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Let’s Try This Again

Hello Everyone!  

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted anything since October.  I was talking about my lack of blogging for the past 6+ months to my husband Adam and he pointed out that there was a major reason my routine changed six months ago - I found out I was pregnant right around the time I stopped writing.  So, there’s that.  

But in the meantime life has not slowed down one bit and I’ve also found inspiration in a couple of conferences I attended in February and April, in my work, in my interaction with people, and in my new role as a mother-to-be.  So, I’m to dive into this again and see where it leads.  

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Sermon Thoughts - Oct. 12

Sermon Text for this week: Philippians 4:1-9

1Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved.

2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.3Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.

4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 

8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

The Book of Philippians has a special place in my heart.  I will explain more of that on Sunday but I have always loved this short little letter from  Paul to the people of Philippi.  Here are a couple of things of note:

1.  Euodia and Syntyche show that there have been arguments in the church since the very beginnings (the Book of Acts demonstrates this, too).  Here we hear of two women in the church who Paul knows and commends for their work spreading the Gospel.  Small insight into the early church where women were Gospel-bearers, too.  

2.  Philippians is known as one of the more upbeat letters that Paul wrote.  We see that in verse 4 when we are told to rejoice not once, but twice.  Paul was also most likely in prison when he wrote this.  Does knowing he was in prison make you view this call to rejoice in a different light?  How is rejoicing under difficult circumstances different than rejoicing in easy circumstances?

3.  "Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."  What do these words have to say to us today when it seems like we worry about everything?

4.  "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Have you ever experienced a moment like this, where you find peace you could have never found on your own?  

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Sermon Thoughts for Sept. 21

This upcoming Sunday I will be preaching on Matthew 25:1-30 in Breakfast Fellowship.  

[Jesus said], ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” 7Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.8The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” 9But the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” 10And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. 11Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” 12But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”13Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

‘For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.16The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.”21His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 22And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.” 23His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” 24Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed;25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.” 26But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Both are decently well-known parables.  Both are also tricky.  So, here are my thoughts and I wrestle with the parables this week.

1.  In the first parable the bridesmaids are prepared for the delay which seems ironic.  They get extra oil in case the bridegroom comes late which he does.  So, does this mean Jesus is coming back later than we think?  

2.  The doorkeeper doesn't let them in with the moral "Keep awake!"  However, this doesn't seem fair because both sets of bridesmaids fell asleep.  

3.  In the second parable what assumptions does the slave who is only given one talent make about his master?  How do those assumptions color his decision making process?  What assumptions do we make about God and how does that change how we act?

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Facebook Book List

Adam challenged me to put together a list.  So here it is!

1. The White Mountains Trilogy – Both this and #2 started my love affair with science fiction and fantasy literature. 

2.  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe –I read this book when I was younger and was given a copy when I graduated high school with the great advice to never lose your imagination. 

3.  The Things They Carried – I was assigned this book in high school and in college as the book-in-common for the incoming freshman class when I was an RA.  What stuck with me in high school was the honest portrayal of war and the fiction/non-fiction aspect.  In college it took on a new meaning as the United States and my college debated what to do with Iraq and we wondered at that things we carried to and from college both physical and other. 

4.  Harry Potter – This book taught me that I could still find wonder as a young adult and also how a well-crafted series could capture my imagination and imagination of the world.  It was a cultural touchstone and it also told a wonderful story of love, sacrifice, and courage. 

5.  Bastard out of Carolina – A very bleak read that did not paint humanity in the best light.  There was no redemption in this book.  There was no happy ending.  Horrible things were done and things that are inexcusable were excused.  Through reading and discussing this book I came to a deeper understanding of the fact that this is just sometimes how life works.  My youthful idealism was allowed to mature into a more realistic image of humanity that would later be honed in seminary. 

6.  The Beak of the Finch – More than any textbook this book illustrated the beauty of microevolution, ecology, and creation. 

7.  The Aeneid – Reading this book taught me how to REALLY read a book.  I learned how this book connected to history, context, and propaganda.  I learned how to interact with the original language and do word analysis.  I got a free trip to New Orleans to present an academic paper on this book.  Learning how to read this book taught me how to read the Bible for seminary.  Also, I just really liked the book!

8.  Freedom of a Christian – I read this book in one of my first classes in seminary and knew that the theology put forth in this book was the reason that I was a Lutheran. 

9.  Leadership on the Line – This is from my senior year of seminary and continue to go back to concepts in this book as they apply to ministry. 

10.  A Failure of Nerve – Thanks to my mentor who introduced me to this book.  Reading this look was like having a light bulb constantly going off over my head as I started to get a deeper understanding of systems, change, and courage in leadership. 

Honorable mentions and “Yeah, duh” picks

-The Bible – this one seemed too obvious to add.  So, I didn’t forget it or I haven’t been lying when I’ve been saying for years that I LOVE the Bible.  It just seemed like cheating. 

-Luther’s Lectures on Galatians – seemed slightly redundant but it definitely helped form my theology. 

-The Lord of the Rings – another fantasy book that was thisclose to making the list. 

-Good to Great – Another business book we read in seminary that impacted me.  It lost out to Leadership on the Line by a hair (and also because many of the companies profiled in the book still aren’t so great). 

-People of the Lie – The battle between good and evil is waged by armies in grand and epic novels (like some mentioned on this list).  In this book the battle between good and evil takes a much smaller and more realistic turn in that it is full of real stories of evil even more terrifying than the White Witch, Voldermort, or Sauruman.  I read this is seminary and it changed the way I look at evil. 

-Into Thin Air – I read this in high school.  It was harrowing and heartbreaking as it dug into desire, courage, and death.  Not matter how much we advance as humans nature still can mess us up. 

-Justification by Faith: A Matter of Death and Life - Another seminary read that didn't make the list because I read Luther first.  But it nonetheless would go on help shape the theology that underlies all I do today.  

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Reflections on My Old Testament Sermon Series

I've always loved and appreciated the Old Testament.  It's full of beautiful and crazy stories and very real people.  All this being said preaching on the Old Testament for four weeks in a row was a bit of a bear.  Though I technically started in Genesis 11 with the Tower of Babel and didn't get all the way through the Jews return to Israel after exile I pretty much covered the entirety of the Old Testament in four weeks.  Whew.  

Here are some things I learned while tackling this sermon series:

1.  Women kick butt in the Old Testament.  I already knew this but was able to reflect on it even more so as women played a huge role in the stories that were chosen as preaching texts.  Deborah was a judge.  Hulda was a prophetess in Judah and had to deliver honest and hard news.  Esther went from just a pretty face to a courageous and daring figure who helped save her people.  Also, there was the whole tent peg incident.  While there are more stories about men in the Old Testament women still had an important role to play as well.  I'm happy to lift up these examples of leadership, bravery, daring, and intelligence.  

2.  Know your history.  The chosen stories spanned most of the Old Testament.  Early on I realized that in order to better understand the story we had to spend time on set-up.  So each week we worked our way through history to get to the present reading.  The Tower of Babel was pretty easy - we only had 10 chapters before and some of those chapters were simply genealogy.  However, once we got to Judges I had to spend significant time on backstory.  How did we get here?  How does that impact what the people and God are doing?  It allows us to pick out themes and see the larger picture.  We find patterns.  We learn from what people did and didn't do.  We learn about God's role in history.  God isn't passive, not by a long shot.  Also, this isn't just history - it's our history!  Which leads me to the final thing I learned (or relearned).  

3.  This is our story!  Lately, when I've gotten bored I've taken those stupid internet quizzes.  Which Grey's Anatomy Character Are You?  Which Hogwarts House Would You Call Home?  Which US President Would You Be?  When we learn and read about people, fictional or real, we often see ourselves in the characters.  We see ourselves reflected back in certain characteristics, traits, actions, and reactions.  When we read the Bible the same thing can happen.  Maybe we're courageous like Esther?  Or leading from the front like Deborah?  Or perfectly happy winning but not getting all the glory like Barak?  These are our stories.  These are our people.  We are like them, for better or for worse.  Sure, this is something I already knew.  But sometimes it's nice to get it pounded into your head and heart again as a reminder.  This is our story! 

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Sermon from August 31 - Queen Esther

You can listen along here.  

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Welcome to our final week on Old Testament stories.  Thank you for all the wonderful feedback and a special thank you to our readers who have not had an easy job.  I’m not sure which week was the hardest but these past three readings have all been doozies. 

Last week’s reading and story foretold the coming destruction the southern kingdom, Judah, and its capital Jerusalem.  You’ll remember that the northern kingdom, Israel, had already been conquered and taken into exile as well.  The predicted destruction for the Judah finally came in the form of the Babylonians.  Babylon was located basically in modern day Iraq.  Judah was conquered and the people either fled to Egypt or were forced into exile in Babylon.  It was just as God had predicted.  The people’s faithlessness had brought this upon them.  It’s not like they hadn’t been warned over and over and over again. 

While they were in exile an interesting thing happened – their conquerors were conquered.  The Babylonians were conquered by the Persians who are basically the equivalent of modern day Iranians.  So yes, the conflict in the Middle East goes back many years. 

When the Persians take over they also inherit the Jewish exiles.  The Jews are now living in this land now ruled by the Persians. 

It is here that we pick up today’s story from the Book of Esther.  Esther is actually a great book to read if you’re looking for an Old Testament book that has a clear narrative that’s easy to follow and that’s not really that long.    

This is the second week in our series that we’ve had a woman at the center of the text and the third week a woman has played a major role in the reading.  The Book of Esther is often a favorite one among women because one of the main protagonists in the book is a woman who holds power.  However, most of the children’s Bibles and many retellings ignore chapter 1 which also has a woman at the center of the story. 

Ahasuerus is King of Persia at this time.  It’s most likely that Ahasuerus is Xerxes I though it’s also been speculated that it could also be King Artaxerxes.  Because Ahasuerus is a bit of a mouthful I’m just going to refer to Ahasuerus as the King from here on out. 

The King decides to throw a massive party mostly because he could.  The party ends with a banquet that lasts for seven days and everyone is invited.  The decorations were expensive to show off how prosperous they were and they even drank out of golden goblets and the wine flowed without ceasing. 

On the seventh day, when we are told the King was merry with wine, he orders his wife to come dressed out in the finest robes and her crown so that the king to show off how hot his wife is to people and officials.  Now, any of you who are married know that giving drunken commands to your significant other is usually a bad idea.  Queen Vashti wasn’t having it.  She refuses to do it.  Even though he is the King. 

As you can imagine, the King who was used to getting his way because he is the king after all, gets enraged.  He calls his sages to him to figure out what to do because Queen Vashti has refused to obey her husband and the King.  The King and the sages all decide this needs to be squashed immediately because they’re worried all the other women will get the idea that they can do the same thing and pretty soon they’d have a revolution on their hands.  They’re worried that if they let this slide it will only be the beginning.  They decide to take the crown from Vashti and that the King should marry a different woman.  They also send out decrees to the entire kingdom saying that women are to give honor to their husbands and men should be masters of their house.   Though it is a pretty sexist move I do give them a little credit for at least feeling threatened by women. 

So, the King is looking for a new queen.  The call is put out across the land for all beautiful young virgins to be gathered together, be given makeovers, and be presented to the King.  Doesn’t this kind of sound like a reality TV casting call?  Calling all pretty, young women!  Free makeover and a chance to meet the king!

It is then that we meet Mordecai and Esther.  Mordecai is a Jew who was born in exile.  His cousin is Esther who was orphaned.  Therefore, Mordecai takes it upon himself to raise her.  Esther also happens to be very beautiful.  Because of this she is recruited to be a part of the harem or be a contestant in the Biblical reality show “Who Wants to Marry the King and Become Queen?”  However, Mordecai warns her not to reveal to anyone that she is Jewish. 

The makeover part is intense – it’s a full six month oil treatment and then six months with cosmetics and perfumes.  But after a year she is finally brought before the king and she wins the king’s favor and devotion.  She gets the crown and is made the new queen.  She gets a royal wedding banquet and everything! 

In chapter 3 we meet Haman for the first time.  Haman is put above all the other officials and lets the power go to his head in a big way.  In fact, people are supposed to bow to him.  As you can imagine, Haman really liked it when people bowed before him.  However, Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman.  We’re not told specifically why Mordecai refused to bow to Haman.  It might have been because he didn’t believe in bowing to anyone but God kind of like Sharach, Meshach, and Abendego in the Book of Daniel or it might have been because he thought Haman was a jerk.  We don’t know.  But one way or another Mordecai refuses to bow before Haman and it enrages Haman.  Haman discovers that Mordecai is a Jew and though he thinks it’s beneath him to lay his hands on Mordecai he starts plotting to destroy Mordecai and Mordecai’s people, the Jews.  And destroy isn’t hyperbolic.  The word destroy and its variations show up 25 times in the Book of Esther emphasizing that this was a major threat to God’s people.

While Haman is a power-hungry jerk he’s also very devious and clever.  When he is brought before the King Haman comes with a well-prepared presentation.  He brings the Jews to the King’s attention.  They are living in the kingdom and they follow different laws than that of the Persian Empire which is partially true, but we have no evidence of major disobedience other than Mordecai refusing to bow before Haman.  Haman goes on to suggest that this means they are directly disobeying and rebelling against the King and this should not be tolerated.  He then calls for the destruction of the Jews.  To make sure it happens he even offers a bribe of 10,000 talents which makes it clear that he will do whatever is in his power to make this happen.  The King says sure, doesn’t really inquire anything more about the Jews, and doesn’t even require the bribe and simply hands over his signet ring in order to make the decree official.  He basically tells Haman to do whatever he wants and the decree goes out for the destruction of the Jews, no big deal. 

Mordecai and the Jews throughout the land learn about the plot of the destruction of the Jewish people.  He and other Jews put on sackcloth and ashes which often serve as a sign of repentance and mourning.  In this case they are mourning their impending doom. 

Mordecai gets word to Esther who first decides the problem is that Mordecai needs nicer clothes instead of sackcloth and ashes.  When that doesn’t work she asks for word as to what’s actually bothering him.  He sends word to her about everything – Haman’s plot and bribe, the upcoming destruction and eradication of the Jews including her. 

He asks her to go the King and speak on behalf of her people.  But there’s a rule in place that makes this not only tricky but downright dangerous: if any man or woman goes to the king without being summoned they are put death unless he stretches out his scepter.  And we learned earlier that the King likes his women submissive and does not like it when they disobey the rules or his commands.  Plus, she hasn’t been called before him for thirty days.  This is not a good sign.  Esther, for reasons we understand, is not keen to put her life on the line by going before the king out of turn and unsummoned.  It could end very, very badly just like it did for Queen Vashti before her. 

However, Mordecai points out that she is at risk already.  After all, she is Jewish, too.  Then he speaks one of the most well-known and key lines of the Book of Esther: “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”  This does the trick.  Esther agrees to do it.  She asks Mordecai to have the people fast on her behalf.  She also courageously goes into it knowing full well the potential consequences – “I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”  She’s ready for whatever lies ahead. 

After the period of fasting on her behalf she presents herself to the King.  There’s a beat.  Then he is greatly pleased to see her and holds out his scepter.  She is safe, for now.  The King asks for her request and graciously says that he will grant her whatever she desires even if it’s half of his kingdom.  She invites him and Haman to a banquet she has prepared for them.  At the banquet he asks again for her petition; what does she desire?  She invites the King and Haman to a second banquet to be held the next day.  The King and Haman graciously accept the invitation. 

Haman is so pleased with himself to be in the company of the King and the Queen he’s practically walking on air.  However, after the meal he again notices again how Mordecai refuses to bow before him.  He’s got such an ego on him that in order to make himself feel better from this slight he calls his wife and friends to him so he can recount how awesome he is in their sight.  I have all these sons and have received all these promotions and the King has honored me and put me above other officials.  The Queen even invited me in her presence with the King.  I’m awesome and I know it!  But, there’s this jerk of a guy who just won’t bow to me!  What should I do? 

You can just imagine him being a whiny narcissist, can’t you?  His wife and friends suggest that he builds a huge gallows just for the purpose of hanging Mordecai.  So he immediately commissions the making of this gallows. 

The next day Esther holds the second banquet for the King and Haman.  At the banquet the King once again asks for her request.  Whatever she wants.  What she wants is her life and the life of her people spared.  She finally lays it all out there.  She is a Jew and her people are going to be destroyed, annihilated.  The King asks who is responsible for this.  Haman.  It’s Haman.  The King is horrified and is so angry he has to leave the room.  While he is gone Haman begs for her forgiveness but it’s too late.  The King calls for Haman’s death by the very gallows Haman had commissioned. 

But the law is still in place.  It’s also not as simple as saying, yeah, by the way, that law that was written earlier calling for the destruction of the Jews – just forget about that.  As we hear later in the passage any law written in the name of the king and sealed with the king’s ring cannot be revoked.  However, a new law can be put into place.  The King gives Esther and Mordecai permission to write a new law that can help prevent the destruction of the Jews.  Mordecai writes a new law that gives any and all Jews in the Persian Empire permission to defend themselves against any attackers once a year on the same day Haman had given people permission to attack the Jews.  Not only that but they are also granted permission to attack anyone who may attack them.  The day came and the Jews were victorious in defending themselves and killing those who would have killed them.  They win a rousing victory and God’s people are spared.  This is the Book of Esther, give or take a few minor plot points.  Again, it’s a great book to read.  Give it a shot. 

Now you may or may not have noticed in the retelling of this story God is barely mentioned.  Actually, the Book of Esther is the only book in the Bible where God is not mentioned specifically by name.  There’s no God or the Lord in Esther. 

This may not feel so different from our own experiences today.  We don’t have prophets in the same style as the Old Testament who are clearly and obviously marked as the mouthpieces of God.  We don’t have judges who are quite like Deborah who serve as God’s messengers and leaders of God’s people.  There are no longer kings like David and Josiah who are not only good leaders of the people in politics and policy but are also dedicated to God and diligently living out God’s laws.  We don’t have God walking among us like Jesus and we don’t have the disciples to tell us what Jesus was really like or the apostle Paul to write us letters with insights as to why Jesus matters.  Like in the Book of Esther God might not be entirely obvious to us. 

Because God isn’t so obvious it means that like Esther we risk something when we tell others about our beliefs.  Just like Esther was terrified to go before the King and reveal she was a Jew it’s also scary telling someone we’re a Christian.  It really is.  Even as a pastor I know this.  Try dating when you’re studying to become a pastor, especially as a woman.  That’s always a fun bit of information to try to drop into a conversation. 

And I know it’s hard for you, too.  The label Christian comes with baggage.  It may be the baggage of an experience someone else had with a church that wasn’t so great.  It may be the baggage of the media’s portrayal of Christianity which isn’t always pleasant.  It may be the baggage of assumptions that come with the word, Christian.  It may be the baggage of a bad experience with another Christian or church.  Revealing yourself as a Christian and inviting someone to church can take courage.  This baggage does not make it easy.  Inviting someone to church might just be one of the scariest thing you ever do. 

But God is there whether you know it or not.  After all, God is present in the Book of Esther whether God’s name is dropped or not.  We can’t help but read God into the story.  Mordecai’s refusal to bow to Haman reminds us of the first commandment – thou shall have no other gods.  Esther’s request that the people fast for her suggests people are using that time to pray to God on her behalf.  Sackcloth and ashes are signs of repentance to God and mourning and lament which is also directed to God.  So while God is not named we cannot help but see God present everywhere. 

We hear God the most in what Mordecai tells Esther when he encourages her to risk her life and present herself before the king.  “For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.” 

Here we hear words of faith.  Deliverance will come from God.  God will be faithful to God’s people.  Even in exile God will not let God’s people perish.  God will be faithful.  God will bring deliverance.  But perhaps you have comes to royal dignity for just such a time as this. 

One summer Luther Seminary recruited me to be a representative for the seminary at the Youth Gathering in San Antonio.  It was an easy job.  I hung out at the Lutheran seminaries booth and had youth fill out “I’m interested in learning more” cards.  I didn’t really expect to make any real connection with a youth there.  But one day I started talking to a youth by the name of Danny.  Danny had come to the Youth Gathering but wasn’t sure about whole Christianity thing.  In fact, he was leaning toward and way pretty much already declaring himself as an agnostic.  But he came anyway.  For two or three days he would stop by to say hi and we would talk about life and faith and the world and about all the questions he had.  The week ended and while we emailed back and forth for a few months we lost contact.  That was nearly eight years ago.  I still wonder what happened to him and whether or not he ever made peace with his questions about Jesus and faith and life. 

I can’t help but think about Mordecai’s words to Esther when I think about Danny.  Because unlike Esther I’m not sure if our conversations made a difference.  I don’t know what happened next.  But I do know that God is faithful.  I do know that deliverance and relief can come from many places.  So, I trust that God continues to speak to Danny through other people.  Maybe, like Esther, it was intended that I be put at that place at that time to turn things around for Danny’s faith life.  But maybe it wasn’t for me to do.  And if not, just as Mordecai said and I trust that it will come from another place because God is faithful.  I’m paraphrasing here – If you keep silent at such a time as this relief and deliverance will rise from another quarter.  Who knows?  Perhaps you have come into this situation for such a time as this.”  In other words, maybe it was intended by God for you to be there, at this time, talking to this youth about Jesus. Or maybe not.  You never know.  But trust that God will be there and God will provide. 

After all God has already done all the heavy lifting.  God has delivered God’s people, us, from sin and death by through Jesus death on the cross and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins.  The hardest work is done. 

When you go out into the world with this message you never know what will happen.  You never know when an opportunity to tell others about God’s love through Jesus Christ may arise.  God will provide for God’s people one way or another.  God will make himself known whether it’s through you or through another.  But who knows, maybe you will come into a situation where you can share God’s Word for such a time as this.  So take courage like Esther and know that God will be there and that God has already done the heavy lifting through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.   

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Sermon Thoughts - Esther

The last story for this Old Testament sermon series comes from the Book of Esther.  The book itself isn't that long so, if you have the time, it makes for a good read.  

Esther 4:1-17

When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry; 2he went up to the entrance of the king’s gate, for no one might enter the king’s gate clothed with sackcloth. 3In every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and most of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.

4 When Esther’s maids and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed; she sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth; but he would not accept them. 5Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what was happening and why. 6Hathach went out to Mordecai in the open square of the city in front of the king’s gate, 7and Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews. 8Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther, explain it to her, and charge her to go to the king to make supplication to him and entreat him for her people.

9 Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said. 10Then Esther spoke to Hathach and gave him a message for Mordecai, saying, 11‘All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—all alike are to be put to death. Only if the king holds out the golden sceptre to someone, may that person live. I myself have not been called to come in to the king for thirty days.’12When they told Mordecai what Esther had said, 13Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, ‘Do not think that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. 14For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.’15Then Esther said in reply to Mordecai, 16‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will also fast as you do. After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ 17Mordecai then went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Thoughts/Questions I'm pondering this week:

1.  In the Book of Esther there is no reference to God or The Lord.  None.  Though we don't ever get a specific mention of God we read God into verses such as 4:14 above.  

2. Esther has concealed her faith and the fact that she is a Jew.  Do we ever conceal our beliefs?  Why do we do this?  What is gained from concealing them?  What is lost by concealing them?  

[pastortasha]

Sermon - Josiah: The Best King, Ever (That You've Never Heard of)

(picture from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Josiah.gif)

You can listen along here.  

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

When we left off with God’s people they were living in The Promised Land.  They were God’s people and would remain so as long as they lived up to their part of the covenant.  They follow and live by God’s laws and they would be good to go.  However, they were really, really bad at doing this.  So bad that they fell into a cycle.  They would disobey God.  God would step aside and let life takes its course.  They would be conquered.  They’d cry out to God.  God would hear them and raise up a judge, a leader who would help deliver the people from their oppressors.  Then it would start all over again.  The cycle goes on for the entire Book of Judges. 

Then the Israelites realize that everyone else around them is ruled by kings.  Just like the kid who sees everyone else playing with the same toy they decide they want that exact same toy even though they have no idea what the toy is or does.  We want a king!  We want a king!  We want a king! 

The prophet of that time, Samuel, who spoke to and for the Lord to the people brought their request to God.  God knows what’s in their hearts.  They have forsaken God, just as they always have.  They have rejected God as their king. 

God tells Samuel that they can have their way though, out of mercy God decides to warn them what having a king really means. 

Samuel brings God’s word to the people: ‘These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plough his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.  He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers.  He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers.  He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work.  He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.  And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the Lord will not answer you in that day.’

Sounds like fun, right?  The king will recruit your sons for his armies, take your daughters and put them to work, and tax all that you have.  Plus, you will have rejected God and rejecting God with whom you have a covenant.  To us, the omniscient readers this sounds like a horrible idea.  A really horrible idea. 

But the people persist.  We want a king!  We want a king!  We want a king! So they are given a king to rule over them. 

First we have Saul.  Saul looked the part.  He was tall and handsome.  He was anointed king and had decent success at the beginning winning a massive military victory.  However, he failed to listen to Samuel and God and was replaced.  After Saul dies in battle David takes over as king.  David is a good king.  He listens to God.  He keeps the covenant.  Though there are battles and wars and plenty of conflict David stays true to God, for the most part.  There is a discretion with Bathsheba but God forgives David for that.  David not only does a great job ruling but also listens to God and obeys God. 

David is followed by Solomon.  Now Solomon starts off well.  God appears to Solomon in the night and offers to basically grant his wish like a genie.  If you were every wondering I think is this is where the God as genie idea comes from.  Whatever Solomon wants God will grant to him.  Solomon wishes for wisdom which is, well, wise.  God grants Solomon wisdom and also riches and health with the caveat that Solomon must continue to walk in God’s ways. 

Solomon starts off well.  He rules wisely.  He also builds the temple in Jerusalem which will be the center of worship and God’s house.  It’s not a small project but Solomon is up to the task.  This is where God will be present.  It’s a big deal.  Solomon makes sure the project gets finished and rules wisely.  Except he has one weakness.  Women.  God had told the people of Israel not to marry people from other lands because they would tempt their spouses to worship things other than God.  But Solomon ignored this command and married women from everywhere.  Solomon started worshipping other gods.  And God was not pleased.  After all, the very first commandment is “you shall have no other gods.”  Even though God gave Solomon the chance to turn back to God “Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”  You remember that phrase from last week?  Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  When you do this there are consequences as we learned last week, too. 

Because of Solomon’s idolatry when he dies the kingdom of the split in a civil war.  There is the north kingdom, known as Israel and the south kingdom, known as Judah.  Both kingdoms have the opportunity to do what is good in the sight of the Lord and worship the Lord and turn from the false idols and false gods.  However, neither kingdom really succeeds at this especially not the northern kingdom.  In the north kingdom, Israel, the most famous horrible rulers are King Ahab and Queen Jezebel.  Things get so bad in the north that their land is conquered and they are forced into exile. 

The southern kingdom, Judah, fairs better.  Though they have awful kings that do not worship God they also have decent kings who do the best they can though they do not remove all the shrines where the false gods are worshipped.  Then we run into Manasseh.  Now, Manasseh was a piece of work even when you take into account both the kings of Israel and Judah.  He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.  He rebuilt all the shrines and altars to the false gods that had been torn down.  He practiced dark arts that God had forbidden.  He even build altars to false gods in God’s temple.  Yeah, if you really want to make God mad you do that.  He even sacrificed his own son to a false god.  Yeah, if you ever read the phrase he made his son pass through fire this means human sacrifice.  It’s not pretty stuff.  And you can imagine this made God really, really, really angry.  You also can imagine that God had a right to be angry with Manasseh.  In fact, this is the final straw.  God has had it with God’s people. 

But then we get to Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson who becomes king.  Josiah is Manasseh’s opposite.  Josiah is also one of the few kings who truly did what is “right” in the sigh of the Lord.  In fact, he’s so good he even gets compared to David. 

When Josiah was a young adult he ordered some repairs on the temple and we pick up with today’s reading.  While they were repairing the temple, Hilkiah, the high priest, found the book of the law.  Hilkiah thought it would be wise to present this book to King Josiah so it was read out loud in the king’s presence.  When the king heard it and realized that what they were doing was completely the opposite of the book we are told he tore his clothes.  This was a sign of repentance and regret.  It meant he realized how far they were from following God’s law.  He knew it was bad.  Really bad.  He knew that God was not someone to be messed with and here they were not living even remotely close the way God had commanded them to live. 

Josiah decided to consult the current prophet, the person who spoke the word of the Lord.  This is the second week in a row we run into a prophetess, a female prophet named Hulda.  Hulda also knows that they’re in deep.  Yes, you guessed right.  You’re in a bad spot.  You’re not right with God.  And there will be consequences.  Dire consequences.  Disaster.  But Josiah would at least be spared seeing the disaster firsthand and would be allowed to die in peace. 

This news does not stop Josiah.  Josiah knows what needs to be done.  He takes the book of the law and reads it to the people.  He and the people then join in a covenant with the Lord to keep the law.  They will uphold their part of the bargain.  They will do their part. 

Then begins the long and difficult process of cleaning up a rather huge mess.  And I mean HUGE!  First cleaning out and burning all the vessels made for Baal and for Asherah from the temple.  Then getting rid of all the priests that the previous kings had appointed to make sacrifices to false gods including Baal, the sun, the moon, and the constellations, among others.  Josiah broke down the houses of the male temple prostitutes that were in the house of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah.  He made sure there were no more human sacrifices to Molech.  He got rid of all altars to false gods and deposed false priests.  He got rid of the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 

This is just a summary of all the stuff Josiah got rid of.  There was a lot of stuff.  As in you can understand why God was very, very angry with the people.  It’s not like they were had just barely crossed the line of idolatry.  They were way over the line.  They couldn’t even see the line anymore. 

But Josiah cleaned it up.  In fact, the celebrated the Passover, the holiday where they celebrate their deliverance from Egypt and Pharaoh for the first time in generations.  In fact, we are told that this is the first time they have celebrate it as such since the time of Judges like Deborah. 

Josiah has gone above and beyond any other king.  He has had the hardest task of all of them, too.  It’s one thing to get people to follow you when they’re used to following the law and God’s commandments like they were in David’s time.  It’s a completely different thing to reintroduce it to a people who haven’t lived like this in generations.  You are yanking away people’s gods and all the comfort that comes with worshipping things that are familiar.  You’re stripping away something that had been a part of their identity. 

But Josiah goes for it.  Josiah fearlessly leads the people back into the covenant and does all he can to fix the mess that he’s discovered. 

For this Josiah is commended.  In 2 Kings 23 we read, “Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; nor did any like him arise after him.”  This is pretty much the highest praise you read in a good chunk of the Old Testament.  There was no one like him before or after.  NO ONE!  Josiah was one of a kind. 

And yet, and yet it still wasn’t enough. 

My dad’s side of the family is known to suffer from heart disease.  It’s nasty stuff.  It’s what eventually did my grandpa in though he lived to 84 years old which, considering how many heart attacks and heart related issues he had over my lifetime was a blessing.  My dad has always been very aware of this potential genetic time bomb.  When he hit his forties he really started to pay attention to what he ate.  He worked out on a regular basis.  Got all the check-ups and the proper cholesterol lowering drugs, the whole nine yards.  Yet, about seven years ago he suffered from a heart attack.  It was relatively minor but it still gave us all a great scare.  He continues on his regimen of diet, exercise, and taking care of himself.  However, he knows and we know that sometimes you can’t beat these things.  You can do everything right and it’s still not enough.  It’s still not enough to overcome the genetics of it all.  My dad will always have to fear heart disease no matter how good he is about taking care of himself.  You can do everything right and it still might not be enough in the end. 

This is what happens to Josiah.  He does everything right.  Everything!  There has never been anyone like him before his time or since his time.  If there was anyone who could claim righteousness before the Lord, if there was anyone who could stand up before the Lord and claim to have done it right and well it would be him.  He had done his best to keep up his end of the bargain.  He had done his best to keep the covenant.  But it still wasn’t enough. 

In 2 Kings 23 we read “Still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.  The Lord said, ‘I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel; and I will reject this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.”

While Josiah pretty much did all in his power to make it right it still wasn’t enough.  There was too much history.  There was too much history of doing evil in God’s sight.  And not just history.  This was the way of God’s people.  This was a part of who they were.  While they were able to turn it around for a time they still fell back into it.  Even after Josiah died his son Jehoahaz took over and did what is evil in the sight of the Lord. 

Through Josiah it becomes clear that the covenant, the law is not enough to save us.  Even when we get close enough to following it like Josiah our humanness gets in the way.  Falling away from God and worshipping other things is built into our bones.  It is a part of who we are as humans.  We do evil in the sight of the Lord whether intentionally or unintentionally.  We too have a history of falling away, of sinning, of turning away from God, of not loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind.  It is who we are.  And no matter what we do, no matter if we even are as good as Josiah it is still not enough to save us. 

Which is why God decides to do something new.  God knows that no matter how hard we try we will never be able to live up to the law, we will never be righteous in God’s sight by our actions.  In this new plan it will not be about what we do but instead about what God has done for us.  There is no part of the bargain for us to keep, there is no our end of the covenant.  There is no more book of the law.  There is only Jesus.  And Jesus is enough. Jesus is enough for everyone.  Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we are given everything we could never earn on our own: love, mercy, forgiveness, and God’s kingdom. 

Josiah’s legacy lives on, too.  One thing I will always admire about him and his story is how he did the right thing when there was nothing to be gained.  They were already doomed and God had already spoken God’s peace about what was coming for the people.  Yeah, you’re basically on your own.  But that didn’t stop Josiah from doing what was right even though there was nothing to gain from doing it.  We find ourselves in the opposite position as Josiah where God has already promised and given us everything.  We have nothing to gain from doing the right thing either in God’s sight since we can’t earn God’s love and mercy.  But we, like Josiah do it anyway.  Because we can.  Because once we have heard God’s word we can do no other, just like Josiah.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

[pastortasha]

Sermon Thoughts for August 24 - Josiah - The Best King, Ever (That You've Never Heard of)

A couple of things:

First, I should give a shout out to our lectors for this series.  They gotten some seriously difficult to pronounce names and places and have done a great job!

Second, this is the longest reading of the series so bear with me.  I also suggest you read 2 Kings 23:1-30.  

2 Kings 22:1-20

Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign; he reigned for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. 2He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, "Go up to the high priest Hilkiah, and have him count the entire sum of the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people; let it be given into the hand of the workers who have the oversight of the house of the Lord; let them give it to the workers who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house, that is, to the carpenters, to the builders, to the masons; and let them use it to buy timber and quarried stone to repair the house. But no account shall be asked from them for the money that is delivered into their hand, for they deal honestly.’

8 The high priest Hilkiah said to Shaphan the secretary, ‘I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord.’ When Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, he read it. 9Then Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, ‘Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house, and have delivered it into the hand of the workers who have oversight of the house of the Lord.’ 10Shaphan the secretary informed the king, ‘The priest Hilkiah has given me a book.’ Shaphan then read it aloud to the king.

11 When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes. 12Then the king commanded the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and the king’s servant Asaiah, saying, 13‘Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found; for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our ancestors did not obey the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.’

14 So the priest Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, keeper of the wardrobe; she resided in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter, where they consulted her. 15She declared to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you to me, 16Thus says the Lord, I will indeed bring disaster on this place and on its inhabitants—all the words of the book that the king of Judah has read.17Because they have abandoned me and have made offerings to other gods, so that they have provoked me to anger with all the work of their hands, therefore my wrath will be kindled against this place, and it will not be quenched. 18But as to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, 19because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place, and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says theLord. 20Therefore, I will gather you to your ancestors, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring on this place.’ They took the message back to the king.

Thoughts to ponder:

1.  What do you think makes for a good king/ruler/leader?

2.  Do the consequences of not following the law sound fair?  

3.  What would you do is you were in Josiah's place and you heard this prophecy?  Would you still try to follow the law?  Would you just let people do what they wanted?

[pastortasha]

Sermon - Deborah - Judge of Israel

You can listen along here (disclaimer, the sermon was not on there yet but will be shortly...).

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

I’m one of those TV, book, and movie purists who believes that we must always start from the beginning and read or watch everything chronologically.  No diving into a show in the middle of its run.  No starting at the most current movie.  No reading the last book first just because it’s what everyone is talking about.  I must always start at the beginning and work my way through. 

I look at the Bible the same way.  Though it’s a bit messier than most narratives with books like the Gospels that tells Jesus’ story in four different ways I like to start at the beginning and work my way through. 

To catch anyone up who wasn’t here last week God created the world and humanity, humanity sinned and got kicked out of the Garden.  Cain murdered his brother Abel.  God got to the point where he had to reboot the system with the great flood that spared Noah and his family.  Then last week, after the Tower of Babel, the people are scattered around the world with their different languages.  Clearly this isn’t working.  

So God decides to go about using a different tactic.  He chooses Abram and Sarai, later to known as Abraham and Sarah, to be the start of a great nation in a new land.  Through this new nation God would bless others.  Though things get off to a rocky start Abraham and Sarah have a son, Isaac, who has two sons, Esau and Jacob, and Jacob is renamed Israel and has twelve sons who go on to have families of their own that become the twelve tribes of Israel.  Whew.  Jacob and his family end up in Egypt because of a famine and end up staying there for many years.  A long enough time for them to multiply greatly and form a mini-nation within the nation of Egypt.  Pharaoh, the King of Egypt doesn’t like this and forces them into slavery.  The Israelites, cry out to God and God hears them.  They are God’s people.  So, we get Moses and the whole Ten Commandments movie narrative.  Moses leads the people out of slavery into freedom with a LOT of help from God.  The people are being led to a new land, the Promised Land if you will, the place where Abraham had originally settled.  They receive the Ten Commandments and the Covenant on their way to the new land – a set a rules of live by that govern everything from worship to food preparation to waste disposal when camping out for war.  These rules set them apart as God’s people.  This is what makes them God’s people.  This Covenant, this promise is that they will live like this and it will mark them as God’s people and God will be with them and be their God when they follow it. 

However, almost immediately after these rules are in place the people break them.  Yeah, it didn’t take long at all.  So, as punishment they wander in the wilderness for forty years, long enough that the generation that broke the covenant does not get to the Promised Land.  In case you’re keeping track this covers pretty much all of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. 

Then, finally, they get to the Promised Land.  They find it inhabited so they conquer the land under the command of Joshua and with the help of God.  They are finally home, to the land they were promised.  God’s people have arrived!

Then we get to Judges.  Now one thing we learn about the Israelites really quickly is they have a short memory.  God leads the Israelites out of Egypt and they not only see the Red Sea part, they walk across the dry land through the parted sea!  But the first chance they get they start doubting God and want Aaron, Moses brother and second in command to make a golden calf.  They saw the Red Sea parted!  I know even on a good day I’d love some sign from God, even just a tiny sign to know God’s there.  They get the Red Sea parted and they need more?!  What gives?!  But this quickly becomes a pattern.  They complain about having no food and God gives them food from heaven.  Food from heaven.  Food out of nothing.  But that’s still not enough.  They complain that they’re thirsty.  So, Moses hits a staff with a rock and water miraculously comes pouring out!  Still not enough.  They get to the Promised Land and God helps them conquer the land by knocking down the walls of Jericho.  Still not enough. 

Even after all of this the people aren’t having it.  It’s not enough for them to respect God, to listen to God, to follow the rules God set forward.  It’s not enough. 

So, as we pick up today in Judges 4 we learn that “The Israelites again did what is evil in the sight of the Lord.”  The Israelites AGAIN did what is evil in the sight of the Lord.  Clearly this isn’t a onetime deal.  Clearly they have a problem.  The Israelites again did what is evil in the sight of the Lord.  And there are consequences for this.  Consequences for not keeping up their end of the bargain or covenant. 

So, God steps aside and withdraws his protection and King Jabin and his army commander, Sisera conquer the Israelites with their army and nine hundred some chariots.  It’s not pretty.  They are oppressed by Jabin for twenty years.  So they cry out to the Lord. 

Just to be clear, God has no real good reason to answer them.  Given the narrative leading up to this point it’s clear that God is the one getting the short end of the stick in this relationship.  There is also a very clear pattern here.  The AGAIN and the Bible up to this point shows us that.  But God listens.  God hears their cries.  And God answers. 

We then meet Deborah who is introduced as a judge of Israel.  Now, when we picture a judge we probably picture a person in a black robe in a court of law with a gavel who makes rulings and interprets the law.  This is not exactly what a judge in the book of Judges is.  Sure, they may do some judging but the Judges in the book of Judges were like a mix of prophet, figurehead, and military leader.  The Judges were called by God into action when God’s people cried out for help after they had done evil and were being oppressed.  The Judges shared God’s word with the people.  The Judges often gave military commands and even fought for God and God’s people. 

When we first meet Deborah she is introduced as a prophetess AND a wife AND a judge.  Plus, she’s also doing what we picture a modern day judge doing – people are coming to her for judgment.  She is almost immediately called to action.  She summons Barak to be their military leader.  He is the one to lead the attack that will free them from their oppression.  God has heard them and will deliver them.  She has clear instructions from God for Barak – Go to Mount Tabor with ten thousand from the tribes of Napthali and Zebulun.  God will draw out Sisera and Sisera will be crushed.  Pretty simple and brilliant.  It helps when you have God on your side. 

However, Barak has his reservations.  He requests that Deborah goes with him.  I can’t really blame him for this move.  After all, she is the judge and speaks God’s words to them.  I’m guessing most of us would have preferred to have Deborah by our side when faced Sisera’s chariots of iron on the battlefield.  She says she’ll go with the qualifier that this won’t lead to his glory but instead Sisera would be sold into the hand of a woman.  Barak is totally fine with this. 

So they go.  They go to Mount Tabor and Sisera meets them there with his chariots in battle.  She proclaims, “Up!  For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand.  The Lord is indeed going out before you.”  And it ends just as Deborah and God said it would.  Sisera’s army fall apart.  It’s a rout.  Sisera flees.  The army is handily defeated, chariots and all. 

Sisera, though he has escaped from the battle has not escaped God nor God’s prophesy through Deborah.  Sisera seeks shelter at the tent of Jael.  Jael’s husband has a peace treaty of sorts with Sisera’s king, Jabin.  But Jael, for whatever reason, doesn’t much care for Sisera.  In fact, she doesn’t like him enough to use a tent peg to kill him.  Yes, a tent peg.  Turns out camping can be deadly. 

All kidding aside God had kept God’s word.  King Jabin, Sisera’s boss had lost his army and was later defeated and left the Israelites alone.  The Israelites had been quite literally been delivered by the hand of a woman with a tent peg and hammer.  Bet you never thought a tent peg could be a way to dish out God’s justice and will before. 

But that’s the thing about God’s deliverance for the Israelites and for us.  It never comes in the ways or through the people we’d expect. 

In Judges we have Deborah and Jael, both women, both helping Israel in very different ways.  One through prominent leadership which is not something we’ve seen from women in the Bible up until this point.  One through the surprising use of a tent peg.  Both played a major role in freeing the Israelites from their oppression. 

However, this is not the last time a cycle like this will happen.  This is not the last time the people will need a judge, a champion, a leader to get them out of a mess.  Sure, the people get about forty years.  Forty years.  A generation.  Then the people of Israel will do it all over again.  They’ll do evil in the sight of the Lord.  The Lord will leave them be because they think they don’t need God.  They’ll be conquered.  They’ll cry out.  God will send them a judge and deliver them and it will start all over again.  Remember the key word from the first verse we read.  AGAIN.  AGAIN. 

This is who they are.  This is in their DNA.  This is the story they’re doomed to repeat.  And it is also our story. 

I read a great book this summer called We Learn Nothing.  It’s a series of essays by a political cartoonist named Tim Kreider who also happens to be a brilliant writer.  In his introduction he talks about how, once, while visiting Italy he almost died.  Not just almost died in a “I almost stepped off a curb and got hit by a bus so my life flashed before my eyes” almost died.  It’s an “I almost died because he got stabbed in the neck and was in a coma for several days almost died situation.”  He talks about how after he awoke from the coma and realized how close he had come to almost dying that he had a new zest for life that he was determined to keep because it had been this close to being over.  Life was a gift.  He was going to live like that.  But then life, the mundane of the everyday life slowly crept back in.  Though he tried to keep this enthusiasm the cynicism crept back in. 

We forget so easily the gifts of this life.  We have the mountain top experiences where we realize what a precious gift life is and how awesome God is but we ultimately forget.  We forget that we too have seen wonders.  We forget that God has given us so many gifts like our friends, our families, our churches, our schools, our homes, and pretty much everything else in life.  We fall away from God. 

We are like the Israelites with their short term memory issues.  We forget all that God has done for us.  And we do evil in the sight of the Lord.  We sin.  We forget that all is a gift.  We spurn the gifts God has given us.  We are like the Israelites.  We, too, are stuck in the same cycle.  We are in need of someone to deliver us from the mess we’ve made for ourselves. 

So we cry out to God like the Israelites.  We cry out for help, for deliverance.  And God delivers us.  And just like Deborah’s story it is through someone unexpected and through a surprising act that we are given our deliverance.  Jesus, the very Son of God, God’s only Son and God himself is given to us for our deliverance.  And not only given to us.  Jesus dies for us on the cross and is raised.  So that we can be delivered from our forgetfulness.  Delivered from our short term memory of all that God has done for us.  Delivered us from our sins.  Delivered from death. 

Deliverance can come from expected places, unexpected people, and unexpected situations.  But is there for us, just like it was in the Book of Judges.  And God can use anyone, anyone to spread God’s word and promise of deliverance through Jesus.  It can be anyone.  Man.  Woman.  Prophet.  Prophetess.  Someone sure of what they’re doing.  Someone who isn’t so sure like Barak who wanted Deborah to ride into battle with him.  Israelite and insider.  Or even a non-Israelite and outsider like Jael.  God’s word and promise of deliverance can come from anyone.  So why not you?  We are just as capable of speaking a promise of deliverance like Deborah.  We, too, know what God has done for us and what is doing for us.  We know how God has delivered us into a new life of grace and mercy.  So let’s spread the word of God’s deliverance for us and for all people through Jesus Christ our savior and Lord.  Amen. 

[pastortasha]

August 17 Preaching Passage - Deborah, Judge of Israel

Judges 4:1-10

The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, after Ehud died. 2So the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jabin of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor; the commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-ha-goiim. 3Then the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help; for he had nine hundred chariots of iron, and had oppressed the Israelites cruelly for twenty years.

4 At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. 5She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgement. 6She sent and summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, ‘The Lord, the God of Israel, commands you, “Go, take position at Mount Tabor, bringing ten thousand from the tribe of Naphtali and the tribe of Zebulun. 7I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you by the Wadi Kishon with his chariots and his troops; and I will give him into your hand.” ’ 8Barak said to her, ‘If you will go with me, I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go.’ 9And she said, ‘I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.’ Then Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; and ten thousand warriors went up behind him; and Deborah went up with him.

Deborah's story continues through the end of Judges 5.  I recommend you read the whole thing if you get a chance.  

Questions and Thoughts for this week

1.  Note the word AGAIN in the first verse. What does this tell us about the nature of the Israelites and about our own human nature?

2.  What do you think of when you hear the word "judge"?  What do you picture?  How does that compare to the job Deborah seems to have?

3.  As a woman I always get a kick out of the line "...for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a WOMAN."  Go, girl! 

Enjoy the story and looking forward to preaching on this story this upcoming weekend!

[pastortasha]

Sermon from August 10 - The Tower of Babel

Feel free to listen along!

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

This week kicks off a four part sermon series on Old Testament stories. Thanks to all of you who voted and gave me your feedback on Old Testament stories you loved.  It’s great hearing about how they connected with you or with your stories.  I also loved seeing your questions and your curiosity in regards to the Bible. 

So, without any further ado we kick off our series which I’ve ordered chronologically, more or less. 

Today’s lesson comes from pretty early in the Bible, Genesis 11.  It should be said that humanity doesn’t exactly have the best track record so far.  Humans have been expelled from the garden, Cain murders his brother, and humanity was so rotten that God decided to reboot with the flood sparing Noah, his family, and the animals on the ark.  Like I said, not exactly the best of track records. 

But at least they all still speak the same language and the same words as the author of Genesis points out.  They have this unifying factor.  They can communicate easily with each other.  For any of you who have done some traveling or simply been in a place where people don’t speak English you know how important language can be for communication. 

So, having this unified language, they decide to do something.  They decide to build a city and in the city, a huge tower with its top in the heavens.  We’re told they wanted to make a name for themselves.  Building a high tower seems to be a logical way for them to do just that, make a name for themselves.

In fact, this is still a way to make a name for yourself.  If you look on Wikipedia under the entry “List of Tallest Buildings and Structures in the World” the first section lists pointa of debate between about what a structure and building really mean.  For the record, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai takes the cake for tallest building.  But, as you peruse the page you quickly notice that there are all sorts of categories for tallest building and structure and it seems like everyone is fighting for some claim to fame whether it’s tallest self-supported tower or tallest clock building or tallest mast radiator.  Everyone wants to have a tallest building.  I’m sure there’s plenty of talk about which church has the highest steeple in Lancaster for that matter. 

They decide they want to make the tallest tower.  They want its top to be in the heavens.  They want to make a name for themselves.  After all, they are all here in one place.  As they put it, “Otherwise will shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”  Let’s do this!  So, they build and build and build. 

God comes to check on their progress. 

But God is not having any of this.  Even though it doesn’t seem like a huge deal God sees there’s something more going on here.  God sees that since they have one language this is only the beginning.  Since they one language they have more power and as God puts it, “Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”  So, God decided to do something about it.  God confused their language.  God scattered them abroad.  They abandoned the tower and the city project. 

Over the years many people have taken this to be an allegory of sorts.  Like the myth of Prometheus who gave fire to the humans this was taken to be a myth of sorts to explain how the world got all its different languages.  And that works for the most part. 

But, looking back on the story I wonder if it’s a story about something even more than language and words. 

You see, if we work the story backwards the logic goes that if we were all able to communicate with each other and the same language then we would get a lot more stuff done.  We’d be a lot more efficient.  Nothing would be impossible for us.  The funny thing is that’s not exactly how it works.  Because if that’s how it worked we would be well on our way to building our tower to reach the heavens among other things.  Modern technology has given way to advanced translators that while far from perfect do help us communicate with each other.  We have subtitles and the internet and really good interpreters. 

On Friday night I made fajitas for dinner.  I have this great recipe I’ve made numerous times that uses poblanos for the peppers instead of normal green peppers.  It’s really delicious.  I had everything made including a gazpacho like soup and we were ready to eat.  However, we don’t have a ton of counter space and Adam was lagging in coming downstairs for dinner so after I put together my meal I put the onion and pepper mix back in the oven.  When he came downstairs I was already in the other room eating since it didn’t do well to let this meal get cold.  As he started putting his stuff he called out, “Where’s all the stuff you normally have?”  I answered, “On the counter?”  He then asked, “Is the regular recipe you make?”  I said, “Yes!”  I got on with eating and he soon joined me.  Then, yesterday afternoon I decided to warm up the oven to make myself lunch.  I put the pan in the oven and was surprised when it didn’t go all the way in.  I then pulled out the onion and pepper mixture for the fajitas.  Turns out when Adam was asking me if this was the recipe I normally made he meant where are all the peppers and onions.  Even when you speak the same language you still have problems. 

This is always the trickiest part of languages and words.  Even when you speak the same one there’s still all sorts of room for variation and errors.  There was a quiz that came out awhile back that was floating around social media.  It attempted to identify where you were from based on which specific words you used.  It turns out what we call mini freshwater lobsters is very divisive.  Also contentious is the term for athletic shoes and how you address a group of people.  The quiz tended to be very accurate, just so you know. 

If you think about it, language is divisive in general.  We use language to put up barriers between us and other people.  We use it to label.  We use it to divide people into us and them.  We use it to pick fights.  We use it to gossip.  We use it to spread fear.  We use it for propaganda.  We use it to spread discord.  We use it to make excuses.  We use it to build ourselves up and tear others down. 

Even in the church this kind of thing can happen.  I see especially in celebrity pastor culture.  There are many celebrity pastors out there who are good people and preach the Gospel.  But there are those who, instead of using words to build up they use them to tear people down.  They preach to shame and hurt.  Though they associate themselves with God there’s not really much of God in their message.  And they build these huge followings that can quickly devolve into personality cults.  They build up these empires, these towers to make a name for themselves and not for God. 

The people who were building the tower were doing this, too.  They tried to use their language and words to build themselves up higher than they should have.  Let us make a name for ourselves.  Let’s make this all about us.  Let’s ignore the mandate from God to spread out to populate the earth and make our own little city right here.  Let’s push our advantage.  Let’s make a name for ourselves.  Even though it’s not stated explicitly we can imagine they wanted to make a name for themselves above and beyond even God.  

So God steps in.  God scrambles their language and scatters them.  They no longer shared words and language.  But the problem isn’t just the lack of a shared language and words.  It’s us.  Even without a shared language and words we still make a mess out of the world and God’s commands.  We still use words as weapons against each other. 

So God steps in again.  This time God doesn’t step in to give us different languages and words.  Instead God steps in with the Word.  The final Word.  As we hear in the Gospel of John chapter 1 “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…  And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”  Up until this point words have served to divide us and separate us – separate us from God and from each other.  However, through the Word made flesh, through Jesus we finally have a Word that unites us.  Even as we were divided by sin we are united back with God through the forgiveness we receive through the cross and resurrection. 

Above and beyond the gift of forgiveness we are also given the gift of the Holy Spirit which further unites us with each other and with God.  On the day of Pentecost the disciples were given the Holy Spirit and went out and were preaching about what Jesus had done and people from everywhere were hearing them in their own native languages.  While this doesn’t necessarily mean that the Holy Spirit will make us all experts at languages we’ve never heard nor spoken before it does mean that the Holy Spirit does have to power to unite us even in spite of our differences.  The Holy Spirit gives us the power to hear the Word of God and to preach the Word of God to each other.  Because we need to hear the Word of God even in our own native language. 

And we need to get this Word out there.  Because words are so often use to hurt and to divide and to shame and to fight.  Instead we bring words of love, grace, peace, and forgiveness.  We bring the Word.  The Word that unites us even though as humans we’ll never perfectly agree with each other.  The final Word.  So go out and spread the Word of a God.  The Word of God that unites.  The Word of God that loves.  The final Word.  Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

[pastortasha]

August 10 Preaching Passage - The Tower of Babel

This week begins a four week sermon series on Old Testament stories that were chosen by YOU!  The first story up is The Tower of Babel which was also the winner of the "Confirmation Student's Choice" category.  

Tower of Babel by Lucas Van Valckenborch in 1594 from Wikipedia

Genesis 11:1-9

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ 5The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Questions to Ponder:

1.  When was a time you had difficulty communicating with another person?  What did you do in order to try to convey the message?  What did they do to try to communicate to you?  Did it work?  What lessons did you learn from this experience (if any)?

2.  I was recently in New York City visiting friends.  NY certainly has many tall buildings.  I've been to the Top of the Rock in the past.  It also seems like everyone is competing to have the tallest building in fill-in-name-of-region/city/country/continent.  Even if you don't like heights there is a certain attraction to tall buildings.  Why do you think that is?  Why do you think we like to build tall structures?  

3.  If we all spoke a common language what problems do you think it would solve?  What problems do you think it would create?

3.  The Tower of Babel does show up in the Lectionary (the three year cycle of Biblical readings used in the church) on Pentecost Sunday.  Why do you think this is paired with Pentecost?  

[pastortasha]

Book Review - We Learn Nothing

As soon as I heard Tim Kreider had a book I knew I absolutely needed to read it ASAP.  I had discovered Tim's writing earlier and, as I've mentioned before, his article in the New York Times inspired my Ash Wednesday sermon.

We Learn Nothing did not disappoint.  In fact, I'm going to have a hard time writing this post because I want to use a good chunk of the book as sermon illustrations.  Of course, the irony of this is Kreider isn't a Christian.  But he gets something about the messiness of humanity, the power of grace, and what it means to be truly loved that spoke clearly to my soul.  

In one chapter he writes about what it's like to be family.  He was adopted as a child.  As an adult he tracked down his birth-mother and discovered he had two half-sisters.  He then starts the exciting and scary process of getting to know them.  It starts with pure adoration.  As he writes "Like indifferent parents who become extravagant, doting grandparents, I felt as if meeting my half sisters was a chance to atone for my derelictions and finally get being an older brother right.  I was forgetting that it's the scars that mark us as siblings."  (pg. 218)

He makes the point that being family is a powerful thing because of the messiness.  He did have an adopted sister and he writes "I don't have to worry I'm somehow going to blow it with Laurie - I've already blown it.  She knows all about me.  We've shared a bedroom.  I walked her down the aisle.  I'm her brother.  I have granted this woman the legal power to remove me from a ventilator, even though there is still a small, gray mark in the ball of her thumb where I once stabbed her with a pencil."  (pg. 218)

For anyone who has a brother and sister you know how this goes.  Generally no one knows you as well as your family.  They've seen it all.  They've seen you smear your diaper on the wall, watched your temper tantrums in the middle of the store, seen your messy room, made fun of your crazy music collection from your teenage years full of embarrassing albums, and put up with your horrible taste in TV as a child.  But this is what it is to be family.  And they're stuck with you.  And you're stuck with them.  As the saying goes you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family.  There are times when we're not grateful for this.  There was times when we'd like nothing more than to be completely disassociated with this crazy group of people.  But there are also times when they're all you've got and it's the love you know they hold for you that keeps you going.  

Family is messy.  But it's also freeing when it's at its best.  To be loved completely by people who know the good but are also intimately acquainted with the bad is something amazing.  That's also the way it is with God.  When we're baptized we're baptized into God's family.  God, being God knows us, REALLY knows us.  Knows all the good and all the bad.  But we're family now so we're stuck with each other.  Isn't that the best news, though?  

And seriously, this is just one page of the book!  Just one chapter!  The whole thing is filled with insightful, honest, and funny stories, thoughts, and observations just like this.  It has language throughout the book but it's worth it.  

Kreider is also a political cartoonist so his writing is accompanied with fun illustrations.  In other words, YAY, pictures!  

[pastortasha]

American Gods - Book Review

This book review is a bit belated especially since I've already used it as a sermon illustration.  

Also, it should be said that I know my novel taste is a bit on the more R-rated side.  In other words, the books I'm reading and writing about are not for everyone.  I will always try to give fair warning.  For instance, I would compare Neil Gaiman loosely to Stephen King.  If you don't like Stephen King as a writer you probably won't like Neil Gaiman.  

Also, it should go without saying but there will be spoilers.  

I first ran across Neil Gaiman on the Amazon.com "Best Books of the Year" list.  I've had good luck finding books I really enjoy on that list so I read The Ocean at the End of the Lane and loved it (actually, now that I think of it I read it almost a year ago exactly as I was flying to and from Lancaster, PA for my first interview at Trinity).  As I was checking out other books by the author I found out American Gods was the go to recommendation for books by Gaiman.  

Shadow, a man who suddenly finds he has nothing to lose, is hired by the enigmatic Wednesday.  This thrusts Shadow in the middle of a war between the old and new American gods.  

As a pastor and theologian with an eye to pop culture I found this to be a very insightful read.  Gaiman is not a Christian or religious from what I can tell.  But he really understands "gods."  In the Old Testament other gods are prevalent.  Gods like Baal and Asherah are regular players in the Old Testament.  In history Greek and Roman mythology present gods as slightly more powerful versions of us that represent everything from war to power to fertility.  It wasn't that many hundreds of years ago that our ancestors worshiped various entities like Odin or Thor (non-Marvel universe Thor).  Worship of the old gods included everything from burning crops or livestock on an altar as a sacrifice to starting wars in the name of said god to human sacrifice.    

Today we tend to scoff at this stuff.  Sure, there are some weirdos and extremists who will still try to do these things but we look down on them and also try to prevent this kind of madness.  Worship now is more ordered and clean.  It involves singing, praying, chanting, and listening in an orderly fashion.  Therefore worshiping the new gods follows suit - it's more orderly and clean.  The new gods we come across in the book are very familiar to us: TV, media, news, internet, fame, fortune, etc.  Worship is given through our time, our money, our devotion, and our energy.  

While this book was meant mainly as a fun read it challenged me to evaluate what and how I worship.  I've certainly been known to binge on TV shows in the past such as Game of Thrones or Lost or Parks and Rec.  Anyone who has been to my office knows I have a love of pop culture through my collection of silly figurines.  

As Christians we tend to confine worship to services led by churches.  But worship has always been more than that.  It's about time, devotion and as Martin Luther puts it in the small catechism: fear, love, and trust. 

What "gods" do I worship?  How do I worship them?  How does that compare to how I worship God as in the Christian God?  

I contemplated all of this while I read Gaiman's book as it weaved in mythology from multiple pantheons, mystery, redemption, and sacrifice.  In the end I was very satisfied with the read.  I was also very glad I worship a God who loves me, forgives me, and offers me grace time and time again.  

[pastortasha]

Summer Reading List!

I know, I know, we're halfway through summer already.  Also, this reading list is overly ambitious considering I've only finished two books.  But, I will post reviews when I'm done with the books for fun.  

Anyway, here's what I'm reading and why.  

Harry Potter: Page to Screen - Yes, the books are far superior to the movies.  However, I can't help myself.  Also, I've always been a little obsessed with the making of movies (i.e. I've watched all the specials on the extended editions of LOTR).  

Lost Encyclopedia - See above.  Also, Adam rightly made fun of me for owning this.  

The Art and Making of The Dark Knight Trilogy - See above, again.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - Though I'm not one to jump on the pop culture book bandwagon since David Fincher has been tapped to direct a film based on this book I figured I should read it before the movie comes out.  

Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer - I love, love, love this author.  

When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert - When I accepted the call to Holy Trinity Lutheran this book and Toxic Charity were the first on my list of books to read.  My former supervisor, who used to work for Lutheran Social Services in MN told me these were must reads for my work with service, witness, mission, and justice.  The senior pastor at my current call has also mentioned both these books in sermons.  

Toxic Charity by Robert Lupton - See above.  

Daring Greatly by Brene Brown - I'm a little late but I definitely feel no shame (see what I did there) jumping on the Brene Brown bandwagon.  I've seen her TED talks and they have been insightful and impacted the way I look at preaching and ministry so I figured I should just read the entire book.  

We Learn Nothing by Tim Kreider - I've posted an article by Tim before on my blog.  Hilarious, insightful, and honest.  A review will be up on this soon.  

Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson - This is the book that I knew the least about when I bought it.  However, a website I frequent recommended it and it has a great title.  Excited to dive into it.  

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - Clearly I've already finished this because I've already used it for a sermon illustration.  I was first exposed to Gaiman when I came across a short story he wrote that landed on the amazon.com best of the year list.  After that I was hooked and was told this was the one I had to read.  I was not disappointed.  Review forthcoming.  

Christ in the Chaos by Kimm Crandall - I'm always looking for good reads for small groups of congregation members and I've heard great things about this.  Excited to dive into it and maybe find a use for it at Trinity.  

[pastortasha]

Proving that my seminary education was worth something this sermon is partially based on an exegesis paper I wrote for my Romans class.  

Romans 6:15-23

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

Now what?  That’s the question that came to mind as I preparing today’s sermon on Romans 6.  Now what?  There’s this great scene in the movie Finding Nemo at the very end.  Nemo, a clownfish from the Great Barrier Reef, has been taken from the ocean by a dentist and placed in a tank at the dentist’s office.  Inside the tank he meets a motley crew of other sea creatures who dream of regaining their freedom and returning the ocean.  At the very end of the movie, after Nemo has been rescued the fish finally make their escape.  They’ve ruined the tank cleaner and the dentists has removed the fish from the tank and placed them all in individual plastic bags which they use to roll to their freedom out the window, through the lawn, across the intersection, into the bay.  They land in the water finally free.  Except for the plastic bags.  The last line of the movie is one of the fish simply asking, “Now what?!” 

Paul asks the same question.  What then?  Now what?  Then he lobs a huge question out there: Should we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?  In other words, what now? 

Paul offers an emphatic “NO” and then moves onto a metaphor that makes us quite uncomfortable: slavery.  You are either slaves to sin or slaves of obedience, righteousness, and God. 

For those of us who grew up in the school system in this country one thing we learned pretty early on was slavery, especially the slavery that existed in this country is bad.  And not just bad.  Horrific, terrible, cruel, and awful.  We watched and remembered the scene from Roots where one of the main characters and a slave, Kunta Kinte, is whipped until he acknowledges his new name.  Though, surprisingly, there aren’t many movies made depicting slavery pretty much any movie that goes for depicting it as it truly happened is bound to get an R-rating.  And these movies that do feature slavery are often harrowing for the viewer to watch. 

So, to hear Paul associate our relationship with God as slavery is disturbing, to say the least.  Now, two things to point out before we get all up in arms.  First, Paul actually acknowledges later in the passage that he knows this is not a perfect illustration.  He’s doing the best with what he has which includes language, culture, and our human instinct to misunderstand and misinterpret our relationship with God.  Second, slavery was very different back when Paul was originally writing this letter.  Though there were certainly some of the same cruelties associated with slavery in America and viewing people as property, believe it or not, slavery could also be a choice and a prudent one at that.  Slavery could be a choice.  People would sell themselves into slavery as a way to work off their debts.  Once they worked off their debt they were free again and it was often the case that people did just that.  Chances are there were quite a few slaves or former slaves in Paul’s target audience in Romans.  It wasn’t insulting to them, it was something they had lived and they knew.  It wasn’t a perfect metaphor but it spoke to that audience. 

And even though we live in the land of the free it can speak to us, too.  Because we, too, are either slaves to sin or slaves to obedience, righteousness, and God. 

I just finished a novel called “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman.  I’d say he kind of reminds me a little of Stephen King so if you like Stephen King you probably would like Neil Gaiman.  The books follows the main character, a man named Shadow, as he gets pulled into a war between the old gods and the new gods.  The old gods are pagan gods that were brought to America when people emigrated and brought their beliefs in these pagan gods with them.  The cast of characters includes gods from the pantheon of Norse and Egyptian gods that you might have learned about in your humanities courses or from the Marvel movie Thor.  What I found most fascinating were the new gods Gaiman portrayed.  Gaiman isn’t a Christian.  He grew up with a Jewish family who also practiced scientology.  Gaiman himself admits to not knowing whether or not there’s a God or gods and doesn’t really care.  But in his book he nails the new gods that we as Americans worship.  Media.  Fame.  TV.  News.  Internet.  Plastic surgery even makes a horrifying appearance. 

People don’t worship the new gods in quite the same ways they worshipped the old gods.  But people do worship them by giving them their time, their devotion, their attention, and their money.  In a sense they enslave themselves to these new gods. 

And we do the same thing. 

This past week I spent part of the time up at Camp Nawakwa for confirmation camp.  Camp Nawakwa happens to be located on an absolutely dead spot for cell phone service.  I could maybe, maybe receive text messages but that was about it.  There was no cell service which meant no internet.  No facebook.  No streaming the World Cup or Netflix.  No news.  No checking email.  No mindlessly surfing the net. 

Though it was hard communicating with Adam during that time it was actually quite lovely.  This was actually how I was able to nearly get finished with American Gods.  I got to do some work on my sermon on a pad of paper with a pen.  I know, how retro of me.  I hung out with the campers.  I enjoyed the sunshine.  I made new friends with other local pastors and youth directors who were there.  I went on numerous walks.  It was really quite freeing.  Which only goes to show I was enslaving myself to these things, these new gods as the book calls them. 

Though we talk a good game about wanting and loving freedom, though we rightly and readily condemn slavery both in the past and in the present time we are really quick to enslave ourselves.  We enslave ourselves to success, money, fame, sex, beauty, food, knowledge, alcohol, status, power, technology, and all sorts of things.  While none of these things are necessarily bad, in fact, all of these things are gifts from God, we make gods out of them and readily and willingly enslaves ourselves to them.  We break the first commandment, you shall have no other gods.  We so easily enslave ourselves to sin.  And the wages of sin is death. 

This is why we are given Jesus.  God sees we are enslaved to sin and death and gives us Jesus so that we may be set free through Jesus’ death and resurrection and through baptism into Christ.  We are forgiven!  But, now what?  We’re back to where we started.  Now what?  We’re free like the fish in Finding Nemo.  We’re free from sin and death.  Now what? 

Paul is quite clear on this answer.  We are now enslaved to obedience, righteousness, and God.  Which seems counter-intuitive.  We have been set free from sin to be enslaved to God?  Isn’t that kind of like we’ve jumped out of the frying pan into the fire? 

But as opposed to being enslaved to sin where the end product is death, being enslaved to God brings about something different.  It brings about obedience that we can’t muster on our own.  It brings about righteousness, being right with God that we could never earn.  It brings about our sanctification or being holy in the sight of God that we could never accomplish on our own.  While the wages of sin is death the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What we receive from God is a new kind of freedom even as we are “enslaved” to God.  This freedom binds us to God as God’s own children through baptism and through this free gift of grace.  It means that we are God’s.  We belong to God.  This slavery doesn’t bring about death.  Instead being freed from sin and enslaved to God means we are in God’s service.  And being in God’s service means we get it all, the whole kit and caboodle.  Grace.  Forgiveness.  Eternal life.  Even though we are prone to wander we are still God’s.  Always. 

There’s a story I read on a blog by Tullian Tchividjian, the grandson of Billy Graham who happens to be an avid fan of Luther.  It’s told as a modern parable about Jesus and us. 

 Before the Civil War and before America’s slaves were freed, a northerner went to a slave auction and purchased a young slave girl. As they walked away from the auction, the man turned to the girl and told her, “You’re free.”

With amazement she responded, “You mean, I’m free to do whatever I want?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And to say whatever I want to say?”

“Yes, anything.”

“And to be whatever I want to be?”

“Yep.”

“And even go wherever I want to go?”

“Yes,” he answered with a smile. “You’re free to go wherever you’d like.”

She looked at him intently and replied, “Then I will go with you.”

So it is with us.  We are free.  We are no longer enslaved to sin.  We no longer are enslaved to death.  Not only that, but as Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished.”  Like the fish in Finding Nemo we aren’t going back to the prison of the tank.  Like the girl in the parable we will not sell ourselves back into slavery.  We are free.  Free from sin.  Free from death.  Free from the false gods.  Truly free.  We are God’s.  It’s a done deal.  God who offers true freedom that can only come from the one who is truly free to whatever He chooses and He just so happens to choose us.   

Now what?  This is who we follow.  We follow the Lord.  Because we are free and because we are God’s.  For the wages of sin is death.  But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Because after we’ve received this gift we can do nothing else with our life but enslave ourselves to God whose love and grace has forever changed our lives and set us free from sin and death.  Now what?  For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  So, we follow and serve the Lord this day and always because this is who we are through Christ Jesus our Lord.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.