Let’s Go! … Healed and in Peace - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

Let’s Go! … Healed and in Peace 

Pentecost 5B

June 27, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Mark 5.21-43

As the father of two girls, I have a sense of Jairus’ desperation in the Gospel reading for today as he seeks to get healing for his daughter. Very early in our oldest daughter’s life, Angela developed almost unending bouts of bronchitis. There were times I slept by her crib fearful she’d stop breathing. Finally, I begged our doctor, whom we very much liked and respected, that we needed to do something. He agreed and referred us to a specialist who diagnosed her with moderate to severe asthma with allergies while not so subtly chiding us for not doing something sooner. Then, when our youngest was about 5 or 6, she woke with severe hip pain that paralyzed her. We were in Pennsylvania where I was attending seminary and we didn’t have a pediatrician yet, so I picked Amy up, bundled her into the car, and took her to the emergency room where she was diagnosed with a staph infection.

Fortunately, neither one of them has “endured much under many physicians” like the unnamed woman with the hemorrhage, though Angela will live with her asthma and allergies forever. Also, luckily, neither of these are shameful diseases, though I think Angela feels like an outcast at times because she has to be very careful what she eats and the things she can do. Furthermore, I didn’t need to risk my self-respect to get our girls help, but I sure would have done so if it was necessary. Now, even though there is a great deal of emphasis on the faith of the woman and Jairus, which is not to be ignored, I’d like to focus on the One who makes that faith possible and its implications for us today.

Aside from the incredible that healing Jesus brings, not to be dismissed lightly, are the boundaries Jesus crosses to do so and what it means to them and to us that he has crossed those boundaries. First, it’s important to know that the woman with hemorrhage was considered unclean in Jewish society. As if 12 years of suffering weren’t enough, she would not have been able to worship in the temple or synagogue or even be around people for that entire time. Just coming into contact with Jesus would have made him ritually unclean, disastrous for a Jew. And then Jesus compounds his uncleanness by touching the dead body of the girl. Now he’s doubly unclean.

Yet, even more remarkably, Jesus stops on his way to heal the girl, which may have cost her life, to fully touch the woman. Even after she was cured of the disease, he curiously pronounces that she is now healed. But to get the full impact of what Jesus is saying we need to know that the word for healed is really translated as “saved.” Jesus says, “Your faith has saved you.” In other words, she has nothing to be ashamed of anymore and she is now fully restored to life, God’s shalom. As I think about this woman, I wonder how many of us are walking around hemorrhaging with shame, feeling like outcasts, enduring much under those who may be judging us, perhaps the harshest from ourselves.

A number of years ago, “Carol” stopped by my office and asked to see me. Of course I agreed; I respected Carol and made time for her. My curiosity turned to shame as she began to tell me that a joke I told at a recent public event was inappropriate. As I listened to her, I realized with horror that she was right and a deep shame came over me. But Carol was Jesus to me that day, pronouncing forgiveness and reminding me that although it was appropriate that I express guilt for what I had done, that I was also loved and not to be shamed. In doing so, Carol restored me to the fullness of life in community and as her pastor. Since then, the work of sociologist Brené Brown regarding shame and vulnerability has been instrumental in my personal life and my ministry. Dr. Brown has many worthwhile books, but I highly recommend The Gifts of Imperfection.

Two weeks ago, we started exploring two of Jesus’ parables that described the Kingdom of God. We recognized that Jesus was trying to convey with images something that can’t be readily defined. Jesus was saying that the kingdom of God wasn’t as much a future promise as it is a present reality, that the kingdom life could be lived here and now in some way. I think that these healing stories give us another glimpse of what Jesus means by the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is life as God intends, flourishing and abundant, where we can experience God’s shalom and healing.

There are two things I want to leave you with today. First, that if you are hemorrhaging from shame or anything that is keeping you back, if there are dead parts of you, know that Jesus comes and restores you to healing and inclusion. You are a beloved child of God. Second, I want you to look for opportunities to be Jesus to others like Carol was to me, to remind others that they, too, are beloved of God and fully included in God’s merciful, loving embrace. Maybe you see someone struggling and all you need to say is, “You’ve got this” or “It’ll be okay.” You can figure it out. Then come back and tell us how it went. So, let’s go from here to be the healing presence of shalom that our world so desperately needs. Amen.

For the entire worship service and video version, click here.

Let’s Go! … Patiently? - Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost (Lect. 11B)

Let’s Go! … Patiently?

Pentecost 3B (Lectionary 11)

June 13, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Mark 4.26-34

In the churchy world we churchy people toss around churchy words like free candy from floats at parade, mostly unwrapped and scooped up with abandon. We use words like koinonia (or fellowship, take your pick), faith formation, spiritual growth, and exegesis. Okay, maybe you don’t toss around words like that, but I think you get the point. We aren’t always clear about what we mean. And Jesus isn’t much better. He tosses around parables just as freely as the actors in most of these parables toss around seeds. Those two things come together because most of the time Jesus is tossing around the phrase “kingdom of God” like Tootsie Rolls.

Jesus spends a lot of parabolic time talking about the kingdom of God so we know it must be important. In fact, his first words in Mark are, “The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has come near.” Now, unlike us, the folk Jesus addressed would have a good idea what the kingdom of God was. For them, it would be a glorious time when God will rule over all things after defeating God’s enemies, those things that stand in the way of God’s original intent for creation, especially humanity.

So, if those first hearers were familiar with the kingdom of God, why is Jesus using parables so much? First, remember that parables are not riddles to be solved; rather, they are mysteries to be entered. Or, to switch the analogy, they are like Trojan horses, seemingly tame and entering our consciousness until they explode and disrupt our thinking. Jesus used parables about the kingdom because the crowds and religious leaders couldn’t see how his presence was bringing it near. Furthermore, he wanted to stretch their thinking (and ours, too) about what God’s reign is really like. The kingdom, Jesus will show, comes in humility with power made perfect in weakness and love.

At the risk of appearing to have solved both parables, let me offer some thoughts about each that might stretch your thinking. In the first parable about the seed that grows “he knows not how,” Jesus invites us to imagine that the kingdom of God is coming even though we may not see much evidence of it. The parable also challenges our notion that it’s up to us to make God’s reign come in. We are to ask ourselves what role we have in kingdom work, knowing that it is God who ultimately gives the growth.

The parable of the mustard seed is dangerous because it is so familiar and we risk thinking we already understand it. Yet, explanations about the parable of the mustard seed are as prodigious as the plant is itself. One offshoot is that, like the mustard bush, Jesus and the kingdom are more than they seem. The mustard bush was and is an invasive, noxious species that takes over wherever planted, kind of like a latter day buckthorn. The comparison of the kingdom of God to a mustard bush would have stretched peoples’ minds and caused them to stop and think. Furthermore, with the addition of the birds finding a place to roost, he hints there are more inhabitants included in God’s kingdom than we might have thought. There is room and a place for everyone.

In Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, he details attributes of companies that are as the title suggests: great. He evaluated companies that sustained greatness over time and compared them to similar companies who were merely good. He wanted to know what separated the great companies from the good ones. In one chapter, he describes one attribute, the Flywheel Effect. A flywheel is a large metal disc that rotates on an axis. He notes that, like a flywheel, great companies made small pushes over time that accumulated and eventually resulted in a momentum that releases energy and sustains itself. They took off, much like that merry go round you pushed and rode as a child. In contrast, those companies that were merely good looked for the one big breakthrough that would make them great, but it never works that way. Becoming great takes time and small consistent pushes that gather steam and momentum.

So, what might these two parables and the Flywheel Effect mean for Grace, Waseca? The summer worship theme for Grace is “Let’s Go!” and perhaps the parables caution us to go patiently, trusting God for the growth and doing so in ways we may not expect. There’s a tendency among churches to look for the one big thing that’s going to “save” the congregation and make it great, whether that be a person (like a pastor or youth director) or a program. Big splashy events are fun and even necessary, but it’s going to be the small pushes, sticking to Grace’s vision and mission, solidifying your identity as a Christ-centered, welcoming place in service to your communities, gaining momentum that will make a difference. You won’t bring in the kingdom, but you’ll catch glimpses of God’s work in, with and through you as you join God in it. Amen.

For the video version of the sermon click here.

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.

Can You Imagine … Speaking the Truth to Power? - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter

Can You Imagine … Speaking the Truth to Power?

Easter 4B

April 25, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Acts 4.1-12

You may have noticed during this Easter season that the First Readings are from the book of Acts, not from the Old Testament. Since Acts is a historical book and not one of the New Testament letters, this makes a certain amount of sense. But Acts provides us more than a recitation of events following Jesus’ death and resurrection. Acts helps us imagine what a resurrection-powered community guided by the Holy Spirit looks like. Some corners of Christianity think we need to exactly replicate the First Century Acts community today. They forget how those early Christians got where they were, like the folk in this video.

In a profound sense, those first Christians were making it up as they go, building it on the fly as it were, doing it under the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, or Spirit, is mentioned 43 times in Acts. As one of my seminary professors observed, the book of Acts shouldn’t be titled “The Acts of the Apostles; it should be “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Rather than giving us a cookie cutter template to follow rotely, Acts helps us imagine a resurrection-powered community guided by the Holy Spirit. In today’s episode, Peter and John have been arrested and jailed by some religious leaders. They had healed a lame man in the temple, but their real crime was preaching Jesus’ resurrection. Peter’s words here in chapter 4 are a summary of a longer sermon he preaches in chapter 3.

Now, let’s stop and think about how remarkable this story is: Peter and John are uneducated fishermen who traveled with the notorious Jesus and until lately were hiding from these same religious leaders in fear. For good reason. Outside of the Roman occupying forces, these religious leaders wielded enormous power over their lives. Yet, here they were, standing toe to toe with them and not even the awful experience of spending a night in jail and implicit threats of bodily harm could blunt their proclamation about Jesus. Peter, in the power of the Holy Spirit, challenges them as he brings good news to the Jewish people. He speaks truth to power.

For those who wield institutional, cultural, and coercive power, this is not good news. In particular, the Sadducees who don’t believe in resurrection, are threatened to their very core. Even so, they cannot contain the gospel of Jesus Christ no more than the tomb could contain Jesus. The kingdom that Jesus brings will come no matter who or what stands in the way of it. Where institutions and leaders have become corrupt and wielded power for themselves instead of those whom God has put in their charge, who have not been the “Good Shepherds” that God has appointed them, will not deter God’s determination to bring new life.

Today I’m inviting you to imagine what it would be like for Grace to be a resurrection-powered community under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In particular, I’d like you to imagine how Grace could speak truth to power in the Waseca community and beyond. Don’t get me wrong, Waseca is a wonderful community, and it has many terrific things going for it. But I know there are marginalized voices being stifled in the community and no one is speaking on their behalf. I know there are issues no one wants to acknowledge or treat seriously – and we don’t need to go far to find them. God has given the people of Grace tremendous gifts; can you imagine how God can use you to speak truth to power? There is no template, no cookie cutter answer, but there is the Holy Spirit that will guide you. Amen.

To view the sermon in a video click here.

Walk to the Tomb - Sermon for the Resurrection of Our Lord B

Walk to the Tomb

Resurrection of Our Lord B

April 4, 2021

Grace, Waseca, MN

Mark 16.1-8

When is an ending not an end?

When a dead man rises from the tomb—and when a Gospel ends in the middle of a sentence. Lamar Williamson, Jr. in Mark

My wife and I have been binge watching episodes from the DC comic book superhero universe: “Arrow,” “Flash,” and “DC Legends of Tomorrow.” And by “binge watching” I mean one or two episodes per night. One thing we’ve quickly learned is that you never want to time travel, for whatever reason, because you will always mess up the timeline. Another thing we’ve learned is that no one ever stays dead, no matter how decisively they’ve died. Anybody can reappear at any time. Finally, we’ve learned that it is obvious a story arc is never over; characters reappear and cliffhangers abound. There is never a neat, tidy ending. From what i remember of my college American Lit course years ago, that’s a unique feature of the American novel: stories never end.

Apparently, the Gospel writer Mark was ahead of his time with a story that ends so absurdly abruptly that leaders in the early church decided that it needed not only one ending but two, a “shorter ending” and a “longer ending.” It’s understandable because, though you can’t see it in English, the story does indeed end in the middle of a sentence. However, had the church fathers reread the opening sentence of Mark’s Gospel, “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ,” they might have realized what most modern commentators do: Mark did this intentionally.

Why does Mark end the Gospel this way? I don’t think that Mark is into writing cliffhangers to build interest or in resuscitating various plot lines. Rather, think Mark wants us to know that this is not the end, only the end of the beginning. That there would be more story to be written hardly seemed possible to the three women, those first witnesses, who come to the tomb that morning, wanting to finish what they started by anointing Jesus’ body. Even as they go, while they are on their way, they worry about who will roll away the stone for them.

What strikes me is they come to the tomb anyway, certain of their mission without knowing how they are going to carry it out. Yet, seeing that the stone has been rolled away, and hearing the claims of the young man, they begin to glimpse that this is God’s story continually being written, even in terror and amazement. Like many of us faced with the unfathomable, it probably took them time to process it all. So, clearly somebody did tell someone, Jesus met them and the disciples in Galilee, and the story continues.

A year ago, we faced a huge stone: how we were going to live in the midst of a pandemic? There was the false optimism of two weeks’ shut down and back to normal gave way to the reality that we were in this for the long haul. Over half a million people have died and even more continue to suffer. People are tired and businesses may never recover from the economic impact. Zoom fatigue is a real thing, weddings, funerals, and trips have been postponed or cancelled. And we fight over such a simple thing as wearing masks.

Yet, the story is still being written, for God is working in, with and through us in amazing ways. School teachers, administrators along with parents have been doing some incredibly heavy lifting. Businesses have been creative. The medical community has stepped up big time. At Grace, we had our first ever virtual Christmas pageant (and there will be an Easter one!). Because of our tech team, our outreach has multiplied through livestreaming with more people hearing the Gospel across the country. Our faith formation has shifted numerous times, helping young people to grow in their relationship with Jesus. The transition work by the Discovery Team was creative and fruitful and the Call Committee will be operating with the assumption that God will move stones and continue to write the story of Grace Waseca.

What are the stones in your life that seem to be insurmountable and immovable? What is the story you find yourself in that both terrorizes you and amazes you? As we proclaim that ancient message, “Christ is risen, Christ is risen indeed, alleluia,” know that the God who raised Jesus from the dead 2,000 years ago continues to work in this world. Walk to the tomb every day, my sisters and brothers in Christ, expecting to see the risen Christ. Thanks be to God! Amen.

For the video version of this sermon click here.