Help

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! We are now approaching the end of the Easter season. After today there is one more Sunday, and then Pentecost. In this season we are focusing on Jesus’ teaching as he is preparing the disciples for their mission with him seated at the right hand of the father. So today we hear Jesus tell them, and us about the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes you just need help. Do you know what I am talking about? There is a particular task in front of you that you need to do, and for whatever reason, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t do it on your own. You simply need help.

I found myself in just such a situation the one time I went skiing. A least I was supposed to be skiing. I was actually never vertical long enough for it to be technically considered skiing. The only time I have ever been skiing was when I was on vicarage in South Dakota. We went to the black hills with the confirmands for a weekend retreat. Now the “bunny hill” was just a little bit steeper than the roof. So needless to say, I fell down a lot. My supervising pastor finally got me up to the top of the mountain, and after I fell down four times in three seconds he said, “This isn’t good.” Two other members had to come up, tie a scarf around me and drag me down the hill.

Sometimes you just need help. Some of those times are no big deal, and can even be funny. Some of those times, however, can be kind of serious and are no laughing matter. That is what we are talking about today as we hear Jesus in John’s gospel.

Jesus spoke these words to his disciples just before he was crucified. He is explaining to them how things are going to be different and that he is going to the Father; and while the prospect of change and facing the unknown can be really scary, Jesus is providing for everything that is needed.

He says to the disciples and to us, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Um. OK. So what do we do with this? Perhaps we could ignore it. We could just pretend that it doesn’t exist and then we don’t have to worry about it. Sound good? Of course if we were to try that then we would be placing ourselves above the Scriptures and that isn’t a good thing.

Maybe what we could do is to set up a bunch of rules. We can define what it means to love Jesus and then create a bunch of rules and a check list of activities that will help to ensure that as long as we follow this list than we are loving Jesus. We can spend all of our time making sure that we are keeping the list and that other people are keeping it as well. Sound good? Of course the danger in this is that you could possibly just go through the motions without really loving. Or worse than that, you could come to believe that your ability to check off those items on that list would make you worthy of God’s love and grace.

So then, what do we do with this? If we can’t ignore it, and we can’t address it in a legalistic check-list checking kind of way, what do we do with it? We understand it, and we allow the Spirit to do what he does through the word, and that is to strengthen our faith and to renew our minds.

Remember the context. Jesus is speaking this on the night of Maundy Thursday. The night that he is betrayed. He is literally hours away from the cross. He had just washed his disciples feet. Judas has already left to betray him. Jesus gives his disciples the new commandment to love one another as he has loved them. He predicts Peter’s denial. He tells them that he is the way, the truth and the life. He tells them that he is going to the Father. He is going to no longer be with them in the same way that they have grown accustomed to.

A big theme on this night is love. But not the warm fuzzy feeling kind of love. Not the kind that is sung about on the radio. This love is not an emotion. This is the kind of love that is self-sacrificing. This is the kind of love that would cause us to put our own wants, needs and desires off to the side so that someone else can have what they need.

This is the kind of love that would cause a solider to put themselves in harm’s way in order to save the life of another. This is the kind of love that would cause a parent to risk or even give their life for the sake of their children. This is the kind of love that our God loves each and every one of us with. This is the kind of love that he loves the whole world with. This love is so much that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but will have everlasting life.

This is the kind of love that Jesus loves us with. It is the kind of love that he calls us to love one another with. It is the kind of love that he is talking about when he says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” This love is an active love. It is not just telling Jesus that we love him. But it is seen and heard in the things that we do and in the words that we say.

Now that that has been cleared up, do you feel better? We understand the kind of love that Jesus is talking about here, but how well do we do this? How many times do we have opportunities to love others with this kind of love, but chose instead to love ourselves? How many times do we find ourselves doing what we want and focusing on what makes us happy instead of doing something for someone else, or asking what is it that God wants me to do here?

If we take an honest and hard look at our lives I think that we will find that this is more often the case than we would like to admit. It’s not hard to understand why this would be the case. After all, this is how the world around us tells us to live. You have to look out for number one. It’s a dog eat dog world out there.

And yet, it is in the midst of this kind of situation and in this very world that Jesus’ words come down through time to us. If you love me you will keep my commandments. What is important to understand here is that these words are not being spoken to condemn us. It is not as if Jesus is saying, “Oh boy. I’ve really got them here. I am going to tell them to do something that is absolutely impossible for them to do. Look out. Watch them squirm.” That is not at all what is going on here.

Sometimes you just need help. So Jesus knows that. And not just us, but his disciples too. He knows that we need help and so his very next words. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth.” We are given the Spirit and that Spirit is our helper, who is with us forever.

Jesus promises that he will not leave us as orphans forever. That he will come back for us. But while we are waiting we have this helper. The Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of truth.

Now when Jesus talks about “keeping” the commandments the word that is used here is not talking about checking off a check-list. Although sometimes it is easy for us to get caught up in that way of thinking. But what the word means here is a type of taking care of something that is important. Being good stewards and treasuring this life that we live in Jesus.

We cannot do this on our own or by our own strength. So we have the Holy Spirit, the third person in the Trinity, God himself who lives with us and who lives in us and who keeps us so that we are able to keep the commands of Jesus. That is so that we can treasure and care for what Jesus has left us with. So that we cannot live only for ourselves, but can break out of that to find ourselves living out the mission of making God’s love known to the world; of showing people that they are loved greatly by our God.

God loves us. He forgives us and restores us because of and for the sake of Jesus. We have life and salvation. We have a relationship with him. We belong to him and are his, there is no doubt about that. And he also gives us his Holy Spirit. The Spirit works in our lives and is with us always. He calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies us. He is active through the Word of God and through the Sacraments. Through these things he helps us. He strengthens us. He protects us and keeps us.

Through him we have help, and are able to do what Jesus talks about here. Now don’t get me wrong. We are not doing this on our own, or by our own strength. We don’t get to take credit for it, and we don’t earn anything beyond what God freely and graciously gives to us. But in so doing we find ourselves living life the way that God intended for it to be lived. And when we live life in this way, it is life that is better than anything we could ever hope for.

Because this is the case, then when we hear Jesus’ words about loving him and keeping his commands we can hear words that invite us to experience life with him in freedom. We hear words that invite us to experience life with him in being a part of something that is much bigger than ourselves. We hear words that invite us to experience life with him in being a part of something that is not just long lasting, but is eternal. We hear words that invite us to experience life lived in the resurrection. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Living Stones

Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! In this Easter season we have been taking some time to talk about, and to see, some of the impacts that Easter in our lives. We have been discussing and seeing the difference that Easter makes and what it is to live as Easter people of the resurrection. Today that focus continues as we look at what 1 peter has to tell us about the church, and what the church is and does.

This morning I wanted to spend a moments working through the lesson from 1 Peter. Now this book has been the source, and will continue to be the source of the epistle lessons during this Easter season. But we haven’t spent any time with it. This is not because there is something wrong with 1 Peter or the contents of the book. That is just kind of the way it worked out. But I wanted to be sure that we didn’t let this pass us by, because there are some really good things here.

1 Peter is a letter written by Peter to Christians that are undergoing some pretty big troubles, sufferings and persecutions. So this is a letter of hope and comfort and strength. He is encouraging them to remain faithful and not to give up in the face of persecution. Whenever I consider this it brings about a couple of reactions for me.

First, it makes me thankful for what we have in this country. We don’t know what it is to really suffer for our faith the way that some of our brothers and sisters in the faith around the world do. Second, while we don’t have to worry about persecution we do have to watch that we do not become complacent or focused on ourselves. It is in keeping this in us in check that we can find some good application and benefits from 1 Peter.

These verse pick up at a place where Peter is writing about how to endure in the face of persecution. So he instructions us to long for pure spiritual milk like newborn infants. Now, I would like to clarify here that he is not telling us to act like babies. That is not what is going on here. No, instead he is telling us to crave pure spiritual milk in the same kind of way that newborn infants will crave milk.

Have you ever seen a hungry newborn? It isn’t a pretty picture. And they always seem to be hungry too. Every couple of hours you are getting up, and getting that bottle ready so that they can eat. In the same way we are to crave the pure spiritual milk because it is that milk that allows us to grow. So what is it? What is the pure spiritual milk? It is God’s word. It is the scriptures.

For us to grow into the people that God would have us be we need to have a good healthy diet of God’s Word. Think about it. Would parents think that it would be enough to give a baby a bottle only once a week? No. That would be terrible. So why would we try to do that with God’s word?

Now I don’t say this to make you feel guilty. I don’t say this so that you will say to yourself, “oh great. Well there is another thing that I should be doing and am not Now I can add this to my list of things that I feel bad about.” That is not the case at all.

Instead, I hope that in hearing this you will say. “Yeah. He’s right. God’s word is a really good thing. I am glad for it and want to make it more a part of my life.” And that is easy to do. It doesn’t have to be a lot. You can join a Bible study, there are lots of good ones around here. You can grab a bible reading plan and do a little bit every day and read through the whole thing in a year. You can pick one of the gospels and just read a chapter a day.

When we are in God’s word, the Holy Spirit is at work strengthening our faith. It allows our minds to be renewed and transformed. It allows us to understand who we are as God’s people, and what our relationship with our God is. There is all kinds of good stuff going on here.

As a people who are fed and nourished by God’s word, then we come together, actually we are brought together into this wonderful thing that is called the church. Now you know that the church is not just a building. But the image that Peter uses here is that of living stones.

The people of the world may not want much to do with us or the message that we proclaim, but even if we are rejected by them,, we have been and are chosen and precious to our God. We are living stones which are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Did you know that? Did you realize that this was such a big deal? This is who you are as the church. Now we have this, not because of anything in us. But we have this because of who our God is and how he chooses to work in our lives.

He is the one who chooses us. He is the one who deems us as precious. He is the one who builds us up as a spiritual house. He is the one who calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies this thing that is the church. The church is not a building, but the church is a community of God’s Easter people who are living stones being built into a spiritual house. The church is the community of faith that is formed by the Holy Spirit. The church is the community of faith that is led by the Holy Spirit.

Not only that, but these living stones are a holy priesthood. Now this is not some of the stones are part of that holy priesthood. It is the living stones that make up this priesthood. In other words, the ones who offer spiritual sacrifices are not just a certain few in the group. This is not the role of the professional Christians, or the professional rocks if you will. But this is the job of all of us together.

In our baptism liturgy a representative from the congregation welcomes the newly baptized into the church that together we might hear his word, receive his gifts, and proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. It is not just one, because the stones that make up this house are living stones. They are alive. They have life and have it in abundance.

You see this is the work of God in our lives. He chose us, he deems us precious. This is so because of what Jesus did for us. He fulfilled the law that we cannot. He took our sins upon himself on the cross. He destroyed the grave on Easter. He rules and reigns on our behalf that we might carry out the mission he has given to us. That is, we are able to offer up these spiritual sacrifices.

So what are those sacrifices? What do we as members of this priesthood do? We can pray for people. We can pray for one another. We can pray for the people in our lives. We can pray for our friends and family. But we can also pray for our enemies and for those who hurt us. This is no small matter. These words that we utter are not empty words. Because the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. And so we pray.

We offer our gifts and skills. We each have different gifts that we have been blessed with. And we can find opportunities to use those gifts in the lives of our neighbors, friends and family. I may be able to lead a bible study, but I am no mechanic. And if my car is broken down, then no amount of preaching is going to help. We all have different gifts that we can use to bless and be a blessing to others.

We offer our money. The arrangement that we make with our employers is that in exchange for money we will give the time in our lives. So in a very real sense the money that we have represents our lives. When we give our money to support what God is doing in our congregation and in our community and world we are literally giving our lives.

These are ways that we can fulfill our role as members of this priesthood. These are ways that we can be living stones, who are built into a living house. That together we may proclaim the glorious deeds of the one who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

As a reminder of this, each of you have received a rock when you arrived this morning. They are rocks that I picked up at the beach. No big deal. But as a reminder of our role as living stones and our membership in this priesthood, I want you to take this rock and write your name on it. Please write your first and last name on it. Then, after the service. I want you to exchange your rock with someone else. There is no limit to the number of times you can switch. You just can’t end up with your own. Then I want you to keep the rock for the week. You can have it in your pocket or purse. You may place it on your night stand or desk. Just keep it somewhere where it will remind you to pray for the person whose name is on that rock. And in so doing, you will be offering up a spiritual sacrifice that that is acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Happy Easter! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen!

Half-Empty or Half-Full

Full of Grace. Brimming with benevolence, packed crammed with compassion, teeming with tender-heartedness, replete with affection. Not too shabby at all. It is good to be full. Well I guess that is true as long as what you are full of is good. But more often than not it is good to be full. And most anybody will tell you this. A lot of people spend a lot of time striving to be full. We want to fill our bank accounts with cash. We want to fill our homes with stuff. We want to fill our bellies with food. We want to fill our lives with activity. Fullness is a virtue in our world…

You all have heard of the question. The glass, is it half-empty or is it half-full? The pessimist says that the glass is in fact half-empty. I mean look at it, you only have this much in there. Look at all the extra space that isn’t filled up. There is just so much more to be had and yet this glass does not have it. This view is not so much concerned that there is more out there as it is concerned that I don’t have more of what is out there.

However the pessimist is not limited to materialism. This person looks around and sees nothing but trouble in the world. To be sure there is a lot of trouble in the world, but this is the only thing that the pessimist notices. They look around and the only things in view are wars, death, destruction, sickness, pain, suffering and injustice. The pessimist perceives these things and becomes discouraged, and loses hope. He wonders how is it possible for anyone to be anything but pessimistic with all evil that there is in this world. Or if the problems of the world are not enough to get her down, the pessimist can focus on the troubles in her own life. She compares her situation to that of the people around her and she always comes up short. Nothing she does is good enough.

The problem with the pessimistic view is that it is not necessarily an accurate view of reality. It is true that there is a lot of bad out there, but it is not all bad all the time. The pessimistic view looses sight of the good and beauty that does exist in our world. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? There is no doubt about it. That glass is certainly half-empty. This is the answer of the pessimist.

The optimist would disagree. The optimist says that the glass is half-full. Never mind about the rest of the glass, look at how much water is in there. It could always be worse. There could be less water in the glass, but that is not the case. This glass is half-full. We are half-way to the top.

Sure a glass half-full is not as good as one that is completely full, but it is better than one that is empty. The optimist looks around at all that he has and is thankful for what he has. It may not always be as much as he would want, but he knows that it is certainly enough. The optimist looks around the world and sees the evil, suffering and injustice in our world, but doesn’t allow that to be the only thing that she sees. The optimist focuses on the beauty and good in our world. She would much rather focus on and dwell on the good in life, and to celebrate the things that are worth celebrating.

The problem with the optimistic view is that it is not necessarily an accurate view of reality. Sure things are good, but they are not all good all the time. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? There is no doubt about it. That glass is half-full. This is the answer of optimist. What do you say?

I would say that neither answer is good. Why does their have to be only two options? Especially since we know that both the optimistic and the pessimistic view are not always accurate representations of reality? I would suggest a third view. It is not a new view, just one that is not normally considered in the glass question. This third view is the view of the Psalmist. The Psalmist says, “My cup runneth over.” It is not just full, but it is saturated. Every molecule of the cup is touched by the water, so much so that the water is unable to be contained by the cup. So the water flows out of the cup. The water overflows.

You see the optimist and pessimist approach the glass question from an earthly point of view. The answer does not account for what cannot be seen. The psalmist, however opens our eyes to a new perspective. For we can now consider the glass question from God’s point of view. Is the glass half-empty or half-full? The answer is neither the glass is overflowing. No matter how much health or wealth you have or don’t have as the case may be, the fact of the matter is that God pours out into our lives the same amount of love and forgiveness, grace and mercy. And that amount is an abundant amount. It is an amount that fills our glasses and not just full but overflowing. It is truly an awesome thing. And once we are filled to overflowing our Lord keeps on pouring out his blessings into our lives. This doesn’t come because of anything we have done to deserve it. No, it comes because of our God’s great, great love for us. That love was so strong that he sent Jesus to be our savior and he came and he lived among us, moved into the neighborhood as the Message paraphrase puts it. He suffered and died in our place and on the third day he destroyed the power of death in his resurrection.

The psalmist says, “My cup overflows.” Indeed all our cups are overflowing with God’s love, and kindness, forgiveness and approval. But these gifts were not meant for you and me to keep to ourselves. If they were, we would have our cups filled to the brim. But we are meant to share them with the people around us. That is why are cups overflow so that what is poured into them will spill out into the lives of the people around us. God’s love and kindness poured out into my own life, enables me to pour love and kindness into the lives of others. God’s forgiveness of my sins enables me to forgive the sins of those who have hurt me. It also enables me to announce, no to proclaim the forgiveness of sins to those who need to hear that good news. What an awesome gift and blessing. My cup, your cup, our cups overflow.

Full of Grace. Brimming with benevolence, packed crammed with compassion, teeming with tender-heartedness, replete with affection. What an awesome God we serve. What great love he pours out in our lives. Are you full? Yes. And then some. Amen.

Happy Mother's Day

Early one morning a mother goes into her son’s room to wake him up for school. “Come on, honey!” She says. “It’s time to get up for school.” He son replied. “Aw mom. I don’t want to go to school. It’s no fun. The kids hate me and the teachers don’t like me much either. His mother replied “Well that’s no reason to stay home. You need to go to school.” Her son said, “No. I have had enough. Give me two reasons why I should go.” His mom said, “One, I am your mother and I said you had to go, and Two, you are the principle. Now get up and go to school.” Happy mother’s day to all those of you who are mothers. We celebrate and give thanks for you. Happy mother’s day to all those who have mothers, as well.

But today is not just Mother’s day. Today is also the third Sunday of Easter. It is still Easter and so we joyfully proclaim; Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is Risen indeed! Alleluia! One of the great things about Easter is that it is not just a day on the church calendar. But it is an entire season. Seven weeks to be exact. So we get to take our time in unpacking the depth and richness of Easter, and what it means for us to live as the people of the resurrected Jesus.

On Easter Sunday we talked about how Easter is life. Last week we heard from those who went and lived as people touched and transformed by Easter as they went to Mexicali and spent a week in service to others. Today we spend some time talking about Easter as worship. And we see that in an amazing text that is from Luke’s gospel.

Now, while the season of Easter being seven weeks is a good thing, it can be difficult for us to maintain our sense of timing as we have a full week in between stories. Plus we skip around from Gospel to Gospel as well. So that can make it a little challenging. So today’s story takes place on the actual day of Easter. The very day that Jesus rose from the dead is where we are right now.

So there are two disciples. We don’t know a whole lot about them. One of them is named Cleopas. But that is all that we are really told. They are making their way to the village of Emmaus which is about seven miles away. As they were walking they were talking about all that had happen and had taken place. The events of the past few days must have felt like a whirl wind and now they are beginning to process it.

And Jesus comes among them and is walking with them. But they were kept from recognizing him. Isn’t that interesting? They were kept from recognizing him. Now latter they will recognize him, but for right now they don’t. Their experience would not have been the same tough if they had recognized him right away. It is through revelation, through the power of the Spirit that we are able to recognize him. When Peter confesses that Jesus is the messiah he tells him that it is not flesh and blood that has made this known to Peter, but the Father has revealed it to him. We cannot believe in Jesus or come to him, except that the Holy Spirit call, gather and enlighten us. So we see that at this point the risen Lord has not yet been revealed to these disciples.

So Jesus asks them what they are talking about. And they give this beautiful confession. Jesus of Nazareth. He was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God. He was condemned and crucified. We had hoped that he would be the one to redeem Israel. And yet, that was all three days ago, this morning some of the women told us they found the tomb empty and there were angles there saying that he was alive.

Can you almost hear the confusion in their voices as they tell this story? I mean this kind of stuff doesn’t happen all the time. Can you imagine the mixed emotions they must have been feeling? And then Jesus begins to explain to them how this was supposed to happen to the Messiah. It is all written in the scriptures and then he proceeds to interpret the Scriptures to them.

Oh, wouldn’t you love to have been able to listen in on that conversation? Wouldn’t you love to have it written down that we might see exactly what Jesus said, or to know the disciples reaction. You can almost hear him as he points out in Genesis 3 how God promises enmity between the seed of the snake and that of the woman. You will bruise his heel and he will crush your head.

And then we go to Abram and God tells him, I will bless you and you will be a blessing and through you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. And then we go to Moses and the sacrificial system and how all the sacrifices and feasts point to the work that Messiah does in saving his people. Then onto David. David tells God that he wants to build him a house, and God says, I will build you a household. His descendants will sit on the throne forever. Then onto the Psalms and Isaiah and the suffering servant; all Scripture points to Jesus.

What a journey this must have been. What a bible study it must have been. They arrive home and now it is toward the evening and the day is almost over. They invite Jesus to stay. He takes the bread, blesses it, breaks it and gives it to them and at that moment their eyes are open and they recognize Jesus. The words takes, blesses, breaks, are all verbs that call to mind the sacrament of communion. On the night, in which he was betrayed, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and gave it to the disciples…

Then they get it. They begin to understand what had just taken place. Jesus was made known to them both in word as they had explored the scriptures with him on their journey to Emmaus, and also in sacrament as the bread was broken and given to them.

It was in remembering this and reflecting on what they had just seen that the disciples got it. Were not our hearts burning within us as he opened to us the Scriptures? And so what do they do? They go back to Jerusalem. Now this is no small matter. Remember Jerusalem is seven miles away. They spent a good portion of their day walking back home, and yet, this news is too good to not share. So within the very hour they get back up and they go back to Jerusalem. There they find the other disciples. And there they proclaim that the Lord has risen indeed. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia.

Isn’t this a great story? I love it. And what we see here in this journey is what we find in worship. So there is gathering as we come together. We are here in a way that is unlike any other kind of gathering that we participate in. We are not here merely as individuals under the same roof or in the same pew at the same time. But we are here as disciples. We are here as people who follow Jesus. We are here as those who have been forgiven because on the cross Jesus cried out, “it is finished. And there he paid the price for all our sins.” We are here as members of his body, and children of the same heavenly father.

We gather together and we hear the good news. We hear the Scriptures as they are prayed in our prayers, as they are read in our midst, as they are sung in our songs. We listen to them because in them we see Jesus revealed to us. Just as the scriptures were opened to the disciples, so too they are opened to us as the Spirit works through them to give and strengthen our faith.

We receive the gifts that God gives to us in Holy Communion. We receive forgiveness, life and salvation. This bread and wine are not mere symbols. They are not the re-enactment of a historical event. We gather together at God’s table. We are here where he is host. And we are fed, nourished and strengthened by his very body and blood. And again he reveals himself to us.

But as wonderful as this is, and it is certainly wonderful. We do not stay here. Fed and nourished and strengthened, renewed and refreshed we then go out, we go back out into the world to tell others and to share the good news of God’s love in Jesus. We do this in both word and action.

All of this is ours because our savior is our risen savior. He defeated the powers of sin and death and the devil, and so we no longer lived bound to those things. Instead we live a life that is full and abundant. We live life in Jesus where we live and serve together in sincere love for one another out of a pure heart.

This is the miracle of worship. This happens all the time, because this is how God chooses to work. This is not dependent on no mistakes in the worship service. If the screen is off, the sermon is boring, the songs are too hard to sing, the music is too loud, the kids won’t be quite, I can’t hear the pastor, I can hear the pastor.

In spite of all these things, God is here. He works in these powerful ways in our lives. He serves us and reveals himself to us in word and sacrament. Strengthened and nourished we go out to love and serve and live as his people in the world. And we proclaim boldly that Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.