This is a special musical presentation of Mary, Did You Know, a solo by Chris Lewis at Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

This is a special musical presentation of Hallelujah to the King by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

This is a special musical presentation of He Shall Be Called by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

Tonight, we come together to celebrate and reflect upon the God who pours God’s very self into a human person, the God who stands outside of time, yet entered time and became human, the God who took on flesh and bone to dwell among us. Tonight, we celebrate the mystery of the God who is infinite but becomes finite; the God who is all powerful but becomes all-vulnerable.  We reflect upon the God whose very womb gave birth to all of creation, to the entire cosmos, but now is born of a woman’s womb to bear the good news of God’s grace and love for this world.  We reflect upon the living, creative Word that spoke the universe into being, but now cries from a baby’s lungs.  We reflect upon the breath of God that swept across the dark waters of the deep separating the day from the night, but now quietly exhales, breathing softly on a teenage mother’s cheek.  Tonight, we reflect upon and celebrate the gift of incarnation – the ultimate gift of love.  We celebrate God coming among us and to us with skin on. We celebrate God’s unconditional love for this world made manifest for all to see in the person of Jesus.  And, as we ponder this mystery, will we recognize him, will we know him when he comes among us? 

Yes, as we come and stand in awe of this great mystery, we must ask ourselves, “Will we recognize him?” because this One who takes on our flesh is willing to dwell in what we might consider the most despicable of places, the most vulnerable of people, and the most wretched of circumstances. God gave God’s own true Son to us to show us how deeply God loves this world and how each one of us is immeasurably loved, but will we know him when he comes?

I share with you a story that may be helpful as we ponder this question.  The story is about an old shoe cobbler who had spent his life making new shoes and repairing old shoes.  One Christmas Eve night, he dreamed that Jesus would come to visit him the next day. The dream was so very real that he was convinced it would come true.  So, the next morning he got up, went out and cut green boughs, used them to decorate his little shop, and got all ready for Jesus to come and visit. He was so sure that Jesus was going to come he just sat down and waited for Him.

Well, the hours passed, and Jesus didn’t come. But an old man came. The man was a refugee who had walked for miles after fleeing danger in his home country. He was seeking a safe place to live. This old refugee came inside the cobbler’s shop for a moment to get out of the winter cold and get warm. As the cobbler talked with him, he noticed the holes in the old man’s shoes, so he reached up on the shelf and got him a new pair of shoes. He made sure they fit, made sure the man’s socks were dry, and then sent him on his way.

Still, the cobbler waited. But Jesus didn’t come. However, an old woman came. A woman who was hungry because she hadn’t had a decent meal in days. They sat and visited for a while, and then he prepared some food for her to eat. He gave her a nourishing meal and sent her on her way.

Again, he sat down to wait for Jesus.  But Jesus still didn’t come. Then he heard a little boy crying out in front of his shop. He went out and talked with the boy and discovered that the boy had been separated from his parents.  The little boy was afraid and very lonely, and didn’t know how to get home. So, the cobbler put on his coat, took the boy by the hand and led him home.

When he came back to his little shoe shop it was almost dark and the streets were emptied of people. Then, in a moment of despair, he lifted his voice to heaven and said, “Oh Lord Jesus, why didn’t you come?” And, in that moment of silence, he seemed to hear a voice saying, “Oh shoe cobbler, lift up your heart. I kept my word. Three times I knocked at your friendly door. Three times my shadow fell across your floor. I was the man with the bruised feet. I was the woman you gave food to eat. I was the homeless boy on the street.”

Yes, Jesus had come, and the cobbler had truly experienced Christmas. Jesus had come and the cobbler just didn’t realize it. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said:

Christ comes in the form of the beggar, of the dissolute human child in ragged clothes, asking for help. Christ confronts you in every person that you meet. As long as there are people, Christ will walk the earth as your neighbor…

Yes, the God of the cosmos, the cosmic Christ, who left God’s place in glory to take on human flesh in the person of Jesus and visit us in this dark dreary place, has come to give us God’s very self, all because of God’s unconditional love for all people and all of creation, and God’s love for you. Christmas is about God pouring God’s very self into all creation, and Christ’s presence is continually and forever being born among us. To be Christian is to see Christ in everyone and everything.  That is the reality that shapes and informs everything we do, the way we live.  So, celebrate Christ’s coming tonight, tomorrow, and throughout all twelve days of Christmas.  And then, celebrate and continue to live the meaning and work of Christmas every day throughout the year. As Howard Thurman said:

When the song of the angel is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flocks –

The work of Christmas begins:

To find the lost, to heal the broken,

To feed the hungry, to release the prisoner,

To rebuild the nations, to bring peace among people,

to make music in the heart.

This is a special musical presentation of O Come, Lord Jesus Come by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

The Birth of Jesus the Messiah

American political satirist and journalist, P. J. O’Rourke, once said, “Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.”  I agree with him - family love is very messy, and the messy, dysfunctional aspects of family life too often become systemic, passed down through generations.  Quite honestly, life is very messy.  And the Bible is brutally honest about this messiness in our lives as it contains stories of all kinds of people in the depth of messiness and dysfunction.  One of the beautiful aspects of scripture is that it speaks the truth about our very lives, the truth about the messiness that creates all sorts of systemic problems within families and communities, the messiness that prevents us from living in relationship with others, the messiness everyone experiences in some form.  And it is so fascinating that when looking at the messiness in our own lives, our reaction to it or our inability to thoughtfully respond in a healthy manner is usually rooted in some aspect of fear.

In today’s gospel reading, we meet up with Joseph as we hear Matthew’s version of Jesus’ birth.  While the gospel of Luke focuses on Mary, the gospel of Matthew focuses on Joseph.  And guess what?  Joseph faces a very messy situation!  Matthew does not give us the sweet, saccharine, syrupy, heart-warming stories of angels and shepherds and a baby born in a cattle stall.  No.  Matthew focuses on Joseph and the heart-wrenching struggle he was facing.  The woman to whom Joseph is engaged, the woman to whom he is already contractually espoused, is pregnant.  Mary and Joseph have not yet moved in with each other, they have not yet had sex, and Joseph experiences extreme heartache as he faces a very messy problem.  Mary is pregnant and this could only mean one thing, she has been unfaithful.  Can you imagine the emotions Joseph must have had when he heard this news?   Anger, shock, hurt, disappointment, betrayal, fear and a need to distance himself from the mess.

Yet, as Matthew describes Joseph and the situation in which he finds himself, Matthew calls Joseph “righteous.”   Now, to be righteous, according to Torah, one must strictly follow the law.  Therefore, as a good law-abiding Jew, Joseph could have had Mary stoned to death.  After all, stoning was the punishment commanded in chapter twenty-two of Deuteronomy for engaged women who slept with other men.  But Matthew also tells us Joseph was a man of compassion.  So, instead of stoning Mary, Joseph decided he would quietly dismiss her as his wife.  A quiet dismissal would hopefully minimize the public disgrace she would have to face.  It is fascinating that, in the depth of his fear and the messiness, what never occurred to Joseph was that there is yet another way to be righteous - the way of acceptance and forgiveness and grace. Joseph, all on his own, couldn't possibly imagine how God could be present in so difficult, so utterly messy, so heartbreaking, so embarrassing, and so dangerous a situation as Mary's pregnancy.  Therefore, God had to help him.  

Joseph was afraid.  He was afraid to take Mary as his wife.  The gospel writer tells us that, in the deep darkness of sleep, God came to Joseph in a dream.  An angel of the Lord spoke to him saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  God brought truth, grace, forgiveness, and love into the irrational depths and quandary of Joseph's mind, heart and being.  In ways deeper and more magnificent than the mind can possibly imagine, God changed Joseph.  And because God changed Joseph, Joseph became a channel of God's grace in the world.

In the depth of the messiness of life, in the mire and sludge of the unexpected and unexplainable, in that which Joseph perceived as betrayal, in the overwhelming darkness of an experience that created fear – yes, in that place, Joseph finds God present to him.  God penetrated the darkness and the fear within Joseph, and that experience of God led Joseph to take Mary as his wife and name the child “Jesus” which means “God saves.”

Now, Matthew was writing to a Jewish Christian audience, people who intimately knew Jewish scripture.  So, the gospel writer connects Joseph’s experience to the words of the prophet Isaiah, the words we heard in our first reading today.  The prophet says:

“Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and they shall name him Immanuel.”   (Immanuel is the Hebrew word for “God with us”). 

The truth about this Isaiah passage is that when Isaiah spoke these words to King Ahaz, the king was not very hopeful.  When invited by the prophet Isaiah to “ask a sign” of God, Ahaz was not interested.  In fact, Ahaz said, “I will not ask.”  You see, Ahaz was living in fear and he was sure he would be defeated at the hand of the conquering Assyrians.  However, Isaiah – good prophet that he was – was persistent.  He pointed to the perennial sign of hope and new life for all people in any time saying, “a young woman will conceive and bear a son.”  The truth about Isaiah’s words to Ahaz is that the baby of which he was speaking was already in utero.  We are not told who the mother of that baby was.  But, because a newborn child is always the promise of hope, even in hard times, Isaiah names the child as a sign of God’s presence:  Immanuel God with us. 

Immanuel, God with us!  These are powerful words packed full of meaning and, centuries after Isaiah, Matthew connects these words to Jesus’ birth. These words gave Jesus identity and, as theologian Daniel Patte suggests, they do not simply describe Jesus.  No, these words “Immanuel, God with us” were part of Jesus’ very vocation.  Jesus’ calling was and is to manifest and make known God’s presence in people’s lives and save people from their sins. Jesus’ calling then and now, is to manifest and make know God’s presence to us in the depth of our fear and the messiness of our lives.

Joseph discovered that the presence of God in the depth of the messiness of life drives out fear.  God’s presence moved him beyond fear.  Joseph also discovered that the experience of God’s presence brings forgiveness.  And, he discovered God’s presence brings change – change within self, change within the mess, and change to the world as he perceived it to be.

We live in a world that is notorious for crushing hope.  We live in a world that is notorious for turning love into a stingy commodity as if there is not enough to go around.  We live in a world where we participate in creating systemic messes - messes in our lives, messes in our families, messes in our communities, monumental messes in our country and colossal messes in the world.  So, I ask you, what are the messes in which you live?  Listen to the voice of God’s presence in your life, the voice that will penetrate the darkness of any situation, the voice that always says, “Do not be afraid.”   Listen to the voice that always says, “You are loved, and your sins are forgiven.”

Christmas is all about God’s presence to us, Immanuel God with us. Christmas is all about incarnation.  Christmas is about the love and grace of God that is on the way, the love that is in fact already here!!  Christmas is all about God putting skin on God’s dream for the world – about God’s dream becoming flesh in this very broken, messy world.  Christmas is God’s invitation to each one of us to experience within ourselves the love that forgives sin and the love that comes to bring healing to the world.  And, it is only the presence of Immanuel, God with us, that transforms the systemic, predictable, messy patterns of living and enables us to live into the dream of God where all things are made new.  Yes, love is on the way and the Child will be born again in us, in the depth of our neediness, in the depth of our messiness, in our hurting and in our pain, and in our deep longing for God.  Do not be afraid because the hopes and fears of all the years are met in this One, Immanuel, God with us – this One who is, in fact, already here!

Today's sermon was the Children's Christmas Pageant at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan. Please join along and celebrate the great work of our young church members!

This is a special musical presentation of Creation Will Be At Peace by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

I have a quotation by theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, hanging above my desk and I read it every week. His words have meaning for me as I work on my sermon.  This is what he said, “People have an idea that the preacher is an actor on a stage and they are the critics, blaming or praising him [or her].  What they don’t know is that they are the actors on the stage; he [or she] (the preacher) is merely the prompter standing in the wings, reminding them of their lost lines.” In other words, as we gather to worship, the liturgy that we experience week after week, that work of the people, is a work that we do.  We hear the readings and proclamation of Scripture and then we act out the Gospel in the ritual drama of a meal.  We believe that God acts in our words and, in that ritual of drama making, the Gospel happens.  And then, that work of the people happens not simply in the context of Sunday morning worship, it continues to happen as we leave worship and live our lives throughout the week. I really appreciate Kierkegaard’s words when he says the gathered people are the actors and the preacher is the prompter standing in the wings reminding the people of their lost lines.

I am reminded of Kierkegaard’s words as we hear today’s gospel reading about this unkempt, eccentric preacher, John the Baptist.  John is the one standing in the wings of the wilderness on the banks of the Jordan river, crying out lost lines to the actors saying, “This is it!  Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.  Turn around, turn back to God.”  And, I have to say that for someone who might be considered a “prompter standing in the wings,” he is the one who is stealing the show. 

You just gotta love John the Baptist.  He is such a colorful figure.  I love it when he appears on the scene each Advent.  This intriguing, eccentric, prophetic figure is the one who introduces us to the narratives of Jesus’ ministry in all the gospels.  And, in Matthew, he bursts on the scene with this fiery, passionate, colorful language as he proclaims his message of repentance.

So, what is repentance?  When we look at the word, metanoia, which is the Greek word for repentance in scripture, it refers to far more than simply being or saying one is sorry for past sins.  It is far more than mere regret or remorse for such sins.  While that is in part what repentance means, the heart of the word refers to a turning away from the past way of life and turning to the inauguration of a new one.  It literally means, “If you’re on the wrong road, turn around and go the other way!” 

          Another understanding of repentance, one that I find so meaningful, comes from Lutheran theologian, Richard Jensen. He describes repentance as it relates to baptism.  And, by the way, baptism is something that John the Baptist is doing as he calls people to repent.  Jensen writes:

The daily baptismal experience has many names. It may be called repentance. Unfortunately, repentance is often understood as an "I can" experience. "I am sorry for my sins. I can do better. I can please you, God." So often we interpret repentance as our way of turning to God. That cannot be. Christianity is not about an individual turning to God. Christianity is about God turning to us.

In repenting, therefore, we ask the God who has [already] turned towards us, buried us in baptism and raised us to new life, to continue his work of putting us to death. Repentance is an "I can't" experience. To repent is to volunteer for death. Repentance asks that the "death of self" which God began to work in us in baptism continue to this day. The repentant person comes before God saying, "I can't do it myself, God. Kill me and give me new life. You buried me in baptism. Bury me again today. Raise me to a new life." That is the language of repentance. Repentance is a daily experience that renews our baptism. [Touched by the Sprit, p. 49]

I would add that we should note the command to “Repent,” as we find it in today’s reading, is in present tense.  This denotes continual or repeated actions: "Keep on repenting!" "Continually be repentant!" It isn't like a door we pass through once that gets us into the kingdom.  Repentance is the ongoing lifestyle of the people in the kingdom of God.  And, repentance and its seal in baptism signal another theme to be sounded repeatedly in Matthew’s gospel: God's power is present, but it is not unrelated to what we do.  One thing is clear for Matthew, God's power calls for and enables a transformed new life of discipleship. Repentance then directs our vision not so much to sorrow for the past, but to the promise of a new beginning. The promise is that, because God's reign is so near, it has the power to bring about this new orientation of life.

And what is this new orientation?  Well, it is Gods’ vision for this world, God’s deep desire for peace and equity for all people.  It is what we find in Isaiah’s vision in our first reading today, Isaiah’s hope-filled vision for all of creation.  In Isaiah, we are given images of God’s dream for this world – images of righteousness, of equity, of peace, of the cessation of harm and war, of the unity of all nations under the rule of God.  As people who live into the reign of God, that is people who live into the presence and power of God, we live into a world where God’s reign is so near it has the power to bring about this new orientation of life.   

I find it interesting that dreams, especially hope-filled dreams, have a way of shaping what it is we are enabled to see. One theologian suggests, “Hope-filled dreams are like lenses that train us to interpret and to act in the present. Each generation learns to dream the visions that are taught by those who have dreamed before and by those who are able to keep dreaming in the present. To borrow a metaphor, every Christian needs to have a ‘hope chest.’” 

Every Christian needs to have a “hope chest.” For Christians, our hope chest holds this vision of God’s dream for the world.  And, so we dream not just about what is, but about what it might be if God's reign, God’s kingdom, is indeed drawing near.  God invites us to dream something beyond what we can presently see.  We are invited to dream God’s dream about a different world where there is no predator or prey, no fear or hatred.  And, this is the dream that sets our course as we live into the reign of God, as we live into the presence and power of what God is already doing in this world. 

So, on this second Sunday of Advent as we prepare our hearts to make room for Christ’s arrival, I encourage you to turn around, turn toward God who has already turned toward you, and live into God’s dream for the world.  I think we will again be surprised at what God is up to.  We will again be surprised that the God of the universe was willing to enter into our very lives and our history and take on our vulnerability in order to give us hope.  The God we know in Jesus comes to earth, into our very existence, to take on our lot and our life and give us hope by being with us and for us, inviting us into abundant life, life that truly matters and has meaning.  And, this God who comes down out of heaven to pitch a tent among us in the person of Jesus, is inviting us to live into God’s dream for this world, helping us to see in the face of our neighbor, not a competitor for scarce resources, not an enemy, not a person to fear, but a sibling in Christ, our very own kin.

Yes, John the Baptist is standing in the wings prompting us and giving us our lost lines.  He is there pointing beyond himself to God, telling us the advent of a new age is upon us.  He is telling us that, in the person of Jesus, God is guiding us as we move through the wilderness of life and live into God’s kingdom of hope and love.

This is a special musical presentation of A Carol for Advent by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

On this first Sunday in Advent as we usher in a new church year, we begin a time of waiting.  Waiting is something all of us experience.  In many ways, one could say our whole life is spent waiting. We wait for all kinds of things.  A recorded voice puts us on hold as we wait on the phone while our ears are pumped with thin, irritating music. Our order hasn't come yet and we are hungry.  The driver in front of you is going so slowly and you cannot pass because of oncoming traffic. Certain circumstances cause us to ask questions like:  Will the rain or snow ever stop?  When will the paint finally dry? Will anyone ever understand? Will I ever change? Our kids ask, “How long is it until we get there?” or “How many days until Christmas?”  Life is simply a series of hopes, times of waiting, and only partial fulfillments.  Quite honestly, the human condition does seem to be a state of living with constantly unsatisfied desire as we wait for something that is truly fulfilling.  Advent invites us to understand with new patience that condition, that very difficult state of being.  Advent means coming, and so we wait for God’s coming.  We wait as we prepare for God’s greatest event.  And, as we begin this time of waiting, the first words given to us are from the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah’s world was a chaotic, unjust, broken, hurting, warring world.  Israel was a storm-tossed nation that was threatened by the powerful Assyrians to the north and east and menaced by the Egyptians to the south and west.  The king and his advisors were occupied with what they needed to do to protect themselves.  Events were out of control and fear was running rampant.  The people were waiting for God to reveal a word concerning their situation.  And, into that turmoil and storm-tossed world a voice stood out, the voice of Isaiah.  Through the prophet Isaiah, God did speak, does speak, and continues to speak.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of seeing a reality that is deeper than the reality the people were living.  He proclaims God’s vision for the world, holding up a vision of God’s future, the One to whom the future belongs.  He proclaims:

“Look!  Focus your eyes upon the mountain of the house of the Lord…For it shall rise up and be established as the highest of the mountains…And people of all races will come and say:  ‘Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob.  He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.’  God’s message comes from Jerusalem.  God will settle things fairly between nations.  God will make things right between many peoples so that they will turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes.  No more will nation fight nations; they won’t play war anymore. Come, let’s live in the light of God.” (The Message)

Into that chaotic, warring world, Isaiah speaks a word of hope and a word of peace.  Centered on God’s dream for the world, Isaiah’s vision involves more than a geographical location:  it is a place of light and truth, of justice and judgment, where God’s supreme power and authority are honored and enacted.  It is a vision place, a place of no more war.  Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann, has compared these words from Isaiah to the “I have a dream” speech from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Like Dr. King, Isaiah provided words of hope and peace as the people waited for that future God promised, a future that was very different from what was visible to them at the present moment. 

We are living in a chaotic, unjust, broken, hurting, warring world.  World leaders and their advisors are occupied with what they need to do to protect themselves. We have again experienced more gun violence and multiple mass shootings. Fear is running rampant in many places within our culture.  And, into this turmoil and storm-tossed world a voice stands out, the voice of Isaiah.  As we begin a new church year by intentionally waiting, Isaiah speaks and promises us a time when God’s ways will fully shape how all of us live.  Every single person – “all nations….all peoples” will be streaming toward the bright light of peace, and there is enough, for all.  It may not look like that right now, but Advent is about taking the long view of things and seeing where the arc of justice bends as we look to the future.  And, as we wait for that time of God’s fulfillment, God invites us not just to imagine and dream but to make God’s dream a priority in our everyday lives by living into that dream.  As people of faith, we live holding up a vision of God’s future for this world.  God’s vision for the world is not yet fulfilled but, if we believe that God has brought justice to the world, we live that justice and share in the work of making the world more just. We have been instructed in the Lord’s ways; now is the time to walk in them and take the Word of the Lord forth into the world – caring for the poor, feeding the hungry, working for peace, unity, and enduring justice for all people, especially those most in need of hope.  That is the work of the church. 

Many of you probably remember the story of Ruby Bridges, the little six-year-old who was one of the first African American children to integrate the New Orleans public schools. If you remember her story, every morning the federal marshals would escort Ruby through the lines of angry parents hurling insults, racial slurs, and violent words.  Then the same thing happened every afternoon when school got out.  This went on for weeks and then months, until finally virtually every white family had withdrawn their children from the school.  So, Ruby went to school all by herself for the better part of the semester. The situation caught the attention of Harvard child psychologist, Robert Coles.  Coles decided to go to New Orleans where he interviewed and spent time with Ruby and her parents. He interviewed her teacher, asked how she thought Ruby could tolerate such continual adversity and abuse.   Just listen to the verbatim from that teacher.  She said:

I was standing in the classroom looking out the window. I saw Ruby coming down the street with the federal marshals on both sides of her. The crowd was there shouting as usual. A woman spat at Ruby but missed. Ruby smiled at her. A man shook his fist at her. Ruby smiled. And then she walked up the steps, and she stopped and turned around and smiled one more time. You know what she told one of those marshals? She told him she prays for those people, the ones in that mob. She prays for them every night before going to sleep.

The interview prompted Coles to speak directly to Ruby about her prayers. "Yes," Ruby said, "I do pray for them." Coles asked, "Why? Why would you pray for people who are so mean to you and say such bad things about you?"  Ruby answered, "Because Mama said I should." Coles pressed on with questions. Ruby said, "I go to church. I go to church every Sunday, and we're told to pray for people, even bad people. Mama says it's true. My minister says the same thing. 'We don't have to worry,' he says. He came to our house, and he say, 'God is watching over us.'  He say, 'If I forgive the people and smile at them and pray for them, God will keep a good eye on everything and he'll protect us.'" Coles asked if she thought the minister was on the right track. "Oh, yes," Ruby said. And then in a way of explanation, "I'm sure God knows what is happening. God's got a lot to worry about, but there's bad trouble here. God can't help but notice. He may not do anything right now, but there will come a day, like they say in church, there will come a day. You can count on it. That's what they say in church."

Yes, there will come a day.  You can count on it.  That’s what the church says.  Ruby Bridges lived that as a child.  And, if Isaiah and Dr. King and Ruby Bridges could dream of peace and lift up that vision for us, we too can dream the dream of peace and re-arrange our individual lives and the life of our communities, large and small, to be peace-making communities of generosity, justice, and joy.  We can work to develop communities where people listen to each other, communities of self-examination, of acceptance, of welcome and hospitality, of change – even if that change is not easy or fast. 

Advent is about dreams and visions, the dream of God for this world, and how God’s dream comes true in flesh and blood, in the person of Jesus, and in and through the Church.  As we continue to wait for God’s coming in fullness, the promise of Advent is that what is coming is an unimaginable invasion, an invasion of holiness, an invasion of God in this world.  So, stay awake, and be alert, and wait. God is on the way.  And, as we wait, we do so by living God’s dream for this world in this present moment.  Come!  It is time to live in the light of God!

Over the past few months, I have been thinking a great deal about leadership and the personal characteristics we look for and value in good leaders.  Leadership is something many of us think about as we look to the future. In fact, as I along with Council members are presently looking for leaders who will be willing to serve within the life of the faith community over the next few years, I realize how important it is for us to understand what leadership means in the life of the church.  So, it very interesting that as we come to this last Sunday of the church year, that Sunday when we proclaim the reign of Christ as all in all, we receive scripture readings that force us to really grapple with what meaningful leadership looks like.  On this day we are essentially confronted with the question, “What does it mean for us to name Christ as our leader?  What can it mean for us to name Christ as our King?”

It is truly difficult for most Americans to understand living under royal rule.  After all, our identity as a nation was borne out of the experience of breaking away from royal rule and kingship.  When we think of a king, we tend to think of a ruler with authoritarian power.  When we think of kings and leaders with power, we think of those who oversee the work and bureaucracy of a nation. And we hope for a leader who is honest, has integrity, grants citizens a measure of security and affirms the values of the majority of the people.  We look to leaders who promise a better tomorrow for all people.  We tend to think of kings and rulers as people who hold positions of honor, people who are looked up to.  When we picture a king, we think of looking up to one who has power, to one who has been exalted. 

So on this last day of the church year, as we think about leadership, we look to Christ as our leader and ask what it means for us to name Christ as our king and Lord. Theologian, Robert Capon, in Hunting the Divine Fox, presents an interesting assessment of what American popular religion perceives Christ to be like, and I have to say it doesn't look much like Jesus.  He writes:

. . . almost nobody resists the temptation to jazz up the humanity of Christ. The true paradigm of the ordinary American view of Jesus is Superman: "Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. It's Superman! Strange visitor from another planet, who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never-ending battle for truth, justice and the American Way." If that isn't popular christology, I'll eat my hat. Jesus -- gentle, meek and mild, but with secret, souped-up, more-than‑human insides -- bumbles around for thirty-three years, nearly gets himself done in for good by the Kryptonite Kross, but at the last minute, struggles into the phone booth of the Empty Tomb, changes into his Easter suit and, with a single bound, leaps back up to the planet Heaven. It's got it all -- including, just so you shouldn't miss the lesson, kiddies: He never once touches Lois Lane.

You think that's funny? Don't laugh. The human race is, was and probably always will be deeply unwilling to accept a human messiah. We don't want to be saved in our humanity; we want to be fished out of it. We crucified Jesus, not because he was God, but because he blasphemed: He claimed to be God and then failed to come up to our standards for assessing the claim. It's not that we weren't looking for the Messiah; it's just that he wasn't what we were looking for. Our kind of Messiah [our kind of king] would come down from a cross. He would carry a folding phone booth in his back pocket. He wouldn't do a stupid thing like rising from the dead. He would do a smart thing like never dying.

Well, today we are given a picture of Christ the King, this one we call “Lord.”  And, in the picture we are given, this King is not revealed to us by looking up, but by looking down.  The royal face God reveals to us through the person of Jesus does not aspire to the heights of glory, power, wealth or fame.  No, to see the kingship revealed in Jesus the Christ, we must look down to the lowly life Jesus chose to walk.

So, what can it mean for us to name Christ as our King?  On this day, the writer of Luke’s gospel gives us an answer as he completely shatters our perceptions of what a king or ruler should look like. Our gospel reading is one in which Jesus, our King, is being derided, mocked and taunted.  Luke gives us the picture of one who has been falsely charged with fomenting rebellion against Rome.  He gives us a picture of Jesus on the cross, insulted, mocked and killed.  Today, we see Jesus, our King, as one who hangs there dying.   And what is revealed in this passage is miserable, deeply moving and shocking.  Quite frankly, we would prefer to hide our face rather than watch someone who is truly honorable be tortured, because even our compassion is not able to help this one who hangs there, this one we call “Lord.” 

The last moments of Jesus’ life all seem to be in stark contrast to what is valued as great in our world, to what we think kingship and leadership look like.  Jesus did not and does not come in power.  In fact, he refuses to come in power but instead appears in wretched vulnerability, humility, and love.  And, in doing so, he breaks a law, the law of death.  He breaks this law by ushering in God’s law of love.  You see, Jesus does not come vowing retribution even on those who crucify him.  Instead, he comes as one who is vulnerable and offers forgiveness and suffering love.  This Jesus does not come down off the cross to prove that he is a king with power.  Instead, he remains on that instrument of torture, humiliated, and representing all who suffer unjustly. 

This King we see hanging on a cross rules by pouring out redemption, forgiveness, and suffering love upon the entire world.  As Jesus hangs on a cross, we see a King who does not lord his greatness over all others, but instead forgives enemies and offers redemption to criminals.  And, in Jesus’ crucifixion and death, we discover that this leader, this King, is one who is numbered with the criminals.  This leader is counted as one of the transgressors.  This innocent One does not hang out with those in power but with the sinners, with the criminals, with the weak and the vulnerable, living and dying in solidarity with all those the powerful despise.  And, as this King is ruling from a cross, he calls us to follow his example by serving, forgiving, and loving all those in our lives, loving all those we consider “other.” 

So, what does it mean for us to name Christ as our King?  Well, for any who call Jesus “Lord,” it means we are called to join God’s “insistent, consistent, and persistent solidarity with the weak, the oppressed, and the forgotten of this world.  In short, the church of Jesus Christ reveals itself as faithful to its Lord only in so far as it stands with those who are most vulnerable.” (David Lose)  Whatever our desire for strength and security happens to be, the leader to whom we look is the one who leaves behind all strength and power and status, emptying himself and taking the form of a servant (Phil 2:7) in order to redeem those who are weak, vulnerable and lost.  And, guess what?  That includes us!   This one whom we call “Lord” is the one who redeems us today, forgives us always, showers and bathes us in suffering love, and sets us free to stand with those in need around us as we see in them the very presence of the God who always takes the side of the vulnerable.  That is what good leadership, true servant leadership, looks like.

This is a special musical presentation of Sing to the Lord by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir.

Today, Tammy Heilman gets what she purchased at our Raise the Roof Silent Auction.  Today, she, and all of you, get a five-minute sermon!!  So, because I only have five minutes, I am going to get right to the point.  Today’s gospel was not written to predict the end of time! It is an apocalyptic reading and it was written to help people stay faithful and live with a sense of courage, hope, and comfort when they were facing times of great anguish. These gospel words were written in the late 80s for early Gentile Christian communities facing persecution and times of great suffering.

In this reading, Jesus seems to be communicating a message that says suffering becomes an opportunity for testimony, and God will supply the words that need to be said. He says suffering provides an opportunity for those who have been changed to really tell of their hope in the depth of their struggle.  Such hope bears witness to the God who is deeply present in the depth of suffering and pain.

So, today I share a story, just one example of such testimony and reliance on hope and God’s presence in the depth of great suffering. This story tells of the witness of African American musician, Thomas Dorsey, who was the composer of the well-loved hymn, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Through this hymn that has become a gift to the world, Dorsey shares remarkable testimony that was born out of loss, grief, and chaos.  Born in Georgia in 1899, Dorsey was the son of a Baptist minister and he became a prolific African American songwriter and gospel and blues musician.  As an adult, he moved to Chicago where he found work as a piano player in churches, theaters, and clubs.  He struggled to support his family by balancing his work between playing in clubs and churches.  But, he ultimately devoted his work exclusively to the church.

In August of 1932, Dorsey left his pregnant wife in Chicago and traveled to be the featured soloist at a large revival meeting in St. Louis.  After the first night of the revival, Dorsey received a telegram that simply said, “Your wife just died.”  Dorsey raced home and learned that his wife had given birth to their son before dying in childbirth.  The next day his son died as well.  Dorsey buried his wife and son in the same casket and withdrew in sorrow and agony from his family and friends.  He refused to compose or play any music for quite some time.

While still in the depth of despair, Dorsey said that one day as he sat in front of a piano, a feeling of peace washed through him.  The following words just came to Dorsey as gift as he sat there:

Precious Lord, take my hand,

Lead me on, let me stand;

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;

Through the storm, through the night,

Lead me on to the light;

Take my hand, precious Lord,

Lead me home.

In the depth of his suffering, Dorsey’s words were honest testimony about his experience, yet words that communicated a trust and hope in the One who walks with us, even through the most difficult and chaotic times of life.  These words came to him as gift and they became a testimony and gift to the world. 

As we presently face various forms of natural disaster, climate change, political uncertainty, personal struggles, and a deeply troubled and warring world, we can remember and trust that, no, these things do not necessarily mean the world is coming to an end anytime soon.  What we can trust is this:  Jesus tells us God is always with us and gives us the strength to endure and remain faithful.  We can remember that the words we speak in times of trial and challenge will come to us as gift.  Christ possesses a wisdom our troubled world and Christ’s troubling opponents cannot calculate or even begin to comprehend.  Christ will speak the Word of God’s kingdom through Christ’s church, of which we are a part.  And, that Word is the creative and redeeming Word that created all things in the beginning and continues to create in its speaking as we allow God to work through us, the Body of Christ in this place.

This is a special musical presentation of Find Us Faithful by the Faith Lutheran Church Chancel Choir. 

Grace to you and peace from God our creator, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit our guide. Amen.

Happy Reformation! The day we celebrate the start of the Lutheran Church. The day we celebrate change. The day we look at what makes us Lutheran. As I was thinking about how Reformation can be considered the start of the Lutheran church, I was thinking that we celebrate a lot of “starts” in our church. We celebrate Advent - the start of the church year; we celebrate Christmas - the start or birthday of Jesus; we celebrate Easter - the start of a new way of thinking about salvation; and we celebrate Pentecost, the start of the Holy Spirit among us and what some would consider the start of the Christian church. So, if nothing, we are certainly flexible, or we just love to celebrate the church.

When thinking about Martin Luther and the Reformation, I came up with 3 C’s that I will reflect on in today’s sermon. The first is “change” - reformation - re-forming - changing the church. Luther didn’t want to start a brand new branch of the church and he certainly didn’t want his followers to call themselves Lutherans, he simply wanted to change some of the practices of the church at the time that didn’t fit with what the word of God, the bible, said. He felt the church structure had become something that was getting in the way of people’s connections to God. One of the main issues was that the church 500 years ago was very focused on “doing the right thing” or doing “works as prescribed by law” in order to obtain favor with God and get into heaven. Then, in case you were concerned you didn’t have enough good works, you could simply buy indulgences as a way to guarantee your sins would be forgiven. Luther wanted to change the church and get rid of these practices since they were not what the bible was saying was the way to be right with God.

Yes, Luther changed the church, or ended up creating a division since the church didn’t want to change (not that a church today would ever be reluctant to change!) We might be tempted to think that because of what Luther did, the change part of the reformation is done.  It isn’t.  As noted as a footnote in the book “Baptized, We Live: Lutheranism as a Way of Life” it says “If we are faithful to the spirit of the Lutheran Reformation, we will ask ‘What are our indulgences?’ - meaning ‘What is there in our institution which hinders us from hearing the LIVING WORD?’”

So, yes - we need to constantly be thinking about our church and what is hindering us from truly experiencing and proclaiming God’s living, loving, redeeming word - the gospel - the good news. This can be many things from church structure at all levels of the church - ELCA, Synod, and congregational levels; our worship services; our physical buildings; ourselves; and more. This is part of what the Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church, that the last churchwide assembly created, will be looking at for the ELCA. How do we need to change, how do we need to reform ourselves, to keep the focus on God’s Living Word.

We can’t use the excuse of “well, that’s the way it has always been” as to why we shouldn’t change. The church has changed a lot over the years, including if you think back to the start of the Christian church, it was focused a lot on community. Our second “C” for today. The start of the church was people gathering in each other’s homes - sharing stories, sharing the Good News, coming together to help those in need. All this, not because they were told to or had to, but because they wanted to - they believed in the message of Christ, the Living Word, and came together in community to support each other and share that message. Over the years, the church became more structured, more hierarchical, more bureaucratic. I personally think that the church as a whole could learn a lot from going back to a community focused approach, much like I see in many aspects of our congregation. Our food pantries, our parish house for refugees, our various food drives, our quilts and kits for Lutheran World Relief, and more - they all show how we support our larger community.

However, we also support our own community. I am preaching today as part of community. This is another thing that Luther was all about - lay people getting involved in the word. Luther translated the bible into German so that people themselves could read the Bible and learn from it directly instead of having the priest be the go-between for them. In fact, when I was telling someone this past week that I would be giving the sermon today, they were a bit surprised, thinking that only a pastor could give the message. So Lutherans, and some other denominations, are still unique in that aspect, that the message, the Living Word, belongs to everyone and can be shared by everyone.

The past week and upcoming weeks are a very strong example of how our own community support each other. As we continue to support and hold in prayer Pastor Ellen, Ken, and all of Dorothy’s family - this community of Faith continues to come together to share our gifts with them, so that the work that needs to be done is shared. This happens over and over again in our congregation - with people rotating to share leading Sunday School, with Deb or Kathy stepping in to play when Bruce is gone, with Pastor John filling in for Pastor Ellen when she needs to take care of other matters. The church isn’t the pastor, the church isn’t the building, the church isn’t any one person, the church is all of us coming together in community.

And this leads to the 3rd “C” - we gather in community to share our common confession.  I’m not talking about confession as confession of sins - I’m talking about our confession of faith - what we deep down believe - the core of our faith and beliefs. Now many of our confessions are covered in the creeds, the one we are focusing on today is the confession that makes Lutherans Lutheran. The confession that we are saved by grace through faith, not by works. This was the core of what Luther found in his studies. There is no way to earn our way to Heaven, to be in God’s good standing, since it is gift from God.

In our reading from the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus say, “...you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” and the disciples, ever confused, asked, “What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”  Just like we often ask in the Lutheran tradition - “What does this mean?”  So a story.

This past May I was on vacation using a rental car, and at one point, I backed the car into a larger truck which was not damaged, no one was hurt, and the only damage was part of the back end of the rental car was crunched a bit. Now, since this is church, I am being live streamed and recorded, and there are children present, I will not share what I said right after I had the accident. However, it was the feeling I had next that I want to share - I was consumed by this. I was trying to figure out what to do, what did I do wrong, how did I miss the truck, would this cost me any money, who do I need to report this to, where do I find a number to call, etc. I tried to focus on my visit with my family, but my mind kept getting drawn back to the accident and what I needed to do to make it right. I was certainly not free. I could hardly focus on anything else.

So, when the Gospel talks about being free, it isn’t just in the physical captive sense, it can be our mental state and how we live our lives. And this is how it can be if we had to keep focusing on making sure we are “right” with God, that we have done everything to make sure we will be saved and make it to Heaven. It would be hard to focus on the community part of our faith, hard to focus on living our lives, if with everything we did we were worried about if this will please God and will we be rewarded or punished.  We would start having to add up and keep track of everything we did during the week to make sure we did enough. Now, based on how I felt after my accident, and the thought of tracking everything I do - that doesn’t sound like a fun way of living.

This is the good news, we don’t have to do that - we have been made free by the Son, by Jesus, by God’s Living Word, as John says “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” - and the Son and God have made us free. And this isn’t just a New Testament message. Our loving God is consistent through the Bible, always loving us and forgiving our sins because of God’s commitment to us. As it says in our reading from Jeremiah today, “No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”  Let’s focus again on that last part, “I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”  Yes - our sins have been forgiven, not because we ask or do the right thing, but because it is God’s will and God has already done it.

Our reading from Romans shares the same message, “For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Our sins are forgiven and remembered no more, not because of anything we do, but because it is a gift from God. We are forgiven, saved, justified, by our faith. Again from Romans, “For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.”

This would be a nice place to stop, but there is always that pesky question that remains.  If we are justified by faith and not by works - then why should we or why do we do good works? We were just told that we aren’t justified by our works, so why bother?

We should note that nothing says that good works and the law aren’t important, it says that “works prescribed by the law” isn’t what gets us into Heaven. As noted in Jeremiah the Lord says, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”  The law, the urge to do good works, is part of who we are as Children of God, our very being. It is our calling to show our faith, show who we are as God’s children, by working to live into the law, live into what brings forth God’s kin-dom of love for all.

Back to my rental car this past May. Long story short, my insurance covered all of the damage, I paid nothing out of pocket, overall it was easy to deal with, and nothing bad happened. You could say all was forgiven. Had I known this would be the outcome, maybe I wouldn’t have been so consumed by it when it happened, and could have felt more free in that situation. So, since in the end it all turned out OK, I could really go out and do it again and again, since I have the insurance and they’ll take care of it, aka “forgive” me.  (We’ll ignore the part of my insurance premiums skyrocketing and then probably canceling coverage). But I won’t purposefully go out and do it again, because I know it isn’t the right thing to do, it doesn’t provide benefit to people. I don’t avoid accidents because it helps me get further in life or gain me any favor, but it is simply the right thing to do, and is part of who I am - to be a safe driver and work to do everything right, not because I have to, but because I want to.

It is the same with good works - we don’t do them to gain favor with God, we do them because it is part of who we are, part of having God’s law being written in our hearts, part of our faith, our desire to bring forth God’s kin-dom to all, part of our calling as people of God. We recognize that this can be a struggle at times, since while we strive to do good in the world, we know there is evil, the forces in the universe that draw us away from God’s love and kin-dom - so we follow Jesus, not because we have to be perfect and do all the right things like Jesus did, but as an example, a role model, a reminder of the way God wants us to live into our faith and God’s kin-dom.

Our church is changing and needs to continue to change, so we can focus on our community, and live into our confession of faith - the good news. The good news we are justified by grace through faith. Our sins are forgiven and remembered no more as gift from God and there is nothing we can or need to do to earn this favor. We are freed from focusing on ourselves and our sins, so that we can focus on bringing forth God’s kin-dom into the world, yes - often by good works. We could simply not do any good works and we still receive God’s gift of salvation, but is that the life you want to live? I leave you with this question to ponder for the week, “Why do you do good works, when you aren’t required to?”  Amen.

This is a special musical performance of Offeratory sung by Bob Nelson at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

From time to time our grandchildren stay with us for a few days. A few years ago, when our granddaughter, Vivian, was five years old, she loved to run, as most children do. And, when she stayed with us, she would continually run through the house with Ken chasing her. She would start at the front door, run past the kitchen and dining room, run through the living room, run around the table in the three-season room, and then head back, running through the living room, past the kitchen and dining room and back to the front door, where she would start in all over again.  As she persistently ran this course, she kept saying, “Vivian never gives up, Vivian never gives up!”

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus tells the story of a persistent, stubborn widow who simply never gives up. I think, far too often, when interpreting this parable, an assumption is made that the unjust judge is God, and we are to relentlessly badger God with our prayers and requests as did this widow who was so persistent with the corrupt judge.  When such an understanding is asserted, we get far too preoccupied with the unattractive comparison of God as an unjust judge and consequently we don't get into the deeper meaning of what Jesus is communicating. God is not like this corrupt judge, and he is NOT unjust!  This story is a parable, and remember, when we hear a parable, we can place ourselves in any one of the characters.  Also, Jesus’ parables are meant to be cognitive time bombs that shock us into new understandings as we think about them over time. 

The scene of this parable unfolds in a place that is something like a hall of justice where a judge is seated on his judgement seat and throngs of petitioners are gathered about, some represented by lawyers while others are just shouting their requests from the crowd.  And, this widow is in that crowd every single day when the court convenes.  She wants vindication against an unnamed adversary.  She wants justice!  She relentlessly pleads for justice!  Day after day after day, she is present shouting out for the justice she deserves.  And, every single day the harsh, unsavory, immoral, corrupt judge, who “neither fears God nor respects people,” ignores her.  Yet, this poor, defenseless widow obstinately badgers the corrupt judge until he finally relents and renders a favorable judgment. 

Now, we must remember the writer of Luke is communicating to a Greek audience, people who would picture a typical Roman judge.  Judges in that culture had vast power within their jurisdiction.  If they wanted to, they could decide cases based on personal whim alone and they frequently did just that.  The judge in this story is such a judge, and he is depicted as having no concern for justice.  Jesus says the judge felt no “reverence” for people, but also no sense of “shame” in how he treated them.   And, the contrast in the story is between this powerful magistrate who can do whatever he feels like doing and a poor widow who must simply take what she can get. 

It is significant that Jesus portrays this woman as a widow.  Widows, at that point in time, were powerless and the poorest of the poor.  On the “power scale,” the judge is at one end and the widow at the other. Widows in the ancient world were incredibly vulnerable.  And, threaded throughout Hebrew scriptures we find widows listed along with orphans and resident aliens (immigrants by the way) as those persons deserving special protection. The fact that this particular widow, unattended by any family, daily goes to beseech an unsavory judge who neither fears God nor respects people, highlights her extreme vulnerability.  Her single-mindedness drives her to, on a daily basis, stubbornly persist in her pleas for justice.  She keeps haranguing this judge, apparently making a public spectacle of herself...and him.  She mercilessly bothers the judge.  And, in fact, a more vivid and accurate translation of the judge's complaint when he says, “she keeps bothering me,” would be “she is giving me a black eye."  She's embarrassing him and calling into question his reputation by persisting with her case.  She is speaking truth to power.  When discussing this brave widow’s actions, one theologian suggests:

Like all black eyes, the one the widow's complaints threaten to inflict have a double effect, representing both physical and social distress. That is, the judge complains that the widow's relentless badgering not only causes him physical harm but also risks publicly embarrassing him. For this reason, he says -- perhaps justifying his actions to his wounded sense of self? -- that he relents not because he has changed his mind but simply to shut up this dangerous widow.

This judge finally decides that if he doesn't grant the widow's petition, she will wear him out - either figuratively or literally.  So, eventually, despite his callousness and his lack of integrity, he gives the woman what she wants.

In our own time and in our own culture, we have been experiencing a steady drumbeat of news, giving us reports of injustice after injustice.  And what has been done? The fact of the matter is that what we do as we work for justice is a form of prayer. Many of us do work for justice in a variety of ways and, when that longing for justice burns in your bones as it does in mine, seeking justice becomes part of the fabric of your life.  In this country, over time, civil rights laws were established; and they have brought some progress, though such progress often comes quite slowly, and now it alarmingly seems to be regressing.  Many organizations like ELCA AMMPARO, the ONE Campaign, Bread for the World, and ELCA Advocacy have been working to raise awareness regarding human rights, equality, and poverty.  And these organizations have been working hard to encourage lawmakers to enact policies that will help the poor, feed the hungry, and treat immigrants in humane and compassionate ways.  But, quite frankly, there are too many who, seeing such things, speak words of lament but then go right back to doing whatever else it was they had been doing. They then become complicit in the outcome. So, I wonder and I ask: what does this parable mean for us today?  

If this parable offers a mirror for our lives, then maybe the face many of us will see when we peer into that mirror is the face of the unjust judge who daily hears the cries of the poor and vulnerable and does not respond.  Or, are we like that vulnerable woman, tirelessly petitioning the judge for justice?  For me, I must say that the desire for justice calls me to never give up naming the injustice, denouncing the injustice, and working and calling for change in our culture, our country, and our world. You see, part of our baptismal calling is all about working for justice. It is also an active form of prayer.

When Jesus told a parable, quite often the deepest meaning in the story is the message of what God is like, what God is about, and what God is doing in this broken world.  So, as we hear the gospel in this parable, just maybe the really good news for all of us is that God is the one who is like that widow – unrelenting, persistent, assertive, and tenacious.  God is the one who does not and will never give up.  God has not, does not, and will not ever give up on us, even when we have acted as though we "neither feared God nor had respect for people."  Just maybe, the real message in this short little story is that, because of God’s great love for us, God became vulnerable like that poor widow, even to the point of being nailed to the cross like a common criminal.   And, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, God’s reign has broken into this world and continues to break into our world, bringing forth justice for all people.  Now that is the kind of good news worth sharing.  That is the kind of message each one of us can daily live as we relentlessly work for justice while proclaiming this very good news!

This is a special musical presentation of I Will Awaken the Dawn by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

We have heard a great deal about boundaries over the past few years.   And, while I believe some boundaries are necessary, very needed, and extremely healthy, I also believe that far too often we impose boundaries and build walls that not only keep others out of our lives, but also fence us in, isolating us from others and the world.  And, quite frankly, too often, as we have seen in our current political climate, we simply draw a line in the sand, create unreasonable boundaries, and then refuse to cross those lines to seek common ground. 

When we meet up with Jesus today, he is continuing his journey to Jerusalem, his journey toward the cross.  As he and his disciples continue that cross-bound journey, they move into a border area, the boundary between Samaria and Galilee.  This boundary was a scary and uncomfortable place.  It was a boundary the Jewish people did not like to cross because it took you into that place where those hated and despised Samaritans lived.  And, look who Jesus meets at that border – ten lepers who raise their voices and cry out to Jesus saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”  These lepers, knowing they are unclean, keep their distance from Jesus, because that is what the law stipulates.  By law, they are not to go near those who do not have leprosy.  Enduring the labels of “outcast” and “unclean” they are required to live apart from the rest of society.  They are required to live within yet a different kind of boundary, one that keeps them totally estranged from all others.  Considered ritually unclean, they were quarantined and treated as objects of revulsion and fear on the part of their neighbors.  So, as these ten lepers cry for mercy, not one of them breaks the social conventions that surround their disease as they cry to Jesus from a distance.

The writer of Luke’s gospel tells us Jesus sees these lepers and tells them to go show themselves to the priests.  This was also required by law because the priests would have to inspect the lepers and verify their cleanliness.  Only then could they be readmitted to the temple and be freed from their status as unclean.  So, they go, and while on their way, they become clean.  All ten are healed, but only one comes back to say thank you to Jesus for the healing.  This one leper, when he realized he had been healed, turned around and came back, shouting his gratitude and glorifying God. 

So, why did only one leper return to offer thanks?  Part of the answer may be found in the identity of this healed man. He alone is identified as a Samaritan.  He was considered an outcast, not just because of his disease.  He was considered an outcast because he was a foreigner, a hated Samaritan.  As such, he was twice scorned, twice rejected, and twice removed from community. 

It really is interesting that this despised Samaritan is the one who expresses gratitude and stops to say thanks.  The writer of Luke’s gospel again chooses a Samaritan to make a point.  And, as he does, we can pretty much assume his point is not about the proper etiquette for saying thank you.  Luke is not giving his first-century listeners a lesson in proper protocol for receiving healing.  No.  Again and again, we find Luke’s Jesus teaching in parables and living in ways that disorient his followers with the shock of something new.  Again and again, Luke’s Jesus shows the people that God is close at hand, in your neighbor, in those you don’t consider neighbors, in an act of compassion and in a touch of healing. 

So, why did the Samaritan, the foreigner, come back to thank Jesus?  Jesus had not made a formal thank you part of the bargain.  He simply told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Well, we really do not know why the Samaritan is the only one to return.  However, just maybe the writer of Luke was more interested saying something about faith and also interested in describing the boundaries, or maybe we should say lack of boundaries, when it comes to God’s grace.  You see, when it comes to God’s grace, imposed boundaries will ultimately expand to include even those the world defines as unclean, immigrant, alien, foreign, and impure.  Luke seems to be telling us a story about faith and a very daring boundary crossing.  A crossing that is daring on the part of Jesus, and also on the part of the Samaritan. 

So, the Samaritan alone returns and, if we look at his posture, we discover that he comes close to Jesus and humbly lies down at Jesus’ feet.  Of the ten who were healed, he alone – a despised foreigner - breaches the boundaries and moves from an experience and life of isolation to one of grateful intimacy.  While the other nine perform the necessary rituals and practices, he alone feels obliged to say thank you.  And maybe, just maybe, in his need to say thank you there was a yearning for intimacy with God, a sense that faith cannot simply mean performance of ritual.  Faith requires relationship.  Faith – something that in itself is all gift – lures us, grasps us, and draws us into relationship with God, a relationship that is healing, intimate, humbling, and yes, even dependent.

I cannot help but wonder if part of the illness we are seeing within our present culture and broken society, is due to a deep self-centeredness, a viewpoint that assumes we are right, that assumes we are entitled to what we have.  We draw deeply entrenched boundary lines, and we do not want to cross those lines.  We become so preoccupied with our own needs, our own wants, protecting what we have while attempting to justify our unwavering position and perspective, that we maintain our distance from others while holding on to an illusion, yes an illusion, of absolute independence.  In doing so we continue to create divisions among people, cast others aside as unclean, and attempt to make others appear as outcasts.

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back.”  One turned back from maintaining the protection of distance, turned back from going his or her own way, turned back from self-justification, turned back from the illusion of independence, and knelt down at Jesus’ feet, proclaiming ultimate dependence on God.  And, in doing so, gave thanks and showed deep gratitude.  It is worth noting that Jesus does not remove the gift of healing from the other nine. However, he does reinforce the statement he makes so often, “Your faith has made you well.” This seems to suggest a deeper level of spiritual or existential healing that this grateful Samaritan will enjoy, a level of wellness that goes beyond the physical.

Gratitude!  Honestly, to “have faith” is to live it, and to live it is to give thanks. It is living a life of gratitude that constitutes living a life of faith – this is the grateful sort of faith that has made the Samaritan truly well, wholistically well. And gratitude is an expression of our need for others, of our need for God.  We cannot live within our deeply entrenched boundaries, live at a distance, and become truly healed at the same time.  The fact of the matter is, all that we have, all that we think we are entitled to, all of our stuff, our health, our position, our job, the list goes on and on, all is gift. 

When we begin to grasp and understand that all is gift, we begin to know gratitude.  And, it is gratitude that teaches us about the truth of our very lives – the truth that we live in a profoundly interdependent world.  The strength and health of our communities, our country and our very selves comes to us as gift when we live in relationship to others. 

The healthiest people I know are those whose lives are not lived as the self-made man or woman, living within their protective boundaries, and thinking they are so very independent.  The healthiest people I know are those whose very lives express deep gratitude as they have reached across boundaries to enrich and embrace others and be enriched and embraced by others.  The healthiest people I know are those who understand that to be truly well, to become truly whole, requires the embrace of the alien grace of Christ’s daring love, the embrace of the God who crosses all boundaries to love us where we are and as we are and make us God’s own.

This is a special musical presentation of Precious Jesus by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan with a solo from Richard Triemer. 

I invite you to again listen to the beginning verses of our first reading in Habakkuk, as we find them in The Message translation of the Bible:

The problem as God gave Habakkuk to see it:

God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen?

How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!”

         before you come to the rescue?

Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day?

Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place.

Law and order fall to pieces. Justice is a joke.

The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head.

When we read those verses at our Tuesday Noon Bible Study, everyone in the group felt as though the prophet Habakkuk was writing words for us in our present time and current cultural context. The truth is our present context is one in which we sometimes find ourselves feeling as though we are trying to cling to our faith. The people of Judah were trying to cling to their faith. The prophet articulates their fear and their questions as they are facing military threats from their neighbors in Babylon and Egypt. And, after articulating their cries for help, Habakkuk then urges them to be faithful to God who will in time save them.  The fact of the matter is that all of today’s readings are about clinging to our faith when everything around us seems to be (pardon my expression) going to hell in a handbasket. In our New Testament reading, Timothy seems to be losing his grip as a leader of the early church. And, in our gospel reading, the disciples – those who are closest to Jesus himself – seem to be wrestling with some crisis of faith.  So, I find it hopeful that we hear these words today because they are so relevant for us in our present context.

Over the past few weeks, we have heard some rather perplexing and harsh stories from Jesus.  And it is easy to read today’s gospel passage and receive it as yet another harsh message of condemnation.  However, it seems to me Jesus is communicating something else.  So, listen again to the beginning of this passage with new ears.  When the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith, listen as Jesus answers the disciples with words of kindness, love, tenderness, and maybe even a bit of a smile.  Jesus replied, “Why, you do not need more faith.  Even this much faith (his thumb and forefinger pinching together) is enough!”  You see, if we hear Jesus speaking with love it totally changes our hearing of his remarks.  This passage is not really about quantity and having more faith.  It is all about understanding what faith is, what faith means, and what faith does.

So, what is faith?  In his famous 1 Corinthians 13 words, Paul understood faith as one of the three greatest gifts – faith, hope and love.  In the New Testament, especially the writings of Paul, faith is often paired with love or said to work in conjunction with love. Furthermore, in Hebrews we read, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” 

If we think about what faith is not, we understand that faith does not equal security, and faith is not assurance that all will go the way we want.  Faith does not mean that we are assured of going to the holy wishing well and being given exactly what we think is in our best interest.

No.  Faith in God seems to really be about a kind of surrender, a kind of letting go, a kind of commitment and a conscious recognition of where we place our trust.  In his Large Catechism, Luther provides an explanation for the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me,” and I think his words might be helpful.  He writes:

A “god” is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need.  Therefore, to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.  As I have often said, it is the trust and faith of the heart alone that make both God and an idol.  If your faith and trust are right, then your God is the true one.  Conversely, where your trust is false and wrong, there you do not have the true God.  For these two belong together, faith and God.  Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that is really your God. (The Book of Concord, p. 386)

It is so very difficult in our “do it yourself” culture to just let go and place our faith and trust in God.  I really wonder if this lack of willingness to let go, to let go of our need to control, is more often the problem than the amount of faith we might have.  When talking about this challenge, Richard Rohr writes:

A common saying is, “God helps those who help themselves.”  I think that phrase can be understood wisely; but in most spiritual situations it is not completely true.  Scripture clearly says, in many ways, that God helps those who trust in God, not those who help themselves.

We need to be told that very strongly because of our “do it yourself” orientation.  As educated people, as Americans, as middle-class people who have practiced climbing, we are accustomed to doing it ourselves.  It takes applying the brakes, letting go of our own plans, allowing Another, and experiencing power from a Larger Source to really move to higher awareness.  Otherwise, there is no real transformation, but only increased willpower.  As if the one with the most willpower wins! Willfulness is quite different than willingness.  They are two different energetic styles and normally yield very different fruit.

The reality is we already have the faith we need.  God gives us the faith we need.  But, as Richard Rohr has said, we must show a willingness to allow God to be the one in charge, to trust in God even when this might seem so very hard, even when it seems like everything is going to hell in a handbasket.

Yes, God gives us the faith we need.  However, we must be willing to actually use it, to actively live it, to allow God to use us and that is so very countercultural.  As I hope all of you are aware, we use our faith to serve God, not to earn God’s love or salvation.  We use our faith to serve God through our actions and the way we live together in community for the sake of the world because that is what faith will expect of us.  As theologian, Kimberly Long, suggests, “You already have the faith you need.  Now fulfill its purpose: live it!”  And, this is where the second part of this gospel comes in.

To understand faith in this way is to understand faith as a way of life.  And, it is important to remember that we do not do this alone.  We do it as we live together in community as the broken body of Christ.  I think, the issue at stake is how we live together in community.  God gives us what we need to flourish abundantly in faithful community.  As the second part of today’s gospel reading suggests, in the economy of faith, we who serve depend on a benevolent master who not only expects us to obey but gives us all that is required to do so.  And, much of that comes by living together as the community of the baptized.  The Rev. Dr. Anna Madsen, in her book I Can Do No Other: The Churches Here We Stand Moment, writes about this baptized community and the life of faith.  Her words are helpful as she remembers what she learned from seminary Professor Walt Bouman. She writes:

You see, as Bouman taught many of us, baptism only “works” if it is “used,” that is, if it is trusted.  Our God is that in which or in whom we trust.  Baptism initiates us into a life of trust in God, of our participation in the community God, into the risen Jesus.  The word community is key here, for baptism is not only an individual matter.  It is, of course, a promise to each individual person (we are known by name).  But baptism initiates us into the community of the baptized.  We are, in a sense, baptized into a community of trusters. (I Can Do No Other: The Churches Here We Stand Moment, p. 22)

Yes, we are “baptized into a community of trusters,” the community of faith.  And, when we live together and work together as the broken body of Christ, the faith we have been given enables God to work through us and do some amazing things.  We have seen such faith at work in our own congregation as we joined other congregations to create Michigan Refugee Hope, an organization that has enabled us to provide life and hope to young refugees.  In fact, through this effort, this congregation has taken in over fifteen young refugees.  We will likely be taking in more yet this year. That is what faith does. 

When Jesus speaks to us today, he is not so much talking about quantity of faith.  He is talking about what faith is and what faith does.  Faith is not stockpiled in a storehouse for the working of spiritual wonders. No.  Faith is lived out as obedience to a just, merciful and loving God.  And, as we walk together in community as the broken body of Christ, we find that the God who expects much from us also promises much and does provide all the faith we need.  God provides all that we need to live into God’s call to do the work of justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God.

This is a special musical presentation of Open the Eyes of My Heart by the chancel choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan with a solo from Tammy Heilman.

Last week we received one of Jesus’ most bizarre and perplexing stories.  Today, we receive one of his harshest stories.  It is interesting that we are given this reading just days after we have seen world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly and address the multitude of problems facing this world, the biggest of which is climate change. The UN Chief did not mince words as he prophetically sounded a global alarm, warning leaders about the survival of humanity and the planet.  For those of us who follow the teachings of Jesus, we discover God calls us to compassionately act in response to the many crises in our present context.  Now, as we respond to Jesus’ message, some may say his teachings are just for our private lives, not for our public behavior, or he is irrelevant to our times.  But, as the Rev. Jim Wallis writes in his book, Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus, he says, “That is hard to do for those who call themselves Christians, if God so loved the world.”  You see, if the gospel has no meaning for our current, present context and does not inform the way we respond to injustice, the gospel really has NO meaning. 

In all of today’s readings, we hear words about justice and faithful stewardship, messages that are very relevant to this present moment.  In the reading from Luke’s gospel, justice is presented as an eschatological (meaning end of time) balancing of the scales:  those who suffered in need are made full, and those who have reveled in excess are left empty.  This story is all about a call to live a certain way in the here and now of everyday life. Jesus has been having a conversation with the Pharisees about the love of money and the desire for riches and, today, we find him continuing that conversation.  He tells the Pharisees yet another story, another parable that is rather difficult to hear.  Borrowing from what scholars believe was an Egyptian tale, Jesus tells the story of two worlds:  the world of the haves and the world of the have-nots, the world of the rich and the world of the poor, the world of the comforted and the world of the afflicted.  And, the boundaries between the two are very clearly defined. 

The writer of Luke’s gospel was extremely concerned about the proper use of wealth, something that is not only the focus of all three of our readings today, but also something that is threaded through the entirety of Luke’s telling of the Jesus story.  As we dig into this story, we need to understand that, in this parable, Luke is not trying to settle issues about the afterlife or eternal punishment.  No.  Luke is addressing the way we live our lives, here and now in this present moment.  As Jesus tells this story, he uses a good deal of hyperbole to address those who love their money more than people, their possessions more than the poor, their clothes more than compassion, and their extravagant feasts more than sharing food with the hungry.  And, it is very clear that Jesus has no pity for those who should know better.  The rich man in this story has no way of pretending that he did not know the plight of Lazarus in this life, since the poor man was brought directly to his door, presumably by friends, or fellow beggars.  And, the tale of the afterlife tableau is one of merciless pain suffered by the rich man, pain which cannot be alleviated.  Even when the rich man asks for his family to be warned and spared, he is told that all they need to know is already available, and even if Jesus would be raised from the dead, they would not mend their ways. 

The themes presented in Jesus’ parable stand as powerful indictments of our present context.  The ever-widening chasm between the rich and the poor is one of the most important issues of our day, not just for residents in this country but also for residents around the globe. This is already impacting migration issues. And this gap or chasm is going to become greater as we continue to see the effects of climate change. Climate change is going to create increased migration challenges throughout the world.  How are we as a country going to respond?

The great divide between Lazarus and the rich man didn't spring up upon their deaths or after the last judgment; it was created by the rich man while both of them were living. There is no escaping this indictment in Jesus’ story.  This is a parable urging “the haves” to do justice now, for there will be no opportunity later. 

The message that is implicit in this story is that those who help create the economic divide by greed and selfishness will not be able to right it for themselves in any other life than this present one.  And, as we look at the present and necessary focus on issues like immigration, war, global hunger, and climate change, as we look at the call to care for the poor and needy, and the call to care for the creation we have been given, the rich in this world control resources like land and money, and the rich control systems of taxation that perpetuate the “great divide,” this chasm.  As we look at climate change and its increasing effects upon people, the poor of this world are the ones who already face the greatest risk.  They are and will continue to be the ones who suffer the most.  Warnings and messages are coming in every form. Climate change is already happening, but too often these warnings remain unheeded. 

The Rev. Sally Bingham, eco-minister and founder of Interfaith Power & Light, says that abuse of natural resources and pollution of your neighbor’s air is a sin against creation.  If we love our neighbors, we don’t pollute our neighbor’s air.  She fervently says, “The environmental crisis is a theological problem, a problem that stems from our view of God and how we relate to God and each other.  And, that makes it important for the church to wrestle with this issue.  You see, our view of God can be one that encourages and/or permits destructive, unjust behavior or one that encourages right relationship and harmony with all of the created order.”

Bingham considers scientists some of our modern-day prophets.  Scientists told us decades ago that carbon dioxide was a heat trapping gas and too much of it would trap heat close to the earth, causing our planet and our oceans to get increasingly warm.  We didn’t listen and became overly dependent on fossil fuels for energy.  We are now paying the price for not listening.  And, our children and grandchildren are going to pay a much greater price!  But it isn’t too late.  Scientists say we have a window of about eight more years if we intentionally work hard to prevent the worst scenario before us. Scientists say 2030 will be a pivotal year. So, hopefully, we still CAN still fend of the worst of what looms before us. 

Addressing climate change is a moral issue, one that requires a change in people’s hearts and minds.  Sally Bingham writes:

What institution changes hearts and minds?  Churches and that is why the religious voice is so important in this dialogue as we look for solutions to climate change.  As religious people we must do our part – and we have a big role in this.  If we don’t protect creation, how can we possibly expect others to?  Moral leadership sits right here with us…Our job then is to become informed, do our part and work so that people understand we will not be the healthy children that God intended and we will not live on a healthy planet unless we can get beyond partisanship and do what is right for the entire communion of life.  The creation that God called good, the creation where God put us and instructed us to till and keep this garden, is the creation that sustains us and will sustain us if we do our part…  We have a responsibility to each other, to the future and to God.  [And, if we do our part,] we will be the people that God placed in the garden to till it and to keep it.  We will be obeying the first and great commandment to love God and each other and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

          Christians cannot look at the current state of the world, including related issues of climate challenge, immigration, and so much more and claim ignorance.  These are hard days, to be sure.  In today’s reading, Jesus lays before us the importance of relational social issues as we live our lives right here and right now.  This harsh story Jesus shares leaves us with a call to act, based on the visibility of the suffering face that is present to us in this very time and in this very moment.  The suffering face of humanity and this very earth become for us, the face of Christ himself.  

People of God, we are called to live into God’s dream of justice for this entire world, for the sake of the world.  God created us to live in relationship with all others, and with the gift of this amazing creation we have been given.  The abundant, eternal life, life that truly matters, the life Jesus calls us into comes through the community of creation, and that abundant life starts now, as we live into God’s call and seek justice and abundant life for our neighbors and for the all of creation.

Grace to you and peace from God our parent, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Greetings to you from myself, from the North/West Lower Michigan Synod, and from the thousands of congregations and millions of Lutherans across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the ELCA.

This past August, from August 8 - 12, I served as a voting member to the churchwide assembly of the ELCA. During the sermon, we’ll be sharing pictures from the churchwide assembly on our monitors in the sanctuary and on the live stream. These are just a brief snapshot of the events that took place. Most of these photos come from the ELCA’s Facebook page, with some from the Synod’s community Facebook group. The primary focus of today’s message is a recap of my experiences at the churchwide assembly, but first, let’s take a look at today’s readings.

In the new testament reading from 1 Timothy today, we have a quick reminder of who the Gospel, the good news, of Jesus, of God is for - quite simply - everyone, all humankind, all.  No exclusions, no exceptions, the good news is for all and to be shared and proclaimed to all. This passage also touches on the subject of church and government, or as we often refer to it as “church and state.” We are often under the impression that these two should be completely separate - the church not controlling the government and the government not controlling the church. There are certainly some aspects of that which we need to respect, so we can have freedom of religion, to worship as we please, but it doesn’t mean that church is completely disconnected from the government. It says in the reading that we should pray for our rulers and leaders, and not just prayers for guidance, but prayers of thanks. Luther has good thoughts on this, and the ELCA is working on a social statement on Government and Civic Engagement.

Moving to today’s Gospel from Luke - and let’s face it - we have another parable from Jesus, and this one is very confusing. In order that I have time to do a recap of churchwide assembly, I won’t be able to get into much detail here about this parable, but we can glean some keep points from it without having to fully understand what Jesus was getting at. And as with most of the parables, there are many ways to read them and to interpret them. And that can be the beauty of them - so much meaning in one simple story, so that it can speak to many different people across generations and provide guidance for life.

The first part focuses a lot on dealings with wealth and most of them appear to be dishonest, but at the end in verse 9, it says, “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.” To me, this is saying that even if we make friends using dishonest means, we are still making friends, forming connections, and creating community. Community is important, because that will continue on, even when wealth is gone. The last part then talks about being faithful, whether it is with honest or dishonest wealth, since actions and community are what remain when compared to the actual wealth. Our community and actions will lead us to the “true riches”, which are not money or Earthly possessions. True riches are God’s eternal glory and eternal life. This isn’t saying that we earn God’s favor by doing certain things, or acting in certain ways, since the glory of God is gift to us. It is saying, that to fully be aware of this glorious gift of freedom and love, we need to share it with others, form community, and ensure that the poor and needy have what they need.

And this brings us to the Churchwide assembly recap, since we as a church, both locally and nationally, are all about sharing the gospel and doing God’s work for those in need. First, for those who aren’t familiar with the structure of the ELCA or need a reminder, a quick look at how the ELCA is structured. I like to compare it to the Holy Trinity. The ELCA is composed of 3 expressions of the church. While all 3 are separate from each other, all 3 cannot exist without the others and all are the church together. The 3 expressions are the local congregations, like we here at Faith; the synod level, which are mostly geographical regions across the country, our synod is the North/West Lower Michigan Synod, which is most of the lower peninsula, except the counties around the Detroit area; and the 3rd expression is the churchwide body, the ELCA, which works across the country and reaches out to the world. All three have governing constitutions and bylaws, they are all separate legal entities, they all have assemblies of voting members - congregations call this their annual meeting; synods have Synod Assemblies, typically yearly; and the churchwide has the churchwide assembly every 3 years. These assemblies are the highest governing body for each organization, they make the decisions on how these groups are run. Between the assemblies or annual meetings, all three expressions have councils that govern the organizations. Our local church council, a synod council for each synod (I am on the North/West Lower Michigan synod council), and a churchwide church council.

Another important note is that each of the 3 bodies cannot directly control the other. Each has ways to encourage the other bodies to do something, but only their governing bodies can take direct action. The way congregations and synods encourage churchwide to do something is to pass memorials at synod assemblies that get forwarded as messages to the churchwide assembly for action. Many of these memorials want synods and congregations to take action, but churchwide will only recommend or encourage action, they can never require it of synods, congregations, or members.

That being said, the churchwide assembly took actions that encouraged congregations to take certain actions, so as I go through various recaps - look for times when we, as a congregation at Faith, are called to take action. Consider these, are they something you are interested in, is this something you could help lead here at Faith? If so, reach out to me, pastor, the church council, and see how we can get involved and take action.

One of the themes of this assembly was repentance and confession. The ELCA is the whitest denomination in the US, and we often have sinned, knowingly or unknowingly, against many minority groups. The assembly included a special session for an Apology to Iglesia Luterana Santa Maria Peregrina. This is a big issue going on in the Sierra Pacific Synod (in California) that revolves around racism and harm that was done. As we often confess in our service “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins.” This is true not just at an individual level, but at an organization, and systemic level. Many of the worship services also focused on confession, forgiveness, and healing for the sins against many groups including women, Native Americans, BIPOC, Asians, and LGBTQIA+ individuals.

A total of 78 memorials were received by the churchwide assembly from synods. Most of these were dealt with en bloc or all at once without discussion, while others were considered one by one. I cannot cover all of them here, but all are available to read online. Some of the high level topics covered were Diversity; Nuclear Weapons; Salary Equity for women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other minorities; LGBTQIA+ Welcome; Substance Abuse; Roe v. Wade; Parental and Family Medical Leave; Holy Communion Practices; and Child Abuse and Protection.

Now a slightly closer look at a few other memorials, one being on Greenhouse Gas Reduction - this one I bring up because one of several similar memorials on this topic came from our Synod, and not only our synod, but many people here at Faith signed onto the memorial so it could be brought up at our synod assembly. Several of the approved actions are around churchwide working to reduce greenhouse gas usage and to advocate for it, it also calls on congregants, rostered ministers, and bishops to commit themselves to education about the urgency of the climate emergency. I’m proud of our congregation for taking action on this and living into this message, especially shown by our recent approval for our solar project.

The next memorial is called “Landback” which deals with recognizing that we all live on land that was originally Native American and was taken from them. This memorial had many actions that I feel our congregation could look into and take action on. With the rich Native American history in Okemos, I think it would be great if we could connect with that history, possibly working through the Nokomis Learning Center. Some of the actions that congregations are encouraged to take, are: to include land acknowledgements which center Native voices as part of their public gatherings; become educated about the Indigenous peoples who thrived, prior to European contact, on the land they currently inhabit; and support creative programs of restorative justice in partnership with Indigenous people, which includes returning land, when no longer in use, to the native people, or if direct return of the the land isn’t feasible or wanted, to return proceeds to Indigenous led ministries or organizations.

Another major memorial was about the Restructure of the Governance of the ELCA. The ELCA was created 35 years ago, with the constituting convention held in the room where we held worship at this churchwide assembly. 35 years ago the ELCA was a lot larger and had plans for growth. This has not happened, we have shrunk in size. One thing that has remained the same is that we are still very white. We have tried changing our governing documents here and there, we have made commitment after commitment to change and become more diverse, and yet it hasn’t happened. While people at the churchwide assembly and beyond may disagree about the exact reasons we need to look at the structure of the ELCA (you know, the “Holy Trinity” of 3 expressions that I talked about) to determine if this is the best structure for the church we have today, the vast majority of voting members agreed it needs to be done. A Commission for a Renewed Lutheran Church will be formed to look at our structure over the next 3 years to bring recommendations to the next churchwide assembly as to the best structure for the church, so we can be sure the Gospel, the Good News, the work of God is best accomplished.

The last memorial talked about revising the social statement, passed in 2009 - the center of the “2009 decision”, called Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust.  This is the social statement that allowed LGBTQIA+ individuals to be ordained, married, and welcomed in the ELCA and congregations. This memorial focused on revising some outdated language and to update parts of it to reflect that same sex marriage is now legal across the states (at least for now, and hopefully continuing). However, during a pre-assembly hearing on memorials, and what I read into this memorial and others; there are people, including myself, that want to see the “4 bound conscience” positions revisited and revised as well.

Since this memorial wasn’t “written correctly,” this memorial couldn’t be used for that, but a resolution was submitted to talk about revising this social statement to look at the 4 bound conscience positions.

Time for a quick lesson for those not familiar with the ELCA’s social statement on Human Sexuality. This was approved in 2009 by the churchwide assembly in response to how would our church handle LGBTQIA+ people and same sex relationships and marriage. In short, we couldn’t agree, so we agreed to disagree. One of the big issues some more progressive and inclusive people have with this document are what we call the 4 bound conscience positions. For those not familiar with them, here they are, this is what the ELCA officially states as to what we as a church believe. As a trigger warning for people, some language here is quite harsh to members of the LGBTQIA+ community.

Taken in reverse order of how they are included in the social statement, here is a summary of the 4 positions that are all “On the basis of conscience-bound belief”

• Some are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and committed relationships that we experience today. They believe that the neighbor and community are best served when same-gender relationships are lived out with lifelong and monogamous commitments that are held to the same rigorous standards, sexual ethics, and status as heterosexual marriage.
• some are convinced that the scriptural witness does not address the context of sexual orientation and lifelong loving and committed relationships that we experience today. They believe that the neighbor and community are best served when same-gender relationships are honored and held to high standards and public accountability, but they do not equate these relationships with marriage
• some are convinced that homosexuality and even lifelong, monogamous, homosexual relationships reflect a broken world in which some relationships do not pattern themselves after the creation God intended. While they acknowledge that such relationships may be lived out with mutuality and care, they do not believe that the neighbor or community are best served by publicly recognizing such relationships as traditional marriage
• some are convinced that same-gender sexual behavior is sinful, contrary to biblical teaching and their understanding of natural law. They believe same-gender sexual behavior carries the grave danger of unrepentant sin. They therefore conclude that the neighbor and the community are best served by calling people in same-gender sexual relationships to repentance for that behavior and to a celibate lifestyle.

Over the years, this has led to people, individually and through systemic and organizational ways, being allowed to discriminate against LGBTQIA+ people and allow harm to be done. During discussion on the resolution, the Bishop of the Southeastern synod, who is gay, shared that sometimes when he shares communion and says “The body of Christ broken for you,” the response he gets is “not from you Bishop”. I spoke in favor of this resolution as this has become a passion of mine to guide our church as a whole to be more inclusive, since not all parts of the ELCA are like our congregation, and it means people like me have to be careful where we go to church, since just because it is an ELCA congregation, doesn't mean I’ll be fully welcomed there as I am. This resolution passed by a large majority and will be looked at, following the revision process for social statements, over the next 3 years. During this process, there will be time for study, reflection, and input from individuals, so that is something our congregation should follow and look toward leading studies and conversations on.

This is the same for the Government and Civic Engagement social statement that is being prepared. For more information about the social teachings and documents of the ELCA, please talk to me for more details, otherwise we’ll be here all day if I get into it now.

Other items that passed were budgets and income projections for the next 3 years, constitution and bylaws changes, and various other resolutions thanking people for their service in the ELCA. The changes to the constitution and bylaws include changes to the models for congregations, so once the updated models are released, we will work here at Faith to ensure our constitution and bylaws are up to date with the needed changes.

In addition to electing people to the churchwide church council and various other committees, we elected a new Vice President of the ELCA. The Vice President is the highest lay leader of the ELCA. They are elected every 6 years by an eccliastical ballot, a process that allows room for discernment and the Holy Spirit to guide us. After 5 ballots, Imran Siddiqui was elected as the new Vice President. Just as “last words” are often important, I think first words are important too, so thus I share with you the first words of Imran Siddiqui after he was elected as the next Vice President of the ELCA - and I quote; “Holy Crap, Ya’ll”.

Throughout the assembly we also had various reports from different parts of the ELCA and their ministries, various guests, including various interreligious guests from various faith backgrounds.

Several fun items from the assembly include having someone with a melodica playing random church songs while we waited in line for the elevator at our hotel; me learning what “Um, Ya, Ya” is all about (if you want to know - ask Deb); and having the last day of assembly coincide with Matsuricon, an Anime and Video Gaming Convention, where we had a nice wide diverse group of people all walking and mingling together.

One thing I noticed at this chruchwide assembly, compared to what I remember at past ones, is that more younger people are getting involved and speaking out, there is passion there to ensure the church continues, in whatever form. I’m not sure if more young people are getting involved, or I’m just getting older and I consider a wider range of people “young”, but it was good. While at other assemblies we’ve talked about the change we need to make to solve the issues of racism, our severe lack of diversity, etc., this time I left with a better feeling of “we are actually going to do it this time” which I certainly hope is true. However, if we are truly going to do it, minorities need their allies to speak up and help lead the change. So often when we were talking about issues impacting women, it was primarily women who spoke up; when it came to racial minorities, it was typically BIPOC people who spoke up; for the LGBQTIA+ issues, it was members of that community. We need the allies to speak up for us as well and work to take the action, don’t leave it to the minorities to do all the work to reform the church.

One other thing that I noted, is that while we did a lot of confessing and working toward greater diversity, we still excluded talking about people with disabilities and ensuring activities, including the churchwide assembly, were accessible for them. We need to do better. This is a good time to remind you about our Synod’s Disability Learning Day on October 22. Information about this learning day is available on a table in the narthex after the service, where I’ll be as well with other materials from assembly, including a copy of All Creation Sings, the newest hymnal supplement, which we’ve been using songs from here at Faith. Some of these items are for you to review, others are available for you to take as we had extras. I invite you to stop by after the service to pick up some items or ask questions for more details or to be directed where you can get more info.

All this work we do in the name of Jesus, our guide as to how to live life and to share the good news of God’s love for all God’s creation. Amen.