Responding to God's Love: The Power of a Name

Now a new king came to power in Egypt who didn’t know Joseph. He said to his people, “The Israelite people are now larger in number and stronger than we are. Come on, let’s be smart and deal with them. Otherwise, they will only grow in number. And if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and then escape from the land.” As a result, the Egyptians put foremen of forced work gangs over the Israelites to harass them with hard work. They had to build storage cities named Pithom and Rameses for Pharaoh. But the more they were oppressed, the more they grew and spread, so much so that the Egyptians started to look at the Israelites with disgust and dread. So the Egyptians enslaved the Israelites. They made their lives miserable with hard labor, making mortar and bricks, doing field work, and by forcing them to do all kinds of other cruel work.

The king of Egypt spoke to two Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah: “When you are helping the Hebrew women give birth and you see the baby being born, if it’s a boy, kill him. But if it’s a girl, you can let her live.” Now the two midwives respected God so they didn’t obey the Egyptian king’s order. Instead, they let the baby boys live.

So the king of Egypt called the two midwives and said to them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the baby boys live?”

The two midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because Hebrew women aren’t like Egyptian women. They’re much stronger and give birth before any midwives can get to them.” So God treated the midwives well, and the people kept on multiplying and became very strong. And because the midwives respected God, God gave them households of their own.

Then Pharaoh gave an order to all his people: “Throw every baby boy born to the Hebrews into the Nile River, but you can let all the girls live.”

Now a man from Levi’s household married a Levite woman. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that the baby was healthy and beautiful, so she hid him for three months. When she couldn’t hide him any longer, she took a reed basket and sealed it up with black tar. She put the child in the basket and set the basket among the reeds at the riverbank. The baby’s older sister stood watch nearby to see what would happen to him.

Pharaoh’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her women servants walked along beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds, and she sent one of her servants to bring it to her. When she opened it, she saw the child. The boy was crying, and she felt sorry for him. She said, “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children.”

Then the baby’s sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Would you like me to go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

Pharaoh’s daughter agreed, “Yes, do that.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I’ll pay you for your work.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. After the child had grown up, she brought him back to Pharaoh’s daughter, who adopted him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I pulled him out of the water.”  --Exodus 1:8 - 2:10 (CEB)

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

How did we get to today’s story? I’ll ask the question I asked last week. Who remembers our story from last week? Yes, it was the story of Jacob wrestling with, we think, God. Jacob was the father of 12 sons (12 tribes). His youngest was Joseph. Remember what happened to Joseph? Sold into slavery by his brothers. Eventually ended up in Egypt and through series of events became second in command to the Pharaoh - 7 years of feast, 7 years of famine. Jacob, or Israel, was eventually reunited with Joseph and, then, moved to Egypt. 

Today’s story is centuries later. Israel has grown into that large people - just as God had promised Abraham. So large, in fact, that the new Pharaoh - who our story today tells us didn’t “know” Joseph - began to mistreat them. To try to reduce their number. Because he was afraid of them. He tried to do this in three ways. First, through forced labor. This attempt was reversed as Israel multiplied in number. Then, by ordering all Israelite first born sons to be killed. Again, this attempt was reversed through the "revolt of the midwives," Shiprah and Puah. The third attempt was to have every male son thrown into the Nile. This, too, was subject to reversal as we read how the mother of Moses does this, but puts him first into a "basket" (The Hebrew word for "basket" is the same word as "ark." Remember Noah?). Moses' life is spared as he is found by a princess, the Pharoah's own daughter. She takes him, raises him, and, ironically, finds a Hebrew woman to nurse him. A Hebrew woman who just happens to be Moses' own mother. 

We hear a lot of stories in our lectionary - stories of our faith ancestors. And, particularly, we hear stories of how God interacts with our ancestors. Sometimes, it's subtle and behind the scenes, as in Moses' early life. Sometimes, it's not so subtle, as in the story from last with Jacob and, as we hear today from Moses' later life. 

Moses was taking care of the flock for his father-in-law Jethro, Midian’s priest. He led his flock out to the edge of the desert, and he came to God’s mountain called Horeb. The Lord’s messenger appeared to him in a flame of fire in the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was in flames, but it didn’t burn up. Then Moses said to himself, Let me check out this amazing sight and find out why the bush isn’t burning up.

When the Lord saw that he was coming to look, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses said, “I’m here.”

Then the Lord said, “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.”   --Exodus 3:1-5 (CEB)

This interaction between God and Moses is part of Moses' faith story. Today, we're beginning something new. Beginning today, which is the fifth Sunday and with every other month in which there are five Sundays, I'm going to invite one of you to share your story. You may already see God at work - God interacting in your story in the same way we read in scripture. Or not. Nevertheless, we'll explore your stories on these 5th Sundays.

Here are some of the questions for you to consider today about what your story is:

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up? What was your family like? 

2. In Exodus 3, we heard the story of Moses' first experience of God in the burning bush. On holy ground. If you can remember, what was your first experience of God? Your first "holy ground"?

3. As you grew up, how did you experience God? How has that changed, if it has changed?

4. Where/how do you see God’s story intersecting yours? Where/how do you see your life story intersecting God’s? 

5. In Exodus 2:23-25, we read a summary of God's work, which is to change our sad songs into glad songs. In addition, in the first six verses of chapter 3, we hear a series of "I" statements by God that show God's concern: “I” have seen their affliction, “I” have heard their cry, “I” know their sufferings, “I” have come to deliver them and bring them up. “I” will send you to Pharaoh. Where in your life have you experienced God changing sad songs into glad songs and truly experienced God's love and concern?

6. Where have you seen or currently see God calling you in your life? What does your future story and God’s look like?

Preached September 29, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.

Pentecost 16

Readings: Exodus 1:8-2:10, 3:1-5

Cultivating Laughter, Song, and Dance (Letting Go of Being Cool and “Always in Control”)

When the Lord changed Zion’s circumstances for the better,
    it was like we had been dreaming.
Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter;
    our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.
It was even said, at that time, among the nations,
    “The Lord has done great things for them!”
Yes, the Lord has done great things for us,
    and we are overjoyed.

Lord, change our circumstances for the better,
    like dry streams in the desert waste!
Let those who plant with tears
    reap the harvest with joyful shouts.
Let those who go out,
    crying and carrying their seed,
    come home with joyful shouts,
    carrying bales of grain! Psalm 126 (CEB)

Grace and peace to you from the Holy and Blessed Trinity: Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Have you ever been in a really hard place in your life that suddenly turned around? Where you were struggling and struggling and, then, all of a sudden the path was made clear for you? That’s how we find things in tonight’s psalm. It opens with a look back to a difficult time in Israel’s history. To a hard circumstance. A moment of remembering. Scholars believe this psalm was written after the Babylonian exile. After the northern kingdom had been exiled. After the temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed. After the southern kingdom - Judah - was taken into exile.

But, this psalm is not actually about the exile. Instead, its focus is on the surprising turnabout of Judah’s fate. Of a people in exile. Suddenly freed from exile by the Persians - by Cyrus the Great - and restored to their homeland.  Psalm 126 is a pilgrimage song. It’s a psalm about the journey. A journey out of exile and disorientation. To a place of home and reorientation. This model of orientation - disorientation - reorientation is one created by Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann. It’s a model that fit Israel’s communal experience. It’s also a model that fits well for our lives. And for those times when things seeming to be humming along - a place of orientation. Then everything falls apart - that’s the disorientation. Then, just when we are at what feels like the very bottom, suddenly things turn around. They are restored. Not the same as what they were, but in a new way. In a reoriented way.

So, what’s our reaction, when everything turns around? When everything's made new again? When everything seems to work out? If we look at Scripture and, particularly, Psalm 126, we see a typical human response. “Our mouths were suddenly filled with laughter; our tongues were filled with joyful shouts.” Think of Miriam at the edge of the Red Sea when Israel had been saved from the coming Egyptian army. Or of Mary at the birth of Jesus after finding out she was an unwed mother. Our human response is to laugh. To sing. To dance.

There is something about laughter and song and dance that shouts “life,” isn’t there. Barbara Ehrenreich in her book, Dancing in the Streets, documents the importance of engaging in what she calls “collective ecstasy.” She writes that we are “innately social beings, impelled almost instinctively to share our joy.”  And Brene Brown, after analyzing her research on shame for a couple years, learned that “laughter, song, and dance create emotional and spiritual connection; they remind us of the one thing that truly matters when we are searching for comfort, celebration, inspiration or healing: We are not alone.”

What makes you laugh? Perhaps it’s hearing a funny joke. Or watching your children or grandchildren do silly things. It’s not a laughing at, but a laughing with. What Brown calls a “knowing laughter.” It’s the kind of laughter that connects us. That comes from the power of sharing our lies and our stories with others. What makes you laugh? 

What makes you sing? When you hear a particular song on the radio, does it ever feel as though you’re right back to the first time you heard it? There are many songs on the soundtrack of my life. There is a whole playlist of Taylor Dane songs that, whenever I hear one of them, I’m immediately taken back to my early 30’s and a crazy, head-over-heels infatuation. What’s the soundtrack of your life? 

And, then, there’s dance! Perhaps dancing is the hardest because there is no other form of self-expression that can make us feel more vulnerable. Dancing is about full-body vulnerability. Have you ever watched a toddler dance? Writer Mary Jo Putney writes that what we love in childhood stays in our hearts forever. If this is true, then, dance stays in our heart even when our head tells us we should worry about what other people think.

And, that’s really the problem, isn’t it? Full-throated laughter, singing at the top of our lungs, and dancing with complete abandon require absolute vulnerability. And a lack of concern for what anyone else thinks.  As we mature and are socially conditioned, we limit this vulnerability. We learn that we are to be cool and “always in control.” We do this because we want to feel good enough. Because we feel as if we don’t measure up. That we aren’t good enough. We feel shame.

Yet, all we need do, like the psalmist, is look back. To look back at God’s response to our shame and our sin. How God, in Christ, has destroyed it. And how God, in Christ, has brought about resurrection. And continues to bring about resurrection. And new life. Constantly moving us from disorientation to reorientation. To a new place. 


May God help us to let go of fear and judgment and the feeling that we are all alone. May God lead us to cultivate courage, compassion, and connection. May God transform us into wholehearted people. Into shalom people. That we might experience all the laughter, song, and dance that God desires for us. And for all people. Amen.

Preached April 10, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Midweek Lent Worship
Reading: Psalm 126

Learning to Follow: Life in Relationship

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

“Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
    hallowed be your name.
    Your kingdom come.
    Your will be done,
        on earth as it is in heaven.
    Give us this day our daily bread.
    And forgive us our debts,
        as we also have forgiven our debtors.
    And do not bring us to the time of trial,
        but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. (Matt. 6:1-20 NRSV)


Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator; Jesus, our Redeemer; and the Holy Spirit, our Sustainer. Amen.

Good morning! Welcome to week 2 in our sermon series on “Learning to Follow.” We’re spending 3 weeks in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Matthew, a series of teachings called the Sermon on the Mount. 

Last week, we focused on chapter 5, in which we saw the great reversal that is God’s kingdom. That, unlike the world, which values “winners,” God values the losers. The broken, who are among us and out in our world. Those on the margins. 

We also learned that, as God’s forgiven and called people, our lives are also to be lives of great reversals. Lives where our focus is on God. And, then, lives in the world as salt and light. Salt meaning catalyst. Light meaning illumination. So, to be people who get things going and then who lead the way in the world.

So, how do we do this? It’s easy for me to stand up here and tell you to be salt and light. To get things going and to lead the way. But, if you’re at all the practical person that I am, I wonder how we become people like this. What are the steps? What’s the step-by-step instruction to transform us into God’s salt and light? How do we learn to follow?

These are the questions Jesus focuses on in today’s lesson. Now, if you were listening carefully, you heard three steps. Three practices that Jesus lays out in this teaching. What are they?

In the verse 2, Jesus talks about almsgiving. What is almsgiving? Yes, it is giving money to the poor. Practice number one.

Then, near the end of our reading, in verse 16, Jesus gives instruction on fasting. Practice number two.

Finally, in the heart of today’s reading and, interestingly, in the exact center of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches about prayer. Practice number 3. And, given its location in the middle of Jesus’ teaching, it is the focal point. The most important of the three. Prayer.

So, who of you would like to open our time of study today with a prayer? Exactly as I thought. None of you are chomping at the bit to pray, particularly, to pray out loud. I know exactly how you feel. Because I was once in your place. Thinking that praying out loud was for the professionals, right? That’s why we train up pastors to lead our worship, to prepare the prayers for us to be used in worship. Because they’re the professionals!

I have to share with you that earlier this week, I was in a gathering of pastors from our conference - all Lutherans, all experienced pastors, all who have been doing this for awhile. And, when, our conference dean invited one of us to say the opening prayer, we were all just like you. Completely silent. So much for being the “professionals!”

Why are so many of us so afraid of prayer? Perhaps we think that the words we pray aren’t good enough, aren’t sophisticated enough. Or perhaps we think that our simple, 2-3 sentence prayer is not long enough. After all, if we pray to God, to a deity who we profess to be all powerful, all knowing, and all present - doesn’t God deserve some long, flowery prayer from us? (I remember once being at a rally for workers and a local pastor was invited to open the rally with a prayer. It went on and on and on. To the point that I began to pray to God, “Please God, let this prayer end!”)

So, I found it really interesting this week, as I studied this text, that things weren’t much different in Jesus’ day. In verse 7 of today’s reading, Jesus begins his remarks on prayer with this sentence, “When you pray, don’t pile up a jumbled heap of words! That’s what the Gentiles do. They reckon that the more they say, the more they are likely to be heard.”

That was the practice of Jesus’ day in the non-Jewish world. We know from many writings of that time that many non-Jews used a particular formula in their prayers. That they would use long, complicated magic words that they would repeat over and over and over again. They did this because they believed that this would eventually tire out their gods and goddesses to the point that they would eventually relent and give what was asked. They also believed that, unless what one was praying for was given in the greatest possible detail, it was a very real possibility that the wrong favor would be granted. It’s like a child who was not just asking for an animated stuffed animal this past Christmas, but, a child asking, specifically, for Bella, a Fingerlings Hugs - the Advanced Interactive Plush Baby Monkey Pet by WowWee. Just to ensure that she would get what she wanted.

So, Jesus teaches a very different prayer practice. Because Jesus teaches about a very different kind of God. One who already knows what we need even before we ask. One who doesn’t need to be worn down, but who is ready to provide. And one who seeks to be in a relationship with us that is the same as that of a father or a mother to a child. And, so, Jesus gives the crowd - his many followers - a framework for prayer.

Notice I said a framework. Because as Jesus introduces this prayer that we know by heart, he doesn’t necessarily say to use this prayer, but to “pray, then, in this way.” Like this. Not word for word, necessarily. But, using this framework. A simple four part framework that, by the way, Jesus gives in Aramaic. The language of the people. Instead of Hebrew, the language of the synagogue. Which, in itself, is a signal to us that God doesn’t want us to use some magic formula, but to talk to God - the creator of the universe - using our own words and our own language.

First step in the framework. Jesus locates God above all. “Our Father in heaven.” This doesn’t mean a god who exists in some remote place or afterlife. Or a man-made idol. In Jesus’ day, this title for God took the Jewish people back to God’s acts in the Exodus. Acts of deliverance and rescue. Acts by a God who is over all things. Who loved them. And who loves us. Like a parent.

Second step. Jesus acknowledges God’s name as holy. In Israel, after the Babylonian exile, the divine name was regarded as too sacred to be said aloud. It was replaced with the Hebrew word Adonai (My Lord) and, then, in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, with Kyrios, meaning Lord. When Jesus acknowledges the holiness of God’s name, he wants it to be as holy to us as it was to Israel. And that God’s name and the holiness of God name might be spread throughout the world. And spoken with reverence, not as some afterthought. 

Third step. Jesus gives privilege to God’s kingdom and God’s will. “Your will be done. Your kingdom come.” In this step, Jesus sets God’s kingdom and God’s will as the priority. God’s kingdom, or God’s reign, brings deliverance and salvation, presence, restorative justice, peace, healing, joy, repentance, and return to God. These are the seven characteristics of God’s reign in Isaiah. We are to pray for it. That it might be accomplished. Not in heaven, where it already exists, but, here. On earth. Now. 

Fourth step. Jesus invites us to pray for what we need. But, before we move further into this step, did you notice the focus of three of the four steps? The focal point of 75% of the prayer? Yep. It’s God. Why? Because God and God’s will are to be the priority. And, because God already knows what we need. So, while prayers for gifts of daily bread and material things we need in our lives, plus prayers for mercy - that we might forgive others to the extent that God has forgiven us - as well as, prayers that God might deliver us from trial and temptation and from the wicked...while all of these might be important for us mostly to calm our anxiety and our own lack of faith, for God these prayers for our needs are nearly superfluous. Because God is so attuned to us and our needs that we need not even ask for them. 

There you have it. A four-point plan for prayer. A methodology for you and I to reach out to our God. Because that’s really what this is about, isn’t it? It’s about our relationship with God and God’s relationship with us. A relationship initiated and implemented by God through Jesus Christ. A relationship modeled by Jesus. A communal relationship. Because, did you notice that all of the pronouns other than those that refer to God are in the first person plural? Give us our daily bread. Lead us not into temptation. Forgive us. Not me. 

Jesus is very practical. He knows that the more we engage in prayer, in talking to God, and in deepening our relationship with God, the more we will turn to God and seek to be among God’s people. To deepen our relationships together, which then lead to the other spiritual practices. Practices that lead us to action. To serve those on the margins - who are the priority in God’s kingdom. To give to the poor. To fast,  so that we might fully understand what it feels like to be hungry.

Through prayer God changes us, turning us from our own greed and our own priorities to God’s priorities in God’s kingdom. Today. Now. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” May God make it so. Amen.

Preached February 3, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Epiphany 4.
Readings: Matthew 6:1-20; Psalm 20:7.

Good News Spreads: Transforming

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. Acts 9:1-19a (NRSV)

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

In our reading last week, we heard the story of how the Good News was beginning to spread. From Mary Magdalene, word of Jesus’ resurrection had spread to Peter and John and, then, last week to the remaining followers, including Thomas. We heard last week how Jesus breathed on the disciples. That he breathed into them the Holy Spirit and commissioned them to continue to spread the Good News. The Good News of the complete reversal that God had performed in raising Jesus from the dead.

This week and for the next few weeks, we are in the book of Acts. This is the book in the Bible that gives us stories of the early church--stories of how this first community of believers lived together and, particularly, stories of how the Good News continued to spread.

In the chapters before today’s lesson, the news of Jesus’s resurrection has spread throughout Jerusalem and beyond. The number of believers has continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem. So much that, as their numbers have grown, so has opposition among the Jewish and Roman leadership. This growing tension reaches a climax with the arrest of Stephen, who gives testimony about Jesus’ death and resurrection and, particularly, about the complicity of the religious and political leadership in his crucifixion. It is this testimony--this truth--that results in Stephen’s stoning and death as the first Christian martyr. It is after his death that we are first introduced to Saul--one of two main characters in our lesson today. We know Saul better as Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles and prolific writer of letters to the various faith communities he helped found throughout the Mediterranean area.

But, before he became Paul, he was Saul. We first hear of him in Acts 7. “Then they (speaking of the people Stephen had angered with his testimony)--then they dragged Stephen out of the city and began to stone him: and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul...And Saul approved of their killing him."

After Stephen died, a severe persecution began against the church in Jerusalem. All of the disciples except for the small group of apostles were scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria. In the third verse of chapter 8, we read that “Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women” and committing them to prison.

As the disciples were scattered, the Good News continued to spread. Not only throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria, but also into other places. One of those places was Damascus in Syria. It’s the same Damascus, Syria, we know today. Saul was determined to destroy the new believers, those who belonged to “The Way,” which is what they called this movement. Wherever members of “The Way” went, Saul was determined to go after them and imprison or even kill them. 

The city of Damascus, which was 135 miles away from Jerusalem, was one of his target cities. It was on Saul’s first journey to Damascus to hunt out the people of “The Way” that we witness a great reversal. These reversals are characteristic of the Good News. These moments when God completely disrupts expectations and unexpectedly reverses everything. Reversals that indicate to the early disciples that God is at work. That, when God’s intentions are realized, the normal state of affairs is turned completely upside down.

This is what happens with Saul. He experiences a series of reversals. Of great change. Of transformation. God disrupts his experience along the road to Damascus. He changes from seeing to being blind. From a confident and zealous persecutor to one who confesses ignorance about the “lord” he can’t recognize. From a man planning to lead captives back to Jerusalem in chains to one who must be led into Damascus by others. From having authority over others’ bodies to becoming completely dependent with his own. From a man on a mission to one who must now wait to learn what he is to do next. From a man exercising great power over the church to one who has been completely overpowered. Completely overpowered by Jesus. 

Reversal. Transformation.

But, Saul is not the only one. As we move through our story, we are introduced to Ananias, one of Jesus’ disciples in Damascus. Ananias has heard about Saul and his reputation. So, when Jesus appears to Ananias and tells him to go meet Saul, he argues with Jesus. Unaware of the reversals that Saul has already experienced, Ananias is determined that he will not confront this arch-enemy of his and of all of the other believers of The Way. So, he argues with Jesus. But, Jesus responds. “Go, for he is an instrument who I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel.” 

In his conversation with Ananias, Jesus has redefined Saul for him. Saul’s past or his reputation no longer fully express who he now is. Jesus has chosen Paul as his own “instrument” or, better, “vessel” through which to continue to spread the Good News among those who have not yet heard. And not by himself, but as a member of the community of disciples, as one of the The Way.

Reversal. Transformation.

As part of the process of becoming ordained, I was required to participate in CPE. CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Experience. It consists of 400 hours of chaplaincy training in a hospital or other care situation, where trainees learn how to provide pastoral care for people who are sick or hospitalized, or in need of help to make meaning of a difficult time or situation in their lives. 

In my CPE training at a hospital in Minneapolis, I was grouped with 4 other trainees. All of us came to the group with no or very little practical experience, other than a class or two we had taken in seminary. After one week of orientation, each of us was assigned as a chaplain to one or two of the medical units in the hospital.  

I was terrified. We were all terrified. None of us felt ready to do this important work. Each week we would meet and process our experiences together and tell each other over and over that we were enough. That each one of us was enough. That God had chosen us as God’s instruments--as God’s vessels--and that, as broken and inexperienced as we were, we were enough. 

By the end of our training, each one of us was transformed. Transformed with the understanding that we were enough and beginning to see all of the possibilities that God had in store for us. 

Reversal. Transformation.

This is what God does. God dramatically re-orients our expectations and causes us to reassess what is possible. God did it with my CPE group. God does it with Saul. God does it with Ananias. God does it with you, too.  You, a broken vessel. A chosen, broken vessel. Chosen by God to come into community here and together do the impossible. 

This is the church that Acts imagines. A gathering of broken vessels chosen by God, coming together in a cooperative existence and building a community that lives into a future that completely defies human expectations. What if God continues to surprise and disrupt us as with the Acts church? To surprise us just as God surprised Saul and Ananias with promises of a different identity and an expanded future? To completely reverse and transform our expectation of what is possible? To nudge us to a new experience with new possibilities?

What if?

Amen.

Preached April 15, 2018, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
Readings: Matthew 6:24; Acts 9:1-19a.