Do Whatever He Tells You
I spent part of this week in Myrtle Beach with my mother. She has been visiting me here in the Garden since before Thanksgiving. I promised her that if she came down here, she would be out of the cold and snow. Boy, did I screw that one up. So we went to Myrtle Beach, and while it was cold for them, it was a great respite for us.
This is a combination of different versions of the sermon I gave today (January 17). It was not the sermon I thought I would give when we headed to Myrtle Beach. I was mentally writing a sermon on gifts. That shows up in here. I thought about the greatness of the proclamation of the Isaiah text. That shows up in here. I decided against preaching about the bossiness of the mother of Jesus, at least while my mom was in attendance. But it shows up in here. I don't know what I think of this sermon. I'm conflicted with faith in the face of the death in Haiti. That shows up big time in here.
‘You save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God!’ [Psalm 36.6-7]
In this week, where the devastation from Haiti is so heartbreaking, it feels strange to say those words. In a tiny island country, it is estimated that between 45,000 and 50,000 people are dead. This death and destruction and devastation was not because of the severity of the earthquake. An earthquake of almost the same magnitude hit the San Francisco-Oakland-Bay Area in 1989. The World Series Earthquake, which hit while teams from San Francisco and Oakland were playing in the World Series, was a 7.1 magnitude quake. Sixty-three people died, 37 hundred were injured and several thousands were temporarily homeless. A similar earthquake, in a similarly populated area, but this time in a poor, underdeveloped country has a death toll greater by what could be a thousand fold. This is a natural disaster compounded and made horrific by the poverty of the country.
Haiti has long been the recipient of humanitarian need and assistance. One of my classmates, one of my best friends, spent two weeks there this summer, helping to teach children. She came back unable to adequately explain the poverty and conditions she encountered there. Earlier this month, the ELCA seminaries all offered J-Term classes, a two or three week period where to you take one intensive course. One course, offered by Trinity Seminary in Columbus, but open to all students was an immersion experience in Haiti. About 25 seminary students, and a few family members, went to Haiti, to learn and to serve. They were there when the earthquake struck. Ben Larson, a 25-year-old senior at Wartburg Seminary, was killed when the building he was staying in collapsed during the earthquake. His wife and cousin who were staying in the same building were able to escape the collapsed building safely. It appears all other students and staff who were in Haiti were uninjured. You have heard of the death, the devastation and the destruction.
On our drive back from Myrtle Beach, we listened to news coverage over the radio. A reporter broke down as he was describing families bringing the injured to hospitals or where they thought doctors were and just dropping their children, their spouses, their loved ones off, trusting they would be taken care of. Another reporter described people going to the city morgue. The bodies are brought to the morgue by front loaders, and dropped where they find room. The dead fill the morgue and wrap around the building like people queued up for a sale. Relatives search amongst the dead, hoping to find a loved one, often carrying a newly purchased casket. They hope to find their loved ones, hope to give them a burial, rather than having their remains commended to a mass grave. Other families, realizing they cannot offer that service to the victims are simply dragging the bodies of the dead into the street, away from the living and what little life they have left. Aid and support are trying to get to Haiti, but there is only one airport, and the port was damaged by the quake. Planes bound for Port-au-Prince enter a holding pattern virtually as soon as they take off from Florida or get near the island. Relief is being choked by not being able to get into Haiti and then not being able to get out of the airport and through the blocked and broken roads to get to those who are in desperate need.
‘You save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! … We feast upon the abundance of your house.’ [Psalm 36.6-7, 8]
At the celebration after the wedding in Cana that Jesus attended with his mother and his disciples, there was a need. It was a need for wine to continue the celebration. Had people known that the wine had run out, shame and embarrassment would have come to the groom and his family. But Jesus, with his mother’s cajoling, intervened, turning between 120 and 180 gallons of water into the finest wine. Throughout the four Gospels, when Jesus reacts, he creates abundance. When people are healed, when people are set free of demons, they do not just go back to their lives. They proclaim the greatness of Jesus, often despite his telling them not to do so. Jesus heals, cures and saves, but often does so in anonymity, wanting to continue his ministry. But their salvation has come in abundance.
That is God’s way, to provide blessings in unexpected and copious ways. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul is admonishing them over disputes they are having over the various gifts they have received through the Holy Spirit. The Corinthians were holding in high regard those people who were able to speak in tongues. They felt this was the highest gift that one could receive; to be able to speak in an alien language. One thing I find strange was that they did not hold the ability to understand those speeches and utterances in a high regard. Prophecy, healing, working of miracles were also not as highly regarded as the gift to speak in tongues. Gifts and abilities that Jesus had demonstrated, gifts and abilities that have been recorded as being done by several of those chosen by God were not held in as high esteem as the ability to speak in tongues.
I often wonder about my own gifts for ministry. When I started this journey, it was not because I felt I had something special or unique to offer the church. It was because some of the nice little old ladies of my home church saw something in me, and told me I should go to a seminary. As I thought and prayed about it, and searched for a reason to tell them I could not, I saw some things I did could prove useful in serving the church. When I got to the Gettysburg Seminary and met my classmates, I was in awe of their gifts and how strongly they held their call. In my time there, and my time here, I have become more comfortable with gifts that I have. I can see how I can serve the church. I see some of my gifts and how they apply to ministry. I hear of other gifts people see in me, that I do not see in myself, and trust what they see will help me to serve God and the people entrusted to me.
But I realize that all of those gifts; mine, my classmates, yours, everyone’s, come from the Holy Spirit. These gifts are given to us by God to serve God and our fellow people. We cannot use these gifts without the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. ‘All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.’ [1 Corinthians 12.11] God works in and through each of us in different ways. We can all do different things in response to the destruction we see in our lives, whether it is within ourselves, our homes or on television, such as in Haiti. One gift, given to us all is the gift of prayer. We can always talk to our Lord, asking and interceding on our own behalf or on behalf of others. We can ask for guidance and protection. We can ask for forgiveness and mercy. We can ask for help and hope.
One gift I hope to develop is described in our reading from Isaiah. Scholars debate over this passage, whether the words are to be attributed to God speaking to the Prophet Isaiah, or Isaiah speaking to God. If it is God who is speaking, it is a promise that God will redeem Israel. God is promising to ‘not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’ [Isaiah 62.1] God will be active in the lives of the Chosen people, be they Israel or the followers of Christ or the world as a whole.
If it is the prophet speaking, he is testifying to how awesome, merciful and great God is. He will continue to proclaim God’s mercy and faithfulness. He will proclaim that ‘the nations shall see your vindication.’ [Isaiah 62.2] On the Day of Judgment, we will be justified, not by our works or our faith, but because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who was faithful to God. He was faithful even unto death, a humiliating death on a cross. ‘You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.’ [Isaiah 62.2] Our sins will be forgiven. We will no longer be called “liar,” “thief,” “cheater,” “betrayer,” or any other name. But we will be called “beloved” and “child of God” and other names given to us by God. ‘You shall no more be termed Forsaken.’ [Isaiah 62.4] We will no longer feel pain or sorrow, hurt or loss. But we will be in the presence of God and amongst the communion of saints who have gone before us and will come after us to live in the love of our Lord. ‘So shall your God rejoice over you.’ [Isaiah 62.5]
God will redeem those who belong to God. That is the message from Isaiah, whether it is God promising to do it or if it is the prophet proclaiming it. I lean towards reading this as the prophet’s proclamation, and I hope that is a gift that I can use in my ministry, both now and in the future. I want to continually proclaim God’s mercy and promise of salvation. For Zion’s sake, for God’s sake and for our sake, ‘I will not keep silent, and … I will not rest.’ [Isaiah 62.1] I want to proclaim in words and deeds how great God’s love and compassion is.
The proclamation from Isaiah applies to the people of Haiti, and to us. It is not in this life that we shall be saved. It is not now when we shall fully feel the love of God. But it is in the world that is to come; the world revealed in the resurrection, when Christ's time has come, that we shall no longer be termed forsaken. It is in the life given to us by His dying that we shall be vindicated. But until that day, we live in a fallen and flawed world, filled with broken and battered people, surrounded by sin and suffering.
Why did the devastation in Haiti occur? In response to the great tsunami that struck Asia in 2004, theologian David Bentley Hart wrote, “we are to be guided by the full character of what is revealed of God in Christ. For, after all, if it is from Christ that we are to learn how God relates himself to sin, suffering, evil, and death, it would seem that he provides us little evidence of anything other than a regal, relentless, and miraculous enmity: sin he forgives, suffering he heals, evil he casts out, and death he conquers. And absolutely nowhere does Christ act as if any of these things are part of the eternal work or purposes of God.”
Why did the devastation in Haiti occur? I don’t know. I do not believe it was God’s will. I struggle to reconcile the concept of a God who arbitrarily kills tens of thousands who are struggling in poverty with the Bible’s picture of a caring, compassionate and merciful God. But I firmly and devoutly believe that God’s will is being done through our response to the destruction and death. The Apostle Paul had the audacity, just years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus to refer to the struggling formative church as the “Body of Christ.” If this is the case, we need to act as Christ would, out of love and providing in abundance.
We need to use all of the gifts given to us by God, both the spiritual and physical gifts we have. We need to use these gifts each and every day. If you have helped the Haitian relief efforts financially, God bless you. If you want to do so, I have some information on some ways you can. If you have been praying for the people of Haiti and those who are going there to tend to them, God bless you. If you have been praying for the people of this area and of your family, God bless you. If you have been doing God’s work in any of a hundred of thousands of ways, God bless you. You may have even been doing God’s work without realizing that you were so doing. That is the way of the Holy Spirit. ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’ [1 Corinthians 12. 4-7]
There are a multitude of things we can do each and every day when we are faced with the brokenness of this world and the brokenness of the people in the world. I ask all of you to act prayerfully for the common good. The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. But since we are the Body of Christ, we need to act and react under his command. We should, as his mother said, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ [John 2.5]
This is a combination of different versions of the sermon I gave today (January 17). It was not the sermon I thought I would give when we headed to Myrtle Beach. I was mentally writing a sermon on gifts. That shows up in here. I thought about the greatness of the proclamation of the Isaiah text. That shows up in here. I decided against preaching about the bossiness of the mother of Jesus, at least while my mom was in attendance. But it shows up in here. I don't know what I think of this sermon. I'm conflicted with faith in the face of the death in Haiti. That shows up big time in here.
‘You save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God!’ [Psalm 36.6-7]
In this week, where the devastation from Haiti is so heartbreaking, it feels strange to say those words. In a tiny island country, it is estimated that between 45,000 and 50,000 people are dead. This death and destruction and devastation was not because of the severity of the earthquake. An earthquake of almost the same magnitude hit the San Francisco-Oakland-Bay Area in 1989. The World Series Earthquake, which hit while teams from San Francisco and Oakland were playing in the World Series, was a 7.1 magnitude quake. Sixty-three people died, 37 hundred were injured and several thousands were temporarily homeless. A similar earthquake, in a similarly populated area, but this time in a poor, underdeveloped country has a death toll greater by what could be a thousand fold. This is a natural disaster compounded and made horrific by the poverty of the country.
Haiti has long been the recipient of humanitarian need and assistance. One of my classmates, one of my best friends, spent two weeks there this summer, helping to teach children. She came back unable to adequately explain the poverty and conditions she encountered there. Earlier this month, the ELCA seminaries all offered J-Term classes, a two or three week period where to you take one intensive course. One course, offered by Trinity Seminary in Columbus, but open to all students was an immersion experience in Haiti. About 25 seminary students, and a few family members, went to Haiti, to learn and to serve. They were there when the earthquake struck. Ben Larson, a 25-year-old senior at Wartburg Seminary, was killed when the building he was staying in collapsed during the earthquake. His wife and cousin who were staying in the same building were able to escape the collapsed building safely. It appears all other students and staff who were in Haiti were uninjured. You have heard of the death, the devastation and the destruction.
On our drive back from Myrtle Beach, we listened to news coverage over the radio. A reporter broke down as he was describing families bringing the injured to hospitals or where they thought doctors were and just dropping their children, their spouses, their loved ones off, trusting they would be taken care of. Another reporter described people going to the city morgue. The bodies are brought to the morgue by front loaders, and dropped where they find room. The dead fill the morgue and wrap around the building like people queued up for a sale. Relatives search amongst the dead, hoping to find a loved one, often carrying a newly purchased casket. They hope to find their loved ones, hope to give them a burial, rather than having their remains commended to a mass grave. Other families, realizing they cannot offer that service to the victims are simply dragging the bodies of the dead into the street, away from the living and what little life they have left. Aid and support are trying to get to Haiti, but there is only one airport, and the port was damaged by the quake. Planes bound for Port-au-Prince enter a holding pattern virtually as soon as they take off from Florida or get near the island. Relief is being choked by not being able to get into Haiti and then not being able to get out of the airport and through the blocked and broken roads to get to those who are in desperate need.
‘You save humans and animals alike, O Lord. How precious is your steadfast love, O God! … We feast upon the abundance of your house.’ [Psalm 36.6-7, 8]
At the celebration after the wedding in Cana that Jesus attended with his mother and his disciples, there was a need. It was a need for wine to continue the celebration. Had people known that the wine had run out, shame and embarrassment would have come to the groom and his family. But Jesus, with his mother’s cajoling, intervened, turning between 120 and 180 gallons of water into the finest wine. Throughout the four Gospels, when Jesus reacts, he creates abundance. When people are healed, when people are set free of demons, they do not just go back to their lives. They proclaim the greatness of Jesus, often despite his telling them not to do so. Jesus heals, cures and saves, but often does so in anonymity, wanting to continue his ministry. But their salvation has come in abundance.
That is God’s way, to provide blessings in unexpected and copious ways. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul is admonishing them over disputes they are having over the various gifts they have received through the Holy Spirit. The Corinthians were holding in high regard those people who were able to speak in tongues. They felt this was the highest gift that one could receive; to be able to speak in an alien language. One thing I find strange was that they did not hold the ability to understand those speeches and utterances in a high regard. Prophecy, healing, working of miracles were also not as highly regarded as the gift to speak in tongues. Gifts and abilities that Jesus had demonstrated, gifts and abilities that have been recorded as being done by several of those chosen by God were not held in as high esteem as the ability to speak in tongues.
I often wonder about my own gifts for ministry. When I started this journey, it was not because I felt I had something special or unique to offer the church. It was because some of the nice little old ladies of my home church saw something in me, and told me I should go to a seminary. As I thought and prayed about it, and searched for a reason to tell them I could not, I saw some things I did could prove useful in serving the church. When I got to the Gettysburg Seminary and met my classmates, I was in awe of their gifts and how strongly they held their call. In my time there, and my time here, I have become more comfortable with gifts that I have. I can see how I can serve the church. I see some of my gifts and how they apply to ministry. I hear of other gifts people see in me, that I do not see in myself, and trust what they see will help me to serve God and the people entrusted to me.
But I realize that all of those gifts; mine, my classmates, yours, everyone’s, come from the Holy Spirit. These gifts are given to us by God to serve God and our fellow people. We cannot use these gifts without the direction and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. ‘All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.’ [1 Corinthians 12.11] God works in and through each of us in different ways. We can all do different things in response to the destruction we see in our lives, whether it is within ourselves, our homes or on television, such as in Haiti. One gift, given to us all is the gift of prayer. We can always talk to our Lord, asking and interceding on our own behalf or on behalf of others. We can ask for guidance and protection. We can ask for forgiveness and mercy. We can ask for help and hope.
One gift I hope to develop is described in our reading from Isaiah. Scholars debate over this passage, whether the words are to be attributed to God speaking to the Prophet Isaiah, or Isaiah speaking to God. If it is God who is speaking, it is a promise that God will redeem Israel. God is promising to ‘not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest.’ [Isaiah 62.1] God will be active in the lives of the Chosen people, be they Israel or the followers of Christ or the world as a whole.
If it is the prophet speaking, he is testifying to how awesome, merciful and great God is. He will continue to proclaim God’s mercy and faithfulness. He will proclaim that ‘the nations shall see your vindication.’ [Isaiah 62.2] On the Day of Judgment, we will be justified, not by our works or our faith, but because of the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, who was faithful to God. He was faithful even unto death, a humiliating death on a cross. ‘You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.’ [Isaiah 62.2] Our sins will be forgiven. We will no longer be called “liar,” “thief,” “cheater,” “betrayer,” or any other name. But we will be called “beloved” and “child of God” and other names given to us by God. ‘You shall no more be termed Forsaken.’ [Isaiah 62.4] We will no longer feel pain or sorrow, hurt or loss. But we will be in the presence of God and amongst the communion of saints who have gone before us and will come after us to live in the love of our Lord. ‘So shall your God rejoice over you.’ [Isaiah 62.5]
God will redeem those who belong to God. That is the message from Isaiah, whether it is God promising to do it or if it is the prophet proclaiming it. I lean towards reading this as the prophet’s proclamation, and I hope that is a gift that I can use in my ministry, both now and in the future. I want to continually proclaim God’s mercy and promise of salvation. For Zion’s sake, for God’s sake and for our sake, ‘I will not keep silent, and … I will not rest.’ [Isaiah 62.1] I want to proclaim in words and deeds how great God’s love and compassion is.
The proclamation from Isaiah applies to the people of Haiti, and to us. It is not in this life that we shall be saved. It is not now when we shall fully feel the love of God. But it is in the world that is to come; the world revealed in the resurrection, when Christ's time has come, that we shall no longer be termed forsaken. It is in the life given to us by His dying that we shall be vindicated. But until that day, we live in a fallen and flawed world, filled with broken and battered people, surrounded by sin and suffering.
Why did the devastation in Haiti occur? In response to the great tsunami that struck Asia in 2004, theologian David Bentley Hart wrote, “we are to be guided by the full character of what is revealed of God in Christ. For, after all, if it is from Christ that we are to learn how God relates himself to sin, suffering, evil, and death, it would seem that he provides us little evidence of anything other than a regal, relentless, and miraculous enmity: sin he forgives, suffering he heals, evil he casts out, and death he conquers. And absolutely nowhere does Christ act as if any of these things are part of the eternal work or purposes of God.”
Why did the devastation in Haiti occur? I don’t know. I do not believe it was God’s will. I struggle to reconcile the concept of a God who arbitrarily kills tens of thousands who are struggling in poverty with the Bible’s picture of a caring, compassionate and merciful God. But I firmly and devoutly believe that God’s will is being done through our response to the destruction and death. The Apostle Paul had the audacity, just years after the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus to refer to the struggling formative church as the “Body of Christ.” If this is the case, we need to act as Christ would, out of love and providing in abundance.
We need to use all of the gifts given to us by God, both the spiritual and physical gifts we have. We need to use these gifts each and every day. If you have helped the Haitian relief efforts financially, God bless you. If you want to do so, I have some information on some ways you can. If you have been praying for the people of Haiti and those who are going there to tend to them, God bless you. If you have been praying for the people of this area and of your family, God bless you. If you have been doing God’s work in any of a hundred of thousands of ways, God bless you. You may have even been doing God’s work without realizing that you were so doing. That is the way of the Holy Spirit. ‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’ [1 Corinthians 12. 4-7]
There are a multitude of things we can do each and every day when we are faced with the brokenness of this world and the brokenness of the people in the world. I ask all of you to act prayerfully for the common good. The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. But since we are the Body of Christ, we need to act and react under his command. We should, as his mother said, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ [John 2.5]
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