The Call to Serve: The Church at Home - Love

One of the legal experts heard their dispute and saw how well Jesus answered them. He came over and asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”

Jesus replied, “The most important one is Israel, listen! Our God is the one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, You will love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

The legal expert said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truthfully said that God is one and there is no other besides him. And to love God with all of the heart, a full understanding, and all of one’s strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself is much more important than all kinds of entirely burned offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered with wisdom, he said to him, “You aren’t far from God’s kingdom.” After that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

While Jesus was teaching in the temple, he said, “Why do the legal experts say that the Christ is David’s son? David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, The Lord said to my lord, ‘Sit at my right side until I turn your enemies into your footstool.’ David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be David’s son?” The large crowd listened to him with delight.

As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”

Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money. One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny. Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.” --Mark 14:28-44 (CEB)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and from the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter. Amen.

What a week! I don’t know about you, but I’m already getting tired of this new normal. Tired of sitting at my computer screen. Tired of not being able to meet someone in person for coffee. But, thank God, for social media. Because it lets me know I’m not alone. And it makes me laugh.  Here's something fun I saw posted on Twitter.


I think all of this change made me a little grouchy. If you’ve seen my Facebook feed over the past couple of days, you probably already noticed that. It kind of started on Wednesday at pantry.

Now, we have been working on trying to figure out how we do food pantry in a way that is safe. For our volunteers. And for our pantry members, especially for those who are vulnerable. So, we were able to set up this rather elaborate system last weekend. And, honestly, this week, it worked pretty good. We were able to get last minute information out to a pretty large group of people. And, inevitably, that information was shared even outside our typical pantry circles. 

On Tuesday afternoon, after our first day, I returned voice mails, while Susan worked to re-stock and set up for Wednesday. One of them was from someone outside our usual pantry circle. She lived in Prospect. Now, you and I know that Prospect, like this area, is fairly affluent. Yet you and I also know that those who are poor are often very hidden in our communities. She was calling because she had heard about us and wanted to know if she could get food for herself and her husband. I signed her up for the next day. 

Along with all of the other changes we’ve made, We have a new system of welcome. Because Susan is so warm and friendly and because her graciousness is so contagious (in a good way!), on pantry day her job is to greet everyone who comes into our parking lot. And, then, to keep everything in motion so that we don’t get behind. I do check-in. Making sure the person is in our database, making sure they wash their hands (Yes, this is a new pantry requirement!), and explaining to them how our pantry operates. So, that next day - on Wednesday - we both met that lovely woman I had talked to the afternoon before. 

Soon after we got her registered and her hands washed, she then moved into our shopping area with a helper. Susan came up to me and mentioned quietly that, as she greeted this woman, she had engaged her in conversation. And found out that her son was a pretty “big deal” at a very large church here in Louisville. A pretty “big deal.” It was this woman’s son who had referred her to our pantry. 

That next morning, after a restless and short night of sleep, I got up and did the reasonable thing - I got on Facebook. (I’ve been working really hard to stay off Facebook. But it’s hard now, because it’s one place to find connection.) So, I got on Facebook. Shared this story (without any names) and I began to rant. 

Now I’m not naming names, but you see the problem here? This lovely woman’s son - a “big deal” in a big local church - couldn’t even take his mother grocery shopping, instead referring her to a food pantry.

So, do you see why I was a little grouchy? I was really bothered by this. In fact, I was angered by it. So much so that I tossed and turned all night long, thinking about it. And, of course, I had already been reading this text for a couple days. In particular, the part in verse 38. “Watch out for the legal experts - the religious leaders,” Jesus tells the disciples. “They like to walk around in long robes. They wanted to be greeted with honor in the markets. They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”  

And, I know. I should give her son the benefit of the doubt. There’s that 8th commandment, right? Perhaps, I don’t know the entire story. Perhaps, I’m jumping to very wrong conclusions. Perhaps, I’m just overreacting. I mean, most people are good people, aren’t they? Most people wouldn’t do this, would they?

And, then, I got a private message from a nurse I used to work with in Texas, who’s now a nurse practitioner. He shared a story with me of an acquaintance of his. Who posted picture after picture on Facebook of his son getting into and driving his new Maserati. Which my friend’s acquaintance had just bought for him. So, what’s a Maserati cost these days? Seventy grand? Maybe more. And yet this same acquaintance had the nerve to share a GoFundMe page on Facebook put up by his aunt, who was trying to raise $2,500. “I couldn’t believe the gall of this dude. Just give her the money and shut up,” my friend wrote. 

Is this who we have become?

I have to wonder. When I look at the empty grocery store shelves. The lines of people waiting outside the grocery store or Costco to get in and buy up everything. When I hear stories from our own pantry members who can’t find baby formula for their children. And the only stuff that’s left on the shelf are the containers of formula that cost $40/each, and there’s no way these families could afford that. Especially, not in the times we are in right now. 

Is this who we have become? 

Like the community leaders of Jesus’ day, who parade around, spouting their religion, expecting to be greeted with honor and offended if they aren’t? Cheating widows out of their homes? In the NRSV, it reads that “they devour widows’ houses.” 

Is this who we have become?

This is not who God wants us to be. 

Throughout all of the Hebrew and Christian scripture, God makes it clear that what is important is a commandment in two parts: Love God. And love neighbor. There are a lot of other little rules and regulations. Just like we have our little rules and regulations, often unspoken, in our faith and in our church. But the one commandment - the one, two-part commandment that is at the heart of everything that God teaches us, that is more important than all ritual and sacrifice, more important even than our worship, is that we love God and do justice for our neighbor. And not just the neighbor we know, but, particularly, the neighbor we don’t know. 

If we miss this big picture, we miss everything.

And, then we come to the story of the widow’s offering. When I first read this at the beginning of the week, I laughed. Because the idea of a stewardship sermon at this time, when everything seems to be crashing down around us, was a little much for me to even wrap my head around. But, as I studied this story, I found out that there’s a long line of thought around it - that this story isn’t really about Jesus lifting up this woman as a stewardship example. 

If you look closely at the story, nowhere does he really commend her for her offering. It’s more just like an observation: that she, more than the others, has simply put in the greatest percentage of her wealth, minimal as it may be.  And this line of theological thought suggests that this is really a condemnation by Jesus of a system, of a community that would allow this woman - that would expect this woman - to even have to give an offering, given her poverty. That the failure is on the part of the whole community because they have allowed these deep divisions of wealth to even exist.

Wow. That’s convicting, isn’t it?

But, let me tell you another story from this week. On Thursday, one of our faithful volunteers offered to take my place at check-in so I could get a little work done. You know, don’t you, when I’m in the sacristy changing in or out my alb, or when I’m in the office at church, I hear a lot of stuff. (Just sayin’!)

The office door sits right next to the table where we offer produce to our pantry folks. As I worked there on Thursday morning, over and over I heard pantry members as they were offered produce, turn much of it away with these words, “Why don’t you give it to someone who really needs it?” This, my friends, is the example of who we are to be. Lovers of God. And lovers of neighbor, of stranger, of those who are vulnerable. It’s why, for instance, we self-isolate. Not, if we are healthy, to protect ourselves. But, to protect those who aren’t.

Last week, I mentioned a conversation with a member in which we wondered if what was happening in our world wasn’t part of some big cosmic change. 

When I witness what I’ve witnessed this past week, all I can think is “I hope so.” Now I know that this may be a very frightening thought. That everything we know could change. Yet, we know that God will preserve and protect us. Because, simply put, God has promised to do this. And God is faithful.

So, yes, I do hope that the God, who loves us, who wants us to understand that we are connected with one other and with all creation, and the God who has promised to turn things upside down so that the widows of this world will eventually be on equal footing with the powerful - I do hope that we are in the midst of a huge cosmic change. And, mostly, I hope and pray that God is right there in the middle of it, bringing justice that rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 

May it be so, God. May it be so. Amen.

Preached March 22, 2020, online, for the community of Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Lent 4
Readings: Deuteronomy 10:12-13, Psalm 89:1-4, Mark 12:28-44.

Responding to God's Love: It's All About Love

Sh’ma, Yisrael! Adonai elohenu, Adonai ehad! Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. Amen.

We have come far from last week’s story of Moses’ call to deliver Israel from bondage and slavery in Egypt to freedom. Through the plagues, through the night of the first Passover, through the parting of the Red Sea, to Mount Sinai, the Ten Commandments, and the covenant. To the sin of Israel even before Moses had come down off the mountain, then the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. We have come far from last week’s story. To the book of Deuteronomy.

Israel is poised on the east bank of the Jordan, eagerly waiting to cross over into the promised land. It’s a new generation of people. To prepare them to enter, Moses reviews what has happened over these past forty years. We hear his story. Just as we heard Lana’s story last week, we now hear Moses’ story - Moses’ interpretation - of these forty years in the wilderness. 

And so, as part of his review, we come to our readings for today. First, from Deuteronomy 5. 

Moses called out to all Israel, saying to them: “Israel! Listen to the regulations and the case laws that I’m recounting in your hearing right now. Learn them and carefully do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb. The Lord didn’t make this covenant with our ancestors but with us—all of us who are here and alive right now. The Lord spoke with you face-to-face on the mountain from the very fire itself. At that time, I was standing between the Lord and you, declaring to you the Lord’s word, because you were terrified of the fire and didn’t go up on the mountain.”

The Lord said:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

You must have no other gods before me. Do not make an idol for yourself—no form whatsoever—of anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. Do not bow down to them or worship them because I, the Lord your God, am a passionate God. I punish children for their parents’ sins—even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. But I am loyal and gracious to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Do not use the Lord your God’s name as if it were of no significance; the Lord won’t forgive anyone who uses his name that way.

Keep the Sabbath day and treat it as holy, exactly as the Lord your God commanded: Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work on it—not you, your sons or daughters, your male or female servants, your oxen or donkeys or any of your animals, or the immigrant who is living among you—so that your male and female servants can rest just like you. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That’s why the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day.

Honor your father and your mother, exactly as the Lord your God requires, so that your life will be long and so that things will go well for you on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Do not kill.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not testify falsely against your neighbor.

Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife.

Do not crave your neighbor’s house, field, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.  --Deuteronomy 5:1-21 (CEB)

This recounting by Moses of the law received at Sinai is the second iteration of the Ten Commandments. Between then and now there has been a span of forty years. And the death of a generation - of the first generation to experience freedom. Not allowed to enter the promised land because of their rebellion and disbelief, even though they were eyewitnesses to the mighty acts of God. 

With this retelling of the story, Moses brings the new generation right back to Sinai. To that first giving of the law. Remembering his anger. How, as he came down the mountain with the stone tablets God had given him, he saw the first generation. Dancing around the golden calf - an idol. Already forgetting their covenant with God. It was then that he angrily threw down the tablets and watched them shatter into pieces.

Moses remembers. And he is helping this new generation remember. 

There’s something in his opening remarks that’s very interesting. In verse 3, Moses says to this new generation: “The Lord didn't make this covenant with our ancestors but with us - all of us who are here and alive right now.” That’s actually not true, is it? Because this new generation was not actually present at Sinai. But, Moses’ concern here isn’t history. (It’s the mistake we make when we think of scripture as a history or a science book.) Moses’ concern here is a deeper truth. A story of transformation. In making this statement, Moses is seeking a renewal of this generation’s commitment - of this generation’s covenant with God. Just like we do every time we celebrate baptism, or give thanks for our baptisms, or confess our sins. We, too, are renewing our promise - our covenant - with God. 

Each generation is called upon to enter anew in the covenant that God first made with Israel at Sinai. “All of us who are here and alive right now” are called to enter in and to recommit. We are once again invited into the story of God and Israel, of Christ and the church, of God and our own story. Each one of us. Just as the new generation of Israelites was as they paused to enter the promised land. 

And, so, Moses begins with the first commandment. “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Do you notice the gift in this first commandment? We so often view the ten commandments as burden. As rule. As a weight that sits on our shoulders, pulling us down in shame. Yet, they are not a burden, but a witness to a relationship with God. Given to Israel and to us in the context of a relationship. “I am the Lord, YOUR God.” It is out of this loving relationship that the rest of the commandments flow. But, that’s not all. Because, if we read this first commandment carefully, we notice that it isn’t the law that comes first, but a gift. The gift comes before the law. Or in Lutheran terms, the gospel comes before the law here. The relationship begins with an act of deliverance. With freedom. But, what does this freedom look like?

The commandments are intended to form life-giving community compared to the exploitative economy of pharaoh. Having other gods isn’t freedom, but bondage. Working seven days a week isn’t freedom, but bondage. Hurting others isn’t freedom, but bondage.  And on and on. 

These commandments are the boundaries that allow life to flourish. Life with God and with neighbor. Life where everyone can experience freedom. Where no one is exploited. A life that is in sharp contrast to the life that the pharaoh gives - that the world gives. Where there is fear of others, a sense of scarcity and of lack of resources, anxiety, division, brokenness, bondage. This is not the life God desires for Israel. This is not the life God desires for us.

This is why God gives Israel - and us - these commandments. To shape and to form life-giving and loving relationships with God and with neighbor. Because it is all about love.

But, there’s a second part to our readings today. We continue in chapter 6. 

Israel, listen! Our God is the Lord! Only the Lord!

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being, and all your strength. These words that I am commanding you today must always be on your minds. Recite them to your children. Talk about them when you are sitting around your house and when you are out and about, when you are lying down and when you are getting up. Tie them on your hand as a sign. They should be on your forehead as a symbol. Write them on your house’s doorframes and on your city’s gates.  --Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (CEB)

These words in Deuteronomy 6 are central to Jewish theology and practice. Twice a day - morning and evening - they are recited. Deeply embedded in the hearts of all Jews, part of who they are. When asked what is the greatest commandment, any Jewish person would recite these words, known as the shema. It is the shema that Jesus - a Jew - recites when asked which of the commandments is the most important. Shema is the first word in this passage in Hebrew. Shema meaning “hear.” Or “listen.”  

The shema is an affirmation of our oneness with God and of God’s sovereignty. Of a God who has delivered Israel  from bondage into freedom. The shema - like the commandments - is all about love. About the unbelievable love that God first showed. How God brought Israel out of slavery. How God, in Christ, has brought us out of slavery. Because. Of. Love.

But, it doesn’t end there. Because, for the Jews, the shema isn’t only about listening to God.  In Hebrew, the shema is always connected to action. It’s like when you hear your parent tell you to do something and, then, you do it. To “hear” in Hebrew is to act. To “shema” is to act. There's no disconnect between the hearing and the doing.  

So, when we hear of God’s unfathomable love for us, our response is to act. In love. To God. And to our neighbor. Particularly, to our neighbor who does not look like us, or act like us, or live like us. We are called to respond with our whole being in love to neighbor and to all creation. Or in the most simple words most of us likely learned as children, “We love because God first loved us.”

Because, in the end, that’s what this is all about. Love.

Amen.

Preached October 6, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY

Pentecost 17

Readings: Deuteronomy 5:1-21, 6:4-9; Mark 12:28-31

The Quality of Our Love

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, NRSV)

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

What is the quality of our love? This, I think, is the question for our consideration tonight. 

What is the quality of our love? On this Thursday evening, the first day of our Three Day remembrance of Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death and our celebration of his resurrection. On this day we call Maundy Thursday, Maundy coming from the Latin word, mandatum, meaning mandate or law. On this Law Thursday, this is the question that we are facing: What is the quality of our love?

“I give you a ‘new’ commandment.” Jesus said to his disciples. But, we know, that this really isn’t a new commandment.

All of scripture points to this command, this law of love, as central to God’s law. Central to whom our God is. Central to our relationship with this God.

From the Jewish Torah, in Deuteronomy, chapter 6, we hear this: “Hear, O Israel; The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” This phrase--called the shema--still today begins every morning and evening prayer service in the Jewish faith. 

And, yet, that love of God is not only central to our relationship with God, but also with one another. In Leviticus chapter 19, in another book of the Torah, after a long list of instructions on how to live as God’s holy people, we read: “...you must love your neighbor as yourself...”

In the Torah and continuing through the Hebrew Bible there are example after example, writing after writing, about how we are to love God and love one another.

So, it is nothing new that God expects us to love God and to love one another. 

Then, you might be wondering now, what is so “new” about this commandment? This new mandate given by Jesus to his disciples on the night before his crucifixion and death. 

What is new for us and for the disciples is not that we love, but it is how we love. It is about the quality of our love.

If we go back to our John text tonight, if we look carefully at the verses that precede this new commandment, we begin to get an answer to this question--about how we are to love. 

Beginning in verse 2, we read that Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. Then we read that Judas had already been provoked by Satan to betray Jesus. And, yet, knowing this, Jesus got up, took off his outer garments, picked up a linen towel and tied it around his waist, and proceeded to wash the feet of all of his disciples. Even the feet of Judas. 

And this is not all. If we continue into the next verses, as Jesus attempts to wash Peter’s feet and Peter says, “No! You’ll never wash my feet!”...in the verses that follow our new commandment, we read of Peter’s own betrayal, his denial of Jesus. Not once. But three times. 

What does this show us? What do Jesus’ actions and his words, bookended by betrayal and denial, what do they show us about the quality of Jesus’ love? And what does this tell us about what should be the quality of our love?

In just a few short moments, we will share holy communion. In both of our traditions, this meal is generally preceded by what we know as the Sharing of the Peace. In the early church, this was known as the Kiss of Peace or as the Holy Kiss. St. Augustine writes of this tradition in the fourth century: “After [the Lord’s Prayer], the ‘Peace be with you’ is said, and the Christians embrace one another with the holy kiss. This is a sign of peace; as the lips indicate, let peace be made in your conscience, that is, when your lips draw near to those of your brother, do not let your heart withdraw from his.”

This Holy Kiss is a sign that we are reconciled with one another. That, when we receive the bread and the wine and the body and blood of our Lord, we are at peace with each other. That we have set aside grudges, jealousy, anger or animosity. And that, unlike the church in Corinth that led Paul to write our second reading tonight, there is no distinction. No difference between each other, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, class, political party or whatever it is in our world that seeks to divides us, we are here, at the Lord’s table, one body, united in Christ’s love and in our love for each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.

Because, that night, that night of Jesus’ new commandment, Jesus knew that it was this kind of love--this kind of agape love--that would sustain the disciples over the next days, through his crucifixion and death and resurrection. And, that it would also sustain them in the days after Jesus had ascended and return to heaven. In the same way it sustains us today.

This. This is the quality of our love. It is love for each other here and for the whole world that is modelled for us in the simple act of hospitality shown all of the disciples, and us, by Jesus on this night so very long ago.

May we simply love in this very same way. Amen.