Faith vs Religion

August 26, 2007 13th Sunday After Pentecost

Hebrews 12:29 For indeed our God is a consuming fire.

Fire raining down from heaven is a fire of terror and awe. Last week we talked about Jesus' fire is kindled here on earth and that we see at Pentecost how the kindled fire works in us. Jesus fire is the fire of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. God is not a terrorist, although there is a lot of confusion among Christians and Islams a like that God is indeed a terrorist. These are only our own internal feelings of fear and hatred being reflected onto God. Jesus is revealed as the one who gives us peace and love, not fear and hatred. So, here again in Hebrews is the fire connected to God. "God is a consuming fire." What God consumes is the darkness and deadwood that lies within us, that is our sin, and what is left is purified. God's consuming fire is a purifying fire.

Luke 13: 10-17

Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing.

God appeared and acted at the Synagogue that day and the Synagogue leader tried to throw him out. In fact, it appears that he was trying to drive everyone away. He is angered by what God had done that day saying over and over again that there are six days on which work was t0 be done. In other words, religion is happening here at the Synagogue not God.

The reason we have the religion that we do as Lutherans, that is, the liturgy and music is not to get more Lutherans just like us to worship with us. If we only reach out to Lutherans just like us we won't grow. What we do here we do for God and for God's people. Jesus is acting right here and right now among us. God did not rest; He is still at work. The Living Lord Jesus Christ is present. He was present at the Synagogue two thousand years ago and He is present here among us at His Table.

We gather together every Sunday because Jesus is here. The crippled woman came to the Synagogue that day because Jesus/God was there.

Our message to the community around us ought to be, "O come and see and taste and hear! Jesus is here.

Jesus' Fire

Luke 12:49-56

Jesus the Cause of Division

"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother,

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, 'It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, 'There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

We used to put red ropes in the back pews so that more people will sit toward the front. I am glad to see that we willing sit toward the front of the sanctuary. You may have noticed that I was quoted in the Grand Rapids Press this weekend. Newspapers have asked for my opinions in the past. The last time was quite comical it was when I was in North Dakota. I won't take up service time to talk about it now. It concerned Elvis.

The fire Jesus speaks of is already kindled. Not too long ago we heard fire mentioned in Luke before in chapter 9: When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?"But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village.

Jesus sends a group ahead to tell them that he was coming. The message that the big guy was on his way went unheeded. James and John thought this was a good opportunity for Jesus to show God's Judgment in the manner of Elijah and rain fire on the Samaritans. Jesus strongly rebuked them.

The word that Jesus uses to rebuke them is a strong statement that implies rebuking with conviction. The fire that they want is a fire of terror that the Samaritans would see coming at them and then it would consume them. This is the understanding of an angry god.

The fire that Jesus wants to kindle is kindled in Luke's second book, Acts. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

The fire did not descend from heaven but appeared. The fire is here among us, and this fire does not consume but enlightens. This fire is the Holy Spirit, and it burns in each of us. We are not "little Christs" as the publishers of Luther's Works misused Luther's words. We have become such little Christs that we aren't even noticed. We are like Plankton on Sponge bob Square pants small and deluded. We are deluded when we think of ourselves as being so small we need to see how Jesus is here with us and we are giants.

This fire makes us quite alive. God is not angry, although seeing Him that way makes sense to a nation that has weapons that can rain fire down on their enemies. The burning we do is with fossil fuels. Burning oil and coal has certainly given us a quality of living unprecedented in human history. This has caused global warming and has caused the polar ice caps to melt faster than the most pessimistic model has predicted. The reaction has been to claim the gold and minerals under the Artic Ice Cap. We humans will have to find a method of making energy without burning fossil fuels. Let's remember that before electricity we got energy from eating.

Jesus' fire does not consume but enlightens, causing us to be the lights of Peace, Wisdom and Life, not Death, Destruction and Consumption. Our age needs this Spiritual Fire.There is no shock and awe value in Luke's writing. This fire is Life not death.

The Power of the Penis

Mary Magdalene, Apostle

John 20: 1-2, 11-18

In the Gospel text we see a woman is given divine authority to speak. Mary Magdalene is the apostle to the apostles. The apostle Paul doesn't mention this at all. Paul talks about the resurrected Jesus appearing to Peter and John, the 12, the 500 and then himself. The Gospels agree that Mary is the first one to whom Jesus appeared. Jesus commissioned Mary Magdalene to proclaim his resurrection to the male disciples, the brothers.

Jesus tells her not to hold on to him, or cling to him, and this is important. All too often men hold on to Jesus and use His authority to hold on to the Church. The papacy is a good example of how Jesus' authority is used to control others...who can commune and who can't. When the Pope was "crowned" he presided at a communion service outside St.Peter's Basilica and standing next to him was a Patriarch from the Orthodox Church...they have penises. The message there is that that the Orthodox Christians are "OK;" they are really Christians. The rest of us are baptised in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but that is as far as the connection goes.

Seizing hold of Jesus sandals and all is taking the authority of Jesus and using it as a stick to beat other people with it. This is all about control and controlling the Means of Grace and can mostly be seen in communion. When Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper He took the bread and passed it and did the same with the wine, he passed it and the disciples passed it to each other. It is seen that I and the assisting minister are the ones in control of the consecrated elements, but in reality we are just the hands that are passing them.

This is about the trusting the Gospel. The power of the message, the Word is to be trusted and if we don't trust it then we create legalistic power to control others.Communion is and individual experience with Jesus. In Paul's letter to the Corinthians he excommunicates someone in his letter exercising his apostolic authority. When it came to communion practices he told them that they would receive it to their own condemnation, but he did not exercise his authority to tell them directly what they should do or not do.

The painting of Jesus in the Book of Revelation have it wrong when they depict Jesus with a sword in his mouth like a pirate. The image is that the Word of the Lord is mightier than a sword. It is the power and authority, the sword of rule. Trusting in the Gospel is to trust in the authority and power of the Word Made Flesh and not to hold on to it.

John The Baptist

Luke: 1

67 Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy: 68‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favourably on his people and redeemed them. 69He has raised up a mighty saviour* for us in the house of his servant David, 70as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, 71 that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us. 72Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham, to grant us 74that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies,might serve him without fear, 75in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, 77to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins. 78By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon* us, 79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.’ There are some calender events I want to talk about today. June 25 is called the Little Christmas. It is six months before Christmas and is John the Baptists Birthday. According to Luke's Gospel, Elizabeth is six months pregnant when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she is going to give birth to Jesus. June 21, the first day of summer, we commemorate Onesimus Nesib, translator and evangelist in Ethiopia. Onesimos was the name of the slave in Paul's letter to Philemon. Philemon became a Christian but did not baptize and free Onesimus so he ran away to Paul. Paul baptised him and Onesimus returned with Paul's letter that was going to be read in the assembly where Paul speaks of hoping to visit there and requests a place to stay. Onesimus of Ethopia was also a slave and a missionary paid for him and freed him. He learned the Holy Scriptures and later translated them and became a leader in the Ethiopian Christian Church. Terror: phobia, an irrational fear, devoid of reasoning. It seizes us and takes control of our minds and makes us act unreasonably. The government tells us to be afraid and gives us color code that never reaches green to tell us how afraid we are supposed to be. There are four steps to peace that take away all fear: knowledge of salvation to the people; the forgiveness of sins; to give light to those who sit in darkness; and to guide our feet into the way of peace...then we can serve God without fear. The color scale seems to have replaced the doomsday clock of yesteryear. We were told after the events of Sept. 11, 2001 to go shopping. It was the governments call to victory through shopping. This is not a Christian or Christ like arrangement. What does the angel say? "Fear not! only believe." This is a spiritual solution set apart from our worldly superiors. The government wants us to depend on the state to make us feel safe and free from terror. The clock is ticking on the powers that be. Today as we commemorate St. John the Baptist, we understand that the the time is up on fear. Jesus makes us free.

Holy Trinity

Romans 5:1-5 5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 5:2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 5:3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 5:4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5:5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

What is our relationship with God like? A better translation of verse one would be, "Let us have peace with God." In Genesis it is clear that all of humanity is jealous of God, we want to be like him and will risk death to achieve it. When all done, the blame game began and Adam accused God because He gave him the woman, Eve, and Eve blamed the serpent.

Paul is saying let us have peace with God, since God already justified us through Jesus Christ. When you suffer, have hope and boast in it. Do not blame God nor be jealous of God. Be at peace with God.

Last year at a college reunion I was talking with a former college mate of mine who gave up his pursuit of a PHD to become a lawyer. I told him that I was going to preach to about the Holy Trinity. I did that; didn't I? He shook his head and said that there is a lot that goes into that. There is a lot of foundation to laid and a framework to be built to teach the Holy Trinity--or is there?

In the Holy Trinity we see a completeness of sharing--a turning outside of God's whole self to share in all things. When we see the Holy Trinity as a unity of sharing and that we are a part of that through Jesus Christ then we should have pity on God who has to deal with us. We don't share and we don't have a unity in all we do. Yet, God continues to love us and continues to hold us dear to Him.

Scent of Faith

Sunday, March 25, 2007 The Scent John 12:1

(NRSV) Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Beth'any, the home of Laz'arus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Laz'arus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 4 But Judas Iscar'iot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, 5 "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" 6 (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) 7 Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. 8 You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me."

Oh the scent of fragrant perfume! The pound of perfume could have been sold for 300 denarii, which is about a years salary. A years salary in the 49424 Zip Code is $72,000. No one here makes THAT much do they? Perhaps all of us are closer to the national average of $36,000 a year. I did a Google search and found the most expensive perfume in the world. It is from the Clive Christian Collection, called Number One (pictured above) and sells for $2,350 per ounce. Yes, Number One, much better than Chanel Number 5 In November of 2005, Harrods sold an exclusive version of this perfume. The bottle contained a half litre of perfume and was made of cut glass topped off with a large diamond and collar of 18 karat gold. It sold for about $215,000 or 170,000 British Pounds.

Nard: a Himalayan flowering plant and the fragrant oil derived from its root (possibly a citrus aroma)

There weren't a lot of ways to save money in the First Century. One way was to bury in the ground and find it later. Much later, people have found coins buried in the ground and old coins aren't very rare for that reason. Another method was to buy something of value and keep it your house and sell it later in hard times. Apparently the jar of pure oil of nard was Mary's savings and she broke it open and poured it on Jesus. She literally poured out her life savings. There were two types of giving 1) Alms giving to the poor--money is handed out in small increments on a as needed basis. We saw this a lot in Madagascar. The poor would come into the shops daily and receive a few small coins, less than a penny in value. Shoppers would bump shoulders with them as made their way in and out of the place. We do something similar with the Silent Needs Fund. We give a little of our budget to help people as needed. Judas was saying that the perfume should have been just that, a small act, not an act of love. 2) Act of Love--Making a dent in our income so that we feel it and it hurts. We should feel it. Cynthia's father, a Presbyterian Minister stepped up to tithing. After about three years he met another pastor at a conference who was talking about tithing. He said to him, "I tithe and I don't even feel it." The other pastor responded, "then you should give 20 per cent" The point it is that giving out love should be felt.

Jesus smells good and is ready for his crucifixion. He will smell good for the rest of the week. He is going to the cross for the joy of it. Medieval teachings make it clear that we should feel sorry for Jesus--sorry that he died. Feeling sorry for Jesus makes us feel sorry for our sins. Jesus calls his death his moment of glory. His crucifixion is his glorification, a true moment of great joy.

Paul talks of another scent or smell; Philippians 3:8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. The translators wanted to use pretty words rather than the real ones. They used the prettier word rubbish and he Greek word here is skubala, which is a four lettered word in English, dung. Our earthly things do not smell as sweet as the act of giving from Love.

Prodigal

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source prod·i·gal /ˈprɒdɪgəl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[prod-i-guhl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –adjective 1. wastefully or recklessly extravagant: prodigal expenditure. 2. giving or yielding profusely; lavish (usually fol. by of or with): prodigal of smiles; prodigal with money. 3. lavishly abundant; profuse: nature's prodigal resources. –noun 4. a person who spends, or has spent, his or her money or substance with wasteful extravagance; spendthrift. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Origin: 1500–10; back formation from prodigality] —Related forms prod·i·gal·ly, adverb —Synonyms 1. profligate. See lavish. 2, 3. copious, bounteous. 4. waster, wastrel. —Antonyms 1. cautious, provident. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006. American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source prod·i·gal (prŏd'ĭ-gəl) Pronunciation Key adj. Rashly or wastefully extravagant: prodigal expenditures on unneeded weaponry; a prodigal life. Giving or given in abundance; lavish or profuse: prodigal praise. See Synonyms at profuse. n. One who is given to wasteful luxury or extravagance. Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 15:1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." 15:3 So he told them this parable: 15:11b "There was a man who had two sons. 15:12 The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. 15:13 A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. 15:14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. 15:15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 15:16 He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. 15:17 But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! 15:18 I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; 15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' 15:20 So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. 15:21 Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 15:22 But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 15:23 And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 15:24 for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. 15:25 "Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 15:26 He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. 15:27 He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' 15:28 Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. 15:29 But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. 15:30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' 15:31 Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 15:32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" ............ When he came to himself, that is a key phrase of this parable. The son wished his father dead so he could have his share in the inheirtance. By doing this the son became dead to his family, his father and his brother. Not only was the son dead to his family but he became dead to himself. He lived without boundaries and without control. Only in the depths of hungry and despair does he come to himself and realize the foolishness of his choice. He would rather have material wealth that he could call his own rather than to live in his father's house. Jesus is illustrating how the established church should treat those live outside of the Church when they return. Jesus is living as the father in his own parable, eating in the homes of who the established Church of his time called sinners.