Shining Through the Trees (5/5)

B Pentecost14 2015

August 30, 2015

Mark 12:28-34

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Bethlehem Values Series - Summary: VISION

We are shining the light of Christ so brightly

that everyone is drawn in to God’s love through this community.

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]

²⁸One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"²⁹Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'³¹The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that 'he is one, and besides him there is no other';³³and 'to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,' and 'to love one's neighbor as oneself,' — this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that no one dared to ask him any question.

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What would you say if someone asked what your personal mission statement is? 

Have any of you done this before, thought about your individual mission?  We often do this collectively in our businesses and organizations, but what do you think God is calling you to do each and every day? 

The scribe in today’s story asks Jesus that question.

Ok, Jesus of Nazareth, I am impressed by your answers to the trick questions the other Jewish groups and leaders have been asking you. Myself, as an expert in the Torah (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible/OT, the Jewish law), I think you might actually get it.  I think you might actually understand what God is asking of us in our holy and most central scriptures.  So tell me, “Which commandment is the first of all?”  That is, how do you know, in all of the Bible, what is most central to our faith.  What directs you in your daily ministry, Jesus?

That is the question.

The question that Jesus answers with two slices of scripture, one from Duet 4 and one from Leviticus – “'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'³¹The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

This is the answer.

Jesus sums up all of Hebrew law and teaching in two tiny phrases: Love God first, Love your neighbor as yourself.

So we do.

This is what Jesus came to teach us, God’s vision for the world and his Personal Mission Statement.  What’s yours?

Your personal mission statements would all have unique, individual words to describe how you live out the way you follow Jesus in the world.  How you love God and love neighbor. I learned about personal mission statements from my friend and mentor, Ron Glusenkamp.  I wish I could tell you exactly what it is… but I remember the essence because every time I am with him, I see him do it! “Laugh, Feed and Love.”[i]  

The thing that is so funny about mission statements, especially for people who are God’s children and Jesus followers is that we have a whole book filled with different ways to say the same mission, over and over and over again (The Bible).  Mission/Vision/Values processes and statements can feel like we are just regurgitating something that’s already been said. 

But we use them because we, fallible, distractable creatures can have a hard time staying on track, staying focused on living a Christian life, without some kind of compass or north star in words that means something to us.  The best Vision & Mission statements are our north star, pointing us in the direction God calls us to go.  Our values are like our compass to get there. 

Today we hear Jesus explaining not only his personal mission statement – but God’s!  God, our creator, redeemer and sustainer – God’s mission is to penetrate this world with his love.  Like light shining through our brokenness, we see God’s power healing, restoring, and making us new.

And that’s where your vision, mission and values come in, Bethlehem.  These are our guiding light, our compass to head where God is calling us now.  

We see a vision of the world where the light of Christ shines so brightly that everyone is drawn in to God’s love through this community.  

Our mission is to welcome all through the light of Christ by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being a place of shelter.

We value the Word of God, All People, Serving and Opening the eyes of Faith. 

With our vision clear, Jesus says to us, along with the scribe in today’s Gospel, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

When we live into our vision, mission and values – we love God first, and love our neighbor as ourselves – we experience the wholeness and beautiful restoration of God’s kingdom!  We follow that shining light and we let that light shine through us. 

We have been talking about our values for the last four weeks, our compass on this journey. The Illuminating Word of God, Seeing All People and Perspectives, Serving our Communities with Delight and Opening the eyes of Faith at every age. 

With this compass, we are moving into the new program year.  Our compass comes first in the shape of intentionally putting the Illuminating Word of God central in all we do.

Starting Sept 13^th, we will be using Bible readings in worship that begin in Genesis and move through the timeline of the Bible to tell God’s story.  We will near the narrative of the Bible more sequentially.  Along with that, we will have devotional inserts that you are invited to bring home, like many of you read and pray with the Christ in Our Home booklets, these will coordinate your daily readings and prayer with Sunday morning.   

We will come together for Adult Study (after worship and fellowship) that invites us to consider how we understand God as Lutherans for 7 weeks; and then beginning in November we will dig into scripture with an overview of the New Testament.  You will have two opportunities to overview the New Testament with daily readings using a more scholarly approach with commentary and videos from experts: one on Sunday mornings and one on a weekday evening with our “Bible and Wine”  bookclub.

I pray that all of you will join me on this journey of getting to know God’s story better this fall.  For this is our next best step to learning to use our navigation tools, individually and as a community.  Pointing ahead to that Bethlehem star shining Christ’s light so brightly that everyone is drawn in to God’s love through this community.

Amen.

---

[i] Pastor Ron Glusenkamp’s personal mission statement is: “enlighten, entertain, evangelize.”

Opening the Eyes of Faith at Every Age (4/5)

B Pentecost13 2015

August 23, 2015

Mark 10:46-52

Romans 3:21-31

Bethlehem's Value #4

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]

⁴⁶ As [Jesus] and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. ⁴⁷ When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁸ Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁹ Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” ⁵⁰ So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” ⁵² Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You probably know someone who has lost their eyesight over time... have you ever spoken to someone who completely blind?  I remember asking a friend if he could remember what it was like to see.  Yes, he said.  He could remember, he could dream in color, but some things were fading from him memory.  Faces.  He couldn’t remember the faces of the ones he deeply loved.  The pain in his voice matched the tears welling in his eyes, but was strangely disconnected from his blank stare.  The ability to see those faces again was something he dearly longed for. 

I imagine him when I hear the story of Bartimaeus.  There were people Bartimaeus used to see, and now he could not.  There may have been work he used to do, that he couldn’t do any more.  There may have been relationships that he had been cut off from when he was blinded, no longer being able to support a family or himself – maybe people thought he was cursed by God.  A Jew’s faithfulness, at the time, should have been evidenced in his blessings. 

But God wasn’t done with him yet.  Bartimaeus may not have been able to see with his eyes, but he could see what was going on around him.  

He could see who Jesus was.

Bartimaeus – a blind man is the one who names him “Son of David”  the promised Messiah, come to save the world.  And Bartimaeus is bold enough to ask for that salvation here and now.  “Have mercy on me!” he calls out.

Have mercy on me!  The same thing we cry at the beginning of every worship service – often in Latin – Kyrie Eliason!  Have mercy, Lord!  Save us, Lord!  Whether it is our own sin, or just the wretched sin of the world that has gotten us in this despairing place; we pray for God’s mercy and grace to find us.  For we know that God has the power to change what we cannot.  We pray this prayer when we hear of the latest mass shooting or the sad state of rape culture on our college campuses.  We look at ourselves and consider how we have contributed to the problem, and we look to God with faith in his loving presence among those who are hurting, and in using all hurt to transform the world.  Just saying this – Kyrie Eliason! Lord have Mercy!  Is an act of faith.  Reaching out to God when we see how sin is so much bigger than a problem we can fix.  This is faith.  Putting our trust in God.  Giving over our way of seeing, for God’s way of seeing. 

The people around him spoke stearnly.  I am sure they though Bartimaeus wasn’t worth the Teacher’s time.  But Bartimaeus knew better.  He knew the God of grace cares for those at the bottom of the social scale.  And he knew Jesus was from God.  Where had he heard this good news, I wonder?  Had someone who cared for him told him this was his only hope for a different life?  Some faithful soul had passed by his begging corner shouting out Hosannas and Glory be to God for their own blessed healing?  Faith is caught, not taught they say.  So the faith-bug had bitten Bartimeaus; Jesus was it, the promised one.  Breaking hope and healing like shafts of light through a canopy of branches. 

Bartimaeus knows who Jesus is.  He sees that the Savior has come, and he is not going to let him pass by his pleading prayer.  And Jesus stops.  He stops and listens.  He stops and listens and calls Bartimaeus to come. 

Bartimaeus leaps off the ground and lands in front of Jesus.

Did you notice that Jesus asks Bartimaeus the same question he asked James and John last week?  “What do you want me to do for you?”

What do you want me to do for you? 

Same question, but different requests.  Here we have an inversion of James and John’s request for personal glory.  “Have Mercy on Me” Bartimeus cries, “Teacher, Let me see again!”

Teacher.  He calls him teacher.  Bartimaeus knows this Jesus has much to teach him.  And Bartimaeus is ready to learn, ready to study his every move, ready to pray as he prays, ready to love as he loves, ready to follow him on the way. 

Jesus seemed to know Bartimaeus was ready for a new life, new life found on the way with Jesus. 

I can imagine Jesus saying “Yes!  This is what I have come to do – to let people see!  See God through me.  This is the great mercy for which you ask, Bartimeus —Yes!  I will open your eyes to match the eyes of faith that are already open in you.”

It’s your core value #4, Bethlehem.  Opening the Eyes of Faith at every age.  Bartimaeus hears the good news, he has faith, his eyes are opened, he follows.

Have you ever felt that it was hard to believe in Jesus? Or, for that matter, hard to believe that there is a loving God? 

I get that.  We look around us and see pain.  We look at scripture and we see some old stories.  Sometimes it just feels too fantastic to believe that this man named Jesus offered people real healing and that God broke in, over and over and over again, when we don’t see that kind of miracle happening in our daily lives.

Believing certain things happened in a certain way at a certain time isn’t really the definition of faith.  Faith is not about finding the right facts. 

What is faith?  Trust in God.  Trust that God not only exists, but loves us and wants good for the world.  And that God has the power to influence us – not just to change what we don’t like in our neighbors, but to change me.  Faith in God is believing that this almighty benevolent being cares about me enough to want to show me a new way to live.  A way of grace.  A way where I get things I don’t deserve, and so does my neighbor.  A way where I am gentle with myself, and my neighbor.  A way of life that hopes for transformation for the world, starting with me. 

Faith is trust that all this is possible.  And that the power of God can come into my own deepest hurts and heal them. 

Bartimaeus had that kind of faith.  He put his trust in this man Jesus, in the God that empowered Jesus to be the Messiah, the son of David.  Bartimaeus, a blind man, might have been viewed as incapable of much.  His fate was to lie on a mat, begging for sustenance.  No one thought he could teach them, or teach us.  But he did.  God goes on, once again, giving us this story in scripture of God using the last person anyone would point to as a leader, or worthy of God’s choice.  Yet he is.  Because he has the one thing God wants us all to have…faith.

When we feel like it is hard to believe, we are given the words of the liturgy that we pray with Bartimeus –Have mercy on us!  Open our eyes to your ways—that we might live liberated of our denial of who you are to us. 

For when we live knowing Jesus as Bartimaeus did— it changes things.  For us.  Our priorities change.  When we let the Kyrie fall out of our mouths, our eyes are open, again, to see that God the greatest.  Our eyes are open, again, that we do not have to be in control of everything, because ultimately, God is in control.  Our eyes are open to the truth of our beloved status in God’s kingdom. And you, Faithful Children of God, are called to follow in Jesus way.

So, dear Bethlehem, let me say, finally, that you are invited to walk with Jesus in Bible Study this fall – either in the weekly study here on Sunday mornings after worship, where we will be talking about Lutheran beliefs for the first 7 weeks, then moving to scripture study.  Or in Bible and Wine, our monthly Bible book club that will be studying God’s Word, the foundation of our faith in community with our ecumenical brothers and sisters at Holy Trinity Episcopal. 

Let us pray…

Open our eyes God, that we might know and love you first.  Give us faith, that we might live in right relationship with all the world.  Let us walk with you on the way, like Bartimaeus. 

Amen. 

Serving our Communities with Delight (3/5)

B Pentecost12 2015

August 16, 2015

Mark 10:35-45

BLC Value #3

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ³⁹They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; ⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John.⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We are on the third Sunday in a series on Bethlehem’s Core Values – Today’s value is “Serving Our Communities with Delight.”  Since our value is to serve with delight, I’d like to give you the opportunity to have a little fun with a game during this sermon.  So if you think it would help you stay focused upon the message of service, grab that BINGO card out of your bulletin and play along.  No need to yell out “BINGO.”  I’ll take all your cards at the end – and everyone who plays will be a winner.  We can all thank Camp Calumet for the inspiration for fun and games, and family BINGO.

When we read today’s gospel, we hear something that has become very familiar because of its use in our everyday language “the first shall be last, the last shall be first”… and if we let it blow past us: well, that is clearly a part of the biblical message.  But what Jesus actually says today is about leadership – and all the relationships we have with one another.  The story is a set-up for us… James and John are more caught up in their ego, in getting top status, than in being good listeners.  At least for this moment, they are more interested in Jesus for his charisma and glory than in being molded and shaped into the kind of people, and leaders, Jesus wants them to be.  Meanwhile, Jesus is in training mode.  He’s got a limited time with these guys to give them everything he’s got about what it means to lead the church that is about to be born.  Jesus knows that their training is the raw material he has to work with when he comes back as the advocate, the Holy Spirit, to empower them to build the church.  And he’s not going to waste it.  So when James and John ask their wildly inappropriate question, but a question that any of the disciples wanted to know the answer to… Jesus brings them right back to their training. 

“whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve...”

There are a few articles floating around the business literature – Harvard Business School, Forbes, etc. all about what Jesus is talking about today.  Jesus’ definition of leadership.  They don’t state that Jesus is the originator, in fact, sometimes they may not know.  But we do. 

Here’s how the article in the Harvard Business Review says it… A quote in an article titled “Level 5 Leadership: The Triumph of Humility and Feirce Resolve” about Jim Collins research on good to great companies:

Collins argues that the key ingredient that allows a company to become great is having a Level 5 leader: an executive in whom genuine personal humility blends with intense professional will. To learn that such CEOs exist still comes as a pleasant shock. But while the idea may sound counterintuitive today, it was downright heretical when Collins first wrote about it [in 2001]—the corporate scandals in the United States hadn’t broken out, and almost everyone believed that CEOs should be charismatic, larger-than-life figures. Collins was the first to blow that belief out of the water.

Well, we knew that.  That is, we know that now.  After the last 15 years of financial meltdown, we might be looking for something different in our CEO’s.  We might be looking for a little more Jesus. 

The article written Feb 2005 goes on to say that HOW to become a humble and clear leader is still the next challenge to identify.  A quick google search will lead you to that…

Or you could just follow Jesus.

Because Jesus is clear, he is clear that his purpose is to serve with his whole life, to empty himself for others, to pray with them, to listen to them, to teach them, to show them God’s love breaking in with healings and reconciled relationships.  Jesus has “intense professional will” and humility wrapped up.  And as his followers who imitate him, we get to practice it too. Like when you serve your kids by showing kindness in the midst of their limit-testing, or when you serve your coworkers with whole-hearted teamwork and uplifting words.  You serve your friends when you remember them in prayer.  We serve when we stand up to the bully in peace.  In all areas of life, we serve with love... we put God’s will for the world before our own. 

And we do put God’s will of servant leadership into action here at Bethlehem!  In fact, let me tell you that there are two big questions that most every new person I encounter asks about our congregation: 1) what do you have for kids? And 2) how do you serve the community?

And I love these conversations because, Church, you have a big heart for service. You love to show God’s love. 

We serve God and each other when we show up for worship and faith formation and Bible Study – it is there that we are community for each other with mutual support – you never know who might need you in worship or at a study this week.  We serve God and each other in this congregational community with various roles in worship, leadership on Council and in committees (and I’m not just talking about the committee chairs, anyone who serves on a ministry team leads this congregation as a servant). 

And we serve the community – in such an array of beautiful ways!  We are focused to feed, shelter and clothe our neighbors.  We run our clothing store, Bethlehem’s Closet, we reach out with those clothes to Concordia Lutheran in Worcester and other places in our community. 

We feed people through donations to Food Share out on that table and with special offerings to them at our ecumenical worship services and we are about to begin stocking their shelves with produce from our very own garden!  We help keep our neighbors sheltered in our partnership with St. Vincent de Paul in Southbridge and Sturbridge.  And did you know that this congregation once participated in a local shelter called Grace House?  It doesn’t exist anymore, but the need for a leg up into self-sufficiency is still great, and so what was once Grace House is about to become a household management coaching program where you can volunteer to give a hand up, not a hand out, through teaching budgeting, grocery shopping, anything that will give a chance at dignity to our brothers and sisters who are vulnerable to losing their housing.  It’s going to be awesome.  Let me know if you want to jump on board. 

You, church, you do this well: let God use your hands and feet.  We… Serve Our Communities with Delight.  Both this congregational community, and we look outward to our neighbors, especially the most vulnerable.  And with great joy!    Maybe most of us aren't going to be CEOs of the companies, but we are leaders in our community when we serve. We can make big changes happen with our humility and focus on the will of God. Listening and acting upon God’s Illuminating Word, to participate in what God is already doing to change the world into a whole bunch of beautiful servants.

Well, now, to wrap this up… Who has a completed BINGO card?  Please pass them up…
[Have all participants give cards to me (Have one set done, just in case) - Spell out God’s Love.]

Amen!

Seeing All People and Perspectives (2/5)

B Pentecost11 2015

August 9, 2015

Mark 8:14-25

BLC Value #2

Elevate the Gospel for the Alleluia and Response

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]

¹⁴Now the disciples had forgotten to bring any bread; and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.¹⁵And he cautioned them, saying, "Watch out — beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."¹⁶They said to one another, "It is because we have no bread."¹⁷And becoming aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?¹⁸Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?" They said to him, "Twelve."²⁰And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect? And they said to him, "Seven."²¹Then he said to them, "Do you not yet understand?"
²²They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.²³He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Can you see anything?"²⁴And the man looked up and said, "I can see people, but they look like trees, walking."²⁵Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.    

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is really peppering them with questions:

·        “Why are you talking about having no bread?

·        Do you still not perceive or understand?

·        Are your hearts hardened?

·        ¹⁸Do you have eyes, and fail to see?

·        Do you have ears, and fail to hear?

·        And do you not remember?

·        ¹⁹When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you collect?...

·        Do you not yet understand?"

Well, no, not really, Jesus.  While the disciples stare blankly off into space, grasping at the concrete questions Jesus asks – “Oh, I can answer that one!  There were 12 baskets leftover, then 7!”  “But Jesus…” I want to say with them, “Am I supposed to know some fancy numerology for that?  Is there a code to crack here that I haven’t picked up on?  And what does that have to do with yeast and Pharisees?” 

Do you not yet understand?  No, not really. 

We’ve been reading through Mark this year, maybe we are starting to see some patterns.  This question gets asked frequently, “Don’t you get it?”  Even when Jesus tells them flat-out exactly what is going to happen, the disciples have a hard time integrating the information.  This section of Mark from chapter 8-10 is especially this way.  Over and over again, Jesus does a “deed of power” as Mark calls them, revealing again and again God’s kingdom of wholeness – where deaf and hear and blind can see – and over and over again, the disciples, those who are most consistently with Jesus and receive special instruction and empowerment, over and over again they forget Jesus has the power to feed, they seek to be on Jesus’ right and left in glory.  I feel sorry for the guys, I mean, Jesus is asking them to completely change everything they have been taught about what the Messiah will do and how power works… they just don’t get it.

And well, neither do I.  It makes so much more sense that the first will always be first and the last will always be last… that’s sure what it looks like from our news headlines.  Ok, so one guy says that by being rejected, he will change everything, but the times I’ve been rejected, it has not been immediately apparent how God plans to use rejection for redemption.

Except… well, I know the end of the story.  And so do you.  We have seen redemption come out of rejection, haven’t we? 

In fact, two people I was speaking with this week have experienced redemption out of rejection this summer.  Both Thad and Tina gave me permission to mention this.  Their redemption is coming in different ways out of the rejection of losing a job.  Redemption that brings back into focus the important things in life, that brings clarity to our values and re-connection to our relationships.  When have you have seen new life bursting out of a suffocating death-experience like losing a job?  The death of one thing is necessary before new life can appear.

We know this.  We know the end of the story.  We know that God overcomes the grave.  We know how it works.  And yet, it can be hard to see. 

It can be hard to see.

The disciples, who don’t have our advantage of knowing the end of the story, are struggling with their ability to see.  This blindness is what he is warning them about when he speaks of the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod.” They have chosen blindness, rather than see God’s way being demonstrated over and over again in the deeds of power Jesus shares.  And so Jesus teaches them, yet again, this time with the visual of the blind man from Bethsaida.  This is a unique healing story.  Other times Jesus heals with his saliva, in other gospels this story is cleaned up into an instantaneous healing.  But the gospel-teller Mark does this on purpose.  This is the only time that Jesus heals in two phases – he checks back in, asks if the man can see yet…sort of like he’s been doing with the blind disciples, mind you with what appears to be a tone of exasperation, “Do you understand YET?”   In these three chapters of the gospel Jesus will directly tell them three times that he will go to Jerusalem and be killed by temple authorities.  Though he draws them a clear picture, they cannot set it.  There sight is clouded by their preconceived ideas…

Call it blindness –by accident and sometimes by choice – but it can be so hard to see how God sees. But you, Bethlehem, have named it.  Our second core value as a congregation is “Seeing All People and Perspectives.”  The other three are: The illuminating Word of God, Serving our communities with delight and Opening the eyes of Faith at every age. By the Word we See  and Serve in Faith.  We take seriously seeing as God sees.  

I used my eyes this past Thursday for some very exciting video watching!  I don’t know about you, but I was anticipating all week the live-action conversation that I could stream on my iPad.  No, it wasn’t the Fox News GOP debate, or the last episode of the Daily Show with Jon Steward – though they are no doubt much excitement on their own.  But the streaming I was checking into on Thursday evening was a conversation hosted by our national Bishop, Elizabeth Eaton, who is the head church leader in our church – the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  In a webcast entitled “Confronting Racism” Bishop Eaton and the President of the ELCA church council, William B. Horne II, had a conversation about race.  How as a white woman and a black man, they have very different experiences of the world, the Bishop said they are leading “parallel lives.”   This image of parallel lives can be helpful for us as we think about how sometimes it is hard to see the people and their perspectives when they are so different from our own. 

In describing these “parallel lives,” Bishop Eaton talked about how her colleagues in ministry who are people of color experience things that she, as a white woman has not.  She talked about how painful it was to hear the stories of her friends and colleagues people who “want to make a difference in Jesus name,” who are followed or profiled in their interactions in stores or with law enforcement.  Mr. Horne, a city manager, shared his experience of the economic and emotional impact of race (riots?) of growing up in segregated Tulsa, OK.  And specifically talked about how his father taught him how to act anytime he might have contact with the police.  Both Bishop Eaton and Mr. Horne shared much more of their own stories than I can share now; we will watch the video in full as a part of an adult education hour this fall. 

We lead parallel lives, we see people like walking trees; we who are privileged with whiteness cannot see clearly the lives and experiences of people of color.  People like me, who do not experience racial prejudice, usually can’t see it. So our fuzzy vision, or even blindness, allows us to believe that it doesn’t exist.  At the least, we can forget about the racial discrimination others experience on a daily basis because, we don’t walk into a store and get followed and questioned about our purpose there.  We don’t have to adjust our name on our resume so that it will get read and considered.  So if we’ve had these positive experiences of how we think the world should be it is hard to remember that it may not be that way for everyone.  We live our lives, blind to the hardship of people of color. 

When you identified this core value, church, in the cottage meetings, the CAT assessment and in other conversations, the goal of this core value was that we can be a welcoming place to a wide swath of people and that we can hold safety for people with diverse life perspectives. This is a beautiful and a challenging value. Seeing all people and perspectives is a powerful way for us to shine beyond the trees.  Racism in our culture is just one issue that matters to God and to us.  When visitors experience the warmth of this place, they are often swept up into the community by it – and so excited that they have found this place to be church.  The challenge is to take that welcome to a deeper level.  To enter into deeper and deeper faith together through conversation and commitment to learning God’s Word.  The gift is in being able to live with one another in faith and to continue to love each other and to hold one another accountable to Christ, regardless of our disagreements.  This is what will continue to weave us into a community that stays together and grows together. 

Like the disciples, we won’t always understand what Jesus is trying to tell us.  There are plenty of times that we will be like the blind man, seeing just trees walking.    But we trust that God will do what God promises, restore our sight to God’s will – God’s kingdom vision that Sees All people and perspectives in love.  Please pray with me...  

Jesus, open our eyes, open our ears, break open our hearts that we might see as you see.  That we might love as you love.  That we might see and hear one another with all our varying perspectives, unified in the one thing that holds us together – that we are all redeemed in you. Amen.

The Illuminating Word of God (1/5)

B Pentecost10 2015

August 2, 2015

Mark 7:1-23

BLC Value #1

Elevate the Gospel for the Alleluia and Response

The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. [Glory to you O Lord]

¹Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them.³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders;⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.)⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"⁶He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
 'This people honors me with their lips,  but their hearts are far from me;
 ⁷in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'
⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
⁹Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!¹⁰For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.'¹¹But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban' (that is, an offering to God) — ¹²then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother,¹³thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this."
¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand:¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."
¹⁷When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.¹⁸He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile,¹⁹since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)²⁰And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles.²¹For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly.²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

The Gospel of the Lord [Praise to you O Christ].

Grace to you and Peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Some of you may already know this, but my family has a tradition of eating white rice with butter, mlik, sugar and cinnamon on Christmas eve.  I do not remember a Christmas eve without this special, Danish, way to celebrate Christmas eve.  Each year we would eat our rice dinner, go to Christmas Eve worship together, then come home to open our presents –as soon as the dinner dishes were done. 

The tradition came down through my maternal grandparents, Carol and Emery Petersen, who had four girls.  Emery was a Lutheran Pastor from the 1940’s through the 90’s, and as a busy pastor on Christmas eve, all meals and other celebratory activities were Carol’s responsibilities.  And she was a master hostess, and she liked to have things under control, so it was all good with her.  The first time my dad came to Christmas Eve with his new wife’s family, he was introduced to this meal.  A energetic 23 year old man at the time, he was a bit shocked to be offered nothing but rice to eat on Christmas Eve.  His family had also celebrated Christmas on the Eve (a lot of Scandinavians do that)  but with a feast!  So he smiled cheerfully and then went on a fast food run on the way to church.  Truth be told, a few of my cousins did the same thing from ages 14-24. 

When my grandmother was dying, she was 96 and completely lucid.  Our family was doing the usual reminiscing that becomes a special blessing when you know the matriarchs and patriarchs of our lives are about to die.  My aunts and I were talking about this tradition of Christmas Eve dinner and how we had all kept the Danish tradition faithfully in our households, when Grandma Carol piped up to say… “Oh girls, that meal isn’t particularly Danish… that was just the quickest way for me to get dinner on the table between Christmas Eve worship services!”

We looked at each other in surprise… we had carefully stewarded a meal that had become a cherished family tradition, based on nothing more than the expediency of a pastors’ family on Christmas Eve.  J  

The Pharisees in our Gospel for today?  They are pretty concerned about white rice.  I mean, the washing of hands was sort of the same idea. 

The tradition of that rice meal is beautiful, but it was a family tradition celebrated for a particular time and place… in this case, a family who did not have high caloric needs, and not to be confused with the real celebration of Christmas.

The tradition of washing hands had become more about the performance of obeying every word of God and making sure everyone around you knew you did… not about the actual purpose and reason for God’s Word.

Today we begin a sermon series on our Core Values. You remember, church, you have been working on these for almost two years now!  Our vision for a Kingdom of God world where we “Shine a light so brightly that everyone is drawn in to God’s love through this community.”  Our Mission to “welcome all through the light of Christ by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being a place of shelter.”  Our values:

1.     The Illuminating Word of God

2.     Seeing All People and Perspectives

3.     Serving our Community with Delight

4.     Opening the eyes of Faith at every age.

I’ve been memorizing them by saying, “Word, See, Serve, Faith… Word, See, Serve, Faith” over and over.

We have named the values that hold us together, and now we are seeking to discern God's will in light of them.  We are working together on a ministry plan to keep our energy focused!  That starts with us talking about these values today, and the next four weeks. 

So, if our first value is “The Illuminating Word of God”… what is the Word of God? 

We use this phrase a couple of ways. 

1.     Scripture

a.     Luther talked about sola scriptura (word alone), along with sola gratia (grace alone) and sola fide (faith alone).  Luther wanted to be clear that our faith practices are not based on just some good idea someone had for some particular time and place (because that is what happened in the church of his time too), but that we go back to God’s word in scripture over and over again.  We read the Bible to seek what God is saying to us now, and we keep our hearts and minds open to interpretations of Scripture appropriate to our time; knowing that God keeps speaking to us in new ways through these old words; because our God is a God of new life!

b.     Genesis: Scripture, God speaks and things come into being.  The Word of God is God’s will – simply spoken and it happens!

2.     Jesus!

a.     Genesis to John 1 –scripture is the cradle of Christ

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²He was in the beginning with God.³All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being⁴in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

b.     This work is ongoing by the Holy Spirit, advocating for us; God is still speaking… (as the UCC tagline says.)

So there is a lot packed in to that one little phrase – The Word of God!  This is our foundation: God’s very will revealed to us in scripture and especially in Jesus.  And this revealing is what we mean when we say the illuminating Word of God. 

Sometimes the word of God shines a light on things we would rather not see.  Like todays gospel reading... about Tradition vs. scripture. Jesus is pointing them back to their core, pointing us back to the central things of being church… it’s not about the buildings or the programs, it’s about living as a community who loves God.  And people who love God share it!  With service!  With a hunger for learning more about God – in prayer and scripture!  Tradition is needed!  The question is: How does tradition serve this purpose, to be a shining community of God’s love… and serve the world? Like in the story of the Pharisees, God is not interested in the tradition serving us.

But it’s not all negative… by any means!  The Word of God lights us up!  God’s Word is centered on justice and love for all.  That’s what Jesus came for, right?  Why he lived for us – to show us the way.  And died for us – to claim us for eternity.  We light up with this hope!  Knowing we have been given the greatest gift!  New Life that starts here and now, a life of freedom – for all!  A life of such strong love that even death cannot stop it. 

SO>>> How might we show in worship, and our other gathering times, how central this Word of God is to our community? Might we begin a Gospel processional in our liturgy to remind us that this Book, and all God says to us is our central purpose for gathering together? In September we'll begin using the narrative Lectionary, so that we might follow the arc of God's story through from the beginning, to see where it goes and how it gets to Jesus. 

We also might join a Bible Study or the Adult Study on Sunday mornings – where we will be dancing with the Word of God around the central beliefs and practices of the Lutheran church.   We can read a piece of scripture, a couple of verses, or a story every time we gather – at choir practice, for a meal fellowship, for a campfire.  We can bring scripture home.  Read it as a family – an easy way to do this is to use the Faith5. Confirmation students can show us the way, they do this in their lessons.

We gather around the word, here on Sunday mornings, and other times where we can go more deeply in relationship and learning.  Because we hold the Illuminating Word of God as our first core value, we arrange our faith life, our whole life, around it.  For us faithful people, what the Word of God says to us is the most important voice in our lives. 

It’s tempting to be like those Pharisees that Jesus chastises, to grab hold of human traditions as the familiar way of doing things.  It brings us comfort.  And that is nice, and even needed sometimes.  But the Word of God is not always comfortable or nice.  The Word of God gives us light and life, but often through the challenges of change and discomfort.  Sometimes even messing with something as sacred as my family’s Christmas Eve plans.  Because the Word of God is always about what God wants for all of creation, and not what we want.  And so we pray:

May our wants align with your wants, O God.  May our hearts and hands and minds be open to your will being done.  May we see your kingdom come among us, Lord.  Illumine our lives with your Word.  Amen.