|
First Lesson: Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Responsive Reading: Psalm 19 Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a Gospel Lesson: Luke 4: 14-21 Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,
About a month ago, I was engaging in strategic planning for North Shore Area Partners. The presenter was a guy named Reid Zimmerman. Reid’s a former Lutheran pastor who now teaches nonprofit management at Hamline. Reid asked everyone in the room the following question “What would have to happen for North Shore Area Partners to accomplish its mission and shut its doors?” People were initially unsure how to respond to such a question. It seems obvious that there will always be senior citizens who long to stay independent and need help. For many this would be a tough question to engage. As I thought about the following, a vision of sorts popped into my head. What if every neighborhood in Silver Bay assumed a mindset of the need to help uplift the community most senior members? We have people in town doing this already, what if everyone in town embraced this mentality. What if people didn’t think of providing assistance as an obligation rather than an opportunity? Now many will hear my words and feel them to be incredibly far-fetched, this is the right reaction! Because we want always to be dreaming big when it comes to the world around us. So bringing Reid’s question closer to home, let me ask everyone here the following “How will our work as Sychar Lutheran Church be accomplished?” Could we ever get to a point where we feel that our mission as people is complete? The following reflection leads to one of the most common questions that I receive in the ministry, and that relates to sharing our faith. These struggles affect people as they wonder how exactly do I talk about my faith to my children, to my grandchildren, to my friends, and my neighbors. The natural instinct is that such efforts will fail because they have failed before. How do we speak about our faith to those closest to us? This leads us into our Gospel for today from Luke 4[1]. Luke 4 tells the tale of Jesus giving his first sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth. Jesus on this day is preaching a sermon to those at the place where he had gathered every Sabbath day for his whole life[2]. As the people see Jesus get up to attempt to speak, they didn’t know what to make of the scene. Here was Jesus on this day preaching to people who remember him running around as a ten-year-old-boy, preaching to his friends, and preaching to his neighbors. This was the spot where Jesus dared to give his first sermon. There was nothing unusual about the congregation in Nazareth. The synagogue in Nazareth probably looked like any other small-town congregation in Galilee. The congregation is filled with a mix of rich and poor, Roman citizen and devout Jew, healthy and sick, happy and distraught. I’m sure the Nazareth synagogue had its share of colorful characters. There was nothing unique about Nazareth to make it a special vessel for Jesus’ message[3]. So as Jesus begins, let’s be honest the congregation probably wasn’t expecting much. Jesus lacked any formal religious education, and he had been working as a common carpenter. This was how the people of Nazareth previously knew him. Jesus probably didn’t look like he would be much of a preacher. Then something amazing happened as Jesus began to preach. Jesus was able to read Hebrew well. Jesus was able to speak with poise and polish. Jesus then began to preach that all the scriptures they had previously heard would be fulfilled in his presence, and the congregation was amazed. Jesus had hit upon the greatest sermon that the people in Nazareth were ever going to hear. What was the secret of Jesus’ preaching making it so effective? Jesus was not merely quoting scripture, Jesus was proclaiming scripture which is vastly different. Jesus is connecting the scriptures to the life of his congregation. I can hear people this morning assuming they can’t preach like Jesus. This might be true. Preaching is not the key to evangelism. The key to evangelism is instead the ability to reach out to someone when they need it. The key to evangelism is connecting the reality of grace to people’s lives. Let me tell the following story from Huck Finn[4]. Huck’s dad was a drunk. One night Pap went all over town drinking, cussing, and carrying out till after midnight. Pap gets thrown in jail which was a relatively common occurrence. Things were going to be different though with this jail sentence. The new judge vowed to Pap that things were going to be different this time.[5] So the new judge took Pap and invited him into his home where he dressed him well and fed him some nice meals. The new judge saw Pap as something entirely different than the town drunk. Pap at seeing the judge’s behavior towards him finally breaks down. Pap admits to being ashamed to what he has become. Pap hoped the judge to point him towards a new way forward from his previous messed up existence. The judge had declared in Pap’s presence a declaration that Pap never thought he would hear. Pap is worthy to receive the good news! We all misunderstand evangelism. We misunderstand evangelism when we make it about our knowledge. Evangelism is rather about the ability to forge meaningful connections with people just like Pap, who need them. The calling of evangelism is to not to make people into perfect members of Sychar Lutheran Church, the calling of evangelism is to give people Jesus and allow them the opportunity to be a part of our supportive community of faith. There are people out there that have been struggling with trying to find every coping mechanism with the battlefield that we often call life. These people might not find love within their marriage; they might be estranged from their children, they might be uncertain about the future of their job. We all know these people. What these people long for is a community whose love is unconditional whether they believe it is possible or not. “If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored all rejoice together with it.” -1st Corinthians 12:26 As Jesus is preaching on this day, his preaching goes way beyond those merely sitting in the synagogue in Nazareth; rather Jesus’ preaching extends to every single person within the community of Nazareth longing for hope. Too often, we see the church like we see the world. We see a world divided between Democrats and Republicans, a world divided between black and white, a world divided between Silver Bay and Two Harbors. These are the distinctions that Jesus is compelling us on this day to let go. Christ is not interested in our divisions, Christ is not interested in our excuses, rather Christ is interested in setting free those living with a paralyzing bondage as they go through their days. What people don’t need to hear today is a Jesus, who promises to make their lives easier[6], this is a quick fix to much a bigger issue. What people rather long to hear is that no matter what you hear in any sermon today, there is a much bigger picture of faith. The big picture of faith all centers on what is yet to come. We are not optimistic this morning by past results, we are rather optimistic by God’s big promises. I want to close this morning with a story[7]. The following is a story of a mother and a daughter[8]. Mom is currently in the hospital hooked to nothing but machines and totally unresponsive. Daughter is freaking out. The daughter would give anything at that moment for Mom to wake up and respond to her. You see the daughter needed mom in her life. The daughter needed an event such as this to admit it. The daughter as she saw her mom lying in a hospital bed came to admit how much she had failed and disappointed her mother over the years. The daughter recalled her years of teenage rebellion trying to fit into the world that didn’t know any better: drinking, smoking, piercings, and attempting to find approval in the wrong people. The daughter recalls taking every opportunity to tell her mom how awful she was. The daughter even cursed her mom for bringing her into this world. The daughter could see her mom breaking with nearly every word out of her mouth. Her mom’s response is significant. You see we as a people often greatly misunderstand love. Many people think of love as an emotion, we want to love others and have others love us. We assume that love should be easy and natural because of this. The thing about love is that it goes way beyond fairy-tales of human relationships. Love requires patience and self-control when people disappoint you and love require selflessness to bestow grace upon those who have fallen short[9]. So how did mom respond to her deadbeat daughter? Mom kept preaching “love” again and again[10]. Over and over and over. Daughter knew all the ways that she had disappointed mom, yet mom would not waver in her response. The daughter was now terrified as her one light in the midst of darkness began to flicker. The daughter needed her mom’s presence because of this more than she was ever going to admit. The story of the daughter mirrors many of our stories when it comes to things of faith. People often go through life not quite sure of what exactly it is they need without others to guide them. We have people from our congregation and community that come from a bad place this morning. These people are struggling with hurt, rejection, and disappointment. Plenty of people’s messes will come to our door. What shall our words be at times such as these, our words shall be that we do not judge you on this day because deep down inside we are a people of the resurrection. We believe connection is possible because our scriptures promise that “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come The old has gone, the new is here[11]! As long as people need to hear this message, we shall have a purpose as a people. We shall not gather here because we believe that we have the power to change ourselves into problem-free people, we rather gather here because we believe that Christ can change us by one-day making alive, what was once dead! Amen [1] Luke 4:14-21 [2] Harrisville, Roy. “Luke 4:14-21 :Commentary”. Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. Saint Paul, MN. 24.Jan.2010. Web. Jan.20.2016. [3] Reese, Ruth Anne. “Luke 4:14-21 :Commentary”. Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. Saint Paul, MN. 24.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.20.2016 [4] Bender, Micheal. “Bridging the Empathy Gap: Pap’s New Judge and a Man from Nazareth”. Mockingbird Ministries (MBird). 19.Dec.2013. Web. Jan.20.2016 [5] Bender, Micheal. “Bridging the Empathy Gap: Pap’s New Judge and a Man from Nazareth [6] Lewis, Karoline. “Dear Working Preacher: A Life-Changing Epiphany”. Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. Saint Paul, MN. 24.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.20.2016. [7] Larkin, Lauren. R.E. “I Love You, Child, As I Have Been Loved”. Mockingbird Ministries (MBird)19.Jan.2016. Web. Jan.20.2016 [8] The full story comes from Fliss, Jennifer. “Blink If You Can Hear Me”. Brain, Child Magazine. 24. Nov.2015. Web. Jan.20.2016 [9] Merritt, Jonathan. “Andy Stanley gets surprisingly real about love, sex, and dating”. Religion News Services. 15.Jan.2015. Web. Jan.20.2016. [10] Larkin, Lauren. R.E. “I Love You, Child, As I Have Been Loved”. Mockingbird Ministries (MBird) [11] 2 Corinthians 5:17 Comments are closed.
|
Categories
All
|
RSS Feed