Advent 4a Dec 23 2007

Who's dream was it anyway?

Joseph was asleep and he did what people do in a deep sleep. He was dreaming.

A little while before he thought he knew what his dreams were and what was coming next in his life. He was engaged to marry a young woman named Mary. He most likely dreamed of having children, building a home, and getting on with life with her. Joseph's plans took a turn with the news that Mary was pregnant. He knew that the child wasn't his; and he chose to look away from his dreams involving her and start over in a new direction. Matthew said he was an honorable man who chose simply to let it be leaving her behind quietly rather than expose her to shame and possibly death by stoning for adultery. Its painful to loose a dream like Joseph; much of our identity is shaped by our hopes and dreams. Its tough to see those hopes and dreams fall away.

We've all got dreams. We've all got things we want to do and things we worry about in time and these things surface in our dreams. Christmas is a great time to talk about dreams. The dream that Mary had as she accepted Jesus. The dream that Joseph had, and the dreams that our kids have of toys and food and fun. As our lives change our dreams can be very different. I know from first hand experience that dreams of a little kid at Christmas are different from the dreams of a teenager and those dreams are different than a dad and I can't imagine what all will change in my dreams over a lifetime.

A friend of mine is married to a woman he calls, “an Olympic class dreamer.” He says that he sort of dreams, but her dreams have more detail than real life does for him. He said that one morning he woke up about a year ago sore after she punched him hard in the shoulder. He woke up startled. It must have been about 5 am when he blurted out, “Ouch” She said that he'd been such a jerk in her dream that she just had to let him know how mad she was at him. He muttered something back like, “Honey whatever it was I'm sorry now and I'm sure I'll be sorry if you just get back to sleep.” “I knew you'd say that, you just said it in my dream. I'm sorry too.” He rolled over and went back to sleep pretty fast. She just couldn't fall back to sleep as easily that night; her dream had been too vivid to let go of so quickly.

Dreams are part of maybe a third of our lives if we sleep 8 hours a day. They can haunt us and move us. They can motivate and transform us. Joseph was asleep when this one particular dream came along. His day to day life sure wasn't going as planned anymore. He had huge decisions to make that he hadn't planned to ever make. Mary was pregnant and he wasn't the father. He could walk away, he could stay and keep the child knowing the secret, or he could demand justice and see that Mary's blood be spilled because of her sin and the disgrace she'd brought to both of them. What do you do when you have a huge decision to make. How many people say, “let me sleep on it.”

He was going to leave Mary behind and start over. He went to bed to sleep on this huge decision that he had just about made. He chose to divorce her quietly rather than publicly demanding her punishment. And he settled down to sleep.

God has dreams all his own. His dreams are sometimes very different than ours and at other times God uses dreams to communicate his will so very vividly with all of us that we our will and God's will becomes one. Maybe you remember these prophetic words,

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

Dreams aren't our reality but they point us to the reality that God is guiding us toward. Martin Luther King is best known for speaking about this dream. It was a dream that moved a nation; because it wasn't his alone indeed this dream was God's. God uses dreams repeatedly and purposefully. Being attentive to God's dreams help us see things through God's eyes and not our own. God uses dreams like Joseph had to show us the world not as it is but as God intends it to be.

In the night an angel appeared in Joseph's dream. The angel began speaking to him calling him by name, “Joseph son of David...” Then came these words of assurance, "fear not..." Sure Joseph had dreams before; but this one dream was different. This one dream wasn't Joseph's own personal property any longer. He shared this dream with God too. Angels, when they appeared in scripture, often started speaking with the words, “fear not.” God's presence has to often been softened in our imaginations. Most people think of angels as chubby little kids who look sweet and innocent. We imagine angels as women or children who are delicate and sweet and soft. We think they scoot around on pillow-soft clouds strumming harps. But the angels of scripture appeared so powerfully and dramatically that they would have inspired fear even if they were encountered in dreams. The angels of God were warriors ready to do battle against evil in all its forms. They came not just to strum little harps they brought messages straight from God to let God's will be known in our world.

The angel said to Joseph, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife,” this angel knew exactly what Joseph was planning to do. He knew that Joseph was a good man, a righteous man, who was trying to find a quiet way to protect both himself and Mary from public disgrace. And now he asked Joseph to take on a responsibility that he didn't want. He asked him to take on the possibility of shame that would come from raising a child that wasn't his own. The angel explained plainly something that no one could have imagined, “the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Had anyone else said this I doubt that Joseph would have believed. We know where babies come from. But this dream was giving Joseph a sense of peace that he didn't have as he lay down to sleep ready to quietly end his engagement.

In Christmas we see the story of God unfolding in our everyday life. Joseph and Mary were not extraordinary; the child in her body was God in flesh but everything else was so ordinary. The feelings, fears and hopes were so ordinary until the dream came for Mary and she conceived a child without knowing a man and he came to accept that he was called to love this woman and this child regardless of what the wagging tongues in town might say.

Joseph's meeting with an angel in a dream started his life, and the whole world in turn, on a different course than he expected. The prophet Isaiah said, 14 The Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be pregnant. She will have a son, and she will name him Immanuel. 15 He will be eating milk curds and honey when he learns to reject what is evil and to choose what is good. NCV (New Century Version)

Joseph and Mary weren't in this alone. God was going with them into history. He was coming, the angels declared his presence to them, now they both were called to live it out. They had different dreams but both pointed them to what God was up to in this one child Jesus. The dreams were one of God's points of contact in their lives. Even before the dreams they had to word of the prophets to reveal the will of God to them.

The point the angels were making in dreams to Mary and to Joseph, and that Matthew is trying to make for us years later, is that they shared shared in a long standing dream with God. They separately dreamed at night of a child they would call Jesus. The prophets dreamed of the one who we would call Emmanuel; God with us. Christmas is about seeing God's dreams made real in our time.

AMEN

Are you the One Advent 3a 2007

Jesus, are you the one? Or are we to wait for another.

This was John the Baptist's question when he was sitting imprisoned by Herod the King. Jesus said John was the greatest man ever born of woman. He live boldly declaring the word of God out in the wilderness. People came from Jerusalem and all over Judea to meet him, and be baptized by him as they lay down their sins. News of what he said went from the wilderness into the center of society. Even Kind Herod knew what he said. John got into hot water when he said that it was wrong for Herod to marry his brothers wife and Herod locked him away. Herod loved to hear him talk, but he couldn't let him talk like that in public so he had John put in cell. In that cell even he, John the Baptist, this great man of faith and courage had doubts and hopes that mingled together about Jesus.

John's ministry as, baptizer and forerunner, brought him into the imagination of the people and into the prison of King Herod. Jesus said that he was more than a prophet, he was the one to prepare the way, but now he was the one in a cell sending out his followers to meet Jesus. His words outside of the walls of society had been heard by those in power inside the walls. Herod chose to have John locked away. An old teacher of mine, Jim Nestingen wrote,

John’s fate is linked to his Lord’s. So, having heard him sounding forth in the desert the radical freedom of detachment, we find him now doubly attached―in prison, yet held even more firmly by the One whom he has proclaimed (Matt 11:2-11).

John's fate was real, just one enticing dance by a young woman was all it cost in the end to see the Baptist's head on a silver platter (Matthew 14:1-12). His days in prison were days to question and to hope. John's ministry would end but Jesus' would grow. And with Jesus ministry came a new hope, a hope that is not fulfilled in Christmas but in the Cross and Resurrection of the baby born on Christmas.

Early in life John's faith led him outside of society and moved him to call people to repent. He had faith that moved him at his very core to be bold and to preach like no one else. And even he had questions. The mystery of John's appearance in the wilderness bold and strong dressed in a camels hair fasten at the middle with a belt is contrasted today with him sitting in a cell. You'd remember meeting this man out there in the wilderness with a beard eating locusts and wild honey. But now he sits imprisoned questioning if Jesus is the one.

Maybe you know somebody who has hope and doubts all at the same time. John the Baptist had this question for Jesus, “Are you the one?” A great verse in scripture, Hebrews 11:1 says that, “Faith is being sure of what you hope for, and certain of what you do not see.” Faith is hope put into action. Hope comes not because of anything that you've seen, tasted, smelled, or felt with your body. Hope comes from a promise and it depends on the one who made the promise. John had faith, hope, and doubts.

John's own calling as a prophet amazes us today. He lived with boldly with purpose and vision. He wasn't afraid to stand outside of the norm. The normal people sought him out because being normal people wasn't working any more. The gospels leave no doubt that John's call for repentance was heard; but its wasn't universally heeded. Calling for repentance was only part of John's ministry; he was to prepare the way for the one. Imprisoned he wondered if Jesus was the one. It didn't start this way, he was the wild one outside the walls of civilization and now civilization held him in the walls of cell. In that cell he lived on hope.

We've all seen people living on hope; maybe you've been the one living on hope; maybe you are the one right now today who is filled with hope and doubt. Hope is there in the praying dad or mom in the hospital room of the sick child. Hope is real in the marriage counseling session of the troubled couple when one spouse is still praying that it can work. Hope was there when John John the Baptist sent his followers to Jesus with this question. Matthew 11:3, "Art thou the coming one? or are we to wait for another?" 1890 Darby Bible. It's the question Christians have to ask Jesus.

Jesus sent a message back to John.

Matthew 11:4-6

Go, report to John what ye hear and see. ⁵ Blind men see and lame walk; lepers are cleansed, and deaf hear; and dead are raised, and poor have glad tidings preached to them: ⁶ and blessed is whosoever shall not be offended in me. 1890 Darby Bible.

Even John the Baptist, this man who would call so many to repentance needed to hear the good news. Sitting in a prison he needed to hear what God was doing through Jesus. When you live on hope what you see and hear God doing in the world, even if it doesn't change your circumstances, can sustain you. John was sustained in a prison cell by the Good News of Jesus ministry. John's calling was to prepare the way for the one and now in prison John sent out his followers to ask Jesus, "Are you the one?"

Christmas by itself doesn't save us. Jesus came as an infant, but that doesn't save us. He taught and healed, but that doesn't save us. He called for justice and toppled over the money counter's tables in the temple, but that doesn't save us. What saves us is Jesus death on the Cross. At the very center of this church is a reminder of what saves. The cross was an ancient instrument of death. Jesus the baby we celebrate at Christmas grew to a man who would have his arms and feet pierced with spikes before he was hoisted up to die on a blood piece of wood.

John the Baptist's ministry faded away. The crowds came out to be baptized but no more. Now he sat in a cell. He didn't preach to crowds any more. Some committed followers came to see him now and then; but John's public ministry ended as Jesus ministry grew to include more and more of God's people. John's purpose was to prepare the way. Now he asked Jesus, "are you the one?"

“ Go back to John and tell him about what you have heard and seen―the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor. Matthew 11:4-5 New Living Translation

Hope began with John's call for repentance; hope grew as Jesus healed and forgave the hurting; hope died for 3 days as the cross claimed Jesus life; but the love of God did not end. Hope grew fresh from the stump in the resurrection not only that we could have freedom through repentance but that that through Christ crucified and risen we might die to sin, death and the devil. John's message, repent, will forever be linked to Jesus life, dying and rising. He came to prepare the way for hope...

Thanksgiving Nov 22 2007

Some years taking time for Thanksgiving makes sense and other years its tough to see what there is to give thanks for at all. If you're in a tough spot, maybe out of a job and having trouble making ends meet its real tough to be full of praise and thanks and you might just want to scream at somebody who tells you that its time to be thankful. But in other years its real easy to know what your thankful for and what you've got in your life that matters. I've been blessed in the past week by some very insightful emails that have given me a good sense of what I and some others have to be thankful for this year.

I give thanks for life...

One email reminded me that the first thing to be thankful for, this year, is life itself. An email came on Sunday night from Kim a member of the church I served in Wisconsin. Kim plays guitar in the band every Sunday and helps out picking the music. Her 20 year old son, Matt, is in a Military Police unit deployed in Iraq. He told her, in a conversation they had through instant messenger one night last week that an IED had popped up between his Humvee and another right in line after his. It was small bomb, he said, by Baghdad standards, but it was pretty big for their section in Iraq. He said, it had been a little while since they'd seen one so close.

Matt told his mom that the bomb must have been kicked up by one of the vehicles in the line and exploded in the space between his and the next. His Battle buddy was in the next vehicle and he was grateful to see his friend again. Matt is Kim's closest family and for her this year she says she gives thanks for her life and his life and every chance that she has to know that he is alive and well.

Another email came from a member who had a cancer diagnosis and then got great results last week from tests after treatment. The family isn't saying much, they don't want people to make a big fuss, but the news was worth cheering about. So I'll give thanks for life this year.

I give thanks for the chance to laugh...

Another email, from a member who's recovering from surgery, reminded me to be thankful for the chance to laugh. Her note read...

A young man received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. The young man tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary. Finally, he was so fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. He shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder.

In desperation, he threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, he quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto his outstretched arms and said, "I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions.

I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

He was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. He was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior, when the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

Two more emails this week reminded me of two things: to be thankful for my blessings and to be thankful for the chance to serve.

The first email came to our office manager on Monday. It was from a couple in our church who have been blessed in their life together and are now looking for some way to share their blessings with others. They wrote that were looking for the name of some family we at the church knew of who they could help out at Christmas. I didn't have to think to hard before I gave them a name of a family who've had a real tough year.

This email reminded me that when we are blessed we have the opportunity to share our blessings. This is an ancient theme that comes from our Jewish roots and reaches out for all of us now in the 21^st century. Its there in the first 5 books of the Bible; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy all carry this theme forward that God has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing to our families, our neighbors and the strangers who live right next to us.

The last email came this afternoon it reads

Friend of Camp Victor,

The following appeared in the Biloxi Sun-Herald newspaper on Tuesday, November 20, 2007. It is a letter to the editor from a grateful Gulf Coast resident. We believe it expresses the unspoken thoughts of so many people here. Happy Thanksgiving.

They came, and we are humbly thankful

When the wind died and the water receded, we were on our knees in prayer and despair — broken people with broken lives but thankful to be here still. Would we ever be able to rise again? So much work; too much work; where to begin?

Then they came out of their broken homes. Hand in hand, they came with chainsaws and trucks and chains and removed the barriers to our streets. Maybe we could, we thought, with help.

Then darkness fell again, so dark, so quiet, only questions and the sound of generators and helicopters. Sounds of life. Did anyone know of our plight? Would help come? They came.

They came by the hundreds, then the thousands. God had heard and we were thankful. They came — firefighters, military, police officers, doctors and nurses, linemen and engineers, truck drivers and preachers. They knew. They came. They all came.

The whole world came and we were thankful. They came and suffered with us. They came and lived in tents, slept on the ground, but they came and we were thankful. They clothed us and fed us. They sheltered us and tended our wounds.

They lifted our hearts and we were thankful. They came with full hearts and open hands. They sweated and cried with us, not knowing where tears ended and sweat began, and we were thankful. They lifted our spirits and helped us to our feet, and we were thankful.

They came — teachers and students and lawyers, craftsmen and laborers with strong backs and hammers and saws and brick and mortar. They came. They built our homes, our schools, our churches, our lives. Praise God, they came. They became us and we became them, as one.

With our wounds deep, our fears and memories fresh, they came. And as we heal, they come, still . . . still. With a full heart, I am thankful, we are thankful. Still. They came.

RITA DUFFUS Gulfport

Psalm 100:4 reads boldly,

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

Let us all say, AMEN.

Resurrection People

There's a good reason to be here today: to hear the promise of the resurrection.

The first reading today is from the ancient book of Job and it holds this incredible hope of the resurrection out for us to hear and hold onto in this life.

Job 19:25-26 (NRSV) Please read this out loud with me.

²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God,

This is the promise that we need to tell. This is the hope of Christmas and Easter. This is the promise that we cling to everyday in Jesus. And if you only heard this little part of the promise you've heard enough; “²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”

This promise of life after death means everything, but there's a story behind these words of faith that needs to be told. The man who said these words was called Job. He was a righteous man who feared God. Job, throughout his whole life, had been blessed by God. One day Satan approached God asking for permission to test Job. God agreed but told Satan not to touch Job's body.

Job lost many of the things that matter in this life: His kids, his home, his wealth were all gone. But he still believed in God. So Satan came to God again. The evil one asked permission again to try and separate Job from God. He inflicted Job with sores from head to toe. Job was in pain in body and spirit. Job's own wife said that he should curse God and beg to die. But he refused; he refused to let go of his faith. 3 of his friends came to visit him and they barely recognized him sitting there covered from head to toe in sores. He ended up sitting with these 3 friends in silence for 7 days and night. Finally after waiting for 7 days and night with his friends Job broke the silence cursing the day he was born. Job's friends weren't sure what to do next. He was a patient honorable man who seemed to everyone to be faithful and now he knew suffering and grief.

His friends looked for a reason why. Job looked for hope. His friends wanted to investigate. They wanted to find some fault with Job deep in his character that would explain his pain. But Job didn't want there advice. He was holding onto something even bigger. He was holding onto the promise of eternity. He was holding onto the hope of the resurrection. He was holding onto hope a thousand years before Jesus rose. He clung to it because in the end it was all that he had and in the end it is all that any of us have. He clung to the hope he shared that have been said over and over as families gather at a grave side. Job 19:25-26 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth; ²⁶ and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God...”

The resurrection story is the one story that Christians all love to tell and hear. Truth is its the one story that we all need to hear over and over. Resurrection is the promise that's kept people of faith alert and full of hope for 2 thousand years. The resurrection promise is good even in times when everything else around you is going down fast. Resurrection doesn't exempt any of us from today's struggles; but it gives all of us hope beyond today's problems. Its a that you will know joy in the company of heaven along with everyone else who believes.

The resurrection is the promise that even after death God still wants you around. But some people don't believe it. They laugh at the Good News as if it was just a crazy idea. 2000 years ago a group called the Sadducee's were very powerful in ancient Israel. They were wealthy. They were key members of the temple and society. They came to Jesus to poke fun at the idea of the resurrection. They made it a joke. They called him “Teacher” and then they launched into this great twisted story before asking a question.

A few years ago I shared the Sadducee's story from Luke 20:27-38 with a woman in her early 90's. She listened carefully as we shared coffee and this story at her kitchen table looking over a neatly kept yard in the middle of a once active farm. The building stood as reminders of a once lively farm that was now home only to Alva and a friendly on German Shepherd.

As the line of husbands unfolded in the Sadducee's story Alva responded almost like this was the juiciest piece of gossip that she'd ever heard. Her imagination ran with the thought of a woman marrying 7 brothers. "Oh my how can that be.." she asked. Alva had caught on to how ridiculous the scene in heaven would have been. 7 brothers sharing one wife. That was the point that the Sadducee's wanted to make. Their imaginations had run wild pressing against the idea of eternal life. And they came up with a story that was too juicy to be credible; but was just realistic enough to illustrate their belief that there was no eternal life.

Then came their question, "Who's husband would she be after death?" The Sadducee's were looking to have some fun with Jesus and all of us who believe in the resurrection of the dead. They wanted him and all of us stumped. And he replied to their story with a answer that stretches beyond our imaginations.

36Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. 37And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. 38Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.” Luke 20:36-38

Jesus invites us to start thinking beyond today to start realizing that eternity is only glimpsed from here. The Sadducee's questioned what it could be like and Jesus offered them a glimpse. They didn't ask what it would be like; only what it could maybe possibly be like, because they didn't want to hear anything about it. Jesus offered a promise not of what could maybe be but what will really be in the life to come. And this promise is what we can bring into every situation. This promise is a gift reveal in a cross and an empty tomb. The promise is the resurrection of the body to life everlasting. The promise that everyone who dies believing in God is not lost to eternity but is alive in God.

When we leave this church as resurrection people we go out into the world to make a real difference. The Sadducee's, and many like them in our time, are convinced that God is incapable of bringing anything dead back to life. But as resurrection people we know different. As resurrection people we've seen it already.

We've seen the sick restored to health; and its no accident. Its a sign of the power of God who will raise all of us from the dead. Resurrection people will even step into some of the worst places and situation because they know that's the point where God is working. Resurrection's there if you look just down the road in places like Rushford and Stockton. When you work in a place like that first hand you glimpse see the power of the resurrection. Look around and you might catch God at work making all things new. God's at work all around us making all things new. God's at work in your homes and in your marriages and in every relationship that matters. God is in the business of making everything new. The Sadducee's believed that the world is and that's what matters. And we Resurrection people believe that God is and that's what matters.

God's invitation to a Two Way Relationship Pentecost 21c Oct 21 2007

God's invitation to a Two Way Relationship

Slide 1: Do you know where your God is?

Do you know God from personal experience?

Maybe you were blessed and had a prayer answered letting you see God at work.

Do you know God from a circumstance in your life that just cried out for somebody, anybody to do something. Maybe you saw things change and couldn't explain how it happened.

Do you know God not by what you've seen but by faith that helps you to keep on calling out even when you aren't certain beyond hope that God is really there.

Slide 2:God invites us into a 2 way relationship.

God is calling to us, inviting us into a honest two way relationship. Our relationship with God has some real challenges. We easily miss God's calls. He reaches out for us in scripture and in the Word of God that is manifest when we serve out of love in the name of Jesus Christ. But many times we shut ourselves off from his Word. So God uses the circumstances of this world to get our attention. We look away from injustice and God is still calling for our attention. God reaches out for us in revelation and sometimes when we've shut our ears to his word he uses consequences to get our attention.

Slide 3

Paul in his farewell letter to Timothy wrote from a Roman prison. He sat in chains and told Timothy, a young man who was growing into a strong man of faith to, “...continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it.” Paul was reminding Timothy that he wasn't alone. The faith growing in Timothy was shared with his mother and grandmother, and Paul and the rest of the church.

Slide 4

Paul wrote on to Timothy, “...from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timohty 3:14-15. NIV God comes to us in many ways. He searches for us wanting not only to connect with us in prayer but to reveal his very heart of love and compassion to each one of us through the Living Word of God. This is a two way relationship, prayer and revelation, a deep connection between God and each of his people.

Slide 5 How do you pray.

Prayer is part of walking with Jesus. Its our link to God and God receives all kinds prayer: formal and corporate prayer like we share with him hear today. And everyday and conversational like, “God watch over her or God help me, I'm struggling. Prayer is our part of communication with God as Father. But its not a one way street. God sometimes starts the conversations and other times replies when we start talking. That's revelation. Prayer to God exists as part of our relationship. Prayer is literally your faith in action. Prayer means that you believe in the God revealed to you and for you in the Word. Prayer means that you believe in that God enough to speak into the darkness knowing through hope, and not certainty, that you will be heard.

Okay, you say prayer keeps you connected to God just as we stay connected when we listen to the Living Word revealed in Jesus. But what if you're desperate. Our reading from Luke today isn't just Jesus generally talking about prayer and our relationship to God when things are okay. The woman Jesus was talking about in the Gospel story was crying out to a judge in desperation.

Slide 6:

Jesus invites us, in this story, to look closely at our relationship with as people dealing with God. Jesus explains the terms of this relationship with very human faces. One face is the face of worry and fear. The other face is of a judge who doesn't care. The face of desperation belongs to a widow who is desperate for justice. We don't know exactly what she needs or wants; that's left to our imagination. Maybe she had been robbed by an unscrupulous banker who made a loan he knew she could never repay and now she risked losing everything. Maybe she'd be swindled. Just let your imagination run but we know that whatever the situation she was crying out for justice. The other face in Jesus story is the face of a judge who seems not to care at all.

There was no way in the story for the widow around this situation. She had to deal with this one judge who didn't care about her, or anybody else. And she had to get that judge move on her case. And he didn't care. But she pesters and pesters until he finally moves on her case. She may have followed him showing up in court everyday. She may have embarrassed him demanding that her case be heard telling people he was a fraud. She may have stood outside his house silently pleading. Jesus tells us to pray like this, day and night, for justice. The issue at hand for the widow is justice. Jesus is inviting us to pray, like this, about what matters.

Slide 7

Parenting two 4 year old girls has given me a little insight into God's communication with us (revelation) and our communication with God (prayer). About a week ago we were having a problem with our dog swiping food from our girls' hands. The puppy would jump up and swipe gram crackers out of their hand right as they sat on the couch about to take a bite. So I put up a sign on the refrigerator, a revelation if you will, of Dad's plan for his daughters. “No eating in the living room.” Our girls are 4 and I know they can read the word no, but everything else is a bit of mystery. They told mom when she came home.

Our daughters have a wonderful ability to ask us for all kinds of things and on occasion they have the ability to do more than just ask, sometimes they even say thanks, with out prompting. As a dad I expect to hear, "Daddy, I'm thirsty. Can I have some water please?" and its always wonderful to hear, "Thanks dad." in response. I can imagine that God the Father hears many of these prayers from us. I'm learning that there aren't always easy answers to their requests. Sometimes the why or the how questions my daughters ask are way out of my league. Sometimes they pester and push hoping to just get what they want, and sometimes they pester to get something they really need.

Slide 8

God hears many kinds of prayers.

Prayers of adoration like in the words of great hymns like Beautiful Savior or Shout to the Lord. Prayers of Confession naming our sins, our pride, or sloth, our lust, failings, anger, and all the other ugly things that we've done and all of the good things that we've left undone before God. God hears prayers of thanksgiving for all that we have and all that he has done. And lets not forget that prayers of supplication come to from each of us asking God to grant us or someone else something.

God hears all kinds of prayers. Some are neatly bookended with words of praise and thanksgiving. Others are pleas, sometimes the pleas that really matter, come in tears and screams that aren't neat and tidy with flowery bookends. Some prayers come from deep in the soul and call to heaven for a reply. A mother with a sick child might wake up in the night and debate with God. A man worried about his business might cry out to God not certain of what is next hoping to see God act. Jesus said that the widow called for justice until it finally came. Jesus calls on us to pray without ceasing when it matters trusting that we will be heard.

Slide 9

God reaches for us again and again. He reaches finding a means that will help him to be heard. And we reach for him trusting that we will be heard.

Martin Luther King said these words in a sermon delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 3 March 1968.

It will be dark sometimes, and it will be dismal and trying, and tribulations will come. But if you have faith in the God that I’m talking about this morning, it doesn’t matter. (Yes) For you can stand up amid the storms. And I say it to you out of experience this morning, yes, I’ve seen the lightning flash. (Yes, sir) I’ve heard the thunder roll. (Yes) I’ve felt sin-breakers dashing, trying to conquer my soul. But I heard the voice of Jesus, saying still to fight on. He promised never to leave me, (Yes, sir) never to leave me alone. (Thank you, Jesus) No, never alone. No, never alone. He promised never to leave me. Never to leave me alone. (Glory to God)

God invites you into this two way relationship. He invites you to know his true heart of mercy and love revealed in Jesus who we meet in the Gospels. He invites you to pray without ceases when it matters trusting that you will be heard.

AMEN

Pentecost 18c 2007 a confirmation sermon

Dear Friends,
Grace and Peace from God our Father and Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Psalm 146:1 Alleluia, Praise the Lord oh my soul.
I've been thinking some about our confirmation class for obvious reasons the last few weeks. I've been thinking what a neat group of people this class has turned into over time. I even found myself thanking God in prayer for having worked with a group like this one who've came not just to learn knowledge about God and church but who've come to serve God and to wrestle with huge questions about faith and God and justice and what it means to be part of the church in a world that belongs to God but that is so often separated from God.

2 I will praise the LORD all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

And it hit me sometime in the night on Wednesday into Thursday that I shouldn't just be thanking God for what he's done with this group so far; no what I realized when I saw two members of the class come to help with 7th grade confirmation this Wednesday is that we really have to be thankful for what God is going to do with all of our lives in they days to come. Maybe you think that confirmation day is the last day for church. After the party church is done and the parent's obligations to model faith for their children are over. But the party hasn't begun for any of us yet. God's got much more in store both in this life and in the life to come.

Our Gospel today is all about keeping your eyes open to see where God is leading you. If you ever wanted to really know what God is after, in your life, you just have to pay attention to Jesus' stories. And today we have a story that teaches very clearly what God is asking of us in this life. Jesus made many of his strongest points not by lecturing people about what they were doing wrong; but by telling stories that challenged them to start seeing the world differently. Jesus wasn't vaguely telling people stories with easy happy endings. He was inviting people 2000 years ago, and people today, to see the complex reality of human life. Jesus was concerned with more than just the world in general Jesus was most concerned with the way his hearers cared for the people around them, most especially the ones they walked past on any given day.

Jesus' story starts out talking about two men who lived right next to each other but who had very different lives. The one man owned a great place. The other man, Lazarus, was, physically, his closest neighbor. He lived right outside the gate of the rich man. The one man ate well and lived well. He was dressed in fine purple clothes, the color that the super rich and royalty wore, and fine linen. The other man, Lazarus, lived out in the gutter in front of his gates. He was just hoping for a scrap of bread from the table that would be tossed out for the dogs as part of the trash. The wealthy in those days used a piece of bread as their napkin to wipe their lips and clean their beards. The poor man sat outside the rich man's gate with weeping sores that dogs came by to lick hoping to get a scrap.

3 Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortal men, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.

In this life the rich man had it all. He'd be the guy with the best of everything. He'd have the biggest house, the best boat, the best cars, everything that he had would be the best. And His neighbor, Lazarus, knew suffering right outside his door. And Jesus says that God saw it all. God saw one man's luxury and one man's pain right next to each other. Jesus said that Abraham, the man who received God's ancient promises welcomed him home to eternal rest. Abraham, the one God said would become the father of a great nation, more numerous than the stars or the grains of sand on the sea shore, welcomed Lazarus with open arms to eternal life. Across a great chasm from Lazarus and Abraham the rich man sat in the eternal fire just wishing that somebody would come to cool his tongue with one drop of water. Now he called for Lazarus, the poor man he ignored while they were neighbors, to come across that great chasm to serve him.

What catches me most is that the wealthy man would have walked over or arround the poor hurting Lazarus laying at his gates. Growing up in Minneapolis and going to good old South High just off Cedar Avenue and Lake Street we all figured out ways that made it possible to zip past the poorest places and the most hurting people. It was easy, we just hopped on the freeway and cruised right past the places where we'd see the homeless and the hurting. Now as a pastor in a bedroom town I can see that our subdivisions and our distance from other places can sometimes make it easy for us not to see the hurting people who are all around us. Sometimes just looking left or right, instead of straight ahead, is all that it takes to see what God sees as we drive around the poorest places or through them with our eyes straight ahead like we are in a tunnel.

5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the LORD his God,
6 the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
the LORD, who remains faithful forever.

Jesus story tells us that God's involvement in this world involves us. We are invited to be the hands and feet that serve in God's name. We are invited to be the ones who carry a promise with us. Lazarus and the unnamed rich man were neighbors. They literally lived just next to each other; but to the rich man Lazarus wasn't worth reaching out to help. But now in the afterlife Jesus said that Lazarus and this man were separated by a great chasm. When they were both alive the rich man made this chasm real by going out the side door or stepping over Lazarus every day.

7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The LORD sets prisoners free,
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind,
the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down,
the LORD loves the righteous.
9 The LORD watches over the alien
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

What matters to God above all is that we act out of love. What God desires most is that we love and honor him freely and that we grow in His love in order that we might be able to care for others. Oh sure your words matter and all your actions matter; but what God is most hoping to see grow in each of us, whether your a tenth grader or your 80 is love for God and honest concern and compassion for the people around us.

But maybe you say the chasms between all of us are too deep. Maybe you look at the world and the evil that you can see all around and you're asking if God even cares. Truth is the world can very ugly; and its dangerous and risky to step out of comfort and meet a hurting person. But Jesus is challenging us to have a different perspective that includes our neighbors, most especially the one's who we'd rather look past. Maybe you've caught a glimpse of God at work; maybe you never have. Maybe you think that the reality of sin is too much for God to overcome. Maybe you once said that you believe in God but now you're not so sure that God's even there or if the church really matters at all.

About a month ago Time magazine published excerpts from several of Mother Theresa's letters. Many of you know who she was, the Saint of Calcutta who spent years caring for the most basic needs of the poor and sick in India. Her private letters that she exchanged with people she sought spiritual counsel from reveal the deep wrestling with God that lay beneath her faith.

Most surprising in the letters that she exchanged with spiritual leaders who tried to help her wrestle with her faith was her description of God's absence. She devoted her life to rescuing the dying homeless people from the gutters of Calcutta in order that their last days might be spent in dignity. Hundred's joined her caring for the poor. And all along people assumed that she must have seen Christ's face day after day; but no, instead she didn't see it for years on end. She knew and shared God's love and yet she experience God as real for years on end.

Jesus invites us to join him in this world and in the next. He invites us to follow when we see him and when we don't. He invites us to walk with him when our faith is strong and when our faith is gone. Jesus cross is the reason we gather here week after week. His life given for each of you bridges every gap and gives every one a chance to start over and to re-prioritize like eternity matters; like there's so much more than just today.

10 The LORD reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Hallelujah, Praise the LORD.

God's vision for us is eternal. He sees beyond one stage of life to every part of our human experience. And his promise to be God for us, revealed in the cross and grave, is good no matter what we've done or where we've been. There are many chasms we can never cross, but for God nothing is impossible

Pentecost 14c Sept 2 2007 Luke 14:1-14

There is no manuscript for this sermon
just notes

sometimes that's all I have to prepare

There's a rich unfolding of Jesus' plan for the kingdom of God in Luke 14:1-14. The unfolding work of God comes as Jesus gathers with others in the Pharisee's house to eat on the Sabbath.

He sees the guests come and he sees that someone else has come besides the desired guests. In Luke 14:2 the someone else in the story is a man with ὑδρωπικὸς translated by the NIV and NRSV as dropsy. The man lived with edema, with painful swelling in his body because his lymph system didn't work right. Luke says that Jesus looked at his host and the honorable guests asking them if it is right to θεραπευ̂σαι literally to offer therapy, to cure or treat this man on the Sabbath.

The host and guests gave no answer. Jesus healed the man sending him on his way.

Jesus offers us hope that we haven't earned and a promise that we don't deserve. He came to heal and to lift up us in our hurt and to move us to meet the hurting around us as ambassadors of his kingdom.

A week ago Friday five guys from church and headed over to Stockton, MN to help muck out houses. We worked alongside of home owners, their families, and a Mennonite group from Wisconsin ripping out soaked drywall, filling buckets and wheelbarrows with mud and sewage, pulling out ruined carpet, insulation, and furniture. There still much work to be done.

We were strangers in town received warmly by the families we helped. The sheriff took down our names and gave us wrist bands so they knew who we were. They welcomed us in and worked right along side of us.


In Luke Jesus saw the guests come and he saw that someone else has come besides the desired guests. Jesus looked at his host and the honorable guests asking them if it is right to θεραπευ̂σαι literally to offer therapy, to cure or treat this man on the Sabbath.

The host and guests gave no answer. Jesus healed the man sending him on his way.

The lectionary has left the story of the hurting man out of the reading for Sunday. Instead we focus in on Jesus' observations of the people and his vision for hospitality; but in this context we can see eve
The lectionary has left the story of the hurting man out of the reading for Sunday. Instead we focus in on Jesus' observations of the people and his vision for hospitality; but in this context we can see even better how important care for the hurting is in Jesus vision.

Jesus' parable about the wedding guests who took the higher seat, when it was not theirs to take, was bold. He spoke directly to the people in the room and called for humility. His vision of the kingdom was coming clear. The one who assumes the place of highest honor will be brought down so that the humble will be lifted up. He wasn't ambiguous or vague.

Leaving no room to doubt, Jesus gave the particulars of his vision away as he spoke to everyone there about who to invite to a banquet.

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”Luke 14:12-14 (NIV)

As Jesus moved towards Jerusalem he got bolder. He challenged a legalistic religion with a spirit of mercy. He challenged his hosts to invite those who couldn't pay him back. The same challenge exists for us. He challenges us to look around not for ways to gain advantage; but for ways to help others who are disadvantaged. The reading ends; but Luke's story leads to another parable about a great banquet.

^ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the man who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.” Luke 14:15 (NIV).

Jesus next parable of the great banquet invites us to see the generosity of God that is ready and poured out. The invitation to the banquet was rejected by the first guests on the list. They refused their invitations and in the parable the host sends out his servants looking not for the ones who rejected his generosity but for everyone, hurting or not, who hadn't been invited at all.

Jesus' invitation to serve is broad. By reading the whole of Luke 14:1-24 we see the magnitude of God's intended generosity. Jesus' vision of inviting the poor and hurting to a banquet is even more challenging when we think that others had rejected such invitations.

Jesus is calling for hospitality. We aren't called just to run to the poor with food; we're to welcome them in and receive them as guests; Jesus' vision is of a world turned upside down and where those who never expected the place of honor are given the highest honor.