Heat Wave

Officially a heat wave is temperatures in the nineties for five consecutive days (or is it three?). But in my corner of the planet, it's a heat wave whenever it goes over ninety, or even eighty-five for that matter. If you take it I don't like the heat--you take it right! I had enough of that stuff when I lived in Georgia and North Carolina. That's why I live up in the great white north now!

I guess the heat's alright for some things (swimming and going to the air-conditioned movie theater, for two). But today was just a day to hide out from the heat in the frozen food section of the market!

I fret over the heat when it comes on the weekend especially. Because I think it will affect worship attendance in a negative way. The heat has a tendency to lure people to the beach or lake, to encourage them to hide out in air-conditioning, and to strengthen their decisions to pursue various sporting and or social obligations. Snow works the same way--go figure.

The "regulars" will be there of course. They are every week--wouldn't miss it! If only that were as catchy as these mosquito viruses being spread in some communities. If only people would keep the Sabbath holy by making church a priority, and not a fall back position. I hold up the woman in today's gospel as a model. She was there in the synagogue every time--despite the fact that she was stooped over with some ailment. Despite the fact that her illness made her unclean and so she couldn't really even go in the synagogue. She was a regular. She wouldn't miss it! Making the day holy through her persistence and faith and presence.

Tomorrow is a healing service, farewell and Godspeed for the McKinleys, so it's a day when your presence is especially needed. Come on! It's at best four hours out of the day--twenty left for swimming or reading the paper. Sure it'll be hot, but it will also be cool--because I believe that our responsibility is to make worship meaningful and a pleasure.

Remember--you can't have church without "U". :'}

Chew on that in Christ's name.
Pastor Tom

Healing for today

In this week's gospel Jesus spots a woman who is bent over and unable to stand erect, and he heals her--in the synagogue, on the Sabbath, without her so much as hinting she was there for that reason.

The leader objects to this display (jealousy, perhaps?). And he points out, in true nit-picker fashion, that it was against the Sabbath codes to "work" on that holy day. What a crock! I bet Jesus could hardly contain a guffaw over that interpretation of scripture.

Yes, the Sabbath is for rest, but that freedom from toil is reflected in the woman's freedom from affliction enabled by Jesus' action. Then he uses a classic "lesser to greater" argument to teach them about the Sabbath--"on the Sabbath you loose your animals so they can drink, shouldn't this woman (a child of Abraham) be set free, also without delay? "Keeping the Sabbath holy" involves more than just meticulous resting. It permits--no demands--freedom. Freedom from illness, oppression, poverty, discrimination, addiction, and all the powers and principalities that oppose life. Sabbath laws should not prevent, but encourage such actions in God's name!

What are your Sabbath practices? Church of course, but what else do you do to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? Eat brunch out? Read the Times? Do some yardwork?

Might you be on the lookout for someone to set free? Someone sick--maybe not to cure of disease, but ease the disease with a phone call or visit? Someone sad--maybe not to cheer them up, but to cry with them.

What part of you needs to be set free? Ask God to loose the bonds that hold you captive!

Dearest Lord Jesus, healer and friend--free us from that which holds us captive, so that we may love and serve you even more. Amen

Bend it like...Jesus?

Well, the LA soccer team finally got their new superstar, David Beckham, onto the field during a game the other day. And he did pretty well--a goal and two assists. But the team lost--again. I don't think they've won a game since recruiting this phenom! But the stadium has been full--even at away games! After all, this is Beckham we're talking about. He even has a movie tangentially about him called "Bend it Like Beckham," which refers to his way of kicking the ball in a curve past the goalie and into the net on free kicks.

In next Sunday's gospel, Jesus "bends" the sabbath codes of his day in order to heal a sick woman right away. This isn't an isolated incident though--he was as adept at it as Beckham is with the soccer ball. There are incidents in the gospels with Jesus healing others on the sabbath, with the disciples plucking grain to eat (a no-no!) on a sabbath. Each one a chance for Jesus to bend the law a bit more.

Only, if you think he's bending the laws to get around them--you're mistaken. Jesus bends it like Beckham to bring the law back into alignment with its intended purpose. Not as a guidebook to heaven, but as a way of ordering society and the mirror that reveals our inability to keep law perfectly. That which throws us on God's mercy.

Jesus pointed out how hypocritical it was to NOT heal her that minute--hang the law. Laws are made to help people, not hurt them (not that we get that right in our own law-making).

Think for awhile on this: where does our own misreading of the law--our own attempts to earn God's favor through regulation of behavior--get in the way of people's desperate needs? Maybe in our penchant for the meticulous and precise understanding of doctrines? We argue points of minutia at the Assemblies while people starve in the world! There's more, I'll wager.

It seems to me that part of your spiritual discipline this week is to Bend it Like Jesus. I will and will let you know about the experience in a later blog entry.

Until then--Go Galaxy!

Bending it,
Pastor Tom

Weatherman

Sunday sermon - draft

Grace and peace to you from God our Father, and from God’s Son and our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Wow! Some gospel reading this morning, ay? Sometimes Jesus just puts it out there. I mean BAM—he lets us have it. No holds barred, no punches pulled. No thought-provoking parables or interpretive miracles—no riddles and signs. Just the truth. Right there. Right now.

Today’s truth is—wait a minute, before we get into that, we need to answer a very basic question. And that is, “What is truth?” What is truth? Well, that’s right up there with “what is the meaning of life?” when it comes to a complex question. Because truth, contrary to popular belief, is a slippery thing. It just won’t sit still so you can grab it. Because it’s effected by a plethora of factors.

For instance, truth can be bound by time. Something can be true - for a while. If I say it’s 9:27, that is true for 60 seconds—then it is true no longer.

Truth can also be relative to perspective—how you uniquely see it. Standing on the top of Mt. Washington and looking down at him, our beloved congregation president, Ken, is smaller than a flea to me. Truth. But if he takes the Cog Railway up the mountain and stands besides me—he is one tall dude. Also true. Based on your perspective.

Truth can be dependent on knowledge—what is currently known about a thing. Example. At one time, people believed the earth was flat—now we know better. What’s true has changed because we have new information.

Does logic define truth? That’s it’s function. The intersection of two arguments equals the premise, or truth. I f A is B, and C is an A, then C equals B. It is mathmatical as well. But then what about this logic? If God is love, and love is blind, and Stevie Wonder is blind, then Stevie Wonder must be God. Flawed logic leads to false truths.

Perhaps truth is more of an aesthetic thing? English poet John Keats in his Ode on a Grecian Urn, wrote that “truth is beauty, beauty truth.” Brilliant! But if your spouse asks, “Does this make me look fat?” you better be ready if you tell the truth—cause it won’t be pretty!

You see what I’m getting at? Truth is slippery. Just when you think you got a hold of it. Zip! It slides through your fingers and you’re left with questions and doubts, along with prior truths that have been demoted to veritable relics. Thomas Henry Huxley, the 19^th century biologist who championed Darwin’s theory of evolution, summed it up. In his book Science and Culture: Origin of Species: he wrote, “History warns us that it is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and end as superstitions.” Well said. A scandalous proposal, an accepted fact, an embarrassing antique—such is the lifespan of most truth.

But isn’t there such a thing as absolute truth? Something that is true now and later, no matter where or who we are, despite what we know or can reason out? The new generations tend to discount the notion, cynical bunch that they have been brought up to be. The older ones tend to take absolute truth for granted. A part of life, not to be questioned. But perhaps it is this “absolute truth” to which we must refer in our quest for a definition of truth. Truth is that premise which we trust is unchangeable. True forever!

So, truth. That’s the thread which runs through each of the readings this morning. In Jeremiah, Yahweh rails against false prophets, who substitute their own “feel-good” message for God’s “fire and hammer” truth. The psalmist poetically reveals how God’s truth is to be carried out, defending the humble and needy. And the author of Hebrews credits faith in God’s truth with being the connection we share with all those who came before us in the grand story of salvation.

And then there’s the gospel itself. Like I said at the top—this is Jesus at his most strident. And what he tells us about discipleship is chilling. Division. Hostility. Rejection. It is an unsettling picture. But it is a true picture. But you gotta wonder, “why?” Why, if like the evangelist Luke, you’re trying to make converts, why do you include in your promotional material that, oh yeah—this will probably lead to division in your family and hardship in your life? It’s like an Army recruiter telling a prospect, “Well, there’s a good chance that where we send you, someone’s going to be shooting right at you.” Doesn’t exactly sell the experience. And the gospel writers could have just left that part out. But they didn’t. Why? Partly because Jesus said it—and capturing that was their main goal. But also because it was the truth.

They knew it was because they were living that truth. Their families were split up due to one believing and another not. Fathers were pitted against sons, etc, etc. And so Jesus’ words spoke directly to them—even thirty or more years after Jesus’ ascension. From their perspective everything Jesus had warned about was happening to them. So they were a part of the great struggle pictured by Jesus.

Division, hostility, rejection. Truth! It was as plain as the nose on their faces! If it was a snake it would’ve bit them! Even so, Luke drives the message home by adding another snippet of Jesus’ sermon. “When you see clouds a-rolling in, you know to go close the windows cause it’s gonna rain. And when the wind comes up from the south—you know it’s gonna get hot.” You know these things. So apply the same logic to your interaction with Jesus. Let him into your life, there’s going to be heartache—sure as the day is long. That’s the God’s-honest truth.

Well, that was them—what about us? How are we to “interpret the present time?” Here's what I think—and I quote Bob Dylan- “you don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.” And you needn't have been at the ELCA Churchwide Assembly in Chicago two weeks ago to know there is division in the family—our Lutheran family. There has been for some time now.

Should we, as a church, bless the love and promise of fidelity in same gender unions? Should a person in such a relationship who discerns the call to ministry be allowed to serve the church as pastor, associate in ministry, or in the deaconate? The division is mostly along those lines, but those issues are really symptomatic of disagreements in more crucial, more foundational areas. Like how do we read the bible? And what is sin? And how are we as followers of Jesus to relate to our modern-day culture? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we interpret the person and work of Jesus for today?

Basically though it all boils down to “What is truth?” For today. For here in New Hampshire. For the ELCA. What is truth? People on both “sides” of these issues each claim truth in their convictions. Can each be right? What is truth? And is it possible that only an absolute truth can be the catalyst for reconciliation?

Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, I know what you're thinking—have we used up our nine lives on these issues or has it been only eight? I have to admit n all the excitement I've lost count. But you all are looking down the barrel of a full blown schism, the worst possible scenario known to the church, that would alter Lutheranism as we know it. And so. you have to ask yourselves a question? Truth or dare?

At camp we used to play some pretty stupid games. I Spy. I spy with my little eye, something colored green. Right—the paraments. Thumb wrestling [go and wrestle one of the youth]. And the granddaddy of them all—Truth or Dare. You either had to answer a question with the utmost truthfulness, or take the dare—which could be something like drinking water from the toilet (I told you it was a stupid game!).

The question we have to ask ourselves is just that; truth or dare? Do we want, as a church, to seek that truth that binds us together. Or do we dare risk the diverse unity of the church, and a future outcome that may well be palatable to all?

As for me—I pick truth, the truth that is Jesus Christ. Who, although he knew that the radical nature of his gospel of all-out total acceptance would cause dissension and even rejection, none-the-less so loved the world that he died on a cross to destroy sin and unify all creation in the reconciling power of God.

I choose that truth knowing full well it doesn't settle our issues, but rather reveals the stronger bonds of God's love that we share as his children. I choose that truth because it is unchangeable—absolute--nothing I do or say can ever disprove it, no logic can unseat it, it is timeless, the same from all angles, and it is beautiful. I choose it not by reason, not by calculation, and not by wisdom or knowledge. I choose it, along with a great cloud of witnesses—by faith. A faith given me by the Holy Spirit. I appeal to all of you, in debated matters of rightness and purity, to hold fast by faith to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Be his witnesses, speak the truth in love, be mindful of the burdens we each bear, love one another as he first loved you.

You don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind' blows. And you don't need a theologian to tell you God loves us all. And as Luther put it—this is most certainly true. Or if you prefer, paraphrased by Lily Tomlin as Edith Anne; “and that's the truth!” [braaack!]

Amen

Absolute Truth

Truth that is absolute is by nature exclusive. If you don't accept it--you're out. The faith I profess is radically inclusive - through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God is reconciling not only all humankind, but also all of creation (Romans 8). You're in, even though conditions aren't perfect and you are by no means ready.

And yet, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, the life--no one comes to the Father except by me." The way, truth, and life. What about people who never get the opportunity to hear about Jesus? What about people of different religions?

Some would say that other gods are just another expression of the God we confess. There's something to be said for this--we should not limit God to any one form of revelation, perhaps/ And yet, this concept falls short of Jesus' truth.

The way I see it Jesus is an absolute truth in the world. No one is forgiven and made new again except through him. But does that mean it's up to us? Couldn't agree with that and still be Lutheran! No--it is God working through Jesus and the Holy Spirit who transforms us and transports us to live in the kingdom of God even now. We can't limit Jesus to what we feel is the correct and timely conversion experience. Jesus is doing a new thing. And it includes everyone. This is most certainly true.

Pastor

Divided we Stand

This week's gospel features a Jesus with which we are unfamiliar. Our usual image of Jesus is "meek and mild." And there is certainly biblical evidence which validates that characterization. But Jesus has another side, as do most of us. A passionate side. A fiery side. An angry side, you might even say. And he lets it loose in this passage from Luke.

He promises his followers division and unrest, instead of peace. He promises the break up of families and the loss of friends. He promises just about everything opposite of what we'd imagine his ministry might effect. Sounds harsh, but Jesus is only describing reality--the way the world is.

Not everyone will rush to your side when you witness to them. Some will be disinterested, some openly hostile. I went to visit a parishioner at his workplace recently, wearing my clerics, and the reaction we got as we walked around varied from smiles and hellos, to active looking anywhere else, to mild jokes and questioning looks. And not a word was spoken about Jesus or God--I wonder what would have happened if the conversation led in that direction!

That's the mission field we are called into. And it's not such a bad thing. Divided we stand. We stand together with those who are all over the board when it comes to the church-we interact with them each day. Over 60 % of folks have no church home. Most times we look at that statistic with mournfulness But truth is, this spells opportunity for us. not to force our beliefs down someone's throat--but to witness with our daily lives to their daily lives.

For instance, the company I visited has a wonderful ethic. The employees volunteer at various charities, ten percent of profits are donated, the golden rule appears in their motto, and there is deep and real concern for the environment. These are points of connection with the teachings of Jesus. Witnessing to fellow workers here could build upon these common altruistic acts, adding to them the reason we, as Christians, do such things.

But why is Jesus so strident about this? I think he wants to shock us out of the rose-colored image we have of the world and evangelism. But even more, I believe that he is challenging us to go and engage people in dialog about our beliefs. That despite our differences, we all share the finite nature of humanity, and therefore the need to make sense out of what this world means--what we're supposed to be doing. We do that together. And we all have a voice.

Draft of Sunday's Sermon 8/12

A retake on: The Tell-Tale Heart

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Quick! Who can think of a song with the word “heart” in it? [Pause for answers.] Now for the most part, what kind of songs are these? [Love songs.] So is there a relationship between the word “heart” and love in our 21^st century perception? Yes, for us, the heart is the seat of emotion—especially love. Now, is that good textbook anatomy? No, of course not. The heart is the muscled organ that pumps our blood. You know that. But you also know that when Tony Bennett split up with that certain someone in San Francisco, he left his heart there as well. His love.

So, what’s love got to do with it—with your treasure, I mean? “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Is Jesus telling us to love our money? Nah! Something way more radical.

But in order to see that, we’re going to have to travel back in time to the first century AD, to a tiny, backwater of a place called Israel, and then encounter this text with the ears of Palestinian peasants—the ones who sat at Jesus feet and listened to him, the ones who crowded around him, hundreds deep—just to hear him talk about the coming kingdom of God, a place where fortunes are reversed, where last is first and weak is strong. We need to land in the sandals of one of the first people to hear Jesus’ words, and understand those words as they did—when they could understand them, that is.

Looking out from that perspective two things become instantly clear. One—these people don’t make sense of wealth using the Dow Jones Index. And two, for them, the heart has nothing at all to do with romance and love.

Wealth—for us it is like the expanding universe, capable of infinite growth. How long ago was it that we were talking about the Dow hitting that historic high—12,000? A year? And now it’s gone above 13, and even 14 for a little bit. In this respect, wealth is a lot like time—there’s a never-ending supply right at hand, and no one is limited to a certain amount—there’s plenty more where that came from—if you’re shrewd enough to attain it.

Contrast that with our first century Palestinians viewpoint. They believed wealth was a closed system—like a jar of jelly beans. There’s a certain amount of wealth (jelly beans) in the world and becoming wealthier (getting more beans), can only be achieved within the system by divesting someone else of their wealth. In simple terms—the only way you, as a peasant, can achieve any semblance of wealth is if those with the wealth give some of it to you. And fat chance of that!

So, how do these people—the disciples and the thousands of others standing round them—how do you think they received Jesus’ teaching? Let’s review what he’s said in this chapter so far. He starts out with an exhortation to put your trust in God and acknowledge him as Messiah. Then a man asks him to arbitrate an inheritance dispute and he uses a parable to teach how we should live in God abundantly. Just before today’s reading, Jesus goes on in that vein, using nature—flowers and birds—to illustrate God’s care for all things living—including us, if we trust in him. Finally, Jesus puts the finishing touches on his teaching with a radical notion for his listeners—“sell your possessions and give alms.”

What? This is not where the crowd thought he was going with this. Make the rich give up some of their tightly held wealth—but them?! Weren’t they supposed to be the recipients in this redistribution? What gives?

Well…God gives. And God wants us to share in that sharing—to be givers, too. He calls us to use our wealth—regardless of its extent—in a fashion that mimics his generosity, trusts in his goodness, and points to the approaching kingdom of God. He asks us to do this, not to earn his favor, and not even to justly equalize the world’s economy but, rather, to help us claim our identity as people of God. Help us by redirecting our treasure to its divine purpose in such a way that our hearts are necessarily drawn to God.

Which brings us to the second way the ancient Palestinian hears this passage differently. For them the heart is not the seat of emotions and love. For them the word heart, kardia in the Greek, in the Hebrew lebab—the heart is the seat of human understanding, knowledge, and will. The heart is the inner person. The true self. People look at each other’s outward appearance. God looks on the heart. And God wants you to know that your heart, your true inner self == So, if, instead of trusting in treasures you have accumulated (or bemoaning what you have not accumulated—which is the subtle flip side to the same coin, as it were), if indeed your treasures lie with God, via giving to the poor, then the inner you isn’t distracted by treasure, but is drawn by it to God, thus helping you lay claim to the you God made you to be. Which is—the recipient of the kingdom, cheerfully and lovingly given to you freely by the Father. So have no fear!

Have no fear, sell your possessions, give to the poor. Well, that’s easy for Jesus to say. After all, he can make wine from water and his prowess at divvying up leftovers is legendary. For the rest of us this “command” is a bit hard to swallow. We’re all for giving to the poor, it’s that selling of the possessions that stings a bit. My car, Jesus? My furniture? My house? (If I only could!) Not my favorite stuffed animal? Jesus, surely you couldn’t mean sell my guitars? Can’t I keep just one? I’ll only use it to play Kum By Yah. Sell my possessions.

Yes…and no. Yes, sell them and get rid of them. Because if you’re so attached to them and put all your faith in owning them—then you don’t possess your possessions, your possessions possess you. Better you liquidate the lot than go down that road. But no, what Jesus says here is hyperbole—an exaggeration for good effect. Like advising cutting off your hand if it causes you to sin. He wants you to be all you can be, God-wise, and so he gives you the over-the-top recipe for that you. Call it “Extreme Christianity.” Going to the extreme of selling everything you owned and giving it all away would definitely orient you to God and dust off God’s image on your heart. But there’s less extreme ways—God provides them for less extreme folk like us.

The question is how do we recognize them? How do we know that this or that use of our treasure is giving alms? The answer is—our hearts. Our hearts will tell us. Our tell-tale hearts.

The Tell-Tale Heart is a story by Edgar Allan Poe, if you remember. It’s a horror story, so you may wonder how it applies here. Well, let me give you a brief synopsis—that might help.

The Tell-Tale Heart is written from the first person perspective of a mad man who kills an old man because he didn’t like the way he looked at him with his one, pale-blue eye. He takes the old man’s remains and puts them under the floorboards in one of the rooms in the house. He is thinking he is going to get away with murder, he is cool and collected even to the point to where when the police come to investigate he entertains them right in the room where the man is hidden. But he hears something. Lub-dub. Lub-dub. The old man’s heart beating. And it gets louder and louder. Pointing like a beacon to his crime. Finally he can stand it no longer, and he tears up the floor, convicting himself.

The tell-tale heart gave him away. And, as macabre a comparison as it is, the tell-tale heart is what gives it away when it comes to deciding where to put our treasure. In other, much shorter and less convoluted words—uses of our treasure that are just and worthy and true cause our “hearts,” our innermost being, to resonate. Lub-dub, lub-dub. You’ve heard the expression “give from the heart?” Well now you have a way to explain it that will make you the darling of the cocktail party circuit!

How does it work, you ask? When a giving opportunity presents itself, the outer self—that practical, old, conservative you—thinks, “That’s interesting, but someone else will support it, I really don’t have the funds available.” And sometimes it ends there. But other times, as you listen to this request, you begin to notice something. A sound. Lub-dub, lub-dub. And you try to tune it out but as you hear about this need, the sound only gets louder and louder. Lub-dub, lub-dub. Lub-dub, lub-dub. Until something in you just gives way and you give—no matter what the cost.

That sound you heard is your tell-tale heart, the heart that convicts you of living a life of scarcity even amidst God’s abundance, the heart that regardless has been given the kingdom by the grace of God, the heart that bears the image of God, the heart that acts out of love, not fear, the heart that has been redeemed by the cross of Christ. When you hear that tell-tale heart pounding—pay attention! Your treasure is being directed.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Lub-dub, lub-dub. Lub-dub, lub-dub. Amen

Time Out?

When our son was a lad, and he was bad, he got a time out--that made him sad. Because it lasted an eternity. At least for him. To us, it was a quick two minutes. Our time was different from his.

I’ve noticed too that time is different at the beach. People who live there are laid back and so time appears to stretch out there. First thing in the morning is about 11, for instance. Our time–precise and punctual is vastly different.

God’s time is different from our time. In fact, God created time. So, God is not limited by time, nor does its passage concern him much. God’s all over the map when it comes to time...
Creates the universe in six days,
Raises Jesus in three.
His days are like a thousand for us, says the psalmist.
He is constant from age to age,
His word is fresh each morning.

Out time is different from God’s - we micro food and wait impatiently for it to cook, we go ez pass to save a few minutes at the tolls, we, like Veruka Salk, want it now! Our time is even different than that of biblical times. People back then didn’t expect God to work like an “Easy button,” they knew if it didn’t happen now, it would later–God’s time was sometimes slow, but always faithful. So when Abraham looked up at the stars, childless–heirless, he trusted God’s promise. Even though heirs didn’t magically appear. He knew they would. Eventually.

Can we live that way? Not knowing when, but knowing what? I think so. In fact, I believe it’s a good way to live. Because it takes the onus off the here and now and places it squarely in the “sometime, fer sure” realm. Every moment is charged with the electricity of the “maybe now,” yet needs not suffer from “nothing’s happening now.” Every second is pregnant. And glowing!

What would it mean to live this way?
How would your life be different?
What can you wait for from God?

The Wider Church

No, this doesn't mean we're all eating too much! The wider church refers to the church as it is expressed outside our doors here at messiah. There are three ways of looking at that...

1. The gathered people of God here at Messiah pass through those doors after worship on Sunday, and they don't leave the church behind--but carry it with them. They are Messiah Lutheran Church as they interact in the world in Jesus name, telling others the good news in word and deed.

2. The people of this area (and throughout the world), in their various churches, constitute a wider expression of "church." Our ecumenical (churchy) efforts to be one people of God are best witnessed in worship where we pray to the same God--very often using the same words. Also in our cooperative efforts in the community and abroad.

3. There is a wider Lutheran Church. It consists of Conferences (ours is NH), Synods (ours is New England) Regions (7), denomination (ELCA), national (other Lutheran denominations that share heritage), and worldwide (Lutheran World Federation and others).

Luther said that if the sacraments are administered and the word of God proclaimed--it is church. We must remember that these take place here within a wider framework of believers that spans the globe (as well as time--but another day for that). "We are not alone" (to rip off and use out of context a pop movie reference). We are the CHURCH.

One way to participate in the Wider Church is to keep track of what's going on at churchwide assembly for the ELCA. It began yesterday. Click on the link on this page to do so.

Pastor Tom

SDG (Draft of Sunday 8.6 sermon)

Remember the television show M*A*S*H? About a mobile army surgical hospital during the Korean War? With Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Honeycutt, two civilian surgeons drafted into the army? It’s on every night on one of those cable channels. Remember Radar O’Reilly—shy and nerdy little company clerk, slept with his teddy bear?

Well, I was thinking of a certain MASH episode this past week. The one where Radar wants to go out with a certain nurse but he’s intimidated by her superior intellect. So he asks Hawkeye and BJ to help him appear to be sophisticated and intelligent And one of the pieces of advice they give him (besides having him wear a smoking jacket and smoke a pipe) is this: to seem knowledgeable about classical music, he should answer any mention of J.S. Bach with “Ahhh, Bach!”

I was thinking of that MASH episode because, according to the church calendar, it was recently the commemoration of J.S. Bach. (Say it with me—“Ahhh, Bach!”) He was an important dude, and Lutheran to boot. What was his main claim to fame? You’ve heard of people vying for the title of “The fifth Beatle,” eh? Well, Bach is known as the fifth evangelist (evangelist as in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) because his music, much of it inspired by and containing the words of the gospels, reached and still reaches millions of people with the good news of Jesus Christ. His talent was phenomenal, both as a composer and an organist.

Would it surprise you then to hear that Bach was not always appreciated in his day? For example, when his Passion Music was sung for the first time, accompanied by 12 violins, oboes, bassoons and many other instruments, one biographer notes that ‘the people were astonished and didn’t know what to make of it. They were bewildered by the theatrical nature of the music, and looked at one another and said, “What will come of this?” One woman was heard to comment, “God save us, my children! It’s just as if we are at an Opera Comedy!” Everyone was displeased by it, and issued complaints against it.’[i]

Bach was misunderstood at his position as church organist as well. His supervisors got on his case for ‘having made many curious variations in the chorale…mingling many strange tones into the music… and confusing the congregation.’[ii] He was also told that the compositions he played were too long. He responded by playing pieces that were obviously too short. Bach was kind of a rebel. (Ahhh, Bach!)

He hardly ever traveled far from home, he wasn’t the darling of the king’s court as was one of his contemporaries George Fredrick Handel (Ahhh, Handel!). He didn’t make a fortune with his composing—in fact most of his music was not published before his death. And yet he is now recognized as the greatest composer of Western civilization—one who influenced the likes of Beethoven, Haydn, and Stravinsky—and as a gifted innovator, arranger, and organist.

Why is that, you think? Why did such a talent go largely unheralded? J.S. could have used a good publicist. Get him hooked up with an opera singer, do some red carpet premiers, work the paparazzi to get his name out there. But Bach didn’t see himself like that—all puffed up and celebrity like. He understood his work as a ministry, his talent as a gift—an abundant gift—for which he thanked and praised God. And gave God the credit.

At the bottom of each of his compositions, where he signed them “J.S. Bach,” he also wrote three letters that summed up for him his work and his life. SDG. Which stands for Soli Deo Gloria. Latin for “To God alone the glory.” Bach understood that the gift he had been given—this huge talent—was not his own, but came from God. And subsequently, he didn’t try to profit disproportionately from it, and he didn’t keep it to himself. Instead he worked diligently and humbly as a musical craftsman—serving his congregation and his Lord, and gave away even the simple glory he received to Almighty God. SDG. Soli Deo Gloria. To God alone be the glory! Ahhh, Bach!!

Now, contrast this with the farmer in Jesus’ parable this morning, or, for that matter, with the jaded view of humanity presented in the reading from Ecclesiastes. The farmer has been blessed—super abundantly blessed—with a harvest beyond all others. He immediately makes plans for super-sizing his barns to hold the extra, and for taking it easy and living large on his surplus. “Eat, drink, and be merry,” is his mission statement. Soli Me-o Gloria.

Then (oops) something he did not take into consideration happens—he dies. And he says to his soul, Soul—you’re (screwed) in big trouble! All his worldly goods go to probate.

The narrator of Ecclesiastes has an even more pessimistic view of human endeavor, wrongly focused. “All is vanity,” he cries—everything about your existence is futile—unable to satisfy. You work hard each and every day, you carefully manage what you reap, but you leave the earth with no more than you came in with. Zero, zippo, zilch, nada. The big goose egg. And worse still, all you’ve gained and managed to hold onto is left to some knucklehead who’ll probably just blow it. Life--it’s like chasing the wind.

Wow! What a downer. Not something you read in any Thrivent brochure I’ve ever happened upon. Certainly not the angle pursued by any retirement investment brochure. I guess I should not look with “interest” at my pension account either (especially of late). But are these two passages saying what they appear to be saying? That we should not plan for retirement, save for a rainy day, or set up a college fund for Junior? That we should do as the bumper sticker on the big RV suggests, “We’re spending our kid’s inheritance!” I mean—it’s no small potatoes we’re talking about here. It is estimated that there is 41 trillion dollars (!) out there that will change hands between now and 2050. That’s a lotta barns!

Well, I don’t believe that Jesus is giving a lesson on investing. And the teacher from Ecclesiastes isn’t touting the efficacy of irrevocable trusts, either. And I don’t think these lessons can be boiled down to a simple prescription for what to do with your worldly goods in order to please God. That would be law, and we’re looking for a little gospel today. That would be works righteousness, and we’ve a hankering for some grace instead. So—what to do? I’ll tell you what—say, “Ahhhh, Bach!”

Because old JS had the right idea. He was a great studier of the bible—even corrected some of Luther’s German translation—and he knew grace and gospel. He knew you received grace and heard good news. You don’t earn grace—then it wouldn’t be grace. And news is not something you make yourself because then it wouldn’t be news! Bach knew these things—you can feel it in his music.

And Bach lived a life that was neither works righteous, nor bereft of gospel truth. He played his organ, he wrote music, he messed with his supervisors, and frustrated his congregation by expanding their liturgical horizons—he did all this SDG—giving God the glory. It’s an awesome testament to the stewardship of all things. Everything you do, do it SDG. Every move you make, every breath you take. Everything.

And if everything you do, you do SDG, than you won’t be filling the barn with treasure, you’ll be filling it with God. And that’s good in the long run. That’s what we’re talking about today! The long run. This is an eschatological passage. Now there’s a word: eh-scat-o-logical. It has nothing to do with animal droppings, and everything to do with the end times. Judgment day.

The gospel story is set up with a question on inheritance, which is used as a metaphor for the end times in scripture. Same as the harvest. The meek shall inherit the earth—when? At the end of the ages. Judgment day. Jesus even says, with irony no doubt, “Who made me judge over you?” Duh, God does.

So if we take the situation of the brothers’ inheritance to be eschatological, then it follows that the parable relates to the end times too, right? The farmer goes so far as to tear down his present barns and erect newer, larger ones to stuff in as much as he can for himself. But, in the end, what good does it do him? None, zero, zippo, zilch—well, you get the picture.

It’s like the guy who hoarded gold on earth and was loathe to leave it behind when he died. So he hired a wise man who, for a hefty sum, revealed to him a way to take his treasure with him at life’s end. Which eventually came. The man found himself at the pearly gates, still clutching the suitcase full of gold bars he had died with his hands on. His turn at the gate comes, and St. Peter asks to look in his bag (Home Cloud Security, you know). The man opens it up and the gold glimmers in the morning light. And St. Peter exclaims, “One carry on bag allowed and you bring pavement?”

That’s the amount of good the overstuffed barns do. Because admission to this theme park is free. That’s the grace part of the story. That’s the good news. We’re saved by faith in the cross of Jesus Christ. It’s not up to us, and how many toys we die with. It’s a done deal. And if that’s ultimately our destiny, why should we waste our time and God’s precious resources piling up swag for tomorrow, when there’s people whom God loves every bit as much as us in need, waiting for us to share what we have and mark it SDG?

Imagine this: you take the same amount that goes into your pension fund and you give it away. SDG. You total up all the grocery bills and then give ten percent of that number to World Hunger. SDG. Count up the number of shirts you have in the closet and ask yourself why so many as you bag up some for the Salvation Army. SDG. Go into your pantry and look at the food stored there—figure how long you could last without shopping and then donate five days worth to the food pantry. SDG. These are just some examples—you could think of a lot more.

Soli Deo Gloria – to God alone be the glory. What we have is pure gift, and we my friends have been blessed with an abundant harvest. Sure you save some. Sure you spend some. But you don’t let accumulation triumph over salvation. You can’t take it with you. And your kids are just going to spend it on a flat screen HDTV and a Ferrari. And it serves God better here and now than as the bottom line in probate court.

And if you need someone to emulate, don’t let it be Donald Trump or Rupert Murdoch. Let it be good old humble and hardworking Johann Sebastian. Because then you can say, “I’ll be Bach!”

SDG

---

[i] From the History of Christian Music, Wilson, ed.

[ii] Paraphrased from Consistory's report quoted in HCM

The Bridge

The readings for this week have been intersected by daily life in a very real and horrific way with the collapse of the I35 bridge in downtown Minneapolis. Jesus' words from the gospel of Luke hit us in a different, more tender spot than usual:

"But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you.
And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

One minute you're on the highway, headed home from a long day at work, thinking about dinner and what's on the tube tonight--the next the highway is literally pulled out from under you and you plunge into the Mississippi, a casualty of structural failure. Simple physics - engineering with a constant that has changed--changed to the point of bringing down the whole equation in one partially submerged, fiery, rebar- jutting mess. As we've told ourselves a million times--after Virginia Tech, after Katrina, after 9/11--life really is fragile, and you don't know when you're going to die.

But to my way of thinking, this is less a reminder to live life to the fullest, or to make a difference in life, or even to not take life for granted. And neither is it a comment on the futility of life. For me, the juxtaposition of this scripture and this disaster points directly to a God who knows life can stink and be unfair and perversely cruel, but whose greatest desire is that we live in him so that occurrences such as these do not define us or our lives.

Instead it is God who defines us. They are not the ones killed in a horrendous bridge collapse. You are not the one with cancer. I am not the one who is old, lonely, imprisoned, tired, sick, depressed, or downtrodden. We are all the children of God. Made so by the cross of Christ. Loved for no better reason than "because." God isn't the aloof demander of life, dealer of death. God is the faithful source of life, even after death--in whom we can put our trust. And God invites us to live life in that reality, loving others, sharing our resources, and acting justly in the world.

Life is fragile. But it is never meaningless--not even when it ends so tragically. "I am the life," said the Messiah. "You are mine," says God. That means everything.

Not Keeping Up With The Joneses

Do you remember singing this folk song as a kid?

You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt.

St. Peter don’t you call me cause I can’t go…

I owe my soul to the company store.

This is kind of the flip side to what “The Preacher” says to us in this week’s reading from Ecclesiastes. He exclaims that “All is vanity”—futile. You work, you save up, you get a good little nest egg close to hatching—and then you croak and some greedy, do-nothing inheritor gets all your swag. Jesus echoes that in his parable about a farmer who suddenly finds himself with a super-abundance and can think of nothing better for it to do than to fill his new “super-sized” barns! But—gulp!—his life is required of him before he can eat, drink, and be merry about it! All is vanity.

That’s similar in tone to Sixteen Tons. Except for the laborer, all is vanity because he can’t get ahead of his debt, let alone put any money aside. Yet both underline the main thread that links the lectionary readings this week—the issue of possessions.

Whether you have the big bucks, or you haven’t two dimes to rub together, God loves you all the same. The problem is—those situations can get in the way of seeing that with clarity. You may feel especially blessed with your abundance, or cursed by your dearth. But you aren’t. God doesn’t look at your credit score before he offers you love, acceptance, forgiveness and a new life in Christ. And God doesn’t reward or punish with earthly goods, either. So don’t put all your trust in your 401(k), and, conversely, don’t let a negative balance sheet make you think God is absent and uncaring.

Because God provides enough for all—equally. In other words the problem doesn’t lie with the producer—but the distributors (oops, that’s us). What if we lived to share instead of to consume or hoard? What if we didn’t always think of the bottom line, but the people it effects? What if we all were able to earn a fair wage? Wouldn’t our work take on new meaning then? Wouldn’t we be living out God’s justice in our communities and our world? Wouldn’t the lines drawn by economic imbalance blur and then disappear?

Maybe. Maybe. You can’t make others share, be fair, or act square. But you can do your part. And if “two and two and fifty make a million” (another old folk song, showing my age here), and with God’s blessing and guidance—the world can change.

And what a legacy that would be to leave to the future generations?!

Peace,

Pastor Tom

Straight from the Source

From time to time I'd like to highlight some of the good ELCA materials available for your use. Today I lift up Prayer (http://www.elca.org/prayer/)

On this page of links you'll find a prayer request form that sends it out to Prayer Partners across the country (confidentially). There's also a beautiful "prayer for healing" video, and prayer resources (including "Prayer 101"), and devotional resources.

Back on elca.org there is a place to click and get news and live feeds from the Church-wide Assembly starting August 6th. (Maybe you'll even see Pastor Tim Keyl from CTK Nashua--who is a voting member of the assembly). I'll be sure to follow the important parts of the meeting and report to you any major decisions or happenings.

So, explore www.elca.org. There's a lot there to discover! Happy hunting!

Pastor