The Prophet Hotel

Sunday, February 22, 2009
Transfiguration of Our Lord
Preacher: Pastor Gary Johnson

Readings:
2 Kings 2:1-12
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9


Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/17619852-4B77-5210-E9EB-255332CFA86A.mp3

Today Pastor Johnson shares the story of Elijah The Prophet and mentor and Elisha, the acolyte and protégé. Elisha is scared to death at the prospect of Elijah “movin’ on” and Elisha having to take over the mantle of his mentor.

You’ve been there. After the loss of a job or a mentor, a parent, a loved one. We can’t imagine ourselves without our parents, our jobs. A part of our self-definition is so intimately intertwined with these elements we hold so close to ourselves.

We are tired of dealing with our parents … until the moment their health is threatened or they’re taken from us.

We’ll complain about our jobs … until we think we might not have one.

We’ll make light of our health … until it’s truly threatened.

We’re sick of high school … until “the day after”.

It’s that awful “in-between” place where we’re scared to death. You can hear the voice, Pastor Johnson does it better … “Na Na A Boo Boo!” Welcome to ‘The Clock Starts Tickin’. SHUT UP! The world of Total Denial. We all can relate to wanting to hold on to high school, childhood, singlehood and a lack of responsibility and commitment, a place where we don’t have to grow up.

We can all relate to those in the Gospel who climb to the mountaintop and want to check in to the Prophet Hotel and not ‘come back down’. Who wouldn’t want to hang onto what you’ve got up there.

But … you need, we need to come down from the mountaintop and walk the crooked roads. As Pastor Johnson said the last time he preached on this text:

We have to come down “and face Monday morning”.

We’ve got work to do and it needs doing in the real world.

When Pastor Johnson’s pastor and mentor announced he was leaving their Church, he admits he was petrified, a 14 year old boy holding back the tears a 14 year old dare not show. He ran from the Church sobbing, another Elisha dreading the loss of his beloved Elijah. And when Elisha is asked what Elijah may do for him before he is taken, he asks "for a double share of Elijah’s spirit.”

Elijah replies that what Elisha asks is “a hard thing”, but it will be granted if Elisha “sees Elijahas he is taken from him”, i.e. if he “looks up”! This condition forces Elisha to LOOK UP … in order to have him see where the real power comes from. Jesus knows REAL power is hanging on the cross. Real power is in service and forgiveness. Dubbed “weakness” by this world, these are the real strength, the real power of a disciple.

Whoever you are, something in your life is changing this very morning … your relationships, your work, something. But we are not powerless in the face of change because we are not bound by this world. We do not belong to this world, but to God.

The thing that makes you want to cling to today, to not come down from the mountaintop and face Monday morning will make its way full circle. On October 7, 1973, Pastor Johnson’s old pastor flew from Boston to attend his ordination. In a powerful testimony Pastor Johnson shared that:

"It wasn't about my pastor. It was about my pastor leading me down the path I needed to travel".

You have to let go.

And, IF you let go … you and I, we get the same guarantee Elisha got …

… it’s going to be OK.

God is there to lift you up … on eagle’s wings … and carry you down the path you need to travel.

It Starts at the Bottom

Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
Lay Preacher: Lori George

Readings:
2 Kings 5:1-14
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45



Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/5D166218-6727-4D1C-8EF2-26878294B67E.mp3


Naaman, Big Man on Campus, is seeking a cure for his leprosy. The messages of where and how come from a slave, a woman … and, later, his servants, the lowly and displaced. The message is to bathe in the Jordan seven times, the ritual of the antibiotic protocol for 10 days. Naaman had yet to learn that there are no shortcuts even for a BMOC. In the end, what we see is that Naaman is truly humbled as he is cured, free of charge. He has to learn the lesson that the lepers in the Gospel seem to know. They make their way through the crowd to reach Jesus. They know that IF it is His will, they WILL be cured.

In her first job interview at 16 years old, Lori looked up on the wall to see a metal plaque proclaiming, “Roll your works upon the Lord. Commit and trust them wholly. He will cause your thoughts to be agreeable with His will.” She got the job.

Well, a recession followed and with it the job. One year later and a new job, a new layoff, and a divorce. And that’s where Lori began to pray … and pray. That’s where, she says, her relationship with God began anew … at the bottom.

Whatever leprosy brings the Army General in you to its feet … in this encounter, you will be humbled. Humbled to face the circumstances that seem to convince us we are not, in the end, in control. These moments, Lori shares, so often come in moments of brokenness, in our depths, when we’re down and out.

And her experiences taught her to really feel what Pastor Johnson calls


“The hardest line in The Lord’s Prayer” … Thy will be done.

Lori ended beautifully with a line-by-line joining of the Lord’s Prayer with her walk through “the bottom” and out the other side. Summarizing it here would not be nearly as good as to listen to the end of this sermon. Click on the audio link and listen to the humbled traveler tell you her story.




What it did for me was remind me to go home and look at a framed photograph I keep on my desk during Lent. It is a photograph of two paper plates on which my daughter wrote her version of the Lord’s Prayer one Sunday in the pew at Mt. Zion when she was about 6 years old.







And that 6 year old still speaks to me through the glass ...
to remind me

“They will be don”

Zelig’s Letter to the Corinthians

Sunday, February 8, 2009
Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany
Preacher: Pastor Gary Johnson

Readings:
Isaiah 40:21-31
1 Corinthians 9:16-23
Mark 1:29-39

Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/34800BED-283C-77F5-5580-F762D094644A.mp3

In Isaiah, we run into the feeling of desperation, destinies & futures no longer in our control. Today, in a frantic world, you can also feel the desperation. You can taste it becaue it’s touched most doorsteps in one way or another. The message in Isaiah is still this:

No matter your current condition, God is SO beyond human understanding and He will deliver us … in His time.

Our relationship with God is not quid pro quo. It ALWAYS requires waiting. And not like the sign I saw two years ago in NY’s Penn Station “EXPRESS WAITING”. This waiting may actually “take some time”.

When you feel (and we all do at some point, usually “a low point”) like “Nothing ever changes!” …

In the waiting comes the strength. And in the strength comes the deliverance.

IF we don’t allow ourselves to be defined by the economic turndown, the diagnosis, the illness, we can wait for the that strength and deliverance. But when we “go it alone”, it’s too hard! When we’re surrounded by cynics, it’s almost impossible.

Paul even says, “There’s 2 kinds of people … and I’m going to ‘hang with both’ “. He’ll be whatever he needs to be to get this message across. Scientific research indicates that abbies of many species are often born resembling the father somewhat enough in order to keep him around the nest longer. We may be vain, but we “like to hang with our own”. Paul, like the Leonard Zelig character played by Woody Allen, “has the ability to transform his appearance to that of the people who surround him.”

Paul will become lie the hungry if he has to in order to deliver the message. It’s too important. It’s time to win over those “on the other side”. The Good News is we ALL have the power to do that! The message is so big the whole town shows up for Jesus … and the message is too big for one town, so Jesus takes the show on the road.

The message is BIG … bigger than the squabbling we make over race, sexual orientation, sacrificial meats, religion, gender … WAY BIGGER … and the News today is you have the power to be the courier .

The Knee Bone’s Attached to the Hip Bone

Sunday, February 1, 2009
Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn

Readings:
Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28

Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/292/27A4D042-92BA-8480-A9EA-6D96EEDF8348.mp3

“I don’t know anybody who’s picked this text for their wedding text. I don’t know anybody who’s picked this text for their funeral text.” So Pastor Mohn points out about today’s 2nd reading from Corinthians. It’s a text on which much preaching is apparently undertaken. It’s interesting. But Pastor Mohn takes it on with a unique perspective. We start, once again, by asking “Where’s the Good News here?”

We have people taking serious stances on “the eating of sacrificial meats” from other religions. Paul nearly becomes a Vegan for the Gospel as he sorts through the differing rationalizations run amok: it doesn’t matter because those “other Gods” don’t exist, it doesn’t matter at all, it’s only food, you name it. The disagreement is born over struggling “What’s the right thing to do?”

Paul says “It doesn’t matter. It’s not as big as we’re all making it out to be.”

“Did you ever have an argument whereby winning you ruined your relationship?”

When the need to prove one’s point overrides, we may pull out the stops. The argument can turn numerical, authoritative. Pastor Mohn points out that we’ve all walked in on conversations wed don’t feel qualified to be part of. Our reaction is to become “silent”. This is a text about living in community, about how we live together in the Body of Christ. What if the sp”qualified”. What we need to remember is without the spleen, there’s no one to recycle old blood cells without which the heart’s function is moot. We ALL play a role. And while we go about the futile enterprise of trying to measure the size of our roll, it’s the uniqueness that matters! There’s no room in a Church or any real community for the silence that accompanies someone trying to “make the argument numerical”. There’s no one who gets to walk in and say “I know more than you.” When we, collectively, have the gifts of all God’s people, there’s no room for exclusion. And our individual and unique gifts act in wonderous concert, or can, for the good of all. He knee bones connected to the hip bone.

The Good News is “We’re ALL chosen. We are ALL called.”

Even if you’ve felt “I should have been farther along. I took a wrong turn & I’m lost & way off course.” Where you are at THAT moment … God is THERE.

If you know a lot, come and share what you know. If you think you know nothing, come and share yourself. Your very presence will stir someone to say something that may reveal to you what it is you are really there to provide and share.

This can’t be preached … or taught, only experienced.

Wherever you are … up or down, down or out, lost or found, God will find you … and bring you home.

I’m Not Even Supposed to Be Here Today

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Second Sunday After the Epiphany
Preacher: Pastor Kendra Mohn

Readings:
1 Samuel 3:1-20
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51

Audio sermon file: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/A2A56F7E-E0B7-4998-28F9-10DA6FD6657C.mp3

In the movie Clerks, Dante Hicks is called in to cover for his supervisor on his day off. Pastor Mohn affectionately recalled his calling cry: “I’m not even supposed to be here today!” This is so often our response when we are called to something more than we feel we are ready for. Often, she admits, this battle cry is heard as the prelude to “a call”.

The thing about Samuel was “He wasn’t supposed to be there at all”. He wasn’t supposed to be born even! But God put each of us here for a purpose, each of us a blessing to the others, each endowed with an incredible gift. But to find out what that gift is? Or when God would have us use it? This is quite another thing. And we are come to know our calling through several ingenious devices …

1st … We are often “placed” in new situations, ones often not of our own choosing, often not ones we would ever willingly choose. Places “we weren’t even supposed to be in” … In dealing with these new surroundings/happenings/circumstances, we come to discover something new about ourselves …that we were, in fact, meant to “be there” for some express purpose. In the book The Alchemist, a small shepherd boy sets out to find the meaning of his life and discover “a treasure”, only to return full circle to where he began. It is here he discovers the treasure that only having traveled away would provide the perspective needed to “see” the treasure.

2nd … A call is often “echoed” in community, seen and recognized by fellow disciples, friends, … family. It isn’t often until someone else notices the gift we have that we are able to see it ourselves as they echo it back. We hear God’s calling for us in the echo of community.

3rd … It’s OK to “say no” at first. People are often surprised when God calls … “Can I do this?”

You can almost bet on a call from God being a challenge, unexpected, something that will take us out of our comfort zone ...

… and require an echo from community.

The many characters called in the Bible often refused the call the 1st time, the 2nd time … but God continues to knock on the door. God will call again … when the time is right … when we’re ready.

Samuel is called to “give his boss the very bad news” …
Abraham’s asked to sacrifice his son …
Mary’s asked to bear Jesus …
Jesus is asked to live & die for us …

When we find ourselves saying “We weren’t even supposed to be here today!!”
That “here”? … God is “there”!!!

No matter how lonely that “here” feels, we are never alone!

So when you’re ready to bust out, “I wasn’t even supposed to be here today!”

…. Oh, yes, you were …

It's A CAN!!

Sunday, January 11, 2009
Baptism of Our Lord

Preacher: Pastor Gary Johnson

Readings:
Genesis 1:1-5
Acts 19:1-7
Mark 1:4-11

Audio sermon file:

http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/742/9B933839-BA3F-E06B-AE17-7011027F9C23.mp3

In the beginning was Genesis, the story of creation. God is The Big Cheese who’s still creating the universe. His creation is not measurable in human terms. Much as this creation finds a microcosm in the development of a single child, from a formless void, shape; from chaos, order. Last Reformation Pastor Mohn said something very similar byextolling “all the possibility” held in the Confirmands’ lives about to unfold, the excitement of all they can and will become, the shaping of themselves by God as he continues his Creation odyssey.

Pastor Johnson took us back to when he was 7 years old, taken in by the Pastor at All Saints Lutheran at 152 DeSoto on the east side of Detroit. He was invited “to get baptized”.

“What I didn’t realize behind my itchy tie on a hot summer day was that my life would never be the same.”

It was the moment you signed your Eternal Life Insurance policy with Purgatory Indemnity, Inc. In Baptism, you are offered more than salvation from purgatory. It’s not about what you’re asved ffrom as much as what you’re born into … you are anointed into a community of believers, a family like no other. Pastor Johnson was taught conformation by a Paul Johnson, and confirmed by a Pastor P.T. “Cal” Johnson … all in the family, so to speak. At this particular crossroads in his life, his family found themselves homeless, yet taken in by a Church. Oh, and college? The debt paid down by a scholarship from the Lutheran Church of America. These are the things a family does … provides shelter and money for education, to shape a life wherein Creation marches on.

Baptism isn’t about “ should so I won’t go to Hell or Purgatory”. We’re not baptized into the Church of the Shield of Eternal Damnation, the Church of the Limited, but the limitless; not the stain of original sin, but the Church of Daily Forgiveness. It’s about God not being able to stand not being close to me, as a parent not being able to stand not being close to their children, those in whose creation they played a part. As Mark in verse 10 says, God will “tear apart the heavens” to get to us. Upon 6 days of creating God looks it all over & says “This is good”. This, the work of His very hands, even, he will tear apart … the order out of chaos, the shape out of void, he will tear apart to “get to us”

In our human families, as parents, we can be a very positive influence on our kids’ growing up. We can also be too easy on one kid, too hard on number 2, too absent for number 3. Baptism is God’s reminder that He can continually shape you, form you, grant you infinite access to His grace. God won’t be too easy, too hard or too absent. There is, through God’s infinite grace, always 2nd, 3rd and 100th chances … infinite possibility that we can be different, better tomorrow. Baptism means life can never be the same again.

Your Baptism is not “a Should”, it’s “a Can”!!

Our failings do not define who we are, who we might yet become.

I am not the sum of my mistakes.

Baptism wipes the slate clean each and every morning. You’re baptized into The Church of 2nd Chances, a community that cares if you’re in the hospital, that believes in the power of possibility, that believes the future holds “a better way” … and for that possibility, that future he will tear apart the very heavens and proclaim “This is My Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”