Sermon: Christmas 1C

...what if you were Mary or Joseph? What would you have done when you finally caught up with Jesus and found him lecturing the finest religious minds of your generation about the intricacies of the Almighty?

While I’m sure that Mary and Joseph were used to strange things happening since this boy came into their lives. I also think they wondered what their jobs as parents were.

How do they guide a child into adulthood who has God’s wisdom living inside of him? How do they prepare him for a future that is so different from anyone else’s and nothing like they’d ever seen?

The story says that “When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” Jesus said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

I’m sure that their frustration was aimed both at this runaway kid and at their own feelings of inadequacy as parents. And while they were relieved to have him back, they probably looked at what was happening at the Temple and quietly asked each other, “What do we do now? Where do we go from here?”

And what kind of glib answer was that that Jesus gave his frantic parents? “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

How would you have answered that question? It’s not as clear an answer as it first appears.

Yes, he was...(whole thing here)

Reformation (again)

(NB: First line was stolen from a sermon by David Schnasa Jacobsen. Also, this was preached at a special Reformation Service of the Parkland County Area Lutheran Churches)

So, who was it? Who was it that told you that you weren’t good enough?

Those voices ring in everyone’s ears. No one is immune to them.

It begins early.

Maybe it was your brother who said that girls couldn’t play hockey.

Maybe it was a classmate who called you “dumb” because you couldn’t master your multiplication tables.

Maybe it was your parents who examined your straight “A” report card and asked why you didn’t get an A+.

Maybe it was a boss who said that folks like you were a dime a dozen and therefore weren’t worth a raise.

Maybe it was your spouse who called you “stupid” in order to feel superior.

Maybe it was a fire-breathing preacher who waved a condemning finger in your face for every little sin.

Maybe it was your God who threatened you with eternal hell-fire for having simple human weakness.

So who was it? Who was it that told you that you weren’t good enough?

The father of our...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Reformation Sunday

(NB: You can listen to the sermon by clicking here)

If someone asked you what a Lutheran was, how would you respond?

I ask that question to most of the congregations for whom I’ve been a pastor, they looked as blankly then as you do this morning.

For most of us, that’s a tough question to answer. Lutheranism has such a rich and diverse tradition. But it’s also very specific. How do you sum up a whole faith history in a few words?

Those of us initiated in the deeper workings of the Lutheran theological tradition would throw around weighty words such as “justification” and “sanctification” before lapsing into Latin spewing phrases such “sola fide” “sola gratia” “sola scriptura;” high sounding words to explain what is really a tremendously personal faith. “Why,” ask Lutherans, “would you use a 50 cent word when a $100 word will do just as well?

Others, more narratively minded, will tell the story of Martin Luther, from whom we derive our name “Lutheran.”

You’d mention his beginnings as a law student, before being caught in a thunderstorm, and thinking he’s going to die, he cut a deal with St. Anne that if she helps him survive the storm, he’ll devote his life to God and become a monk.

She did. And he...(whole thing here [link fixed: kgp)

Sermon: Pentecost 18B

(NB: You listen to the sermon by clicking here)

It’s the kind of headline that boils your blood. Perhaps you saw it. “Parents Get Probation for the Negligent Homicide Death of the Their Son.”

According to the Huffington Post.

“An Oregon couple whose teenaged son died from a burst appendix because they don't believe in modern medicine accepted a plea deal to avoid jail.

“Last December, Austin Sprout became sick with flu-like symptoms. Instead of taking the 16 year old to a doctor, his mother and stepfather chose to pray for his recovery.

“In exchange to pleading guilty on Tuesday to negligent homicide, ‘faith healers’ Russel and Brandi Bellew will be on probation for five years...”

While we rightly look aghast at such abusive parenting, they might turn around and ask us if we believe the promises of scripture, or do we not? After all, they believed that they were following the bible’s guidance.

And the passage that they were following happens to be our second reading for this morning in the Letter of James:

“...are any among you suffering? They should pray. Are any cheerful? They should sing songs of praise. 14Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. 15The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. 16Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

Sounds good doesn’t it? And it is a passage we take seriously because we pray for the sick and the suffering every time we gather. And when I visit people in the hospital, it’s not uncommon for me to take a little jar of olive oil with me so I can anoint the poor soul in the bed. It’s an ancient ritual that began with the people of Israel and adopted by the early church. Olive oil was seen as the lifeblood of society, and therefore a symbol of God’s blessing, and the promise that God will provide all our needs.

But, of course, the fact that I am praying in the hospital - the very heart of modern medicine - puts me at odds with those who would deny the value of doctors and nurses in peoples’ healing.

You’re probably wondering why I’m bringing this up. After all, we’re not a church that denies the power of modern medicine in favour of prayer. I think I’m safe in saying that all of you take your family members to the hospital should they break a bone, come down with a nasty fever, or burst their appendix. At least I HOPE that would be the case...

But I bring this up because...(whole thing here)

Is Your Body a Temple of the Holy Spirit?

 (NB: preached at evening worship at the Northern Conference Convention, Alberta Synod, ELCIC)

“All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,” and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-15a, 19-20)

That word just kind of jumps out of you, doesn’t it? You know which one I’m talking about. It starts with an “f.” That “f” word evokes images of forbidden sensuality and carnal escapades that we only dream about in our most savage and primal imaginations.

It’s right smack dab in verse 13, staring at us. And the “f” word I’m talking about, of course, is “food.”

Why? What did you think I meant?

I suppose the “other” “f-word” will make my point just as easily, if not as colourfully. Because as I’ve been reflecting on our theme of “stewardship” I feel that we often neglect to include our most valuable resource - our bodies - as something we need to “steward”. How we treat our bodies can be just as important to our stewardship mandate as how we sustain the land, clean the oceans, capture carbon, manage our finances, or guide our churches.

As you can see I’m not exactly a poster boy for healthy eating. If anything I’m a cautionary tale of how poor nutritional habits and a sedentary lifestyle can wreak havoc on one’s life.

I’m a stress eater. And let’s just say that the last few years have been VERY stressful. And my habits thus far have not helped me in dealing with the stresses of the last half decade. If anything my late-night encounters with the drive thru and Monday Night Football cans of beer have made my stress levels worsen. And by extension, the quality of my life.

And it’s not as if I hadn’t been warned. Information on diet and exercise, the stuff of a healthy lifestyle, isn’t exactly scarce. In fact it’s always in your face, waving a condemning finger, giving you the stink eye each time your arm reaches for that third cookie or second burger.

I knew that 30 minutes on the elliptical is just as effective at battling anxiety and depression as Prozac. I knew that getting 5-10 servings of fruits and veggies a day is just as useful at elevating my mood and giving me energy as any high octane caffeine explosion I can get at Starbucks. I knew that the two of them together would help me put my life back on track better than most counselors or life coaches.

But I chose other, easier, options. And it wasn’t until I had a recent health scare that I realized what I was doing, not only to my body, but to my life. And to those around me.

I began to realize why Paul asks us to honour our bodies. I realized that what I was doing to my body and to myself, was keeping me from living in the faithfulness that God wants from me.

It’s like Paul looked me up and down, grabbed me by the shoulders, shook me, and blared,

 “Are you kidding me??? Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own??? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

When I read that it was like Paul smacked me across the back of the head. And I knew something had to change. Status quo was not an option.

So, I’ve started making small changes in my diet and exercise routine. I’m eating lots more veggies and am starting to work with a personal trainer. And right away I’ve noticed my energy levels increase, my mood brighten, and my thinking become clearer.

Eating healthily and exercising is becoming, for me, almost as important a spiritual discipline as prayer. It’s becoming clear to me that, as I shed unhealthy pounds, I grow more fully into who God wants me to be.

“...do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.”

I didn’t know that before. But I know that now. I know that good news isn’t just spiritual, it’s also physical. Being good stewards of all that we have draws us closer to God’s understanding of the world and our place in it.

It all starts with ourselves, and the Spirit who takes up residence inside of us, making our bodies Holy; the very dwelling place of God. The temple out of which God changes everything.

Amen.

Sermon: Pentecost 17B

Right Click here to download the mp3 audio.

“Don’t worry about the young people, pastor,” he told me, “After they have kids they’ll return to church to have their children baptized. They always do. It’s the cycle of life.”

That’s the common wisdom. And I hear that a lot.

While that may be true this morning as we welcome Chase into our family of faith through the sacrament of holy baptism, it is becoming less and less the case overall. And that presents us with a challenge as we look ahead into our future and try to discern God’s vision for us as a church.

I’ve been a pastor for 13 years and over that time I have seen the declining numbers accelerate. And while there are blips of growth here and there, the overall trend is downward. We fear for our future. And we look around and we wonder where all the young people have gone. We ask why they don’t come to church like people once did.

And so we dig in our heels, get angry and resentful about an insecure future. We blame the media for what we think is bias against people of faith. We blame the government for an increasingly secular culture. I’ve even heard some pastors blame immigrants for bringing their “foreign religion” to our so-called “Christian country.”

So we ask, why is this happening? Why are we in this place? How did we get here?

Even in our darkest moments, we look at our own children and other members of our families, and see how they’ve abandoned church, and we ask, “What did we do wrong? What could I have done better in the past so that my family would still attend church today?”

Here’s the answer to those questions...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Pentecost 16B

“Who do you say that I am?” Jesus asks his disciples. And Peter, the one who can never keep his mouth shut, speaks without realizing what he’s saying.

“You are the Messiah,” Peter bursts without thinking, wondering why Jesus would ask a pretty basic question.

But I think Jesus was trying to take their temperature. He probably heard the gossip about who people thought he was, and he wanted to shut down any misinformation before it got out of hand.

“Who do people say that I am? What are they saying about me? What’s in the papers, what are the bloggers blogging about? Who is tweeting about me and what are they tweeting? What’s happening on Facebook? I’m curious. Because I haven’t been totally direct with people, and I want what’s going on out there.”

It’s interesting that Jesus thinks his disciples have their ears to the ground. After all, they haven’t really left his sight since they began their preaching tour. They may have been milling about in the crowds, eavesdropping on peoples’ conversations, getting a sense of who people think this wandering preacher is, and why they think that.

But people only have their own experience to draw from. Some say that Jesus is “Elijah” because they see Jesus’ ministry of speaking God’s Word. Others say Moses because they see him as a great leader. Some say “one of the prophets” because his preaching has cut through their hearts like a surgeon’s scalpel. But no two people agree as to who they think Jesus is.

There’s no consensus until Jesus asks his followers.

“Okay, that’s who THEY, OUT THERE say that I am. But who do YOU say that I am? What do YOU tell people about me?”

It’s a pretty direct question, isn’t it? Is Jesus testing them? Or is even more curious about his friends’ answers then those on the street.

“You’re the Messiah,” Peter says impulsively. Probably impressed with himself.

Did Peter answer Jesus correctly? Yes. But did he know what the correct answer was? No...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Pentecost 11B

Jesus said that he was the bread of life; that whoever eats of his flesh and drinks of his blood will abide in them and they in him. I sure hope that’s true. Because even when we receive God’s mercy and grace through the sacrament of Holy Baptism, we still find ourselves on a path we probably don’t intend.

And you probably have seen the same thing. You might have seen a son or daughter get caught up in a life that brings nothing than pain and misery; rather than the life of joy and abundance that you dreamed for them.

Or maybe it’s YOU. And you find yourself in church wondering if all this God stuff is real.  You wonder in the midst of failed relationships, unfulfilled dreams, a job that does not help you reach the potential God has for, the loneliness of an empty house, where Jesus is in your life.

You wonder quietly if the grief in your life, the pain of loved ones being taken away too early, the injustice of a life’s potential being swallowed by the grave, makes Jesus’ promises seem either too good to be true, or just an idle fantasy we tell ourselves to make the hard times just a little bit easier.

And those are fair questions to ask. If those promises are true than where is the abundant living that Jesus promises? Where is the eternal life that Jesus says begins NOW?

You wonder if the bread of life has gone stale...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Pentecost 9B

Talk about an overly inflated sense of entitlement. It seems that David believed everything belonged to him, even the women.

We don’t think of David as a peeping tom, but that’s what we have here. Why David was spying on Bathsheba when she was having a bath raises more uncomfortable questions about David’s character than perhaps we want to ask.

After all, his story started so well! David is the shepherd boy who slew the giant Goliath with a sling-shot. He’s the unlikely child elevated to king over all of God’s people. He was the golden boy chosen to lead God’s people into a glorious era of prosperity and peace. God had great plans for David.

But here we have a David who behaves like a spoiled frat boy rather than the wise king that we expect from him.

And this was no mere youthful indiscretion or a case of “boys will be boys.”

What David did was an act of (whole thing here)

Sermon: Pentecost 6B

 “A prophet is not without honour except in that prophet’s hometown, and among the prophet’s own kin and in their own house...” Jesus tell us.

Wow. I’m glad I’m not a prophet. Or else it might be a tad awkward for us if Jesus is right about what hometown friends do to prophets.

I’ve been back where I grew up here in St. Catharines for the better part of a month, and I can’t say I’ve experienced the angry stares and angrier words that Jesus endured when he stepped foot back in his hometown in Galilee.

As most of you know, in the bible, a “prophet” isn’t just someone who can predict the future, although that could be part of the prophet’s job. A prophet is someone who speaks for God.

A prophet is someone with a special authority to speak God’s renewing Word to a specific people in a specific time and specific place.

A prophet is a poet, spinning visions of a new world.

A prophet sings songs of changed lives, of people turning from a life of woundedness to a life of healing.

A prophet tells stories of sin condemned and forgiveness received. A prophet exposes injustice and speaks out on behalf of the oppressed.

A prophet sees a world of possibility - God’s possibility - where others merely see suffering and pain.

I think the frosty reception at home must have stuck like a stone in Jesus’ sandal because he gives his followers...(whole thing here)

Japan Reflections Part Two: What are the roles of the local and wider churches?

Another theological theory I wanted to test in Japan was the role of the larger church in the life of the local church. I know the classic argument for the larger church: it provides a sense of unity in mission.

And, yes, that’s true. As far as it goes. But it could be that I’ve spent too much time in Alberta, but I’ve grown suspicious of centralized authority, and try to celebrate the strength of grassroots, local efforts. I often felt that some decisions made by synod office were to protect their authority rather than help enhance mission.

For example, in a previous congregation, we had a few university students attending worship, and I wanted to encourage them to step into positions of leadership. Of course, to be in leadership they, constitutionally have to be members. And they were reluctant to transfer membership from their home churches just for the few years they’d be at school.

So, I came up with an “associate membership” possibility. That way they could retain their membership at their home church, yet still serve in leadership while in school. It seemed like a win-win.

Synod office vetoed the idea. “It would screw up our numbers,” I was told. As if our numbers aren’t already screwed up. It felt like they were protecting the institution at the expense of mission. And it told the young people “your gifts are only welcome on our terms.” And even having to get permission for something for changing something as mundane we membership seemed a little heavy handed. It assumed that churches couldn’t make decisions on their own.

So, I became a little suspicious, if not somewhat hostile to centralize decision making. It’s not that I shunned synod or national offices, it’s just that I took their recommendations with a pinch of sodium. I preferred local solutions to local ministry challenges.

Then, when I received the call to St. Paul’s, knowing that it was an independent Lutheran Church with informal ties to the ELCA and LCMS, I figured it was an excellent opportunity to see if I was right, that the local church can stand on its own without institutional support or accountability. These are grown-up Christians, I figured. They should be able to chart their course - with God’s help - using the gifts and tools they’d been given.

Unfortunately, that was not the case. While the congregation has survived some pretty heavy interpersonal storms through the years, and is challenged with conflict, St. Paul’s could have weathered the gales of conflict more easily with the help of an interested third-party. Namely a synod office. And they would be stronger for it.

This is not to criticize any of the faithful members of St. Paul’s. Just the opposite. St. Paul’s is filled with wonderfully faithful Christians trying to do church with an organizational structure that has been working against them. It’s testimony to their creativity and resilience that they have lasted this long.

But the question of the role of the larger church is still ongoing. It’s certainly a hot debate topic here in Canada. Given the current ELCIC realities, I think that’s an important question for us to discuss. And we should fall into the polarized debate I often hear. “The national church is irrelevant!” vs “We need the Winnipeg office for our sense of national unity.” We need to dig deeper.

However, the question underlying all of this is: what is the church, in concrete terms, trying to accomplish? And I’m not sure we know how to answer that. And if we can’t answer that, how will we know how to organize ourselves?

Japan Reflections Part One: Christendom

(NB: This is part one of a series of my reflections on my experience at St. Paul International Lutheran Church in Tokyo, Japan. These are just ideas I'm kicking around. I encourage discussion and debate)

Theological Theory Number One: Christians in non-Christian countries will thrive outside of a culturally accommodating setting.


Conclusion: Maybe. Maybe not.

It’s almost an article of faith among many moderate-to-liberal Christians in the west to say that the church must disestablish itself from the host culture. Most reflective Christians are sensitive to the spotty historical record Christians have when we are given political power and cultural authority.

For the uninitiated, many church folks call this marriage of cultural/political power to the Church “Christendom.”

Japan has no memory of Christendom. Which was, at first, for me, exhilarating. It felt like I was walking a tight rope without a cultural safety net. And I was DEEPLY impressed by the Japanese Christians who came to faith and remained committed to Christ and church despite Christianity being a foreign religion, not just because it was imported, but because it was so different from Japanese believed about the divine, and how Japanese lived their religious rituals (which is for a different blog post). To be a Japanese Christian is to be deeply counter-cultural in ways that westerners can’t come close to understanding.

Being Japanese and a Christian will put you at odds with family and friends, as Shinto and Buddhist rituals are embedded in daily life. Not to mention that Japanese have no sense of one “God.” They believe in “gods.” In fact, I’m told that the Japanese word for “god” is plural.

After a few months in Tokyo, I began to realize how easy it is to be Christian in the west, and how Christendom has made my ministry much more effortless in Canada than in Japan. Small things, like Christmas and Good Friday being national holidays in Canada, but not in Japan, makes getting to church easier. And I could rely on a full house in Canada. But not in Japan. In fact, to be a Christian in Japan takes effort.

It’s tempting to see all the awful things the Church has done in Jesus’ name, and why we’d want to run away from it. It’s understandable to be ashamed or embarrassed by the times when church leaders confused God’s kingdom authority with Caesar’s, and that we’d want to distance ourselves from that memory. It reasonable to want to create something new and redeeming when the Church has often behaved so badly through it’s history.

But we can’t run away from out history. It will be there whether we like it or not. Being in Japan, and having ZERO cultural props upon which to lean showed me the opportunity to invoke the positive elements of Christendom’s cultural memory, without baptizing the atrocities. We can repent of those times when we abused our authority, but we can also call people to mind the stories that are THEIR stories.

Western culture is profoundly shaped by Christianity. Art, music, language, law, economics, all have their basis in Christian history. It’s embedded in our memory. It’s who we are. So, to disestablish ourselves too quickly and cleanly will be a cultural lobotomy.

People come to church at Christmas and Easter for a reason. They want a church wedding, and it’s not by accident. They present their children for baptism even though they haven’t been to church for years because they want to connect to a memory they can’t really define. They call a pastor for a loved one’s funeral because they identify the church with presiding over eternal things.

I know that many clergy feel like the proverbial street walker when they are asked to perform pastoral duties for those who haven’t shown commitment to Christ and his church. But those are moments of evangelistic opportunity to share the story of Jesus and how he connects with their story. When else can we help people make the link between the ritual they’re asking for, and what it means for them and their lives?

In Japan, Christianity is declining the same way as it is in the west. Most of the declining numbers are a direct effect of smaller numbers of people going to church in traditionally church-going countries. If they aren’t going to church at home, why would they go to church in Japan?

Expect to find a sense of home. And that’s what the Japanese church has to offer ex-pats in the country. I recommended that St. Paul’s stay with the traditional liturgy in its future because people are drawn to a sense of the familiar. And that familiarity is a gateway to deeper faith.

Maybe that’s something that the western church can explore. How we can connect people to a deeper, more ancient story, than the one they are currently living, a story not of their own making.

Sermon: Lent 3B

(NB: You can listen to the sermon by clicking here)

I was in my car when I first heard about the earthquake last March. And to be honest, the magnitude of the catastrophe didn’t register with me until much later. The CBC reporter simply announced the quake and the resultant tsunami as if he was reporting the hockey scores. 

It wasn’t until later that when I arrived home and I turned on the news and saw the pictures. The homes and businesses destroyed and the thousands of lives lost penetrated the noise that is usually the nightly news. 

And I had questions. Natural questions for any believer, after seeing or experiencing such devastation. I asked “Where is God in all this? How could God allow this to happen? If God is the creator of heaven and earth, if God put the stars in the sky and the earth on its axis, then why wouldn’t God prevent this from happening?”

Those are important questions. And they have led more people away from faith than any other. And it’s easy to see why. Suffering affects everyone. And when we are on the receiving end of life’s cruelty, we ask where God is, or why God didn’t stop this. Or we ask if God even cares. Or we may ultimately ask, if God is who we say God is, are we lying to ourselves? And those are - good if difficult - questions.

That’s why I have little patience for what some people call...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Lent 1B

[NB: listen to the sermon by clicking here)

What are you giving up for Lent? That’s the question of the day, isn’t it? What you’re giving up to share in Jesus’ 40 day desert fast?

That’s where the whole “giving something up” thing comes from. Folks read the story in today’s gospel about Jesus going into the desert to fast for 40 days and thought that it might be a good way for us to find ourselves in his story by fasting for the 40 days of Lent.

But, of course, not everyone’s going to book 6 weeks off work to go sit on a rock in the woods and pray. People aren’t going to go without creature comforts, much less bare necessities for a month and a half. In fact, if you did I’m sure your family would start to worry about your neural functioning.

So, Christians, through the centuries, did what we did to most church rituals that made us look crazy or caused discomfort: we house-trained it. At first it was no food on Fridays and Wednesdays. Then it morphed into no MEAT on Fridays and Wednesdays. But then came the Wednesday night chicken wing special and folks said, well, maybe we’ll just have meat-free Fridays. Now...?

Now...people give up chocolate, coffee, beer, something fairly minor, just to get in the spirit of Lent rather than create some real discomfort in their lives.

But recently, the wheel has turned in the other direction. Some folks now...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Ash Wednesday

(You can listen to the sermon here)


I heard an interview recently with a scientist who said that we, everyone and everything, are made up of dust. Ancient dust. Dust from stars that have long ago disappeared. From planets long since destroyed. Dust from people whose names gave been forgotten. And that our dust is and will be the building blocks of future creations.

Isn’t that fascinating? I think it is. If also a little humbling. I like to think of myself as unique, a specific, individual creature. I was created out of the woman who bore me, and am a contemporary creation. I look forward, not backward. My flesh and blood is a lively blast of chemical reactions. My value to the world comes from what I do, what I contribute. Not from the raw material that isn’t unique to me, or over which I have little control.

As much as I would like the opposite to be true, I have to admit that the scientist is right. I know the bible would agree with her. I am dust, and to dust I will return. The same goes for you. The same goes for everything that lives and breaths.

I don’t know about you but my dustiness is not something that I like to dwell upon. But I find that I have to. In my job I’m always...(Whole thing here)

Sermon: Epiphany 5B

[NB: You can listen to the sermon by clicking here]


“…woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel.”

Those words rung in my ears on a viciously hot July night in 1999 at Christ Lutheran Church in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, when this scripture passage was read and preached by my bishop before he invited me to kneel, laid hands on my head, and I received the rite ordination. 

It was like I was being joined – stitched – to a long line of preachers who held this message in their hands so reverently that they couldn’t help but share what had been so lovingly entrusted to them.

And while this journey of preaching the gospel has taken me on many adventures – including the one I am on now – I still wonder, in those quieter moments, if I am up the task that is put in front of me. I worry that the words I use and the words you hear are saving words that we call “gospel.”

As many of us know, the word “gospel” means “good news.” And those of us who’ve been around the church for a while might think we know what that word means. But I’m not sure that’s true. Because I find myself asking, “Good news” for what? From what? What is the bad news that is in your life, and then what is the good news that I am called to proclaim as a response to it?

How would you define the word “gospel”? What is “good news”?

For my master’s thesis I had to come up with a definition of the gospel. And because I allowed four years of graduate study in theology to get the better of me I defined the gospel as this...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Epiphany 4B

“...any prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, or who presumes to speak in my name a word that I, the Lord, have not commanded the prophet to speak—that prophet shall die.”

Yikes! Makes me want to watch my words even more carefully than I do!

But that’s what the people had asked for. They wanted someone to speak for God, because they worried that hearing directly from the Most High God might cause them to clutch their chests and do a face plant into the dirt.

A prophet, in the bible, as most of you know, isn’t someone who merely foretells the future. The prophet isn’t a fortuneteller. The prophet isn’t someone who sits at tables on the street, who, for a small fee, will tell you how your how much money you will make or who you will marry.

In the bible, a prophet is someone who speaks for God. A prophet is a preacher. The prophet’s mouth opens and it’s not the prophet’s words that people hear. It’s God’s words that reach their ears. They figured it was easier to hear from God through a human vessel, rather than endure the thunder and fire of the Almighty.

And God, knowing the human fondness for putting their words into God’s mouth lays down the...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Epiphany 3B

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Repentance. I think the Christian proclamation has twisted this word into so many knots that it would be unrecognizable to Jesus’ first listeners. And now, the mere utterance of that word evokes strong feelings of shame. At least it does for me.

“Repent!” we hear preachers say. And what they usually mean is “Stop sinning! Change those parts of your life that is putting you in conflict with God. Cut out those impure thoughts and actions and turn to the purity of God’s will. If you want to be close to God then you have to remove anything that gets in the way with your relationship with God.”

I heard that a lot from too many preachers. For me, when I hear that, and if it`s true, I always wonder if I have repented enough. I always worry that there’s something that I’ve missed, that there might be a spiritual blind spot that is keeping me from growing in my faith.

Luckily, in an old prayer of confession, there’s an escape clause. The prayer confesses those sins “known and unknown.” 

However, while we may be forgiven of those unknown sins with a linguistic sleight-of-hand, practically, we are no better off because we cannot change that which we do not know that we SHOULD change. If being close to God and greeting the kingdom when it arrives is dependent on something that I do, than I’m not sure that really sounds like good news. 

As Christians, we tend to...(whole thing here)

Sermon: Epiphany 2B

New Years day was quite an education for me. I was told that Japanese people are not religious, yet they pray at the shrine. And from the lineups I saw at the various shrines in the area, I could see what people meant.

I would say that makes Japanese people VERY religious. At least in practice if not in belief. It seems that in such a highly ritualized culture, the act of praying at the shrine is a quite a religious thing to do, even if folks sometimes do so out of ritual or simple tradition.

Tokyo is this amazing city where I can walk through blocks and blocks of highly modern landscape, with its massive steel and glass buildings, and stunning architecture. Then I encounter - out of nowhere - a small Buddhist temple. And someone might be praying there. And down the block I’ll stumble upon a Shinto shine, reminding people of the city’s deep history.

And of course, on my way to the office I walk through the Yasukuni Shrine, where there is, often, a crowd gathering. And knowing its complicated history, and the strong feelings it arouses, I make my way as quickly as I can when the young men in black shirts and sunglasses start shouting into their microphones.

Religion is everywhere here. Yearnings for the sacred are found on every city block.

This wouldn’t have been news to the Christians in Corinth. The Corinthian Christians knew shrines, and they knew temples. They knew that temples and shrines were places where gods and goddesses lived.

Temples were expensive to build and even worse to maintain. Temples were sacred, holy, awe-inspiring places. They were places people went to celebrate life’s special events, those transitional moments that helped them along life’s journey. If they wanted to find the Holy, they went to the shrine and the temple.

So they were probably surprised when Paul asked them..(whole thing here)

Sermon: Baptism of Jesus

As it turns out, Jesus wasn’t the only one being called into a new life that day in those waters. God was calling them into the same life that Jesus was called into. Baptism isn’t just a ritual that we perform as an entry way into the church family. And baptism isn’t just a one-off salvation ticket.

Baptism is about being recruited - drafted - into a movement. In baptism, we are joined to Jesus’ death and resurrection, so we can live resurrection lives in a world so often more interested in death. 

Baptism is about...(whole thing here)