Global

Pentecost 17A, 10/5/14
Philippians 3:4b-14
Global Church Sunday

Lord, help us to treat you and your messengers with respect and love. Make us the cornerstone of your church and help us to bear fruit in your name. Amen.

Christians in every hemisphere, continent, and time zone today are gathering together for worship. This is World Communion Sunday. It is a day to honor the things we share with other Christian denominations – Scripture, Baptism, and Communion. Today we are also experiencing music from churches around the world.

This day isn’t about denying the cultural and theological differences among us, but about recognizing that there is at least one thing that ties us all together as Christians: our faith in Jesus Christ. The namesake of our religion is the only reason that any of our congregations and denominations exist in the first place.

So Global Church Sunday, as we celebrate it in this congregation, is a day to remind ourselves that the church is not about us. It is about Jesus. It is so much bigger than our building and our members.

Church    is about faithfully living as disciples of Jesus.

And people can do this – people have been doing this – in countries and cultures around the world for the past two thousand years.

Today we take a moment to recognize God’s presence and activity in places outside our own doors.

Sometimes when we get too familiar with something, it can start to seem old or boring. Getting outside of our comfort zone can bring us excitement and inspire new ideas to bring back to our everyday lives.    Welcoming people from other cultures is one way to help us see our world in new ways.

Many of you met Eva, who was with us for about a week in July. Eva is a social work student from Slovakia. She was spending time in our town as part of a global exchange program through the ELCA.

The Sunday that Eva worshipped with us, she helped me serve Communion. This was something she had never experienced before – only the pastor serves Communion in her home church. The idea that anyone who receives Communion is eligible to serve    was totally foreign to her.

It’s something we take for granted – and truly, something we appreciate, when many of you step up as volunteers to help serve – so hearing about Eva’s experience of serving Communion in our congregation was moving.

Being among us, in a culture outside of her own comfort zone, Eva was able to experience God in a new way.

We have at least as much to learn as Eva does.

Have you ever been to worship with people who spoke a language that you did not know?

A colleague of mine tells a story of his year volunteering with the church in Africa. He was invited to prayer meetings once a week, and he went because he was expected to go, but he wasn’t really sure what his role was supposed to be. He didn’t understand what people were saying, and didn’t see how he could participate in these gatherings. Eventually, he started to let his mind wander while he was at these meetings every week.

After several months, he had a better grasp on the language, so one night he actually paid attention to the words that were being prayed.

He was shocked to discover that once a week, from the time he arrived, the community had been gathering to pray for him, and his ministry among them.

Just because you don’t understand the words that are being said, doesn’t mean that God isn’t acting through them on your behalf.

Have any of you ever prayed with a congregation or in a building that is older than our country – or older even than our denomination?

The oldest Christian communities in the world are in Palestine, and the oldest remains of Christian church buildings in the world are in Syria and Jordan. These ancient churches weren’t planted by some European missionary in the age of colonialism, these communities were started by Jesus’ original disciples.

They were around even before the New Testament was compiled or the Nicene Creed written.

But you don’t have to travel to the Middle East to find ancient Christian churches.

I once visited the York Minster in northern England. It’s the largest cathedral in Britain, and boasts the biggest medieval stained glass window in the world. Construction on this cathedral started    about 200 years before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany, starting the Protestant Reformation.

Imagine the wealth of knowledge    and the depth of tradition    held by these communities in Jordan, Syria, and Palestine.    Think of what we can learn by studying the artwork and the stained glass of ancient cathedrals. What kinds of things might we learn from these places and communities about spirituality and discipleship?

I could go on all morning. There is so much to learn by stepping out of our comfort zone. God can speak to us through the traditions and cultures and even the languages of other people.

If you are ever presented the opportunity of going on an international mission trip, I hope you take it. Your faith will be deepened by what you experience among God’s people somewhere else in the world.

But I don't have the money to send each of you to a church in some other country for worship this morning, so we’re attempting to bring some of those traditions to you.

That’s why we’ve got songs from all over the world in worship today, some old and some new. That’s why we dedicated an entire service to doing things that are a little bit different from what we do on a normal Sunday here in our community.

When I was studying at Luther Seminary, I heard a comment from a student who was about to graduate – who was about to be ordained – about how he believed it wasn’t important, at all, to learn about traditions of Christians around the world. He was just going to be called to serve a small parish in the rural Midwest, full of people of Scandinavian descent, he said. None of that multicultural stuff mattered to him or to them.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

What matters    is Christ.

And none of us has a monopoly on understanding Christ, or knowing when and where God shows up.

That is why connecting with the global church is important.

Everything that we can use to identify ourselves – our family name, our parents, our children, our professional achievements, our reputation in the community, our ethnic heritage and our nationality – none of these matter at all.

Compared with knowing Christ, none of these other things, none of these measures of our identity in the world, carry any kind of importance.

Rural Midwestern Scandinavian Lutheran – none of those adjectives have meaning when compared with the name Christian.

“Whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.

More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Paul summarizes the essence of Christian identity in today’s passage from his letter to the church in Philippi.

“For Christ’s sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

and be found in him. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

Paul had enviable social status in the Jewish community in the first century.

He was the guy that everyone wanted to be.

But none of it mattered.

As a Christian, Paul knew that those earthly measures weren’t going to gain him salvation.

All that matters, at the end of the day, is growing in faith,    growing closer to God.

A few years ago, there was a popular series of t-shirts and key chains and stickers and whatnot. They said things like “Football is Life. The rest is just details.”

Do you remember that fad? Maybe you still own one of those shirts… ?

Well anyway, that’s actually a pretty accurate description of Christianity.

         Jesus is Life. The rest is just details.

We can learn from Paul, and from Christians around the world, about many ways of practicing our faith. What’s most important is that we prioritize Christ above any other identity that we think is important. Jesus is bigger than our local congregation, bigger than Norwegian American Lutherans, bigger than the ELCA, bigger than we could ever understand.

Other cultures might have deeper ways of praying, more meaningful ways of worshipping, bolder ways of living as a disciple. Christians around the world can teach us about following Jesus and can help us grow in faith.

Contrary to what that seminary student said, Global Church Sunday matters, because Christ matters.

         Christians can only grow in faith when that faith is practiced in community.

And Christians can grow more deeply in faith when those communities are connected to one another, bridging the barriers of distance and language and denominational affiliation.

In Christ, may we all be one.

Amen.

Not Fair - Just

Pentecost 16A, 9/28/14

Ezekiel 18:1-4; 25-32

God of righteousness, help us believe in you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

This past week I got to see my favorite show of all time – Les Miserables, which is playing at a theater nearby. Have any of you seen Les Mis before?

I love this show because it is constantly demonstrating the mercy of God. Through the actions of some of the characters, we learn that people really can change, and that punishment doesn’t need to be drawn out across a person’s whole lifetime.

Javier is the law enforcer. He judges himself based on the sins of his own family… there’s one song where he admits that he was born inside a jail, and he has spent his entire life compensating for his humble beginnings.

Valjean, the main character, is judged by Javier based on one mistake that he made as a young man – and then throughout the next several decades, Valjean is unable to shake the labels thrown at him.

“Men like you can never change!”

And then we have Eponine, the girl who chooses a different path than the one her parents took.

And there’s Marius, and a group of young students, who decide to fight the establishment that their forefathers have helped to create, and work for the freedom of the working class.

It seems that just about every character in Les Mis is breaking some stereotype or another. They are all proving wrong the assumption that people are condemned to repeat the crimes of their parents.

And that is the belief that the first reading today refutes as well.

People aren’t judged based on the sins of their parents, but everyone is held accountable for their own actions.

This is in contrast to previous teachings in the Old Testament. The prevailing wisdom at the time that Ezekiel was living was that people were held accountable for their sins for generations.

Children could be punished for the sins of their parents.

Everyone was condemned to their place in life because of the role their parents had played in society. This is true even today sometimes, right? Just ask any psychologist, many of us are carrying heavy burdens because of who our parents are or what they have done.

But that’s not the way that God works.

You call my ways unfair? says God.

Aren’t your ways the ones that are unfair?

Human ways, human prejudices, are what make us believe that people are condemned to repeat their parents’ mistakes in life.

We assume that if someone has a sketchy family history, they are more likely to be a bad influence on our society. Our own pre-assumptions judge the children of criminals as more likely to be criminals themselves.

Our human ways are unfair.

That’s not the way that God works.

This past week in confirmation, we talked about people being able to change.

We learned about Saul, who became Paul. He went from being a persecutor of Christians to the most important missionary in the history of Christianity. It’s hard to believe that people can truly change their lives so drastically, but the Bible is full of examples of people who do just that.

If a person has done something wrong, if they have made a mistake or committed some crime in the past, it is hard for us to believe that they have truly changed and will not commit the same crime – or a worse one – in the future. We tend to assume that they are condemned to repeat their own mistakes over again.

What I love about the show Les Mis is that it throws all these assumptions out the window. Every character in the story seems to be in charge of his or her own destiny, no one is defined by who they or their family were in the past.

By the grace of God, people can overcome all odds and live faithful and productive lives.

There’s the way of the law, that is enforced by Javier throughout the play… and then there’s the way of the Lord, that is introduced to us at the beginning by an overwhelmingly generous bishop, and then Valjean tries to live it out for the rest of his life.

The old teaching, the one that is referred to first in the reading from Ezekiel, is to punish the children for the sins of their parents.

But God says, I don’t want you to live like that any more.

I have a better way – a more fair way – of running the world.

You call my ways unfair, says God, but I am the one who will let you all have a new beginning in life. You humans are the ones who judge each other based on past actions and family history. Aren’t your ways the ones that are unfair?

God’s teaching is that each person gets a new start in life.

We are accountable to God for our actions, but we are accountable only for our own actions, not for the actions of our predecessors.

The judgment of God is limited here. We can’t be condemned for something over which we had no control in the first place.

Each one of us gets a fresh start in life.

That is a refreshing way to redefine our relationship with God!

Hear now, O house of Israel, is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

Last week I talked about God not being fair. Today’s message seems to contradict this. But really, the distinction here is that God’s fairness is not the same as human fairness.

When someone sins against us, we tend to hold a grudge. It’s human nature to look for someone to blame, even when it’s clear that the individual who sinned against us is no longer around to be held accountable for their crime.

Human justice is done when revenge has been exacted, or retribution made.

But is that really fair?

What justice is there in holding the children of criminals accountable for the sins of their parents?

God’s ways are different than our ways. God says, take a fresh start on life.

God’s grace lets people begin again, to turn over a new leaf.

Even if the sin was their own, once the punishment has been carried out, God says, OK. You get a fresh start. Let’s see what you can do with the new life ahead of you.

People’s ways are unfair.

God’s ways are just.

God’s justice is not the same as our human measures of fairness.  

God’s justice is defined by grace.

We are still held accountable for the mistakes we make in life, but once the penalty is paid, it’s done. The punishment doesn’t last forever. If the wicked turn from their ways, Ezekiel tells us, they can live new and productive lives. They don’t have to carry the burden of one mistake around with them forever.

God gives us second chances when we don’t deserve them – God shows us grace even when we’ve proven that we’re likely to mess up our decisions in life. God always comes back to us with mercy and compassion. 

Our life of faith can be a new beginning. Again, in Les Miserables, the main character starts out as a thief. Then he is given a gift that is so generous, he never needs to steal anything again.

         Some people would say once a thief, always a thief.

         But this character proves them wrong.

He accepts the grace that is offered to him and makes a new beginning to his life. Moving forward, he will not be the same man as the one he was in the past.

Who do you know in your life who has done something like this?

Is there someone you know who has been trying to change? Can you give them a second chance?

We can so easily be guilty of judging other people based on their past. But this isn’t fair, and it isn’t what God wants us to do.

So here is a challenge for you: this week, look at everyone you encounter with fresh eyes. Forget any grudges you’re holding against other people. Try to push aside any hurt feelings you’ve been harboring. Treat other people as beloved children of God.

         See how this attitude changes your relationships.

If you’ve had negative interactions with someone in the past, try to forget about them. Move past those hurt feelings and give the other person the benefit of the doubt. The only interactions that matter are the ones that you will have going forward – from now on, you have a new relationship with other people.

And when someone else messes up – when they do something wrong – well, the reading also tells us that God will judge them. It’s not up to us to exact revenge or rain down justice on the people who have wronged us. God will take care of the punishment.

Our job is to love one another, to withhold judgment, to assume the best of other people, and to forget about past wrongs that have been done.

Those human ways of judging aren’t fair.

God’s justice and grace is the better way to go.  

So let’s love one another, let’s withhold judgment, and let’s try to be a little bit more like God.

And may God help us to do so.

Amen.

Not Fair

Pentecost 15A, 9/21/14

Jonah 3:10-4:11; Psalm 145:1-8; Matthew 20:1-16

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, you are our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

There’s one thing that most of us know about Jonah. Anyone?

Right, he was swallowed by a whale, or technically, a “big fish.”

         We forget sometimes how he ended up in that situation in the first place.

God told Jonah to go to the biggest, most immoral city in the area, and tell the people there to repent, or they would be destroyed.

Like any rational person, Jonah is intimidated by this prospect, and so he tries to run away from God. He gets on a ship, but they haven’t gone far before they get caught in a terrible storm. The only way to keep from capsizing is to throw Jonah overboard. So, Jonah gets tossed into the sea, and God sends the fish to swallow up Jonah and keep him safe until he gets spit out onto the shore.

We can debate how “safe” Jonah might have actually felt in the smelly belly of a giant fish…

Anyway, the fish spits the prophet of God out on the shore, and Jonah does finally go to Nineveh. He gives them a half-hearted order to repent or God will destroy them, and then he figures his work is done.

But then God does something unexpected.

God shows mercy to the people of Nineveh.

God chooses not to destroy the city after all, because once they heard Jonah’s warning, they repented and tried to live better lives.

And Jonah is ticked off!

“Seriously, God?” Jonah says. “This is why I didn’t want to go on this fool’s errand in the first place! If you’re going to send me somewhere to warn people of their impending destruction… well, I expect you to destroy them!

But no.

You have to be all merciful and compassionate, like you always are, and you don’t punish the city full of sinful people like you said you would.

If you weren’t going to follow through on your threat, God, why did you send me there in the first place?!”

And God says,

Why are you mad, Jonah?

Have I done anything to hurt you?

Or are you envious because I am generous?

OK, actually, that last quote is from the Gospel reading today.

But the two stories are making the same point.

They’re teaching us about the nature of God.

And the nature of God is, God is not fair.

God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

We sang that description in the Psalm today.

If you were here last week, we sang the description then, too.

It shows up all over the Bible.

We certainly don’t know everything about God, but we do know that God is gracious and merciful. We do know that God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. We can be sure at least of those few things.

And because that is who God is, we can also be sure that God isn’t fair.

God does not always give people what they deserve.

Thank God, right?

Imagine if God was so fair that every time you stretched the truth a bit, you were punished for lying. Or if you had to answer for every time you’ve ever used God’s name in vain. Or when you work on the Sabbath, fire rains down from heaven upon you.

Thank God for grace, for compassion and mercy – for the ability to mess up occasionally and ignore God’s laws a few times before God really gets serious about punishing us.

Because we all make mistakes, don’t we? And it’s wonderful to know that we won’t be held accountable for every tiny error we’ve ever made in our lives. God is willing to forgive us, just like God forgave the people of Nineveh.

The first thing we can learn from Jonah and the Psalm and the Gospel lesson today is a little bit about who God is – God isn’t fair, but God is merciful and gracious.

Today’s Bible readings bring up another point, also.

We tend to judge God’s fairness – or lack thereof – based on the way we are treated in comparison to others.

But that’s not an accurate judge. God doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to each other. God doesn’t bless us in comparison to others – we only receive blessings according to our own needs.

So the question that today’s stories raise is, “You have enough. Why are you not satisfied?”

It’s not our place to compare our lives to other people’s.

We’ll never measure up, there will always be something more that we want.

When we use other people as our gauge for what life should be, we will never be satisfied. We’ll be jealous of something they have – and for what?

God doesn’t want us to waste our energy that way.

We gain nothing by comparing ourselves to others.

In fact, it’s a waste of our God-given talents to spend all our time wishing for things that other people have.

One post that I read this past week summarized the Gospel lesson this way: the only reason you should ever look into your neighbor’s bowl is to see whether they have enough.

If your neighbor has enough, how wonderful for both of you! Life is good. Even if what your neighbor has is more than what you have, that is still a reason to rejoice – it means that you both have what you need to get through this life.

If your neighbor doesn’t have enough, then you have an opportunity to share out of your own blessings.

That’s basically what’s going on in the Jonah story today, and in the parable from the Gospel of Matthew.

Jonah has enough, God has provided everything he needs.

The workers in the vineyard have a day’s pay for a day’s labor – they have what they have earned.

And yet these people complain to God about the unfairness of the world.

And God’s answer is, those other people’s lives are none of your business.

I have given you all that you need, God says.

I am gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

So what are you complaining about?

It’s human nature to behave like those laborers in the parable, or like Jonah after God fails to destroy Nineveh.

But that doesn’t mean it’s how God wants us to respond.

Are we envious because God is generous?

Or can we find a better path?

The gracious, merciful, God-like response to our neighbors being blessed, is to rejoice with them in their blessing.

Don’t compare ourselves to others with measurements that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.

Simply find ways to recognize God’s blessing, in the life of other people even when you can’t find it in our own life, and give thanks for the generosity of God.

Amen.