Easter 5 C - Psalm 148

Psalm 148

The Psalm 148 praise the Lord list is all inclusive even though not everyone on the list gets along. Wild animals eat cattle, kings make war on princes, fire and hail and wind do damage to fruit trees and of course sea monsters are not called monsters for being friendly to sailors. I don’t think the point is that if the all inclusive list spent more time praising the Lord they would spend less time preying on one another. You can over think a psalm in the same way that the marriage of melody and lyric loses something when the words of a song are over analyzed. So let’s just say the symphony of the all inclusive praise psalm is the song of everything all at once exalting the name of the Lord which in and of itself is a joyful noise to the Lord (even if the sound a sea monster might terrify us).

Easter 5 C - Acts 11:1-18

Acts 11:1-18

I think I might just have to remain kosher if the Lord told me to eat reptiles even if rattlesnake does taste like chicken. Of course the come down on a sheet menu is really just a set up for what comes next. Three gentiles come a calling and Peter goes to their house which is like eating shrimp on the Sabbath. The categories of clean and unclean are designed to keep one group pure by profaning the other. It begins with keeping oneself separate and while segregation will satisfy for a time eventually violence is the final solution. In the vision of the sheet the future imagined by God is revealed where distinctions of clean and unclean and everything in between are erased from the human vocabulary. The prophet Isaiah sees it as the sheet that covers the nations, hatred, violence, pride leading to prejudice, lifted in favor of forever feasting. To be faithful to the future is to follow it in the present so as not to hinder God. Paul will say it this say it this way. There is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, slave nor free because in Christ God declares there is no distinction. So, while you certainly may decline the rattlesnake appetizer, loving neighbor as self is not optional on the Christian menu.

Easter 4 C - Revelation 7:9-17

Revelation 7:9-17

The promise to the white robed ones before the throne describes the great ordeal our faith forebears suffered. Indeed, when we make this portion of the letter a prophecy of the imagined future we dishonor the real people who went without food and water as they suffered the scorching sun and the heat of the day. They were mostly slaves and women, the least and the left behind, which is why using the testimony of their tribulation in best-selling books and cheesy DVDs by the rich and powerful insults the real people to whom these words were written. Their tears will be wiped away and though we might have much to make us weep the great multitude that came out of the great ordeal does not include us. It is not to say we are left out because we happen to live in a time when the empire embraces the church without trying to strangle it. It just means we can't read about those persecuted and ultimately killed for the faith and make it about us. What is about us, persecuted or not, is that the Lamb at the center of the throne is the Shepherd of every nation and tribe and people and language which means leaving anyone behind is the last thing on the Lord's mind.

Easter 4 C - Psalm 23

Psalm 23
The promises of Psalm 23; green pastures, still waters, soul restored, right paths followed, comfort and confidence in death’s dark valley, a feast in front of foes, head anointed, cup overflowing, goodness and mercy and a home in the house of the Lord are made possible by the statement of surrender, "the Lord is my shepherd." The second statement “I shall not want” is made possible by the first. Of course surrendering and being satisfied does not come naturally to us. The story of “the fall” is all about humans not being satisfied with paradise and in lusting after the fruit that was pleasing to the eye and useful for knowledge their attempt at an upgrade from creature to creator introduced a virus that infects us today. We infect this psalm with that virus when we think of the Shepherd as a service provider or make it all about the forever home in the Lord’s house. To surrender to the Shepherd is to be satisfied with creature status and trust that the One who comforts us through the valley of the shadow of whatever we face knows the way. That means green pastures can exist where there is no grass. Still waters can be found in the middle of a rushing river. The right path is the one we’re on as long as the Shepherd walks with us. And because we know the Shepherd is Jesus the feast prepared must be as much for the foe as it is for us. When we are satisfied with the Shepherd with us in whatever pasture we inhabit the goodness and mercy that “follows” catches up with us and the forever house of the Lord is our home today.

Easter 4 C - Acts 9:36-43

Acts 9:36-43

Peter, the fisherman turned physician, may have been the rock upon which the church was built but Tabitha was the one who made it work. Devoted to acts of charity, she takes Jesus at his word about the least of these, “when I was naked you clothed me” and does something about it. Her handiwork in the hands of weeping widows is a testimony to her devotion. Remembered well for the good she did Tabitha will be missed. But this is a resurrection story and so like Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter Tabitha will live to sew again. Luke tells the story as if a person coming back to life when called by name and told to get up happens all the time even though miracles tend to demand attention and get it. People like Tabitha, devoted to good works and acts of charity, do not and maybe that makes her life of service more of a miracle than sitting up at Peter’s command. The miracle of the church is that despite all of its drawing attention to itself, mostly for the wrong reasons, it still has a Tabitha or two quietly going about being church. A resurrection story is always more about this life then whatever comes next and though we might long for the day when we hear that final “get up” the world would be well served, and maybe even resurrected, by a church devoted to good works and acts of charity.

Easter 3 C - Revelation 5:11-14

Revelation 5:11-14

I remember the sound of angels singing in my backyard years ago. They must have been around three and five at the time and from somewhere inside the castle their father built for them they were singing “This is the feast of victory for our God. Alleluia!” That’s the only part they knew so they just sang it over and over again. Maybe that’s the only part we need to know when it comes right down to it. The Lamb who was slain is worthy and has won the victory over death so that songs of rejoicing might spring forth from children and angels alike. To that the living creatures say Amen which means Let it be so. To live into let it be so invites the future into the present so that we hear and sing the song in our everyday. Granted it is more difficult when life is anything but playful. In those times the invitation is a prayer and this is the feast is sung through clenched teeth. Which is why it’s the only thing we need to know. Despite all the difficulties of the day the battle is done, the final victory won. One day the feast of victory will be for all of us as children playing and singing this is the feast over and over again and the sound of suffering and sorrow will be stilled. And so the memory of angels singing in the backyard in the past enters the present of this day so that one is reminded of the future. Amen. Let it be so.

Easter 3 C - Psalm 30

Psalm 30

Psalm 30 is a song of deliverance in the key of joy. Rescued from the foe, helped by healing, brought back from the depths of the pit the psalmist has seen it all and is glad that the day of refreshment has finally dawned. But the worst of what was endured is perhaps understated. “When you hid your face I was dismayed.” Weeping through the night watches the psalmist is clothed in the sackcloth of God’s absence and the moment of God’s anger seems to last a lifetime. Crying into that silence the psalmist is not above making a deal. “What good am I to you dead?” When the morning of deliverance comes the rejoicing is unrestrained and one jumps for the joy of it, for even if silence and sorrow and suffering are remembered the new dawn trumps whatever one went through to see the sun rise.

Easter 3 C - Acts 9:1-20

Straight Street - Damascus

Acts 9:1-20

Saul may be the one blinded but Ananias is the one who wants to know if God sees clearly. “Here I am Lord” is followed quickly by a just in case you don’t know “Lord, I’ve heard of this man…” According to Luke’s tale all Ananias needs is a little more information in order to call Saul brother but I image he had an exit strategy when he headed down Straight Street in Damascus. Even so his only scene in the Gospel is a story of faith that makes Paul’s faith possible as his baptizing “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me” means Paul can suffer for the sake of the name he persecuted which in turn makes the name of Jesus known. Ananias could have said send someone else but he didn’t. Maybe God seeing clearly is how we receive our sight. Here I am Lord.

Easter 2 C - John 20:19-31

John 20:19-31
There are those who say faith dare not doubt while others claim faith without doubt is no faith at all. I’m not sure I care to enter the debate. Thomas had good reason to wonder at this word, “We have seen the Lord!” and as the ten weren’t blessed until they had seen I’m willing to give Thomas the benefit of the doubt. Truth is there are times when I wonder at this word and question whether everything written is the Gospel truth. I don’t think that is as much a function of doubting as it is the product of the God given ability to think critically. God is not threatened by our questions and does not punish us for asking them.  Touch and see was what Thomas needed to do and touch and see is what Jesus offered him. And what seems like Jesus rebuking Thomas, “have you believed because you have seen me?”  is really an encouragement to those of us who given the opportunity would do anything to “trade places with Thomas and touch those ruined hands.” (Friederich Buechner – Peculiar Treasures) So we who live by faith and not by sight are free to question and in whatever way doubt and faith intersect find the place where the life of believing lives comfortably with questions.

Easter 2 C - Revelation 1:4-8

Revelation 1:4-8

We leave the letter to the seven churches behind when we translate it too quickly into a prophetic word about our time or anytime to come for that matter. Not that it is not without a current or a future context. It's just that making it all about our time - or a time to come - does not do justice to John or those long gone who suffered tribulation in real time. John is as much a pastor as he is a prophet and his people are being put upon by the powers that be while he is exiled and far from the parishes that are his charge. In the spirit of the Lord he shares a vision where "goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death." (Desmond Tutu) Those who in our time have profited off this pastoral / prophetic work have missed the point. Endurance is not about escape. It comes from a courage that engages the world as it is so that by the witness of perseverance the world might be convicted and be given the chance to become what it was meant to be.

Easter 2 C - Psalm 150

Psalm 150

Psalm 150 is the alternate psalm for Sunday. It’s a noisy praise the Lord psalm and if you were at Calvary on Easter it should bring to mind cymbals and tympani and brass that made our singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” rise to new heights. Or the strings and woodwinds that brought “Because He Lives” to life. Now I know the human voice can make a joyful noise all by itself – I've been to a Church of Christ service – but when it comes to noise the voice can’t compete with a clanging cymbal. The mighty deeds and surpassing greatness of God calls for an orchestra and everything that breathes as well. So if our praise of God is to be worthy of notice, as I suggested yesterday, we’ll have to make some noise. Not clanging cymbals alone, which Paul tells the Corinthians are as useless as noisy gongs without the melody of love, but a symphony of serving that is grateful for God’s goodness and moved by the melody of mercy.

Easter 2 C - Acts 5:27-41

Acts 5:27-41

For a group of guys who didn’t get it in the Gospels the disciples got going pretty quickly in the book of Acts. With a sound like the rushing of the wind and tongues of flames on their heads and languages not their own they were transformed from confused followers into bold witnesses who rejoiced that they were considered worthy of persecution. How do we enter such a text given that the message which caused such a stir has settled down to become the status quo? It may be that Gamaliel’s advice, ignore them and they’ll go away, accomplished what the Pharisees desired. The church becomes irrelevant when it is no longer “considered worthy to suffer dishonor” because of the name of Jesus. I’m not saying I’m nostalgic for the days when the Gospel enraged the powers that be but I would like to rejoice in being worthy of attention. If we tell the truth the journey of the last four days was mostly about us, i.e. church goers, while for many of our neighbors and co-workers and friends and even family it was just another weekend even if they did spring for a chocolate bunny in a basket. If Monday happens right on schedule and holy week like Christmas is carefully wrapped and put back on the shelf until next year it will be just another, albeit it busy, weekend for us well. But if we were to do something worthy of attention today, speak and act as those who have something worth living and saying and in so doing make this world look more like the world that God had in mind, then like the disciples we would rejoice in being followers who take the lead.

Easter Year C - Luke 24:1-12

Luke 24:1-12

“Why do you look for the living among the dead?” was the question the women were asked. It is a strange question given that they had come looking to do for the dead Jesus the proper thing the Passover had denied them. The living was the last thing they expected to find. But now no longer terrified and reminded of Jesus’ words they rushed back to those whose hopes and dreams had died with the Jesus they had left all to follow. Without the benefit of angels in dazzling clothes the women’s tale seemed a tall at best and according to Luke everyone but Peter was satisfied to continue believing once dead was always dead. But then the story is so familiar to those of us who make the church our home that it loses its ability to surprise and have its way with us as well. That is what it would do given the chance. There are those moments when with dazzling clarity the veil between the present and the future becomes transparent and one can hear the song of the infinite choir and taste the forever feast. In those moments we are transformed from those who expect the living and the dead to stay in their own rooms and we become those who see dead people living. Not in some ghostly apparition or chill in the room but in bread and wine shared in the present even as it remembers the past and anticipates the future. Joined to Christ in the meal of thanksgiving the women’s idle tale has its way with us and now expecting the unexpected we are united with the dead now living. So you and I, inhabiting bodies not yet worn out, can, if only for a moment, imagine the joys that for those who have crossed over are forever familiar.

Easter Year C - 1 Corinthians 15:19-26

1 Corinthians 15:19-26

To hope in Christ only for the next life is just as pitiable as to hope in Christ "only for this life..." To hope only for the future is to reduce the resurrection to a reward or some sort of panacea for the pain of the present. But the hope of the resurrection has as much to do with the way one lives in this life as whatever life we will live in the next. The death that came through Adam is still a very real enemy that seeks to limit not just our mortal life but our spiritual life as well so that we never fully live the freedom that came out of the empty tomb with Jesus. But because Jesus died for all and rose above the boundary imposed by Adam’s rebellion we are free to live as those who have “already passed from death to life.” (John 5:24) If by faith I am confident that the forever future imagined by God is a done deal then I am free to live as if death has already been destroyed. A life that anticipates resurrection is as much a resurrected life as the life that awaits us. 

Easter Year C - Psalm 118

Psalm 118

On the morning of May 25^th, 2000, I was sitting in my brother’s backyard in Chicago drinking way too much coffee and nervously waiting for inspiration. Months before I promised my dad I’d write a song for my grandmother’s memorial service. At that point all I had was “I hope” which was how Grandma Heinze described faith in Jesus. Not “I hope” as in “I wish” but “I hope” as in “I know.” So with grandma’s faith in Jesus on my mind I waited impatiently for a song that was scheduled to be sung that afternoon. And then I remembered a funeral the week before where I spoke the words of Psalm 118. “There are shouts of exaltation in the tents of the righteous for the strong arm of the Lord has triumphed" and within ten minutes I had three verses and a chorus in the key of E and a few hours later “Our Hope” was sung as promised. Of all the parts of the funeral liturgy Psalm 118, appointed to be read at the graveside, seems to fly in the face of reason. When it is obvious that our loved one has fallen and is not getting up again we claim that “I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord.” But that is the way of faith where the stone the builders rejected becomes the cornerstone of “I hope.” Defeat is victory, loss is gain, and sorrow is the prelude to joy. While it seems like the truth of “I hope” comes to us as suddenly as it did to me in my brother’s backyard the truth is the only thing sudden about it is that it is the end of waiting. It took Martha sometime to learn the song of Jesus but when she did she sang it with everything she had for her best friend, Jesus. And so like Timothy whose faith first lived in his grandmother Lois the faith of Martha is sung every Easter at Calvary Lutheran Church, Richland Hills, TX in three verses and a chorus in the key of E.

Easter Year C - Isaiah 65:17-25

Isaiah 65:17-25

Isaiah 65 is the alternate reading for Easter or the pitch hitter for Acts 10. No offense to Luke but given the choice I think even Jesus would choose Isaiah. Granted he never read Acts but he did choose Isaiah 61 as the text for his first sermon in Nazareth even if it did end badly (they tried to throw him off a cliff). His faithfulness brings forth the justice of Isaiah 42. He is light for the Gentiles as he gathers Israel in Isaiah 49. In Isaiah 50 he has been given the tongue of the teacher to sustain the weary. He is the servant described in Isaiah 53; a man familiar with suffering and acquainted with grief by whose stripes we are healed. And so given the choice I’m going with Isaiah 65. That’s not only a liturgical decision but a choice of what future informs our present. Is that future a rerun of the old or is it something so new the old cannot even be recalled? I know when I think of the alternate vision where few are taken and the vast majority left behind, where a personal relationship with Jesus is a password to paradise and everyone else can go to hell, it feels a lot like the world I live in today. I want God’s future to be more than that and when I read Isaiah I get a sense that we’ll all be surprised. But how can we say that given all the Biblical evidence to the contrary? We can’t, but we can hope. That’s all. A hope that even though it seemed to end badly for Jesus on a Friday we call Good God made a choice to do something different and it really was a brand new thing.

Passion Sunday Year C - Luke

The Passion According to Saint Luke

If a picture is worth a thousand words then the sculpture "The Tortured Christ" by Brazilian artist Guido Rocha says it all. Its obscenity evokes revulsion in those, including myself, who prefer a crucifix to be polite. But the incarnation cannot be fully grasped except when it is depicted as offensive. Granted, we generally associate incarnation with the babe of Bethlehem, angels singing, shepherds adoring, wise ones worshipping. But the incarnation, Jesus emptying himself of the power of God, is only fully and finally revealed in the offense of the cross for he empties himself to be crucified not cuddled. In the end Jesus, the life of love, dies naked and alone his humanity beaten out of him screaming like a wounded animal with no one to offer comfort and no one to come to his rescue. When Luke recounts the story Jesus remembers a thief who is dying next to him even as Jesus forgives the ones who crucify them both. That is the final offense of the crucifixion. Someone should pay. Someone should be held accountable. Someone did. Someone was. Jesus. Remember me.

Passion Sunday Year C - Philippians 2:5-11

Philippians 2:5-11

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…” How is it that the church has failed so miserably at mimicking the mind of God? As it is we are more often the object of God’s lament. "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” Selfish ambition, vain conceit, thinking of oneself to be better than the other are more often the way we think and truth to be told we suffer not as Christ but as those who looking only to their own interests cannot escape the lonely consequences. Of course we dress up our differences in doctrinal arguments and clothed in self-righteous piety are quick to claim conformity to Christ without giving an inch lest our brother or sister be tempted to take a mile. God is grieved when in claiming to defend the Gospel we fail to live it. Holding forth for whatever we hold as sacred or worth fighting over must be able to stand the litmus test of Christ. Though he was fully God He emptied himself to inhabit our flesh and die the death we deserve and therefore in the end He will be the judge. It’s not What Would Jesus Do but What Did Jesus Do that matters. If that is the mind we are to have then giving up is the only way to hold on.

Passion Sunday Year C - Psalm 31

Psalm 31

The psalms don’t shy away from suffering and psalm 31 is no exception. Lamenting a life spent in sorrow and sighing, weakened by misery, an object of scorn and derision to friend and foe alike the psalmist is as useless as a broken bottle and as good as dead. But, and there is always a “but” in a lament, but I trust in you, despite my eyes wasting away from grief for I will see the light of your face. But I trust in you for my soul and body in distress is in your hands and will be delivered. But I trust in you, though terror is all around, for you are my God and in your steadfast love I am secure. As it is for the psalmist so it is in all our laments, sorrow and sighing turn on that three letter word, but.

The Sunday of the Passion - Year C

Isaiah 50:4-9a
The Word that sustains the weary is that the teacher himself was wearied by beatings, insult and spitting. Wakened by the word, the One for whom the Lord God was help at the break of the day is the student who is at the same time is the teacher. He set his face like flint and gave his back to the whip, his head to thorns, his hands and feet to nail. The suffering and sorrow of God is the Word made flesh for those who are wearied by the world that contends against them, confronted by inconsistency, struck by down by grief, insulted by trouble. The Lord will be my help at the break of day because the Lord was broken for all my days. To waken to this Word despite all that would weary the soul and crush the spirit is to be opened to the distant song of vindication that is always near. It is not an easy answer, a simple solution, a wish fulfillment. It is a Word that inhabits flesh and blood, yours and mine, for when one is wearied by weeping and too tired to sing, when the difference between giving up and continuing on hangs in the balance, we become for each other in shared sorrow and suffering the Word that sustains until the day when all weariness will be a thing of the past.

Lent 5 C - Philippians 3:4-14

Philippians 3:4-14

If anyone has reason to be confident in their Lutheran pedigree I have more. Baptized as an infant, bearing a German surname, a Lutheran born of Lutherans, as to education Lutheran grade school, high school, college, and seminary, as to employment nine years a Lutheran school teacher & youth director, and Lutheran pastor for twenty-five. Of course the same could be said of other things as well. Years spent in Bible Study Fellowship, giving more than a tithe, status as a deacon or elder, or even quiet and unassuming piety. It is a sign of our separation from the surpassing value of knowing Christ that even humility can be a source of pride. But when we count our status as Christians in a culture shaped by Christianity as rubbish we might forsake labels of conservative or liberal, progressive or orthodox and cease being churches that compete for clients by claiming to be better at making disciples or providing more programs than the big box down the street. When the surpassing value of knowing Christ means I skip a meal to provide food for someone who is starving, when the debate over health care remembers the children who suffer because parents are poor, when living a moral life is not an option or an obligation but a reflection of Christ then we can we have come close to knowing the Christ. Truth is we can only share in Christ’s sufferings when we can no longer follow the crucified by taking up a cross that is comfortable.

Lent 5 C - Psalm 126

Psalm 126

The psalmist laughs out loud anticipating the new thing God has promised through the prophet Isaiah. Like a dream come true freedom is found in the fortune restored and so the captives shout and laugh as the nations offer commentary. But as with all dreams there comes a time when one wakes up and even if pleasant memories remain the demand of the day is that you get out of bed and get on with it. Waking from the dream of the promise the psalmist prays for the dream come true. Be for us water in the wilderness so that the seeds of sorrow sown in captivity will be a joyful harvest of homecoming. Held captive by circumstance, in bondage to desire, controlled and controlling we weep what we sow. But longing for the dream come true the harvest of hope is for us water in the wilderness and like a pleasant dream recalled might even make us laugh out loud.

Lent 5 C - Isaiah 43:16-21

Isaiah 43:16-21

“Do not remember former things…” is written to a people who taunted by their captors, “Sing us songs of Zion” sit by the waters of Babylon and weep. Forgetting former things is not easily done when the "former things" are present things and so Isaiah calls to mind a time before Babylon. Remember the time when the Lord called his people out of Egypt and made a way through the sea and wilderness to the land of promise. Forgetting the present difficulty by remembering something before, when the threat of chariot and horse, army and warrior was extinguished, leads to the perception of something at once the same and new. Like those of the time before your trouble you will be led out of captivity and weeping songs will be turned into songs of praise and even the jackals and ostriches will get it. The something new that springs forth is the hope of the promise that what you can’t forget in the present will not be remembered in the future. It is a new thing for us as well when weighed down by former things of shame and pain we live into the promise that one day we will not remember what we cannot forget.

Lent 4 C - Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11-32

Like a joke you’ve heard once too often the fate of parables is to become familiar and like the parable of the prodigal lose their punch. So desperate preachers tell the story from the perspective of an imaginary sister or ask “what did the fattened calf think about all this?” or use the father to talk about codependency and enabling destructive behavior. The truth is the parable has lost its punch as we all know the younger son will come to his senses so the father can forgive and his older brother object and at the end of the sermon the congregation will sing “amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me” even if most sympathize fully with the older son in the story. And so the surprise that should come as no surprise is that every three years we spend time and energy trying to put the zing back into a parable we will largely ignore. If, on the other hand, we dare to live into the parable then like my good friend in Pittsburgh, Pastor Tara Lynn who is the older sister/brother in the story, the parable can be so upsetting that you are tempted to preach the epistle. But you don’t because even though you’ve done everything right and worked like a slave all these years you’ve been invited to the party. And even if you think your brother is a “that son of yours” the sound of the music and the smell of BBQ break down your righteous indignation at the extravagant waste of grace so that peeking in the door the Father happens to you as well. That’s the surprise the parable can still muster, when the Father happens to hardworking and hedonist alike, and the fattened calf and ring and robe are as much for children who stay as they are for children who leave only to come home. Surprise!

Lent 3 C - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, or in other words, “you better not shout, you better not pout, you better not cry, I’m telling you why…” What do we do with Paul’s warning, or veiled threat, depending on which side of the line you are standing? I suppose the first thing we have to ask ourselves is do we believe what Paul is saying? That 23,000 fell in a day for getting up from the table to play and others, putting Christ to the test, had good reason to fear snakes, while still others should have kept their mouths shut and their complaints to themselves. And more to the point that this is a Divine object lesson to keep the Corinthians, and us I suppose, from making the same mistake and suffering a similar fate? From the perspective of God’s grace these verses carry less weight than the “still more excellent way” of the thirteenth chapter of this same letter but they cannot and I might add, dare not, be dismissed so easily. The reason being, as Paul will tell the Romans, is that God has determined to be both just and the one who justifies. There will be a reckoning and a pardon will be necessary for whether we think we are standing or not we have all fallen into temptation and are without exception guilty. To think or claim otherwise is to engage in theological immorality by testing the grace of God without accepting the consequence of sin or acknowledging the cost to the Christ. In spite of our weakness God is faithful and the strength to be tested is not found in our will power but whether we endure our falling by trusting the way out God will provide.

Lent 3 C - Psalm 32

Psalm 32

The sad truth about ourselves is that we don’t get to be “happy are those” until our bodies have done some “wasting away” and I don’t mean the kind that comes naturally. The really troubling “wasting away” comes from being good at hiding iniquity by living life as if “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” even though we’ve never left home. Psalm 32 encourages us to come to our senses and realize that acknowledging our deceit has a direct effect on whether we live as “happy are those” or as those who are “dried up as the heat of summer.” That is the gift of groaning all day long for if we were not made uncomfortable by a hand heavy upon us our ignorance would grow content with the bit and only be curbed when caught by the bridle of torment or trouble. And so truly “happy are those” who both hear and tell the truth about themselves and determine to be less stubborn so that groaning gives way more quickly to glad cries of deliverance.

Lent 4 C - Joshua 5:9-12

Joshua 5:9-12

Forty years of “what is it?” manna and now finally something new! Time and again in their wilderness wanderings the children of Israel lamented of their meager fare. “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!"” Complaining of the poverty of their present they forgot the pain of their past as the memory of fish and fruit failed to recall the disgrace of Egypt. In reality the real no cost meal was the manna God provided. The fish and fruit, the no cost meal in Egypt, was paid for by slavery and harsh treatment. Of course those who complained never did get off the manna diet and dying in the desert their only comfort must have been the hope that their children would see the land they had lost by doubting the promise. That hope did not disappoint as Joshua and the children of disgrace are set free and manna is taken off the menu in the land of milk and honey. When in our wilderness wandering we lose our appetite and in misremembering the past we long for something that never was God calls us back to faith through a no cost to us meal that cost God’s life. Sustaining us in our weakness God provides bread and wine that is body and blood for the journey until manna is taken off the menu and we sit down to dine at the forever feast.

Lent 3 C - Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:1-9

There is no cause and effect between sin and a tragic death but if you don’t repent you’ll suffer a tragic death. It seems as if Jesus’ answer to why bad things happen to otherwise good people raises more questions but maybe that is the point. Jesus challenges the need for a reason for why bad things happen because for us even a bad reason is more comforting than no reason at all. But then we have been curious from creation and like the first humans not willing to live with God knowing something we don’t even if it means getting kicked out of the garden. And so we keep trying to put the puzzle together even though a good number of the pieces are missing. Jesus would have us live into God’s answer to Job’s why? “I’m not telling, but trust me anyway.” The answer that wants us to live with the question is like a fig tree that has had enough time to get busy doing what fig trees are meant to do but has not. Cutting it down to make room for another is the correct answer to three years of wasted waiting. But the gardener wants the owner to live with the question, “will it produce?” in another year with a little bit of tender care and while we would rush to the yes or no end of the parable I think as with most parables we are supposed to live with the question, which, of course, is God’s answer.

Lent 3 C - 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, or in other words, “you better not shout, you better not pout, you better not cry, I’m telling you why…” What do we do with Paul’s warning or veiled threat, depending on which side of the line you are standing? I suppose the first thing we have to ask ourselves is do we believe what Paul is saying? That 23,000 fell in a day for getting up from the table to play and others putting Christ to the test had good reason to fear snakes while still others should have kept their mouths shut and their complaints to themselves. And more to the point that this is a Divine object lesson to keep the Corinthians, and us I suppose, from making the same mistake and suffering a similar fate? From the perspective of God’s grace these verses carry less weight than the “still more excellent way” of the thirteenth chapter of this same letter but they cannot, and I might add, dare not be dismissed so easily. The reason being, as Paul will tell the Romans, is that God has determined to be both just and the one who justifies. There will be a reckoning and a pardon will be necessary for whether we think we are standing or not we have all fallen into the ways of temptation and are without exception guilty of being less than God intended us to be. To think or claim otherwise is to engage in theological immorality by testing the grace of God without accepting the consequence of sin or acknowledging the cost of our rebellion to the Christ. But in spite of our weakness God is faithful and the strength to be tested is not our will power but whether we endure our falling by trusting the way out God that has provided.

Lent 3 C - Psalm 63

Psalm 63:1-8

I've just come back from the Lutheran School of Theology Chicago. On the second floor of the welcome center there's a plaque on the wall dedicated to The Reverend Doctor John Tietjen "who in the midst of strife and conflict advocated the unifying power of the Gospel..." John was the pastor of Trinity Church, Fort Worth when I first came to Calvary Lutheran and I was blessed to know him as a mentor, colleague and friend. Sometimes in the watches of the night when your soul thirsts and your flesh faints God is found through the wise council or loving care of a fellow pilgrim. Maybe God always refreshes us in that way so that even years later you remember a word spoken or an embrace shared and like a drink of water in a weary land your troubles seem less troubling and your burdens are more bearable. John lives where the saints of God rejoice eternally but every February on what is typically a cold Chicago day he visits this pilgrim for a moment with warm memories that brighten my spirits and refresh my soul.

Lent 3 C - Isaiah 55:1-13

Isaiah 55:1-13

When I do the math God’s economy appears too good to be true for we know that nothing worth having is free because if something is free it’s got no resale value. The first hearers of this no money market, the exiles returning from captivity in Babylon, spent everything they had to come home to bitter wine and sour milk. Their homes were occupied by strangers, the temple remained in ruins, and the trees of the field, overgrown by thorns and briers, had stopped clapping a long time ago. Hopes and dreams of returning unto Zion with everlasting joy had all been spent on the reality of a land that was less than welcoming and in many cases downright hostile. The home again exiles, hungry, thirsty and broke had forgotten what got them home in the first place and that even in its sorry state being free in Zion was better than being exiles in Babylon. So God speaks up calling the exiles to the table for a prix fix menu of rich food, fine wine and fresh milk. But if we think God’s new economy is free we haven’t read the fine print. No money will be exchanged but getting to the table will take some effort. The Lord calls all who would come and eat to listen, look and seek and in so doing return to the hope of the promise by forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts. So we too, overwhelmed and underfunded, discouraged and downhearted, are called to remember God’s higher thoughts and ways inform ours and not vice versa. In the no money market of God’s economy, we hold on to the hope that holds us as we trust God is too good not to be true.

Lent 2 C - Luke 13:31-35

Luke 13:31-35

If the Pharisees, who know a thing or two about plotting to kill Jesus, are concerned maybe Jesus should pay attention. After all the only hope a hen has is in hiding and praying the fox isn’t as crafty as, well, a fox. And although the lament of Jesus, “how often I have longed...” ends with a word of judgment, “have it your way” the image of Jesus as a chicken should do more than cause us to chuckle. It is always surprising to me, and not a little troubling, that we often miss all the ways in which God’s self-revelation sets aside what we think of as God like qualities for the less than majestic and powerful. None are more striking than Jesus as a mother hen and Herod as a fox. But then if we miss the most obvious, God choosing to die exposed and shamed, hanging naked between common criminals, then I suppose it follows that we would gravitate towards what our youth and family director Janelle might call a Big Dog God for that’s what we think we need to send foxes into hiding. To be gathered under the wings of Jesus is to accept God as God chooses to be revealed which is always different from what we expect and when gathered under those wings we get it and begin to look less like foxes and more like chickens.

Lent 2 C - Philippians 3:14-4:1

Philippians 3:14 - 4:1
Pressing on towards the prize requires desire and will power and physical fitness which doesn't happen overnight. The apostle Paul had more than a little practice pressing on as many pressed in on him for his holding fast to heavenly citizenship. It may be that without opposition it is more difficult for us to keep spiritually fit as minds set on earthly things dull our desire, sap our will power and weaken our resolve. So what are we to do? Stand firm in the Lord, Paul would say, but that doesn't mean stand still. Pressing begins with our sight, not on the prize but on what made the prize possible. "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of your faith" or so goes another Biblical running text. So if you have taken that first step to be more spiritually fit during Lent don’t let yourself go just because Easter rolls around. The race isn't over until you cross the finish line.

Lent 2 C - Psalm

Psalm 27

If you ask me this psalm asks too much. No Fear might work as a bumper sticker for a pick up truck but I’m afraid I would experience more than a little fear if evildoers sat down to dine on me. And while the adversaries and foes stumble and fall in verse two they are back on their feet breathing violence in verse twelve. Even the Lord’s face is hidden and to the psalmist cast off and forsaken the light of salvation should seem dim and distant. Which is why the psalm needs to begin where it ends, waiting. Wait for the Lord; be strong for the Lord is your light and salvation. Wait for the Lord and let your heart take courage for the Lord is the stronghold of your life. So is that it? We just grit our teeth and bear whatever life throws at us or take a deep breath and go to our happy place when all around is chaos? No. Confident waiting hope does not depend on our own strength or ability to endure. It depends fully on the One who has prepared a place for us and has himself waited through everything this psalm asked him to endure. Surrounded by enemies, forsaken by family and friends, accused falsely by witnesses breathing violence he was forsaken even by God. But for the joy set before him Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice as his head crowned with thorns was lifted up above the enemies he was dying to forgive. And dying our death he became our life so that our waiting would not be in vain. No Fear? Maybe so.

Lent 2 C - Genesis 15:1-18

Genesis 15:1-18

I imagine PETA members would object to this text as in “I’d rather go childless than cut an animal in two” and I might be inclined to join them. The Bible contains a lot of material that I find odd and even offensive and when I read stories like this I can’t imagine God needs to be so dramatic just to make a promise. So if we were to demythologize this story, or take out the bits that don’t fit our view of what is real and what is not, what would be the harm? Maybe it is in making the mysterious less so. We need the mystery for the part of this story that is real to us when like Abraham we find ourselves between what is and what we hope and pray will be. If we have worked out all the details, made God fit our way of thinking, determined what is and what isn’t what do we do when we don’t fit God’s way of being? Abraham’s faith reckoned to him as righteousness, or right relationship with God, depends on believing the promise when the promise is not yet. It means trusting God is present when all evidence would indicate God is not. Faith lives between what is and the hoped for, between the revealed Word, the Bright Morning Star, and the mystery of God invisible yet present. So Abraham believed what he knew could not be and we are the offspring he was promised, counted among the stars he could not number.

Lent 1 C - Luke 4:1-13

Luke 4:1-13
Country singer Lari White sings a song about temptation but she doesn’t need any help from the devil. “Lead me not into temptation I already know the road all too well. Lead me not into temptation I can find it all by myself.” Of course she’s singing about a “good looking thing” that caught her looking at him but she’s the one who will tell him to “just get thee behind me and I’ll show you the way.” That is true for us as well. We know the road all too well and despite the best of intentions make choices based on our hunger, whatever need real or imagined, that demands to be filled. We believe the lie because it promises much and even though the lie never delivers we are willing to take whatever crumbs it offers. Tempted to live for self we turn stones into bread but are hungry still. Lusting after power and wealth and possessions we sell our soul but are hungry still. And when in the practice of our faith we look for proof of God in emotional experiences or carefully constructed theologies or lives of rigid rules with self-righteousness as our reward we find we are hungry still. That is the truth about us and the first step in a different direction is admitting we know the old road all too well. Honesty stills the voice of our hunger, whatever need real or imagined that demands to be filled, so that we hear the voice of Jesus singing a different song from another road that will one day be the only one we know. So hear the voice of Jesus say, “Just get thee behind me and I’ll show you the way.”

Lent 1 C - Psalm 91

Psalm 91
I can’t read Psalm 91 without humming “On Eagles Wings” and rightly so. This is a psalm that has to be sung in the same way as a child I sang “I am trusting thee, Lord Jesus” walking down our basement stairs in the dark. The snare of the fowler, deadly pestilence, terrors at night, arrows by day and the charge of the light brigade can only be faced by a chorus like, “And I will raise you up on eagle’s wings.” And while it is true that the way out is up it takes some going through before the Lord can be the wind beneath your wings. That is what songs and psalms like this are for; the going through times. Such songs and psalms encourage the heart in the dark and difficult, strengthen the spirit in the unpredictable and unnerving, restore hope in the face of despair, faith in times of doubt. The only thing better than a song sung in such times is a song sung together. One day when raised on eagle’s wings, borne on the breath of dawn, shining like the sun we find ourselves held in the palm of God’s hand we’ll sing a new song with a chorus that never ends. In the meantime, this one will see us through.

Lent 1 C - Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Lent has always been my favorite season of the church year. I attribute it to being fed a steady diet of sad country western songs as a child and having a fondness for hymns in a minor key. Or maybe it was that all the effort put into Lent, the shrouded cross, the purple banners, the symbols of pain and suffering, just made church more interesting. I do know I first came to love Jesus during Lent because the story was so sad and Jesus did it all for me though I’m sure as a child I didn’t understand why. That is what is happening in this text. The giving of first fruits is connected to the story of Israel’s beginning so they will understand why they offer first fruits at all. We were treated harshly in Egypt but God heard our voice and saw our affliction and did something about it and so we do something in return. That distinction, the doing something in response to something , is what makes this a story of grace and not just paying for a piece of property. It is the gift of freedom, a land flowing with milk and honey as opposed to making bricks in a harsh land of bondage, that prompts giving something in return to the gift giver. Like the children of Israel we were in bondage to sin but God heard our voice and saw our affliction and did something about it. So in the giving up or the taking on, the effort we put into Lent, we give something to the gift giver and enter more fully the sad story that in the resurrection has a happy ending.

Transfiguration Year C - Luke 9:28-43

Luke 9:28-43

The lectionary allows the option of including the verses that describe what happens when Jesus comes down the mountain and while it might appear to be two different stories they belong together. The transfigured Jesus talking with the law giver and the end of all things prophet is sent to be with and bear the faithless and perverse generation. “How long…” is a lament not a rebuke and has more to do with Jesus than the perverse generation for Jesus knows he will be with this perverse generation until he bears their perversity in his own person. How do you give up glory when you know that? You do it for a father who cries out “Teacher, I beg you…” You do it for an only child convulsed and mauled and beaten by a demon. You do it for well-meaning but ineffective disciples. You do it because that is what love is. The beloved only Son is convulsed and mauled and beaten and killed for the faithless and perverse of every generation, every last one of us. If the disciples want to stay on the mountain and bask in the glory how much more so Jesus who has every reason to stay and doesn’t.

Transfiguration Year C - 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
When Paul writes to the Romans of his kindred according to the flesh his sorrow is unceasing and his anguish is great. So much so he would gladly himself be cut off from Christ, go back behind the veil as it were, if it meant the children of Abraham would see clearly. The hope that makes Paul bold is a confidence that the freedom of the Spirit will work its will even on those whose minds are hardened and vision veiled. Changed from glory into glory they will one day with unveiled faces gaze upon the glory that is the Lord. That is the ministry of the mercy that makes Paul’s heart beat faster. And that is why we do not lose heart when friends or spouses or children or parents, our kindred according to the flesh, are veiled to the freedom in which we live. If one day we are blessed to see them gifted by sight it will not be by cunning or changing the Word to fit the world but by living more fully what we believe. We renounce the shameful things that promise much and deliver nothing and live the gift of freedom that is the law of love. We trust in hope that the glory to be revealed is bigger and better and more inclusive than we can possibly imagine. For the open statement of the truth is that we love others so others will love Christ who has always loved them.

Transfiguration Year C - Psalm 99

Psalm 99

The psalm begins as one might expect. The Lord who is King, enthroned above angelic beings, terrifying in their own right, causes people to tremble as the earth quakes. When one is before the Lord, who is exalted over everyone and everything, praise is not an option. Kings of the human variety, with far less power and majesty, tend to magnify themselves at the expense of their subjects. Not so with the Holy God, the lover of justice, who hears the cries of those who pleading for mercy receive forgiveness. But we might pause before we shout alleluia, for while the Holy One forgives the wrongdoer the wrongdoing must still be avenged. Like it or not that’s the way equity is established. And as difficult and painful as that is living outside the boundaries of God’s decrees is more so. The trouble is we always seem to find ways to bear the unbearable and tolerate the painful. So the Holy God who knew no wrong becomes a wrongdoer and is avenged with a vengeance. And therein lies our salvation and God’s hope that one day we will love justice as much as God does.

Transfiguration Year C - Exodus 34:29-35

Exodus 34:29-35

This is a strange story, but then the Bible is no stranger to strange stories. A burning bush, a plague or ten, fire and smoke on a mountain, a glowing face; the Holy shows up and things happen that can’t be explained and people change. That’s the whole point of a theophany or a close encounter of the Holy kind. You are supposed to change and people are supposed to notice. But sometimes change, like a glowing face, needs to be veiled so that nothing gets in the way of whatever it is that God wants to do. The veil on Moses’ face allowed those who were afraid to come near and hear what it was God wanted to reveal through Moses. It might be that the church in our day and age “veils” the ways that don’t make sense to those outside the faith. Veiling is not hiding. In our context it is taking seriously that the language of the church is no longer the vernacular of the common culture. So we veil what might separate us by speaking the universal language of the human condition without denying that which has caused our face to shine; the encounter with the Christ who came down off the mountain of transfiguration to climb the hill of suffering for the sake of the world.