Ramblings

Pig Bones - 10/13/2019

Last Sermon presented to Hope Lutheran and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection based on the Gospel: Luke 17: 11-19

Pig bones. You wouldn’t think that bones from sometime around the 10th century BC would be such a big deal, but they were --- at least for this Jewish woman from Pennsylvania. First let me back up. In 2005, I was able to take a sabbatical from the congregation that I was serving. During my sabbatical I volunteered for 7 weeks at an archaeological excavation in Israel called Tel Zeitah about 31 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
The layer we were excavating was roughly in 10 century BC, the time of the biblical King Solomon for example, a time when Israel was near its height and then began to experience significant changes. The city was more than likely Libnah a village mentioned in 2 Kings and Joshua.
Anyway, back to the pig bones. One of the other things we kept excavating mixed in with all the dirt and dust and pottery shards were bones, not human but animal, but sheep and … pigs. So why were pig bones a big deal especially for this Jewish woman from Pennsylvania? Well, according to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, the Pentateuch “the law,” the Old Testament, particularly Leviticus 11: 3-8, 27 and Deuteronomy 14: 4-8, pig bones would not and should not have been in the village because from this woman’s perspective, ancient Jews did not eat pork.
So how do you suspect she coped with the information? At first she questioned, “No you must be mistaken, this was in Israel, the existence of pigs was not possible.” The archaeologist assured her that in fact they were pig bones. As the days continued and we continued to find more bones she would continue to question. Finally, the archaeologists pointed out to her that the existence of these bones affirmed the archaeological record seen in the shards of pottery that this area was on the border between Israel to the east and Philistia and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. The pottery was both a mix of Philistine and Israelite style, not in distinct layers but all mixed together. We were at what once had been a border region.
That didn’t help! It did not fit with her reading of the Hebrew Bible. It did not fit with her image of her faith. For her it was supposed to be clear. This was on the Jewish side of ancient Israel.
In this week’s Gospel, Jesus is on his way to meet his fate on the cross in Jerusalem. Luke says he is “between Samaria and Galilee.” There’s a problem here, because there isn’t anything between Samaria and Galilee. It’s just a fancy way of saying that Jesus is at the border.
Now, we in South Texas have the benefit of being aware of the depth of what that might mean. In some ways yes, we are at the border, and in some ways no. The actual border is miles away yet, we have been and continue to be impacted by being close to the border.
Hours away we can cross a bridge and be in another country. For those who have done it, driving across a border is an interesting feeling. One moment you are here and the next there. You don’t get the same feeling when you are flying. When you cross at a land crossing, it’s like going through the looking glass into another reality --- something that is familiar and yet different. But what about places like San Antonio where it may be more gradual, are we or are we not “on the border?” And what does that mean for us, the people and culture?
That is important to think about because being where Jesus is, on the border, is vital for us to get a glimpse into something in this story found only in Luke, the healing of ten men.
Ten men approach and ask Jesus to have mercy on them. We are told that they have some type of skin condition. The original Hebrew word is tzaraath, which refers to any number of skin conditions --- everything from acne to psoriasis to Hansen’s disease. Whether it was leprosy or not, their skin condition made them “unclean” and they had to live by themselves. Interesting then that we are at the border, where the ten men if not more have seemingly developed a community.
The lepers call Jesus “Master.” Which is interesting because the only other people who call Jesus “Master” in Luke's gospel are the disciples themselves, putting these lepers, in Luke's reporting, in interesting company.
We are then told by the author of Luke that in response to their plight, Jesus from a distance sends them “to the priests.” Why the priests? Well, the priests could certify whether or not a person was healed, and, if so, that person could then be re-integrated into common everyday life. Luke by the way, does not tell us which priests they were to go to. Samaritan ones, or Jewish ones? Regardless, as they are going, they are “cleansed” --- katharizo, purified, cleansed. This is where we get our English word “catharsis.”
We are then told that one of them, seeing that he had been healed, returned to Jesus praising God with a loud voice, and fell down upon his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. Luke portrays his actions upon return as effusive, not just handing over a thank you. Also notice that that Luke links praise of God with worship of Jesus.
But the punchline, of course, is after noting where are the others, Jesus said “and he was a Samaritan.” On one hand this should not shock us because where are they? On the border, so for example, if we were down in Laredo and someone was Mexican, well no big deal! But what is also interesting is that Jesus calls the Samaritan the foreigner! Now wait a minute Jesus! Aren’t you the one who came to the border not the other way around! So, how are you calling “foreigner!”
Second, not only is the author of the Luke noting Jesus that we are to be shocked by the whom, and by the fact that it was only this one out 10, but we are also to be shocked by the “how.” Not only does Jesus note that the others did not come back to give thanks, and it’s a foreigner, Jesus says “your faith has saved you.” Now, there are four times in Luke's gospel where Jesus says this; the woman who anointed his feet, the woman with the twelve-year hemorrhage, today’s Samaritan healed leper, and the blind man who calls Jesus “Son of David.”
Wow! So, what can any of this mean for us who live on the border. It is I think important to note that this event is similar to the parable of the “good Samaritan” in Luke 10. In that one it was an illustration whereas today it is a live event, but it is intended for the same audience, those who are secure, who live with boundaries. And, as Jesus did in the parable, the one Jesus lifts up as a positive example is not the person that was expected. As he always seems to do whenever Jesus gets the chance, Jesus subverts all stereotypes.
So, let us explore that a little more. What stereotypes might we have. Let’s look at the faith, when Jesus says “your faith has saved you?” we have to wonder what faith is it? He was a Samaritan, was it a uniquely Samaritan faith? Samaritan’s were similar but distinct from their neighbors the Judeans. The Samaritan’s used the same first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah, yet although I will not get into it here, they did not worship like Jews. Therefore, for any Judean around Jesus to hear him say “your faith has saved you” would have been a shock.
But perhaps it is important to remember there was a reason Jesus was popular. He was beloved by the people. Maybe Jesus was helping set a path for reconciliation between what was once one people these Samaritans and Jews that over the centuries had grown increasingly apart. And at the time of Jesus, they were both poor and both were oppressed by corrupt religions and a brutal government. Was Jesus reminding them and us, that faith is for example not ethnic, tribal or racial.
Or is it all together something together different. Is Jesus acknowledging a conversion? In the time from leaving Jesus to his return something sprung. Was Jesus affirming and confirming something that had happened in this man? Remember as this leper was going to the priest this Samaritan has seen what happened, it was all over his body for heaven’s sake … and it has made a difference to him. If so, it is a faith that comes with no lessons on becoming a Jew, no overt change in lifestyle. Nothing.
Whatever Jesus mean by your faith has healed you, this man sees what has happened in a different way. This leper recognizes in this Jewish man, his reign and his power whereas for the other 9 it didn’t connect. Interesting isn’t it. That in this land between --- where borders are shall we say fuzzy --- where Jew and Samaritan are together but not together --- we find a healing which does not recognize borders. And again what about the other nine, in fact, they just disappear. Ten were cleansed, able to again enter ordinary life, but only one decided he didn’t want to fade back into the boundaries. Instead he comes back and links himself with Jesus. In a sense with Jesus he recognizes that there are no borders toward wholeness.
Finally, I think back to that woman who could not accept that the land of her ancestors from a time period in Israeli history, either ate pork or lived with people who did. For her, faith had to do with boundaries, what can and what one shouldn’t do, who is or isn’t. In her mind, faith is an identity it means either you have papers or you don’t. But we who live on the border know that it is far more complicated than that because that’s what border regions are like. Border regions are a place of insiders and outsiders, clean and unclean, documented and undocumented. Even the language and the accent will reveal where you can have “Spanglish.”
But that is the mission of Jesus Christ, to bring reconciliation on the cross between God and creation. To break down the borders that we establish and bring us to reconciliation with God by grace through faith.
We live in a very divided nation and world that is working hard to have clear distinct lines between people. At the outset of this story, ten men are stuck. They live in a border land. By the end of the story, all ten are made well. But one has something more. He has seen Jesus, recognized his blessing and rejoiced in it, and changed his course of action and behavior. And because he sees what has happened, the leper is not just healed, but is made whole, restored, drawn back into relationship with God and humanity. The Samaritan saw that we all live at the border and Jesus is the one who helps us cross to wholeness.
What about us when we discover things are not as clear or distinct in our lives and world. Why are their pig bones when there shouldn’t be any? Why does my body have a cancer? Why are there lies in a relationship? On and on with the things we assume should not be there.
Jesus is the “balm of Gilead” because we all live on the border, putting lines down in the sand. It is there where Jesus brings healing and wholeness to our lives. Let us turn and give thanks. Amen.

"So how much faith do we really need?" - 10/6/2019

Sermon presented at a combined worship service for Hope Lutheran and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.

We’ve got the power. In fact, each of us is a little power plant! And I am not talking about hormonal changes as we age when we run hot or cold! Rather, did you know that every time we take a step, we generate six to eight watts of energy? But then --- poof! --- it dissipates into the air. If only we could capture it.
Back in 2006, an architectural and engineering firm in Britain teamed up to look at ways to capture this energy and turn it into electricity. For example, it is estimated that 34,000 people move through Victoria Station in London per hour, either walking away or toward their trains. That’s a lot of steps. “If we could harness that energy,” said the architectural firm’s director, “we can actually generate a very useful power source.” According to Fast Company, these firms investigated the possibility of installing sensors that would be implanted in the structure of the train station. The devices could capture the rumblings of all this activity, turn them into electricity, to be put back into the running of the station.
Although that project never took off, in the last 15 years there has been increasing interest and research in what is called “energy harvesting” or “ambient power.” There’s power in small steps.
In today’s passage from Luke, the apostles say to Jesus, “Increase our faith!” Who of us might not ask that same thing! What is interesting of course is Jesus’s answer. He neither buys or sells. What I mean of course is that the disciples think their faith is too miniscule, so they ask Jesus to enlarge it.
But it seems that Jesus isn’t selling faith or buying into their economy of desire. Instead, Jesus understood the significance of small steps, so he says to them, imagine “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you” (Luke 17:5-6). In other words, Jesus doesn’t buy into their complaint that they need more faith in order to live a faithful life of discipleship, nor is Jesus buying that their faith is not already sufficient. Nor is Jesus selling the notion that he is the one who can wave a wand and simply give them more pixie dust faith. Nor does Jesus lay out a faith exercise plan that can be provided for a donation for $29.99 that includes a bonus prayer table mat. Jesus instead encourages them to imagine the strength of the faith they already possess! Just imagine what faith the size of a mustard seed can do.
Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It’s hard to see --- each one is about one-twentieth of an inch. That’s very, very small. Which means, at the very least, what Jesus is doing here is to underscore the notion that faith doesn’t have to be huge to have an impact. Just imagine, it doesn’t have to make the news to make a difference. Moreover, Jesus is not interested in knowing faith’s size, if he or we could even measure it. Although Jesus notes in some places the lack of faith among these disciples, he never lays out exactly how much one needs either.
Instead in today’s gospel to the disciples Jesus is encouraging and reminding them that not everything needs to super-sized. Rather imagine living within the seed-size. We also see that in the second half of the gospel. Jesus again strikes at the idea of our economy of desire. We don't get rewarded for good behavior --- not even spiritual good behavior. We don't get paid back for being swell boys and girls with faith points like little Pac-men and Pac-women getting faith points as we maneuver through life. Our virtue does not obligate God for we are but servants.
You apostles Jesus says, are just doing your job -- no more, no less --- and even if you screw that up, which we undoubtedly will, I'll keep on accepting you and accepting you and accepting you --- totally and completely, every single day--just as I accept all the “little ones,” and all creation.
Which takes me back to the ambient energy that we all have. Jesus believes that there is power in seed-sized faith and asks us to imagine what that means.
What would this mean? Well let’s explore one example --- that of peace. We live in a world being bloodied by violence every day, and it’s easy for us to be overwhelmed by the challenge of working for peace; wars in Syria or Afghanistan, bloodshed in the Palestinian territories, gun violence in our schools, homes and churches.
The hostilities in the world can make us want to run for cover, but we know that such a response is ultimately unfaithful --- peacemaking is discipleship: Jesus himself had a special word of blessing for peacemakers and in fact called them “children of God” (Matthew 5:9).
Today’s gospel reminds us that with seed sized faith our key forward is small yet profound. As I reflected on that, I was reminded of a striking image of Christian peace making that took place the days and weeks after a school shooting, in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. For those who may have forgotten over 13 years ago, on October 2, 2006 at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a gunman by the name of Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot eight out of ten girls --- aged 6–13 --- killing five, before dying by suicide in the schoolhouse.
Out of that tragedy, what the world saw there was a group of Amish men and women who took a stand for peace after the slaughter. For example, one impressive small step from the Amish response to the murders was the way that these peace-loving Christians reached out with support to the gunman’s widow and children.
After the shooting while the world focused on the bloodshed, the motive, his access to guns and his mental state, we came to find out that the Amish neighbors besides gathering around the families of those killed, also comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting not only as a sign of forgiveness, but as a faithful commitment to peace vs revenge. One Amish man held Roberts' sobbing father in his arms, reportedly for as long as an hour, to comfort him. Then for weeks after, various Amish community members visited and comforted Roberts' widow, parents, and parents-in-law. About 30 members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral, and Marie Roberts, the widow of the killer, was one of the few outsiders invited to the funeral of one of the victims. The Amish community even set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.
That peacemaking did not end as our attention went away. On the 10th anniversary of the shootings, the mother of the Charles Roberts reported that she was still having monthly visits from the Amish community to see how she was doing. These habits of reconciliation are small steps that can have a huge impact.
Now, even though that was over 13 years ago, Greg Jones, dean of Duke Divinity School recently said in reflection of the response of the Amish community, “Such exemplary acts of witness stir the imaginations of the larger world. We need our imagination to be set on fire by stories that show that what we think is impossible or unrealistic is indeed possible --- if we have the courage to cultivate habits of peace.”
Today’s gospel sets our mind on fire, move a tree to the sea! Beat all the implements of violence into implements for gardening! Imagine that!
On September 4th, Cardinal Richard Etchegaray died at the age of 96. Over his career he took small steps toward peace. In the 1970’s he made many trips on behalf of the Vatican to Eastern Europe seeking the release of human rights activists. In the 1980’s he became the first cardinal to visit China and visited again in 1993. In 1985, he led a Vatican team invited by Ayatollah Khomeini to visit prisoners of war held in Iran. He visited Baghdad, Iraq later that year and helped to arrange an exchange of prisoners of war between those two nations while they were at war. He also in that decade worked on improving the relations with the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. For instance, he was a key organizer behind the first World Day of Prayer for Peace that brought together more than 160 religious leaders in Assisi, Italy on 27 October 1986. It was the broadest representation of international religious leaders ever assembled.
He made several trips in the 90’s to Cuba like he had to China to ease the tensions between Church and state in those officially atheist countries, where practicing Christians and Jews have been objects of government repression since the Cuban and Chinese revolution.
Jesus paints an imagine of “faith the size of a mustard seed” can uproot a 60-foot tree and toss it into the sea. Small steps can have an enormous effect. Certainly, not all of us are Cardinal Etecherary where it seems much more an of a “super-sized” faith effort, not a seed-sized effort. That kind of peacemaking can seem beyond what 99.99999 percent of us can be a part of.
But imagine 34,000 people walking through Victoria Station, London generating energy without giving it much thought. That is a picture of the church. We, as the body of Christ, who number in the millions who can and do make a difference by simply the way we walk faithfully in our daily lives. Imagine how much more faith we could have, or how much we feel we deserve or need from God BUT we would be missing the whole point. Instead, reflect what would the world be like without the centuries of Christian voice and presence? Certainly Christians in the past and present are the incubators of violence, but we can also say without any reserve that we would be in far worse shape than we are now without the faithful witness of Christians through the centuries.
As followers of Christ --- peace is a part of our job description as are the ministries of comfort, service, encouragement, prayer, healing, lifting the fallen, advocating for the oppressed, weeping with those who weep, listening to those in despair, the peaceful settling of disputes, overcoming of differences, and re-establishment of relationships --- all of these and more comprise our mission as obedient servants of Jesus Christ.
In a world so bloodied by conflict, the Amish response after the massacre at Nickel Creek is one model and perhaps not ours. And yes, none of these actions is going to transform the world overnight, but what do you imagine? We are shapers through God’s grace of the intangible stuff of imagination lived out in faith. Moving a Mulberry tree is nothing! Whatever it is … living as disciples in response to God’s faithful imagination for us is part of that growing rumble of enormous power generated by mustard seeds acts of faith and obedience.
It’s simply inconceivable to say that millions of Christians walking through Victoria Station, as it were, are not going to generate a ton of world-changing energy. Those early Christians, though only a few number, were described as people who turned the world upside down. Jesus was right, with a seed-sized faith; we have, we can and do turn the world upside down, “for we have done only what we ought to have done!” Imagine what we will do this week! Amen.

God's Celebration - 9/15/2019

Sermon presented at Hope Lutheran and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection based on Luke 15: 1-10.

This morning more than likely you parked in one of the more than 105 million estimated parking spaces in the United States. But which one? That’s not a hard question here because as I have noticed in my year here most of you follow the same practice. You park in the same spot and you sit in the same pew. So much for change! But what about at HEB or Walmart? Do you ever walk out the door and have to pause to remember where you are parked?
Now just imagine Disney World in Orlando, Florida. The parking areas there include more than 46,000 parking slots, and you guessed it every day, a good number of guests cannot remember in which one they left their car. Visitors arrive at the theme park revved up to have a good time, and they aren’t paying attention. What’s more, they may be piloting a rental whose color and make they haven’t noticed, but even if they have, it’s identical to several hundred other SUV’s nearby.
Disney does what it can to help absent-minded visitors observe where they park. For those who may have been there, each parking section has a Disney character name --- Chip & Dale, Pluto, Goofy, Dopey, etc. --- clearly identified with prominently posted pictures. As arriving guests board the trams that carry them into the park, the tram drivers tell the visitors what lot they are in and urge them to take note. Still, as you probably suspect so many people fail to remember that Disney employs a small army whose sole job is to reassure these baffled folks and reunite them with their autos. They are known as the parking cast!
The way I understand it is that the parking cast uses an array of tools, including perseverance, technology and clues elicited from the guests. For starters, Disney keeps track via cameras of when each lot fills. That way, if visitors can remember approximately when they arrived, the cast can narrow the search to specific lots based on the time frame they arrived. Disney workers also ask what visitors remember seeing in route to the parking lot. If all else fails, Disney employees can drive the lost individuals around in company vehicles, while the guests lean out the window, pushing the panic button on their key chains, hoping the car will sound off!
Through one means or another, the Disney parking cast usually manages to re-link guests with their vehicles, finding the lost and enabling park visitors to go on their way. And so the guests do, probably feeling that no matter which lot their car was actually discovered in, they had parked in Dopey.
I suspect if Disney had a Bible passage for these cast members these two little parables in today’s gospel from Luke would be good candidates --- with their stories of losing and finding. We may have other examples from our personal life stories of losing and finding. Yet as much as these parables may fit losing our car in a parking lot of 46,000, there are some images that don’t fit.
For example, Jesus indicated both the shepherd and the homemaker are so thrilled at finding the lost that they need help to celebrate both call neighbors to gather for a party. The words joy and rejoice occur five times in today’s lesson.
But do you suppose that’s how the parking cast members at Disney react? For them, helping baffled visitors is all in a day’s work. I doubt they throw a party every time they succeed. And as I suspect for those chagrined guests, they don’t want everyone to know that once they were lost and now are found. Finding their transport, no doubt brings a wave of relief and maybe even reprieve, but probably not much joy. How many of us would want everyone at HEB or Walmart to know that we forgot were our car was located? And then expect the manager to call out on the speaker, we are having a party because someone found their car?
How often have we felt a party was warranted when we found our keys, glasses, purse, wallet, homework or all those others things we may forget as we walk out the door? Therefore, when Jesus asks, “Which one of you would not have a party?” a lot of us would confess that we would not.
Furthermore, a I thought about it even more I realized that this gospel is truly a struggle for us. I wonder can we truly see or hear it through the noise of 21 centuries along with living in an affluent American culture.
For one thing, it’s difficult to identify with shepherds. For example, we may get attached to our pets. It’s not unreasonable to assume that the shepherd actually cared about the individual animals in his flock, an image immortalized in countless images of pale faced, Jesus figure in a white robe holding a lamb. But having spent time on the family dairy farm during the summers while growing up, pets are not the same thing as farm animals. We may get close to them even give them a name but ultimately then end up on our or someone else’s dinner plate. With that in mind return to the shepherd’s searching for the missing sheep. It may include more than sentimentality. The lost sheep is a pay check, a meal and clothing and is the shepherd the owner? If not, I suspect the owner would not appreciate lost sheep. Add that to the point I raised early, would we throw a party? We may give a reward but a party?
There is something else in this gospel that many of us 21st Americans truly struggle to understand. It takes us a great deal of effort to identify with people who have only a few things. We are told that this woman hunts high and low for her mint condition silver dollar. She lights a lamp --- this indicates a simple dwelling, incidentally, one without windows --- and she sweeps the whole house. When she finds the coin, she ‘calls together’ her friends and neighbors and asks that they “rejoice” with her. Family is not mentioned.
Think about it. Honestly, we have dozens of pens, and if we misplace one, it’s no big deal. We just pick up another one. Even for gadgets where we don’t have extras, it is often easier to simply go buy another than to spend time searching for the wayward one. But that was not so at the time of Jesus. The vast number of people owned far, far fewer things. Certainly the lost silver coin in the parable was the equivalent of a full day’s pay but although saddened and perhaps a struggle, would we have the same reaction if we found it?
But the largest challenge for us in these two parable is that it’s not easy to identify these characters with God, but that’s whom these two parables are really about. After each of them, Jesus gives the moral of the story, stating that the repentance of a lone sinner is the occasion for great joy in heaven. Think about it. Really, who of us can say, after all the members of the human race God has created, God experiences such exhilaration over the conversion of a single individual. Of sure if it is our family member, someone we may have been praying for deeply, but what about a person in a far off country, who doesn’t speak our language or come from our background.
I think all these challenges confirms that perhaps what we may be missing is an important piece of ultimately good news for us. Walter J. Freeman, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, writes about what scientists who study the brain have concluded about joy. He acknowledges that both electrical and chemical stimulation of the brain have significant impact on moods. That includes the effect of such naturally occurring chemicals as dopamine, endorphins, serotonin and oxytocin. But in each case, says Freeman, the result is not happiness.
Freeman explains, some pioneering neuroscientists have figured out that our brains do not store information from the environment as if they were recording devices. Rather the experiences we have in life trigger neural activity in the brain that results in a “construct.” The stimulus from the experience drains away, but the construct remains. And since all of us have different experiences, we all have different constructs, creating a situation where none of us can fully feel what another person is feeling. Freeman short hands this as “lonely brains.”
That is where what we know as joy comes in. Although we cannot be fully of one mind with others, like first century Shepherds, like someone with nothing who finds their treasure, or for that matter the conversion of someone far away, any time we can overcome the barriers between our self and another through cooperation and shared activities that result in trust, friendship, community or partnership --- it is then we feel joy.
These parables are not about the need for repentance, particularly not the way repentance is typically preached by those TV evangelists. Neither the lost sheep nor the lost coin ever “repents.” They don't do anything at all. They are simply lost, and they are simply found. Nor are today’s parables primarily about our sins, our need to be “righteous,” our need to “repent,” or our feeble efforts to reform ourselves.
These parables are all about God and God's relentless search for the lost and the “joy in heaven” when the lost are found and brought home.
Just look again at context of the parables. The Pharisees would never have objected to Jesus encouraging other people to repent. That's exactly what they themselves thought: all those “sinners” need to straighten up and fly right. That was exactly the Pharisee program.
So, if Jesus’s teaching today was an encouragement for people to repent, the Pharisees would have applauded. Jesus would have been a Pharisee hero. They would have called him a Defender of Traditional Family Values, and not a “glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.”
Instead, Jesus teaches us deeply about God as the seeker of the lost. What this means is as much as we think we might know, we do not know nor will ever know the mind of God.
We need to be reminded like Isaiah 43:21 --- “the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise” --- and Revelation 4:11b --- “for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” --- as well as the image of God as a jilted lover in Hosea, we have a God who experiences joy, and there are parties in heaven! Jesus confirms that with these two parables.
Yes, we may have joy because we have pets, so we may feel some of the loss that a Shepherd may feel, and the joy when found, but we are not the Shepherd. We may have something so precious like the homemaker; and the joy when found but we are not homemaker. We may know how amazing God’s love and forgiveness is so when someone half around the world discovers God’s grace through Jesus Christ we share in that joy for the grace we have secured, but we are not that person.
Jesus let us know with these parables that God goes about the business of seeking purposefully; God is about God’s work which for God is about Joy! A joy in heaven that is celebrated when a community like this one is brought together not because we are related, not because we lose things, not because we need to find anything, but because God is celebrating. Amen.

Salt - 9-8-2019

Sermon presented at Hope Lutheran and the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection based on Luke 14: 25-35. 

Do you have salt on your table? Much has changed for when I was growing up when someone said “Pass the salt,” I was table salt. Nowadays, we are more serious about salt. Serious because for some of us doctors are telling us to move from a dump to a dash of salt on our food to stem an epidemic of high blood pressure among the French fry faithful. Although the average human needs somewhere between about two-thirds of a pound and 16 pounds of salt a year to stay healthy --- on the lower end of that scale if we are less active and more if we are very active and live in a hot climate. Salt deficiency can cause lightheadedness, headaches, weakness, nausea and, if the deprivation lasts long enough, even death. Too much salt, the American problem however, can have the same effect.
But that has not been the only change, I don’t know if any of you have shopped for salt recently, but not only do we have the generic, store carton or Morton basic version aka table salt with two choices iodine or not, we also have the options of fleur de sel. We have the option of sea or rock. We can even color coordinate with gray and pink, or red, black or blue salt as well as Himalayan salt block to just name a few options.
Of course all these option vary in price. Say I pay $15 for Celtic sea salt vs. about 98 cents for the cardboard canister what am I getting? Well with the Celtic sea salt I add more texture, flavor, and health benefit than the iodized and highly refined version. The downside is that it also takes a little more maintenance of Celtic sea salt. If I leave and don’t use it moist air can cause it to clump together. The benefit however can outweigh the cost and hassle. Because of the chunkier nature of natural sea salt, which is hand-raked and bleached in the sun vs. mined like the kind in the supermarket, the theory less salt means more taste. Maybe.
Of course this resurgent interest in salt is not new. Point is that salt in one form or another has been part of our daily lives not only by necessity for thousands of years. In fact, the quest for and consumption of salt is actually more like a human obsession. In his book from a couple of years ago, Salt: A World History, Mark Kurlansky tracks the history of salt as a mineral often more valuable to humans than gold. From the ancient Chinese, who may have gathered salt as early as 6000 B.C. to biblical times and beyond, salt has been a staple and obsession for every human culture.
In the first-century world of Jesus, for example, salt was so valuable that it was even used like cash currency. The Roman soldiers who stood at the cross or marched with Jesus along the via de la Rosa were often paid in salt, and the Latin word for salt (sal) became the basis for the word “salary” and eventually morphed into the word “soldier.”
And of course the Bible is not without its references. The early Israelites used salt in worship. The preserving power of salt was well-known; thus the ancient Israelites covered their sacrifices in salt as a sign mentioned in Leviticus and Number of the eternal nature and preservation of the covenant between God and God’s people: a “covenant of salt.” Should I take a little salt and spread it over our offering this morning? Ezekiel mentions the rubbing of salt on newborn infants, perhaps to both dry the skin and protect the child from evil. Maybe as part of today’s baptism should we rub McKenzie in a little salt? On the flip side of the shaker, as it were, salt is referenced in some places as a sign of judgment and destruction. In Judges 9:45 Abimelech destroyed the city of Shechem and then “sowed it with salt.”
It’s no wonder, then, that Jesus wraps up this very important section of teaching on the cost of discipleship by using salt to seal what he means and emphasize the kind of valuable effort that is required of anyone who would follow him. Jesus turned to the crowds, the vast numbers of people clamoring after him, and lays down a lesson in hard currency. Following me, he says in effect, is more valuable than your family --- and to the first-century Jew there was virtually nothing more valuable than family (v. 26) - or even your own life and livelihood. For us 21st century Americans, these often misunderstood words are not an invitation to usefully leave our relatives out --- no matter how justified that may be!
Rather, in the ordering of kingdom of God priorities, Jesus is starting that the way of the cross --- discipleship --- comes before something as valuable as “family-ship.” Think, for example, of all the immigrants who passed through Ellis Island to land on America’s shores, leaving behind families like in our case who would never be seen again. Think of the hardships present-day immigrants face in order to seek a better life.
Jesus wants the crowds to whip out their spiritual calculators and do the math --- to count the cost of being in this discipleship project for the long haul is like someone building a tower --- or a house --- for example. If the builder doesn’t count the cost, he’ll either not be able to finish the project, or he’ll finish it poorly and need a “makeover” crew to come in and do it right! Or, Jesus continues, what sort of leader is it who invades a country without knowing what he’s up against?
Then Luke has Jesus concluding this teaching with this curious slant on salt: “Salt is good,” in vs 34. For us, it’s a common mineral that makes everything taste better, last longer. We have a hint for in Matthew’s version, Jesus calls his disciples “salt of the earth,” common but extremely valuable. The twist in Luke comes with the next qualifier: “But if salt has lost its taste, how can saltiness be restored?” Say what? After all, we know that the salt on our table keeps its flavor no matter what, so how is it possible for sealed, signed and delivered “salty” disciples to lose their flavor and usefulness? In fact, Jesus implies that unsalted disciples are of no use --- not fit for the soil or even for the manure pile, where some types of salt were used in the ancient world to preserve animal droppings for field fertilization. Imagine being valued less than fertilizer --- talk about not being worth your salt! What could a follower of Jesus do that’s so heinous that we don’t even qualify for the dung heap?
Now to understand what Jesus is saying we need a short chemistry lesson. Modern table salt doesn’t ever lose its “saltiness” because impurities are removed and chemicals like anti-caking agents are added. Salt in Jesus’ day was much less reliable. Dr. Robert Shepherd, retired professor of chemistry at Northeastern, explains it this way: “Most, if not all, commercially available salt in biblical times was produced by evaporation of either sea water or brine from salt wells or salt lakes, such as the Dead Sea. All of these sources contain other salts besides sodium chloride, notably calcium salts. When the brine is evaporated, these calcium salts combine with dissolved carbon dioxide and leave behind calcium carbonate, --- chalk. On standing for long periods exposed to moist air, the soluble sodium chloride will absorb water and leach away, leaving mostly chalk.” At the time of Jesus salt that was simply left lying around unused and exposed would eventually lose its taste, leaving behind something that’s great for blackboards and ball fields but useless in our soup. Jesus drives the point home: Disciples are only valuable, worth their salt, if they are used!
Now, I don’t know about you, I’d rather not be taken advantage of, walked on, dumped on, or otherwise be “used” by someone else. But in fact, that’s a big chunk of the overhead cost of being a disciple of Jesus. What we often conveniently forget is that Jesus himself knowingly went to the cross for people who used him for their own purposes --- political, personal or otherwise. But because Jesus was used, everything tastes different --- the bitterness of sin and death turned into the salty-sweet flavor of eternal life.
Salt as we know enhances the flavor of food if it used. There is a difference between food that has salt on it and food that doesn’t have salt on it. Zucchini is more zucchini with salt than it is without salt. Obedience and commitment to Christ enables and empowers us to be more fully human than we would be without that commitment.
To follow Jesus is to be used --- to pick up a cross, to give up claim on our own lives, to be put in situations we’d often rather not get into. To even perhaps leave family behind or said in another way, to take a road that may not include family. It’s a recognition that when we pray, “Lord, use me,” it’s a guarantee that the Lord will and in a way that may cost us everything. But the good news is this: The more we are used, the more valuable we become and the closer we are to realizing the incredible purpose and fullness of life to which we are called. Furthermore, like salt it may not take much to have an impact.
So the question remains: Where is Jesus wanting to use us? Who could use you and me --- our time, our talent, our treasure --- right now? Certainly it is not easy to distinguish between when we are being used by Christ or just being used --- being that door mat none of us want to be. I wish it was easy but I would be lying. When my wife was given the opportunity to accept or decline the promotion in Japan we had in the equation not only her career and mine, but leave daughters, elderly parents, home, relationships. If you have told me 27 years ago when I was near my final year in seminary that I will have spent a percentage of my ministry in Japan, I would have been polite but internally not thought that was my plan for discipleship.
The alternative of course, is that we sit tight, clump together, and individually and collectively go bad --- absorbed and dispersed into a world that seems headed for the manure pile. God has created us, equipped us, molded us, energized us, and purposed us for divine use --- to be his instruments for the kingdom of God. And by the way, it doesn’t have an expiration date and does not include a can’t get out of the chair excuse, or let someone younger pick it up. No this is “a die with our boots on salt at our hips” teaching. We are all “the salt of the earth” --- common but valuable, simple but with more than 14,000 uses. When Jesus calls us to follow him, as it has you, as it calls McKenzie as it calls me, God expects as much diversity as there is salt, for this world is diverse, ready for our enhancements. Amen.

"Cosmetic Surgery is not necessary" - 9/1/2019

Sermon based on Luke 14: 1, 7-14

On a typical morning, many of us rise from our beds and shuffle into the bathroom. It’s our first stop of the day. We can shower, comb through that hair, slap on deodorant and put on appropriate clothing and maybe some makeup.
That is, of course, until we grab our phone and open a social media app like Facebook or Snapchat. There we may notice all the smiling, perfectly airbrushed faces that confront us every day.
What to do! For many people the thought of posting a selfie --- a picture of yourself on social media --- is a challenge because let’s face it, whatever we post will not match the pictures online or even our friend’s smiling pics from Aruba. Not to worry --- there’s an app for that! With a photo filter like Facetune or the editing features of Snapchat, we can do a little tweaking. Erase that mole, nip and tuck that spare tire, get a little creative around the eyes and voila! We have just put our best selfie self out into the world. All is well the … until the bathroom mirror again, the disconnect between our real self and your virtual self begins to sink in.
In the age of the edited selfie, medical professionals have identified one new phenomenon called “body dysmorphic disorder,” or Snapchat disorder, to put it easier language. As The Journal of the American Medical Association describes it: “The pervasiveness of these filtered images can take a toll on one’s self-esteem, make one feel inadequate for not looking a certain way in the real world, and may even act as a trigger for body dysmorphic disorder (BDD).”
For example, while waiting for my father for routine lab work I waited out the hallway in this medical complex. Across from the lab, there was the offices for a plastic surgeon. On display he had information for Botox and other procedures. What caught my eye however was a bold line, “Selfies of how you want to look welcome!” According to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the number of patients seeking this kind of selfie-altering surgery increased by 18 percent this past year.
It is of course not a secret that we live in an American culture where being real is often a challenge, where we are either to poor, to infirm, to old, to short, to large, too dark from an artificial norm. Altering our bodies to fit a vision of perfection or its opposite ---- how much we can use our bodies as artistic canvas --- can be damaging, but what happens when we do the same thing to our souls? I wonder if it’s possible to have a conflict between the real and virtual selves we present to the world from the ways in which we think and behave. We might sculpt our personalities and social poses to appeal to others and make us seem like more than we really, truly are. Rather than being humble and realistic about our flaws and our human needs, our natural selves, we may see others and ourselves as inferior to the inflated, airbrushed or edited self. For example, do we ever impose unrealistic demands on our family, children, friends, acquaintances, church? Do we ever see other people as competition or “threats?” Do we ever exhibit double-standards in the way we behave/interact with other people? Do we ever judge others starting from a places other than they are an image of God?
Jesus, however, is able to cut through the veneers of this world --- the physical, emotional and social bubbles we live in --- and hold up a mirror to expose the true self. Jesus of course, did it not from a position of superiority --- even though he was God in the flesh --- but from the position of one who, despite his fully human and fully divine nature, was humble and always projected his authentic self.
Just look at this episode in our gospel, according to Luke, at the meal the Pharisees were “watching [Jesus] closely” (v. 1). Jesus was such a contrast to the other religious and political leaders of his day, who were all about “keeping up appearances.” While it was expected in that culture, day and age, that a virtuous host would invite a prominent teacher to dinner, it was clear that the host’s motives here were suspect. Whoever this host was, we know that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem and the cross meaning there would be plenty of prominent people by this time who want to trip him up and find a way to get rid of him. Everything Jesus said would be analyzed and scrutinized, but time and again his words were consistent with his actions.
Luke informs us that at this meal at the invitation of an unknown host, there was a man afflicted perhaps with dropsy --- a condition that causes the body to swell from excess fluids. Whatever the cause of the condition, clearly, this man’s selfie needed to be enhanced with some apps and filters! Every day, any reflection or self-review, reminded him of who he really was. But we also find out that it wasn’t any day of the week. Since it was the Jewish Sabbath, our Saturday, Jesus asked the elite around the table, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” (v. 3). Interestingly, the Pharisees were silent. Not waiting in silence, Jesus healed the man, sent him on his way, and then asked another question about pulling a child or an ox out of a well on the Sabbath (vv. 4-5). Again, the Pharisees couldn’t or didn’t want to answer.
Why were the Pharisees silent? I think their silence is instructive, a sign perhaps of our own silence when we are confronted by reflective truth. The Pharisees, like many people in Jesus’ day, were about keeping up appearances, jostling for position in the eyes of God and the eyes of their fellow Jews. They were eager to put on a face, showing how well they were keeping the law and maintaining their sense of purity. If they had had an Instagram account, you can be certain they would have been constantly posing and posting carefully staged and gauzy shots of themselves engaging in acts of piety.
Seeing Jesus heal a man with an obvious problem that would make him unclean, and on the Sabbath no less, would offend their self-righteous sensibilities even though, as Pharisees, they may have technically agreed and rejoiced in the healing. If keeping up appearances is important however, one must avoid potential embarrassment and the awkward moment. Better not post a picture of being bested by a homeless rabbi from Nazareth!
To emphasize that point, Jesus took the opportunity as recorded by Luke to comment of something Jesus was also well aware, a lot of jockeying for position at the tables as different peoples vied for the places of honor (v. 7). At this visible sign of 1st century airbrushed, edited selfie culture, Jesus told a parable about a wedding banquet which, on the surface, seems to be a kind of Emily Post-style instruction on seating but, in reality, is much more.
Jesus talking about a “wedding banquet” indicates a larger teaching moment here. We need to remember that in different places in the Scriptures, the wedding banquet sometimes serves as a symbol for the coming kingdom of God. Jesus seemed to be warning his fellow dinner guests that their striving for a place of honor at God’s table was a projection of their airbrushed image of themselves and the Kingdom of God.
In that world and our own, some are at the table and others are left off or seated in categories (vv. 8-9). Instead, in the Kingdom the person who is real, genuine and honest with himself or herself will let the host set the agenda for who sits where (v. 10). It’s the host, in this case God, who determines our status, for it is God who sees the real person behind the altered public veneer. “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted” (v. 11).
The second parable the author of Luke records Jesus saying is directed at the host and, if we connect the two parables, Jesus seems to be defining who the “distinguished” guests are and who from the perspective of the Kingdom of God have prominent places at the table. “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors,” says Jesus (v. 12).
Rather than the kind of social contract we expect to execute in our selfie world --- comparing the number of likes --- on someone else’s enhanced, air brushed portrait or news about themselves, Jesus urges the host, as he urges us, to elevate those who cannot reciprocate. In other words, to take a group shot of a table full not of the famous, rich or celebrity but of those to whom the world would be shocked to see at the table. In these parables, we learn that while we may not be in dire economic or physical circumstances, we too may not be poor, crippled, lame, or aged out but all of us are blinded by self-interest and self-indulgence, pretending to be something we are not. When we turn from editing our own selves, to reimaging the table where we sit we begin to get a good sense that God gives “likes” to those who are honest and genuine about themselves and in their relationships to others. “You will be blessed” in inviting them, says Jesus, “because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous” (v. 14).
Many people suffering from Snapchat dysmorphia focus on presentation to the detriment of their own bodies and souls. Jesus reminds us that the most impressive people in God’s kingdom are those who turn the focus away from self to others, whose purpose is a soul and a life that follows the way of the cross. In today’s lesson, Jesus is pointing out that the way to the cross is not filled by presenting or posing but caring only about turning the spotlight on the image of God in others.
The author, Philip Yancey tells of a couple who had planned a lavish wedding reception to be held after their wedding. They bride took the responsibility for booking a banquet room at an elegant hotel, and made the required down payment of half the reception’s cost. Unfortunately to make a long story short the prospective groom had a change of heart and they parted company for good.
One of the bride’s next stops was the office of the Events Manager of the Hotel. The manager said she was sorry, but most of the deposit was non-refundable. The former bride-to-be had only two options, she explained: she could either forfeit the rest of her down payment or go ahead with the event.
As Yancey tells it, “It seemed crazy, but the more the former bride thought about it, the more she liked the idea of going ahead. You see, ten years before, this same person had been living in a homeless shelter. Now, after she had got back on her feet, found a steady job and set aside a nest egg, in this moment of deep disappointment she reconnected with the person she was and is.”
“And so it was that in June of 1990 that in a downtown Boston hotel she hosted a party such as it had never seen before. The hostess changed the menu to boneless chicken — ‘in honor of the groom,’ — and sent invitations to rescue missions and homeless shelters. That warm summer night, people who were used to handouts, or empty carbs out of a paper bags were served by waiters in tuxedos. Bag ladies, vagrants and addicts took one night off from the sidewalks outside and instead sipped champagne, ate chocolate wedding cake and danced to big-band melodies late into the night.”
What makes for “beautiful” in the kingdom of God is honesty, service and love for others. No surgery, no Photoshop, no app, no posing required but it does necessitate a refocus on what is reflected when we turn the lens of the Kingdom of God through the cross on ourselves and the world around us. Amen.