Sermon for May 24th, 2020, the Seventh Sunday of Easter

One world, one prayer 
It doesn't matter what you believe Some things have got to change 
One world, one prayer 
Give me, give me, give me some love Forget about the hate 

Those are some of the lyrics to a song released just this week by the Wailers with one of Bob Marley’s daughters and his grandson singing. It is to the same tune as the Bob Marley and the Wailer’s song One Love. 

You might find this surprising, but I love the music of Bob Marley and love the fact that the Wailer’s continue to make music. It is also a gift that many of Bob’s children are as talented as their father. It is amazing to see that now even his grandchildren are taking up Bob’s legacy of music with a meaning. 

 Today’s gospel is the first part of the High Priestly prayer. The entire 17th chapter of John records Jesus’ prayer in the night before the soldier arrive to arrest him. It is a prayer for the disciples and for future believers. It was a prayer that the disciples heard. Can you imagine hearing the Lord pray these words concerning you? I invite you to listen again and hear the last verse spoken for you.  Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. 

What an amazing gift and prayer. A request that God the Father protect us and make us one just as Jesus and the Father are one. Jesus and the Father are one but remain distinct. They are one, but separate. They work towards the same end, they have the same desire for the world and creation, but they have different parts in making that will and desire come to fruition.  

Some people read this text and then cry out against denominations, the different flavors of Christianity. That doesn’t really bother me, and I do not believe that would be such an issue to Christ or God, so long as at the heart of the work of all Christians is a desire for unity, for a love of God, for a working towards the kingdom of God. We heard Jesus summarize the whole of the laws and prophets saying, 

“love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 

That then is the unity we should strive for, loving God with all that we have been given and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we have that then we are, through the Holy Spirit, an answer to Jesus prayer for humanity.  

But we know that this is not the case. Sure, there are great ecumenical agreements, the ELCA has partnered with other denominations in more than just worship services, but also for the care of the downtrodden, the widow, the orphans, and all who suffer. But even now we are seeing an increase in the white identity, white supremacy movements in the United States. We see growing nationalism throughout the world.  

In our reading from Acts we heard the disciples ask a question of nationalism, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” The belief at the time of Jesus was that God would raise up a messiah who would cast the Roman powers out of Israel and again establish an Israelite King over Israel. Sure, the Herods who ruled were Jewish (sort of) but they were Greeks who had been moved into Israel to serve Rome. Their conversion seemed to have been one of convenience and to pacify the people. The disciples asked if Jesus was returning the kingdom of Israel back to Israelites. Jesus answer was I can’t tell you when or if that will happen, but what I can tell you is that very soon, you will be given the Holy Spirit and you will be sent to witness to all that you have seen, not only to Israel and Samaria, but even to the very ends of the earth. Jesus isn’t preparing them for national identity but sending them out to proclaim a new kingdom that will cover all the earth. Something we will again see next week when we hear that the crowd who receives the spirit is made up of Greeks, Jews, Romans, Persians, all speaking their own languages.  

One World, One Prayer, give me give me give me some love, forget about the hate. 

Our Psalm today is thought to be the oldest psalm in the book, one of the oldest prayers of a people we have read. It is a prayer of an oppressed people; it is a prayer of the apocalyptic imagination. See, people who are oppressed and know that they do not have the power to break free from their bonds, tend to call out to their God and speak in terms of God changing the world. Like what we see in the book of revelation, early Christians are experiencing persecution and so they imagine a world where God has changed the order of things, a world where every tear will be wiped away. Our psalm is from the people of Israel who have been conquered and lead away from home, it reads: 

Let God rise up, let his enemies be scattered; let those who hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as wax melts before the fire, let the wicked perish before God. But let the righteous be joyful; let them exult before God; let them be jubilant with joy... Father of orphans and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God gives the desolate a home to live in; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious live in a parched land...in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy. 

This is a psalm, that many people across the world could pray today in the same way as the Israelites did 2-3 thousand years ago. There are countless people globally who are oppressed by rulers and dictators, and systems of injustice that they cannot free themselves from. If this remains true, then we are not one with one another as Jesus and the Father are one.

We are living in a place where this is true. The coronavirus makes this visible to us. A virus which should affect all evenly, a virus that doesn’t know race or economic level should affect all portions of our society equally. But it isn’t.  

Instead our black and brown neighbors fall ill and are dying to this virus at higher rates than their white neighbors. The poor are unequally falling ill and dying. Systems of oppression exist here in our own country. Systems that limit access to healthcare based on careers, on education, and on income. There is not even a single county in this country where a minimum wage, full-time job can pay the rent for a 1-bedroom apartment. Think about that, in a country that touts itself as a Christian nation, basic needs for life, cannot be accessed equally, and it is predominately people of color and the poor who are suffering at the hands of the systems that many of us, I know I have, benefited from. This isn’t even touching on the sexism that makes it that a woman only makes a fraction of what a man employed in the same job makes. I know this to be true even here in Northwest Iowa. When I moved here 11 years ago, my starting pay was 45% higher than my female coworker who had worked in the same position for 22 years.  

One World, One Prayer, give me give me give me some love, forget about the hate. 

If racism, classism, sexism, and nationalism exist we are not answering Jesus’ prayer that we be one as the Father and son are one.   

One World, One Prayer, give me give me give me some love, forget about the hate. 

I miss meeting in person to worship. I long to be with you all, but then I think about all those communities where they have experienced dozens and sometimes hundreds of deaths due to coronavirus, when we have seen none. We want to gather and worship, yet our brothers and sisters who have experienced so much loss haven’t been able and continue to be denied the ability to gather to mourn, to lament, to cry out against God and the systems that place the burden of the virus most firmly on them. 

When we can meet again, and even now, we must take seriously our call to be reconciled with God and all creation. We must take seriously the call to lift-up and serve those who are oppressed and those who suffer unjustly.   

Full of surprises life can change in a minute  
Give a hug give a kiss to the one that you love  
'Cause the world turns one way, just one way  
Why people see what they want to see  
Why people hear what they want to hear  
Why people feel what they want to feel  
The blue sky covers us like a single skin  
One world, one prayer  
It doesn't matter what you believe  
Some things have got to change  
One world, one prayer  
Give me, give me, give me some love  
And forget about the hate 
One world, one prayer 

Sermon for May 17th, 2020, the Sixth Sunday of Easter

Grace and Peace to you, From God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever. Amen.  

I am a Christian, raised in the Lutheran Church. That means a lot of things to different people. It means that I have a strong faith in the saving grace given to me by Christ through his life, death, and resurrection. Christ died on the cross to save me from my sin. As a Lutheran, I have an understanding that Jesus is present in the bread and wine when we celebrate the eucharist. I understand that daily I am called to remember and live out my baptism.  

It also means that I am part of a tradition that is, at least here in North America, not very good at talking about the role and person of the Holy Spirit in the Trinity. 

It is a rather interesting problem. When we say the creeds, we recognize and confess our belief in the Holy Spirit, but we don’t often talk about the Spirit working in the world, unless we are pressed to do so in a confirmation class or some sort of education program where we need to talk about the Triune God.  

So, today, when I saw that our text is from Jesus’ farewell discourse from the Gospel of John, and particularly the part where Jesus promises the paraclete, the advocate, the helper, the companion, the Spirit of Truth, I was a bit nervous. What could I say about this person of the Trinity that I don’t entirely understand? One of the questions our Confirmation students are asked to write about in their faith statements is “What do you believe about the Holy Spirit?” I saw that and thought, oh boy, I thought I would write a faith statement in solidarity with the youth, but can’t I just avoid that question. Or, how do I answer that question?  

But here is the reality, the Spirit works in the world. The Spirit guides us. I trust weekly that the Holy Spirit will direct my words, sometimes I would prefer that the Spirit worked a little quicker and louder though. 

The first thing is that the Holy Spirit is described through the actions and the Spirit’s work in the world. We don’t hear things like the Spirit is Just or righteous, or love. There isn’t any statements of the Spirit is the way or the truth, or that the Spirit is our shepherd. Instead we hear things like the Spirit speaks, the Spirit prays, the Spirit gives life, the Spirit grants the gift of grace and faith. We know the Spirit because the Spirit acts in our lives through relationship.  

The Greek and Hebrew words for Spirit are interesting because they can also mean wind and breath. Both wind and breath are things that are invisible, but are made known through their action, just like the Spirit. 

I turn to Luther when there is something about the faith that I do know understand clearly, so I turn to Luther here in talking about the Holy Spirit. In the Small catechism, Luther in talking about the third article of the Apostle’s creed says this.  “The Third Article:On Being Made Holy 

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 

What is this? 

I believe that by my own understanding or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him, but instead the Holy Spirit has called me through the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, made me holy and kept me in the true faith, just as he calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes holy the whole Christian church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one common, true faith. Daily in this Christian church the Holy Spirit abundantly forgives all sins—mine and those of all believers. On the last day the Holy Spirit will raise me and all the dead and will give to me and all believers in Christ eternal life. This is most certainly true.” 

Then, again in the Large Catechism, Luther writes 

“God’s Spirit alone is called a Holy Spirit, that is, the who has made us holy and still makes us holy. As the Father is called a Creator and the Son is called a Redeemer, so on account of his work the Holy Spirit must be called a Sanctifier, or one who makes us holy. 

How does such sanctifying take place?  

Answer: Just as the Son obtains dominion by purchasing us through his birth, death, and resurrection, so the Holy Spirit effects our being made holy through the following: the community of Saints or the Christian Church, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. That is, he first leads us into his holy community, placing us in the church’s lap, where he preaches to us and brings us to Christ. 

Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe in him and receive him as Lord, unless there were offered to us and bestowed on our hearts through the preaching of the gospel by the Holy Spirit. The work is finished and completed; Christ has acquired and won the treasure for us by his sufferings, death, and resurrection. But if the work remained hidden so that no one knew of it, it would have been all in vain, all lost. In order that this treasure might not remain buried but be put to use and enjoyed, God has caused the Word to be published and proclaimed, in which he has given the Holy Spirit to offer and apply to us this treasure, this redemption. Therefore being made holy is nothing else than bringing us to the Lord Christ to receive this blessing, to which we could not have come by ourselves.” 

One of my professors was apt to tell us, God alone is the sole source of life, healing, and salvation. It is through the Spirit that we are made holy. It is through the Spirit that we can see God in Jesus, even where we least expect to find God, alone, dying on the cross. Theologians talk about God as the hidden God. (they use Latin of course, Deus absconditus it sounds much better in Latin). God is hidden in the cross, that is why it is considered a folly to humans, we think of the greatness of God, but our God instead chose to reveal God’s self on the cross. Without the Spirit revealing Jesus as the Son of God, we wouldn’t see Christ there, God would not be revealed (Deus revelatus).  

Naturally we do not turn to God, instead we seek to rely on ourselves and our own devices, but God through the Spirit makes God known. The Spirit directs us and points us to Christ, through the Church and preaching, the gospel, and our relationships. The Spirit brings us faith, and it is through this faith that the grace of God, God’s mercy and love for us is made known. 

This past Friday, I participated in an online talk/lecture put on by the Western Iowa Synod for pastors, in which the worship professor from Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Ben Steward, talked about worship in this time of separation and quarantine.  

In this conversation, Ben talked about the role of a pastor and the role of the church to make visible the crucified body of Christ in the world. (These are roles that are given to the church and pastors through the Holy Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit which aids the church in seeing and seeking this out.) The clearest way that the Church has done this is through the assembly, through worship together, through the proclamation of the Word of God (reading the bible and preaching) and the sacraments, particularly communion.  

In this time of separation from each other, we try to continue the proclamation of the Word through these digital services, but the worship doesn’t necessarily feel like we are worshiping together, we are not assembled in the usual way. The reality is that you might not be viewing this service and hearing this sermon at the same time as any other member of the congregation or the Church universal. We also are separated from embodying the Word of God through our participation in the communion.  

So, where do we see the crucified body of Christ here in the world. Where does the Spirit point? 

The Church, that is the community of all believers, is one place. While we cannot assemble, we can recognize that we are the body of Christ, broken for the world. Particularly in this time, when we choose to not meet, we are manifesting Christ to the world. We are saying that our love of our neighbor is more important than the comfort we receive through worshiping together, through taking the communion. The Church is being broken to preserve and protect our neighbors.  

We also see the broken body of Christ when we see the exhausted, stressed, and gaunt faces of the healthcare workers, direct care professionals, and first responders who continue to work in life saving and life giving professions even when the risk is so high personally. It is startling to see the number of cases of infection and death among nurses and doctors, who are fighting to keep others well.  

So, while we continue to be together, apart. Remember that Christ and the Holy Spirit are with you, supporting, strengthening, guiding, teaching, and comforting you. The Holy Spirit who binds you in the Love of Christ also unites us even when we must be separate.  

The Love, Grace, and Mercy of our Triune God sustain you in this week ahead, my dear members of this beautiful, broken body of Christ. 

Sermon for May 10th, 2020, the Fifth Sunday of Easter

Grace and Peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. 

I will be honest. My mind has not been very focused on the work of being a pastor this week. Instead, I have been working feverishly on attempting to finish out the work for this semester in seminary. Soon the first of hopefully four years will be finished. It has been a week of reading and writing, desperately trying to complete papers and course work that I have been putting off. Now, I am to a point where all that remains is a single 8-10 page paper on “A Trinitarian Articulation of the Theology of the Cross.” Don’t worry if that doesn’t make much sense to you, because, well it doesn’t make much sense to me and the paper is due Friday, well actually it was due May 1st, but like many of my fellow students I have been granted an extension to the end of the term. This week I have written (or rewritten) 21 pages for classes.  

What has been on my mind this week aside from classes has been COVID-19, social distancing, rising rates of infection, new death forecasts, the two cases of COVID in the staff of Vice President Pence and President Trump, to mask or not to mask, and what should I say about all of this. I have been really particularly thinking about what about a theology of pandemic. What ought faith leaders, including myself, be saying to the members of our congregations, our communities, and in general all people concerning God in the time of COVID. 

I am grateful for the work of Bishop Lorna Halaas, the Bishop of the Western Iowa Synod of the ELCA. She joined (digitally) with other faith leaders here in Iowa to release a statement on April 28th concerning Governor Reynolds’ proclamation that church can and should begin meeting in person again. In this statement 21 faith leaders from 10 denominations stated that while we want to begin meeting in person again, the scientific evidence does not point to this being a time to reopen and start gathering again. The denominational leaders ask the local congregations to exercise caution and continue to wait, continue to meet in other ways than in person.  

This week our Governor traveled to Washington to meet with President Trump. There she was praised for re-opening Iowa (even as numbers throughout the state continue to rise, this week alone we have seen a doubling in the number of cases here in Sioux County). It is believed that the statement of the faith leaders was brought to the attention of the President because the next day it was announced that Vice President Pence would be traveling to Iowa and one of the stated goals of his presence was to convince faith leaders to reopen churches and start meeting in person again.  

In response to this trip the 21 faith leaders, including Bishop Lorna, reissued their statement from April 28th, with an additional message.  

“As church denominational leaders, representing more than 1.2 million Christians throughout the state of Iowa, we are grateful for the opportunity provided by the upcoming visit of Vice President Mike Pence to re-issue and recommit to our position regarding in-person gatherings of faith communities, whether for worship or group ministries.  

With one voice, we want to assure the Vice President that Iowa’s denominational leaders are currently working closely with local faith leaders in developing plans for when it becomes time to gather again in person. That time is likely to arrive in waves, reflecting regional diversity, with particular attention given to safe practices and a close observation of the scientific and local data on the spread of this coronavirus.  

We continue to abide unanimously to our statement of April 28th, which we reissue at this time.” 

I want to read to you also the most relevant part of the April 28th statement: 

“It is by our faith that we are compelled to love our neighbor. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, that love comes to expression by remaining physically apart. Loving our neighbor, and thereby the whole community, includes putting public health and the well-being of others ahead of the natural desire to be physically present together in community and in worship. 

As faith leaders, our hearts grieve for the immense pain and suffering felt by so many during these times. Whether mourning the loss of a loved one who has died from the coronavirus; facing the economic stress due to the loss of employment, business, or income; feeling isolated or alone; experiencing the stress of managing children and work from home; carrying the burden of uncertainty from the disaster and when a new normal may emerge, we pray you might find strength and hope in God’s unending and ever-present love.  

For the sake of the common good, we ask all congregations, their leaders, and their members to prioritize the safety and well-being of each other, those at particular risk, and those in their broader community. Please love one another and your neighbor by continuing to be in community together from afar.” 

It was while the Vice President was here in Iowa, that it was announced that one of the Vice President’s staff has tested positive for COVID-19 and a valet for President Trump has also tested positive for COVID-19, both the President and Vice President have been exposed directly to individuals who had the virus, and have been in turn directly exposing others.  

I want to share with you now the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Writing about the life together of the illegal seminary he co-lead during the years of the Nazi regime, Bonhoeffer opened his book with a discussion of the Christian community, particularly the gift of God that is present in the visible gathering of Christians living and worshiping together. 

“How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1) 

It is by God’s grace that a congregation is permitted to gather visibly around God’s word and sacrament in this world. Not all Christians partake of this grace. The imprisoned, the sick, the lonely who live in the diaspora, the proclaimers of the gospel in heathen lands stand alone. They know that visible community is grace.  

The believer need not feel any shame when yearning for the physical presence of other Christians, as if one were still living too much in the flesh. A human being is created as a body; the Son of God appeared on earth in the body for our sake and was raised in the body. In the sacrament the believer receives the Lord Christ in the body, and the resurrection of the dead will bring about the perfected community of God’s spiritual-physical creatures. Therefore, the believer praises the Creator, the Reconciler and the Redeemer, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the bodily presence of the other Christian. The prisoner, the sick person, the Christian living in the diaspora recognizes in the nearness of a fellow Christian a physical sign of the gracious presence of the triune God. In their loneliness, both the visitor and the one visited recognize in each other the Christ who is present in the body. They receive and meet each other as one meets the Lord, in reverence, humility, and joy. They receive each other’s blessings as the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if there is so much happiness and joy even in a single encounter of one Christian with another, what inexhaustible riches must invariably open up for those who by God’s will are privileged to live in daily community life with other Christians! Of course, what is an inexpressible blessing from God for the lonely individual is easily disregarded and trampled under foot by those who receive the gift every day. It is easily forgotten that the community of Christians is a gift of grace from the kingdom of God, a gift that can be taken from us any day—that the time still separating us from the most profound loneliness may be brief indeed. Therefore, let those who until now have had the privilege of living a Christian life together with other Christians praise God’s grace from the bottom of their hearts. Let them thank God on their knees and realize: it is grace, nothing but grace, that we are still permitted to live in the community of Christians today.” 

Currently we are being denied the ability to meet in person, that grace and gift has been taken from us for the time being, but it will only be a temporary separation. This text reminds me of the fact that we have quite a few members who are unable to meet with us weekly. Let alone the unbelievable number of Americans who are incarcerated or who are alone due to illness or age. I think of the fact that the vast majority of disabled Americans are unable to worship weekly, particularly as we live in a community with an agency dedicated to the care of men and women with intellectual disabilities. While we claim to be a Christian community, we make very little effort to insure that those with disability are able to attend worship and events of the church. I think not only of our members who live at Whispering Heights, but also the other residents and those who are unable to leave their homes who receive very few, if any visitors. I also think of a congregation of the Western Iowa Synod, Church of the Damascus Road, a prison congregation.  

I know that until recently I have taken for granted the opportunity to worship together with other Christians, to have visitors, friends and family, and to feel the presence of Christ through the bodily presence of other people. I took for granted the practice of weekly (or more frequent) communion.  

I imagine that many of you too have also not thought about what it might mean to not be able to worship together or partake in the body and blood of Christ in the eucharist, until this pandemic and physical distancing has continued to wear on.  

So, the first thing that I think we will need to think about whenever this passes is how do we minister and bring the message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection to those who are consistently separated from the worshiping community, how do we share the joy and gift of being physically present with the lonely in our community and beyond? How do we become a welcoming community, beyond greeting and trying to make people feel accepted, how do we invite others to participate in the life of Christ in the world? How will we live out our faith in our daily lives? 

After all of that, a word on the texts this week. 

The gospel reading this week is one that I have used in some way or another in almost all of the funeral services that I have presided. It is a comforting text. Jesus has gone before to prepare a dwelling place for us in heaven. We know the way there, believe in God and believe in Christ also. It is a particularly comforting text when we are faced with the loss of a loved one, to know that they are in the Father’s house, dwelling with Jesus through eternity. The pains and sorrows of life have past, and now they live in Christ, in paradise. It is our hope that we too will someday (hopefully not all that soon) be able to dwell there with God.  

But, what does this mean about our lives here? We know that in the future, our hope will be realized, because God, through the death and resurrection of Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit working in the world to give us the Grace of God through faith, has already accomplished all that is necessary for this to be a future reality for each of us. But, today, now, in a world where suffering still exists, were illness, pain, loneliness, despair, incarceration, violence, and rejection still exist, where COVID-19 determines so much of our daily lives, what does this mean for us today? 

Interestingly, today’s gospel comes immediately after Judas has left the last supper to gather to soldiers and Jesus has told Peter in front of the remaining disciples that even Peter will betray Jesus. Jesus speaks into the room, do not let your hearts be troubled. Sure, there is a hope for the future togetherness with God, but that is already a reality in the here and now. While Jesus goes to the Father, the Holy Spirit remains with us, and Christ intercedes for us to the Father, “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” 

We live in the time in between. The time of Christ’s resurrection and the return of Christ. We live in the time of the already, but not yet. God’s kingdom has begun here on earth through the death and resurrection of Christ and is manifested by the Holy Spirit working in and through us in the world, but it is also not here yet in its entirety. We wait and continue God’s work of reconciliation through our relationships in the here and now, while we wait for the new life and new creation at the end of time.  We experience in our lives together, even when we must be physically distant, a foretaste (the fancy theological term is a prolepsis) of the kingdom of God.  

Today, we live as people truly apart, called to love our neighbor because of the love God has shown us. We long for the time in which we can be gathered together by the Holy Spirit, until then show love in whatever ways that you can, call, email, video chat, write one another. Even in this time of difficulty we can speak with the Psalmist, 

“You are indeed my rock and my fortress; for your name's sake lead me and guide me... for you are my refuge. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God... Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your steadfast love.”