September 2, 2018. The essence of hypocrisy is when people's words and actions may appear to honor God, but their hearts are steeped in pride and sin and judgment of others. Pastor Stephanie discusses this in the context of the Mosaic Law as well as how this happens today. Do we have some adjusting to do when we look in the mirror? *** Transcript *** Did you find it a bit odd that it appears in the gospel reading that Jesus' disciples are accused of eating with unwashed hands, and that's just okay with Jesus? After all, that seems like something over which there should be no dispute. Washing hands before eating is just common sense, isn't it? Our moms told us that, and nearly every bathroom has a sign reminding us, at least the employees, to do so before they go back to handling food. Because it's just a matter of good hygiene to get rid of the germs. So this must be about something else. The interaction between Jesus and these strict religious leaders has nothing whatsoever to do with germs and hygiene, just to put your mind at rest on that. But it is all about religious behaviors and expectations. So, a little context for that is an order. The law of Moses, which we call the first five books of the Bible, devoted a lot of attention to the matter of ritual purity. That means performing rituals in order to be considered pure. There were lots of things specified, from touching a dead body, to the mixing of meat and milk, and other things that we consider very peculiar now, that could make one ritually unclean and therefore barred from temple worship. But it's important to note that the state of uncleanness was not the same thing as sinfulness. One could be ritually unclean just in the normal course of life by having done nothing wrong. And the prescriptions for that were not repentance, but ritual cleansing. And over time, those cleansing rituals became of utmost importance and there were more and more of them. When visiting Israel these days, it's quite amazing how frequently you will see baths for ritual cleansing -- they're called mikvahs -- in nearly every archaeological excavation. They were ubiquitous as we traveled around the country, obviously revealing how valued they were as part of the religious culture into which Jesus arrived. I would certainly not want to give the impression that Jesus was against people being cleansed from impurities. That would be far from the truth. But the confrontation of Jesus with the Pharisees from Jerusalem, as recorded in Mark 7, is not really about the whole issue of purity or of being cleansed from sin. It's about how these Pharisees were using laws to construct a system of ritual purity, more or less to define who was in and who was out. After describing the Pharisees' complaint to Jesus, Mark steps back a bit from telling the story to do some explaining to the folks in Rome, for whom this gospel was written. He might as well be explaining to us, because we don't observe these rituals either. They knew little or nothing about Jewish interpretations of the Mosaic law at that time. Mark correctly points out that the law did specify that priests needed to wash before performing sacrifices on the altar, but the law handed down from Moses had nothing to say about everyone else washing their hands in a certain way before eating bread. As frequently happens in religious circles however, more details get added that detract from original intentions over time. So the Pharisees, the ultra religious leaders, amplified the original teaching to include the expectation that every God-honoring person should wash their hands before eating, but it had to be done in a prescribed way. The practice was to take a specifically designed pitcher of water and pour it twice from the right hand over the left hand, and then from the left hand over the right hand (unless you were left-handed and then you could reverse the process). But this had not been taught by Moses. It was simply added on over time. But this w

August 26, 2018. Do we choose or are we chosen? Pastor Stephanie tackles this theological puzzle today, as we as a congregation find ourselves between pastors and the Transition Team is meeting for the first time. *** Transcript *** Do we choose or are we chosen? Perennial question. I will admit that right up front this week, I tried to choose another theme out of the lectionary passages for worship today. But where we are landing just kept coming back to me. It seemed too complicated to deal with in such a short time. So I tried to push it off to some other day, and I could never feel really good about choosing something else. So here we go. You see I find myself in that line of theological thought which insists that God chooses us long before we ever give a thought to choosing God. And yet, in both the words of Joshua today and in the words of Jesus in this week's gospel, we are given the matter of choice. Will we go forward, as Joshua proposes, and serve the Lord who has faithfully brought us this far in safety and care? Or, will we let our wandering hearts give in to other idols that vie for our attention and devotion? Will we follow the crowd that looks at the curious teachings of Jesus and the cost of discipleship and say, "That's too much for me," and back off? Or we will line up with Peter, who sees the cost, yet also sees the incredible value of following Jesus, and choose to line up behind him? Actually, I wish it were easy to choose God's ways once and for all, but really we get to choose over and over again. Or, should I say that we see how we have been chosen already by God, and we see the results of that over and over again throughout our lifetimes? Who is doing the choosing? Volumes have been written, and centuries of debate have been spent on trying to figure out this theological puzzle. See why I did not want to address this in 10 to 12 minutes? So, when faced with such puzzles, I say use narrative whenever possible. I have to say that when I look back over my own life as objectively as I can, it appears to me that a whole lot of time, choices that I think I made were pretty clearly mine. But maybe I wasn't really the one choosing. Maybe I was being guided into a choice. Here's an example: a few years ago, I received an invitation to work as the Coordinator for Adult Discipleship for the Reformed Church in America, the partner denomination to the ELCA, in which I was ordained as minister of word and sacrament. I thought I had chosen to accept that call. In that role there was one persistent theme that tugged at me. As I thought about what was the one key piece that holds all of discipleship together, one theme kept appearing: abiding in Christ, and Christ abiding in us. In our gospel reading today Jesus says, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them." That is not an unusual phrase in the Gospel of John. In fact, the intimate connection between God and people abiding in each other is all over the place in John's gospel. "Abide," for those of you who don't use that word too often (perhaps we don't daily) means to remain in, to stay deeply connected with one another. Jesus says, "Abide in me, and I in you. Apart from me you can do nothing." Then he explains in John 15, "I am the vine and you are the branches." And throughout the gospel we see these phrases: "Abide in my love," "Abide in my word," "The spirit abides in you," and on and on. So to abide in or dwell in the living bread is what strengthens us to continue to choose whom we will follow. Because when we dwell with someone, we get more deeply acquainted with that one's nature, character, and dependability. So all of those abiding teachings became the lens through which I thought about, and taught about, discipleship from then on. But was I choosing this as a life and work theme, or was something else at play? Thinking back, it was inevitable. The silent retreats I felt drawn to attend, the people who stretched my view and prac

August 19, 2018. Pastor Stephanie's message is about the real deal, represented by Wisdom Woman in Proverbs 9, versus the lack of substance of Woman Folly. She illustrates the difference through the telling of a story from the Chronicles of Narnia, by C. S. Lewis. *** Transcript *** Neon signs beckon us. Advertisements beg for our attention. Campaigns warn us of impending doom if we don't follow the way that they propose. Talk show people try to persuade us that their latest discoveries will revolutionize our lives. So many messages, so many invitations to come and eat at the tables of goodness, riches, a better life than ever. Just come, they beckon. Buy or use or try what we have to offer, and you will have the good life. It seems we have many invitations to sort through. Which ones are good and meaningful? Which ones actually deliver on their promises? How does one know where to turn? The way of wisdom, or learning to walk in wisdom, is a scriptural concept that was meant to help people to recognize that there are directions in our lives that we can take, based on the invitations, and which ones we should accept. And the whole chapter of Proverbs 9 gives us a clear look at the difference between accepting an invitation to the table of Wisdom Woman, or Woman Folly. Let me give you an example of the type of woman that is Folly, and you would find that by continuing on and reading the rest of Proverbs 9. She calls to us and invites us to eat at her table, just as the previous woman whom we read about does. But what Woman Folly has to offer only looks good on the surface. Everything she invites one to taste crumbles and turns sour, eventually. What she offers cannot satisfy, because it contains no true substance. Her promises are built on lies and fabrications, as she offers cheap imitations of the things which are truly good, pure, just, and kind. If you are familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis, you may remember a depiction of one of the Pevensie children falling prey to the flattering words and flimsy promises of the White Queen. She is of the same ilk as Woman Folly in Proverbs 9. Now, the four children in this story -- two sisters and two brothers who are on this adventure -- have already met Aslan, who is the Christ figure. He is leading them on a path of wisdom and goodness. But human nature being what it is, the boy Edmund finds the temptation of following another way too much to resist. As this part of the story unfolds, he sneaks off with the White Queen because he can't resist the treat she offers, a delicious confection known as Turkish Delight. The queen offers him something to drink and then says, "It is dull to drink while not eating. What would you like best to eat?" She knows fully well where she can tempt him. "Turkish Delight please, your majesty," said Edmund. The queen let another drop fall from her bottle onto the snow and instantly there appeared a round box tied with green silk which, when opened, turned out to contain several pounds of the best Turkish Delight. Each piece was sweet and light to the very center, and Edmund had never tasted anything so delicious. He was quite warm now, and really comfortable. While he was eating, the queen kept asking him questions. At first, Edmund tried to remember that it is rude to speak with one's mouth full. But soon he forgot about this and thought only of trying to shovel down as much as possible. The more he ate, the more he wanted to eat, and he never asked himself why the queen should be so inquisitive. She seemed especially interested in the fact that there were four of them, and kept on coming back to it. "You are sure there are just four of you?" she asked, "Two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve, neither more nor less?" "Yes," said Edmund, "Two sons of Adam and two daughters of Eve," while he stuffed his mouth more full of Turkish Delight and kept saying, "I told you that before," and forgetting to call her your majesty, but she didn't se

August 12, 2018. We all have wilderness experiences, times when we feel troubled, scared, and depressed. The Prophet Elijah was no stranger to these feelings. Pastor Stephanie talks about Elijah's journey, the origin of the word "companion," and Jesus the living bread, in today's sermon. *** Transcript *** I'm sure many of you have heard of wilderness adventures that have been advertised as being exotic and one-of-a-kind experiences. They get people to shell out serious dollars to get away from it all and to experience time and space, to reconnect with nature and one's selves. I'm sure you've heard of them. They come in many forms. Maybe you've even gone off on one and had the time of your life. Having spent some time in the beautiful Rocky Mountains a month ago and hiking back into some less traveled paths, I can relate to refreshing experiences of enjoying wilderness beauty, and many of you can as well. Hardly anything beats slowing down enough to be refreshed by hanging out in beautiful locations. I assure you there was nothing too exotic on our itinerary. Just some good hiking, photography, and breathing in the lovely alpine air with our family. But judging from the coming and going of so many of you -- some whom I've met briefly and then you've been gone for a Sunday, or I've been gone for a Sunday -- I know that there have been times in our spaces together in which you have traveled as well as I have traveled, and I hope that you've had some wilderness type experiences that have refreshed your soul and your spirit. Because there is tremendous value in getting away to places that are full of natural beauty and near solitude. It helps our mental health, doesn't it? It refreshes our bodies, and our spirits as well. But sometimes being in the wilderness takes on an entirely different meaning, one that is not so pleasant, and even one that we would love to avoid at all costs. It can be described metaphorically as times when we feel somewhat lost, or at least less anchored. We might be experiencing challenging circumstances and we are feeling deeply discouraged, or we may be coming off a time period where the demands on our physical and emotional health have been such, but now we feel nearly depleted. It's even possible that we cannot put a finger on what it is that makes us feel out of sorts, but we are troubled, sometimes depressed and scared. We might call these our wilderness experiences. Now, parenthetically, depression is a tricky thing. Some of what I'll say today could cause more discouragement if you, or someone you know, is going through serious clinical depression. If that's the case, medical treatment should be sought. I would in no way want to be considered suggesting that a person is not spiritual enough when depressive thoughts are present. That is certainly not the case. There are many complicating factors, and it's best to have it fully examined and treated. Right now, we're going to be talking about things that make us mad or sad, like I was talking about with the children. Feeling depleted and discourage is certainly not an uncommon human condition. I'm sure many of us could relate a bit to Elijah. Even the likes of Elijah, one of the most well-known and respected of the Old Testament prophets, was engulfed in discouragement during the time of our reading. This reading recounts his discouragement following an extraordinarily high high for him, which indicates that success and feel-good moments can actually be rather short-lived, can't they? We can be high and feeling great one day, and the next day something happens and our feelings plummet. But Elijah has just challenged the Prophets of Baal to a showdown. And to sum it up, God showed up in a very big way to vindicate what Elijah was claiming that God had the power to do. So here in the next scene, we may be quite surprised that Elijah has run out into the wilderness after threats on his life were made by the wicked Queen Jezebel. After all he, had just fac

October 27, 2019. Pastor Stephanie preaches on the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector from Luke 18. We like to categorize people as "good" and "bad." But people are more complex than that. We will all have setbacks and situations that humble us, and it's better to accept the value of humility. *** Transcript *** Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Some of you, I have learned, are fans of pneumonic devices and short, pithy phrases that capture the essence of a theme. I'm also a fan of such things. I appreciate simplicity, especially for abstract concepts whenever possible. Over the past several months, I have employed the technique of selecting a six word phrase and repeating it throughout the sermon in an attempt to leave an imprint of the main theme of the sermon. On Easter Sunday the well-known credo "Jesus is risen from the dead" was said several times throughout the message. I repeated that technique a couple of other times since then, with the result of several of you talking back to me at the conclusion of the service in your own six word messages. I love the way you engage in worship with me and with one another. So today I'm going to stretch your memory just a tad by utilizing a seven word phrase. Are you ready? This one comes from 20th Century author James Matthew, better known as J. M. Barrie. He's the guy who captured the imaginations of millions with his stories of the boy who refuse to grow up, Peter Pan. In a lesser known work of his entitled The Little Minister, he tells a tale of which the essence is stated like this: life is a long lesson in humility. Isn't that the truth? We learn and we grow and we achieve, and think that that should lead us from one success to another. Instead, we find out along the way that what we know and what we accomplished, while important, are not the be all and end all. We will have setbacks, and we will have situations that humble us. Better to accept early and often the value of humility, according to Jesus. Luke 18 says that Jesus told the parable that we read today to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and regarded others with contempt. Reading that reminded me of the propensity that some have of labeling some people in the "good category" and others in the "bad category" according to our own viewpoints. When I studied educational psychology in college, my professor was very fond of Lawrence Kohlberg's theories of moral development. So we studied those carefully. In Kohlberg's theory, people who label others as clearly being one or the other, good or bad, are actually functioning at about a third grade level of moral thinking. As you might guess, people who have fixed those labels on others are usually doing that based on what? Outward behavior, outward appearance, qualities or actions. The longer we live though, friends, connected to God's wisdom, the more we see that people simply cannot be lumped into these categories as easily as we thought. None of us is wholly good nor wholly bad. We are all far more complex than that. The highest level of moral development thinking is level 6, and Kohlberg attributed that to those who operate by values associated with Jesus' teachings on The Sermon on the Mount, including the Beatitudes: Blessed are the meek. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are the peacemakers. While the longer we walk with Christ and have our own sharp edges softened, it is also true that none of us can live at level 6 all the time. It becomes more clear to us that we will never be righteous in and of ourselves. Life is a long lesson in humility. Two people went to the temple to pray. One, a pious, devout religious person, a Pharisee who prayed, "God I thank you that I'm not like other people: extortioners, murderers, adulterers, or like this tax collector. I fast. I pray. I tithe all that I have." Now, no one here is going to say that not being an extortioner, a murderer, or an adulterer is a bad thing. Those

August 5, 2018. Katie Ciorba preaches (and sings!) on Paul's ideas about a maturity of faith. How do we grow in the body of Christ, with a childlike faith versus a childish faith? How do we grieve the loss of our pastors and of valued families, and still look forward together to the work of the Transition and Call Committees? It may seem overwhelming, but we don't have to do this work alone. *** Transcript *** In 1982, Amy Grant (a singer some of you may be familiar with, maybe for some of her later work which became crossover pop music like the song "Baby Baby") came out with the album Age to Age, which really was her first breakout music. She was a Christian singer. I was seven years old at that time, and I thought that Amy Grant sang and looked like an angel. She still is beautiful. She has some really amazing songs on that album. One is called "El Shaddai." There's another song called "Sing Your Praise to the Lord." I knew every single word on that entire album, and not only that but I forced all of the children in my neighborhood to know every word of that album, and we performed concerts for which we charged money to come watch us perform. At that time I still believed that one of the spiritual gifts God had given me was to be a singer. It's not true. But it was also the last time I sang in church. I sang "El Shaddai." Again, I was probably 10 years old and I believed that I could sing that song. So as I was reading the scripture for this week and thinking about where it brings me, one song from this album came to my mind and it's called "Fat Baby." Obviously it's not politically correct, and probably Amy wouldn't be singing it today. And it was buried in the middle of the album. To be honest, it's not a great song. It's a jazzy song and... okay, I will sing a little bit for you. So, pardon me. Remember, it's not my gift. So she says: He's just a fat little baby! Wa, wa, waaaaa... He wants his bottle, and he don't mean maybe He sampled solid foods once or twice But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice He's been baptized, sanctified, redeemed by the blood His daily devotions are stuck in the mud He knows the books of the Bible and John 3:16 He's got the biggest King James you've ever seen! That's it for my singing. So, as I was thinking about this song a lot, thinking about what Paul had said in our epistle for today, he's saying that folks who really show off their Biblical knowledge without having a mature faith is exactly what Amy Grant was singing about. In our scripture, Paul asks us not to be children, but to be mature in Christ, which really led me to think a lot this week: what does it mean to not be a fat baby in Christ? I don't think that Paul was referring to things like mowing the lawn or paying the bills. You see often now on facebook or Instagram people doing such mundane tasks, and then saying "Hashtag: Adulting." I don't think that's what Paul was talking about in terms of maturity. I also actually think it's interesting some of the readings use the word, our face should not be like "infants." In our reading today we read "children," but I think actually probably "infants" is a better word for what we're talking about. I don't think Paul is actually being ageist against children. In other parts of the Bible, in Mark for example, Jesus says that the knowledge of God belongs to children. And we often hear that having a childlike faith is something we should aspire to. To me, what a childlike faith means is fully embracing the mystery that is God, and believing with all of our heart, soul, and mind. But perhaps what Paul is referring to is something that Rusty Osborne posits, that Paul is making the distinction between having a childlike faith and having a childish faith. Here, Paul seems to be saying that maturity is a firm, steadfast belief in Christ that endures times of questioning. He seems to be saying that being mature in our faith is actually a commitment to faith in and of itself. When Matt and I

July 29, 2018. The focus of Pastor Tom Schoenherr's sermon today comes from Psalm 145: God's love for all. Sometimes in our society we want to withhold God's grace and mercy for only certain people. But God keeps reminding us that it's for everyone. *** Transcript *** Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I need to confess that the reading of the psalm was my idea, in order that we might be able to see that in those short amount of verses, there are 14 mentions of "all." Fourteen times I think -- you want to count them to make sure? Fourteen times that "all" is used in that psalm. And it just spoke to me as an evidence of God's multitude of his giving of his abundance. [Holding a paper] I know you can't see this. This is the Pickles cartoon for this weekend. They're both sitting on easy chairs in the living room. Earl is reading the paper. You know, the Pickles cartoon? It's an older couple. There, okay. And then you hear the phone ring. It looks like it's in his pocket. This is kind of a negative example. And he's still reading the paper, and the recording is going on in his pocket. It says, "Hi, this is Earl. I can't answer the phone right now, even though it's in my shirt pocket. At the tone, you can leave a message if you'd like. But who are we kidding? We both know you'd probably have better luck putting it in a bottle and tossing it in the ocean. Have a nice day." And then she looks at him and says, "You know you're despicable, don't you?" As I said, a kind of negative example of what this psalm and this gospel lesson for today are about. Some of you may use a portion of the psalm as your meal prayer. "The eyes of all wait upon You, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." What a wonderful prayer. And it is God's love for all that is the focus of that psalm, and is the focus of Jesus' feeding. It is that gift of God's grace and mercy that we so desperately need in our lives and in our world that we receive from God in this special way. Our world, including you and me, at times is very anxious. We live in an anxious time. People are kind of upset a lot, and into this world, into this anxiety, God gives a message that he has come to bring grace and mercy to all. And we want to withhold it for only certain ones. Or our society and our world do. But God keeps saying no, it's for all. It's for everyone. The words from the psalm are, "The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down." Dr. Rachel Remen tells a story about a time when she was on an airplane and she was sitting at the bulkhead. She was on the aisle seat, there was an empty seat, and then there was an older man who was sitting next to the window. And he was just looking out the window. She sat down and she put her purse in that empty seat, and then she opened a book. She was going to read as much as she could on this flight. And then the flight attendants came along and they were giving out a snack to people (this is a long time ago) of a bagel and a pint of yogurt. Well, she went back to reading her book, and then she heard her seat mate gasp. She looked down, and he had spilled all of that yogurt on to the carpeting of the floor, onto his shoe, and onto a small carry-on bag that was under the seat. She waited, thinking that he was going to do something to try to clean it up, but nothing happened. And so she looked and she noticed that he had a brace that was on his left leg. She thought, his left leg is paralyzed. She turned on her light for the flight attendants to come and help, but they were quite busy with the rest of the plane and plane passengers. And so when the flight attendant came, she was really quite upset with Rachel for asking her to do this little favor. But Rachel Remen said, "All I really need is if you would give me a wet towel, and I'll take care of it myself." Soon the wet towel came, and Rache

July 22, 2018. Have you ever had one of those days when you just need to have a break? Jesus and his disciples had those days. He had compassion for the human need facing him, and as his followers his compassion begins to take hold in our lives. So what do we do when we need some rest? Pastor Stephanie's sermon today is about following our shepherd and receiving what we need from his hands.  *** Transcript ***  You've all had "those days," haven't you? When all you want to do is get away from work after a [mic cuts out]. (I'm having one of those days. Okay, at least I got the children's message in the right time. But now I've got to shut the mic off. So here we go.) But you had those days where all you want to do is get away from work after a trying day, or from the nursing home where you become emotionally drained, or from school with its impossible demands on your time, or frankly from your colicky child whom you love more than life itself, but now you just have to have a break. You long for a place where you can relax in peace and quiet, where you can experience some comfort and refreshment, and you're just about to, and the relief is on the way, and then something happens to interrupt your plans. And you're back on duty being responsible and caring for the needs of others.  This is pretty much where we find Jesus and his disciples in our gospel reading today. They've had it rough -- and I mean emotionally, physically, mentally, in every possible way rough. They're just coming off the horrific news, as we read in the scriptures last week, of the death of John the Baptist. And that would have been unnerving at the very least. To know that Herod's family system would take such vengeance on one of their own would have shaken them to the core. John was not only a co-worker, if you will. He was Jesus' own cousin and possibly one of his closest confidants.  What was going on in Herod's palace? During that time, the disciples had been out in the countryside, sent by Jesus to cast out unclean spirits and to heal the sick. That had to be quite demanding as well. Exhilarating, and yet challenging. So now we have them all getting reunited. What a debriefing process that must have been: super, super high highs, and at least one devastating low. They are all beyond tired and weary from it all. So Jesus suggest that they retreat for some much needed R&R, and that is where they are headed as they make their way across the sea when they are met with enormous need, right in front of them. Crowds of people have gathered along the shoreline, desperate to experience Jesus' healing presence for themselves and their loved ones.  The nearest I can come to imagining this would be to relate to you an experience I had in South India in 2006. My husband and I were part of a group of eight people who, with our gracious hosts from the church of South India, visited churches, schools, and medical facilities connected to our denomination's mission work. We were there for 14 life-changing days. Never have I met so many joy-filled, dedicated Christian believers all in one place as we met there. Nor have I met such crowds of people with so many looks of desperation and pleas of help on their very beings. To be with a small entourage in a sea of human need in the city of Chennai, or even on the hillsides of Kerala, is something I will never forget. I only know that by about day 12, I was nearly completely physically exhausted, and it was an over-the-top emotionally draining experience.  Now, let's go back to the scene where Jesus and his disciples are anticipating a much-needed rest. They've had many days of meeting needs and caring for people, while managing their own weariness from doing so. Imagine the reality of that time of rest fading away as they face the vast human need coming into focus before their eyes. Can you imagine trying to catch a glimpse of Jesus' face in slow motion as he catches a glimpse of the crowd? Wh

July 15, 2018. The Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians sounds almost too good to be true, perhaps a bit too gushy for some of our sensibilities. Pastor Stephanie preaches on this passage, and on the plan that God has for us all. *** Transcript *** Sometimes when I confront a Biblical passage, it seems too big, too wonderful, too exalted to dare preach about it. Many of the passages, as you know, are so sublime and glorious that it's downright intimidating to think that any one of us could do it justice. I feel that way this morning about the words of a letter to the Ephesians that was read for us earlier, and yet it kept calling to me to work with it this Sunday. Realize, dear congregation, that the intro to this letter is something really special. I'm sure you caught the wide sweeping language the Apostle Paul employs to capture our imaginations, of a powerful vision for us regarding our relationship with a grand and loving God. So, how is the Apostle Paul handling this here? Mostly he is not giving a doctrinal lesson, as he sometimes does in Romans, although there is some of that here, nor is he giving an ethical lecture like he does to the church in Corinth. This passage is more like an overture to a vast musical composition in which all the great themes of a symphony are introduced. Paul seems to hurl himself here into a great burst of praise to God. In the Greek text, the passage that Pastor Jim read is one sentence, one sentence of long celebration that goes on and on for 12 verses. It's been broken down into a few sentences for us in English, thankfully for our reading, but it is still a mouthful for a lector to read, and a whole lot of soaring rhetoric for our minds to comprehend. So, how can and should this be preached? Even at this moment I'm not entirely sure, but I don't think it's to dissect it and analyze every piece of it. That's for an in-depth biblical study to do that. But focusing so narrowly on it would be to miss its wonder and depth. So somehow together I hope we can gain a glimpse of the vision expressed here and enter into its power. If this happens throughout our time here today, then we will have received what this text wants to give us: mental, emotional, and spiritual engagement that becomes a symphony of praise offered to our God. You do know that I run the risk here of sounding like a salesperson with an offer that is too good to be true, don't you? You heard the language employed here. It's one thing for the Apostle Paul to use this language, but for ordinary people like me, to go on and on about how you and I are chosen, how we are accepted, how we are adopted by God, how we are graced beyond our imaginations, how we are forgiven of everything we have ever done, how we are lavished with the riches of God's grace, how we are destined according to God's promises, and heirs of the almighty God... All of that could breed some distrust and suspicion, as I would imagine. That sounds almost too good to be true. The superlatives here border on the "bit too gushy" for some of our sensibilities. After all, over time we've had to become realists, and some of this sounds a bit too lofty to comprehend and to be completely true, through and through. Haven't we all listened to enough commercials and promotions to wonder if this language isn't just a bit over the top? We'll see as we move forward, but maybe, just maybe we need to examine what might be at play for us, even if it does sound too good to be true. First of all, one of the major concepts here is that we are beloved by God. That's well established throughout Scripture. God says in many places and times, "I have called you by name and you are mine." Another psalm says our names are written in the palm of God's hands. We have the whole narrative and theology of the fact that Christ died for us, even in our sin while we were yet sinners, loved us enough to die for us, and Jesus himself calls us his friends. And further, beyond that, it says that God h

July 8, 2018. Jesus was not accepted as the messiah in his own hometown. Pastor Jim Bennett's message is about how God's strength is shown best in weakness and humility, something that may be difficult for us, like the people of Nazareth, to embrace today. *** Transcript *** I wonder if Christ Lutheran Church has ever had a son or a daughter who was raised in the church, and then went on to become an ordained pastor. There's a story of a new, young minister being introduced to her home congregation for the first time following her ordination to word and sacrament ministry. Her parents were proud. Her pastor was proud. Her Sunday School teachers were proud. Everybody was proud. She was surprised by the long, loud applause when she was introduced. And being young and quick of wit, she responded, "When there is applause at the start of one's ministry, that's faith. When there is applause in the middle of one's ministry, that's hope. When there's applause at the end of one's ministry, that's charity." When Jesus walked into his hometown of Nazareth for the first time after his commissioning in the temple, there was no applause. The people were not proud. They were confused. They reacted with disbelief to his words and deeds saying, "Is this not the carpenter?" They could not believe that Jesus of Nazareth, that small child that they perceived as a bit arrogant for having taught in the temple as a young boy, was there in their midst, was actually the Messiah that all the other surrounding towns were so excited about. The people of Nazareth could not accept Jesus for who or what he was because of their preconceived ideas that they carried with them. Let me digress just for a moment, if you will. Martin Luther was known for conveying some radical ideas about the gospel. I joined the Lutheran Church as a teenager and I have to confess, being unchurched for many, many years, that at that time, my life could have been a poster child for what inspired Luther's well-worn phrase where he said, "Sin boldly that grace may abound." Now, I'm not trying to compare myself with Jesus. But when I announced ten years later that I was intending to go to seminary to become a pastor, there were some people who, to say the least, had some quizzical looks on their faces. And following my ordination, I remember being invited back to my home congregation to face those proud Sunday School teachers who probably saw me as proof that miracles still exist. The people of Nazareth in Jesus' day, and sometimes the people in our own congregations, have some firmly set expectations of what or who they expect pastors and prophets to be. And the church has a right to expect that those who are called to be set apart in this way, to be above reproach, and who are respectful and honorable women and men who preach the Good News, who preach the gospel. But someone forgot to tell the people of Nazareth that the gospel that Jesus wants us to hear really can come across in two ways. The gospel is intended to comfort the afflicted, but it's also intended to inflict the comfortable. And I think Jesus in Nazareth did the latter. You remember that young woman pastor in the story that I started my sermon with, whose congregation was so proud of her? Well, the sermon that she preached that first Sunday after her ordination was one where the message conveyed an advocation for social justice. She was really challenging her congregation to step up and do some amazing things. She was calling her congregation to a higher level of accountability. Some members thought that she was pretty tough on them, but they thought she was young and they were still proud. So they invited her to return, year after year, and the second year when she came back, the very next year she preached the same sermon. Well, they were still proud. They were a little confused but they thought well, she's young. Maybe she forgot she preached the same sermon the year before. The next year she returned and she preach