Unshackled - Sermon for the Seventh Sunday of Easter Year C

Unshackled

Easter 7C

May 29, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Acts 16.16-34

CS Lewis wrote a series of six books called The Chronicles of Narnia. Narnia is a fantastical land where animals talk. Its central character is Aslan, a Christ figure who comes and goes as needed. There are also various children, “sons of Adam and daughters of Eve,” who are pulled in from England when Narnia needs them. Although the Chronicles don’t tell the biblical story, there are strong Christian themes throughout. For example, in the final book, The Last Battle, the forces of good and evil battle with the protagonists in an allegorical retelling of the end of the world. The battle ends with the good guys being thrown into a dilapidated hut that is “bigger on the inside than the outside.” It’s the consummation of all things and they find themselves into a new, more peaceful Narnia.

However, during the “last battle” there are dwarves who at first seem to be on the good side but inexplicably switch sides, which they do several times. They are going back and forth because, as they declare, “the dwarves are for the dwarves.” Yet, they, too, find themselves tossed into the hut but they are found huddled in a tight circle. You see, they believe that they are still inside a dark, dirty, smelly hut and no amount of evidence can convince them otherwise. They were locked into a perception that determined their reality rather than the one around them. They were imprisoned in their alternate reality.

That’s a theme present in our reading from Acts. We continue into our post-resurrection foray into the book of Acts as we see how the early followers of Jesus are figuring out what it means to be the church as he has commissioned it to be. Two weeks ago, Peter must explain why he was consorting with the Gentile Cornelius and it’s the early community that discovers that Gentiles are included in God’s grace and love. Last week, we heard how Paul was encouraged to push the boundaries of the missionary effort to the Roman colony, Philippi, in Greek Macedonia. Paul and Silas set up a house church, compliments of newly converted Lydia, a Gentile merchant.

Today’s text follows last weeks and finds Paul and Silas unjustly tried, beaten, and imprisoned after Paul casts out a spirit in a slave girl. This should remind us of another unjust trial, flogging, and crucifixion. Miraculously, an earthquake shakes everything loose as Paul and Silas were praying and singing to God in front of a captive audience (pun intended). Their shackles drop off and the prison doors open. The jailer, supposing they had all fled, starts to kill himself thinking that he will be blamed for their supposed escape.

The irony is that the people who wear physical chains in this story are the ones who are truly free. No amount of flogging, shackling, or imprisonment can contain the liberating power of God’s love. They don’t need to leave the jail to be free because they are already free in Christ. The jailer, however, isn’t free. Even though he is supposedly a free Roman citizen, he is slave to a system that keeps him shackled. He is part of a system that is corrupt and would punish him for something that wasn’t his fault.

In the face of this enormous turn of events, the jailer asks, “What must I do to be saved?” There are two things about this that are important. First, the idea of salvation was hotly debated in ancient Europe. It was a deep philosophical question, made more interesting because the Roman emperors of the day claimed to be “Soter,” which is Greek for “Savior.” They even claimed to be divine as the “Son of God.” So, when Paul says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus,” he is asserting that there is a more worthy savior than the emperor.

The second, and perhaps more significant item, is that redemption is a communal experience. In America, because of our obsession with individualism, we tend to view salvation the same way, as something that is private. However, the jailer’s household rejoices in his new status, and all are baptized into the community of faith. That’s one of many reasons we prefer baptisms to be done within the gathered community. Redemption is a communal event.

The story of the Narnian dwarves, the slave girl, her owners, the Roman system, Paul and Silas, the jailer and his household pushes us to reflect on what might be shackling us today. What unjust systems do we unwittingly buy into that keep us imprisoned? What dearly held beliefs do we cling to without question that are destructive and contrary to believing in the Lord Jesus? These are important questions for us to reflect upon. As you do, my sisters and brothers in Christ, remember that in baptism, God has set you free and gives you the power to live unshackled lives. Thanks be to God! Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Canoeing the Mountain - Sermon for the Sixth Sunday of Easter Year C

Canoeing the Mountain

Easter 6C

May 22, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Acts 16.9-15

Tod Bolsinger’s book, Canoeing the Mountain, uses the Lewis and Clark expedition as a metaphor for the situation facing the church in this current time. Like Lewis and Clare, we are heading into uncharted territory. Lewis and Clark set off to find the Northwest Passage, a way to the Pacific Ocean. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson, they were well-funded, had excellent equipment and experienced personnel. All went well in their journey until they hit the mountains. They had no map that would show them the way through the mountains and all they had done to get ready had not prepared them for what they encountered. Under the unlikely guidance of a young Native American woman, Sacagawea, they ended up “canoeing the mountains.”

We continue our journey with the explorers of the early church, this time Paul and Silas, in Acts 16. We remember that these early pioneers were trying to figure out what it means to be church following Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection in a brand new age where there were no maps. They were making it up as they went along but they weren’t alone as they did it: the Holy Spirit guides them in all things. Last week we mentioned that there are three major movements in Acts: from Peter to Paul, from Jew to Gentile, and from Jerusalem to Rome. Last week, we read about the inaugural mission to the Gentiles as the early church includes Gentiles in its mission. Today we see the first and third moves as the emphasis shifts from Peter to the leadership of Paul and the mission expands toward Rome.

The Apostle Paul and Silas, along with others, have been traveling through Asia Minor, which is now Turkey, starting churches and strengthening others, until they run into a brick wall, the Holy Spirit. In today’s reading, the Holy Spirit provides both a stick and a carrot, or if you prefer, closes one door and opens another. Paul and Silas are prevented from staying in Asia Minor and instead invited through a vision into Macedonia. This is the first foray into unexplored territory from Asia Minor into Europe, widening the mission of the early church. When they find their way to Philippi, a major Roman city in Greece, they try to get their bearings in this new place.

Paul typically goes to a synagogue when he enters a new city, but there is none in Philippi, so he tries something new: he goes to the river. Now, the river is a place where people sometimes gather to pray so he takes a chance. There he not only finds people praying, but discovers that they are all women, both Jewish and Gentile. Notice that he doesn’t ask where the men are so he can preach to them. Rather, in a move that belies Paul’s later misogynistic writings, he shares the Good News of Jesus with the women and at least one Gentile, Lydia, is converted. She and her household are baptized and offer hospitality to the missionary team. Side note: my seminary professor of New Testament, Dr. Gerhard Krodel, believes this is how the gospel spread in the early church, through women who gathered at the river.

Two weeks ago, in her report to the SEMN Synod Assembly, Bishop Regina Hassanally shared how she had been struggling with whether to get her 12-year-old son a cell phone. Her husband was mostly onboard, but she was not so much. She said she was reluctant to do so because she didn’t need a cell phone when she was growing up and didn’t think he needed one. Furthermore, as a mother, she was concerned about what her son would see on the Internet. But while she was scrubbing a toilet (!) it occurred to her that her job as a mother was not to prepare her son for the world that was when she was young or the world she wanted it to be. Rather, it was her job to prepare her son for the world that is.

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, like so many others in our own time, is on its own journey into uncharted territory. It is tempting to want to be church for a world that no longer exists or a world that we want it to be. When Good Shepherd was formed in 1963, it was far easier to be church than it is today. You built it and people came. Good Shepherd did that and they did. But, that’s no longer true and it hasn’t been for some time. The world is changing and you are faced with having no maps of what is coming. However, the good news is that you have gone this way into uncharted territory before. You merged two congregations, First Lutheran and Our Saviors before it was trendy to do so. And those predecessor churches entered new territory when they decided whether to speak English or not.  I know there have been a variety of other “mountains” you have “canoed” along the way.

The even better news is that you don’t need to be afraid, as Jesus reminds you in John 14. You are to not let your hearts be troubled because you are accompanied and guided by the Holy Spirit in this monumental work. This is the same Holy Spirit that brought order out of the waters of creation and led Paul and Silas into Europe. This is an exciting time for Good Shepherd, even if a bit scary, to see where God is leading you. Be strengthened by your history, sisters and brothers, where you have seen God’s faithfulness as you move forward into God’s future. Look for those like Lydia who are ready to receive God’s word of grace, mercy, and hope. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Who Is Your Cornelius? - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C

 Who Is Your Cornelius?

Easter 5C

May 15, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Acts 11.1-18

Ni Wa joined us in worship one Sunday morning and she continued coming each week. After a while she would come forward for Communion, hearing that “all are welcome” and trusting it meant her. Not long after she started worshiping, she asked to meet with me and I heard more of her story. She had emigrated to the US from Asia with her parents and attended a Catholic high school. Beyond that, she didn’t know much about Christianity, but she had been going through some personal struggles and decided to try out our church. She’d found a home and now she wanted to be baptized. She was.

Now, when I attended seminary, it was stressed that baptism was the entry point into the life of the church and that Holy Communion was the sacrament that strengthened you in that life of faith. That’s what I continued to believe until another pastor suggested that it could be the other way. When I heard that, I reacted skeptically to the idea. This is, until I met Ni Wa and realized this was exactly how it happened for her. Now, my theology didn’t change, but how I understood that theology underwent a profound shift.

Peter, a Jew, has a similar experience in our reading from Acts 11 when confronted with the Gentile Cornelius. Acts 10 narrates the encounter fully while we have here in Acts 11 the “Reader’s Digest” version. Peter is responding to criticism from his local church about consorting and eating with Gentiles, something forbidden for Jews. (Apparently, gossip traveled fast in the early church.) This story is important for two reasons. First, the combination of the two chapters inaugurates the mission to the Gentiles. Second, it shows the early church handling its first controversy.

I love the book of Acts, which someone said should not be called the “Acts of the Apostles” but rather “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” because the Holy Spirit is the main actor in the book, mentioned 43 times. That’s a lot of mentioning. Acts narrates how the focus shifts from the early church as Jewish to Gentile, from Peter as a central figure to the Apostle Paul, and how the Gospel spreads from Jerusalem to Rome and beyond. But what I really enjoy is how the early church is figuring out what it means to be church in light of Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection. In other words, they are making it up as they go along.

The story is instructive for us because the Holy Spirit is still on the move today, doing new things in a changing world and the church is continually called to make it up as it goes along, all under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Notice how Peter relies on scripture to help explain his actions along with the presence of the Holy Spirit. But the heart of his explanation involves telling of his encounter with the Gentile Cornelius. This was not some abstract, hypothetical theological question the apostles debated around the tavern table. This was an encounter with a real live person who had their own experience of God, whose presence Peter could not ignore.

We are continually being presented with “Corneliuses” who challenge our assumptions of who God loves and what we believe to be the way things are, just as Ni Wa did with me. So, who is your Cornelius and where is the Holy Spirit prodding you to open your heart a little bit more? It’s not a matter of if the Holy Spirit is bringing someone into your life, but a matter of when the Holy Spirit does so. And when we are presented with a Cornelius, can we say with Peter, “Who am I to hinder God?” The Holy Spirit is moving. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

One of the Sheep - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Easter Year C

One of the Sheep

Easter 4C

May 8, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

John 10.22-30

About 8-10 years ago, I was a few years into my call when Walter called inviting me to lunch. Now, I know there is “no such thing as a free lunch,” but I was willing to take the risk. He took me to the local Rotary meeting where he’d been a member for over 50 years. Now, I’d heard of Rotary, but I didn’t know much about it. At that meeting I was warmly welcomed when I came and when I returned a week or two later, I was remembered and welcomed again. A little while afterward, I was invited to join. I did so, partly because I was looking for a way to connect with leaders in the community, but also because of the sense of belonging I experienced with the people there.

I think that belonging and relationship is the heart of our Gospel reading from John this morning. We may experience some whiplash today as we go back in John’s Gospel to chapter 10. The last three Sundays have focused on what happens after Jesus’ resurrection, but here we are now with a pre-resurrection text. The best explanation for this I’ve heard for why the lectionary does this is that the men at the tomb admonished the women and the disciples to remember. So, here we are flashing back to conversations Jesus had before his death and resurrection so we can move forward in understanding what it means for our lives. A head’s up: we’ll be doing this same thing for the remaining Sundays of the Easter season.

The Sunday that begins this looking back to look ahead is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. One of the most powerful images of Jesus in the Bible is that of the Good Shepherd, this congregation’s namesake. (Did you know that it’s been almost 60 years since the founding of this congregation as a merger between two others, First Lutheran and Our Savior’s?) The conversation Jesus has with the Jews, i.e., the religious authorities, ties this passage with the earlier part of chapter 10 where Jesus declares himself to be both the Good Shepherd and the Gate of the Sheep. These are two of the many and powerful “I am” sayings of Jesus. It’s helpful to remember that the image of shepherd was tied to Israelite kings who were anointed to care for God’s flock, such as the shepherd King David.

This is important because of the question the religious authorities ask Jesus about being the Messiah. In response, Jesus does two things. First, he points out to them that even if he stated it plainly, they wouldn’t believe it anyway. Besides, they already have enough information to figure it out. Secondly, Jesus shifts the conversation because his role as Messiah is completely different from popular understanding. Expectations of the Messiah in Jesus’ time were political and nationalistic, a warrior king who would restore Israel to some preconceived notion of glory. But that’s not what God the Father sent Jesus the Son to do. Jesus came to restore the broken relationship between God and humanity.

Church guru Diana Butler Bass said that the model for membership in the last century followed a pattern of believing, behaving, and belonging. One had to believe the right things first, then learn what a church does. Only when you believed and behaved properly could you then belong to the church. But Butler Bass says the process should be the reverse: belonging, behaving, and believing. It’s not that believing and behaving aren’t important, it’s that they need to be in their proper place. That was my experience with Rotary: I first belonged, then learned what they did, finally came to believe in their purpose.

Although I couldn’t have named it at the time, that was my experience with the church as well. I may have mentioned that I left the church after Confirmation like so many young people. Following college and in my first management job, I was invited back to the community of faith by a fellow employee at Minnesota Fabrics via a young adults group who welcomed me warmly. They made room for my searching as I sought to distinguish the voice of the Good Shepherd from all others that had been competing for my attention, voices that didn’t provide me life. Eventually, I rededicated my life to Christ. I’ve also seen this same dynamic in congregations I have served, where hurting people come to church, have been welcomed and loved by the community, and have found a place to grow in faith.

As Luther seminary professor Karoline Lewis says, “I want clarity. Jesus wants connection. I want believing. Jesus wants belonging.” With God and Jesus, it’s all about relationship, it’s all about belonging. Ironically, in a world where we are instantaneously connected via our devices, people still crave real connection, community, and belonging to something greater than themselves, something more life-giving than YouTube videos and tweets. That has implications for mission and ministry in our time and place, but it also comes with a promise: Jesus, the Good Shepherd, calls each of you by name and you are his forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Do You Love Me? - Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter Year C

Do You Love Me?

Easter 3C

May 1, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

John 21.1-19

For some churches, this time of year brings forth Confirmation services for their young people. Or, as it is technically called, Affirmation of Baptism because Confirmands are agreeing to the promises their parents made on their behalf. The other day, one of my colleagues wondered how today’s Gospel text could relate to Confirmation. I thought about the promises that these young people will be making, affirming the ones their parents made for them in baptism, to continue the life of faith through worship, prayer, generosity, and service. Yet as I consider today’s text from John, I wondered if this pastor should simply ask each Confirmand three times, “Do you love Jesus?”

Those of you who were able to be with us last week are wondering what is going on with John’s Gospel. Clearly last week’s text sounded like an ending, and you’d be right in saying that. Much ink has been spilled about chapter 21 and its role in the Gospel, if it is an addition or part of the original Gospel. From my reading, it’s likely an epilogue that has been added. Its reason for being here is highly speculative, but it seems it revolves around Peter and Jesus. In Jesus’ threefold question, “Do you love me?” Some observers believe that this is Peter’s rehabilitation” for having denied Jesus three times, but I think there is more going on in the text than that.

I must say that I can relate to Peter’s discomfort at Jesus’ grilling, though perhaps not for the same reasons. I know about the so-called “Greatest Commandment,” to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And I know the one Jesus says is equal to it, to love our neighbors as ourselves. I know these, but I don’t know how to love. You see, I tend to live in my head more so than my heart. I’m more comfortable thinking rather than feeling so this is a real challenge for me to sort out and figure out what it means to love Jesus. If I were one of those Confirmands who was asked, “Do you love Jesus?” I’d be hard pressed to know how to answer.

This story has many facets and there is no lack of themes to explore. But the one that makes the most sense in light of Jesus’ questions to Peter is what discipleship looks like post-resurrection. The disciples have been following and learning from Jesus for three years. They have received their marching orders at the Last Supper, but everything looks different this side of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. If there is a sense of Peter’s rehabilitation, it is helpful to remember that in John’s Gospel Peter doesn’t deny knowing Jesus. Rather Peter denies being a follower of Jesus, in other words, a disciple.

In this exchange with Peter, Jesus does two things for Peter (and for us). First, Jesus gives Peter a sense of belonging, that he and Peter are in a relationship with each other and the other disciples. Second, Jesus reminds Peter he has a purpose, that loving Jesus means loving what Jesus loves. The invitation to follow Jesus, to feed his lambs, to tend his sheep extends to all of us. God has a mission to love and bless the world, and for that mission he has you and me. Whether you feel it or not, God’s love is poured out to you and through you to heal a hurting world. Do you love Jesus? Follow him and tend his sheep. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Fearless Thomas - Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter Year C

Fearless Thomas

Easter 2C

April 24, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

John 20.19-31

I learned at a young age that nicknames are not chosen. Rather, they are chosen for you and they are not always welcome. I didn’t mind my name, Scott, though I would become bothered when  people would call me Scotty. It sounded childish and patronizing. So, when I was teenager, I decided that my bowling buddies would call me “Skip.” That didn’t work out very well and I was back to “Scott” quickly. But when I got to Gustavus as a freshman, there was a senior who lived on my floor with the same name. His nickname was “Big O.” Guess what my nickname became, especially when I joined the same frat? “Little O.” I hated it.

So, you can imagine why I’m a little sensitive when Jesus’ disciple, Thomas, is saddled with the nickname,“Doubting Thomas.” It’s the evening of the day they find the tomb empty, when in John’s version, earlier that day Jesus appears to Mary. None of the disciples believe Mary and now all of them, except Thomas (and Judas, of course) are cowering in fear behind locked doors. So my question is, where was Thomas? (We know about Judas.) Did Thomas draw the short straw and had to go buy groceries? If he wasn’t afraid of the religious authorities, then shouldn’t he be called “Fearless Thomas?”

We don’t know where Thomas was, but we do know something about him from earlier in John’s Gospel. In chapter 11, when Jesus finally decides to go see his good friend Lazarus who has taken ill and subsequently died, it is Thomas who puts himself out there and says rather prophetically, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Then in chapter 14, Jesus is giving his Farewell Address at the Last Supper, tells them he is going away and they know the way to where he is going. It is Thomas who again puts himself out there saying, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” In all three cases, Thomas is the fearless one who is not afraid to speak up.

The point is that Thomas believes in Jesus before Easter happened and he grows in faith along the way. We tend to think believing and doubting are opposites, that it is an all or nothing kind of thing. Yet, the opposite of faith is not doubt, it’s certainty. This is captured in Mark chapter 9 when a father asks Jesus to heal his son anguished by an evil spirit. Jesus replies, “All things can be done for the one who believes.” Immediately, the father cries out, “I believe; help my unbelief!” Frederick Buechner puts it this way, “Doubt is the ants in the pants of faith.”

Tradition has it that Thomas ultimately travels to India and proclaims the gospel, starting the Christian church. In fact, he still is a beloved person greatly esteemed and held in high regard by Indian Christians there. The story of Thomas and his encounter with Jesus encourages us in two ways. First, if Jesus can use Thomas’ doubts to build faith then he can do the same with us. God can use what we bring. I think that’s why God called me to be a pastor: by preaching the risen Christ I’d come to believe and then after believing I’d preach all the more.

Second, though we might wish for the same experience as Thomas and those early Christians, we are not at a disadvantage when it comes to trusting in the presence of the risen Christ. The stories are preserved in what we call the Word, the Bible. That Word is active through the Holy Spirit who, as Martin Luther explains in the Small Catechism, “calls us through the gospel, enlightens us with his gifts, and sanctifies and preserves us in faith. Perhaps being a Doubting Thomas isn’t so bad after all, better than “Scotty” or “Little O.” However, I like the nickname God has given me best, “Beloved Child of God.” May the risen Christ strengthen you in your life of faith this Easter season and beyond. Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.

Looking for the Living among the Dead - Resurrection of Our Lord C

Looking for the Living among the Dead

Resurrection of Our Lord C

April 17, 2022

Good Shepherd, Wells, MN

Luke 24.1-12

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” the two men say to the women at the tomb that first Easter morning. The sabbath is over, this is the third day Jesus has been in the tomb, and they come to anoint his body, a ministry they couldn’t fulfill because of the sabbath. “He is not here,” the men insist, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” It sounds like a rebuke to the women, that they are being chastised for being slow and forgetful, not remembering all that Jesus had told them. Perhaps it is. But what if it is a rhetorical question, a question that already contains the answer tucked inside? What if it is a legitimate enterprise for a people of faith to look for the living among the dead ?

Five years ago, to the day yesterday, April 16, 2017, a young woman lay in an ICU bed on life support due to an attempted suicide. Deeply distraught and severely depressed over the premature death of her mother, she saw no hope for herself. She was all but dead. Two days later, in the ICU the young woman’s older sister asked if she could say a prayer. The older sister had been battling her own demons over their mother’s death and she was coming out on the other side of rehab. She had learned this prayer and wanted to pray it before her younger sister's organs were harvested for donation. Two days later, five people received the young woman’s organs and lived because of them.

That’s a good resurrection story in and of itself, but there is more. With God, there is always more. Earlier this year the older sister gave birth to a baby girl on her younger sister’s birthday. That baby was the baby we baptized this morning, Serenity Jane. The young woman who died by suicide was Taylor Jane and her older sister is Serenity’s mom, McKayla. You may have guessed that Serenity is named for the well-known prayer McKayla learned in rehab and prayed in the ICU. When McKayla contacted me about doing Serenity Jane’s baptism today, I was reluctant to do it because this is a big day with a lot going on. But once she explained this story, I knew we had to do it.

When I met with McKayla and her fiancé, Domonic, they made it clear they are not the heroes of this story, though they have done some heroic things. And we also need to be clear that Taylor’s death was not a good thing; it is extremely tragic. As it is in any story, God is the hero. It is God who was with Taylor every step of the way, who shows up in our lives in our darkest places, and who brings life out of death so that others may live. Why do we seek the living among the dead? Because that’s where God shows up. We seek the living among the dead because death never has the last word, nor is it the most important word. McKayla has new life, together with Domonic they have new life, and Taylor Jane lives through others, including her niece.

Whether we can articulate it or not, we all have come here today looking for the living among the dead. We come with our own personal stories of loss and grief, hoping to experience a good word from God. The news that God has raised Jesus to new life sounds too good to be true, but it’s too good not to be true. We look for the living among the dead because if those early followers could receive a transformed life, then so can we. Whatever you are looking for this day, my brothers and sisters in Christ, may you find new life in the risen Christ. For Christ is risen, Christ is risen, indeed, alleluia! Amen.

My written sermons often preach differently "live." To watch the video, click here.