This is a blog from a sermon the notes on which I found quite by accident whiel penning a trifle on simplicity of European life. As the sermon, Pastor Mick's, was one he gave back somewhere beteween December 2009 and February 2010, I'll only leave here the gist of what I heard. I think the thoughts are timeless.
In America, we do not or no longer know the word moderation. We do not know the meaning of moderation in our work, We consistently bring it home. Ask my wife if I'm guilty here ...
We buy clothes when the closets are full; toys when the kids already had too many; groceries when the refridgerator is full (only to see too much end up as refuse). We have an interesting phenomena in the US that is patently absent in Europe: storage locker facilities! ... full of more of what we arguably could go without. We "need" or act thus ... th elatest iPod, cellphone gadget, GPS and Blackberry, the newest model car or toy.
At Christmas, we are shopped to our limit and we shop to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Don't stop 'til you get enough." A former co-worker of mine one described his life as a youth spent honoring his personal bumper sticker/credo/mantra:
Excess is not enough.
But moderation is truly more Christian than excess ... ref: Psalm 63
Do we hunger for righteousness, do our stomach's growl (if not from physical hunger) for helping the marginalized in our society. We fedd our pangs for travel, Packers tickets and NASCAR. But where is our "gusto for God"?
Faith, in one sense, is not the restraint from ALL things, but restraint from "the right things". The things that do not satisfy ... the soul. As Psalm 63 sings, joy is not the absence of suffering; it is a delight in God's presence, it is hearing the songs of His creation in the birds each morning as I now walk kilometers over dirt paths to catch a bus to catch a train to walk 15 more minutes to a simple, but adequate desk ...
Europeans seem to have still retained some more measure of a handle on "enough". At least more than Americans seem to remember froma time seemingly past. There is still palpable here "the exhiliration of the wide-eyed" as the Psalm says. As Pastor Mick shared:
God gives each of us "a little faith" (we need only the size of a mustard seed) to stir our own brand of restlessness. We are human. We want good things, but often in bad ways. We want a house, not for the true ability it offers to keep us dry and safe and warm, but "for its own sake" and what it can "say about us". This seems, if not patently aabsent in Europe, at least a concept that they often have to struggle to relate to. Life is simpler, houses are simpler (but homes are just as warm), possessions are fewer, but seemingly more meaningful in and of themselves and are not measured in number or quantity. Or so it seems to a sojourner passing through, but one who stayed long enough to observe.
We are searching for a new Pastor. May they be someone of moral charcter with the vision to ask us to possess "a gusto for God", may they "have loving life down through their fingertips", may they task us and challenge us to "extend our reach beyond our grasp".
From a small nation in Israel rose the tide that rolled far beyond its borders.
From a small discontent, we can change the world (read Three Cups of Tea!!)
God works with what we give Him, with what He sees in us ...
Let's trive to do one meaning ful thign each day. As Mother Teresa is known to have said and lived: You need not do great things, but strive to do small things with great love.
If you want to hazard a look at the extent to which we have segregated our society between the haves and have nots, go to the library and borrow Nickeled and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich. It's an eye-opener and, if its not a heart-opener, then we've become Tin Men, Dorothy.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Git Busy Livin'
Easter Sunday April 4, 2010Preacher: Pastor Anika Neindorf
It is said when you first visit the Lincoln Memorial in an otherwise quiet moment, away from the clicking of tourists’ camera shutters, when it is only you and ol’ Abe, when you’re first told his hands hung over the mighty marble chair on which he’s perched form the American sign language for the letters A.L., his initials ... it is then that you talk to Abe and maybe you thank him for being the visionary rebel that he was, one that stands little chance of ever being elected in today’s America. I’ve heard it said people talk to him. I know Carmen placed her hands in the crevices of the etched marble walls towering above her head to “feel” the words he orated at Gettysburg or his famous 2nd inaugural address.
Although held in perhaps different esteem, I eflt something akin to this aura when I entered The Castle Church, the very place on the planet where Luther, the rebel, posted his 95 theses.
Thinking Ostern Sontag (Easter Sunday) would be “a madhouse” packed Church, I took a walk with Carmen on the evening before and we visited the Church and Luther’s grave within and The Door:
We rubbed our prayer shawl knitted at Mt. Zion on the bronze door across the engraved words of the rebel and his cause. I rubbed my Bible into the bronze as well.
It simply felt otherworldly. I recall it felt too simple and quiet to be “the place” where it all “began” or, if not began, “reformed” and changed. I recall visiting India over 25 years ago with a graduate school classmate. He took me to the very site where Gandhi began his Salt March to the Sea. There wasn’t even a sign, I said. My friend, Suresh, laughed. He said, “You Americans don’t think anything could have happened unless there’s a sign, a tour bus and little trinkets you can buy!” I think he may be right, or at least I’m guilty as charged. Anyway, what I was getting at is that there’s something surreal about feeling the dirt on the road where the Salt March took place, just as there’s something surreal in being alone with Abe Lincoln or Martin Luther.
It’s actually surreal to me as I write this that these three moments in my travels all came to mind as I wrote this in stream of consciousness, and yet, Martin Luther King, named for the rebel, read and followed through on the writings of the Mahatma and the promise of Abraham nearly 150 years past. These are the signposts and markings of history whether there is a wooden sign proclaiming it or not.
Sunday morning was also surreal. Jesus rises from the dead and The Resurrection conquers all. But what stuck with me was that there were empty pews, empty pews on Ostern Sontag Morgen!! Wow! I was told by a German student that “there are only the people here who normally go to Church every Sontag”. Well, it made for a beautiful service. Punctuated, as it were, by the most beautiful hymns! The Easter hymns, some penned in German over 500 years ago were moving ...
And as the preacher climbed the stairs to the preaching loft, her hands extended along its lanky wooden frame as old as the ages, I heard her voice, but perhaps not her words. In a stream of consciousness, as in a movie, where the character mouths words and her voice drops to only a backdrop audio, my thoughts or “what I was hearing” drawn into the louder foreground for “the viewer” to hear. And this is what I heard:
Get busy livin’ …… or get busy dyin’
It’s a GREAT line from the movie The Shawshank Redemption, delivered stream of consciousness by Morgan Freeman (as only he can do), reading from a letter from his inmate chum who escaped “the death” and “hoplessness and futility” of “life” at Shawshank prison.
“Get busy livin’ …”, he says, for the alternative is to “git busy dyin’ …”
Never say never, as the ol’ James Bond movie (and Pastor Gary Johnson) used to say. “Never” is the proclamation of “git busy dyin’ …”
We’re in the throes of real change at Mt. Zion and, in boldly choosing new leadership and accepting and, yes, even embracing, the ultimate and necessary changes that will ensue, we have been tasked to “git busy livin’ …”
Change is life’s blood. As Jesus said himself. Look I make a new thing. Sometimes change is thrust upon us in the guise of tragedy … with many unanswered questions as Good Friday reminds us. He even told His disciples, “I must leave you now …” This change is necessary for the seeds of new growth to take root, as in the passing of the seasons.
This entire trip has reminded me daily, even hourly, that change and pruning are good even when they’re naturally seen as disruptive. Routine can be good, in ways, but also stifling.
The preacher’s mouth continued moving, in German, of course, and I continued to hear something different than what she was saying …
Git busy livin’ … or git busy dyin’
Jesus died on a cross … presumably at the age of 33, a 3 followed by a Biblical 3, the number of days a butterfly, after rising from the apparent death of the cocoon lives furiously and fully before expiring.
Given my documented recent propensity for loose translations, I accepted that God might be re-issuing his understanding that “they preached each in their own tongue and others heard in theirs”. Upon returning to the stone floor above Luther’s grave, I told the pastor, “Dank, fur das gute predigt” .. Thank you for that good sermon.
Get busy livin’ …… or get busy dyin’
It’s a GREAT line from the movie The Shawshank Redemption, delivered stream of consciousness by Morgan Freeman (as only he can do), reading from a letter from his inmate chum who escaped “the death” and “hoplessness and futility” of “life” at Shawshank prison.
“Get busy livin’ …”, he says, for the alternative is to “git busy dyin’ …”
Never say never, as the ol’ James Bond movie (and Pastor Gary Johnson) used to say. “Never” is the proclamation of “git busy dyin’ …”
We’re in the throes of real change at Mt. Zion and, in boldly choosing new leadership and accepting and, yes, even embracing, the ultimate and necessary changes that will ensue, we have been tasked to “git busy livin’ …”
Change is life’s blood. As Jesus said himself. Look I make a new thing. Sometimes change is thrust upon us in the guise of tragedy … with many unanswered questions as Good Friday reminds us. He even told His disciples, “I must leave you now …” This change is necessary for the seeds of new growth to take root, as in the passing of the seasons.
This entire trip has reminded me daily, even hourly, that change and pruning are good even when they’re naturally seen as disruptive. Routine can be good, in ways, but also stifling.
The preacher’s mouth continued moving, in German, of course, and I continued to hear something different than what she was saying …
Git busy livin’ … or git busy dyin’
Jesus died on a cross … presumably at the age of 33, a 3 followed by a Biblical 3, the number of days a butterfly, after rising from the apparent death of the cocoon lives furiously and fully before expiring.
Given my documented recent propensity for loose translations, I accepted that God might be re-issuing his understanding that “they preached each in their own tongue and others heard in theirs”. Upon returning to the stone floor above Luther’s grave, I told the pastor, “Dank, fur das gute predigt” .. Thank you for that good sermon.
I’m not sure what she said, but I am sure what I heard …
Git busy livin’ …
Git busy livin’ …
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Checkpoint John the Baptist
Sunday December 6, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Mick Roschke
Readings:
Malachi 3:1-4
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
Preacher: Pastor Mick Roschke
Readings:
Malachi 3:1-4
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/C4E400EA-405D-3B4A-2C30-D23C57582841.mp3
To be a Christian, by definition, is to be open to change your way of thinking. In our Earthly lives, we too often allow change to be driven by necessity; we change in response to external circumstances; we change only after having received ultimatums.
ADVENT comes from the roots “ad” meaning “toward” and “vent” meaning “within us”. In this season, we want to look into ourselves so we may look more clearly outward. Pastor Mick’s wife teaches 5th grade. One day in class, someone was misbehaving. When asked, 20 of the 31 students claimed it was one particular student. Even when confronted with the evidence, he student denied it was them. We choose, too often, to contest our behavior rather than being open to our struggles.
The truth is we don’t ever “get to Christmas” without
(a) Being honest
(b) Hearing John the Baptist, “the eyes of change” and
(c) Concentrating on the “NOW” and not just “the later on”
There are many dangerous trappings along the journey. Rivers have always symbolized boundaries & crossings. Pastor Mick storied that this brought up conjurings of Checkpoint Charlie at the Berlin Wall, complete with mirrors, rude & mean border guards, dogs, the whole nine yards. You never knew if you would be permitted to leave (or re-enter), get through to “the other side”.
The key is there are ominous checkpoints for us along our way. And you can’t get to Christmas without passing through Checkpoint John the Baptist. At this advent border, something happens … a new beginning, a new start … where, if you repent, you cross over to the land of the vulnerable who can be transparent to their transgressions.
On “the other side”, it’s those who have the least who teach us in Advent.
Steal away to Jesus – across Checkpoint John the Baptist – and you’ll cross the border to be with those who are the true spirit of Christmas.
The Cold Within
Sunday November 15, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Mick Roschke
Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/32412560-C6F9-D6ED-5C5D-97491FA7BA9A.mp3
We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate'er the gift may be;
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.
May we Thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive
And gladly, as Thou blessest us,
To Thee our first-fruits give!William W. How, 1823-1897
A 1936 relic, Craig’s Wife, is a golden oldie in which a wife is so possessive and perfectionist about her possessions, that she alienates those around her, even (& especially) her real friends.
http://www.filmwalrus.com/2008/02/review-of-craigs-wife-1936.html
Pastor Mick reminded us that this movie brought back the old adage that …
Those who live to themselves often are usually left to themselves …
Today, we contrast that image with hat of the widow … who had nothing, but, in so, had everything. Jesus cautions us to look inward at the Pharisee and scribe in each of us. Hey had the best seats in the synagogue, they were learned in the law, they took advantage of their status, power and prestige. Like Craig’s wife, the scribes and Pharisees manipulated resources and those around them. Whenever you use your authority against your fellow man, something’s out of whack.
They did not see the widow. She was invisible to them.
In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, The Devil warns his apprentice of the utility of “moderation” …
http://www.stpaulserin.org/uploads/Beyond_Prudence_and_Moderation_11-08-09.pdf
Author C. S. Lewis wrote a delightful book, from the fictional point of view of an evil tempter.The Screwtape Letters is a classic. Screwtape is the mentor of Wormwood, a devil apprentice. Wormwood is a tempter in training. The demonic mission is to win souls for Satan. In one letter, Uncle Screwtape advises Wormwood that moderation is a key to keeping his patient away from devotion to the Christian faith. Screwtape writes, “Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things.’ If you can get him to the point of thinking that ‘religion is all very well up to a point,’ you can feel happy about his soul. Through moderation we grow immune to the real thing, which is lifechanging.
Our gospel lesson today frames two snapshots of opposing ways to be religious. One is a show. The other is genuine. One is about pride. The other is about humility. One is superficial and conventional. The other is profound and extraordinary.
The scribes, Jesus says, make a show of their religion, put their money into the temple treasury and help keep the established program going. Jesus sits opposite the treasury
and observes the traditional stewardship campaign from the
sidelines. Many people put in large sums, but a poor
widow comes along and drops in her penny.
Apparently, the large sums don’t add up to as much in the eyes of the Lord as the two copper coins that added together amount only to a penny. The smallest possible gift is the greatest because it is extravagant!
The widow’s mite was all she had. That gift, though a
drop in the bucket to the temple treasury, was everything to the poor widow. The large sums of the more wealthy represented a token, a portion of their surplus, money they could live without, funds that they wouldn’t miss because their pockets were deep. But the copper mite of the poor widow represented the life-changing devotion of a big heart.
Today, Jesus tasks us to be extravagant in our generosity. He wants us to give up “calculating before sharing”. At the Ecumenical Institute in Chicago, Pastor Mick shared, there was a service with “two collections”. Into the first, you were asked to give. When the plate was passed a second time, people were told to “take from the basket what they needed”. This so reminded me of a great story told by Pastor Gary Johnson. He was walking in Detroit with his good friend, Dick Martzoff, when a beggar asked for money. Dick reached for all the change in his pocket and told the man, “Take what you need”. He took it all.
Then, realizing he really need enough change to make a phone call, Dick ran after the man and asked for enough to make the call. The man reached into his pocket and took out all the money and said “Take what you need.”
Pastor Mick capped off this powerful sermon with a great poem, The Cold Within … warning of our innate ability to be Scribe-like …
http://www.jannah.org/articles/poems.html#8
THE COLD WITHIN
Six humans trapped by circumstances,
in bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
or so the story told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
the first man held his back,
for,of the faces around the fire,
he noticed one man black.
The next man looking across the way,
saw one not of his church,
and couldn't bring himself
to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
he gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use,
to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back
and thought of the wealth he had in store,
and how to keep what he had earned
from the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man's face bespoke revenge
as the fire passed from his sight,
for all he saw in his stick of wood,
was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
did naught except for gain,
giving only to those who gave,
was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hand,
was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
they died from the cold within.
We can be like the rich man, cold within, who just sat back, thinking how to keep what he had earned from others … or we can glow within like the humble widow who gave extravagantly from her first fruits.
Preacher: Pastor Mick Roschke
Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/32412560-C6F9-D6ED-5C5D-97491FA7BA9A.mp3
We give Thee but Thine own,
Whate'er the gift may be;
All that we have is Thine alone,
A trust, O Lord, from Thee.
May we Thy bounties thus
As stewards true receive
And gladly, as Thou blessest us,
To Thee our first-fruits give!William W. How, 1823-1897
A 1936 relic, Craig’s Wife, is a golden oldie in which a wife is so possessive and perfectionist about her possessions, that she alienates those around her, even (& especially) her real friends.
http://www.filmwalrus.com/2008/02/review-of-craigs-wife-1936.html
Pastor Mick reminded us that this movie brought back the old adage that …
Those who live to themselves often are usually left to themselves …
Today, we contrast that image with hat of the widow … who had nothing, but, in so, had everything. Jesus cautions us to look inward at the Pharisee and scribe in each of us. Hey had the best seats in the synagogue, they were learned in the law, they took advantage of their status, power and prestige. Like Craig’s wife, the scribes and Pharisees manipulated resources and those around them. Whenever you use your authority against your fellow man, something’s out of whack.
They did not see the widow. She was invisible to them.
In C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, The Devil warns his apprentice of the utility of “moderation” …
http://www.stpaulserin.org/uploads/Beyond_Prudence_and_Moderation_11-08-09.pdf
Author C. S. Lewis wrote a delightful book, from the fictional point of view of an evil tempter.The Screwtape Letters is a classic. Screwtape is the mentor of Wormwood, a devil apprentice. Wormwood is a tempter in training. The demonic mission is to win souls for Satan. In one letter, Uncle Screwtape advises Wormwood that moderation is a key to keeping his patient away from devotion to the Christian faith. Screwtape writes, “Talk to him about ‘moderation in all things.’ If you can get him to the point of thinking that ‘religion is all very well up to a point,’ you can feel happy about his soul. Through moderation we grow immune to the real thing, which is lifechanging.
Our gospel lesson today frames two snapshots of opposing ways to be religious. One is a show. The other is genuine. One is about pride. The other is about humility. One is superficial and conventional. The other is profound and extraordinary.
The scribes, Jesus says, make a show of their religion, put their money into the temple treasury and help keep the established program going. Jesus sits opposite the treasury
and observes the traditional stewardship campaign from the
sidelines. Many people put in large sums, but a poor
widow comes along and drops in her penny.
Apparently, the large sums don’t add up to as much in the eyes of the Lord as the two copper coins that added together amount only to a penny. The smallest possible gift is the greatest because it is extravagant!
The widow’s mite was all she had. That gift, though a
drop in the bucket to the temple treasury, was everything to the poor widow. The large sums of the more wealthy represented a token, a portion of their surplus, money they could live without, funds that they wouldn’t miss because their pockets were deep. But the copper mite of the poor widow represented the life-changing devotion of a big heart.
Today, Jesus tasks us to be extravagant in our generosity. He wants us to give up “calculating before sharing”. At the Ecumenical Institute in Chicago, Pastor Mick shared, there was a service with “two collections”. Into the first, you were asked to give. When the plate was passed a second time, people were told to “take from the basket what they needed”. This so reminded me of a great story told by Pastor Gary Johnson. He was walking in Detroit with his good friend, Dick Martzoff, when a beggar asked for money. Dick reached for all the change in his pocket and told the man, “Take what you need”. He took it all.
Then, realizing he really need enough change to make a phone call, Dick ran after the man and asked for enough to make the call. The man reached into his pocket and took out all the money and said “Take what you need.”
Pastor Mick capped off this powerful sermon with a great poem, The Cold Within … warning of our innate ability to be Scribe-like …
http://www.jannah.org/articles/poems.html#8
THE COLD WITHIN
Six humans trapped by circumstances,
in bleak and bitter cold.
Each one possessed a stick of wood,
or so the story told.
Their dying fire in need of logs,
the first man held his back,
for,of the faces around the fire,
he noticed one man black.
The next man looking across the way,
saw one not of his church,
and couldn't bring himself
to give the fire his stick of birch.
The third one sat in tattered clothes
he gave his coat a hitch.
Why should his log be put to use,
to warm the idle rich?
The rich man just sat back
and thought of the wealth he had in store,
and how to keep what he had earned
from the lazy, shiftless poor.
The black man's face bespoke revenge
as the fire passed from his sight,
for all he saw in his stick of wood,
was a chance to spite the white.
The last man of this forlorn group
did naught except for gain,
giving only to those who gave,
was how he played the game.
Their logs held tight in death's still hand,
was proof of human sin.
They didn't die from the cold without,
they died from the cold within.
We can be like the rich man, cold within, who just sat back, thinking how to keep what he had earned from others … or we can glow within like the humble widow who gave extravagantly from her first fruits.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
That’s Enough
Sunday November 8, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn
Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn
Readings:
1 Kings 17:8-16
Hebrews 9:24-28
Mark 12:38-44
“I’d rather poke a hot stick in my eye!” Gary Johnson
“Grace, gratitude, and generosity” Mick Roschke
“That’s Enough!” Kendra Mohn
A place is consumed by the vocabulary and language that comprise it. Mt. Zion is no exception. These are both memorable quotes for their oft-repeatedness and how they help plant and root many a good idea and feeling in our congregation.
Today we focus on the gratitude shown by the widow and the generosity that poured forth from it, all prompted by the grace she admitted was bestowed upon her. Today, Pastor Mohn confessed her compassion for these women who have NEVER known the feeling of having enough.
Many of us have never known or really tasted the insecure feeling that comes from feeling there is truly nothing between us and the end.
Our lives are more fragile than we like to admit.
It would be all too fine if we could just say, “All will be fine and God will take care fo everything as we would like.” This can be every bit the lie. People really do lose their jobs, lose their homes. It would be, yes, disingenuous to stand in front of these people and say, “all will be fine”.
The truth is “You’re never going to have enough”.
The security you seek is elusive.
We all have “that list of things we’re going to buy when we have enough” … the next replacement appliance around the corner, another “shiny thing” that rears its head. Requests, from Church or therwise, put a knot in our stomachs … what if my family needs it, what if we don’t have enough. Truth is …
You never have enough to stave off death. Never.
Someone may say, “Keep your pennies, dear widow … you’re going to need them” to which the widow replies “Why? So I can die Wednesday instead of Tuesday?”
Why does the widow give?
Because she knows the freedom that comes with having lived so close to death. The rest of us seek the security and happiness that will keep death away. To have enough to do that is our elusive quest. And, the truth is, there is never enough .
If, rather, what you want is to breathe freely, live life to the fullest , live in the sun, live a life for God, you already have more than enough!
That’s enough … I’m ready to retire.
That’s enough … it’s time to make a decision.
That’s enough … it’s time to run the marathon.
That’s enough … I’m leaving
That’s enough … it’s time to eat, dinner’s ready.
God is ALWAYS present in that precious moment of recognition when “that’s enough”. And that moment is now.
Now is the moment to say that’s enough. I have identified my calling as a child of God. I have recognized my part of a living community. I have enough.
The thing about the widow is she’s so fragile. She had nothing left to fear. She had the true freedom to intimately know grace, gratitude and generosity.
When will we have enough? There will NEVER be a better, more perfect moment than now.
The Gift of Truth
Sunday October 25, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn
Readings:
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36
Jeremiah 31:31-34
Romans 3:19-28
John 8:31-36
Audio sermon file:
http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/58C601D0-DCE7-3A92-D3CC-F0C2A1474183.mp3
Pastor Mohn started off today by remembering somewhat vividly the actual day she was confirmed by saying …
“We’re not supposed to be old enough to remember anything that happened 18 years ago!!”
Welcome to thirty-something!
She remembered there was “no film in the camera” and she has only memories of that day. She remembers the feeling of the Pastor’s hand on her head. It prompted her to add that it’s really a pity we don’t stop to recall this moment or other significant moments in our lives much more often.
In the life of a believer, affirming one’s Baptism is very profound. The Gospel made Pastor Mohn mildly (?) upset as it conjured images of a culture that thrives on competition and designating fault. We like to think we have some handle on “THE Truth”, some license on it, so to speak.
But the REAL truth is not a dogma or ideology. We spend a ton of capital trying to convince others that we have some ownership of the one truth, that we have the best, most compelling argument. As a culture, we stress competition over cooperation, education and tolerance.
Luther was tormented by the notion that he could not be righteous enough … because, as h realized, righteousness is a gift.
TRUTH is a lot like righteousness. Truth is also a gift … given freely. It comes in the name and form of aJesus, bestowed in the waters of Baptism, a promise that frees us to live better … no matter what the truth us.
We should ask God more often to guide us through unchartered territory rather than seeking the truth we can not find. Like some of the qualities like humility and character and goodness of heart spoken of in this blog back in September, these gifts come from what C.S. Lewis calls the great principle of inattention – they come when, rather than seeking them in futile vain, we focus on something more eternal. God will then provide the gift.
Maurice Boyd described a friend who said “I wonder if I’m licking the right boots?” He thought, “How terrible to be licking anybody’s boots!!” He then said something I’ll never forget …
The greatest quality of friendship is its disinterestedness!
It, like the truth, comes not when you’re willing to over reach to find it or attain it (when that will never work). It comes when you’re just being yourself. THAT unlocks the door behind which you eventually taste true friendship.
And truth, humility, righteousness, character, all live on the other side of that door .
http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/58C601D0-DCE7-3A92-D3CC-F0C2A1474183.mp3
Pastor Mohn started off today by remembering somewhat vividly the actual day she was confirmed by saying …
“We’re not supposed to be old enough to remember anything that happened 18 years ago!!”
Welcome to thirty-something!
She remembered there was “no film in the camera” and she has only memories of that day. She remembers the feeling of the Pastor’s hand on her head. It prompted her to add that it’s really a pity we don’t stop to recall this moment or other significant moments in our lives much more often.
In the life of a believer, affirming one’s Baptism is very profound. The Gospel made Pastor Mohn mildly (?) upset as it conjured images of a culture that thrives on competition and designating fault. We like to think we have some handle on “THE Truth”, some license on it, so to speak.
But the REAL truth is not a dogma or ideology. We spend a ton of capital trying to convince others that we have some ownership of the one truth, that we have the best, most compelling argument. As a culture, we stress competition over cooperation, education and tolerance.
Luther was tormented by the notion that he could not be righteous enough … because, as h realized, righteousness is a gift.
TRUTH is a lot like righteousness. Truth is also a gift … given freely. It comes in the name and form of aJesus, bestowed in the waters of Baptism, a promise that frees us to live better … no matter what the truth us.
We should ask God more often to guide us through unchartered territory rather than seeking the truth we can not find. Like some of the qualities like humility and character and goodness of heart spoken of in this blog back in September, these gifts come from what C.S. Lewis calls the great principle of inattention – they come when, rather than seeking them in futile vain, we focus on something more eternal. God will then provide the gift.
Maurice Boyd described a friend who said “I wonder if I’m licking the right boots?” He thought, “How terrible to be licking anybody’s boots!!” He then said something I’ll never forget …
The greatest quality of friendship is its disinterestedness!
It, like the truth, comes not when you’re willing to over reach to find it or attain it (when that will never work). It comes when you’re just being yourself. THAT unlocks the door behind which you eventually taste true friendship.
And truth, humility, righteousness, character, all live on the other side of that door .
I Fought The Law and … the Law Won
Sunday October 4, 2009
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn
Readings:
Genesis 2:18-24
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Genesis 2:18-24
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
Audio sermon file:
http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/3A4B34FD-DC40-3F81-58B9-C324151FAF33.mp3
Divorce is very often very emotional, fraught with despair, pain, but sometimes also relief. When the Pharisees question Jesus about divorce, though, it is ALL about testing Him.
They’re not thinking about people in pain when they pose the question. They are not saying, “ How can we honor unity in the midst of a broken relationship?” They’re not saying, “How can we minister to the broken-hearted?”
What they are asking is “What does the letter of the law say?” This is actually an insult to Jesus who, in fact, created the law.
Today’s text is not so much about divorce as it is about “loopholes around the law”. The Pharisees are acting more like bookish lawyers paid high retainers to “find an out” than to serve some higher good or honor the intent of the law rather than exploit “the letter“of it.
We’ve heard the speak before:
“How little can I give to the Church and still be faithful?”
“How many times do I HAVE to forgive someone some offense?”
If you question the law, one thing you can certain of is the conversation will be a short one.
You want the law?
YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE LAW!!!
We often think the law (if we can find the loophole, will be on our side. Good luck with that one. It reminded Pastor Mohn of the song ...
“I fought the law … and the law won!”
But … if you can talk your way out of the law, you really don’t need Jesus. But understanding the letter of the law will help us. We need Jesus … and the Pharisees don’t get that!
You know who gets it? Children get it. Pastor Mohn told a wonderful story about Annika … that while feedng her goldfish crackers while singing, Annika gave the sign language for “more”. Upon giving her “more” crackers, she continued to sign. What she wanted was more singing!!
What we need is not more crackers, but more of Mom’s lovely voice caressing our eardrums and our hearts, more of Mom’s love for us. We need more of God’s love for us. You want the law? OK, but it won’t help you.
LOVE … is why we come together every Sunday … for “more”.
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