This is a special musical presentation of Do Lord from the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of three songs by the Flutes of Faith at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Hallelujah Round of Praise from the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir, Joyful Noise Children's Choir and Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is the special musical performance of True Light with soloists Chris Lewis and Ryan Thompson along with the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

This is a special musical presentation of In the Secret from the Joyful Noise Children's Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical presentation of Praise to the Lord the Almighty from the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

While studying today’s gospel lesson, I was struck by the words of Jesus as they appear in this reading.  Sometimes, particular words jump out at you and cause you to hear the Word of God in a whole new way. These words are so familiar to us.  And, while I have known this before, as I studied this passage for today, some of the words truly jumped out at me and gave me pause.  The initial command Jesus gives is quite familiar when he says, “Love one another. I give you a new commandment:  Love one another.”  Quite honestly, I along with many of you have probably always heard these words in John’s gospel as a form of the Golden Rule. “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Golden Rule – words to live by.  Right?  In fact, these are words Jesus, a Jewish man, would have been very familiar with.  Frankly, these are words Jews, Muslims and indeed people of all sorts of faith traditions hold as sacred. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Do onto others as you would have them do unto you and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  However, the words of the Golden Rule are not the words that appear in the Gospel according to John. According to the writer of John, Jesus adds a new twist to the familiar Golden Rule when he says, “I give you a new commandment: Love one another, just as I have loved you.” That’s some twist: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

Harder words were never spoken. For who among us can love as Jesus loved? Jesus’ idea of loving is hard-edged.  Infinitely tender. Nearly impossible. These words haunt me. When I think about loving as Jesus loved, I begin to second-guess my ability to love.  Love is not simple.   This kind of love is not easy. 

Today when we hear Jesus’ words to his disciples, they are some of the last words he shares with them and, in this message, he gives the disciples and each one of us a command to love.  And, he commands us to love as he loves.  He does not consider this an option.  He says if you are my disciples you will stand in a different place, stand in a different state of being, stand in a different energy.  He says, you will stand in the place of love for all others, because you are to love as I love.  You will do this because God is love.

When talking about this passage, Father Richard Rohr says that love is not what as much as how!  If you do not live love for all others, God is simply an abstraction in your life.  If you do not live love for all others, God is simply a theory in your mind.  Living the love that Jesus showed and lived is what brings healing and wholeness to our lives, our communities, our society and our world.  The command to love as Jesus loves is clear and simple.  We are to love all people, no exceptions.  Now, again, love is not easy.  And, you cannot depend on feelings if you are going to love as God loves, if you are to love as Jesus loves.  Like forgiveness – love is a decision of your mind and heart.  Love is a choice.  When you are not living this kind of love, not living in love for all people, you will use any excuse you have to be unhappy, angry and hateful.  Quite honestly, such negative feelings, actions, behaviors, attitudes and attributes cannot coexist in the mind and heart of someone who has made the decision to love as Jesus loves.  They cannot coexist because living in the love of Jesus means you are standing in a different space, a different state, a different energy, a different reality.  It means you are truly, consciously aware that you are living in the reality of the loving, living Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, Jesus gives a new command to love even as he loves!  His love surrenders itself to God’s holy dream to love the world, the entire world, not just certain people but the entire world, all creation and the entire cosmos.  His love surrenders itself to God’s holy dream to love the world into life, even to the point of giving his own life.  Jesus’ love glorifies God’s purpose and mercy, and this is the love he commands us to live. 

So, what does this love look like in the concreteness of our very lives? I love the way Pastor Brian McClaren talks about love in his new book, Corey & the Seventh Story.  He writes that we, as people, seem to continually live the same six stories over and over again, the same old six stories that seem to be running the show.  They are: 

The story of power to dominate,

The story of striking back with fury and hate,

The story of running to find a safe place,

Or pointing at others to shame and disgrace,

Or being stuck in self-pity for the pain we’ve been through,

Or of me having more shiny objects than you.

These same six old stories steal freedom and laughter,

So, nobody lives happily ever after.  But….

There’s a new Seventh Story to live by, my friends,

A new Seventh Story without “us against them”—

Of working for fairness in all that we do,

Of refusing to strike back when others strike you,

Of facing our problems and not running to hide,

Of not letting differences make us divide,

Of turning our pain into compassion for others,

Of not wanting more than our sisters and brothers.

The new Seventh Story that I’m speaking of

Is the story of peace, it’s the story of love.

          Jesus said to those early disciples and he says to each one of us, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  May we live in the reality of such love!

Some of you may know something of famed violinist, Fritz Kreisler.  He was one of the best violinists the world has known.  A story is told of Kreisler as he once traveled from Hamburg, Germany to give a concert in London.  Kreisler had about an hour before his boat sailed, so he wandered into a music shop.  The proprietor asked if he could look at the violin Kreisler was carrying.  The store owner then vanished only to return accompanied by two policemen, one of whom told the violinist, “You are under arrest.”

“What for?” asked Kreisler.

The policemen responded, “You have Fritz Kreisler’s violin.”

Kreisler said, “I am Fritz Kreisler.”

The cop said, “You can’t pull that on us.  Come along to the station.”  As Kreisler’s boat was soon to sail, he faced a crisis.  His identity was being questioned and there was no time for prolonged explanations.  Kreisler asked for his violin and played a piece for which he was well known.  “Now are you satisfied?” he asked.  They were.  Kreisler’s identity was revealed through his action and the playing he exhibited. His actions spoke louder than any words he could have uttered regarding his identity.

          In today’s reading from John’s gospel, we are plunged into a crisis – an identity crisis.  In today’s gospel reading Jesus’ identity is again questioned by the religious leaders.  It is the middle of winter and the festival of Dedication, a festival now known as Hanukkah.  Jesus is walking in the Temple, in the portico of Solomon – the place from which the king would render judgments upon those seeking justice.  And, it is in that place where Jesus again responds to questions about his identity.  The religious leaders who wish to discredit Jesus taunt him and demand to know just who he thinks he is.  They say, “Hey, Jesus, stop keeping us in the dark.  If you’re the Messiah, just tell us straight out.  Just who are you, Jesus?  What are you up to and how long are you going to annoy us?” 

Now, in John’s gospel, Jesus’ identity has been revealed from the very beginning and, throughout the gospel, Jesus has been revealing himself as God’s light in the world.  He has been healing people, opening the eyes of the blind and giving the people around him numerous, multiple insights into his identity.  He has been demonstrating and revealing who he is through the entirety of his ministry.  So, he now responds by saying, “I told you, but you don’t believe.  Everything I have done has been authorized by my Father, actions that speak louder than words.  You don’t believe because you are not my sheep.  You don’t recognize the voice of the shepherd among you.”

Jesus uses the metaphor of sheep and shepherd, a metaphor very familiar to people of that time and place, one that is threaded throughout scripture and helps more fully articulate his identity.  However, I am not so sure we are always able to fully grasp an understanding of that metaphor.  It really is quite foreign to our context and experience.  At the time of Jesus, all the sheep of the village were kept in one place, one fenced in field.  And, when it was time for each of the owners to take their sheep back home, each shepherd would call his own sheep by using a unique, special call.  When the sheep heard that unique call, they recognized the voice and they would leave the fenced in field to follow their shepherd home. 

So, in today’s reading, Jesus frames his identity and role in terms of being the good shepherd.  He frames his identity as the trusted voice to whom the sheep will listen and follow.  He frames his identity as the good shepherd by claiming those sheep the Father has given him as his own. And, he makes a promise.  He says no one will snatch his sheep out of the Father’s hand.  He boldly articulates his identity when he claims that everything he has done has been authorized by the Father.  And, he then makes this remarkable claim; he announces that he and the Father are one – he and the father are of the same mind.  Jesus is saying that he and God are united in the work they do.  It is impossible to distinguish Jesus’ work from God’s work, because Jesus shares fully in God’s work.

When Deb and Bruce and I planned worship for this Sunday and looked at today’s gospel reading, I got a bit excited that these words were given to us on confirmation Sunday.  This reading is so meaningful for all of us as we watch each of you make affirmation of your baptism on this day.  Zach, Julianna, and Kate, as you go through life, each of you will experience great joy at different points in time.  And, the truth about life is that you will also experience many times of challenge and sorrow.  Life encompasses all of this.  But, as you make this journey through all that life brings, Jesus’ words to you today are steadfast words of promise.  Jesus is speaking to you, to each one of us.  Jesus, the good shepherd, promises us stubborn protection and care.  His is a voice the flock hears and knows and follows.  And, his voice is especially precious in the mixedness of all that life brings.  We cling to that voice. We cling to the promise that, even though life itself may be snatched away, no one will be snatched from the Father’s hand and not one person will be snatched from God’s immense love.  We cling to the promise that we do not go on in vain, that the Good Shepherd walks with us, guiding us and protecting us in the depth of everything life lays before us.  We listen and cling to the voice of our Shepherd, the voice that empowers and equips us with something greater than all else, the power of love – forgiving, transforming love.  This is the power that raises up, this is the power that enabled Peter to raise up Dorcas, this is the power that has infused this congregation and is raising us up from a past that is gone, for this is the power of the risen Lord!  Zach, Julianna and Kate, this is the power that will raise you up throughout your life as you face all the challenges and joy you will encounter.  This is the power that gives you and each one of us our true identity. 

Listen to that voice.  Confirmands, listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd as he calls to you throughout your life, saying:

I will come to you in the silence, I will lift you from all your fear.

You will hear my voice, I claim you as my choice,

Be still and know I am here.

I am hope for all who are hopeless, I am eyes for all who long to see.

In the shadows of the night, I will be your light,

Come and rest in me.

I am strength for all the despairing,

Healing for the ones who dwell in shame. 

All the blind will see, the lame will all run free,

And all will know my name.

I am the Word that leads all to freedom,

I am the peace the world cannot give.

I will call your name, embracing all your pain.

Stand up, now walk and live!

Do not be afraid, I am with you.  I have called you each by name.

Come and follow me, I will bring you home;

I love you and you are mine.

Yes, we hear and recognize the voice of One whose very identity is known and whose actions have spoken louder than words.  For, we hear the voice of One who entered our fleshly existence, journeyed to the cross, and moved through the cross to resurrection – all for the sake of God’s great love for this very broken world. This One, this Jesus, has given us identity – naming us and claiming us as God’s very own.

This is a special musical performance of He Shall Feed His Flock from the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church.

This is a special musical performance of Run, Mary Run from the Chancel Choir children's choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of the Calypso Lord's Prayer from the Joyful Noise children's choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

As I studied the lessons for today, I could not help but think about last weekend, when yet another alarming attack took place in a California synagogue.  It was horrific to again see someone go into a place of worship, take the life of one person and injure several others.  I think it is important to think about the zealousness that is being voiced and acted upon by a growing number of extremists whose ideologies are anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim, or anti any considered “other.”  The speech and actions proponents of these ideologies are taking are evil.  And, what is so troubling is that such action is borne from a very skewed, distorted perspective of “perceived” righteousness.  No one is more dangerous than one with the power to take life and the one who already has mind and sight set on those who are a perceived threat.  Such a person is a closed circle of a person, a person living in an ideological bubble relying only on the inner coherence of their distorted logic.  They live in a circular form of denial and self-justification in which their authority confirms their argument and their argument justifies their actions and their actions reinforce the appropriateness of their authority.  They are blinded by this circular form of denial and self-justification.  And, quite honestly, violence – whether it be murder, abuse, perpetual verbal assaults, or incessant lying and bearing false witness against others – such violence, in order to be smooth, elegant, and seemingly natural, needs people who are closed circles, living in ideological bubbles. 

I have been pondering this because, today, our first lesson begins with these words, “Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord….”  Saul was a closed circle of a person, living in an ideological bubble.  And, he was zealously killing the disciples of the Lord.  Saul kills in the name of perceived righteousness and he wants legal permission to do so.  Saul, as he travels the road to Damascus, seeks to possess the authority to take life either through imprisonment or execution.  And, yes, no one is more dangerous than one with the power to take life and who already has mind and sight set on those who are a perceived threat to a safe future.  The disciples of the Lord, the women and men of the Way, have no chance against Saul.  They have no argument and certainly no authority to thwart his zeal.  Saul considers them diaspora betrayers of the faith.  And, he considers them a clear and present danger to Israel.  Saul’s rationality demands his vision and version of justice.  However, there is no rationale for killing that remains intact in the presence of God! 

You see, what Saul does not yet know is that the road to Damascus has changed.  It is space now inhabited by the wayfaring, uncontrollable, untamable Spirit of the Lord.  And, this Spirit of the Lord is one that disrupts the old order by interrupting people’s lives.  As Saul travels this road, while he is pursuing disciples of the Lord, he soon finds out he is the one being pursued by a power greater than his rationale or zeal.  And, Saul, the closed circle, the man who lives in an ideological bubble, is broken open by God.  Saul, the killer, is confronted and stopped in his tracks, and the rationality for his murderous actions is shattered as he has a life-changing experience.  Yes, there is no rationale for killing that remains intact in the presence of God!  The power of this event is overwhelming as the life-changing question comes directly to Saul.  This is a question too massive for him to handle because it is an intimate one that goes to his very heart.  He hears the question, “Why are you hurting me?” 

This question is one that should truly enter each of our hearts and minds.  When we look at our culture, this question flows out of the mouths of the poor, the women and children who do not have enough to make ends meet, the homeless, the immigrant and refugee, any who are abused or oppressed, and all of creation itself.  This question casts a bright, blinding light on the currencies of death in which we incessantly live and travel, the currencies of death in which we too often are complicit.  This question is always before us.  “Why are you hurting me?”  And, it has no good answer.  The only good answer is to stop!  This is God’s question.  It is a question that belongs to God because hurt and pain and suffering have reached their final destination, the body of Jesus. 

Well, as we look back at our passage from Acts, now the divine presence will be revealed to Saul and, in that presence, Saul finds a God of untamable love, mercy and overwhelming grace.  Saul is given a new revelation and knows he is on a road that has been made holy ground.  And, what is so fascinating is that he asks the right question of God, saying, “Who are you, Lord?”  You see, this Lord has a name and the Lord and Jesus are one.  This revelation penetrates Saul’s entire being and it transforms his whole identity.  He turns from the ideological, abstract Lord that was part of his thinking to the very concrete, present Jesus.  He pivots from abstract, what he had considered “holy” faith to holy flesh.  He discovers that the abstract Lord is not found in the faith of Israel or the ideologies and theologies of Judaism, but in the flesh of his neighbor.  Saul moves from an abstract obedience to a concrete one.  He moves from the Lord he aims to please to the One who will direct him according to divine pleasure, grace and love.  And, the man who was once a killer of Jesus’ followers becomes the most passionate of Jesus’ disciples.  He becomes the model of discipleship for the early church.  As theologian William James Jennings says, “Discipleship is principled direction taken flight by the Holy Spirit.  It is the ‘you have heard it said, but I say to you’ – the continued speaking of God bound up in disruption and redirection.”  You see, the untamable, uncontrollable Spirit of God bursts open Saul’s ideological bubble, disrupts Saul’s life, his direction and his entire being and redirects him into the life of discipleship, a life of following where the crucified God leads, a life of following the risen, cosmic Christ.  And, it is the Spirit of the untamable God of love who continually speaks to us, a speaking that is bound up in the disruption and redirection of our very lives.  I know, that is not always comfortable because then we become vulnerable, and then we have to give up our need to control if we are going to follow where that Spirit leads. Can we allow the Spirit to burst our closed circles and ideological bubbles?  Can we be open to that disruption and to that redirection?  Can we be open to that voice of untamable love and follow where the Spirit of God leads?

Saul’s experience was so transformational that he turned from defending the name of the Lord to doing the work of serving Jesus.  And, quite honestly, for this he will soon suffer.  He has crossed that line that separates Christian faith from all other faiths.  He has heard the voice of a crucified God.  Saul experienced the Lord Jesus.  He had an encounter with the Lord Jesus, and this made Saul vulnerable.  Experiencing the Lord Jesus always makes us vulnerable.  For Saul, the abstract Lord and the concrete Jesus have now been connected in Saul’s body and they can never be separated again.  Saul’s life is forever changed.

Friends, the mystery of God is found in human flesh, moving in and with disciples like us who are a communion of suffering and a witness to life.  When we gather together in community, we find the very concrete body of Christ moving among us, with us and in us.  Saul meets a God in Jesus who is no alien to time and space, but one who lives the everyday nitty gritty of life with us.  And, every time we gather together, we, too, meet God in Jesus, the one who lives in the everyday nitty gritty of life with us.  This is incarnation.  As professor Jennings says, “The shared life of Jesus continues with his disciples as he takes hold of their horrors and they participate in his hopes.  The God who confronted Saul, the God who confronts us, is no passive participant in the suffering of the faithful, but one who has reconciled the world and will bring all of us to the day of Jesus Christ.  Saul has entered that new day.”   We have entered that new day!  Live into that new day and the reality of the living Christ!

This is a special musical presentation by Ryan Thompson of I know That My Redeemer Liveth

Jack Dingledine:  Martin Luther wrote, “The power of God is present in all places, even in the tiniest tree leaf.  Do you think God is sleeping on a pillow in heaven?... God is wholly present in all creation, in every corner, behind you and before you.” 

When Dr. Lisa Dahill was here a few weeks ago, she reminded us that the reality in which all of us live is Christ, the Risen Christ.  In fact, the reality in which each one of us and all of creation exists, is the Christ who has been present from the beginning of creation, from the time of the Big Bang, and continues to be present to us, to all of creation, to the entire cosmos.  The Christ in whom we exist, in whom we live and move and have our being, is the same Christ that took on flesh and blood in the person of Jesus.  Dr. Dahill reminded us that the Christ in whom we and the entire creation exists is all about healing, wholeness, love and reconciliation for the world.  

Tula Ngasala:  In Psalm 118, our Psalm for today, we sing with the ancient Hebrews, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.” Christians have interpreted this rejected “stone” as Christ.  There is a pattern that flows throughout the entirety of Scripture.  And, to our great surprise it is this:  the rejected one is the chosen one.  We see this in scripture stories where we find the younger brother inherits, the widow is fed, and the beggar is healed.  We Christians can also learn to adopt this way of seeing the earth itself: animals, plants, bodies of water, even air. 

Natalie Dingledine:  Far too often we have overlooked these aspects of creation and thought of them as beneath our consideration.  We are at a point in time when we no longer can do this.  With the eyes of faith, we must take an honest look at our changing climate and be candid about our role as human beings in the change taking place before our eyes.   We need to recognize that we are called to see the animals, plants, bodies of water, and the air we breathe as honored parts of God’s creation and live in such a way that we work for the healing of creation.

An honest and credible look at our environment and climate change names the neglect, carelessness and wrongs of industry, civil society and global governmental leadership.  It also recognizes how human beings individually and collectively worsen the attacks on God’s creation. 

Tammy Heilman:  Presiding Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, wrote the following to members of the ELCA in her 2018 Earth Day statement:

As a church, we must confess our frequent lack of urgency in addressing environmental degradation and slow action to address a changing climate.  We also must pledge to acknowledge the intersections of racial and environmental injustices and strive to involve the voices of those most affected in the process.

In grateful response to God’s grace in Jesus Christ, this church carries out its responsibility for the well-being of society and the environment.   Our concern for the environment is shaped by the Word of God spoken in creation, the Love of God hanging on a cross, and the Breath of God daily renewing the face of the earth.  Our concern is, then, propelled by hope and guided by principles of justice.  We find our hope in the promise of God’s own faithfulness to everything God has made.  We seek justice for all of creation in concert with God’s creative and renewing power.  We do so, understanding that we have the ability and responsibility to act together for the common good, especially for those who are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Cecelia Kramer:  Presiding Bishop Eaton continues by saying:

 I give thanks for all the ways this church embraces our common responsibility to care for all of God’s creation.  I call on us as individuals and congregations to continue efforts through stewardship, education and advocacy. 

The present moment is a critical and urgent one, filled with both challenge and opportunity to act as individuals, citizens, leaders and communities of faith in solidarity with God’s good creation and in hope for our shared future.  We claim God’s promise in Revelation 21 for “a new heaven and a new earth” as we gather together, work together and pray together.

          Bob Nelson:  If we are to live into Christ as we are called to do, how can we do anything but live into the healing, wholeness, love, reconciliation and restoration of all creation?  As we continue to do the work of caring for creation, we trust in the life-giving breath of God’s Spirit upon us, within us and within all of creation.  And, we again commit ourselves to work together for the healing of creation.  Please join us as together we pray the prayer found in your bulletin:

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us coworkers in your creation.  Give us wisdom and reverence to use the resources of nature so that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.