god always forgives: 5th of lent

the first reading was jeremiah 31:31-34

the psalm was psalm 51:1-12

the second reading was hebrews 5:5-10

the holy gospel according to john (12:20-33)

²⁰Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

       ²¹They came to Philip,

              who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,

       and said to him,

              “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

²²Philip went and told Andrew;

       then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

              ²³Jesus answered them,

                     “The hour has come for the Son-of-Man to be glorified.

                            ²⁴Very truly, I tell you,

                                   unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

                                          it remains just a single grain;

                                   but if it dies,

                                          it bears much fruit.

                     ²⁵Those who love their life lose it,

                            and those who hate their life in this world

                                   keep it for eternal life.

                     ²⁶Whoever serves me must follow me,

                            and where I am, there will my servant be also.

                     Whoever serves me,

                            the Father will honor.

²⁷“Now my soul is troubled.

       And what should I say—

              ‘Father, save me from this hour’?

       No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour.

              ²⁸Father, glorify your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven,

       “I have glorified it,

       and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹The crowd standing there heard it

       and said that it was thunder.

       Others said,

              “An angel has spoken to him.”

       ³⁰Jesus answered,

              “This voice has come for your sake,

                     not for mine.

                     ³¹Now is the judgment of this world;

                     now the ruler of this world will be driven out.

                            ³²And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,

                                   will draw all people to myself.”

                                          ³³Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

the gospel of the lord.

-----

our final covenant this lent takes us to holy week.  it is a promised new covenant.  throughout the hebrew bible, or old testament, god has made covenant after covenant:            with the noah family and all living creatures, with sarah and abraham, with the israelites journeying out of egypt.  throughout all of this covenanting, god has been the one who is always faithful to the covenant.  

the israelites broke the 10 commandments before god was even done presenting them, and the bronze serpent became an idol to whom the israelites sacrificed for years to come.  the israelites continued to mess up, and yet god was faithful to the covenant and to the israelites.  god initiates the covenants and god chooses limitation to honor those covenants. 

and then, when we break the covenants,            as we, being human, are apt to do, god forgives us and renews the covenant again. 

god knows that we are a forgetful people.  we forget who created us.  we forget that god gives us all we need, that god gives us gifts and talents to do god’s work in the world.  we forget the love that grounds us and empowers us, the love that connects us to each other and to the world.  we forget the love that holds us in sorrow and exile and cheers with us in joy and excitement.

we forget that god surrounds us with others who care about us.  we easily forget so much and so, god keeps coming to us.  god continually comes to us in love, renewing covenants and making new covenants.  even when we turn our back on god, god continues to come to us.

the new covenant that god makes with the israelites today in jeremiah comes as they return from exile.  it is a covenant based entirely on god.  yes, there are expectations of loyalty and obedience, but it is grounded in god affirming the israelites as god’s people and in god’s forgiveness. 

god sets the terms for the new covenant.  it is, after all, god who is pursuing the israelites again after their unfaithfulness.  god is the faithful spouse in this relationship and continues to come back, seeking reconciliation, seeking right and renewed relationship with god’s people.

why?  because god has never had to operate on our terms, according to our logic.  in covenants, god chooses to operate on our terms, hoping that our response will lead us more deeply into god’s terms and into loving relationship with god.

god brings us back from exile.  god gives us second, third, even hundredth chances.  god gives us new ways of being in relationship, new ways of understanding the world.  god writes god’s love on our hearts.  god’s covenant becomes a living relationship, a commitment that grows and changes with us.

as god continues to “forgive our iniquity, and remember our sin no more,” it is a countercultural way of living.  our culture, our economy, is a tit-for-tat one.  we give things and expect something in return or receive things and feel indebted to the other.  our relationships are based on mutuality, and also an economics of accountability.  i scratch your back, if you scratch mine.  we keep track of favors and debts, things owed to us and things we owe.

god            doesn’t work that way.  god doesn’t keep score, because if god did, we would surely lose.  three strikes and we’d be out in no time.  we can never live up to the love that god pours out on us.  and we don’t have to.  god scratches everybody’s back.  god’s love is for everybody.  god hopes and works for the best for all of god’s creation, and doesn’t expect perfect reciprocation.  god gives first, grateful for responses, but not expecting or necessitating them in order to be satisfied.

this doesn’t work within our society.  our economy demands reciprocation, demands payback for all goods and services.  our economy even differentiates between the deserving and the undeserving poor.  says that only some deserve adequate health care, food, or shelter.  to get anything done in politics, there has to be clear, concrete benefit to the ones making the decisions.  laws are no longer passed because they are good for communities or for the country or world.  laws are passed for the sake of the next election.

and yet, jesus says, “²⁶whoever serves me must follow me, and where i am, there will my servant be also.  whoever serves me, the father will honor.”  following jesus means following jesus into the road home shelter, through detox, through the lines at the soup kitchen, into circles held for grieving, and even into our own homes and families. 

god’s way of life, god’s covenant with us is not the covenant we are used to.  it is not the social contract we live out each day.  it is a covenant of abundant life and abundant love for everybody and with everybody.

ultimately, god makes the everlasting covenant with us by coming to be with us—born in a feeding trough to peasants, walking among us—befriending the outcast, the sinner, the hopeless, and being tortured and killed on a cross—executed by powers of this world. 

in the crucifixion, god makes the ultimate sacrifice, joining us in suffering and death, so that the new covenant might last.  this covenant is a covenant of abundant life for all people.  as jesus draws all people to himself, he brings us all back into relationship with the god of second chances.  the god who never gives up—even after we’ve blown five or ten chances. 

still we know what we have learned by heart: “jesus loves me, this i know, for the bible tells me so.  little ones to him belong.  they are weak and he is strong.”  god is still with us, writing on our hearts the covenant that says “you are my child, whom i love.  you are worthy of that love.  i will always love you.”

thanks be to god.

our uncontrollable god turns sin into healing: 4th of lent

the first reading is from numbers 21:4-9

the second reading is from ephesians 2:1-10

the holy gospel according to john (3:14-21)

Jesus said,

       “¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

              so must the Son-of-Man be lifted up,

                     ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

       ¹⁶“For God loved the world in this way,

              that God gave the Son,

                     the only begotten one,

                            so that everyone who believes in him may not perish

                                   but may have eternal life.

       ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,

              but in order that the world might be saved through him.

              ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned;

                     but those who do not believe are condemned already,

                            because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

                     ¹⁹And this is the judgment,

                            that the light has come into the world,

                            and people loved darkness rather than light

                                   because their deeds were evil.

                                   ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light

                                          and do not come to the light,

                                                 so that their deeds may not be exposed.

                                   ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light,

                                          so that it may be clearly seen

                                                 that their deeds have been done in God.”

the gospel of the lord.

-----

many times when we think about god, we tend to think of god as a pretty consistent, dependable, even comfortable deity.  god is that.  god is dependable and a consistent source of love and forgiveness, but god is much more complex than that.  god can do more than any of us could imagine and yet we frequently try to box god in. 

we try to make god in our image instead of realizing that together all of humanity is made in the image of god.  it is our way of trying to find some control in a world that feels uncontrollable.  we make everything simple, so that there are black and white answers to god and to our world, even when the world is not only made up of shades of gray, but of rainbows of hues and tones!  and as much as i would occasionally really like to control god, to box god in, i cannot.

in the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe, by c. s. lewis, lucy, susan, and mr. beaver are talking about aslan, the lion and christ-figure in the story, before the children meet him.  upon finding out that he’s a lion, lucy asks if he’s safe.  mr. beaver responds, “safe? …who said anything about safe?  ‘course he isn’t safe.  but he’s good.  he’s the king, i tell you.”

that’s god.  god is good.  but god is not safe.  god is more complex than i could imagine.  martin luther talked about the left hand of god, or the hiddenness of god.  there is a certain amount that we can know about god from scripture, from our experiences, and from the right hand of god, god incarnate: jesus.  there is much, however, that we can’t know about god, because it’s too much or too foreign to us.  that’s the left hand. 

god is just too complex for us to fully understand, which also means that god can hold the full complexity of me.  god can handle all of my emotions, from ridiculous joy and excitement to my whining and complaining with the israelites of the unfamiliar freedom that god brings.

this complex god is also, as mr. beaver points out, not safe.  good?  yes.  but not safe.  the story of the exodus which we talked about a bit last week is a story of an unsafe god who displays power and might with walking sticks that become serpents, plagues that terrorize all of the inhabitants of egypt—israelites included—massive clouds and fire by day and night.  and now: snakes. 

god is not controllable.  god is caring and puts up with our whining and complaining and even our anger, yet when the israelites grumble about god’s gift of manna—sustenance in their wilderness journey, god has had enough and lets the poisonous serpents roam free.              this is a god i am uncomfortable with.  god who sends poisonous serpents among the people.  poisonous serpents that cause death.

but perhaps the poison was there all along.  the self-centeredness and doubt that curve us in on ourselves to choose sin, death, captivity in a world that doesn’t value us, because at least that’s something we know and are familiar with.  we begin to see only our country, only our community, then that is still so uncontrollable that we focus on our own family or our own selves, ignoring the rest of the world, ignoring the future that we share.  the poison seeps into our lives, slowly increasing until before we know it, that’s all we eat, drink, and breathe.

and then, with a start, we realize that there are poisonous serpents all around us and people are dying—of homelessness and hunger, of ignorance and hate, of violence and spite, of depression and anxiety.  and so we pray.  we pray to an uncontrollable god to take the poison away, but that’s not how god works.  the poison is a consequence of sin and evil—of the brokenness of our world.

instead, god takes the poisonous serpent, the result of our sin, and transforms it into the source of our healing.  not only that, but lifting it up brings our curved in selves and our eyes up to see god, to see the gift of the world as god creates it to be: full of healing, life, and love.

“even when we were dead through our trespasses, [god] made us alive together with christ—by grace you have been saved.”  even in the deepest depths of our sin, god has the power and transforms our sin into salvation.  god brings healing and wholeness even when we only see death.

when we are able to honestly face our sin and brokenness, then we can begin to heal.  god knows this and makes it possible.  god gives the israelites a bronze serpent, a source of separation since the beginning in genesis with the garden of eden, and a symbol of sin and brokenness as the israelites grumble about the gift of food.  and this becomes the source of healing for the israelites and us even until today.  our medical symbols are snakes on a pole for a reason.

so too does facing our sins and brokenness on the cross, bring healing.  when we face the facts of our imperfections, then we can stop trying to be perfect and rest in the comfort that “we are what god has made us, created in christ jesus for good works, which god prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”  

perhaps the scariest thing for me about god is that god creates us to be ourselves, not to be perfect.  when we stop thinking that everything and everyone depends on us, when we stop trying to control the uncontrollable world, then jesus reveals himself as the true savior, lifted up on the cross, for the healing of the whole world.

we still do not have a docile, tame god.  just last week we heard of jesus flipping tables and chasing everyone out of the temple with a whip.  our god is fierce and uncontrollable.  i can’t contain god, god is not safe. there will always be poisonous serpents in our midst.  god won’t keep us from all harm…but god does keep us in all harm.  god is fiercest against evil and god fights with us.  god comes to be with us and to be lifted up, crucified and glorified on the cross.

there are many small ways that we get caught up in sin and brokenness each day, getting bit and biting others, and god is always there, raising sin into the light so we can see it for what it is.  as we lift our eyes to jesus on the cross, we recognize the brokenness and name it as sin and evil, and receive healing as god makes “us alive [again] together with christ—by grace you have been saved.”

thanks be to god.

god promises "never again": 1st of lent

i primarily preached on genesis 9:8-17.

the holy gospel according to mark (1:9-15)

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee

       and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

              ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water,

                     he saw the heavens torn apart

                     and the Spirit descending like a dove on him.

                     ¹¹And a voice came from heaven,

                            “You are my Son, the Beloved;

                                   with you I am well pleased.”

                     ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove Jesus out into the wilderness.

                            ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days,

                                   tempted by Satan;

                                   and he was with the wild beasts;

                                   and the angels waited on him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested,

       Jesus came to Galilee,

              proclaiming the good news of God,

                     ¹⁵and saying,

                            “The time is fulfilled,

                                   and the dominion of God has come near;

                                          repent,

                                          and believe in the good news.”

The gospel of the lord.

-----

our readings this lent focus on covenants made by god with god’s people.  by and large, covenants of mutuality.  today, after a long, smelly time in the ark with the animals and immediate family, they are finally free.  i can’t imagine the emotions running through noah and his family to be back on dry ground with fresh air.  and before completely letting them loose, god makes a very wordy and repetitive promise to the noah family, every living creature with them, and their descendants.

this covenant is not quite like the others we will explore or even the others made at that time.  old testament scholar, cameron howard points out that covenants in that time typically involved commitments from both parties—usually initiated by one—about how to exist in relationship.  most of the time it was a conquering nation creating a covenant with a conquered one, where one side had the power and the other did not, and so the covenants clearly benefited one over the other, but both were able to agree on them. 

but today’s covenant is god making unconditional promises with noah’s whole family, “and your descendants after you, ¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark.” 

and god expects nothing in return.

before the flood, humanity was not living up to its potential.  humans were acting with disregard for god and others.  through the flood, the old things have been washed away.  the sins committed, the pains and hurts of days gone by, and god chooses to be again in relationship with humanity.  sometimes we talk about the god of the old testament as a very different god from the one we know in jesus.  that god is vengeful and powerful and even violent.

but when we talk about god that way, we miss out on the god who is one and the same throughout the bible.  god is certainly multifaceted, but here in genesis, we encounter a god who, though god could choose again to destroy the world, instead chooses to limit those powers in order to be in relationship with us.  god chooses to never again destroy us or all of creation, but rather to be with us in love, no matter what humanity does. 

in the flood that washes away the inhabitants of the earth, making room for the new life that god is bringing forth, god washes away the sin of the past, yes, but not the memory of it.  in fact, god places a bow in the clouds—the rainbow—as a reminder of what god had done.  god did not want to forget the pain and sorrow of the flood.  god needs to remember, god needs the reminder to make sure it never happens again.

there is a saying that i don’t really like at all.  it is “forgive and forget.”  i don’t like it, because it doesn’t really work.  we continue to experience violence, pain, and hurt because we don’t remember the lessons of history.  when i was coming back from my year in slovakia, my dad and i spent two weeks in germany.  while we were there, we went to many places important to martin luther and the reformation and we went to many places important during the holocaust.  the two were more related than you might think.

at dachau concentration camp, there are several art memorials at the international monument by the roll call area of the camp.  one of the tour guides for dachau would end their tour at the international monument and after looking at several artists’ sculptures, they would end at an urn with the ashes of an unknown prisoner, behind which read the words “never again” in yiddish, french, english, german, and russian.  when the tour guide got there, they would simply say, “this is a lie.” 

we as humans have forgotten the horrors of the holocaust.  genocide has happened many times before and since the holocaust.  from the native peoples who were systematically killed on this land to more recent horrors.  j was telling me just last week about a book he read about the genocide in rwanda.  we forget what has happened—some people even deny that the holocaust happened at all.  we forget the true horrors of it, and so it happens again, and again.

forgiveness is about releasing the pain and anger that control us, about separating ourselves from the evil that has happened.  it is not about pretending that it never happened or allowing it to continue happening to us.  it is not about forgetting our past.  god even goes so far as to provide a reminder of the flood—not for us, although we do use it to remember god’s promises of love—but for god’s own self!  when god places a bow in the sky—a thing of beauty and wonder—it is a reminder of the pain and anger, and a commitment to never do it again.

a reminder of the love that is greater than the anger and deeper than the pain.  the rainbow is a reminder of all the diversity god has created in people, animals, plants—all of creation.  it is a reminder to god and to us that god is choosing to be faithful to us and promises to be our god of love forever.

these promises of god are made in exchange for nothing.  no matter how much we might mess up, god chooses to love us and be with us.  even when we might wish to wipe everything out and start over, god instead chooses to love us where we’re at.  we still face consequences for our actions—violence and wars still kill people and damage the environment, threatening all living creatures.  genocides still happen.

instead of wiping us all out and starting over, god remembers god’s promise and honors our free will.  god comes to us again and again in love in the waters that put to death our sin while bringing us alive to new life in christ.  life in the wilderness with jesus and the wild beasts, and life in this community of faith.  life with reminders of pain in the hope and promise of the One who fulfills all promises, the One whose “never again” truly means “never again.”  that is the god who love us; the god who promises life for us; the god who claims us in the waters of baptism and every day since.

amen.

An open letter to LGBTQ communities,

Dear us,

In the last week a variety of people in my denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, have written open letters to us.  This is not the first time.  To my knowledge the first one was from former Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, who shared a video message to us for the It Gets Better Campaign several years ago.  Recently, on February 10^th, Bishop Michael Rinehart, of the Gulf Coast Synod of the ELCA, wrote a letterof welcome to us from my “imperfect church.”  In response Lutheran Core wrote a letter making the ELCA welcome articulated by Bp. Rinehart a bit murky.

It is true that we are not of one mind in the ELCA.  And it is true that we in LGBTQ communities are welcome in the ELCA.  As a diverse Lutheran denomination, there are some who believe that we are sinful.  In my experience, there are many more who know all of who we are to be: beloved children of a God who knows our whole selves.  This is close to the message that Rev. Clint Schnekloth shared in his letter, taking Bp. Rinehart’s welcome a step further to say that not only are we welcome, but we are also beautiful.

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to standtogether with other interfaith leaders from throughout Utah, where I serve as pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church, to support SB100.  SB100 would prohibit housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

I took this stand for two reasons:

1-In Matthew 25, Jesus says, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me.”  When we allow discrimination in housing and employment, we leave Jesus without food, water, a place to rest, clothing, or healthcare, and I definitely don’t want to do that.

2-On a personal level, I don’t want to be evicted from my apartment because of who I am or whom I love.

At the press conference, several people spoke about LGBTQ Utahns and LGBTQ citizens and the discrimination they face and the protections they would receive, but what they forgot to say is: they are us. 

I am grateful for the straight leaders in our church who are brave enough to stand up and extend both welcome and affirmation to us.  As a pastor who identifies within the LGBTQ community, and as a person who has been a part of the ELCA for as long as I can remember, I also feel called to contribute my own words.

It is not just that you are welcome and you are beautiful, it’s that we are welcome and we are beautiful.  In Psalm 139 the psalmist declares, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  We are beautiful, we are welcome, we are beloved children of God, fearfully and wonderfully made, and we are a gift to the church.

The experiences we have had of exclusion and the ways that we don’t fit the normative expectations of society are gifts in bringing our church closer to a fuller image of God.  Those experiences and the intersecting aspects of our identities can give us greater insight in welcoming others who may not look, speak, move, or think like us and who also help us all make manifest the reign of God and who bring us all closer to the full image of God, the whole body of Christ.

Sincerely,

One of us

Rev. Emily E. Ewing

*While I use LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning), I also recognize, as one whose letter is often left out, that this is an incomplete list.  There are many letters and labels who are not written in this acronym.  Forgive me.  Please know that I use this in part so straight folks can understand, if they are eavesdropping on this letter, and in part because I do not know how to incorporate all of our many labels without offending some of us.

jesus brings new life: a spoiler for transfiguration sunday

the holy gospel according to mark (9:2-9)

²Six days later,

       Jesus took with him Peter and James and John,

              and led them up a high mountain apart,

                     by themselves.

       And he was transfigured before them,

              ³and his clothes became dazzling white,

                     such as no one on earth could bleach them.

              ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses,

                     who were talking with Jesus.

       ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus,

              “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here;

                     let us make three dwellings,

                            one for you,

                            one for Moses,

                            and one for Elijah.”

       ⁶He did not know what to say,

              for they were terrified.

       ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them,

              and from the cloud there came a voice,

                     “This is my Son, the Beloved;

                            listen to him!”

              ⁸Suddenly when they looked around,

                     they saw no one with them any more,

                            but only Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain,

       he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen,

              until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

the gospel of the lord.

-----

today’s gospel is, as they say, a spoiler.  about halfway through the gospel of mark, as jesus turns toward jerusalem, he pauses to go for a hike—reconnect with nature and with god.  so, up the mountain they go, into the blinding light of the transfiguration.

jesus doesn’t take everyone with him.  he takes only a small, yet interesting group.  peter has just proclaimed jesus the messiah in one breath and rebuked jesus for teaching them “that the son of man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again” in the next breath.  jesus responds to this rebuke by the one who has little to no filter, for better and for worse, with his own rebuke.  jesus rebukes peter, calling him satan and then affirming that following jesus does indeed means taking up the cross, because that is what is to come.

so jesus invites this peter and james and john, brothers who, with all the disciples later in this same chapter, argue about who is the greatest.  then, in the next chapter of mark, having not learned the lesson, james and john ask jesus if they can “sit, one at his right hand and one at his left, in his glory” (10:37), totally missing that jesus’ glory—the ultimate display of god’s power—is the cross, not a throne of gold, might, or majesty.

peter, james, and john are the epitome of the disciples’ lack of understanding of what jesus is about.  and so, perhaps they’re the perfect choice for jesus on this mountain top experience, and up they go.

when they get to the top, jesus is transfigured “and there appear to them elijah with moses.”  elijah was a prophet well-known for his commitment to god and prophetic ministry to the israelites, and moses was the leader whose commitment to following god’s call led god’s people out of the land of egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

together these two give context for jesus’ ministry and mission.  jesus fulfills what they have begun—rescuing those trapped in the economic system of the day and proclaiming boldly the good news of god’s grace—love and forgiveness—in the face of a community that wants to keep the rules in place that guard their power.

elijah and moses give jesus’ history as the transfiguration itself gives his future—pointing to the resurrection to come.  and into the midst of it, we hear god’s voice, echoing back to jesus’ baptism and the tearing of the heavens.  god’s voice says, “this is my son, the beloved; listen to him!”  listen to him as he begins to foretell his torture and death on the cross.  listen to him, peter, as he shows you what lies ahead.  listen to him, james and john, as he teaches you what power means: giving your life for another.

peter, james and john still don’t get it, even with god’s voice echoing in their ears.  yet, if they don’t get it at all, then maybe it’s ok when we don’t either.  maybe it’s ok when we cannot see to understand for the brightness that is blinding us.  maybe it’s ok when we mess up our hospitality, offering to build tents for moses and elijah, and totally missing the point of jesus’ connection to the prophets and leaders of the past.

and so, just as we echo back to the prophets of old and to the tearing open of the heavens at jesus’ baptism, we also flash ahead to good friday and the tearing of the temple curtain, that there is no longer a barrier between humanity and our god.  jesus comes to us and is with us. 

death does not win!

this week in confirmation we talked about communion.  there are many ways that communion can be understood and misunderstood, but one of the things we talked about was that the important things we trust and have some grasp on when we come to receive communion are jesus’ words “for you” and “for the forgiveness of sin.”  that’s what communion is all about.  it is a sacrament—a means of grace—a way god expresses love to us and forgives our sins.  and it is for you.  for me.  for each of us—the body and blood of christ for us.

jesus comes to us here on sunday mornings—a space and time apart from the busy-ness of our lives—feeding us with his body and blood.  but, like peter, james, and john, however beautiful, safe, and yes, even occasionally terrifying, it can be here, we are not meant to stay here.  we are not meant to live our lives within the confines of these walls.  in lutheranism 101, our last session is: vocation.  here’s your spoiler: everybody’s got at least one!  and for most people, their vocations are things they do out in the world, informed by what we participate in here in this place, but ultimately outside the confines of this place.

peter, james, and john go down the mountain, continuing to misunderstand jesus, and yet jesus sticks with them.  jesus continues to assure them that following him is not easy, that jesus is stirring up the way things are and people are getting nervous and angry.  jesus doesn’t shy away from the truth that he’s headed to the cross and even as the disciples continue to misunderstand, he sticks with them.

jesus never gives up on his disciples, even to the end and beyond.  he is faithful to god and loyal to his disciples, calling them back to god’s purpose for them.  jesus assures them of the crucifixion and of the true spoiler: the resurrection.  jesus gives away the ending for the confused disciples and for us.

it’ll get tough, he tells us, but i’m still with you.  when it gets tough, that means it’s not over yet.  when it gets to the point where it’s the worst, that’s when the resurrection comes.  no matter how tough it gets, jesus always comes to us, in bread and wine, in water, and in our lives.  and jesus brings the ultimate spoiler: resurrection.  new life for you, for me, for everyone.

thanks be to god.