the one about the temper tantrum

So I’m at the grocery store the other day and as I turn the aisle I see at the other end a scene.  A mom with four little ones is wrestling with a girl about 3 who is wriggling on the floor and screaming at the top of her lungs.  She’s crying and screaming out words of a language I can’t understand but the mom is saying; I told you, NO.  You cannot have a soda in the store.  Just then she looks up.  She sees me watching this scene. I froze.  What was my face saying?  Did she feel judged?  Embarrassed?  Or was she sort of used to public displays of torture?  I wanted to become invisible.  I imagine she did too.   I mean we were alone in the aisle and how could you not look.  I quickly turned to the soup and pretended to get interested in minestrone.  Meanwhile the little girl is on the floor kicking and screaming like she was resisting arrest.  I turned around and exited the aisle, but the screaming continued.

Are you familiar with this scene? Have you witnessed a child go nuclear on a parent in a pubic setting? Restaurants, stores, doctor’s offices, even fun places like theme parks.  What sort of responses have you witnessed?  I’ve seen every response, from parents pretending to ignore the miniature terrorist to parents carrying the child out of the public place on their shoulder like a bag of angry potatoes.  While the child continues to punch, kick, and scream.  Maybe your familiarity is more intimate.  You’ve been that parent.  Suddenly, when the meltdown that typically begins with the word “no”, is in full force, you feel like you’re both alone and on stage in front of a live studio audience at the same time. Right?  It’s pretty awful. You want the Marines, a clinical psychiatrist, and the child’s grandparents to intervene.  Right?  Get me out of here.  Embarrassment and frustration.  You try to remain calm, but you want to lock the kid up in a sound proof room for 24 hours of solitary confinement.  And you want to be transported to a private beach with that novel you started two months ago that you haven’t had time to continue reading because you are a parent and you are exhausted.

 Ah parenting. It has its moments of joy and exasperation.  Now what about a parent whose child has a chronic condition of some sort.  We are pretty compassionate toward people with a child who has a disability, I suspect.  That must be hard. But what about children with behavioral disabilities or mental illness.  There is a disorder called oppositional defiant disorder. 

Mayo clinic website says: “It may be difficult at times to recognize the difference between a strong-willed or emotional child and one with oppositional defiant disorder. It's normal to exhibit oppositional behavior at certain stages of a child's development. But there is a range between the usual independence-seeking behavior of children and that of oppositional defiant disorder.

Signs of ODD generally begin before a child is 8 years old. Sometimes ODD may develop later, but almost always before the early teen years. When ODD behavior develops, the signs tend to begin gradually and then worsen over months or years.

Your child may be displaying signs of ODD instead of normal moodiness if the behaviors:

·         Are persistent

·         Have lasted at least six months

·         Are clearly disruptive to the family and home or school environment

The following are behaviors associated with ODD:

·         Negativity

·         Defiance

·         Disobedience

·         Hostility directed toward authority figures

These behaviors might cause your child to regularly and consistently:

·         Have temper tantrums

·         Be argumentative with adults

·         Refuse to comply with adult requests or rules

·         Annoy other people deliberately

·         Blames others for mistakes or misbehavior

·         Acts touchy and is easily annoyed

·         Feel anger and resentment

·         Be spiteful or vindictive

·         Act aggressively toward peers

·         Have difficulty maintaining friendships

·         Have academic problems

·         Feel a lack of self-esteem

ODD.  That’s odd. Its also tragically disruptive behavior.  My cousin’s son was diagnosed with it.  They’ve been treating him for years. There’s been improvement, but it has made socialization, schooling, and work very difficult for him. The nature vs. nurture argument tends to look at the parents with judgment.  No discipline there.  But what if there are people, children, who suffer from an illness that causes bad behavior?   

My grandma Morse used to babysit kids.  She had one little girl she affectionately called the demon child.  This little girl was a sharknado inside a hurricane. She was mean and threw a tantrum every day.  She was caught stealing and ended up in jail by the time she was a teen.

Jesus goes to tyre and sidon. There is no reason for him to go there.  He has no itinerary.  He has not found a hotel deal there.  He goes where he is led to go.  And even Jesus, the man, is sometimes led to places and to people whom he would rather avoid.  As they arrive a woman appears.  She is yelling at him, ‘Lord, son of David have mercy on me.”  This is Matthew’s code to us:  This woman has faith in Jesus already planted in her heart before he arrives.  Picture a young African woman, dressed in rags, coming toward them.  She is crying.  And the compassionate healer ignores her?  The disciples compel him to send her away.  He treats her like an outcast.  Culturally she is, to the Jewish man, a nobody.  Invisible, untouchable, untreatable. But she persists in her begging.  She begs for her sick daughter, a demon child, with a violent temper.  Jesus refuses to console her help.  He will not share the children’s bread with the dogs.  His power is reserved for Israel.  She is not eligible.  There are limits and boundaries to his service. But she is not looking for Jesus to feed the world, just give her a crumb.  Not a bonfire of holiness, but a single matchstick. Not a global vaccine but a single pill.  She is bold to even ask twice.  Her desperation is demonstrative of a mother’s unyielding love.  What we wouldn’t do for our children, even in their worst or darkest moments.

And Jesus is changed. He sees the light.  Perhaps his purpose is revealed to him in that encounter, in that moment of brave vulnerability.  A woman surrounded by 12 men?  What might they demand from her as payment for her request? She didn’t care.  She believed he could help.

And that’s what he does.  Great is the faith of the mother whose love made her fall on her knees and beg for mercy. 

There are parents in our community on their knees begging for mercy too.  They may never come to church, but they’re looking for Jesus.  The challenges are too hard. They are stuck, alone in public, and need help.  Jesus invites us to show compassion that transcends our own limits and boundaries. What are they for you?  Who is it hard to feel compassionate toward?  Why do we avoid contact with a struggling parent?  Fear?  Maybe just a word of understanding, a knowing look, and a, “I’ve been there, too.” Faith is not religious practice, it is trusting the Lord for help every day.  May you see it in others and give some of yours away.  Amen.              

the one about having enough

I came back from Minneapolis to be with you today.  Got in early this morning.  Minneapolis is a wonderful city full of Lutherans.  I was sent there to become an official mission developer, a church planter, called to start new ministries, new communities, new adventures with Jesus. I went because I was invited.  I came back to share my morning with you, because communion with you matters to me. It is my soul's delight.

Life with Jesus is an adventure. The gospel story we heard is a story that lives in my heart and bones.  This is why I serve, why Peter's Porch exists at all, and why faith matters.  Everything we need to know about Jesus and church can be found here.  It starts with "after having heard this" which begs the question "heard what"?  It reads like we walked in on a conversation or story that began without us, doesn't it?  And seeing that what they heard compelled them to retreat from their primary mission field, you might ask why are they taking a hiatus? I’m a few hours from my first vacation of 2014 myself. We all need a break from the mission field. Turns out they heard that John the baptist was dead, executed in prison by political rival Herod Antipas because John was an outspoken public figure who spoke unwelcome truth to threatened power.  His death stirred in them a need to retreat.  Was it grief or fear that sent them off? Or were they just exhausted from the ministry?         

Feeding of 5,000 is not a miracle to demonstrate God's power at work in Jesus. They had already seen that in his healing work.  No doubt Jesus had power.  This was about something else. I think it’s about having enough.

At the end of the day, the disciples are weary.  They want to send the needy away, direct them to fend for themselves. After John’s public ministry ended in death, maybe they wanted a private life.  Resources are scarce. They are living a subsistence lifestyle with Jesus.  There is simply not enough.  What they have is not enough. Do you know what it’s like to not have enough of what someone else needs?  It can be frustrating and painful to have unfulfillable demands upon you, to be unable to provide.  Sometimes, at the end of a long day, I want to send the needy away too.  We do a lot of ministry here, feed a lot of people.  It is unceasing.  Given their weariness and ours, how would you feel about Jesus unreasonable request, about the hungry crowd?  They were in a difficult situation until Jesus acts.  He turns scarce resources into abundance to share.  He does so through prayer, offering the bread and fish to God.  What he does is trust God and surrender.  But he does it precisely so that two things happen:  the hungry are fed and the disciples are participants in grace---free, unearned gift. They get to share what they did not have.  Jesus directed them to give them something to eat and Jesus made it possible for them to do so.  The writer tells us that they did so until all were satisfied.  Everyone had enough.  And then there were leftovers--Jesus makes it possible for this to be repeated again.  Serving with Jesus is never a one- time event.  It’s a way of life.   God does the work of making what is needed, the church's calling is to make it available and accessible for the hungry crowds.

The crowds came because they needed God.  They were hungry, sick, tired, sick and tired, weary, afraid.  They needed relief and hope.  They needed God or Jesus to do what they could not do, to do an impossible thing.  They came because they needed to encounter a God who loved them and they needed that encounter to be real, tangible, embodied in a person or a community that demonstrated genuine love with acts of compassionate mercy. 

Some of us come because we are hungry.  We are hungry for food. Physical nourishment. Some of us discover that we are hungry for something else too---healing, community, compassion---we are unsatisfied, we don't have enough. Enough of whatever it takes to live a good, whole, healthy, peaceful, joyful life on earth with others. We may not be subsisting like they were.  But we are hungry too.  A friend of mine said that the fastest growing demographic in the US are people who have never experienced the gift of genuine community.  They do not belong.  And people want to belong. Maybe you have felt like an outsider or a misfit or not good enough. I meet people every day who tell me they are alone in their circumstances and they need help. I have felt alone, that no one cared, had my back, held me. Maybe you have too.     

Some of us wonder if God can or will provide.  We see scarce resources and excessive need.  We feel inadequate, small, and powerless. We wonder if there is enough.  I don't have enough______.  Fill  in the sentence.  Or howI've had just about enough of______.  Or I'm not ________enough.Its about vulnerability and insecurity.  Will we have enough?   Am I enough? 

The story teaches that there is enough.  God does provide.  We have been recipients of food since before we were born because we are enough. We are worthy because God made us so.  We continue to receive. The center of this gathered community is a table with bread and cup because God comes to us and for us there.  Our task is to receive and to give and to take up the leftovers and to never stop doing it until all know the love and grace of God. That is called communion. Living in healthy relationship with God, self, and others. May you encounter the grace of God in the sharing of bread at this table today and may you share the leftovers with those who did not come yet. Amen           

the one about heaven

From abducted girls in Nigeria to unaccompanied children at our borders, we see suffering children.  War persists and the Middle east continues to breed violence. The threat of Ebola virus is becoming a very real public, global health crisis. When the world has gone to hell, people need a word about heaven---a word of hope.  A word of consolation and comfort.  And we have them today.  Do you ever wonder what heaven will be like? I mean since we’re getting closer? There are books about heaven written by doctors and children who claim to have experienced it.  They sell and become movies because people are craving a word of hope in an age full of despair whose only consolation is the next three-day sale at Sears.  People ask me, pastor do you believe in heaven?  What do you think it’s like there?  I’m not sure, actually. I haven’t given it much thought.  Maybe because I enjoy my life, my place in this world…I’m not dodging bullets, fleeing armies, starving, living in disease and filth, experiencing horrors and griefs I have read about and seen on TV.  I’m not saying I’m in heaven, but…it certainly ain’t hell. You know? And yet, the conditions under which so many of our brothers and sisters are living, the needs of our neighbors, the struggles of our friends---tell me that we all need something to change.    

So what is heaven like?  How do you see it?  Clouds?  Angels singing? Palaces of gold in the sky?  Eternal golf course?  Eternal all inclusive resort?  A sunny day, a meadow, a gentle breeze, a butterfly, very Little House on the prairie?  Or mountains and rivers and trees and houses?   

How do you get there?  Death?  Morals?  Good grades?  Faith in Jesus?  Is there a pearly gate?  Is St. Peter checking people in? Really?  I believe heaven is more than a nice vacation and a decent weather pattern. It’s something other than a post-death destination.    

Jesus tells stories to open our imagination.  To what shall we compare the kingdom of heaven?  But it doesn’t seem like he is describing the after life at all.  At least, not the way we would.  Instead he seems to image what is it like to live under the reign of God, to live in the empire of God, and to experience the power of God.  As a political perspective, the empire of God exists in contrast to the empires of the world---Roman, American, insert present superpower du jour.  It is a kingdom of peace, abundance, hospitality and welcome, freedom and compassion.  It exists in contrast with every human government because it is does not assert dominion for its own sake.  The language of Kingdom of God or kingdom of the heavens is about a time and a place and a way of life that is greater than any other. What life is like when God is King.  How does this kingship come about?  How will God become King of this world?  Or is God only King of the world to come?  Jesus’ ministry suggests that God is interested in this life, the here and now, at least as much as the life to come.   Healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead?  That’s the ultimate example of God’s interest in this life---the dead are raised, not taken to heaven, but restored to life on earth.  The kingship of God comes about through the inauguration of Jesus, whose coronation is his death.  Strange way to become king.  But, maybe God’s ways are not our ways.  So what are God’s ways?  What is it like when God is king?  How will it be?   

And so we hear these short stories describing what it is like when God is King:  Like a tiny Mustard seed, like a little yeast, like a small pearl, like hidden treasure in a field.  So first, the Kingship of God is small, subtle, easily overlooked, yet clearly present.  It’s easy to overlook the presence of God when life is hard, when suffering is real, when needs persist and provisions are scarce.  When bombs are flying and people are dying and children are crying.  It’s hard to see God when things are going wrong.  Even when things are going right, we tend not to see blessing, but luck or good fortune or accident or personal agency.  But Jesus suggests that heaven is small and subtle and hidden in the midst of this world.  Within reach.  Near us.  Perhaps unfolding, growing, emerging around us.  It is not somewhere else, but mixed in, deep in the soil, growing within.  It is inside and under and within.      

And active---in the case of the seed and the yeast, which both carry potential energy to activate a process---the first becomes a tree that provides hospitable shelter for birds.  The second activates the dough and compels it to rise to become bread.   God is present and actively engaged in the making of the good life, the heavenly life.  We might say that Jesus suggests that only because God is actively involved might the kingdom of heaven come about.  Not because we did something right or knew something special, but because God is secretly present behind everything good that emerges.  And perhaps in the bad that occurs as well.  Might God be within all things at all times? Like a hidden treasure waiting to be found?   

A nest, a loaf of bread, a field, a single pearl, a net full of fish…How else might we describe it?  A glass of cold water on a hot day.  A place to sit and rest after a hard day of work.  A meal prepared for you after a long journey.  A friend who comes to visit you when you’re sad.  A new job.  A new backpack for school.  A fresh towel and soap.  A comfortable and safe bed.  The sky after  a storm passes.  A phone call that prevents a person from entering dark despair.  An unexpected gift.  A hug from a stranger.  

How might we imagine the kingdom of heaven? Small, subtle, unexpected. Yet of unprecedented value when it is discovered.  Is that not the secret of faith? When one has faith in God and hope in His promises, nothing else matters as much.  Nothing is worth more.  Because with it and through it all things, the good and the bad, are under the influence and power of the God who loves all things and intends to restore all things to beauty, truth, and goodness.             

The heavenly comes in the form of a man: A 1^st century, itinerant Jewish Rabbi whose teachings about nonviolence and compassion, and his ministry of healing the sick and feeding the hungry  led to his crucifixion by the Romans in about the year 37 AD is the King of the Empire of God, having come to destroy the malicious forces of corrupt power threatening to destroy the good creation.  He dwells among us.  In piece of bread, in tiny cup, in your life and mine.  As insignificant and small as we might feel. Heaven is not a place, but a people in communion with the God who raises the dead and promises that our destructive ways will not be the grand finale in his creation project.  There is something more. It is a promise.  Nothing on earth or in hell will separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. The Kingdom is ours forever.  Amen.        

Come, for everything is now ready

When were you last invited to a party or a dinner with friends?  Can you think of a time when you were invited and you didn't want to attend?  Did you give an excuse?  It was for a family dinner, wasn't it?  When was the last time you gave a dinner or a party and invited others?  I admit that I enjoy a good dinner party.  I love a cookout with friends. I enjoy hosting.  My wife is a great host, but it wears her out.  She's an introvert and is exhausted by the time everyone leaves.  My wife and I have thrown open houses for large groups and cookouts for intimate friends.  We do so on a few occasions, not more than four times in a year. (We host family at Thanksgiving, too)  I was recently at a graduation party for a young person from my church.  We went after dinner for dessert, but I was compelled to try the chicken.  I was not disappointed.  We didn't stay long.  But we were glad we went.  When one does go, relationships are often strengthened or renewed.  Just by showing up.  

I recently read an article in the Christian Century called "Fibbing about Church." (Christian Century, June 11, 2014, p. 7).  The gist of the article was that, when surveyed, people lie abut their church attendance.  "On any given Sunday, even those with strong connections to a church might well miss worship."  Weekly worship is a thing of the past and "the days of full pews are behind us." So  why do people falsify their worship attendance, when asked?
In person by phone, people are more likely to claim more frequent church attendance than if surveyed online. The gap between the two surveys is attributed to social desirability bias, or the tendency to say "the right thing" or what you think a person wants to hear.  The article suggests that the survey is hopeful in that fibbing about church may mean that people who attend church infrequently may actually want to attend more frequently.  "Some of the people who aren't at church think they should be."  The article suggests that some of the responses are motivated by aspiration and not obligation.  Some people who do not participate, would like to be part of a church community.    
This morning at our regular bible discussion, we talked about attendance.  In a small church, absences are noticeable and make a difference in our life together.  Planning for children in worship is challenging when some Sundays 20 kids are here and some Sundays 2 or 3 kids are here.  We have seen many people's attendance habits change over the past 9 years.  And for those who still participate weekly or more frequently, seeing other people come and go and disappear from the community can be troubling and sad.  So then, we read the parable that Jesus' told some people about participation in the Kingdom/life/ mission of God.  What we read has implications for how we understand ourselves as church in this present context.  

Today's BS text:  Luke 14. 15-24. Jesus said, "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many.  At the time of the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, "Come, for everything is now ready."  But they all alike began to make excuses...So the slave returned and reported  this to the master.  Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, "Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.  And the slave said, "Sir, what you have ordered has been done and there is still room." Then the master said to the slave, "Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled."  What does this mean?
1.  God desires a "full house", all are invited and welcome.
2.  Anyone and everyone is to receive an invitation to the dinner. Include those who are naturally left out, ignored, overlooked, and forgotten.
3.  Excuses and absences do not cancel the event.  There will be a dinner and there will be guests.

So, out of this emerged a way of thinking about faithfulness.  Faithfulness is not showing up when you're invited.  It is not characterized by right behavior,i.e, proper participation. We think of the faithful as those who come to worship and participate in the life of a congregation. The faithful are "the givers." But authentic faithfulness, in this text, is demonstrated by the slave.  In obedience to the master, he or she invites people, any people, all people, poor people, blind people, wealthy and distracted people, I'm-too-busy-for-this people.  Church, at its best, is people gathered at table to be fed by God's abundance.  And it is invitational, open, welcoming, hospitable to those who are typically uninvited.  WE are this Church!  The good news is found in the food we share around one table. God, like the bread we bread, is for everyone.  Period.  This is what it means to be saved by grace. Unearned.  Prepaid.  Free.  No strings.  You show up, you get fed. If you are hungry in any way, you're invited.  You can make excuses. But, in the end, you'll still be hungry. So, stop making excuses and come to the table.
As for the church, we are not the church if we are not---before every gathering---inviting others to join us at the table.  Invitation is our task.  God does the rest.  Church is a people and a place where the hungry are fed. And God is found.  Or maybe we are found by the God who is never absent, always present.  And always making ready to receive you. YOU are the guest at God's banquet.  Not because you are right, worthy, well-bred, rich enough, important enough, or good enough.  You are the guest because God has said so.  And it is by invitation and participation in the meal that we are church.  Nothing more. Nothing less.
So, we gather for dinner together.  And we receive the Eucharist.  We break bread and Jesus is revealed to us and we are forgiven, healed, freed, and made ready to serve others.
So, church, let us exercise the sort of faithfulness embodied by the slave in Jesus' story.  Invite. Compel.  Invite.  For everything is ready.  And the food is good.  Amen.      

Church is dying

In the past few years, a lot has been published, on blogs, in magazines, in books, about the dying of Christianity in the west. Or the death of western Christendom, depending on who you read. Even today, I read two blogs about church death. There seems to be a great deal of anxiety about this,on the one hand. And I am also hearing a fair bit of acceptance of it on the other. To say the least, there is a grief process, a letting go process, at work in the church.  Annd there is a fair biit of denial taking place that refuses to accept a "climate change" in western culture toward  modern western Christianity.  This shift rejects institutional, scriptural hegemony and authoritative universal claims of truth and morality.  This shift involves the limits of science and the seeemingly boudless output of new technologies. There are no longer competing sources of knowledge for human unnderstanding.  There is a dominant secular world view. And there is a radicalized theological perspective characterized by fundamentalism, religious fanaticism, and theologically justified and religiously practiced intolerance.   Even aas western Christians become mroe secular, the heaart of Christianity  is movving to the global south, where the poorest and most marginalized peoples live.  Those places that wwere colonized by western Christian missionaries in the last couple of centuries have become strong, conservative, growing Christian  movements.  In some ways, christianity is the face of progress in those parts of the world---providing sexual education and human rights for women and children, as well as health care and increased educational opportunities. 
I am a church professional, a pastor, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor. I am almost 40 years old. In that time I have witnessed the mainline decline from the front row.  The mentality among many of my elder colleagues is that "we're losing the war".  First, the non-denominational megachurch phenomenon of the late 20th century seemed to replace us.  All the young people go to ______________church (fill in with your local non-denominational megachurch.  Attractional, personaliity-driven, entertaining, and highly consumeristic these churches appeal to American cultural proclivities.  But the version of church is so American that it loses its spiritual center.  The cross and resurrection of Jesus, his presence in a community gathered around the gospel story, eucharistic fellowship, and prayer have been  neglected in favor of Psalms set to pop music and homogeneous groupings of people who agree on moralistic grounds.  Church becomes a place of moral judgement and rules that govern who is in and who is out.   But even the megachurch expression is losing ground in the U.S., to the nones.
The Nones are the fastest growing religious definition in the U.S.  They are people who are not affiated with any religious group or preference.   Some of them were never affiliated and some of them are disconnected and some of them have abandoned the religious life of their family of origins.   And while mainliners were distracted by church growth and megachurches and the perceived threat to their own congregational systems, we failed to see or hear the hard, necessary truth.  The church, in its late modern, western form, is dying and will die.  It must die.  That is how Jesus Crhist and the church are incarnated over and over again for 2,000 years.  Death and resurrection.  Faith in God reires hope in the face of certain death.  It requires an openness to Spiritual renewal, God at work in a new way to make something new happen that resembles God's ultimate reality, the kingdom or reign of God in, over, with, and for the world.   
I have written about this in my blog before.  Years ago.  I can't even find the post,  its been so long.  I did not, however, set out today to write about the dying or death  of the church as we hhave known  it in the west.  I have already done that and so has pretty much everyone else.  I set out this afternoon to write about life; the Life of the Church.  The resurrection of the church.  I can only tell you what I have seen and heard.  I suspect others can confirm these things.  These are the ways I see church changing.
1. Pope Francis.  Remember, I am a Lutheran---the first ones to reject the papacy and strike out to reform the church in the 16th century.  500 years later, a shift is taking place again.  We are discovering that there is no salvation, no justification by grace through faith, without justice and peace on earth.  The marginalized, poor, and oppressed live longing for a better day.  It is not necessary to baptize a starving and sick child, as much as it is to feed them.  Francis loves the poor with a Christlike love and is calling the church to renew its biblical calling to servve, love, and bless them as Christ hidden in their suffering.  
2. Relational diversity and deep acceptance of the other.  I have seen churches become people of hospitality and welcome that intentionally include addicts, people stuck in poverty, homeless people, gay people, sick and dying people.  I get to be part of a Christian commuity that increasinngly accepts people as they are, beloved children of the same God. 
3.  Koinonia.  The art of community-building.  Churches are building community with artists, musicians, Ex-gang members, ex-offenders.  Multi-lingual, multi-cultural communities.  Churches that are intentionally small, relational, and missional/incarnational expressions of the gospel story, trying to live like the community described in  the book of Acts, in the New Testament.   I see churches plant gardens and feed neighbors.  I see churches build parks and support their public schools.  I see churches teach English and reading classes to immigrants.  I see churches create housing for low income households, and jobs for unemployable adults. 
I bellieve the church is going to be smaller and more vibrant and more contagious and more impactful in the 21st century.  Small, immersed in the culture like infiltrators, bearers of light in a dark place.    If we could just stop talkiing about death-whose dying and why, what a good death is like, and what life support should be-and start living and breathing as the body of the one who died and somehow lived and lives and will live forever among us, so that the church lives forever on earth as sign and sentinel for the age that is coming, then our light will break forth like the dawn. 

 

on living wages

There is a debate again in our society about the treatment of people in poverty.  Income inequality plagues our nation.  According to Pew Research Center 2012 report, the top 1% of earners take home nearly 22% of all pre-tax income.  The bottom 90% of earners bring home just 49% of all income.  That high concentration  of wealth at the top brings with it a lot of power to assert in the maintenance of their status. The debate continues with concerns about redistribution of wealth.  One of the hot topics right now around income in America is over the minimum wage.  Federally set in 2009 at $7.25 an hour, it fails to provide a suffiicient living wage for millions of Americans.  Democrats, including the President, have called for an increase in the minimum wage to as much as $10.10 an hour.  21 states have already increased minimum wage in the past year.    
 There is an indignity that comes from working full time for a pay check that does not pay enough to feed one's family, pay for adequate housing, and provide for basic health care and transportation costs. It has to do with the human determination to provide adequately and sustainably for ones self and one's immediate family. In America, some people are denied this dignity, often because of circumstances beyond their control.
Generational poverty and lack of real opportunity keep people below potential.  And it begins with children. The bible and our own national history calls us to do better than this.    

"You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.  You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihoods depends on them;otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you and you would incur guilt." Deuteronomy 24:14.  I'm not someone who uses a highlighter in my bible. I don't underline the parts I like and ignore the parts I don't like.  I think the bible has some things to say to us about how believers in God treat people.  There is a relatively consistent and clear picture that emerges when one considers one sub category of people vis a vis the bible: the poor.  Ethical, compassionate, just treatment of the poor is a significant biblical theme from beginning to end.  Those with wealth and means have a responsibility toward the poor in their midst, to assure their well being.  In the passage I selectively posted above, directed toward employers, workers have a right to be paid for their work in a way that assures them a livelihood.  Both timing and  amount fall into the category of livelihood.  It must be sufficient for the needs of the day.
I live in a county that is mixed with urban, rural, and suburban populations.  There is extreme wealth and poverty in Lancaster county.  This is a county where the working poor struggle.  21% of Lancaster county workers make minimum wage or less. 1 in 5 Lancaster County workers would benefit from a minimum wage increase and they would contribute more to the local economy as a result. People who work full time deserve the dignity of a living wage. It's been 5 years since federal minimum wage was increased. According to an MIT study, a living wage calculation for a family of four living in Lancaster county is $17.31/hour. A single parent household with 3 children must earn the most:$28.84/hour. According to Lancaster city data, 44% of poor households worked full or part-time. 69% of poor households are single-mother households. 1/3 of the poor are children in Lancaster.
The cry of the business community is that increasing minimum wage will force layoffs and other cuts.  They are threatening to unemploy low income workers, rather than pay them a sufficient wage.  
If someone is willing to work a low skill, low pay job to earn a living, they ought to receive a respectable wage.  Raising the wage will increase tax revenue and provide additional spending into local economies, where earners spend their money.  The wealthy will not be penalized by a minimum wage increase, but rather stand to gain greater wealth.  Wealth is created at the bottom and trickles up, not down.   
What would a biblical call for justice for the poor sound like today?  I think it would begin with an invitation to repent from the injustice of income inequality and insist that employers pay their workers living wages.  Six weeks of job training is not going to assure that my family has adequate food and housing today.  And the indignity of life below poverty for those who cannot work is another topic altogether.  Employment is not the only solution to poverty.  Compassion and sacrifice is the way up and the way out.  The walls between the wealthy and the poor must be demolished.  Empathy must be established.  And resources must be shared effectively and fairly.  
I am a Lutheran Pastor.  I am called to announce good news to the poor.  I cannot offer hope without a fight for justice.  I know too many children who are uncertain about their next meal or their next home.  Not in Honduras or Haiti, but right here.       

Maundy Thursday and sacramental Christians

Tonight we begin the preparations for his death and burial. He prepares us, really.  Food, last words, gentle acts of humble service and care. Tonight is a series of preparatory moves; beginning with confession and forgiveness, moving to the waters where feet that have walked with him are washed and healed; finishing with the supper that became his signature practice. Tonight is how Jesus demonstrates the act of grace---God dwelling deep in our flesh, uniting with us in simple acts of love. Tonight the sacraments are born, instituted, established.  So…here are:

7  things everyone should know about the sacraments.

1.  There are really three.  Baptism. Communion.  The office of the keys or confession.  Tonight we experience a rare combination of all three.  Footwashing is a cleaning, a regeneration, and a sharing in Christ’s suffering (a kind of baptismal act).  Confession and absolution completes the 40 day fast of Lent and prepares our souls for resurrection life in God’s kingdom.  Communion is a participation with the disciples in the last supper and the new covenant established in his death and resurrection.

        2.  Sacraments are commanded by Lord Jesus.     “Go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them all that I have commanded you.”  “Do this in remembrance of me”. “I give you a new commandment.  Love one another as I have loved you.”  About confession’ Luther said, “Here reflect on your place in life in light of the ten commandments: whether you are father, mother, son, daughter, employer, employee:  whether you have been disobedient, unfaithful, lazy; whether you have harmed anyone by word or deed; whether you have stolen, neglected, wasted, or injured anyone.

3.      3.  Sacraments carry with them the promises of God.  “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved.” Mark 16. Luther says that baptism brings about the forgiveness of sis, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the Word and promise of God declare.  He calls baptism a bath into a new birth in the Holy Spirit.  Communion carries with it the promise that it is “for you” and “for me”.  Jesus is for us and for our salvation.  Jesus intends for us to live whole, right, good, and faithful lives now and forever.  Baptism and communion physically unite us with Jesus’ body.  He is spiritually in the water, in the bread and wine.  So, he comes into us as we wash, eat, and drink. To get closer to Jesus one only needs to participate in these acts.    

4.      4.  Ordinary things carry the power of God to heal, to forgive, to save.  Jesus gives ordinary earthly elements divine properties.  Water, bread, fruit of the vine:  These are ever present on the earth.  They are building blocks of life really.  And they are signs to us that God is not up in heaven, in a royal palace, untouchable, unknowable.  God is present in these real tangible ways.  Immersed in, infused into these very real, very physical, very simple things.

5.      5.  It’s not magic.  Its faith.  We take Jesus at his word.  We say it is because he said it is. We believe because believing makes a difference.  It is a basic acceptance of a thing; like gravity or spring flowers or summer heat.  It just is.  Trust it and God will give you something.  That’s why babies and children are great examples of faith; they receive.  It’s not mechanical or philosophical.  It doesn’t require special knowledge, proofs, or evidence. It is mystery how Jesus becomes bread, wine, and water. Resurrection frees him to be present to us in these obvious and ordinary ways.     

6.      6.  They’re easy to share.  Because they are natural and safe. Because access is so easily granted us, and because we are the only obstacles to sharing them…the benefits have been experienced and acknowledged for centuries.  The command is clear.  And there are plenty of people who have not yet been offered these gifts, we are compelled by love to do so.  Tonight. This weekend and every week.

7.      7.  Pastors administer them.  God calls men and women to their service, not as protectors or gatekeepers; but as distributors and agents of invitation. We get to play host at a meal that is not mine.  We get to be deliverers of much needed good news to people estranged from God, wounded, broken, suffering in systems of injustice that alienate, accuse, judge, and condemn.  Longing for peace, real peace---shalom---wholeness, honesty, health, loving relationships, goodness---pastors get shepherd people to the waters and the bread of life.

So, tonight we receive the sacraments. He prepares us for death and new life.  He invites us to participate in his life, his death, his resurrection over and over again. As we enter into the story of his passion and death, may you enter with the strength and comfort of having received grace, love, and the forgiveness of all your sins.  Amen.  

On the 6th Day

 It is Good Friday.  The Sabbath has already begun, for darkness has fallen here tonight.  But at the hour of his death, on the day of preparation for the Sabbath, on the day when the Passover lambs were slaughtered in Jerusalem, it was still Friday and the sixth day of the week.  According to the story of creation, the sixth day is the day we were born.  On the sixth day, God said let us create humans in our image.  In the image of God, God created them.  Male and female.  And God said, “it is very good.”  On the sixth day, human kind comes into existence.  It is the final creative act, according to Genesis.  For on the 7^th day, God rests.  The work of creation is completed and yet, there is a deeper reality at work that threatens; the darkness and chaos press against the goodness and the light.  They threaten to drown what God has made in the struggle for power and control.  Made in God’s image, we imagine ourselves too much like gods. Selfishly greedy, with insatiable appetites for more than our fair share that must be protected by violent opposition toward any human threat to our liberty.  The current debates in our culture over guns and gays is about power and control. Who has it?  Who should have it?  Me, you, them, us, the government?  In our superior egotism, we forget our vulnerabilities, our fallibilities, our mortality collectively earned and evenly distributed to all.  We forget that what we do unto others, we are doing to ourselves.  We let the chaos and the darkness in.  In our politics, in our private thoughts, in our foolish games, we let the darkness overwhelm us.  We let the chaos of a thousand mass shootings, of unending war, of intractable poverty, of tyrannical injustices too many to name, too painful to ignore and too entangling to fight overwhelm us.  To avoid the nakedness, we cover ourselves in shame.  We say “there is no God” while we play and work and self-medicate with toys and sex and food and drugs and treadmills and unworthy, vain pursuits.  We run from the light like blind moles emerging from winter’s earthen depths only to retreat at the touch of the sun’s rays.  We shop and watch and drive at the expense of hungry, dying children.  We take sides and blame and judge to protect ourselves and hold our own power over them.  We cast out, we oppress, we abuse and neglect.  We lash out and ignore.  What have we become but the shadows of our true selves? No longer innocent babes.  We have grown up, but we have not matured. We have not embraced the truth of our identities.  When faced with the reality of the God who dwells with and in us, we put him to death.             

On the sixth day, the man of God, the son of God, the Word of God who was with God in the beginning, is put to death on a cross.  He is shamefully executed by the government and religious powers.  Their authority was established by the will of the people who cried out, “Crucify him.”  On the sixth day, the crowning achievement of God’s good creation goes the way every single one of God’s children has gone; by the way of death; death that is the fruit of human sin; turning away from God to serve ourselves.  “We have no king but Caesar,” is to admit total infidelity to the creator God and full allegiance with Tiberias—who called himself son of God.  On a Friday afternoon, the sixth day, darkness and chaos close in and push God out, swallowing Him up and ending His life.  They extinguish the light of the world.  They lay waste the bread of life and pour out the living waters.  And as he hangs on the cross, life draining from his broken and pierced body he says, “It is finished.”  That which God started on the sixth day of creation, divine fellowship with humankind,  is completed in the death of Jesus.  God enters creation and loves creation so completely that God dies with creation; so that creation can be fully restored, healed, made whole.  On the cross, God makes peace with us.  Jesus finishes the work of creation by claiming death as the portal out of the darkness and chaos and into the light and life of God. Tomorrow, we must rest.  Because, on the 8^th day the new creation begins. 

   

  

the one about the bones

Can these bones live?  Can the dead live?  Can those bound in the dark silence of the tomb breathe again? Can those whose lives are cut short be given another chance?  

There is a fascination with life after death.  From “The Walking Dead” to Zombie Apocalpyse, Vampire Diaries to Resurrection popular TV is a reflection of popular culture’s interest in the mystery and uncertainty of the future.  But neither the ancient Jews nor the first Christians were concerned only with the question; is there a personal life after death?  Their understanding of resurrection, the restoration of life, was about the dire present circumstances of the whole community of God’s faithful and whether there would be vindication for them after long-suffering. 

Ezekiel the prophet speaks to the exiled Jewish community in despair.  They longed for days of freedom.  They remembered Jerusalem before the great day of destruction.  And now they were living in a foreign land, deported from their homeland; their holy city and God’s holy temple destroyed.  It was the middle of the 6^th century BC.  The Babylonian empire had conquered Israel, destroyed the temple, left the weak to die, deported the strong to Babylon.  When Ezekiel prophesies (a word which means one who publicly announces the Word of God), to Israel, he prophesies to a people who had seen death and grave loss.  They were desolate, lost, deep in despair.  They assumed their history, their way of life, had been destroyed forever.  God has abandoned them to die in a foreign country.  They were in bondage, captives to a people who did not know their God and their story.  Who were they apart from David’s city and solomon’s temple?  Their great story of Passover and liberation, a story that was meant to bring hope, brought sorrow.  Where was God now?  Their hope was gone. 

The Valley of Dry Bones symbolizes Israel’s hopeless sense of abandonment.  Their God had left them to die.  But, Ezekiel announces that the Ruah, the Spirit breath of God, was about to return to them.  The community would be restored.  Not because they were righteous, faithful, or pious. But because God is faithful and merciful and good.   Because God’s love for Israel was eternal.  The community would be restored as a holy people, the covenant restored by God for them.  And so God does restore them.  And Jerusalem is rebuilt.  And there is peace.  For a time. 

But 500 years pass and the people are in bondage again.  This time it is the Roman empire that violently oppresses with military force and high taxation.  They kill rebels and crucify messiahs.  And although the temple has been restored, it has been corrupted by money changers and turned into a system of economic oppression that benefited a few and hurt many.  And the nation is torn apart.  Some want to rise up and wage war.  Others want to quietly obey the Torah and pray for God to send a deliverer.  There was much suffering and senseless death. Jesus and the church emerge in this context. There is death because of poverty and violence.  

A brother died.  We do not know Lazarus’ story. How did he get sick? What illness overcame him and led to his death?  Jesus was familiar with this family, Mary and Martha and Lazarus of Bethany.  They had shown hospitality to Jesus.  And he cared for them like sisters.  And a brother.  But when he died, Jesus was off with his disciples.  If he had been there, perhaps he could’ve done something to save him.  That is the accusation leveled against Jesus.  His absence was almost as responsible for death as the disease itself.  Doctors take mortality seriously, seemingly holding life in their hands sometimes. Jesus had stayed away and Lazarus had died.  And although Jesus suggests that his death is a sign of God's life-giving power, it seems that he is too late.  Now it was four days later.  Past the point of return.  And yet, he arrives and promises more than a hopeful future.  Not "one day you will reunite in heaven."  He promises them life.  Resurrection.  Now.  In that hour. Our "too late" becomes God's "right now". 

And so, with a loud voice he raises Lazarus.  Lazarus emerges.  Alive.  Not so that the people can believe that heaven is for real.  But so that they might believe that Jesus is the son of God come to save the world from sin and death.   And he calls the community to unbind him and set him free. 

Can the dead live?  When we think about these two stories, death is linked with despair and hopelessness.  It is linked with "too late".  Who lives with such despair today?  Who are the living dead? Who are bound by injustice and oppression?  Who are hopeless? We aren’t.  We are safe and privileged and healthy.  The bible was written by those on the bottom of the human pyramid. The bible was written in the blood and suffering of martyrs.  We are not them.  How can we say it is our story? It is the story of those who are stepped on, abused, hated, rejected, cursed, unjustly treated. It is the story of the jews facing the gas chambers at Auschwitz.  It is the story of Native Americans facing extermination; of Rwandan Genocide.  It is the story of people who are stripped of human dignity and the possibility of a good, whole, and healthy life.  We may think of people in poverty, people dealing with oppressive governments, people living through the hell of war.  We may think of children living through famine, seeing death every day.  We may think of 2 million incarcerated Americans, the free-est country in the world incarcerates the most people.  Over 3, 000 Americans face life sentences without parole for nonviolent offenses. They do so in states where there are mandatory sentencing guidelines for multiple offenders.  Mostly they are drug-related offenses.  Are drugs nonviolent?  Perhaps not.  Nevertheless, the U.S, incarcerates a higher percentage of its citizens than any other country.  Can these bones live?  Hundreds of thousands of people are deported from the U.S. every year.  Families are divided.  Children watch their parents get deported.  People who have lived and worked here and paid taxes here without opportunity to apply for citizenship are deported.  1,200 people every day.  One of the largest detention centers for illegal immigrants is in York County.  A nation of immigrants has made it very hard for immigrants to become citizens. And so they live in fear.  Can these bones live?

We live in an age where there is reason to despair.  With all of our advances in medicine and science and technology, some people live with privileges that others are denied because of their skin color, their sexual orientation, their economic status.  We live in an age where food can be wasted in one house, while people hunger in the next one.  We live in an age where wealthy business owners build mansions in Manheim Township while a single mom and her 4 month old face eviction and homelessness.  Can these bones live?  

The bible was written in and for a community of people.  It is not a rule book for individuals.  It is community’s story, a national charter, a corporate manifesto.  It is the message, voice, and intention of God. It is a covenant between God and people.  WE are called to take up the prophetic work of setting the oppressed free. You will ask, but how? I cannot answer that.  God will breathe it into us.  God speaks and the dead listen.  We must shout against it. Death threats, incarcerations, what have you they will not prevent God’s people from saying what is true.  God desires that the oppressed, the poor, the imprisoned, the detained and deported will be free. We must not silently and idly stand by while injustice reigns.  We must stand for hope and truth and justice. One day it will be so.    Can these bones live?  Yes, they can.  Make it so, O Lord. Make it so.  Amen.      

the one about eyesight

Sight is something few of us take for granted.  Many of us wear corrective lenses.  I've worn glasses since I was 7.  I was called four-eyes.  When I take these off, I see undefined shapes and colors.  I'm near-sighted, which means I can't see things far away.  Unfortunately "far away" is limited to about 4 feet.  Several of you have had eye surgeries to repair injured eyes.  Loss of sight can be devastating.  But just as one’s ability to see does not define us, nor should one’s inability to see.  More often than not people are defined by their disability.  We marvel at people who overcome disabilities to become more able than expected.  Amputees who run, for example.  But we often pity or even fear people with disabilities we do not understand, especially those who are born disabled.  We discriminate. Just as there is physical blindness, we suffer from spiritual blindness. We determine what is right and what is wrong. Their outer appearance reveals their inner selves.  Right?  We need to determine cause and effect.  A defect, a flawed character, a bad seed. What caused this?  We say that people get what they deserve.  We want someone to be responsible. We need to blame. We want to fault someone.  And in so doing, we isolate the bad seeds from the good.  We separate them. Everything from skin color to physical and mental acuity, and even the distinction between wealthy and poor.  We have determined which is preferable and we prejudice against its opposite. And genetics doesn't help, does it?  Now our flaws are mutations that we may hope to control or eliminate through genetic redesign.  

When we see someone or something we don't like we avoid it or reject it.  

Whose in your spiritual blind spot?  Who do you find it hard to see as anything beyond their disease, disorder, or flaw?  What do we believe about addicts? Criminals? The poor? The disabled?  The mentally ill? Are they blessed or cursed?    

As usual, the gospel reverses conventional wisdom and understanding about the human condition.  Who is able?  Who is disabled?  Who is a sinner? Who is right?  Who is blind? Who can see?  Seeing is an important theme in the gospel of John, where it is a metaphor for faith in the God made visible in the crucified man Jesus.  Also, John astutely suggests that sight and insight are not the same thing. Some people seem to be able to intuit or trust that certain things are a certain way. They may even trust in invisible things.   We call this faith.  Others require physical proof and call those who believe in invisible things fools or worse. They are rationalists who depend on their senses to confirm truth. Most of us are not one or the either but a combination with a preference for how we observe and make sense of the world.      

I notice two things about this story from the fourth chapter of John's gospel.  The first is obvious.  Jesus is absent from the story from verses 8 to 34, the longest he is absent in the gospel of John. This is interesting because John’s gospel is all about the presence of God in Jesus.  The one who became flesh and dwells among us. And though many did not believe this, some did.  The whole story seems to hinge on the difference between those two groups; believers and nonbelievers. According to John, Jesus presence is the sign of God’s saving work for all of humankind.  And yet he disappears for half of this story. In a story about blindness and recovery of sight, the main character disappears. What might this mean?     

Second, a blind man receives sight and no one celebrates this.  From the moment he receives his sight, the man is interrogated.  It’s as if he’s on trial, isn’t it?  Who are you?  Have you been blind since birth or are you just a panhandler using “blindness”  as a way to people’s wallets? Who did this to you? Do you see this man in the court room?  You don’t see him? Then where did he go?  They even interrogate his parents, putting them on the witness  stand.  Is this your son?  Was he born blind?  Then how does he now see?  They intend to accuse Jesus, calling him a sinner.  They know that the law has been violated somehow.  Jesus did in fact heal the man on the Sabbath day, an act of work that was apparently condemned by the strictest adherents to the law.  

The prosecution rests with their final judgment.  This man was born in sin.  His testimony is therefore unreliable at best, and an outright lie at the worst. They know the law.  But they do not know Jesus.  And they do not believe this man’s testimony. 

Jesus never appears in his own defense or in defense of the man who was born blind and now sees. He is absent from the trial.

In the late first century, the early church had to deal with Jesus' absence. They lacked visible proof of his resurrection.  Their testimony that they had seen him was refutable evidence, plausibly deniable. John's gospel is strengthening believers and encouraging non-believers to take the risk of faith and trust testimony of the first adherents.  Jesus' absence continues to be problematic in a scientific world that requires empirical evidence to corroborate truth.  
Do you ever feel like God is absent from you and your circumstances? When things go badly, does it ever feel like you’re alone?  When you are surprised by an unexpected grace, do you ever feel like celebrating but no one is there to celebrate with you? 

There is an important clue to the absence of Jesus that Jesus himself gives.  Jesus says “I am the light of the world.” The thing about light is that it is always with us on earth.  Is there a place that humans dwell that is completely devoid of light?  Ever?  We cannot live without light. The sun, the moon and stars, fire.  Light.  We are drawn to it. Without it no one sees.  Is it possible that the text reveals something about Jesus?  He is visible in visibility. Jesus is our vision.  Jesus gives us sight, insight, the capacity to know and understand, to experience the other not as threat but as a fellow human.  In the creation story, light separates from darkness.  But it does not avoid it.  It fills it up.  Light fills darkness.  And so in this way, Jesus fills the darkness of every human heart.  Just as he gives sight to a blind man, Jesus makes it possible for me and you to see and know the truth about humankind. We are NOT prejudged by God through the lens of SIN.  We are all seen through the lens of God’s glory.  We see and judge people through the lens of good and evil; a lens God insisted would lead to death.  But God sees all of humanity through one lens: The light of pure love.  A blind man is given sight, because God has become visible for all to see in Jesus, in the light of the world.  Look around. There is no place where God does not dwell.  God is everywhere. In every person, place, and thing. Or maybe everything is in God.  Either way, God is not invisible to those who believe.  I believe and so I see God in you and in every living, breathing thing.  So what does it mean to reject, demonize, or hate someone?  What does it mean to imprison someone, put them to death, reduce someone to an action or a behavior or a disability?  What does it mean to see the poor as bad people, lazy people, worthless people? Natural selection is a process that, in a sense, negates the presence of God in some parts of creation. In our spiritual blindness, we fail to see God. 

Jesus is present in every living person and especially in those who are made to suffer unjustly.  The way we treat and understand others is the way we treat and understand Jesus. Do we crucify him or celebrate him? I think we do too much crucifying and not enough celebrating. Jesus is present in water, bread, wine, Words of grace and peace, in healing, in the light that surrounds us, comforts us, lets us see and know that God is as near as the air we breathe. What would life be like if everyone believed that what they saw, the ordinary stuff of everyday existence, life itself was the sign of God's existence, the sign of God's love?  Amen.   

Dinner Church

 This is an old idea.  What if we gathered around a meal and did a Eucharist while we ate it? The first Christians did this.  (See First Corinthians.  See 1st century Judaism.)  A Eucharist is also called the Lord's Supper or Holy Communion.  It is the ancient act of breaking bread and sharing a common cup of wine as a sign of reconciliation, for the forgiveness of sins, as a participation in Jesus' death and resurrection, and as a foretasting of a future reality in which all are fed and no one hungers or thirsts.
I'd also heard about St. Lydia's, a Lutheran mission church in Brooklyn practicing dinner church.
So we did it. This is what we did.
We gather around tables in a semi-circle.  We bring food to share.  We light candles.  We pray.  We listen to two stories:  A gospel story and a personal story from a new disciple of Jesus. We pray and we celebrate the Eucharist.  Here is the outline:

       Dinner Church.  Liturgy of the Eucharist

L=Leader; A=All

L          God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the seas and the stars;

A         Show us your love.

L          Jesus the Christ, light and life, our salvation and peace.

A         Show us your grace.

L          Holy Spirit, breath of life, our comforter and guide;

A         Show us your power.

L          O God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit:

A         Give us your peace.  Amen.

L          What are the greatest commandments?

A         You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Psalm 51

L          Have mercy on me O God, according to your lovingkindness;

A         in your great compassion blot out my offenses;

L          Wash me through a through from my wickedness,

A         and cleanse me from my sin.

L          For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me

A         Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right Spirit within me.

 All are invited to cast away their regrets, mistakes, guilt, and Sin by throwing a stone into the water basin.  We believe that Baptism unites us with Jesus, cleanses us from sin, and renews us in the Holy Spirit.

A reading from the Gospel of John

 We read the story in parts.  Tonight we need the voice of the woman and the voice of Jesus. 

A conversation with Beca Zimmerman

The risk of being vulnerable and the power of God to form us into called people with a mission to encourage others. 

Reflection time. 

Prayers of the People (A time to pray for people who need God’s peace, power, grace, and love.)

Liturgy of Thanksgiving

L          The Lord be with you;

A         And also with you.

L          Lift up your hearts;

A         We lift them up to the Lord.

L          Let us give thanks to the Lord our God;

A         It is right to give God thanks and praise.

L          In the night when he was betrayed, our Lord Jesus took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying:  Take and eat this is my body given for you. Do this to remember me. Again after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to all to drink saying: This cup is the new covenant in my blood, shed for you and for all people for the forgiveness of sins.  Do this to remember me. 

  

A         Our Father in heaven, Holy is your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen

Sharing the bread and cup:  All are welcome to receive the bread saying: “The body of Christ for you.  And the cup saying: The blood of Christ for you.

We sing:          Eat this bread, drink this cup, come to me and never be hungry;

Eat this bread, drink this cup, trust in me and you will not thirst.

L          God is with us in the beauty and power of creation

            God is with us in the love that heals, forgives, and brings peace;

            God is with us in the Spirit that binds us together and makes us one.

            God, the creator, Jesus the savior, and Holy Spirit, giver of life be with you.

A         And also with you. Amen.

Let us depart in the peace and love of Jesus Christ

Liturgy means work of the people.  And so we entrust each other with holy words and holy things. There are many leaders, speakers, and servants around the table.  Last night, 30 people came with more food than we could eat.  The woman who participated in the gospel reading has never read scripture in public as long as I've known her.  Another young adult prayed the opening dialogue.  Children prayed the prayers of the people.  Another young adult prayed the departing blessing. Beca told her story.  We pass the bread and the grape juice.   It feels very communal.

There was a point at which Beca disclosed long-held beliefs in her own inadequacy, like she didn't matter to anyone.  Like no one should care about her. She actually believes that shit. She was taught to believe it in subtle ways by her family.  But it has become internalized.  She believes in her own unworthiness.  So I invited anyone else who has felt that way to stand.  Everyone stood with her and around her.  And communion happened in that moment.

There are unbaptized people in the room.  There are lifelong Lutherans in their 70's in the room. There are babies and single mothers. There are recovering alcoholics.  There are families.  There are teens and thirty somethings.  

When I proposed that we do this, I did not expect this to happen.  

Anyone can come.  Bring something to share at the table. If for nothing else, come for a great meal with a community hungry for a place to experience God's grace.