All The Love

God loves us and there is nothing we can do about it. God loves us and there is nothing anybody else can do to block that love. It's mind-blowing stuff!  As July drew to a close I was invited back to Springmoor, to once again offer a message that would be sent out by closed-circuit tv to the entire Springmoor community. In addition to Chaplain Lori and Ms. Betty the pianist, three lovely women joined us for worship and proved the truth of the statement that God is present and loving us wherever two or three are gathered together in the name of Jesus. It was another delightful evening.

The text was also perfect for the day. It was full of encouragement and reassurance that God loves us. Period. Always. Everybody. Regardless of what humanity may intend. God's love wins. It was such a gift to me to be able to proclaim the message that is the main thing keeping me going most days.

The text for the July 26 service was Romans 8:26-39.

Click here for the audio only of the message. Click here for the video of the entire service.

And here's the script:

Come Holy Spirit. Intercede for us that we may hear of your love for all time.  Amen.

How often in your life, or this year, or this month, or week or even today have you wondered…
WHAT ELSE?

What else can happen?
How can we take anymore?
When will this pain end?

This week I have been remembering a lot of stories from my past…

Like the one where I was sobbing as I sat with my parents, uncertain of where to go to college. I had a scholarship to Texas A&M but was terrified to be so far from home, to be at such a big school. How could I handle that?

Or when I lost a job – a job that I had experienced as a specific and direct call from God – and I wondered… How DARE they fire me? I was called here by God!!

Of this past Thursday when I started the day begging God for grace. For relief from the heat and for relief from an extremely busy and overwhelming day. And what happened? A thunderstorm overhead that destroyed the tent we had put up over boxes of produce to protect them from the sun. 150 families lined up in a seemingly endless line of cars. And exhaustion and frustration among everyone, leading to sharp conversations.

Have you been there?  Asking
* WHAT ELSE LORD?
o Where have you been?
* WHERE ARE YOU?
* What is the meaning of all this?

 But here we are in 2020 – the year of murder hornets, Saharan sand storms right here in NC, and a plague… interrupted social interactions, long weeks and months away from family and loved ones, and endless uncertainty about what will happen next and how this virus will behave and evolve.

It’s easy to get down in the dumps or be afraid.

It’s tempting to give in to anxiety and frustration.

It’s easy to wonder… where is God in all of this? Has God finally given up on us?


Now… I am no historian but I do know that every time I start thinking “it’s never been this bad before!” it only takes a little peek into the past to see that maybe it isn’t so new after all.

Take Paul’s list in our text, for example. Nearly 2000 years ago Paul gave us a list of worrisome things that might make people of the time wonder where God is:

Death or life
Angels or rulers
Present or future
Powers (he doesn’t even bother to list all the kinds!)
Height or depth
Anything in creation

All are nothing compared to God’s love.

Nothing can vanquish God’s love.

What’s more, walking in that love ALWAYS leads to good, because God’s love can only BE good.

If we are walking in God’s love, then who can say we are wrong? (Although, of course, many, many people will want to.)  Who can hurt us in any lasting way?

Paul notes that ONLY JESUS could. Only the God-nature of Jesus could have put a dent in all that love. Jesus could have decided differently because only the human Jesus is also God. Oh sure, doing so would have meant abandoning God… but if anyone had ever been able to do that, Jesus was the one.

And how did that go??

Jesus came and lived a fully human life here on this very earth. Jesus lived among
     death and life
      angels and rulers and powers
      height and depth and all manner of creation
   
Jesus saw the best and the worst of humanity – and usually saw them in ways different than the other human beings around him saw tbem.

Because Jesus loved. Jesus loved that love that nothing could stop. Jesus did not defy his God-nature but stayed firmly in the God-love the whole time. Jesus loved fully and perfectly.

And how did humanity react? In the ultimate NO WAY kind of way. Humanity killed Jesus.

For just a moment, and despite being the only person who never once did a thing that even might separate him from God, Jesus died. He separated himself from all that was his and in doing so he broke the back of evil.

He overcame all those things that try to stop us.

Jesus was resurrected.

No one said Jesus had to give up anything. He freely gave up his life, and all that was eternally and infinitely his. And none of the brokenness of the world could hold him.

And now, Jesus and the Spirit are continually interceding for us, calling us to walk in the love that cannot be denied or vanquished.

Blocking earthly attempts to separated us from God, by continually wooing and inviting and drawing us closer to God. By turning even our worst days into something better than we could hope to expect if we can only notice it.

Because Jesus voluntarily succumbed to death, and broke the power of death (and life, and angels, and rulers and powers and height and depth and whatever else is in creation)

Everything is still working together for good when we walk in faith.

When we
* Believe that there is a God who loves us (and everyone who is not us)
* Believe with even the tiniest mustard-seed-sized belief
* Believe in a way that soaks into our whole life, into every breath and movement
* Believe in a way that realizes God’s love is the best treasure and worthy of sacrifice.
* Believe that we are one precious example of a creation that is so beloved down to the tiniest cell and electron and quark that nothing CAN be destroyed before God decides that all time should end.

Scientists call that conservation:  conservation of matter, of charge, of angular momentum…

And I’m enough of a scientist to call it that, too. But I’m also enough of a theologian to ALSO call it God’s infinite love endlessly bubbling forth in continual recreation of all that is. Always making things new.

We can see it now, and through all time, if we look:

When I was frightened to go to a big university, my father’s encouragement that led me to overcome my fears and go to Texas A&M where I was stretched and formed and started on the path of adulthood and a career that has been varied and fascinating.

Being fired from that job led me to seminary and to the ministry that now fulfills me in ways I could not imagine before.

Even this past Thursday’s rain and exhaustion led to difficult discussions that resulted in better, less exhausting ways to serve the growing crowds of people in need of food.

God made a way to something better. God made all those things work together for good.


How has God showered you with love-soaked grace that turned your pain into something good?
     Maybe something even better than you dared to hope or imagine?
     Can you feel the love right here, right now?

...

It is still just as Paul said to the Romans:

We cannot be separated from God’s love.
Not by hurting or unkind or angry people.
Not by flood or storm
Not by political shenanigans.
And CERTAINLY not by a virus!

So rest today. Rest from your fear and worry and anguish.

Rest in the certainty of God’s love for you… no matter who you are.

Amen.

The topsy turvy world of Jesus

AS IT TURNS OUT... a pandemic reduced the opportunities to share messages right at the time when everything else in my life got turned upside down. But as things have opened up a little, my friends at Springmoor Retirement Village invited me to participate in their weekly worship, sent out to the Springmoor community via closed-circuit tv. This message was delivered on July 5. It was fun - in the large auditorium with me were Ms. Betty the pianist, Chaplain Juliana, and one brave resident who wanted to worship in person.

The video here is of the whole service, and was captured from the closed-circuit tv system.

The texts for the day were:
Zechariah 9:9-12
Psalm 145:8-14
Romans 7:15-25a
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

And here is the script of the message:

Come Holy Spirit, lighten our burdens and yoke us with the easy yoke that Jesus brings to us. Amen

Does it seem to you that things are very difficult right now? Even something as simple as wearing a face covering is hot, it’s uncomfortable, and there are so many excuses to make about why we should not have to. But once we wash away all of our fear and helplessness, it is clear. It’s not that hard – wearing a mask keeps everybody safer. Including myself, but especially others.

Does it seem like this is one of those hot summers of strife? Issues that have been part of strife in the USA from the beginning are flaring up as people continue to be killed for no reason. There is all kinds of debate about whether the killers deserve punishment, when the level of punishment deemed appropriate appears to be more closely connected to the person killed than the one doing the killing. And yet it’s not that hard – if we claim to follow Jesus and love each other, then all killing is a reason for deep grief and sorrow, horror and sadness.

But then there are other things: does it seem to you that the urge to celebrate graduations and birthdays, anniversaries and ordinations is just as strong as ever? But there is a virus, and we are frustrated, and without knowing the whole story we are quick to demonize those who choose to celebrate and those who decide not to – anyone who disagrees with our way. And yet it’s not that hard if we make our decisions based on love for the exact people involved, and the longest-term benefit.

And that is our starting point for today’s text.

Because if we are going to be like Jesus, then the story and the ministry always starts right exactly where we are.


In the first distinct section of today’s text, Jesus has just finishing making it clear that John the Baptist was a super-duper prophet. The best ever.

AND YET – Jesus seems to say –

People don’t get it. They are never satisfied:


We are playing music

We are wailing in sorrow


John lived an ascetic life away from others

Jesus enjoyed time and food with friends



But nobody dances with us

But nobody will mourn with us

And they called him demon


And they declared he was hanging with the wrong crowd



When Jesus said “this generation” I’m pretty sure the intent was that “this” generation is all generations of humanity. Because in human history, there is a strong trend to want other people to behave and respond differently.

We want others to vindicate our own shortcomings, to fix our brokenness.

We want others to be MORE WRONG so that we can be MORE RIGHT.

If “they” are staying home, wearing masks, minimizing contact with others, and we want to be out of the house, spend time with friends, socialize for any number of reasons, then clearly “they” are wrong.

If “they” are out in the community, working with vulnerable people –
Those who don’t speak English
Who don’t have healthy minds or bodies
Who make terrible decisions that harm themselves and
     others

And we want to avoid the discomfort of seeing how difficult life is for others, then clearly “they” should be doing something else.

At first glance it is all topsy-turvy. Like Jesus might be saying “make up your mind! Do you want social activities or not?”

But on deeper examination, notice something: in both cases “they” are doing something risky and uncomfortable, but something that helps other people.

The choices are not do you want to party or socialize, but how do we live the lives we are called to live so that we can LOVE OTHERS?

I think Jesus might be tapping on the idea that “this generation” is always looking for an excuse not to love.

WISDOM IS VINDICATED BY HER DEEDS, or as The Message paraphrase says “the proof of the pudding is in the eating” - and it’s not that hard. Street urchins know that music is for dancing and celebrating and crying is for sorrow.

Even when the celebrations and sorrows are not our own, they become our own because we love other people.

&&&

In the second section of our text (after a part where Jesus speaks frustration over the communities that he has visited, a part excluded from our lesson today), Jesus lifts up the children again.

Those street urchins who know how to dance when there is music
Who know that sorrow calls for tears, not intellectual explanations and excuses

And this time Jesus says THEY are the Wise Ones!

Jesus says – these children, these infants, they are my people.

They are the ones who understand my message. They are the ones who get my point. Maybe they have old bodies, but they are infants in loving.

Jesus declares that these infants in spirit see Creation as it was meant to be when Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created this universe, set it in motion, created the creatures who lives and have our being here.

It is the children-in-body-or-spirit who have the instinct for the obvious.
They are the ones who have seen the reality of God.

Jesus is saying, IT’S NOT THAT HARD TO FIGURE OUT ONCE YOU KNOW WHO WE ARE.

Once you know who YOU are, as a child of God, a sibling of Christ, a person being called by the Holy Spirit.

Here are the words Jesus uses. I want to read them directly because they are so beautiful, because they give me such relief from these strange, confusing, scary times:

28“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,
and I will give you rest.
29Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

There will be sorrow – death and pain, anger and horror. And the response is easy to know:  grief and tears, mourning and wailing

But not fear. We are not captive to sorrow. We are free to celebrate the other side of things as well: the graduations and anniversaries, the relationships and love we experience from places expected and unexpected.

Because Jesus knows firsthand the sorrow of death, from watching others die to dying himself.

The difference is that with Jesus’ death did not stick. From raising dead people in his ministry to being resurrected himself, Jesus declared over and over that he has won victory over death. And that victory is ours, too, when we yoke ourselves to Jesus.

In the love of the Resurrected Jesus we do not have to worry or solve the problems or get defensive.

When we yoke to Jesus, it is not an equal yoke at all. It is an EASY yoke, a light burden,
     because Jesus has done the hard part.
     And that is where we get our freedom.

Freedom from defending our viewpoints
Freedom from the need to continue striving without rest.
Freedom to love everyone, even the people who disagree with us,
Who have chosen another path
Who live lives that may not validate our own ways of
     living.

Jesus says: MY YOKE IS EASY AND MY BURDEN IS LIGHT

Jesus has taken it on and in the Resurrection offered us full and complete freedom to love:

To love by crying when others hurt (without checking whether they “deserve” the pain)

To love by laughing and living in joy and celebrating with and for those around us

To love everyone and know that we are not the ones who have to carry the burden because Jesus has already done it.

To love in the full and perfect confidence that it isn’t that hard,

because in Jesus our souls can rest.

AMEN

When the church leaves the building (Parktown Food Hub style)

Back on June 11 the CK Brothers of Greensboro, NC invited me to participate in their Morning Watch daily program, in a series called "The Church Has Left The Building." There was a lot going on at the time so I got the video made and shipped off, and it was posted on the Morning Watch facebook page, but I never got around to posting it here.

But now it's six weeks or so later and in a spasm of catching up and trying to refocus my life on the things that I value the most, here it is!

The text was Matthew 9:35--10:8 [9-23]

And here's the video - it's much fancier than I usually do, with scene changes and everything!

Pastor Sharon on Morning Watch, June 11, 2020

And here is the script that I used as a starting point:

Today HUBVID-20 (WAY better than COVID-19) is partnering with Morning Watch, a series from the CK brothers, some Lutheran pastor friends in Greensboro, NC. Will you pray with me?

Come Holy Spirit. Speak to us and turn us into Jesus’ followers, living out Jesus’ mission that we may fulfill the mission of Jesus’ followers: to continue the mission of Jesus himself.  Amen.

Back in my student days there was one particular class that was just a mess the whole semester. The students were exhausted all the time, frustrated and confused and outraged over some of the new professor’s grading missteps.  And the phrase that kept coming to mind was the one that shows up in Matthew 9:

Jesus saw the people and realized they were
     harassed and helpless
      like sheep without a shepherd.

Sound familiar?

It sounded familiar to me then and it sounds even more familiar to me now.

For a long time we have lived like a church building was a place where we could be safe, where we could find our shepherd and not have to be harassed and helpless. And slowly, over time, we worried less about the harassed and helpless people who were not in that safe sanctuary with us.

And then came COVID-19. And we couldn’t hang out together in those safe sanctuaries anymore.

All of a sudden I went from being the oddball pastor that confused everybody, to being ahead of the curve in this brave new world of being the church outside of the building.

And do you know what I see?

I see people who are harassed and helpless.
     Some from a sub-microscopic virus.
Some from a massive system of patriarchy and white supremacy and violence that is beyond what any one of us can address in a way to cause meaningful change.

Some for reasons I cannot even fathom.

It’s maddening, and saddening, and heartbreaking.

But do you know what Jesus did (you know, the Good Shepherd?) in that situation? When he saw the people he loved being harassed, like sheep without a shepherd?

Jesus had compassion.

And in his compassion, he said to his disciples – the people who had declared that they would follow him – go out and harvest. In that really scary time. To all those harassed and helpless people without a shepherd. Without a sense of how they SHOULD be.

Can you imagine the looks on their faces?

WHAT DO YOU MEAN GO OUT??? IT’S NOT SAFE OUT THERE!!!
At least we can take money and extra clothes and weapons to keep us safe, right?

And Jesus said, ahhhh… no. He didn’t even get snarky about how little they had learned over the last three years.

Instead he made them POWERFUL:

To cast out spirits
To cure sickness
To go to the lost people, the ones who had wandered away

And when he found those lost folks, they were supposed to PROCLAIM.

And if the people didn’t want to hear the proclamation?
Well, then they were to go on their way.

Not hang out and argue.
Not take potshots at how wrong the people were.
Not to use social (or military) forces to beat down those wrong people.

In fact, Jesus told his followers to do the exact opposite… Here is what he said, from Matthew 10:

16“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. 19When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; 20for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; 22and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 23When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.”]

Well.

Sign me up for that job, right?

Just keep following Jesus, invite others along, and do not sweat it if they decline to come with you. Even if they are frothing mad.

And for all my joking of how terrible that job sounds, the actual fact is that in our baptism, and in confirmation, and when we publicly proclaim that we are Christians following Jesus, what we are doing is SIGNING UP FOR THAT JOB.

Follow Jesus.
Invite others along.
Do not sweat it if they decline to follow.
Just keep following Jesus.

And what is left out of those instructions? Here are just a few things:
Clinging to the Temple
Insisting that Jesus-following only happens in one place or form
Prioritizing “our own people”

It’s a strange life, this business of following Jesus. South Durham Connections and the Parktown Food Hub has a vision board that agrees that the model of how Jesus’ lived is the best model for caring for our neighbors with food and community care.

Because even the people who are not so sure about the rest of what the church says agree that Jesus’ was all about something they want to be part of. Jesus’ was all about the love that our vision board wants to be known for.

We do not turn people away (even when we kind of want to, because people are not always noble and good and fun and kind.)

We do not place restrictions on who is eligible to eat from the Hub.

We even refrain from punishing people when they take advantage of us.

We have pledged to do things like Jesus would do them.

And no matter how hard you THINK it is to do that? Well, you are wrong.

It is even harder.

In fact, it is literally impossible to do.

But some days we get a little closer than others.

Some days we are able to listen compassionately with people seeking so avidly – but hurt so badly by the church – that they talk of starting their own secular church even as they look to a Lutheran pastor for support.

Some days we are able to simply shrug as we realize that a family that proclaims hunger hasn’t bothered to unpack the food they got from us last week before coming back this week for more… of something.

Some days we are able to remember that Jesus said we do not have to spend a lot of time planning a response (or respond at all) to the comments on facebook. Sometimes I even remember I do not have to read the comments at all!

When we are good at following Jesus, it is so incredibly freeing. Freeing because it means we are not staying shackled by the broken world in which we live.

Freeing because we can respond to the pain around us rather than adding to it.

Freeing because we are leaving the buildings and seeing what God is up to out and about, where all God’s beloved are hanging out.

And that is what I invite you to try out today: walk outside of your comfort zone and enter the beautiful, free, terrifying life that is following Jesus.

Be a Jesus follower without worrying about what words to use. Speak from your Spirit-filled heart instead of your favorite old liturgy or memorized prayer.

Be a Jesus follower by believing that the people you do not know or understand are fundamentally just like you: broken and scared and beloved beyond reason or imagination.

Be a Jesus follower by seeking to nourish and love and heal people even if their words and behaviors make you really uncomfortable.

Because Jesus has already done the hardest part, the part we can never do. And as you follow Jesus, speak from your heart and pray that your heart be changed to be like Jesus.

Be moved by the breath of the Holy Spirit and embrace the healing that can only come…

When we follow Jesus.

Amen.

And now, may the grace of God, the breath of the Holy Spirit, and the light of Jesus Christ lead you on into your day, your week, and your calling in life.  Amen.