This is a special musical performance by the Chancel Choir of Thy Will Be Done with soloist Ryan Thompson today at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.
Four days ago, on Ash Wednesday, I sent you a sermon about God creating earth creature Adam from the dust of the ground and breathing God’s breath into Adam to give life.
And how God’s breath, God’s Spirit, connects with each one of us
Today we pick up the story of Adam in the garden of Eden with his partner, the woman, and face the first question of evil and suffering in the bible.
We then hear about Jesus in the wilderness and the temptation he faced
These stories take us to the heart of an age-old question about human suffering.
The questions I struggle most with as a hospital chaplain are
Why do people suffer, and where is God in the midst of suffering?
First, I think it’s important that we explore the meaning of suffering
Suffering requires endurance or tolerance
It is usually not a one-time experience
But something that is persistently unpleasant, or even painful
Suffering can be imposed by oneself, or by another
Today, and throughout this season of Lent, we explore the reality of suffering as part of the human condition
even Jesus, the Christ, experienced suffering
And through Jesus, God also understands human suffering./ / /
One year ago I was assigned Douglas John Hall’s book “God & Human Suffering” for class
I loved his perspective on this question of suffering, and was happily surprised I’d have an opportunity to use his work,
as the scriptures for today align well with Hall’s material.
Hall presents that some forms of suffering belong in God’s creation of human beings
Some forms of suffering are part of our design as humans
Suffering comes along with our process of becoming. (p. 57)
The creation story and Matthew’s gospel both engage Hall’s theory that life’s struggle, the process of becoming, involves suffering
Hall presents four aspects of suffering that are part of human creation, the human condition
Those are: Loneliness, Limits, anxiety, and temptation
This suffering exists in the midst of us straying away from God’s hope for us
The denial of God’s presence with us and to us
The denial of God’s call to each one of us
As we attempt to have more power and control over our lives
and struggle to allow God to be God within our process of becoming
The key to Hall’s entire argument is that suffering and struggle, as part of our human design, must promote meaningful life
So egregious human acts of war, violence, oppression …
These lie outside of what we’re talking about today / / /
So let’s consider loneliness…
Loneliness creates suffering because by design humans are intended for relationship
Loneliness is the opposite of relationship and love that God calls us toward
In creation God proclaims that it is not good for human Adam to be alone
So God creates animals and a human partner to accompany Adam through life
Experiencing loneliness inspires us to seek meaningful relationships
It’s a feeling that tips us off that we we’re missing a core part of our being
Which is relationship / / /
Limits: We live in a society that continuously strives to defy limits
Living as though the earth is limitlessly productive and resilient
Living as though our individual lives have no limits
We create a society where we can access anything,
where nothing is forbidden,
where medicine can keep our hearts beating and lungs breathing…
keep us “alive”… long past the time that our living has ended
Hall asks us to wonder how human beings under such conditions
Of limitlessness ever experience awe
Surprise
Or gratitude?
The stories in both Genesis and Matthew today explore limits.
Just after Jesus was baptized and the Spirit of God proclaimed
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased”
Jesus went out to the wilderness as many others had gone before him,
The wilderness… where everything is stripped away
Except for himself
In this wilderness the tempter came to push Jesus’ limits
Jesus could have turned the stones into bread
He possessed the power to do great and miraculous things
However, Jesus fully embraced his humanness in this place of wilderness
And limited the use of his power / / /
Anxiety: Hall is not talking about chronic anxiety that reduces one’s ability to live life abundantly
But he is referring to the human capacity to be aware of our condition
To contemplate the past, present and future of not only ourselves,
But of others, extending beyond our community and into the cosmos…
This incredible awareness causes anxiety as we face choices
And decision-making about how our actions impact ourselves and others
The woman experienced anxiety in the story of Genesis today as the serpent makes her aware of what she might be missing out on
The serpent is not evil, but good, created good as part of God’s creation
And knowledge isn’t necessarily evil either
But this awareness, this fear of missing out, creates anxiety within humans
As we struggle to make choices
The woman becomes anxious about what she might not see
About a God-like power that she could possess, but may not
And in the midst of this anxiety… she takes a bite / / /
When we move through anxiety, we are able to recognize hope
And experience comfort,
relief,
and even joy
Which is God’s call to each one of us / / /
Finally we hear about temptation
The woman is tempted
Jesus is tempted
We are tempted
Temptation challenges us to decide
Temptation brings discomfort, even suffering, as we struggle
to choose righteousness, justice, and truth
And temptation also connects us with our human capabilities of freedom, decision-making, sacrifice, and restraint
Hall states that:
“Without temptation, human beings would lack the challenge that is necessary
for the development both of its rational powers of discernment
and its moral capacities for goodness” (p. 59). / / /
Loneliness… limits…anxiety… temptation
Forms of suffering that guide us in our becoming
I think of them like the bumpers that beginners use in bowling
To help them stay out of the gutter where all becomes lost
As we bump up against these forms of suffering throughout our lives,
perhaps we can consider them from a new perspective
“Life without suffering would be no life at all
As life depends in some mysterious way upon the struggle to be” (p. 60)
Becoming who we are, who we’re meant to be, who we want to become
This struggle often brings pain and suffering
Because we are aware, we are conscious, of the vastness of the cosmos
Within this struggle “we become active participants in our life process.
And because of our vast awareness,
We are reminded of God’s role in our becoming
We recognize that we can’t do it all on our own
As we navigate loneliness
Impose limits
Acknowledge our anxiety
And resist temptation
We create space for God / / /
“the temptation of Everyperson is to have their being
rather than having to receive it,
daily, like the manna of the wilderness or the daily bread of the Lord’s prayer” (81)
During this season of Lent
May we fully embrace our created humanness and the suffering of our becoming
May we acknowledge God’s loving presence with us and to us
In those spaces of suffering
As we face loneliness, limitations, anxiety and temptation
May we have the discernment and the courage,
Like Jesus,
To say “Away with you Satan”
And allow the angels of God to wait on us
This is a special musical presentation of Minuet by Charles Lloyd with Michael Fox on Clarinet at Faith Lutheran Church.
Matthew 17:1-9; Transfiguration A; 2/19/23 Pastor Ellen Schoepf
As we gather this morning, I am sure most of us are feeling the trauma of this past week and we are grieving. As I have been reflecting on the tragedy at MSU, I have also been thinking about the ways in which moments of grief, anger, injustice, etc., sometimes become windows into the divine and then, in those moments, we become changed. That is what the cross is about and this week we will begin to focus more intently on the cross as we move into Lent. As we begin our Lenten journey this Wednesday, the inevitability of the cross looms before us, and there is nothing we can do to change the fate of our Lord. Yet, as we face the cross, and as we face those moments in life when grief is so present, as we face the horror of this past week, it can become a window into the divine. I know this happens because I have experienced it.
As a pastor, I have the privilege of being with you and walking with you during some of the most difficult times and moments of your lives. Quite honestly, it is in those times that I often find God’s presence to us to be palpable, and I am always changed. There are times when these moments are truly transcendent moments, saturated with God’s loving presence. And I always realize that in those times, we are standing on holy ground.
One of those moments for me happened a year ago this past December. As I tell you this story, I will mention that Charlotte Rasmussen has given me permission to share it with you. She and Tom were in Florida for the winter when Tom had a heart attack. Tom was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgery, but complications ensued. Their daughter Ellen, Charlotte, and I were in touch with each other throughout those challenging days. Tom’s condition worsened. It was apparent he would not recover, and he was near death. On Christmas Eve day 2021, they called and wondered if we could do a short service over the phone. I had never thought of doing such a thing and quite frankly I was wondering how this would work out, but I said sure. Charlotte’s daughter-in-law was able to connect other family members to our phone call while Ellen, Ken and others were in the hospital room with Charlotte and Tom. In those moments, as Tom faced the end of his life, I led the service for The Commendation of the Dying. And in those moments, in the midst of so much grief and suffering, all of us experienced the transcendent presence of God. We experienced that window to the divine. Even though we were separated by countless miles, we were one in the body of Christ and we all experienced God’s presence to us. We knew we were standing on holy ground. I will be honest with you. I was forever changed by that experience of Christ’s presence to us on that day.
As I reflect on the events of this past week, the event of Tom Rasmussen’s death, and the gospel story we are given today, I know the presence of the Risen Christ often appears in times of deepest grief. We experience a window into the divine and we become changed. In today’s gospel reading, we find Peter, James, and John accompanying Jesus up the mountain after Jesus has just told them they are headed to Jerusalem where he will be killed. Jesus has told them about his imminent death. It is only human that in their minds they play out the next few days and weeks. Quite honestly, they probably begin to look for alternatives, desperate for a second opinion, a way to stop time. They want to build a sanctuary away from the world, to be content in the moment, saving Jesus and themselves from the heartache to come. However, they cannot do this, and neither can we. Yet, on that mountain, God breaks into their lives and the grief they are experiencing. In the moment of transfiguration, they experience a window into the divine as Jesus’ divinity is affirmed. And in that moment, the disciples are given eyes to see God’s light in the chaos to come, the chaos of death, loss, fear, and resurrection, all of which would become the work of the early church. You see, the challenge to the disciples, to the early church, and to us is to live in a world without Jesus’ bodily presence. The transfiguration, a word meaning to be changed, anticipates this challenge, inviting us to live our days in “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” As that light shines in our hearts, the incarnate God is made real in the every day of our lives.
In the transcendent moments of life, those remarkable moments and times when we deeply feel the presence of Christ, God prepares us to endure the world and its brokenness, the world of the cross, the world where we experience mass shootings in our own community, the world that has the ability to break us and yet is never beyond God’s redemption. And, sometimes, those transcendent moments even happen in the presence of immense grief, as Charlotte, Ellen and I experienced on that Christmas Eve day in 2021.
The transfiguration offered Peter, James and John the paradox that while there is nothing they can do to save themselves from suffering, there is also no way they can shield themselves from the light of God that sheds hope in their darkest moments. That mountain was the way for God to prepare Jesus’ human band of companions for the sacred journey that was to come, to offer something to hold on to when they descended into the crushing reality of the world below.
In this story Jesus is preparing his disciples for the cross – it’s going to come, so be ready, he seems to say. Jesus knows it’s the only thing that’s going to transfigure them, to change them. In that moment in the depth of grief, they experience a window into the divine. And the same thing goes for us as well. You see, suffering has this strange and marvelous ability to pull us into oneness and experience the divine. Maybe you’ve seen it happen in your family, maybe in a moment like the one Charlotte and I experienced, maybe at the funeral of a loved one or some other communal tragedy, maybe even through this past week’s tragic experience at MSU, and we discover we are in this together, we are in this together as the body of Christ.
Today’s gospel reading marks a pivotal point in Jesus’ ministry, and it was a pivotal point in the lives of the three disciples. I dare say that this reading presents a pivotal point for us as we walk through the doorway into Lent. Jerusalem and the cross stand before us. This Wednesday, we will be reminded of our brokenness and our mortality as we are smeared with ashes and begin traveling with Jesus to the cross. The cross – that place of death and sorrow where we discover a love so big it envelops the entire world! The cross – the ultimate window into the divine because it is a place of transforming love, a place that changes us.
As our community continues to grieve and move through the trauma we have experienced, one thing I know for certain is that the God who in Jesus journeyed to the cross, also walks with us and is present to us in our grief. The moment of transfiguration is that point at which God says to the world and to each of us that there is nothing we can do to prepare for or stand in the way of joy or sorrow. However, we also cannot escape the light that God will shed on our path. We cannot escape God, Immanuel, God with us. So, as we still grieve and Lent begins, be open to be changed, be open to be transformed, and be open to be made new. May God richly bless our journey!
This is a special musical presentation of The Servant Song by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church.
This past week was a challenging one for some of us. The incident at Okemos High School this past Tuesday created some real trauma within our community. So, I am ready for some good news! But, as I read today’s gospel, we receive words that do not appear to present us with the good news we seek.
I don’t know about you, but today I don’t really like to hear Jesus’ words. Jesus is on a tirade, and he seems to be having an outburst of some kind. Jesus is not messing around and, quite frankly, he seems to have done an about face. He is still preaching his Sermon on the Mount which began with the Beatitudes – those beautiful words of promise and blessing. Then, last week he told us we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And now we get this diatribe of seeming vitriol. What has happened? Why the dramatic change? One could almost think he is having some sort of meltdown as he quickly jumped from telling us that we are salt and light, to this message we hear today. Suddenly Jesus hits us with this eruption of words regarding judgement, murder, prison, divorce, lust, tearing out eyes, chopping off body parts, and being thrown into hellfire of the burning garbage dump outside the city! Frankly, I have to ask, “Jesus, why do you pronounce blessings and then proceed to let loose with this rant? Why are you getting so intense with us when we just want to sit at your feet and learn? After all, we are so hungry for some good news!”
Well, today, Jesus seems to be giving us a heavy-duty dose of the law. He does this by delivering a new interpretation of the law as he addresses some of the more contentious issues of his day. And, as we take an initial look at both the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy and Jesus’ words in the gospel of Matthew, it seems that we are given a hefty prescription of the law including some heavy penalties for disobeying the law. Yet, if we take a closer look, I think we can gain not only a helpful understanding of the law but also a clearer picture of the God we worship.
Martin Luther stressed that the law, specifically the Ten Commandments, is the precious gift of an adoring parent given to beloved children, urging them to treat each other well. The commandments are all about teaching us how to live together as God’s beloved community. That was Jesus’ understanding of the law, and he begins this segment of his sermon by referencing the Ten Commandments. In doing so, he takes these laws to a new level by broadening them and expanding on their meaning. And he gets intense as he delivers his expanded interpretations. He does this because the God of Scripture is all about relationships – our relationship with God, our relationships with each other and our relationship with our very selves. God cares deeply and passionately about how we treat each other because God loves each one of us so much.
Jesus knows that to live together as the community of God’s people and confess that our relationships matter to God means expanding our understanding of the nature and purpose of God’s commands. So, as Professor David Lose writes, Jesus doesn’t simply heighten the force of the law, he broadens it as he says:
As Jesus preaches to us today about the law and its meaning, he makes use of hyperbole. His use of exaggerated language regarding cutting off body parts and burning in hell serve to magnify just how important our relationships are to God. God deeply cares! Now, such an understanding of a God who cares about our very relationships probably runs contrary to most people’s perception of God. Quite honestly, for most people I would bet that if we asked them to describe what God, the lawgiver, is like they would probably have an image of God as one sitting some place up there with a perpetual finger raised in warning and perhaps accusation. As Pastor David Lose says, people tend to have a picture of God “captured by a familiar line of that great American folk hymn: ‘He knows when you are sleeping; he knows when you’re awake. He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!’ While that may seem funny, many folks do picture God as some stern Santa Claus, always ready to judge us for breaking God’s laws.”
Jesus’ words in this passage are very challenging. And his hyperbolic language can reinforce the stern law giver image of God. But the reality is that God is not so interested in us keeping the law for the law’s sake, but for our sake. God is like that loving parent who establishes rules when they tell their child things like don’t play in the street, or treat each other well, or don’t talk meanly to each other. You see, God is interested in our hearts and in our relationships with one another. As Jesus speaks to the disciples and to each one of us, he wants us to really look at the heart of our actions and look at the root cause of those things we do that are not life-giving. Those are things that break relationships and those are the very places where we need this God of love to be present. Quite frankly, it is our hearts God wants more than anything. God wants to transform our hearts and make us new, and God wants to do this regardless of any mistakes we make or have made. Jesus wants us to look at our hearts and look at the root of our actions, whatever they are, because that is where we need God.
Our God is a relational God. God is all about relationship and mutuality. That is the very point of the Ten Commandments. They are given as gift to help us live together in relationship. And, quite frankly, it is sin that causes us to break our relationships and become separated from each other. It is sin that manifests itself as separation from God, from each other and from our very selves. I like the way Franciscan priest, Richard Rohr, describes this aspect of sin. He writes:
True evil and true sin must be very well disguised to survive. Separation will normally not look like sin, but will often resemble propriety and even appropriate boundary-keeping. “I have a right to be upset!” the righteous soul says.
Well, today, Jesus is again calling us to turn from separation to a life of living in healthy, mutual relationship with God and with each other. That turning is what we call repentance. And God is always ready and willing to bathe us in forgiveness and love. As Richard Rohr talks about this relational way of living, he writes, “Every time God forgives us, God is saying that God’s own rules do not matter as much as the relationship that God wants to create with us.”
Jesus is not really on a tirade today. He uses hyperbole and goes to great lengths to take us to a new understanding and show us the gift we have been given in the law. He is giving us a deeper understanding of a God who is all about relationships and love, and a God who deeply desires for us to live together as God’s beloved community.
Some students once asked Martin Luther, “What is your picture of God?” Luther replied, “When I think of God, I think of a man hanging on a tree.” Luther responded with those words because in the cross of Christ we see God’s love poured out for the whole world and we are reminded that God will go to any and all lengths to communicate just how much God loves us so that we, in turn, may better love one another.
So, go, be reconciled to God, to one another and to your very selves. Go, and live into love, the love that God showers upon each one of us. This news today IS truly good news!
This is a special musical presentation of This Little Light of Mine by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church.
I still vividly remember the time fifty plus years ago when I first came to Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos. I was in High School, and I came with my mother to Faith Lutheran Church for a gathering of the Michigan District ALCW (the American Lutheran Church Women). I clearly remember that day because Evelyn Frost was the speaker. I am sure some of you who are long time members remember her. Evelyn’s remarks on that day made a huge impression on my young, formidable mind. The gospel passage on which she spoke was the gospel reading we have today. I remember being fascinated as she talked about salt, the many properties and varieties of salt, and the multiple ways in which salt is used. As I studied today’s gospel reading, that experience of roughly fifty years ago came to mind.
Salt and light. Today, Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth, and we bring light to the world. Last week we heard Jesus launch his ministry by beginning his inaugural address, the message we now call the Sermon on the Mount. Last week we heard him begin with The Beatitudes, that wonderful vision that lifts up the most unlikely people – the poor in spirit, the meek and the merciful, those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who are pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. Last week we heard Jesus call these most unlikely of people “blessed.” Today, Jesus continues his sermon by addressing the crowd as “you,” and offering them words of both reassurance and challenge. The “you” he addresses is plural. It is to be heard by us not as privately pious Christians but as the Body of Christ active in the world God so deeply loves, even if that activity is at times risky business. As Jesus continues, he uses the metaphors of salt and light. And, like that second generation of Christians to whom Matthew was writing, we listen with the crowd to hear that we, too, are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.”
One of the fascinating things I remember Evelyn Frost so eloquently talking about was the existence of multiple types of salt. If we were to go out shopping for salt we would find pink, black, gray, flaky, rock, crystals, iodized, and un-iodized just to name a few. Some salts are better used when cooking, while others are best as a finishing touch. Some salts are not edible but are used for chemical purposes, like melting ice on winter roads. Salt is something that is necessary for human life. And, when we hear Matthew’s gospel today and remember that it was written for early Jewish Christians, it is thought-provoking to note that some early Christian communities placed salt on the tongue of the newly baptized. Given the wide varieties of salt around the world, its culinary and chemical significance and its many uses, Jesus’ comparison of believers to salt is even more meaningful. As Christians, one might say we are chemically the same through the work of the Spirit. However, we are called to different uses and work.
And, when we think about Jesus calling his followers light, we must remember light is not just the opposite of dark. The word “light” is also the opposite of heavy. In today’s Old Testament reading, Isaiah calls Israel to a fast that is about reducing a certain kind of heaviness – the heaviness others carry. The fast that God has chosen should lessen the burden and heaviness of those who are oppressed. The fast that God has chosen should lessen the heaviness and struggles of the poor, the widows, the orphans, the resident aliens among us, the most vulnerable, and all those on the margins. Lighting the world as children of God should also involve lightening the weight of war, poverty, destruction, oppression, and division.
Today’s gospel reading epitomizes Matthew’s understanding that the Christian movement built upon and perfected the righteousness prescribed in the Jewish commandments and the call of prophets like Isaiah. When talking about Jesus’ words to us today, Lutheran theologian and professor, Barbara Lundblad, connects his message to the words of the prophets before him when she writes:
For Jesus, salt and light came out of a long tradition of biblical teaching: salt and light were images for the law of God. Salt and light must take us back to the fullness of the law and the prophets, and the fullness of Jesus’ radical teaching in this Sermon on the Mount. The prophets plead for fullness of life: freedom from oppression, bread for the hungry, homes for those who have none, clothing for the naked. Is this not what it means to be the salt of the earth, to keep this prophetic word alive in the midst of our world? If we lose this vision, if we give in to other values, if we forget God’s longing for justice, our salt has lost its taste. If you think Jesus’ call is impossible, remember that the One who is our bread is with us and within us, empowering us to be salt and light in this world.
Yes, this is the righteousness prescribed in the Jewish commandments and the call of the prophets, and it is the righteousness called forth in the kingdom of heaven, the in-breaking reign of God. This is the righteousness Jesus proclaims as already here when transformation is taking place through him. The Christian community receives the call to be salt and light and this gospel message is about bringing transformation not only to our individual selves or the members of a specific church or faith community, but transformation to the entire world.
Now, it is important to look again at Jesus’ words to us. He says, “You are the salt of the earth….you are the light of the world.” As Lutheran pastor and theologian David Lose says:
Jesus isn’t saying, “You should be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” Or, “You have to be,…” let alone “You better be,….” Rather, he is saying, you are. As in already are. Even if you don’t know it. Even if you once knew it and forgot. Even if you have a hard time believing it. Jesus is making to his disciples a promise about their very being, he is not commanding, let alone threatening them about what they should be doing. And that’s worth tarrying over, as so many in our congregations and world experience God more like a divine law-maker and rule-enforcer than generous gift-giver…..In today’s reading, Jesus is making promises and giving out gifts. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world, and this is, like Jesus’ words we heard last week, sheer blessing. And, it is about identity, about our very being, which in turn leads to doing. It is all about living into the God-given identity we already have.
Listen again to Jesus’ words to us today as I read them from Eugene Peterson’s translation, The Message. Listen as Jesus speaks to you:
Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand – shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
As I think back to that time in the early ‘70’s when I came here to Faith Lutheran Church and heard Evelyn Frost speak, I realize she truly was salt-seasoning bringing out God-flavors to all who listened. She was God’s light-bearer whose words brought transformation in my life. And as I think about my past eight years with you, while preparing for retirement, you have been God’s light-bearers and you have brought transformation to so many lives. I give thanks that you truly are a shining light in this community. As I prepare to leave, my prayer for you is that you will continue to keep open house; and continue to be generous with your lives. I pray you will continue to faithfully open up to others and, by doing this, prompt people to open up to God, the One who is so very generous to all and showers us with overwhelming love. I pray you will continue to shine the light of God’s overwhelming, unconditional love for all people!