Saturday, January 1, 2011
The Name of Jesus
Holy Eucharist at 10:00 a.m.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
The Second Sunday of Christmas
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
The Epiphany of Our Lord
Holy Eucharist at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sermon from December 25, 2010: Christmas Day
“It Is Good”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: John 1:1-14)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face
of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that
the light was good. (Gen. 1:1-4)
In the beginning it was good. In the beginning, God spoke light into being. God spoke matter into being. God spoke, and created a universe. God’s Word, God’s intention for existence, made existence possible.
And it was good. Again and again God said “it is good.”
So what are we to make of what we hear this day? We live in a world that clearly is not good. There is wickedness and neglect and brokenness; we who are the dominant species on this particular planet have fouled our nest and destroyed not only many of our fellow creatures and species but also jeopardized our own future; there is hunger and disease and ignorance among many of our kind; there is hatred and war and violence and oppression. We cannot see much that is good.
But what we hear this day from John is that God’s Word which created all things, God’s intention for this world and for the universe which made all existence, has engaged this world once again. John echoes those words from Genesis:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him
not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was
the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome
it. (John 1:1-4)
Thus far he simply recasts the vision of Genesis and clearly names God’s Word as the creative force of God. But then he tells us this: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John tells us this morning that God’s intention for the world has become one of us, has lived with us, literally has “set up his tent among us.” That God’s Word has brought light into the darkness of this once good world, and that light cannot be overcome.
And I say again, what are we to make of what we have heard this day?
What John is saying is almost incomprehensible.
He is looking at this Jesus of Nazareth from a distance of a few decades, at his teaching, his work, his healing, his signs – and at his brutal death and subsequent resurrection. And this is the conclusion he makes. This Jesus, John says, is God’s Logos, God’s Word for all time. This Jesus, John says, is the center of God’s intent for the universe. This Jesus, John says, makes God known to us.
And what we know, John says, is that this Jesus, this Word of God who was present at creation, intends to bring the entire creation back to God’s joy and grace. God so loved the cosmos – the entirety of creation – John says, that God sent the Son, not to condemn but to save. To be lifted up and draw all people to God.
And it’s almost more than we can deal with. We can understand Jesus as a man. We can even worship him as the Son of God. But to understand that he is the embodiment of the Triune God’s creative will, that God has literally taken up a home with us now, this is beyond our capabilities.
But perhaps John has given us a gift in his tying Jesus to the Word of God which called life and creation into being in Genesis. Maybe on this Christmas Day John is inviting us not necessarily to understand how God does this and is with us. But simply to believe and marvel at what it means that God has done this.
What that will do for us is cause us to re-think how we see humanity and this world.
Lutherans are a very practical and honest branch of the Christian family tree when it comes to what we think of human capability and reality. Our view of humanity, our anthropology, is pretty low. We typically are not among those who think humanity is progressing and improving, because we don’t see evidence of that very often. Instead, Lutherans will typically expect the worst of humanity. We’ll not be surprised when power corrupts even good people, because we expect that. We’ll not be surprised when people do things that seem inhuman, because we deeply believe that our core human nature is broken and marred.
It isn’t that we hate ourselves and humanity – but we ground our theology in the Scripture that says we are so broken, so far from God, that we cannot reach God ourselves, or please God. We cannot help ourselves – so if we are to be helped, God will have to do it. We are captive to our sinfulness and brokenness unless God breaks that captivity. Unless God’s grace comes to us.
So to put it in terms of Genesis 1, we Lutherans look at the world and see that it is broken, and not the good it once was. We look at humanity and see that it is fallen. And we aren’t surprised at further examples of this. This can get us the reputation of being heavy on the guilt, on the idea that “I am a poor, miserable sinner.” And while we don’t want to walk around with hair shirts on ourselves all the time, we’d claim that we’re being realistic and honest with humanity and ourselves.
Now there are deep ties between Lutheran theology and the fourth Gospel, perhaps more than any of the Gospels. So it’s good that we Lutherans reconsider this first chapter of John today. Because John has something astonishing to say to people like us.
Listen carefully: In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God spoke, and it was created, and it was good. And now this Word who created this good creation has become one of us, has entered our broken, flawed, enslaved humanity. We who expect, who know, that there is much wrong with the world, and with us, we need to hear this: God’s creative Word has become one of us.
Now do you understand? When God’s Word creates, it is good. And now God’s Word is one of us. God has entered a broken, sinful, flawed, captive humanity. And God is saying, “It is good.”
This is the gift of the Incarnation. This is what we are to make of what we have heard this day: in coming to be with us, God is reaffirming the goodness of creation, and reaffirming that we are, or can be, good. In coming to be with us God enters the darkness of a world once filled with God’s light and grace and says, “I can do something about this. I can save this. I can save them.”
This is the marvel of this day.
God has come to be with us, to call us good, to make us good. When God comes to us in light, our darkness goes away. When the good Word enters the bad world, it is the world which changes. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. When you open a door between a lighted room and a dark room, it is the darkness which flees from the flowing light. This is what God has done – opened a door between God’s light and our darkness. And nothing will ever be the same.
What moves me beyond description is that this is the opposite of God’s action, God’s decision as told in the story of the flood. Then God saw all the darkness, all the wickedness, and decided the only answer was destruction, wiping the slate, starting over. Except for the animals of the world and one good family, God saw nothing redeemable.
But the ancient Hebrews do something with this story that I’ve not found in others of the many cultural versions of a great flood story: they describe what looks like God’s remorse. After the flood in Genesis, God says “never again.” As if God was shocked by this result, by what happened. And the rainbow is the sign that God will not do this again.
So coming to us in Jesus is the logical end to God’s decision after the flood, to the gift of the rainbow. From choosing Abraham and Sarah, through building a nation, giving the law, speaking through the prophets, God was preparing the world, preparing us, for this. To come in person, not only to show us how to live, how to be truly human, how to have life again in love of God and neighbor, but also to make us good by reclaiming humanity into God’s heart.
Here is the marvel John declares: instead of looking at the world’s darkness and wickedness and destroying all while saving only a few, God now becomes one with the wicked ones to save them all. Of the Father’s love, of the Father’s heart is begotten this Son, who in being one with us saves all of us.
That’s what we are to make of this day, of what we have heard.
And it is almost more than we can bear. But it is the best news we could ever imagine. I am convinced that no human theologian could truly invent this idea without God actually doing it. We’re much more comfortable with God doing wrathful destruction – hence the hundreds of flood stories in the cultures of the world. It’s the way of power, the way of the world, the way most people in history imagine their gods acting.
But the true God, the creator of all, has come to be with us. And says, “It is good. I can fix this. I can save them.” And from the Father’s heart we find what we never hoped to find: love and grace and hope. Because if God’s Word says it is good, it is good.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: John 1:1-14)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless
void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while the Spirit of God swept over the face
of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that
the light was good. (Gen. 1:1-4)
In the beginning it was good. In the beginning, God spoke light into being. God spoke matter into being. God spoke, and created a universe. God’s Word, God’s intention for existence, made existence possible.
And it was good. Again and again God said “it is good.”
So what are we to make of what we hear this day? We live in a world that clearly is not good. There is wickedness and neglect and brokenness; we who are the dominant species on this particular planet have fouled our nest and destroyed not only many of our fellow creatures and species but also jeopardized our own future; there is hunger and disease and ignorance among many of our kind; there is hatred and war and violence and oppression. We cannot see much that is good.
But what we hear this day from John is that God’s Word which created all things, God’s intention for this world and for the universe which made all existence, has engaged this world once again. John echoes those words from Genesis:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He
was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him
not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was
the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome
it. (John 1:1-4)
Thus far he simply recasts the vision of Genesis and clearly names God’s Word as the creative force of God. But then he tells us this: “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John tells us this morning that God’s intention for the world has become one of us, has lived with us, literally has “set up his tent among us.” That God’s Word has brought light into the darkness of this once good world, and that light cannot be overcome.
And I say again, what are we to make of what we have heard this day?
What John is saying is almost incomprehensible.
He is looking at this Jesus of Nazareth from a distance of a few decades, at his teaching, his work, his healing, his signs – and at his brutal death and subsequent resurrection. And this is the conclusion he makes. This Jesus, John says, is God’s Logos, God’s Word for all time. This Jesus, John says, is the center of God’s intent for the universe. This Jesus, John says, makes God known to us.
And what we know, John says, is that this Jesus, this Word of God who was present at creation, intends to bring the entire creation back to God’s joy and grace. God so loved the cosmos – the entirety of creation – John says, that God sent the Son, not to condemn but to save. To be lifted up and draw all people to God.
And it’s almost more than we can deal with. We can understand Jesus as a man. We can even worship him as the Son of God. But to understand that he is the embodiment of the Triune God’s creative will, that God has literally taken up a home with us now, this is beyond our capabilities.
But perhaps John has given us a gift in his tying Jesus to the Word of God which called life and creation into being in Genesis. Maybe on this Christmas Day John is inviting us not necessarily to understand how God does this and is with us. But simply to believe and marvel at what it means that God has done this.
What that will do for us is cause us to re-think how we see humanity and this world.
Lutherans are a very practical and honest branch of the Christian family tree when it comes to what we think of human capability and reality. Our view of humanity, our anthropology, is pretty low. We typically are not among those who think humanity is progressing and improving, because we don’t see evidence of that very often. Instead, Lutherans will typically expect the worst of humanity. We’ll not be surprised when power corrupts even good people, because we expect that. We’ll not be surprised when people do things that seem inhuman, because we deeply believe that our core human nature is broken and marred.
It isn’t that we hate ourselves and humanity – but we ground our theology in the Scripture that says we are so broken, so far from God, that we cannot reach God ourselves, or please God. We cannot help ourselves – so if we are to be helped, God will have to do it. We are captive to our sinfulness and brokenness unless God breaks that captivity. Unless God’s grace comes to us.
So to put it in terms of Genesis 1, we Lutherans look at the world and see that it is broken, and not the good it once was. We look at humanity and see that it is fallen. And we aren’t surprised at further examples of this. This can get us the reputation of being heavy on the guilt, on the idea that “I am a poor, miserable sinner.” And while we don’t want to walk around with hair shirts on ourselves all the time, we’d claim that we’re being realistic and honest with humanity and ourselves.
Now there are deep ties between Lutheran theology and the fourth Gospel, perhaps more than any of the Gospels. So it’s good that we Lutherans reconsider this first chapter of John today. Because John has something astonishing to say to people like us.
Listen carefully: In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, God spoke, and it was created, and it was good. And now this Word who created this good creation has become one of us, has entered our broken, flawed, enslaved humanity. We who expect, who know, that there is much wrong with the world, and with us, we need to hear this: God’s creative Word has become one of us.
Now do you understand? When God’s Word creates, it is good. And now God’s Word is one of us. God has entered a broken, sinful, flawed, captive humanity. And God is saying, “It is good.”
This is the gift of the Incarnation. This is what we are to make of what we have heard this day: in coming to be with us, God is reaffirming the goodness of creation, and reaffirming that we are, or can be, good. In coming to be with us God enters the darkness of a world once filled with God’s light and grace and says, “I can do something about this. I can save this. I can save them.”
This is the marvel of this day.
God has come to be with us, to call us good, to make us good. When God comes to us in light, our darkness goes away. When the good Word enters the bad world, it is the world which changes. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it. When you open a door between a lighted room and a dark room, it is the darkness which flees from the flowing light. This is what God has done – opened a door between God’s light and our darkness. And nothing will ever be the same.
What moves me beyond description is that this is the opposite of God’s action, God’s decision as told in the story of the flood. Then God saw all the darkness, all the wickedness, and decided the only answer was destruction, wiping the slate, starting over. Except for the animals of the world and one good family, God saw nothing redeemable.
But the ancient Hebrews do something with this story that I’ve not found in others of the many cultural versions of a great flood story: they describe what looks like God’s remorse. After the flood in Genesis, God says “never again.” As if God was shocked by this result, by what happened. And the rainbow is the sign that God will not do this again.
So coming to us in Jesus is the logical end to God’s decision after the flood, to the gift of the rainbow. From choosing Abraham and Sarah, through building a nation, giving the law, speaking through the prophets, God was preparing the world, preparing us, for this. To come in person, not only to show us how to live, how to be truly human, how to have life again in love of God and neighbor, but also to make us good by reclaiming humanity into God’s heart.
Here is the marvel John declares: instead of looking at the world’s darkness and wickedness and destroying all while saving only a few, God now becomes one with the wicked ones to save them all. Of the Father’s love, of the Father’s heart is begotten this Son, who in being one with us saves all of us.
That’s what we are to make of this day, of what we have heard.
And it is almost more than we can bear. But it is the best news we could ever imagine. I am convinced that no human theologian could truly invent this idea without God actually doing it. We’re much more comfortable with God doing wrathful destruction – hence the hundreds of flood stories in the cultures of the world. It’s the way of power, the way of the world, the way most people in history imagine their gods acting.
But the true God, the creator of all, has come to be with us. And says, “It is good. I can fix this. I can save them.” And from the Father’s heart we find what we never hoped to find: love and grace and hope. Because if God’s Word says it is good, it is good.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Sermon from December 24, 2010: Christmas Eve
“Out of the Box”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Luke 2:1-20; Isaiah 9:2-7; also referencing Isaiah 40 and 60)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Three thousand seven hundred years ago – give or take – the God of the universe, creator of a billion stars, maker of the heavens and the earth, decided to establish a relationship with the people of this planet. God came to a couple living in the Middle East named Abraham and Sarah and claimed them as a special family, a chosen people of God, through whom God would bless the whole world.
Four hundred or so years later, 3,300 years ago, this family was now huge, and enslaved in Egypt. And God once more acted, calling a man named Moses to lead this people to the land they’d been promised. And when they arrived at a mountain in the wilderness called Sinai, they experienced something world-shaking. This God of Abraham and Sarah was invisible – they didn’t even have a statue to represent this God. But there, on the mountain top, was something visible, the very presence of God in a cloud. We don’t know what this presence looked like or felt like, but it was real, tangible, and frightening. The people called it “the glory of the LORD.” “Kavod Yahweh.” Although they didn’t say the proper name of God, so “Kavod Adonai.” They’d only seen it once before, earlier in their journey – and then only at a distance – when they complained of starvation and received the gift of manna.
And they were terrified of this visible presence of God. They’d actually asked Moses to let them speak to the LORD directly instead of his always interpreting for them, but when it came right down to actually doing it, they couldn’t stand in the presence of the glory of the LORD. Thereafter, on their journey in the wilderness, once they’d made the tent of the tabernacle, the glory of the LORD – the visible, real presence of God – traveled with them, always staying in the tent of the Holy of Holies, residing (so they thought) inside the Ark of the Covenant. When King Solomon finally built the temple, they believed that the glory of the LORD entered the Holy of Holies where it stayed. The presence of the glory of the LORD was a sign of Israel’s blessing, of God’s grace upon them.
Now we move ahead another thousand years. Luke is telling a story:
And listen to these words from the second chapter:
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock
by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were terrified.
Did you hear that? The Glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds on the hillside. This is not accidental speech – this phrase was the same term the ancient Israelites used that meant very specifically the presence of God in the Temple, the visible reality of God. The phrase only occurs two other times in the New Testament. Luke is announcing something world-shattering.
He’s saying this: The glory of the Lord, the visible sign of the Creator of the Universe, is on the loose. Not contained in a locked room with access only to the elite, not contained in an ancient gilded box with a couple of stone tablets. God’s out. And nothing will ever be the same again.
But what does it all mean for us?
Well, if you were a first century Jew, it meant everything. It meant that access to God wasn’t controlled by the Temple priests anymore, and kept behind closed doors. For the first time in 1,300 years the glory of the LORD is on a mountain again, this time a hillside near Bethlehem, and with no priests, just smelly, vulgar shepherds – shocking.
Friends, there’s a reason the shepherds were terrified, “sore afraid.” No Israelite other than a priest had been in the presence of the glory of the LORD for 1,300 years. It would tend to shake up a person.
Now this is not completely a surprise. In fact, if the people of Israel had noticed, they’d have seen it in Isaiah: In Isaiah 40: “Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” All people shall see it together! And in Isaiah 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
Hundreds of years before Jesus is born, the prophets are saying that someday the glory of the LORD will get out of the Holy of Holies and be among the people. It’s just that people never thought it would really happen.
It’s hard for us to grasp this in the way a first century Jew would have. But it can be done. We need to put it in a way that makes sense in our context. We are explorers, people of science, people who know more than anyone else in history the magnificent splendor and breadth and complexity of the universe – unlike first century Jews or even 16th century German Reformers, we know how immense this creation is. We’ve seen pictures through the Hubble telescope and through electron microscopes that astonish us.
And what Luke is saying to us is this: God, the creator of this amazing universe, maker of a billion suns, designer of uncountable tiny particles, has come to us in person to live with us. We may not understand the depth of the phrase “the glory of the LORD” as the Jews of Jesus’ time did, but we do know what it might mean if the creator of all we’ve discovered and learned has become one of us.
And the reason it changes everything is because now we know that God has been fully revealed to us in Jesus. Now we know what we need to know about God.
What Luke is saying – and this is confirmed with a powerful tearing as the curtain covering the Holy of Holies is ripped asunder at Jesus’ crucifixion – Luke is saying that in Jesus God is no longer confined, God is with us. Out in the world, loose. Emmanuel, God-with-us, is now a reality. Not in some vague “God is everywhere” kind of thinking. In reality.
This baby, this Son of God grows up. And in this baby, this human being, is everything God wants and needs us to know about God’s actions in the world. Everything about God – God’s power, God’s glory, God’s everything – is contained in this baby in a manger. In this man crucified on a cross and risen from the dead.
What God has said is that in the love Jesus came to bring we know all we need to know. And God will never be locked away again. God will transform the world with this love, bring in a kingdom of justice and peace for all people, where all are fed, all are loved, all are blessed. It may not come to full fruition in our lives, but the promise that is begun at the manger and redeemed in the resurrection of Jesus will come to pass.
And here’s where we have something in common with the others in time and space who’ve heard this message: it can be exhilarating. It can also be threatening.
This is incredibly threatening if you’re a keeper of the box, the locked room. Then you can control what people think about God, you can decide who God favors and who God doesn’t. You can say whatever you want about God and people have to believe it. It isn’t just priests of the temple who try to keep God locked away from others. It’s Christians, too, who love Jesus and hate people.
Too many Christians love Christmas and Easter, love the baby, weep at the cross, and then talk of God’s mighty wrath condemning people. They still want God’s glory in a box that they control, to tell others what God thinks of them, of the world.
But God has said that in this baby, at this manger, and then at the cross, and now in bread and wine, water and Word, God’s complete word for the world is given, and that word is love. We can no more put God back in the box than we can create a universe. We can’t imagine that God exists apart from Jesus’ love and forgiveness – it’s simply not possible. We can’t keep people from God, nor can we stop the Holy Spirit – the Glory of the Lord is out, and in this baby, and has told the world one thing: you are loved and wanted back.
This is Emmanuel: God, the creator of the universe, has come to be with us. With you.
And no one has the keys to God, the exclusive access. In the body of Christ, God is living and moving and changing the world. All that we need to know about God we now know. And this is the only way we could have known God, understood even the smallest thing about God, only if God came to us.
It’s going to be hard sometimes, with God just showing up in people’s hearts and lives. We’ll get confused, and sometimes wish someone had God under control. Sometimes we won’t be sure if God is leading us one way or another. But it’s the best news the world has ever known – God isn’t under anyone’s control, God’s out with us. And in this baby we learn God has come not in power, not in wrath, not in vengeance, but in love. A love willing to die for us. A love powerful enough to raise us to new life.
God’s glory’s out – and with us in love. And nothing will ever be the same again, thank God.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Luke 2:1-20; Isaiah 9:2-7; also referencing Isaiah 40 and 60)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Three thousand seven hundred years ago – give or take – the God of the universe, creator of a billion stars, maker of the heavens and the earth, decided to establish a relationship with the people of this planet. God came to a couple living in the Middle East named Abraham and Sarah and claimed them as a special family, a chosen people of God, through whom God would bless the whole world.
Four hundred or so years later, 3,300 years ago, this family was now huge, and enslaved in Egypt. And God once more acted, calling a man named Moses to lead this people to the land they’d been promised. And when they arrived at a mountain in the wilderness called Sinai, they experienced something world-shaking. This God of Abraham and Sarah was invisible – they didn’t even have a statue to represent this God. But there, on the mountain top, was something visible, the very presence of God in a cloud. We don’t know what this presence looked like or felt like, but it was real, tangible, and frightening. The people called it “the glory of the LORD.” “Kavod Yahweh.” Although they didn’t say the proper name of God, so “Kavod Adonai.” They’d only seen it once before, earlier in their journey – and then only at a distance – when they complained of starvation and received the gift of manna.
And they were terrified of this visible presence of God. They’d actually asked Moses to let them speak to the LORD directly instead of his always interpreting for them, but when it came right down to actually doing it, they couldn’t stand in the presence of the glory of the LORD. Thereafter, on their journey in the wilderness, once they’d made the tent of the tabernacle, the glory of the LORD – the visible, real presence of God – traveled with them, always staying in the tent of the Holy of Holies, residing (so they thought) inside the Ark of the Covenant. When King Solomon finally built the temple, they believed that the glory of the LORD entered the Holy of Holies where it stayed. The presence of the glory of the LORD was a sign of Israel’s blessing, of God’s grace upon them.
Now we move ahead another thousand years. Luke is telling a story:
And listen to these words from the second chapter:
In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock
by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone
around them, and they were terrified.
Did you hear that? The Glory of the Lord shone around the shepherds on the hillside. This is not accidental speech – this phrase was the same term the ancient Israelites used that meant very specifically the presence of God in the Temple, the visible reality of God. The phrase only occurs two other times in the New Testament. Luke is announcing something world-shattering.
He’s saying this: The glory of the Lord, the visible sign of the Creator of the Universe, is on the loose. Not contained in a locked room with access only to the elite, not contained in an ancient gilded box with a couple of stone tablets. God’s out. And nothing will ever be the same again.
But what does it all mean for us?
Well, if you were a first century Jew, it meant everything. It meant that access to God wasn’t controlled by the Temple priests anymore, and kept behind closed doors. For the first time in 1,300 years the glory of the LORD is on a mountain again, this time a hillside near Bethlehem, and with no priests, just smelly, vulgar shepherds – shocking.
Friends, there’s a reason the shepherds were terrified, “sore afraid.” No Israelite other than a priest had been in the presence of the glory of the LORD for 1,300 years. It would tend to shake up a person.
Now this is not completely a surprise. In fact, if the people of Israel had noticed, they’d have seen it in Isaiah: In Isaiah 40: “Then the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” All people shall see it together! And in Isaiah 60: “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.”
Hundreds of years before Jesus is born, the prophets are saying that someday the glory of the LORD will get out of the Holy of Holies and be among the people. It’s just that people never thought it would really happen.
It’s hard for us to grasp this in the way a first century Jew would have. But it can be done. We need to put it in a way that makes sense in our context. We are explorers, people of science, people who know more than anyone else in history the magnificent splendor and breadth and complexity of the universe – unlike first century Jews or even 16th century German Reformers, we know how immense this creation is. We’ve seen pictures through the Hubble telescope and through electron microscopes that astonish us.
And what Luke is saying to us is this: God, the creator of this amazing universe, maker of a billion suns, designer of uncountable tiny particles, has come to us in person to live with us. We may not understand the depth of the phrase “the glory of the LORD” as the Jews of Jesus’ time did, but we do know what it might mean if the creator of all we’ve discovered and learned has become one of us.
And the reason it changes everything is because now we know that God has been fully revealed to us in Jesus. Now we know what we need to know about God.
What Luke is saying – and this is confirmed with a powerful tearing as the curtain covering the Holy of Holies is ripped asunder at Jesus’ crucifixion – Luke is saying that in Jesus God is no longer confined, God is with us. Out in the world, loose. Emmanuel, God-with-us, is now a reality. Not in some vague “God is everywhere” kind of thinking. In reality.
This baby, this Son of God grows up. And in this baby, this human being, is everything God wants and needs us to know about God’s actions in the world. Everything about God – God’s power, God’s glory, God’s everything – is contained in this baby in a manger. In this man crucified on a cross and risen from the dead.
What God has said is that in the love Jesus came to bring we know all we need to know. And God will never be locked away again. God will transform the world with this love, bring in a kingdom of justice and peace for all people, where all are fed, all are loved, all are blessed. It may not come to full fruition in our lives, but the promise that is begun at the manger and redeemed in the resurrection of Jesus will come to pass.
And here’s where we have something in common with the others in time and space who’ve heard this message: it can be exhilarating. It can also be threatening.
This is incredibly threatening if you’re a keeper of the box, the locked room. Then you can control what people think about God, you can decide who God favors and who God doesn’t. You can say whatever you want about God and people have to believe it. It isn’t just priests of the temple who try to keep God locked away from others. It’s Christians, too, who love Jesus and hate people.
Too many Christians love Christmas and Easter, love the baby, weep at the cross, and then talk of God’s mighty wrath condemning people. They still want God’s glory in a box that they control, to tell others what God thinks of them, of the world.
But God has said that in this baby, at this manger, and then at the cross, and now in bread and wine, water and Word, God’s complete word for the world is given, and that word is love. We can no more put God back in the box than we can create a universe. We can’t imagine that God exists apart from Jesus’ love and forgiveness – it’s simply not possible. We can’t keep people from God, nor can we stop the Holy Spirit – the Glory of the Lord is out, and in this baby, and has told the world one thing: you are loved and wanted back.
This is Emmanuel: God, the creator of the universe, has come to be with us. With you.
And no one has the keys to God, the exclusive access. In the body of Christ, God is living and moving and changing the world. All that we need to know about God we now know. And this is the only way we could have known God, understood even the smallest thing about God, only if God came to us.
It’s going to be hard sometimes, with God just showing up in people’s hearts and lives. We’ll get confused, and sometimes wish someone had God under control. Sometimes we won’t be sure if God is leading us one way or another. But it’s the best news the world has ever known – God isn’t under anyone’s control, God’s out with us. And in this baby we learn God has come not in power, not in wrath, not in vengeance, but in love. A love willing to die for us. A love powerful enough to raise us to new life.
God’s glory’s out – and with us in love. And nothing will ever be the same again, thank God.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Monday, December 20, 2010
This Week's Liturgies
Friday, December 24
Christmas Eve
9:30 pm - Choral Prelude
10:00 pm - Festival Eucharist
Saturday, December 25
Christmas Day
10:00 am - Festival Eucharist
Sunday, December 26
First Sunday of Christmas
8:00 & 10:45 am - Holy Eucharist
Christmas Eve
9:30 pm - Choral Prelude
10:00 pm - Festival Eucharist
Saturday, December 25
Christmas Day
10:00 am - Festival Eucharist
Sunday, December 26
First Sunday of Christmas
8:00 & 10:45 am - Holy Eucharist
The Olive Branch: December 20, 2010
Accent on Worship
During the busy holiday season, we find ourselves preparing in many ways. We are preparing our homes for family and friends. We prepare our tables for the holiday feasts. We prepare the gifts to give to the people whom are special in our lives.
I want to share a preparation that happens each week at Mount Olive. It is my own quiet time of reflection and it is a time for beautifying. It beautifies the church, which we all can appreciate, but it also personally adds beauty to my time of worship. As a member of the altar guild, I set up the altar before the first service. It is a task that I may do one or more times a month. It is not a burden, but a time that enriches my experience at Mount Olive in so many ways.
This is a time where it is generally dark and quiet when I arrive. In the winter, one can be assured it will be dark, quiet and also chilly. As I get to my tasks, the church comes to life a little bit at a time. It starts with a skeleton key that I use to open the sacristy and safe. As I am back doing my tasks, footsteps are heard and I know that others are here to join me. Lights come on little by little. I turn some on to find my way, and then when others arrive, more life is turned on. I feel that I am privileged to a private concert as hymn segments begin and then end abruptly. I know that David is there to practice the day’s music. He is boisterous and bold in these early morning hours. At times, a beautiful voice is heard or an instrument is tuning up – I then know that a solo or two will be in the hours to come. It is a time where the pastor’s laugh is heard as he prepares for the morning, and the worship assistants are scurrying around to be sure the finishing touches are in place. Kneelers come down with a muffled thud. People are coming in for quiet moments of prayer and thoughtfulness. I respect their quiet time and try to tiptoe about behind the scenes. When my duties are done and I come to sit with my family, the church is full of life and light and the pews are beginning to fill with many coming to refresh themselves as I have.
This quiet time in the morning gives me a comfort in what I do. It is in the routine and the orderliness, the knowledge that I am needed. And, it is the fact that I am needed to do the same preparations each week. I enjoy the time that I can give to serve Mount Olive in a quiet way and in a consistent way that allows my family in Christ to appreciate the beauty of the season, but also the beauty of our church.
- Lynn Ruff
Christmas Day Carry-In Breakfast
We will gather in the East Assembly Room on Christmas Day at 9 a.m., just before our Christmas Day liturgy, for a light and cheerful breakfast. By the way, bring some breakfast! Coffee will be provided
Advent Evening Prayer
One more week: this Wednesday,
December 22, 7:00 p.m.
Christmas Worship Schedule
Friday, December 24: Christmas Eve
9:30 pm – Choral Prelude
10:00 pm – Festival Eucharist
Saturday, December 25: Christmas Day
10:00 am – Festival Eucharist
Prayer Office of Compline to be Offered at Mount Olive January 16 - April 17
The Minnesota Compline Choir and Mount Olive will partner to offer the liturgy of Compline on Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent of 2011. The first service will be Sunday evening January 16 (The Second Sunday after Epiphany) and the last one will be Sunday, April 17 (Passion Sunday).
The Minnesota Compline Choir formed under the direction of Charles A. Parsons at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it kept the office of Compline from 1992 to 2005. The Choir had been resident at Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota from October 2005 through January 2010 and is now in search for a new permanent residence.
Mr. Parsons retired from the Choir at the end of the 2008-2009 Season. James Biery directed the choir during the 2009-2010 Season and is succeeded by Erick Lichte.
The choir is comprised of 18 male voices, selected by audition from a wide variety of congregations and denominations. They meet weekly to prepare for each service, and on other occasions for performances at special holiday services.
In worship, the choir assists with the liturgy, hymns and psalms, as well as offering anthems. Currently the Choir can be found at Assumption Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm through December 19, 2010. All are welcome!
The Olive Branch Publication Schedule
The Olive Branch is not published during the week between Christmas and New Year. The next issue is scheduled to be published the week of January 3, 2011.
Please note the church offices are closed on Monday, December 27.
Highlights from the Vestry Meeting
The Vestry's first order of business at their December meeting was a piece of new business presented by Al Bostelmann. Al distributed a draft of a resolution crafted by the Joint Peace with Justice Committee of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area Synods referencing the church's stance on military recruitment and killing. A lively discussion followed and it is hoped that the Vestry study and ponder the resolution in order to offer guidance to Al regarding the resolution. Al hopes to have it crafted for use in the upcoming synod assembly.
David Molvik reported that Pastor Crippen, Andrew Andersen and he had concluded initial interviews with five candidates for the Sexton position. He reported that all five are acceptable candidates and that they will be making their decision in the next few days after background checks are completed. The position will be full time and the Sexton will be available and working on Sunday mornings, as was the case previously.
Pastor Crippen indicated that he'd like us to be prepared to discuss our visioning process during the January Vestry meeting. He encouraged us to have input available at that time. Pastor Crippen, Warren Peterson, and Al Bipes are working on expanding the Communion Ministers program, hoping to get 20-24 interested individuals trained and active soon to bring communion to all who desire it.
Donna Neste's report was reiterated by Carol Austermann, and she emphasized that Donna is in critical need of tutors for the Way to Goals tutoring program. Carla reported that there will be a carry-in Christmas breakfast on Christmas morning. She also reported that the new freezer is in the kitchen and her committee is looking into purchasing open shelving.
Paul Schadewald reported that the Bethania visit was a huge success. He also noted that there is one more week of Lutheran Fair Trade sales. There will be a "Taste of Chile" event in February. Eunice Hafemeister reported that Our Savior's is requesting donations of warm clothing and other items and she hopes that we'll be able to receive some donations this coming Sunday. Both Our Saviors and Store to Door will be speaking at their committee meetings and are asking for more Mount Olive involvement. Carol Austermann reported that Neighborhood Ministries will be having a "Southern Home Cooking" fundraising event on the 23rd of January. The association of Mount Olive with Meals on Wheels and Gary Flatgard's representation on their board was discussed. Further assessment will be made by the Vestry on the January 10th meeting.
Paul Odlaug reported that the Opportunities for Service brunch was attended sparsely, but that pledges for 2011 seem to be up slightly from last year. Approximately $328,000 was pledged, which is 72% of the 2011 budget. Ninety members pledged. Those who did not pledge will be contacted via letter.
Paul Sundquist said he is in the process of cleaning up all accounts by year end. Giving is still down, but donations to the Capital Campaign continue to come in on schedule. He is speaking with Thrivent about renewing our line of credit loan.
Pastor Crippen introduced a conversation about the internship program, including asking the Vestry for their input on past experience with the Vicar. He also asked the Vestry to affirm the intent of Mount Olive to have a vicar for next year. Andrew Andersen moved that we formally apply with Vicar program with Luther Seminary to host a new Vicar from September 2011-August 2012. Paul Odlaug seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The deadline for application is January 15. It was noted that there is a new cost to this program. We will cover approximately $2700 of medical insurance premiums. The increase in costs will be addressed at our April congregational meeting.
Nominating and Audit Committees will need to be set up and approved at the January meeting.
- Submitted by Brian E. Jacobs, Vice President
Book Discussion Upcoming Reads
For its meeting on January 15 the Book Discussion group will discuss Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, and for the February 12 meeting they will read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford.
Walking Humbly
All are invited to attend the 6th annual RIC (Reconciling in Christ) Festival Worship, “WALKING HUMBLY – The Journey Together.”
The service will take place on Saturday, January 29, at 5:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer
(5440 Penn Ave. South, Minneapolis) Brenda Froisland from Edina Community Lutheran Church will preach at this service and a light supper & rich fellowship be held afterwards.
During the busy holiday season, we find ourselves preparing in many ways. We are preparing our homes for family and friends. We prepare our tables for the holiday feasts. We prepare the gifts to give to the people whom are special in our lives.
I want to share a preparation that happens each week at Mount Olive. It is my own quiet time of reflection and it is a time for beautifying. It beautifies the church, which we all can appreciate, but it also personally adds beauty to my time of worship. As a member of the altar guild, I set up the altar before the first service. It is a task that I may do one or more times a month. It is not a burden, but a time that enriches my experience at Mount Olive in so many ways.
This is a time where it is generally dark and quiet when I arrive. In the winter, one can be assured it will be dark, quiet and also chilly. As I get to my tasks, the church comes to life a little bit at a time. It starts with a skeleton key that I use to open the sacristy and safe. As I am back doing my tasks, footsteps are heard and I know that others are here to join me. Lights come on little by little. I turn some on to find my way, and then when others arrive, more life is turned on. I feel that I am privileged to a private concert as hymn segments begin and then end abruptly. I know that David is there to practice the day’s music. He is boisterous and bold in these early morning hours. At times, a beautiful voice is heard or an instrument is tuning up – I then know that a solo or two will be in the hours to come. It is a time where the pastor’s laugh is heard as he prepares for the morning, and the worship assistants are scurrying around to be sure the finishing touches are in place. Kneelers come down with a muffled thud. People are coming in for quiet moments of prayer and thoughtfulness. I respect their quiet time and try to tiptoe about behind the scenes. When my duties are done and I come to sit with my family, the church is full of life and light and the pews are beginning to fill with many coming to refresh themselves as I have.
This quiet time in the morning gives me a comfort in what I do. It is in the routine and the orderliness, the knowledge that I am needed. And, it is the fact that I am needed to do the same preparations each week. I enjoy the time that I can give to serve Mount Olive in a quiet way and in a consistent way that allows my family in Christ to appreciate the beauty of the season, but also the beauty of our church.
- Lynn Ruff
Christmas Day Carry-In Breakfast
We will gather in the East Assembly Room on Christmas Day at 9 a.m., just before our Christmas Day liturgy, for a light and cheerful breakfast. By the way, bring some breakfast! Coffee will be provided
Advent Evening Prayer
One more week: this Wednesday,
December 22, 7:00 p.m.
Christmas Worship Schedule
Friday, December 24: Christmas Eve
9:30 pm – Choral Prelude
10:00 pm – Festival Eucharist
Saturday, December 25: Christmas Day
10:00 am – Festival Eucharist
Prayer Office of Compline to be Offered at Mount Olive January 16 - April 17
The Minnesota Compline Choir and Mount Olive will partner to offer the liturgy of Compline on Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent of 2011. The first service will be Sunday evening January 16 (The Second Sunday after Epiphany) and the last one will be Sunday, April 17 (Passion Sunday).
The Minnesota Compline Choir formed under the direction of Charles A. Parsons at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it kept the office of Compline from 1992 to 2005. The Choir had been resident at Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota from October 2005 through January 2010 and is now in search for a new permanent residence.
Mr. Parsons retired from the Choir at the end of the 2008-2009 Season. James Biery directed the choir during the 2009-2010 Season and is succeeded by Erick Lichte.
The choir is comprised of 18 male voices, selected by audition from a wide variety of congregations and denominations. They meet weekly to prepare for each service, and on other occasions for performances at special holiday services.
In worship, the choir assists with the liturgy, hymns and psalms, as well as offering anthems. Currently the Choir can be found at Assumption Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm through December 19, 2010. All are welcome!
The Olive Branch Publication Schedule
The Olive Branch is not published during the week between Christmas and New Year. The next issue is scheduled to be published the week of January 3, 2011.
Please note the church offices are closed on Monday, December 27.
Highlights from the Vestry Meeting
The Vestry's first order of business at their December meeting was a piece of new business presented by Al Bostelmann. Al distributed a draft of a resolution crafted by the Joint Peace with Justice Committee of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Area Synods referencing the church's stance on military recruitment and killing. A lively discussion followed and it is hoped that the Vestry study and ponder the resolution in order to offer guidance to Al regarding the resolution. Al hopes to have it crafted for use in the upcoming synod assembly.
David Molvik reported that Pastor Crippen, Andrew Andersen and he had concluded initial interviews with five candidates for the Sexton position. He reported that all five are acceptable candidates and that they will be making their decision in the next few days after background checks are completed. The position will be full time and the Sexton will be available and working on Sunday mornings, as was the case previously.
Pastor Crippen indicated that he'd like us to be prepared to discuss our visioning process during the January Vestry meeting. He encouraged us to have input available at that time. Pastor Crippen, Warren Peterson, and Al Bipes are working on expanding the Communion Ministers program, hoping to get 20-24 interested individuals trained and active soon to bring communion to all who desire it.
Donna Neste's report was reiterated by Carol Austermann, and she emphasized that Donna is in critical need of tutors for the Way to Goals tutoring program. Carla reported that there will be a carry-in Christmas breakfast on Christmas morning. She also reported that the new freezer is in the kitchen and her committee is looking into purchasing open shelving.
Paul Schadewald reported that the Bethania visit was a huge success. He also noted that there is one more week of Lutheran Fair Trade sales. There will be a "Taste of Chile" event in February. Eunice Hafemeister reported that Our Savior's is requesting donations of warm clothing and other items and she hopes that we'll be able to receive some donations this coming Sunday. Both Our Saviors and Store to Door will be speaking at their committee meetings and are asking for more Mount Olive involvement. Carol Austermann reported that Neighborhood Ministries will be having a "Southern Home Cooking" fundraising event on the 23rd of January. The association of Mount Olive with Meals on Wheels and Gary Flatgard's representation on their board was discussed. Further assessment will be made by the Vestry on the January 10th meeting.
Paul Odlaug reported that the Opportunities for Service brunch was attended sparsely, but that pledges for 2011 seem to be up slightly from last year. Approximately $328,000 was pledged, which is 72% of the 2011 budget. Ninety members pledged. Those who did not pledge will be contacted via letter.
Paul Sundquist said he is in the process of cleaning up all accounts by year end. Giving is still down, but donations to the Capital Campaign continue to come in on schedule. He is speaking with Thrivent about renewing our line of credit loan.
Pastor Crippen introduced a conversation about the internship program, including asking the Vestry for their input on past experience with the Vicar. He also asked the Vestry to affirm the intent of Mount Olive to have a vicar for next year. Andrew Andersen moved that we formally apply with Vicar program with Luther Seminary to host a new Vicar from September 2011-August 2012. Paul Odlaug seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The deadline for application is January 15. It was noted that there is a new cost to this program. We will cover approximately $2700 of medical insurance premiums. The increase in costs will be addressed at our April congregational meeting.
Nominating and Audit Committees will need to be set up and approved at the January meeting.
- Submitted by Brian E. Jacobs, Vice President
Book Discussion Upcoming Reads
For its meeting on January 15 the Book Discussion group will discuss Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler, and for the February 12 meeting they will read Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford.
Walking Humbly
All are invited to attend the 6th annual RIC (Reconciling in Christ) Festival Worship, “WALKING HUMBLY – The Journey Together.”
The service will take place on Saturday, January 29, at 5:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer
(5440 Penn Ave. South, Minneapolis) Brenda Froisland from Edina Community Lutheran Church will preach at this service and a light supper & rich fellowship be held afterwards.
Sermon from December 19, 2010: The Fourth Sunday in Advent
“Which Means God Is With Us”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace from the One who is, who was, and who is to come, in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
I have a small collection of art depicting the Holy Family, for obvious reasons, and I especially am interested in how Joseph is depicted. I have a beautiful carving in olive wood on my desk which shows Joseph squatting on a stool and cradling the infant Jesus in his arms. But I also have a greeting card which reproduces a medieval fresco of the Nativity, and Joseph is about half the size of Mary, and shoved off to the side with a frown on his face and rather negative body posture, as if this all is a great annoyance and bother. And if you look at art showing the Holy Family, a marginalized Joseph is not all that uncommon.
Two weeks ago during the forum we were hearing about Joseph’s role in the infancy narratives, and we sang one of the few carols which mentions Joseph at all. But as we sang, I was reminded of a lovely carol about Joseph that I have on several recordings, “The Cherry Tree Carol.” It’s a text that likely dates to the 15th century, and the story in turn comes from a legend in the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. What made me think of it, relating to our Gospel today, was what it says about Joseph.
Now when I say it’s lovely, I mean that the music is beautiful. As a fellow Joseph, there’s nothing lovely that I can see in its treatment of my namesake. In that, it’s more like my picture of the grumpy Joseph in the corner. It begins, “When Joseph was an old man, an old man was he, he courted our Mary, the queen of Galilee.” Well – that double repetition of how old he was seems just a bit out of line, doesn’t it? The carol then tells that Mary becomes pregnant, without her husband’s help of course. Then on the way to Bethlehem they pass a grove of cherry trees, and Mary asks Joseph to gather some for her, “for I am with child,” she says. What happens next is jarring: Joseph replies to her “in words so unkind,” the carol says. He tells her that the one who “brought thee with child” can just go ahead and get her some cherries to eat. A holy petulance, this is! The carol ends with Jesus in the womb commanding the cherry tree to bend down, and Mary is able to eat fruit without Joseph’s help.
But I’m struck by the understanding of human nature, the empathy of the tradition which produced this text. Surely there must have been moments like that for Joseph, times when he simply was exasperated or even sad at what was happening to his life. His dreams of a life with Mary were shattered before they began by this unlooked for and undefended pregnancy.
So on this Fourth Sunday of Advent we’re faced with this truth, through Joseph’s eyes: sometimes God’s plans for us are mighty inconvenient, or deeply troubling, or even painfully hard to bear. Lost sometimes in all the sentiment we might feel for this story is the reality of the upended lives of Joseph and of Mary as this child grows in her womb and prepares to be born.
And that’s only a foretaste. Because this child will be causing that kind of unrest and discomfort his whole life. That’s what happens when God shows up to live with us.
It’s interesting that Christmas cards rarely hint at Jesus’ true purpose.
You never get a Christmas card that says, “Merry Christmas. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.” Or, “Happy Holidays – the greatest thing you can do is give up your life for a friend.” Or even, “A blessed Christmas – love your enemies.” And yet, that’s the kind of wisdom this holy Child came to bring. The disruption in his earthly parents’ lives was only the beginning.
The promise Matthew makes today is that this Child will be Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” A good name indeed. Until you comprehend what that means.
Once God comes to be with us, God starts talking to us and leading us into new ways of life. I remember once a woman came out of the women’s room laughing and told me what she’d overheard: a little girl was saying, “Why do you always have to be so near me, Mom?” It’s actually a good thing, of course. But it doesn’t always feel that way. And so it is with God, who by being with us, won’t leave us alone.
God keeps on being with us, near to us, calling us to ways of justice and peace and self-giving love – this is the way Jesus talked and walked and preached. It was attractive to many. And very offensive to many others.
As we heard last week, Jesus comes to guide us to paths that lead to God. He points humanity, points each of us, down roads that are very different from our own. And however mushy we want to get at Christmas, the end result of this impending birth is change for us. And, like Joseph, like that little girl, we may not always like it.
God’s whole reason for coming in person was change for us.
And again, it’s in the child’s name, now from the angel’s voice: “Jesus,” which means “God saves.” “Because he will save his people from their sins,” the angel says. But for Jesus this isn’t some judicial exchange. He doesn’t come simply to remove consequences or even punishment for our sins. He comes to save us from them. To bring us into new ways without sin. If this were only a court proceeding, Jesus could have done that from heaven. No, God’s point was personally to lead us away from paths that lead to sin into paths that lead to life. And that means change.
So if we’re going to worship this coming Child, we must remember to worship the man he became. A man, though also God, who called us to new lives.
New lives which reflect the justice of God – that all people live safely, freely, and in peace. When we do things or support things which do not bring that about, or which prevent such justice, this child, this man-to-be, calls us to change.
And new lives which reflect the love of God – that all people have value and worth in God’s eyes, and are precious, and that we are to give our lives for each other. When we do things or support things which do not show that love, or which prevent people from knowing it, this child, this man-to-be, calls us to change.
God needed to come because we were and are destroying ourselves and this world. God chose to come, to be with us, to show us the way to end that destruction and to find life. When we killed this child, this Son of God, God overcame our hatred with resurrection life. And now, risen, continues to stand at the head of new roads, new paths, encouraging us to follow.
Ultimately, that this child, this man-to-be, is God-with-us is good news.
Because instead of standing in judgment over us, condemning from on high, God abides with us, dwells with us. God experiences our pains, our joys, our sorrows, our hopes. God enters the depths of our lives and simply is with us. Not necessarily taking the pain away, but always holding us and keeping us alive through it. And making our joys richer by being with us.
Because God has come to us in this child, this man-to-be, we know we are not alone. We don’t have answers for a lot that life throws at us. But we belong to the One who does. Who is with us in the best and in the worst.
I hope that Joseph found this joy, too. I’m actually pretty confident he did.
If Matthew’s depiction of his character can be trusted, we can be sure he was a good father to this child. And I hope that, if he did feel petulance at times as the carol suggests, he also felt the awe at the presence of God in this child. You see, that’s our awe, too. Yes, it can be terribly inconvenient to have the voice of Jesus so near, and sometimes frustrating and often life-changing. When God is with us, God’s always calling us in love to change, to be different, to be like Jesus.
But then, we remember with joy – ah, yes, but God is with us. God is with us. We are not alone. We are loved with a love beyond death.
And so of course we pray, “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” Which means God is with us.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Isaiah 7:10-16; Matthew 1:18-25)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace from the One who is, who was, and who is to come, in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
I have a small collection of art depicting the Holy Family, for obvious reasons, and I especially am interested in how Joseph is depicted. I have a beautiful carving in olive wood on my desk which shows Joseph squatting on a stool and cradling the infant Jesus in his arms. But I also have a greeting card which reproduces a medieval fresco of the Nativity, and Joseph is about half the size of Mary, and shoved off to the side with a frown on his face and rather negative body posture, as if this all is a great annoyance and bother. And if you look at art showing the Holy Family, a marginalized Joseph is not all that uncommon.
Two weeks ago during the forum we were hearing about Joseph’s role in the infancy narratives, and we sang one of the few carols which mentions Joseph at all. But as we sang, I was reminded of a lovely carol about Joseph that I have on several recordings, “The Cherry Tree Carol.” It’s a text that likely dates to the 15th century, and the story in turn comes from a legend in the apocryphal Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. What made me think of it, relating to our Gospel today, was what it says about Joseph.
Now when I say it’s lovely, I mean that the music is beautiful. As a fellow Joseph, there’s nothing lovely that I can see in its treatment of my namesake. In that, it’s more like my picture of the grumpy Joseph in the corner. It begins, “When Joseph was an old man, an old man was he, he courted our Mary, the queen of Galilee.” Well – that double repetition of how old he was seems just a bit out of line, doesn’t it? The carol then tells that Mary becomes pregnant, without her husband’s help of course. Then on the way to Bethlehem they pass a grove of cherry trees, and Mary asks Joseph to gather some for her, “for I am with child,” she says. What happens next is jarring: Joseph replies to her “in words so unkind,” the carol says. He tells her that the one who “brought thee with child” can just go ahead and get her some cherries to eat. A holy petulance, this is! The carol ends with Jesus in the womb commanding the cherry tree to bend down, and Mary is able to eat fruit without Joseph’s help.
But I’m struck by the understanding of human nature, the empathy of the tradition which produced this text. Surely there must have been moments like that for Joseph, times when he simply was exasperated or even sad at what was happening to his life. His dreams of a life with Mary were shattered before they began by this unlooked for and undefended pregnancy.
So on this Fourth Sunday of Advent we’re faced with this truth, through Joseph’s eyes: sometimes God’s plans for us are mighty inconvenient, or deeply troubling, or even painfully hard to bear. Lost sometimes in all the sentiment we might feel for this story is the reality of the upended lives of Joseph and of Mary as this child grows in her womb and prepares to be born.
And that’s only a foretaste. Because this child will be causing that kind of unrest and discomfort his whole life. That’s what happens when God shows up to live with us.
It’s interesting that Christmas cards rarely hint at Jesus’ true purpose.
You never get a Christmas card that says, “Merry Christmas. Take up your cross and follow Jesus.” Or, “Happy Holidays – the greatest thing you can do is give up your life for a friend.” Or even, “A blessed Christmas – love your enemies.” And yet, that’s the kind of wisdom this holy Child came to bring. The disruption in his earthly parents’ lives was only the beginning.
The promise Matthew makes today is that this Child will be Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” A good name indeed. Until you comprehend what that means.
Once God comes to be with us, God starts talking to us and leading us into new ways of life. I remember once a woman came out of the women’s room laughing and told me what she’d overheard: a little girl was saying, “Why do you always have to be so near me, Mom?” It’s actually a good thing, of course. But it doesn’t always feel that way. And so it is with God, who by being with us, won’t leave us alone.
God keeps on being with us, near to us, calling us to ways of justice and peace and self-giving love – this is the way Jesus talked and walked and preached. It was attractive to many. And very offensive to many others.
As we heard last week, Jesus comes to guide us to paths that lead to God. He points humanity, points each of us, down roads that are very different from our own. And however mushy we want to get at Christmas, the end result of this impending birth is change for us. And, like Joseph, like that little girl, we may not always like it.
God’s whole reason for coming in person was change for us.
And again, it’s in the child’s name, now from the angel’s voice: “Jesus,” which means “God saves.” “Because he will save his people from their sins,” the angel says. But for Jesus this isn’t some judicial exchange. He doesn’t come simply to remove consequences or even punishment for our sins. He comes to save us from them. To bring us into new ways without sin. If this were only a court proceeding, Jesus could have done that from heaven. No, God’s point was personally to lead us away from paths that lead to sin into paths that lead to life. And that means change.
So if we’re going to worship this coming Child, we must remember to worship the man he became. A man, though also God, who called us to new lives.
New lives which reflect the justice of God – that all people live safely, freely, and in peace. When we do things or support things which do not bring that about, or which prevent such justice, this child, this man-to-be, calls us to change.
And new lives which reflect the love of God – that all people have value and worth in God’s eyes, and are precious, and that we are to give our lives for each other. When we do things or support things which do not show that love, or which prevent people from knowing it, this child, this man-to-be, calls us to change.
God needed to come because we were and are destroying ourselves and this world. God chose to come, to be with us, to show us the way to end that destruction and to find life. When we killed this child, this Son of God, God overcame our hatred with resurrection life. And now, risen, continues to stand at the head of new roads, new paths, encouraging us to follow.
Ultimately, that this child, this man-to-be, is God-with-us is good news.
Because instead of standing in judgment over us, condemning from on high, God abides with us, dwells with us. God experiences our pains, our joys, our sorrows, our hopes. God enters the depths of our lives and simply is with us. Not necessarily taking the pain away, but always holding us and keeping us alive through it. And making our joys richer by being with us.
Because God has come to us in this child, this man-to-be, we know we are not alone. We don’t have answers for a lot that life throws at us. But we belong to the One who does. Who is with us in the best and in the worst.
I hope that Joseph found this joy, too. I’m actually pretty confident he did.
If Matthew’s depiction of his character can be trusted, we can be sure he was a good father to this child. And I hope that, if he did feel petulance at times as the carol suggests, he also felt the awe at the presence of God in this child. You see, that’s our awe, too. Yes, it can be terribly inconvenient to have the voice of Jesus so near, and sometimes frustrating and often life-changing. When God is with us, God’s always calling us in love to change, to be different, to be like Jesus.
But then, we remember with joy – ah, yes, but God is with us. God is with us. We are not alone. We are loved with a love beyond death.
And so of course we pray, “O come, O come, Emmanuel.” Which means God is with us.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Sermon from Sunday, December 12, 2010: The Third Sunday of Advent
“Not Even Fools”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace, from the one who was, who is, and who is to come; in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My mother’s father Jack was a kind and gentle man. Except Jack also had a stubborn streak which included an utter rejection of any advice on directions. He’d even get angry if told where to turn or go. Once Jack and my grandmother Irene were on a long car ride, and Jack missed an exit. He kept on driving, oblivious to his mistake. About an hour later he mused out loud, “I wonder if we’re coming to that turn yet.” Then, and only then, did Irene tell him that he’d missed the exit about sixty miles back. I love that Jack didn’t criticize her for not speaking up – he knew himself well enough. He simply and quietly found a place to turn around, and headed back the other way without another word.
Finding one’s way in unfamiliar territory can be a tricky thing, especially if you’ve developed a reputation for not taking advice or following signs. But even if you try to follow a map or signs, real life doesn’t always look like a two dimensional map, and signs are not always clear. You have to do some interpreting. You have to make some educated guesses. You might start down a road or path, peering at either side for road signs or natural formations. Sometimes you reach a point where you have to make a decision. Do I turn back and try again? Do I keep going, and hope?
Isaiah proclaims a highway today which he calls the Holy Way – it’s his metaphor for the time to come when God will restore the people and guide their paths. It will be like a highway in a wilderness, Isaiah says, and it will be safe, and clean, and easy to walk. And it will be clear which way to go. Not even fools will get lost in God’s way, Isaiah says.
I have to say, that’s very comforting to me. Because even though I’m happy to get directions, unlike my grandfather, I know it’s easy to get lost. I’m pleased that when God guides us, even fools can find their way. It means I’ve got a chance.
But what if the guides to God’s way disagree on which way it goes? What do we do when there are differences of opinion as to the way of God?
In the great plan of God to come to this world to save our very lives, John the Baptist is an important guide.
In his harsh and even frightening words we heard last week, John shouts out his directions. “Repent,” he bellows. Literally, “turn around. You’re going the wrong way!” “If you’re looking for the coming of the Lord,” he says, “you’d better be ready. The kingdom’s near.”
And John’s words indicate great judgment from God upon those who are going the wrong way. He speaks of axes and fire and destruction. He has the zeal of a traffic officer a half-mile before a washed out bridge. He just needs to get the cars to stop, pull over, and turn around. The people’s sin is great and John wants them turned around in time to recognize and welcome God’s coming.
But John has two purposes: one, to get people prepared for God’s coming, and two, to point out the Lamb of God when he comes. So when he sees Jesus coming down to the Jordan, John proclaims, “Here’s the one.” This is the one whose coming I’ve been telling you about. This is the One from God. This is your new Guide.
Now the Gospels pretty much lose interest in John and they focus on Jesus, the One.
But something happens between John’s traffic cop and Jesus’ proclamation. Jesus preaches repentance, just like John, a “turn around” from the direction you’re going. But he does it with love and grace, not fiery words. He invites people to follow, and doesn’t condemn them when they can’t. He reaches the worst of sinners (at least according to the viewing public) and simply spends time with them. Eats with them. Treats them with grace. And they follow him. In fact, the ones most attracted to Jesus are the ones most lost, most outcast, least religious.
And Jesus preaches about the coming kingdom, just like John, but again, differently. He says the kingdom is already here, in him. And it is known by his grace and love. He heals the sick, and forgives the sinners. He offers wisdom from God on how to live.
This way is so different than the way John spoke, the way John expected Jesus to speak, that John becomes very concerned. And remember, John the Baptist is now on death row. He knows this. He has no time for second-guessing or for doubts. He needs truth and he needs it straight and clean. So he sends some of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” He doesn’t want to die thinking that he pointed out the wrong one.
But Jesus doesn’t answer “yes” or “no.”
He says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear. The dead are raised, and the poor have the good news brought to them.”
Now you, my brothers and sisters, have just heard three Scripture readings, including one from Isaiah, and you’ve sung a psalm. So do you see what Jesus has done? He’s pointed to the signs, the markers on the way, as one guide to another. And he knows John knows those signs.
Jesus says as clearly as he can: “look at what I am doing. Don’t you recognize the signs, John?” He says, “Don’t you remember, John, what Isaiah said? That when God came to save and restore Israel, the blind would see, the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap for joy, and the oppressed will be set free?” He says, “Trust me, John. I’m leading them down the right path, God’s path. All the signs are there, and they’re multiplying.”
So all is well and good. Except Jesus ends by saying something very strange. We should hear it.
He ends his message with these words: “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” What an odd thing to say – who would be offended by blind people receiving their sight? Deaf their hearing?
He seems to be saying, “blessed are you if you believe who I am, and stop doubting.” Stop worrying that just because I’m not shouting in judgment or wrath I must not be from God. And maybe he’s talking to us, not just John.
Maybe he’s reminding us to look at the signs God has given us in Scripture, signs we can trust, signs that point our way, and not be offended by them. Offended because Jesus doesn’t come and knock heads and take names, he comes in grace and love. Lots of congregations are growing in numbers because they are absolutely clear who’s in and who’s out, what’s right and what’s wrong. They speak with the certainty of John the Baptist, and that’s attractive.
Except that’s not how Jesus spoke. He understood that we’re all fools, we’re all broken, we’re all easily lost. And instead of giving us a set of rules to follow, Jesus gave us himself. So he drew in all those who regularly failed, even fools like us, and the religious ones, the good ones, were offended. Perhaps even John was.
But Jesus said that what we need to know is we can trust him, follow him. And if we do, we’ll not only be forgiven for all our failings. We’ll also never get lost. He says, “I don’t want you to be offended, but I’d like you to know that the signs you are to follow as you follow me are the signs I gave, not the words John spoke. You have come to trust what has been written in God’s Word, and you know these signs. You can trust them, so you can trust me when they and I tell you that I the one you are to follow.”
And so Jesus shows us by his life, death, and resurrection that the true God is a God of healing and restoration. A God who heals our deafness and opens our ears and helps us hear the voices of those who need God’s love, that we might be that love for them.
A God who heals our blindness and opens our eyes and helps us see the world as full of people whom God loves but whom we often do not, but people whom we now can love once we see them as God does.
A God who raises us from the death of our own sin and brokenness and sets us on new paths of life, as signs ourselves of God’s life and love in the world, paths on which we will not get lost.
Friends, the signs all point to Jesus. We know this.
The healing he did. The teaching of love and grace, and repentance. His death for us. His resurrection to new life. His invitation to follow in love. Jesus is the Promised One. He is our true Guide.
Which means we can follow the other signs he has given us as well, signs that lead us to him and show us the good paths. Signs like love of God with our whole heart and being, and love of neighbor as ourselves. Signs like his servant Paul gave us, the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, self-control. These are the markers for our paths, and they can be trusted. Because our Guide who died and lives again can be trusted.
When we live in ways that show these signs, we can trust we are living in God’s ways. When we call to others to follow, we call them to walk in ways that reflect these signs. And even fools like we are won’t get lost when we follow our Lord Jesus. And that’s very good news, indeed.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Texts: Isaiah 35:1-10; Matthew 11:2-11)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace, from the one who was, who is, and who is to come; in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My mother’s father Jack was a kind and gentle man. Except Jack also had a stubborn streak which included an utter rejection of any advice on directions. He’d even get angry if told where to turn or go. Once Jack and my grandmother Irene were on a long car ride, and Jack missed an exit. He kept on driving, oblivious to his mistake. About an hour later he mused out loud, “I wonder if we’re coming to that turn yet.” Then, and only then, did Irene tell him that he’d missed the exit about sixty miles back. I love that Jack didn’t criticize her for not speaking up – he knew himself well enough. He simply and quietly found a place to turn around, and headed back the other way without another word.
Finding one’s way in unfamiliar territory can be a tricky thing, especially if you’ve developed a reputation for not taking advice or following signs. But even if you try to follow a map or signs, real life doesn’t always look like a two dimensional map, and signs are not always clear. You have to do some interpreting. You have to make some educated guesses. You might start down a road or path, peering at either side for road signs or natural formations. Sometimes you reach a point where you have to make a decision. Do I turn back and try again? Do I keep going, and hope?
Isaiah proclaims a highway today which he calls the Holy Way – it’s his metaphor for the time to come when God will restore the people and guide their paths. It will be like a highway in a wilderness, Isaiah says, and it will be safe, and clean, and easy to walk. And it will be clear which way to go. Not even fools will get lost in God’s way, Isaiah says.
I have to say, that’s very comforting to me. Because even though I’m happy to get directions, unlike my grandfather, I know it’s easy to get lost. I’m pleased that when God guides us, even fools can find their way. It means I’ve got a chance.
But what if the guides to God’s way disagree on which way it goes? What do we do when there are differences of opinion as to the way of God?
In the great plan of God to come to this world to save our very lives, John the Baptist is an important guide.
In his harsh and even frightening words we heard last week, John shouts out his directions. “Repent,” he bellows. Literally, “turn around. You’re going the wrong way!” “If you’re looking for the coming of the Lord,” he says, “you’d better be ready. The kingdom’s near.”
And John’s words indicate great judgment from God upon those who are going the wrong way. He speaks of axes and fire and destruction. He has the zeal of a traffic officer a half-mile before a washed out bridge. He just needs to get the cars to stop, pull over, and turn around. The people’s sin is great and John wants them turned around in time to recognize and welcome God’s coming.
But John has two purposes: one, to get people prepared for God’s coming, and two, to point out the Lamb of God when he comes. So when he sees Jesus coming down to the Jordan, John proclaims, “Here’s the one.” This is the one whose coming I’ve been telling you about. This is the One from God. This is your new Guide.
Now the Gospels pretty much lose interest in John and they focus on Jesus, the One.
But something happens between John’s traffic cop and Jesus’ proclamation. Jesus preaches repentance, just like John, a “turn around” from the direction you’re going. But he does it with love and grace, not fiery words. He invites people to follow, and doesn’t condemn them when they can’t. He reaches the worst of sinners (at least according to the viewing public) and simply spends time with them. Eats with them. Treats them with grace. And they follow him. In fact, the ones most attracted to Jesus are the ones most lost, most outcast, least religious.
And Jesus preaches about the coming kingdom, just like John, but again, differently. He says the kingdom is already here, in him. And it is known by his grace and love. He heals the sick, and forgives the sinners. He offers wisdom from God on how to live.
This way is so different than the way John spoke, the way John expected Jesus to speak, that John becomes very concerned. And remember, John the Baptist is now on death row. He knows this. He has no time for second-guessing or for doubts. He needs truth and he needs it straight and clean. So he sends some of his disciples to Jesus asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” He doesn’t want to die thinking that he pointed out the wrong one.
But Jesus doesn’t answer “yes” or “no.”
He says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear. The dead are raised, and the poor have the good news brought to them.”
Now you, my brothers and sisters, have just heard three Scripture readings, including one from Isaiah, and you’ve sung a psalm. So do you see what Jesus has done? He’s pointed to the signs, the markers on the way, as one guide to another. And he knows John knows those signs.
Jesus says as clearly as he can: “look at what I am doing. Don’t you recognize the signs, John?” He says, “Don’t you remember, John, what Isaiah said? That when God came to save and restore Israel, the blind would see, the deaf would hear, and the lame would leap for joy, and the oppressed will be set free?” He says, “Trust me, John. I’m leading them down the right path, God’s path. All the signs are there, and they’re multiplying.”
So all is well and good. Except Jesus ends by saying something very strange. We should hear it.
He ends his message with these words: “And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” What an odd thing to say – who would be offended by blind people receiving their sight? Deaf their hearing?
He seems to be saying, “blessed are you if you believe who I am, and stop doubting.” Stop worrying that just because I’m not shouting in judgment or wrath I must not be from God. And maybe he’s talking to us, not just John.
Maybe he’s reminding us to look at the signs God has given us in Scripture, signs we can trust, signs that point our way, and not be offended by them. Offended because Jesus doesn’t come and knock heads and take names, he comes in grace and love. Lots of congregations are growing in numbers because they are absolutely clear who’s in and who’s out, what’s right and what’s wrong. They speak with the certainty of John the Baptist, and that’s attractive.
Except that’s not how Jesus spoke. He understood that we’re all fools, we’re all broken, we’re all easily lost. And instead of giving us a set of rules to follow, Jesus gave us himself. So he drew in all those who regularly failed, even fools like us, and the religious ones, the good ones, were offended. Perhaps even John was.
But Jesus said that what we need to know is we can trust him, follow him. And if we do, we’ll not only be forgiven for all our failings. We’ll also never get lost. He says, “I don’t want you to be offended, but I’d like you to know that the signs you are to follow as you follow me are the signs I gave, not the words John spoke. You have come to trust what has been written in God’s Word, and you know these signs. You can trust them, so you can trust me when they and I tell you that I the one you are to follow.”
And so Jesus shows us by his life, death, and resurrection that the true God is a God of healing and restoration. A God who heals our deafness and opens our ears and helps us hear the voices of those who need God’s love, that we might be that love for them.
A God who heals our blindness and opens our eyes and helps us see the world as full of people whom God loves but whom we often do not, but people whom we now can love once we see them as God does.
A God who raises us from the death of our own sin and brokenness and sets us on new paths of life, as signs ourselves of God’s life and love in the world, paths on which we will not get lost.
Friends, the signs all point to Jesus. We know this.
The healing he did. The teaching of love and grace, and repentance. His death for us. His resurrection to new life. His invitation to follow in love. Jesus is the Promised One. He is our true Guide.
Which means we can follow the other signs he has given us as well, signs that lead us to him and show us the good paths. Signs like love of God with our whole heart and being, and love of neighbor as ourselves. Signs like his servant Paul gave us, the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, generosity, faithfulness, self-control. These are the markers for our paths, and they can be trusted. Because our Guide who died and lives again can be trusted.
When we live in ways that show these signs, we can trust we are living in God’s ways. When we call to others to follow, we call them to walk in ways that reflect these signs. And even fools like we are won’t get lost when we follow our Lord Jesus. And that’s very good news, indeed.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Monday, December 13, 2010
This Week's Liturgies
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
7:00 p.m. - Evening Prayer
Sunday, December 19: The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10:45 a.m.
7:00 p.m. - Evening Prayer
Sunday, December 19: The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 and 10:45 a.m.
The Olive Branch: December 13, 2010
Accent on Worship
What we do in our liturgy is deeply counter-cultural. We gather most often on Sunday mornings, when those who are not working that day tend to sleep in. We use words and music that are ancient and new, we gather not to be entertained but because we believe the God who made all things comes to us in grace and life when we do. Preachers also ought always to be aware how counter-cultural it is to be given 15 minutes of undivided attention each week in a world which can barely hold its attention for 15 seconds.
Advent may be one of the most counter-cultural things we do. Waiting, anticipating, patiently watching for God’s blessing to blossom in the world – this is not the way of the world. We live in an instant gratification culture, where people loudly declare what they want and then expect someone to provide it. Our culture lacks the patience to work through the ills of society in a wise and careful and fruitful way, preferring short term answers which may or may not be good for the long term. We live in a culture which teaches us to embrace our entitlement instead of our responsibility.
I have a good friend who is a very good pastor. He serves in a place where the tradition has been that for the four weeks of Advent there is no preaching. Each week a different musical group presents the Christmas story in word and song at the place of the preaching. There are likely many there who think this is a good thing, and I assume that it has been a blessing in that place. But I wish they were more willing to try Advent. We need Advent to keep us grounded in God’s reality instead of the world’s view of reality. Because in Advent we are reminded not only of the deep need for hope we have, but also the necessity of patience. A good lesson for our world. In Advent we are reminded not only of God’s promise to restore all things but also our call to be a part of that restoration. A good lesson for all of us, certainly. In Advent we stand as aware as we ever do of our being in the world but not of it, for as all are relentlessly celebrating Christmas we are reminded by God of what it is to truly watch and pray, wait and hope, and in the meantime do the work to which we are called.
We have one more Sunday of Advent, and then five more days after that before we celebrate our Lord’s Nativity once again. Thank God for that. Thank God for the gift of the Church which in wisdom set aside this time so that each year we have the chance to refocus and be still and therefore open to God’s coming into the world and into our lives. May we each find a way to bring this Advent peace and patience, hoping and praying into the world in which we live as a witness to the God who is making all things new. Perhaps our waiting and watchfulness might help others find the same peace and call to work with God in that restoration.
- Joseph
Sunday’s Adult Forum, December 19
9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge
“The Infancy Narratives of the New Testament,” led by Augsburg College Professor and Mount Olive member, Brad Holt.
Advent Evening Prayer
Wednesday evenings during Advent, 7:00 p.m.
December 19, 2010 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-16 + Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Romans 1:1-7 + Matthew 1:18-25
December 26, 2010 – First Sunday of Christmas
Isaiah 63:7-9 + Psalm 148
Hebrews 2:10-18+ Matthew 2:13-23
Hanging the Greens – This Sunday!
Part of our Advent preparation at Mount Olive is to gather following the second liturgy on the Fourth Sunday of Advent to hang garlands and wreaths in the nave. This year, the date is this Sunday, December 19. Please plan to stay and join in this task on that Sunday, beginning at about noon. You will experience good fellowship as we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah.
New members are especially invited to participate.
Christmas Day Carry-In Breakfast
We will gather in the East Assembly Room on Christmas Day at 9 a.m., just before our Christmas Day liturgy, for a light and cheerful breakfast. By the way, bring some breakfast! Coffee will be provided.
The Wish List
The Mount Olive Wish List is up and running and we’ve had several donations come in. An updated list of needed items is posted in the church office next to the coffee sign up sheet. Please consider donating even just a single item on the Wish List.
If you would like to donate an item or items from the list, please sign the chart posted in the church office. Indicate which item/items you wish to donate and put your name and contact number beside the item you are donating. You will be contacted about total cost and how to pay. Your donation will be reflected on your giving statement for tax purposes.
–Brian Jacobs, Vice President
Attention Meals on Wheels Volunteers!
South Minneapolis Meals on Wheels has scheduled Mount Olive’s volunteers to deliver meals during the week of December 27-31. Gary Flatgard will call our regular volunteers sometime this week to schedule our drivers/deliverers for service.
Please try to adjust your holiday schedule to make room to deliver Meals on Wheels during that busy week!
Prayer Office of Compline to be Offered at Mount Olive January 16 - April 17
The Minnesota Compline Choir and Mount Olive will partner to offer the liturgy of Compline on Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent of 2011. The first service will be Sunday evening January 16 (The Second Sunday after Epiphany) and the last one will be Sunday, April 17 (Passion Sunday).
The Minnesota Compline Choir formed under the direction of Charles A. Parsons at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it kept the office of Compline from 1992 to 2005. The Choir had been resident at Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota from October 2005 through January 2010 and is now in search for a new permanent residence.
Mr. Parsons retired from the Choir at the end of the 2008-2009 Season. James Biery directed the choir during the 2009-2010 Season and is succeeded by Erick Lichte.
The choir is comprised of 18 male voices, selected by audition from a wide variety of congregations and denominations. They meet weekly to prepare for each service, and on other occasions for performances at special holiday services.
In worship, the choir assists with the liturgy, hymns and psalms, as well as offering anthems. Currently the Choir can be found at Assumption Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm through December 19, 2010. All are welcome!
Alternative Gift-Giving
Are you looking for something different to do this year for Christmas gifts? For the person who has everything, give a gift that will help people around the world who have very little.
The Missions Committee is promoting the idea of alternative gift giving this Christmas. For example, you can “buy” a sheep for your aunt who taught you how to knit. A struggling family would receive the sheep enabling them to increase their income and your aunt would receive a card acknowledging this gift. We have catalogues from different charitable organizations that you can use or you can order from the organizations’ websites. Some of these organizations are:
Fair Trade Craft Sale – One More Week
One Sunday remains of the Missions Committee’s Fair Trade Craft Sale. Purchase beautiful and unique Fair Trade items handmade by disadvantaged artisans in developing regions. With each purchase, you help artisans maintain steady work and a sustainable income so they can provide for their families. Lutheran World Relief partners with SERRV, a nonprofit Fair Trade organization, to bring you the LWR Handcraft Project.
The crafts will be available for purchase between services for one more Sunday, December 19 (cash and check only). Fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate from Equal Exchange will also be available. This is not a fund-raiser, just an opportunity to buy good products which benefit a good cause.
Christmas Gifts to Our Saviour’s Housing
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church has recently notified us of some giving opportunities to help to meet the needs of people in their shelter. Our Saviour's Housing serves over 650 people annually with emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing.
Although the time is short, Mount Olive Neighborhood Action Committee (MONAC) is certain that Mount Olive members will respond generously to their needs.
Some suggested items:
For more information contact Colleen O'Connor Toberman at 612-872-4193, extension 25, via email to volunteer@oshousing.org
What we do in our liturgy is deeply counter-cultural. We gather most often on Sunday mornings, when those who are not working that day tend to sleep in. We use words and music that are ancient and new, we gather not to be entertained but because we believe the God who made all things comes to us in grace and life when we do. Preachers also ought always to be aware how counter-cultural it is to be given 15 minutes of undivided attention each week in a world which can barely hold its attention for 15 seconds.
Advent may be one of the most counter-cultural things we do. Waiting, anticipating, patiently watching for God’s blessing to blossom in the world – this is not the way of the world. We live in an instant gratification culture, where people loudly declare what they want and then expect someone to provide it. Our culture lacks the patience to work through the ills of society in a wise and careful and fruitful way, preferring short term answers which may or may not be good for the long term. We live in a culture which teaches us to embrace our entitlement instead of our responsibility.
I have a good friend who is a very good pastor. He serves in a place where the tradition has been that for the four weeks of Advent there is no preaching. Each week a different musical group presents the Christmas story in word and song at the place of the preaching. There are likely many there who think this is a good thing, and I assume that it has been a blessing in that place. But I wish they were more willing to try Advent. We need Advent to keep us grounded in God’s reality instead of the world’s view of reality. Because in Advent we are reminded not only of the deep need for hope we have, but also the necessity of patience. A good lesson for our world. In Advent we are reminded not only of God’s promise to restore all things but also our call to be a part of that restoration. A good lesson for all of us, certainly. In Advent we stand as aware as we ever do of our being in the world but not of it, for as all are relentlessly celebrating Christmas we are reminded by God of what it is to truly watch and pray, wait and hope, and in the meantime do the work to which we are called.
We have one more Sunday of Advent, and then five more days after that before we celebrate our Lord’s Nativity once again. Thank God for that. Thank God for the gift of the Church which in wisdom set aside this time so that each year we have the chance to refocus and be still and therefore open to God’s coming into the world and into our lives. May we each find a way to bring this Advent peace and patience, hoping and praying into the world in which we live as a witness to the God who is making all things new. Perhaps our waiting and watchfulness might help others find the same peace and call to work with God in that restoration.
- Joseph
Sunday’s Adult Forum, December 19
9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge
“The Infancy Narratives of the New Testament,” led by Augsburg College Professor and Mount Olive member, Brad Holt.
Advent Evening Prayer
Wednesday evenings during Advent, 7:00 p.m.
December 19, 2010 – Fourth Sunday of Advent
Isaiah 7:10-16 + Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
Romans 1:1-7 + Matthew 1:18-25
December 26, 2010 – First Sunday of Christmas
Isaiah 63:7-9 + Psalm 148
Hebrews 2:10-18+ Matthew 2:13-23
Hanging the Greens – This Sunday!
Part of our Advent preparation at Mount Olive is to gather following the second liturgy on the Fourth Sunday of Advent to hang garlands and wreaths in the nave. This year, the date is this Sunday, December 19. Please plan to stay and join in this task on that Sunday, beginning at about noon. You will experience good fellowship as we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah.
New members are especially invited to participate.
Christmas Day Carry-In Breakfast
We will gather in the East Assembly Room on Christmas Day at 9 a.m., just before our Christmas Day liturgy, for a light and cheerful breakfast. By the way, bring some breakfast! Coffee will be provided.
The Wish List
The Mount Olive Wish List is up and running and we’ve had several donations come in. An updated list of needed items is posted in the church office next to the coffee sign up sheet. Please consider donating even just a single item on the Wish List.
If you would like to donate an item or items from the list, please sign the chart posted in the church office. Indicate which item/items you wish to donate and put your name and contact number beside the item you are donating. You will be contacted about total cost and how to pay. Your donation will be reflected on your giving statement for tax purposes.
–Brian Jacobs, Vice President
Attention Meals on Wheels Volunteers!
South Minneapolis Meals on Wheels has scheduled Mount Olive’s volunteers to deliver meals during the week of December 27-31. Gary Flatgard will call our regular volunteers sometime this week to schedule our drivers/deliverers for service.
Please try to adjust your holiday schedule to make room to deliver Meals on Wheels during that busy week!
Prayer Office of Compline to be Offered at Mount Olive January 16 - April 17
The Minnesota Compline Choir and Mount Olive will partner to offer the liturgy of Compline on Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm during the seasons of Epiphany and Lent of 2011. The first service will be Sunday evening January 16 (The Second Sunday after Epiphany) and the last one will be Sunday, April 17 (Passion Sunday).
The Minnesota Compline Choir formed under the direction of Charles A. Parsons at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota where it kept the office of Compline from 1992 to 2005. The Choir had been resident at Hamline United Methodist Church in St. Paul, Minnesota from October 2005 through January 2010 and is now in search for a new permanent residence.
Mr. Parsons retired from the Choir at the end of the 2008-2009 Season. James Biery directed the choir during the 2009-2010 Season and is succeeded by Erick Lichte.
The choir is comprised of 18 male voices, selected by audition from a wide variety of congregations and denominations. They meet weekly to prepare for each service, and on other occasions for performances at special holiday services.
In worship, the choir assists with the liturgy, hymns and psalms, as well as offering anthems. Currently the Choir can be found at Assumption Catholic Church in St. Paul, Minnesota Sunday evenings at 8:30 pm through December 19, 2010. All are welcome!
Alternative Gift-Giving
Are you looking for something different to do this year for Christmas gifts? For the person who has everything, give a gift that will help people around the world who have very little.
The Missions Committee is promoting the idea of alternative gift giving this Christmas. For example, you can “buy” a sheep for your aunt who taught you how to knit. A struggling family would receive the sheep enabling them to increase their income and your aunt would receive a card acknowledging this gift. We have catalogues from different charitable organizations that you can use or you can order from the organizations’ websites. Some of these organizations are:
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America www.elca.org/goodgifts.org/
- Lutheran World Relief http://lwrgifts.org/
- Heifer Project International http://www.heifer.org
- Common Hope http://commonhopecatalog.myshopify.com/
- Bethania Kids http://bethaniakids.org/
Fair Trade Craft Sale – One More Week
One Sunday remains of the Missions Committee’s Fair Trade Craft Sale. Purchase beautiful and unique Fair Trade items handmade by disadvantaged artisans in developing regions. With each purchase, you help artisans maintain steady work and a sustainable income so they can provide for their families. Lutheran World Relief partners with SERRV, a nonprofit Fair Trade organization, to bring you the LWR Handcraft Project.
The crafts will be available for purchase between services for one more Sunday, December 19 (cash and check only). Fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate from Equal Exchange will also be available. This is not a fund-raiser, just an opportunity to buy good products which benefit a good cause.
Christmas Gifts to Our Saviour’s Housing
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church has recently notified us of some giving opportunities to help to meet the needs of people in their shelter. Our Saviour's Housing serves over 650 people annually with emergency shelter, transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing.
Although the time is short, Mount Olive Neighborhood Action Committee (MONAC) is certain that Mount Olive members will respond generously to their needs.
Some suggested items:
- Warm holiday kits with winter essentials a hat, gloves, socks, treats, and $5 Target gift cards.
- Day planners to help residents keep their commitments and gain independence.
- Home Care Baskets containing cleaning supplies to help residents care for their new apartments.
- Gift cards (Target, Metro Transit, Grocery stores)
- Financial donations. (Please make checks payable to Mount Olive, but be sure to designate the gift for "Our Saviour's Lutheran Church." You may also use your blue missions contribution envelope, and indicate Our Saviour's Housing" as the beneficiary of your donation.)
For more information contact Colleen O'Connor Toberman at 612-872-4193, extension 25, via email to volunteer@oshousing.org
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
This Week's Liturgies
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Third Sunday of Advent
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.,
Evening Prayer at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Third Sunday of Advent
Holy Eucharist at 8:00 & 10:45 a.m.,
Sermon from December 5, 2010: The Second Sunday of Advent
“From a Stump”
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Text: Isaiah 11:1-10)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come; in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
One of my favorite books my mother read to me as a child is one I still revisit from time to time, James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. Let me tell you a little bit of the story, in case you aren’t familiar with it.
James was four years old, happy and living by the English seashore with his parents before they died suddenly. He was sent to live with two cruel aunts (of course, because this is a children’s book, and that’s what happens), in a creaky old house on a bleak hill. He wasn’t permitted to have friends, and wasn’t allowed to go beyond the fence that surrounded the top of the hill. His life was dreary, sad and miserable compared to the life he’d known before. Standing on the hill, he could look out and almost see the sea, and his old house. And while he could see woods and fields as far as he could look, within his fence there was little grass. Nothing could grow in there, and only a withered old peach tree stood there, a tree which hadn’t borne fruit in years and was as good as dead.
In this book, the peach tree symbolizes James’ existence. A fruit tree is a tree of hope, a tree of promise. Every year it buds and blossoms, and fruit is produced which is eaten and enjoyed. A fruit tree which bears no fruit is no promise: it’s a dead stump of a promise. James’ life began with hope and promise, but after three years with these wicked aunts, it was looking more like a stump than a tree – a life which would stretch on forever with no hope in sight. Like the withered old peach tree.
Of course, the story is called James and the Giant Peach, and that’s why I’m thinking about it this Second Sunday of Advent. Through some magic (of course, because this is a children’s book, and that’s what happens), the dead old stump of a peach tree produces a fruit, an enormous one, bigger than a house, and James finds strange and interesting new friends and wonderful new adventures because of and with that peach. But the beauty of the story for me really transcends those adventures: the beauty is that the life of this boy, which was like a dead promise, an old stump, is transformed into a life of life, of wonder, of joy.
Isaiah today talks of a similar beauty and wonder: a shoot, a branch, will grow from a dead stump. God will make new life.
The people of Judah are living in fear: cowed by Assyria and threatened by attack, living in a land which has been overrun, they find it hard to see hope. The great promises of the Davidic line seem completely broken off, as if they no longer have a line of kings in which to trust, a great tree stretching back to Jesse’s son, but now only a chopped off stump. The tree of Assyria seemed dominant, powerful, unstoppable. And their own tree dead and broken.
Isaiah tells them that there is reason for hope: a new shoot will arise from the very roots of the stump. A ruler will come and bring new life and hope. This ruler will be anointed with God’s Spirit – the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In place of uncertainty and fear, there will be peace, and a ruler who rules with justice, caring for the weak and the powerless. And there will be an end to all the divisions that plague the world – even natural enemies in the animal kingdom will be companions, and children will be safe with the most frightening of creatures. For a nation under threat of war and destruction, this is a powerful good news.
And all this will come from what looks to be beyond hope, beyond help: like a new shoot from a dead stump.
What’s most striking to me is how closely this situation resembles our own, and how potent this promise might also be for us.
Dead stumps of broken and unfulfilled promises litter our lives. The threats which face this world are vast – it’s not just one nation-state like the people of Judah feared. Terrorism, a wrecked environment that is becoming toxic to us, seemingly unending problems of poverty and hunger here and abroad, and continued violence. We can relate to people like Isaiah’s audience.
Our hearts, which long to hear Good News and hope and promise, wear out, become tired and unable to hope. Given the right circumstances, we can even die inside. Like an old, withered peach tree there often seems to be little fruit for our hearts to enjoy and cherish. That we hear these texts in the cold and apparent lifelessness of a December winter only underscores the potential for our hearts to give up, to become dead stumps of promise, unable to produce good fruit, unable to hope for spring.
This all led me to an Easter hymn this week which sings of much the same thing – we aren’t going to sing it today, but there is something very important for us in it. The hymn “Now the Green Blade Rises” has this line, which has been running through my head all week: “When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain.” That’s what this image of Isaiah is all about: when our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, we are like dead stumps.
It happens when we measure our lives and come up wishing we were different, better, more “something.” The more we fall short of our own expectations and what we believe are God’s expectations, the colder and more wintry our hearts can be.
It happens when tragedies that happen in the world come to us, or we learn of them, which in our age of modern communications technology is all the time – we constantly hear of the pain and tragedy of others and are affected by it. It happens to us when young teens take their own lives because they’ve been bullied for who they are; when a young child is shot and badly hurt just two blocks from our church building, or others are attacked nearby; when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer and the whole world changes. As we face tragedy or know of it, our hearts can wither and grieve and go cold.
And it happens when life just seems very difficult. When we consider the state of the world and the amount of pain and suffering and threat that exist; when family problems seem insurmountable, relationships struggle, or financial concerns seem to overwhelm; when life for us or for others becomes a hard road to walk, our hearts fill with pain and are stricken.
But listen to that whole stanza: “When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain; your touch can call us back to life again. Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again like wheat arising green.”
That’s Isaiah’s promise. And that’s our Advent hope.
You see, what we’re waiting for this Advent is really Easter, not Christmas. Easter’s our real need.
The birth of the Holy Child, God-with-us, is not truly the fulfilling of Isaiah’s promise. Only when death itself is broken and life comes forth is our hope fully restored. And the touch of the risen Jesus – who is, we believe, the branch from Jesse’s tree long promised – brings peace and justice, life and hope. In a world of pain and hatred and war and violence: Jesus comes with the touch of peace. Peace like Isaiah saw: wolves and lambs lying down together, babies and venomous snakes playing together.
And that touch of peace which brings life into our cold hearts is here already with us. In the midst of the coldness our hearts sometimes have, into the dead stump of broken promises comes warmth and light. At the Lord’s Table we receive that life-giving touch of God’s love which makes us clean and whole and forgiven. The touch of Jesus’ hand comes to us through the hands of others, and that love warms us. And life springs forth from places we didn’t think would ever live again. There is nothing that cannot be transformed by this grace our Lord brings, no pain that cannot be eased, no death that cannot be ended with life.
And here is our real joy: how this healing Jesus brings to the world will happen. The Promised One of Isaiah touches us with life that we might be light and life to the world. It is no accident that when we baptize, when we confirm, and when all of us affirm our baptism together we pray for the same spirit Isaiah promises the Messiah will have: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Because we are now Messiah, we are Christ – we are the anointed ones who, washed in the waters of Baptism and sealed by the Spirit with the very cross which the Christ used to defeat death, we now become the touch of God. We are sent to be bringers of peace to our families, to our community, nation, and world. To stand with lights and fire in a cold and dark world, as so many of our neighbors did in Powderhorn Park last week, and claim that there is life and light, in spite of how things look. To claim that our God can bring life to dead stumps, and is in fact doing this. Filled by God’s Spirit, we bring this Good News to the world.
This becomes how we live into our Advent hope: we become proclaimers of it with our very lives and actions.
We need the reminders Isaiah gives us today ourselves – for our hearts are often wintry and cold and withered, and we forget, we forget that God is with us and bringing healing. And we need the reminders because we sometimes forget that we are anointed by the Spirit to be this life in a cold, withered world.
We need these reminders because we and the whole world need this hope of Advent, this promise of Christmas, this reality of Easter: Our God brings life and warmth into the depths of our world’s coldness and pain, and touches us, calling our hearts and spirits back to life, for the sake of the world. God fill us with such hope, and bless us as we are sent to spread this Good News in our lives.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen (Text: Isaiah 11:1-10)
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace from the One who was, who is, and who is to come; in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
One of my favorite books my mother read to me as a child is one I still revisit from time to time, James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl. Let me tell you a little bit of the story, in case you aren’t familiar with it.
James was four years old, happy and living by the English seashore with his parents before they died suddenly. He was sent to live with two cruel aunts (of course, because this is a children’s book, and that’s what happens), in a creaky old house on a bleak hill. He wasn’t permitted to have friends, and wasn’t allowed to go beyond the fence that surrounded the top of the hill. His life was dreary, sad and miserable compared to the life he’d known before. Standing on the hill, he could look out and almost see the sea, and his old house. And while he could see woods and fields as far as he could look, within his fence there was little grass. Nothing could grow in there, and only a withered old peach tree stood there, a tree which hadn’t borne fruit in years and was as good as dead.
In this book, the peach tree symbolizes James’ existence. A fruit tree is a tree of hope, a tree of promise. Every year it buds and blossoms, and fruit is produced which is eaten and enjoyed. A fruit tree which bears no fruit is no promise: it’s a dead stump of a promise. James’ life began with hope and promise, but after three years with these wicked aunts, it was looking more like a stump than a tree – a life which would stretch on forever with no hope in sight. Like the withered old peach tree.
Of course, the story is called James and the Giant Peach, and that’s why I’m thinking about it this Second Sunday of Advent. Through some magic (of course, because this is a children’s book, and that’s what happens), the dead old stump of a peach tree produces a fruit, an enormous one, bigger than a house, and James finds strange and interesting new friends and wonderful new adventures because of and with that peach. But the beauty of the story for me really transcends those adventures: the beauty is that the life of this boy, which was like a dead promise, an old stump, is transformed into a life of life, of wonder, of joy.
Isaiah today talks of a similar beauty and wonder: a shoot, a branch, will grow from a dead stump. God will make new life.
The people of Judah are living in fear: cowed by Assyria and threatened by attack, living in a land which has been overrun, they find it hard to see hope. The great promises of the Davidic line seem completely broken off, as if they no longer have a line of kings in which to trust, a great tree stretching back to Jesse’s son, but now only a chopped off stump. The tree of Assyria seemed dominant, powerful, unstoppable. And their own tree dead and broken.
Isaiah tells them that there is reason for hope: a new shoot will arise from the very roots of the stump. A ruler will come and bring new life and hope. This ruler will be anointed with God’s Spirit – the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. In place of uncertainty and fear, there will be peace, and a ruler who rules with justice, caring for the weak and the powerless. And there will be an end to all the divisions that plague the world – even natural enemies in the animal kingdom will be companions, and children will be safe with the most frightening of creatures. For a nation under threat of war and destruction, this is a powerful good news.
And all this will come from what looks to be beyond hope, beyond help: like a new shoot from a dead stump.
What’s most striking to me is how closely this situation resembles our own, and how potent this promise might also be for us.
Dead stumps of broken and unfulfilled promises litter our lives. The threats which face this world are vast – it’s not just one nation-state like the people of Judah feared. Terrorism, a wrecked environment that is becoming toxic to us, seemingly unending problems of poverty and hunger here and abroad, and continued violence. We can relate to people like Isaiah’s audience.
Our hearts, which long to hear Good News and hope and promise, wear out, become tired and unable to hope. Given the right circumstances, we can even die inside. Like an old, withered peach tree there often seems to be little fruit for our hearts to enjoy and cherish. That we hear these texts in the cold and apparent lifelessness of a December winter only underscores the potential for our hearts to give up, to become dead stumps of promise, unable to produce good fruit, unable to hope for spring.
This all led me to an Easter hymn this week which sings of much the same thing – we aren’t going to sing it today, but there is something very important for us in it. The hymn “Now the Green Blade Rises” has this line, which has been running through my head all week: “When our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain.” That’s what this image of Isaiah is all about: when our hearts are wintry, grieving, or in pain, we are like dead stumps.
It happens when we measure our lives and come up wishing we were different, better, more “something.” The more we fall short of our own expectations and what we believe are God’s expectations, the colder and more wintry our hearts can be.
It happens when tragedies that happen in the world come to us, or we learn of them, which in our age of modern communications technology is all the time – we constantly hear of the pain and tragedy of others and are affected by it. It happens to us when young teens take their own lives because they’ve been bullied for who they are; when a young child is shot and badly hurt just two blocks from our church building, or others are attacked nearby; when a loved one is diagnosed with cancer and the whole world changes. As we face tragedy or know of it, our hearts can wither and grieve and go cold.
And it happens when life just seems very difficult. When we consider the state of the world and the amount of pain and suffering and threat that exist; when family problems seem insurmountable, relationships struggle, or financial concerns seem to overwhelm; when life for us or for others becomes a hard road to walk, our hearts fill with pain and are stricken.
But listen to that whole stanza: “When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain; your touch can call us back to life again. Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been: Love is come again like wheat arising green.”
That’s Isaiah’s promise. And that’s our Advent hope.
You see, what we’re waiting for this Advent is really Easter, not Christmas. Easter’s our real need.
The birth of the Holy Child, God-with-us, is not truly the fulfilling of Isaiah’s promise. Only when death itself is broken and life comes forth is our hope fully restored. And the touch of the risen Jesus – who is, we believe, the branch from Jesse’s tree long promised – brings peace and justice, life and hope. In a world of pain and hatred and war and violence: Jesus comes with the touch of peace. Peace like Isaiah saw: wolves and lambs lying down together, babies and venomous snakes playing together.
And that touch of peace which brings life into our cold hearts is here already with us. In the midst of the coldness our hearts sometimes have, into the dead stump of broken promises comes warmth and light. At the Lord’s Table we receive that life-giving touch of God’s love which makes us clean and whole and forgiven. The touch of Jesus’ hand comes to us through the hands of others, and that love warms us. And life springs forth from places we didn’t think would ever live again. There is nothing that cannot be transformed by this grace our Lord brings, no pain that cannot be eased, no death that cannot be ended with life.
And here is our real joy: how this healing Jesus brings to the world will happen. The Promised One of Isaiah touches us with life that we might be light and life to the world. It is no accident that when we baptize, when we confirm, and when all of us affirm our baptism together we pray for the same spirit Isaiah promises the Messiah will have: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
Because we are now Messiah, we are Christ – we are the anointed ones who, washed in the waters of Baptism and sealed by the Spirit with the very cross which the Christ used to defeat death, we now become the touch of God. We are sent to be bringers of peace to our families, to our community, nation, and world. To stand with lights and fire in a cold and dark world, as so many of our neighbors did in Powderhorn Park last week, and claim that there is life and light, in spite of how things look. To claim that our God can bring life to dead stumps, and is in fact doing this. Filled by God’s Spirit, we bring this Good News to the world.
This becomes how we live into our Advent hope: we become proclaimers of it with our very lives and actions.
We need the reminders Isaiah gives us today ourselves – for our hearts are often wintry and cold and withered, and we forget, we forget that God is with us and bringing healing. And we need the reminders because we sometimes forget that we are anointed by the Spirit to be this life in a cold, withered world.
We need these reminders because we and the whole world need this hope of Advent, this promise of Christmas, this reality of Easter: Our God brings life and warmth into the depths of our world’s coldness and pain, and touches us, calling our hearts and spirits back to life, for the sake of the world. God fill us with such hope, and bless us as we are sent to spread this Good News in our lives.
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
The Olive Branch, 12/5/2010
Accent on Worship
“High Church” or “Liturgical”?
This is a question that has been on the agenda for the Worship Committee for quite some time. I think of this question every Advent, Lent, - well, just about every season of the church-year. What does it mean to be a “Liturgical Community?” And what does that have to do with Advent?
Looking in from the outside, some may think that “liturgical” means that in our Sunday liturgies we put on a good show. Things are well-rehearsed, well executed, and quite poised and beautiful. People in front know the choreography – when and where to stand and move, what the appropriate gestures are, etc. Musicians are well rehearsed and know what to sing and how to sing it. These “high church” sorts of things are indeed important, but they are not the point.
To be “liturgical” is something different from that.
To be liturgical is to be called to an alternative 24/7 lifestyle. It is to live all of life as baptized children of God. This is already radically different from much of the world we live in. Sunday liturgies are not the only time we pray, read scripture, and focus on God. The liturgy is a time when we gather to do these things together. They are a culmination and starting point for our lives. We are compelled to gather regularly to remember and to be strengthened so that we can re-enter the world seeing it through a different lens and to know we’re not alone. During Advent, we can indeed live amid the societal commercial Christmas, but being liturgical means we can see things without being lured into lust for more. We can see our emptiness and need for God in the darkest time of the year, even in the midst of a season of complete excess and abundance. We can, however, celebrate the fact that for one stretch of time, the world feels generous. Let this be practice for the remaining 11 months of the year.
To be liturgical means we are called to stewardship. We don’t hoard anything while there are needs anywhere. We can let go of our grip on money and things because they are not the center of our being. God is. This really hit home last summer as I watched a house four doors south of the church go up in flames, consuming everything that family of four owned. Every dime I owned at that time felt extravagant to me. Being a liturgical people is what led us to help give them what they needed, and hopefully to learn more about what is truly “enough” for ourselves. Probably we could have done more for them. The irony is that even if they already had everything they truly needed – we are the ones who needed to learn to let go of what we had in order to help someone else.
To be liturgical means we are called to maturity. Many of us love to eat sweets. Mature people know that if that is all we eat we will not be healthy. Church fads come and go – especially those connected with worship practices. God is, and was, and ever shall be. Maturity stays focused on God of all time and space. We need to let go of self, and enter a frame of “us” that transcends our own tiny time and space – a frame that remembers where we’ve been (for thousands of years) and where we are going, making decisions as community that are wise and big-picture. What mature choices keep us healthy? We stay focused on God and on worshipping God rather than looking out the window obsessed with strategies for growing membership rolls. Stiff, inflexible, rarely changing museum liturgies? Not at all. Mature liturgies that are thoroughly thought through in a large context.
Most of all, as liturgical people we are called to observe full and conscious participation when we gather together for liturgy. Perhaps not unlike the way an actor or actress enters the role, becoming the person in the story, we enter a frame of mind in worship (and it is real, not acting) – providing a focus without distractions (hence, no announcements or other intrusions that divert our attention). You can witness this if you arrive before the prelude. It is quiet as people pray and direct their attention to what is to come. This is not snobbery, it is focus, and intensely meaningful.
The choreography is done because it all means something to us. We reverence the Altar because we acknowledge it as a symbol of the energy of an omnipresent God. We bow to the cross in reverence, acknowledging the presence of an omnipresent Risen Jesus Christ. We make the sign of the Cross as Baptized people of God.
To be liturgical is not about rubrics and “high church" ritual actions alone. It’s about life. Let us live Advent abundance as liturgical people of God.
- Cantor David Cherwien
Sunday’s Adult Forum, December 12
9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge
“The Infancy Narratives of the New Testament,” part two of a three-part series, led by Brad Holt.
Advent Evening Prayer
Wednesday evenings during Advent,
7:00 p.m.
2011 Conference on Liturgy
Mount Olive’s ninth annual Conference on Liturgy will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2011. The theme for this year’s Conference is, “Holy Death: The Parish and its Liturgy at the Time of Death.” Keynote speaker for the conference will be The Rev. Dr. Thomas Long.
A brochure was mailed to Mount Olive members and friends last week, and extra conference brochures are available at church. Cost for Mount Olive members to attend is $35/person. Please share this brochure widely with all of your friends who may be interested.
The Wish List
The Mount Olive Wish List is up and running and we’ve had several donations come in. Please consider donating even just a single item on the Wish List. Banner stands, Godly Play items, and furnishings are on the list. An updated list of needed items is posted in the church office next to the coffee sign up sheet.
If you would like to donate an item or items from the list, please sign the chart posted in the church office. Indicate which item/items you wish to donate and put your name and contact number beside the item you are donating. You will be contacted about total cost and how to pay. Your donation will be reflected on your giving statement for tax purposes.
–Brian Jacobs, Vice President
Hanging the Greens
Part of our Advent preparation at Mount Olive is to gather following the second liturgy on the Fourth Sunday of Advent to hang garlands and wreaths in the nave. This year, the date is Sunday, December 19. Please plan to stay and join in this task on that Sunday, beginning at about noon. You will experience good fellowship as we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah.
New members are especially invited to participate.
Book Discussion Group News
For their meeting on December 11, the Book Discussion group will discuss Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh. For January they will read Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. Please note that the date for the January meeting has not been firmed up yet due to the annual Conference on Liturgy, which is scheduled for January 8. Please watch for updated information about the date of Book Discussion group’s January meeting.
Book Discussion regularly meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge, and is always happy to welcome new readers!
Alternative Gift-Giving
Are you looking for something different to do this year for Christmas gifts? For the person who has everything, give a gift that will help people around the world who have very little.
The Missions Committee is promoting the idea of alternative gift giving this Christmas. For example, you can “buy” a sheep for your aunt who taught you how to knit. A struggling family would receive the sheep enabling them to increase their income and your aunt would receive a card acknowledging this gift. We have catalogues from different charitable organizations that you can use or you can order from the organizations’ websites. Some of these organizations are:
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America www.elca.org/goodgifts.org/
- Lutheran World Relief http://lwrgifts.org/
- Heifer Project International http://www.heifer.org
- Common Hope http://commonhopecatalog.myshopify.com/
- Bethania Kids http://bethaniakids.org/
Fair Trade Craft Sale
The Missions Committee is hosting a Fair Trade Craft Sale on the first three Sundays in December. Purchase beautiful and unique Fair Trade items handmade by disadvantaged artisans in developing regions. With each purchase, you help artisans maintain steady work and a sustainable income so they can provide for their families. Lutheran World Relief partners with SERRV, a nonprofit Fair Trade organization, to bring you the LWR Handcraft Project.
The crafts will be available for purchase between services on December 12 and 19 (cash and check only). Fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate from Equal Exchange will also be available. This is not a fund-raiser, just an opportunity to buy good products which benefit a good cause.
Attention Meals on Wheels Volunteers!
South Minneapolis Meals on Wheels has scheduled Mount Olive’s volunteers to deliver meals during the week of December 27-31. Gary Flatgard will call our regular volunteers sometime after December 13 to schedule our drivers/deliverers for service.
Please try to adjust your holiday schedule to make room to deliver Meals on Wheels during that busy week!
Mount Olive in Nigeria
As Pastor Crippen listed my name for prayer in the Sunday bulletin, I want to thank all of you who turned your thoughts to God for me during my recent trip to Nigeria. I went with some anxiety, but returned happy and thankful.
There is now a physical gift from Mount Olive in the sanctuary of the LCCN Cathedral in Jimeta. Thanks to Kate Sterner, I took a remnant of last year's pascal candle and presented it to the Pastor Boniface on the Sunday when i preached in this 1500-seat church in the capital of Adamawa State. I would like to see our congregation make more continuing connections with the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. Two years ago our theme for the Global Missions "Taste of" event was Nigeria; there are now three doctoral students at Luther Seminary from this church. The LCCN has over a million members and over 500 pastors.
My main purpose in going was to teach about "Spirit-Led Leadership" both at Bronnum Lutheran Seminary and at a special seminar for pastors whose theological training was in English. I experienced great joy in teaching spiritual practices and heard many expressions of thanks. There was an indication that they might invite me back next year.
I have written a more detailed account of my twenty days, along with my reflections on the meaning of the journey. If you would like a copy, with a few photos, please write to me at holtb@augsburg.edu.
- Brad Holt
Thank You From India With Love
The following greetings were received from our recent Bethania Kids co-workers in India, Godfrey Henry Immanuel Rajkumar and Paramadass:
A hearty "Thank You" to everyone, who hosted us and took care of us with lots of love. Love flowed everywhere! The American hospitality that was extended to us was amazing. The different kinds of food were delicious and we enjoyed every bit of it.
The people that God led us to meet were breathtaking, and I pray that God may bless each and every one of them with peace, joy, prosperity, and good health. I also pray that if anyone in their family has not come in contact with Christ, may they accept Christ.
Thank you for all that you do in support of Bethania Kids. What you have done for these little ones, you have done it for Christ.
May God bless you,
Godfrey
Glory to God!
First of all, I thank almighty God for His unique plan to accomplish His mission through Bethania Kids.
This tour has been a great opportunity to share about our life-changing activities, which are going on in India.
I thank you for partnering, hosting, and for your hospitality.
Yours in Christ,
Paramadass
“High Church” or “Liturgical”?
This is a question that has been on the agenda for the Worship Committee for quite some time. I think of this question every Advent, Lent, - well, just about every season of the church-year. What does it mean to be a “Liturgical Community?” And what does that have to do with Advent?
Looking in from the outside, some may think that “liturgical” means that in our Sunday liturgies we put on a good show. Things are well-rehearsed, well executed, and quite poised and beautiful. People in front know the choreography – when and where to stand and move, what the appropriate gestures are, etc. Musicians are well rehearsed and know what to sing and how to sing it. These “high church” sorts of things are indeed important, but they are not the point.
To be “liturgical” is something different from that.
To be liturgical is to be called to an alternative 24/7 lifestyle. It is to live all of life as baptized children of God. This is already radically different from much of the world we live in. Sunday liturgies are not the only time we pray, read scripture, and focus on God. The liturgy is a time when we gather to do these things together. They are a culmination and starting point for our lives. We are compelled to gather regularly to remember and to be strengthened so that we can re-enter the world seeing it through a different lens and to know we’re not alone. During Advent, we can indeed live amid the societal commercial Christmas, but being liturgical means we can see things without being lured into lust for more. We can see our emptiness and need for God in the darkest time of the year, even in the midst of a season of complete excess and abundance. We can, however, celebrate the fact that for one stretch of time, the world feels generous. Let this be practice for the remaining 11 months of the year.
To be liturgical means we are called to stewardship. We don’t hoard anything while there are needs anywhere. We can let go of our grip on money and things because they are not the center of our being. God is. This really hit home last summer as I watched a house four doors south of the church go up in flames, consuming everything that family of four owned. Every dime I owned at that time felt extravagant to me. Being a liturgical people is what led us to help give them what they needed, and hopefully to learn more about what is truly “enough” for ourselves. Probably we could have done more for them. The irony is that even if they already had everything they truly needed – we are the ones who needed to learn to let go of what we had in order to help someone else.
To be liturgical means we are called to maturity. Many of us love to eat sweets. Mature people know that if that is all we eat we will not be healthy. Church fads come and go – especially those connected with worship practices. God is, and was, and ever shall be. Maturity stays focused on God of all time and space. We need to let go of self, and enter a frame of “us” that transcends our own tiny time and space – a frame that remembers where we’ve been (for thousands of years) and where we are going, making decisions as community that are wise and big-picture. What mature choices keep us healthy? We stay focused on God and on worshipping God rather than looking out the window obsessed with strategies for growing membership rolls. Stiff, inflexible, rarely changing museum liturgies? Not at all. Mature liturgies that are thoroughly thought through in a large context.
Most of all, as liturgical people we are called to observe full and conscious participation when we gather together for liturgy. Perhaps not unlike the way an actor or actress enters the role, becoming the person in the story, we enter a frame of mind in worship (and it is real, not acting) – providing a focus without distractions (hence, no announcements or other intrusions that divert our attention). You can witness this if you arrive before the prelude. It is quiet as people pray and direct their attention to what is to come. This is not snobbery, it is focus, and intensely meaningful.
The choreography is done because it all means something to us. We reverence the Altar because we acknowledge it as a symbol of the energy of an omnipresent God. We bow to the cross in reverence, acknowledging the presence of an omnipresent Risen Jesus Christ. We make the sign of the Cross as Baptized people of God.
To be liturgical is not about rubrics and “high church" ritual actions alone. It’s about life. Let us live Advent abundance as liturgical people of God.
- Cantor David Cherwien
Sunday’s Adult Forum, December 12
9:30 am in the Chapel Lounge
“The Infancy Narratives of the New Testament,” part two of a three-part series, led by Brad Holt.
Advent Evening Prayer
Wednesday evenings during Advent,
7:00 p.m.
2011 Conference on Liturgy
Mount Olive’s ninth annual Conference on Liturgy will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2011. The theme for this year’s Conference is, “Holy Death: The Parish and its Liturgy at the Time of Death.” Keynote speaker for the conference will be The Rev. Dr. Thomas Long.
A brochure was mailed to Mount Olive members and friends last week, and extra conference brochures are available at church. Cost for Mount Olive members to attend is $35/person. Please share this brochure widely with all of your friends who may be interested.
The Wish List
The Mount Olive Wish List is up and running and we’ve had several donations come in. Please consider donating even just a single item on the Wish List. Banner stands, Godly Play items, and furnishings are on the list. An updated list of needed items is posted in the church office next to the coffee sign up sheet.
If you would like to donate an item or items from the list, please sign the chart posted in the church office. Indicate which item/items you wish to donate and put your name and contact number beside the item you are donating. You will be contacted about total cost and how to pay. Your donation will be reflected on your giving statement for tax purposes.
–Brian Jacobs, Vice President
Hanging the Greens
Part of our Advent preparation at Mount Olive is to gather following the second liturgy on the Fourth Sunday of Advent to hang garlands and wreaths in the nave. This year, the date is Sunday, December 19. Please plan to stay and join in this task on that Sunday, beginning at about noon. You will experience good fellowship as we prepare to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the Messiah.
New members are especially invited to participate.
Book Discussion Group News
For their meeting on December 11, the Book Discussion group will discuss Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh. For January they will read Saint Maybe by Anne Tyler. Please note that the date for the January meeting has not been firmed up yet due to the annual Conference on Liturgy, which is scheduled for January 8. Please watch for updated information about the date of Book Discussion group’s January meeting.
Book Discussion regularly meets on the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. in the Chapel Lounge, and is always happy to welcome new readers!
Alternative Gift-Giving
Are you looking for something different to do this year for Christmas gifts? For the person who has everything, give a gift that will help people around the world who have very little.
The Missions Committee is promoting the idea of alternative gift giving this Christmas. For example, you can “buy” a sheep for your aunt who taught you how to knit. A struggling family would receive the sheep enabling them to increase their income and your aunt would receive a card acknowledging this gift. We have catalogues from different charitable organizations that you can use or you can order from the organizations’ websites. Some of these organizations are:
- Evangelical Lutheran Church in America www.elca.org/goodgifts.org/
- Lutheran World Relief http://lwrgifts.org/
- Heifer Project International http://www.heifer.org
- Common Hope http://commonhopecatalog.myshopify.com/
- Bethania Kids http://bethaniakids.org/
Fair Trade Craft Sale
The Missions Committee is hosting a Fair Trade Craft Sale on the first three Sundays in December. Purchase beautiful and unique Fair Trade items handmade by disadvantaged artisans in developing regions. With each purchase, you help artisans maintain steady work and a sustainable income so they can provide for their families. Lutheran World Relief partners with SERRV, a nonprofit Fair Trade organization, to bring you the LWR Handcraft Project.
The crafts will be available for purchase between services on December 12 and 19 (cash and check only). Fair trade coffee, tea, cocoa, and chocolate from Equal Exchange will also be available. This is not a fund-raiser, just an opportunity to buy good products which benefit a good cause.
Attention Meals on Wheels Volunteers!
South Minneapolis Meals on Wheels has scheduled Mount Olive’s volunteers to deliver meals during the week of December 27-31. Gary Flatgard will call our regular volunteers sometime after December 13 to schedule our drivers/deliverers for service.
Please try to adjust your holiday schedule to make room to deliver Meals on Wheels during that busy week!
Mount Olive in Nigeria
As Pastor Crippen listed my name for prayer in the Sunday bulletin, I want to thank all of you who turned your thoughts to God for me during my recent trip to Nigeria. I went with some anxiety, but returned happy and thankful.
There is now a physical gift from Mount Olive in the sanctuary of the LCCN Cathedral in Jimeta. Thanks to Kate Sterner, I took a remnant of last year's pascal candle and presented it to the Pastor Boniface on the Sunday when i preached in this 1500-seat church in the capital of Adamawa State. I would like to see our congregation make more continuing connections with the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria. Two years ago our theme for the Global Missions "Taste of" event was Nigeria; there are now three doctoral students at Luther Seminary from this church. The LCCN has over a million members and over 500 pastors.
My main purpose in going was to teach about "Spirit-Led Leadership" both at Bronnum Lutheran Seminary and at a special seminar for pastors whose theological training was in English. I experienced great joy in teaching spiritual practices and heard many expressions of thanks. There was an indication that they might invite me back next year.
I have written a more detailed account of my twenty days, along with my reflections on the meaning of the journey. If you would like a copy, with a few photos, please write to me at holtb@augsburg.edu.
- Brad Holt
Thank You From India With Love
The following greetings were received from our recent Bethania Kids co-workers in India, Godfrey Henry Immanuel Rajkumar and Paramadass:
A hearty "Thank You" to everyone, who hosted us and took care of us with lots of love. Love flowed everywhere! The American hospitality that was extended to us was amazing. The different kinds of food were delicious and we enjoyed every bit of it.
The people that God led us to meet were breathtaking, and I pray that God may bless each and every one of them with peace, joy, prosperity, and good health. I also pray that if anyone in their family has not come in contact with Christ, may they accept Christ.
Thank you for all that you do in support of Bethania Kids. What you have done for these little ones, you have done it for Christ.
May God bless you,
Godfrey
Glory to God!
First of all, I thank almighty God for His unique plan to accomplish His mission through Bethania Kids.
This tour has been a great opportunity to share about our life-changing activities, which are going on in India.
I thank you for partnering, hosting, and for your hospitality.
Yours in Christ,
Paramadass
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Sermon from November 28, 2010; The First Sunday of Advent
Texts: Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:1-11; Matthew 24:36-44
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
You Know What Time It Is
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My older sister is an orthodox Jew (which is a long and interesting story for another time), and she and a couple of her children visited us last summer. Their visit included a Sabbath. I didn’t know this before, but the way you know the Sabbath is over is when you can see at least three stars in the sky. My nephew Ezra was very eager for the end of Sabbath, and was waiting to see when the light would start to fade. We went out on the deck and watched. And we waited. He’d say, “Uncle Joseph, how many stars can you see?” Finally, I could see one. So we started to look – one, then there was a second over on the horizon. And a third above the house, with a fourth for good measure. Ezra delightedly ran back into the house saying, “Uncle Joseph says that the Sabbath is ended!” Now I never imagined I would have such authority. It was really a pleasure to see how my nieces and nephew observed the Sabbath so carefully and to be with them during that. But it was also really fun to see how much Ezra was waiting for the end. (It may have had something to do with a movie he and Peter were going to watch, which couldn’t be done during Sabbath.)
That image of waiting and watching the skies for what is to come has stuck with me. And it seems a good image for the beginning of Advent. We began our liturgy today singing, “For God alone I wait in silence.” Advent is a time of waiting more than any other season of the Church Year. Instead of waiting for nightfall, like my nephew, we focus on the opposite: we speak of waiting for the dawn. I love this imagery of Advent. Isaiah today sees this time, this dawn, coming, the day of the Lord, when all will come to the mountain of the Lord. There will be understanding in that dawn – all will walk in the paths of the Lord. And there will be peace in that dawn – weapons of war will be turned into tools for peace, swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. And so we are waiting for God’s morning to arrive. Advent is a time when we practice how we wait for this life, this restoration of the world.
It would be tempting to see all of this as in the future, as something to hope for, to dream for. It’s certainly the way many Christians seem to want to live. As if this future of God has nothing to do with our lives today. As if the promised peace and justice of the day of the Lord is something God will do, and only in the future. As if we long for the dawn, the coming of Christ’s light, and all we can do is long. And wait.
The thing is, our readings from God’s Word today have something different to say about that.
There’s a paradox in the Scriptures about this. Here it is: the day of the Lord is coming. Yes. And it is already here. Yes. Both are real. Both are true.
It’s virtually impossible to hear Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of heaven and the day of the Lord and know whether he’s talking about the future or about now. I think that’s intentional. So while the full justice and peace of God will only be brought to fruition in the true dawn, the return of the Lord, there is this reality: that God’s rule and reign have already begun. That we are in the “time of the coming of the Lord” as much as waiting for it.
So our waiting is different than simply hoping for a future event. Different than simply waiting for God to do something. No, the life in Christ to which we are called in our baptism is a life of fruitful waiting, of working our ministry in the reign of God, of living as if it were already here.
Paul puts it this way: “You know what time it is, it’s the time to wake up from sleep.” There’s no point in waiting for the dawn, Paul says, because the “day is near.” So let’s live “as in the day,” he says. Let’s live as if the full day has already dawned, God’s full reign of peace, and justice, and self-giving love has already begun. Because it has.
Jesus’ warnings to stay awake have something to do with this, too – we stay awake because in many ways it’s already day. God has come to us in the flesh, to live with us, abide with us. We know God’s love fully through the Son. Even more, God has taken on the powers of death, and absorbed our worst hatred, and risen alive through it, inviting us to follow in love. In every way that matters, the victory is sure and real and now. It’s day, not night, right now. There only remains the working out of the fulfilling, which God will complete. But which we are asked to be a part of.
See, there’s this truth about God that we sometimes forget: God doesn’t seem to want to do things for us that we could do ourselves.
The healing of the world as the Scriptures speak of it always seems to involve God’s people. God will not magically fix everything. But through us will heal the world.
So Jesus became one of us to teach us that God’s plan from the beginning was that we love God and love each other. If people need to be fed, people will need to feed them. If wars need to be ended, people will need to end them. If justice and peace are to spread, people will need to spread them. God works through God’s children, filling us all with the Spirit to change the world.
It’s time we stopped looking at promises like Isaiah’s and saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if all swords were made into plowshares?” It’s time we realized that we’re the ones holding the swords, and God will not force us to put them down. But God will give us the grace and strength to start putting down the swords and changing what they’re used for. To start making a difference in this broken world, to start being peacemakers, healers, signs of the coming kingdom.
My nephew knew there would be a clear time, a clear sign, that would be a signal. We don’t have such clarity on how long we’re to wait. But we do have time right now.
We never know how much. But if we’re alive today, we’ve got time. We’ve got time to reach out to that person next to us in the grocery store and be the light of Christ, the light of day. To call that neighbor who’s suffering or struggling and be the sound of Jesus’ voice. To offer ourselves in love to others as a sign not only of the One who rules our hearts and lives but also as a sign of the same One who loves all the peoples and creatures of this world.
And if we’re still alive today, we’ve got time to make swords into plowshares as well.
There’s time to be people of peace, people who live in such a way as makes for peace in our own personal lives, and in the life of our community, nation, and world. A way which leads to a world where all children have enough to eat, clothes to wear, shelter, and can live freely, be educated, and live healthy, productive lives.
There’s time to pray for God’s peace and for God’s justice, too. For our soldiers who lay down their lives trying to make peace in terrible situations. For relief workers and agencies around the world who lay their lives on the line trying to make peace in terrible situations. For our leaders, that they lead our culture and nation past our self-absorption and into a way of life that brings healing to all peoples.
There’s still time, so we can give what ELCA World Hunger Appeal calls “alternative” gifts this Christmas – Lutheran World Relief has good suggestions, too, and these gifts could make a huge difference – gifts of wells in arid lands, medicine in the midst of plague, education where people are starving to learn more, cows and sheep and pigs so people can live. The possibilities offered by these two groups alone are amazing and if we all took them upon ourselves could change the world.
If we’re still alive, there’s still time, so we can work for the peace Isaiah envisions. After all, though he sees this as future, he joins Paul and Jesus in the present, urging us: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This is the vision Scripture has of God’s reign and rule in Jesus. It’s all there. And it’s all here, in us, in God’s people.
Let’s really learn what it means to wait in a truly Advent way this year. A way which involves doing the work of the day while we have time.
Jesus says that salvation is now, the time is now. So we’re always waiting, and it’s always coming to fruition at the same time. We live in both realities. It’s always Advent, God’s hope is always coming, all our lives, and that’s OK, because it’s also always here already. We live in both realities. And it’s time – it’s time for us to stop acting as if faith in God’s restoration means simply to wait and hope for God. God needs us to start right now. Because it turns out that we are part of this thing for which we wait. We are the three stars in the sky, we are part of God’s sign that help is on the way, healing is already happening, and justice and peace are not only hoped-for futures but possible presents. God be with us and give us the Spirit, that we might be God’s sign and God’s healing in this world.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
You Know What Time It Is
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My older sister is an orthodox Jew (which is a long and interesting story for another time), and she and a couple of her children visited us last summer. Their visit included a Sabbath. I didn’t know this before, but the way you know the Sabbath is over is when you can see at least three stars in the sky. My nephew Ezra was very eager for the end of Sabbath, and was waiting to see when the light would start to fade. We went out on the deck and watched. And we waited. He’d say, “Uncle Joseph, how many stars can you see?” Finally, I could see one. So we started to look – one, then there was a second over on the horizon. And a third above the house, with a fourth for good measure. Ezra delightedly ran back into the house saying, “Uncle Joseph says that the Sabbath is ended!” Now I never imagined I would have such authority. It was really a pleasure to see how my nieces and nephew observed the Sabbath so carefully and to be with them during that. But it was also really fun to see how much Ezra was waiting for the end. (It may have had something to do with a movie he and Peter were going to watch, which couldn’t be done during Sabbath.)
That image of waiting and watching the skies for what is to come has stuck with me. And it seems a good image for the beginning of Advent. We began our liturgy today singing, “For God alone I wait in silence.” Advent is a time of waiting more than any other season of the Church Year. Instead of waiting for nightfall, like my nephew, we focus on the opposite: we speak of waiting for the dawn. I love this imagery of Advent. Isaiah today sees this time, this dawn, coming, the day of the Lord, when all will come to the mountain of the Lord. There will be understanding in that dawn – all will walk in the paths of the Lord. And there will be peace in that dawn – weapons of war will be turned into tools for peace, swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks. And so we are waiting for God’s morning to arrive. Advent is a time when we practice how we wait for this life, this restoration of the world.
It would be tempting to see all of this as in the future, as something to hope for, to dream for. It’s certainly the way many Christians seem to want to live. As if this future of God has nothing to do with our lives today. As if the promised peace and justice of the day of the Lord is something God will do, and only in the future. As if we long for the dawn, the coming of Christ’s light, and all we can do is long. And wait.
The thing is, our readings from God’s Word today have something different to say about that.
There’s a paradox in the Scriptures about this. Here it is: the day of the Lord is coming. Yes. And it is already here. Yes. Both are real. Both are true.
It’s virtually impossible to hear Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of heaven and the day of the Lord and know whether he’s talking about the future or about now. I think that’s intentional. So while the full justice and peace of God will only be brought to fruition in the true dawn, the return of the Lord, there is this reality: that God’s rule and reign have already begun. That we are in the “time of the coming of the Lord” as much as waiting for it.
So our waiting is different than simply hoping for a future event. Different than simply waiting for God to do something. No, the life in Christ to which we are called in our baptism is a life of fruitful waiting, of working our ministry in the reign of God, of living as if it were already here.
Paul puts it this way: “You know what time it is, it’s the time to wake up from sleep.” There’s no point in waiting for the dawn, Paul says, because the “day is near.” So let’s live “as in the day,” he says. Let’s live as if the full day has already dawned, God’s full reign of peace, and justice, and self-giving love has already begun. Because it has.
Jesus’ warnings to stay awake have something to do with this, too – we stay awake because in many ways it’s already day. God has come to us in the flesh, to live with us, abide with us. We know God’s love fully through the Son. Even more, God has taken on the powers of death, and absorbed our worst hatred, and risen alive through it, inviting us to follow in love. In every way that matters, the victory is sure and real and now. It’s day, not night, right now. There only remains the working out of the fulfilling, which God will complete. But which we are asked to be a part of.
See, there’s this truth about God that we sometimes forget: God doesn’t seem to want to do things for us that we could do ourselves.
The healing of the world as the Scriptures speak of it always seems to involve God’s people. God will not magically fix everything. But through us will heal the world.
So Jesus became one of us to teach us that God’s plan from the beginning was that we love God and love each other. If people need to be fed, people will need to feed them. If wars need to be ended, people will need to end them. If justice and peace are to spread, people will need to spread them. God works through God’s children, filling us all with the Spirit to change the world.
It’s time we stopped looking at promises like Isaiah’s and saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if all swords were made into plowshares?” It’s time we realized that we’re the ones holding the swords, and God will not force us to put them down. But God will give us the grace and strength to start putting down the swords and changing what they’re used for. To start making a difference in this broken world, to start being peacemakers, healers, signs of the coming kingdom.
My nephew knew there would be a clear time, a clear sign, that would be a signal. We don’t have such clarity on how long we’re to wait. But we do have time right now.
We never know how much. But if we’re alive today, we’ve got time. We’ve got time to reach out to that person next to us in the grocery store and be the light of Christ, the light of day. To call that neighbor who’s suffering or struggling and be the sound of Jesus’ voice. To offer ourselves in love to others as a sign not only of the One who rules our hearts and lives but also as a sign of the same One who loves all the peoples and creatures of this world.
And if we’re still alive today, we’ve got time to make swords into plowshares as well.
There’s time to be people of peace, people who live in such a way as makes for peace in our own personal lives, and in the life of our community, nation, and world. A way which leads to a world where all children have enough to eat, clothes to wear, shelter, and can live freely, be educated, and live healthy, productive lives.
There’s time to pray for God’s peace and for God’s justice, too. For our soldiers who lay down their lives trying to make peace in terrible situations. For relief workers and agencies around the world who lay their lives on the line trying to make peace in terrible situations. For our leaders, that they lead our culture and nation past our self-absorption and into a way of life that brings healing to all peoples.
There’s still time, so we can give what ELCA World Hunger Appeal calls “alternative” gifts this Christmas – Lutheran World Relief has good suggestions, too, and these gifts could make a huge difference – gifts of wells in arid lands, medicine in the midst of plague, education where people are starving to learn more, cows and sheep and pigs so people can live. The possibilities offered by these two groups alone are amazing and if we all took them upon ourselves could change the world.
If we’re still alive, there’s still time, so we can work for the peace Isaiah envisions. After all, though he sees this as future, he joins Paul and Jesus in the present, urging us: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” This is the vision Scripture has of God’s reign and rule in Jesus. It’s all there. And it’s all here, in us, in God’s people.
Let’s really learn what it means to wait in a truly Advent way this year. A way which involves doing the work of the day while we have time.
Jesus says that salvation is now, the time is now. So we’re always waiting, and it’s always coming to fruition at the same time. We live in both realities. It’s always Advent, God’s hope is always coming, all our lives, and that’s OK, because it’s also always here already. We live in both realities. And it’s time – it’s time for us to stop acting as if faith in God’s restoration means simply to wait and hope for God. God needs us to start right now. Because it turns out that we are part of this thing for which we wait. We are the three stars in the sky, we are part of God’s sign that help is on the way, healing is already happening, and justice and peace are not only hoped-for futures but possible presents. God be with us and give us the Spirit, that we might be God’s sign and God’s healing in this world.
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Sermon from November 25, 2010: Thanksgiving Day
Texts: Philippians 4:4-9; John 6:25-35
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Give Us This Always
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
A few years ago someone told me about a stress relieving exercise, which I have since heard from others is actually pretty good science and popular in the business world as well as in the spiritual realm. The exercise is to take three deep breaths, followed by meditating on the things for which one is grateful. I’ve tried it, and it actually does relieve stress, as well as bring a sense of peace and calm. And as I’ve thought about it since, I’ve realized how being thankful changes everything – it changes my perspective from an inner focus on myself to an outward focus on another, it changes my sense of stress and difficulty into one of joy as I think of the blessings I have, and it opens my heart to the goodness in the world as opposed to focusing on the problems or pain.
My mother loved Paul’s words which we heard this morning. These are words of deep and abiding faith no matter the circumstances of life. What moved my mother most especially were Paul’s words in verse 6: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Did you catch the significance of where thanksgiving comes for Paul? “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Paul invites us to give thanks while we’re making our requests, while we’re praying, while we are in supplication to our loving God. That, friends, is the depth of the gift of faith our Lord Jesus gives us, that we can be so confident in the love God has for us that while we are still praying for ourselves, for the needs of others, for the life of the world, we are already thanking God for answering our prayer.
Thanksgiving the holiday is often one where we think back on the past year, on our lives, and offer thanks to God. What Paul says is that we can even look ahead to our future and offer thanks to God for that gift as well. With the help of Paul, perhaps we can be deepened in faith this Thanksgiving, truly see how all our lives are in the hands of a God who loves us beyond compare, and truly thank the Triune God for gifts not yet received or even expected.
In some ways, Paul simply says this: how you think, what you focus on, will shape your life immeasurably.
This is such a mystery – but it’s been something I’ve found true again and again. I was talking to someone about their self-confidence not long ago. I said they had good confidence, to which they replied, “Only outside, not inside.” But that’s all you need – because if we enter into a situation and act as if we are confident, others will respond to us that way, and we’ll actually be more confident.
The same can be said about faith – if you act as if you believe, taking that step of faith, you will actually find you do believe. And Paul gives us many things to focus our lives on and actually live into. Listen:
“Rejoice in the Lord always,” he says. And it’s so important, he repeats himself: “Again I say, rejoice.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” he says.
Pray with thanksgiving: Act as if you’re already thankful and you will be.
And think about all these things, Paul says: whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, things of excellence, and things worthy of praise. It’s simple, Paul says – where your heart is, your mind, your thoughts, there will your life be. The peace of God will fill us instead of the anxiety of this world.
What an amazing promise! So at the risk of implying it’s only a matter of positive attitude – because it is, after all, God’s peace which comes to us – there’s a lot of evidence that how we think and focus shapes how our lives actually look.
Think of all the examples you might know of people who live this way. People who outwardly have pain and problems, or lack necessities, or deal with all sorts of setbacks, yet look at life with joy and peace. It’s because they are thankful – they know their blessings and are grateful for them.
And likewise, we can think of many who are richly blessed but somehow never happy, never satisfied, always complaining about their problems.
And on this Thanksgiving Day, Paul invites us to be like the first ones.
It’s probably why I love the hymn we’re about to sing so much – it helps me be that way.
I love Thanksgiving hymns – and most of the ones we’re singing today are core and traditional ones to me without which I’d feel less like it was Thanksgiving. But our next hymn is more recent – a 20th c. text set to a beautiful and familiar old Welsh tune. And in the last decade or so that I’ve known it, it has become so dear to my heart.
What’s beautiful is that the marvelous hymn writer F. Pratt Green simply leads us through all the things for which we can be and are thankful. And it becomes our thanksgiving prayer. It could easily be one you use at the table later today.
So stanza 1 speaks of the fruits of creation – all the gifts to the nations, all the agriculture and growing life that feeds us, and for the way our earth even holds care for the future in its bosom. And stanza 2 moves into the human realm – thanking God for all the ways we love and care for each other, including reward for our work, help for neighbors, and sharing our wealth with all in need. In these two stanzas, we give thanks for things in the realm of the actual bread and fish that Jesus gives in the feeding of 5,000 from our Gospel. But it’s stanza three that deals with Jesus’ claim to be more than all that, to be our Bread of Life.
And this third stanza is the one that always brings me where I need to be on Thanksgiving. It concludes: “For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all, that love has found us – thanks be to God.”
“For wonders that astound us”: may we always be open to seeing them. For me, this is most clearly seen in family and relationships – when after a stressful day or week, the joy of being hugged by one of my children, or of seeing Hannah and Martha back from college, or Mary’s kind and careful concern for how I’m doing. But it’s also the wonder of this amazing creation, this world God has made, of leaves and sunsets and rain and snow, of all the amazing faces of God’s children. There are so many things that we receive that we do not deserve, but which overwhelm us with wonder and that is God’s grace in our lives.
“For the truths that still confound us”: may we trust in God to hold us in them. Thanksgiving will be a time of sorrow and grief for some in our congregation, a time of seeing a huge gap where someone is no longer – each Thanksgiving there are new ones in that group, people who’ve recently suffered a key loss. One of our gifts as brothers and sisters in Christ is we share that burden together. And we stand together in this confounding truth: that though death looks final we know it is not. We know Jesus is raised and will raise us. And though there are times it seems not to make sense, seems to confound, there are so many times when we sense that deeper truth and joy behind all our confusion – our lives are in God’s hands forever.
“Most of all, that love has found us”: may we live boldly and joyfully in that love. At the depths of most human hearts is this fear: we are not lovable. But here is what gives us life: God’s love for us is as deep and high as anything we can imagine. It is a love which cannot be taken from us. It is a love that is yours, not because you deserve it but simply because God has it for you. This is how Jesus is our Bread of Life. This love faced death and broke its power. This love now is yours, placed in your heart for now and for always. And this love now calls you to love, to transform the world with that love. That will be part of our thanks as we go from here.
So rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice. Be thankful. The Lord is near to you.
And the love of the Lord has found you, forever. This is the Bread of Life for us, which nourishes and blesses us and changes us forever. This is what we ask God to give us always, just as Jesus’ hearers in today’s Gospel do, that we might have life. But even without our asking, God comes to us with wonders, truth, and love, and our lives are made whole and new, even in this broken world. And what more do any of us need than to rejoice in that? Thanks be to God!
In the name of Jesus. Amen
Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Give Us This Always
Sisters and brothers, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
A few years ago someone told me about a stress relieving exercise, which I have since heard from others is actually pretty good science and popular in the business world as well as in the spiritual realm. The exercise is to take three deep breaths, followed by meditating on the things for which one is grateful. I’ve tried it, and it actually does relieve stress, as well as bring a sense of peace and calm. And as I’ve thought about it since, I’ve realized how being thankful changes everything – it changes my perspective from an inner focus on myself to an outward focus on another, it changes my sense of stress and difficulty into one of joy as I think of the blessings I have, and it opens my heart to the goodness in the world as opposed to focusing on the problems or pain.
My mother loved Paul’s words which we heard this morning. These are words of deep and abiding faith no matter the circumstances of life. What moved my mother most especially were Paul’s words in verse 6: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Did you catch the significance of where thanksgiving comes for Paul? “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Paul invites us to give thanks while we’re making our requests, while we’re praying, while we are in supplication to our loving God. That, friends, is the depth of the gift of faith our Lord Jesus gives us, that we can be so confident in the love God has for us that while we are still praying for ourselves, for the needs of others, for the life of the world, we are already thanking God for answering our prayer.
Thanksgiving the holiday is often one where we think back on the past year, on our lives, and offer thanks to God. What Paul says is that we can even look ahead to our future and offer thanks to God for that gift as well. With the help of Paul, perhaps we can be deepened in faith this Thanksgiving, truly see how all our lives are in the hands of a God who loves us beyond compare, and truly thank the Triune God for gifts not yet received or even expected.
In some ways, Paul simply says this: how you think, what you focus on, will shape your life immeasurably.
This is such a mystery – but it’s been something I’ve found true again and again. I was talking to someone about their self-confidence not long ago. I said they had good confidence, to which they replied, “Only outside, not inside.” But that’s all you need – because if we enter into a situation and act as if we are confident, others will respond to us that way, and we’ll actually be more confident.
The same can be said about faith – if you act as if you believe, taking that step of faith, you will actually find you do believe. And Paul gives us many things to focus our lives on and actually live into. Listen:
“Rejoice in the Lord always,” he says. And it’s so important, he repeats himself: “Again I say, rejoice.”
“Don’t worry about anything,” he says.
Pray with thanksgiving: Act as if you’re already thankful and you will be.
And think about all these things, Paul says: whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, pleasing, commendable, things of excellence, and things worthy of praise. It’s simple, Paul says – where your heart is, your mind, your thoughts, there will your life be. The peace of God will fill us instead of the anxiety of this world.
What an amazing promise! So at the risk of implying it’s only a matter of positive attitude – because it is, after all, God’s peace which comes to us – there’s a lot of evidence that how we think and focus shapes how our lives actually look.
Think of all the examples you might know of people who live this way. People who outwardly have pain and problems, or lack necessities, or deal with all sorts of setbacks, yet look at life with joy and peace. It’s because they are thankful – they know their blessings and are grateful for them.
And likewise, we can think of many who are richly blessed but somehow never happy, never satisfied, always complaining about their problems.
And on this Thanksgiving Day, Paul invites us to be like the first ones.
It’s probably why I love the hymn we’re about to sing so much – it helps me be that way.
I love Thanksgiving hymns – and most of the ones we’re singing today are core and traditional ones to me without which I’d feel less like it was Thanksgiving. But our next hymn is more recent – a 20th c. text set to a beautiful and familiar old Welsh tune. And in the last decade or so that I’ve known it, it has become so dear to my heart.
What’s beautiful is that the marvelous hymn writer F. Pratt Green simply leads us through all the things for which we can be and are thankful. And it becomes our thanksgiving prayer. It could easily be one you use at the table later today.
So stanza 1 speaks of the fruits of creation – all the gifts to the nations, all the agriculture and growing life that feeds us, and for the way our earth even holds care for the future in its bosom. And stanza 2 moves into the human realm – thanking God for all the ways we love and care for each other, including reward for our work, help for neighbors, and sharing our wealth with all in need. In these two stanzas, we give thanks for things in the realm of the actual bread and fish that Jesus gives in the feeding of 5,000 from our Gospel. But it’s stanza three that deals with Jesus’ claim to be more than all that, to be our Bread of Life.
And this third stanza is the one that always brings me where I need to be on Thanksgiving. It concludes: “For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all, that love has found us – thanks be to God.”
“For wonders that astound us”: may we always be open to seeing them. For me, this is most clearly seen in family and relationships – when after a stressful day or week, the joy of being hugged by one of my children, or of seeing Hannah and Martha back from college, or Mary’s kind and careful concern for how I’m doing. But it’s also the wonder of this amazing creation, this world God has made, of leaves and sunsets and rain and snow, of all the amazing faces of God’s children. There are so many things that we receive that we do not deserve, but which overwhelm us with wonder and that is God’s grace in our lives.
“For the truths that still confound us”: may we trust in God to hold us in them. Thanksgiving will be a time of sorrow and grief for some in our congregation, a time of seeing a huge gap where someone is no longer – each Thanksgiving there are new ones in that group, people who’ve recently suffered a key loss. One of our gifts as brothers and sisters in Christ is we share that burden together. And we stand together in this confounding truth: that though death looks final we know it is not. We know Jesus is raised and will raise us. And though there are times it seems not to make sense, seems to confound, there are so many times when we sense that deeper truth and joy behind all our confusion – our lives are in God’s hands forever.
“Most of all, that love has found us”: may we live boldly and joyfully in that love. At the depths of most human hearts is this fear: we are not lovable. But here is what gives us life: God’s love for us is as deep and high as anything we can imagine. It is a love which cannot be taken from us. It is a love that is yours, not because you deserve it but simply because God has it for you. This is how Jesus is our Bread of Life. This love faced death and broke its power. This love now is yours, placed in your heart for now and for always. And this love now calls you to love, to transform the world with that love. That will be part of our thanks as we go from here.
So rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice. Be thankful. The Lord is near to you.
And the love of the Lord has found you, forever. This is the Bread of Life for us, which nourishes and blesses us and changes us forever. This is what we ask God to give us always, just as Jesus’ hearers in today’s Gospel do, that we might have life. But even without our asking, God comes to us with wonders, truth, and love, and our lives are made whole and new, even in this broken world. And what more do any of us need than to rejoice in that? Thanks be to God!
In the name of Jesus. Amen
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