Lent 1 B - Psalm 25:1-10

Psalm 25:1-10

“Do not remember the sins of my youth” is the psalmist plea to God for the sins the psalmist cannot forget. It is often true for us as well. The sins of the past haunt the present and color the future a darker shade of grey. Even those of us who claim grace abounds and that God forgives ad forgets find ourselves mired in the mud of the past where we willfully decided to step off the path of the Lord and reject the ways that were made known to us. But God, mindful of mercy, is always present to shed light on that which we prefer to hide so that in the confession of regret and guilt and shame God might make “a new beginning from the ashes of our past.” (We Are Baptized in Christ Jesus by John Yilvisaker) When God instructs sinners in the way the first lesson is that whoever we were and whatever we may have done or left undone has been forgotten and no longer defines our present or predicts our future for when we put on Christ we are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Lent 1 B - Genesis 9:8-17

Genesis 9:8-17

It is not stated plainly but I think “never again” carries with it a certain amount of regret. Or if not regret at least a determination that extinguishing all life on the planet earth by drowning is not the final solution to the reality of evil. Our time is no more or less evil even if the scripture states that in Noah’s time “the whole earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.” (Genesis 6:11)  Surely there were innocent children in Noah’s age?  And what of the multitude of animals that didn’t win the two by two lottery?  The evil of every age has always presented the righteous with a dilemma. Isn’t flooding the earth and killing every living creature on it as evil as whatever prompted such a response?  That is why in an equally evil age God remembered the covenant and chose to do the dying himself rather than making the whole world the scapegoat for sin. Not as an excuse for sin but an invitation for the righteous to live in such a way that invites others to climb aboard the ark of salvation that is life in the Lord. 

The Feast of Transfiguration Year B - Mark 9:2-9

Mark 9:2-9

There is nothing in this text that indicates the disciples intended to build dwelling places of worship so they could stay on the mountain even though preachers often go there. “We can’t stay on the mountain! We are called to the valley.” Bottom line - Peter, James and John were desperate to get off the mountain. The Jesus they knew as a real human being was glowing like a nuclear reactor and talking with ghosts. The offer of three booths is Peter’s way of saying, “please don’t hurt us.” So the story is not about mission or ministry per se. It’s all about the nature of Jesus who throughout his time on earth was always able to “Shine, Jesus, Shine” but choose to be the One who hung out with the least and the lost and the lonely. I think we (myself included) always get God wrong. We are either afraid of what God might do because of what we have done or on the flip side not done. Or we think that God is not intimately involved with the least and the lost and the lonely and is more concerned with the way we color inside or outside the lines. Truth is God just wants to know and be known by us because God knows when that happens we who are terrified on the mountaintop will be courageous in the valley. And when we are courageous in the valley we will color inside the lines where the least and the lost and the lonely (including ourselves) live outside the line of the life that denies us all the life of abundance.

The Feast of Transfiguration Year B - 2 Corinthians 4:3-6

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

I think sometimes the minds of unbelievers see the Gospel more clearly than those who have been given the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. Of course they don’t know what they are saying or doing is what the Gospel is all about and in that sense they are near sighted and in need of the Christian lens. It is only because the image of God lived and died in the flesh that you and I dare to believe and proclaim that God is desperately and ultimately in love with the people who inhabit this planet. The god of this world that blinds the minds of unbelievers and believers alike also inhabits human flesh, namely yours and mine. You don’t need to look any farther than the human heart to find the devil inside. But the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness” is more than able to overcome our love of sinning in all its devious forms so that what we become is the lens through which unbelievers see the Christ. 

The Feast of Transfiguration Year B - Psalm 50:1-6

Psalm 50:1-6

The God far off comes near in fire and smoke and tempest to judge those who think their sacrifices will keep the righteous judge at bay. It is a common complaint of God. “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) God is done with the sacrifices that have no heart and is tired by those who recite the statutes but fail to live the covenant. So God rebukes those who hate discipline and live without a concern for the consequences of deceitful lives. But “the Gospel is always bad news before it is good news” (Friederich Buechner) and for the sake of the creation gone horribly wrong the perfection that came out of Zion was abandoned by the faithful and disfigured by the cross only to shine forth from the empty tomb. Because of God's self sacrifice our sacrifice that is pleasing to God is a contrite heart and a life of thanksgiving that honors the God of salvation.

The Feast of Transfiguration - 2 Kings 2:1-12

2 Kings 2:1-12

This is a weird story of water partings and whirlwinds and pregnant pauses – “Yes, I know: be silent." But when the moment comes Elisha sees the chariots and cries out, “Father! Father!” both for Elijah’s passing and the promise “if you see me… it will be granted." Tearing his clothes is a break with the past in the same way that picking up the mantle embraces the future. The passing of the mantle is what the church has been doing for thousands of years. In many ways we inherit a double (or more) portion of what has come before by building on the foundation of everyday saints and sinners all the way back to the first witnesses of the resurrection. Even in this time of uncertainty the story of “God with us” is more than able to preserve the traditions of the past while propelling us into the uncharted future. Of course some garments will be left behind having served their purpose but when we invoke the name of the God of those who gifted us with their prophetic spirit the waters that block our way and threaten to overwhelm us will part and the church will cross over into God’s forever future.

Epiphany 5 B - Mark 1:29-39

Mark 1:29-39

Jesus needed to get away for awhile just to pray. He wasn’t escaping from the burden of being a blessing to a feverish mother-in-law or a city full of sick folk or from the work of putting demons in their place. The whole city that gathered at his door at sundown would be back at sunrise and Jesus knew that the healing he needed was to get away for awhile. He got up in the darkness and went to a deserted place so that he could commune with the One who sent him to be a blessing. We live in a 24/7 wired world and even when we are alone we tend to be distracted. But what we really need in our down time is holy time by which I mean a silent sacred space to commune with the One who sends us out to be a blessing. I don’t do it very well since it takes some practice and maybe that’s the point. I don’t know if a 2015 Jesus would tweet or text or Facebook or blog but I’m sure if he did he’d find time to turn it all off in order to reconnect with the One who sent him to proclaim the “kingdom of God has come near” message. So if Jesus needed down time to fuel his up time it follows that people and pastors whose lives are a blessing to others need it as well.

Epiphany 5 B - 1 Corinthians 9:16-23

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

“I have become all things to all people” is not such a good thing to be unless it is “all for the sake of the Gospel” but even then it’s a dangerous thing to do. Of course proclaiming the Gospel is a noble and worthwhile endeavor but I wonder how many professional proclaimers have sacrificed health and home by trying to be all things to all people while never being true to themselves. I’m not confessing. I’m just asking the question. But truth is according to all sorts of surveys we clergy are a pretty unhealthy lot and it’s not because the devil’s out to get us. I think it has something to do with the misapplication of this text by a profession with high expectations (mostly unspoken) and low reward (at least in the way the world measures it) and, more recently, diminished respect so that the clerical collar is often an object of ridicule in the wider culture. But there is a greater truth and that is that the obligation to proclaim cannot be escaped and “woe to me if I do not proclaim” means the call is not an option. That being said we can be better on both sides of the pew of being true to ourselves while being all things to each other for the sake of Gospel.

Epiphany 5 B - Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

The God of abundant power, who can hurl down hail like crumbs and whip up a winter storm like the one that buried Chicago is the same God who heals the brokenhearted and lifts up the downtrodden. The big G God does not delight in the things that we do and although I love my strong horse Seraphina and always hope for speedy 5k when I run the Cowtown every February Psalm 147 reminds us to pay attention to the things that God cares about. God delights in those who hope in the steadfast love that speaks peace to Jerusalem. Even though the God come down was cast out by his own people who knew his ordinances God did not deal with them as any other nation for the One cast out by Israel was the One who was destined to be a blessing to every nation. To fear God, then, is to be people who care for the weak and weary and work for peace while singing praise to the gracious God of infinite patience. But if God doesn't mind so much I'd still like to run a speedy 5k. 

Epiphany 5 B - Isaiah 40:21-31

Isaiah 40:21-31

The One who sits above the circle of the earth and stretches out the heavens like a curtain, who brings princes to naught and dismisses the rulers of the earth abandoned the place of ultimate power to inhabit human flesh. Isaiah didn’t know it when he spoke these words to the exhausted captives in Babylon but that is the way by which the Holy One would become intimate with the ways of the weak and powerless and exhausted. The little g gods bluster and bray “to whom will you compare us?” but the big G God demonstrates ultimate power by giving it up. The Holy One will grow faint and weary and as a young man will stumble and fall on the way to the hill of crucifixion. And when the powers of darkness rejoiced at such foolishness the Holy One stepped out of the tomb and banished them to hell. Have you not heard? Do you not know? Our way is not unknown to the Lord and our cause is not disregarded by the One who knows us so well. The unknowable, unsearchable God is as close as our own breath because the Holy One of Israel has lived our life and died our death “for us, ahead us, instead of us” (Walt Bouman) so that when this flesh is finally worn out we might rise on wings like an eagle and fly away. In the meantime we are encouraged to live the future in the present until “some glad morning…” 

Epiphany 4 B - Mark 1:21-28

Mark 1:21-28

The unclean spirit who cries out in the synagogue obeys Jesus and comes out of the man. The scribes reject Jesus and on more than one occasion claim that it is Jesus who is possessed. It seems it was always the possessed and the dispossessed that recognized the Christ in Jesus. The Gerasene demoniac, the Samaritan leper, the Syrophoenician woman, the Centurion with a dead daughter, Zacchaeus the tax collector to name but a few. The scribes and Pharisees and teachers of the law only recognize a Jesus who threatens the authority they have claimed for themselves. But the spirit that recognizes the Christ in Jesus comes out because it could not resist the authority of Jesus. Perhaps the spirits that possess us would respond in the same way if we weren’t so good at keeping them from crying out.

Epiphany 4 B - 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Differences in theology and practice rarely lead one side to change behavior so as not to offend the other. The more natural course of action is to demonize the opposition and become more firmly entrenched in the absolute truth of one’s own position. Meat sacrificed to idols was a big deal for those who all their life had been taught that destruction follows consumption and God’s righteous judgment could only be appeased by ritual purity. Even the apostle Peter cried, “Heaven forbid” when offered shrimp on the sheet! (Acts 10:14) Paul’s use of the term “weak believers” is not meant to denigrate their faith but merely to point out that their trust in the mercy of God is not quite as free from constraints as is Paul’s and because he sees Christ in every believer, weak, strong and in-between he refrains from practicing his freedom. Maybe if we were to think of each other as family, claimed by Christ for whom and through whom all things exist, we would stop sinning against each other by always insisting on having it our way. 

Epiphany 4 B - Psalm 111

Psalm 111

The gracious and merciful Lord is ever mindful of the covenant which is to say God remembers us even if we forget to give thanks to God with our whole heart. Of course the covenant is a two way street even if God does most of the heavy lifting. And while we are always on the receiving end of God’s forever covenant of redemption it is God’s intention that in God’s remembering us we would remember God and grow in grace becoming the faithful and just works of God’s hands. When we practice the beginning of wisdom, which is to recognize God in the everyday and the extraordinary, God rejoices and our whole life is transformed into praise.  

Epiphany 4 B - Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Deuteronomy 18:15-20

Jesus will run into the problem of a prophet raised up “from among your own people” as a “prophet is not without honor except in his hometown.” (Mark 6:4) Truth is a fair amount of people will only hear “what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Timothy 4:3) so hometown prophets may be tempted to only speak soft words. Other prophets consider the measure of their word by its capacity to offend but maybe they just get off on making people mad. The Lutheran two step of Law / Gospel preaching is meant to convict both people and preacher who are then “driven into the arms of the Gospel.” (Luther) I’ve never shied away from a difficult word because I know it is a word I need to hear and since I always preach to myself I suppose God thought others needed to hear the difficult word as well. And I can tell you I am always desperate for a forgiving word from God so maybe others need to hear that just as much as I do. I believe that is the partnership of prophet and people that God intended so that the people of God might become a prophetic word for the world.  

Epiphany 3 B - Mark 1:14-20

Mark 1:14-20

Jesus has a one sentence sermon that says it all. The time is fulfilled – which means the future has come into the present. The kingdom of God has come near – which means God has come down to dwell with people and establish the reign of love. Repent – which is to say stop living in ways that deny the forever future reign of God can be realized today. Believe the good news – which means live like you trust it is true. The trouble is we have one foot firmly planted in the world while we tap a toe into the life of the forever future and never fully repenting of the past we never quite live into the future. However, there are moments when random acts of kindness soften a harsh world or times when walking with a loved one right up to the edge death really does make death look like a birth or when we become so convinced of God’s love for us and others that we give ourselves and others a break and rejoice in the wonder of each moment. One sentence says it all. 

Epiphany 3 B - 1 Corinthians 7:29-31

1 Corinthians 7:21-31
I don’t want to question the Apostle Paul’s timeline but did he believe “the appointed time has grown short” would go on for 2000 years or more? And if he thought the “grown short” time was longer than a lifetime would he have encouraged people to live as if the present form of the world passing away was a tomorrow come today? Truth is he got it wrong. But then so did a lot of the early Christians. I suppose we could blame it on the Gospel writers who remembered Jesus saying one generation “shall see my return”. (Not the same thing as blaming Jesus) I don’t know what Paul meant but I think the eminent end time stuff gives people an excuse to not live in the present. And if I could dare to speak for Jesus I think that would tick him off royally – since he is the King who calls us to make a difference in the present. Which means we can live the future in the present and not worry about the things that concern the apostle Paul.

Epiphany 3 B - Psalm 62:5-12

Psalm 62:5-12

Waiting in silence is not something that comes naturally to most, especially when unsteady circumstances call for a rock and salvation stronghold that cannot be shaken. Perhaps “pour out your hearts” should begin the psalm and “wait in silence” end it. Or maybe the two can be considered the same thing when one trusts that the God who searches hearts and minds knows what we need before we do. And even if our lives are relatively stable neither those of high degree nor those of low estate can long delay the inevitable for like a fleeting breath the span of life doesn't even tip the scale of eternity. But if we trust our lives are in the hands of the One to whom steadfast love belongs we are able to endure even the specter of our inevitable end where we will be repaid according to our deeds for the rock of salvation was crowned with a cross so that our “Lord have mercy” would not fall on deaf ears. 

Epiphany 3 B - Jonah 3:1-5, 10

Jonah 3:1-10

God’s mind was changed but Jonah’s was not. In the beginning of the story Jonah tries to avoid going to Nineveh because he believes God’s word and is counting on it. If the people of Nineveh do not repent they will be destroyed and since Jonah would like nothing more than that he goes in the opposite direction hoping to seal the deal and call God’s bluff. But God trumps Jonah and has a great fish swallow him to get him to the church on time. Since the people of Nineveh worship a fish god in the form of a man Jonah doesn’t have to cry out very loudly to get the pagans to pay attention. Jonah is so angry he would rather die than endure God’s mercy for Israel’s enemies but then God is always more willing to forgive than we are. I know Lyle Lovett wasn’t thinking of this story when he wrote God Will but it seems to me if Jonah sang country he could put his heart into this song. 

“And who keeps on loving you
When you've been lying
Saying things that ain't what they seem
God does
But I don't
God will
But I won't
And that's the difference
Between God and me.

Of course we believe the “difference between God and me” is Jesus so if we want to put our heart into God’s way of being we will have to sing a different tune.

Epiphany 2 B - John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51
Apparently Nathaniel’s disparaging remark about Nazareth is just plain old prejudice and doesn't count as deceit. Or it could be that Jesus is engaging in a little sarcasm himself. At any rate the encounter with Jesus moves Nathaniel beyond his limited understanding of “can anything good come from Nazareth” to seeing the capital G Good that came from the unlikely place. He proclaims “You are the Son of God” which is to say “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God… and we have beheld his glory…” (John 1:1, 14) In the knowing Nathaniel becomes one who will see the future in the present because those who believe “have already passed from death to life.” (John 5:24) We are not so different from Nathaniel. We are often found sitting under the fig tree of our own religious prejudice. Can anything good come from St. Louis? (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod) Or can anything good come from Chicago? (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Or closer to home, can anything good come from the city on the hill – Dallas Theological Seminary? We who doubt whether good can come from places we dismiss need to be found by Jesus under the fig trees of our limited understanding and like Nathaniel journey from guile to goodness so that the world will come to know the Good that came from Nazareth.

Epiphany 2 B - 1 Corinthians 6:11-20

1 Corinthians 6:11-20

Corinth was the “sin city” of the 1^st century and the Christians living there struggled to be “in the world but not of the world.” Judging by the contents of the correspondence they didn’t do very well and some, like the man sleeping with his father’s wife, (1 Corinthians 5:1) even made the pagans blush. So Paul’s caveat “not everything is beneficial” might have been lost on those who said “I have the right to do whatever I want.” The trouble was a misapplication of the Gospel that had rightly repealed the requirements of the law, namely food restrictions, sacrifices and circumcision. A good number of the Corinthians thought that meant they were free to do as they pleased; after all they were saved by grace. We can fall into the same trap thinking that as long as we feel badly about whatever we’ve done we are good to go and do whatever again. Unfortunately Lutherans tend to be the most susceptible to what Dietrich Bonhoeffer labeled “cheap grace”. The cost of sin was born by Christ but we continue to run a tab whenever we are mastered by the very things from which Christ has set us free. But the Lutheran two step of Law/Gospel was always meant to lead to an amendment of sinful ways albeit without dancing into the sin of being sanctimonious, not an easy step to master. The good news is that those united with Christ are one with His spirit which means help is always just a prayer away. 

Epiphany 2 B - Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18

I’m not feeling very “marvelously made” as the flu bug Grinch that stole my Christmas Eve is still messing with my “inmost being.” Even so my wondrously knit together self is doing its best to overcome the invasion of the much smaller creature that our faith claims was also made by God. I’m not sure which day the flu bug came into being but it was probably the same day the Lord made mosquitos. Not the best day of creation in my mind. Of course the more important passages of this psalm have to do with the One who did the delicate needle work in our mother’s womb and even if we might like to flee from God’s presence now and then there is a comfort in knowing that the Holy is always close at hand especially when our inmost being experiences times of sorrow and suffering and, yes, a flu bug that won’t away. 

Epiphany 2 B - 1 Samuel 3:1-20

1 Samuel 3:1-20
The call of Samuel is a sad story for Eli but then his response to the word Samuel received indicates Eli knew it was coming and in some ways welcomed it. His sons were scoundrels stealing sacrifices and sleeping with the women who served at the tent of meeting. Eli rebuked them but only as a plea and not as a parent so that the sins of the sons were visited upon the father and vice versa. Samuel, on the other hand, learned well from Eli and in many ways was the son Eli wished his boys could have been. That’s not to say that children who behave well in public are not sinners, we are all infected by the rebellious ways of the first couple, but unlike Eli’s sons Samuel listened to the Lord. We’d like to think that our action or inaction doesn't have consequences and while we don’t operate with some sort of Christian karma, what we do, or don’t do, matters. That means what the Lord would have us do begins with listening.

The Baptism of Our Lord Year A - Mark 1:4-11

Mark 1:4-11

I've always thought the Holy Spirit descending like a dove was an odd way for the Holy Spirit to appear. Some dove lovers may disagree but I don’t think doves make a very graceful descent. There’s a lot of flapping involved and their landings look a little unsteady to me. Of course the theological connection with baptism is the dove’s association with purity and innocence and the dove of the flood who returns with the olive branch to let Noah know all is well. (Matthew 10:16). On the other hand I like the idea of the Holy Spirit coming down like a dove as opposed to a Red Tailed Hawk (which when circling overhead makes the chickens in our yard very nervous) So the Spirit descends on the Son this way and that with a lot of flapping and not like a ballistic bird missile with claws at the ready. And the Voice from heaven declared what John the Baptizer and everyone else had been waiting for. “When the time had fully come…” is how Paul describes it, the Beloved born of Mary was born again in water and word. That’s good news for those of us who in remembering our baptism (even if we can’t) find a sure and certain hope that God comes to us as a dove and not a raptor and as far as God is concerned we too are beloved. 

The Baptism of Our Lord Year B - Acts 19:1-7

Acts 19:1-7

The book of Acts makes it sound as easy as 1-2-3. All it takes is a one sentence explanation and these disciples of John who have never “even heard there is a Holy Spirit” become disciples of Jesus and start speaking in tongues. We live in a world where people tend to hold onto what they know a little more tightly and are suspicious of things “we've not even heard of.” But maybe these disciples of John were looking for the “one whose sandals I am unworthy to tie” just like John was and all they needed was someone to say, “we've have found the one you are looking for.” Maybe it is easy for us as well as long as we are ready to give a reason for the hope we have (1 Peter 3:15) since it seems like we live in a time when people are anxious for something to hope in. But that means we will have to do something Lutherans generally “have not even heard of” namely talking about Jesus outside of church.

The Baptism of Our Lord Year B - Psalm 29

Psalm 29

Ascribe to the Lord stock show weather. It’s such a common phenomenon in Fort Worth, Texas this time of year that all you have to do is say to someone on a cold day “stock show weather” and they will nod and smile and say how much they are done with winter. I don’t want to say the folks in Fort Worth are wimps but truth is we don’t know what really cold weather is. On the other hand that is why we live in Fort Worth and not Minneapolis. Psalm 29 is the big G God doing stock show weather on steroids and maybe that is a good thing to remember for those of us who prefer God to be a little warmer and less volatile. That being said and accepted means that a God who cares for the least and the lost, who is capable of mass destruction but withholds lightning flashes, is a God whose love trumps judgment. The little g gods of this world revel in mass destruction. The big G God who can rock stock show weather on a whim revels in mercy which for us is a perfect storm.

The Baptism of Our Lord Year B - Genesis 1:1-5

Genesis 1:1-5

The debate about creation tends to focus on how long it took to get the formless void to take the shape we recognize. Truth to be told I don’t think the creation account is about how long it took even if I am perfectly willing to accept that if God wanted the challenge of creation in six twenty-four hour days God was up to it. I find the more difficult question to be why. Some will say that it was out of love that God said, “Let there be light” but I am sure the universe would have been just as happy as a formless void without the darkness humanity has visited upon it. I know I wouldn’t care if I’d never been. How would I even know the difference? So I don’t think the first act of creation was about us. It was about God’s need to bring order to chaos so that God’s creative nature could be expressed in the crowning achievement of the sixth day. Which is to say that though the scriptures record Adam’s reaction to Eve as “flesh of my flesh” I image God’s reaction after breathing life into the dust that became flesh to be so similar as to be the same. So I stand corrected. It was all about love.

Christmas 2 B - John 1:1-18

John 1:1-18

There are plenty of small g gods who have become flesh and walked among us but they tend to behave like we do which is why we don’t recognize them when they walk among us. The Word made flesh wasn't recognized because the “In the Beginning” Word didn't act like a Big G God in human flesh. The One who was a legitimate God, having created the heavens and the earth from scratch, was born as an illegitimate child to a world that doesn't value such humble beginnings and persecutes those who enter the world in such a way. But the glory beheld by the disciples that became for them and us “grace upon grace” was that the Word made flesh acted in ways God had always intended for us to act. Humility, mercy, kindness, long suffering love and self-sacrifice. That is why the world did not know him. In the end we will see that Jesus’ way of being was what has true and lasting value and that all the ways we chased after the world’s values was fool’s gold at best.  So if you are the kind of person that makes resolutions maybe you should resolve to receive the Word made flesh this New Year’s Day and live more fully into the life that is a light shining in the darkness.

Christmas 2 B - Ephesians 1:3:14

Ephesians 1:3-14
It is one thing to be chosen but being chosen by God before the beginning of time is on a completely different scale. Truth is it doesn't get much better than that. Of course a good number of people who identify with these passages have been familiar with first choice status most of their lives myself included. But these passages were first penned to those who had little choice about anything in their life as they were slaves and women within the Roman Empire. Of course there were some exceptions but the vast majority of Christians in the first century would have heard these words as a stark contrast to their everyday lives of institutional servitude. The history books claim that Constantine saw the sign of the cross that would conquer and made the choice for Christianity but the truth is the women and slaves had come to believe their first choice status no matter what the empire said and maybe Constantine just recognized the handwriting was on wall. In a sad twist of fate his choosing to make Christianity the religion of the empire meant that those who were first in the radical faith of Christianity went back to being last in the official faith of the Empire. I don’t know for sure but I’m thinking the second time that Jesus wept was when Constantine conquered the cross by painting it on his soldier’s shields.

Christmas 2 B - Psalm 147:12-20

Psalm 147:12-20
The law of the Lord was a gift to Jacob and Israel even if they failed to abide by all its decrees. We tend to think of laws as restrictions that limit freedom even if some limit to freedom is a good thing. But the people of Israel thought of the law in terms of relationship. “I will be your God and you will be my people.” Set free from bondage in Egypt God gave them the law as an identity that made them unique among the nations and set them apart as a treasured possession of the Most High. If the law was God’s gift to the children of Israel then the children of Israel were the gift that God got. Perhaps God is not so unlike us in that respect. God desires the intimacy of human relationship that is freely given and received. Of course it was not all love and kisses as on more than one occasion God grew tired of the people called God’s own. “What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist…” (Hosea 6:4) But as much as the law and decrees kept the people of Israel connected to God it was God’s promise to Abraham that kept God in the game. Even if they were children who misbehaved they remained God’s children. And so it is with us whose identity is found in the law of Christ which is the law of love. Love God. Love Neighbor. We might fail on both accounts but God’s love endures forever.

Christmas 2 B - Jeremiah 31:7-14

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, proclaims a different sort of weeping for the “great company” destined to return to Zion by brooks of water along straight paths of no stumbling. I’ve always felt badly for Jeremiah as one who was destined to be a bearer of bad tidings. If I had my druthers I’d choose to be Second Isaiah who gets mostly good bits even if he is writing from captivity in a Babylonian garden. But even if most of Jeremiah’s book is grim, as was his lot, there are these wonderfully bright bits of promise that must have given the prophet a reason to be glad, if only for a moment. “The young women rejoice in the dance and the young men and old shall be merry.” Our troubles pale in comparison to what Jeremiah’s people endured but because all troubles are personal I believe comparisons have little value. There will always be someone who has it worse than we do until at some point we stand at the end of the line and look to the left (or right) and realize we are at the end of the line. So this word of promise speaks to every life scattered by circumstances beyond one’s control, put down by hands too strong to resist, languishing in prisons of sorrow and suffering. It may be that we have more mourning to endure before sorrow is turned into joy but if we believe the promise then God is always waiting on the other side of whatever troubles us to tend to us as a shepherd gathers sheep or comfort us as a parent embraces a child. Point is the God beyond knowing knows our plight and in the Word Made Flesh did something about it. Emmanuel. God with us.

Christmas 1 B - Luke 2:22-40

Luke 2:22-40

This is another Biblical story I learned through the Lutheran liturgy even before I could read. We sang the “Nunc Dimittis” (Latin for “Now Dismiss”) after communion (once a month in those days). Of course the most important thing about "Now Dismiss" was to be dismissed from the church service which was all the salvation I was waiting to see. Even so it was a story that captured my imagination. In my mind Simeon was an old man waiting his whole life for this moment and he died as soon as the song left his lips. But it wasn’t a sad story to me. He got what he wanted. Dismissed in peace having seen what he longed for as his life came to the hoped for conclusion. I am not so sure I know what I hope to be the conclusion of my life and finding myself in the difficult just past the “middle years” I can’t imagine my passing at this point would look anything like peace. But then Simeon’s ending is Jesus’ beginning and Jesus’ ending will turn out to be the beginning for Simeon. Maybe that is why he could depart in peace and we will as well, no matter when our last song is sung.

Christmas 1 B - Galatians 4:4-7

Galatians 4:4-7

When my time had fully come at 3 AM on December 24 the flu put me out for the count. 48 hours of wracking cough, aches and pains, fever, and fitful sleep. Not good timing when my plan that morning was to make omelets to order for our homeless ministry Room in the Inn guests (including a lobster option no less – thank you to the cooking crew that covered for me) and then four services that night (thank you to the pastor crew that covered for me). I foolishly thought if my fever broke I could still preach at 11 PM and even worked out a way I could use the flu to talk about the incarnation which I will do for you now so as not to let my drug induced imagination go to waste. (Take that Pastor Ethan – even on Nyquil I can rock the pulpit) When the time had fully come Jesus was born into a body like mine. No, not my size, shape or color but born into a body that could be laid low by a microscopic virus. Born into a body that was susceptible to the elements, to hunger, to thirst, to lack of sleep, to all manner of physical maladies. But more than that; born into a body wracked by grief (Jesus wept). Born into a body that ached for the lonely and the lost (he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd) Born into a body that felt the pain of a creation gone horribly wrong (he came to that which was his own but they knew him not) But unlike my time in the crucible of the flu Jesus body did not recover from what was done to him. He was sent to those who were under the law to redeem them but they treated him with cruel contempt, mocking him in his suffering and ultimately robbing him of his life by stripping him naked and nailing him to wood. Not a Merry Christmas story but then I’m jacked up on Nyquil (just kidding) and what I need is a Savior who can defeat the virus of my sin not a no crying he makes baby in a manger. The latter is our fairy tale. The former is God’s plan. When the time had fully come God put on our flesh, died our death and then kicked it in the butt so that we would never, ever be laid low by death. Merry Christmas. 

Christmas 1 B - Psalm 148

Psalm 148

Psalm 148 is an all inclusive “Praise the Lord!” song but unless “Sweet Jesus!” or some other less than pastor- like expletive counts as praise I've not appreciated the tempestuous wind doing God’s will on Mustang Island, TX. But maybe that’s the point the psalmist wants to make. Even the things we think of as less than praiseworthy when they address us – fire, hail, creepy things, sea monsters – have to bend the knee, albeit a fin in the case of sea monsters, to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY. Sun, moon, stars, mountains, hills, all creatures great and small, all of creation praises God because “the Lord has raised up strength for the people.” But here’s the thing even the creative psalmist could not imagine. God’s strength would be made manifest in weakness. The praise of the sovereigns of the earth, at least a Roman governor named Pilate and a Jewish high priest named Annas, was to silence God’s strength by nailing Jesus to a tree but surprise (!) even the grave was compelled to praise the one it could not hold. We too are compelled to praise the One we cannot contain or confine in our holy houses of wood and stone, theologies and rituals. That’s because God is always coming to us in new and surprising ways not unlike a tempestuous wind that long ago blew through a house in Jerusalem depositing fire on the heads of young men and maidens so they could praise God in languages they had never learned. So praise the Lord in whatever way you can which means that even the song of sea monsters is pleasing to the one who “created the Leviathan for the sport of it.” 

Christmas 2 B - Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3

Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3
The ransomed of the Lord’s “return unto Zion with singing” (Isaiah 35:10) song was stilled when they saw the ruins of their beloved Jerusalem. That is what makes the words of the prophet so powerful. We tend to keep silent in times of suffering – stiff upper lip and all that - but Isaiah sings with his whole being of what will be in the midst of what is. Not for his own sake but for the sake of those who cannot sing, who have no hope, who lament of life itself and long for the grave, if only to swallow up their sorrow. But Isaiah’s faith has the audacity to believe the ruins will be rebuilt, the city that is a byword among the nations will be made great and the whole world will be blessed by the beauty of their story. Their story is our story for once we were no people, condemned and cut off, but now we are God’s own people, holy and dearly loved. So do not be silent but in the midst of difficult days sing the sing of salvation in such a way that others will be compelled to join the song or at least hum along.

Advent 4 B - Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38

“How can this be?” There are many who will say “it can’t” or “it wasn’t” but then Mary is the only one who can say for sure. If Luke is half the historian my father is he will have checked his sources and I don’t doubt Mary could have been one of them. Of course we don’t just talk about the virgin birth we confess it and even though that might sound like the same thing it isn’t. Confessions are not explained; they are confessed which is to say, believed. Not like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy though some would say the virgin birth is a fairytale. Confessions are not constitutions though some would make them equally binding. But the Christian confession of faith ddoesn'tso much bind us to a set of beliefs as it identifies us as those who adhere to a particular story of what God is about in our world. This is the story of “God with us” which is “God for us” in every space and place and time from before the beginning into the forever future. “Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary entered the story in a time and place where people threw rocks at unwed pregnant teenagers until they were dead. (God help us those places still exist) She accepted what would likely lead to her death because she trusted her life was in God’s hands. “Let it be to me according to your word.” There is no greater statement of faith in the scriptures and though she is venerated as “Theotokos” (God-bearer) her faith was worthy of praise even before the Spirit overshadowed her and the little Lord Jesus lay asleep in her womb. Faith bears God into the world even now so that you and I enter Mary’s story, which is God’s story, whenever in the face of an uncertain future we say, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

Advent 4 B - Romans 16:22-27

Romans 16:25-27

The secret kept hidden for long ages but now disclosed never-the-less remains a mystery. God in human flesh, not just as a disguise for the Divine but the Holy “in, with and under” the profane; "the immortal, invisible, God only wise" born into the little Lord Jesus who cried for Mary’s milk before he fell asleep on the hay. A mystery, yes, but not one beyond our ability to comprehend for it was love that came down and graced our world with beauty and truth and wherever compassion and mercy are made known God is fully present. But humans prefer gods of fire and smoke, of rigid rules and regulations, and by that I mean gods who are more predictable and in many ways more easily manipulated. This God brings about the obedience of faith by entering our reality, the good, the bad and the mundane. So that if we truly want to be about what God is about we have to be more connected to each other and not just the ones who are like us. Touch the leper. Eat with the tax collector. Welcome the sinner. The reverse is true as well as Jesus let a woman scorned bathe his feet with tears and another quench his thirst and still another clutch his robe. He called dim disciples to follow him and deposited the kingdom into their hands expecting the mystery to be continually revealed in and through them. And we who have been strengthened by the Gospel they proclaimed are obedient to the faith whenever we reveal the mystery to the little piece of the planet we inhabit.

Advent 4 B - Luke 1:46-55

Luke 1:46-55

The “great thing God has done for me” made Mary great with child without her betrothed’s participation or consent. That is not normally a cause for rejoicing even if the child hidden in her secret place was the Messiah. But let’s be clear. Mary is not a member of the ruling class and the “servant Israel” of whom she sings is hardly a significant player on the world’s stage. But Mary is naturally naïve and believes in, or at least hopes for, the promise of God come true. And come to think of it even the secular songs of this season seem wonderfully naïve in a world so full of woe. “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose…” There is more power in hope than in any other human emotion save love although they are so closely related as to be the same thing. And miracles, like songs that imagine God come down to lift up the lowly, do not need to be fully realized to be more than true. When Mary’s boy was full grown the mighty she imagined cast down from their thrones lifted him up on a cross until crying out in agony he breathed his last. But the song she sung when he moved in her womb could not be stilled and the refrain of His resurrection was just the prelude to the chorus that is sung even now in eternity. God has done great things indeed.

Advent 4 B - 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

David may believe his desire to upgrade God from tent to temple is all about God but truth is David is embarrassed that Israel’s God is housed in such a humble abode. More to the point, such a humbly housed God is a poor reflection on the new king on the block which is why David needs God to move uptown into a temple of gold and stone and cedar. We lust after bigger buildings and consider churches that house ten thousand more significant than "two or three gathered in my name" who love the Lord with their whole lives. The church may be built to glorify God but it magnifies the power and prestige of the humans that build it. If bigger is better why did God choose a manger in a stable and an unwed teenage girl to birth the Messiah into a world that would despise his teaching so much it would attempt to shut him up by nailing him to wood? The upgrade God desires is not a church made of stone but a permanent dwelling place in your heart.

Advent 3 B - John 1:6-8;

John 1:6-8, 19-28

If the Pharisees were playing a game of hangman with John they’d be losing but truth is they don’t care about his answers as long as they can hang him. A voice crying in the wilderness always means trouble for those who color their religion within the lines and questions like “who are you?” are a set up for a take down. But John doesn't care about their questions because he knows he is pointing to something greater than anyone can imagine. And if we believe Matthew’s account of John’s question for Jesus (are you the one or should we look for another?) even the voice in the wilderness wondered if he got it right. That’s because John was also in the dark even though he was tasked with pointing to the light. He thought himself unworthy of untying Jesus’ sandals while Jesus considered washing his disciple’s feet the true measure of a master. That’s not to say John and Jesus weren't on the same page when it came to calling out the Pharisees and teachers of the law  – You brood of vipers – but Jesus does something John could not imagine the Messiah would do. He dies. But the light of Jesus was not extinguished by death rather it lit up hell like a Christmas tree and banished the power of darkness and death once and for all. 

Advent 3 B - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

I don’t know about you but there very few things I do that can be followed by “always” or “unceasing” or “in all circumstances”; except sin, of course, but maybe that doesn't count because it comes so naturally. I’m actually a little suspicious of those who claim to live this text and that behind all the smiles and the God is so good alleluias are lives of utter desperation wrapped in praise the Lord pastels. (BTW this is not an autobiographical post. I look best in Advent blue.) Rejoice always and give thanks in all circumstances. Really? Isn't that called denial? There are times when the most faithful response is a lament that curses the darkness. Which is why God’s will cannot be that we manage this on our own but rather depend fully on the One who sanctifies and keeps us sound in every and all circumstances. So rejoicing can happen even when we have every reason to weep and giving thanks can take place even when we have every reason to lament and prayers can happen always because the “Spirit intercedes for us with groans words cannot express.” (Romans 8:26) Not denial but acceptance that even in the worst of times the promise of God to be present is more than enough reason to give thanks. 

Advent 3 B - Psalm 126

Psalm 126

The first four verses of Psalm 126 remember the dream come true as exiles returned home and mouths were filled with laughter and tongues tingled with joy. When the memory of the moment is recounted the psalmist is glad indeed. But apparently those fortunes have been spent and in the same way that the dry wadis of the Negev wait for the spring rain the psalmist asks that the past be repeated in the present. Restore our fortunes like the watercourses of the Negev so that tears sown in sorrow will reap joyful songs. Faith remembers the joy of the past to endure the pain of the present by hoping in the promise of the future. You might be in a time of waiting and if so need to remember the times when rejoicing came easily and if you cannot perhaps there is someone who can. Which is why if you are so gifted as to be in a laughter tongue tingling time of being glad indeed give thanks to the Lord and do what you can to share your sheaves of joy with those who weep.

Advent 3 B - Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11

Isaiah 61 is the measure of whether one has been anointed by the spirit of the Lord or not. Good news for the oppressed not narrow views that suppress life and love; healing words that bind up the broken hearted not harsh speech that hurts; liberating words that free one from the fear that God is not ultimately and completely “for us.”  It does not mean there are no words of correction or constraint. Just the opposite. Right behavior flows from right relationship and right relationship is established by unconditional love. Or as Jesus said, “Perfect love casts out all fear” When we live more fully into the unconditional love of God we are less likely to withhold love from others and ourselves which may actually be the harder of the two. The brokenhearted healed, the ones who mourn comforted, the faint of spirit made strong, all are signs of the Spirit whose speech blesses the world with light and love and liberty so that good news for the oppressed is just as good for the oppressor as freedom for the captive is ultimately freedom for the captor.

Advent 2 B - Mark 1:1-8

Mark 1:1-18

The beginning of Jesus’ story anticipates the end of our story which because of Jesus will not be as final as it otherwise might have been. And like the messenger who prepared Jesus’ way through the wilderness Jesus makes straight our crooked paths so that our crying out will be shouts of victory and not cries of lament. But the end of our salvation story does not deny the hard path walked by John or Jesus. Both paid dearly for their proclamation of the truth and while resurrection is certainly a happy ending to what would have been a tragic tale the marks of suffering remain to remind us that it was the baptism of His death that forgave our sin. So we who benefit from John’s prophecy and by virtue of our baptism by the Holy Spirit are joined to Jesus’ death walk on paths that are sometimes as hard and unyielding as the ones they walked but because the Good News begun has walked all the world’s paths we never walk them alone. 

Advent 2 B - 2 Peter 3:8-15

2 Peter 3:8-15

So how are we to “regard the patience of the Lord as salvation” while worrying about “the rest of the world is toast thief in the night day of the Lord?” Even if we are confident of our own reserved seat in the forever future we can hardly sit still when it comes to those for whom God’s infinite patience will one day run out. Lives of holiness and godliness are only holy and godly in so much as they are lived for the sake of those who do not know the peace and patience of God. And so God’s desire that none perish may dove tail with our own – at least for the “none” that we know – which is why waiting patiently is not the same as waiting passively.

Advent 2 B - Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

Psalm 85

We could use a long embrace with steadfast love and faithfulness and more public displays of affection between righteousness and peace. That’s because when God’s people live as “sin blotted out” forgiven folk, fortunes are restored, hearts rejoice and the land itself yields an increase. But when envy kisses bitter strife and hatred and selfish ambition embrace everyone suffers. And so God speaks peace by forgiving sin to turn hearts towards the pathway prepared by righteousness, which is always an attitude before it shows up as behavior. It would be a lovely thing if the church could fall madly in love with righteousness and peace and act like a school girl or boy giddy with the first blush of young love. Imagine what we could accomplish by throwing caution to the wind and recklessly engaging in PDA of the sort that would make those outside the faith long for the same sort of relationship we have with each other and the God who whispers, "Peace."

Advent 2 B - Isaiah 40:1-11

Isaiah 40:1-11

“Comfort, comfort” is a doubly welcome word when it feels like you’ve paid double for whatever it was that required you to pay a penalty in the first place. In the same way being fed and gathered and carried and gently led is welcome relief to those who like grass and flowers wither and fade. More often than not we are fully responsible for the painful predicament produced by our sin but there is also a good bit of life’s consequences that operate outside the boundaries of cause and effect. I imagine there were a good number of those carted off to captivity in Babylon that could not trace a clear line between what they had done and what was being done to them. So in the middle of the captivity, when the memory of Jerusalem was fading, or worse when the memory of its destruction was like a recurring nightmare, the prophet speaks God’s words of hope and healing. “Comfort, comfort” is what was needed to endure the everyday abuse of captors who mockingly demanded, “sing us songs of Zion” as if joyful songs could be conjured up like some cheap parlor trick. God visits us in the worst of times to remind us that the best of times can be experienced when anticipated through hope. The valley of despair will be lifted; the mountain of desperation will be brought low, the uneven and rough places of sorrow and suffering will be made smooth because the word of the Lord is consistent. “Comfort, comfort.”