Just the Beginning - Sermon for the First Sunday of Christmas - Narratve Lectionary 2

Just the Beginning

Christmas 1A-NL 2

December 31, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Mark 1.1-20

On a day when the Vikings play the Packers, I hate to begin the sermon with a story about legendary Green Bay Coach Vince Lombardi, but it’s a good one. In July 1961 at the beginning of training camp, Lombardi decided that  would begin each season by taking his team back to the fundamentals. He began doing that because his Packers fell short in the previous season’s title game and he didn’t want that to happen again. So, he addressed the assembled training camp players by holding aloft a ball declaring, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” (By the way, one of the players, probably Paul Hornung, quipped, “Can you slow down Coach? You’re going too fast.”) 

It worked, because that year they won the title and Lombardi never lost a playoff game again.

In today’s Gospel reading we hear that this is “the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, Son of God.” Last September we have been working our way through the Old Testament up to the story of Jesus’ birth. Today’s reading begins our trip through Mark’s Gospel from now to Easter and there are things it would be helpful for you to know about Mark. For instance, Mark was probably the first Gospel written and most likely the basis for Gospels Matthew and Luke. (John is a whole other matter, different from all three.) Also, you can see by today’s lesson that Mark moves fast, hardly pausing for a breath. Jesus is always “on the way” somewhere and things happen “immediately.” Mark can’t be bothered with endless genealogies, angels, shepherds, foreign wisemen, or histories. Finally, though the reader is told that Jesus is God’s Son, his followers are often clueless as to who Jesus is. Others seem to know, but not his disciples.

So, although Mark seems in an all-fired hurry, thought it would be helpful to linger a moment over that first and fundamental sentence, “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” What does Mark mean by “the beginning of the Good News?” One possibility comes from one theologian’s description of a Gospel as “a passion narrative with an extended introduction.” In other words, this is prelude to the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Perhaps Mark is rushing us ahead to the “good stuff” that’s really important in his mind.

But I think a clue to another reason for Mark’s claim that this is the beginning comes in the ending. After the women encountered the empty tomb, they fled in terror, and “said nothing to nobody, for they were afraid.” Mark’s Gospel ends abruptly, so much so that later writers felt the need to add not one but two separate endings. But I think it was Mark’s intention to end that way, that the Gospel was meant to be open-ended. In other words, the good news of Jesus Christ is just beginning, with the story continuing to be written in our lives.

One privilege of being an interim pastor is to hear the stories of how God has worked and is working in the congregations I’m serving. And I also am privileged to hear how peoples’ personal stories intersect those of the congregation. In both instances I hear also how God has been present in, with, and through those stories. At Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, I’ve been astounded how every difficulty and setback – and there have been several, serious ones – has not been seen as an ending but rather as a new beginning of ministry. You haven’t taken those difficult and even traumatic events lightly, but they haven’t finished you either.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions nor do I typically look at January 1st as starting over. But perhaps just this once I can make an exception. Let’s go back to the basics. To do so, I invite us to take the time to think about what beginning God has in store for Our Savior’s Lutheran Church this next year after a very challenging last year. Can you be open to what is unfolding in God’s kingdom? Let’s ask ourselves, “What is God up to at Our Savior’s and what does God want to do?” I don’t know the answer to that but I do know that we can figure it out together. Meanwhile, know that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, crucified and risen, continues to work. So, Happy New Year! Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

The Christmas Story - Sermon for Christmas Eve 2023

The Christmas Story

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Luke 2.1-20

It seems that Christmas is a good time for stories, and no doubt many will be told this year, around the Christmas tree or table.If we were to gather, our family would tell the story of a bachelor uncle who grudgingly came each year, demanding that we not get him a gift yet get anyway. We’d talk about the year that all four of us children got identical clock radios by parents who scrupulously made every Christmas equal, down to the last penny. And there’d be that poignant Christmas when my sister, then too old, got her last doll. And I’d tell about the Christmas time when I baffled that same sister by disguising her present so well that it made her crazy. Then there’d be the time my mom made lutefisk because my Swedish great aunt and uncle came to dinner, a dinner that stunk up the house for days.

Of course, in many homes the Christmas story will be told again in one fashion or another, either around the tree or the table. It’s the story about how God took on flesh and lived among us, full of grace and truth, as the Gospel writer John tells us. It strikes a chord in us, not just because it’s about a cute, vulnerable, baby. And not just because it involves angels and shepherds and animals and wise foreign visitors. It strikes a chord in us because we want to be reminded that God cares about us enough to be with us.

Unfortunately, there’ll be competing stories told this Christmas that stand against this one. Some of us will tell ourselves that God is distant and doesn’t care about us anymore, if at all. We’ll tell ourselves the story that God may come for other people, but God doesn’t come for us. We’ll tell the story that we have done such awful things that God couldn’t possibly come to us. Or perhaps we’ve bought the story that our worth is based on what we give or what we get. Most deadly, we tell ourselves that we must be happy because this is a happy time of year, and everyone else is happy so we should be happy, too.

I’m not going to tell you those stories aren’t true, because they might be your truth this year. Rather, I want to invite you into the larger one that encompasses these smaller stories. The Larger Story of Christmas tells us that God meets us where we are and as we are, no matter what. Two thousand years ago, God came to a people “who lived in great darkness” amid oppressive governance and so God continues to come to us, especially in our darkest times. The Larger Story says to the Smaller Stories that, evidence to the contrary, God continues to come. And, as Mary, who pondered all these things in her heart, we take to heart the Larger Story that surrounds our stories.

As you gather around the Christmas tree or table this year to tell stories, please hear the Larger Story of God’s love for you. Hear of a love so strong that God will go to any length to show you that love. In a few minutes, God will come down yet again and be made flesh in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. You will hold God in your hands and know that the one who gave God’s self at Christmas continues to give that Love over and over again. We think that this story is too good to be true. Rather, it is too good not to be true. Merry Christmas, God’s Beloved. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

Mysterious Hope - Sermon for Advent 1B, Narrative Lectionary 2

Mysterious Hope

Advent 1B – NL2

December 3, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Jeremiah 33.14-18; Mark 8.27-29

You may already know this by now, but I love to read novels, especially murder mysteries. One of my favorite Minnesota authors, either Allen Eskens or William Kent Krueger (I don’t remember which) said that all stories are mysteries because you don’t know how they will turn out. Early on in a story, especially if it’s not particularly engaging, I’ll wonder where this story is going and not until half or two-thirds in that I find I’m really hooked and can’t wait to see how it ends. Then, at the denouement, I can usually see the breadcrumbs the author left earlier, but sometimes I’m mad because it seems the ending is pulled out of thin air. Even so, very often the ending isn’t what I expect, which is great, but I can see how we got there.

Today is the First Sunday of Advent, a time of preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ birth. We all know the story, of course, and more or less how it ends. Yet, here we are reading it again just as we do each year. I’d like us to think of these Advent texts as theological breadcrumbs scattered along the way that give us hints of what is to come. The themes of Advent include not only preparation, but of watching and waiting as well. So, I’m asking you today: Can we not rush to the “end” but rather examine the breadcrumbs to see what they tell us about that ending?

One breadcrumb today comes from the prophet Jeremiah, a singularly depressing fellow. Life starts out pretty good prophecy-wise as he encourages the reforms proclaimed by King Josiah. We met Josiah last week who did not walk in the ways of his father and grandfather, kings who “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Sadly, neither Josiah nor his reforms lasted long enough as both his son and grandson will do the same thing as Josiah’s father and grandfather. Meanwhile, Jeremiah was faced with the resulting blowback because of their apostasy, first from Egypt and then Babylon.

During Jeremiah’s time, the southern kingdom of Judah went from being a vassal state of Egypt to being destroyed by the Babylonians. This much the same that happened to the northern kingdom of Israel 200 years before, except it was the Assyrians who were the aggressors. Jeremiah will be urging the people to repent and not resist the coming siege to the very end. Imprisoned by the palace guard, Jeremiah will be abducted and taken to live out his days in Egypt, but not until he utters a word of hope amid total devastation. His promise: even though there are no kings left in Judah, it’s not the end. The breadcrumb he places states that there will be a day when a new king will arise, one that is different from all the rest. This king will execute justice and righteousness.

This word of hope is important for Our Savior’s Lutheran Church as we wonder about our future, especially in view of the events of the past few months, even years, that leave us wondering where God is. To probe this hope a bit, I’d like you to do an exercise with me by being “Jeremiahs.” As you find yourself in this ongoing story today, what is your greatest hope for OSLC in the coming years? After you receive Holy Communion, fill out a Hope Slip at either table by completing the sentence, “My greatest hope for Our Savior’s is … .” The church council will read through the slips to get a sense of what your hopes and dreams are. Then the Transition Team will process the slips more intensely early next year.

There’s one more breadcrumb in our readings today, Peter’s assertion that it is Jesus who will be this Messiah. We also know this because we’ve read the end of the story happening at Easter. But we also know what Peter and the others don’t know yet, and what Jeremiah predicts, that Jesus is unexpectedly so. It will take a long time for the disciples and the early church to realize that what they have found in Jesus is far more important than what they were looking for.

One more thing that I learned in an early college literature class. The American novel that developed was different from its predecessors in that the American novel was open-ended. It left you wondering what happened next. As we go through Advent to Christmas and beyond, I encourage you to savor this time. Not only to sit with the “breadcrumbs” but also to discover those clues about what God is doing as you prepare for your next settled lead pastor, and not assume you know the ending. Because like the great American novels, the story is open-ended and still being written. What’s your greatest hope for Our Savior’s and how might God answer in unexpected ways? Watch and wait as you prepare. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

The Heart of Love - Sermon for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Year A - Narrative Lectionary 2

The Heart of Love

Pentecost 24A – NL 2

November 12, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Hosea 11.1-9

Things are getting a little crazier in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Have you been able to sense it these past few weeks? God has remained faithful to God’ people, fulfilling the promises to Abraham and Sarah that they’d be the ancestors of a numerous people. Though they became numerous as slaves in Egypt, God rescued them through Moses who led them back to the Promised Land. 

On the way, God and the Israelites entered into a covenant that they would be an exclusive item. Settling in the land as a loose confederation of tribes, life began to be hopeful when King David united the 12 tribes and his son Solomon brought order. Unfortunately, it’s gone downhill since then as the rebel Jeroboam convinced the 10 Northern tribes to secede, and it keeps getting worse. As we learned last week, all of the kings following Jeroboam “walked in his ways and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” principally worshiping other gods like Baal.

It’s been 100 years since Elijah dueled the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel and the Israelites have not changed, continuing to treat YHWH as just another god along with others. But what has added to the craziness has been a bloody civil war with its Southern brother, Judah, designed to convince them to join forces against the encroaching threat of Assyria to the north. Israel is in danger of being overrun and made a vassal state of a powerful nation. All seems hopeless.

Into this situation comes another prophet, Hosea, who for 10 chapters doesn’t make it any better for Israel and the Northern kings. Through the prophetic act of his marriage to his wife, Gomer, who exhibits serial infidelity, and his rebellious children, Hosea holds a mirror to the Israelites accusing them of the same things that are happening in his life. In other words, Israel has not only committed religious adultery and rebelled, they have also trusted in earthly kings instead of their heavenly king. By not trusting in YHWH, they have sown the seeds of their own situation, which does not look good.

Hosea begins our reading today reminding the Israelites YHWH’s faithfulness by recalling the seminal event of the Jewish people, the Exodus from Egypt. Unfortunately, he says, they will now “return to the land of Egypt.” In other words, because of their unfaithfulness they will become enslaved again and the devastation will be even more horrific, if that’s possible. Indeed, Hosea’s prophecy will come true. Assyria captured the Northern Kingdom, also known as Samaria, in 722-1 BCE. And in typical conqueror fashion, the Israelites become captive and carried off into exile inAssyria.

Well, that’s a real upper, isn’t it? That is if it weren’t for the tender words Hosea speaks to them in the midst of the harsh ones. He shifts the metaphor he’s been using from marriage and children in this life to God as a parent. The difference this time is that God is faithful and caring. God’s love for Israel is like a parent who cannot help but continue to love no matter what. The only thing that is stronger than God’s disappointment and anger is God’s love. Hosea indicates that, although Israel will be chastened, this will not be the end of God’s faithfulness and love for them.

As a parent, I can understand God’s love, if imperfectly. I love my children no matter what they do. However, as a child of God I’ve also experienced it. You see, I was one of those young people who left the church after Confirmation for various reasons. Some of the reason had to do with how unjustly I perceived that my father was treated by a previous church. Though I’d just affirmed my baptism, I wasn’t sure I believed in God and in the years following, in high school, college (at a Lutheran one at that!), and a few years into my adulthood, I lived like I didn’t believe in God.

But something happened. It was a small thing but became a big thing. Soon after Confirmation I got a call from my pastor, Hugh Gilmore, wondering why he hadn’t seen me in church. I’d been very active until that point. I told him of my crisis of faith and said I was done with the church. To Pr. Gilmore’s credit, he responded kindly. He didn’t try to argue with me or guilt me but simply offered to talk with me if I wanted. But more importantly, he told me I was always welcome back to Hope Lutheran Church.

Years later a coworker invited me to a young adults group. I was ready to start looking for some answers to questions I had about God and the faith. But I think it was Pr. Gilmore’s tender care several years earlier that laid the foundation for my ability to try the church again. I was loved back into the church. That’s one of many reasons I want all our young people (everyone really) to know that no matter what happens to them, no matter what they do or where they go, there will be a place for them. (By the way, I met my wife, Cindy, in that young adult group and we were married at Hope Lutheran Church.)

As I’ve become a pastor, I have emphasized what I told our children today about God’s love. I want to make sure that they understand that baptism is God’s gift to us and that it’s for us more than it is for God. Baptism is God’s way of promising us that we will always belong to God, always be loved by God no matter what happens in our lives, that we are God’s Beloved Children. What we’ll learn in the coming months as we get closer to the Jesus story is that it gets worse for Israel and Judah. But we will also learn that God will go to great lengths to get this message across, including giving his only Son, Jesus, to do so. That’s the heart of love. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

For All the Saints - Sermon for All Saint Sunday Year A (Narrative Lectionary 2)

For All the Saints

All Saints A – NL 2

November 5, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

1 Kings 18.17-39

It’s been about 50-60 years since last week’s events where the kingdom of Israel was split into after the death of King Solomon. The 10 Northern tribes of Israel (not to be confused with the whole country) remain separate and in contention with the two Southern tribes collectively known as Judah. Our reading today concerns the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Although not all of the northern kings are Jeroboam’s direct descendants, they all are “spiritual descendents” who have “walked in the way of Jeroboam and have done what is evil in the sight of the Lord.”

Thus enters the prophet Elijah who challenges the behavior of the evil king Ahab. Ahab has not only married a foreign woman, Jezebel (yes that Jezebel!) but has gone after her gods, Baal and Asherah. There is a drought in the land with an accompanying famine. The drought and famine are ostensibly the Lord’s way of getting their attention for worshiping false gods. It is in this situation that the Lord’s prophet Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal to a contest. In one of the most dramatic stories in the Bible, Elijah stands up for the Lard against the false gods.

Every advantage is given to the prophets of Baal. They are on their own turf and thus have the “homefield edge.” There are 450 of them and only one of Elijah (who stretches the truth about that a bit). They get the choice of bulls, their typical sacrifice. And they get more than enough time to get Baal’s attention, all under the taunting of Elijah. When it is his turn, Elijah takes the leftover bull and rebuilds the altar of the Lord with 12 stones. He digs a trench around the altar and pours 12 jars of water over it. After all of this Elijah utters a simple prayer to the Lord. In the prayer and all the actions Elijah reminds the people of Israel of their history, of who they are and whose they are. They belong to the one true God, the Lord.

St. Elijah stands up for the Lord. Now I want to tell you about another saint who did so in a different way, my Grandpa Johnson. Grandpa was born and raised in Rice Lake, WI where he owned a milk can re-tinning business. He turned the re-tinning business into a truck body business that grew tremendously during World War II. Grandpa Johnson was so busy he brought his two brothers into the business. After a while, the two brothers started to force Grandpa out of the business. I don’t know all of the details, but Grandpa Johnson, who was a very strong Christian, decided that rather than fighting his brothers he would move the family westward and start a new life. That would be him, my grandma, and eight of their nine children, excluding the eldest, my mother.

Grandpa would have gone all the way to the Pacific Ocean but instead they settled in Spokane WA. It was a compromise with my grandma who said, “This far and no farther.” There Grandpa Johnson turned what had been a hobby, building boats, into a business. (He was one of the first, if not the first, to use fiberglass rather than wood to build his boats. Grandpa was a very creative man.) I don’t know if I could do what Grandpa Johnson did, and I know that he wasn’t perfect, but he is still an inspiration to me even though he has been gone a long time.  And I do know that he prayed for his children and grandchildren every day until the day he died; (BTW, Johnson Truck Body still exists in Rice Lake, though it is owned by a German company. It does all of the Schwan’s trucks, which have little plaques on the side that say “Johnson Truck Body.”)

Today we celebrate the Festival of All Saints, when we remember those who have died in the past year. All Saints was originally designed to commemorate those who died as martyrs for the faith. (Martyr literally means witness.) We tend to think of a saint as someone who is extra-especially good, and that’s true, but a saint is also those who have been claimed by Jesus through baptism, who are redeemed by his blood. That includes you, me, all who have come before us, all around the world, and all who come after.

In a few minutes, we are going to experience that mysterious “great cloud of witnesses” as we come forward for Communion. This is where God comes down in a dramatic way, giving God’s very self to us. As you do so and light a candle to remember your beloved, also do so for those like Elijah and Grandpa Johnson who by their example by standing up for God and inspire us to do likewise. So, let us give thanks to God who strengthens us to do so as well by giving us God’s self through Jesus. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

The Paradox of Faith - Sermon for the Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost A - Narrative Lectionary 2

The Paradox of Faith

Pentecost 21A – NL2

October 22, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

2 Samuel 5.1-5, 6.1-5; Psalm 150; Mark 11.8-10

I love language, especially putting words together to both amaze and amuse. The events of the past few weeks and the texts this week prompted me to think of those things in language that we call oxymorons and paradoxes. An oxymoron is two words when put together make you scratch your head. My favorite oxymoron is “jumbo shrimp.” A paradox is two ideas which seem to be contradictory yet are both true. In the Lutheran church we say that we are both saints and sinners at the same time. We are saints because we have been fully redeemed by the blood of Christ. However, we are also sinners because we still mess up. To use another phrase, we are “already, but not yet.” Sometimes oxymoron and paradoxes seem to bleed over into each other as in these two wonderful desserts, a hot fudge sundae or Baked Alaska. These are paradoxically both hot and cold while using oxymoronic names.

There is a lot of truth in today’s readings today but there are inconvenient truths that are unfortunately left out. Last week we heard the story of Ruth, a non-Israelite living in the time of judges, who follows her mother-in-law Naomi to Israel with hesed, steadfast love and faithfulness. There Ruth marries Boaz and has a son Obed, who also marries and has a son Jesse, who marries and has eight sons. It is the eighth and youngest son, Ruth’s great-grandson, David, the boy shepherd, who becomes anointed king of all Israel. And, I should add, it is David who is the ancestor of the One anointed as Messiah, Jesus.

As I said, there is much truth expressed in our readings today. It is true that it is David who is able to unite the people of Israel, who is recognized as their de facto leader over and against the former King Saul. And it is true that it is David who chooses the neutral city of Jerusalem as his capital and who brings the Ark there ensuring that God is at the center of the life of the people. This movement is appropriately celebrated with unbridled joy. It is true that most theologians believe it is David who wrote Psalm 150, rightfully praising God. Finally, it is also true that Jesus enters Jerusalem to the cheers of crowds as the anointed Messiah.

Even so, there’s other truths lurking. David’s triumph has come with unbridled bloodshed, the killing of King Saul by his followers, the killing of those who opposed him, and the soon-to-be extinction of the Philistines. It’s also true that David brings the Ark to Jerusalem to consolidate his power and that this “man after God’s own heart” impregnates another man’s wife and then conspires to have him killed. Finally, it is true that Jesus enters triumphantly one day only to be arrested, tried, and crucified a few days later.

It’s important to recognize these paradoxes as we think about Israel and Palestine. It is true that Hamas is a terrorist organization that openly states that their goal is the annihilation of Jews and the Israeli state. It is also true that Israel openly states that their goal is the destruction of Hamas. It’s true that historically the Jews have been persecuted wherever they’ve lived in the world and it’s also true that the Jews who were once the oppressed have now become the oppressors of the Palestinians. They’ve had their knees on the necks of the Palestinians for 75 years.

It is true that Hamas is not the same as the Palestinian people but it’s also true that Hamas are the only ones standing up for Palestinians, albeit inappropriately. It’s true that Israel the political state is not the same thing as the religion known as Judaism and the religious and the secular often clash. It is true that Hamas is Muslim, but it is also true that most Muslims do not advocate terrorism. It is true that some Christians, especially in the US, support Israel’s oppression of Palestians because they believe in Zionism, that Jesus will return to Jerusalem.

So, what do we do about this? Does our faith tell us how we might deal with these tensions? I think so. First, we might humbly admit our part in this conflict, ask God’s forgiveness, and seek what we can do. Second, we recognize we can’t resolve the tensions but rather recognize them and live with them. Life is complicated and the Bible is honest, sometimes brutally so, about the human condition. Third, we realize that this is complex and will take time to work through. There are no easy answers, despite what some claim.

Meanwhile, we are to go where Jesus went: to the cross. The cross is the place where we stand with those who are oppressed and we do so by showing compassion, which literally means to suffer with others. There’s a phrase that might help, “Think Globally, Act Locally,” which could involve prayer for our leaders and advocating with them for just solutions. This could also include sending support to sufferers through Lutheran Disaster Response, the Red Cross, or other worthy organizations. And we can promote conversations and understanding, such as we are doing this next Wednesday.

It is meet, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise God. We do so even, and especially when, our hearts are breaking amid the brokenness of this world. The best Psalms are the ones that lament our situation yet proclaim God’s love and faithfulness. That’s the great paradox of our faith, that to live for others means to die to ourselves. Because the One who died for us did so that we might live and that’s not oxymoronic, that's the truth of faith. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

Steadfast Love - Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost (Narrative Lectionary 2)

Steadfast Love

Pentecost 20A (NL2)

October 15, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Ruth 1.1-17

This past Wednesday I asked the worshippers what made a good friend, just as I did with our young people this morning. As today, they gave several excellent responses: a good friend keeps confidences, doesn’t tell stories, is a friend no matter what you do or don’t do, gives you hugs, and is honest with you even if it’s hard to hear. I’m guessing that you could add several more characteristics to this list.

These characteristics could be summed up in the biblical term hesed, which means steadfast love, faithfulness, or loyalty. Hesed is something that is at the forefront of our reading from Ruth this morning. Since the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites last week, they have wandered in the wilderness 40 years and finally settled in the Promised Land, grouped into 12 tribes. It’s a loose confederation with no central ruler and where disputes are settled by judges. It is in this setting that the book of Ruth finds context.

Because of a famine in the land of Israel, Naomi, her husband, and two sons travel to Moab for a better life. There the two sons take Moabite wives. Ultimately, all three men die, the two sons are sonless themselves. Naomi decides to return to Bethlehem because the famine has eased and decides to leave her daughters-in-law so they might be able to build families themselves. Orpah reluctantly goes back, but Ruth steadfastly refuses and utters that famous declaration, “Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God. Where you die, I will die—there I will be buried”

We don’t know what Naomi did to stir up such steadfast love and loyalty within Ruth. Perhaps it was shared grief or that Naomi’s God was more attractive than Moab’s gods. But we do know that this relationship is remarkable because historically Moabites and Israelites were enemies. We also know that for Naomi to return as a widow in Israel was very precarious. Without a husband or sons, she would have no means of support and life would be very hard for Naomi. Perhaps Ruth saw that and was determined to help.

Another remarkable feature of the story is that Ruth would face certain discrimination in Israel for being a foreigner Now, discrimination isn’t remarkable in and of itself, given the history of Israel and Moab. We’ll learn that even when Ruth displays her incredible faithfulness to Naomi and, as we will see, her subsequent marriage to Boaz, a prominent Israelite, she’ll always be “the Moabitess.” Yet, through it all, Ruth remains steadfast, and she and Naomi find a way where there was no way.

Now, here is “The Rest of the Story” as Paul Harvey used to intone. Ruth marries Boaz, whose own mother, Tamar, was of questionable repute. They have a son, Obed, who also has a son, Jesse. Jesse will have seven sons, the youngest who is a “man after God’s own heart,” David. As we’ll see next week, it will be David who becomes king and unites the 12 tribes of Israel. And, if you read chapter 1 of Matthew, it will be David’s descendant, Jesus, who will be the Messiah. Ruth is the great-grandmother of Jesus 28 times.

The story of Ruth is not only some interesting bit of backstory to the Davidic monarchy and the Jesus story. The steadfast love and faithfulness of Ruth is a microcosm of that of the God who does the same. As we’ve seen already this fall, this is a God who makes a way where there seems to be no way. We saw God make a way by providing a son to a couple well past child-bearing age. This God made a way by freeing a people out of slavery, and making them numerous while bringing them into the Promised Land.

We still have a lot more story before we get to the Jesus story at Christmas, but through it all and beyond God will demonstrate God’s hesed, God’s steadfast love, loyalty, and faithfulness. It is this assurance that sustains us in our faith journeys, both individually and together as a community of faith. It is God’s steadfast love that carries us through this time of uncertainty, trauma, and chaos. As we gather around God’s Table, we receive God’s very self, God’s assurance that God will make a way for us where there seems to be no way. As God does so, we are not surprised when that way includes unlikely people like Ruth, me, and you. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

A Re-Membering God - Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost A - Narrative Lectionary 2

A Re-Membering God

Pentecost 18A NL2

October 1, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Exodus 1.8-2.10; 3.1-15

After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. (Exodus 2.23-24)

I was eating lunch with other interim pastors when the young woman approached our table. “Pastor Olson, do you remember me?” As I panicked a bit she revealed her name, Carwyn. Had she given me a few seconds more I would have indeed remembered her because I not only taught her in Confirmation but her older sister and brother as well. Not to mention I officiated at her sister’s wedding and the baptism of her sister’s first child. Besides, Carwyn hadn’t changed all that much. After inquiring about her and her family, she had to finish lunch and get back to her work. As I sat down, a colleague said, “Don’t you just hate that?” Actually no, because I was grateful she remembered me.

In the midst of their suffering, the Israelites in Egypt wondered if God had forgotten them. Much has happened since our text from last week when Jacob wrestled with God at the Jabbok River, getting a blessing and new name in the process. He reconciled with his brother, Esau, finally returned home, and had a twelfth son, Benjamin.

But it’s the 11th son, Joseph, who the rest of Genesis focuses on. Out of jealousy, Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery down in Egypt where he ultimately rises to power as Pharaoh's right-hand man. Through dream interpretation, he helps prepare Egypt for seven years of famine. The famine results in his whole family moving to Egypt where they are welcomed and given a home. That is, until a king arises that doesn’t remember Joseph and becomes afraid of the Israelites and their ever-growing numbers.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

We don’t know how long the Israelites were groaning before “God remembered,” but we do know it was at least as long as it took Moses to be born, grow up, and spend years in exile in the desert. It seems as if God has forgotten God’s promises to the Israelites, but the Hebrew indicates that it may be more that God’s attention wandered. To the groaning Israelites, there is not much distinction. Regardless, the situation now has God’s full attention because Moses is ready for God to act through him. And this time, unlike last week, God is prepared to disclose who God is: “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

In that statement, God not only discloses something of God’s self, God tells them they aren’t forgotten. God isn’t some Johnny-come-lately who happens to show up and claim to be their God at the last moment. God not only always has been, always is, and always will be, this is the same God who has always been with their ancestors, beginning with the promise made to Abraham, repeated to Isaac and Jacob. All evidence to the contrary, God has been paying attention, working to re-member them.

Though none of us has had to endure generations of slavery like the Israelites, there are times in the midst of our suffering when we wonder if God has abandoned us or even if God exists. In a book published after her death, Mother Teresa of Calcutta admitted to enduring a “dark night of the soul” for years, even decades. And with conversations with some of you, you wonder how much more trauma Our Savior’s can endure. The good news is that those promises made the Israelites continue to be ours through Jesus Christ.

The Exodus, God’s deliverance of the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land will become a seminal and defining event. It will also become a prominent theme at Jesus’ Last Supper as Jesus becomes the Passover lamb who is sacrificed and whose blood sets us free from bondage to sin, death, and the devil. But through it all is the remembering, as Jesus admonishes us in the Lord’s Supper to “Do this in remembrance of me.” It’s important to know that this is a special kind of remembering, where Jesus is not merely brought to mind but rather is made present in a very real and tangible way, his very body and blood taken into our very selves.

In this meal we’ll be receiving soon, we’ll not only remember God’s saving acts that assure us that God has not forgotten, but we’ll also be re-membered, that is, put back together and made whole. “Do you remember me, God?” “Oh, my child,” God says, “more than you can possibly know. How can I ever forget someone who I claimed in baptism, marked with the cross of my Son? But so that you can remember that I remember, here is a piece of me to hold onto. For I am the God of your ancestors who will be with you always, even unto the end of the age.” Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

For Real - Sermon for the Seventeeth Sunday after Pentecost Year A (Narrative Lectionary 2)

For Real

Pentecost 17A (NL 2)

September 27, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Genesis 32.3-13, 22-30

Growing up, I would occasionally watch All Star Wrestling on TV, cheering or booing the likes of The Crusher, Verne Gagne, and Baron Von Raschke. I watched, knowing full well that it wasn’t real, or that’s what I learned from my older brother. Even so, All Star Wrestling made for great theater and entertainment.  One still came away with the understanding that wrestling is the most intimate of sports, that even in the cleanest of contests wrestlers get “down and dirty” with one another.

A lot has happened since last week, where we learned that Abraham and Sarah received the promised son Isaac. Isaac narrowly escapes being made a sacrifice by Abraham, grows up, and marries Rebekah. Rebekkah gives birth to fraternal twins who couldn’t be more different: Esau, “hairy red” the hunter, a “man’s man.” And Jacob, whose name means “supplanter” or “trickster,” who is the farmer. The Lord informs Rebekah that the brothers will be contentious. Indeed.

Jacob will trick Esau into selling his birthright for a bowl of stew and conspire with his mother Rebekah to deceive Isaac into giving Jacob a blessing rightfully belonging to Esau. Jacob flees the rage of Esau, going to his uncle Laban where he falls in love with one of Laban’s daughters,  Rachel. Jacob agrees to work for seven years to marry Rachel, but Laban is as big a cheat as Jacob, pulling a bait and switch with Rachel’s older sister Leah. So, Jacob works seven more years to gain Rachel’s hand.

Jacob earns Rachel, but unlike Leah she has trouble conceiving; shades of Sarah and Abraham. Rachel gives her maid to Jacob as a proxy, and so does Leah when Leah stops being able to have children. Finally, God “remembers” Rachel and she bears a son, the 11th between all four women. Meanwhile, God prospers Jacob at the expense of Laban, who is getting the tables turned on him for his treachery.

After 20 years of these shenanigans, Jacob wants to go home and so he gathers everything and leaves while Laban is away. Laban catches up with them, but they reconcile, make a covenant, and Jacob goes on his way. Jacob is finally heading back to the land of his ancestors, but there’s a catch: he learns that his brother Esau and 400 men are coming to meet him. Between this news and his nightly encounter, Jacob sends his flocks and family ahead, hoping to appease Esau.

Jacob’s wrestling match with the nameless, initially faceless man was extraordinary and is a metaphor for our own faith journeys. For Jacob is not only wrestling with God, but also with Esau and himself. Jacob knows he is a schmuck and knows he deserves retribution for what he did to Esau, but he also reminds God of the promises God has made to his family. In the end, though Jacob will never be perfect, he does extract a blessing and a new name from God. He now becomes Israel, one who strives with God, which will also become the name of the multitudinous people. A twelfth son will be born, and the eleventh, Joseph, who will end up in Egypt where the Israelites will become numerous, too much for the Egyptians to handle.

But what I found most extraordinary about today’s story is not so much that we wrestle with God, for I imagine that all of you have stories to tell of your intimate confrontations with God. In fact, it could be said that Our Savior’s is at our own Jabbok River right now. No, what I find is that God comes and wrestles with us and it’s not fake or staged. It’s for real. In Jesus Christ, God got down and dirty, becoming human in all its humiliation and embarrassment. As Paul in Philippians reminds us, that God voluntarily emptied himself to walk among us.

One of our sacraments that ties this together is baptism, where God again comes down through the Holy Spirit and gives us a new name, Child of God, just as he has done for Hudson this morning. Like Hudson, God promises to be with us always, especially in our darkest times, providing us with a wrestling partner who helps us see the face of God in the most unlikely of places. And as God does so, God pronounces a blessing on us that you are God’s beloved child. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.

For All the Lonely People - Sermon for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year A (Narrative Lectionary 2)

For All the Lonely People

Pentecost 15A (NL2)

September 10, 2023

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Genesis 2.4b-25; Mark 10.6-8

“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.”

Dick and Anne were members of a congregation we plugged into while I was in seminary at Gettysburg, PA. Our two young daughters were particularly close to Anne, who was the children’s choir director. That is until Anne was tragically killed in an automobile accident, which devastated all of us. Anne was a beloved member of both church and community. Not long after Anne’s death, I encountered Dick at an event. As he discussed his life without Anne he casually said, “You know I’ll get married again. I’m not meant to be alone.” Those words startled me because they seemed premature and rather cold. But as I thought about that comment, I realized it was not a slight to Anne, rather a tribute to the life they had together.

God says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” We begin this second year of the Narrative Lectionary that takes us on a whirlwind tour through the biblical story. Starting with Creation in Genesis we survey the Old Testament this fall that takes us to the Jesus story at Christmas. We then continue with Jesus’ life through his passion and death in Lent and resurrection at Easter. In the time of Easter and following we’ll hear about the experiences of the early church as they try to figure out what Jesus’ message means. This year, we will hear readings from the Gospel of Mark, either as the central text or in support of the Old Testament readings.

Prior to this morning’s reading from Genesis 2, God has created everything and pronounces it good. Today, the narrator goes “back to the future” by being more specific about the creation of a garden and humans to care for it, including an apparent miscalculation by God to provide Adam with a partner. Now, I need to say something about this text: though I believe this story expresses a deep truth about humanity and or relationship to God, I don’t think it is true in the way many people think of it as true. For example, I can say that I love my wife with my whole heart, and that would be a true statement, but it would not be factual. I cannot take my heart out of my body and love my wife with it in some physical way. So, one of the consequences of understanding this kind of truth is that this reading is not meant to be a proof text for the exclusivity of heterosexual relationships. We intuitively know that there are other important relationships. Besides, the Hebrew word for “helper” is often applied to God in the Old Testament, as in “God is a very present help in times of trouble.” 

At the heart of the text is the truth that God created us to be in relationship with God and each other. And these relationships are meant to be mutual, even with God, as we are, theologian Phil Hefner said,  “created co-creators.” To be “bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” is to realize that we are interdependent with one another. To paraphrase the poet John Donne, “No one is an island; everyone is a piece of the continent, a part of the main,” ending with, “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Unfortunately, we know what happens next and it’s not pretty: the cooperative and collaborative interdependence gets broken as humanity distrusts God and places blame upon each other. Work becomes difficult, brother kills brother, nations are scattered, and the earth is flooded. Yet through it all, we’ll hear the rest of the story as God works tirelessly to reconcile God’s self to humanity and humanity to each other and the promise that God never, ever gives up.

A story is told about a visitor who visits a friend on a cold, blustery day. The friend invites the visitor in and they settle before a roaring fire. After pleasantries have been exchanged, the friend says to the visitor, “I know why you’re here. It’s because I haven’t been to church lately.” The friend then relates to the visitor all of the slights, hurts, and offenses he has experienced from the church, mostly real and some imagined. The visitor doesn’t say much, nodding to indicate he is listening. When the friend is finished, they sit silently for a moment and then the visitor rises and  silently takes a glowing ember from the fire and places it to the side of the hearth where it loses its heat. Presently, the visitor gets up and places it back in the fire again, where it quickly heats up. The visitor again wordlessly sits down. After a few moments, the friend says to the visitor, “I understand. I’ll be in church Sunday.”

I think that Our Savior’s is a “fireplace church” where even in our brokenness we depend upon God and each other and the heat of God’s grace and mercy carry us through. Chris told me this morning that today is the third anniversary of his son, Aaron’s, death, something that understandably is still painful and leaves a hole in his heart. But he also said how important the grief group here is to him. I’ve heard other stories about the importance of this place, that no matter the brokenness we experience, God’s love sustains us. For it is not good that we should be alone, for God has made us helpers and partners. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.