Deerfield Lutheran Church

Anything Worth Doing For The Lord Is Worth Counting

By now most of you have received your six month statement of contributions in the mail, I hope you have or will take the time to open it up and check the amount recorded to see if it is indeed an accurate record of your financial stewardship. I also hope all of you will take a few moments to calculate what you're giving as a percentage of total income. Please do not do this in a legalistic way, as some sort of requirement for your salvation, but rather as an honest way to assess your own response to God's generous goodness. God gives us all we have, we return only a portion as a way of saying just how much God's grace matters to us in our lives.

Occasionally someone will say, “Pastor, I don't use envelopes when I give nor do I write out a check, I give sincerely from my heart and I don't worry about getting a tax deduction or any credit for what I give to the Lord. So my statement does not accurately reflect all that I give.”

“Oh really,” I'll say. “So only the Lord knows how much you give?”

“That's absolutely right, Pastor, and that's the way it should be!”

Now if the person doesn't walk away in a huff, I'll simply say, “I agree that Jesus said that when we give we should not let our left hand know what our right hand is doing. In other words, we don't give to gain any earthly reward or any earthly status or recognition as do those who always let other folks know they gave this or that, usually saying as they do, 'Now don't tell anyone, but I gave such and such.' I agree with you! I'm against that sort of giving to impress others!”

“However,” I'll say if I'm allowed to continue, “do you NOT think it matters to the Lord how much, if any, you give? And if it does matter in some small way, then, just perhaps, it's worth counting. Not for the sake of impressing others, but for the sake of honoring our relationship with the Lord.”

I've never been a fan of the 'bean counters' who will use numbers alone as a way to evaluate how well a teacher is teaching, how effectively a doctor is caring for her patients, or how valuable an athlete is to his or her team. Nor do I believe there are metrics for love or for how much faith we have in God. Jesus says even a mustard seed amount of faith is enough. Yet, Jesus also preaches this:

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed

down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap;

for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

- Luke 6:38

Pastor Larry

Pastor's Annual Report 2009: What We Say

The annual meeting of a congregation does not normally attract much attention. Yet the people who attend will have different stories to tell based on what is said here today. These stories will give rise to still more stories, which will continue long after our meeting is adjourned. So our words matter; the stories we tell matter. Since we cannot avoid telling stories, let's attempt to tell stories that will help those who hear them have a better grasp of the good news of God in Jesus Christ!

Two stories we cannot avoid telling this year: One about sex, the other about money.

First, the one about money. From Wall Street to Main Street this story has had an impact on all of our lives. It can be told as a story about greed and exploitation. How those with the most still managed to obtain more, while those with the least had to settle for less. That's the story that rankles us as we learn about Wall Street bankers getting 150 billion dollars in bonus pay while 10% of Americans are out of work. Businesses, schools, state and local governments, households, churches and nonprofits, have all had to drastically cut back on spending while a few financial managers (whose mismanagement created the problem we're in!) rake in record earnings. Yet the story of money can also be told another way, as a story of how those blessed with enough managed their resources wisely and found creative ways to share with those in need. As church we are in the world to tell both stories. Without a doubt we have been hurt by this recession. We've cut our budget and cut our paid staff. At the same time, we have been blessed by folks (some deceased or moved on) who practiced wise stewardship and generous giving allowing us to continue serving others. Despite this difficult year, DLC still managed to give 10% of our offerings for benevolence: to support ELCA missions, disaster response, CROP, and our local food pantry! Why have we done this? Because Jesus said, "whatever you do for the least of these your brothers and sisters you do it for me." When we help those in need (as we will be again for those in Haiti), we are doing what Jesus asks of each one of us. As a church we must also tell this story.

Now the other story, the one about sex.

Resolution 2 came before our churchwide assembly last Summer which read: “Resolved, that the ELCA commit itself to finding a way for people in publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships to serve as rostered leaders of this church.”

Resolution 2 passed 559-441. What's the story here?

It's the story of a church that has painstakingly studied and deliberated over the issue of homosexuality for many years, much of it through very considerate conversation. This conversation led many to recognize gay and lesbian persons as a valuable part of our lives. They deliver our mail, pilot our airplanes, provide us with health care, and are part of our families. Why wouldn’t they also be in our church? We're also reminded that celibate gay clergy have been part of the ELCA since its very beginning, sharing their gifts for ministry and remaining single. Therefore, no one could claim that gay Christians lacked gifts necessary for ministry! The question in Minneapolis last summer was not whether to ordain clergy who are gay, but whether to ordain those who are gay and who are in same-gender relationships of a monogamous and lifelong character. The vote tally caused many to rejoice, many to lament, and others to simply ask, “What does this have to do with my life?”

While each person is entitled to decide what his or her own response will be, here is my suggestion for Deerfield Lutheran Church:

First, let's not over-react. A former professor emailed his disgust to me: “The ELCA has just broken with 2,000 years of church history, ignoring every sound biblical and theological principle.” His words were an over-reaction. If we are going to speak like this — which I don’t recommend — then we must also say that the church broke with 1,850 years of Christian history and biblical interpretation when it finally stopped using the Bible to justify the practice of slavery. Or that the church broke with 1,950 years of Christian history and biblical interpretation when it finally determined that women had a place in church leadership equal to men.

Second, nothing is being forced on congregations. The actions of the ELCA assembly create options and opportunities for all 10,600 local congregations. They do not constitute decisions that demand changes in practice on a congregational level. Dr. David Preus who led the ALC when I was ordained and has voiced his opposition to the decision to ordain gays, who are noncelibate, has also made it clear he intends to remain a loyal member of the ELCA! He counsels that this vote to allow for such ordinations need not be church dividing because each congregation still votes to call their own pastor. No congregation can be forced to call someone who they disapprove of as their pastor!

Third, let’s keep perspective on scripture and how we interpret it. Of 31,173 verses in the Bible only seven have anything to do with what we refer to today as homosexual behaviors. These seven verses pale in comparison with the larger biblical witness about heterosexual adultery, loving one’s neighbor, and injustice to the poor. Jesus never uttered a single word about homosexuality. The Ten Commandments ignore the subject completely. Homosexual orientation was an unknown concept in biblical times. At least, every biblical writer skipped reference to it, if it was known. Also absent from biblical writing is any mention of what we know today as a faithful, loving, and lifelong same-gender relationship.

Like the money story this is also a story that can be told in more than one way. One way is to narrowly focus on homosexuals and place them under a microscope while ignoring how the majority who are heterosexual also sin. Jesus ridiculed such scapegoating when he said, 'you see the speck in your brother's eye and totally ignore the log in your own' or 'you strain out a gnat and swallow a camel.' Instead of this harmful deception let us admit that before God we all are guilty of sin. Let us take responsibility for our own behaviors! And let us also share the good news that in Christ God has done something about sin! The ground is level at the foot of His cross! Here God forgives us and sets us free to begin new life. As church, body of Christ, God's people in the world, it's our job is to make sure this story of a just and merciful God who freely forgives also gets told!

Addendum: On January 12th in 12 seconds 50,000 - 100,000 people lost their lives in Haiti. During the time of our meeting today some 300,000 children will die of hunger in our world. I say this not to make us feel guilty, but to remind us of the world in which we must tell this story, the world in which we strive to make the good news sound credible. Too often when we speak of things we know we can't avoid speaking about, as I have in this report, we must realize that to many in our world our words made no sense. We correct this not by ignoring the need for honest discussion, but by humbly acknowledging what we have been given - the good news that God's future is real now because of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Respectfully submitted,

Pastor Larry L. Sexe

Death Undone

It is a sobering experience on All Saints' Sunday to recite the names of friends and loved ones who have died in the past year. It brings us face to face with one of the certainties in life -- death. This is a reality around which none of us likes to linger for very long, yet it is such a profound and certain fact that it defines life whether we think about it or not. Everything we do is conditioned by the fact we are not here to stay.

I was once the Pastor of a rural church with a large cemetery. It began right outside my study door, and one of the very first graves I would come upon going out that door was the grave of a Pastor who had died while serving this congregation - in fact he died one Sunday in worship, standing in the same pulpit I stood in each Sunday - he died, preaching.

I can't remember when I first heard his story, I know it wasn't brought up in my call interview. Oh, by the way, we've had one die preaching. Yeah, I know what that feels like - when no one listens. No, we don't mean that. He actually died while he was preaching. We buried him right outside your office door.

No one was trying to frighten me with his story, this fact about my fellow preacher actually became a great help to me. The proximity to the place of his death and his grave was a constant and tangible reminder to me that it is not far from where we are to where they are -- just a few short steps. The line between the living and the dead is less decisive than most of us think. And the timing of our deaths is not something any of us can predict with certainty or even less control. Here at Deerfield Lutheran, you've had a choir director die while she was rehearsing the choir. Even here death is a reality from which we cannot flee. No one ever has. Not even Jesus.

In our gospel for today, Jesus comes to the grave of his friend Lazarus, who has died. Jesus has declared words we cling to whenever we stand beside the grave of our friends and loved ones. "I am the resurrection and the life," he has said to Martha. "Do you believe this?" And, Martha, God bless her, has already said, "Yes, Lord, I do believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." And then Martha goes and tells her sister Mary, the Teacher is here. Mary comes, kneels at Jesus feet and says what Martha has also said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here my brother would not have died." And she is weeping, and all those who have gathered there are also weeping. "When Jesus sees their tears, he is greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved." And he asks, "Where have you laid him?" And they say, "Lord, come and see." And in the shortest verse in our Bibles, our testimony concerning God, we read, "Jesus wept." He who is the Lord of life is not ashamed to stand with the mourners, one with them, and weep in the face of death.

The graves of our loved ones have a way of reminding us there is only a thin, and yet invisible line, between the living and the dead. We live out our lives close to that line, never knowing when we will cross it. We have no real knowledge about what lies beyond it. What we know is by faith, which for us is based on our trust in Jesus. All else is speculation. Since we know so little about death, what we believe is very important.

We do not believe that death marks the end to life. Beyond death we believe there is life, the exact nature of which we cannot understand and can scarcely imagine. This is the faith that makes it possible for us to stand beside the grave of a loved one and not despair. For all that we do not understand about the life that begins beyond death, we do believe we will understand it at the right time.

The Christian faith teaches us that life is not over when we die. Today, on All Saints' Sunday, we profess our faith in an on-going relationship between those who have died and those who are still living. As we remember our friends and loved ones who have died the emotion we feel is profoundly expressed by our tears. When we remember those who have died - it's OK to weep.

Perhaps you've heard it said, grown men aren't suppose to cry. It's a sign of weakness. Only women weep. Men are strong. Or, perhaps you have heard that only those who are weak in faith, or lacking in faith, shed tears. Those who are strong in their relationship with God have no need to shed tears. And yet, Jesus weeps. Who could have been closer to God, who could have been more confident of God love and protection than Jesus? And yet it is Jesus who weeps.

Rembrandt, one of the greatest artists, and most certainly the chief artist of Christian faith, was captivated by the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. He did many etching of this story over the course of his long carrier. As a young man who enjoyed early in life a great deal of success, he depicts Jesus towering over those who mourn - arms out stretched - you see Lazarus emerging from the grave as Jesus commands, Lazarus come out. It's a powerful portrayal, full of a young man's confident faith in Jesus' power over death and the grave.

Rembrandt went on to live a long life. After his early success his career took a nose dive, he had serious financial set backs. But even worse Rembrandt experienced lossing both his wife and his son to death. It was after these profound grief experiences that the much older Rembrandt returned again to the story that had captured his imagination as a young man. Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the grave. One of the last etching he made of this story, is in many ways like his very first. You still see Lazarus emerging from the grave, called back to life by his Lord Jesus. Rembrandt still believes in Jesus as the one who gives us life. Yet, as you look at the mourners who stand beside the grave you notice something has changed. Yes, Jesus is still standing there, but at first he's hardly noticeable. No longer towering over the others as Rembrandt has once imagined him. He no longer stands apart. He is one with the others who have come to mourn. Jesus stands beside us in our grief and sorrow. When you finally pick him out of the crowd you can see his shoulders are hunched over as if he is carrying a heavy burden. His arms are raised, but no longer do they seem over powering. And if you look carefully - and details were Rembrandt's trademark - you see his face. Rembrandt obviously took a great deal of care to show us his face. You can see his eyes. They are swollen, with bags underneigth them. Rembrandt has finally understood. Jesus is weeping. Jesus the Lord of Life is crying.

Weeping because he knows the sting of death even better than you or I. Weeping because he knows that he too will enter the grave and much sooner than any of his disciples realize. Weeping because he knows that the only way to defeat awful death is by going through it himself. Such is his love for us. Tears my dear friends are not a sign of weakness at all. They are reminders of how much we are loved. It is because of God's love for us that he has given us his only Son, our Savior who stands, not above us, but beside us in our sorrows. Yes, Jesus weeps. It is because of his tears born of his great love that death is undone. Amen

November 1, 2009--All Saints Day

Salted With Fire

In our gospel, Jesus says it's better to go into God's Kingdom, without an eye, without an arm or a leg, rather than to find one's whole body thrown into the fires of hell. A whole healthy body is a great asset, but Jesus says even our bodies are worth the sacrifice, if our choice is between heaven and hell.

In our church we don't talk much about hell. Hell is not one of the more uplifting biblical themes. But here in today's gospel Jesus quite clearly speaks about hell. To be accurate, he uses the Aramaic word Gehenna... that is a physical place, a location you could visit, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. So to be clear, Jesus is not talking about the place the Italian poet Dante wrote about in The Inferno. He's talking about Gahanna, a place in the Hinnon valley just South of Jerusalem. Centuries before Jesus talked about it, it had been a place of pagan idolatry and was condemned by King Josiah as an eternally unholy place (2 Kings 23:10). Later the inhabitants of Jerusalem used this valley as a garbage dump. Thus the valley became known as the dump, a place where rubbish was constantly consumed by fire. The Greek word for hell in the New Testament, is derived from the Hebrew name for this valley, Gahanna.

What Jesus is literally saying in our gospel is that it would be better to pluck out your eye, cut off your arm, and go into the Kingdom of God missing some part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into the dump.

That's an extreme choice! An extreme way of putting things. Biblical scholars tell us that Jesus is deliberately using hyperbole, extreme language, and exaggerated overstatement in order to grab our attention. Why does Jesus find it necessary to put things in such an extreme way to capture our attention?

Well, because often times we do treat ourselves like garbage - we let ourselves 'go to hell.' We throw our lives away by making bad choices. When Jesus warns, " It would be better to let go of some part of your body, rather than having your whole self thrown into the garbage dump of eternity." He's saying your life is precious. Don't throw it away. God's doesn't make junk, and God isn't finished with you yet, so don't you go throwing away what God made good.

Years ago Vance Packard wrote a book called The Waste Makers in which he coined the expression "throwaway society." We are a society that not only produces, but also throws away, casts off. A friend of mine once lived next to the city dump. That was before land fills, and we could go over there and find anything. Tables and chairs, pictures, china, appliances, tires, even bicycles and cars. It is absolutely amazing what people will throw away. My friend's family decorated their house with good stuff that other people had just thrown away for whatever reason. Of course there were plenty of things so mangled, so broken, they were no longer of use to anyone - the best thing was to throw them away.

We're talking now about material objects, not people. What does it mean when we begin to think of people as objects that are also throwaways, expendable somehow? I spent a memorable summer working at a hospital on the outskirts of Boston. I was a seminary student assigned to the pastoral care department at Boston's oldest and largest mental hospital. It was very much like a city dump, only for people. Our teacher, a Southern Baptist with a Ph. D from Harvard used to point out we were surrounded on three sides by cemeteries. This is the place of the living dead, he said, those who have been somehow used and abused by others end up here discarded. If you have been reading the State Journal, you know that we still struggle with the issue of mental illness. It is a sad fact that many people have come to see themselves as worthless, and throw themselves away living lives of quiet desperation.

Jesus says that no child of God - and that's an inclusive term - is meant for the waste pile. No child of God is meant for hell. Jesus speaks to us bluntly, but life's choices are that way. Jesus is saying, don't you go to hell! Don't take life that is a previous gift from God and go throwing it away. This may mean cutting some things out of your life. Drugs and alcohol come to mind. I knew a man who grew up in a family where alcohol was used occasionally, wine for a special meal, a cocktail now and then. As he grew older he found that the social drinking he did at parties was rapidly spinning out of control. He realized that he was drinking to get intoxicated. He was showing some of the early warning signs of what we call alcoholism. What did he do? Cut it out. Literally he cut alcohol out of his life and became what we call a teetotaler - to this day he will never touch alcohol. Even though he had once enjoyed fine wines and the pleasures that came with enjoying them, he cut out this aspect of his life, rather than risk having his entire life wasted, discarded.

Our congregation is part of an effort in Dane County to deal with the issue of binge drinking among our 18 - 25 year olds. We are NOT telling anyone they can't drink alcohol legally. However, we are addressing the issue of why so many of our young people, just getting started in life, feel the need to drink alcohol for the sole purpose of getting intoxicated, and to so as quickly as they can. That's what binge drinking means, consuming alcohol rapidly to get intoxicated. We know this is risky behavior - if you get behind the wheel of a car when you're intoxicated, you can kill other people. If you get drunk regularly, you're at greater risk to become a victim of criminal assault; you're also at greater risk to become addicted to alcohol. So while we're not telling young people to stop using alcohol altogether, we are saying, let's work together to cut out the binge drinking.

Everyone will be salted with fire, Jesus says. 50 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

As we heard from Gilbert & Stephanas the church is made up of people who are meant to be salt of the earth. Salt is useful. And one of the uses that Jesus had in mind was as a catalyst. Some of you know what a catalyst is. We have catalytic converts in our cars to change or neutralize harmful chemicals so they won't pollute our environment. In Jesus day, salt was used as a catalyst to allow a common fuel, dung, that's what comes out the back end of animals, we call it manure..... This manure or dung was made into cakes and used for fuel in earthen ovens. It was placed on top of the oven floor that was made out of salt. The salt increased the temperature at which the dung burned, making it an efficient fuel. This explains what Jesus meant when he said that salt could loose its saltiness and have to be thrown out. He was talking about salt used in a dung fired oven which gets thrown out when it no longer works as a catalyst, allowing the dung to become heat and light.

How this applies to us. In saying everyone is salted with fire, Jesus is taking us inside the fiery furnace of catalytic change. He is telling us who would follow him in this world that we are to be like the salt in the ancient ovens, agents of change. We are here to heat things up and yes, to produce light so we can see more clearly in order to bring much needed change to our society and our world. Sometimes it means working to change our attitude on something like binge drinking. Helping folks overcome addictive behaviors. Or it may mean raising awareness about mental illness, or homelessness. Tackling the huge issue of global poverty. As salt of the earth we are not to be content with the ways things are, we are here in order for God to use us, like salt, to change things, to make this world better.

In a few moments we will recite the Apostles' Creed where we say that Jesus was "crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried. He descended into Hell and arose..." We acknowledge our Lord as one who descended into hell. Not just in the three days prior to his resurrection, but throughout his ministry. Jesus goes to the dumping places we avoid, the mental hospitals and rehab centers. We have seen him in the Gospel of Mark confronting demons and driving out the things - the addictions & diseases - that dehumanize us. Did you notice that Jesus never abandons us even when others think we have reached the end of the line?

And that's also true of us, his body in this world. The church is meant to be the sort of place that keeps entering hell, keeps attempting to salvage lives, to rescue people, and to remind them that they are precious to God, beautiful and not destined for the ash heaps of the world. With Jesus, we are called to be instruments of bringing people back to life. So we go into hell to give people a taste of heaven, and the chance to turn around, to seek God's Kingdom while there is still time. Remember no one is beyond God's ability to restore, to redeem, and that includes you and me. So this day, choose whom you will serve. Decide right now to guard the good life that God has given you. If that means cutting out some aspects of your life - ask God to help you do that. You may have to go into a recovery group if you're dealing with an addiction. All of us need to ask, what do we need to let go of in order to salvage what is most precious. Is there someone you need to go and visit in order to share this message? Is there some hell you need to enter to bring back someone who has been lost? With God's help and the help of others, do it! Remember Jesus was willing to go to the cross for you, to save you from hell. He goes to hell to defeat hell and to win for those once thought of as refuse a kingdom of goodness and righteousness.

Pastor Larry - September 27, 2009

“Speaking The Truth In Love”

We have just heard Jesus say, "I am true bread." He does not say, I'm a loaf of bread, come and get it." In calling himself "true bread" Jesus is telling us something about bread and also about truth. First, bread. In the language of the Bible bread means more than just food, it refers to everything we need to live. Bread means nourishment for our physical bodies, but also our intellect - call it intelligence for your life ala John Tesch - and it also provides for what we tend to neglect the most, our spiritual life. The bread Jesus says he is nourishes and satisfied - body, mind and spirit. In so doing he is also telling us something about that slippery word "truth." What is truth? Pontius Pilate will later ask Jesus. Many today deny there is any such thing as truth. We are told truth is relative, truth means whatever you want it to mean. Jesus offers a radically different understanding - he calls himself the true bread. He embodies truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Apostle Paul promoted another radical idea - that we who follow Jesus actually are his living Body in our world. We who eat his body are his Body in our world. So how does that work?

The Irish rock star and activist, Bono, talks about it in this way: “Our nature is a hard thing to change; it takes time.. . .I have heard of people who have life changing, miraculous turnarounds, people set free from addiction after a single prayer, relationships saved where both parties “let go and let God”. But it was not like that for me. For all that say “I was lost, now I am found,” it’s probably more accurate to say, “I was really lost. I’m a little less so at the moment.” And then a little less and a little less again. That to me is the spiritual life. where I have been slowly rebuilt into a better image. It has taken years, though, and it is not over yet.”

When Bono talks about being rebuilt into a better image he's referring to Genesis 1 where the Bible tells us we are made in the image of God, but because of human sin that image has been distorted & deformed. So that image needs to be rebuilt into what God intended it to be in the beginning. The way Bono has gone about this rebuilding is to read the Bible and study it with other more mature Christians. He's been doing that for years. That is where the truth confronts us, as we read and study scripture together. So let's do a little Bible study, shall we.

In our passage this morning in Ephesians, Paul says we, as Christians are to grow in our love for one another. Of course, Jesus does more than suggest that we love others, he commands us to love everyone, neighbor and enemy, as created in the image of God. His church is to be known for its love of all people. Ephesians 4 addresses the way we are to practice this love:

“As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”(Verses. 1, 2) Humility, gentleness, patience, bearing with one another, all helps us to grow in love. Notice all these characteristics are hard to practice in all on your own in solitary confinement. They are learned as we rub shoulders with one another, as we serve along side each other. They are “one another” skills. They are relational skills. Because God is love, God’s very nature is relational. Within the Godhead, Father, Son & Holy Spirit, from all eternity, there has been a loving relationship. And thus God treasures relationships. We are to reflect that priority of loving relationships within the Church, which is the Body of Jesus.

There is a scene in the novel The Shack which illustrates this: it is where the main character Mack, who has experienced a great tragedy, is given the gift of sitting down with God, the Holy Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In this imaginative story God the Father/Creator is revealed to him as Papa, who he sees as a large black woman (I would remind you the Bible refers to God the Creator using both masculine and feminine pronouns), Jesus, who is a Jewish male appears that way - he's also a carpenter, and the Holy Spirit, appears as a gardener, a creative Asian looking woman. Now this revelation all takes place in a Shack that has been transformed into a warm, inviting cabin. In this particular scene, Mack is in his room in the cabin when he hears a loud crashing noise in the kitchen. I'm quoting now “For a moment there was dead silence, and then unexpectedly, he heard uproarious laughter. Curious, he went to the kitchen and was shocked at the scene in front of him. It appeared that Jesus had dropped a large bowl of batter or sauce on the floor and it was everywhere. It must have landed close to Papa because the lower portion of her skirt and bare feet were covered in the gooey mess. All three were laughing so hard that Mack didn’t think they were breathing. Finally Jesus brushed past Mack and returned a minute later with a large basin of water and towels and went straight to Papa. Kneeling at her feet, Jesus gently lifted one foot at a time, which he directed into the basin where he cleaned and massaged it. “Ooh, that feels so good!” exclaimed Papa. As Mack leaned against the doorway watching, his mind was full of thoughts. So this was God in relationship? It was beautiful and so appealing. What was truly important here was not the broken bowl, but the love they had for one another and the fullness it brought them.”

Here we catch a glimpse of God as God. God is love; God's true nature is seen in a relationship of love and not crying over spilled milk - or pancake batter. Our faith at its heart is relational too. One of the most important lessons God wants us to learn is how to love one another just as God does. (Now Ep 4:11-13)

“It was Christ who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists. And some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Verses. 11-13)

Paul lists several gifts here; the gift of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. All these gifts of leadership are given, not for self-promotion or self-glory, but are given to equip or prepare God’s people for works of ministry. Paul does not see the organized church as a big yellow bus, with the pastor at the driver’s seat and all the members strapped into their seat belts and taking a snooze for the long journey. Nor does Paul see the organized church as a fortress, with the pastor courageously standing up on the bulwarks and all the members barricaded on the inside, opening the draw bridge only for people coming into the fortress with no one daring to venture outside the walls.

Rather Paul sees the organized church as a living, breathing, moving, body; The Body, the body of Christ. Paul sees Pastors, and the other leaders of the church helping each other discover our gifts, equipping one another to discover our best place of service in the body. Maybe you're a hand that shows mercy. Maybe you're an eye that sees with faith into our future. Maybe you're a mouth that sings or teaches. Maybe you're a heart that seeks to help others. Each of us are part of this living Body. Working together in love we will “become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

There is an urgent need in the church today for all of us to recognize, appreciate and put into practice our God-given gifts.

A church member once wrote her pastor saying: “Dear Pastor, There are 566 people in our church. 100 of them are frail or elderly, so that leaves 466 to do the work. But 80 are young people at school or college, so that leaves 386 to do the work. But 150 of those are tired business people, so that leaves 236 to do all work. But a 150 of those are busy with young children so that leaves 86 to do all the work. But 15 live too far away to come here regularly, so that leaves 71 to do all the work. And 69 say they’ve already done their bit for the church, so that leaves you and me and I’m exhausted, so good luck to you!”

Each one of us has something we can do as part of Christ’s Body to serve others with love. The only way, for a spiritual gift to be verified as what it is, is for the person with that gift to offer it to God by serving others with love.

I Corinthians 13, the great love chapter in the Bible was written not on the occasion of a wedding; where we usually hear it read. Rather, this great love chapter was written to instruct us in the only way we get to use our spiritual gift; to serve others with love. “If I have not love, I am nothing”, Paul writes (I Corinthians 13:2). So when we use our spiritual gift, we serve with a love that Paul describes as patient and kind, trusting and persevering. We don’t serve with envy, or with boasting, or rudeness. We do not get easily irritated and we don’t keep a record of wrongs. Paul writes, “Love never fails. But where there are prophecies (a spiritual gift), they will cease, where there are tongues (a spiritual gift), they will be stilled, where there is knowledge (a spiritual gift), it will pass away . . . Now these three remain; faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13: 8-13 in part) We grow in our love for God, in our relationship with God as we grow and use our gifts in loving service to others.

`“Speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in LOVE as each part does it work.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Continuing with his image of The Body, Paul lets us know who is the Head of this body. It is Jesus Christ. He is the Head. He is the source of everything we do. Just like Lake Victoria is the head, the source of the great Nile River, so Christ is the head, the source of this church. From His head flows love, from his breath flows His spirit. From Christ, the whole body of this church is joined together and we grow. Apart from the Head, there is no life. Apart from the body, there is no growth. For any of us to be truly growing as a Christian, we need to be committed to a local body of Christ’s church where Christ is the Head.

The Baptist preacher Rick Warren author of the Purpose Driven Life writes, “Why is it important to join a local church family? Because it proves you are committed to your spiritual brothers and sisters in reality, not just theory. God wants you to love real people, not ideal people. You can spend a lifetime searching for the perfect church, but you will never find it. You are called to love imperfect sinners . . .just as God does. The Christian who says, ‘I don’t need the church’ is either ignorant or arrogant.”

“We are the Body of Christ and individually members of it.” (I Corinthians 12:27). We are not members of this church like we are members of an exclusive club - a country club, or MENSA. My dog is a registered Golden Retriever, he's a member of the American Kennel Club, he even gets emails! If you have met him, you know he is also spoiled. Being a member of a country club of a group of folks with high IQs or a registered kennel club requires little relational work or love. Membership in these clubs sets us apart from others. But being a member of the Body of Christ, puts us into relationship with others, it means we are here to love others, even those who are vastly different from us, yet here we are in the same Body, the church where we deeply, sincerely, sacrificially love one another, listen to one another, seek to discern the truth together, because Christ is our Head and has commanded us to do so. Which means very practically that we love our brothers and sisters of all ages and cultures, not just people like us, because Christ is our Head. We grow in our love for one another as we grow up in Christ.

At a retirement home dedication, remarks were given by one of the new residents, Dr. Paul Brand. Dr. Brand had been an outstanding, world-renowned Christian medical doctor/ a hand surgeon. At the ceremony he said, “I remember well when I was at my physical peak. I was 27 years old and had just finished medical school. A group of friends and I were mountain climbing and we could climb for hours. For some people, when they cross that (physical) peak, for them life is over. I remember well my mental peak, too. I was 57 years of age and was performing groundbreaking hand surgery. All of my medical training was coming together in one place. For some people, when they cross this (mental) peak, for them life is over. I’m now over 80 years of age. I recently realized I’m approaching another peak; my spiritual peak. All I have sought to become as a person has the opportunity to come together; in wisdom, maturity, kindness, joy and . . .love. And I realize when I cross that (spiritual) peak, for me, life will not be over; it will have just begun.”

May we continue to grow in humility, in gifted service, in maturity in Christ. May we continue to grow in love.

Pastor Larry - August 2. 2009

Does Jesus Care?

(In the Boat With Jesus)

Jesus is on a sailing trip with his disciples. Jesus is in the boat with them. It's a story about Jesus in a boat on the sea with his people. It's therefore a story about us because, in a sense, we are also in the boat with Jesus on a journey. The central space of a church, where we usually sit is called a "nave," from the Latin navis which means "ship." My ancestors built what they called Stave Kirche - Stave churches - which were built like upside down long ships - and Danish heritage churches - like Grace Lutheran in Cambridge - still have a model ship hanging somewhere in the nave to remind the people - we are not alone in our voyages - we journey with Jesus.

Something else: Jesus made the disciples get in the boat saying, "Let us go to the other side" (vs. 35), so they are here, as we are here, at Jesus' invitation, we are in the boat together at his invitation.

Sailing with Jesus is no safe journey. No sooner had they launched than there is a great storm. The waves rage; their survival is threatened. And Jesus? Where is Jesus? He's asleep. See him there, curled up comfortably on a cushion, sleeping like a baby while everyone else is terrorized by the storm. You could not ask for a sharper contrast than this: here is peacefully sleeping Jesus -and here right alongside are terror strickened disciples.

And their question is also our question: Jesus, do you not care that we are perishing? And what we learn today is this: Jesus doesn't care...about the storm. But he does care about us who care about the storm.

On this June day its easy to sit here and think peaceful thoughts. You might even doze off into peaceful slumber. But you know life. There can be darker more difficult days than this. This story of Jesus and his disciples in a boat captures a world where storms do rise up out of nowhere and where suddenly we are placed at peril.

If you have ever heard a doctor use the word cancer, you know that world. In any cancer, the normal reproductive processes, the natural workings of cells, somehow goes out of control, cells begin reproducing with astonishing speed, oblivious to the checks and balances of the body. The peaceful lake that has been our bodies turns into a storm tossed, angry, raging sea.

And this story of Jesus is about that. Or perhaps what has rocked your world right now is this recession we're in. Maybe you've been laid of from your job, maybe you are not even sure there will be a job to go back to. That's the storm you are sailing into right now.

And this story of Jesus is also about that also. Or perhaps what you once thought was a rock solid relationship with someone you intended to spend your entire life with has been swept away by the storm we call divorce. Everything you thought was solid and stable is swept away - and you feel so alone.

This story of Jesus is about that as well. Perhaps you thought there would be only smooth sailing with Jesus. You thought that with Jesus in the boat, there would be no storm, no waves, no fear. But that is not the case at all. Just about ever page of Mark's story of our journey with Jesus has Jesus at the center of a storm. When Jesus is near, the wind seems to pick up, the waves begin banging on the sides of the boat, and soon their is trouble.

If you are enjoying smooth sailing right now, if this Sunday in June is pleasant and peaceful, then perhaps you have nothing to learn from this story. Yet be assured, life being what it is, discipleship with Jesus being what it is, there will be storms. As comedian George Carlin puts it, "We're all precancerous." So listen to the story.

When the doctor comes into your room at the hospital, and you can see on her face even before she speaks the word, "Cancer." When you are startled by the phone call in the night and the voice at the other end says, "I have some bad news." then the waves began to beat, and the boat begins to sink, and you cry out. What is it that you cry? "Lord, do you not care that we are perishing?"

Even to say these words is to assume that not only is there a God, but there is a God who hears us, who cares about us, and will somehow act. There are many who may believe in some Supreme Being, some Force that swirls in and about us, but who cannot accept the notion that this God would care about us personally or act on our behalf. God to them, if there is a God, this God has to be impersonal. And he certainly is not with us on our journey through life.

But you see, God is with us. God's name is Jesus, and he's right here with us. In the calm peaceful days of our lives, but also out there on the stormy days that await us.

In the storm, when the illness is at its worst, when the clouds turn dark and the wind howls, when all seems lost, there is his strong voice, "Quiet! Be still!"

This story does not explain away why bad things happen to us, it only asserts -- in the storm, Jesus cares, speaks, Jesus saves. Here is good news in the midst of the storm.

You know tragedy. Bad things happen to good people all the time. Life is often terribly unfair. Sometimes it seems like the worst tragedies happen to the best people. You know that.

And we have various means of coping with tragedy - adjustment, cynicism, despair, wishful thinking, denial.

What if God has God's own way of dealing with tragedy---surprising intervention, strong words, calm at the center of a storm? And what if its not all left up to us? What if there is the real possibility that our cries for help get heard?

Yesterday I ran into a church member at a party. I asked her how things were going in her life right now. She told me about her health problem and how she had nearly lost her job because of it, she was on the list of those to be let go. One of her kids had been diagnosed with cancer, and had to have surgery. Another kid had graduated from college with honors and had yet to find a job. There were other stories of challenging times faced by other family members as well. And then she said, you know Pastor, I pray alot, and I know I'm not alone in all this. God answers prayers. The cancer surgery was successful, I just learned I'm no longer on the list to be fired, my job is secure. By the grace of God, we'll make it.

When we are in a storm all we can do is cry out. Sometimes our prayer sounds like this, Lord, do you not care if we perish? Yet, our Lord is right there in the storm beside us. He's in the boat right beside us.

Pastor Larry - June 21, 2009