Altered by the Spirit: Altered by disruption

 In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called. He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius.” He stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” He answered, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside.” When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything he sent them to Joppa.

About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while it was being prepared he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air. Then he heard a voice saying, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean.” The voice said to him again, a second time, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate. They called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” So Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for your coming?” They answered, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish people, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” So Peter invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers and sisters from Joppa accompanied him. The following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. On Peter’s arrival, Cornelius met him and, falling at his feet, worshiped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, “Stand up; I am only a mortal.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found that many had assembled, and he said to them, “You yourselves know that it is improper for a Jew to associate with or to visit an outsider, but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”

Acts 10:1-28, 34-35, 44-47 (NRSV)

Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Stigma. 

I want to talk today about this word, stigma. It’s a word that has many meanings, but, generally, it’s a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something. Can you think of any stigmas that exist in our society today? 

There are many stigmas in our world today. In the time of the early Church there were many stigmas, too. Of course, it depended on one’s perspective. If you were Jewish, for example, anyone who wasn’t Jewish would, in your perspective, have a mark against (or on) them. Gentiles, for example. Who were considered unclean.

That’s the situation with Cornelius in today’s story. From Peter’s perspective, any association with a Gentile or anyone or anything else identified as unclean would, under Levitical law, require a process of ritual purification. Cornelius, an officer in the Roman guard, was a Gentile. Thus, he was ritually unclean.

Except for one thing. The Holy Spirit. The story of Peter and Cornelius is a story - like that of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch - about catching up to where the Spirit is always moving. It might surprise us - that the Spirit is always nudging us outward. Always redrawing the lines. Always disrupting the things we always thought were true.

But, it shouldn’t surprise us, should it? Because isn’t this exactly what Jesus did, while here on earth? Always moving towards the edges of our world? To those who have been stigmatized, pushed away, deemed abnormal according to our standards?

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May is Mental Health Awareness month. It no surprise to you, I’m fairly sure, that this is an important subject for me. Both personally and as a pastor. The statistics are pretty stunning. Nearly 1 in 5 adults in the U.S. experiences mental illness in a give year. That’s 20% of our adult population. To quantify it, that would be every adult over the age of 65 in our country. It is a huge number. And, yet, too many are afraid to seek assistance because they fear being stigmatized. Being marked as having something wrong with them. So, they don’t get help.

The consequences of this are devastating. Suicide is the tenth leading cause of death in the United States. And it is the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-34. More than 90% of people who die by suicide show symptoms of a mental health condition. And half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14, three-quarters by age 24. Yet, despite the availability of effective treatment, there are long delays - sometimes decades of delay - between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.

So, what can we do? Rather, what are we called to do as people of a Savior who was always moving toward the edges of our world to draw people in?

Here are five simple things we can do to make the world a better place for people with mental illnesses, and for their families.

• First, be a friend. Provide judgment-free companionship and compassion on the road to recovery. Listen without judgment. Pray for those you know with mental health conditions, and for their family members. And recognize that mental illness isn’t a sign of weak faith or lack of spiritual willpower, or anything that should humiliate anyone.
• Second, be an inspiration. If you are suffering from mental illness, share your story. Has mental illness impacted you or your family in some way? Your story may empower others to seek treatment or to have hope.
• Third, watch your language. Words matter. Pay attention to the words you use and avoid stigmatizing labels. Don’t refer to people as “crazy,” “psycho,” “lunatic,” or “mental.”
• Fourth, be a “Stigmabuster.” Challenge negative attitudes toward mental illness among your friends and acquaintances and in the media. 
• Finally, learn the facts. Educate yourself about the various mental illnesses. Attend a lecture or class or use the internet. 

And, if you are experiencing grief, anxiety, depression, or any other kind of mental health issue, seek help, if you haven’t already. Talk to me. Talk to your spouse or family. Talk to your doctor. And ask for help. There are a whole bunch of us out there ready and waiting to help, who want to love and support you through your journey.

Peter’s life was disrupted by the vision he received from God in a way he could never have expected. From this vision and then from his experience with Cornelius, he began to truly understand the expansiveness of God’s grace. That God’s grace is bigger, wider and greater than we can ever truly know. That God’s grace encompasses everyone. Stigmatizes no one. That it is a disruptive force - not destructive, but disruptive. A force that shows us how an encounter with someone who is so sure and certain of their boundaries, their rules, their doctrine, their beliefs or whatever - how a disruptive encounter with a gracious God can change everything. And mostly, change us.

Amen.

Preached Sunday, May 5, 2024, at Grace & Glory Lutheran, Goshen, KY and Third Lutheran/MOSAIC, Louisville, KY.

Altered by the Spirit: Altered alongside our enemies

 Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. For three days he was without sight and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

For several days he was with the disciples in Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” All who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem among those who invoked this name? And has he not come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?” Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

--Acts 9:1-22 (NRSV)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Creator, and our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Alleluia, Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia! (Just checking to make sure you remember that we are in Easter!)

Have you ever found yourself in conflict with someone with whom you deeply disagreed?

In 1989, F. W. de Klerk became president of South Africa. He was an Afrikaner - a white ethnic group in South Africa descended from Dutch and Huguenot ancestors. He was a member of the National Party, which was the majority party in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. This party - also known as the Nationalist Party - was responsible for the implementation of apartheid rule. Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial segregation that existed, beginning in 1948. It ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation’s minority white population. It barred the vote of non-white citizens. It prohibited mixed-race marriages. It required all citizens to register into one of four racial groups based on appearance. It also removed black Africans from their homes and forced them into segregated neighborhoods, some of the largest mass evictions in modern history. 

By the time de Klerk was elected in 1989, white citizens represented around 15% of the population but had 100% domination politically, socially, and economically. Yet, the handwriting was on the wall. De Klerk recognized that apartheid was unsustainable. International pressure was mounting. His election was a recognition of these realities. His election was a mandate for change.

But, change was not easy. A key first step was de Klerk’s decision to release Nelson Mandela. Mandela had been active in the anti-apartheid movement since the age of 25, when he joined the African National Congress, an organization seeking to overthrow the rule of the Nationalists. Mandela had been repeatedly arrested for seditious activities, eventually sentenced at 44 years old to life in prison. By the time of de Klerk’s election, Mandela was 71 years old. De Klerk knew that his good faith act to release Mandela from prison in 1990 would signal a willingness to move away from the past.

This is not like our story today. :) This text in Acts is the story of a man, a zealot really, who was on a warpath, to seek out and destroy every follower of The Way - what the early Christians were called. He was dogged in his search. So dogged that he had sought and received papers from the Jewish leaders that gave him the authority to extradite Christians from Damascus back to Jerusalem for punishment. Likely the same punishment meted out to Stephen, whose stoning he had witnessed, as noted in the previous chapter. As our story today begins, he - Saul - is on the hunt, on his way to Damascus. There will be no compromise on Saul’s part, no will to engage in good-faith action to reach any agreement. Only arrest and punishment. 

How is it that these two men can come from similar backgrounds, steeped in the respective systems in which they had grown up, yet each eventually moving into such different directions? One, a leader who can envision a different future, a more inclusive future. The other who can only envision a future where he is right. Where his belief systems reign. And who will stop at nothing to ensure it. 

Except there is one thing that this second person - Saul - does not consider. Or I should say one person that Saul does not consider. Christ. His encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus changes everything.

We need to note, though, that it was not only Saul who was changed. Because this text is about Saul AND Ananias. Ananias, who, when told by God to go to Saul, blind and helpless in a house on Straight Street (I love that analogy!), it was Ananias who said, “Whoa! Wait a minute here! Isn’t this the one who has been chasing us, persecuting us, breathing “threats and murder” against us? You want me to go where?” And, yet, Ananias, in faith, goes. 

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You and I are living in a world of division. Perhaps you, like me, have been at times the cause of some of that division. Disagreeing with family members or friends over political or ideological stances, even over issues of faith. Insisting that we are right. And, while we might not say the word aloud, there are those whom we might consider enemies. Because they don’t think like us. Because they don’t look like us. Because they don’t live like us. Or because of any other reason we can find to separate us, to keep us divided. So, that we can be right. Just like Paul. And even Ananias.

It is when Saul encounters Christ that he is transformed - not just by his interaction with Christ, but also by his interaction with one of the very people he is working against. Ananias is changed as well by his call and by his interaction with Saul. Through it, Ananias learns that there is no limit to who God can work in and through. His initial distrust of Saul is well-placed. But it cannot stand against God’s action working in and through both of them. It is in their relationship, through the work of the Spirit, that they are both changed.

The work of F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela would change themselves - and a nation. The work of Paul and Ananias would change themselves - and the church. The work of Christ and of Christ’s Spirit will change all creation as they continue to nudge us toward shalom. May we be a part of this work. In faith. Trusting in the power of God - and God’s unexpected and often messy ways - to create and re-create our world. 

And may we be transformed in the process.

Amen.

Preached Sunday, April 28, 2024, at Grace & Glory, Goshen, KY, and Third/MOSAIC, Louisville, KY.

Altered by the Spirit: Altered on the edge of belonging

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

    and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

        so he does not open his mouth.

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

    Who can describe his generation?

        For his life is taken away from the earth.”

The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. 

--Acts 8:26-40 NRSV

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Creator and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do we suffer? Really. Do we suffer? 

For a long time and as a result of much life experience, I thought I did. And, yet, I’m not really sure I have truly suffered. I see images of children in Gaza, war-torn and devastated, who have lost everything, often including their parents and siblings. Whose eyes seem empty from the trauma they’ve experienced. I hear stories of women brutalized by Russian soldiers in Ukraine, husbands killed, their country decimated from two years of war. And I wonder whether I have even begun to know what it feels like to suffer. In all my privilege. Perhaps you feel the same.

Do we really know suffering?

Perhaps the closest I’ve truly been to suffering has been an experience that has been, for the most part, vicarious. Through the suffering of someone else. As you know, my son and daughter-in-law were divorced last year. That was hard. What you may not know, however, is that a few months afterward, my daughter-in-law, whom I love dearly, came out as a lesbian. And, in the process, was completely shunned and abandoned by her entire family. People who claim to be devout Christians. I have witnessed in her the deep pain this has caused. The sense of abandonment she has felt. The way in which she has been shunned. How the people who claimed to love her have pushed her to the edge of belonging. And how she has suffered. Deeply. Because of it. 

I wonder if, in part, that has been the experience of the Ethiopian eunuch in our story today. They - and I use that pronoun because they do not fit neatly in any of the binaries we have created in our world - they, too, have likely experienced what it feels like to be at the edge of belonging. Simultaneously man and non-man. Neither male nor female. Sexually impotent. Powerless. Scorned by society, especially according to Roman constructions of masculinity and virility. Lacking any kind of social standing, more so if they might have been enslaved. Yet, one with power. An official. In charge of the queen’s treasury. They are literate and wealthy enough to have an Isaiah scroll and use of a chariot. But, having gone to Jerusalem to worship, if they are Jewish, likely unable to ever do this in the temple - banned according to Deuteronomic law. Then, from Ethiopia - south of Egypt - or, as writers of the time would refer to as being from the fringes of the inhabited world. With darker skin color. Viewed as coming from a very different place than that of Israel - a place both romanticized, yet also viewed as completely inferior - a reflection of Roman xenophobia. They are, for many, an unfamiliar, complex, fluid identity, especially when placed beside the norms of the culture in which Acts was written. Likely viewed as an oddity. Or even gawked at. 

That, my friends, is suffering. Suffering that most of us may never experience.

It’s why, perhaps, they are stuck on the passage in Isaiah 53. As they read it aloud, Philip, nudged to this place and this person by the Holy Spirit, hears them reading it aloud, over and over. And asks, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

Philip uses this passage in Isaiah as a springboard for telling the eunuch about Jesus. And while the author of Acts doesn’t tell us exactly what Philip says, it is interesting to note what he does and does not cite from Isaiah 53. 

He cites the portions of the text about the servant’s silence and the part emphasizing that the servant was unjustly condemned. Innocent. Philip draws the connection to Jesus, whom human leaders judge worthy of death, but whom God judges to be innocent and worthy of an eternal throne. Isaiah 53 underscores that innocence. Philip, however, doesn’t include the very end of the Isaiah passage where it says that the Servant was “stricken for the transgression of my people.” Philip - and the author of Acts - do not develop a theology of substitutionary atonement, of Jesus dying for our sin. But, instead, depict Israel as complicit in an injustice with the death of Jesus. That Jesus, unjustly condemned, knows human suffering, because he has experienced it. And that this puts him in sympathetic solidarity with all victims of violence and stigmatization. Like Isaiah’s slaughtered lamb. And, especially, like the Ethiopian eunuch.

This good news that Philip shares with them - the good news of a Jesus who suffers in solidarity with them - acknowledges their own worth and dignity. It leads them - and not Philip - to raise the topic of baptism. Because they see that because of the worth and dignity inherent in them as a child of God, their outcome can only be one of inclusiveness. Of participation. And belonging.

Justo Gonzalez, a Cuban-American liberation theologian writes that “in studying the history of the Church and its missionary progress, we repeatedly see that the great movements, the most notable discoveries of unsuspected dimensions of the gospel and of obedience to it, usually appear not at the center, but at the margins, at the periphery.” 

Perhaps, for us as for the Ethiopian eunuch, this lesson on Isaiah 53 is also a lesson for us. A lesson that calls us to resist easy answers. To resist the categorization of human beings into neat binaries. To resist categorization in its entirety. And to simply move closer - not to those at the center, but to those on the edges. Of belonging. And to notice the Holy Spirit there, already at work.

Because the good news will not travel to our community and to the ends of the earth primarily because of focus groups, strategic plans and demographic analyses. It will do so because individuals - we - carry it there gladly. Because they recognize that it speaks to them, no matter who they are or how others may measure them. And because they recognize that the good news acknowledges their own worth and dignity and thwarts the prejudices that societies - and religions - keep falling into.

This, my friends, is not about a call to go out into the world and suffer, but more about how our own suffering - which may be minor in comparison - is a way in which we are called into the work of God in the world. 

May we be courageous in our call. Amen.

Preached Sunday, April 21, 2024, at Grace & Glory, Goshen, KY, and Third/MOSAIC, Louisville, KY.

Altered by the Spirit: Altered in witness

Theophilus, the first scroll I wrote concerned everything Jesus did and taught from the beginning, right up to the day when he was taken up into heaven. Before he was taken up, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus instructed the apostles he had chosen. After his suffering, he showed them that he was alive with many convincing proofs. He appeared to them over a period of forty days, speaking to them about God’s kingdom. While they were eating together, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for what the Father had promised. He said, “This is what you heard from me: John baptized with water, but in only a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

As a result, those who had gathered together asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?”

Jesus replied, “It isn’t for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority. Rather, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

After Jesus said these things, as they were watching, he was lifted up and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going away and as they were staring toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood next to them. They said, “Galileans, why are you standing here, looking toward heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you saw him go into heaven.”

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem—a sabbath day’s journey away. When they entered the city, they went to the upstairs room where they were staying. Peter, John, James, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James, Alphaeus’ son; Simon the zealot; and Judas, James’ son— all were united in their devotion to prayer, along with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:1-14 CEB)

Have you ever read a book and the ending - well, the ending messed up the rest of the book? Perhaps the ending felt unresolved. Or it left you hanging for more. That’s how I felt after I finished The Prophets, by Robert Jones, Jr. It’s novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a plantation in the Deep South, how they find connection and refuge in each other and what happens when their relationship is betrayed in a way that threatens their existence. 

It was a powerful book. Until the ending, which, to be honest, didn’t end how I wanted it to end. It left me hanging, wondering what happened to each of these two men after so much heartache and struggle. So, even though I loved the book, it was the ending that left me asking the question, “What next?”

The book of Acts is like a sequel to the Gospel of Luke. Luke, Part 2. And in this story today - the first in acts - we get a glimpse into what happens after Jesus ascends to heaven, leaving his disciples behind. Leaving them behind likely asking that question, “What next?”

It’s not a sad goodbye, though. Jesus spends 40 days with his followers, sharing with them what the reign of God will be like. He assures them that he is not leaving them alone, but that the Holy Spirit, this powerful gift from God, will be poured into them and empower them to carry on the work. The work of witnessing.

The word, “witness,” in this passage is interesting. It comes from the Greek word, martyres - from which we get the word, martyr. To witness goes beyond simply sharing facts. It means being a trusted source, some who speaks from personal experience - experience that involves suffering. Verse 2 of our text tells us that Jesus appeared to the disciples after his passion - after his suffering. Even though resurrected, Jesus’ suffering connects him to his followers. The apostles - like Jesus - will also suffer. But those experiences can become opportunities to share Christ’s message with empathy and authenticity.

In a similar way, it is through our own difficult experiences - our own suffering - that we develop a deeper empathy for others. An empathy that can allow us to connect with others on a deeper level. To witness isn’t just about sharing information - you don’t need to be a biblical scholar to witness. Instead, it is about building and deepening relationships and understanding people’s needs - what they are seeking. 

We’re going to engage in a brief exercise this morning. In just a moment, I’m going to invite you to divide up into pairs. One person will be designated as the “Witness.” The other will be the “Seeker.” If you are a talkative person, I encourage you to step into the role of “Witness.” If you aren’t as talkative, trying being a “Seeker.” I’d also encourage all of you to pair up with someone you don’t know on a deeper level.

Here are the instructions: If you are the Witness, imagine you meet someone new at a coffee shop/online forum. Briefly introduce yourself and strike up a conversation.

The Witness should ask open-ended questions to learn about the Seeker’s life and to go deeper in the conversation.

What are some examples of open-ended questions? Here are a few: 

• What are you passionate about?
• What challenges are you facing?
• What brings you hope?

As you are listening, follow up on their answers with genuine curiosity and more questions. You have four minutes. After, we'll reflect on your experience. Ready, set go!

Now, let’s move into a time of group sharing and reflection. If you were the Seeker, how did the questions feel? Were they welcoming and safe? If you were the Witness, did the conversation lead to a deeper understanding? What did both of you learn from this exercise - what worked? What didn't?

The disciples - and we - are called to be witnesses “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” This is an incremental progression that suggests to us that our witnessing starts local. By building relationships within our communities and by continuing to expand outward. To take the risk of going deeper in conversation with people we may meet along the way. To share our own experiences, including our suffering, which can equip us to connect more deeply with others and to share the message of Christ in an authentic and impactful way. And to trust that, in our conversations, the Holy Spirit will be there, working.

So, this is my challenge to you this week. Choose one person you'd like to have a deeper conversation with this week. Then, using the tips from today's discussion, engage in that conversation that has, as its focus, trying to understand that person. 

I look forward to hearing your stories next Sunday. May the Holy Spirit be in the midst of your conversations. Amen.

Preached Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY, and Third Lutheran/MOSAIC, Shelby Park, KY.

Romans 10: Everybody's In

Hello, again. As I said at the beginning of worship, it’s good to be back.

A few things before we begin our study of Romans 10 today. First, I have to admit to playing a rather cruel joke on Ron Poisel and Alec Brohnson - your supply pastors and my fill-ins while I was away on sabbatical. Because I wanted some continuity this summer in the preaching texts, plus to make things a little easier for Kylie while I was away, I made the choice to focus on the book of Romans. Well, I made the choice for them.

You see, Romans is considered one of the most challenging of Paul’s letters to figure out. It’s a theologically complex and very dense writing. Everyone struggles with it. So, I promise, there will not be a quiz at the end of the summer. And the truth is that I am getting a little payback because I, too, will be preaching in it for the next 4 weeks.

A second thing I want to say is that I can guarantee that some of my experiences on sabbatical will likely find their way into my preaching and conversation over these next few weeks. It was a wonderful experience. A time of rest and renewal of relationships for me. A time of exploration and travel. And I’m still processing some of it. But, expect to hear a little more about it. And, if I haven’t said it enough, thank you for allowing me the time away. I was more exhausted than I knew.

Then, lastly, I want to talk briefly about our understanding of Romans. Since the early church, we have digested this letter as Paul’s treatise on faith and justification and salvation. Since the time of the Reformation, we - especially we Lutherans - have understood it to hold the core message of justification by faith. It has become an understanding that more and more pulls verse out of their context to highlight the reality of sin and the necessity to confess Christ for one’s own personal salvation. One of the dangers of this is that it makes salvation all about the individual. And one’s personal relationship with Christ as a personal Lord and Savior.

Over the past 50 years, the understanding of Paul’s writing has changed. It’s called a “new” perspective on Paul. If considering a “new” understanding makes you a little uncomfortable, know that this began with the writings of Krister Stendahl - a Swedish Lutheran theologian who, it was a change in understanding that began with the writings of Krister Stendahl - a Swedish Lutheran theologian, who pointed out that Paul - a Jew - did not view his life as one of conflicted torment with a troubled conscience. Stendahl argued that “justification by faith” was not the heart and soul of Paul’s theology, but that only used this idea when circumstances arose to argue that both Jews and Gentiles stand on equal footing before God. Other theologians picked this up and ran with it - and it has changed the entire culture of the study of Paul’s writings. Because Paul’s writings have primarily to do with community and how Christ-followers are to live in community.

Now that’s a very long introduction to our reading today, which comes from the heart of Romans.

Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the Law: The person who does these things will live by them. But the righteousness that comes from faith talks like this: Don’t say in your heart, “Who will go up into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will go down into the region below?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the message of faith that we preach). Because if you confess with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and in your heart you have faith that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Trusting with the heart leads to righteousness, and confessing with the mouth leads to salvation. The scripture says, All who have faith in him won’t be put to shame. There is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives richly to all who call on him. All who call on the Lord’s name will be saved.

So how can they call on someone they don’t have faith in? And how can they have faith in someone they haven’t heard of? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who announce the good news. (Romans 10:5-15 CEB)

One of the best times I had on sabbatical was on July 4th. I was able to spend time in Texas with my gathered immediate family - including my son, brother and sister-in-law, nieces, and my new grand-nephew - the first grandchild for my brother and his wife. And, yes, it was hot! But we were on a lake - so it was tolerable.

It was the first time in over 15 years that we had all been together. For my son and his cousins, it was a time of getting to know each other all over again as adults, each with their joys and struggles. For me, it was just good to be with family - and to experience each family member in their unique personalities. 

There was a twinge of sadness, though. First, my niece’s husband, Coddie, wasn’t there. He died suddenly this past May of a heart attack. Then second, my nephew, Alex, also wasn’t there. He has been estranged from our family for several years. Although he has reconnected with his dad - my brother - he hasn’t yet come back into the family fold. So, there’s a little nick in my heart because of that.

Maybe you have something like that in your family. Maybe there’s someone who is estranged from the rest of your family. Maybe you’re the one who is estranged. I think this is more common than we know.

And this is really what Paul is writing about in this chapter and the surrounding ones, chapters 9 through 11 in Romans. He is expressing and working through his heartbreak over the Jewish people - HIS people. Wondering how it’s possible that Israel, God’s chosen people, have been given the promises in scripture and the covenant, yet are sitting on the sidelines while the Gentiles are flocking to Jesus as the Messiah. He writes at the beginning of chapter 9: I have great sadness and constant pain in my heart. I wish I could be cursed - cut off from Christ - if it helped my brothers and sisters, who are my flesh-and-blood relatives.

The resurrection of Christ was, for Paul, key. It is the beginning of God’s cosmic re-creation and reconciliation of humanity with God’s very self. Note that it is Christ’s resurrection - and not his death on the cross - that is key for Paul. Because, you see, anyone can die, even die on a cross. But, it is only Christ who was resurrected by God, which proves God’s faithfulness. That God keeps God’s word. God says what God will do.

At the very beginning of Romans, Paul writes that the gospel was “promised beforehand in the scriptures. Throughout the letter, Paul quotes from the Hebrew scriptures to show God’s hand - to show what God intended to do. It began with the Jewish people. 

Yet, the most important principle of ancient biblical interpretation is this: what God has done in the present determines the meaning of what God said in the past. So, Paul’s conclusion is that all of scripture points to Christ as the Messiah. And that God’s ultimate solution to the problem of sin and the separation of humanity from God was Jesus.

But what about the Jews? That part, for Paul, is so hard to figure out. It’s the question he’s struggling with here. The early church was made up of the Jewish disciples. But as it has grown, more and more Gentiles - and not Jews - are flocking to Christ. Paul struggles with this. He is a Jews. The Jews are Paul’s peeps.

But they are largely uninterested in the idea that Jesus is the Messiah. So the early movement of Jesus-followers is full of Gentiles (in other words everyone else who is not Jewish). Paul is arguing and advocating that the Gentiles are to be included without requiring them to follow Jewish law or custom (like circumcision or keeping the Sabbath, even though these have been commanded in scriptures). So, if the Jews then aren’t joining up with this new movement, then this new movement is no longer only Jewish. And that creates, at least, 3 problems.

First, God. How can God be faithful to God’s own people if they aren’t enjoying the benefits of God’s great and final act of salvation in Christ? But, Paul argues that God is faith. And that God will keep God’s promises.

Second problem. On the ground. What are Gentiles to make of Jews? And vice versa? In Rome, Jews are returning after having been kicked out of the city 50 years earlier. There are Christian Jews returning to the community. People are having to learn how to live together. Or wondering if they even should. It’s like it’s a church potluck and half of the group won’t show up because Patty isn’t bringing her deviled eggs. Who gets to control things? Gentiles? Jews? What actions count as faithfulness and obedience to God? This is the question. What does faithfulness to God look like if the Gentiles aren’t required to follow the same scripture requirements?

Third. What are we to make of non-believing Jews? How do we understand their rejection of Jesus as Messiah? What is their future?

For Paul, it’s a work of navigation, balancing the promises of God to Israel with the reality that the Jewish people have largely not accepted Jesus as Messiah while, at the same time, numerous Gentiles have. For us, too, it matters. Because the Jewish people are God’s chosen people - that hasn’t changed because God is faithful to them. So, to reject the Jews as part of the family is to reject Israel’s God. Our God.

The bottom line is that everyone is in. Humanity was created to bear God’s image - to show the whole created order what God is like. And if God’s plan of salvation isn’t to restore all of humanity, then God’s got a big problem. 

By the end of Romans, as we’ll learn, it’s not clear that Paul has everything all figured out. But, ultimately, he comes to a place of trust. Trusting that it is the resurrected Christ - and not obeying the commandments - that the law actually points us to. 

And that we are to be the bearers of that good news. Good news that transcends all boundaries, all divisions, all borders - everything that we, as broken human beings, like to put in its way. “Neither Greek, nor Jew. Neither male, nor female. Neither heterosexual or transexual. Neither documented, nor undocumented. Neither slave, nor free. 

This good news is about life. About the life that Christ’s resurrection - and not his death - points us to. About - together - experiencing the fullness of God. A God who, as Elijah experienced, comes not to us in the wind, or the earthquake, or even the fire. But in the most unexpected way. In the sound of sheer silence, through which God whispers to us: Y’all are mine. Y’all are enough. I choose y’all. I love y’all.

May we be the messengers of this good news.

Preached Sunday, August 13, 2023, at Grace & Glory, Prospect, with Third, Louisville.

11th Sunday after Pentecost

Readings: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Romans 10:5-15

Sabbatical 2023: Orvieto, the Miracle at Bolsena, and the Feast of Corpus Christi

Everything over these past two weeks in Orvieto has been leading to this day, June 10th, when the entire Orvietani community celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi (Domini). They don't celebrate it, though, like anyone else. Because it was right here, in this small, enchanting village where this feast originated. It all started with the Miracle at Bolsena.

Before I jump to the story of the miracle, a little about Bolsena. When Rome defeated the Etruscans here in 264 BCE, when it was known as Velzna, the Romans "exiled" all of the residents to an area called Volsinii Nova, 21 kilometers (13 miles) away. This became the town of Bolsena. 

In 1263, a German priest - Peter of Prague - stopped at Bolsena while he was on a pilgrimage to Rome. He is described as being a pious priest, but was struggling with believing that Christ as actually present in the consecrated Host (or bread) of Holy Communion. This is a Roman Catholic theological belief - transubstantiation - that teaches that at the time the priest consecrates the bread and the wine with the words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper ("This is my body...This is my blood."), the elements of communion are changed into the actual body and blood of Christ. 

(As an aside, the words "hocus pocus" are believed to be a perversion of this blessing from the Latin Catholic mass, Hoc est corpus meum, or "This is my body." But back to the story and to Father Peter!!)

Tapestry of Peter of Prague consecrating the Host

While he was celebrating mass in the church in Bolsena, named for the martyr St. Christina, he had barely spoken these words of consecration when blood started to drip from the consecrated Host and trickle on his hands and then onto the altar and the corporal. [The corporal is a square of white linen cloth onto which the containers for wine (chalice) and bread (paten) are placed during celebration of the mass.] Peter was immediately confused by this. At first, he tried to hide the blood. But, then, he interrupted the Mass and asked to be taken to Orvieto, where Pope Urban IV was residing. 

The Pope listened to his account, absolved Peter of any potential wrongdoing, then sent representatives to investigate. When he received the results of the investigation, the Pope ordered that the Host and the linen cloth bearing the bloodstains be brought to Orvieto. These relics were placed in the cathedral, in a special reliquary, and to this day - on this day - are brought out and reverently exhibited in the cathedral and then during a massive procession that winds through the streets of Orvieto. 

Exactly one year after the miracle, in August 1264, Pope Urban IV instituted the Feast of Corpus Christi (or Corpus Domini, as it's also called). After today's celebration, these relics will be returned to the Chapel of the Miracle in the duomo at Orvieto. The altar where all of this happened is still preserved at St. Christina Church in Bolsena. 

This is THE major festival each year in Orvieto. It's not only a significant religious day, celebrated with a special mass using the Aquinas liturgy that is broadcast on speakers throughout the village, but one that involves the entire community. Volunteers dress in beautiful medieval costume, carrying colorful banners that represent the four districts, or quarters, of Orvieto: Corsica, Serancia, Olmo and Santa Maria della Stella. Children, women and men are dressed as peasants, carrying their wares for sale. Representatives of the medieval guilds also dress in costume, holding aloft the many banners representing the different guilds of the time - artists, olive oil makers, carpenters, and farmers, to name just a few. Volunteers dress as members of the Knights Templar and the Swiss Guard, along with others dressed in ancient military garb, carry their jousting lances and represent the defenders of the church, the government, and the people. 

Dignitaries from the Comune de Orvieto (City of Orvieto) and from communities across Umbria dress in their official garb and walk in procession. The municipal band marches and plays melodies from the ancient liturgy written for this feast day by Dr. Thomas Aquinas. There are a series of ancient tapestries carried that tell the story of the Miracle at Bolsena. It is a spectacular sight - the ultimate Renaissance festival!!

All of this, though, is overshadowed by the relic - the cloth - as it is carried by priests, accompanied by the bishop and the many other priests, nuns and seminarians who process throughout the streets of this medieval hill town and are greeted by its residents with cheers and flowers along the way.

There is nothing quite like being in Orvieto on THIS day - the day remembering the Miracle at Bolsena and reminding us under our own slightly different Lutheran theology, that each week, as we participate in the mystery of Holy Communion, somehow Christ's body and blood are in, with and under the bread and wine, and God is truly with us.  

Happy Feast Day of Corpus Christi!!

Sabbatical 2023: Republic Day in Orvieto

Today - June 2nd - is Republic Day (Festa della Repubblica) in Italy. It's a day that recalls the post-World War 2 referendum in 1946, in which the citizenry of the kingdom of Italy chose to be a republic over a monarchy. To understand this more fully, one needs to go back in history a bit to the medieval period and the rise of the city-states. 

These were many different independent and political entities that arose after the collapse of Rome and the descent of Germanic "barbarians" into northern Italy. Orvieto was also invaded and came under control of the Longobard duchy. In 774 CE, the area was liberated and Orvieto became a province of the Papal State. This began a long era of great wealth, beauty and expansion. Orvieto became one of several modern, functional, democratic city-states (communes) with a well organized political system and urban structure. (These are the basis for our modern-day democracy in the U. S.) Because of a civil war in Rome during this time, Pope Urban IV lived in Orvieto. His residency led to the construction of a pontifical palace in the city, as well as, the commissioning of the construction of the duomo to be built beside his palace. In this medieval period each major square in the city represented an institution - Piazza Duomo represented religious power; Piazza del Popolo, the power of the people, and Piazza della Repubblica, the power of the polis (political power). These city squares still exist today. 

Orvieto's prosperity lasted until 1348, when the plague and fighting between the noble families (especially the Monaldeschi and Fileppeschi families) put an end this time of expansion. However, the city still found economic prosperity, thanks to its close connection to and popularity with the papacy - it was viewed as a quiet and safe place to stay not far from Rome. Orvieto continued as an important papal province until 1860, when Italy was unified and it became part of the Kingdom of Italy, a constitutional monarchy governed by the House of Savoy. 

It was under the rule of this House that Mussolini came to power in the early 1920's, leading to the fascist regime in Italy and the Axis alliance with Nazi Germany. After disastrous defeats in Eastern Europe and North Africa, the Italian empire collapsed. Mussolini was arrested by order of King Victor Emmanuel III, which provoked a civil war. The northern half of the country was occupied by the Nazis with the cooperation of Italian fascists, becoming a puppet-state. The south was controlled by the monarchy, which fought for the Allied cause. However, the Italian resistance movement (the "partisans") operated all over Italy. In April 1945, Mussolini was assassinated by Italian partisans two days before Hitler's suicide. This led to the call for a national referendum for Italians to decide whether they wanted to be a republic or a monarchy.

The results of the referendum are quite interesting to me, which ended up with about 55% of the population voting to become a republic versus the 45% who wanted to remain a monarchy. The blue in this image represents those areas with a majority vote for a republic, the red for the monarchy. In central Italy in particular - where the independent city-states and democratic institutions were formed - the population overwhelmingly voted to form a republic, to be self-governing.

Italy's history is so much more complex than what I've captured in these few paragraphs. It's a fascinating study of the struggle between the three areas represented by the three piazzas - that of the church, the people, and the political system. 

One last note about the preservation of the cathedral in Duomo. There's a fascinating story captured here on how this lily of Italian cathedrals was preserved near the end of the second World War. As Allied forces approached from the south, they were greeted by a Volkswagen, carrying a young German officer waving a white flag who spoke perfect English. He carried a message from the German commander based in the city: "In consideration of the historic beauty of Orvieto, the German commander proposes to the allied command that the city of Orvieto be declared open." 

The allied commander agreed and fighting continued away from the city, saving this beautiful medieval city with its incomparable duomo. 

Fino a tardi, arrivederci!

(Molte grazie to the website, Orvieto Viva, for much of the history on this and previous blog pages.)