John 20: 19-23

Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, MN (Zoom)
Pentecost – May 31, 2020

I speak to you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Before we being our sermon time this morning, I would like for us all to observe a moment of silence; silence for the life and death of George Floyd, whose life was taken from him on Monday evening, and for the communities that we are know and love that are suffering this day.

*Silence*

Amen.

This Sunday is a special Sunday. Today we mark, observe, and celebrate the day of Pentecost. This is, arguably, the third most important Sunday of the church year. 

In previous years, we have celebrated aspects of this story by reading together the story of Acts in the various languages that inform who we are as a community. Spanish, German, French, Latin, Igboo, and so many others… 

We also remember stories of tongues of flames resting upon the disciples heads, and God filling everyone with God’s Spirit.

We even celebrate this Sunday that it is, in some ways, the birth of the church. Where Jesus departs, the Spirit comes in, and we are sent out.

Often, we use this Sunday, like today, to honor the academic achievements of our own. We celebrate the accomplishments of the young people in our parish that have worked so hard for so long and celebrate academic achievement, such as graduation.

This year, our time together is different.

Our church and communities have already experienced hardship and change because of the deadly virus COVID-19, which is still very present in the world. Members of our church, and their families and friends have been serving in hospitals and care facilities, and even gotten ill with this virus to the point of death. It is, as we know, and aerosolized virus that directly impacts the function of the respiratory system. (sic) This causes the afflicted to not be able to breath.

In an effort to keep our community safe, we have been worshiping online, at home, over Zoom since the middle of March. While other states are beginning to open up and come back together, we stand behind the vision of the leadership of ECMN to stay safe at home, limiting our exposure to one another for the sake of the most vulnerable in our lives.

And on this particular Sunday, many of have become rapidly aware of the systems of violence and oppression that members of our community face simply because of how they look, or where they are from.

The death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department has shed light on systemic injustice and racism that has been at work in our state, on this land, long before Christ Church was founded. And it hasn’t gone away.

The cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, as well as others across the country are burning, both with the passion of citizens who have no other way to grieve and be heard, as well as with the consuming fires of hatred and disgust.

Many of us might be resonating with the disciples in our Gospel story. While the celebration of Pentecost happens 50 Days after Passover, as told in Acts; to me, the Gospel story is where we find more relevance today.

Scripture tells us that on the first day of the week, the disciples are gathered together, locked away in fear of the Judaean police and mobs, merely 3 days after they had seen their friend and teacher murdered before their very eyes.

And they were afraid.

They didn’t know what was going to happen.

They had heard rumors, though, from women who they knew. That somehow they had seen Jesus in the garden the day before. But, history has a theme of men not believing women’s stories; even stories as hopeful as this.

But then, Jesus entered the room and stood among them.

He showed them the wounds in his hands and side, and they knew. Jesus was with them. In the midst of their pain, grief, doubt, and fear, Jesus was present.

Not only was Jesus alive, and with them; Jesus gives them something.

Jesus says in verse 19, “Peace be with you.”. He then breathes the Spirit of God into them, and tells them that they are being sent.

No doubt, this story can leave us with a couple questions.

The first is: what is this Holy Spirit? For those of us who are good Episcopalians, Catholics, or Lutherans, we might remember from Confirmation that the Holy Spirit is the third part of the Triune God, and that she often shows up in the form of a dove, as at Jesus’ baptism, or in wind and fire like the story in Acts this morning.

But, what exactly does the Holy Spirit do?

The disciples would have had a keen remembrance, and awareness, that just four days earlier, while they were sharing a meal with Jesus, and he washed their feet, he spoke at length about someone that was going to help them, advocate for them, and give them peace.

Jesus had been with these people for 3 years, teaching them so many things about the love of God, the kingdom of God, and the healing power of God. And then that was taken away from them.

In John’s Gospel, the disciples are experiencing a very similar fear, grief, and loss to how many of us are feeling right now. The only word I can think to describe this is: helpless. Helpless to see the world burning around you, and what you thought had been progress feel like it is falling apart.

Helpless because there seem to be unseen forces at work, as sin, racism, and violence which are all counter to the Gospel.

Friends, I must tell you; it has been difficult to find a word of good news to be proclaimed this week.

But the hope in the Pentecost story is that despite the sorrow, grief, and loss that the disciples felt, and that we might be experiencing: Jesus still shows up where we are, and breathes the breath of God into us. The peace of God.

And this is the promise of the gospel that we as a church get to proclaim, in every season, but especially today. When it doesn’t feel like God is anywhere near us, we are reminded with every movement of wind, spark of flame, and warmth of love and touch that God has not abandoned or forsaken us.

Not only this, but in the giving of the Spirit, Jesus also sends us out. He sends us out into our own lives to point the way for others to “Come and See”. The Gospel of John doesn’t end with a call to evangelism, but with an invitation.

The invitation to know God. To invite others to experience the comfort and peace that passes all understanding. The balm in Gilead.

And, today, we also send out our graduates. They been educated in school and in faith, and are now each embarking on their own journeys. May the paths they walk be filled with joy, love, and the daily reminders of God’s presence and peace.

And as we have faith that despite how dark our own days might seem, that God’s peace, promised and given through the Holy Spirit is with us, too. And this peace is to know that each and every one of us are beloved children of God.

In John 16, Jesus shares his last words with his disciples. He says in verse 33:

“I have said this to you, so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage; I have conquered the world.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

—

John 11: 1-45

Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, MN (Zoom)
March 29, 2020

May the words of my mouth and the mediations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, oh Lord. Amen.

Our Gospel lesson this morning is a familiar story. It contains characters we have seen in other places in scripture. Jesus and his disciples are in Jerusalem, about two miles away from Bethany. While there, word came to them that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha was ill.

Scripture tells us that Jesus knew Lazarus. That they were friends. And not only did Jesus know him, but it is written that Jesus loved him. The love that is shared between brothers. 

Hearing our Gospel lesson this morning,  I don’t get the impression that Jesus thinks that Lazarus’ sickness is urgent. He even denies that Lazarus’ illness leads to death (in verse 4), to then stay for 2 extra days and then tell the disciples that Lazarus is dead (verse 14).

Jesus and his friends then walk the two miles between the cities, and encounter Martha on the way. Martha meets them on their way, and questions Jesus. Why wasn’t he there? Where were you, Lord? You loved this man…

John’s Gospel is full of imagery and symbolism. If we had 90 minutes, we could each find something unique or interesting to point out, and compare with other pieces of the larger story. But since we are pressed for time, and each of us in our own home, surrounded by familiarity and distraction.. 

There are three important pieces of this story that I want to illustrate this morning.

The first is that grief and suffering are real.

If we can be certain of anything within the biblical witness, it is that God’s people are regularly experiencing some despair. It is part of human existence. These sufferings vary in scope, scale, and size, as well.

They include sickness, suffering, sadness, pain, and ultimately death.

Even if our biblical knowledge is only as deep as what we learned in Sunday School as children, we know just how broken humanity can be. Cain killed Abel. Lot’s wife died before his eyes. David raped Bathsheba and ordered her husband to be murdered. Job lost his entire family. Jonah was so angry that he could die. Paul felt the physical presence of a thorn in his side during his ministry.

The bible is clear: suffering is a part of life.

Luckily, our Gospel lesson this morning illustrates one of the most comforting expressions and experiences of God incarnate, Jesus of Nazareth.

The second thing that I want to point out today is that Jesus wept.

The death of Lazarus, as well as the mourning of his family, friends, and community had a direct impact on Jesus.

And, full of emotion, as is 100% normal, right, and good: Jesus allowed himself to experience these feelings of sadness, loss, and grief. He wept.

Jesus could have healed Lazarus from Jerusalem. He could have woken him up like the centurions daughter.

But he didn’t Jesus entered into Bethany. He looked into the eyes of Mary, and Martha, and the village. He sat with them in the sadness of the moment, the grief of losing their beloved. And he cried. Not simply a few tears, but weeping.

This is to say that death does have its day. Even as close to Jesus as it is to be loved by him, death is still a certainty.

Luckily, the verbal exchange between Martha and Jesus outside of Bethany foreshadows not only how the rest of the story will go, but the story that Jesus knows that he is on his way to, which we will remember in a couple weeks. 

But before we discuss what is to come, it is worth pointing out that Jesus’ tears for Lazarus are rooted in love.

The Gospel of John expands on this, reminding those who hear these words that God’s love, through Jesus, extends beyond that of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. God loves you. And God loves me.

God’s love, through Jesus extends to each and every person that we meet, and those we don’t get a chance to.

For God so loved the world. The cosmos. Every single living thing.

And this love is so vast and powerful, so profound, that it moves Jesus to weep. God mourns with God’s people in all sadness and suffering. Even in death. God is not absent from us.

The verbal exchange between Jesus and Martha can sound like a bit of a gut check.
She all but asks Jesus, “Where were you? You could have saved him.”

This is a very human and normal reaction to death.

To look for God, and to plead. In the stages of grief, this is called bargaining.

But, Jesus assures Martha, and us, that there will be resurrection again. And Jesus uses the name of God, “I AM”, and declares that he is the resurrection, and the life. That death will not have the last word, in this story and overall.

Jesus’ existence as the resurrection and the life offers hope to all who are facing death, however death appears.

So, broadly speaking, in our story this morning, Jesus showing up to the tomb of Lazarus, moved by emotion and his friends, calls for the stone to be moved. And then, in a triumphant cry calls Lazarus back from the dead. Lazarus, come out! And Jesus meets us, each at our own point of grief, sorrow, and death, and promises hope in the face of fear, joy in the face of sadness, and life in the face of death.

Lazarus, Come out!

And the dead man came out, bound.

However we might be feeling this week, no matter how afraid or hopeless the world feels or seems, our story reminds us of the agency of God, constantly loving us and weeping on our behalf.

God has not abandoned us. God has not forgotten us. God has not forsaken us.

God is constantly moving to us, meeting us in our stench, in our doubt, our loss, our grief, and our fear. God is meeting us where we are, and loving us, no matter what.

In the name of the Father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

—
John 1: 1-18

Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, MN
December 29, 2019

Grace and peace from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

I certainly can’t speak for everyone here, but in my experience this week: Christmas has been a whirlwind. There was so much to do! There were many lists; shopping, wrapping, decking all of the halls! Meal planning, laundry, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, to name just a few of the things I did multiple times before Christmas. 

There were many trips to and from the airport to collect family members passing through, as well as more than one trip to the grocery store to pick up forgotten or last minute items.

And then there was all of the lovely Advent build-up. 

We had Wednesday night services every week, a digital Advent calendar, a Christmas concert from Chris, and the extensive planning for Christmas eve. Bulletins were printed, folded, and prepared. We had costumes and a rehearsal for a Christmas pageant. The choir practiced many times, as well. 

It was indeed, a whirlwind. 

It seems like once all of the presents were unwrapped, the dishes had been done, and the trash had been taken out, that I could finally sit down and enjoy the spirit of the season. But, as I turned on the radio to listen to Christmas music, the stations had already stopped playing them!

Friends, I must say: it is still Christmas! Just because the world has seemed to move on, it doesn’t mean we should, too.

Those who came to church on Christmas day got to hear Rev. Deacon Pat preach on part of this mornings Gospel. Truth be told, I was worried to have to follow his sermon, especially on such a similar text to what was shared on Wednesday.

Deacon Pat highlighted the many ways that God has chosen to engage with God’s people throughout scripture, and posing that in the incarnation, God with us, God gets involved in a personal way; taking on human flesh as the baby Jesus.

I have the benefit of an additional 4 verses that Deacon Pat wasn’t assigned, where we will spend most of our time this morning.

The Gospel of John is one of the most fascinating books of the New Testament. Full of imagery, allegory, and metaphor, the purpose of this Gospel is made clear: so that all might believe in Jesus by the works that are recounted. Because of this, there is no story of virgin birth, shepherds, camels, or wise men. 

In the opening verses, the author stretches their words back to creation, the Genesis narrative to unify this story: the story of Jesus with God’s ongoing activity in the world. Then, linking together verses 1 and 14, this word or logos of God takes up flesh and dwells among us. 

And it is from this word of God, that we receive all good things. “Grace upon grace”, the author declares.

There is one other piece of the story that I wanted to lift up. The last verse of our Gospel this morning says that “it is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known”. The word used there for heart is more appropriately translated as bosom, and only appears at one other place in John’s Gospel: where the beloved disciple is reclining and resting at the last supper: on the bosom Jesus. This is a very personal, affectionate, and loving posture. It is caring, supportive, and not unlike the way newborn babies are held, cared for, and nursed by their mothers. 

–
Going back to the opening of my homily this morning: the chores, the whirlwind, were you able to hear any of this grace or truth in that? Did my Christmas experience resonate with you?

Perhaps you were also busy with putting on Christmas that you might have missed the ways that God was revealing God’s self in the whirlwind. 

Or, maybe you are one of the many people for whom Christmas is a difficult holiday. Maybe you are far from your family, either location wise, or emotionally. Or maybe it isn’t a safe place for you or your loved ones, so you have un-anchored yourself from the traditions of your youth and are creating a new normalcy for you.

Wherever you find yourself around Christmas time, we have the chance today to come back to the center of the Christmas message: that God is making God’s self known: both as a tiny, fragile baby in Bethlehem, as well as in the ordinary and unremarkable ways in your life, today. 

While we are still very much in the Christmas season, it can be so easy to put away the feeling of hope, and wonder, and move on with our lives as work and school resume.

My challenge for you this morning is to find a way to rest in the bosom of Christ. To take a few moments this day and to remind yourself that in the midst of this season, God is present.

John’s Gospel is clear that there is darkness in the world, and that the darkness is real, and present. But that darkness isn’t the most powerful thing. That the logos of God, the word of God, the light of God, is still shining into all of the dark places in our lives.

And maybe you find yourself so close to God this day that you can help illuminate the way for others. As John is pointing to the light, may you also shine in the lives of others. 

We get to hear the message once more of a weary world; with political unrest, uneasy travel, and family dynamics. We hear of a crowded, busy town; with no room for a young family. And that this baby that has been born is for the whole world, and that his birth, death, and resurrection are so that all people may come to know and believe in him.

Rest in the bosom of the Lord.
Amen

—-

Luke 16: 19-31

Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, MN
September 29, 2019

Friends in Christ; Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Please be seated.

Our church is blessed in many ways. We are led by such a wonderful rector and priest, Rev. Anna Doherty. We are also blessed with not one, but two wonderful deacons: Rev. Deacon Pat Markie, and Rev. Deacon Molly Weiss, serving as ministers of Word and Service. We also are blessed with the presence of our organist, Chris Falteisek, as well as many other gifted volunteers, too many to name.

Because we have so many capable leaders in the church, and in order to celebrate such a momentous Sunday where we rally, celebrate, and bless our teachers and students as our school year begins; I have the joy and honor of addressing you this morning as your Children & Youth Minister, and provide this morning’s homily. For those of you with your calendars out, this is the fifth Sunday of the month. Each month that has five Sundays in it, you can expect to hear me preach at both services in the future.

Upon first glance, it can be very difficult to identify the Good news in this morning’s Gospel. Jesus tells a parable to those around which would come to be known as the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

Jesus gives us a couple examples of just how rich this man is: he lives in a gated house. He feasts every single day. He seems to not even honor the sabbath, and feasts when he should be resting. He dresses himself in fine, purple robes; a color reserved for Roman nobility. This man seems to embody everything that Jesus has been speaking against in Luke’s Gospel.

Jesus contrasts this man’s experience with another man: Lazarus. Jesus gives this man a name, derived from the Hebrew El-azar; God has helped.

Lazarus couldn’t be more different than the rich man. Lazarus is homeless. He is a beggar. He has no idea where his next meal will come from. He would even have been delighted to eat from the scraps of the rich man, usually reserved for dogs.

Not only this; Lazarus is sick. He has sores. They are bleeding, oozing, and filled with puss. He is an eye sore to not only the rich man, but every member of the rich man’s community.

Jesus wastes no words upon describing how different these two men’s lives are. And without any reason, tells those listening that both men die.

Lazarus’s experience in death turns out to be the opposite of how he lived his life. 

He is carried away to rest on the bosom, or in the richness of Abraham.

The rich man’s experience in death is far less graceful. Jesus tells us that he is buried. The rich man ends up in Hades, not hell as we modern hearers might assume, but some sort of waiting period before the final judgement. 

What we do know though, is that he is suffering, and begs to Abraham for Lazarus to come and relieve his thirst. He is burning, he says. But, they are proximal to one another. The rich man can see Lazarus. And what’s more, the rich man only recognizes Lazarus once he needs something from him. 

I believe the most crucial element offered in this story for our purposes this Sunday is Abraham’s response to the rich man. He says, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but right now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.”

Jesus wastes no words here. He is deliberately pointing out the massive discrepancy between the way that people were living in his time; those who have enough to feast like Roman rulers seven nights a week, and those who beg for every morsel they may get.

The immediate agony that the rich man is feeling is a mirror of the agony that Lazarus had felt all his life.

Jesus tells us that Abraham continues, “Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

(pause)

Let it never be said that Jesus couldn’t tell a story.

The most obvious parallel for listeners today is the call for us to acknowledge our wealth, our blessedness, and our privilege, and to repent from gluttony, greed, and ourselves. We are all the rich man. We live in the wealthiest country in the world, and while we might not have things as nice as we want them to be, we have them nicer than much of the rest of the world. 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that every day; 25,000 people starve to death across the world. That is the capacity of a professional soccer stadium. 

Closer to home, Second Harvest Heartland estimates that 1 in 5 children go hungry each and every night here in Washington County.

At its most simple, Jesus’ message this morning calls us to be better stewards of what we have, and to take care of those who are not in a position to take care of themselves.

What is more than this; taking Jesus at his word informs his hearers that what is even worse than refusing to help someone when they ask, is to become so numb to those around oneself that you fail to see the humanity in everyone in need.

The greatest failure of the rich man isn’t to blatantly ignore the man in need, but to become so jaded to Lazarus’ existence that he fails to see him at all. 

These words of Jesus cut deep. They echo across millennia to the very core of our hallowed building. “A great chasm has been fixed…”, indeed.

Friends in Christ, I believe that this message is speaking to us in another way; as we celebrate our students, teachers, and volunteers this Rally Sunday, I can’t help but think of the ways that we can be like the rich man.

How comfortable have we become in our own lives of faith that we scoff having to step over and around the messes made by our young disciples? Or that we are annoyed at the hot dogs or pizza (again) shared by wonderful volunteers because it isn’t the feast we might have had ten years ago?

Or, even worse; how have we become so routine in our own faith that we don’t even see, or hear, or feel the experienced needs of those that Jesus himself calls blessed, the children.

Is there hope in this Gospel story?

Absolutely. Even the rich man wishes for a better fate for his brothers that are still alive, and asks Abraham to send them a sign.

Jesus responds as Abraham saying, “They have Moses and the prophets, and they should listen to them.”

It is our duty, and our joy to have the opportunity to teach the law of Moses, the word of the prophets, the letters of Paul, and most importantly that God has created, Jesus has redeemed, and that the Holy Spirit is empowering these children.

It is in this duty that we take a Sunday to pray for and bless each and every part of Faith Formation at Christ Church. We are taking up the yoke of responsibility that the rich man is asking Abraham to carry out. Give those who haven’t heard a chance to hear that Jesus is calling us to advocate for those oppressed in our own society, in our own world, over and over again.

In the journey of faith, every person is called to be baptized. In baptism, God claims us as God’s own, and a covenant is made; either by us, or on our behalf.

It is the duty of the church, and all of its members to raise up each person in faith to know Christ and to be able to follow him.

We have young people in our midst who are dutifully coming to learn from all of us, either in classrooms, worship, or fellowship. How are we honoring their baptismal covenants when we interact with them?

Are we, like the rich man in today’s parable, blind to the ways they are asking to learn from us?

May we never become so comfortable, that we fail to see the needs of those around us.

Amen.

—

Baptism

Christ Episcopal Church, Woodbury, MN
January 13, 2019

I always cry at baptisms. I have for as long as I can remember. I am not even certain when it started. Maybe it is the tiny, white gowns, placed on infants who have little say in the matter. Or, the resolve of a teenager, or an adult, who makes a vow to live a life of a disciple of Jesus.

It could be the candles. I am a sucker for a good candle. Or, the imagery of a seashell, often given to baptismal candidates, echoing the practice of the early church.

Or maybe it is the music. In the congregation where I was raised in north Texas, the song I was there to hear your Borning Cry was the automatic, go-to hymn of the day anytime we had a baptism.

I cry at baptisms. And I am not ashamed to admit it.

Friends in Christ, peace to you, on this the feast day of the baptism of our Lord, Jesus.

Our gospel lesson this morning, written in Luke, begins on John the Baptists prophecy, and ends with Jesus being baptized. What is unique about Luke’s telling of the story is the writer does not share where Jesus is baptized, or more surprisingly, by whom. All we hear is that Jesus is in among a crowd of other recent baptismal candidates. 

Before we discuss what baptism is and means for us, let us take a moment to explore what baptism is not.

Many more charismatic traditions will tout baptism as being simple “fire insurance”; that once, and if you are baptized you will be safe from the eternal fires of hell. They also stress the agency of the baptismal candidate to choose when, how, and where they will receive this rite.

In our tradition, baptism is one of the two sacraments offered by God through the church. Sacraments, to remind us, are the means in which grace, sanctification, and forgiveness expressed in the church’s liturgy.

At its simplest understanding, in baptism, God claims us as God’s own, and we are marked with the cross of Christ, and sealed by the power of the Holy Spirit, forever.

Today we celebrate the first action of Jesus that is shared by all four gospel writers. It is fitting, then, how early in the calendar year that it finds us.

Many of us in this room were baptized as infants. Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, weird cousins, and sponsors or Godparents presented us before a church, parish, cathedral, or ward, and made promises on our behalf.

There is a promise made at baptism. The promise is to renounce all evil and sin; to confess faith in the triune God through the saying of the Creed, to continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, breaking of the bread, and prayers; to persevere in resisting evil, and whenever we fall into sin, to repent and return to the Lord. The promise is also to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, and to strive for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being.

While this is an incredibly encompassing promise, it hasn’t always been expressed this clearly. In modern baptism, the same declaration is used that was used in the early church. “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”. Once complete, the candidates were expected, encouraged, and coached through living lives as disciples of Jesus, the messiah.

In our Gospel lesson today, John is asked if he is the messiah, the one for whom the people have been waiting. John assures them that he is not, nor is he fit to even untie the messiah’s sandal. Furthermore, John states that while he uses water, when the messiah comes, the messiah will bring the Holy Spirit, and fire.

I think the most important piece of today’s story is the detail that is not included in our story. The verses that have been left out of this message is that John isn’t present at Jesus’ baptism, for John has already been imprisoned by King Herod.

So then, who baptized Jesus? The answer is both profound and simple. Jesus was baptized by the same thing that you were: the Holy Spirit. We know that when Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove. Not only this, a voice came down from heaven saying, “You are my son, the beloved; with you, I am well pleased.”

Friends, I invite us to reflect for a moment on how our understanding of baptism can be refocused when we expand our conception of baptism to being this: God reaching down from heaven and claiming us as God’s own.

How it matters not how great or grand the cathedral was where our baptisms occurred, or how wonderful and beautifully the choir sang. No, to only focus on what promise was being declared by those who love us on our behalf, and then the words that God assures us are true, “This is my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Priests do not baptize people. Priests are invited to declare the promise of God, the means of grace made known in this sacrament as seen in Jesus’s life.

This is a gorgeous manifestation of the kingdom of heaven, that all are invited into God’s love and grace. No matter what nationality, what tribe, language, or heritage one belongs to. That this is a superseding promise, a promise of God’s radical love and acceptance. My beloved. The one who pleases me.

In baptism, God claims us as God’s own, and marks us as beloved, forever and ever.

I always cry at baptisms.

—

Abide With Me

Community Lutheran Church – 8/23/15

Galatians 2

Community Lutheran Church – 7/12/15

Lessons in Healing – Mark 5

Community Lutheran Church – 6/28/15

Little Known Books of the Bible: Titus

Community Lutheran Church – 3/22/15

God’s Love Languages: Philia

Community Lutheran Church – 2/8/15

Making Things New: Opportunity

Community Lutheran Church – 1/25/15

Making Things New: Source

Community Lutheran Church – 1/18/15

Characters Around Christmas: Shepherds

Community Lutheran Church – 12/21/14

Parable of Two Sons

Community Lutheran Church – 9/27/14

Pentecost – Community Lutheran Church, Las Vegas, NV

This sermon was preached without the following manuscript, and this was transcribed subsequently.

Community Lutheran Church – 5/24/15

“Good morning! Hi, 11:00! I am Dan Nelson, I am the Intern Pastor here at Community Lutheran Church, and it is a blessing, and a privilege to get to speak with you and to get to worship with you all. I want us to take a moment to wave to the cameras, and to say ‘hi!’ to the people online. ‘Hi, people online! We are glad you are here, too. The church is more than just those of us in this room.’ ‘Let us pray… loving and gracious God, thank you so much for this day of Pentecost. Thank you for the time to come together in this space to worship you and receive your Holy Spirit. Be with us now, be with us always. We love you lots. Amen.’
‘Our story this morning comes from the book of Acts, the second chapter, beginning with the first verse. Let’s read this together, ‘when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.’ (Acts 2: 1). So, the celebration of Pentecost is actually an old, Jewish holiday called ‘Shavuot’, which is the Festival of Weeks. It takes place fifty days after Passover. It is a celebration of when Moses received the Ten Commandments from God on Mt. Sinai. And so, Jesus’ disciples were gathering together to celebrate this festival. They were upstairs, in the room, waiting, and celebrating when all of the sudden… This happened. ‘Suddenly from Heaven came the sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting (Acts 2: 2).’ So, as they were sitting there, minding their own business, maybe drinking a bit of wine or having a nice meal together… this violent wind overcomes their space. We can imagine the tumultuous wind and napkins going everywhere, the disciples hair in their faces… It is not unlike those of you who might have felt the earthquake on Friday. Right around midday? Do y’all remember that? Perfect. I was sitting in my office across the street, there, working on this sermon; Kelli, Bruce, and Phillip were all over here working on worship stuff. Kelli came back across the street and she looked like she had seen a ghost. Apparently the sanctuary was moving so much.. and Phillip was sitting over here on this organ, which is not secure and it was moving back and forth, and back and forth. I imagine that is not unlike when God sends the Spirit. I want to draw your attention to the second and third word [here]. They say, ‘From Heaven’. This theological claim that the writer of the book of Acts is saying is that every time that God is in action in the world, and this is a promise that God is in action in the world is that the direction is from God – to us. Every time. There is nothing we can do to draw ourselves closer to God… rather, we become in tune through he power of the Holy Spirit, that God is present and at work among us. Like a violent, rushing wind… The writer here is echoing back; if we remember from Genesis 1 at creation this Spirit of God moved over the waters… like a rushing wind.. And then, the reason many of us are wearing red. Let’s read this together, ‘Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit gave them ability’ (Acts 2: 3). Fire descended upon the disciples! Now, the disciples are some of my favorite characters in the Bible because they followed Jesus around for a solid three years, and saw him do miraculous things. They saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. They saw him feed thousands of people all at once. Not only that, they saw him crucified; resurrected, which is impressive in and of itself. Not only that, but a week before they saw him ascend into heaven! You would think they would not be surprised by very much of this. Lo and behold, as they are gathered together celebrating this festival… God shows up in tongues of fire that rest among them. Tongues of fire.’
‘I also want to draw our attention to the fact that then they began to speak in other languages: every language that is known across the land. In seminary, we had to learn ancient Greek and ancient Hebrew so we could work on translating the Bible together, and then in High School I also learned German and French. I am imagining all of these languages and the difficulty it took me to learn that. I am not too bright of a guy, let me level with you here. (laughter) But! The Spirit then allowed every person to converse and to testify to what God has been doing. And people from all across the known world at the time understood and heard about the resurrected Christ. This is the fulfillment of what Jesus said moments before he left the disciples, as we talked about last week. Let’s read this together from the first chapter of Acts. Jesus says, “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses…” (Acts 1: 8). What Jesus is calling us to do; both the disciples 2,000 years ago, and every one of us here today, is to bear witness to what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. The call of the Gospel is to testify on God’s behalf. We are called to be witnesses.
And this might be sending up some red flags.. I found this online. “Oh no! Not Evangelism!” Is that what I am asking you to do? Absolutely. I thought it was a cute cartoon. We get so hung up on that ‘big E word’; which is ironic that we are a part of the E.L.C.A… The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. What we are called to do is to testify to God’s action in the world. We are each given different languages with different people who we interact with; and the places we dwell, do work, do ministry, and do life. Many of you might not know this, but every intern who gets assigned to different places has a specific project that they are working on. Something that interns get to discuss with their supervising pastor. They meet with them every week and check in, having progress reports and write up evaluations, and paperwork, and all that good stuff. Well, my project, which Dr. Mark and I discussed before I even got here was to work on starting a church outside of Community Lutheran Church. So, I have spent a good portion of every week for the last six months or so out in the world trying to discern, understand, and testify to what God is doing in out of the way places. I was out one night supporting our sound man, Sam, as his band in this venue. And in this venue, God spoke to me, saying, ‘this would be a good place to do ministry.’ It is this tiny, hole-in-the-wall dive bar called the Double Down Saloon. Many of you have heard of it; it is somewhat… notorious. It is in not the nicest part of town. So, I was sitting there; I went there one evening, and I sat down and a woman down at the end of the bar starts complaining the band that was there the night before, and how the lead singer started to go on and on about politics, about the democratic process, and just complaining. So the bartender says, “Alright. Two things you don’t talk about here are politics, and religion.” So, I am sitting there, Intern Pastor Dan, minding my own business, listening to what is going on around me and I think, “Okay”. So, I get my business card out of my pocket, and on my way out I hand it to Butters, the bartender, and I say, “Hey! Nice to meet you. If you need anything, give me a call.” And I left. Well, the next day I went back. I wasn’t sure, because of this standing rule that if you are going to talk about politics or religion then they tell you to ‘Shut up and drink.’ So, I come back. I sit down and said, “Hey Butters, did you look at my card?” He says, “Yeah.” and then he starts introducing me to all of his friends. All of the locals: the regulars, the burlesque dancers, the prostitutes, the drug dealers, the homeless people. He says, pointing to me, “This guy, the Reverend… he is good people. Treat him well.” So I became one of them. To talk, and do life in ministry together. One evening I was sitting there down at the corner, and there was only one open seat and a woman comes in. She is about 30 or 35, right in there, and she has a seat next to me. She orders the house special,  which I cannot tell you the name of what it is; if you’re curious you can go look it up… Anyway, she sits down and we exchange pleasantries, “Hello”, and I get back to my business.
Well, she says, “This is my last day in Las Vegas.” This is an invitation to conversation.
So I say, “Okay. Tell me more.”
She says, “Well, I am moving to Texas.”
(aside) I am from the great state of Texas, so this raises a flag of interest on my end. I say, “Oh, tell me more.” Well, back in February, Texas was hit with a variety of snow and ice storms, and she said, “My father was driving, and his car went off the road… and he died. So I am moving back to take care of my mother and my sisters.”
I said, “Okay.” And we began to talk more and more about what her life would look like now that her father had passed away. She told me stories, laughed, and cried… After about thirty minutes she said, “Well, what do you do?”
“Well, I minister to people inside of a bar.”
So we began to talk, and talk about her father’s salvation, and how he is now united with the resurrected Christ, in death.

This is not the only story I have like this. Every day it seems that I am there I meet someone else that God reveals Gods-self in their lives and I get to speak to their beloved-ness. To their chosen-ness.
I was sitting in there a few weeks ago and this woman came in and she had just moved from New York. She had a thick accent, which many of you can picture right now. She was having a hard time finding a job. And so, we exchanged pleasantries, and she began to tell me.. This was on Maundy Thursday. She began to tell me about how she hates the holiday of Easter. So I wondered, “Okay, what is going on with Easter? I mean, candy, eggs, Jesus… What’s not to love?”  She said, “Thirteen years ago… I was getting married, it was my wedding day. As I waited there at the church, my husband, who I was going to marry that day… was killed by a drunk driver on his way to the ceremony. And I haven’t been to church since.”

My heart was breaking for this woman… For the closed off-ness for this woman, how she felt that anger and that energy against God. It took me having to learn the language of the Double Down Saloon, through the power of the Holy Spirit to then speak to God’s love for her. That it wasn’t God’s will to take her husband. That we are products of a broken society with broken people who make bad decisions that have consequences. Since that conversation, every time she sees me she says, “Hello!” and we sit down and begin to talk more and more about what her life will look like. About what role in her life faith will begin to play. But I had to tune in to what God was doing… Out of the way places with broken people.
But this might not be everyone’s cup of tea. God calls and equips every single one of us in other ways. I’m going to tell you another story. This lovely building behind me is Redeemer Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For those of you who aren’t that familiar with Minneapolis/Saint Paul, this church exists in the part of the neighborhood called North Minneapolis, and it is… not too dissimilar to North Las Vegas. There is a lot of poverty, a lot of homelessness, a lot of crime, a lot of drugs. The church leadership: Pr. Kelly Chapman and others began to see that the language that the Spirit was calling them to speak to was the language of opportunity. So, working with churches and other businesses, they began to brainstorm. Now, many of you know that Brian, Mark, and I have all lived in Minneapolis/Saint Paul in different areas of our lives, and it is a very green, eco-friendly, commuter friendly city which has a lot of bike trails. I imagine it was probably Pr. Brian’s favorite part of living there: riding his bike every chance he could get… Well, what the leadership at the church decided that they needed was a chance to provide an opportunity for people who needed job training. So, they worked with the local communities and they started what would be called Venture North. It is a bike shop that sells bicycle parts; that repairs bicycles, and gives people from the community who otherwise wouldn’t have a shot to get a job chances to work, to earn money, to learn skills. Not only this… A good friend of mine named Tyler, who was living in Saint Paul with his brothers and his mother… He had. Well, his mother was working two jobs; she was never quite around to be with the family, and so one night he went out with his knife because he couldn’t afford food for his brothers. And he robbed somebody. He took the money, went to the grocery store because it was that bad. That is what it took for him to feed his family. But, he was given a job through this place, through Venture North, which then he could learn these skills; to sell bikes, and repair them. And have more money to feed his family. And put this on his resume. I forget the name of the company he is at now, but no longer works at Venture North, and he has a much better job, and his family is in a much better place. It took the church discerning the Holy Spirit’s language to provide opportunities for those in their community, because the community was indeed suffering.
Another story like this: there was a woman named Margaret Kelly, who felt God’s call to be a pastor. The problem is, well, it isn’t a problem, is that she is a lesbian woman, engaged in a long term, monogamous, same-gendered relationship; but she felt the call before the church and said that was okay. She knew she was okay; but it took the church until 2009 to catch up with her. Well, after she went through seminary, she went through a discernment process; she knew that the language that God was speaking to her was one of radical hospitality. And so, she brainstormed with other churches. Actually, the church that gave the most generous gift to her was that of Saint Andrews in Mahtomedi, Minnesota, which is where Dr. Mark hails from.. so, yay, St. Andrews!
Well, she decided to take the money and start a food truck ministry. She goes to different kitchens, different church kitchens throughout the Metro preparing hand pies, which is like a calzone. She has a meat option and a veggie option. The thing is, when you show up, there is no charge. Every person who comes to the food truck gets a free meal. They have worship services available as well, if those, once they’ve eaten want to commune with the rest of the believers in God. And so, Shobi’s Table was started, and people know that on a certain day of the week at 12:15, she’ll be right there, ready to serve a warm meal, and pray, and listen to people, and to speak the language of radical hospitality, which was revealed to her through the power of the Holy Spirit. Her first worship service was actually Maundy Thursday, April 17th, 2014. It has been a thriving ministry ever since.
As we reflect on the message of Pentecost, it is one of the Holy Spirit working in the world 2,000 years ago arriving in fire and wind to the disciples in the room. But it is also the same Spirit that is working here today that calls and claims each and every one of us as beloved, children of God. And Jesus says, “I want you to witness to what I am doing in the world.” As we think in our lives of what God is calling us to do, and we think about the spheres of influence that we have in our lives, the tribes of people with which we engage.. Maybe you’re a computer programmer, and that is the language that God has taught you to speak. You can begin to minister and do life with other computer programers. Or maybe, God has called you to be a stay-at-home mom, and that is a blessed calling; but there are other people who might not have heard the Good News: the Gospel message, that God has created you, Jesus redeems you, and the Spirit empowers you. God is working in the world, and God is working at Community Lutheran Church, and as we prayerfully discern the directions that God is calling us to… May it ever be grounded in the message of Pentecost that we are called to be witnesses to the ends of the earth. Thanks be to God. Let us pray…
“Loving and merciful God, we thank you for this day. Thank you for sending your Spirit to be with us. For calling us, and claiming us in baptism. May we, with the rest of your church throughout the world continue to testify to what you have done, are doing, and will do. In your holy name we pray, Amen.”

Daily Chapel – 15 February, 2016

Here is the sermon I preached in chapel at Luther Seminary on February 15th, 2016. It was also my first time using a hand written manuscript to preach from.

Luther Seminary Daily Chapel

Thanks,

-d