THAT DAY Is Surely Coming

This is my text for the All Saints Day service in the Garden. I focused mostly on the Isaiah (25.6-9 ) and Revelation (21.1-6 ) texts, and only briefly touched on the Gospel (John 11.32-44 - the story of Lazarus).

Last Sunday, during our celebration of the Reformation of the Church, we heard the words God said to the prophet Jeremiah, “The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. … I will be their God, and they shall be my people. … I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.” [Jeremiah 31.31, 33, 34] Today, as we remember the great cloud of witnesses and saints who have gone before us, as we remember our loved ones who have died, we must also remember the promises God has given to us and to them. First among those promises is that death does not have the final word. God does.

“It will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” [Isaiah 25.9] Both Isaiah and John the Revelator have seen visions of that day which is surely coming. They have both seen a new home being made for all people. They see a new home being made on a mountain, a new Jerusalem being brought down out of the heavens. Isaiah sees a feast being prepared, “a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.” [Isaiah 25.6] This is a royal feast, the type of banquet served to the finest guests on the grandest occasions. That day which is surely coming is an occasion befitting of that type of banquet.

Today, we remember our loved ones who have passed away. When we talk about those who have passed away, it is not only the people who have passed from our lives, but their memories and experiences. When people die, we lose not just the actual person, but we also lose what they did for us, the roles they played in our lives. When people pass away, they leave our current lives, but not our memories. We find we mourn not just the person, but what they meant to us. We miss the experiences we shared, these common bonds. We miss the stories, whether the stories were ones they told or ones told about them. We miss the opportunity to have more stories and more experiences with those who have passed away.

But in John’s Revelation, the term ‘passed away’ takes on a different meaning. In the Revelation, it is “the first things” that have passed away. Those first things include the first earth and first heaven. “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.” [Revelation 21.4] God is preparing a banquet because death has been defeated. We no longer have to worry about loved ones passing away because death itself has passed away. Removing death from the world brings about a new world.

As death and the first things have passed away, we shall weep no more. Loss, of any kind, is an emotional experience. It does not matter if that loss is a game, your keys, an opportunity, a relationship or a loved one. Any loss leads to a sense of unbalance, that something is wrong, missing or incomplete. When that feeling is strong enough, it brings tears. What feeling of loss can be stronger than the loss when a loved one dies? You know you will not see them again.

When Jesus comes to Bethany because his friend Lazarus was ill, he meets Mary, the sister of Lazarus. Mary falls to her knees at his feet and cries. Her brother has been dead for four days. The man who she calls “Lord” has just arrived. She knows if Jesus would have been there, her brother would still be alive. Jesus sees this woman whom he knows, on the ground before him crying over the loss of her brother, and it moved him greatly. Our Lord sees the crowd of mourners who have come with Mary to greet him, and sees them crying over the loss of Lazarus, and his spirit is deeply disturbed. The Son of God knows his friend, “he whom you love” [John 11.3] has died, passed away from this life, and he begins to weep. The Son of Man is moved by the sense of loss of the sisters, Mary and Martha, the community and his own loss, and he begins to cry. To remedy that pain and loss, Jesus commands Lazarus to come out of the tomb.

God knows the pain of loss we feel. But the pain stems from our broken covenantal relationship with God. God does not want us to hurt or suffer. That is not the relationship and communion God wanted for us. So on that day that is surely coming, God will wipe away the tears from every eye and every face. In the kingdom that is to come, we shall weep no more. Because when the first things, the first earth and the first heaven pass away, the brokenness of our relation with God will pass away as well. The Sin that is the cause of the fracture and fallenness and failing will be destroyed. “He will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.” [Isaiah 25.8] That day is surely coming when God will destroy the Sin that is at the heart of our broken relationship with God. God will vanquish the evil barrier of Sin that separates us from being in right covenantal relationship. The first things will pass away. The first things, the original sin, when humanity fell from grace by disobeying God, shall pass away. Our own first failures, of creating false idols of money, wealth, power and worshiping things that draw us away from God, rather than worshiping the One who has given everything to us will pass away. No longer will we worship what we think we can make and create for ourselves. Instead, we will worship the Creator who has made everything for us. Isaiah says, “The disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth.” [Isaiah 25.8]

God will restore us to our right covenantal relationship because the first things, our faults and failures, will pass away. “He will swallow up death forever.” [Isaiah 25.8] and “death will be no more;” [Revelation 21.4] In this new city on a mountain, this new Jerusalem, the new creation is defined by what has passed away. The powers that oppose God and diminish our lives, those of Sin and Death, are no more. The visions and writings of Isaiah and John tell of a time, that day is surely coming, when evil will be defeated forever, and humanity will be set free from the bonds of sin. Death is defeated when the dead are all bodily resurrected. So the loss we feel when some one we love passes away, those feelings, the mourning, crying and pain, will themselves pass away. Because the separation, the loss of our communion with God, will be no more. “It will be said on that day, ‘Lo, this is our God. … This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” [Isaiah 25.9] On that day, nothing will separate God from God’s people – not physical distance, emotional anguish or physical pain.

“And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’” [Revelation 21.5-6] The one on the throne, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior is making everything new. Through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, he has given us righteousness and restored us to a right covenant relationship and communion with God. In our baptism, we are joined to Christ in a life like his. We are claimed as a child of God, baptized in the name of the Triune God and sealed with the sign of the cross; forever. We are joined into a life of service and suffering with Christ so that we can be joined into a death like his. Not a death on a cross, but a death that is NOT final. Because death does not have the final word. The final word belongs to God. We shall be raised again in these bodies. We shall dwell in communion with God. The right covenantal relationship shall be reformed and restored. The banquet prepared in Isaiah’s vision is foreshadowed by the meal we are all invited to participate in, the meal provided by Jesus Christ. The last supper our Lord had before his death is a foretaste of the meal that is to come in the Kingdom that is coming. He who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Word made flesh has brought God’s plan of salvation to fruition. In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. [John 1.1] That word IS trustworthy and true. Our God is trustworthy and true. “It will be said on that day, ‘This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’” [Isaiah 25.9]

Through The Too Many Miles And Too Little Smiles

It's been a while since a real post. I am enjoying my vicar-ing here in the Garden. It is keeping me busy. I've avoided any real comments on the 800 lb. gorilla in the ELCA, because I would have to force myself to be pastoral. And when posting here, I don't feel like forcing myself to do that.

I will avoid name calling and leave that to those who favor Law over Gospel, fear over love.

But I'm not talking about that. :D

Here's an old song about old friends.



Harry Chapin - Taxi

It Will Burn Lord, But I Am Ready.

Another great devotional from Pray Now. (this devotional)

Elemental - Fire

The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along
the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so they might travel
by day and by night. Exodus13.21

Prayer

It will burn, child.
Swift and sharp
as the slice of shimmering steel.

It will burn, child.
Scorching and shocking
as words spat in heated haste.

It will burn, child.
Stinging and scabbing
as fresh scars smart with rage.

And so we learn, Lord, to fear the fire
should it hurt and harm us;
damage and deny us;
wound and waste us.

Then you come, guiding God,
shimmering and flickering and shouting
Yes, child, it will burn, but see me.
Yes, child, it will burn, but follow me.
Yes, child, it will burn, but it is for you.

Bring me bare foot, Lord,
to feel your heat sear and seal my soul.
Lead me with a love that crackles with life,
that demands and dances;
pains and purifies;
brings newness from the scorched earth
of my lukewarm life.

It will burn, Lord.
But I am ready.

Blessing

Come, Lord with flaming fearlessness,
Come, Lord, with blazing boldness.
Come, Lord, to burnish and bless
lives dulled, hopes doused and hearts grown cold.
Come to comfort and cleanse
that we might be ready to serve you once again
in the way and through the love of Christ Jesus. AMEN

Are You Freakin' Nuts?

So I' m checking my Facebook account, and see a message from my good friend (& future Bishop) Faithful Yet Changing who has a message to pray for Glen Beck. And my response is the title of this post, "Are You Freakin' Nuts??" Politically, I score just left of center, but that is because I hold a couple of far right positions which balance out some of my far left positions. But in the past year or so, I have found myself leaning farther and farther left, mostly in response to the morons (and I apologize to all of the real morons for lumping them in with this group) at Fixed Noise, like Beck, O'Riley & Hannity. The venom they spout comes from either ignoring facts or not being able to understand them or being so deluded that they actually believe the crap they spread.

I only clicked on the link because it is Future Bishop Faithful Yet Changing's birthday, and I was hoping this was going to be a joke, kind of like being Rick rolled. But it wasn't. It was an honest attempt to change his mind on the need for health care reform. There is a whole series of these going to several right wing (lack of) ideologues and opinion pushers. I doubt they will work; but never underestimate the power of shame.

Because it hit me. We, as Christians, are called not only to pray for those we love and those who love us, but also for those whom we don't love, and who do not love us. And while I do not like Glen Beck and the rest of his den of vipers and the venom they spew, I need to learn to love them and pray for them. So I will pray for them, and learn to love them. And I ask you to pray for them as well.

And, like the goalie from Slapshot said, I go to the box by myself for two minutes and I feel shame.

All Made Up And Nowhere To Go

Police - So Lonely

The Gift of Taking Up Your Cross

My sermon notes from September 13th.

This lesson from Mark’s Gospel [Mark 8.27-38] literally changed my life.
Three years ago, I was struggling with a bunch of decisions, one that really came down to one decision. I was wondering if I was being called to leave my home, family and friends in Saginaw, Michigan and pursue the ministry. I had a number of people from my church tell me I should go into the ministry. They saw gifts and talents in me that I did not see, and some that I still do not see in myself. Because of their insistence, I felt I owed it to them to look into the process of candidacy with the ELCA and attending seminary. I was looking into the process so I could find that roadblock and report back to them and say, “You know, I would follow that call, but I can’t because of _insert reason here_. But I could not find that reason. In fact, the more I looked into it, the more it felt like the right thing to do. At the same time, the job that I enjoyed was not as enjoyable as it once was. The budget had been cut and I was called on to do the same programs but with a lot fewer resources. I was conflicted. Do I follow what I think I am being drawn toward, or do I stay and struggle with my job and my family? Am I just looking for a way out? All of these thoughts were weighing on me as I went to church one Sunday and sat in the pew. I really wasn’t paying attention; I was praying for God to give me guidance, direction, a sign. Then I stood for the reading of the Gospel, and Pastor Paulette read, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” My decision was made. Eleven months later, I was taking classes at the Seminary in Gettysburg. Three years later, I am here.
Our church uses a three-year lectionary to determine the lessons for each Sunday. A global committee of churches created the Revised Common Lectionary 26 years ago. Each of the three years is focused primarily on one Gospel, with the Gospel of John broken up and scattered through each of the years. We are in year B, Mark’s year, and at the beginning of Advent we start year C, which will focus on Luke’s Gospel. So while, the specific passage that gave me the motivation to start my pursuit of the ministry comes around this time every three years, Christ’s call to take up our cross and follow him appears in Matthew’s and Luke’s Gospels, and the cost of that discipleship, to save one’s life you must first lose it, appears in all four Gospels. So any message that all four writers of the Gospels included must be really important.
I have always equated taking up your cross with the saying of having a cross to bear. Bearing your cross always seemed to be a burden, a suffering you had to endure. For Christ is was. I’m sure we have seen various movies or TV shows depicting the life of Christ. I want you to think about one of the movies you have seen, and re-watch it in your mind. In those, we usually see him carrying his cross on his way to Calvary. Depending on which depiction you may be thinking of, that image may be more or less graphic. Can you see Jesus struggling with the heavy wooden cross, trying to drag it through the streets of Jerusalem after having been beaten and tortured? Several times along the way, Jesus falls, the weight of the cross is too heavy for him to bear, and he collapses. The weight of the cross is too heavy. When he reaches the top of Calvary, and he is nailed to that cross, it takes a squad of Roman soldiers to lift that heavy cross into an upright position. That cross was heavy, and to take it up, Christ denied himself. On that cross, for our sake, to save our lives, he lost his. That cross was heavy, because it was weighed down with all of our transgressions and sins. It was burdened with our faults and failings.
Jesus knew what he had to do. He explained it to his disciples. “Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” He knew the great suffering was on our account. He knew the rejection was not just by the elders, priests and scribes, but also by his own disciples, and his followers, even by us. We know of Jesus’ divine nature, and that through him we are forgiven and saved. But we, like Peter, have set our minds “not on divine things but on human things.” When we focus on what we want, we want our will to be done, not God’s will. We put things between God and ourselves, and violate the first and greatest commandment. We are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” [Mark 12.30] Anything that gets in the way of that is “setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” When we want our will to be done, and not what is God’s will, we put our mind on human things. At the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer, we ask that “Thy will be done.” That is setting our mind on divine things. We need to deny what keeps us from being closer to God. We should do what would be pleasing to God in the circumstances of our lives.
People may wonder, why would I follow Christ? After all, he just told the disciples that he is going to his death. Now, he wants them, and me to follow him. Does Jesus want me to die?? I want to let you in on a secret. You are going to die. We all are. No one gets out of this world alive. If you are thinking that way, that Jesus wants me to follow him to death, you missed out on part of what he said. But that’s all right, so did Peter and the disciples.
“Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed.” [Mark 8.31] But that’s not where the story ends. Yes, Jesus will be rejected and suffer, and die. ” We are going to die any way, by following Christ, that death may involve more suffering and be more painful. Yet, if the story ended there, the words and deeds of a great teacher and philosopher would be valued, and would continue down through time to us today. But that’s not all of what Jesus told them, “and after three days rise again.” They focused on the suffering and death, and not on the resurrection. But by following Christ, death is not the final part of the story. God gave us God’s only begotten son, who, for our salvation, came down from heaven and was made man. Jesus Christ, the God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, became a human being because by being joined in human flesh with us he was able to bring salvation from God to us. Jesus was joined to a life like ours, a life of pain, suffering, loss and death. But we are also joined into a life like his. A mortal life that will end in death, but before that, a life of service, of helping, caring and loving others, and an eternal life with forgiveness and salvation and without pain. Why would we want to follow Jesus, especially to the cross? Because it is in his death on the cross, our lives were saved, forever and ever. We should never be ashamed of him and his words because in them we have been given the gift of eternal life.
So for Jesus, taking up his cross was a horrible burden, but one he did out of love for us. For us, taking up our cross should be a joy; one we do out of love for him. Now when I say we take up our cross, I am not saying we are following him to his death. We have already met him there. When we are baptized, the pastor says these words, or ones similar to them: “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.” We meet Christ at the foot of the cross, where he has bared the burden of our sins, transgressions and iniquities. We meet Christ at the foot of the cross, where we have been forgiven for those sins, transgressions and iniquities. We meet Christ at the foot of the cross, where we are joined in a death with him, we may have life eternal through him. We do not need to bear our cross up to Calvary; Christ has done that already. We need to bear our cross, the cross of our baptism, the cross of our calling into the world. We need to take that cross into the world and follow him. Follow his teachings, his example, his ministry and his love and take them into the world. You don’t have to do as I did and go to the seminary, unless that’s where you feel called, but you can follow Christ with the cross of baptism and share your life with the world. When we take this cross into the world and follow Christ, it is a gift, not a burden. A gift that we have been freely given and not a gift we have earned. We can take this gift, and share it with our family, friends, community and the world.
Now, I would like to have you gather into groups of two or three, turn to each other and using your thumb or forefinger, make the sign of the cross on each other’s forehead and say, “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”

Stay Safe Tonight ... Because You Can Only Take So Much

Eight years after, and I still remember
.... hearing the news in my office.
.... watching the events in the lounge.
.... going to practice and going through the motions.
.... going home to really watch what had happened.
.... crying myself to sleep.


U2 - Peace On Earth/Walk On from the Tribute to Heroes broadcast

My Take On That Whole Faith & Works Thing From James

This is my manuscript I worked from for last Sunday's (September 6) sermon. As usual, I went off on a bit of a tangent. The Gospel lesson was Mark 7.24-37, and the Second Lesson was James 2:1-17.

Today’s Gospel lesson picks up where last week’s has left off; Jesus was arguing with the Pharisees and scribes about cleanliness. Jesus told them “(T)here is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. … All … evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” [Mark 7.15, 23]
After that argument, he leaves and heads northwest, away from the Galilean Sea to the coastal area of Tyre. This is not just a short trip to a nearby town; it is over a thirty-mile walk across the mountains. As I have found out in my month here, getting over the mountains is not an easy task, and I am driving. Jesus was going away from where he had been doing his ministry into an area not populated by many Jews. Tyre was more of a Greek community. He may have been going there to get away from the pressures of his ministry. He wanted to be left alone. He finds a house and did not want to be noticed. One of my classmates who I talked to about this week’s lessons called this Jesus’ Calgon moment, “Calgon, take me away!” But it did not work.
It must be like the busy executive who has been working long hours on a project takes off to a cabin by a lake, but then the cell phone goes off. Or after a long hard day’s work, you go off to your quiet spot, to read a book watch TV or just relax, and someone comes in wanting your attention or help. It is no surprise that Jesus barks at her. He wants to be left alone, and on top of it, she is not a Jew. She is Syrophenician. According to the First Century historian Josephus, the Phenicians were bitter enemies of the Jews. She is not one of the “Chosen People.” But even on the coast of the Mediterranean, even among the Greeks, Syrophencians and other Gentiles, the details of Jesus’ power has spread. So this woman comes, desperate to save her little daughter. She seeks out this man, who is not of her people and not of the high standing classes. She seeks out this stranger of whom she has heard stories that he can perform miracles. She seeks out a man who is the last chance she has to save her daughter.
But Jesus, not wanting to be disturbed, rejects her and calls her a dog. This statement by Jesus is one of the most challenging of his statements. Our savior, the Messiah, calls her (and all Gentiles) dogs, and that it is not right to take him away from the children, the chosen ones of Israel. It is hard to hear words that harsh and hurtful come from the Prince of Peace and the Lord of Love. But look closely at what he says. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." [Mark 7.27] He is not rejecting her begging for help; he is setting up an order to his ministry. First, he will feed the children, the chosen of Israel. If Jesus was only going to be the Messiah for Israel, then why would he go anywhere outside of Israel, especially a community several days journey across the mountains? If He was only coming to those already called by God, why go to Tyre? If he was going to minister only to those who were clean, why leave the synagogues?
But this woman shows her resolution and her faith in Jesus. She isn’t asking to be given the children’s food; she isn’t asking for a seat at the table, she is just looking for the scraps and crumbs that fall from the table. Because of the persistence of her faith, Jesus does as she wished, and banishes the demon from her daughter.
But let’s look again at what Jesus said to the woman, this time through the culture of the times. “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." First, being invited to a meal in Jesus’ time was a very big deal. It was a sign of inclusion. Inviting someone to dine in your house, at your table, was a sign of acceptance. That is why the Pharisees and scribes had so many problems with Jesus. He dined with the worst people in society, the poor, the unclean, the outcast and the sinners. By having a meal with them, Jesus was accepting them, just as they were, into his family. Also, in those times in the Ancient Near East, a dog was not a man’s best friend. Most dogs lived in wild packs that foraged for food. Some families would keep dogs as protectors and pets. The children fed these dogs, from the crumbs from their plates. The children back then did, as children still do today, feed the dogs with food from their plate. Now if the children are Israel, the chosen of God, and the dogs are Gentiles, what does that mean? God came first to Israel and then, through the works of Israel, to the rest of the world.
She has not merited the crumbs of grace from Jesus because of her religion; she is not a Jews. She has not merited the crumbs of grace from Christ because of her piety and good actions; we know nothing of what she has done. She has merited the crumbs of grace from God because of her faith, and the words she says to Jesus showing she believes he is the only hope for her daughter.
In last week’s Gospel, the debate with the Pharisees and scribes was over following the Law and its relationship to God. The Pharisees taught that only by following the Law would one be able to be in a right relationship with God. When they accused Jesus of ignoring and rejecting the Law because his disciples did not wash their hands before they ate, Jesus rejected their claim. “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” [Mark 7.8] Because they are focused on living by the letter of the Law, they have lost the love that is at the center of the spirit of the Law. He tells them they have made “void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on.” [Mark 7.13]
James makes the same point in the passage we heard from his letter today when he talks about the way we show hospitality toward people. The person who is dressed well will be treated better than the one in rags, even though the one in rags needs our attention more. James states “Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?“ [James 2.5] One of my professors at the Seminary has said Jesus came to the “lost, last, least, little and lifeless.” Whenever Jesus does something for someone, when he heals, welcomes, cures or saves them, they fall into one of those categories. These are the people James is calling upon us to serve, because these people are our neighbors as well. Refusing to do so is showing partiality. James says that fulfilling the Law is an all or nothing proposition. You need a perfect score. Fulfilling 99.99% means you have failed in 0.01%. In a pass or fail environment, we have all failed. We cannot, despite our best efforts and intentions, fulfill the Law. We will, and do, sin. But Christ, on the cross, has paid for our failings. Our sins have been forgiven, but not because of what we have done and not by our works and efforts to fulfill the Law. Our sins have been forgiven because of the one who fulfilled the Law by his faithfulness, even to a painful death on the cross.
The works James calls us to do are a sign, or response, to our faith in our savior, Jesus Christ, and are not an attempt to earn our salvation. This difference is at the core of the dispute Martin Luther had with the Roman Catholic church, and the issue he had with James’ letter. The Roman church believed by the good works we do, the penance for our sins, we could atone for our transgressions and merit our salvation. This passage in James is at the heart of their reasoning. “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? … So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” [James 2.14, 17] We believe that by his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has caused our sins to be wiped clean. Further, there is nothing we can do that can atone for our sins. Once a sin has been committed, it is there forever. All of the good we do cannot remove that stain against God. Only the blood of the Lamb of God can remove that mark.
But just because we cannot earn salvation, since it has already been earned for us on the cross at Calvary, does not mean we do not have work to do. Our good works, toward our loved ones, toward our neighbor, and toward the lost, last, least, little and lifeless are a response to our faith. They come from our faith. They are a reaction to our faith. In our high school physics classes, we heard Newton’s Third Law, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” It is similar to faith. For the action of the gift of faith being given into us by the Holy Spirit, we have an opposite reaction coming from us; those are our good works towards others. It has been said works are the fruit of the tree of faith. They are a response to our salvation, not a cause of it. What if now, in our times the children are Christians, the church is the body of Christ, and the dogs are lost, last, least, little and lifeless, what does that mean? God has come to us and given us the gift of grace and salvation and then, through the works of the body of Christ, through us, to the rest of the world.
We are called to do works of faith to the lost, last, least, little and lifeless. The places where we need to go and bring the Good News of Jesus Christ are often the places to which we least want to go. The people to whom we need to share the Gospel with are often the people with whom we may not want to interact. But when we shy away from those places and people, we, as James tells us, “show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.” [James 2.9] We must be welcoming to the rich and the poor. We must reach out to the clean and unclean. We must help the friend and the foe. It is not for our salvation, but is that we may share the message of salvation with others, not just by proclaiming our faith on our lips, but so we can proclaim our faith with our hands, our hearts and our lives. We must do God’s work with our hands. AMEN.

If You Want To Read Something Interesting ...

Please check out a new blog by one of my classmates who is also on internship, Faithful Yet Changing.

Out Of The Lines Sermonizing

This is the outline from which I worked to deliver my August 16th Sermon. Please excuse the partial sentances and phrases, but this was my script for the day. The Gospel was John 6.51-58.

I enjoy watching TV, especially High Definition TV, because you can see so much more. I also enjoy detective shows and mysteries.
When I started at LTSG, went for 2 weeks of Summer Greek.
Learn about the original language the New Testament was written in.
Also learn to look at the little details
Realize each version of the Bible has “translator choices”
Make the Bible easily read or try and include all of the nuances of original language
Discover some subtle differences
It’s like seeing TV in high def for the first time and playing CSI detective
Today’s Gospel lesson continues what is known as Jesus’ “Bread discourse”
Entire chapter goes from the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on water through Jesus saying he is the bread from heaven, the bread of eternal life into today’s lesson where Jesus tells the disciples and the crowd following him that in order to have eternal life they will have to eat his flesh and drink his blood
Proves to be a “deal breaker” for several following Jesus, and was a point of contention for the Apostles,
But that’s next week lesson
Much of the scholarship on this passage focuses on it’s Eucharistic overtones
This is as close to describing communion as John comes
There is no Last Supper in John’s Gospel /Before he is arrested Jesus washes the feet of the disciples
There is a connection between this text and communion
Post-Reformation, some churches use this lesson (all of John 6) as the Gospel when they have Communion
But there is a detachment, while Jesus equates his flesh (never using the word “body”) to bread, there is no connection between his blood and wine (wine is never mentioned)
We make the connection because of the other 3 Gospels
Also, bread is a metaphor for all of the things that sustain us
In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for our daily bread
But I want to share some what I have discovered in reviewing this lesson & several commentaries on the lesson
First, there is a shift in how Jesus refers to himself through these 8 verses
Living bread (bread that is alive) my flesh bread that brings life
This is where he loses the crowd “eat my flesh”
Whenever a crowd doubts/ disbelieves Jesus, John refers to them as Jews
Jesus then goes a step further “drink my blood”
We get the connection to communion because we have heard this reference in church
Also read it in Matthew, Mark and John
But what if we only had John’s Gospel?
We would have nothing to connect blood to wine
Each Gospel is unique in its own way and should be looked at on its own, not reading in what happens in others
Let John interpret John
For John, it is not enough for you to see a sign (not a miracle/John doesn’t have miracles)
Must also understand the reason behind the sign
This discourse explains the two signs (feeding & walking on water)
How would we understand what Jesus is saying?
Harkens back to the beginning of John’s Gospel (1.14) where “the Word became flesh, and lived among us.”
John’s readers/listeners would pick this up, but the crowd (Jews) would not understand
What does flesh & blood mean to John and his audience?
In Jewish culture of the time, flesh & blood emphasize the entire person, their lives and their character
Jesus also raises the stakes by saying if you do not eat his flesh and drink his blood you have no life in you (6.53)
Earlier in today’s lesson (6.51) Jesus said, “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.”
Earlier in this chapter (v40 & 47) eternal life comes to those who believe
What does “have no life in you” mean?
Is it eternal life? Or life itself?
Does Jesus mean that our belief equates, or must lead to, our eating his flesh?
Remember back to John 1 “All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life,* and the life was the light of all people.”
But Jesus says eating his flesh/drinking his blood will provide eternal life and resurrection on the last day because he is the TRUE food and drink (V 54 &55)
This equates eating his flesh with believing which leads to life eternal
To further complicate things, there is a word change in the Greek in v54
The word translated as “eat” there is not the same word used elsewhere, (trogo) it is better translated as “Gnaw”
How would it change your perception if Jesus said to have eternal life you must gnaw on my flesh?
Jesus explains what happens when someone eats and drinks of him
“They abide in me and I in them” (v 56)
This is a special intermingling of the divine with the human
Just as when we eat something, it becomes a part of us/ You are what you eat
More than that, we abide in Christ
When we ingest Jesus into us, when we accept Jesus into our lives
Not only is he in us, be more so (because it is listed first in the position of emphasis) we abide in Jesus.
This occurs because Jesus is the true food and drink, the source of all life
What does all of this mean?
We find ourselves drawn to the central act of Christian worship, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper
To eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus is an intentional act by which you partake in the life of Jesus Christ.
You invite Jesus into you, make Him a part of you and your life
You have Jesus abide in you
To eat his flesh and drink his blood you accept Jesus Christ into you and your life
And you do not just snack on his life and message
You gnaw on it, like a dog gnaws on a bone
Trying to suck every last bit of marrow from inside
Working to drain it of the last bit of taste and flavor
Growling & bearing your teeth at anyone would try to take it from you
Eating and drink the body and blood of Jesus is a metaphor for believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
That He has come down from heaven to be the salvation for humanity
It is in communion with God through Christ that we attain to the full stature of our humanity.
Not just Holy Communion, but the communion of relationship
For John, the Eucharist is a participating in the life of Christ and not a remembrance of his suffering and death
It is a celebration of life
The gift of life through Christ, the Word made flesh
The gift of life eternal through Christ, whose flesh is living bread
It is not a remembrance, but a union
Christ feeds us. Christ dwells in us, and we dwell in him
We are made in the image of God. Christ is the image of the invisible God. In Jesus we see both God as he is, and us as we are meant to be.
We find God revealed in the person of Jesus and find Jesus revealed to be the source of life and salvation
Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross we are drawn into that right relationship which we should enjoy with God.
We are made one with Christ through our part in the Church, his body.
Later in John’s Gospel, Christ says “Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.
We bear fruit in response to God drawing us to Him, and Christ abiding in us.
In Communion (both the Sacrament and relationship) we live in him and he lives in us.
Because of that, we will live forever in the presence and in communion with God.