Bounded Love - Sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Narrative Lectionary Year 3

Bounded Love

Pentecost 16 – NL3

September 8, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Genesis 2.4b-7, 15-17; 3.1-8

The new owner of a surfside motel was concerned that guests on the second floor would fish off the balcony thus endangering the people and property below. So, the owner placed signs in all the 2nd floor rooms, “No fishing off the balcony.” Unfortunately, the signs had the opposite effect, increasing the number of incidents of broken glass. In a flash of inspiration, the owner removed the signs. The incidents of fishing off the balconies ceased.

In The Magician’s Nephew, one of the books in CS Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia series, the title character finds himself in an alternate world, moving through a museum-like gallery with imposing images on both sides. In the middle of the gallery, he spots a bell and hammer with a sign that says, “Do not ring the bell.” He can’t help himself and does, resulting in chaos and all sorts of evil things being unleashed on that world.

A young couple have everything they could possibly want or need but are prohibited from eating the fruit from one tree. They can’t help themselves, resulting in a totally different future.

Doing what we don’t want to do is a central theme in our text for today. We begin our gallop through the Old Testament in the third year of the Narrative Lectionary, a series of readings that takes seriously the Bible as a story. Saying the Bible is a story doesn’t demean its truth. In fact, the Bible is deeply true, one that has a beginning, middle, and an open ending. As we begin this journey, here are some things to watch for. First, the Bible is a story of belonging, belonging of us to God, of God to us, of belonging to each other, and belonging to all creation. Another way of saying this is that the Bible is all about community. 

Second, the Bible is also a story of creation and re-creation. There is more than one creation story in the Bible. God doesn’t just create in Genesis and let things go. Creation is both a past event and an ongoing event. God continues to create. Third, the Bible is a story of God choosing to work through deeply flawed people and broken institutions. People like you and me, institutions like the church, including Our Savior’s. Finally, this lectionary highlights the role the Old Testament plays in the Christian faith. Christianity didn’t begin with the birth of Jesus.

There’s a lot going on in our reading today but there are also parts that are skipped over. For example, we realize there are two creation stories in Genesis, though we can consider the second one to be a deeper one of the first. The first creation story tells us that human beings are created in God’s image, though it doesn’t specify what that means exactly. The second story says that we are both “soil and spirit,” specifically we are from dust and will return to dust. But we are more than dust as bearers of God’s Spirit, the very breath of God breathed into us. 

Something else that is missed is the creation of the woman. That’s important to note because some people believe being created second implies an inferior position. That’s important because the text declares that she is an equal partner with the man, different from the man but equal to the man. (BTW, one response to the claim that the woman is inferior is to point out that God fixed the mistakes he made with the man. The woman is Humanity 2.0.) Finally, we miss hearing God’s pronouncement that creation is good. That’s especially important because God doesn’t claim that creation is perfect as we  assume; it is good.

A deeper dive into our text reveals some important points. The snake is not the devil or Satan; that’s an interpolation not found in the text but rather comes much later during the time period between the end of the Old Testament events and the birth of Jesus. Also, it’s important to note that the man and woman are likely together in the conversation with the snake, though it’s the woman who is leading the conversation. Furthermore, a fun fact is that we don’t know what kind of fruit was involved, apple or not. Finally, the text misses one of my favorite lines. Part of the reaction of the couple, besides hiding, is for the man to blame God for the woman, which deflects responsibility for his actions.

Now, we tend to think of Genesis chapters 1-3 as an origin story, about how life began for humans and creatures. Instead, I’d like to suggest we think of it as a prologue to the larger story, the one beginning with Abraham. This prologue explains the intimate connection between God, humans, and creation. It shows why the story from Abraham forward into the Jesus story is necessary. It shows why the Jewish people have been chosen to address a fundamental issue in the Bible, that humanity has “rebelled upward” by encroaching on territory that belongs exclusively to God alone. As Luther Seminary professor of Old Testament, Rolf Jacobson, says, it’s not so much a fall downward as rebellion upward.

For me, one takeaway of today’s lesson is the tension we live under as both “soil and spirit.” On the one hand, God created us in God’s image, and it seems that one meaning is the propensity to think, learn, and be curious, including our relationship with God and each other. But that’s balanced by a sense of humility, that we are not God and are to let God be God. One consequence of this is that we are to constantly ask, “What is God doing in the world and where is God inviting us to join in that work.” Too often we get this backwards and rush into making a decision and ask God to bless it on the back end.

There are at least two lessons to take away from today’s text. First, we’re not always going to get this distinction right and we’re going to mess up. In other words, we’ll do what we aren’t supposed to do. Or, as the Apostle Paul notes in Romans 7, we find it almost a law that we do what we don’t do or don’t do what we should do. Second, God will continue to work through our imperfections to restore our broken relationships. When we stumble and fall, God will pick us up, dust us off, and encourage us to try again. And God will go to great lengths to do so, all the way to taking on flesh himself and giving himself fully through the life, death, and resurrection of his only Son, Jesus Christ. So, as Martin Luther says, let sin boldly so that we may believe all the more boldly still. Amen.

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

Walking through Fire - Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series on Daniel

Walking through Fire

Pentecost 12 – Summer Series on Daniel

August 11, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Daniel 3.1-30

During my final year of seminary, it became clear that one of my classmates had been unfairly targeted by one of the professors.  Cindy and I had grown close to Matt and his wife, who we had invited to share Thanksgiving with us. So this felt personal. The administration held a meeting that I attended where we aired our concerns, but it was clear nothing would change. My angst at the situation was compounded by Matt’s leaving the seminary and finishing elsewhere. He became a pastor in another denomination and the ELCA lost a fine candidate, not to mention the respect that suffered because of this. Even more so, I came away feeling like I didn’t stand up against the injustice enough because I was afraid. Afraid of suffering the same fate after already giving up so much to go to seminary in the first place.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego faced a difficult decision in today’s reading. This is the second in our five-week sermon series on Daniel. As we mentioned last week, the central question in Daniel is, “Where is God?” Perhaps an ancillary question is also, “Who is God?” Daniel was written to encourage a Jewish people who were going through a difficult time of oppression. The Assyrian king Antioches IV Epiphane was desecrating the temple and making life a living hell for them Though Daniel was set about 400 years earlier during a similar situation, this time the Babylonian exile, it was a story for the ages. Daniel and his friends, who had been princes in Jerusalem, now serve in the court of the Babylonian king. Nebuchadnezzar as we discovered last week was an unreasonable, insecure, and fickle tyrant. Nothing’s changed.

This week Daniel is put on the back burner, so to speak, as his compatriots, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego are literally on the hot seat. They are faced with an impossible choice: apostasy or death. Worship another set of gods or be thrown into the fiery furnace. The long list of officials and instruments highlights the absurdity of the king’s reign and his temper. As we know, it is the weird, crazy, and out of touch tyrants who are the most dangerous. But it’s important to know that this is the last in many ways their existence has been threatened. It began not only with their deportation from Jerusalem into Babylon, but then being stripped of their identities. Their name changes say it all, Daniel, Hannaniah, Mishael, and Azariah, names that describe their worship of and connection to YHWH now become Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, name that connote worship of the Babylonian gods, Bel, Marduk, and Nabu. They have a new religion imposed upon them

As I watch the political scene these days, I’m concerned about candidates and elected leaders who demand absolute loyalty from their followers and practice retribution against those who question them. (An aside: I am neither a Democrat nor Republican.) (Another aside: if you are mad at me for what I’ve said, you are angry at the wrong person.) I also wonder about the ways we pressure immigrants to deny their heritage and cultural identity. How much do we try to strip people of their culture and force them into our conception of what it means to be an American? As the grandson and great-grandson of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants, I'm grateful for my cultural heritage that’s been preserved. (All seriousness aside, my forbearers could have left behind lutefisk.) The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego give those of us who find ourselves in difficult situations the courage to trust in God but not to presume upon God. And it reminds those of us in places of privilege to not abuse our position either.

Fast forward a few years past seminary and well into my first call. I’m at a pastor’s theological retreat and the bishop launches into a rant about something. This just didn’t feel right to me. At the end, this tirade roused the pastors to stand and applaud the bishop. That is, everybody but me. I stayed seated and didn’t cheer; somehow I knew I was being manipulated. Later, a few pastors said they wished they’d had my courage, realizing they’d been manipulated. (One more aside: not this synod or bishop.) But I’m not the hero, for I thank God for the ability to see what was happening and to act on my convictions, though it cost me professionally. When it came time to seek another call, the bishop agreed to send letters to other synods but did not try to convince me to stay in the synod. I think it worked out okay. I believe that God was with me.

I think this is what it means to take up the cross and follow Jesus, trusting in his presence. We don’t know who the fourth man was in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshac, and Abednego. Nebuccadnezzar believed it to be an angel. Some say it was Jesus himself. We don’t know, but we do know that God is with us through times of trial. May you know God’s presence and be strengthened by it. Amen

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

The Long View - Sermon for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series on Daniel

The Long View

Pentecost 11 Summer Series on Daniel

August 4, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Daniel 2.24-49

Today we begin our final sermon series of the summer, five weeks on the book of Daniel. This might also be considered an extension of our last sermon series, “The Good Book: Meeting our Ancestors in Faith One Story at a Time.” Daniel could certainly be considered an ancestor of the faith. But before we get into the text, I think that it’s helpful to get an overview of the book. If I had to summarize the book, I think it would be to answer the question, “Where is God?” or “Who is God?” I’m guessing that all of us at one time or another have asked that question, perhaps even now we might be wondering if God is present in our lives. 

The story of Daniel takes place in the early 6th century BCE, around 590 BCE, in Babylon. (A reminder that Babylon was what is now modern-day Iraq.) The Babylonians had just defeated the southern Jewis kingdom of Juday, overrun Jerusalem, and destroyed the temple. Perhaps worse, they brought the Judeans into Babylon where they stripped them of their identity and forced them to worship other Gods, principally the Babylonian god Marduk.

However, most scholars believe that the book of Daniel was written much later and back in Judah during another difficult time in their history. It was during the reign of terror imposed upon the Israelites by Syrian ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, beginning with temple desecration 167 BCE. It’s as if someone wrote a story about a modern issue but set during the Revolutionary War or perhaps more the point, like “Star Wars,” “... a long time ago, far, far away.” The Israelites’ captivity in Babylon was a real event that helped Jews 400 years later deal with a very difficult situation. Finally, the backstory to our text today is that Daniel and his three friends were “princes” in Judah who because of their learned background are made to serve in the king's court where they received further education in the arts.

So they would be counted among the “wise guys” that King Nebuchadnezzar took to task because they could not only explain the dream but also relate the dream with being told

To be charitable, perhaps the king forgot the dream, but he still comes off as unreasonable

Before the king can kill everyone, Daniel asks to see the king, tells the king what the dream was, and tells him what it means, prompting the king to worship Daniel

The king lavishes gifts and a lofty position upon Daniel, who promotes his buddies as well

As you can imagine, the Jews exiled in Babylon wondered where God was and even questioned if God existed. It’s helpful to know that in that world, when one country beat up another country, it meant their God was bigger than the other god. So their defeat and captivity really called into question the Jews’ belief their God was not only the biggest God but also the only God.  Thus Nebuchadnezzar stuns court by claiming that YHWH, the God of the Jews, is God of gods, and revealer of mysteries. In other words, God has been proclaimed not only better than Marduk by the king but even present in, with, and through the lives of the exiled Judeans. 

Yet, almost lost amid the miraculous nature of Daniel’s performance and the king’s reaction is the interpretation of the dream itself, which Nebuchadnezzar conveniently ignores. The dream signifies that no matter how impressive his accomplishments and his kingdom, there will be four successive, lesser kingdoms that will be ultimately replaced by the forever kingdom of God. For the Israelites, it meant that God was not only in charge, but that their present circumstances, no matter how difficult, were a small part of a much larger story. For us as Christians, we believe that kingdom was inaugurated with the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Last Sunday about 60 of us gathered to “Look Back” at the history of OSLC and in some sense “kingdoms” have come and gone. Some pastorates were “golden,” some less so, and a few “clay mixed with iron.” We acknowledged programs were begun, prospered for a time, and then ended. In it all we strove to take the long view of God’s presence in, with, and through Our Savior’s. In essence, we asked “Where is God?” in the last 55 years. Then we will gather next Sunday to describe Our Savior’s and what kind of lead pastor it will need during the next “kingdom.” So, Where is God? Working in, with, and through history to bring about God’s kingdom in, with, and through Our Savior’s. 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.

L Is for Laodicea - Sermon for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost - The Good Book

L Is for Laodicea

Pentecost 10 – Summer Series: The Good Book

July 28, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Revelation 3.14-22

This past week as I prepared today’s message, I’ve engaged in a bit of fantasy. I’ve wondered what it would be like to be the interim pastor at the church in Laodicea. The Apostle John, perhaps in this case, Bishop John, from his exile on the island of Patmos, has told me my work is cut out for me. At first blush, the church has everything going for it. It is located in a thriving context as Laodicea is a strategic city at the junction of three important trade routes in Asia Minor, our modern-day Turkey. Laodicea is well-known for producing wool and has a medical center that is known for its eye ointment. The church can even boast being founded by Epaphras, a co-worker of the renowned Apostle Paul. As an affluent church, it can afford to pay well beyond the Minimum Compensation Guidelines of the synod. It looks like a plum assignment that would help me ease into retirement.

However, Bishop John warns me, there are serious issues, all rooted in complacency. I have in my hand a letter from John, supposedly dictated by Jesus. I’ve learned that it is one of seven sent to Laodicea and six of its neighbors: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Philadelphia. And, from what I’ve heard, it’s the only letter that has absolutely nothing complimentary to say. It uses imagery that makes it clear Jesus knows this church: Laodicea’s own water is so putrid it needs aqueducts to transport water from neighboring Hierapolis, known for its hot springs, and Colossae, for cool waters. Unfortunately, because of the long distance, the water arrives lukewarm and is thus gag worthy.

What’s an interim pastor to do? How will I be received? Will they be able to listen to anything I have to say? Today is the last in a sermon series called“The Good Book: Meeting our Ancestors in Faith One Story at Time.” It’s unique because today’s “ancestor” is a group, not an individual. Furthermore, there doesn’t seem to be any good attributes to commend them. They have lost whatever “hot” zeal they had for sharing the gospel, and have focused on private piety rather than being a voice for change. Thus, Jesus would rather have them to be pagan “cold” than the lukewarm community they are. So, is the lesson to be learned today, “Don’t be like the Laodiceans?” 

Perhaps, but there’s more than that because with God there is always more, and it is always “better” more. The core message to Laodicea is that Jesus loves them deeply and doesn’t give up on them. Jesus stands at their door, knocking persistently, inviting them to turn back toward him and being the kind of community God wants them to be. Even amid the stark imagery, Bishop John reminds the church that God has not called the gifted but rather gifted the called. The Laodiceans have been gifted to be God’s hands at work in the world. To those who much has been given, much is expected. The Laodiceans have a responsibility to use their gifts for the sake of the world.

In a little while we’ll gather in Fellowship Hall to look back on your short 55-year history. We’ll endeavor to be honest about what has happened here, the good, the bad, and even the ugly. Through it all we’ll try to discern where God has been present in, with, and through you in this place. And we’ll use this looking back as a springboard to see what the future might look like as you prepare to call your next lead pastor. As we do so, we’ll remember that God loves you very much and wants you to “taste good.” Amen.

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

P Is for Puah - Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series

P Is for Puah

Pentecost 7 – Summer Series, “The Good Book”

July 7, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Exodus 1.8-22

There’s an old proverb that goes back hundreds of years, with several variations, including one from Benjamin Franklin. And there’s even one a century earlier from the poet George Herbert. It’s called, “For Want of a Nail” and goes something like this.

For want of a nail the shoe was lost. / For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost. / For want of a rider the message was lost.
For want of a message the battle was lost. / For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

As Wikipedia reminds us of the moral of the proverb, “seemingly unimportant acts or omissions can have grave and unforeseen consequences.” Today we might say, “For want of a baby the Hebrews were lost.” In our scripture reading we meet Puah and by extension her colleague Shiphrah, ancestors in the faith. They seem to be playing bit parts in the dramatic story of Moses and the exodus from Egypt. Yet, had they not played their part, the pivotal event in the life of Israel may not have happened. In addition to the covenant with Abraham that made them God’s chosen people, the exodus from Egypt is the singular defining event for the Jewish people.

Puah and Shiphrah are ordered by the king, also known as pharaoh, to commit mass infanticide by killing the male babies they deliver. He does this because he is fearful that the Hebrews would become even more plentiful and take over the country. (How many times has this story been repeated since humans evolved to walk upright?) It’s unclear in the Hebrew grammar whether Puah and Shiphrah are Hebrew midwives or Egyptian midwives to the Hebrew women, but what is clear is they “fear” God. In other words, they have a relationship with God, one of respect, a relationship they don’t have with Pharaoh.

What is also clear is that these women who deal in life will refuse to deal in death. It is also somewhat ironic that the mighty pharaoh, who is arguably the most important person in that part of the world, has his name lost to us. Yet we know the names of these two seemingly powerless and inconsequential women are not only known but also celebrated. Furthermore, as the story unfolds, it is the women who have agency in the story. In addition to Puah and Shiphrah, Moses’ sister convinces his mother to put him in a basket in the river to save him. And it is pharaoh’s daughter who will rescue baby Moses and raise him as her own. The women collaborate albeit unwittingly to deliver the deliverer.

So, what does it mean that Puah is an ancestor of ours? What has she passed down to us? On the one hand, we want to acknowledge the value of every single life and that is no small thing. Yet we wonder if she and Shiphrah are “spitting into the wind” of pharaoh in an exercise in futility. Will what they do matter? Even so, they acted in faithfulness to God’s call on their lives. They did so even though they had no idea of what was ahead for the Hebrews, that the Hebrews would become a mighty people despite pharaoh’s actions, and that a baby they saved would lead the Hebrews to the Promised Land.

It’s understandable that in looking around our country and our world we would feel despair and hopelessness. We see endless wars, mass shootings, homelessness, inflation, disasters, etc. Yet, as anthropologist Margaret Mead reminds us, “Never underestimate the power of a small group of committed people to change the world. In fact, it is the only thing that ever has.” Puah and Shiphrah remind us that even small acts can produce consequential results.

In fact, the Bible is full of “inconsequential consequential” people, those in positions of power or influence who are able to do neither. But there are far more “consequential inconsequential” people such as Puah and Shiphrah. For example, there’s the seemingly inconsequential youngest of seven sons, a shepherd boy who unites the Hebrew people in a country or disparate 12 tribes. And this King Dave will have a descendant who will give birth to a Jewish rabbi, the son of a carpenter and young virgin woman. This rabbi will assemble a motley group of followers, women and men alike, a small group who will change the world. And through the life and death of this Jesus, God will destroy the powers of death in the second greatest act of deliverance in the Bible, the resurrection to eternal life.

Sometimes we might wonder what difference we can make, how a few pennies or dollar bills in a jar could change someone’s life or put a dent in the great need in our community. Yet these coins and bills can provide a meal in the Community Cafe, help eradicate polio, or provide school supplies for families in need. We don’t always see results, but our ancestors Puah and Shiphrah show us we don’t need to. We simply need to “fear God” and trust for the rest. Even so, we are not without resources because we believe that a handful of water assures us of God’s presence. And, as the Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, that he has handed down to us what was handed down to him, that a little bit of bread and wine contain the Creator of the Universe, everything we need to walk the way of our ancestors in faith, including Puah and Shiphrah. 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.

J Is for Joseph - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Summer Series: "The Good Book"

J Is for Joseph

Pentecost 5 – Summer Series “The Good Book”

June 23, 2024

St. Ansgar, Cannon Falls, MN

Genesis 50.15-21

I’m a second career pastor, ordained 28 years after being in the business world 16 years. There was a point in the later part of that career where, after success and promotions, the work wasn’t going well and I was trying to figure out what I was going to do next. We were living in the Northern Virginia area of Washington, DC at the time. I learned of a job opening in Chicago for which  I was excited because I was perfectly suited for the work. It would also put us closer to our Minnesota home. Cindy and I were “wined and dined” by the president of the company and his wife and I took a trip to Northern Wisconsin to meet the owner at his cabin. I thought all was well until I learned the owner went with a younger, less qualified person who was already in-house. The president was apologetic and clearly wanted to hire me but was overruled by the president. I was devastated and didn’t know what I was going to do.

That wasn’t the only dream of mine that wasn’t fulfilled, or I should say was fulfilled in an unexpected way. That brings us to the story of Joseph. (How many of you are thinking about Donnie Osmond in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?”) A brief recap of the story is in order. Joseph, of course, was the favored son of Jacob born of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel. In his younger days, Joseph was a bit of a clueless jerk, flaunting his “technicolor” coat and telling his 10 brothers about a dream he had and which he interpreted as them bowing down to him. Not smart.

His brothers had enough and planned to kill him, but thankfully one of the brothers convinced the others to sell him into slavery to some traders instead. They then made it look like an animal killed Joseph by tearing up his precious coat and smearing it with blood. Jacob is inconsolable, but Joseph lands at the house of an important man in Egypt only to be accused of assault by the man’s wife. Potipher knows Joseph is innocent, but has no choice but to put him in prison where Joseph’s administrative skills earn the trust of the jailer. It’s also where he continues to interpret dreams, one for Pharaoh’s cupbearer and the other for Pharaoh’s baker. Both interpretations become true, and the cupbearer remembers Joseph when the Pharaoh has a dream that no one can interpret.

Pharaoh dreams of seven fat cows being swallowed by seven skinny cows and only Joseph can interpret it. Joseph informs Pharaoh that there will be seven good years for harvesting grain followed by seven years of famine. Pharaoh is so impressed he makes Joseph his right hand administrator and places him in charge of storing grain. When the famine comes as Joseph predicts, it reaches all the way to his homeland. His father Jacob hears there is grain in Egypt and  sends his 10 sons to buy grain. His brothers don’t recognize Joseph but Joseph recognizes them and he toys with them for a time. Even so, Joseph ultimately brings the whole family to Egypt.

Joseph’s family is welcomed by Pharaoh and flourish in Egypt. All is well until Jacob dies. Joseph’s 10 brothers not only become fearful, but they revert to lying and manipulation, saying that Jabob told them to tell Joseph to forgive them. Joseph responds with two amazing statements: “Am I in the place of God?” (Which, in some ways, is ironic because as the second most powerful person in Egypt Joseph might as well be a god to them.) The second statement, “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good…”

This is a rich, multi-layered story that one sermon couldn’t do justice, with at least two themes. First, there is the theme of forgiveness, especially within families, that I explored in the Children’s Sermon. The other theme has to do with the interplay between our plans for life and God’s plans for us.

I went to college thinking I’d become a medical doctor and then a probation officer. I had no idea I’d end up in the business world. I also thought I’d marry a woman with long, dark hair and instead I married one with short, blonde hair. My life reflects the aphorism, “If you want to make God laugh, tell God your plans.” If true, God has laughed a lot at my efforts. In my most charitable moments when I don’t know what to do, I ask God what I should do, “A or B.” It’s nice to give God options, right, except that God invariably tells me “X.” “X” wasn’t even on the list!

The takeaway for me in the Joseph story is that God frees us to make our plans and dream our dreams while realizing that those plans are provisional and we are to be open to God’s leading. And in the midst of life we are to understand that God may be working in ways not yet evident. How many of us have ended up in life where we thought we would as young people? The same is true for churches: would your forebears have predicted where you are now?

One way to think about this interplay between our plans and God’s plans is to ask the “God questions.” The first question is, “What is God up to here?” And the second follows, “What does God want to do in, with, and through us in this place?” Sometimes that means trying things, little experiments, and seeing how they turn out. Sometimes it means looking in those places where we don’t often expect to find God and see what’s there for us. Ironically, sometimes it means waiting for God to speak as we pray for discernment.

When I was devastated at not getting that perfect job, I was not able to see it as a closed door so that God could open up a door to go to seminary and become a pastor. Even as I did so, I didn’t dream I’d be an associate pastor along the way and now interim pastor. I also became a doctor, just not the kind thought. And that short-haired blonde, we’ve been married for almost 44 years. As I look back on my life, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to see how God has used my experiences for God’s purposes. My prayer for each of you is that you’d also be able to say, “God has intended my life for good.” Because that’s the story of the cross of Jesus Christ, that God can take the worst that life has to throw at us, even death, and bring about God’s purposes, which is new life. Thanks be to God, Amen.

This sermon was preached at St. Ansgar's Lutheran Church, Cannon Falls, MN. For the "live" version of the sermon, click here.

The Lord's Prayer: Our Needs - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost Summer Series

The Lord’s Prayer: Our Needs

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Narrative Lectionary Summer Series

June 16, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Luke 11.2-4; Psalm 23

Quite a few years ago we received a card in the mail offering a “free” dinner at a local restaurant. I decided to go even though I knew there was going to be a sales pitch, but Cindy wisely declined. Indeed, the organizers showed a scary movie about fires to get us to buy an alarm system. When I came home and described the evening to Cindy, her only comment was, “We’re not buying.” Of course, I knew that, but the pull was strong and it is evidence of our culture of wanting things. Now, it’s not a sin to want things, unless it’s other peoples’ stuff. That breaks at least a couple of the Ten Commandments.

The Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 seem to be at odds with each other. On the one hand, Jesus is commanding us to ask God for what we need while on the other hand, the psalmist is telling us we are not to want for anything. There’s the additional tension that we have a very short sermon to handle the abundance of riches in these two texts. We’ve spent one week each on God as Father, God’s holy name, and God’s kingdom. We could easily use three more weeks, one each on the remaining three petitions. As for Psalm 23, the latter could take its own multi-week series.

So, with these items in mind, I’m going to give you some broad strokes as food for thought. 

First, in praying the Lord’s Prayer and reciting Psalm 23, we remind ourselves that we live in a culture that teaches us to not only want everything but also perpetuates the myth that we can “have it all.” Not only can we not have it all, we know that having does not bring happiness. Happiness flows from a life of gratitude for what we have. Second, inherent in our asking God for daily bread is the reminder that we are to neither be anxious for what we need nor are we to pile up for ourselves more than we need. The lesson to the Israelites in the wilderness is that God gives us our “manna” each and every day. Finally, both the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 23 encourage us to ask while making us mindful Who it is that gives us what we need.

Today is Father's Day and like many of you, my dad was far from perfect. But one thing I’m always grateful for is how hard he worked to provide for us, to get us what we needed. In fact, I hated to ask for anything because I knew we didn’t have much. Yet our heavenly Father tells us otherwise, that we are to ask and be assured that God gives us what we need. For God so loved the world that he even gave us his Son Jesus so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

That Son gave his life to repair the broken relationship between us and God so that we can do the same with one another and we can live as God intended us to live. God forgives us so we can forgive others. That God continues to give God’s self as we are seeing today, first in the waters of baptism that washed over Beau and Tyler. In baptism, God “anoints their heads with oil.” Then in the Holy Table that God spreads before us “in the presence of our enemies,” we are fed with God’s very self. Jesus is both the Good Shepherd who pursues us “through the goodness and mercy that follows us” and our daily bread that sustains us as we “dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” 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.