Panda-Tastic

Last week was Vacation Bible School here at Faith. The theme was Pandamania - where God is wild about you. For all the people who worked to make this happen in all the various ways that it did happen, Thank You! You did a fantastic job. No, that's not quite right. You did a Panda-tastic job. From the decorations to the snacks and everything in-between I was very impressed with the job that everyone did. I still have some of the songs stuck in my head. "God is watching, watching over you.."

It is always an amazing sight to behold as God's people come together to share his love with others. I celebrate the work that all of you did, and give thanks to God for you. It was wonderful.

Happy Trinity Sunday

Happy Holy Trinity Sunday. Isn’t this great? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty pumped up. I mean it is the one Sunday out of the year that we read the Athanasian Creed. And as exciting as that is, it is more than that. Now I have heard it said that Trinity Sunday is the only Sunday named after a doctrine. But I think that is misleading. This is a time and a day to talk about and celebrate who our God is, and how he relates to us.

How do you talk about God? Who is God? How do we know him? What is he like? These questions are nothing new. And there are certainly many answers that are given to these questions. Although not all of them are correct.

You see the struggle here is that talking about God can be a very difficult thing to do. The trinity is a mystery to us. We cannot understand it. It is something that we believe on faith because this is how the scriptures talk. But what how do you describe the indescribable? What words do you use to speak about that which is beyond words? C.S. Lewis described our ability to comprehend the trinity this way. In a one dimensional world all you have are lines. Everything is a line. In a two dimensional world you get height, and length. So you are no longer bound to a line but now you can have a square. In a three dimensional world you add width. So now you can have a cube. But how does one explain a three dimensional object in a two dimension world? It is almost impossible. But that doesn’t mean it is not true.

Now I am not talking about a test here. It’s not like you are going to find yourself at the gates of heaven someday and have to take a test. Although I think we can tend to think about things that way, especially when it comes to matters of faith. It is so easy to turn the Scriptures into a book of doctrines and teachings. It is easy to make faith merely a matter of knowing the right things and being able to split the proper theological hairs. Don’t get me wrong. Doctrine is important. Teaching is important. Having good teaching and correct teaching is extremely important. But faith is a matter of life. It is not merely an intellectual pursuit. That is doctrine and teaching matter because of what they give us for living our lives, not because they are the right answers on a test.

So as we are talking about the Trinity we are not preparing for some obscure test. We are talking ultimately about life. Your life, my life, our life; we are talking about the life that is lived in relationship with this triune God and what that means for us. It is beautiful. It is exciting. It is a mystery. It encompasses all of our lives, every area and aspect.

You see when we ask the questions of who is God? How do we know him? What is he like? Though he is beyond our understanding. We do know him in relationship. He is Father. Creator. He gives us all that we need for this body and life. He is Son. Savior. He died on the cross and rose again so that our sins would be forgiven and that we would have everlasting life. He is Spirit. Sanctifier. He lives in us and with us. He gives us faith and makes us more like Jesus. These are three persons, but one God. A mystery. A mystery that we stand in awe of. A mystery that we understand more with our hearts, than we do with our minds. A mystery that we see unfold as we live our lives in relationship with this awesome God. A mystery that we believe, because this is how God has revealed himself to us. This is how the Scriptures talk about God. And so then this is how we are to talk about God, but more importantly this how we are to live in relationship with our God. This is something that you can see as you look at the lessons for today.

Our first lesson is from the first chapter of Genesis. The creation. Now for simplicity sakes we talk about the Father as the creator, but all three persons were involved here. The Spirit is hovering over the face of the waters. John tells us about the son that nothing that has been made was made apart from him. In verse 26 we hear God say, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”

We see this beautiful and majestic and wonderful creation that God made. It is perfect. It is undefiled. There is no death or suffering or sin or injustice. God didn’t need to create the creation. He didn’t do it because he was lonely or bored. He did it because he is a God who lives in relationship. Here we see the creation and the creator. The creator looks at his creation and declares that it is indeed good.

But you know where the story goes from here. The creation does not stay in that state. The people God placed in charge disobey God and with that sin enters into the creation. Suddenly there is now death, and corruption. There is injustice. People live life alienated and separated from each other. From that day on the creation was broken. It is a reality that we know all too well isn’t it? For in our own lives we see the same things going on today.

Our world is a broken and scary place. There are broken relationships in our own lives, families alienated from one another because of sin. Three is suffering and injustice going on all around us. People sin against us or we sin against them and it breaks apart the relationships that we have with them. We find ourselves faced and burdened with sickness or even with death. If this wasn’t bad enough on its own, sin also separates us from our God.

So we have a pretty big problem here. Our God is Holy. Sin cannot be in his presence. His creation was corrupted by sin. If you take a smooth piece of paper and crumble it up into a ball, and then try to smooth it back out again, you don’t get rid of the wrinkles. It’s kind of like that with the creation. So what is a holy and perfect God to do with a sinful and imperfect creation?

He redeems it. He saves it. He gives his very own life for it. This we see in our second lesson from the book of Acts. Peter gives a sermon where he is talking about Jesus dying and being raised from the dead. This death and resurrection, as you know, is not simply a miraculous historical event. But it is the very event that gives to you and me and all who believe, forgiveness, life and salvation. It is the very event that begins the process of restoring the creation. It is the event that guarantees that one day all the corruption in our world, all the injustice, all the suffering, sickness, sadness and death will be no more.

This hope is real and certain. It is yours. You have it because God loves you so very much. You have it because Jesus lived the perfect life you are unable to live. You have it because he died on the cross and rose again. You have it because he ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father.

Not only is this ours, but we have the Spirit poured out into our lives in great power. The Holy Spirit lives in us and with us. He works to make us more and more into the image of our Jesus. He uses the scriptures and baptism and communion, to work, give and strengthen our faith. With our own reason and strength it is impossible to believe in Jesus or come to him, but the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and makes us holy.

So we see in these lessons how we are to talk about God. We talk about him in relationship. Our God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is our creator, our redeemer, our sanctifier. Anything else or anything less is not the one true God. He loves us very, very much. He loves you very, very much. It is really an awesome, beautiful and powerful thing.

You see God is passionate about his creation. He loves his creation more than we can ever begin to understand. He is about the work of restoring his creation back into that right relationship with himself. So we can say that our God is a sending God. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son send the Spirit. The church is sent by God to go out into the world to make known in our words and actions this love of God in Jesus.

This is the gospel lesson. Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. This isn’t stay, set up camp and wait for everyone to come to you. It is go. It is make disciples. It is baptize and teach.

This is very good, although it can be overwhelming and scary. So that is why we don’t forget the last part, and I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

As we speak the words of the creed this morning. Don’t just get through it. Don’t be overwhelmed by the words of the screen. Listen to them. Allow yourself to get lost in them. Let them flood you with awe and wonder at this awesome and wonderful God who loves you so very much. In him you have forgiveness, salvation, and life; now and always. Amen.

Happy Birthday, Church!

Happy Birthday! Well I must admit that you look pretty good for being almost two thousand years old. This is what we are celebrating though, the birthday of the church. Happy Pentecost! Are you very familiar with Pentecost? Can you tell me what you know about it? Can you tell me what you don’t know about it? Pentecost is really a very cool, and a very, very, very important day.

Pentecost is not simply the birth or beginning of an organization. It is a time where we celebrate God pouring out his Spirit upon his people in a way that was not possible before the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus. In the Old Testament, God’s Spirit comes to some. However, this is somewhat limited. But now, with Pentecost, the Holy Spirit comes to all of God’s people. This is a common thread throughout the lessons for today. God’s Spirit comes to God’s people. Not just to some of them. Not just to the gifted ones, or the talented ones, or the educated ones, but to all of his dearly loved sons and daughters. He comes to you. He comes to me. He comes to us. There are some great things here, so allow me to touch on them a bit.

Our Old Testament lesson is from the book of Numbers. The people are wondering in the wilderness and guess what they are doing? They are complaining. Is that a surprise? No, not really, no. They are grumbling, whining and complaining, and Moses is ready to throw in the staff. “If you are going to treat me like this,” he says to God. “Then just kill me now.” God talks with Moses and Moses goes out and gathers seventy elders of the people to go with him to the tent of meeting. Now out of the seventy about sixty-eight showed up. That’s not a bad attendance record for an elder’s meeting. And God placed his Spirit on the elders that were chosen. But here is the thing. The two that stayed in the camp, God’s Spirit rested upon them as well, even though they didn’t show up.

Now the message here is not that you can skip out on your elder’s meetings. That is not what this text is saying. Instead what it gets at is that God is generous with his Spirit. The two men in the camp, Eldad and Medad, did not deserve to receive the Spirit. They were disobedient. But you know what? The other sixty-eight didn’t deserve to receive the Spirit either. In fact, not even Moses was worthy. But God, because he is gracious, loving and generous pours out his Spirit. God allows us to join him in his work. It is pretty cool.

Now fast-forward several hundred years. Jesus is born and comes onto the scene. And you know this story right? What happened? He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of the virgin Mary. Suffered under Pontius Pilot. Was crucified died and was buried. He descended into Hell and on the third day he rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.

So some days after Jesus ascends into heaven, ten to be exact, his followers are gathered together in one place. And on that day God shows up. There is no thunder and lightning, but there is the sound of a rushing wind. And there are tongues of fire that rest on the heads of the disciples and they begin to speak and no matter what language they spoke in, everyone heard it in their own native languages. Now this speaking is very important because note what they say. The speak of the wonderful things that God has done.

The God who is at work at Pentecost. Is the same God who was at work in the creation of the world. He is the one who rescued his people from slavery to the Egyptians. He is the one who became a human being. He lived the perfect life. Died on the cross in our place. Rose victoriously from the dead, and ascended into heaven.

This God, on Christmas, in the incarnation came to us in our fallen state. In the same way he comes to us now, and chooses to work in and through us. He has set aside a people for himself to be about the work of making him and his love known throughout the world. But their job is not to just talk the talk, but to walk the walk as well. To show God’s love instead of just speaking about it. To be about the business of being God’s agents of reconciliation in this world. This is the church.

Now if I asked you what comes to mind when you hear the word “church” how would you answer that question? What comes to mind? What is the church? What is the church not? The church is the people of God. It is not a building. It is not an institution. Although those things are not bad in and of themselves. But the church is not an organization it is a living breathing organism. It spans the boundaries of space and time and is made up of the sinful people who know God’s forgiveness and live that out with one another and the people around them.

The people of the church are not in the church because they have chosen to be in it. Rather, like the children of Israel, the people of the church were chosen by God to be in it. And not for their own sake but for the sake of the world. We are here to love and care for and to serve one another so that we can go out and love and care for and serve the world. So as a church how do you think we do with this?

So how does this happen? Where does it come from? Well it comes from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens and makes Holy the church. And he does this through the word. The word is proclaimed. And through that word the Holy Spirit does his things. The grace of God has been secured through Christ and the Holy Spirit uses the word to make us Holy.

We gather together to hear God’s word. To be made aware of our sin and our need for a Savior, and then to be reassured of God’s grace in Jesus. So that we are assured that those sins are forgiven. This happens as we study and hear God’s word. Then our faith is strengthened and again forgiveness is poured out into our lives through Baptism and Holy Communion. We are given to one another as gifts from God to encourage one another and to hold each other accountable.

God works through these things to heal our brokenness. He binds our wounds. Forgives our sins. Strengthens us encourages us and then, being reconciled and restored. He sends us out into the world, to proclaim in word and deed the good news of the gospel. We are not here for ourselves, but instead for the sake of those who do not know of God’s love in Jesus. It is our job to take this wonderful message that has changed and transformed us and to proclaim it to a world that needs to hear it. Because in this message is love and healing and it is a wonderful, awesome and amazing thing.

And we mark the beginning of this thing with Pentecost. Where God came to dwell in us, in our midst, in the midst of our brokenness, to work through us to show and proclaim his love to the world. It is a special thing. We are the church. We are a part of the living organism that God uses to do his work in the world. We are strengthened and encouraged through his word in this organism and then sent out to share that great news.

So what are we afraid of? Right? And yet the reality of the matter is, even though we have this awesome and wonderful gift, even though we have God’s Spirit living in us and with us, we can get lose sight of what really matters. We can lose focus of what is important. We can allow fear to rule the day. We can get caught up in our own pride. I want to be in charge. I like to be in control. I want things to work out according to my plan and to happen so that I will be happy.

When we live and think this way, we spend more time asking what I want than we do asking what God wants. Because they may not be one and the same. So, not only can we get stuck in focusing on what we want and trying to make ourselves happy, but when we do this we are ultimately just drinking salt water. If you are thirsty, the worst thing you can drink is salt water. It doesn’t quench your thirst and it will end up killing you. If our goal in life is to make us happy, we are never going to achieve it. Our thirst for happiness will never be quenched and it will ultimately kill us.

If however, our goal is to pursue the life that God has in mind for us. If our goal is to live out who God in his grace has declared us to be for the sake of Jesus. Then we will find live that is full and abundant. We will find life that is about something that is bigger than us, about something that is eternal and about something that is better than we could ever imagine.

If we take this thirst and thirst for the things that really satisfy, the things that we can only find from God then we discover that we are included in Jesus words too. “If anyone thirsts, let them come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of their hearts will flow rivers of living water.’”

And this living water is none other than the Holy Spirit. This abundant life that God so graciously gives is yours. It belongs to you. Because God loves you. He has made you his own dearly loved son or daughter. He knows you. He cares for you. He is with you and gives you his Spirit so that this living water will flow from you as well. He does this so that you too can know life and life abundantly.

This is what Pentecost is all about. And may you be blessed as you live as the Pentecost people of God in this place, now and always. Happy Birthday! Amen.

Ascension

You can tell a lot about a person by their calendar. If somebody were to take a look at your calendar what would they see? What would they find? Perhaps they would see schedules and appointments, days off or sporting events. But what are the important dates that you on your calendar? What are the important events that you remember or celebrate or give thanks for? Birthdays, baptism birthdays, anniversaries; whatever they may be, there are dates that we like to keep in mind and hold in our hearts. They become part of the stories of our lives and we mark the years of our lives with the passing of these days.

The same is true in the church. We celebrate, commemorate, and remember different days and seasons. They help us to re-live the story of faith, which happens to be our story as well. They reflect the different times and seasons of life. They keep before us those important themes and events that show what God in Jesus has done for us, and what it means as we live out our lives. It is more than just colors and greetings and using certain words or refraining from them. But it guides us in our lives and keeps the story in front of us so that the story is real, active and living.

So, with that in mind, does anyone know what event in the church calendar was this past Thursday? And I am not talking about the rummage sale. Thursday was the day of the ascension. Now this is an event that we mention every time we confess the creeds together. “He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He…ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from thence he will come to judge the living and the dead.”

We confess this every time the creed is spoken. But what does it mean? Why is it a big deal? What difference does it make? Well, I’m glad you asked. It is a really cool thing.

In talking about this we want to be sure that we keep together the “ascended into heaven and the seated at the right hand of the Father” from the creed. This is because the two really do go together. So on the calendar, on the day of the Ascension, we are forty days out from Easter, from the resurrection. We are still waiting for Pentecost. But we don’t have to wait too long. That is next Sunday. The Ascension is that time when Jesus is with his disciples and then he is taken up into the sky and eventually a cloud covers him and the disciples can no longer see him.

Now it is important to point out that Jesus, who is both truly 100% God and truly 100% a human being is ascended in the exact same way. In other words it is not just the divine 100% God part of Jesus that is ascended and seated at the right hand of the Father. But it is all of him, both the God and the human. The God-man, Jesus is ascended into heaven and seated at the right hand of the Father.

It is also important to note at this point that when we are talking about seated at the right hand of the Father, we are not talking about a physical chair. It is not like you draw out directions or find this on google maps. OK, what you do is ascend 25,000 feet take your third cloud on the left and continue on the interstellar highway to exit 777. Turn right and it is then take the third street on your left.

Instead, what we find in talking about seated at the right hand of the Father is images that are used to help us describe something that is otherwise indescribable. In talking about the right hand of God are we saying that God has hands? Or that if he does he is right-handed? No. That is not the case at all.

Instead to talk about the right hand of God is a way of referencing God’s power and might. He is all-powerful, he has great might. When you look through the Scriptures you will find this imagery showing up all over the place. By the way, this is nothing against left-handed people.

Now, what about the imagery of Jesus being seated? Well, that is pretty simple too. What do you do when your work is completed? You sit down. But that is just part of it. If you think about a king and the place from where he rules, and that is his throne, from what position does that king rule? He is sitting on his throne.

In other words when we are talking about Jesus sitting at the right hand of God we are talking about Jesus ruling and reigning in all power and might. We see move into this position at his ascension. And it is at his ascension that Jesus, both God and Man, takes the place of ruling and reigning in and with all power and might.

So when we saw Jesus on earth whatever he did, he did as both God and man. Whether he was eating or drinking, forgiving sins, feeding 5,000 or evening dying. He did not always use all the powers that he had available to him as God, but that was only because he chose not to use them. Well the same is true now after the resurrection. Whatever we see Jesus do we see both God and man. So his ascension, his mighty rule and reign, he does as both God and man.

OK. Now this might seem a little heavy for Sunday morning. And if we just left it at this, then it might be. But this is actually really important for our day to day lives as God’s dearly loved children, and especially for our day to day lives as God’s people, the church.

You see, because Jesus reigns and rules as both God and Man that means there is assurance for us that Jesus’ work of salvation was complete and finished. Our sins are forgiven. The price has been accepted and paid in full. Your sins are forgiven. Jesus paid the price in full. We see proof of this in the ascension.

His ascension into heaven also means that we have the same destination as our hope too. Jesus told his disciples that he is going to prepare a place for them, and us too by the way. This means that we can know with absolute certainty what awaits us. What we have even at this very moment; life eternal lived with our Lord.

His sitting at the right hand of God and ruling with all power and might means that when we talk about Jesus being present with us. He is really, physically present with us. We may not be able to see him. But we know that this is the case because of the ascension. You are never ever alone. Jesus is really and truly with you. And when he comes to us in, with and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion, he is really physically present and with us. When he says, “I am with you always, even to the very end of the age.” He is really physically present with us. When he says, “Wherever two or more gather in my name, there I am also.” He is really physically present with us.

Now this is very much a mystery. We cannot know exactly how this all works out. But I believe that that is part of the beauty of it. Why explain it away? These are the very things that God’s word tells us and reveals to us. It tells us that they are true, but does not tell us how they are true.

So what does this mean for us today? Well, these things are extremely comforting. They reassure us of God’s love for us and his presence in our lives. This assurance is something that we need because it is so easy to lose sight of God’s presence in our lives. It is so easy to live and move and work as if everything depended on us. We look at the challenges facing us in our own lives and we can be driven to the brink of despair.

We cry out, “I don’t know how I am going to do it. I don’t know how I am going to get by or make it work.” And we fret and worry and fight. But that is kind of the point here. It is not about us. It is not about what we want or us accomplishing anything on our own, especially in relation to God’s kingdom. But it is about our God who is all-powerful, who rules and reigns with all power and might.

He includes us and allows us to join him in the work that he is doing in our world. We don’t have a right to it. We are not here because we are experts or have something to offer God, because without us he is lacking something. Instead we are here because God has something to offer us. We are here because God graciously, lovingly and abundantly gives to us life and allows us to live and experience this life.

We are here because God has placed us here, so that together we can be about the work of making the love of God in Jesus known to the world. We get to show and share the love of Jesus with the world around us. But doing this can be very scary. It can be very hard. It can be very costly. And sometimes it can even be very dangerous.

Fear can be a powerful motivator. But we cannot allow it to control us. Nor do we have to. Because Jesus reigns with all power and authority, because he loves us so very much, he reigns on our behalf. He rules and reigns in such a way that we as the church are able to be about the mission. He rules and reigns so that we will have everything that we need to do the work that we have been given to do. He rules and reigns so that we can be confident that all things work together for our good.

The Ascension of Jesus and his seated at the right hand of God are extremely important for the church, because in this we find the comfort, strength and courage that we need to be about a mission that can sometimes be very difficult for us to embark on. We find in this teaching the ability and the strength to deny ourselves, take up our crosses and follow Jesus. And as we do this, we find life full and better than anything we could ever hope for. What an awesome gift our God has blessed us with. Amen.