Oct. 27, 2019 Conference Assembly - Reformation Sunday John 8:31-36

            Every time you hear this Reformation Sunday gospel reading I hope you laugh inside.  The Pharisees say to Jesus, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone, what do you mean by saying, “You will be made free?”’  What!?!

While they themselves may never have been enslaved they ironically ignore the origin of their nation and their faith.  You know the story well.  Judaism as a faith was born as God rescued them from centuries of slavery in Egypt.  God freeing them from slavery was their founding!

But that’s just the beginning of the irony.  The Jews were never a powerful nation.  They were bullied about by their stronger neighbors from the beginning.  And they were hardly ever actually free.  In the 7^th Century B.C. they were almost totally conquered by the Assyrians.  In the 6^th Century B.C. the Babylonians did conquer them; and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. 

Then the Persians ruled them.

Then the Greeks.

Then they were caught in the struggle as the Greek Empire fell apart.

Then a little bit of independence before the Romans ruled them.

            Never slaves!?!  Maybe they hadn’t been literally enslaved, but they were certainly ruled by every major empire that arose from the Bronze age to the Romans.

            And let’s remember their plight in the first century.  The were ruled by the Romans and their homeland was heavily occupied by the Roman armies.  Why?  Because the land had strategic importance to the Romans.  We often forget that in the 1^st Century immediately to the east of the Roman Empire was the Parthian Empire.  The Parthians were every bit as populous and every bit as massive as the Romans.  Each empire kept a wary eye on the other.  Jewish territory was a strategic buffer for the Romans.  It was so militarized they could forget any freedom.

            In literal truth and in spiritual truth, those Pharisees were enslaved, and so blind to their slavery that they couldn’t even see it.

            Here on Reformation Sunday we can laugh at their blindness, but before we do, let’s make sure we aren’t blind ourselves.  You’ll remember this line quite well, “Take the log out of your own eye before you try to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.

            On Reformation Sunday we celebrate – we champion – the idea of being saved by grace through faith.  God has acted.  God has won the battle with sin.  We are set free.  It is not by our own merit but by the pure love and grace of God who delights in us.  God does not want to see us enslaved to sin.  God wants us to be free as God created us to be.

            Perhaps we will reply, “We are Americans.  We are a global power.  We are not slaves to anyone.  Even if our ancestors were among those who were enslaved, there are no slaves among us now!”
            That could be taken any number of directions, but I suggest we have left ourselves become enslaved.

            What is of ultimate importance in life?  God’s love.  God’s love is the ultimate power and the ultimate hope we have.  Nothing else – NOTHING – is important compared to that. 

            If you serve on your church council, what did you talk about at your last council meeting?  Was it about the supremacy of God’s love?

            I miss a lot as the dean of this conference, but I’m not totally blind!  I know what you talk about!

You talk about dwindling Sunday morning attendance.

You talk so few kids in worship, or no kids at all.

You talk about finances, paying the bills, and keeping a pastor.

You talk about maintaining the building.

You talk about not having enough volunteers to keep things going.

You talk about trying old ways that used to work, and trying them harder and harder and harder.

            Are we free my brothers and sisters in Christ, or are we slaves?

            For many of us we are slaves to an idea, a concept of what a successful church looks like. 

-That is a building with a sanctuary, a Sunday school wing, and of extreme importance to us food-minded Lutherans, a kitchen!

-That is a worship service on a Sunday morning with a crowd of people in the pews led by a professional theologian called a pastor, and there’s a choir, and a liturgy, and communion, and special music, and all that.

-That is having a pastor – preferably full-time, and a secretary, and a paid organist/choir director.  And maybe a youth director. And a janitor or cleaning service.

            Slaves we are!

            We need to remember something, and remember it well!  That vision of church is not, and has never been, the norm!  It is a short-term vision of American Christianity that developed after World War 2 and lasted for a few decades.  That’s it.

            The congregation I serve, St. John’s in Victor, did not have Sunday morning worship for the first half of its existence.  For many years they worshipped every other Sunday in the afternoon.

            I grew up in a Lutheran Church that until 1972 was part of a union church – two churches sharing one building: a Lutheran Church and a Reformed (or UCC) church.  The Reformed church was part of a two-point parish.  The Lutheran Church was part of a five-point parish.

            Where oh where did we get the idea that it is so essential, and so much the historical norm, that we have our own pastor for Sunday morning worship every week?

And that it is God’s vision of the church and how it should work?

And that it is the only way we can serve God?

And that it is the only way we could possibly ever flourish?

            We are slaves!

            None of it – NONE – is essential to salvation!

            We Lutherans have a term that we like to use for that sort of stuff- adiaphora; that which is trivial, that which isn’t important, that which is not necessary for salvation.

            Be free my brothers and sisters in Christ from the enslaving power of stuff that is adiaphora!

            You are loved by God.  You are beautiful people!  You are capable people!  You are God’s chosen people for this time and this place to handle these challenges… in the same way the Pharisees that day that challenged Jesus were also God’s chosen people.  But they were blind.

            You are not blind.  You know the story.  Jesus will be captured and arrested.  Jesus will be mocked and beaten.  Jesus will be killed in the most ignominious and painful was ever devised by humans.

            And we get all worked up about stupid things like money and attendance and an aging furnace in our buildings.

            God’s love conquers death!  God wins!  Nothing can stop it!

            We are saved by grace through faith.  It is true.  It is secure.  It has been done.  It is an unchangeable fact and part of history.  You cannot undo history.  Therefore nothing else matters.

            You are freed by God’s love.  Enjoy it!  Rejoice in it!  You have a permanent place in God’s household.  Do not worry about unimportant things.  God’s got it under control!  And God is drawing it all forward into His sure and certain future!

Oct. 27, 2019 Saved By Grace – Reformation Sunday Luke 13:22-30

            In our gospel reading someone gets straight to the point with Jesus and clearly asks the ultimate question of salvation and our existence: “Lord, will only a few be saved?”  We wait for Jesus’ answer with baited breath.  How hard will it be?  If Jesus answers few, then it will be very hard indeed.  If he answers many, then maybe it won’t be so hard and we can sit back and relax a bit.

            Of course typical to Jesus’ style he doesn’t give a straightforward answer.  In fact, we wonder if he answers at all.  He says the door is narrow and many will try to enter but not be able.  Then he says the door will be shut period.  Then he says people from all over: from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.  That suggests many, perhaps even an infinite number.

            But what does it actually mean?  He’s talking like a politician!

            Jewish teachings at the time gave different answers.  In some places it seems like God makes a great banquet and welcomes many.  In other places it seems like it will be very few.  And two important issues are coming into play.  What gave a person status?  Was it their heritage/bloodline?  Or - was it their work and accomplishments?  Different schools of thought had different answers. 

Many Jews felt that being biological descendants of Abraham automatically gave them privileged status before God.  Their scriptures, the Old Testament, said over and over again that they were God’s chosen nation.  And indeed their incredible ability to survive century after century being ruled by every major empire of the Middle East was amazing.  Other cultures and religions did not have their resilience.

The superior status because of bloodline however, is denounced; although not by Jesus.  It is by John the Baptist who says to the crowds, “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.’”

            So being chosen by God has nothing to do with heritage.  But then does it mean it relies on work and accomplishments?  Is that what Jesus is teaching?  It sounds tempting actually but then we quickly run into problems.  What about faith?  What about grace – that unearned favor of God?  This is Reformation Sunday after all!

            We want solid answers.  We want to know things for certain.  We want things on terms we can understand.  Or perhaps I should say we want things on our terms.  I don’t mean that in a selfish way – I just mean in things and categories that fit our understanding of life.

            Imagine that you’re looking for an apartment to rent.  You find one advertised.  It lists the price, the location, and some limits like ‘aquarium pets only’.  You figure that you can bring your fish bowl with your gold fish but you can’t have a dog.  You go and check out the apartment.  You like it.  You make a deposit and sign the lease.  You figure that as long as you stick to your end of the bargain the landlord has to keep up the landlord’s end.  If something breaks or needs maintenance the landlord will take care of it.  And from your end, as long as you pay the rent, don’t wreck the place, and keep to having just your goldfish in an aquarium you’re fine.  If you don’t pay the rent you could be evicted.  If you bring in a dog you could be in trouble.  It’s a simple two-way set of expectations.

            People inadvertently think the same thing about their relationship with God.  They do their part – they act the way God wants them to act, or act in a way that will keep God happy, and then God will do his part – letting people into heaven.  The question then is, what is the threshold of behavior that God wants to see?  And as I said at the beginning, depending on whether there will be many saved or few people can figure out whether that threshold is high or low.  But on this Reformation Sunday we remember that this whole way of thinking is totally wrong.

            I did a lot of driving last week.  And as I’m going from place to place I often listen to the radio.  Sometimes when I get too sick of listening to political stuff on the radio I switch to Christian stations.  And sometimes it doesn’t take too long until I get sick of that too. 

            What I hear all too much of drives me nuts.  That is advice about how to live in a way that God likes.  Some pastor or theologian takes a Bible passage verse by verse and explains how it teaches us to live.  Christians then should to live that way in order to please God.  The advice isn’t bad advice, it’s just that I think the whole basis is misguided.

            Too many people think that life is about living in a way that pleases God.  And you’ll also remember me saying this so often that you’re probably sick of it: too many people think that God has an individual plan for their life and they have to figure it out, or they have to endure something because they’re sure God is teaching them something they need to have for the future. 

Not so!  While these are all good hearted ideas, they miss the point.  Underneath the premise is the idea that life is a test to see if we can be good enough; and to see if we can please God.  But that is not the purpose of life.  Life is not a test.

            Being saved by grace through faith puts us into a completely different relationship with God, and it completely reorients the way we understand our lives.

            Don’t be driven by the idea that you have to live in a way that pleases God.  And don’t think God has an individual purpose and plan for your life that you have to follow.  That’s just not how it works.

            God delights in the creation he has made.  And God made you and delights in you.  Yes, we all have fallen short of the goodness that God made us for, but God forgives us and still wants to work with us.  God has a plan, but that is not an individual plan for each of us.  God has a plan for the whole creation.  And God invites us to participate in it.  What God really wants is to work with us, alongside us.

            Do you see the difference?  It’s not God challenging us to get it right.  Instead it’s God inviting us, valuing us, wanting to work with us, to do something big.

            A good parent wants to work with his or her children; do things together, grow together, learn together, play together.  That’s the way God wants to be with us.

            The world changes all the time.  And so working in God’s kingdom changes all the time too.  God did not make us for one and only one set purpose.  God made us able to learn and grow and adapt.

            One of my favorite movies of all time is Apollo 13.  You may remember that the Apollo 13 mission was to continue exploration on the moon’s surface.  But along the way to the moon something went wrong.  The command module was damaged to an unknown degree.  The mission to the moon was scrapped and the goal became just getting the three astronauts back to earth alive.  But how to do it?  Lots of stuff was going wrong.  There wasn’t enough energy.  There wasn’t a way to keep breathable air for the astronauts.  The computer guidance systems necessary to get them back weren’t working.  The whole thing became shooting from the hip.

            Tempers in the Houston control center were running high.  There was lots of finger pointing and hand wringing.  At one point the mission commander bellows to the flight leaders, “I don’t care what it was designed to do.  I want to know what it can do!”          It took a lot of creativity, and skills, and some luck but ultimately the astronauts made it back to earth safely.

            I don’t think life doing God’s work is about living as if you have some preset design and skills.  If it was that way then if you see you have the skills to do something then you do it, and if you don’t have the skills then you figure it’s for someone else. 

That’s not how life works.  There is a task to be done.  Skilled or not, we creatively engage it. 

            Remember, God is about love.  Love doesn’t follow preset rules.  Love is dynamic.  It knows no bounds.  It has no limits.

            “Lord, will the those who are saved be few?”

            Wrong question.  Wrong way of understanding life.  Don’t think that way.

            Jesus’ response seems self-contradictory, but it is not.

            He is moving people beyond thinking about pleasing God and instead moving them into how God’s love works.

            Will you go to heaven?  I know that’s a big question for many.  But don’t worry about it.  God loves you.  Focus on that.  When you mess up totally and feel like a shame-filled failure, God still loves you.  God still wants you.  God still intends to work with you.  God is pleased with you.  God still sees and intends to work with the possibilities within you.  So we care about God’s work because God cares about us. 

October 20, 2019 Money, Money, Money Luke 16:1-17:19

            I’ve never gotten into fantasy sports, but I understand the allure; especially fantasy football.  The last time I was in the barber shop a guy was saying that he’s doing really well this year simply by picking his offensive players from whatever team is playing against the Miami Dolphins!

            If you don’t know what fantasy sports are, it is simply creating your own team based upon the actual performance of real-life players in their games.  It can involve a lot of strategy and thinking – and a certain amount of luck.

            I think most people use the same principles in their day to day lives.  I suppose you could call it street smarts, or survival instinct.  If you see an opportunity you grab it.

If there’s no opportunity, but you see a way to create one, you create it. 

            We are all smart and clever people.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  It’s part of the creativity God created us to have.  But we all too easily start to plot and scheme to get the things we want, or to get ahead of others.

            The first parable we encountered in our gospel reading is called The Parable of the Dishonest Manager.  It puzzles many people.  How can Jesus be praising the shrewd and underhanded dealings of this corrupt manager.  Shouldn’t Jesus be condemning him for being so manipulative?

            But that’s just how parables work.  They play on extremes.  They twist things around.  They surprise us.  The Parable of the Dishonest Manager unfolds as it goes along.  Jesus sets the stage with a rich man who has a manager who is squandering the rich man’s money.  So he summons the manager and asks to see the books.  It surely would have been prudent to send someone along to keep an eye on this swindler, but the rich man does not. 

            We see the cleverness of this manager as he uses the last minutes of his position to buy favors for himself from other people.  We discover just how rich the rich man is when we see the amounts this man forgives.  He takes a debt of 100 jugs of olive oil and makes it 50.  He takes 100 containers of wheat and makes it 80.  These are huge sums!  This is not forgiving the debt of some tenant or peasant laborer.  These are commercial sums – think millions of dollars. 

            And of course, as long as the manager still has his position the actions he takes on his master’s behalf are legally binding.  He’s done people big favors and he expects to call them in big time.

            In the real world no rich person would commend a manager who is so exploitative but Jesus has the rich man commend the manager in the parable.  It sets up what Jesus is wanting to teach – that as people of faith we should also be shrewd, clever, creative, and cunning; leaving no stone unturned in our efforts for God’s kingdom.

            The dishonest manager has manipulated both the world of finance and social obligations in his favor.  Are we so clever in our faith?

            Growing up I had friends who would say how they would deliberately do a poor job at something their parents asked them to do so they wouldn’t have to do it again.  That tactic wouldn’t work with my parents!  I had to keep at it until it was done and done well.  And they had this uncanny ability to detect when I wasn’t doing something with my full effort. 

But how often do we do that with God’s work?  We make an effort, a polite try, and then when it fails we quit and say, “See, I told you I couldn’t do it.”

It is all too easy for us to live in our snug homes away from many of the problems of the world and the communities around us.  We may make token efforts, make token gifts, token sacrifices, but not really try with all our effort.

Jesus goes on with another parable.  The teaching about the law and divorce are an interlude about priorities.  Here we have a better known parable – the Rich Man and Lazarus.  Please, please, please do not wrongfully impose the body/soul split of Greek philosophy onto this parable.  Jesus teaches in a Hebrew way, not Greek.  Plus this is a parable, it plays on extremes and images.  It is not meant to be a revelation about what happens after you die.  It is a description of the thinking of those whose lives are focused on money.

Both the rich man and Lazarus die.  Their life circumstances are completely reversed.  In life the rich man ignored Lazarus, as if he didn’t exist though he lay at the gate to his house.  In death the rich man now recognizes Lazarus (Even calls him by name!) but still wants him to serve as a personal servant: get water for him to quench his thirst, go give a warning to his brothers.  How much more arrogant and unrepentant can a person be!?!

Yet do we do the same?  How easy it is to ignore the plights of those suffering.  How easy it is to focus on our own comforts and needs, then tell ourselves that we rightfully consume all that we do and we legitimately have none left over to share!

I think one of the greatest blessings of the Family Promise program is that we get to see and interact with real homeless people first-hand.  They don’t have to share, but they often do.  We see and understand the complexities of their problems, the precariousness of their lives, and their hopes for a solid future.  At least they aren’t left at the gate outside but literally brought in to share the food.

Indeed, many have made numerous bad choices.  Some are exploitative and manipulative.  Some are dealing the problems of their own creation.  But they are all made in the image of God and children of God.  That does not mean we should be blindly nice, but it does mean we should be constructive in our loving.

Most interpreters of Luke agree that the gospel changes topics after this parable.  Our reading today continued on, and I think it does fit.

The Parable of the Dishonest Manager confuses us.  The Rich Man and Lazarus parable may frighten us.  The sayings of Jesus that open Chapter 17 offend our deepest sense of justice and fairness.  How dare Jesus say, “Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, ‘Come here at once and take your place at the table’?  Would you not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink’?  Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded?  So you also, when you have don all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’”

To every sense of justice we know God seems deeply unfair.  We think that if we do what we are commanded we deserve some sort of payment or reward; particularly since the demands of discipleship that the two preceding parables gave are so high. 

But not so.  Here is the key.  Our relationship with God is based on grace and grace alone.  God will not have us on our own terms of righteousness.  God will have us on God’s own terms – those of grace.  God owes us nothing for living good, clean, Christian lives.  God owes us nothing if we fight for justice, live in harmony with creation, and work to build God’s kingdom.  That may sound depressing.  Yet if we claim that our own self-worth and merit reside within ourselves then we have made a fundamental mistake about life.  God has made us good.  God has made us strong.  God has made us beautiful.  God has made us excellent!  Those are God’s gifts to us.  No one can take them from us, ever.  And we cannot claim them as products of our own righteousness. 

Deep joy comes when we realize our value is held securely by God forever.  We need to reframe our lives.  Instead of thinking that we must work to please God, we need to see our lives as an opportunity God has given us to do something amazing.  Then we do not feel like worthless slaves of God, but those whom by grace God has entered into partnership with for accomplishing the work of God’s kingdom.  We do it persistently, creatively, shrewdly even.  Then we turn the teaching of the worthless slave around and instead say, “Thanks be to God for honoring me enough to accomplish great work through my hands.”

October 6, 2019 Bad Things Happen to Good People Luke 13:1-9

A question of the ages is why do bad things happen to good people?  It is easy to accept the consequences of something when you know you deserve it.  If you’re being careless with a power tool and you cut yourself it makes sense.  If you’re a smoker and you develop lung cancer it makes sense.  But if you are innocent bystander walking along the sidewalk and a car careens out of control and injures you, you want to know why.

All too often the justice we see at work in the world around us doesn’t make sense.  And it’s one thing in a theoretical sense.  It’s another thing when it happens to you personally. 

Actually I’m not too bothered by the question of why bad things happen to good people.  What really upsets me is why do good things happen to bad people?  There have been any number of times when I see hurtful, corrupt, destructive people who lie, cheat, and manipulate; yet good things keep coming to them, and they duck out of responsibility.

According to much of the Old Testament, and many people’s beliefs in general, there is a justice to things.  Good behavior leads to good lives and bad behavior leads to bad lives.  Consider some of these proverbs: 13:2 “From the fruit of their words good persons eat good things, but the desire of the treacherous is for wrongdoing.”  And 13:6, “Righteousness guards one whose way is upright, but sin overthrows the wicked.” 

When bad people get away with things people believe that God knows and will get them eventually.  Similarly, when apparently good people have bad things happen to them people think they must have some secret sin that is coming out. 

The idea of karma is from Hinduism and Buddhism, but it makes its way into Christianity – that you get what’s coming to you, be it good or bad.

So then we turn to our gospel reading for today.  People ask Jesus about two apparently unfair events that happened.  First are a group of Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.  This requires a bit of an explanation.  These Galileans would have been Jewish pilgrims from Galilee, who were killed while offering sacrifices.  Given that the sacrifice of the Passover lamb is the only sacrifice in which nonpriests fully participate these Galilean Jews must have been doing that when they were killed.  The question then is, if they were killed while offering sacrifices for the most important religious holiday of the year, was God displeased with them?  Were they so bad that God would not even accept their sacrifice?

Jesus replies, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?”  It’s a reply that sets up the real point Jesus wants to make.

               Jesus brings up another situation, “Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

               There’s no independent evidence to verify what Jesus is talking about here.  In fact while there is known to been a pool of Siloam there is nowhere else mentioned a tower of Siloam.  Nevertheless, we get the point.  In contrast to the Galileans being deliberately killed, this is an accident or natural disaster.  And again Jesus asks the question if they think those who were killed were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  Did they somehow deserve it?  Was an accident or a natural disaster somehow God’s means of punishment?

               As we talk about all this let’s not lose sight of where we’ve come from in Luke’s reading.  If you were here the last couple weeks you may remember that Jesus has been talking about God’s ultimate judgement.  These questions then follow with people asking if these are examples.

               Jesus’ ultimate reply is not one that we want to hear, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

               That’s not a nice answer as to why do bad things happen to good people!  It feels like Jesus is saying that if you’re suffering you deserve it; in fact you deserve more.  Everyone deserves more!

               That is a harsh conclusion, and not the one Jesus intends us to reach.  His real point is that your situation in life is no indication whatsoever of your standing before God.  If your life is easy that does not mean you are an especial favorite of God’s.  And if your life is pain-filled and miserable it does not mean you are disliked by God. 

Unfair things happen.  Period.  And Jesus says that if that upsets you too much, then remember that you really are already relying on God’s grace; God’s unmerited favor for you.  You have no right to demand that your version of justice be what God applies.

Theologian Joel Green notes, “Jesus reply does not deny sin its consequences, nor that sin lead to judgment; instead, he rejects the theory that those who encounter calamity have necessarily been marked by God as more deserving of judgment than those who do not.”  (The New International Commentary of the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 512)

The second half of the gospel reading reminds us of what God’s real intent is – not judgment, but mercy; second chances – or in this case perhaps we’re talking fourth chances.

Like many of the stories in Luke, this parable does not unfold in a straightforward fashion.  A man with a vineyard has a fig tree planted in it.  The presence of a fig tree in a vineyard was not unknown.  There’s nothing unique about that.  Also, there’s no reason to suggest the owner is seeking figs out of season, or before it was significantly grown to be productive.

I remember a seminary professor saying that it was expected that a fig tree would grow for ten years before figs would be produced from it.  So by this time that tree has already been there ten years.  Year eleven came along.  There was a reasonable expectation of some figs.  There were none.  The owner decides to give it another year.  Year twelve comes alone.  No figs.  The owner is merciful and gives it yet another year.  Year thirteen comes along – the year our parable speaks of.  He comes looking for fruit on it.  Nothing.  The owner has made up his mind.  Three strikes and this tree is out.  Why should it waste the space?  More years of unproductivity just delay how long it will be until something productive comes.  If the owner decides to replace the tree it’ll be another ten years.  He wants that clock to start ticking now, not another year from now.

But the gardener, perhaps a bit too sentimental and kind to this unproductive tree begs for it to have one more chance – a fourth chance.  And it will not just be left alone but it will receive extra care.  You gotta love Jesus’ fertilizer of choice, “…let it alone one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.”

The parable ends there.  We are left to assume the tree does get another chance.

If we allegorize the parable we can easily see that the vineyard owner is the Father and the gardener is Jesus.  And so Jesus is asking for mercy; and not just mercy, but the digging around it and applying fertilizer shows and interest in making an even greater investment in something with a track record of failure.

If we return to the initial question of why do bad things happen to good people we discover God’s response.  God’s idea of justice is not limited to or bound by our idea of justice.  God’s perspective is different.  And God’s perspective is to be merciful, even against the odds of success.  Ultimately God’s bias is towards mercy rather than condemnation.  However, lest we become complacent, condemnation is well within God’s will.

We too are called to be biased towards mercy and slow to reach condemnation in our interactions with others.  And if the parable of the fig tree is any indication, before we reach condemnation we should make an even greater effort to give the possibility of success.  I’m reminded of Martin Luther’s understanding of the Eighth Commandment, You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  To which Luther replies, “We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations.  Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.”

That last bit, “interpret everything they do in the best possible light” is a tough one.  It is so easy to see everything that people we don’t like do in the worst possible light.  That doesn’t mean be blind to obvious wrongdoing, but try to give the benefit of the doubt.

Now if your mind is as twisted as mine is, I read the parable and realize how the gardener intends to provide the tree with extra care and nourishment.  Except I find myself thinking I’ll gladly dump manure all over people I don’t like!

But alas, don’t take Jesus’ parables too literally!

You are connected to God’s inexhaustible supply of goodness.  Don’t be threatened by the goodness others appear to receive.  Try not to be jealous if you feel you are suffering wrongly.  Realize that it is God’s will to show you mercy and work with you to strengthen you for productivity ahead.

September 22, 2019 Solid Truths Luke 12:1-12

Several years ago this story made the rounds.  George W. Bush, Vladimir Putin, and Bill Gates were called in by God. God informed them that he was very unhappy about what was going on in this world. Since things were so bad, he told the three that he was destroying the Earth in three days.  They were all allowed to return to their homes and businesses, and tell their friends and colleagues what was happening. God did tell them though, that no matter what they did he was not changing his mind. So…

Bush went in and told his staff, "I have good news and bad news for you. First the good news . . . there is a God. The bad news is that he is destroying the Earth in 3 days."

Putin went back and told his staff, "I have bad news and more bad news. The first was . . . there is a God. The second was that he is destroying the Earth in 3 days.

Bill Gates went back and told his staff, "I have good news and good news. First . . . God thinks I am one of the three most important people in the world.  Second . . . you don't have to fix the bugs in Windows Vista." (From: https://www.arcamax.com/entertainment/humor/jokes/s-318954)

People rarely think about “judgement day” apart from jokes.  And I suppose that’s what most people think of it, as a joke.  But it is not.  Life’s actions have consequences.  God will hold us accountable for them.  And scripture tells us clearly that God is quite capable of punishment.

The verses we had in our gospel for today talk about God’s judgment – being thrown into hell.  Or more literally, cast into Gehenna.  That is the Valley of Hinnom, just south of Jerusalem.  It had been the site of pagan sacrifices, the burning of children, and later a garbage heap of the city where fires burned continually.  Not a nice place!  Jesus uses it as an image to show the full extent and power of God’s judgment.

It is very interesting and important to note the contrasts that Jesus makes as he teaches about this.  He is talking about judgment and accountability and hell; but he weaves into it some of the warmest and strongest statements of God’s love.

Let’s look at the verses more carefully to see.

It starts off with Jesus giving the crowds, which have grown to be huge, a warning against the yeast of the Pharisees.  This is a continuation of the themes and verses we read last week.  Jesus told some Pharisees that they looked all good and righteous on the outside but were actually full of hidden sins.  If you were here last week you’ll remember that we used a video about the path of electronic devices and how so much of the dirtiness of our consumptive lives are hidden from us.  This leaves us to feel an artificial sense of goodness and righteousness.  The truth is very guilt inspiring!

The Pharisees were probably the dominant image of righteousness in Jewish areas of that time.  While they no longer exist, there are models of righteousness in our society too.  And there are some parallels.  We no longer live in a Christian culture, although it is common to see Christians portrayed as righteous hypocrites in movies and the news.  Unfortunately some of it is deserved.  But we are not the dominant force for righteous anymore.  We’ve talked about this before.  The religion of our society is secular humanism.  Secular humanism is defined as the philosophy of life that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism while rejecting religious dogma and the supernatural as the basis of morality and decision making.  Secular humanists think they’ve come upon something new.  They think they’ve mentally evolved from religion, which seems old and out of touch.  We however, laugh at this mistake.  For the 3000 year old Adam and Eve story is really a conflict secular humanism and God.  Perhaps secular humanists do make some valid critiques about religion.  But what they are dead wrong about is that it’s nothing new!

In a fashion similar to the Pharisees, secular humanism will teach you a path to fulfillment, or righteousness, that is false.  While the Pharisees taught strict adherence to the law, secular humanism teaches that the human brain is its own god and can be counted on to make decisions that are good and honorable and just.  Fools!  At best the human mind is too limited.  At worst it is corrupt. 

The yeast of our society today tells you that you do not need faith connections, faith priorities, or faith disciplines to find happiness.  It says that happiness comes doing what you like, whatever you like and feels good, as long as no one gets hurt.  Happiness comes from being accepted by the people around you.  Don’t burden yourself with God for that is foolishness and ignorance.  It all sounds attractive until you consider how many people are using drugs and alcohol, and often overindulge.  People have no purpose in their lives and no meaning.  Overall measures of happiness are plummeting as secular humanism’s grip tightens.

Jesus says that all lies will be revealed.  But you, brothers and sisters in Christ, know the truth.  However the truth is not popular.  Now we do not face the persecution the early followers of Jesus faced.  Christianity is not a crime, at least not in this nation.  But there are consequences.  Subtle perhaps, but consequences.  Which will cause you more fear – talking about your faith to a stranger or talking to a stranger about how the Buffalo Bills are doing?  And while the Bills may appear to be importance, I wouldn’t stake my salvation on them winning the Super Bowl! 

The truth of God, faith in Christ, and life dependent upon the Holy Spirit is not popular, and it can feel embarrassing to us.  Jesus says though, do not fear.  While we do not fear death for our faith, there is pressure against it.  Perhaps we shouldn’t stand on the street corner and hand out pamphlets, but in our work and in our recreation we should have no fear letting it be known that our actions and decisions are made with loyalty to Christ in mind.

That can seem hard.  God can feel so far away.  And God may not seem to care, especially when we’re trying to do everything right but we’re still hurting and suffering.  It can be so easy to buy the secular humanist ideology, which is why it’s so powerful.  But Jesus reminds us that God knows each and every sparrow.  If God knows each and every sparrow, which were so cheap to acquire, then God surely knows us; us who are worth far more than sparrows.

Jesus tells us that the very hairs on our heads are numbered.  As an aging man I know that’s a moving target.  Sometimes I wonder if there’s are chalk boards in heaven with everybody’s hair count recorded.  And then there’s an angel near my name regularly crossing out the number and putting in a lower one!

It is awesome to realize how deeply God knows us.  That can also be a bit scary, but when you think that there are any number of times in life when your feelings are so complex that you don’t know what to feel, God knows clearly.  When a situation looks so complex that you don’t know what to do, God knows what to do and will offer guidance. 

Verse 10 of our gospel reading has had interpreters scratching their heads for centuries.  “And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

What?!?

This is the well-known “unforgivable sin” that we find in Mark and Matthew as well.  But in Luke Jesus adds forgiveness for denying Jesus.  What does Jesus mean?  Biblical scholars do go all over the place with it, but saving a lot of logical hoops, let’s jump to what most of them conclude.  Jesus means that those standing there hearing his words, and those who try to be faithful but fail under persecution and deny him (think Peter denying him three times) can be restored.  There is forgiveness and reconciliation for failures.

            But blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, that’s a different story.  The Christ in Our Home daily devotional book that we put out for people to take had an interesting piece in it last Friday about this.  It says, “Will all people be saved?  Will all people enjoy the blessings of the reign of God?  Actually these are two very different questions.

“Paul says God, “desires everyone to be saved.”  That seems to settle it, especially if we follow the logic that even God can’t make a stone so big that God can’t lift it.  Whatever God wants, God gets.  Case closed.

“But will everyone enjoy being saved?  Aye, there’s the rub.  God saves all sinners, but apparently not all sinners enjoy being saved all the time.  We can stubbornly insist that we don’t take handouts, that we need to earn whatever we get.  Honestly, don’t we all struggle with that it means to get something for nothing?

“Ultimately, we trust that God will decide everyone’s fate justly.  Whether some can remain eternally resistant to the blessings God offers is up to God.  Our job is to admit that have wasted precious time thinking that some don’t deserve grace and others (maybe us?) don’t need it.”  (Christ in Our Home, July, August, September 2019, Pg. 85)

Blaspheming against the Holy Spirit is not a mistake that is made.  It is an attitude of outright ongoing rejection of God’s love. 

The final verse of our gospel tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us what needs to be said and done when it needs to be said and done.  Now don’t think this is going to be eloquent wisdom that’s going to get you out of trouble for your faith.  It is the direction that through you God’s will is going to be accomplished.  That may, or may not, lead you to an easy life.

God is judge.  God is merciful.  God does not desire condemnation for all.  But God will not have his generosity mocked.  And for those who outright reject him, God will give that freedom.  Ultimately when and how it all happens is God’s business, not ours.  But we live in trust knowing that God knows us so completely that even the hairs on our heads are numbered.

September 15, 2019 Blind to the Truth Luke 11:33-54

Some things never change.  It appears that lawyers in Jesus’ day weren’t any better than lawyers today!  At least in our gospel reading Jesus has nothing good to say to those who were gathered at the Pharisee’s house for a meal.

It is tempting to imagine these lawyers being like the personal injury lawyers we have today who advertise with all their catchy ads and jingles.  It’s then easy to point a finger at them all.

But I remember being taught not to point; especially because if you point one finger forward there are three pointing back at me!

Unfortunately we cannot mock the Pharisee and lawyers who were eating with Jesus that day and call them villains and corrupt.  For I suspect the dynamics of our lives and their lives overlap.

Jesus tells both the Pharisees and the lawyers that they are being deceptive – appearing good and clean and upright on the surface, but hiding ugliness inside.  I think we can all understand that intelligent well educated people can often find ways that appear moral, and are technically legal, to benefit at the expense of others.

I think all of us want to think of ourselves as good people who make good, moral, honorable choices.  That’s good!  But like the Pharisees and lawyers, we live in systems that allow us to think we are good and moral and honorable, when in reality a lot of the consequences of our actions are unseen by us.

We’ve talked about this before and I want to show you a video my teaching group used in confirmation camp last year.  It’s called the Story of Electronics.  While it’s made for kids, and if I put my engineering thinking cap on I find it so fundamentally flawed it makes my skin crawl, I still think it gets at a correct point. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW_7i6T_H78

            I think this video does a good job of reminding us that we think about only what we see – a product in a store, a use by us for a limited time, and then what we consider to be responsible disposal.  We blind and insulate ourselves from many truths.

            This summer my son Ben and I worked on his cycling merit badge for Boy Scouts.  It requires at least 150 miles of biking.  And on those bike rides I was reminded of a number of things I often take for granted.  When driving in car I think nothing of coming up on a hill.  I just push the accelerator down more, or the cruise control does it for me.  That same hill takes on a very different perspective when it’s your own body’s energy that’s got to get you to the top.

            How much of our transportation do we really achieve by our bodies’ own physical strength?  Do we really have any idea whatsoever how much energy our lives really consume?

            One of our bike rides was from Canandaigua to Geneva on Routes 5 & 20.  Riding past the county landfill reminds you of the incredible cubic yardage of waste we generate. 

What is my life pattern?  I go to a store.  I buy something.  I use it.  And when I’m done with it I put it in a garbage can.  Every Sunday night I put the garbage can by the curb outside my house.  And every Monday after work I come home and find the garbage can empty – it’s almost miraculous.  I’m totally insulated from the before and after effects of my consumption.

And of course riding by the county landfill on a bike means the smell is much more intense and lingers longer!

Few people think about what it takes to get things to us and from us.  Hot and cold water just appear from a tap.  Waste water disappears down the drain.  Only when you have plumbing problems do you think about where it comes from and where it goes.  And only those with wells and septic systems ever think about the water treatment facility that prepped the water in the first place and sewage treatment plant at the end of the drain.

I suppose electricity is equally magical.  It just comes from the outlets in our buildings and is controlled by switches in the walls.

My point in all of this is that we have every bit as much opportunity to think we are good people – when we really aren’t – as the Pharisees and lawyers around the table with Jesus that day.

What should we do?  Escape from the world and live in an off-the-grid self-supporting commune?

Hardly!  It wouldn’t work, and running away from the world’s problems doesn’t actually solve anything.

I think we do well to actually pay attention to things.  Think about where the water comes from and where it goes.  Realize that products in stores have a past and a future.  Realize that someone somewhere that you’ll probably never meet made the clothes you are wearing right now.  At the risk of being too vivid, someone made the underwear that is touching you intimately yet you have no idea who it is!

Being aware of this stuff I think is an important first step.  Our culture does an excellent job of keeping us blind about things that could make us feel bad.  That awareness alone will keep our habits more in line with what God wants from us.

Before you buy something pray about it.  Before you throw something away, pray about it.  Thank God every time you turn on the faucet and every time you flip a light switch.  Realize how much of a bigger pattern your decisions are.  You will be living in more complete enlightenment.

Jesus said, “Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness.  If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.”