First Lutheran Church

May 7, 2023 + The Fifth Sunday in Easter

John 14:1-14 +[Jesus said to the disciples:] “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 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. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

Sermon

“The Way”

Pastor Greg Ronning

“Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  I always appreciate “Doubting Thomas.”  He keeps everything real.  Especially in John’s Gospel.  In the midst of the philosophical double speak, wandering run on sentences, quizzical riddles and deep esoteric mystery, he just blurts out the question we all want, but are afraid, to ask.  In today’s Gospel Jesus is talking about “dwelling places” in “my father’s house.”  He’s talking about coming and going, back and forth, preparing, embarking, and landing, “you know what I mean,” and Thomas is like, “No, I have no idea what you are talking about, I don’t know where you are going!”  Jesus pauses and responds, “I am The Way.”

Life is hard, and we don’t always know “the way.”  As much as we long to find that place where we can dwell, that place where we can find meaning and peace, that place where we faith replaces fear, that place where love and grace abide, that place that Jesus has prepared for us; finding our way to that place is not easy.  I did a search on my phone, and “dwelling place with God,” came up with zero results.  “GPS” was not going to help me.  I tried the “Old School” method, and once again “dwelling place with God” was not on the index, but a somewhat similar result was listed as “N–15.”  (How many of you remember that way of finding a place on a map?)  As much as I want to find that place, as much as I want to go to that place, it’s just not that easy to find.  And so, I find myself standing in the shoes of Thomas, asking the question, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”  And Jesus pauses, nods in my direction and reminds me, “You know the way, - I am The Way.” 

“The Way.”Before members of the early church took on the name “Christians,” they were known as members of “The Way.”The first recorded use of the term “Christians” is found in the book of Acts.  In Chapter 11 we read, “… and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.” (Acts 11:25-26).  The term “Christian” was used primarily to distinguish this new sect in Judaism as one that believed that Jesus was the Messiah.But once again, in the beginning, before Antioch, they were known as members of “The Way.”  This description of the followers of Jesus can be found in the Ninth Chapter of the Book of Acts, “Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest  and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to ‘The Way,’ men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” (Acts 9:1-2)

Let’s take a minute to contrast these two very different descriptors.  The root word of “Christian” is “Christ.” Once again, this refers to our fundamental understanding that Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus is the Christ.  We believe in Jesus Christ.  The New Testament Greek word translated as “way” is “hodos.”  It is the common Greek word for “street,” “road,” “path,” or “way.”  It’s also a word used to represent or convey a “journey.”  Do you notice the difference between these words?

“Christian” is a more static word, it best describes our core belief, our doctrine, the tenets of our faith.  It points to Jesus - the life and the teachings of Jesus, as the source and understanding of our faith.  It strikes me as more of a “head” word.  “The Way” is a more dynamic word.  It is literally where “the rubber meets the road.”“The Way” invites, even demands, - movement and action.  You are not static when you are on “the way,” you are not “standing still” when you are on “the road,” you are not fixed in one place when you are on a “journey.”“Christian” describes our identity, but “The Way” better describes the nature of our faith, the marks of our faith, what our faith looks like, how it moves, how it is manifest, how it feels, what it does.  “The Way” is a “body” word.

We seldom, if ever, currently refer to our faith as “The Way.”We ceased using that word a long time ago.  And perhaps, losing the essence of that word, that is why we don’t know where Christ has been and is going, that is why we don’t know where that “dwelling place,”that place prepared for us,is located.  Too often we have relegated Christianity into a destination and not an adventure.  Too often we have made it solely about the afterlife reward of “heaven.” But what if it was also about finding “heaven on earth,” here and now, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Perhaps if we “loosened up” on the idea of being a “Christian,” and engaged “The Way,” if we moved out of our heads and into our bodies,we would discover those things we desperately desire; that place where meaning and peace come together in our vocation, that place where our relationships with each other thrive, that place where faith, hope, grace and love abide – all in real time!

I suppose that brings us back to the same question with which we began, “How can we know the way?” Thankfully, unlike Thomas, we get to reflect on Christ’s answer, “I am The Way,” knowing the context of the whole story. 

We know that today's appointed Gospel is part of Jesus' “Farewell Address” to his disciples, his last words to them before he is to be arrested, put on trial, condemned, and put to death.  The road that Jesus has been on for some time, the road to Bethany and the raising of Lazarus, and then off to the Ephraim Wilderness for some time in prayer and solitude, was always leading to Jerusalem.So it is that we know that “the way” is “the way of the cross.”

I'd like to share with you some words that Lutheran pastor Dan Erlander wrote in his book, "Baptized We Live."  A book subtitled,"Lutheranism: A Way of Life.”  He writes, "It is here on the cross that God meets us."  “In the abyss of despair, in the deepest darkness God comes.  In the painful reality of our mortality, our ultimate lowliness, our weakness, God encounters us.  This understanding does not deny God's presence in our joyful happy moments.  Of course, God's there.  God is everywhere.  Also, this understanding does not mean that we must be emotionally depressed to be found by God. Rather God meets us most profoundly at the point of our deepest reality - our honest confrontation with weakness, pain, solitude, and death.”

Everyone knows that life is not easy.  The roads we find ourselves on, the roads we choose, and the roads that choose us, - can be extremely difficult to traverse.Yet it is on the road, on the way, that Christ has prepared a place to dwell with us.  And that place is on the cross, the shared space of God and humanity, the dwelling placewhere God can be held and where God holds humanity.  And in this intersection between God and humanity, heaven and earth, our wounds are cared for, and we are invited to care for each other, to serve the wounded among us, to live out our calling, to find our joy expressed in the service of those in need.  The cross is the place that God has prepared for us.

Jesus’ ministry began with a walk down a road.  It began with a journey that took him from the comforts of his home in Nazareth into the Wilderness via a radical encounter with John the Baptist.  The next road took him to Galilee where he came upon some fishermen.  Jesus stopped and invited them to join him, “Come follow me.”  They left their nets behind and together they continued down the road.  And for the next few years they traveled from place to place, village to village, back and forth across borders.  And along the way they shared the good news, they brought hope to the hopeless, healing to the sick, food to the hungry, and with each step along the way the kingdom of God came closer and closer.  The ministry of Jesus was shaped by traveling down roads, the highways that led from point A to point B, the streets where people worked and loved, the roads that led to dead ends, and even venturing down the path less traveled to the very edges of life.

And Jesus continues to walk down the road even today.  Just as he appeared to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, he walks along side of us, ready to break the bread of hospitality that reveals his presence.  And that is the invitation this morning, to walk alongside Jesus, to be on “The Way,” to be in that “dwelling place along the way,” sharing the good news with all those we encounter, especially those in need. 

Experts remind us that as we grow older it’s important to keep moving.  Once you stop moving, you stop moving!So it is with the faith!  May the encouragement of faith keep us on “the way,” on the road to the cross, deep into the place where God and humanity dwell together, sharing brokenness and healing, in that place where our greatest joys serve to meet the world’s greatest needs, the place God has prepared for us.  Amen.

Sermon on John 10:1-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Today, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is Good Shepherd Sunday. Every year, we read a section of John 10 and dwell on the image of Christ as our good shepherd. Or this year, Christ as the gate—Jesus doesn’t call himself the shepherd until the verse after our reading today ends.

The image of Christ as the good shepherd is generally a comforting one. So much art portrays a gentle Jesus cradling a lamb. We so often read Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” at funerals—for good reason. It is lovely to imagine ourselves and our loved ones being cared for by a nurturing, protecting God.

And, it’s important to look at the context of this passage in John 10 to see why Jesus is using this metaphor at this point in his ministry.

This teaching comes right after the lengthy story of the healing of the man who had been born blind. Or, if you remember from about a month ago, we can also understand it as his call story—Jesus calling a new disciple into the Beloved Community.

Jesus gives sight to this person, and then the community doesn’t believe it’s really him, so they interrogate him, then his parents, and then him again. Then they get so mad that they kick him out of the community. So, Jesus finds him and invites him to be part of his community of followers—taking in someone who had been cast aside.

But some of the religious leaders are listening to this conversation, and they’re confused by Jesus’ sight and blindness metaphor (which is present throughout the Gospel of John and equates physical sight to spiritual understanding, which is unfair to the visually impaired community and something we have to reckon with as Christians).

The end of John chapter 9 says this:

38 [The man] said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who do see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Then, (and remember that chapter breaks and verse numbers were added to the Bible much, much later) chapter 10 launches straight into the shepherd metaphor.

This shepherd teaching is a response to the religious leaders who had excluded the new disciple, and Jesus said it in the presence of the new disciple also. So,Jesus’ audience is the religious leaders and this new disciple.

It’s easy to read the shepherd teaching as exclusionary: that Jesus is creating an “in-group” of sheep versus the “out-group” that is outside the gate. And when you remember that Jesus is talking to Jewish religious authorities, it can also be easy to read some anti-Jewish messages into it. But, as always, please remember that Jesus was Jewish and so any critiques are coming from within that tradition. Jesus is holding his own religious tradition accountable, just as we all should. Institutions, whether religious, political, or something else, are made up of flawed human beings—there is always room for reform.

So, Jesus is painting a picture of what the Beloved Community is like.

The Beloved Community is like a lush field where its inhabitants are nourished abundantly. And there is safety from anything that threatens its vulnerable creatures. The sheep are cared for, protected, and nurtured.

That picture of the Beloved Community is good news to the new disciple, who had not been believed by his community and then ultimately was kicked out. He was not protected or cared for by his community, but Jesus found this vulnerable sheep and invited him into a community of care. What a relief that must have been!

And within this picture of Beloved Community, Jesus is declaring that he is the gate: the protection of the vulnerable sheep. He’s siding with the vulnerable against everything that threatens them.

It is not about an “in-group” and an “out-group.” It’s about shielding the vulnerable against those who have mistreated them. It’s not about creating an elite “in-group,” but about creating an abundant, safe community for those who don’t find belonging anywhere else.

In our lives today, it’s easy to fall into that in-group and out-group mentality that divides people into either friends or enemies or “thieves and bandits,” as our story puts it. And then, it doesn’t take much to start dehumanizing those we deem as “enemies.” And dehumanization in any form denies the image of God that is present in every person.

Christians in the US sometimes fall into this trap. We read the New Testament, especially passages like the part in 1 Peter we read today, where it talks about persecutions, and we read ourselves into it. But where Paul was talking to a fledgling religious sect that was actively being persecuted by the government—as in Jesus followers being executed—Christians are still the most powerful religious group in the US in both numbers and influence. Though the numbers of people who name themselves as Christian in the US is decreasing, one of the beautiful values of this country is the freedom to worship in our own ways instead of there being a state religion.

Sometimes when Christians read the New Testament, we read about persecutions and start to interpret a secularized culture as pushback against our Christianity instead of a way to account for the increasing diversity of beliefs.

So, passages like the shepherd teaching start to sound exclusionary—like we have to protect ourselves against thieves and bandits and people who say things we don’t like.

The problem is, Jesus doesn’t call us to protect ourselves in this passage. He invites us into the Beloved Community that seeks the well-being of the most vulnerable. He is its protection. He is the nourishment.

His way is not about separating us from them, but about creating a community of care and abundance for all. Let’s look again at the passage from Acts from today’s reading—it’s a gorgeous picture of what the Beloved Community is like:

[The baptized] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
 43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

In the Beloved Community, its members are devoted to gathering and sharing. Everyone’s needs are met by each other’s generosity. We don’t see it as much in this text, but a theme throughout Jesus’ parables, teachings, and behavior is caring for the vulnerable. We don’t see it in this text, because the people in the Beloved Community are no longer isolated, shamed, or cast out.

How are we as followers of Jesus creating community like this?

How are we caring for each other?

How are we finding out what our neighbors’ needs are?

How are we generous with our time, resources, and compassion?

If we as a congregation could be 1% more like the Beloved Community today, what would that look like?

Jesus has always been about creating the Beloved Community.

He is the gate that protects the most vulnerable.

He is the shepherd who knows us by name.

He leads those who have been cast out, like the new disciple who had been born blind, to lush fields and life abundant.

The Beloved Community is for you and for your neighbors—all of them.

Let’s listen to our Good Shepherd and live life abundantly, generously, compassionately today and watch the Beloved Community grow in our lives.

First Lutheran Church

April 23, 2023 – Earth Day

Exodus 3:1-6 + 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.  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.  Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”  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.”  Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  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. 

John 3:16-17 + For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Sermon

“Earth Day”

Pastor Greg Ronning

Every year around Earth Day it is not uncommon to see this quote from Martin Luther, "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."  Here’s a meme that I recently discovered on Facebook. (See Worship Screen) It’s a wonderful quote, and a great quote for Earth Day.However, there’s a problem with it, according to Luther scholars, - Luther never said it! 

Don’t worry about it if you’ve publicly shared it, I must confess that I have mistakenly used the quote more than once over the years.  The truth that Luther probably never said it, was something I just learned this year!  Luther may not have said it, but it’s still a great quote, and I believe it still is the truth.  Anna Madsen, a self-described Freelance Lutheran Theologian, believes, I bet Luther wishes he would have said it.  It’s nice, to the point, and it fits his theology.

Here’s something Luther did say, regarding God and creation, using quite a few more words, “The Scriptures teach us…that the right hand of God is not a specific place in which a body must or may be, such as on a golden throne, but is the almighty power of God, which at one and the same time can be nowhere and yet must be everywhere. It cannot be at any one place, … On the other hand, it must be essentially present at all places, even in the tiniest tree leaf.  The reason is this: It is God who creates, effects, and preserves all things through God’s almighty power and right hand, as our Creed confesses.  For God dispatches no officials or angels when God creates or preserves something, but all this is the work of God’s divine power itself.  If God is to create or preserve it, however, God must be present and must make and preserve God’s creation both in its innermost and outermost aspects.”

A goodsolid theological quote, but not something that might easily become a “meme” on Facebook!  (A bit wordy, and a lot of run on sentences.)

Anna Madsen sums upLuther’s teaching more succinctly, “Therefore, indeed, God must be present in every single creature in its innermost and outermost being, on all sides, through and through, below and above, before and behind, so that nothing can be more truly present and within all creatures than God with God’s power.”And even more succinctly she declares, “Upshot: God is everywhere and in everything.”

In today’s first reading from Exodus, we see this notion that God is indeed present in everything.  God appears to Moses in a burning bush, on “holy ground.”  Dr. Lynn Nakamura, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, invites us to consider this more carefully.  Noting that God, the God of the whole universe, appears in a bush, in an everyday bush, a bush in the wilderness, a bush planted in the dirt, planted in the earth.  It’s all very ordinary, yet Moses is instructed, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”  Taking off your shoes is a ritual with ancient origins, an act of humility, performed by one who is about to enter a sacred place.  We are reminded that God is everywhere and in everything, we are reminded that everywhere and everything is holy, and on this day – the earth is a sacred place, a place God dwells deeply and powerfully.  "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars." 

Yet it seems that this understanding of God being powerfully present in creation, this understanding of creation as being sacred, is not something that Christianity has done a good job of proclaiming, or even retaining.  It’s not something that’s really been an important part of our tradition.  It’s certainly not something clearly stated in the New Testament.  It’s not something that early church writers or leaders in the first millennium of the church wrote much in anything about.  And while the principle of “stewardship of the earth” has become more prevalent in recent decades, it’s still more of a - protect the environment response - and not a strong sense of discovering and celebrating the presence of God in nature.

The Early Church was convinced that Christ was going to return with the fullness of the Kingdom God at any minute, “soon and very soon.”  And in that conviction, in that belief, there was no need to develop a faithfuland thoughtful doctrinein regard to creation.  They were preparing for “a new earth,”and “a new creation.”  They were ready to leave the world behind and be welcomed into heaven.  The writer of the book of Revelation writes, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1). The early Christian focus was not on caring for the earth but the anticipation of a new one!

Anna Madsen concludes, “I’m not entirely sure that we Christians have ever recovered, either from the texts that diminish our relationship to the Land, or, come to think of it, that Jesus hasn’t returned when expected!Heck, too often enough we can’t even get the interpretation of the Jewish texts about creation right, like,- no, “have dominion” does not mean “dominate,” but very much rather to care for, love, steward.Truth is, Christians’ future-fixation, and its spiritualization of the present, has harmed the earth, and it’s harmed us.”

So where does all this leave us on Earth Day 2023?  As I was contemplating how to bring this sermon to a conclusion, I came across a different meme, while wasting time on Facebook, one that really intrigued me.  It was a quote from Ilia Delio, a Franciscan Sister who specializes the study of the intersections of science and religion.  And I am quite confident she really did say this!  She writes, “God is not the supernatural being above but the supranatural center of everything that exists.”

And here’s what I’ve been thinking, could it be that we spend too much time and energy pondering and envisioning and seeking a God that is absolutely enormous, instead of looking for a God that is incredibly small?  We often challenge, even reprove, chide each other, “How big is your God?”  As if not having a really big God is somehow unfaithful.  But perhaps, especially on this day, the better question to ask is, “How small is your God?”

What would it be like if we were able to find God, present and alive, in the very fabric of the life that is all around us?  What would be like if we found God in an ordinary bush?  What would be like if the dirt we walk upon suddenly became “Holy Ground?”  What if we were able to find the Gospel written boldly,albeit in an extremely small font, in these “things” of creation?  What if we were able to see the divine in the life, the creation that surrounds us?And what if we were able to see “the life that sparks” deep inside of us?  What if God is not the supernatural being above and beyond us, but the supranatural center of everything that exists?

And what would happen if we were able to shrink God down, and begin to see and to understand God fully present in the intimate details of creation?  Would that change the way we treated the earth?  Would we humbly take off our shoes and acknowledge the sacred?  Would we be able to cease our need to dominate the planet and instead begin to care for and love the earth, become good and faithful stewards of creation?  Would we begin to realize that in loving “creation” we would be loving the “Creator?”  Would the earth in turn respond by continuing to provide all the things that everyone needs to live and even thrive?

Just How small is your God? 

Martin Luther never said, "God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees and flowers and clouds and stars."  But it’s true.

Luther did say, “Therefore, indeed, God must be present in every single creature in its innermost and outermost being, on all sides, through and through, below and above, before and behind, so that nothing can be more truly present and within all creatures than God with all God’s power.”  God is everywhere and in everything!

And Moses found “Holy Ground” in the wilderness, in an ordinary bush made alive by a fire that revealed the presence of God.

I suppose God can be both big and small, but on this Earth Day Weekend, I am challenged and comforted by a God that is small. Small enough to be in every living thing.  Small enough to be in every living thing that surrounds me.  Small enough to be in you, small enough to be in me.  Small enough toremind us that we are all sacred.  Small enough to remind us that we are loved in a very big way!

May you discover this “Small God” in the world around you.May you see the awe and beauty of creation in the details of the world “God so loved,” - both God and the promise of the Gospel. May you find that sacred place to take off your shoes. And in all this may you find a deep and lasting peace.  Amen.