Simply Grace

Thank you Pastor Linda, Pastor Emeritus (Interim) at Grace Lutheran Church for preaching, teaching, and encouraging the saints on the Baptism of Our Lord Sunday!

Sermon 2022.01.02

Pastor Wesley Menke

Grace Lutheran Church

Did I ever tell you about the time I met the guy who invented rocket fuel? I was serving as a chaplain at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. It must have been one of the nurses who told me she had this highly regarded patient. He had had a procedure and I was sure that he would love a visit from the friendly chaplain who was a mathematics major in college, and a huge science geek. When I went into the room I saw him sitting in his bed looking down at his tray of food. He had very long fingernails. The fork, spoon, and knife all sat unused as he methodically ate using his bare hands. 

I tried to strike up a conversation but he never once turned to acknowledge my existence. With him there was a kind of attendant. He was a very kind man who cared for the patient like a personal assistant or caretaker, and this same man smiled at me and said, thank you so much for your visit, chaplain, I don’t think today is a good day to chat. I left the room feeling not a little disappointed. I had so wanted to talk about science, engineering, math, and space exploration with this legendary man, but as it turned out, that isn’t what he wanted to do. 

It could have not been a good time to talk, it didn’t seem that way, it seemed more likely that the attendant felt that a scientist wouldn’t have anything to gain from religion and vice versa. Why do so many people think that way?

Many science minded people reject religion because they cannot find evidence for a God who rewards or punishes people based on their behavior. So they say, I don’t believe in God. Actually, as Lutheran Christians, we should not disagree with them. Luther rejected the belief that there was a God who punished or rewarded us for our behavior. Luther had such a sober and realistic view of humanity that if that were true all of humanity would be condemned to death, except for Jesus of course. Instead, what Luther found in scripture, and what he had faith in was a God who loved all of creation and humanity with unconditional love. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was a salvific act and declaration of God’s word for all of humanity to save us not because we are good enough, but just because that’s how God is. So in a way I don’t believe in the “God” that many atheists don’t believe in either! 

Rather I look at all of creation, the miracle of life itself and I see a benevolent loving God caring for all of life despite our evilest attempts to subvert it. We see written into creation itself that we are all saved by grace through faith, and not by works.

***

When I was in seminary in Berkeley, California we had a day when many different faiths and their people gathered for worship and fellowship that is to say lunch. Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary is part of the Graduate Theological Union, and so we studied with many Catholics, Episcopalians, Unitarian Universalists, Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and we could take classes from one another. This was a very good thing and living outgrowth of the freedom of religions we value in our country. 

During one such occasion I sat down at a table with some men wearing brown robes. They were Franciscan monks. We started to talk about Christmas. Somebody made a comment about how culturally Christmas is a much bigger holiday than Easter. More money is spent, more time is taken off of work and school, maybe even more people got to church at Christmas than at Easter. Then the question was asked or rather the opinion was stated, Isn’t Easter more important for Christians and for our salvation? When this question was asked the friars all leaned back in their chairs and took a collective sign. But before they could answer I jumped into the fray. 

“No.” I said. “Easter is not more important than Christmas. The birth of Jesus as a divine and human bein

Wesley Menke

24 December 2021

Emperor Augustus commanded a census, and so everyone had to go to their hometown. Joseph’s hometown was Bethlehem. He was descended from David. David was probably the greatest King of Israel and Judah, next to Jesus, of course. Do you remember how it came to be that David became king? It’s important to remember, because the birth of Jesus cannot be understood without remembering the anointing of Joseph’s ancestor David.

Once upon time, hundreds and hundreds of years before Joseph, Mary, and Jesus the Hebrew people insisted that they needed a king. So God made Saul the king, and Samuel was the prophet and the king-maker. But things didn’t go so well for Saul, and this made the prophet Nathan very sad. One day God spoke to Samuel and said, “How long will you grieve for Saul?” Get up and go to the house of Jesse the Bethlehemite. Go to Bethlehem. So there Samuel went, to Bethlehem, and when he got there, everyone was terrified. Samuel was a great prophet who had the ear of the king. They wanted to know what he was up to. He said that he came in peace and asked for a heifer to make a sacrifice to the Lord. This would have cheered everybody up, because sacrificing a heifer to God, meant basically that the whole town would get to have a giant carne asada, or barbeque. Keep in mind that only a few pieces of the cow would be burned up completely, the smoke rising up was understood to be a smell that was pleasing to God, and then all the meat, the steaks, would be shared with everyone. It was a big deal!

But there was a twist. While everyone was focused on the sacrifice and the feast that would soon follow, no doubt accompanied by delicious Bethlehem wine, Samuel would take the opportunity as directed by God to anoint a new king, and it would be someone in Jesse’s family. You can imagine the people gathered to watch the sacrifice by the famed prophet. You can also imagine the stomachs begin to rumble as the meat was cooked over an open flame. While everyone is busy making preparations for the celebration to follow the sacrifice Samuel askes Jesse to bring forth his eldest son Eliab. Samuel is convinced that Eliab is the man but the Lord told Samuel, “Do not look on this appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:8. It bears repeating: for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

After Eliab, there was Abinadab, then Shammah, then four more for a total of seven sons oldest to youngest and God said, “no” to each one. Samuel begins to wonder what is going on. The people are restless and ready for their steak. Samuel questions Jesse, “Are these all of your sons?” Jesse tries to brush off the question, explaining that the youngest boy, the eighth, is little David who was out shepherding. Samuel digs his heals in and says that they won’t sit down to eat until David is brought forth. You can imagine all the seven older brothers and all the neighbors throw up their hands in exasperation, and at the same time everyone shouts: David! Meanwhile David is just over the hill diligently watching the sheep, hears the summons, sees his brothers running for him and quickly hurries to meet the strange prophet Samuel. As soon as Samuel sees David he knows that he is the one. He anoints David, and the Spirit immediately fills David. David was a boy, the youngest of his brothers, small in stature, but: for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.

So hundreds of years later and after countless generations Joseph was descended from David. He takes his family to Bethlehem to his hometown to be

Wesley Menke

19 December 2021

The prophet Micah indicates that the people will be left by God until a new leader emerges. Bathsheba was a woman in the Bible who was seemingly abandoned by God for much of her life. She was taken by force from her home and husband and made to be with King David. She lost a child. Little by little she was taken care of by the prophet Nathan while she lived in the royal court. Eventually her child Solomon became the King, and even though some tried to usurp him, he became the king. Bathseba became one of the first “Queen Mothers” of the kingdom. 

Leaders are called and made more from process than personality.

Mary, the mother of our Lord also was unlikely person who became a great “Queen Mother.” In her song, the Magnificat, she sings less about the physical attributes of Jesus and more about the process of leadership he will share. 

This process includes: 

busting up cliques of the proudLowering the powerful and raising up the humbleFilling the hungry with good things and sending away the rich empty

Jesus even believed in the work and the process of his salvation more than his personality. He kept his identity a secret as much as possible emphasizing people to believe the message of God more than Jesus’ personality. 

We believe that we are saved by Grace through Faith and not by works. This means we ought not put our faith in our own personality or in that of others. We should trust in God and God’s saving grace.

Once upon a time there was a small little junior high school. At this little junior highschool the teachers all did their best, and the students, also, definitely tried their best. But you know, even when people try to do their best, they sometimes make very big mistakes. Sometimes children going through adolescence experience profound changes both in themselves and in their social environment, and as a result a young man or woman may feel deeply insecure about who they are. So adolescents experiment and try different things to establish a sense of security and belonging. 

One day a fantastic rumor began to spread throughout the school. The rumor, was that one of the newer kids was fantastically rich and would give you a hundred dollar bill just to talk to him. What made the rumor somewhat plausible was the fact that recently in this small town that previously was populated by very humble people indeed had families moving into it from the big city into big luxurious houses. So it was a rich kid! But to some, including my own twelve year old self, it seemed too good to be true. It was in December and who wouldn’t want some cold hard cash to spend if one was so lucky to be taken to the mall in far away Phoenix, just a two hour drive away? 

While I was pondering all of these things in my heart, my friend Jarid whispered to me in class, “Did you get your money?” 

“No,” I said. That rumor isn’t true, is it?

Jarid smiled a toothy smile then pulled out of his pocket a pen. Then he slowly took the pen apart and inside of it was rolled up a one hundred dollar bill! Our jaws both fell open and our eyes were as big as the harvest moon. “Jarid and Wesley and get back to work,” the teacher yelled at us. Jarid deftly stuffed the cash safely into his jacket pocket and we got out our three ring binder with color coded dividers. Opened it to that period and started taking our annotated notes. 

When class was over I asked Jarid how he got it, and if the rumors were true after all. He said it wasn’t a rumor. All you had to do was go to the new kid, and ask for a “pen.” Then you had to wait a day, and then the next day he would have a pen with your name on it, with $100 dollars inside. “Why not,” I asked myself. That afternoon as we all climbed out of the sunken part of the West Sedona School campus toward the bus circle I tapped the new kid on the shoulder. He turned around quickly and looked…scared. 

“Hi, I’m Wes,” I said. “Umm. May I please have a pen?”

The new kid looked around nervously, he said, “Sure. I’ll have a pen for you tomorrow.” 

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” 

Then he got on his bus that went to the new part of town. I got on my bus that went to the old part of town. When I got home there was a list of chores that had to be done including stacking firewood, taking out the trash, and various types of manual labor, and I knew for certain there was one thing I wouldn’t find: stacks of hundred dollar bills. I fantasized in my mind what I could buy with a hundred dollars: a mountain bike! A

Wesley Menke

05 December 2021

Sermon ~ Advent 2

Malachai’s Unacceptable Offerings

You might have an offering to give to the Lord, but what if you are in no condition to give it? 

Malachai dice que el Señor se alegrará al recibir ofrendas igual como en otros tiempos. 

Malachai says that the Lord will gladly accept offerings like in times past. So, why does God regard some offerings and not others? God regarded Abel’s offering of a lamb, but not Cain’s which was cereal. Micah also said that God detested some offerings, and detested solemn assemblies, but wanted justice in the land. The true offering God wants is justice. But what if God isn’t even interested in our offerings of justice? The problem is when we think of our offerings as a valorization of our suffering. We falsely try to take the place of Christ by thinking that we can earn God’s salvation. Instead, a true offering is acceptable only when we are purified from our evil desire of works-righteousness. When we accept God’s grace in faith then our offerings are acceptable to God.

La mentira es que la salvación es obtenida por buenas obras. Pero no. La salvación de Dios es dada por la gracia de Jesucristo. We are saved by grace and not by work.

Before we have faith in God’s grace we are like an unpurified metal that is full of imperfections. These imperfections are the parts of us that want to earn salvation, they are our sins of which we are guilty. Imperfections within us are also like bruises. The injuries and traumas we have experienced also are impurities within us. When we receive the Holy Spirit, it is like a king entering the temple. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit purifies us and heals us giving us peace and new life! I remember a time in my life when I repented and was purified.

Engineering Purification

I remember when I was a freshman in college. I started out as an engineering major. In the spring semester I took an introduction to engineering class with all of the other engineering students of all types in the whole university. It was a massive classroom full of nerds, geeks, and some dorks. I was just a nerd. There were four group projects that determined the bulk of our grade. We were free to choose our groups. The first project was to build a bridge out of paper. I feel into a group of enthusiastic students of which I knew only one or two. I remember spending hours and hours in the Student Union trying to build a bridge out of paper. It was so frustrating. But the thing that was most frustrating of all was the people. Everybody in our group thought they were smart, or the smartest, and so nobody worked together at all. Our bridge was not good at all. It was a relief to find out that many of the bridges were not good. Really there was just a couple of groups that had good bridges. One was called the “log” and it was a husky sized tube of rolled paper. The last group to present was three people who joined the class late. They called their bridge the twig. It was like the log but much much smaller. They said that they were trying to minimize “P,” and P was a numerical value based on price vs. strength. They aced the proj

Wesley Menke

28 November 2021

Sermon ~ Advent 1

Something must have gone wrong in Thessalonica. Probably somebody important had left the church either by death or some kind of a disagreement. For this reason there was a crisis of faith. Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica and says that he wishes he could go there and see them face to face in order to restore whatever is lacking in their faith. This is a puzzling thing for Paul to write, because faith isn’t something you can give someone else. Only the Holy Spirit gives faith. A related concept to faith is trust. Which raises the question of the church in Thessalonica had trust issues with Paul or each other. A key ingredient to building trust is healthy boundaries. 

My parents live on the upper banks of the Oak Creek just outside of Sedona, Arizona. Flooding is a perennial concern. A flood of water has the ability to destroy everything in its path. For this reason careful records are kept of the maximum height of the creek during flood times, and engineers can predict just how high flood waters can reach in a 100 or even in a 1,000 years. So when you build something near the creek, the lake, or the ocean, the essential question is, “What are the boundaries of the water?” Boundaries tell you where it is safe, and where it is not safe to live and build your home. If there is uncertainty as to where the boundaries of the river lie, then there is a reluctance to build a home. Sedona has been booming like many other communities in the Southwest, and as a result there is new construction along the banks of the Oak Creek. People are willing to invest hundreds of thousands of daughters and their personal possessions why? Because they trust that the boundaries of the river are secure. 

Like a river, God’s love and grace flows through the church and our lives. God’s power is so great that indeed it is the power of life and death. We baptize in water to underscore the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the fragility of each of our own lives. But when a person goes to church, has trust in other people, and when that trust is violated and boundaries are crossed, then sadly often a person has a crisis of faith, because the very community that helped shape faith, can be guilty of violating trust, and so trust in God can suffer as a result. 

Thankfully the goodness and faithfulness of God doesn’t not depend totally on us. When we fail as people God works to teach us. That is what Psalm 25 is all about. In this psalm we pray that God would teach us God’s paths. Specifically we pray that God would be patient with sinners and teach sinners the way of righteousness. We are saved by Grace through faith, and not by our works. That means that God doesn’t give up on us as people or the church when we fail, but God patiently teaches a better way to live. 

I often talk about my experience doing Clinical Pastoral Education, when I served as a chaplain in a hospital. One of the things that made the experience so positive was that our supervisor built trust with us so that when a visit didn’t go was well as it could have, both she and our colleagues could gently give suggestions for how to improve. This wasn’t about criticizing. This was about believing that we could all be better and more effective as chaplains and pastors. As you hear these words my prayer is that you would be open to God’s grace which comes as gentle instruction. Each bapti

Wesley Menke

21 November 2021

Sermon ~ Cristo Rey

Everything about the Gospel reading from John 18 is very symbolic and full of meaning. The words have both a surface level meaning, and a deeper spiritual meaning. What Pilate and some Judean leaders intend for trial and condemnation are flipped into a coronation and evangelization. 

Pilate calls Jesus into the palace. Pilate unwittingly brings Jesus into a palace, a place for royalty and kings. He is vesting Jesus with royal power and place. Pilate asks Jesus earnestly and out of curiosity, “Are you the king of the Jews or Judeans?” It sounds less like an accusation and more like a genuine curiosity. One has to wonder if Pilate has learned about the history of the Jewish people, and the expectation of a Messiah, a king?

Jesus then asks Pilate if he is asking on his own behalf, or because others have told him. What Jesus is doing here, is learning about Pilate, and assessing where he is on his own journey of faith. It’s remarkable that Jesus doesn’t escalate things into a confrontation, but calmly seeks to get to know Pilate, arguably the most powerful man in all the region, not as someone to be feared, but as another human being to minister to. Jesus wants to know if Pilate is just, “doing his job” or if he has a deeper interest or longing to connect with the divine.

Pilate seems to detect the personal nature of Jesus’ question, and no doubt the penetrating gaze of Christ upon his soul, because he deflects the question by pointing to obvious talking points. He says in some words, “Do I look like a Jew to you?” In other words he tries to deny his personal interest or involvement. He tacks to the position of, “I am an outsider simply ruling your bizarre people.” He says that Jesus’ own people, nation, and religious leaders have handed him over to Pilate. By saying this, Pilate is at the same time trying to depersonalize himself, and insinuating that Jesus is being rejected, judged, and ostracized by his own people. He tops it off with, “What have you done?” In other words, what have you done wrong in order to incur this wrath from people you’d think would want to love and care for you? All of this would be enough to make the feelings and reactions of most any person flare, but that’s not what happens to Jesus.

Jesus responds with, “My kingdom is not of this world.” When we read and hear or even see bumper stickers with the phrase, “Not of this World,” our immediate impression is spiritual. Jesus’ kingdom is a spiritual kingdom from heaven and God and therefore not of the physical earthly world. But that is only a fraction of what Jesus is saying. His words are very political and confrontational in nature. You can imagine Jesus maintaining a peaceful calm composure with a docile bowing of his head, but the words that he utters cuts to the heart of Pilate and the entire geo-political reality of the epoch. “My kingdom is not of this world.” Rome and it’s Caesar were the rulers of the entire world. Their power was so absolute, and the

Wesley Menke

Sermon 14 November 2021

So Jesus went to the temple with his disciples. This is near the end of his earthly ministry according to the Gospel of Mark. He teaches while in the temple and interacts with the people who are therein. When they are leaving the temple the disciples marvel at how beautiful it is, and how large stones are stacked upon one another to create it. Jesus tells them that a day is coming when the temple would be completely ruined. We are fairly certain that in fact the temple was destroyed by the Romans in the year 70 ce. This would have been about another 30 – 40 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection. The destruction of the temple happened so close to the time of Jesus that most scholars of the Bible believe that the gospels were almost certainly all written after that destruction. In other words Christianity was so fresh, so in its infancy that there weren’t written gospels for decades after Jesus’ earthly life. There were spoken traditions. There were collections of Jesus’ teachings, but by the time leaders in the church sat down and said, “We’ve got to write this all down” the destruction of the temple had already happened. 

Why did the destruction of the temple happen? It happened because there was a Jewish uprising; a revolt against Rome. So the Roman army totally destroyed the temple. This is what is called the Pax Romana; totally destroy the spiritual core of your enemy, then you have peace. Of course nobody would ever try to use that same strategy today. Would they? Rome issued a coin with an image of the temple being crushed under a Roman Sandal with tears pouring out. This went all over the empire as a “Gospel” or “Evangelical” message. Don’t mess with Rome.

This tells us that at the time of Jesus there was already this possibility.There were zealots and sicarii that would do violent acts against their enemies and especially the Romans to stir up trouble and to try to start a rebellion. They wanted political and spiritual freedom from Rome. In fact, when Jesus is standing trial, this very fear and concern is what likely led to his death. Some of the religious leaders said, “It is better for one person to die, than for the whole people to be destroyed.” Jesus made the leadership extremely nervous because they thought he would lead a rebellion. Right before Jesus is sentenced to death, he has an opportunity to be released, but that favor is given to Barabbas. Barabbas was a known violent zealot or sicarii. What if Barabbas helped to lead that rebellion some years later?

Sociologists have a term for when a group of people decide that in order to save themselves they must destroy one of their own. It’s called the scapegoat principle. From the dawn of time groups of people, when they face a crisis and their group identity and cohesion is tested, will identify someone deemed to be the cause of their strife, and will either kill them or expel them from the group believing that it will save them, their integrity, or purity. 

The most terrifying thing

Wesley Menke

Sermon 7 November 2021

All Saints Sunday

Once I was visiting with a man who was dying. He told me a story about a pastor he had. This pastor was known to preach often about heaven and eternal life. Then this same pastor got sick with cancer and was dying. The pastor and his family went to great lengths to ask people to pray for him to be healed from the cancer. So the man asked me, “If the pastor believed in eternal life and heaven, why was he trying so hard not to die?” The truth was that though I didn’t know this pastor, I had wondered the same thing myself, so I appreciated being asked the question. I answered as honestly as I could. I said that pastors, and not ust pastors, but all of us became very enamored with this world and the work God sent us to do. It’s hard to face the reality of leaving it behind. Even people with great faith don’t know what our journey looks like after death. 

That same question applies to the story of Lazarus from the gospel of John. It’s a bizarre story. Jesus is in a nearby town when they send word that Lazarus is dying. They say that Lazarus was someone who Jesus loved. So they were close. Jesus denies the request. He’s not quite aloof, it’s not that he doesn’t empathize, but it sort of seems that he doesn’t take the problem all that seriously, either. He says, “This sickness doesn’t lead to death.” So he lets two more days go by. Then he decides to go back. The disciples urge Jesus against it. There are people there who want to kill you, Jesus, they say. They have a funny exchange. Jesus says that Lazarus has fallen asleep and needs help. The disciples say, “Then let him have a nice long rest. He’ll be okay.” Then Jesus speaks more plainly, “Lazarus is dead.” The disciples get frustrated and say, “Well let us all go and die together with him.” So they get to Bethany and Lazarus’ family is angry with Jesus. Basically they say that if Jesus would have come when they asked him to, then Lazarus wouldn’t be dead. 

We can all relate to that. If you’ve ever been sick or had a loved one who is sick and they actually didn’t get better, and were not healed, you can’t help but think, “If God had showed up, if Jesus was here, then my loved one would not have died.” When terrible untimely deaths happen, it is natural to ask, “Where was God?”

So then Jesus does bring Lazarus back to life. It’s a messy business. He’s been dead four days and so he stinks. No doubt he reeks. They open up his tomb and Jesus commands him to come out, and he does. What must it have been like for Lazarus and the family? Joyous, yes, but also just really really weird. What did Lazarus experience? The Bible never has him utter a single word. Think about all the books and movies they’ve made about near death experiences. A bright light at the end of a tunnel. A paradise far more wonderful than we can ever imagine. Nothing at all? Lazarus doesn’t tell us what it is like.

The strangest and most difficult thing of all, is that after Lazarus is raised from the dead, some people become infuriated with Jesus and with Lazarus. Those who set themself against Jesus and desire him to be dead, now also set themselves against Lazarus. They actually make plans to kill Lazarus. Can you believe that? Lazarus is inconvenient and stirring up too much hope and faith, and so they make a plan to kill him. So was Lazarus raised from the dead only to be killed by an angry mob? Was Lazarus raised from the dead just to prove a point that Jesus is powerful?

It really gets to the heart of what we believe about life and death. Is death always a bad thing? What about when someone has suffered and agonized for years, and actually welcomes death? Death and taxes. The only two constants we can be sure of. I had a philosophy professor who liked to say that the death rate has remained constant throughout the years: one