The kingdom of heaven is like….. In Matthew we continue to hear this phrase completed by Jesus in his parables. During this sermon, I would like you to think about how you would complete this phrase.

Jesus goes back and forth between the crowds and his disciples. Usually telling a parable that describes what the kingdom is like and then explaining it to his disciples. How Jesus described the kingdom is not always how the church leaders described it. Jesus of course has expectations, but he was graceful. Often church leaders were only about telling people how they were not keeping the law as they understood it.

I believe the kingdom is about stating the truth, but gracefully. In my work with the developmentally disabled we taught the staff about positive approaches. It was important to look at limitations as well as potential. One received more cooperation when asking as opposed to telling them what to do. Potential and limitations were truth, just as it is with everyone of us.

The kingdom is about realizing who we are as a faith community. This discovering again and again what our strengths and weaknesses are and capitalizing on our strengths or gifts that God has given us. We as Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos cannot meet all of the needs of the community and we are not called to.

Over this next year we will be identifying the gifts that God has given us through individuals and then how we are more capable of doing the ministry that God is calling us to when we put them altogether. When we offer our gifts back to God, God can multiply our ministry far and above what we could imagine.

In our Gospel lesson today, we hear that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed that someone planted in a field. A small seed that usually only grew to five or six feet in the Mediterranean, agrarian culture. It would have never been considered a tree. Here Jesus describes it as the greatest of shrubs and that it becomes a tree.

The birds recognize it’s worth and come and make nests in its branches. From something small, that may seem insignificant, it grows into something that has significance to those who are able to recognize it. The kingdom began with a small group and has continued to grow and the actual purpose of the kingdom is to grow it. 

Then we have a woman and we know women were not on par with men in the culture that Jesus lived and still often today. Since Jesus knew that and he enjoyed turning things upside down in his parables. The woman seemed to be doing just a daily task of making bread for a family.

Then Jesus has her mixing in three measures of flour. The New International Version highlights this by saying that she used an excessive amount of flour, about sixty pounds. This would create dough for over 100 loaves of bread.

Again, Jesus has taken someone insignificant in the scheme of society and used her to point out that everyone is important in the kingdom. Women can grow the kingdom just as well as anyone else. This is true, but is this all Jesus wants us to see?

I wonder if Jesus is trying to say if you take the gifts that I have given you, singular and plural, and use them to glorify me then the kingdom will grow. Jesus keeps telling us to learn from the past, but to look forward. Stay focused and look for signs of the kingdom in different places. For me it is about seeing potential.

For me the kingdom of heaven is having the ability to see the gifts that we have and believing the potential in them. The gifts that we receive from God are to be shared and not with only the people in this room. Churches who do not share their gifts outside their doors will eventually close.

It boils down to where our focus is or what and where we are seeking the kingdom of God. We have been reminded in our Gospel lesson that all we have to use what gifts we are being given, and the kingdom will grow and flourish. I want to emphasize will grow and keep growing.

I believe that once we see a glimpse of the kingdom here, it also gives us a glimpse of the kingdom yet to come. This is what keeps us seeking more and more sightings of the kingdom. The question becomes what are signs of the kingdom?

When we are looking for the kingdom we are called to be looking outside of these doors. We can see a sign of the kingdom when food is taken out of the 3 food boxes that are stocked by our box brigade.

I believe that we will see a sign of the kingdom at our booth on Meridian Township Pride Day on August 26.

I believe that we will see signs of God’s kingdom at VBS this week.

I would ask you to e-mail signs of the kingdom that you see throughout the week.

Notice I say, I believe as that is what Jesus is challenging us to do to believe that we will see signs of the kingdom as we are doing what we are called to do. We will see signs as we utilize and share the gifts that God given us. We are called to share God’s love without limitations. This love is lived out as we utilize the gifts that we have been given.

Our Hymn of the Day becomes a reminder to ourselves as well as to each other:

Seek first the kingdom of God and live out God’s love through the forgiveness, salvation and new life offered to us by Jesus, and all of these things shall be added to us.

Ask and the kingdom will be given to us, seek and we will find; knock and the door will be opened to us.

We do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Our Gospel lesson today reminds us of the potential in living out the kingdom and that everyone has been given gifts to do this individually and as a community of faith. Living out the kingdom like the seed that grew beyond what anyone would have thought. It was planted and taken care of and it became the greatest of all shrubs. Jesus used a woman doing something that seemed common and ordinary in the baking of the bread. She used an excessive amount of flour that could produce many loaves of bread. Each of these parables illustrate the potential in growing the kingdom when we use the gifts that God has given us in God’s name.

So if I were to ask you to complete the phrase – the kingdom of heaven is like…..

How would you finish it?

This is a special musical presentation of Be Thou My Vision, performed today by Fath Bells Members, Annie Mayer, Matt Schnizlein, Addie Thompson, Rich Weingartner and Deb Borton-McDonough at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Jesus brings us back to farming again. He again gives us a head scratcher. Leaving weeds in the ground for us would mean for us that it would choke out the vegetables and/or flowers. This is where most of our experience is in farming.

Jesus uses wheat which is probably not somethings most of us have planted. We were informed in our Bible study this past week that what Jesus is talking about with wheat is actually how it works. The roots of the wheat and the weeds intertwine and if you pull out the weeds, the wheat will come out also.

What we have here is Jesus telling those gathered that the kingdom and life in general is a bit complicated. It is so easy to get distracted into the complexity of life. What is healthy for me, may not be healthy for you. It is sometimes difficult to see where God is at work and where God isn’t at work.

This is where it is so easy, as we are figuring this out to start getting off course and pointing fingers. It would be so much easier if all Christians interpreted the Bible in the same way. Unfortunately, we don’t. We would like to tell everyone how they are supposed to interpret the Bible, but that does not work.

We know that as a gay person I am loved and accepted here. I know the love part may take a while. We also know that I would not be welcome and affirmed in every church. Or at least I would be told who I was supposed to be and how I was to act.

I like contemporary music with boundary lines. The majority of contemporary music in the past was mainly done in more law-oriented churches. I always felt a little uncomfortable even before I realized who God made me to be. Of course, this has been the case in many Lutheran churches that I have been in also. This is the first church that I feel that I can be who God made me to be.

I could easily say all of the other churches must be where the weedy people are. Jesus says no I am present in those churches too. In reality, Jesus says the wheat and weeds are in all churches. There is justice and injustice in all churches as they are made up of human beings.

We all have different views and ways of interpreting what God says about who we are and how to live in the kingdom. As human beings we may think and feel that we have the right answers and do the right thing, but it may still harm people. It really becomes a fine line sometimes.

It becomes frustrating when we see things said and done that harm others. For me it becomes power and control over others. It was one thing to share how we feel and think, it is another thing to exert power and control over another.

The question becomes, is it better for the community or our individual view. As Christians, we can easily say right away say that God is very clear and wants something this way. My first response is where did you learn that and have you studied the original language?

I’m not sure that this is really what this Gospel lesson is about. Jesus is saying, I am asking you to work alongside people as you are able to. It is one thing to have a discussion, it is another thing not to listen because we have all the right answers. People of God, the more that we study the Word, the more that we find out that we don’t have all of the answers.

It would be so much easier if we could get all of this separation done between the wheat and the weeds, those that think the way we do and those that don’t. Jesus reminds us in our Gospel lesson for today that we are in this tension or struggle until the day we die. As Christians who try and lean more toward the Gospel than the law are challenged by Jesus today to focus on what comes at the end.

Jesus continues to remind us that we are not the judges and specifically in our Gospel lesson today it is not our responsibility to decide who are the weeds. The ones who are the children of the evil one. Jesus says we are called to live and work together until the harvest.

I believe that what can keep us focused on the hope that we claim in Jesus Christ’s forgiveness, salvation and new life, is when we focus on the fact that we are still students of the Gospel. Jesus says earlier in Matthew in the sermon on the mount, Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. It is when we attempt to have power and control over others that we lose sight of the kingdom of God.

The Psalmist today, which we believe to be David, prays: Teach me your way God, so that I may walk with you alone. We are reminded that God constantly loves us and lifts us up out of our low and alone places. This puts us in the same boat as everyone else.

We are called to find places to connect with all people that are open to it especially when reaching out to those on the margins. Other Christians may not be able to come to this place and that is not our responsibility. We again are only responsibility for where our focus is.

Jesus reminds us today that following him and living in his kingdom is not easy. Culture and society teaches that we should do the weeding out of people that do not think the way we do quickly. Kingdom living says no it is not our responsibility as Christians to do this.

It is important to state how we interpret what Jesus is saying about kingdom living, but also be willing to listen to those who are willing to listen. This does not mean that we are called to be disrespected. Boundary lines do have to be drawn and stated.

When one attends Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Jesus love is interpreted in our welcoming statement. This will not change, and it is up to individuals whether they choose to attend and participate. If you disagree with the welcoming statement you are still welcome here, but this is how we interpret Jesus’ love for all.

Our challenge is to realize that there will always be people who disagree with how we interpret Jesus teaching on kingdom living and God loves them too. I believe we are challenged to keep looking forward and be willing to be taught by Jesus through our study of the Word.

We are called to focus on the hope that we have in Jesus’ forgiveness, salvation, and new life that we begin to experience here and is completed when we leave this earth. JB Phillips paraphrases vs. 19 in our Romans text today-

^18-21 In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us. The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the people of God coming into their own. The world of creation cannot as yet see reality, not because it chooses to be blind, but because in God’s purpose it has been so limited—yet it has been given hope. And the hope is that in the end the whole of created life will be rescued from the tyranny of change and decay and have its share in that magnificent liberty which can only belong to the children of God!

Our challenge is to keep looking forward, to have the hope of what is to come. This is what will help us not get bogged down in all of the complexities of life. Remain students of the Word and realize that we are still learning how to live on earth in this kingdom.

The 7^th Sunday after Pentecost – A 07/16/2023

          If you have planted a garden, this is the time of year that you would begin watching for growth and in some case ripe vegetables. Depending on where you live, it is important to determine when to plant what vegetables. In the UP you have to wait a little longer than probably down here.

          Wherever you are planting there will be a different type of soil. It may be better for some vegetables than others. Some soil may need some help, extra fertilizer, and even healthier soil to add to what is in the ground. To have any kind of yield will take work and patience.

          There are so many variables that put seeds at risk. Water is needed, but every summer is different with varying amounts of rain. The temperature plays a big role and that varies from summer to summer. We can’t forget the animals who like to feed on what has been planted. There are always weeds that need tending too.

          When working hard and with varying degree of patience to try and have a yield, what do you think of the farmer who just throws the seeds around and sees if it grows, it grows and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. ¾ of what is sown doesn’t produce a yield.

          Would you hire this farmer to work for you? Doesn’t this farmer seem a bit lackadaisical? Throw some seeds here. Throw some seeds there. With this kind of yield, it would be hard to make a living. If you needed a loan, I’m not sure the bank would consider this type of farming a good risk.

          At first reading, we may wonder what Jesus is up to. Jesus enjoys using parables, stories which may make you scratch your head and wonder what he is talking about. Parables are stories with earthly elements which the people can relate to. They also have a spiritual or heavenly element which relate to how-to live-in God’s kingdom.

          With this particular parable, Jesus was sitting by the sea and large crowds gathered around him. He then got into a boat and the whole crowd stood on the beach. He told everyone to listen and then told them the story about the farmer who threw the seed all around on different types of soil. This was an agricultural society; thus, he knew they would understand the earthly meaning of the parable.

          Now there is a break in this chapter at this point in our lectionary which leaves out an important part. It reads beginning in verse 10: Then the disciples came and asked him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?" His audience has changed from the crowds to just his disciples. ¹¹Jesus answered his disciples, "Because the secrets or the knowledge of the kingdom of heaven are for you to know, but not for the crowds. ¹²For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ¹³The reason I speak to them in parables is because they look, but do not see, and they listen, but do not hear or understand.' 

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.

          Jesus is encouraging the disciples to believe that they can hear and see the spiritual or heavenly meaning of parable. There are many who are not able to, and the disciples are blessed to be able to perceive and understand if they choose to. Even though at first Jesus explanation may not make sense to them, they have the ability to understand the meaning of the parable.

          First they need to get past the fact that Jesus is always trying to jar people’s thinking. Just as I would not hire this farmer, does not mean that there is not something for me to learn about living in the kingdom from this parable. Jesus description of just scattering seed on any ground does not make a good earthly farmer, but when he compares it to the good news of the kingdom it makes a little more sense.

          Now what do we do with the fact that the yield was only about a quarter of what the farmer planted. This is quite disheartening. I’m sure there have been years with your gardens where you wonder if you really want to plant the same vegetables, or in the same place or same way the next year.

          On one hand for farmers who depend on their yield for their income, success is needed in order to keep their farm going and make an income. In this respect planters are responsible for where they sow the seed. It makes a big difference to address all the risks or variables such as water, temperature, animals and weeds.

          When sowing the seeds of the good news of the kingdom, we are called to sow them any place that we can. There are times that we need to be focused and we will seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit to discern that during this next year here at Faith. We will assess what we are doing and if there are more efficient ways to do the present ministries. Also, we will once again identify the needs of our community and discern whether we are called to other ministries.

          When it comes to sowing the seed of the good news of the kingdom there are no off-limit places, unless determined unsafe. The point is that this good news is for everyone everywhere. Even though at times it may seem like it may not be worth it, Jesus says yes it is.

          The good news for us is that we are not responsible for someone else’s growth. We are only responsible for sharing the good news. We may never see the growth, but we are assured in hope that God’s Word never comes back void.

          As disciples of Jesus Christ we are blessed to be able to hear and see, understand and perceive the secrets of the kingdom. In this passage that secret is that we are only responsible for telling others, all people, of the good news of God’s love for them. Jesus tells us just keep doing it, no matter if we see results or not.

This is a special musical presentation of Feeling Better by Ivan Trevino, performed today by Calvin Kadrofske on Marimba at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Every time we encounter change in our lives there are expectations, written and unwritten. It is the unwritten ones that can get us into trouble. The written ones, the ones that are directly communicated can definitely make us feel uncomfortable, but if they are put on the table at least we know where each other is at. It is much easier to deal with expectations that are communicated.

          I can be an exuberant person with many ideas. Unfortunately, that can put people off as I may not have fully stated my expectations. I want to state that I will make suggestions and there will be few times that I expect those suggestions to happen. I give you permission to ask me what my expectations are. This is the only way that we will be able to get to know each other and work together.

          In our Gospel lesson today people had many expectations and they were not met. The church and governmental leaders had expectations to maintain the status quo as it benefited them. Those who oversaw the keeping of the law were the Pharisees. Jesus addressed them in our Gospel lesson.

          Jesus compared this generation to children playing in the marketplace and calling to one another, we played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance, we wailed, and you did not mourn. Could it be that the expectation was not stated? Even if it was stated, one group was asking the other to do what they wanted them to do. This of course erases the ability to be themselves.

          After giving this example, Jesus got into the meat of the matter, the people’s criticism of neither Jesus nor John meeting the Pharisees’s expectations. John the Baptist was a strange person compared to others, clothed in camel’s hair, a leather belt around his waist and he ate grasshoppers and wild honey. Today we may think he is a homeless person. The question is could we see him as a prophet, a proclaimer of God’s word?

          The Pharisees in the Gospel lesson could not see how someone like John could be proclaiming God’s word, let alone be prophetic. They said he must have a demon. Because he did not meet their expectations, they wanted to discredit him. They did not like his message and could not accept that it was from God and that John was only a vessel.

          Jesus did not make the cut either. He ate and drank too much with the wrong people. They said “Look, he is to be the chosen one, but he is really just a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” Neither John nor Jesus met the Pharisee’s expectations.

          Jesus goes on to say that wisdom is vindicated by here deeds. This is an allusion to Proverbs 24:12-14

¹² if you say, “Look, we didn’t know what they were doing”—
    does not the one who weighs the heart see the truth?
Does not the one who keeps watch over your soul know what happened?
    And won’t everyone be paid according to their deeds? ¹³ My child, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb will be sweet to your taste.
¹⁴ Know that wisdom is sweet to your soul; find it and you will find a future,
    and your hope will be forever.

          For me this says that the sweetness of wisdom for our souls is being able to not have expectations for everyone else, except those that are discussed and agreed upon. It is easy for us to think that we have all the wisdom we need and our culture does teach that. Even though we think what would be best, doesn’t mean everyone else thinks that way.

          The Pharisees thought they knew how to keep the law and John and Jesus were not meeting their expectations in keeping the law. The even more difficult part for the Pharisees is that people were following John and Jesus, thus John and Jesus were leading people astray according to the Pharisees. Jesus was trying to tell them that wisdom doesn’t come from placing expectations on other people unless they were mutually agreed upon.

          When people do not follow through on things the way we want them to, we get frustrated and burdened. Jesus tries to tell the Pharisees, take a time out and reassess how and who God works through. It is not about our individual expectations being met. At least in the church, we are a community and wisdom about God can come through many different people. I believe sometimes we have to step back and realize that we are not responsible for everything.

          Jesus says to us today: ²⁸  If you are tired from carrying heavy burdens, come to me and I will give you rest. ²⁹  Take the yoke I give you. Put it on your shoulders and learn from me. I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest. ³⁰ This yoke is easy to bear, and this burden is light.

          Moving is tiring and filled with a lot to do. I have found some things just happen and I need to adjust. I can have all of the expectations for others, even I believe that we have agreed upon them, it may not be set up to happen that way. The only thing I can do, that I have learned, is to try and let it go. Allow God in Jesus Christ to take it off of my shoulders. Unpacking was taken off of my shoulders by so many of you. Thank you.

          As we begin our work together, communication of expectations is extremely important for us to do the best ministry that we are called to do together. I have a great deal of experience in working with many different kinds of people. We are all different and have different stories. Where we have come from and what we are experiencing now makes a difference in how we react or respond to people.

          God in Jesus Christ can work through every person in this room and any human being. Our challenge is not to place our expectations on how God in Jesus Christ works through people and may be speaking to us. Part of putting this yoke on is letting God in Jesus do the work of communicating with us without us getting in the way.

          There will be times that each of us has to step back and listen to each other and communicate expectations. Acknowledge our anxiety and turn it back to God in Jesus Christ. You will hear me say time and time again if it is not on paper it doesn’t exist. When we are able to step back and be open to God in Jesus Christ is when we will find rest for our souls.

          Just as the Pharisees had their expectations of keeping the law, we also have our thoughts on how things should be done. This is normal and human. In our Gospel Lesson today, Jesus and John took the brunt of the Pharisees criticism’s in trying to discredit them.

          I will be the first to tell you that I do not have all of the answers. My questions and suggestions are not mandates, but they may sound challenging and create anxiety. This is when I need to hear from you. To do the work that we are called to do together in Jesus’ name we need to share what we are feeling. Then we need to give each other space to process.

          I believe that God has new things for Faith to do, our challenge is to communicate with each other our expectations and discuss them. The burden is light when we are all under God in Jesus Christ’s yoke working together for their purpose.

This is a special musical presentation of The Gift of Love sung by Mike Eschelbach, Diane Hill, and Linda and Rich Triemer at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

This is a special musical presentation of Grace Alone sung by Tammy Heilman at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

The 5^th Sunday after Pentecost 07/02/2023

It is good to be here with you. The last few weeks have been a whirlwind and there is more to come. I could not be here preaching this morning without your help. You have made me feel welcome by extending your hospitality.

You have shared the marks of the kingdom – hospitality and the down-home cup of water, cleaning my new house and painting it. I have received great hospitality from Mike who has welcomed me into his home and provided me with food and fellowship. Mike is a good cook too. My challenge this week has been to receive it.

In our Gospel lesson today, we are at the end of Matthew’s discourse on discipleship. We hear Jesus saying to his disciples, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Think about that for a moment, when we welcome someone we are welcoming Jesus and God. This is not only about welcoming someone, but it is also about receiving someone’s welcome. Giving and receiving Jesus and God.

Jesus is teaching his disciples and now us, that we are called to share Jesus and God with our neighbor and to receive Jesus and God from our neighbor. I believe in the end it is the Holy Spirit who draws us together into this beloved community. We cannot fully be Jesus and God, but with the help of the Holy Spirit we can give and receive Jesus and God.

I have tried to be gracious this past week and receive your welcome, your hospitality and cup of water. You can tell me how I did on the way out. I would not have come here if I did not feel God in Jesus Christ calling me here. They are the ones who have continued to work things out through you and many others.

To be able to sell a house and buy a house in this amount of time is divine intervention. It is a bit daunting to come to a new place and start over again without your spouse. After my closing in East Lansing this past week, it hit me that John is not physically with me. I do believe he is emotionally and spiritually with me. Thankfully I have many friends and I reached out to someone who lost his husband last August and is getting ready to move. I am viewing this connection as another receiving of Jesus and God.

Receiving a welcome, hospitality and a cup of cold water then is about trust. I have continued to take one step at a time, maybe a few more at a time, believing and trusting that this is God’s plan for me and you. There have been times that I have doubted and wondered if I really wanted to continue on. Moving and starting over again is not for the faint of heart. All along the way I have had encouragement through word and deed.

Jesus goes on to say, “Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward.” As a pastor I am called to be prophetic. This does not mean that I am here to tell you what will happen in the future. It does mean that I am here to challenge you, to ask you hard questions, to help you discover again “Who you are, Who your neighbor is and what is God calling you to do.

In the end it is about discovering truth. Without truth we cannot do God’s will. The truth is not always comfortable, but in order to grow in our individual and corporate faith it is necessary to discover truth. Thankfully the Holy Spirit will help us to do this.

Throughout this next year I will work with a transition team. I say a transition team rather than a call committee as a call committee needs what is called a Ministry Site Profile in order to do their work. The transition team will develop a plan to help the congregation answer these three questions. Who are we, who is our neighbor, and what is God calling us to do.

When we are able to answer these questions to the best of our ability at this time, we will have what we need to write the Ministry Site Profile. In a sense it will be Faith’s resume. This will be done through congregational events, examining what is working and what might not be working and praying for the Holy Spirit to help us discern what God has in store for Faith.

We find in scripture that prophets were not always welcome and often faced ridicule, rejection and death. Was this their reward? Seeking truth does not always make us popular. Prophets were called to point out the truth to those who had gone their own way. I will point out what I see and hear, but together we will discern with the help of Holy Spirit the truth.

When human beings become tired and frustrated, we turn inward and try and do it on our own. At this point the truth becomes more difficult to discern. Part of this next year will be decreasing anxiety in order to be able to discern more clearly God’s plan for Faith.

You may ask, how will we do this? By continuing to do what you have been doing. Connie and I are working with the staff on assessing the systems in our administration to make sure they are more user friendly and efficient. Even though I am not Pastor Ellen and will not be doing things exactly the same way, worship will continue and pastoral care along with all of the ministries will continue on.

We have strong lay leadership here at Faith. This is how you have continued on since Pastor Ellen and Katie left. I am not here to run every area of the church as there are capable people doing ministry here already. I will ask a lot of questions and may make suggestions.

Asking questions of ourselves and this community will cause anxiety. As disciples Jesus is telling us along with the disciples in our Gospel lesson that we are called to accept questions and peoples’ response to them. Even though they may make us feel uncomfortable, it may be Jesus and God speaking to us. Our challenge will be to give and receive Jesus and God.

Once again the signs of the kingdom are hospitality and giving that cold cup of water. Thus, Jesus is saying, I believe that as we go through this process of transition and discerning God’s will for Faith that there will be times that challenge us to think and do things differently. Once again the Holy Spirit is here to assist us through this time of transition and discernment.

Our coming together as pastor and congregation, this beloved community, is a time of testing out this discipleship that Jesus is talking about. How do we give and receive Jesus and God? We may say and do things that challenge our way of thinking and doing. What Jesus is looking for is how we do this inside and outside of our beloved community.

Do we give and receive Jesus and God with hospitality and a cup of water, the signs of the kingdom that Jesus is looking for?

This is a special musical presentation of I Can Only Imagine sung by Deb Borton at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Faith Lutheran Church (Okemos), Pastor Julie Winklepleck

Pr. 7A, L12, P+4, June 25, 2023

Matthew 10

Grace, mercy, and peace are yours, through God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

I begin this morning by quoting that great princess, Carrie Fisher, who said: “Stay afraid, but do it anyway.”

We are going to be afraid. That’s human. Someone who is brave…it doesn’t mean they are not afraid… it means they hold their fear in tension with their ability keep moving, and to do what they need to do.

Jesus is sending us out to proclaim God’s love, to proclaim the kin-dom. Last week, God told us through Jesus to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. That means to go out, and share God’s love, and be prepared for anything. You can’t prepare yourself for anything, right? But God can prepare you for anything. God prepares us for the jobs God gives us to do.

This kin-dom, which God forms out of us, it is an upside-down world in which sparrows matter, and we are valued even more. Even though the word “trust” does not appear in this passage, the concept of trust is shot through it, the idea of letting God use us, letting God hold us, as we do the things that we need to do, trusting that God will guide and direct us. Our work may not be flashy; we’re not building kingdoms, or nations, like Isaac and Ishmael did; but we are creating love in our corners of our world. In those places, in this house, in this community, we are making God’s vision come alive.

Our passage holds many surprises. It begins, A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master [v. 24] … that is in response to last week’s reading about going out, being wise as serpents, innocent as doves… the idea of running into trouble. Running into people who aren’t going to listen to you, who are going to reject you. Jesus is saying, don’t worry about them. If they have called the master of the house Be-el’zebul, how much more will they malign those of his household [v. 25b]… Jesus is saying, you have to go to the people who are going to listen to you. Larry Foster, who was a pastor, who died recently, he taught Healthy Congregations, what we also call Family Systems, which Pastor Ellen may have talked to you about. He used to say, Work with the motivated. He would say, don’t worry about the people who aren’t with you. Work with the motivated, the people who get your vision. When you have visions, as this congregation does, for the work you do with refugees, the work you do feeding people, and through your personal needs pantry… if someone isn’t on board with that vision, don’t worry about them. Just go ahead, carry on, carry out your vision.

I love when Jesus says, What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops [v.27]. Jesus doesn’t operate in secrets. Jesus makes himself known. And God makes God’s love known. If someone says to you that they have a secret, something they know that you don’t … don’t worry about it. Trust the knowledge that comes to you from God.

I’m avoiding talking about the hard part, which is this sword thing [v. 34]. This is not what we expect to hear from Jesus, right? that he has come not to bring peace, but a sword. Because I think this is a difficult-to-understand concept – what is Jesus talking about here? I am going to invoke Martin Luther King, Jr., who in a speech given in 1961, called “Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience,” talked to Southern liberal whites about the student movement, the Freedom Riders, addressing the question, why are they coming to the South? Martin Luther King talked about the students’ responding to a negative peace that had encompassed the South.

True peace is not merely the absence of tension, but it is the presence of justice and brotherhood. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, “I come not to bring peace but a sword.” Now Jesus didn’t mean he came to start war, to bring a physical sword, and he didn’t mean, I come not to bring a positive peace. But I think what Jesus was saying in substance was this, that I come not to bring an old negative peace, which makes for stagnant passivity and deadening complacency, I come to bring something different, and whenever I come, a conflict is precipitated, between the old and the new, whenever I come a struggle takes place between justice and injustice, between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. I come not to bring a negative peace, but a positive peace, which is brotherhood, which is justice, which is the Kingdom of God.

[from A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr., edited by James M. Washington (HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), pp. 50-51].

This sword that Jesus brings has the potential to divide us; it also has the potential to reveal where our work is, to reveal where oppression is, to reveal where hunger is, to reveal where God’s people need to be shining God’s light and love.

Jesus says, don’t be afraid. Even though the devil may come after you… all right, he doesn’t say the devil, but he talks about those who can destroy both soul and body in hell. I think of that as the devil. Jesus says, do not fear this. God has your back. God, who loves sparrows, and values you even more.

Our thread is always love. Our thread is doing God’s work, which we are called to do. I think about… as the end of Pride month is coming… I think about division, those things that can divide families, and I think about all the lgbtq persons who have been isolated from their families. One of the blessings of the AIDS crisis, back in the 90s… there were many stories… obviously of the gay community coming together to take care of their own. But there were also stories of families who had thrown out their queer kids… bringing those queer kids back home to nurse them… and learning, in the midst of a crisis, to look beyond their fear, and to look beyond what they had been taught, to learn something new. These divisions that can happen… it breaks my heart how much they happen in the church, because of the church. How many faithful people rejected their queer kids because they thought that was somehow pleasing God… and I know that’s not what you believe here, I know you are a Reconciling in Christ congregation… I know that you are very supportive of the lgbtq community and indeed have lgbtq members. Therefore, I feel safe talking about this, talking about the ways the church itself can go astray, and the way that we as church can learn something new, can listen to the voice of God’s love bringing us back together.

Our Romans reading calls for unity, and I struggle with it, because there are going to be as many kinds of churches as there are people… I don’t think there will ever be one great church again. So perhaps this is a cliché, but I would say we are being called to unity but not uniformity; that’s the distinction, that we are called to unity in Christ, Christ who loves us, who died for us, who shows us how to live and serve… how to form a new family. Hopefully it includes our old family. But what is important is the work we do together. What is important is the support we give one another and the witness we take out into the community, of who we are, who God is, and how that love shapes and directs us.

Fear not, Jesus says three times in this passage. I think he’s trying to normalize the idea that there is fear. I think he’s saying, together, find the strength and fortitude to conquer that fear, to hear God’s voice, louder than the voice of our fears. To hear God’s voice… telling us to love, telling us to embrace people who are different… telling us that his eye is on the sparrow… so we have no fear, and we know that God watches us (and not in that creepy stalker way, in the good way). God undergirds everything we do. God’s love surrounds and fills us; God’s love makes everything possible.

In the name of the Creator, the Child, and the Comforter, Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Heavenly Sunlight by the Faith Lutheran Singing Sinners Summer Choirat Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Second Sunday after Pentecost

June 11, 2023

Faith, Okemos

Hosea 5:15-6:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Romans 4:13-35. Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

Grace to you and peace…

It was Friday morning.  Lola lay in her bed at Independence Village in Grand Ledge crying out, “Help me! Help me! Help me!”  Lola, now in her mid-90’s, is dying.

Author Anne Lamott has written, “Here are the two best prayers I know:  ‘Help me, help me, help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.’”

When I read the scriptures to Lola like the 23^rd Psalm and Psalm 46 and Matthew 11 in which Jesus says,  “Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest…”  she both haltingly and forcefully said them with me, totally by memory.  I don’t know that I’ve ever heard those passages spoken more powerfully.

Then seemingly out of the blue she began to speak the words of an old hymn, “I Need Thee Every Hour.”

I need Thee every hour

Most gracious Lord

No tender voice like Thine

Can peace afford.  

I need Thee, O I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee

O bless me now, my Savior

I come to Thee.

That was the beginning of our little concert together which also included “What A Friend We Have in Jesus.”  In the midst of this, Bruce, one of Lola’s children arrived, together with a granddaughter Jennifer, her husband Tom, and their little son.  Amidst abundant tears and hugs, a trio was formed, Jennifer joining Lola and me in “Jesus Loves Me” and “You are My Sunshine.”  Then with hands joined we prayed the Lord’s Prayer.

Over and over, Lola said, “Thank You.”  She said that to us, but I thought in my heart that in those moments we got to be Jesus for her and with her.

I think both Anne Lamott and Lola capture the essence of prayer.  It is “help me” and “thank you.”

Five years ago I was with my sister, Jean, when she died.  We were together in the ICU  in Cleveland Clinic much of the last two weeks of her life.  I know we both talked a lot and were silent a lot.  We prayed together.  But in hindsight I wished I’d have thought to sing with her.  Jean had a beautiful voice and was an accomplished pianist and organist. I just didn’t think of doing that.

Mindful of that regret again, I returned to visit Lola Friday afternoon with an old Service Book and Hymnal.  We sang hymns ‘til I sensed that maybe now this was more for me than for Lola. Amidst a coughing spelling she said “this has been so fun” …and we sang one more hymn.  I asked if she was ready to sleep.  And after quiet prayers for help and words of gratitude, she closed her eyes in sleep.

Afterword, I thought about Lola and her family and about the gospel reading for today.   I think Lola’s repeated cry for help was also the cry in the hearts of the hated tax collectors who collected money for the Roman Empire and often kept more than was legal for themselves.  I think her cry for help was in the hearts of the morally despicable, the sinners, who together with the tax collectors sat with Jesus and his disciples for dinner at Matthew’s home.  Unlike the Pharisees, a spiritually elite group living always on the edge of self-righteousness (They may have often thought and sometimes said “We are the good, law-bidding people”)…Unlike the Pharisees the tax collectors and sinners they knew they were corrupt and immoral.  But as Anne Lamott also writes, with God there are sometimes experience beyond the fervent, anguished need for help and sometimes another experiences beyond our expressions of thanksgiving for the grace Jesus so freely gives.  Anne calls those experiences moments of “wow.”  My “wow” on Friday was when Lola kept amazing me with her vivid memory.  When I told Lola how amazing she was, she quietly responded, “Well, not that good.”  But for me it was a ‘wow.”

“Wow” must have been felt in the hearts and minds of those dining with Jesus at Matthew’s home…wonderful, liberating feelings and thoughts like “With him we are not despised. We are not being judged.  We are not excluded but fully accepted.  Wow, this is wonderful.  This must be what true love looks like. This is a mercy we never experienced before.”  [I could imagine Matthew now posting on his door in Aramaic the words on the banner we dedicated this morning: All Are Welcome!]

Clearly the cry for help was in the heart of the rabbi of a local synagogue who came to Jesus, knelt before him and said, “My daughter has just died; but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.”   The text continues:  “And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples.”

For both the rabbi and Lola, their cries were cries of faith.  As St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans, it is the cry of faith, however anguished, this precious gift and promise of God given to people like Abraham who at 100 years of age, as good as dead, believed that God would enable him and Sarah to have a son, that Abraham would truly be “the father of many nations.”  This gift of faith that God could still do this, all the evidence to the contrary, was expressed by Lola when she uttered the words of a hymn she probably learned 80 or more years ago:  “I need thee every hour most gracious Lord.  No tender voice like thine can peace afford.”   This was her faith in the grace and mercy of her Lord.

And then there was the longsuffering woman in Matthew’s story of Jesus:

Then suddenly a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind [Jesus] and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”  Jesus turned, and seeing her, he said, “Take heart, daughter, your faith had made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well.

Surely her flow of blood made her “unclean” as indicated in the very words of scripture (Leviticus 15:19).  She would have been very much alone, not welcomed, not loved by virtually anyone.  But God loved her and God placed in her desolate heart the faith that by merely touching the fringe of Jesus’ cloak, she would be made well.  (Notice her respect for Jesus, touching his cloak, not his skin, lest, according to the law, he be made unclean.)  Her unspoken cry for help, borne of the gift of faith, was met with mercy.  She was made well.  The instantaneous nature of her healing was surely a “wow” moment in her life and perhaps for those who witnessed this power of God’s love.

This past Wednesday I presided at a graveside service which followed a heart attack and the resulting death of Bryan, a son whose much beloved mother had died just over a week before his own death.  Needless to say, his family and caregivers who supported Bryan in his lifelong journey with cerebral palsy were devastated.  Yet in the scriptures read at this service, we were all reminded of God’s promise given to him in Holy Baptism, reminded that God was and would be with him always, that Bryan would suffer always with Jesus, die always with Jesus, and always rise to new life with Jesus.  His sister, Susan, his devoted brother-in-law, John, and Bryan’s nephew, Nathan, all spoke eloquently of his compassion, his empathy, his tenderness, his sensitivity as expressions of God’s mercy and grace in Bryan’s life. John, a jazz musician, asked me if he could play a recording of “Downtown”, one of Bryan’s favorite songs, at the conclusion of the service.  As I prepared for the service, I had wondered, in vain, how I might include that song in my sermon, but now I said “yes” to John.  As we listened and then one by one joined in singing “downtown”, I thought in a new way about what heaven would be like with words like “The light’s so much brighter there.  You can forget all your troubles, forget all your cares…Things will be great when you’re downtown.  No finer place for sure Downtown.  Everything’s waiting for you downtown, downtown.”  Yes, it was a bit of a stretch, but for us it was a “wow” moment, God lifting our spirits in a day of sadness as together we had shoveled earth over the urn of Bryan’s ashes, lifting us through a very secular song, now for us a song portraying a new way of thinking about heaven, about what the “downtown new Jerusalem” will be like for Bryan…and for us.

Following the story about a lonely woman, so long ill, now healed, now no longer needing to be alone, we hear these bold and strong but also immensely comforting words;

When Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion.  He said, “Go away; for the girl is not dead but sleeping.”  And they laughed at him.  But when the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.

Though he was probably wealthy and highly respected, this little girl’s father humbled himself before Jesus.  He recognized that he had no power of his own, no amount of money, no noble reputation powerful enough to bring his daughter back to life.  But as with Lola and with Bryan’s loved ones, he humbled himself and believed that if Jesus could come, would come, his sorrow would yield to joy. He believed that by Jesus’ hand in his daughter’s hand, she would live. And Jesus did come and Jesus did take her by the hand and she got up.

So for Bryan who sleeps now, so soon also for Lola, what Jesus, the Son of God, has done, living as one of us, suffering and dying and rising for them and for all of us, when we sleep, even in death as earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, when Jesus takes our hand, we will live.

One more hymn Lola knew by heart (though not with exactly the version I’m reading now):

Lord, take thou my hand and lead me

Unto the end;

In life and death I need thee,

O blessed Friend;

I cannot live without thee

For one brief day;

Lord, be thou ever near me,

And lead the way.

Lord, grant us, like the despised tax collectors and sinners, like the chronically ill woman, like the distraught father whose daughter had died, grant us the faith to receive your steadfast love, your amazing grace, and your boundless mercy for us and for all members of the human family.

Amen.

JDS

Listen to today's Sermon by Rev. John Burow.

Mid-February, I was inspired to consider pet therapy as part of the Spiritual Care I provide to patients, families and colleagues as a hospital chaplain

With the support of hospital management I moved forward to get our Labrador retriever, Daisy, tested and certified as a therapy dog, and began bringing her to work in April

/        /        /

Providing spiritual care to patients and families for about a year

caused me to think that I had a handle on the idea of the Holy Spirit,

Spirit is “pneuma” in Greek

Which literally translates to “wind-breath”

So when I hear “Holy Spirit”

I think about God’s holy and sacred wind-breath

Moving and flowing… blowing through our lives

         /        /        /

As a hospital chaplain I regularly encounter unpredictable and unique situations with illness, tragedy and death

I believe that God’s holy and sacred wind-breath nudges, guides and inspires me

to provide compassionate care to individuals and families

I’ve become accustomed to the support and guidance I believe I receive from the Holy Spirit

I rely upon it

I count on it

Maybe I had even come to think I can predict, manage, or control it

Pentecost is a day when scripture cracks open what we think we can predict, manage and control

And leaves us with more questions than answers

/        /        /

Working with Daisy has opened up a fresh perspective to me

Equipped with my masters degree, 12 months of specialized chaplain training and immersed in an anthropocentric society… I expected Daisy to be a side-car to the work I’m trained to do

I expected to be in charge

I expected to lead Daisy

I expected the Holy Spirit to remain in the box that I had put her in      /        /       

I was completely unprepared to witness Daisy engage her own work   /        /

In spite of my absolute belief in the power of the Holy Spirit, I expected the Holy Spirit to stay in her lane – the lane I had assigned her to

I share this with humility,

as I wonder if many of us have settled into living that compartmentalizes God and the Holy Spirit

to special places and times it feels more “appropriate” to bring God in…

Maybe at church on Sunday

Or when we’re really hoping the test result will go a particular way

Or when we finally acknowledge reaching the limits of our control

After exhausting every possible action we can take

and throw our hands up, releasing our concern to “God’s hands”

But otherwise we operate like the popular phrase…

“We got this!”

/        /        /

So, on Daisy’s first day of work,

One of the first rooms we were called to held a young woman in her 20’s, surrounded by several family members as they waited for biopsy results to tell her if she has cancer

The anxiety and tension were palpable as Daisy sliced through it all, bringing joy and comfort where no human words could

The young woman wished for Daisy to stay and wait with her, but needing to move on, we promised to return later

Upon our return the room had cleared out, with the young woman in bed on her phone and her mom, in tears, hanging up her phone in the doorway

Her mom shook her head no at me and said “we just received really bad news”

When I asked her if she wanted to talk about it she said no. 

But then she moved out into the hallway to Daisy, who stood still with her own sense of awareness and purpose

The mom, with tears rolling down her cheeks, bent over and hug-petted Daisy, saying “this is why you’re here… you make it better…”

I stood there, with my masters degree and specialized training,

after this mom said no to me,

just holding the end of the leash,

witnessing a sacred moment between her and Daisy         /        /

After some time, the mom looked up and said to me,

“thank you for bringing her back”

and went to notify other family members of this really bad news /        /

I was awe-struck and dumbfounded

Not that I was turned down – it happens

But that Daisy was able to provide the spiritual care in that moment that I could not

That I became the side-car to her work

That the Holy Spirit swooped in as a sacred wind-breath…

so free and powerful

inspiring and using a dog to do God’s work in a moment of crisis

Spreading love, comfort and peace

Assuring this mom that she is not alone in her despair       /        /        /

As Daisy and I have continued to work together I’m learning to see and trust the Holy Spirit working through her

Occasionally we will be walking down a hallway and she will stop in front of a room and look at me, unmoving

Somehow she knows her work is in there

– so I knock –

and welcome awe and wonder as I witness the power of the Holy Spirit at work

/        /        /

Pentecost can be an awkward Sunday for us

We are like “the others” in Acts who sneer and think that those inspired by the Holy Spirit must be drunk

We’ve become accustomed to neat and orderly, predictable ways of living and interacting

With one another

And even with God

We assure ourselves and one another

“We got this!”               /        /        /

When Peter reminds the crowd – and us – about the words from Joel that “God declares that I will pour out my (wind-breath) Spirit upon all flesh”

It’s hard enough to consider that the Holy Spirit is for all people

people who think, act and believe differently from me

But what about all animals, birds, fish, bees, butterflies… even dogs?

Imagine the Holy Spirit’s power living and moving through,

inspiring all of creation?! 

The prophet Joel’s use of opposites

Sons and daughters

Young men and old men

Slaves and free

Above and below

Sun and moon

Is intended to demonstrate ALL

/        /        /

Can you believe this wild, untamed God uses ALL living things for God’s glory?

Can you believe this holy, sacred wind-breath blows everywhere

Touching even places we deem profane?

How might this unruly infusion of God impact your beliefs

About where God is and isn’t

about how God is present within your life?

/        /        /

Pentecost challenges us to move beyond our comfortable spaces

Those spaces we close and lock

Making them more reliable for ourselves

Our family

Our friends

This congregation of Faith Lutheran Church

The ELCA

Even our own hearts and minds     /        /        /

Pentecost challenges us to consider that in spite of Artificial Intelligence technology, world-class medicine, specialized training, and our big brains…

There’s a mystery in God, that we cannot understand

We cannot know it

We cannot figure it out

We cannot predict it

We cannot control, confine, direct, or manage it

We cannot contain the mystery of God!

         /        /        /

But we can feel it

We can experience it

We can witness it

We can be awe-struck and dumbfounded by it

We can participate in it

/        /        /

So today, we may find ourselves, like the disciples in the gospel of John

Closed and Locked

Closed and Locked in fear

Closed and Locked in assumptions

Closed and Locked in the ways we’ve always believed or acted or thought

/        /        /

And in spite of our locks

Jesus the Christ, The Holy Spirit, God almighty

Enters                 /        /        /

God breaks through our closed and locked places

With holy and sacred wind-breath

And says to us: “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 

Christ breathes on us and says, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

/        /        /

We gather here today

In the midst of our own locks

And are reminded on Pentecost

That God’s Holy Spirit is for us

For us and for ALL

We are assured that God will go to great lengths to remind us of this power and promise

Speaking to us in a language only we can understand

Giving us a variety of gifts to recognize and share

Even showing us a dog who has her own work to do

All for the glory of God

Amen

This past Thursday was Ascension Day.  The Ascension refers to the claim of the church that the risen Jesus has “gone up” to share power and honor and glory and majesty with God. It is a claim made in our creed that “he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” Now, if you want to, you can vex about this prescientific formulation. But you can also, as I do, take the claim as a majestic poetic affirmation that makes a claim for Jesus, that Jesus now is “high and lifted up” in majesty, that the one crucified and risen is now the one who shares God’s power and rules over all the earth.

The disciples witnessed this departure of Jesus. They have been summoned ss witnesses. They have been promised power. They have been instructed to wait. And they have been assured of God’s rule.  In the second part of the reading from Acts today, they then go to Jerusalem and gather in the upstairs room where they were staying. They are there with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as Jesus’ brothers; They are gathered to pray and wait. 

I find it significant that there are women disciples here with the men. This is more than a footnote.  Women are an integral part of the early church. Although, as Gale O’Day writes in the Women’s Bible Commentary, the women do not yet have equal standing with the men: only Mary is named and the other women are anonymous; and when they have an election a few verses later, only a male can be elected to replace Judas as the twelfth apostle. 

But something else caught my attention this week. I counted the number of male disciples in verse 13 and came up with 11. Do you sense something strange about this? We instinctively want to read “the twelve disciples.” In his story of the Great Commission, Matthew says, “Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.” Matthew, and Luke, have used the term “the twelve” so frequently that it has become a catch phrase. We are reminded here at the beginning of the Book of Acts that this is a broken community.

Judas is no longer with them. He will commit suicide a few verses after today’s reading. Of course, that isn’t the only brokenness this community has experienced. Peter has denied Jesus. The others, all the followers except some faithful women, had fled. Luke reminds us: this is a broken community. 

I think it is a lot like us because we know brokenness too.  What are some of the broken communities we experience? 

(1)               We all know the pain and separation that comes when people graduate, or change jobs, when children leave home, when old people die.  We feel the sadness and grief.  But we anticipate this type of broken community, we expect it, and in some sense, we plan for the separation. 

(2)               There is another kind of broken community which is more difficult for us—the one we did not anticipate or choose. We have all experienced the unexpected death of people we love who die before they have fully lived.  We grieve over our loss for a long time.  This community broken by tragic death is difficult for us to understand.  We have all been touched directly or indirectly by such tragedies. 

(3)               Many of us also know the pain and anguish and despair which comes when the community of the family is broken—by unfaithfulness, betrayal, separation, or divorce.

(4)               In our own congregation we know that struggles, conflicts, hurt feelings and disagreements sometimes arise. 

(5)               We face a time in the life of our church where many congregations, especially smaller ones, are closing or struggling to keep their ministry going.

For the evangelist Luke, the author of Acts, it is a broken, imperfect community that receives the Commission “You will be my witnesses.”.  I find this to be good news. I am often deeply aware of my own faults and weaknesses.  As we are in touch with our own brokenness and the brokenness of the communities of which we are a part, then we’re ready to hear the words of the risen Christ.

Without this awareness of the disciples’ broken community, we could easily mistake Jesus’ word as a triumphalistic church growth slogan. Form the mission task forces! Unfurl the banners! “You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” “Like a mighty army, moves the church of God!” But the reader now knows better. We are painfully aware that the church, embodied in these disciples, possesses no resources to mobilize and has no troop strength to send into the fray.  By itself, the church has nothing of what it takes to perform Christ’s mission. 

It is to a broken community of disciples, to the group that has shrunk from twelve to eleven, that Jesus says, “You will be my witnesses.” Where will they get the strength for this?  They have nothing!  Jesus has already told them.  “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”  In this promise, the church, having nothing, is given everything.  The call to be Jesus’ witnesses isn’t given to great people, but to ordinary people, broken people, sometimes doubting people—people who are recipients of Gods’ grace in Jesus Christ, people who are loved by God, people who are empowered by the Holy Spirit. 

Don’t be afraid. Jesus is alive. Go. Those of are the words of the first Easter sermon from the angels at the empty tomb.  Go into all the world with the Good News of the resurrection.  You shall be my witnesses. I am with you always. 

This is a special musical presentation of the Parting Blessing by Chris Lewis, Deb Borton, Ryan Thompson and Addie Thompson at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

“Honesty and love”…foundational words that came to me during my junior year in college in 1963 and ’64.  Years marked by JFK’s assassination… by George Wallace declaring “segregation forever”… by the reawakening of the women’s movement (Betty Friedan)…by MLK’s arrest in Birmingham –“Parading without a permit”…  by the cruel tactics of Bull Connor… by the Supreme Court ruled that state mandated Bible reading in schools was unconstitutional….by an attack on American journalists in South Vietnam…by our entrance into the war in Viet Nam after North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked a US destroyer ship in the Gulf of Tonkin…  by MLK’s “I have a dream” speech and his letter from the Birmingham Jail, by the bombing at 16^th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham killing four young children, by a mock election to protest systematic disenfranchisement of blacks in Mississippi, by the killing Lee Harvey Oswald by Jack Ruby, …by Nelson Mandela sentenced to life in prison….by President Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act.  A tumultuous both deeply troubling and hope-filled time in so many ways, affecting so many lives…

“Honesty and love”…   One day in my sophomore year while working in the chemistry lab (pursuing a major in chemistry), it came to me that this was not to be my profession.  My grades were fine, though calculus was a struggle.  But my really difficult, deeper struggle was about discerning what God was calling me to be and do with my life.  My father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all pastors.  I was determined not just to follow in their footsteps.

This past week my brother, Jim, and I drove to Dubuque, Iowa to visit folks at Wartburg Seminary where my dad, grandpa, and great grandpa had all studied to become pastors.   Jim and I, together with Phylis and Jim’s wife, Livvy, were supporting a new program intended to equip men and women especially in Latinx faith communities to become pastors through study and practice in their home place, honoring each person’s learning pace and style (rather than having to move themselves and their families to the seminary, to try to conform to a more traditional educational model).  We’ve been giving gifts for this new initiative to honor the memory of our forebears who set high bars for commitment and diligence and often, creativity in their ministries.  We wanted to see how this new way of forming leaders for the mission of the church was progressing.  

At 20+ years old in those early ‘60’s, I couldn’t see myself measuring up to the gifts and contributions of my forebears.  But now realizing that being a chemist was probably not the best path for my future, I started to pray:  Okay, God, I haven’t experienced a clear call from you to follow in my family’s footsteps, but [in the words of the anthem the choir sang last Sunday] I’ll take “one step” toward becoming a pastor.  I’ll continue to pursue a degree in chemistry (just in case) but also take classes like Greek and world religions to prepare for seminary.   At least bless me, God, by clearly closing the door to this path if this is not what you want for me to be and do.   

And now some 60 years later, while more than once I have struggled with doubts and feelings of inadequacy for this calling, I realize that God never shut the door.  To paraphrase the words of the psalmist, God heard me.  God did not reject my prayer.  God did not withhold unfailing love for me.  God did not leave me alone.  And in the language of the Gospel, Jesus did not leave me orphaned.  I was never not God’s child, never not a member of God’s family, never not with Jesus and the Holy Spirit at my side

Surely the times we live in now are no less tumultuous than in 1963.  All I knew then and more fully know now was that, is that, honesty and love are all that matters.  Now I can say more confidently from whence that honesty and love comes.  Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.  This is the Spirit of truth [honesty]…I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you…because I live, you also will live.”

This is the gospel, the good news I proclaim to you this morning.  In what ever ways you struggle, in what ever ways you worry about what’s happening in our world, however befuddled and discouraged you may be by the plethora of lies and hate, Jesus, risen from the dead, asks only that we love him and that we love one another.   Jesus, risen from the dead, promises to plant in our hearts the Spirit of truth.  Through this Holy Spirit Jesus will never not walk with us, never not stand up with us and for us. 

Then, living lives of God-given honesty and love, whether as a chemist or a pastor, a teacher or a line worker, whether single or married, whether working full time or semi-retired, whether a mother or father, daughter or son, we can live boldly and humbly and reverently and gently and graciously in this world too often filled with broken promises, with fear, harshness and ill will.

For to us, through Jesus’ suffering and death and resurrection, is given the Spirit of truth and of love.  One day we will all be judged by this One who died for us, who daily forgives all our sins, forgives all our deceptions, forgives all our failures to love as we ought.  We will be judged by the One who raises us up every day to try again to be honest and loving. On that day that One who judges us will also stand with us and for us. This judge is the One who heard our cries, listened to our prayers, and never, never stopped loving us.

Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of There Is a Redeemer by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of One Step, He Leads by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.     

This bold, seemingly audacious promise of Jesus is given to his disciples and to the infant church in the first century and even now to us who would follow him in this 21^st century.  “If in my name…”  

If we are troubled in mind or heart, we need only ask Jesus for comfort and he will give it.  If we are overcome by shame or self-loathing, we need only ask Jesus for the assurance that we are beautiful in his sight and he will give it.

If we have nightmares of being lost and alone as I often do, we need only to ask Jesus to walk with us and he will do it…  It is in his name, in his nature to save us from falsehoods, from dead ends, from paths that lead nowhere.  Our risen Lord is with us on this fifth Sunday of Easter, this first Sunday after we said “goodbye” to Pastor Ellen.  If only we ask in his name, he is right here, right now, holding our hands, gently but firmly, assuring us that all will be well. 

I talked yesterday morning with the son of a good friend who shared with me that his father was near death.  In the course of the conversation I asked him if he had a sense, even palpably, that Christ was with him and his family in this difficult moment.  His response was to me profound:  “Jesus has been there most clearly in the way my brother and my mother and I have been there to lift each other up when any one of us was exhausted or very down.”

I thought about how it is here at Faith, about the way we are with each other when we grieve or are anxious.  I think about Jesus’ words:  I am the way, and the truth, and the life…  The risen Lord Jesus is palpably with us when his great love for us and in us is expressed in our doing our best to listen carefully to each other and maybe, at some level of consciousness, asking the Holy Spirit to guide and prompt us to be as fully present as possible in those moments when another troubled soul shares something of their heart with us, whether in spoken words or in body language. 

Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Probably too often those words of Jesus are used to pronounce condemnation on those who do not believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior…Like our Muslim sisters and brothers who dined and visited with us Friday evening.  Those words can be used to coerce people to make that confession of faith in the triune God out of fear of damnation, of going to hell.

But that is to miss the whole point of what Jesus said and to whom he said it.  It was spoken to his disciples who would soon lose their wonderful leader to an ugly, shameful death on the cross.  Jesus spoke these words to people whose dreams of a wonderful, messianic kingdom led by Jesus were already shattering when he shared with them that he would soon be condemned, suffer and die.  It is spoken to us whenever our hopes and dreams have been or, we fear, are about to be shattered.

But knowing their fears and their grief at the impending loss of their friend, Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house….I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also.  And you know the way to the place where I am going.”    As Pastor Ellen taught us in a recent sermon, Thomas, the one we tend to denigrate because of his doubts, is the brave one, brave enough to be totally honest:  “Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?”  And to him, and to us who would be his disciples:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  

These words are not meant to be a weapon to frighten or convince people to become Christians.  They are meant to assure us that when we are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, when day after day the Holy Spirit kindles within us even a flicker of faith in God, Jesus thereby claims us as his own.  Whenever life goes horribly wrong, when we get the s___ kicked out of us, whenever we feel lost or confused or desolate, exactly in those hard, scary moments, Jesus takes us by the hand and gently leads us to his Father’s house.

Of course this is picture language.  It is Jesus’ frequent way of helping us to see that there will always be room for us, always a place for us, a safe place where he will always patiently hear our cries, always understand us, always comfort us, and, I think importantly, always challenge us, always invite us to do wonderful work for him. 

After the Friday evening dinner and presentations by the iman and myself, and the thoughtful questions we were asked, a young man came up to me with one more question.  Coming from India, he told me there were many religions  and many gods.  It was not uncommon, he said, for various people to pronounce themselves to be god.  So, he asked me, “How do you know what is true?  How do you define or describe God?  Really good questions.  I shared with him what Martin Luther once said:  Your god is whatever or whomever you ultimately trust.

After I said this, I was thinking, one’s God could be one’s investments, one’s hard work, one’s intelligence, one’s friendships, one’s influence on or over others.  But it was clear to me, especially as I was thinking about this sermon, that for me it was Jesus.  For me he is the way, the truth, and the life.  He alone together with the Father and the Holy Spirit is worthy of my ultimate trust.  I didn’t try to convince my new Muslim friend of this.  But I do think Jesus was in our conversation, in the way we talked to each other, in the honesty we shared, in our understandings of what matters, what life is all about.

Often this Gospel text is read and preached at funerals.  I have done so many times.  We think of the Father’s house in heaven where there are many dwelling places [“many mansions”] Jesus has prepared for us after we die.  But I think this text is just as much about life here on earth.  Because Jesus went away for awhile, temporarily leaving his disciples; because Jesus left us all for awhile, dying on the cross, he thereby took away and into his body all of our sins, all of our broken relationships, all of our failures to be merciful and compassionate.  Then on the third day Jesus rose from death to take us to a safe place, to sit with us and listen to our sorrows, to take our hands and lead us on his way through the pain and darkness of this life to a place with enough light and insight and truth and courage to live each day by faith, to live each day by grace, to live each day in a growing love for and with God and for and with each other.

I don’t know this morning if my good friend has already died and is now face to face with Jesus.  I do know that, in the words of his son, Jesus was, for him and his family, the very present way and truth and life with a loving God, with a loving Father.

“If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”  Jesus, sit by us today, walk with us today, listen to us today, then lead us this very day to do whatever will make this world a little less anxious, a little more honest, and most of all, a lot more in love with you.

Amen.