Pentecost 9b - 2 Kings 4:42-44

2 Kings 4:42-44
Twenty loaves of barley and unnumbered fresh ears of grain that feed a hundred foreshadow a boy with five loaves and two fish that feed five thousand. Theologians apply eschatological significance to the feeding stories recorded in the Bible but they might not need to do that if we were more familiar with hunger. A good number of us are well fed enough to diet. But in these stories God provides real food not as some future kingdom come down but as a real need satisfied by real food in the real here and now. Again, some make sense of these stories by saying the real miracle is in the sharing and not some magical multiplying of meager resources, but however you do the math the meal was enough that the satisfied multitude asked for doggie bags. I’ve been on the receiving end of such sharing and it does not discount the miraculous moving of God to multiply what is not into what can be and in that miracle we are always well fed. Thanks for lunch, Chef Bob! (Flying Saucer, Fort Worth, TX) It was a foretaste of the feast to come that I will be copying for Calvary Cafe.

Pentecost 8b - Conclusion

I’m heading to the Texas hill country on Sunday afternoon for my second week this summer at Ebert Ranch Camp. I’ll be chaplain to the staff, play guitar for worship and be low man on the wrangler totem pole. It is the last week of the camp season for the counselors who I am confident will act like it is their first week for the sake of the campers for whom it is their only week. For me it will be a “the days are surely coming… lead me beside still waters… brought near to Christ… all who touched him were healed” sort of week. Not that we can’t experience Holy Spirit refreshment at home. It’s just that going away often allows you to come closer to what is always near and being inspired by the gifts of others allows us to inhale deeply the fresh wind of the Spirit that is always closer than our own breath. Or in other words - Yee Haw. 

Mark 6:30-34

Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

The people of Gennesaret recognize Jesus because the Gerasene demoniac is in his right mind and wearing clothes and won’t stop talking about the One who set him free from the chains of insanity. (Mark 5:1-20) My guess is only the swine headers are sorry to see Jesus again. The apostles sent and returned have also experienced rock star status and along with Jesus are no longer anonymous. Of course it is not a good thing to have no leisure (even to eat) but it might be nice to be known once and awhile as a disciple of the Christ. We don’t have to have Holy Spirit power to heal or the ability to teach with wisdom and authority. The command of Christ is to love one another as we have been loved and love will get you noticed if we love consistently and without reservation. Even a chance encounter with a stranger affords us the opportunity to be friendly or generous or welcoming and although we might not see the result there is healing in a smile or a gesture of kindness. We have spent a good bit of time practicing the faith in and with the faithful. It’s time to get in our boats, so to speak, and cross to the other side, which today might mean the Starbucks across the street from the sanctuary. I wonder if anyone would recognize us? 

Pentecost 8b - Ephesians 2:11-22

Ephesians 2:11-22

I've read this passage more times than I can remember and have always celebrated it as good news and of course it is. But then I am a “citizen with the saints” who otherwise would have been an alien and a stranger cut off from the covenant with no hope and without God. I imagine it was read differently by those who saw the “dividing wall” as faithfulness and not hostility, who waxed poetic about the perfect law that revives the soul and makes the simple wise. (Psalm 19:7) Truth is even the apostle Paul resisted the new arrangement with violence, breathing “murderous threats” (Acts 9:1) against those who claimed the Christ as Messiah and Lord.  Years after Paul breached the wall the commonwealth of Israel was expelled from the household of God by the aliens and strangers who erected a new wall of hostility. I’m guessing God hoped for a different outcome, but like the “in the beginning” gone wrong in the garden this was a moment when all the possibilities of the perfect future were available in the present and humans chose to remain mired in the past. That does not mean we need to stay there. We can embrace this text from the other side of history and tear down the walls we have erected. We can stop defining “us” by denigrating “them”. We can choose to be people who proclaim peace to all who have been exiled to “far off” and by living the hope of the future be ourselves a holy “dwelling place for God.” 

Pentecost 8b - Psalm 23

Psalm 23

Lisa and I have had more than one sheep and a few shepherds in our time, albeit of the German, Australian and Belgium variety, but then “the Lord is my shepherd” wasn’t thinking of a dog to get the job done. No, “the Lord is my shepherd” isn’t limited to a pastoral landscape or agrarian lifestyle. That may be why a culture specific song speaks to every time and place. We all know the valley of the shadow and have felt its cold grip about our necks. We have been surrounded by enemies who overturn our tables and drain our cups to the dregs.  Goodness and mercy have fled away and our heads have been anointed with scorn. The psalm is not spoken to those who lie on beds of ease or rejoice as in days of comfort. There is a reason the 23^rd psalm follows the 22^nd cry of dereliction, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” For “the Lord is my shepherd” speaks as a finale to those who have walked through “the valley of the shadow”. Not that the rest of us can’t sing the song. It’s just that to fully appreciate the tune requires a minor key before the chord can be resolved. 

Pentecost 8b - Jeremiah 23:1-6

Jeremiah 23:1-6

It appears that the days that “are surely coming” still haven’t arrived as the righteous Branch raised up for David was “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53) and crucified by the sheep he came to shepherd. Of course the righteous Branch was resurrected and the remnant gathered on Pentecost would proclaim the reign of the righteous Branch from Jerusalem to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately the empire figured out assimilation was the best way to stamp out the Holy Spirit fire as the remnant ruling did not remain true to the righteous Branch. And so even if there are days of righteousness and justice and wise dealings they don’t last as one tyrant is overthrown only to be replaced by another. So what shall we say about this promise as yet unfilled? Well maybe Jeremiah’s idea of what the Branch would accomplish and God’s “plans to prosper… with a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11) were not exactly the same thing. In the temporal realm branches raised up are not like the capital B branch that comes humble and riding on a donkey and in the grand scheme of things we should not look to small b Branches to be anything more than twigs. We are citizens of a realm that exists simultaneously in the finite present and the infinite future and as such are free like Jeremiah to speak truth to “the powers that be” without counting the cost even if the cost is a cross. In that way the days that “are surely coming” have already arrived and are still pending as we work to transform what is into what will be, even while we wait with eager expectation the day when “they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing” will have fully come.

Pentecost 7b - conclusion

I’ve just returned from Ebert Ranch Camp, Harper TX. I spent the week working horses with Wrangler Kaitlyn and her assistant Blythe, and my assistants (smile) Pr. Mark and youth director Thane. I hung out with our youth, did devotions with the staff, played guitar at worship and learned to line dance, even though my line was squiggly. I always come away from camp inspired and more hopeful for God’s “kingdom come” on earth. I spent three summers as a camp counselor in the mid 70’s sharing the love of Jesus in quiet and not so quiet ways and I realize in 2012 not much has changed. The young people I met this week are a lot like the young person I was and (when they remind me) still am. Idealistic? Yes, of course, that is the nature of youthfulness. But it is idealism with legs. While laughing and flipping fiesta pancakes (red, green and plain pancake color) Blythe can talk about what it means to be a Christian today. “It means on a Wednesday morning you go to a shelter to serve breakfast to the homeless. It’s about what you do.” But they are not naïve. They understand the difficulty of what God has called them to because they live it. And so they are dedicated to the craft (even if they wouldn’t call it that). All week long they smile and sing and share and even if their life inside or outside of camp is anything but joyful they get campers to smile and sing and share and do silly things so that Jesus is more present. And the campers coming with hope and fear, (whose life might not be so joyful either) are transformed to be like the counselors they see and experience, who love Jesus in silly and very, very serious ways. I remember my summers of serving and guess it’s not that different today. The staff is able to do what they do because they know when the campers go home and the staff is alone together they can weep or chill or vent or sleep but by Sunday afternoon regroup because the campers who are coming haven’t been there all summer and count on their one week at Ebert to be the best ever. The staff does it because they love Jesus and love does not count the cost even if the cost is a cross. So you who read this pray for these young women and men and rejoice in the gift they are and give glory to God that the faith that inspires them to such sacrifice will guarantee that the future day of peace and joy and love has been made known in the here and now by their selfless and valiant service to youth and an (older) pastor who was touched and transformed by the kingdom come. 

Pentecost 7b - Mark 6:14-29

Mark 6:14-29
It is a gruesome story and a sad end for the Baptizer who made straight the way in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. I know Stephen is the first martyr of the church but John is the first one to die for the cause. That’s not to say he fully understood it even if in baptizing Jesus he recognized the one who was greater than he. While in prison John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one or should they look for another. Jesus sent them back to tell John “the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:5) Maybe Jesus’ response emboldened John to continue to be a voice in the wilderness, albeit confined in Herod’s prison, calling “that fox” (Luke 13:32) to get out of the hen house. But then John was not a “reed shaking in the wind” or one destined to wear fine clothes. (Matthew 11:7) He was born to be a prophet and “more than a prophet” but like so many prophets before him he paid the price for speaking the truth to power. Jesus will have his own day in court when the crowd demands its due and the prophet from Galilee suffers the same fate as those who went before him. The difference is that the Word made flesh could not be silenced, even by the grave. And John the baptizer was blessed to know he was included in the word that Jesus sent him. We stand in that prophetic tradition as those called to speak the truth and not count the cost for the word sent to John includes us. The dead are raised.

Pentecost 7b - Ephesians 1:3-14

Ephesians 1:3-14

Chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the earth” is a long time to be loved. But we were destined for adoption for the good pleasure of God’s will. That means we are the object of God’s eternal affection so that love lavished upon us has as much to do with God’s desire to love as to be loved in return. It is a mutually pleasing arrangement. God gifts us with glorious grace and we live for the praise of God the giver’s glory. The mystery of God’s will made known to us through the apostle Paul is that God is somehow incomplete or unfulfilled without us. And we are less than we were destined to be without God. The church has not always done justice to describing this reciprocal relationship, casting God as a stern judge who merely puts up with us or excusing continued rebelliousness on our part by a cheap grace that that does not count the cost of our redemption to the Christ. But when we understand ourselves to be dearly loved children we can no more be afraid of God’s wrath than a child laughing while bouncing on the knee of a devoted parent. And in the same way we live to make God laugh with pure delight and joy just as we desire to please a beloved parent.

 

 

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Pentecost 7b - Psalm 85:8-13

Psalm 85:8-13

Because steadfast love and faithfulness embrace righteousness and peace are bold to come out of the closet and engage in PDA (public display of affection) so that faithfulness springs forth and the righteousness of heaven rains down upon the earth. But before these delightful verses the psalmist pleads for God’s displeasure to be put away and God’s anger to dissipate so that the people might be revived. Therefore the most important verse of the psalm is verse 8. “I will listen to what the Lord God is saying…” Revival happens when God responds to the people’s pleading and they listen and act on what they hear. Then the righteousness that springs forth to be kissed by peace is found in acts of kindness and mercy that mimic the ways of the Lord. And like a sweet embrace or a passionate kiss the world blushes at first but in the end is blessed by the PDA of God's faithful people.

Pentecost 7b - Amos 7:7-15

Amos 7:7-15
I’m blogging from the front porch of the Lela Haus at Ebert Ranch Camp in the Texas Hill country. We’ve had a little bit of rain today and the cloud cover and breeze make for a pleasant afternoon for putting your feet up and relaxing. It’s not very good for having something to say about the Lord hijacking Amos to speak a harsh word against Jeroboam and “my people Israel.” But then the harsh word is sometimes the only word left to say for one cannot continue to abandon the truth and expect there will never be a consequence for living the lie. The Lord is merciful and slow to anger but there comes a day when even the steadfast love of the Lord is compelled to say to the wicked, “Thy will be done.” There is loss for God as well, like a parent of wayward child or the partner of an unfaithful spouse, the Lord goes into exile and all the hopes and dreams begun in the desert exodus – I will be your God and you will be my people – are for naught. But then God’s anger does not burn eternally as God’s desire for intimacy cannot withstand exile forever. Long after Israel is abandoned and Judah captured and returned God will write a new covenant on the hearts of humans. The true nature of God will revealed in Jesus living and dying and rising and creating for himself a people to bear witness to the grace of God. The desert will bloom like the Texas Hill Country after a rain and the dry land will rejoice and the people will prosper, not because we fully abandon rebellious ways but because God will not fully abandon us.

Pentecost 6b - conclusion

I preached in my hometown pulpit in 1995 during the 100^th anniversary year of Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest, Illinois. I left Grace in 1979 to begin my career as a Lutheran grade school teacher and youth director but there were plenty of people in the pews who knew a few things about me, some of which I’d rather not remember. I didn’t do any deeds of power and if I spoke with wisdom it was the Gospel that did all the talking. The prophet Ezekiel is sent to preach the truth whether the people like it or not because only the truth can set prophet and people free. The psalmist looks to the Lord for the word of mercy that speaks more loudly than the contempt of the proud. The all sufficient grace that made Paul perfect in weakness allows him to be content in hardship and encourage the Corinthians to do the same. And Jesus, the hometown boy who is prevented from doing mighty deeds of power by the unbelief of neighbors and family, still sends out disciples two by two to proclaim the kingdom come and turn the world upside down.

Pentecost 6b - Mark 6:1-13

Mark 6:1-13
The home town crowd is astounded at Jesus’ teachings and deeds of power. Jesus is amazed that it doesn’t make a difference. He is still the carpenter, the son of Mary, even if he can cast out demons and heal the sick and speak with wisdom the origin of which defies explanation. To be fair Jesus is asking neighbors and relatives to suspend logic and move beyond anything they could imagine about him. That is the difference between knowing and believing. They can see that there is something different about him and even name it but they cannot (or will not) believe he is more than the Jesus they have always known. That is what happens to the twelve sent out two by two as well. Called and commissioned to proclaim “the kingdom come” they do the things that Jesus does, casting out demons, healing the sick and preaching the Jesus sermon. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” And they receive the same reception as Jesus does. Aren’t you James and John, the fishermen, the sons of Zebedee? There is no indication that Jesus did any dust shaking when rejected so perhaps the instruction to shake the dust off their sandals has as much to do with the disciples not being discouraged as it does the house that will not welcome. But like the disciples sent out the message received is meant to move one from knowing to believing to doing. We might know a thing or two about Jesus and be able to recite the tenants of the faith as described in creeds and catechisms just like the home town crowd knew about Jesus. Faith calls us to move beyond what we know in order to believe what cannot be known. Or in other words what you know becomes who you are and who you are becomes more like the One you know.

Pentecost 6b - 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

2 Corinthians 12:2-10
“Power made perfect in weakness” is not a pleasant sort of life even if Paul is content to boast of his long list of calamities. Indeed it would seem that the thorn in his flesh is the least of his worries. But then the lesson to be learned is that the ability to endure all things does not come from a position of strength as if all one had to do was double down on spiritual steroids or stoically channel your inner Norwegian - if you happen to be Lutheran. No. It is grace that allows weakness to be strength. That means one can be content and still lament of the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” (aka - channeling the inner Dane) It means that even though you pray for what you want (three or more times if you like) there comes a day when you accept what is and there is some measure of contentment in acceptance. But that is not the end of the story. The grace that is sufficient points us to the “things that are not to be told” so that the future balm for present woes might be applied to the wounds made by thorns in the flesh. In that way “my grace is sufficient for you” transcends whatever keeps us from being too elated in the present with the promise of whatever waits for us in the paradise that only “God knows”.

Pentecost 6b - Psalm 123

Psalm 123
Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we have had more than enough contempt from the proud and those who are at ease except that in our context “we have met the enemy and he is us.” (Pogo) Not that we are the “indolent rich” only that in comparison with the vast majority of those who inhabit the planet we have won the lottery a few times over. So if we were to translate the lament of the psalm it might be that we have had more than enough of lusting after the lifestyle of the rich and famous (Robin Leach) Or keeping up with the Joneses. Or competing to be the “winner is the one who dies with the most toys.” When with eyes lifted up to the heavens we search for God’s mercy we are set free from the allure of possessions and the siren song of power. In that way we have had more than enough of the ways of this world and long for the day when with eyes lifted up we shall see the salvation of the Lord.

Pentecoat 6b - Ezekiel 2:1-5

Ezekiel 2:1-5
This is not the sort of job description one wants to receive but then it seems to be the prophet’s lot. Ezekiel is sent to speak truth to a nation of obstinate and stubborn rebels. Isaiah is sent to a people “ever hearing but never understanding… ever seeing but never perceiving.” (Isaiah 6:9) Jeremiah is made to be a “fortified city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall” to stand against the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests and the people of the land. (Jeremiah 1:17) I’d prefer to be a kinder, gentler prophet like the “Comfort, comfort, ye my people” Isaiah (40:1) or the “I know the plans I have for you says the Lord” Jeremiah. (29:11-13) But it appears healing words cannot not be heard unless harsh ones till the soil of stubborn souls in the same way that the “Thus says the Lord” truth to be told about us makes us receptive to the good news of the Gospel. “Come let us reason together. Though your sins are scarlet they shall be as white as snow…” (Isaiah 1:18) Bad news becomes good news when we receive the corrective word of the Lord as an invitation and not condemnation. Or as Ezekiel will say later  "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. ” (33:11)

Pentecost 5b - conclusion

This morning I did my fourth LA Fitness boot camp in as many days with one more to go tomorrow. I’m not sure why I decided to (pardon my French) kick my butt all week long but as a result I’m finding it is difficult to get out of bed, get into my truck, sit down, stand up, in fact, anything that involves hamstrings and (pardon my Latin) the gluteus maximus is pretty much painful. The Pentecost 5b texts are all about healing. God’s never ceasing love and mercy means even when our lives are filled with grief and sorrow faith lives in the parenthesis (there may yet be hope). When our life is dressed in sackcloth and wailing the promise of an eternity of dancing dressed in garments of joy is a song that can be heard in the here and now despite the difficulty of each day. The help that Jerusalem needs is in the pockets of the Corinthians and their generosity will be healing for both. The woman bleeding and the girl dying both needed Jesus but the woman’s faith after the fact and Jairus trusting Jesus even when his daughter was already dead are miracles we can mimic.

Pentecost 5b - Mark 5:21-43

Mark 5:21-43

It is a story of two women healed (even if one is a girl). Both are anonymous – one named by a condition – the other by a relationship. The bleeding woman is as dead as Jairus’ daughter will soon be. She is cut off from the community by her unending flow and has been impoverished by physicians whose skills have failed her. She would have been invisible to those who did not know her and those who did would have shrunk back for fear of contact contamination. In her desperation she doesn’t care. “If I but touch the hem of his robe…” I imagine through twelve years of bleeding she’s had faith in other options. The reputation of the Mayo Clinic of her time, a perfect sacrifice offered in the Jerusalem temple, the dedication of her first born if God made it possible, etc. etc. That is until they failed to live up to her hope. That means the faith of this moment has less to do with her and everything to do with the One in whom she placed it. The faith that follows and is more remarkable than a desperate act is that after having been made well she is free to walk away without anyone being the wiser but instead steps forward and admits to touching a man in public while she was bleeding and that Jesus did what no one else had been able to do in twelve years of trying. The daughter of Jairus has been alive as long as the woman has been bleeding. Her father shows the same sort of courage born of desperation that the woman did. No doubt members of the synagogue have heard of the Galilean preacher and wonder if their leader has lost his mind, but he believes Jesus is his and his daughter’s only hope. Even when the dreadful news reaches Jairus he listens to Jesus  (who by the way is now unclean by virtue of the woman’s touch) and no doubt urges him on, “hurry then!” Jesus passing through the wailing crowd, ignoring the ridicule of his prognosis, takes the hand of “the little girl” and speaks life into her dead body.  So it will be with us, maybe in the here and now if God so chooses to gift us with healing of earthly aliments, but most certainly in the life to come when with our hand in his he will say, “get up!” And so we shall.

Pentecost 5b - 2 Corinthians 8:7-15

2 Corinthians 8:7-15
The context for this portion of the Corinthian correspondence is the collection for the saints in Jerusalem who were suffering extreme poverty during an extended famine. The fundraising has stalled and the weekly installments (1 Corinthians 16:2) have come up short. I image there were a good number of wealthy Corinthians who used the occasion to point out the foolishness of selling all your possessions and holding everything in common. (Acts 2:44-45) Paul, ever the pragmatist, appeals to their pride, the very thing he has previously argued against. But maybe this is where the thirteenth chapter of his first letter “If I speak in the tongues of men and angels and have not love I am a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal” is wedded to the words of Jesus’ half-bother James. “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed, “but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? (James 2:15-17) If we have been made rich by the poverty of Christ how can we not be generous toward the needs of others? Paul would not have said it that way, maybe because he couldn’t see grace in the law, but James, who as blood kin is closer to Jesus, states the obvious. Faith without works is no faith at all. Maybe that is why James sounds more like his half-brother Jesus than Paul does. If someone is hungry give them food. If someone is thirsty give them something to drink. If someone is naked clothe them. If someone is in prison visit them. If someone is without shelter house them. If your brothers and sisters in Jerusalem are in need, do whatever you can do to help them. It's a no-brainer. But Paul would clean it up a bit and say, in doing so you will excel in the generous undertaking of doing for others as has been done for you. Which means, "Just do it."

Article from SamMarsh.net Paul's collection for the saints

Pentecost 5b - Psalm 30

Psalm 30
Psalm 30 knows a thing or two about suffering. Enemies threatened. Health was lost. The mouth of the grave was wide open. The night was filled with weeping. But Psalm 30 sings of sorrow from the perspective of deliverance. You lifted me up. You restored my health. You denied death its due. You met me in the morning with joy. That is good news for anyone on the other side of trouble. The question is this; can we sing the song of deliverance before the song of suffering is stilled? Or better yet, can we praise God from the pit of no profit and declare God’s faithfulness when our throats are as dry as dust? The answer might be in verse six. “While I felt secure I said, ‘I shall never be disturbed’.” And subsequently God’s face was hidden and fear filled the vacancy. That does not mean we live anticipating trouble. It means even in times of calm we count on God, and more than that, we believe God is not absent when enemies surround, vitality is sapped, death beckons, and weeping fills the night. It is because Jesus was surrounded by enemies, pierced by nail and thorn in hand and foot and forehead, and after descending to the grave broke free from death's grip, that we are confident, even when all of life is dressed in sackcloth and wailing, that we are destined for an eternity of dancing dressed in garments of joy. That will be when the song without ceasing is fully sung. In the meantime if all we can do is hum a few bars of the forever song it will be enough to get us through the night of weeping until we are welcomed by the eternal morning of joy. `