God sends us and goes with us

As I prepared for this sermon, I prayed in color the main passages I would be preaching on.  I've included a picture of the prayer at the end of each reading.

A reading from Jeremiah (29:10-14)

¹⁰For thus says the Lord:

       Only when Babylon’s seventy years are completed will I visit you,

              and I will fulfill to you my promise

              and bring you back to this place.

       ¹¹For surely I know the plans I have for you,

              says the Lord,

              plans for your welfare and not for harm,

                     to give you a future with hope.

       ¹²Then when you call upon me

              and come and pray to me,

                     I will hear you.

       ¹³When you search for me,

              you will find me;

                     if you seek me with all your heart,

       ¹⁴I will let you find me,

              says the Lord,

                     and I will restore your fortunes

                     and gather you from all the nations

                     and all the places where I have driven you,

                            says the Lord,

                                   and I will bring you back to the place

                                          from which I sent you into exile.

The word of the lord.

The psalm, which I don't really reference in the sermon was Psalm 80.

A reading from Romans (8:26-39)

²⁶Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness;

       for we do not know how to pray as we ought,

              but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

       ²⁷And God, who searches the heart,

              knows what is the mind of the Spirit,

                     because the Spirit intercedes for the saints

                            according to the will of God.

²⁸We know that all things work together for good

       for those who love God,

              who are called according to God’s purpose.

²⁹For those whom God foreknew God also predestined

       to be conformed to the image of the Son of God,

              in order that the Son might be the firstborn within a large family.

       ³⁰And those whom God predestined God also called;

              and those whom God called God also justified;

                     and those whom God justified God also glorified.

³¹What then are we to say about these things?

       If God is for us,

              who is against us?

       ³²The very Son of God was not withheld,

              but was given up for all of us;

                     will God not along with the Son also give us everything else?

       ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?

              It is God who justifies.

       ³⁴Who is to condemn?

              It is Christ Jesus, who died,

                     yes, who was raised,

                            who is at the right hand of God,

                                   who indeed intercedes for us.

       ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ?

              Will hardship,

              or distress,

              or persecution,

              or famine,

              or nakedness,

              or peril,

              or sword?

                     ³⁶As it is written,

                            “For your sake we are being killed all day long;

                                   we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors

       through the one who loved us.

              ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life,

                     nor angels, nor rulers,

                     nor things present, nor things to come,

                     nor powers,

                     ³⁹nor height, nor depth,

                     nor anything else in all creation,

                            will be able to separate us

                                   from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The word of the lord.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (28:16-20)

¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee,

       to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.

       ¹⁷When they saw Jesus,

              they worshiped him;

                     but some doubted.

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them,

       “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

              ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,

                     baptizing them

                            in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

                     ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.

              And remember,

                     I am with you always,

                            to the end of the age.”

The gospel of the lord.

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We are here today to celebrate God’s work through the witness of Christ the King over the last 8 and a half years.  To celebrate the ways that Christ the King has brought us closer to God and the ways that through Christ the King we have been able to share our faith with others.               And we are here to close Christ the King.  It is a complicated day, to say the least. 

Yet into this complication, God speaks words of assurance.  God has plans for us.  Those plans may no longer be tied to this particular congregation or maybe not to any congregation at all right now.  God’s plans for us are plans for goodness.  God’s hopes for us are hopes for love, for wonder, for generosity.

Some of you already know the community of faith that you will be a part of and some of you are unsure.  Even if you know where you are going, this will be a time of wandering, a time of searching.  As we wonder at where God is calling us and wander to other communities of faith, we search for God.  We search for where God is calling us and we wonder where God is, if we will even find God, if God will find us, if God will guide us to our new future.  We are stepping out of this box that has been comfort and challenge and support.

And God is outside of that box anyway.  God bursts through our walls of comfort, disturbing our security.  God brings us into the world and assures us, saying, “I know the plans I have for you, … plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.”  God is with us in this time of uncertainty.

And in this uncertainty, we hear from Paul, at great length, that nothing can separate us from God. “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth” nor closing nor leaving, nor hardship, nor doubt, nor despair, “nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

God is with us and for us and for all of this creation.  God comes to us and the Holy Spirit breathes through us—in prayers of sighs too deep for words—candles lit and cranes folded for the sake of the world, in the joy and proclamation of love for all of God’s children.

Christ comes to us in the waters of baptism, the snow and showers that have cleansed this land over the years and the water poured out over Aria, Jordan, Sophia, Benjamin, Asher, Kaleb, Elsa, Sharon, Olivia, Deryck, Hayden, and Lukas in their baptisms, water and Word as God claims us all as beloved children.

Christ comes to us in communion—in broken bread for these, our broken bodies, this broken body of Christ, still yearning and working towards wholeness that will come when God’s reign really is on earth as it is in heaven.  The bread and wine that nourish and uplift us—that gather us in community around Tables here and in our homes.  Christ feeds us.

And it’s not that nothing in creation will separate us from God, it’s that Creation brings us together with God.  Creation brings us to God—to the wonder and mystery of God as we experience the change of seasons—summer to fall to winter to spring—the gross, the cool, and the scary of bugs and birds and bats.  Creation sings God’s praise and God’s glory, and points us toward our creative Creator, God who loves us always and continues to call us into the world.

However we may explore God’s call to us and God’s will for all of creation, God assures us, “You will find me” but more importantly, “I will let you find me.”  God hears our laments at losing Christ the King as we have known it, yet God is not hiding.  God is with us in our tears and sorrow, our anxiety and fears about where we will go—if they will like us, if we can participate as we want or rest as we need for a while.  And God walks with us in all of that.  We will find God because God will let us, because God is beside us, walking with us, even carrying us in our uncertainty.

And into that uncertainty we hear Jesus’ words, the Great Commission to his disciples.  After the Resurrection, the disciples gather and worship Jesus, and some of them doubt (I would reckon that     that some     was probably quite a large some of them).  They know that Jesus died on the cross, he was buried and yet now he lives!  These disciples are still wrestling with being a follower of Christ, a people of both death and resurrection.  They’re a bit unsure about Jesus and this whole resurrection thing and what they’re going to do.  

And so Jesus speaks to them.  And you know what?  Nowhere in the Great Commission does Jesus say, “Go start a church.  Establish a community of faith in which to worship me.  And then all will be well.” There is uncertainty and doubt, but that doesn’t stop Jesus. No.  Instead he says, “Go!  Get out of here!  Baptize and teach!  Make disciples!”

God, I think, is not quite as interested or invested in our institutions—our churches, denominations, or congregations—as we are.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love Christ the King and the ELCA and I also deeply value communities of faith with whom I can wrestle about the problems I see in the world, where God could be in it all; and who can know my struggles and support me in them.

But that’s not necessarily God’s focus—more of a side effect of God’s true focus—making disciples, teaching, and baptizing—sharing God’s love in and with the world.  That is what God, in Jesus, is about.

And we as humans have decided that churches are one of the better ways to do that.  They’re still never the purpose, though.  A church does not exist for itself.  It exists to make disciples of all nations.  Similarly, there are more ways to make disciples—to share the love of God and the Good News of God’s grace with the world—than just through churches or through the continuation of a congregation. 

Christ the King has been living out this Great Commission over the years.  We have baptized, we have affirmed baptisms.  We have learned and taught through Bible studies, conversations, and service opportunities: Project Linus, the CROP Walk, donation collections, and youth trips.

God has used Christ the King as a vessel for work and for proclamation of the Gospel, the Good News that God’s love is for everybody.  Now, as we lay this vessel to rest, we find that there are new ways to continue to follow Jesus.  There are other communities that we can join, fellowship and conversations—this community of people is not bound by the walls and official gatherings of Christ the King.

Because making disciples happens through you!  At work, in your neighborhood, at school, in service to others, in work for justice and peace, and yes, even in new communities of faith.  Jesus is still talking to you, still sending you out. 

The Great Commission is still your commission—to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach. Jesus’ last words assure us, “And remember, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

Thanks be to God.

God comes to us

The first reading is Deuteronomy 6:1-9.

The holy gospel according to Luke (2:8-14).

⁸In that region there were shepherds living in the fields,

       keeping watch over their flock by night.

       ⁹Then an angel of the Lord stood before them,

              and the glory of the Lord shone around them,

                     and they were terrified.

       ¹⁰But the angel said to them,

              “Do not be afraid;

                     for see—

                            I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people:

                                   ¹¹to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior,

                                          who is the Messiah,

                                          the Lord.

                     ¹²This will be a sign for you:

                            you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth

                                   and lying in a manger.”

       ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,

              praising God and saying,

                     ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

                            and on earth peace among those whom God favors!”

The gospel of the lord.

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What a day for these readings.  Over the last couple of months, I have enjoyed hearing about your favorite passages and verses from the Bible.  I have also been pleasantly surprised by the ways different passages work together.  The “shema,” the Hebrew word for hear, from verse 4 in Deuteronomy fits so well with today as we will spend today and the coming weeks continuing to make meaning out of our time together at Christ the King. 

Will we recite stories to our children from our time together—the bingo and silent auction fundraiser that raised money, yes, but more than that, it brought our community and friends of our congregation together to enjoy each other’s company and to support our youth.

When we are at home, will we talk about the homes comforted by Project Linus blankets, by children’s books donated to Family Promise, or beautiful images now covering abandoned buildings in Detroit? 

When we are away, will we tell people of the community of faith that gathered each week to worship the God of love and grace, to receive holy communion and be drowned in the waters of baptism?

How will we wear our faith, bound as a sign on our hands?  How will we do God’s work with those same hands? 

How will the sign of the cross, fixed as an emblem on our foreheads at our baptisms, shine for all to see?  Will our doorposts and gates be filled with words of welcome and hospitality learned and practiced so deeply here?

Will we “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone”?

What will we do as we go from here?  More importantly, though, the question I ask myself is what will God do?  Where will God be as we leave here?  How will God be present to me and to us?

And I think of the shepherds, perhaps wondering where God was in the loneliness of a night filled with sheep, or wondering at God in the stars scattered across the sky.  Because when God comes to us, and to the shepherds, in Jesus, God does the same thing that God has been doing throughout our whole human history.  God chooses once again to come to us in a new way.  God chooses to become us—to take on all of our human-ness and be with us in this new way—in Jesus the Christ.

God did it in the beginning, too.  God began with wind and spirit—Ruah, she was called.  Then God walked with Adam and Eve, the first humans, and when they left the garden, God was still with them.  God encountered Sarah and Abraham as strangers and angels, receiving hospitality.

As the Hebrews cried out in Egypt, God heard them, and came to Moses in a burning bush.  God brought the Hebrews out from captivity.  God led them in pillars of cloud by day and fire by night.

Throughout all of history, God has come to humans, to be with us and love us, to bring us to our best selves, to guide us in community, in service, and in justice.  To crowd us around a manger, a Table, a cross, and an empty tomb.

In all of these times that God comes to us, God comes with signs.  From pillars of cloud and fire to staffs that turn into serpents.  The prophets always have a sign that supports their claims against injustice.  What are our signs these days?  For the shepherds, the sign was a baby wrapped in scraps of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.  What are your signs of God’s presence with us?

As we go from here, God is coming to us again.  Not in cloud and fire, necessarily, but in love, in memories, and in new opportunities for community. 

Many of you have talked about finding a new faith community that is a small community, like Christ the King.  While I can fairly easily assure you that none will be quite as small as Christ the King, will your sign in a new community be as simple as a friendly face, a warm welcome?  Will that be enough?

Or will your sign of God’s presence come as you read the Bible, reading for whose voice is left out, reading for the questions that arise?  Will God’s presence come in continued gatherings—for fellowship or Project Linus?

How will you encounter God?  How will God encounter you?  Will a new faith community write itself on your heart?  Will Project Linus carry you forward into the unknown?  How will God yet again encounter you in a new way?

There are signs of God’s presence all around us.  I’m not always open to seeing them, but when I pay attention, I see God in the new life of babies.  I see God in the way the Wasatch Mountains climb into the sky, majestic and powerful.  I experience God in the hugs of friends and the late night conversations, solving the world’s problems with the optimism only found late at night in our God of hope.  The man I pass each week on my way to the Pride Center, who stands by Dunkin’ Donuts with a sign asking for money.  He is a sign of God’s presence for me as we greet each other with a familiarity built up over weekly encounters throughout this year.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie August Rush, a movie about the power of music, is, “Listen. Can you hear it? The music. I can hear it everywhere. In the wind… in the air… in the light. It’s all around us. All you have to do is open yourself up. All you have to do … is listen.”  That’s how I feel about signs of God’s presence.  They are everywhere—in the wind, in the air, in the light and the dark.  All you have to do … is listen, look, open yourself.  God is all around.

Thanks be to God.

God pulls us outside ourselves

This is a continuation of our favorites series as we prepare to close our ministry.  For the children's sermon I told the story of the cracked pot.

 

The first reading was Genesis 45:3-11, 15.

The holy gospel according to Luke (6:27-38).

Jesus said:

²⁷“But I say to you that listen,

       Love your enemies,

              do good to those who hate you,

                     ²⁸bless those who curse you,

                            pray for those who abuse you.

       ²⁹If anyone strikes you on the cheek,

              offer the other also;

       and from anyone who takes away your coat

              do not withhold even your shirt.

       ³⁰Give to everyone who begs from you;

              and if anyone takes away your goods,

                     do not ask for them again.

       ³¹Do to others as you would have them do to you.

³²“If you love those who love you,

       what credit is that to you?

              For even sinners love those who love them.

³³If you do good to those who do good to you,

       what credit is that to you?

              For even sinners do the same.

³⁴If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive,

       what credit is that to you?

              Even sinners lend to sinners,

                     to receive as much again.

³⁵But love your enemies,

       do good,

              and lend,

                     expecting nothing in return.

Your reward will be great,

       and you will be children of the Most High,

              who is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.

³⁶Be merciful,

       just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷“Do not judge,

       and you will not be judged;

do not condemn,

       and you will not be condemned.

Forgive,

       and you will be forgiven;

³⁸give,

       and it will be given to you.

A good measure,

       pressed down,

              shaken together,

                     running over,

                            will be put into your lap;

                                   for the measure you give

                                          will be the measure you get back.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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“Love your enemies.  Do good.  Bless.  Pray for.  Offer another cheek, another coat.  Expect nothing.  Be merciful.  Do not judge.  Do not condemn.  Forgive.  Give.”

Jesus, it seems, is full of instructions today.  Some easier than others.  Some more reasonable than others.  If I were in the habit of giving “how to” sermons or instructions for being “properly Christian,” this would be about as easy as it comes today.  But there is not much grace in that.  There is not much assurance or proclamation of the Good News of God’s endless unconditional love for you and for me. 

The Good News that I am a bit more desperate for these days.  Good News I need as the world still feels chaotic and unsafe, as predominately black churches continue to burn, as people with guns take the lives of those who choose to serve our country.  Good News as our closing worship is now less than a month away.

Because the thing I’ve come to realize and the real reason I love to preach, which may not always be clear even to me, is that I am desperate for the Good News of God’s grace, desperate to be pulled beyond myself into something bigger than my little place in this corner of the world.

If that is what we need, that Good News of Why God is in the world, then we are in luck.  That is really what Jesus is getting at this week.  These different exhortations and calls to action are not to-do lists, but life lived beyond ourselves, reliant on a God who is bigger than our to-do lists and wish lists.

These sayings, from “love your enemies” to “turn the other cheek” to “do to others as you would have them do to you” open us to something bigger than ourselves.  It is way too easy to get pulled into ourselves, holding a grudge, withholding forgiveness because of the hurt and the pain that we still feel.

But God is bigger than that.  God is bigger than the fear, the hatred, and the pain that can build up walls around us and keep us from being open and vulnerable with others, that can push us to run away or to dig in for a fight instead of following Jesus’ third way of loving engagement.

These counterintuitive, wacky exhortations pull us toward that.  They pull us into a community of faith where we are not alone.  Where we can be hurt and can still continue to learn compassion and empathy.  Where we can pray for those who are so broken that they abuse others, where we can love,                        and mourn every death from Osama bin Laden to Norm Kettner to Sandra Bland, who died while in police custody in Texas.

Turning the other cheek is not about being a doormat.  In Jesus’ time, if you hit someone with the back of your right hand on their right cheek, it was an insult, it reinforced their inferiority to you, like a slave.  When you hit someone on the left cheek, it was a sign of equality.  So, turning the other cheek meant shifting the slap or the hit from insult to equality and it made clear the imbalance of power creating the opportunity for change and repentance in offering the other cheek.[1]

If Jesus were speaking these today, perhaps he would say, “when fighting with family, remember the power of tickling.” “when your congregation is closing, dig into your faith in the time that you have together.” “When reading comments on KSL, engage with love and prayer.” “when the ku klux klan holds a protest, bring your sousaphone.”   

That is what one man did to challenge their hatred.  As the KKK marched in protest of removing a symbol of hatred and racism, this man on his tuba-like instrument played Ride of the Valkyries, the score for the White Supremacist film, Birth of a Nation, exposing the foolishness of the KKK’s hatred and racism.  And it fits!  It is a creative way of challenging the hatred, pain, and anger that can easily consume us.  That is what God is all about.  God finds creative ways to bring about good, to turn the tables on those who oppress others, to create a third way.

That is how God brings us outside ourselves.  It is God’s third way.  Neither fleeing from conflict, from abuse, pain, or anger, nor reacting impulsively to it.  It is engaging it in love.  That is how God brings a new reign, a new dominion to earth. 

Creatively.  Engaging in new ways, responding in creative love rather than reacting out of pain.

We’re not fundamentally changing who we are or what we do to follow a new list of the how-to’s of being a “good Christian.”  God is the one who is already claiming us, who is already at work.  As in today’s reading from Genesis, what Joseph’s brothers intended for harm—mainly selling him into slavery—God managed to use for good.  Not that God causes the harm, but that God can work even through our brokenness, even through the cracks in our water pots and in our lives.

Nothing is too big or too bad or too painful for God to handle, because God is in that too.  God, in Jesus, comes into our hurt and pain and brokenness and takes it onto himself, onto the cross—with us in suffering.

God brings creative, new life even out of ways that lead to death.  Jesus spends his life bringing new life, restoring community, responding creatively to the powers of evil and oppression at work in the world. 

Ultimately he responds even to death—the worst death, by crucifixion—with creative new life.  He doesn’t raise up an army to fight the Roman occupiers, nor does he give in to the inevitability of oppression.  He takes the third way, proving once and for all that death is no longer the final word.  God is.  And in God there is life and love and a creativity that pulls us out into the world.  God pulls us into considering how another might want to be treated, into loving even the unlovable, into new ways of being in the world, and into community in love.

Thanks be to God.

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[1] https://www.ualberta.ca/~cbidwell/DCAS/third.htm

God creates complexity

Continuing our series on favorites, all three of the passages for today were favorites of at least one person.

 

The first reading was Ecclesiastes 3:1-13.

The psalm was Psalm 23.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (5:1-12).

When Jesus saw the crowds,

       he went up the mountain;

       and after he sat down,

              his disciples came to him.

       ²Then Jesus began to speak,

              and taught them, saying:

³“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

       for theirs is the dominion of heaven.

⁴“Blessed are those who mourn,

       for they will be comforted.

⁵“Blessed are the meek,

       for they will inherit the earth.

⁶“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

       for they will be filled.

⁷“Blessed are the merciful,

       for they will receive mercy.

⁸“Blessed are the pure in heart,

       for they will see God.

⁹“Blessed are the peacemakers,

       for they will be called children of God.

¹⁰“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

       for theirs is the dominion of heaven.

¹¹“Blessed are you when people revile you

       and persecute you

       and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

              ¹²Rejoice and be glad,

                     for your reward is great in heaven,

                            for in the same way they persecuted the prophets

                                   who were before you.

The gospel of the Lord.

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The readings for today are probably some of the most beloved readings found in the Bible.  They are poetic, comforting, and fairly clear.  There is “a time to be born and a time to die.”  “Those who mourn…will be comforted.”  These iconic pairings are much more easily understandable than some of Jesus’ other sayings.

Or so it seems.  They appear clear and common sense, but on closer exploration, they are much more complicated than we give them credit for.

Ecclesiastes separates the times and seasons into their own spaces, making the distinctions seem clear.  Psalm 23 is a comforting reminder and prayer of God’s presence even as it acknowledges that we at times “walk through the darkest valley,” or as is more commonly quoted, “the valley of the shadow of death.”  Jesus, however, brings things that seem distinct together.  Not only are all of the blessings stated together, they run into each other.  The merciful probably also have a pure heart.  Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness also probably mourn the pain of injustice and suffering.

The Beatitudes actually remind me of the movie Inside Out.  The movie came out a few weeks ago and takes place largely from inside a soon-to-be teenager’s head.  In the control room are the emotions, Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger.  These characters each have a color, which controls or determines each of the girl’s memories.  Most memories are the gold of Joy, but as the family moves to a new place, Sadness starts turning memories, especially Joy’s golden memories, blue.

Now, spoiler alert here.  In the end, the memories become multi-colored with Sadness’ blue and Joy’s gold, with the green of Disgust, the red of Anger, and Fear’s purple all mixed together on different memories.  And the memories become richer and stronger because of this greater complexity.  Like Jesus’ words that “blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” we are richer and our experiences are richer when our emotions are fuller.  When we take time to really experience the many emotions we feel every day.

After all, if I don’t mourn, how will anybody know I need comfort?  If I don’t vocalize or express my anger, no one will know I’m upset or that anything is wrong.  If I don’t express my joy, how will anyone know to celebrate with me?

Just like day and night are not so different during twilight or dawn, our emotions and situations are rarely as clear-cut as we like to make them.  So how do we tell the difference?  How do we actually interpret Ecclesiastes and the Beatitudes?

When is the time to be born and the time to die for a baby who is stillborn or a person who survives after their heart has stopped?  What about the time to kill and the time to heal?  When is the time to mourn and the time to dance?  Or can those be the same times?  Have you ever found yourself weeping and laughing together?  In your bulletins is an insert with part of our readings today.  In the next few minutes, I invite you to split into small groups and share a time or two when one of the pairs from Ecclesiastes have both been true for you at the same time.

(time for sharing individually and then with the larger group)

Now, when have you experienced one of the Beatitudes?  Have you been comforted in your mourning?  Has your hunger and thirst for righteousness been filled?  I invite you to share again in your groups.

(time for sharing individually and then with the larger group)

We are complex people and that is precisely how God creates us.  God’s intention for us is to be complex beings who can experience many emotions at once.  It enables us to feel compassion and empathy for others.  It creates space and ways to be in relationship with those who are different from us.

God creates us for these complexities and relationships and in so doing, God creates us for love, the most complex of them all, which holds all of our contradictions and all of our emotions together at once.

Thanks be to God.