Lent 3

• St. Patrick
• You shall not murder
• Good News

Yesterday some of us participated in the St. Patrick's Day parade and skit. This was entertaining and created a lot of laughter. Demographic surveys indicate that middle America wants church to be entertaining. There isn't much joy in the commandments we heard in Exodus. 20:13 You shall not murder.

God is speaking directly to the the people and in Hebrew He says, "you shall not kill." We live in a spiritual dark age. We count how many have died in war and atrocities. Stalin killed more than Hitler and Mao killed more than Stalin.

There is no moral reason for anyone to murder. There are just reasons for was but not moral reasons for war. Cain murdered Able and God forgave him, sent him away and protected him. Seven generations later, Lamech boasts about murdering so God starts over by giving Adam and Eve, Seth. Seven generations after Seth humankind isn't any better, so God starts over with Noah. After Noah, humankind is still evil so God starts over with Abraham.

God speaks directly to the people without a state, church or a priesthood. God is not about killing. Animal sacrifices were done to replace human sacrifices. Jeremiah says that God never asked for sacrifices and that they should take those dead animals and eat them.

It is good news. God's weakness is stronger than our strength. Strong in a weak and foolish fashion.

Our Great Ancestor--Lent Two

• Great Ancestor
• Abraham
• Ancestors
• The Apostle Paul
• Faith and Trust

In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul raises the issue of trust. Today we live in a time where trust has failed. Everyone has faith because everyone trusts in something, even atheists. It costs about 2 cents to print one unit of paper money regardless of what the monetary value, but we trust that a twenty will be treated as such and not as a one or five dollar bill.

An act of faith is as simple as buying sunscreen. Yes, buying sunscreen is an act of faith and trust--trusting that the sun will shine again and that there will be summer weather again. It is also an act of faith and trust that it will block the sun and not burn your skin.

To the emperor Trajan 33. While I was making a progress in a different part of the province, a most destructive fire broke out at Nicomedia, which not only consumed several private houses, but also two public buildings; the town-house and the temple of Isis, though they stood on contrary sides of the street. The occasion of its spreading thus wide, was partly owing to the violence of the wind, and partly to the indolence of the people, who, it appears, stood fixed and idle spectators of this terrible calamity. The truth is, the city was not furnished with either engines, buckets, or any single instrument proper to extinguish fires: which I have now, however, given directions to be provided. You will consider, Sir, whether it may not be advisable to form a company of firemen, consisting only of one hundred and fifty members. I will take care none but firemen shall be admitted into it; and that the privileges granted them shall not be extended to any other purpose. As this corporate body will be restricted to so small a number of members, it will be easy to keep them under proper regulation. Trajan to Pliny 34. You are of opinion it would be proper to establish a company of firemen in Nicomedia, agreeably to what has been practiced in several other cities. But it is to be remembered, that societies of this sort have greatly disturbed the peace of the province in general, and of those cities in particular. Whatever name we give them, and for whatever purpose they may be instituted, they will not fail to form themselves soon into political clubs. It will, therefore, be safer, to provide such equipment as is of service in extinguishing fires, enjoining the owners of houses to assist in preventing the mischief from spreading; and if it should be necessary, to call in the aid of the populace.

Living under a dictatorship or empire, the freedom of self-thinking and self-organizing does not exist. There is no faith and trust. Abraham lived in the age of empires. For 3000 years empires raised and fell in in this time of tyranny, Abram heard and listened to God's voice. That just didn't happen under imperial rule. Yet, he heard God's voice and acted. God told him if you leave and go where I tell you to go, I will make you a great ancestor; the nations will be blessed through you. The nations, that is the people will be blessed, not the empires.

Even if we are not Jewish, we have a great ancestor because of Abraham's faith in the midst of ruling empires. The name, Abraham, means great ancestor.

Any system built on greed will fail; we let our system fail. Taking up a cross and following Jesus--doing something different. You have to be able to say that the authority who has the cross are dealing in death not life. Jesus shows us that the the cross is a means to life, ressurection and new life.

Lent 1

• Jesus
• John the Baptist
• Spirit of God
• Satan
• Wild Beasts
• Angels

"You are my Son, the Beloved. with you I am well pleased." The angels fed him, with angel food cake, perhaps?

In Mark's Gospel Jesus alone saw the heaven's torn apart and he alone heard the voice from above. This was for him to hear. It is called the Messianic Secret. The humans in the narrative don't figure this out until chapter 8. We who hear this narrative, hear the words and are brought into this secret.

These words: "You are my child,the Beloved, with you I am well pleased" How does this rank in our lives? Very high? These are the most important thing ever said to us. They are the necessary and sufficient basis for our relationship with God and for the Church's relationship to God.

It isn't all tickles and giggles and a feast of angel food cake. After hearing those words and believing them comes a life of danger and filled with testing. It is not great feasting--we are fed on what is necessary and sufficient--communion portions perhaps.

In our baptisms we are ordained. We have the right to discern and confirm calls to a special ministry but all baptized are ordained by God's words, "You are my child, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased." God gives us the authority to affirm calls to special ministry. Without God we cannot and without us God will not. There is a unity in our faith with room for disagreement.

The Spirit of God does not turn us into robots. The culture in which we live makes us polarized. There is the sense that if you believe something hard enough it becomes true. In truth, we can say there are differences, but we don't get to demonize someone for disagreeing with us. We disagree yes, but yet, we are all God's children, living together in Faith, Hope and Love. God is well pleased with us.

Transfiguration

• Peter
• James (Jacob)
• John
• Elisha
• Moses
• Jesus

They saw Jesus in his glory. The word glory carries a different meaning today then it did in the First Century. Glory did not mean radiance or shining brightly it meant reputation what people thought of you. The bright light came from God--His reputation. It is real and not scary; it is very joyful.

There is a question of leadership that arises from Peter's statement. This question comes to us today from the Presbyterian Church on who should be the Church leaders and who are the natural leaders. According to one expert the leaders should be the tall steeple pastors. These are the white males who are pastors in larger churches--the ones that used to have the tall steeples. These are the men who live in large houses and drive nice cars.

A tall steeple pastor is a golden boy who might come from a well-to-do family and is a charismatic leader. He is chosen or preferred above other's. The golden boys can bring in the gold through fund raising. They are good looking and they look the part. They sound good and look good and they don't have to be smart, in fact, intelligence is not required nor sought out in a golden boy, because the golden boys maintain the status quo and don't push for change. Golden boys are the ones who are blamed when things turn sour.

Is Jesus a golden boy? No! He opposes the status quo and stirs things up. He was crucified. Crucifixion is not for a golden boy. After his baptism, Jesus is cast out into the wilderness, just as a demon is cast out of someone. Jesus is tested and took the form of a slave and as Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians that every knee will bow. Jesus was raised up by the power of God the Father. No golden boy would even consider risking that.

Many can be raised up with him.

Leadership--the voice in the cloud saying, "This is my beloved son, listen to him" or better yet, "obey him." If you don't obey then you haven't listened. This is hard for Protestants to get. We are told to obey the Bible. The Bible is to be obeyed only because of Jesus. We are not used to listening to Jesus. The responsibility is on us. We need to become like him--the glory, his reputation. We have to let go of our selfishness.

He is the Son of God; he is that because he never turns His glory for his own good but turns it only to serve God and to help us learn to do as well.

Jesus and the Leper

Jesus the healer touched a leper. No one is to touch a leper because they would become unclean. Lepers were isolated from society and we need to pay attention that Jesus was outside the city as well, The leper was outside because of his illness; Jesus was outside the city to get rest away from the crowds. What are the modern day equivalents to Leprosy? Aids perhaps or mental illness? What about sex offenders? Sex offenders have to live in certain places away from schools and have to tell everyone that they to are "unclean." An 18 year-old-male who has sex with a 15 year-old female is treated the same as predatory pedophile or a rapist. These people are treated the same way as Lepers were in the First Century--ostracizing them from society. Just like today there is a fear of illness. Don't forget about mental illness. There are mentally ill people who are in prison because State Hospitals don't have the funding to help them anymore. Jesus us wondering around outside of towns because he can't sleep or rest when he is in town. The sacred canopy is the imaginary dwelling where members of society feel they belong. The Sacred Canopy can be seen as the synagogue where the Galileans gathered together and there within their sacred canopy dwelt a demon, which Jesus cast out. The fear today is that we will fall outside of this sacred canopy as we suffer income loss and job loss. There are people who have lost their homes or losing their homes and the feel that they are falling outside the sacred canopy. We, who follow Jesus, can bring those who feel outside the social canopy and bring them into the true sacred canopy. The leper was following the rules which Jesus breaks by touching him and restoring him. Jesus is now made "unclean" but rather than becoming a leper himself he heals and restores the leper.

Healings

1. Believing in persons or spiritual beings
2. Believing that certain facts are real
3. Believing!

I believe that demons are real. I don't believe in them. What I believe in is found in the Nicene Creed.

Peter's mother-in-law had a terrible fever; she possibly had malaria which untreated can and usually does cause death. This fever is deadly. Jesus lifts her up and heals her. We get to heal also.

Jesus goes outside the religious institution. The early Jesus movement was not a religion; it was a way of life. Even today we are are bound up and together through the trust in Jesus which is not a religion. Religion has priests who perform sacrifices to placate gods and goddesses, or intercede between the gods and goddesses and human beings. We have a priesthood of all believers, we can pray to God directly for ourselves and one another. We do not have a priesthood sacrificing animals to placate God, instead, we have healing. We have healing in place of sacrifices.

Everyone came crowding into Peter's small house free healing was taking place there. In their religion there were outsiders and insiders and these people were outsiders. In Jesus, everyone is an insider and everyone belongs. Healing is a sign of belonging.

Today there is a need for healing--spiritual healing, emotional healing, physical healing, financial healing. When someone loses their job the suddenly feel that they don't belong anywhere. They even stop attending worship services because they don't feel good enough. Death in their family, illness or any type of loss can make anyone feel like an outsider. It takes them out of the narrative of health and success.

Peter's house is filled with people who want to be healed, be included, belong and to be counted. In Jesus Christ we all belong and we share Jesus.

Jesus and the demon

Jesus casts out a demon. Demonic possession is a controversial issue. In C.S. Lewis' book The Screwtape Letters, Screwtape writes in a letter to Wormwood that there are two weaknesses that humans have, a disbelief in demons and an unhealthy interest in them. Horror movie characters, such as, Jason and Freddy are supernatural. They are portrayed as being really powerful and really smart. Watching these movies brings a pleasant thrill of ascetic terror. Good will triumph over evil in the end, We can allow ourselves the indulgence of being scared. The fearfulness and scariness of these creatures is boosted and their creators make them seem more powerful and brilliant than real demon are. Demons are not strong and not are really quite dumb. There is a connection between teaching the Gospel and casting out demons Demons recognize Jesus and calls him "The Holy one of God" in an effort to cast Jesus out by calling him by his name. Exorcists now and from ages past will try to engage in a conversation with a demon to learn it's name in order to cast them out. Jesus rebukes the demon and silences it. In fact, he says, "Shut up and come out of him." cutting the demon off in mid sentence. Christ is the most powerful. Jesus' power is more superior to demons. Demons are quite small but dangerous. It all depends on what you believe. There are three levels of belief:

1. Belief accepted in fact--I believe that....
2. Belief in someone or something...I believe in God.
3. To believe it's real--I believe Jesus, or I trust Jesus.

The Gospel is the a story of Jesus' victory over evil.It is a healing story. The whole synagogue was healed when the demon was cast out.

We are not spiritual heroes we are Lutherans. We do not have to depend on spiritual superstars. We are all counting on Christ's presence.