El Domingo de la Santisima Trinidad

I first preached this sermon in Spanish; the English translation is below.

Génesis 1:1 - 2:4

Salmo 8

Mateo 28:16-20

Oremos…

Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean aceptables ante tu vista, Señor, fortaleza nuestra y redentor nuestro. Amén.

 

Desde el jueves hasta el sábado, estuve en la reunión del sínodo con luteranos de todo nuestro estado. Este no es el año en que celebramos una reunión administrativa o asamblea; este es un año en el que invitamos a todos —miembros de las congregaciones, líderes ordenados e invitados— a reunirse para fomentar la conexión y el compañerismo, para el aprendizaje y para la adoración. Acudimos a Lenoir-Rhyne —nuestra universidad luterana aquí en Carolina del Norte, que ahora es también el hogar del Seminario Teológico Luterano del Sur— y llenamos el campus, sus salones de clase y sus auditorios.

 

El tema del encuentro fue: «Vengan y vean. Vayan y cuenten». ¡Y así lo hicimos!

 

Escuchamos historias sobre cómo nuestras congregaciones se involucran con sus vecinos y muestran el amor de Dios. Encontramos animo pará ayudar a los «santos con experiencia» a comprender cómo pueden seguir formando parte de la iglesia, incluso cuando enfrentan a los desafíos que trae el envejecimiento. Destacamos la importancia de inspirar asombro y admiración ante todo lo que Dios ha hecho y continúa haciendo. Y, dado que la obispa Emily Hartner se encuentra aún en su primer año como obispa de nuestro sínodo —y hay nuevos líderes tanto en su equipo de trabajo como en el concilio sinodal—, también escuchamos nuevas voces y conocimos sus historias.

 

Pueden encontrar videos en el canal de YouTube del Sínodo de Carolina del Norte, los cuales incluyen los servicios de adoración y las narraciones que tuvieron lugar; también hay fotografías disponibles en Facebook. 

 

Lo que no puede fotografiarse ni captarse en video son las formas en que las personas se conectaron unas en otras: reencontrándose después de años —o incluso décadas— de separación, riendo y poniéndose al día; conversando en oración sobre cuestiones de salud, sobre sus hijos o sus padres; y compartiendo historias de duelo y pérdida.

 

Entrelazados en nuestro encuentro se hallaban temas de los mismos textos que hoy escuchamos en nuestro servicio de adoración. Y deseo compartir con ustedes algunas de las cosas que escuché o descubrí mientras prestaba atención.

 

Mi primer descubrimiento estuvo en el salmo; por eso lo hemos leído hoy en nuestro servicio. Creo que a estas alturas ya saben cuánto amo el lenguaje de los salmos. A menudo utilizo las palabras del Salmo 19 como mi oración antes de predicar y, hace apenas dos semanas, hice referencia al Salmo 139, que relata cómo Dios nos formó y nos tejió en el vientre de nuestras madres incluso antes de que respiráramos. 

 

El Salmo 8 expresa el asombro que sentimos ante la inmensa multitud de la buena creación de Dios, y se maravilla de que Dios nos incluya en ella:

 

Cuando veo tus cielos, obra de tus dedos,

la luna y las estrellas que tú has establecido;

¿qué son los seres humanos para que te acuerdes de ellos,

Los mortales para que los cuides ?

 

Una predicadora describe a Dios como

un artista, que añade una capa de color, textura y complejidad cada día, para luego dar un paso atrás y observar con ojo crítico. Mmm, esto está bien... («El Creador crea la creación», un sermón de la Reverenda Dra. Katie Hays en Day1).

 

Podemos imaginar que Dios experimentó esa satisfacción deleitosa que desciende cuando todo el trabajo cobra sentido y, que contento, el Creador puede descansar.

 

Dios cuida de nosotros. De mí y de ti. De todos nosotros.

 

Creo que, a veces, nos resulta difícil creer que estamos incluidos en ese amor divino cuando la gente utiliza un lenguaje lleno de odio o nos excluyen; cuando se ignora a las personas de piel morena o negra, o cuando se menosprecia a las mujeres. 

 

Creo que a las personas cuyo primer idioma no es el inglés, o que tienen alguna discapacidad visual o auditiva, les cuesta creer que están incluidas cuando no hay traducción o cuando las presentaciones no utilizan las tecnologías adaptativas disponibles. 

 

Creo que a las personas en silla de ruedas les puede resultar difícil creer que están incluidas cuando intentan acceder a espacios que claramente se olvidaron de ellas, porque no hay rampas ni puertas más anchas. 

 

Creo que a nuestros niños, jóvenes y adultos más jóvenes les puede resultar difícil creer que forman una parte importante de nuestra familia congregacional cuando los adultos mayores no escuchan sus voces, no invitan a que planteen sus preguntas o no les confían responsabilidades.

 

Esas son formas muy concretas en las que la iglesia y el mundo pueden quedarse cortos. Pero, para todos nosotros —que vivimos en un mundo tan ocupado donde nuestra atención puede verse atraída por lo brillante, lo llamativo y lo novedoso—, resulta fácil olvidar que, verdaderamente, Dios se preocupa por cada uno de nosotros. 

 

Dios nos creó a cada uno de nosotros de manera única y nos ama como obras de sus propias manos. Y no solo eso, sino que —tal como escuchamos en el relato de la creación— Dios nos forma a su propia imagen, enviándonos al mundo como sus siervos y representantes.

 

La obispa Emily nos invitó a tener una perspectiva panorámica al escuchar las historias de la iglesia, tomando en cuenta una visión grande de todas las historias y personas. Y gracias a ello, pudimos ver destellos de personas que tal vez no siempre vemos en nuestras propias congregaciones.

 

Para mí, eso significó prestar atención a los adultos jóvenes que ejercían liderazgo en este encuentro.

 

El ministerio luterano en los campos universitarios ha tenido una fuerte presencia en nuestro estado durante mucho tiempo; sin embargo, en los últimos dos años, el sínodo ha estado desarrollando una red de adultos jóvenes que invita a personas de entre dieciocho y treinta y cinco años a conectarse entre sí. Y el próximo verano, junto con el Encuentro Trienal de Jóvenes y el encuentro multicultural, se celebrará un encuentro de adultos jóvenes, con el fin de forjar relaciones y aprender a seguir a Jesús junto a otras personas provenientes de todo el país. Para nosotros aquí en Grace, es precisamente aquí —en nuestro servicio en español— donde a menudo contamos con la mayor participación de adultos jóvenes; y me pregunto qué es lo que Dios podría estar diciéndonos al resto de nosotros a través de sus vidas y de su testimonio.

 

La tercera cosa que noté, al reflexionar tanto sobre el relato de la creación como sobre el texto del Evangelio, es que la historia continúa.

 

La creación sigue su curso y se expande incluso hoy en día, especialmente si dirigimos la mirada hacia esas estrellas y esos cielos que describe el salmista. En  Génesis, Dios otorgó a la tierra y a las aguas la capacidad de «producir plantas que den semilla» y de «hacer surgir enjambres de seres vivientes». El último versículo afirma que el relato describe «las generaciones de los cielos y de la tierra cuando fueron creados». Y sabemos que las generaciones engendran generaciones; es una historia interminable.

 

Y en el Evangelio, los discípulos son enviados «a hacer discípulos», bautizando y enseñando para que —una vez más, generación tras generación—conozcan el amor de Dios por el mundo.

 

La obra no está terminada. Continúa con nosotros —nosotros, «simples mortales» a quienes Dios ha confiado, como a sus propios amados, la misión de llevar la buenas nuevas del amor de Dios al mundo. Y nos incluye a todos, en toda nuestra amada singularidad.

 

Gracias a Dios.

Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Psalm 8

Matthew 28:16-20

Let us pray…

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. 

 

From Thursday through Saturday, I was at the synod gathering with Lutherans from across our state. It’s not the year when we have a business meeting, or assembly; this is a year when we invite everyone – members of congregations, rostered leaders and guests – to gather for connection and relationship, for learning and for worship. We go to Lenoir Rhyne, our Lutheran university here in North Carolina which is also now the home of Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary and fill the campus, its classrooms and auditoriums. 

 

The gathering theme was “Come and See. Go and Tell.” And we did! 

 

We heard stories of how our congregations are engaged with neighbors and showing God’s love. We found encouragement to help “seasoned saints” understand how they can continue to be part of the church even when they face the challenges presented by aging. We named the importance of inspiring awe and wonder at all that God has done and continues to do. And, because Bishop Emily Hartner is still in her first year as our synod bishop and there are new leaders on her staff and on the synod council, we also heard from new voices and learned about their stories.

 

You can find videos on the North Carolina Synod’s YouTube channel including the worship, and storytelling that happened, and there are photos on Facebook, too. What cannot be photographed or captured on video, are the ways people connected with one another, reuniting after years or even decades, laughing and catching up; prayerfully talking about health issues, children or parents; sharing stories of grief and loss. 

 

Woven into our gathering were themes from the same texts we are hearing in worship today. And I want to share some of what I heard or discovered as I listened. 

 

My first discovery was in the psalm, which is why we read that in our worship today. I think you know by now how much I love the language of the psalms. I often use the words of Psalm 19 as my prayer before preaching and just two weeks ago, I referenced Psalm 139 that tells how God formed us and knit us together in our mother’s wombs before we even breathed. Psalm 8 expresses the awe we feel at the vast multitude of God’s good creation, and marvels that God includes us in it:

 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars that you have established;
what are humans that you are mindful of them,
    mortals that you care for them?

 

One preacher describes God as 

an artiste, adding a layer of color, texture, complexity each day, then stepping back to look with a critical eye. Hmmm, it’s good….(“Creator Creates Creation”, a sermon by Reverend Dr. Katie Hays on Day1)

 

We can imagine that God experienced that delighted satisfaction that descends when all the work comes together and contentedly, the Creator can rest.

 

God cares for us. For me and for you. For all of us.

 

I think that sometimes we can find it hard to believe that we are included in that divine love when people use hateful language or exclude us; when people who have brown or black bodies are ignored or when women are belittled. I think people whose first language isn’t English or who have vision or hearing loss find it hard to believe they’re included when there isn’t translation, or presentations don’t use available adaptive technologies. I think people in wheelchairs can find it hard to believe that they are included when they try to enter spaces that clearly forgot them because there aren’t ramps or wider doorways. I think our children and youth and younger adults can find it hard to believe that they are an important part of our congregation family when older adults don’t listen to their voices, don’t invite their questions or won’t entrust them with responsibility.

 

Those are really specific ways that the church and the world can fall short. But, for all of us living in a busy world where our attention can be drawn to what is bright and shiny and new, it is easy to forget that, truly, God cares for each one of us. 

 

God uniquely created each one of us and loves us as the works of God’s own hands. And not only that, but as we hear in the creation story, God forms us in God’s own image, sending us into the world as God’s servants and representatives. 

 

Bishop Emily invited us to have a panoramic perspective as we heard the stories of the church, taking in the wide-angle view of all the stories and people. And because of that, we got to see glimpses of people we might not always see in our own congregations.

 

For me that meant paying attention to the young adults in leadership at this gathering. Lutheran Campus ministry at our colleges and universities has had a strong presence in our state for a long time, but for the last two years, the synod has been growing a young adult network growing that invites people who are 18-35 to connect with each other. And next summer, along with the triennial Youth Gathering, and the multicultural gathering, there will be a young adult gathering, forging relationships and learning about following Jesus with others from across the country. For us here at Grace, it’s here, in our Spanish worship, where we often have the most participation from young adults and I wonder what God may be saying to the rest of us through your lives and witness.

 

The third thing I noticed as I reflected both on the creation story and the gospel text is that the story continues. 

 

Creation is continuing and expanding even today, especially if you look to those stars and heavens that the psalmist describes. In Genesis, God gave the earth and the waters agency to “cause plants yielding seeds” and to “bring forth swarms of living creatures”. The last verse says the story describes “The generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created.” And we know that generations beget generations; it is a never-ending story.

 

And in the gospel, the disciples are sent out “to make disciples”, baptizing and teaching that, again, generation upon generation, would know God’s love for the world.

 

The work is unfinished. It continues with us, we ‘mere mortals’ that God has entrusted as God’s own beloved, to carry the good news of God’s love into the world. And it involves all of us, in all of our beloved uniqueness.

 

Thanks be to God.

El Sexto Domingo de Pascua

I first preached this sermon in Spanish; the English translation is below.

Hechos 17:22-31 

Juan 14:15-21

Oremos…

Que las palabras de mi boca y las meditaciones de nuestros corazones sean aceptables ante tu vista, Señor, nuestra fortaleza y nuestro redentor. Amén.

 

Esta primavera he estado dirigiendo un estudio bíblico sobre los Hechos de los Apóstoles. Cada semana hemos prestado atención a lo que Dios estaba haciendo a través de las personas en la iglesia primitiva; hemos aprendido cómo y por qué las historias de los Hechos han ayudado a la iglesia cristiana a recordar su propósito e identidad durante dos mil años; y considerando sobré cómo se manifiestan hoy la fe y la vida cristiana.

 

Hechos retoma la narración justo donde termina el Evangelio de Lucas, pasando rápidamente de la resurrección al Día de la Ascensión, comprimiéndolos primeros cuarenta días de la temporada de en un solo capítulo.

 

Y entonces Jesús desaparece de la vista, y la historia se centra en sus discípulos y en la obra que ellos realizan en Su nombre.

 

Un tema central de los Hechos de los Apóstoles es la manera en que Dios iba abriendo espacio para que sucedieran cosas nuevas, comenzando con Pentecostés y continuando con el ministerio de los discípulos, un ministerio que cruzo fronteras y llevó el Evangelio —las Buenas Nuevas del amor de Dios y del perdón del pecado— a todo el mundo.

 

Los discípulos están enfocados en hacer aquello que Jesús les enseñó.

 

Nuestro Evangelio de hoy es tan solo una parte de esa enseñanza. Forma parte de lo que se conoce como el “Discurso de Despedida”, el cual tiene lugar la noche en que Jesús es arrestado, en la víspera de su crucifixión y muerte.

Jesús les está diciendo a los discípulos cómo se ve el amor. En esta ocasión, se trata del amor hacia Él: su Maestro, su Amigo, su Salvador y Señor. Y Él afirma que amarlo significa guardar sus mandamientos.

 

Recuerden:

Jesús acaba de darles el “mandamiento nuevo”, aquel que revisitamos cada año el Jueves Santo, durante la Semana Santa:

 

Un mandamiento nuevo les doy: que se amen los unos a los otros. Así como yo los he amado, también ustedes deben amarse los unos a los otros. De este modo todos sabrán que ustedes son mis discípulos: si se aman los unos a los otros». (Juan 13:34-35)

 

El discipulado es amor a Dios, amor mutuo entre nosotros y amor al mundo en el que vivimos, respiramos y existimos. (Hechos 17:28)

 

No consiste en intentar ser «lo suficientemente buenos». No se trata de seguir los estrictos códigos domésticos que escuchamos describir a Pedro anteriormente en su carta.

Ni siquiera se trata de no cometer errores o de no hacer lo que Dios nos dice.

Afortunadamente, Dios ha dicho que nos perdona cuando nos equivocamos.

Dios conoce el historial de la humanidad, y esta lejos de ser perfecto.

 

Seguir los mandamientos de Dios es amar.

 

Una de las formas en que amamos a Dios es amándonos los unos a los otros: Ver lo que Dios está haciendo en la vida de las personas que nos rodean y sentir curiosidad por sushistorias.

 

Amarnos los unos a los otros significa escucharnos mutuamente y aprender unos de otros cómo Dios ha transformado la vida de cada uno de nosotros.

 

Significa reconocer los dones que Dios nos ha dado a cada uno y ver cómo cada persona usa esos dones para transformar la vida de quienes están a su alrededor.

 

De esta manera, somos llamados a encarnar el amor de Dios cuando Jesús ya no está visible ante nuestros ojos.

 

Otros aprenden acerca del amor de Dios al experimentar ese amor a través de nosotros.

 

Y, a menudo, nuestras acciones hablan más fuerte que las palabras; sin embargo, en su carta, Pedro nos anima a todos a estar siempre dispuestos a dar “razón de la esperanza que hay en [nosotros]…”.

 

Al igual que los discípulos en el libro de los Hechos, tendremos oportunidades para contar a otros lo que Dios ha hecho; o tal vez ellos nos pregunten: “¿Por qué vas a la iglesia?”, “¿Cómo afrontas los momentos difíciles?” o “¿Dónde encuentras esperanza?”.

 

He compartido cómo Dios me trajo de regreso a la iglesia cuando era una joven adulta 

cómo confiamos en que Dios se encargaría de guiar nuestros siguientes pasos cuando fui llamada al ministerio, en una época en que mis hijos aún asistían a la escuela; y

cómo mi familia y yo hemos afrontado diversos desafíos de salud.

Existen otras historias; del mismo modo que cada uno de ustedes tiene sus propias historias sobre cómo Dios ha obrado en sus vidas.

A menudo digo que “Dios se queda con todos los verbos”, pues la única manera en que logro dar sentido a mi propia historia es observando cómo Dios obró —en su propio tiempo y a través de otras personas— para traerme hasta el día de hoy.

 

Nuestras historias —nuestras experiencias al ver cómo Dios cumple sus promesas de acompañarnos y de ser nuestro defensor o auxilio—son la base de nuestra esperanza en Cristo, quien murió y resucitó por nosotros. 

 

Al escuchar hoy las Escrituras, podemos tener la certeza de que estamos siguiendo los mandamientos de Dios cuando amamos bien y compartimos estas historias —y nuestras propias vidas— los unos con los otros.

 

Oremos.

Dios, bueno y misericordioso:

Te damos gracias por tu Hijo Jesús, quien vino al mundo y nos mostró lo que es el amor.

Ayúdanos a amarte a Ti, a amarnos los unos a los otros y a amar al mundo.

Ayúdanos a reconocer cómo te manifiestas en nuestras vidas y cómo nos acompañas cada día.

Gracias por tu amor y tu perdón,

que son la fuente de nuestra esperanza en Cristo.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús.

Amén.

Acts 17:22-31

John 14:15-21

This spring I have been leading a Bible study on the Acts of the Apostles. Every week we’ve been paying attention to what God was doing through the people in the early church, learning how and why the stories in Acts have helped the Christian church remember its purpose and identity for two thousand years, and considering what Christian faith and life look like today. 

 

Acts picks up where Luke’s gospel ends, moving quickly from the resurrection to the Day of the Ascension, compressing the first forty days of the Easter season into one chapter. 

And then Jesus is out of sight, 

and the story focuses on his disciples 

and the work they are doing in His name.

 

A major theme of the Acts of the Apostles is how God was making room for new things to happen, beginning with Pentecost and continuing with the disciples’ ministry that crossed boundaries and took the Gospel - the Good News of God’s love and forgiveness of sin – to the whole world. 

 

The disciples are focused on doing what Jesus taught them. 

 

Our gospel today is just a piece of that teaching. It is part of what is called “the Farewell Discourse” that happens on the night Jesus is arrested,

on the eve of his crucifixion and death. 

Jesus is telling the disciples what love looks like. This time it is love for him, their teacher, their friend, their Savior and Lord. And he says that loving him means keeping his commandments. 

 

Remember, 

Jesus has just given them the “new commandment” that we revisit every year on Maundy Thursday during Holy Week:  

 

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

 

Discipleship is love for God, for each other and for the world where we live and breathe and have our being.  (See Acts 17:28)

 

It is not trying to be ‘good enough’. It isn’t about following the strict household codes that we hear Peter describe earlier in his letter. 

It isn’t even about not making mistakes or failing to do what God tells us. 

Thankfully God has said God forgives us when we mess up.  

God knows humanity’s track record and it’s far from perfect.

 

To follow God’s commandments is to love. 

 

One of the ways we love God is to love each other:

To see what God is doing in the lives of the people around us

and be curious about their stories.

Loving each other means listening to each other and learning from each other how God has changed each of our lives.

It means recognizing the gifts God has given each of us 

and seeing them use those gifts 

to change the lives of the people around them.

 

In this way, 

we are called to embody God’s love when Jesus is out of sight.

 

Others learn about God’s love by experiencing God’s love through us. 

And, often, our actions speak louder than words, but in his letter, Peter encourages all of us to be ready with “an accounting for the hope that is in [us]…” 

 

Like the disciples in Acts, we will have opportunities to tell others what God has done, or they may ask, “Why do you go to church?”, “How do you handle hard times?”, or “Where do you find hope?”

 

I have shared 

how God brought me back to church as a young adult; 

how we trusted God to sort out the next steps when I was called to ministry when my children were still in school; and 

how my family and I have faced health challenges.

There are other stories, 

just like each of you has stories of how God has worked in your lives.

 

I often say “God gets all the verbs” because the only way I make sense of my story is to see how God worked in God’s own time and through others to bring me to today.

Our stories – our experiences of seeing God fulfill God’s promises to accompany us and be our advocate or helper – are the basis for our hope in Christ, who died and was raised, for us.

 

Listening to Scripture today, 

we may be confident that we are following God’s commands when we love well and share these stories and our lives with each other.

 

Let us pray.
Good and Gracious God, 

We give you thanks for your Son Jesus who came into the world and showed us what love is. 

Help us to love You , each other and the world. 

Help us recognize how you show up in our lives and accompany us every day.

Thank you for your love and forgiveness, 

that is  the source of our hope in Christ..

We pray in Jesus’ name. 

Amen.

Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 21:5-19 

I don’t know why, but I was surprised when I went to the grocery store last week and there were candy canes and Christmas decorations. Halloween was two weeks ago and seemingly overnight, while the trick or treaters were sprawled on the living room floors at home, trading for their favorite sweets,

the stores got ready for Christmas,

bypassing the whole month of November,

when the focus is on gratitude and giving thanks for the abundant life we have.

So, in today’s gospel, when I heard Jesus admonish his followers, “Beware that you are not led astray” I heard a warning, urging us not to get swept up in worldly distractions. Don’t get distracted by the bright lights, the tinsel and the ornaments; they’re beautiful and festive, but they are not our focus.  

Let’s remember where we are in Luke’s gospel. In the previous chapter, the religious leaders questioned Jesus’ authority and Jesus responded, calling out the teachers who “devour widows’ houses” (20:47).  

This chapter began with a scene where we witnessed a widow offering “all she had to live on” (21:4) And then Jesus rebuffed the Sadducees when they tried to trap him with a question about the resurrection.

Jesus has been telling his followers how the systems and institutions are imperfect and demonstrating how they exploit some of their most vulnerable neighbors, and still, here, in today’s gospel, when the disciples and he are outside the temple, they are gushing about its rich façade and splendor, impressed by the temple’s grandeur and outward appearance.

And instead of echoing their praise,

Jesus tells them it’s all about to fall and be destroyed.

We can imagine their shock and surprise.

Their panic.

The urgency they may have felt to stop what now appeared inevitable. 

Just as Jesus’ announcement may have prompted panic and urgency in his audience, today’s news and headlines often carry a “drumbeat of finality” that appears to demand an immediate response.[i]

It’s not a new experience.

Twentieth century theologian and author Howard Thurman told a story about Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth that went back to the early 1850s.[ii]

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818 in Maryland. He escaped in 1838 and eventually made his way to New York. He became a famous orator, writer and statesman.[iii]

Born into slavery in 1797 as Isabella Bomfree, Truth’s freedom was bought in 1827. By the early 1830s, she participated in the religious revivals that were sweeping the state and became a charismatic speaker. In 1843, she declared that the Spirit called on her to preach the truth, renaming herself Sojourner Truth.[iv]

A year after the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 had emboldened slave catchers and abolitionists were filled with despair, Douglass addressed an antislavery meeting. He delivered a bleak and somber assessment and wondered aloud whether there was any hope left for justice. It was at this point that Sojourner Truth, sitting in the audience rose and called out,

“Frederick, is God gone?”[v]

I believe that, like Sojourner Truth in her question to Frederick Douglass, Jesus is calling us back to the center,

helping us focus on God’s kingdom among us,

on what God is doing in the world with us and through us.

Our world is hurting.

There are real problems that should concern us and that as Christians we are called to respond to with compassion and love.

But we do not despair.

Lutheran pastor Kendra Mohn writes,

There is really no such thing as getting through unscathed. The question is how people of faith are to respond, and where we find our refuge.[vi]

In his essay titled “Every Day is not the Last Day”, pastor and executive director of The Ministry Collaborative, Mark Ramsey asks the question we wrestle with in tumultuous times:

How do faith communities hold both urgency and patience, responding to real crises without succumbing to perpetual crisis mode?[vii]

Jesus says that the temple’s destruction and all that will come before and after, will give the people “an opportunity to testify.” (v. 15) The word “testimony” means telling what we have seen.

It is bearing witness to our experience.

And before we can express our doubts about our eloquence or whether our words will matter, Jesus also says,

“I will give you words and a wisdom” (v. 16)

In these circumstances, our testimony will be inspired or given to us by God.

Remember that Luke’s gospel was written after the actual fall of the temple, so rather than hearing these words as harbingers of what is coming, Jesus is saying these things to help us understand what has happened, to make meaning of things that seem to defy reason and understanding.

Wesleyan minister Patrick Oden writes:

The destruction was not evidence of God’s rejection and disfavor. Rather, it was the fulfillment of God’s plan… What might bring terror should result instead in trust: Jesus said these things would happen.[viii]

That is Good News!

Martin Luther is often quoted as saying, “Even if I knew the world were going to end tomorrow, I would still plant an apple tree today.” Although the words haven’t been found in his writings or those of his peers, they nonetheless bear witness to the hopefulness that endures in our faith.

Ramsey, again, encourages us to “[act] with steady confidence that tomorrow is coming, and it will need faithful people who built wisely today.”[ix]

I wonder, how God might be inviting you to hope, beyond what your eyes see?

How will you give testimony or bear witness to God’s transforming presence and love in your life?

Even as we recognize challenges in our congregation, community and world, we also have opportunities to respond with compassion and love.

To have a holy imagination for what God is doing in our lives and through our words and actions.

And to sustain our hope because even when the news is bad, or things feel like they are falling apart,

God’s steadfast love for us will not go away.

Thanks be to God.

[i] Mark Ramsey, The Ministry Collective.

[ii] ibid

[iii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

[iv] https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/sojourner-truth

[v] Ramsey, ibid.

[vi] Kendra A. Mohn, workingpreacher.org

[vii] Ramsey, ibid.

[viii] Patrick Oden. Connections: A Lectionary Commentary Series. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2019.

[ix] Ramsey, ibid.

"Living as the Beloved" Midweek Reflection (Week 7)

John 21:15-19

Colossians 3:12-17

The final chapter of Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved is where we discover the challenge of both living in the world and claiming the gift of God naming us “beloved.”

God sends each of us, wholly beloved by God, into the world and our lives becomes witnesses to God’s mighty works in and through us.

Not because of what we do,

but because of God who loves us and claims us as God’s own.

Because of God who equips us and sends us out.

God doesn’t only call us Beloved, God also asks, “Do You love me?”

And, like Peter in John’s gospel, we get to say,
“Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Nouwen writes, “…life is a God-given opportunity to become who we are…to say “Yes” to the One who calls us the Beloved.” (133)

That is the spiritual life that we are called to,
a life to which, as we hear in Luther’s explanation of the third article of the creed, “the Holy Spirit has called [us] by the Gospel, enlightened [us] with His gifts, sanctified and kept [us] in the true faith.”

Nouwen reminds us that “The Spirit of God, the Spirit that calls us the Beloved, is the Spirit that unites and makes whole.” And that we can recognize God’s Spirit in “moments of unification, healing, restoration, and reconciliation.” (135)

Living as the Beloved then is choosing the life of God’s Spirit each day and listening to that voice that calls me the Beloved. (139)

"Given" Midweek Reflection (Week 6)

Mark 14:22

John 12:24-26

Throughout our study of Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved, we have been learning how to receive the gift of God naming us “beloved.”

Nouwen uses four words to describe the movement of the Spirit among us: taken or chosen, blessed, broken, and given. Tonight, my reflection is focused on this last word: given.

When I introduced these words, I shared that they echo the words used when we describe the Eucharist. At the Table, the bread - that is the Body of Christ - is taken, blessed, broken and given. And in our Christian lives, where we too are a part of the Body of Christ,
we are given.

Nouwen writes about the joy found in giving our lives and ourselves to others, saying that “our lives find fulfillment in giving ourselves to others.” (108) And not only fulfillment, but Nouwen says, “true joy, happiness, and inner peace.” (109)

He emphasizes that he is not talking about giving from what we have, or even what we can do, but making a gift of our presence.

When the North Carolina Synod had our leaders’ convocation last week, the keynote speaker told the story of having spent a year in Ethiopia where she learned to prioritize relationships over timetables and schedules. If she encountered a student on her way to class, they stopped and visited, and if that made her late, that was a cost she was willing to pay. It sounds foreign to many of us who may have heard as children, “If you arrive on time, you’re already late.”

But what would happen if we decided to prioritize our relationships ahead of the next task, appointment or meeting? What if we live as if we believe our presence is a gift, and the person in front of us is the recipient?

Nouwen writes, “When I ask myself, “Who helps me the most?” I must answer, “The one who is willing to share his or her life with me.” (113)

The second point Nouwen makes is that not only are our lives gifts, but also our deaths. It’s a startling claim at first, but he illustrates his point with the example of St. Francis, whose influence continues more than eight centuries after his death. “His life goes on bearing new fruit around the world. His spirit keeps descending upon us.” (121)

Listening to Nouwen and to John’s gospel, we are reminded that the fruitfulness of our own lives, the harvest of the fruit we bear, will likely be realized after our deaths.

Could we trust that our gifts are multiplied when we give them away? (123)

Like Elisha giving twenty loaves of barley to a crowd of more than one hundred and then gathering the leftovers (2 Kings 4:42-44) or the feeding of the five thousand that we hear in all four gospels (Matthew 14:13–21; Mark 6:31–44; Luke 9:12–17; John 6:1–14), God multiplies and God uses what we offer.

May we respond to the call to give ourselves for the sake of the world around us, and to give joyfully, without reluctance or hesitation.

"Broken" Midweek Reflection (Week 5)

Romans8:26-28

Hebrews 4:15-16

Throughout our study of Henri Nouwen’s Life of the Beloved, we have been learning how to receive the gift of God naming us “beloved.”

We have reflected on two of the four words that Nouwen uses to describe the movement of the Spirit among us. We are “taken” or “chosen” by God and God calls us “blessed”.

The next word Nouwen uses is broken.

Some twenty years before writing Life of the Beloved, Nouwen wrote The Wounded Healer. In that book his premise was that one who is ministering to others must look after one’s own wounds but at the same time be prepared to heal the wounds of others. He recognizes that we all bear wounds and we all are broken.

In this book, he writes,

Our sufferings and pains are not simply bothersome interruptions of our lives; they touch us in our uniqueness and our most intimate individuality. (87)

He continues, writing,

The way I am broken tells you something unique about me.
The way you are broken tells me something about you. (87)

And he urges us not to be afraid of our brokenness,
but to accept our brokenness as readily
as we accept our chosen-ness and blessedness.

One of the first ways we can accept our brokenness is to name it.

“Loneliness, isolation, insecurity, frustration, confusion…all these are forms of brokenness.” (Week 5, Study Guide) And I wonder,
what kind of brokenness feels most present or challenging for you right now? (pause)

Writing this book to his friend, Nouwen says choosing to share our brokenness with each other, to share our deep struggles, is a sign of deep friendship or relationship. (86)

I think one of the beautiful parts of friendship is when we can sit with another person and listen to them share their brokenness without denying it or trying to fix it.

Once we accept our brokenness Nouwen suggests two practices for us to respond to it: befriending it
and putting it under the blessing. (92)

Ignoring or hiding pain or suffering doesn’t erase it or reduce its effects. When we are fearful, our fear magnifies the obstacles and the challenges we face seem even larger.

Nouwen suggests instead that we need to step toward our pain and live through it. (95)

There’s no way to go around it. But we do not face it alone.

[We] need someone to keep us standing in it, to assure [us] that there is peace beyond anguish, life beyond death, and love beyond fear. (95)

As siblings in Christ, we help each other transform our suffering.

And when we do that, we also bring that suffering out of the shadows and bring it to God.

The shadows or what Nouwen calls “the curse” is our temptation to understand the brokenness we experience as confirmation of our un-worthiness.

It is what happens when we forget we are God’s beloved,
when we forget we are chosen by God as God’s children,
and when we forget we are blessed by God
for the sake of the world God loves.

I think of Adam and Eve in Eden in Genesis, when they hide from God.  Genesis 3, verses 8 and 9 say:

⁸ They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

I wonder how often we hide among the trees, hoping to hide something about ourselves from the God who created and loves us? (pause)

Nouwen urges us instead to put our brokenness under the blessing of God, trusting God to use our experiences to strengthen us and to see the pruning or winnowing as a natural part of our growth as disciples. (98)

Like joy, sorrow “becomes [part of our] desire to grow to the fullness of the Beloved.” (99)

That reminds me of Peter after the crucifixion.

John 21 tells the story of Jesus and the disciples cooking breakfast on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias, and Simon Peter and Jesus are having a conversation where three times Jesus asks Simon Peter whether he loves Jesus. And each time, Peter insists, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus does know. And he knows Peter faltered and denied him three times before his crucifixion. And he forgives him.

Truly, nothing is hidden from God and nothing, not even our brokenness, separates us from the love of God and our lives as God’s beloved.