“Scarcity vs. Abundance”

July 29, 2018 + Pentecost 10B + John 6:1-21

One of the highlights of my freshman year at California Lutheran University was winning the Southern California NAIA district Wrestling tournament.  Champion at 177 lbs.!  And more importantly, this victory qualified me to participate in the NAIA National Wrestling Tournament.  

I remember very clearly the flight that took us from Los Angeles, California to Wheeling, West Virginia the site of that year's national tournament.  I remember the flight because I was very worried.  I wasn't scared of flying, I was scared of being a freshman wrestling in the nationals, and more importantly - I was scared that I would lose.  

The school had bought me an expensive airline ticket, they had put me up in a nice hotel, they were proud of me and excited about the tournament - and I was afraid that I might lose.  Also, on my mind was the fact that my dad was taking off time from work, he had bought an expensive air ticket, all to come watch me wrestle - and I was scared that I would lose.  All that time and money to get there - and I might lose.  

Once we arrived at the tournament I remember warming up for my first match.  My Dad’s travel schedule was tight, if everything went ok he would make it just in time to see me wrestle. I was worried that he would be late, and that I would lose in the first round, and he would have traveled all that way, spent all that money, and would not even have a chance to see me wrestle.  

Well, finally my turn to wrestle arrived. (My dad arrived just in time.)  I was ready, the moment had arrived, I stepped onto the mat and the contest began. Eight minutes later it was over - and I had lost.  

Not only did I lose but I wrestled poorly. I did not even come close to my potential.  And I had lost to an opponent that I could have beat, that I should have beat.  I lived up to my preoccupation, my expectations, my worries, my fears, - I lost.

Isn't that the way it is?  All too often we choose to live out of the “sacristy” of our lives.  We choose to live out of “the worst possible scenario.”  We set ourselves up for failure before we even begin.  We choose to be "lacking" from the start. The only thing we are not lacking is “excuses.”  We're not good enough, not talented enough, we don't have enough money, and we don't have enough time.  And in living from this foundation, a foundation built upon scarcity, we have no choice but to be defeated - because we have already been defeated.  Yes, all too often, when it comes right down to it, we choose to fall back and to live out of “the scarcity” of our lives, the scarcity of the human condition.

Yet this "sacristy of the human condition" is not the only choice we have to choose from when it comes to how we might live out our life.  The good news of the Gospel is that we can choose to live out of the abundance of God, an abundance that is ours – in, with, and through - Christ.

In today's Gospel, The Feeding of the Five Thousand,” we see the difference between living out of the “scarcity of the human condition” verses living out of “the abundance of God.”  

In today's story there is a problem, five thousand hungry people and no food.  What are we going to do?  Philip and Andrew respond to the problem out of the scarcity of the human condition, limited by the human perspective they cry out, "We don't have enough money." "This boy has five loaves and two fish but that will never be enough."

Then the miracle happens, and I don't think that Jesus' multiplying of the bread and fish is necessarily the real miracle of the story.  The real miracle is that this young boy hands over his fish and bread to Jesus.  The miracle is that this boy does not operate out of sacristy, but rather faith, a child-like faith indeed.  

Scarcity would "horde" for one’s self, it would be “afraid” to give.  Sacristy would hold back because it never has enough for anyone, not even for its self. Yes, the real miracle is that this young boy operates out of the abundance of God, out of hope, out of faith. He gives, (what is seemingly very little,) he gives it over to Jesus.  

The young boy is not afraid to give of what he has, he is not ashamed of what he has, he believes that it might help, that it might make a difference.  He must have believed that Jesus loved him, and that in that love - that all things were possible.  This faith is the miracle.

After the loaves and fishes are offered to Christ by this young boy, and Jesus gives thanks for these gifts, the crowd is fed, - fed to overflowing.  And after all have eaten, the disciples gather up 12 baskets of leftovers.

Today we must ask ourselves, "Do we operate out of the abundance of God, or are we trapped in the perceived scarcity of the human condition?" We must ask, "What is the foundation on which we make our decisions regarding our time and our resources, - is it fear or hope?"  We must ask, "Are we trapped and unable to give, or are we truly free to freely give?"  Today we are challenged by the Gospel to see our sin and to dramatically reorient ourselves according to the abundance of God.  We are challenged to be born again, to see the Kingdom of God present and alive, and at work, in our lives.

The other crucial thing that we must remember is the role of Christ.  It is in our giving to Christ that we are opened up to the abundance of God.  We're not talking about mere "positive thinking" or the "elimination of negative ions;" we're talking about a lifestyle of giving, Christian stewardship, loving your neighbor.

So where do we begin?  I believe it's here, at church.  For gathered together we are the Body of Christ.  Here, in the Church, Christ is waiting to receive those things that you have to give - your gifts, your time, your experience, your life.  We begin anew by stepping back and looking at our gifts through the eyes of the God who created us and who loves us.  And from that perspective - we all have gifts. And every gift is essential. Though it may only seem like a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, the truth is that your gift may be the one that is needed to feed the five thousand.  We will never know how important our gift is until we give it to God. In fact, the gift that you possess might be the one that is needed to set the person beside you free.  If we all could learn to give of ourselves, our time, and our treasures - the abundance of God would rain upon us, setting us free, and giving us that “gift of life” that we all so desperately want.

The following year at California Lutheran I once again won the NAIA Southern District Qualifying Tournament and headed once again for the National Wrestling Tournament.  In fact, I was even voted the “Outstanding Wrestler” of that qualifying tournament.  I boarded a plane, for Kansas this time, ready to participate in my second National Tournament.  And this year, - I lost again.  I was worried about doing the same thing that I did last time.  And I did.  Scarcity.

It’s not easy to remain in that place where you have access to God's abundance, that existential place of love, grace, and truth. It's not easy to always believe that "your fish" and "your bread" can actually make a difference.  

There’s just so much to worry about!  And we all worry, whether we like it or not!  It’s human to worry.  I guess the question is really all about what we do with those worries. Do we tightly hold onto them, obsess over them, and consequently let them take over our whole life?  Or do we acknowledge them, and then carefully and intentionally set them aside, and choose to live life from a different space, a holy space, a faithful place?  Do we spend the precious moments of our life, the priceless hours and days allotted to us, paralyzed by fear or energized by hope?

I want to end today by going back to that amazing boy in today’s Gospel.  We don’t know much at all about him, but I am confident of this, he was loved – and he knew he was loved!  Because only love, and the experience of love, sets one free from “the fear of scarcity” and places us firmly in “the hope of abundance!”  Only love can imagine that two fish and five loaves will make a difference!  Only love can explain how thousands are fed, filled to overflowing.  Only love!

And the good news today is that you too are loved! You are loved by God.  You have been created with wonderful gifts and treasures.  And they are not only wonderful, but they are essential to the work of the Gospel.  The Church needs your gifts.  You are in demand.  The Kingdom cannot be whole without you.  You are part of the abundance of God!

I would like to end with a song.  You heard it before, "One More Life." Today I challenge you to believe that this song is written especially “for you,” that it is about “your baptism.” For in reality, from the perspective of abundance; from the perspective of God, the angels and the kingdom of heaven; that is the truth, the Gospel truth.  As I sing, let us all return to our baptism and find the door that opens our life up to that abundant love of God, in Christ Jesus.

One More Life

(Click title to listen)

One more life, a bright shining light

One more hope, that the world will be all right

You're a miracle child, love made alive

And water falls from heaven as God says you're mine ....

One more heart, begun by you

One more soul, and all things are new

And soon you'll know your name, loves made it claim

Heaven will be calling you and you'll never be the same ....

And you'll never be alone, when you feel lonely

You'll always be loved, you're part of a family (the body)

Somethings happened today that will never fade away

When God comes down from Heaven, He's here to stay .......

“A Feast of Grace”

July 22, 2018 + Pentecost 9B

Psalm 23

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.” “You prepare a table before me.” “My cup overflows.” “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.”

The Twenty-Third Psalm speaks of a “Good Shepherd” that leads his flock to a “Feast of Grace!”  A grand everlasting banquet made up of the richest foods; the “Bread of Life,” and the best wine, with cups filled to overflowing. It is the feast that celebrates God’s victory over death!  We often only hear the Twenty-Third Psalm read aloud at funeral services, a very appropriate time to be reminded of the promises it proclaims, but today, here on this Sunday in the season of Pentecost, a season also referred to as “Ordinary Time,” we are reminded that Psalm 23 is not just for Funerals, it’s a promise for every day!  It’s a reminder that every time we gather we celebrate a “feast of grace,” a feast that is incredibly full and filled to overflowing, a reminder that life in Christ Jesus is never ordinary, but rather always extra-ordinary!  Today we are invited to once gather, “This is the feast of victory for our God, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia!” “To come and taste and see that the Lord is good!”

Unfortunately, life doesn’t always appear to us as a feast of grace, sometimes we just can’t see it, sometimes we can’t seem to choose it, and sometimes we even deny ourselves a seat at this heavenly banquet.

This morning I would like to share with you the story of “Babette’s Feast,” as re-told in the movie of the same name.  The movie, a cult classic of the 1980’s, takes place in Denmark in the late 19thcentury, but the original story took place in Norway amongst an austere Lutheran sect.  (Close to home)

This sect all wore black, they ate boiled cod and gruel made from boiling bread with a splash of ale.  They occupied themselves not with the things of this world but only with the hopes and dreams of the new heavenly Jerusalem, they just tolerated life on earth as a way to get there.  They often remarked that food and drink was meant only to sustain the body in order that we might do the will of God, eating and drinking was not to be enjoyed.

When the strong leader of this group dies, his two daughters take over the life of the community.  They continue with the austere life, boiled cod, gruel, and the toleration of life on earth until the New Jerusalem arrives.  Yet without their father’s stern leadership the group began to fall apart.  There was a dispute over a business matter, the rumor of a sexual affair, some people stopped speaking to one another.  Yet through it all the two spinster sisters remained faithful, organizing the worship services, preparing the cod, and boiling the bread.

It is to this community that Babette arrives. One stormy night she came unexpected to their door, she was fleeing the civil war in France where she had lost her son and her husband, she could not speak their language, all she had was a letter of introduction from an acquaintance of the community.  The letter begged the people of the village to show her mercy, to take her in, and added that Babette can cook!

Well the sisters had no money, they did not want a maid, and they distrusted her cooking ability.  Didn’t the French eat horses and frogs?  But Babette pleaded and softened their hearts. For the next fourteen years Babette worked for the sisters in exchange for a place to live.  She learned how to split a cod and cook the gruel. 

One day news came from France that Babette had won the French Lottery, 10,000 Francs! (A considerable amount of money) The sisters shook Babette’s hand in congratulations but inwardly their hearts sank. They had grown attached to her but knew that with the money Babette would soon be leaving, she would be able to return home.

As it happened, Babette’s winning the lottery coincided with the very time that the sisters and the worshipping community were discussing a celebration to honor the hundredth anniversary of their father’s birth, the beloved former leader of the sect.  Babette asked the sisters if she could cook them all a real French meal as part of the anniversary.  The sisters had misgivings about the plan, (French Food?) but Babette had never asked for anything - so they agreed.

As soon as Babette’s “prize money” arrived she went to work ordering the food for the banquet.  Strange and incredible things begin arriving at the village; Crates of small birds, cases of champagne and wine, the head of a cow, fresh vegetables, truffles, pheasants, hams, strange creatures that lived in the sea, a huge tortoise.

The “Austere Lutherans” began to be very, very worried about this feast. It seemed wicked!  Remember, “Tongues were meant for praise and thanksgiving not indulging in exotic tastes.”  They talked it over and decided they didn’t like it but that they would eat it for the sake of Babette.  No matter what happened they would be silent about the meal and prayerfully let their concerns pass.

Finally, the day arrived, the meal began, and the members of the sect sat reluctantly and uncomfortably around the table, remembering that they agreed to go ahead with this feast despite their reservations about it.  Silently they ate!  Finally, a guest of honor, not from the sect, a general in the army, exclaimed his marvel at the food.  “Incredible,” “amazing,” “unbelievable,” he raved.  Although no one else spoke of the food or drink, gradually the banquet worked a magical effect on the old churlish sect.  Their blood warmed, their tongues loosened, and they talked about the old days. And those who were feuding with each other made up; those who were not talking to each other broke the silence, a woman “burped aloud” and a man exclaimed “Hallelujah!”  And through it all the general could not stop talking about the meal; he was so amazed to find this meal in this place, he exclaimed that only once had he seen such a great meal, only one othe time in his life had he experienced such a menu of delight.  He reminisced about a very similar meal he once had at a famous restaurant in France, an establishment known for its highly accomplished and very treasured - female chef!

The meal ends with the members of the sect once again singing the songs of faith, but with a newfound freedom, with a new passion, with a  robust love for life, here and now, in the present moment.  Babette’s feast had opened the gates to their stubborn hearts and grace had poured in.

The final scene of the movie takes place in the kitchen.  Babette sits there surrounded by pots and pans, exhausted from all of her work. The sisters decide to break their vow and speak about the dinner, “It was quite a nice dinner Babette.”  After a time, Babette reveals, “I was the woman chef at the café the general spoke about.”  “We will all remember this evening long after you have gone back to Paris,” one of the sisters replied.   Babette then tells them that she will not be going back to Paris.  All her friends and relatives have been killed or imprisoned, and besides it would be too expensive.  “But what about the 10,000 francs?” the sisters ask.  Then Babette drops the bombshell; “I spent every bit of the money on the meal we just had!”

As good Lutherans they had heard sermons on grace almost every Sunday but until Babette’s excessive, over the top feast, that cost everything, they had never allowed themselves to “receive” such grace. 

I suppose the question for us today is, “Have we been to this great banquet?”  “Have we ever opened up and truly experienced the feast of grace?”

It seems that sometimes we think of this great banquet as only a future event.  We are like the people who lived at the time of the prophets, only able to look forward to that day when God will appear.  We have relegated Psalm 23 as text to be used only at funerals, a text about the end of life, and not a promise about everyday life, right here and right now.

Yet today our liturgy proclaims just the opposite.  “Let the vineyards be fruitful, Lord, and fill to the brim our cup of blessing.  Gather a harvest from the seeds that were sown, that we may be fed with the bread of life.” “Grace our table with your presence.”  Do we not realize that today all is ready for us, the table is set, the banquet is ready, the food is served, and the wine is being poured to overflowing?

Perhaps we too have misunderstood the feast?  Perhaps we have become preoccupied with our work, the realities and pressures of the so called “real world?”  Perhaps we don’t believe that we really deserve a feast?  Perhaps our outlook on faith and life has become “austere,” “rigid,” “somber,” and even“grim?”  Perhaps we have somehow become disconnected with hope and joy?  Perhaps sometimes because of the simplicity of the meal that sits on our altar, a piece of bread dipped into wine, we forget how much the meal costs?  

Yet in this simple meal God spends everything; it is bread, a body broken; and wine, blood poured out. It is a meal marked by God’s excessive passion, God’s incredible love for us, for you, for me, for friend, for neighbor, and for stranger.  A love that sets us free to see life in a totally different way, in a way that truly sets us free, and in a way that shows us how to truly live! 

Yes, “Now is the feast and celebration.”  Soon this table will be prepared, and you will be invited.  Don’t under estimate what might happen here, come and be transformed by the excessive love of God for you in Christ Jesus!  And in that costly love, the great feast poured out for you, find freedom, peace, hope, and love; a passion for life, the heavenly Jerusalem here and now; “The Way, The Truth, and The Life;”Your place in the kingdom, and your call to live in and out of the abundant passionate life of faith.  Amen.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff — they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.

The Ridiculous Journey Part Six: “Following Jesus”

Sunday July 15, 2018

Our Summer Sermon Series concludes this morning with the question, “Why do you follow Jesus?”  Why have you chosen to embark on what the world might see as a “Ridiculous Journey?”  You are here this morning, many of you are here almost every Sunday morning, some of you volunteer here on Tuesday nights serving a hot meal to those who are hungry, some of you are here Wednesday mornings working at The Caring Hands Pantry, all which means you have decided to follow the way of Jesus!  

But why?  

“Why,” It’s not always an easy question to answer. Some of us have just always been here, or in some church on Sunday mornings.  We’ve been following Jesus, taught to follow Jesus, from an early age. It’s the only faith story that we know, it’s a story that our parents and grandparents have taught us, it’s the story we share in common with our friends; for many of us, in many ways, it’s a story that just kind of chose us.

I sometimes wonder if I had grown up in the context of a different story would I still be following Jesus?  What if I grew up in a place where Jesus wasn’t so popular and widely accepted, what if I grew up in a place where there weren’t buildings dedicated to him in every city, what if grew up in a land where only a few people followed him and not millions, what if … would I still be a follower of Jesus?

Pastor Rich Nelson writes, “What if Jesus was just some little-known mystic/teacher/healer with four short books written about him and handful of letters that some of his disciples wrote about their attempts to follow his teachings - and none of these things ever got assembled and called “The New Testament”? If you came across these stories in a dusty book in the basement of your local library one day, would they be enough to compel you to call yourself a Christian?”

Would the story of Jesus, the story isolated and alone, be enough to cause you to invest your whole life in Jesus, to shape your values around Jesus, to make your life choices based on the teachings and world view of Jesus?  I don’t know, but to be honest, probably not!  It’s a pretty amazing story but without the history of the church, and the stories of the saints, and the tradition of family, it probably would not be a story upon which I would risk my life!  It would probably be just another very interesting biography.

So why do we follow Jesus, why do you follow Jesus, why do I follow Jesus?  

I thought I might go a little “Baptist” on you this morning, and even though it’s not very Lutheran, I thought I might share my testimony, my story of how it is that I came to follow Jesus.  I do so, trusting that your story and my story might overlap and make connections, that in my story you might recognize the story of Jesus.  I also found that I could connect my story to the four “archetypes of Christ,” the four “expressions of Christ,” that have been introduced to us in our sermon series; Jesus as The Revolutionary, Jesus as The Reconciler, Jesus as The Lover, and Jesus as The Sage.

So, here’s my story!  

I grew up Lutheran and for many years I took my faith for granted.  I was baptized, confirmed, and went to church every Sunday. That’s what my family did!  It just so happened that at my church there were not many kids that were in my age group, so in high school I found myself at the invitation of a friend, at another church, a very different kind of church, participating in their youth group.  They emphasized a more personal experience with Christ, a more emotional experience, something that very new to me.  And it was in that encounter I first “experienced” Jesus as the embodied love of God.  At that point in my life I really needed to know that I was loved completely and unconditionally.  I was a teenager, and in the midst of all that angst that goes along with that, it was incredibly liberating to experience the power of love.  The love of Jesus gave me the confidence and the strength to navigate those years, the “experience” of that love compelled me to be a follower of Jesus.

I was blessed to go to college at California Lutheran University, and it was there that I encounter Jesus as “The Revolutionary.”  In college my whole world exploded with new information, the development of critical thinking skills, and the task of having to do my own laundry!  And like many college students, all that was happening to me inside and out made we want to “change the world!”  And in the Jesus experience, being active in Campus Ministry, I found a God who wanted to make “all things new,” I resonated with Christ as God’s Agent of Change in the world, and I was all on board to follow, to be an active part of the present, and the soon to come, world changing, Kingdom of God!

As college came to an end, and I was faced with the reality of finding a job, I encountered Jesus as “The Reconciler.”  As I reflected on my gifts and talents, my dreams and passions, I realized that in my case I was being called into that “ministry of reconciliation.”  I sensed a call to stand in the gaps of life, to wander along the edges where “the least of these” could be found, to advocate for those who were “marginalized,” to be a “peacemaker,” to help connect people to the faith, the hope, the love, and the peace, that belongs to the Kingdom of God.   For me, following Jesus, led me into the Ordained Ministry, the vocation where I might best live out my faith, where my gifts, talents, resources, and passion intersected with God’s great dream for the world.  A dream that sought to reconcile all of creation, all of humanity, with God and each other.

And then somewhere along the way I finally found some wisdom!  (Still looking for more of that!)  I encountered Jesus as “The Sage.”  One of the best parts of growing older is becoming “a little bit wiser,” realizing what really matters and what doesn’t matter, and then investing your time and resources into those things.  It’s the ultimate values clarification exercise!  For me that meant realizing that - the greed and the materialism of this world, the need to scapegoat the other to define myself, the craziness of equating my true self with empty and false symbols of status, and the preoccupation with fear and the need to trust in violence; that all these things were not the true reality, that all these things were not to be found in the life and teachings of Jesus.  In the Sermon on the Mount, in Jesus’ beautiful articulation of The Kingdom of God, I found something that made lasting and profound sense.  This encounter with Jesus, the insights of faith, the aha moments of wisdom; “the way, the truth, and the life;” gave and continues to give me, “that peace that surpasses all understanding,” and that continues to compel me to follow Jesus.

So why do you follow Jesus?

Perhaps you follow Jesus because in Jesus you have experienced the power of the love of God! Perhaps you follow Jesus because you see the brokenness of the world and you are longing for the change that the Kingdom of God brings.  Perhaps you follow Jesus because you find yourself in the gaps of life, alongside Jesus, where peace and reconciliation are desperately needed.  Perhaps you follow Jesus because the emptiness of this world and “the way things get lived out” just don’t make sense, and you know there’s a better way. A better way lived out by Jesus, “the way, the truth, and the life.”

In the end we don’t follow Jesus because it’s an amazing story that you can find in a book, we follow Jesus because we have encountered “the living story of Jesus” in our life, because Jesus continues to be fleshed out in the world, we follow Jesus “because he first loved us!”  

In today’s Gospel Jesus exhorts his disciples to be “witnesses of these things.”  The decision to follow Jesus is not passed along in books but in our witness to the experience of the love of God in Christ Jesus. For it is in our witness, in our sharing, in our sharing of the experience, our sharing of the love that we have first received in Christ, that the faith of discipleship is passed on. I am so thankful for those who served as witnesses to me, the mentors of faith that shared their “experience” that I might have the “encounter,” the people who loved me when I felt unlovable, the people who challenged me when I was complacent, the people helped me discern my purpose when I was lost, the people who opened my eyes to the “distortions” of this world and the “reality” of God’s Kingdom, the people who followed Jesus in such a way that Jesus came to life for me.  In the end, they are perhaps biggest reason why I choose to follow Jesus!  

Why do you follow Jesus?

May we all be blessed with the faith and courage to follow Jesus.  May we all be blessed with the power of love that keeps us on “The Ridiculous Journey.”  May we all be blessed by the faithful ones who bear witness to the story of God in Christ Jesus. And may we all be blessed with the opportunity, in-with-and through God’s “amazing grace,” in our own “blessed” life, to be that witness for someone else, the story of Jesus alive again in this world.  Amen.

John 14:12

12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 

Luke 24:44-49

44 Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.’ 45Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and he said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.’