Jesus walks toward us in the storm: 10th after pentecost a

The first reading is 1 Kings 19:9-18.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (14:22-33)

²²Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat

       and go on ahead to the other side of the Sea of Galilee,

              while he dismissed the crowds.

              ²³And after he had dismissed the crowds,

                     Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray.

       When evening came, he was there alone,

              ²⁴but by this time the boat,

                     battered by the waves,

                            was far from the land,

                                   for the wind was against them.

²⁵And early in the morning Jesus came walking toward them on the sea.

       ²⁶But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea,

              they were terrified, saying,

                     “It is a ghost!”

              And they cried out in fear.

                     ²⁷But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said,

                            “Take heart, it is I;

                                   do not be afraid.”

       ²⁸Peter answered him,

              “Lord, if it is you,

                     command me to come to you on the water.”

       ²⁹He said, “Come.”

              So Peter got out of the boat,

                     started walking on the water,

                            and came toward Jesus.

                     ³⁰But when Peter noticed the strong wind,

                            he became frightened,

                            and beginning to sink, he cried out,

                                   “Lord, save me!”

              ³¹Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him,

                     “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

³²When they got into the boat,

       the wind ceased.

       ³³And those in the boat worshiped Jesus, saying,

              “Truly you are the Son of God.”

The gospel of the Lord.

-----

Storms are not new to us. 

10 years ago next week, a storm crashed waves of water through this town, destroying homes, a sense of safety, and this church building’s basement. 

8 years ago the ELCA decided to follow Jesus more closely during the Churchwide Assembly by beginning a campaign to raise millions of dollars to fight malaria and by recognizing and affirming the calls to ordained and consecrated ministryof people of a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities.  The response of some to the latter commitment was a storm that tore through communities of faith, including here in Rushford, tearing friends and colleagues apart.

Storms are not new to us, nor are they new to Peter, a fisher by trade.  Peter knows the danger of the sea—the water that can be so calm one day and life-threatening another.  So when he’s in the boat, “battered by the waves,” he knows how to handle the boat.  That’s not the terrifying part of it all.

The terrifying part is Jesus.

Jesus shows up in the midst of the storm, heading for the boat, walking on water, and this terrifies the disciples in the boat.  The storm isn’t terrifying, Jesus is.

How often are we scared of Jesus coming to us?

Are we scared of what it means to follow Jesus?  If we’re not yet, we probably should be.  We know where Jesus ended up.

We are currently in the midst of many storms.  A storm is raging as our president threatens and escalates this country towards a nuclear war with North Korea, which would likely destroy this whole planet.  Even as we’ve been praying for peace and de-escalation each week, the president has been intentionally escalating the threat.

Another storm, this one of white supremacy, has been raging, last week in the bombing of a mosque in Bloomington, and most especially this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Uninvited and unwanted white supremacists, engaging in acts of domestic terrorism, gathered without the KKK’s usual white robes of anonymity, carrying torches, and violently protested the planned removal of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s statue.  These neo-Nazis chanted many horrible things, including “Blood and Soil,” a philosophy of the Third Reich, used as a Nazi chant in Germany.  The storm of racism and evil is real and alive in this country.

And Jesus is walking towards us in the midst of this storm.  It is easy for us to gather here in Rushford and dismiss what is happening in Charlottesville or with the president and North Korea as far away and not connected to us.  In college we called it “living in the Luther bubble” as we were fairly ignorant to much of what happened outside of our sphere of study, college, and community.

But Jesus comes to us, walking on the water through the storm with a different way of being.  The ministry we do here in this place as Trinity and First is important.  It matters.  It matters that we make this place more welcoming of Spanish-speaking folks, especially immigrants working on the farms, and of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and questioning folks.  These are important ways of following Jesus by resisting racism and forces of oppression. 

And yet we are also part of a larger body of Christ.  We are part of a whole country and world in which storms are raging and Jesus calls us into this world and that can be terrifying.

We call this place where we gather a sanctuary.  A place of safety amidst the storm.  Many church buildings have historically been constructed like ships and have areas called “naves” to reinforce this.  And, the implication is that life is not always safe.  That’s true.  Jesus doesn’t call us to safety, he calls us to discipleship.

In our first reading for today, Elijah has just stood up to the priests of Baal, as God bests them in a challenge of sacrifice and power, which then ends the drought.  This provokes the ire of the powerful followers of Baal and so Elijah responds by hiding in a cave in the desert far away, feeling alone and afraid for his life.  And God comes to him as “a sound of sheer silence,” or in other translations: “a gentle and quiet whisper,” “a sound of gentle blowing,” or “a sound. Thin. Quiet.”  God’s gentle presence contradicts the storm of anxiety, fear, and loneliness raging in Elijah.

Yet even God’s presence cannot shake Elijah’s terrified and lonely lament, which he repeats word for word when God asks again what Elijah is doing.  And God persists, calling and equipping Elijah and those who would come after him to continue the work.  And Jesus keeps calling to us in the boat in the midst of the storm, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Jesus calls us to deep commitments locally—in welcome and hospitality and boldness as we proclaim the gospel here.  And we are faithful in this call as a community of faith.

Jesus also calls us to deep commitments to justice throughout the world.  And what a witness that could be—

--to gather in our own town, or travel to the state or national capitols, advocating in solidarity with people of color being menaced by proud white supremacists, or to travel together as a community of faith to show up with people of color to resist racism.

--to challenge the narratives that separate our country into rural republicans or urban democrats, showing that more than any political party, we are children of God, caring for our kindred, our friends, and our neighbors around the country and the world. 

--to challenge the narratives that claim at best that we don’t care about and at worst that we support the president’s threats of nuclear war with North Korea, the bombing of the mosque in Bloomington, or the white supremacists’ presence in Charlottesville. 

But more importantly than any of those, what if we took this action to follow Jesus even in the storm that rages, because that is what faith means to us.

This weekend the ELCA issued a statement from Bp. Bill Gafkjen, the chair of the Conference of Bishops, with this prayer:

“Just and merciful God, we give you thanks for … bishops, pastors, deacons, people of God – who this Saturday walk the way of the cross in Charlottesville, Va. On this day and in that place, they join other courageous and faithful people across time and space to stand against bigotry, hatred and violence; to stand with those who are intended victims; and to stand for justice and mercy, peace and equality for all people.

“We stand with them in prayer, asking you to empower them, protect them, and use their witness as [a] hopeful sign of your resurrection reign afoot in your beloved and troubled world. By your might, break the bondage that bigotry, hatred and violence impose on their victims and their perpetrators. May your kingdom come on earth as in heaven. And, we pray, empower us in our own communities to follow their lead as fellow servants to your dream of a community in which all people and their gifts are welcomed and honored, cherished and celebrated as beloved children of a just, merciful and loving God; through Jesus Christ crucified and risen for the life of the world. Amen”

The PCUSA stated: "Because of our biblical understanding of who God is and what God intends for humanity, the PC(USA) must stand against, speak against, and work against racism. Antiracist effort is not optional for Christians. It is an essential aspect of Christian discipleship, without which we fail to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ."
- Facing Racism: A Vision of the Intercultural Community, 222nd General Assembly (2016), Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

These are prayers and commitments of words and they are important, but so are the prayers we pray with our feet and with our resources.  Where we show up matters and resisting this mob of white supremacist terrorists, resisting nuclear war, is praying with our whole bodies.  How will we show up?  What are we willing to risk in the storm, to follow the Jesus who is walking to us now?  Jesus is calling to us, how will we respond?  How will we connect to those who suffer injustice not only in our community, but around the country and the world?

Our Church in the World moments have been a great way to keep us aware of what is going on in the world and we include places and people all over the world who are facing injustice and hardship in our prayers each week.  Awareness and spoken prayers are an important step, and they are good beginning steps. 

I think we are ready for our next step. 

What if we commit to showing up or hosting even just one thing a year that addresses injustice in the country or the world?  What if we show up at the state capitol, the nation’s capitol, or the site of resistance in the face of white supremacy?  One embodied prayer, one form of resistance to the storms of injustice that rage around us.  We stay in the boat to fight the storm, rather than escaping.  Jesus is walking toward us and calling us to follow.  So, we pray with our bodies because we trust that the storm can never stop Jesus.  

Thanks be to God.

God's joy is fabulously, over the top, nonsensically extravagant - 17th after pentecost

The holy gospel according to Luke (15:1-10)

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.

       ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying,

              “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³So Jesus told them this parable:

       ⁴“Which man of you,

              having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,

                     does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness

                     and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?

              ⁵When he has found it,

                     he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.

              ⁶And when he comes home,

                     he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,

                            ‘Rejoice with me,

                                   for I have found my sheep that was lost.’

              ⁷Just so, I tell you,

                     there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents

                            than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

       ⁸“Or what woman of you having ten silver coins,

              if she loses one of them,

                     does not light a lamp,

                     sweep the house,

                     and search carefully until she finds it?

              ⁹When she has found it,

                     she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,

                            ‘Rejoice with me,

                                   for I have found the coin that I had lost.’

              ¹⁰Just so, I tell you,

                     there is joy in the presence of the angels of God

                            over one sinner who repents.”

The gospel of the Lord.

-----

How many of you have sheep?  Have ever had or interacted with sheep?  What are they like?

Shepherding is still an important part of Slovak culture, so while I was living in Slovakia, I would see sheep similarly to how we see cows in this neck of the woods.  Cartoon sheep were even part of Slovak tourism!

But here’s the kicker—and I think about this every time Good Shepherd Sunday rolls around or Jesus decides to bring up sheep again—sheep are not smart animals!  And they’re not well-behaved either!  They don’t know not to wander off!  They just wander!

Not to mention, have you ever tried counting 100 sheep—or even 100 cows or 100 of anything—at one time?  Let’s be honest, how does this shepherd even know that he didn’t just miscount and there really are all 100 sheep still with him?  It takes a lot to make sure one sheep out of a hundred is actually missing, or to even notice anything is amiss in the first place!

Then, once you figure it out, are you really going to leave the 99 to wander off themselves?  Because you know that the second you head off after that one, all the other 99 will spot butterflies or greener fields or something and head off on their own.

You may get that one that you’d lost back, but to do that, you’ve now lost the other 99.  But say the 99 miraculously stay put, then you go throw a party celebrating the one you lost and then found again.  And what do you serve?  Mutton!  So you kill that sheep, and probably more, to feed your party guests!  This all seems pretty pointless and nonsensical to me.

But perhaps it makes more sense with the woman and her coins.

How many of you have ever made stacks of coins to count them more easily?  How easy is it to tell if a stack has one coin or two?  How about 5 coins or 6?  9 or 10?  Once they get that high, unless they’re two stacks right next to each, it’s hard to tell that one is missing, so kudos once again to the woman, who actually noticed that a coin was even missing in the first place.

As for the coins themselves, these were not just nickels or dimes or even silver dollars.  Though our translation calls them “silver coins,” the Greek identifies them as drachma.  A drachma would’ve been about or just below a day’s worth of wages.  So, the idea of having two weeks’ wages lying around, like the idea of having 100 sheep just hanging out with you, is a bit extravagant for us and the folks Jesus is talking to, and probably means that losing one would not be quite as big a deal as losing a day’s wages might be to many.

But the woman sets out on a search for the missing coin anyway.  And while I would tear my house apart, making a huge mess, in my search for something I lost, she seems much more orderly in her endeavor.  She even manages the bonus of getting the house all swept while she looks!

Once she finds the coin, what does she do?  She spends it—and probably more—celebrating with her friends!  More nonsense!  Over the top, extravagant celebration with all the neighbors and friends!

The last part to make sense of is that after each parable, Luke throws in the line about sinners repenting, but it doesn’t really fit.  The shepherd’s the one who lost track of the sheep and the woman’s the one who lost the coin.  The sheep and the coin don’t do any repenting.  So maybe the stories aren’t actually about repentance.  Maybe they’re really about this nonsensical, extravagant celebration.

15 years ago, terrorists took over planes and attacked, or tried to attack, some of the more prominent and symbolic buildings of this country.  I’m going to date myself here a little: 15 years ago today, in my first year of high school, I spent almost every class period watching and rewatching the same short amount of footage of the attacks and their after-effects.

I saw the same horrific images over and over and over again, so that by the time I went home from school, I was numb and felt as traumatized as if I had actually known someone in New York, even though I was thousands of miles away in Colorado and had only been to New York once in my life.

In the past 15 years we have experienced tragedy after tragedy in this country and around the world,            sometimes, because of the attacks 15 years ago and our country’s response to them.  Each time a mass tragedy strikes, especially if it happens in this country, we get the same oversaturation from news shows, showing the same 30 seconds of video and going over the same limited facts until again we are too numb and traumatized to do anything.

We lose our ability to respond at all, let alone responding with love.  We lose our sense of joy and wonder at the world.  We lose our sense of safety.

For perhaps the first time in my life, this summer I had to turn off NPR.  I just couldn’t handle the constant news coverage after the attack at Pulse, the gay night club in Orlando.  I was losing my hope and I needed to plug into a deeper source of hope.  I needed to keep myself from spiraling into yet another cycle of numbness.

So, I prayed.  A lot.  And I spent time with friends and we went to Pride in the Twin Cities and we celebrated the gift of each other and of God’s fabulous love in our lives.  We celebrated the joy of who and how God made and continues to make each of us.  Pride’s extravagance is a celebration on par with the woman and the shepherd’s celebrations upon finding what they’d lost.

Celebration.  Not repentance.  Is at the heart of today’s parables.  That is the witness we have for the world.  That is what we practice, as church, each week.  In the face of every excuse to despair, to become numb, to sink into depression, we silence our phones and focus on God and each other. 

We gather to sing praises to God, to receive and celebrate God’s forgiveness in our lives, to share in holy communion, being fed by Jesus who is the Bread of Life.  We gather to share not only our concerns and real tears and fears, but our joys as well, sharing in brief signs of God’s peace with each other, and then being sent out for joyful service to the world.

The Gospel is celebration.  It is joy in the face of a million reasons to despair, to be sad and numb, and to give up hope.  It is God’s love for each of us and for all of creation, poured out with extravagant joy.  Because God is extravagant and the celebration, the feast awaiting us all will be fabulously, over the top, nonsensically extravagant to match God’s joy at being with us all.

Thanks be to God.