Fourth Sunday after Epiphany and Farewell at Ascension

Luke 4:21-30

Jeremiah 1:4- 10

In today’s gospel, as at the wedding in Cana that we heard about two weeks ago, Jesus is going to do what Jesus is going to do. He isn’t going to be about what his mother wants, or what people back home expect. Even when that causes disappointment and provokes anger. Jesus is following God’s Word, and his actions are grounded in the relationship that he has as the Son of God.

In the Old Testament reading from the prophets, the prophet Jeremiah also encounters God’s Word and it changes how he acts. God spoke to the prophet and when Jeremiah raised his objections and doubts about the work God was calling him to do, God reminded him that he has been known to God from the very beginning of his existence. And knowing Jeremiah as God did, God appointed him to go forth with God’s Word in his mouth and take it to the people in the nations and kingdoms of Judah.

We, like Jeremiah and Jesus before us, are known to God and chosen by God to be God’s presence in the world where we are. And today’s Scripture shows us how being known and chosen by God is very different from being known and chosen by the world or by other people.

From as far back as the ancient prophets, “people” will talk. Jeremiah feared that he could not speak for God because of his youth – whether in actual years, or his lack of experience or knowledge. I expect most of us have had the experience of “imposter syndrome” sneaks into our thoughts and we find ourselves wondering if we are enough; whether we can speak with clarity and authority, or whether we belong in the place and role where we find ourselves. And, even as a congregation, whether we matter because we are small. Here God tells Jeremiah, you are enough because you are mine.

Jesus was more unflappable. He knew how people are; he wasn’t surprised or thrown off when people questioned how he could have knowledge of God’s Word, whether that was because they couldn’t imagine that the son of a carpenter could be a teacher, or because they thought he had gotten too big for his britches, so to speak. This episode in the synagogue follows the temptations in Luke’s Gospel where Jesus had been tested by the devil and refuted false claims at every turn, trusting instead in God and God’s Word to guide him.

Throughout Scripture, people say one thing and God shows them another way to be because God knows the capacity God has created within us to be God’s people, made in God’s image and living out God’s kingdom here in this world.

As the Lord says when Samuel is meeting Jesse’s sons, looking for the one who is to be anointed king, “the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1Samuel 16:7 NRS)”

And as we hear in Paul’s letter today, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

We trust that God will continue to reveal God’s purpose and future for us, because we trust who we know God to be, and here we are reminded too that God knows us and entrusts us to go into the world bearing God’s Word.

In 2014, you called me as your pastor and invited me into your lives to care for you and listened to me as I have preached and taught. I am grateful for the ways you have cared for me, Jamie and the girls and for your curiosity about our VW buses and four-legged companions. I love you and I am so grateful for the ways you have let me know you and your stories and the ways we have shared together in being Jesus to each other and to our community.

Even now as there are questions about what’s next for the congregation and what the next season of ministry may look like, the promises from today’s Scriptures center our lives going forward:

God knows us and entrusts us with the care for the world around us.

God says we are enough and claims us as God’s own.

And God believes in our future because God formed us and shapes us for our life together.

Remembering these promises, we recognize with the psalmist that our trust and hope is only found in God and find our comfort in God’s boundless love for us.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

We give you thanks for your Son Jesus who comes into this world to reveal your Word and presence to us.

Thank you for the ways Jesus shows us that we are chosen by you and called to be your people, faithful to your Word.

Forgive us when we place more value on others’ opinions of us or doubt who you have created us to be and the gifts you have given us.

By your Spirit, give us courage to live out your Gospel and love in the world every day.

We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Summertime in the Preacher's Corner

For my family and me, summertime means barefeet, swimming in the river, campfires and cooking on the grill. For one of my daughters, it isn't summer without the beach, and for another it wouldn't be the same unless she was at Lutheridge for at least one week. Summer means something different for everyone. As we live into the season and all the meanings it carries for people, as a preacher, one of the questions I'm trying to figure out in the midst or Mother's and Father's Day, Memorial Day and the 4th of July, is where, if at all, should my preaching connect the Gospel to these celebrations and traditions?

Here are my three most recent sermons. The first was preached on Trinity Sunday, which fell this year on the last weekend in May, which for most Americans anyway, is Memorial Day Weekend, the official unofficial start of summer when the public swimming pools open, grills are fired up and  the shoes come off.  The second sermon was on June 23, in the midst of the long green season both in the church and in a world where everything is growing and green, and the third was on June 30, the Sunday before America's Independence Day celebration.

I didn't try to make connections to the season's celebrations in this year's sermons and I haven't resolved my questions about the importance of those connections. Part of me wants to stubbornly stick to the text and not be concerned about them, but I also want my hearers to connect the Gospel to their own lives -  to know that they are loved by God and God cares about what happens in their lives - and going forward, I think that may mean making room for the celebrations. Please let me know what you think.

May 26, 2013
Trinity Sunday (Year C)
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Psalm 8
Romans 5:1-5
John 16:12-15



 Listen Now


June 23, 2013
5th Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
Isaiah 65:1–9
Psalm 22:19–28 (22)
Galatians 3:23–29
Luke 8:26–39


Listen Now


June 30, 2013
6th Sunday after Pentecost (Year C)
1 Kings 19:15–16, 19–21
Psalm 16 (8)
Galatians 5:1, 13–25
Luke 9:51–62


Listen Now

Honest Speech - Reading the Psalms

This summer I am studying the Psalms.  Reading Walter Brueggemann, Glenn Pemberton and Eugene Peterson, I quickly realized how unfamiliar the text was to me. I have read bits and pieces of the Psalms and knew they are understood as the songbook of Israel; I knew they are wisdom literature and I knew  they were poetic in the original Hebrew. But like English poetry, their cadence and content was challenging for me.

So, I decided I wanted to try to simply read through the Psalms, just to gain some familiarity with the language, like listening to Spanish radio helps me recognize forgotten vocabulary. I hoped I would notice repeated words and phrases, and begin to understand this new language. If I could get past the decoding stage of reading, I could begin to understand what the writers were saying.

Not surprisingly, Google offers lots of suggestions for reading the Psalms. There are 150 Psalms so reading 5 each day will take a reader through the Psalter in 30 days.One way to do that is to read the psalm for that date, e.g. today is June 22, so begin with Psalm 22, and then read every thirtieth Psalm, e.g. Psalm 52, 82, 112, 142. Repeat the math the next day.

But the Psalms are so varied that a numerical reading felt too random to me, so I chose a reading plan organized around themes.

Reaching the end of the plan, I realized that, there is a nuance between reading the Psalms in 30 days and reading the Psalms for 30 days. I had read just under 2/3 of the Psalter. Of the 61 psalms the themed reading plan did not include, more than half (34) were lament psalms. It struck me then how reluctant we are to use honest speech with God.

While Brueggemann uses the categories of orientation, disorientation and new orientation to identify different Psalms, Pemberton categorizes Psalms into praise, thanksgiving, lament and "other", identifying a full 60 lament Psalms in the Psalter. If we took away a third of our language, I don't think we'd be able to communicate well. Unless we soak ourselves in the Scriptures that are hard - the laments and even the violent and bloodthirsty passages, we risk thinking God only inhabits one part of our lives, and when we are hurting the most, we won't have the language to speak to God, and when we are in the darkest places and passages of our lives, we won't have the imagination to believe God is there with us.

I have built a reading plan that  takes a reader through the Psalter, more or less using the following categories.Some Psalms fit more than one category but for my purposes, they are included only once in the readings. I hope you'll spend some time with the Psalms and tell me whether this is helpful, or share how you approach the Psalter.

Individual Prayers for Help	Individual Songs of Thanksgiving
Communal Prayers for Help	Communal Songs of Thanksgiving
Hymns of Praise	Royal Psalms
Creation Psalms	Trust Psalms
Enthronement Psalms	Acrostic Psalms
Songs of Zion	Festival Psalms
Liturgies	Historical Psalms
Instructional Psalms Day 1 3 4 5 6 7 Day 2 13 17 22 26 28 Day 3 31 35 36 38 39 Day 4 42 43 51 54 55 Day 5 56 58 59 61 64 Day 6 69 70 71 77 86 Day 7 88 94 102 109 120 Day 8 130 140 141 142 143 Day 9 44 60 67 74 79 Day 10 80 83 108 123 126 Day 11 137 33 65 68 98 Day 12 100 103 113 114 117 Day 13 135 146 147 148 149 Day 14 150 8 19 104 139 Day 15 47 93 96 97 99 Day 16 46 48 76 84 87 Day 17 122 2 12 15 24 Day 18 50 81 82 85 91 Day 19 95 107 115 118 121 Day 20 124 129 132 134 136 Day 21 1 14 41 49 53 Day 22 62 73 90 127 128 Day 23 133 30 32 40 57 Day 24 66 92 116 138 66 Day 25 75 18 20 21 45 Day 26 72 89 101 110 144 Day 27 11 16 23 27 52 Day 28 63 125 131 9 10 Day 29 25 34 37 111 112 Day 30 119 145 78 105 106

Preacher's Corner in Eastertide

Each year in the three-year cycle of the lectionary  (the Revised Common Lectionary), many churches follow lessons chosen primarily from one of the synoptic gospels. In Year A, Matthew; in Year B, Mark; and in Year C, Luke. But in the Easter season,we are given the story of Jesus' ministry that we hear in the Fourth Gospel, or the Gospel of John. Here are sermons from the 2nd and 4th Sundays of Easter this year.

April 7, 2013
2nd Sunday in Easter (Year C)
Psalm 150
Acts 5:27-32
Revelation 1:4-8
John 20:19-31

Jesus commissions us to bear witness to the identity of God.

Listen Now 


April 21, 2013
4th Sunday in Easter (Year C)
Psalm 23
Acts 9:36-43
Revelation 7:9-17  
John 10:22-30 

God has given us to Jesus as part of the Good Shepherd’s flock; Jesus leads us out of lost-ness.

 Listen Now

Kyrie Eleison... Lord Have Mercy

In a week already marked by anniversaries of past tragedies like the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, the shootings at Virginia Tech (2007) and at Columbine High School (1999), as well as the 1993 shootout in Waco, Texas, we witnessed more death and destruction and, while my community is hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the tragedies that struck this week, I felt called to say the following to the people who gathered at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Asheville this morning for Good Shepherd Sunday. The Gospel text was John 10:22-30.

---

When I was growing up, my parents’ generation could remember where they were when they heard that President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed.

For me, the first event that I remember in that way is the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986.

A litany of unthinkable events have happened in the years since then.

Like it or not, these incidents become waymarkers in each of our lives, like blazes on a footpath or buoys in a channel.

When new news of death and destruction hits us, like it has this past week with the bombing at the Boston marathon,
the explosion of the fertilizer plant in Texas,
the earthquake in China’s Sichuan province,
we freshly mourn the loss of lives
and try to find our true north, to regain our equilibrium,
wishing our cries of “Enough” and “Never Again” were sufficient.
But somehow, they aren’t,
and now, here we stand together again,
lost and disoriented,
deeply grieving for the hurting world around us.

We all react differently to these experiences.
Some of you may be able to neatly categorize these events as the stuff of history
while others have heard or seen so much in your lifetimes that you numbly accept yet another tragedy,
while for others, each new tragedy is a sharp jab to your gut
as the memory of “where you were when you heard” rushes back and knocks the wind out of you, all over again.

Poet Mary Oliver suggests yet another reaction, writing,
“Read one newspaper daily …
And let the disasters, the unbelievable yet approved decisions, soak in…
What keeps us from falling down to the ground…?”(1)



Indeed in today’s Gospel, I think we are called to fall down –
called to admit that in this broken and hurting place, we can do nothing apart from God,

called to kneel before God and confess Jesus as Messiah – the Risen and Living Christ who died to restore us in relationship with God – 

and called to stand and follow him,
as our Good Shepherd, confident in God’s love and care for each of us.



Speaking to a Jewish audience, Jesus takes the image of the Good Shepherd,
a familiar image known to them through the prophets Ezekiel (34; 22:27), 
Zephaniah (3:3) and Zechariah (10:2-3, 11:4-17),
an image that compared the unfaithful leaders of Israel to bad shepherds who consigned their flocks to the wolves,
and tells them, "Look again!"

Recalling the promise of a future shepherd,
a good shepherd, who will gather God’s people as one flock,
Jesus says,
“Look around you! I am the Good Shepherd. My sheep hear my voice, I know them and they follow me.” God has fulfilled God’s promise to Moses, to David, to Israel!

God has given God’s people – us – a good shepherd who gathers us into one flock,
one community of followers who know Jesus.

We don’t just know his genealogy or where he was born; in John’s Gospel “knowing” is not just a “head” matter, but a “heart” matter. Knowing is not just an intellectual task; “knowing” is “believing” – God’s people believe Jesus is the Messiah and follow him.

And not only has God given us a good shepherd;God has given us to Jesus.
Just as a shepherd knows the flock in his care, Jesus knows each one of us –
the good, the bad and the ugly. 

Jesus knows us in our anger, our hurt, and our tears.
And Jesus knows us in our generosity, our mercy, and our joy.

We know his voice – his Word comes to us through Scripture. Psalm 23 tells us

“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
   I fear no evil;
for you are with me;”

His Word gives us assurance of his presence and reminds us of his promise:

that we will have eternal life – that death will not have the last word;
that we are held in God’s loving hands – no one and nothing can snatch us from God;
that God is greater than the evil we see perpetrated;
that God is greater than the powers and principalities that try to separate us from one another and from God.

And so, we follow him. United as one flock, our waymarkers are not the tragedies that we experience in our lives, whether they make the news cycle or not.

Our waymarkers are God’s commands to love God and our neighbor. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leads us in God’s ways and keeps us on right paths.



Reassured by God’s steadfast promises in a world violently shaken by the brokenness of human sin and by death, we walk “on the rough ground of uncertainties”(2) ; we claim God’s love, grace and forgiveness and confess Jesus as Messiah.

In a message shared Friday night, Bishop Mark Hanson told us, “There are no God-forsaken places and there are no God-forgotten people….”(3)  We may be “washed in life’s river”(4), but we are baptized as God’s children; our Shepherding God knows each one of us by name and loves us and cares for us.



Let us pray. (4)

O Lord, our Shepherding God, come close to us now
Come near us in our time of need.

Guide us with your voice,
Help us to listen and follow no matter where you lead.
Help us to trust you.

Shepherding God,
thank you for your son who laid down his life for those who follow him and for those who are not yet in the fold …

We pray for those who don’t know the shepherd. We pray that by our actions and our reaching out into the community, they may come to know you.

Shepherding God,
Guide us with your love and renew us with your peace. Amen.

---

Notes:
(1) excerpt from Mary Oliver, “The Morning Paper” in A Thousand Mornings
(2) excerpt from Mary Oliver, “A Thousand Mornings” in A Thousand Mornings
(3) ELCA, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2q4IuPQcow&list=PLC4E2E3CA2B79AA24&index=1
(4) excerpt from William Blake, “Night”
(5) excerpt from Abigail Carlisle-Wilke, "Sunday Prayer for Easter 4C", RevGalBlogPals, http://revgalblogpals.blogspot.com/2013/04/sunday-prayer-for-easter-4c.html

Lent and Easter in the Preacher's Corner

Hearing the Gospel fully means engaging all the senses, fully participating in the Body of Christ. In Holy Communion, we "taste and see that the Lord is good." For Lent, the Rethink Church photo challenge opened our eyes to the places where we see God around us, while we continued to read the Word and hear it proclaimed in preaching on Sundays in worship. Here are the sermons I preached during Lent and Holy Week: "Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Rev. 2:29)

February 24, 2013
2nd Sunday in Lent (Year C)
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35
Listen Now

March 17, 2013
5th Sunday in Lent (Year C)
Isaiah 43:16-21
Psalm 126
Philippians 3:4b-14
John 12:1-8
Listen Now

March 28, 2013 
Maundy Thursday and First Communion (Year C)
Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19
1 Corinthians 11:23-26    
John 13:1-17, 31b-35
Listen Now

Post-Resurrection Life

The last week of Lent and the passion and worship of Holy Week are almost a week behind us already. I am grateful that in the midst of it, I found space to be quiet and attentive, but before the drama and intensity of those days recedes completely, it's important for me to note how the Lenten disciplines drew to a close.

In addition to these two words that I documented - Help and Cup - the last week of the Lenten photo challenge focused on these words: Home, Alone, Restore, Blessed, Rejoice and Light, Far and Roots.While I failed to keep up with the daily challenge of seeing these words manifest in my day, participating in the community of folks reading the blog from Rethink Church, looking for ways to connect with others, and being attentive to the distinct forty days of the season were important parts of my experience of Lent this year.

Help
"God grant me the serenity..."

Cup
My first First Communion chalice, created for my internship site for Maundy Thursday:
"Do this in remembrance of me."

Now into the fifty days of Easter where we celebrate the resurrection of Christ and the victory of life over death and light over darkness, I hope that my post-resurrection life and ministry will be marked with as much anticipation, reflection, celebration as those earlier forty days. Life can not just move ahead day-by-day unchanged by the events of Easter. Christ is Risen, Indeed. Alleluia, Alleluia!

Week 5 of Lent

Day-to-day busy-ness, ACC basketball and March Madness marred my engagement with the actual photograph-taking for the Photo-a-Day challenge for Lent as we went through the fifth week, but taking time to catch up, at least on the reflection, if not the images, brought me into Scripture with greater attentiveness, so maybe that's ok.

Go
Am I as eager to go wherever God leads as my ball-chasing Labrador?

Temper 
"Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.  Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.  Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart."

Psalm 32:9-11, NRSV

Surround
"…do not be afraid of them, and do not be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear;..."

Ezekiel 2:6-, NRSV

New
How is the new thing that God is doing both fragile and life-bearing, and sometimes hidden from us?

 

Rise

"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Deuteronomy 6:5-9, NRSV

Dream
"…this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy."

Acts 2:16-18, NRSV

Beloved
"Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." 

Philippians 4:6-8, NRSV

 

Lessons from Mary of Bethany

Disclaimer: Because this is a sermon, it's longer than my typical blog post. For that matter, it's longer than my typical sermon, but it was really, really important to me that people hear that every one of us is a disciple, not just the seminary student, the pastor or the Sunday School teacher or college professor, and for that matter, not just the people sitting in the pews this morning.Christ died for us all and his death is triumphant over everything else. Let's risk our lives looking like that is true.

Who are Jesus’ disciples? How many are there?

Okay,…those are trick questions. The Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry tell us stories about the twelve who he gathered close to him, but every one of us is a disciple of Jesus.

Each of us is included in God’s infinite grace, love and forgiveness and

invited to follow Jesus and learn about the Kingdom of God,

invited to imitate his life in our relationships with one another,

invited to be in relationship with the hurting world around us..

The promise of the gospel is that discipleship is for everyone.

The story of the anointing of Jesus is in all four Gospel accounts; in Luke’s Gospel, it’s earlier in Jesus’ ministry but in three of the Gospels, including the Gospel of John that we read today, it is sandwiched between statements about killing Jesus and about killing Lazarus.[i] And only in John’s account, the anointing happens just before the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem that we will hear next week.

The story centers on just three people:

1)      Jesus, who has come from Ephraim, north of Jerusalem, where he had been with his disciples is now in Bethany, some two miles outside Jerusalem, at the house of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead. 

Ironically, that life-bringing event convinces the religious leaders in Jerusalem that Jesus must die and they begin to plot to kill him. But here, he is among friends.

2)      The second person is Mary of Bethany, who is loved by Jesus and believes in him;

3)      and third, there’s Judas, who is one of the twelve closest to Jesus, who is revealed as the ‘devil’, a thief and a betrayer.

Through her actions, Mary shows us what discipleship means – what it looks like to experience the fullness of life through believing in Jesus.

Unafraid of looking foolish,

Mary sits on the floor at Jesus’ feet, surrounded by a room full of people,

her hair is loosened and she is  pouring perfume on Jesus' feet,

filling the house with a scent that is something between mint and ginseng.

Unafraid of getting hurt,

Mary doesn’t stop to think what others will think. She doesn’t reason out the pros and cons, and evaluate whether she might be able to use the perfume another way. It is true that the perfume was so precious that its sale could have fed and clothed many – so no, this was not an efficient choice that maximized the possible returns, but in anointing Jesus’ feet, Mary makes a faithful choice, and shows her own vulnerability, and Jesus affirms her choice, telling the others, “Leave her alone.”

Unafraid of making others uncomfortable,

Mary makes an extravagant sacrifice, with an ease or willingness that makes at least one of the guests squirm. Have you ever shrunk back at an unconventional display or outpouring of faith, love or service?

We only hear his question about providing for the poor, but Lazarus sounds a lot like a sibling tattling on a brother or sister…. “Can you believe what she’s doing? What a waste, how foolish…” Mary wasn’t acting against Judas, she was acting faithfully toward Jesus.

Unafraid of consequences,

Mary carefully and intimately anoints Jesus,

honoring him as king and Messiah, and preparing his body for death on the cross.

She isn’t acting blindly. She knows what she’s doing. The resurrection of her brother Lazarus prompted the religious leaders to decide Jesus cannot live, and at the end of today’s Gospel, they decide Lazarus will need to die, too, because of his witness. But she takes the risk anyway, making her adoration and gratitude public.

Unafraid of conflict,

Mary speaks out, not with words, but with her actions, confident that she was acting faithfully.

How much easier would it have been for her to do something else, to help serve the meal, to stay on the periphery, and to let someone else be the model disciple?

Reflecting on this story of the anointing of Jesus, what are we afraid of?

What makes us more like Judas, and less like Mary?

 “Why are we so concerned with what other people think?”[ii]

How often do we hide our vulnerability, act with indifference or play the skeptic?[iii]

What happens when we let fear drive our decisions and actions?[iv]

We cheapen the cross.

Basically we say to God, and to those who see us as Christ in the world,

that Jesus’ death on the cross wasn’t enough,

that we don’t really believe that God’s love is sufficient to overcome our fears.

But on the cross, and in his resurrection, Jesus heals our brokenness, life overcomes death, and God’s grace, love and forgiveness are ours.

Not through any understanding or strength of our own,

Not because we don’t sound foolish,

Not because we play it safe,

Not because we don’t rock the boat,

Not because we don’t risk being chastised or criticized,

Not because we take the path of least resistance.

And you know what is even more radical?  God’s grace isn’t limited to the ones who get it right.

In a world that is quick to label and judge, Judas is clearly the un-redeemable villain. I’m not excusing his crime or his betrayal.

Clearly, he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t understand what Mary is doing.

Whether he is greedy and wants to steal the money for himself,

or whether he is merely self-conscious, he is turned in on himself,

and his own worries and questions,

instead of turning toward Jesus.

But discipleship is learning how to live in the grace of God despite our brokenness.[v]

Discipleship is for everyone,

regardless of what has broken us and our relationships.

God’s extravagant and abundant grace is for each one of us, for me and for you, redeeming and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

The promise of the gospel is that discipleship is for everyone and watching Mary, we can see what it looks like.

It is Understanding Faith as a joyful relationship with God where we are invited to learn about the Kingdom of God.

It is Practicing Faith – in worship and outreach and learning and fellowship –

by living in relationship with each other and learning to imitate Jesus’ life in our own lives as best as we can.

It is Sharing Faith – through our lives with people inside this congregation and in our community – being with the hurting world around us and not being afraid to be vulnerable with others.

When we model our lives on the lives of people in Scripture like Mary of Bethany, we become living examples of Christ in the world, sharing God’s extravagant love with the world.

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[i] Exegetical Notes by Brian Stoffregen

[ii] Rob Bell, NOOMA “Name”

[iii] Bill Blankschaen, “5 Reasons We Choose Not To Speak Up”, http://www.ronedmondson.com/2013/03/5-reasons-we-chose-to-not-speak-up.html (accessed March 14, 2013).

[iv] ibid

[v] Mike Breen, Building a Discipling Culture, Chapter 1

Week 4 of Lent

Some days, it feels like Lent is flying by and we'll be at Palm Sunday, Holy Week and Easter in the blink of an eye. (insert banned A word here) Other days, the long hours stretch interminably and it feels like we will remain in the dark woods forever.

Shadow 

No
Jesus' "no" becomes our "no." From Daniel Erlander's "Baptized We Live"

Find
How can we make it easier for people to "find" their way through and follow our liturgy?

Faithful 
What symbols do we use to show how we are "faithful" or tell Christ's story?
 

Ate
What is my daily bread? How much is enough? And whose bowls are empty? How do I share?
 

Happy 
No single image could capture happiness for me, but the folks at Rethink Church included this version of Psalm 32:1-2 The Message on its blog for "happy".
 
Count yourself lucky, how happy you must be—
you get a fresh start,
your slate’s wiped clean.
Count yourself lucky—
God holds nothing against you
and you’re holding nothing back from God. 

Silence
One image that came to mind for silence is from the woods, specifically, from being on the Appalachian Trail in Harpers Ferry for the first time on President's Day in 2001. But even the woods are not silent. We hear the rhythm of our breath, which John Wesley described as prayer.  God breathes into us the divine word and will; we respond in prayer by breathing out our responses in both word and deed.

Water
Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism, "Baptism is not simply plain water. It is water enclosed in God's command & connected w/ God's Word."

 

Week 3 of Lent

As we move into the second half of Lent, have you discovered practices, prayers or disciplines that have opened your eyes to seeing God in the world around you? Have you changed how you approach God yourself? What have you been learning?

I have discovered that while I use a rich vocabulary of words in much of what I do, sometimes I live in a visual desert, or at least, its distinctiveness is blurred in its familiarity. I wonder how my reflections would change if I lived in  more urban setting, or if I was in more varied spaces every day instead of following my routine of home, desk, sanctuary, highway and home again. And then I find myself convicted: Living in the midst of the familiar (and the comfortable), how much more important is it then that I stop and pay attention to the world around me, to notice where I see God active and vibrant?

Hear

The organ resonates, the trumpets call, the choral voices are raised singing, "Hosanna!"

Earthly
"If God so clothes..." all kinds of "earthly" things, will God not also clothe us? (Mt. 6:30)

Prophet
Who are our "prophets" today? Martin Luther King, Jr. certainly has been named. Mother Theresa probably, too. Theologian Walter Brueggemann writes about prophetic imagination and how we preachers can speak prophetically when we bring the Word to our congregations. I wrestled with an image for this word because I resisted using the image of someone renowned, and kept wondering, "Who are the prophets in my life?" and "What does it mean to be a prophet today?" What are the hard truths we need to hear?

Leave
The story of Jesus delivering a boy from a demon in Luke 9:35-43 is the Scripture the folks at Rethink Church chose for this word. The disciples and Jesus had just left a mountaintop experience, and confronted by the world waiting for them, Jesus drove out the evil. What do we leave when we go out of our sanctuaries? Are we able, on the strength of our witness, to drive out, or expel, evil from our communities? Is that the power of communion, community bound together by Christ?

Thirst
Is our "thirst" for God felt more keenly than our craving for the next cup of dark roast?

Bless
"Bless, O Lord, this food to our use and us to Thy loving service." That was my childhood table grace, and it's one of one hundred graces in this volume, which a seminary friend shared with me several years ago.

Night
Remembering that even in the darkness, God is here with me, with us.

Week 2 of Lent

Week 2 of the "Photo-a-Day" challenge created by Rethink Church challenged us to look at these words:

Evil
Defined for many by the events of September 11, 2001, evil was made visible in the events of that day, as well as others before it and since, whenever we have cried "never again". This photo is from TIME Pictures:

Love
While, undoubtedly, the context for speaking of love during Lent is the inexhaustible love of God for us, the picture was what still comes to mind first for me: one from our wedding day in 1993.

Spirit
The Spirit of God is ever in the wind or the whisper. Many images I saw on the day of this word were of cemeteries, recalling the spirits of all the saints who have gone before us. This glass sculpture was in my grandparents' dining room during their lifetimes, and if you squint, you can almost see the branches sway.

Live
Daily, we're reminded to live life fully because it is a gift. With my family, I try to live with laughter and joy.

Cover
Last Sunday's Gospel text (Luke 13:31-35) spoke of the mother hen covering her brood, protecting them from the assault of the world around them. This image is from a chapel above Jerusalem that tradition says is where Jesus proclaimed his lament over the city. (Mt. 23:37)

For the rest of the week's reflections on "Vision" and "Lift", I have to rely on the Pinterest images collected by the folks at Rethink Church. The daily text and blog post give a short introduction to where they've drawn the word from, and sometimes, I read that before I find an image, while other times, I don't read it until later, and it's fun to see where our thoughts diverged.

What are you seeing differently this Lent?