Entering the Mystery - Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday B

Entering the Mystery

Holy Trinity B

May 30, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Isaiah 6.1-8

This past week, as I was studying the First Reading from Isaiah, I wondered if there was a way to get a glimpse of what Isaiah’s awe-filled experience of the majestic God was like, if there was something from my own experience. I kept thinking about one of the most awe-filled experiences of my life, attending the birth of my daughters. To see them born, cut the umbilical cord, and marvel at their little fingers and toes was amazing. And to hold in my arms the fruit of the love Cindy and I have humbled me in an unexpected way. Like Isaiah, I think it’s an experience that renders you both grateful on the one hand but also unworthy on the other.

Can you think of such a moment where you’ve been rendered speechless and overwhelmed? Maybe it was hearing a piece of music that swelled your heart and brought you to tears. Perhaps it was a movie or play that affected you deeply or a piece of art that captivated you.  It could have been the sight of a random act of kindness that stirred your heart or the loss of a loved one breaking it.  Maybe it was standing by the side of someone who has been wronged or being moved to give generously to some need. I believe that each of these is an in-breaking of God.

I believe that these experiences and countless others are ways that God draws us into the Divine Life. In and of themselves they are wonderful, yet they are even better when we can attach the name “God” to them. We remind one another that although the Triune God shows up in all of the expected places, proclaimed Word, waters of baptism, bread and wine of Holy Communion, God can be and is elsewhere, too. Yet, like Isaiah, we are to remember that although these experiences are intensely personal, they are never private. A word needs to be uttered, a thought spoken to another or several others, the wonder of God’s presence shared.

Today is Holy Trinity Sunday and countless preachers who have not wriggled out of preaching today will remind you that this is the only Sunday devoted to a doctrine and not an event in the life of Christ. (I could quibble with that assertion since I believe the Trinity to be a person.) My own dance with the Trinity began when, as a lay person, I asked my pastor to explain it and he gave me a book, The Triune Identity, by Robert Jenson. That’s what pastors do. Another member, Jim, saw me with the book and said, “If you keep reading stuff like that you’ll end up with your collar turned backward. Jim knew of what he spoke, he was headed to seminary himself.

In seminary and other graduate work, the Trinity has been there, both haunting and taunting me. I don’t pretend to understand or can explain how God is both three in one and one in three, but I can relate ancient creeds and theories, use analogies for it and explain why they are heresies. And all of these things are important because faith always seeks understanding. I like what Dan Clendenin says: God “is infinite, mysterious, and beyond human knowing. But we should never imply [God] is unknowable.”

For me, here’s the bottom line: at its very heart, God is relationship, within God’s self and with all of creation, especially humanity. God is Lover, Beloved and Love that holds it all together, drawing us into that Love in various ways and releasing us to share that Love with others. As someone once noted, any depiction of God that doesn’t include Love probably isn’t God at all. This week, as you think about the love men and women had to give their lives for our freedom and others around the world, I invite you to open yourself to this mystery of God’s love, shown most perfectly in the cross of Jesus Christ and share that mysterious love with someone else. Amen.

For the video version of the sermon click here.

Can You Imagine … A Share in the Ministry? - Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Can You Imagine … A Share in the Ministry?

Easter 7B

May 16, 2021

Grace Lutheran, Waseca, MN

Acts 1.15-17, 21-26

I have a warm spot in my heart for the First Reading from Acts 1. I used it for a devotion that I was asked to do during a call interview 21+ years ago. It seemed like a good text for a call committee and call process. In my devotion, I pointed out that the two candidates, Justus and Matthias, were equally qualified, that either candidate would “fill the bill,” albeit in different ways. In an anxious situation like a call process, I wanted to remind the call committee that ministry would be different with each candidate but still vital and valid. Then about 10 years after that interview, I used verses as an intro to each chapter of my doctoral thesis. The thesis detailed work with our synod’s nominating team, helping them increase their capacity to engage missional leaders for service on the synod council. During that research I came to understand the importance of a nominating committee and continue to use this passage in work with nominating teams.

So, you would think I know this passage. However, this week, thanks to some colleagues, I had a “Rick Carlson moment.” Dr. Richard Carlson, one of my seminary professors and an expert in Greek and the New Testament, came into class one day saying, “I saw something in this text I hadn’t seen before.” I don’t remember the biblical text (I think it was from Luke), but I’ll never forget the excitement of receiving something from God. Regarding this passage from Acts, the insight I had was this: the disruption that comes with the departure of a key leader, for whatever reason. The effect of this disruption almost gets overshadowed by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. Yet, we miss something important if we think the early church is simply mechanically replacing Judas.

We need to stay with this text a bit and fill in the blanks of what is only hinted at. Judas was someone who had been with them all this time, a part of the inner circle and privy to Jesus’ deepest thoughts. He was even the “treasurer,” entrusted with stewarding the money for the group. So, after the events of Good Friday, no doubt there were some who blamed Judas for what happened to Jesus and for the problems that ensued. The emotions would run high. Regrettably, if we stay in blaming mode, we miss the significance of how Peter et al. respond to Judas’ actions and his subsequent death. In the end, it’s not about maintaining the organizational structure, it’s about being witnesses to Jesus’ risen presence.

I like how the theologian Jerusha Matsen Neal puts it: “…this passage gives us a snapshot of a particular community doing that brave, provisional work in a particularly fraught time.” This is not people “getting over it and getting on with it.” These are people acknowledging the pain of the disruption yet intentionally making themselves vulnerable to be hurt again. And it’s all for the sake of the gospel. As Peter notes, Judas was numbered among them and allotted his share in this ministry. The ministry is to be shared.

In my work with your Discovery Team and my conversations with your leadership (and others), it’s clear that Grace is still feeling the effects of the disruption caused by the departure of past leaders. Most recently, it was the retirement of a longtime, beloved pastor followed by a pastor who had different gifts and was significantly different in leadership style that made ministry difficult. But before I continue, I want to be clear that I’m not calling any of them Judas or treacherous. I’m simply asking you to acknowledge the disruption and ensuing pain.

So, I am encouraging you to do more of what I have been inviting you to do this Easter season through the book of Acts. I want you to imagine what the resurrected life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit can be like. For today, can you imagine being honest about the grief you’ve experienced and doing the brave work necessary to prepare for your next senior pastor? Can you imagine being honest that neither of you will be what the other expects but to extend grace, forgiveness and understanding to one another for gospel’s sake?

Can you imagine encouraging your call committee and church council to find “A One” rather than “The One,” not as settling for someone to fill a slot but to accept the variety of pastoral gifts that might be offered? Can you imagine that all of you, together, not just your next pastor, are allotted a share in this ministry of witness? I believe that you can not only imagine these things but will also be led by the Holy Spirit to realize them. Figuring this out is not easy, but I see you on your way and will continue to walk with you through it because I have a soft spot for you and this kind of work. Thanks be to God! Amen.

To watch the video version of this sermon click here.

Can You Imagine … Boundless Love? - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Can You Imagine … Boundless Love?

Easter 6B

May 9, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Acts 10.44-48; John 15.9-17

American humorist and author Mark Twain once said, “It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand [that bother me].” At first glance, our First Reading from Acts 10 and our Gospel from John 15 don’t seem bothersome. Gentiles (non-Jews like us) receive the Holy Spirit and get baptized and Jesus tells us to love as he did. However, as we ask the great Lutheran question, “What does this mean?” we may get a bit squirmy.

Two weeks ago, I asserted that Acts doesn’t give us a blueprint of what the church should be for all time, but rather opens up our imaginations about what an Easter-resurrection community can look like today. The disciples (now apostles) were making it up as they went along, building the church on the fly, all powered by the Holy Spirit. Today’s reading in chapter 10 is the penultimate scene in a longer drama. The Gentile Cornelius, a God-fearer, has a vision telling him to send for Peter to hear more about God. While his ambassadors are en route, Peter has his own vision. He is hungry and sees a vision telling him to eat  animals that to the Jewish people are unclean. Peter protests, but is told that nothing God makes is unclean. Cornelius’ ambassadors arrive and convince Peter to go. Cornelius and his household, hears the story of Jesus and while Peter is still speaking, the Holy Spirit pours out upon them.

Now, we need to pause a moment to realize that this is a big deal. Jews are not supposed to have contact with Gentiles. Period. And this wasn’t just any Gentile; Cornelius was Roman centurion, a member of the occupying force, hated by all Jewish people. Besides, the Jews were God’s chosen people who would eventually lead Gentiles to God at the end of time not now. But then Peter really does it: he stays with them which means he eats with them. These acts lead Peter to be called in front of the synod’s committee on discipline to explain this outrageous behavior.

Peter’s defense is a good one: “Hey, this was the same Holy Spirit we received and who am I to hinder God.” I can’t help but wonder if Jesus’ words at the Last Supper echoed in Peter’s brain: “Love as I have first loved you.” John 15 also gives us a snippet of a larger story, the Farewell Discourse, Jesus’ last words to his disciples, one that begins with the washing of the disciples’ feet. Jesus is about to be crucified and gives them both words of comfort but also a missional charge to love has loved them. Now, what both amazes and terrifies us is Jesus actually believes we can love self-sacrificially as he does.

This is hard for us, because the terror comes in being blown outside our comfort zones. In our heads we agree that God’s love is for everyone and we are to follow Jesus’ example. Yet, when faced with the reality of embracing someone or some idea different we freeze. In seminary I learned that the Christian is supposed to go is that baptism comes before receiving Communion. Somewhere along the way a colleague suggested that it could be the other way around, that Holy Communion might be the gateway to baptism. My initial thought was, “Heresy!” That is, until the Holy Spirit blew Chi Wan into my congregation, who took seriously the invitation to the table that “All are welcome.” Eventually I learned that she was a seeker who had never been baptized but now wanted to do so. Acts shows us there’s no one pattern for baptism. It also shows us that our principles change when confronted with real people such as Cornelius and Chi Wan.

Right about now, some of you may be thinking, “But what about …?” Another colleague has reminded me that when you add the word “but” to the gospel you undercut its power. I would gently ask what you are afraid of, what are you holding onto that you are afraid to let go of, what scares you about boundless love? This sacrificial love doesn’t mean anything goes in the church, but far more goes than what we might think. We need to remember it’s not our job to change people or force them to change. Our job is like Peter’s, to show God’s love through Jesus Christ crucified and risen, to provide a space where people can engage in a living, loving relationship with God, and to look for where the Holy Spirit is blowing in our church.

So, my sisters and brothers in Christ, can Grace imagine itself as a community formed by the Holy Spirit and blown by the Holy Spirit? Can Grace imagine itself as a community that practices boundless love, that is, love without boundaries? Can Grace imagine itself as a place where it lives into its claim that “all are welcome?” Can Grace imagine itself being a place where God is expected to do the unexpected, where Grace can frequently say, “There goes God again!” and go along for the Holy Spirit ride? Finally, can Grace be a place bothered enough about the parts of the Bible that it does understand that it’s open to being changed by that same Holy Spirit? I think so, because I see it happening already. Thanks be to God. Amen.

For the video version of the sermon and the rest of the service click here.