Nothing Will Be Impossible with God: When Things Get Revealed - Sermon for the 1st Sunday of Advent

Nothing Will Be Impossible with God: When Things Get Revealed
Advent 1B

November 29, 2020

Grace, Waseca, MN

Mark 13.24-37

Keep awake! Beware, keep alert! our Gospel reading from Mark warns, with menacing overtones. As I get older. whether it’s Advent or not, staying awake and being alert become harder and harder. In the midst of a pandemic, even without contracting the virus, circumstances seem to suck the very life out of me like an insatiable parasite. Getting through the day is a major accomplishment. I wish I were one of those who have done much with the down time, but it’s not been that way for me, not that I’ve had any real down time. Keep awake, indeed.

Jesus’ words in Mark don’t help much. After Jesus’ relentless end-time parables in Matthew’s Gospel with all the eternal punishment and weeping and gnashing teeth, a little, hopeful reprieve in Mark would be nice. Not today. Now, I understand that the task of the First Sunday of Advent is to remind us that the Jesus who came as a baby in Bethlehem will come again at the end of time. Even so, this doesn’t seem good news. It looks like Jesus is piling on in the midst of a weary world where we’re all simply trying to keep it together. Why keep awake for that?

Ironically, that’s the opposite effect Jesus intends with this apocalyptic imagery in Mark. The images of darkening sun, dimming moon, falling stars, and shaking heavens sound a lot like Revelation or parts of Daniel. But then we are reminded what apocalyptic texts are for. Though these weird texts seem to predict tumultuous end-times, they are really meant to function more about encouragement in the present times. The word apocalypse means to reveal. As such, the purpose of apocalyptic texts is to reveal who really is in control: God.

None of us are where we want to be this Advent. We aren’t with our loved ones celebrating the holidays. We aren’t in school or at work in the way we’re used to. We won’t be in church singing “Silent Night” surrounded by our friends and family as we do every year. The list goes on. We tend to hear the message of Advent as, “God is coming; look busy!” But I wonder if this Advent might be more about being than it is about doing.

Those first followers of Jesus knew that life is uncertain and chaotic. They were under the thumb of an oppressive government and will experience the destruction of the temple resulting in their scattering to the winds. We have certainly been reminded of how quickly and how much life can change. Yet, Jesus vividly reminds us that it is in precisely these chaotic times when God reveals God’s self in remarkable ways. I like the words of Adrienne Brown, “Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered. We must hold each other tight and pull back the veil.” During Advent we are to see where God is revealing God’s self to us.

Today we begin the sermon series, “Nothing Will Be Impossible with God,” echoing the angel’s words to Mary at the Annunciation that we’ll hear in a few weeks. The subtheme for today is, “When Things Get Revealed.” The theme poses a question for us: what at Grace is God revealing to us? I’m not going to answer it for you, at least not completely. I do want you to entertain the idea that God is revealing opportunities for ministry. You see, regardless of the pandemic or anything else that disrupts your life, we are still church and evidence to the contrary, God is still with us. A blessed Advent as you simply be God’s children for whom God is still very much present and reveals opportunities to join with God in loving and blessing this world. That’s worth staying awake for. Amen.

For the video version of today's sermon, click here.

"Buried Alive" - Sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost

Buried Alive
Pentecost 24A – Stewardship Commitment Sunday
November 15, 2020
Grace, Waseca, MN
Matthew 25.14-30

Public theologian and pastor David Lose has likened the Bible to a scrapbook, something with a lot of different material and stories. As we look through scrapbooks of our lives, we may wonder why we keep things in there, what stories they tell, and why we keep retelling them. The same could be said about the stuff in the Bible: why did we keep some of these things and what are the stories behind them? That’s why we read the Bible in community, so that each of us can compare notes with others about what we think the meaning of a particular story is. This is certainly true for Jesus’ parables, which seem like crazy Uncle Charlie’s pointless ramblings that confound us more than they enlighten us.

“Crazy Uncle Jesus” doesn’t help us much with his “weeping and gnashing of teeth” rants in Matthew. Jesus uses this phrase almost exclusively. Though it seems to generate fear, I think it is meant to do the opposite. At the risk of mixing metaphors, I think that “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is Jesus’ 1st century version of texting in all caps: he’s telling us to PAY ATTENTION – THIS IS IMPORTANT! So, what’s so important that Jesus is trying to get our attention? My take is that, as we follow him, we aren’t to live in fear. Instead, Jesus wants us to take risks for the sake of God’s mission and ministry. Jesus doesn’t want us to do what the religious leaders did, bury God’s abundant gifts in the mistaken notion of protecting them.

It’s estimated that a talent was worth about 15 years’ wages for the average worker. Using the minimum wage today I calculated that to be about $500,000, but I’ve heard estimates as high as $1.5 million. (As an aside, in fact, our English word talent, meaning gift or ability, is from this Greek word for money.) So even with one talent and splitting the distance at $1 million, the third slave was given an enormous gift to manage. The gift was a reflection of the trust the master had in the slave. Even so, the third slave’s view of his master is arguably skewed. His depiction of his master as vengeful, which is not shared by the first two, probably says more about the slave than it does his master. It is this baseless fear that causes him to bury both the talent and himself.

As I get older, I look back and see what where God’s Spirit has led me to take faithful risks. For instance, I rededicated my life to Christ as a young man after many years spend outside the church. As a newlywed, I agreed with my wife to tithe (give 10%) of our income to God’s work through the church. Later, at 38 years old, with that same wife and now two young daughters we sold our house for me to answer God’s call to seminary to become a pastor. And 10 years after that to return to seminary to work on a doctorate. It’s true that I hope one day for God to say, “Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your master,” but it’s more true that I trust God who entrusted me with so much that I felt compelled to give back. I’m not the hero in the story; God is the hero, the one who guided me.

Today is Stewardship Commitment Sunday as we make our giving intentions for next year. Our theme has been “Together in Grace: What’s Your Sanctuary?” During the campaign, we’ve invited you to ponder where you have seen God at work in your life, especially in this time of pandemic. To do so, we’ve had three excellent temple talks: Brett Prescher, who found his sanctuary working with the Outreach Team; Larry Draheim, who talked about seeing God through his work with Grace’s Food Shelf; and Twylla Vetsch, who found sanctuary working with our young people in faith formation and who described the blessing of doing Simply Giving, ensuring that money for God’s mission and ministry would always be at Grace, even if she and Jeff couldn’t. Additionally, we’ve been comforted by the words of Jeremiah 29, assured of God’s promise of a “future with hope.” We trust that these words will strengthen you as you complete your Statement of Intent.

Meanwhile, as you ponder how God is inviting you to “risk faithfully, listen to the special Musical Offering by Robin Menk, “Before You I Kneel (A Workers Prayer)*,” especially the last verse: 

 

May we live the gospel of Your grace, 

Serve Your purpose in our fleeting days,

Then our lives will bring eternal praise

And all glory to Your great name. 

Amen.

*Words and Music by Keith and Kristyn Getty, Jeff Taylor, and Stuart Townend

To watch a video of the worship service including the sermon, click here.

"Blessed Are the Peacemakers" - Sermon for All Saints Sunday Year A

Blessed Are the Peacemakers

All Saints A

November 1, 2020

Grace, Waseca, MN

Matthew 5.1-12

The contentiousness following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg reminded me of the previous death of another Justice in January 2016, Antonin Scalia. It wasn’t the contentiousness of the ensuing nomination process that jogged my memory. Rather, what I remembered was how devastated Bader Ginsburg was over Scalia’s death. Though the two were polar opposites in judicial philosophy and clashed often, they were also close friends and had been since the 1980s. Among other things, they shared a love of opera.

Judges are called upon to be peacemakers in a world that is increasingly litigious and contentious. Into this world, we hear Jesus’ voice: “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he says, “for they will be called children of God.” It’s helpful to know that when Jesus goes up on a mountain, the mountain was typically a place of revelation from God. And when he sits down, he assumes the position of an authoritative teacher, in this case one like Moses. Jesus is signaling that something important is about to happen. Indeed, what follows is the first of five large blocks of teaching in Matthew’s Gospel, what we have come to know as “Sermon on the Mount.” In this sermon, particularly what we call the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us a vision of God’s kingdom. It’s a vision not just for the future but also for today.

Now, it’s also important that when we hear Jesus say, “Blessed” we need to hear something else besides our modern American religious use of the term. We tend to think of blessings as good things that happen to us or of material possessions we have. Indeed, these may be blessings, but that’s not what Jesus means. Rather, God’s favor (of blessedness) is bestowed on people who we don’t think of as blessed: the humble, poor in spirit, mourners, sufferers of persecution and injustice, or slogging away for peace in the midst of violence. In these examples of blessedness, we get a glimpse of God’s “Core Values,” values that are different than those our world holds.

Clearly, one of those core values is to be a peacemaker or, if we aren’t able to make peace, to at least support those who are trying. It’s vital to know that Jesus is talking about the Jewish concept of shalom, which goes beyond our normal understanding of peace as the time between wars or the absence of conflict. Shalom has a deeper sense of well-being for all creation, to experience the fullness of God’s gifts. It’s the peace we experience when look at the sunset over a lake or connect with another person in a fulfilling way.

Make no mistake, we know all too well that peacemaking is hard, painstaking and often unsuccessful work. There is no how-to manual for doing it. Yet, to paraphrase Mother Teresa, we “…do it anyway” because we are children of God. This is exemplified by German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote “The Cost of Discipleship,” based upon the Sermon on the Mount. In the section on the Beatitudes, specifically peacemaking, Bonhoeffer denounced violence, declared that we should choose suffering, and overcome evil with good. Yet in the face of Naziism, Bonhoeffer found himself caught up in a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He would face martyrdom for his faith and actions.

Today is All Saints Sunday when we remember those who have died in the past year. It’s also a time to remember that to be a saint doesn’t just mean to be good, though it can. It doesn’t just mean being dead and it doesn’t mean dying for your faith like Bonhoeffer. It’s a time to remember that each of us has been set aside in our baptism for God’s purposes. We know that Jesus is not saying “be peacemakers so you can get heaven’s reward.” The grace of God’s acceptance is already ours and it is that grace which propels us to kingdom work.

Through the cross, Jesus has made peace with our brokenness and death so we can make peace. This congregation has experienced significant conflict and the Discovery Team has ample evidence that many of you desire unity and peace. That sounds like your next senior pastor would have some gifts for handling conflict. For now, please know that in our divisive and contentious world, Jesus invites you to follow the way of Scalia and Bader Ginsburg, not to mention Mother Teresa, Martin Luther Kind, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Bonhoeffer and many others to work for peace or support those who do, for you are the children of God. Amen.

To watch this sermon in the worship service click here.