Constantly Reforming

Constantly Reforming

Oct. 26th 2014

Matthew 22:24-46

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church SE Portland

Grace Mercy and Peace to you

Happy Reformation Sunday.  Today, is the day we celebrate our history in the church, we celebrate our history of being reformers.  Today is the day that we reflect on the work that Luther did all those many years ago, 497 to be exact that set the Protestant Reformation in motion.  

He was moved to speak up and speak out because of verses from Romans likes these…If one is under the law they will never be able to get out from under it.  There is no possible way to live in the law and be justified by ones own measures.  

There is something else and something more that just this law…there is a God of Love.

Luther found the God of love and the God of righteousness.  He found a God that was loving, forgiving and full of grace.  You see Luther was tormented by his past, by his sins and his short comings haunted him.  While he was still a priest in the Catholic Church he would wear out priests during his confessions, he was known to have finished confessing, leave the confessionally booth and immediately return because he remembered sins that he had not confessed.  

He was tormented by his sin and the thoughts of a God of vengeance and judgement.  

However when he dived into the writings of Paul and the Gospels he found a God of love and redemption.  A God that was a loving rather than a condemning.  Justification for Luther was found in that redemptive and saving act of Jesus on the cross.  

It was in that redeeming act that the world was no longer kept in check by the law but rather the world was freed by grace.  No longer are we being held captive by the law but rather we are freed by the Grace of God.  

However, what does this freedom mean?  We hear Jesus in the Gospel this week speaking about being freed by the Son and that the truth will make you free.  However, this is was foreign concept to the audience that Jesus was addressing and is very different from the notion of freedom that we have in our society currently.  

You see in our society today we understand freedom to be something that allows to us to do and live as we desire.  It allows us to be able to speak, act and live in a certain way, where besides some of the basic tiers and tenants of society is more or less open.  

However, what Jesus is getting at is a new freedom in Christ and a new freedom in the world to live for the world and in service to one another.  Jesus does not simply say that you are my disciples if you believe, but he said that if you continue in my words then you are truly a disciple of Christ.  This is not a yes I’m saved and I can do whatever I feel, but it is a yes I am saved and for a purpose.  

It was these very words from Christ that spurred Luther to continue to push and work towards reforming the church.  He did not want to sit idly by the wayside but to push to make the church truly the Body of Christ and to continue to live into the calling of Christ, to be His disciples.  That is why he sought to reform the church.  

We are a part of this heritage and I do believe that we are still a reforming church, we are a church of the Reformation.  The Reformation did not end 400 years ago but we are a church that is constantly being called by the Gospel, to be disciples and constantly calling us to act on that new freedom we have in Christ.

This week I came across an article that is one Lutherans take on what the 95 thesis would look like to the church today.  I feel that it touched on some interesting ideas that I wanted to share with you today.

The first idea is that we are called to live a life of repentance.  We are called to speak when we are wrong, acknowledge our shortcomings and ask for forgiveness.  It may be counter to our society today, which seems to be me focused, individualist and not looking to admit wrong doing.  

However, the life of a Christian is one that is called to repent and to seek that healing that comes with forgiveness, this matters not just between us and God but between each other.  It matters with those people that we interact with on a daily basis.  

We cannot live a buffered life that is removed from one another and removed from God.  We cannot move through life not acknowledging and realizing our sin in the world.  We must seek that repentance.    

Repentance, is the second idea and that this focuses us on the importance of being in the world, entrenched in the community that surrounds us and not trying to live above or beyond our communities.  

Repentance will lead us to a deeper relationship with one another, one that is not looking to one up each other or best each other but to look towards the future together and to work for the betterment of the world.  

The Reformation sought to create new forms in the world, these new formations correct the wrong habits that we have sunk into.  The work now of the disciples of Christ is to create those new habits and formations which will form a new way to work in the world.  

This like learning to play an instrument, memorize a speech, shoot a basketball or anything that is learned, requires repetition and a community to grow in.  Christ modeled the way in which we are called to live, the scripture reveals to us the ways in which we are call to live.  These are lives of worship and service, and that is our calling as disciples to learn, to grown into those lives.  

We are not being held accountable by the law but we have been freed by the Gospel to grow into being disciples of Christ, this freedom reforms our lives, church and world to continue in the worlds as Christ taught us.

amen

Whose Face? God's Face

Whose Face? God's Face

October 19th 2014

Matthew 22:15-22

19th Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church SE Portland

Sometimes there are just things that seem to line up too perfectly to be accidental…arn’t there?  There just seems to be too perfect of a coincidence in their occurrences.  Sometimes they are small events that are easier forgotten or passed over but sometimes they stick out in your mind. 

I remember over the summer working at camp there was a day when I was fighting off some sort of head cold and was having a long morning with a couple of campers that were seemingly disagreeing over everything.  However, it was on that day that “Reptile Man” was coming to visit as a special event.  Usually we had a special event once a week and they would have a time slot of about 30 minutes.  However “Reptile Man” went on for nearly and hour and 15 minutes.  I had know he was coming for weeks but did not know that his arrival would be on a day I needed some extra break time.  

Sometimes these coincidences happen on a big scale when things just seem to line up and a connection is made that makes us stop and recognize the moment as being unique.  

This past week was one of those moments for me, as I was preparing the scripture for worship for this morning.  I will pull back the curtain a little bit and let you see a bit of my sermon writing process.  I usually read though the readings and the Gospel and then spend sometime walking, thinking pondering, folding laundry while the texts roll around in my head.  As they were rolling around my head this week I ended up walking out to the mailbox and sitting there waiting for me was our ballots for the up coming election.  And the Gospel seemed to sound a little stronger in my ears after that…

In our Gospel reading this morning, two groups of people come together to attempt to trap Jesus with their difficult question.  It is a very difficult question for Jesus to answer.  If He says that one should not pay taxes to Caesar then He would be considered an enemy to the empire and would be tried as a revolutionary however, if He said that one should pay taxes then He would lose a large chunk of His followers and give power back to those in the Temple.  

So this is a tough question and a tough spot.  But this like our modern discourse and conversation seems to be way the conversations are heading.  This is a dishonest question, and like many questions that are asked of ourselves or others it does not serve any other purpose than creating discord or division.  Honest questions are ones that seek answers, conversation, prayer and a path for the future.  This, however is not an honest question.  The Pharisees and Herodians did not want to know what Jesus thought on the matter they just wanted to trap him in his response.  

I am sure that you get these types of questions all of the time. I know that I do especially when someone finds out that I am training to be a pastor.  We hear dishonest questions all of the time…what is your view on taxes, gay marriage, immigration, war and millions of other topics.  These questions seem to only lead towards categorizing people and putting them in boxes, conservative, liberal, democrat, republican, fundamentalist, literalists, racist. 

There is something deeper and more important than these dishonest questions, and that is what Jesus is getting at the heart of.  Governments ebb and flow, come into and out of power…we can have a whole separate conversation about the relationship between the church and the state in christian ethics.  However, Jesus is not pointing to continue the discourse of dishonest questions but rather to point to our heavenly father and the honest questions and the honest truths.

The coin that was provided to Jesus in this moment is a visual aid that serves a beautiful point.  When Jesus asked them who's face is on this coin he is then also asking whose image do you reflect? to whom do you belong?  

We hear in Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth and over all the creatures that move on the earth.”  

did you catch that?  “let us make humankind in our image.”  So the image that we are bearing is God’s because we are made in the image of God.  

So there is no doubt as to what Jesus is meaning, give yourselves to God because you are God’s.  It is God who claims us and made us, knows us, loves us and redeemed us.  Being God’s is whose we are and who we were created to be.  There are three remarkable things that happen when we realize this and what it means for our lives.  

The first is that God will never leave us, abandon us or forget us.  We are God’s and there is anything that can change that or separate us from that.  Jesus made that clear on the cross.  

Secondly, it means that we belong to God and so then we belong to the people of God, the Body of Christ.  We are a part of this body, this group of believers, that lifts us up and supports us, this body that joins us in prayer, conversations, work, love and service.  So we are a part of this body and that helps us to find our identity and live out our calling in the world.  

Finally, it means that as a part of our calling, our identity is giving back to God.  That is one of the many joys of the faith.  We wrap our lives in worship and service to God.  

This does not all occur or happen here in this one hour block on a Sunday morning but through all of our life.  The way we work, our interactions, or conversations and questions, all of our existence and our lives are wrapped into this life of worship because we are God’s, we have God’s image on us and in us and our lives are lived in service to God.  

So with that being known we can move past these dishonest questions and move towards those honest questions…how are we growing as disciples, how are we encouraging one another in their faith, how are we supporting the community, how can we serve the world and take care of those in need.  We can now move onto the honest questions…

Amen

Cheap vs. Costly

Cheap vs. Costly

October 12 2014

Matthew 22: 1-14

18th Sunday after Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church SE Portland

So maybe it is just me, but sometimes when I am hearing pieces of scripture containing long stories I kinda gloss over the details.  So let me be sure that you heard this crazy scene that just occurred.  There was this King wanted to throw a banquet feast for his son who just got married, he sent out the invites to all of the prominent people in town and the invites were all rejected.  

So first off the King was rejected, I don’t know what you know about Kings but one rule of thumb, never reject the King.  So once the King was rejected he sent a second messenger to invite the guests to the wedding.  If you can’t read through the lines this is essentially the King begging people to come to the wedding.  

And once again the people turned him down…but that was not the end.  Not only did they turn away the messenger but they killed him.  What happened to don’t shoot the messenger?

So this really made the King angry, you know at the beginning of the day all he wanted to do was to do something nice for his son and invite people to the wedding feast.  So the King deployed the troops and they waged war with the people that rejected the invitation and killed the messenger.  

So yes, you heard that correctly the King murdered his own people and turned his troops on his people.  So once all of this destruction had occurred, the King invited the regular townsfolk to the wedding feast…were the sterno’s burning the whole time? was this war the same day as the wedding?  Was the banquet still the same day?

So, phew we made it to the end of the story right?…nope we have a bit more of this crazy story.  After of all of this there was a man who did not wear the correct wedding garb and the King in his final act in this scene threw out the man from the wedding feast.  and scene.

So yes this is one of the stranger parables that we have been given but we are told that this is a glimpse into what the kingdom of heaven.  So there has to be something that we can look into and take from this parable.  There are common themes that we hear throughout scripture, wedding themes, heaven being a giant wedding feast,  and all being welcomed to name a few.  

However, If you were reading this in the community of Matthews day this parable would have a few additional points of contact for you.  The destruction of the city by the King would serve to remind you of Jerusalem being destroyed in 70ce by the Romans.  Additionally the elite rejecting the invitation to the wedding feast and ultimately killing the messenger would call to mind the prophets of old being rejected and killed. Finally, the wedding feast being open to all would remind the listener of the opening of the church to the Gentiles. 

We are still left, however, with people refusing to come to the banquet and with a man having been thrown out.  We have several groups of people or individuals that have been left by the wayside, rejected or kicked out of the party.  

There are those that hold too closely and tightly to their allegiances and will not allow themselves to look past what they have going on in their world to see the banquet and accept the invitation.  They are holding too fast to the world and the ways of the world to see this grace and salvation that is available.  It is available to only them but to all.  They do not want to remove their personal allegiances to align with those that are different from them under the blanket of grace and forgiveness.

The custom for weddings was that the host chose the attire for the wedding which also meant that they had to provide the clothing they desired.  So this means that the man who was kicked out was not kicked out because of not having the right attire, or status, or anything else but because he rejected the clothing that was provided to him.  He rejected the free gift and thought that he did not need it, or thought that once he was into the banquet it did not matter how he acted.  

This gift of salvation is a gift freely given to all of us, and being a part of this faith and this church is for all.  There are two things that come out of this reading that I feel is important for us as the church today.  The first is that all have been welcomed and included, people from all walks and points in life, they are called to be a part of this body of christ.  It is not just those invited, or called first, or those that have been here their whole lives.  

Rather, all are being called in real time, in the here and now to come and join the body, it is an open banquet that is for all of us and everyone is invited.  As at the wedding feast everyone from the streets from around the town were called into the feast to join.  That is a part of the mission of the church and a part of what we are called to do is to open the doors and invite everyone in.

Secondly we cannot rest on being at the banquet already, or think that the way we live our lives is not important or does not reflect this gift we have been given.  This is what happened to the man who felt that he did not need the garment.  There is a higher standard and something more we are being called to.  

Dietrich Bonhoeffer the 20th century Lutheran Pastor/Theologian had a way of explaining this very concept.  He spoke and wrote often about cheap vs. costly grace.  Cheap grace is exactly what it sounds like, it is grace that when one receives this grace and salvation it means nothing to one’s life.  This grace is inexpensive and well cheap.  Cheap grace does not change lives, it does not mean anything and is just a placeholder.  

On the other hand Bonhoeffer speaks of costly grace, grace that means something, grace that matters.  Think of that hymn amazing grace….it is grace that changes lives and transforms lives.  It is a costly grace because it is only available because of Jesus redemptive act on the cross.  So it is a costly grace because it matters for our lives.  It is not just a time to sit back and rest on what we have.  But it is a costly grace that calls us to use our own lives and because of this grace we live in a new way, we live into this calling of grace to shape our lives around the gospel and reflect that grace to the world.  

Our reading this morning from Philippians gives us some landmarks for ways to live into these new lives of costly grace.  We are called to Rejoice in our days and let that show in our lives, we are called to display that gentleness to the world, we are called to pray and make all things know to God, to engage in that holy conversation with one another.  Finally we are call to do that what is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable, do these things and continue to follow that calling of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Who do you say that I Am

Who Do You Say That I Am

September 28th 2014

Matthew 21: 23-32

16th Sunday After Pentecost

Peached at Holy Trinity Lutheran (SE) Portland

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from our Risen Savior,

I heard a piece on NPR just a few weeks ago that came to mind while I was working on the texts for this weeks service.  Two half brothers, Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were recently released after serving more than 30 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.  New DNA testing acquitted these two men of the rape and murder of an 11 year old girl in 1983.  With every case and trial there is always the possibility of human error working into the equation, this is a fact.  There is no perfect system but this situations and countless others raises the question for me of authority, who has it and where does it come from…  

So who should be trusted when they speak?  How do you make those decisions, it is not as easy as it once was and it is getting harder by the day to decide whose opinion to trust.  So, what is it that stands out to you in a person, news source, faith based conversation or online posting that makes you trust and believe information?  Where does their authority come from and what is it point towards?  Does the author have some sort of self serving authority or point of view or are they pointing to something greater.  

This past spring I traveled back to Gettysburg to take a class with Dr. C.S. Brown who was a visiting professor from Payne Theological Seminary.  He is a gentleman in his 70s that had worked in the civil rights movement and has continued to teach and preach a curriculum based off of the life and work of Dr. King.  The course was titled the Theology and Ethics of Dr. King.  Now when Dr. Brown spoke, you paid attention.  

He did not speak as if he read it in a book or saw a news report on the subject, but he spoke with a passion and fervor that one could only do if they had been there and witnessed a movement.  They way that he told stories, broke down the many facets of a moment and related the significance of the event made you know and see that he was there and spoke with a passion that you cannot fake.  He was real and authentic in his words because he had an authority of something beyond that moment.  

Jesus teaching in the temple was something beyond what the normal rabbi could have said, it was different from what people had heard prior and made people wonder with what authority he was able to say such things.  He was speaking with a first hand knowledge of God and what life with God was like.  It was not fake and he was not reading it off a script but Jesus was being real with them and teaching with an authority that they had never heard before.  

This was vasty different from what the people had been used to hearing.  Because the focus was on something greater and something bigger.  The focus was on building the kingdom and creating disciples rather than keeping the status quo.  This caused problems with the authorities because it was not the message that they had been teaching and preaching.  Their message was one of keeping peace with the Roman empire, keeping ones head down and following the laws of the temple but Jesus message was one that reached beyond what had been heard before.  This is a message that we are still trying to spread today.

The difference is that the message Jesus was preaching was one of love and forgiveness, which was vastly different from the message the people were used to hearing.  Forgiveness and grace are free for all and are accessible to everyone, it is not something that needs to be proven or earned but rather it is a free gift that has been given to us.  

This maybe shocking or hard to hear but that is what Jesus came into the world to do.  He came to redeem the world.  However, for those in authority it was hard to see and hard to image that grace was that readily available to all.  Maybe it is easier to see that grace and forgiveness for those that are new to the faith and have not gotten bogged down in the authority of the world.  We were all once new and young in our faith and we might have lost some of that awe and wonder surrounding grace.  

You see the authority of this world is seeking to gain and add power to their ranks.  Authority in the human realm all lies with power, who has it, how they display it and what control that gives them.  Authority in the world is based off of charismatic leaders that are able to convince people that they have authority and power, but Jesus authority does not come from humans and does not remain in that world.  

We as followers of Jesus are not on a mission for power and authority in the world but rather we are working for the greater kingdom.  We are making that transformation from authority and power in the world to heavenly authority.  We are not in competition for authority in the world, or trying to work against other churches or entities.  But, rather we are in the business of sharing God’s grace, love and forgiveness in the world and creating disciples of all nations.  

Like last week, the business that God is in is mercy and we are the hands and feet that make that happen and make it known.  We are not chasing the way of the world, but rather we are following the call of Jesus to go and make disciples of all nations.  We are taking an active part in the heavenly authority that calls all sinners in to be a part of the kingdom.  Regardless of who we are or where we have been we are all forgiven and are eligible to be a part of that kingdom and it is our mission to the world to transform it from the way of power to the way of grace.  

Amen.

I've Fallen Behind

Alright, I know I know I have fallen behind a bit in my writing and posting.  But with Orioles baseball who has time to think or write about anything else.  Ok sure we have lost the past two games but we are going to rebound I know it.  I have a few sermons on the way from the past few weeks.  I have been preaching the second through fourth Sundays at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in SE Portland, so a majority of the sermons I am posting for now has been from my Sunday's at Holy Trinity.  If you are in the area we would love to have you join us for worship at 9:30am.  

I have been hesitant of posting these sermons because I cannot say that I feel good about them, but that is all a part of the process.  I know that not every sermon or speech I give is going to be the best, so that is why I continue to work and strive to get better.  In a recent All Songs Considered podcast (Beck Interview on All Songs Considered) Beck, one of my favorite artists, spoke about a concept that I had never considered but makes sense.  One of the hosts asked Beck if he has any bad songs in his lengthy career and Beck's response was very interesting.

HILTON: It must be a constant voice in your head. I was just scrolling through my library and thinking, "Has this guy written a bad song? I've got like 200 songs here!"

BECK: Yeah, there's some bad ones for sure. You have to write the bad ones to get to a decent one; I really believe in that. I kind of wish there was more room for people to make bad records — just make a couple bad ones, you know, to get to the good stuff. I think it's part of the process.

There needs to be that space to fail in order to know how to grow.  That is something that there does not seem to be a lot of in our society, room to fail at something.  The attempts that we make a life, art, relationships, sermons or anything should be authentic first.  These attempts maybe right or wrong, good or bad but the importance is being authentic and striving to learn from our mistakes and short-comings.  We are striving to make something beautiful in the world but that won’t be done right the first time…

So with saying all this listen to Morning Phase and make something beautiful….more to come later.

Found in the Marketplace

Found in the Marketplace

Sept. 21st 2014

Matthew 20:1-16

15th Sunday After Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (SE) Portland

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from our Risen Savior,

Most of us are somewhat familial with this parable I would imagine.  It is a commonly heard parable especially when we need to teach a child a lesson about humility (“The last shall be first and the first shall be last”)  But my question for today is, who do you most identify with?  Are you one of the labors from the beginning of the day, one that showed up half way through the day, one of the late comers?  

I often times find myself placing myself in the parable itself as one of the characters.  I have found it to be a very helpful exercise when trying to figure out the lessons that I am needing to hear, or the message of the parable for me.  So I ask you today, which character in the parable do you most identify with?  

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, but each character brings a different angle of our faith lives to light.  Many of us might be the workers that have been toiling away in the fields all day, some of us might keep our mouth shut about the wage earned for the day while others might raise a concern about the fairness of the wages.  Some of us might see ourselves as the worker that showed up halfway through the day and still got paid.  Finally, some of us might see themselves as those who showed up at the end of the day, worked for only a short amount of time and got paid like we had been there all day.

What I would imagine, is that we mostly identify with one of the two groups of people, either those who showed up at the beginning of the day or those at the end.  I am sure all of us are thinking it, and feel bad about it but the entire concern is that those who showed up late got paid the same.  This is a struggle is it not?  This wage system does not make any sense if you ask me.  Just like the other brother in the parable of the prodigal son…why does he get a party?

Maybe this is a part of our free market economics but it does not seem right that those that show up at the end of the day get the same amount of pay as those of us who were here from the beginning.  Doesn't sound right does it?  

For those of us that identify with the labors that have been working all day this sounds like an unfair deal.  “We have been the ones working all day and we get the same amount as those who have only been here for an hour.”  This sounds like the same thing I have heard in a few of the churches I have attended and been a member of over the years…”I grew up in this church and now all of a sudden these people show up and join as members” “I have been here all my life and have never been elected to church council yet they have been here for a year and they have been elected to church council.” or “I have never had a drinking problem unlike some members”  There has always been those comparisons, judgements and jealously amongst believers especially directed at new members.  But what is the issue at hand?  

It just doesn’t seem fair does it and doesn’t seem right that those late comers get the same treatment as the rest of us.  Well, I am sorry to have to burst your bubble that is the business that God is in.  God is the in the business of mercy, forgiveness and rehabilitation.  There is nothing that is outside the realm of forgiveness and God’s mercy is everlasting.  It is not a business about being fair or giving proportions greater to those that have been an active church member for longer.  But rather God is in the business of salvation and bringing the lost back to the flock.  

Those that are upset at this parable and think that it is unfair fall into a similar category as our brother Jonah today as well.  Jonah wanted so badly to see the city of Nineveh fall that he got angry with God for saving the people.  Jonah wanted to sit up on a hill and watch the city get destroyed, but once again that is not the business that God is in.  Once again mercy over rules and the grace of God is what shines through.  

So those of us that might more closely line up with those that showed up late for work we have been given that gift of grace.  This is the everlasting mercy of God.  It shines through in times when we do not feel that we are on the right track or have arrived up late.  It speaks a message of hope and forgiveness for all of us and possibility for us all.  There is a joy that exists for all of us that we are all forgiven and receive that same blessing.

No matter what side we fall on we have received grace and forgiveness beyond what we deserve.  If you ask me we are all those laborers that showed up at the need of the day.  I feel that each time we struggle with our faith, fall short and loose our way we find ourselves back in the marketplace and God continues to come to up, picking us up, paying us and telling us to get to work.  Each time we are feeling that tug, the nudging from the Holy Spirit that is the call from God for us to get to work and get out of the marketplace.  Our sin returns us to that marketplace but our Merciful Savior gathers us in and sends us back out to the field to work.

The writer of Teresa of Avila, a sixteenth- century said said this, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours.  Your are the eyes through which Christ’s compassion is to look out to the world; yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good;  yours are the hands with which God is to bless people now.”

So let us be the hands, feet and eyes and get out into the field and show that mercy and forgiveness that we have experienced.  

Community and Vocation thanks to Drake

So there are many parts of Hip-Hop that I have a hard time with.  Over the course of the past 20 some years I feel as a genre it has headed in the wrong direction and the lifestyle that surrounds it has strayed a far way from its inception.  However, I still consider myself to be an avid hip-hop enthusiast and I feel that I know a few things about the genre.  I am sure that I am going to be getting into all of these topics multiple times over the course of this blog however for right now I just want to write a short piece on my man Drake.

Now granted Drake has his flaws and some might not even put him into the category of hip-hop at all, but I believe that he brings something interesting and fascinating to the genre.  Granted he is not the first and won't be the last but he seems to display this confidence in himself that seems to be lost in the public sphere.  The track that caught my eye today, while I should have been finishing my sermon for sunday, is "Over" off of Thank Me Later which is his debut album from 2010.  I have included the video below(it's pretty bad) and keep in mind it is NSFW.  

He is someone who has seen great deal of success over the course of his career but what strikes me about his music is that he seems to have a keen eye on what this success has brought him and stays focused on what he is striving to be.   In the song he states that "I know way too many people here right now that I didn't know last year."  Also he keeps returning the question, what am I doing..."what am I doing, what am I doing? oh yeah thats right, I'm doing me, I'm doing me" Grammar and the English language aside I believe that he hits on two parts of our culture that gets the best of us.  

First, as our life goes on we are surrounded by different and various people over the course of the years.  Some are good and positive influences in our lives and some aren't.  Some help to ground us in who we are and what we should be doing with out lives, which is what a community should be doing.  However, there are those that are not bringing about that positive community around us.  The second thing is that often times when we get surrounded by these people or bad communities they distract us from who we are supposed to be and who we were created to be.  That is the role community plays in our lives and what we need to be reminded of.  We were created with specific skills, abilities, talents and are called to use those in our lives.  The community that surrounds us in the world is what helps bring those things about and bring them out of us.  We might get lost along the way but there are those people and those communities that help remind us of what we should doing...Keep Doing Me and being the people we were created to be not following the popular opinion of the world.

Forgiveness and the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

Forgiveness and the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing

Sept. 14 2014

14th Sunday After Pentecost

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (ELCA) SE Portland

Grace Mercy and Peace from our Risen Savior Jesus the Christ.  So today is one of those days that they tell you about in seminary.  Today is the day when the sermon that I have prepared off the Gospel reading that I found assigned for this week is not the same reading as what is listed in our bulletins today.  So instead of me preaching off the cuff from the scripture in our bulletin today let me read to you the text I have prepared and deliver the sermon I wrote.  

Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, "Pay what you owe.' 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

So where does this forgiveness come from?  In the gospel reading this morning we hear that when we are wronged we are to forgive not just 7 times but 77 times.  But what I do not know is  where does this forgiveness come from.  I don’t know about you but I know that I have a hard time forgiving someone for wronging me once, I have a hard time forgiving my friends or family let alone someone I do not even know.  So where does this forgiveness come from and in these times of forgiveness where does our christian faith lead us.  

Ok, ok ok I know the Sunday school answer, “we are able to forgive because we have been forgiven ourselves of our sin.”  Sure it is plain to say but it is not easy to do.  Yes, we are able to forgive because we have been forgiven ourselves but that doesn’t make it easy.  

You see Peter thought that he was making a wise and acute observation in this moment.  He knew that a rabbi would teach forgiveness for an offense when it occurred, maybe, depending on the rabbi, they might teach forgiven twice or three times for a repeated offense but never 7.  So Peter thought he was taking it to the next level.  There is this thought amongst scholars that Peter by suggesting 7 times was attempting to understand the calling of Jesus to take his life of faith to the next level.  It was a great attempt however, Jesus takes it even further.  

What Jesus is having us understand is that we are called to forgive and forgive again to the level and extent that we loose track…we are to forgive past the point of memory and then forgive some more.  Because if we are keeping track and tabs are we even forgiving at all?  It is not easy but it is our calling of faith to forgive and forgive again.

On Sunday morning September 15th 1963 a bomb exploded at 16th St. Baptist Church in Birmingham Al.  The explosion killed 4 young girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley.  This tragedy occurred two and a half weeks after the historical March on Washington where Dr. King delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech.  On the morning of the bombing the sermon that was to be given that day was titled “The Love that Forgives.”  I would expect the same texts as today.  There was a joint funeral for three of the four girls and Dr. King was called to deliver the sermon…and he had this to say.

This afternoon we gather in the quiet of this sanctuary to pay our last tribute of respect to these beautiful children of God. They entered the stage of history just a few years ago, and in the brief years that they were privileged to act on this mortal stage, they played their parts exceedingly well. Now the curtain falls; they move through the exit; the drama of their earthly life comes to a close. They are now committed back to that eternity from which they came.

These children-unoffending, innocent, and beautiful-were the victims of one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity.

And yet they died nobly. They are the martyred heroines of a holy crusade for freedom and human dignity. And so this afternoon in a real sense they have something to say to each of us in their death. They have something to say to every minister of the gospel who has remained silent behind the safe security of stained-glass windows. They have something to say to every politician who has fed his constituents with the stale bread of hatred and the spoiled meat of racism. They have something to say to a federal government that has compromised with the undemocratic practices of southern Dixiecrats and the blatant hypocrisy of right-wing northern Republicans.  They have something to say to every Negro who has passively accepted the evil system of segregation and who has stood on the sidelines in a mighty struggle for justice. They say to each of us, black and white alike, that we must substitute courage for caution. They say to us that we must be concerned not merely about who murdered them, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophy which produced the murderers. Their death says to us that we must work passionately and unrelentingly for the realization of the American dream.

And so my friends, they did not die in vain. God still has a way of wringing good out of evil.  And history has proven over and over again that unmerited suffering is redemptive. The innocent blood of these little girls may well serve as a redemptive force that will bring new light to this dark city.  The holy Scripture says, "A little child shall lead them." The death of these little children may lead our whole Southland from the low road of man's inhumanity to man to the high road of peace and brotherhood.  These tragic deaths may lead our nation to substitute an aristocracy of character for an aristocracy of color. The spilled blood of these innocent girls may cause the whole citizenry of Birmingham to transform the negative extremes of a dark past into the positive extremes of a bright future. Indeed this tragic event may cause the white South to come to terms with its conscience.

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair.  We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers.  Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.

May I now say a word to you, the members of the bereaved families? It is almost impossible to say anything that can console you at this difficult hour and remove the deep clouds of disappointment which are floating in your mental skies. But I hope you can find a little consolation from the universality of this experience. Death comes to every individual. There is an amazing democracy about death. It is not aristocracy for some of the people, but a democracy for all of the people. Kings die and beggars die; rich men and poor men die; old people die and young people die. Death comes to the innocent and it comes to the guilty. Death is the irreducible common denominator of all men.

I hope you can find some consolation from Christianity's affirmation that death is not the end. Death is not a period that ends the great sentence of life, but a comma that punctuates it to more lofty significance. Death is not a blind alley that leads the human race into a state of nothingness, but an open door which leads man into life eternal. Let this daring faith, this great invincible surmise, be your sustaining power during these trying days.

Now I say to you in conclusion, life is hard, at times as hard as crucible steel. It has its bleak and difficult moments. Like the ever-flowing waters of the river, life has its moments of drought and its moments of flood.  Like the ever-changing cycle of the seasons, life has the soothing warmth of its summers and the piercing chill of its winters.  And if one will hold on, he will discover that God walks with him, and that God is able to lift you from the fatigue of despair to the buoyancy of hope, and transform dark and desolate valleys into sunlit paths of inner peace.

And so today, you do not walk alone. You gave to this world wonderful children.  They didn't live long lives, but they lived meaningful lives.  Their lives were distressingly small in quantity, but glowingly large in quality.  And no greater tribute can be paid to you as parents, and no greater epitaph can come to them as children, than where they died and what they were doing when they died.  They did not die in the dives and dens of Birmingham, nor did they die discussing and listening to filthy jokes.  They died between the sacred walls of the church of God, and they were discussing the eternal meaning of love. This stands out as a beautiful, beautiful thing for all generations.  Shakespeare had Horatio to say some beautiful words as he stood over the dead body of Hamlet. And today, as I stand over the remains of these beautiful, darling girls, I paraphrase the words of Shakespeare:  Good night, sweet princesses. Good night, those who symbolize a new day.  And may the flight of angels  take thee to thy eternal rest. God bless you.

Now Dr. King does not use the words forgiveness when speaking of the people that committed this act.  But there is a very interesting turn that Dr. King makes in this sermon that reminds us of our calling.  

And so I stand here to say this afternoon to all assembled here, that in spite of the darkness of this hour, we must not despair.  We must not become bitter, nor must we harbor the desire to retaliate with violence. No, we must not lose faith in our white brothers.  Somehow we must believe that the most misguided among them can learn to respect the dignity and the worth of all human personality.

We are called to keep our hearts open to forgiveness and the hope that all might see their misguided ways and work for the fullness and wholeness of life.  In the darkest and most dire times Dr. King is calling his community to not seek revenge, to not lash out but instead to keep that hope alive.  In no uncertain, terms he is telling us to forgive and focus on hope.  In one of the darkest moments in not just the civil rights movement but in the history of mankind Dr. King is pointing and reminding his community that there is a higher calling and a different path, because retaliation just leads to more violence.  

I am sitting and writing this sermon on Thursday September 11th 2014, which leads me to this question.  How do we as we remember the events of 13 years ago and reflect that forgiveness?  What are the words of hope and restoration that we are hearing from our community but also our faith in light of September 11th?  Are we falling into the same revenge and retaliation or are we finding a new way to move forward into a new reality and with a revived hope of forgiveness and salvation?  I can barely answer that question for myself so I surely cannot answer that for you or for our community.  However, if we are hearing words from Dr. King of hope for his white brothers and sisters then I am here to preach hope and forgives for our extremists and terrorist brothers and sisters.  Part of our calling as Christians is for us to hope for even the most misguided to discover and understand the dignity and worth of people from all walks of life.  

Now do not get me wrong, I am not speaking and preaching a message of blind hope or forgives.  That is not how I believe that we are called to live, it would be unsafe and unwise to blindly forgive and to let our guard down.  But that does not mean we cannot forgive and work to find a way for a new reality together.  We need to be aware of our surroundings and the ways of the world, but we need to approach all situations with forgiveness on our tongues and the possibility of a new reality in our minds.  This will require creativity but that is where the Holy Spirit comes in.  We are called to forgive and seek a new reality where the prior offense will not repeat itself with God’s guidance.  

We are able to have this hope, this forgiveness on our tongues and this revisioned reality on our minds because of Jesus.  We are able to forgive because we have been forgiven of so much…we have been forgiven of everything.  You see the 77 times we are called to forgive is extravagant, the debt owed to the king in the parable is multiple lifetimes worth of work, the sin that we are guilty of is something that we can never over come and can never repay.  But we have been forgiven of that and that is our sense of strength and our sense of hope for a revisioned reality and future.  We can forgive because we have been forgiven of so much it’s true, we can keep that hope alive and find a new way to take part in God’s saving work because of that forgiveness.  We experienced that forgiveness in our baptism, and we are reminded of that each time we remember our baptism.  We experience it each time we gather around the altar rail and receive communion, in those moments we are experiencing that forgiveness and that grace that calls us to forgive.  It is in that forgiveness that we are an active part of letting justice roll on like a river and righteousness like a never ending stream!

amen.

Kickoff

So if you did not figure it out from the title of the blog, I am not a strong writer.  Ask anyone who has ever had to read my work(if you are one of those people I am sorry), it is poor at best.  I like to think that I have good ideas and things to say but the written word is not the best way for me to do it.  However, I know that this is something I need to work on and get better at...so here goes nothing.  I currently have a fair amount of free-time as I am waiting for a call here in the Pacific Northwest so I thought that blogging would be a good way to keep my mental game up and to start getting my stuff out there.  So this will be a place of sermons I've preached, musings on various subjects, album reviews and whatever else comes across my plate.