god's love is uncondition - how will you respond? - 4th sunday after pentecost

a little late, but here is my sermon from june 16th.

the holy gospel according to luke the 7^th chapter.  glory to you, o lord.

³⁶one of the pharisees asked jesus

       to eat with him,

              and he went into the pharisee’s house

              and took his place at the table.

³⁷and a woman in the city,

       who was a sinner,

              having learned that he was eating

                     in the pharisee’s house,

              brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

            ³⁸she stood behind him at his feet,

                     weeping,

       and began to bathe his feet

              with her tears

       and to dry them

              with her hair.

       then she continued kissing his feet

       and anointing them

              with the ointment.

³⁹now when the pharisee who had invited him

       saw it,

       he said to himself,

              “if this man were a prophet,

                     he would have known

                            who and

                            what kind of woman this is

                                   who is touching him—

                                          that she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰jesus spoke up and said to him,

       “simon,

              i have something to say to you.”

“teacher,”

       he replied,

              “speak.”

⁴¹“a certain creditor had two debtors;

       one owed five hundred denarii,

       and the other fifty.

       ⁴²when they could not pay,

              he canceled the debts for both of them.

                     now which of them will love him more?”

⁴³simon answered,

       “i suppose the one for whom

              he canceled the greater debt.”

and jesus said to him,

       “you have judged rightly.”

⁴⁴then turning toward the woman,

       he said to simon,

              “do you see this woman?

              i entered your house;

                     you gave me no water for my feet,

                            but she has bathed my feet

                                   with her tears

                            and dried them

                                   with her hair.

                     ⁴⁵you gave me no kiss,

                            but from the time i came in

                                   she has not stopped

                                          kissing my feet.

                     ⁴⁶you did not anoint my head with oil,

                            but she has anointed my feet

                                   with ointment.

              ⁴⁷therefore, i tell you,

                     her sins,

                            which were many,

                                   have been forgiven;

                                          hence she has shown great love.

                     but the one to whom little is forgiven,

                            loves little.”

⁴⁸then he said to her,

       “your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹but those who were at the table with him

       began to say among themselves,

              “who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰and he said to the woman,

       “your faith has saved you;

              go in peace.”

8soon afterwards

       he went on through cities and villages,

              proclaiming

              and bringing

                     the good news of the kingdom of god.

              the twelve were with him,

                     ²as well as some women

                            who had been cured

                                   of evil spirits

                                   and infirmities:

              mary, called magdalene,

                     from whom seven demons had gone out,

              ³and joanna,

                     the wife of herod’s steward chuza,

              and susanna,

              and many others,

                     who provided for them

              out of their resources.

the gospel of the lord.  praise to you, o christ.

 -----

considering today is father’s day, today’s readings do not show men in all that favorable of a light. 

david is responsible for many sins regarding “the wife of uriah” and uriah himself, resulting in the death of his child.  he claims for his own who and what is not his.  women may have been simply considered property at the time, but even so, as the text makes abundantly clear, she did not belong to david.  bathsheeba is the wife of uriah.  she does not “ask for” david to see her and want to be with her.  david, of his own volition sets the snowball of sins in motion, culminating in even killing uriah and the death of his own son.

simon the pharisee seems quite full of himself and self-righteous.  he begins well with basic hospitality, providing a meal for jesus, but doesn’t quite grasp the full breadth and depth of god’s grace and love, thinking more highly of himself than he ought, looking down on the woman who comes to jesus, and not providing jesus with water to wash his feet.

now jesus…well, he’s jesus, so he’s on a whole different playing field regarding sin. 

and to be fair, even the woman is identified as a sinner.  we don’t know what she did, just that she too, like each of us, was a sinner.

our sins also are many and few—great and small.  as simple as arguments with family and friends, neglect of relationships or as complicated as scheming against another person, abuse of people and the environment, or any of a variety of illegal or immoral activities.  for some people, like simon the pharisee, thinking too highly of ourselves is a sin while for others, perhaps like this woman, not valuing ourselves enough can be a sin.

so just when we are really starting to relate to david, to blame ourselves and our sins—the extra time we stay away from home and at work, our seemingly constant worrying about money, our inattentive parenting, or perhaps an affair—for all that is wrong and bad in our lives and in the world, paul reminds us in galatians that salvation does not depend on us.

even the good stuff and the bad stuff the women and men do pale in comparison to the love and grace of god.  david’s sins, though many, are taken away as are simon’s, the woman’s and ours.  it is not up to us to do the best or worst in the world.  it is up to god.  jesus the christ saves us all here and now.  he comes to be with simon, even knowing his self-righteousness.  salvation comes today, not through works, but through faith-the grace of god.

god’s love for us is unconditional.  god knows every part of who we are.  when simon says to himself, “if this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner,” it’s a bit ironic because jesus does know who this woman is.  yes, he knows that she, like us, is a sinner.  he also knows more deeply than that that she is a beloved child of god.  jesus knows who she is on a much deeper, more profound level than simon did and he knows whose she is.  she is loved by god and justified not by washing jesus’ feet, but by faith in jesus the christ.

jesus is preaching the forgiveness of sins—a place for everyone at the table; a place where it is not possible to sin so much that you aren’t allowed in.  this unnamed woman has heard this message, she has been given grace and forgiveness. 

and to know,      that the One who is giver of all this goodness and life is in your town.  well, what else would you do?  having received the priceless gift of grace—forgiveness, the woman joyfully, tearfully, and eagerly responds with service and gift back to god.  she comes to jesus and washes his feet with her tears, dries them with her hair, and anoints them with ointment.

washing his feet is merely an outward sign of this change that jesus has worked in her, bringing salvation to her now, not simply when she dies.  god is here now.  you are saved here.  now.  you are free from the power of sin—you are free from the need to perform, to look good, to be liked, to be nice.  you are freed from all those pressures of the world here.  now. 

 

those pressures don’t just disappear, but you are no longer beholden to them—enslaved by them.

nothing can negate god’s love and grace, no matter how hard we might “try.”  our works—works of the law—societal pressures—are not necessary.  we are justified by grace through our faith.  that is what good news is.  that is what it means to be set free.

so the question becomes: now what?

you are free, so what will you do?

this freedom can be scary and it can be hard and it is certainly not the message we receive in this “meritocracy,” and perhaps that is why we call it good news.  it is good because it flies in the face of the cultural messages that inundate us, telling us that we can and must earn every excess imaginable.  it is good because it declares that there is another way. 

it is news because it is a new way of being in the world—a very old new way, to be sure, yet it always feels new (perhaps because we never quite get it all right the first time around).  it is news because it is worth shouting from the rooftop.  you are free in christ by god’s grace.

and this is what we respond to.  we receive god’s grace and love unconditionally and as we know ourselves to be sinners as well as saints, we come with this woman to jesus’ feet, pouring out our love.  in grateful and loving response to god’s grace, we give ourselves and all that we consider ours back to god.

this woman pours out her love for jesus in action and in resources.  she washes his feet with her tears, she dries his feet with her hair, and she anoints his feet with ointment—blessing that part of him that suffers the most wear and tear in all his walking around. 

she does not wash and anoint jesus’ feet because she has to or in order to earn her salvation—that would be relying on the law and works for salvation and righteousness.  but, because she is relying on jesus—that is, as paul says, she is justified by grace through faith in christ—she is free to respond with joy to the grace she has received and so, since she is filled with such love, she pours it back out, giving back to god.  trusting in god’s abundance that jesus will know the love and devotion that the tears and ointment and kisses embody.

jesus is here and the woman recognizes that the kin-dom of god is here and now.  salvation has come to her and it has come to you and me.  we have received the ultimate gift of grace and salvation in our baptisms and there is nothing we can do about it.

everyone responds to it differently.  david repents and renews his commitment to god.  the woman washes feet.  simon provides dinner.  the women who follow jesus provide for them monetarily. 

what will you do?  how will you respond to this grace and love from god?

lament for granny: a sermon

i have been taking an independent study course this year called psalms and grieving.  as part of the class, i wrote a sermon and the following is the sermon i would have preached if i had been able to preach at my grandmother’s memorial.  instead of preaching on a psalm, i wanted to structure the sermon as a psalm of lament.  the scripture are listed at the beginning and the parts of the lament are marked out, though in preaching they would not be stated explicitly.  

granny and i when i visited her back in 2011

scripture:

romans 8:26-39

psalm 13

john 14:1-14

(address to god)

spirit of comfort and consolation.  god of hope and mercy.  be with us now.

we come today to bear witness to a life lived in faith—to a woman who knew the maker of heaven and earth—the one full of loving kindness and saving grace.

(complaint)

we have lost a mother, grandmother, friend, minister, and sister in christ.  marguerite marie darcey hoffmann worked hard in her life.  as the certificate states, she successfully raised 4 kids, 1 husband, and 3 dogs, and—i would add to that—1 more dog and 5 grandkids.

peggy or, as i knew her, granny was born in waterbury to james and margaret darcey on march 3, 1921.  in her baptism, god claimed marguerite marie as a beloved child and called her into the world and into a life of faith. 

at the age of seven, granny came to paul ney rd, where she would live out the majority of her life.  in 1944, while on vacation in florida, peggy met a young navy lieutenant from reno, nevada.  their relationship was as scandalous from the start as it was a romance made for the movies.  granny and grandaddy fell in love and once they figured out how to navigate their distinct faith traditions and prior commitments, it seemed that they lived happily ever after.

peg was a great support to fred when he was in the south pacific and they worked well together as architect-builder and interior designer for miniature mansions of cheshire.

her life wasn’t perfect.  granny faced her share of struggles—she battled with and conquered more health problems than i can count and each time she exceeded doctors’ expectations, but we always knew that granny was a fighter; determined to live life and to love others.  granny loved her family and her church.  she worked hard to love and care for her own 4 kids as well as the rest of the neighborhood kids.  she cared for her friends and those around her.  she also cared deeply about her faith.

i don’t know if she would’ve sought ordination if she could have, but i do know that she was a minister throughout her life.  granny lived out her vocation as a eucharistic minister and a child of god. 

so much so that i used to tell people that when i came to visit granny every august we would go to church “every day but sunday”—faithfully attending daily and saturday afternoon masses. 

each morning, if i was still in bed when granny was getting ready, she’d come into the room my brother christian and i shared, and nudge me awake to ask if i was coming with her to mass. 

granny brought me to jesus—even having me baptized here at st. bridget’s may 15, 1987—and letting me tag along with her for daily mass.

granny also brought jesus to countless others.  i remember the countless times i joined granny as she brought eucharist and led a short worship tuesdays at marbridge convalescent home.  after daily mass at church or at marbridge, granny and i would then go out for coffee and pastries with the coffee klatch—a group of strong and deeply faithful women granny and i have been blessed to know throughout our lives.

so we gather here, to mourn the loss of our mother, grandmother, friend, and sister in christ. 

after over 91 years journeying with us, granny has joined grandaddy, pete, nonnie, goggie, and all the saints in that mansion in the sky.

while we were with her in the hospital, mom, ghiq, christian, carrie, and i talked with granny about a variety of things.  one thing we all agreed on was that grandaddy was putting the finishing touches on their miniature mansion so that it would be ready for her.  jesus’ words to his disciples ring so true for granny.  jesus has gone to prepare a place for each of us and as our loved ones bring us to god and can be christ for us, encouraging us in our faith and lives, so too, grandaddy has been at work on that miniature mansion in heaven, preparing it for when jesus would bring granny home.

(confession of trust)

granny wasn’t perfect—she did her best to love others and remain true to her words, but it was in her baptism that she was set free.  as paul states, “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height; nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate granny from the love of god in christ jesus our lord.”

in our baptisms we are all set free so that the power of death no longer rules our lives.  granny was ready to be with grandaddy again.  she lived a full life with no shortage of struggles and her faith was a big part of it even until the very end.  we who are left will miss her and we begin today to figure out how to live in the world anew now that her physical presence is gone.  by god’s grace, she is indeed in a better place and we can now await the time when we will join her and all the beloved in a place far from pain and sickness, sorrow and fear.

(petition)

so we pray for her welcome reception in the church triumphant.  we pray that she and grandaddy would prepare our rooms in the miniature mansion just as they worked here on earth to prepare the miniature mansions of cheshire.  we pray that god would console and accompany us as we relearn the world without her.  and perhaps most of all, we pray that her spirit and love remain with us until we can join her and all the saints in heaven.

(words of assurance)

and so, 

may the god whose grace and love is bigger and more powerful
                                                                       than all the forces of evil and death

        guide us, and carry us into the future. 

may god embrace granny in loving arms. 

may god inspire in us acts of love and service to others, following granny’s example.  and
may god be with us always,

(vow to praise)

as we once again pray, and praise the god of love and grace—the god who chooses each one of us and calls us, with granny and all the sinners and saints, beloved children.

amen.

timey wimey - is this the time?: ascension day

the other readings for the day, which i reference were: acts 1:1-11 and ephesians 1:15-23

the holy gospel according to luke, the 24^th chapter.  glory to you, o lord.

⁴⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples,

            “These are my words that I spoke to you

                        while I was still with you—

                                    that everything written

                                                about me in the law of Moses,

                                                the prophets,

                                                and the psalms

                                    must be fulfilled.”

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds

            to understand the scriptures,

⁴⁶and he said to them,

            “Thus it is written,

                        that the Messiah is to suffer

                                    and to rise from the dead on the third day,

                                    ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins

                                                is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations,

                        beginning from Jerusalem.

            ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.

                        ⁴⁹And see,

                                    I am sending upon you what my Father promised;

                                    so stay here in the city

                                                until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

⁵⁰Then he led them out as far as Bethany,

            and, lifting up his hands,

                        he blessed them.

                                    ⁵¹While he was blessing them,

                        he withdrew from them

                        and was carried up into heaven.

            ⁵²And they worshiped him,

                        and returned to Jerusalem with great joy;

                                    ⁵³and they were continually in the temple

                                    blessing God.

the gospel of the lord.  praise to you, o christ.

-----

throughout the readings for today—and, in fact, on this day itself—we are in a liminal time.  today we celebrate jesus’ ascension.  the day jesus—in bodily form—leaves his disciples and the disciples begin the wait for the holy spirit.

the texts themselves are the end of luke and the beginning of acts—two books likely written by the same author.  this is a time of transition.  we are moving from “all that jesus did and taught from the beginning until the day when he was taken up to heaven” in luke to the work of the holy spirit through jesus’ followers throughout the book of acts and even into today.

we are on the edge—the margin between two places—liminal space.  it can be confusing or frustrating.  even the disciples are confused about what’s going on and what time it is.  they ask, “lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to israel?”

we can hear that question, 2000 years later, and scoff a bit.  we know the answer and we know that jesus is about bigger things than mere human institutions, yet there’s something compelling about the question. … “is this the time…”

it is important to point out that in greek there are two words for time: chronos and kairos.  chronos refers—as you might guess from the sound of it—to linear or chronological time—minutes, hours, days, months, years.  it is the time that we tend to be most familiar with and it is the time the disciples are referring to in their question.  have enough days, weeks, months, years passed that we can rule ourselves again like before?

jesus, however, recognizes what’s going on.  the disciples are confused, and, maybe, a little worried.  this bonus time they’ve had with jesus since the resurrection has been great, but they know it can’t last forever and they’ve got their own agenda that needs to be taken care of.  they’re still holding onto this idea that jesus is here to overthrow the roman occupation—to give rule and sovereignty back to israel—they’ve forgotten that the kin-dom should be and, in fact, is god’s in the first place.

so, jesus addresses their concerns by affirming the validity of their uncertainty, saying, “it is not for you to know the times or periods that the father has set by his own authority.”  in affirming their uncertainty, jesus does two important things:

he brings the focus back onto god’s power and authority—confronting the disciples’ assumptions about human power and authority.  jesus contrasts the disciples’ desire for israel to rule itself with the reality of god’s supreme authority over everything.

jesus also introduces kairos into the conversation.  the disciples ask about chronos—human time—and jesus tells them that it is not for them to know the human times (chronos) or the periods—the divine time (kairos).

here it is important to understand kairos.  so, while chronos is linear and horizontal, kairos is vertical.  i like to think of kairos as heaven-time—this cloud-like nebulus floating around that will occasionally crash into the chronos that’s just chugging along fairly steadily.  those moments are what i like to call kairos moments.  it is when god’s timing interrupts our steady human time.

these kairos moments happen throughout our lives.  for me, when i was getting ready to graduate from luther college, i knew that i didn’t want to go directly into seminary, but i was uncertain about what to do when i graduated.  i ended up applying for and getting into the elca’s young adults in global mission program.  i interviewed with two places and when i came out from the second interview, i called my parents and told them that i knew where i needed to be the next year.  and i did end up in slovakia as i thought. 

that was a kairos moment in my life—that moment; that time, god interrupted and as i was open to the moment, god broke in and pointed the way.  coming into the interviews, however, i didn’t have certainty about any of it.  yet i was willing to jump into that uncertainty, trusting that god was up to something.  and when i did jump, god was there to catch and guide me.

going into the interviews, i had no idea that they would become a kairos moment, and yet, looking back, i am certain that it was a kairos moment.  god interrupted my life.  my chronos was interrupted by god’s kairos.

today, with the disciples, we wait for god’s timing, for kairos moments of our own.  the hard thing for us is that there’s not much in the way of a warning that the moment is coming and a lot of the time the build-up to a kairos moment is filled with uncertainty and can feel like the end of our time. 

today we as individuals may be losing a job, facing a serious illness, graduating without any prospects or ideas for the future—unsure of what the future might hold.

as a country and world, the weather is increasingly erratic as we’ve seen even just this week; the legislative sessions are quickly coming to an end seemingly without the changes we want; and pain and suffering seem to be everywhere.

and as a congregation we are facing a million dollar building debt, we are grappling with what it means to live out the hospitality and welcome we have first received from god at the table, and we wonder where and how god is at work in it all. 

it is a scary time as we wait—confusing and frustrating, filled with uncertainty, yet we know that the holy spirit comes in those scary moments most of all—the liminal times, the times when we are unsure and confused.  when we are open—and sometimes when we’re not—god breaks in and shows us, as paul states in ephesians, “the hope to which god has called you, the riches of god’s glorious inheritance, and the immeasurable greatness of god’s power.”

jesus broke into the disciples’ fearfully locked house after the resurrection and in this time after his ascension, we wait with mounting urgency for the holy spirit to break into the house where we wait in jerusalem

and even now we catch glimpses that this might be a kairos moment in the making.  we may now have opportunities to branch out and pursue a new passion or try our hand at a new position, invest more time in the relationships we have or try that thing we’ve been thinking about for a while.   

we hear of the people who are running toward crises seeking to help, of more pressure to provide safe workspace for workers around the world, especially in bangladesh, of changes in how we approach the environment.  people seem to be stepping up to fill in where they see a need.   

and as a congregation we are discerning a new welcoming statement, starting a task force to be creative in exploring finances for the future.

urgency is building and glimpses are increasing that the holy spirit might be stirring something up.  can you feel her whisper?  can you feel the approaching pentecost—chronos becoming kairos?   

is this the time?

can you feel the energy mounting?  change is coming; the holy spirit is stirring.  what might god be up to?  where is god leading us?  how will you be open to the approaching kairos moment?

predicando en español - latin@ ministry strategy for kc!!

esta semana, prediqué en español durante la misa de la iglesia episcopal de san pablo en kansas city, kansas.

this week, i preached in spanish during the spanish worship service at st. paul's episcopal in kansas city, kansas.

this was the first sermon i've done in spanish and it has been a long time in the coming for me.  last spring when i was talking with my supervisor about the then-upcoming internship, there was a mention of a latin@ ministry strategy with the episcopal diocese in kansas city.  i was intrigued, to say the least.  well, during lent we kicked off the strategy in full force with a special guest presenter and preacher, father albert cutié.  this has been followed up by weekly spanish eucharist services at st. paul's.

because i am not ordained, but have considerable proficiency in spanish, my supervisor and i have gotten into the rotation to tag-team the service about once a month.  today was the first time for me to preach.  while there are similarities in sermonizing in spanish and english, it is definitely different.  i cannot simply prepare a sermon and translate it to spanish and call it good.  they are different languages and the people who hear them come from distinct contexts as well. 

an additional difficulty for me is that not only do i know spanish and english, but i also know slovak and so if i am speaking in a conversation and am not really focused on the words i'm saying i can oftentimes accidentally slip in a slovak word when i'm intending to speak spanish.  this means that when i preach in spanish, i definitely need a full manuscript.

this is a part of my internship that i was really excited for at the beginning and although it has taken a bit of time to get up and running, i'm really excited that we are now in full swing and am already thinking about what it will mean to preach for pentecost in both a spanish-speaking and an english-speaking context.

i'm not including the manuscript for my sermon here, but if you'd like a copy, let me know and i'm happy to email it to you :)

jesus stays with us: bach cantata #6

the following is a manuscript from the homily i preached at the bach cantata vespers service tonight.  the cantata was cantata #6

a reading from luke.

¹³Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, ¹⁶but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?”

They stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”

¹⁹He asked them, “What things?”

They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. ²¹But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. ²²Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, ²³and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. ²⁴Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.”

²⁵Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! ²⁶Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” ²⁷Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.  

²⁸As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. ²⁹But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.

³⁰When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. ³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. ³²They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”

³³That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. ³⁴They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

the word of the lord.  thanks be to god.

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even as we are an easter people and are in the season of easter, good friday, the death of the lord and our friend, remains with us.  we live in a good friday world with the two disciples walking the road to emmaus. 

this week has been especially clear on the death and dark of night that surrounds us.  starting the week with the explosions at the boston marathon, another explosion at a fertilizer factory in west, texas, and these are in addition to the daily violence and death that riddles our city, and even some of our families.  not to mention situations of hunger and homelessness. 

we’re struggling with budget crises as individuals and as a country.  80-90% agreement on common sense gun legislation: and yet universal background checks still don’t pass in congress.  we work hard and stressful jobs, we work with crabby people, or we can’t find work.

all around us we resonate with disciples who are wrestling with good friday and the quickly falling evening.  we can feel evening falling in the setting sun and even in the descending notes of the cantata, but we’re not quite ready for the day to be over.  we’re not quite ready to be left alone.

something within us yearns for more and we hear ourselves beg with the disciples, “stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.”  it is with a pleading tone that we hear this request at the start of the cantata to match the same tone with which the disciples ask jesus to stay.

as yet, they don’t know it’s jesus, and while their hearts may be burning, they still think it’s heartburn from lunch.  but there is something about this stranger walking with them, that pulls them in.  something about him that keeps them from letting him just walk away.

there is a mystery in this transitional, liminal time between day and night that pulls us in.  for the past 25 years we’ve been pulled in here to this place by the mystery of bach’s cantatas—his ability to bring these words to new life—to infuse each note so that we feel with the disciples the plea and mounting urgency for jesus to stay with us.

the story goes that christ is risen, yet there is still doubt and worry; grief and tragedy.  perhaps the mystery is actually that in the midst of the grief we face, we keep coming back.  something keeps pulling us in.  so we, as the disciples, urge him to stay—a gesture of middle eastern hospitality; and a plea from our hearts. 

there’s a reference in the book of hebrews about providing hospitality that you may actually be “entertaining angels unaware.”  it refers to sarah and abraham’s hospitality to the three angels of the lord in genesis, a well-known story to jews even back then.  i don’t think the first hearers of this story in luke could have heard it without remembering sarah and abraham and the angels and the gift they received—a beloved child—through the hospitality they provided.

and hospitality is holy.  providing for others, inviting them in, is sacred work, as is gathering in this place.  the notes of the cantata blend together to infuse us with the scene.  even martin luther, our namesake as lutherans, knew the value and power of music—keeping it intricately woven in worship.  and so we return for each cantata to the holy place that music holds in our lives and hearts.

and the disciples return to their home in emmaus and invite jesus to stay after the long journey.  in this moment of holy hospitality and fellowship at the Table, jesus breaks bread and in the breaking of bread, the disciples realize that they are with jesus—and he disappears.  they gather together as strangers, sharing in the journey and sharing in hospitality.

it is precisely there—in the hospitality and in the breaking of bread—that god in jesus is revealed to the disciples.  so it is today that in the gifts we share with others god is revealed.  in our hospitality, music, comfort, and food.  jesus is among us, unseen, yet felt and heard.  and perhaps it is precisely when we recognize jesus in the others around us that jesus disappears, leaving us able to see the other for who they are: a beloved child of god, the light of christ shining within.

all of this requires risk and vulnerability.  for all the disciples knew, jesus could have come into their home and robbed them of all they had.  yet they took the risk and said, “stay with us.”  they needed the gift of this stranger’s presence and so they pleaded, “stay with us.”  they provided nourishment and jesus broke the bread, revealing what had always been there: christ’s presence among them, just as christ is present among us, revealing the truth of god’s love for each one of us, stranger and friend—angels among us unaware.

proclaiming against racism and all the forces that defy god.

this past weekend i was in a place of sanctuary in many ways.  i was at the proclaim retreat.  it was a time to be with others both similar and different from myself.  we all share that up until 2009 the general (though not universal) policy and practice of the elca was that we not be ordained--especially if we were in a relationship.  as i was at the retreat, i realized a couple things.

1-we have come a long way as a church and i am proud of the cloud of witnesses around me, especially in proclaim.  without those who went before me, change wouldn't have happened.

2-even within our community we battle against sexism and heteronormativity.  much like women who internalize sexism, we all are affected by systems of oppression, whether we are oppressor or oppressed.

3-we know the margins, which means i have a responsibility as a white, able-bodied, english speaking person to do my best to be an ally to others.  one of my friends from seminary was with us and talked about racism and the conversation helped me remember that even though i can sometimes say things that are racist (or ableist), it is more important that i continue to work against racism and ableism and admit when i mess up than it is that i don't mess up.

these realizations came into sharp focus this week.  while heading to the airport to come back to kansas city, we found out about the boston marathon bombing and even without tv where i'm living, i got my fair share of the news throughout the week.  the trouble was that most of what i was finding out about was racism.  lots and lots of incidences of racism.

racism sucks.  this country is riddled with it.  i preached a sermon a while back and we had a baptism that sunday and one of the things i talked about in the sermon were the renunciations that we do when we bring someone to be baptized or affirm our own baptisms.  ever since text study at the beginning of february, i've been renouncing forces that defy god all the time.  in sermons, in scripture, with the presiding bishop.  everywhere, yet these forces that defy god--forces like racism--still persist. 

over and over again, we must renounce all the systems of oppression that rebel against god.  we, especially when we hold positions of power in those systems, must continuously renounce those systems that separate us from each other--that make us oppressed or oppressor.  we must choose another way.

this evening i caught a glimpse of that other way.  the second suspect has been captured.  most of the posts regarding him have been either relief that he was captured or (more importantly) prayers and requests for prayers for him.  because everyone is a beloved child of god.

so, i renounce racism, xenophobia, and the fear that our united states culture perpetuates.  maybe that is the first step to ending racism.  renouncing it.  may it be my next step and yours.

what we're up to in worship at immanuel

here we are on the other side of lent and holy week and what a time it has been!  we have walked with the dust of jesus on our foreheads.  we have journeyed through some of our most foundational stories of faith in the old testament, discerning what god provides and how we respond.  we have journeyed from cries of “hosanna!” through cries of “crucify him!”  we have waited and we have come together in the early dawn to the empty tomb with the women to find that “he is not here, but has risen.”

so we are here on the other side of easter, dusting off the dust of the tomb and looking up to find jesus resurrected and walking among us.  in the coming month the confirmation class will gather for a retreat.  we will explore the three days together and break bread as a group.

as we approached easter and as i recently went through my mid-year evaluations, i couldn’t help but look back on the past six months in preparation for the six to come.  as i have walked with immanuel and worshipped with immanuel, i have learned so much already.  this congregation has been a learning ground not only for worship leadership, but also for pastoral care and relationships. 

this congregation is committed to each other and to the greater metro-kansas city community.  their faith is evident in prayers and concern for those around them, in service with metro lutheran ministries, in worship, and in the way they live out their faith and their baptismal call in their lives.  

they are evidence for me of christ’s resurrection.  even in the midst of pain, sorrow, and death, they are life as they shine christ’s light and i am grateful to be surrounded by this cloud of witnesses for this year.

holy holy holy week

although i did preach the easter vigil, i did it without a manuscript--a first-person account of the resurrection from mary's perspective (according to the gospel of john), so i don't have a manuscript to post.  but i do have some holy week reflecting to share.

for as long as i can remember, i've worshiped on good friday.  this is mainly because i was the acolyte for my home congregation's tenebrae service of darkness which we did with the episcopal congregation.  then it became habit.  i came back during college for good friday and easter sunday.

this holy week i realized something about good friday and easter.  you see, i don't always like lent.  by the end of lent i am ready for it to be done.  i like my alleluias.  i like singing "this is the feast."  and i get a bit down during lent.  don't get me wrong, i think it's important, it's just not my favorite time of the church year.

what i realized about holy week, though, was twofold.  1-i need good friday.  2-i love easter.

i need the experience of good friday each year.  i need the time to be sad and to face the deep darkness of christ's death on the cross.  i need to sit with those feelings, those emotions, those thoughts.  i need that space to be intentionally created and good friday is the day that that happens.  it is the day--of the entire church year--that sadness and darkness and hopelessness are recognized and are felt communally.

i need good friday so that i can love easter.  alleluia!  christ is risen!!  joy comes to the world!  death is not the ultimate power!  god is more powerful than even death!  on good friday the powers of the world that we renounce during baptism do their worst to a god who has come to love us.  and on the third day, god wins.  god responds with more love than even death can handle.  god responds with resurrection.  i love easter.  the joy, the hope, the brightness of all the colors of the rainbow combining to make that perfect light.

i love easter.  it saves me.  easter is resurrection.  it is god's ultimate outpouring of love, which begins in the beginning of all creation and continues through jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection.

so, this week has been holy.  as is every week.  and its particular holiness comes from good friday and the power good friday has to make easter so much bigger and so much specialer. 

what about you?  which church holiday do you need?  which do you love?