The Question of Neighbor

Luke 10: 25-37
July 20, 2014
This sermon was preached by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all.
In the next five days some between 450-500 kids, teens and adults will gather here for vacation
Bible school. It’s a week brimming with spirit and life. Our vacation Bible school is wholly dedicated
to shaping young lives for life-long faithfulness to God and service to neighbor through God’s church.
On the final morning, the kids will gather around this passage you just heard from Luke – the
story of the Good Samaritan. It’s a story that forces us to realize that faith isn’t simply a belief we
ascribe to, but something we do for the benefit of others.
So let’s get right to the bible story Jesus tells. Let’s first think about the people who show up.
The victim captures my attention right away. I feel for him, don’t you? Beaten and left on the
side of the road. Then the priest and the Levite show up . They’re both upright people of faith with
stature and respected in society. They pass by the victim because the rules of their faith don’t permit
them to assist. I raise an eyebrow of dismay at these guys, don’t you? Then Jesus says a Samaritan
comes along and I find myself cheering for him because he really sees the guy in need. The Samaritan
stops and goes above the call of duty to tend to the victim. His faith springs into action. This guy,
unlike the other two, sees a human being, a person in need, a neighbor.
The definition of “neighbor” is what got Jesus started telling this story in the first place. It was a
lawyer who questioned Jesus in hopes of justifying himself – or in other words to be right with God
without having to involve anyone else. So he asks Jesus: “Who is my neighbor?” That word
“neighbor,” — if construed too broadly could mean a whole lot of people this guy would rather avoid.
So the lawyer does what lawyers do best — he parses, specifies, qualifies. Who, exactly, is my
neighbor? Who warrants my time and attention? Who must I care about? Who, in short, counts? The
lawyer wants Jesus to qualify the definition of neighbor so he could have a clean, clear legal definition
of precisely who he had to respect and care for and who didn’t really matter. That way he would never
have to stretch his view of who all is included in God’s economy. That kind of thinking is appealing to
some people, even today. Clean, clear moral imperatives create the illusion that the Christian life is
primarily about following the rules, keeping oneself clean and pure because that’s what’s necessary to
be saved.
But Jesus has something very different to say to that kind of thinking. Jesus doesn’t answer the
lawyer, but in turn asks: ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’
The lawyer answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.’
And Jesus said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’ Then he
goes on to tell about the man beaten, robbed and left alongside the road.
In Jesus’ definition of neighbor – it turns out to be anyone in need. So the person of faith, who
loves God must necessarily enact mercy whenever someone presents a need. Then faith in God moves
from personal belief to action/doing, responding with mercy to neighbor. Why? Because according to
Jesus that’s what his followers. 2
The final episode of Seinfeld aired in 1998. In it, the four main characters (Jerry, Elaine, Kramer
and George) receive a one year in state prison for failing to help someone who was robbed.
Earlier in the episode, Jerry learned he’s been hired by NBC to do a sitcom. The network, as a
gift, is flying Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer to Paris in celebration. Enroute, the private jet they’re
on has mechanical troubles and is forced to land in Lakeland, Massachusetts. Waiting for mechanics to
repair the plane, this little group of witty, wry and quirky friends are strolling the quaint New England
town, when suddenly they witness a car-jacking. Watch a clip of the episode here:

Being the kind of people who typically make fun of others – they make fun of the man who is
being robbed. Even as the victim yells for help and looks directly at this quartet of onlookers, Kramer
is recording it on a video camera. They just watch. They don’t shout out and they’re only across the
street! They just stand there. The robber speeds off with the car and the police arrive on the scene. With
the excitement over, Jerry suggests the go get something to eat.
As they turn to walk off the police officers stops them. “Alright, hold it right there.” Jerry:
“Wha’? Officer: “You’re under arrest.” Jerry: “Under arrest, what for?” Officer: “You broke the
law. Article 223-7 of the Lakeland county penal code.” Elaine: “What, we didn’t do anything.”
Officer: “That’s exactly right. The law requires you to help or assist anyone in danger as long as its
reasonable to do so.” George: “I’ve never heard of that.” Officer: “It’s new. Its called the Good
Samaritan law. Let’s go.” (video clip ends with Jerry and friends in a jail cell and Kramer explains
that the Samaritan were good people who took care of people).
The story of the Good Samaritan is Jesus way of drastically expanding the definition of neighbor
– something Seinfeld and friends needed to learn. Neighbor is anyone in whom we see the opportunity
to show the mercy we ourselves have experienced in Christ.
Like the lawyer of long ago, there are still people today looking for clean answers and clear
instructions about what to do and not to do in order to be seen favorably by God. And there are
churches that are intent upon serving up strict, black and white rules about who’s in and who’s not,
what one has to do to be saved and never at the expense of going outside of oneself to serve a neighbor.
And some people like that kind of religion, where the focus in on personal morality and individuality.
But there are others, and I find myself among them, that desperately want to be in relationship
with followers of a God whose love is so broad and deep that anyone in need is welcome and worthy.
At the end of the story, Jesus says to the lawyer, “Which of these three, the priest, Levite or
Samaritan, do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The lawyer
said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’
The call to go and do likewise is challenging and transforming. It is for us — personally and
together as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We have a mission of
living out Christ’s mercy in broad ways. When we “go and do likewise” we bring God’s mercy and
grace to people around us who could use a hopeful, loving awareness of God and the Christian church.
This week at VBS our kids are going to learn about taking the blessings of God’s mercy to their
neighbors – and into all the places in which we live, work and play. I think that’s incredibly hopeful
and enduringly good for us – and for all our neighbors. Amen.

Extravagant Sower

Preached on 7/13/2014 by Pastor Brahm Semmler Smith at Trinity Lutheran Church
Based on Psalm 65 and Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
Sister and brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all!
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of traveling to Colorado with 21 youth and 6 adults to Rainbow
Trail Lutheran Camp. Our pics are up on the screen, as our groups were ready with backpacks on our
backs to start hiking. During this week, we got out into God’s great creation, backpacking into the
mountains, camping, hiking, and finishing our trip rafting down the Arkansas River. This morning, to
begin our sermon, I am going to invite some of these young people up to share about our trip.
Our Psalm this morning, that we read together, reminds us of the power of God and God’s great nature.
It is also a great Psalm to use when talking about the God of creation.
Psalm 65 says: By your strength you established the mountains; you are girded with might.
You silence the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, the tumult of the peoples.
Those who live at earth’s farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
It is a reminder of God’s grandeur and power. Of God’s prominence and place in our world. Who is
able to silence the seas? Who is able to create massive mountains? Who is the one who brings about
fields of plenty? Why none else than the God of our Salvation! While we were out in the mountains,
and especially as we climbed higher and higher, above the tree line, we were especially reminded of
God’s power and magnificence. What began as lush mountain valleys turned into dryer landscape as we
climbed, where the higher we went, the smaller the trees became. And then, no trees at all. And then,
no grass! As we climbed and looked out, and saw the paths and roads down in the valley, when we saw
the cloud shadows on the floor of the world, when we stood on the top of a mountain, the enormity of
creation is hard to miss. The enormity, and the small feeling that comes with it. How fragile we
humans are, huffing and puffing to get up a mountain. How great God is, to place these things here.
This is the great and powerful God we are talking about, the God of Salvation, the God who created
mountains, the God who sowed the seeds of creation throughout our world and universe. The same God
who came in the form of Jesus, who came into being in one of these small, fragile bodies like ours, who
climbed mountains like us, who ate and slept and cried like us, and who taught us in parables, like the
parable we had today. A parable about a sower, who planted seeds.
Today’s parable is a very recognizable one, in which Jesus tells about a farmer who indiscriminately
throws his seeds out into the air, and they fall on four kinds of soil. Four kinds of soil. A flattened path,
a rocky patch of land, land that was overrun with weeds, and finally, good soil. And predictably, all but
the good soil fail in producing any fruit.
When we first hear the parable, we tend to really focus on the soil. Which kind of soil are we? And
who is that other kind of soil? If we think highly of ourselves, of course we our good soil. If we are
really hard on ourselves, we are one of the bad soils. We know which one we want to be, but if we are
honest with ourselves, I think in reality, we all have parts of each kind of soil in our lives. I in my life
have been good soil, rocky soil, pounded up soil, and thorny soil. But what if this parable is not primarily about the soil. What if it is about something else? Barbara
Brown Taylor, in her book called “Seeds of Heaven,” writes about this parable… “If that is what this
parable is about, (which soil we are), then it would be called the parable of the different kind of grounds.
Instead, is has been known for centuries as the parable of the Sower.” What if this parable isn’t
primarily about our birds, rocks, thorns, and successes, but the extravagance of a sower who doesn’t
seem to care about these things but just flings seeds as far and as much as he can? The key to the story
does not hinge on the soil, but on this crazy, generous beyond belief sower, who continues to go back
into his bag and throw out more seed, no matter where it falls.
This parable is about the God of our Salvation, over and over again planting seeds of truth, grace and
love in our lives. This is a parable about a sower planting seeds.
And for myself, I think this offers a great image of what Christ’s church is about. Or should be about.
That we are in the business of planting seeds. And not just any kind of seeds, but Word of God seeds.
Seeds that grow and sprout and mature into seeds of faith, of grace, of love of God. We are in the
business of planting seeds. This trip with these teenagers to Colorado, while about fun and adventure,
was about planting seeds. When I meet with a family about baptizing their child, it is about planting
seeds. When we study the bible with our adult text study on Thursday mornings, it is about planting
seeds. When we venture out into our community to serve our neighbors, our schools, and our most
vulnerable, we are planting seeds. When we pray with our families at dinner or before bed, we are
planting seeds. When we advocate for justice and peace in our world in the name of Christ, we are
planting seeds. We are in the business of planting seeds. Or maybe more correctly, God is in the
business of planting seeds in us.
The hard part of this, at least for me, is that I always don’t know how the seeds are going to grow. If
they are going to grow? I am not like that sower all the time. I like to take care to make sure the seeds I
plant grow. It can be hard for me to let go and trust that God is there planting seeds with me. But then I
think of those throughout my life who have planted seeds of faith in me. The people God used to plant
seeds in me. Think about who those people are for you. A parent. A pastor. A friend. A Sunday
school teacher. A child. A 90 year old never been married retired professor who loved cats. All of
these people, and more, have sowed seeds of faith in your life. And your faith is the fruit of their, and
God’s labor, and their love and care for you. Thinking about how they shared this seed with you. Were
they stingy about it? Or were they extravagant with their love and care and concern for you?
Extravagant like the sower in the parable? Which way is most likely to succeed in growing faith?
“Let anyone with ears listen!” Jesus yells this out in the midst of this passage today. Sisters and
brothers in Christ, listen to the one who loves us so much, the one who created the heavens and earth
and yet came into being in the one we know as Jesus Christ. We all have seeds of faith planted in us.
Seeds of God’s extravagant love, God continues to sow and sow and sow. And God produces harvests
that are 100 fold, 60 fold, 30 fold, so much greater than what we think is possible. May the God with
the power to still the seas and make firm the mountains, continue to sow seeds of faith, grace, and love
in our lives with abandon. Amen

The Gap

“The Gap” (Based on Romans 7:15-25a)
Rev. Sarah Semmler Smith
Trinity Lutheran Church
July 6, 2014

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace to you and peace to you. Happy 4th of July weekend. As Pr. Jim said last week: Let freedom ring, with Christ as our King. As we once again celebrate independence as a nation, this Sunday as Christians, Paul’s letter to the Romans forces us to consider one of our enduring captivities as humans. First, a story, which begins with my cell phone ringing on a mid-Monday morning off, last summer.

Buzz. It rang, forcing me to wipe my hands on the dishtowel and put down the breakfast pan I had been scouring, to get a look at the number popping up on my screen. A 612 area code? That wasn’t either of my siblings’ numbers. Buzz. My seminary friends’ names would have appeared with their numbers, wouldn’t they? Buzz. If St. Olaf College were calling that area code would be 507. Buzz. The only other possibility was… Buzz. My motivational wellness coach: Karen.

If I picked up, for the phone -appointment we had planned, Karen my coach, would inquire about my fitness and eating goals, post-baby. It was certain, she would ask me cheery and well-meaning questions: How was it going with the more than one vegetable a day, Sarah? The working out, to the point of actually sweating, 3 times per week, Sarah? How did you feel about your level of wellness, Sarah? I knew Karen would ask these questions because I could already feel the knot of guilt forming at how I would have to answer them, if I were honest.

Buzz went that 612 area code. Click. I did not take the call from coach Karen that day.

Hear again the words of Paul in the letter to the Romans: I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate….I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.

A current band, One Republic, in their song “Counting Stars” puts it another way: “I feel right, doing the wrong thing. I feel something so wrong, doing the right thing. Couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie, couldn’t lie—everything that kills me, makes me feel alive…Everything that drowns me, makes me want to fly.”

Artists sing about it. Marketers attempt to prey upon it. Neuroscientists study it. And in the first century already, the apostle Paul was trying to articulate a Christology which would overcome it: The Intent-behavior gap. On one side of the “gap” is a person’s intent: what they say they want (and what they even think they are doing); and on the other side of things, is their behavior (what people actually do).

I didn’t want to talk to Karen that Monday morning because my behavior had failed to live up to my good intentions to live a more healthy lifestyle at that point in my life. Thought I didn’t have the name for it, I knew the ‘intent-behavior’ gap intimately because I hung out there regularly– that no-zone between what one aspires do and what one actually end up doing. Perhaps you spend some time there, too? Have you ever found yourself saying something like: “This is going to be the year we get our spending under control and give more to charity.” Or, “Starting next week, I am going to wake up, and kick the habit, for good this time.” Or, “Tomorrow, I will hold my tongue. I am not going to be short with her; or not going lash out at him; I will not disappoint them by my absence, again.”

The gap between “I will do it” and “I did it” is often left unbridged. The chasm between intent and behavior exists for all of us. Companies for years have been trying to help employees jump the gap for the sake of productivity. As proof, the internet is saturated with charts and power points used for what looked like company meetings/seminars, which look like ‘coach Karen’ herself could’ve drawn them! Functional MRI’s have opened up a realm called neuromarketing today—the study of how we make decisions at a cellular/chemical level. By my understanding, it is a way of eavesdropping on how the brain responds to advertisements, messages, and all sorts of sensory data.

Naomi Troni, writing for Forbes, “We all know there’s usually a gap between what consumers say and what they really do. After all, we’re consumers, too, and we don’t always live up to our aspirations of eating more healthfully, exercising more, flossing, or putting away money for a rainy day. Across most areas of life, people know what they “should” aspire to, but they struggle to put it into practice. For every Jamie Oliver there are dozens of Paula Deens. Understanding what makes for this gap between intention and action is one of the most fertile areas for marketers.

Why are scientists, artists, and marketers all trying to unlock what it is about people, about all of us, that keeps our behavior from lining up with our ideals? 1) It effects and confounds all of us, the gap. 2) It has potential for great philanthropic or monetary gain—if you figured it out. 3) And, as the apostle Paul recognized, ‘the gap’ between our intention and action can and does cause ourselves and other’s harm on a regular basis. And that’s where God—who loves us too much to remain silent– has something to say.

Through Paul, the gap is given a name: Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. –But sin that dwells within me. Evil that lies close at hand.–

Sin: that which falls short of God’s hope for us. Sin: the result of being free creatures—free to love God and this world, or the opposite. You could see this as an ancient cop-out for bad behavior: “It wasn’t me, doing it, it was the sin!

Let’s pause for a moment to reflect on who is it that wrote these words: Was it some seventeen year old, who had just wrecked their parent’s car, and claimed ‘it wasn’t me, pa’ we were just caught up in the moment!’ Was this written by the person who claims they were ‘overcome by something’ when they indulged in the shopping spree (to pale black Friday) or that binge on late at night sweets? It wasn’t me, it was the sin!

It’s important to remember, here was the Apostle Paul writing! Paul, prayed fervently, who worked mighty miracles, who wrote numerous letters to the churches. Here was Paul who spoke courageously before governments, kings, and rulers. Here was Paul who was tossed into prison, beaten and stoned for his beliefs. Here was Paul, who lived and breathed the way of Jesus –yet confessing: “I don’t get it. I do not get it. I do the things that I hate. And the very things that I want to do, I don’t do. That which I don’t want to do, I do. What is wrong with me? What is wrong?

As we began worship in confession today: ‘if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.’ Whether we are Paul or the Pope himself, this bit from Romans gives voice to the struggle we all have within us, that is with sin.

Sin: the cause of the gap that has us delight in wrong, lack the motivation to do right and indeed, behave in a ways that outright drown us.

When Paul talks about sin, it’s not just small ‘s’ sin, as in personal acts of wrong doing. Sin for Paul is even more than the sum of human wrong-doing, systems of injustice which span the globe. When he speaks of sin, he speaks of Sin, a personified force at work in the world and in humans, whose power infects even those with the best intentions, like himself, like us.

Sin is a force –Paul argued—that could take even the most holy book, the Torah and its law, and have it twisted it into a weapon. It’s the drive behind religious war and forced conversion—taking something beautiful like a spiritual belief and turning it into a battering ram. Sin is the driver that muddles the intentions of well-meaning people, causing us to hurt one another again and again. We in the ‘land of the free’ are captive to Sin, and we cannot free ourselves.

Such analysis of the human condition can come off as gloomy or outdated. Or, it can give us a potent word to describe an enduring reality. And, as when you are visiting your physician: when you have a diagnosis you can go about getting to the remedy. How can we–who seemed to be intent on living in the muck of sin–have any hope of living up to our better intentions and into God’s dream for our lives? Or, as Paul put it: Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? A: Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!

It is interesting that Paul asks who will set him free — not what will set him free. It is not a program that will bring resolution; nor a set of facts from even the most sophisticated test that will bring about change, but rather a person. Jesus Christ. A risen, person, and power is the only thing that can take on another power, sin.

One definition of sin is separation. Separation from our good intentions and our ability to live them out; Separation from God’s dream for us and our world, and our lived reality. It takes Christ’s power to bridge the gap.

Sisters and brothers, in the face of your deepest and truest intentions. In light of what has been put in your heart to aspire towards, you can subscribe to the latest self-help blog or grit your teeth and by sheer stubbornness try to do it ‘this time.’ Or, you can lean into the power of the living God. Praying a simple, most powerful prayer, “Lord, help me.”

Who will rescue us from the body of death? Thanks be to God for Christ. Who invites you to the table today, where we become what we eat: Broken, we become whole; less than we ought to be, we are filled; unable to bridge the gap between God’s dream for us and our reality, strength.

Full aware of the gap in your life between good intentions and behavior, the sin, that yokes us all—hear Jesus words of invitation: Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me… you will find rest for your souls.

The Moving Church

Pentecost Sunday

“The Moving Church”
June 8, 2014; Acts 2:1-21
This sermon was preached by Pastor Jim Page at Trinity Lutheran Church

It’s great to be back with all of you today after my two month sabbatical from April 1^st-June 1^st. Some of you may be thinking, “Hey, Jim’s back” while others are thinking, “I didn’t know he was gone.”

Rather than give a long summary I’ll give you a one minute summary of what I accomplished during my time away. In April, I volunteered at Reach, Inc. While there, I assisted individuals with developmental disabilities in doing their work tasks while learning an array of details from their staff. It was an experience that will be the springboard for a specific ministry framework, here at Trinity, to individuals who have developmental disabilities and their families.

I read five books with topics ranging from the power of vulnerability to public speaking to spiritual care for a busy family. Finally, and I have a prop to share with you…my family and I ventured away for a week-long vacation in Orlando. Four days were spent at Disney World and one day at Lego Land. This photo is what Ben, Abby and Katie were doing when we were driving back to the resort after a full day at Legoland.

So, thank you for being a congregation that supports sabbaticals for your pastors. Thank you to my three colleagues who took on added duties while I was away.

You didn’t come here to hear about my sabbatical but to hear some good news from God’s word.

Let’s begin with a question: When you hear the word ‘church’ what do you think of? Perhaps it isn’t so much a thought or a memory but an emotion that rises up within you. I’m sure that what you think of from the past or now or how you feel is a far cry from what people thought about back when the church began in the first century.

In the first century, the church was a movement. There was no tradition, no liturgy, no Bible, no hierarchy. It was a movement sparked by a single event in history: the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection shows us that Jesus was in fact who he claimed to be and it launched the local church as a movement to change the world. Today, my goal is to lead us to re-think church and re-define what the ‘church’ is all about. I’ll give you a little history lesson, we’ll look at  three scripture readings that’ll show us how purpose of the church and finally, we’ll see how you as a key part of this movement known as the local church.

In the Greek New Testament, we get the word church from the word ‘ekklesia’ and it literally means an assembly, a gathering of people, or a congregation. Jesus launched the church around his mission of restoring all people to God. Then something terrible happened in history. The Greek word ‘ekklesia’ transitioned to the German word ‘kirche’ from the Goths around 300 AD and it is where we get the word church. ‘Kirche’ became the new translation for church and it meant “the Lord’s house”; a term for a gathering in any religious space not specifically Christian.

This horrible linguistic transition resulted in horrible theology. Before long, the church was located in a building. Whoever controlled the building, controlled the church. Whoever controlled the church, controlled the scriptures. Whoever controlled the building and the scripture controlled the people. In some sections of Europe, whoever controlled the building and the scripture controlled the government.

Then something awesome happened. In the 16^th century, a British author and linguistic scholar named William Tyndale decided it was time for the common person to have access to the Bible. It upset him that the priests would read from a Bible that no one could understand or read.

He became the first person to translate the original Hebrew and Greek text into English. The church leaders were not happy about it. He became an outlaw and he fled to Germany to finish his work. Guttenberg lived a 100 years earlier to Tyndale and others were able to print copies of his work. They smuggled copies into England. The people were finally able to hold copies of the Bible in their hands. Tyndale was eventually betrayed by a friend, he was brought back to England, tried for being a heretic. He said the following to the religious leaders and authorities as he accused them of abusing their power and God’s word, “If God spare my life, ere many years I will cause a boy who drives the plough to know more of the scriptures that you do.” They hung him and then set his body on fire.

What made the church leaders upset was that Tyndale took the word ‘ekklesia’ which was then regarded as a building and he translated it as ‘congregation’. It was his attempt to return the gathering of God’s people back to what it was meant to be back when it began: a moving, multi-cultural, mission-centered movement for all people based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

His inspiration was Jesus’ words in the 16^th chapter of the gospel of Matthew. There, Jesus asks his disciples a question many of us may hesitate in asking our friends: Who do people say that I am? They replied that people thought he was Elijah, may be John the Baptist. But Peter, he stands up to say, “I’ll tell you who you are. You are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus looked him in the eye and said, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of death will not overcome it.”

Jesus’ ministry continued. He was crucified and rose from the dead. Scripture tells us that he spent 40 days with his 11 disciples, his mother Mary and his brothers and about 100 other people. They ask him a question and it’s in the book of Acts, chapter 1. “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” They were thinking of a kingdom for themselves, for God’s people.

Jesus says to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Imagine, sitting near Jesus Christ, a man who Rome crucified, who the religious leaders hated and there’s a hundred people with you and he says, “you will receive power and this message of God’s love will touch the rest of the world.”

Jesus departs and the group goes back to Jerusalem to pray and be together. Two weeks later Jerusalem is packed with people for the Jewish celebration of Pentecost. We know from historical documents that people came from 14 different regions of the world.

When the 100 people were meeting on the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was in their midst and it manifested itself in such a powerful way in that they could speak the languages of those from around the world. People on the outside heard the sound and were confused and amazed at what was happening. They were shocked and asking, “How is it that you are speaking my language? You’re a Galilean!” They looked across the way and see other Galileans speaking in different languages. They’re talking about a man named Jesus who was the Messiah, the Son of God. He died for our sins and rose from the dead three days later.

And in the crowd…there is a stir. They thought, “Jesus, I remember watching his trial.” “That’s right, remember him; I heard him teach out in the country.” My friend says she saw him heal a blind man.

In that moment, Peter, you recall was the one Jesus said was the one he would build the church upon, decides to preach the first Christian sermon on opening day of the church. He says, “In the last days, God says, I will pour out my spirit on all people. Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth, was  man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs. This man was handed over to you by God’s sets purpose and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death.” (Acts 2:22-24)

Peter’s point was that being a follower of Jesus, is about seizing an event that happened two months ago in the city they were in.

When the people heard him they responded, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter replied, “You should go to church.” No, he said repent and be baptized. “The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off.” You know who is far off ? Me. You. Everyone now. Everyone in future generations.

The message of Jesus isn’t about how often you go to church, it’s not about earning points to be in God’s favor. The message is that all of us are far off and some how, some way…God’s love breaks through all our failings in order that we can know the love, the hope and the new beginnings for our lives.

Peter didn’t say go to church. What he said was, “Repent and be baptized.” Step away from the past and seize a new life in Christ. What happened then? 3,000 people were added to their number that day. Do you know how long it would take to baptize 3,000 especially if they had to take a video? 3,000 was a huge number of people committing their lives to following Jesus Christ and having their lives restored by God.

Since day 1, there has always been a remnant of people that have believed that this movement needs to move and this dynamic needs to spread, this message must touch every area in the world. To do so, there has always been missionaries, Bible smugglers, Bible translations, preachers, people who serve the poor, people who would not be controlled in believing God’s word is for all people. There have been people like William Tyndale who believed the scripture is for all people and have said “I am willing to give my life to this message in order to put the scripture, the story of Jesus, into the hands of people that when they read it they say, ‘Wow, I want to be a part of that.’”

The church is not a building, but a movement. The church is what you do; it’s who you are. The church is the human outworking of the person of Jesus Christ. Let’s not go to church, but let’s be the church.

Do you know what I love about Trinity? You get this. When children are baptized-everyone’s eyes are on the child. When you gather with others to serve the poor…you gather as the church. When you gather together to go on trips overseas to bless others, wondering if all will go well, you’re gathering as the church. When you serve as an usher, as a home communion minister, in our food pantry, when you gather in one of our children’s day camps or Vacation Bible school this summer, when you gather to lead a group of teens…you’re gathering as the church. When you allow your Christian faith to guide your relationships and the decisions you make, you are a part of the church moving in our midst.

There’s has always been people who have believed it is not location, it is not style…it’s a message that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins that the world would be renewed and restored.

I don’t know what you think of when you hear the word ‘church’. But my hope is that today you see the church as not a building where we gather once a week. It is a movement that happens every day as you live out your faith in Jesus Christ.

What would happen if all the churches put their energy into being a part of the Pentecost momentum rather worrying about their differences, who is in and who is out? The one thing  you, and we together as Trinity Lutheran, can do is do everything we can, in what we say and do, to bring the message of Christ into our world. Because, what God can do through us is inspiring and it’s exciting.

Let’s not go to church. Let’s be the church. Amen.

   
 

 

 

Bowling Alone No More

“Bowling Alone No More”

June 15, 2014 

Trinity Sunday  

Genesis 1 and Matthew 28

This sermon was preached by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI\

 

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, grace and peace be with you all.

            Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, is a book by Harvard professor, Robert Putnam. It’s a fascinating account of the largest study ever conducted on the

way Americans have walked away from organizations and other forms of community since the 1950’s. Drawing evidence from nearly a half-a-million interviews over 25 years, Putnam’s research shows that Americans are increasingly disconnected from each other.

 

 “Bowling Alone” traces membership decline in voluntary groups like civic and service clubs (Rotary and Kiwanis and the like), PTA, professional associations, even decline in churches and synagogues. From his study, Putnam says Americans started walking away from organization a few decades ago and today we’re bowling alone like never before. Watch this YouTube video.  “Bowling Alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ckm88h0d_U

“Bowling Alone” doesn’t just apply to organizations. Putnam’s research shows that the privatization of leisure means we meet with friends less frequently, we know fewer of our neighbors, and socialize with our families less often.

            Putnam concludes that the level of community in America is at its lowest point. “For the past 25 years American society has experienced a steady decline of what sociologists call ‘social capital’, a sense of connectedness and community.  The danger in declining is that the very fabric of our connections with each other, has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities”, including churches.

Has anyone said to you “It’s all about relationships.” I had a friend say that recently – though it wasn’t the first time I’ve heard it said. Relationships are helpful in all aspects of life.

While the level of connectedness between people in our society has dropped, our need for relationships and the connections they provide has not.  It’s healthy for us to have relationships which connect us to community life. In fact, it is the way God designed us and its part of being an image bearer of God. Relationships and community originates right from the heart of God.

            Today is Trinity Sunday – a day the Christian church lifts up the truth of about God – who is in relationship with God’s self. In the concept of the Trinity – we embrace God as three expressions: Father/Creator, Jesus/Savior, and Holy Spirit = Trinity. In understanding God as all three, what do you see? I see relationship connectedness community. God is God’s own community. God enjoys relationship.

            Today’s Bible reading from Genesis tells a story of God creating and shows us how much God is interested in relationship with us. In the passage Tom/Ken read you heard God say: “Let us make humankind in our image.”  Take a good look at that statement. Do you wonder who the “us” and the “our” is here? Right at the start, it seems that God was already relational with God’s self. Then later when God is concerned about the first man being alone God says: “It’s not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Looking at that statement do you wonder who God is talking to? At the very beginning of creation, the Bible gives us a glimpse of God concerned about being in relationship with us.

When we turn to the stories of Jesus, we see him as a God who was always connecting with people. He loved to eat with others. He developed close friendships. Jesus showed that no one was excluded from relationship with him – and he intentionally sought out people who were overlooked by others, prostitutes, beggars, handicapped people and thieves. Jesus resisted every social norm of his day that belittled or excluded or sidelined people. In Jesus, we see a relational God who knew “it’s all about relationships.”

            Well, so what? What difference does it make to you and me that God is relational? I hope it makes it a bit easier to believe in a God who cares about our lives and what we go through – when we understand God’s own desire for relationships. It helps me to know that God isn’t some detached, powerful being uninterested in me personally, and you as well. When I think about God’s heart for relationships, then I get excited about what we as a Christian congregation have to offer. We are an organization important to American life and we can provide relationships and healthy community so that fewer people are bowling alone anymore.

            In the book “Open Secrets – A Spiritual journey through a Country Church,” Rick Lischer tells of relationships that come out of a community people who choose to be part of a church. He includes a story of a little girl blessed greatly by relationship with a church.

            Amy was a kid with a smile that never seemed to be absent from her face. When she was four Amy’s parents learned she had cerebral palsy; and along with the diagnosis, they received a prescription for intense physical therapy. Every day for eight hours, seven days a week, a team of four volunteers was needed to stretch and manipulate Amy’s neck and arms, hands and legs in an attempt to train her muscles to work together.

This regimen of physical therapy was more than Amy’s parents could afford – and more than they could do themselves. Even with grandparents, aunts and uncles, they couldn’t provide Amy the 56 hours a week. Because Amy’s family had investing in being part of a community of faith, the people of their church pitched in. At first it was mainly other moms who showed up to treat Amy. But soon dads came to help and before long there were farmers, mechanics, retirees, and teenagers who showed up having learned about Amy in their church bulletin. Whenever they came, they did the therapy, and they loved her. “That’s where she gets her smile,” her father said.

            The physical therapy itself lasted less than a year, but the congregation saw it as a miracle, not so much a miracle of a cure but the miracle of community – marked by cooperation and compassion made real. People coming to help eight hours a day seven days a week formed a community of love and concern that wouldn’t have been possible without the community of the church.

It’s all about relationships and community and stories like Amy warm our hearts. But back to “Bowling Alone.”  The decline in participation with voluntary groups and organizations and the increasing reality of our disconnectedness from others, affects churches, too.

I’m guessing you all know someone – maybe even a family member who sees little or no value in being part of a faith community like this. Perhaps they say “I’m spiritual but not religions” and they have reasons they stay away from religious organizations – even though they admit to a belief in God. Yet they’ve chosen to go it alone – disconnected by choice from meaningful communities of faith.

I’m concerned about this issue and what it means for churches and people like you who already know there is meaningful benefit from choosing to be part of a faith community.

I’m dismayed that there are people who have been hurt and have good reason to bowl alone spiritually because of clergy misconduct or judgmental attitudes and actions toward them. How crucial it is then for us to actively extend to others welcoming hospitality; to open ourselves to honest, open conversation where we first listen intently to people who choose to stand apart from faith communities.

Then I think about God – our wonderfully relational God and I imagine how God’s heart must hurt over all of this division and decline.  And I wonder – what does God want us to do? I think I know an answer – but how you answer that is truly more important for the people in your life who are bowling alone.

My friends, if you know the God who loves and demonstrates relationship and community – then go and tell those people in your life. Find the spiritual person who stays away from “religion” person and love them into relationship with this church – a community of faith that isn’t perfect. But one that strives to represent the heart of a relational God and offer to everyone a community of helpful hope and forgiving love. May it be, that we, as representatives of God – the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit see to it that no one ever has reason or feels the needs to bowl alone. Amen. 

In-between Jesus and the Spirit

“In-between Jesus and the Spirit”

Preached on June 1^st, 2014, by Pastor Brahm Semmler Smith

Based on Acts 1:6-14 and John 17:1-11

 

Sisters and brothers in Christ, grace and peace from our risen and ascended Lord be with you.

 

I want you to think of a time in your life that was an in-between time.  In-between, when something had come to an end, but what was to come next had not yet arrived yet.  Those in-between, already but not quite yet experiences.

 

Some examples:

Ending one job, but only to have some time on your hands before the next one.  Or losing your job, and having to wait for the next one to come along.

Maybe those months in between finding out you are pregnant and the day of the delivery of your new child.

When moving from one community to another, and you are asked where are you from, and you don’t know quite how to respond.

Or for today’s crowd, Maybe the time between high school graduation and the beginning of college, when you aren’t in high school any more, but you aren’t quite yet in college.  And you and your parents are trying to figure out what that means!

 

Sarah and I were just at our 10 year reunion at St. Olaf College this past week.  While reconnecting with friends and classmates, we looked back 10 years and remembered what our lives were like, and the many in-betweens we were experiencing while we were leaving college.  Many of my friends had plans, but still had to get to them.  Many of them did not have plans, and were trying to figure out what was next.  Find a job.  Go to grad school.  Join the peace corps or global missions.  Move back home with mom or dad.  We certainly were in an in-between time in our lives.  And 10 years on, we can look back at this time with perspective and understanding.  But in the moment, these times of being in-between can be uncomfortable.  Anxiety can be high.  Questions arise.  Anticipation of “what’s next” takes over our minds.

 

The disciples are in an in-between time today.  It is the Sunday that happens to fall in-between Jesus’ ascension and Pentecost.  On Thursday this past week, we celebrated Jesus’ ascension.  And after he leaves, the church historical recognizes that there were 10 days between when Jesus leaves the disciples for the final time, and when the Holy Spirit comes on Pentecost.  10 days of waiting.  10 days of the disciples left with many questions about what is next while they carry on and worship and pray.

 

Are we left on our own?  Does God abandon us?  Why does Jesus leave us behind?  Does this life or world even matter?

 

These are all questions that the first disciples and the early church had to grapple with.  And they are questions we experience, too.  The early church originally thought Jesus was going to be back really quick.  In their own lifetimes.  But when that didn’t happen, the early Christians had to reevaluate what it was that Jesus had taught them and promised them.

 

Perhaps they were like the apostles in Acts today, with their eyes up towards the sky, needing to be reminded of what Jesus had taught and shown them while he was there with them.  The angels ask the disciples: Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up at heaven?  In other words, why are you standing around doing nothing staring at the clouds!?  Did you not hear what Jesus had said and taught?  Did you not hear Jesus explain again and again of the importance of God’s work and mission here in this place?

 

So often in our modern time, I hear faith described as it is all about getting to heaven.  About following Jesus up into the sky.  All we are in is an in-between time.  The idea of the Rapture and all the Left Behind fictional dramas are big on this kind of thinking.  This life, this place, this world, is a big in-between time.  A better place is waiting, and there’s no mess there!  We want to get up and follow Jesus today, up into the clouds and heaven.  Heaven becomes the only focus, the only thing that faith is about.  But is this what Jesus tells us in the Bible?  Especially in the Gospel of John?

In a Time magazine interview back in 2008, and in many of his writings and interviews since, theologian N.T. Wright counters the line of thought that says it is all about heaven, saying, “Never at any point do the gospels or Paul say Jesus has been raised, therefore we are all going to heaven. They all say, Jesus is raised, therefore the new creation has begun, and we have a job to do.”

 

Yes, we are in an in-between time.  We are waiting for Christ to come again, as the angels say.  But where is Christ coming?  Back to us!  Back to earth and God’s new creation.  Back the way he left.  Back to God’s kingdom here.  And Jesus did not leave us unequipped or without instructions.  We have a job to do.  And what is this job?

 

It is to love this world that God so loves.  It is to love the people that God so loves.  God does not despise this world.  God does not despise the people of this world.  The Gospel of John repeatedly, again and again, professes how much God loves the world, and that is why Jesus came into the world in the first place.  This is what we hear in Jesus’ prayer for us today in John.  Jesus goes through all of this – becomes born of the flesh, crucified on the cross, raised on the third day, and returns to the Father – so that we may know God and be one with God.  Jesus came to embody, live out, and show God’s love to the world.

 

And Jesus leaves after fulfilling this purpose.  Jesus came into this world so that we might know God, and know of God’s great love of us.  And when he accomplishes this, he leaves.  Jesus leaves, but we stay.  As Jesus leaves, we are left here in this place, at this in-between time.  But we are not left alone, and we are not left without a purpose.  Jesus prays for us to be unified with God, and promises us the Holy Spirit.  And in doing so, we receive an invitation and a command to participate God’s work.  The ELCA’s slogan is God’s work, Our Hands.  In this phrase, we recognize that we take an active part in God’s work in this world.

 

Eternal life, glory, and a relationship with God — in John’s Gospel these aren’t things waiting out there somewhere but instead are all around us. Where?  Jesus tells us today in verse 3:  “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”  Most tangibly, we experience eternal life and bring glory to God through relationship.  Relationship with God and Christ, and in living that out in doing what Jesus does:  healing, feeding, caring, listening, sharing, and making known the grace and mercy of our God who so loves the world.

 

An East Indian Jesuit priest named Tony de Mello used to tell a story about disciples gathered around their master, asking him endless questions about God. And the master said that anything we say about God is just words, because God is unknowable. One disciple asked, “Then why do you speak of him at all?” and the master replied, “Why does the bird sing? She sings not because she has a statement but because she has a song.”

 

We know God through Christ.  We know God’s love for us through Christ.  What kind of song does this make us sing?

 

May our songs of praise involve a trust in God’s active presence in our lives.  May this faith and trust in God’s presence strengthen and calm us in those times that are in-between.  And may we be inspired by the Spirit to share in the work of salvation around us, in loving, serving, sharing, and caring for the world and the people that God so loves.  Amen

A Commission & a Promise

“A Commission & a Promise” based on John 14:15-21

Rev. Sarah Semmler Smith

Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI

May 25, 2014

 

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator and the living Christ. A blessed memorial weekend to you all, whatever this time may hold for you and yours.

 

We are reminded at this time of year of lives that were ended too suddenly and too soon while serving in the military. At the same time, we acknowledge and pray for the families: who perhaps were never afforded the chance to say a proper goodbye, who yet grieve their loss. It is not always the case that you are lucky enough to share meaningful last words with those you care about most before they are gone. When do have the chance? Those conversations can become holy, and are not soon forgotten.

 

Several years ago now, I sat in the hospital three days in a row with a family, as their father/ grandfather/husband slowly slipped away. A WWII vet and retired police officer, at 86, “George’s” kidneys were failing and his body was going to give out on him; it was only a matter of time. George was conscious and with it up until the last hour of his life, and so his family members were all able to be there at the hospital, to say goodbye. George’s impending absence hung in the room like fog–each of his words were precious, as he called the family one by one to his bedside.  There is no doubt that his family members will never forget those hours spent together or what he said to them. Those moments, those last words, are too important. George’s widow, half a year later, spoke with me about how she got up each day, and kissed his picture, and even talked to him throughout the day. “Goodbye isn’t goodbye,” she told me in her grief, “just hello in a different way.”

 

Jesus’ disciples are gathered around him in a room, listening to what they are learning might be some of his last words. They long ago dropped their former lives to follow him, to learn from him, to place their hope in him. It is clear by this time in John’s gospel that the disciples see God in and through him, too. They love Jesus, and he has just told them that ‘he is with them only a little longer’; soon they will no longer see him. And for three chapters of John’s gospel, Jesus is trying to say farewell, but the disciples are having a difficult time with it. Peter, the outspoken one, blurts out what all of them were thinking: ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answers, ‘Where I am going, you cannot follow me now…” But Peter persists:  ‘Lord, why can I not follow you now?” Jesus explains more about what is to come, which prompts even Thomas to chime in: “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

 

The disciples’ hearts were “troubled,” the text says, but the Bible might be taming it down a bit in this case. Reading between their concerned questions, it’s pretty clear that the disciples were on the edge of crisis at the thought of losing Jesus. And so, as Jesus is speaking to them in that state, I imagine that he chose his words carefully. He is trying to articulate an answer to their underlying question: What are we supposed to do without you? Part of his answer are the words we hear in our gospel reading this morning.  They come out as both commission and promise.

 

First, the commission. He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” And again later, ^“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.”

 

Jesus is asking the disciples to carry on after he is gone, which is understandable, but he sounds like he’s almost playing a mind game with the disciples, of the likes that Brahm said I was never allowed to play in our marriage. I wasn’t allowed to say, for exmample, “If you love me, you would do the dishes.” Or,  “If you love me, you would go get me that fuzzy blanket across the room.”  ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments,’ Jesus says. I don’t think this is so much a pretense, as a statement of reality: Those who love Jesus show that by living out what he have lived. Who was it that once said, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”? So Jesus says, I’ve given you some guidelines for abundant life to live by, so whether I’m here or not, do it!

 

“They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me,” he says. In case that sounded too daunting, in this same farewell speech, he has just given them which, one commandment, is the most important: “Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” On the plus side, all of the laws of the whole Bible, he seems to boil down into this one: to love. On the downside, it is one of the most profoundly difficult for any of us to carry out.

 

This is a daunting commission! It’s hard enough to love like Jesus loved, when he was there walking the disciples through it, stepping in to guide and demonstrate when they stumbled. But he’s talking about being gone and for them to yet carry on. That’s something entirely different, even terrifying.

 

When I five years old, my parents gave me a pastel purple dirt bike, of which I was so proud. It had treads. And no banana seat. And tassels on the handles. So that spring I began with the training wheels. And when I had that mastered, my mom took to biking along side of me, holding onto my seat. Well, one day, we were heading down my road, my mushroom cut hair blowing in the wind as we picked up speed going down a hill, when I realized, “Wow, this was faster than I had ever gone!” And so I turned to look at how my mom was faring alongside me at these breakneck speeds and that’s when I realized, “Wow. She wasn’t beside me. Or anywhere near me. But rather way WAY behind me (like 6 feet), and her hand was no longer steadying my bike seat. And so I did what was only logical at that speed when you are five years old, I took my hands off of those tasseled handlebars and reached back for my mother on her bike behind me. The taste of gravel was the next thing I remember, and such a pain in my nose that I swore I would never smell again, as my face had taken the impact of the fall. I freaked out so much at the loss of mom’s guiding hand, that I didn’t realize that I had all the tools within me to carry on by myself.  (I eventually learned to bike. But not that summer!)

 

The disciples share that very human fear we all hold, of losing someone we love. More than that, they are afraid that when Jesus lets go of life, they will to crash and burn and not have the strength to do what needed to be done. What were they going to do without Jesus?

 

What the disciples didn’t grasp, and what is critically important for any of us who have never had the chance to actually shake Jesus hand is this: An end to the life of Jesus in the flesh, does not mean an end to the living Jesus. In fact, it opened up a whole new era of possibility for relationship with God. Indeed, it’s the only possibility for any of us who lived after 33 AD.

 

See, Jesus does not stop with a commission for the disciples, but he keeps talking, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever… I will not leave you orphaned.” That is the promise.

 

Fleshy Jesus? Gone. Yes. He was and did leave. The Living Jesus? Not in the least. “I will not leave you desolate,” another translation reads.

 

This Promise is the “Jesus goes wireless” moment in history. Where Jesus was once available for only 33 or so years, in one spot on the globe, to a specific number of people–now, in his death, resurrection and ascension, he would be available to all for all time as Spirit (like how a wireless connection comes to us, anywhere, anytime these days). He says, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you…” The wi-fi symbol, then, is like a modern icon for the Holy Spirit. None of us have been “hardwired” to Jesus in the flesh for over 2000 years. But as for the Living Christ, and that power and presence to transform, redeem, and heal that come from God? We’ve been tapping into that for millennia, doing amazing things in Christ name, through his power. Truly, with Jesus, “goodbye was not goodbye.”  Just “hello” in another, utterly game changing, way.

 

Jesus, in his last days in the flesh, said two critically important things to his disciples: 1) A commission: ‘If you love me follow my commandments, in particular, to love! Love each other! Love strangers. Love this world that desperately needs compassion. Love yourself. Because God certainly does.2) A promise: You are not alone, in your grief or your fears, in your uncertainties or struggles, in your deepest need.

 

Jesus in the flesh may be gone. The living Christ abides! And as the gospel says, “You know him, because he will be within you, and among you.” Goodbye is not goodbye, but hello in a different way! Thanks be to God, for this commission to love and promise of presence, that was for the first disciples, and is for us. Amen.

There is Always Hope

There Is Always Hope

Bishop Rick Hoyme’s Sermon, May 18, 2014
Easter Five

The Voice

“The Voice” based on John 10:1-10

This sermon was preached 5/11/14

Pr. Sarah Semmler Smith

Trinity Lutheran Church

 

Grace and peace to you from God our heavenly parent and Christ our shepherd.

 

Today is Mother’s day. It’s also Good Shepherd Sunday. If one wasn’t enough reason then a second gives us cause to celebrate this weekend.  So, I thought we’d take a break and play a game here in worship. It’s a version of “Guess Who.” I’m going to play an audio clip, and you get to guess whose voice it is. You ready?

 

Do you recognize this voice? [Audio plays, “Look at the stars, the great kings of the past look down on us..”]Is this the voice of: a) President Barack Obama, b) Mufasa the Lion, c) James Earl Jones, or d) both b and c.  If you answered “D” you would be correct.

 

Listen to this voice: [Audio plays, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” ]  Was this: a)The Cadbury bunny b) Tom Hanks as Forest Gump, or C) Pr. Jim imparting his wisdom to us from his Sabbatical. If you said “B” you would be correct. Although I guess it is possible Pr. Jim has somehow caught an accent while down South this week.

 

Finally, this clip is brief and quiet, but current, so be ready. Do you know who said this [Audio plays, “I don’t know why but I’ve always loved the idea of summer…”] Was this:  a) Bishop Rick Hoyme, b) anyone who lived through this Wisconsin winter or c) Olaf the Snowman, from the Disney movie, “Frozen.”  If you picked “C,” you got it!

 

No matter how you just did in that silly game, we all know who said this:  the sheep hear [the shepherd’s] voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out…He goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.

 

The books say that an infant is born knowing their mother’s voice. I wasn’t so sure that was true until 2 years ago, May 2^nd around 10 p.m., when a red and crying seven pound bundle was brought to my side and I said something like, “hi there little girl”, and our brand new daughter stopped crying, turned her head towards my voice, and tried to open her eyes.

 

The sound of a voice can be a powerful thing: it can comfort, guide, or hurt us, even when the person who belongs to that voice isn’t directly present. If you stop and think, you might know such a voice: one that you could pick out of a cacophony of others; one that comes into your head at times, unbidden. “Are you sure that’s a wise choice?” it might say. Or, “Money doesn’t grow on trees, young man.”  Or, fill in your blank with whatever pearl of wisdom or pill of derision seems to echo in your mind now and then.

 

It struck me, as I reflected on our gospel text for this morning, that the voices we hear in our heads aren’t random. They are either sound bytes we’ve heard again and again in culture that get stuck in our minds, or they are voices of the people that we knew or we know best: their likes and dislikes, their opinions and preferences, have been spoken over and over in our presence and have become engrained. It’s the voices of these people that we tend to hear and can appear among our thoughts at any given decision point in our life. Maybe for you it is your mother, or father, or a teacher, good friend, a spouse. What the gospel challenges us to consider today, among all those voices and more– is God’s voice.

 

Jesus said, “the sheep follow (the shepherd) because they know his voice.”

 

I’m not sure what my image of sheep herding has been to this point in my life, or if I had any working idea of it at all, frankly. If I did, I probably pictured man with some kind of shepherd’s crook, coming behind the sheep and yelling a bit, maybe with the help of a dog. As I have learned, in the context Jesus would have been familiar with, sheep actually would follow a competent and familiar shepherd, like children in line behind teacher, or ducklings after mother duck. I found a video of shepherds in Israel today, calling to, and being followed by their sheep, much as it may have happened in the 1^st Century. Watch this [http://www.sermonspice.com/product/44265/follow-jesus]

 

I’ve watched this clip several times now, and each time I’m always struck as a mother of a toddler. What well behaved sheep! Did you notice, or hear, the shepherds call? How the sheep fell into step behind him, seeming to answer him with their bleating. In the shepherding practices of Jesus day, it wasn’t uncommon for several flocks like this to be kept in a common sheepfold or stone pen. The shepherds perhaps didn’t worry so much about sorting whose sheep were whose, however, because for the fact that the individual sheep recognized the voice of their own shepherd and followed that shepherds lead.[1]

 

The question is: Do we know the voice of our Shepherd, today? There are a lot of voices that try to compete. We are no less in need to hear from Christ than people have ever been, but it can be difficult to discern whether any given voice we hear is, in fact, God.

 

As we observe the blooming spring, it is evident that God can speak through nature. But then that message is often ambiguous: a rain cloud can mean can mean life to those in drought and death to those experiencing flood. God can speak through our inner leanings and intuition. But how to discern whether it is God talking or our biochemical workings, is an art learned over a lifetime and not precise. God can and does speak through other people, and God bless us when we feel the Spirit’s embrace through others! But some arms are use to harm, not hug; some people use words to kill and not heal.

 

I like what the Rev. Dr. Craig Satterlee once said, “God is everywhere. God tells us, in effect, ‘If you need to find me in a hurry, it’s bread, wine, Word. That’s where I’ll be.’” Bread/wine and word. We have been left with more than a clue as to where God consistently, truthfully, seeks to speak to us today. Jesus says later in John’s gospel, “If you know me, you will know the Father also.” If we’ve heard Jesus, we have heard God. Our job is to learn to know his voice! To spend time with him. Scripture and sacrament, worship and Word. We return to them not for the sake of tradition but because over time, our goal is to get to know Jesus: what he liked and didn’t like, what he would say and wouldn’t say, so well and so intimately, that it is his voice that not only shows up but can drown out the negative voices that banter for our attention.

 

Martin Luther, arguing with the papacy in the 1500’s, declared that they did not have the right to define who and what the church. He said, “God be praised, a seven year old child knows what church is: holy believers and ‘the little sheep who hear the voice of their shepherd.”[2]

 

“Holy believers” gathered here today, seek to know the voice of Jesus, so that you don’t miss him speak! When you are hurting, him saying “peace be with you.” When you are rejoicing, his ‘hosanna’ joining ours. When you are unsure, him saying ‘follow me.’

 

Jesus told this story about sheep in the context of a man born blind, who heard Jesus talking along the road and called out to him. With some mud and spit, that man was healed, brought back into community from a life of isolation and given a second chance. He heard the voice of the shepherd, was able to answer, and was saved in a very concrete way.

 

We too need to learn Christ’s voice for the sake of our own such healing. In case we are hard of hearing, our shepherd calls us, calls you, by name. Not to condemn you or for the sake of something long off in the clouds, but in order to lead you by his voice to pasture, into a life that really is life, abundant, now. Abundant not in possessions or comfort but abundant in love most definitely.

 

That’s who the church is:  the sheep who are known by and follow their shepherd. Thanks be to God for Jesus, the good shepherd, who knows us first, calls us by name, and invites us to follow his lead.

 

Let us pray:

Shepherding God, help us to recommit ourselves to learning to sound of your voice above all others, and then, as we do hear you, give us the courage to follow where you lead, even to the cross. Amen.

 

 

 

[1] Diane Bergant. The Word for Every Season (Congregation of St. Agnes, 2010).

[2] Smalcald Articles, Part III, Section 12.

It’s Anything But Cheap

“It’s Anything But Cheap”

May 4, 2014

Luke 24:13-35

This sermon was preached by Pastor Kurt Jacobson at Trinity Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, WI.

 

Dear Friends:

In today’s bible reading with Jesus and the two disciples, there’s a lot of talking taking place and some genuine conversation. There’s a lesson in that for us – and insight into some essential ingredients for our lives, relationships and faith development.

Have you heard the phrase: “Talk is cheap?” As an idiom the phrase applies to someone who promises you something that you do not think will come to be.  Talking about something rather than actually doing it does make talk cheap. “My boss keeps saying she’ll give me a raise, but talk is cheap.” “You’ve been promising me a new dishwasher for five years now. Talk is cheap.”

There are many quips we use that give talking bad reviews. “They who think too little — talk too much” or “A dog is smarter than some people. It wags its tail and not its tongue.” Talk, — we surely don’t uphold it as a virtue. In some contexts, “talk is cheap” but in this bible reading Jesus shows us that talking can be one of the richest aspects of our faith and relationships with each other.

Today, there are sociologists who believe we are losing the art of conversation in American life. Eric Hoffer was social philosopher and he wrote books about conversation and the importance of talking. Ronald Regan awarded Hoffer the Presidential Medal of Freedom for literature shortly before his death in 1983. When Hoffer was five years old his mother fell down the stairs with him in her arms and she died. Two years later, at the age of seven Hoffer suddenly lost his vision. Until his eyesight inexplicably returned at age 15, he was cared for by a German immigrant named Martha. Hoffer credits her for learning the importance of talk. He writes glowingly of this nanny:

“Martha must have really loved me, because those eight years of blindness during my childhood, are in my mind, a very happy time. I remember a lot of talk and laughter. I must have talked a great deal, because Martha used to say again and again, ‘I remember you said this or you said that.’…She remembered everything I said, and all my life I have had the feeling that conversation is important and that what I said and what I thought are worth remembering. She gave me that.”   (From an article on Hoffer in 1957article by Eugene Burdick).

Do you know someone who has given you the feeling that conversation is important and what you say is worth remembering? I recall my mother and her sister, who would come up from Chicago to visit when I was a child. The two of them would talk for hours on end — sharing rich conversation filled with interest and love.

As I read today’s Bible story from Luke, I see a wonderful conversation taking place. Two men, two of Jesus’ disciples were on a long walk, seven miles to a town called Emmaus. While they walked, these two men engaged in a rich conversation.

The setting is the evening of the first Easter. Earlier that morning it was discovered that Jesus had risen from the dead. Can you imagine all the things these two men were talking about! Their lives had changed dramatically because of Jesus and of course they had many questions and feelings to share with each other.

The Bible tells us that while the two men were talking, Jesus joined them. For some unknown reason, they didn’t recognize Jesus. But the two disciples welcomed Jesus into their conversation. In turn he asks some questions. The men in turn invite Jesus to stick around and later on they share a meal together, while still unaware of Jesus’ true identity. But it was during conversation at the meal that they finally recognize Jesus.

As I look closely at this story of Jesus and the two disciples and pay attention to the conversation that takes place, I learn two important things from Jesus that apply to our lives.

1  Jesus was a fine conversationalist. He was always engaging people and getting them speaking about things that matter. He wanted to know about their values and their faith. Those disciples, after this encounter with Jesus on that first Easter Sunday evening said to each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us?” Jesus knew how to engage people in conversation and it touched them to their very heart.

Do you know any fine conversationalists? Think about the attributes they possess? People who are good at conversational know how to balance speaking and listening, interest and emotions, ideas and opinion. They know how to bring about dialog. And what most people want from conversation is dialogue and interaction, not just one way traffic. Jesus did that beautifully in this bible story today.

2  Jesus was also a remarkably active and attentive listener. Jesus was known to engage all sorts of people, asking questions of government officials, religious big-wigs, prostitutes, politicians, mothers, lawyers, fishermen, even antagonists. It seems that Jesus was interested in everyone and wanted to draw them out.

Jesus was quite unusual in that quality. While many people you and I know talk nonstop, or talk about themselves too much, Jesus always wanted to hear from the people he encountered, and to know them as fully as possible. Jesus listened — heard their emotions and noted their faith or lack of it — and he asked questions to further the conversation.

I wonder what affect technology is having on the presence of conversation in our lives. With email, texting, twitter and facebook – we now communicate in bursts of abbreviated words, absent punctuation and snarky comments. With such means, communication and human interaction take on the electronic equivalents of speaking at one another. We never have to be physically present with each other to talk to each other anymore. So I wonder if these changes deter us from really get to know each other and build the skills needed for life-giving relationships. I’m surely a consumer of these new means for communication– and it is true that some form of communication is better than none, but conversation is profoundly inhibited when it’s dependent upon technology.

Jesus and those two disciples on that Easter night found their lives drawn together through conversation and also eating together. On that topic, researchers who study our western culture some time ago noted that we don’t even do well eating together anymore. Restaurants are either set up to get us eating and moving quickly or they surround us with television screens and blaring speakers. In neither are we encouraged to linger and enjoy a dining and conversation experience.

The problem is that when we lose our capacity for conversation and for dining together we lose essential channels of grace and life-giving relationships. After those two disciples had eaten and enjoyed conversation with Jesus they said to each other: “didn’t it warm our hearts when Jesus talked with us…?”

We can find our hearts warmed when someone listens to us – gives us the time – shows interest in us. The lesson from Jesus today shows us that through genuine conversation, channels are opened to discover the nature of God present in and through us. The human ability for meaningful exchange with each other is an abiding means of grace. The capacity to share a meal together is an important part of seeing how God works in our lives to bring joy and blessings.

Such goodness found in conversation and shared dining apply to all ages. Children need to be cradled in the grace of family structures where time spent together at a table is a classroom for faith development. Studies about teens today and what they need show consistently that young people want opportunities to talk about what matters to them. Conversations with other teens and caring adults remains high on the priority lists of most American teenagers. For all of us, conversation is an essential ingredient in reflecting on our experiences and faith and integrating them into our sense of self and God working among us.

I hope that your life is already enriched by the grace of good conversation. If so, thank God for it. Then go out and model that grace with others. If you have yet to experience this joy, reflect again on Jesus in this Bible story today. Reread Luke chapter 24 on your own. Ask God to give you the courage and the ability to be a good listener, to ask questions, to find interest in the lives and faith of others. And finally, realize how God works in your life through the people who engage you in talk — which is anything but cheap.

 

Prayer:

God, thank you for the stories of the Bible that show us how much you love us. Today, we see how Jesus loved to talk with people. This story of Jesus touches each of us, because, in some part of our lives, we have difficulty talking or listening or being understood. This week, God, prod us to be better listeners and to show interest in others. Where we need it God, give us the courage to speak. Thanks God, for those people who have touched our lives with good conversation because in them, we have seen you. Amen.