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Some Kind of Joy

Matthew 25:14-30 Last week, maybe you remember, our text was the parable of the ten bridesmaids, in which there were ten bridesmaids waiting for the bridegroom to arrive. Five of them failed to bring extra oil for their lamps, which put them in a very unfortunate position. It is a parable about living a life shaped by readiness, focused on what you are awaiting. After the service someone came to me and asked, so should we see the bridegroom as representing Jesus? And the simple answer to that is yes. Like those early readers of Matthew, Jesus is the one we are waiting for, and the question we might ask ourselves each day is what does this waiting consist of? What does this life of readiness look like? Immediately after Jesus finished that parable he said, “Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour,” and in […]

Keep Awake

Matthew 25:1-13 I am the kind of person who watches the Super Bowl for the commercials because some commercials these days are really great. There is one that is aired a lot now that I love. It shows a family going through security in an airport. The dad gets through first and one of the TSA workers says to him, “Enjoy your flight.” Without thinking the man says, “You too.” And everything stops. The employees and his family members look at him as though he has somehow betrayed them. The TSA workers are offended, his kids are humiliated, and his wife says to him, “I thought I knew you.” It’s a huge overreaction about a tiny little mistake this guy made. I hope I never find myself in that situation. This poor man would surely like to rewind the tape and try again. If only he had a chance, you […]

The Kind of Religion We Need

Matthew 5:1-12 A few days ago, I read an opinion article in the Washington Post called “America Doesn’t Need More God. It Needs More Atheists.” I read it with interest, because I am always curious about what thoughtful people have to say about religion, whatever their thoughts may be. I appreciated the author’s efforts to put down in words just what she thinks and why. But in the end, I had the same reaction that I usually have to these arguments. I felt sad and frustrated. For anyone to come to the conclusion that there is no God just feels very sad to me. Whether they reach their conclusion casually or after much serious and sincere thought, in both cases I am saddened by it. A life of faith, I believe, has so much potential to do good in the world, it feels tragic to turn away from that. But […]

Rule of Love

Psalm 90:1-6,13-17 Matthew 22:34-46 We all have our own ideas of what heaven will be like – comfortable cloud-soft cushions, serenity, beautiful music, and a big party with all the generations gathered together and good stuff to eat. Grandma’s fried chicken – which was the best fried chicken in the world. Mama’s kolaches and butterhorns – her pastries were amazing. No doubt, heaven is all of that. But I have to admit that my personal thoughts of heaven always go to this: finally, I can get answers to all my questions. That’s probably pretty dull, and ultimately not that important, right? It’s just that I want to know. I always have. And I have often gone to someone older and wiser for the answers. When I was little it was my sister Annie, because she was a whole year older than me and she knew everything. When I got married it […]

In the Palm of God’s Hand

Exodus 33:12-23 Matthew 22:15-22 So we return to the story of Exodus. Last week, you may remember, there was that episode with the golden calf. Moses was conversing with God on the mountain. Their session went a little longer than expected and the Israelites grew anxious. They grabbed Aaron by the collar and frantically said, you must make us another god – one that will go before us! And so Aaron did. It’s interesting to remember how he came to be Moses’ right-hand man. Way back in the beginning, when the Lord called to him from the burning bush, Moses was awkward and resistant; As he heard God’s intentions for him, he was full of buts: but I don’t really know you; but the people won’t listen to me, and even if they do they won’t believe me; but I am slow of speech, slow of tongue. […]

In the Breach

Psalm 106:1-6, 19-23 Exodus 32:1-14 In the 4th century, the Roman emperor Constantine led the empire into battle, carrying the symbol of Jesus Christ before him, the Greek letters, chi rho. He was triumphant in battle, and this was a decisive turning point for the church. This marked the moment when the church went from a vulnerable minority, persecuted by the powers that be, right into the seat of power – the empire. Christians at the time might have had some misgivings, some discomfort, about the cross of Christ being co-opted as a symbol of war. But, on the other hand, how grateful they must have felt to be, finally, on the side of power instead of persecution. To be able to breathe easy in this world at last. This is something that all humans crave: safety…security. We want it. Christians in the Roman Empire wanted it, people in all times […]

New Fruit

Exodus 20:1-4,7-9,12-20 Matthew 21:33-46 When I was a child, I was expected to memorize the Ten Commandments, as you might have been too. It was part of the Lutheran curriculum. We were made to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds, some of Luther’s Catechism, and the Commandments. It was assumed that these were the items we needed to know by heart if we were to participate fully in worship. Memorization is a chore, I never could see it any other way. Yet, once I knew them, I learned to love the Lord’s Prayer and the Creeds because they were always a part of worship and a joyful experience. Once I knew them, I felt pleasure in being able to add my voice to the congregation as we said the words together. But the Ten Commandments – it was not easy to shift from that sense […]

Nostalgia

Exodus 17:1-7 There is a writer named Michael Chabon who wrote a magazine article about what a good boy he was. He said all his life he has been the dutiful child who will sit and listen to the old folks. He will listen to the stories of the old uncles that nobody wants to listen to anymore. He will patiently explain the mysteries of the newfangled world we find ourselves in and agreeably listen as they explain how much better it used to be. As a child at family gatherings, he would endure all the questions they wanted to ask and he would politely listen to all their advice and cautionary stories, long after all the other kids had run off to play. As an adult, he still does that – he’s the guy who listens to all the old stories about how wonderful life used to be, […]

Just What You Need

Exodus 16:2-15 Matthew 20:1-16 We have a bad habit of reading the Bible in all the wrong ways. We read stories as if they were instruction manuals when perhaps we should be seeing in them masterful paintings of what the world is like, what life is like. We read the epistles looking for universal truths instead of examples of how one particular community found a way to deal with their particular problem. We read the gospels looking for prescriptions for healing – take two of these and call me in the morning…but we come away feeling like our particular ailment can’t be found in the book. Or that the prescription just doesn’t work for us. We have a bad habit of looking for gifts in the Bible that God never even intended to give us. And so we say things like, “God helps those who help themselves. And you know God […]

Creating Promise out of Pain

Genesis 21:8-21 HBO just wrapped up its series called Succession, after a very popular four-year run. The story is about an aging patriarch of a wealthy and powerful family and his children. And it’s all about who will be the heir. To whom will all this power be passed on. And so, there is the ongoing battle among the offspring and other interested parties – the battle for succession. It is not pretty to watch. I gave up trying to watch the show because every single character was so unlikeable. Truly unlikeable, but unfortunately, not unbelievable. People are like that. People have always been like that, as we can see in the book of Genesis. There are times in the course of studying the book of Genesis I am very aware of what an old, old story it is. But all I have to do is read the news and I […]

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