Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise

This is a special musical presentation of Who Would Send a Baby by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir.

I love the gospel of Luke!  One of the reasons I like this book is because the writer of Luke’s gospel is such a good storyteller.  And, I do believe that, if he was writing today, he would use multimedia to tell his story.  I think he would have used tools like satellite images, Google Earth and video to help communicate his message.  Just think about the way today’s gospel reading begins.  The imagery that comes to my mind at the beginning of this reading is one of seeing the world from the perspective of outer space.  Then, as the reading progresses it draws us down into a geographical location.  I can imagine the writer of Luke’s gospel using resources like Google Earth to gradually zoom in on the Mediterranean, then the Middle East, then the country of Israel, and finally the wilderness area by the Jordan River.   

While the writer of Luke had no access to imagery of this sort, he is doing something very similar with words as he introduces the story of John the Baptist.   Placing the focus of action within a definite historical and political framework, Luke begins by naming the Roman Emperor.   He begins with the big wig ruler of the empire and gradually zooms in on a specific, historical point in time by continuing to list the powerful, regional rulers, the local politicians, and finally the Jewish religious leaders.  The writer of Luke’s gospel wants to make sure his readers understand that what he is telling them did actually happen at a given point in time and history.  And, he also wants his readers to understand it took place in a precise location as he finally places the story in the barrenness of the wilderness. 

Against this backdrop of important, high and mighty, historical, flesh-and-blood political and religious leaders, Luke zeros in upon the wilderness and this very unusual, eccentric, peculiar guy named John.  In the wilderness, a seemingly godforsaken, wordless, often scary and confusing place, the Word of God came to this nothing son of a nobody named John.

Now, while the wilderness was often scary and confusing, it was also the location where God had spoken to God’s people.  It was the place where God had led God’s very own people to a new and promised life.  The wilderness was the place where Israel was tested and the place where the covenant was given.  The wilderness could be a place of renewal and transformation.  So, into this seemingly barren, wordless wilderness, God speaks.  And, God chooses John.  God chooses this nothing son of a nobody, a man whom the world sees as insignificant, and works through him to do something marvelous – John becomes God’s spokesperson and messenger.  Like the prophets of old, and steeped in hundreds of years of prophetic tradition, John receives a Word from God and then begins proclaiming a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. 

John is a man on a mission from God as he calls the people to return to faithfulness.  He calls them to alter the direction of their lives, to turn around, to reorient themselves, to turn from sin and turn to God.  He calls them to respond to the grace of God and he calls them to prepare, to prepare and get ready for the coming of God’s salvation.

We live in a culture that is so very broken, a culture that I find increasingly seems to look and feel like a wilderness.  The economic divide continues to grow.  The poor go hungry as big wig policy makers argue about budgets and cut funding that will help the poor while trying to fund their pet projects and pockets.  Violence and acts of hatred are increasingly becoming commonplace.  And quite frankly, I find that our inability to address and curb these issues speaks volumes about the void and emptiness in our lives if not in our very souls.  Over and over again, we seem to experience the barrenness, the seemingly godforsaken, wordless, scary and confusing place that has become our wilderness.  However, we will never find the salvation we desperately seek unless we face our wilderness of despair.  The wholeness and salvation we long for is only found when we face the wilderness and hear and respond to that call to repentance.  This call meets us, not in the empire of the high and mighty and the powerful of the world, but in the depth of the wilderness of our lives.  And, that call to repentance takes us to a different world, one that can literally transform both us and the empire.

Repentance is always about turning around, about changing direction.  Repentance is always about living into the forgiveness and grace of God.   The call to repentance that John, this nothing son of a nobody, was preaching is a Word from God for us.  My dear friends in Faith, I have some earth-shattering news for you.  In the eighteenth year of the twenty-first century, when Donald Trump was President of the United States, when Rick Snyder was governor of Michigan, when Ronald J. Styka was supervisor of Meridian Township, when Elizabeth Eaton was presiding bishop of the ELCA and Craig Satterlee was bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod, the word of the Lord came to the members of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan!  And that word, my friends, is a call to turn around because salvation is coming.  We are being called to turn around, so we can be taken to the true king, the Lord Jesus, the seemingly helpless baby who will be found lying in a dirty cattle stall.   It is there, in that wretched place, where we will find the salvation, the wholeness, the grace and the love we so desperately seek.

And, what kind of change will this baby, this bearer of salvation, bring?   Well, this true king, this true ruler, is bringing justice and mercy and leveling the playing fields of the high and mighty, the big wigs in this world.  This infant king is bringing a regime change so powerful and radical that the mountains will be flattened, and the valleys will be raised.  The powerful will be brought down from their thrones and the lowly will be lifted up. 

We will never find salvation in any emperor or ruler or political big wig.  Salvation will not come through any president, governor, local politician or even a religious leader - not any of these seemingly important people.  No.  We will only find salvation, wholeness and healing in the one who comes as a baby in a dirty cattle stall of a manger, the one who comes as Immanuel, God with us, God incarnate, God in flesh.   We find salvation in this One who comes in flesh and does not even save himself or his own flesh from death on a cross.  And, in that cross, all flesh, the entire world, shall see the salvation of God!  The Word of God that came to a nothing son of a nobody in a godforsaken wilderness along the river Jordan is the same Word of God that comes into the void and emptiness of the godforsaken wilderness in the little town of Okemos, Michigan in the United States of America.  That Word is a Word of healing, hope, love and salvation.  And that salvation being proclaimed, was not just for Israel or for any one group or people, but for the entire world!   So, get ready and prepare my friends, because we are being called to live and proclaim that good news!

I love the gospel of Luke!  One of the reasons I like this book is because the writer of Luke’s gospel is such a good storyteller.  And, I do believe that, if he was writing today, he would use multimedia to tell his story.  I think he would have used tools like satellite images, Google Earth and video to help communicate his message.  Just think about the way today’s gospel reading begins.  The imagery that comes to my mind at the beginning of this reading is one of seeing the world from the perspective of outer space.  Then, as the reading progresses it draws us down into a geographical location.  I can imagine the writer of Luke’s gospel using resources like Google Earth to gradually zoom in on the Mediterranean, then the Middle East, then the country of Israel, and finally the wilderness area by the Jordan River.   

While the writer of Luke had no access to imagery of this sort, he is doing something very similar with words as he introduces the story of John the Baptist.   Placing the focus of action within a definite historical and political framework, Luke begins by naming the Roman Emperor.   He begins with the big wig ruler of the empire and gradually zooms in on a specific, historical point in time by continuing to list the powerful, regional rulers, the local politicians, and finally the Jewish religious leaders.  The writer of Luke’s gospel wants to make sure his readers understand that what he is telling them did actually happen at a given point in time and history.  And, he also wants his readers to understand it took place in a precise location as he finally places the story in the barrenness of the wilderness. 

Against this backdrop of important, high and mighty, historical, flesh-and-blood political and religious leaders, Luke zeros in upon the wilderness and this very unusual, eccentric, peculiar guy named John.  In the wilderness, a seemingly godforsaken, wordless, often scary and confusing place, the Word of God came to this nothing son of a nobody named John.

Now, while the wilderness was often scary and confusing, it was also the location where God had spoken to God’s people.  It was the place where God had led God’s very own people to a new and promised life.  The wilderness was the place where Israel was tested and the place where the covenant was given.  The wilderness could be a place of renewal and transformation.  So, into this seemingly barren, wordless wilderness, God speaks.  And, God chooses John.  God chooses this nothing son of a nobody, a man whom the world sees as insignificant, and works through him to do something marvelous – John becomes God’s spokesperson and messenger.  Like the prophets of old, and steeped in hundreds of years of prophetic tradition, John receives a Word from God and then begins proclaiming a baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. 

John is a man on a mission from God as he calls the people to return to faithfulness.  He calls them to alter the direction of their lives, to turn around, to reorient themselves, to turn from sin and turn to God.  He calls them to respond to the grace of God and he calls them to prepare, to prepare and get ready for the coming of God’s salvation.

We live in a culture that is so very broken, a culture that I find increasingly seems to look and feel like a wilderness.  The economic divide continues to grow.  The poor go hungry as big wig policy makers argue about budgets and cut funding that will help the poor while trying to fund their pet projects and pockets.  Violence and acts of hatred are increasingly becoming commonplace.  And quite frankly, I find that our inability to address and curb these issues speaks volumes about the void and emptiness in our lives if not in our very souls.  Over and over again, we seem to experience the barrenness, the seemingly godforsaken, wordless, scary and confusing place that has become our wilderness.  However, we will never find the salvation we desperately seek unless we face our wilderness of despair.  The wholeness and salvation we long for is only found when we face the wilderness and hear and respond to that call to repentance.  This call meets us, not in the empire of the high and mighty and the powerful of the world, but in the depth of the wilderness of our lives.  And, that call to repentance takes us to a different world, one that can literally transform both us and the empire.

Repentance is always about turning around, about changing direction.  Repentance is always about living into the forgiveness and grace of God.   The call to repentance that John, this nothing son of a nobody, was preaching is a Word from God for us.  My dear friends in Faith, I have some earth-shattering news for you.  In the eighteenth year of the twenty-first century, when Donald Trump was President of the United States, when Rick Snyder was governor of Michigan, when Ronald J. Styka was supervisor of Meridian Township, when Elizabeth Eaton was presiding bishop of the ELCA and Craig Satterlee was bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod, the word of the Lord came to the members of Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan!  And that word, my friends, is a call to turn around because salvation is coming.  We are being called to turn around, so we can be taken to the true king, the Lord Jesus, the seemingly helpless baby who will be found lying in a dirty cattle stall.   It is there, in that wretched place, where we will find the salvation, the wholeness, the grace and the love we so desperately seek.

And, what kind of change will this baby, this bearer of salvation, bring?   Well, this true king, this true ruler, is bringing justice and mercy and leveling the playing fields of the high and mighty, the big wigs in this world.  This infant king is bringing a regime change so powerful and radical that the mountains will be flattened, and the valleys will be raised.  The powerful will be brought down from their thrones and the lowly will be lifted up. 

We will never find salvation in any emperor or ruler or political big wig.  Salvation will not come through any president, governor, local politician or even a religious leader - not any of these seemingly important people.  No.  We will only find salvation, wholeness and healing in the one who comes as a baby in a dirty cattle stall of a manger, the one who comes as Immanuel, God with us, God incarnate, God in flesh.   We find salvation in this One who comes in flesh and does not even save himself or his own flesh from death on a cross.  And, in that cross, all flesh, the entire world, shall see the salvation of God!  The Word of God that came to a nothing son of a nobody in a godforsaken wilderness along the river Jordan is the same Word of God that comes into the void and emptiness of the godforsaken wilderness in the little town of Okemos, Michigan in the United States of America.  That Word is a Word of healing, hope, love and salvation.  And that salvation being proclaimed, was not just for Israel or for any one group or people, but for the entire world!   So, get ready and prepare my friends, because we are being called to live and proclaim that good news!

This is a sermon based on Mark 13: 1-8. Pastor Darrell Nieves preached today at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

This is a sermon based on Mark 13: 1-8. Pastor Darrell Nieves preached today at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

This is a special musical performance of For the Beauty of the Earth by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of For the Beauty of the Earth by the Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of Give Thanks by the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

This is a special musical performance of Give Thanks by the Faith Bells at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

My professor, Lois Malcolm, teaches that some people need to check their ego while others need to start taking up some space.  Just before the Gospel we heard today from Mark, Jesus says that the second commandment after loving the LORD your God is to “Love your neighbor as yourself” Jacqueline Bussie reflects on this commandment and also recognizes people who need to take up space.  She writes that some people, like her mom, like me, maybe like you, need to view this commandment as “you already adore other people and you are fabulous at it, now remember to love yourself as much as you do them.”  It is within the context of loving my neighbor and loving myself that I consider the message of scripture today.

We hear about two widows and I wonder if they’re victims of the one-way love street as well.  Within the patriarchal system of the time, widows had no rights, they were the poorest of the poor and were often reduced to begging.  Neither woman is named, which is perhaps yet another sign of the marginalization of widows within this culture.  Sometimes I’m astounded by the outrageousness of ordinary people’s actions in the Bible.  I consider myself a fairly ordinary person, but compared to these people, not so much.  My first reaction is to feel guilty because I don’t give nearly as much as these ordinary people.  I see myself residing in a comfortable bubble of security where I first recognize my privilege.  But when I hear the words of Lois Malcolm and Jacqueline Bussie and Jesus, I see that this comfortable bubble is not just about money, possessions and privilege, it’s about something else too.  My guilt doesn’t serve God, and so God is poking my bubble.  God is trying to show me a way out of my bubble, a way of faith.

In 1 Kings Elijah is sent by God to Zarephath where God has commanded a widow to feed him.  Both God and Elijah don’t seem to accept the present societal system that widows are poor and probably don’t have enough to share.  I’m astounded by outrageous act #1: Elijah doesn’t question this command to go away to be fed by a widow, he just travels to Zarephath.  Outrageous act #2: Elijah arrives and meets a widow right at the gate of the town!  It seems that he didn’t have to look far.  Outrageous act #3:  He actually calls out to her for a drink of water, and as an aside, to bring him some bread too.  I’m a bit relieved that she reasonably argues that she has so little food, not enough to share, she plans to go home and die with her son.  Outrageous act #4: Elijah tells her “Do not be afraid;” go make some bread for me first then for you and your son.  “Do not be afraid” he tells her.  So, she doesn’t back-talk Elijah, this stranger who just ordered her to fix him some food -- at the moment of her greatest despair when she expects she will die, she does outrageous act #5:  scripture says “She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as he and her household ate for many days.  The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail.”  Outrageous act #6:  They ate for many days.  This widow demonstrates incredible generosity and faith during the time of her deepest need.  She gives everything she has and God shows up.

          This seems like a straightforward message until we hear today’s Gospel from Mark.  It begins with Jesus teaching and criticizing the Temple leaders for how they expect and receive the best treatment and respect while “They devour widows’ houses”.  This is not an outrageous scene for me, although I wonder if it should be, this is a too-familiar scene.  A scene I see in news reports about powerful people enjoying their place of privilege openly, seemingly unaware of the oppression this privilege imposes upon others.  It’s the paradox of the powerful and the oppressed, the ego-driven and the nearly invisible.  Not long after Jesus’ teaching, A poor widow enters the Temple and drops two copper coins into the treasury.  Jesus exclaims that she “has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”  Here I see outrageous act #7:  she put in everything she had, all she had to live on.  And outrageous act #8:  Jesus notices.  Again this widow demonstrates incredible generosity and faith, but Jesus doesn’t praise her for this. 

Along with these outrageous actions, Jesus’ teaching makes me wonder if these widows are making smart choices.  Even as a person who is still learning to take up her own space and love herself, I recognize that these are not smart choices.  We live in a culture where it’s smart to save money for college, for retirement, for an emergency, for home improvements, for vacation, the list goes on.  While Jesus was criticizing the system that oppresses this widow, he does not agree with her choice to give the last of her money.  Jesus condemns the value system that motivates her action, and he condemns the people who conditioned her to do it.  I can almost hear Jesus telling the widow “Stop! Love yourself!”  It first seems like God is calling people to give everything they have and yet human experience and even Jesus insists that giving everything isn’t a very smart choice.  This is not a one size fits all message, God loves each of us as we are.  Where does this paradox leave us?  

God is not asking us this morning to empty our cupboards and bank accounts, but God is challenging us to reconsider the way we operate.  This is not an either-or operation, it draws us into operating in a way of both-and.  God asks me to hold the tension between security and chance, between checking my ego and taking up space, between loving my neighbor and loving myself.  God gives us the freedom to choose and to learn how to hold this tension.  At the same time God is calling us to a place of deeper faith and trust in Him for the sake of God’s kingdom on earth.  A place where we recognize God in ourselves and in one another.  A place where the powerful see the oppressed, and respond! The good news is that God shows up in my life and is replacing my insecurities with strength.  Strength to recognize oppressive powers and live into the person that God has created me to be.  This is how together, we as the church, can change communities, nations and the world.  God shows up.  God is telling us “Do not be afraid.”  Have courage.  Courage to take another chance, to give all that we have, and to witness the awesomeness of God showing up. . .again.  “Do not be afraid.”  Step outside of your bubble.