Imperfect Faith
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
July 13, 2025 Luke 11:37-54
There are several accounts in Luke’s gospel of people inviting Jesus into their homes. Several weeks ago we read about Simon the Pharisee who invited Jesus for a meal. An unnamed woman came and anointed Jesus’ feet. The whole thing was certainly embarrassing, yet Jesus criticizes his host for a lack of basic hospitality and praises the woman.
Then a couple weeks ago we had the story of Mary and Martha. Martha is doing her duty as a hostess while Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening. We’re tempted to take Martha’s part and criticize Mary for being lax. But Jesus criticizes Martha and praises Mary.
Later this year we’ll get to the story of Zacchaeus, the “wee little man” who was a tax collector and climbed a tree to see Jesus walk by. In that case Jesus invites himself to dinner. We’d expect Jesus to really rip into this tax collector. Tax collectors were despised and often crooked. Yet before Jesus can even say a word Zacchaeus is apologizing and promising a change of life.
Yes, you just don’t know what will happen if Jesus comes to your house.
Let’s see what we learn from the encounter we read today where a Pharisee invites Jesus to a meal. We take a step back and remind ourselves of two things. First, we’re still reading in Luke’s gospel about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. He is no longer traveling around his home territory of Galilee but is slowly making his way south. This Pharisee had probably heard of Jesus before. Now Jesus had come into his area and a large crowd had gathered to hear him speak. So he invites Jesus to his home.
Second, Jesus was probably considered by most Jews to belong to the sect of Pharisees. Only the Pharisees had synagogues. None of the other sects did. Jesus has been teaching in synagogues all along. So, the dinner scene is not as if a Sadducee or Herodian had been invited. If Jesus were considered to be from one of those groups we’d expect conflict and confrontation. But, this encounter is among people of the same general religious group. The Pharisee could reasonably assume Jesus knew the beliefs and practices of people like himself.
But things do not go well. Right off the bat Jesus goes in and takes his place at the table without properly washing. This is not a matter of hygiene. It is a matter of ritual and religious practice.
When someone comes into our home there are countless social expectations involved. We don’t realize it, but there are. How would you feel if a guest who’d never been in your house before just walked in, dropped his shoes and coat on the floor at the door, started rearranging the furniture, took pictures off the wall to look at them, and then just walked to the fridge, opened it, and starting looking inside? There’s nothing outright dangerous or wrong with doing that sort of thing, but none of it is what we consider to be appropriate conduct from a guest.
Jesus does not follow, or seems to deliberately ignore, the Pharisee’s household’s religious practices and traditions. He is not being a good guest! Luke tells us that the Pharisee noted this but said nothing. The Pharisee is being a good host, not wanting to embarrass a guest in his house. The same way you may overlook any number of social faux pas from a guest. We learn later in the story that there are a good number of prominent guests at the Pharisee’s house. The Pharisee was probably embarrassed in front of his other guests, but again, as a good host not wanting to challenge or shame a guest, he keeps silent.
Perhaps, Jesus being from the backwards northern hick country of Galilee, his possibly ignorance of proper conduct could be overlooked. The Pharisee and his guests could all snicker about it later after Jesus has left.
But Jesus, who is already exhibiting behavior deviant from expected norms, goes further. Hosts should not embarrass their guests and guests should not embarrass their hosts. Jesus reveals that he not only knows the expected social norms yet is choosing to violate them, and he also reveals that he knows what’s going on inside their heads. So, he embarrasses his host and the other guests by saying, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.”
Ouch! What a way for Jesus to address an apparently kind and religious host! What a way to embarrass all the guests! I’m sure you’ve all been to a party or a gathering when someone says or does something that causes stunned silence and embarrassment from everyone else there. It is awkward to say the least. I imagine the scene where a large group of people were gathered at the Pharisees house for a good and pleasant meal, then Jesus as a guest ignores the rules and makes it worse by spouting off condemnations to them all.
Taken aback, and probably trying to politely release the tension a lawyer speaks us, “Teacher…” And notice that by addressing Jesus as “teacher” this lawyer is still showing Jesus polite respect. “…when you say these things, you insult us too!” But Jesus turns the social tension up even higher by proclaiming woes to the lawyers as well.
I know there are plenty of sleazy liability lawyers advertising their services all over the place. It is easy to judge lawyers, but let’s remember that the vast majority of lawyers simply represent their clients in routine matters and charge accordingly.
What is going on with this scene, and what do we take from it? Again, let’s keep in mind that everyone there is being kind, polite, and respectful. These are what we would call “good” people. We’d almost certainly like them. The are cultured, controlled, and respectful. But Jesus rips into them repeatedly. Obviously they are not as good as they think they are. What are they missing? And if they are like us, then what might we be missing?
Pharisees came from all economic classes: rich, poor, middle class. If the Pharisee in today’s story had a house big enough to host a major dinner party, and if some of the guests were lawyers, then it’s pretty safe to assume this Pharisee was well-to-do, if not downright wealthy. The lawyers too, were probably well-to-do. It is probably safe to say that none of the guests had callouses on their hands by making it through life with hard manual labor. In other words, they were management types who lived a step away from reality.
In their world of management they did all sorts of things that they considered to be proper morality and ethics. They followed religious laws. They thought their prosperity was proof that they were blessed by God. They had created their own circular logic of virtue. If you brought their morality and religiosity into question they could point to all sorts of virtues in their lives. They not only tithed, they tithed from their spices. They donated generously. They contributed to the preservation of important religious places, like the tombs of the prophets. It was hard to truly challenge them. Jesus points all of it out as misguided.
The same dynamics easily happen in our society today. It is easy to pick a political party or ideology and then take on its morality. You buy products that signal to which group you belong. You read books or listen to podcasts that reinforce the views you already have. Computer algorithms show us content that we agree with. It is easy to live in an echo chamber that tells us how good we are; and how bad, or ignorant, or even stupid, those we disagree with are.
But are we really good? How connected to reality are we? Are we not just participating in vast global systems of production and consumption? My intent is not to criticize global dynamics that give us comforts and conveniences. But I will remind us that we can easily call ourselves “good” and be totally ignorant of the real consequences of our lives.
We could beat ourselves up or wring our hands in helplessness but that would not be helpful. I think what Jesus wants from us, and what Jesus wanted from the Pharisees and lawyers that day in our gospel reading, was a recognition of sinfulness. Or said differently, not having smugness where we think ourselves better than others and look down on them.
It is the core of our faith to realize that we fall short of God’s desires; no matter how good our social groups tell us we are. I’d go so far as to say we trust the messages that we are good from our social groups more than we trust God.
It all comes down to humility, and openness to our frailties. With that attitude I think if Jesus were to come to our home we’d have an enjoyable time. It is those who think highly of themselves and their morals that Jesus has problems with. Those who are aware that they have failings, and are aware that we live in a society that makes it impossible to truly live ideally, are also open to Jesus. He had good things to say to such people and seemed to enjoy their presence.
All in all, we seek to be moral but do not take pride in the morality. We remember our need for God’s grace, and that even when we are truly moral in our lives we are still responding to God’s promptings in our hearts.
Tuesday, June 24, 2025
June 22, 2025 Good Samaritan and Mary & Martha Luke 10:25-42
There are two stories in our gospel reading today and we’re going to look at three pieces of art for each. The artists draw our attention to details and bring out challenges from the texts.
The first story is the parable of
the Good Samaritan.
Our first piece of art is The Road Between Jerusalem and Jericho by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, 1849-1914 (United Kingdom). He is trying to give a sense of the dangers of the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. The scene is forbidding. Travel was dangerous in general. This particular road was particularly so. Jerusalem and Jericho are 17 miles apart. Jerusalem is 2500 feet above sea level while Jericho is 800 feet below sea level. The road often descends steeply and has many rocky valleys and passes. The hearers of Jesus’ parable would not have been surprised by a story of about a person traveling alone being attacked and robbed.
At the center bottom of the piece we
see the injured man being cared for by the Samaritan. The Samaritan has tied his animal to a
tree. We realize that the helpful
Samaritan is putting himself at risk as he is doing this. Down the road we can easily make out one of
the travelers who has passed by the injured man. Farther down the road, and difficult to see,
is the other traveler.
The second piece
is by Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh; painted in May of 1890. Van Gogh is not interested in creating a
realistic scene, but he has included many elements of the story. Again, in the distance we see two travelers
who have passed by the injured man. An
empty chest shows that the man has been robbed.
The Samaritan is depicted as strong and muscular as he is heaving the
injured man onto his animal. The face of
the injured man shows pain.
Jews and
Samaritans were enemies. They did not
like each other and would not want to touch each other. Here Van Gogh depicts a great amount of
physical contact between these two enemies.
This depiction heightens the care and compassion of the Samaritan shows
for his enemy. Jesus taught this parable
in response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Our enemies are still our neighbors. We are not to be stingy in offering them aid,
but generous. In the parable the
Samaritan goes on to provide generously for the injured man’s ongoing needs.
The next piece is Portrait of You as the Good Samaritan by James B. Janknegt, 2006 (America). This piece depictes several aspects of the parable in the reverse. Since you, the viewer, are the Samaritan who helps, you do not appear. The piece begs the question, “What you will do now?”
On the left we see
the two thieves – a young black man and a red-haired white woman. They are fleeing on a bicycle. They are carrying clothes and art supplies
but they are spilling away. In the
background is an urban scene.
Moving to the
right we have a priest in clerical garb.
He is in front of a church and has a cross in one hand and an offering
plate in the other. He surely should
have helped, but his priorities are different and he is resolutely walking
away.
Next to the right
is a bearded long-haired hippie carrying a guitar. Surely this ‘peace and love’ person would
help an injured man, but he has not.
Finally, on the
right side of the piece is the injured man.
He is depicted as bloody and mangled.
His ethnicity is indeterminate. We
realize he is a painter. There are paint
brushes still in one hand. By his other
hand is what he was working on - a painting of Mary and Jesus. What does it say that this artist was
attacked while working on religious art?
And what does it say that his clothes and art supplies have been stolen
but the art he was working on is left behind?
Again, this piece
deliberately reverses many aspects of the parable. The injured man has not been traveling on a
desolate and dangerous road. He has been
stationary doing religious art in what should have been a safe suburb. Notice in the background behind him there are
nice homes with lawns. A man is in his
yard. A sprinkler is watering the
grass. A dog sits in the shade of a
tree. No one seems to notice the crime
that has been committed. Therefore, what
are you the viewer as the Samaritan now going to do?
This piece raises
many questions. If the suburbs are to be
safe places where good, wholesome, hard-working people live, then why did this
crime happen in the first place? And why
is everyone ignoring it? What places in
our society do we so surely assume to be safe that we overlook the horrible
things that happen?
The parable of the
Good Samaritan raises many questions. They
are worth taking time to consider. For
now, though, we move on.
We have three
pieces about the home of Martha and Mary.
First we have Christ in the Home of Martha
and Mary by Johannes Vermeer, 17th Century (Dutch). This depiction of the scene depicts 17th
century Europeans in the roles of Jesus, Martha, and Mary. Martha in the center is the highest character
in the scene. The moment depicted is
when Martha appeals to Jesus for help from her sister with the household tasks. But Jesus points to Mary as she is sitting at
his feet listening to what he says. We
start with this piece because it gives a traditional understanding of Martha’s
mistake. She is worried about household
tasks. While hospitality and household
tasks were very important in those days, the lesson we get from it is that
Martha needs to shift her priorities to something even more important. That was to listen to Jesus. What is not depicted here, but will be depicted
in the third piece, are some of the reasons for Martha’s misplaced priorities. But before we get to the third piece, we have
things to discover in a second.
This is Martha and Mary by He Qi, 21st
Century (China/America). Qi’s art
frequently combines geometric shapes with the sight lines to add extra
dimensions to the piece. Here Jesus is
slightly to the right of center. He is
looking straight at Martha, who has her head bowed from his criticism. Mary is on the right. She is lower than Jesus but she is not
looking up at him. Her head is also lowered
in respect to Jesus’ authority. The Holy
Spirit, abstractly depicted as a descending dove, is coming upon Mary. By contrast, nothing is coming down upon
Martha. Martha is high in the piece,
standing above her tasks and retaining power by being in control of them. There is no room for the Spirit on Martha’s
side. Again in contrast, Mary claims no
such power for herself. She is simply
open to Jesus.
Another of Qi’s
pieces, Supper at Emmaus is on page 89 in the front of the Red Hymnal.
The final piece is At the Home of Martha and Mary, Ain Vares, 21st Century (Estonia). Martha dominates the scene. Her back is to us but her head appears to be turned somewhat to Jesus. Martha’s arms hold her many burdens: shopping bags, a rambunctious child and a demanding one, laundry, dishes, exercise equipment, and a whole house are the burdens she bears. Is this not what many a parent bears in our society today? How can there be time for Jesus when life’s demands are so great and so constant? Careers, child care, kid’s sports, maintaining a home, and much more all create exhaustion. Having time for faith, and the commitments of Christianity, just feel like more burdens. They are therefore neglected.
Yet Jesus,
depicted calmly and simply, sits on the right side. Mary, having the correct priorities, listens
to Jesus with face upturned. She is
serene and open.
This piece reminds
us that doing all of life’s tasks, essential as they may seem, do not save
us. Jesus does. With Jesus at the center and a life built
around faith the rest of life’s tasks take their proper perspective. Many burdens will simply be released. Others will get different priority. But all of them will take on their true
purpose. Jesus came not to add to the
burdens of life. Jesus gives us the
right perspective for them.
All of these
pieces are available online. They will
all be posted in pastor’s sermon blog. Look
them up and spend more time with them.
Each is worth contemplating. Let
them enrich your faith in the days to come.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025
June 15, 2025 The Holy Trinity, John 16:12-15
A little girl who lived next door to a cemetery had an old teddy bear that was care worn and ragged. It had been repaired many times but it had deteriorated to the point where the stuffing was just bursting out everywhere and no new stitches would hold. The girl - sadly, reluctantly – knew that the bear had reached the end of its life. She felt that the most appropriate thing to do would be to give it a proper burial. Living next door to a cemetery she had overheard many a funeral. She confidently set out to do what she knew how to do. She selected a nice spot in the yard. She dug a little hole for the bear to be buried in. Then she had a little funeral service saying the kinds of things she’d heard in funerals, concluding with, “In the name of the Father and of the Son, and into the hole he goes!”
This silly mistake in the
understanding of the Trinity sets us up to understand the much more important
way the Trinity and theology affect our lives.
As I said at the beginning of the
service, this is Holy Trinity Sunday. It
falls the Sunday after Pentecost and it is a Sunday I almost always
ignore. Why? Because preaching a sermon on the Trinity is
tough. The doctrine of the Trinity is
hard to understand, seems barely relevant to our lives, and is dull to talk
about. About the only interesting thing
I’ve ever come across about the nature of the Trinity is the YouTube video St.
Patrick’s Bad Analogies. (We’ve seen
it in worship and I can show it again at coffee hour.)
Yet we do not do well to completely
ignore the doctrine of the Trinity. So
this year being the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea is a
good time to give it some attention.
The Trinity is an
immensely complex theological construct and basically impossible to
understand. How can Christians say that
there is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet not three gods but one God? First grade math teaches you that one plus
one plus one equals three. But in
theology one plus one plus one still equals one. And then there’s our understanding of Jesus,
one of three personalities in the one God.
We say that Jesus is one being with two natures – divine and human. So, with theological math concerning the
whole Trinity one plus one plus one equals one.
And then within one third of that Trinity one plus one also still equals
one. With this kind of logic its little
wonder why churches are declining many people in our society think Christianity
is absurd!
Indeed, to an
outsider it is a complex mess. Read the
Qur’an and you’ll see how Muhammed, encountering Christianity late in the 6th
century, thought Christians worshipped three gods. You certainly can’t explain the Trinity to
someone in the length of an elevator ride.
You can’t explain the Trinity if you have hours to do so!
We may also ask
ourselves why does any of it matter?
Isn’t simple faith in Jesus enough?
Aren’t we saved by grace? If we
have to have a thorough intellectual understanding of the Trinity in order to
be saved then we’re all in big trouble!
There’s also the
weakness of theology itself. Theology
means a word about God. But can God be
understood or explained at all? It only
takes one sentence to completely undermine any and every theological system
that could ever be created. Here’s the
sentence: If God can do anything, then
can God create a rock so heavy that God can’t lift it?
Right there, and
as simple as that, and you’ve completely jammed any headway theology could ever
possibly make! The truth is that the
human mind cannot begin to comprehend God.
God is so far beyond us that we can’t understand anything about God at
all. That then give us a foundation for
Christian beliefs. Christianity claims
that in Jesus God does enter into creation as a human in order to reveal God’s
nature to us in a way that we can understand.
We cannot understand God, so God comes to us in a way we can understand;
at least in part.
Simple as that
belief is, it quickly gets complicated.
What is the nature of Jesus? What
was he before he was born? Did he exist
at all? And how can he be both God and
human? If he is God then how can he
die? And if God has died then how can
God be resurrected? Is there something
greater than God and death that can do that?
Questions like these quickly spiral out of control.
The Council of
Nicea was the first time where leaders from across Christianity officially
gathered to codify some official beliefs.
Prior to that there were gatherings here and there, and there were many
letters written that show the early Christians were wrestling with many things,
but they were never able to openly come together to hash things through.
The emperor
Constantine called the Council of Nicea in order to deal with many issues, and
one issue in particular. That issue was
the belief that has become known as Arianism.
Arius was a priest in Alexandria, Egypt late in the third and early in
the fourth centuries. From his thinking
and reading of early Christian writings (Remember, the Bible hadn’t yet been
defined.) he struggled with an understanding of the nature of Jesus. He argued that since only God the Father
could be said to be the only absolute, unbegotten, eternity then Jesus had to
be in some sense subordinate and inferior to the Father. Arius’ ideas were ultimately rejected and
considered heresy, but let’s not look down upon him too harshly. He was wrestling with deep things and
struggling to come up with reasonable explanations.
I’m not going to
bore you (or intellectually exhaust you) with the intricacies of the arguments
but if you spin out Arius’ thoughts you come up with an understanding of Jesus
where Jesus was some sort of an intermediate being created by God who was never
really divine nor fully a creature.
Understood this way, Jesus is odd and weak. God as Father remains aloof. The whole point of the crucifixion, how
forgiveness works, the nature of divine love, and a whole host of other
problems creep in.
Records indicate
that the debates at the Council of Nicea were ferocious. There are even some records, albeit
questionable in their reliability, that say the council sometimes turned
violent.
Ultimately
however, the Council of Nicea began to hammer out the understanding of the
Trinity that we have today. The Nicene
Creed is often cited as being created by the Council of Nicea. Strictly speaking that is not true. The Nicene Creed in the form we have it today
does not come about until decades later at the Council of Constantinople in
381. However, forerunners of the Nicene
Creed were indeed created at the council.
As I pointed out
in my article in the June newsletter the Nicene Creed is full of obscure words
and strange concepts. Who cares whether
Jesus was, “begotten not made”? And yet
here’s the thing. Every word of the
Nicene Creed – and I mean EVERY word – has been painstakingly chosen and argued
over. Study that creed carefully
sometime and you discover that it is a highly complex set of logical tensions
that create a very delicate balancing act stretching the very limits of what
the human brain can comprehend.
Why do we say that
creed in worship? Because it is the only
worldwide statement of faith all churches (or almost all churches) agree
to. While we say that the Bible is the
rule and norm for faith it is actually the Nicene Creed which gives us a guide
for how to interpret the Bible. Take
away the Nicene Creed and Christianity as we know it falls apart.
We may not
understand that creed, but we understand God from its perspective, we study the
Bible from its perspective, we preach and teach from its perspective, we pray
from its perspective, and we live out our daily lives from its perspective.
Does the Nicene
Creed give us a full and correct understanding of the nature God? I would say not. Nothing can do that and humans aren’t capable
of it. But that creed does give us an
understanding of God that helps us live a meaningful relationship with God and
with each other. The math of the Trinity
and the nature of Jesus does not work at all.
But the tensions give us something we can live by.
Ultimately we give
thanks for those church leaders 1700 years ago who were wresting with these
concepts. They had no framework to go
by, but by the Holy Spirit they came up with something that works. We inherit a complex, rich, and wonderfully
developed faith. We do well to
appreciate that. And even if we don’t
understand it, we can live it as fully as possible and enjoy the confidence of
God’s love.
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
June 8, 2025 Pentecost Luke 10:1-24
I’ve heard it said that we spend our whole lives working to pay for all the labor-saving devices that we buy. It’s a silly thought, but one that carries a good deal of truth to it. How many things do we buy that we really don’t use all that often? And how many things do we buy that don’t last all that long, or don’t give us lasting value? How many things do we buy simply because it is what everyone else is doing, and we somehow convince ourselves that therefore it must be good and we should have it too?
Sometimes I get
the feeling that societies are like cattle on a cattle drive. They’re all moving in a group without any
real sense of where they’re going. I
suppose we could then ask who are the cowboys?
Some would blame “influencers” or major corporations, or government
leaders, or (in the past) religions. But
I think people just have a restlessness that wants cool new things and also,
acceptance from peers.
Never
underestimate how powerful peer pressure is, at just about every age. We are a social species. We want to have a group and be accepted by
it. Psychologist Gurwinder Bhogal brings
up the idea of FIBs- Fashionably Irrational Beliefs. (YouTube – Why Smart People Believe Stupid
Things). These aren’t believing outright
lies. But they are the way we shape our
beliefs and values so that we can fit in with our social group or tribe. We generally chose to fit in rather than
critically examining evidence.
That takes us to
our gospel reading, and the reading from Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit
dramatically comes upon the crowd of disciples with tongues of fire and a sound
of wind. Think critically about what’s
going on in the gospel and in the Acts text.
Then imagine having a casual conversation about that stuff in
public. These are not ordinary
conversation topics of polite and cultured people!:
-miraculously understanding
different languages,
-tongues of fire,
-sounds of wind,
-Jesus sending 70
followers out on a door-to-door missionary trip without any provisions
whatsoever and warning them it will be dangerous,
-Jesus speaking
woes to various cities: Chorazin, Bethsaida, and even Capernaum, which was his
home base for most of his ministry,
-demon possession
and exorcisms
-treading on
snakes and scorpions and not being harmed,
-seeing Satan fall
from heaven like a flash of lightning,
-and wrapping it
all up by Jesus thanking the Father for hiding all these things from the wise
and intelligent and revealing it to infants because it was the Father’s will.
If you go to a restaurant for lunch
after worship and have a somewhat loud conversation about these things and
people would think you are a nut!
All of this is in scripture, which
we call true and authoritative for faith.
And none of this fits into what polite cultured church goers do.
So we don’t do it. And we
don’t talk about it!
Perhaps there is some evangelism
savvy to our reluctance. We are smart
enough to know that saying and doing things like this is unlikely to bring
people to know the love of God. You’ll
come off as some out of touch mystical weirdo!
So I don’t think we should be too harsh on ourselves. And yet, we do well to not lose our nerve.
Earlier I said about society being
like cattle and not really engaging in critical thinking. People often don’t know what’s best for them,
or if they do they still don’t do it.
Here’s a silly
example I’ve used before, but it’s one of my favorites. You may remember the Coke vs. Pepsi taste
tests years ago. People were invited to
taste each without knowing which was which and then choosing their
favorite. If I remember correctly Pepsi
won, but Coke solidly kept market dominance despite not being the preferred
product. That’s odd. But it gets worse. Retired biblical scholar David Lose liked to
point out that in an across-the-board taste test of various colas people’s
favorite was not Coke, nor Pepsi, but actually RC Cola. So why does the brand with the best product
remain so obscure?
It’s about
marketing and having the right perception of your product in public.
As we have the Pentecost text and
the gospel reading in the back of our minds let us think about all of this and
the public perception of the church.
Whether true or not, the perception
is that 50 years ago American society largely revolved around the church. It seemed that most everyone belonged to a
church. It seemed that most everyone
went to church almost every week.
Churches built big buildings that would be regularly filled with
people. Nothing except church things
were scheduled on Sundays. Often a week
night, Wednesday, was reserved by society for church events. Church denominations and church leaders held
political and business authority. Corporations
with unethical business practices were often called out by churches, boycotted,
and then changed their ways. Children
went to Sunday school, got confirmed, did things in youth group; and when they
grew up they got married in the church, started their own family, and the cycle
continued.
But somehow societal perceptions
shifted. The church went from the center
to the sidelines. It wasn’t exactly
sudden, but it was pretty rapid. Though
many people raise all sorts of theories, I find most of those theories fall
into the category of “fashionably irrational beliefs”. They suit the agenda of the person or group
promoting them. The unfashionable
rational truth is what no one wants to hear.
I’ve mentioned this before. I
find hints of it in biblical commentaries published right after World War
2. There they say that the widespread
post war prosperity that was arising was so antithetical to the teachings of
Jesus that the church is in serious trouble.
I feel like the church has become
like RC Cola in society. We have the
best overall product out there, but people aren’t interested. True, we have biblical texts like those we
read today, that are filled with ideas and concepts that sound like they’ve
come from some ignorant past. And true,
the world view of the authors of scripture is very different from our own. That does not make them wrong at all,
however. It just means there’s a gap in
the world views.
That should not frighten us off from
the task of evangelism. We have a great
product in faith and the church. Though
largely ignored, the church is the best place to raise children and give them a
foundation of basic morality. The church
teaches all ages who they are, what their place in the world is, what their
value is, and what God’s promises for the future are. The church is a place where people of all
political persuasions and all sorts of beliefs can come together regularly and
respectfully. The church teaches healthy
priorities for life. The church is
intergenerational, and gives value to all.
The church is accepting, knowing that all people are sinners in need of
God’s grace. The church continues to
bring good things to the poor, the neglected, the dispossessed, and the
hopeless. The church provides: quality,
truth, authenticity, and hope. And
finally, the church gives everything the perspective of eternal life. This life is important. That is true.
But Christianity teaches to shape it in light of God’s promises of
eternity. That provides healthy living,
mental health, and emotional robustness.
There is every reason for us to be
evangelists for the gospel. The church
may be fashionably out of date, but that does not mean it lacks health and
truth. The truth is, yes, the church is
not perfect. Like all institutions it
has its problems and errors. But it is
the healthiest, most well rounded, best prioritied thing you can make a
commitment to. Jesus’ teachings are
sound and universal. We should not fear
them.
And, if I can mix faith with the
cola taste test, if people laugh at you or scorn you because Christian faith is
like drinking RC Cola while they drink whatever fashionably irrational thing
they drink, then so what? You’re still
drinking the best tasting thing out there!
So work, pray, play, and do all
things through Christ our Lord. You will
enjoy a full and fulfilling life now, have strength to face whatever problems
come along, and die with the promise of God’s eternal life.
Monday, June 2, 2025
June 1, 2025 7th Sunday of Easter Luke 9:46-62
If this sermon works well then I will probably offend all of you before I’m done, and then add to that by giving a depressing message. But only then can we truly be in a place to understand God’s grace and know how to joyfully live in forgiveness.
I’ve long read the Bible passages
about the disciples arguing among themselves as who was the greatest as if they
were adolescent boys posturing for dominance in some toxic masculinity sort of
way. I’ve wondered how shallow and
selfish they must have been! How did
Jesus put up with them, and why did Jesus select this bunch of nitwits? Surely there were better people that he could
have selected. But more recently I’ve
begun to question these ideas. Have I
been turning them into caricatures I could easily cast aside instead of
realizing their dynamics are very common today?
Perhaps they were actually as bad as I’m apt to caricaturize them, but I
suspect not.
Something that has been growing
worse for decades, but it has gotten especially prominent since the last
presidential election, is moral posturing and virtue signaling. And are not moral posturing and virtue
signaling any different than arguing over who is the greatest? All sides seem to do it, and in doing so all
sides miss the truth. Here is where I’m
likely to offend all of you.
Many on the
conservative side of things praise President Trump. However, as conservative author David Brooks
pointed out in his recent address to the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship,
this is a fundamental mistake. Trump is
not conservative. He is
anti-liberal. His policies are irrational
and inconsistent. They’re dangerous and
weaken the nation at home and abroad. You cannot undermine the legislative and
judicial branches of government by declaring everything to be an emergency. At the very beginning of his term his
surrogates called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America a money-laundering
organization. He has wreaked havoc in
our social service programs, immigrant resettlement programs, and threatens our
mission work worldwide. People the
Lutheran church used to care for nationally and internationally are dying
because of him. So called government
efficiency is, as far as I can tell, excuses to go after everything an
anti-liberal doesn’t like. There is
serious fear within the Rochester area by Lutheran pastors. I have not personally been threatened by
federal officials, but colleagues in the area have.
Perhaps you are a conservative who
is opposed to Trump. There are plenty of
people like that. They’ve gone pretty
quiet lately out of fear. But rarely do
I meet conservatives like David Brooks who can also critique
conservativism. Conservative approaches
can stall progress, create divisions, and not recognize that systems cause
problems powerless people cannot get out of.
Trump supporter, or conservative against Trump, it easily comes in line
with the disciples arguing for who is the greatest.
But if you’re on the liberal side of
things the same dynamics are happening.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is truly on the liberal side
of things. Most of its policies reflect
the attitudes of the educated elite.
Fancy words and sophisticated concepts are thrown around all the
time. They site endless studies and
claim to what they call unbiased do scientific research, but their perspectives
show ignorance of: hard manual labor, the dynamics of rural communities, commercial
production, and present-day agriculture.
Liberals have become great at virtue signaling. Clothes and cars are chosen to send the
message of their so-called enlightenment.
They shop at stores and farmers buying locally sourced organic produce,
and ethically sourced commercial goods, claiming they are good environmentalists,
good humanitarians, and stewards of the earth.
They’ll write letters, attend rallies, create policies, and fight on
behalf of whatever minority happens to be the shiny object of the moment, yet
never be willing to do hard tedious manual labor, and think themselves good
people. Is this also not arguing who is
the greatest?
Have I managed to offend you
yet? All sides seem to create
caricatures of the other and then hole up within their self-built
righteousness.
Now that I’ve offended you, it is
time to depress you. Evil is clever,
very clever. It is thrilled to have us
pointing at each other. While each side
has merits to its case it also does have evil elements. Evil is thrilled to have us consume our time
and efforts pointing fingers and arguing over who is the greatest. Doing so keeps us from seeing the real
problems. We try to take the speck out
of our neighbor’s eye and miss the log in our own.
Evil is truly clever. Among its more clever things is to turn good
into a destructive bad. Last year one of
my doctoral courses had best-selling author Joanna Penn as a guest. She’s written over 40 books of multiple
types. She’s a British author, and like
many British authors she is particularly adept at creating villains. I asked her how she went about creating an
evil character. She said she started by
finding something good within herself.
And then she’d push that good just a little too far until it became
destructive. In one of her books there
is a woman who has a heart for saving the environment. After much soul-searching the woman realizes
the only way to truly ensure environmental safety is to cause the extinction of
one particular species – humans.
Here's a trick of
evil. I think we’d all agree that health
care is a good thing. We’d also agree
that we should care for the elderly, the weak, and the disabled. We don’t kill off a person as soon as he or
she consumes more from society than they give to society. And yet, the greater the health care the
weaker humans become. In the natural
world those who are not fit and vital die quickly. They do not become a burden.
For one of my
son’s recent college classes they used computer models and artificial
intelligence to speculate about what good health care does to human
genetics. Good healthcare undermines one
of the fundamental dynamics of evolutionary health. It allows the weak the opportunity to pass on
their genetics. It should be no surprise
when I tell you that my son’s computer models predict humans will quickly
become less physically strong and less intelligent.
Is healthcare
therefore bad? Yet it is undeniably
dooming us! Actually, we don’t have to
worry about that. Our level of health
and way of life will collapse long before we become genetically weak. I’ve preached in the recent past that
according to geologist Scott Tinker we need to reduce our energy consumption by
93% if we want the planet to survive. That
means immediately stopping life as we know it.
We also need to eliminate at least 6 billion people from the earth
because the earth cannot sustain the human population. From what I understand we’ve already passed
the tipping point. There is no going
back. The damage is done and things will
only get worse.
To withhold basic care from a
suffering and struggling human is evil.
The Bible tells us over and over again to offer care. Yet providing it is destroying us and so is ultimately
evil as well.
Do you see how clever evil is? And this is just one example. It happens all the time. Yet as long as we keep our moral posturing
arguing over who is the greatest, evil (in is subtlest form) is allowed to run
unchecked.
Simple fact. We’re in a mess. We can’t get out of it. We’ve all contributed to it. We’re ruining God’s good creation and we have
no good options before us. I told you at
the beginning I would make you angry and then depress you.
In our gospel reading James and John
wanted to call down divine wrath upon towns of foreigners who didn’t accept
Jesus. Then several would-be followers
wanted to follow Jesus. They each had
rational excuses for a delay. Jesus
rejected them. Jesus was focused on
Jerusalem and his crucifixion that would happen there. That would be the price of defeating
evil. By all worldly judgements and
perspectives it was nonsense; but all worldly judgements and perspectives end
up having evil weave itself into them.
So here’s the truth. Only when we can go to God realizing that we
are trapped, helpless, and broken are we truly in a place to be amazed by God’s
grace. Only when we realize how trapped,
helpless, and broken we are are we able to have the authentic humility needed
to work in God’s kingdom for the future.
Our culture: its conservatives, liberals, and any philosophical
perspective that thinks it has the ultimate answers, does not like the truth of
evil or the cross it leads Jesus to.
A happy future, and the happy ending
to a dark sermon, is to be in awe of God’s boundless forgiveness for us. It is to know that God loves us, and delights
in us, even as we endlessly make messes of everything we touch.
What do we then do? How do we act? How do we work through messes that even our
best efforts cause, things like the side effects of having basic healthcare for
sick people?
We endlessly root ourselves in the
humility of our sinfulness. Martin
Luther’s ever famous quote in a letter to Philip Melanchthon comes to mind:
“Sin and sin boldly, but rejoice in Christ more boldly still.” It is not by dwelling in our sinfulness that
gets us out of it. It is by rejoicing in
Christ that we have the perspective we need to be able to engage evil. Again from Martin Luther, the words of the
hymn A Mighty Fortress. This is a German
to English translation from centuries ago:
“For still our
ancient foe, forsworn to work us woe, with guile and dreadful might is armed to
wage the fight: on earth there is no equal.
“If we in our own
strength confide, our striving turns to losing; the righteous one fights by our
side, the one of God’s own choosing.
“…Let goods and
kindred go, this mortal life also; though all of these be gone, they yet have
nothing won. The kingdom’s our forever!”
Luther’s truthful thoughts are an
expression of complete humility yet absolutely bold defiance because of the
security of God’s love. It is
helplessness that is rooted in hope that is beyond us. When that perspective is applied to the
world’s problems the answers are neither flashy nor easy (and they are never
popular or will be widely embraced by humanity) but they are the end of evil
and the beginning of God’s kingdom.
This will never be fully realized in
the world. God alone can bring it
about. But it lets us live with bold
defiance with faith in God’s promises. It
gives us hope in the face of hopelessness, and can let us navigate the
inevitable mess of evil with true love.
Monday, May 19, 2025
May 18, 2025 5th Sunday of Easter Luke 9:18-27
If you ever travel on the Thru-Way from the Victor exit to the Canandaigua exit you know that the right hand lane is so rough that it feels like pieces of your car are going to start falling of here there and everywhere. In the over 25 years I’ve lived in this area that lane has always been rough, despite several attempts by the Thru-Way to fix it. I’m curious if the current repaving project will finally set it to rights.
While I would argue that far right
lane is an example of either truly flawed design or very sloppy inspection of
the road base before paving, it does remind me of something else. In college I worked a few semesters as a
co-op student with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation in their
Bureau of Environmental Quality. For
much of that time I shared office space with an experienced engineer who had
spent his career designing highways. I
remember talking with him about some of the most problematic highway projects
at the time. He would become
frustrated. One time he pointed to a
coffee mug on his desk and said, “People are never satisfied. If I were to design a road so smooth that you
could put that mug on the dashboard of your car and have it not spill a drop
all too soon people would complain and want something better.” While I will maintain that the right lane of
the Thruway between Victor and Canandaigua is a truly abysmal bit of highway, I
believe he had a point.
God made us to be highly capable and
creative beings. We can do many amazing
things. Among them is that we can shape
our environment to make it safer and more comfortable for ourselves. There’s nothing wrong with that in and of
itself, but at what point do we go too far?
At what point are we just never satisfied and so we expend endless thought
and resources making things ever more comfortable?
That takes us to the very
uncomfortable teaching in our gospel reading where Jesus says, “If any want to
become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and
follow me.” Ouch. We don’t like to hear that. And there’s more.
The gospels record
Jesus saying things like this any number of times. This one stands out for having a word added –
daily. “Let them deny themselves and
take up their cross daily and follow me.”
That one
additional word here makes a big difference.
Of course the idea
of taking up a cross is not a pleasant one.
Crucifixion was shameful, extremely painful, and of course, results in
death. No one in their right mind would
want to willingly do such a thing! But
the image is easily symbolized. Taking
up your cross is adapting a way of life that is counter to the ways of the
world. Instead of looking to your own
interest, which is the way of the world; it is investing your whole self in the
betterment of others and the world at large.
Why do such a foolish thing?
Because when your value is held securely by God you don’t rely on the
world. And because you discover your
fullest self when you are absolutely giving of yourself. The ironic truth is that the more you give of
yourself the more yourself you become. Even
so, this symbolic meaning can easily be distorted.
We live in
turbulent political times. The country
has become increasingly polarized in recent decades. I have my own fears, concerns, and angers. The situation is far more complex than most
people are willing to admit, but there are many calls for action. People of all political persuasions attend
rallies, protests, demonstrations and the like.
That’s fine. Citizens have every
right to do so, and such things do have a place in creating change. But in and of themselves they accomplish
little to nothing. If you want political
change and all you do is attend rallies, and if you send some money to election
campaigns, then all you’re really doing are the charismatic things and avoiding
the real work.
Some people may
think that being met with anger for their activism work, and possibly being
arrested, for is a cross that they are bearing.
Perhaps so. But again, that’s an
approach that is charismatic, loves the spotlight, and is nothing more than
moral posturing. If you want to make
real change then you have to work and work hard. That work is often very boring and
overlooked.
Taking up your
cross daily means a way of life. It is
not execution. It is not
charismatic. It is a way of life that is
driven by hard working love. It is not
afraid to be obscure, unrecognized, and even scoffed at.
In a week and a
day many communities across America will be having Memorial Day parades. Victor has a Memorial Day parade. Canandaigua does too. It is a good time to remember those who have
died in service to their country; those who have given their lives so that many
others can enjoy a good life. I think it
is safe to say that in almost every one of those parades there will be fire
trucks. Kids love fire trucks. They’re big.
They’re loud. They’re shiny and
bright. Fire trucks signify a crisis, and
that people who are skilled and brave are heading into that crisis, possibly
risking their lives, for the betterment of the community. We do well to celebrate our fire fighters.
If you’ve heard me preach like this
before you know what I’m going to say next.
How many garbage trucks will be in the Memorial Day parades across the
nation? Also, Canandaigua has a big
truck with a giant drain snake on it that is used to keep the sewer lines
clear. Do you think that truck will be
in the parade?
Do not our garbage collectors and
our sewage treatment workers also do dangerous stuff on a daily basis? Are they not also skilled? Do they not handle toxic chemicals, sharp objects,
and dangerous things? If they did not do
their work, would we continue to live in safe places? Wouldn’t the garbage and filth quickly pile
up into a national health crisis far bigger than a burning building?
Of course I deeply appreciate the
many fire fighters and emergency medical technicians in our communities. Having fire trucks in a Memorial Day parade
is fun! Having garbage trucks would be
disgusting. But still, if there was a,
“Take Up Your Cross Daily,” award, I’d be giving it to the garbagemen. (Perhaps I should organize a political
protest demanding equal representation in Memorial Day parades. For every fire truck there must be a garbage
truck or sewage service vehicle!)
I started by talking about people
never being satisfied and always wanting better roads, and better
everything. We want comforts,
conveniences, entertainment; and ever more.
We also like things that are charismatic and attention getting. These are all parts of our human nature. We live in a culture that celebrates these
things and craves these things. Yet each
and every one of these things is antithetical to what our Lord Jesus taught.
When he said to take up your cross
daily and follow him he was not teaching that people should embrace pain and
misery. But he was teaching the truth
about wholeness of life. If all you ever
think about is more comforts and conveniences… if all you ever think about is
doing things that are exciting and charismatic, then you will never be
satisfied. You will miss most of life. You will lose sight of who you are and what
your purpose is. I think that is the
biggest crisis our nation is facing.
We’ve been able to indulge too much thinking it will make us happier and
more fulfilled, when all it does is leave us empty.
Jesus said that for those who want
to save their life they will lose it.
But those who lose their life will find it. That goes for not only eternal life, but also
life now.
So, don’t expect God to call you to
dramatic and exciting things. Perhaps
you’ll do some of that, but most of it will be meaningful things. It will be doing routine tasks; caring for
others; using your time, talents, and money not in systematic ways, but in
careful person-to-person ways. Taking up
your cross builds relationships. Those
who do so are blessed to see the kingdom of God coming into their midst.