First Lutheran Church

August 21, 2022 – The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 13:10-17Now [Jesus] was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?” When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

Sermon

Pastor Greg Ronning

I don’t think I’ve ever fully appreciated the story in today’s appointed Gospel, the story about a woman who was “bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.”  It’s been three years since this story appeared in our lectionary, and over the last three years I have discovered the story anew.  It’s now a story to which I can began to relate. 

You see there have been moments, increasing moments over the last few years, when upon rising up from my chair, I am “bent over and quite unable to stand up straight.”  It often happens on a day that I have been golfing, but sometimes It just happens on days when I’ve done nothing particularly strenuous. All of the sudden in the middle of standing up, my back just stops, it seizes up, and it refuses to fully straighten out.  And in that moment, I am in pain, and all I can see is the floor below me.  Thankfully, after a few steps, sometimes a few more, I am usually able to slowly rise up, and once again, able to look up and forward.  But in that brief moment when I first try to get up, I can begin to imagine what it might have been like for the woman in today’s Gospel.

And honestly, I can only begin to imagine what her life must have been like.  For eighteen years she has been “bent over and unable to stand up straight.”  For eighteen years she has been forced to stare at the ground, watching only her feet and the feet others as she made her daily way in life.  For eighteen years I imagine she rarely made eye contact with another person, exchanged a passing smile, shared a personal greeting.  For eighteen years she struggled with her everyday work.  For eighteen years she seldom had the opportunity to see the sun rise and set, to gaze up at the stars in the heavens.  For eighteen years her condition pushed her down, and probably pushed her out to the margins of life.  She must have been strong and resilient to survive, but over eighteen years she also must have been worn out and resigned to the burden that life had unfairly dealt her.

On this day, on the Sabbath, she shuffles head down to the synagogue where Jesus is teaching.  We don’t know if this was her custom, a special trip, or just happenstance.  Has she been coming for the past eighteen years seeking healing?  Did going to the synagogue give her peace, hope, and comfort? I wonder if anyone ever noticed her presence?  Or did she just disappear into the background, pushed down and out; down to the ground upon which she was forced to stare, out of the sight of everyone who stood up straight and tall?

Yet this day will be different!  Something amazing will happen.  It’s important to note that she does not approach Jesus, unlike others she does not come up to him and asked to be healed.  Odds are, cast down as she was, that she doesn’t even see Jesus.  But Jesus sees her! And this is the important part, Jesus sees her!  Even though Jesus is engaged in teaching, in the middle of his sermon, busy leading the service; he suddenly becomes aware of her presence and stops everything and calls out to her, invites her to come over to him, invites her forward into his presence. 

Everything must have come to a standstill as she slowly made her way over to Jesus.  How strange it must have been for everyone to see this bent woman from the edges, slowly and deliberately shuffle into the very middle of it all.  When she finally arrives, Jesus declares, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.”  He then lays his hands on her, and she immediately straightens up and begins singing praises to God.  I imagine that her eyes were filled with tears as she straightened up and looked directly into Jesus eyes, as she looked face to face at those surrounding her, as she shared the joy of smiles, as she looked up towards heaven for the first time in years.

And then a stuffy church leader tries to ruin the moment. He is indignant(annoyed, offended, resentful, outraged, irate)because Jesus broke the rules, he violated the tradition, he interrupted the service order, he disrespected the Sabbath, Jesus did something new in a place that only valued the old ways.  The Leader complains, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.” 

The kingdom has suddenly broken into their world, and he is unable to see it.  Ironically the synagogue, the sanctuary, the gathering, has not been designed to allow the kingdom to come. Sadly, in many ways, it actually hinders the coming of God’s kingdom. I am reminded of a meme I saw this past week on Facebook reminding us that whenever we pray, “Thy Kingdom come,” we are also in essence praying, “May my kingdom go.”  This leader in the synagogue, and those who were aligned with him, were not open to the unfolding of God’s Kingdom, because it did not match their expectations, their small and limited understanding of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus quickly calls them out on their hypocritical demands, their inability to bear witness to the kingdom that is at hand; and the woman is allowed to continue to stand up straight and praise God, and the entire crowd began rejoicing at the wonderful thing that Jesus had done.

Today the good news comes to us, as it usually does, as a word of comfort and a word of challenge.  We all have been forced to carry burdens in life, burdens that often leave us bent over, unable to straighten up, forcing our eyes down to the ground.  Like the woman in today’s Gospel, we have physical ailments that make us weary and resigned.  We also have burdens placed upon us by others, burdens that are psychological, sociological, and ideological.  And all these burdens we carry tend to bend us over and lower our vision.  Worn out with our heads down we stop making eye contact, exchanging smiles, and greeting one another.  And in the process, we get pushed down and pushed out.  And it may feel like nobody notices you and your struggles. 

Today we are reminded of Jesus promise, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  To that end the Spirit has gathered us together this morning to be the body of Christ, to that end the Spirit has given us eyes to notice each other’s burdens, and hands to help lighten each other’s loads.  Just as the Spirit brought the woman in today’s Gospel to the synagogue, you have been brought here today.  And just as Jesus noticed her, Jesus fleshed out in each of us, sees you.

And yes, that is the challenge, to allow ourselves to become the body of Christ for the sake of each other and for the sake of the totally other.  To look out and notice, and reach out to those in need, as Christ.  Yes, as Christ has done for us, and as Christ for the world. And not just inside the walls of our church, but out there in the world too! 

We are called to seek out those who are bent from the burdens that life has forced them to carry, those who cannot stand up straight because of a burden society has unfairly placed upon them.  We are called to notice the marginalized, the oppressed, the powerless, those captive to poverty, those who have been made scapegoats, those who are pushed aside because they are different, any and all those who are not included, those who are bent and cannot straighten up, those who cannot look up to the heavens, those whose eyes are cast down, those who have all but lost hope. And we are called to open up our space, our practices, just for them.  To change in order that they might feel welcome.  We are called to free up our spaces from anything that might hinder the coming of the Kingdom of God, in order that God’s love might transform all who are present “here in this place,” and all who live in our neighborhood.  In order that God might “raise us up as on wings of an eagle, shine down on us like the sun, and hold us in the palm of his hand.”

Life is hard, and life is often not fair.  So it is, that we are not called to judge people because of their burdens, we are not called to respond with a rigid legalism, but rather to be kind and compassionate.  That’s what the leader of the synagogue in today’s gospel forgets, the heart of our faith, - compassion. He gets caught up in ritual for the sake of ritual, orthodoxy for the sake of orthodoxy, tradition for the sake of tradition.  We are called to the compassion of Jesus, a compassion that sees “the broken body, the broken soul, the broken spirit, - before it sees the broken commandment.” (Debie Thomas).

May this compassion be the center of all that we do, here in this place and here in our world. May this compassion invite all those carrying burdens on the edges of life into the center of our faith community.  May this compassion shape our practices.  May this compassion guide us in the ways we use our sacred spaces.  May the compassion of Christ find its way into our hearts, heal us, lift us up, and compel us to share the love of God with each other, and with those in need.  Amen.

Sermon on Hebrews 11.29-12.2

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Do you ever get those back-to-school nerves?

That fluttery feeling in your stomach, maybe your heart beating faster, maybe feeling a little sweaty, or maybe your shoulders creeping up toward your ears a little bit?

Or if you have a job, maybe you get a case of the “Sunday scaries,” where you’re feeling the pressure of the workweek inching its way into the end of your weekend or the end of a vacation?

All the new-ness of the first day of school can seem overwhelming and scary. Or exciting. Or a mixture of all of those feelings.

And because everything is so new, even if you’ve gone to school before, it can feel like you’re alone. You’re not there with your family, you’re in a new place with new people. You’re not sure what the rules are yet or if you’ll like your teacher.

That can be really scary.

In our Bible reading today, we heard the writer of the letter to the Hebrews talking to a group of early Jesus followers who were also scared.

They had a lot of difficulties in their lives. People didn’t understand Jesus followers, so they picked on them and made life difficult and even dangerous for them.

These early Jesus followers were feeling alone and were getting frightened. It seemed too hard to follow Jesus, so they were giving up.

So, the writer of this letter was reminding them that they weren’t alone.

They weren’t the only ones who had hard things happen to them.

And they weren’t the only ones who had experienced God.

The writer reminds them of their ancestors in faith, stretching all the way back to Abraham and Moses.

These were people who had to wait a long time for God’s promises to come true, people who did hard and scary things, because God asked them to.

But they were never alone. God was with them.

God parted the Red Sea so that God’s people could get away from the Egyptian army safely.

When the Israelites came to the Promised Land and found the city of Jericho, they were scared, because its walls were strong. They weren’t sure God’s promise would come true. But God caused the walls of Jericho to crumble, because God keeps God’s promises.

God used Rahab, an unlikely hero, to hide and protect the Israelite spies who were scouting out the Promised Land. And Rahab became a direct ancestor of Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews reminds the audience that they are in a long line of people who faced hard and scary circumstances but who were faithful. And God was faithful to them. They were not alone.

And neither were these early Jesus followers that the letter was written to. They had generations and generations of people of God cheering them on.

And so do we.

Children of God, we too are part of that long line of faithful people who faced hard and scary circumstances.

Whether we’re facing

1.    the start of a new school year,

2.    bullying—in person or online, at school or at work

3.    difficult conversations amid polarized viewpoints and scapegoating,

4.    the soul-sucking realities in our world today of climate change, white supremacy, or othering of any kind,

we can feel alone and hopeless.

But our reading today reminds us that we are not alone in trying to be faithful when things are hard.

Our ancestors in faith trusted that God would keep God’s promises.

And they kept following God, even when things got hard.

Now, you don’t have to get very far in the Bible to see that our ancestors in faith weren’t perfect in their faith. Far from it.

Abraham and Sarah took matters into their own hands instead of waiting for God’s promises to come true.

Moses didn’t want to do what God asked.

When God asked Jonah to go to Ninevah, Jonah ran in the other direction and ended up in the belly of a whale.

David, the man after God’s own heart, did some pretty messed up things.

So much of the Bible records the very human pattern of alternating between swearing up and down that we will trust God forever and getting nervous and taking matters into our own hands.

We are in a long line of people who try to trust God and fail miserably. We are all saints and sinners at the same time.

That’s where Jesus comes in. He is the “pioneer and perfector of faith.” That means he goes first—we have him as an example. And also, when we inevitably waver in our faith, he completes our faith for us.

The Holy Spirit works in us to create faith, to allow us to keep trusting in God even when things get hard.

Faith isn’t something we do on our own.

Faith is something we do together with God and with each other.

So,

We have God instilling and perfecting our faith,

We have a huge crowd of ancestors cheering us on,

And we have each other.

Which gets us back to the start of school.

Whether you’re getting ready to start school again or facing another workweek or whatever challenges you’re facing, you’re not alone.

You’ve got God, your ancestors, and everyone here cheering you on.

We want to do something special today for our young folks who are going back to school so that they will remember how much everyone here loves them.

I want to invite all the kids who are here up to the front, and please bring your backpacks if you have them today.

As we start a new year at school, I want to give you this special backpack tag so that whenever you look at it you can remember God loves you and is always with you, no matter what.

___________, this school year, may you be curious and kind, gentle and strong, brave and loving.

Grown-ups, if you have brought a laptop case or something you use for your vocational life, I invite you to hold it up, or just hold it in your hands, and receive this blessing:

In everything you do, may you be curious and kind, gentle and strong, brave and loving.

We have also collected school supplies to send to local classrooms so that everyone can have what they need to learn. Thank you for your generosity and for recognizing that we are cheering each other on, not just here in this space, but cheering for our neighbors too.

Let us pray:

God, our friend who is always with us, be with us through it all.

Be with us as we ride the bus.

Be with us as we walk.

Be with us as we buckle seat belts, zip-up jackets, and tie shoes.

However we get there, and whatever we wear,

bless this journey into something new.

For the grown-ups going back to school or going to work,

With-Us God, be with them too.

Thank you for our teachers, helpers, caregivers, and leaders,

and for all they do to help us learn and grow.

God, our friend who’s full of wonder, fill their hearts and bless their hands.

Amen.

First Lutheran Church

August 7, 2022 – The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. … By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore, from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Sermon “By Faith”

Pastor Greg Ronning

“People get ready, there’s a train a comin’.

You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board.

All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’.

Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.”

“People Get Ready” Curtis Mayfield, 1965.

“All you need is faith. ”Curtis Mayfield’s hit song from 1965, “People Get Ready,” echoes the theme found in today’s lesson from the Book of Hebrews.  In recounting the story of Abraham and Sarah, the author of Hebrews encourages us to live “by faith.” “By faith” Abraham and Sarah set out for the promised land not knowing where they were going. “By faith ”they waited patiently on the promises of God, as sojourners, as strangers in a strange land. “By faith” even though they were beyond their childbearing years, “as good as dead,” they hoped and believed that one day their descendants would be as numerous “as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

“All you need is faith,” but what is faith?

Sometimes faith is reduced to the list of things in which we believe.  Sometimes faith is relegated to confessing the historic creeds of the church.  “I believe in God the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth. ”As Lutherans we probably would add the words of Luther’s catechism, words we memorized in confirmation, answering the question, “What does this mean?” and responding, “This is most certainly true.”  Sometimes faith is diminished to confessing creeds and assenting to doctrines, affirming who we believe Jesus was, and what his death and resurrection might mean for us and for the world.

And all that just might be a small part of our faith but confessing the creed and knowing my good Lutheran theology, in the end - just isn’t enough.  Having my faith all worked out in my “head, ”having a systematic and intellectualized faith, is not enough by which to live!  When the rubber hits the road, when I find myself between a rock and a hard place, when I need to be empowered, when I need to be impassioned, when that train comes down the track, when I want to hear those diesel engines hummin’; I need something more than a faith that lives solely inside my head, I need more than a list of the things that I believe. The conductor on that “train that’s comin ’”doesn’t want a “ticket,” he doesn’t want my “baggage, ”he’s looking for something else.  Something that I possess that is more precious than my perfected doctrinal statements.

The author of Hebrews defines faith this way, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ”I imagine that most of us are familiar with this verse, this biblical definition of faith; but to be honest it’s not a very concise definition, it’s almost more of a riddle, it needs a lot of unpacking, and thus, sometimes, it’s not always helpful in a practical way.

So, what is the author of Hebrews trying to tell us about faith?  As I mused over that text this week, in preparation for this sermon, the phrase that jumped out at me, the phrase I found helpful, was, “things hoped for.”  Faith belongs to “things hoped for.”

“Hope,” at least metaphorically, does not belong to the head but to the heart.  So it is that faith, the faith which we live by, the faith that empowers us, does not come from the set of beliefs that we ascribe to in our heads, but rather from the passion and dreams, “the hope,” that emanates from our hearts.  Paul Tillich, one of the leading theologians of the 20th Century defined faith as “the state of being ultimately concerned.”  Faith is not a static thing, like a list, but rather a dynamic thing, something that energizes and moves us. Faith flows from our ultimate concerns, from our deepest passions, from our human compassion, from the things that matter most, from the depths of our hearts.  And such faith demands a response, such faith calls us into action. Faith is not something we sit with, but rather something we run with!

Each of us has been given the gift of faith, each of us can find in the depth of our hearts that ultimate concern which stirs up the image of God in which we were created, and the Kingdom of God that lies within us.  The call to live “by faith,” is the call to go deep inside and discover that passion by which God is calling you to be a part the Kingdom that is at hand and the Kingdom that is coming again even now.  To live “by faith” is to discover your unique calling, that which God has laid on your heart, that which is of “ultimate concern,” to you, the righteousness of God for which you hunger and thirst; -that which compels you into action.

This is the story of Abraham and Sarah.  Our text highlights three components of the story …

One: “By faith Abraham obeyed …”In the twelfth chapter of Genesis God calls out to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”  And in faith Abraham obeys this calling, packing up and leaving his home, his land, his extended family, and his friends, leaving it all behind, to seek after the promise of God.  He does not do all this - certain of the outcome, but he does all this “by faith,” faith that by definition includes a portion of doubt and a portion of fear.  Abraham and Sarah do not make this decision in their heads, for the mind could never make such a poor decision, but rather from the heart. When God calls out to us to live “by faith,” don’t expect it to be a rational experience that makes complete sense; instead expect it to rise up from a struggle in your heart, an uncomfortable feeling in your stomach, a summons from which there is no escape. “By faith” Abraham and Sarah set out for the promised land not knowing where they were going.  “By faith” we are called to set out on “ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths yet untrodden, through events unknown.”

Two: “By faith (Abraham and Sarah) stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, …)  “By faith,” Abraham and Sarah overcame over their doubts and fears and did as God commanded.  And for many years the dream did not manifest itself.  They lived as sojourners, strangers in a strange land, they lived in tents without a “foundation.”  Faith is not magic.  Faith does not make life easy. In fact, you might argue that those who live “by faith” choose the harder way, “the road less traveled.”  To live “by faith” is to be called into a long unknown journey that demands patience, the ability to embrace “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. ”When God calls us to live “by faith” we are not being called to live without doubt, but we are called to live with hope in the face of doubt, patience in the presence of skepticism, and endurance even in our weakness.  “By faith ”Abraham and Sarah waited patiently on the promises of God, as sojourners, as strangers in a strange land.“ \By faith” we are called to be “strangers in a strange land,” citizens of a kingdom that lies deep within us, waiting for the kingdom that is at hand.

Three: And finally, “By faith (Abraham) received the power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren.”  In the fifteenth chapter of Genesis the Word of the Lord comes to Abraham in a vision, the Word of the Lord brought him outside and invited him, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” … “So shall your descendants be.”   God has a way of doing things in unconventional and unexpected ways.  “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” (Isaiah 11:1) “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46) “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth; do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43) Even though the scriptures describe Sarah as “barren,” and Abraham as “good as dead,” God is able to bring about the gift of life – in, with, and through - them!  Those who live “by faith” will experience the unconventional nature of faith, the unexpected presence of God.  “By faith ”Abraham and Sarah believed in the day when their descendants would be as numerous “as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”  “By faith” we are called not to second guess or limit the work of God because of our own perceived shortcomings but to be reminded that our faith, our passion, our ultimate concerns are “treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.” (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Each of us has been given the gift of faith, within each of us God has placed an ultimate concern which belongs to both you and to the Kingdom of God.  Therein lies the soul of who you are truly meant to be in this world, the joy of life.  Be not afraid, discover the passion that lies deep inside your heart, your faith, and let it call you out into the world with the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Doubt will enter your mind, faith and doubt must do their dance, but be of good courage and circle back to your heart and choose to live “by faith. ”The faith with which you have been gifted! May the love of Christ strengthen you as the journey before you begins to unfold this very day.

“People get ready, there’s a train a comin’.

You don’t need no baggage, you just get on board.

All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin’.

Don’t need no ticket, you just thank the Lord.”

Amen.