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All of us are on a journey of faith in our lives. At Faith Lutheran in Okemos, Michigan we bring people one a journey of faith each week and share that journey with the world.
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Now displaying: July, 2019
Jul 28, 2019

This is a special musical presentation of Be Thou My Vision by flautist Gwynne Kadrofske at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Jul 28, 2019

PASTOR ELLEN:  In today’s gospel reading, Jesus teaches about prayer by giving us what we now call The Lord’s Prayer.  We often think of the Lord’s Prayer as an efficient way to pray. We know it by heart, and it is used as the perfect close for meetings and gatherings.  Yet, far too often, we recite this prayer by rote, not even thinking about what we are saying.  

It is also important to acknowledge that, in this “can-do” culture in which we live, prayer too easily becomes an attempt to change God and aggrandize ourselves instead of what it is truly meant to be.  You see, prayer really is an interior practice that brings change to the one who is praying, change to our very selves.  This will always happen if we stand calmly in God’s safe presence, allowing God to invade our hearts and heal us.  So, it is interesting to note there is something about this beloved prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, that emphasizes the need to let go and trust God.  It is interesting that each petition in this prayer contains some sort of renunciation of self, letting go of self. 

Today, we are going to take advantage of a teaching moment.  We will use Martin Luther’s small catechism as a basis for our time together.  Please turn in the back of your hymnal to page 1163.  I invite you to follow along as we contemplate The Lord’s Prayer, learning from each of the petitions.

ZACHARY:  Our Father in heaven.  What is this? What does this mean? 

 

PAUL:  With these words God wants to attract us, so that we come to believe he is truly our Father and we are truly his children, in order that we may ask him boldly and with complete confidence, just as loving children ask their loving father.

 

KIM:  Sometimes I get stuck on the wrong particulars of this invitation.  Particulars like relational issues between fathers and children or particulars of location like earth and heaven.  Focusing on these particulars causes me to miss a main point in this invitation.  My human nature tends to individualize my relationship with Jesus and with God to serve my need.  Here I’m reminded that God is not mine, God is not only my father, God is the creator of everything, of all people like and unlike me, God is collectively “ours”.  I’m particularly invited to consider the universality of God first with the word “Our”. 

ZACHARY:  Hallowed be your name.  What is this?  What does this mean? 

PAUL:  It is true that God’s name is holy in itself, but we ask in this prayer that it may also become holy in and among us.

 

ZACHARY: How does this come about?

 

PAUL:  Whenever the word of God is taught clearly and purely and we, as God’s children, also live holy lives according to it. To this end help us, dear Father in heaven! However, whoever teaches and lives otherwise than the word of God teaches, dishonors the name of God among us. Preserve us from this, heavenly Father!

 

PASTOR ELLEN:  We live in a culture in which we are bombarded with, and consumed by, questions about our self-image.  All we need do is turn on the TV or read the newspaper to find a plethora of commercials and ads addressing our self-image.  We are constantly worried about how others view us, what others think about us and even what others may say about us. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that it is only God and God’s name that matter.  Yes, our identity and our names are significant, but we can let go of our unhealthy ladder climbing and pursuit of gaining a name for ourselves.  We can let go of the unhealthy image-seeking pursuit.  We do not need to prove ourselves and our own significance. The truth is that we gain our own significance through being named and claimed by God, through being called by God and called in God’s name.

ZACHARY:  Your kingdom come.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  In fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us.

 

ZACHARY:  How does this come about?

 

PAUL:  Whenever our heavenly Father gives us his Holy Spirit, so that through the Holy Spirit’s grace we believe God’s holy word and live godly lives here in time and hereafter in eternity.

 

KIM:  Your kingdom come.  God’s kingdom.  What a crazy, awesome idea to imagine God’s kingdom coming to us, to imagine that I have the opportunity to participate in God’s kingdom!  And God is such a generous, loving God, it is freely given without me even having to ask!  (pause)

I wonder if I even recognize bits of God’s kingdom breaking into my life if, or really when, I witness it?  God sends the Holy Spirit to us as our guide.  Amidst our busy lives scheduling the construction of our own kingdoms where do we leave time and space for the Holy Spirit?  Do we allow ourselves to be interrupted?  How do we respond to those interruptions?  How does the Holy Spirit speak to us and guide us or turn us around toward God’s coming kingdom?   

ZACHARY:  Your will be done on earth as in heaven.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  In fact, God’s good and gracious will comes about without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come about in and among us.

 

ZACHARY:  How does this come about?

 

PAUL:  Whenever God breaks and hinders every evil scheme and will – as are present in the will of the devil, the world, and our flesh – that would not allow us to hallow God’s name and would prevent the coming of his kingdom, and instead whenever God strengthens us and keeps us steadfast in his word and in faith until the end of our lives. This is God’s gracious and good will.

 

PASTOR ELLEN:  With this petition, I acknowledge that I need to let go of my stubborn will.  You see, I want it all, I want it now and I want it my way.  My desires, my hopes, my fears – all these things shape my will.  And, sometimes, people can be ruthless in seeking the desires of their own wills.  Yet, the Lord’s Prayer teaches us to renounce our own will and let go of our need to control.  It is not about our will but about God’s will for us and for the world.  And, when it is about God’s will, God’s kingdom will come and shape our hearts and lives into what God desires. 

ZACHARY:  Give us today our daily bread.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  In fact, God gives daily bread without our prayer, even to all evil people, but we ask in this prayer that God cause us to recognize what our daily bread is and to receive it with thanksgiving.

 

ZACHARY:  What then does “daily bread” mean?

 

PAUL:  Everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, fields, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

 

KIM:  This is quite the expansive list beyond ordinary bread!  For years I mentally skipped over this petition because I’ve enjoyed plenty of bread.  I have bread to spare, I dispose of it in my compost bowl daily.  But the prayer is not for me, it is for us.  Here I find a challenging invitation to change, as Pastor Ellen reminded us in her introduction, prayer brings change to the one who is praying.  Awareness of my abundance has caused me to wonder about those lacking daily bread, health, home or other necessities.  Has God not provided enough bread for everyone throughout the world?  Does God elect some to receive bread and not others?  Or do some hang onto more than their share of bread, living into a message of scarcity, fear or greed?  Do the powerful collect more and more bread for themselves leaving not enough bread for others?  Do I? 

 

I just prayed to participate in OUR God’s kingdom and will, for it to come here, to this place, through the witness of my life.  I enjoy the privilege of abundance of daily bread.  So how does this prayer affect the way I live, the way I manage my bread?  What does this prayer mean for us?

 

ZACHARY:  Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. What is this?

 

PAUL:  We ask in this prayer that our heavenly Father would not regard our sins nor deny these petitions on their account, for we are worthy of nothing for which we ask, nor have we earned it. Instead we ask that God would give us all things by grace, for we daily sin much and indeed deserve only punishment. So, on the other hand, we, too, truly want to forgive heartily and to do good gladly to those who sin against us.

 

PASTOR ELLEN:  Forgive us our sins or, as some traditions articulate this phrase, forgive us our debts!  This petition strikes at our self-sufficiency, our self-righteousness, and the many things we do that hurt our neighbor.  In our self-sufficient culture, there is a sense in which we pride ourselves of not being in debt to anyone, whether it is financial or otherwise.  We often take pride in refusing help because we don’t want to be seen as weak.  Yet, whether the word is sins or debts, the Lord’s Prayer teaches us that we are in debt.  I am indebted to the Lord God.  We are deeply indebted to God from whom we have received everything, because everything we have is all gift.  Quite frankly, we all are broken, and we all are in need of God’s forgiving love.  As Luther said, “We are all poor beggars at the foot of the cross.”  You see, we all gather as beggars in need of grace.

         In our brokenness as people, we also live in a culture where we frequently want to get even if we have been wronged by others.  In fact, it seems as though some people love to show that they have been offended by others.  Yet, the Lord’s Prayer teaches us that it is not about who has wronged me or who has wronged us.  This prayer calls me to view my neighbor with compassion, even if my neighbor has wronged me.  My neighbor is broken just as I am, and my neighbor is a child of God, just as I am.  This prayer teaches us to forgive as God has already forgiven me and my neighbor.  It calls us to let go of our love of being offended.

 

ZACHARY:  Save us from the time of trial.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  It is true that God tempts no one, but we ask in this prayer that God would preserve and keep us, so that the devil, the world, and our flesh may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great and shameful sins, and that, although we may be attacked by them, we may finally prevail and gain the victory.

 

KIM:  For much of my life I have rested in a place of security, believing that I’m strong, believing that I’m in control and through my skill and responsible action everything will turn out okay.  I’ve relaxed into a state of denial that I am tested because, look! I’ve got it together with my fabulous plan!  This past week I faced a time of trial.  Not by God, but by the world, by the worst-case scenarios of my own mind, and I sank into a place of despair.  I became angry and in my mind I lashed out toward the people who I imagined contributed to this trial -- fault always lies with “them” and not “me”.  This anger and despair changed me, it affected my thinking, it infected the air around me and spread anxiety and negativity.  I struggled to keep my mind on the promises of Christ, I didn’t believe that God has committed to preserve and keep me and all people.  I became fueled by the bad news media instead of being fueled by the love of God.

Honestly, I experienced that it’s much easier to give into the sin of anger and despair.  The truth is that I need this prayer, I need God.  The truth is that God came to me in the reassuring voices of trusted friends, the company of loved ones, and yet I still struggled to trust.  I still sought to move forward under my own power, I still wrestled with my anger.  I still resisted letting go.

The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that we have no power in ourselves to withstand anything. God alone has the power to come to our aid. This is why at the beginning of each day at morning prayer for the past two millennia the Church has opened her prayers with these words, “O God, make speed to save us. O Lord, make haste to help us.” We do not have the power to withstand the time of trial or overcome sin (the Greek word means trials generically, which includes temptations to sin). The Lord is our Warrior. We cry out to Him for deliverance. Without His aid we are hopeless. We must renounce our own strength.

ZACHARY:  And deliver us from evil.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  We ask in this prayer, as in a summary, that our Father in heaven may deliver us from all kinds of evil—affecting body or soul, property or reputation—and at last, when our final hour comes, may grant us a blessed end and take us by grace from this valley of tears to himself in heaven.

 

PASTOR ELLEN:  Like the previous petition, this petition teaches us that we are broken and powerless to deliver ourselves. It also teaches us that we need deliverance from our very own self and our bondage to self. There is real evil in the world, evil that we are powerless to combat without God’s aid, God’s presence to us, and God’s presence within our lives. We must renounce our own power to deliver.  God will and does deliver us.

ZACHARY:  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen.  What is this?

 

PAUL:  That I should be certain that such petitions are acceptable to and heard by our Father in heaven, for he himself commanded us to pray like this and has promised to hear us. “Amen, amen” means “Yes, yes, it is going to come about just like this.”

 

KIM:  This last part of the prayer, the doxology, is contained in some manuscripts but not others, yet the idea is biblical.  Here again we reaffirm that our personal “kingdom” is not what matters.  Again, we are powerless. God is the power – not us.  The glory is God’s – not ours.  I need to let go and learn that I will always gain my strength, power, glory, sustenance, and significance from God and God alone. World without end. Yes, yes, it is going to come about just like this!  

PASTOR

Jul 23, 2019

This is a special musical performance of Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee by Tammy Heilman at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

Jul 15, 2019

This is a special musical presentation of How Can I Keep from Singing? from the Treble Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. 

Jul 15, 2019

The parable of the Good Samaritan is probably one of the best-known stories Jesus told.  As we make our faith journey through life, this story provides a scriptural GPS, routing us in the only direction God desires for us – the way of love and compassion for all others. 

 Have you ever met people who become so focused on the law that, for them, the law is ultimate?  When focus on the law – the ten commandments – becomes ultimate, the law is no longer received as gift, and then obedience to the law becomes behavioral proof of faith.  When this happens, the gospel message is no longer a word of love but one of judgement.  When law becomes our focus, then our actions must be justified by our understanding of and obedience to the law as humanly defined.  Far too often, this perspective allows us to live with the illusion that we are in control.  And, it reinforces the idea that a life of discipleship is a life marked by knowing good from evil, rather than a life of knowing God and God’s mercy and grace.  The lawyer who encounters Jesus in today’s gospel reading lives and functions out of this perspective.  And, Jesus’ teaching today means that his world, as ordered by his increasingly narrow definition of neighbor, must end.  You see, his definition of neighbor has been increasingly defined by the letter of the law and not by the gospel which is all about love and grace.

This lawyer, a religious leader and expert in the Law of Moses – the Torah – is on a fishing expedition of sorts as he comes to test Jesus.  He wants to know if Jesus will use the law in a proper way to answer his weighty question when he asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus responds by answering the question with another question.  Jesus asks, “What do you think is the answer?  What is written in the law?  What do you read there that might address your question?”  By doing this, Jesus forces the lawyer to put his cards on the table.  When Jesus asks, “What do you think is the answer?” he slowly begins to reel the lawyer in.  And, guess what, it is as if this lawyer had been waiting for this opportunity all along.   He intimately knows the law and Hebrew scriptures.  So he quickly responds by giving Jesus a comprehensive statement of proper ethical conduct as he says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself."

Jesus praises the answer, but he is not yet finished with this lawyer.  So, he begins to pull the attorney into deeper conversation.  He pulls him in to the place where proper words and proper actions meet.  It is here that Jesus offers a surprisingly simple summary statement. "Do this and you will live."  Well, the lawyer takes the bait.   He is hooked, and he continues his line of questioning by asking, “Who is my neighbor?”  Well, never missing an opportunity to teach, Jesus responds with a story.

Now, it is important to remember that Jesus’ stories, or parables, were designed to shatter perceptions and perspectives and shake people out of their mindset.  The parables of Jesus were not meant to be comfortable, sweet stories.  They were always meant to turn people’s thinking inside out and upside down.  In fact, one theologian calls Jesus’ parables narrative time bombs designed to explode people into new awareness.  

        Anyway, Jesus tells the suspenseful story of a man traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho.  We can surmise from the way Jesus tells this story that the traveling man was probably Jewish because this was a road going right through the heart of Judea.  In his story this traveler is ambushed, robbed, beaten, stripped, and left to die in a pool of blood.  And the big question in the story is who is going to stop and help?  Two experts in the law walk right on past the beaten, nearly dead man.  They know the commandments, to love God and neighbor.  They even have them memorized.  But, they don’t stop to help a stranger at the point of death.  The twist comes with the third traveler.  A Samaritan, an outsider, a hated enemy whose religious interpretation and practices make the lawyer’s blood boil and his stomach churn.  This reviled, despised Samaritan is the only one who shows the dying man hospitality, kindness, mercy, generosity and love to the extreme.  The one who is hated and reviled becomes the hero of the story and Jesus again shockingly turns social norms upside-down and inside-out!

The learned lawyer had requested a definition of neighbor and he receives a scandalous and alarming description of mercy, grace and love, leaving him with the most soul-searching question of all.  Of each of the characters in this story, where does he find himself and who is the neighbor? 

         This story does not bear the impact of parable for us because it is so familiar to us.  But, if we were to reinterpret this story and understanding of neighbor for our own time, who are those we would least expect to see and comprehend as neighbor?  Who are those who sit on the margins, stereotyped as being “less than” because their religious views, culture, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity is different from us?  Professor and author, Amy-Jill Levine, when teaching about this parable and the compassion of the Samaritan, insists,

We should think of ourselves as the person in the ditch and then ask, “Is there anyone, from any group, about whom we’d rather die than acknowledge, ‘She offered help’ or ‘He showed compassion’?”  More, is there any group whose members might rather die than help us?  If so, then we know how to find the modern equivalent for the Samaritan. To recognize the shock and possibility of the parable in practical, political and religious terms, we might translate its first-century geographical and religious concerns into our modern idiom.

 

          Who is the one who proved neighbor?  Who is the one who loved God with heart, mind, soul, and strength and loved neighbor as the self?  In a lecture on this parable, before an audience who had experienced the horrors of 9/11 firsthand, Professor Levine suggested the one who proved neighbor was a member of Al-Qaeda.  (Feasting on the Word, p. 242.) 

So, for us, considering what is happening today in our culture, “Who are the ones who love God with heart, mind, soul and strength and love neighbor as self?”  Wham!!  Suddenly, for us, this parable begins to bear the perception shattering, explosive nature it did for our learned attorney.  As we work on living together in today’s global village, the Samaritan lives among us by many other names, the names of any we consider enemies, any we loathe, any we consider “other”.  And, the big surprise is that God shows up and is present in the most unlikely, unexpected places, working through the most unexpected people – even those we may despise. 

        Now, our definition of neighbor is redefined.  Furthermore, consider the idea that each one of us is the person in the ditch, the one who lies helpless and wounded beside the road, the one who needs to be rescued.  And, along comes a Good Samaritan, a Good Samaritan named Jesus – despised and rejected – he is the one who comes to save us, speak tenderly to us, tend to our wounds, lift us into his arms, and take us to the place of healing. 

          Today, with the horrific treatment we see taking place in detention centers at our southern border, we grieve as a church regarding the injustice and inhumane actions of our government.   Our country is not practicing love.  But, the gospel is love, and that is what we as Christians are called to live.  The gospel of love calls us to be present and to show up in the places of pain.   It is in those places of pain, under the shadow of the cross, where Jesus promises he will meet us to be present with us through mercy, hope and transformation to new life. 

So, again, as we think about what is presently happening in our country, the question for each of us is who is your neighbor and who are you called to serve, to love, and be present to as neighbor?  Who has been neighbor to you?  Jesus Christ has been neighbor to you.  The crucified one has been neighbor to you.  Have you felt God’s mercy make your own heart merciful, compassionate and loving?  Then in your heart you will know what this means:  Go and do likewise!

Jul 13, 2019

This is a special musical performance of O Beautiful For Spacious Skies by Pastor Ellen Schoepf. 

Jul 7, 2019

On this holiday weekend, as we explore today’s gospel reading, we again discover Christ’s call to be vulnerable and hospitable, two aspects of life that I fear are diminishing in our culture.  For this reason, I find Jesus’ words to us today to be very meaningful.  They are also helpful because he talks about community.  And, we live in a culture that is continually experiencing the disintegration of community life.

As Americans, we have fallen in love with the idea of the self-made person.  We love the rags to riches story.  We have created the myth that if you make it to the top of your profession, you deserve a huge salary because you are the one responsible for getting to the top.   We have this sense in which we are to live as invulnerable human beings.  This rugged individual ethos permeates virtually every aspect of our lives.  It infuses the way in which we think about achievement, education, vocation, the way we are to live and raise our children, the way we perceive others, the way we relate to others, the way in which we welcome others, and even the way in which we understand religion and faith. 

When writing about the challenge of individualism in our present culture, theologian, David Lose, suggests, “this individualism we celebrate is as much a myth of the culture as is our invulnerability.  The pilgrims and pioneers who settled this land were incredibly aware that their survival depended on each other.  The colonies they eventually established, after all, we called ‘commonwealths,’ places where the good of any individual was inextricably linked to the good of the whole.  And as Benjamin Franklin said at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, ‘We must hang together, or assuredly we will all hang separately.’”  The truth of the matter is, the people who founded this country needed each other and needed community in order to survive. 

It is striking to me that, on this holiday weekend as we celebrate our nation and our identity as people, we have a Bible reading that teaches us about vulnerability, hospitality and community.  When it comes to a life of faith the reality is that the Bible paints a picture of life that rarely coincides with our culture’s most commonly held assumptions.  Today, the writer of Luke’s gospel presents the antithesis of an individualistic, self-sufficient, invulnerable way of thinking and being as we learn about Jesus sending his disciples on a mission.   Jesus sends seventy disciples out and he does not send them to be self-sufficient.  No, he sends them out completely unprepared!  Inescapable vulnerability is implicit in the mission to which Jesus calls his disciples.  Their well-being is utterly dependent on the people to whom they have been sent, some of whom will respond with hostility rather than hospitality.  And you can never tell which you’re going to get until it’s too late.

I love the way this story is told in The Message translation of the Bible.  We hear Jesus say the following:

“What a huge harvest!  And how few the harvest hands.  So, on your knees; ask the God of the Harvest to send harvest hands.  On your way!  But be careful – this is hazardous work.  You’re like lambs in a wolf pack.  Travel light.  Comb and toothbrush and no extra luggage.  Don’t loiter and make small talk with everyone you meet along the way.  When you enter a home, greet the family, ‘Peace.’  If your greeting is received, then it’s a good place to stay.  But if it’s not received, take it back and get out.  Don’t impose yourself.  Stay at one home, taking your meals there, for a worker deserves three square meals.  Don’t move from house to house, looking for the best cook in town.  When you enter a town and are received, eat what they set before you, heal anyone who is sick, and tell them, ‘God’s kingdom is right on your doorstep!’  When you enter a town and are not received, go out in the street and say, ‘The only thing we got from you is the dirt on our feet, and we’re giving it back.  Did you have any idea that God’s kingdom was right on your doorstep?’”

 

         Yes, inescapable vulnerability is implicit in the mission to which Jesus calls and sends his disciples.  He sends them out in pairs, not individually, and instructs them to rely entirely upon the hospitality of others.  He is also blunt about how difficult and dangerous this mission might be.  The seventy will be going into a hostile world, yet Jesus does not arm them for battle; rather, they will go out like lambs among wolves.  Jesus sends them seemingly unprepared and quite uncertain of what they will encounter.  And, no matter how hard they try, they cannot control the outcome.  The outcome depends totally on God.  Some of the people they visit will not share in the message and peace they offer. Sometimes, whole towns will reject them.  But, the gift Jesus gives as he sends them is the gift of his presence, the promise that he goes with them, and the gift of teamwork and trusting obedience.  As they work together, entering into this shared mission, their hope and welfare are inextricably linked to that of those around them and those they meet.  Jesus commands vulnerable dependence from his disciples as they go proclaiming the good news that God’s kingdom has drawn near.  And, the role of hospitality in their mission cannot be overstated.  The hospitality of this group of disciples is shown in their mission of peace, in which they avoid all forms of exploitation, self-centeredness, and personal gain.  Their single purpose is to prepare others to encounter Jesus.  They are told to do this through relational, grateful presence and gracious conversation.  

         Today’s reading is instructional for us on this holiday weekend.  We live in a world that is increasingly narcissistic.  We live in a world that is increasingly “I” and “me” centered with progressively harsh edges that divide, a culture in which weaponized rhetoric and hostility against any we perceive as “other” spews forth.  Yet, we follow in the footsteps of the seventy messengers.  We have been called as a community of people, not individuals, a community of people to live and share with all others the good news of God’s love, grace, healing and peace.  This is the mission of the church.  This is how we are called to live as we relate to all others, and this is what we are called to proclaim.  We are not to stay cocooned in this building.  We have been sent out to do the work God calls us to do.  We do not work alone because our mission is a shared mission.  We work together as the community of Christ and our hope and welfare are inextricably linked to that of those around us.  Together, we have been appointed to go out into the world and announce that God’s kingdom is right on people’s doorstep!   And we go remembering Jesus’ promise that he is with us as we invite others into this mission of which we are a part. 

This Jesus mission is always one of compassion, one that respects the dignity of all persons.  This Jesus mission is always one of grace, forgiveness, meaning, purpose and peace.  This Jesus mission means working and living together in intimate community, becoming vulnerable and, yes, giving up our need to control.  And, guess what?  When we live in this way, it makes this this mission and the work we do a lot more fun because it is all about what God is doing and has already done and it is not about us.  All we need to do is live into God’s call and tend to the harvest God has already planted! 

Jul 7, 2019

Over the past year, our synod’s Publicly Engaged Church Committee has spent a considerable amount of time focusing on the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  So, as I studied today’s gospel reading, I was reminded of Bonhoeffer’s book The Cost of Discipleship in which he wrote, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”  Bonhoeffer knew discipleship is not easy.  He knew that there comes a time in each person’s faith journey when it is clearly and unequivocally necessary to declare the depth of one’s commitment to Christ.  And, today, we hear Jesus teaching about this aspect of discipleship.

Today, we come to a major turning point in Luke’s telling of the Jesus story.  Jesus “sets his face” toward Jerusalem, meaning he sets his face to the cross.  Jesus is resolute and single-minded in purpose.  And, as he and the disciples are on their way, someone asks if he or she can come along.  Eager to follow Jesus, this person says, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Now, you would think this is something Jesus would love to hear.  You’d think he might respond, “Well thank you.  I would love to have you follow.”  Instead, Jesus’ response seems harsh and unreasonable as he curtly says, “Are you ready to rough it?  Look at the animals.  They have all kinds of places to lay their heads, but we do not.  We’re not staying in the best inns, you know.  This is not going to be an easy journey.”

Then, Jesus says to another person, “Follow me.”  And, the guy responds saying, “Certainly, but first excuse me for a couple of days, please.  I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral.”  Well, Jesus appears to be getting quite testy and even radical as his response seems to attack what many of us find important – family values.  Here we have a fella who wants to make sure his father gets an honorable burial, something I am sure all of us consider to be of utmost importance, maybe even sacred.  And, Jesus essentially seems to instruct the man to abandon his family!  Jesus says, “Follow me, and let the dead bury the dead.  First things first when you follow me.  Your business is life; not death.  And life is urgent:  Announce God’s kingdom!” 

So, after Jesus says this, another person says, “I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first excuse me while I get things straightened out at home.”  And, Jesus responds to this person and to each of us by saying, “No procrastination.  No backward looks.  You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow.  Seize the day.”

Well, Jesus just seems to be getting grumpy and crabby and, truthfully, I do not like his response.  You see, if I am honest with myself, I understand what these people are saying to Jesus.  There are reasons why it is very difficult to drop everything, to just leave everything behind and follow.  I want to say, “Jesus, when I leave to go on a journey, I really do like to get certain things done and in order before I leave.  There are arrangements that must be made:  we have an important soccer tournament to finish; we need to make one more trip to our summer cottage; the lights have to be put on a timer so they turn on every night and people will then think we are home; the refrigerator needs to be emptied of anything that will spoil; and, I just cannot leave without saying goodbye to my husband and kids and go off without leaving them my itinerary so they know where I am!” 

Well, remember, the writer of Luke has told us, “Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem.”  He is focused on a mission and there is great urgency, urgency about bringing forth God’s reign.  Jesus’ response to some very legitimate requests reminds us that there will always be justifiable excuses causing us to postpone living a life of discipleship.  Other important matters will always compete for our attention.  However, when our loyalties to family, community, sports, pleasure, tradition, or anything else claim first place, we who are disciples compromise Jesus’ call on our lives.  Quite frankly, putting Jesus first and letting go of the seemingly important “stuff” of life, can mean making some heart-wrenching decisions.  Yet, this passage from Luke reminds us that neither family, nor religious, social, or business obligations, or even patriotism as we look forward to a holiday weekend, none of these, no matter how good or mandatory, can stand in the way of following Jesus.  None of these are ultimate!   Only love and compassion are ultimate.  Contemporary theologian, Fred Craddock, puts it this way:

The radicality of Jesus' words lies in his claim to priority over the best, not the worst, of human relationships. Jesus never said to choose him over the devil but to choose him over the family. And the remarkable thing is that those who have done so have been freed from possessions and worship of family and have found the distance necessary to love them. (Luke, Interpretation Commentaries; p. 144)

 

Frankly, none of us are going to make the cut to follow Jesus. Our desires for soft pillows and comfortable beds, for valued family time, for leisure time, even our sense of patriotism will frequently have higher priorities than following Jesus – especially following Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and the cross. We might be willing to give up some evils in our lives to follow Jesus, but to give up all these good things – to put them as a lower priority than Jesus? …  When writing about Jesus’ call to us today, Lutheran pastor, Brian Stoffregen, says:

Frequently, I think, that the greatest threat to the gospel is "the good" not "the evil." When we recognize “the evil” in our lives, we usually want to get rid of it. However, when we become content with “the good” -- the good in our lives and in our congregations -- we may fail to follow Jesus and seek what is “the best.”

 

For those of us who are Lutheran, grace and love are part of the fabric of our belief system.  We truly believe that it is grace, love and compassion that change people.  However, we should not let this focus on grace deter us from facing the challenging aspects of Jesus’ call to discipleship.  Jesus’ words to us today are tough and rather hard to swallow.  Yet, his toughness comes from the depth of his love, compassion and grace for this broken world.  Jesus intentionally sets his face toward Jerusalem and he is now focused on his upcoming death.  He is intentionally facing the ugly, violent, unfair, cruel things that this world does to love and grace.  Jesus knows such love is not easy and sometimes it even takes you to situations where you have no place to lay your head.  Jesus knows that setting his face toward Jerusalem means his head will hang from a cross.  And yet, Jesus sets his face to Jerusalem to embrace the cross for the sake of the world.  Today, we see in him a single-mindedness of purpose that is prompted by God’s profound, all-encompassing love for humanity and the entire cosmos. 

My friends, a life of discipleship cannot be a part-time, once-in a while, off and on commitment.  It is a life-changing shift in direction, a shift in priorities in which our own human needs and wants become subservient to Christ’s call to share and LIVE God’s transforming love and grace in this world.  Those who embrace this call and are embraced by the radical love of God made known in Jesus and his cross must necessarily see that this love always stands with the most vulnerable in this world.  Virtually everything – friendships, love of family, work, sports, community, love of country – everything looks different when viewed through the lens of God’s sacrificial love for the cosmos.  And, as I look at some of the things happening in our country at the present time, this kind of love means naming what is happening at our southern border detention centers as immoral.  It means standing in that tough place with the most vulnerable, holding our leaders accountable and demanding change.  The reality is that God’s transforming love will take you to places where you never thought you would go, some of the toughest of places in life.  In fact, it is going to take you to the toughest place where you must leave your old self behind and never be the same, the place where you will be forever changed!

Jesus is not in a bad mood.  He’s focused.  He’s on his way to the cross.  Discipleship is not easy, but it takes us to a much deeper place in this faith journey.  And, yes, we are reassured that that deeper place truly is a place of life – new life – and a place of deep, deep joy

Jul 1, 2019

This is a special musical performance of Love in any Language by Deb Borton at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

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