Sermons

January 16, 2022 Redeemer Lutheran (online)

John 2:1-11

1On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9 When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

At the beginning of the year, people tend to make resolutions and set expectations and hopes and dreams. This year we’ll be our best selves we say, we’ll be more organized, we’ll keep a better budget, we’ll make more money we’ll be better friends, parents, grandparents, spouses. We’ll pray more or serve more, we’ll do more exercise, eat better. We’ll do more and therefore we’ll be better. Congregations and organizations do the same, we evaluate, we reflect on the past year, we plan and strategize and try to figure out our next steps, how can we be better, grow, do more outreach, raise more funds, be better. 

This year, however, has already started with another reminder that the plans we make, the steps we hoped to take are very much out of our control. I don’t know one family, one congregation who’s year hasn’t started with a forced change in plans, an unexpected shift that has made the beginning of the year more difficult, and even impossible to do the things we hoped to do so far. 

And thanks be to God, every year, I’m always so grateful that in the wisdom and movement of the Holy Spirit in our faith tradition, one of the first gospel’s of the year reminds us that even for Jesus and also for us, it is more important to be beloved than anything else. And as my colleague Pastor Susan said this week, the goal is not to be our best selves, but our most beloved selves. That’s what I hope for us as a congregation and as individuals and as community this year, that if we have any goals at all, that FIRST we would become our most beloved selves and that we would be people, be a community that helps others to become their most beloved selves as well. 

So as always, we gather together, we join in community to sing and pray and to read stories that ground us again in our belovedness. 

And we have this wonderful and strange story today. A story that isn’t about Jesus’ justice or his power to save and heal or the community of faith or any big ideas. In the time of epiphany the time of revealing, unveiling…. We get to see and experience through this story what happens when Jesus starts his ministry by becoming and being the beloved one with whom God is well pleased.  

If the story of his baptism last week reveals how beloved Jesus is by the father, this week’s story reveals how being a beloved child of Mary shapes him… Mary noticed something that no one else had noticed yet, that there was no more wine at the wedding. No one else seemed to be worried, but Mary knew that the host, maybe a relative or friend would be subject to great shame for many years to come if there was not enough wine for all the wedding days. For Mary that was a good enough reason to ask Jesus to use his unique gifts to make the world a better place, to prevent scandle and dishonor. 

I don’t think it is for us to know exactly why Jesus is seemingly so reluctant at first to do as Mary requests and fix the problem of not enough wine at the wedding. Maybe Jesus had planned and thought his first miracle would be more grand or important like the prophecies of Isaiah: the blind seeing, the lame walking, the imprisoned released, the oppressed freed, walking on water, feeding the hungry. 

Maybe he resists for the sake of the story, so that Mary gets to do her part. Maybe he didn’t want to start his journey towards the cross, take the heavy burden that he knew was coming yet. Maybe he just wanted one more party with his friends before everyone found out he was not just the son of a carpenter. My hour of unveiling my power has not yet come.” the passion translation says. Maybe Jesus’ way of saying: just give me 5 more minutes mom!

Whatever the reasons, I imagine Mary like many mothers, many parents, who don’t take no for an answer when it comes to their children acting with empathy, with compassion, with generosity, with love. Like the mom who signs her teenage kid up to volunteer, the parent who interferes and “helps” their daughter get a prom date. Not even Jesus, the son of God can escape his mother’s shaping of who he is (otherwise known as meddling). She knows who he is, she loves him and asks of him to use his gifts for good. 

Mary’s role in this miracle story is to observe what is wrong, to notice where God’s kingdom, God’s heaven on earth is not being lived out, to ask and hope and most of all trust in God’s ability to make earth more abundant and to persist in making sure it happens. 

Because of Mary, the first recorded miracle in John is not a healing or feeding story but a make this wedding pop off story. The reign of God, a banquet, a feast, a place where people dance and eat and celebrate love. Heaven on earth, the place where there is always enough, even wine. 

There are other people besides Mary needed for this miracle to happen. The servants who somehow trusted Jesus,a carpenter enough to cary an excruciatingly heavy amount of water and serve that water to the host. And Jesus, who besides doing the miracle of the wine knew even is his reluctance that his role was to be a beloved son. Not only of God, but of his prophetess mother. Maybe for Jesus, it was a chance to remember, as we always need reminding that being part of the kingdom of God it’s not about being our best selves, about accomplishing great things, doing impressive miracles, meeting outreach goals that make us successful. It’s about allowing ourselves to be our most beloved selves. The selves that respond to a request for help with generosity, with love, with respect and with hope. 

This vision of making the world more like heaven, more just, more safe, more healthy, more abundant is impossible. And so often we think that in order to try to make it happen, we have to work harder, whip ourselves into boot camp shape, force ourselves to be our “Best”. But our scripture, the holy words that we read for today give us a different message. Eugene Peterson, who wrote the message version of the bible reminds us in a short essay, that those who follow Jesus are supposed to do the opposite of what the world demands. Instead of doing more and more, getting busier and busier, “as we become practiced in the practices of prayer and worship and trust and love, we are more and more receivers and our lives are experienced as gifts, as grace”.... He ends: the less we do, the more we find [our Lord] the Spirit doing in and through us. 

Our prayer and worship and trust and love makes us more receives in and we experience our lives as gifts, as grace. 

Our story and our readings today remind us that God’s call to us is to trust enough, in God and in our community and loved ones that we are able to be transformed into our most beloved selves. It takes trust in God’s love to live our lives as beloved. 

Like we read in Isaiah, no longer people with names like forsaken and desolate but people who are known for God delighting in them. Like in the Psalm, Trusting enough, taking refuge in the shadow of the wings of God’s presence so that we are known to be a people where God’s delight and joy are found, where there is abundance, feasting, dancing, a wedding. 

Like in Corinthians where everyone trusts enough to use their gifts for the greater good, where they allow others to use their gifts. Where we recognize as one of my favorites Debbie Thomas says that even trusting in God is a gift, we can’t do it, we can’t have faith without the Holy Spirit. Everything is a gift. She says:“Piety is not an accomplishment.  Faith is not something we conjure out of blood, sweat, and tears.  It’s not that we impress God with our stellar faith and thereby earn more magnificent gifts.  It is that faith itself — the very possibility of it — is the magnificent gift.  The sure sign of our belovedness.

These first days of 2022 have been one unexpected turn after sad news after frustration for me. And what I have had to try to practice accepting is the only way to keep having hope, is to practice trusting and receiving faith and love as gifts.Trying to do more, work harder, be my our best selves doesn’t save us. TRUSTING in our belovedness, accepting the gifts of faith and love and prayer and encouragement from others, allowing God to use the gifts that we DO have for the greater good, that is what saves us and brings us closer to God’s kingdom. A place and time that we glimpse even now. Where there are miracles in ordinary places, where we celebrate and laugh and hug despite the struggles, where we feast and share what we have, where we believe in God’s abundance. Like a wedding with infinite wine. 

God help us to see the miracles in the ordinary in the water, bread and wine. Help us to notice your delight in us. Help us to trust more and receive more and become our most beloved selves as we help others to become their most beloved selves. 

March 29, 2020 Redeemer Lutheran Church Lawrence, MA (online)

John 11:1-45 (Ezekiel 37:1-14 also referenced)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." 

Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." 

After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him." 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 

When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?" Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go." Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 

I heard this story preached many times at funerals…. There was one funeral in particular where I remember that was particularly difficult for me and for those attending. It was the summer I worked as a chaplain at a hospital, I had recently met with a couple of patients and families who were in the process of dying and then at the same time, the worst happened and a young person lost their life tragically in an accident. 

I will never forget that funeral…. What I remember about the funeral is that we read this gospel story, and 

I remember that the grandmother of the boy wept loudly.

I was not the pastor, but I interpreted the sermon from Spanish to English, so it felt like I was also partly preaching…. 

and I remember that during the sermon we talked about how this was not the end, that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and that there would be life after death for this young man. But I kept thinking, yes, there will be AND right now, crying is appropriate. A young man just lost his life, this is incredibly sad. I remember thinking, I am so grateful that Jesus weeps. 

What touches me most about this verse, what touched me then, and what touches me now is that Jesus weeps. 

Even though he knows that death is not the end, even though he knows that the resurrection is coming, that life continues even after death, that this is NOT the END of the STORY, even then, Jesus weeps. Jesus grieves, Jesus cries, Jesus is sad. 

Jesus’ response to grief, and to pain is not to fix it, because it can’t really be fixed Jesus’ response is to have compassion, which means to suffer with. Jesus, and therefore God, grieves and suffers with those who are grieving. Because death is a change in relationship, it is a type of separation, even if it is temporary, even if it is not absolute separation, but that separation is SO DIFFICULT. 

So Jesus grieves. Jesus grieves because someone he loves is gone, and people he loves are grieving and death and separation and change are SO DIFFICULT.

This story is so comforting, so real, so important and so true. When we grieve, when we have experienced a loss of any kind, we may know that this is not the end of the story, we may know that things are going to get better, that there IS LIFE after death, we may know that our loved ones are in some ways still with us and we still feel all the feelings that come with grief…

Right now, in our current situation, we too, know that this is not the end of the story, we too, know that this will not go on forever, we too know that there is life after death AND the separation that we are experiencing now from our loved ones is not permanent, but it’s STILL so sad…

It’s ok to grieve, it’s inevitable and important and we can’t avoid it. 

We are grieving now, because things have changed, and with that change there is loss even when there is also good. 

We are grieving now, because we are separated from our loved ones even if it is temporary and we know it won’t last forever, even though we can sometimes see their faces and hear their voices. 

We are grieving now because we too, have compassion for those who are suffering more than we are, who have died, who have lost loved ones, who are in danger…… who have lost their jobs and income.

We are grieving now because of the change of being able to do the activities we love the loss of not being able to go physically to church and pass the peace with real hugs. 

So, even though we know that this will pass, even though we know that this is not the end of the story, right now, we are living in the not yet. Right now, we are living in the time when the kingdom if not yet fully fulfilled. Right now, we are living in the part of the story before the resurrection, before the reuniting with our loved ones, right now we are in the part of the story when Jesus weeps.

As always, our question is, how can we respond. Well, first, we can have compassion for ourselves and others, FIRST, we name and are aware of what we are going through. The experts on grief will say, that grief is not something you get over, but something you live through. It is a process that is ongoing. It is a circle or a spiral and not a race that you can rush to the finish line. The stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are stages we will go through again and again. So, part of our response to grieving is to have compassion, and allow ourselves to go through it, because it is inevitable and the more we go through it, the more we come back to acceptance again and again. 

Second, remember, that even at it’s worse, this is TEMPORARY. Even death is not a permanent or total separation. We can still see our loved ones faces, through videos, pictures, in our memories. We know that no matter what, in Christ, life goes on, is eternal we know that love never dies. We WILL be reunited again. This is not the end of the story. 

Third, we remember, that some of our grief is really anxiety. We are afraid of the worst happening before it even does. We imagine bad things happening that we don’t know actually will. Grief experts and anxiety experts tell us that it is important to bring ourselves into the present. 

Right now, we can see our loving church family. Right now, our family is nearby even if we cannot see them or feel them. Right now, we are healthy. Right now, we can sing and we can dance. Right now, I can see people I love, and hear their voices. Right now, my dog or my cat is sitting on my lap, or in the next chair. Right now, we are warm and we have enough food, and we are in our homes and we can feel the breeze when we go outside. Right now, I am breathing in, and out. Right now, GOD is with us. 

Breathing, …. is the most important thing we can do, right now. Throughout these last couple of weeks, I have noticed that when I preach or record a video or sing, I often forget to breathe. In the middle of a song or a recording, I have to catch my breath because I have been singing or speaking without stopping to breathe. When anxiety bubbles up, or when sadness comes and there are tears, breathing is harder. So, the most important thing to do is focus on breathing. When we focus on breathing, we are not just helping to calm our anxiety. When we focus on breathing, we are bringing ourselves into the present, which is where we are, where we need to be, and where God is with us. Just like Jesus did not rush anywhere, but was fully present, just like Jesus took many breaths, just like Jesus took time to cry and suffer with his loved ones, we can also breath. 

Breathing is, a spiritual practice. Even if we forget to pray, or have trouble praying, even if we are struggling to feel God’s presence… We can breathe. 

And just like we read today in the book of Ezequiel, God’s Spirit is in the wind, God’s Spirit gives life, by breathing into things that are not alive. As you may remember, the word for Spirit in Hebrew and in Greek also means breath or wind. In Genesis, God breathed into humans at the beginning of creation to give them life. In Ezekiel as we read today, God breathed into the dry bones of God’s people, and they lived. And in our gospel today, God’s spirit breathed new life into Lazarous. God’s spirit is breath… So every time we feel a breeze, every time we breath in and out, we can remember that the source of ALL life, that one who has created us and gives us breath, and life, that the Spirit that has the power to give life again even after death, that Spirit is in us, and with us, every single time we breath, and ALWAYS. 

Video of sermon can be found here: Breathing in times of grief. Christ with us video

November 10, 2019 Redeemer Lutheran Church Lawrence, MA

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her." Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive."

On his 99th birthday, my grandfather was still eating cake when he told us to start planning his 100th birthday party. He also reminded us of his wishes for his funeral: the hymns he wanted sung and who should sing them, who he wanted to preach and share.... On his 100th birthday weekend, all my grandfather’s wishes came true that day, we enjoyed food, gathered family, and reminisced about loved ones and my grandfather’s life. A little over a year later was his funeral, also just the way he wanted it. 

Those two days were very important for me. Not only was I his favorite grandchild 😉but I cherished spending time with my grandfather. I loved hearing the stories At his funeral I got a chance to share a lot of what he taught me: He was a reminder for me of how to live life fully and abundantly how to enjoy LIFE with laughter and food and to be grateful. He used to tell and retell stories that made clear our family identity- of limitless hospitality and an abundance of delicious Lebanese food. He helped me to value passing on the legacy of working in church, volunteering in community organizations, being a good neighbor and choosing a vocation that one loves. Most of all, he repeatedly told me that family is important, and when we said goodbye he always said “God loves you, and so do I”. 

My grandfather talked about the past, and looked forward to the future, even though death scared him, he faced it and talked about it as his next transition. He had hope in the legacy he passed on to us.

At Redeemer and in all churches and families we also hear and tell stories about the past, our legacy. Those who have been here at Redeemer for a long time share stories to ensure the legacy that you take pride in continues, even while grieving a lot of the change that has happened over the years…. The hope is that the good of what some of you remember will continue.

On veterans day we also often tell stories to remember the past, the people who have made sacrifices and the tragedies of wars. And we also remember to look forward to everlasting peace someday in the future… so that war is no longer needed.

Whether it be in our individual families, in our church or our country, we tell stories in order to pass on tradition and to hope for the future. But sometimes we also tell stories because we are hanging on desperately to nostalgia, to the good old days, to the way things were, the way things have always been. There is a difference between these two ways of remembering, two understandings of tradition. One in its grief turns in on itself wanting to return to what was. The other remembers with joy AND looks forward, to hope in the future. Like my grandfather on his 99th birthday.

The Sadducees of the gospel which we read today are telling the first type of story. It seems they felt threatened by Jesus and the message that he was proclaiming and living. There was something about this good news for the poor, this freedom for the oppressed, and resurrection that was scary, that had the potential to change things, to take away their power. 

So the Sadducees look to tradition, to tell a story about the way things have always been, about the way families are formed and people given roles and value. And they try to prove that resurrection is simply impossible. Their reasoning is sound, society depends on men and women marrying and having children. If the man dies without children the woman must be married again, and surely once she dies she will still have to be SOMEbody’s wife. And the woman can’t be married to more than one man at a time so there must be no resurrection. There is just no other way, they declare and protest, if there really is a resurrection, the tradition that we hold to would have to be invalid. 

Thanks to wise professors and mentors and novelist Chimamanda Adichie I have learned the danger and myth of a single story. Often in history, the past is remembered in all its glory, we tell about the heroes and the triumphs, we hold on to nostalgia……… And these stories are not untrue, they are just incomplete. There are many people who remember church, including this one as a safe, beautiful, welcoming, innovative, challenging and happy community, AND there are just as many who remember church, even this congregation as an unsafe, painful, unwelcoming place. Some have been made to feel they are not enough, some have been treated differently because of their identities, because of whether or not they were married or who they wanted to marry. Because they just didn’t fit in some way to the tradition of the way things always were. 

As Michael Mcbride, a pastor and leader in the Black Lives Matter movement reveals, the story that America was great once and we have to go back to that time is one of those incomplete stories. “Tell me when was this time when America was great?” Asks Pastor Mcbride, “I want to know. When there was prayer in schools? Funny, I wasn’t allowed in your schools when there was prayer.” 

Like the woman in the story of the Sadducees, the way things have always been was not truly great for everyone.

And each of us has experienced our particular tradition, our own “way things have always been”. For some, passing on tradition and community identity means belting out A mighty fortress to the accompaniment of a historic pipe organ in a sanctuary with high ceilings and glass windows; sharing coffee and donuts after worship. For others tradition is swaying, dancing, clapping, playing the Tamborine and drums to a carribbean rhythm breathing in the aroma of pulled pork and rice cooking for the post- church buffet. For still others, tradition means a campfire crackling, a star filled sky, guitars strumming, and some sweet harmonies.

All of these traditions are good and valuable, they bring comfort and communicate God’s love to us. AND sometimes individually they lead us to limit our imaginations. To fear change or even the traditions of others. to not be able to see what we have not personally experienced before.

In the Sadducees reasonable claim there was a turning in on themselves, an inability to imagine, a fear of change. To them, the only way to envision society was based around marriage between a man and a woman who form a family and have children. This is not a wrong way, or a faulty tradition, it is just not the only way, it is just not great for everyone. 

Thank God for the Holy Spirit and for artists. Jesus in the gospel of Luke brings forward another vision of what the world could be. He doesn’t -in this story at least- yell at the Sadducees and tell them they are wrong, that people are more than just baby making machines, he doesn’t become passive aggressive or avoid confrontation with the people who disagree with him, he simply reveals another way, a way that doesn’t continue the tradition that people can only have certain roles in society but calls them all children of God, children of the resurrection. If we and the Sadducees cannot imagine a future in which all are included, God can. In this story Jesus demonstrates that this resurrection way is consistent with the tradition they have known all along that the same God who the beloved patriarchs worshiped is still working today and will be in the future. 

When Jesus spoke these words, it is unlikely that the Sadducees repented right then and there and miraculously all was well. In fact, it may be telling that the Sadducees do not seem to exist today.

Real life is not a simple story, there is real loss in change, real pain, hardship and suffering in transition. AND we are children of God, we are children of the resurrection. Children of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel Leah and Hagar and all the unnamed saints living and dead, those who we celebrate and those we forget. We are children of the God who makes beautiful things out of dust who sees a vision we can’t imagine on our own. And so, with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the artists, and the stories of all of the traditions we realize that we are part of something bigger than ourselves. And that kingdom, that already, not yet, future IS not only beyond our efforts, it is beyond our vision.  

Many of you have heard me reference again and again the prayer of Bishop Untener inspired by Oscar Romero

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of

liberation in realizing this.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning,

a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's

grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the

difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not

messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.

We are children of the resurrection, children of the God of all the remembered traditions and a future we can’t see yet.

https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en

August 25, 2019 Redeemer Lutheran Church Lawrence, MA

"Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 

And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. 

She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. 

When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free (from your ailment)." When he laid his hands on her, immediatelyshe stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untiehis ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing." Luke 13:10-17

What is the Sabbath?

Have you ever had a day where, after not sleeping well for a while, you finally get to really sleep, a full night, or longer, 8, hours….9, 10, 11 For my friends who have young children, I know this day is hard to imagine or remember, for those who have insomnia or who are working and going to school at the same time, it may seem impossible, but for the rest of us… 

Think about how that feels….

A rest after a long time of sleeplessness, a nap after a long day of work, a day off after working overtime. 

The sabbath is more than just a nap or a good nights sleep or a day off from work. But it is just as life giving and even MORE important. AND sleep is VERY VERY IMPORTANT. 

Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

The sabbath day came about after the people of Israel, God’s set apart Sanctuary people, had come out of slavery. I have no way to imagine, but it is my understanding, that when you are a slave, there is no such thing as a day of rest. Days off are when you cook for yourself, grow your own food, care for your own family, maintain your own homes. When you are a slave, no time is your own, at any time you could be asked to work, because as a slave, your only purpose is to be used by your owner. Your value is in your work, in what you produce. 

The sabbath is about freedom/ liberation.

For the people of Israel, it was about being able to have true rest, after years of slavery. After years of only existing to work for others, the Sabbath was about being able to enjoy and live abundantly … to eat together, to spend time with loved ones and with God. 

Sabbath is about declaring and living into the truth that we as humans have more value than the work that we do, that we are not just machines who produce but God’s creation: made to ENJOY, to live in FULLNESS.

That is what the sabbath is supposed to be about. Instead of the evil that sees people and animals ONLY as useful for producing and working, the SABBATH law is about making sure that EVERYONE is able to live an abundant life, to be able to REST and still have enough to eat. To be able to be paid enough on the other 5-6 days a week so that REST is possible. To be the bearers of the image of God as we were all created to be. To be free to be a whole, healthy, abundant self- no matter how much we produce. 

You may be asking yourself, why is Pastor Cassandra bringing up the Sabbath when the gospel story of today is about healing? 

If we pay attention when reading the gospel story of today, we notice that Jesus tells us, that the unnamed woman was BOUND for 18 years. Yes, she was cripled, yes, she was physically bent over, but more than that, this woman was kept in BONDAGE and she was not able to live her life in FULLNESS! Her illness kept her literally curved in on herself, (Luther’s way of describing sin). It maintained her in brokenness. And it seems like, even though she apparently went to the Temple, which was supposed to be a place of Sanctuary, a place to go find rest and liberation on Sabbath days… even though she belonged to the Jewish community, was a daughter of Abraham, people who were supposed to be a Sanctuary people, where the liberating God was encountered… for whatever reason, she had never been freed. She had remained in bondage, for all of that time. 

And so, when Jesus met this woman on that day, the story say not that he healed her, which apparently he did, but that he set her FREE, LIBERATED HER, unbound her…. Yes, it is a story of healing, but more than that is a story of liberation… 

Just like Sanctuaries, as long as there is danger, as long as there is oppression, as long as people need healing, we still need Sabbath. We still need set apart days and hours and times and places so that people can truly rest, and actually remember that we are all created to bear the image of God and to enjoy life abundantly! 

  

I want to take a moment to talk about the reaction of the leader of the synagogue. Again, we have said it in the past, but I will say it again. This is not a story of how Jewish people didn’t get it right and we Christians do. This story is about how we all, as humans, tend to forget what is most important... and Jesus draws us back to who we were meant to be. 

Most of us, have acted like the leader of the synagogue in this story at one time or another, if not individually, as a whole. Whenever we see people as only valuable for the work that they do, whether it is others or ourselves, we oppose the liberating, Sabbath that God meant for us to enjoy. Whenever we say, like the leader of the synagogue, couldn’t she have been freed on another day? Couldn’t they achieve freedom some other way, some way that isn’t as disruptive as a strike or a protest? Whenever we doubt our siblings who are crying out for freedom, whenever we who have the privilege to not worry, say, “well, that doesn’t affect me”, we oppose the liberating Sabbath that God meant for ALL people to enjoy. I have certainly done it. I have questioned whether or not a protest is really necessary, I have wondered if the racism experienced by my friends and family was really “THAT BAD”. Many of us have chosen to close our eyes when people of color tell us again and again that they are still experiencing violence and oppression.

Deuteronomy says: you shall remember when you were a slave. That is directly connected to the continuing need for the sabbath. 

The leader of the synagogue in his privilege, clearly didn’t understand what this woman was going through or they would have never used any law as an excuse to withhold compassion... even as God was the one giving the gift of healing/ unbinding… And you can’t stop the liberation of God.

Many of us have at one time been like the leader of the synagogue of this story who blames victims of oppression for their own oppression, we have blamed even ourselves for not working hard enough, when it is a broken system that is not allowing us to rest. We have been like the leader of the synagogue who says he doesn't see other people suffering, right in front of them, who prevent people from being free because we can’t see the need for freedom, right in front of us. 

God is the ultimate liberator… Jesus came to set the captives free, the Kingdom of God is about freedom, and no one can stop the liberation of God. 

There is another true story about the freedom of the Sabbath that many of you are probably familiar with. 

It is a story that took place here in Lawrence… The story of the Bread and Roses strike of 1912. From what I understand, this strike happened because the mill owners were not honoring the law that in essence, required Sabbath time, times of rest for the workers. The law had a limit to how many hours people could work in a week, as a way to protect the workers, and make sure that they were valued and treated as people made in the image of God, not only for their work and usefulness. But the mill owners at the time, were not honoring the law. They did not value their workers, who happened to be mostly immigrants from over 50 different nationalities. The mill owners only saw them as a way to produce and to profit. So, they reduced the pay of the workers so that they were not benefiting from the laws that required rest. Because in real life, it is not helpful to have a day off if you aren’t paid enough to live during the days that you work. So, the people of Lawrence organized a strike, to make sure they could enjoy their Sabbath, their time of rest. 

As the Bread and Roses strike reminds us, we still need the Sabbath, we still need set-apart times to rest, to remember that we are all created in God’s image. That we are valuable even when we are not working or producing... that we are made to enjoy and live fully and abundantly. 

We still need the Sabbath. 

This week many of you have seen on the news that the amazon is burning, that a huge portion of South America is on fire. This is, in many ways because we have come to view this earth as something only to be used, we view people and animals and the land as only valuable for production, not as the wonderful creation of God meant for FULLNESS, meant for abundance. 

This fire is another example of how our world is broken, curved in, and how we still as a whole, need liberation, we still need the unbinding and healing that Jesus brings, we still need Sabbath. We still need the Sabbath.

This week, and always, I invite you to find ways to live out the Sabbath more fully. To set apart a day or hours or minutes even to eat with people whether friends or strangers, to find times to stop working and to dance. To find ways to help other people to be freed from the evil of constant work. To remember that ALL of God’s creation is meant for Sabbath, for living life abundantly and fully and freely. 

January 7, 2018 First Evangelical Lutheran/ La Primera Mesa, AZ

"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.  And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. 

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with YOU I am well PLEASED.”

Mark 1: 4-11

There is a saying these days that is repeated often on the internet every new year: New Year, New Me. As with many sayings it would be difficult to track down where it originated. My understanding is that because it’s a new year, people are hoping to create better habits, make better choices, work harder, make more money, do better… Any mistakes we made we hope to improve on, we hope to be better versions of our former selves through effort.

And the reality is that nothing necessarily changes when the calendar flips over to a new year. The holidays and parties have passed whether they were happy or difficult for us, but the world keeps turning just as it always has with challenges and joyful times to come.

I do know a couple of people for whom this particular New Year did and does mean a new me. One of my good high school friends who gave birth to a wonderful boy named Asher and her husband. For this couple new year new me is completely accurate. They are new people because they now have a son, they are now parents, their whole lives and identities have shifted.

Since I do not have any children of my own, I can only imagine what it’s like by observing. When I met Asher, I watched my friends hold their son, gaze at their son, and just love him with their whole being. They were pleased just watching him, not doing much, just sleeping and eating and opening his yes, just being. My friend kept saying, “Can you believe it?” Can you believe he’s real? My friends named Asher in a Jewish naming ceremony and they read to us their beautiful hopes and reasons for choosing the name. They hope Asher will be wise and will help others. They have many hopes and dreams for their new son. But first, before Asher grows and learns and before we see his personality or his interests, first his task is just to receive love and please his parents. And amazingly babies are so good at being loved, they are not afraid like bigger humans are. For Asher, First, Be Loved.

Our church calendar, and the gospel reading of today, also claim that something new is happening. In the church year, the waiting is over, the waited and hoped-for Son of God is here, the savior, the Messiah, God in a body has arrived to show us a new way, a new reign unlike any kingdom or empire ever seen. And that’s where we find ourselves today, during Epiphany, with the wise men and Jesus’ baptism.

Here we are, about to meet this long awaited-for hope, a hope for the world. What is this hope and a body like, look like, act like?

The wise men meet Jesus in the book of Matthew as a baby and they are moved to bow down as if before a king, when this baby hasn’t even learned to take care of himself let alone save others. The book of Mark introduces him as Jesus from Nazareth. An unimpressive town, not likely to be the home of a hero. And then he is baptized by John even though John told us the savior was supposed to be more powerful than him. It seems like John is his spiritual leader. So far, not very impressive Jesus, maybe this isn’t the one everyone’s been waiting for.

And then it comes, the heavens TORN APART!!!! and the Spirit descends like a dove. Finally, this seems more like a hero we might expect and hope for. It’s pretty dramatic, I don’t even know what it looks like for the heavens to be torn apart, but I imagine it to be loud and dramatic. The gospel writer is telling us to PAY ATTENTION! God is finally confirming that the long-awaited-for hope of the world is really here.

And the way we are supposed to recognize Jesus, the way we know this savior of the world, is by the name he is given: “BELOVED SON” the one PLEASING to GOD. This is Jesus’ identity: Beloved and pleasing! God’s love is so great that we have to think of human relationships to compare it to, to even come close to understanding what God’s love is like. Here we see God as a parent, just brimming with joy and excitement because of the beloved child. As a parent, loving their child for no good reason. This is before Jesus has done anything significant. Before he preached, before he healed or performed miracles or challenged any corrupt authorities. And God is pleased.   

Like a new parent with their baby, like a lover with their partner, God is delighted by Jesus. And our first introduction to Jesus in Mark is through his relationship with God the parent and the Holy Spirit. Even though Jesus is baptized by John who’s baptism is about repentance (which means turning around), Jesus’ baptism seems to be about something additional. After turning around, after changing ofmind, Jesus’ baptism is a moment of empowerment: to be able to do the work of God on earth, and Jesus baptism is about the relationship of love between God and God’s son. Throughout the rest of the book of Mark we will learn how Jesus healed people and preached sermons. We will learn how to follow Christ, how to join a community of disciples, how to join the way of Jesus, how to bring God’s way to earth. But first, Before going off into the wilderness to face temptation and difficulty, before preaching any sermons, before healing anyone, before talking about justice, before, facing the messy political and religious systems around him, before confronting evil, before changing the world…. Jesus was called beloved, pleasing to God. For Jesus, First, Be Loved.

We bigger humans have more trouble with receiving love then the well-cared for baby humans. We have been hurt, broken, damaged. So often, we need help remembering, help being vulnerable enough to be loved by God and by fellow brothers and sisters in the world and in Christ. This why John comes first: to remind us to repent, to turn around and prepare for another way of being.

And so, Jesus shows us or reminds us how to be in relationship with God. Just as people were in relationship with God in the beginning, when God created the world. In order to redeem the world to be the way it should be, first we have to be loved. Before you are called to the hard work of justice, before you are called to the dangerous work of peacemaking, of healing, of confronting evil…. You are beloved. And this love is the most powerful love, that will empower you to join the Holy Spirit in all the good work that is to be done. But before all that, you are called to love. It’s a new year, and if we hope to be better versions of ourselves, may we be….. Loved…. versions.

For you and for me, But first, Be LOVED

Mesa Thanksgiving Interfaith Service November 19, 2017

To whom then will you compare me,

    or who is my equal? says the Holy One.

Lift up your eyes on high and see:

    Who created these?

He who brings out their host and numbers them,

    calling them all by name;

because he is great in strength,

    mighty in power,

    not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob,

    and speak, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the Lord,

    and my right is disregarded by my God”?

Have you not known? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

    the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He does not faint or grow weary;

    his understanding is unsearchable.

He gives power to the faint,

    and strengthens the powerless.

Even youths will faint and be weary,

    and the young will fall exhausted;

but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary,

    they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 40 NRSV

Yesterday I was in the Grand Canyon for the third time visiting this year. What I love about it is the reminder of how small we all are. So small next to this Grand Canyon, which despite being SO BIG is just one part of the huge universe.

On one of my recent visits, I joined a really difficult hike and on the way back up, I was really struggling and I wasn’t sure if I could make it. Thankfully some kind new friends made sure I was hydrated, and stayed with me until I made it out. At first, I was so embarrassed and in pain that I couldn’t even enjoy the hike. I was just thinking about myself, curved in, fearful, just waiting for the painful struggle to end. But after a bit, I realized how blessed I was to receive help, I started to look around and remembered how small I am and how beautiful the earth is. How big the God who created it all is, And I felt thankful and hopeful.

That’s what the writer of this beautiful poetry gets at. Look up at the stars in the sky. Billions of stars in the Milky Way alone.

Look up, says the writer of the poem, when you think that God has forgotten you, when you are afraid that the suffering will never end, when you can’t see anything but your own pain, look up to the stars numbered more than we can count. So many stars in a universe so far beyond us little fragile humans on this one small, fragile planet.

Look up and find comfort in that smallness. The God who created all this vast beauty. This God still cares for us little people. Still loves and as one of my colleagues says, still works. Look up and see God working, when you are giving in to fear, remember, we are tiny people who are part of a big, big whole. We are a tiny but important part of God’s great work to create, love, heal, restore and move us towards a better, just world. 

It reminds me of one of my favorite prayers attributed to Oscar Romero written down by Bishop Ken Untener of Saginaw:

This is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an

opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

When we realize how small we are, we are free to wait in hope. As we say in Spanish to wait is esperar and to hope is also esperar.

In this way we renew our strength, to keep hoping, to keep loving, to keep pushing back the fear that is shouted around us.

So look up, remember how small we are, wait in hope for God, and renew your strength.