Cross is foolish to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
To follow Christ is to make the Cross about our story.

To be saved to find and discover the power of God in following the one who has no home except where people need God.

This is where our church belongs following Jesus.

Because otherwise we find ourselves following something or someone else.

This is what is happening in the church at Corinth instead of following Jesus people have begun to take up factions and follow certain leaders in the congregation.

This of course has caused different groups to fight.

It reminds me of the story about a young rabbi who found a serious problem in his new congregation.

During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition.

Nothing the rabbi said or did moved toward solving the impasse.

Finally, in desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue's 99-year-old founder.

He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles.

"So tell me," he pleaded, "was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?"

"No," answered the old rabbi."

“Ah," responded the younger man, "then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers?"

"No," answered the old rabbi.

"Well," the young rabbi responded, "what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout, and the other half sit and scream."

"Ah," said the old man, "that was the tradition."

Our tradition is not about who sits or stands, what songs are sung, what food is served, or what battles have been won and lost.

Our tradition is simply Christ crucified.

Jesus died so that we may live.

And today Jesus is calling us to hear that call from the shore.

Away from what is familiar and safe, and into a greater story.

We are called.

What will it be this year for Concordia Lutheran Church?

What will be the wonderful, frightful, and inspiring ways that God calls us this year?

Let us go forth and be ready to hear the call and follow Jesus on this wonderful, frightful, and life changing story.

Amen

Shed A Little Light

Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:05:35 +0100

Last week we all heard the horrible news of the shooting in Arizona killing 6 people and wounding 13 others including Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.

Since then there has been a lot of talk about what caused this horrible event.

The sheriff in Pima county got the ball rolling by stating that, "When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government.

The anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country is getting to be outrageous, and unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry."

The sheriff was then attacked for making a political statement.

Sarah Palin said, “Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own.

They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election.”

Who is right?

Who is wrong?

To ask this another way is sin simply personal or is it societal?

Am I an individual or a product of my environment?

I would like to argue that it is both.

There is no doubt that I carry personal responsibility for my actions.

My parents from an early age taught me that there were consequences for my actions and that I would have to live with those consequences.

I was to blame for the decisions I made.

There is no doubt that the shooter in Arizona is responsible for his actions and will have to face the consequence of those actions.

But to say that outside forces have no bearing on who we are, the way we think, and the way we react to stimuli would be an equally ridiculous thing to say.

We are all tied together.

We react to certain things partially because of the times in which we live.

People of other times thought differently about the universe and our place in it.

I am a product of my upbringing both good and bad, and the society in which I am a part.

We cannot divorce ourselves from the reality we find ourselves.

Our sin is always tied up with the sins of the entire world.

And my sin however personal affects more than me.

For example, I am sometimes rather lazy about my environmental responsibilities.

It is not that I don’t agree with the scientific evidence of global warming or that I don’t believe in being a good steward of God’s creation it is just that sometimes it is more convenient to drive then to walk, or just throw out the can of soda in the regular trash rather than recycle.

It is my own love for conveniences, and yes that has some consequences for me, but it also affects all of you.

I believe that how we act, or don’t act, is about more than an individual choice but has communal consequences.

And sin is bigger than one person.

The sin of the shooter was about more than a bad choice that he made, about more than he had some serious psychological problems.

He lives in a world where we tend to settle disputes through violence.

He lives in a world where guns are made that are able to take out a lot of people in a small period of time.

He lives in a world where we ignore the signs of people in trouble because, “We don’t want to get involved.”

We live in a world where politicians take the quick route to sound bite instead of the thoughtful way to understanding.

We live in a world filled with inflamed rhetoric, and vitriol.

He lives in a world where you can buy ammunition at Wal-Mart like a pack of gum.

And this world has been around a lot longer than merely what happened last weekend in Arizona.

Consider that tomorrow is Martin Luther King day.

On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King was shot to death by a man who did not like his politics.

This despite the fact that Martin Luther King preached non-violence, love of enemy, and peace.

You can go back even further 2,000 years ago on a hill outside the city walls the place called the skull.

Jesus was hung on a cross in a most savage and violent manner.

This despite the fact that he raised no army, never hurt anyone, and was God’s son.

This despite the fact that he preached to the poor, welcomed sinners, and talked of God’s love.

For a long time we have lived in a world filled with sin and death.

We have lived in a world where people solved problems with vitriol, hard words, and violence.

The question that we are left with this morning is what shall we do?

What is left to be said or done?

As Christians, as people who follow Christ, we have to look towards Jesus.

We have to see the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

Jesus on the cross became the symbol of the violence and hatred in the world.

Jesus became the one onto whom we put all of our hate and violence in order to redeem that world.

Dr. Martin Luther King knew this truth.

He knew that Jesus was the source of his strength, life, and courage.

For us it has to be too.

And this is our way out.

We can be part of this world.

The world that filled with sin.

The world that speaks in vitriol tones.

The world that allows a man to kill 6 people and wound 13 on a Saturday morning at a grocery store.

Our place in the world is in the middle of all that mess.

It is in the middle of the debate.

We enter that debate with a great sense of humility knowing that we are not perfect, knowing that no human endeavor is perfect, and that only in working together are we made whole.

And it is always with the knowledge that Jesus is the one who takes away the sins of the world.

That God has called this world good.

That Jesus Christ pointed us toward the light and what is good.

And maybe we can help the debate be about something more than winning elections, but about the way we care, the way we serve one another, the way we love our enemies, and show empathy.

As Mother Teresa once said, "Words which do not give the light of Christ increase the darkness."

Our role in the world can be to spread the light.

We can remind people that we are tied together in this world.

As Martin Luther King once said, “All life is interrelated, that somehow we're caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason, I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. You can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the interrelated structure of reality.”

Because we look not to ourselves, but we look towards the one who takes away the sin of the world, and replaces it with love, understanding, and peace we can help point others towards the light of Christ.

I want to end today with a video I made for the worship tomorrow at Concord’s Martin Luther King day service sponsored by the Greater Concord Interfaith Council.

Tell What You Have Heard And Seen

Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:49:22 +0100

As Christians we all share a responsibility to grow the kingdom of God.
There are other religions in the world that rely on national or familiar blood lines to continue growth.
But Christianity from its beginning has been about going out and telling the story of Jesus Christ.
Christianity has always been about spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ.
It started really with the shepherds that night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
What they heard and saw was so magnificent so awe inspiring that they left “glorifying and praising God” telling everyone what they had heard and seen.
Today the importance of telling what we know about Jesus is even more important.
No longer can we assume the culture we live in will tell the story for us.
No longer can we assume that the majority of people around us are Christian or know God in a personal way.
We have to tell what we have heard and seen.

“Go and tell John what you hear and see.”
This is the instruction that Jesus gives to John’s disciples who come and ask if Jesus is the Messiah.
And it could be Jesus instruction to us.
Have you ever been asked, “You don’t really believe all that stuff about God do you?”
I have been asked this question on more than one occasion in my life.
And the question that I want us to wrestle with this morning is what we are going to say when asked that question.
What will be your answer?

I think that there are many different ways to answer this question.
For some Christians the answer is to take a very aggressive approach.
To almost brow beat non Christians over the head with a lot of scripture about how they will go to hell.
I have experienced this many times and I have to say it makes me not want to be a Christian when I see it in action.
One time I was riding on the T in Boston with a friend of mine who happened to be Jewish.
This very nice looking young man sat next to her and said, “Do you know Jesus Christ as your savior?”
She then looked at me and said, “Jon help me.”
We switched seats and I started to talk to this young man.
I have to say it ended badly he told me that I was going to hell for not trying to convert my friend.
He got off at the next stop I told him as he left, “Well, I much rather be in hell then in heaven with you.”
At which time the other riders on the train started to clap.
Not my finest hour, but it really made me mad or sad that this is how someone was presenting the Christian life.
Hey get on board or God hates you….
I just can’t get on board with that kind of evangelism.

This kind of evangelism reminds me of the John the Baptist we read from last week’s Gospel.
John came warning people of the wrath to come if they did not repent.
He warned of being burned like the Chaff.
This was John’s expectation of what Jesus would be.

And this morning in our Gospel reading we have John wondering if Jesus is really the Messiah.
He is not acting in a way that John thought he would.
Where was the fire and brimstone, where was the condemning words, where was the militant stance against the Romans.
Instead we have Jesus wasting time with sinners, forgiving sins, preaching about blessings to the poor and outcast.

This leads me to another type of evangelism.
The type of evangelism where showing what we hear and see by what we do and who we are.
It is about living the Gospel instead of talking about it.
It is about helping the lame walk, the deaf hear, the lepers healed, and the poor.
It is about showing God’s love given in Jesus Christ through who we are as Christians.
It is not about condemning others for who they are but showing love to them.
This seems to be Jesus stance this morning.
Instead of saying, “yeah I am the Messiah look how great I am.” Jesus simply says that he is bringing the kingdom of God by doing what God would do.
And I think as Christians this is our calling.
Who do you think had a more positive impact on my Jewish friend the guy on the train condemning her to hell?
Or me the person who served with her in an inner city school in Dorchester?
Who showed her Christ through simply being himself?

All of us are called to tell what we have heard and seen in Jesus Christ.
And we have all heard and seen some miraculous things in our time as Christians.
We have seen sins forgiven.
We have seen the poor tended to.
We have seen strangers welcomed as friends.
We have heard of how our God takes us from the wilderness and makes ground springs of water flow.
We have heard how our God is one of everlasting joy and gladness.
We have seen the bereaved comforted.
Yes, those of us here can say that our God is good all the time.
We can join with the prophet Isaiah and say that we are strong and not fearful because we know that our God is here.
It is a call to share this with others.

Now there are times when words need to be used.
There are times when we have to say something about what God has done in our lives.
Perhaps us Lutherans have been too quiet about our faith.
There is that old joke: The only part of the Bible that Lutherans take literally is when Jesus ordered those who he healed to, “Go and tell no one.”

That same Jewish friend was having some difficult things happening in her life.
She asked me how my faith helped me in difficult times.
Then I needed to use words.
I had to use words to explain all the wonderful things that God had done for me.
How God had saved my life and given it purpose and direction.
How God was my constant friend and comforted as I faced difficult times.
Then I needed words.

Perhaps the message should be that at different times and different places we will use a variety of ways to express our faith.
At times we will be like Isaiah we will be the one calling for change in our world.
At times we will be like Jesus healing others, bringing hope, expressing joy, and caring for the poor.
At times we will be like shepherds praising and glorifying God for all the miraculous things God is doing in our lives.
Let us stay away from being too much like John the Baptist condemning others, passing judgment, and offering a God of small minded ultimatums.

So go and tell this day what you have heard and seen.
In this advent season when we are filled with the expectations of what God will do share your faith with others so that they may know the goodness of God.
Remember that God has done great things in our lives.
Let us go and tell what we hear and see.
The wilderness is filled with water, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind see, and the poor have good news brought to them.
Amen