God's Words for Life

We began 4 weeks of sermon series using the Narrative Lectionary texts of Exodus 19:1-6 and 20:1-17 on the Sunday of Holy Trinity. Week one is an overview of the thrust of the Commandments, the week 2 is the 1^st tablet of the Law and Week 3 is the 2^nd before a summation. The Exodus passage is paired with the Gospel of Matthew where Jesus is asked by the expert in the law what is the greatest commandment and Jesus responds with “love the Lord you God with all you heart, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself for upon these rest the law and the prophets-

 

When I was growing up, my father periodically had helpful advice for me. My Mom had LOTS of advice. But my Dad didn’t spend so much time in the explaining. His advice was often simpler and more straightforward. And if I summed it up in one phrase, it would be, “Take it from me, don’t do this the hard way.” Just Ten Simple Words. “take it from me don’t do this the hard way” was easy to remember, and easy to hear in the middle of whatever new opportunity for making decisions about how to live with integrity was before me. Or hopefully words to hear BEFORE ending up in some new chaos, or mess. Happy Father’s Day, Dad-I forgot to get a card.

Somehow those 10 words don’t have the same power.

My Dad’s ten simple words were also first and foremost about the speaker. His words assumed that I believed that my father loved me, had saved me before, and had my present and future at heart. And that he cared who I would be in the bigger world.

My Dad also told me to dare to do things, and I was free to do this because of our relationship. In then end, it’s all rooted in that loving relationship that held together those ten simple words.

And I think that’s a good way to begin our four weeks together with the Ten Commandments. Or as the Hebrew would tell us we could say it- God’s Ten Words. And boy does that sound different, doesn’t it? God’s Ten Words given for life.

Different than a lot of the popular images we have- from Charlton Heston in the iconic movie, to people trying to post them in courtrooms to tell “bad people” we’re judging them and God is too.

Let’s step away from all that.

And remember how these words came to be in the Book of Exodus, or as David Lose says, “ Remember that 19 came before 20.”
In Chapter 19 of Exodus, the people are reminded of the relationship between God and the people before they hear about the framework of Chapter 20. And the people haven’t done anything to earn it.

It’s just pure grace.

Before there’s any talk about obeying or law, God’s children are reminded how God has already filled their lives, so that they can then respond. Already freed, already believing- ready to dare to live as God’s people. Because “I the Lord you God have delivered you, brought you out of captivity, borne you up on eagle’s wings.”

And the people would have immediately gotten the image. But in case we don’t it’s the image not of a father, but a mother. Mother eagles not only flutter over their young to protect them when they are vulnerable, they also get busy pushing them out of the nest when they must grow and mature. And they learn to fly. But she is nearby ready to swoop in and bear them up if they start to fall. Not caught in talons, borne up on wings. Lifted. Because that’s how God is.

The loving Creator who initiates our whole existence, is fully involved. Creator, Redeemer, Nurturer – one whom we can trust. So when the 10 words are spoken they are spoken by a God who has the past, present and future at heart. Who wants life for them. Who loves them and wants them to live for others in a way that reflects that love God has for all creation.

In ten simple words intended to be direct, easy to use and remember, that can shape each new situation, and spare people and creation from chaos. Words to help them be who they were created to be.

Martin Luther has said “Know the 10 Commandments, know Scripture” and I think it’s so because while we are not the people of Israel, we as God’s people in this time are still able to be guided by God’s unchanging ideal. God’s unchanging ideal of love. Words given by a God whose grace is determined that people never be left without direction. Either individually or as a community.

Ten words whose fulfillment in Christ mean that our salvation is never in question. This is the opposite of how our culture envisions “command” or “law.” In places where we too ask which commandment is greatest or whose sin is too great.

The Commandments are neither a vehicle for assuring our salvation, nor are they a tool for assessing the guilt of others. They are intended to be words that hold together a life. The life we see most fully in Christ who came not to condemn or get rid of the law, but to show us what fulfilling it looks like.

And instead of being narrow, they open up possibilities that are limitless, like God’s love. Commands seem limiting. Words seem unbounded, and I suspect that the truth is that the words we are given can sound like a limit or a promise depending upon where you stand. When we think of all the ways our actions speak to the things God puts before us.

And here’s the real kicker- these words are not about you, or you, or you. They’re always about someone else. You and I are the actors, but not the receivers. We don’t try to follow this life because of what we get-they are about the community. And the realization that the life and health of others stems from what you, and you and you, do or don’t do.

These words call us to infuse the world with the love we’ve received, that goes beyond words. Because whether we have memorized them is not really the point.

Reflecting the love of a Creator who has guaranteed our salvation and who empowers us to dare for the sake of that love is.

Because we’ve got nothing to lose! We can risk believing that these words are not only a guide but an invitation to go beyond. Knowing that when we worry about what’s beyond the nest, or we feel like we’re freefalling, we will be lifted up. God’s words are not here to weigh us down but to show us what freedom looks like, and to share that with others. So we can dare to face each new opportunity in faith and integrity assured because God is our God for life.

It's How We're Wired

This morning I had you all turn to face the center aisle as I read the gospel so that we could be centered and connected to each other and the word. We’ll come back to that in a bit but first, as you know, tomorrow is an important day in our country. We call it Memorial Day, but it was first known as Decoration Day, and there are a variety of stories about how the day began to be observed. One story is that in 1865, Henry C Wells, a local druggist in Waterloo, NY mentioned to some friends at a social gathering that while it was important to praise the living veterans of the Civil War, he was concerned that people were losing sight of remembering those who had died. And thus began a year long process of forming a group to plan the decorating of graves of their dead and conduct the appropriately proper event. The first such event took place one year later in 1866.

Also in 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina, the flashpoint of secession that began that same Civil War, African American clergy were concerned that a burial ground of war dead was untended. And they began meeting. It was the burial ground of 257 Union soldiers who had been Confederate prisoners of war. The now freed men, women and children spent 10 days building a fence and whitewashing it, landscaping the graves into neat rows and erecting an archway over the gate to the cemetery. Then they held a procession, carrying armloads of flowers, and wreaths and crosses which were so numerous that after they were all placed, “not a speck of earth beneath them” could be seen. And then, they prayed, heard Scripture and speeches, and sang “America” and “The Star Spangled Banner.” The perfume of the flowers and the notes of their voices filled the air as they connected themselves to people they did not know but for whom they felt moved by the Spirit to love. And it was courageous- for a group of freed slaves, in the Deep South, in a place still torn apart by the war, to honor those men.

Both of these events claim to be the first observance, but I’m not sure that who’s first matters, but that the Spirit of truth moved.

As I read these two accounts, I thought about three things:

First, how easy it is to forget why we do what we do- after all, what are your plans for tomorrow?

Second, how our culture has oddly shifted so that we are far more elaborate in remembering the dead sometimes than in lifting up the living

And yet…

That walking alongside each other is how we are wired.

And these are things Jesus is lifting up to his disciples as he is saying farewell. He knows he will go on to die on the cross, and return to the Father and he is preparing them. They are telling him they love him and are in disbelief that he is leaving. And we hear Jesus say, “remember. If you love me ( and I know you do), keep my commandments. Do as I have done and now command you to do. Love.”

“I am leaving but God the Father is sending you another-the Spirit.” And then Jesus describes the Spirit in a word we hear translated as “Advocate.” In it’s original form, the word is “paracletos.” You can dazzle your friends with that word. It is often translated as “Advocate” or “Counselor” or even “Supporter.” And each of those ideas helps us envision the role of the Spirit. Each helps us remember why we do what we do, and what to do, and empowers us to then do it.

The Advocate in court takes a stand, reminds others of what is important or necessary or right. A Counselor guides people in how decisions ought to made or completed. A supporter lifts others up in their work. All useful. But today I want to focus on another definition of that word “Paracletos,” one lifted up by David Lose, now the incoming President of the Lutheran Seminary at Philadelphia. That “paracletos” is “one who walks alongside another.”

Jesus describes the Spirit this way as we hear him say “ I will not leave you orphaned.” Promising not to leave us alone-you will not be abandoned. As I look around I see almost all of you are not alone- but Jessica, I see you and Cal are each sitting by yourselves. Can you go and join him in his pew? Now- not alone. Not only walking alongside, but sitting alongside.

Jesus also tell us that the Spirit is not the first God has sent to fulfill this role. That is Spirit is “another.” Jesus was the first. Born into the world to come alongside us to help humanity see and know an otherwise invisible God. To make that connection I spoke of as I began this sermon. And if you think about it, all of the stories of Christ’s ministry show this- from walking up to random fishermen and saying, “follow me” to all that follows of healing and forgiveness and love. Even reaching out from the cross to a dying thief, promising “today you will be with me” and to those not even looking, gasping, “Father, forgive them.” Advocating to the last.

This same connection is promised to us in the Spirit.

That the Spirit will continue to come alongside us so we can remember why we do what we do and to endeavor to do it. And we are told this same Spirit dwells in us- each of us and all of us as a community in the Spirit. You are each little “paracletos!” The ones who walk alongside others doing as Jesus did-sharing with others in comfort, in faith, in courage and loss. Because “loving Jesus most fully is seen in doing what he said to do-Love.”

This love is the work of the living. Which brings me to the part about our focus as a culture. As the daughter of a living veteran, I am appalled that we as a nation spend ungodly sums of money making war, and making elaborate displays of the caskets of those who have died, but cannot spend what it takes to care for the living wounded, who sacrifices seemingly go unnoticed.

Not only am I the daughter of a veteran, I am the great granddaughter of a man who emigrated from Germany as a leather worker, who a generation after the Civil War found work- wrapping the leather around the artificial limbs of those Civil War veterans who were shattered.

The Spirit of truth calls us to lift up those who have served and survived so they don’t die awaiting care on a hidden list, or end up homeless, or tortured by post-combat stresses they fight alone. We must walk alongside them also-in real life and accept the cost as part of being that community in the Spirit. Those who serve as they are commanded and their families should not feel abandoned.

This is just one way we remember that love is the work of the living and it is for the living not just the dead. And it’s for all whether we know them or not.

And the Spirit reminds that this is not just work of a day. Many days ago now we celebrated with processions, and singing, flowers, prayers and crosses another day- That Easter day where we proclaimed Christ is risen- He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Praise God!

It’s still Easter! And Christ is risen and the Spirit is present-in all the other places of our living too. This is the good news! Sometimes our culture suggests that we shouldn’t talk about losses in our lives. So we don’t. But then we miss out on the comfort, care and solidarity of community God intends. The Spirit comes to help us combat- yes, combat against another enemy- ISOLATION.

Where are those places of pain, in need of healing, of loneliness where you need to see Jesus and us walking alongside?

Today again we will be offering anointing for healing and wholeness. Not isolation. Wholeness. Today again we will experience and share communion- Christ with us in the bread and wine for us all. Wholeness, healing, communion. Love.

This is how God is wired, and how we are.

It’s like Memorial Day- we are here to remember. The difference is that through Christ and in the Spirit, it’s everyday.

Thanks be to God!

 

Do You See What He's Done?

On Maundy Thursday I offer individual absolution and laying on of hands. After this I also offer corporate forgiveness in the name of Christ,  not only for those who did not come forward, but for our sins as community.
This was the message later...



Do you know what he's done? What Jesus has done? Tonight we don't hear Jesus talk about Holy Communion. It's what makes the Gospel of John different. We come here on Maundy Thursday expecting to hear "do this in remembrance of me" followed by words about bread and wine. WHAT IF...instead we were given what we hear in tonight's gospel as the way of remembering that last night with the disciples? We'd be washing feet each week. You seem underwhelmed. Or maybe overwhelmed.

We'd be told to strip away all of what gives us our status, and empty ourselves of our ideas about it all. And wash each others feet. All the dirt, and the scrapes. The wounds and literally sometimes all the crap that our feet drag around. Just as true in all the places we come from as Galilee. And cleansed, loved, and forgiven. Do you know what he's done?

And it's not just about the feet. It's about the love. Servant love. That loves our unloveliness. Servant love.

Years ago our daughters were arguing over having to clean up the mess in the room they shared and at the height of the row, I heard one of them bellow, "I AM NOT YOUR SERVANT!!" Followed by stomping down the stairs to present the offending sister in hopes I would do something about it
So often, we too want to say, if we're being honest, in the middle of people and situations we encounter, "I AM NOT YOUR SERVANT!"  and do the same.

Do you know what Jesus has done?

He has not only gotten down on his hands and knees, and entered the grittiness of our humanity, he's cleaned up the mess. And he's done it for ALL, even Judas, knowing full well what is to come.

Knowing the very real fact that evil will take up residence in Judas and lead him to be someone it's hard to imagine he'd become. And it will take up residence in Peter and lead him to speak words he swore he never would.

Henri Nouwen writes that we, "People who live close together, can be great sources of sorrow for one another. When Jesus chose the 12, he chose Judas among them. He's called a traitor, literally in the Greek, 'one who hands another over to suffering.' And the truth is that there is something of the traitor in each one of us. Because each of us hands over our fellow human beings to suffering- somehow, somewhere. Mostly without intending it, or maybe even knowing it. When we are willing to confess that often we hand over those we love ( and those we are called to love) even against our own best intentions, we will be more ready to forgive those who mostly against their will, are the causes of our pain."

Because we all muddy the water.

We are called to remember- to re-live- what Jesus has done- for you, for me, for us all. To be shaped by his servanthood and to hear again the command-love each other like this.
He summons us to come and be cleansed and then draws us into a different world
of communion and community
And it can't just be about being with the ones we like.
It's also about being with the misunderstood, the betrayer and the enemy whoever we imagine them to be.

When it's all stripped away we see who we really are- all of us.

Then... we see, just how profound it is what Jesus has done

That we can't stop God's love and forgiveness. We can't stop God's commitment in Christ
To humanity at it's stinkiest and most busted places.

Do you see what Jesus has done? What Jesus does still?
Love EVERYONE like this
Remember

When Empty is Good

They go the tomb and it is empty. Empty. Things that are empty are not usually positive- the empty gastank, the empty bank account, the empty refrigerator. Empty is a place of fear, of not enough- that its not enough, or we’re not enough. Empty just by watching your faces tells me feels like doubt, or fears. They go to the tomb and hear- not here. And whether “not here” is like that voicemail message when we wanted help or that spot where someone used to be, “not here” tells of feeling alone, and of loss and sadness. Empty and not here- often means what we don’t see. The women come desperate for meaning and first encounter empty and “not here.”

But then they are rocked with something more. And encounter what happens when empty turns out to be a good thing. It’s mystifying and not fully there. They don’t get to see Jesus but they hear one thing.

But they hear he has risen and to go and tell.

And somehow it is enough

To leave the tomb and move forward instead of remaining paralyzed like the guards. No amount of words can fully capture what that glimpse and truth would mean.

They leave with that and a promise they will learn more on the way.

It’s not everything but it’s good news. And they don’t leave just with the same ration of fear and sadness, they leave with fear AND joy. Both.

Sometimes people tell us that to be a believer means that when we face the unknown or mystifying we just need to have faith.

Not so says the resurrection story.  

Having fear is not the absence of faith. Instead God sent a messenger to help us see the difference between stunned and stuck. Even when we feel like we’re moving but we’re not sure how.

Somehow some of the fear has been left behind in that tomb with the old grave clothes and yesterday.

And it’s replaced with a seed of faith and joy

That there really is new life in this story

There really is more than we see.

Because God has acted and Christ is risen and though we don’t understand all of it, we really will be given what we need on the way.

And as the story is shared, and other things are seen and heard, each who encounters will come to faith, but differently. Just like us. That somehow we see that what seems empty is good.

Recently there was another moment where empty is good- it was last Sunday when we had our first Sunday as one unified worshipping flock. And at the end of communion, the napkin the holds the bread was empty! There were enough of us here that I got the last little tiny bite. Empty! Praise God! I think that moment was one where we gathered in fear and joy and wondered if it would all be OK. And God delighted us with more to strengthen our faith together. That bread napkin was empty! And it was good.

There’s a third time that empty is good. It’s when this place is empty. When we who have been forgiven fed and filled, leave. Because the sharing of the gospel is happening out there along the way. I hope and believe and am filled with joy as I continue to see new faces here- young and old, from everywhere. And I don’t think they’re here because they suspect we have it all together. I think it’s because we are willing to share how we have encountered the good news and invite people to come and see with us on the way.

Some of you have come this day brimming with good news in your lives, and some have come hoping to hear Alleluias that maybe will start to feel true. Still others may wonder if the experience will match the greatness of expectations, or fear that you won’t pull off the perfect Easter day.

Each time we gather and share the story of Christ and share in resurrection, we share those glimpses we see on the way that strengthen us all. Those messages that allow us to look into that tomb and leave behind some of the fears.

And in place of that spot, the emptiness is filled with joy, and with faith. And that’s why I want to invite and encourage each one of you here to keep walking on the way, keep coming again to speak of things that looked empty but led to new life. Of the mysterious power and love of a God that wants to fill our empty places and replace our fears with joy.

God wants to help as us see in the way Brian McClaren has stated it-“that it is enough to faithfully and simply tell the story- of women at dawn, of men running half believing, of rolled stones and folded grave clothes. Of a supposed gardener saying the name of a crying woman, and sad walkers encountering a stranger on the road home. Of an empty tomb and overflowing hearts….(and) God comes to give us wisdom to know that the best we can do is stand in awe. Christ’s work on the cross and that empty tomb surpass all our flowers and flourishes on this day of mysterious hope beyond all words.

May we be less conscious of achieving the perfect decorations, or the finest music or wondering if our emptiness shows. May we instead be drawn more deeply into the confidence in in the Risen Christ whose presence here trumps it all.  God is a God of new life and never-ending possibility. Forgiveness and grace and love for us.

May we this day be surpassed by the simple but undeniable joy of standing together and daring to proclaim the good news- Risen Indeed! Alleluia! That death is not the last word. Violence, hate, condemnation, betrayal and failure are not the last word.

No. Each of them are left behind like rags at that tomb. And from that tomb arises Christ- Alive! For us! Forever!

 

Healed of our Deficiencies

On Sunday I invited the congregation to be seated for the gospel, and put down their bulletins and close their eyes so that in some way we would not use the perception eyesight gives us but to listen to gospel with insight. While their eyes were closed I read the gospel while walking around and through the worship space so that sound and closeness changed as my direction changed, and they could hear the dialogue of the man and the others more clearly. Some people had a hard time closing their eyes. It was not the kids. It was adults. Who felt insecure. But they stuck with it.

And then we opened our eyes...

A few years ago, my mother had cataract surgery. I remember back when my grandmother had it, what an ordeal it was. Now it is so much easier and the results more immediate. There was incredible joy at the thought- “I can see! Look at everything I can see now!”

However, that was quickly replaced by- “oh my, look what I can see” as my mother began to realize that in the light was revealed the things she had not been cleaning so well. And the guilt of what people who would have thought who visited-Lord, have mercy!

Very quickly the joy of the healing was replaced again by the tendency we all have to focus on deficiencies and shortcomings. The places where it is “not enough!”

This is so much a part of our lives that recently a high school student began a program called “Operation Beautiful-the Perfectly Imperfect project.” She realized that so many people look upon their deficiencies so much more than their positives. And she started a simple thing- taking Post-It notes and writing “You are beautiful” or “You are stronger than you know” and other messages and leaving them on places they would be seen like the mirror of the girls’ bathroom. Or inside the cover of books at places like Barnes and Noble. Random places where people can be reminded of who they really are.

Rather than just focus upon who they are not.

Which is where I think our readings take us today.

We hear in I Samuel of the search for a new king and Jesse’s sons being brought forth to find the chosen one. One by one they are noted for their strength, and stature and good looks- qualities we would surely think are important in a leader. And instead God chooses the youngest boy, brought in from the field probably still wearing sheep dung, and we hear that God sees beauty. Where we don’t. God’s eyes see that we are perfectly imperfect and loved by God. God’s eyes see differently. With love.

And then we come to the Gospel and what God sees. Our very long reading today begins with Jesus seeing a man. Yes, a man who is blind. But it really is first and foremost that Jesus notices a man and stops. Jesus sees a man. And wants to heal him.

And almost everything that follows in all those verses is what everyone else sees and thinks. The disciples see sin and judging- what’s wrong, what’s the deficiency? Because of course that is far more important than helping.

The religious leaders see a label. “Blind.” Despite his being in the view for a long time, they know so little about this man other than the label, that when he is not blind, he is like a stranger to them. They are so focused on his deficiency that they don’t even want to let him tell his own story. And they see lots of things they think cannot be or that they don’t know. And ones they are sure others don’t know.

Jesus sees a man who needs to be healed. And heals him. That’s it.

Everything else is about how others are so quick to return to the deficiencies. And the poor man who for his whole life has been excluded from the synagogue and can FINALLY worship there, ends up back where he started. Kicked out. Kicked out of the very life he could finally have.

And he’s separated again.

Then Jesus comes to heal him again. Jesus heals him a second time.

He sees the man and restores him. The first time he healed him of his blindness. This time he heals him of the wounds caused by the blindness of others. He gives him a place, and shows him that Jesus stands with him.

I think that Jesus coming that second time helps us see that Jesus meets us here in the places we need to be healed. Because in our lives we too have lists of deficiencies, the one we have for ourselves, and the one that is made up of the deficiencies of others. The places where we think it is “not enough!” Where we think that we are not enough, where we look at our city, or this church or our world and only see it as “not enough.” Places full of what we can’t see or cannot be. These are the lists of word, perceptions, and fears that keep our lives at the surface level only. That keep us from really living. The things that keep us from seeing ourselves as created in God’s image, and loved; from seeing others and our world in the same way.

Jesus comes and sees and wants to heal. Comes again this day to us to heal us. And again and again. To remind us that God sees with eyes of love and grace. To wash away all those deficiencies like so much mud.

To open our eyes to see the light of the world made known to us in the work of the cross. So we can let go of what we cannot see or don’t know. Because the only thing we need to know is the love of God in Jesus for us.

Let us pray- Lord, thank you for coming into our world and healing us from our blindness and the effects of the blindness of others. Thank you for seeing us with eyes of love and forgiveness. Wash away the words, perceptions and fears that we are sure cannot be or cannot change, so that all we see is the only thing we need to know- your son Jesus, the light of the world. Amen

 

Listen, Remember and Live

Listen. From the very beginning God has been saying we should listen. Our brains are capable of listening to about 125 words a minute, but thinking about 1,000 to 3,000 in the same amount of time. If you search for resources on effective listening, there are 1000’s of entries because most of us are preoccupied or distracted about 75% of the time. So many choices.

Listen, Adam, Remember and live. He must’ve told Eve once she was created. Because when the serpent comes, saying- “So you really think you can’t do that? You think you’ll die?” She remembers, “That’s right, and we’re not even going to touch it.”  

No one told Adam not to touch the tree. Those brains were already thinking. “Are you sure? You don’t really believe that do you? Eat it and you’ll be like God. Then who needs God?” In a modern world, they would have gotten on the internet and Googled trees to see if what God said seemed right. When we want to go our own way, we choose who we listen to.  

Adam and Eve don’t die, but something’s different. They’re ashamed and nervous. They try to fix it. And that’s when they decide to sew together the fig leaves. And I wonder whose idea THAT was. The first generations of people hearing the story would’ve laughed hysterically. “They did what? They used fig leaves?!” Fig leaves on bare skin would have felt like sandpaper. Scratch, scratch, Hurry up before God gets here. Scratch, scratch. We don’t want to be caught, Scratch. Scratch.

Like that would work. While God is angered, God gives them real clothes.

When we humans think we’ve become like God we usually show we really cannot handle the knowledge. Sadly, our track record shows that those scratchy fig leaves are the least of it. God made us to prosper, serve and to care for- but we’d rather control and plunder and take over. Forgetting God’s promise to sustain us. The scratching leads to clawing and fighting and killing. Too many examples abound.

Lent offers time to stop and listen to God and find our way, which is about our identity and purpose. Adam and Eve received an identity and a task, assured they were provided for. But that fruit looked really good to eat, what could be wrong? And that’s how evil works. We’re most often not enticed with things that appear to be bad, but things that seem good.

There are two things at work- God testing and evil tempting. We often see them the same because we don’t want either. We want to go our own path. God’s testing stretches and encourages us. It strengthens us to trust God and to follow a framework for living. God wants to show us that we are able with God’s help to be faithful. And that God desires life for us.

At the same time however, the Tempter’s purpose is to convince us that’s a horrible idea. To try and cause us to make a mistake, to sin. God’s purpose is to strengthen faith. Satan’s purpose is to weaken it. We must always ask-what are we listening to? Will it draw us closer to God or cast us farther away?

And here’s the thing-temptation is not coercion. No one forced the first humans to eat, or Jesus to eat bread. Tempters can’t make us do things, but they can convince us to want to. They don’t take away our will, they try to change it. Usually it’s not about not knowing what to do, just wanting to do something different. And picking who we listen to.

Even worse, the choices are blurred-decisions that can be good involve the wrong timing, or have large scale consequences we might not grasp. If we do not continually listen to God’s word and remember, we lose perspective.

Worship is the key way we listen and to remember God’s words for life. Notice I did not say “church.” Deciding to go to church is like deciding to go to the mall. Coming to worship God is different.

Deciding to go to church is about whether anything really big is happening, or who we want to sit with. We can then choose to not come when it’s not tempting enough. Because we don’t need church to worship God. We can listen to the voice saying spending time with family or catching up on rest is better. After all we won’t die if we don’t come. And worship is not just an hour on Sunday, but every day of our lives.

Is the timing of our choices rooted in worshipping and serving God? Do our choices sustain our relationship or not? Will sports or travel or anything else have the power to save us, anymore than bread alone? What would it mean for us to test our own resolve to truly listen to and serve God?

After Jesus was baptized, the very first thing God says is- This is my Son- listen to him. And today if we do, we see that the core of the temptations Jesus faced, was not about whether he was the Son of God but whether he would rely upon his power in self serving ways that would lead him away from his mission. His responses stay true to his identity and mission. He remained steadfast in believing in God’s power and providing.

The core of what we face is not about whether we are children of God but whether we rely upon self serving ways or God’s power in our lives. Where are we self-serving? Where are we struggling with trust in God? Where are we angry with God for not simply acting according to our demands?

You are probably wondering where the gospel is this day. Here is the good news- 

Jesus after 40 days in the wilderness fasting surely was tempted. But shows not only his identity but his obedience, even to the cross. Knowing what he endured, and what was to come, and knowing our track record as humans, he gave his followers a prayer.

A prayer that meets us wherever wilderness is, and whatever temptation looks like. So we can listen to and remember God’s way. And strengthen our faith. Not only in Sunday worship but every day.

Martin Luther suggested we begin each day by thanking God, then saying the 10 Commandments and saying the prayer Jesus gave-the Lords Prayer. Every day- first thing- to shape the whole day. I imagine how some days, our attention would be caught by different parts of the words. Perhaps not unlike how Jesus felt in those 40 days. Practicing for when the tempter came. So he could hear God’s words more strongly than others.

I invite you on this day we have all lost an hours sleep, to close your eyes, resist sleep, and let’s listen.

“I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, your Dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please you. For into your hands I commend myself, my body, and soul and all things. Let your holy angel be with me that the evil one may have no power over me. Amen.”

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery

You shall have no other gods before me,

You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain,

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy,

Honor your mother and father,

You shall not kill,

You shall not commit adultery,

You shall not steal,

You shall not bear false witness,

You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory

Forever and ever

Amen

 

What if those were the first words we heard each day?

And what if every week when we saw how we did or did not reach those words, we were then here to listen, remember and be strengthened,  wherever the week had gone to hear-

This is my body given for you, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Remember.

This is for us.

Listen, remember, and live.

Reflections on Ashes

This year we should be feeling blessed by a “late” Lent and Easter season. Instead we have been surrounded by so much cold and damage and dirt of a season that has assaulted us that we are surely ready for the ashes of it to blow away with the next strong gust. So the new life of spring can start.

While different times in the church year can signify endings and beginnings, for me perhaps Lent is my favorite. Today we receive ashes made from the palms of last year’s Hosannas, and they are also ashes of everywhere the journey took us after Palm Sunday. A whole year of places of love, truth, patience and kindness. And places of affliction, hardship, sleepless nights and hunger.

All of it burned away to dust.

What starts out like a giant leafy palm, becomes the small amount of dust in this dish. There are actually a few palms that became our ashes. But even if we had all the palms we waived last year, there would be room in that dish.

I think it’s a concrete way of seeing that we cannot store up the praise or the glory we think we’ve achieved. We cannot hold onto that dust.

But are also reminded not to hold onto the pain of the times that we really messed up or where someone really hurt us.

Let that dust blow away.

This is my third year to work with our dust. And at a fundamental level my comfortableness with the ashes reminds me of how it all comes to this dust. You see, they don’t teach us how to make ashes in seminary.

My first year, I had little idea how to make the right ashes and I got lots of unhelpful advice like what my internship supervisor said- let the sexton do it. I fussed and fussed to get it right- not to crumbly, not too oily. I made a huge mess and ended up with far more ashes than we needed.  Enough for decades of Ash Wednesdays.

But once mixed with oil, they don’t keep. Last year’s oil is pretty nasty. In spite of all the fretting, if you do not remember those ashes, that is a grace. If you do, sorry.

My second year, there were so many things going on that I waited until the last minute. I was so preoccupied and as a result, they were not fully set- too spare for the early service. Barely a cross maker at all. If you don’t remember that, that also is a grace. And if you do, let it go.

This year, I put a little oil in the dish and dumped in the ashes and walked away. When I came back later, a couple stirs and they were ready. Which probably means there should be a whole lot less of me, and all the things I hold onto. And a whole lot more of God and God’s timing. After all, God is used to making things from dust. And making something from what feels like chaos.

These ashes remind us where we’ve been and yet invite us into a season that’s about working through the chaos. To get to what’s essential. What is not essential is burned up or blows away. Jan Richardson writes that Lent challenges us to reflect upon what we have filled our days and lives with. To see what habits and practices, possessions or ways of being have accumulated, or taken over. Where is a pattern of chaos threatening to block our seeing the presence of God?

Each scripture passage today invites us to ponder what our practices are and which ones we have given ourselves over to. And which ones God calls us to- individually and as a community. To pay close attention to the rhythms of our lives to see which practices draw us closer to God and which pull us away.

We ask God to create in us a clean heart. Lent asks- What is the state of your heart?

What has taken up residence there?

Are there habits or ways of being that you are so invested in or attached to that it is difficult to see new places God might be inviting you to move into?

Out of the good and the bad and even the ugly of a year, God is creating a new path that takes those ashes and makes a new path marked by a cross. Making beautiful things from the dust.

On this day and throughout this season may see more clearly what is treasure and may our hearts be open to the unexpected life that only God in Christ can bring. That cross-it’s the only thing that we truly need.

And because of our loving God it’s the one promise we can be sure of.