Spiritual Gifts, Money and the Breath of Life

1 Kings 3:4-9, (10-15), 16-28
Sermon can be heard here.

David's Repentance

2 Samuel 11:1-5, 26-27; 12:1-9

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

Let’s just ignore this story and talk about Stewardship. 

This might be the one week when I am tempted to preach about anything that is NOT scripture. 

I mean, the questions this texts poses are so painful that it would be easier to lay out all my own personal financial history and practices and foibles and successes with money over the last 20 years than to deal with God has put in front of us today.

But I guess that’s not what you came here for.  Nor is it what I am called to do.

This is a stewardship text – it’s a case study of poor stewardship of David in how he uses his power and resources.

So… it is time for me to point out to you the good news and the bad news of this text.  The liberating gospel and the convicting law. 

Let’s start with Bathsheba:

What do you think she thought and felt when King David’s servant showed up at her door?

I have a message for you!  King David requests your presence at his home.  Now.

Did she feel excited? Honored? Curious? Worried?  Sick to her stomache? Did she know why she was being summoned there?  D

How do you think she felt when she was in King David’s presence? 

Do you think he tried to seduce her?  Was she ready to leap into his arms, having been alone a long time with her husband at war?

Did she wonder why the king was in town?  Wasn’t there a battle being fought?  Was she a bit offended that her king would be summoning women – her – while her husband fought on the battlefield?

Did she have any time to think?  Was she left alone in a room – maybe a bedroom – and wonder what on earth the king wanted with her?  Or did she know.  Did she know what was coming next?  Whether she wanted it to or not.

What was running through her mind when she realized she was pregnant?

Did she fear for her own life? 

Did she want to stop her pregnancy? 

Was she, being a lawful Hebrew (we know this because she was following the purity law), trying to find some honorable way out when she told the king?  Was she appealing to his mercy, knowing her pregnancy could lawfully result in her stoning? (Not the man’s, mind you, just hers).

How did she feel when she realized her husband had come home, but had slept outside rather than stay in their bed?

What did she think when the message came he had died? 

Did she know it was coming? 

Did she know there was no other way out for her?  Did she wish she had died in his place?

In what kind of situation did she find herself, once in David’s household? 

Was she isolated?  Did the other wives accept her?

Was she his favored wife?  Was she an embarrassment to him?

…

We won’t know.  The story doesn’t tell us. 

The story expects us to read it, over and over and over again, to glean what we can about who God is. 

And what do we learn about how little we know of Bathsheba’s thoughts, feelings and voice?

We know God is with her.

But that sure is small comfort when the child she bears dies.  Even if she was in the torturous position of having been raped and being forced to carry a child that was, through no fault of it’s own, a baby she would struggle to care for with the full love she would want to care for any child. Even this child.

We know God is with that baby too. Even though that baby dies at God’s very hand, as the story says.

Because this story is not about the baby or Bathsheba… obviously.

This story is about David. 

Why didn’t David go out to that battle? He was a great warrior with many successes under his belt. 

What possessed David when he saw a woman to believe he could just take her?  From another spouse at that!  Had his power gone to his head?  Did he believe he deserved everything he wanted at this point in his life?

How could David possibly forget God’s law when David was the one who was chosen by God to be God’s chosen king?  The one through whom God promised to fulfill God’s covenant.  Once again.

Why did David’s righteous anger take so long to come forth… how did he act so blindly?  So selfishly?  So brutally, at least to Uriah, without a shred of remorse, it appears… until Nathan told him a story?

And then Nathan.

This story isn’t really about him either.  But he plays the role of God’s mouthpiece. 

That sweet story, that sweet little lamb, the object of one man’s affection, taken, eaten, devoured really… by another man. 

And Nathan gets to do what I want to do in the story… what likely any woman reading this, and probably all the men too, want to say to David. 

You Are The Man.

You are the man who devoured the lamb.

You are the man who ignored God’s law.

You are the man who stole another man’s wife, using your power and privilege to damage her with unimaginable trauma and loss of her own body, her offspring, her spouse, her life.

You are the man who killed, so that you could have what you wanted. 

…

That is the law of this story—the driving conviction God makes of David and of anyone who uses their power and resources to abuse others.  And the law does just what the law is supposed to do—it brings about a change in David.

And David repents.

…

It’s almost anticlimactic.  There is no raging David at the end of this story defending his actions and his right to take what he wants.

…

David repents.

…

And the baby dies.

…

And God sticks with David.  I wouldn’t.    

But God uses even the scum of the earth if that is what God has to work with.

Just imagine what God has in store to do with you.

And me.  And all those with me who would have preferred to see God abandon David.  

But that is not our God. 

This is the good news – the gospel that liberates us… while we might choose to stay in a place of judgement and condemnation of David; God moves the instant David repents.

Our God demands repentance.  And our God accepts repentance. 

Our God loves us beyond and through absolutely anything we do to each other. 

And God demands we do better.

And God gives us the power to transform.

Because it wasn’t by his own power David repented.  It was only by the power of the Holy Spirit… leading him, guiding him, insisting that he grow beyond this terrible, unredeemable action.  Because while the action is absolutely unredeemable, the man is a different story.

This story. 

This sacred, holy story.  Of a man who repents, at God’s prompting.

And I wonder over what must have happened between him and Bathsheba after this … that his repentance includes a transformation in his relationship with Bathsheba.  That she is no longer his object, but a human with whom he relates, hopefully, even loves.  Those details are not exactly in the story either.

But that must be true.  For it is through these two people that Solomon is born.  And down the troubled line of this family that Jesus comes to us.

Jesus.  God in flesh who came to redeem the David’s and the Bathsheba’s of the world.

And you and me.

Jesus who left this world to hand it over to the Spirit.  The spirit that gifts us with so many redeemable qualities.  Aspects of ourselves that God would love to use, and does, often in spite of us, but maybe we will want to participate.  Hey, maybe you even want to come to the spiritual gifts inventory today and learn more about what God might be working in you right now.

The God who made you gifted, shows you how to love and redeems you from everything, is here, with us, breathing his Spirit right here in our midst. May you feel God’s outpouring love today.

Amen.

People with a Purpose

Joshua 24:1-15

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

All the people are gathered there at Shechem, the holy mountain, the leaders, the elders, and all the people.  They are gathered there to present themselves to God.  Make and offering.  Worship, Thank God for bringing them to this point in their story.  Gathered much like we are gathered here today.  Gathered as People with a Purpose by God, for God, with God.  Understanding ourselves as part of God’s Sacred Story.  God’s holy People.

·        God started this church June 1, 1984 by gathering us together in the conference room at Crabapple’s restaurant…making us into the Body of Christ right here in Sturbridge!

·        On March 3, 1985, God led sixty-six persons to commit to the Membership Charter of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. The charter reads, in part:



We come together as a community that publicly and joyfully

confesses the reality of Jesus the Christ.

We willfully and gladly accept the responsibility that such public announcement carries and commit ourselves to the task of its fulfillment.

…We believe that Bethlehem Lutheran Church shall go forth

actively engaged in this mighty task empowered by the Holy Spirit

in this place and all places, at this time and at all times.

·        From the beginning, God provided gifts to birth this congregation.  God gave us a cross, hymnals and a recorded musical accompaniment through Zion Lutheran in Oxford.

·        God used the various expressions of the Lutheran church to pay for our worship resources, and to care for the needs of our mission developers and pastors and made it possible to apply for a charter as a congregation in June 1985.

·        God grew the small group quickly to 35 or more and God provided us with a place to worship at a diorama called “Bethlehem in Sturbridge” owned by George Duqette.  From here the name Bethlehem Lutheran Church was adopted.  God provided other locations too as we found our way, a small church in Brimfield, Kitty Cline’s "Barn."

·          In 1993 God gave us a house on Simpson St!  This became the parsonage and church offices.

·        God gave us incredible ecumenical relationships!  For the first 15 years, many congregations in the area hosted us for our annual meetings and other events.

·        In 1994 God inspired our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters to walk alongside us in covenant - the first ever covenant between a Catholic Church and a Lutheran Church in New England, signed by Father Donald Espinosa and Pastor Mary Barnes (Iverson).  God gave us a worshipping home in their historic building for 12 years while we planned our own ministry outpost – and God gave us ministry to do together, most significantly the Southbridge Interfaith Hospitality Network (SIHN) – where we began providing hospitality to our brothers and sisters in need of homes.

·        In 1994 God used Klaus Tittel to craft the cross behind me out of the old pews from Saint Anne's.  It testifies to us that we would not be here with the Cross of Christ – without God’s work to partner us with St. Anne’s and so many other congregations – without God’s inspiration of us towards sharing generously for God’s work here at 345 Main Street!

·        Through ups and downs and twists and turns of changing pastors, and financial challenges, God built this building.  Right here.

·        God used us to build this building – and our beloved family members: Bob Piehl, Kitty Cline, Wolf Fuchs, Bill MacDonald, Paul Merritt, Mike Shocik.

·        God pushed us to seek wisdom and understanding of our call here.  God challenged us to a life in service to him and a building in service to him.  With each challenge we have encountered, we became stronger in our faith.

·        In 2002 we dedicated this building and re-dedicated ourselves and all our work to God’s purposes.

·        God used this building to serve SIHN families.

·        God used our hands to cook food for SIHN and for our community.

·        God used our resources to bring about Grace House, a local shelter.  And God worked, even when Grace House struggled, to inspire in us a love for those who do not have homes.

·        In 2012 God called us into a new mission identity. God decided to use our fundraising efforts and turn them into ministry providing affordable clothes.

·        God used Saint John Paul II Parish and their flea market to make clothing ministry happen, through us!  God used the TJX Corporation to turn our clothing sale tables into Bethlehem’s Closet.

·        God used US to clothe the naked.

·        God inspired us to a new Mission: to Welcome all through the light of Christ by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being a place of shelter.

·        In 2015-16 God used Karen Bodamer and a partnership with Holy Trinity Episcopal church to plant a community garden to grow our mission!

·        God has inspired this church.  God has given this congregation the desire, the longing, to work together in ministry for the good of all.  Just a few more of the people God used are Irene Lee, Barbara Jensen and Melany Gronski, to whom God gave the love for children and for forming their faith.  And they did it mightily!

o   Faith Formation at every age.

·        God gave this congregation Carol DeBeradinis, a faithful servant in leading music for 14 years, voluntarily.

·        God gave this congregation Ginger Piehl, a sacrificial servant in administration for 12+ years, voluntarily.

·        God gave this congregation many other wonderful musicians, faith formers, leaders, stewards and pastors.  If you will stay for several hours, I will be happy to name many of them and their specific gifts for you.

·        God gave this congregation and place, a calling, a passion, a love for Christ… God has given this congregation Everything we have!  Every. Single. Thing.

·        And God continues to give, and will give us a renewed mission this day.  A renewed covenant, just as God did with the people at Joshua’s hand.



Now, if we are faithful to Joshua, we have reviewed this history.  We understand that our gifts and resources are entirely a gift of God.  And not just that.  God give us all these things FOR A PURPOSE.

God gives us all these astounding blessings so that we might bless the world.  So that we might life as People with a Purpose, with transformed hearts and minds, conformed to God’s will and God’s ways.

And so, Joshua the prophet asks us the age-old question.  It resounds from the valleys and hills of our lives and our story.  It bounces off our blessings and multiplies with echos across all our experience.

Who will you serve?

Choose this day.

“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”



Choose, says Joshua.

And we have a major advantage over Joshua.  We already know that we have already been saved.  While Joshua posed an ultimatum, we look at this scripture with our Christ-lenses on and know… Oh… God is going to save them.  God already has saved them.  And God will save them again and again and again.

And you.  And me.  God has saved us.

And we are part of this story.

We are in this story.

We ARE these people with a purpose.

For we too have been blessed, just like them.

We too are God’s beloved who have been chosen to bless the world.

We too are bound up in this community of people – the community that attributes absolutely every good thing to God.  The community who lives differently from everyone around us.  We are a covenanting today to build a community that serves the Lord.

This is the covenant we live under: God will save us.  And we will serve God’s purposes.

There is no half-hearted, oh, that’s such a nice story – and I can be a nice person sometimes so sure, I’ll put my name on the list… No.

You have to give up those other gods.  There is no worshipping the almighty dollar or political power or at the altar of busy-ness if you commit to God.

This covenant is about showing up.  It is about doing the work. The work God has for us to do right here and right now.

The work of serving at Bethlehem’s Closet, or fully utilizing our community gardens.  The work of engaging with the community, intentionally building relationships  - for we must know one another to know what kind of powerful Work God is up to among us!  The work of showing up at newcomer dinners to welcome and to be welcomed.  The work of showing up to bless your animals, like Victor and Aly did last week, so that the community folks that show up will see there is a church here that cares for them and their lives!  The work of Loving our Neighbor!

So, will you join Joshua?

I will. 

For me, and my family, we will serve the Lord.

Not perfectly, but we will give ourselves over for God to use.  Just like the saints at Bethlehem have for 38 years.  Just like the saints of the church have for 2000 years.  Just like the Hebrew people have for millennia.

Come, discover your spiritual gifts today.  And pray this week about how God is right here, ready to use you, your gifts, and all your resources to bless the world.

Amen.

Covenant & Commandments

Exodus 19:3-7, 20:1-17

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

Since September 9^th we have begun at the beginning, hearing the good news (and the bad) of our genesis as God’s people: God’s beautiful creation, and recreation in the flood, God’s promises to us that we are People with a Purpose, God’s intention to use US to bless the world.  Then last week we moved into our family story of exodus – the sacred story of how God goes about saving us from the most vile, the most unholy, the most wretched of evil found on earth… using even everything God has: creativity, creation itself, US, including our good faith effort and our mistakes, and even the very Evil Itself!  All this God uses to bring about Our redemption, our salvation, just like God did when God liberated us from the evil of slavery and tyranny in Egypt. 

Now, this week, we take a step back to view the big picture and notice what God is up to.  How God has consistently moved to partner with us as humanity for the blessing of the world.  This partnership is called God’s Covenant with us.  Now, covenants were, and are, things that humans do – we partner with each other in marriage, between congregations, like Bethlehem and New Hope or Bethlehem and St. Anne’s – and in the historical period of the Exodus, there were covenants between nations.  Agreements.  Deals.  Where one nation agreed to do something for the other nation and would get something in return.  We still do this today, we just don’t usually call them covenants. 

The word Covenant brings with it a holy connotation.  A sense of solemnity and purpose.  Even calling.  When we enter into a covenant it is intended to be a trust, like between pastor and people.  I don’t get to serve you unless we have some agreements, but calling it a “deal” is too crass for most of us.  This agreement of serving alongside one another is a holy endeavor, one where we expect God to guide us and weave us together, a bit like the most common and possibly the most holy of human covenants, Marriage. 

So as we reflect upon Covenant and what it means for us, and what God is up to bothering with making covenants with humans, we are going to watch a 5 minute video from The Bible Project.  …watch with me…

[COVENANT video]

The Sacred Story tells us that this broken partnership is why we are stuck in a world of corruption and injustice and pain.  We have dropped our end of the Bargain.  But God… God didn’t need us to begin with. Just like the covenant with Noah, God has every intention of fulfilling her/his end of the Covenant whether we fulfill our end or not.  You saw it in the video: God fulfills the covenant, regardless of what we do. 

Now, don’t hear me wrong.  If we do partner with God…if we stop refusing to enter into God’s ways and God’s life.  WOW.  That’s where the life IS that we want to live!  Suddenly the gift of eternal life is something we live Right Now, not just wait for some future day… it is true… that the corruption and pain of the world is something we can Endure together.  The broken world is one where we still see hope, because we see what God is up to!  We see where New Life is happening, we Are the Resurrection People!  In God’s covenant, we are given each other, we are made into the Body of Christ, we are a community that stands for justice and peace, for healing and wholeness.  And we are never, ever alone.

So when you reflect on the Ten Commandments, when you hear someone arguing about whether they should be posted in public or whether they are the foundation of our US justice system or our expectation of ethics.  I invite you to reflect on what the Ten Commandments are really about.  These commandments are the framework for our side of the agreement with God.  God will save us.  Unconditionally.  And if we want to participate… here is how we do it. 

These commandments are the cornerstone of God’s offering to us.  These ten laws are a vehicle.  They help us to see the Life God gives.  The Life of Freedom from slavery and oppression and injustice.  These Ten Commandments re-present the entire covenant work that God is doing, has done and promises to continue forever and ever.  God is using these commandments as a sign of the Covenant, the covenant that gives us the gift of Life. 

And not just us… God gives the gift of Life to his covenant family… for the whole world.  Today we hear that in our piece of the Sacred Story for today…

You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation.

Noah heard it, Abraham heard it, Now the whole Family hears it… God’s will is for the world to be saved from itself.  God’s way is for the world to be blessed by humans God has chosen.  And it turns out, we are those humans.  We are blessed to be a blessing, chosen to be a priestly nation (that is, a mediator between God and creation), we are People with a Purpose. 

[So now, you may be wondering… how do we do that? And it comes down to you.  To each one of us!  We participate as the Body of Christ together.  Our purpose is to bless others with the tools God has given us!  Individually and as a congregation. 

Over the next two weeks, Ellie Kraner and Melany Gronski will be helping us all to participate in a gifts assessment.  The council is inviting us to prayerfully consider what tools God has given us for work in God’s kingdom – for our work to bless the world.  Please mark your calendars to stay after worship either on the 14^th or the 21^st.  We are trusting the Spirit to move you and hoping you will respond with 100% participation.  If you can prioritize being here one of these two days, you will take an assessment of your spiritual gifts, and then talk about how to use these gifts for God’s purposes to bless the world. ]

Let us pray…

Purposeful God,  You have shaped this congregation with gifts that are designed to serve your purposes in the world.  You have made US into People with a Purpose!  And I find this astounding!  God, continue to work on us and in us.  Bring us together the next three Sundays as we pray together, listening for your voice in the gifts you have given us and in how you would have us use them.  Move us to act on your will and to live in your ways.  We are so grateful for this community and for the new life you have given us!  Let us not waste or reject it, but show our love for you and your love for our neighbors. 

Thank you, Lord.

Amen.