Lessons from Great Stories of Faith

1 Kings 18:20-39
Luke 7:1-10

Two great stories of faith today.

And I absolutely love the first one. King Ahab has been doing everything possible to eliminate any mention of the God of Israel. He’s driven God’s prophets underground if not outright killed them. All except one: Elijah. Ahab sees Elijah as a rather strong threat. After all Elijah boldly predicted a drought (which came true), Elijah produced the never-ending jars of oil and meal, Elijah brought the widow’s son back to life. And now Elijah is challenging Ahab, going directly to him to look him in the eye. Elijah even challenges the king and his false gods to a duel with the one true God, even asking for a crowd to assemble to watch the precedings.

If nothing else, Elijah is bold. He’s got guts. And for whatever reason Ahab, instead of killing him on the spot, complies with Elijah’s wishes. Game on!

He lets the prophets of Baal try their very best to get their gods to send fire. And do they try, even to placing themselves on the altar as what I suppose to be some sort of kindling.

And so Elijah mocks them and their gods. You can hear the “nyah, nyah” coming out and imagine him doing some sort of over the top victory dance. But he doesn’t stop there.

And then he really eggs them on, digging trenches and pouring water over the wood time and time again. Yes, Elijah is certainly bold. And the fire comes and burns the wood, and the animal, and the stones, and the water. Try that at home!

It’s quite the story. It’s the story of one so strong in faith that he couldn’t help but celebrate the victory even before it happened.

Or maybe you’re more like the centurion, so humble as to know that he is not worthy of Jesus’ love and care. And all this not for his own need, but for the need of a beloved slave. A man had great earthly power but understood he was no match for the power of God. A leader humbling himself, knowing that he couldn’t come to Jesus on his own terms. As Jesus said, “not even in Israel have I found such faith.

And yet both Elijah and the centurion show great strength, both fearing God in their own way. There is certainly something for us in these examples for living today.

Because what if we did tackle the false idols in the world today with the ferocity of Elijah? What  we challenged the status quo of collecting wealth? What if we stopped pushing others down to advance our own cause and instead sought to bring others to the way, the truth, and the life? Are we bold enough to turn away from those idols that we crave. After all there’s a reason TMZ and the like are so popular: people want to feel superior, people love getting caught up in paying close attention to things that really don’t matter to keep from having to look at what’s really going on.

How popular would I be, would this church be, if we promised the world those things that many prosperity preachers feed to their followers. How awesome would it be if I could stand here (as others have in their ministry) and tell you that if you give $1000 dollars today you will get $10,000 in return? Yes that sounds great. Until it doesn’t happen. And let’s be honest, if it did come true the Securities and Exchange Commission would have more than a few questions for me!

But there are things we can promise. We know that faith in God will bring us to eternal life. No, it won’t bring us riches; at least not the kind people hope for. But those riches come at a steep price. Because if that $1000 actually becomes $10,000 you’ll next be looking for $100,000, then $1,000,000. The trouble with earthly prosperity is that the need for more never ends. 

In our gospel story we see the reward of real faith. And mind you, the centurion in the story is not hurting for earthly things. In fact the centurion is doing pretty well and even acknowledges that fact: “I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and the slave does it.” But he also knows that there is so much more than this. And he recognizes, even though he is wealthy and powerful, that he is not worthy of facing Jesus on his own terms. But he also knows Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

And Jesus is amazed. The centurion is the epitome of faith. And faith has made him, and the slave, well.

So indeed today, we see a contrast in styles. We have “in your face” Elijah and we have the humble centurion. But the one thing they have in common is amazing faith. Both know that the Lord God can and will protect them and the people they love. Both know that God will not let them down. What if we had that confidence? What if we could be so sure that God will do exactly as God promised? What if we were proudly bold to proclaim God as Lord and yet be so humble as to lower ourselves from our earthly heights to kneel at the feet of God?

What if that’s exactly what Jesus did when he came to earth? He turned the tables of the treasury in the temple, he performed miracles in plain sight of many, yet in humility allowed himself to be hung on a cross to die for us. 

What then if we took seriously Jesus’ commandment to love one another seriously? Seriously enough to be so bold as to proclaim God’s mighty power even when outnumbered 450:1. Seriously enough to ask for God’s mercy for a friend, knowing that only through the suffering and death of Christ are we worthy to even approach God. 

And even if we aren’t as bold as Elijah God’s work still needs to be done. And in thanksgiving for the gift of eternal life, equipped with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be God’s hands even in quiet, small, and humble ways. And God’s work is active all around us, in the good deeds and shared love and miracles both large and small happening all around us. 

Keep your eyes open and you will see God’s work. You’ll see a community of faith banding together to make sure hungry children are fed. You’ll see teachers bringing the word of God to bright-eyed children clinging to every word of the story. You’ll see a neighbor offering the use of his mower when yours seems beyond hope. You’ll see the joy in someone’s face when you tell them to enjoy vacation and promise to make certain they don’t work. 

The list goes on and on. Keep your eyes open.

Pentecost TODAY!

Acts 2:1-21; John 14:8-17, 25-27

The Day of Pentecost, May 19, 2013

Pentecost. The third of the great festival days in the church year. Third in many ways…

There is no Pentecost Tree, no baby church lying in the manger. We don’t have a song of the 12 days of Pentecost. Of course this year there are exactly 200 days of Pentecost—and you thought “99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” was a tedious song!

Yes, Christmas has a decorated tree, a jolly elf named Santa, eight tiny reindeer, and lots of presents.

Easter has lilies and bunnies and chocolate. Easter egg hunts and bonnets and pretty dresses.

If it’s lucky, Pentecost has the geranium. Kinda’ scraggly, smells like moth balls.

Pentecost is definitely third. But it shouldn’t be.

So how is your knowledge of Pentecost?

Did you know that the day of Pentecost is often noted as the birthday of the church? That on that day the Holy Spirit lit a fire inside not just those who were seen with tongues of flame over them but so many others present in the Judeo-Christian community that day?

You probably know the most famous line of the Pentecost story. It still makes me giggle when I hear that line, “We’re not drunk as you suppose.” But what a scene that must have been, to see those tongues of fire and hear the rushing of the wind. And it’s been said that to those people that day it was not a jumbled, cacophonous message, but rather very clear and easily understood.

So the day of Pentecost seems to be just another history lesson for us. But if we imagine Pentecost to take place on only that one day 2000 years ago, we are left scratching our heads and wondering what all the excitement is about.

Or in other words, when it comes to Pentecost, 

SO WHAT?

Good question.

Pentecost isn’t a one day, one-time only event. In the book of Acts there are numerous Pentecosts, many times when the Holy Spirit is poured out. 

There’s the time when Philip was sent by an angel down the wilderness road, then was sent by the Spirit to the eunuch to interpret scripture, and finally convinced by the eunuch to baptize him, Philip then snatched away by the Lord to another place, leaving the eunuch to proclaim the good news.

Or there’s the story of Saul, persecutor and murderer of many Christians, struck blind by the Lord only to have Ananias lay hands of him for the scales to fall from his eyes. Soon he was preaching the Christian gospel, the one he had fought against, now being known as Paul, the great missionary and epistle writer.

But pastor, it still sounds like a history lesson.

So then there are the great monasteries of the Middle Ages, the Reformation, the Great Awakenings!

Still history.

There’s the rebirth of the church in the form of the ELCA, getting ready to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the great coming together as people of God!

Well, closer, but not quite touching us personally.

It’s the taking of a chance. A small group meeting in a community center every Sunday dreaming of a future that reached out and touched many in Sherwood and other nearby areas.

It’s the people willing to take the risk of building a beacon on this very site 11 years ago calling out to the community the joy of the gospel of the Lord.

Still sounds like history?

It’s the faith of five young men named Louis, Conner, Zach, Hunter, and Andrew renewing the promises others made on their behalf in baptism now proclaiming the baptismal faith in their own words.

That’s so two weeks ago.

But Pentecost really isn’t just 2000 years ago. And it’s not just points in history. In fact, Pentecost is never over!

Because Jesus makes this amazing promise to his disciples: even if the disciples struggle with Jesus’ words, they can believe because of the works they have seen him do. And then he goes on to say, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.”

Did you hear that? We who believe in Jesus will do greater works than he! Feeding, preaching, healing, giving life to the dead. 

Well, I know you all heard that, so maybe the real question is, “Do you believe that?” Let me confess here: I don’t always believe that. Often that sounds too far-fetched, impossible, beyond my understanding. And I’m guessing I’m not alone—you probably struggle in the same way.

But the Spirit is active in our lives. Active in the continuing ministry of Christ the King. And if we open our eyes we can see it all over.

We can see it in the bright eyes of our children as we tell them the story of Jesus, bringing the Spirit to life inside ourselves as well.

We rediscover it in the baptism of Ivy, a fresh reminder that the promises she heard today are promises for us as well.

We find it in the coming together to have some fun on the golf course in the process of feeding hungry children. In the camaraderie of a penny war with our sister church in Combined Locks (I hear they’re gaining on us!).

We hear it in the joyous music of the Gospel Singers, having a great deal of fun in the work of praising the Lord and leading us in our worship.

It comes through the ministry of Rez-a-Wreck, as another person gains access to transportation to be able to care for their family.

It’s amazing where you might find a new Pentecost. And it doesn’t have to be a big event! Chances are there won’t be tongues of flame (although the meat ministry might have a few!). It’s a pretty good bet there won’t be speaking in tongues, although one tongue (English) may help shine the light. You don’t even need a big crowd.

Many Pentecosts are quiet, simple, one to one activities. The sitting with someone when they’re in the midst of a horrible time in life. The praying with someone struggling with aches and pains, mental, emotional, and physical, bringing them just a little peace. A quiet moment in the midst of the busyness of this world.

So go ahead this week and email me (link to email) or write it down when you recognize the Spirit active in your lives. And really do this, keep your eyes open. That way, this message this morning isn’t coming to its end. Instead, it’s just at its beginning. I pray that I’m overwhelmed with your responses, or at the very least you’re overwhelmed by what you discover.

Just keep your eyes open.

Amen.

More than a Mother's Day gift

Luke 24:44-53, Acts 1:1-11

Ascension Sunday: May 12, 2013

Happy Mothers’ Day! I can’t really imagine how Mother’s Day and the Ascension go together. So we’ll stick with the Ascension for now.

We can only imagine as to what the Ascension of Jesus must have been like. I can imagine myself somehow trying to jump and pull him back down to earth. After all, I probably still have a few questions I would like answers to: “Where are you going Jesus?” “What do we do next?” “Could you explain your miracles just one more time?”

But he had to go. If he had stayed the Holy Spirit could not have done her work. The church would not have been able to grow, stunted by the physical presence of God. You see, faith is the belief in something that is not seen. So there would be no need for true faith if Jesus had simply stayed on earth. Without faith, the Holy Spirit is worthless as she brings the gift of faith to us.

Because Christ ascended to heaven the disciples—which includes us—are now empowered to do the work of God here on earth guided by the Holy Spirit. We have been gifted with the Holy Spirit so that we can aim toward obeying Jesus’ command to love God and to love one another. Through that same Holy Spirit we are then led to grow as people of faith, using the gifts and time God has given us to advance God’s kingdom here on earth.

So then Jesus leaves our midst so that we can grow.

Maybe there is a connection between Mothers’ Day and Ascension after all!

Jesus spent his last few years on earth teaching and showing the disciples what his love was all about. The lessons Jesus gave to them were to show them how to continue after they were no longer physically together. And the moms in our lives have done the same things. Teaching us the skills and traits we will need for a successful life as an adult away from home.

Jesus loved, taught lessons, even scolded when necessary. He used real life examples to show both the strengths and weaknesses of human life. And moms do that too… do your homework, clean your room, don’t tease your sister, or one of my personal favorites—if everyone was jumping off a bridge would you do that too?

But of course the Ascension does far more for us than just show us who we are. It also shows us who Jesus is, opening our eyes to the knowledge that Jesus is truly God. And even better, for the first time we now can see God as more than being   beyond time and space, something greater than all-powerful, majestic, sovereign, and eternal. As Jesus returns to the Father we can now realize a God who knows loneliness, betrayal, thirst, rejection, and even death.

No longer can God be portrayed as completely detached from the human experience. Jesus offers us a God who is vulnerable and even approachable. So that when we turn to God in distress, peril, or despair; we turn to a God who knows intimately the pain of the human condition. We have a God that assures us that affliction will not have the final word because the risen and ascended Christ will intercede for us; nothing can separate us from his love.

Today Jesus tells his followers—US!—that repentance and forgiveness are to be proclaimed in his name to all nations! This is not idle chit-chat, not a command, not even marching orders. It is a promise to us that now we have the power to do that. No longer is there only one voice on earth to proclaim good news to the people but now all who call upon his name are empowered and equipped with the power to proclaim God’s forgiveness for all who believe, to declare God’s mercy and goodness for the world, to share God’s love for all right where we are.

And to put the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, Jesus does one final act. He blesses the disciples. His very final act is to lift up his hands and bless us. And during his ascension the blessing continues, it’s the very last vision the world has of Jesus. And he continues to bless us right through this very moment and beyond. We continue in these blessings, they are all around us in the people and places God has placed in our midst. And so it goes.

When Jesus left the disciples didn’t hang their heads and feel woe for Jesus leaving them. Because they realized the promise that Jesus wasn’t leaving them alone. They fully understood their new sense of mission to be “little Christs” as Martin Luther would later write, recognizing that they are now servants of all, carrying a message far more precious than the most expensive jewels, far sweeter than the most splendid perfume, and far more satisfying than the richest of foods.

And we too, because of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, can rejoice in the very same way. WE know we aren’t left alone, WE are today’s little Christs with a message we can deliver in a multitude of ways that sounds sweeter than the most beautiful symphony. The Holy Spirit empowers us to share that marvelous message of Christ’s sacrifice for us. And by telling the story we then fulfill the proclamation to all nations, one friend, one family member, one neighbor at a time.

And so Christ really did have to return to the Father. Because then we receive a gift not just for moms but for all of us here today. It’s a gift tastier than the finest chocolate, more fragrant than the best perfume, more lovely than the most beautiful of roses. It’s the gift of the Holy Spirit. And for that gift and all the other gifts we receive daily from our Creator…

Thanks be to God!

John 20:19-31

The Second Sunday of Easter, April 7, 2013

Today we find ourselves at the very end of John’s gospel. OK, if you looked in your Bible this morning you would be right in correcting me by saying that there is one more chapter. But the last verses of our reading this morning certainly SOUND like an ending. Many believe the next chapter was written later and perhaps not by the same author. But for today humor me and we’ll call verses 30 and 31 the ending and save the other argument for later.

And the best part of this ending is the fact that John doesn’t end the story in the first century. In these verses the gospel writer is writing directly to us.

“These are written that YOU may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and through believing YOU may have life in his name.”

YOU! That’s all of us here, and those beyond these walls who share in the promise of Jesus’ resurrection.

In these two short verses we are named as actors in the story, as in it we have followed Jesus beyond miracles and to the cross and then even further. But this isn’t the first time John places in the middle of the narrative. We’ve all heard Jesus’ words in John 17:

“I ask not only on behalf of those who have followed me, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

This isn’t just a prayer for the people of 2000 years ago; this is a prayer for the world today and tomorrow, a prayer for you and me in this time and forever more! So hear this gospel with new ears, knowing that the words and actions of Christ are for you. You have been baptized just like Christ with the Holy Spirit and for forgiveness of sins. Today, you are welcome at the Lord’s Table.  It’s all God’s gift for us.

And what are we to do? It doesn’t help to try getting a little further up the ladder than our neighbor. In fact, the further we think we have climbed the further we are from the truth! Because only in Christ do we find eternal life; not by our own merit as we could never climb high enough!

No, in all things all we are really asked to do is serve the Lord with gladness. Not that our works will ever earn us anything meaningful, but instead that our works will bring honor and light to the God of our salvation so that others will see the glory of God in this world and know the promise that is ours beyond this world.

And even though we know all that, something inside us brings us to our own doubts. Much like Thomas, we too feel that it would be so much easier to believe if we could just see God. And the funny thing is that we can, we just keep looking in the wrong places.

Because we really want to see is God sitting on a throne surrounded by pillars of fire with angels flying about caring for God’s every need. Or we might imagine seeing God beyond the pearly gates with Peter standing at the entrance with his book of who has been naughty or nice. And while these are great images are certainly helpful to some, they still leave us searching, waiting, and wondering.

Because to really see God, to see Jesus here on earth, we just have to keep our eyes open. When we keep Jesus at the front of our minds we suddenly see God everywhere:

We see God in the meetings where community comes together to enhance our life here in things such as the new library, the fire company, and even our pavilion across the street.

We see God in the neighbor who shovels our driveway without expecting anything in return.

We see God in the smiles of the people who find just what they need at our clothing drive.

We hear God in the squeals of laughter and screams of delight as children play at Ray’s Malarkey Park.

We taste God in the food we share both at the cake walks and the potlucks.

We smell God as we walk through Hickory Run State Park as the Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron blooms.

We feel God as someone offers a hug in the midst of an extremely difficult time.

And those are the images we all need to carry forward as I step away from being your pastoral leader. Because all of you have gifts of ministry within you. Some are already in full bloom while others are still waiting to be discovered and celebrated. So as the offering plate comes by this morning, don’t simply drop in your envelope and wave goodbye. Instead, also consider the other gifts God has given you that you can share either more freely than you have in the past or maybe even for the first time.

Because that is how God’s word and God’s love will flourish here in God’s church. No, not the physical building but instead a different sort of building blocks. With God as the foundation, your talents, skills, and gifts will continue to grow as you continue to share them with all those around you.

Once again, I remind you that the church is NOT this building. If a tornado came tomorrow and wiped this building out, I know the church would still exist. Because the church is all of us, both collectively and individually loving God and loving God’s people.

So as Betsy, Karl, and Olivia, and I leave, in many ways we take St. Paul’s with us. Our ministry that began here will continue several hundred miles to the west, in a colder where people find it fashionable to wear cheese on their heads, growing and advancing by the power of the Holy Spirit. And our ministry stays with you as well, the miracles we have worked together by the power of God will continue to grow and multiply as you remain faithful to the word and obey Christ’s commandments to love God and to love one another.

Remember to see God everywhere you look. Because when you do, you find just a little heaven on earth. And there is no better way to be the church.

As we are given the gift of faith that allows us to believe in things we cannot see, I leave you with my love and hope and prayers, starting with this one.

The peace of God which surpasses all human understanding, keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus, now and forever. Amen and Amen.

Christ is risen!