Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Taking her easy
I am on vacation through the 10th of August, but will post when the spirit moves me.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Nearer the Kingdom to Thee
How does the notion that God comes to us relate to the parables of the kingdom that Jesus tells in this coming Sunday's gospel?
Could it be that Jesus is hinting that the kingdom is nearer to us than we perceive? That the small glimpses of the kingdom we get in this world somehow reveal the immensity of its impact on our world? Like a small mustard seed. Like a small pearl. And these open our eyes to the closeness of God.
So "nearer to thee" doesn't refer to us being closer and closer to God, but the other way around! God's kingdom is nearer and nearer---slowly enveloping us in its light.
So, even though I came to that title from left field, I think it's a good one. Would be better if that Jacob's ladder tie in was really a part of the day's readings--but hey, inspiration works in mysterious ways!
I'll go to work on that sermon now. And it'll be about how God comes nearer to us in Jesus Christ and the kingdom of heaven. Hope you're in church to hear it!
Could it be that Jesus is hinting that the kingdom is nearer to us than we perceive? That the small glimpses of the kingdom we get in this world somehow reveal the immensity of its impact on our world? Like a small mustard seed. Like a small pearl. And these open our eyes to the closeness of God.
So "nearer to thee" doesn't refer to us being closer and closer to God, but the other way around! God's kingdom is nearer and nearer---slowly enveloping us in its light.
So, even though I came to that title from left field, I think it's a good one. Would be better if that Jacob's ladder tie in was really a part of the day's readings--but hey, inspiration works in mysterious ways!
I'll go to work on that sermon now. And it'll be about how God comes nearer to us in Jesus Christ and the kingdom of heaven. Hope you're in church to hear it!
More on "Nearer..."
I think I have it figured out.
I have been working with two weeks’ texts in order to get ready to preach at Calumet, and to preach when I get home after a week there. So, the two have become garbled a bit. And here’s what probably happened: I looked at the lessons for 7/20 while organizing things for 7/27. One of the appointed lessons for this past Sunday was the story of Jacob’s dream—Jacob’s Ladder. (This was an alternate reading, so it’s even more ridiculous that I focused in on it.)
Having the notion that this was one of the readings, I must have seen Nearer My God to Thee mentioned in reference to the Ladder text (it;s loosely based on it says Wikipedia.
Probably I then recalled one of the first textbooks I used in my seminary career—Where God Meets Man, by Jensen, I believe. His main premise was that most of us have a Jacob’s Ladder paradigm when we think about salvation—we think we need to ascend the ladder to get to God. While what really is going on is God is coming down to us! Grace! Nearer my God to thee!
Now how does that fit into these parables of Jesus? I have an idea, but I’m going to let it cook in my head for a while before I serve it up. And I’d love to add your thoughts to the mix. Email or comment will be great.
I have been working with two weeks’ texts in order to get ready to preach at Calumet, and to preach when I get home after a week there. So, the two have become garbled a bit. And here’s what probably happened: I looked at the lessons for 7/20 while organizing things for 7/27. One of the appointed lessons for this past Sunday was the story of Jacob’s dream—Jacob’s Ladder. (This was an alternate reading, so it’s even more ridiculous that I focused in on it.)
Having the notion that this was one of the readings, I must have seen Nearer My God to Thee mentioned in reference to the Ladder text (it;s loosely based on it says Wikipedia.
Probably I then recalled one of the first textbooks I used in my seminary career—Where God Meets Man, by Jensen, I believe. His main premise was that most of us have a Jacob’s Ladder paradigm when we think about salvation—we think we need to ascend the ladder to get to God. While what really is going on is God is coming down to us! Grace! Nearer my God to thee!
Now how does that fit into these parables of Jesus? I have an idea, but I’m going to let it cook in my head for a while before I serve it up. And I’d love to add your thoughts to the mix. Email or comment will be great.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Conjecture
Nearer to thee. What was I thinking? There’s a hymn with those words: Nearer, my God, to thee / nearer to thee. Legend has it that the musicians on board the Titanic played that hymn as the ship went down. It’s strange that this would have anything at all to do with Jesus’ parables, but what else could it be? Perhaps there’s some line in the lyrics that keyed me in. When I go over for lunch I’ll research that and post this.
In the meantime—how do you think Nearer to Thee relates to Jesus’ parables of the kingdom?
In the meantime—how do you think Nearer to Thee relates to Jesus’ parables of the kingdom?
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
From Calumet...
This week I’m going to have a bit of a mystery to solve before I can construct the sermon for Sunday. You see, I pick the hymns and often the sermon titles way before the actual date. The hymns are chosen for several reasons—compatibility with the scripture of the day, the season of the church year, the theme of the sermon, or because it’s a favorite or a new song I’d love to teach you all. The sermon titles often come as inspiration as I read the lessons for the day, and the brief commentary included in Sundays and Seasons, the book that helps me plan worship. A sudden flash of insight, and I write it down.
Then I return to that title several weeks later. Most times I read the title as think, “Oh yeah—I wanted to talk about such and such this week.” Other times, I read it and think, “Whaaaat?” This week is one of the other times.
So for the next few days I’ll be wrestling not only with the text (which is the parables of the mustard seed, etc.), but also with a sermon title that one day made perfect sense, but now, is a puzzlement. Why not just abandon that title, you may ask? It intrigues me, and I feel called to recapture what I had found tucked into this gospel reading. So stay tuned as I report back to you on my quest.
Oh, and the sermon title is: Nearer to Thee.
Then I return to that title several weeks later. Most times I read the title as think, “Oh yeah—I wanted to talk about such and such this week.” Other times, I read it and think, “Whaaaat?” This week is one of the other times.
So for the next few days I’ll be wrestling not only with the text (which is the parables of the mustard seed, etc.), but also with a sermon title that one day made perfect sense, but now, is a puzzlement. Why not just abandon that title, you may ask? It intrigues me, and I feel called to recapture what I had found tucked into this gospel reading. So stay tuned as I report back to you on my quest.
Oh, and the sermon title is: Nearer to Thee.
Monday, July 21, 2008
At Calumet
Lisa and I are spending the better part of this week at our Lutheran camp Calumet. I am serving as the Family Camp Chaplain. My duties are to preach this past Sunday (to about 500 people!), to do a morning devotion time each weekday morning, conduct a bible study from 9:45 – 10:45 am each day, hold a Vespers service Thursday night, to mix and mingle with the 200 plus campers here in the family campground, and just be available if there’s need of a pastor. In some ways it’s a relaxing week of service, but there’s always the stress of doing your best to reach people—perhaps that’s a good thing after a fashion, too.
I’ll talk more about Calumet as the week goes by—each day there’ll be a blog. I’ll also be talking about constructing the week’s sermon. So do visit the Pantry often this week!
I’ll talk more about Calumet as the week goes by—each day there’ll be a blog. I’ll also be talking about constructing the week’s sermon. So do visit the Pantry often this week!
Seed or Weed? Sermon
Seed or Weed?
Pentecost 10A Calumet 7/20/08
Matt 13:24-30
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.
[Music starts, announcer talks over it]
ANNOUNCER: Live, direct from Camp Calumet on the shores of Ossipee Lake, New Hampshire—it’s time to play everyone’s favorite horticultural game show…Seed, or Weed. I’m your announcer, John Junkins, and now here’s the host of Seed or Weed—the one, the only, the devilishly handsome—Pastor Tom Teichmann!!! [holds up applause sign]
TT: Thank you John! And thank you, ladies and gentlemen! [music concludes] Enough…that’s enough. [signals with his hands for more applause!] John, we need seven contestants down here.
ANNOUNCER: Right! [ad lib (come on down!) as he picks seven contestants, six volunteers and one “ringer,” Ryan B., picked last]
TT: Okay! Welcome to Seed or Weed. Now, before we continue we need a buzzer and a bell. [picks someone to mimic a bell when answer is correct, another to “buzz” when answer is wrong] Now, here’s how we play the game. I will give you the scientific Latin name of a plant and you have 15 seconds to tell me if the plant is a “seed,” a cultivated plant—or an unwanted weed. Any questions? Good! Then what time is it Johnny?
ANNOUNCER: It’s time to play Seed…or Weed!!
[ad lib the game with the first six – following dialog used as needed]
TT: What has he/she won, Johnny?
A: She’s/he’s won a new car (toy car),
A bottle of bubbly (soap bubbles),
A “Skip Church” coupon (expires July 19th),
A NO-expense paid trip to the camp store!,
This lovely souvenir of Camp Calumet (a rock),
A brand new set of dinner plates (paper).
OR….
TT: Oh, we’re sorry. You’ll get a wonderful consolation prize—the home version of Seed or Weed.
CONTINUES… [finish with Ryan]
TT: Are you ready to play Seed…or Weed? Good! Then here’s the name, and then you’ll have 15 seconds to tell me seed, or weed. [reads card] Ryan B.
Ryan: [pauses to think about it] Hey, that’s me!
TT: Seed or weed? 10 seconds.
Ryan: I don’t get it—how could I be a seed or a weed?
TT: 7 seconds.
Ryan: I need time to think!
TT: 5 seconds, Ryan.
Ryan: [stands there exasperated as the buzzer sounds!] AHHHHHH!
ANNOUNCER: That’s all the time we have. See you next time on Seed, or Weed?
[music up and out]
Taraxacum officinale – Dandelion
Ambrosia artemisifolia – Ragweed
Muhlenbergia schreberi – Nimblewill
Lycopersicon esculentum – tomato
Vaccinium corymbosum L. – blueberry
Zea saccharata – sweet corn
So, I think we can agree—it’s hard to tell if a plant is a seed or a weed, just by hearing even its common name, let alone its Latin name! But I know what you’re really wondering about right now. Is Ryan Bonfiglio a seed or a weed? Is he a little of each? Are we all, a little of each? Kinda left you hanging there. Well, I’m going to leave you dangling a little while longer while I talk about parables in general and the parable of the wheat and the weeds in specific.
And the thing I wanted you to learn about parables today is this: parables can have many meanings. Say that with me…parables can have many meanings. You can get a lot out of a parable. Jesus says his story is about how good and evil exist together in the world, but come judgment day, God will destroy evil once and for always. But just because Jesus explained his story to the disciples in a certain way, doesn’t mean that his explanation exhausts its meaning. I believe there’s still more to discover and learn about, there, between the lines. So, let’s lay Jesus’ interpretation aside for today, shall we? It’s not heresy to do that. And besides--it will save you from having to wrap your heads around big theological words like eschatological, soteriology, and forensic justice.
What I want us to focus on instead is seed…or weed? And I want to explore these two words both as nouns, and as verbs. First as nouns. What is a noun? It’s a person, place or thing. In this case, things. “Seed” being the wheat—the intentionally planted, good, grain producing plant. And “weed” being the invasive, prolific, bad, valueless—well, weed.
Now we know how difficult it is to discriminate between seed and weed using just their scientific names as a point of reference. But I doubt, if we played the game again using pictures of good plants / bad plants, the majority of the contestants would still go home with the home version of “Seed, or Weed?” Because some weeds are very beautiful or have lovely-looking fruit. They appear to be “seeds.” For example, kudzu was introduced into America because some genius thought it would make good ground cover. Yah, it did. But conversely, some seed plants—like the artichoke—you just have to wonder about. Seed, or weed? It’s hard to tell.
When I had my first full time camp job down in Rincon, Georgia, I was put in charge of the extensive grounds. Which was a challenge for me, since back on Long Island, NY where I come from—we’d cut our postage stamp-sized lawns with one of those whirly-gig push mowers, and now here I was using lawn tractors and rotary mowers and weed whackers. One day I set out to whack all the weeds I could find, and at the end of the day, I was proud I’d done so well, having never used such a device before. I was especially happy with the job I’d done whacking the weeds around the tennis court fence. That is until one of the other workers came in and commented on how poorly the English Ivy was doing . The English Ivy that was growing on the tennis court fence. That I had just whacked. Seed, or weed? It’s hard to tell which is which!
And let me tell you—it’s just as difficult to tell the difference between the weeds and the seeds when you’re talking people. Oh, some times it’s not too difficult—the weediest of people are easy to spot—much like the dandelions that pop up on your lawn. Picture in your mind just for a moment a very definite weed you know personally. That was easy wasn’t it? And yet, for the most part, it’s hard to see clearly into another’s heart and determine what lies therein—seed or weed. Indeed, Luther said that we are simultaneously seed and weed, saint and sinner at the same time. So, who are we to lambaste someone for the crabgrass growing in his heart, when we’ve got some serious poison ivy wrapped around ours? Somehow it seems wrong.
Probably because we know the storyteller here. We know Jesus said that he came to cure the sin-sick, not to pat the backs of those who thought they had no sin. We know he associated with sinners, ate with sinners, healed sinners, saved sinners. Jesus sowed the grace of God on a world totally unprepared for the radical nature of its inclusiveness. Jesus didn’t exclude anyone from God’s love. So, what would Jesus have us, as seeds, do with the “weeds” in our lives, our towns, our churches? Which brings us to “seed or weed”—the verbs.
A verb is…an action word. So, seed or weed—which are you? Do you participate in the coming kingdom of God by seeding the world with the love of Christ Jesus? Or are you a weeder, blundering into the field with a righteous zeal, aiming to uproot anything that even smells like a weed, with no consideration for the collateral damage you cause, with no certainty that what you’re destroying is really a weed in the long run? It’s a conscious choice, I believe. Which will you be?
In the parable, the master tells his servants not to gather the weeds before the harvest—to let them live, even though their intertwining roots would compete with the wheat for water and nutrients. That means the seeds and the weeds coexist in the world, a reflection perhaps of our own seediness and weediness. In the end, at the harvest, all will be made right. Until then, we are to hold our impulse to weed in check, and even more so to sprout and grow and participate in the propagation of the kingdom of God! To build us up—not tear down indiscriminately.
Finally, (you know what “finally” means? It’s a preaching term that means ten minutes left to go…) finally, there’s Ryan B. Seed or weed? He’s definitely a “seed” because, as his pastor, I know he’s baptized. And he has grown into a fine young man—an asset to this camp and to Captive Free which he’ll be a member of this coming year. Ryan is a seed and a sower of seeds. What about weed? Well, he does text in church sometimes. And if he’s anything at all like the rest of humanity, there is a certain amount of weediness in him, yearning to take over. Like the rest of us he’ll need to return to the grace of his baptism almost daily to remember who he is, and whose he is. He is a child of God.
To close I invite you to bless the person next to you by making the sign of the cross on their forehead and saying, “You are a child of God!”
Let the people say, amen!
Pentecost 10A Calumet 7/20/08
Matt 13:24-30
Grace and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.
[Music starts, announcer talks over it]
ANNOUNCER: Live, direct from Camp Calumet on the shores of Ossipee Lake, New Hampshire—it’s time to play everyone’s favorite horticultural game show…Seed, or Weed. I’m your announcer, John Junkins, and now here’s the host of Seed or Weed—the one, the only, the devilishly handsome—Pastor Tom Teichmann!!! [holds up applause sign]
TT: Thank you John! And thank you, ladies and gentlemen! [music concludes] Enough…that’s enough. [signals with his hands for more applause!] John, we need seven contestants down here.
ANNOUNCER: Right! [ad lib (come on down!) as he picks seven contestants, six volunteers and one “ringer,” Ryan B., picked last]
TT: Okay! Welcome to Seed or Weed. Now, before we continue we need a buzzer and a bell. [picks someone to mimic a bell when answer is correct, another to “buzz” when answer is wrong] Now, here’s how we play the game. I will give you the scientific Latin name of a plant and you have 15 seconds to tell me if the plant is a “seed,” a cultivated plant—or an unwanted weed. Any questions? Good! Then what time is it Johnny?
ANNOUNCER: It’s time to play Seed…or Weed!!
[ad lib the game with the first six – following dialog used as needed]
TT: What has he/she won, Johnny?
A: She’s/he’s won a new car (toy car),
A bottle of bubbly (soap bubbles),
A “Skip Church” coupon (expires July 19th),
A NO-expense paid trip to the camp store!,
This lovely souvenir of Camp Calumet (a rock),
A brand new set of dinner plates (paper).
OR….
TT: Oh, we’re sorry. You’ll get a wonderful consolation prize—the home version of Seed or Weed.
CONTINUES… [finish with Ryan]
TT: Are you ready to play Seed…or Weed? Good! Then here’s the name, and then you’ll have 15 seconds to tell me seed, or weed. [reads card] Ryan B.
Ryan: [pauses to think about it] Hey, that’s me!
TT: Seed or weed? 10 seconds.
Ryan: I don’t get it—how could I be a seed or a weed?
TT: 7 seconds.
Ryan: I need time to think!
TT: 5 seconds, Ryan.
Ryan: [stands there exasperated as the buzzer sounds!] AHHHHHH!
ANNOUNCER: That’s all the time we have. See you next time on Seed, or Weed?
[music up and out]
Taraxacum officinale – Dandelion
Ambrosia artemisifolia – Ragweed
Muhlenbergia schreberi – Nimblewill
Lycopersicon esculentum – tomato
Vaccinium corymbosum L. – blueberry
Zea saccharata – sweet corn
So, I think we can agree—it’s hard to tell if a plant is a seed or a weed, just by hearing even its common name, let alone its Latin name! But I know what you’re really wondering about right now. Is Ryan Bonfiglio a seed or a weed? Is he a little of each? Are we all, a little of each? Kinda left you hanging there. Well, I’m going to leave you dangling a little while longer while I talk about parables in general and the parable of the wheat and the weeds in specific.
And the thing I wanted you to learn about parables today is this: parables can have many meanings. Say that with me…parables can have many meanings. You can get a lot out of a parable. Jesus says his story is about how good and evil exist together in the world, but come judgment day, God will destroy evil once and for always. But just because Jesus explained his story to the disciples in a certain way, doesn’t mean that his explanation exhausts its meaning. I believe there’s still more to discover and learn about, there, between the lines. So, let’s lay Jesus’ interpretation aside for today, shall we? It’s not heresy to do that. And besides--it will save you from having to wrap your heads around big theological words like eschatological, soteriology, and forensic justice.
What I want us to focus on instead is seed…or weed? And I want to explore these two words both as nouns, and as verbs. First as nouns. What is a noun? It’s a person, place or thing. In this case, things. “Seed” being the wheat—the intentionally planted, good, grain producing plant. And “weed” being the invasive, prolific, bad, valueless—well, weed.
Now we know how difficult it is to discriminate between seed and weed using just their scientific names as a point of reference. But I doubt, if we played the game again using pictures of good plants / bad plants, the majority of the contestants would still go home with the home version of “Seed, or Weed?” Because some weeds are very beautiful or have lovely-looking fruit. They appear to be “seeds.” For example, kudzu was introduced into America because some genius thought it would make good ground cover. Yah, it did. But conversely, some seed plants—like the artichoke—you just have to wonder about. Seed, or weed? It’s hard to tell.
When I had my first full time camp job down in Rincon, Georgia, I was put in charge of the extensive grounds. Which was a challenge for me, since back on Long Island, NY where I come from—we’d cut our postage stamp-sized lawns with one of those whirly-gig push mowers, and now here I was using lawn tractors and rotary mowers and weed whackers. One day I set out to whack all the weeds I could find, and at the end of the day, I was proud I’d done so well, having never used such a device before. I was especially happy with the job I’d done whacking the weeds around the tennis court fence. That is until one of the other workers came in and commented on how poorly the English Ivy was doing . The English Ivy that was growing on the tennis court fence. That I had just whacked. Seed, or weed? It’s hard to tell which is which!
And let me tell you—it’s just as difficult to tell the difference between the weeds and the seeds when you’re talking people. Oh, some times it’s not too difficult—the weediest of people are easy to spot—much like the dandelions that pop up on your lawn. Picture in your mind just for a moment a very definite weed you know personally. That was easy wasn’t it? And yet, for the most part, it’s hard to see clearly into another’s heart and determine what lies therein—seed or weed. Indeed, Luther said that we are simultaneously seed and weed, saint and sinner at the same time. So, who are we to lambaste someone for the crabgrass growing in his heart, when we’ve got some serious poison ivy wrapped around ours? Somehow it seems wrong.
Probably because we know the storyteller here. We know Jesus said that he came to cure the sin-sick, not to pat the backs of those who thought they had no sin. We know he associated with sinners, ate with sinners, healed sinners, saved sinners. Jesus sowed the grace of God on a world totally unprepared for the radical nature of its inclusiveness. Jesus didn’t exclude anyone from God’s love. So, what would Jesus have us, as seeds, do with the “weeds” in our lives, our towns, our churches? Which brings us to “seed or weed”—the verbs.
A verb is…an action word. So, seed or weed—which are you? Do you participate in the coming kingdom of God by seeding the world with the love of Christ Jesus? Or are you a weeder, blundering into the field with a righteous zeal, aiming to uproot anything that even smells like a weed, with no consideration for the collateral damage you cause, with no certainty that what you’re destroying is really a weed in the long run? It’s a conscious choice, I believe. Which will you be?
In the parable, the master tells his servants not to gather the weeds before the harvest—to let them live, even though their intertwining roots would compete with the wheat for water and nutrients. That means the seeds and the weeds coexist in the world, a reflection perhaps of our own seediness and weediness. In the end, at the harvest, all will be made right. Until then, we are to hold our impulse to weed in check, and even more so to sprout and grow and participate in the propagation of the kingdom of God! To build us up—not tear down indiscriminately.
Finally, (you know what “finally” means? It’s a preaching term that means ten minutes left to go…) finally, there’s Ryan B. Seed or weed? He’s definitely a “seed” because, as his pastor, I know he’s baptized. And he has grown into a fine young man—an asset to this camp and to Captive Free which he’ll be a member of this coming year. Ryan is a seed and a sower of seeds. What about weed? Well, he does text in church sometimes. And if he’s anything at all like the rest of humanity, there is a certain amount of weediness in him, yearning to take over. Like the rest of us he’ll need to return to the grace of his baptism almost daily to remember who he is, and whose he is. He is a child of God.
To close I invite you to bless the person next to you by making the sign of the cross on their forehead and saying, “You are a child of God!”
Let the people say, amen!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Creation Groans
In this coming Sunday's second lesson from Romans, St. Paul talks about creation in relation to humanity. He writes, "the creation waits with eager longing fro the revealing of the children of God...for the creation was subjected to futility...by the will of the one that subjected it." Translation--we have caused creation to go off the tracks with sinful selfishness, and it can no longer reach its completion and perfection. This derailment of creation will be reversed though--and it is tied to our redemption and reorientation to God.
Creation groans now, eagerly longing for the birth of re-creation--as do we, as already redeemed, but not yet in the kingdom. Birth isn't an easy activity (or so I'm told). It requires work. But it comes of its own accord.
Re-creation will come of its own accord as well. And yet it is benefited by our cooperation and participation. re-creation is also hard work. We must change our shortsighted ways that deplete the earth instead of build it up. Our sinfulness in this area trickles down to affect the natural world, of which we are a part. That's hard to remedy--it takes perseverance and diligence. Our repentance and changed behavior do help hasten the kingdom along.
So....PUSH!
Creation groans now, eagerly longing for the birth of re-creation--as do we, as already redeemed, but not yet in the kingdom. Birth isn't an easy activity (or so I'm told). It requires work. But it comes of its own accord.
Re-creation will come of its own accord as well. And yet it is benefited by our cooperation and participation. re-creation is also hard work. We must change our shortsighted ways that deplete the earth instead of build it up. Our sinfulness in this area trickles down to affect the natural world, of which we are a part. That's hard to remedy--it takes perseverance and diligence. Our repentance and changed behavior do help hasten the kingdom along.
So....PUSH!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
When a Plan Comes Together
Ever watch the A-Team (an eighties action TV series)? the A-Team was a bunch of ex-soldiers who were convicted wrongly of a crime and got loose from their army captors, and who go around helping the little guys get justice. They always got into a tight spot and had an elaborate plan (a la McGyver on steroids) for winning against the bad guys and the army mp's who were trying to recapture them. For some reason, they almost always burst out of a building driving some truck or something.
Anyway, when they were triumphant, the leader of the team would deliver the catch phrase: "I love it when a plan comes together!"
I had an A-Team experience the other day here at church. The keyboard gave out on Friday. It was in need of a battery change (which we knew but put off cause we weren't sure how to do it and thought "well enough alone."). And it just quit playing--wouldn't "boot up."
So Monday I called our friend Steve, who is a keyboardist, and who intimated that he would be willing to open the device up and see if we could change te battery ourselves. Otherwise it was ship the thing to CA or NYC.
Here things began to come together. Steve had a friend staying with him. Who happened to have experience with such things. They had been taking day trips around New England, since the friend was from Texas and wanted to see something other than flat! That Monday they were scheduled to go to Maine, and then the friend would fly home.
But as it was--it rained Monday morning. So they didn't go. So the friend came with Steve and worked on the keyboard. And fixed it!
I love it when a plan comes together!
And I thank God who gave this friend a gift for electronics, who led Steve to Messiah, who gave me the courage to attempt to fix it ourselves, and most of all--who made it rain that day. I'm not saying God planned it all. But it was God's providence that brought the plan together through an array of self organizing random factors.
How do you think of God's involvement in the world? I''d be interested to know...
Anyway, when they were triumphant, the leader of the team would deliver the catch phrase: "I love it when a plan comes together!"
I had an A-Team experience the other day here at church. The keyboard gave out on Friday. It was in need of a battery change (which we knew but put off cause we weren't sure how to do it and thought "well enough alone."). And it just quit playing--wouldn't "boot up."
So Monday I called our friend Steve, who is a keyboardist, and who intimated that he would be willing to open the device up and see if we could change te battery ourselves. Otherwise it was ship the thing to CA or NYC.
Here things began to come together. Steve had a friend staying with him. Who happened to have experience with such things. They had been taking day trips around New England, since the friend was from Texas and wanted to see something other than flat! That Monday they were scheduled to go to Maine, and then the friend would fly home.
But as it was--it rained Monday morning. So they didn't go. So the friend came with Steve and worked on the keyboard. And fixed it!
I love it when a plan comes together!
And I thank God who gave this friend a gift for electronics, who led Steve to Messiah, who gave me the courage to attempt to fix it ourselves, and most of all--who made it rain that day. I'm not saying God planned it all. But it was God's providence that brought the plan together through an array of self organizing random factors.
How do you think of God's involvement in the world? I''d be interested to know...
Monday, July 14, 2008
Wasteful Evangelism (sermon)
Sermon preparation takes up a good portion of my week. There’s lots to do before I can feel confident up here in front of all of you: studying the texts, reading commentaries, interpreting the passage so I can explain its ins and outs to you, and then discerning what message God wants us to hear in this place and time. It takes a good while. A good rule of thumb is, for every minute of sermon preached, one hour of preparation and writing have preceded it.
But this week my job was easy. In today’s gospel, Jesus is nice enough to do the hardest work for me. He provides an explanation of his parable. So, before we even get rolling, you know that the seed is God’s word, right? And that the path represents people who are led astray even before the word takes root. And the rocky ground is people who initially accept the word, but when their faith is tested they fall away. You know that the thorns are the ways of the world that are in opposition to the word—the ones that overcome and kill some people’s fledgling faith. You know all this—cause you can read! And if you forgot your glasses this morning I was honored to have read it to you, so that you would know these things too.
Yes, Jesus explains the whole shebang. And, as if that weren’t enough—the little blurb above the reading in the Celebrate insert makes it clear: “In Matthew’s gospel, both Jesus and his disciples ‘sow the seed’ of God’s word by proclaiming the good news that ‘the kingdom of heaven is near.’ Now, in a memorable parable, Jesus explains why this good news produces different results in those who hear.” There you have it. All tied up neatly with a bow! You shouldn’t even pay me for this week!
But, wait! There’s something in this passage that Jesus didn’t include in his allegorical explanation. There’s something in there that the person who wrote those italicized blurbs in Celebrate chose not to include. But it’s right there. It’s not hidden. It’s not in code. It’s not in the verses that our lectionary left out (they’re about why Jesus taught in parables). No, it’s right there, plain as the nose on your face! That is, if that nose belongs to the face of a farmer, or perhaps a gardener!
Do you see it? Can you guess what I’m talking about? It’s something that most of us pass over without questioning. It’s something that biblical scholars have tried to explain away, but cannot. It’s something that goes way beyond the standard explanation that the early church favored, and that we, ourselves, borrow—the explanation that answers the question, “Why do some people grow and flourish in faith, while others reject it?” Instead, this little tidbit of information turns the salvation equation on its head and points to the grace of God—a grace that is persistent, pervasive, and radically inclusive.
Have you got it yet? Well, let me give you a clue. This is a parable, and parables are supposed to make you think. And the way they do that is they have something in them that causes a disequilibrium—something that shocks the listener. Now the part Jesus explained didn’t include anything shocking in and of itself. The shock isn’t that the seed is the word, or that the sower is whoever’s telling the gospel story, or that three soils are people who reject Christ, and the one that produces abundantly is the disciple who comes to Christ. Those things aren’t shocking. They aren’t even mildly surprising. In fact, they sound perfectly reasonable. So, what is it? I know you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to know. But I think it best if I first give you an illustration that you can relate to—even if you’re not a farmer and your thumbs aren’t green!
Imagine, if you will, that it’s springtime at Messiah Lutheran Church, and all the crocuses and daffodils are blooming, and the lawn is just beginning to green up. You pull into the church driveway and there, of course, is a woman, working away on the landscape. You park your car and sit in it, watching her labor—mainly because it’s hot outside.
But she pays no attention to you but goes about her work, which appears to be re-seeding the lawn in places where the snowplow dug it up this past winter. There is a rich mixture of top soil and fertilizer in those spots. And now she tosses some seed onto the patches.
You reach for the door handle, thinking it safe now to get out. But then you see a strange thing. Some might even call it a shocking thing. (In fact I call it a shocking thing, this is the shocking thing, so listen up.) What you see is this: the woman finishes sowing the grass seed on the prepared patches, then she throws more seed on the unprepared lawn itself. And she tosses more handfuls under the pine trees, where the soil is pretty acidy. “It won’t grow well there—she knows that,” you think to yourself.
But then you rub your eyes in disbelief because she skips down the brick path tossing fistfuls of seed to either side, like a flower girl at a wedding. “What good will the seed do there,” you wonder. You notice that she’s followed closely by two birds and a chipmunk—who eat near as much as she sows! “What is she doing this for?” you exclaim.
Then, just when you think this display is ending, The woman commences sowing the seed right on the parking lot! Including on your car. You’re starting to think that maybe she’s has been out in the hot sun too long! And no sooner does that thought cross your mind then, just for good measure, as the grand finale, she empties the bag of seed in the brambles by the pond!
You are shocked by her over use of seed. You’re shocked by the incomprehensibility of such, such, such extravagance with the seed. To sow it in areas where she knew it would fail to thrive, or not have a chance to sprout at all. It’s inconceivable! It’s wastefulness!
Or is it grace?
God went out to sow the Word, and some people had been called by the Spirit, and prepared for the Word, and the Word became a part of them and increased in proliferate abundance! God liked that!
But God wasn’t rattled when he saw that some were so hardened and stomped on by life that they couldn’t comprehend or feel his love. He gave the Word to them anyway.
And God wasn’t put off by those who said they loved him, but when times got tough, lost faith and cursed his name. He gave the Word to them anyway.
And God didn’t short those who trusted in themselves and their wealth more than they trusted in him. He gave them the Word in equal measure. God is extravagant with the Word.
But is God wasteful? I don’t profess to know the mind of God. But I do know from this parable that God sows the word abundantly regardless of one’s “readiness” for it. Outwardly that appears to be wasteful. But look to the first lesson and its wisdom: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God is not wasteful. God is purposeful. God does not give up on the hard of heart, the beaten-down, the shallow-minded, and the those caught up in the world’s idolatry. He purposefully continues to draw them to himself. God never abandons them, he just keeps sowing the word, hoping that one day the soil of their spirits will finally be touched by the Son’s love and made ready for verdant growth. God does not sow in vain. His word accomplishes its purpose—though we may not recognize it, and though it may not occur within our linear sense of time.
That’s the good news! The kingdom of God has come near—very near in the word and the Word made flesh. That’s good news for those who may reject that word initially—God’s word of grace will not cease to whisper in their ears, waiting.
And that’s good news for us, too, because - how many of us have woken up in the morning and felt like nothing could ever penetrate our self-made shells? How many of us are easy-pickings for temptation? How many of us have had the experience of being gung ho for a new ministry at church, but then slunk away when it became hard work? And, truth now, which of us has not been lured by wealth and the things of the world? We all have. (That’s how those lotteries get up to 150 million dollars!) What good news it is that God’s word of grace isn’t withheld from us though we are distracted by the vicissitudes of life, and ignorant of its power to overcome them. God’s word doesn’t return empty, but accomplishes its purpose.
So it’s good news for us, yes—but in a way, it’s bad news for us as well. At least in our heads. It’s bad news for us because we are called to be as wasteful…I mean extravagant…with the Word as God was with it for us.
That’s no easy job. And it goes against our natural instincts. It means we will work hard sowing seeds we will never see grow. We will have to minister to people whom we don’t feel deserve it—who we know will waste it. We will have to continually spread the resources of this church out in directions that fly in the face of our fiduciary responsibilities, that go against reason, that rely on faith, not fiscal security—on hope, not happenstance—on love, not leverage.
It means we must care less for success based on the number of people sitting in worship on a Sunday, or how many new members were taken in, or size of the annual budget; and care more for establishing relationships with the path people, the rocky grounders, and the thorny folks. Sowing the word of grace and not worrying about its efficacy—indeed trusting in its efficacy. Speaking God’s word in active ways that will help soften hard hearts, protect souls from temptation, form deep roots to draw on in hard times, and beat back the thorny issues that divide us.
The first parts of Messiah Lutheran Church’s mission are complete—you have established a fellowship with strong leaders and cheerful givers, and you have built a worship and education space.
Now we must move together into the next phase of that mission. We reached out to form the fellowship, we reached inwardly to provide for a church building. But now it is time for reaching out again in love to those outside these walls. In ways we’re accustomed to and have been for years, and in new ways that exist right now only as the seed of an idea in someone’s head. We must be the mission once again. We must help prepare the soil of their hearts for the love and mercy and compassion that someday—someday—will flourish there.
If we but “waste” the seed.
But this week my job was easy. In today’s gospel, Jesus is nice enough to do the hardest work for me. He provides an explanation of his parable. So, before we even get rolling, you know that the seed is God’s word, right? And that the path represents people who are led astray even before the word takes root. And the rocky ground is people who initially accept the word, but when their faith is tested they fall away. You know that the thorns are the ways of the world that are in opposition to the word—the ones that overcome and kill some people’s fledgling faith. You know all this—cause you can read! And if you forgot your glasses this morning I was honored to have read it to you, so that you would know these things too.
Yes, Jesus explains the whole shebang. And, as if that weren’t enough—the little blurb above the reading in the Celebrate insert makes it clear: “In Matthew’s gospel, both Jesus and his disciples ‘sow the seed’ of God’s word by proclaiming the good news that ‘the kingdom of heaven is near.’ Now, in a memorable parable, Jesus explains why this good news produces different results in those who hear.” There you have it. All tied up neatly with a bow! You shouldn’t even pay me for this week!
But, wait! There’s something in this passage that Jesus didn’t include in his allegorical explanation. There’s something in there that the person who wrote those italicized blurbs in Celebrate chose not to include. But it’s right there. It’s not hidden. It’s not in code. It’s not in the verses that our lectionary left out (they’re about why Jesus taught in parables). No, it’s right there, plain as the nose on your face! That is, if that nose belongs to the face of a farmer, or perhaps a gardener!
Do you see it? Can you guess what I’m talking about? It’s something that most of us pass over without questioning. It’s something that biblical scholars have tried to explain away, but cannot. It’s something that goes way beyond the standard explanation that the early church favored, and that we, ourselves, borrow—the explanation that answers the question, “Why do some people grow and flourish in faith, while others reject it?” Instead, this little tidbit of information turns the salvation equation on its head and points to the grace of God—a grace that is persistent, pervasive, and radically inclusive.
Have you got it yet? Well, let me give you a clue. This is a parable, and parables are supposed to make you think. And the way they do that is they have something in them that causes a disequilibrium—something that shocks the listener. Now the part Jesus explained didn’t include anything shocking in and of itself. The shock isn’t that the seed is the word, or that the sower is whoever’s telling the gospel story, or that three soils are people who reject Christ, and the one that produces abundantly is the disciple who comes to Christ. Those things aren’t shocking. They aren’t even mildly surprising. In fact, they sound perfectly reasonable. So, what is it? I know you’re on the edge of your seat waiting to know. But I think it best if I first give you an illustration that you can relate to—even if you’re not a farmer and your thumbs aren’t green!
Imagine, if you will, that it’s springtime at Messiah Lutheran Church, and all the crocuses and daffodils are blooming, and the lawn is just beginning to green up. You pull into the church driveway and there, of course, is a woman, working away on the landscape. You park your car and sit in it, watching her labor—mainly because it’s hot outside.
But she pays no attention to you but goes about her work, which appears to be re-seeding the lawn in places where the snowplow dug it up this past winter. There is a rich mixture of top soil and fertilizer in those spots. And now she tosses some seed onto the patches.
You reach for the door handle, thinking it safe now to get out. But then you see a strange thing. Some might even call it a shocking thing. (In fact I call it a shocking thing, this is the shocking thing, so listen up.) What you see is this: the woman finishes sowing the grass seed on the prepared patches, then she throws more seed on the unprepared lawn itself. And she tosses more handfuls under the pine trees, where the soil is pretty acidy. “It won’t grow well there—she knows that,” you think to yourself.
But then you rub your eyes in disbelief because she skips down the brick path tossing fistfuls of seed to either side, like a flower girl at a wedding. “What good will the seed do there,” you wonder. You notice that she’s followed closely by two birds and a chipmunk—who eat near as much as she sows! “What is she doing this for?” you exclaim.
Then, just when you think this display is ending, The woman commences sowing the seed right on the parking lot! Including on your car. You’re starting to think that maybe she’s has been out in the hot sun too long! And no sooner does that thought cross your mind then, just for good measure, as the grand finale, she empties the bag of seed in the brambles by the pond!
You are shocked by her over use of seed. You’re shocked by the incomprehensibility of such, such, such extravagance with the seed. To sow it in areas where she knew it would fail to thrive, or not have a chance to sprout at all. It’s inconceivable! It’s wastefulness!
Or is it grace?
God went out to sow the Word, and some people had been called by the Spirit, and prepared for the Word, and the Word became a part of them and increased in proliferate abundance! God liked that!
But God wasn’t rattled when he saw that some were so hardened and stomped on by life that they couldn’t comprehend or feel his love. He gave the Word to them anyway.
And God wasn’t put off by those who said they loved him, but when times got tough, lost faith and cursed his name. He gave the Word to them anyway.
And God didn’t short those who trusted in themselves and their wealth more than they trusted in him. He gave them the Word in equal measure. God is extravagant with the Word.
But is God wasteful? I don’t profess to know the mind of God. But I do know from this parable that God sows the word abundantly regardless of one’s “readiness” for it. Outwardly that appears to be wasteful. But look to the first lesson and its wisdom: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
God is not wasteful. God is purposeful. God does not give up on the hard of heart, the beaten-down, the shallow-minded, and the those caught up in the world’s idolatry. He purposefully continues to draw them to himself. God never abandons them, he just keeps sowing the word, hoping that one day the soil of their spirits will finally be touched by the Son’s love and made ready for verdant growth. God does not sow in vain. His word accomplishes its purpose—though we may not recognize it, and though it may not occur within our linear sense of time.
That’s the good news! The kingdom of God has come near—very near in the word and the Word made flesh. That’s good news for those who may reject that word initially—God’s word of grace will not cease to whisper in their ears, waiting.
And that’s good news for us, too, because - how many of us have woken up in the morning and felt like nothing could ever penetrate our self-made shells? How many of us are easy-pickings for temptation? How many of us have had the experience of being gung ho for a new ministry at church, but then slunk away when it became hard work? And, truth now, which of us has not been lured by wealth and the things of the world? We all have. (That’s how those lotteries get up to 150 million dollars!) What good news it is that God’s word of grace isn’t withheld from us though we are distracted by the vicissitudes of life, and ignorant of its power to overcome them. God’s word doesn’t return empty, but accomplishes its purpose.
So it’s good news for us, yes—but in a way, it’s bad news for us as well. At least in our heads. It’s bad news for us because we are called to be as wasteful…I mean extravagant…with the Word as God was with it for us.
That’s no easy job. And it goes against our natural instincts. It means we will work hard sowing seeds we will never see grow. We will have to minister to people whom we don’t feel deserve it—who we know will waste it. We will have to continually spread the resources of this church out in directions that fly in the face of our fiduciary responsibilities, that go against reason, that rely on faith, not fiscal security—on hope, not happenstance—on love, not leverage.
It means we must care less for success based on the number of people sitting in worship on a Sunday, or how many new members were taken in, or size of the annual budget; and care more for establishing relationships with the path people, the rocky grounders, and the thorny folks. Sowing the word of grace and not worrying about its efficacy—indeed trusting in its efficacy. Speaking God’s word in active ways that will help soften hard hearts, protect souls from temptation, form deep roots to draw on in hard times, and beat back the thorny issues that divide us.
The first parts of Messiah Lutheran Church’s mission are complete—you have established a fellowship with strong leaders and cheerful givers, and you have built a worship and education space.
Now we must move together into the next phase of that mission. We reached out to form the fellowship, we reached inwardly to provide for a church building. But now it is time for reaching out again in love to those outside these walls. In ways we’re accustomed to and have been for years, and in new ways that exist right now only as the seed of an idea in someone’s head. We must be the mission once again. We must help prepare the soil of their hearts for the love and mercy and compassion that someday—someday—will flourish there.
If we but “waste” the seed.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Fluffy Goodness
Ahh, the fourth of July! Parades and Uncle Sam on Stilts. Kazoo bands! Hot dogs and hamburgers, cold drinks, watermelon. And of course cotton candy on the green! This year the kids made several hundred fluffy cones, making it one of the most popular booths in the celebration. All the proceeds from the sale go to the fund that will help send the youth to the Gathering in New Orleans next summer.
We are blessed to live in the land of the free and home of the brave. And we are of course, citizens of God's kingdom first and foremost. So we must use that freedom and courage to advocate for those who have little voice in the world--the poor, the afflicted, the displaced, the imprisoned, the hungry. It is a fitting "birthday present" for America that we share of the bounty God has given us to manage, and that we love mercy and do justice.
And if you're wondering--why the 4th of July on July 10th? It's because I just figured out how to load pictures onto the blog!! So, stay tuned for more! --Pastor Tom
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Music Plays an Important Role
Jewish temple worship included the singing of psalms, accompanied by stringed instruments such as the lyre, by bells and cymbals, and by horns. The flute was played as a part of ritual mourning for a loved one lost.
I'm no expert on early Christian worship, but I know that Paul's letters contain snippets of what can only be classified as hymns. So there was singing. Presumably the same instrumentation, though gradually branching out to other culture's folk instruments as the church became more diversified.
Most of us equate church music with an organ though. Or a piano. And recently (in the scheme of things) guitars, drums, and other instruments. There's a wide variety in the expression of worship.
Does that mean you have to love it all? By no means! You can have your favorite kind of church music. Just remember, someone loves their music and instrumentation as much as you love yours.
Why this sudden interest in worship music? Our organist was out sick this past Sunday and we had to hurriedly put together songs that we could accompany with guitars! And we had to leave a lot of the liturgy out, since a cappella singing of the liturgy always starts out nice, but generally veers off course along the way!
And I missed all the music! The singing. The piano and organ. Of course we had fun singing two gutiar songs and one Jesus Loves Me without instrumentation, but it wasn't the same. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the role of music in our worship.
Who knows what worship music will sound like in another fifty years? One things sure--it'll be there--it's too important not to be!!
I'm no expert on early Christian worship, but I know that Paul's letters contain snippets of what can only be classified as hymns. So there was singing. Presumably the same instrumentation, though gradually branching out to other culture's folk instruments as the church became more diversified.
Most of us equate church music with an organ though. Or a piano. And recently (in the scheme of things) guitars, drums, and other instruments. There's a wide variety in the expression of worship.
Does that mean you have to love it all? By no means! You can have your favorite kind of church music. Just remember, someone loves their music and instrumentation as much as you love yours.
Why this sudden interest in worship music? Our organist was out sick this past Sunday and we had to hurriedly put together songs that we could accompany with guitars! And we had to leave a lot of the liturgy out, since a cappella singing of the liturgy always starts out nice, but generally veers off course along the way!
And I missed all the music! The singing. The piano and organ. Of course we had fun singing two gutiar songs and one Jesus Loves Me without instrumentation, but it wasn't the same. Gave me a whole new appreciation for the role of music in our worship.
Who knows what worship music will sound like in another fifty years? One things sure--it'll be there--it's too important not to be!!
Monday, July 7, 2008
God's Love, for "dummies"
I’m beginning to think I watch too much TV. It’s always in my head and it’s become my major point of reference. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m finding that television shows are creeping more and more into the sermon. So, I’m going to try an expand my horizons—maybe quote movies or even books!
Starting next week. Because I wanted to tell you about what goes on at the church office in the afternoons—and of course it made me think of a Seinfeld episode. Remember the one where Jerry answers the phone and it’s a telemarketer? And he tells him “I can’t talk now, but give me your home number and I’ll call you back later. The telemarketer replies that the company doesn’t allow that. Jerry says, “Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you at home?” “No,” is his tentative answer. And Jerry says, “Now you know how I feel.” And he hangs up!
The church office gets phone calls all the time from telemarketers. In the morning, Joanne is here to answer the phone so she has to deal with them. In the afternoon when I’m here, it’s my lot to field these calls. They’re from people calling to try and sell us Sunday School curricula, youth group programs, video courses for adult forums, cds and dvds of the Bible. But also people soliciting funds for firefighters and police, starving children in Africa, and for research on just about any disease you can contract.
And then there’s the tape recorded messages. The Red Cross uses those to tell people about upcoming blood drives—which I don’t mind. But then there’s others—like the one I got the other day at church. “[Blast of ship’s horn] This is your captain speaking. You’ve been selected to receive two free boarding passes for a luxury cruise. All you need to do is take a short survey, and you’ll get the boarding passes for the vacation of a lifetime!” Yeah, right! (Lisa’s over there thinking, “I can’t believe he didn’t take the cruise!”)
Finally there’s calls that aren’t strictly telemarketers per se. They are fundraisers of sorts. These calls are from people either legitimately in financial straights and looking for some help, or people who have learned how to work the church circuit—who may, but are probably not in too much of a bind—who are just seeking a handout from an unsuspecting charitable organization. Those are the hardest calls to handle. Which is why Joanne always passes them on to me! They demand a judgment call.
Anyway, the other day when I got that ship captain’s message, I had already gotten two other telemarketing calls, so I vowed to give the old Seinfeld gag a go on the next caller. I did not have to wait long. The phone rang almost immediately.
[Did I mention that the phones here were on the blink that day—full of static that made it almost impossible to hear or be heard? Well, they were.] I picked up the ringing phone and was treated to a burst of white noise. I said, “Messiah Lutheran Church.” And waited with baited breath for the sales pitch.
But it wasn’t a telemarketer. It wasn’t someone looking for money. It wasn’t Captain Steubing, either. The voice on the other end of the line identified himself and asked if there was someone here who could answer some questions for him.
Red flags. Often people working the system want to appear “worthy” of help, so they ask a few questions about the church and its beliefs. Other times people for some reason or another want to prove to you that their theology is superior to yours, so they ask leading questions designed to entrap you. (Much like the Pharisees did with Jesus.) I warily offered to try and answer whatever questions he had.
“Thanks,” he said. “You the pastor?” “Yes,” I replied. “Good. Cause I want to ask you this: a Lutheran friend of mine, said that he knew he was saved because Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of the world and he saved everyone. So I don’t have to do anything to be saved. Is that what Lutherans think?” He paused, awaiting my wisdom.
I on the other hand, could surmise where he was headed with this line of questioning. There was another shoe still levitating here. “Yes, Lutherans believe that Jesus died on the cross to crush sin and rescue us all. But there is an aspect of acceptance necessary.” “How do you mean?” “Well, when someone gives you a gift, you say, thank you, don’t you? He allowed that was true, but asked, “Is that all there is to it? I don’t have to do anything?”
There’s nothing you could do,” I said. “God gives forgiveness to us without cost—free—which is good, because there’s no way we could ever earn it and no way we’d ever come to Jesus on our own. God does it all That’s called grace.”
That was a good basic explanation, but I could tell he wasn’t satisfied. “I have another friend who witnessed—that’s the term right? He witnessed to me long and hard that you had to repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved.” (A size twelve shoe hit the floor with a bang.)
“Ahh,” I thought, he’s definitely arguing the Anabaptist point of view. Snippets of Lutheran theology and scripture verses started to array themselves for battle in my mind, as all the while klaxons sounded, warning me not to fall into a trap, or carelessly offend a different way of knowing Jesus—in case this man was sincere in his quest for information.
“If I were on a desert island and never even heard about Jesus, I’d still be saved right?” the voice continued. My professors in seminary warned us about this kind of theological debate tactic. It was called “Desert Island Theology.” Seriously. “If you were on a desert island you wouldn’t know what being saved even was. I’m all in favor of leaving such complexities up to God.”
The silence on the phone line telegraphed the man’s dissatisfaction with that reasoning. I don’t think he liked such short, dogmatically deficient answers. He opened a new line of questioning. “ I’m just trying to get things straight—what my purpose is on earth, what I am supposed to be doing. What do you think is our purpose in life?”
I suddenly understood why gurus sit alone on remote mountain tops! Not that I felt all that wise. Indeed I felt as if I wasn’t getting the points across. But now he’d basically asked me the meaning of life. Again theology and scripture rolled around in my head like numbered balls in a bingo cage. Mentally I shuffled my stack of explanations and considered several ways to lay down the cards in order to clearly and brilliantly lead this fellow to new heights of spirituality and knowledge of God. In the end, though I opted for a simple answer.
“I believe we were put here to love God and love one another.” It felt like a lame answer, but I truly believed it. And after all, Jesus did say that the two most important commandments were to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. (Admittedly I didn’t think of that particular reference until ten minutes after the phone call ended, but hey---better late than never!)
The connection got even worse then, and the man, sounding kind of disappointed with the brevity of my answers to his questions, bid me good day. I apologized once more for the phone conditions, and hung up. Immediately, I breathed a sigh of relief mixed with frustration and embarrassment over what I perceived to be my inadequate responses. Suddenly my mind was full of great answers—sterling examples of Lutheran apologetics, cogent and insightful comments on the nuances of atonement theology and salvation history. Why don’t these things come to me when I’m engaged in a conversation, I wondered?
Part of it I know is me. I’m too busy inside my head, sorting through six or eight possible ways to respond to the question that will amaze and enlighten the questioner! I want to come off as wise and intelligent.
But the thing is—today’s gospel has Jesus saying, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” So wise and intelligent isn’t necessarily the way to be! Sometimes, it would seem, wisdom and intelligence are roadblocks to our faith. Especially if we assume that we have all the answers and can fully explain the ins and outs of our God. That’s limiting God and limiting the ways God can interact with us. Both are not so good.
Better to be like a child—open and trusting. Rather than getting caught up in the minutia of theological debate, rather than being confused by the caveats and anathemas tacked onto the good news by the religious intelligentsia, can we agree that that the gospel is, at its core, a simple message of God’s love for us?
That’s good stuff. So, maybe what I told my caller the other day could be considered elegant in its simplicity. Maybe it was what he needed to hear. I really believe that his main concern wasn’t figuring out God’s plan for salvation, but rather proving that Lutherans are too liberal in their application of God’s grace. By keeping it simple, I hope that I related the gospel to him in a way that transcended the mechanics of “being saved” and spoke more to celebrating the relationship we have with God through Jesus—a relationship initiated not by us, but by our gracious God.
This “basics” approach reminds me of that series of books “for dummies.” (If you object to the use of that terminology, write the publisher, not me.) You’re familiar with these books? They are concise and easy to understand introductions to a variety of topics—from mortgages, to NASCAR, to Microsoft Office, to precious metals investing, to even Chihuahuas for dummies. There seems to be one for everything. So I went to their website to see if there might not be one entitled God’s Love for Dummies. I didn’t find one.
But I did find Christianity for Dummies. It had this to say:
“Trying to define Christianity in a single sentence is kind of like trying to cram
my family’s luggage into the back of our minivan when we go on vacation —
an impossible task until you start throwing many bags, even seemingly
important ones, out the window. …but if I had to pack it into a nutshell, I’d say that Christianity is the belief that God chose to create and love humans, and — at an incredible cost to himself — frees them from a tight spot if only they, in response,choose to reach out for his helping hand.”
Now, with a little time and reference books, I could take that statement apart word by word and tell you where we as Lutherans would agree and where we might want to add or subtract some things. For instance, a definition of Christianity without the mention of Jesus is lacking in some existential way.
But, for the most part, this simple statement tells it like it is. And the rest of the book builds from there. But, no four dollar words. No incomprehensible logic. And no arguing over who’s got it right. Just lays it out there in simple terms.
Too bad there isn’t a Lutheranism for Dummies, ay? A clear and readable book we could go to with questions about what we believe as Lutherans. Of course there’s the Book of Concord (hold it up), but it’s a little dense. How about a book that just hits the high spots then? Here’s The Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions - which does just that. It’s written by Gunther Gassmann and Scott Hendrix, both of whom I had for professors in seminary. It’s a pretty scholarly writing.
There is a book out there that explains Lutheran things fairly simply. Here it is—it’s called The Lutheran Handbook. Read this book and you’ll know about half of what Lutherans believe. Read The Lutheran Handbook II, and you’ll know the other half. I recommend these two for anyone with a sense of humor who wants to have the simple low-down on what it means to be Lutheran.
What do Lutherans believe about being saved? I suppose you want to know what you should say if someone asks you that or similar questions. Let’s stick to the premise that basic is best, or K.I.S.S.—keep it simple stupid. You could tell him: Knowledge of our sin, revealed by the commandments, and our inability to earn God’s favor by doing good (check what St. Paul writes in today’s second reading), coupled with faith in Christ awakened in us by the Holy Spirit, enables us to turn to God and receive forgiveness and love. Jesus did take away the sin of the world, but for some reason some reject him—the only unforgivable sin as my pastor in NC would say. Does that doom one for all time? I don’t know. We leave that up to God, along with the other desert island examples. Trusting in a gracious God who has revealed his love to know-nothing infants such as ourselves.
Even more simply you could tell him. Jesus loves you. All the rest is just variations on that theme.
Or…or, you could ask for their home phone number and offer to call them later…(no, don’t do that!). AMEN
Starting next week. Because I wanted to tell you about what goes on at the church office in the afternoons—and of course it made me think of a Seinfeld episode. Remember the one where Jerry answers the phone and it’s a telemarketer? And he tells him “I can’t talk now, but give me your home number and I’ll call you back later. The telemarketer replies that the company doesn’t allow that. Jerry says, “Oh, I guess you don’t want people calling you at home?” “No,” is his tentative answer. And Jerry says, “Now you know how I feel.” And he hangs up!
The church office gets phone calls all the time from telemarketers. In the morning, Joanne is here to answer the phone so she has to deal with them. In the afternoon when I’m here, it’s my lot to field these calls. They’re from people calling to try and sell us Sunday School curricula, youth group programs, video courses for adult forums, cds and dvds of the Bible. But also people soliciting funds for firefighters and police, starving children in Africa, and for research on just about any disease you can contract.
And then there’s the tape recorded messages. The Red Cross uses those to tell people about upcoming blood drives—which I don’t mind. But then there’s others—like the one I got the other day at church. “[Blast of ship’s horn] This is your captain speaking. You’ve been selected to receive two free boarding passes for a luxury cruise. All you need to do is take a short survey, and you’ll get the boarding passes for the vacation of a lifetime!” Yeah, right! (Lisa’s over there thinking, “I can’t believe he didn’t take the cruise!”)
Finally there’s calls that aren’t strictly telemarketers per se. They are fundraisers of sorts. These calls are from people either legitimately in financial straights and looking for some help, or people who have learned how to work the church circuit—who may, but are probably not in too much of a bind—who are just seeking a handout from an unsuspecting charitable organization. Those are the hardest calls to handle. Which is why Joanne always passes them on to me! They demand a judgment call.
Anyway, the other day when I got that ship captain’s message, I had already gotten two other telemarketing calls, so I vowed to give the old Seinfeld gag a go on the next caller. I did not have to wait long. The phone rang almost immediately.
[Did I mention that the phones here were on the blink that day—full of static that made it almost impossible to hear or be heard? Well, they were.] I picked up the ringing phone and was treated to a burst of white noise. I said, “Messiah Lutheran Church.” And waited with baited breath for the sales pitch.
But it wasn’t a telemarketer. It wasn’t someone looking for money. It wasn’t Captain Steubing, either. The voice on the other end of the line identified himself and asked if there was someone here who could answer some questions for him.
Red flags. Often people working the system want to appear “worthy” of help, so they ask a few questions about the church and its beliefs. Other times people for some reason or another want to prove to you that their theology is superior to yours, so they ask leading questions designed to entrap you. (Much like the Pharisees did with Jesus.) I warily offered to try and answer whatever questions he had.
“Thanks,” he said. “You the pastor?” “Yes,” I replied. “Good. Cause I want to ask you this: a Lutheran friend of mine, said that he knew he was saved because Jesus died on the cross to take away the sins of the world and he saved everyone. So I don’t have to do anything to be saved. Is that what Lutherans think?” He paused, awaiting my wisdom.
I on the other hand, could surmise where he was headed with this line of questioning. There was another shoe still levitating here. “Yes, Lutherans believe that Jesus died on the cross to crush sin and rescue us all. But there is an aspect of acceptance necessary.” “How do you mean?” “Well, when someone gives you a gift, you say, thank you, don’t you? He allowed that was true, but asked, “Is that all there is to it? I don’t have to do anything?”
There’s nothing you could do,” I said. “God gives forgiveness to us without cost—free—which is good, because there’s no way we could ever earn it and no way we’d ever come to Jesus on our own. God does it all That’s called grace.”
That was a good basic explanation, but I could tell he wasn’t satisfied. “I have another friend who witnessed—that’s the term right? He witnessed to me long and hard that you had to repent of your sins and accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved.” (A size twelve shoe hit the floor with a bang.)
“Ahh,” I thought, he’s definitely arguing the Anabaptist point of view. Snippets of Lutheran theology and scripture verses started to array themselves for battle in my mind, as all the while klaxons sounded, warning me not to fall into a trap, or carelessly offend a different way of knowing Jesus—in case this man was sincere in his quest for information.
“If I were on a desert island and never even heard about Jesus, I’d still be saved right?” the voice continued. My professors in seminary warned us about this kind of theological debate tactic. It was called “Desert Island Theology.” Seriously. “If you were on a desert island you wouldn’t know what being saved even was. I’m all in favor of leaving such complexities up to God.”
The silence on the phone line telegraphed the man’s dissatisfaction with that reasoning. I don’t think he liked such short, dogmatically deficient answers. He opened a new line of questioning. “ I’m just trying to get things straight—what my purpose is on earth, what I am supposed to be doing. What do you think is our purpose in life?”
I suddenly understood why gurus sit alone on remote mountain tops! Not that I felt all that wise. Indeed I felt as if I wasn’t getting the points across. But now he’d basically asked me the meaning of life. Again theology and scripture rolled around in my head like numbered balls in a bingo cage. Mentally I shuffled my stack of explanations and considered several ways to lay down the cards in order to clearly and brilliantly lead this fellow to new heights of spirituality and knowledge of God. In the end, though I opted for a simple answer.
“I believe we were put here to love God and love one another.” It felt like a lame answer, but I truly believed it. And after all, Jesus did say that the two most important commandments were to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. (Admittedly I didn’t think of that particular reference until ten minutes after the phone call ended, but hey---better late than never!)
The connection got even worse then, and the man, sounding kind of disappointed with the brevity of my answers to his questions, bid me good day. I apologized once more for the phone conditions, and hung up. Immediately, I breathed a sigh of relief mixed with frustration and embarrassment over what I perceived to be my inadequate responses. Suddenly my mind was full of great answers—sterling examples of Lutheran apologetics, cogent and insightful comments on the nuances of atonement theology and salvation history. Why don’t these things come to me when I’m engaged in a conversation, I wondered?
Part of it I know is me. I’m too busy inside my head, sorting through six or eight possible ways to respond to the question that will amaze and enlighten the questioner! I want to come off as wise and intelligent.
But the thing is—today’s gospel has Jesus saying, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” So wise and intelligent isn’t necessarily the way to be! Sometimes, it would seem, wisdom and intelligence are roadblocks to our faith. Especially if we assume that we have all the answers and can fully explain the ins and outs of our God. That’s limiting God and limiting the ways God can interact with us. Both are not so good.
Better to be like a child—open and trusting. Rather than getting caught up in the minutia of theological debate, rather than being confused by the caveats and anathemas tacked onto the good news by the religious intelligentsia, can we agree that that the gospel is, at its core, a simple message of God’s love for us?
That’s good stuff. So, maybe what I told my caller the other day could be considered elegant in its simplicity. Maybe it was what he needed to hear. I really believe that his main concern wasn’t figuring out God’s plan for salvation, but rather proving that Lutherans are too liberal in their application of God’s grace. By keeping it simple, I hope that I related the gospel to him in a way that transcended the mechanics of “being saved” and spoke more to celebrating the relationship we have with God through Jesus—a relationship initiated not by us, but by our gracious God.
This “basics” approach reminds me of that series of books “for dummies.” (If you object to the use of that terminology, write the publisher, not me.) You’re familiar with these books? They are concise and easy to understand introductions to a variety of topics—from mortgages, to NASCAR, to Microsoft Office, to precious metals investing, to even Chihuahuas for dummies. There seems to be one for everything. So I went to their website to see if there might not be one entitled God’s Love for Dummies. I didn’t find one.
But I did find Christianity for Dummies. It had this to say:
“Trying to define Christianity in a single sentence is kind of like trying to cram
my family’s luggage into the back of our minivan when we go on vacation —
an impossible task until you start throwing many bags, even seemingly
important ones, out the window. …but if I had to pack it into a nutshell, I’d say that Christianity is the belief that God chose to create and love humans, and — at an incredible cost to himself — frees them from a tight spot if only they, in response,choose to reach out for his helping hand.”
Now, with a little time and reference books, I could take that statement apart word by word and tell you where we as Lutherans would agree and where we might want to add or subtract some things. For instance, a definition of Christianity without the mention of Jesus is lacking in some existential way.
But, for the most part, this simple statement tells it like it is. And the rest of the book builds from there. But, no four dollar words. No incomprehensible logic. And no arguing over who’s got it right. Just lays it out there in simple terms.
Too bad there isn’t a Lutheranism for Dummies, ay? A clear and readable book we could go to with questions about what we believe as Lutherans. Of course there’s the Book of Concord (hold it up), but it’s a little dense. How about a book that just hits the high spots then? Here’s The Fortress Introduction to the Lutheran Confessions - which does just that. It’s written by Gunther Gassmann and Scott Hendrix, both of whom I had for professors in seminary. It’s a pretty scholarly writing.
There is a book out there that explains Lutheran things fairly simply. Here it is—it’s called The Lutheran Handbook. Read this book and you’ll know about half of what Lutherans believe. Read The Lutheran Handbook II, and you’ll know the other half. I recommend these two for anyone with a sense of humor who wants to have the simple low-down on what it means to be Lutheran.
What do Lutherans believe about being saved? I suppose you want to know what you should say if someone asks you that or similar questions. Let’s stick to the premise that basic is best, or K.I.S.S.—keep it simple stupid. You could tell him: Knowledge of our sin, revealed by the commandments, and our inability to earn God’s favor by doing good (check what St. Paul writes in today’s second reading), coupled with faith in Christ awakened in us by the Holy Spirit, enables us to turn to God and receive forgiveness and love. Jesus did take away the sin of the world, but for some reason some reject him—the only unforgivable sin as my pastor in NC would say. Does that doom one for all time? I don’t know. We leave that up to God, along with the other desert island examples. Trusting in a gracious God who has revealed his love to know-nothing infants such as ourselves.
Even more simply you could tell him. Jesus loves you. All the rest is just variations on that theme.
Or…or, you could ask for their home phone number and offer to call them later…(no, don’t do that!). AMEN
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Thanks be to God!
St. Paul writes in this week's second lesson from Romans 7, that the good he knew he should do--he didn't, and the bad he knew he should not do--he did anyway. And isn't that the case with all of us--at least sometimes? It's so much easier to ignore the right thing to do and do the selfish thing. I guess what Paul is saying that this is human nature--free will gone astray.
This drives him to despair--which is exactly what Luther said the "law" should do. For it is only when we realize that we cannot extricate ourselves from the mire of sin, it is only when we discover that there's nothing we can do or say that will rescue us from the chaos of our own Christ-less souls, it is only when we figure out that we've been running in fear from God instead of in desperation to God---it is only then that we fall into the arms of a loving and gracious God.
"Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" cries Paul. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" God alone saves us. And it's a good thing God does. Or else we'd all be lost!
Prayer for the day: Gracious God, thank you for your boundless love!
This drives him to despair--which is exactly what Luther said the "law" should do. For it is only when we realize that we cannot extricate ourselves from the mire of sin, it is only when we discover that there's nothing we can do or say that will rescue us from the chaos of our own Christ-less souls, it is only when we figure out that we've been running in fear from God instead of in desperation to God---it is only then that we fall into the arms of a loving and gracious God.
"Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" cries Paul. "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" God alone saves us. And it's a good thing God does. Or else we'd all be lost!
Prayer for the day: Gracious God, thank you for your boundless love!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Praise God!
There once was a man who bought a horse. The fella he bought it from advised him that the horse had belonged to a preacher, and only responded to commands other than the norm. "Praise God" to start him trotting, "Alleluia" to make him run, and "Hosanna" for whoa.
The buyer hopped on the horse and shouted, "Praise God!" and the horse began to trot. He yelled, "alleluia" again and the nag broke into a run. "This horse is great," thought the man--until he saw a cliff coming up.
"Whoa!" he shouted. No effect. "Stop!" he yelled. The horse kept running towards the abyss. "What was that command?" he wondered. Finally it came to him. "HOSANNA!" The horse stopped inches from the edge of the cliff.
"Oh, praise God!" gasped the man.
That's an old joke, but I still get a chuckle from it. And I use it today because I praise God for healing and doctors and nurses.
You see, I was gone all last week. We went up state to help out my parents as my dad had a knee replacement. It is a routine operation, done hundreds of times each day. But one always worries about one's own kin. So we were nervous during the surgery. But it was a complete success! Dad is now in rehab and mom is doing well, too.
So thank God for the medical arts! Praise God for compassionate people who care for us when we're ill! And glory be to God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love!
The buyer hopped on the horse and shouted, "Praise God!" and the horse began to trot. He yelled, "alleluia" again and the nag broke into a run. "This horse is great," thought the man--until he saw a cliff coming up.
"Whoa!" he shouted. No effect. "Stop!" he yelled. The horse kept running towards the abyss. "What was that command?" he wondered. Finally it came to him. "HOSANNA!" The horse stopped inches from the edge of the cliff.
"Oh, praise God!" gasped the man.
That's an old joke, but I still get a chuckle from it. And I use it today because I praise God for healing and doctors and nurses.
You see, I was gone all last week. We went up state to help out my parents as my dad had a knee replacement. It is a routine operation, done hundreds of times each day. But one always worries about one's own kin. So we were nervous during the surgery. But it was a complete success! Dad is now in rehab and mom is doing well, too.
So thank God for the medical arts! Praise God for compassionate people who care for us when we're ill! And glory be to God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love!
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