September 13, 2020

First Lutheran Church

September 13, 2020 + The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 50:15-21  15Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?” 16So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, 17‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.” 19But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? 20Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today. 21So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

“The Pain Ends Here”

Pr. Jasmine Waring

Batman, Superman, Spiderman...these are all superhero we have grown to love. Whenever a villain wreaks havoc over the city, there is chaos and destruction, where our hero is the only hope. From a tragic origin story, we see our heroes seek justice through epic, violent battles with unbelievable collateral damage (who cleans up after these events, anyway?) Order is restored once again when the villain is killed or captured. We see this pattern in many other superhero and action movies. We have become so accustomed to this narrative, that we don’t even notice the subtle message being taught to our society: the myth of redemptive violence. It tells us that violence brings order and peace, violence heals us, violence is the answer to our world’s biggest threats.

The bible is no exception to this myth. The Old Testament has many violent stories about how God’s people went to war to seek revenge, conquered land and settled personal scores with one another. It can be difficult to read these stories, and theologians still discuss violence in the bible and still don’t agree on a simple answer. There are, however, tiny glimpses of peaceful non-violence in the Old Testament. Our reading today has a surprising ending compared to other stories in the Bible.

Joseph’s brothers faked his death and sold him into slavery when he was a young man. Over many years of hardship, disappointment, peeks and valleys, Joseph found himself in the second highest political position in Egypt during a great famine. As fate would have it, Joseph’s estranged family found their way to Egypt in search for grain. When Joseph reveals his identity to his brothers, they were afraid for their lives! His brothers were aware of his political power and had the authority to imprison or even execute them...and according to the myth of redemptive violence, this would be the just or right thing to do. Instead, Joseph disrupts the cycle of redemptive violence by offering mercy and forgiveness. This is surprising moment of grace in the midst of a world which seeks a violent payback.

When I think of redemptive violence, I think about the game Hot Potato. When we experience pain, betrayal, and grief, it is like it is burning in our hands. If we hold onto it tightly, it will burn through us. We react to the pain by throwing or projecting it onto someone else. The recipient is harmed in the process and either throws it back or passes it off to someone else. This painful cycle continues to no end. There may be temporary satisfaction or relief when you pass it off to someone else, but it is only a matter of time until the pain returns to you. The only way to disrupt this cycle is to lay down the hot potato of pain, and find healing together.

On his sermon on the mount, Jesus famously taught, “You have heard it said, ‘Eye for eye, tooth for tooth’. But I tell you, do not resist an evil person”. Or “You have heard it said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’. But I tell you love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:38-39, 43-44). Jesus taught us how to disrupt the cycle of redemptive violence and modeled it in his own life. When Jesus was betrayed and arrested, he did not fight back. In fact, when one of his disciples came to his defense and cut off someone’s ear, Jesus rebuked him and said, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt 26:52). Our brother, Jesus took on violence and refused to pass it on in vengeance, even when it was within his power to do so. He asked God to forgive them, and with his outstretched arms on the cross he declares that the pain ends here. With this ending, Jesus let the pain die with him and transformed it into new life through his resurrection.

Father Richard Rohr has said that, “If we do not transform our pain, we will most assuredly transmit it”. Disrupting the cycle of redemptive violence does not mean that we allow ourselves to be abused, or taken advantage of. Laying down our revenge and creating space between those who harm us allows us to find healing. Then we can transform the pain through peaceful means of justice with community. We resist the urge to fight fire with fire and instead with water. We transform the pain by healing the root of the pain. Sometimes this means we need to take time to mourn the loss we have experienced. Whether it is a loss of trust, a loss of connection, or a loss of security. We bounce around the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance until we are ready to forgive and move on. Letting go of our pain and forgiving others releases yourself from the pain of dealing judgement that was never yours to give in the first place. Like Joseph and Jesus, we can see the bigger picture and find meaning in our pain and transform it for the greater good.

So, when violence surrounds you and tells you it is the only way to achieve peace, may you declare that the Prince of Peace has already won.  When you have been offended or wronged, may you resist the urge to hurl it back or let it burn through your hands. May you grieve over your pain and let others be a comforting witness to it as it is transformed into new life. And may the resurrected Christ comfort, strengthen and be your peace now more than ever.  Amen.

September 6, 2020

First Lutheran Church + September 6, 2020

Exodus 3:1-12; Mark 4:14-20

“Holy Distractions”

Exodus 3:1-12

Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

Mark 4:14-20

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

16 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. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

“Holy Distractions”

A number of years ago I was at a clergy event listening to the Rev. Mark Hansen, who at the time was the Presiding Bishop of the ELCA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the church body to which we - First Lutheran Church - belong.  At one point he said something that really got everyone’s attention, he urged us to never proclaim that God has a plan for someone.  Those words kind of took some of us by surprise.  Surely God has a plan for our lives.  That’s something we hear rather often, and something we’ve been taught to trust and believe.  Hearing those curious words, we all shifted in our seats, leaned forward, and began to listen more carefully.  Bishop Hansen continued, “Never proclaim that God has a plan, - that is a ‘specific’ plan; a plan with the details all worked out; a plan that is easy to follow; a plan, a destiny, that can’t be avoided.” 

Bishop Hansen went on to remind us that God created each of us in a great freedom, even an uncertain freedom; for a life filled with choices, options, and different ways that each of us might live out our calling, live out our vocation to love and serve others, find our place in the Kingdom.  Hansen declared, “Our God is a God of improvisation, not a God with specific plans.” 

You see, God has ideas for each of us, God has uniquely gifted each of us, God has hopes and dreams for each of us; but to that end God is not a puppet master; pulling on the strings, moving us around the stage, orchestrating all of life.  Instead, the “God of Improvisation” waits patiently for opportunities to grab our attention, to catch our eye, for that moment of synchronicity, maybe even serendipity, and perhaps even “holy distraction.” And in those holy moments, those moments when everything falls into place, God is ready to capture our imaginations, turn us aside from our intention, and coax us off that well beaten path and down that path that is less traveled.  And once we begin wandering down this road, things begin to happen, God things, Gospel things, things that change everything, things that awaken our calling, things that call us, not necessarily into our destiny, but into the destiny of the Kingdom.

That’s certainly true of the stories that are before us today, the story of the calling of Moses as found in Exodus, and the story of the calling of the first disciples as told in the Gospel of Mark.

Let’s begin by taking a closer look at the calling of Moses.  Moses is walking along, tending his sheep, when something off the beaten path catches his eye, out of the corner of his eye he sees this bush, “and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.”  And this causes Moses to “turn aside,” and once he “turns aside,” God speaks, “Moses, Moses!”  It’s interesting to note that it’s not until Moses “turns aside” that God speaks.  It’s not until he leaves the beaten path, it’s not until he changes directions, it’s not until he alters his plan, that God calls out to him.  It’s not until something catches his eye, it’s not until something “distracts” him, it’s not until then, and only then, that Moses receives his great calling in life.

In fact, you might say Moses’ whole life begins with a distraction of the eye.  Moses was born at a time when the Egyptians killed every Hebrew male child by throwing them into the Nile.  Moses’ mother hid her newborn child as long as she could, and then perhaps in a desperate act of improvisation, instead of throwing him into the Nile she placed him in a basket and set him afloat down the mighty river, hoping against hope, that his fate might be different.  And thankfully the daughter of Pharaoh came down to the river to bathe that day and in the midst of her bathing she was distracted, perhaps it was out of the corner of her eye that she saw a basket floating in the river, a curious site, something worth investigating, and when she opened it, she saw the child.  The child was crying, and she took pity on the child, brought him into her home and family, made him her own. 

What if she would have never looked up?  What if the basket never caught her eye?  What if she had not been curious?  What if she was in a hurry, her mind filled with everything she had to do that day?

In today’s Gospel Jesus is passing along the sea of Galilee, he is passing by all the fishermen, hard at work in their boats, bringing in the catch for the day.  Jesus is fresh out of the wilderness, filled with a vision, suddenly on a mission from God.  I can’t help but imagine that as he walked along, he was in deep thought, staring down at the path and wondering to himself, “How am I supposed to do this great and overwhelming thing that God has asked of me?”  And then as he passes by the Sea of Galilee, something catches his eyes, he looks up from the road, his thoughts take a moment of rest; as he begins to notice all these guys hard at work on their fishing boats, working with their nets pulling in the catch, gathering up all the fish.   And so it is that he has a crazy idea, maybe they can help?

As Jesus passed by, I wonder how many different people were at work that day, how many people were fishing, how many boats were in the water, how many nets were being cast.  And as Jesus looks out upon them, I wonder how many of those folks just ignored him, how many were just too busy to even notice him, how many never looked up from their work.  Eventually, Simon Peter makes the mistake of looking up and catching the eye of this man who just emerged from the desert full of the spirit.  And then, as each took notice of the other, perhaps in a twinkling of an eye, Simon Peter was distracted from his work long enough, to stumble upon the kingdom of God and his great calling life; when in a moment of “brilliance” Jesus came up with that great line, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.”  There’s something about being in the right place at the right time, being awake and aware in the right place at the right time.

Today we are reminded that the old adage is true, “Life is ultimately not about the destination, it’s about the interruptions, the distractions, and the detours along the way.”  Today we are all reminded to avoid always keeping our heads down remaining solely focused on the road ahead of us, the well beaten path that has become our goal, the route that has defined our expectations, the temptation to avoid distractions that might lead us off the main road.   And instead to remain open to the God who likes to improvise, the work of the Spirit that is always unexpected, and the Christ who is waiting to catch us out of the corner of our eye; that we might be led astray, led off that main road, and into that place where God awaits us.  For that may be the place where the Gospel will really take hold and lead us into the good work that God would have us do with our one great life.

I imagine that nearly all of us had some plans when this year 2020 began.  Some of the plans were probably ordinary, and some of the plans might have been extraordinary.  And I’m quite sure that none of us planned to go into quarantine sometime around March and remain there for months.   The dictionary defines distraction as “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something else.”  I believe we can say that the Coronavirus has definitely distracted us from nearly all the things we had planned to do this year.  So, we’ve been distracted, pulled off the main road, and turned away from our planned destinations.  I can’t help but wonder … how might God use this opportunity to suddenly catch our eye and find a new way into our life, find a new way into our life with the Kingdom; creating opportunities for us to renew our faith, re-form our life, and repurpose our service.

May we all be made awake to the God who is improvising even now.  May we be blessed with eyes that are open to distractions, and ears that hear a great calling.  And may we be filled with “the courage” necessary to “turn aside,” and go in a new direction with a different plan.

Be distracted, learn to improvise, and in all these things, continue to love as you have been loved.  Amen.

Sunday August 30, 2020 "Genuine Love"

First Lutheran Church

August 30, 2020 + The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Romans 12:9-21  9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but  associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

“True Love”

Pastor Greg Ronning

Today I want to talk to you about “love.” In particular, “true love,” “real love,” “authentic love,” - “genuine love.”  The Beatles were right when they proclaimed in song, “All you need is love, all you need is love, all you need is love, love, - love is all you need.”  But they were wrong when they added, “It’s easy.”  The Beatles sang “All You Need is Love,” and then they broke up!  It’s not easy.

We all know that love is the answer, we know that we need love, and that we need to love others; yet “true love,” “real love,” “authentic love,” - “genuine love,”  is hard to find, and seemingly even harder to hold onto in a world that has hopelessly confused love.  I believe it was Johnny Lee who sang, in the movie “Urban Cowboy,” “I’ve been lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”

And alas, we’ve all made the mistake of “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”  We’ve all been misled by something that looked like authentic love, but in the end proved to be anything but true love.  Unfortunately, incomplete or disingenuous, misguided or malicious, false versions of “love,” abound all around us.  We confuse love with narcissism, we confuse love with codependency, we confuse love with commercialism, we confuse love with pride, we confuse love with sex, we confuse love with safety, we even confuse love with hate. 

“All you need is love,” we know it’s the truth, but too often we find ourselves, “Lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”

So, where do we find the love we so desperately want and need?  Where do we find “true love,” “real love,” “authentic love,” - “genuine love?”   St. John reminds us in First John, “God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:16b) That’s where true love is found.  And in today’s appointed epistle from the book of Romans, St. Paul unpacks for us, in very concrete and practical terms, what it means to “abide” in the “genuine” love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.  If you’re “lookin’ for love” St Paul has just what you need!

St. Paul begins by calling us to zealously pursue “genuine” love, and to avoid false love at all costs.  “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.” And then he provides us with a model of what this “genuine love” looks like in very practical ways, in an ever-widening circle of imperatives that when engaged, leads us ever and more deeply, into the great love of God that we share in - with - and through Christ Jesus.

This ever-widening circle of imperatives begins with one’s own faith community, for us it begins with our life together here at First Lutheran.  St. Paul writes, “Love one another with mutual affection.”  We begin the path towards true love by simply caring for “each other,” and allowing “each other” to care for us.  Belong and participating, serving and being served, in the local faith community is the foundation of true love.  Sometimes the biggest challenge here is not to serve others, but to let others serve us, love us, when we are in need.

From there, Paul begins to extend the circle of love, “Contribute to the needs of the saints.”  Contextually this imperative is a plea to send resources to the church in Jerusalem that was suffering in poverty.  Today we are reminded to remember our brothers and sisters in the faith that find themselves in that same condition, lacking resources for daily living. And that’s a relatively easy thing to do, they are family in Christ, and we’ve always been taught the old proverb that “charity begins at home.”  So, we reach out to our brothers and sisters in need. 

Yet Paul does not stop here, Paul does not stop in this relatively comfortable place, he takes it a step further.  The next imperative challenges us to widen our circle of true love even further, “Extend hospitality to strangers.”  While this is not something radically new, it has always been a part of the Judeo-Christian faith tradition, this command can be found way back in the book of Leviticus, “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” “Extend hospitality to strangers,” it’s nothing new, but it is, and has always been, a challenge.  Welcoming strangers does not come naturally to us in our fallen nature.  Yet in practicing that kind of love - God abides, love is found.  We are challenged to go deeper into love.

And then comes the next paragraph in today’s appointed reading about “genuine” love, where we discover that Paul is not yet done challenging us with the “ever-widening circle of true love.”  Paul exhorts us, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them,” “Do not repay anyone evil for evil,” “never avenge yourselves,” “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink.” 

Yep, now Paul wants us to love our enemies!  True love is truly pushing us to our limits - and beyond.  Paul does add that in doing so we “will heap burning coals on their heads.”  And perhaps that makes us feel a little better about “loving” our enemies. However, Theologian Mark Reasoner is quick to remind us that our “love for an enemy isn't ‘genuine’ if we are motivated by the idea that any kindness shown increases God's punishment on the person!”  Paul, just like Jesus, wants us to truly love our enemies, and in doing so “authentically” proclaim the Gospel that “all” might know and experience the love of God.

In today’s reading from the Twelfth Chapter of Romans, St. Paul unpacks “true love,” “real love,” “authentic love,” - “genuine love.”  He gets right to the heart of what “non-hypocritical love” looks like in the Christian community.  He takes us on a journey, from the inside out, through the ever-widening, and ever challenging, extending circle of God’s love beginning with kinship in our own community, to the saints who are the extended family of our community, to the strangers we encounter, to the blessing or our enemies, until “everyone” can be found inside the circle that is the love of God, the circle that is - the God that is love.

This is the journey that leads us into the love of God that we so desperately want and need, the love of God that saves us, grants us peace, and sets us free.  This is “all the love” we need, and thanks to Paul, we know exactly what it looks like and where it abides.  There is no more need to be “lookin’ for love in all the wrong places.”

Yet, just how do we do it?  How do we make this challenging journey?  How do we begin to widen the circles of love in our life?  How do we start to practice this challenging love?  It’s not easy!

The Good News is in the grammar!  So often we read the words found in today’s lesson, and in our heads, we hear Paul addressing us - individually.  It’s a Greek and English grammar thing.  I hear Paul saying, “Greg let your love be genuine.  Greg, you need to welcome strangers.  Greg, you need to love your enemies.”  And heard in this way, it comes off as judgement.  But that’s not what Paul is saying, he’s not saying that at all.  All the imperatives in today’s readings, all the challenges about love, all the action verbs, are written in the plural!  Paul is addressing the faith community, the “plural you,” in Texas we would say “you all,” or if it’s a big group of people, “all you all.”  But because in English grammar we don’t make that distinction clear, and because we tend to think and understand more individualistically, we don’t always pick that contextual clue up.  So, here’s the good news, the imperative is not for the individual believer, but for the community of believers. 

And that’s good news.  Because I know I can’t do it by myself, and you know you can’t do it by yourself, but together - we can do it.  Paul’s use of the plural form of the verb is his way of attaching a warning label to “true love,” He’s telling us, “Do not try to do this alone!”  It can’t be done alone, it’s dangerous alone, it’s not meant to be done alone; true love is meant to be practiced by the faith community!  Yes, it is true, we have been saved by grammar!

And I know this is truth, because my experience of true love, bears witness to it.  When I abide with all of you, when we abide together, “true love,” “real love,” “authentic love,” - “genuine love,” happens!  The love we share builds each of us up, it reminds us that we are the children of God.  In our gathering, even our gathering online, I experience true love.  And even though I am very passionate about serving the poor, by myself I cannot begin to do anything that makes a difference.  But this past Tuesday I was able to helps serve 44 meals to our hungry neighbors, and some of them were complete strangers to me.  And it was because a team of us gathered together to do it.  And this past Wednesday, our faith community, supported by each of you in a variety of ways, giving of your time and resources, was able to feed over 100 families because of the Caring Hands Food Pantry. 

Together, we are able to practice an ever-widening circle of true love.  We are able to do something together that we could never do alone.  And it places us in the place where God abides, it places us in the place where true love abides, and that makes a difference, a difference to everyone, it extends the circle of true love.  And abiding in this love gives me joy, faith, hope, and peace.

The true love that we are all looking for, the kind of love that endures, the kind of love that won’t let us down, the kind of love that brings us joy, the kind of love that gives us meaning and purpose, the kind of love that is the salvation of God; the kind of love that will last forever, is found in our life together serving each other, serving those in need, serving the stranger, and even in serving the enemy.  This is where God abides, this is where love abides, this is the journey that leads ever deeper into the depths of God’s love.

And this is the love of God that we have experienced in Christ; Who reached out to us when we were yet sinners, enemies of the cross; Who reached out to us when we were estranged and alone in this world; Who reached out to us when we were in need, in with and through a faith community; Who reached out to us in the chaotic waters of baptism, raising us up and into the very Body of Christ; Who will always and forever be reaching out to include us in God’s great ever-widening circle of love.

Gathered by Christ, empower by the Spirit, together we continue this great journey deeper into the love of God, unto abundant life here and now and forevermore, Amen.