This is a special musical performance of All Glory Laud & Honor by the Faith Bells!

This is a special musical performance of Lenten Love Song by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

This is the service from Palm Sunday on March 25, 2018

This is the sermon based on Matthew 5: 10-12 from the service on March 21, 2018

This is special music from the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos Michigan's childrens' choir Joyful Noise as they sing Wade in the Water.

Many of you know that I am a huge proponent of systems thinking.  I truly believe understanding systems and the way they function is vital if we are going to understand the many processes that take place within any organization, whether it is within the church, within our families and even within our very selves.  Systems thinking is the process of understanding how various actions within systems, influence other components and affect the whole.  Systems thinking can be applied to many facets of life.  Our families are considered systems, government is a system, politics is a system, education is a system, healthcare is a system, we have a financial and economic system that drives the way we live, religion often becomes a system, and faith communities function as a system.  The way we use power and authority can become a system – unfortunately often a system of domination where we leverage power over others in a very unhealthy manner.  The list of types of systems goes on and on….   Each system is often made up of multiple smaller systems composed of inter-connected parts.  And, the connections within a system cause behavior of one part to affect another.  Every day, each one of us is a player in multiple systems as we navigate our waking hours.  Some systems can be very helpful, while others can be very harmful.  One thing we soon discover about systems is that they are created to be self-perpetuating.  Consequently, it becomes very difficult to break a system, to change systemic functions, or break free from a system.  And, today, in John’s gospel, we are going to learn about a system.

As we begin the last two weeks of our Lenten journey with another reading from the gospel of John, we discover our focus is increasingly directed toward Jesus’ crucifixion and the work of the cross.  The writer of John’s gospel has a large and very dramatic understanding of the work of the cross, an understanding in which the cross becomes the hour in which the Son of Man will be glorified.  This “hour” represents the completion and fulfillment of Jesus’ mission.  And, in today’s reading, John tells us that Jesus’ crucifixion judges “the world” and drives out the “ruler of the world.”

Last week the word used to describe world referred to the cosmos, to all of creation.  However, this week, the word translated as world is not synonymous with God’s creation.  Instead, it is describing the fallen realm that exists in estrangement from God and is organized in opposition to God’s purposes, in opposition to God’s dream for this world.  The word world in today’s reading from John, would better be described as a superhuman reality, a reality concretely embodied in structures and institutions that aggressively shape human life and hold human beings captive to their ways.  The word we see translated as world would better be translated as “the System” with a capital S, the system of sin.  And, in the gospel of John, this System of sin is driven by a spirit or force, “the ruler of the world,” whose ways are violence, domination and death.[1]  In fact, theologian, Charles Campbell suggests that in today’s reading, “the crucifixion could be interpreted as an exorcism in which the System is judged and its driving force (‘ruler’) is ‘cast out’ by means of the cross.”[2]  The cross of Jesus shatters the system of sin.

On Sunday mornings when we speak the words of Confession and Forgiveness, we frequently say, “We are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.”  Those words describe our captivity to systems that take us down the path of death rather than life.  In our culture, many systems hold us captive.  We are held captive to the system of consumerism as we consume and consume, all the while knowing that our consumption is killing others around the world, others who work in sweat shops so they can feed our insatiable appetites.  We are held captive by hierarchies of winners and losers, systems that shape our behavior and thinking from birth to death.  We are held captive to structures and systems that perpetuate racism, sexism and heterosexism.  We are held captive by myths that shape our thinking and culture, myths that promote what some call “redemptive violence.”  In fact, theologian Walter Wink has suggested that “redemptive violence” is the primary myth of the System as we try to bring order out of chaos through violently defeating “the other.”  This myth is everywhere in culture – in video games, in movies, in the rhetoric I hear spoken among people, in our response to any kind of threat, in our response to terrorism, and right now in our country’s response to any who are unlike us! We even find this myth in cartoons.  Remember the Popeye cartoons in which Popeye restores order by eating spinach so that he can beat up Bluto? 

Yes, we are held captive to systems, especially the system of sin that becomes a system of domination within our very selves.  And, Jesus, throughout his ministry and journey to the cross, enacted freedom from systemic myths by refusing to respond to the domination and violence of the System.  Theologian, Marcus Borg, in his book The God We Never Knew, wrote: “The point is not that Jesus was a good guy who accepted everybody, and thus we should do the same (though that would be good). Rather, his teachings and behavior reflect an alternative social vision. Jesus was not talking about how to be good and how to behave within the framework of a domination system. He was a critic of the domination system itself.”  In fact, Jesus’ freedom from systems of domination and his rejection of violence is what distinguishes his way from the way of the System of sin.

In the gospel of John, Jesus’ death is not a matter of sadness.  The cross is the purpose of his entire life, it is his mission, and he has been driven by this mission.  And, that cross stands before us as a mirror, as Jesus exposes the System for what it is.  As we look to the cross, we begin to see the world, the System with a big S, for what it really is, the way of death, and we can then begin to find ourselves set free from the system’s captivating ways.  As we look to the cross, we are set free to die to a life that has been shaped by the System so that we can live fully into the way of Jesus, the way of life that truly matters.

Today, John’s gospel tells us Jesus’ hour has finally come.  The writer of John’s gospel tells us Jesus has finally come to the cross, the purpose and mission of his life.  And, as we continue to journey with Jesus to that cross, death is something we do not want to face.  In fact, death is something we fear and do not even want to talk about.  However, God is taking us to the cross, taking us to the purpose for which Jesus came.  God is taking us to the cross, so we can see the act of ultimate love for all of human existence.  It is in the cross that we discover the source of love that sets us free.  It is the cross and the love of Christ that is shown in the cross that sets us free from the System of sin that imprisons us.  And, it is in the cross where we discover that this love of the Crucified One is drawing all of humanity to God’s very self.

This is a special musical performance of Once Upon a Tree by the Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan's  Chancel Choir.

Come and hear the Gospel of John 2: 13-22 this morning as we explore Jesus Clearing the Temple and what that means in our own lives.

This is a special musical performance from the Faith Lutheran Okemos Chancel Choir of Jesus Clear the Temple.

I am sure all of you know what a cliché is.  Clichés are phrases that, upon their inception, were striking and thought-provoking.   However, as they started to catch on, people began overusing them, making them seem trite, and turning them into what we now know as clichés. 

Well, as we look at today’s gospel reading, we come across a verse that has truly become a cliché.  It is probably the best-known Bible verse ever.  While many people may know very little of scripture, they know John 3:16.  And, quite honestly, this verse is often misunderstood.  I love what Lutheran Pastor, Nadia Bolz Weber, says regarding most Christians’ insight into this Scripture passage.  Giving a brief, snarky synopsis of people’s early Sunday School understanding of this passage, she writes:

Basically, God created us and all that is, but because the first woman ate something she shouldn’t have we are basically screwed for all of time. And since we are all so terrible at following rules God needs to punish us. But here’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus…as the story goes and so many of us were told, well, Jesus is like, God’s little boy — and he only had one! I’m not sure why – fertility issues I guess…but the point is that God had this one little boy – and he loved that little boy so much… but he had to KILL that little boy because you stole a candy bar, or lied to your mom, or felt up your girlfriend or maybe you used swear words or looked at dirty pictures. The important thing to know is that God killed his little boy rather than punishing you, because let’s face it, someone had to pay, and you should feel so grateful about all of this that you believe and (most importantly) you behave. But the good news is that if you believe all of this and if you try really hard to be good, then when you die you get a special all-inclusive vacation package called Eternal Life.

Yes, that pretty much sums up and articulates the early Sunday School version everyone has learned, and you know what?  That version soooo misses the point of what Jesus is saying.  That version has instilled fear in people’s lives.  That version has created a religion that is permeated with judgement, judgement that Christians impose upon others.  Far too often, this passage has promoted an understanding in which the story of Jesus is about God having to be pacified, or a God having to be persuaded to forgive.  Far too often we carry around within us an image of an angry, unforgiving God and a loving, forgiving Jesus.  Quite honestly, that understanding of God has been used as a tool to scare people out of hell by promoting what is known as decision theology.  Ironically, these very words that Jesus was speaking to a rigid and legalistic Pharisee named Nicodemus, trying to help him see salvation more expansively, have become the very symbol of conditional love instead of unconditional love.

God is not someone who sends Jesus in order that Jesus might be punished so that our sins will be wiped out.  God is not the angry monarch, seeking vengeance or retribution for our sins.  No! God is more like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, who is not happy until is wandering children have come home.  God is love.  Love is the essence of the being of God.

So, today, I want to challenge that Sunday School understanding of this passage.  First of all, in the gospel of John, the word for “world” refers to the cosmos – to everything!  And, when John uses the words “eternal life,” he is not simply talking about life after death.  John’s use of the words “eternal life” are meant to mean the same thing as Matthew’s use of the words, “kingdom of heaven,” or Luke’s use of the words, “kingdom of God.”  “Eternal life” is about the “reign of God.”  In John, “eternal life” is something that we are already living, it is living life that truly matters right here and right now, it is living life to the full.  With that in mind, let’s take another look at today’s reading.  And, I again want to quote Nadia Bolz Weber as she  so beautifully retells this passage from John as a love song, which is what the gospel really is.  She writes:

In the beginning God – the source and ground of all being – set the universe into motion through sound and breath and self-giving in a love song.  God so loved the world that God gave God’s own breath to speak into existence that which was not – and then God so loved the world that God gave God’s breath another time, breathing into dust to create humanity. Through dust and the very breath of divine love we were created. In the image of the songwriter we were created, and we too were given voice and language and breath and song.  And that love song of creation continued, but we tended to create our own melodies in another rhythm, in another key, in our own scale.

So, there is the song of life which rings through eternity and then there are human-generated temporary alternate songs. With our own breath, language, voice, we still tend to create our own rhythm and melodies – that we think will save us, songs of domination, violence, greed, and power.

And so once again, God’s breath was given to us…through sound and self-giving: only this time, the sound interrupted the din of the Roman empire. This time, God’s divine love song was heard in the cry of a newborn baby. For God so loved the world that God gave God’s self to it in the form of a son. This was such a big deal that angels sang back up – the heavenly hosts joined in the divine love song interrupting our regularly scheduled program of soldiers and taxes and purity codes.

God so loved this corrupt world of empires and victims and violence that God gave God’s self to us. God so loved the world that God came to us in the most vulnerable and fragile way possible. God so loved the world God created that God walked among us as love.

But not the “us” kind of love. Our love is limited by self-interest, biology and time. No, God’s love takes no account of opinion or history, but insists on ignoring information we think of as important: data about worth, beauty, status. God’s love has quite ignored the Kelly Blue Book Value on us.

For God so loved the world, for God so loved soldiers and prostitutes and traitors and unwed mothers and soccer moms and CEOs and ex-cons and Burger King janitors that God gave of God’s self in the form of Jesus. And Jesus was like a clearer set of lyrics so that we might be saved from the noise of sin and self-preservation. So that we might not perish. But be reminded again of the true beat, the real rhythm, the clear lyrics of the song of creation and salvation that is life and that is eternal.

And those who heard this tune, began to sing it to others, they wrote about it in Gospels and hymns and we who are gathered here in this room, maybe for only a moment a breath a flicker, hear it for ourselves and we know it is life and it is right here, and it always has been and always will be. It is eternal life and it is for you. Don’t try and believe it. Listen to it and just hear it.

          Friends, the love song that God has been singing from the beginning

of time, is the song of life for all eternity.  It is being sung right now in this moment and it will continue forever.  It is a divine love song that is always calling us back home to the very heart of God.  It is calling us again and again.  Sometimes, it is drowned out by the white noise of the world.  But, this love song will never become exhausted. 

Yes, God so loves the world with an immense, redeeming love.  And, quite honestly, the love song God sings for us at times disturbs us, gnaws at our hearts, creates a hunger for God, and even unsettles us.  But, it is also a love song that grasps us, and draws us into the very arms of God’s love where we become forever changed and transformed.  And, once we have been grasped by this love, we find it is a love that will never ever let us go.  We then discover that our home, the home of all creation, is in God.  Yes, God so loves the world.  

So, on this fourth Sunday in Lent, as we continue to journey with Jesus to the cross, we continue to grow in our understanding of God’s love for the cosmos.  I encourage you to let go of some of those early Sunday School cliché interpretations and be taken to deeper places in your understanding of God’s love for us – God’s love for all of creation.  Let yourself fall back into that love.  Let yourself discover it is a love that holds us, and it is a love that will never let us go!

This is a sermon from the Lenten service based on the Gospel of Matthew 5:4