First Lutheran Church

January 23, 2022

The Third Sunday after Epiphany

Annual Meeting

Luke 4:14-21 14Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 18“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Sermon

“Love Will Return in Another Way”

Pastor Greg Ronning

While preparing for this week’s sermon I came across this story about Franz Kafka, the German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature.

At the age of 40, Kafka, who never married and had no children, was walking through a park in Berlin, when he met a little girl who was crying because she had lost her favorite doll. Kafka volunteered to help her search for the missing doll.  They looked all over the park but could not find the doll.  At this point it was getting late so Kafka promised the girl that he would return to the park tomorrow and that they would resume their search for the doll.

The next day Kafka returned to the park, and they continued to look, they looked high and low, but in the end, they still could not find the missing doll.   At this point Kafka “found” a letter.  It that was addressed to the girl, a letter “written” by the doll.  She opened it up, it read, "Please don't cry. I took a trip to see the world. I will write to you about my adventures." 

Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.  He would continue to meet the little girl in the park, bringing with him letters written by the doll, and he would read them to her. They were wonderful letters, carefully written, filled with great adventures, and engaging conversations that the girl found adorable.

Finally, after many meetings, Kafka appeared with “the doll” that had returned to Berlin after finishing her adventures.  (He bought a new one) The little girl looked at the doll, she was confused, "It doesn't look like my doll at all."  Kafka handed her another letter “written” by the doll, they opened it up, and he read it to her.  The doll explained, "My travels have changed me."  The little girl’s face lit up, her holy imagination “recognized” the doll, she opened up her arms and gave the doll a big hug, and with great joy brought her back home.

A year later Kafka died.  Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In this tiny letter signed by Kafka, he had written, "Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

As we gather today, nearly two years into the COVID-19 Pandemic, we are very aware of all the things that we have loved and lost.  Life is definitely not the same, life has been forever changed, - tomorrow will be different than yesterday.  Over the past two years we have missed out on special occasions, we have lost track of friends and relationships, we have set aside projects that will never be finished.  Groups and organizations to which we used to belong, have ceased to meet, and may never meet again.  Old ways of doing things are now unsafe, traditions are in the process of changing.  In so many ways, in so many areas, and on so many levels, - life will never be the same.  And for some, those who have lost loved ones and friends to the pandemic, that loss feels unreplaceable. The last couple of years has been filled with loss, lots of loss, even incredible loss.  So it is that we find ourselves - waiting for love to “return in another way.”  

In today’s appointed gospel, Jesus returns to his hometown to preach for the first time since his public ministry began.  The scriptures tell us, “A report about him spread through all the surrounding country,” and that he, “was praised by everyone.”  The people of Nazareth are excited to hear him preach.  It’s not every day that someone from Nazareth, (Can anything good come out of Nazareth,) goes out and makes a name for himself.  

Jesus arrives at the synagogue, and he picks up the scroll and reads from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  He sets the scroll down and boldly proclaims, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

At first, they seem to be impressed by his delivery, his eloquence, the poetic words and phrases; but then he lets them know, and in no uncertain terms, that he means it!  Jesus did not come home to turn water into wine, to perform miracles, to do some kind of magic show; but to proclaim the coming of God’s kingdom.  And for the people of Nazareth, many of the people gathered in the synagogue that day, - that meant “change,” and it probably meant “loss.”  Jesus reminds the congregants, (his neighbors, his friends, and his family,) that the coming of the kingdom is not just a poetic expression but the turning upside down of the world.  To “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” was to set in motion a radical turn of events: the forgiveness of debt, the restoration of family lands, economic redistribution, the end of slavery, the release of prisoners.  It was to be a hard re-set, a time for everyone to start over again as equals, equals on a level playing field.  And it wasn’t just for the Jewish people, it included the Gentiles as well!  This was good news to the poor, “the have nots;” but it was not good news for those who were doing well, “the haves,” for them it meant “loss.”

As you all probably remember, this is where Jesus gets himself into trouble, suddenly the people of Nazareth are not so pleased and impressed with local boy who spoke so eloquently.  The scriptures tell us what happened next, “When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.  They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.” Thankfully, the Spirit seems to intervene, and Jesus is somehow able to walk away from the situation.

The people of Nazareth did not want to change, they did not want to give up their status, their possessions, all the things for which they had worked so hard for over the years.  And they certainly did not want to give up anything for the sake of the Gentiles.  They were not ready to suffer “loss” for the sake of the Kingdom.  They weren’t ready to give up all the things they loved, to experience love in “another way.”

In the third chapter of Philippians, St. Paul, reflecting on his accomplishments, his birthright, all that he has accomplished in life, writes, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” 

Loss is hard.  Letting go of loss is even harder.  But hanging on to the past never moves us forward.  Perhaps Kafka was right, at some point in life, "Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."  Afterall that is the story of our faith too!  Jesus came and lived among us, he loved us, and we loved him; and then he was crucified, he died, and he was buried.  He was taken away.  It was an incredible loss.  Yet three days later he rose up from the dead, and something new began.  The post resurrection stories found in the scriptures tell us that the disciples had a hard time recognizing him when he returned, something was different, something had changed.  But soon they came to trust that love had returned in “another way,” a way that continued after his ascension with the coming of the Spirit and continues even today in the life of the church.

This morning we will gather for our annual meeting, and we will look back, reflect, and give thanks for the past.  And then we will begin to make plans for another year.  For almost two years we have endured the loss of a pandemic, today we hope and pray the pandemic will soon be coming to a close, knowing that we will not return to what was before, but enter into something new.  Today we proclaim that we are a people not of death, but a people of death and resurrection, a people filled with hope, confident in the life of the resurrection, and ready to encounter the love of God anew in yet - “another way.”

St. Paul concludes his thoughts on “the loss of all things,” and the hope of the resurrection with these words, “Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.” 
"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way." Amen!