Happy Reformation!

Happy reformation! Sometimes, things just don’t work the way that they are supposed to. Do you know what I mean? You buy a car. Everything is going well for a while. But at some point the gas mileage isn’t as good. Maybe you begin to hear some new and interesting noises. The engine needs some work. It needs a tune up to get it back in good working order.

You buy a computer. Everything works well for a while. But after some time the programs don’t load as fast as they use to. It takes longer to boot up or to check your e-mail. The thing has slowed down. You need to do a little work, clear out some files, and maybe defragment the drive. It needs a tune up to get it back in good working order.

You start a diet and exercise program. You get a membership at the gym you are faithful in your attendance and participation. You go three times a week. And all is well for a while. But then an unexpected change in your schedule happens and it throws everything off. Three days turns into two, which turns into every other week, which turns into beginning to put some weight back on. You program needs a tune up. It needs a re-start to get it in good working order.

This is the just the reality of the world that we live in. Things have a way of wearing down or wearing out and once in a while we need to make an adjustment here or there in order to get them back up and running in a state of good working order. I just listed three; my guess is that you could add even more to this list.

With this being the case then, it should not really surprise us to learn that the same thing can even happen with the church. Everything is going good for while. But as time passes, people develop patterns and get comfortable, we begin to lose sight of what really matters. We begin to forget about what is really important. We start to think more selfishly, and more of ourselves. We begin to lose sight of God’s word, and the life that God gives us and calls us to live. When this happens we are in need of a tune up; we are in need of a reformation.  And reformation just happens to be what today is about.

You see the church, and of course you know that I am not talking about a building, I am talking about God’s people. The church can get distracted. We begin to think that the purpose of our existence is for ourselves. We can think that life is about our property and our building and preserving those things; and while they are nice, and we want to be good stewards. We do not exist for the sake of our building or property.

So the church can get distracted. The church can lose sight of the goal. The church can get overwhelmed. After all, we know and understand that sharing God’s love is what we are all about, but there is so much to do. There are so many people that need help, and who need to be loved, where are we going to find the time and resources to do all that needs to be done? There is so much to do that it can be difficult to even find a place to begin or start.

It is at these times, and in these moments where the church needs a tune up. The church needs a reformation. And so we take the time to celebrate this on the last Sunday of October every year. Have you ever wondered exactly what it is that we are celebrating on Reformation Sunday, or even why we bother to celebrate it in the first place?

Well, there are certainly a lot of things and reasons to celebrate. The reformation itself is a pretty significant historical event. It not only changed the church, but it changed the world. That is something that is worth celebrating. The theological heritage that we have inherited from the reformation is also something to celebrate. As Lutherans we have very good theology. It is rich, it is deep, it is beautiful and so that makes this a celebration worth celebrating.

However, when we celebrate reformation we are not just talking about a historical event or theological heritage, although they are certainly great. What we are really talking about and celebrating in reformation is the work of the Spirit in the life of the Church. That is we are celebrating the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.

You see the church is a community of believers, a community of saints that is created and led by the Holy Spirit. We are called, gathered, enlightened, sanctified, and kept in the one true faith in Jesus. The Spirit does not just come in, set up shop and then move on to something else. But he stays with us; lives with us; dwells with us. You can say that the Spirit is always forming and reforming the church. This is reformation. This is what we are really celebrating today. And this is certainly a cause for celebration.

Well if this is the case, and the Spirit is so active in the life of the church, why does there need to be reformation going on in the first place? The answer is simple. The church is made up of people who happen to not be perfect. We mess up. We make mistakes. We lose sight of the goal and what is important and what really matters. When this happens we get off track.

But our God knows this. And so he gives us the gift of his Spirit who works in our lives to get us back on track. To bring about any reforming that needs to be done. The Spirit works through word and sacrament in order to bring this about. These are the means through which grace is poured out into our lives. These are the tools that are used in order to form us more and more into the image of Jesus. These are the utensils through which the Spirit gives and strengthens faith.

The importance of this work and message is even seen in our lessons for today. The first lesson from Revelation shows us an angel with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth. This is every nation, tribe, language and people. This is all the people of the world and that message is an eternal gospel. It is good news. That is what “gospel” means.

This is a work that God does not only leave for the angels. But it is one that in his grace, he has allowed his church to participate in. We get to participate in the work of proclaiming this good news and sharing and making know the love of God in Jesus to the world around us.

We get to live in the reality that, as we heard read in our second lesson, we have righteousness before God apart from the law. We have righteousness before God in Jesus. This means that because of Jesus and for his sake you and I have, and know, and can count on forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. These things are ours. They belong to us. Not because of our works but because of Jesus. And when God does something he always does it right. And, so, as we heard in the Gospel, if the Son sets us free than we are free indeed.

This freedom is freedom from sin, death and the devil. It is freedom to live our lives in relationship with our God. It is freedom from fear and terror, because we know where we stand with God in Jesus. We know the gifts that he gives us are ours. It is freedom to live lives in service to others, so that they too may know this good news that we know; so that they too may know the life that we know.

This is why it is so important for us to understand and see ourselves as a place for life, because we are about the work of making known the life that can be found only in Jesus. We ourselves enjoy this life as we live connected to him. But we also bear witness to others about this life and extend an invitation in order that they too might know the life that we know.

So as we celebrate reformation today, we are really celebrating and giving thanks to our God for the free gift of forgiveness, life and salvation that we have in Jesus, and for the work of the Spirit in the life of the church. That the Spirit is always forming and reforming the church, so that we can be faithful in joining God in the awesome work of making known the good news of life, restoration, and reconciliation in Jesus.

May the Holy Spirit work powerfully in our lives and in our midst through word and sacrament, to always form and reform us more and more into the image of Jesus, more and more into a place for life. And may we experience great joy in living this life. Now and always. Amen. 

A Place for Love: what we do

Did you catch it in there? If you weren’t careful you would have missed it? It wasn’t quite a “where’s Waldo” kind of a thing, but it almost could have been. I mean it was right there in the midst of a bunch of rules. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. It’s easy to hear that and begin to drift off into another place. So if that happened. You might have missed it. But it was there. It was really important, and it was really simple.

I’m talking about our Old Testament lesson for today. Boy are you in for a treat today; a sermon on a text from Leviticus. Actually, it’s not as bad as what it might sound. And this text is really very important, especially the part of the text that we are going to focus in on. I’m actually going to ask you to memorize it. By the end of the sermon you will be able to recite this all important text from memory.

Here it is. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. That’s it. Isn’t this amazing? Here we have this long text that is giving us a list of things we should do and not do. And that is not necessarily a bad thing, but then we get this: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. What this really is, is a summary. The New Testament tells us that the entirety of the law is fulfilled and summarized in one simple word, “love.” You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Our sermon series on life in the vineyard concludes today with a look at love. Faith Lutheran church is a place for love. Love is what we do. The themes that we have been focusing on over these last few weeks all build and connect together. The vision for this congregation is that Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life. This life is the life that we have in and through Jesus. He is victorious over sin, death and the devil. So in him and through him we participate in that same victory.

Your sins are forgiven. You have the gift of everlasting life. You stand victorious over the devil and the forces of evil. You have a relationship with God. You have life. These things God graciously and freely gives to us. We do not earn them or deserve them. But we are sure that we have them, because we know that they come from God, that God always does things right, and that God is faithful.

This means that we also have hope. Not the kind of hope where we are unsure about the outcome. But hope that is certain to happen, it is only a matter of time. This is the kind of hope the scriptures speak of. This hope is ours in Jesus. This hope rests in the promises of God, so this hope will never disappoint. This hope is what we hold onto. It is hope of life lived forever with our God; life lived and experienced the way that God intended it to be experienced. It is life everlasting.

God also gives to us faith. This faith is a gift from God that he freely and generously gives to us. This faith is a saving faith. We are saved by grace through faith. This faith is an active faith. It is what moves us. And if you had to guess what this faith that is grounded in the hope that we have because we have life in Jesus moves us to do, what one word that is theme for today that we are focusing on, that begins with the letter “L” would you guess that describes this? Love. That’s right. What this faith moves us to is love. And love is what we do. Hence our verse for this morning, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now what is going on with that? Is this telling us what we have to do, or is it describing what we do? That is, is this prescriptive, as in, “you have to do this,” or is this descriptive, as in, “this is what my people do and how their lives look, they do this”? The answer is yes.

On the one hand loving another person can be hard. This is especially true if that love requires that we have to give up something that we might want. Our sinful natures like to tell us that we have to look out for number one. Our natural inclination to do act only in our best interest, and sometimes even at the expense of others. In that case we need to be told to love, in order to fight that sinful response of human nature.

On the other hand it is describing what we do as God’s people. This is what the lives of the people of God look like. They are lives marked by love. They are lives marked by love for their neighbors. The people of God love their neighbors as themselves. This doesn’t mean that we always feel the warm and fuzzy kinds of feelings that we might often associate with love. That kind of love is a feeling. And while it is a nice feeling, feelings come and go. But they are not the kind of love that we are talking about here.

The kind of love that we are talking about here is love that seeks the good of the other. It is a life that is marked with service and self-sacrifice. It is a love that drives and moves and motivates us to do things for others in order to defend, protect and make their lives better.

It is a kind of love that is rooted in and comes from the love that our God loves us with. You see the reason why the people of God live lives marked by this kind of love is because the people of God are loved by God with this kind of love. When I stand up here and tell you that God loves you; when we sing about the love that God has for his people; when you talk with each other about God’s love, you are not talking about warm and fuzzy feelings that God has for us.

Real love is much greater than that. Real love is the kind of love the moves us to action. It is the kind of love that moved our God. His love for you, for me, for all the people of the world was so great that he would not allow our sin to separate us from him. So he became a human being. He lived the perfect life. He gave up his life on the cross. He rose victoriously from the dead. Because of this you and I and all who believe have forgiveness, life and salvation. And we have this because God loves us. You have this because God loves you.

So as God’s people we receive his love. Our lives are surrounded and filled with his love. And that love is a changing and transforming love. It moves us to then love others. It drives us to love our neighbors as ourselves. It sends us to show love to our neighbors because we believe that God loves our neighbors too.

If you had a chance to look at the place for life document you saw in there a section that talked about the importance of all of this. It talked about service. Service is also the key to move us toward our vision.  It is the key to ministering to our community.  It is the key to our evangelism.  In a world where everything is relative; where you can believe what you want, but cannot tell me what to believe; the one thing you cannot argue with is love seen in service.  Love in service is our faith in action.  It is the proclamation of God’s love in Jesus in a language that the people of our world will hear. 

As we move toward our vision of being a place for life, service at Faith will have a twofold function.  First, it will be part of our proclamation and witness to God’s love in Jesus.  Second, service provides a door through which the members of Faith can invite friends, family, and members of the community to become part of our community.  For the one who extends the invitation, and sometimes for the one receiving it, it can be uncomfortable to invite someone to a church service, or Bible study.  However, inviting someone to be a part of a service opportunity is not threatening at all.  It allows for them to be a part of something bigger than themselves.  It allows for them to see the love of the people of Faith in action. 

As wonderful and important as service is, it is not the only part of the Christian life.  As much as the people of God are to love and care for the world around them, even more so are they to love and care for one another.  Through baptism we are connected to Christ and therefore to one another.  We are members of the same body. We are branches grafted onto the vine and each one is to care for each other, and work together in the mission that belongs to our God. 

The distinguishing mark of the people of God is the love that they have for one another.  This love makes the community that they share something that is attractive to people.  This community needs to be authentic and genuine.  It is not a community where one has to put on a smile and pretend that everything is ok, even when things are not ok.  It is not a community where you are not allowed to have questions or struggles.  It is not a community where everyone looks, talks and thinks the same way.  Rather this community of faith is to be a safe place where people can be themselves.  Where they can love and be loved no matter what.  This community is a place where people can safely ask questions and struggle through the things that they may be facing in life.           

Just as service is the door to community, so then community is the door to Christ.  As the members of the body of Christ, gathered together around word and sacrament, love and care for each other and the world around them, we are making a bold witness about the person of Jesus and the work that he has accomplished in our lives through his death and resurrection.  With Jesus in our lives, we experience a joy, hope and peace that surpass all human understanding. 

We can understand everything like this.  Service is the door that opens and invites people to be part of our community of faith.  Through the service that this community of faith does, people are drawn into and welcomed into the community.  As they live in the midst of the community of faith gathered around word and sacrament, the Holy Spirit works to connect them to Jesus, where they will eventually come to live life with him. 

However it does not stop there.  For those who live in a relationship with Jesus are not simply limited to that relationship.  Jesus receives us, but then he sends us back out.  He sends us back out to be members of the community of faith.  He sends us back out to live as brothers and sisters and to care for one another; to love each other and to serve one another.  But it does not end there either.  As a community of faith, Jesus sends us all out to serve and love the world around us. He sends us to love and serve our neighborhoods, so that through that service, people would come to know our community of faith, and through our community of faith they would come to know our Jesus.

This is what it means to love our neighbors as ourselves and to serve them. This is what it means to be a place for life. My vision for this congregation is that we would be a place for life. That is a place that is teeming with life and activity. That there is always something going on around here. That here people would see and know and experience that God love them. That this would be a place where we grow in our relationship with our God and in our faith. May this life in Jesus always been a blessing to you, and may you always find here a place for life. Amen.

A Place for Faith: what moves us

Faith Lutheran Church: a place for life. That is what we are. A place for hope; hope is what we hold onto. A place for faith; faith is what moves us. Today, our series on life in the vineyard continues with a look at and discussion on what it means to be a place for faith. A good place to start then it is to talk about what faith is and looks like.

A man finds himself on the roof of his house with the flood waters rising steadily beneath him. A canoe comes by and the people say to him, “Come on in. We’ll get you to safety.” The man replies, “That’s not necessary. I have faith. God will save me.”  Time passes and the water continue to rise. A motor boat comes by and the people say to him, “Come on in. We’ll get you to safety.” The man replies, “That’s not necessary. I have faith. God will save me.” The water is now at the bottom of the roof, and rising faster and faster. A helicopter flies hovers over head and calls down to the man. “We’ll throw down a ladder. Climb up and we’ll get you to safety.” The man replies, “That’s not necessary. I have faith. God will save me.” Well, the man is overcome by the water, and now finds himself standing before God in heaven. “O, Lord,” he says, “I had such strong faith that you would save me from that flood. Why didn’t you?” God looks lovingly at the man and says, “I sent you a canoe, a motor-boat and a helicopter. What more did you want?”

Our Series on life in the vineyard continues today with a look at faith and how faith moves us. What we are talking about in this series is all connected. The source and foundation of this is the life that we have in Jesus. He is the vine, we are the branches. The life that we have and live in him is what makes this a place for life. Since this is a place for life then that means that this is a place for all of our life for all of our days.

Knowing that we have this life in Jesus means that we also have hope. We have hope because our God is faithful in keeping his promises. So when he promises that we have forgiveness, life and salvation because of, and for the sake of Jesus. Then we can know with great certainty that we do have those things. Because whenever God does something, he does it right. Right? Right!

Now, it is important to understand that faith is not necessarily the same thing as belief; although, we tend to use the words interchangeably. What we are talking about when we are talking about faith is more than that. So there are three things that we can say about faith.

First, is that faith is a gift from God. The Holy Spirit works through the Scriptures and the sacraments of Baptism and communion to give and strengthen faith. He is the one who gives us this faith. He is the one who keeps us in this faith. We confess that we cannot by our own reason or strength believe in Jesus or come to him, but the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith.

Second, is that this faith is a saving faith. We are saved by grace through faith. This is not our own doing it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast. We are not saved by anything that we do. We do not do anything to make God love us. We do not do anything to earn his salvation. He does not love us because of what we do for him. He loves us simply because we are his. We have forgiveness, salvation and life because of Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection.

Do you realize how important this is? Do you realize what this means for you; for us? We can be confident in the life and forgiveness that we have in Jesus. We don’t have to try to earn it, deserve it, or be worthy of it. We don’t have to spend our entire lives trying to be sure that God is happy with us so that we can possibly have a chance at heaven. It is ours through Jesus. Because, while it is something that is impossible for us, with God all things are possible. So the faith the he gives to us is a saving faith.

So then, if we have this faith as a gift, and it is a saving faith and we have heaven not because of anything that we do, then what do we do with the time that we have left on this earth? Well, that is the third thing to keep in mind about faith. And that is that faith is active. We spend our time loving, serving, and caring for one another, for our families, for our neighbors.

You see good works are not necessary for salvation. God does not need our good works. But this does not mean that they are not necessary. Indeed they are. Because while God does not need our good works, our neighbors sure do. So we do good works in order to show the people in our lives the love that God has for them. Think of it this way: God has placed you into the lives of the people around you, so that through you they would know that God loves them.

As Lutherans we do a good job of being able to recite Ephesians 2:8-9. For you are saved by grace through faith. This is not your own doing it is the gift of God, not the result of works so that no one may boast. And that indeed captures the first two things to remember about faith. That is that faith is a gift from God and that that faith is a saving faith.

What you don’t hear as often, but we would do well to remember is what comes after those verses and that is verse 10. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. If verses eight and nine show us the first two things to remember about faith, then verse 10 shows us the third; that faith is active.

We see this in our Epistle lesson for today in the first chapter of 1 Thessalonians. As Paul writes about their work of faith, labor of love and steadfastness of hope. When you think about what you want to be known for as a congregation, these are not bad things; faith, hope and love.

Now, we are talking about this all in the context of the vision for this congregation. That Faith Lutheran 

Church is a place for life. That being, said, I do not believe that it is a coincidence that the name of this congregation is Faith.

I have in my office a copy of the very first bulletin, from the very first worship service of Faith Lutheran Church. Took place in the auditorium of Garfield school. On the back is a brief history of how the congregation came to be. This is entitled “A Venture of Faith.” It is a nice play on words.

This congregation was named Faith, because life lived as the people of God in mission is a venture of faith. We walk by and step out in faith. Sometimes not knowing where are going, but only that God’s hand is leading us and guiding us.

So then, when we talk about this congregation being a place for faith, or that faith is what moves us, we are keeping in mind all three things about faith. That faith is a gift from God, that faith is a saving faith and that that faith is an active faith.

This means that we value things like worship and being in the presence of God to receive the gifts that he so graciously pours out into our lives. Where not here to get our attendance credits, but we are here to receive what God gives us through his word and sacraments.

This means that we value things like prayer and Bible study in our own lives. Now I will be honest, daily Bible reading can be difficult, even for a pastor. Because while I am in the word as I prepare for Bible studies or sermons, that is not the same thing as daily Bible reading. So if you have trouble with this, know that you are not alone. But we have make the journey together.

This means that we value things like service and doing things that help others and show them love. If you read the vision document we handed out a couple weeks ago, you know the importance of service. I will spend a little bit of time talking about that next week.

Faith moves us to have these things in our lives. Not because they earn us anything, not because God will be mad at us if we don’t do it, but because we know that they are live giving. We know that in them we grow and mature in our life, and in our relationship with our God. And what could possibly be better than that?

Our lives have been touched by God’s love, grace, mercy and forgiveness in a big way. We have been redeemed and belong to him. We have this because of Jesus. In him we have life. Because we have life in Jesus, we also have the hope of knowing that we get to experience life lived forever with our God. That life is here and now, and will go beyond to the new heaven and new earth. Having this hope we are then moved by faith. And living lives of faith we live lives of love, service, prayer, scripture reading and worship.

In doing this we experience the abundant life that Jesus promises to all who come to him. It is yours. May you experience this life in all of its rich abundance, and may that life be for you a constant source of hope, peace and joy. Now and always. Amen.

A Place for Hope: what we hold on to

Which one are you? Are you an optimist? Or are you a pessimist? Two friends were out hunting. One of the friends, the optimist, was excited to show off his new hunting dog. This dog could actually walk on water. Instead of trying to convince his friend, who was a pessimist, that the dog could walk on water, he decided not to say anything and to simply let the dog’s actions speak for themselves. Sure enough, when it was time to retrieve that first duck, the dog runs out to the water, and trots across the surface of the water. When he returns he has the duck and only his paws were wet. This continues all day long. On the way home the proud owner of the canine said, “So, did you notice anything about my dog?” His friend replied, “I sure did. He can’t swim.” Which are you? Are you the optimist or the pessimist?

Which one are we as a congregation? Are we more optimistic or are we more pessimistic? Actually, I think the question is flawed. Because what we have and what we are in Jesus has nothing to do with optimistic and pessimistic? What we have in Jesus is hope. What we are in Jesus is people of hope. What we hold on to is hope. We are people of hope. Faith Lutheran Church is a place for hope.

This sermon series, Life in the vineyard, is a time to talk about the vision for this congregation. Not because it earns us anything with God. This will not make him love us more. But it is important in providing some guidance and direction for us as we live life together. It gives us a picture of what we want to be, and of what we want to see happen in our midst. It gives us a description of what we want to see God do through the ministry of this congregation.

 Last week we saw this vision. Does anyone remember it? Faith Lutheran Church – a place for life. We talked about what we are as God’s people who are connected to Jesus and live life in him. He is the vine we are the branches.  This means that this place, this congregation is a place where people can come and see and experience the grace, mercy, love, peace and forgiveness of God in Jesus. This is a place where people can experience life. This is a place that is teeming with life.

We talked about how life can also be those experiences, events, hopes, dreams and fears that make us who we are. This congregation is a place where we can experience that life, and share those experiences with others. We talked about how being a place for life means that this is a place where we belong for all the days of our lives. That means that no matter what, you have a place where you belong. You are important here. You matter here.

Being a place for life, a place where we experience life in all of the depth and fullness that the word carries with it, means that we have this gift of life. We have it because of and for the sake of Jesus. His perfect life and keeping of God’s law; his sacrificial death on the cross; his victorious resurrection from the dead; his glorious ascension into heave; his gracious rule and reign on behalf of his people , the church, means that we have this gift. It is real. It is certain. It is yours. You can count on it. Forgiveness, life and salvation are yours, they belong to you, you have them. You have them because of Jesus. You have them because you are deeply and dearly loved by our God. You have them because he is so very gracious.

Having this forgiveness, salvation and life from Jesus, makes us people of life. Having these things makes this place a place for life. And having this life means that we are also people of hope. Having these things means that this place is also a place for hope. And that hope is what we hold on to.

Now allow me to clarify something here. When I am talking about “hope” I am not using a word that carries with it an element of uncertainty. So that when we talk about hope we are expressing what we want to have happen, while acknowledging that it may in fact not happen at all. For example: things have been going really well so far. I hope the Lions will win the SuperBowl this year.

This kind of hopes states what we want to see happen, but also realizes that just because we want it to happen, that does not mean that it will. But, this is not the kind of hope that we are talking about when we talk about being a place for hope, or a people of hope. Because the hope that we are talking about is the hope of faith.  This hope is not something that we want to happen but might not. This is something that will most certainly happen. It is guaranteed. You can count on it. Take it to the bank. That is what makes it hope. And we have this hope because the source of the hope is good on his word. We have it because God gives it to us. We have it because God always keeps his promises. We have it because God is faithful.

So what is that hope? It is the hope of life everlasting. Now to be sure this is life before death. But it is also life after death. In our Old Testament lesson for today we see this promise, we see this hope coming out loud and strong. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food…And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.

The hope that we hold onto as people in a place for life is that our God will swallow up death forever. Now at the time that this was written, God’s people were faced with the darkest time of their lives since they were slaves in Egypt. They were facing exile. They were going to be evicted from the Promised Land. They would be forced from their homes and taken to a foreign land and forced to live there. For them it was the worst possible thing that they could be faced with.

And yet, in the midst of that there is hope. Here in Isaiah is a promise of restoration and healing. But not just that, but there is also the promise of the defeat of death. But not just that, but there is also the promise that God will wipe away ever tear from all faces. Even though they find themselves faced with a dark and scary time, God’s promises shine through. God’s promises give hope.

The same is true for us. No matter what we are facing, no matter what challenges are set before us, no matter what we are struggling with. God’s promises shine through. God’s promises give hope. No matter how dark things may be or feel or seem, the promises of God give us hope. That hope is a hope for life. That hope is a hope for life real, full and abundant; life the way that it was meant to be lived and experienced; life lived in relationship with our God.

This hope, these promises are not just something that awaits us after death. They are not something that we have to wait for in order to have them. But we already have them now. We already get to experience this right now. While we do not have it in all of its fullness and glory, we certainly have a foretaste, a sample of this great feast to come.

Whenever we receive communion, when we receive the body and blood of Jesus in, with and under the bread and wine, we receive forgiveness, life and salvation. We have a taste, a sample of the great feast where we will celebrate the death of death, and our God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

Knowing that this is what is promised to us, knowing that this is what awaits us, enables to live and experience life now.  If we know that death’s days are numbered and that death will die, then what do we have to lose. If we know that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, then what do we have to be afraid of?

The answer is nothing. Now this doesn’t mean that we will never be faced with hard, difficult or scary situations, because those come when you live in a world that is corrupted by sin. But what it does mean is that we don’t have to live lives that are consumed with the difficult, hard and scary situations. It means that no matter what life throws at us, or what we are faced with, we can and do have hope. We are a people of hope. We are a people who hold on to hope. We are a place for life.

Understanding this hope and holding onto this hope gives us guidance in living our lives and doing ministry together. How do the things that we do connect people to Jesus? How do the things we do build relationships with others that they might see the hope that we have? How do the things we do bear witness to the difference that Jesus makes in our lives?

When we live this way, when we live out of this hope that we have in Jesus, when we live in the mercy, forgiveness and salvation that we have in Jesus we experience life. When we do this, we are a place for life. And may this life be a source of blessing, peace, strength and hope for you. Now and always. Amen. 

Life in the Vineyard - What We Are

My dad is not pastor. Although growing up I did hear a fair amount of preaching from him. So I guess that kind of qualifies him as an expert on preaching.  When he knew that I got accepted into seminary he shared with me the three keys to the perfect sermon. The first key is to have a good solid beginning. The second key is to have a good solid ending. The third key is to have the two as close together as absolutely possible.

Joke’s like that, although my dad would probably tell you that he wasn’t joking, are funny because we have quite a bit of experience with sermons in this thing called the church.  They are a regular part of our life and experience together, and sometimes those experiences are better than others. But if that weren’t the case, then a joke like this wouldn’t be all that funny.

I find it interesting to think about how easy it can be to be active and involved in the life of the church without always taking time to reflect on what is going on. Who are we? What are we doing? Why do we do what we do? What are we about? So it is good to take some time to ask and answer those questions. Beginning today and going through the next three weeks we are going to be taking the time to ask, think about and answer these questions and talk a little bit about the difference that they make in our lives together.

What we are really talking about here is a vision for the congregation. This is something that will be an important part of our life together. It will be seen on all our printed materials. It will be shared with our new members. It will be reviewed and discussed in meetings and will provide direction and guidance as we move forward into the future. It’s simple enough that it is easy to remember. But at the same time it is deep and describes how we understand who we are as God’s people.

And that vision is simply this: Faith Lutheran Church – a place for life. You have already seen it a lot this morning. It is on the bulletin cover. It is on the screen. You’ve gotten an extra document in your bulletin that explains all this. We even have stickers for the windows of your car. But why do this? Why go through the work and effort in order to bring this about? Is it really necessary?

Well, it won’t make God love us any more than he already does. It won’t earn us anything extra from him. We already have all of his love, grace, mercy and forgiveness. We already have life and forgiveness and salvation. That is ours in Jesus. It is freely given without any strings attached. We have it for the sake of Jesus.

So having a vision for our life together as a congregation will not add anything to that. From that perspective, it is not necessary. However, in terms of living our lives together, and what we as a congregation do, and what guides the decisions and the plans that we make. What helps us move forward into the future in an intentional way that is bigger and more than simply keep on keeping on; well, then form that perspective, the answer is “yes.”

You see language is important. Language impacts how we see ourselves and how we see our world. It impacts how we see one another and even the very things we do. For us in the church, language is especially important in that we use it to not only talk about who God is, but also how God sees us and what he does for us. And so it is important for us to be aware of how we see, think and talk about ourselves and this thing called the church. The fancy theological word for this is ecclesiology.

Faith Lutheran Church is a community that is created and led by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith in Jesus. We are brought together by God in order to receive his gifts and to bear witness about God’s love in Jesus to the people around us. After all, the church is simply God’s people gathered together around word and sacrament. Those things that we gather around are life giving and compel us to then go out into our world to make known this love and grace and mercy of our God. Why is this the case?

Because God is a God who is passionate about his creation and restoring his creation back to himself. God is a God who has and is on a mission. The biblical story is a story that shows us this. God creates his creation. It is good and perfect. Then sin enters the picture. With sin the creation is broken. It no longer works the way that it was intended. Death and injustice come into the picture. People live lives separated from one another and from God. But God is not content with leaving things this way. So he works to restore his creation back to himself.

So he chooses a people for himself. He chooses a people that will be set apart. He chooses a people that will be blessed by him and live in a special relationship with him. But, not so that they can hold themselves up as being better than all the other people around them. He blesses these people so that they can be a blessing to others. God calls Abraham. And through him all the nations of the world are blessed. Abraham’s descendants are chosen to live life in this special relationship with God in order that they may bear witness to who God is. So that as the nations around them see the way they live their lives, the nations would come to know who God is and what it is to live life in relationship with him.

The culmination of this is seen in the incarnation, where God himself becomes a human being. He does not just take on the appearance of a human being, but he becomes a human being himself. This is Jesus, God in the flesh, our Emmanuel, God with us. In the perfect and sinless life, death and resurrection of Jesus, God has reconciled the creation back to himself.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And those of us who have been reconciled to him then live our lives as his body in this place. We become ministers of reconciliation and take up the work of proclaiming and showing that God’s kingdom has come near.

As we live life as God’s people, the church; as we are gathered around word and sacrament we experience life lived in God’s kingdom. But we do not yet experience this kingdom in the fullness of its glory and power. That day will come when Jesus comes back. And on the day that Jesus comes back, heaven and earth will be new. God will live forever with his people. There will be no more sin, or suffering, or sickness or sadness.

Jesus did not come into the world in order to condemn the world, but so that through him the world would have life. This life is life lived in relationship with God. It is life as God intended it to be lived. It is life that is found only in Jesus. Apart from him, this life is not possible. But living and experiencing this life is what God desires for his creation. That is why God is about the work of reconciling his creation, and bringing it back to himself. The Father sends the Son. The Father and the Son together Send the Spirit. The Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies and keeps. Father, Son and Spirit send the church into the world to live as a sign and a witness to God’s presence and activity in the world, and to point the world to Jesus so that through him they might know life.

So when we say that Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life, this is one of the things that we have in mind, the life that is found and given in Jesus. The word “life” can also describe the days that we live on this earth. It is the very act of living. Life can be the sum of our hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties. Life can be the experiences that we have had and those influences that make us who we are. Life is what is experienced by those who want to live.

Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” It is only in Jesus that we know this abundant life. So as we think about this congregation and our ministry together, what better word to describe what we have than life? Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

The word life can also refer to the number of days that we live on this earth. So that if you belong to a place for life, you belong to it for the rest of your days. Not only are you committed to that place, but that place is also committed to you. We live in a culture that is very transient and moves around a lot, so what an awesome comfort to know that we have a place where we belong. Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

So then what better image to use for this than a vine? The imagery of the vine comes right out of the scriptures. It is one of the images used in the Old Testament to describe God’s people. We see this in our Old Testament lesson for today in Isaiah. God redeemed his people from slavery to the Egyptians, established a covenant with them at Sinai, and took them to the promised Land, in doing this he planted his vineyard. In the lesson from Isaiah this song is calling the people of the vineyard to remember who they are and what they are to be about. So that they can bear fruit in accordance with who and what they are supposed to be.

In the New Testament the imagery of the vine is also used to describe the people of God. This is both Jew and Gentile together in one vineyard. Jesus describes himself in John’s Gospel as the vine. “I am the vine; you are the branches.” And apart from him we can do nothing. So in talking about the vine and the imagery of the vine we are talking about the very life and connection that we have to our savior.

Now, the way this all came together was kind of cool. When I got here a little over a year ago, the website had just been redesigned. And on the website where these cool little vine designs. Those were then used in the stationary, logo and business cards for Faith. And for no other reason at the time than to provide continuity with the website. How cool was it then, when we start to think through this vision thing and put the imagery idea together to see that the vine had been there this whole time, or at least the whole time I have been here. Faith Lutheran Church is a place for life.

I am very excited about this and what it means. I am humble to be here at this time in the life of the congregation and to be able to do ministry together with you. I pray that as we go through this journey in these next weeks and beyond that this would be a great blessing to you, that it would get you excited about ministry and living and experiencing the life that we have in Jesus in this place for life.

There is much more that I could say about this, but it probably isn’t a good idea to begin a sermon with a joke about long sermons, and then preach the longest sermon you have ever preached. So I will save the rest for the remainder of this series.

In the meantime, may the abundant life that you have in Jesus be a constant source of joy, hope, peace and excitement for you. Now and always. Amen.