November 24, 2019 (Christ the King Sunday)

Christ the King 2019

Our Savior’s La Crosse

Luke 23:33-43

This morning we go to “a place called the Skull” (“Calling Forth the Kingdom” by Paul D. Duke in Christian Century November 8, 1995 p. 1043).

This morning we go to a place, to a time when evil and love converge, they intersect where two beams intersect on the cross of Jesus Christ (ibid Duke).

Today is Christ the King Sunday. The theme for Christ the King Sunday is the same, year after year. Every year we examine even as we celebrate the sovereignty of Jesus. The place called the Skull was ground zero. The Skull is where Jesus Christ’s reign found its shape and then changed the world forever.

Usually when we talk about kings we are talking about men who had or who have political power. Jesus, our king, was powerless. He hung on a cross, his hands and feet impaled (ibid Duke).

Usually kings had or have a domain, a land they rule over. Jesus, suspended on the cross in mid-air, couldn’t touch the ground beneath him (ibid Duke).

Usually kings or queens had or have subjects—people they rule over. In this story the man declared “king of the Jews” was being tortured and mocked by almost all of the people who surrounded him (ibid Duke).

Usually, kings had or have the opportunity to speak to their subjects with a voice of authority. For most of our story this morning, Jesus hung silent, mute, saying nothing to anyone (ibid Duke).

In democratic societies, leaders are elected by the people. In this story, there had been an election but in that informal vote the people were deciding whether or not to free Jesus from his captivity. And he lost the vote (ibid Duke).

In our story this morning it is clear, the word “king” hanging over the head of Jesus and being said by those near him—the word was a joke. It was a punchline for some kind of sick political cartoon (ibid Duke). Here’s Jesus! “King of the Jews” (Luke 23:38).

Literally, the emperor had no clothing.

Those gathered representing the empire; those gathered representing religious authorities—they all thought Jesus was a fraud.

Their ridicule was evil. All things considered, in that moment it appeared evil had won its own victory over good.

Then there was a voice. The voice of a criminal. Did everyone hear him speak or was it only Jesus? What we know is that Jesus heard the criminal’s words:

“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42).

We know Jesus heard the words. Luke tells us Jesus heard the criminal’s words and finally, finally Jesus spoke:

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Christ the King lavishly granted forgiveness and peace on a criminal in his promise: Today you will be with me in paradise.

 Let’s be clear. Evil did not go away in that moment. But goodness stole the crown. Goodness turned their mockery into an eternal promise. Today you will be with me in paradise.

 Last Sunday we sang the words:

Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate…

And we sang that the

Victory is ours, victory is ours, through God who loves us. (ELW Hymn #721).

 

The victory is ours, because God so loved the world that God gave us Jesus (John 3:16).

What does this mean?

Let’s look at the origins of Christ the King Sunday for our answer.

In the 1920’s Pope Pious XI declared the last Sunday in October as the feast day of Christ the King. (“The feast of Christ the King” on www.aquinasandmore.com). Oddly, that was also the day Protestants celebrated the Reformation. During the Second Vatican Council the festival of Christ the King was moved to the last day of the Church year to avoid the irony of the two feast days being celebrated at the same time. (“The Not so Ancient Origins of Christ the King” on www.lutheranforum.com).

The intentions of the day of Christ the King were more than a little political. Church leaders wanted to focus the attention of Christians on the sovereignty of Jesus Christ rather than on the rule of political leaders and dictators.

Our needs are no different today.

With Jesus Christ as our Sovereign leader, goodness can and will conquer the evils of the world. Love is stronger than hate.

Our call is to focus our lives on that radical call to love. Even in the midst of our sufferings. Even as we witness and experience the sufferings of and in the world.

Jesus has always been quite clear. Love is stronger than hate.

So, on this Christ the King Sunday we remember and we proclaim:

Victory is ours, victory is ours, through God who loves us. (Repeat together).

Amen.

 

 

 

Sunday, November 17, 2019 – Pentecost 23

Pentecost 23 2019

Malachi 4:1-2a

Our Savior’s La Crosse

This past week I did something I’ve never done before: I read the entire book of Malachi. All fifty-five verses.

The book of Malachi is from a collection of books in the Old Testament commonly known as the Twelve Prophets. Malachi is the last of the twelve. In addition, the book of Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament. For that reason Tertullian called the book of Malachi “the skirt and boundary of Christianity” (as quoted in “The Book of Malachi” “Introduction” in The New Interpreter’s Bible vol. 7, p. 843). Where the Old Testament ends the New Testament begins…

We have 1.5 verses from the book of Malachi as our first reading.

The best parts of the book are left out.

For example, if we were to finish reading verse 2 instead of just reading half of the verse, our reading would be:   See the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all   evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you that revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

And then, in 2:3 it is written that the Lord said

I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence.

Malachi claimed the Lord was angry with some of the priests who had gotten lazy in their work. Rather than making animal sacrifices of the best animals from the herd, priests were sacrificing sickly beasts, or beasts that were lame or blind. Malachi believed this was an offense to God, hence the “dung” of those sickly animals would be used as a punishment against the priests, spread on their faces.

The best verse from the book is found in 2:17, where the people ask Malachi

“Where is the God of justice?”

 The question is haunting. Where is the God of justice?

The book of Malachi is believed to have been written after the Babylonian exile, during the period known as “the period of the Persian Empire” approximately 539-450 BC (ibid p. 847). The prophet Zechariah (whose book comes right before Malachi’s in the Old Testament) called this time “the day of small things” (Zechariah 4:10).

Malachi, then, was asking “where is the God of justice?” during the day of small things.

The question is haunting. Zechariah’s description of the time is intriguing. What do their thoughts mean for us?

I don’t think we would say that we live in the day of small things. Especially with our use of social media, everything in our day to day lives seems not just big but “HUGE!”

I make a pretty meal, a meal that looks delicious, before I take a bite I take a photo and splash it onto my Facebook page. Because my meal is that important…

I’m sitting home watching tv and I notice both dogs sitting on the bench, looking out the front window. Quick! Take a photo! Our dogs are so CUTE! Look everybody! Look at our dogs! As I post the photo on Facebook and Instagram…

What if we focused ourselves, our lives, on the small things? Would we find the God of Justice there? Because I’m not necessarily finding the God of Justice in the HUGE! things happening in the world that seem to be demanding all of my attention…

I took this photo when Jeanne and I were on vacation on the U.P. this past September. It was a rainy day and I was walking on the beach.

Can we find the God of Justice here, in this little leaf?

I think I can.

Lake Superior is 7 inches higher this year than it was last. Many of the beaches on the Keweenaw Peninsula are under water. If I look out our back windows at home I see the same thing happening to the Mississippi River. We’ve had an abundance of rain and snow—temperatures have been extreme highs and lows, much of which is explained by global warning.

The God of Justice entrusted us with this world, calling on us to be stewards of creation. The God of Justice calls us to look around and see what is happening and to act.

I took this photo when I was camping at Bethel Horizons over Labor Day weekend.

I was there for the camp’s 50^th anniversary. This is a photo of a wildflower called Goat’s Beard. The flower has gone to seed. It lives in a field of wildflowers intentionally planted and cared for by the camp’s Naturalist.

When I see Goat’s Beard growing I think of the camp and its commitment to serving at risk children from Dane County and Milwaukee. Children come to camp on “camperships.” I see the God of Justice in their young faces as they learn about life in a safe environment, where the worst threat to them is the ticks that are there in abundance.

If we make every day a day of small things, we won’t have to wait until the end of time to know God’s justice. God is calling us forward now—calling us into each and every moment. All we need to do is stop. And look. And listen.

And then we need to figure out what we can do to bring God’s justice to the world.

Amen.

Stewardship Sunday 2019

Stewardship Sermon

November 10, 2019

Psalm 121:2

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

 This verse is the foundation of what we believe about God.

Sunday after Sunday, in the Apostles’ Creed we say: I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

In Luther’s Small Catechism, on this petition of the Creed, Luther wrote: What does this mean? I believe that God has created me together with all that exists. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul…

After explaining in detail the details of God’s provision and protection of each of us, Luther wrote: For all of this I owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey…

 Why do we “owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey?”

Because God, “the sovereign ruler of the cosmos has a personal concern for the lives of God’s people” (“Psalm 121:1-8 Commentary” in The New Interpreter’s Bible, vol. 4, p. 1181).

Our gifts to God are part of our response to God for all God has done for us. Our gifts to God are literally, a return gift, in-kind. God has given us our very lives. “God has given… and still preserves [our] bodies and [our] souls.” In return, we thank God with our financial gifts. We thank God with our gifts of time. We thank God with our gifts of talent—all given to God in God’s name.

Hopefully, we give joyfully.

We give to God in so many different ways besides the obvious.

When folks think about stewardship, the clearest implication is that we are “stewarding” our money: we are caring for our money as best we can by directing a portion of it to the Church. It is a given that this congregation needs our financial gifts. We need financial support to have a pastor and to have a staff and to engage in the ministries we engage in and to serve the needs we serve.

Hence, this morning, we make financial pledges to the church for next year, bringing our pledge cards forward during the offering.

I’d like to encourage an additional way to think about what it is we offer.

You have all already made an offering this morning. Your first offering has already been given.

When you got out of bed this morning and you decided to come to church instead of staying home, you made an offering.

If you are worshiping with us from home, or while on the road, or while staying with family or friends, you have already made your first offering.

Getting out of bed on a cold early winter’s day is an offering. There are only two people here who have to be here: me, and Trevor. We have to be here if we want to get paid! It is our job to get out of bed. It isn’t anybody else’s. You all made a choice to join us in worship, here physically or by using technology. That is a gift. You have given and are giving God the first hours of your day.

Your gift is not taken for granted.

Let’s add another layer to your giving. You are giving this time to God; this is also a gift of time to yourself and to your relationship with God. Adding a third layer, this gift of time is a gift to yourself and this community of faith. Your presence strengthens us and offers you the opportunity to be strengthened.

When I’m ready for worship, I have a habit of standing in the church office doorway, watching people arrive and walk into the sanctuary. Waiting and watching isn’t just an opportunity for me to say hi to people. Waiting and watching is an opportunity for me to watch an offering procession. Just as our ushers process up the aisle to hand our acolytes our offerings—you all process through the hallway, offering yourselves.

You’re getting out of bed; you’re getting dressed and getting in your car and driving to church; you’re hopping on your bike to ride here; you’re moving through your house or your camper to find your computer and your returning it on; you’re driving to a coffee shop with your laptop and finding our worship service—these are all movements that, when combined become an offering of self that is just as vital as the passing of an offering plate.

Think about this on a global level. Think of all the people who process to church somewhere, at some time. Think of people walking sidewalks to worship in huge cathedrals, people walking paths through forests or jungles to gather in open worship spaces, people gathering in chapels in nursing homes, people praying in or beside hospital beds—

All of this is self-giving. We are gifting God with ourselves and our time, thankful for all God has given us.

All of this is given because we know, because we trust that “our help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”

I look to the hills, from where does my help come?

My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

The Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

He will keep your life.

The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in

From this time on and forever more.

Quoting Luther:

For all of this we owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey. Amen.

Sunday, November 3, 2019 – All Saints Sunday

All Saints 2019

Our Savior’s La Crosse

Ephesians 1:15-23

Luke 6:20-31

Yesterday I began my devotion for the Style Show with a quote from one of my favorite books of Meditation. The book is a collection of writings by Dorothy Day. During the Great Depression Dorothy Day and a couple of her colleagues founded the Catholic Worker, a monthly newspaper. They established St. Joseph’s House of Hospitality about the same time—an establishment that provided meals and a place to sleep for folks needing assistance. St. Joseph’s was the first of many such houses of hospitality throughout the United States, including here in La Crosse where we have our own Place of Grace.

Anyway—the quote I read was this:

“…it is only in the duties of the moment that we are able to see and find Christ.”

(Meditations by Dorothy Day p. 3)

It is only in the duties of the moment.

Examining the “duties of the moment” requires us to understand what a “duty” is.

In the land of ethics, a “duty” is a moral obligation. A duty is something we are obliged to do just because we ARE—just because we exist. All humans have moral obligations… moral duties. The problem with knowing what those moral obligations are is that nobody knows for sure. Our understandings of moral duties depend on who we are and what we believe.

As Christians, our moral obligations are clear. We are to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. And Jesus was clear. When asked, he said the greatest commandment was to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 2:37-39).

Following Jesus means then, that our moral obligation, our DUTY is to love God and neighbor.

When we love God and we love neighbor, we are able to see and find Christ.

In our reading from Ephesians this is put another way. St. Paul wrote:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ…may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe… (1:17- 19).

The glorious inheritance among the saints that we receive is the gift of our baptism: the gift of God’s graceful love that embraces us and forgives us, leading us (with all the saints) to life on earth and in heaven with God.

Tuesday afternoon a young man stopped our office, asking to speak to me. He told me that he had come to La Crosse with a friend, just for fun. He said the friend’s car broke down, and in the process of getting the car fixed or getting a ride home—the friend “ditched him.” So this young man found another friend who let him stay in the friend’s van while he found a way to get home. Home is in MN.

The young man spent a week and a half looking for a way to get home. For a week and a half he slept in a van, trying to find a way home. Finally, people at the Place of Grace told him to come here.

We were able to buy him a ticket to get a ride on a shuttle, to a place in MN where his mom would pick him up. He hadn’t eaten all day so the Come for Supper people made him a sandwich. Lois bought him a pop. He kept saying “You people are so helpful…”

My question is, why did it take a week and a half for him to find someone to help him?

He told me people kept telling him to go to different places, but that no one could help… better put, no one would help him… As he told me that he just shook his head, baffled.

Folks, it is our moral obligation as Christians to love God, and to love our neighbors. Our moral obligation is to help those who are most vulnerable… like a young man stranded in town with no way home. We don’t do these things because we have to do them to get to heaven, we do these things because it is what Jesus taught us to do.

“…it is only in the duties of the moment that we are able to see and find Christ.”

I read a second quote yesterday, during my devotion. This one was from words written by Dorothy Day, herself:

 Our lives are made up of little miracles every day. That splendid globe of sun, one street wide, framed at the foot of [the] street in early morning mists, that greeted me on my way … to Mass…was a miracle… I was  reminded of a little song [my daughter] composed at the age of two:“I’ll sing a song…of sunshine on a little house and the sunshine is a present  on the little house.” Sunshine… is indeed a present. We get presents, lots of  them…” (MDD, p. 18).

The greatest present we shall ever receive is the gift of Jesus and his love for us. The greatest gift we can ever give is the gift of Jesus and his love for us. We give Jesus and his love in “the duties of the moment.”

It is my prayer that we see and find Christ in all that we say and in all that we do.

Amen.