“All Things to All People”

First Lutheran Church

Epiphany 5B; February 4, 2018

Sermon “All Things to All People”

In the 6th Century BC, the Israelites were defeated by the Babylonians, removed from their homelands, and forced to live in exile.  In the midst of their captivity the prophet Ezekiel offered the people these words of hope.  “For thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. … I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, …”  (Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-16)

“I Will Come to You”

I will come to you

I will seek you out when you are lost and alone

I will lead you home

I will come to you

When the clouds grow dark and you have gone astray

My love will show you the way

In the valley dark

Or mountain high

Somewhere in between

I will hear your cry.

God promises to come to us - this is the fullness of the promise of the Gospel.  And in the fullness of time God did just that, God became incarnate in the person of Jesus.  God does not remain distant, untouchable, unattainable, unrecognizable, but rather God comes to us in the very form of us, God becomes human, that we might know that we are loved, that we might know how to love, that we might be saved, that we might be brought into, and made part of, the Kingdom of God.

And this is no small thing, this notion that God comes to us.  God does not demand that we seek God out, that we climb the holy mountain, that we somehow make ourselves presentable before God’s throne. No, God chooses to leave “the glories of heaven” behind, to become that humble shepherd that will seek us out, to find us in the brokenness of this world, even in the brokenness of our own doing.  This is the grace that is so amazing, the grace that breaks into our life, the grace that transforms us, and the grace that invites us into lives of meaning and purpose.  St. Paul writes in the second chapter of Philippians, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death - even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:4-8)

So it is that in today’s appointed epistle St. Paul writes, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”  (1 Corinthians 9:22b-23)

“All things to all people,” but wait a minute that’s not right, that’s not what we’ve been taught.  That’s not the popular cultural wisdom that’s been passed on to us from teachers, counselors, and friends.  That’s not what my mother taught me, I remember her very distinctly telling me just the opposite, she told me that you can’t be “all things to all people,” and that I just had to “be myself.”  Do you remember this old song …

But it's all right now  

I learned my lesson well

You see you can’t please everyone

So you got to please yourself

“To thine own self be true!”

Well of course my mom was right, mom is always right, but that doesn’t mean I always get to do everything my way, it doesn’t mean that I have the right to be selfish, it doesn’t mean that comprise is a bad word, it doesn’t mean that there will be times when I will be called to be selfless and even accommodating for the sake of the Gospel, for the sake of witnessing to grace that is amazing.  It strikes me that sometimes Christians, that even Lutherans, that sometimes you and I, can be so inflexible with our faith life, the way that we understand church, doctrine, and service, that we forget it was God’s great flexibility, God’s willingness to come down to us, that first brought the gospel in our life. Instead of being all things to all people, at times we refuse to be anything else but our own particular limited understanding of faith, not of, but despite the gospel!

So a few thoughts …

First, it’s important to remember what God chose to do for humanity.  We need to remember that God chose to give up the “glories of heaven,” to become human, to become extremely vulnerable, in order that we might know that we are loved, that we might learn how to love one another, that we might be set free, and brought into the peace of God’s kingdom.  This is no small thing, this is the greatest story ever told, a love story unlike no other.  And each of us is “in” this story!  And for this we should pause, remember, and give thanks!

Secondly, how might you respond? How does being involved in this story impact you? What does it stir up within you, and how does it want to come out?  St. Paul decided that he wanted to pass the story on, that he wanted to share the good news about God’s amazing grace.  And in order to do that he would strive to become “all things to all people,” just as God did for him, and in doing so make connections and enter into relationships that might embody the message of love, hope, peace, and faith.  Paul would be Jewish to connect with the Jews, he would be as a Gentile to relate to the Gentiles, he would become weak to understand how to speak of God to the weak.  Paul humbled himself, as Christ humbled himself, for the sake of the Gospel.  How might you humble yourself, allow yourself to become “all things to all people,” for the sake of the Gospel?  Who is God calling you to reach out to, how can you enter into their world, so that you might better speak of God’s love?

And Thirdly, how might we respond as a community of faith?  What about our gathering and serving, what about our worship, what about our faith witness - might be opened up if we made ourselves more accessible, more inviting to others?  How might we better become “all things to all people” for the sake of the Gospel?  What’s holding us back, what makes us inaccessible, what limits the ways that God might be able to use us?  This past year we have been struggling “and” rejoicing with changes.  We’ve made exciting changes and we’ve made painful changes.  And yet, still, there are more changes before us!  I wonder what else we might do to become all things to all people?  How might God “come to others;” how might God seek out the lost, broken and forgotten; how might God be that Good Shepherd; - in - with - and through - us?  How might we respond as a community of faith?

I will come to you

I will seek you out when you are lost and alone

I will lead you home

I will come to you

When the clouds grow dark and you have gone astray

My love will show you the way

May God’s love show us the way, the way to faithfully be "all things to all people;”  In order that the love we have experienced in Christ might be experienced by others, those we have been called to love and serve, those we have been called to feed body and soul

Amen.

"Be Silent and Come Out"

Epiphany 4B, January 28, 2018

Mark 1:21-28

“Be Silent and Come Out!”

Today we hear the story of a man with an unclean spirit, a man possessed by a demon of sorts.  We hear how Jesus, with a new teaching, a teaching with an authority never heard before, commands that this unclean spirit should be silent, and that it should come out of the man that it possesses.

And then something happens that is out of the ordinary, something new is witnessed by the people in the synagogue.  With convulsions and crying out the demon leaves this man's body and the man is set free from its presence.  The people are amazed because someone has confronted the evil in their world, the dark and the unknown, - and prevailed!  

Are we also plagued by "unclean spirits?”  Are we also in need of this "new teaching with authority"?   Do “we” need this story?  I don’t know about you but I haven't seen any demons lurking around First Lutheran lately.  In fact I'm not sure I even believe that demons exist, at least not in the way they are depicted in the movies and on some religious TV shows.  Quite frankly I have a hard time relating to the language that we have before us in today's gospel.  

For the most part we don't use the language of myth, and stories of “unclean spirits” to describe our world and the things we can't explain.  Science has forever changed the way we understand the world about us and the world inside us.  Psychology, astronomy, biology, sociology, and countless other scientific disciplines have given new names to the many “demons” of the world.  They have given us a different language to label our demons, diseases, environmental phenomena, and personality quirks.  

I suppose the temptation here is to leave the gospel and its “mythological stories” behind, and call it irrelevant; interesting stories, fascinating stories, mysterious stories but not stories to be taken seriously or to use in shaping one’s life or spirituality.  Yet we must  remember, the many and wonderful scientific discoveries that gave birth to our modern language and world view do not by any means render today's gospel a fairy tale of mere fantasy.  The language of myth is one way that the ancient peoples described their world, especially the things they could not understand.  Myths hold great truths about the human condition, they can convey valuable truths and wisdom, and they can even bring to us, bring about in us, the Living Word of God. 

So how do we begin to unpack today’s gospel?  Let’s begin with the man in our story.  We don't know much about him, but we can make some assumptions.  He was human and therefore not much different than you and I.  He most likely worked hard for a living, had relationships, family; and as the story tells us, he went to synagogue, perhaps for the same reasons we go to church.  (The Coffee and pastries)  He was a person of feelings, desires, fears, and like all of us he had his own personal gifts, hopes, and dreams.   

Yet it seems that he was also held captive by something that he could not understand or grab hold of, - he had his own personal problem.  Maybe it was a small problem that he could control fairly well, at least most of the time; or maybe it was something that controlled him, perhaps at times it totally controlled him!  A feeling he could not completely shake, a fear that haunted him, a desire that he could not satisfy, a desire or impulse that could lead him into places and situations that gnawed away at his life and his freedom.  This "unclean spirit" at times left him feeling helpless, confused, inferior, and imprisoned. 

Perhaps you can understand what his life might have been like? Perhaps you can empathize with his struggle?  For we have all lived this struggle to one degree or another.  I know I have.  There are patterns of behavior, feelings, and fear that I struggle with in my life.  Things that do not do me any good, things that do not serve the church, things that do not strengthen my relationships.  Things that seem to erode my life in small pieces, one precious piece at a time.  And what drives me crazy is the fact that I can't even tell you why I do them.  I only know that in those moments some kind of fear and insecurity rises from deep within me and it changes the way I think, the way I act, and even the way I believe.  I end up echoing the words of St. Paul, as found in the book of Romans, Chapter Seven, "What I do, I do not understand.  For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate."  

We all have that kind of sin in our life, we all have our own "unclean spirits" that hold some kind of power over us.  They may be the external pressures of money and status.  It may be the demon of perfectionism that finds our every fault, that continually judges us and find us guilty.  It could be the demons that fill our hearts and minds with fear, that force us to hide away, merge into the crowd, hold back.  Some of us fight with the demon of self hatred, a demon that whispers into our sacred spaces, causing us to deny our giftedness, our identity as the beloved children of God.  Maybe it’s the demon of pride that plugs our ears to truth and honest reflection, blocking our heart from healing and wholeness.  Then there are the demons that attack us when we are ill, demons that steal our hope and push us into downward cycles of despair.  And finally there are the demons of addiction, demons that fill our emptiness with things that fill us up temporarily, but soon begin to create a deeper emptiness in our lives. 

Let us not be fooled, there are demons in our lives.  And they demand authority, they demand that we surrender.  And too often we end up giving in to them, we surrender, we give them authority in our life.  It’s true, we all could use a “new teaching” with a “new authority” that might shake us free from those patterns of behavior, those unkind feelings, and the known and unknown fears that limit our life.  We too sit in the synagogue in Capernaum hoping that something out of the ordinary might happen, that someone might speak a word that will make a difference.

And the good news is that those words have been spoken!  ** We gathered this morning with a splash of water reminding us that we are nothing less than the beloved children of God. ** Together we confessed our brokenness and heard God’s proclamation of love and forgiveness, the power to be the children of God.  Soon the table will be prepared and a feast of love, bread and wine, will strengthen us and unite us.  Words of love will be spoken, “Given for you, Shed for you.”  While demons continue to whisper into our ears today with authority Christ rebukes them, “Be silent and come out!”

Martin Luther wrote that the fall from grace in Eden was not so much the disobedience of God's law but the failure to trust God.  Adam and Eve were guilty of trying to establish their own goodness by themselves apart from God.  They could not trust God's words spoken to them, the words that said, "You are good,” and "You are loved.”  Instead they believed the words of the serpent, words that held them captive to self doubt, words that possessed them, words that formed false self perceptions, and unnecessary behavior.  They could not believe that they were good, that they were loved.  The serpent became authoritative and life became hell.

Today that false authority, which has also been manifested in our lives, resulting in our own particular "unclean spirits,” - is challenged.  A new teaching with authority is fleshed out before us, a new way by which to live. 

God has called each of us to speak authoritative words of love and forgiveness to each other.  And we are called and invited to believe these words.  It is why we gather together in worship.  It is how God is present in our lives.  When we reach out to one another in grace and love an amazing power and authority becomes present, a power that liberates us from our darkest fears, and the “unclean spirits” that surround us, and live inside us.  As we “love one another” in the authority and fullness of God's love, “demons,” doubt, and fear are silenced; and we find ourselves set free, and living faithfully in the abundance of God’s Kingdom.    

May the authority and power of God's everlasting love dwell in your hearts and minds forever.  Amen. 

"Three Stories of Call"

First Lutheran Church

January 14, 2018 + Second Sunday after Epiphany

Last Sunday we talked about the “immediacy” of the Kingdom of God as proclaimed in the Gospel of Mark, (the primary Gospel in this year’s appointed readings.)  We talked about the sense of urgency in the Gospel of Mark, how the Kingdom has arrived in Jesus, and suddenly everyone is in a hurry.  “Now” is the time to answer the calling of our faith,  “now” is the time to act boldly and decisively, “now” is the time to live out the words of the prophet Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, straightaway!” 

Today I’d like to back up a little and talk about how one gets to the point of “immediately” responding to the call of faith, how one moves from complacency to a sense of urgency.  Because honestly it’s really hard to drop everything and just follow Jesus.  It’s challenging to pursue something with all abandon. It’s hard to really “let go” and “let God.”  How do we get from being overly cautious to being radically faithful?  How is it that we position ourselves to respond to the “immediacy” of the Kingdom of God?

In today’s appointed readings from 1 Samuel and the Gospel of John, we have two different stories of call, two different stories of how a couple of people were able to hear the calling of God and respond faithfully, even seemingly “immediately.” Perhaps in these stories we will discover how it is that we are being called by God, and perhaps in the process, in our discernment, we might also be empowered to respond to our own unique calling in life, as individuals and as a community of faith.  Perhaps we will learn how to position ourselves to appropriately respond to the “immediacy” of the Kingdom of God?

But before we look at those two stories, I want to begin by looking at a third story, it’s actually next week’s appointed reading from the Gospel of Mark.  (Mark 1:16-18) “As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen.  And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people."  And immediately they left their nets and followed him.”  

This is perhaps one of the best known stories of “call” in the bible, Jesus simply approaches two fishermen and directly asks them to change their vocations, to stop fishing for fish and instead start fishing for people.  And for some reason they say, “Sure,” and they “immediately” drop everything and follow Jesus.

It’s a wonderful story, but to be honest, I don’t really find it particularly helpful when it comes to my faith life.  When it comes to discerning the will of God, the voice of God in my life, it’s just not that easy.  I am more cautious, I have more questions, I have more doubts and more fears, and I need more time to figure it out.  If you force me to act immediately, I will probably just say “no.”  So this story is just not really helpful to me, because when it comes to discerning my call - that’s not been my experience of how it works.  

I say that, but then I am reminded of that one time when I knew “immediately” what I was being called to do, what I wanted to do, what God wanted me to do.  It was about a year ago, after a short meeting with a few of you folks.  I left that relatively short meeting knowing that if you were to “call” me to serve here at First Lutheran I was going to say, “yes."  It didn’t necessarily make any sense, but I didn’t need any time to think about it, after our conversation I knew it was the right call at the right time.  However my “immediate” response was actually not quite that simple, it was more than just an instantaneous “aha” moment, there was some history, a process of discernment, that helped me to recognize that I was indeed suddenly  “in the right place at the right time.”  And that leads us into today’s two stories of call, “The Call of Samuel” and “The Call of Nathanael.” 

The Call of Samuel is one of my favorite bible stories.  Samuel is a young boy serving in the temple alongside the High Priest Eli.  One night God calls out to Samuel, and Samuel responds by running to the place where Eli is sleeping, and wakes him up, “Here I am!”  Eli, most likely muttering in his sleep, replies, “I did not call you, go back to sleep.”  But it happens again, Samuel hears his voice being called and runs to Eli, and this time I suspect an irritated Eli, sends Samuel away in no uncertain terms, “Go back to sleep.”  Of course it happens a third time, Samuel hears his voice, and probably a bit sheepishly crawls back into Eli’s sleeping presence, “Excuse me, you called? Here I am.”  And this time Eli finally realizes that is it God who is calling out to Samuel.  “Next time you hear the voice, turn to God and respond, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’”

The Call of Samuel is in man ways a story about “mentoring.”  It is the mentors in our life that teach us how to discern the voice of God.  They teach us how to filter out all the noise in this world and listen to that which is of the Kingdom of God.  In my life I was blessed with mentors who taught me about Jesus, that involved me in the life of the Kingdom, that helped me to respond, "Speak, for your servant is listening.”  There’s no way you can respond to the immediacy of the kingdom without a guide who can instruct you, teach you, and help you to recognize the voice of God.  

It was because of my mentors from long ago, and in my mentoring of others, that I am better able to respond to the “immediacy” of my calling in the kingdom today!  My favorite mentors always taught me and reminded me that Christ could always be found in serving the so called “least of these.”  So it is that when the heart of the mission at First Lutheran was expressed in concern for feeding its neighbors, I knew I could be, and wanted to be, a part of what was happening here.  My mentors had prepared me for the moment, the opportunity, my “immediate” response.  

The Kingdom of God is at hand.  Who are your mentors?  What did they teach you about faith?  Who have you been called to mentor?

The Call of Nathanael is a story about studying and friendships.  His story begins when his friend Philip tells him about Jesus.  Nathanael’s first response is, “Nazareth, are you kidding me?” “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Apparently Nazareth did not have a good reputation, it was a small and insignificant place.  Yet because it was his friend, and because his friend persisted, “Come and See;” Nathanael agrees to check Jesus out.  While mentors greatly impact our lives, they can’t always get us to do things in the same way our friends can, for better or worse.  It’s always been my friends who have talked me into actually doing things from “asking out” that girl I liked, to getting me involved with a service project at church.  Friends that care for us, friends that know us, have a way of helping us to be ready to do the right thing at the right time.  I would never be the person I am today if it were not for my college friends, and the way we supported and challenged each other in our faith life.  

It was more than a year and half ago when a friend of mine in the Bishop’s office invited me to “come and see” First Lutheran.  I responded, “First Lutheran in Fullerton, Can anything good come out of that place?” (Not really!)  So I drove over one day, I met the person named Bunny, and she showed me the whole church!  I saw what was happening here and I was intrigued!  Some six months after that “sneaky” visit, that same friend in the bishop’s office suggested that I come over and have a conversation with some of the leaders at First Lutheran.  And so it began! 

The Kingdom of God is at hand!  What has that good friend of yours been asking you to “come and see?”  What friend do you need to invite to First Lutheran to “come and see” all the good things that God is about here in this place?  And by the way, that’s the way churches really grow, when people invite their friends to “come and see.”

Nathanael is also prepared because of his diligence in his studies.  He was a student of the law and the prophets, he was knowledgable about his faith, and thus when Jesus appears - he recognizes who Jesus is and what that means!  We know that Nathanael was a student because Jesus refers to him as someone who sits “under the fig tree,” a symbolic reference to the life of a religious scholar.  So it is that we are called to be knowledgeable about our faith, to read the scriptures, participate in learning events, to relentlessly seek after the truth in life.  My studies, and my continual studies, help me to be better prepared to respond to the “immediacy” of the kingdom, the opportunities of faith, the call of God in Christ Jesus.  

The Kingdom of God is at hand!  What are you studying these days?  Who are you teaching?  You never know what might happen in a bible study, or in one of your classes over at Cal State Fullerton this semester, that will prepare you for a future pivotal moment in your life!

Ultimately we are able to respond to the “immediacy” of the Kingdom, the urgency of our faith,  the great calling in our life; only in our being prepared by mentors, by our studies, and by accepting the invitation of our friends and loved ones - “to come and see.”  Today the Kingdom of God is at hand, how have you been prepared for the moment?

And how will we prepare for the next moment when God calls out to us?  How do we stayed prepared as a community of faith?  How can we ensure that we are part of “thy kingdom come, thy will be done?”  How do we remain in the immediacy of the Kingdom?  

There’s work to do this coming year at First Lutheran.  And we will be organizing ourselves into teams to do that work;  We will need people to make sure our building, one of our greatest resources, is kept in shape and renovated in ways that it can be used to serve our mission; We will need people to help create and implement events and programs that will educate us, that we might be “transformed by the renewing of our minds;” We need people who will provide hospitality for those who “come and see,” what is happening here;  And we will need people to continue to support and even expand our efforts to feed our neighbors, care for our seniors, and live out the Gospel here in this place.

Yes, the kingdom of God is at hand.  How have you, how have we, been prepared to respond in this moment?

Amen.