The Pastor’s Words

Maundy Thursday 2009
Texts:  John 13:1-17,31b-35 & I Corinthians 11:23-26
Topic:  Three Commands
 
In tonight’s readings, Jesus gave us three different commands: 
1.      “If your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other.”  (John 13:14  CEV)
2.      “I am giving you a new command.  You must love each other, just as I have loved you.”  (John 13:34  CEV)
3.      At dinner that night, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “This is my body.  Eat this in remembrance of me.”  And then, he took some wine, blessed it, and gave it to them saying, “This is my blood.  Drink this in remembrance of me.”  (I Corinthians 11:23-25 CEV)
 
On the night of his betrayal, on the night before he died, he gathered his friends, his summoned his colleagues, he sat with his chosen disciples, for one last meal.  And at that meal, he took the opportunity to lay out for them the essentials of what he expected an ongoing mission and ministry would look like once he was gone.
He said we should serve one another.  He said we should love one another.  And he said we should eat and drink of his presence always.
For Jesus, his final words to us on this earth were not just idle chatter, but they were actual commands.  His final words revealed his deepest hopes and dreams for us who have chosen to follow his teachings.
When people are dying, indeed, when people take their last breath, we tend to hang on to each and every word that’s uttered.  We remember everything about that time.  We remember the room, we remember the lighting, we remember the kind of weather there is outside, we remember who called and who didn’t.  We remember everything, especially the words.  We remember the final verbal exchanges.
What we have in our readings for tonight are the final exchanges between Jesus and his disciples.  There would be no more walks along the road.  There would be no more crowds straining to hear him as he spoke to them from a boat in the water.  There would be no more late night conversations, no more healings, no more teachings.  This was it.
He said we should serve one another.  He said we should love one another.  And he said we should eat and drink of his presence always.
In these economically difficult times, it has been impressive to see and hear of people’s concerns for others.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but I have.  I’ve seen and heard people ask about folks who are in trouble more than I normally see and hear.  I have had more people come to me offering help to others more than at any other time.  I don’t know if it’s only related to the economy, but, I can tell you it’s happening.  People are looking out for the needs of others.
When Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, and said we should do the same, he wasn’t expecting us to do the exact same service to others.  He was simply expecting us to serve one another, to look out for the needs of others, as he looked out for the needs of his disciples, his friends, his colleagues.
Washing the feet of someone in that time and place was a really nice to thing to do for someone.  When people walked everywhere, over unpaved roads, with sandals, their feet would be very dry and very dirty.  To wash someone’s feet was to care for that person’s needs.
Caring for someone’s needs in today’s world would look very much different.  All we have to do is look around.   And, again, from my vantage point, people are doing this.
Jesus also said, “Love one another as I have loved you.  When you do this, everyone will know you are my disciples.” 
This is a command, a mandate, from Jesus in our gospel for tonight.  It’s why we call this day, Maundy Thursday.  The word, Maundy, is derived from the word, mandate.  It is a night on which we received a new mandate, a new commandment, the command to love one another.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve all heard people say, “You know, she says she’s a Christian, but by the way she acts, you’d never know it.”  Or, “You see that guy over there.  Well, from his language you’d never believe he’s a member of that church up on the hill.”
We don’t like to be judged by our actions.  We don’t like it when people make comments about us.  But Jesus knew that’s what people do.  And Jesus knew that our actions speak loudly about who we are and what we believe.  That’s why he said, “If you let others see that you love others, truly love them, then, they will know you are my disciples.”  Because that’s what Jesus really wanted and what he still wants from those who call themselves Christians.
Finally, Jesus wants us to eat and drink into our bodies his very presence and power.  Jesus gave up his body for us.  By sacrificing himself for us, he showed us what true love can look like.  And in eating and drinking in his presence and power, we become strengthened to love and serve others.
It’s a simple thing, this Holy Communion.  It’s a tiny meal, this bit of bread and swallow of wine.  And yet, it is the very presence and power of the Divine coming to be among us.   The Creator of the Universe comes to you and to me, touches our very soul, and gives us what we need to carry on for the next day and the next.
Maundy Thursday is the first of these very holy and precious last three days of Holy Week.  It is the first day of the Triduum, which is Latin for Three Days.  Tomorrow, we will gaze upon the cross and reflect upon his sacrifice for us.  The following day, we will anticipate the resurrection that takes place sometime after sundown on Saturday.
For now, we will wash feet; we will eat and drink his presence and power.  And we will be humbled by his example of loving us fully and completely.   AMEN
 

Text:  Lord’s Prayer & Jeremiah 31:31-34
29 March 2009
Topic:  Lord, Teach us to Pray
 
1300 miles from here is Fargo, North Dakota.  If a person were to drive there it would take 23 hours of non-stop driving.  Fargo is under siege.  The Red River of the North is ready to burst its banks and flood the towns of Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota. 
These towns don’t mean much to you, but they are the towns I grew up in.  I went to high school in Fargo and college in Moorhead. People’s lives are at stake.  Property is at stake.  And, they are fighting.  College students and high school students, contractors and waitresses, pastors and parishioners are all working to save their towns and their lives.
Two months ago, our town of Coatesville made national news when 15 homes on Fleetwood Street were set on fire by an arsonist.  Prior to that, an arsonist set fire to a home in the west end that took the life of an elderly woman.  At that time over 60 fires had been documented in our town over the last 18 months with a total of 33 families displaced. 
These events touched the hearts of people from all over this country.  Police from local, state and federal agencies came together to solve these horrible crimes.  People’s lives were at stake.  Property was at stake.  And, thanks be to God, through the efforts of some really good police work, seven men from our area have been arrested.  Just perhaps, our town has been saved.
Whenever people’s lives are at stake, whenever our property – the things we hold dear – are threatened, we pray.  Whenever we are sick, or end up in the hospital, we pray.  When our families are in crisis, when our jobs are in jeopardy, when we don’t seem to have any other place to turn, we pray.
Today, we are giving our sojourners – those who are making the decision to be baptized or affirm their baptism on the Vigil of Easter, two weeks from now – a decorative copy of the Lord’s Prayer.  It’s the kind of thing they will be able to put into a frame and hang on a wall in their home.  The purpose of this gift is to encourage them to commit themselves to a life of prayer.
The folks in Fargo and Moorhead have been praying non-stop for over a week.  Some of those prayers have been actual words, but many more of those prayers have been put into action.  Thousands of people have loaded over a million sandbags and put them into dikes – all of it part of one gigantic prayer that will hopefully keep the Red River within its banks.
Here in Coatesville, we have also been praying.  And the city, county, state and federal officials who have worked so hard to solve the arsons within our midst have been answering our prayers.  In fact, their work has been a prayer.  For you see, sometimes prayer is not only words, their prayer has been their work. 
Prayer is something that comes from deep inside us, from a place which has been transformed.  Prayer is something that comes from a part of us that has been touched by the very presence of God.
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in our first lesson for today and said, “The time will surely come when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah.  It will be different from the agreement I made with their ancestors when I led them out of Egypt…..I will write my laws on their hearts and minds.  I will be their God and they will be my people.”  (Jeremiah 31:31-32a, 33b&c   CEV)
God was tired of people mouthing empty words and keeping laws that didn’t change their lives.  God decided to give us what we really needed.  Since we couldn’t get it done the way God wanted it done, and since we weren’t happy with things the way they were either, God decided to write God’s laws in our hearts and in our minds. 
God’s hope was that, when a new agreement would be revealed, lives would be transformed, lives would be changed, and lives would truly make a difference in the world in which we live.
God’s new agreement with us, as promised to us in Jeremiah, was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.  Through Jesus, God makes it possible for us to live transformed lives and to call upon him day and night, with words, and with actions.
Jesus said in our gospel reading, “If you love your life, you will lose it.  [But] if you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life.  If you serve me, you must go with me.  [For] my servants will be with me wherever I am.  If you serve me, my Father will honor you.”  (John 12:25-26  CEV)
Serving our Lord on this earth can be a form of prayer.  Serving our Lord may take the form of literally praying, maybe on our knees.  Serving our Lord may take the form of filling sand bags.  Serving our Lord may mean volunteering to become part of a town-watch at night to look for people up to no good.  Serving our Lord may mean caring for your family in the best way God has given you the ability.  Serving our Lord may mean committing yourself to a mission and ministry that you’ve never tried before. 
And, all of it, in one way or another, can be a form of prayer.
May we accept the new agreement God has made with us. May we pray as much and as often as we can.  May we pray with our words, and pray with our actions.  Amen.
 

Text: John 3:14-21
22 March 2009
Topic:  The Cross that Saves  
 
Take a look at the crucifix above the altar.  Take a good look. 
This cross is probably the first thing you saw as you entered this sanctuary for the first time.  People, who come here from other churches, particularly those from non-Roman Catholic churches, are amazed to see the size and realistic features of this crucifix.  Whenever I describe our church’s interior, I say, “Outside of Lutheran cathedral churches in Europe, our church has the largest crucifix I have ever seen in a Lutheran church, and I’ve been in a whole lot of Lutheran churches in my lifetime.”
We see crosses everywhere.  People wear them around their necks as jewelry.  People wear them as pins, or pendants.  Lots of people have crosses tattooed on their bodies.  Last weekend, on our way to Charlotte, North Carolina for a wedding, we saw in Virginia, alongside Interstate Route 81, a huge steel framed cross that had to be 50 feet tall.  On top of a mountain near Rio de Janeiro is a statue of a cruciformed, resurrected Christ. 
Crosses are so commonplace we sometimes forget their original purpose were as instruments of torture and death.
In today’s liturgy we will be asking the sojourners among us to renounce evil.  We will also be giving them a cross. 
You will recall that in our liturgy for Holy Baptism, we ask parents and sponsors to renounce evil.  We ask,
“Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?”
“Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?”
“Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?”
Now, a lot of people ask, “What does that word ‘renounce’ mean anyway?”
To renounce is to refuse to follow.  So, in Holy Baptism, we ask those who have come for Holy Baptism, “Do you refuse to follow the devil and all the forces to that defy God?  Do you refuse to follow the powers of this world that rebel against God?  Do you refuse to follow the ways of sin that draw you away from God?”  And the answer, of course, is “I renounce them.  I refuse to follow them.”
People who want to be followers of Jesus are choosing to follow Jesus, and not the forces of evil that surround us.  People who want to be followers of Jesus look at the cross of Jesus and see in it the power and hope of the resurrection.
In one of my visits to shut-ins this past week, I spoke with Helen Kuch.  She is not actually a member of ours but is the wife of one of our members who died some years ago.  Helen was born in the United States to parents who were originally from the Czech portion of Czechoslovakia.  Helen’s father was a coal miner in Pennsylvania but the work was hard and didn’t pay much at all.  So, Helen’s father packed up his family and moved them back to the motherland for 15 years between the years 1923 and 1938.
As you know, that was a very difficult time in central Europe.  Rumors of war were propagating everywhere.  One of Helen’s aunts had gone to live in the United States and several of Helen’s younger siblings had come to live with her.  Helen had a job in Czechoslovakia and wanted to stay, but when Sudetenland, the German sections of Czechoslovakia, was going to be annexed onto Germany, she decided to pack her bags and come to the United States as well.
On the night of September 29, 1938, she boarded a train for France.  On that train were many Czech people, and many Jewish people, all of them running for their lives.  She told me the train traveled without any lights.  It was their hope that if they traveled without any lights, they could travel without being noticed and reach their destination. 
It’s hard to believe a train could actually do this, but, she said, “We were really scared, and they asked us to not use any lights for fear of being stopped.”
She made it to America.  But the scars have remained.  Helen is 90 years old, but she told me her story as if it happened yesterday.  On that train ride, she said she prayed and prayed and prayed some more.  It was a time when evil was as real as the clatter of the train’s wheels beneath her.
Helen came to America and continued her faith in the Roman Catholic Church.  She fled what she believed was going to be a very evil and difficult situation in which to live.  And she lived to tell about it.
Among us today are Liberian people, people who in the last 15 years fled their homeland, just like Helen Kuch.  They, too, fled what they believed to be a very evil and difficult situation in which to live.  And they have come here to follow Jesus, all the way to the cross.
In today’s gospel reading, it says, “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life.”  (John 3:16 CEV) 
God sent his Son, Jesus, to die on a cross for the all the people of this world – for German people and Czech people, for Liberian people and American people, for Chinese people and Tanzanian people, for literally everyone on this earth.  God sent his Son to save each and every one of us.  And this cross is a reminder, not only of how God allowed it to happen, but also, of the ultimate sacrifice his Son made for each of us.
As Helen was leaving her family’s homeland, as the Liberians among us today were leaving their homeland, they brought with them the hope and belief that the God who sent his Son to save us – on a cross just like this – would journey with them to this land as well.  And, thanks be to God, that’s exactly what happened.  God’s love traveled with them.
Crosses remind us of God’s love.  But because crosses are also instruments of torture and death, they remind us of the evil that exists in the world. 
And so, when we see this cross, or any cross, we need to remember that God’s love is stronger than the forces of evil.  We need to remember that we can renounce the forces of evil because God sent his Son to die on a cross and overcame death and the devil at Easter.  We need to remember our baptism because it was in baptism that we were buried with Christ and raised to new life again.
Crosses are more than jewelry.  They represent our salvation.  AMEN

Text:  Genesis 17:1-7,15-16 & Mark 8:31-38
8 March 2009
Topic:  Take up your cross and follow me
 
In our first lesson for today, God says to Abram and Sarai, “If you obey me and always do what is right, I will give you more descendents than can be counted.”  (Genesis 17:2  CEV). 
In our gospel for today, Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me.”  (Mark 8:34c  CEV)  
In both of these readings, God is getting people ready for a journey.
Today, we have welcomed 34 people into our congregation’s life and mission.  We have welcomed these sojourners amongst us as we continue the journey of Abraham’s descendents.  We have welcomed these fellow travelers as we try to follow the teachings of Jesus who also asks us to take up our cross and follow him.  We welcome these people into our midst, not because we know everything there is to know about the journey, but because we have been called to reach out to any and all who looking for the way.
A week ago, four friends went out fishing on the Gulf of Mexico.  They went out on a boat that seemed big enough for the waters they were fishing, but not big enough for the waves that soon would be crashing over them.   When 10 foot waves hit their boat, it capsized, and the four friends were thrown into the sea.
Last Monday, one of the friends was rescued.  He was found two days after the search for the four friends began, and was almost gone when they found him.  It is now reported all four had life jackets on when the waves hit, but that two of the men, only four hours after they capsized, took off their life jackets and simply floated away, never to be heard from again.  The other two men stayed together until one of them, probably delusional, thought he saw a light in the distance, took off his life jacket, and swam away into the deep.
These four friends, two of them professional football players, the other two college football players, set out for an enjoyable day out on the water.  It ended in the deaths of three very athletic, very capable men.  These men, who were not novices on the water, set out on a journey that looked easy enough, but they made some critical mistakes.  And it ended in tragedy.
Your life and mine is no less a journey.  Our life journeys look easy enough.  We have prepared ourselves as best we can, or so we think.  We might even have some kind of life jacket to keep us safe, or so we think. 
And then, the tough times roll in and we are left wondering if we can hold on.  The economy goes sour and we wonder if we have enough saved.  Our jobs begin to look vulnerable, and we hope there’s a silver lining out there somewhere.  We have problems with our kids, and other family members, and we wonder if we can keep our wits about us.  We have hopes and dreams, but a whole lot of things have come up to dash all of them. 
Our life journeys are not all that dis-similar from that of those four friends.  We think we have the right stuff to hold on, but when the really tough times hit us, are we ready?  Or, will we, too, make some really big mistakes and lose it all?
The Good News of which we preach is that God is with us.  Through the really tough times, our God is with us.
When God called Abram and Sarai (somewhere near modern day Baghdad) to leave their homeland and move to the Land of Canaan (modern day Israel), they had no real idea of what their journey was going to be like.  The only thing they could count on was that God promised to be with them. 
They expected hard times, and the hard times came.  Along the way to the Land of Canaan, Abraham and Sarah had to deal with jealous relatives, armies of people hell-bent on destroying them, darkness and uncertainty, and worst of all, infertility. 
If they were to be the ancestors of a great and holy nation, how could they do so without children?  But God promised them children, and so they believed it.   God promised to be with them, and they staked their lives on it.
When Jesus invited the fishermen, Peter, James and John to follow him, at first glance, following Jesus must have appeared to be as easy as snagging sun fish off of a foot bridge.  Being a fisherman out on choppy waters was hard, physical labor.  Walking around Galilee must have seemed like a lazy cruise on the open sea.
Peter had a plan.  He thought Jesus had a shot at becoming the political and military leader everyone was hoping would one day emerge from within Israel.  That was his plan.
But Jesus had another.  Jesus had a plan that included confusion, suffering, torture, death and a resurrection.  It wasn’t going to be the leisurely cruise Peter had envisioned.  And Jesus figured Peter had better realize this right now.
Like Abraham and Sarah, like Peter, James and John, and all the other disciples, we are all on a journey.  We never know what kinds of seas we are traveling upon.  We would be wise to put on our life jackets, and keep them on.
We never know what kinds of adversity and trauma awaits us in life.  We’d better get prepared and stay prepared.
We never know when the storms of life will overwhelm us.  Getting into a group, and staying within a group, is probably good advice. 
Weather forecasts abound, but we have to listen to them.   Admonitions from scripture are available, 24-7-365.
The Good News of which we preach is that our God, who promised Abraham and Sarah, a son, delivered on that promise.  The Good News of which we preach, is that Jesus, took up his cross and saved us.  The Good News of which we preach is that we are saved even before we venture out onto the seas of life.
But, in order for us to know this, to really live within the freedom God’s salvation offers, we need to get together with other folks and learn how it all works.  We need the life jacket of faith.  We need to put it on, and keep it on. 
And that comes from allowing God’s Spirit to nourish us and sustain us, day in and day out.  That life jacket of faith is talked about, and lived, right here, right now.  It’s all part of the journey we call faith. 
Welcome sojourners.  We’re in this together.  We’re in this together until we’re rescued.  AMEN

Text:  Genesis 9:8-17, Mark 1:9-15
1 March 2009
Topic:  Living with God’s Promises
 
Rainbows are wonderful.  We’re going to begin seeing them soon.  Well, maybe not real soon, but soon enough.  We’ll just have to get through a few more weeks of winter and then spring will be on its way and then summer when most rainbows appear.  Rainbows are a gift from God.  Rainbows remind us of God’s promise to keep chaos away.
Most of us are fascinated with rainbows, so much so, that some of us will even run to the other side of the house to see one, or crane our necks in the opposite direction just to see one.  Rainbows are beautiful.
From our first lesson, we have the story of the origin of rainbows and it goes like this:  God saw the destruction that followed the flood in which only Noah, his family and all the animals were saved.  It grieved God to see creation destroyed in this way and decided it would never happen again.  That’s why God put a rainbow in the sky to remind himself of his promise, to himself, to never again destroy the earth and its inhabitants.
When we read the story, it says that God decided to never again send floodwaters to destroy the earth.  But it’s a bigger promise than even that.  In fact, God promises in this first reading from Genesis that God won’t completely destroy the earth and its inhabitants in any way, or by any calamity, ever again.
When God created the heavens and the earth, God took the chaos that was present in the universe and separated it into two realms.  Light was separated from darkness, the waters-above were separated from the waters-below, land was separated from the oceans, night was separated from day, and chaos was excluded from the land of the living.
CHAOS, in this sense, is anything that would ultimately destroy every living thing we know of.  When God put the rainbow in the sky, God made a promise to himself to never, ever, allow CHAOS to destroy the living things of this world ever again.  In fact, CHAOS would be excluded from this world.
Now, there may be floods, and there may be tornadoes, and hurricanes and fires that destroy all kinds of life on this earth, but they will be incidental and not total destruction.  Natural disasters will continue to happen, but total destruction of the entire earth, God says, will never, ever happen again.  The rainbow in the sky is God’s promise to us.
Thankfully, this past week, no fires in our community have made the news.  And, please don’t be superstitious and think that if we just stop talking about the fires, they’ll go away.   Christians are not superstitious and we believe we need to talk about the reality of sin and pain in our lives and deal with them openly.
What do we say to people who have experienced devastation in their lives due to fire or flood or storms of any kind?  We tell them the story of the rainbow.  We can tell them that God didn’t cause the fire, or the flood, or the storm, because God promised never again to destroy what God had created.
Nature may cause destruction.  Hurricane Katrina surely did.  People may cause destruction.  Roger Barlow and Mark Gilliam certainly did.  Storms disrupt our lives.  But through it all, God stays right beside us.  Indeed, God suffers with us. 
Those who have been frightened by the fires, those who have had sleepless nights due to the fires, had the Spirit of God sleeping with them, caring for them, day and night.  Angels have kept watch over those who have worried for their safety.
When we look at the gospel for today, we see that even Jesus encountered difficult circumstances and needed the angels of God to protect him.
Immediately upon his baptism, the gospel text tells us, “Right away, God’s Spirit made Jesus go into the desert.” (Mark 1:12 CEV)  And out there, for forty days and forty nights, he was tested by Satan.  He had to deal with the natural elements that were there.  He had to fend off the wild animals.  He had to search for food and shelter from the scorching heat.  And he was able to do it because, as it also says in that gospel reading, “angels took care of him.”  (Mark 1:13  CEV)
When the storms in our lives are seemingly overwhelming, we need to remember what God promised in the book of Genesis, “I will never, ever, again destroy what I have created.”  And we need to remember that God’s angels keep a constant watch over us.
Today is the beginning of the GIFT process at Good Shepherd.  The word GIFT stands for Growing In Faith Together.  It is the process, not a program, by which we are now receiving new members into this congregation.  We do this process once a year, during Lent, and those who are participating this year will be baptized, or affirm their baptism, at the Vigil of Easter on Saturday night, April 11.
Next week we will officially welcome the 37 adults, sojourners as we call them, who have presented themselves for this process.  As you know, each of the 37 sojourners will be given someone to sojourn with them, a companion in faith.  These 37 sojourners and 37 companions in faith met each other this morning during the Sunday School hour. 
Sojourners will be welcomed next week.  I would like for you to turn in your hymnals to look at the welcome we will be using.  Please turn to the red hymnal, page 232 in the front of your hymnal.  There, you will find the rite for “Welcome to Baptism.”  Just as Jesus was initiated into his ministry by being baptized, so too, sojourners will be initiated by being baptized or affirming their baptism at the Vigil of Easter.  The welcome you see before you will be used to begin that initiation process.
As we journey through the process of receiving new members, whom we hope will become more than members, and actual disciples of Christ, we are going to claim God’s promise to be with us, and  know that God will keep us safe throughout the GIFT process and indeed, throughout all of our life’s journeys. 
Rainbows are God’s reminder to never again destroy the earth.  In baptism, God promises to be with us forever.  And we, who are baptized, or will be baptized, or who will be affirming our baptism, promise to grow closer to Christ and to remain with Christ and the Church, as we are able.
Please pray for the GIFT process.  Please pray for those who are involved in the process.  And give thanks always for our God who promises to never destroy us, but instead, promises to care for us always.  AMEN

Text:  John 11:17-27
9 March 2008 
Topic:  God is with us always.
 
How very sad.  How very difficult it was to be there yesterday.  In the prime of life, one who was so full of life, so full of love is no longer with us.   So many people said at his funeral, he will be missed, a whole lot!   And the best that any of them can do now is to hang on to one another and give the support they can, in whatever ways they find possible.
Danny Kimes was 45 years old when he died.  Danny was the sister of Tracy Varga and the son of Barry and Linda Kimes.  Tracy, Linda and Barry are members here.  Yesterday was Danny’s funeral here at church.  It was a sad day, and yet a day we were able to celebrate his life.
 
Lazarus was a friend of Jesus.  This explains what happened to Jesus when he found out that his friend, Lazarus, had died.  He cried.  Yes, Jesus, the Son of God, cried.  And that makes it okay for all of us to cry as well – women AND men.  In fact, it more than okay to cry, it’s actually a very healing thing to do.  All the emotion that gets pent up inside when things like this happen need some kind of outlet.  Tears are a gift from God.  They can be a kind of salve that can heal one’s soul.
 
So, when tragedy strikes, when an unexpected death occurs, go ahead and cry.   Go ahead and let it out.  It’s better than letting it all well up inside and it coming out in ways that could be destructive.  Jesus, the human side of him, wept.  We can too.
When Martha, the sister of Lazarus heard that Jesus had come to visit she went right up to him and fairly yelled at him, “You know, Jesus, if you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!  Where were you?!?” 
It happens all the time.  When a sudden death, or an unexpected death occurs, we look for somebody, or something, to blame, or try to explain why the death occurred.  For Martha, it was the fact that if Jesus had gotten there sooner, her brother wouldn’t have died.  Now, there was no rational reason for her belief that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would still be alive.  But, Jesus was an easy target and, being the good and gracious person that he was, Jesus took the misplaced blame all in stride.
Lazarus died.  People die all the time.  And very often, you will hear people say, “Well, it was God’s will that he died.  He’s in a much better place now.”  There’s no doubt that people of faith who die are in a better place, but, to say it was God’s will that people, like Danny, die so suddenly is far, far from the truth.  God wants us to live.  In fact, if we look at the Garden of Eden experience in the book of Genesis, God wanted us to live forever.  
No, God doesn’t decide on a given day to simply pluck someone from this earth to have them in heaven.  People die because they were sick, or had a bad heart and didn’t know it.  People die because they are old and worn out.  And sometimes people die in accidents.  But none of it is caused by God. 
Instead, God – like Jesus with Martha and Mary in our gospel reading – comes to grieve with us.  As this crucifix hanging above this altar so vividly demonstrates, we have a God who suffers with us, who truly cries with us, who holds us in the palm of His hand and reminds us He will never let us go.  He will never, ever leave us alone.  We may suffer all kinds of grief and tragedy, but he remains with us, forever, and ever.
Jesus asked Martha, “Do you believe that everyone who believes in me, even though they die, will really and truly live?”  He asks us the same thing of us.   Do we believe that even though we die, we will live again?
Hopefully, our answer will be the same as Martha’s, “Yes, Lord, I believe.  I believe you came to save me, and the entire world, and that all I need to do is live in that belief and I will be able to deal with the death that is all around me.”
Jesus wept.  That was his human side.  We can appreciate someone who knows how hard it is to lose a loved one.  Jesus also saves us.  This is his divine side.  And thank God for this, because without it, we would have no hope nor any future at all.
So, let us believe, like Martha and Mary.  Let us trust Jesus to guide us through this life-  time.  And let us give thanks for all who have gone before us, trusting that one day we, too, will see them again.  AMEN

Text: John 9:1-41
2 March 2008
Topic: God’s Mighty Works
 
You may or may not know this, but every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, children from this community, and around the county, are bused to this building for school. 
Eight children, ages 3 to 5, with developmental needs stemming from autism, come here, to a classroom downstairs four days a week.  The class is called Early Intervention as the teachers attempt to guide and encourage students who have special education needs.  
In addition to the teachers and teacher’s aids from the Chester County Intermediate Unit, speech therapists, physical therapists, and school psychologists come here to help children with their developmental delays. 
In addition to these children, an additional thirty children come here those same four days, fifteen in the morning and fifteen in the afternoon, for a federally funded program called Head Start.  These children, also ages 3 to 5, come from economically disadvantaged homes.  They are typical children who just need a little help getting started in school which will be upon them in just a year or two.  That’s why the program is called Head Start.
On occasion I have gone downstairs to see the children learning how to play, learning how to interact with other children, and just plain learning.  And sometimes, I get goosebumps when I watch these students and their teachers, because I am seeing real change, and real learning, taking place right before my eyes.  Children with special needs are being cared for, right here, in God’s house!
It makes me proud that our congregation rents space to Early Intervention and Head Start because they are part of our outreach ministry of Sharing God’s Word.  And if you ever came here during the week and saw what we get to see each day, you’d be proud too.
            Going to our gospel reading for today, I doubt if any of us would come here on a weekday morning, see all the kids getting off the bus, and ask, “Who sinned?  This child?  His father?  His mother?” 
Would any of us say, “Surely someone sinned which caused this child to be autistic.” 
Or, would any of us say, “This child, born into a poor family, must pay for the sins of his parents and live the rest of his or her life condemned to poverty and want.”
            Doubtful.  I doubt anyone here would make either of these statements.  And the reason is that we just don’t think that way.  We don’t see life in such a “cause and effect” way.  For along with the Chester County Intermediate Unit, we believe God has created each of us in God’s image.  And the way we are made is a reflection of God and therefore good.  We believe children are born with the potential to be anything they set their minds to.
            But in our gospel for today, when Jesus was asked if the man who was born blind had been born that way as a punishment for his sin, or perhaps punishment for the sins of his parents, Jesus responded by saying, “No, this man is not blind because of his sin, nor is he blind because of the sin of his parents.  He was born this way so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  And then he made some mud, put it on the man’s eyes, and healed him.
            But for the religious authorities, that was too simple.  There had to be some reason this man was born blind and they determined to find out why.  First they questioned the man.  Then they questioned his parents.  Because they believed that people suffer the consequences of their sins, and to them, it was their job to find out who and what and why.
            But Jesus said, “I alone came to judge the people of this world.  I alone am here to give sight to the blind and to make blind everyone who can see.”  It was his not-so-subtle way of saying, “Leave the judgment of this world up to God.”  For the very people on this earth who claim the right to judge the sin of others are blind to the sin in their own lives.
            I believe we know what Jesus was talking about.  We all know people who love to stand around telling others how wrong everybody else is, but never look at the sin in their own life.  In another gospel Jesus said, “Don’t look at the speck in someone else’s eye when you fail to see the log in your own.” 
            It’s the same thing here.  Jesus is reminding us that judging the sins and failures of others is not for us to judge.  That’s God’s work.  And if there is any reason for someone to have been born blind, or with autism, or just plain poor, then they were born that way so that God can do mighty  works through the rest of us who aren’t blind, autistic or poor.
            That’s why we need to celebrate what happens here four days a week.  God’s mighty works are being done through us as we assist others who are teaching children how to walk and talk and play and get a head start the best way they can.  God’s mighty works are done through us whenever we leave the judgment of “who sinned or not” up to God and instead roll up our sleeves and figure out how we can best serve the needs of those around us. 
Judging others is so easy.  And yet, it gets nothing accomplished.  Jesus didn’t get sidetracked by those who thought he was doing the wrong thing.  He was on a mission.  And when he heard that the man he had healed had been cast out from the religious meeting places, part of his mission included finding that same man and bringing him back into the fellowship of faith.
We, too, have been healed by Jesus.  We, too, have been found and included in the fellowship of faith.  God alone has judged us and has said, “Come into my kingdom.  Come into my home.  Come into my fellowship, eat and dine at my table.  Rejoice in your salvation.”
Along with the man in our gospel we have been given new life.  Along with the man in the gospel, we have been given new eyes and new faith.  Let’s celebrate it.  And then, let’s share this Good News with others.   AMEN
           
 
 
 
 
 

Text:  John 4:4-42
24 February 2008
Topic:  Saved and Redeemed
 
            What was he thinking?  I mean, what did Jesus, a Jew, think he was doing, talking to a woman, much less “that kind of woman!” 
            In our world of today, we may have a hard time understanding what the “big deal” was with Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman in that society, and indeed even in some mid-eastern societies of today, it was the case that men simply were forbidden to talk to a woman who was not their relative.   Women were literally second class citizens.
            And the fact that this woman had had so many different men, she was clearly not someone that the religious leaders of that day would have associated with.
And finally, for Jesus, a Jew, to talk to a Samaritan was even worse.  They were Gentiles and Jews didn’t associate with Gentiles.  Further, there was a caste system of favored people in that region at that time.  Samaritans were known as “half-breeds,” which made them even less than Jews who regarded themselves as “pure breds.” 
There were at least three very distinct and compelling reasons for Jesus to have never talked to this Samaritan woman.  But, he was on a mission and that mission pre-empted any cautionary admonitions others may have put upon him.
I don’t intend to get into the politics of it all, but, this year’s presidential campaign reflects our gospel reading for today in a very interesting way. 
Running for president we have a Republican who’s been married twice.  We have a woman, a Democrat, who’s also had her own fair share of marital difficulty, and we have another Democrat who, for some, fits the Samaritan image to the tea.
To each of them, Jesus would say, “Have some water.  Drink from my well.  Drink from that which will give you all that you will ever need to live, to lead, and help your nation be what it should be.” 
Jesus wouldn’t discriminate.  Jesus didn’t discriminate.  He gave to the Samaritan woman what he offers to each of us, namely, salvation and redemption.  It mattered not one whit that this woman had had so many husbands or that she was from a different class of people, or that she was a Gentile.  He reached out to her as he reaches out to you and me.  And thankfully so.
When we were in Seattle for the training for the GIFT process we are using this Lent to initiate new disciples in our midst, we heard a testimony from a woman who actually told us, “This is my story.   The Samaritan woman was me.  And today, I know myself to be a child of God.”
Donna grew up vaguely attached to the church.  She was really wild as a youth and, as a flower child of the ‘60s, she had an even wilder young adulthood.   Along the way she not only had many men, but did all the drugs and the booze you could imagine. 
Sometime later in her life, depressed and at her wits end, she cried out to God, “If you’re there, make me feel better.  I know I’ve done some really bad things in my life.  If you are who you say you are, then, forgive me.  Make me feel better.”  That was her prayer.
And sure enough, a calm came over her.  She actually felt renewed.  Thanking God, she walked down the street to the nearest church, which just happened to be Phinney Ridge Lutheran Church in Seattle, the site of our meeting last month.  She ran into the pastor and  talked to him for about two seconds and said, “You don’t want to talk to me.  I’ve been too bad, and besides, I have too many questions,” and walked out the door.  The pastor pleaded for her to stop, but she left anyway.
She didn’t come back for months.  Then, she re-appeared at the church, again with the same message, “You don’t really want to know who I am or what I am about because church people don’t like to talk to people like me.”  And again, she tried to leave, but the pastor reassured her that the people of his congregation would not judge her.  She didn’t believe him and left anyway.
It was on and off like this for three years but finally Donna decided to try out their GIFT process, their catechumenate, their way of bringing people into a closer relationship with Christ and the Church. 
On the third Sunday of Lent in the year she was in their catechumenate process, she heard this gospel lesson and started to cry.  She’d never heard the story of the Samaritan woman and discovered the wonderful and absolute Good News that God was not only willing to forgive her but was willing to give her new life. 
She became a disciple.  And she has remained in that congregation for a number of years now.  She is one of their catechists, one of the leaders of their catechumenate process.  And God is using her testimony to touch and reach others.
Her story is real.  And her story is compelling.  There are a lot of Samaritans in this world of today.  There a lots of Donnas in this world of today.  They are all part of the harvest of which Jesus spoke in our gospel for today. 
He said, “³⁴My food is to do what God wants!  He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. ³⁵You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.
 ³⁶Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. ³⁷So the saying proves true, “Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop.” ³⁸I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work. “   (John 4:34-38 CEV)
Twenty-six people have come to us this Lent to be baptized or to affirm their baptism.  They are coming for the water of life.  They are coming to grow closer to Christ and to the Church of Christ.  They, like you and me, have come to drink deeply of the Word of God.  They have come to find what the Samaritan woman found, acceptance, love, and a new lease on life.
Pray for these men and women and their families.  Pray for their companions in faith.  Pray for the shepherds who are helping lead their small groups.  Pray for this process so that people’s lives change and the mission of this congregation continues to be one in which together we seek to know, to live, and to share God’s Word.   AMEN