What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 31st

4th Sunday after Epiphany
Jeremiah 1:4-10 • Psalm 71:1-6 • 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 • Luke 4:21-30

"Then [Jesus] began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, 'Is not this Joseph’s son?' ²³He said to them, 'Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’' ²⁴And he said, 'Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.' ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. ³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way."

If we took a poll of what is affecting our community and our country the most right now, one of the things that I am guessing would top many of our lists would be a word we’re hearing again and again on the news lately: jobs, jobs, jobs. The double digit rate of unemployment that has continued even as the economy has begun to turn the corner on the “Great Recession” has not turned around fast enough for many who still remain without work, or are underemployed. This past week our church completed hosting two months worth of trainings for 2010 US Census workers, which has been flocked to by many people looking for some income as they seek to find meaningful long-term work. We all have been touched by the job market’s decline, whether it is us or someone we know.

In all this talk of jobs, career transitions and work, one of the most helpful tools at our disposal as Lutheran Christians is the notion of “vocation”. Now, this isn’t the Roman Catholic sense of vocation, in the sense of a “vocation to the religious life” of a priest or nun. Lutherans believe that in our baptisms, we share a calling and a summons to live out in all the different contexts of our lives the work that God empowers us to do as grace-filled children of God. Vocation comes from the Latin word vocare, meaning “to call”. Jobs and careers are not just work, they are a vocation—one of the many areas in our life—such as family, community, country, and the Earth, to name a few—where God calls us and invites us to respond in Holy Spirit-filled service to the needs of the world.

Frederick Buechner, a wise Christian writer of the 20^th Century, expands on this idea of vocation when he wrote this famous definition in an essay called “Wishful Thinking”. He says, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”

Are there any contexts in our lives—whether we are employed or not—where we are seeking to find a place of deep gladness that meets a deep need that the world hungers for?

For those who continue to not receive phone call or email after months of interviews; for those who keep sending out resumes without any reply; for those who keep being told “we’re not hiring at this time”, it may be hard to believe that our heart’s passion and our God-given gifts are what the world is really hungering for. After enough rejection, we may insist that it’s the world who’s got it wrong. It’s their fault, not ours, we say. After all; if they really knew what it is we could offer them—if they knew that, they would want us, wouldn’t they?

Jesus knows what it is like to struggle to find that place where the world will receive our heart’s gladness. As Jesus begins his Earthly ministry, he comes back to his hometown where he introduces his baptism-inspired mission. This is his agenda, his cover letter, his purpose statement, which comes from the book of the prophet Isaiah. Jesus says he comes “to bring good news to the poor…to proclaim release to the captives…to let the oppressed to free…to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. ” (Luke 4:18-19) And Jesus says this agenda “has been fulfilled in [their] hearing.” (4:21) He tells them as the Messiah he embodies what these words say. And their response? He gets booed and bullied off of the pulpit! “Oooh, look at Jesus,” the people say. “Isn’t that Joseph, the carpenter’s son? He couldn’t say things like that! Who does he think he is? God?!” And Jesus is furious. He says that he anticipates that this won’t be the last time they reject him. Now the people are really upset. How about this nice, warm and cozy reception for Jesus’ first sermon? It’s as if the people responded to Jesus’ cover letter like Donald Trump on the show The Apprentice, and told him: “You’re fired!”

Jesus finds a way to escape the unruly mob who won’t let Jesus live his vocation as Messiah. This will not be the last time Jesus gets rejected. As he goes about his ministry, and he lets in more and more outsiders, and as he eats with too many sinners, and as he heals the lame and blurs the boundaries once too often, even the crowds that love him will reject him…and take nails to a cross to keep him quiet. But all the while, Jesus does not turn his back on them. Jesus is patient. Jesus is kind. Jesus is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on his own way. (1 Cor. 13:4-6). Jesus loves them with God’s agape love, a love shared for all, and he forgives them. Even after the crowd at Nazareth tries to push Jesus off a cliff; even after all the challenges to his sovereignty…after his death, God raises Jesus from the dead…so that they, and we, and everyone can know that in this Jesus, God has forgiven us all. God will continue to never turn a back to us, no matter how much we may turn against Jesus.

This kind of forgiveness is offensive, isn’t it? Rejection and denial and torture are not supposed to be returned by love. Forgiving love isn’t the response the world isn’t used to seeing from rejection. But it is exactly this offensive love of Jesus where we find our deepest gladness becomes real, and where our deepest hunger becomes filled.

We all struggle in our vocations, whether they be parent, brother, sister, student, street sweeper, executive, Earth-keeper, citizen…you name it… As we struggle to avoid rejection in our vocations, God has already determined in Jesus’ love, we will never find rejection. Jesus never turns his back on us. Jesus finds deep gladness in feeding our hunger for God’s favor, and in feeding our hunger for God to stand with the oppressed, and in feeding our hunger for hope. As offensive as it may be, our self-worth is not determined by the world’s rejection of us; God determines us worthy to be called God’s children through the precious body and blood of the forgiving Christ.

And so we, the followers this offensive Jesus, who we would like to push him off the cliff, we gather again and again around the Word and Sacrament because we hunger for that Jesus-love that never turns us away, and that makes our heart’s gladness so deep. That Jesus-love gets played out here in this place, in this church, where each of our hearts’ gladness is to fill the hungers of one another with Christ.

But…we still do reject one another. We claim we are right. We believe there are certain people here we could do without. But our vocation, our calling, is to remember the one who feeds our deep gladness, who brings us together, who forgives us. This Jesus teaches us in the ways of loving one another with this offensive Jesus-love that, as Paul describes, loves no matter what other powers, talents, knowledge or understanding others might have. In Christ we can love one another with his love that loves with patience and kindness even towards the ignorant; even towards those people who we think are just plain wrong. We can love with this Jesus-love that is not boastful, arrogant or rude—even those we think need to learn a thing or two. We can love one another without resentment, even when it seems we are taken granted, used and never never thanked. We can love without rejoicing in wrongdoing. We can bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things.

This is the forgiving Jesus love that shapes us. This love is our vocation. This love is a job we all have been given. This is the love of God in Jesus that is the heartbeat of our life together. In our families, in our communities, in our country…in our church, we are all a part of this Jesus love that does not say to one another, “You’re fired!”, but rather we are all a part of this Jesus love that says, “You’re loved!” Amen.

What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Third Sunday after Epiphany
Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 • Psalm 19 • 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a • Luke 4:14-21

"Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: ¹⁸'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.' ²⁰And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹Then he began to say to them, 'Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'"

When you think of church—when you talk to other people about it—what is the best analogy you use to describe it? It’s not so easy. I’ve heard people talk about church as many things: a home away from home, a faith community, a family. For all his faults, and for all the many ways the apostle Paul has been called out for his views on women and for the ways he has been misappropriated to endorse slavery….for all his shortcomings, Paul offers one of his finest gifts to the world in today’s passage in 1 Corinthians. He comes up with the most enduring, most often used, and probably the best analogy for church out there: The church is the body of Christ, Paul says. You are the body of Christ. This is nothing short of pure genius! All of us have a bodily experience we can relate to; our bodies’ interdependence and functioning as a system and network exactly mirror the inner-workings of Christ’s church; and the body encompasses every aspect of who we are that makes us alive—mind, body and spirit. As strange as it may sound, I like to challenge you to tell someone when they ask, “What’s your church like?” to say, “It’s like a human body.” We can’t get more true to what God does when God forms the church. God makes church when God becomes enfleshed, is made real and is made present as a human body, in all our vulnerability and in all our strength, at our best and at our worst. It is because of Christ’s body that was born, lived, healed, loved, forgave, died and rose that the church still lives as the living and visible form of Christ, alive and still healing forgiving and bringing the world to new life.

As the living, present body of Christ, Christ does what needs to be done with any body: Christ keeps his body healthy. And he keeps all the parts of his body healthy, vital and running. Christ does whatever needs to be done for the sake of the whole. And Christ expects a great deal from us to maintain the health of all the parts of his body, so that his body may continue to grow in its interdependence and reliance upon the multitude of parts in the body of Christ.

Because Christ cares for every part of his body, there is no part of the body that he does not look out and have need for. Paul says, “As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’” (12:20-21) When have we said to another part of the body of Christ, “I have no need of you?” What have we declared useless, unnecessary, unwelcome, not a part, when Christ cares for, looks after that person—that part—that Christ depends on for his body to live and function properly? As the church breathes in the Spirit to give it it life, and as it breathes out God’s healing wholeness, all parts of Christ’s body need that air. Christ declares “I have no need of you” to no one because Christ knows all the parts cannot live without the air of the Spirit!

Because Christ cares for every part of the body, no part of the body exists for itself. The body of Christ exists for the entire, whole body—it exists for Christ. None of us has to be the whole body by ourselves, yet all of us—everyone—have a role to play in the shared building up of the body of Christ. As one author puts it, if cells of the body choose to operate with disregard for the body or for themselves only, the body becomes robed of strength and room, and the immune system of the body becomes weakened and threatened by sickness. As Christ cares for every part of his body, he keeps the focus on himself as the head and the lifeblood of it all, he keeps the rich variety of parts in the body focused on the overall health and flourishing of the whole—even if it means that some or all parts are summoned to give something up for the sake of the flourishing of the body.

Because Christ cares for every part of the body—we do not have to be anyone else other than who God intends us to be—that is, we do not have to be any other part of the body of Christ other than the part the Spirit of God enables us to be. If we are a foot, we can be a foot, and will be of tremendous and priceless value to the body. And just because our own bodies are broken and frail—just because we have dis-honorable parts of our body and of ourselves we would rather hide and that we don’t think belong to the body of Christ—that is precisely where the body of Christ comes alive and rises from hiding and death to new life. “On the contrary”, Paul says those parts of ourselves “that seem to be weaker are indispensable”, and those parts of ourselves we “think less honorable,” Christ clothes with great honor because he exposes them to his light, forgives them, heals them and restores us to our Christ-given place in his body with his undeserved grace.

I’m reminded here of a young man who was so excited for a date with this woman. They had gone out a few times, and he could not wait to take it to the next level—to invite her to his place for dinner. He couldn’t really cook, but that didn’t matter—he’d still figure out some way to make it special. He had never invited a woman he dated to his apartment for dinner before, but he really wanted to treat this girl special—he didn’t want to mess this one up. However, he had…a mess of an apartment—I mean an absolute pig sty. He didn’t have time to change his messy habits. So he put everything that he had lying around that needed to be put away into his bedroom—stuffing and throwing away all the trash, all the food, junk, clothes, and whatever else was cluttering the floor. And the date night came, and he had everything laid out perfectly. The place was clean. The expensive wine was poured. The perfect CD was playing. There were flowers on the table. The date was going great…until she asked to get up and go to the bathroom. And she went in the door, turned on the light, and there she was in his bedroom, falling over all of his junk—a complete mess that she had fell into. He was so embarrassed. But she turned and told him, it was OK, it was allright. She knew how hard he was trying to impress her—but she said he didn’t have to. She liked him—even if he left out smelly socks on the floor. He couldn’t believe this woman spoke words that he didn’t even know he needed to hear that night: that he was o.k. as he was, and that he was loved as he was. Even though he needed to work on his cleaning habits—there was no need to hide. It was that kind of love and honor for what was so dis-honorable, that laid the foundation for this couple to eventually join in carrying out that love with each other for the rest of their lives.

No matter how dishonorable our part in Christ’s body may seem, that is the kind of care and love Christ gives to all the parts that belong to his body—even the parts that we want to shove behind closed doors and throw away the key. This is the freely given, best quality body-care that Christ has to offer us. Jesus offers his whole body for our healing, and wholeness, so that we can all belong to his body—even at this tucked away corner of Ridgeland and Greenfield Street. We have nothing to hide, nothing to be ashamed of. Jesus cares for every part of us, and for every part of the church—no matter how shameful—for it is his very body. Now it’s our turn. It’s our turn to do what Jesus did: to care for every part of this sacred body, to practice good health, so that Christ’s body, here and everywhere may live, grow, and thrive. Amen.

What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 17th, 2010

The Second Sunday after Epiphany
Isaiah 62:1-5 • Psalm 36:5-10 • 1 Corinthians 12:1-11 • John 2:1-11

"On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine.' And Jesus said to her, 'Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells you.' Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, 'Fill the jars with water.' And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, 'Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.' So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, 'Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.' Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him."


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I’ve been thinking a lot about weddings this week—and about one wedding in particular.

James had waited for this day for a long time. Ever since he had laid eyes on his bride to be, he had known there would be this special day coming in their future. And it had now come…this was it. There was no turning back.

The day so far had gone great. The ceremony was uplifting and memorable—just as they had planned it, with tears of joy, and resounding applause—the only surprise came with a ring-bearer who bumped his head on a pew coming up the aisle. Things continued to go well at the reception as it got underway. Great food was on the menu; the open bar was flowing and the hundreds of family and friends there were even mingling and getting to know each other. As James was in the middle of a glass-clinking kiss with his new wife, the matr’d tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Sir, there’s an issue.” “What is it?” “We seem to have run out of all drinks sir.” “What should we do, sir?” “What?! You mean there’s nothing left at all? No champagne, no toasts…not even any soda?” “No sir. Sorry sir. What shall we do? It’s almost time for the toast.” “It’s your place, I hired you to have the drinks—you go figure it out!” At this point in the evening, it was so early—what would happen? How would they continue?

Someone who had ended up on the guest list, a man named Jesus (a friend of a friend), got wind of the issue when his mother came back to their table from the bathroom. She had heard the wait staff talking about this. “Can’t you go and do something about it, Jesus? Please! They’re going to be waiting forever!” “No,” Jesus said. “My hour has not yet come.” So the mom went to the servers and kitchen workers and said, “My son—he’s going to help you. Listen to him!” Getting anxious, Jesus got up and walked out of the ballroom to get some fresh air. As he walked down the hallway he saw six huge stone jars, perhaps used for plants or decoration. They were enormous—four feet high, and about a foot wide. And he thought for a minute… and he pulled one of the servers over and said, “fill these all up with water in the kitchen. Go do it!” So they did, and brought them back to Jesus. Jesus said, “Now, go, take a cup and give some of this to the matre’d.” So they took it to him, and when he tasted it—he tasted…wine! And this was not just “two buck Chuck” this was aged, vintage stuff! “Ha, this groom is a genius!” he thought. Without even asking, he figured it was the groom who had figured something out—he was the only one he had told. Soon the wine was in everyone’s glass, and the first toast was about to start.

The matre’d walked over to James and said, “It’s been taken care of, sir.” “What happened, how’d you do it” James said. “What do you mean—you pulled this off! I don’t know how you did it but you provided some excellent, excellent wine! This will be a night you’ll never forget!” And James looked around and wondered how this had happened. He looked up, and saw a familiar face, a friend of a friend he had met a few times—Jesus—standing by the door, winking at him. It was him! He had saved the night! James looked over at his lovely wife, and looked up to see his parents and in-laws getting up to toast, with their glasses full. This would definitely be a night he would never forget.

Jesus was the life of this party. He went to bat for everyone—when all the flow of the wedding had nearly come to a screeching halt. Jesus was there to bring it back, with new wine—new life.

Where has the party almost come to a halt; or where has it come to a screeching halt for us? Where do we turn for renewal and can’t seem to find it there anymore? What are those empty stone vessels in our lives that Jesus wishes to make new, and reveal his glory through? What limits do we put on others—on our relationships, on those we choose not to deal with, on our enemies, on United Lutheran—that ends up turning these things into empty stone jars that cannot become bearers of new life?

Jesus makes such stones flow again. Jesus makes our own stone hearts flow again. When our vessel becomes dry, when we can’t seem to find a full well anywhere to sustain us, Jesus makes our hearts full again, and makes it flow were we thought it had ended long ago. Jesus himself is the vessel, the rock we can return to again and again, that never runs dry even as our own well runs dry. We find in Jesus the flowing treasure of God’s glory pouring out and flowing out to us—again and again, never-ending, never running dry. Jesus, not us, he is the source to rely on to keep our vessel pouring over with his forgiveness, his mercy, and his compassion.

The wedding at Cana is not the first and only time Jesus brings new life out of the stone rock that has become empty. By the way of the cross, at the empty tomb, the hour for which Jesus came, Jesus emerges from the empty stone cold vessel, to reveal God’s resurrection glory, of new life that cannot be defeated by death. At the tomb Jesus re-enacts this first miracle at Cana, which also happens on the “third day” (Jn 2:1) where he emerges from an empty stone in the form of poured out new wine, given for all, where nothing had been. Jesus makes real a revived resurrection at this intimate wedding gathering that he re-actives with God’s Spirit that he gives freely, and shares freely.

We have entered into in the church year, amidst the retail time of the year that has already moved on to Valentine’s Day. We continue to be guided by the light of Christ in this season following Epiphany. It’s that light that will continue to get revealed more and more brightly by these wonders, signs and miracles of Jesus, whose glory this week comes to revive our stone hearts. Jesus comes to rejoice in God’s glory made known to us in him.

How will we know and share this Jesus? How will we know and share this Jesus who flows so freely and openly among and through us? How will we share this cup of Jesus poured out at this table for us, today? What will our church’s witness be to the reviving celebration Jesus makes possible? What will our witness be when we see earthquakes rattling already-poverty stricken Haiti; when we hear gunshots continuing to ring out in the nearby Austin neighborhood; or when we see the emptying of stone hearts? Jesus promises to make his new life flow through us—no matter how tapped out the world may seem. Jesus makes it flow—so let us go with that flow which will never run dry—that flow that re-makes us, and that re-makes the world. Amen.