July 21, 2013 9th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:38-42

   38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
    41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."


“As strange and distasteful to some as it may seem, the place of women is not first and foremost the kitchen or serving room, but the same place it is for men, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his word.”
Karl Allen Kuhn,  New Proclamation, Year C 2010  p. 147

“Don’t Just Do Something - Listen!”

It is easy to pick on Martha and praise Mary.  The problem with Martha was not all her good work, but that she was too busy to experience the moment and savor the specialness of what was happening.  She was distracted.

This is how we miss God present in our lives - by being too busy.

“We...need to practice the ‘art of no agenda’ - to live in such a way that we begin to respond to the rhythms of life around us rather than control or initiate all of them.  We must, in prayer, seek to be open to and content with whatever the days brings.  We must allow ourselves to be ‘interrupted’ for God visits in interruptions.”
Other Side, July-Aug ‘92,p.11

Take time to listen for the still small voice of God.  Be quiet and sit at the feet of Jesus; take time to do nothing.

 ”The question that must guide all organizing activity in a parish (and in a family) is not how to keep people busy, but how to keep them from being so busy that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.”  Henri Nouwen, The Way Of The Heart, p. 47

 Martha was busy doing something;  Mary was busy listening to Jesus.
It is easy to get caught up in being busy and not have time to listen.

“It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood.”  Paul Tournier

Children need to be listened to; husbands and wives need to be listened too (by each other); we need to know that God listens to us.

One thing is needful:  to listen and be listened too.  For it is in so doing that we discover the mystery of another person and the meaning of our lives together with each other and with God.  Don’t just do something.  Listen...listen...listen!

July 14, 2013 8th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:25-37

25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
    26 “What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"
    27 He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'[a]; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[b]"
    28 “You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
    29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"
    30 In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.'
    36 "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
    37 The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
      Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

 “Dare We Ask Both Questions?”
This text is held together by two questions.

Spiritual question: “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”

A necessary question if we are to become who we were created to be.

Dr.  Rogness, President of Luther Seminary once wrote:

  “Man’s profoundest need is for God.  Without God, whatever other inter relations he may achieve, man will eventually be a lonely, uprooted wanderer upon the earth.  The briefest and soundest biography of a man should be, ‘He came from God; he returns to God.’  Between these two points he does not live in a vacuum, of course.  He lives with his brothers.  But the key to how he will live with his brothers is how he lives with God.”

Relational question:  “Who is my neighbor?”

Without asking this question our religion becomes a part of our lostness.  For when we say God loves us someone else is going to be better off.

There are no religious questions without human entanglement.

Franz Kafka: “The only reality is the concretely real human being, our neighbor, whom God puts in our path.”

Answer to this question cuts to the quick- gets to the issue fast.
And then it becomes difficult - for our neighbor is whomever God puts in our path and there are no guidelines as to how we are to meet their needs - just do what we can to raise life up for them.  The focus is not on who is my neighbor as much as what is required of me?

And God’s answer to that is always compassion.  As difficult as it can be, as uncertain as it can be, be are to be servants of God’s love.  Period.  The rest is not ours to worry about.

These two questions go together;  you can’t ask the one without the other.

“Love Your Neighbor As Yourself”

We can love only as we have been loved.

The command to love our neighbor as ourselves begins with the awesome truth that God first loved us and loves us still, with a love we cannot destroy no matter how bad we become.

I cannot be good enough to make God love me and I cannot be bad enough to stop God from loving me.  This is the awesome grace we live in!  We are free to love as we have been loved!

Free to open our eyes to the misery all around us - something the priest and Levite didn’t do.  We dare not pass by on the other side - we must dare to see how it is with our neighbor.

We need eye control to keep this commandment.
We also must dare become involved ourselves - not from a distance, but personally.

Our neighbor is whoever is laid at our door; whoever needs my love and attention.  To practice brotherly love we need to be "flexible, adaptable, maneuverable, and ready to improvise!"  (Dr. Thielkle)

And remember where we started.
We are doing this because we have first been loved more then we will ever be able to love.  We do what we do because we have first been loved.

We do it for Jesus as Mother Teresa reminds us!

"The work we do is only our love for Jesus in action."
"Words To Love By…"  p. 22
 

July 7, 2013 7th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two[a] others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'  6 If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 "When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you.' 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11'Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.
16 " He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me."
17 The seventy-two returned with joy and said, "Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name."
 18 He replied, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven."

“Pray  Therefore...Send Laborers”

There is no question about the need; the harvest is plentiful.
There is no question about the importance of prayer as a part of the task.
The question is, who are the laborers we are praying might be sent out?

Praying was never meant to be a substitute for doing.  It is “me” who is to “go”!

To pray for the harvest is to pray that I might be one of the laborers sent out to struggle in the heart of the day whit the task of reaping the harvest.  
This is a dangerous prayer for we might be caught up in the answer.

George Eliot in his poem “Stradivarius” puts it this way:

“This God gives the skill
But not without men’s hands;
He could not make Antonio Stradivarius violins
Without Antonio.”


“Our Reason For Joy”

Joy is a central theme in the Bible.  Look up the word in a concordance;  the Bible abounds with joy.  It is also the keynote of the Christian faith, the heart beat of the Christian life.

A lady once said to me, “You can’t be a Pastor; you smile too much.”   There is a lot to smile about when “our hearts leap for joy!” (Lk. 6:23)

This joy comes not by our own doing - we don’t create it.
Joy comes by God’s doing - it is a gift!  A gift of grace.

We rejoice knowing that our ”names are written in heaven.”

Repentance is the joy of returning home.
Suffering ends in joy, for we can be defeated but not destroyed.
Discipleship becomes a joyful duty, serving long and hard in the kingdom labor force.

Life takes on a different perspective as we dare believe that God is for us, not against us, and “nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. “ Rom 8:38

This is our reason for joy!

“God’s Great Nevertheless”

God doesn’t delight in judgment.  God delights in grace.  There is a great "nevertheless" which never gives up; always holds open the possibility that grace will happen and mortals such as you and I will see that the Kingdom of God has come near - to us.

The Kingdom of God can be rejected but it cannot be stopped.  It comes near, like it or not.
The eyes of faith see it, embrace it, even extend it as it comes among us in human form still.

June 30, 2013 6th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 9:51-62

    51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them[a]?" 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and[b] they went to another village.
57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go." 58 Jesus replied, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." 59 He said to another man, "Follow me."
But the man replied, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father."
60 Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
61 Still another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family." 62 Jesus replied, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God."

“Total Allegiance”

We are called to total allegiance, but not blind allegiance in the call to discipleship.

Single minded devotion is demanded of those who would be disciples of Jesus.
this is not narrow mindedness, which leads to judgment and condemnation rather then understanding and compassion.  This is to be servants of one another through love.
To trust one another and trust the spirit of Christ., and walk in love.

What are our boundaries for our call to discipleship?

1.  We are not to call down damnation on anyone.
2.  We are not just to talk the talk, but walk the walk.
3.  We are not to get stuck with the dead.  Life is a gift.  Live it to the better end.
4.  Don’t look back; let go and press on.  “God will know how to draw glory even from our faults.”


“Following Jesus”  

Whatever else it means, to follow Jesus, it is a radical departure from what has been to what is yet to be.

It is an all consuming adventure which is full of uncertainty, vulnerability and openness to God’s surprises as they come upon us at the most unexpected moments, in unconventional ways and ask us to be ready to “ proclaim the Kingdom of God” in the very essence of our being.

It means being a servant, a steward, a slave.  We cannot do it our way - we have to do it His way.  We cannot consume one another, we are to serve one another in love.

As Douglas John Hall says, we are to “through love become slaves to one another”.  

Hans  Kung:  “True religiousness, in whatever faith, functions not to enslave but to free, not to injure but to heal, not to destabilize but to stabilize.”

True religion lives by grace which sets people free.  Free to be who we are.  Free to struggle with our purpose in life.  Free to choose without fear of reprisal, yet with responsibility for our choices.  Free to live knowing that I will always be loved, and also knowing that I have to choose how I am going to use my freedom - as an excuse to indulge in self-gratification at the expense of others; as a license to destroy myself and others;   or as an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself, to love as I have been loved!

Free to do good to all people!  That’s what freedom in Christ is all about.
For “...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  There is no law against such things.”  Gal. 5:22,23
And there is no stopping those who live by the spirit!

June 23, 2013 5th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 8:26-39

    26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,[a] which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil[b] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.
    30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
   "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
    32A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.
    34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the boat and left.
    38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.

As you struggle with the meaning of these words for today, I would share with you these words from Richard P. Carlson, who writes in the New Proclamation series.
     

“Preaching on demon possession and exorcisms in a postmodern era is never an easy task. Yet powers of evil are still in existence (be they political, social, or economic in nature) that seek to dominate, isolate, and alienate their victims. At times such powers can even try to negotiate with the church, to strike a deal so that if the church does not name them and their tyranny of oppression, then the powers will leave the church alone.

This story, however, announces anew that the mission of the gospel includes liberation, wholeness, and restoration. In naming the powers of evil that hold others in captivity.  The gospel seeks to bestow status, peace, and belonging to community. Perhaps the greatest challenge in proclaiming this text is not in demythologizing its demonic elements but in having the courage to name the powers that seek to enslave people for their own ends and in announcing anew the liberation that Jesus' mission of wholeness and restoration brings to the captives of today's world.”
                                    Richard P. Carlson
     

Another quote from New Proclamation, Year C, 2010, p. 111

“The man (demon possessed) is completely separated - culturally, socially, and geographically- from his own people.  Thus, once again we find Jesus reaching out to one on the margins, and here we encounter marginalization to the extreme.  The man is not only a social outcast, but a spiritual pariah.  He is a Gentile, and one controlled by a legion ofd Satan’s forces.  Yet even to one such as this, God’s gift of salvation is freely given.”    Karl Allen Kuhn

June 16, 2013 4th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 7:36-50

  36 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38 and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
    39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."
    40 Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you."
      "Tell me, teacher," he said.
    41"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii,[a] and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
    43 Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled."
      "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
    44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
    48 Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
    49 The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
    50 Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."


 “Empowered To Love”

Before it is possible for us to truly love God, it is necessary for us to experience the love of God.

Simon was not aware of his need for forgiveness; thus he was not able to be forgiving.  The woman was - and could.
What ever love he might have had was self-generated; hers was forgiveness generated.

To be loved is to be forgiven.
To be forgiven is to be able to love, beyond human imagination.

It is the nature of God to forgive, not to condemn.
To accept, rather then dismiss.
To reconcile, rather than reject.

God forgives first - as much as needed - grace sufficient to cover what ever sins - then waits for something beautiful to happen.
Those who are forgiven much (and know it) will love  much ( and show it).

It is not moral perfection which pleases God - perfection which creates an attitude of condemnation rather than compassion.
It is being forgiven much which pleases God, for then our lives will make a difference and the Kingdom of God will come - through us!

June 9, 2013  3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 7:11-17

  11 Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. 12 As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. 13 When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
    14 Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" 15 The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
    16 They were all filled with awe and praised God. "A great prophet has appeared among us," they said. "God has come to help his people." 17 This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea[a] and the surrounding country.

“God Has Visited His People”

It is no small thing to say and believe that God has visited his people.  It means God reveals who God is,  as God is, not as we would have God be.  It is no small thing to say Jesus is God.  it is with fear and awe that we say such a thing.

Faith is not a matter of understanding God; it is a matter of recognizing my need for God, and then recognizing the God I need - who has revealed himself in Jesus.  Faith is not a possession; it is a possessor.  It is, as P.T. Forsythe so ably describes it, “A power and passion in authority among the powers and passions of life.”

The secret of resolving the dilemma of death lies in faith;  in daring to believe the message and promise which God has made to us in the face of death - fear not!  The gift of God is life; the enemy of life is death; the gift of God is victory over death through Jesus Christ.

We didn’t invent this truth. We discover it in the mystery of God’s presence in our world in the man Jesus. who performed miracles we will never understand and find hard to believe. For God comes to us in the mystery of revelation, in the mystery of grace present in Word, Sacraments, and people.  And especially present in the mystery of Jesus!

Albert Einstein:  “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.  ( We can add religion.)  He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and be  rapt in awe, is as good as dead; his eyes are closed.”

Einstein also said, religion “ consists in a humble admiration of the infinitely superior spirit that reveals itself in the little that we, with our weak and transitory understanding can comprehend of reality.”

God’s promise is that He will wait us out, and come to us for the awesome truth is, God cares about us and tries His hardest to intervene in our lives with the miracle of a “love which never dies and a dazzling grace which always is!”  William Sloane Coffin