Share Your Story
This
is my sermon text from July 1, 2018. The main focus of my message was
on 2Corinthians 8:7-15, but
with reference to the Gospel lesson (Mark 5:21-43) and references to the
Psalm, Psalm 30, and Lamentations, Lamentations 3:22-33. You can listen to the message from Redeemer and St. Mark here; I went a bit off text in both.Download this episode (right click and save)
Download this episode (right click and save)
The ELCA Youth Gathering YouTube page is here.
Please join me in a prayer from our Psalm. O Lord, you have drawn me up. O Lord, I
cried to you for help, and you healed me. O Lord, you raised up my soul from
Sheol.[1] Amen.
Grace, peace and mercy to you, from God, our Creator, and
Jesus Christ, God’s Son and our Redeemer.
AMEN.
In the verses just prior to our reading from 2Corinthians, Paul is
lifting up the efforts of a poor congregation in Macedonia. One of Paul’s
missionary responsibilities was to collect an offering to go to the church in
Jerusalem to support their efforts to take care of the poor, of widows and
orphans. Paul was giving the Corinthians a heads up that the offering was going
to be asked for when he came through on his way back to Jerusalem. To encourage
them to dig deep, he casually mentioned how this tiny church in Macedonia, “voluntarily
gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, begging us
earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints.”[2]
It isn’t
enough that the Macedonians gave according to, and beyond, their means, but
they were begging for the privilege of sharing. Paul hopes that if he can point
out how well the Macedonians did in their giving, maybe the Corinthians will be
generous. After all, “you excel in
everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our
love for you —so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking. I do
not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love
against the earnestness of others.”[3]
One of the
stewardship campaigns that the ELCA has trained pastors in is called the Macedonia Project. But where
Paul is appealing to the Corinthians pride, and ego, we ask people to look at
their giving in response to what has been given to them.
Later in this reading, Paul wrote, “the gift is acceptable according to what one
has—not according to what one does not have.”[4] One thing you will come to learn about
me, and my personal theology, is the concept of being blessed in order to be a
blessing. It is part of the covenant that God made with Abraham. God would make
of Abraham and Sarah a mighty nation, so that through them, the world may be
blessed.
The idea is
that with the good gifts given to you by God, you are to use them, your
abilities, your talents, your strengths, your weaknesses, to show and share
God’s grace and God’s love. It is not so much what you can give of your
resources, but what you can give of yourself.
And the most
powerful gift you can give is your story.
I’ve shared that during this past week Houston has
been hosting the ELCA Youth Gathering, and shared when events were being
streamed on the internet. Ananias wrote about it in his article in the
announcements this week, and the closing worship is about to start/is going
on/just ending. Did anyone get a chance to watch any of it?
The Mass
Gatherings, the evening services/concerts/events are the most powerful. The
speakers dig deep into themselves and exposed their souls. They told about
themselves, their pain, and how God met them there in that pain, in their
brokenness, and they experienced God’s call, and love, and grace, and hope.
Young people
shared their stories of what they have had to deal with and overcome.
A teenager who
should have been sitting in the audience, instead of telling her peers how she
is dying of an incurable, terminal illness, and how she is NOT going quietly
into that dark night. A girl who should, and has yelled at God, but has been
embraced by God’s grace.
Other young
people shared how they have overcome bullying, violence, bigotry, depression
and other tragedies to share how they found comfort and strength in God’s love
and have made their lives and the world better for the power they have received
from God.
Pastors shared their stories of how they dealt
with these issues that teenagers are dealing with. They bared themselves to
share that they found God in the depths of their struggles as examples to the
youth that it can get better. They shared that no matter how they have fallen,
no matter how worthless they felt, God’s love is there. “There’s grace for
that.”
I was particularly moved by Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber
who shared that when our tears turn to joy, a place is provided, and we become
a home for others who hurt. She called grace God’s compost, where fecal matter
becomes the warmth of a hug from someone who knows your pain. She reminded us
that God’s grace includes the truth that we are all magnificently imperfect.
And it is God’s grace that holds the jagged and broken parts of ourselves
together, and binds us to one another. Grace calls us to speak the truth that
we are all God’s children, beloved by God and we are called to be loving to
them.
From experience,
the supervising adults don’t get much sleep after the Mass Gatherings, because
these stories move their kids. I know they move me. The stories shared from the
stage in Houston were powerful.
But stories of God’s love and grace and mercy are
always powerful. Think of the story that Jairus and his family could tell.
Think of the story the woman who had been hemorrhaging could tell. Imagine how
powerful the stories of life out of death, and restoration out of isolation
are.
The stories
kept in your heads and your hearts are just as powerful.
Last week, I
asked you to be vulnerable as we work to reconcile our churches and ourselves.
This week, I ask you to be vulnerable and share of when you felt God’s grace,
when God pulled you from the pit of the cosmic compost heap.
We each have
at least one person in our lives who we would like to see have a better
relationship with God, or at least maybe not so one sided. Someone who doesn’t
get us, and why we come here, week after week.
Share your
story. Tell the truth. Bare your soul. Invite them to share their worries and
wounds. Tell them, “There’s grace for that.”
Please join me
in prayer from our Psalm. O Lord, you have turned my mourning into dancing.
O Lord, you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me in grace.[5]
AMEN.
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