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.