Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6 and Joel 2

These verses from Matthew’s Gospel that we hear each year on Ash Wednesday are from a section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, the first of five discourses Jesus makes in Matthew. This is the sermon that gives us the beatitudes and later the Lord’s prayer. Jesus is teaching the disciples about the promise of God's blessing and a new kind of kingdom righteousness that looks different from the Roman occupation they have known.[i] And in this part of his sermon, Jesus warns his followers against performing their faith “like the hypocrites” who were the stage actors of the day.

It’s hard to ignore the irony that here on Ash Wednesday we listen to Jesus teach about giving and praying in secret and yet, in a few minutes I will mark an ashen cross on your forehead and you will walk back out into the world with the ashes visible for all to see.

With his warnings about practicing piety in public though, Jesus was contrasting the public displays that were part of Roman patronage designed to bring special attention to those in power.

Shakespeare wrote, “All the world’s a stage and all men and women merely players.” But the kingdom of heaven is not a stage.

There is more to following Jesus than playing a part. Discipleship isn’t about wearing the right clothing, costume or mask, and it isn’t about remembering the right words or following a script. Ash Wednesday invites us to stop role playing, or pretending, and move from performance to relationship, where we find our identity as followers of Jesus.

Wearing the ashes marked into a cross on our own skin is not a prideful or vainglorious action. Instead it is an act of humility. With these ashes, we acknowledge our own human frailty and mortality. We recognize that our identity is not found in ourselves, our achievements or our abilities, but in Christ alone.

It may be the person you next see will try to wipe away the smudge on your forehead, not understanding its significance. But others will see the cross and know that it marks you as a Christian entering the season of Lent.

The trumpet that Matthew bans becomes the trumpet calling us together to worship in the prophet Joel’s words. Ushering us into Lent, Joel calls the whole community together, from the infant in arms to the elderly, and tells us what the Lord commands:

return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.[ii]

Like Matthew, the prophet’s concern is not on outward appearances or performances but what is happening within us in our hearts.

The prophet’s call is communal and it is personal. It is not private.

And while often the Hebrew word in this text shuv suggests repentance — turning around and changing direction —Hebrew professor and Episcopal priest The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney suggests on this day, in this text, it can be read as “a call to draw closer to God.”[iii]

At the beginning of this forty days we are being called to rededicate ourselves to a life following Jesus.
The prophet promises forgiveness from our tender God, who “is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”[iv]

And forgiven, we come to the Table to receive the wine and bread, to be fed and nourished with the gifts of God that will sustain us in the desert wilderness of Lent.

Let us pray…
Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent: Create and make in us new and contrite hearts, that we, worthily lamenting our sins and acknowledging our wretchedness, may obtain of you, the God of all mercy, perfect remission and forgiveness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.[v]

[i] “Matthew.” Enterthebible.org, Luther Seminary. https://www.enterthebible.org/newtestament.aspx?rid=2, accessed 2/25/2020.
[ii] Joel 2:12-13a
[iii] The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney. “Commentary on Joel 2:1-2, 12-17.” Workingpreacher.org, Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3564, , accessed 2/25/2020.
[iv] Joel 2:13b
[v] Book of Common Prayer. The Episcopal Church.

Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 5:1- 21

In the Gospel of Matthew Jesus preaches five sermons and the first one begins here in chapter 5, with the beatitudes.

Sometimes we hear verses 1-12 as a checklist of the admission requirements for heaven or the criteria for earning God’s favor or love. Matthew doesn’t include the “woe” statements that we get in Luke, but we imagine that whoever isn’t on this list is not in a good place.

So we start listening to Jesus’s words and immediately turn inward, wondering, “Am I included in this list?” “Does God bless me?”

And in that moment, we have stopped listening.

Martin Luther describes this being turned or curved inward on ourselves, instead of outward toward God and others, as sin. It is our human condition and we must recognize, that left to ourselves, we will fall to its influence every time.

But Jesus frees us from sin, teaching us to love God and love others, changing our hearts and transforming our lives.

So instead of hearing these verses as criteria for winning some kind of ‘super-Christian’ award, let’s be curious about what Jesus is saying and why.

One popular answer is that Jesus is telling us which virtues will be rewarded. But being poor or grieving, meek or hungry aren’t virtues we seek to achieve. They are the unfortunate circumstances that far too many people endure every day.

Another answer is that Jesus is telling us what reversals will take place when the kingdom of heaven is realized. But being a peacemaker or merciful aren’t things we want to stop doing, or roles we want to see reversed. If anything we want to multiply the numbers of people perpetuating peace and mercy in the world!

So maybe something else is happening here.

First, Matthew is presenting Jesus as the new Moses; in the same way that Moses gave the Law to Israel to teach the people how to live in relationship with God and with each other, Jesus preaches this Sermon on the Mount to his followers. But he doesn’t seek to replace the Law; instead he wants to engage it more fully so that it’s more relevant than any checklist of dos and don’ts.

Whenever we reduce God and faith to a list of prohibitions and “Gotcha” moments, we have lost the Good News.

The heart of the Gospel is always the abundant love of God in Christ Jesus that frees us to love generously.

Second, Jesus is addressing his sermon to the whole community, not just the group of twelve who travel with him and know him well, and not even a group the size of our congregation. Remember this sermon happens when Jesus and his disciples are surrounded by “great crowds” who have been following them throughout Galilee. (4:23)

Bishop Mike Rinehart notes that

the first four blessings go to those who suffer and the second four blessings go to those who help the suffering….and then the ninth beatitude socks us [the ones listening to Jesus] in the eyes.

Jesus goes from talking to the crowd about other people in the third person to suddenly talking to you and to me, saying,

“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

Now he has our attention. If we were still waiting to see where we would show up in this sermon, here it is:

Be the ones who listen to my Word and follow me.
Be the ones who take a stand even when it’s unpopular.

Journalist and Catholic Dorothy Day is quoted as saying, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint; When I ask why they are poor, they call me a Communist.”

Day was asking hard questions about why we have the poor among us — questions we are still asking today.

We have feeding ministries that serve hungry people six days a week in uptown Shelby and we have three shelters for people who need safe places to live. Many of our schools have clothing closets and now a half-dozen schools have virtual clinics that work with doctors to provide care for students. Those are all good measures that are trying to address needs. But why in this county do we still have 17,000 people who qualify for indigent healthcare? Why are one in three kids still not sure where their next meal is coming from? Why do we have people living without electricity and running water blocks from where a 20-million-dollar jail expansion is being built?

Jesus calls on us to ask hard questions for the sake of the world.

Following Jesus, and speaking up for the dignity of those Jesus calls blessed, isn’t easy. And a whole lot of people won’t have the courage or be willing to risk persecution.

But it is who we Jesus-followers are called to be and what we are called to do. In this season of Epiphany, we have been listening to stories about how Jesus brought the Good News to the whole world, as a light to all nations, but in today’s gospel he tells us,

14 You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.(5:14-16)

You and I are the lights that shine on the kingdom of heaven that it might be known throughout our community and world.

The question Jesus leaves us with today is will we stand so that our light can be seen? Or will we be content to let it light our corner of the world and not reach any farther?

Let us pray…
Holy, merciful and loving God,
Thank you sending your Son Jesus into the world as a light to all nations.
Help us follow Jesus and by your Spirit show us how to be beacons to our community and neighbors.
We pray especially for those who are poor, low in spirit, mourning, persecuted, hungry or in need of any kind.
May they know Your abundant love for them.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Presentation of our Lord

Luke 2:22-40

For the last several weeks we have been hearing the stories of Jesus being baptized, beginning his ministry and calling his disciples. Those stories came from John’s gospel, and from Matthew’s. But today is the celebration of the Presentation of Our Lord, a festival in the Church that remembers an earlier point in Jesus’ life, when he was still an infant, probably a little over one month old, being presented at the temple.

It’s a story we only get in Luke’s gospel. Luke’s gospel is one of the three synoptic gospels, along with Mark and Matthew. Mark was first and then later Matthew and Luke wrote theirs, drawing on Mark, their own witnesses and a third common source called Q.

We know Matthew copied more than 600 verses directly from Mark when he wrote his gospel. Luke, which came third, copied more than 300 verses from Mark, so often these three gospels have similar stories. Because of the similarities and repetition, when there is a unique story, like this one, we should always ask, “Why did the gospel writer choose to tell this story?”

But even before that, let’s begin with why Luke wrote his gospel in the first place. There were already two other accounts. Why did he think we needed this one?

One answer is that at the time of Jesus’ life and ministry, often the second coming was anticipated as something very near, that the disciples who had traveled with Jesus would see first-hand, in their lifetimes. And now, those eyewitnesses were nearing the end of their lives. Luke wrote his gospel, as he tells us in its first verse, to “set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us.”[i]

Luke wants us to know Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises.[ii]

With that in mind, we hear anew the story of Mary and Joseph bringing the infant Jesus to the temple. He had already been circumcised and named. Now they have returned to the temple for two (2) purposes. First, Mary as a new mother was considered ritually impure for forty days after the birth of her son. After that she was expected to bring an offering to the temple that the priest then offered as a sacrifice to affect her purification. Luke tells us this part of the story so that we know that Mary and Joseph were Torah-observant Jews.

Second, while the Torah does not contain any requirement that first-born males be presented at the temple, there are laws about providing sacrifices to redeem the first-born, and there is an idea in Leviticus and Numbers that first-born sons “belong” to the Lord and are dedicated to serve him.[iii] In his telling of Jesus’s presentation at the temple, Luke casts Mary in the role of Hannah, Samuel’s mother in the Old Testament, dedicating her firstborn son’s life to God.

And then Simeon and Anna appear in the story as devout Jews, who recognize in Jesus the one whom God has promised.

Guided by the Holy Spirit the old man named Simeon appears at the temple at the same time as Mary, Joseph and Jesus and he erupts into praise. Maybe you recognize the words of the nunc dimittis, the canticle we sometimes sing after communion in our worship liturgy.

And then 84-year old Anna who spent her days and nights in fasting and in prayer at the temple also sees the Holy Family, and Luke says she too begins to praise God.

Simeon sings to God, “For my eyes have seen your salvation.” (v. 30) And Anna praises “the redemption of Jerusalem.” (v. 38)

Nothing material had changed in the world around these two faithful people. Doubtless there were still people arguing in the courtyard and on the streets; there were still Roman soldiers occupying their city and towns; there were still people living in poverty and dying from illnesses that couldn’t be prevented.

And yet,
and yet, in Jesus, they saw the promises of God fulfilled.

Faith enables us to live in the in-between time, knowing the rigors of everyday life now and yet having confidence that God is fulfilling God’s promises.

The world would have us believe that the reality we see in the midst of infectious disease spreading in China and political turmoil in both the U.S. and U.K. is irredeemable — it’s never going to get any better. It would disempower us and have us believe we are helpless.

But Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest who teaches about Christian spirituality, recently said that the way through the oppositional dualities that the world creates – Catholic or Protestant, Republican or Democrat, Black or white, male or female , spiritual or religious – is to forgive “reality for being what it is.”[iv] If we don’t forgive then we will accumulate resentments, anger and cynicism.

But when we forgive reality for what it is, we are freed to unclench our hands and release our grip on what we think it should be. And when we do that, we open our hands to receive what Rohr describes as the “bonding glue of grace which heals all the separations that [our worldly means] can never finally or fully restore.”[v]

Simeon rejoices that “he has seen the salvation” promised by God. What he had seen wasn’t a miraculous redemption where the whole world was set right in front of his eyes, and it wasn’t a personal or individual “salvation”, a guaranteed entry to heaven, as we often hear those words interpreted today. It wasn’t even the assurance of resurrection that we have in Christ. Instead, what Simeon saw was Jesus,
God’s boundless love incarnate and more powerful than anything he had witnessed or could imagine.

Like Simeon and Anna, in Jesus, we too are invited to see God’s salvation, or liberation, in the world God so loves.

In our restlessness, we may wonder, is “seeing” enough?

Rohr tells the story of being a young monk going through the work and the prayers, the Divine Hours, that ordered his day and asking one of the older monks, “What are we doing?” After much discussion, the old monk said, “We are holding the universe together.” And Rohr replied, “Maybe that is why everything is falling apart, because few of us are willing to make that commitment.”

Simeon and Anna mad a commitment to hold the space for God to be at work in the world, confident that God was fulfilling God’s promises, even when their eyesight dimmed, their hearing faltered, and their steps got less steady.

And that is what we, dear Church, are doing too as we gather around the font and table in worship; we are holding space. Gathered around this infant in whom God is present, and around the table where we see God present in the bread and wine, we recommit ourselves to hold space for God to heal and restore our universe.

Let us pray…[vi]
The coming of your son, Jesus, broke open the heaven and prepared a way for all your children to come home to you. Give us eyes to see your miraculous spirit moving in this church and in this world. Teach us to be proclaimers of your love to the nations, for the sake of the one whose name is redemption for the peoples, Jesus Christ our salvation.
Amen.

[i] Luke 1:1
[ii] “Luke”. Enterthebible.org. Luther Seminary. https://www.enterthebible.org/newtestament.aspx?rid=4, accessed 1/31/2020.
[iii] “Commentary on Luke 2:22-40.” Stephen Hultgren. Workingpreacher.org. Luther Seminary.
[iv] Fr. Richard Rohr. “Action and Contemplation: Part Two. Love at the Center”. https://cac.org/love-at-the-center-2020-01-17/
[v] Fr. Richard Rohr. “Action and Contemplation: Part Two. Love at the Center”. https://cac.org/love-at-the-center-2020-01-17/
[vi] “Discussion Questions for Presentation of our Lord.” Workingpreacher.org. Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/print_questions.aspx?lectionary_calendar_id=1314, accessed 1/31/2020.

Third Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 4:12-23
 
Location, location, location!

For nearly a century those three words have been the basis for successful real estate ventures. The idea, of course, is that the most important thing about a property is its location. We cannot underestimate its importance or its influence.

We don’t know who the four gospel authors were. At one time, it was believed that this gospel was written by the disciple Matthew who was a tax collector, but maybe, just maybe, the author was a realtor. Because in his gospel, place matters. Hes not just providing a travelogue when he references Nazareth and Capernaum, Zebulun and Naphtali and describes “the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.” The places he names have meaning and are connected back through Jewish history to the prophecies about the Messiah.

We know that John was in Judea in the southern part of Israel when he was arrested, and Matthew tells us that Jesus then withdrew to Galilee, the region north of Samaria where “he made his home in Capernaum.”

He didn’t go to Jerusalem which was “the religious, political, cultural, and economic center of power.”[i]

He didn’t go home to his family’s village of Nazareth in southern Galilee where he might have found safety and security.

And he didn’t go to Sepphoris or Tiberias, the larger, wealthier cities sometimes called “the jewels of Galilee” where he could have met powerful or wealthy merchants.

Instead, Jesus went to Capernaum, a small fishing village on the northwestern edge of the Sea of Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.

And for Matthew’s predominantly Jewish audience that choice matters. Zebulun and Naphtali were two Northern tribes of Israel that had fallen to the Assyrians more than seven hundred years before the time of Jesus.

“Whenever anyone invaded, they were the first and last to bear the brunt of it. When the Assyrians overran Israel, they annexed these two tribes. [Zebulun and Naphtali] were cut off from the rest of Israel, separated from their country and family.”[ii]

As preacher Karoline Lewis said, “[Their names] have not been on the lips of God’s people for a very, very long time….just a mention of these two names and Matthew’s audience knows that in Jesus, God is up to what God does best – making good on God’s promises to God’s people.”[iii]

And it is in that place and among those people that Jesus begins to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” (v. 17) He repeats the exact same message that John had been proclaiming in the wilderness in Chapter 3 and it is the same message he will send the twelve out with in Chapter 10. “Although the place [changes], the message is the same.”[iv]

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Christians often talk about why Jesus died but this is why Jesus lived: to announce the kingdom of God here on earth, and in his person to show us God enfleshed, who cares enough for God’s people to live among us.

This morning’s gospel reminds us that “God speaks in places [and in ways] that surprise us.” [v] Jesus defies all expectations about what a Jewish Messiah should look like, and he ushers in a kingdom that doesn’t have any of the trappings – the regalia, the money or the pageantry – of any kingdom that has been known. And he announces it, not to the priests in the temple or to the governors who served the Roman empire, but to fishermen and folks who live in the sticks.

So, perhaps we can believe that the kingdom of heaven is here in our corner of the world, too:

The kingdom of heaven is on the court square where a couple of weeks ago Eastside Baptist wrapped scarves on tree branches with tags that told people who needed them to take them.

The kingdom of heaven is in a house over here off Buffalo Street where a family has been living without electricity or running water even when the temperatures drop to 13˚ like they did this week. The Totally Free Clothes Store gave them some good heavy winter coats and we helped them get some food and kerosene.

The kingdom of heaven is at Pleasant City Church who is hosting a dental bus for neighbors in need of free dental care next Saturday. The bus, sponsored by the North Carolina Baptists on Mission, has been visiting communities for thirty years reaching uninsured people.

Jesus shows up in all of these places, and we meet him there, just as the disciples met Jesus in Capernaum and followed him.

Meeting Jesus, we cannot ignore his call to repentance.

Sometimes we want to skip over that part. It sounds hard. It makes us feel guilty. We know how often we fall short of God’s commandments for how we are to live with God and with each other.

But understanding repentance only as a moral choice between what is good and what is bad, or wrong or sinful, isn’t especially helpful, or accurate. Metanoia, the word translated as “repentance”, actually means “turning around”, so when we repent, we are changing direction, literally turning around and following God.

And of course, when we refuse to repent, we are actually choosing to continue to go in the direction we have already taken, away from God. We are choosing to separate ourselves from God in favor of our own desires and plans.

Repentance, especially in our Lutheran tradition of confessing our sins and receiving absolution or forgiveness, means drawing near to God. Martin Luther taught that the Law brings us to the cross where we receive forgiveness. Repentance means living in the light of God’s grace where we know God’s love for us. And when we know God’s love for us, we can share that love with others, just as we are commanded. (Matthew 22:39)

Place matters. Some forty years ago our congregation decided to stay inside the city and not sell this property. We decided we were going to be a visible sign of God’s presence in this neighborhood and community. Today’s gospel reminds us the Good News that the kingdom of heaven has come near to the corner of Lafayette and Marietta Streets, and Jesus is calling us to follow him.

Amen.

[i] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[ii] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary . Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[iii] Karoline Lewis. “Mapping God’s Promises.” Luther Seminary. https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=4796, accessed 1/25/2020.
[iv] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.
[v] Cynthia A. Jarvis and E. Elizabeth Johnson. Feasting on the Gospels--Matthew, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.

Second Sunday after Epiphany

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

So this weekend, our congregation council and I were on retreat at Lutheridge with a half-dozen other congregation councils from the Carolinas, to focus on congregation vitality. And as Pastor Mike Ward was facilitating the retreat and talking about how we inspire others to participate in our shared ministry he played a clip from the Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger movie “Jerry Maguire” where Jerry has stayed up all night in his hotel room pouring his heart and his passion into a twenty-five page mission statement. You’ll be happy to hear that was an example of what not to do.

But I also remember another scene from that movie, where Jerry’s wife stops him in the middle of a speech, and says,
“You had me at hello.”

Well, today begins the first of five weeks in the revised common lectionary, the three-year cycle of readings that we follow in worship, when we are reading through the epistle, or letter, written by Paul to the church in Corinth.

Now, Paul can be verbose or wordy - he doesn’t get right to the point -  so perhaps it isn’t a complete surprise that this letter is divided into sixteen chapters in the Bible. This year, the lectionary only takes us through the first three.

Today we begin at the very beginning, with the salutation, or where, essentially, Paul says, “Hello.”

We believe Paul began the church in Corinth around 50 CE, almost twenty years after the crucifixion. And now he’s writing from Ephesus, responding to letters he has received. It becomes clear in later parts of this epistle that there have been divisions within the Corinthian church and Paul wants to address those schisms.

But he doesn’t begin there. He first reminds the people in Corinth who they are:

They are the “church of God” (v.2);

They are “sanctified (or made holy) in Christ Jesus”;

and they are called to be saints. And here it becomes clear that saints are not just those who have died. (v.2)

Instead Paul reminds this church that they are called “with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 2)

This week in the Church, really beginning yesterday on the 18th, is the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. Remembering we are called with all who call on Jesus helps us recognize that

1. The Church is not ours at all, but Christ’s; and
   
2. Christ’s Church isn't Lutheran or Episcopal, Baptist or Methodist, or whatever other tradition or denomination you may encounter. I converted to Lutheran theology and I treasure it, so I want to say both that the differences in our theology and our practices are meaningful and that what matters most is that we are following Christ.

So far in his greeting, Paul has said, “I see you; I know you Christ-followers are trying to live as church together.” But he doesn’t just tell them “good luck with that” and leave them, wondering how they will ever figure it out. Instead, he offers them encouragement, writing, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (v.3)

Paul uses this same greeting in many of his epistles and sometimes we reachers will echo him at the beginning of our sermons. But these words aren’t just a churchy way to say “hello.” These words help us remember everything we Christians need to know:

Jesus has come into this world,
Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the anointed One, and
Jesus has come to offer grace and peace to you, and you, and you and everyone. [i]

And then Paul ends with thanksgiving, naming all the ways God is present for the church in Corinth. He writes:

The grace of God has been given to you, or as Eugene Peterson wrote in his paraphrase The Message: “you have free and open access to God.”

Your lives bear witness to Christ’s presence – you show forth Jesus.

And you are not lacking in any spiritual gift.

I have to stop there and wonder if people could hear Paul’s words…really hear them and believe them for themselves.

I think there were probably some skeptics who doubted. Maybe they snickered and said, “Huh, he must not have been talking about me!” or “he wouldn’t say that if he knew me!”

But here’s the thing. He did know them and he was talking about them. And perhaps even more importantly, Paul knew first-hand what it is to be a sinner who encounters Christ and how Jesus changes our lives.

These same Christ-followers were trying to be church together in their corner of the world probably share more in common with our congregation today than we might guess.

But Paul looks at the church and sees abundance. Abundance of grace. Abundance of love. Abundance of giftedness.

And if doubts or fears linger, Paul’s last words are ones of promise and assurance that our faithful God will strengthen the church, not just for one day or one trial, but to the end. God has called us to be church and God gives us the gifts we need to respond to the holy calling on our lives.

Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give you thanks for the saints before us like Paul and the saints around us who call on your name in neighboring churches and worshiping communities.
Thank you for the grace you have given all who call on you, that nothing separates us from You.
Teach us how to show your mercy and love in our words and actions that others may see Jesus through our lives.
Alert us to the gifts you have given us and give us courage to use them for ministry.
We pray in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

[i] Anna Madsen. “Know Your Home: If Necessary, Go Another Way to Get There.” OMG: Center for Theological Conversation. http://omgcenter.com/2020/01/06/know-your-home-if-necessary-go-another-way-to-get-there/, accessed 1/18/2020.

Baptism of our Lord

Matthew 3:13-17

Like many stories in the Bible, this morning’s gospel leaves us with a few questions and maybe the biggest one is, “Why?” Why is Jesus being baptized? We already know he’s the Son of God, the Messiah who has fulfilled the ancient prophecy and we’ve already called him Emmanuel, God with us. So, what is going on here?

Many of us have heard about believer’s baptism – an affirmation or acceptance of what God has done in a person’s life. We often think of it as a practice in Baptist traditions, but even within Lutheranism, if a person comes to know God’s love and hasn’t already been baptized, he or she is invited to come to the font, and the youth who were baptized in our congregations as infants or early in childhood often affirm their baptisms at confirmation.

But what Matthew describes isn’t a believer’s baptism.

In our Lutheran understanding, baptism is a sacrament where the earthly element of water is joined with the Word of God where the resurrected Jesus commands us to “go therefore and make disciples, baptizing  them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28). And in baptism, our sins and evil desires are drowned and we are raised to new life as children of God.

But what Matthew describes isn’t a Christian baptism for the forgiveness of sins either.

Instead, what we witness in Matthew’s account is the Jewish Jesus humbling himself to be baptized “in order to fulfill all righteousness.” (v. 15) Jesus is
being obedient to God,
bringing to completion the will of God, and
upholding God’s own faithfulness to Israel.[i]

In one of his sermons on this text, Martin Luther says Jesus does not have to submit to baptism, but he does anyway. He does more than what is required. The gospel frees us from the law, but it always invites us to do more than what is required, not less.[ii]

Today during worship, together we will affirm our baptisms, renouncing the forces that draw us away from God and recalling that baptism is our inauguration into a new life in Christ. We are called to the same obedience and faithfulness that Jesus demonstrated, as we follow Him in our lives.

Living as God’s beloved sons and daughters, we respond to God’s activity in our lives, and we are called to share the good news of God’s love with the people we meet. 

You may remember that since October I have been participating in clinical pastoral education at the hospital. Part of that work includes visiting patients as one of the hospital chaplains, and one of my chaplain colleagues recently shared the story of a young woman who was admitted. She wasn’t especially supported by family or friends, but during her stay, the nurses on her floor befriended her, and two of the other chaplains visited regularly also, and as this young woman experienced the unconditional love of these nurses and chaplains, she made a discovery. She discovered she was loved by God, too. And before she left the hospital she asked to be baptized.

“Everyone needs to hear that they are God’s beloved child, loved unconditionally, precious.”[iii] That is the work we are baptized into, and freed by the gospel to do.

Thankfully, we don’t do this work alone. It is always with God’s help, and it is always in community. So it makes sense that this morning, after our affirmation of baptism, we’ll also promise to pray for the leaders in our congregation who are beginning a new year as our congregation council. These six folks have agreed to serve on the council, but the work of the Church belongs to all of us.

Another way to understand Jesus’ baptism is to see it as God christening his public ministry in the world. In the same way, as we begin this new year, we too are christening the ministry that is ahead of us:

the very work where we will meet people who have never heard or believed that they are beloved by God;

the very work where we will give out of what we have first been given to meet the needs of the neighbor, the widow, the orphan and the stranger;

the very work where we will tend the sick, give rest to the weary, and comfort the afflicted.

And it is in this work where our faith is most active and alive, where we most clearly see the God who calls us beloved.

Let us pray….
Good and gracious God,
We give You thanks for Your Son Jesus who humbled himself to live among us.
We give you thanks for the promises of forgiveness and new life that You make to every one of us.
Most of all we give You thanks for the merciful love You give us, making us Your own children.
Show us how to use the gifts You have given us and encourage us to share Your abundant love with others that they, too, will know they are loved.
Help us hear Your voice in our lives and teach us to follow Your Son.
We pray in the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.

[i] Donald Senior. Matthew. 55.
[ii] Martin Luther. “This is My Son, the Beloved”: Sermon on the Baptism of Jesus. The Epiphany of Our Lord (January 6, 1534) Word & World, Luther Seminary, St.Paul, MN. https://wordandworld.luthersem.edu/content/pdfs/16-1_Edges_of_Life/16-1_Luther_Sermon.pdf, accessed 1/11/2020
[iii] Bishop Michael Rinehart. https://www.bishopmike.com

Second Sunday of Christmas

John 1:1-18

We don’t often hear this part of John’s gospel in our worship. The Revised Common Lectionary assigns the text to Christmas Day and to the Second Sunday of Christmas but, often by the second Sunday after Christmas, we have already entered Epiphany and moved on from the Christmas story.

This year the calendar fell differently and while at home, the Christmas lights and ornaments may be packed away, the presents opened and the feasts eaten, it is still Christmas in the Church. Tomorrow we will move on to the Feast of the Epiphany, but today, the Evangelist who wrote the fourth gospel has given us another Christmas story, one that comes without angels or shepherds, innkeepers or mangers. Instead, John tells us the story of how the Son of God came into the world this way:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. [i]

Written some sixty or more years after Jesus’ ministry, John’s gospel begins with “In the beginning” and everyone who is listening hears the first words of Genesis echoing through time:

“In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth…”[ii]

Hearing the same words that we hear in the first book of the Torah and our Old Testament, we know that the Evangelist is not writing about something new, but about something very, very old.

In his Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), Martin Luther wrote that this Word dwells in God’s divine heart from eternity and it was through Him that God resolved to create heaven and earth.[iii]

The wonder of the Word made flesh and the mystery of the incarnation is the foundation of our very creation: there is no life outside God.

As we begin this new year, can we resolve to live out this basic truth, and see where God indeed is with us?

Here in the Church we especially remember Christ is present with us in the sacraments. In these places the promise and command found in the Word are joined with an earthly element and we encounter Christ anew.

At the Font, we are given new life in Christ in the waters of baptism and receive the promises we are given, that we are made new and all the old has passed away. And Jesus tells us in Matthew 28, “… remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”[iv]

At the Table, Christ is present with us in bread and wine as he gives his body and blood for us, taking on all our sin and giving us all that is his, an inheritance that gives us the power to become children of God. St. Paul reminds us “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”[v]

This same Word enfleshed in Christ is with us in prayer, not only here in the sanctuary but also in our homes and workplaces, when we say, “Lord, teach us to pray.”[vi]

We say our prayers, trusting that God wipes away our tears when we cry out under the weight of sorrows and burdens that we carry,
rejoices with us when we praise God for the joys we have witnessed,
and accompanies us into the unknown when we name the mysteries that escape our understanding.

In First Peter, we hear, “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies…”[vii] The Word appears in our lives when we meet Jesus in the people around us: in those who teach and share their own experiences of God’s love with us; in those who pick up the phone, write a card or send a text to tell us we are remembered; in those who share a meal and fellowship with us.

And finally the Word is present to us in the stranger. Jesus tells his disciples, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[viii] We are called to love. The outcast, in the prisoner, in the refugee. The person who doesn’t look like us, speak our language or share our political bent. And even our enemy.

And as we begin this new year, “the Word with us” is very good news. The headlines are full of bad news: wildfires and evacuations in Australia, new deployments of soldiers to the Middle East, and attacks on both Christian and Jewish communities here in the U.S., but even, and maybe especially, against the shadows that those stories cast the Word comes to us assuring us that:

All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being.

There is no place and no one outside of God’s reach, beyond God’s love.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.

[i] John 1:1-3
[ii] Genesis 1:1
[iii] Sermons on the Gospel of St. John (1537-40), LW 22, 7-9.
[iv] Matthew 28:20
[v] 1 Corinthians 10:17
[vi] Luke 11:1
[vii] 1 Peter 4:10-11
[viii] Matthew 22:37-39